I kinda already hate fishing.

There are ponds in our new neighborhood. They are mostly man made ponds to entertain the people. They skate on them in the winter and they have little boats and go fishing on them in the summer. Anyhow, Taylor has been obsessed with going fishing (is it really that exciting??) since the ice melted. Thankfully Ya ya and Paw Paw got him a fishing pole. We were going to go while we were there for Easter, but he got sick so we didn't. Then for whatever reason I was responsible to get the hooks (probably because I do all the shopping for the household). I had no idea (still don't) what to get. I got some little hooks. They have ALOT of fishing stuff at Meijers (the grocery store). I didn't know to get weights or bobs or loop-loops or nee-naws or mopalopsas or whatever else you're supposed to get.

Our first fishing experience was with the little hooks I bought and then we used gummy bears (just the heads). Needless to say, we didn't catch anything. Although it's a miracle that Taylor didn't hook either one of his sisters or me, so it wasn't a failure in my mind. Let's hope for more fruitful trips in the future (maybe under the guidance of Uncle Steve ). Sophie liked munching on the left over gummy bears though!

I had the time of my life! (ya gotta love a good Dirty Dancing reference).

Cool Milton quote on the Chicago Tribune Bldg.

Night time view from our dinner table, not too shabby! (now you see why we had dessert when we weren't hungry (aside from the fact that that bread pudding was AWESOME).

Dinner looks good, huh? i think I liked the Salmon and the brussel sprounts best.

Here we are! Happy 10 yrs to us!

Day time view from our dinner table, navy pier.

View from our "Executive Suite". Pretty, huh?

After walking Craig through the Tiffany & Co. store for me (and asking Craig if he wanted to have breakfast there, which he was really confused about), we went to check out the ipad at the apple store.

(directly above) the Picasso sculpture. They still don't know what it is supposed to be(armadillo/horse?), but are grateful to Picasso for the gift.

Trump Towers. I think Craig would have preferred to stay here!

Cool Aqua building designed by a woman to resemble water, cool, huh?

The Shedd Aquarium, supposedly Atlanta's aquarium is bigger, but I liked this one better.

Soldier's Field (where the Chicago Cubs and the White Sox play.

Planetarium (gotta take Taylor here).

Field History Museum (really wanna take the kids here).

Navy Pier

Chicago river on Michigan St.

Our Hotel "The Drake". LOVED IT!

Here are some pix of our trip to Chicago. Man, did we have fun! It was a trip to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. I have to say I absolutely LOVE being married to Craig. He's cute, he's funny, he's smart and so easy to live with. I can't think of anything that I don't love. He has an adorable way of being so straight-laced and traditional and conservative that I just love, but he's got a great sense of humor. He's thoughtful and kind and makes me feel safe. I remember when we were on our honeymoon how fun it was to just be away together. That still hasn't changed!

Thanks to the willingness of Craig's mom to watch the kids (at her mom's house in Chicago), we got to spend the night downtown. It was soooo much fun. I really love traveling and seeing new things! Thankfully for us we were blissfully unaware that Katie got sick that night until we got back on Saturday afternoon. We really are on house arrest. I'm trying to only remember the good times.

Anyhow, we stayed at the Drake hotel in downtown Chicago and even got a complimentary upgrade to an "executive suite" with a fabulous view of Lake Michigan!

We had dinner at the John Hancock, "Signature Room" and watched the sunset on the skyline. It was awesome. The food was fabulous. I'm still dreaming of those crunchy brussell sprouts. yum yum! I got the duck. Craig had the salmon. Then we had chocolate mousse and caramel apple bread pudding for dessert.

Then we walked the magnificent mile and came back to explore the hotel. It's so cool and historical!

The next morning we loved the breakfast buffet at the hotel. Almost as good as the breakfast at the Biltmore Inn. They even had little individual nutella's (I should have stolen some for Leisy).

Then we took the Hop on Hop off double decker bus tour, which included tix to the Sear's tower (now willis tower) and freebie popcorn from garrett's and freebie Hershey bars.

The Sear's tower was really cool. I couldn't believe what a big deal it was. For some reason, I didn't think it'd be such a big tourist attraction inside. It's almost like a museum and luckily for us the lines weren't long but it was obvious that they get EXTREMELY long.

After the tour we stopped in a couple stores on the Magnificent mile on our way back to our hotel and then drove back to Grandma Arends house.

I'm included TONS of pix for you all and for Hailey and Steve! So excited that they are moving to the windy city(which apparently is in reference to how loquacious Chicagoans are).

Happy Easter!!

Yaya, Alexis and Amanda, searching for eggs. You can't really tell from the pic, but all 4 Starkey boys have white vehicles! I thought that was really funny!

Phil and Addy! I can't believe how tall she already is! I don't think Sophie will ever be able to catch up!

FHE snacks on Monday were ice cream cones. I think Sophie is really enjoying hers!

Counting up the eggs.

Katie's poses are too fun!

The kids really enjoyed the outlet mall, can't you tell? (Sophie has learned to pose for the camera, she's saying "cheese").

Sunday's Easter Egg Hunt. Sophie was so good at carrying her basket.

Such a nice day for a bonfire!

Too cute!

Our little Easter bunny! To think I bought this costume when I was prego with Katie on clearance at the Gap outlet for $12. It's come in handy!

Look Sophie has enough hair for pig tails!! This was taken at our house on Wednesday the day before we left.


Here are some pix from our Easter weekend. Sorry they are sort of out of order. I guess I thought I could rearrange them after I uploaded them. Just follow the captions and I'm sure you'll be fine!

We drove down to Toledo last Thursday to visit Kent and Leisy and catch a showing of "Wicked". It was really quite a show. Thanks to Leisy to suggesting it and for watching my kiddos while Craig and I went. The Theater is just down the street from their house! We even got to walk home! It was heavenly!

After hanging out with Leisy, Kent, Zeb and Ike for a little bit, we jumped back in the car and headed down to Ashland.

Friday was the weather was gorgeous. We went out to the outlet malls to get some summer clothes for the fam. Yaya came with us. It was so much fun. We got summer jammies and some new shoes for Katie and played at the park and had a picnic lunch.

After we got back to Yaya and Paw paw's we put together some foil dinners and Paw Paw lit a fire. The kids had fun roasting hot dogs and then we made s'mores. It was a picture perfect day, until Taylor threw up all over everything and continued to be sick for the next 24 hrs. Yuck. We have a horrible track record for sick kids and Ohio. I have to admit I'm terrified of throwing up, especially in conjunction with Ohio. Too many horrible memories.

Thankfully Sunday was a beautiful day without any puking. The Easter bunny came a day late and brought very little candy, but he did bring bubbles and some fun outside games. I loved that General Conference fell on the same weekend as Easter. I love the quiet, calm that comes along with General Conference weekend. It was fun to visit with Leisy and Kent when they came down and later hang out with "the cousins". I was glad we got to see Phil and Amanda, Alexis and Addy. It was too bad that I didn't bring Katie and Sophie's dresses along, they all would have matched and made such a cute picture! I can't believe how big Summer, Driana and Anthony have gotten. Katie was so excited to see them Sunday afternoon at the big Starkey Easter egg hunt.

Happy Birthday Taylor!!!

Our new blinds in the livingroom!

Taylor's new musical instruments!

Rides at Chuck E. Cheese (I really hope we NEVER have to go back).

Dinner at Red Robin!

The Birthday decorations and cake (and the little cheeser).

Cool Buzz Lightyear lego spaceship and Zurg!

Our new bird feeder and birds.

Taylor turned 5 on Friday! It was such an exciting day. If you ask Taylor it went by way to fast, but if you ask Craig or I it was the longest day of the year! Craig had been gone for work in the UK last week. He flew in on Friday at 5:30pm. After we picked him up from the airport we got a special Birthday dinner at Red Robin with Taylor adn then we went to Chuck E. Cheese to play all the arcade games we could stand (that place is hell if you ask me or Craig, or Katie, she really hates the big Chuck E. Cheese guy). After we got rid of all our tokens we picked a prize and then, thankfully, we got to leave. We went home for cake and ice cream and presents. Then we did bedtime as fast as humanly possible and Craig and I collapsed into bed as soon as we got the kids down. Whew! I'm tired just typing about it! Craig was exhausted because of jetlag and I was completely worn out because I had caught the cold/flu virus that Craig had passed to the kids before he left. I'm not achy now, but I don't have a voice. Good times. Lovin' every minute of it. I'm trying to remind myself that he didn't get us all sick on purpose and he didn't leave because he wanted to.

Taylor did have a great day though. We made his birthday cake in the morning after a fabulous breakfast of pancakes and bacon. We got to pass out blue cupcakes with blue frosting and stars to all his little bus stop buddies. He got to celebrate his birthday at school on Wednesday and give all his little friends parachute guys (there is a "no candy" rule at his school). He got to "open" his big present in the morning, a new bike! Spiderman! On Saturday, Craig took off the training wheels and Taylor pretty much hopped on his bike and rode off! Looks like he takes after his dad!

I was feeling really horrible on Friday so after we made the cake, we watched the birds eat some birdseed from our new little hanging feeder. There is so much wildlife around here. Sophie liked sitting on Taylor's lap! Ha ha!

He also got a new helmet and bell (both spiderman). Thanks to Auntie Rachael and fam for the musical instruments, and thanks to Auntie Hailey and fam for the bowling set. Also thanks to Grandma for the new Superman costume!!! He's already worn it on Saturday and it fits perfectly! What a great day!

Craig also put up our blinds in the livingroom and kitchen and it's so fantastic now to be able to close them at night. It's like we've been given a couple rooms back to our house! No more fish bowl for us!! Hurray! I can't believe what a difference they make in that room! Thanks for the help with those mom!

First day of Spring

You can see the Venezualan Rose blooming, see how tall the greenhouse is!

Sophie had fun showing Craig around. He's in demand, I'm glad we had the chance to go see the butterflies while he was with us!

Taylor is so daring!

You probably can't see all the butterflies floating around in the pictures that well, but it was really cool to see them all over when you looked at the plants and when you looked above you. They even landed on people!

They order the chrysalis' from South America, Africa and Asia. The butterflies "hatch" within a couple weeks and as the butterflies' wings dry out they let them out of the "incubator" into the big tropical gardens. They have pots of nector for them to feed on and misters keep the gardens warm and moist. It was so cool being in this tropical garden with all these butterlies flying around and seeing the snow falling through the huge windows!Taylor REALLY liked the carnivorous plants! He went back in there 3x's.

Didn't this pic turn out so cute??

Katie and Sophie's are modeling their new Easter dresses! How cute are they?!

Check it out! There is even a mormon butterfly!