Happy Easter

We've had such a nice Easter week. Each day we talked a little about the last week of the Savior's life. On Palm Sunday I made newspaper "palms" with Ruth and Jared. The palms quickly turned into swords and we had a great sword fight. On Tuesday Chaz was able to go to a friend's house and have Seder dinner with her family (they are part Jewish and celebrate both Easter and Passover). On Friday we had a neighborhood BBQ and egg contest. It was cold but it was fun to get together with neighbors. We each got a little prize for entering the contest. Saturday was our community Easter Candy Mad Grab. You can read a past description of this even HERE. You can watch a past video of the event HERE. Both Ruth and Jared had a good time. That afternoon we went to my sister Kathleen's house, and we had a great time eating, and visiting together. The kids had an egg hunt and we made a quilt to donate.
Our family is getting older so there were only four egg hunters this year; each of them got more eggs than they could fit in their baskets. Today is Easter Sunday and now that church is over, I'm so glad to have nothing to do other than rest and make the dinner. It's just our "little family" this year, as Kaitlin is having a Mexican Easter with her dad and Chaz stayed to visit over the weekend at my sister's house.


Fail!

So many times on the blog I share what we do right. Today I thought I'd share some things we didn't do so well.

Easter Egg Contest Fail: We colored eggs for a neighborhood Easter egg decorating contest. We just used the $2 kit from the store. We worked hard and came up with what we thought were pretty good eggs. But when we showed up to enter our eggs, we saw that we weren't even in the same ball park as the competition. Eggs in dioramas, with clothes, with googly eyes and hot glue hair - our plain colored eggs didn't have a chance.

Easter Egg Hunting Fail: Poor Ruth! Last year some of the eggs at the city Easter egg hunt had money in them. With this in mind, Ruth focused on getting the plastic eggs. But upon opening them, discovered that each of her 12 eggs had a fire prevention tattoos and a tootsie roll (which she doesn't like).

Poem Fail: I was so excited about my poem winning the contest, but then on rereading it after I posted it here on the blog I realized that I had a major verb tense problem. So yes, I do know the difference between lay and lie, I just seem to be confused about past and present tense. I've now edited my poem in the post below so that all the verbs agree. Gah! A rookie mistake.

Poetry Honorable Mention

All month the county library has been running an adult poetry contest. I had it in the back of my head that I wanted to enter but the days slipped by and all of the sudden it was the due date for the contest. I was very busy that day, all I had was an hour or so before lunch of free time. So rather than just forgetting it I decided to challenge myself. Could I write a poem that could win a contest in 30 minutes or less? The theme of the contest was "Discovery" so in the shower I was trying to think of a winning poem idea to that theme. I remembered that my nephew had just won a poetry contest writing a sonnet. I did 10 minutes of research on the internet to remind myself of the poetry form. I also needed a refresher on iams. And then in about 20 minutes I came up with this poem. It's the 30 minute sonnet (including research time).

Today I received word that I won "First Honorable Mention" and was invited to read my poem at an event next week at an event with some local poet named Paisley Rekdal. So you can come on down and hear me "perform" my poem, or you can just read it below.


A Winter Discovery

The cemetery lies in frosty white,
Stones standing sentinel above the dead.
Slowly I walk onward to the site
And there in quiet reverence bow my head.
My heart lies too, in dark and frozen earth
With loved one passed from living breath’s embrace.
Far gone from me all happiness or mirth,
I long to see my dear beloved’s face.
But as my soul is yielding to grief
And tears of sorrow threatened to o're flow,
A promise of a future hope, relief,
I see a spot of color ‘neath the snow.
How simple, yet profound, the offering.
A tiny crocus promises of spring.

Photo Shoot

While Chuck and I went on a date the kids went out into the neighborhood for a photo shoot. Here is a small sampling of their over 100 shots:










Different Ways to Hurt Me

This week at the rec. center I tried a Spin class and a Step class. The Spin class I took only because the class I wanted was full. The Spin class was the first class that really challenged me. I kept up pretty well but couldn't do everything and had to just pedal through a few of the exercises. I didn't have any stiffness in my legs the next day but I was (and am) sore in the saddle. I think if I were to take up Spin that I'd have to invest in some padded bike shorts. I have the high score on the Wii Step game so I thought that Step would be no problem for me. In my arrogance I set my step to the medium setting, thinking that I was in good shape and I'd be able to handle it. After the first exercise I thought I was going to die. It was so hard! After 10 minutes I ate crow and stopped to adjust my step to the lowest level. The steps were complicated and there was a lot of lingo I didn't know. Today my calves are killing me. Yeah, I have a lot to learn, but I think I'll give Step a couple more tries.


Yummy Recipe

Here is a yummy recipe that I've been making lately that I thought I'd share. It's really easy too. Here is the link: Famous Butter Chicken The only change I made in the recipe was that I only used half the butter that the recipe called for and I cooked it 10 minutes less. One thing I've learned from being a lunch lady is how to cook by the temperature rather than the time. As soon as that chicken hits 180 I'm done.

Breaking in the Rec. Center

We've enjoyed our all access pass to our new recreation center. Chuck has made it a couple of times a week to work out on the equipment and I've made it to a few classes. So far I've tried water aerobics, palates and aqua zumba. Each class offers a new way to hurt my body. I'm going to keep trying the different classes to find out what I like. So far I can tell you that I like water aerobics, palates is ok, and aqua zumba is not for me. As a jogger, I can say that so far I haven't found a class that challenges me as much as running does.


Losing Teeth

Jared lost a tooth this week and has been working feverishly on the another tooth so that he can have "bunny teeth". He tried the old tie-your-tooth-to-the-doorknob-with-dental-floss trick, but with no success. As of this writing, he still hasn't lost the second tooth. But he did leave this cute sign for the tooth fairy after he lost his first tooth. Why you'd want to keep the tooth is beyond me.

Utah Spring

Yesterday we had a great day. Jared started in his first soccer game of the season (they won 6:0), and between LDS Conference sessions we went to the park. It was warm and sunny. Kaitlin did a photo shoot with Ruth and Jared and we generally enjoyed ourselves. The day before I'd gotten out and pruned the trees and rose bushes. Our crocus and a few of our daffodils had bloomed. Here's a picture I took at the park.



Here is what we woke up to this morning:



I saw on facebook today: "I can't wait for spring and winter to get their divorce finalized. It's just not working out for us children of mother nature."


Prom Pictures

Chaz's Prom pictures have arrived.

The Last Dollar

Today Ruth lost her very last tooth EVER! She is such a tooth loosing pro that she knows exactly where the Tooth Fairy keeps her money, so upon losing her tooth, she just went and collected her dollar and then informed the Tooth Fairy of the transaction.



Six Sigma

Chuck just finished his second class in Six Sigma. This time in Lean Six Sigma. He was voted to be the classes project manager and led the class in their project scenario. It stressed him out a little but he said that it went well. Now he has to complete a real project at his work to finish his certification. We are glad that he got this opportunity, but will be happy to have him home at night more often.



Happy Spring

Ruth made this cake for Family Home Evening. While we haven't had much warm weather yet, our crocus are in bloom, our tulips and daffodils are a few inches high and our peas and lettuce are up.

My Name is Inigo Montoya

Kaitlin had to make a movie poster for her Spanish class and in one afternoon made this one. Even if you don't speak Spanish you can guess what it says. (click to see a bigger size). I'm trying to talk Kaitlin into starting an art class for all the little kids in our neighborhood this summer to help her earn some extra money.


You're Not Wearing Green!

St. Patrick's day was this week. Chuck was sitting at the counter and Jared came up to him and said, "You're not wearing green!" and started to pinch him. No matter how much Chuck insisted he was wearing green, Jared didn't believe him. We all got a good chuckle out of it. For those of you that don't know, Jared is Green/Brown color blind. It's never much of a problem, but on this occasion, Chuck's shirt looked Grey to Jared and you'll notice what color Jared chose to wear. (Photo is a reenactment of the actual event)


Grand Opening at the Rec. Center

We braved the crowds to attend the grand opening of our community rec. center. On Friday night we took a tour and tried out all the equipment. I was amazed at the technology in the tredmills, steppers and bikes. They have preprogramed work outs, ipod docks and Direct TV. Our rec. center also has a room with four Xbox Kinects. You should have seen Chuck getting down with the homeboys. The next day we went back to get some free breakfast and do a 1 mile run on their new track. In the afternoon we had wristbands that let us in to swim. The kids had a great time and we were glad that we had plunked down the big bucks to buy the annual pass. (I've circled in the picture Jared, Kaitlin and Ruth in the lazy river)


Prom

Chaz went to Prom this weekend and said it was one of the best times of his life. That's about all the details I have. If I ever get a picture I'll post it here. Chaz also had a job interview this week. We are all crossing our fingers.


Quote of the Week

Jared, upon putting on his swimsuit: "Look, I have a flower over my loin!"