Happy Easter!!!

We've had a nice quiet Easter. Micheal and I dyed eggs then Samantha helped Micheal decorate them. They had a lot of fun!

Here are our cute kids with their new Easter outfits. Samantha got a matching purse that she slept with last night and carried around at church today, but when it was time for the picture she wanted nothing to do with it. She said Zach could hold it though.

Her dress turned out a little big, but that just means it will fit her longer I guess.

What a handsome boy!!!!!

Cute kids!!!!

Our big boy is loving his walker! It's nice that he's big enough to play with things.

I love Easter and the reminder it brings of all that the Savior has done for me and for my family. I hope you all had a wonderful day as well!

Fun Weekends

The last few weekends have been busy ones for the Robbins family. This past weekend we had a lot of fun and got a lot done in our back yard. The whether was beautiful, so we built a couple of raised garden boxes, filled them, and even planted a few seeds (it's still to early for most plants). Samantha got a new princess chair for outside and she loves it!

Michael got a new grill, and to say he loves it would probably be an understatement.

Samatha had fun helping with the dirt!

The weekend before my sister Kathryn came down to spend the week. She was between semesters and wanted to get out of Rexburg!

While she was here we were able to get together with my brother, Lawrence, and his family as well. Samantha talks about Ethne all the time!!!!

We had a little Easter egg hunt for the girls.

Ethne only wanted to ride on the toy, so eventually her dad pushed her around so she would get some eggs too.

The weekend before that my mom and other sister Eliza came to take my dad to the airport and spent a couple days with us. My car broke a belt while we were on our way to go shopping, so the kids ended up and my brother's in-laws while Mom and I waited for a tow truck. Samantha like all the new toys at the Humphries house!

Before my dad flew out, my parents and sister spent the night at a hotel. The hotel had a pool and water slides. Samantha enjoyed watching more than playing, but Grandpa was just fine with that.

Government Shutdown

For the first time, something that is happening in Washington is effecting my family personally. It's crazy to me that the "Big Wigs" in Washington have so much power over my little family. As you probably know, we, the U.S., are facing a government shutdown if Congress doesn't pass a budget by Friday at midnight. That probably doesn't mean a lot to many of you, but for my family it means Michael will be on an unpaid furlough until a budget does get passed. I have mixed emotions about this. I don't want a bad budget to get passed just so there is a budget to pass. I also wouldn't mind having Michael home during the day for a couple days. On the other hand, we are in the process of really trying to build a good savings. Going without pay for who knows how long would definitely hurt that goal. On the bright side, we do have a savings, so we would be okay financially. As I think about the situation, it really makes me think twice about the importance of being informed about candidates and their views. The national government has always been a group of people, that I don't know much about, who make decisions that effect a huge mass of people, but I personally am not really in the line of fire. Now that I am, I really hope that there are some good decisions made by some men and women that I don't know.

A Very Important Lesson

Samantha learned a very important lesson today: Glue sticks are not makeup and should not be used as such. Picking dried glue out of your eyebrows in not a very enjoyable pastime.

Back to Sierra Vista, AZ (just for a week)

Michael had a training for work in Sierra Vista last week. The kids and I went too. We had a lot of fun. We stopped in Phoenix to see Michael's Aunt Shirley, Uncle Chris, and cousins Manda and Kim. We got a new camera after we left Chris and Shirley's, so we don't have pictures. We then went to Sierra Vista. We got to attend our old ward and see a lot of friends. That was one of the best parts of the trip.

While Michael was at work all day so Samantha, Zach, and I played with friends. We met some friends at the park a couple times and went to some friend's houses as well. I wasn't very good at remembering to take pictures so there aren't a variety of them, but here they are none-the-less.
Samantha LOVED Nathan! We dropped something off at their house one day and she was so mad that I wouldn't let her go in to play.

It was really nice to be able to go outside and play every day! The weather was wonderful.

Samantha and Gabe at the park.

Zach would not sleep in his bassinet, but Samantha sure had fun "sleeping" in it with her baby.

Zach was really good most of the time. He was laughing up a storm with Nathan.

On our way home we stopped for a night in Quartzsite to see Grandma and Grandpa Averett. The kids had fun playing and being out of the car for a while.

Samantha and Zach both did really well in the car. It was a long drive, but they stayed pretty happy. I'm thankful for mellow kids!

Happy Anniversary Michael!!!

The last four years have flown! This is us when we were engaged. I tried to find a current picture of us to compare, but it's been quite a while since we've had a picture taken of us together. I guess that's what happens when you have kids! Happy Anniversary Michael!!! Love you!!!

Monterey, California

We are back from our two weeks in Monterey, California. Michael had to go for some training for work, so we decided to make a vacation out of the trip. The kids and I spent most of the weekdays in our hotel room at the Hyatt. We got to know the housekeeper pretty well. She was super sweet to my kids and was always sure to give us extra water bottles and towels. She even remembered my kids names. We also got to know one of Michael's co-worker's family. His co-worker, Mike, brought his wife Emily and two kids Addie and Sam. Their kids are the same ages as our kids, so we had a really good time with them!
Here are Sam and Zach at the hotel.

Samantha spent a lot of time sitting on the only chair in the room!

Out side of our room there was a pool, hot tub, fire pit, ping pong tables, and a giant chess set!

It was really nice weather most of the time, but we did have to keep jackets on the kids most of the week.

We forgot Samantha's jacket this time, so she wore mine. She thought that was pretty cool!

The kids really did well considering the fact that they were cooped up in a hotel room most of the time.

During the weekend we were able to walk along the coast. When I first looked at this view I thought, "Wow, that is a lot of big rocks." Wrong. That was a lot of seals!!! They were pretty funny flopping around. This was the first time that we had all seen the ocean. It was pretty...and big!

We were also able to go to the aquarium on Saturday. We were told that was the place to visit in Monterey. It was really cool! Samantha was afraid of most everything, except the Nemo fish and the play area.

They had some funny little dress ups in the play area. Here is Samantha the sea horse!

The jelly fish were probably the coolest things that we saw. There were a bunch of different kinds and they all glowed in the dark!

Here is Samantha with some Nemo fish!

On Sunday we took the three hour drive on highway one along the coast. It was beautiful, but very windy. We went down to San Luis Obispo to see my Great Grandma Hawthorne. I hadn't seen her since the summer of 2004, so we decided that a few hours was worth it!

It was so fun to see her! Not many kids get to have their picture taken with their Great-Great Grandma! I just wish I had a better camera. Some of the pictures are a little fuzzy, but I'm still glad we got them.

Grandma was so excited to see us. Samantha took a little while to warm up, but when she did she was dancing and singing while Grandma clapped along. It was super cute!

I think this was the best part of the trip!!!!

The second week we were a little less adventuresome. We stayed at the hotel and played most of the time. We did trade babysitting with Mike and Emily so we could have a date night one night. Micheal bought me a beautiful necklace and some earrings with tiny origami turtles on them!

Addie and Samantha got to be really good friends!

By the end, we were all tired and ready to come home.

Our last night there we went to the beach and took some pictures. Emily is a photographer, so she got some family pictures for us. When I get them from her, I'll be sure to post them!