spa fun

 some photos from last night's photo scavenger hunt.  The kids had to do different tasks and take pictures of it.  the top picture is "stand on one foot", the bottom left is "let's get cookin'" and the right is "take a picture with a stranger." the kids had fun racing around and doing funny things.

 Zivers went to the spa today.  She looks so pretty.

 Hannah also went to the spa, for prom.  A BIG day.  She's never done the mani/pedi, pro hair and make-up etc for a dance but we've always talked about doing it for senior prom and here we are!  Crazy.

 of course it's no fun going alone so I got my toes done too.

 dishwasher still broken...luckily we have minions.

these two...my gosh, happy memories.  They were so cute.

Funny story.  Julie and I went out to lunch today to celebrate our birthday.  She's 7 days older than me:)  We bought each other the same present!  It cracked me up.  

mid of the week

I was working this morning and got this text of Moe and his diggers in the sunshiney backyard.  So fun!  

After school me and Han hung out on the bed, doing nothing. I'll miss that:)

But it's not all fun and games, eventually we have to get to work.  Hannah had to put away the clean dishes.  Clearly her prom dress was the best ensemble to wear doing it. (She looks like I imagine Princess Kate does doing her dishes :) )

Exciting news.  Jenna got accepted into Akron University's graduate program!!!  So proud of her!

Don't these bunnies look like baptismal oxen? Silly little herd?, troop?, pack? coven?? of rabbits.

picture day

Don't these little bunnies look like a rows of storm troopers marching along?  I went to Target today and need bunnies for the table settings on Sunday.  I'm looking forward to Easter.

Grace had her choir pictures today. She looked very pretty and it was fun to see all the kids dressed up and ready to sing. They have their competition in a couple of weeks, I am excited to hear them perform.

Sunday

We had stake conference today.  We went early because Rob is in the choir so we got to sit in the soft seats.  It was fun to see some friends and do a little visiting before.  The choir did a great job.  They sang a couple of my favorite hymns: "Come thou Fount" and "God Be With You".  The speakers were really good and it was uplifting.

and in other news:

WE ARE GOING TO ISRAEL!!!!!!

 I can't believe it.  I have literally always wanted to go, and frankly never thought I would.  But now we are.  In November and I am so excited!!!! Elated, ecstatic, and kind of shocked.  We are going with Nana and Abba and a tour group 💖 Can't wait!

Games

 Today was the first game day.  We won both games.  The first was 8-0 and the second 4-0.  Ethan played defence, which is not his favorite, but he played well and the team played well together.

It was really fun to watch!

Then we drove home...which took forever.  We stopped at Chili's for dinner and got home at 10pm.  The team will play tomorrow and they have a good chance of taking the whole tournament!

travel

 Friday we went to Laughlin NV for a soccer tournament.  It was a ton of fun.  First we had seminary.  Then I had to take Grace to the doc for her follow up appt.  Turns out she has something wrong with her knees and will be sitting out of PE for the next 12 weeks to let them heal.  She is thrilled!

Finally we were on the road and ready to go.  Our first stop was Barstow, for some very delicious burgers.

 Then we drove and drove and finally got there.  I had looked up fun things to do in Laughlin before we left and found several nice hikes.  We did one by some ancient petroglyphs.  It was very pretty.  Lots of boulders and a stream, little waterfalls and pretty flowers.

 We took shadowy pictures.

 and selfies,

 and found tadpoles.

 and caves!

 After hiking we went to our hotel, Harrah's, and enjoyed the beach and pool and sights and sounds of the casino, arcade, river and a million people.  Grace saw many of her friends and of course the boys team was all there.  We lost $150 on the buffet :) but Noah, Ethan and I ate our weight in crab legs so that's a better return than the slot machine.

 Boys wrestling.

 We were all in a good mood and excited for the games.

and the week continues

Hannah, Sister Tilden, Emily and Madi

 Last night we had a fun mutual night.  The priest and laurels met together and had a service race. We met at the McD parking lot and divided into three teams.  Each team got a list of tasks to do and one hour to complete as many as they could.  Each task was assigned a point value.  The youth went to different members homes and performed service.  They could wash windows (5 pts a window), walk a dog (40 pts), read a story to a little kid (also 40) or any number of other chores.  They could only do 2 chores per house so they had to really hustle.  When they got back we added up the scores (Emily and Jerry won with 300 pts) and got dollar menu treats to eat while we sat around and shared stories of our day.  It was pretty fun.

One more seminary day to go!  Rob and I are tired.  This morning we studied Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians.  Lots of good advice in there about how to stand strong and faithful.  At the end of the lesson I had the kids write something they could do to be faithful on a slip of paper and then we taped them onto the shield.  I brought marshmallows and nerf shooters and the rest of the class shot them at Em.  She had to dodge all those items with just one shield.  Then we talked about how doing those things once, or some times was good...but not good enough.  We had to do them all the time.  We had to endure with patience and persistence.  Then we added lots of armour to Emily and she was safe from the fiery darts.