Friday night

Playing at Sweetwater (a billion Atari games, Pac-man, ice-ball, virtual games, racing/bowling arcade games, foosball, ping-pong & pinball--all free!). Spencer's favorite part of the whole weekend!

A little frisbee in the field behind our house

Partying to the nines...

This b-day was especially awesome because we had familial visitors (we did last year too because it was their baptism, these boys are loved)!! Spencer (my bro), Meagan (wifey) & Sienna (5 mo old babe) are heading back across the U.S. after doing an accounting internship in D.C. so they got to party the whole weekend with us! Here's how the day went:

-Oh, must make mention...the day before we all went to the boys' school to eat lunch with them (thus completing the circle...now ALL my siblings & spouses have eaten with the boys at their school, how cool is that?!). Then Spencer & Meagan got to volunteer in their classes to help out with a special presentation they had going on & gave out the b-day treats (Jaydon made both! Brownies AND cupcakes!!)

-Special request by the boys...they wanted to make their spec-ee-al-i-ty for our esteemed visitors so they made a fabulous breakfast of pancakes, eggs & sausage (given to us by some friends & since we're not really sausage lovers Tony really gave it some love, i.e. A1, BBQ sauce & steak seasoning--though I had my doubts, it was a hit!

-Opened presents & then PLAYED with the presents--Uno attack, frisbee & Ladderball

-Ate pizza, spinach salad & watermelon for dinner compliments of our guests

-Watched Megamind, ate goodies including cake & no-sugar, berry ice-cream (new favorite from conference).

-Then the boys ALL slept downstairs together per the boys' special request. Hee hee.

Easter and such

We did celebrate Easter, just not in pictures...not one. Here's how it went down:

-Saturday the boys woke to a colorful staircase full of candy eggs leading them down to the table of funness covered with a blankie until Mom n' Dad got up. They got big bubble wands from the parents (you know, the ones that cost a dollar & are super-stellar for giant bubble purposes) & then lots of little goodies from Papa & Nana Cobia. Daddy got some sugar-free treats & a book he's been wanting.

-After sort-of rushing through chores we really did rush to the park for the egg hunt.

-Then they went with Daddy to an 'author's convention' downtown because we have 3 aspiring author's in this house. They all loved it.

-We finished up our discussion on Christ's final week that night for scripture study. Always an excellent reminder.

-Sunday the boys each got a "Christ" quiet book to take to church, thanks to Heather's generosity!! They liked them so much & promptly read them (Jyson finished both before he got to church!)

-I gave my talk in sacrament meeting that I took ALL week to write...it was on "Christ's final week with an emphasis on the women that were there/part of His life." It was a toughy to find scriptural info on the 'women' part, but oh-so-excellent to learn about & it all worked out.

-Monday we had our annual Easter egg/events of Christ FHE lesson.

A bit different this year in a traditional sense, but it really was enjoyable & I feel like we learned more about Christ as a family: mission accomplished.

Then, what's a post without a few pictures, even non-Easter ones :)

This was a cute scene...both boys were reading on opposite ends of the couch & Ari kept going back & forth, poking & laughing in their faces trying to get them to play with her (they were good sports & would do it for a minute & then go back to their books). Finally she picked up a [chapter] book & flipped through the pages before tossing it aside & crawling off in search of other pursuits...

Another scene...traipsing across the parking lot to our current washer & dryer. Before moving in here I wasn't sure which I would miss more: the dishwasher or the washer/dryer. The jury is in: hands down it's the washer & dryer! Thank goodness I have three muscle-y men to help out.

Jyson

Dance, Dance!

We bought our first Groupon recently...2 private dance lessons from a local studio for $30 (normally $200!)! It was so amazing. We also got to go to a group class as well (I did get some strange looks there...what, it's not normal for a huge prego woman to dance?). The great thing is that we didn't really have to pay for a baby-sitter, either...you see, I'm trading baby-sitting for piano lessons. The 2nd time we were there our instructor brought in the owner because, frankly, Tony isn't the average dancer :) For those of you who don't know, Tony took tons of dance in college & is AWESOME!! Wow. The lady was fantastic, but had no qualms about telling Tony exactly what needed to happen (she claims that she has to start w/ the man before she can even look at the woman, but really I think she just enjoys a good pulverize-the-ego session). We both learned so much and totally wish we could take more lessons! p.s. I wasn't sleepy, don't let the picture deceive you.

Conference Weekend

I love conference. I get so much out of it every time...even with kids yammering & having 'needs' it's something I look forward to & totally 'need' myself!! At the beginning of the first session we were a lovely family, sitting upright, writing notes, & eating munchies politely (Jaydon told me he loves conference, that it's his favorite church holiday...We celebrate with FOOD you see :) Greek/hummus dip n' chips, new recipe of homemade berry ice-cream--using only a little agave to sweeten--, cuties/tangerines, carrots, honey pretzels & jelly beans). By session four, we looked like this (Ari was blessedly sleeping for a bit):

However, overall the boys were so good. This was the first time they didn't need a break from listening for any of the sessions. Amazing. And thanks to a generous friend we printed off this beauty in an 8x10 to write each apostle's topic in each of the boxes to hang until next conference. The idea is that we'll choose from these talks for our new FHE goal to do a lesson from the prophet's words once each month.

Pinewood Derby #1

and yes, that is paint on the boys' face in the upper left pic...you see, it truly was a father/son activity. awesome.