Random Weekend Pics

I don't remember which reason we were here on this particular day. This is just outside the hospital that we are very lucky to live so close to. Our pediatrician is located here and I often pick up prescriptions at the pharmacy. It seems between the girls, there is always something we are heading in for, I am grateful to have such a nice hospital so convenient to us. The girls always have to climb through the bike rack when we are walking in or out.

Sarah got a fun surprise early one Saturday morning. One of her best friends, Kassee, had a breakfast birthday party at IHOP. She came and kidnapped Sarah at 7:30 - a time you will never see Sarah awake on a Saturday morning! She was so surprised to see Kassee standing in her room when we went to wake her up. She had a blast at the party once she woke up! This picture makes me laugh because she probably blinked, but it kind of looks like she just doesn't want to open her eyes.

Nat and Ang wanted to do their own IHOP breakfast since they were stuck at home!

A lunch time creation by Natalie. She is always making herself these funny faces. She hides in the pantry - her workstation - sometimes with a flashlight so she can close the door, and she works on her creations. I love it! (Except for when she leaves things a mess in the pantry.)

ART!

At the girls' school, every spring, they have a little art night. Since they all LOVE to paint and draw I thought it would be fun to get them each a canvas to make a creation on. Sarah wasn't sure what to paint when we talked about this idea and I needed something to hang up in our bathroom downstairs, so I commissioned her to create a masterpiece using paint colors that match the towels and shower curtain. We found an idea in an art book that inspired her abstract design. Unfortunately, we were so busy the week that the paintings were due, it ended up being a very last minute thing and more stressful than it should have been. Natalie and Angela finished their works of art in plenty of time. However, Sarah's more complicated piece of art took a really long time. She wanted to be finished when she was halfway through. But, me being the mean mom that I am, prodded her to keep going even though it meant a later bed time. I didn't want her to give up halfway through. So her experience doing her art was not the relaxing and fun event that I wanted it to be, but when she was done, she was pretty happy with the result. I think she was glad she stuck with it.

At the art night, the girls were all proud of their works of art. Sarah and Natalie also participated in the talent show portion playing piano and violin. They got a little trophy for their participation (which Angela was very jealous of) and they all got ribbons for their lovely artwork. Natalie got a special award for hers - the students at the school got to vote on their favorites and Natalie's was chosen. It was a fun night and everyone walked out happily with their awards and pretty paintings that we get to hang in our house now.

Natalie's cute princess-y picture, I like the castle in the background, nice use of perspective. (O:

I love Angela's, she did this all on her own.

And my lovely piece to add to the bathroom! Thanks Sarah!

Activity Days Around the World

What a fun night! Our cute Activity Days leader had the cutest idea to combine our theme of learning about manners in March with a trip around the world. She invited members of our ward who had served missions or lived in other countries to help us learn about manners in those countries. We started out with a photo shoot (that was my job) with the mothers and daughters in fun dress ups.

Then we "traveled" to 4 different stations and learned about England (Molly grew up there and had fun stories which sounded extra cool in her beautiful accent!)

Geff taught us about France which was a lot of fun, partly because he is such a nut. (O:

Brother Rossiter told us about the Cook Islands which was fun. This is him showing Sarah what the language there looks like in it's written form.

Sarah loved the Japanese station - she loves Japan since learning so much about it from Will. We had a really fun time together and even all of us moms who helped pull off the night got to enjoy it. Sharon did a great job planning and all the special guests were so fun. (o:

Volleyball

When I heard Sarah's friend Kaitlyn was doing a volleyball "camp" with Riverton High, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to introduce Sarah to one of my favorite sports. She was excited and enjoyed going every Tuesday night for a month. The girls had a great time learning new skills. Their team came in dead last, but hey, they had fun!

Conference Weekend

Sunday morning of conference, we always have the tradition of eating sticky buns. It was a little bittersweet as we watched because the last time we watched conference was right before we started packing up the house to move from Oregon. I did enjoy getting an extra hour of sleeping in since conference starts here at 10 am instead of 9 am. (O: I loved conference - always do, but they just seem to get better and better. I think it is really neat how every conference the speakers can choose their own topics, they don't know what everyone else is speaking on, and yet, there always seems to be a theme or two that run throughout. They are definitely inspired by the same source. (o: This time seemed to focus on service and charity. It was very uplifting and made me want to reach out to others more. I love our church leaders and their loving example. I am proud to be a member of our church, especially when I hear of all the good being done throughout the world by our church welfare program. It truly follows the example of the Savior and I believe He leads and inspires the efforts of our leaders to bless others.

During the break on Sunday, we took a little drive. I've really been wanting to drive past my old house I grew up in ever since we came back. Good old house. It looks so run down now. My dad used to take such good care of the yard.

We went by Frank's* house too. The funny thing about us is that we grew up just a few miles away from each other and our houses were the exact same floorplan only swapped and his had a carport.

Natalie has become quite the connoisseur of snow since we moved to Utah. (O:

A little game of Slamwich is always good on a Sunday afternoon!

Fickle!

I am learning that during spring in Utah you can have a beautiful day like this one day . . .

And wake up the next morning to this!

This was conference weekend for those of you who are LDS, you may remember that the Saturday sessions of general conference we had weather like the top picture (that was April 2nd) and then Sunday morning they showed pictures of temple square looking like a winter wonderland (April 3rd). It was actually really pretty and didn't last long even considering how much snow fell, but still! That is quite a difference!

Our neighbor's beautiful tree.

Shoveling in shorts - must be spring snow!

We just got this baby all set up! The net got so weighed down we had to go shake it off. This snowstorm actually broke a lot of trees because the snow was so wet and heavy.