"You are not here to live a mediocre to average life; you are here to live an amazing life, a miraculous life. If it weren't for your challenges, there would be no miracles. You must do that which seems impossible, for it is only in the impossible that miracles are had." - author unknown, but very respected

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Spring Break (calling it Winter Break would be more accurate)

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Our Spring break started Sunday night with rag curlers in the girls' hair!  We had been watching the Emma Story and I remembered doing this in Charity's hair when she was little, so I suggested that we do it.  They weren't thrilled about it, but I convinced them :)  I guess I mostly just liked these pictures of my cute girls goofing off together....


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posing for grandma's phone



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Our Spring break was pretty mellow.  Normally I would feel guilty with how little we WENT and did during this Spring break, but I decided that I wouldn't this time.  We did a lot, had a lot of fun, and I really think the kids had a good time, that's all that matters.  Plus the weather was horrible.  Most of the normal outside stuff was really out of the question.  We did what the kids wanted to do though. 


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Ramen soup is a MUST when Kelly is home for Lunch :)  And I couldn't resist taking pictures of everyone, as always, they were hilarious with their noodles.
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On Monday, we also spent a lot of the day doing crafts.  I think that was the day that Kelly and I made her stuffed animal Jaguar that we've been meaning to do for a while.  I was really surprised at how hard it was to make, but it did turn out pretty cute.... I need to make the neck a little shorter is all.  We also worked on the girls' lamp shade that day too I think.... I should post pictures of that... it is pretty cute.
Monday night was our big Tangled Movie Night.  Everyone invited friends over and we watched Tangled with popcorn.


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On Wednesday we braved the grocery store so that we could have some food.  I knew it was a stretch taking all six of them (it's been a while since I did last did that) but they did FANTASTIC!!!  I think I already posted about that though.  They're reward was to go out for ice cream.  Charity, Kelly, and Bradley all paid for their own ice cream!  They really have loved having their own money and buying their own stuff.  Trust me, I wouldn't have asked them to pay for it considering it was a REWARD, but they wanted to.  So sure!  Whatever :).  After ice cream we went up to Rocket Park and I was able to take a few pictures of all of them together like I've wanted to do for a very long time.  I'm not sure I like these ones all that much, but I was sick of the one I"ve had up since November.  They were such good kids that day.  Ahhhh.


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Here's Erika climbing UP the slide.  Depending on the shoes she's wearing, she can do pretty well and usually make it up to the top as long as she grunts three quarters of the way up :)  She's so intense sometimes :).


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I really like this picture, minus the location of Luke's hand, but I've decided to let that slide.  I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that they were wearing blue, pink or orange and black pants for all the girls.... not as uniformly as I would like a picture to be, but hey, having not planned it out, I'll take it!


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another doggie. "arrh, arrh!"



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The ball Brad is holding is the ball he won from the claw machine at Walmart.  He has been dying to play that thing for MONTHS now.  Everytime we go there, I have to come up with some excuse why he shouldn't blow his money on that machine because it is rigged, or has lame stuff, or would just be a complete waste of his hard-earned money.  Well, it was Spring Break, so I caved.  I gave in and let him play it.  How surprised was I when as I was texting Nate on my phone, letting the other kids roam around the gaming area, I saw Brad grab this basketball with the claw and promptly drop it in the hole to receive it!  I was SHOCKED!!!!  I wasn't sure what to say.  He had just proved me wrong in a matter of seconds.  It was a proud moment for him and he proceeded to pop a few more dollars in the machine and then convince Charity to try one out.  Charity actually lucked out, just like his brother, and won a big red UTAH cheerleader bear!  This really made me look dumb, for all the things I had said about the claw machines, but we all got a good laugh and shared in the amazement.  It was a lot of fun.  I take it as a tender little mercy from Heavenly Father to help add a little excitement to our rather ordinary Spring Break.  Maybe that's strange to think, but I do.

I really just took picture after picture.  I know I've done this a lot lately at the park, but it's just so fun for me.  With photobucket, I don't have anything stopping me from posting all the ones I liked.  So sorry if you're sick of it :)


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I like this one of my girls.
I tried to get one of the boys, but Noah vetoed that.



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This was my favorite of the 10 I have of Brad on these handle bars....


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"Mom, take a pichure of me wike dis!"


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and once again, everyone coddled Erika around.... I'm pretty sure she's the luckiest little girl that ever lived.  She gets EVERYTHING she wants from them.


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Charity's silly boot made it hard for her to get around.  And put a damper on some of our other ideas (i.e. swimming!).  That thing was like a curse.  Glad it was only a two week thing.


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Brad's back on the hanging bar and dropping off backwards now!!!  Pretty exciting!


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this was Noah's "wood chip rope".... he still has this stick and will probably not let it go easily. 


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Lukey is now part of the Monkey Bars club.  I still haven't gotten a good enough picture of him doing it on his own this year.  I think he did it a little last year (if I remember correctly) but he said he didn't, and was wanting me to be proud of him again :)  So I am.  What a cool little guy!



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Kelly is so sweet with Erika.  She is the perfect helper for getting Erika to sleep.  Nate and I couldn't resist taking these pictures of Erika asleep next to Kelz.  So sweet.
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We spent a LOT of time picking up friends, taking friends home, and playing with them.  I liked being able to let the kids have friends over a lot.  That's something we've tried to take full advantage of now that we have a whole house to play in.  We missed out on that a lot at Grandpa's.  Lukey had his friend Carter over for the first time.  This is actually the first time he's called a friend to come over and ever since then, he's wanted to do it EVERYDAY.  Funny boy.  He's at that age where they don't really know how to entertain each other.  They played Angry Birds a lot :) 
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Brad and his friend were really cute with Erika.... wish I had a better picture of them playing with her.


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The only reason I keep this picture is because she's eating a SANDWICH!!!!  She hates sandwiches, but she ate this one!!

I wish I could remember all the other stuff we did.  I will need the kids to help me get it all down.  We didn't get pictures of it all.  Fun stuff though.

On Saturday we made our way out to Eagle Mountain for Marcus' baptism.  That was fun.  I love baptisms.  The Spirit is always so perfect.  Charity said she felt the Spirit too.  That was neat.  Kelly cried a little as we were getting ready becaus she wished it was her turn to get baptized instead.  It's hard to wait when it's SO close.  But only 1 1/2 months now!!  Can't believe it's getting so close. 

It was sad to send the kids back to school.... as always.  Makes me wish I could homeschool them.  Onto the next thing!
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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

The Priesthood Session

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Every Conference the Maynes men get together and attend the Priesthood Session at Nate's Dad's ward.  We have a tradition of taking a picture of all the men before they go (usually AS they're going, and usually making them late, but not this year!).  This was the largest group we've had attend, so it was pretty special.  It's fun to see all that Priesthood there together.


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While the men are away, the women PLAY!!  ...... at the park this year :)  We braved the wind and rain and walked dow to the park near Grandma Ruthie's house.  I had a nice time talking with Nancy and Jen.  I live for adult conversation.  The kids all played (and fought) with their cousins.  I wonder if there will ever be a family gathering where the kids all just get along..... I can dream can't I?
I loved this picture of Grandma Ruthie and Hunter walking to the park.....
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Then I realized I could get the temple in the picture as well!!  If only that tree wasn't there.... I'm kinda hoping to play with this picture a little.... any ideas??


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A Day OUT!

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So Friday, April 1st, was one of those days that we knew was going to be nice and Nate has it off, so we really wanted to do something fun.  For some reason it is always so hard for me to think of fun things to do ahead of time.  But we came to the conclusion that we didn't want to spend a bunch of money and we wanted to think of some FREE fun for the day.  I had heard about these ponds where there are tons of frogs, so we took Brad, Luke, Noah and Erika (I usually say "the younger ones" but they have names :) ) there to hunt for frogs.  There sure wasn't any frogs.  But the kids had a total blast throwing rocks and sticks and stuff in the water.  Took meback to our Alaska days whenwe would walk to the nearby lakes and throw rocks and feed the dcks.  I wish I'd taken more pictures while we were there, but we had a good time.


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After the kids got home (and informed me that the following week was Spring Break- don't ask me how I missed that one) we went back up to Kaysville to feed the ducks.  We stopped on the way to get ice cream cones so eveyone's faces are covered in chocolate :)  But it was a really fun, relaxing time.  I love doing this stuff with the kids.  Makes me wish we could go back to the days before they were all in school and enjoy more time together as a WHOLE family.  I'm really glad that we used that time that we had wisely though.  I have regrets, but not about that at least.  It was fun to see Erika experience the duck-feeding thing for "the first time" again too :)  She's an animal fanatic!  "Duh!  Duh!" (duck, duck)


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We always manage to adopt a few kids when we go to feed the ducks.  Probably the many loaves of bread we bring.... it's fun to share, but then I get what could have been a cute picture of MY FAMILY with an extra non-family member :)  HA! just kidding.
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My little Noah is growing up!!!  Crazy.


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Erika has the two best big sisters EVER!  I hope they are always as taken with her as they are now.


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Brad has become such a stunt man lately!  He will try almost any trick! 


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Kelly might be getting too cool for the park.... I don't know :)


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Lukey is so hard to get pictures of.... he is really camera shy lately when he's playing.  Almost annoyed when I point the camera at him.... He sure has been a fun kid lately.... I love his innocense.
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This is the funnest thing..... whenever there's an animal within Erika's view, she gets all giddy, bounces around in a little circle, and squeezes her hands together really tight, and then she gets her animal obsessed sisters (if it's a dog she wants to see Charity takes her, if it's a cat, Kelly) to take er over to see the animal.  And Erika's funny because she doesn't let anything stop her from running over to the thing, but once there she gets really antsy.  It's funny.  She doesn't want to be TOO close.  Just close enough to get all excited and squeal with joy at it's every movement.  I love it.
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Erika totally has to stand back while her brave sister tries to convince her to come closer..... hilarious.


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I really like this picture becaue it focuses on her two big sibs who totally sacrifice their play time to make the park fun for Erika.  They almost fight over her at the park.  She sure is a lucky little girl.


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This was funny.... some stranger totally reached out to tickle Noah (maybe he felt bad that Noah's parents were vegging on the bench just taking pictures rather than playing with him.... who knows :) ) and he tried so hard not to smile or enjoy it :)  He doesn't love strangers.