Chase & Bridger's Piano Recital

Bridger and Chase had their first recital with their new piano teacher.  Their other piano teacher had another baby and moved so it left me teaching them for a few months.  JoLynn is in our ward and I asked her if she had any openings.  Luckily she had two openings left.  I have to pick up Bridger from school on Wednesdays because his lesson is at 2:00 (he gets out of school at 1:50).  Then Chase has his lesson Wednesday nights at 5:00.  It's really worked out well with the boys' schedule.  She had every student play their first song and then go through the list again having them play their second song.  They practiced really hard for this recital.  They memorized their songs and they sounded wonderful! They are very talented on the piano.

Chase played a duet, "Yankee Doodle" with his teacher.  It was very impressive!

Jolynn has been a wonderful teacher!  He's a perfect fit for the boys.  At their first piano lessons she told them that I had given them too many songs to work on.  That made me laugh and the boys loved telling me that I'm a mean teacher.  She does 30 minute lessons with them.  She's not into theory which the boys were happy about.  She's helping Chase learn the hymns because she has him playing in priesthood twice a month.  She's so positive and with the boys.  She's always telling them what wonderful boys they are.  We're so lucky we found her.

Bridger's Spring Art

Bridger colored this picture in school.  I think it's one of my favorite pictures Bridger has ever done.  I love the red birds sitting on pine tree branch.  Bridget is really developing his art talent.  

We have Siding!!!

The siding guys showed up!  They've been working long hours to tackle our house.  I've been impressed with what hard workers they are.  It's fun to see it come together on the outside.

The siding is all done!!!  I love how it turned out with the variations.  Now I can't wait to see it with the paint.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!  The Easter bunny came to our house and hid some jelly beans, brought lots of candy and left a few surprises.  The older boys got a couple of shirts and an Xbox game. Tanner got a basketball hoop for the bathtub.  Tanner didn't really want to look for the jelly beans.  He just wanted to eat the candy.

I loved this post on Christ that was on instagram. Jesus lives!  The atonement is real.  We are loved by our Heavenly Father and our Savior.  I'm so grateful for that knowledge.

Tanner loved the Peeps.  He was in peep heaven because Grandpa R also gave us some peeps.  I think we ended up with 10 boxes of peeps.  Good think I don't like them otherwise I would eat them all.

The way it worked out with everyone's schedule, we ended up having Chase's ordination to become a teacher on Easter.  All of the A's came and almost everyone from my family came too.  Even Shan and Robby made the long drive up.  Bishop N normally does the ordinations in his office but we had too many people.  So he found a bigger room but we were still tight.  It was overwhelming looking around at all the people who love us and especially Chase.  We are lucky to feel such love!

After church we came back to the house and took some pictures.  I warned my family that I wanted one picture of us.  Mylissa and Ardell got some great pictures.  Chase told Grandma R that he wanted church clothes for his birthday.  So Grandma met us at the mall and shopped with us.  Chase found some new church clothes and Bridger found this awesome green shirt that he feel in love with.  So Grandma spoiled him too and bought it.  She thought that Tanner was left out so he picked out a batman shirt.  I found Tanner's outfit at Costco and I couldn't resist it.  The boys look so handsome in their new church clothes.  

The following Sunday, we had a R Easter party with everyone.  Mom fixed a "simple dinner."  She fixed Cafe Rio.  It was a lot of work for her but it was delicious!  Mom and Dad had filled a gazillion eggs.  The dads went out and hid the eggs.  Grandma put some money in some of the eggs for the older kids.  All the kids loved the egg hunt and were very happy with their candy and money.

Dishes Can Wait

Tanner fell asleep on the couch.  It looked like his little head was going to fall off.  So I picked him up and snuggled with him for a little while he slept in my arms.  The house may be a mess and dinner's not ready, but it's not everyday that they snuggle in your arms.  They grow up too fast!  When Tanner wakes up in the morning, if he's still tired he'll say "I want to sleep in your arms."  I rock with him until he's ready to wake up.  Sometimes it's the best part of my day.  

Chase's Art Project

This is Chase's art project that he completed for his mid-term assignment.  He had to choose an animal and he chose a pig.  Then he had to find "house hold items" to create the animal.  Angie and Mikayla took him and Bridger to the DI one afternoon to get some ideas.  They found a few good items.  I have to admit that I bought a basket and pink towels that came in handy for his project.  I think Chase did a great job on his project.  He came down with the flu Tuesday morning before school started.  His teacher at the beginning of the term had every student sign a statement saying that if they did not turn in their project the day it was due, they would receive an F.  So I brought his pig over to the school and made sure they took it right down to his art class. Chase received an A on his project!   Chase ended up missing three days of school.  Finally on Friday he returned to school.  Bridger also got the flu and missed a couple of days of school.  Luckily Matt never got it.  

Spring Break in BL

We arrived in BL late Wednesday night.  Shantelle and the girls came up on Monday since they have the whole week off for school.  We only have Thursday and Friday off.  The W's, Mom and Dad, and Marilyn were in Hawaii during spring break.  Mylissa invited the rest of us to come but with building the house we had too many expenses.  At least we were able to go to BL instead of staying home feeling sorry for ourselves.  This is the sunrise I woke up to Thursday morning.  Bear Lake is therapy to the soul.  Sweet Kaye and Allan are so generous to let us use their cabin.  We had a great day on Thursday.  I went for a bike ride.  I was worried it was going to be too cold but it was great.  I just had to wear my jacket.  I biked out to the North Shore.  There was no one there.  It was so beautiful and peaceful.  I love my bike rides in BL.  

When I came home, I gathered up the kids and we went for a walk.  Hazel was sleeping so Shan stayed home with her.  (She probably enjoyed the peace and quiet).  The kids were great on the hike.  We were gone for about an hour.  That's a lot of walking for little feet.  Tanner and Lilly were so excited at the beginning.  They were running down the hill trying to catch up to Aliyah and Bridger.  Tanner was a little whiney so I gave him a piggy back ride.  Tanner and Lilly got really tired on the last big hill.  So sweet Chase put Tanner on his shoulders and carried him up the big hill.  Sophie was in heaven on our walk.  The weather was beautiful.  At the beginning, at the kids have jackets on but by the end, everyone had taken off their jacket.  (I love how Tanner is in his pajamas).

Shan took her girls for a walk earlier in the week.  I love the selfie.  The kids were so good to get along.  They played lots of games, played outside and watched a few movies.  Robby came up Thursday night.

On Friday a storm started to blow in.  I was able to make it out on a bike ride before the storm came in.  It was a little cooler and windy but still worth it.  We had to head back home Friday afternoon because Bridger's baseball team was in a big baseball tournament in T.  We drove home and it rained off and on the entire game.  It was freezing cold!!!  When I got home from the game, I became violently ill with the stomach flu.  Halfway through the night, Tanner woke up throwing up.  We got him all cleaned up and put him in bed with us.  Big mistake because within a few minutes he threw up all over our bed.  I made a bed on the bathroom floor for him.  Poor Tanner threw up every 15 minutes for a couple of hours.  We took turns throwing up.  I knew Matt had to work the next day so I helped Tanner.  Around 5:00 we finally stopped throwing up.  It was the most miserable night I've ever had.  Luckily the storm was in full force and we woke up to about 4 inches of snow.  It was still snowing so they ended up canceling the tournament.  I was so grateful!  Luckily Tanner rebounded and didn't throw up any more.  It wiped me out for a few days.  I didn't move very much.  We drove back up to BL in the afternoon.  (Shan's family all had the flu the previous week so I didn't worry about exposing them).  Once I got to the cabin, I took a long nap.  On Sunday, Tanner seemed completely healed.  I was still wiped out.  Shan was so sweet to take care of the kids while I just laid in bed.  I talked the boys in to missing school on Monday.  Chase put together his midterm art project (a pig made out of household items).  Shan got the upstairs all cleaned and headed back home Sunday afternoon.  I was so grateful that we were able to have an extra day to relax and enjoy the cabin.  By Monday, I felt like I was going to live.  It was a nasty bug!

Chase and Bridger brought up their remote control trucks.  Tanner loved having Chase drive the truck through his legs.  We also decorated Easter eggs (even though Easter had already passed).  The kids were very creative in their decorating skills.  

I love these sleeping pictures.  Tanner took really good naps.  Sunday night, Chase slept in the room with us (he had been sleeping down in the basement).  Tanner wanted to sleep right next to Chase.  I love this picture of them.  Tanner and Lilly look so sweet sleeping next to each other.  They're such good little buddies.