April

Tis baseball season! Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles... the boys are on the SAME TEAM!! Hip hip hoorayyyy!!! 

The stinky part is that now that Collin isn't at ALA, we don't fit in the boundaries of our previous league. The league that had their fields 5 minutes from our house. Now we are in the Gilbert National League with fields 20 minutes away. Ah well. They ARE nicer fields at least. Between twice a week practices and once or twice a week games, we are living, breathing, and eating baseball!

One Wednesday afternoon we got word that Scarlett had swallowed a quarter and it was stuck in her esophagus. Sooo scary. Poor Marcie had the trauma of her new motherhood career. Luckily, it all ended well with a successful surgery to remove it and not even an overnight stay at the hospital. But in the meantime, someone needed to be with sweet Landon! I got the privilege! Being in their house with diapers, burp rags and bottles abounding, I was having flashbacks to my own past. And what will soon be my future! We'll see if I'm ready for it. When Landon had a crying spell, I felt cold anxiety creep into my chest. I'm not exaggerating, I'm certain I have legit PTSD from my colicky babies. Newborns pretty much terrify me. I had a meltdown the next day and have been pushing away the anxiety since. The fear is real. Heaven help me, there's no turning back now!

The strangest afternoon where Olive fell asleep on the way to baseball practice and would NOT wake up. She was conked. I don't think she's slept on me like this since she was a baby. And maybe not even then, haha. It was a sweet hour of cuddling, enjoying the beautiful April weather.

Easter Pageant time!! Our awesome Daddy went to save seats right after work on a Friday and got us 4th row!! Yayy! I came with the kids after school got out and we ate our gourmet Taco Bell and Ned's on the lawn. Waiting in hot anticipation for the Shaheens to arrive. They finally got there 45 min. before it started. The kids soaked up their limited time with their favorite friends!

Except for poor Olive! Steel was fast asleep and she was crestfallen. She just stared at him like this for at least 15 minutes while Megan and I talked. Broke my heart!!! She wanted to play with her little buddy so bad!

Love this pageant so much!! It was the perfect start to our Holy Week!

Saturday night our parent's had their ward Spring Carnival at Cardon Park. We were under the impression that Dad was being honored at it for his service as bishop, but I guess he put the kibosh on that. So the kids had fun anyway chasing the turtles, riding the horses and trying goat's milk. Weston liked it!

We celebrated Easter a week early at my mom's house. The usual Easter dinner food and hotly anticipated egg hunt! The kids pouring out of the house to get the eggs is always the best part to me. Major moo-lah is on the line so I think even the parents get a little excited for this. ;) 

Tomatoes again?! Hahahaha! Broccoli, cheetos and asparagus were all on the menu. I love watching the younger kids open those eggs slightly puzzled. They are expecting sugar so they tentatively give whatever veggie a bite. Then make a face and toss it! 

Rusty was the big winner, finding the $100 egg AND a $50! Weston snagged the other $50 and a $20. Everyone got at least some $5's and $1's. Richy rich kids! 

This Holy Week seemed to go better than any others we've had. The kids are getting older and able to participate more in the discussions. They know what to look forward to and are remembering a lot of the stories we've taught them in past Easters. 

The Triumphal Entry!

Our donkey is a good sport. ;)

Probbbably their favorite activity.. sugar cube temples to go with Jesus cleansing the temple.

Regular life still goes on during Holy Week!

This was Collin's first Pine Wood Derby. When Travis asked him if he wanted a fast car or a funny car, he responded with funny car. Are we surprised?! And he definitely got lots of attention for his awesome hot dog car! 

He has the BIGGEST cheering section of any boy there! What wonderful grandparents and aunt to make the time to come support him!

That first race was very exciting!! Unfortunately, he got last. :( Luckily, there was a Cubmaster car that lost every race so occasionally Collin got to come in 3rd on a race. It was kind of sad to watch but we just had to chuckle. Not everyone gets to be first! By the end, Travis tried fiddling with the wheels a little bit and adding more graphite. It got a bit faster, but still lost. After one last adjustment, he was in the FINAL race of the whole night and we all watched in amazement as he WON!!!! I think our whole row just fell over laughing. His face was pure shock. We cheered and laughed and cheered some more, quickly pulling out our phones to document the score board. It was so fun to end the night that way. One victory seemed to make it all OK. :) 

Weston's Let's Play Music teacher moved even FARTHER away from us. Ugh! At least she now lives right by this awesome park. I love that Collin suddenly loves to read! Ok, they are comic books, but still. He's on the path. ;)

Due to scheduling conflicts, we celebrated the Passover on Wednesday night instead of Thursday. I threw in the towel on the lamb and went with just fish instead. The kids even got fish sticks! The favorite item is always the hard boiled eggs though. 

Our lamps were kind of a disaster this year! Weston's cracked and leaked oil all over and Collin's caught fire. Ha! 

We invited the Rogers over and I was so impressed with their kids. While I was teaching them about the Passover they sat so reverently and answered questions and even knew quite a bit... I think because of the Prince of Egypt movie. (I need to get that!) Our kids are all the same ages so they played great and it was a lot of fun spending time with them. Passover success!

I die!! Cutest bunnies!

Olive and I had a fun afternoon going Easter dress shopping! I had wanted a picture of my kids with the Easter bunny this year and lo and behold, one was out at San Tan mall!! Only, Olive was instantly scared and made it very clear she wanted nothing to do with him! When I saw that the picture cost $27, I didn't push it. WHY do they charge so much?!! So annoying! So this is the closest she got to the Easter bunny and it was even hard to get her to turn her back on him for the picture, lol. 

I have searched and searched for a pretty Easter dress (something more than your typical, simple dress) and I finally found some options at Dillards! We had a fashion show! She really wanted the pink one but I talked her into the first one with lace and roses. It was poofy and sooo darn cute. 

We needed to go to Deseret Book after that so we got some lunch at Mod Pizza. I glanced up to see the temple in the background. It's like living in Nauvoo, haha. I love Gilbert. 

Grandpa's birthday! We brought donuts and visited for a bit. Sure glad he's made it another year with us. He's usually not in good health, but this past month has been particularly bad. His vision has been blurred and even gone and he's had awful headaches causing hospital visits. They even suspected he had testicular cancer, and ended up removing one, just in case. Turns out he didn't have cancer. Big ooops. But the surgery still seemed to benefit him. Here's to hoping he has a better year!

Since it was Good Friday and there wasn't any school, we met Shelley and cousins at Fat Cats to see Baby Boss. Ohhh boy. Me and kids movies. Not my fav combo. Travis wasn't working because the office is shut down to start the REMODEL!! They are placing the tile this weekend. I'll post before and afters in a few weeks! We also had Dolly in the shop for repairs so our whole family traipsed around town for the day in Ol' Dirtay. Nice and cozy. The kids all snuggled up in the backseat either annoying each other or us. By the end of the day, I escaped to Marcie's house just to get away from Collin. I'm going to be the besssst mom this summer.

Cuz she's the cutest baseball cheerleader ever!

This will also be remembered as my favorite game yet. I'll see if I can do it justice in writing. You see, out of 13 boys on the team, 2 of them are named Jack. So naturally, they add the first initial of their last name when referencing them. Well. One of these Jacks has Song as a last name. You following? So at this particular game, I was snuggled up next to the dugout, seeking out the last bit of shade. Travis was out on the field helping coach. Another dad was in the dugout, keeping order. This dad also happens to be Indian. As in... from India. And he was shouting out the names on the roster for batting. When it was Jack Song's turn to bat I suddenly hear in a loud, thick accent, "JACK ESSS!!! JACK ESSSS!!!! You're up to bat! JACK ESSS!!!!!"

My eyes went wild as I simultaneously bust up giggling (trying not to be TOO immature about it) and glance around to see if any other parents are paying attention. Especially Jack S.'s mom! 

Well, it doesn't end there!!

Jack S. goes up to bat and the whole team joins in the dugout shouting encouragment in the form of the familiar baseball chant, "LET'S GO, JACK ESS, LET'S GO!!! LET'S GO JACK-ESS, LET'S GO!!!"

Oh my gosh!!  I can't!!! It was SO funny!!!! Poor, unfortunate Jack, hahaha. I pulled my phone out just as Jack got a hit and the boys stopped chanting. Darn it all! 

Fortunately/unfortunately the other Jack's last name doesn't start with "A". ;)

We got to face off against cousin Adele's team one Saturday!

Josie came to town!! Best yet, she made it out to see us during the day! This is not to be taken lightly. She NEVER feels well enough to get out of the house.  I was so excited!! Her cousin had a huge boutique going in the field next to my parent's house so first we did some sun bathing by the pool, then ventured over to the boutique. Being able to spend a few hours with her just doing regular old Saturday stuff was WONDERFUL. I wish this could be an everyday occurrence. 

That same evening was the Evans Easter eggs-travaganza! First the egg hunt, then the egg bash!

I wanted to set out the Easter baskets on Saturday instead of Sunday, but just plain forgot. So then I wasn't going to put them out until AFTER church on Sunday, but figured what did it matter? Whether they got them first thing in the morning and thought about them all through church or got them after church and thought about them all through church... twas the same. 

They are always leaping out of bed in the morning until Sunday. 8am church seems to induce sleeping in. Not even the Hosanna Chorus could get these guys up! 

I always say I'm going to scale back on the baskets. And yet every year they are bigger than I want. 

They got a chocolate bunny (York Peppermint bunny... the way to go!),  new swimming goggles, a swimsuit, colored pencils, a container of gumballs that should have been in their Christmas stockings but I forgot about them, a Cadbury egg and just a little bit of other random candy. The Easter bunny left Trav and I some movies. ;)

Church was nice, of course! But are you ready for our Easter miracle??!!

During sacrament meeting I was fishing around in my purse for something when I pulled out the ziplock bag of hard boiled eggs from the egg roll last night. (Leave it to me to forget eggs in my purse!) The weirdest thing though..... this was my egg that got smashed in the egg roll. And we laughed last night specifically at where it cracked... right on the heart! There was a definite dent and crack directly over the heart last night. But the next morning..... NO crack!! I'm not making this up! Travis guessed that something about the temperature of the egg getting warmer must have expanded and straightened out the dent. Perhapsssss. But I like better the thought that my love for Travis could never be broken!!! :) 

We had our traditional Easter brunch at the Mesa Cemetery next to Travis's grandparent's graves. I felt better organized this year and our lesson was going rather smoothly compared to years past. We went over the week and what we had learned each day. I asked questions and showed a short video. Then we got to the meat of it. WHY we always come to the cemetery. The symbolism of Christ rising from the grave meaning that we ALL will be resurrected one day.  We talked about what this means for mankind. That we will have perfect bodies. That Grandpa's withered leg will be whole and he will walk without a limp. That their cousin Matthew will be able to talk to them and run and play with a healthy body. I was bearing my testimony and the mood was very serious and thoughtful. That's when our normally oblivious Weston seemed to have an "aha moment"! 

He had been fidgeting with grass, seemingly not paying attention when he whipped his head up and with excited eyes, added, "Yeah! And also, Grandpa... he will have TWO (holding up his pointer finger on each hand) testicles again!!".

Um.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Travis and I didn't even make eye contact. I immediately put my face in my hand, pretending to rub out my temples while biting on the inside of my cheeks to keep from losing it. Travis turned completely around, holding his breath and snickering quietly. Ohhhh my gosh!!! The innocence of children!!! They of course had NO idea anything funny had been said. I give us props for holding it together. After a few moments I was able to nod my head with a straight face and acknowledge his comment as being helpful, while darting eyes at Travis. Ohhhh, these are the moments. Parenthood really is so great sometimes!

AW! These sweet faces. I love them so much. I'm so grateful for my Savior and this time of year. Every moment I take to testify and teach of Him, strengthens my love and testimony of his life and sacrifice. The church's Prince of Peace videos were especially touching. Not every trial will be taken away, but we can still experience peace through Him.

I didn't trust my memory of how to get to my grandparent's graves, but Travis knew the way! And Molly and her family happened to be there as well. She pointed out that today makes exactly one year since Grandmother passed. That's hard to believe. But wow, how special! Her one year anniversary gets to be on Easter. That's something to smile about. My memories of her are still fresh and vivid. I can hear her voice and feel her love even now. I hope it stays that way.

My visiting teacher brought me this Lamb of God CD earlier in the week and I was instantly captivated by it. It's a musical produced by Rob Gardner that goes through the Savior's last week of life. The music is BEAUTIFUL. I found myself crying in my car, listening to it, multiple times that week. I decided that should be the neighbor gift this year, but Deseret Book only had two copies left. So two neighbors got these pretty flowers and CD. 

Apparently, this was the hit poster to make this year, according to Staples. They were out of the larger poster paper but now I'm glad, because the smaller size was still really big AND able to be laminated. Made for a nice visual to add on to throughout the week.

Collin scored with a free Bahama Bucks punch card at Grandma Cat's Easter egg hunt! He thought it was used up "money" until we explained how punch cards worked. ;) 

FHE treat, here we come! 

Collin got a large. Oh happy day!

Sooo CHECK this out!!! A lady in our ward posted on the ward Facebook page that she had a box of unopened Living Scripture DVD's that she was going to sell for just $100. This is literally $2,000 worth of media!!! I know, because I have checked their website COUNTLESS times and always talked myself out of it. Just too expensive. And they never do sales!! I couldn't believe my good luck!!! It was like Christmas day! I hurried over there to pick them up before she could change her mind! ;) That night at a Relief Society activity I had several women comment to me how they hoped I knew how lucky I was and how sad they were that they hadn't seen the post first! Woohoo!! I'm doin' celebratory arm circles over here!!

The second to last weekend of April we FINALLY made it up to Gallup to visit the Shaheens!! We have been trying to plan this since January, but something always gets it in the way. This weekend would have been no different... there was an overnight rafting trip for the men in our ward that Travis wanted to go on, Weston had a b-day party and both boys had a baseball game, but the Shaheens won by a landslide! We drove up Friday evening and pulled in around 9pm. It happened to be Megan's birthday! It was fun getting to sing and have birthday cake with her. I brought a dozen buntini's from Nothing Bundt Cakes (one just opened up by our house!!!) but I'm thinking it would have been better for my cellulite if I had never entered that store. I'm hooked! The white, white chocolate?? Oh hunny. 

The kids played til way too late and we talked just as long. It was so FUN getting to see their new, gorgeous house in all it's decorated glory! I didn't want to be a creeper and walk around taking pictures of everything, so here is just a taste of the custom fineness. White EVERYWHERE. Not a light fixture, molding, faucet or handle isn't custom made. Staying at Hotel Shaheen was luxury at it's finest! 

The next morning we had breakfast at The Plaza. I'm SO made we didn't know about this place when we lived here! This food was amaze balls. 

The French Toast was unlike any I've ever had. I don't even understand how they made it, but I ate every bite with gratitude! Mmmm Mmm!

The rest of the day we pretty much just hung out! We thought we'd go to McGaffey but between Ivy's nap and Bron's priesthood leadership meetings (it was stake conference weekend) it didn't end up happening. Completely fine by us! Their backyard isn't landscaped yet so they had a ball in the dirt, exploring around and catching lizards. 

This picture has my heart. It will be great in their wedding video. Collin's smile is the cutest thing ever to me!! These two are so alike. (Except Lily is tougher, haha) 

Megan was so super nice and offered to do my nails. She always pays such close attention to detail and is a perfectionist! If the Asian ladies took 1/2 the time she did, I'd be hooked on this guilty pleasure! I love how they turned out!! So pretty!

Weston and Rubes! They were so proud of their puzzle making. I love how we hardly even saw the kids, they were just off having fun together. Just so sad I never got any good ones of Olive and Steel! Even with as rough and tumble as Steel is and as girly as Olive is, they still love each other!

Another sweet one! Megan is queen of arts and crafts. They were so spoiled getting to sculpt, paint and be creative!

Don't think Megan and I didn't have some fun of our own! Can you believe this life size doll house they made in the crawl space of the girls' bedroom??!!! Insane!! The details!! Each room is wallpapered differently. The furniture and bedspreads are handmade. They have their actual family pictures in bitty frames in the living room. AND a mini Christus statue on the end table!!!!! The area where I'm sitting is split into a hair salon and school room. They had their tile guy use real, nice tile in the hair salon. Oh, and Megan's sister sewed a dress for Lily's doll that matches her actual baptism dress!! Is this real life?! 

That evening they got a babysitter for the kids so we could go to stake conference and out to dinner. I had been missing my Fratelli's alfredo fries!! Believe it or not, it was actually really nice to go to conference too. We got to hear a friend give a talk and see the stake presidency and many other ward friends. We felt the love!

Sunday morning, I slept in til 8am and woke up to Megan's homemade biscuits and gravy. She had lunch already started in the crockpot too. I felt like the kid and my mom was taking care of me! We grabbed the Primary room to watch conference in which really took the pressure off having quiet kids. Megan was prepared with a bunch of Where's Waldo books and bags of cereal for them. It worked to keep Travis busy too. ;) They pair off so perfectly!

Back at the house we had yummy taco salad and salted, peanut butter brownies and savored our last couple of hours together. It went by so fast and I wasn't ready to say goodbye. I think the kids were sadder than we were though. A week and a half later we were driving in the car and Collin emotionally exclaimed out of nowhere, "I'm going to CRY I want to go back to Gallup so bad!!!!" He has lamented our move every couple of months since we left. I hear ya, Collin. I hear ya.

This girl has one more month of dance until the summer! She has loved every class.

Dad's lesson on putting on the armor of God was a hit. 

Literally. ;)

Grandma Cat made it out to a ball game! It was nice, windy weather that evening. Olive enjoyed her special snuggles on her lap too. 

I'll admit it. Snap chat filters make me feel so much better about myself. Darn Rachel for getting me started on them. I might actually take dog ears coming out of my forehead for those big, sparkly eyes and heart shaped face, lol! 

I am so tired of always feeling anxious about Olive drowning. I don't know why I haven't had her in swim lessons all year, but I finally signed her up at EVO. She LOVES it!! She's a natural fish and thinks it's the most fun she's ever had. At her first lesson she couldn't stop shrieking with happiness. At one point she popped out of the water, turned to me far across the pool and shouted with all the glee a 3 year old could muster, "MOM!! I'M SOO HAPPY!!!!!!" I think the whole room giggled. 

Still love doing her hair!

The last weekend was Father's and Sons. So Olive and I got Simi's Cafe and met Marcie and her kids at Harmony park. It was a WINDY one! We nearly got blown away. But the girls didn't seem to mind. We lasted as long as we could, then piled back in the car to get DQ and visit Jefferson. He had cut his thumb really bad at work on Wednesday and ended up in the ER with stitches. It was fun to see him and get the full story on the accident. So grateful it didn't cut his bone. 

Normally, I'm all nerves when Travis is out of town, but after I got Olive in bed and an episode of Hart of Dixie down, I was out for the count. I can probably thank the ever loving fatigue of pregnancy for that one.

Saturday was a busy one! Olive and I drove to North Scottsdale for one last ditch effort at the Potato Barn. I have been searching for a bed frame since last fall!! I found my dream bed online but turns out it is a custom order that you have to go through a designer for. I tried that, but after months of figuring things out, is was just too expensive. *sob* Maybe one day money won't be an option. 

Anyway, nothing at Potato Barn.

So then we went to Home Depot to get paint samples and spent some time at Trav's office, painting swatches on the wall. While it dried, we drove to Jalapeno Bucks for lunch. (Holy line, Batman.) But I must admit, that pulled pork sandwich was pretty darn good. So was the green chile burrito I got to save for dinner that night. 

Back to the office to take pictures, then to Grandma's for a little swim. Marcie was there and when I showed her the paint samples she reminded me of another one I forgot. Crud! So back to Home Depot we went and BACK to the office to add that color. Made another quick trip to the grocery store before finally getting home 7 hours after leaving that morning. We watched TV, walked to the park and she was in bed before the boys even got home. They had come home from Father's and Sons while we were out, then left again to make it to the Diamondback's game. It was Little League night so the boys got to walk on the field with their team. 

Trav said it was COLD that night. Weston slept soundly but Collin was up several times worried about wolves or footsteps he thought he heard. Bless their Daddy. Camping with kids is not the easiest. But he did say they loved it and had a great time. 

Weston's dirty face has fun written all over it!

They had strict instructions to take pictures and Travis was obedient. :)

Travis said that when they drove into camp on Friday it was cute because the boys were SO excited that when they realized they were there, they started hollering and shouting and HUGGING each other!! Haha! He didn't get his phone out fast enough so he made them reenact it the next day. ;) 

The game started at 5:30, but they had to be there at 3:30pm. And they didn't get home until after 9pm! Quite the long day they had! They lost to the Rockies, but I think the whole experience was a win for them anyway.