Note - If you don't watch any of these videos, at least watch the first one. It's very entertaining :-)
We had a ward talent show tonight at the church, and Neal and the other young men's leaders were asked to participate. This is what they came up with at the last minute. The full video was too big to post here, so I had to run it through windows movie maker which always makes the sound a little strange, but you get the point.
By the way, I had to get special permission to even film this, let alone post it for your enjoyment. We don't get to see our dad do crazy things like this in public very often, so this is a rare treat. And I believe that the same goes for most of the other guys with him. I know it was pretty tricky for all these tall guys (see most are close to Neal's height) to land lightly during their dives. Neal came home with a few scrapes, but nothing too bad. He says it was worth it.
These videos are to share with the participants, so bear with me family members. I know you don't know them.
The show had some "actual" talent in it as well. This is a very musically talented family that really did a great job. The triangle player was really the best one. By the way, the piano is also being played by one of the brothers.
I feel pretty lucky living here because we have so many families with musical talent. In Arizona, it was hard to just come by someone who can play the piano on Sundays so that was usually me.
This was the older group of boys and I thought they did a great job. I didn't happen to get the skits that Neal's boys did, but I thought they did an awesome job too.
And two of these kids are our neighbors so I had to post it. Neal and I taught the two violinists in Sunday school almost two years ago. They always grow up too fast. We actually have a whole group of kids that play strings in our neighborhood. It's so wonderful when they all play together.
We also had two sisters who are gymnasts do a balance beam routine. Halle got a chance to walk on it during clean up and she was beyond thrilled (to my complete surprise). She of course had my hand the whole time, but she wasn't trembling and gripping it so hard that I couldn't feel anything. She was squealing with delight that she could do it too.
Here she is playing duets with her friend, Ava. They even looked alike today.
I know I keep saying we have so much talent here, but we do. We also have quite a few artists that do amazing work. The picture on the left is actually a family tree. It looks like family portraits have been printed somehow on actual leaves. I don't know if that's really how it was done, but it looks that way. You can't see the faces unless you look really close.
Mary's also been teaching them the alphabet all year, and Halle has picked it up really well. She is starting to sound out words and can write just about the whole alphabet now. She gave me a picture the other day where she had drawn some stick figures and wrote Mom, Dad, and Halle next to them. I was amazed. We still have another year and a half before kindergarten, but she's still growing up way too fast.
So this is O for Octopus day.
And this was P for Penguin. Thanks Mary for doing such a great job with them. We love you for all your wonderful talents.
Halle also likes to play restaurant and store a lot, so she's got an apron where she keeps a little notebook and pen to take our orders. This just happened to be a particularly fascinating outfit with the hat and rain boots combination. She almost looks like she works at a greenhouse.
My sister used to delight in the morning torture routine because she's like Neal and wakes up pretty easily. I've had my fair share of lights turned on and covers pulled back, so I know this is only just the beginning.
Halle took charge of the camera again after a while and we have some pretty random photos. Here is Mike and Anneka. Halle scolded Mike for being goofy.
This photo technique is beyone me. Who knows how Samantha's face came out clear, but the background is all blurred out. Anyway, thanks for the idea guys. We had a good time.
Everyone had to find the eggs with their own names on it plus a few bonus ones were put out as well. That way, the bigger kids didn't make off with everything before the little kids know what's going on. It was a good system.
And lastly, Halle and cousin Abbie. When Halle snapped the one of Abbie, I heard her say, "good one Abbie" like she's a pro or something. And I have to say, she did better than I usually do.
This was by the weekend, but we got even more on Monday and Tuesday. Thankfully, we are also getting warm days so it seems to be disappearing quickly. But some people I know are rebelling and wearing capris and flip flops anyway- crazy Idahoans. 
Here she is, ready to share cupcakes at Mary's.
All the kids had to show Grandma what they found.
Next was the favorite tradition of dyeing the eggs. 
Here she is with all her "umpty dumpies." She had names for each one of them.
Grandma gave fun stuff to the kids for Easter. She got a little Cinderella polly pocket doll and this microphone. Guess which one got put back in the bag for later. Thanks Grandma. Now when she's talking non-stop, it's just a little louder :-) She loves it.
Nick and Halle sang duets together. What a wonderful performance.
And finally, the Easter bunny did visit our house. He brought Tinkerbell summer PJ's - ironically. So we had to put a long sleeve shirt on underneath because she's terrible at sleeping under the covers.
