Visiting a Farm

While in Utah, we went down to the farm at Thanksgiving Point.  No one else wanted to go see some farm animals, so it was just us Keelers, but we had a fun time.  And the girls thought everything was great.  Because it was April, there were all kinds of cute baby animals to see.

There were cute little baby chicks that the girls watched for awhile.  They were in a special incubator, so the kids couldn't touch them, but you could buy them for just a few dollars.  I was a little tempted to get a couple, but you cannot have chickens inside the city limits of Umatilla. 

Getting to pet a little donkey.  As long as Will or I touched the animals first, the kids weren't too afraid of them.

I wish I had gotten a better picture, but I was waiting in line for the carriage ride.  Oh well.  Whitney and Rachel got to feed some hay to the horses.

And here we are on the ride.  It was just like a fifteen minute ride around the farm.  It was fun feeling the gentle clip clopping of the horse hooves.

There was a building that focused on how things grow and then it takes the kids on the steps of getting the food from the farm to the store.  This was a fun building because it had a lot of hands on activities.

And Whitney and Rachel's favorite place was this jail.  I have no idea why there was a pretend jail on the farm, but I guess it doesn't matter.  Whitney liked having me pretend to throw her in jail over and over.

Megan in jail and happy about it.

We let the kids have a pony ride; this was their first pony ride and we weren't sure if they would like it.  But they loved riding on the ponies.  Both of them were all smiles and even gave their ponies hugs at the end.

Rachel got the littlest pony and was very content.

There was another spot of the farm dedicated to dairy and showing how milk gets from cows to people.  Megan got to play with a little milk truck.

There was a funny sign at the end.  I don't think any of us got any special animal "souvenirs".  So it was a really fun morning at the farm.  I think the kids loved the trip.

Graduation in Utah

We went to Utah last week for my brother's graduation.  Zach is really smart and graduated in physics with a minor in math.  It was great to see him and all the other family members down in Utah.  BYU has two parts of the graduation - a big commencement ceremony for everyone and then smaller graduations for the different departments.

Zach is somewhere in the crowd of thousands of graduates.  It took us awhile to find each other but we were able to right before the ceremony.  Megan did not like the loud noise of the applause, so Will and I took turns taking her out.  Besides that it was a good ceremony.  We even got to hear from President Uchtdorf.

Zach poses for a picture after the ceremony.  

Then the next day (at eight in the morning, I might add) was the math and science graduation ceremony.  Zach waiting in line for his turn.

And getting his diploma up on the stage.  Congratulations Zach!  We are all happy for you.

The physics department had an almost party after the ceremony.  We went to a physics show and watched some cool science experiments.

Whitney even got to wear some "magic" gloves so she could dip a balloon into dry ice and watch it shrivel.  She was pretty impressed.

Then there was a huge lunch for everyone.  The food was delicious.  I think everyone overate because everything looked so good.

Finally, we went to a planetarium show and Whitney decided to try on Zach's cap.  

Anyway, it was really fun being part of Zach's graduation.  I am glad we were able to go to Utah and be with everyone.  I will put some more pictures from our trip up in a couple of days.

Our Happy Easter

So we had a great first Easter down in Pasco.  It was especially fun since it was Megan's first Easter and she was so excited for all the Easter festivities.

Rachel was given her first egg for dying and she immediately smashed it against the table.  So I guess she watches me with eggs a lot and thought that was what she was suppose to do.

Whitney was one fast egg dyer.  She probably did more eggs than anyone else.

And she has the colorful fingers to prove it.  It took a couple of days for all the dye to get washed off.

Will so kindly let me help Megan do her first egg.  It was all I could do to prevent dye from spilling everywhere.  Notice her blue green fingers from dipping the egg too far down.

So then we just let Megan color her next egg and she liked doing that. I had to prevent too much crayon consumption.

We made resurrection cookies the night before Easter.  The girls had fun smashing and stirring.

And finding the hundreds of eggs and candy the next day was the girls' favorite thing.  Rachel scored a lot under the table.

Whitney did well downstairs and found lots of candy in the bookcase.

Megan didn't get to find any candy.  But she was happy the whole time holding an empty bucket and a plastic egg.

Megan was dressed all cute in her Easter dress for church.  I have been saving this dress just for Easter.  

So we had lots of fun.  Thanks mom and dad for the happy day.

Outside at Last

I have been waiting for nicer weather very patiently, much more patiently than my children, I might add.  They liked to beg all winter if they could pleeeease go to the park.  Anyway, most days now are nice enough to go outside.  Sometimes I even get to send the two older girls out to the backyard to play by themselves. They play out there for a long time, so that is really nice.  Here is a time we all went to the backyard together.

It is a little hard to tell, but Whitney is holding a little water gun.  We gave her a pack of cheap water guns for her birthday.  One particular warm day, we decided to open them up.  The girls and I had a blast squirting each other for like a full forty minutes.  So that was really fun.

Then Will came home from work and decided to try out his bubble magic for the first time this season.

Rachel especially loved chasing the big bubbles.

The girls each tried to make their own big bubbles; the bubble wand only got dragged through the grass a couple of times.

Whitney made some bubbles for Megan, who really liked watching the water gun fight and the bubble making.  

Some days it is still a little chilly and I don't want to take the baby outside.  Megan is just watching Whitney and Rachel play.  Staring out the window is one of Megan's favorite past times.

And just a couple of cute Megan pictures because I haven't updated the blog in awhile.  We had a box fun day and even Megan enjoyed it.  She got really into hitting the sides of the box.

Now that Megan can roll over and slide herself backwards and twist herself in circles, she has gotten into some tough spots - like this one with her head under the coffee table.  Sorry baby.

So that has pretty much summed up the last couple of weeks.

Random Small Projects

Well, we haven't done anything big or major lately.  But we have done some smaller things that were fun.  Be prepared for some random pictures.

We found some pine cones along our walk and Whitney wanted to bring them home.  I wasn't sure what to do with them, but we decided to turn them into some bird feeders.

The girls did a pretty good job of putting on the peanut butter and the sunflower seeds; they only kept snacking on everything a couple dozen times.

And then we hung them on the trees outside.  It was fun to hear the girls call out (through the window in the mornings) for the birds to come and get the food for them.

Another project was the living room fort.  I was watching another three girls in the ward one morning and we decided to make a fort.  It was quite the undertaking.

I didn't have my favorite cookies over Christmas like usual, so I decided to make some magic middles one day.  Rachel and Whitney both helped with stirring and adding things.  Megan helped by chomping on the empty butter box.

Rachel and Whitney both love to play church.  Rachel has been involving Megan in it also.  Here she sings a nursery song and then she always says some funny prayers saying thank you for anything she happens to see at the moment.  It is fun to watch the sisters playing nicely.

We did the letter K yesterday for alphabet days and I decided to let the kids play kitchen.  I had planned on it being outside and keeping the mess mostly contained, but it decided to be a cold and cloudy day, so we played kitchen in the kitchen.

The kids loved the kitchen game and played for a long time, but just look at the mess that got left behind.  Next time, it will definitely be an outside activity.

With the flu and the teething going on here, there has been a lot of poop lately.  Megan thinks it is so funny being wiped down with a baby wipe.  Will and I think it is less funny.

And finally a first turn in the big bath.  She loved the big bath much more than her little bath tub, so we probably should have switched her over a long time ago.  Oh well.  Good to have a clean baby.

So I thought about calling this blog 'Random Small Messes', instead of 'projects'.  We have gone through a lot of baby wipes and paper towels lately.  Those are like my favorite inventions.  Anyway, that is what has been happening in Umatilla.