An egg hunt and a Jazz game

Saturday morning, the kids dyed and decorated eggs.

Jared and Teresa hid them and had the kids hunt them down.

In the afternoon, we relaxed while Jared/Teresa and family went to Teresa's sister's house for their family Easter party.

(Jason went to the movie "GI Joe" with Brandon and J.C.)

When they got back, we packed up our bagel sandwich dinner and headed to Salt Lake. The guys and kids went on the Trax, while Tereasa, Lynley and I traveled by car. (In case Lynley needed to come home early. Ok, also so we could make a quick stop into Teresa's favorite home decor store on the way there.). We met at the new downtown mall by temple square. We didn't have a lot of time before the game, but wandered around for awhile. Jade and Rylee bought matching red sequined shoes from the VANS store.

As we were headed back to the car for dinner, we noticed we were missing someone... Where's Carson??? We were more than half way back to the car, so Jared and Colton took off to try and find Carson. (I guess Carson is famous for getting lost/left behind. They told us the story of him getting lost at Disneyland several times.) We ate our dinner, at the car, while waiting to hear news of Carson.

Jared finally called. Carson was waiting for someone to find him, at the last store we had all been together...the Disney Store! (He, being an experienced "lost boy", knew to stay put.) Whew! Guess his reputation continues. This time, lost at the Disney STORE. :)

When we were done eating and all back together, we walked over to the Jazz game.

Treyson and Emma were the lucky ones that night. Treyson caught a ball they threw into the stands (made his night!) and Emma caught a coveted (by Jordyn) pom-pom. 

The kids danced their hearts out, trying to get noticed and put up on the big screen...to no avail. Still a really fun time together.

Spring Break 2013

As Jason was talking to his brother Jared, a Spring Break plan started to form. 

Come down for a Jazz game..and a family BBQ..and Easter. 

Ok.

We left Thursday, after retrieving Rylee from her choir tour bus. She had been traveling back from San Fransisco, CA with her Cantus choir group all night. She had just spent 11+ hours on the bus and then got to spend 4+ hours more in our van. Luck her. She traveled through 5 states that day! :)

 Friday morning, we went to the Hill Aerospace Museum. 

Rylee-Taylee-Jordyn-Treyson-Jade-Colton

Abree-Emma-Carson

Lynley

We found the airplane that our Grandpa Smullin had worked on.

Inside there was all sorts of airplanes..and airplane history.

Rylee

Taylee

Treyson

Abree

A nice employee took our group aside and did fun experiments with the kids. They played with an electricity globe (can't remember the real name).

For the final experiment, he had the kids link pinkie fingers. He charged them up and then touched the electric globe. It sent a shock through the line, making the kids YELP and drop to their knees.

We ate a pizza lunch in a park, close to Grandpa Smullin and Uncle Fred's work. They came over and said Hi!

That evening, Jared had planned a family BBQ at Grandma/Grandpa Smullin's house. (Thanks Jared. That was awesome!) Everyone was there except Jeff/Amy and family. I jokingly called it the Cousin Party..and was so glad it was over with..not having to worry about it for this summer. They didn't go for it..guess the Cousin Party is still on at our house, this summer.  :)

After the BBQ, Teresa had planned a candy hunt. 

A candy hunt is the same as an egg hunt, but without having to fill hundreds of little plastic eggs...genius!!!

Cathy and I hid candy in the back yard for the big kids. While Teresa and company hid candy in the front yard for the younger kids.

Grandma Smullin and Frankie (their new dog).

Jessica-Catie-Ethel

Joshua

Lynley

Christian

Savannah

Jak

It was a fun day and so nice to be with everyone. 

Thanks everyone for hanging out with us!

PS- That night, Melissa, Juila and I went to the movie, "The Host". Melissa and I enjoyed it, but Julia was NOT impressed. 

Yay, for late-night girl time!

Maliah turns 4!

While Karen was on a work trip to LasVegas (and Tim was at work) we had their girls over. It was a day after Maliah's birthday, so we headed over to her house to party.

Audrey, Abree, Katelyn

Sydney & Maliah

We partied HELLO KITTY style.

  Isn't her cake sooo cute?

Good job Tawnya.

They crafted...

and crafted

..and had an egg hunt.

How old are you Mia?

HELLO KITTY slippers from her Daddy.

The girl's were having to much fun, I stayed and chatted with Tawnya for several hours. 

When serving cake and ice cream, I told the girl's that this was their lunch..I was sorta kidding, but not really. We had a VERY late lunch when we finally got back home..late as in almost dinner time. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY sweet Maliah!

Brace Face!

We had promised braces for Rylee's 16th birthday...and even did her first ortho consultation that very day. 

But HOLY SMOKES was I unprepared for the cost! 

To get the best deal and make the most informed decision, we decided to get several consultations (5 to be exact). I wanted to weigh the pros/cons, benefits and costs of each. I had saved up a good chunk of money for a down payment, but it didn't seem like enough, so we decided to wait for our tax return as well.

It was hard for Rylee to be patient. She was SO EXCITED to get them on!

The consultation process took weeks and a lot of getting out of school (poor kid), but it was good. By our 5th consult, we felt like experts..or that we could make a good decision about treatment at least. We narrowed it down to 2 doctors and had a final consult with each, about the nitty-gritty...money.

We had anticipated the cost of a cleaning, but had to pay for fillings and sealants too. Lucky us. (Another big bill I didn't think about when promising braces.)

After getting a recommendation from our dentist, we decided to go with Dr. Kelson. He was the one Rylee liked the very best and he was willing to work with us on cost. We paid in full, to avoid adding money to our already-tight monthly bottom-line. Whew!

It took 3+ months to get here... but here she is, all decked out in her new tin grin.

Here are "BEFORE" pictures...stay tuned for the "AFTER"(in approximately 20 months).

Moral of the story:  Assume it's going to cost you more than you think, expect there will be unexpected costs and 5 consultations is A LOT..you could probably get away with 4 and be just fine. :)

St. Patrick's Day

For my St. Patrick's decor, I was just going to flip over my heart banner and glue shamrocks onto the other side, but the shamrocks were a little bigger and hung over the edge. This would have been fine for St. Patrick's Day, but not for Valentine's Day. (I didn't want to see the edges of the shamrocks peeking out when showing the heart side). Sooo.. I cut up more book pages and made a separate banner.

Same idea, but if it ain't broke..don't try and fix it, right? :)

I truly feel BLESSED..not lucky.

I had a bunch of gold coins from different occasions (primary sharing time, Chinese New Year's party, etc.), so I incorporated them into the decor..you know, like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. You can find the printable sign here.

My kids forgot to set out milk, so I guess the naughty leprechaun passed us by. No green milk here...which is fine with me. :) 

We celebrated Grandpa Waite's birthday that evening, with pies/treats galore.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!