Spring Break

Even though my kids are not in grade school, we still feel "the wrath" of Spring Break. I say "the wrath" lightly although we are still affected by this 16 DAY break from normalcy. School is out, soccer is on a break and every place you can think of (Peter Piper, the zoo, the park, the gym daycare, etc) is PACKED with moms and kids who are usually at school. It is kind of nice to not have to be anywhere at any particular time and we were able to keep ourselves entertained with the help from our family and friends.

Spring Break started with a bout of the flu that both Wade and I had. He was such a little trooper--it broke mine and Matt's hearts to watch our, highly active and energetic, 4 year old throw up and lay around all day. After a couple days of rest, he was back to normal and we were able to enjoy the rest of our break.

We made a trip to the "Phoenix Zoo" and the kids LOVED it! We were able to go with some of their (and my) friends so it made it that much more enjoyable.



Wade got a, much needed, haircut. It pains me to say that Seth is next, though I am not going to cut a lot--just a trim :). Clark and Lindsay joined the usual crowd for Sunday dinner and Clark helped the boys build a "fort." They loved it! I remember building forts with blankets and pillows when I was young.


Aunt Mar (Matt's sister) came for a visit. We all loved having her here--especially the boys. She spoiled them to death and they ate up every bit of it :)! Matt was able to do some dental implants on her, which turned out to be a great experience for both of them.

While Mar was here, Julie and John, also, came for a visit. Julie is off to dance on a Mediterranean Cruise next week so she came to say her goodbyes. We will miss her very much, but loved every second of her visit. We also loved having John here. It is ALWAYS the best to have us all together. We had an absolute blast and kept busy:

going to the "Easter Pageant" at the Mesa Temple. I am pleased to report that the boys did really well. Wade, especially, loved it. It helped that we had great seats (thanks Ben for going over TWO hours early to save our spots!)


playing "Rockband!!!" (if you think "Guitar Hero" is fun, it is NOTHING compared to ROCKBAND---SOOOOO FUN!!)

and celebrating Easter:






We also took the kids to see "Horton Hears a Who", got a babysitter and went out with just the adults, went shopping and stayed up super late chatting and enjoying each other's company. It was a wonderful Spring Break, but I am happy to report that Wade started back at preschool today and we have soccer resuming next week along with swimming lessons and the usual craziness of life (just the way we like it :)!)

Spring Cleaning?

I am sure you (who can) would all agree that being a mom is the greatest thing ever. I find it amazing that my two little boys can be so different. I love their little personalities and watching them grow and change each day. It makes me even more excited for our new baby to come so I can see what he will be like.

With that being said, I have to blog about another "little quirk" beheld by my, sweet Seth. I, actually, have to take some of the blame for this one--I may have created a minor monster! Those of you who know the "mom" me, know that I am a little obsessive about organization and a clean house. I am not always organized and I, definitely, do not always have a clean house, but I am the most happy when things are organized and clean.

I guess, Seth feels the same way. The past few months he has shown a weird obsession with the vacuum. He LOVES it when I vacuum and creates as many opportunities as possible for me to do it. For example, he sneaks cereal, crackers or pretzels into the living room and dumps the crumbs on the carpet. He then, will run to me and tell me there is a mess and I need to get the vacuum. As I get the vacuum out, he runs to the playroom to retrieve his toy vacuum so he can "help." He will run his vacuum over the crumbs and stays involved until the mess is clean.

I know that isn't too weird, but this is: About a week ago, Seth started to sneak my vacuum out of the closet, take it into our nearby guest room, shut the door and then...who knows what? I don't know if he just looks at it or plays with the parts, but I usually find him just after he went into the room and nothing is out of place--just Seth and the vacuum in our guest room. When I get there, he knows the routine: put the vacuum back in the closet, which he seems to love to do just as much as getting it out.

Some of his other cleaning quirks are: his nursery teachers have complimented him on being the "best cleaner-upper" of the bunch, he loves to wash his hands (although he isn't bothered by being dirty--go figure), he is the first to point out a stain on anything and he will always be the first to help me clean up. He says, "I clean up, I help."

I love my little weirdo :) and guess I should be thankful for a boy who likes to clean because at the rate we are going, I will have a house full of boys who are usually messy so it will be nice to have Seth's help!

Southern Utah Adventures

We had a wonderful past weekend all around. I made plans with three of my best friends since high school for a "girl's weekend" in St. George while Matt and the boys spent the weekend with his family in Cedar (except for the quick trip Matt made to Vegas for an invisalign course.)

The drive up to Utah started pretty adventurous. Seth has only puked three times in his life and all three times have been while we are driving in the late afternoon, on a Phoenix freeway in traffic. One of the three happened this weekend. I kinda knew it was coming because he kept saying he was sick and covering his mouth with his little hands. Every time he coughed I would put a plastic bag up so he could puke in it and I was successful! (You know you are a mom when you are excited to catch your child's puke in a bag!!)

After that, everything went pretty smooth until we were about 50 miles outside of Flagstaff. I was looking in the compartments of our rental car (we decided to rent since Matt was doing business on the trip and we wanted to maximize our gas mileage.) I opened a compartment in the dashboard and came across two tightly rolled items used for smoking. Matt swears they were cigarettes, but I will let your imagination decide what I thought they were. To say in the least, we threw them out the window (can you imagine what would have happened if we were pulled over and a cop searched the car?--yikes!)

You would think that would be all, but our sweet Wade still has a hard time making it through the night "accident free" and had a #2 accident somewhere in between Page and Kanab. We left his "soiled" underwear on the side of the road and the poor guy had to wear a diaper until we got to Cedar.

We arrived to Cedar a little after midnight which, actually, was good time considering how many times we had to stop! Matt left early Friday for his conference while the kids played with Grandpa and Granny Roper and my friends picked me up.

My weekend was filled with shopping, a quick visit from Ju, eating yummy food and TALKING. We never ran out of things to say even though we stayed up until 4am. I feel so blessed to have such great friends that I have been through so much with! It was a wonderful weekend that I will never forget!

While I was living the "single" lifestyle, Matt and the boys had a blast in Cedar. They, too, got to eat yummy food at our favorite spots in Cedar: "Pizza Factory" and "Brad's", had an Easter egg hunt organized by Aunt Mer, played with the Holmes' new baby chicks and enjoyed the company of their cousins. Wade didn't want to leave--he begged us to stay. It was a quick trip up and back, but so much fun and just what we needed!

Family Weekend Fun!

We are so blessed to have Jess and her family living close by. Nothing compares to relaxing Sunday dinners, cousins playing and the security of knowing you always have someone to rely on. Like I said, we are blessed to have them so close. We are also blessed to have wonderful parents that come to visit as much as possible.

Gary and Shirley (Matt's parents) came into town two weekends ago, flew out of Phoenix for a Caribbean cruise, and came back this past Saturday for a couple more nights until they headed for home this morning.

They are such wonderful parents (and in-laws) and have always been so loving and supportive of us. The boys LOVED having Granny and Grandpa around and spent their time at the park, going on walks, playing "growly bear" and running around our house and backyard on "Cloud 9." No one can give kids attention and love quite like grandparents can (at least that is the way it is around our house!)

Also, this weekend, we made a trip to the mall (always fun!) and one of our favorite restaurants "Ruby's" with Jess, Ben and Logan. It was a lot of fun and we had a good time laughing and chatting! It has been a great few days filled with lots of family fun!