Josh's Butterfly

One of the favorite activities for all of my second graders was learning about the butterfly life cycle.  Each of the kids got their own caterpillar which was kept at the school.  They got to watch them over the course of several days until they transformed into a chrysalis and then to a butterfly.  Then they get to take their butterfly home.  Josh was excited when his butterfly emerged.  He brought her home and named her "Goldilocks."  He kept her for a few days at home and then we decided it was time to set her free!

 

Easter Egg Hunt

We went to the Ivins Easter Egg Hunt this morning (Janika is still in bed) and then came home and dyed more Easter Eggs!!

Rick and I went to Betty and Von's 50th Wedding Anniversary this afternoon.  Rick and I went to the temple and Janika had her closing show for "South Pacific." 

South Pacific

Rick and I took Janelle and Jaiden to see Janika perform in South Pacific at Tuacahn tonight.  One of the perks of going to Tuacahn High School is getting to perform on the big outdoor amphitheater!!  They practically sold out each night too!   Jaiden and Janelle were excited to go and very chatty before and after the show!  They were probably on a sugar high after Josh's party.  Janika was in the ensemble but had more times in the spotlight than I was expecting.  She had a few speaking and singing lines and was part of a humorous dance act.  She looked so darn cute up there!  I wasn't sure if I could take pictures and so I didn't bring my camera.   Hopefully I can get a hold of some! 

Josh's Birthday Party

The kids were out of school today for Easter Break but DSU was still open and so I still had classes to interpret for this morning.  Before I left I boiled all of the eggs for Josh's party and baked his birthday cake.  Rick was off too and was getting ready to go work out and then go to the temple.  I told him I was worried that the kids wouldn't get the house clean and get everything ready for Josh's birthday without one of us there and so he dropped his plans and stayed home to help out, for which I was grateful.  The kids filled all of the Easter Eggs with candy for the Easter Egg hunt and Jared filled up about 250 water balloons.  I got home at lunch time and then hurried to finish cleaning everything up before the party.

The party turned out really well.  We had 14 kids there (including our four youngest).  Everyone dyed eggs and then Jared helped all of the kids launch balloons.  Then Janelle and Layla hid all of the eggs for an Easter Egg Hunt.  All of the activities were a big hit!  Josh opened his gifts (and got a lot of fun ones) and then we had cake and ice-cream.  The kids put on music and played and danced in the basement.  Things were getting a little wild and crazy the last few minutes with the kids playing tackle football in the basement and so I was glad that it was almost time for parents to come start picking up their kids.  I was glad that everything went smoothly and that Josh could have a fun birthday party!

 

Reception

It was fun going to the wedding reception of Meredith Winn and David Poole today!! What an awesome couple -- we are so excited for them! 

Happy Birthday, Josh!!

Happy 8th Birthday to our Josh!!  Josh was lucky because both his Grandmas sent his birthday present up early and so he got to open them both on his birthday!  Grandma Jensen has a tradition of giving each of the kids a nice set of scriptures on their 8th birthday and so Josh was really looking forward to his!  Thank you, Grandma Jensen!!  He also got money, candy, and other surprises from Grandma Westra.  Thank you, Grandma Westra!!  From us he got a soccer ball, slip n' slide, balloon rockets, lots of rubber bands to make rubber band bracelets with and a new suit for his baptism day.

 He opened his gifts in the morning in the morning before I took Jaiden left to her 7:30 a.m. piano lesson.  Josh was also lucky because he got to go on a school field trip on his birthday!  They went to the Children's Museum and a place called "Wood Creations."  He got to choose what he wanted for dinner (pizza) and so Rick picked up several Papa Murphy's Pizzas and cake and ice-cream.  I also picked up a gluten-free pizza from the grocery store for Jenna and made a gluten free cake for Jenna so that she wouldn't feel left out.  We sang to Josh tonight and then all of the kids had fun playing outside in the beautiful Spring weather with all of their friends!!

Lunar Eclipse

Jared, Jase, Jaiden, Rick and I all woke up at 1:00 a.m. to see the lunar eclipse tonight with the moon turning red!  It was awesome!  Our pictures turned out terrible but our friend, Eric Hoth, posted this awesome picture on facebook that he took with his camera! 

The eclipse sparked lots of conversations with our kids about signs of the times and the second coming!