Bike Ride

The weather is changing, and it's finally bike-riding time! It's one of the things our whole family just loves to do, and sometimes I just can't get enough of it! Last Saturday after repairing and cleaning our bikes a bit, the 5 of us rode to Dairy Queen for some ice cream. When we go on a longer bike ride like that, we usually let Kasidee ride in the bike trailer. But this time she wanted to ride her bike all the way. I was nervous that her little legs would get tired, but she was great! And she kept up with all of us! We figured it was 30 minutes there and 30 minutes back (about 3 miles total) and she did great with no complaining! What a trooper!

Grandma #90

April 15 was also my Grandma's 90th birthday! She had a party with some of her ward members, and then we had the Johnson family over to our house for Hawaiian Haystacks and to celebrate! What a special lady Grandma is to all of us - we are blessed because of her!

#15!

On April 15, Q and I celebrated our 15-year wedding anniversary (and 18 years to the day we first met!) Isn't that crazy?! Time just goes so fast - it feels like just a few years ago that we got married, but it also feels like we've known each other our whole lives!

Since our anniversary was on a Sunday this year, we decided to have a "Celebration Weekend" with our little family. We went up to Park City on Friday night and stayed overnight in a 2-bedroom suite. Sooo nice! We went out to dinner, swam in the pool and hot tub, watched HGTV, and slept in late. Saturday we had breakfast, swam some more, then shopped at the Outlet Stores and Park City's Main Street. We took our time coming home via Midway and "off-roaded" it a little in search of some cabins. (A dream of ours, someday...)

Sunday was church and then my grandma's birthday party (more on that later.) It was a busy day but we still carved out some time for us. Quentin made a slideshow of some of our old pictures - it made me cry to see how much time has gone by! But I feel so blessed to love this wonderful man I'm with, even more than when we first got married! And our girls thought the slideshow was great too! I gave Quentin a "yourmemorylane.com" picture - you can tell this company in Georgia your "love story" and they will make a handmade art print of special moments and times. I seriously have the best husband EVER! He has blessed my life more than he will ever realize!

April 15, 1997

April 15, 2012

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! I love Easter and the opportunity it provides for relection on life, the Gospel, new beginnings....

We had a nice program at church, then we went to Mom's house for strawberry shortcake (my fave!) We also did a little Easter egg activity (a tradition now!) that tells the Easter story found in the Bible.

Notes to the Easter bunny:

Spring Break Recap

We had hoped to take the week of Spring Break and go somewhere fun, but Quentin was only able to get one day off. At first I was bummed, but then I realized that it worked out for the best. We have been so busy the last few months, so it was really nice to be able to just stay at home. We planned a few fun activities for each day, so we had something to look forward to. Getting back in the routine this week has been good (I've been more productive) but I miss our time off - it sure makes me look forward to summer! So here's a quick recap of our Spring Break week in a few words and pictures:

* Checked out City Creek Center (rode Trax, went to the Salt Lake library, and ended up at Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner.)
* Met Mom and Grandma for lunch
* Kiera had 2 "late nights" with 2 different friends
* Makenna's friend had a water balloon party
* Finished Easter dress shopping for the girls (Kohl's makes it so easy! With sales, coupons, and Kohl's cash, I bought 3 girls dresses - retailing $128 - for 36 bucks. Wahoo!)
* Met our "old friends" that moved away for lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. Then we ended up seeing their new house and playing at the park for awhile. Good food, good friends, good times - what could be better?
* Took the girls ice skating and then for pizza
* Played with friends, did a little yard work, watched movies. Ahhhh....

On Trax:


At the Disney Store at City Creek Center:


Sophie and Kiera


Ice skating!

LOL

The other night I quickly ran to Walmart to pick up a few things we needed. I was grateful to be shopping all alone, but when I saw something that made me burst out laughing, I wished I had someone with me so I wouldn't look so funny laughing my head off all by myself.

So...are you curious what it was? We'll, I think "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" is a pretty lame name for a product. But what I saw that made me laugh takes the cake. Check it out - and this is not an April Fool's Day joke:

Sweet Anne

Friday night, Quentin and I joined my Book Club friends and their husbands for a date! We went out to eat and then watched "Hunger Games." Hunger Games was not one of our Book Club picks, but the other 6 ladies in the Book Club and 5 of their husbands had all read it, and we thought it would be a good excuse for an outing. Neither Quentin nor I had read the book, but we were excited to be with some of our closest friends.

Um...am I the only one in America that doesn't get this obsession with Hunger Games / Twilight / Harry Potter and other incredibly dark and disturbing movies? I knew going in to Hunger Games what the plot was basically about, but I figured there would be some redeeming quality of the movie, maybe some creativity or thrilling plot twist. But it was just a dark movie. And weird. And disturbing. Now, don't get me wrong. I was very happy to go on a date and to join our friends - we had a great time with our friends. But I guess I just don't understand why so many people love this stuff!

So...to sort of counteract the "darkness" that I was still feeling the next day, I decided I needed something uplifting and light. Watching Conference certainly helped, and when Quentin went to Priesthood my girls and I sat down and watched "Anne of Green Gables." When it started, I got tears in my eyes! I remember being about Kiera's age when my mom and I would watch Anne together - and here I was, passing on the love to my own children! Anne is simple and sweet (long and uneventful as some may say) but it is just what we needed!

Photo

Maybe Quentin has rubbed off on me a little, but I have found (especially since we got our new camera a few years ago) that I really like to take pictures. I laugh at Quentin for taking 100 pictures at a time, but I'm not that far off. I think it's fun to take the camera and capture a moment, or show a different perspective. It's a reflective "art." I love taking pictures of my sweet girls, my preschool kids, and I've been asked to be the unofficial photographer for Young Women activities. I love taking pictures, but I have to admit that I have no clue what I'm doing besides pointing and shooting.

So...I'm taking a photography class. Just one of the community classes, and it's only 2 hours a week for 6 weeks. But after just 2 classes, I am finding it's a little addictive. I am remembering a few things from my high school photography class (but that was with film and 35mm cameras), yet it is pushing me to learn. And it really helps that I get to attend with my good friend - someone that I can turn to and say, "Huh? Explain that to me!"

Anyway, each week we're supposed submit 1 or 2 photos demonstrating the concept(s) we learned the week before. All last week I was stumped about what to take a picture of. Then on Thursday afternoon when one of my preschoolers walked in the door and I saw her outfit, I knew I had a great picture. So when we had our playtime outside, I asked this little girl if I could take her picture - and I love how it turned out. Not only is this picture about this particular little girl (which shows her sweet, playful personality) but it's also about all girls, and the balance between playfulness/rough-and-tumble and frilly beauty....