April

April was quite the month! It's always a crazy month, but it seemed even busier this year. 

We didn't get to have our traditional Easter Egg Scavenger hunt on Easter morning so we did it late that night after getting home from the cousins'. Vivi was already in bed so her siblings hid eggs for her the next morning, which happened to be on April Fools Day. 

The kids were expecting chocolate bunnies at the end of the hunt because that is what we traditionally do, but instead I gave them each a potato, except for Vivi, she got her chocolate bunny. The kids were not amused. But sadly they're old enough to figure out what was going on and didn't get too worked up. 

Who wouldn't want potatoes as an Easter treat? 

I also tried to trick Tanner when he came home from work at lunch by telling him that the toilet was smoking. He just thought my set up looked like a frog, but I thought it was funny and that's what really matters. 

When he called to say he was coming home for lunch, I figured he had a surprise for me for our 13th wedding anniversary. When he walked in the door I expected to see flowers, a treat or snack...instead he had a metal canister and said he had come home to remove my plantar warts. And who said love was dead? I think he had the better April Fools joke. 

The next day was Tanner's 40th. I wanted to do something a little bit bigger than what we normally do for his birthday, but I knew that an actual party with a bunch of friends wouldn't be his idea of a perfect birthday. One day while talking to my mom, I came up with the best idea: a funeral service. Tanner once said it was too bad that we wait to say all the nice things about a person until after they die. So I decided we would just have a birthday funeral of sorts. 

Tanner came home from work to us all dressed in black, with soft gospel instrumental music playing in the background. He had thrown out his back earlier in the week so I knew he would want to lay in bed to rest his back. We escorted him to his coffin/bed where we had the funeral service. I read his obituary, the kids all spoke about why they loved him so much, and some of his sisters, mom and my mom also sent in words to be shared. We then had a special musical number of Stewball that got a chuckle and smile out of Tanner, which with his emotional range of a teaspoon is a big thing. After our little service we had ham, funeral potatoes, and rolls. We then ended the celebration with Tanner's obligatory strawberry shortcake. 

The kids did a great job with Stewball

While he may not express his enthusiasm very well, he did seem to be pleased with his unorthodox birthday celebrations which made us all very happy because he is our favorite 40 year old person. 

On Mariah's birthday we woke up bright and early and headed to Omaha for a one night stay. Our first stop was the zoo.

Tanner always gets the best pictures. 

This gorilla really liked Eliza. He must have felt her dominant personality and respected it. 

The stingrays were a favorite

While walking over a bridge, we heard an ear-splitting noise and realized there were lemurs under the bridge waiting to be let into their outdoor exhibit. Those things can get really loud! 

Vivi loved sitting on this elephant. So much so that she screamed for ten minutes after leaving said elephant. Three year olds don't care about a schedule or whether you have time to see everything...

After the zoo closed we headed to Olive Garden for Mariah's birthday dinner. And there we learned that the kids' meals are pretty much the same size as an adult meal at just a quarter of the cost. Guess Chet and Mariah really didn't need an adult entree. Now you all can learn from our mistake. 

After dinner we headed to the temple and visitors center. I was hoping to spend time at the visitors center while Tanner and Mariah did baptisms, but it was already closed. 

It was at this moment as they were walking away that I regretted letting them do this, the other five children were tired and not in the best moods...but Mariah's smile made it all worth it. 

The kids and I headed to a park and all the children not in diapers spent most of the time telling me how badly they had to go to the bathroom. Good times were had by all...

That night we had to have two separate rooms so Tanner took the boys and Vivi and I kept Asa and the girls. We had a pretty good night's sleep which is always surprising to me when that happens. 

The next morning we went to the visitors center and learned about the Saints' time in Nebraska. We even got to find where two of our ancestors were buried: Moroni Young, who was just a baby when he died, and Harriet Johnson, who died at three years old. The kids were really adamant that they both need gravestones. It was neat how you can feel a connection to people you've never met. 

My little pioneers. The sister who was doing our tour was talking about The Mormon Battalion and said they needed strong men and how our dad probably would have been called up. Without missing a beat Austin responded, "no, he has a bad back, they wouldn't want him." 

We were able to enjoy some beautiful art that was on exhibit just one more day in the visitors center and they had just opened a distribution center so of course we had to do some shopping there. We headed home after that and made a quick stop at Costco in Des Moines. 

The next day was General Conference and we were excited to have the cousins up. 

These two are quite the pair...Vivi was just telling me the other day how she and Porter like to go sneak and eat Mariah's candy. They like to get into a lot of things, bless them. 

 I think the most anticipated part of conference is all the snacks. These kids can eat and eat. Tanner barely walked away from this dispersal unscathed. Sunday morning I made Mariah's requested birthday cake: Monkey Bread. 

We got to have the cousins one extra day while Brittany did some shopping in Des Moines. I'm not always great at thinking ahead so thirty minutes before the eclipse I drove to every store in our little town looking for glasses. Shockingly, everyone was sold out. So out of desperation I begged the neighbors to let me break into their garage and use their welder's helmet. I'm so grateful to have good neighbors that humor me. 

Later in the day, I heard that people had moonpies and sunchips during the eclipse...so maybe the next time one comes around I'll actually have glasses and fun snacks. maybe... 

The girls really wanted to have a tea party for lunch and put one together all by themselves. 

The next day we got to learn all about birds at a homeschool event. All the kids got to hold two different birds and thought it was so cool. This green bird kept saying "hi" to everyone. As fun as it was, I now am more convinced that I don't ever want a pet bird...they are a lot of work. 

Eliza has had fun making a "bug garden", which is much cooler than a fairy garden. Vivi has had fun finding all the mud on the property to get her shoes stuck in. 

Austin did a research project on China and presented to the family. He was able to talk with Uncle Sevy's girlfriend Shanny and learn a lot about that amazing country. 

Aunt Heather is back and we are all so happy to have her! 

We put her right to work on decorating for Mariah's party. 

We did a cupcake bake off and the girls were so creative with their flavors. Mariah has a great group of friends. We ended the party with night games with the boys. I had 17 kids in my house at one point but they had a blast. 

It was a balmy 74 degrees so the kids begged to get the splash pad out. There was a lot of shivering, but they stayed out for at least an hour. 

We've gone on lots of bike rides/walks. Chet was pretty excited about riding Dad's fancy bike one day. He only almost wrecked once...

We spent a day at the cousins to spend time with my "in-laws in-laws", if that makes sense. They are such wonderful people and feel like family. 

The night had to end with some four square volleyball. 

Later in the week we got to go to Doctor Kaboom at the Civic Center. And there I learned that middle school children can scream really really loud. I would prefer a rock concert to them. I don't think my ears will ever recover. But the show was so fun and I think it inspired a greater love of science in my children so totally worth the hearing loss right? 

They had teeter totters set up outside the civic center and the kids had fun for a little while. I then shared with them the time Aunt Tiffy was on a teeter totter with our much older cousin Ben and was catapulted off her seat, resulting in a pretty good goose egg. Our Aunt Carol consoled her by letting us try on her fancy wigs. Good times on the farm. 

On Sunday we had the youth over for a bbq and fireside. I made a bunch of cookies and I'm pretty sure that's about all my children ate that night. 

Mariah got to be in a talent show. She created her own arrangement of Elvis's Can't Help Falling in Love and sang while she played the piano. Aunt Heather dressed her all up in 60's hair and makeup. Mariah did such a great job and everyone was very patient with our rambunctious kids. Vivi tried to run up on the stage during Mariah's performance but Eliza picked her up and carried her back to us...didn't cause a scene at all. Vivi then spent the rest of the night dancing in the back. 

The next day I took the kids to the art show where they learned about all kinds of different art mediums. The artists were all so kind and welcoming to my children, even teaching them about their art. We also stopped at the local museum. They had fun exploring the trains, one room school house, and seeing all the old artifacts in the museum. 

We ended the evening going to the parade and getting more candy than we needed. We are so grateful for our community and the fun events that they do. 

Eliza celebrated her 100th day in math and was really excited to pick out her 100 snacks. She was especially excited about the 10 sprinkles she chose...if it's sugar, she wants it. 

I'm relieved to be done with April but so grateful it was such a full month of friends and family. Life is so good!