2nd week of April

It was finally Spring Break for the boys!  They were so excited to finally have a break!  I had to work, going into the office, and didn't take time off, since we're going on our cruise in May.  We're grateful my parents could stay one more day so we could spend some more time w/ them.  Here are some highlights though, from the week.

Monday morning, the boys headed out to go fishing with BOTH of their Grandpas at the same time!  They met at Diane's place to get Dave's boat.  Steve drove everyone in our Sequoia, pulling the boat.  They went up to Deer Creek to fish.

Hudson helping Grandpa Dave drive the boat.  Grandpa Grant helping Carter fish.  Nyles waiting for the fish to bite as well. 

It finally started picking up, and they caught a few fish.  

Hudson was especially proud of his big fish he caught.

After they got back, we picked up pizza and went over to Dave/Joann's place to meet my parents and Pauline for dinner.  We then drove down to Lehi for the Tulip Festival.  It was the very first day of the Tulip Festival.  They actually opened it 2 days earlier, which was a miracle.  I was praying they would so we could take my parents.  They've never been, and I really wanted to take them, especially my mom since she loves flowers like I do.  Only Hudson and Lincoln ended up being the only kids who came; the rest stayed home or had other activities going on.

Hudson and Lincoln at the Tulip Festival.  Beautiful flowers!  

It was our parents first time going to the festival!

Pretty flowers everywhere!

Dad taking a break while the boys went down the slide.  Lincoln and Hudson enjoying the flowers.

Cute Hudson.

Lots of flowers in bloom, even on the 1st day of the Festival.

We didn't get to it all, but what we saw was amazing!

So fun at the festival!  

Earlier, Pauline went over to Dave/Joann's while the boys were fishing and did a puzzle w/ mom.

Tuesday was $5 Tuesdays at the movies, so Steve took the boys to watch the new Mario movie.  They picked up Nyles' friend Lincoln also to go w/ them.  That night Steve and I went to watch the movie, Project Hail Mary.  Date night!  Ironically, Rob's brother was also there, sitting in the same row as us.  Both movies were great!

Movie time!

Wednesday morning, Dave took Nyles to the temple and did baptisms for the dead together.  I was also recognized and awarded an Excellence in Action on my team at work.  That evening, Steve and I took a last-minute hike up to the Suspension Bridge.  We enjoyed the beautiful sunset as we hiked up and down.  We are grateful for God's beautiful creations.

Thursday, Steve took the boys up to the cabin since they boys didn't have rock climbing like they normally do on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  They did some target practice and got their muzzle loaders sighted in.

Rob and Zach met them up there.

They had pizza that night, watched a movie, then went to bed.  They did some more shooting the next day, had lunch, and then came home.

Doing some more shooting.  Nyles helping Hudson.

Pretty flowers in bloom in our front yard.

Friday evening, we went rock climbing w/ Jeff, Kim, Cameron, and Alexa.

Saturday morning, we went and cleaned the church.  I also helped set up for our Stake Baptism and got the family their baptismal clothes.  Two other counselors came to be there for the actual baptism at 11am (being there by 10:30, so I was able to leave).  After we were done cleaning, we went over to Diane's place to help go through the house.  Most of the other family came to help as well.  We took 3 loads to the DI, and 1 large load to the dump.  We were there most of the day and made good progress.  Diane is getting ready to list her house in June, then move into her new home, most likely in August/September, which is being built right now.

Getting closer to our cruise!  Hudson likes the king hat he got from Diane.  Playing Hungry Frogs.

On Sunday, Carter and Steve weren't feeling good, so they stayed home from church. We then took it easy the rest of the day at home.

Great quotes from General Conference:

1st Week of April

 We had an eventful week.  It was the week before the boys' Spring Break.  Here are the highlights. 

Cute Piper.  Cute Hudson at picture day.

It's looking more and more like spring.  Pretty flowers in the front yard.

More flowers.

Tuesday night, March 31st, Carter had a choir performance.  He and other kids in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades have been going to practice every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:40am.  They have all worked so hard to learn the songs and dance moves.  They did awesome!!!  The theme was from the 50's.  

Kids singing (Carter on the right side).

Cute kids.

Carter's Spring Program.

The whole group singing.  Dave, Joann, and Diane came to support him.  Thank you!!!

And we got some snow on April 1st (April Fools).  

Steve put in some shelves in the downstairs bedroom.  Thank you!

On Friday, Carter was given an award at school.

Go Carter!!!

Friday afternoon my parents came down.  Rose and Ava, and Pauline's family came over.  We had dinner our house, then did our Easter bag hunt in the backyard.  We also sang Happy Birthday to my dad, since it's coming up on April 16th.  Pauline made him a German Chocolate cake, his favorite.

Singing Happy Birthday.  Getting ready to find our Easter bags.  Carter running to get one.

We then hurried down to the Hale Center Theater in Sandy to watch the play, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  The boys dropped off us girls, then went to Scheels for a while.  They then went back to our place for the rest of the evening.

Ready to watch the play, Mom, Pauline, Rose, and I.  

Charlotte, Ava, and Summer were also there in a different section.

Saturday morning, the boys went up to the cabin to help dig a hole to fix a water line.  

While they were up at the cabin, I went over to Dave/Joann's place where my parents were staying.  We watched General Conference together (Joann, my parents, and I).  I made lunch, then we took a little walk over to see the progress on Diane's place.  It's coming along!  I then reviewed my parent's finances w/ them as they're working on closing on a house in Burley.  I left in the afternoon as my parents were getting ready to go to my mom's sister's wedding (Aunt Roseann).

We hit 136,000 miles on our Honda Pilot.  

Beautiful pictures of Christ the boys colored.  Cute Piper.

More beautiful flowers in bloom.

Our lilac bush is also in bloom!

So pretty!

Sunday morning, the boys had a scavenger hunt around the house to find their Easter goodies.  They got some candy along the way, then a dragon 3D egg (with a dragon inside), and a 3-in-1 Lego kit at the end.

After crepes for breakfast, we went over to Dave/Joann's place to watch General Conference w/ them and my parents.  The boys worked on their Lego sets, played Bingo, and colored.  Nyles took a nap, as he wasn't feeling the best.

Carter finished his Lego dog.  I helped Hudson w/ his Lego duck.  Watching conference.

After lunch, we went home for the last session of General Conference.  We got out our ham to start cooking.  That evening we had Steve's family over for family dinner and the Easter Egg hunt.  We did something different this year though w/ the eggs, aside from Hudson, who found them around the yard.  Everyone else had to get their eggs by chasing down their parents.

Hudson finding his eggs.  Nyles ready to chase after Steve for his eggs.  Getting ready to go.

Steve gave Jeff his airsoft guns, which made it almost impossible for Cameron to get his eggs.  Dave ran eggs for Alexa.  The adults ready to run w/ the eggs tapped to them.

We're so thankful for the Easter season to think of our Savior more and what he has done for us.  He gave us the gift of repentance and resurrection.  I know he lives!

Great quotes:

4th Week of March

Here are some updates from the 3rd week of March.

On Monday, March 23rd, Steve went in for another kidney stone surgery.  I went into work that morning, then came home in the afternoon.  He was originally planned for surgery around 2pm, but they moved it up to 12:45pm.  I didn't make it home from work before Dave came and picked Steve up and took him to AltaView Hospital.  The boys didn't have school that day, so they were already home when I got there.  While Steve was gone, I had a few chores for the boys, such as cleaning up pine needles in the yard.  We also got our Disney Cruise luggage tags in the mail, yeah!

Steve being silly, getting ready to for surgery.  The boys cleaning up the yard.  Luggage tags!

I let Steve sleep in on Tuesday morning, so I took all 3 boys to school (each at different times), then took the train in to work.  The rest of the week, I took Nyles to the train at 7am, then Steve took the other boys.  I came back each afternoon to check up on everybody.  Steve was able to pick the boys up in the afternoon, but then was hurting the rest of the afternoon/evening, so he took pain pills to help.

He spoke to his Dr. on Wednesday.  Ironically, when she went in to retrieve the stone, there was NOT one there.  She looked all around on his right kidney, but didn't find ANY kidneys.  So the positive thing was he actually did NOT have a kidney stone this time.  It's great news knowing his body didn't create another kidney stone and hopefully his body is slowing down on the making of them.  Since she was digging around though, she still put in a stent, which he kept in until Saturday morning.  The stent is really uncomfortable and can hurt unfortunately.  The "stone" that they thought they saw on the scan ended up being a bruise in his kidney.  So now that they know it's there, they won't be fooled going forward.

Hudson killing bugs w/ the bug zapper.  Cute Piper.

Pretty tulips in bloom.  They took all the scaffolding down around the SLC Temple, so they're making progress.  Hudson made a life-size figure of himself at preschool.

More pretty orangish tulips in bloom in the front yard, and a purple one in the backyard.

Our pear tree, peach tree, and lilac bush coming back to life.

Abby and her boyfriend Jesus came down to SLC on Friday.  They came over to our place and had dinner w/ us that evening.  Steve smoked some pork, so we make pork tacos.  The boys then played w/ them outside after dinner.  Jesus was patient w/ Nyles and Carter and teaching them Spanish, which was awesome.  They also played soccer w/ him.  Abby jumped on the trampoline w/ Hudson.

We also played 2 rounds of Flip 7, then they headed to stay w/ his cousin for the night.  It was fun having them over!  Silly Hudson pretending to be Santa in the bathtub.

Sunday was Palm Sunday.  Because General Conference is happening next week, we had our Easter program at church during sacrament meeting.  The Primary kids sang the song Gethsemane and did awesome!  Dave and Joann were able to attend w/ us as well, which was great!

Carter and Hudson singing Gethsemane during sacrament meeting (our neighbor recorded it) 

Family pictures for Easter.

We played croquet in the back yard for a family activity that afternoon.  

Hudson preferred to squirt water on the lawn while we played.

Later,  Steve took the boys over to Altara Elementary while I was finishing cooking dinner.  They joined w/ other kids to draw pictures and write words of appreciation w/ chalk on the sidewalks for the teachers.  It's teacher appreciation week coming up this week.

Cool drawings from the boys.

We then went over to Dave/Joann's place for dinner.  Grandpa Carl also joined us for dinner.  I made chicken pot pie for dinner and blondies for dessert.  After dinner, we walked over to where Diane's house is getting built.  She's going to sign papers officially this week on the house.  It'll be great to have them all close by.  We then played Blank-slate, then headed home to get ready for bed.  The boys have one more week of school until Spring Break.

Checking out the framing, which is done, at Diane's place.

Great quotes: