Lauren is 5 & Wetlands Park

We'll start out with a show the girls in the neighborhood organized that they called "Extreme biking & Safety." I don't think the two actually can co-exist, but anyhoo here is shot of their "stage" rehearsing to us rules of safety before they began the tricks on bikes.
Next we have a beautiful and happy Katlyn. It was CRAZY hair day at school so she decided she wanted her hair poofy and out all around her head, it sounded like a great idea- until she saw the humiliating results. Because we were REALLY close to school time I told her I could not possibly change it in time because the tangles would require washing and super conditioning. So in the end we negotiated out swooping them over to poofy pigtails.
Do NOT let these cute girls fool you. We had a big time scare at our house. We were all busy preparing for a day outdoors so I was on dressing and packing for the day, Darrick was fixing the picnic lunch and packing the car. I had just finished getting the tots completely dressed and off and moved on to one last task. In just a couple minutes time I recognized that dreaded sound of silence (not good in a house with babies/toddlers). I asked Darrick to scan the house on his next load out and see what mess they created this time. He shortly after asked me to double check the upstairs. Hmm, not good. We all involved ourselves in a full out neighborhood search. We went down our streets both ways to the stop signs and back, checked backyards with dogs or other luring things to explore to no avail. Finally, Darrick found them around the corner each with a stroller and baby inside proudly pushing them around the little park there. Can you imagine the sight to see two walking babies strolling down the street casually with no adult or older child in sight?! Yikes. We can't get over how little time this was all accomplished on their part and how lucky we are it ended well. Scary what COULD have happened. Every day gets progressively more challenging in containing what these guys come up with. They aren't even two yet!
Next we have Lauren's 5th birthday. That's right, she'll be starting school this year. Here is her prized dollhouse, not sure yet where we will permanently keep it. Thank you craigslist!
What's a party without a cake?
And we all went to Red Robins for her free birthday meal. Here is the aftermath, yes that is a balloon Madelyn is/was holding. It didn't make it very long and she couldn't understand why.

Here is some pictures from the day we went outdoors. We went to visit the Las Vegas Wash, also called the Wedlands. Now, we had to try really hard to not compare it to even the most barren parts of Virginia because that would be a joke. For the middle of a desert, I suppose it's pretty impressive... I guess. But it was still good to be outside (the weather is so beautiful right now) and be together as a family. Our girls were literally lit up with excitement and imagination. I can't wait to go camping with them now. They love the "exploring" which is sadly not a part of most children's lives in a city like Vegas where houses are in reaching distance of eachother.

If you look really close there is a crane in the background.
While we were on the east side of Vegas we finally got the chance to show the girls the Las Vegas temple. I've been doing a tiny bit of geneology work recently and it's led to telling the girls a lot more about the temple than just a beautiful building. The visitor's center was closed (and darrick wouldn't have gone in our hiking grub anyway), so they are excited for another visit where they get to learn more and get closer.