Spring break

Spring break was wonderfully lazy and fun. We had no big travel plans and ended up having great time.

We drove up to Grammy's house on Friday night, arriving very late and getting kids into bed right away. so they got to spend Saturday morning sleeping in (which none of them) and playing with cousins (which they loved). We watch the first session of conference while playing conference bingo and coloring. This was a particularly wonderful Comforts experience as we got to have a general assembly. We explain to the kids about having our new prophet and what it meant to stand in his support.

Between sessions we had our Easter party! We went over to Papa's School and used his gym to play. We played human Hungry Hippos by pairing up, one partner laid on their belly on top of the roller boards and holding a bucket while the other partner drag them around by their feet. It was a madhouse to collect as many plastic eggs as we could! It was so much fun and the kids loved it! Then we did Bunny Hop races and got to play on Papa's climbing wall. Then we took all the kids outside for an Easter egg hunt on the playground. Z was particularly adorable and as expected, found his first egg and sat down to play with it just as happy as could be.

That evening we grilled burgers and had a special evening for Z and L's birthdays. For their cakes I made giant cupcakes for each of them. Z's was Mickey and L's was Minnie in honor of our upcoming trip to Disney! And then the cousin spent the whole evening playing in the giant Dirt Pile in the backyard. They made up a game called dirt meal and had a ton of fun. And then we stayed up late doing a painting craft and dying Easter eggs.

Early the next morning, husband managed to sneak away with my brother, L, and her cousin twin to meet his dad in Salt Lake and attend the morning session of conference. Meanwhile we set up conference cups for the rest of us at Grammy's house and the kids did really good, paying attention and coloring and being sweet to each other. Except Z, who seem to be playing his own game of Godzilla meets Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

We had a wonderful Easter dinner with lots of the usual holiday favorites. My oldest niece help me make the rolls this year. The rolls are always a huge hit and are sorely missed if we don't do them. The recipe actually comes from my mother-in-law but is now a staple for my side of the family as well. It's been fun having my nieces and nephews help me over the past few years and I like getting that one on one experience with them.

After dinner we said our goodbyes. We actually took the cousin twin with us, Trading A for the night. We stopped at the auntie's on the way home and joined them for dessert. We didn't stay long but always love getting to share hugs and catch up for a little bit.

Husband went back to work on Monday well the kids and I lounged around the house recovering from our fun weekend. We watched movies and played at the park and painted butterfly magnets. In the evening we drove down the valley to meet halfway and trade cousin twin for A again.

On Tuesday the kids and I had no plans. And much to their dismay, spent most of it cleaning out the toy room and trying to reclaim our house from the general chaos. They willingly gave up a good size pile of toys that they have mostly grown out of. And as a thank you I took them to Walmart and bought each of them something that they wanted more. (E picked a new Barbie, A picked a set of Legos, L picked a squishy. Pretty good trade since they were all happy and it means less junk in my house!)

On Wednesday daddy took the kids skiing! He took all three girls at the same time and they had a great time. They reported that they race down home run for their last run and E one meaning that my littlest daughter is either the fastest or at least the most Reckless! I'm glad they had a good time and got one more ski day in this season.

Late that night we had friends from out of town arrive. They move to Washington two years ago and we haven't seen them since so we were thrilled to catch up and the kids paired off, disappearing to play. Thursday night we had a big barbecue inviting some other friends so that they could see everyone. And the kids were in heaven with so many small crazy people running around. They jump on the trampoline and played with toys and played in the basement and did lots of tumbling tricks and showing off.

Friday, we drove North to attend our niece's baptism. She looks so beautiful in her white dress and our girls were super sweet and excited for her. They especially loved the bear treats from Grammy to remind them about the baptism promises (bear one another's burdens, bear the name of Christ, bear your testimony). The closing song was Gethsemane, which is my kids favorite! It's a newer song so mostly adults don't know it unless they are serving in primary, but all of the kids sing it with great testimony.

After the baptism we went to dinner at Chili's! But this is our very favorite chilis because it is the same restaurant husband and I went to the night we got engaged. So we got to tell the kids the story and point out the booth we were sitting in when we called our parents to tell them the good news! Grammy and papa went with us, as well as one of my sisters and her two kids. So we had fun eating and chatting and letting the kids play. Originally we plan to spend the night at Grammys but husband's work schedule required him to go in the next day. So we drove home, and brought cousins with us!

We spent Saturday sleeping in and playing. The girls had a tea party, played Barbies, play dress ups and did a craft.  My parents drove down in the evening and stayed through the night. Papa heard we had begun work on finishing the basement and generously offered to help. So Papa and husband laid out some plans (and since then have gone to work on it! I can't believe how much they're gotten done already. We hired out the framing but they've been able to nearly finish all the electrical now too!)