Easter

We celebrated Easter on Saturday morning and the children were very excited that the Easter Bunny brought each of them their own Webkinz. We had a large easter egg hunt and the kids were thrilled spending the day eating candy and playing with friends. (I'm amazed that they were not all throwing up by the night time.)

Sunday morning was wonderfully pleasant. We focused on the Savior and the true meaning of the Easter Holiday and we truly enjoyed our Sabbath as a family. After Church, we went to my mom's and had an Easter Egg hunt with all the cousins, then we celebrated a bunch of family birthdays. What a great holiday!

Happy Birthday . . . to me

So, I'm not accustomed to posting an entry all about me, but those of you who follow this blog know that this is my journal supplement so of course I must include my birthday.

Last Tuesday, April 7th, was my 32nd birthday and I had a great day. My mom and sister took me out to breakfast and my great friend, Talya, watched my kids. When I got back, she had made me this awesome sign (don't you think it looks like the "elf yourself" characters at Christmas time?)

Jason surprised me with a beautiful cake and I had a great time with him and the kids. Kelsea babysat while we went out to dinner, then we went on a walk. Jason's mom came over to do a little Easter egg hunt for the kids and we had a great time.

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday special!!! I have fabulous family and friends!!!

It's about Time

Okay, so, no big deal, right? . . . WRONG! When you live in S. S., a water softener is a must and after 2 1/2 years, we finally bought one. We decided to get a metered system that does not require very much salt and has a lifetime warranty. I am super excited, in a little kid, giddy, kind of way. Whoop-de-do!

(And just in case any of you, who are reading this, happen to be in the water softener industry. . . when you set up a 30 day trial in someone's home, put in your BEST system. We have had two other free trials from other "fabulous" companies and both times the systems quit working before the end of the trial - that turned us off right away. This company installed their BEST system and we have loved it - in return, we not only bought one of their systems, but we ended up buying their best system, which we already know we love. Seems like a no brainer, huh?)

A Day of Fun with the Cousins

My sister, Amy, and her family came to Utah for their Spring Break and on Friday we decided to let our kids take the day off of school and spend the day with their cousins at Classic Fun Center in Sandy. We had such a fun time and were there for over 6 hours. The kids Skated, went in the jungle gym, bounced on the bounce toys, and played arcades. We enjoyed some pizza and I really enjoyed hangin' with my momma and my sistas!

Brianna was really determined to learn how to skate and despite the falls, she did a really good job!

Kelsea

Kelsea, Courtney, and Mary

Landon was darling the entire day and was really good. I decided to give him a pizza crust and was amazed that he actually ate it without choking (he only has two teeth and I was pleasantly surprised).

My brother, Brian

Katie, Amy, Zach, and Brian

Tami and Skyler

Amber thought she'd try skating and realized it was not for her

My mom and Skyler

Me and my sistas

And we definitely wanted one with mom

What a great day!

Extra, Extra, 'READ' All About It!

Today was a big day for my sweet Corbyn. He advanced to Level D in the Take Home Reading Library and I could not be more thrilled. Now I know that there are a lot of other first graders that are on higher levels than Corbyn, but this truly is amazing for my little guy. At the beginning of the year, he was on Level A and was really struggling. When I would read with him, he would get frustrated with himself and clearly he was not grasping the phonetic concept. Since he has been in Miss Eliason's class, he has excelled so fast! After the first month of school, we decided to change his IEP to include some Resource classes during the day, where he would work on reading with the Resource teachers. I am so pleased with his progress!

When Corbyn was first diagnosed with Autism, I remember being so concerned that he would struggle with learning how to read. I thought it would be years before he would understand phonetics and I never thought he would be reading this well in Frist Grade. I am so proud of Corbyn and how hard he has worked to get this far. Good job, buddy!

Knowledge Bowl

March 14th was the District Knowledge Bowl and Kelsea was on one of the teams from her school. They have been preparing all year for the competition and my, was it a competition. I was amazed at how super gung-ho some of the other schools were! Kelsea did a really good job and answered most of the questions for her team (her teammates seemed really shy and only one of her teammates hit the buzzer to answer a question in all four games). Her team didn't win any of the matches, but I think it was a really good experience for Kelsea to have. (She says she is going to do much better next year, "because she wants to win" - you can tell she's competitive like her mother.)

This is Kelsea and her friend, Aubrey. They weren't on the same team, but it was fun to be there together - not to mention, they were really excited when they got the goody bags the coaches passed out.

Good job, Kelsea!

To Be Sick or Not to be Sick, that is the Question?

This was a crazy weekend for us. It started out with my Grandpa's funeral on Saturday, then Sunday morning, Amber woke up and could not stop throwing up. We had Stake Conference and my sister, Tami's, baby's blessing, so I decided to stay home with Amber and Landon. After Stake Conference, Corbyn started to feel a little sick, so he then stayed home while Jason took the older girls to the blessing. By late afternoon, I started to feel really sick and could not keep anything down either.

At 2:00 a.m., Brianna threw up all over, at 3:00 a.m., my sister called (where Kelsea spent the night) and said Kelsea just threw up, and while I was on the phone with my sister, Corbyn threw up. Needless to say, it was pretty crazy and pretty gross for my poor family! Jason headed to Sandy to pick up Kelsea and I got the other children back to bed. By morning, everyone was fine. No one was throwing up and everyone seemed happy and ready for the day.

We kept the kids home from school, for obvious reasons, and spent the day at home. It was a pretty crazy, sick, weekend and I must say, I am so grateful it is over!!!! I truly am grateful for good health and I hope that my family will not have to go through another experience like that for a long time!!!