Arvy

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Easter Sunday

When we got up on Sunday for our 9am church, that darn Easter bunny had hidden the Easter baskets and made the kids try to find them by following the string that was all over the house! Max had a hard time getting to the back door to go out this morning and I had to untangle him a couple of times!

Amanda had to go out in the garage, through my car, back into the house and finally found hers in our bedroom. Sydney hunted through the fridge, bathroom, cupboards and finally found it above the craft closet.

Brandon had to go all over the house...in the dining room, piano room, family room and finally found his behind the curtains in the family room!

Since we had to hunt, we were late for church! So, we had to take pictures after church. This is what made Brandon mad. Not because he wanted to change his clothes. He normally stays in his church clothes all day. But, his friends were out riding bikes and skateboards and he wanted to play.

We couldn't coax a smile out of him for anything!

We tried and tried!

I finally gave up on him, but the girls were willing subjects!

Oh, we love our girls!

Our Easter celebrations took us through this last weekend. Both families did their Easter egg hunts on the same Saturday, after Easter, almost at the same time! Amanda had a soccer game in Sandy that day, too. It was horrible weather! Hail and rain most of the game. We were drenched! They tied the game, but said they liked playing in the rain, but the hail hurt!

We loved spending time with our families that night. The kids can't get enough of their cousins!

This past week has consisted of more soccer games, cleaning the church (which took FOREVER because no one showed up), soccer practices, piano, dance, volunteering, TAXES and it's only Wednesday!

Mikey gets to take a St. George golf trip tomorrow with his buddies. He's not terribly excited about going, but he needs a break. I'm sure once he gets there he'll have a great time! I hope the weather stays nice for them!

Tomorrow is the egg drop for Sydney at the school. I'm going to try to video it for Mike and hope to download it here.....stay tuned!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Splash!

Here are the rest of the pictures from the Flowers....

That night, we went to dinner at Don Pedros with Scott, Kellie and kiddos and then over to where they were staying. The kids had a great time playing outside and it was great to get together and chat!

Early Saturday morning, we were back on the road home. I had to give a talk at the ward baptism (I'm a Primary counselor now), Brandon had a birthday party and we were going to the REAL soccer game that night. Plus, we were anxious to get back to see Mikey! We had a great time at the soccer game with Roger & his friend, James. When we got home, we realized we needed to dye our Easter eggs! So we did that quickly and then the kids were off to bed by about 11:30pm!

Taking time with the Flowers

Friday we spent time with Uncle Bud & Aunt Kay! We got to see Staci & Kevin and their family for a bit, too. The 2 younger kids loved swimming and Amanda decided to lay out so she could go back to school with a tan. We have hit teen-ager......

My sweet Aunt Kay had fallen and hurt her knee pretty badly. She was using a walker and her knee is all braced up. Yet, she spent time chatting with us even though she probably wanted to go lay down!

Brando jumping off the jumping rock. They love me to take the action shots!

Sydney's turn....

And slide action shots

I have more pictures to download. The air wasn't that warm this day, but it didn't stop the kiddos from enjoying the Flower's beautiful backyard and their amazing company!

Monday, April 16, 2012

Spring Break...Hike

The first week in April was the kid's spring break from school. They had an entire week off and even though we had the St. George house reserved, they didn't want to go anywhere. Amanda had a soccer game on Monday and I was teaching piano Tuesday and Wednesday so it seemed we'd stay. I had a list a mile long of spring cleaning since I had little helpers, too!

Well, after 2 days of the break, the kids were begging us to take them to St. George!

So, we quickly changed plans. Mike couldn't come with us because of work and we missed him, but we are glad we went! We left after my last piano lesson on Wednesday, stopped in Salt Lake and had lunch with Grandma & Papa Gib, picked up some stuff for Primary at the distribution center and then were on our way!

All Brandon could talk about was going on a hike. He, Mike & Max all did this hike the last time we were down. He had such a great time that Dad told him to take us girls and show us where they hiked.
Behind the neighborhood is a wide open area which is used for all sorts of recreation. Hiking, biking, 4-wheeling, target shooting, etc. We got up Thursday morning and headed out!

Brando took the lead and led us through the rocky area. We passed under 2 zip lines with people zipping across the canyon. Then, the area opens up wide again. We decided to climb up the canyon wall and come down the road.

There was a barbed-wire fence at the top to keep vehicles out, but bikes and people can get through.

This view behind our gorgeous girls is one of my favorite in St. George. So many contrasting colors!

I taught the kids about cool light and warm light from my college photography class (we used slides...can you say ancient?) and we pointed out where Uncle Bud & Aunt Kay live. We found our neighborhood and headed back home.

Look at that muscle man!

Oh, how we love this kiddos!

"Mom bought us sugar cereal!" Yep, that almost never happens except on vacation. We spent the rest of the day shopping. Seems everyone (including me) needed some spring weather clothes and also Easter dresses and a tie for B. We had lunch at In & Out....Sydney's choice :) Yum!

Brandon bought this white mug at one of the stores and made me a cute 'Best Mom Ever' mug. I'll post a picture soon. He is a sweet boy who always thinks I'm awesome! I hope he never changes!