This Is It

april 29th

friday...
darric got home early today, so before 4:00 rolled around, we were off to the kids' school for the carnival. once again we bought too many tickets. as soon as it gets busy, we take off. madi did the cake walk a couple times, but didn't win a cake. her and max tried to win a goldfish, but luckily didn't win that either. max ran a little obstacle course, threw a football, hit a golf ball. when he got to his teacher's station for the second time, he gave her three tickets to pick three suckers and all three of them won him a prize. madi did three too, but no prizes. we left and went to carabba's for dinner. it was good. 

(bubble blowing contest - they started with a brand new piece of dubble bubble and it took forever to get it soft enough. trying their luck at mrs. thorton's station)

easter weekend

saturday we drove out to pahrump for an easter bbq at my uncle rex's house. it was a little warm out, but nice in the shade. and thanks to grandma dee's tent, we had shade. almost everyone was there. i love it when everyone comes. ben and liz even came from seattle. david and cindy, rayanne and derrick, sandy and steve, calie and kyle, grandma dee, donny, my mom and dad and all of us kids and grandkids. heidi, her husband, andrea and chris. then rex and some of his friends. they were a bit boisterous (intoxicated).

{liz, ben, derrick and heidi - going to hide eggs}


{and the hunt begins}



{brody, max, madi and aunt sandy}

we ate and then the kids got to do two egg hunts. some of the chocolate melted in the eggs, but the kids didn't seem to mind. especially when they found money in their other eggs (and dinosaurs). madi ended up with $10. and max had $17. they enjoyed exploring the yard while the adults visited and enjoyed dessert.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 

sunday the kids were up at 6:30 but didn't complain too much when i told them to come back in at 7:00. the easter bunny brought the kids swimsuits, flip flops, a chocolate bunny, chalk, some robin's eggs and the girls got a notebook and max got pencils. 

{max and madi's goods. madi's swimsuits were too small and max's flip flops were too small}


{kenzie's goods. she thought she needed to try it out, even though she already tried them on. too bad she didn't try on her flip flops before, she got the wrong size - so they now belong to madi.}

that afternoon, grandma and grandpa carter, jesse and bennett, bill and dani, jan and dana, mandi and brian (and everyone's kids) came over to eat and visit. i made my aunt cindy's beans and darric grilled some hot dogs and brats. jude brought macaroni salad and cheesy potatoes, jesse made a yummy fruit salsa and cinnamon chips, dani brought her glorious pineapple + grapes and mandi brought sliced watermelon (i believe). we had carrot cake and bubble bread (the kids' bubble bread was shaped liked bunnies) mackenzie and madi put together the egg hunts. there were at least three of them and they kept the kids busy for quite some time. all of the eggs had numbers in them and the kids used them to purchase the little knick knacks that we bought. the girls had it all set up like chuck e cheese. they also made sold out signs.  

coloring eggs

coloring eggs. the same way we do every year. (i think it's time to try something new) to make it last longer, we only did one egg at a time. madi and darric wrote on almost all their eggs. i tried to go for the more vivid colors (again) while i made my carrot cakes. max's were muted colors (probably because he didn't want to wait that long). he ended up with a pretty cool polka dot one. kenzie had a flower dotted one. and both girls tried the colored salt, but it didn't work that great.
we had plans of eating the yummy hard boiled eggs, but kept forgetting they were in the garage fridge. 

spring break

let's start on saturday, april 16th...
kenzie and i went out to the old navy at town square for the 60% off swimsuit sale. we did some easter outfit shopping too. darric took the other two out to bass pro shops. we picked up capriottis/sonic for lunch. kenzie had a volleyball game at club sport at 5pm. they actually played a team that was decent. they still kicked their butts. which was awesome because their coach was a bit of a wench.

sunday, april 17th...
darric took the kids to the park. some of the guys from work were there too. there were some sport's challenges going on. between shaun and brian and then shaun and darric. shaun didn't do so well. i finished packing for utah. darric got home at the same time jodie arrived. we loaded up the van and headed out. stopping at starbucks and then mcd's before jumping on the freeway. when we got to st george, we went in to target to do a little shopping while we waited for the others to arrive. then we met them over at the cracker barrel. some how, jodie and i ended up driving the rest of the way with nine kids in the back.

the boys playing jump the river


raking up the weeds with the 4 wheeler


beckam LOVED the 4 wheeler. he'd put the helmet on and then just sit up on it.



the two scavenger hunt teams, minus jacob. he was with all the girls.



it was chilly outside, but he insisted on running around shirtless.

monday, april 18th...
we hung out at the house today. taking a little trip in to enterprise for drinks and a snack at marv's. the kids played and took turns riding on the four wheeler with dave. jennifer put together a scavenger hunt to keep the kids occupied for awhile. both teams were given a camera to take pictures of each item on their list. it took them a total of about 5 minutes. i made dinner tonight, taco joes. kenzie had made rice krispy treats for dessert.

tuesday, april 19th...
we drove into st george today to see hop. it took us awhile to find the right theater. about 5 seconds too long though, car-sick-grace up-chucked as we pulled into the parking lot. the kids enjoyed the movie. not one of my favorites, for sure. we stopped in veyo on the way back to get two of their pies. jodie got me a chunk of baklava too. it was pretty good. we stopped for drinks before heading back. chicken enchiladas were on the menu tonight and while they cooked, a mean game of 4-square was being played.   p.s. the veyo pies were delicious.

wednesday, april 20th...
we got up, got ready, had some breakfast and packed our stuff up. the kids played for a little bit longer. then we headed out. stopping in st. george at starbucks and marv's. we ate in the car before getting back on the freeway. the ride back wasn't too bad either. and as soon as we got home, we unloaded everything and i got the laundry going. we were excited when darric got home, but i think he was even more excited. 

thursday, april 21st...
madi and i got ready and went grocery shopping at wal-mart and then albertsons. on the way out of wal-mart, a homeless man asked if i had change and i shook my head no, as we kept walking to the car. around 11:00, we all left the house and went to in-n-out for lunch. we went inside to eat and it wasn't that busy. as we sat there, filling up on our burgers, fries and drinks, a homeless man came in and got a cup for water then sat down. i'm 99% sure it was the same man from wal-mart. the restaurant was filling up. and we were about done. i told kenzie to go give him some money. she immediately said no. all i had on me was 2 20's and a 1. we threw our trash away and i walked by him slipping a 20 under his arm so he could get some food (hopefully). i got a little choked up, so we hurried out the door. we went out to the cheap theaters and instead of waiting another 45 minutes, we saw rio in 3D. even though when they started the movie it was not in 3D and us and the lady in front of us were so confused as to why our glasses were not working. she went to complain and they started the movie over. in 3D. on our way home we stopped at the purple penguin for our first snow cones of the year. yes, we had to wait a little while in the wind and yes, it was worth it.

friday, april 22nd...
it's last hurrah week. so, we hit up winchells with a side of sonic drinks for breakfast. i cleaned the car out and the garage too. we had mcdonalds for lunch. the kids got the same rio happy meal toys they got last time. we had the yummy creamy chicken enchiladas for dinner. and then while i finished up baking two carrot cakes, the rest of the family started coloring eggs. darric thought you had to microwave the little plastic wrapper thing onto the egg. i think he knew what was going to happen. and because of that, he cleaned it all up. we tried to add some colored salt to the eggs, but that didn't turn out the way i was hoping. next year we need to try something a different. before bed, max had to practice his handstand push-ups and madi practiced her double unders (jump rope). 

   

reading week

madi and max had reading week april 11 - 15. they participated in the fun everyday. and everyday on our way to school, they would sit nervously in the car, searching for other kids that participated to make sure they weren't the only ones.

   
 

monday was crazy sock day - (max wore a pair of kenzie's black and white striped socks and madi wore a few different pairs of knee high socks) 

tuesday was sweatin to the oldies - (they wore their sweats)

wednesday was crazy hair day - (madi did her own creation and we just spiked up/out all of max's hair) 

thursday was western wear - (they wore the only boots and button up shirts they had)

friday was pajama day - (kenzie felt a little left out)

instead of poem in your pocket, this year they did song lyrics. madi did lady gaga's born this way.

recently

+ darric turned 35 on sunday. he got up early to go run a hill with warehouse mike. later that afternoon, his parents made chicken wings, cheesy potatoes and cupcakes for all of us. the kids got to do play-dough with grandma.

+ for part of darric's gift, i got him the first season of he-man on dvd. max has been watching it non stop.

+ kenzie has pulled out two teeth lately. and between the two of them, i'd say she spent a total of 90 minutes to get them both out.

+ speaking of teeth, all three kids had a dentist appointment monday. teeth look good except a piece of max's back tooth chipped off. rapp said it should be fine. friday, the girls had an ortho appointment. we made an appointment for kenzie to get her top braces on (she is very excited). madi will wait another year or so.

+ i took madi to hancock fabrics so she could get some more yarn and knitting needles. she paid with the leftover birthday money she's still hanging on to.

+ kenzie had a sleep over with her friend markela on friday. they had ihop for dinner and crepe shack and waffles for breakfast. and now she's begging us to take her to get more crepes. (they do sound pretty good)

+ kenzie beat her last mile time in pe. this week she did it in 8:34. she also brought home a straight A report card. 

+ max read are you my mother. all 64 pages. and didn't get mad once. he had to spell a couple words to me that he got stuck on, but that was it. 

regarding...

{volleyball}
kenzie had a volleyball game last saturday. grandma + grandpa carter joined us. her team did good. the other team... well, it was full of a bunch of newbies. so they got their butts kicked. this saturday wasn't much different, except grandma + grandpa steward came to watch. :)

{pandora}
christina perri radio is my favorite. don't know if it's an actual "station" but i like it.

{blurb} 
i got three more books printed. and i love them all. this time i did jan-jun 2009, jul-dec 2009 and 2009 vacations (hawaii + bryce canyon).

 

{weight loss}
well, actually weight gain. i have gained all of my weight back. when i opened the blogger's night out photos in the email and saw myself, i wanted to cry. well, boo-hoo. i'm done being mad/sad at myself about it. because being mad/sad about it usually means shoving something chocolate-y in my mouth (a lot of good that does). i went and signed back up at LVAC and i'm ready to go back.

{max + school}
since we've had the principal meeting, he's been doing pretty good. he gets 10's almost everyday. there was a 5 and a 6 that made us realize we weren't out of the woods yet. but, we're getting there. 

{angry birds}
the other day max wanted to make an angry bird out of an egg. so i was over the sink, blowing egg guts out of a tiny hole. i ended up drawing and coloring the angry bird face and that night duke knocked the egg off the counter. it was cracked, but not broken. the next morning, max dropped it and broke it into pieces. madi decided to make her own angry birds/pig. i thought they turned out pretty cute. 

blogger's night out

  

 

jennifer and i (jodie was in spain) had a great night saturday night. candace from sparkle power went with us to the district to meet up with 8 other bloggers that live in vegas. there were 8 blogs being represented. whipperberry, 3 little birds boutique, kiki creates, she paperie, sparkle power, eighteen25, remarkable home and jeanna hayes studios. first we went to magnolia lane. they provided a light appetizer and then each blog got some of the store's favorites (a necklace, candle, bath salt, lip balm). our next stop was downeast basics. each blog got a $25 gift card to spend in there. they have some really cute clothes and even cuter necklaces. i got 2 and a pair of earrings. dinner was next. rachel's kitchen. we sat outside to enjoy our meal and conversation. it was beautiful out. a little more breeze than we needed, but still a lovely evening. especially with the twinkling lights strung throughout the trees. and talk of celebrity crushes. jason from choffy came to let us sample their product. heather made a cake and cupcakes with the choffy. the cake was divine. :) we gathered some benches together to continue our fun evening after our time was up at dinner. it was so great to meet all of these bloggers in person. i had a lot of fun and can't wait to do it again very soon. 

photos from jeanna hayes that we posted on eighteen25....

p.s. we each got a swag bag full of goodies provided by the bloggers. so many lovely things. our (eighteen25) product didn't arrive in time and we felt a little bit like losers. that's ok. next time we'll redeem ourselves.