Easter 2015

 Hawkins Family Annual Easter Egg Hunt - Missing JD and Kiana this year :(

 Rhett

 Laiklie

 Dallin

 Oakley and Macady helping Paityn

 And this cute little baby Memory with her mommy and dad....and of course grandpa!

 Everyone checking out their findings.  So fun! I love Easter and our family traditions.  Another tradition is Elderly Baskets.  The kids love putting together treats and then running the plates of goodies to the doors of our dear elderly neighbors. This year we delivered 17 plates of goodies.  They love the hugs and smiles that they get from the elderly.  I love the lesson of service it teaches them and the joy I know it brings to those lonely on the holiday.

 This year Easter and General Conference fell at the same time.  Yay!! There is no better way to spend Easter Sunday then listening to a living Prophet of God.  We are so blessed!

Spring Break

We loved spring break! We needed the break so bad! We hung out, slept in, went to the movie, did some antler hunting and on the weekend went to Utah for a volleyball tournament.  We took the three littles with us and all we heard about on the way there was, "WHEN DO WE GET TO SWIM?"

 They swam and swam!

 The volleyball team climbed in Friday night too after 4 hours of ball.

 These girls are so fun! Their coach this year is a young college student and the girls love her! She didn't feel well and was sitting on the edge of the pool, the girls started splashing her so she (fully clothed) jumped in and started taking them down.  They got her back by corning her with their endless splashing.  Lucky for her one of the girls dads cannon balled in to help her.  Hilarious! So much fun!

 The facility the tournament was at was AMAZING! It had raquet ball, soccer, basketball, a track, batting cages and so much more.  For $1 they let the kids rent a ball of any sort and they could go back and forth trading it in and getting a new ball for a different area.  They loved it and didn't want to leave when the tournament was over!  A great spring break for everyone!

 Hawkins, Barrie's and Hammer kids enjoying some McDonalds!

And one VERY EXHAUSTED girl! I absolutely LOVE watching her play ball!

Antler Hunting

Over spring break one of the things the kids wanted to do was to go antler hunting at the ranch.  What a great idea! We haven't ever done this together and loved it so much the first day we went back another day too!

 We hiked until the kids could see the cabin and the girls had to pee so bad they decided to hike into the cabin instead of back to the suburban and drive around to it.  So I hiked back alone and sent the kids on their way.  It ended up being a super long walk because Oakley thought Dallin got the hidden key for the big cabin on his way past it and he thought she did so they ended up doubling back...both mad at each other of course. :)

 The first time we went we found several bones....like this one Rhett is pretending to be a tail of some sort, but the only antlers we found was one I found and this one that Laiklie found.  The next time we went Laiklie was the only one to find any! The boys didn't think that was fair.  Girls are just better at finding things than boys! True story! Hahaha!

Church Basketball

Dallin is 12 now and with turning 12 you get to play Young Men's basketball. Yay! He has been so excited about it and loves playing with the boys from the ward against some of his friends from school.  It is fun to watch and I love that when one team doesn't have enough we just share players.  That is my kind of ball.....everyone having a good time and cheering for each other!

 Tonight Dallin was #42

I had to leave a few minutes early and they ended up staying to play a second game.  He informed me later that, "I did way better and even made several baskets once you left mom." hahaha! Love him!

Spring Fishing

While Oakley and I were at the dance competition on Saturday I left Dallin, Rhett and Laiklie home alone.  I kept wondering why they weren't calling to tattle-tale on each other (the usual phone calls I get when they are home alone) about something or other....then I got these pictures emailed to me and figured it out real fast.  Ryan and Dale took them fishing to the ranch! Yay for a great dad!! Rhett caught one but it broke his line before he could get it out of the water so Dale gave him one of the three he caught and the only one they kept.  Dale also caught this injured duck.  The kids thought that was great. I was just SO GRATEFUL for a good dad and uncle who got them out of the house on a boring Saturday afternoon while mom was gone!

 

Dance Competitions

We had our first dance competitions these past two weekends.  The first was just a local competition that we were invited to....it ended up being VERY RANDOM and not really a "normal" competition at all.  But it was so good for our intermediate team (Laiklie's) to be on stage the week before our BIG competition that determines whether or not we go to Nationals. 

This past weekend was THE BIG one and both the girls did AMAZING!

 Laiklie - she looks little next to this other intermediate dancer.  That is how she looks next to most of them.  She is the youngest on her team and keeps up very well.  This was her solos. She got 4 first places and 1 second place. Yay!! So proud of her.  She skipped a level of dance this year and so she has had to work extra hard to keep up with these bigger, older girls.  She is SO FUN to watch dance.  Those skinny little legs are my favorite! :) She danced 8 times on Friday and did amazing every time!

Selfie with mom! 

Oakley and her friend Brooklyn are instructors again this year at Instep Clogging.  Whose idea was it for these two knuckleheads to be instructors?! They are so fun!!

 I LOVE this picture of them out in front of their teams helping them with solos.  This has been an incredible opportunity for Oakley! Her little 6 year old team did great.  They got a 1st and a 2nd on their team dances.  The 1st place was actually a high score so they also got a trophy! Oakley choreographed the dance and they performed it so well.  So proud of her and her little team!

 Oakley danced a total of 18 times Saturday.  She was EXHAUSTED! We got to the building at 11 that morning and left at almost exactly 11 pm and she danced almost straight the entire time with a few short breaks between.  Some barely enough time to change costumes.  She did incredible on her individual events and their 3 team dances were great as well. 

 

  Stephanie, Oakley and Brooklyn receiving the Silver Star award.... means they got 1st place on all 5 solos.  Very few got this award you can see.

This is our same 3 girls plus one from a different studio receiving the Super Star award....meaning they are the tops 4-5 girls in the entire champ division.  INCREDIBLE!! Oakley is an amazing dancer and dances her guts out! She is the very youngest on her team and one of the youngest dancing in the Pro division this year.  Such a huge accomplishment at only 14 years old!

Club Ball has Started

 And the club season HAS STARTED!! Yay! We started with a bang winning the first tournament!! Oakley had to miss the second one last weekend because of a dance competition, but her team won that tournament too!! This is a great group of girls and they work really well together.  So proud of them! Looking forward to a great season!