Parker is 11!

Parker with a particularly cool car after church. He is always spotting awesomeness.

Parker had great birthday, mostly because of the surprise appearance of PA! It was a pretty regular Monday morning until my dad texted me at 6 am to let me know he had a lengthy layover in Dallas en route to London. I picked him up around 10:00 and we went straight to the elementary school to surprise Miles. It was so cute to see Miles see Pa! He put his things down and ran for the classroom door and into a big Pa hug.

We ended up checking him out of school and going next to Parker's school. He was expecting me to bring him lunch for his birthday, but we surprised him in the office and took him out for tacos. He had a project due that afternoon, or he would have come home, too! Luckily, we knew that Pa would be back a week later, so the goodbye wasn't so hard.

Lastly, we went to Young to see Audrey. We talked with her for a bit and I took dad back to the airport. Later, we had Kobeya for dinner and invited Parker's buddy Tyler over for pie. Mmm!

On Easter, the day before Parker's birthday, we had family over and stuck some candles in our Texas Sheet Cake. 

Parker got some great gifts, most of which were Rubik's Cube-related!

We are so proud of Parker. He is a gentle, smart, easy-going, happy kid, and brings such joy to us. Every so often, I skip ahead emotionally, as if to prepare myself for the eventualities of my kids growing up. One of the moments I leap to (mostly in fear for my sadness slash pride), is Parker leaving on his mission. Oh how hard that will be, but I know he will get there because he is good and wants to do the right thing. We love this guy.

Easter

We had a really nice Easter Sunday. Neal is serving as Stake Executive Secretary right now, so he wasn't able to be with us before church. We took some quick photos of everybody looking all fancy, though.

After church, Daddy and Gail came over for dinner. It is always so nice to see them. Neal had some woodworking advice on site at the chicken coop from his dad. 

Jeffie came with Caroline and Nelson for dinner and a rainy egg hunt. It was fun to have a little guy around to make things interesting! 

Easter is always such a lovely day. I wish we all had our focus more often and more fully on the atonement and our Savior's miraculous resurrection. Because of Him, I have joy and am able to experience the incredible and unsurpassable peace of knowing that my family is eternal.

State DI Tournament

Well, this was not in the plans. After the girls placed second at the regional DI tournament, we did not expect to be competing at State. However, because of their high scores and the additional space for a few extra teams, Poke 'Em in DI was offered a bonus spot, and we took it! We headed down to Pflugerville with the team to compete one more time!

Audrey and her wonderful team. Mariah, Avery, and Farah. State Competitions is where pin trading happens! These girls are hard core traders!

Little brothers like it, too.

Last-minute prep work.

Presenting their solution.

Waiting for the awards to begin.

The girls placed eighth, which was a bummer because it wasn't high enough for them to qualify for Globals. Alas! They'll be back next year!

Webelo and Arrow of Light

Parker is right on track for scouting. He was honored with his Webelo and Arrow of Light at a pack meeting at the park. Woohoo! He is mostly ready to be done wearing that teeny blue cub scout shirt!