Thursday, May 15, 2014

April Business

Mom, Camry, and I attended our first Women’s Conference for the LDS Church! It was the first ever women’s session that included all girls ages eight and over. It was a very uplifting meeting, and we ended it just right with a dinner at Carrabas. Man, that place is great! I love their bread, herbs, and oil...I LOVE their frozen peach lemonade...and I love their Sirloin Marsala. All so tasty!

I did a few crafting things with friends. For the monthly Craft Night/Girls Night we painted mason jars in Easter colored painted, distressed them with a nail filer, and filled them with flowers. I love the way they turned out! It is a craft that will last longer than the Easter season...it will be sticking around through spring. I also had a Craft Day/Play Date with my friends Kylie and Stacee, and their kids. Kylie provided all of the materials and we glued yarn over some old, empty baby food jars. Another cute option was gluing twine around the jars...really cute. Then we filled them with dirt and planted grass seeds. WIthin four days I had little strands of green grass peeking through. It was very exciting.



And here is a look at our beautiful tulips in April:

I got these colors being the most excited for the purple...but it turns out that I LOVE the yellow!



Jason being artsy:







As part of Kids on the Move, I was able to attend a weekly class called Great Beginnings. It was once a week for three weeks and was very encouraging. I went to the class while Charlie had fun at the daycare there. The main strategy I took from the class was taking advantage of opportunities that encourage communication. The biggest opportunities are when he wants something...whether it is a snack or a certain toy...I learned that I need to dumb it down and not immediately jump to do what I know he wants me to do. I have to give him the chance to voice or communicate in some way what he wants. I have been hindering him in that way because most of the time I already know what he wants, so I would just do it for him before he got upset. The class taught us some ways to provide choices to get him to speak up and also to provide an opportunity to repeat the word over and over. Implementing the strategy proved more challenging with Charlie’s personality than I imagined, but I know it is something worthwhile to continue.

We made another trip to Idaho this month, this time for Ashley and Conner’s wedding. We drove up Thursday night with my parents. Friday morning, we attended the sealing at the Idaho Falls Temple. A special thanks to my cousin, Kendra, for watching Charlie that morning so we could go. After pictures, we had a yummy luncheon at a church in Jameston. Later that night we returned to the church for the reception. It was beautiful! The Idaho clan always does a wonderful job with decorating. The treats were delicious, as well.

Making the drive to Idaho

Waiting for the happy couple:


Cousin, Jaydyn, is the best playmate to Charlie!















The luncheon:

Exhausted by this point

Spent lots of time in the Primary room

The reception:



After cleaning up the reception, somehow we still had energy to meet up for some games at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. We played celebrity (of course) and ate some snacks. The party continued the next morning with biscuits and gravy and the first session of General Conference. We left for home during the second session.



Once back in Draper, after the guys watched Priesthood session in the basement, we had a pizza dinner. While the guys were watching conference, Charlie found Bryan’s stash of hot wheels (that he usually has hidden away). Charlie spent the whole night before bed taking them out of the bucket and lining them up. He had never seen so many cars, and he was loving it! He was upset when it was time to pull him away. After Charlie was in bed, my family played Farkle and then watched Catching Fire.


That's a lot of work, people!

After another wonderful General Conference on Sunday morning and afternoon, we met up with the Grubers for a dinner celebration for April’s birthday. Ah, a very busy and fulfilling weekend!



Later that week, Charlie and I met up Nancy and April and the girls in Alpine. The cousins got to play while the women had a fun recipe exchange. Nancy was so sweet and even made several of the dishes that she was exchanging with us so we could sample them. We had a delicious vegetable and chicken soup for lunch, hot pineapple wrapped in bacon and brown sugar, blueberry pie, and a pudding graham cracker cake. Oh man, we were spoiled! Everything was so tasty, and it was such a fun surprise.

For Spring Break, we met up with my family in Midway. We spent a few days there having fun playing games, watching movies, hot tubing, feeding the ducks, eating good food, and riding mountain bikes. We even made it to the Soldier Hollow trail one day for a fun family bike ride. Charlie even came along for a bit in the baby bike seat. He loved it...at first...until the trail got a little intense, bumpy, and steep. Ever since, he has been kind of anxious and scared of getting in the bike seat. Hopefully, we can break him of this fear. One of the nights, my parents treated us to dinner out at a fun pizza restaurant. It was a very fun vacation away. Even though the weather wasn’t always the best, we still had a good time.


















Ah...still more April "business" to come...



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