Whoa! Well over 100 photos

 

Consider the title to this post your warning!  I decided not to widdle down the pictures too much, because I know my relatives will want to see them.  We went to Hurricane the first of April to see Leah and Sergio get married.  It was such a great day!  She looked beautiful, and is so very happy.  Sergio is awesome, and we are so excited to have him in our family. 

 

I didn't pull out my camera almost at all the first week.  Sorry Wilson fam - that is where we spent a lot of time that first week.  We were busy with wedding stuff and playing with cousins, also our incredibly talented cousin Camilla was down snapping photos of all the wedding stuff (that's why I don't have any of Leah's wedding to put on here), so I didn't feel the need to take pictures.  Camilla also took pictures of the whole Wilson clan the night before the wedding.   The pictures turned out amazing!  Once I get her CD, I'll post some more.  

Luckily, our first week there we spent a lot of time with the Wilsons, because from Saturday evening until almost Thursday the next week I was so sick I didn't leave my moms house.

 Friday, April 11

Brian Hawkins (my mom's new neighbor) set up a climbing wall on the street for some event he was helping with, and told the kids they could use it. Ava scaled right up it.

 Noah figured out it was easier to climb with no shoes on, and then he was all over that wall.

 Grant tried, but didn't love it as much as Ava and Noah.

 Emily conquering the wall. I made it to the top too, although coming down was the scariest part.  The line you are connected to slowly lowers you if you let go.

 My mom and cute little Ollie.

My mom made it to the top, but I think those pictures on Em's camera.

 Ava just kept going up and down, multiple times that day.  She wasn't heavy enough for the volley to let her down slowly, so she had to get pulled down by someone else, or "walk" herself down the wall.  A lot of times she would get to the top and just stay there for awhile. She loved it.

 

My 2 climbers.

We said good-bye to Adam and Nala on Friday, and then the kids and I went to Addisons soccer game (with Kyle and Em).  

Then we headed over to St. George to play at the new park (where I used to take ballet).  So fun to think about ALL the time I spent there.

Then we went to Matt and Mel's for pizza.

Store bought or homemade oreo?  Homemade please!  They were so delicious.

Matt lit and sent off a floating lantern. I was nervous it was going to start a tree on fire.

I think my dad was nervous about it too.  You can see a very tiny speck above the roof top.  It finally made it high enough, that I didn't worry anymore.

Showing off some of grandma Scholzen's treasures.

Noah is my treasure hunter and admirer, so grandma's house is perfect for him.  She has treasures everywhere.  He woke up every morning and all he wanted to do was explore another part of the house. :)

I needed something to organize our flip flops and slippers in our shoe closet, and I thought large PVC would be perfect.  While I was in Hurricane I snatched up some PVC scraps at my dads office.  My dads workers cut them to size for me as well.  So nice!  They are almost painted, and then I will post of picture - since my dad can't envision what I am trying to do.

The big pool wasn't heated yet, so all the cousins decided to use the 'tiny pool' instead.

This was Saturday (the first Saturday we were there), and by that night I was not feeling well at all.  I started to get feverish and in the middle of the night I started throwing up!  Ava also started getting a fever, but didn't ever throw up. So, Ava and I were up most of that night.  By morning Ava could barely talk, because her throat was hurting so bad.  I felt terrible and had fevers all day.  Monday, my mom took Ava to the doctor and found out she had strep. Monday morning my stomach felt better, but my throat hurt and I still had fevers.  I ended up going to see Mel, and sure enough, I had strep too.  I got a shot of penicillin (hoping it would shorten the time I was sick), and took home 2 more shots in case anyone else got it.  I ended up giving Ava and Grant a shot that night for the strep.  They did not like their mom for a few minutes.  If you've ever had a PCN shot, you would understand.  The serum is so thick it is actually really hard to push it through the needle.  Poor kids. Anyway, I still had fevers and felt like crap until Thursday night - Friday morning.  So, almost my entire last week of vacation, I spent in bed.  Grant also had a nasty cough a couple of nights, and when he coughs it gags him, so he throws up.  My poor mom, did a million loads of laundry that week.  It sucked - I had so many plans of visiting people and spending quality time with family, but obviously that didn't happen. At least we were all better, before the weekend so we could participate in all the Easter festivities and fly home.

Someone stole my phone?!

I'm guessing Ava was the thief, since she was infatuated with Mr. Wilson, the cat.

Decorating eggs.  My mom means serious business when it comes to egg decorating.  She pulled out the blow torch (yeah, who owns a blow torch?! - actually, I sort of want one now) for these ones. 

The annual cousin Easter egg hunt (held the Friday before Easter).  Every year my mom puts on a big egg hunt for ALL the kids in the extended family. It is quite a production, but the kids look forward to it every year. This is the first year my kids have been there for the egg hunt (Noah was there 1 other time when he was 2). 

They loved it.

Noah was up on the top level with the big kids, so I didn't get too many pictures of him.  I'm not sure if any of my cousins realize how much time and effort goes in to this hunt, but my mom puts in hours of prep for this day.  Let me tell you a little bit about the prep work. 

Everyone has to have the exact same prizes, so she divides everything into individual bags.

All the kids are assigned a different colored eggs (26 total eggs).

The contents of each bag (candy, hot wheels cars, disney eggs, money)

She doesn't just go buy regular candy either, she likes to get 'cute' candy.  :)

She has all the names of the kids and their ages.  Kids from 1-11 get to hunt for eggs.  If you are 12 or older than you get to hunt for 1 egg that has money and candy in it.  The kids are separated into 2 groups: ages 1-5 hunt on the lower level (my moms yard is terraced with a gate separating 2 of the levels), and ages 6-11 hunt on the upper level.  Oh, and if you don't live here, she mails all the goodies to the kids so they don't feel left out. Yeah, she's nice.

Then she (obviously her kids help with some of the process, but she does most of it) stuffs ALL the eggs with the goodies.  Then she takes one egg from each persons bag, so they know which color they are hunting for.  Mary Lu's boys (Andy and Addison) and their friends have been hiding the eggs for a few years.  They come over a couple hours before the hunt and hide all 624+ (depending on who is coming) eggs.

After all the kids show up, they wait patiently for aunt Linie to tell them what color to hunt for. 

ABOVE doing all this, she also makes dinner for everyone (sloppy jo's aren't the prettiest food to look at, but they are amazing).  The kids' parents bring a side or dessert to share.  

So, needless to say, this egg hunt is A LOT of work, but my mom doesn't mind doing it one bit.  She looks forward to it every year.   She's amazing!!

Noah found some glasses at my moms without lenses and thought they were so fun to wear.  He wore them everyday.

Playing with dry ice.

My mom asked if I would be her other leader for her activity days, so we went to the desert turtle reserve. 

The kids loved seeing all the turtles. 

Aunt April helping all the kids make Tye-dye shirts.

Roasting hot dog after making shirts.

Before the big egg hunt, we went to the St. George arts festival.  The kids watching this high schooler show them how to make a pot.

Took a ride on the carousal at the festival.

The rest of these pictures are from 'Eastering'.  My mom's side of the family always go out to my grandpa's ranch to play in the sand, eat, hike and have an egg contest.

There's a big sand hill that the kids play on for hours....... and adults too. 

My mom sledding down the sand hill.

Sorry, there are so many.  I couldn't delete any them. :)

Kids get completely buried in the sand.

Cutest little boy Oliver.

"Don't touch my drink that I stole"

It rained on us a little while we were there, but it was actually perfect weather - cloudy, so we didn't get too sunburned.

Some teenagers trying to be cool.

Cool Tye-dye shirts guys.

Finally stopping long enough to eat.

Ava's egg - chocolate milk

Grant's egg - melted crayon 'orbital egg'

Noah's egg - crazy fish egg (he cut a hole in this toy and shoved an egg in it)

My kids didn't quite understand the intensity most of their relatives go through for this egg contest. :)

All the egg contestants.

All the kids patiently awaiting their prizes, while my dad tells us all the wacky award names he (and the guest judges) came up with. 

Saturday morning we headed over to grandma Connie's for an egg hunt. 

Opening up their loot. My kids were so excited to do another egg hunt.  Grant came up to me afterward and said, "I love egg hunts.  They are so fun, and I can't believe got to do two of them".

We had a great trip to Hurricane.  I always loved our Easter traditions growing up, and it was fun for my kids to get to experience this year.  We loved being able to see aunt Leah get married and see our South Dakota cousins too. Even though we spent almost a week sick, and didn't get to spend as much time with friends and family, it was great to spend the time we did with everyone.

Wow! If you made it to the end..........Congratulations.
I have been in project mode, and have lots of house pictures for you.