Snow to Sun - Spring in Bend

Check out the works of art by the Staley crew.  We got immersed in the paint as you can see from these proud individual portraits.

We had a fun snow day with Piper and David on the ski hill and me and the boys sledding and eating snow.  What a beautiful blue bird day!

I guess it is spring and most people have moved on to bike riding, it felt like we had the whole mountain to ourselves.

Here is a sweet video of me and Jett Sledding down the big hill: http://youtu.be/dztAEJl57JY

And the next day it was off to play in the river!  Dave has had a project he has been working on for the last several years.  It started at our house on the river where he made the goal to jump in the river at least one time each month of the year.  By this year the only months he had left were January and April.  January was left for obvious reasons, but actually in the past April has been one of the coldest months.  This year we have seen several "nice" days even in the dead of winter.  I think it hit 80 on more than one occasion this April, so the project is now complete. Way to go Dahveed!  I guess I didn't get a picture, but he did go all the way under water!  =-)

The kiddos were inspired to take a dip as well, what brave little fish we have.

I couldn't not capture this bare bums picture.

More on this soon, but the boys have officially started riding their balance bikes.  We are super excited that they are excited to ride.  Even though these pictures don't show it. =-)

Spring Skiing

We stuck around town for Spring Break this year, and even though it was a pretty dreary rainy week, we got out and enjoyed our time with Piper out of school.  

The rock gym was a big hit.  The boys ran around, used the belaying ropes as rope swings and played on all the bouldering mats.

Piper kinda liked climbing, then all of a sudden really liked climbing and got motivated to climb higher when someone put dum dum suckers  in high holes up the rock wall.

Funny how much this kid is motivated by sugar.  The cross country skiing and snowshoeing excursion with her friends went a lot smoother when there was a reminder of the cookies waiting for her in the shelter.

 Thank you Quin and Lily for the yummy baked goods.

We have been doing so much cross country skiing this year and not too much down hill, but Dave recently got some new skis and even a spring pass at Bachelor, so squeezing in some runs will be top of mind for him.  Actually last week we found a babysitter for the boys while Piper was in school and together got an amazing day on the slopes.  The snow was perfect and so much fun.  Yay spring skiing!

Weekend morning pancakes!

Super fun Easter party at Kaden's grandparents house in Sisters.  What a view!  I am sold on living close in town where we do now, but man the wide open space at Shannon's parents house really made me miss our first house in Tumalo.  Love those mountain views!  There was a big turn out for this second annual Easter Egg hunt party complete with crafts, yummy food and fun friends to hang out with.

The Easter Bunny even visited Calvin, Jett and Piper at our house too.  

I even got to sneak in some great girl time with some friends cross country skiing a big loop then out to dinner.  Yay...FUN!