Preston, part three: Farm Life

We had some crazy "spring" weather in Idaho! And since we never knew when we were going to wake up to this,

we had to take advantage of nicer weather and get the kids outside!

(Did I mention how great it was to finally meet my newest nephew Ty?! He is the absolute cutest, most mellow little guy!)

Liam and Sam think Sadie and Ray are their "dog twins," since their hair matches!

We got to spend some time at my Grandma and Grandpa Beckstead's house and had fun visiting and exploring the farm.

Grandma told us that their barn cat, Yowlie, had had her kittens somewhere but they hadn't found them yet. Well, that was it. The kids had a mission and they wouldn't rest until they found those kittens. It was Sam who searched every hole in the stack of hay until he found Yowlie looking at him, then Grace found the four little kittens.

Grandpa then told the kids that Rock Springs was the cat capital of the world, and wasn't it lucky that there are four kittens and four kids in our family, and that their grandpa was so kind and generous. Nice try, Grandpa!

We tried out Grandma's trike and had lunch at Big J's, too. We love you guys!

Preston, part two: Cousinly Fun

I love hanging out with my nieces and nephews. It's so fun to watch my sisters and brother parent and to see the little personalities all the kids have. I love these small people so much!

Halle and Grace

Tripton

Tegan and Declan

Kael

Liam and Easton

Some of the boys

Sam and Kael

Whenever we're all together in Preston, there is usually some blanket tossing.

Cait and Tom brought their Wii and a great new game called "Just Dance." These pictures don't do justice to how dang funny it was to play and watch. My all-time favorite performance was the Spice Girls' "Wanna Be" by Tom and Papa. (aka "Old Spice") We had a dance off, complete with official brackets, and the winner of the whole thing? Well, let's just say we need to change the name of the game to "Just Lance." (Although Liam can't accept his defeat and is practicing hard to challenge your title, Lance!)

Preston, part one: Easter

What a fun spring break we had this year!

The trip to Idaho was longer than usual, due to crazy weather (snow in April!) and two, that's right TWO mountain passes being closed. We had to re-route down through Portland, which added hours to an already long trip.

So after two long days in the car, we were very excited to get to Preston late Saturday afternoon, just in time for dinner at Papa and Nana's house.

The boy cousin table. When Trip's mom took off his shirt to prevent spaghetti-o stains, he was very upset, so the other boys quickly took theirs off, too. (The naked-loving Ratchford boys were first, of course.) You can see by the picture below that Trip was not in the least bit comforted by this show of manly solidarity.

A pre-bedtime cousin meeting:

The next morning we woke up to the spoils of the Easter Bunny.

In between general conference sessions, we colored eggs.

And we had a very chilly egg hunt.

My sister Cait and baby Kael.

My sister Tess, busy filling deviled eggs. Yummy!