March Madness

Okay, I am going backwards because it's too much of a pain to rearrange the photos. 

For the last week of March we were in Utah, the kids and I, for Spring Break. We hung out in Mt Pleasant with Gma and Gpa Stum. Salt Lake City, visiting all of our friends. We were also able to attend my cousins baptism and catch up with my Knell side of the family. The kids were happy as clams spending the night at various friends homes. I stayed with Rose for some nights and then at my friend from my ward, Pam's house. She's a great hostess with comfortable home. I snapped a photo of this phrase she had on her wall. She's been through a lot of trials in her life and yet she's still a positive, strong woman in the Gospel and I love her example to me. 

And I was able to do some real estate while I was in Utah. It was awesome!

Colin eating his favorite meal: macaroni and cheese, at the Corner Bakery in SLC.

We celebrated my birthday at my parents house. Jennie made me an amazing ice cream cake, I think I requested cookie dough and peanut butter cups, my fave combo. I was also treated by some friends in SLC and Nora (see below).

 Can't go to SLC without a stop to the best cake donuts in town, Banbury Cross.

Mount Pleasant fire pit nights. My dad relocated his fire pit so this was the first time using it, at least he grandkids. Hot dogs and S'mores.

Each time I am in Utah I try to carve out several hours to go my fave salon so they can do their curly magic. Sadly, it's not realistic to keep up this habit and I need to find a local salon that I can trust here in Denver area. They introduced this new gel to me and it was amazing!!! Best part is...it's just as good as the other brand I had been using, but much much cheaper and easier to get (Target vs private salon stores via Steph).

I also got my nails done (see a few pics down)...and they match my pants almost perfectly.

Luckily, there was enough snow on the mountains and Sam got to ski, it had been a year since he'd gone for the fist time and learned. He was able to go skiing with 2 of his best friends (Ethan and Aaron) because my dad and Rose took them. But he needed some new snow pants because he outgrew his old ones. So I stopped at a couple of thrift stores in SLC and found a great pair for him. C&C also found some fun toys at the thrift store.

We stayed with Rose for a few days which was fun and helpful.....this is her cats butt.

I was able to go to the Denver Aquarium for the first time with Cecily's 3rd grade field trip. It was fun!

Felines are my favorite animal in the world!

I can't remember the name of this fish but I loved how its eyes bulged out of the water 

Beautiful and bright!!

Nora took me out to lunch and we got pedicures for my birthday. She's hardly been to Cafe Rio so I was happy to share it with her!

I took these to a movie....I think it was "The Secret Life of Pets 2"...the older kids didn't want to waste their time. It was an okay movie. Funny at times but redbox worthy.

We bought a $600 car from Stoehr's neighbor for Samuel. It's old and mostly functional. Well, Jocelyn is too mortified to be seen riding in it. This is her during one of the school drop offs or dance pickups. hahahaha.

St Patrick's Day fell on a Sunday this year so we had dinner with Tyler's fam. Corned beef and cabbage. Lori had some fun games planned for the kiddos.

This is one of the 1 cent horse rides at King Soopers. I rode the very same horse when I was a kid, and it only cost 1 cent. An employee told me they had just done some work on it. I am so happy they or someone maintains these little rides and that they haven't increased the price over the years.

Cecily and I went to another movie....but I can't remember which one! Lego ? Anyway, this was back when we had movie type passes and it was a lot cheaper to go to the theater.

Jocelyn was having some fun with herself! Look at that smolder.

One of the several snow days we had this month! One day they preemptively cancelled school and we woke up and it was just raining. But it quickly turned into an icy, snow, windy blizzard so I was glad they canceled. 

Jennie and I have this running joke....that neither of us (plus Grant) can't successfully make rolls. This was the first batch, in over 6 tries between us, that sorta worked. Since then (November I am writing this) she has successfully made them perfectly.

Cecily was reading to Colin one night in his little tented bed. She is so kind to read to him so frequently. It counts as reading for him and her! They are great pals, most of the time.

This is Cecily being awarded her Science fair honors.

We went to the Children's WOW museum in Lafayette with Heidi/Lori. This was clearly his favorite dress-up. 

Nora's baby shower

One of the perks of moving to Arvada was living in the same city as my oldest BFF, Nora. We've known each other since we were 3 years old. So when she announced she was pregnant, kind of unexpectedly, with her 4th child and only boy, I was happy to help host a baby shower. Her visiting teachers, at the time, Jes and Sam, also helped. Despite the snowy conditions, there was a great turnout. I had soooo much fun throwing together a party like this. It had been a long time since I got to fill my creative cup and energy into someone else like this. Nora pinned a bunch of woodland themed type decor for her dream baby nursery so we went with that. We pulled all of our home decor together. Bought a few things to add detail. Borrowed some more from Jes's MIL and found the perfect matching plates at Hobby Lobby. I made a diaper cake, which was fun to do. We had really simple treats and games but mostly visited and opened gifts.

February Fun

These may not be in chronological order! 

Caught Tyler napping again...or maybe going to bed early. Proof that he DOES nap. 

I LOVE misty mornings. This day reminded me of the song on MOTAB CD with Bryn Terfel "Homeword Bound" .

Kids school dropoff

Backyard twigs

Cecily received an award for winning the Science Fair in 3rd grade! She tested 6 brands of popcorn to determine which had the least amount of unpopped kernels. The winner was surprisingly ACT II brand. However, we did not compare taste or texture. I don't think that brand would have won.

Jocelyn making cookies.....something went wrong, haha. She's a much better baker now.

Me being goofy with selfies. haha.

Valentine's Day! I made my traditional pink breakfast. Tyler and I wrote a love note to each child and gave them a toy and gift.

I guess this is what romance grows into, lol!! Tyler captured this of Gma and Gpa. I think it's a nightly ritual. 

We introduced Jocelyn to true romance in film. We started with the shorter version of Pride & Prejudice. Phew...we've raised her right because she lov.....love......LOVED it. 

Colin had a little preschool party. They sang to us and then we had some snacks and playtime after. 

Colin is my little squeeze.

Tyler, and Cecily and Colin, making pasta from scratch. Yummy!

We had a TON of snow days.I've lost count. On this day we went sledding with Jennie and her ward friends. Fortunately, we borrowed peoples cracked sleds, haha, because we don't have any! We need to invest this year. You can see Jocelyn's lack of boots behind them....she chose to wear her converse and she regretted not wearing my "ugly" boots because he feet froze!

Valentine's type treats. My double chocolate chip cookies with peppermint kisses melted on top!

Once again Jocelyn is mortified in public. I picked her up from dance and she didn't want to be seen in her leotard in public so she threw on these comfy pants and flannel over her tights. She was so embarrased and nearly didn't come in to eat. I took the kids, while Sam and Tyler went to an AValanche game (Tyler sang with the chorale at it), to Cinzetti's, an Italian buffet. Regrettably, it was a bit overpriced, even with the kids eating free that night. They were nice and didn't make me pay for Jocelyn (she was still kids price) because their policy is 2 free kids per paying adult but it didn't specify that on their website. I probably wouldn't have driven all the way up to it, had I known.

Colin and I went to the free Denver zoo day with our friends (Liz and Joseph Setelin) and Rebecca and her little guy.