Well our computer and internet switch managed to crash last week so I've been waiting to post about our Easter weekend and big birthday bash for Mimi who's birthday landed on Easter this year. I'm still trying to figure out the picture situation from the crash so here's a little post about our recent mayhem.

Friday, April 21, I graded spelling as usual and then did teacher appreciation bulletin boards for my girls' teachers. They love to do that and I find it fun too (don't get me wrong I'm the Mom who buys a kit and then just comes up with a cute saying and has the kids write little thank you notes nothing super fancy or creative). Then we had activity days where we did Article of Faith sundaes. The girls loved it. Then we hosted a group of 12 adults for a ward party progressive dinner. It was a lot of fun. Even Steve said he was a little hesitant, but thought it went well and was a good experience (this also helped him understand my desire for a bigger dining room table--started shopping and I have something in the works hopefully when the basements finished I can move my current table up to what will be the craft room and upgrade my dining room table). The kids were good for us during the dinner party. Marcus went to bed early and the older three watched a couple of movies because we went down to another house for dessert. They thought it was great they got to stay up past bedtime. And Andrew was in heaven to spend so much time with the girls. :)

Unfortunately Andrew had been fighting a little croupy cold and had a rough night so when Saturday rolled around Steve and I were exhausted. He managed to survive a bike ride with Matt and I took the kids to the school to run/bike the track and play on the playground (our normal park had soccer going on). Then the rest of the day was survival and a little quarantine--trying to keep Marcus from getting sick.

It was kind of nice to relax Saturday and Sunday. We enjoyed relaxing meals together and watched shows and played outside and swung in the hammock. We weren't productive at all, but some times you just need a weekend to relax.

Friday, April 14 after school I decided to let the kids decorate Easter eggs. I cooked 3 dozen eggs and let the kids go to town. I made deviled eggs with some of them for the family get together the next day. It was fun and crazy as it always is around here.


Then Saturday morning, Lila woke up at 6:30 so excited about the Easter bunny. I told her to go back to bed. Then we heard this THUD, THUD, THUD over and over. I thought the baby was awake and I got out of bed to realize it was Lila kicking the wall so the other kids would wake up. I know she was totally excited, but I was upset and I told her that was not appropriate. Later that morning the boys were cranky and I turned to her and said, "this is what happens when they don't get enough sleep. I told her I was glad she was excited, but there were better things she could have done to patiently wait, like read, color or play with her new birthday toys." She felt bad and tried to play with them. Anyway, back to the morning Easter baskets.



















It was a cold morning for an Easter egg hunt. I think the Easter bunny froze his hands and feet hiding the eggs, but the kids loved it. They each had their own sections of the yard and loved that their hard boiled eggs were out there this year.


Easter was on Mimi's birthday this year. So we decided to have a big party. I smoked chickens, took my deviled eggs and made Miami Beach birthday cake for the celebration. We had dinner then the kids played some Easter games.



Sunday after dinner we had a nice family home evening where we used our flannel board set to talk about the crucifixion and resurrection. It was a nice day and so wonderful to be able to focus on our Savior and his great atoning sacrifice. I have a testimony of the atonement because I have felt it's redeeming and strengthening powers in my life. This is a crazy world that we live in and I don't claim to understand or know why certain things happen, but I cannot deny my testimony of the Savior and the peace it brings to my life. I know He lives and loves us and wants us all to find the peace and joy that comes from following His example of service and love. Happy Easter!

Lila turned 8 yesterday and requested a french toast breakfast. Then she opened her presents she had been eyeing since Wednesday the day I wrapped them.













Ellie was a little sad that morning because she had made Lila a present and wrapped in a toilet paper roll, but I accidentally threw it away during one of my cleaning sprees a few weeks ago. I felt so bad, but in my defense when there are at least 10 of those toilet paper rolls in their room how am I to know that one is special. I felt so bad. So we decided since it was a little gloomy that morning to have a crafting morning and Ellie opened this fancy beading bracelet kit and Lila opened her new troll playdough kit and Andrew got out is Finding Dory playdough kit and the played for hours. :)

Steve spent most of the day putting his new grill together (one that will hook up to the natural gas line we had installed). The girls and I had an Easter activity days we went to that afternoon. Then Mimi & Grandpa came down and gave Lila the present from them.



Then we loaded up and went to Pizza Pie cafe per Lila's request. Nessa and her kids met us there and we had a good meal. The girls Izzy, Siena, Ellie & Lila all sat at a table and enjoyed visiting. My girls received mermaid tale blankets from the Durbanos and Grandpa ordered a special birthday cookie dessert to be delivered to the table. The kids devoured the ice cream and whip cream on top, but hardly touched the cookie (to be honest, I thought it was a little disappointing, it wasn't even warm, but Lila thought it was one of the best parts of the evening and since I hadn't made cake for that day because we ordered special cupcakes for the baptism luncheon I was glad she thought it was neat).

As I was tucking Andrew into bed I told him I'd see him in the morning which would be Lila's baptism day. Andrew got a huge grin on his face and said, "Lila said I get to watch her be baptized." It was so sweet and enthusiastic. After the kids were in bed Steve and I did a little bit more preparation for the baptism luncheon the following day. The forecast called for rain all day so I moved tables and chairs around trying to squeeze everyone inside. We got up early on Saturday and began preparations for the baptism, feeding them breakfast, getting everyone dressed their hair done, putting bags of clothes and supplies together for afterwords, and few things for the bbq luncheon. We snapped a few pictures together as a family before heading to the church.
 

Lila and her friend Alana Wood who was the other girl getting baptized from our ward that day.

It was a lovely service. Lila listened intently to the talk by Sister Kali Edwards one of her activity day leaders. After the talk, Alana and Lila sang a song, "I Want to Be Baptized" right before they went to be baptized. It was sweet and very touching. Here are the words:

I want to be baptized in clothes pure and white,
To follow the Savior to do what is right.
I'll covenant with Him to always be true
For this is the thing that He wants me to do.

I want to be baptized now I have turned eight,
To enter Christ's kingdom through baptism's gate
I'll take his name gladly be known as His child,
And strive to be worthy, more Chirst-like and mild.

I want to be baptized by God's priesthood power,
Be given His Spirit, be cleansed as by fire.
The Spirit will guide me if I will obey
And help me return to my Father one day.

Once again it was very sweet for me to be in the changing room with a daughter, this time Lila. I waited in the font area as she was baptized and I could see Andrew's cute face pressed up against the glass so intent on what was happening it brought tears to my eyes. Then to help Lila change and share that sweet moment was memorable. Later I asked Andrew what was the most special part of the day and he said, "when Lila went like this (then he bent over) into the water." I told him that was when she was baptized and it was very special.

Brother Stevenson the 1st counselor in the bishopric gave some wonderful remarks about how it was raining all night and this morning and how one of the primary song says, "I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain. And ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again." He said there will be storms in our lives but we need to stay close to the Spirit and follow His promptings and we will see the rainbows and we can be made clean again through repentance. It was a wonderful thought and just what my heart was feeling and I am so grateful for the Spirit prompting him to say those things.

We had decided to do a bbq after the baptism before we knew the weather, but miracles of all miracles the rain stopped and stayed beautiful during the luncheon--it hailed like crazy after everyone left, but we were grateful to enjoy a couple of hours with everyone and barbecue without fighting the weather. I put Ellie in charge of taking picture at the luncheon since Lila did it for her (we didn't get Lila in her dress before she changed and she carried her new scripture bag and scriptures everywhere she went--it was so cute).


















We woke-up to a skiff a snow this morning. Seriously crazy winter storm. We had a wonderful sabbath day.

I told the kids I would take them to Mimi & Panca's house in Idaho. So all day Sunday Andrew kept going out to the garage and saying, "now are we going to Mimi & Pancas?" When Lila woke up Monday morning she said, "Can I clean my bathroom right now so we can go to Idaho sooner?" So she cleaned her bathroom before anyone else stirred then when Andrew woke-up she talked him into picking up the toy room and to my surprise there was no arguing. We only heard exclamations like, "I found it." We had breakfast and loaded the car to go to the park. There is this great park about a quarter mile from us with a sidewalk all the way around. So I take the kids and their bikes and the jogging stroller and we all do laps at our own pace then the kids play on the playground while I make a few more laps with Marcus in the stroller (I've been slowly increasing my distance and am regularly jogging 4 miles 2-3 times a week -- I even made it to 5 miles one time. The boys love sitting in the jogging stroller and it is a nice escape for all of us).  Any way, we spent an hour at the park then came home unloaded all the bike/jogging gear put our suitcase in and headed to Idaho. 

I was hoping the boys would sleep on the way, but Marcus fell asleep 30 minutes before Burley where we were going to pick up my parents and drive to Twin to see Shoshone Falls (with the snow pack and all the rain the falls are incredible right now). Of course Andrew fell asleep right before we got to the falls and was cranky when we were trying to get geared up. It was a little windy so all the mist was being blown into the parking lot and viewing area--it was seriously like it was raining. I had to force his jacket and shoes on and bribe him with a cookie and ironically he says seeing the water fall and the rainbow was his favorite part of the trip. . . kids.

Mimi brought ponchos and everyone kept saying you're so smart. Andrew wouldn't let me put one over us (moody 3 year-old).





And they had a smash penny machine that all the kids did. :)










We went to Applebee's and got some linner (lunch/dinner). Then we drove around Twin looking at a few properties and then I decided when we got back to Burley to go visit the Great Grandparents. Andrew kept saying, "when are we going to get to Mimi and Panca's?" but he hung in there and enjoyed see the great grandparents.













Great Grandma Dorothy Garner and all the kids. She bribed Marcus to get close with a cookie. :)

I forgot to take a picture with Great Grandpa Elwood Olenslager and the St Patrick day necklace Andrew claimed as his. :)

We finally made to Mimi and Pancas at 6:30pm. Long day of being in the car, but the kids traveled well and the girls were good helpers. We played our new game Telestrations with Mimi and Panca had a little snack. Then the kids explored and played.



When I said it was time to get ready for bed Andrew got all sad and said, "we have to go home now. we just got here." I told him we were staying the night and he got the hugest grin and said, "YES!" I sent them to the bathroom to change and brush their teeth. Andrew came out soaking wet and said excitedly, "that toilet sprays water." I guess he figured out how to use Grandpa's bidet. Mimi asked if it at least got his bum cleaned. Andrew then pulled down his pants and undies and said, "I don't know, did it" as he showed his bum to Mimi. I thought we were all going to split a gut. That kid is our comedian. 

The three older kids slept well. We had some breakfast then Ellie took her car outside (Steve finally got all the parts to put it together again) and after about 10 minutes I told her to give Andrew a turn and he ran it into the shop breaking a piece. He felt bad and started crying then the girls started crying because they couldn't play with it any more then I felt bad because I had made them give him a turn it was a rough morning. Marcus was tired and fussy so I knew we would probably take off earlier than anticipated. Mimi helped me fix a skirt then we loaded the car and were on the road for home. Marcus fell asleep within 3 minutes. Unfortunately he didn't sleep the whole time. I was debating whether or not to get gas at Snowville, but the gauges said it still had a quarter a tank and Marcus was still sleeping so I kept driving. He woke up right after we passed the exit then 10 miles later the Empty light came on and I panicked. I never let the gas tank get that low. Steve had just sent me a text so I called him and told him my situation and asked if I should turn back to Snowville, but he told me I was only 15 miles from Tremonton and that I would make it. We did--whew! We went through the Wendy's drive through and got the kids a cheeseburger and a jr frosty then got back on the road.

When we got home the kids were excited Daddy was working from home--mainly so he could fix Ellie's car. I put Marcus down for a nap took a quick shower and then decided that I needed to go see a doctor about my tongue. My tongue has been extremely sore for almost a week now (and it happened at the beginning of March and I thought it was just a rough bout of kankers), but this time around I started noticing different things like how I can't taste food and my whole tongue hurts not just a sore spot. I began wondering if I have thrush. I couldn't get an appointment so I went to urgent care and the doctor was not helpful . . . maybe it's thrush I don't know, you should really see your dentist or ENT. I'll give you a thrush prescription just in case. Then I called my brother-in-law Doug the dentist and he told me to buy some special soap hibiclens and brush my tongue with it. So I've been doing both and it seems to be getting better still not great, but much better than before.

Tuesday evening Steve took Lila to meet with Bishop Blamires in preparation for her baptism. She is really looking forward to her birthday and baptism this weekend.

Wednesday we went to the park and did our bike/jog/play routine again. Steve came with us so that was fun. Then we took the girls to Tasty's with their report cards to get donuts. The kids played outside all afternoon it was a lovely day and I realized how much Andrew really misses the girls when they are at school. Soon Marcus will be old enough and they can play together . . . I'm not ready to send Andrew to preschool yet. I want to hold on to every moment I have with him even the crazy cranky ones (remind me I said that when I'm in the middle of one of those tantrums will you).

That evening Steve was responsible for scouts and he gave them three options: game night, come work in our yard and earn money for scout camp, or car maintenance (my car also needs some work done). They chose to come work in our yard so I worked outside with them and we got a lot done. The girls were good to play with Marcus and take care of things while we did scouts.

Thursday we decided  to go to the zoo with our carpool friends the Cowleys. It was a fun day. As we were heading out the door Steve turned to Lila and said, "Enjoy your last day as a 7 year-old." She thought that was funny.

I attempted a selfie on the train.

We had a great time walking around looking at animals and visiting with each other. 















It was a nice day which made the zoo a good place to go so it was getting really busy around lunch time so we decided to jet. Andrew walked the whole time until we were heading out and then he sat in the stroller and cute Marcus reached his hand over and started scratching his back.

Last weekend went by in a whirlwind. Steve and I were able to go to the temple Friday night (he bowed out of the scout campout that weekend because all three of the other leaders were going with their sons so he bought all the food in preparation and dropped it off at 3:30 then helped them hitch up the trailer then we took off for the temple).  On Saturday Ellie had her AIMs performance so I spent a couple of hours driving her to her performance and then to her theory test. Steve managed to start painting doors with his new sprayer and that evening was the Womens' Session of General Conference. When I told the girls we had that to watch they both said, "Are we going to paint our nails while we watch?" That's something I started doing to get them excited and it actually works out nicely because they sit their listening while I paint their nails. I love that we can watch it at home and pause and discuss. It was a great meeting. We got to review baptismal covenants with Lila as she prepares for her baptism in a couple of weeks and President Eyring gave a wonderful talk that calmed my troubled heart.

The girls did not have school on Monday March 27th which I thought was kind of odd because they had spring break the following week so they went back for 4 days then off for a week. The even trickier part was it rained all day so we could not even go outside and enjoy the day, but the girls still managed to have a nice day off. They got their chores done early in the morning and then they read and colored all day. Andrew of course loves having them home.

Tuesday I got a text from Steve's sister Stephanie saying her kids were on spring break and they were coming up to the Aerospace Museum in Ogden. They were going to get there about 2 which is when Marcus naps and then the girls would be home soon so I told her that I didn't think we could meet her there, but to come over after and we would do dinner and hangout. The kids pulled out Lord of the Rings Monopoly and played that. I whipped together a chicken salad and we had a nice visit.

Steve's been painting more doors. We bought doors to replace the ones that have holes in them (they were like that when we bought the house and we just always planned on replacing them when we bought doors for the basement so here we are). He spent all day Wednesday painting and hanging doors. They look nice!

Thursday Lila had a field trip to the aquarium and asked if we would go so we could run into her. I had planned on going to the aquarium that week so we obliged and went that day. I texted one of my visiting teachees who wanted to go and I told her we'd go together and she could get in on my pass. So we wandered around the aquarium for an hour and half. Andrew was in really cranky mood that morning and then a trout bit him while he was feeding them and well he was ready to go after that, but we hadn't seen Lila yet so we wandered around said Hi then went home.


That afternoon I decided to deep clean the kitchen in preparation for Lila's baptism and company coming over next weekend (with it being spring break I didn't want the girls to feel like we spent the whole time cleaning so I was trying to plan ahead). This also meant go through a stack of mail I had been putting off for a while. We had just received our tax papers so it was good timing. Also in the stack of mail I found a letter from the IRS saying we had already filed our taxes . . . so I called our accountant and he said no he hadn't filed to call the number and see what they say. I called the IRS number they said my answers didn't match what they have on file and I need to make an appointment with an IRS tax specialist. So I have an appointment later to try and figure this all out. I was fighting a little headache that day, but after that it turned into a migraine and Steve was working late in Draper so I was worried about how the night would play out, but the girls watched the boys so I could rest with an ice pack for a minute. I had made a dinner earlier in the week and then just stored it in the fridge and was glad to have it to pull out and cook that night. The kids didn't shower, but they were fed and I let them watch Master Chef Junior.

Friday I did some credit checks just to make sure we had no other identity fraud issues. Fortunately, I didn't see anything and I'll keep a close eye on it. Then I went and graded spelling for Mrs. Johnson (Lila's English teacher--I do that every Friday). Another one of Steve's sisters Melanie and her daughter Natalie were coming over for dinner so I had put in some beef carnitas in the crockpot and Andrew and I made cheesecake cookie bars for dessert. They were running late so we turned on a movie to distract the kids while we waited--we watched "While You Were Sleeping". Cute show. We had a nice visit with them then everyone went to bed.

April 1st was on Saturday and with it being General Conference I decided to do a brunch Fools Cafe during the first session. I told the kids they could have a bowl of cereal when they woke up to hold them over then I began preparations. Steve went to help a family move at 9am and didn't get back until 11, but the kids were looking forward to it so at 10:15 I began without him and it turned out fine. The girls helped Andrew order and they enjoyed figuring out what was on the menu.
 

















It was a nice day of watching conference and resting.













We decided to go for a hike after the afternoon session. Andrew was in a feisty mood after his nap and I didn't know if we could get him to go. I finally told him he could where my watch and be our timer. He thought that was great and excitedly got read (seriously this was after 20 minutes of discussion with him and him throwing a fit at everything). When we got hiking he was loving it. He was out in front and never once did he slow down. Since we got a later start we new time would be our limiting factor so we didn't make it all the way to the falls, we turned around with probably a mile left to go. It was crazy because Steve said the way back should be easier because it's mostly down hill and I said, "yeah, but that can be the most difficult part for kids." And as soon as we turned around Andrew had a little fall and then he was whining and complaining the whole way back. He held my hand the whole way back and we stayed at the back of the group. I would distract him by saying yell out how many steps we need to take so he would yell up, "20 more steps." "4 more steps." We sang primary songs and played I spy with my little eye to distract him.











The girls wanted to take a picture on this rock as soon as we pulled into the parking lot. Then we stop and got ice cream cones on the way home. It was a great day and the kids kept saying how much fun they had on the hike. They really are good hikers. We came home bathed them and let Steve watch the Priesthood session. I fed Andrew some dinner since in his fiestiness he refused to eat before we left on the hike. I gave him a soft boiled egg leftover from our Fools Brunch and he happily said, "Mom is this a Humpty Dumpty." That's what I called the egg on the menu. I'm glad he enjoyed our cafe and the food. :)