These days, life seems very normal again with church and primary in person, soccer/lacrosse games in play, classes and theatre back up and running even at limited capacity. This month we enjoyed visits from the Stevens, from the Rustands and from an old friend- Leif Dixon- whom we knew back in Seattle in our singles ward! We enjoyed catching up with our old friends and especially enjoyed the week we had to spend with Mike, Jess and the kids. We celebrated Anna's 9th birthday 3 different times!!!!! One weekend at Grandma's house with Millie and Nora. Grandma made this weekend so incredibly special for Anna and her friends. Truly- the girls had the time of their lives.... shopping at the mall, getting pedicures and manicures, late night movies, jumping and playing at the trampoline park, hot tubbing, eating spaghetti, going out to Handels ice cream and sailing at Doheny Beach. SO FUN. Anna's second birthday celebration was the following weekend in which we traveled up to LA to visit the American Girl Store- picking out a new doll (Kira) with Aunt Stacy and Grandma and of course a bit of shopping at the Grove. Lastly, we celebrated one last time on Anna's actual birthday with friends- Kate and Zachary and the entire activity day group of girls! Anna was sufficiently spoiled to say the least! 
Ev and Ella on their way to a fireside by Brad Wilcox
Riding around in Garrett's sports car rental
Good friend Leif from Seattle in town on his motorcycle!
Poor Quinny tore her ACL and had to have surgery. So sad about this!
Anna in the convertable having the actual time of her life.
Penny and Grammy- FaceTiming!
Now that the kids are back in school a little more, I have time to breathe and keep up with my new habits of trying to walk daily, hike with friends, read more, eat better and play a little tennis here and there. After a year of very little down time- this has been an amazing change of pace... even if summer will be here in less than 2 months! Here are a few memes and snippets of quotes and things I'm currently reading that have been stored on my phone. I'm sure someone will someday love these brilliant quips I've saved!
cute picture from one of my primary kids who moved away
Spring break hit us right in the middle of the month and we had such a great little trip! We went back and forth trying to decide on a fun week, our original plan of skiing having been canceled due to the weather. The kids were over the idea of Zion's and Bryce Canyon (both things Blake and I would have picked) so we opted instead to join friends in St. George for a tennis resort vacation! The moms got up early every morning to play and the kids joined in after lunch. Whilst there, we also spent plenty of time swimming, ordering yummy food, attending the Washington County fair and playing at the local parks/skate park. The vacation had a little of something for everyone and it was truly very fun, very relaxing. Half way through the week- Blake flew up to meet us in Vegas and this little idea also was a great success. The kids loved staying in the Four Seasons Hotel. I think the biggest highlight was ordering pancakes poolside! We told the kids the story of when Blake and I had first stayed at this exact hotel with Grandma and Grandpa and had marked up the little breakfast menu= ordering everything in sight! We thought it was a complimentary breakfast until we noticed the pricing of each menu item later that day on the poolside menu! Haha.... our breakfast mustve cost Herb and Nancy $200! We didn't have a penny to our name to pay for it. Funny story. But the kids loved the hotel and loved walking around the city. We visited the Hunger Games Exhibit in the MGM and we ate at shake shack. We enjoyed the Jabberwockeez dance group. Some of us more than others! Anna was in actual nirvana during this show. So cute. It was just a very pleasant week all in all and we felt very rejuvenated upon our return to the last few months of school.
With Jess and Mike here- the kids enjoyed a lot of beach time, Belmont Park (golfing and sky ropes and rides!), Canasta, night swimming, ping pong, movie nights, boating and celebrating Blake's birthday! Poor Blake had to go to meetings on his birthday which fell on a Sunday. We all gathered in the front room to scream happy birthday to him as he opened the door-- -little did we know he was on a call with the Bishop! Ha! He quickly stepped back out after we screamed as loud as we could upon his entrance. Luckily we were not out of tricks. We stayed right in place and quietly waited for him to finish his call. Once he did- and we heard him open the front door AGAIN- we screamed "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Haha--- when you're this old, you have very little excitement in your life. This little exercise livened the party up a bit. We loved sharing a yummy dinner of protein bowls and enjoyed strawberry shortcake and chocolate chocolate chip skillet cookie with ice cream for dessert. I think he enjoyed his special day, even despite having meetings and church to attend to.
Moving on.... Easter this year was so sweet and so special in every way- as it always is. We loved listening to General Conference, enjoying delicious cinnamon rolls our friend brought over for the occasion. After conference, we strolled around Old Town....where it was quite busy and maybe not our best adventure, but fun nonetheless. We adored spending that evening before Easter at the Jorgensons home and enjoying a Passover Feast with their family. It was such an incredible night with so many authentic and amazing foods and a wonderful discussion about all of the various symbols and signs of Easter. We were so grateful to be included in such an event and grateful for the spirit we felt. The kids loved their Easter baskets full of swim suits and sandals and pool floats. But the greatest part of the day by a mile- was heading up to Grandma and Grandpa's home for Easter dinner and the infamous Splash for Cash! Grandma and Grandpa go to so much work to make Easter so fun and the kids live for it! Loved celebrating Grandma, Anna and Blake's birthdays as well- playing a special rendition of the game of things and eating delicious strawberry and chocolate cake! Really sweet and special day for sure.
Cannot forget to mention all of the little highlights in April as well... spending the day with Nancy for her birthday- and eating way too many crumble cookies! Enjoying a fun Sunday afternoon at the Miner's home with all of our favorite people and a HUGE ping pong game of around the world! Of course if Sophie Judd is around, my boys are happy. They adore her! April Fool's Day was maybe my best one yet! I got the kids and Blake pretty good this year. My to-do list was LONG for this epic event. Wind up butterflies in packages, shock pens, google eyes on pictures and foods, fart spray, frozen cereal, cat whiskers whilst sleeping, stacks of paper cups to tumble when you open the door (we got our tutor Charlotte really badly on this one!) and crumble cookie boxes filled with broccoli. Pennywise made an appearance (obviously)! And we totally tricked Blake by screaming "water is coming out of the bathroom!" When he ran to see-- he saw water bottles coming out of the bathroom. It was a trigger for him, since a year ago we really did have a leak from that bathroom that caused us 6 months of reconstruction throughout our entire house- ha! So many ways to trick my family.... so little time! I had hidden a funny little noise maker that made a meow sound every so often-- it bothered the kids all afternoon. Too funny! I love April Fool's day so much it's scary.
Well.... that about wraps it up for the month! Grateful for all the big and small moments. So much to be grateful for.
