Happy 9th B-day, Natalie Jo!

My kid, Nat, LOVES horses. She always has. Below is a picture of the horse she rides, Rowdy, every Saturday for her lessons. She is responsible for getting Rowdy out of his stall and getting him all ready to ride. For her 9th birthday, guess what kind of party Nat wanted to have... again?! Right! A horse party. This would be her third horse party (ages 3 and 6 were horse parties, so it only makes sense that for age 9 she should have another horse party!) So, this past Saturday we had a super fun party with 14 of Nat's buddies. Happy 9th, Nat! We love you!

Nat, her teacher, Kelli and her horse, Rowdy.

Nat and her cake.

Happy 9th, my love!

Watching the horse movie: "Spirit" such a good movie, but it made me cry!

Painting horsie ceramics. These were the girls' party favors they brought home.

Horse relay races.

Fun on the tramp.

Silly 3rd grade girls!

Horses Rule!

Lawson Family Update (finally)

Gene's update:

Gene had his knee surgery on Tuesday. The doctor found more damage while in the knee, so more repairs had to be done. Gene said this surgery was horrible and 100 times worse than the last knee surgery. He's doing a lot better now, but is still in incredible pain, on super-crazy pain meds and isn't feeling so great. Thank goodness he has Nurse Lindsay to tend to him... all of his girls are taking good care of him. He has already started physical therapy and doing small exercises to get back to normal. Poor Gene! No more volleyball/basketball or skiing, dude! Well, actually, he should be ok to do all of those things when he is all healed!

On the phone with his mother.

"Get better daddy!"

Lindsay is such a great helper.

When my parents were here for spring break, they brought each of the girls a nice, little gift. Haley received a FHE book that my mom picked up at Cover to Cover in Roseville. It was perfect for our master chef! The book has fun FHE lessons along with yummy treats that go along with each lesson. Haley's first FHE with her new book: Joseph Smith and the First Vision, along with "Sacred Grove Trees" for the treats. She had a blast making them and being in charge of our family night!

Adding candies to the tress

The final product: YUM

The girls got a hold of my camera and took some cute, random shots of each other:

Happy Haley

Natalie reading her favorite: "Falling Up"

Lindsay-Lu

We had a really nice visit with my parents when they were here for spring break. On Friday we went to the zoo. Here are a few pics:

Special Lindsay/Grandma moment on the train.

Train ride.

Lindsay and cousin Aubrey.

LOVED this Movie.. and quick update:

Dan in Real Life
I watched this movie 2 1/2 times this weekend. Loved it! I really enjoy those movies that deal with family, and this one most definitely does. Gene thought it was mostly a chick-flick, but he enjoyed it, too. Chloe also liked it! She could relate to the oldest daughter who is always wanting to drive but her dad never lets her! :)

Also, just so everyone knows, Gene blew out his knee this past Thursday playing church volleyball! OUCH! He is on crutches and will be seeing an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow. He knows his knee is busted, this very injury happened to his OTHER knee about 4 years ago and he had surgery on that one, so we know that is what's up with this knee, too. What a bummer..... He's doing OK now, the pain is tolerable, especially when he takes his super cool pain meds. I'll keep you posted on his recovery. It's real fun being married to an old guy.
:)

For those of you LDS peoples... wasn't conference amazing this weekend?! We all watched Saturday morning session and then Sunday morning and afternoon. Haley and Nat did a great job at filling out their papers with conference questions from their primary presidency. What a special weekend this was, and how cool was that "Solemn Assembly" on Saturday morning? What a privilege it was to stand and sustain our new prophet! The spirit was so strong and the messages that were given were right on! What a great weekend.
BTW, did you know that the new General YW's 2nd councilor is President Monson's daughter?! Just some info. for ya....
Anyhow, hope everyone had a lovely conference weekend~