Cured!

 

When Alanna was about 2, we started to notice that something was wrong with her thumb. It would "pop out of place" often and seemed to cause her pain. When I asked our pediatrician about it, she happened to know just what the problem was...trigger thumb! And she knew of a Dr. at Primary Children's who specialized in trigger thumb! What were the chances? So when we went to see him he explained in great detail what trigger thumb is, and explained that he was conducting a research study to see if the problem would correct itself. After understanding more about it, I asked him to take a look at my then 2yr old Blaze's thumbs. He had 2 trigger thumbs! And the Dr.s were way excited that they could study siblings with trigger thumb :) So they've been to check ups on a yearly basis, and both of them have been deemed as cured. Yea! This is very useful research so that parents can make better choices about if and when to have surgery on their babies. Lucky for us, nature corrected the problem.

aquarium

 

I LOVE these scary faces!

I got to take my first trip to the new aquarium with these cuties on their preschool field trip. I was impressed! It's not the Maui aquarium or the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, but it's so much better than our old aquarium! Their teacher told them to pick out their favorite animal to share. Blaze is obsessed with Antarctica, but he resisted touring that section when he saw these killer whales outside of it! For the rest of the time, all he wanted to do was go back to ride the killer whales! What a funny kid! I really loved the penguins and could have sat there watching them build their rock nests for hours. They are my very favorite!

Once there was a Snowman...Pancake!

Now that we have 1:30 church on Sunday's, the kids beg for pancakes. Blaze always has special requests, but this day he wanted to build a snowman. Olof to be exact. I pulled one of my candy corns out of my Halloween decorations that is hard as a rock. He didn't mind though!

Make a Wish...

We have been enjoying some spring weather outdoors as soccer season has begun. Blaze can't resist collecting dandelions whenever he sees one. I'd love to know what kinds of wishes he makes...a pet monkey, a piece of chocolate cake, lots of pennies. Of course, I can't ask and he cant tell or they wouldn't come true!

Easter Saturday...

 

I love when Easter happens to fall on General Conference weekend. It makes everything extra special to be able to hear such inspiring messages from our leaders on Easter! We asked the Easter Bunny to come visit on Saturday morning, and he left lots of treats and some Sunday clothes. Thankfully, Alanna loves this dress. And I think it's ok...good thing because that's most likely all we will see her in for the rest of the summer!

 

Paul was excited to have his first real tie, and James promptly taught him how to tie it all by himself. He's really growing up!

Wolf Field Trip to Lowe's...

 

This is Paul's Wolf scout den. I accompanied them to their recent field trip to Lowe's to learn about tools. I was a little nervous taking a group of boys this big, but they were SO into learning about the tools! A cute old man took us around and educated us on many supplies they carry. The boys were crowding him so much that we had to ask them to take a step back! They were all so excited to start working on their derby cars soon using some of the new equipment they learned about.  In the car, the conversations all centered around diapers, pooping, and farting. At least they have diverse interests!?

Rock and Gem Show 2015!

The kids were once again excited to go get their bag of rocks from the annual rock show. Their grandparents also bought geodes for them to crack. They ended up with quite a loot, and I am hoping that their school will end up forming a geology club where all of these rocks will become useful!

Blaze's Special Dinner...

 

The three other kids spent the majority of Spring Break with their Perkins grandparents. Blaze was a pretty good sport about being left behind after I told him we would take him out to dinner where ever he wanted. He chose Kneaders, and I love that he didn't pick McDonald's or the like! The reason he gave was that "the kid's meal always has a cool toy in it!" Of course it does, and he always loves the sugar cookie that comes with it!

Date Night in Midway...

 

Terrible selfie, as all of mine are! This is in the crater in Midway after we enjoyed a nice soak in the warm mineral water. We had snorkeling gear, but there wasn't too much to see down there. It was such a relaxing 45 minutes though to float around and warm up during the winter weather. 

Afterwards, we went to an excellent Mexican restaurant in Midway called Taramumara. I couldn't resist taking pictures of our delicious meal. They have a salsa bar with at least 50 different kinds of salsa that we enjoyed a little too much also! We will definitely be going back here. And I'll probably get the grilled shrimp salad again too, because I dream about it!

On our way home we tried to go up to Squaw Peak, but it was closed off. There was a pretty steady stream of disappointed couples driving down that mountain!

Lego candy machine...

 

Jackson needed a little spring break project. I saw this video of a kid making his own candy machine out of Legos, so I passed it on to Jackson. He took our huge bucket of hodge-podge Legos and came up with this! In no time at all he had created his own candy dispenser and was quite proud of his own improvisations...like spelling "Candy" on top out of Legos. 

Strawberry Jam!

I went through a stage of making strawberry jam, but I've given it up. Whenever we have it around, my kids want it for every meal...and it's just sugar! Blaze gets to eat lunch at Oscar's house a few times a month. Of course, Cassie makes amazing jam. Especially the raspberry peach jam! Blaze loves P.B.&J. and complains that we don't have jam, only honey. So one day Cassie gave Blaze his very own jar of homemade jam. He savored it. He taunted us with it. And now every time we walk past jam at the store he begs for it. I finally gave in. At least it's organic!

Cut The Cheese...

 

The Williamson grandparents were in town for Stewart's graduation, so we had them over for the afternoon. We love the game Telestrations because everyone can play it, and funny things are bound to happen. Like when I draw a card that says "Cut the Cheese"!

This was my drawing of "Cute the Cheese". I'm not the greatest artist by any stretch, but I think I got the point across.

   
                                    
And this is the interpretation Alanna came up with of my drawing...that she passed on to Grandma Leslie! Gross! She is definitely a Williamson! We laughed and laughed about her picture for quite a while, and still do. Her grandma said she knew what the picture was, but she decided to interpret it as "Birds Diving" instead!

Williamson Family Easter Dinner...

 We had the Williamson side over for an FHE dinner the Monday night before Easter. The kids enjoyed getting to plant the pots of wheat grass and help with all of the decorations. Thank goodness for Pinterest! It makes party planning a breeze!

 James wanted to have Chinese food. So the menu was sweet and sour chicken with rice, won tons, pot stickers, lettuce wraps, and fruit.

 After dinner and an Easter lesson, we headed outside for a flash light Easter Egg hunt! The kids were kind of excited. The "Easter Bunnies" were very enthusiastic about hiding the eggs. So much so, that the kids had a really hard time finding 5 eggs each!

 Paul wasn't afraid to be the first to climb our flimsy tree to a few pieces of candy!

 Stewart accidentally spilled the contents of one egg on the ground when he was hiding them. So he filled up the egg with chocolate chips...Kaia ended up finding that one and loved it!

 Mikayla almost couldn't reach this one. It was meant for Jackson or Paul, along with some hidden in outdoor outlet covers etc.!

 

 

The kids were so good at trading and sharing the candy and prizes they found

 These cute chocolate dipped peeps were a huge hit with my kids. As if they needed more sugar!

Brownie Bite Bird's nests made from German Chocolate frosting and Cadbury mini-eggs...dangerous!

 "Carrots"

 

The kids starting singing "Little Bunny Fo-Fo hopping through the forest"

The BEST carrot cake! I can't make this unless we are having lots of guests or going to a party because I'd eat the whole thing myself! The party went on until almost midnight! It was so fun to watch the kids play and visit with the adults! The next morning, my kids couldn't wait to give the wheat grass pots a "hair-cut"!