Spring Break/Easter 2014

We love being closer to family! This year we hosted Easter at our house with the Clayson family.  At one point we had 17 people sleeping in our little house, but I think we all had a great time despite the intimate knowledge we now have of each others nightly smells and noises.

Our Spring Break was the week before Easter Sunday.  One morning we woke up to find plastic eggs scattered over our front yard and a note taped to the car declaring "You've Been Egged!"  The kids were so super excited to gather up the eggs and fight over the candy (the true Easter spirit).  Brandan and I were really touched by the thoughtfulness at a time when we could use a boost.

Dan and Jill, Boe and Kamber, Cam and her kids were all scheduled to arrive Thursday evening, but before they pulled in the kids and I met some friends at the school playground.  It was a rough play date.  Sport and Sis were petrified of our friends' puppy.  They thought they were safe huddled at the top of the slide, but that dog is talented.  She easily climbed the stairs, crowded in line, and enjoyed a ride down the slide.  In the meantime, Colt was showing off on the monkey bars and made a bad grab.  He ended up on the ground, minus one tooth.  Later, Dash and his buddy were messy around with rocks and Dash caught one with his head from about one foot away. At this point, we gave up and came home a bloody mess.

Dash and Sport walking home from the playground.

Colt's first lost tooth!!

 On Friday, in the company of the cousins, we took a walk to the high school gym, dyed Easter eggs and stuffed plastic eggs with candy in preparation for our own egging adventure.  We had so much fun when someone "egged" us, we decided we want in on the other side of it.

Dyeing eggs.

Stuffing eggs for "egging".

Getting ready to egg some houses.

The kids were excited and horribly nervous to go out egging.  The first house we stopped at was a pretty clean stop.  The kids tiptoed from the car to the house, spread the eggs over the lawn, and then sprinted away.  The second house was trickier.  It was only about 9:30 pm and  this house has some teenagers, and an exercising Mom.  When know because we could see her.  In fact, all four windows of the split level house were lit up with blinds open.  The Mom was on the ground floor running on a treadmill about 10 feet from the window.  We decided to brave the dangerous situation and instructed all the kids to stay away from the light of the windows.  Things were pretty good when the adults noticed Andrew, with ice in his veins, sneak up to the window where the Mom was exercising, place an egg on the window sill and then slip away completely undetected.  As we sprinted down the road, a couple of kids let out sobs of relief.  Despite the anxiety, everyone loved the experience.  It was for sure the best part of the weekend.

Saturday brought Easter egg hunts, and most importantly...Grandma and Grandpa!

Sis at the Easter egg hunt in Fort Bridger.  She made a haul!

The hunt in the back yard.

Sister finding more eggs.

Cousins!!

General Conference

Saturday morning we woke up to a special visitor!

We had been told about the moose in this area several times, so I was disappointed last fall when I never saw one.  That all changed this last weekend. 

The kids loved watching the moose, but they were equally impressed with the other wildlife in the yard that morning.

The boys named this little guy Fred.

All our company left in time for us to focus our attention on General Conference.  Brandan had a track meet that morning, but the rest of us enjoyed listening to the speakers.  The older boys were really dedicated to filling out their General Conference worksheets this year and I was impressed with how long they stuck to it. Not that they paid full attention or were close to quiet (I think our tv volume was only a couple notches down from full blast), but they did a good job.

On Sunday, the boys asked if they could set up tents to sit in during Conference, sort of like a King Benjamin and the Nephites scenario.  Except our tower is a cedar chest (treasure chest as Sport calls it) with a 19 inch television on top.  

Yesterday we had our bi-annual General Conference Report Family Home Evening (before watching the NCAA championship game, which we did before we all went to bed in tears because a) it was really late and b) Kentucky lost).  

We held our FHE lesson during dinner and it went like this:

Dad: Welcome to Family Home Evening.  Glad you could all make it.  We'll turn the time over to our Mother.  (that's how we always start)

Me: We are going to tell each other what we learned from Conference.  (Sis is busy throwing food on the floor, so I skipped straight to Sport).  Sport, what did you learn during Conference?

Sport : Nofing.

Me: Alright. But did you see the prophet and hear him speak?

Sport: Nofing.

Me: What about the songs? Did you hear any of the songs during Conference?

Sport: Nofing.

Me: Okay.  Thanks for sharing.  Colt, what did you learn from Conference?

Colt: I learned that crosswinds can be really dangerous.  

Me: Crosswinds?

Colt: Yeah, you know, like tornadoes.  They can do damage.  (This comes from Saturday morning session when two of the speakers talked about tornadoes.  Colt is really scared of "big wind".)

Me: And the people in those storms prayed and Heavenly Father kept them safe, right?

Colt: Ummm...sure.

Me: Okay, Dash what did you learn? 

Sport: Hey! Me want a turn!

Me: Oh, well, what did you learn Sport?

Sport: (rolls his eyes back in his head and thinks) Me don't know.

Me: (Sigh) Alright, Dash.

Dash: I learned about how that guy had to put a heavy load in his truck to get it out of the snow.

Me: Right! Sometimes Heavenly Father gives us heavy loads to carry to help us be better, stronger people.

Colt: Like rocks?

(Sissy dumps her bowl on the floor)

Brandan: Great job everyone!

For the record, Brandan learned from Conference that the way we spend our time determines who we become and I really loved President Utchdorf's talk on gratitude and Elder Bednar's talk on the grace of the Savior.