March Notes

March started out with another Speech and Debate tournament.  I just love being able to go and be a judge and be with the kids!  Ruby and her friend got to come along and help take care of their baby.  It was really fun to be there with a friend.  It was the first time I'd ever judged Student Congress.  It was really fun!  It kept me busy because I had to keep track of the action and make notes on 17 or 18 kids all at once.  Some of them had really silly bills and others had really intelligent ones.  The interesting thing was to see how they voted.  Sometimes it was just to keep things moving, not because they really had the details of the bill worked out.  Sounds a bit too familiar...

Brandon had a fun birthday.  We celebrated part of it early because he had a campout that weekend.  We had the traditional Bagel breakfast and had vegetable bagels for lunch instead.  It was fun to share that lunch with the Jacob Meyers family who we were visiting with that day.  Brandon has developed a really great friendship with Jared and Isaac's cousin Michael!  It has been so fun to get to know their family better.  That night we rewarded Nathan for finishing his Eagle project with a Vocal Point concert.  It was very very enjoyable and fun!  It was not very expensive compared to the globetrotters game, but way more fun!  Dallin, Nathan, and Simon got up early to go to meet Brandon at the campout.  They were at the Midway hot springs and had a great time.  As soon as they got home, we were all excited to watch Brandon open the giant presents that had been sitting covered in the guest room for a couple of weeks!  Inside were all of the components for a new computer for him to build so he could work on some graphic design stuff and FINALLY get his own minecraft account! I was excited to find Sour Patch gum because it combines two of Brandon's favorite things!  Grandma got him the zipline set for his nanobugs, and it is so fun! Then we headed out for an early dinner at the Pizza Pie Café.  It is a salad/pizza/pasta/dessert pizza buffet.  It was pretty good food and fun for everyone.  Plus we had a buy-one-get-one coupon for up to 4 uses that made it very affordable! 
The next week I went to a class and came home with some herbal remedies that we made right there.  Seems like stuff like that will become more and more of a blessing to know about and have as the healthcare goes farther and farther south. 

For Sullivan's birthday, we unveiled a spring surprise for our kids:  We bought two mini-tramps and some gymnastics pads for the racquetball court.  So fun, and perfect for an activity for his birthday.  We went to the Gem Show in Spanish Fork which is always a fun free activity.  They give each of the kids a polished stone, and they can buy a variety bag of rocks and learn what each one is for $1.  Sarajoy was so excited to bring her purse and get to buy things.  She has just recently started earning money, and she loves it so much!  Her purse is really big and she's so cute carrying it.  After the Gem show, I wanted to get a couple of things for Sullivan, so we decided to get some "hangaburgers", which he was really excited about.  I got him some fun balloons and pinwheels at the dollar store.  He also got some really awesome motorcycles from Grandma that he loved and took everywhere.  We got him a big nerf soccer ball and a nano goldfish that really swims in water.  It is really cute!  We had Trenaisa's family for dinner and she brought him the cutest Duplo Lego set that you can make several different vehicles with.  It is the perfect addition to our other little sets like that.  I love it when presents can make an old toy seem new again.  After he ate his cake, he got to have a bath with his little fishy.  So fun!  He LOVED having a birthday.  He had donuts for his cake.  It wasn't until days later that I realized that all of the other kids got an elephant cake on their 2nd birthdays.  Bummer.

Nathan did a presentation on his Eagle project for the Empty Nester's Family Home Evening group.  He did a really good job.  That weekend was a reunion dinner and slide show for the people who went to Mexico.  It was great for  me to meet some of the people they got to know so well.  We had Milee join in on Skype, and it was really fun.  I was surprised that she stuck with it for so long.  I think they people all really enjoyed her and vice versa.  I'm glad it worked out for her to go.  I had fun taking the girls to the Women's Broadcast.  We all went to Wendy's afterwards to use some coupons.  Eating out is a pretty fun family activity.  We had a lot of fun that night.  I love how much fun and liveliness teenage boys bring to our family.  For Dallin's birthday we went to the temple and we got him a large print of Agony in the Garden from the Sacred Gifts exhibit.  It really is such a touching portrayal of that sacred event.  We always have tacos and strawberry shortcake as well!  I got him a new waffle iron, too.