Well...That Was Random

Remember yesterday how we were swimming? Well, today this is what we woke up to....and yes, my kids DID go swimming today. Mike even went twice!

Today we had a busy, busy day. First, my nephew Weston was baptized. There were three kids from their ward being baptized today. We started out in the chapel then everyone that was here for Weston was able to go to the font to watch his baptism. Maysen brought Preston up front and was explaining what was happening. We watched his baptism and as he was walking up the steps of the font Preston says, "Well, that was random."

We snuck out right after Weston's conformation, dashed to my dad's house and dropped off the kids. I barely got to see Rachel & Marie before I left. I was hopeful I would see them before we got back, but that was not the case. Mike & I then headed to the Salt Lake Temple to watch my niece Melissa get married. Quite the day going from a baptism to a wedding, but pretty cool. We didn't need to rush to the temple as the wedding was quite delayed. Melissa forgot her temple recommend. Whoops. As we were taking the family pictures out on the temple steps, we saw that Uncle George was there. He is serving a service mission and that is where he was stationed for that hour. We talked him into getting his picture taken with us. That was good timing.

Later tonight we went to Melissa's reception...after swimming of course. Her reception was at a place called Cactus & Tropicals. It is a greenhouse place that sells plants. It was really pretty. They served crepes, so my kids loved that. They had live music and dancing. Melissa is really into ballroom. It was fun to watch her and Derek dance together. When Melissa was throwing the bouquet, she had quite an arm. She overshot all the girls and the flowers landed right in Derek's hands. Pretty funny.

That's about all from today. I wished I had gotten a picture of Weston & Melissa, guess I wasn't thinking straight. It is sad to walk past our guest room and know we won't see Brett & Rachel and their family for a long, long time. I was so glad to have them come and visit. I told Rachel, "Never in a million years would I have guessed you would be the first ones to use our guest room!" I am so glad, but too bad it took an earthquake to get them here.

I Can't Believe This Is Our Backyard!

First off, this post has a ton of pictures....so if you hate pictures this post is not for you. Second, blogger is driving me nuts. Now when I put pictures it leaves random spaces. I use to be able to go to the html file to get rid of them, but now I just end messing everything up. It seriously is a huge stresser for me. Anyway . . . .

Mina is just the cutest thing! Preston & Marie were covering her with balls and saying, "We're torturing her with balls!" She was so nice and didn't complain. She just sat there as sweet as could be.

Mina

Rachel took the girls to see one of her childhood friends today. When Mike came home from work, he was so excited to use the pool . . . even though it is snowing outside! We all got in, although Maysen was NOT happy about it! I was pretty annoyed with her, until I got in and realized how cold it was. The water wasn't the problem, it was 82 degrees . . . but outside it was 34 degrees! The other guys didn't mind though and stayed out for a long time. Stockton kept saying, "I can't believe this is our backyard!" Jorja kept running around the pool shouting, "There are no 'no running' signs!" Rachel came back as they were getting out. Marie was asleep. My dad came up for tacos and they went in the pool again! Brett & Rachel promised Marie she could ride a waterslide, so today she did! I think she had a lot of fun, but I think everyone out there was nuts!

Preston

Stockton, Jorja, Preston, Mike

Cold, unhappy Maysen

Stockton & Mike, Jorja, Preston

Jorja & Mike

Preston & Mike

Stockton

Jorja

Preston. Awesome.

Preston...you look like you're up to something

And jump!

My beautiful Porge
Preston

Mike, Jorja & Preston

Stockton

JUMP! Jorja, Mike, Stockton & Preston

I love Jorja's feet! And Preston's face.

Jorja, Mike, Stockton, Preston

Marie & Grandpa Millburn

Rachel, Marie, Grandpa

Notice Marie taking the snow off the side of the slide?

Rachel & Marie

Preston

Mike

Rachel! What a sport!

snow....crazy

Now Rachel and her little family are gone. Sniff, sniff. They stayed the night at my dad's house and Rachel flies back to Boise tomorrow. It was so much fun having her here. The only thing I would have changed is I wish I did not get sick! At least I had fun things to do/watch while I was feeling so miserable. I can't wait until Brett & his family come visit again!

We're Going to DIE!

Stockton spent a lot of time playing with Marie in the backyard today. She loved him driving her around in the jeep. Then it was Marie's turn. It's kind of scary giving the control over to a two year old. Stockton was screaming, "We're going to die!" Later, I was driving Marie in the jeep. Can't believe it fit in it. When I was driving her in the dump truck I had to stick my leg on top, but it worked. Stockton & Preston were in one car and Marie & I were in the other. As I was driving Marie was screaming, "We're going to die!" It was so funny!

Marie & Stockton

We were also able to go down to Sherry's house today to get Mina's handprints done! Yay!

No More Brett

Brett left today to go back to Japan. His trip was way too short.

Arrow of Light

I woke up today with a stiff neck. I could barely move it all day. It hurts! I wasn't able to go play racquetball with Brett & Matt. I held a heating pad to my neck most of the day. I was able to play Dominion with Brett, Rachel, Maysen & Stockton and go to Zupas with Brett, Rachel and my dad. I also went to pack meeting. Stockton received his Arrow of Light award today. He also received a ton of other awards that he has earned since before we left Georgia. There was a bird lady there. Stockton thought everything was a bit weird. He kept making faces when he was up front. Not sticking out his tongue faces, but faces that definitely said, "This is crazy! What the heck is going on?"

Mike, Stockton, Stephanie

Stockton didn't get an award for buttoning his shirt correctly.
All the boys who received their Arrow of Light! Wow!
She Who Talks with Birds...or something like that

One of Stockton's many faces

Stockton holding the falcon

Still Playing

Brett, Rachel, Maysen, Stockton & I played Harry Potter Clue this morning. We went to Arctic Circle with my dad for a late lunch. I thought I had timed everything right, but when I got home, Jorja was on the front porch with tears in her eyes. She said she had been there about five minutes. The milkshake I brought her made her happy again though. I took Stockton to diving and Brett & Marie went swimming with my dad. That was the plan. Rachel dropped them off at the Dimple Dell pool my dad likes to go to. She went shopping with Mina. Too bad the pool was closed. Then Brett & Matt went to play racquetball at Mike's old apartment. Both courts were taken. Bad luck. The day ended up well. Brett's good friend Josh came over with his family and Rachel made amazing potstickers. Matt decided to stay over again so they could try racquetball in the morning. Brett, Matt & I were up until 1 playing Ticket to Ride. I did not do well. It was pretty funny though. Brett & Matt tied. Matt thought he won because he was sure he had the longest road. He didn't. I did. Matt didn't even count my trains because I was so far behind. Pretty sweet. Matt won the tie breaker though because he had more destinations. Anyways, that was today. Pretty fun....I don't want Brett and his family to go back to Japan.

EASTER EGGS!

We packed this Easter with as much fun as we could. It was awesome. Too bad Mike & John and their families couldn't be here with us. This morning, my dad came over and cooked breakfast. Waffles and Apple Pancakes. DELICIOUS! This afternoon we headed up to Provo to listen to Glade & Diane's talk about their mission in Mongolia. It was really interesting and as an added bonus, Brett got to see a lot of Idaho people. I cornered Grandpa before he left and got a cute picture of him, Maire and Mina.

This afternoon my family came over to my house. We had a giant Easter Egg hunt in our backyard. Jorja and I had written names on the Easter eggs, so the kids had to find the eggs with their own name on them. Each one had about 35- 40 eggs....except Mina and Abigail...they had about five. I think everyone had a great time, but Mike hid Stockton & Maysen's pretty hard. Next time I will have to pay attention to how many eggs are hidden. I think it would be nice to know when you have found them all.

The real star of the party was the little jeeps you could ride. The little kids had such pure joy shown on their face as they drove them around. Ella went straight for the swimming pool, but Brett ran after her and stopped the jeep before she actually went in. That was when I gave her a lesson on how to stop the jeep. She wasn't fazed at all and had a great time.

We didn't stay up late and play games tonight. We were quite exhausted. The Pirate game yesterday lasted until 2 in the morning! Matt won when I damaged Mike with a stormy seas card. Then I attacked a merchant and he ran away! Mike couldn't get him because he was damaged, so he sailed to Matt and ended the game. Matt was quite pleased.

Anyway, here are a ton of pictures from our awesome, awesome day!

Mina, Grandpa & Marie
Marie

Preston
Jorja
Stockton...his egg was at the bottom of the window well
Maysen & Mike...her egg was up a tree
Brett & Marie
Lincoln & Ella
Abbs & Ella
Max & Ella
Marie
That's all folks!