I love spring break. I love having the kids home and not having to get up too early to worry about getting homework done or piano practiced. We were lucky enough to have Ken take off the entire week to play with us.
The week started off great with General Conference. As a continuing tradition Rachel made us cinnamon rolls and boy were they delicious!
The little boys LOVED having dad home on Sunday and took advantage of hanging on him all day.
Conference was amazing as usual. For lunch we picnicked outside in the amazing pleasant weather. Fruit-kabobs for our between-conference lunch at Jessie’s suggestion.
Then since Ken was home and everyone was dressed for Sunday we went to take a family picture. That was pure craziness, but you’re not really surprised are you? Rachel and Becca helped try to get the little boys to look at the camera…..it worked kind of. After we got home and looked through the pictures we loaded everyone back in the van for a second try in effort to get one good family picture. And we this time we had success and got about three good pictures and a good thing too.
That evening we got a surprise visit from McKay. He joined us for dinner and then stayed until close to midnight. The kids read books with him.
And taught him how to play 20 Express. Mark made a 19 long train – his personal best! Wow!
After the little kids were all in bed he stayed and chatted with Mark and Jessie and Ken and me a fun night for everyone.
On Monday morning while I feed Emma Ken and Jessie helped make us a Spring Break Bucket List. Monday was the boring day with some shopping for the girls to get some jeans and swimsuits. We were trying to be fast to get home but weren’t… and Emma had to eat again so we stopped at Wendy’s for some lunch. I didn’t want to nurse Emma in the restaurant so we went back to the van and I sat in the passenger seat while Jessie sat in the drivers seat just fantasizing about when she’d get to drive for real. Then Jessie decided that we needed to listen to some tunes while we ate and plugged in her ipod. That was all great and fun until we were ready to leave and the car wouldn’t start! Ahhh….. we were going to call Ken, except we didn’t have a phone and for some crazy reason the wifi at the restaurant wouldn’t let us send him a text so we were kind of stuck just waiting for someone to help us. After asking several customers on there way out of the restaurant we finally got one to help us. THANK YOU!!! What a crazy ordeal! When we finally got home Ken went to have the battery tested and figured out it was my headlights that had drained the battery when we had plugged the ipod, since they turn off automatically after I turn the car off, I just always have them on….oops!
On Tuesday Ken took Mark and Jessie and her friend Sarah to the temple to do baptisms.
When they got home the little boys were playing in the sprinkler so most everyone got wet.
The flowers at our place. 
That night Abbie and I had Activity Days and we painted some scripture sculptures we had made a while back and played matching with some quotes from General Conference that had been made up into memes (a picture type quote). Here are a few of my favorites.
On Wednesday we took a family walk/bike ride along the Jordan River Parkway Trail starting at the north end of Utah Lake heading north. It wasn’t a “beautiful” walk as nothing was growing yet and the trail went past the back of a lot of houses which needed some work done on them, but it was fun to be together. The little boys loved riding their scooters and taking a break to ride in the stroller too. 
We stopped for a snack at about 1 1/2 miles. Apples, nuts, fish crackers and thanks to Jessie – messy Cheetos.
On the walk back to the car Ken spied some nests hanging in the tree braches. Spencer was excited to take a picture of them for us.
Back at home we were starving because we changed our minds about stopping for some lunch. So we had a picnic in the back yard instead after we put Isaac down for a MUCH needed nap.
Then the boys played some baseball while the girls worked on designing a few plates from the kit we got for Christmas.
That night we didn’t have dinner until 7:30, but we tried a new recipe for Gingerbread waffles and it was AMAZING! We topped them with ice cream…even more amazing.
The kids approved! That night we had a sleepout on the deck for those who were not “faint of heart” as Jessie put it. Neil and Isaac didn’t get to join in and I think Mark came back inside to sleep before the night was over, but it was one more thing to cross off the spring break bucket list.
Mark wanted to go to the temple again over the break and so he and Ken planned on going up to Mt. Timpanogos temple on Thursday. They didn’t leave too early and so Jessie joined them. And round trip, even though the temple was father away, was the same amount of time as the Provo temple because they only had to wait 5 minutes to do baptisms instead of one or two hours at Provo. So Ken stayed with them and preformed the baptisms. I love this picture!
Meanwhile back at home the kids were trying out Isaac’s birthday present blender and mixed up some “pink” milk. Surprisingly none of them liked it too well, so if any one reading this wants a box of strawberry milk I’ll bring it to you.
After lunch Jessie, Mark and Abbie joined Rachel and Becca the Provo Rec Center for some swimming and various other activities.
Thursday was also “movie” day. And the kids picked Frozen to watch because Ken hadn’t seen it yet. We invited the Albertson’s to watch with us because we had asked to borrow their copy, but surprise to us they brought us our own copy. So kind! And some amazingly fun cupcakes to celebrate.
We also made up four batches of popcorn with the different seasonings Jessie received at Christmas and only had a few cups of spilled water to go with it.
Friday morning Ken took the big kids and they hiked the Y – one of Jessie’s favorite things to do, and then we had Family Day. 
We had a hotdog roast at our house with salad and fresh fruit. YUMMY! 
Then the girls did some crafting….Patriotic vases filled with white beans, kidney beans and black beans (thank you pintrest) and we made coaters decorated with scrapbooking paper. I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Then Megan ended up spending the night too and that was just fun.
And the boys played some ping pong and pool. And Neil played with the extra beans.
Saturday Ken and I took Emma down to meet Grandma Jennie. Neil went with us too. Grandma was so happy to see Emma and recognized all of us, which I was glad for. We showed her come pictures from our blog which she quite enjoyed. Grandma sure loves pictures. It was sad to have to leave her though because she was set on coming with us.
After lunch we messed around outside weeding the front flower bed and mowing the lawn. Here’s Emma in her cute hat.
Spencer’s friend came over to play.
And that was the break…..well, break from school, but not from way too much fun! On Sunday Spencer was the “awesome brother of the day” and took a bath with Neil and Isaac after which we got a picture of the new towels Rachel had made for Isaac’s birthday. The lion one even has a little tail on the back! The boys were roaring here…
Congrats on making it thought this long post. Come back again soon!
Jessie also tried using scotch tape so make designs and they turned out great. She and Spencer did the lightening bolt since Spencer loves those and she did the hearts and zigzags. Ken helped Neil and Isaac makes eggs that said “Neil loves Isaac” and Isaac loves Neil” – so cute! And the most amazing eggs we made this year were tie dye eggs. They were so easy and turned out amazing! You take a paper towel and drip food coloring dots all over them close enough that the dots of color just start to touch each other. Then you use a spray bottle with some vinegar and water and mist the paper towel so it’s wet, but not dripping. You wrap up your egg in the paper towel and then put the egg in a sandwich bag and twist the bag closed, tight around the egg and just let it set for 10 to 15 minutes. When you unwrap the egg it has a cool texture from the paper towel along with all the colors. Next year this won’t be the last thing we try.
It was 7:45 when dinner was finished baking and on the table. A new recipe we got from Ken’s mom - Lone Star Chicken Spaghetti. It’s like a cross between spaghetti, Mexican food and nachos. Delicious….but I’ve got to find an easier way to make it….kind of the annoyingness of lasagna where you have to cook up all the different parts separately and then put them together…and cook it again, but something we’ll defiantly make again.
Seeing how the night got away from us we put the little kids in bed and then the three oldest helped me make everyone’s Easter basket. We tried a slightly different basket than the one we have made each year in the past. And I really like how they turned out with the overlapping strips on the sides.
Easter morning…Isaac figured this holiday out quick and it made me glad we got some little bunny graham crackers to put in some of the eggs instead of all candy.
By the time we got everyone dressed there wasn’t much left in his basket and everyone else’s basket that hadn’t been moved to high ground had been gone through.
Ken and the kids took some little Easter treats around to his home teaching families and then we had an egg hunt at the house. This was funny because Isaac would find and egg and then bring it to the coffee table to empty its contents and eat it before going to look for another egg. Silly! Abbie was a super helper to get Isaac dressed for us. Easter was a beautiful day this year.
After church we had an Easter feast organized by Rachel at our house. It was so fun to be together with everyone. After dinner we did the Easter story. I’m so thankful to celebrate the Savior and all that he did for us.
