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.

Easter Excitement

We've had a fun Easter this year. It got moved up and ended up squished in between Pierce's birthday and Spring Break so we did a lot last minute, but I still think we did a good job making it work.

We colored our eggs on Saturday, which is fun. Mom wanted to do a dinner and mentioned doing it early so we still had time to color eggs and I was so confused and then we realized she planned to do the dinner on Saturday, but I told her I figured we'd do it Sunday because that's Easter (and we usually don't have anything to do that night). Sundays are easier to do with Andy and Rachel too, since they are usually so busy on Saturdays.

Sunday morning the kids did their egg hunt, but Pierce slept in (and did NOT want to wake up early, haha) so we let the girls look for eggs and then re-hid some for Pierce to find. He didn't fully want to at first, but then spotted some while eating breakfast and then got excited to start. They got outfits, some fun toys to play with, and lots of yummy candy for their baskets. 

We hung out for a bit and then headed over for dinner. We brought deviled eggs and then they made some pork loin, fruit, and a yummy corn casserole, which I demanded the recipe for because it was surprisingly so delicious. I loved every bite of the food!

Normally we'd do a treat, but we still have Valentine's Day candy and maybe even stuff from Christmas so we really didn't need more treats to just have around. The kids had a ton of fun and that's what matters.