Easter

We have had a pretty busy Easter so far. Ben & I spoke in Sacrament Meeting and I substituted on the piano and teaching my Achievement Days girls' class in Primary. The spirit was really strong all day though and I have a newfound love for this sacred holiday. Plus Kiara looked gorgeous in her new Easter dress and didn't mind getting a small basket after church either! The bubbles were her favorite part of the basket, especially when they landed on the grass and didn't pop right away. She really is the light of our lives. We are so blessed to be her parents!

Goofy girl

Kiara gets this look on her face as if to say, "You are totally crazy!" I was able to catch this look on camera the other day, followed by her being a little crazy herself. She loves the sunglasses Grandma & Grandpa got her at Santa Cruz and gets quite a kick out of herself when she wears them!

Folsom Lake

We had a great time shopping at the outlets yesterday and on the way home decided to stop at Folsom Lake. Kiara loved the "wa wa" (water) and duckies. We took a walk along the path and just enjoyed the beautiful weather and scenery. It's fun living so close to so many fun places. Each Saturday we like to go exploring and we always find something cool without traveling far.

Kiara dancing

We have the next Blake Lewis on our hands and he even has his own dancer already! Here is some video of Ben beat boxing and Kiara dancing along. The girl's got confidence, that's for sure!

Our trip to San Francisco

We had a great time in San Francisco and Santa Cruz last week with my parents. Kiara really took the phrase "Take time to smell the roses" to heart and now has to stop and smell any flowers we see! She loved the sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf and all the fish in the aquarium, but I think her favorite part was chasing the birds around and "chirping" at them. I think she spent a good half hour running around and up to them. We went on a bay cruise and she tried her hardest to stay awake and take it all in, but eventually her exhaustion won out and she fell asleep on my shoulder. That is the best feeling! On Saturday we went to the beach at Santa Cruz and had a great time. Kiara loved the rides and was much more daring than we expected. She was 2 inches too short for the "Puff the Magic Dragon" roller coaster and was not happy about it! She got over it though when Ben took her on another ride and she got to go high in the air. I think she just might be more brave than her mom! When we went down to the beach she was excited at first but as soon as a wave came in and made her feet sink she had had enough! Eventually she calmed down but was only happy if one of us was holding her. She did love the seagulls though! We had a great weekend though and I think it was probably my best birthday ever! Plus Kiara didn't mind having 2 extra people around to spoil her rotten!

Kiara on the slide

Our little girl is getting so big and brave! I was very proud of her going down the slide by herself, considering how cautious she is.

A day at the park

Kiara & I had a perfect day at the park today. We are loving this weather. Today was cooler than expected because it only reached 65, but we should get up to 70 by the end of the week. Anyway, we decided to take advantage of the sunshine and had a picnic at the park. We went last week with our friends and stayed about 2 hours, and Kiara just walked the whole time. She tried the slide a couple of times but was more interested in wandering through the open field. Today she did the slide over and over all by herself and loved every minute of it. The most exciting thing though was when she ate her first apple! We can never get her to eat any fruits or vegetables but today she decided she wanted my apple and ate almost half of it! I was so proud of her! I decided to push my luck and have her share my carrots too but she wasn't at all interested. Oh well, one out of two isn't bad!