SPRING BREAK!

As mentioned, my sister and my parents came to town for Spring Break.  It was pretty crazy.  But also pretty fun.  

We started off the week with a massive shopping trip.  We ran out of room for Zora.  And this was just the first shopping trip.  My sister when a few times and my mom went and I went once again.  So much food.

That was Wednesday.  My parents got in late Wednesday night and stayed at my brother and sister-in-laws so we didn't see them until Thursday morning.  I wanted Rex to ditch school but he's too much of a goody two shoes so we compromised and I picked him up early.  After Zora's nap, we went to the park.

On Friday, we went to Defy Gravity and survived without any tongue stitches this time.  My sister got in around dinner so we roasted hot dogs and marshmellows for dinner in a mild wind storm and prayed the wind would die down by morning for the baptism.

Saturday was Rex's baptism, followed by dinner and an Easter egg hunt.

 Sunday was Easter egg dying and church.  The kids dyed 36 eggs, which is why we did it early in the week.  I didn't want to do it at the end of the week and get stuck with 3 dozed hard boiled eggs when everyone left.

Monday we went to the zoo and Amber schooled the entire zoo in rocking the whole mom thing. She has 4 kids in that stroller.

 Tuesday day we went to the park and Rex, Alice, Grandpa and I went on a 1-mile hike for Rex's Wolf award for camp.  I was hoping everyone would come but most people decided to stay behind.  Henry and Autumn tried to come but they only made it about 100 feet down the trail before I had to take them back to the playground.

That night we learned about temples and Christ cleansing the temple from Grandma Pattie and Grandpa Brian. The kids made temple mirrors so they could see themselves in the temple.  (Remember in addition to party-ing it up for Spring Break, we were also trying to keep up our Holy Week celebrations--it was a crazy week).

 Wednesday we went to the park I think.  It was a crazy week.  I'm having a hard time remembering.  I think we did go to the park, but it was hot and we didn't stay long because the littles were ready for a nap. After the park, we jumped on the trampoline with shaving cream so the little people could take naps.  (We were a little cramped for sleeping space so the littles didn't sleep as well as the adults would have liked).

That night,  we learned some of Christ's teachings, specifically the Parable of the Good Samaritan and then we tied some baby blankets to donate to a local women's shelter.

Thursday we finally made it to the strawberry patch and picked way too many strawberries, which the kids just ate and ate and ate.  Henry spent most of the time at the strawberry field on the fire truck and refused to move for fear another kid would take his spot.

That night was Passover so we ate a simple Passover dinner of pita and hummus and a spring mix salad.

Friday, we went to Dan Nicholas Park and did a little of everything.

My parents had to leave early Saturday morning.  Saturday afternoon we went to my brother and sister-in-law's house to play in the creek on their property.  Henry and Maverick fully embraced being little boys and jumped and splashed to their delight.  Alice and Rex built a mud playground.  Autumn decided she didn't want to get dirty so Amber took her and Voilet and Lark home for naps.  Zora ate mud.  It was a nice afternoon.

We took cookies to our neighbors with pass along cards for our Easter activity that evening.

Evan flew in late Saturday night.  Sunday was Easter, which deserves its own post.

Through out the week, we took a few cousin baths.

These little boys fought and fought until the day before the Norby's left, but when they did finally start playing nice it was oh so cute.

We also had 2 mice while the family was in town!  Two!  Greg caught both of them and a Zora baby.

Monday for Lark's birthday, we went to Freedom park.

And there was lots and lots of just playing outside, because that's where children belong, outside.

'

The Norby's left on Tuesday and not 10 minutes later, Alice and Henry were complaining about being bored.  It was just lovely having so many cousins at just the right age around for so long.  Next time, maybe we won't try having them all sleep in the same room.  By the last night, we finally figured it out--Rex and Zora in their room; Alice, Henry and Autumn in my room with me and Greg; Lark in the office; and Amber, Evan and the twins in the bunkbed room.  That worked much better than the initial arrangement of Alice on down in the bunk bed room, with Amber and Lark in the office.

But we survived.  Amber, however, three weeks later is still driving across the country.  We'll see how she survives.