Lila had her first dance competition today - ASPIRE. And today is technically the start of spring break which made things a little stressful for me to plan for our trip and this dance competition and all the things that we "aspired" to accomplish this week:

1 - coordinating track carpool -- Ellie decided to do track at the jr high this year instead of softball. We told her the school was doing track (she had mentioned interest in it before) and I told her softball was still an option but this year the jr high rec games were on Monday and Wednesdays and Dad agreed he could get her to and from games and that the choice was totally hers. I was so proud of her when she said, "I don't think I should do softball because I'm the 1st counselor in the Beehive Class Presidency and I should be setting an example and going to activities." That wasn't even something we had mentioned to her, but a good conscious choice on her part. She had mentioned the day we went skiing at Powder Mt wanting a fitness watch for her birthday and with her choice to do track Steve and I began researching options. The best option was a little on the pricey side for it to be a birthday gift so we came up with another reasonable option and gave her the choice - we would buy the reasonable option for her or she could contribute the difference in price to purchase the #1 option and she could use which ever one she chose as an early birthday present for track. She chose to contribute and get the nicer watch. Here she is showing it off and can I say that she knew how to work it better than me after a couple of days and I've had mine for 6 months. . .kids. . .

2 - mutual with the Laurels doing service for a man in our ward who can't clean or shop for himself. it was on hold for a bit because he spent a night in a hospital so it caused me a little bit of panic trying to shift things around so we could have a plan B in place just in case. he returned home the day before we were scheduled to go so we took our small group and had some memorable experiences with him

3 - Lila had her 4th grade program about Utah on Wednesday. I took Andrew to the show while Marcus napped and Steve worked from home. Andrew thought it was great and he still asks Lila to sing some of the songs for him

4 - Andrew had a field trip Thursday that I volunteered to chaperone which meant Marcus got to come and he was so excited to be going to school with Andrew













On the left - showing how red Andrew's nose was after being in the freezer at -20degrees







5.  An emergency move for a sister in our neighborhood that took up a few hours of my Thursday afternoon, but was a good spiritual boost I needed and the boys were good and patient playing on phones and the tablets while waiting on me.

Friday I started packing for our trip and really thinking through how we would spend our day Saturday in Lehi during Lila's dance competition. Steve and I decided that he would take the other three kids to Thanksgiving Point to do the Museum of Curiosity while I spent the day with Lila at her dance competition (her dances were 3 hours apart and there was an awards assembly and a master class we were there for 6 hours for 2 dances). We also decided to let Ellie invite a friend to do Thanksgiving Point with her and they had a good time together. 

Saturday morning, Lila said she was more nervous for me to do her makeup than dance (haha -- those fake eyelashes are difficult to do especially on someone else, but we managed and got on the road).


Steve dropped Lila and I off and then headed to Thanksgiving Point. They got there right as it opened and had a great morning there. 

















Lila was there at call time which was 1.5 hours before the first dance. Eventually she was pulled to begin running through the routine and I sat and visited with our friend we've been carpooling with -- I'm so glad she was there seriously made the day so much more enjoyable. Then they performed their first number. I noticed as soon as the song started that the back row which included Lila and our dance friend were in the wrong order because the two in the back stood up at a different time, but they were in sync and so it was a minor flaw and they still received a Ruby First for that performance. After the performance we called Steve and he came and picked us up for lunch. He wanted to take us to Kitchen 88 one of his favorite food trucks that would come to his location of work in Draper. When we got there we realized it was a takeout place without any seating and it was a bit chilly to eat at a park so we ended up eating in the car, but it was yummy and the kids had fun (I didn't get a picture of us eating). Then the plan was for us to take the van back to the competition but Steve was thinking about taking the kids to a different part of Thanksgiving Point because they bought the exploration pass so they dropped us off again. I got Lila changed and ready for her second dance and then they had awards shortly after where they received a Diamond First Place. Then they had the master class. Holly and I decided to go get a dirty coke during that and we had another lovely time visiting and getting a drink and a cookie for our cute little dancers.



Steve picked us up after that and we all went to the Butterfly Biosphere -- we wanted to do something with Lila at Thanksgiving Point too.
 

















so there you have it our first adventure of Spring Break :) and when I unloaded the car I found this cute note from Andrew on his takeout box

We've had a fabulous weekend. Friday Steve and I took Marcus and Andrew skiing at Snowbasin for the morning. Every time Steve or someone has gone skiing Marcus says, "I want to go skiing." So I've been promising him I'll take him soon, but I've been nervous to take him by myself. Steve is such a good teacher so we convinced him to take the morning off and spend it on the slopes with us. We dropped Lila off at school and headed up. The parking lot was pretty busy so Steve dropped us and the gear off and then went and parked the van. So I sat with the boys on the patio for a bit waiting for him. Marcus kept tapping my pocket where he knows I keep the snacks and asking for snacks -- I told him he could have snacks after skiing so we sang songs and counted to 100 then we spied Daddy. You have to ride the Little Cat lift up to get to the magic carpet there so Marcus was super stoked to be riding a lift.




We spent about 45 minutes on the magic carpet and I had Andrew working on his parallel turns which he can do pretty well when he thinks about it, when we get out on the mountain he just tends to speed down and snowplow as necessary. I'll keep reminding him. Marcus towards the end of the 45 minutes was starting to snowplow a bit more. He was ready for a break and Andrew wanted to get off the bunny hill so I told them I'd sit on the patio and have snacks with Marcus so Steve could take Andrew up the gondola and ski a run with him. While Marcus and I were sitting there we were watching some of the skier and I told him to pretend like he had a steering wheel and when he turned the wheel that would help him turn his skis.













Steve and Andrew did Sweet Revenge and Andrew said he even did the big hill without any problems and was stoked to show me. So Steve took Marcus up Little Cat again and I rode the gondola to do Sweet Revenge with Andrew and he sped down that thing so fast I had a hard time keeping up. Steve said I don't know where Marcus got this but he was moving his hands and trying to turn then I explained I showed him it while we were sitting there and it must have sunk in. Then we road the "train" shuttle back to our car which is also a highlight for the boys. They had us parked in so tight we had a hard time getting out but Steve managed it. Then we headed home to pick Lila up from school and do activity day carpool and Ellie had a late night with friends that evening and I drove Marcus up to spend the night with Mimi and Panca so we could go skiing at Powder Mt Saturday.

We let the girls sleep in a bit (one of the nice thing about spring skiing is sleeping in as you wait for things to thaw a bit). Then we hit the road a little after 9am. The kids were excited to take the van as there is a little more space and they could watch a movie during the drive, they chose Darby O'Gill and the Little People. 

Andrew was so excited because the weather was much better than last time we went. He was so excited that I could hear him screaming as he got off the first lift and when I got off a couple of chairs after him he said, "Mom, I'm screaming for greatness." We did the girls favorite run East 40 and I had a hard time keeping up with them, my Garmin clocked us doing 26mph. Then we were heading back to do that again when the kids decided to try the boarder cross run and they loved it. We then headed over to Village where the Powder seekers did a few runs in some powder which took them a bit longer than Andrew and I going down the groomer so we had time to snack, make snow angels, and throw snowballs at signs.

It truly was a beautiful magical day with one flaw - I suggested sunscreening up before we headed out but nobody seemed excited about that and I eventually forgot. At about 1pm I sunscreened Andrew, Lila, and myself with a little bit that I had in my pocket, but that seemed too little too late as by the time we got to Mimi and Panca's house in Mt Green our faces had turned bright red. Andrew had hoped to stay the night with Mimi - that morning when I was packing up stuff to make tacos so we could have dinner there and hangout for a bit Andrew asked if he could stay the night and I said we didn't arrange for that with Mimi nor did we pack for that, he then ran upstairs in his ski gear and came pack with this bag he said he had packed and ready to go.
He even went and got it out of the van when we got to Mimi's, but I convinced him to come home with us because I was worried about his face and wanted to monitor him. It was a rough night for me, my face hurt and I was crying because I felt like such a bad Mom, I should have insisted on sunscreening everyone. I was supposed to attend 2 meetings on Sunday and teacher training, but my head hurt I'm sure from my sunburn, crying, and not sleeping so I sent a text to my presidency and my 1st counselor graciously offered to attend my meetings for me (bless her!). So I took it easy with the kids, we called it a sick day as we nursed our sunburn faces with ice packs, aloe gel, and ibuprofen. The kids had made a Lego trap this year.























I made Welsh Cakes while they checked out the Leprechaun party. Then we played a new game called Take 5 and really really liked it, it's a good group game because everyone is involved at every stage and you can have up to 10 players. Then Mimi & Panca came down and we taught them our new game and Andrew insisted on playing a round of his favorite game right now which is Mille Bornes. While Andrew was teaching Grandpa how to play that I asked Mimi if he could stay the night since we don't have school on Monday and she said he could. So when the game was over I told him he could spend the night with them and he ran upstairs I thought to get his blanket but he came down with clean undies, pajamas, and clothes for the next day, so prepared. I love him! He was grinning from ear to ear as I buckled him in their car and waved goodbye to him.

We originally thought everyone would want to go skiing today but I think with sunburns and Andrew was invited to a birthday party he wants to attend and Lila has dance tonight so she didn't want to get too tired and she's been wanting to schedule a playdate with a new friend so we've kind of divided up and enjoying a day off in our own ways. Steve took Ellie to the office she plans to read while he has his regular Monday meeting then the two of them will meet my Dad up at Snowbasin to ski for a bit. Lila has a new friend over this morning to play for a bit. Andrew is on his way back here to attend the birthday party then Mimi & I are going to go shopping while Lila watches Marcus for us. I am truly lucky to have such a wonderful family and to make such fun memories this weekend!

I realized today it's been a month since my last post and it's because life has just been going. So here's a bunch of pictures with a few words to show you what we've been up to.

trip to the aquarium and shoe shopping with all the kids on President's Day and then we met Daddy for lunch

helping Dad fix the door

licking the beaters from some yummy goodness

6 month dental cleanings and Marcus's first time - he was so excited to be like the big kids

we went to Farmington High School's production of  "Guys & Dolls" that one of my Laurels was in

Another round of yucky cold virus that knocked Marcus and I down for several days again

S show and tell Sun Valley Season Ski Pass and Silly Socks

Andrew and I met Panca at Snowbasin to pick up everyone's season passes and Andrew skied down from the Gondola for the first time -- we made three runs top to bottom on Sweet Revenge which he thought was funny because it sounds like the super hero group Avengers Steve took the girls the next day on Saturday and had them doing black diamonds all day in the powder -- Dad's dreams are coming true :)

Marcus being silly and every morning he insists on putting on his backpack and going to school with the kids and is very sad when he's left all alone with Mommy

boys well checks and Andrew got his kindergarten shots and Ellie got her booster so we got Frosty's on the way home

Ellie's grades, she missed a couple of days at the beginning of the term that caused some extra work to get caught up and I logged in last week since the end of term was nearing just to see where she stood and this is what I found, we're super proud of her! Lila also has good grades and was invited to do SEM Math again.

so there you have it, a little of this and a little of that on top of regular activities like dance, school, church responsibilities and work. life is good!