General Conference and April Fools!

This year General Conference fell on Aprils Fools Day.  We started out our day by watching the first session of General Conference.  We had my niece and nephew for the weekend so they got to join in on the fun.

I made a General Conference basket with all sorts of activities: General Conference Packet, puzzles, crafts, crayons, egg decorating kit etc. and then lots of munchies.

 On each item was a picture of a general authority. Whenever a general authority spoke they would find his picture in the basket and get to either eat that munchie or do the activity that his picture was on.  

While the kids were working on activities in their basket I was rotating 72-hour kits.  I try to do this each General Conference, but missed October so I was a rotation behind.  I had also been asked to give a 15 minute class at Relief Society the following Tuesday on 72-hour kits so I was going through them for that as well. One of my favorites things to do is pull out the kids clothes and see who's had a growth spurt. This year it was Calli. Haha That is so hilarious! I pray we will never have to wear the outfits in our kits!

In between sessions Adam and I did a "mixed up lunch" (Thanks Kristen for the idea) We had a menu for everyone that was written entirely in Italian. On the menu were 16 items and 4 courses. They had to write down 4 numbers (not knowing what they were) in each course and then were served one course at a time. Adam and I served up each plate for each course. It was so funny. We were laughing so hard in the kitchen as we figured out what each person was getting.

The first course Kassi got a toothpick, salt, pepper and a straw.  What are the odds? It was hilarious.

Calli sucking her Jello out with a straw!
During the different courses we had some eating jello with their hands, ice cream with toothpicks, etc.  They had so much fun.  They have each asked several times when we can do it again.

After lunch Adam and I played a few tricks on the girls.  This one we asked them if they wanted to see a magic trick. We then got a cup of water and asked someone to drop a penny in it. (This was just for show) Then I climbed up on a stool, put the rim of the cup against the ceiling and then held it up with a broom handle. I asked if someone could hold it while I  climbed  down. Calli volunteered.  After I got down I moved the stool and walked away, leaving her there stranded holding this cup of water up by the broom. Eventually she gave in and dropped the cup trying to move out of the way before it soaked her. It was so much fun. Love those days when your kids actually think you are cool!

Happy Easter 2012!

This year was one of my favorite Easters! The Easter Bunny got busy and very creative as we slept.

The girls woke up to giant maze of yarn throughout the entire house.

They found a sign with their names on it with a different colored strand of yarn hooked to it that they had to follow to find their individual baskets.

They all started in the living room but soon discovered they would be going...

in the back yard...

around trees in the front yard...

through the kitchen...

in the preschool...

and out in the garage.

Calli finally found her basket in the car.

She was so excited about her Skim board.

Gentry found hers in the storage room and Sadie's was in her closet. 

Calli got a skimboard, a shirt, flip flops, towel, $5.00, Mr. Poppers penguins and Son's of Provo CD. Sadie got a new skirt, shirt, necklace, shoes, towels, flip flops, a slip and slide, $5 and a turtle ball stuffed animal. Gentry got a towel, $5.00, a shirt, a Webkinz, a Littlest pet shop, a coloring book, and Hop DVD.  After church we went over to my parents home for a Easter BBQ.

The grand kids all got new swimsuits from grandma and grandpa. 

Gentry was so excited she wanted to try hers on right away.

After a delicious BBQ of my dad's famous ribs we all got in a big circle where my mom and dad shared with us their experiences and stories from Israel. Afterward they gave each of the grand kids a shadow box labeled with different rocks they had collected at different sites in Israel. They got rocks from the dead sea, the Sea of Galilee, the mount of beatitude etc. they also got water from the Sea of Galilee. It was so cool. I wanted one for myself. I guess having three in the house is enough. They also brought back scarves for each of the girls, BYU Jerusalem shirts for the boys and each family got a Olive Wood Nativity and a bottle of consecrated oil that was actually consecrated by my dad and brother Brandon in the Garden of Gethsemane.  It was really neat to see and hear of all their adventures. A perfect end to Easter. 

Also, that morning the Young Women did a big easter Lesson with each of us leaders taking a event and talking about it.  Afterward we gave them a gift that we have been working on for months.

Months ago we took pictures of each girls profiles and asked them to pick a Temple. We then sent them to a LDS artsit that is doing something called the "Lift up my Soul Project, in which he takes the phots and then makes them look like this. Each young women is  reaching up for the SAviors hand as He reaches down to them in front of the Temple of their choice. I just love teh way they turned out. It was definantly worth all teh hard work. 

Evening of the Arts and the Arts Festival!

Gentry entered a drawing for Red Mountains Evening of the Arts. The theme was "Diversity is..." She drew a picture of the earth with different colored children standing around the outside of it and wrote "Diversity is liking people how they are."

She won third place and received a medal and lots of fun gift certificates for ice cream cones, snow cones and free ride on the carousel.  Way to Go Gentry Bo!

That weekend Sadie performed with Embrace at the Arts Festival. 

They performed Hip Hop, Jazz and Lyrical. Good job Sadie!

God's Messenger's!

Sadie had an opportunity to perform with the God's Messenger's. It is a group as professional dancers that Sadie's dance instructor Misty at Premier founded as well. It's a religious dance group that often dance for charity's.  To get into the spirit of Easter they did an entire program of Christ's Life dancing to different songs that depicts his Life.  For one of the numbers they invited small children to come and perform with them. They danced to "I Am a Child of God." 

Sadie is on the second row in the center with her arms up. She had a small solo in the beginning. 

Then end of the song.  This scene depicted the Savior's love for Children. It was so beautiful. During the entire performance it was very reverent and no one clapped after the dances, but after the children danced you could not help it, everyone started standing and clapping. It really was quite moving. I'm so glad Sadie got that opportunity.  After the bows, Misty came back out and bore her testimony. I sat there thinking; where else can your child take dance and hear her dance teacher bear  her testimony. Premier is a unique place.

After the performance the girls along with a few cousins had fun posing in the character cut outs for the upcoming shows at Tuacahn.

Gentry and Trasen.

Calli, Sadie and Gentry pretending to look down and be scared as they fly on the magic carpet. 

Red Neck Moment!

Adam's brother was getting rid of his big sectional and asked if we would like it. We had been wanting more seating in the theater room, so we told him would be happy to take it off his hands. We drove to Enterprise and loaded it up. Then we all decided to go eat at Marv's before heading back home. 

The kids begged to ride the few blocks in the back of the truck on the couches. They thought it was so cool!

Trampoline!

During a big family BBQ while one of my nephews was jumping on the tramp we heard a tearing noise and turned around to see that he was standing on the ground through a big hole in the tramp.  It was actually a big hit after that. they all spent the rest of teh night jumping over the big hole and trying not to fall in. 

The girls were actually kind of sad when we bought a replacement.  But with preschool we had to get it fixed as soon as possible.

The girls in the hole putting on the new mat.

Calli trying it out!