~Randee~

My brother-in-law Marc is marrying a cute girl named Randee in May. Stacey, Darinda, Becky, Jackie, and I threw her a shower over the weekend with the Ropelato/Coker sides of the family. Randee got lots of fun gifts.We had lots of yummy food. Mckell LOVED the chocolate fountain.

We had a really good turn out and it was fun to visit with the family.

Darinda with her sisters: Dawna, Darene, Daralynn, and Diane.

The Ropelato girls. Welcome to the family Randee!

~Happy St. Patrick's Day~

The night before St. Patricks Day, I was putting the kids to bed, when Mckell commented that she couldn't wait until the morning so she could see what the leprachaun was going to leave. Last year, the leprachaun left shamrocks hanging from the kid's bedroom ceiling and starbursts all over their bedroom floor. Whoops, I think the leprachaun had almost forgotten all about it this year. It is a good thing Mckell reminded him, lol.
The next morning the kids found a note upstairs in the kitchen from the leprachaun. He told them to be good at school, and when they got home he'd have clues for them to find his pot of treasure. They couldn't wait until school got out, so they could see what the leprachaun had hid for them. The clues led them from under Mckell's bed to inside one of Dave's shoes. They ended with finding their stash in the hall closet. The leprachaun had left them a bucket full of treats: Lucky Charms, bottles of sprite, starbursts, and rainbow cookies. They were so excited.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!

~What Mother's Won't Do For Their Kids~

Even though basketball is over for the season, Hunter begs to go play at the church everyday. Well since Dave was out of town, I thought I'd be a nice mother and take him over to shoot baskets. He asked if a friend could come along, so we called Ethan. Well the boys were shooting hoops for a while, then decided they wanted to play lightning. Well you can't play lightning with only 2 people, so they asked if I'd play with them. Being the nice mother that I am :), I joined in not even thinking about the fact that I was in heels. Well, it didn't take long for me to realize that me playing in heels wasn't a good idea. The first ball that I went to run after, I ended up buckling my ankle and going down hard. I wanted to cry, but didn't because Ethan was there. I wanted to swear, but didn't because I was in the church. I couldn't move, it hurt so bad. Me falling didn't even phase Hunter. He just kept on playing, dribbling around me. After a few minutes I heard Ethan ask him, "Hunter, is your mom Ok?" At least someone was concerned about me, lol. I got up and hopped over to the stage where I sat for an hour. I really wanted to go home and take some Advil and put ice on my ankle, but I felt bad because we had just gotten there and I knew how bad the boys wanted to play. Also, I really didn't know how I was going to make it to the car. After I could take all the pain I could handle, I told the boys it was time to leave. I hopped and slid down the stairs to the car. The next day I went to the doctor to see if it was broken, because I still couldn't walk on it. They said I'd just sprained it really bad, and told me to NEVER again play basketball in high heels. Ya, I think I've learned that lesson :).

~Moab 2011~

Dave has been super stressed at work for quite a while, so a weekend out with the boys was just what he needed. They headed down to Moab to do some riding. He had a lot of fun, and said it did get his mind off of work (which was what I was counting on).

This short getaway was just what he needed :)

~Junior Jazz~

Hunter just completed his season in Jr Jazz basketball. He absolutely LOVED playing basketball. His team was made up of his friends from the neighborhood which was a lot of fun. At the beginning of the season, we were a little woried, because the boys were playing up a grade level. We weren't sure how this was going to turn out, but we were pleasantly surprised that our little team did really well. They won several games, and the ones that they lost were only lost by one or two points. The season ended with a tournament. We won our first game but lost our second game. It was a pretty intense game. We were tied the entire game up until the last 2 minutes of the game, when the other team pulled ahead. The boys were sad to see the season end, but they had a lot of fun :)
For the last month, Hunter has been driving me crazy with playing bssketball in the house. He is constantly dribbling in the kitchen, on our coffee table, against the walls, etc. I'm glad that he is keeping active and practicing basketball, but I will be glad when it gets warmer outside so he can take his practicing out there. Right now I feel like a broken record reminding him we don't play with balls in the house :)

The boys warming up.

Jr Jazz gave the boys free tickets to a Jazz game. This is a picture of some of the boys, plus older brothers, at the game. They had a lot of fun, even though we were sitting in the nose bleed section.

~Family Literacy Night~

Hunter and Mckell's school just had a Family Literacy Night, which I was kind of over. I have basically lived at the school for the last 2 weeks, getting things ready for it. We sold Dr Seuss hats, planned literacy week activities, laminated and bound children's books for a Jr Authors Fair that night, had a magician come to do a magic show about the importance of reading, and sold concessions for the magic show. The night turned out to be a success. The children's books were darling, the magic show was great, and we earned quite a bit of money for the school.

Hunter in his classroom looking at their books.
Getting ready for the magic show.
Lexi kept climbing up on the stage, to sneak a peek at the rabbit in the cage. :)


For one of the activities during literacy week, the kids were supposed to dress up as their favorite storybook character. Mckell dressed up as Silvermist, a fairy from Tinkerbell and friends. Hunter was Harry Potter, but I wasn't able to snag a picture of him before he left for school. The kids had a lot of fun this week.

~Happy 32nd!~

Wow, I'm getting old!!! Hahaha. I had a really good 32nd birthday. Dave surprised me the weekend before, by having the kids stay the night at his mom and dads and taking me to dinner and then a double header at the movie theater. It has been a long time since we have gone to more than one movie at a time, usually we are always heading back to relieve our sitter. So it was nice not to have to hurry back, and just enjoy the night. Then on my actual birthday, he took the day off work and took me to lunch and then shopping. Yes, you read right. Dave took me shopping. That is huge, because Dave HATES to shop. We went to lunch, and were planning on going out to dinner as a family, but I was still full from lunch so we just went out for milkshakes instead. I love spending time with my family, and wouldn't have wanted to spend my birthday any other way. I also have the greatest friends who brought several yummy treats and gifts by, which just made my day even better. Turning 32 was GREAT!

~The IPod Piper & Jack Sower and the Big Bad Wolves~

Our Stake has been doing a roadshow for the fast several years. The theme is Fractured Fairytales. When the sign up sheet came around at church to participate in the roadshow, Mckell immediately signed up (I told you she LOVES being the center of attention , lol) So I talked Hunter into being in it to. Our roadshow was titled "The IPod Piper" Mckell and Hunter danced the Macarana with all of the kids. They had a blast.

Dave, being the good High Councilman that he is, participated in the ward he is over's roadshow. Yes you heard me correctly, Dave was in a roadshow. His ward's theme was to the show 24, and the 3 Little Pigs. Dave was the Beast (from Beuty and the Beast)/The President of the USA. It was fun to see everyone perform their parts, they all did such a good job that I took them out for ice cream after :).

~Visit to the Treehouse~

One thing that I LOVE about being a stay at home mom, is that I get to go and help in the kids classrooms. Today I joined Mckells class on a fieldtrip to the Treehouse Museum. They had so much fun! They made Magic wands, preformed a partici-play, heard many fun fairytales, and got to explore on their own. The time flew by.

Mckell was Little Red Riding Hood in the partici-play. She did a very good job! She LOVES to be the center of attention :)

I LOVED spending the afternoon with Mckell!