Beauty and the Beast

Last weekend Ella and I got to go to the High School to see Beauty and the Beast together. She constantly talks about how much fun she had last year when we went to Cinderella and wanted to know when we could do something like that again. I was excited for this to come up! We had 6 or 7 youth in our ward in it so it was really fun to go see! Also the girl who played Belle, her older sister was my tent mate and in young women's with me but she just moved out of our ward!  She knew all the kids in our ward that were in it and would see them and tell me who she would see! She was on cloud nine!! I love doing fun stuff with her like this!

Afterwards we went to Pace's and got rainbow ices. They are slushies with frozen yogurt in the middle. She got her favorite tiger's blood and I got peach! If you have ever had a Pace juice bar popsicle thing this is their little restaurant they have burgers and fries and all sorts of yummy treats! It was a fun night with my cute girl that is growing up way to fast!!!

Apples

One morning while I was picking up the kitchen and vacuuming Addie made her way to the counter and found the apple Andrew had left on the counter before he left for work! She was so excited she has wanted to get her hands on a whole apple for a long time! I thought she had a problem with apples but I think we are good so I am less cautious now! She sat and ate that thing while I worked around her! She ate most of it but was mad when I took it from her so we could go get Ella from school! I love this little girl!!

Cheese!! With a mouth full of apple!

Field Trip

Two weeks ago I had the chance to go with Ella and her class on a field trip. Andrew has Thursday mornings off so it worked out perfectly. We had to be to school 20 minutes early. Her school is just a block away from the front runner commuter train and the Treehouse Museum where we went is just two blocks from it so we rode the train and walked. It was a lot of walking for Kindergartners! They have some fun programs to chose from for field trips and the teachers chose the once upon a time fairy tale theme. It was a pretty fun theme! I had Ella, her friend Jade, and a girl named Addie in my group. I knew about Addie from helping in the class room and knew she was going to be a challenge. She is a really sweet girl but very busy and nosy and kind of annoying. She kept touching me and patting me and wanted to play with my earrings and putting her feet on me. It was really annoying! I really just hope my kids have more boundaries than that when it comes to other adults helping in the class! I really did have a good time! Her friend Jade also told me on our walk there that she has a fever just like her little sister, awesome Jade just awesome! Seriously was annoyed at that! 

The kids loved riding the train they were so amazed!

Kinzie, Trinity, Bella, Jade, Ella, and Addie

They did a cute little play with the kids!

After the little classes were done we got about 30-45 minutes of free play. This was a struggle cause there was places each kid wanted to go and enough places for a few hours! After that they finished up our tour and we headed outside to eat our lunches! It turned out to be a really nice day for March so we lucked out!!

On the way back I told Addie that I am sitting by Ella not her, I just wanted to sit by my own child! We made it back and then had to go get Easton and Addie at my neighbor Jenny's house. We had an overlap of about 15 minutes from when I was going to be back and when Andrew had to go to work so she took them for me! She is always helping me out!

St George Hike and Lunch

Saturday we got up and had a big french toast breakfast! We all got ready and then headed out for the day. We drove around the scenic way and found a hike to go on. It was a really pretty hike and pretty easy for the kids. It was the perfect temperature that day too! 

We walked and found the arch and kept going a little bit. 

We passed a park ranger on our way back out and she told us some pretty cool stuff about the area we were in. I took a picture of it but it is hard to see. There are names on the side of the mountain which are early pioneer settlers of the St George area. She also told us about some of the animals and plants that are currently out. Pretty neat stuff. 

After our hike we were so tired and thirsty and it was after 3 so we headed to the Pizza Factory to get some lunch. It was really good and we were all so hungry! After we ate the girls and Spencer drove to do some more shopping and the guys took all the kids home. We shopped and then headed back to get the kids down for the night. My mom was really good at getting the kids to go to sleep by reading to them and telling them the first one to sleep got a quarter. The kids all slept together in the big loft area. The owner had made the loft into a huge kids area with a train set and kitchen and a princess bed, a princess carriage bed, a boat bed, and a pirate ship bed and a couple trundles. It was an awesome area for them and where they spent 90 percent of the time! The next morning we loaded up and headed to Sacrament meeting with my Grandma and my aunt Marjorie. Marjorie lives down there so we went to her ward which is a senior citizen only ward! We stuck out with our zoo of kids! After Sacrament we went back to her house and changed and then headed home. We made it home but it took us a lot longer because we drove through 60 mile an hour winds and rain. It was crazy! It was a perfect birthday weekend away! It was just what we needed, Andrew has been working so much lately so it was nice to get him to ourselves for a couple days!

St George

Our first full day in St George was Friday. We got up and had muffins for breakfast. We then all got ready and headed our separate ways. The guys went golfing and the girls we went and did initiatories at the temple. My mom is awesome and watched all six kids including little 3 month old Lucy all by herself! It was a great day in the temple. It was busy and we had to wait a while but it was so nice to be there! Afterwards we went to the store to get some stuff for dinner and ran into all the guys getting stuff for dinner! I don't know why we didn't coordinate better so they could just get everything! Anyways on our way back to the house we stopped at Swig and got everyone drinks. We then headed back and got a huge scare watching a little volkswagon almost get t-boned by a semi! We are talking literally inches away! Seriously! I was driving and we were stopped at the time I just turned my head and waited for the sound of it! It had us all a little shaken! We made it back and my mom had sandwiches, veggies, fruit, and chips waiting for us, she really is awesome! We ate lunch and the kids had had early naps while we were gone so we headed out to the outlets to do a little shopping! We then went back to the house for the night. The guys had gotten steaks at Costco earlier and so we grilled them and had baked potatoes, salad, and fruit. It was so good and much better than anywhere we could have gone! It was definitely not worth it taking six kids to a restaurant! 

I was really proud they took a picture!

Our bedroom closet had a toddler bed for Addie. Addie and Bennett loved it! Bennett was pretty sad when he had to go to bed in his room!

Andrew's Birthday

Andrew's birthday was March 3rd. I have really failed the last couple of years when it comes to his birthday! Two years ago I had a newborn and just wasn't really doing anything but surviving and then last year we all had the flu the week leading up to his birthday and then he got it the night before! I really wanted to make this one special! His first gift he got for the day the UPS Man was nice enough to deliver just in time before we left town! I went to pick up Ella from school and told him if he beat me home he couldn't go inside! I got home and we surprised him with a smoker! My friend Cara had just got one when I was at her house in November and thought that would be perfect for Andrew! He loves it!

After we surprised him I went and got my hair done (he is so nice to let me do this on his birthday but he is never home for me to go!) I got home and he had the car loaded! We got in and headed to St George for the weekend! We had been trying all winter to find a time to go down and about a month before I found a listing for a house big enough for all of my family and it ended up being about half the price of a hotel per night per family. It was awesome!! We got to St George at about 8:30 and got to work on a party! I had made Tres Leches the night before. We sang to him and enjoyed our cake while he opened presents! 

This picture is out of order but that morning he took Easton to the driving range and they hit some balls together! Easton loved it!

He got some money from my family, I got him a game, some wood chips for his smoker, a few new shirts, a new U of U sweater, a bigger version of the Eye book by Dr Seuss, and a model eye ball! He was pretty excited about his eye ball! 

Random

Love the sunsets from my back porch! Pictures don't do them justice!

We headed out for the morning to get our car washed and hit up Costco before the kids had to be picked up from school only to realize the roads were to wet to not make a car wash worth it so we went to the new waffle luv that had just opened next to Costco while we waited for Costco to open. We shared a yummy waffle with biscoff spread and strawberries and raspberries and a cup of chocolate milk! It was amazing!! My date thought she owned the waffle though!

Ella fights being tired and refuses to nap! She is my sleep in child so morning Kindergarten has been rough on her! I told her we had to have a 30 minute quiet time while Addie was napping. I went in the toy room when it got really quiet and found her like this! I love seeing her sleep she is so beautiful and a very peaceful sleeper!

She loves to dress up! I got her this mask at Home Goods a while back, she was begging for it and I gave in for once! It is the best $3 I have ever spent! She wears it daily!! She came in and sang me some song she had made up, microphone, pom pom and all!

She found some lipstick and came up to me and said "wips mom!" She was in heaven to have lip stick on!

Our primary gave the kids glow sticks for Valentine's Day. Easton's was broke and sat on my table overnight and promptly ruined the finish and leaked out and made another spot too! I was not happy!!! 

We have had voles/field mice making trails all over our brand new grass all winter. We had snow on our grass for over two months so we had no idea it was even going on! Here's to hoping it all comes back!

They beg all the time to have a "sleepover." We finally said yes when we didn't have anything the next day. Easton lasted until about 1 and then wanted his bed! 

My neighbor watched my kids while I went to the dentist one day. I came back well past nap time and then we chatted until she had to go get her kids from school. I took Addie home and she was out cold before I could shut the shutters and take her dirty diaper out! 

It is really nice to have three mornings a week with just Addie! She is my pro errand runner! I especially like to hit up costco with just her! This day as we were getting in line she said pizza mom? I couldn't say no plus we had 30 minutes until Ella was done so I obliged! She is pretty fun to hang out with!

Helping me wrap Andrew's birthday presents! They fought and complained more than they helped!

We finally made it in, in the last month to get the kids well child check ups our old office by our house in Sandy was just to far and they opened a branch close by recently so we finally made it in! Here is to hoping that this is our last pediatrician switch for a long time if not forever! I think we have had 6 or 7 now I am done going to new places! Ella is my tall and way skinny girl! Easton is just a big kid. Big hands, mouth, feet, and so on! He is growing so fast! I can't keep him in clothes! He is trying so hard to pass Ella up but she always manages to be slightly taller, this time barely by a half inch or so! Addie has started to thin out. She is tall and skinny thing too! She has always been in the 75th percentile for her head or bigger. She doesn't seem like she had a big head but I don't remember my other two kids ever being that high!