Sunday Afternoon in Spring

I have been seeing advertisements for Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. It sounds wonderful- and I'm sure it's absolutely gorgeous. However, it costs $10 per adult to get in. I thought that was a bit expensive, so I came up with a creative alternative... BYU! The grounds there are beautiful, and guess what... free!

There aren't a ton of tulips blooming there yet- it's a little early up closer to the mountains, but there were beautiful flowering trees everywhere.

Cute ducklings!

We had a great time walking around campus (all the way from the ASB to the Botany Pond, back up to the waterfall by the Carillon Bell Tower). It was sunny and warm, and gorgeous. Spring is wonderful!

Monday after school, the kids really got into the warm weather- they broke out the swimsuits and sprinkler!

They had a great time. Never mind the fact that they came in soaking wet and asked if they could turn the fireplace on! (No, I didn't let them.)

Spring is great- and I don't even mind that it's supposed to get colder and stormy for the next few days... that will just keep us from getting too hot!

Easter Pictures!

Spring Break 2010

Spring break was great- it was so good to have all of us home, just doing things together. It used to be that school breaks were stressful for me- not so much anymore. The kids are getting older, and I am thrilled to say that I like them (as people, I mean- not just as my kids). I took the camera along to only a few of our activities, so this photo journal is woefully incomplete. Anyway, here's the lowdown:

Saturday: General Conference

I have kind of dreaded general conference for quite a few years... not because conference isn't wonderful, spiritual and uplifting, but because crowd control on 6 crazy kids while I'm trying to concentrate was not easy. I'm going to have to change my attitude, though- the kids did great. I was able to listen to every talk of every session- amazing!

During Conference, we also dyed eggs. 3 dozen, actually. I gave up on boiling our Easter eggs a long time ago- I'm the only one in the family who eats them, and even I don't like them THAT much! So now we just dye them raw, stick them in the fridge, and have pretty eggs to use in recipes and for breakfast for the next couple of weeks!

In between sessions of Saturday conference, I sent the kids out to do an Easter egg hunt. The 3 older kids hid for the little kids, and then the little kids hid for the big kids. It was awesome. I didn't even take pictures- just sent the camera with Rebekah. That's what happens when I overplan the day!

Sunday morning we watched the first session of Conference, and then headed to Levan, to Grandma and Grandpa Walker's house. I took zero pictures while we were there, but we had fun... promise! We had a wonderful Easter dinner, and then watched the second session of conference together. One of my favorite memories of the weekend is when everyone ended up sitting in the living room, talking about childhood memories. It was fun to hear what my older kids remember of their "childhood", and they got to hear some pretty exciting stories from Grandma and Grandpa, including one about a five year old Tim, a toy guitar, and John Denver music!

Monday we drove over to Moab to visit some good friends who used to live in Manila. The Christensens have 5 boys, so a few extra are no big deal (yeah, right)! They have a gorgeous house that they built themselves, and our kids would have stayed and had rubber band gun wars all day, if we could have. We were racing a storm on our way back to Grandma and Grandpa's, but we made it. Spring break in the snow just isn't fair, though.

Tuesday we came home just in time to deliver Meals on Wheels (love it when the kids can come with me- they are awesome helpers), and hung out until dinnertime, when we went to Bajio's to eat with kids' free meal coupons from the reading program at school.

Wednesday was BYU Museum day- we visited the Bean Museum, the Museum of People and Cultures, the Art Museum, and the Paleontology Museum. Also (most importantly) we picked up Tim and drove to the Creamery on Ninth for ice cream. Gotta love that BYU ice cream! Wednesday at lunch is not the optimal time to go there, though- too many elders on their way to the MTC!

Thursday and Friday are kind of a blur, honestly- we were getting to the end of the vacation.... I do have a few pictures from a lunch trip to the park, though.

Saturday, we convinced Tim to join us for a day in Ogden- we went to the Union Station Museums. They have three for one price- a train museum, a Browning gun museum, and an old car museum. Wow- that's a lot of museums in one week.
All three were great- the kids loved them. I mostly coveted the amazing cars.

Here's Annie, glad to see Tim for more than a few minutes here and there.

While in Ogden, we also went out to lunch to celebrate Tim's latest accomplishment. As a requirement for a class he's taking this semester, he entered a poster in the Mary Lou Fulton Mentored Research Conference, outlining the study he's been working on with some professors... and he won first place in his division! $300 prize! We were pretty excited. Tim is doing so well in his program- this was definitely the right thing for him to do. His classwork is just about done- and next fall he gets to teach a couple of classes, too. It will be interesting to see exactly where this takes us!

Birds and Bees?

If there is anyone else out there trying to figure out how to talk to their kids about all of the uncomfortable maturation/where babies come from/sex stuff, I totally have to recommend this book:


It is excellent. When Rebekah was about ten, we bought a book published by American Girl that basically taught her what to expect as far as physical and emotional changes. It was a good book, as far as it went- and it didn't have anything "bad" in it. It was just for girls, though, so now that Price and Josh are that age (well, older, actually), I was looking for something else. My sister Katy recommended this one. After buying and reading through it, I decided that Rebekah needed to hear it, too. Rebekah, Price, Josh and I have been reading one chapter at a time, out loud, once a week. I am astounded at how perfect the book is for this purpose. It is short, funny, and no-nonsense. It doesn't mince words, but makes things understandable for pre-teens.

I am grateful for the discussion on maturation and sex, since those are sometimes hard topics to discuss. My favorite chapter, though, is called "Keys to emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual growth". While talking about the changes they will go through in these areas, it also gives the kids tools to successfully navigate life. I LOVE the four things Brad Wilcox discusses.... I think I need to make a plaque or something! Here they are (in abbreviated form- come borrow the book from me if you want more!):

The key to emotional growth is taking responsibility for our emotions.
The key to social growth is respecting others.
The key to intellectual growth is reading good books.
The key to spiritual growth is remembering the Savior, our covenants, and who we really are.

Can't you see it on the wall? The four "R's"- I need to make this our family motto.

I especially loved the first one- taking responsibility for our emotions. I've heard the phrase "take responsibility for your actions" lots of times- but I haven't often heard that I am responsible for my emotions. I needed that advice at least as much as my kids did.

Anyway, there is a lot more to this book- it really does cover everything, and from a gospel perspective. I'm so glad I found it!

Easter Egg Hunt 2010

I managed some pictures while we were waiting for the Easter Egg Hunt to start, but as soon as it started, I somehow forgot that I had a camera.

The hunt that our neighborhood does is my all-time favorite. Our bishop's family organizes it- everyone who wants to participate donates 6 eggs per kid and .50 per family member- they hide the eggs at the park, and provide hot chocolate and doughnuts after.

For me, it's perfect- not too many people, no competition for eggs (they tell the kids how many they can collect), and breakfast! What more could you ask for?

Price, Josh and Tim aren't in any of these pictures, since they were out collecting for Scouting for Food, but they did make it for the doughnuts.

Also, you can see Emma's soccer uniform in one of the pictures- we went straight from the hunt to her first game of the season, where she scored her first goal! So exciting!!!!!!

Emma's Acting Debut

Here is Emma, debuting with her 1st grade class in their version of The 3 Billy Goats Gruff.

Doesn't she make a cute narrator?

They all did a great job.

Miss Hull is a wonderful teacher- I'm so glad Emma has had her this year!