Fun Run & Easter Party & YW Broadcast

I've been busy. Let's see.
I survived the trek fun run. I wasn't nervous that I wouldn't finish in time, but I wanted all my running/hiking to pay off. I was able to finish the 4 miles in 37 minutes. Brian did well, too--I think he finished in 38. I only felt a little bad for beating him. :)

After we finished with that, we came home and got ready, then headed out to our family Easter party. We met at a park near Chandler. We each brought our own lunch, so we ate first, then the kids played--riding their bikes and scooters. Each family brought some sort of game. Brian did Tootie-Tah with the kids, then we did three-legged races. The kids hadn't done that before, so that was fun to watch them try to figure that out. Dan and Chris had bubbles for the kids to do with all sorts of blower things, so that was fun. Then my parents had gotten each grandkid and their dad a small marshmallow shooter. So they had a marshmallow war for a while. They loved that! After they did that for a while, my parents did their traditional "fish pond." That's always a big hit, too! They kids got chocolate bunnies, a shirt and a book. The kids and dads also spent a while hitting the baseball around. We had a fun time!

We left the park and zoomed home. I jumped out of the car, got ready, got everything together and raced to the church. It was the YW broadcast and I was in charge of heading up the refreshments and the recognition of the YW who received their medallion this past year. First for the dessert: I did a "value sundae" bar. I brainstormed one ice cream topping that went with each of the 8 YW value colors.
We had vanilla ice cream and then all the toppings.
Faith (white): whipped cream and sno caps.
Divine Nature (blue): York Peppermint Pieces. They look like M&Ms. They come in a pack that has blue and white, so I had to separate the blue ones out (and eat the white ones).
Individual Worth (red): cherries
Knowledge (green): sixlets
Choice & Accountability (orange): Sprinkles
Good Works (yellow): bananas
Integrity (purple): M&Ms
Virtue (gold): caramel




For the recognition, my friend Leslie found this cute idea to make a bracelet from a spoon. Thanks to her and her husband, we made bracelets for each of the girls who helped out. They turned out so darling. Hanging from the side are some beads along with a Liahona charm and an iron rod charm.



The broadcast was excellent, too. I especially loved Elaine Dalton's talk and President Uchtdorf's talk. Loved them!!!

The night went well, but I was SO glad and relieved when it was over. Now on to the next thing!

Colorado Continued

Yesterday morning started off with me running at the fitness center. It took a lot out of me. The elevation maybe? After coming back to the room and getting ready, Brian headed off to his meeting, then the girls and I went down to the breakfast. We walked around until it was time for them to go to their kids club while I had the spouse meeting. It ended up being a big ordeal!



Right about the time they were supposed to be at their meeting place, we found out they were going to be outside, so we hurried back up to the room and got all their snow gear on, then we went back downstairs. Eliza, Libby and Ellie all went to the same one. They rode the gondola ski lift and played some games at the top and then came back. Hattie and Ruby went to where they have the Kids Vacation Center. Ruby didn't go outside of course, but we just taken care if in their infant room. Hattie played in the preschool room and even got to ride the gondola to the top and back. She was so thrilled about that and hasn't stopped telling us about it!

In the afternoon we watched the little baby while the rest of her family took skiing lessons. A few weeks ago another financial advisor from Kansas called Brian and wondered if we'd be willing to trade babysitting while we each did our ski school. It worked out perfectly. The have three older kids and they just adopted a baby a few weeks ago. She was 5 weeks old and the cutest little thing! My girls couldn't stop touching her curly hair! Brian took the girls to a park to play in the snow for a bit while I watched Ruby and Abree.

For dinner we went to Quiznos. That seriously is one of my favorites right now. They have 2 for $5 and lots of choices to choose from. Brian loves the soup and a "bullet" and I love one of their "sammies" with a chopped salad. After dinner we went back to the room for a movie night that had to end early because the girls were a little wound up. Bummer.


Tuesday:
Eliza and Libby had ski school. Skiing is such a hassle!!! You have get everyone in their snow gear. Then get all the ski stuff--boots, helmet, skis, poles, glasses, etc. Too much work!

They had a great time though. It was 6 hours and they got lunch partway through. They were in different classes but neither of them minded so that was good. I was a little nervous how Libby would be, but she didn't mind. They both did great. When we picked them up at the end, Eliza had been skiing down one of the green hills several times and Libby went up with her to do it a couple times. Brian and I didn't even work up to that hill after our class! Eliza had progressed to level 2 and Libby had gotten to level 3. After lunch, we dropped the three little girls off with the family we traded with and Brian and I went to our class. Skiing sure is awkward. The boots are not comfortable! I told Brian I prefer running that you just put your tennies on and go! But we did okay. I didn't ever fall. I won't say if Brian did or not. We just learned some basics then went down a little practice hill a couple times. It's just hard not feeling like you have much control of yourself. It was fun though and I would like to do it again to get better.

After the lessons, we went back to the room and got ready. One of the John Hancock wholesalers took us to dinner. We went to the Old West Steakhouse. The other family that was supposed to go canceled at the last minute so it was just us and this wholesaler--a single guy about our age. I thought that was funny. The girls did well though and kept him pretty entertained and talked his ear off. The dinner was good--Eliza got her steak she's been wanting! The best part was not having to foot the bill!

Wednesday:
I went running again but didn't try to go as far so I didn't get light headed after. ha ha. Since we had the ski rentals till the end of the day, Eliza and Libby went a few more times. Libby was trying to go to fast and fell a couple times and didn't want to go again, so after Eliza went a few more times, we turned our ski stuff back in. We all took a ride on the gondola up to the very top. I can't believe how high up it went and that people ski from that high and go that fast. We did see two just on our way up being brought down by the ski patrol. I just can't imagine ever being that good to do that! We had lunch in the room, then went for ice cream at Lyon Corner Drug and Soda Fountain.


We ended up going there twice during our stay because the ice cream sundaes were so good! Dinner that night was at a Mexican restaurant--Fiesta Jalisco.

Thursday:
We hung out in the room a lot of the day until the afternoon. That afternoon we took an old, white school bus to Saddleback Ranch for tubing. It was one of the most fun things we did on our trip. We took their "shuttle" to the ranch (an old, white school bus) and then you get a little safety talk and start tubing.

They have a little pulley system that pulls you up the hill on your tube and then you head down. Eliza and Libby got to have their own tube and Ellie and Hattie rode with Brian and me on our tubes. The hills were great and you got going pretty fast!

There was one that you had to go down on your stomach alone, so Brian, Eliza and I all got to do that one. Libby didn't want to, but she did get brave and do the other hill face first several times. We went alone some of the time but did a lot of trains to go even faster. Brian plowed a girl over, which wasn't his fault. In the little safety talk at the beginning they tell you if you are walking it is your responsibility to watch out for the people tubing down the mountain as they can't stop easily. He was coming down with Hattie and there was a girl not paying attention. He yelled to warn her, but she got knocked over. The mom was so mad and even went inside to complain. They told her it wasn't his fault! I was mad they were mad! If she would have come talk to me I would have given her a piece of my mind! We got back in time for dinner at Wendy's and bed.

Friday
On Friday the weather changed! The whole week it was so nice! Snow on the ground but like 60 and 70 degrees. When we took our ski class I even just wore a short sleeved shirt. But on Friday it was in the 20s and totally cloudy/foggy. The slopes were even closed. We went into town for more ice cream and to the grocery store. Dinner that night was a farewell dinner that Jones did, so the food was yummy and there was tons of it.

We started our trek home on Saturday--driving to Monticello again. We stayed the night at the same hotel but this time they were out of cribs. Ugh! So we had to get Ruby to sleep and then place her on the roll-away with pillows all around. I didn't sleep well because I kept getting up to make sure the pillows were there and she hadn't rolled. We had our little breakfast in the morning and went the rest of the way home. Now I have laundry coming out of my ears, but it is good to be home.

Colorado

On Saturday morning we left to drive halfway to our trip to Steamboat Springs. We drove to Monticello for the night then went the rest of the way on Sunday. It was really strange because time just seemed to fly by. We stopped in Flagstaff for lunch. We went in the food court at the mall and made our PB&J sandwiches and had them. We only got a couple stares. LOL.



After that stop it seemed like no time that we were in Monticello. It was a pretty drive through the Painted Desert and Monument Valley.

Monticello was pretty, too. There was a lot of snow on the ground and it snowed a lot in the night so we woke up to a winter wonderland.

We had a nice view of the temple from our room.

On Saturday night we went to dinner at a little mom and pop type restaurant and we drove by the temple.

Bedtime was a little rough with everyone in two small beds, but we managed. In the morning we got up, had a very small "continental" breakfast (cereal or toast) and headed off. Today we drove the rest of the way to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I've never been to Colorado before and it's such a pretty state. The drive went pretty quickly today except for the last couple of hours. We arrived around 4 and got settled into our hotel room.


(view from the room)

Brian totally scored on our room. When we were setting things up for the trip, he called and told them what we needed and we got what looks like a regular room with two queen beds, then off of that is a smaller room with a queen bed. And off of the other side is a large family area room with a huge kitchen table and kitchen and bathroom. There are also two day bed type things that Eliza and Libby are sleeping in. It's perfect. I love these trips through Brian's work. We don't really have to think about too much because most of the logistics are done for us. Tonight we had a welcome dinner, then it was back to the room for baths and bed. Tomorrow I might actually have to brave the snow!

(Welcome Dinner)

Where's Waldo

Last night I had an "out of my comfort zone" night. Chalee and I helped out another ward with their Where's Waldo night. Seriously I was SO embarrassed being in the store. Honestly though other than one kind of strange look I got, no one gave me a second look. Makes you think that when you feel like you look horrible, no one really cares! Do you think I disguised myself enough? Only one group found me without much help. The others needed help. I guess I did a good job. I had Ruby with me but she was "Rudy" for the night. I borrowed some blue clothes and a blanket from Kari and she was a boy for the night.

Ready for a New Week

I am glad to be starting a new week and maybe have things slow down a little bit. This past week was a doozie. Tuesday afternoon, Brian and I went to the temple to go with someone in our ward who was going through. Then on Wednesday I turned around and went again with our YW presidency. Thursday was the grocery store and track practice and Friday night we went to my niece's choir concert for her school. It was a Night at the Movies and they did music from various movies. ...very entertaining. Yesterday it seemed we were gone from sun up to sun down almost. My niece Abby was baptized so we went to that. She had asked me to speak a while back. I gave the talk on baptism. I think it went okay. I did a little object lesson with pennies and you take a well used penny and put it in a solution of vinegar and salt and it cleans it. I likened that to taking the sacrament each week and how we can be just as clean as our baptism day each time we have the sacrament. Then I got Abby and the other little girl who was baptized an unciruclated penny from the year they were born. I put it in a clean coin holder and my friend did "pure" from vinyl and I put that on the front.

After the baptism we went over to my brother's house and had lunch and visited and had a really fun time. From there we went to Cabela's to look for some snow boots. We are trying to find Brian and I snow boots for our upcoming Colorado trip. I think we have everything else but boots for us. No luck there. Ran into Big 5 to check and no luck there. We had chickens on Saturday, so we went and did that. Of course it started pouring rain right when we got there! On the way home, I totally remembered a wedding reception that we were invited to. I couldn't go because I had to help out at the LDS prom, but we grabbed a gift on the way home and Brian braved the reception with all the girls. He said, "We survived the reception and the reception survived us." Ha ha.

Saturday night was the LDS prom. It was our stake's year to host it for a few other stakes. Luckily we were able to call a specialist to be in charge of it and then she had a big committee to help her out. It was amazing. Seriously. When you walked in the cultural hall, you would have thought you were in a different place. It was neat to see all the painting we did (and I only did a little bit) come together. I'll see if I can get some pictures and post them. It looked great. Terri and I were in charge of the crazy booth--just a fun place where the kids could come get some props and have fun, crazy pictures taken--they had the serious, more formal pictures in the cultural hall. It was a great night and I think the kids who went really enjoyed themselves. I was so tired though. The dance was over at 11:30, then we had to clean up. It went fast considering how much there was to do. I got home at 1:30 then I had to make brownies and hot fudge still. As a thank you, we decided to take dinner to the lady who was in charge of the whole thing. My part was dessert, so I made that so I could take it over this morning for deliver. When it was time to wake up this morning, I was NOT ready to get up!!! I need a good a nap to try to catch up from everything!

Hard to Believe

I can't hardly believe that Libby got her ears pierced today. She had mentioned a few times over the past month or so that she wanted it done. She was off and on about talking about it. Lately she has mentioned it a little more. Yesterday we had a babysitter while we went to the temple and we really talked to her about her behavior with the babysitter. She wondered if she did well and was sleeping when we got home (that hasn't happened in a LONG time) if she could get her ears pierced. We didn't give her an answer, but today she was looking forward to getting them pierced (she was asleep when we got home. YAY!). Brian said we'd better strike while the iron is hot! We first stopped at Terri's and she put some "magic cream" (some of Makenzie's numbing cream) on her earlobes so it wouldn't hurt to get it done.

Then we zoomed over to the mall where Eliza had gotten hers done. Libby picked out the earrings she wanted (cute little green flowers in her birthstone), then it was in the chair getting it done.


She did great!!! She didn't even question that she was going to do it--didn't worry or say, "Is it going to hurt" or "I don't want to do it..." It was really fast from start to finish. I think that is her personality though. It might take her a little bit to decide on something, but when she does, there is no going back. That is a great quality to have! She looks so cute with her pierced ears!

Brace Face

And no, I am not talking about any of my kids. It's me! I got braces today. My mouth feels like it's SO full!!! It feels very awkward. Hopefully I'll get used to it. Brian thinks I look 16. Eliza said they "look cute...for braces." Ha ha! I thought maybe no one will really notice. My first stop after I got them on was to drop Ellie off at her little class and her teacher said, "Did you just get braces?!?!" I guess not! Everyone I talked to said something, so there is no hiding it. Tonight they are hurting and I can't eat very well. I am beginning with the end in mind though!! There will be an end and it won't be too long, thank goodness. The process was pretty easy. What hurt the most was the tech taking out my fixed retainer--all that sanding on a sensitive tooth--and having them stretch my lips as far as they could possibly go to put the braces on!!! Ouch!