First weekend in April brought one of my favorite things. You guessed it - Conference. Kate and Kylie each needed their own conference tent this go around. Thanks to Kate's construction skills they both remained standing all weekend.
The food was plentiful and delicious, as always. For an added bonus the Sister Missionaries came over to watch the Saturday morning session and eat waffles with us. And don't even get me started on the spiritual feast. It was amazing and exactly what I needed to hear. Can't wait to devour it piece by piece as I continue to re-listen to the talks over the next 6 months.
And a huge shout out to the Strickland's who let us swim in their pool between the sessions to get out some energy after sitting around all day.
The only hitch during conference was that it also happened to fall on April Fool's Day . . .
So, we're sitting there watching conference, when Kylie needs to go to the bathroom. Well, 30 seconds later she comes out, "Uh, Mom, there's something wrong with the toilet." I'm thinking, "Oh great, it's clogged" then I walk into the bathroom to find this :
I walked right out of the bathroom and announced, "Alright, who missed?!? I am not cleaning up that mess!!" to which Lise burst into uncontrollable, not-able-to-breathe, laughter. Apparently Lise wet down a toilet paper roll and scrunched it up into the perfect dookie. She got the idea from Pinterest (of course). And it was a huge hit to be sure. Lise couldn't stop talking about my reaction. Glad I could make her April Fool's Day for her.
Oh, and while we're on the subject, we had this funny conversation while reading scriptures one night:
Kate - What does abhor mean?
Chris - To be hatefully disgusted by something. Like when you see poop.
Kate - But I don't hate poop
(Yes, it does have its place in our lives, doesn't it Kater. . . )
Another funny thing is that Lise has gotten obsessed with people putting their name on leftovers in the fridge (or mainly, us not eating all the things she has her name on . . . ) So she put this message on the fridge: If you like it then you should put your name on it. When Chris saw that note he just bust out laughing and the next thing you know, I've got this piece of tape on my forehead. Good to know that Chris likes me and is willing to claim me. Makes me very happy. ;)
And now to move on to something a bit more proper (*ahem*)
In April 7th Group has something called Red Empire Week, which is a bunch of activities for the community, soldiers and families to celebrate Special Forces. There's races, golf tournaments, a jump, a community day, etc. and it all culminates up to the the 7th Group Formal. (Dum, dum, DUM!) As Chris is not a fan of these sorts of events, we had never been to one in his entire career, but this time, as a commander, it was kinda expected. I wasn't complaining too hard. I'll take a date with my hubby any way I can get it. :) It was fun to dress up, and we made a weekend getaway out of it, which was even better! Another thing was that the keynote speaker was Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the Mayor of New York during 9/11. That was pretty cool.
Oh, and here is Chris with his CSM (I sure hope that's right?!) He's got a great group of guys he works with, which always makes things so much easier.
On another occassion in April, I got to go out to a jump site and pass out lemonade to the guys during their jump. It was a lot of fun watching this whole thing and since it was a helicopter jump they were able to reload a lot faster. Kept things interesting. Can you tell which parachute is Chris's? ;p
Another fun event we had in April was Grammy coming to visit for Easter. Kylie got sick with a UTI (bleh!), so she had to stay home from school for a couple of days until her fever went away. But once the medicine kicked in, she was feeling well enough to hit the town with me and Grammy - going to a playgroup Easter Egg hunt, out to Lunch Bunch, and shopping for an Easter Dress for Grammy.
Another fun thing was that Grammy had brought Chris' West Point uniform that she had been storing at her house. Love that magnificent plume on top!
Due to a rescheduling from bad weather, Grammy was also able to come to Kylie's field trip to the Gulfarium. Man, Kylie reaped all the benefits of Grammy's visit, didn't she? The Gulfarium is the perfect size for a 1st Grade field trip for 2 hours. Not much bigger than that, but it allows the kids to be bouncing around like crazy and you never really lose them.
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| Our favorite event - the dolphin show, of course! |
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| Lots of fun looking at turtles, alligators, sting rays, sea lions, and penguins. We were even able to touch some star fish and other sea creatures. |
On Saturday we had a ward Easter Activity - really chill with crafts, games, face painting, strawberry shortcake, and an Easter Egg grab (the eggs weren't really hidden, just thrown out on the grass.)
And finally, Grammy was mentioning that she missed people dying Easter Eggs. Well, we didn't really have any dye, so to speak, but we hard boiled some eggs and colored them!
Lise also helped the girls make "Resurrection Rolls" (pretty much a marshmallow, surrounded by a crescent roll and dipped in cinnamon sugar). Oh and here's another picture of the girls at work in the kitchen below. Lise wanted to make cookies on a Sunday with her younger sisters (Aly was doing homework or sleeping), but first she had to put them in "lounge wear" and turn them into little mini me's.
Thanks for coming to visit Grammy! We had a great time involving you in our day to day routine and celebrating Easter again. Can't wait to see you soon!
At Young Women's we have been having a lot of fun (with a purpose!) as well. For Easter we stuffed baskets for the Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) in Niceville. We've also been prepping for camp, learning about our own self worth and how to be better missionaries, and learning self defense. Love these girls and what amazing young women they are!
In school Kylie's class was learning about kite's and reading a story about kite's, so they decided to have a kite day. Now let's just think about this. 18 1st graders . . . flying kites . . . hmm. It was a nice, windy, sunny day - perfect for flying kites. But it was utter chaos. I tried to help as many kids launch kites into the air as I could, but for some reason every time a kid got a kite into the air they wanted to start running with it. And they didn't know how to keep the tension in the string to keep the kite up with the shifting wind gusts, not to mention that they weren't really watching where they were going. There were so many tangled up kites and kids tripping on other kids kite strings, etc. But the kids didn't care. They all had a blast just running around and exploring their world. It was great. 1st graders are awesome.
Kylie also had her end of the year 1st Grade Play, "A Bug's Life." They sang all sorts of cute songs and Kylie got to be a "love bug" and hand out flowers to people. Super cute and love all her cute friends she's made this year.
All of Analise's hard work in Drama Kids paid off during her end of the year play, "It's All Greek to Me". She had a very large speaking part ( a soliloquy, I'm told) and she did a fantastic job. She really has a flare for being dramatic. ;)
Of course doing anything is much more fun when you do it with friends. Lise loved drama kids, but she loved having her friends in it with her more.
Aly had an exciting accomplishment in April as well. She got a job! She works at an assisted living home cleaning, doing yard work, and filing. Pretty much anything the administrator needs help with. $9.50/hour ain't bad either! She looks pretty happy with that first check!
And finally, Aly convinced us to take a temple trip in April. (Which was a good thing. We hadn't been in awhile and it was so good to go.) She also convinced her BFF from Kentucky to come down and meet us, as our temple is about the 1/2 way point between us. So we let Lise invite a friend, woke up at the crack of dawn and off we went for a day road trip. It was so good to be in the temple again - can't beat the peace and assurance that are there. Afterwards we had a scrumptious lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, then another 4 1/2 hour drive back home. It's exhausting, but worth the sacrifice.
Oh, and here's Kate and Kylie's spring pictures in here just for fun. Love my cute girls and getting to watch them grow up and develop their personalities and talents. I love my family!
