Time keeps Marching on.

It is March. And to be honest- March is almost over. Time keeps on speeding by.

Here are some of the events that have happened during March:

Cub Scout Carnival. Chase ran a cup stacking booth.

The boys had a random day off and I took them to a bounce house place. They have not gone to one for a long time.  I started reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and didn't really pay any attention to the boys. I did take this picture right when we got there and then picture taking slipped my brain (that is fine- we all know what bounce houses look like.) But I just wish that I could go back and tell my "mother of toddlers self" that this day would come. Sit and read a book while kids play alone.   

Random story- we ended up taking one of Tanner's friends (who coincidentally had the same random day off school even though they don't go to the same school.) He had knocked at our door as we were leaving and we asked if he wanted to go. I had to sign a consent form that asked for his birthday. I asked him when his birthday was- It was that day! So that was funny.

I have been working with Jaxon a little bit on drawing. He wants to get better. I need to figure out how to teach art. I don't really know how.

We had a ward talent show. Alex played a piano song and did a great job. I love his enthusiasm and hard work. he is a great musician.

Jaxon sang "the Bear Necessities" and sounded just like Baloo. He has such a deep voice. He is an amazing singer.

Funny story. When Jaxon heard about the talent show he said " It's too bad all of my talents aren't really good for a talent show" He was thinking of his Dungeons and dragons and Magic hobbies. I said- " Dude you are a walking talent show. He can sing and play instruments. It's funny he didn't think that way.

Chase and Tanner had great Talents of watching everyone. (see Tanner in between Alex and Chase)

We also have the end of quarter stuff (figuring out how to get everything done as quickly as possible), Parent Teacher Conferences, and final projects (Chase made a crane out of recycling stuff using his new knowledge of simple machines- Tanner made a box that would allow an egg to land from a height without breaking. His was dropped from the top of the school and stayed unbroken!)

Joanna came over a couple of times. We love her! I did not get a picture of her but I did get a picture of what she brought. She brought 2 kinds of lemon squares and we did a taste test. It was a yummy taste test. (Jaxon was at work- he tested it out later and got the same results as we did.)

Alex played the piano in his school talent show. He did a great job and I am proud that he wants to show his talents off all of the time.

Chase didn't know how to play checkers! That's because we play tons of hard games and because he is the youngest we kind of forgot to teach him. So we played a few games.

March wins for the amount of small little holidays.

March Fourteenth- also known as 3.14- also known as Pi day. We had pie! Because planning ahead is not my strong point, I just went to the store and bought generic pies (they were good- nothing spectacular.)  Alex hates pie. So I always have to make an ice cream pie. I usually just slap melted mint chocolate chip into a pie shell and freeze. It is usually the favorite. (Jaxon was at work- don't worry, we saved him some.)

Jaxon had Youth Conference. Tanner is not quite 14 but Tanner got to join them at the temple on Thursday.  They had it in the winter this year. (It does not look like winter as they left)

They went up to the girls camp cabins near Heber.

 They had a "speed dating" event. There are twice as many boys so it was more of a "practicing talking to people to get to know them" event.

 (Jaxon came home and told me- "I don't know why I need to try to remember people's names if I am never going to talk to them again". Hello. That is the point- talk to them again. they are in your ward.)

It was a snow event.

They made snow sculptures telling gospel things.

Of course there was sledding and othe snow stuff.

St. Patrick's day. We have a tradition of rainbow pancakes. This year we did them a little different.

I like this tradition because it is doable. It is actually kind of easy. (Jaxon was at Youth Cnference)

The kiwi stuff was clovers and the peaches were the leprachan's gold.

We usually have bacon with this meal- but we had sausage in the house so we went with that instead.

Saturday we had choir practice because Andre and I were singing for stake conference adult meeting.

Andre had soccer practice (his knee has been hurting him again- but only when he runs.  He is wondering if he should go to a doctor about it.)

Sunday was our anniversary! It was also stake conference. We got a new stake president. It is someone I don't know but I am sure he will be great. The kids think it is funny that our stake president is President Monson just like our Prophet.

We came home and I had time for a nap! Then made a steak dinner. Once a long time ago we had steak on Stake conference day and Jaxon wanted it to become a tradition. Well, that takes planning and thinking ahead, and remembering stuff- and that is not my strong point. But we had it this year and he was happy.

I did have a thought that I might invite some people over for rootbeer floats on Sunday night just to celebrate our anniversary. But after I woke up from my nap and made dinner and cleaned up from dinner- I didn't want to clean up enough to invite people. AND it was a really good thing I didn't get around to inviting anyone. I went to get the icecream that I bought. I had put it in the refrigerator instead of the freezer. Ahhh! that is so lame. I swear I am so scatterbrained. I blame my loss of braincells on my children. We did drink a rootbeer fluff. It was ok- but not great. Then we refroze the melted icecream and it is usable- not great.

First Day of Spring!

The kids had the day off because it was the end of their quarter. I have been feeling like I needed o go somewhere and get out of the rut I am in. The weather has been spectacular for march so we had to go explore.

I have wanted to go to the Spiral Jetty ever since I heard of it. Andre never wants to go. So I thought it was a perfect place to go. On the way to the Jetty is the Golden Spike museum. We saw the place that the two railroads met up to span the nation. It was cool. I went when I was around 8-9 and I remember it vaguely.

Looking west

Looking east.

Replica of the original golden spike. Yes it was completely gold. (but not the replica)

If you thought that was out in the sticks, it got worse. We then drove another 15-19 miles on dirt roads to the middle of nowhere. Cows were everywhere on the road and their baby cows were cute and unsure of what to do about our car driving by.

Then we got there! It is cool. I sent the boys down there so I could get a picture from up high with them in it. You can see one of my kids is a black dot. it shows the scale.  

Chase got stuck in this mud pit and was kind of scared. Tanner got him out and them spent tons of time playing in the mud pit. This is where he found really cool green crystals. like 2 feet down in the black mud.

It was an overcast day and we put on sunscreen but Alex still got sunburned.

Then we had to go to the lake. It wasn't too far from the Jetty. We checked the water level before we left home because the Jetty was under water from about 1980 to 2002. With all the water we have had- I didn't want to go all that way and find it covered. The water level said that if it was 2 feet higher it would be covered. So we were good.

Chase had scratched his toes on the hike down to the jetty so he was slower with the walking. I remember how bad salt water hurts on sores. He was pretty brave.

Alex was walking along and felt the mud give way a little. Bubbles came up as he pushed in a certain area. He reached down and flipped over a patch of salt crystals. Then he kept finding more and more.

You can see the crystals that he flipped over.

throwing mud.

It was perfect temperature and just a little overcast. It made the lake beautiful.

We found wrinkly mud- but it was dried mud.

Tanner was the king of the black clay/mud.

Finding tons of salt crystals

Can you zoom in? The boys found this spiral podium up from the parking lot.

The only problem with this is that it is too far away. Tanner hates long drives.

Then Andre took Tuesday off to celebrate our anniversary. It was great to spend time with him today. we went to see a movie- Hidden Figures. I highly highly recommend this movie. I loved it. Then we went to Simply Thai for lunch. I love Thai food. Then we went shopping for a bit and then we started the pick up kids from school and homework and making dinner stuff. But it was great to celebrate.