YOU CAN'T MAKE ME EAT IT!!

Last Sunday, Chris and Debbie came and spent some time with us and got their kids before heading back to Utah. THAT was the fun and good part...the bad part was that she brought half the wedding cake with her for OUR house. I'm going to have to quit inviting her to come visit if she doesn't stop doing that. That's just the start of the cake problems. Our home teachers showed up to visit us for the month, and no...they couldn't just come visit - they had to bring a cake with them! The only good thing about THAT cake is that it had some chocolate on it. This is NOT good, as I have started working out again after a total slump. Maybe I should just wait till after the fair...

Keri & Daniel's Reception

Last night, after a long day of Stake Women's Conference"ering", we headed to Las Vegas for the reception of Keri and Daniel. They were married a week ago in Utah and having their open house for family and friends down this way. Keri is the daughter of my sister, Debbie, and has been a close cousin to Michaela. We have spent many wonderful times with this family through the years, as their kids are almost the same age as our kids. It was great to see everybody and especially to see the couple so happy and in love!
The magnet board I made for the bride and groom to keep their lives organized. She told me she was hoping I had made one for her. Who knew?!

My sister, Debbie and her husband, Chris, the parents of the bride.

Kurtis and Kylene. These two have been very close to Tibi and Landon since they were all born. They get together as often as they can. We ended up taking these two home with us to spend the night and go to church with us. Mom and dad can come and get them on their way back home to Utah.

It was great to see everyone and just visit. We ended up staying for the whole thing and doing a lot of laughing and talking, AND eating. Yum!

My wonderful big brother, Chris, and his wife, Dianna. They drove all the way from Carlsbad to come to the reception. The worse thing is that they turned around and went back after the reception, which got them home at around 3 in the morning. Thank goodness for 1 o'clock church! They stow-awayed Michaela to go spend a week with Marc.
An "all girl" shot...aren't they all beautiful?!

Michaela and Keri have always been close...they are TWO of the "FIVE grandkids" that were born in the same year, way back in 1988.

"Hey, batter batter!"

Tibi is into her first season of softball now. She plays outfield, and switches off positions there. Today she played in the later innings at center and had a bad wind to have to deal with. She had a great hit which ended up getting her to third base, much to the delight of her teammates and fans (us) in the stands.

They ended up losing the game, but did pretty good playing a more experienced team from St. George.

"Good game, good game..."

We are parents!

Today our baby chicks came in the mail. We went in with two other couples to purchase them, as you HAVE to buy 25 chicks in a batch. So the cute little white ones are ours, ten of them, for future egg laying. My friend offered to raise them for the first 4 weeks at her house, which helps us tremendously with the fair preparations in full swing. We only have 2 weeks till fair time, which will give us 2 weeks to get our chicken coop built and ready for our babies. They all look good, so far, and are keeping each other company and warm.

This is what we're shooting for...eggs from the yard instead of from the store.

Vacation Highlights

Connie and Peter and the kids took off this morning to head back to Arizona. We had a wonderful 10 days with Connie and the kids with lots of activity going on. Peter flew in yesterday to help Connie drive back today. Here's just a few highlights from "grandma's house" :

Playing the piano - I don't know why grandma's piano is so fun. They have one at home too. I guess it's because grandma lets them play whatever they want to whenever they want to...

They loved being outside and would go out every chance they got. The weather was great, and Eden even helped grandma water the garden a few times. Jonah loved to play in the dirt and Levi loved being around the animals. Yesterday morning (Saturday) we took off to Logandale Park for an Easter breakfast and Easter egg hunt that Samantha (Scott's daughter) had invited us to. Their ward was putting it on, but we crashed in on it too. The kids had a blast looking for eggs and playing with Craig and Nana's kids. Levi and Michaela just chillin at the park.

Eden looks like an orphan, but she really does belong to us! She had the egg finding thing down pretty good.

After the park, Connie took off to the airport to get Peter while grandma played with the kids at home. When mom and dad got back to the house, the kids were pretty excited to see their dad.

We celebrated that night by letting the grandkids have ice cream. I think Eden had more on her face and arms than in her mouth!

We all had a good sleep that night and before they all left this morning, grandma made them all a balloon animal to take home with them. They thought that was pretty cool...

They will be back in two weeks for the county fair, so we didn't have to smother them in goodbye kisses this time. Now it's on to cleaning the house...

Kid candids and Court of Honor

Connie and the kids have been here visiting since Wednesday night. They are getting to stay until this coming Sunday, so we are having a lot of fun with the kids. Jonah is out of pre-school for spring break, so they thought it was a good time to go to grandma and grandpa's house. The kids love to get up in the morning and look for Kit, our dog. Morning is definitely their time and they are all in good moods when they get up, so seeing Kit is just icing on the cake for them. They get the house hoppin' for the day, that's for sure.

Landon is advancing at a good pace to get his Eagle Scout award. He is not on any deadline, although it would be nice if he got it before he turns 16. He got a couple of merit badges last night and also received his LIFE award, so he is getting close. He loves scouting, probably wishes that he spent more time on it, but has had to juggle many things in his young life to fit everything in. Congratulations and kudos to Landon!

Oops...let's try it again.

The video had a glitch in it. So, here goes again...

Landon's Last Hurray

Landon finished up his basketball season with a home game against a Vegas Middle School. Even though they lost the game, they had a great season winning most of their games. Landon has always been very good at understanding the whole game of basketball. He's had a keen eye for seeing the open man under the basket and passing him the ball at the last second. He's usually right on with his foul shots and 3 point shots too. The only thing he doesn't understand about the game is having to sit on the bench. He'll never understand that part. He loves the game more than any other player there to ever have to sit on the bench (his thinking, I'm sure).
Well anyway...here's to a great season of basketball. And on to a great season of baseball (he and dad are off to baseball practice as I type this). Here's one of his famous 3 point shots in action. He is #25.

FLASHBACK FRIDAY

I LOVE FRIDAYS!! First of all, it's "Friday" - what's not to love about Fridays. Second, Kevin taught me how to scan pictures on our printer, which means that I learned something new today. I'm supposed to be doing that with my life - learning something new every day. The only bad thing about THIS Friday is that, since Kevin taught me how to do that, my kids are probably going to be mad at me on upcoming Fridays, because I am the one that has all of their growing up pictures. I do promise them, right here and now, that I will NOT embarrass them too much, although I do have a couple of pictures to post down the road that involve them, but ended up being great therapy for me. (If any of you young, overwhelmed mothers are out there, you will know what I mean) Looking back on frustrating times, through photos, is great therapy, especially when you don't think you can get through TODAY. That post is yet to come, but I promise, it will come. THIS post is the beginning of it all...(notice how red my hair was, yikes!)

OH BOY!!

Kira surprised me the other day with a phone call to tell me that she was heading to Vegas for the weekend with her good friends to attend a bridal shower. She said that on the way back to Utah on Sunday (today) they would stop in and make a quick visit. When it's Kira, we'll take whatever we can get, even if it's a driveby and a wave. So we were all excited to see her, especially her sisters Michaela and Tibi. I have always been a very blessed mother in that all of my five daughters are extremely close, and I don't mean in age. Actually, they are NOT very close in age, except for Connie and Kira. They are only 16 months apart, then Lexie is 2 1/2 years younger, Michaela 4 1/2 years younger, and Tibi 6 1/2 years younger than that. (There seems to be a pattern going on there). But they have pretty much always gotten along and loved each other, especially since they have grown up, left the house, and don't get to see each other as often as they would like. (Sharing a bathroom with five girls doesn't bring out the best in girls for some reason). So we got to visit, laugh, tease (if any of you know Kira), laugh some more, tease some more, and just have a great time together. Then she was off to Utah and we are back to being a quiet, rather boring family. When Kira is around, the whole place lights up, IF we can all handle her jibing and jiving!