Fun Times with Grandma and Papa

My parents were able to come out and visit us during the second week of April for a week. We had such a great time! We played hard while they were here.

The first day they came (their airplane arrived in the afternoon), we went to Wendy's for lunch. After Wendy's we headed off to the carousel at the mall. I forgot to take my camera, but we had a great time.

When we came home the kids were excited to show grandma and papa everything. Emmy showed off for them in her special pink cape with a fur collar. She would stick her little elbow out as she was turning a corner while she was running back and forth in the living room. It was too funny. I am bummed we didn't get a better picture of her running.Since the kids didn't get a nap that day, we decided to have a low key evening. The kids finished the evening by having grandma and papa read them the new Easter books grandma brought. Even though the picture of Ben below is by himself, he was read to many books by grandma and papa.
The next morning, we went downtown to the Peabody hotel to watch the ducks march. The kids, especially Emmy and Hyrum, thought the ducks were pretty cool and spent a long time watching the ducks swim in the fountain. The picture of grandma and papa below is one that Hyrum took since he wanted to take their picture.After seeing the ducks, we decided that since we were already downtown that we would meet Brandon and go out to lunch. Since the boys were wanting to ride the trolley, my parents took the kids on the trolley and I drove the van to the school. The boys loved riding in the trolley. In fact, Ben had his head sticking out the window like a dog. They drove by the school and Brandon say little Ben's head poking out the window. Emmy was worried about me the whole time while she was on the trolley. Hyrum was just content and pleased to be riding the trolley and enjoyed looking out the window.When we met up with Brandon we decided that we would have lunch at Central BBQ. It was fantastic. The kids did such a great job at the restaurant. I think it really helps having more adults then kids.

I have already posted about what we did that night on another post. You can read about it here. Also, I have already posted about what we did day three and four here.

The next day was a Monday and we headed off to a local park to try out the new bikes the kids got for Easter. The kids had a great time. They were so excited to each have their own bike to ride. We got about twenty minutes of riding in before it started to rain. Next, we decided to go the Children's Museum which I will post about in my next post.

Birthday Surprises

This year both Brandon and I planned surprise birthdays for each other. A little ironic, don't you think.

I had his friend Scott help tell his friends up at school and help a pick a night that would work well with school classes and other things going on. Everyone brought some food to share. It was a great night. We played some fun games. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. It was great to get to know everyone a little bit better.
L to R Boys- Matt, Jason, Scott, Brandon, Spencer, Mark, and Zach
L to Right Girls- Jana, Julie, Charlotte, Heather, Nikky

Just a few days after Brandon's party, my friends in the ward threw a surprised party for me. Their plans were a little foiled due to a make-up soccer game, but it was still such a fun night with awesome friends.L to R Back Row: Little Macey, Stephanie, Angie, Whitney, Jeanette, Starla, Angel, Heidi, Lisa
L to R Front Row: Rebecca, Me, Flor

Angel made a very yummy chocolate cake. Angel cut up the cake and then realized that they had not sung Happy Birthday to me yet. As a result, I got a candle with my piece of cake, I thought it was perfect! My friends are amazing! I truly have been blessed to have such great friends in the ward. My friends all pitched in and got me my own sewing machine. I did not have a sewing machine and they have heard me say that I wanted one. They even got me one that is handpicked by Martha Stewart. Now, I need some lessons on sewing and hopefully remember a few things from my beginning homemaking class I took at BYU-Idaho that was so traumatic. So I look like a dork in one of these pictures, but I think that it really shows my excitement for the sewing machine.Thanks again girls! It was a fun night.

Month of Birthdays!

As most of you know, Brandon and I celebrated birthdays recently.

The best gift, that I was able to receive for my birthday, was having my parents take time from their busy, busy lives to come see me. I have been really homesick and it was a treasure to have them come and see us.

We did the "Easter Bunny" on my birthday and went to the ward Easter party You can read what I did on my birthday day here and here.

The end of the day, my wonderful cute mom made dinner for me. She made round steak, mash potatoes and gravy, rhodes rolls, steamed veggies and a great fruit salad. Doesn't that just make your mouth water thinking about it? It was a divine dinner.

For dessert, of course we had birthday cake. The kids loved doing a practice blow after my turn.

After the kids went to bed, Brandon, my mom, my dad and myself watched Twilight. The Twilight movie was a gift I received from my birthday. I was shocked that Brandon and my mom watched it. My mom isn't into movies with any suspense in it all. She gets too nervous. I think Brandon watched it with me since it was my birthday.

For Brandon's birthday, after soccer practice, we went to Chuckie Cheese and had a great time. The best part was that it was free. I was able to find coupons for free tokens on string cheese packages. The kids had a great time.
Emmy loved riding in what looked like a princess carriage. She spent many tokens there until the machine broke. My guess is that it had too many tokens in it.

Shooting hoops with dad

After Chuckie Cheese, we came home for cake and ice cream. The kids,especially Hyrum, were so excited that it was Brandon's birthday. Emmy was running around telling Brandon Happy Daddy all day. Ben was also telling daddy Happy Birthday any time he saw him. It was too cute.

Hyrum was the official passer out of the presents. He loved it. Hyrum was so excited to give Brandon some pens for his birthday(pens for a gift, what can I say, they were nice pens and we are college students still). When he was giving Brandon his pens he was giving him instructions. I was trying to have him reenact what he was told Brandon in the video below. Too cute and funny!