Spring Break

Spring Break was originally going to be spent in Rigby painting with my sister but plans changed. Piper has been begging to go to Nana's house for awhile so I decided we should go to Salt Lake as well. Plus the drive to Salt Lake is shorter than the drive back to Boise anyway AND it was Easter. You can't argue with that logic. Then my sister changed her plan from painting to recovering chairs so I decided to spend a night at my parent's house on the way. So we went from Boise to Arco to Rigby to Salt Lake back to Boise.

At my parent's house my mom made roast and mashed potatoes for dinner (my favorite). The kids went on an Easter egg hunt and watched the Cartoon Network. I helped my mom do some touch up painting around the house and we watched Catch Me if You Can and visited that night. We headed over to Rigby in the morning. For two days our kids played and played and Trisha and I worked on her chairs and chatted away. It was great. We ended each night with a movie. 

On Thursday we headed down to Salt Lake. Scott flew down and met us there. We went to Hires for lunch. Unfortunately I was starting to feel lousy because I hadn't slept well so far on the trip. I stayed home and took a 3 hour nap while the kids went swimming. I felt crummy the rest of the day and through the night but felt better after that. On Friday Nana dyed Easter eggs with the kids and made Easter candy. That evening we headed down to Provo for dinner and to celebrate Greta's birthday. The kids had a fun time playing the arcade games and going on the Merry Go Round. After we put the kids to bed Scott and I went over to see Mandy and Cory's condo and had a great chat with them well into the night.

On Saturday we went to the Gecko exhibit at the museum. It was pretty cool. I think I could MAYBE handle having a gecko as a pet. Nana took the big three kids to the movie that afternoon (I needed a nap after such a late night). That evening Janet made Easter dinner early so the Boise Cannons could be there. We had dinner and then had a dance party at Nicole and Rustin's house. On Sunday we had Easter brunch and a Easter egg hunt and headed home. It was a great Spring Break but I'm so glad to be home. Being home is the BEST!

Making Easter Candy

Inspector Piper

Checking out Gecko stuff.

Cozy, cozy

Cute!

Ryan and Corbin: Same ugly face!

Getting ready to begin hunting. Gabby was looking for her lost shoe which she did not find in time to hunt eggs.

Update

Nothing much to write about. I did some painting (big surprise) I was so in love with the color of Kelsey's chair that I re-painted my entertainment center. I was getting kind of sick of the bright turquoise color. The new color is a muted blue-green color. Gabby does not like the new color as she has informed me several times. It's still drying so I won't post a picture yet. I am working on re-doing 6 dining chairs and I finally finished one. I won't post a picture of that either. I want to wait until I am finished with all 6.

We have been doing a lot of home improvements lately. I'm kind of a on kick and I'm a spaz like that. It also helps that Scott has time to help out and we got a big tax return so there you go. Right now I am dreaming and obsessing about wanting to paint the outside of my house differently. We'll see if/when that ever happens. Picking a color will be difficult, plus I want to possibly paint my brick. It's this whole big thing. It's stressing me out! Ha.

Gabby finished getting the last of her cavities filled last week. She was very nervous about the last one because she would be getting a silver tooth and she thought it would hurt too bad. We talked to her about it and she calmed down and cooperated really well. Afterwards she told me that it went better because she had said a prayer before. She's very cute and thoughtful about prayer.

The company that Scott has interviewed with is about as slow as molasses. Last we heard was that he would be getting a job offer in the next week or two. (He had his first interview at the beginning of February). They are taking their sweet time. Scott is really enjoying his time off though! Ha. Plus he's fixing things up around the house! I can't complain there.

Cute kids. It was NICE yesterday.

I had to take a picture of these two because they are cute and because I needed to document Piper's hair. Ha. It looked so cute!

Seattle Trip

A few months ago my sister in law Anna and I came up with an idea that we should have our girls weekend (mom, and sisters) in Seattle this year. We thought it would be really fun to drive up and surprise Kelsey for a weekend. We sent out e-mails and everyone was on board but then after a couple of weeks it just seemed like it was just not in the cards so we canceled it. Anna and I still wanted to go so we just went. I made arrangements with Justin and he got Kelsey to take work off on Friday. 

We left Thursday morning with a later start than expected because Anna started getting sick Wednesday night. She decided to still come because she didn't want to cancel and figured it was just a cold and not that big of a deal. I drove the whole way there since Anna wasn't feeling good.We had a fun time talking and attempting a few audio books that were certainly not page turners. When we started to approach Seattle Justin was trying to gauge when we would get there as he was trying to hold Kelsey (a hungry pregnant woman) from going to dinner at Red Robin. We got into town during high traffic time. Justin could delay Kelsey no more and we told him we would meet them at Red Robin. He told the hostess secretly to get a table of four and to hold them off as long as possible. After 15 minutes Kelsey started noticing people that had come in after them were being seated and she was starting to get ticked. Luckily they got her seated and we didn't arrive too much after that. Earlier in the week I had finished a chair project and posted it on Facebook and Kelsey said she wanted it and that I could feel free to deliver. So I did. I brought the chair with us into Red Robin as we surprised her with our visit and free delivery. It was fun! We ate dinner and then we watched The Visit that night. Kelsey's house is surrounded by tons of trees so it's the perfect setting for a scary movie. 

On Friday Anna was getting worse not better. Kesley and I went out and did a little shopping while Anna took a nap. We came back and we were trying to decide between Pike's Place and a ferry ride or the Space Needle. We figured with Anna's condition we should do the Space Needle. After grabbing a bite to eat we started driving to Seattle and we were already hitting traffic. We decided to just bag it. We got ice cream and Anna spent the rest of the day sick on the couch and Kelsey and I spent the rest of the day painting her kitchen cabinets. I was so happy that if we were stuck at home that she had a project we could work on. Justin came home from work and the three of us painted away. We got pizza and watched a movie in between coats of paint. We painted until midnight. 

On Saturday we were supposed to drive down to Portland to visit Chase and Rachel and stay the night with them. Anna was feeling worse than ever and was not up to it. She also didn't want to get Rachel who is 37 weeks pregnant sick. We debated about staying another day or leaving and decided to leave. Anna just wanted to go home to her own bed and I get that. I drove all the way home. I feel like a real adult now. That was a LONG drive! Plus my mom was right (I hate when she's right with her worst case scenarios) and we did drive through a crazy snow storm. Along with every other weather along the way. It was kind of nuts. So our trip was kind of a bust BUT we did still get to surprise Kelsey with a visit. We did get to see her cute house and hang out and I got to help her with her kitchen project. So all was not lost. 

Today I'm totally exhausted and wondering if I'm catching Anna's flu or if I'm just tired from lack of sleep on the trip and recovering from a very long and stressful at times drive. Who knows? I think I'll go take another nap. 

The kids were excited to have a weekend with just dad. Scott got some projects done around the house (maybe I should leave more often) Ha. 

Gabby quote:

I was reading her an art book that she got from Nana, I told her that Nana got her that book because she is an artist, Gabby then said, "and a crafter, and a potato." Haha!

Before 

After. The lighting in the picture isn't right. The color is more muted than this. It's the best color.

Daddy story time

Ryan gassed out

Kelsey's cute house. I love it!

MAV Factor

If I've learned one thing while being a parent these last 8 years it's been this, parenting has a way of humbling you like nothing else will. I've learned this lesson over and over and I'm sure I will continue to learn it over and over.

On Monday Ryan was still in his underwear. I figured I was TIRED and he wasn't progressing so I gave him one last chance. I gave him a bath in the morning and then I asked him if he wanted to wear a diaper or underwear. He said he wanted to wear underwear so I told him that if he wore underwear he would have to keep it dry. I just went on with my day and gave him space and just waited to see what he would do. A few hours went by and he had an accident and he didn't try to tell me or go to the bathroom so I cleaned him up and put his diaper back on. That was bitter sweet. I was super tired and relieved to not have to worry about it anymore but also a little frustrated that all my hard work was for naught. Ha.

All the kids had a dental appointment on Wednesday and they were all mostly fine except for Gabby who had 8 cavities! Proud parenting moment. Ha. Ok we do not floss any of the kids' teeth, that's the devil, but poor Gabby was the only one who had problems from it. Of course the rest of the week I've been flossing all the kids' teeth (except for Ryan, he's a beast). I hope I can keep it up but I'm not too sure how long it will last. Corbin managed to somehow break off a piece of his tooth so he had to get a silver cap over that tooth. Piper was great. Ryan was good.

On Thursday I got my hair cut and I had book club so that was a good day. I have been debating about cutting my hair for a long time. I've scheduled and canceled at least 2 appointments in the past. I finally followed through. My hair girl was waiting for me to cancel and so was I. Ha. But I followed through. I'm not too sure about it yet but I'm not missing my long hair yet either. It was really weird washing my hair today.

On Friday we went to MAV Factor which is Mountain View High School's American Idol contest. My niece Brynn tried out along with 87 other students and she made the top 10. She was super nervous. She did so good! I can't imagine singing in front of that many people. I WOULD DIE! Brynn is a lot more talented than I am so that helps. The students competing were AMAZING! Seriously I think everyone in the audience was blown away. They did a really good job making it seem like American Idol. Jason Gray from Studio C hosted (he went to Mountain View) and they had 3 legit judges. It was really fun. I got a sitter and Scott and I went along with several other members of my family. Braden also accompanied one of the contestants on the cello. It was a fun night. Afterwards Scott and I went to The Village and got some pie shakes and some breakfast. Their pie shakes are so good and I've only ever gone with friends so it was fun to take Scott there. It was a great night out!

Piper didn't want to go to primary today because she said she was scared of her teacher. I asked her if her teacher was mean to her or made her uncomfortable in any way. She said no, that she just didn't like her voice. Ha. Well I'm glad it was a superficial concern. This particular teacher was gone today and Piper said, "Mr. Scary wasn't there today." Haha! (She's a girl by the way).

Twister!

Gabby's drawing.

Another Gabby drawing. 

Corbin flying his drone with Curious George. He has homework with Curious George. He has to go on adventures with him and write about it.

The drone landed in Piper's hair and got it in 3 ridiculous knots that we could not get out. We had to cut them out. Sad day. We should have taken the picture when her hair was dry. It was easier to see just how badly her hair was tangled.

Talented Brynn performing. 

Before

After. I was shocked by my crow's feet in these pictures. I'm getting old! Plus the last couple of years have been pretty stressful. I think I've aged a good 10 years. Ha.