7 for the last time...

Soren wanted a Dartside birthday party instead of a birthday gift.  

So thats what we did Thursday before his actual birthday. Pizza, friends and Nerf guns.  

All the boy were enthusiastic and happy, and really polite about saying thank you. I don't even know a lot of these kids so that was a pleasant surprise!

Miriam made delicious oreo cupcakes.  Darin brought her to the party to watch for a bit but then they had to dash off to yet another ballroom night at someones church.

Byron wasn't there for the group nerf photo, but he was there for all the action.

It snowed the day and night before Soren's birthday! It snowed the night he was born 7 years ago. As much as I dislike Snow in the late Spring I love when a snowfall sneaks in around Soren's birthday as a reminder of that day we met.

The birthday boy woke up Saturday (his actual birthday) to 7 balloons, a gift from Miriam and Byron and a birthday card from grandparents. Miriam made Creme Brule french toast with berries (We are all so lucky to have a cute early raising baker in family!)  The only chores on the agenda were showers, nail trimming, and cleaning bedrooms.  The no chores was more a function of me not feeling very well this week rather than a birthday gift but part of the big day nonetheless.  

Soren requested sushi and Waffle Love for this birthday dinner

Done

and done!

(Don't judge the Costco Sushi...he is 7 for goodness sake, we will spring for Makato when he turns 12)

Then off for 2 hours of ballroom dance photos.

The kiddos finished the evening by watching Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them while Darin mowed the lawn and I took a nap (this cold is kicking my trash!).

I am not having that "my baby is growing up" feeling yet...in fact I thought Soren was already 7 it feels really natural that he is really 7 now.  Soren at 7 is unique and decisive in his likes and dislikes. He is his own little person with a funny sense of humor and a darling sly smirk. In a lot of ways he seems like a grown up in a little body...but he still cuddles with me and his bear blankie so that keeps him little. Soren continues to loves music, karate, and swimming.  He just started a ballroom dance class that he is totally digging. He has a good sense of rhythm to go along with his easy laugh and witty sense of humor.
We love that guy so much! 

Bunny Hunt

These after Easter clearance flowers are beautiful and so cheap! 

But they stink SO BAD!  Why do Lillies smell so awful?? Everyone in the family at one point or another said "what smells so bad"...Miriam almost took an unnecessary shower thinking it was her, I finally moved them into the piano room since the only thing we do in there is play the piano.

Bad smells aside, we did get to do the Cousin Bunny hunt! 

Here are the hunters this year. A few have dropped out (went to Prom instead...lame) but we have a new addition with baby Parker!

I needed a closer one of the newbie....

 In other news....Miriam has been busy visiting Mutual nights because her ballroom team puts on performances for them in April and May.  Kinda hard to schedule around, kinda fun too though.  Depending on how the rest of my week is going I think its either a great opportunity or a huge burden. Gotta be honest, this week I am feeling burdened but it could have something to do with my Spring sore throat and earache.  Blagh! I love working with those little bugger eaters at the school but I wish they would keep their germs to themselves.

In bigger more exciting news we got to see Hazel officially adopted by Erik and Kelly!!

Easter

First of all....I missed most of the Health and Wellness Week activities, but we did start scooting to school again.  I love that.  The weather is so fickle though! It's a hit or miss thing.

Our Fridays are crazy busy at the moment.  I am running back and forth here and there the whole afternoon so all our Easter Prep stuff had to happen on Saturday.  Lots of eggs, bacon, and fish. Always fish for Easter Sunday. We had our last quart of grape juice, and dates too (the dried fruit not the event, although Darin and I had one of those too)....but veered from authenticity with the broccoli salad. Just because broccoli salad makes me think of Spring.

We made the kids clean, a lot, and then dyed eggs.  Rubber cement style and Cool Whip style.  Honestly, I didn't love the Cool Whip way.  Fun to swirl the paint, but bleck...too messy and then I didn't dare hide the eggs around the house for fear they would stain my furniture. Rubber cement for the win!

They turned out great though!

Byron and Soren had a Minecrafting playdate thanks to Darin, they boys had to wait for a time he would be home to make this happen.  Miriam went to a surprise bowling party for a friend.  Darin and I had a date with delicious smelly cheese, cashew salsa, and I don't even remember what kind of meat that was but it was gooooood.  We went to a friends Racelette machine pop up at Amore Cafe. 

Then we stopped by Trader Joes for a Saturday night kid treat and an Easter Dessert for tomorrow.

Hooray for the outfits we wore to Mark's wedding! We have had our Spring ensemble all ready to go since September. 

Miriam and I sang in church. Hard beautiful songs that make the whole choir nervous to attempt, but our director is a man of great faith.

Small Easter hunt right after church.  

The boys got Sushi Go! and Flip City in their Easter baskets (thank you Mark for introducing us) so Darin took over in the game department while I got dinner ready.  Miriam and Soren came in to decorate after Sushi Go!  They did such a good job, using flowers from our blooming cheery tree.  Miriam is our resident napkin folder, and I loved the side flower Soren came up with. He said he saw it once on a magazine cover.

A walk, some football tossing, basketball shooting, we ended the night with a treat, reading a chapter of a simplified version of Ulysses, and a family mindfulness breathing activity.

Sweet day. We achieved that perfect balance of making things special and fun without me running around anxious and exhausted.

Sweet day.

P-Town Trippin' (with the rest of Davis and Utah Counties)

While the rest of the Spring Breakers in the state drove on through to Moab we stopped in Price.

Cirque du Soleil style dancing for Erik's birthday BBQ. It was warm when were were working in Grandma's yard all afternoon, but turned cold during the BBQ so we had to bring it inside. This dance had to be choreographed twice...once on the trampoline and once in Erik's basement.

Carbon County isn't on Spring Break at the moment, and none of the cousins could ditch school this week because they are all missing the end of the week for a dance competition. 

But Grandpa ditched work to come along for an adventure.  

We did the Wild Horse part of the Little Wild Horse/Bell Canyon loop.

There were parts where we had to take off our socks and wade through some freezing cold water.

It was an adventure for sure. 

 We decided to stop, and have a snack at this point. The water would have gone up to Soren's waist so we turned back...which was difficult at this point because it was getting so busy with other Spring Breaker hikers!!  I had thought coming on a Tuesday would help with the crowd control...and it probably did a bit, but I was still shocked with the number of people there.  The weekends must be a madhouse.

Goblin Valley is too close not to stop by even though it was windy (just like every other visit I have ever made in the Spring).

This guy was all alone in the middle of all the goblins....no other vegetation in sight.  

It just delighted me. 

Then the kids scampered around.  I say this EVERY time we go, but we really do need to remember to bring walkie talkies so I feel more comfortable letting the kids wonder to their hearts content while I find a nice soft Goblin for shade and a wind shield. 

Byron could have used a couple more hours there but the rest of us were tired and hungry.

Dad took us to Ray's Tavern in Green River for juicy cheese burgers.  I think they are legit good burgers but I can't tell you for sure because everything tastes so fantastic after hiking in the desert. 

(this selfie was me showing my friend Ris that we were hanging in her hometown...Ris and I are total small town girls)

I loved driving with my dad, listening to his stories about the area. 

My parents and I went to my niece Ali's choir concert that evening.  Lots of the teachers I had in Jr. High are still teaching, in fact the choir teacher Mr. Hoyt's first year was my first year at Mont Harmon.  It was also fun picking out some of my classmates children.  I spotted Mary's little girl right away, we made lunch plans for lunch the next day.  So fun to hang out with my bestie from jr high/high school.  We were 40 going on 16 for the day.  

This girl is a determined little bugger when she wants to be. 

She spent the end of Wednesday, and half the day Thursday pulling out bushes in the back yard.

She is also taking care of a few neighbors pets for the weekend, and babysat for 3 hours.  If she decides she wants something there is no stopping her.  I forgot to mention that she made both the Musical Theatre class and Concert Choir before Spring Break while healing from hand foot and mouth, and then getting a cold.  She worked her tail off.

These boys did some work of their own.  My mom gave us a sifter while we were in Price so I put them to work.  They earned the shipping and handling to get ants for Byron's ant farm and a trip to Menchies that evening.

One of Byron's friends joined us for a hike up in the Centerville hills and then a whole afternoon of playing outside (with a bit of Minecraft thrown in). It looks like Thursday will be our last sunshine day of the break....so glad we took advantage of it!

We all came back a bit sun kissed.