Tiffany Lamps ~ Coco Guitar ~ Josh Denist Helper ~ Special Olympics ~ Read With Me ~ Life Skills FHE

The BYU art museum had a Tiffany exhibit.  There were lamps, windows, and murals.  We've never seen one.  They were incredible!  We took a quick selfie and it looks crappy but memories can be shared even if you look a little odd.

Blake has loved the movie Coco.  He finds the small guitar and plays along.  I tried to show him the correct way to hold it but he prefers to hold it the opposite way.

Josh went in for his mission prep dental exam.  Blake was a sweet helper and made sure Josh wasn't scared.  Who looks more nervous?

We got Caleb back to Special Olympics for softball and track season.  He picked softball over track.  To get him to go to the first practice, I had to tell him we would just sit in the car and observe.  After a few minutes I got him out of the car and he even went to bat a few times.                                                

The next week they practiced on an actual field.  They had the players practice hitting the ball off a tee 6 times.  Then, they would have them run the bases.  Caleb has seen too many of his brothers' baseball games.  Caleb would hit the ball and run all the way home.  The UVU volunteers had a blast watching him.

Katie had her 6th grade "Read With Me".  Formerly Moms and Muffins or Dads and Donuts.  Blake loved having Katie read to him.

In preparation for Josh to leave the nest, we have been having "Life Skills" FHE lessons.  This time, I taught them how to thread a needle. knot the end, how to sew on a button, knot the thread before cutting it off, fix a tie that has come loose, and use a hidden stitch to close a ripped seam.  

The kids took pictures for me.  I'd like to say that my pictures are much better but you saw the first picture of this post.

April Fools Day ~ Easter ~ Backpacking Trip

Easter and April Fool's landed on the same day, this year.  The Easter Bunny was busy preparing her 2 oldest boys for a 4 day backpacking trip with their Aunt and Uncle.  The kids were lucky to get their baskets.  We didn't find time to color any eggs.  I hope the kids forgive her.

We woke up to the kids playing tricks on us.  The first of many, was an attack of bugs and critters.

The Easter Bunny left the baskets so Mom could write their riddles.  This year, Mom made the riddles only out of emojis.  

We went to Payson, the next day, to have an Easter egg hunt and to fly kites.  Grandma and Grandpa Clark's backyard is perfect for hiding plenty of eggs.

Josh and Kyle left on the 1st for a backpacking trip to a place called "The Little Grand Canyon".  They went with my sister, her husband, and their daughter.  It took a lot of work to prepare two boys for a trip at the same time.  When they had their packs ready, Blake and Caleb wanted to try carrying them.  

St. George Dance Competition~Josh Antics

 Katie competed in 3 competitions this year with her Junior Elite team.  Katie and I got to drive to St. George for a weekend in April.  We stayed in a small condo even though we only spent a few hours there.  The rest of the time was at the competition or in the pool with her friends.

Katie is 5th from the left in this picture.

Some days, we think we can't live without Josh.  Some days, we know we will be just fine without him bugging everyone 24/7.

Here, he planted Caleb on his shoulders.  Caleb was half giggling, half screaming.   

 I can't remember what Kyle did to deserve this but does it matter.  It was fun to watch.  I intervened before he dragged him down the stairs.

Josh was annoyed when Katie was practicing her piano.  He asked her to play quieter.....She played louder and was smirking at her funny idea.  Josh got out his electric guitar and started playing.  LOUDLY!

She didn't stop so he had to turn up the volume.  

Look at Katie's face.  What do you think she was thinking?  

I think she was looking at me hoping I'd intervene.  I couldn't.  I was laughing to hard.  It was SOOOOO loud and SOOOOO funny.

Orem Rec Basketball Champions~Katie's 12th Birthday Party

Joshua was on a basketball team made up of his best friends.  Most are skinny cross country guys but they had quite the season.  They only lost one game (55-103), in the regular season, to a team made up of all the guys who just missed the cut for the High School team.  In the playoffs, they beat that team (75-55) and made it to the championship game.  In the final game, they played a team that had bad sportmanship and had plenty of flagrant fouls against our boys even though we beat them in the playoffs.  Because we had no losses in the playoffs, we only had to beat them once.  Well, they came back and beat us.  The rematch was set a few days later.  The parents were angry from the treatment of our boys and we had a huge crowd show up.  Our boys used their best tool: running.  These athletes have the most amazing lung capacity.  They ran the other team ragged.  A few minutes left in the game, with a comfortable lead, one of Josh's closest friends, Bryce, hurt his knee.  He had to hobble of the court and it looked bad.  We ended up winning the game and it felt great.  These boys were only supposed to finish somewhere in the top 1/3 of the teams and they worked so hard.  (And their coach was top notch, if you ask me.) 

The bad news is that Bryce ended up with 3 ligaments torn.  He had to have surgery a week later and will miss out on his entire senior year tennis season.  It was devastating to him and his parents.  It was quite sobering for these young boys who always feel invincible.  After that week, Josh said he wishes they could go back and take Bryce out of the game.  He said winning wasn't that important and they'd give back the title if they could give Bryce back his health.  

Katie got to have her "friend" birthday party because she turned 12.  We had 15 girls over for pizza, soda, making bracelets, and watching "Wonder".

Freezer-Bean Museum-Airforce Museum

Josh's bathroom outlet kept tripping the fuse.  We thought it might be his blowdryer.  After a few days, we thought it might be the outlet, itself.  One day Jeff decided to replace the outlet.  He realized that the freezer was on the same "breaker".  I went to check the freezer and I could tell it was getting warmer.  I plugged it into a different breaker outlet.  After another day, it still wasn't getting colder.  

Realization=the freezer is the problem.  

We called a repairman who found the compressor was dead.  Time to buy a new freezer becuase the repair would be as much as a used freezer.  

The repair man told me to pack it full of free ice: SNOW.  (See picture below.)

I did research on classifieds.  I found a great option in Payson but the seller decided to shut off all contact right before we were supposed to pick it up.  It was now late Saturday afternoon.  I knew the contents wouldn't last until Monday.  We got back on the classifieds and started messaging all my other options.  There were 3 and they were all in the Salt Lake Valley.  We decided to drive until one messaged us that we could get it immediately.  We ended up getting a lady in Kearns to be available.  She asked if we had a hand truck because we would need to take it up 9 stairs.  Uhhhhh....We don't own one and it's too late to borrow from a neighbor.  We stopped at a Home Depot and bought one.  (It's a useful purchase which helped take the sting out of spending more money that we didn't plan on.)

We got to her house at 7 pm.  The freezer was in her basement and required us to remove to of her doors.  After we got the freezer in our van and reinstalled her doors, we headed home.  We had to leave it upright through the night because we had to lay it down in our van to transport it.  

Sunday morning we were able to transfer all the food.  We had to throw away the bottom layer which had defrosted too much.  

We now have a bigger and upright freezer.  I am happy about both of those upgrades.

We took the kids to the Bean Museum (free animal museum on BYU campus) for FHE.  They had a temporary exhibition about a snake from the dinosaur times.  They had a model that represented the size of the snake.  Blake was super cautious about being close to it. 

The animal in it's mouth is a full size crocodile.  

They had a real snake that the kids could touch.  Caleb touched it right away.  Blake was outside the exhibit, with me.  When he found out that Caleb touched it, he decided he could try.  

Here was a wall with the cutout of the snake's open jaws where you could take pictures.  Blake had to keep an eye on the teeth to make sure it wasn't alive.

I was meeting my sister in Ogden for a lunch date.  She was later than she expected.  Blake and I took a detour to the Hill Air Force Base Museum.  I could tell that the airplanes made him very nervous.  He still struggles with being anxious over a handful of things.  I showed him that I could touch the planes and after I did a few planes, he decided that he had to touch every single plane that was outside.