Egg Hunt

To kick off our Easter celebration, Friday Morning we headed to the park for a neighborhood egg hunt. The group was a bunch of nursery aged kids with a few older kids. (the other older kids are not pictured.)


When we first arrived Joe looked out at all of the eggs just thrown on the lawn and decided that this was going to be the easiest hunt of his life.

Then the mom in charge told the older kids that they were not allowed to pick up any eggs off the ground. Their eggs were hidden in higher places.


Joe was able to find plenty of eggs. Josh did pretty well for himself too.

I had already warned Emily as we drove to the park that the egg hunt was for younger kids and that it might not be vary fun for her. She decided she would probably just help Valerie find eggs.

When she found out there were harder eggs hidden for her she looked for them, but she still helped Valerie find some too. Valerie didn't understand at first, but after the first two eggs she started "finding" them on her own, and putting them in her basket. She didn't figure out there was candy in them until after the hunt.

Like I said before the hunt was geared toward toddlers, so the prizes were too. Joe and Josh loved the candy, but they happily gave their Dora stickers to Valerie and the other little girls at the park. I am so grateful to the moms who put this hunt together.

Temple Square

Thursday the forecast was snow. So we needed to find another indoor activity.
We started by meeting Grandpa for lunch at the Gateway Mall. The kids are always excited to have lunch with Grandpa.

After lunch I took the kids over to Temple Square. I realized when I went a couple of weeks ago with my family, that it had been a while since Emily and Joe had been there. It had rained a little, but the weather was still pretty good. We drove closer to the temple, but we still parked a block away. As we were walking to the temple the wind really started blowing and it was freezing.



Because it turned so cold so fast (and my kids dressed well for cold weather.) We hurried into the visitors center. The kids really liked looking at all of the big paintings of Christ's life and other scripture stories.

As a child we had our stake conferences at Temple square. I remember visiting often. I always loved when we got to walk up to the Christus Statue. I still love going up to it. Josh and Valerie were really excited to take Joe and Emily up there.

I was hoping that the wind would have died down when we were done, but it hadn't so I made the kids stand for a picture with the temple, and then we ran over to the Church History Museum.

Josh and Valerie remembered the play area upstairs, so we quickly went through the main floor exhibit so they could get to the fun.

They stopped to try out the beds in the display about the saints who traveled by boat. The sign said a family of seven had to share the bottom bunk.

They must not have been very tall. Emily took up one by herself when she tried to fold up into one. Maybe they slept in shifts.

When we got to the Book of Mormon play area Valerie ran right to the dancing. Emily joined her there. They both had lots of fun.

Valerie took a break and went into the kitchen area where she enjoyed an onion with the missionaries, but then she headed right back to the dancing.

Joe and Josh loved the Temple building area. They spent most of their time here. Building temples, and then smashing them down.

I had to wonder if the creators of this activity knew how wild it could get.

Emily discovered the hand puppets, and tried to get Valerie interested in them. She was not.

The kids all liked the boat. Especially the fishing.

When we left to go back to the car the wind had died down and it was warm again. So I tried to get the kids to stop for a picture. The girls cooperated, but the boys were too busy running.

This was my favorite day of Spring break. Taking the time to talk about Christ's life with the kids a few days before Easter really help get us in the Easter spirit and remember what it is we are celebrating.

Planet Play

Spring break finally arrived on April 18th, but it arrived with cold wet weather and the stomach flu. So we started off Sunday and Monday staying home and getting better. The kids all felt better by Monday, but I was still not feeling well. So by Tuesday the kids were ready to get out and play.

With the weather being so cold, outside was not really an option that day, so we decided to go check out Planet Play. Joe had received two free pizza buffets and $10 in game cards as a reward at school. He had been begging to go.
We started off filling our tummies at the buffet.

As soon as everyone was full we headed into the game room. Valerie headed right into the toddler area without any hesitation and started playing.

But after a couple of minutes she realized that the other kids did not follow her. So while she played in the toddler area for a few more minutes the whole time she longingly looked over at her siblings.

Joe, Josh and Emily went right to the bumper cars.

They had fun bumping into each other, and if you bump hard enough your car spins around. Maybe not the best thing to do right after you ate, but the kids didn't seem to be having trouble.

By the time they finished the ride Valerie was back with them wanting to do what they were doing. So we decided to head over to the mini golf.

The golf course was done with florescent lighting. Josh and Joe were very concerned with who's turn it was, and Valerie was just happy to be with them and carried her club and ball around. Dropping the ball occasionally and hitting it.

After a competitive round of golf between Emily and the boys, we tried out the video games.

Emily wanted to test out her dance skills.

The boys loved this simulator ride. I worried, because their heads didn't reach the head rests so they were getting the simulation meant for the backs. They loved it anyway. Valerie and her dad checked out the ski ball game. Eventually all the kids ended up there.

Then it was on to a game of bowling. The lanes and balls were the mini ones.

We have only taken them bowling one other time, so it was fun to watch them. The boys had bumpers on their lanes, but Emily didn't on hers. She did pretty well without them once she got the hang of it.

I don't know if we will ever go back to Planet Play, but it was a fun way to start off a rainy spring break.

The Giant Bees

Last Fall when I asked Joe if he wanted to sign up for soccer again, he said "No, I think I am done with soccer. I want to try baseball." So this spring when it was time to sign up for sports we signed him up. Tuesday was his first game of the season. He was excited to play and really liked his new uniform. At their first practice the coach had the team choose a name. They chose The Rubber Duckies, but I guess the coach did not like that name, because by Tuesday night the name had changed to The Giant Bees. (Coach is a big Giants fan.) So the Giant Bees it is. Sports are always more fun with friends. Joe's friends Max and Ethan are on his team. I took this picture right before the game. Joe was either getting his game face on, or posing for the camera. I am guessing it was the latter of the two. Can you tell who the comedian of our family is? Joe was really happy when the coach had him be the catcher for the first inning. He knew that Emily liked being catcher and he was excited he got to try it too.

He is playing Machine pitch ball this year. He didn't get a hit his first time up to bat, but he had a big smile on his face when he struck out. Joe seems to like baseball. Even when he was playing in the outfield and things were moving a little slow, he seemed to be very entertained. Although it wasn't always with the game. At one point he had a really good air guitar solo going.

I love Little League sports. They are always entertaining.

Cousins

Last week was spring break for my family in Washington, and it came just in time for Jon and Jenny to bless their new baby Violet. So starting Monday April 4th, things were very busy at our house. Monday night we went to Jon's for a final four party. (none of our brackets were even in play by then.) Then Tuesday everyone came to dinner at our house. The kids were really excited to see their cousins. The first couple of days the weather was pretty nice so the kids were able to play outside. But Wednesday a storm blew in, And after that this was the chosen activity when we were home. Good thing Grandma had a lot of fun things planned for us to do instead.

Valerie and the babies

Meet Violet, TJ, and Ben. The three newest members of the family. Valerie was so happy to have so many babies to take care of. She took turns holding each baby, and was very interested in what they were doing.

She was really happy when all three of them were on the floor. She tried to keep them all happy by giving them their pacifiers and even a few kisses.

Valerie was very happy to have Baby Ben stay with us all week. She was always trying to help Aunt Ellen take care of him. At one point she even tried to trade Ellen her baby doll for Baby Ben. The other thing Valerie liked about having baby Ben around, was the toys he brought with him. When she wasn't busy checking out Ben, she was in his toys.

It is fun to see her interact with the babies. Thanks Ellen for letting her "help" you with yours.

Temple Sqaure

On Wednesday we headed down town to visit Temple Square. (Emily and Joe were not on Spring break and had to go to school so they missed this outing.)

We started out across the street at the Church History Museum. On Tuesday we went to the BYU Museum of Art to see the Carl Bloch Exhibit. while the kids seemed to like it, it was a lot of being really good. So when we told them we were going to another museum we got a couple of moans from the peanut gallery.

But once we got there I think they had lots of fun. This is a great museum for kids. There are so many fun things to see, and they have a great "Book of Mormon" Play area. After the Museum we went over to Temple square and took the kids into the visitors center. I forget that we have such fun places to visit so close. We usually go to Temple Square in December, but I never think to take the kids at other times. It is a lot nicer to go on a warmer less crowded day.