Spring Break 2013

Slowly but surely here people.  I'm beginning to climb out of my blog deficit.  Now onto Spring Break!

We had a great Spring Break visiting family in Utah.  Sam's parents moved out there the beginning of the year, and it is so nice to have them closer.  We stayed at their place and enjoyed spending time with them as well as all the surrounding siblings and their families.  The boys just couldn't get enough of their cousins.  Some of the festivities:

Soccer game of Dads vs. Kids

Chess and lots of it.

Thanksgiving Point

Good times at a buffet.  The cousins had so much
fun sitting together and eating until they were sick.

Then we stopped off at Becky's.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of her adorable daughters, but I did get this one of my adorable prego sister.  What a treat it was to see her.  She was so sweet to let us come at crash right after having moved into their new house.

Then we made a quick trip up to Rachel's.  It was the first time I got to see my niece, Anna.  We were all fighting over her.  SO cute!

We went on a really fun hike together.....

And topped the evening off with a BBQ and Smores.  We even tried roasting Peeps which was a fun "experiment" for the kiddos.

Rachel and her family are always such gracious hosts and sure showed us a good time.  What a great family!

We sure crammed in a lot in the 5 days we were gone.  Oh how I love family.

Double Digits!

Back in March (yes, I'm that far behind) Seth turned TEN!!  He wanted to celebrate his birthday by going out to Country Buffet.  All you can eat Icees are just too good to be true.  When we came home we opened presents which mostly revolved around Skylanders.  We've got quite the collection going at our house.  What a racket, but man the boys love them.

Robert Jordan books 2 & 3 (both of which are finished now)

Seth's good friend J. who came to celebrate with us.
Can't you just feel the excitement?

We then headed downstairs for a Skylander Tournament.  It was too much fun watching the boys get into it.  I think I was the first to be eliminated with all of my Skylanders.

Getting the brackets ready.

Such concentration

The winner was Tree Rex, for those of you who were dying to know

Then it was time for cake.  Actually, Seth decided he wanted Krispy Kreme donuts instead.  He thought he might still be stuffed from the buffet and that a donut would provide a more lighter refreshment.

We sure love having Seth in our family.  Seth is all boy but still has a tender heart.  He keeps us in stitches with his sense of humor, and is so much fun to be around.  He's so good at making sure everyone feels included and knows how to be a great friend.  He has an amazing smile to boot.  We love you Seth!!

Now for some fun factoids.

Favorite Book:  I have been told to change it to "a" favorite--The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan

Favorite Song:  Again, "a" favorite--Here I Go Again by White Snake  

Favorite Activity:  Being outside (now that the weather is nice)

Favorite Sport:  Wrestling

Favorite Subject in School:  P.E.

Favorite Food:  German Pancakes

Favorite Dessert:  Cherry Cheesecake

Favorite Movie:  Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Favorite Scripture Story:  Coriantumr and Shiz

Men's Choir 2013

The boys have an incredible music teacher, Mr. Leatherman.  He also heads up the school's choir and one thing I love that he does is separate the boys and girls.  The girls rehearse for half of the year and the boys the other.  He says he gets such a bigger turn out from the boys when he does it this way.  This year he had nearly 70 boys come out for choir.  I thinks that's so awesome!

Even my Seth joined.  I am so proud of him.  Singing has not been his favorite thing to do, but thanks to the fun and talented Mr. Leatherman, Seth has come a long way!  This was the first year Seth could join choir and while he was very excited to be able to do it with Abram, I think he found that singing is not too bad along the way.

Wednesday was the choir's "tour."  I got to help chaperon, and it really was a lot of fun.  Tiring, yes, but fun.  That's a lot of crazy boys to keep track of!  The "Men's Choir" performed at 3 elementary schools and at the Senior Center.  They did fantastic.  Then it was off for bowling, laser tag, and pizza to celebrate all their hard work.

Seth and his good friend

Abram and his good friend

This is Abram's last year with Mr. Leatherman.  Between plays, talent shows, music classes, choir, and honor's choir, Abram has really grown to love this man.  Seth has one more year with him before Mr. Leatherman retires.  We're all sad that "Little Bell" (Chase) won't have this wonderful teacher.

For some reason I can no longer upload videos to youtube.  So frustrating.  I've been working on it for days to no avail.  Maybe someday I'll get some video clips uploaded.  Somehow.....