It's May??? Part two

Spring Break had just gotten over in my last post. So here we go with the next one.

Oh, except the "I went on an awesome date with Steve to Chef's Table, was caught staring at Dave Rose while trying to figure out who he was (I nodded at him to make me not look quite so psycho - maybe), then to Mirror Mirror which is my new favorite movie, and then went with my sister to go save my other sister from her broken down car in Salina" evening. It ended at 3:30 in the morning... But I'm glad I could help!

Monday morning, Gavin stayed home with Steve (and was not happy), Heidi went to her Aunt Charlotte's (and boy was she thrilled!!), and Ethan went to the dentist.  The poor boy's tooth had met his brother's leg over a month before and instead of having the color of the tooth improve, it had gotten a little darker.  I'd been worried about taking him but since he'd done so well with the eye doctor, I had hope this one would go well.

Gavin tried to be happy to stay home, but when it was time for me to leave, this is how I found him...

Poor tooth!! This was in March

I was thrilled with the appointment. Dr Hansen is an amazing dentist. He is great with kids (and we like him for ourselves) and makes sure they're at ease. His office has TV's in the ceiling so while Ethan was poked and prodded, he got to watch Toy Story. The only time he got upset was when they took his headphones off to get an x-ray...

He sat this way the ENTIRE time.

They'll have to take out the tooth (it's darker now) and they found a cavity. Poor boy! So he goes back in June and will get the cavity fixed. We'll see if he gets the other tooth taken out at the same time.

The next night we went to Hope of America. It was amazing. Jakob and several 5th graders in Utah County performed at the Marriott Center. It was great to hear the patriotic music. I got a little teary eyed a few times. I love my country.

Jakob was in the upper yellow part - somewhere in the middle.

The next weekend was our actual anniversary. Twelve years. Crazy! Anyway, Steve and I went to the Desert Star with some good friends and then out to dinner.  We also spent time with them in the mountains that weekend. It consisted of Steve watching the chicken cook while I chased Heidi from one side of the campsite to the other - over and over and over and over and over. The kids had a blast and we had great company. In between me running after Heidi...

That Monday, we got into full baseball mode. On Wednesdays we have four kids practicing all at once. Luckily three of them are on one field. The other practice is further away but we get to drive on unpaved roads to get there so that's pretty cool. I sit in the car with Ethan and Heidi while Jakob practices (Steve is with the others). They watch Netflix on my phone and I read a book. I'd get out to play but I'm usually afraid they'll blow away... Darn wind!

Anyway, that Saturday was busy busy. There were three baseball games that morning and I had to rush home to decorate a cake and finish decorating. I had an awesome friend that bought a pinata for me. I have no picture of it because I was the one holding the broomstick with the pinata on it and no one else was there to take photos.

Ashley's friends arrived and they had a great time. They played Snow White's poison apple (Like hot potato but with an apple), Jasmine's musical magic carpets (Like musical chairs), the pinata, and then they watched Barbie's Charm School. They ate yummy cake and opened presents. It turned out to be a lot of fun. The best was when my two older boys and their friends tried to crash the party and play the princess games.

This was supposed to be a castle cake...

While I was doing that, Steve went off to learn how to make Malaysian food. He made egg rolls and curry puffs that were A-MAZING.  He had a great time and he can't wait to go and learn more.

After the party girls left and Steve got home, our friends came to have dinner and play games. Their twin girls were at the party already so the rest of the family came over.  The tacos were yummy and the game was fun. Pirate's Cove is a favorite of my older boys and I enjoyed learning to play it. And getting throttled. We had to leave shortly after they left to grab a few groceries for the next day.

The next day was my birthday! And Ashley's. I love sharing with my girl. I curled her hair and my hair and then we opened presents. Ashley got a few things to decorate her room in Hello Kitty style along with a few other things and I got skates and books. The skates I've wanted since my other ones got stolen in 6th grade...

Ashley asked for a jewelry maker. 

Look at that adorable toothless smile. 

Both Beyonders (Brandon Mull) books and Target in Ties by Tristi Pinkston. YAY!

I was so excited for these! I even used them to pick Gavin up from school one day.

We went and enjoyed church before coming home to start on pizza. We made four pizzas, two pans of breadsticks, and my German Chocolate cake. My sister brought salad and my friends brought two more pizzas. And everything was GONE by the end of the night. One pizza went back with the Ellises but otherwise we ate everything. It was a lot of fun. Such a perfect birthday. :)

The next week went fast. I didn't expect it to because I was so excited for the following weekend but it really did fly. I had to take Ashley and Jakob to a well-child appointment (Jakob had other issues but he's fine), before getting home for Family Home Evening. Baseball practices went well and then it was time for me to go to LDS Storymakers. Which I'll blog about later.

One thing I forgot to mention earlier, was that we were able to get a Honda Pilot in March. I have been very much in love with this car since we got it!! We still use the van when we need a second car but otherwise I enjoy my Pilot.

Its May already?!

I had put off writing anything on my blog because I wanted to get it in print. But since it's now May and I have yet to print, I figured it's time to catch everything up. In a shortened version.

2012 has been a year full of making and keeping goals. And if you know me well, that doesn't happen often.  These last few years have been crazy for me, so rather than taking a break, I wanted to find a way to keep it going. Okay, so I'm done with disastrous moves to other countries, but you know what I mean. What is my goal, you ask? Too bad, you have to wait. Unless you scroll down. But that wouldn't be fair.

January came and went with a schedule filled with basketball. Jakob, Andy and Ashley were all in Jr Jazz basketball and it was a lot of fun to watch. Jakob kicked it up several notches and flew all over the court. He did awesome. Except his shots. But those will come. Andy did great ball handling but he needs to do some pushups and weights so he can get the ball to hit the basket... And Ashley was a joy to watch. She wants to be the best at everything she does and basketball wasn't an exception. She has a ways to go because she had never played before but she's getting the hang of it. They all worked very hard on improving and I was a very proud mommy.

Oh, and I played as well. We had a lot of fun. I even stopped wheezing after the first game or two. Oh, and the best part? I'm not sure if it was the 12 points scored in one game, or if the was three pointer I made in another one. Either way, it was awesome.  I was sad when the season ended.

I almost forgot. Ashley joined the Girl Scouts. She's a Daisy at this point and she loves it. She threw herself into it and even sold 60 boxes of girl scout cookies. Its not a ton but she was thrilled with it. I was too since that meant I didn't have to deliver more. :)

February was spent with more basketball, Valentine's Day, and the rest is a blur because I was sick a lot. With colds. Colds are dumb.

I wish I could say we had a massive party for Heidi because she had such a lame birthday last year (she got her present three days later and her cake was leftovers... good thing she was one), but that wasn't the case. I was so sick. Why? I don't know. But it wasn't fun. So she got us and no cake for several days. She didn't care. She got awesome gifts.

March also brought more basketball, more scouts and more band. But what it also brought was the first part of my goal. This year I was determined to do more with writing. I've had a children's book I wrote in high school that I've wanted to publish for years, and now I have two others I want to get published. So this year's resolution was to go to conferences and actually submit my stories.  I went to Writing for Charity and LOVED it. I learned a lot, talked to authors that had come to my store, and gained more of a desire to get writing and submitting.

I also started taking art.  Jakob was very upset that he couldn't come with me. He loves drawing. I want him in classes as soon as I can get him there. But this was my turn. We worked with pastels. Here is the picture I wanted to use. My mom posted a picture of her tree in a snow storm and I knew it was "the one":

And here is my version. This was my process over the 5 classes:

I was hooked. I love pastels! I think I'm going to ask for some this Christmas. My next project is a crocus.

Next comes April. We went to St. George for conference and we enjoyed our time there as we always do. We love spending time with Steve's family! We watched conference with Steve's parents and then the kids and I played with Steve's mom while he went to the Priesthood session with his dad, brother-in-law, and nephews. We left earlier than we'd planned on Sunday because winter wasn't about to give up.  The snow was bad through Cedar City but we made it home safe and sound.

We were home for a few days before heading off to Oakley for Easter and Spring Break. It was supposed to be cold while we were there but it warmed up and the kids got loved their time outside. They jumped on the trampoline, ran around the yard, climbed trees, and slept well at night. Easter was wonderful.

We had to leave on Tuesday so we could drop Steve off at the airport for a two day trip to Indiana. The kids had hoped to do all kinds of fun things for Spring Break - but we stayed home for most of it. It was cold and windy. So after eye appointments (where we found that Ashley's are perfect and Jakob no longer needed glasses except for reading!) we went home and cleaned. And cleaned. And cleaned some more. Then it was play time. The kids have a show in Australia that they loved called Mr Maker. You learn all kinds of crafts. So that's what we did. My house is still full of their art projects. Heidi painted herself (So glad she's her own canvas) while the others painted magnets and sun catchers.

Friday we took Gavin and Ethan to the eye doctor as well. Ethan's are perfect (he was sad - he wanted glasses!) and Gavin is far-sighted. They won't do anything with them unless it causes problems. They're hoping it will correct on its own. I hope so!

I  think I will stop here. Its becoming a novel and I have so much more to tell you! Check back and I promise the next one will be much more exciting.