Spring Break Wrap-up

A little background before I begin...
Last fall we went on a mini family vacation to Park City. We had decided where to stay. It was a family friendly hotel with an indoor pool. As part of our vacation we wanted to go to the Alpine Slides. Then Darin found a condo in Park City that was the same price as the hotel, but included 4 Alpine Slide tickets. We decided it would be the financially smart thing to do to stay at the condo. We arrived after dinner and headed straight for the pool. Even though it was an outdoor pool and it was cold, the kids had a blast. We went inside to take baths and settle in for the night. There was only one problem...there was no hot water in the condo. On further inspection we found that several lamps didn't work, the fireplace wouldn't turn on, and the heater didn't work. We called the front desk and they said the maintenance guy had just gone home, but we could call the after hours guy if we felt it was necessary. It was 10:00pm at this point and they said it would take the maintenance guy an hour to arrive. We decided to bundle up, go to sleep chlorine-filled, and call first thing in the morning. We did call in the morning and they said they would send someone over right away. I took the kids to the pool while Darin waited. We returned from the pool and still no hot water, etc. We called again (at this point it was almost time to check out). They told us we could have an extra two hours to stay for our inconvenience. They again said that someone would be right over. Two and a half hours passed and we gave up. We packed up and prepared for our Alpine Slide adventure. We (along with a thick layer of slime from two pool outings) checked out. Darin mentioned all that had happened, and received a luke warm "Sorry". When we arrived at the Alpine Slides we were pleased that there wasn't a very big crowd. There was a reason for this. The Alpine Slides were CLOSED FOR THE SEASON!!! We hadn't looked very closely at our tickets, but sure enough the tickets had expired a week before. We decided to head home since we were more than ready to be clean. A couple of days passed and it was still bothering me quite a bit so I made a phone call. I asked for the manager and told him about our frustrations. I was sure to speak in a pleasant tone of voice and not get angry (you really do capture more bees with honey!). He apologized and said he would re-imburse us for the cost of the Alpine Slide tickets. I was grateful, but pressed a little further. At the end of the conversation he said, "We'd love for you to give us another chance. How about a free night's stay?" I replied that we would be willing to give them another chance and thanked him. I took down his name and filed the paperwork away. (That was a really long background.)
(Background complete)
Anyway, as I was going through some papers I found the paper with the manager's name on it and decided it was worth a shot to call since we didn't have definite plans and were searching for something exciting to do for the rest of our Spring Break. Darin called and the manager said there was room that night! The kids were thrilled! We arrived early this time and checked the condo to make sure everything worked. Hot water, heater, oven, stove, microwave, lamps, lights, fireplace, etc. We were good to go! The pool was closed (which was probably o.k.--it was freezing), but the hot tub was open.





When I first saw the photo below on the camera I thought my swimsuit strap was Sean's hair and I wondered how it stuck up that high. It still makes me chuckle to look at it. The angle of his head and his expression fit perfectly!


Since the hot tub (which was about bath water temperature) was quite small we decided to make things exciting by becoming members of the Polar Bear Club. I even participated, but the proof may have been accidentally erased.


**funny little side note. Every time someone wanted to roll in the snow and come back we had to open the gate with the key and someone had to stand by the gate to let the polar bear back in. As we were leaving Olivia noticed a large grassy/snowy patch INSIDE the pool area. We had a good laugh at ourselves.

After a good swim we went inside for warm showers and baths, played board games, had dinner, then settled in to watch a movie.
The next morning the kids watched t.v. for a little bit, then we packed up and headed for home to have brunch with Grandma and get ready for David's birthday (which was the next day).

At the moment I was walking out the condo door my cell phone rang. It was the Johnson's. They said that they had planned a getaway with some friends and the friends had to cancel due to a family emergency. There was an opening at a hotel in Park City for that evening! I had to laugh at the irony. We were on our way to check out from our Park City adventure and now had the chance to have another Park City adventure! My initial reaction was to decline since we had birthday preparations and unpacking to attend to. I did decline and hung up the phone. As I discussed with Darin we decided it would be well worth the effort to prepare for another mini-trip. I called back and told them we would love to come. We headed home, picked up Darin's mom and went to brunch.
After brunch I took MaryEllen shopping with Olivia while the boys cleaned out the car, exchanged dirty clothes for clean clothes, and re-packed. Liv helped Grandma buy groceries while I bought David's presents. We loaded back in the car and hit the road again! Fortunately all the kids were very tired, so they slept almost the whole way there (except Liv. She just listened to the iPod).
We arrived again in Park City, settled into the hotel, had dinner, then hit the pool. It was perfect. The kids (the little ones and the grown-up ones) had a great time playing keep away. The dads got a great workout launching the kids in the air. I mostly hung out with David on the stairs. He had a great time running back and forth.
We found a shark mask poolside and the kids tried it on.

Warren

David

After swimming we cleaned up and watched Bedtime Stories. The kids headed to bed and the adults played states and capitals Sequence (which I accidentally won. I haphazardly and apologetically placed a chip, stating that I wished I had a better place to put it and it completed the sequence! I think I was tired).
The next morning (David's birthday) Darin left to help his family clean out his mom's garage and left us to play. The power went out after lunch, which was detrimental to my plan for naps (the kids had been happily and drowsily watching cartoons after a morning of more vigorous swimming). Instead of naps we went to the playground, played games in the tennis courts, and played ping pong. Some face (and body) painters showed up, much to the kids' delight. Since there wasn't a very big crowd the kids got back in line a couple of times.

Liv was done being photographed, but the boys still wanted to show off their fierceness:

Darin returned (Darin made a total of 6 trips between Park City and Utah county) we packed up and headed home to begin David's birthday celebration. We had an amazing Spring Break!

Spring Break

Merry Christmas, everyone! So far Spring Break has been exactly what you would expect...hot chocolate, playing in the snow, watching Frosty the Snowman, etc. I'm really trying to think on the bright side. It's just that 100% of our Spring Break plans included the outdoors, and not so much the outdoors that requires snow boots, hats, and gloves. We had visions of hikes, bike rides, trips to the park, soccer, flying kites, going to the zoo, etc. and have had to switch our brains to indoor mode. A lot of our indoor plans have had kinks in them as well. Darin wanted to take our family to Vernal to the dinosaur museum. He wanted to make it a true vacation complete with a hotel stay. When we looked online, we found that the main attraction at the museum was closed. Anyway, as we continue to think of the perfect way to spend the rest of our Spring Break I thought I would document what we've done so far.

Day one: PERFECT weather! The kids played outside all day with friends. I was happy to let them. That evening we had a couple of families over for a barbecue and Family Home Evening. We enjoyed the great spring weather while we ate a yummy dinner. (Darin even grilled some zucchini. It was delicious!) After dinner we gathered around the fire pit for a lesson, s'mores, and campfire songs. I really wish I would have thought to have my camera handy. The kids looked so cute around the campfire with their roasting sticks. I'm really glad we took advantage of the outdoor weather. We will definitely be doing more fire pit evenings this spring and summer.

Day two: Lazy, but productive all at the same time. The weather was very rainy. We woke up, the kids did their chores, then friends came knocking. They all spent a big chunk of the day playing--both indoors and outdoors. I stayed in my pajamas ALL DAY. I updated my blog and cleaned. I got a ton done, but was starting to feel like we needed to do something that felt vacation-like. That night we stayed up late playing the Wii and I started formulating a plan for the next day.

Day three: BYU Museum of Art, Creamery, Hannah Montana movie. Oh, and snow.

The BYU Museum of Art has an exhibit with the works of Walter Wick, the author of the I Spy books. Jodi and her kids came with us. It was so fun to play I Spy with the kids. There were also works of art made with garbage, which was really cool as well. There were lots of other displays that looked interesting, but the kids were done at this point so we headed to the Creamery for lunch. (I will have to go back to the museum with Darin on a date sometime!) I did remember my camera this time.

Are you loving the gansta poses? And the sunglasses?

After lunch we came back to my house and let the kids play for a while. They had a great time using their imaginations! Their play included dress-ups, stuffed animals, fake food, weapons, and themselves. They even did a great job cleaning it all up! We left the boys and Lexi home (Lexi chose to stay) and Jodi and I took Rylee, Kamryn and Olivia to the Hannah Montana movie. We had lots of good laughs...at the movie, at Rylee (who is smitten by the love interest in the movie), and at the absolutely tragic point in the movie where Hannah Montana's secret identity is revealed. The sweet mom in the family in front of us let out an audible "Oh no". When we got home, Rylee had to know the name of the heart throb from the movie so she would know who she was crushing on (His name is Lucas Till). We then had to know how to do the Hoedown Throwdown (which will for sure be the new Electric Slide--haven't you been feeling like we need a new one?), so we looked it up on YouTube. Good Times. Sometimes I wonder if I should really be the mom of almost 5 kids. I have a really easy time unleashing my inner 14 year old. (and a little sidenote: I am not so much a Hannah Montana fan--not even a little bit, but I do enjoy a good beat and a catchy tune, and the chance to be a spaz)
Update: As I was typing this, the rest of our Spring Break fell into place! I have a really good feeling about the rest of our week. Stay tuned...

Happy Easter/ Happy Anniversary

We share our anniversary with my parents. This year we also shared our anniversary with Easter! Here is a rundown of the weekend's festivities:

Friday night Darin returned home from being out of town all week. He was a welcome sight. I really miss him when he's gone! He brought with him a dozen of these, which was the perfect way to celebrate a dozen years of marriage:

Darin gave the kids all the treasures he brought home with him from the convention he had been attending all week. We spent a couple of hours as a family, then my sister Renae and niece Michelle came over to watch the kids so we could go on an anniversary date. We really tried to be creative and think outside the box, but nothing sounded appealing. It seems like I have lost a little bit of my ambition to make the extra effort to make special days special. The same thing happened with Darin's birthday in October. I normally try to think ahead and plan something meaningful. I'm hoping my ambition returns before many more special occasions pass! The nice thing was that since he had been gone all week it was nice just to spend time together. We ate at Carraba's then walked around Costco and Target (while we held hands--it was VERY romantic!).

Saturday morning brought an Easter Egg hunt. I had a hard time convincing my family that we HAD to be on time in order for it to be worth it. They almost listened. We arrived at 9:03 (it started at 9:00) and obtained exactly three pieces of candy--total. It wasn't a complete loss as the kids were able to play at a playground (in the rain) and we got to eat donuts and juice. There were also a couple of very kind children that donated giant pixie sticks to my kids.

That afternoon I went to pick up Darin's anniversary present. His mom had given him a numbered and signed print of Joseph Smith several years ago (before we were married), and he recently expressed a desire to get it framed. I was grateful not to have to think too hard about something to get him (see paragraph above relating to lack of ambition). He loved it!

That evening we colored eggs,

had an indoor Easter egg hunt,

then Darin and I headed over to the Caziers for the crack-off. Darin won last year and had to defend his title. He will have to be satisfied as a one year champion. We were both out pretty early in the competition, but the company was great and more than made up for our disappointment of losing! After the crack-off we played Mafia. I am not so great at that game. I am easily swayed, and make wrong accusations often. It was still a lot of fun! Here is a glance at some of the eggs we competed against:

Maybe Maleen and company have some extra ambition they could share! There were some pretty amazing eggs; especially compared to ours. Darin brought a plain egg and named it "white".

Sunday morning we woke up and had a devotional with the Gospel Art pictures. We went through the events from the Last Supper through the Resurrection. It was a very emotional and gratitude filled morning as we bore testimony of the real meaning of Easter and talked about our loved ones who have passed away. There was a sweet spirit of peace.

We headed to the kitchen and made these rolls:

RESURRECTION ROLLS

Crescent rolls
melted butter
large marshmallows
cinnamon
sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.Give each child a triangle of crescent rolls. The crescent roll represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.
Give each child a marshmallow, this represents Jesus.Have them dip the marshmallow in melted butter, which represents the oils of embalming. Then dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar which represent the spices used to anoint the body.
Then wrap the coated marshmallow tightly in the crescent roll (not like a typical crescent roll up, but bring the sides up and seal the marshmallow inside.) This represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after death.Place in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. The oven represents the tomb.When the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloth) and discover that Jesus is no longer there, He is risen. (The marshmallow and the crescent roll is puffed up, but empty.)

**It is important to seal the edges tightly. The rolls that weren't sealed all the way had marshmallow goo oozing out. The inside was still hollow, but the ones that were sealed were really cool.

As I was getting ready for church David came up looking like this:

Apparently he found the paints from the previous night's egg coloring adventures and since there were no eggs to color he colored the next best thing.

Fortunately most of it washed off before church. We had a great day at church and as we came home the kids noticed a Frisbee on the roof. Before I knew what was happening, Darin had lifted Sean up to get it. Warren and Olivia were not about to let him be the only one so up they went, too. By this time we were collecting a crowd of neighborhood children. I could see wheels turning. One little boy had a paper airplane in his hands, aiming at the roof. I quickly explained that no matter how careful they were, and no matter what was stuck on the roof we were NOT under ANY circumstances going to be lifting anyone else up on our roof. (I'm such a party pooper). I did take pictures. Check out that glorious blue sky!

Coming off the roof wasn't quite as exciting as going up. Darin put a ladder up and they were all hesitant to come down. We decided to call it a fire drill so the neighbors wouldn't judge us too harshly. (You could be on the roof in a fire, right? Plus, it's about the same height as a window so I'm calling it good.)
It was a great weekend. We had so much quality time together, which is my most favorite thing in the world.
I will leave you with some pictures of Darin and I in honor of our anniversary. Most of these were taken on our trip to Hawaii last summer. I am a bit camera shy at the moment, so these will have to do. The longer we're married, the more sure I am that he's the best match for me.

A Random Memory

Here is the story I mentioned in the previous post about the joys of boys (and girls). When I was in elementary school my across the street neighbor and good friend was a boy. We spent almost every afternoon together playing kick ball, jumping on the trampoline, etc. and many evenings playing night games. One afternoon I had a friend over and he had a friend over (we were all friends from school). There was a tiff of some sort, and we went to our separate houses. After a few minutes there was a knock at my door. It was the boys with a peace offering in the form of popsicles. They said, "We're sorry, do you want a popsicle?" (and just a side note about my weird memory--there were two popsicles; one yellow and one red. I have a hard time remembering important stuff, but there's plenty of room to remember what color popsicles were twenty years ago!) Anyway, we said, "Sure" and reached out to accept the peace offering. The boys then said, "TOO BAD!" and ran away. We were not about to let them get away with that so we began plotting our revenge. We started scouring my house for the best it had to offer and eventually came up with...white bread. We promptly took our two slices of white bread across the street to put our plan in place. We knocked, they answered. We said, "We're sorry, do you guys want some bread?" (really original of us, I know) to which the boys replied, "No." and shut the door.

The reason I thought the timing of this random memory was so funny is that it popped into my head just a few days before Sean denied his friend-girl at the skating rink, and it gave me hope for Sean's future with girls. I am friends with both of these popsicle/bread boys on facebook, and they have both turned out great (for the record, they were pretty great back then, too). They are responsible citizens and they are wonderful to the women in their lives. I guess I can relax a little bit and realize that at this age part of playing IS fighting. I'm sure life would have been boring without these little tiffs, and it sure makes for some fun memories!