April 2016

Here is what happened in April! First we took a trip to Colorado for Weston's regional gym meet and took the whole family to make a spring break trip out of it. Our plan was to go in two cars so Jared could haul the Ranger Crew in his big trailer, and park it in Green River so on the way back we could ride some dunes. He didn't trust his truck to make it all the way to CO, which proved to be good foresight, because the truck broke down in Spanish Fork Canyon. So we left it for a two truck to take home and we all continued to Colorado springs for the meet, and had to change plans for on the way home.
We first stopped in Vail to ride the free gondola up the mountain and see the view of Colorado rockies. Savanna wasn't feeling well and stayed in the visitor's center. We ate some lunch somewhere along the way and made it to Colorado Springs by 7:30 pm. We ate at a nice place called Cheddars by the hotel but had to wait over an hour before getting our food so we were pretty tired and hungry and grateful when it finally came out.

Jared and I got up early next morning and went to browse "Garden of the Gods." I wasn't that impressed, having hiked all over Moab and the likes in Utah most of my life, but it was still a pretty walk. There were wild rabbits everywhere. I snuck in a bit of general conference before the meet, cuddling with my three chickens.

 Weston did pretty well at his meet, a 70.5, which isn't as good as State but about what he had been hitting the rest of the season.I'm just glad he came out of the season uninjured, as three of his teammates were not so lucky. Next year he will have to compete at level 8 again because of age restrictions, and may very well qualify for Nationals seeing as how he did so good this first year.

After the meet the kids swam in the pool and we had a nice dinner of chili and potatoes and nachos at the hotel. It was a great hotel! Weston's friend Zach Connelly was able to meet up with us and join the pool fun.

  We saw a heard of buffalo on the way back to Vail, a big one came right up to the fence! We stayed for a night in Vail at a nice lodge at off season rates, the pool was a high light there, but the kids liked the locker rooms the best, with a whole bunch of amenities. Savanna selected to shower there twice!

 Monday we drove back to Utah and stopped in Arches to hike the delicate arch. We made it all the way to the arch this time (last time we brought the kids it was too windy to do anything but peak over the ridge and hope you didn't get blown away). Such an amazing natural wonder. We just came back home after that since our ATV wasn't available to us.

The next day I took the kids on a day trip around Provo to make up for the shortened spring break trip. The girls did baptisms at Provo City Center temple, we stopped by Pioneer Bookstore and bought some classics (Wes and Sav were pretty bored there), ate at a couple restaurants on center street (I tried a whole food cafe called 'green thyme,' the kids wanted Italian), walked around the mall, and went to see "Zootopia." Twas a fun day! The only not fun part was Savanna got a hair cut from Great Clips that wasn't so great. In fact it was terrible, and we had to have aunt Holly fix it because it was so butchered. Savanna has been in mourning of her lost hair ever since. I felt bad.

For the rest of spring break week we were helping neighbors take care of their chickens, plants, and dogs, so Fiora and I would go over there every four hours four times a day to do that, it was a lot of work, when my neighbor asked me to do it again when they go to Hawaii I had to say we could only do two shifts a day. Fiora has a great attitude about taking care of animals and plants! I don't know if you can tell but that picture of her is her holding a duck! I gave her the money we earned from it.

Sometime in there I babysat my cute 9 month old nephew Jamin and had to give him a bath because he had a blowout. He was a cutie! Sophie and Penny were cuties too but I didn't get pictures. My sister Karli Sue had a baby shower and it was at my house, we made a lot of food! She was showered with gifts from family. She is ready for that baby to come.

 One night I made a casserole and actually burnt the top, I don't often burn food, which is amazing considering how many meals I have made in the past few years, so had to take a picture of it and send it to my dad. He loves burned stuff.  Jared finished building the chicken run right when it started being warm enough outside to let them out and they love having extra room to run in! They made short work of the vegetation, whatever else they eat we have to throw in to them, so far so good.

Savanna has been doing great in soccer this month. She is working hard getting back in shape, relearning the skills, and gaining confidence in the sport again. Seth Snow and his fiance Katherine have been very nice in offering to coach/play with her once a week and it has been a real help! They even came and cheered her on at one of her games. Savanna was hired as a lifeguard in the summer so a conflict of interest came up, she has to miss two of the games this season to take a lifeguard certification class. :( Savanna is doing really well with that so far, one of the stronger swimmers who applied even though she has never been on a team. Those Schauers have great upper body strength. She is working hard so she can earn money this summer! (She wrote me a nice note on the whiteboard I loved).

 Last but not least, Fiora was involved in a 4H dance club and performed a 1 minute number at the showcase and did great! She is liking ballroom as well and had a field trip for that class. She is a confident and pleasant dance partner. And she has many fun selfie faces!!!