Incredible Pizza in Conroe

We continued our weekend baptism celebration with Grandpa Whimpey at one of our favorite fun places!  The kids are crazy about Incredible Pizza!

Matthew with Grandpa - we start the night off with our all-you-can-eat buffet meal and dessert.

 After dinner, we immediately get signed up for a round of lazer tag (sometimes you have to wait a couple rounds to get in, but this time we were in the first group and mom rocked it with the older kids!  We seriously kicked butt and our team won!)

Daddy and Grandpa watched Jacob and Rebecca got to ride the kiddie rides while we were lazer tagging it!

 After lazer tag, we hit the ice!

 There were many spills at the beginning, but the kids eventually got the hang of it! 

 Daddy entertained Rebecca while the older kids were on the ice

 Matthew started cruising!

 I often found Emily on all-fours!

 Katie got caught singing and skating here

 I thought the kids might skate for 15 minutes and then be ready to move on, but they actually stayed out on the ice for almost an hour!  They loved it!

 I convinced Grandpa to go on the bumper cars with the kids and he loved it!

 Matthew vs. Katie 

 Grandpa heading toward Katie

 Matthew, Katie and Emily

 Katie and Matthew vs. Grandpa

 Grandpa and Emily - Bumper cars was definitely a highlight of the night with Grandpa!

  We finished our night with Go-Karts.  Here's the lineup of drivers and my crew started the 2nd row

Matthew was cruising!

 Grandpa drove Bex and they were fierce!

 Katie drove like a maniac!

 Emily fist pumping - I think she had a great time out there!  (I am taking photos behind glass so you can see the reflection of Jacob with Daddy)

 Grandpa and Bex passing the slow car!

 Matthew took 1st place of course!

 Emily is right on Katie's heels!

 Matthew leading the crew into pit stop

 Sam and Jacob cheering the others on!

 We had such a fun weekend with Grandpa here!  I am thrilled that he and Sam get along so well and loved it when those two would take off for a drive or entertain the kids so that I could get my work done!  We really appreciate all the love my dad shows to our family and felt so honored to have him here for Matthew's baptism to share that special day with us!  

Water Gun Fun

 Following Matthew's baptism, everyone came to our house to visit and eat lunch.  Matthew got to open his birthday presents from his cousins and water guns were included.

When our company left, Emily and Matthew got dressed down into their swimsuits for this wet occasion!   

We love water guns!

Matthew's Baptism

 Grandpa Whimpey flew down to Texas for the weekend of Matthew's baptism.  We had a lot of fun with Grandpa and were so excited for him to be a part of Matthew's special day!

 Katie, Maren, Jacob, Alex and Emily waiting for the baptism to begin.  We had Aunt Amy there to play the piano for us while mom was chorister, Grandpa Whimpey gave a talk on baptism and did the confirmation after the baptism, cousin Parker gave the talk on the Holy Ghost and Sam baptized Matthew.  It was a beautiful ceremony and I really felt the spirit there as Matthew took this important step on his path back to Heavenly Father.  As usual, mom did tear up a bit during the last song (I have to admit that as the chorister I was looking out over the audience watching my father holding baby Jacob in his arms with tears in his eyes - such a gentle moment that I was so blessed to see - and immediately looked further away at my sister Amy playing the piano and that was it - I couldn't hold those tears back so I actually only sang half of the song and was so grateful that Amy made it all the way through!).

 The official family picture

 I love this one more because Jacob is grabbing Matthew's nose and those two are just that silly together!

 WOW!  This young man has definitely grown up!  He no longer looks like a little kid anymore - such a big kid nowadays!  Matthew is just a fun kid to hang out with!  Always bouncing or tumbling or jumping around the room.  He is great at tormenting his sisters, but also plays very well with them!  It has been fun watching him bond with both Rebecca and Jacob this past year - such a great older brother!  I love that he still gives me a hug each night before heading to bed and that even though he is pretty rough and tough all day long, he can be very gentle when he needs to be.

 Sam with his friend Sammy Posa - Jacob loved his beard

 It was so great to have the Long's in town also!

 What a great looking group!  

Back row:  Parker, Amy, Jake, Alex, Jacob, Megan, Grandpa, Katie, Sam, Rebecca

Front row:  Emily, Maren, Matthew

 Jake and Jake

 Parker with Jacob

Maren and Emily - we love our cousins!!!

Brace Face

Look who got braces!!!  We look forward to seeing this metal mouth for the next 2 years sporting fabulous colors!  She is a trooper and all ready cannot wait to get them off!

Jump!

 He looks so tiny in his jumper!

Matthew loves to help Jacob swing in the doorway and bounce a ton!  Good exercise of course!

Let the Drool Begin

Jacob now has to wear a silly bib everyday because he has started drooling like crazy!  Yuck!  Nothing I wear is safe anymore!

Happy Easter!

Jacob's first Easter - getting dressed for church with his new stuffed animal from the Easter bunny!

The Easter bunny brought the kids lots of candy in their Easter baskets!  Before church, the kids got to search through their baskets and find all the goodies!

 Look who's gonna drive us to church!

 Watch out everyone!

 We celebrated after church with our Easter egg hunt.  The Easter bunny hid plastic candy-filled eggs around out backyard.  We let Rebecca go searching first.

 Once Rebecca found her dozen eggs, we let the other 3 loose to search!

 The last egg to be found!

 The boys had fun together finding the toughest eggs to reach

 Our cute family says "Happy Easter!"

 I love this picture because the girls were so funny pinching Sam's rear - their faces say it all!  Evil Katie and Emily, poor Sam.  We still love to laugh!

 After the Easter egg hunt, everyone headed inside to dye Easter eggs.

 We usually do this the day before Easter, but ran out of time yesterday!  It turned out to be the perfect Sunday afternoon activity for the family.

 Everyone reaching for the right colors!

 That night, we had a dear sweet family join us for dinner.  The kids did their own repeat Easter egg hunts in the backyard.  The Britton family was preparing to move in 2 days and we wanted them to have a break from all that moving stress!  

 You know that person that just makes you laugh until your belly aches and cheeks hurt?  Everytime Sonya and I get together, we cannot stop giggling and laughing!  We are just contagious to eachother!  

 I am sure gonna miss this gal!  It was great to say farewell with a big Easter dinner!  Magnolia will be missing one of their greatest families for sure!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter this year and took time to focus on our Savior and His great gift of the Atonement for each of us!