A Wicked Good Time

I do believe that I have one of the most kind and generous men as a father-in-law. A few months back I got a call from him telling me that he was buying tickets for Wicked in Portland. He invited me to go on a Girls' Trip with my mother-in-law, grandmother-in-law and some of his nieces. After the original call I called my surrogate sister from Florida who lives in the suburbs of Portland to find out how close she would be and if a visit during my time there was possible. We were able to arrange for me to go out early to visit her. It was a much needed and welcomed vacation. Even the weather cooperated and while there was rain (I've been old that there is always a chance for rain in Portland) it was fairly mild and an excellent visit!

Gram, Kiersten (a friend of Cindy's), Cindy, Manda,
Alicia (my surrogate sister), Brooke, Whitney,
Meagan and Ashley (the nieces) at dinner.

Me and Alicia

Meagan and Ashley

Brooke and Whitney

Ashley and Gram.
(Sorry for the closed eyes Gram but it was the only picture I had of you up close.)

So not only did Tom buy us all tickets to the amazing show "Wicked" but they were the most UNBELIEVABLE seats in the THIRD row. I don't know which was more fun to watch the amazing show or the priceless view of seeing Gram and the girls watch the amazing show. I wish that Tom could have at least been there to see it himself.

Alicia and I in front of the auditorium for Wicked.

Gram, Brooke, Ashley, Whitney, Manda, Cindy and Meagan.

Thank you Tom (and Cindy) for the amazing trip!

The Easter Pageant

Every Spring our church puts on an Easter Pagent on the lawn of the Mesa Temple. It tells of the final days before the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection of Jesus Christ. My sister-in-law spearheaded the production of loading us all up and heading down there to see it Tuesday night. We were a bit rushed to get seats and I know that I was concerned about keeping the kids out late and the pageant keeping their attention but it all was well worth it. The boys paid attention and enjoyed "the act out" (as they called it).

We grabbed a few pizzas from Little Cesear's (thank heavens for their hot and ready pizzas) and were seated just before they started making people giving up "saved" seats. So we sat and had our pizza.

The kids, Aunt Sandy, pizza and caprisuns. Yum!

Gotta love 6-year-olds.
Notice all the silly faces throughout the pictures
from these two- and Vance occasionally.

Me and the boys.
(No it's not an optical illusion- I did chop off all my hair.)

Emma, Vance and Joel in front of
the Mesa Temple.

Vance, Emma and Joel on the grounds
of the Mesa Temple.

Matthew and Brody ready for the sun
to set and the pageant to start.

I wasn't sure how much the boys got out of the pageant until today. The boys were playing up in their room. They came down and asked if I wanted to see their show. I told them I would come up and see it in a few minutes. When I went up they began to reenact part of the Easter Pageant. Thank you Aunt Sandy for the reminder of the true meaning of Easter beyond bunnies, chocolate and colored eggs.

Spring Break Continued

So with Spring Break being so long I was hoping to make a visit to Phoenix to see my brother and his family. His children are close in age to the boys and they look forward to seeing them and talk about them all the time. With gas prices being what they are it looked like I was going to be grounded. However, with a scheduling snafu a trip to Arizona seemed to be the solution. This meant good news for us!

Our trip started out with a birthday party for my niece Emma. They surprised her with a bouncy castle and she was SO excited to see it when she got home from school. A few hours later her friends arrived and although it was sunny and a bit warm the kids had a fun time in the castle, drank enough water to fill a pool and the party was deemed a success.

The following two days were filled with our church's conference and listening to our world wide leaders. I also stole away for a little while to meet one of my cousins for lunch and since I was in the area also stopped by Eegees. One of my favorite Arizona treats. :) Of course I didn't get any pictures of ANY of this.

Sunday my parents were in Phoenix and invited all of us kids who were in the area (4 out of 7) to dinner. We decided on Rain Forest Cafe and the kids enjoyed the dining experience.

The kids (minus Corbin who refused to take pictures)
in front of the tank at Rain Forest Cafe.

The kids again outside of the Rain Forest Cafe.

A rare shot of the elusive Corbin.

A Spring Break Past

This was our first official Spring Break since it's Joel's first year of school. We planned on having a low key spring break. Joel's school break was actually TWO ENTIRE weeks! The first week Vance still had preschool so it was fun to have a couple mornings hanging out with just Joel.

Tuesday the boys reminded me that I had promised them that some day we would go to the zoo. And Tuesday seemed like a good day to be some day. So we got up and headed to the zoo. It was a perfect day to go to the zoo except that the bird show doesn't perform on Tuesday. It started out a bit overcast and chilly. But as the day went on it became sunny without being too hot. The boys had SO much fun and it was a really fun day at the zoo.

The boys and the flamingos.

I love this picture of Joel in his "Joe Cool" pose.

The boys with the giraffe's.
I LOVE giraffes and
I LOVE what good brothers
these two are to each other.

Vance with the lion and her cubs.

The boys and I had such a fun day together. It would have been nice to have Tj there- but I guess somebody has to bring home the bacon. I let the boys pick out something from the gift shop. The boys picked out little plastic chomper animals. Vance picked a cheetah that he named "Cheety, Cheety". Joel picked a crocodile that he named "Ziggy". Unfortunately, Joel broke his crocodile later that week- but Uncle Brody was able to fix it. But then Vance broke it almost a week later in a manner that couldn't be fixed. Bummer! Wish I had gotten a picture with them together before the demise of Ziggy, they really put a lot of miles on those toys.