Prosser Ribbon Cutting

In the last five years that we have been out of school, Kent has been able to be in an expanding practice that has now added two more locations.  This is the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Prosser clinic.  Next to Kent is the new orthodontist that will be working in the office with him, the staff is wearing blue polos, the Miss Prosser court and chamber of commerce were there to be a part of the ceremony as well. The newspaper was there and wrote up a great article on the Kent and the new practice. 

Ella's Spring Concert

 Ella missed her Christmas concert at school because we were in Utah for Christmas vacation.  So naturally she had been talking about her Spring concert since January- making sure we would be in town for this one.  After the concert, the teacher announced that we could take our child home with us at that moment.  If we decided not to, we could come back and pick them up in an hour, when school was actually over.  This is the face Ella gave me, begging me to check her out.  Do you think I did?

After the concert, the teacher announced that we could take our child home with us at that moment.  If we decided not to, we could come back and pick them up in an hour, when school was actually over.  This is the face Ella gave me, begging me to check her out.  Do you think I did?

 Brittany watched Cannon for me so I could give Ella my full attention. I traded Cannon for Jane for the afternoon and Jane watched Ella's concert with me. Of course I checked Ella out, so us three girls hit the town for a little girl time and some gelato!!

Horse Show

This picture is priceless!!!  I love both Reno's expression as much as I love Ella's. 

Ella and Rachel are ready for their first class- lead line.

Leading the horse around the arena in front of the judges.  

Are we not loving this little old cowboy judge?  

 Ella now mounts up to do the walk and trotting class!

 In the first walk & trot class, Reno would not trot. Ella's little legs were moving and her heels were kicking as hard as she could be Reno was just too content with walking.  For the second walk & trot class, Ella brought her whip and that made Reno start to run (canter).  Ella was holding the whip in one hand and the reins in the other so when Reno started to move so fast, Ella began slipping out of the saddle.  My heart sank and I inhaled deeply as my little five-year-old stayed level headed and regained control of herself and the horse.  She finished out the class, following the judge's instructions which included: walking, trotting, reversing course and then backing up your horse.  My pride swelled as I saw all the hard work Ella has been putting in to achieve her goals.  Way to go little cowgirl!!

Look at Ella competing with children twice her age and even an adult!  Way to go Ella!

One of the classes only had one student- Ella!  So Ella won first place! Reno is checking out the grand prize to see if there are any carrots in that saddle bag!

 Our little Wrangler wearin' cowgirl!!!!

Grandpa's John's Birthday

Since we had my parents visiting us a few days before his birthday we wanted to do something fun with him.  We decided a pizza party and mini putt-putt would be the way.  We are so blessed that my parents come visit and help us out so much.  These are cherished memories that we will hold on to forever. 

Mother's Day

I am the luckiest girl to be able to have my mother visiting me from Utah on Mother's Day.  I debated back and forth whether we should do an "All Out Fancy" meal or kick back and let the men take over.  As you can tell, I picked the second choice.  These two wonderful men made the entire meal from start to finish, including dessert. Ella helped set the table and I even got a nap in!  Talk about heaven! 

Ashleigh's 80's party

Have I mentioned our new friend, Ashleigh?  I haven't?  Well- I must!  Ashleigh (middle girl in the pink shirt) is an outgoing mother of three girls, married to her college sweetheart.  They live in the town right next to ours but they are building a house on the same street as we are (yes, I'm still hopeful that we will be moving out there... someday).  When I asked her what kind of party she'd want, she mentioned that she has a bit of an 80's fetish so I knew just what had to be done.  Like, a totally tubular party, right?!! 

Ella's First Horse Show

 I was one happy mama that got to go on a shopping date with this darling little cowgirl.  Tomorrow was the big day of her very first horseshow and so we were off to find her the perfect pair of cowgirl boots.  Ella informed me that these boots she currently has does not have the proper heel for safety in a stirrup.  Can you believe how big she is getting?!

In this picture, Ella is doing a little "ropin"!

 Don't let this frightened look fool you.  Ella was more than excited to get out there and do her best at the show.  She was involved in a showmanship class and a lead line class.  She got 4th in the showmanship and 1st in lead line!  Good job!  There is another horse show next week that Grandpa and Grandma get to see- Ella is so excited to show off her skills!

I have to include that I left for Spokane at 5:00 AM with the Young Women to attend Time Out For Girls (Women) so I wasn't able to be at the horse show.  I had already committed to driving the girls up when I heard about the show.  It was a hard decision for me, but came to the conclusion that I could either have Ella miss the show and wait for the one in May so I could see her first show, or I could let her be in the first show even though I felt bad I couldn't be there.  I knew that Ella would rather be in the show without me there to watch than for her not to be able to go at all.  So Kent was left alone for 15 hours to play Mr. Mom.  Ella slept over with the Scott's and they took her up early to get registered. Kent packed up Cannon and Ethan (Cannon had been awake from 1 AM- 5 AM the night before) and made sure to be in Moxee, almost an hour away from Sunnyside, by 9:00 AM to support Ella in her show.  They stayed at the show until Ella's events were over and then drove back home to get ready for Ethan's basketball game.  Once again, Kent loaded up all three kids and headed to Ethan's game.  Ella and Cannon sat on the team bench while Kent coached a winning game!  At this point, I would've expected Kent to order pizza and call it a night but he came home and made orange chicken for dinner. When I returned after 9 PM, it warmed my heart to see the four of them snuggling on the bed watching Animal Planet.  I am so proud of my little cowgirl, my basketball star, my angel and my Mr. Mom.

Ensign Ranch

The second half of our spring break was spent at Ensign Ranch with grandpa and grandma.  We had a wonderful time enjoying canoeing, horseback riding, roasting hot dogs and s'mores, playing basketball, taking nature walks and enjoying the sound of the freeway.  Freeway?! Yes, that was the only downfall was that this whole ranch is right next to the freeway so the cars passing by was very distracting if trying to find serenity.  The first day we were there, the sun was out.  Our friends joined us the second day and I regret to say it rained most of the time.  We were still able to canoe and roast s'mores and had a wonderful time playing games and watching movies in the RV. 

 Our happy little camper with his hat that Aunt Camille gave him for his second birthday!

 This little canoe trip was. . . memories in the making.  The three oldest boys, took their own canoe while I went with L and Ella and Brit took J with her.  The wind was a force to be reckoned with that day and several times- it won.  The three boys got upstream quicker than the rest of us and couldn't see us around the bend.  After waiting for quite some time for us to catch up to them, they started to get nervous and then became scared that something had happened to us. I'm so proud that these three boys talked about together and decided to say a prayer.  I am thankful that none of them were too proud or embarrassed to pray for comfort.  They said as soon as they finished the prayer, they turned around and saw our canoe coming around the corner.  I just love these kids so much!!

 This is a picture I took from the step of the RV.  It was perfectly perfect to look out and see Ethan and Kent playing basketball on their own court with Ella right behind them, getting all the horse time she wanted.

 Ensign Ranch is owned and operated by our Church so there are full time missionaries running the place.  We had fun being the only campers during this particular week so they gave us the VIP treatment.  Ethan and Ella had fun when the missionaries should them a snake they found near the canoes.

 Ethan and Ella performing a number they made up to someday compete on "Dancing with the Stars"

 Ethan has been very sure to let Ella know that he's "just not into horses" but this trip made him realize that Ella might be onto something with this whole "I'm very into horses" thing.  As you can tell one horse in particular took an immediate liking to Ethan.

 Ella took this picture of her toy horse in the window of the RV and I just thought it was too cute not to include.

 Kent and I performed "Romeo and Juliet" but Ethan and Ella did not appreciate it.  We actually got some "boos!" from the audience.

 Derek spent some time with the boys working on scouts, including working with a knife and repeating scout oaths.  Maybe that will give Ethan the spark of excitement he needs to see how fun scouting can be.

 This picture might look like I dote on Kent in all he does.  Although that is the truth, this was mostly for Bubba.  Kent is carrying him and since the sun was shining, we wanted to make sure his sensitive little skin didn't get burned.  We just love our little Cannon too much to let that happen!