Aunt Val

Last weekend we went up to Idaho. One of my main reasons for going was to go visit my Aunt Val.  She is leaving this next week on a new adventure and I'm not sure when I'll get to see her again.

Me, my mother, and Aunt Val

She and my Uncle Brad are packing up and moving to Hershey, Pennsylvania.  Yes, Hershey--the town that smells like chocolate!  They have taken jobs at the Milton Hershey School as house parents. I find it an incredibly brave thing to do to pack up, move across the country, and take on the care of several children. I am so excited for them and their new adventure! My Aunt and her family have always had a special place in my heart as I spent a lot of time in her home and with my cousins when I was young. They have raised four very successful children and I know that they will be great mentoring the children at the Milton Hershey School. You can read all about what lead them to make this choice on her blog My Third Quarter. I hope that one day Jeff and I are able to follow in their footsteps, and find a way where we can use our time and talents to make a positive difference in the world.

Have you ever looked on the back of a Hershey bar?

Easter

This year we decided to do our Easter baskets on Saturday, so we could focus on Christ on Sunday.  It was a Star Wars Easter Basket year for us.

Then we took the boys over to the City's Easter Egg Hunt.  It was absolute chaos and we lost Jonas for about 15 minutes.  Jeff says we will never go back.

We ran into our good friends, the Snedakers, at the egg hunt.

Sunday morning our boys woke up with a nasty, croupy cough.  After weighing our options, we decided that I would stay home with the sickies, and Jeff would take Mason to church.  I was sad that I wasn't able to get a picture of them all in their matching Easter ties :(. I was also sad that I didn't get to be in church on Easter.  We have been making it a point to focus more on Christ during the Easter Season, and we always make sure to read about the Resurrection with the boys.

We hosted Easter dinner again this year.  My Mom, and Jeff's Dad and step-mom, were all in town from Idaho that weekend, so we had a full house!  I loved these chalkboard place settings (and chalk ink pen) that my mom and I found shopping that weekend.  Jeff's sister, Kris, was in charge of the Easter Egg hunt and she did about 200 eggs for 6 kids.  It was crazy.  She always does the best Easter Egg hunts and the boys loved getting money and toys like Lego Minifigures, along with all the candy.  She also brings the best cupcakes that look like nests and Porter thoroughly enjoyed his.

I am so thankful for the Easter Season and for the chance to focus on the miracle of the Resurrection and to spend time with family.

Glasses

For quite some time it has been on my mind to get Carson into the eye doctor.  We took him in for an eye exam when he started first grade, and the doc told us that he was border line needing glasses.  He sees fine out of his right eye, but his left eye has been losing vision.  So when it came time for my appointment, I scheduled one for Carson too.  As it turns out, his left eye has gotten a lot worse and it came to the point where he needed glasses.

We spent quite a long time trying on frames.  The boy is as indecisive as his mother.  Sorry kid. First he tried on wire frames.  They just didn't look good on him. (Sorry for the dark phone photo.)

Then he found these, but wasn't sure if he liked them.

Then he found this pair and fell in love with them. Unfortunately they were too big for his head.  As you can see he had to tilt his head backwards for them to stay on.  Plus they were a little too wide for his face.

Then he found these and they fit much better.

 Its so weird to see him in glasses.  It makes him look so grown up! He was trying to find glasses so he could look like Jeff.  He sure is a Daddy's boy!

Building a Temple...Again

Back in November of 2006, Jeff began working for Jacobsen Construction, and his first job was on the Rexburg, Idaho Temple.  It was a very special experience for our family as Jeff's Dad was the General Foreman over the job and both of his brothers also worked on the project.  We were able to walk through the temple quite often and see how things were progressing. We even had the awesome experience (as a family) of hanging the crystal on the chandeliers in one of the sealing rooms.  We got a special sneak peak of the Open House and had tickets to the first Dedicatory Session. Jeff even got to help set the cornerstone (I posted about it here). When the temple wrapped up in 2008, we were sad that it was time to move on to other projects (and to a new state!). The experience of him being able to work on a temple truly did bless our family and that temple will always hold a special place in our heart...even if we no longer call Rexburg home.

Rexburg Temple

 So you can imagine how excited we were, when a few weeks ago, Jeff was told that he was being transferred to work on the Provo, City Center Temple.  A few years ago, the Provo Tabernacle burned down, leaving only the outer shell of the building.  The church has decided to turn it into a temple.  Monday will be his first day at the Provo Temple and I am excited for him.

Provo, City Center Temple

In retrospect, I never realized the Spirit that it brought into our home to have Jeff work on the Rexburg Temple. But as I look back, I can tell that there was something different in our home and family during that time.  It truly was such a special time for us.  I am hoping that as he starts on this new adventure, that we will be able to feel that same Spirit again.

Scheel's

A few weeks ago, we headed up to the Scheel's in Sandy for our FHE activity.  The boys had been wanting to ride their Ferris Wheel, and we figured that at only $1 per person, it was a pretty inexpensive Family Night Activity.  Jonas and Mason still talk about when they went on the "roller coaster" and keep asking when we are going to go back.

Since Porter was too small to ride, I was nominated to stay with him. We walked around and looked at the aquariums and Porter fell in love with a ridiculously over priced Utah Jazz Bear Pillow Pet. Unfortunately, Porter had to say goodbye to the Pillow Pet and threw a fit that would rival any two year old. 

Scouts

When we were at our 20 week ultrasound with Porter, and the tech told us that we were having our fourth boy, Jeff turned to me and said, "I guess I'm probably not going to escape having a calling in Young Men's"  I answered back to him, "And I'm probably not going to escape being a den mother."

Last Fall I was called to be a Cub Scout leader.  It was one of those calling where I graciously said yes, but inside I was screaming, "What in the heck are you thinking!  I have four boys, I don't need to spend more time with boys!  Give me a calling in Young Women's!"  But after the first week, I knew that this calling was exactly where I needed to be.  The Lord is much more wise than I and always knows right where I need to be. The group of boys that we have are really awesome.  It is so fun to get to meet with them each week.  And the Sister that I serve with is so sweet and a great person to get to know.  It has been a huge blessing for me to get to know the ins and outs of the Scouting program before I have four boys of my own go through it.

In February we had our Blue and Gold Banquet.  It was my first time EVER attending one and I didn't realize how much work they are to put together.  I made these invitation kits for our Bears to put together:

 Our den had to do a lip sync and they chose "You Might Think" off the Cars 2 Soundtrack.  We had all of the boys bring Guitar Hero guitars and they pretended to be a rock band.  It. Was. Awesome.

At the awards ceremony I received a toilet plunger for being the leader that "Plunged" into scouts.  Yeah, it was super exciting, and I'm happy to report that my award found a great place to reside in my bathroom, next to the toilet.

My boys in the "photo booth"

Overall I can say that I am coming to love the scouting program. I'd better, because I have several years of Scouting ahead of me...

Warmer Weather

Something wonderful happened around the first week of March: we got a warm spell and it finally felt like Spring was here!  One thing I do love about Utah is that the winters are much milder than Idaho and it gets warmer faster in the Spring.  I love Spring.  It is my most favorite time of the year!  I love watching everything come back to life and I love all of the flowers that bloom out.

My boys could NOT contain their excitement to get outside and play!  We rode bikes...

We rode wiggle cars (and our push-around)...

We bumped our brothers over while racing on the wiggle cars...

We walked Jonas to and from preschool...

And we saw our flowers pushing out of the dirt!

Jeff even "made" us dig up one of the gardens. If you can call it "making" four boys dig in the dirt!  Ha! They were in heaven getting their hands back into the soil. Carson's face says it all.

Jr. Jazz

As I mentioned before, Carson played Jr. Jazz this year.  He had a great time and made a lot of friends and it seemed like all too soon the season was over.  Near the end of his season, he was given tickets to go to a Jazz game.  Since Jeff was coming all the way home from Ogden after work, he didn't get home in time to take Carson.  I had scouting things that night and wasn't able to go.  The solution:  Aunt Alese and Uncle Shane!  They were so nice to take Carson for us...it may have been the free tickets...but for our story's purpose, we'll say it was their awesomeness:).

There's nothing like a "participation" medal to make a little boy smile!

Valentines

So, Valentine's Day...yeah, that was a while ago...

This was the extent of our Valentines decor.  I know, I know, I went all out this year :).

I made a ton of Lego Star Wars Valentines for my boys.  Since Jonas and Mason are both in preschool, I made them use the same Valentines as Carson.  Ironically, a few weeks after this, my boys discovered that Star Wars is super cool and they are now obsessed...but that's a different post all on its own.

I did our traditional Valentine's breakfast.  This year we opted to go with a small toy instead of candy.  I am a person that hates waste and hates my kids being on a sugar binge.  To me, its sometimes a waste to buy them candy and then its gone in 10 minutes and I feel like I just threw away money.  At least this way, they still had something to play with for the whole day.

We ate pink pancakes and heart shaped eggs.

Each year Jeff and I heart attack the hallway by the boys' room and each year they come out of their rooms shocked to see all the hearts.  I thought for sure Carson would be old enough this year that it wouldn't be a big deal to him, but he was still super excited to see all of the hearts.

As soon as Carson got home from school, we loaded up and headed down to the Park and Ride to leave Daddy a special Valentine's treat in his car.  The guys he car pools with thought it was pretty funny too...especially the heart that said "Sexy Beast".

I made it up to him though by leaving him his favorite: root beer and Oreos.  There is still crinkle paper in the car. I figured we would be finding it for months since I told the boys to put it in every crack they could find.