Scout and Navy went to her boyfriend RoRo’s pirate party this past weekend. They had a great time seeing their defunct Godfather, and loved the pirate ship bounce house/slide.
Here he is. When signing up for Godfathers, we really chose poorly! No offense G-Funk. But where are the surprises and $$$?
When we got there, everyone got a pirate patch, hook and bandanna. Too cute.
The only slide picture I got. Scout is sitting with me, and when he saw this picture he said, “that is when I did the pirate fall”.
Icka was more interested in walking around and finishing off any bottle or sippy cup she could find. Nasty but funny.
Our new spring break tradition as of last year is going to Uncle Ray’s house. And yet again….it did NOT disappoint. In fact, if it was even possible, it was better this year. As soon as we got there, the cousin of all cousins, Ryan told us about “Rodeo Day”. He had put together an entire day of activities/competitions for us. I’ll get to that, but it was the second funnest day of my year! (Nothing will ever beat Christmas.)
The group consisted of my mom, Tristen, the Denisons, Cliffords, Brockbanks, Taylors, and the Seth Ure family. Uncle Ray, Aunt Val and Ryan were, in Micah’s words, “the world’s best hosts”. They are so inviting and gracious to our massive group that it is amazing. They have all of their candy dishes filled (this year, the peanut m&m’s had a note attached that said, “ask Lindsey if you want some”. I guess I may have overdone it last year.), they have everything gassed up and cleaned, they have gourmet meals three times a day, etc. They never make us feel like we are overwhelming (minus the crab fiasco uncle Ray!), and to top it all off, they are all totally fun.
Here are a small percentage of the bazillion pictures we took:
The man of the hour (many hours to be exact) — Ryan. He did so much to make our trip so fun!
Icka was in her element. She just hung out all day every day and got filthy. Here she is, under the badminton net. Take a look at their incredible view.
Scout was totally in to feeding the horses. Sometimes, he snuck a carrot for himself.
In preparation for Rodeo Day, Uncle Ray and Ryan taught us how to rope a fake bull. Micah became quite the roper, but I’ll admit that I wasn’t too shabby either.
Aunt Val supplied the cousins with treats. They adore her, and her ice cream too. Scout could be anywhere with his cousins and be happy, but Uncle Ray’s is the best place. In fact, all of the cousins kept saying to their respective parents that their favorite uncle was Uncle Ray. Sorry Micah — you are out!
Nights were fun as we just hung out and shot the breeze. One night we watched Icka and Scout have a serious wrestling match that was hilarious. This night, Micah took this opportunity to work out a bit.
RODEO DAY
We were split into two teams — the red team headed by Tristen, and the Blue Team headed by yours truly. We competed all afternoon and Ryan the grandmaster had to even cut out some of the events due to a lack of time. We had the best day, and can’t wait to see what he does for next year.
Some of the events were — Cow Pie Toss (AKA frisbee), Egg Relay (of which I was the MVP — thank you very much!) Grape Spittin, Hay Race, Tug-O-War, Barrel Racing, Horse Shoe Toss, Bull Roping, etc. Micah came up with his own event of Rolling Kids in a huge tire that was pretty funny.
But the best even of the day was the grand finale. Ryan put together a Survivor style game that was awesome! There was one caller, and four blindfolded pairs that were tied together. The caller had to direct the pairs to one of sixteen bags to retrieve. Once all of the bags were back, we pulled our blindfolds off and opened the bags. Each had one puzzle piece, and we then had to put together a double layered puzzle. It was intense, and proved to me how much I would love to be on the actual show. My mom had the camera which is why the lense wasn’t completely opened — DUH!
The pairs looking for the bags. I was the caller for Blue, and Micah was the caller for Red.
Here is Red doing their puzzle.
here is Team Blue holding up #1 — because YES — WE WERE VICTORIOUS. Sorry Micah, Tristen and Team Red. Better luck next time!
The L-O-S-E-R-S!
After all of that fun, all of the kids lined up on the fence to watch some dry ice bombs. I feel a Bryan Brockbank influence here.
The next day was full of shooting. Here are the five guys playing a game. they each went one at a time to shoot the clay pigeon, and if they missed, everyone else had a shot. If someone got yours after you missed, then it was your time to “pull”. Micah was onfire, but Seth was the very best shot. He only missed at the very end. but let’s be honest, Ryan was shooting off his hip — he wanted to be fair I guess.
The other two little girls had to go home because they didn’t like the shooting. Not my little Icka. She was in hog heaven.
Tristen, Micah and I had to leave a little prematurely. So we left Friday night at 9:30, stopped in Vegas to srop off Micah and get a few hours of rest, and woke up at 5:30am to keep on driving. It was exhausting, but we made it home safe and sound.
This picture is priceless, because this is after a major 45 minute meltdown. Sweet thing has decided that she doesn’t like her car seat. Wish us luck on the flight to France!
This is when I decided to take over driving. Talk about a beauty queen with ear plugs!
This is immediately after Scout announced that he had to go to the bathroom. I was in the drive-thru a McDonalds, and Tristen wasn’t into going in. Instead she just let him use my car as a barrier and let him go outside. She didn’t factor in the fact that “fast food” means the cars keep moving.
Thanks Uncle Ray, Aunt Val and Ryan. See you again next year!
Icka is no longer a baby. When I got her ready for church today, I realized that I am now dealing with a toddler. Her stature and size is what threw me, but after trying to get this picture of her, maybe it is her premature terrible twos (she is legitimately 14 months) that have me thinking she is older than she is. Man — this girl has some SASS!
Easter was perfect. Part of the perfection was that General Conference fell on the same day, and we celebrated the true meaning and the fun meaning of Easter on the same day. In snapshots, the day went like this:
On Easter Eve, the Easter Bunny filled these baskets up with some serious treasures. Then he hid them in tricky spots for the kids to find.
Scout found his at 8:00 on top of the piano. Sissy didn’t wake up until 10:30, when she found hers on top of a stool. (They will get trickier in years to come.) Then they went through their loot, and both found their favorite things. Scout’s was his gun and chap stick. Sissy’s was her Peep that she kept in her mouth for ten minutes and her carrot egg.
I made frittatas for our Conference watching (our protein heavy diet didn’t allow for coffee cake this year), and another to take to Megan’s house. They were a hit!
The kids in their Easter garb. Scout’s shirt was originally clean, until Nonnie let him have BBQ corn nuts, and he used his shirt as a napkin. Some classier moms would have changed him. I went “green”, and decided not to just dirty up one more thing.
My crazy sister Megan filled eggs during the second session of Conference. Have you ever seen this many eggs? It was over 400, and they didn’t just have a single candy in them. I am talking toys, money, candy….some serious loot. She is so out of my league in being the best party girl ever! She made it SO fun for all of the cousins.
This shot is during a huge earthquake (7.2 in northern Mexico). Here is Icka showing us some of her findings. Notice her ponytails. Chloe did her hair, and I thought it was darling. As a side note, I am SO jealous of their backyard. It is big, pretty thanks to B, and perfect for tons of kids.
Both kids prior to all of the kids going nuts. Micah is in the background behind Scout’s head….as he keeps watch over the hunt.
The cousins all spend as much time going through their eggs as finding them. Scout was really into it, and couldn’t bear the idea of going inside to use the restroom. So instead, he just headed over to some greenery.
When Booger came, we had a skying competition. He thought we were all weak, but I can see some air.
We ended the day with burgers. B did the BBQing, and did a mighty fine job. Nice work on getting out of your P.J.’s Tristen. That is a definite sign of a fat girl. How embarrassing.
HAPPY EASTER.
While Icka was in her “jail”, Micah was teaching Scout how to ride his two wheeler, and once he got the hang of it, he brought out a bike for himself. They rode together for a few minutes when Scout discovered that Micah was only holding on to his handlebars with one hand. Immediately, Scout took one hand off, and started to ride around like his dad. Pretty cute that he wants to be like his dad.
WE dyed our Easter Eggs at RoRo’s house this year. It might have been the world’s fastest dying session because we were too worried about the dye ending up on the ground. The beauty of it all is…..the kids didn’t care a lick. they just thought the few moments were fun, and thought they looked pretty cool in the end.
I got up early this morning to get some personal reading time in. When I realized that it was April Fool’s Day, I knew I had to introduce a very fun holiday to my boy. As I was reading, Scout had run into our bed, and I could hear him and Micah telling stories and playing under the covers, so I thought it would be a perfect time. For lack of a better prank (because I couldn’t think of anything else on the fly), I put a little ketchup down my arm. I started moaning and groaning, “Oh no! I was making you guys breakfast and I cut myself!” When I opened the door, they were both sitting up at attention looking at my arm. It took Micah a moment before he figured out what was going on and then a look of disgust washed over his face. After Scout sat shocked for a minute, I took a paper towel and said, “I am just kidding….April Fools!” That is when Micah said, “Maybe you could have picked a different prank. That isn’t really funny.”
Whoops….I guess i am a little sick in the head. I could see what Micah was saying when he said it, but as I type this, I am sort of giggling.
Sissy has a slight obsession with blankets. Not just “her” blanket. (She actually doesn’t just have one blanket, because I am not consistent to always know where the exact same blanket is.) She is obsessed with all blankets, and thinks that every single blanket is…or should be hers. So whenever Scout has a blanket, he usually has to give it up to the “queen of the blankets”. Navy is not a tantrum girl in the least, but when it comes to a blanket someone else has, she is. She isn’t a real cuddler either, but if someone has a blanket she wants, she will use her cuddling charm to get her blanket back. I am so glad to have a girl with some real passion. Most likely, the passion will shift from blankets to being the world’s best daughter.
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