It's a Zoo out there

How lucky am I? Sam and I got to go on the second grade fieldtrip to the zoo. It was just so much fun. These two brothers are the best of friends....and amazingly they just wanted to hang out with me the whole time. Favorites included the gorillas, giraffes, and new baby elephants. Garrett is so fascinated by anything sciency he had to read each descriptive animal placard  to find out if they were venemous and what they ate and what their defense mechanisms were. It was FREEEEEEEZING but that didn't stop of us from getting frosties at Wendy's on the way home. How lucky am I to get to be a stay-at-home mom and go on fieldtrips? 

Check out the elephants in the back!

The polar bears were strangely missing, and in their enclosure instead we found this scuba diver. I'm pretty sure the boys found this guy way more interesting than polar bears, especially when he waved to them. (Tank cleaning duties, I think. I'm pretty sure Garrett has found his career choice.)

In other news......

I went to my first Hope of America last Wednesday, and it was awesome! Can you see Cass? She was amazing! Really, I was inspired, and it was actually kind of fun to be there for 14 hours ( I brought my book) and R stayed home with the others so except for the uncomfortable Marriott Center seats it was almost like a time-out-for-Mom! The kids did an amazing job and I'm so glad Cassidy chose to participate. The tap-dancing Grannies were amazing! And Cassidy and I enjoyed a fun "date" beforehand at Cafe Rio. I love that girl.

(Flashlight Finale at HOA)

Unrelated---The poor Star Wars action figures. They never had a chance...

 This beaut was taken while we spent many, many hours at the dentist office....

Sam is an awesome dental patient. 

Sam has awesome friends!

This treasure was taken at story time at Thanksgiving Point. They were technically supposed to be paying attention to the story, but the mirror on the wall was much more entertaining!

And finally...

It's here! Soccer-Soccer-Baseball season! Now if only the weather would start cooperating a little bit more, the games might actually be enjoyable! But hey, all three teams are currently UNDEFEATED so how's that for a stellar beginning? Let's Go CUBS and BLUE FALCONS and ORANGE CRUSH!

Easter and Spring Break

Sometimes when I see pictures like these I think...how many more years will I have of us all being together like this? Special thanks to Ben for agreeing to appear in said photo, even though he declined to actually color an egg. It's O.K.

It's tradition, this bunny cake. Except my mom always always makes the bunny cake, and this year, we really missed her. She died 6 months ago yesterday. I'm so glad we still have traditions and memories connected to her. I hope it makes her smile that we still did the bunny cake. 

Another wonderful Easter tradition is the fabulous egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's house. In addition to the egg hunt there is also a scavenger hunt. The kids love love love both of these events.

We also spent time as a family talking about the resurrection, reading the scriptures about Jesus' last days, and watching a few amazing videos on lds.org depicting the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of our Savior. At our sacrament service on Sunday the beauty of it all hit me full force as I sang He is risen! What a wonderful time of the year.

In other news.....

we spent our Spring Break at the dentist office for 5 cleanings, 3 extractions and  3 fillings (with 8 more to come, don't ask). Good times! The above pictures is before 2 of the extractions, and then.....

(P.S., did you know it is now against OSHA policy to let kids take home their own teeth from the dentist? Evidently the toothfairy just collects them from the dentist office!)

We really didn't do anything big for Spring Break, but the little things we did do were fun: a trip to the library just me and the kids, water balloons, ice cream sundaes, a backyard fire with marshmallows, jumping on the tramp in the dark with glow bracelets and playing "Tron", spending time with friends, a trip to Krispy Kreme for free report card donuts,  being lazy, baking and eating white bread (white bread is the elite of elite treats around here), and having bowls of cereal for afternoon snack each day. I liked not having to think about book reports and spelling tests and dance class and carpool ( I still had to worry about laundry and dinner). Definitely looking forward to summer!

P.S. Guess what is right around the corner? Soccer-Soccer-
Baseball! Can't wait!