EASTER with a twist

This year, Easter fell on April 1st.  Anyone who knows this family knows that April 1st is a serious holiday in our house.  We invited Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, and Papa to watch the boys do an Easter egg hunt and our traditional creamed-eggs lunch.  Both Shayne and I had different traditions growing up - and of course we still cling to those traditions for our children.  So, I suppose our kids get the best of both worlds because they get to do a lot of traditions! 

I did get out the fine china for this meal - I don't do that often.  It was fun to get out this set that I inherited from Grandma Hunter.

We started with an egg hunt - which included a scavenger hunt that Shayne put together.  They ended up at neighbor's homes doing service at one point.  Of course, not ALL the candy was filled with pranks - but there were a few good ones.  Shayne made these Cadbury eggs full of mayo - without making it look opened.  There was skill involved this year... there were several chocolate surprises filled with gross substitutes and my personal favorite was a chocolate dipped RAW egg that looked like a Kinder-Egg (mom did that one).  I'm surprised our kids eat anything on April 1st.

There were a few chores in the scavenger hunt at home too...  brilliant!

We also had a real egg hunt with the traditional roll and smash event.  We taught Grandma and Grandpa all about it - they got a kick out of it!

Just in case you didn't know, Cole hates the smell of eggs.  And no, he doesn't eat them either.

Gathered around the table - doing a TOAST.

 I love our traditions, I love my boys, and I love my family.  We're so blessed to have our grandparents close by and the opportunities to share these fun memories together.  I'm grateful for the gospel that binds us together for eternity.

Serving in the primary

4 1/2 years

with Jenny, Emily, and Melissa

People kept asking us if we were ready to be done.  Typically you can predict 3 years in a church leadership calling so once we reached 4 years and kept going - it was just a joke between the four of us that "next year" we'd get it right.  I can't say enough good about these wonderful women I served with all those years.  We had our system and ways and our own talents and skills  - we just put them together and we had our dream team!  I never felt like there was a hierarchy of president, counselors and secretary - it was just OUR presidency.  When I got the call to come meet with the bishop before church one Sunday - I knew what was about to happen.  As soon as I stepped into his office, I started to CRY and I told him he didn't have to release us yet (he hadn't even said the words yet!)  We were happily serving there and happy to keep going but, we also knew it was time to give a new presidency the chance to love and serve the children.  Primary is the best place to be!  There is one lesson that stands out above all the many lessons I taught and it was amazing because it was the testimonies of others, rather than me teaching that made it special.  It was a powerful lesson about missionary work and I had asked a few teachers to share their testimonies about missionary work.  Little did I know how missionary work had affected them - reactivation, conversion, and personal missionary stories were shared.  It was a tear jerker and I didn't do anything!  The spirit was so powerful in that room.  There were many more Sundays full of tears as I listened to the children sing - I love the music in primary!  I'm so grateful I had this opportunity to be in primary and the blessings it brought into my life.

California - FUN!

We did a quick sprint to California - First stop was visiting Rachael and Greg in San Diego.

And we're off on an adventure - a hike that goes to the beach

This was a little bit of heaven - ice cream in a warm doughnut - oh yumminess.

It was great fun to be with Greg and Rachael and their family.  They are friends that no matter the miles or time, we just pick up and keep going like we are still two doors down from each other.  I miss those days!  And we really do miss having them close to us.  It was very kind of them to move to a vacation spot so we'll have even more excuses to come visit.  

Then we cruised up to Universal Studios.  When we walked in - Skyler started to cry and cry and he was a mess.  I didn't know if he was just tired or sick?!?!  Shayne sent the rest of us on the Harry Potter ride and by the time we got back - Skyler was even MORE MISERABLE.  He kept complaining about his head.  I took him back to the car to get him ibuprofen - and when we got to the car I realized his ear was DRAINING.  The poor kiddo - his eardrum ruptured.  As soon as it started to drain - he fell asleep and I just chilled in the car while the big boys played with Daddy in the park.  Not quite the day we imagined.  Luckily - we were going back the next day and Skyler was much improved and ready to RIDE.  PLUS - we had the Brenes family with us!  I didn't take very many pix - such a bummer.  

We had saved this certificate for Skyler since our visit YEARS AGO.  He wasn't tall enough for the Simpson's ride then but NOW his pass to the front of the line was AWESOME.  And he was tall enough and he loved it. 

Speaking of growing - look at this 1 year difference collage that happened while we were in Cali.

February shin-digs

I went to UMEA in St George - which meant a lot of classes to encourage my growth as a band director.  BONUS is hanging out with my Dad in most of the classes, seeing my mom at meal-times, and the traditional hike before leaving town.  I love this tradition!  I also squeezed in a quick bike ride too.  St George in Jan is glorious.

Careful how much you hug that little puppy of ours.  It was an accident but we got it glued back together.

Precious little recipe card that my Grandma Saville left in her little fondue pot (which I kept after she passed away).  I had it hidden away in my recipe box and just ran across it and felt like it was hug from heaven.  Then I had to make fondue too - although I prefer my mom's recipe.  LOL

Valentine's Day Fondue! With the boys I love most.

Sledding - in a blizzard.

Skiing with Danny - and HE WAS AMAZING!!  After our first time down Sundance green slope - (he just followed me down and I took it nice and easy) Danny said "I'm ready to go home, that was pretty boring".  Wait - did you want to go faster?  You can go faster - I'll just stay behind you and go as fast as you are comfortable.  Well - we down several more times and I never caught up to him.  He was so fast and LOVED it.

Just one of those rare moments where we were gathered in the front room, Hunter playing the piano for fun, the little boys reading and my heart was just so happy. 

And this was a genius little creation that Cole made - it's a mini camera.  Made out of a floss container, chapstick cap, and hot glue.  That boy is fantastic at creating.

January tidbits

Just wanted to document how tall these two are - Cole is growing like a weed and I have a feeling this gap is going to be very different in year!

Shayne working on the Portal wall for Cole's room

Have I mentioned that Zoey has another family that loves her as much as we do?  She goes to Becky's while I am at work - Zoey just adores Becky and her 5 dogs!  I love watching her bite the beards on the Shnauzers - it's a riot to watch her play over there! 

Celebrating Daddy's birthday

This year, Connor and Shayne celebrated their birthdays together by getting the gang together at Top Golf.  Chyanna and Spencer were in town too!!   

It's hard to believe that Connor is a senior and going to graduate this year.  With Cherae's help, we constructed the ultimate birthday cake made of doughnuts.  We sure love these two!

All about Shayne:

He loves the Jazz (and always will)

He loves his hot tub

To fix something - he only needs zip ties

His fav spot is to be relaxing in his bed

Although this has been a year of job changes he has stayed optimistic and hard working

He's incredibly creative and loves doing house projects - 

especially making unique custom rooms for his boys 

He loves his boys more than anything.

He is the funniest, bestest, and most fun person to be with - we all want to be with him.