Spring Break Adventure

This next section I call "Turning lemons into lemonade". We didn't have a lot of free time during Spring Break, so we wanted to do something really fun. Aaron and Teanna were down staying with us, and we all decided it would be fun to go up to Portland to take the kids to OMSI and the Zoo. Well, the weather wasn't that great, so we decided to just go to OMSI. The morning that we were to head up, Adam had to go to school to get his books, and he had a job measure to do, so by the time we all got ready to go, it was about 11:30am. We had to stop in Salem to drop of Teanna's dog, and it was lunch time, so we had to have time for lunch. OMSI was only open till 5, and we still had to drive up to Portland. Anyways, Adam and I thought that would be a waste of money because we wouldn't be able to spend a lot of time, so I thought we should go to the Oregon Garden and hike Silver Falls. No one was real keen on that idea, but it was the best use of our time and money, and they weather wasn't too wet, so we ventured out.
Now the Lemonade part. It was chilly, but so beautiful!!! Plus, the kids could run around all over and we didn't have to worry much about them. They thought it was great, and they didn't know what they were missing. We got to see some really cool things, and get lots of fun pictures. It was a no stress kind of activity. So I was glad that we decided to do that, and we will get another chance to go to OMSI. Afterwards, we went up to Portland to get some clothes, go to Deseret bookstore (where I bought Twilight by the way, and am on the 3rd book now), and went to Chevy's for dinner. Afterwards, Natalie and Kyla went with Aaron and Teanna to stay the night, and when we went to Adam's folks to pick up Pepper, they invited Emma to stay the night with them. So we ended up with one kid for the night, and that was fun. Plus the girls were jazzed to be staying the night elsewhere. All in all, it turned out to be a great time. I'm glad we didn't just get discouraged.



Natalie in the bunny tunnel at the Oregon Garden. One of the fun activities in the kid's garden area.
Garrett digging up a dinosaur skeleton. This was so fun!
The kids in the spooky, dark woods. This was so cool. It reminded me of some fairytale movie with the dark,dense woods that they scaries live in.
The girls enjoying each other and burning energy at the same time.
Cute picture of Kyla and Natalie when the got to stay the night with Uncle Aaron and Aunt Teanna. We call these two the twins cause they look alike, and are alike.

Our Easter Sunday

It's time to update, so we'll start with Easter. I was a bit of a scatter brain this year, and didn't charge the batteries in my video camera, or digital. So I don't have video of the kids looking for eggs, and i don't have pictures of the kids in their Easter best. What kind of sorry excuse for a mother am I? But i did get a few. We had Easter at our house, with Adam's family. Church of course was amazing. Really set the tone for the day. It was a pretty relaxed day, although I felt like I was cleaning and cooking and cleaning again all day. We invited some ladies that live across the street that I visit teach, over for dinner. After our scrumptious dinner, everyone wanted to play *gasp!* Guitar Hero. So I was a little baffled by that, but I let them anyway. So if they had fun, that's all that matters. And by the way, my daughter Emma put me to shame about that one. One day she asked me why we played Guitar Hero on Sunday, and I said because people wanted to. She countered me and said "You should tell them no!". What an amazing lesson that was. I love the innocence of youth.
Oh, and another funny thing that happened that shows my motherly incompetence, I didn't have time to hide eggs or fill eggs. The kids were lucky they got Easter baskets. Anyway, the day dragged on and the kids were constantly asking "When is the Easter Bunny coming?" And we were constantly reminding them "He works all day and just hasn't been to our house yet, and that is not the real reason we celebrate Easter anyway!!!"
So, finally after dinner, I sneak out with my bro-in-law Anthony and we hide eggs all over. By this time it is almost dark. Pathetic, I know. But the kids didn't seem to mind as long as they found all the eggs. And after it was all done, Emma says again "Why did the Easter Bunny come so late?" I give up!


The girls decorating eggs (duh)
Garrett getting into his stash!
All the Easter loot from the Easter bunny.
Brynne and I playing Family Fued, after we
played Guitar Hero.