Nephi Easter Egg Hunt

Saturday was the Easter Egg Hunt in Nephi.  They had 16,000 eggs!!  There was a lot.  They did the hunt in phases according to age so Jeremy and Bailee had to wait until it was their turn:

So to pass the time, they wanted to get their faces painted:



Then it was their turn.  They lined the kids along the baseball field:

and said go!!!


Then we had all the cousins together to show off their loot:

It was a nice day and I even got a sunburn!

For the Kiddos

I’ve been focusing a lot on Matt graduating.  I’m really excited about it.  Probably more than Matt is.  The other morning as we were reading scriptures, Bailee sighs and says, “Mom, I just wish Dad would be home tonight.  He is ALWAYS gone.”  It was then that I figured that my two little ones needed something for going through this whole Grad School too.  So I had Matt pick these little beauties up at Harbor Freight:
 
Yup, those are cow bells.  I added the vinyl:

So now, when their dad walks across that stage to receive his diploma, they can make all the rukus their little hearts desire, because they put up with the group meetings, paper, finals, late classes, phone calls while on vacation, and general absence of their father.  They are pretty proud of their Dad and Jeremy told me last night that he wanted to go to the University of Utah for his Master’s as well.  I’m so glad Matt setting a good example of the importance of education and working hard. 

Easter Basket Idea

The kids found my Easter basket stash this week - those little weasels.  So I’ve had to change tactics a bit.  I think we might dispel the Easter bunny, its not like we do a whole lot with the Easter bunny.  We don’t watch movies or anything like that.  We have resurrection egg hunts and learn about the Savior for most of the month.  But I do enjoy a good Easter basket.  Who doesn’t like candy and little trinkets.  So yesterday after listening to the children argue about who got a certain glass, I decided to make these little beauties:
  
I ran to the dollar store after work and picked up some mugs and did some etching on them.  Now, they’ll have to find something else to argue about.   I’ve still got the silhouette file if anyone wants to come over and make a few.

Soon You Will Call Me Master!

Yes, I am a Star Wars nerd.  Matt and I have had this little joke going for about 3 weeks now.  Most people who know us, know that for the most part, I wear the pants in the family.  My dad even calls me and asks if Matt can go and help him.  But for these past three weeks Matt has been walking around quoting that line from Emperor Palpatine.  It’s really stepped up since he got all his regalia for graduation see:


I’ve been playing with my actions in photoshop:


When we went up to get all of his graduation garb, I glanced at the graduation announcements and wasn’t very impressed.  So I made my own:

Only 25 more days until it is finally over.  Matt has worked hard and I am so so proud of him.  And maybe . . . just maybe . . . I might just once call him Master.  :)

11 Years and Counting

As we were driving home from General Conference yesterday, we did the math and we have been going up to Salt Lake and watching conference live for 11 years now.  WOW!!  The time sure does fly.  We headed up to Salt Lake Friday afternoon.  We headed to Red Lobster for Dinner.  As we were waiting, one of the servers took out a lobster and let the kids touch it:

 
We hit the pool that night.  The next morning Matt and I stayed at the hotel and watched all the kids while everyone else went to the Saturday morning session.
After the first session, we had to go up the University of Utah campus for their graduation fair.  We got all of Matt’s graduation gear: cap, gown, hood, tassel, souvenirs, etc and then he wanted to show me around the campus.


We got back to the hotel in time for the second session, and I wanted Matt to try on all his gear:

I am so excited for him to graduate, only 4 more weeks!!!
That night, the men went to the Priesthood session and the women went to ladies night at Deseret book.  My kids were tired and ornery, so we didn’t stay long.  The next morning, we woke up to SNOW!!  That didn’t get our spirits down.  It was Jeremy’s first time going to Conference!!



I think it has snowed every April conference for the past four years now.  I don’t know why I was surprised.

Matt wanted to throw a snowball in the reflection pond:
 
And our usual picture spot.  Jeremy was too cold and didn’t want to be in the picture:

Once we made it into the conference center, Jeremy was amazed:


We found our seats and this was our view:


I think Grandma and Grandpa were most excited for Jeremy to be there.  Once we found our seats, they got up and took him on a tour of the Conference Center.  Grandpa and Jeremy were always huddled together and talking:




It was a great conference.  It renewed my desire to comfort the weary and strengthen the weak.  I love Conference and I am so blessed to be able to attend for eleven years!!  It truly is the best use of my time and I am so glad I got to share part of that with my son!  The Church is True!!

Disneyland Day Three Part Three

So after Tower of Terror, Glen called and said he was over by Soarin’ so we decided to use our fast passes.  The teenagers missed the tower of terror ride but met us at soarin’.  When we got off, I wanted to go over to the animation building to get some pictures of all the families. 








So after everyone got their picture taken, the older families took off for some thrills and final rides and Cory and Sharon and use hung out in California Adventure and got some lunch.
We headed over to Taste Pilots to get some lunch and then we did a little souvenir shopping.  Then we took a ride on Monsters Inc:

While we were in Turtle Talk, we got a text from Brandon and Angie stating they wanted to do a final ride on Tower of Terror.  So we let the brothers sit together one final time:

Then Brandon and Angie left and started to make their way back home.  We headed over to Disneyland to discover the Leavitt’s heading out as well, so we has some goodbye hugs.  Ammon and Sam were DYING for a six shooter so we headed over to Adventureland and Sharon mentioned she wanted a Dole Whip.  So we decided to go see the Enchanted Tiki Room show:
 

Then we took one last trip on Pirates:



Then, around 8 we said our goodbyes to Cory and Sharon and we headed over to the Plaza Inn to get some dinner.  Matt LOVES their chicken dinner.  2 of them fed all four of us.  As we were sitting on the patio enjoying dinner, the fireworks began:
 



After the fireworks we used our fast passes to space mountain that we got in the morning:

 
After, Matt and Jeremy headed back to the hotel so Matt could start packing and loading the car and Bailee and I searched and search for her souvenir.  After 45 minutes of searching she FINALLY found a little stuffed Alice.  We headed back to the hotel.  We got up at 4am and headed to Richfield.  We were completely exhausted, but it was a great once in a lifetime trip!  Thanks everyone for making it memorable!!  This it tour guide Abby signing out.