Spring Break

At the last minute we decided to go to Utah for our Spring Break. The choice was: should we stay home and have nothing major to do and let me fuss with the kids about doing practicing and jobs or should we drive 14 hours in the car just for the sake of getting away. We opted for getting away. We also proved to ourselves that we're not such old foggies as we thought we were... we drove it all in 1 day, arriving in Provo at 3:00 am. Normally we'd stop 1/2 way, sometime before midnight just because we were too tired. We're tougher than we think we are! In the end we were all glad we went.
We first greeted James with a mustache which had been shaven down from a beard to a goatee. He then trimmed his beard to a Charley Chaplin (or Hitler) mustache and decided to color it and be creative. He and Marianne took way too many pictures for this dress-up event. Ady was glad to be apart of all this creativity.

The 2 sisters and their beebee boys.
Saturday night all the boys went to the Priesthood session of conference together and then came home to lots of spaghetti eatin.

The girls had some girl time stitching up a baby quilt for Rachie and her new baby. It was fun to be with Heather, Ellie and Addie and Rachel and Aunt Melanie.

After much finger bleeding and leg poking and bleeding through jeans and stuff... the finished project.

Sunday we had our usual family talent show. While Emmy's harp is still small we wanted to bring it along... very soon, as her harps get bigger it will be too big to haul around.

Some singing around the piano.

Who's cuter than Spencer hanging out on the guitar case? Notice Marianne's super cute blanket that she's working on in the background. My girls haven't stopped begging to make one just exactly like it.

Uncle Marty, the dancer's perfect pianist.

Two little nakie cousins. (Don't judge me that Kaden's still in a diaper. He's 3! I've tried so many times to start potty training him... he could care less about the whole thing. When I ask him about wanting to be big in "big boy pants" he says that he just wants to be little. What does a mom do?)

Our best friend in Utah is Kaitlyn and Laura Halladay who live across the street from Grandma and Grandpa. It's so handy for the kids to have friends to play while we're there too. They made a big parade for everyone to come and watch... with music, floats and lots of marching.

Love that Hula Hoop move Kado!

The Seattlites were loving the sunshine! We spent an afternoon at Canyon Glen in Provo Canyon. Here's some bubble blowing.

Of course my kids found the amphitheater and had to put on some corny skits and dancing.

We also had an outing to the Thanksgiving Point animal farm. They loved milking the cow.

They loved riding the horses but wanted the horses to walk free without going around and around and around in circles.

Of course, true to her nature, Emmy had a book in her hand the whole entire time. She would read to whoever would listen and even when no one would listen. Grandma teaches Kindergartners reading at Westridge Elementary and couldn't believe what a good reader Emmy is. Maryn and Ady went several days to help out Grandma at the school. They loved being teachers.

Spencer loved all the attention. He loved having friends to play with. James and Marianne loved having Spencer have friends to play with too.

We spent an afternoon at this craft place in Orem owned by a lady in my mom's ward. You pick out what you want to make and they help you make it so you go home with a completed project. It was SO fun. We all felt so crafty!

Friday before Easter we decorated eggs.

When you get everyone involved we had some pretty fancy and creative eggs... wax, crayons, rubber bands, stickers and all sorts of dye.

Once again, it was sad to say good-bye but we were glad we came and thankful for all the fun! Because I am blessed to have an overprotective father (who's proud of that title) I drove to Boise and picked Jeff up at the airport where he drove the last 8 hours home with us. He thought it was a crazy idea, and it was... but I was glad to have him help out driving and provide some relief from the wild kiddies. Happy Spring Break! No more school vacations until school gets out June 20th! (isn't the summer 1/2 over by then? whole other blog topic!)