Easter Morning

Easter morning Courtney was up bright and early!  She doesn't sleep in very often.  The Easter Bunny usually brings the kids new swimming stuff.  This year they both got a new swimming suit, swim shirt and towel.  Then we give them Church clothes.  Courtney got a dress and Ethan got a shirt and tie.

Much to Bryan's dismay (and mine too, if I'm being honest) Ethan sleeps without a shirt on.  He likes to show off his pecs.  We just laugh.  Here is a photo of him flexing.  I told him it would be more impressive if you could see a six pack instead of each rib bone.  Gotta love the kid!

 Then Bryan and I hid the Easter eggs that Courtney so lovingly stuffed with candy and put a note on to let us know that we were supposed to hide them.  Bryan's eggs were the hardest to find and he was pretty proud of that!

 Then we all went inside for breakfast.  Now, there is a bit of a story behind breakfast.  Last week Bryan and I made some cinnamon rolls (note that I said "cinnamon" rolls) for the families his home teaches.  He tried three times to deliver one batch to a family (we didn't even try with the other families) and they were never home.  It was a bit discouraging but we figured they were out of town visiting family for the holiday.  Sunday I decided we needed to bake the cinnamon rolls for ourselves because we didn't want them to go bad.

While they were baking I could smell apples.  It was a really strong smell.  Then it started to smell like wassail at Christmas time.  I was so confused and couldn't figure out where the smell was coming from.

When the cinnamon rolls were finished baking, I put icing on them and we got ready to eat breakfast.  I kept asking if anyone else could smell the apple smell and they could.  Ethan took one bite of his cinnamon rolls and decided he didn't want to eat any more of it.  I noticed and asked if he didn't like them.  He asked if I had done something different and I said no.  Then it dawned on me that I may have grabbed the wrong spice when I was making them.

I quickly went to the pantry, grabbed the spice I had used and it was...cloves.  Ugh!  That is why I smelled wassail and apple smell.  The clove rolls were awful.  So we didn't get our yummy cinnamon rolls and I was VERY grateful the family was never home when Bryan tried to deliver them!

I didn't have meetings so we all scrambled to get ready for 9 a.m. Church.  I had to take our traditional kid photo on Easter morning in their new Church clothes.  Actually, Ethan's shirt didn't fit so his tie is the only thing new.  And I forgot to buy him a belt.  Ugh!  But they look really cute!!

Happy Easter!

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

Our neighborhood Easter egg hunt isn't what it used to be but Courtney still wanted to go to it.  We were assigned to take juice and the every child has to take 12 filled plastic eggs to the woman's house by Friday afternoon if they want to participate.  She and her husband hide them at the Stake Center on Saturday morning and everyone shows up, eats muffins/donuts, drinks juice, gabs and then the kids have their Easter egg hunt.

Courtney loved the donuts!

She and her friend are anticipating the start of their age group Easter egg hunt:

Ethan wanted to give the younger kids the opportunity to get as many eggs as they could so he decided not to participate this year.  But he is competitive and just has to get in there and help out.  So he rode the bike around the Church and helped Courtney and her friend find their 12 Easter eggs.  He was loving it because he still got to hunt for eggs but he felt like an older kid.  It was fun.

Spring Recess - Day 1

Ethan had an orthodontist appointment last week but it was on a day that I was working in the library.  I called to reschedule and they had an opening at 8 a.m. on Friday.  I knew it was the first day of Spring Recess (formerly known as Easter Break) so I thought it was perfect.  But I also thought Ethan wouldn't be too happy to get up early on his first day off and have his braces tightened.  So I bribed him.  I said I would take the kids out to breakfast if they wouldn't give me any grief.  They agreed.

I shouldn't have worried because they both were up bright and early on Friday morning.  We had to wait until it was time to drive to the ortho appointment.  Ethan was the first patient and we were in and out in about 15 minutes!  He chose red and blue elastics.  I wanted to take a picture but he "Calvined it."  (If you know anything about Calvin & Hobbes you will understand that that means.)

We then went by Bryan's office to pick him up for breakfast.  There is a restaurant in town, about 2 blocks from Bryan's office, that is supposed to be really good.  We hadn't been there before so we decided to try it.  Ethan ordered pancakes, sausage and eggs.  He also got Sprite.  This is what he looked like when the waiter put his food on the table:

This is what he looked like after he was finished eating all he could get in his stomach:

And he was hungry about an hour later!

We then ran to my parents house where Ethan mowed the lawn and Courtney helped cut flowers.  Ethan had been invited to a "hang out" party at a friend's house.  It was the friend's birthday but his mom said he was too old for a birthday party but he could have a "hang out" party.  It's not cool at their age to ask if someone can "play" but it's really cool to ask if they can "hang out."  So Ethan went to "hang out" with his friend and one other boy.  Ethan was over there all day long!  I dropped him off at 10:30 and Bryan picked him up after 5:00.  But they fed him pizza and he had a great time.

Courtney's Track Meet

Last Tuesday was a track meet for Courtney.  They had qualifying races during PE and those with the fastest times were invited to participate in a track meet against Red Mountain Elementary to find a winner to compete in District.  They used to do a whole field day for the kids but there were complaints from the high school so it was discontinued.  Some parents were really upset because their kids didn't realize the races in PE were the qualifiers.  But Courtney was just happy-go-lucky and glad she made it to the second round.

They had to postpone the track meet because of bad weather but they finally were able to do it on the 15th.  I had the morning off from the library so I was able to watch.  Bryan took some time off too.  It was fun to watch her.  She ran in the 100 meter.

She had me put her hair into a high pony tail so it would "swish" when she ran.  Hilarious!!

Here she is with her friend after they arrived at the high school:

The starting of the race:

Look at her form!

 She was having fun.

 At the finish line!

 Walking back to find out what her time was.

 She wasn't fast enough to qualify to go to District but she was happy to have run in the track meet.  She said she is going to train and really blow them away next year.

Blood Drive and Offer to Drive Home

Ethan needed to do 1 hour of service in the medical field to finish up his medicine merit badge.  His merit badge counselor wanted them to do service at the Free Clinic in town but it was across town and had weird hours.  There was going to be a blood drive in our stake so he wanted to help at that instead.  When the sign up sheet was passed around Relief Society, I noticed there was a section for volunteers so I signed him up.

Bryan wanted to take Ethan up to the blood drive and give blood himself.  I had a food order to do and so Courtney decided to go with them.  She sat and did her homework the entire time.

Ethan sat at the front table and helped people check in.  They had him make reminder phone calls too.  He thought it was a lot of fun and that the woman who trained him was "awesome."  It was such a great experience for him and Bryan was very impressed by how well Ethan did.

Bryan did a great job giving blood too.  He had the fastest time until some "punk kid" came who beat Bryan's time by a minute.  I didn't know there was a contest as to who could pump blood out the fastest.

They all ate cookies and Bryan was given a coupon to a restaurant.  His name was also entered into a drawing for prizes, but we didn't hear anything so we figure that he didn't win.

When Ethan's hour was up they loaded in the truck to come home.  Ethan turned to Bryan and, with concern, said, "Dad, with all the blood you gave are you sure you're safe to drive home?  I could drive home for you."  Nice try kiddo, but no!  What a crack up!

Still in the Library

I am still working in the library at the elementary school but it will just be 2 more days.  It has been 4 weeks now.  We have Friday and Monday off for Spring Recess so I won't work those days.  The regular librarian will be back on Tuesday and then I will be back Wednesday and Thursday, then she will be back for good on Friday.

It has actually be fun reading stories and shelving books but I am ready to get back to my regular life.  The kids have loved it because Courtney likes having me at school with her all day (although she doesn't come down to see me very often anymore) and Ethan loves coming here to do his homework after school.  He loves helping kids find the books and then using the "zapper" to check books in and out.

I am going to tell the principal that I will be the substitute librarian next year (in case the librarian is ever sick) so I can keep my employee badge.  It gets 2 people into Snow Canyon High School games for free.  Hahaha!

Scout Camp Out

I forgot to blog about Ethan's scout camp out he had the other week.  He told Bryan that he would be fine going by himself.  It wasn't real camping after all because it wasn't outside.  He was signed up for 4 merit badges and he was in them with friends, so he was excited.

Thursday night Bryan got out all our backpacking stuff and taught Ethan how to pack everything.  Ethan used my backpacking backpack, Bryan's sleeping bag and pad, and then he got clothes and toiletries.  He was all set.

Friday night he earned his climbing merit badge.  He told us that he has decided he is afraid of heights.  He did just fine but said that he wasn't enjoying it because it was too far up there.  Bryan wants to take him repelling a few times to have him get over his fear.

They slept outside the Washington City Community Center that night.  Ethan said they ate chili hotdogs.  There were porta potties that Ethan said were really gross.  But at least they didn't have to go in the woods.

Ethan said they didn't get to eat dinner until around 10:00 p.m. and then the 12 year old boys were being crazy and kept them up late.  He figures he went to sleep around 1 a.m., but he didn't have a watch so you never know.

Saturday morning he earned the robotics merit badge.  They ate lunch and then he earned the chess merit badge.  He ended his day working on the personal fitness merit badge.  This is one you have to do over a period of time, so he didn't finish it.  But he got a good start.

I was very impressed by how well he put everything back together.  The sleeping pad is horrible to roll up and he did a great job with it.

He was really tired when he got home that evening but he had a great time.