APRIL: EASTER AND MORE

EASTER

I was terrible about taking pictures on Easter this year. We dyed eggs Friday evening. I love that the kids still enjoy doing this even though they are getting older now. The Easter bunny visited us Friday night. He even left a basket for Ty and I. I had to get up early to go to the church to set up for our ward Easter breakfast. When I got home, I had to wake the kids up. It was 8 am which was pretty early for them on a Saturday. Haha. They had to search for their baskets that the Easter bunny hid from them. Once they found those, they found what color hidden eggs were theirs and went in search of their eggs! It took them a bit to find them all but we managed to do it before we had to leave for our 9 am breakfast! Easter breakfast and kids egg hunt turned out great! I got to hold a little newborn for a while too! 

After the breakfast Ty and I had to divide and conquer kids events. Crystal had a soccer game in Pocatello and Lily had a volleyball tournament in Aberdeen. We met back in Idaho Falls in the afternoon for Easter Linner (lunch/dinner) with my side of the family. We ended up having pizza at KV instead of the usual bbq at my parents' house because the weather was supposed to be rainy, windy and cold. Grandma and Papa had an awesome egg hunt for the kids and the adults too! 

Sunday the girls and I wore our matching dresses from the Easter bunny. Dad had a tie on from the Easter bunny but he changed before we could get a picture. Jay ate too much candy and his stomach hurt so he didn't get dressed for church. I got pictures of him in his new suit the next week. 

SHENANIGANS

SOCCER

It has been such a cold spring. The soccer game from the first 2 pictures it actually SNOWED on us. I never thought I'd actually say this, but we actually preferred the snow. When it started snowing, the winter temp wind slowed and it actually FELT warmer. Also we were glad it wasn't rain. Rain would have left us more wet and more cold. Brrr! The entire month of April we didn't have a single soccer game that wasn't freezing cold and/or unbearably windy! Also, the best thing that came from Covid was that I have a wind blocking mask now. 

DINNER WITH FRIENDS

Some friends we made when we lived in Utah years ago recently moved to Idaho Falls! We went out a few weeks ago and had a good time! Can't go wrong with Fuji's and Orange leaf! Can't wait for our next date night with them!

INSULATION

Yep, we drove from Lowes to the house with a pallet of insulation in the back of the truck. It was so tall we were concerned we might hit the street lights but it's all good. We made it home without hitting any overhead lights or wires. HAHA. Installing it wasn't too bad, other than I kept rubbing my face with debris all over me and scratching my face with it. 

March: Birthday Month

 TY'S BIRTHDAY

We started the month off right with Ty's birthday! His birthday was on a Tuesday, and the girls had a church activity we had to work around. So instead of going out like we usually do, I made Ty's favorite, Chicken Divan, for dinner, and we had ice cream cake after the girls got home. Wednesday we had church basketball so we couldn't go out for his birthday until Thursday. Ty decided to get a bad cold and didn't feel good enough Thursday to go out. He was going to go to Buffalo Wild Wings, so we just ordered it to go instead! Sunday when he was feeling better, we celebrated with a tres leches cake with family! Crystal played Happy Birthday on her trumpet while we sang! 

MY HANDYMAN

It finally happened. After 5 years of owning chickens, we have a chicken eating the eggs! This is NOT GOOD. Once they start, it's almost impossible to get them to stop. And trying to figure out which one was eating them was going to be a project in and of itself. So Ty made some renovations to the nesting box. It has a mat in it now instead of the wood chips, and Ty tilted the entire box. Now when a chicken lays an egg it rolls down out of the chicken's reach. I've wanted him to do this for years for cleanliness reasons, so the egg eater kind of helped me out in the end. Haha. 

Also my Kitchenaid broke this month. Something came loose on the inside, and it stopped spinning despite the motor running. Ty tore the whole thing apart piece by piece (I wish I had taken a picture of it when it was all in pieces). It was a yucky mess, but he found the missing piece. It was a small pin that held the gears together, and it was bent quite a bit. Ty managed to straighten it out and put it back in it's place. He put everything back together and didn't have any extra pieces which is always a plus. He plugged it in, turned it on .... AND nothing. It wouldn't turn on at all. HAHA. By this time I'm already having visions of my pretty new Kitchenaid I'm going to buy since this one is clearly busted forever. I made him stop working on it to go to lunch because it was 3 pm, and I hadn't eaten anything all day. While we were in Idaho Falls, he had me searching where we could get a new one. I found a Pro 5 Plus at Sam's for an awesome price! And they had my favorite color IN STOCK! I was super excited. Honestly he could have called it my birthday present, and I would have been okay with it! Haha! I got it home, pulled it out, and gave it a place in the kitchen before he could do something silly like fix the old one and make me return the new one. 

Sure enough he pulled it open again. It took him about 30 minutes, but he figured out what was wrong. The last bolts he put in had a weird spring on the ends of them, and they had to go thru the hole in just the right way or it wouldn't complete the circuit. He got them in correctly, and the old mixer started right up. Good as new. But he didn't dare tell me I had to return my new baby, so he sold the old one on Facebook and let me keep my new pretty mixer. It helped pay for it at least! 

I've always been so thankful for my handyman! He can fix just about anything!

SNOW!

It snowed again! Ugh! Saturday was beautiful, and the snow from winter finally all melted. Then Sunday we woke up to an inch of snow on the ground. It sprinkled snow all day long!!! Thank goodness it warmed up the last couple weeks, and it feels like Spring again. Hopefully it stays this time!

SPRING BREAK AND JAY'S BIRTHDAY

Jay's birthday was in the middle of Spring Break this year. He had been talking about wanting to go to a hotel and swim in the hotel pool. So to get out of having to do a friend's birthday party, I offered to take him to a hotel and swim for his birthday. He took the bait, and we drove to SLC the day before his birthday to swim in a hotel pool. Haha. Our friends from Tooele, Dan and Danielle, came to swim with us. They have 2 girls and a boy close to the same ages as our kids. Their oldest is a little older than Crystal, but their youngest boy and Jay are only 3 days apart, so it was his birthday week too! We see each other once every couple years so they always have to get to know each other all over again. The awkward silence doesn't last too long though thank goodness! Haha. After swimming, we had pizza and played games in the room!

The next morning, on Jay's birthday we went to Hogle Zoo! The weather was perfect and to make it even better our Tooele friends met us there too! The animals were really active. The kids were tired and ready to go by the end of the day, but we had a lot of fun and enjoyed the awesome company as well! We had a gift card to Red Lobster so Ty asked Jay if he wanted to go there for his birthday dinner (my kids all love crab but don't get it very often). He of course thought that was a great idea. The best part was Dan and Danielle came with us... even though none of them like seafood! Haha.

I used Jay's birthday and Spring Break in general as an excuse to drive to Utah, but it ended up being as much of a birthday gift for me as it was for Jay! I had such a good time catching up with old friends. Hopefully we don't take so long to see each other again this time! 

JAY'S BIRTHDAY SURPRISE

We had more surprises in store for Jay on his birthday! After the long drive home from SLC, Jay walked into the house to find his birthday present waiting in the living room for him! An 18 speed mountain bike! I love that he has a Spring birthday so every time he needs a new bike we can get it for him for his birthday. With the girls' Fall birthdays, bikes haven't ever been a good gift. Haha. 

He also got a 'Jellyfish tank' from his Aunt, Uncle, and cousins in Arizona. It is sitting by his bed and he loves it so much! He had a pretty fantastic 9th birthday and was spoiled like crazy! The next day we spoiled him with more celebrating at Grandma's house. Even cousins from Twin Falls were in town and got to come spend time with him! It was a great night!

LAURA'S BIRTHDAY

My birthday was next! Ty made sure to get me a DQ ice cream cake with extra frosting, MY FAVORITE! We had cake again Sunday with extended family but I only got a picture of the first one. Haha. It's hard to take pictures of myself so there aren't many pictures, but I had a fantastic day! I went to lunch with my mom at Longhorn Steakhouse, and I went to Garcia's with Ty and the kids for dinner! Ty got me wireless earbuds! Exactly what I wanted! And the kids got me a tshirt that says, "I'm so tired of babysitting my mom's grandkids right now!" Haha. They also surprised me by having all their weekend chores and laundry done when I got home from work! 

I hate that I'm getting older. Time is going by so fast I can't hardly breathe. My babies aren't babies, and I'm in total denial over it! TIME SLOW DOWN!!!!