Modest Bath Buddies!

Sophie had a playdate at Aubrie Johnson's house, which turned into a late-over (just shy of a sleepover) and these pictures are proof that they had WAY too much fun! Aubrie's mom wasn't sure how I would feel about the girls bathing together, so she decided to play it safe and have them wear swimsuits. Little does she know that we haven't yet discovered modesty in our home! But I'm glad the girls are clothed because otherwise I would not be posting them on our blog!

Spring Break Stay-cation

Could someone please remind me next year to plan a warm weather vacation during Spring Break? Seriously, whoever reminds me of that will get a prize, and it won't be one of those home crafted prizes that many blogs give out, because you wouldn't want that from me. Maybe if you're lucky it will be a disposable toothbrush! The weather in Meridian, Idaho in mid-March is not worthy of a break from school! With my complaints being noted, we still managed to have some local fun. We took advantage of many Boise attractions, including the Discovery Center, the movie theater, and our favorite pizza shop and candy store. Here we are with some of Maxwell and Sophie's very best buds, Aubrie and Kaleb Johnson at Flatbread Community Oven. Capri has become Miss Independent and wants/needs her own EVERYTHING...including drink with straw!

Sharing a Rainbow

Rainbows are like a colorful little smile from heaven. To me there isn't a more cheerful and lovely creation. I love sighting a rainbow with my kids, and who better to share it with than Caleb and Aubrie! Take note of the burns on Caleb's forehead after an unfortunate bacon grease incident at Fathers and Sons campout!

Rollerdrome...We Own You!

The Johnsons, Terrys, Paynes and Weavers hit the only existing rollerskating rink in the entire Treasure Valley, which happens to be in my old hometown of Nampa and is right around the corner from the Arctic Circle I used to work at in high school. Can you say "glory days"? We really had so much fun and pretty much owned the rink that night. Jenni Terry and I were cracking each other up because we got our groove back really quick, doing the crossover on turns and keeping beat with the music! I know as a 35 year old mother of 3 I should feel at least a little bit out of place at a 5th grade hangout spot, but I actually felt super cool. That's one good thing about myself...I can feel cool pretty easily! Several of us made it to the final rounds of the limbo competition, and my graceful exit was even captured for posterity! My personal favorite part of the night was watching my husband and his buddy Jared wear their matching black and shimmering gold almost Ed Hardy shirts with pride. We finished off the night adult style and ate at a really good restaurant that 5th graders can't afford!

Our Second Home

Gilbert, Arizona was our home for four years and when we moved away we thought we would be back to visit once a year or more, however, life seems to get in the way and it took us nearly three years to get back to our second home...and home it still was. We decided not to tell anyone we were coming, except Mike Romney, which was kept totally confidential because he was in Haiti prior to our arrival! The evening we flew in we decided to drive through the old hood and just start knocking on doors. As we were entering The Gardens Steve said, "I think we'll see Matt Porter playing at the park with his daughters" and sure enough Matt was our first sighting! We then crashed the Jelinek pad, tried a couple others but there was no answer, and called it a night at the Nielson's. I highly recommend this kind of arrival - it was crazy fun! Even on short notice our friends were able to hang with us a bit. Our bishop and his wife even fit it into their schedule to join us for dinner. We ate lots of good food, laughed hard, and were reminded over and over why these people make Gilbert our second home.

Steve Celebratin' with Da Boyz

After surprising Steve with a "new to us" Ford F-150 for Christmas I officially had the surprise bug and couldn't get enough, so I decided to surprise him again for his birthday. Any of you that know Steve well know that he rarely splurges on himself, in the form of time, money, anything. My body doesn't want to let me ski anymore because it likes to vomit after only two runs, and this translates into Steve not skiing much anymore either, so I called a few of his favorite boys to join him in a Sun Valley ski trip. I even had his office manager clear out his Friday appointments, and to avoid any suspicion on his part, she scheduled fake appointments.

From what I hear the trip was quite a party. Lots of guy things, like playing cards till all hours of the night (is that a guy thing?), eating huge amounts of food, skiing hard, and did I mention eating huge amounts of food? There are some Bart Hamilton food consumption stories that will go down in history!!

The Fuddy Duddy that Wouldn't Skate

Notice who's not wearing ice skates in this picture...can you say f-u-d-d-y d-u-d-d-y! Although he does have a semi-good excuse - he claims they hurt his cankles!! Capri didn't ice skate either and was probably climbing up and down, up and down, and up and down (repeat about 20 more times for the full effect) the stairs of the rink lobby while this family picture was being taken.