My theme song

I love this song remake. It totally describes how I felt when we missed John Schmidt on the 16th. This is totally my theme song right now with everything going on...except I make sure to shower every day...it's just gross not too!! Enjoy this video!!

Dinner

I have a new favorite food...fajitas. As a kid, I HATED it when we had fajitas for lunch at school. They were so gross. And we never had fajitas at home growing up, so school lunch was my only experience. Well, as an adult, I have finally figured out how to make them tastey. It's gonna be a summer staple dinner. Super easy, and super yummy.

Tonight we also had interesting dinner conversation. Ammon: When we lived in Idaho Falls we were talking about the planets. So let's finish talking about it. Brady: Okay, so what do you want to know? Ammon: What makes fire and the Sun? And they're still talking about it. He asked if Heavenly Father made the Earth, and he asked where Heaven is. Brady is having fun telling him how planets and the Sun are made. It's really cute. Although today wasn't the best day...at least it was better than yesterday...and tonight makes up for both of them. I love ending the day on a good note. Bring on tomorrow!!

Elder Perry

Elder L. Tom Perry came to do a special Stake meeting with the Green Valley Stake. There were two sessions, and since Brady is in the Stake Choir he got to attend both meetings. Ronny and Christa brought the girls over this morning so they could go to the morning session, and they took our kids so I could listen to the second session uninterupted. It was really nice. It would have been a little bit better to have Brady sit with me, but the choir was really good anyway.



President Romney, our Stake President, talked for a few minutes first. Then the Las Vegas East mission president, President Christensen, spoke next. Elder Perry took up the remainder of the meeting. It was so wonderful. And Elder Perry really is a LARGE man. The pulpit was raised up all the way, and it was just barely the right height for him! He talked about making a plan with our lives and allowing for the Spirit to direct our plan as needed. We need to live our lives so that we can help the missionaries teach the gospel. I felt impressed that perhaps that is one of the reasons why we were supposed to move to Nevada. I really feel that sometime in the near future we will have a family missionary experience with someone who works with Brady. So when he finally starts working it will be interesting to see what happens. I really hope we can make friends with a couple who have boys the same age as our kids so there will be someone else to play with besides all these wonderful girl cousins. I guess I am hoping for the same thing in our new ward.


Brady said in the morning session he asked the men to take out their wives on a weekely basis. Even just a walk around the block is sometimes enough time to continue the bond of a healthy marriage. Maybe that's why my parents walked around the block so much when I was a kid. It was one of their ways to reconnect during the week. And it was really fun when they would let everyone come with them. Most often it turned into a family bike ride, which I LOVED as a kid. I hope that next time we have a chance to do something we can find a sitter in time so we can reconnect too. I mean I love going to the temple together, but that's all we can do right now since it is free, and once a month just isn't enough sometimes to get away for a couple of hours. Hopefully things will change soon so we can do other things as a couple. Any other free date night ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Today while the sun shines...

This whole week has been such nice weather. We have been swimming 4 times, and Ammon tried to talk me into going again today. I tell you what, swimming is exhausting. Actually, dressing everyone and convincing them to get out of the pool is the most exhausting part. But I love the sunshine, the light breeze, and spending time with my family.
We were going to follow the prophet's counsel and go on a date other than to the temple last night, but we couldn't find a sitter...there was a young women conference in our ward, and all our family were busy. So poor John Schmidt missed us. He was at the Henderson Pavilion for a free concert, and we were going to go for a ride on the motorcycle. But alas, that was not to be. I miss having friends to trade babysitting with. All the people with kids the same age as ours are in their late 30's and 40's. And the couples that don't have kids are our age or younger, so it's been a little challenge. I hope that our new ward will be better.
I am really excited to move into a house with 3 bedrooms. We are renting a townhouse, and it isn't much bigger than our 2 bed apartment now, but I think it will be better. There is more storage, and a garage...which is what I have always wanted. We should be moving the first week of May. It will be the first move since 2005 that has not been during a snowstorm or below freezing temperatures. So for that, I am also excited.
Today we spent the day cleaning, reading, playing with the boys, and I spent several hours in front of the sewing machine turning Ammon's jeans into shorts. He was excited that mommy could make him some shorts for warmer weather. I am excited I didn't spend more than $40 this year for his summer clothes, including pajamas. A couple months ago I made him pajama shorts out of mine and Brady's old pajama pants. He thinks it's cool to wear daddy's tiger pants as shorts. I am so thankful to my mom for encouraging me to take a sewing class in junior high and helping me with sewing projects in high school and since then. I love to sew because I get such a sense of gratification when I look at something I made. My next project is a skirt/blouse set with some fabric my mom gave me before we moved here. I think I might start that after we move into the new place though.
We had a movie night tonight with Shark Tale and air-popped popcorn. Zenock ran around the house yelling, "Yeah! We're having a movie night, yeah!!" It was so cute. And not 5 minutes into the movie he asked for popcorn. I love that we can have such fun together for free. It's nice to be together!!
Tomorrow we get to have a special conference with Elder Perry. Each ward was assigned a time to come to the Stake Center so we all have a chance to be in the same meeting with him. Brady is singing in the Stake Choir, so he gets to hear him twice. It should be a really good meeting. I am looking forward to it.

More Easter

I forgot to post the kids playing when we found a beach to eat lunch at. We had wonderful hot dogs and chips and carrots. I think everything even tasted better because we were out on the lake together. It was a great time!! Maddie, Max, Zenock, Izabella, Ammon. They were all building various sand castles and shell towers.

More sand fun.

Ammon eating his hot dog. Christa found these awesome disposable grills at the grocery store for $4. So we cooked the dogs on that. It was so tastey!!

Christa and Cicely turning the dogs.

The Easter Bunny left some super fun things for the kids this year. He found awesome sales on squirt guns, foam swords, and a really fun toy for each of the boys. Ammon got a rocket/airplane that shoots up in the air with an air foot pump. Zenock got a material handler kind of like the one Ammon got from Santa. So now, they both have material handlers to play with. I found matching ties for the boys for 3.25 each on sale, and I found one that closely matches them for Brady for 3.50 on clearance at Kohls. Man, I was so excited to find that deal. It was a $32 tie! Brady put a movie, Sweet Home Alabama, and some earrings in my bag without me knowing. So I had a suprise too. It was a wonderful Easter! I enjoyed being able to go to Debbie's house Sunday morning to watch conference live. I never thought that after leaving Idaho I would be able to watch conference on tv anymore. This weekend was so great.

Playing with the swords.

Checking out the suprises in the bags.

More candy digging. I found some "How to train your dragon" gummies for $1 and Zenock picked a dragon egg treat for Ammon and himself for a suprise. We got some mini M&M tubes and a Toy Story egg and some peanut M&Ms. Everyone loves those.

Easter Weekend

The weekend events...there were many

This picture is for my parents. Zenock and Ammon's chocolate milk mustaches. Dad, as you can see they do drink from the bottom of the cup.
We went boating on Lake Mead with Ronny, Cicely, and their families on Saturday. This is a picture of the lake side of Hoover Dam.

Brady is on the tube. In the boat are Maddie, Christa, and Cicely.

More of Brady. He was the first to get in the cold water, and try as he might, Ronny couldn't dump him off the tube.

We were in the bow of the boat.

Dying eggs after lunch on Sunday.

Sunday afternoon/evening we had a family party. Debbie and Roger made a wonderful Easter meal and then the kids got to wack a pinata. There was one for the boys and one for the girls so that each kid got one of everything. Instead of normal pinata candy there were fruit rollups, pez, laffy taffy, a monster truck toy, a foamy/spongy expandable in water race car, and some other fun treats. That's my idea of a pinata. Much better than loading the kids up on just candy.

Ammon giving a few good wacks.

Dividing the loot.

And who knew the evening would end in a pool party? It started with Sage and Max getting thrown in the pool with their clothes on, and then my kids were begging to go swimming. So we let them go in their underwear while I went home for suits and towels. They thought it was the best thing ever. And I loved that the heater was turned on in the pool. Thank you Debbie!!

Artwork

Zenock decided our wall wasn't exciting enough. So two weeks ago he did this with one crayon in about 5 minutes. This is what happens if I decide to use the bathroom, or brush my teeth, or blow-dry my hair, or anyting else that means the kids aren't supervised at all times.
Lovely, don't you think? How much would this go for on ebay? Should I post the starting bid at $100,000? The description would say something like: wall of art, created by three-year-old crayon prodigy. Once in a lifetime opportunity for personal, professional artwork done right in your own home. But don't tell the landlord, he/she might get mad...oh brother!!
I tried my sister's idea to use WD40 to take it off, but it doesn't work so well on crappy flat paint. So this week I am trying the magic eraser. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll ask the manager for some paint and fix it myself so we don't have to pay a fee. Kids are the best, aren't they? Most of the time?