Spring Break
What a great Spring Break we had! Because Tess and I had the opportunity to sing in the General YW Broadcast, we were required to be to several Sunday rehearsals. Because of that and the fact that Tess needed to do Driver's Ed, we decided not to take a vacation, but to stay here and be productive. I've decided I like that kind of a vacation!
Tess spent about 25+ hours taking Driver's Ed on the Internet and driving all around town in the special "student driver" car. She passed her written test and is now the proud owner of a "Practice Permit." Now we just get to drive an additional 24 hours (10 at night) with her before her birthday in June. It feels crazy to drive around aimlessly with such high gas prices. Oh well.
Madeleine is now on the road to straight teeth. She got braces the first day of Spring Break and had two weeks to get used to them before she went back to school. I think they make her look older -- you know, the Jr. High look!
Elliot spent a bunch of his free time finishing the last few achievements he needed to earn his Cub Scout bear badge along with some arrow points. He also sold Scout-O-Rama tickets and earned quite a few prizes. Now I get to sew more badges on his shirt -- why don't I like that more?
One day my sister-in-law Cherry and I traded kids. I watched her boys and she took my kids skiing. Madeleine and Elliot had never been before and had a great time learning. Oh how important the sun screen can be on a beautiful day. They only had a few "funny" spots!
Madeleine and I have been watching Clean Sweep on TV and just couldn't resist tackling a couple of rooms over spring break. So, lucky Tess and the little boys got their bedrooms dejunked and organized. We even did a couple of closets....well, I thought it was fun...
Tess, Madeleine and I had the goal to watch all three Lord of the Rings movies again. We watched the first two at home and then saw the last one again in the theater -- in fact, we had the whole theater to ourselves -- just the three of us! Pretty amazing movies.
Of course we slept in a lot, I got to read and finish a book, and we did some shopping and some eating out. One day Alan came home and spent the afternoon with Elliot and Clark. He took them out to lunch and bowling. Then they came home and played basketball. What a great two weeks!
Speaking of basketball, Elliot turned 10 years old on the 12th and celebrated with a basketball theme birthday. That afternoon Aunt Shirley came (riding the paratransit bus for the first time), and I took everyone to see Peter Pan at the dollar theater. Later that afternoon Tess drove down with me to pick up Loren and Phillip from the bus stop. They came home for Elliot's birthday and to spend the weekend with us. We had fun being all together for dinner and presents.
Elliot got a BYU basketball signed by the whole BYU team. Melinda's husband Jared has a cousin on the team and he offered to take the ball and get it signed -- cool, huh? I think Elliot appreciated all his gifts -- he even got basketball pajamas!
Tess and I were invited to be part of a regional choir that would provide the music for our church's annual Young Women Broadcast. We were required to commit to several Sunday rehearsals and we had a dress rehearsal at the Conference Center the week before. It was such a great experience. The Young Women leaders really made an effort to make it special for the girls. It truly was a testimony building experience. And an added bonus -- we were on TV! Alan videotaped it, and it was fun to come home and watch ourselves.