A Favorite

One of my most favorite things to do is help out in my children's classrooms. I love helping with centers, art, reading time, and field trips. I love seeing them in their elements outside of home, seeing them interacting with friends, etc. I have been able to do both quite a bit lately, and always come home so happy and feeling so good about the world. I know that sounds dramatic, but it is sort of true.

First off I went with Rex on his field trip to Red Butte Gardens. I got to take a group of five from his class and his teacher rode up in our car too. She is one of those teachers you just never want to leave. So sweet and caring, yet such an amazingly talented teacher. It was such a fun outing seeing the beautiful gardens and watching Rex hang out with his buddies and learn all about plants, flowers, and trees. It is always such a thrill. Rex is such a leader, but still gets along with pretty much anyone at the same time. Whenever Ryan and I see him in his school environment we always like to call him a "doobie"(a word my mom always used in describing a good, conscientious person)...because he is just that, and it is so sweet. Unfortunately I forgot my camera for this venture.

Today I got to go with Lucy's preschool class to the Fine Arts Museum. We walked down to the museum from the Fine Arts Preschool in the snow (so sad about that this time of year), and got to have a docent for Lucy and three of her preschool buddies. It was so fun to look at these amazing pieces of art and see them through these little girls minds. The docent was so great about asking them very open questions about what they see and what they think of and letting them sit down right there in on the museum floor to draw their interpretations of the paintings that we focused on. Kids are so amazing. Lucy was so excited to have me there and every chance she got to come up and give me a hug she would. It was so sweet to see her cute excitement about such a simple thing as to have me with her class. She is such a social bug at school. Loves to make her friends laugh. I remember being the same way.

I Love that Desert Sun

This past weekend my mom took me and my sisters to Scottsdale for a little girls retreat. It was so fun! We stayed at this great desert spa resort and I had so much fun chatting and laughing with people who know me oh so well. We spent the first day at the spa, laying out by the spa pool and then inside for our facials, etc. The next day we went and saw my aunts in Gilbert and my Grandmas who lives in Mesa. It was great to see family that we rarely get to see. That night we went to a really fun outdoor mall, got a little Yogart Land and home to bed. The last day we laid out by the pool the whole day before out plane left. It was like 94 degrees..perfect pool weather!! It was such a relaxing weekend.

Spring Break!!

We enjoyed a really nice, relaxing spring break. The first weekend was Easter, Conference, and Las Vegas. We drove down for a long weekend and spent it right outside Vegas, a bit away from the strip and all. We did have to go in a couple of times to see the lights, the lions , the Bellagio gardens (AMAZING, as usual) and eat some yummy food. Vegas really does have some amazing restaurants. We stayed at the most kid friendly resort, with a huge pool, hot tubs, tons of grass and places to run and play. It was gorgeous. We tried to listen to Conference on our laptops, but didn't get too much in. Ryan and I have been watching it this last week to catch up. It has been amazingly inspiring...it was so great to hear the push on parenting and families.

On Easter Sunday the kids found their Easter baskets in our hotel rooms , and then we had a relaxing morning watching conference in our pjs. The kids were back and forth across the hall to the Masseys room, when suddenly we started seeing kids of all ages, completely decked out in Easter Sunday dress-- you know, the gingham shirts, darling hair bows and brand new sandals, walking by with their heaping Easter baskets of candy and eggs. Erin and I, in our pajamas mind you, kept looking at each other feeling like the most horrible mothers ever while our kids watched in awe at all the candy these kids picked up somewhere. Finally, a darling family, decked to the core in their perfectness noticed our kids staring at them and stopped to see if Rex, Lucy, Molly and Brooks might want some of their candy...they had plenty. I asked them, "Wow, did your parents plan this fun Easter Egg hunt?" "No, they replied, the hotel did!" "Oh really?" Erin and I were dying.

How did we miss this? Did they not even have a sign? As we walked downstairs to play bocce ball, more and more kids walking around with their baskets full of candy, sitting on the Easter Bunny's lap, etc. It was quite the spectacle, and our kids were definitely dialed in to all of it watching all of these kids. They actually were not that sad about it, at least not as sad and Erin and I were. Luckily we had planned a fun hike for the afternoon and got out of there. We went up to Red Rock Canyon and hiked up to some falls. It was a great trip!

We hit a huge snow storm on the way home, and even cool, calm Ryan was freaked out. I couldn't even talk to him the whole way home he was so tense and focused on the road. I kept asking him if he was mad at me or something. It was pretty scary actually.

The rest of the week was pretty low key. Ryan worked like crazy so we planned some fun activities and enjoyed being at home. We did head out to the Kennecott Coal Mine on the final day of the break with my Mom and Glo. Rex has been learning about it at school and my mom had the great idea of taking a field trip out there to see it. It was kind of a jaunt, but was well worth it....very interesting, ginormoous place. Rex really liked it!




Rex and Lucy watching the Water show


Lucy in front the Paris Hotel.


The kids standing next to the largest chocolate fountain in the world. It was pretty cool.




The kids had so much fun just goofing around at the hotel with Brooks.

Briefly . . .

Rex: Dad, what comes after nine thousand, nine hundred ninety-nine?

Ryan: Can you guess?

Rex: Hmm. Bajillion?



***

Eating chips and salsa for lunch after church.

Dad: Okay guys, we have to get some carrots so you're at least eating a vegetable with this lunch.

Lucy: Dad, is corn a vegetable?

Dad: Yep.

Lucy: Then these chips are vegetables. Pass the chips.



***

Over dinner:

Rex: Dad, Molly can count to twenty.

Dad: Really?

Rex: Molly, count to twenty.

Molly: one, two, free, . . . shirteen, fourteen, semateen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, ready or not here I come.

My Favorite Easter Book

Oh how I love this Easter book. It brings back so many memories of my mom reading it to me and how much she loves this holiday. It is not a religious book, but a darling story with a great message about motherhood and how much better it makes us. The pictures are so beautiful and colorful too.





I read it to my girls this morning in our jammies, and they loved it too. Now I just wish it didn't look like December here. Happy Easter!

I Love Two Year Olds!!

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Molly is in the best stage. I cannot get enough of her, and I have been known to probably spoil her a little too much because of it. She is definitely the Queen around here.

Every time I think of one of my three kids in their two year old phase I want to cry. Rex's curls and his happy playfulness, Lucy's piggies and her very laid back personality...oh and her little chubbies, and well Molly is in her prime now with her spunkiness and sweetness. She is my little nurturer too. It makes me so nostalgic for each of them in their own different way at that point in their lives, and it makes me want to freeze Molly. I love how they are growing up so great and becoming real people , but I would give anything to have them go back for even just a day to that old two year old self. What a joy they have been.

Here is each of them at age Two:

Molly:


Lucy:


Rex:

Another Happy Birthday for Macy

At a BYU devotional this week, Elder Glenn Pace gave a speech about how women have a "sacred role in the sanctification and purification of men." It didn't take long for the Internet feminists to go a little nuts with that. I'm going to leave that one sitting there for someone else to argue about.

But it did get me thinking-- not about what role "women" have in making the men around them better, but what role Macy plays in that area. Far be it from me to say how important Macy's role in improving me is in the overall purpose of her life. Maybe it's only a fraction of the total set of objectives she's here to accomplish. Who cares. What is very clear is how important that role is in my life. And I have to say, it's immeasurable.

I don't want to gush on and on in another birthday post about the million attributes that make me feel lucky every day to have Macy. I just want to say that one of those attributes is her ability to make us all better. She knows what she thinks and she stands by what she thinks and usually what she thinks is right. The more I've learned to listen to her, the better I've become. So I'm happy to mark another one of her birthdays. Another year older for her, another year better for and happier for the rest of us.




So, thanks, Macy. And Happy Birthday!