SPRING BREAK-SPENCER'S BIRTHDAY&BAPTISM!!

Saturday was Great Spencer's 8th Birthday! He wanted crepes for breakfast, and after that treat, we went over to the park for the Annual Syracuse Easter Egg Hunt--SO nice to have so many chaperones since we had a different area for each age group (Maddie and Brent were NOT thrilled that it only went up to age 11!).  Though there were 22,000 eggs there, there must've been thousands of people there to share them w/(we told Spencer it was his biggest birthday party yet!).

We had a relaxing day at home finishing up preparations for the rest of the weekend, and then headed over for Spencer's baptism @ 5.  It was fun to be joined by Sarah & Dean's family and a few friends from the ward.  Grandpa Duncan gave the first talk, and Brent did a great job speaking on the Holy Ghost.  The children had practiced singing "I Am a Child of God" w/ Maddie playing the descant on the violin.  Lucy and Anne fighting over a piece of candy led to a few uncontrolled giggles from the would-be singers, but then Lucy managed to come in for a bit of the chorus at the end.  At least we had a cozy crowd--and not too many witnesses!:)  We had lasagna (Spencer's new birthday favorite) and a great donut cake back at home, where Nate & Stacey's family were able to join us.  It was a great day--Spencer really took the day and opportunity to be baptized seriously, and was just happy the whole day. 

Spencer also got to celebrate @ school w/ a poster and treats:

For Easter, I found a little scavanger hunt w/ primary songs and scriptures that I'd made when Spencer was Lucy's age, so redid it for the morning as a way for everyone to find their Easter baskets.  Nate & Stacey were kind enough to have us over, so we pooled dinners together and enjoyed Easter and Tyler's birthday all together.  It is the PITS having family leave once we grow so accustomed to having them here, but it was such a good visit--G&G are amazing at always getting dishes done and keeping children happy--it was like having real in-house angels.  We decided they're well-prepared for upcoming mission time, as they are such a happy two-some, even living in cramped (and crazy) living quarters for long periods of time, and overcoming jetlag, different breakfasts, unending cardgames, and other strange tortures.  They are so upbeat and easy going (definitely the "Flexible Grandparents" that Katya dubbed them!) and such good examples of quietly living GREAT lives, w/o the fanfare or fluff that distract so many of us.  We loved having them here, and I'm SO glad to be such friends w/ my parents! What an asset! After a few tears of goodbyes, I tried to cheer myself up getting some clearance spring decorations (the only ones I had---a gift from Stacey while engaged--were too broken) and re-hanging my dogwood wreath in honor of our love for GA (and the people there).  Family IS the best!!

SPRING BREAK--date night!

Friday we ran a few errands, and Mom was so good to help me finish up the Easter skirts for the girls (and to find me a matching jacket at DI!!). That night Mom and Dad took us out to dinner at the famous RED IGUANA which was the home of DELICIOUS mole sauces that we were all melting over—YUMMMM!!! Anything w/ that many ingredients REALLY excites me (16-24 per mole!). We all decided that is where the phrase “Holy Mole!” originated :). Beforehand, we took some rare books from G&G Priday's library to the famous Ken Sanders Used Bookstore!!! I had just read The Man who Loved Books Too Much which featured him as a real-life hero bringing down crazy bookthief John Gilkey (who is actually now out of prison and again, at large!). What a thrill when the attendant at the front desk said she'd have to call Ken down for the informal book appraisal!, and though it took him all of 45 seconds to explain all and any worth of all 4 books Dad was carrying, I did manage to squeak out a, “I loved you in the book 'The Man Who Loved Books Too Much'!” as he turned to walk back up to his loft, to which he said, “It should've been called, 'The Man who Steals Books Too Much'” and proceeded to update us on Gilkey's movements (some Pooh Bear books mentioned in aforesaid book—being sold on consignment in San Francisco!), which of course made me day, and which I was wishing I could stretch out into more than the 5 minutes it all took. As we left, I wondered if I should've asked for an autograph or something, but it WAS a lot of fun (doesn't his picture show him to be quite a character!). We ended the evening taking a chilly look at the new City Creek Shopping Center now opened in SLC—pretty stunning!!-and came home to be joined by Brian's dad! 

 

SPRING BREAK-adams canyon

Thursday of Spring Break, we went hiking in Adam's Canyon--just west of us, and gloriously beautiful once you get into the canyon and the huge lush evergreens and creek.  Grandpa was the only one who made it to the tippy top of the falls there, but the older girls and I (w/ Lucy on my back) got to the "lower" falls, before we'd had enough rock scaling (you can tell by the tree's direction which picture shows the REAL extent of our exertion!)-- GORGEOUS weather, perfect surroundings, and favorite company.  We feasted at Subway on the way home---blissfully exhausted.  We were sorry Brian only took Friday off, and weather was snowy(!!) that day, so we missed having him along....especially to help carry weary toddlers!

SPRING BREAK-trafalga

We had a great Spring Break this last week, with Mom and Dad visiting from GA, and culminating in Spencer's baptism Saturday and Easter Sunday.  Baptism is a great reminder to me of the miracle of Easter, and our chance to not only be "born again" after death, but in overcoming all of our weaknesses and limitations.  Mom and Dad were in town a week, spending one day w/ Priday's, working on Grandma's house, and one day up in Perry w/ G&G M.  I had a Women's Conference Mtg Wednesday morning, so Maddie, Brent and Emily navigated campus w/ the little ones to find the Bean Museum, and then we met up w/ Mom and Dad (& Spencer) for and IN-n-Out lunch, and a madhouse trip to Trafalga, since our Seven Peaks passes for the summer include tat as well. We only had to wait in line AN HOUR to get into a crazy place full of more lines for fairly rinkydink rides, but the crowds did thin out as it got later, and at least the weather was perfect!! G&G were sure good sports starting off in such stressful conditions!! Here is the line for go-carts (we spent a LOT of time in line!)

SHEAR JOY

This was "Break the Rules Day" at school, which included wearing pj's AND CRAZY HAIR DAY!!! Emily was thinking about getting her hair cut short again, and when crazy hair day came, she decided sh'ed be REALLY crazy, and only cut half of it for Friday.  I started cutting, and we both slowly realized it was a TAD shorter than either of us wanted (how many times do I have to learn this lesson???).  She was a good sport though, became something of a celebrity at school for her boldness, and got a REAL haircut from our friend up the street after school.  She was still a bit put out with me for the first day, but once Maddie helped her style it, she decided she might like it after all (I've decided I LOVE it, but I was so nervous for a while, and just glad she got mad, and not crying-in-her-room-for-days-SAD like I would've done).  Here are the after shots:

And while she rejoiced in shortening, Spencer was getting excited about growing.  Since Conference is so close to his birthday, one thing he wanted to do was attend there in SL and see the prophet live.  We waited to see if our stake got any tickets, but they were only for the Priesthood Session (which Brent and Brian enjoyed).  I thought we ought to try doing the standby thing just to see how it goes, and since it was snowing that morning, it looked like our chances would be good! We left w/ sandwiches right after the first session, slowly found parking, and walked up w/ the masses to find the line for Standby Tickets.  Aside from my answering dishonestly that he was "barely 8"(he was a week away!) to someone handing out tickets for Tabernacle Seating (which I QUICKLY repented for, and explained to Spencer was SO wrong--oh brother--when will I ever learn if I'm lying at General Conference!!!!)--we did have a great time.  They Standy people said there were no tickets left b/c it was totally full today, but we gave it one more try, walking in front of the Conference Center holding up 2 fingers (for how many tickets we needed).  RIGHT AWAY, a young man handed some to us to enjoy, after which we got at the end of a VERY long line wrapping around the Conference Center w/ only 15 minutes to go, and DID eventually get seated, albeit in the very back row, just in time for it to start.  Spencer was thrilled, and just FULL of great joy--he's easy to enjoy :). 

We loved all of Conference.  Poor Brian missed Saturday sessions due to a City Council "Budget Retreat," but Brent printed off Conference Booklets, we had skittles for Conference Bingo, and could watch it from nearly any place in the house b/t computers and tvs.  SUCH an uplift!