Chase's Priesthood Ordination

Chase has been so excited to get the priesthood.  I was having a hard time finding a suit for him so I ended up ordering a bunch from online and luckily he liked one of them (and it fit)!  He wanted a grey suit and he looks so nice in it.  He wanted a mens tie with a slimmer fit, not a boys tie.  He looks so sharp!!!!  He's grown so much that he needed new church shoes too.  He likes his hair really short and spiky right now.

We had a great day celebrating Chase.  Grandpa and Grandma A and R came down, and the W, and then the C's came too.  It was awesome to have such great family support.  We felt very loved.  Chase received the priesthood after church.  Matt performed the ordination.  Some of Chase's friends stayed for the ordination.

After church, we came back to the house and have a nice dinner.  Chase requested BBQ chicken, potatoes, rolls, salad, and jello salad.  For dessert he wanted a big chocolate cake from Costco.

The first time Chase passed the sacrament was on April 19th.  Matt and I were in Washington DC and it was killing us that we were missing his first time.  We were out walking around the town when I got a text from Kim W.  She knew we were gone so she texted us a picture of Chase passing the sacrament.  She said she was going to get struck for sneaking a picture, but I was so grateful for it!!!  It made my heart so happy to see him passing the sacrament.  I felt like we weren't missing it.
Chase was excited to finally be able to help with fast offerings.  Because of general and stake conference the next fast Sunday was April 26.   Easton called him and came over to the house so they could walk together.  Easton has been such a great friend.  They look so handsome in their church clothes.  We've been so lucky to live in a neighborhood where the boys' friends are such great examples.  

Chase's 12th Birthday

Chase's birthday started off on a crazy schedule.  He had an early morning soccer game out in S. Springs and then had to head straight to his piano festival.  Chase requested sweet rolls for breakfast but as I'm looking at the picture I realized I forgot to get out the "You Are Special Plate."  After the festival, we had an hour until his friends came over for his birthday party at 1:00.  He decided to take his friends to "Hang Time Get Air."  It's a fun jumping place that all the kids love to go to.  He actually had his birthday party there last year but we couldn't come up with anything else that wouldn't cost a fortune (because Chase has a ton of friends).

Chase has finally decided that he likes chocolate cake so that's what I made him for his party.  This is a picture of the gang:  (back row) Easton, Jamison, Sam, Mitchel, Brenden, Parker, Carson, Joe, & Chase (front row) Bridger, Zack, Brody, and Ethan.

Luckily Matt was home to help drive some of the kids to the party.  As we watched Chase play with all of his great friends, Matt and I started to cry because it's going to be hard to move the boys away from all of their great friends.  We let Bridger invite his friend Brody so he would have someone to play with at the party.  Tanner did ok until the very end and then he was done staying in his stroller and was ready for a nap.

After Chase's party, he opened his presents.  He got the WiiU game "Super Smash Brothers," Bridger gave him the movie "Big Hero 6," some Nike sandals, and then his big present was Beats headphones.  They're super nice!!!  Chase was very surprised and excited about them!

For dinner, Chase wanted to go to Wallaby's.  His friend Parker introduced him to this restaurant and now it's his favorite.  Chase likes the pork with their yummy mashed potatoes.  Their rolls come with a cinnamon honey butter that is delicious.  It cracks me up to see Chase eating real food and a ton of it.  Even though it was a busy day, Chase had a great birthday.  He is such a special young man!  He adds so much joy to our family.  He is making such good choices.  He's kind to his younger brothers.  He's a super big help with Tanner.  Happy 12th Birthday!!!

Boy's Piano Festival

Mrs. A missed the deadline for the Piano Festival last fall so she decided to hold her own festival.  She hired a judge to come to her house and judge the students on their performance.  She used the same requirements that the festival used.  It was a crazy morning because Chase had an early soccer game.  The game started late and was in S. Springs so we left when their was only 5-7 minutes left.  We were ahead when we left but we found out that the team ended up loosing the game!!  They need Chase on defense!!!   But we made it on time for their performance time.  Chase played Arabesque and In The Night and then Bridger played Circus March and March of the Gnomes.  They're the same songs that they'll be playing for the recital in a few weeks so this was a good practice.  Both boys performed beautifully and earned the highest score of Superior!!! They had their songs memories.  They have worked for months on their songs and they sounded so good!!  Matt and I and Mrs. A were waiting just outside the house while the boys took turns playing their songs.  It was fun to listen to them.  They did a great job!

When they were all finished, Mrs. A put a candle in a donut and we sang Happy Birthday to Chase.  She had donuts for the boys as a reward for working so hard.  She has been a fabulous teacher!!!  We're going to miss her so much.  I keep teasing her that I'll pay her extra to commute up to Tremonton to teach the boys twice a month.  (I can't talk her into it).  She's made learning the piano so fun for the boys but has also done a great job of teaching them the fundamentals.  I'm so grateful we got to enjoy her for a little bit!!!

Bridger's Wolf Award

Bridger loves going to scouts.  He has worked really hard on earning his Wolf badge.  He rarely misses a scouting activity.  His leaders are so cute with him and make the activities so fun.  It also helps that all of his friends like to go to scouts too.  So it's always a big party.

One of the activities his scout group did was going to the AF Fire Station.  A fireman gave their group a tour of the station, talked to the boys about fire safety and then they let the boys have some fun with the fire trucks and their uniforms.  (Bridger's Scout group:  Sis. L, Bronco, Kayden, Eli, Daxon, Bridger, Anders, Brody, Jack, Dawson, Logan, Sis. B, and Paxman boy)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  The leprechauns came to our house during the night and left some gold and some green treats.  The boys had fun following the gold coins and looking around the house for some green treats.  The leprechauns did a couple of naughty things....they used our toilets and drank some of our milk (the milk was green)!!!

 Chase and Bridger shared their treats with Tanner.  I think he likes St. Patrick's day!

 Noah was staying with us for a few days so he got to witness all the excitement.  Bridger loved having Noah stay with us!!!  Noah was so sweet and helped Bridger with his homework.  Bridger snuggled right up to Noah and did his reading with him.  Noah was a huge help while we was with us because I would put Tanner down for a nap in the morning and then go bike riding.  It was awesome!!!  Then my friend Michelle got admitted to the hospital and he babysat Tanner while I went to go see her.  He was darling about helping out.  I told Noah that he could stay anytime with us!!!!

Great Movie!

For Shan's birthday, she really wanted to go see the new movie Cinderella.  So the W's, Mom, Dad, and Marilyn drove down to AF to see the movie with us.  I got a babysitter for Tanner at the last minute so I could enjoy the show.  The movie was darling!!!  We can't wait to buy it on DVD.  We started to take a picture of Shan with the kids and Robby jumping in at the last minute and had us cracking up!!!  Then we went back to Shan's house and ate chocolate cake and ice cream.  So fun!

Fun at the Museum

Shantelle got a pass to T.P. at Christmas time.  Any guests that come with her get in for half off.  We've been wanting to go to the Museum of Natural Curiosity so we finally went with Shan and the girls.  The kids had such a fun time.  It's a great museum with so much to do!!!  The kids stayed busy for hours.  

The weather area was super for the kids to play in.  The boys are standing in a little area where it feels like a tornado is above them.  Lily loved playing in the water.

Tanner was a good sport and stayed in the stroller for most of the day.  He just liked looking around at everything and all the people.  We ended up staying half a day.  We brought lunches and ate out in the park area and then played some more after lunch.  

They have a great playground that the kids played on for almost an hour.  Bridger and Chase both did the "zip line."  Aliyah liked all the slides.  There was even a teeter totter to play on.

Shan and I found some shade and hung out there while the kids played.

We had a blast playing at the museum.  Everyone went home tired from playing so hard.  It was a great day with the C's.  Their favorite section was the Rain Forest.  It's a huge jungle gym that is an entire room going up three floors.  They definitely got a workout playing on that.