Travis & Stephanie Evans Family: Spring Break and Collin's 7th Birthday

Spring Break gives me anxiety. Kids home all day is a recipe for disaster. And Collin's school tacks on an extra day off, the Friday before. I tried to be proactive and we started off with a morning at the library. It wasn't story time or anything, so we just checked out books, made ample use of the bathroom (my favorite) then ate lunch outside at the riparian reserve. That turned into a couple of hours outside, hiking, checking out the gazebo and exploring around the lake. They would take turns being the leader and I would be the pack camel when Olive's feet were too tired. We ran from bees and crazy field trip kids and chased ducks and rabbits. I tried my best to tell them that the dinosaur foot prints were not in fact real. They were not convinced. It was an adventurous, first day.

Saturday morning turned me into a giddy, school girl! It was finally time to make pies!! My Grandmother's pies were the BEST. I have tried for years to duplicate them (particularly the custard) but to no avail. Tutored by Grandmother, I've heard that my Aunt Judy's are just as famous. Well, this past year, Aunt Judy bought Grandmother's old house and moved back here from Virginia. She was super nice to let me come over and teach me her mad skills! Marcie came too and best of all... so did Grandmother!! It was SO fun to be in the kitchen with them, visiting while we baked. Grandmother even showed us how she made her signature crust. We were told that you could pick Grandmother's beautiful pies off a table full of dessert at a ward party.

We were also taught the beauty of crust cookies. My dad's favorite. You just sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on any extra pie dough and bake it. They really were super yummy.

Our masterpieces!

We slaved for over 3 hours and I loved every second. Being in Grandmother's home. Getting to know my aunt better. And learning how to make fat inducing indulgences. ;)

The second I got home it was time to pick up Lane and Rusty for Collin's birthday outing. He chose Fat Cats and Gecko Grill for dinner. We did 9 holes of mini golf (completed in about 9 seconds with these yahoos) and still had an hour before the movie. Oi! So we wasted $20 on arcades. What madness. We saw Zootopia. It was about a girl bunnie who wants to be a cop... pretty funny... but I guess the kids thought there was a few scary parts. Oops.

Shelley and Lindi joined us for dinner.

This goof ball was pretty stoked when the waiters poured outside to sing to him. Bet you couldn't tell.

His actual birthday was the next day on Sunday. I got Bosa donuts the night before so we could still make breakfast tradition. Then came the presents. Here's the great thing about Collin. He is good fun to watch opening presents. His face lights up before he even knows what's inside. And even if it's something he didn't ask for, he's usually really happy about it anyway. But if it IS something he asked for. Wait for it. His head will explode in joy. And that's exactly what happened when he opened the stuffed penguin. It's his favorite animal (because it can slide on it's belly, of course.) and he had mentioned he'd like one to sleep with. Amazon had the softest, cutest stuffed penguin for like $10. Score. He was over the moon.

Oh the joy!!

He also got a Nerf gun so he can have wars with Weston now and some chapter books, coloring book and nifty art set.

Normally Sunday birthdays are lame sauce, but he got to be sung to in Primary and got a big candy bar from the bishop. Our ward is pretty sweet. While Olive and Daddy napped, we went on a beautiful bike ride. Collin got to be the leader on his new birthday bike that he picked out a couple days ago.

He got to help me make his cake...from scratch, thank you very much! He wanted a lemon cake so we picked fresh lemons... from our neighbor's tree... don't stress, I asked. ;) And it turned out pretty yummy. It was our week to eat at Grandma Cats so all the Lindbloms sang him Happy Birthday. And since we forgot to bring the huge birthday plate and light up ice cube, he got to eat on that the next night. It was 3 days of partying for this lucky 7 year old.

A few things about Collin:

*He is finally starting to be helpful!! He loves to help out with Olive... make her happy when she's sad, get her things or play with her.

*He loves his cool dude haircut with the short sides and long top.

*His freckles are coming out in mad force now. I LOVE them.

*Still hasn't lost a tooth!

*Loves to watch Phineas and Ferb and Jessie

*Still has ants in his pants and struggles to sit still in school or Primary, but he tries!

*Still has a billion questions about everything and anything. Travis and I laughed talking about how he was 2 weeks past his due date probably because he was asking God, "OK, so what's about to happen here? Who are my parents? What am I going to look like? How long is it going to take? What color will my hair be? Will there be fruit snacks? .... Mmmmm, I'm not sure about this!!" Hahaha. True story.

*He does not like to go to sleep and is our early riser.

*He takes his own showers now! Yay!

*His favorite color is green.

*His best friend is still Lilly, but it's Howie at school.

*He loves to draw pictures, hide/hoard his toys under his bed and only wear pants because he hates his hairy legs. (And when I finally figured out that was the reason he refused to wear shorts I worked on him until I convinced him to wear shorts for a couple of days. And in those couple of days, two people commented to him on how hairy his legs were!!! Hahah, ohhhh poor boy. I felt so bad.)

*Collin is energetic and talks constantly. He runs fast. He worries about things. He questions things. And he is tender-hearted. He is very aware of me and how I'm feeling and acting. If I'm having a hard day, am yelling or crying or stressed, it bothers him. On more than one occasion, he's sadly expressed something along the lines of, "I''m sorry you're having a hard day, Mom. I feel bad for you. I feel bad that you always have so much to do and do so much for us." It always tugs at my heart. He is growing up, but he still likes hugs, snuggles and being close to me. And I'm SO grateful for that. I love you, my sweet Collinator.

Well, Collin's lemon cake didn't get touched because it was finally PIE time!! And ironically, the next day was literally Pi day.... 3.14. :)

Monday began actual spring break and we did nothing. Nada. Stayed home all day until Collin's baseball practice at 4pm. I did laundry, mopped the floor and picked up the house. The boys played with their birthday presents from Grandma, alternately building nicely and having meltdown crying sessions over the Legos not working right. Ugh. I loooove the 7 year old Lego tantrums. It honestly made his equal parts insanely happy and screaming mad. That goes for me too.

Since Monday was sort of lame I decided to up my game and attempt a zoo trip on Tuesday. It was just us and I kind of liked it that way. We got there not long after it opened and it was.... a zoo!! Haha. I figured it would be, but the long lines to get in were pretty annoying.

I ate aaaabout half a bag of kettle corn all on my own. "Lay off me, I'm starving!!" ;)

I packed us lunches and swim suits and we lasted about 4 hours. This picture of the boys just standing over the splash pad fountains, waiting to be sprayed in the face is so funny to me.

On Wednesday, Shelley invited us to meet her at Mesquite Aquatic Center. I love this place. They let you bring in outside food and drinks. It costs like a dollar to get in and there's a huge, zero entry pool area for the littles to enjoy, along with slides and a lazy river. We even splurged on Italian Ices. They complimented the pretzel and cheese from QT well. We love our cousins!

Collin had baseball practice again that evening and it lasted almost 2 hours. So it was Pizza Pie Cafe to the dinner rescue. (I don't think I cooked all week, come to think of it.) I can never go back to this carb coma establishment again.Woof.

Thursday morning we tried out the open gym at USA Gymnastics. This place is nice because Collin could go too. The kids ran around non-stop and never got bored. Olive's favorite was the "arm pits" as she called it. The foam pits, hehe.

THEN, drumroll please...... it was time to drive out to the Arizona Grand resort!!!! Shelley booked us a room for a fun stay-cation to finish off the week! My mom went in on it too which softened the $$$ blow. They really like to take you for all you got over spring break!

This was my first time at the AZ Grand and grand it was. It should have it's own zip code for heaven's sakes. Our suite was verrry nice. (But since sleep wasn't easy to come by that night, I'll just have to call it a very expensive nap.) We couldn't check in until 4pm so we hit up the pool for an hour or two before our grumbly tummies took over.

Aunt Chiladas is a restaurant on the hotel's property so you can just call a golf cart up to your room and they'll take you over. Lifestyles of the rich and famous over here, I tell ya. ;)

We played Headbandz with the kids, got the girlies down to bed and turned on a show when my mom and Craig showed up! And they brought ice cream! Welcome, friends. ;)

We started out the next day bright and early at the pool!! It was a sunny paradise! They have several really high "thrill' slides, a lazy river, wave pool and regular pool.

I'm not sure if I ate these or just rubbed them all over my face. *smirk* ;) Where's my pina colada?!

Collin took off for about an hour while a DJ played kid songs and initiated games for the young'uns. Free babysitting! Heck ya! He was right at home doing the whip and nae nae. ;)

Marcie came too and Travis and my Dad showed up in the afternoon after work.

Witness... the Great Diaper Escape!!!

These smiles. How they love each other!

Nap time!

We stayed until well past dark, soaking in the hot tub and marveling at the perfectness that is Arizona in the spring time.

Our final spring break activity was Weston's first baseball game on Saturday!! Ohhh was he READY!

This league is all about Saturdays so you have a 1/2 hr. practice then a game right after. So basically, they learn by doing. My favorite moment of the day was when the ball was hit to Weston and he was completely oblivious, just standing there. It rolled to a stop just feet in front of him and he did nothing. We started yelling, "Get the ball, Weston! Get the ball, Weston. WESTON!!! GET THE BALLLLL!!!!!!" I swear by the 6th or 7th shout, it finally hit him and he literally jumped in realization that he wasn't supposed to be doing something, then whipped to the left and right, looking behind him, til he realized it was right in front of him. OH what I wouldn't give to have that on tape!!! Luckily, he picked it up from there and it was actually amazing to see how quickly he caught on.

They award one player each game for great sportsmanship or improvement, etc. Weston was the first one to be recognized!! His pride was palpable.