Zions --08

It seems to be a yearly thing for us now... Our day at Zions. This year Aunt Kelsie and Carston came along w/ us to St. George. We spent the day in Zions doing very moderate hiking on Emerald Pools and the river walk. Bry left us for a few hours to conquer Angels Landing. It suggested 4 hours to do the hike and Bryan did it in 2. He is really amazing... I think! Anyway, we were quite the site w/ baby in the bjorn and kid in the stroller and totally pregnant lady

trying to get up some the trails...

This is the Place Park

We took an outing right before the crash of spring break to the Zoo, or so we had planned. When we arrived it was so packed people were parking on the street. So, we opted to go accross the street to "this is the place park." We had a good time. Grandma Ruth, Lou Lou and aunt Kelsie and Lindsee came. Abby had a super bad diaper and thank goodness Kelsie had an extra outfit for her 7 month old Carston (see Abby in striped outfit)!!! Amy got in trouble for feeding the Llamas... but all in all, it was a nice outing.!

Sheppard turns 2

Shep (Blakely's and Abby's cousin) turned 2 in March. It was really fun to play games like bucking bronco, duck duck goose, and dance around... Things Shep enjoys-- and eat Shepherd's pie for lunch, how fitting. We love our cousins.

Easter Egg Hunt

We love the big Easter Egg hunt at the Rasmussen's. It's always an adventure finding eggs in tractors and old cars. This year as was last was a mix of both the Sheppard and Rasmussen families. Fun was had by all and the kids got PLENTY of treats!

Easter Preparations

Easter is a great holiday. The kids really can do a lot w/ it and remembering the Savior makes it that much more meaningful. Here our Hillcrest High friends group got the kids together for a fun easter egg hunt at Michelle Sauks'. She hid over 400 eggs. Then later the girls colored easter eggs w/ their grandma Mary, aunt Bex and cousin Susannah... in prep for our annual egg hunt on easter.

Blakely's photo skills

Blakely is really into photography as you can tell by her latest pics on my camera. She goes around the house taking pictures of pictures, rooms and of course herself!

Turning 5 in royal style!

Blakely had a huge princess party. It was a lot fun. We decorated crowns, played kiss the frog, made necklaces, did manicures and of course opened presents and ate cake. Aunt Kelsie spent many hours decorating this cake for the party. Thanks to all for the help!

Family Party for Blakely

Blakely is such a cutie. We love her so much. She has a great tempermant and is very helpful around the house. She is very bright and has really taken to reading. We had a fun family party at Grandma Rasmussen's the night before her b-day. Aunt Becca made her a sunflower cake. It was very cute. She received many gifts from her fan club... including a new bike and helmet. Watch out!

Bry is 30!!!

Bryan finally has finally reached the hump of 30! He thinks this is really old! I have to laugh because I'm always a step ahead of him. I labored on this beloved BYU cake for him and was very proud of it. I'm no professional like some of our aunts! Anyway, every year we have a soup party and this year our Bro-in-law brought his rock band equipment and they jammed the night away. I was brutal and gave Bryan a Wii box w/ books in it! He thinks I'm so cruel. Maybe someday he'll get his video games, but not as long as I have anything to do w/ it!

Snow Fun

Winter presents many challenges for a family and a mom who might lose her mind if she has to stay cooped up any longer w/ kids who want to watch movies and pester each other. We have managed to get out a little: Zoo, sledding, snowman making and shoveling. Thank heavens for Spring.

Snowmobiling in Midway

We try and get up at least once a year for a snow-mobiling outing. This year we got a good deal on a condo in Midway and had fun snowmobiling at Wasatch State Park. The weather was really nice and fun was had by all. The Sheppard crew was there and we realized that most of our kids would much rather stay inside the car and watch a movie... go figure!