Easter fun

One of our preschool families is having some health issues so I was happy to step in and teach preschool again this week.

Today we made ALL sorts of Easter crafts! We were busy the entire 2 hours which doesn't happen very often. We did some sticker crafts, sand art, made little nests with chicks in them, made bunny ears, and practiced our letter N's! We had rice crispy treat nests with eggs inside for a treat. The kids LOVED it!

Parker came home from preschool and saw all the crafts all over the house and had a royal meltdown. "How come you ALWAYS make COOL stuff when I'm GONE?"
Poor poor Parker. So picked on, so forgotten.

In other news, my BABY is turning 4 very soon. This is the very first birthday that I am having a really hard time getting excited about. 4 is BIG. And Landon is supposed to be SMALL. How did this happen? Where has the time gone? We're celebrating early because we're going to be out of town on his actual birthday. He is having a PIRATE birthday!

If you feel so inclined (out of town family) to come...you are more than invited!

Things that are making me smile today...

The picture that Landon drew of Daddy...I'm loving the HUGE teeth and the spikey hair!

Random picture of my kids that they take on my iphone:

The fact that my FIRST daffodil has started to open today!!!

And if you want a REALLY good laugh.....watch this video. I've seriously been laughing for DAYS! Allan! Allan!




And I guess I should add this short little clip too. My boys have been rolling on the ground laughing at this one:


Happy Monday!

Bearworld fun.

Weekends go way TOO fast! I hate it! We had such a great weekend. Hopefully it was good enough to hold me through the horrible weather expected this week. I'm so ready for some spring weather I could SCREAM!

Saturday morning the boys had a primary activity. While they were off learning about the real meaning of Easter, Nate and I enjoyed our hour and a half of freedom from the kids. I love running errands with my spouse alone. I'll call it a date...whatever I can get! We also ran over to the community center and got the boys all signed up for baseball. Good thing Dallin "retired" this year. 2 boys going at the same time is about all I can handle. Landon is SO excited to play this year, this will be his first year.

While Nate enjoyed his Saturday bike ride I took the boys and headed up to BEAR WORLD! I can't believe we've lived here a year and still hadn't made it over there. Well, actually I do know why we haven't made it....$14 bucks a person? I don't THINK SO! We met up with James and Sierra and had such a great time! The hail and rain stopped just long enough for us to get outside and enjoy the petting zoo, the rides, and see all of the animals roaming around. This weekend was half price and then locals get special passes where we can get in for 1/2 price all year! Now THAT is speaking my language! ☺ Coming to visit us this summer? We'll hook you up with some discounts to Bear world! (Yes, that is a plea for visitors ☺)

Plus this weekend, we were able to pet all of the baby bears for no extra charge! They were SO stinking adorable! This year they have 12 baby bear cubs. I wanted to take one home...for like a day or two. They are BUSY little buggers.

 The boys could ride all of the rides as many times as they wanted for free! They must have gone on the car ride thing about 20 times each!  

Can't believe we only have 6 weeks until summer vacation starts!

The recent haps

We've been busy (as usual) the past week or so!

I taught preschool this week. We had a lot of fun. First day we learned all about OUTER SPACE! When I told little Kate (the girl Landon has a little crush on) she sighed and said, "When will we EVER learn about DANCE?" Love the little girls in our class!

We painted with permanent glow in the dark paint. Didn't realize it was permanent until a bit too late. Ooops! We also made moons, ate moon cookies, played with lots of outer space stickers! Then we jumped on the trampoline to pretend we were "walking on the moon!"

Wednesday we learned all about EGGS! We made little Easter baskets and then I attempted to take all 6 kids to Barnes and Noble for story time. They had posted online that there would be a story time all about eggs starting at 10am. Well, no one was there to read the story, no one else was there to listen to the story. I asked a lady who worked over in the reference area and she said that the children's book lady wasn't in today so she came over and read the kids a story. She was SO BORING to listen to and the kids were squirming around and not paying attention at all. As soon as she was done with her book I grabbed 3 more books and we proceeded to have our OWN story time! It was a little bit chaotic but it was really FUN to get out and do something new for school! I must be pretty much crazy thinking I could handle all those kids alone. ☺

The boys started swim lessons yesterday. I like getting swim lessons out of the way in the spring so I don't have be be tied down when it comes to summer travels...plus life is so crazy when baseball season gets here.  The most fantastic thing about it is ALL 3 boys have lessons during the same time! Hooray! This was Landon's very first lesson.

My friend Jessi (the 125 person shower friend) brought her new baby home last week! I ran over and decorated her house before she got home. What an emotional and amazing experience to witness. I am so happy for her and for the miracle of adoption!  This is one DARLING and loved little boy!

 Speaking of adoption, Nate brought home yet another "woman" that I am having to compete with. The newest bike is a TT(time trial) bike that I refer to as "Eleanor."

I think I will start referring to myself as "Staci, sister wife #1."

Better go.....Activity Day girls are coming over and we're having a talent show! I'd better go practice my "whining and moaning about husband's biking" talents before everyone gets here!

Spring Break Blahs

Alright.....I am so OVER Spring Break! Waking up to THIS each morning gets pretty old:

I wish I had a fun reason for not posting during this entire spring break. Honestly though....it has been pretty darn boring. When the highlight of spring break has been heading down to Pocatello to go to Costco, you know that we've been having a real rockin time. I had these visions of working in the garden, cleaning out the window wells, fertilizing the lawn, and taking the kids to the park. Enjoying the sunshine???NOPE.

It's LONG grey days like this that make me MISS my friends in Boise. I miss my park across the street and seeing lots of neighbors and friends on a daily basis. I always think that doing nothing for a few days sounds so great in theory but honestly....I hate it. It drives me SO absolutely crazy! There are only so many days you can clean the house, bake, watch movies and wear your pjs all day long. One day=GOOD. 7 days=CRAZY STACI.

Dallin was gone for the first few days. He was able to head down to Salt Lake and spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa. He had some "real" ski lessons from Grandma and had a blast hanging out with his cousins. The house was 1,000 times more QUIET while he was gone. It's amazing how much louder everything has been since he returned home. ☺

We've had quite a few dance parties in the family room and TONS of nerf gun wars the past couple of days.

I did take the boys to Blast Off yesterday. I promised them that we could do some mini golf and burn up some energy for a couple of hours.

This morning I woke up to all 3 boys folding laundry...without even being asked! I thought I was dreaming! I thought to myself....I have sure raised some thoughtful, hardworking and sweet boys. (I later found out that DAD had bribed them. $2 to each boy who helped fold the laundry and didn't complain.) Should have known. ☺

Now the husband is gone for the weekend. 3 more days of break.

Is it Monday yet??

Conference weekend!

Our friends (from Boise) the Koppings came to visit us this weekend on the last few days of their Spring Break! Oh how we ♥ visitors!!

As soon as they got here we blitzed up to Rexburg to meet up with my brother and sis in law so they could give Braden a little tour of the school. It was a very WINDY afternoon but we had a good time checking out the campus. I've never really been up there so it was fun to see the school.

Then we enjoyed dinner up at Craigo's pizza and headed back to Idaho Falls where we walked over to the falls and then went up to the temple visitor's center.

We snuck away from the kids and got some Leatherby's and then spent the entire Sunday eating and watching conference together!

And the boys played out on the trampoline in the snow and sunshine and then more snow and more sunshine. What a weird day!

I LOVE having the opportunty to listen to Conference and I LOVE when friends come to visit! We're so grateful for FANTASTIC friends! We had such a fun time having them here!!! Come again Koppings!

It's official

It's been almost exactly ONE year since we found out we'd be moving to IF. Today I did something very SYMBOLIC to commemorate the change and growth that we have experienced over the course of this past year. One year already? Time sure flies!

I FINALLY switched. I'm no longer the "Boise girl" living in Idaho Falls. I let the past be the past and I am embracing our future over here more then ever.

Goodbye 1A.

 Hello the 8B "Idaho Falls" girl living in Idaho Falls!

A few notes to self......

(This post was supposed to be posted a couple of weeks ago....I was too embarrassed at the time to put it up. It's over now, everything has been remedied and so now I don't care so much if I look like a complete FOOL!) Isn't it so much easier when you can LOOK back and laugh and the dumb things that you do? I wasn't laughing at the time but hey, we're all human!


Staci,

Sometimes you can be kind of an IDIOT. You are very impatient and sometimes overly zealous. You do things you know you shouldn't and you end up having to suffer the consequences of your foolish actions.

For FUTURE reference:

Probably not a great idea to throw a herkie during Zumba. You're NOT 17 anymore and you pretty much looked like an idiot. You could have hurt yourself...pulled a muscle or fallen on your face. Yes the music has a tendency to "overcome" you but really, you're almost 30. Act your age.

DO NOT I repeat DO NOT attempt to fix anything on your NEW car without professional assistance. You may think you are just spray painting a little blemish on the black trim of your car and you just MIGHT end up accidentally sanding down the white paint on the door all the way to the metal. The entire door had to be professionally painted. This attempt at saving a buck ended up costing you a good $400+. VERY foolish.

Also, that little noise that the car makes when you are backing up......yeah, that noise is there to tell you that you are JUST ABOUT TO HIT SOMETHING! Wish you would have paid attention or you wouldn't have backed into the vaccum thing at the carwash and put a DENT in the back of your new car as well.

Lastly, its probably not a great idea to text your husband a mildly provocative text and push the send button before making sure it isn't going to your NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR.

Just sayin........