Family Night

Does anyone else have family night like ours? After our quick FHE where it was Lauren's turn to do a lesson (which she picked out a story from the Friend that she ended up not listening too), we then play a game so our stomachs could settle a little before dessert. We started playing Chinese Checkers. Carley got bored and drifted off to play with Lauren who was not interested in playing the game in the first place. Mark and I take turns making Carley's moves in her absence. Kenny was soon to follow and I explain that once this type of game is started you need to finish or everyone has to stop playing as well. Mark makes the comment, "That's why no one likes to play with you (meaning me) because you don't let people stop playing." I guess I'm the kind of person who has to play a game to the end . . . until someone wins, hopefully me ;). Mark's point was that we play games to have fun as a family . . . it doesn't matter if anybody wins. Talk about speaking in a foreign language! Well, Kenny hangs on a little longer and then takes off. We didn't finish the game and I start putting it away, sniff, sniff. Then latter we are dishing up this really good dessert that Mark made yesterday after being inspired from the food network channel. Lauren does not like this dessert so she asked for cheese instead. Cheese as dessert? Really? I guess that is what makes families so fun, we are all so different. We each bring something different to the table to make life interesting and give us these fun learning experiences.

Here is a picture of the great dessert Mark made, Lime Blueberry Tiramisu! This picture is from the show. Mark's actually looked better because the angel cake part was thicker as well as the cream cheese/whipped cream mixture under the blueberry pie filling.

Spring is here?

I've changed my blog to look more "springish". But with the snow flurries this morning, I'm guessing our Spring is further away. Actually flowers are blooming and I took a few pictures last week when we went to the park. You'll have to wait a little longer for those because I've run out of time! Until then . . . .

Easter Sunday

We had a nice but lonely Easter this year. I sang in the choir so I left early for church for our practice. I managed to get a few shots of the kids before I left.

Our church meetings were really nice of course. After church we had a fun Easter dinner. We forgot to buy corn beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's day so we decided to have it for Easter instead. Mark cooked the meal and it was soooo good. We had no one to visit this year so we just hung out and played games.

Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny comes to our house on Saturday so we can hopefully focus only on the Savior on Easter Sunday. The kids had a blast finding eggs left by the bunny and they really enjoyed their Easter baskets this year.

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

"You gave me a great idea!"

On our way home from Costco with all the beverages for our ward's Easter brunch tomorrow, I briefly mention to Carley and Lauren about the Easter celebration at the church. I finish by saying there might be a craft. Lauren says, "You gave me a great idea!" "I know of a craft we can do tomorrow." She goes on to explain the craft which is the same one they did yesterday at preschool. She then says, "We need to find out the church's number so we can call them and tell them about my craft." "Maybe the church doesn't have a number . . . we need to get a number for the Church so people can call them and then we can call them about my craft." It was way too funny. I like how she wants to take care of everybody and everything.

Go Suns!

Mark received free tickets to the Trail Blazers' game last night. They just happened to be playing the Suns. We quickly get a babysitter and set off for the Rose Garden. Granted, we were in the "nose bleed" seats, but we could still see clearly how huge Shaq is (It was weird to watch him play in purple and orange). We had so much fun cheering for the away team. We were polite and didn't get too many stares. We had to leave by the end of the third quarter so our sitter could get to bed so we didn't get to watch the Suns leave the Blazers in the dust. I forgot how much I like watching basketball . . . it was so much fun! I can't fail to mention how great it was to see the game live and feel the rumble of the music and hear the cheering of all the fans!

After the game we made a quick stop at Burgerville (like Burger King) and grabbed shakes. They have a chocolate hazelnut shake that is to die for. It beats my formally favorite hot fudge shake from Sonic hands down! It was a fun spontaneous night!

The Big Bang Theory

I'm extremely excited that the Big Bang Theory will be back on this Monday. This is a fairly new show and if you have not seen it, you are missing out! It is right at the top of my list along with The Office. It is a show about four geeks and this beautiful "normal" girl who happens to move in next door. We have kept the pilot show on our DVR to watch from time to time. It is so funny it brings me to tears every time I watch it. If you haven't seen it, go to www.cbs.com/primetime/big_bang_theory and catch up on the shows.

Sheldon is my absolute favorite character!

I can't wait until Monday!!

Kenny participated in the writer's showcase at his school last night. He read his report on Ukraine to an audience. It was fun to see and he did a great job. He especially liked sharing that his grandparents are serving a mission there. We can't believe they will be coming home at the end of this month! Kenny is still interested in the country of Ukraine and in the great work his grandparents are doing.

On a side note, we saw a future Porter at the showcase. This boy looked exactly like Porter but two years older. It made us miss family in Arizona more and we can't wait to see you all in May.

Next Weather Phenomenon!

Our family was watching a movie in the loft where there are square decorative windows towards the top of the wall that do not have coverings. The sun started shining bright on the TV so I go to put pillows in the window to block the light. I noticed that it was raining while the sun was shining really bright. I mention it to the kids and Kenny says, "That means there is a rainbow somewhere. Can we go out and find it?" I said, "Sure, let's go." We race downstairs and go out on the front porch. With the sun shining bright, we could see the rain (I should probably say, "Sprinkle") pretty clearly. I noticed that it was not raining on the right side of our view. You could see exactly where the edge of the rain was. It was a neat thing to see. I point it out to the kids and Kenny had to immediately run out in it to test it for himself. It was like this for a couple of minutes. Then he turns around and sees the rainbow. We all had to run out on the sidewalk and see for ourselves. It was beautiful. I ran in to get the camera but by the time I came back out it already had faded considerably. Here is a picture of it anyway, enjoy.

New Do!

We took a trip to the Deseret Book Store yesterday for some needed supplies. In the same shopping center was a kids hair cutting salon. I've wanted to cut Lauren's hair for a while now. She has such thick hair and I thought she would look really cute in a new do. I mentioned it to Mark and he quickly pipes up to say, "Let's do it!". They squeezed us in and the fun began. I had a hard time explaining what I wanted Lauren's hair to look like and it came out one inch shorter then I had planned but it turned out great. Lauren was really good at sitting there for an hour (the lady had to cut it twice). We never even asked Lauren what she wanted (such bad parents) but she loves it! We don't think she understands that this cut is permanent because she kept asking if we could do it again tomorrow because she likes it so much. She is constantly looking in the mirror to admire it and wanted to show everybody she knew immediately. Whew! We got lucky with that one. Now I just need to get good at styling it.