No Doubt at the Vegas Sphere

Let me tell you how great the last couple days have been, but to do that, I need to go back a few months. Back in October, I found out No Doubt (like my most favorite band when I was younger and became super obsessed with; like when they "broke up"/stopped making music I was legit mad at the person who told me and didn't want to talk to anyone for a while) was coming back and performing a few nights at the Sphere in Vegas. I FREAKED out and immediately signed up for the presale alert. I had been texting a few people about it and there were rumors that tickets would be about $400 each. I wasn't sure if I was okay with that, but I figured I had to at least check it out. Once the Presale hit, the tickets ended up being $800!!! I thought NO WAY do I want to spend that much. For one, I've seen them a few times and it's not like they'd have new music to play so it wouldn't be TOO different. As much as I'd love to see a show at the Sphere, I'd also have to pay for a way to get down there (gas if I drive, or a flight if we didn't) PLUS a hotel. It just seemed like it would be a lot and I didn't NEED to spend that. Now, saying nevermind was super hard to do. 

Then came November, and Stace (aka the best person ever!) found out that they extended their stay in Vegas and tickets went down to only $200 each. We immediately jumped on that and got our tickets. We talked about if we wanted to stay in Vegas for a bit or just go for the night, but with dance stuff coming and all the other things going on, we decided it would be a super quick trip. We'd fly down the day of the concert, check out the city for a bit, eat dinner, go to the show, and then fly out the next day.

So now fast forward to Wednesday, the 27th. We got in okay, and immediately had to figure out how to get an Uber. Stace usually does it on her phone so we stayed with that, but she scheduled it right as we landed so then we had to RUSH to get our bags and get out to the rideshare pickup area (which was a feat, it was so mislabeled, in my opinion). Then we realized we gave them the wrong airport (how many airports can a small area really have?) so we had to cancel that and get a new one, but still got stuck paying half price for the first one (grr!). We finally got that figured out and got to our hotel. I originally thought we were in a new hotel (it was called The Strat, I didn't realize The Stratosphere just rebranded). They do, however, have a new hotel being built that is guitar shaped. Apparently Hard Rock is doing so well that they bought out one of the other failing hotels and is getting a new one. Tell me I'm not the only one who is shocked that Hard Rock is doing THAT well!

We got unpacked and then headed out for lunch at some random hole in the wall burger place (like they didn't have multiple menus, just one paper on the counter of the ordering area that only had like 4 options to choose from). We didn't want to fill ourself so we both split a burger and tater tots. Not bad, not the best though. We decided we'd check out the aquarium because we both remembered it being really cool on previous trips we'd taken. We got tickets to that and to the new monorail they have there (which proved to be super helpful and time saving for us! We really got use out of the 24 hour pass we got). Turns out the aquarium really isn't that cool. It was much smaller than I remember (though they were doing some renovations, so maybe that's why?). We spent $30 on tickets and only spent maybe half an hour walking through it, so we decided to walk through a couple times to really get our moneys worth.

We ended up doing a lot of walking around (and with Stace, that means a lot of really fast speed walking...I don't think she does well in crowds, haha). I thought we'd be going back to our room, which I needed because my phone was about to die and I didn't bring my external charger. Stace thought we'd just walk around until we went to dinner before the show, so there was a bit of confusion for a bit. We ended up hitting up the No Doubt Experience area to check that out (which was cool, but not fully necessary for us) and we found a shirt we liked there (they didn't have too many options we loved. They did have a puzzle I wanted, but it was 1,000 pieces - which I don't do yet - and I didn't think I'd have room in my check on bag I brought) and got those. Then we headed back to the hotel so I could charge my phone for a bit (it had the tickets on it, so we couldn't risk that going dead) and then decided to head out and figure out where the Sphere entrance is. That took SO long, we ended up missing our window to eat dinner and had to settle for a concession dinner. Again, not terrible, but not the best. You can't bring ANYTHING in with you to the arena, so we decided to go get some candy and water to keep with us during the show, which was nice to have.

After eating and a quick bathroom trip so we'd be good, the show finally started. And what a show it was! This was definitely a top experience for me. I saw quite a few kids with parents there and thought "if this was my first concert, nothing would ever be good enough after this!" It was SO cool. The screen with little videos they made, the music was great, AND Gwen invited SO many people on stage and would give them hugs and take pictures with them. I was so jealous, but you really felt more like you were hanging out with them rather than being at this big ass show that it really was. Granted, we were WAY high up (like so high I thought no way in hell was I going to be getting up to dance or move or I might actually fall face first down and fall off the tier/level we were on), but it was still so great! EVERYTHING about it was great, honestly!

The show was even the best length, too. Like it didn't feel like we were bummed when it ended, but we weren't wondering how much longer it was going to go either. Gwen had some great costume changes as well. After it ended, we had a very, very, very long trek back to our hotel. We got there so late, I was exhausted! We hurried and got ready for bed (rushed was a bit of a theme for this trip, but I don't regret it) and passed out, though I think Stace actually did stay up to read for a bit, I'm not sure because I passed out right away haha.

Yes this is SUPER zoomed in. Don't care!

This morning, we got up to get breakfast. We ended up going to a Zeffer's Cafe in Sahara hotel and it was SO freaking delicious! We both got the Grand Marnier french toast and it was literally the best french toast/breakfast I have EVER had in my life. The berries, whipped mascarpone, and candied oranges were to die for!! I have every intention of trying to make it again at some point.

Most amazing breakfast EVER!

We thought we'd have to rush to the airport after breakfast, our flight was originally scheduled to get us home RIGHT before my girls had their rehearsal (around 3:40), but then Stace started getting alerts that our flight was delayed. So we decided to go check out things on the strip while we were waiting. We got SEVERAL delayed flight alerts, so we ended up checking out the Hershey's Factory, the M&M Factory, and the Coke Factory. We even got some drinks at the Coke Factory and hit up an ABC gift shop to find gifts for the kids, too.

By that point, we stopped getting delay alerts and grabbed an Uber to the airport. We got there and even more delays happened (apparently the flight in Utah had experienced some gas/engine issues so they had to get a new plane and, for some reason, that meant getting a whole new crew that they had to wait for). We were supposed to land around 3:40 Utah time, but didn't even leave until 4:40!

For some reason, our flight home felt long (honestly, both flights were so freaking bumpy I never want to do short flights ever again) and we got back to late I was SO happy to be home and tell Larry all about it. I was bummed to miss their rehearsal, AGAIN, but I'm glad I'll be here for their show this weekend.

Overall, it was an experience to remember and I'm so glad I went and I feel like I was able to see more of Vegas than we thought we'd be able to do and some of it I had planned for a family trip we may try and make happen, but they weren't THAT great so now I know we can skip them (or at least not plan a lot of time on them). So glad I could say I've seen No Doubt every chance I have had!

End of the School Year

Wow, the whole month of May gets so crazy, but especially when you add that it's the end of the school year. This year, Lucy had a Kindergarten Graduation on the 11th. It was so sweet! They did a few songs and then as they went back to class, we stayed back to watch a cute slideshow of random pictures throughout the year. It's fun to find your kid in the pictures. After that was done, we met up with them in class to take pictures with the teacher or by themselves. It also meant they technically got to get checked out early, so I let her stay and play for a bit. Unfortunately, it was a really hot day, so we ended up heading home to drop her stuff back and then headed back to the school to get Gwen. I do love that they do these ceremonies, they aren't a big thing in the grand scheme, but it's so fun to have a reason to celebrate them.

On the 19th Pierce's teacher had a little end of school year celebration (well she put 19th on the calendar, but when me and a few other parents showed up, she was very confused why we were there so "early." I guess she didn't realize what day she put on the calendar). Pierce wasn't happy I came to get him though, I think they were watching a show he wanted to watch rather than take pictures with me. She still tried to make it fun, but, well...

He wanted NOTHING to do with pictures

On the 20th, Gwen and Lucy had their Badger Boogie. Let me say, this seems extra crazy for Lucy because she had Kindergarten graduation songs to remember, a Boogie dance to remember, a dance recital dance to remember, AND a Daddy and Me dance to learn all within this last month (to be fair, her recital dance she'd been learning since September, but the rest was all this month...her brain must have been dead!) The Badger Boogie, though, was really cute. They have two times they perform on the day (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) and I ended up going to both because the area I sat in at the first time was horrible and I couldn't get any good videos. The front area was already filled both times I went, but I did end up with a much better spot the 2nd time (though I did get burnt because I got there an hour early and was sitting in the sun, totally forgot I'd need sunscreen). 

Lucy danced to the Rub a Dub Dub song, she got to wear a cute pink shower cap, and they had bubbles going throughout the dancers. Gwen had to dress in 80s attire (she danced to a few songs from that decade) so we put her in bright clothes, a last minute side pony tail and then I forgot she needed sunglasses so I gave her mine. It ended up looking pretty cute.

On top of all that, Cara had a potanimals exhibit project to get done by the last week (who assigns a project for the last week of school??). She had a snow fox and did the whole thing by herself. It was pretty cute, but you could totally tell who had help from their parents with theirs in the class.

Lucy also had to make a big car for her movie day at school, the girls each had a themed day that we had to make sure we had things for and it was just always something. I've never been so happy to not be working and have more time to make it easier to make it to all the things AND run all the errands and go to all the school functions. Phew! Glad we're done with that and can enjoy our Summer Break now!

Lagoon Day

Man did we get SO lucky today. We had picked today as our Lagoon day and I was a little nervous because the weather app said it was supposed to rain ALL day long. However, next weekend it said it was going to be VERY hot, and I knew that would be miserable for Larry. We decided to keep an eye on the weather and if it looked to be too bad, we'd just go next weekend. As Sunday got closer, the rain kept getting pushed back more and more (what was supposed to start in the morning, showed it would actually be in early afternoon) and so we decided to chance it (plus, on the Lagoon Facebook page they say that rainy days have such little lines it makes it worth it to go, so I really had higher hopes it would be okay). We did our grocery shopping and then headed over (kind of the nice part of them opening up later) so we got there around 10:30. We started with Spider and Wild Mouse (one of us rode with the bigger girls while the other took the smaller ones on Musik Express). I needed to see if putting the safety bar on the girls myself helped with my anxiety and it seemed to help A LOT!

We then rode the Sky Ride across to the other side and did Screamer, Paratroopers, the Ferris Wheel, Primordial, the two airplane rides, and the Tilt-A-Whirl. I also rode Samurai solo while they ate snacks/lunch. We then were able to go to the other side of the park and I decided I wanted to try out The Nutcracker with Cara and Gwen while Larry did the kiddie land/area with the two smaller ones. 

Standing in line for The Nutcracker I started to get really nervous. Seeing other riders and how high they got up really made me want to back out and realize how big this ride really is (not to mention the seat they have to see if you fit in it didn't seem secure AT ALL and I was so confused how the restraints worked). However, I didn't want to make the girls think I was too scared, so I pushed through. Initially when we sat in our seats, I noticed the safety bar really didn't keep the girls in well AT ALL and I was about to back out and say absolutely no way, but then the workers came by to push them down farther and I had the girls try and stand up and it worked out. The ride ended up being SUPER fun, like one of my new favorites (especially since the line actually goes pretty quickly)! I also had no big anxiety attack, which was nice for a ride you kind of go upside down (or at least slide out of your seat a bit).

After that we knew the rain would be starting soon so we decided to go get our ice cream and everyone mentioned they were ready to call it a day. It was THEN that the rain hit and it hit hard and SUPER cold! The timing was perfect, since we felt done, so that was nice.

Overall, this trip was much better for me, no big anxiety and I could actually have fun. I'm not sure how I'll do on the bigger rides (Wicked, Colossus, Cannibal, Samurai, Rocket, etc.). I know Cara is itchy to be tall enough for them and to try them, but I just don't know when I'll be able to do it without completely freaking out. Luckily, Larry isn't as nervous and he'll take them (but I've noticed he is getting dizzier easier and gets worn out from rides quicker so I'm not sure how many he can actually do...me, though, I could go all day and be okay!).

So happy we have these passes!

Family Date Coupon

So this month, Gwen chose the Family Date coupon. Originally, she wanted to go see a movie in the theaters, but after looking at options we noticed there really wasn't anything that we hadn't already seen that was worth paying ALL that money to see (it's not cheap to take a family of 6 to the theaters, even without the candy/snacks). We had their last soccer game so we had extra reasons to celebrate and so she decided she wanted to go to a Nickel Arcade (these are very popular in our family haha)

This time we had it so I had a card that Pierce and Lucy shared and then Larry had Gwen and Cara with him and his card. Mostly, though, we'd take the kids to "play" the candy game (where they'd load up on frooties) and then we'd play games until they ran out and go back to get more candy, haha. 

I made sure, with Lucy and Pierce, I'd have them take turns to pick what we'd play and they did really well with that. They mostly just wanted to do the roller coaster ride. From what I hear, Cara and Gwen really liked the air hockey table, the Minecraft game, and massage chairs (that I didn't notice at all). 

Pierce looks sad, but he really loved this 
Ride "game"

I used to dread going to the arcades when the kids were smaller. Keeping track of them while Larry played was stressful. I do look forward to when Lucy and Pierce are older/bigger/wiser and we can send everyone off with their own card and then I can really play some games! Overall, Gwen was happy with her choice and we all had a really great time! And yay for the end of Soccer season for us!

Mother's Day Weekend

Mother's Day Weekend was a big one, for one, my last day working was just Friday so we went out to celebrate that. I had been wanting to go to Sonic because we were talking about how fun it is since they come out on skates and I remember liking their fun drinks. Unfortunately, they don't seem to do that anymore. We went and found a table to sit at (Larry really didn't want the kids eating in the car) and somehow the workers had a hard time finding us (even though we were right outside the door they came out and there were three of them and we were the only ones out there, but still they missed us). We also had to hit up the bathrooms and those were really gross and had no toilet paper, so that whole trip was a dud and I don't see going back (I'm honestly surprised that place is still open!). Luckily the food wasn't awful, but not worth it. 

On actual Mother's day, I got to sleep in, but I did end up waking up early so I decided to stay in bed and just keep cuddling with Minnie. I also sent Larry off with the kids to do the grocery shopping while I stayed home to read (one of my favorite things to do and has become a bit of a tradition for Mother's Day, haha), I took a bath in the afternoon and got more Minnie cuddles (I still feel bad every once in a while knowing she's just stuck in a room, even though I know she likes it and has a really good set up, I mostly hate how little we get to see her and I take any opportunity to sit with her).

After all that, we headed over to Mom and Will's to celebrate with her. Of course, they did end up feeding us, which is always yummy! 

So overall, it was a really good day, I got my yearly question sheets, some reading time, a relaxing bath, and was free to choose what I wanted to do when. I can't ask for more!

I'm Done Working

A big shift is in store for us now: Stay at Home Mom Life is officially starting:

So as a backstory, Larry has been telling me, for a little while now, that we are in a good enough financial place that I could stop working. Normally, as a mom, that would be music to your ears, but for some reason, I just didn't feel comfortable losing a whole income. I'd crunch the numbers and it just felt like we'd be living paycheck to paycheck. I'd tell him if we couldn't keep our current lifestyle than there was no reason for me to stop. We both worked from home, both our jobs were pretty flexible, and I didn't feel like I NEEDED to not be working.

Fast forward to last September and I just suddenly got a feeling that it was the right move. I re-crunched the numbers and somehow it worked! We could still keep things as they are and I could stop working. We have a big project in the works (details to come) and I thought if I did quit, I could help out more with that. I also wasn't filling supper fulfilled in my job like I had before. I didn't mind the work, but every day was just getting to where I felt I'd rather be doing stuff for our home and family life than for this company (to be clear, the company is GREAT, my job was a good job, the pay was so great. I have NO complaints for any of that, I just personally felt that my time at that job had run it's course).

After talking to Larry about feeling ready to leave and talking about how things would work after I left, we decided that April was the best time to put in my notice. We get bonuses in March and since I had worked most of the review period, I didn't want to lose out on that. I also wanted to make it to my work anniversary (which is in early May) so I could get that little bonus as well. The kids would still be in school so it's not like I needed to rush out of there. We also had to make sure we could switch our insurance to Larry's and that we'd still have doctors we knew and trusted (and to make sure the new cost wouldn't suck). That part went better than I expected, luckily. The price was pretty much the same and all our important doctors were on his so it felt even better!

I started getting so excited about this and decided I needed to figure out a good daily schedule to keep so that I didn't just sit around at first. I figured that out in October and got to practice it on days the kids had off of school (since I was also using my PTO on days they didn't have school). Speaking of PTO, it was really nice to use that up, I found almost any excuse to use it up (and still had some leftover that I got paid out on).

I also decided to save up my Motivosity dollars (a fun benefit from my company) and right before I put in my notice, I turned those in for a bunch of gift cards I could use (things like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Fandango, Applebees, Coldstone, Subway, Home Goods...places I could spend money and get some fun things or take the kids to go get a treat)

So, April I put in my notice (such an awkward conversation!), yesterday was my 14th anniversary (SO hard to not try and hold out for one more year to reach year 15!), and today I said my goodbyes. It's always nice seeing so many people reach out once they hear the news and say they are sad I'm going, but excited for our new venture! The kids are still in school, like I mentioned, so I have some free time to do some home projects before Summer actually starts and I'll have all day with them.

The last time I'll use this computer

I am SO looking forward to this Summer though, we're going to have so much fun. We have our Thanksgiving Point membership, our Lagoon passes, there are hikes, pools, playground, splashpads, so many options. I will also focus on having the kids to their workbook sheets and I have some fun STEAM activities planned as well. It's going to ROCK!

I also have a plan for next school year, since Pierce only has 2 days of Preschool (his last year of it before he goes to all day Kindergarten) I'll be doing learning activities 2 other days of the week so he's used to that and, hopefully, make all day school not so bad of a transition.

So wish me luck that this doesn't end up being way crazier than I realized! I think it'll be great and I'm more excited about it than I thought I could be.

Cara is NINE

I'm SO not okay that my oldest child is turning 9 and that means next year she'll be fully double digits and then we get to prep for the pre-teen age (then, of course, comes the teenage phase that I'm dreading a little bit). In fact, I kept joking that I'm not ready for her to be 9 so let's just say she is 6 again. She said she didn't like that because then she'd be younger than Gwen, haha. I joked Gwen can go back to 5 or 4 and Lucy can be 2. None of them went for that idea though.

It was even better that her birthday just happened to be a Saturday, which means her party could be on her actual birthday! However, because of that I asked her if she wanted to do all her other birthday stuff on her birthday too (normally their birthday day they get a special table and they choose a special breakfast and dinner). She chose to do the table and breakfast on Friday and her dinner on Sunday (today) so she got a whole birthday weekend.

For her breakfast, she chose French Toast with strawberries. I made sure to get the Texas Toast to make it even yummier. She loved her table as well, she got some more masks, some gum, and film for a print camera as well as a couple of her gifts.

For her party, on Saturday, she said she wanted another one at home because then she gets to invite a lot of friends. We were looking at different places we could do a party that would let her invite more, but then I saw this idea for a gaming truck to come to your house and thought that would be SO much fun. She loves gaming, but she did mention she didn't want to do an arcade because some of her friends might not be into arcades and games like that. When I showed her the truck idea she said she LOVED that idea, we even found one truck that brought yard games for kids in case they didn't want to game so it worked perfect. 

Of course, then she went to a different friend's party that was KPop Demon Hunter themed and she decided she wanted that to be part of her party as well. So, we got KPop invites, table clothes, decorations, and even a special candle for her cake (this was mostly because the cake place didn't have a KPop specific theme so we ordered a singer/pop star theme and then got the candle separately).

We sent her out with about 18 invites and it turned out pretty much all of them showed up, with the exception of two kids (who are siblings) because they got sick and couldn't make it, which was a bummer since it was one of her closest friends so she was really excited to see them. We had a FULL house (luckily we've learned to put the cats in a room upstairs so we don't stress out so much about the constant in and out or if doors are open, it's much more stress free that way).

So the day of her party was incredibly busy, we're still in soccer season AND it's the first weekend of the month. This means I had to take the kids to the soccer games in the morning, while Larry ran around getting the cake, the workshop kits for the month (and because we normally get donuts after the workshop for birthday months he was kind enough to go grab those as well), and then he met up with us at the games. We ran home to do a quick lunch and then back out to the last soccer game. After that, we rushed home to clean, clean, clean (which luckily didn't take too long) and then we had about 1 hour to relax before the party started. 

After cleaning, I had to run to the dollar store to get some extra table cloths (when we added up how many RSVP'd, we realized we needed more tables/seating and the tables looked pretty gross, so we had to cover those up. While at that store, I figured we should get more cups and then I found some bubbles the kids might like and what I thought was some party blowers (that blow out the rolled up paper tube thing)...turns out those were kazoos and that was a HUGE mistake with so many kids! Once the kids showed up they all loved to grab the kazoos and start blowing them and it was a madhouse of noise and chaos. We ended up saying kazoos and bubbles are outside toys.

So once enough kids showed up, we told them all to grab some food and drinks (we even cut up some extra fruit we had and offered root beer, kool aid, or water as drinks). When everyone was settled with food, we broke out the cake (after singing Happy Birthday, of course) and then while they ate we did presents. As we were wrapping up the presents, the game truck showed up, and everyone thought it was so cool! Mom and Will had come, we were all very "noised out" by this point, so it was nice to send the kids out to the truck and then we sat out front to just chat and relax. It was crazy because you could hear ALL the noise from outside the truck, even with the doors closed!

Some of the kids did get sick of the games, so they came out to play with bubbles. Gwen also preferred that so she hung out more with those kids (she even said they are her new friends, but she didn't remember/know their names, haha). But the kids definitely had fun. We apologized to the gaming people a lot because they had to stay inside and it was REALLY loud, we could tell. After a couple hours, we heard them put on the "When Will I See You Again" song from Wreck-It-Ralph while showing the kids a slideshow of the pictures they took of them playing. They all came out saying it was so much fun.

When the parents came to pick the kids up, even they commented how the truck looked really cool and how they might have to use it for their kids' parties. I thought "well, at least they'll get more business from this chaos." It was funny because the few parents I did see come (we had 16 kids but I swear I only saw 5 parents come, so I assume everyone got home just fine) they mentioned we were very brave to have so many kids come over. I'm glad I can handle it, even though it is a tad overwhelming.

Cara said this was her best birthday ever and she wants to do the gaming truck again and again (we'll see about that, haha). I'm glad we can provide such fun parties for her. I figure I can handle one day (or 4 in my case, with 4 kids) a year that's crazy and chaotic to give them such fun memories with their friends. It was funny to see some neighbor kids walk/bike by our house and zone out to the gaming truck, it did seem like it was such a hit!

She definitely got spoiled with some gifts. One friend's dad made her a Rumi balloon figure, she got some games, some bags, some stuffies. So many good things! From us, she got new shorts, a chapter book series (a sequel to "Trapped in a Video Game" called "Escape from a Video Game" which is kind of a choose your own adventure type), a new bag for dance or soccer stuff, a Rumi Funko Pop figure, and the Kpop Demon Hunters soundtrack CD...introducing the kids to CDs has been SO much fun! Gwen asked "what's a CD?" Lucy asked where the controller for the boom box was, and Cara asked how to open the CD case. They've become obsessed with playing CDs anytime they were doing something. 

Tonight, for dinner, Cara chose Golden Corral. We definitely stuffed ourselves with that and loved every minute of it. We also included the "what we love about Cara" part to dinner. I love doing that to make them feel special. And we measured her height on our ruler thing as well. Overall, it was a great weekend of celebrations. We love our oldest, independent, most friendly girlie ever!

To Cara,

I have absolutely loved watching you grow up. It's bittersweet, because without pictures I can really only remember the last few years clearly. I hope I've made you feel as special as you are. You are SO smart, so friendly, so sweet, and so strong. I truly believe you could be anything because you love trying everything out (except food, you are quite picky and stubborn with food, haha).

I absolutely love that you make friends so easily, but it makes me sad you are to that age where you prefer to be with your friends. But I understand everyone goes through that and that's why I go on field trips and let you invite so many kids over so that I can see who you are hanging out with and spending time with and make sure they are good ones. 

I love how much you still love to read. You even said your brain doesn't care what it's reading, it just likes reading. That is one reason I believe you'll go so far in life. You also say you like to be busy with different activities, so whenever I ask if you want to try something new out you say "yes" without hesitation.

You have become SUCH a gamer girl and I think that's one of your favorite ways to spend time. Because of this you and Dad are pretty much BFF and while it's a little bittersweet for me, I'm actually very happy you have such a good dad that will do that with you.

You are so adventurous and love to go on roller coasters. You say you want to keep riding The Cannibal ride at Lagoon because it scares you, but you like it, haha. We took you on Wicked for the first ride when we went last month and even though I had a panic attack of you guys falling out (it didn't help when you started yelling out "help me! Help me! Help me!" because you were having so much fun, haha), you said you loved it and wanted to do more haha.

You are doing so great at soccer, I know you don't get goals often, but watching you learn to play as a team has been a good thing for you. I know you get pretty competitive, so watching your sisters make goals hasn't been easy for you, but once you get over the jealousy, you're so supportive and a great big sister for them. I think you butt heads with Gwen the most, but sometimes you guys play like you are twins and couldn't live without each other. Those moments warm my heart, because after having you I knew I had to give you a sibling and Gwen is almost opposite of you so you balance each other well.

I love you, sweetie, and I hope you know I will ALWAYS be there and support you no matter what you do in life. I am your #1 fan and will always help guide you whenever you need it (and I'll try not to hold onto your wings too much when you decide you're ready to fly!).

Love, Mom!

April activities

April had so many fun things, we're loving the weather warming up and finding reasons to be outside more. But we also did a few little things I want to document.

-This month I created a new self improvement plan. I feel there's so much I'm falling behind on so I picked 5 goals to work on each day. When I accomplish all 5 in a day, I earn a quarter. If I do 3 of the 5 then I don't earn anything, but I don't lose anything. If I do less than 3, I lose a quarter. So far, I've done good with doing all of them that I can. Originally, I figured I'd focus on them for however long I need to to feel I've got the hang of it, but I have more things I want to fix up so I figure once I got a handle of these 5, I'll switch them out for 5 new ones. After I've earned so much, I can buy an item off one of my wish lists. Having a physical tracker has helped SO much. What really kicked this off is I wanted to start focusing on my eating - again, the Super Bowl really threw me off. I wrote down the foods I can have, how often I can eat out or have treats, when I can snack and having it written down has been so so helpful! Honestly, I felt so great after just one week, but I've got to still track as long as I can until I feel I've got it down. Hopefully this continues to really help me.

-This month we're back to full on soccer and dance again, luckily, this time, it feel like we're better prepared. The games are better since it's a more low key time of year and it smells amazing. It definitely feels good to get out after being hermits for so much of winter. We're just working on finding our groove with practices and dance class but also fitting in bath time. I've decided to take off one day each week to feel I have some breathing room or a day to do anything I feel I can't get done with this new schedule. That has helped so much.

-We had our doctor day this month. Pierce had a checkup on the 6th (everything is all good with him, but I didn't know he could draw as well as he can so I told them he just scribbles, but Larry told me he can draw shapes and stuff. I didn't believe him until I saw him do it with chalk on our driveway and I'm amazed at what the kid can do! He does have some skin bumps on his back/side, but it turns out they aren't anything big, we just need to get cream to help them). I had my gyno checkup on the 7th (another all good, I decided to do some blood labs, which came out all clear. I also found out I have a lot of fun new medical stuff to look forward to in a couple years. Yay for turning 40!). We then had our dentist checkups on the 23rd and we all had clear mouths, no cavities. So that was good news!

-Our damn cats got into a fight and my hand got the worst of it!! I wasn't sure how to bandage it up at first, but we found some big band aids to put on my hands. I'm hoping it doesn't scar too much. Definitely feels worse than it looks!

-We did a Malad run on the 11th to turn in old tickets. Larry, of course, wanted to get new ones. Last time we went the playground was all roped off so I wasn't expecting a fun trip. We stopped at a Tremonton Grill place that ended up being SO good, had so many good choices, and was really cheap for a family of 6 (normally we spend close to $100 for dinner out, but this was only $60!). When we got to Malad, we went to see if the playground was opened and it turns out they must have been doing MAJOR upgrades last time, because this time it was SO much cooler (everything was all new and clean and shiny!). I decided to walk the path to get steps (Gwen came with me) and it looks like they added in new tennis courts, they had stuff for another possible playground, and a new workout playground area that is pretty cool. Now I actually look forward to Malad trips because it looks so cool and fun now!

-Lucy had her school birthday lunch on the 13th, so I had to do that (of course!). She said she wanted Wendy's so she could get a frosty and fries. I was not about to say no to that, haha. She was so excited for that day!

-Cara had her first field trip on the 15th. I was nervous because the teacher said their field trip would be to the Museum of Natural Curiosity, which I won't chaperone (because it's just TOO much with kids I don't know), but then they announced it was switched to the Museum of Ancient History, so I signed up for that one. The Museum was cool, but parts were blocked off, and then it was shorter than we planned (I guess someone wrote the time down wrong so communication was off) so then we went to a playground nearby for a picnic lunch. I was chilly (which is not anything new), but the kids all had so much fun. A boy teacher definitely does field trips differently (he just told kids to pick a chaperone, rather than having groups planned out), but I had a group of lots of Cara's friends so it's always nice to see who she's hanging out with.

-The girls got to do their Dance pics on the 16th and 18th. This time, they didn't request specific hair styles, so I had to figure out what we should do and it turned out really cute. We did have to have Gwen skip her soccer practice on Thursday, but luckily we didn't have to miss any games and she had her other practice on Tuesday so it worked out. I'm really excited to see how these turn out.

-My biggest thing, was I officially put in my notice at work!!! I'm quitting work and I'll post on the details about this later, but this is a day I was so excited for and now that it's passed I'm looking forward to my next chapter.

-And, of course, my favorite pics of the kids:

Another Play at Hale Center Theater

I have become obsessed with going to see plays. When I found out Hale Center was putting on one called Hallmarked that makes fun of Hallmark stories, I knew mom and I had to go. We checked with Rachel to see if she'd have a day off that we could all go together and today was the day. I had been looking forward to it for so long. The only down side is after we got the tickets we found out the kids would have soccer games at the same time and it was more games I'd have to miss (I absolutely hate missing their games!). Not to mention leaving Larry to figure it all out with ALL the kids. They did good, too! I just need to make sure not to miss anymore.

This time we were in a new theater section, so that was cool to see the new stuff. Our seats were really good, too. The play itself was a little weird. It had some really funny parts and parts that were entertaining, but the story itself was...odd. Not one of my top favorites, but I'm still glad I got to go. The actors did a really good job, so I'll give them that (I know I couldn't do what they do!).

I kind of wish I had taken the girls to see Frozen back in January and February, I think they would've liked that show. Hopefully there will be more shows I can take them to. Rachel mentioned this new theater section will give them the opportunity to add some more weekend kid matinee shows so we will try to make that work for really good shows. And even though this show wasn't one of my top ones, I still love seeing plays and am in awe of the actors doing their roles live!

Using Our New Lagoon Season Passes

We have officially done our first day using our Lagoon season passes. I am already so excited we have these and can go as many times as we want this year! The kids loved so many things from last year and this year there's the new Nutcracker ride (although the line was WAY too long to even think of trying that one this time, I promise I'll ride it before the end of the season!).

The great thing was, we only stayed for 5 hours (which isn't really much when it's open for like 10 hours) and we didn't do very many rides, but it's nice to know whatever we missed this time, we can do next time. I have a plan that we'll do one Sunday as a family and then I'll pick a couple Tuesdays or Wednesdays throughout the month to go with just me and the kids, we'll see if we only do it that much or if we end up going like once a week, haha. We even have the perfect backpack that holds so many snacks, water, and sunscreen (so we have a big breakfast and then load the bag up with as much as we can) so we can just snack all day in between rides and leave before dinner time, it's really the best set up!

This time we stuck to the end of the park that has Wicked and Spider, and just did most rides on that end. We did go to Pioneer Village to do those rides as well. Pierce and Lucy decided they don't like Rattlesnake Rapids though, and since it wasn't very warm, I just let Larry take Cara and Gwen on that one while we waited for them. 

I did find out, however, that I have complete and absolute panic attacks when taking the older girls on the bigger rides. We started with Wicked and Gwen was just a tad too short so they put a little booster in her seat. I was so excited to ride it with them, but the second it started going I suddenly imagined them both falling out of the ride, especially Gwen with the booster (it just looked like she wasn't all the way in and I literally imagined her falling out and me trying to reach out to grab her and the utter terror I felt completely overshadowed anything else that we experienced on the ride...seriously, I have NO idea what the ride was like because I just was sick to my stomach with that image). It didn't help that Cara started screaming something like "HELP ME!" in such a voice that I couldn't tell if she was being silly or if she genuinely was freaking out. Once the ride stopped, she had this HUGE smile and I realized she was just being silly. I told her she can't scream things out like that or I'll freak out haha.

Can you tell I'm coming off the biggest panic attack
I've EVER had here?

There was a bit of a funny part when we first got to the park, we were walking to the bathrooms when this grown man starts yelling out "Gwen! Gwen!" and walking straight to our Gwen. I was rushing with her to the bathrooms, so Larry was a ways away, but I was giving him a look like "who is this random man trying to talk to my little girl??" when Larry smiles and says, "look Gwen! It's your soccer coach!" and I realized that's what was going on. We had JUST seen him yesterday at the game, but I totally didn't recognize him at all. It was so funny. He even ended up in the Wicked line next to us and was commenting how brave she was for going on that ride.

We ended the day with ice cream, of course, and it was a really good trip. We got there later-ish (around 11) and decided to call it quits after the 5 hours, but it was definitely enough for one day. I really can't shake the freak out I had on the one ride so I'm trying to decide if I should just let Larry ride any upside down ones with the girls or if I should have them wait until they are a bit taller and I feel better or if I should just have them try and wiggle next time we are in the seats so I can confirm they aren't going anywhere. I'm not sure, but I know I cannot continue doing those rides with them right now with how bad I freaked out.

I'm glad we get to do these trips and I just hope the kids don't get sick of going so often, because if this works out like I think, we may just get these every year. The drive is long, but it's totally worth it!

Spring Break Fun

Our spring break wasn't as filled as last year, but we still had so much fun! I worked only 4 hours each day so that I could still get a bit of work done, but then did fun stuff or a cleaning project the rest of the day. 

To kick it off, we went and saw the new Mario Movie. It was our 2nd movie as a full family and it was so much fun. I honestly don't remember how the movie was because I was enjoying seeing how the kids liked the movie so much. Pierce actually paid attention to a good portion of the movie, which is a big win!

We were supposed to have soccer practices, but they got cancelled so we spent those times at some playgrounds nearby. Even though there were some ouchies, we still had so much fun! The kids worked a lot on their skating skills and I'm pretty proud of how quickly they picked up on that.

I also decided I should see if I could find hiking sandals for the kids, but it turns out it's a bit too early to find those in the stores just yet, but then Gwen and Lucy chose hobby shopping coupons this month so I took them to Hobby Lobby to pick out some fun projects (Gwen chose a snake you can paint and Lucy picked out a unicorn you could color with markers and then wipe clean and re-color).

One of the days I decided to take the kids to Jurassic Jungle at Thanksgiving Point. We spent a good hour there and then the kids said they wanted to go to the Curiosity Farms place, so I had Larry get tickets for that and we headed there. It was so fun to do 2 in one day and that it's all covered with our membership.

Friday the kids requested a chillax day so we just stayed home. I did end up doing our Costco list so we could hit that up this weekend. 

Overall, it was more low key, but busy and a lot of fun. I love having these weeks off and have an excuse to have fun with the kids that's not our usual fun.