March and April 2011

March and April really flew by this year.  Joe was out of town for work for a week in March.  Having him gone really makes me appreciate him and all that he does to help with the kids.  I would not be a very good single mom. 

Brad played another little season of indoor soccer…and it went pretty much like it has before.  He is a pretty decent goalie, but he hasn’t quite figured out the offense thing yet.  He is REALLY good at telling everyone else what to do.  I wonder if they have a place for kids to be assistant coaches?

At the recommendation of his Pre-K teacher we had him tested for the Extended Learning Program (ELP) in our school district.  When we got the results back I was really unsure of what to think.  He scored far above average on their math and reading test and in non-verbal problem solving he was in the 94th percentile (no surprise there).  However he didn’t get into the program and it’s probably based on the fact that in verbal problem solving he was in the 30th percentile.  It’s hard not to get caught up in what that means, but since I really have no idea what the test consisted of I can’t analyze it too much.  Chances are he just wasn’t interested in whatever it was they asked him to do.  Anyway, he’ll be going to kindergarten in the fall at Newman Elementary which is where he’s gone to Pre-K.  It’s not our closest school, but I really like it there and think he will thrive.

In March I got a very exciting new toy – my Trek Lexa SL:

After riding my hybrid bike around last year and renting a road bike for the Heber Valley ride in September I decided that I really love biking enough to invest in a road bike.  Joe helped me pick out this one and I simply adore it.  It’s so fast!!   The first weekend in April Joe and I went down to St. George for a little get away and rode ALL over.  We rode up the bike trail in Snow Canyon which was a blast even though it has some crazy steep hills.  I’m not very good at hills – imagine me trying to let go of all my inhibitions and hurl myself down a hill and breakneck speeds where if you hit a rock you just might die – not really my thing.  I did get going about 37 mph down one and was pretty proud of myself.  It was a fabulous weekend (although apparently I didn’t take pictures).

We had a very festive Easter season this year.  The kids were invited to 3 Easter Egg hunts!  We’re still eating Easter candy.

Our friends, Shannon and Mac Bludworth, held a massive Easter hunt at their house.  Their yard was literally COVERED in candy, eggs and toys.  The kids had an incredible time and it was so generous of the Bludworths.  They are some of those really good people that you just love to be around.  Here’s some pics:

The yard before the kids got to it:

 

They also got to have an Easter Egg hunt at Mike & Stephanie’s house at a Pitts family party.  Bree gave each kid their own color of eggs to find which was fun and challenging for them.  Mike had Easter Egg games for the grown-ups too including a relay race where you had to hold an egg on a spoon in your mouth, a game where you had to toss a raw egg back and forth with your spouse and an especially entertaining one where spouses placed an egg between their belly buttons and had to try to roll it up to their necks without using their hands.  Since Joe is 1o inches taller than  I am our belly buttons and necks are not really in the same place.  It was pretty funny.

On Easter we got together with the Larson family at Tenille’s house and had a fun lunch and egg hunt there too. Pictures:

Dad and Tenille:

Nick & Lacy & Jayden

Lucy found one!

Ross

Brad hard at work.

Chelise with a full bucket.

Jack (and Carly).

And Mom and Janet…I think Janet is smoking a pencil.

A friend from the ward, Samantha Behl, needed to do some pictures for a photography class at school so she asked if she could take some of my kids.  We went to a local park and she got some great shots – here are some of my favorites:

And one with me:

The only other exciting thing that happened in April was that we lost Lucy at a Utah Blaze (indoor football) game.  We were there with the Hughes and Joe and Steve had taken the kids out to play on a small playground they have there.  The next thing I knew Joe was bringing Brad back in and saying “I’ve lost Lucy.”  I really thought he was kidding at first…but he wasn’t.  She had taken off and was nowhere to be found.  We reported her to security who (not so) reassuringly told me “Don’t worry, we haven’t really lost one yet.” and within 1o minutes they had found her inside the arena watching the dancers.  Brad actually spotted the security man bringing her down the stairs and he and Laura were the first ones to her.  I didn’t actually break down until they found her and then my emotions got the best of me.  It was really scary not to know where she is and to have all kinds of bad things running through the back of my mind.  Luckily all was well and we’ve had lots of talks since then about staying where you’re supposed to be.