Easter Sunday

We had Stake Conference today, and we went the extra mile by going in person and not watching it on zoom, go team. I thought it was appropriate to try and step it up for Easter Sunday. It was 2 hours long, and the kids did great sitting through the whole thing. No one even went out for a bathroom break! The teenagers did really well listening too. Elder Clark Gilbert was the visiting authority and he and all the other speakers shared touching and heartbreaking stories about deaths in their lives or their friends and families lives and how Christ helps us through those hard times. They also shared stories about trials and conversion. Jocelyn, a recent convert who is awesome and in our ward, shared some of her story of how she came to know the Church is true. She was baptized 5 months ago. It was all really good. It started at 10, but we got there early at 9:20 to make sure we got a soft bench and weren't on the metal folding chairs. I grabbed some old notebooks for the kids to draw in to keep themselves entertained. Before the meeting started Wes was at work entertaining Peter. He drew some cars, a few faces, and then started doing math. 

"I can't just draw anymore... math is more interesting!"

He really likes geometry, which will help him if he does become an architect, which is what he is thinking he'd like to do. He proudly showed me the correct answer he just got. 

Abi found this in the notebook she was using, from a time that Natalie was getting ready to play school ~ funny! 

People: 

Joe - Principal

Natalie - School teacher

Owen - Student

Daniel - Student

Peter - Student

Sophia - Art Teacher

Mom - Janitor

I'm glad she notices what I do all day here at home! Haha. At home after conference was over, Wes was showing off his baby soft skin from his leg wax last night, which he and Mel did when they were up past midnight last night. Fun things happen among the siblings in the late hours of the night. 

We watched a little bit of the Chosen to catch Melodie up, and then we went over to Coreys' parent's house for dinner. Joseph drove up from Provo to join, as well as Corey's siblings and all the cousins. A package that Corey's parents sent to Mel in November was returned - it went to Brazil and back! Impressive. It had Christmas presents and Mel's birthday presents in it, so Mel got to celebrate Easter and Christmas and her birthday today! 

Before we ate, the adults visited a little and the kids wrestled with each other - Peter taking on Owen...

And Owen hanging on cousin Seth - 

And showing affection to one another too - 

Grandma had an old bunny mask that the little kids had fun wearing. 

Joseph wore these funny bunny glasses when he was a toddler, as evidenced by this card that Joseph found today as he looked through the scrapbooks in Grandma's room. 

That is an Easter card I made many years ago, when I was a bit more creative. We thought Peter looked especially cute in the glasses - it's Peter Rabbit! 

After dinner, cousin Rhyan hosted an egg hunt for the little kids.

They enjoyed it, of course. 

Finding the last of the eggs - 

Showing off their loot.

And then the adults visited some more (Wes had my phone...) 

and we made strawberry (and blueberry) shortcake for dessert (that was our family's contribution to the dinner) and watched another episode of the Chosen, and Grandma gave a cute treat to all the kids. Peter holding his carrot full of treats.

It was a nice Easter Sunday. I especially liked watching the Chosen. I thought more about the Savior today than I think I have done during Easters of years past. I am grateful that he conquered death and to know that He Lives today. I believe with all my heart that because of him, I will live again and will be able to be with my family forever. I am so grateful for that knowledge!

Telling Stories

It's been a good Saturday. Corey and I went and did an early morning temple session in Draper at 7, then picked up Abi from her soccer game which was at 9. They didn't have enough player and forfeited, but 4 players from the other team joined their team so they still played a game for fun. Then Abi and I went by Costco to get some desserts for an Easter dinner tomorrow at Corey's parents' house (going to make strawberry shortcake). Then it was just a day at home trying to get the kids to practice and clean their rooms. I think it's just Natalie and Sophi that need to finish their bedrooms. At 3:30 this afternoon, I was vacuuming and from my vantage point I saw this - Wes and Peter talking in my room - 

And Corey and Lily in the big girls' room. 

Corey was trying to get Lily to come practice, but instead let her share with him her artwork and creative stories. 

Wes had gotten home from his YMAD retreat at 1:30, and he missed his little brother. I went in and listened to Wes and Peter talking. Wes was telling him a story about Spiderman and dinosaurs. Peter was paying rapt attention - 

And I loved how he was kicking up his feet. Then it was Peter's turn and he told Wes a story, starting it with "once upon a time..." (adorable)

Here is a small part of the story telling that I was able to record.

I was glad I caught this moment of sibling bonding. 

On Thursday night, Corey went with Mel and Sophi down to Provo to see Joseph sing with Duly Noted. Another photo of sibling bonding and supporting one another!

After the performance, Mel and Corey came home, and Joseph kept Sophi with him because he was coming up tonight (he's going to shadow a doctor tomorrow) and so that he could take her out for ice cream. They both had homework to do, so he let her use a computer and they did that first - 

And then out for ice cream! I love seeing the kids do things one on one with each other. 

They didn't get home until after midnight, cause Sophi was stuck with a college kid who does things on college time (aka late) but that should be a good memory for her of spending time with her big brother Joseph. Oh, and I went on a short bike ride this evening! Just on the street and a little bit in the canyon. It was hard and I hope my hips are too sore tomorrow, but it was good. It's been a good weekend.

Easter Egg Hunt

I didn't feel like going out in public today, so I asked Mel and Lily to take the kids to the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt at 2:30. Lily was to go with the kids, Mel was to take photos. They both did their jobs very well. Usually I seem to get photos of the back of their heads when they are looking at the ground for eggs, so I specified that photos of their faces would be ideal. Mel did a great job. Peter at the beginning of the hunt. 

Owen on the hunt.

Showing all the spoils in his basket/bucket.

Daniel and Natalie eating their treats!

Owen pleased with all the loot he collected.

Afterwards they stayed and played in a neighbor's backyard. Peter riding on a plane - he is flexible!

After the hunt, I took Wes and Owen with me and we first dropped off Wes before he headed out on an overnight retreat for YMAD - 

And THEN I took Owen to his Trumpet lesson! Owen didn't practice while we were in Florida, but he hasn't been doing great at it even without a vacation excuse. It's mostly cause I don't know what Owen needs to do cause Wes has been taking him to his lessons. And Wes is always too busy to be interrupted to help Owen practice. But now I can do it! It was fun and I think it would be fun to learn trumpet, so we'll see. Now I don't need to let Owen off the hook just cause Wesley is gone, so I plan on helping Owen practice tomorrow. Yay. Melodie and Lily were practicing tonight and it was fun to see them together. 

And we should head to bed soon - it's 10 pm - here is Peter who put himself to sleep on our floor.

Not much else has been going on the past few days, other than just trying to recuperate from our trip. Here is a picture of Peter painting on our bathroom floor yesterday. 

And it looks like Wes and Peter got a hold of my phone on Wednesday and they took a few selfies. I think Wes was giving Peter some hair tips.

Daniel joining in. 

They are BFFs. 

So yeah, just getting back into the swing of homelife - music practice, homework, carpool, etc. I had an ultrasound on Wednesday. I'm not sure why I had one this late in the pregnancy, I've never had that before, so I don't know if it's standard procedure now or they just did it for me cause I'm high risk with AMA (aka old). I'm trying to think of what I can so now to help kill time and make these next 7 weeks pass by more quickly. But the baby looks like she's doing well, and we are grateful for that. We are in God's loving hands. 

Early Morning Flight

Well, we are back home in Utah. We all took a nap from our early morning flight and then we tried unpacking a little bit. We landed at 10:35 am but we didn't make the kids go to school, since they basically got up at 2:30 am Utah time. Yes, we set our alarms for 4:30 cause we had a 7:00 flight and had to return our rental cars too. We packed up everything and loaded it onto a luggage cart the night before. All that was out was socks and shoes, and a messy kitchen. We left quite a bit of food behind this time, but did pack some in our luggage (like sweet potatoes, maple syrup, Kodiak pancakes and jelly). Mel loaded the dishwasher which was a nice gesture to help us not look like total slobs. Abi also noticed last minute that there was a $20 fee if we didn't return pool towels to the towel return, so yay to her for catching that and saving us that extra charge. I took a picture of these three trying to keep sleeping as I pulled them closer to put their socks and shoes on - Peter done, two to go. I grabbed Daniel's leg and dragged him toward me, which probably caused him to dream he was being grabbed by an alligator!

Wes put the luggage in the car and we carried sleepy kids down to the cars. We left the lovely Marriot's Palm Villas at 4:54 for a 19 minute drive - arrived at the car rental at 5:14 am, turned in the cars and caught the shuttle to the airport. Left Fox rental cars at 5:22 and were at the airport at 5:36 (Life 360 comes in so handy to knowing all these boring data stats. The Fox car rental didn't open until 5 am, but we soon learned that we should have left a little earlier than we did to try and save every extra minute, cause we cut it suuuper close and almost missed our flight. When we got to the car rental it was obvious that Peter had gone bad on the drive over, but the shuttle was there, and we didn't want to wait for the next one, so we let him sit in it for a bit longer. 

We enjoyed our ride over as we shared memories of traveling experiences. 

There was a bathroom right by where the shuttle dropped us off, and I ran in with Peter. Thankfully I had put a spare pair of pants for P in Sophi's bag, which she got for me, and she also had a bag for dirty clothes, which we also needed since he soiled his pants. Corey and the kids waited for me, and then we took the elevator up to check in our bags. No one was on floor one, and we realized they were all on floor 2. Next time they won't wait for me, cause it would have been better to be a little further ahead in the long line than we were. Daniel told me he was hungry. Thankfully we thought to pack up all the left over pizza slices from the night before! I patted myself on the back as Owen, Daniel, and Peter happily munched on cold pizza.

We were able to check one bag for each person this time with our Delta credit card, and that was helpful to have those out of the way. (On our way here on American Airlines we only checked 6). Corey stayed and sorted that out with the guy and he told us to go on ahead. We did, and then we realized we should have gone ahead sooner, as we now saw where the real line was... There was a huge mass of people waiting to get their tickets checked. It was now just past 6am, and a marquee above said it was a 49 minute wait time!!! Our plane was starting to board at 6:25!! We were starting to get concerned. The line moved slowly and we kept looking at our watches and at each other and said silent prayers for help. It was slow but there was nothing to do but stand in We finally make it through ticketing and then to security! That moved a little faster, as we split up into two groups - me and the boys and Corey with the girls. Corey's bag got held and inspected and he told us to go head. I hoped we were going to the right place... we looked for and found the train to gate 77. The train was pulling up and we looked back to see if Corey was through security yet. Just then he came running around the corner and we all got on the terminal 4 train together. 6:45 am - flight leaving in 20 minutes.... I think we're going to make it!??? Maybe? AHH!

We got off the train and took a left and ran to the gate - "Gate 77!! Hurry!" Wes spotted it first and I ran in front for the kids to follow. We might have made a scene, and we might have looked a bit chaotic as we ran with a stroller, toddlers, and a pregnant lady in front. 

Luckily there weren't many people around and it looked like most of the people on our plane had boarded and so we came straight to show our boarding passes, one last time scanning in one at a time - the kids walked past when their name was called - Mel, Wes, Abigail, Lilian, Sophia, Natalie in blue, Owen in yellow, Daniel, Peter in the spiderman PJs, Me, Corey, PHEW!! Corey and I looked at each other relieved and laughing and shaking our heads. That was nuts!! Next time we'll try to give ourselves a little more room for error. We thanked the Lord for his help and mercy in getting us to the plane on time, with just enough time to change Peter's second messy diaper as the plane was heading toward the runway. Eating the last of our Doritos and pizza...

I think the sickness that everyone has had over the week officially hit Peter today, and I'm glad it's not in the form of vomit. Peter was an angel on the plane again. He's the easiest toddler I've ever flown with.

We were grateful to arrive back in Utah and to be able to walk through the airport calmly and without panic to get our bags. 

11 bags, count them twice, then Corey called his dad and sister to let them know we were heading out to the pick up curb.

We were surprised to see snow everywhere! We thought we'd come back to spring weather, but nope! It was freezing cold AND windy - brr! "What is this inhospitable land?!? Who's ready to go back to Florida?" We passed two gates on the way in that were headed to Orlando and Honolulu. Let's go! But  alas, no, instead we headed home. Kids were all tuckered out - I drove with Wayne in their van. We had most of the luggage and 4 kids - 

Corey and the rest of the kids were in Nancy's car. We left airport 10:40, home at 11:14. It is good to be home and we'll spend the rest of the day recovering and then going to bed early since it's back to early morning jazz band and school tomorrow. I'm very grateful we made it back safely, that we caught our flight this morning, that I was able to make it through 3 days of theme parks without much 3rd trimester pregnancy pain, that we didn't lose any kids, etc etc. It was a good trip, I trust the kids will have good memories, and next time we go, I fully plan on riding all the roller coasters, esp the Iron Gwazi and Velocicoaster, until I'm sick. :)