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........



Grand Targhee

Last Spring break looked a little like this:

This year was the total and complete opposite:

Even though MY boys don't have spring break until next week, we decided to skip a couple days of school and join my family for their spring break over in our neck of the woods at Grand Targhee Resort. 500+ inches a year and  view to DIE for! It's only about 1.5 hours away from our house. Awesome!

We skied, swam, ate GREAT food, and had a fantastic time together.

We went on a horse drawn sleigh ride up to a yurt and had en ENORMOUS steak and chicken dinner. The chef kept HEAPING mountains food on our plates. It was SO delicious.

We also got the boys up on some skis for the first time ever. Of course, Parker took to it after about 2 runs. He was doing the pizza and turning all the way down the bunny hill, getting on the magic carpet and getting off with NO assistance! That kid is impressive.
Dal had a harder time but he tried really hard and didn't get frustrated. He had fun and still wants to do it again. Landon had a blast for about an hour and then he was done.
Nate, my dad and I were all EXHAUSTED after an entire morning of teaching boys. ☺

In the afternoon Nate and I went skiing with my parents and brother. It was so beautiful and SUNNY out, no lines, not a lot of people, and tons of fresh snow. It was a good thigh burning workout for my legs since Zumba doesn't work my thighs like skiing does!

We went swimming a few times as well in the hot tub and pool. Nothing makes you feel more ALIVE then running out of the hot tub, rolling in snow and then jumping back in.  Yowie!

Such a fun FUN time! I love my family. I'm so grateful for each one of them. We made memories to last a lifetime! So, what are we doing next week for OUR spring break? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! Sleeping in and laying low! Sounds good to me!

Life's tough lessons

Today was a rough day for my Dally boy. Dallin is such a sweet yet tenderhearted guy. He is so smart, and dedicated to whatever he puts his mind to. He is a TOTAL overachiever and sometimes even a perfectionist...always has been even since he was tiny. He is confident, kind, and non judgemental towards others yet he tends to be pretty critical of himself. He has high expectations for himself and I love that about him but today my strong boy fell to pieces.

Today was the day he had been looking forward to for over a month. He has worked SO hard on his science words for the 2nd grade spelling bee. He knew all of those words front and back and knew he had the bee in the bag. Differentiate, comprehension, experimental, expository, he was spelling all of the words in his sleep. 

He made it through the first round and then they started using some words that were not on the spelling list that Dallin had studied. There were 2 lists...the easier words and the more difficult words. Dallin had only been given the difficult words to study so he hadn't even seen the easier list. His next word was "RESPONSE."

R-E-S-P-O-N-C-E. Incorrect.

He was heartbroken. Especially when the kids that continued were asked to spell all of the hard words that he had studied. They missed words right and left and Dallin knew ALL of them. He started to sob. We told him over and over that it didn't matter and that we were incredibly proud of him.

I couldn't help it. Even though school wasn't over for another 2 hours I scooped up that broken hearted 2nd grader and took him home. We've had cake, ice cream, and watched movies all afternoon. Yeah, he has to grow up and there will be much heartache to endure through the years but he is STILL my baby. And for now, if I can ease one little heartache...I will.

Tomorrow is a new day, there will be always be more spelling bees in the future, and I will always be SO proud of my little man.

And I bet he won't EVER forget how to spell RESPONSE from this day forward!