So seriously cute!!!

So, I know that when you are a 10 year old boy and you are on deck and you practice your swing, you think you are just about THE coolest thing on the planet! I also know that when you are up to bat and you are waiting for the pitcher to be ready to pitch to you and you do your practice swing and take your stance and kind of swing your bat around in a small little circle above your head with your elbows out and EVERYTHING, you think you are the biggest STUD in the whole world! But when you are the mom of a 10 year old boy who does these things, you think he is THE CUTEST thing that ever was! It makes you kinda giggle. And smile. And feel that fun little motherly pride that you get when your kid is doing something absolutely adorable! You want to remember the moment forever! NOT at all what HE'S going for but SO seriously CUTE I can't take it!!!

Not quite, buddy...

So, Brian was teaching the lesson in our Sunbeam class today. He asked who the first man on the earth was. A little boy said Adam. Then Brian said, you're right, who was the first woman on the earth. Nobody answered for a minute and then our little Max says I know, it was Steve!! Oh, Dear!!! Not quite buddy, but close! hehe

Zacky's a full fledged bear!

My Zack LOVES scouts!

When he was 2 Brian was a cub scout leader and Zack LOVED it when they came over for activities! One day we were at Walmart and there was the cutest little shirt just Zack's size that looked just like a scout shirt. It has patches and badges. It's just the cutest thing. I would post a picture on here of it but it is dirty since the washing machine is broken down and has been since Tuesday. Well, Zack thought he struck GOLD!!! He proudly wore his "scout shirt" each week when the scouts came over. It was a sad, sad day when he outgrew that one!

One of the things he was the most excited about when he turned 8 years old was that he was FINALLY old enough to be a scout. I was the Wolf leader so he had been enjoying the activities when the boys came over already without receiving any awards. He has done SO well with scouts! He is very diligent at achieving his goals and attending each meeting. He gets quite upset if he misses one! I LOVE that he enjoys it so much! It's such a great program for boys!

When we moved to Price in September, he was only 3 achievements away from earning his Bear. Well...we lost his book! Poor kid! So we finally got him a new one and turns out he earned the rest of it at activities he had attended since we moved here and received his award on Wednesday night. We are so proud of him and hope he continues to love this program!


When I was the Wolf leader I attended a meeting where the new Scout Master told us how important he feels Cub Scouts is. He said that when these boys reach their teenage years the Boy Scout program is a wonderful thing for them to participate in. It's good, clean, fun. It teaches them how to be good people. How to do certain skills. It provides them with an opportunity to achieve and succeed. They make great friends. He went on and on about the importance of it. Then he said that we as Cub leaders have a VERY important role. We are setting the stage for their feelings about Scouts. If we don't make the meetings and activities super fun and enjoyable for them when they are Cubs then we will have lost them as teenage scouts. They need the support and good that comes from their participation in the Boy Scout program and we need to really encourage them all along their way! I'm glad that I heard that because it goes for parents too! It says in the books they get that the parents are to play a BIG role in this whole thing. It brings you closer as parents and sons and it brings the whole family closer together. Instead of looking at it as another time consuming, pain in the butt, thing to do we need to be supportive and proud and helpful in whatever way we can. I am POSITIVE the reason I was called as the Wolf leader at that time was so I could see how very important our part is in this program and how important it is for my son and to my son.

Now my Max wears that cute little tiny "scout shirt" proudly to all the pack meetings and every week that Zack has scouts. I hope they all love this program!

Fun Houses...

There is a street I drive down when I go to Brian's office that has such fun houses! The home owners in this neighborhood have really fixed these houses up nicely. I would just LOVE to have one of them!  (Click on a picture for a bigger view.)

This one is my favorite one!!! My favorite color is red. I imagine the person that lives in this home must be pretty sassy if they are brave enough to paint their house red! She is probably so much fun to hang out with and super creative and talented! And it looks so awesome in real life! The color is perfect!

Do you remember when we showed you this one Shani, when we were realtors and you were totally smitten by it and Matt was like NO WAY!!! You were SO right! It is beautiful all fixed up! I wonder if they ever finished the scary stair case? I wonder if it still has a random toilet just sitting in the middle of that upstairs bedroom? So silly, huh! I would LOVE to see the inside after having seen it in it's "before" state. Isn't it fun to let the imagination run wild!

The front of this house reminds me a lot of the front of the house I grew up in in Dodge City, Kansas! Same porch and front windows positioning and all. I think it would be so much fun to see what it's like on the inside to see if it's set up the same as our old house was.

I would LOVE to get my hands and a nice chunk of change on this beauty! Can you imagine how amazing it could be?! Oh, it would be so incredibly awesome fixing it up!  It's kind of sad to see this old home on the same street as these others that have been so dolled up. I imagine it's just wondering when it will be it's turn for a facelift. Am I the only one who finds it interesting that these homeowners have those 2 nice camp trailers in their driveway but the can't slap a coat of paint on the trim and porch of their home. Seriously folks! Show some love!!!  I'm sure it was simply lovely when it was built. It just needs a little love. Brian and I have always dreamed of owning a home like this and remodeling it. Maybe some day we can afford to do it. It would be so much fun I think!

It is so much fun to drive down this street! It's definitely MY kind of neighborhood!!!

Funny boy!

I could hear a commercial for a Chevy Truck coming from the t.v. yesterday morning so I knew Max wasn't watching The Disney Channel so I asked him what he was watching and he excitedly reported, "The baseball channel!" That is code for ESPN. He is 4 years old now and ever since he was tiny when he would get ahold of the remote and flip the channels he would always stop on ESPN. He stays glued to the tube when it's on. When his dad watches football, baseball, basketball, or anything sports Max is right there with him. Mesmerized. Cracks me up! He's definitely all boy! His Uncle Rob would be SO proud!!!


I was just reading a book to him and he smelled my hair and said,"mmmm, waterfalls!" What a sweetie! I just love these sweet little babies Heavenly Father has sent to me!!!

Dreamy!!!

Just as I was feeling down in the dumps Gracie put the smile back my face by starting to walk. She has taken a step or two before today but tonight she has really taken off and is walking all over the place. What a sweetheart! I love my children so much and they are truly what keeps us going every day! We are truly blessed! I don't know what we would have done without our little ray of sunshine, Gracie, this year!!! She has brought so much joy to our lives. This last year has been rough in ways and she has the power to wipe away all the frustration, fears, worry, and stress by smiling, patting my back when she snuggles in for a love, covering her little mouth with her tiny hand when she cries, blowing kisses, clapping, shaking her whole body and head as she shakes a rattle in her hand. I could go on and on about the sweet little joys of my pretty little, gap toothed angel!!! I love having a daughter added to the mix! We all have absolutely LOVED having her as part of our little family. Like I've said before...she's "everything I never knew I always wanted!!!"(Chandler Bing said this about Monica I believe) She's just plain dreamy!!!

I rarely put pics of my kids on this blog but I'm breaking the rule today and putting a couple on here of Gracie since I was talking about her in this post and I want you all to see just how adorable she is!!!

Thank goodness for Cohen!!!

Let me first say that I want to quit!!! Teaching Sunbeams (3 and 4 year olds at church) is enjoyable. However, teaching our son, Max as one of our Sunbeams is PURE TORTURE!!! We had to endure teaching him in Nursery too and it was every bit as bad! He is a perfect angel for other teachers but not for his parents.

On to the cute stuff. The stuff that keeps us from losing it completely each week.

During sharing time the counselor in the Primary presidency asked if anyone knew what an archaeologist was. Max shot his arm in the air! She called on him and he excitedly answered, "He kills dinosaurs!!!"

Our lesson was entitled "I am thankful for birds and insects." Exciting, I know! Well, after the children guessed that my clues I gave them described a bird I told them to pretend they were birds and "fly" around the room. One little boy named Cohen's eyes lit up as he said, "And I'll be the guy that shoots the birds with a gun!"

We went on a walk to see if we could see any birds or insects and a bird flew by. I said, "There's a bird!" Cohen said, "I need a real gun so I can shoot it!"

When the lesson was over I gave each child a piece of paper with, "I am thankful for birds and insects" written at the top.  Cohen said, "I'm going to draw bullets!"  Haha!!! I think little Cohen will be a great bird hunter one day!!! For now, I'm just happy he's in our class to keep me smiling through the tears of distress Max causes me!!!

Enough with the strep throat already!!!

It's been a rough couple days for Matty! Yesterday he had a crash at school with another boy and got a red bump on his forehead. Then after school we took him to a park in town without any toys at it but has super fun rolling hills to play on and he was in heaven running free all around...until...he fell on a big rock and scraped up his forehead, nose, and upper lip and got a very sad looking scrape that runs along his poor little chest. Now, he has strep throat...again!!! Poor guy!

When he'd been home from school for a while this afternoon I was talking with him and noticed he looked like he does when he's sick. He said he had a sore throat so I took his temp and it was 100.7 so I immediately called the Dr.'s office. By some miracle I was able to get him in immediately. Usually at that Dr.'s office you're out of luck if you haven't made an appointment by about 8:15 a.m.

There is another Dr. that you can get right in to see but she's really, really weird!! Her name is Ada and she is so very strange it's not even funny. You find yourself wondering if you have warped into some kind of twisted fairy tale when you are there. She talks to me like I'm about 5 months old. She is so bizarrely odd that I could go on and on about the many, many reasons I did NOT want to take him there and was so incredibly thrilled when I could get Matty in to see Madsen. So happy!

Anyway, Dr. Madsen did a throat culture and sure enough...strep! He just had it a month ago. Max had it a week before that. My poor little nephew, Josh, had it twice this year, as well. One of the times he came down with it was the day before his mom, my sister, Stephanie went to the hospital for a scheduled C-section. NOT FUN FOR THEM!!! Brian's sister, Stephanie's girls have all had it and now poor Steph has it. It's rough stuff this year!!!

The Dr. said if Matthew gets it again in the next couple months he needs to go to an ear, nose, and throat specialist to be checked over.

I made him get the shot. Poor kid! He was NOT happy to say the least!!! But at least he should get better more quickly. And I don't have to try to remember to give him medicine for 10 days.....

I love Walmart?!

I have a love/hate relationship with Walmart. I LOVE the low prices! This is where the love part ends for me.
Things that bug me about Walmart:
~It's so BIG!
~There aren't nearly enough cart returns at our particular store.
~The lines are forever long. I ALWAYS pick the wrong line. It's inevitable! If I pick that line something will go wrong with the purchase in front of me just as soon as all my stuff is up on the counter and then I'm stuck there, for life, watching my ice cream melt.
~It seems like every time we find something that we totally love and can't get enough of, they stop carrying it! Sometimes I think they track what we buy and then they are like oh no, Tara and Brian are buying tons of this item. We better stop having it in our store!
~People are RUDE! I can't blame this on Walmart but seriously, people are RUDE and it just seems magnified when you go to Walmart because there are just so many people there.
~Does anyone really know how to correctly spell Walmart? Is it WalMart, Wal-Mart, Walmart?

You can imagine how surprised I have been lately as my dislike for Walmart has started to dissipate. I am liking it more and more all the time!!!

Reasons I have started to really like it:
~This store is very, very clean.
~The employees are really friendly and nice and helpful at our Walmart!
~For the past few months I have been having the BEST luck at Walmart! I don't know if it's because they are remodeling and are trying to get rid of stuff or if it's because of the economy and they just aren't selling as much as they have in the past and are now trying to get rid of stuff or what but I..am..loving..it!!!

Each of these items were only $1.00

Each of these items were $2.00 and $3.00 

The Mickey and Snoopy things are pj sets that also included slippers, a bag, and a manicure set for $2 all together!!! The baby pj sets were just 2 pack fleece pjs that usually cost like $9 a set but were marked down to $3. The blue shirt is part of a set that is the shirt and some navy blue pants. And I always wanted a platter like this one! Can't wait to actually have my own kitchen again so I can use it!

These items were $5.00 each

Except for the Spiderman shoes I got those fo $3 but fogot to put them in that picture. Can you believe King size sheets for $10 bucks for the set?! That's a crazy good price!!!

These are just some of the MANY things I have bought for such great prices lately. I even bought Matty some cute little Starter shoes for $2 the other day but he is wearing them at school today. I have put some of the stuff in our storage and some is in the dirty clothes. We've bought jeans for Zack for $7 and on and on I could go. See why I am loving Walmart now! It's just plain fun to go there for me now. Especially when I go after I drop Max off at school and it's just me and Gracie. I just browse and relax and enjoy the experience. I linger longer than usual these days to give myself a longer break from life. I usually just run through there as fast as I can hoping to have a small piece of sanity left by the time I make it through the entire store and through the checkstand when all my kids are with me. When it's just me and Gracie it's as close to "me time" as I can get. I don't have to worry about anyone complaining when I'm looking in the fabric and craft section. I don't have to hear all the moans and groans as I stop at EVERY clearance spot searching for the next great deal! Who knew Walmart could be so great?! Certainly not me!!! :)   I think Chris is doing a wonderful job with this one!!!

The verdict is in......

pinto bean bread is delicious!!!

Even picky pooh Matthew loved it and ate 2 pieces! We all did! The texture was great too! I was concerned because I drained and rinsed the beans so when i tried to mash them it wasn't working so well so I decided to try putting them in the food processor but they still wouldn't get really very pureed. They still had some chunks. I used a wire wisk to try mashing them more. When I put them in the recipe they were pretty chunky. They just kind of disolved between the mixing and the baking process. There weren't ANY chunks in the bread at all.

Brian is the baker in our family and he kept saying it was delicious! He was pretty surprised since it had beans in it. I was too, to be honest. But what a great way to add protein and fiber to the bread.

I was SO thrilled when the dough was rising!! It's so exciting! I've told you about my past flops with yeast. I have NEVER had it work right! It was so fun and easy and made me feel kinda good to think I could actually do it right!

Here's the recipe...

Pinto Bean Bread

2 C mashed, unseasoned pinto beans (can be pureed)
6 C all-purpose flour
2 t salt
2 C milk, scalded
2 T sugar
2 T yeast
2 T shortening

Pour milk into large bowl and when warm stir in yeast until dissolved. Blend in beans, salt, sugar and shortening.

Add 4 C flour to handle easily. Knead until smooth and elastic.

Place into greased bowl and let raise until double.

Divide dough into 2 portions and shape into loaves. Place in greased pans and let rise till almost double.

Bake @ 350 for 50 min.

Today I wish I could......

go back to my warm, cozy bed curl up and fall back to sleep.

OR

lose myself in a good book.

OR

waste the day away watching mindless television.

OR

spend the day clicking on the "next blog" at the top of the blog page to truly "blog stalk" and secretly peek into total stranger's lives where I can find inspiration, motivation, new recipes, a good laugh,  and realize I'm not the only one struggling in the world and I, TOO can make the best of this beautiful life Heavenly Father has blessed me with no matter what negatives may come along.

OR

spend the day remembering how sweet my little babies were when they were born. Thinking back to the days when I used to spend my days with my, now, amazingly wonderful almost 10 year old son watching him dress up like Superman any chance he got, or reading stories to him until I couldn't see straight, watching Toy Story over, and over, and over again. Reading Dr. Seuss's ABC's book to him over, and over, and over again until Brian and I both had it so memorized that when we were trying to get him to fall asleep at night we would recite it to him word for word in a desperate attempt to get him to fall asleep. We'd also sing Bear in the Big Blue House Goodbye song to him at night to try to get him to fall asleep. These are the sweet, priceless moments I could enjoy remembering today if I just spent the day scrapbooking.

OR...........................

The bead jar...

A couple of years ago I was watching The Nanny and she had the parents set up a reward system for the kids where each child got a certain amount of marbles as a reward for good behavior to put in a jar each day. Once the jar was full they would get some sort of reward. I decided to try it with my kids. Marbles are quite pricey so I went to the good ol' dollar store and got these glass beads and a Tupperware type container and started the bead jar at our house. If we asked the kids to do something like pick up their toys or whatever they would get a bead for doing whatever the thing was we asked them to do. It worked great and it helped a lot with the problem we were having with the boys not listening to us. Their reward for filling the container was a trip to the bowling alley. They LOVED it!!! Well, we hadn't done it since then, until recently when the boys were at each others throats CONSTANTLY!!! Punishments weren't working any longer and it was just ridiculous how often we had to get after them. We were at our wits end. I remembered the bead jar and pulled it out and we started it up again with new rules. Each child would get 3 beads at the end of the day. If they hit, kicked, punched, or bit their brother a bead would be taken away. If they were mean to their brothers or wresltled (wrestling would be fine if they didn't ALWAYS get hurt and cry and whine and take it just way too far so it's off limits now) they got one taken away. They also had to keep their hands to themselves or a bead would be taken away. You would NOT believe how well this worked!!! We were pleasantly shocked!!! It worked WONDERS! WE were horribly inconsistent. We would forget to give them the beads at night, often. Suddenly they would be acting like wild animals again and we'd realize we had slacked off on actually giving them the beads again. We'd start back up again and they would behave again. Matthew and Zack were the best at having 3 beads left at night even though Matthew was the one that was the worst at beating the crap out of his brothers so I was thoroughly amazed at this development! Max rarely had 3 beads at the end of the day. It is really difficult to be the youngest and not get frustrated with your brothers. And it is especially difficult to remember to keep your hands and feet and body away from your brothers when you are 4 so even though he didn't have 3 beads he did as well as one might expect him to do. I also must say we weren't HORRIBLY rigid. We understand that "boys will be boys" so we would remind them that their behavior would make them lose a bead if they didn't stop and they usually stopped right then. Well, they filled up the jar and we are going to do something fun as a reward now. Not sure what but something super fun for them. We started it up again and the rules have changed again. Each child gets 5 beads now at the end of the day. While they still have to be kind to their brothers they also have to listen to their parents, behave at Walmart, go to primary without throwing a fit (Matthew), and help out when we ask them.They get bonus beads for doing extra stuff. For instance, they all worked together to clean out a flower bed today and got 5 extra beads each. This is the best thing ever!!! A reward system works so much better than any punishment does. All I have to say is do you want to lose a bead? and they instantly shape up. My parents used this method with a particularly difficult primary class they taught. The class would get x-number of marbles for behaving during sharing time and singing time and class time. Once they filled the jar they got to have a pizza party during the week at my parents house. It worked really well for them as well. I'm really hoping this will help us to get Max to listen to us. He NEVER listens to us!! We've been doing it for 2 days now and so far so good... Also, I love how it has helped me feel more like a loving mother instead of like a drill sergeant and referree all the time. I don't like having to constantly punish the kids but I also don't like it when they behave badly so this has just been a great blessing to our family!!!

Mumus

So I was trying on some clothes at J.C.Penney's yesterday and as I was leaving the store empty handed I started thinking... I have a closet FULL of clothes but I have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to wear!!! It's true!!! Some years back women were lucky to afford fabric to make themselves one dress and had 1 pair of shoes for working in and one special Sunday dress and nice shoes for church, parties, and town dances. My source for this information comes from years of watching Little House on the Prairie so it may not be totally accurate but it sure seems about right. I'm sure that's all that Ma and Pa really could afford anyway.  :)  Now a-days we have oodles and oodles of clothes and feel like we always need more. We're kind of a mess! I was thinking yesterday though how nice those old times must have been in some ways. People back then didn't complain so much, at least Ma didn't, lucky for Pa!!! Brian would trade Pa places in a heart beat! I complain far too much about the clothes and shoes thing. Think of how easy it was to get dressed back then. I spend more time re-hanging clothes that I changed my mind about wearing once I had them on and decided I looked like crap in them. Once you wash shirts a few times they start to lose their shape and color and sometimes become unrecognizeable as the shirt you actually purchased. I once bought a shirt at Target 2 sizes too big because I wanted it for those days when I'm bloated, uncomfortable and wanted something super long and plenty roomy so when I just want to wear sweats all day long but feel like I should wear normal clothes instead of sweats I had something somewhat cutish. Well, I figured if it was THAT much too big I could surely put it in the dryer. It shrunk so small after one washing it was ridiculous!!! Way short and it shrunk at least those extra 2 sizes! If I just had one dress to wear on workdays and one for Sunday it sure would make that part easier. Also, think of all the bulges that would be hidden in one of those big ol' dresses. Who cares if you're having a "fat day". Goodbye "fat jeans" forever!!! No one would ever be the wiser because you'd be covered completely! Polynesians and Mrs. Roper had it figured OUT!!! MUMUS all the way!!!! Even I could make one of those I think. Straight lines pretty much. I could even make them in all different colors and prints if I wanted to go CRAZY!!! Short sleeved in summer and spring and long sleeved in winter and fall. There's my solution right there...mumus!!! Brian will be so happy!!! ;)     
I REALLY NEED TO GO ON A DIET!!!!!!!!!!!

A little ramble...

~So I am addicted to HGTV!!! I just love it! I used to really get into home improvement shows and then Brian went back to school and I knew there wasn't a chance of having a house of our own any time soon so it was kind of depressing to watch those shows. I am back to having hope that some day we will be homeowners so it is so much fun to watch these shows and to get all excited again about the dream of fixing a place to my liking. I can't wait to be able to actually...paint a wall!!! So now I just can't get enough. I live vicariously through all of these total strangers as they search for a home to buy and as they fix up the homes. It's just fun! Some day it will be our turn and I just can't wait!!!!
~If it snows again I think I'm gonna scream!!! And this WIND!!! I grew up in Dodge City, KS which is officially the windiest town in the country. Seriously! Google it! I know I should be used to it and it shouldn't matter to me and, honestly it probably wouldn't if I didn't have all these wonderfully rambunctious kiddos that need to get outside and play more. It was beautiful here early this afternoon so I was going to take the kids to the park after school. Unfortunately the WIND picked up again a couple hours later and it was SOOO cold!!! So I rented a movie for them from Redbox instead. Poor cooped up kids! They will play and play outside if it's cold but bitter wind is a different story and I can't blame them! I WANT SPRING ALREADY!!!!!!
~BBQ'd food is the best!! We usually bbq year round but didn't this year. So we started getting the itch for bbq and Brian made some bbq chicken last week and we have a couple other bbq'd items on our menu and I'm excited! I am so excited for all the fun family bbq's we always have during the summer!!! Can't wait!!!!
~I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my 4 year old son, Max!!! He is amazing, smart, adorable, and just plain loveable!!! He has me wrapped around his little finger and it's really kind of pathetic! However....he is driving me NUTSO!!!! He is so stubborn!!!! Basically he has the stubbornness of me AND Brian combined! Scary stuff! He RARELY listens to me. On the rare occurance that he actually does listen I point it out and say wow Max you did such a great job of listening to me! Thank you so much! That was being such a good boy! It doesn't happen often! He used to be the naughtiest little guy EVER but he has improved quite a bit! Instead of doing incredibly crazy stuff all day long every single day he has cut the insanity back to either once a day or once every few days. The stubbornness is going to kill me though! SERIOUSLY!!! Gonna lose it! Today after hours of dealing with his stubbornness I found myself longing for the day he goes to kindergarten. That makes me sad! We've been trying this parenting trick to change some of the behavior with the kids and it has been working beautifully. I am going to start using it tomorrow with Max to see if it will work to nip some of this stubbornness in the bud so I can ENJOY this last year I have him home all day to the fullest instead of wishing it away!!!!! Here's hopin'!!!

Spring Break Report: Day 2,3, and 4

Pictures follow and there are more on wordfromthezoo.blogspot.com   If you want an invite just send me your email at btzmm@yahoo.com
I had so much fun Thursday! First we ate lunch at Panda Express. We live in a tiny town that has a lot of your basic fast food restaurants but there really aren't a whole lot of great places to eat out there. Also we just don't eat out much. TOO EXPENSIVE!!! So I was SO excited to eat out 3 times this weekend!!!
After lunch we shopped at the mall for a bit and found some super cute and absolutely perfect pink shoes for Gracie that are like some I was going to order on childensplace.com for $14.99 but they were out of her size. I have been looking and looking for some like them at other stores and just haven't had any luck. The ones I ended up finding were at Payless for $9.99 and they were out of her size at the mall Payless so they gave me a list of other stores that had them in stock and at the bottom of the list was a $3.00 coupon to use when buying them. So I paid less than half of what I would have paid if I got them at Children's Place AND they even have a cute little bow that make them even cuter! I LOVE getting a good deal and finding something I have been searching for!!!!
After finding the shoes we took the kids to Kangaroo Zoo. They liked that Jumpin' Jack's but the whole time they were there they talked about how they wanted to go to Kangaroo Zoo in Pleasant Grove because it's bigger, has more stuff, and they say it's more fun. So the next morning they begged to go there so we let them go and they DID have tons of fun!!! And, bonus, there is a section for babies 2 and under so Gracie had a blast just crawling around that area and playing and being free.
Our next stop was Target!!!! I LOVE TARGET!!!! I MISS Target!!! It was fun to look around and we found some great t-shirts for the boys for only $3.50 a piece.
The kids chose Chuck-a-Rama for dinner. Gracie was in hog heaven!! She is such a great little eater and pigged out!!!! I was happy to have some of that delicious dutch oven turkey. That is one of the best things I've ever eaten and I am all for any chance to have some of that!
So, we are totally spoiled where we live because there is NO traffic! The stop lights are so short and it's the best! Well, we were driving along fine and then the interstate became quite congested. Brian said there must be a wreck. Zack said yeah and all the people are redneckin'!! Cracked us up!
Saturday was especially nice for me because we went to my FAVORITE place!!! The Sweet Tooth Fairy. They make THE most delicious cupcakes EVER!!! MMMMMMM MMMMMM GOOD!!! They are located right next to The Quilted Bear in Provo.
After getting my cupcake fix we headed to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum. The kids LOVE that place! I've only taken them twice when my friend Sarah came to visit a couple of years in a row. Brian had never been. He had a blast playing with the kids and enjoyed it as much as they did I think!  That night some of the family came to my parent's house and we all enjoyed spending time together.
Easter was interesting...it snowed several inches over night so we had to have the hunt in the house. Mom made an absolutely DELICIOUS meal! The traditional Easter ham. But she adds her special flare to make it even better! Then she made her awesome potatoes. Not the usual funeral potatoes but equally delicious! Her homemade rolls, broken glass salad, asparagus, and strawberry pie topped it off. She had made lasagna for us Thursday night, clam chowder and cheese soup for Saturday night. Sausage, biscuits, and gravy for breakfast Friday, pancakes and eggs and her homemade syrup Saturday, and Rhodes cinnamon rolls Sunday morning. We have eaten very well and have been spoiled! Next trip I want to go to the Olive Garden for sure, too and then it will be the PERFECT eating experience in my book!!!! We just never seem to make it there.
We hope to some day afford a trip to Disneyland or somewhere else super fun for Spring Break but for now this worked well. It gave us a much needed break from our normal, every day life. We spent it together as a family. We spent time with our extended family and it was just all in all a fun, nice, and even somewhat relaxing trip! We head home today and no one is looking forward to that but all good things must come to an end I suppose. I hope you all had a great Easter. It's so wonderful listening to General Conference and focusing on the atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Remembering our need to repent and follow Him. A time of reflection and a time of being reminded of the things we must do to make ourselves more worthy to live with Him, our Heavenly Father, and our precious families for eternity. So grateful for the knowledge we have and continue to gain of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So thankful to see His hand work wonders in our lives. It's a beautiful thing!!!

I should have taken the pic when the box was full. There were 2 strawberry ones. On the strawberry ones they put a chocolate dipped strawberry quarter on top. The one in the box is chocolate with the most divine white frosting. If I knew the recipe for this frosting I would put it on EVERYTHING and I would weigh 500 lbs!!! I don't want the recipe!!!

Spring Break Report: Day 1

Well, the weather turned to crap so we ended up having to ixnay the oozay. We took the kids to Jumpin' Jack's in Spanish Fork and let them go nuts for about 2 hours. We had one accident..YES, HE'S 4!!!!!!!!!!! We were there all of 10 minutes before he did it, too. His timing is impeccable! Thankfully our suitcases were still in the car and we had an extra outfit for him to change into so we could stay. Then last night everyone was all happy and playing great. We all went to bed and had just dozed when Zack came in telling us that Max was having problems breathing so of course I rushed down there to find that he was right in the middle of barking like a seal and struggling to catch his breath. (Croupe)  After being outside for a while and drinking some ice water he started to sound better so Brian opened the window in the bedroom and slept with him. Thank goodness for cold air!!! Here's hopin' that's the craziest it gets and that the rest of the time we just have FUN!!!