Finish What You Start

During spring break, I tried to do some fun crafts and activities with the kids.  One of them was from an Explore & Learn book RJ and I purchased last year.  We made these fruit out of newspaper, glue and paint.  Then we weaved baskets to put it in.  Originally, we tried to make a paper mache bowl to go with it, but the newspaper stuck to the mold so we weaved plan "B".  It was a long process and the kids pooped out after the first or second coat of paint.  I held onto everything with a determination to make them finish what they started.  After weeks of looking at the fruit on the counter, I told them we could pass on the extra coats of paint but to do some detailing so we could take pictures and I could clear off my counter.

 Hunter made an orange, strawberries, banana and a pear.

McKenna chose blueberries, a mango and a banana.

April Date and Anniversary

The pictures uploaded different under a new blogger program so now they are backwards!  Thursday was our 9 year anniversary.  We got to go on a couple dates earlier in the week so we just kept it simple on Thursday.  Also, we bought a new comforter, new (to us) road bikes and RJ supported me in signing up for the sprint triathlon again. 

RJ wrote (typed) me a very special, heartfelt love note and I left him a message in our leather bound book from the deSully's.  McKenna had gymnastics then went to a friends' while I got my hair done.  I felt spoiled!  I made a ham dinner (originally our Easter dinner) and bought some special drinks and turtle cheesecake.  RJ brought home this bouquet of flowers.

 RJ went to the farmer's market during work hours and found this arrangement of flowers that he liked.  When he went back after work, it was under the table apparently on hold for someone else.  RJ asked the man if he had any more that it was his anniversary.  The guy sold it to him.  After dinner, we watched our 11 minute wedding video with the kids then put them to bed.  We watched two shows that we enjoy then read from my journal about the time that we met.  I was pretty detailed in my writing quoting and profiling people.  As we read, it was apparent how little we knew about each other and how immature we were.  We were so indecisive and silly!  We were like toxic hormones on a roller coaster ride.  We both felt however that we had received answers to our prayers to go forward with our relationship and things would work out.  It strengthens my testimony of prayer to see how the Lord knows us and what we need.  RJ and I have grown to love each other and we can both agree that the best time in our marriage is now.

 RJ had to travel for what was originally going to be our April date (a lecture on WWII).  He planned an evening of rock climbing at Vertical Endeavors instead.  The Hillyards watched the kids and I drove downtown to pick RJ up.  We got special shoes, harnesses and chalk.  After a brief orientation, we were set loose.  I liked climbing the rainbow routes (step on any rock you want).  I did try specific routes (staying with one color tape) a few times but it was a lot harder!  It was a really fun challenge.  No matter how much I tried to use my legs though, my forearms were killing me!

 On Tuesday, Cheryl watched the kids and we did sealings in the temple.  When we were almost finished, the sealer asked if we had any questions.  I asked a question as well as a few other patrons and we had a great discussion.  One point that he made that was interesting is that we are not sealed together as couples!  Blessing are sealed upon us and we are simply married for time and all eternity. 

Beth sent me these really fun nails from jamberry and I have been holding onto them waiting for a special occasion.  I figured our anniversary was as special as it gets and I had so much fun putting them on.  McKenna really wanted to be in on it so I shaped my scraps and had enough to put five on her.  Unfortunately, they didn't last long.

Easter

A friend from Oregon (Adrienne Bjorkman) invited us to an Easter egg hunt at the park. We brought 12 candy filled eggs for Hunter and McKenna and bananas for the potluck breakfast. We had been seeing good weather so we were unprepared for the sprinkling, windy, 40 degree egg hunt. Some kids took more than 12 eggs so Hunter and McKenna didn't find any until those kids with excess came back and started dropping them on the ground, mother's orders. We made a get-a-away with 19 eggs and they were almost all empty (minus 2) when we got home.

The Rowley's invited us over to color eggs that evening. The kids had a lot of fun. Reagan was getting into too (literally).

With the egg hunt on Sat., we figured that the kids got enough candy and hunting that we didn't need a repeat Sunday morning before 9 a.m. church. I did however stop at Goodwill and found a light yellow dress for McKenna and some navy blue church pants for Hunter.

This was McKenna's Easter dress when she was 2.

Too cute. Reagan LOVES her daddy.

Forced smile on a naturally cute girl.

McKenna grabbed the camera and snapped this picture. She actually got my whole head!

*note: Hunter must have changed too quick. I feel bad that I don't have any pictures of him from this Easter but he was definitely there.

We attended church which was full of great meetings. When we got home, we used up some of our hard boiled eggs for lunch and took some out to race down the hill in the back. McKenna was afraid to roll hers hard because she didn't want it to break. Instead she gave it baby nudges all the way down. We ate a yummy ham dinner with the Rowleys that evening. Yeah for friends!

Mom's Therapy

Our Stake has women's volleyball from Sep.-Dec. so when a sign-up sheet went around, I figured why not? I played once a year for mutual activities and at one point in PE so I knew the basic idea was to keep the ball off the ground and slam it onto the opponents court. I was surprised when I showed up to practice and was told that we had a set setter and were going for the bump, set, spike trio. I really enjoyed playing though and kept going when the season was over to play with other women on Wed. nights. Some girls in other wards put a rec. team together (named Mom's Therapy) and invited me to play. I was very flattered and really wanted to make sure that they didn't regret asking me. I learned a ton (including different formations) and got to play outside hitter. We didn't do great in our league but I would love to keep playing. It would have helped to have 6 healthy players but throughout the season people were getting injured right and left. Our middle blocker was pregnant (Erin), our other blocker (Tera) injured her knee so we got a sub (Shannon)who just recovered from knee surgery, other outside hitter (Wendy) also sustained a knee injury skiing, Mirjam had a stretched the tendon to her thumb, and our setter (Jackie) pinched a nerve in her shoulder. As for me- I had some pride injuries (simple misses) and bruises.

Hunger Games

Our March date was originally going to be a road trip to Iowa to watch the Big 10 Gymnastics Championship. After going over the budget and trying to decide to either get a babysitter until 2 a.m. or take the kids with us, we decided to come up with another date idea. We knew the Hunger Games was coming out on the 23rd and figured that would be a perfect replacement. Jessie Meyer recommended the book to us when it first came out about 4 years ago. We really enjoyed reading it together and waited on pins and needles for the second and third books (in the series) to come out. We knew the movie would not be as good as the books but were excited to see how they portrayed it. The cast didn't really fit our image of what we thought the characters looked like but our disappointment was swept up in how well, overall they did with the movie. It has been over 1 1/2 years (I think) since we've gone to the theater together so it was a lot of fun and we got to enjoy it with our friends the Rowleys.

Dance Specialists?

We were approached one Sunday by a sister who happened to be at the Halloween dance where RJ and I cut a rug. She asked us to be dance specialists for a stake youth dance festival. I'm not one to say "no" but I didn't feel 100% adequate either. We told her we would do it if she was desperate. Of course, she took that as a yes and we started putting together a routine of sorts. We chose the Cowboy Cha Cha which took us back to the dance class that we met in. Instead of swaying to "Neon Moon" by Brooks 'N Dunn, we chose a pop song by Kelly Clarkson called "Stronger." I wanted the youth to be able to enjoy the music they were groovin' to. We made up some fighter type dance moves for the chorus and decided to wrap the kids hands like boxers. We got to teach the Laurels and Priests. We had a great bunch of kids and had so much fun. Everything took place in one day and our stomachs were churning with nervousness when our kids were up. They looked awesome!

I was so into their dance that I forgot to take a picture. This is a picture of all of the youth (minus the ones that didn't fit in the frame of my camera). Most of the kids in our group are in the back towards the right.
Hunter and McKenna and Reagan were there too. They did an amazing job being patient and cheering. They walked around singing the songs from the different numbers for days afterward.

Reagan's Bangs

When Reagan's helmet was on, her bangs would hang in her eyes and I would constantly wipe them to the side. I was determined not to cut them because it would call for more up keep. I figured I could use bows and headbands to hold them back and she wouldn't mind since she was use to having something on her head. The clips and bands lasted a few minutes and I reclipped constantly. One morning I got brave and pulled out the scissors. It's not easy cutting a 16 month old baby's hair while they're sitting on your lap.

Before bangs
After

The headband didn't last long but at least she can still see with it off.