Good stuff in March

Zoe and her battle of the books team made it to the district level! She was really excited about this and it was great fun to go see her.  She said it didn't stress her out, but she had a little emoji stress ball that she would squeeze away at during the battles and the little thing didn't even have a face by the time it was all over.  Haha! They didn't win at the district level- but had a great time trying!!

Aspen talked me into getting colored bands on my braces- she said it's obvious I have braces so I might as well embrace it... So I did :)

Everyone is really loving their art classes and have done some pretty sweet things!

Will's highlight of each and every week is if and when he can play with his best buddy Harvey! So adorable!

I finally got some new glasses- Will loved trying on glasses while we were there as much as I did.  He's so dang cute!  I love hanging out with him all day!

This kid got himself a real job and a real license... Go Chase!

St. Patty's Day

St Patty's was lot's a green fun!  Parties at home, at school, at Teresa's... Tons of green food and green activities Just the way we like it!!

Spring Break

Spring Break was so great! We were so ready for a break from everything- and had ourselves a delightful little stay-cation! 

We hiked Battlecreek...

I took the kids to Momentum and we did some indoor rock climbing.  They loved this, and it was awesome because there were walls of all different shapes and sizes to climb so everyone was happy!!

We went back and hiked battlecreek again with Teresa and her family. my kids think they own this mountain.  It is so close to us and so kid friendly that they can run all over- half of them take a different way up and just meet me at the top ( Zoe and Coop like to hike along the stream). We let Piper roam all over- she loves it.  She runs up and down the side of the mountain like a little spaz but is happy as can be!

Teresa and I met up with the kids at Funtopia!  This place is a blast! I'm impressed with Cooper!  He always starts things off cautiously, you couldn't talk him into doing anything he didn't feel totally comfortable with, but by the end he is usually more daring and doing crazier stuff than anyone.  He was the same way with tubing and swimming... He's my most daring child- it just takes him a while :)

We met up with Grandma T and all the cousins at the Zoo- Definitely the highlight of the week!

We all went and saw "A Wrinkle in Time" together.  Most of my kids/ my family read this book beforehand and were pretty disappointed with the movie- I didn't and therefore wasn't :) I was just happy to be there.

Happy Birthday Matt

This guy is getting old!  We had a wonderful day together!  Zoe stayed home from school (she loves doing this!!) and Matt and I celebrated all day!  We went to lunch, went to a movie, got a massage, and then got some cupcakes and came home to party with the kids with cupcakes and another movie.  It was awesome!  Happy Birthday Babe! 

Happy Anniversary- 17 years!!

Matt and I celebrated our 17th anniversary.  In one more year I've been married as long as I was single- How weird is that! Matt took the whole day off and we went skiing together.  Neither of us have been skiing together ever, and neither of us having been skiing period in at least a decade. So we were excited/ nervous (at least on my end) but It was a blast!  It happened to snow all day while we were there, so it was pretty chilly even all bundled up, but the snow was perfect.  We seriously just had so much fun.  And we didn't do half bad either.  I tweeked my back a bit because I lost total control for probably a full minute,I was falling and then fine and then falling and then fine.  I finally ended facing the wrong way in almost the straddles and my poles holding me up but never actually fell - it was a sight to behold I'm sure- Haha! After we got done we grabbed soup at Kneaders and then went to a hotel and hot tubbed and watched a movie and just vegged all night.  The perfect ending to a wonderful day if you ask me! Matt's Mom was going to watch the kids for us while we were gone but she was so sick!  She came down with the flu a few days before, so Aspen and Zoe totally did it, which could have been a risky move but they did AMAZING! Lynn was here in case they needed anything, but they cooked and cleaned and took care of the kids for a whole day and night- such ALLSTARS! 

(I've quite possibly never looked dorkier- Haha)

Happy Valentines Day

By the end of Valentines Day I am sweating. Everyone needs crazy boxes, signed cards and candy, a pink breakfast, and a pink lunch, - Phew! But I do love me any chance to party and take a million pictures so it's all good! I was so proud of our boxes this year! So groovy! And at the end of the long crazy day Matt surprised me and brought me home yummy takeout, bubble bath, and a treat and took all the kids to Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner. My Man delivered! What a stud he is :) Happy Valentines Day!!

My Family came over for a party the Friday before.  We ate dinner and had some fun minute to win it games for the kids to play.  We love getting all these crazy kids together- even though the environment is insane!! But it's happy loud, which is the best kind of loud, so we keep doing it!

Happy Birthday Chase

Chase is 16... So Scary!! He's a full blown teenager- pretty much a mini Alicia and Matt (which if you knew us growing up you know how terrifying that is :) But I'm crazy about him!  For his 16th birthday we threw him a surprise birthday party, we had a house full of his friends and tons of good food- and I didn't take a single picture... What the heck!  I was so busy feeding and entertaining and then suddenly everyone was in the basement being crazy and it just felt out of place to go make everyone stop for pictures.  But trust me, it happened and it was a party!! Haha! Happy Birthday Bud! 

Happy Birthday Scotland- Disneyland trip

We have a tradition of taking our kids to Disneyland after they finish "The Book of Mormon" for the first time.  Scott happened to finish a week before his 10th birthday, so we decided to surprise him and take him on his birthday.  He knew the trip was coming- I told him I would talk to my Mom and see if she could come help out with the kids in March sometime, so he wasn't expecting it AT ALL on his birthday.  I was so excited, I could hardly stand it.  We left the night before his birthday.  I had packed him and thrown the suitcase in the trunk while he was at school.  We told him we wanted to take him out for his birthday dinner early, since he had scouts on his actual birthday.  He said he wanted to go to chuck-o-rama, so we went there and ate and then Matt told him we were going to watch a Bot fight at the airport (I don't think that's even a real thing- Haha).  Scott is one of our most laid back children and he's pretty oblivious to the world around him, so he didn't have any suspicions or questions.  A Bot fight sounded pretty sweet and he was just happy to be there.  We drove to the airport, got out of our car, ran to the shuttle with our suitcase and our carry on bag, and sat down.  Matt looked over at me and whispered "So we can tell him the truth at anytime". I turned to Scott and told him we had tricked him, we weren't really going to a Bot fight, and I asked him if he had any guesses where we were actually going?  He said "Um- A chemistry show?", we said nope, and he guessed a basketball game, and we said nope.  Finally we said " We'll give you a hint- We're at the airport, with a suitcase- " Nothing came to mind.  So we told him it Was in California and he might find Mickey Mouse there.  He said "Disneyland?" we said "Yep!!" and he said "Nu uh" :) He didn't believe us for a bit, we had to convince him.  We laughed pretty hard about this for a while!

We had so much fun having him all to ourselves!  He's a pretty mellow kid, doesn't get real excited about things, but chat, chat, chatted our ears off about all sorts of random stuff.  He isn't very adventurous or daring so he was hesitant to go on a lot of the rides.  We pretty much had to force him into trying space mountain, and he did threaten to kill himself (by not buckling his seat belt) Once we eventually got him on there.  But he tried almost everything, and seemed to enjoy himself. And I have to say, this is the best experience Matt and I have ever had at the park for two reasons 1. We didn't go on a weekend and 2. We upgraded to the Max Pass, which allows you to fast pass multiple rides from your phone (game changer!!) We didn't wait longer than 15 minutes for anything.  Because of this we did all the rides we wanted, left the park for lunch and swimming, and then came back in the evening and did all the rides again. Pretty dang sweet!!

The second day we did California Adventure.  He LOVED the Radiator Springs ride!! And I have to say that I did too.  This was the first Matt and I had been on this one, and it was cute and fun, so we did it probably 4 times.  Normally the wait on this one is CRAZY- but due to our timing and our max pass we cruised on it every time! We stuck around both nights for the fireworks and the world of color show which were fun! It was a memorable trip! Happy Birthday Scotty!!

MLK Day- Sledding

I talked Teresa into coming sledding with us on MLK day.  I really, really thought there would still be snow up there because we had had a couple light snow storms, but there was not any on the small hill that goes down to the lake.  We headed up to the bowl and found a little but even up there it was spare and SO rocky!! We busted a few of our sleds, and had a few injuries, but still managed to have a good time! Poor Coop wasn't feeling well.  I didn't realize that until I was getting Will's boots and gloves on and noticed him curled up on the sled in the middle of the road, this is very unlike him, he is my child that is larger than life!  He loves everything and always does it with so much excitement! So I went over to check on him and found that he was burning up.  Man that fever came on quick!! Turned out to be the flu- and we've spread it from person to person since, so rough!!

Happy New Year- Ice Skating

For our gift to all the cousins on the Gardner side we took everyone Ice Skating.  We went on New Years Day.  Once again- the weather was perfect and everyone shed the many layers I made them wear, even me! It was fun to see the kids learn something new.  No one had ever been ice skating before, and it's kinda tricky.  But by the end everyone was pretty decent! Even Coop could go around on his own.  Will loved being drug around by either Matt or I.  He would just flop around like a limp noodle while we would hold under his arms and skate him around.  It was exhausting for us, but he thoroughly enjoyed himself, so mission accomplished!

Aspen and I stayed up until midnight again finishing the puzzle we got for Christmas. I am not a night owl, and said repeatedly "after I find where this piece goes I'm going to bed", but Aspen was persuasive, the puzzle was addicting, and I'm a sucker... so we had another late night.  But finished it after all, which was exciting!

 

New Years Eve

I pretty much had to beg Matt to stay up with us until midnight this year.  He thought a great start to the new year would be a good nights sleep- LAME :) But we got him to stay up with us, and since New years Eve was on a Sunday this year we managed to stay up all the way until midnight without any movies, just game after game. Fun Stuff!!