Ellis Island & Statue of Liberty

Our friends from Utah were visiting this past week, so we did a lot of sight-seeing. We took a ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty one day, and it was totally awesome! Here are some pictures from that adventure:

 Our ferry

 A silly baby

 Ellis Island from the ferry

 Two crazy kids

 This one passed out from exhaustion.

 Cruising to Liberty Island

 Manhattan from Liberty Island

 One very tired boy

 All of us and our friends

Oaks family and Lady Liberty

New Grill

For mine and Josh's combined birthday gift to each other, we got a grill. We've had a lot of fun grilling this past week!

 The mystery tree in our backyard just bloomed a few days ago... and the blossoms are white! It's a beautiful tree! I wish it would stay like this forever- it makes our backyard look pretty awesome. 

Little Travis Growing Up

 Travis has been struggling with sitting up. Every time I practice with him, he resists and tries to lie down. So we borrowed this bumbo chair from a friend, and it has been very good for him.

Travis recently discovered the great outdoors- since he has spent his entire life indoors until now. Every time I take him outside, he is in awe with everything around him. He eagerly looks around and  drinks it all in- he's totally in his element! 

Brooklynn loves the flowers that we planted by our back door. She calls them "pretty flowers" and helps me water them every day.

This Week...

Raspberry fingers!!!

 I found a baby walker at a yard sale last year, and Travis just started hanging out in it! He's following in his brother's footsteps- it's just like the one that Tanner cruised around in while we lived in Grenada. Travis loves it, and he's learning how to use his legs. How is he already this big?!

 My little crazies.

 Tanner made a dam and then started putting mud on it "like the beavers do." What an imagination!

 Travis has two teeth now!

Saying Goodbye

Our good friends from medical school- Chapin and Whitney Paullin- just moved away last week to California, where Whitney will start her residency in Pediatrics. We had so many fun game nights and holidays with them... we are really going to miss them! They stayed at our home for a couple of days before leaving, after they moved out of their apartment. Tanner loved hanging out with them, because they are (or were) his Primary teachers at church. They will sorely be missed around here!

Chapin ("Chip") styled Tanner's hair with gel. 

This picture was taken with Chip's camera. It turned out pretty good!

Easter Eggs!

The kids had an Easter egg decorating party on Saturday. They did a pretty superb job decorating them! And at the bottom is a video of them flying kites- that was a little Easter activity we had.

Grandma Visit

The kids were SO excited when Grandma Niederhauser came to visit! She came last week and hung out with us for 3 days. We had a lot of fun, eating lunch at Costco, getting Travis his first photo shoot, relaxing in the back yard, etc. We were so glad she could come visit! Here are a few pictures she took when she was here: