Happy 9th Birthday Ryan

Today is Ryan's Birthday! My boy is now 9 years old. I am not ready for him to be that old yet, but I guess I don't have much say in the matter.

We started the day off with donuts and opening presents from Grammy. She sent him many cool science toys. His favorite is the Zero Blaster which is a gun that shoots smoke rings. He also got a remote control car that climbs on walls. Is still freaks me out to see this car going over my head. It is pretty cool.

Since it was our last day of spring break as well we decided to combine a birthday celebration with a lot of play. We went to classic skating with Aunt Missy and our cousins.

In the beginning we practically had the place to ourselves, which is a good thing considering we had many novice skaters. I was a little put off by the sign that read "If you are over 21 years old the risk of injury increases and we recommend that you don't skate". Well I used to be a "pro" skater (or so I thought), so the sign did not deter me. (Of course I am just slightly over 21 so I figured it would be OK.) Eventually the little kids rode their scooters which allowed all of us to cruise the rink many times.

Classic Skating also has a huge jungle gym called "The Jungle" and it has all kinds of obstacles to climb on and swing on and so forth. Even Aunt Missy and I ventured inside. There were also all kinds of huge inflatable slides and ladders and obstacle courses. We went nonstop for four hours. We had a great time and it wore us all out as can be seen by the bright red faces.

We ended our time there playing in the arcade and winning prizes. I believe fun was had by all and it was an especially good day for Ryan.

That evening we met up with Daddy to go out to eat. Ryan picked the restaurant Rubios because he has a thing for taquitos right now. I am glad we aren't always stuck at McDonalds anymore.

Before bedtime, Ryan got to play "Lord of the Rings" online with daddy. He loves that game and I foresee him being a fantasy gamer in the future just like his dad.

Spring Break Day 4

So, this is what we woke up to on day 4 of our spring break. Isn't it lovely for the 16th of April?

Actually I got up and went to the Legacy Center at 5:30 a.m. to work out. Lehi got about 10 inches of snow compared to our 2 inches. It caused all kinds of havoc with downed tree branches and power outages. The Legacy Center was pitch black so I returned home and went back to bed.

We did venture out to the library for storytime. We checked out tons of books and spent the rest of the day reading and playing with friends.

"I Spy"

We woke this 3rd day of spring break to pouring rain. It was OK, the flowers seemed to be loving it. But then it all changed. The spring rain turned to winter snow with a vengeance.

However, we were not to be deterred. We had planned on going to BYU and go we did (although maybe a little bit slower than normal). We went to see an exhibit featuring Walter Wick. He is the creator of the "I Spy" books. My kids have always enjoyed his work and we have passed many a slow moment searching for hidden objects and solving the riddles within the puzzles of his books. His exhibit was on display at the Museum of Art at BYU.

It was neat to see his many photographs super enlarged and even some of the actual models he used when making his books. We were able to read explanations on how he created each picture and the inspiration behind it. We also saw some of his earlier work which featured enlarged photos of water in it's many forms. I personally liked the snowflakes which seemed only fitting on this day. We loved the art so much that we ended up buying his book entitled "Drop of Water".

Since we were in the Museum of Art there were other exhibits as well. We walked through a modern art type of exhibit that featured plastic bags, PVC pipe, trash, fluorescent lights, balloons and even duck sauce from a Chinese restaurant. It was quite strange and confirmed to me that "art" is so subjective. It prompted quite the discussion among the kids.

After exploring the rest of the Museum, we met up with Aunt Amberly who was on campus studying for finals. After showing her the highlights of the exhibits we went together to the bookstore to find a present for Grandpa Felix's birthday today. It was hard to choose from so many cougar options. After tasting some yummy fudge we settled down on the floor to skim through many amazing books. My kids love books and could have spent the whole day

there.

I finally got them out of there with the bribe of food from a restaurant. We couldn't come to an agreement so Alyssa and I got P.F. Changs to go and then swung through the drive up of good old McDonalds. We put the seats down in the van, spread out a blanket and had a picnic dinner right there in the car. Who doesn't love a good picnic and it was the perfect way to end such a great day.

"Rain drops keep falling on my break"

Day 2 of spring break found us at home as rain fell outside. The kids decided that they didn't want to go anywhere. In fact they declared it an official pajama day (as if we don't have enough of those already). So we decided to make the most of it. We played games together on the Wii, watched the movie Bedtime Stories, played board games and just hung out. It was marvelous.

Alyssa tried her hand at making homemade oreo cookies. She did a great job for her first time making one of our family's favorite cookie recipes.

I will include the recipe here for posterity sake.

HOMEMADE OREO COOKIES

2 Devils Food Cake Mixes
4 Eggs

1 1/2 C. Shortening

Mix together well (may have to get your hands dirty with this one)

Roll into balls about the size of a quarter and bake at 350 Degrees for 9 minutes (no longer)

FILLING

1 - 8 oz. Cream Cheese

2 3/4 C. Powdered Sugar

1/4 C. Butter

1 T. Vanilla

Cream together. Frost one cookie and place another one on top to form a sandwich.

Time to eat. YUM!

Trilobite Hunting

It's Spring Break!! We have been so excited for an opportunity to veer from our routine and play a little. We checked out the weather and realized that the nicest day of the week would be on Monday. The rest of the forecast called for rain, wind and possibly snow. So we had to be wise with our choice for the sunny day. We all decided upon going hunting for trilobite fossils.

We called up Grandma and our cousins and off we went. It was a beautiful day. Few people were there (another rarity at spring break, everywhere you go seems to be crowded). The kids were so anxious they could barely force down their lunch before we let them wield their hammers and begin.

It didn't take long before we had success. If you know what kind of rock you are looking for, the fossils can be found quite easily. The kids would get so excited each time they unearthed another 550 million year old creature. Some of the kids just loved hitting the rocks with their hammers without anyone telling them to stop. It is a perfect spot to let off some steam.

We spent 2 hours digging, and came home with 4 full buckets of fossils and rocks. After a quick stop in Delta for ice cream shakes we headed home. We had full tummies, full buckets and rosy cheeks from the sun. It was a wonderful day.

Egg Decorating

We love decorating Easter eggs. We always cook at least 3 dozen eggs to ensure that everyone has all the opportunity they need to express their creativity.

For some reason we got some faulty dye this year and had to improvise on our colors. Our favorite was the ugly brown color that was supposed to be purple. We have never had "Camo" eggs before.

The end results. Now I hope we all enjoy egg salad because we will be eating it for the next several days.