Britt visits + last day of Seminary + Mother's Day.

Bill drove to Colorado with Britta on Monday, May 8th. Austin was going to be out of town for a couple of weeks, so Britt thought it would be the perfect way to pass the single-parenting time. We were so excited to have her, Scarlett, and Ellis here with us for a nice long visit. Evie loved having her cousins around, too!

Tuesday, May 9th

MAC Park.

 I experienced a brief lack of judgment and suggested that Evie go down the long slide by herself. Scarlett had gone down many times, and it appeared to be a very *s l o w* slide. In my defense, I had previously seen a very young child go down the slide very s l o w l y, and since Evie was LOVING going down with her mama, I thought it would be fun for her. 

NOT SO MUCH.

For whatever reason, Evie FLEW down the slide, bouncing around, trying to sit up (rather than just lying down, like I had seen the other very young child do), screaming, then hitting her head/mouth on the last zag. There may have been a little blood. I felt SOOOOOO bad. That happened during the middle of our visit to the park that day, so Evie, fat lip and all, managed to enjoy other park activities before we headed home.

Life lessons. They're usually hard. Especially for a Gigi.

We went to Rita's for an icy treat after the park... hoping the cold would help soothe Evie's mouth. 

May 9th

Sam's Club run, sidewalk chalk

I remember the Sam's Club run because I snapped this cute pic of Ellis after a bite of a yummy chocolate dessert. The things you do to keep babies happy when you're shopping, right? Britt, Nae and I all purchased some clearance copper-toned untensils and I have LOVED them. So pretty!

May 10th and 11th were casual low-key days with a couple of Hobby Lobby runs thrown in. We had lunch with Little Billy on the 10th as we visited the Hobby Lobby in Parker, right across the street from his office.

May 11th was also the LAST DAY OF SEMINARY. Woot woot!

Bill got up early with me to help cook pancakes for the breakfast we did with all the kids in our building. This was my awesome Sophomore class this year (minus 3). 

I love these kids! Seriously, seminary is the most time-demanding calling I've ever had, and the calling I have felt the least capable of doing WELL, but I loved studying and searching the scriptures and spending time with these amazing young men and women. It will be interesting to see what next year brings, as my team teacher was released after 4 years of teaching. I am, however, currently enjoying my extra sleep!

Saturday, May 12th

MAC Park, Rec Center

Evie had reservations about the slide, even going with her Dada. Tay took her down a couple of times, but then decided to give her more time. She loved the other park emenities, though.

Tay and Nae went to visit Nae's family that afternoon, so Bill, Mar and I went with Britt and her kids to the Rec Center pool. I'm telling you, it was tough getting up the guts to get my old bod into a swimsuit to be worn publicly in the town where I live hahaha.

Ellis, on the other hand, ROCKS his swimwear.

Mar worked with Scarlett on getting more comfortable in the water.  So sweet. When we were done, Scarlett had wet hair and was handling water splashes in her face quite well. Yay!

Sunday, May 13th

Mother's Day

We had a yummy dinner, Bill got all the ladies flowers, and our ward had a lovely refreshment bar during the last 20 minutes of church. It was a good day.

Tuesday, May 15th

Projects-from-tutorials day.

Britt worked on this beautiful cake. It was her "practice" cake for Scarlett's upcoming birthday. She did such an amazing job! The cake was near perfection, even if it took her many hours.

Mar and I worked on money leis for a couple of her friends (+ a YW from our old ward) for graduation. After looking through a few pictures, we found a basic tutorial and made these:

We used the trial-and-error method, since we couldn't find any online that were exactly what we were looking for, but I think I finally have it down. They are actually quite simple and fun to make. I will post my own tutorial for these on this blog, once I get caught up. That way I'll know where to go if I want to make them again -- and I'm sure I will.

NOTE: I decided to make the leis because I had received so few grad announcements. Ususally we get quite a lot, so I was a little surprised. Yesterday Nae asked if I had picked up the mail recently... no, I guess not. I think there were 4 or 5 grad announcements and invites to parties, which we missed because... I hadn't picked up the mail. Bummer. Those grads will most likely get a check or a gift card haha.

Wednesday, May 16th
Zoo day and Scarlett's early birthday celebration.

Through Tay's work we were able to get free passes to the zoo. Perfect. It was Evie and Ellis' first time, and they both did awesome. It was perfect weather, even if we had to park a mile away due to the parking lot being filled with school buses haha.

That evening we celebrated Scarlett's birthday a bit early, since they were heading home the next day.

It was so fun to have them here and sad to see them go. Britt got up bright and early the next morning to make the drive back to UT. She hadn't traveled that far with her kids alone before, so we were all hoping it would go smoothly!

She was in Grand Junction by 8am, home by 1. She said the kids didn't even cry once. 
Hallelujah.

Next up: Kody, Shi, Lex, and Emmett's visit to CO.
I know... so lucky.

Grandbabies and blessings.

The main reason we were going to Utah was for Emmett's baby blessing. It is always so much fun to spend time with all of our grandbabies. This post is mainly a pictorial. I think I was a bit too wordy in my last post {haha}.

Friday, May 4th

(aka Wisdom Teeth Day)

Little Billy catching up with his boy Emmett.

A sleepy Scarlett and Little Billy;

Saturday, May 5th

(Blessing brunch prep and Snoasis Day)

 I couldn't reisit post the above picture of Emmett. Such a crack up.

And yes, Little Billy was proud of the fact that he wore the same outfit for two solid days haha.

We had to get our first shave ice of the season at the Snoasis in Eagle Mountain. We were lucky to get there when we did, becuase moments later the line grew exponentially.

 The tree we sat under to eat our yummy shave ice smelled absolutely divine.

Sunday, May 6th

(Emmett's Blessing Day)

Lex wrote a beautiful post about it here.

 

After sacrament meeting and the brunch following, Mar and I packed up our car and made the long drive back to CO. I had to teach Seminary the next day, and she had school (although she ended up not going because she was still recovering from her wisdom teeth extractions).

Definitely a purposeful, lovely, and productive weekend.

Next up: Britt's visit to CO.

Mauri: VPA Revue and Wisdom Teeth.

Wow. May has been flying.

I'm still waiting for lovely continuous spring weather, but think I will most likely have to settle for the beautiful spring days randomly popping up between hot summer-like days and cool almost winter-like days.

We hit the ground running this month and haven't stopped since.

It started off with Mar's final concert of the year, the VPA Revue.

Since this is our first year at CVHS (I'll be glad to get this year done so I can stop saying that), neither Mar or I had any idea what to expect from this event. It wasn't a traditional concert and would be held in the gym. At CV they have a system unlike other DCSD high schools our children have attended which includes learning Academies: BHS (Biotechnology & Health Sciences), LGC (Leadership, Global Studies & Communication), STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math), and VPA (Visual & Performing Arts). I think they recently added another one called Mosaic, but I'm not really sure what that academy entails... because, well, we're new here haha.

I could go into more detail, but it's boring and really doesn't have much to with anything. Let it be known that, upon registering, Mar chose to be in the VPA Academy.

Back to the Revue.

Mar had to be at the school a few hours early for the program run-through. I wasn't sure how early I should get to the school to secure a good seat, so I settled on 6:30 since the program started at 7. I was a bit worried when I arrived to the school and could not find any parking in the front. I drove around to the back of the school, turned into the first available spot, and hustled into the gym. Oh my. I was attending by myself, as it was a Thursday, which is Bill's night to work at the temple. I figured finding a single seat on the bleachers wouldn't be too hard, but I had to search a bit. I finally found a seat next to a long line of jackets and sweaters laid out to reserve a spot for someone's large group... on the far right side, which is where the choir risers were set up.

What's my deal with too many details today?? Ain't nobody got time for that!

Basically the Revue involved all the performing arts classes for the semester, so several bands, orchestras, and all the choirs. The theme for the evening was "Heroes," and it was awesome... other than the fact that it was looooonnnnng (over 2-1/2 hours) and I was sitting on bleachers (long legs make that somewhat difficult).

Here are couple of Mar's performances:

(She's playing the guitar for this song)

Mar had two callbacks for the solo part of Eliza for this song... I'll admit, it makes a mama a bit sad when her child has high hopes, only to be disappointed when she's not selected. Life lessons, life lessons.

 I snapped a quick picture at the end of the Revue of the other half of the gym... it was an impressive event. And now we know.

NOTE: Another week has gone by. Oh my.

I'm staying up late to get this baby posted.

The next morning we got up bright and early (3am) and headed to Utah. Mar had an appointment to get her wisdom teeth out that day at 11am.

She went from this happy, composed, intellectually sound gal...

...to this drugged up dazed and confused gal.

It was hilarious.

 The look on her face here just kills me haha.

Here's a 12 second clip:

She was crying because her teeth were gone (the ones she had been practically begging to get removed). Real tears. So funny.

Not so funny: dry socket a week later. Thanks to a kind and generous ward member who is also a dentist, we were able to get that nipped in the bud as soon as it cropped up. I am celebrating the fact that Bill and I are DONE with wisdom teeth. Hallelujah.


Welp, I was gonna try to get more into this post, but I think I'll split things up a bit. We've had too much going on, and to cram it into a single post would be quite overwhelming. Here's hoping I can knock out a few more posts in the next couple days so I can catch up!

Spring fever.

Last week I made a trip here:

It was so beautiful, I couldn't resist taking a few pictures. And it smelled like heaven.


Then on Saturday, Mar and her friend Annie sang at the amphitheater at the MAC.

A percentage of the food truck proceeds went towards CV's performing arts programs, so Bill and I decided that was something we could support haha.

(Can you spot the incline in the above pic?)

They performed the same song they did for the talent show, but I think this is a little better recording.



They whipped together another song, which they performed a little later. The event was for the Tri-M Honor Society at CV - the "musical" honor society, which Annie is a member of (but not Mar). Annie said she had to perform so she wouldn't get kicked out. It was such a neat event, but wasn't very well attended... possibly because it wasn't well advertised..? Mar was a good friend to help out, and Bill and I always love watching Mar perform AND being outside on a lovely day, so a win-win for us!

I just have to say, the weather was BEAUTIFUL on these two days last week. There were also some cold and snowy days mixed in between. I am itching for warmer weather, longer days, and later mornings! I only have a week and a half of seminary left... 3 more lessons + 1 lesson by a substitute + 1 review day + 1 test day + 1 test correction day + 1 party day.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

Mar has her final choir concert this Thursday night, then we are getting up early early Friday to drive to UT so she can get her wisdom teeth out. I'm excited to spend time with the fam while we're there and to attend Emmett's baby blessing. Then Britt, Scarlett, and Ellis will be making the trip to CO to spend some time at my house.  So many good things to look forward to!