Happy Easter

Isaac was so excited to color Easter eggs this year. I even put it on the calendar because he kept asking me every day if this was the day.

The Easter Bunny leaves us a surprise all over the house on Easter morning. The boys have figured out a system and only pick up the ones that are "their " color. So we're still finding leftover jelly beans.

Isaac received a Star Wars sticker book and spent hours over the next few days getting it just right.

Noah's becoming less of a morning person. Ha.

I was so happy to be able to have sugar on Easter this year that I ate several peanut butter cups before breakfast. Yummy!

In addition to the treats and gifts in their Easter baskets, the boys each got a new white shirt from Nana and Papa and a purple tie (Go Mesa!).

All Dressed Up

At the beginning of the year, the school district approved funds for the Taylor Junior High bands to purchase uniforms. We were so excited! The students were measured, the outfits ordered, only to have them arrive unhemmed. It seemed nobody had noticed that little detail when they were ordered. I ended up taking on the job of finding "hemmers" for the dresses and pants and coordinating the numbering and storage for them and the tuxedo shirts. What an ordeal! Over 150 items had to be sewn, ironed, hung, and cataloged. I am so incredibly grateful for the sweet ladies who stepped forward and spent hours and hours of time sewing for the band! Finally, at our March concert, all the uniforms were ready. Don't they look great?

April Fool

We enjoyed a relaxing April Fool's Day this year. It was on General Conference Sunday and we were so blessed by hearing the messages of our Church leaders. We spun a little twist on our normal April Fool's Day tradition this year. When we woke the boys up for breakfast, we served lunch. Then dinner for lunch, and breakfast for dinner. At dinnertime (breakfast) we played our traditional game, where each item of silverware, food, etc., is written on a slip of paper and you can only have use of the items you draw out. This year we added an additional challenge, with "chair" on one of the slips of paper. Nobody could sit down until they drew their chair!

Isaac was pretty happy to get a fork AND his sausage patty in the first round.

A little later, Noah was doing great with a chair, a knife, his sausage, a plate, waffle, whipped cream, and milk (with an actual cup to put it in).

Jacob drew strawberries and whipped cream, but no plate. He just couldn't wait until he drew a plate and so we get this:

It's all a little crazy but the kids request it now, every year. So fun!

Spencer's Tree

Shortly after we moved in to our home in Mesa, we were digging weeds out of the backyard. There was a big weed next to the swingset and Spencer begged us to let his "tree" grow. We humored him and quickly realized it was an actual mulberry tree. Over the years it has grown an enormous canopy that hangs over into the neighbors' yards. One Saturday in February, Jeremy rented a chainsaw on a pole to try and prune it back into a manageable shape. But we were a little overzealous. Under my direction we lopped off way too many branches.

The backyard was buried under piles and piles of trimmings and I started wondering if we had cut off too much. It took weeks and hours of labor for Jeremy to get rid of all those branches, but the poor tree still didn't show any sign of life. I prayed (literally, and often) that I hadn't killed Spencer's tree. I dug around it and fertilized it and watered it like in the allegory of the olive trees.

And finally, one day, we saw some tiny green shoots growing! We rejoiced and celebrated and thanked Heavenly Father for being merciful to our tree. It is starting to look as healthy and lush as it used to. We are grateful we will continue to have shade in the summer, and leaves to jump into in the winter (really).

Spanish Night

When we were trying to decide which night to go to the Easter Pageant this year, we discovered we were busy every other night but Spanish Night. After being in the pageant last year, we knew it was a less-busy night and thought it would make a good adventure.

We stopped at Carl's Jr. for a picnic dinner on the way. When we arrived, we found super seats right up front!

Jacob had many school friends in the pageant this year, so he invited another friend, Emilio, to go with us. When we picked up our translation headphones so we could listen in English, Emilio sheepishly told us that he wanted one, too. We laughed when he told us his mom is frustrated with him because he doesn't speak Spanish as well as she'd like. He loved the pageant and was very respectful of our "Mormon" ways.

It was really fun to watch with the perspective of being in the cast last year. We noticed new details and loved to point out friends we knew! The Heslops joined the cast this year and it was fun to see them, too. It's such a great experience!