Spring Break

WOW!  What can I say?  Best Spring Break EVER!  I have to give a special shout out to my husband for being willing to drive us all down to Utah only to have to go on a business trip in Texas and work the whole time while we got to play.  And play we did.  I honestly couldn't have asked for more.  I ate at nearly all of my favorite restaurants (Oh Mai, Royal India, Blue Lemon, Zupas, Kneaders, Penny Ann's Cafe...), went shopping with my mom and sister, hung out with my dad, got pedicures with my sister, hung out with friends multiple times, watched my kids play with their friends, watched my kids play with cousins, went to Beauty and the Beast, went to Grandps's retirement party and ate some more.  And talked and talked and talked face to face with so many of my favorite people.  The kids also enjoyed the Lehi Fun Center, a glow-in-the-dark Easter egg hunt, and a cousin sleep over party.  It was pretty epic.

We arrived on Raelynn's 40th Birthday.  Talk about epic!  40 treats for The Treat Queen on her 40th birthday.  Sam is just awesome like that and went around all morning with his sister picking out the best of desserts for Raelynn's party.  The kouign amann from Les Madeleines was my favorite, but I also adored the Ruby Snap cookies, the amazing apple fritter, the waffles from Waffle Love, the mini cakes, the strawberry pie, the caramel chocolate sandwich cookie, the eclairs, the lemon bars, the brownies...are you laughing with me?  It was insane in my favorite kind of way.

 Oh my heart, it was fun to be with my family again.

 It was happy.

 Lehi Fun Center

 Helping mash berries for Mimi's muffins (another one of my favorite foods, along with my Dad's Special Pancakes which are at the top of the chart for best foods...did I mention I ate a lot...)

 Friends

 Cooper being Cooper

 Always my buddy

 Penny Ann's Cafe

Sisters

 Grandpa's Retirement party.  We were so happy to be in Utah for such an awesome event.  70 years of hard work.  What an awesome man.  And today is his 85th birthday!  Happy Birthday Grandpa, we love you!!

 Madeline made this the morning we were leaving.

 Trekking home.

 And I made this in the car.  It's like Cooper's blankie on steroids.  It was my first time using the chunky yarn and it was really fun to make.  My friend who is having a baby might just be getting it...

And now we are back home.  And I'm on a diet.  And I'm doing laundry.  And weeding the garden.  And cleaning bathrooms.  And feeling glad I had last week.

Happy

He loves milk

 and I love him.

 Ethan and Madeline participated in a Music Festival with kids from 18 different schools coming together to sing.  They practiced for two months after school with the small group from their school and then spent the final day working together with all the other kids to perfect the songs they had all been learning before performing a concert for all the parents.

 I love choirs.  I love hearing them.  I love singing in them.  I love watching my kids sing.  I loved it.  They sang beautiful and the selection of music was awesome.  I teared up a few times which was a little annoying because I cry too much, but I just LOVE LOVE choirs.

 After, I took Madeline out to dinner and then to Women's Conference at our Stake Center.  I just loved it.  I loved being there.  And it was my favorite Women's Conference ever.  What a blessing it was to me.

Daffodils

The Daffodils in Mt. Vernon are in bloom and they are gorgeous!  Standing there is breathtaking.  Honestly, it makes me so excited for the tulips.  Which we all know are my absolute favorite!  We had a lot of fun and I can't wait to go back! 

This and That

Crazy hair and crazy socks day at school!

 Enjoying the warm sun streaming in.

 Playing twister.

 A walk by the Nooksack River.

 "Throwing sticks is fun.  It's fun."

 One of the perks of being the mom is that if you wake up in the mood for apple cake, you make it.

St. Patrick's Day

We like to wear green, eat green, and decorate with green on St. Patty's day.  And our plates make a rainbow!

 Green Pea Soup, green jello, rolls, and green juice for dinner.

 Key lime pie for dessert.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Random Days and Pi Day

It's always more fun if we go to "the toy direction" when we are shopping

 Madeline led Cooper in an ice cream cone paper craft night

 He's a pretty cute "gold fish" buddy

 It turns out we host daily bird conventions in our yard.  The neighbors fence didn't seem to handle the wind and snow well this winter and now all their birds favor our yard.  Usually it's 8 ducks and about that many roosters and hens.  Today we had geese as well.  I wouldn't mind so much if they didn't poop all over my grass.  Other than that, it's quite nice free entertainment for the boys to watch them waddle around.

 And today was Pi Day and we celebrated with meat pies, pizza pies, and berry and lemon cream pies.  What a perfect way to celebrate Pi Day!

Painting My Living Room

Last week I finally decided to take down these curtains that were in the house when we moved in.  I've never liked them, but I wasn't really ready to replace them or deal with the holes in the walls until now.

 Turns out when they painted the room brown, they just painted around the curtains...good thing I wanted to paint anyway!  Kinda makes me laugh...and do you like the painted border?  It's going too.

 Since it was pretty dark, I primed first.  BYE BROWN!

 Meanwhile outside...

 I'm really tired of snow, so I took a break to eat pie.

 I painted three of the walls Edgecomb Gray (my favorite Benjamin Moore neutral) and then let Cooper help me paint the fourth wall a blue called Alfresco.  He had so much fun and did a great job. He kept saying, "shoo shoo" when I'd get close to him and try to roll over his work "this is where I'm painting."  It made me laugh.  I never thought I'd see the day where I was brave enough to let my four year old paint my living room.  But we both ended up having fun.

 And the blue wall?  We love it so much this color just might make its appearance a few other places on the main floor.  So exciting!

I see white crown molding and maybe white drapes in this room's future.  It feels so clean and new now.  And really changes the whole feel and style of the house.  I never thought one blue wall could do that.  It also seems to make my couches a prettier color.  I love it!