Toronto Canada Mission

We spent the rest of Spring Break in Canada visiting GG and Grandpa Green on their mission!

We left Cleveland Monday morning and traveled through Niagara on our way to Toronto. Ben didn't get to go with us last year so we decided to stop and see the falls. We saw them from the Canada side this time and I'm so glad we stopped! It was a totally different view and the falls were still half frozen with big chunks of ice. It was amazing!

It was also fun to explore the city of Niagara. It was kind of like a mini Las Vegas with so many bright and crazy fun things to see.+ We all had a blast!

When we finally made it to GG and Grandpa's apartment Ellie got sick and threw up all night long! Poor baby!!

Tuesday we decided to stay close to home in case Ellie started throwing up again so we had GG and Grandpa give us a tour of the mission office where they work and the surrounding area. Later they gave us a tour of the city of Toronto, including sites from Dad's first mission here when he was 19. It was fun to see what they do as missionaries and hear stories from Grandpa's first mission! I guess we were having too much fun to take pics because I didn't get a single one from this day :/

Wednesday we headed downtown on the bus to see the CN Tower and the aquarium 

We took a long elevator ride way up to the observation deck and restaurant of the CN Tower. The elevator had a glass floor so it was a little scary, but fun. The restaurant rotates with big windows you can see all of Toronto over the course of your meal...unless of course you go on a rainy, cloudy day like we did and all you can see out the windows are clouds. It was kind of disappointing that we didn't get the amazing view, but the food was delicious and the kids had a blast pretending like we were in a cool airplane eating a fancy meal :)

 After lunch we went to the observation deck with the glass floors. It was still super cloudy so we couldn't see anything but clouds. It made it less scary to walk on the glass floors :) And we had a blast just being with GG and Grandpa Green!

 The kids also loved the gift shop where we had another bounty moose sighting and saw a giant Lego CN Tower!

After the CN Tower adventure we headed next door to Ripley's Aquarium. It was an awesome aquarium where we saw tons of amazing sea animals from inside views!

Glow in the dark Jelly Fish

 Petting sharks, stingrays and horseshoe crabs

 Giant Crabs

 And giant lobsters

 And friendly, high fiving, octopuses :)

  

We had a super fun day at the CN Tower and Aquarium! The only way we got our kids to leave was by telling them we got to ride the train home!

I guess we were worn out from our adventurous day :)

Ben didn't even make it through scriptures at bed time. Dax is never going to sleep on his own again after this trip!

Our last day in Toronto we got to spend with Brendan, Marli and Luke!!

We had a fun morning hanging around GG and Grandpa's apartment while they went into their office to get some work done. Ellie was glued to Marli's side playing a lava princess game, Cole had a blast playing with Luke, and Dax loved Brendan's teasing :)

After GG and Grandpa finished some work we drove north to a Maple Bush where we learned how they tap trees and make maple syrup. It was fun to learn and even more fun to try the syrup on giant plate sized pancakes!

We toured a little bit of the area before heading back to Toronto. We stopped at one of the many lakes in the area and it was still frozen over! Cole stepped onto the ice for a second until I made him get off in case it broke!

To top off our fun day, Ben and I got to go to the Toronto Temple with my dad to do some sealings with their ward. It was a beautiful way to end our trip! 

Thanks for the awesome Spring Break GG and Grandpa!

Cleveland Rocks!

We were able to spend the first weekend of Spring Break with Casey, Lindsey, Carly and Holland in Cleveland! It was so fun to have good quality cousin time for the kids and Casey and Lindsey are always a blast :)

Friday we visited the largest candy store in America: B.A. Sweetie Candy Company. It was a large warehouse filled with almost every kind of candy you can think of. I was disappointed they didn't have chocolate covered cinnamon bears, but there was plenty of other candy to choose from. We found lemon meringue marshmallows for Grandpa Green, Cole found Lego brick candies, Dax found a car filled with candy, and Ellie stuck with good old cotton candy. It was a sweet day ;)

We had to work off our sugar rush so we went back to their house and had a dance party :) The kids loved playing games on their XBox, especially Just Dance Disney! 

Casey's ward basketball team was playing in the championship that night, so we all went to the church to see some good old church ball! Ben, Cole, and I enjoyed all of the excitement of church ball-it really is impressive to see old men play a good game :) Lindsey and the little girls weren't as impressed and didn't want to stick around for the final game, which Casey's ward won by the way. So Lindsey and I took all the kids, except Cole, to a popular ice cream parlor and candy shop, called Malley's Candies, for a yummy treat. Because we hadn't had enough sugar that day ;) Dax promptly dropped his ice cream cone on the floor, but he was over it the second I gave him my pitcher of hot fudge. He knows what the good stuff is!

Saturday morning we headed out to a city Easter egg hunt. It was in a wooded area that was very cold and swampy so we all ended up with muddy, wet feet. Dax wasn't too impressed, and Ellie cried about the cold the whole time, but Cole ignored the cold and wet and had a blast filling his basket to the top! He is such a good kid and noticed that some other kids didn't have as much and he shared with them. I sure love him and his kind heart!

We made it back to Casey's in time for General Conference. There were so many good talks this weekend and we were spiritually filled!

In between sessions the kids dyed a plethora of eggs!

During the Priesthood Session of conference the kids made a fort and had a movie night in it! 

Every night Dax crawled into bed with Ellie so he wouldn't be scared in a different house. Ellie is a cute little mother and would cuddle him and read him stories. It was really sweet...until the middle of the night when Dax would hit or kick Ellie and they would both wake up crying and Dax would end up in bed between Ben and I :)

Sunday was Easter! Casey made the kids line up on the stairs to go down and find their baskets. They had a good search and were so excited with the baskets they found!

Cole was adorable and told me that he didn't need anything from the easter bunny and hoped he would get empty eggs and pictures of Jesus to remind him of the Resurrection and why we really celebrate Easter. Seriously, how did I get such an amazing kid?! He was so excited to find an empty egg in his basket :) I think he was pretty excited to find his drawing book too and was glad it wasn't really empty. 

It was so fun to spend this Easter/Conference weekend with family! I'm so grateful for family, for the gospel, and for my Savior Jesus Christ. We are so blessed!!

Piano Parking Lot

I spent all morning packing to go on vacation, letting the kids entertain themselves so I could get everything ready to go before Ben got home. I walked in the living room at one point and realized that these cute little stinkers had turned my piano into a parking lot for their toy cars :) Cole was at school or I'm sure he would have been in on the fun. So funny and creative! I love that my kids have such great imaginations and play so well together. I'm lucky to be their mom!!

#4!!

We found out the middle of January that we are expecting baby #4!! We were super excited, but decided to wait until we knew the gender to tell anybody. We told our kids about a month later because they were wondering why I was "puking all the time" and "walking around like an old lady" :) We didn't think they could keep a secret long, but they surprised us and didn't tell ANYBODY until we told them it was ok! They are super awesome secret keepers!

Tuesday, March 31, Ben snuck us all into a sono room at the hospital and we got another ultrasound. I was only 15 weeks along so we weren't sure we would be able to tell. After a lot of looking, and getting a second opinion from an ultrasound tech, we are pretty confident of the gender :)

When we got home we did a little photo shoot so I could make a baby/gender reveal video to send to our families on Easter:

"Somebunny has been keeping a secret"

 "Somebunny is about to spill the beans"

 "Somebunny is eggcited to say"

 It's a boy!! "We're having a baby brother, wahoo!!"

I love all of my cute little bunnies and am so excited to be getting another one in September!! I think it's safe to say that Ben and the kids are super excited too :)