Soccer Game and Dancing

The other night we decided to take a couple hours from our mundane, hectic lives to enjoy a soccer game with some friends. It was ReAL Salt Lake against the BYU Cougars.

Now normally I am not a big fan of soccer - like at all - but I do love BYU, the game was free, and I wanted to get out with my family for family night. So away we went. Let me tell you, Ammon loved it. In the picture above, Brigham had to forcefully turn his head away from the game just to get a picture.  He was fascinated with men running around kicking a ball and this is the face he sat there watching the game with:

And when a ball got kicked really far, or someone bopped it with their head, his face turned into this:

From smiling, to pure glee.

Lydia enjoyed the game as well, but was more easily bored. She mostly just mooched cotton candy off of people sitting behind us (you know Ammon must have loved the game if he wasn't the one doing the mooching). We had front row seats leading to an interesting moment for Lydia when the ReAL Lion came and gave her a high-five and then carried her off on his shoulder.

She was keeping her cool while on his shoulder, but when he handed her back to me she cried in absolute terror, poor thing. I thought it was awesome and wished a lion could carry me onto the field on his shoulder.

Because of our awesome seats we got to see some pretty cool moves right up and personal.

I have to say, I had a good time, but I still don't find soccer the most entertaining sport ever. People endlessly running around kicking a ball, with hardly anything exciting ever happening, just gets old for me. 

Lydia has also started a new dance class recently.

Unfortunately, she was too far away for me to get any decent shots of her, but that's her in the black leotard.

Ammon was such a good boy sitting through her class. For some reason, he decided to watch Lydia with some other people across the gym.

He just walked over there, laid down and watched the girls and boys dancing. Maybe he is already embarrassed being seen with me.

Or maybe he was mad at me for doing nothing to prevent the sunburn covering half of his body.

If you look at him, you'll notice that the left side of his face and left arm are a different shade than the right side. We went to the park earlier that day and I failed as a mother to bring jackets to shield my children from the freezing wind. And I failed to apply sunscreen even though I had it with me. This poor boy burnt to a crisp on one half of his body. Lydia had some rosy cheeks and arms, but Ammon looked awful and I cringed at what all the other mothers thought of me...though I probably deserved their critical stares.

Let this be a lesson to myself in the future and all other mothers, bringing sunscreen is not the same as applying it. And why do I do this every year? You'd think I'd learn!

However, my kids seem to survive despite my failures and here's a charming movie of them playing Just Dance together. I made Lydia play this song twice so I could video Ammon's monkey sounds and especially his excellent tiger growl. It had both Lydia and me giggling. Not to mention, watching both my children dancing and laughing together warms my heart and reminds me of what being a mom is all about.

Three Easter Egg Hunts and a Sleepover

Boy did we have a busy Easter Weekend, packed with egg hunts and family...just the way it ought to be. Of course plenty of pictures were taken and I'll let them tell of our adventures.

First we prepared for our first egg hunt at my cousin Penny's Easter brunch, the Saturday before Easter.

During our first hunt, we found a jackpot nest of eggs, and Lydia proudly found the Spiderman Easter egg just for Daddy. The rest of the weekend, she made sure everyone knew she found the Spiderman egg. After Ammon opened the first couple eggs and discovered they had no candy in them, he quickly lost interest in the hunt and decided to shake trees, throw rocks, and look inside of hoses to see what could be hiding there instead.

Although I had a dozen hard-boiled eggs prepared for coloring, sadly I left them at home. Lydia sobbed the rest of the way to my cousin's when we realized we forgot them. Luckily, people kindly shared a few of theirs for us to color together. Ammon followed in his sister's footsteps and was more interested in drinking the dye, rather than decorating with it...no matter how many times I told him to stop. I think he's about ready to lick more dye off the egg in the picture above.

Despite exhaustion, this boy would not let his Easter bucket full of treats out of his grasp.

Later that night we had dinner, another egg hunt, and good family time with the Tappana side. Lydia also got to hold her week-old cousin. Adorable.

After dinner with the Tappana's, we drove with my sister to my brother's house for a sleepover. The first picture is my kids early Easter morning, the second picture is what happened when I said "Gooood Mooorniiiing!" trying to wake those kids up: Lydia whined and buried herself deeper into her sleeping bag. I laughed and then sighed. She's sure going to be trouble when she's a teenager. However, as soon as I mentioned the Easter Bunny had come, she popped right up.

Then my kids had their final egg-hunt finding the eggs the Easter Bunny left hidden around Kyle and Katrina's kitchen and bedroom.

Next Lydia and Ammon explored their Easter baskets. As you can tell, Ammon grabbed what he cared about (a package of M&M's and two eggs full of candy) from his basket, clutched them to his chest, and abandoned the rest of his basket. He just fussed at anyone who came close because he was afraid of having to give his candy up. I'm in trouble with that boy too. Lydia enjoyed the books in her basket a bit more.

Kyle and Katrina made us sourdough pancakes, we went and heard them speak at church (they did excellent), and then we watched Les Miserables with Lydia adorned in her bunny ears that she is obsessed with, and skyped with the rest of our family back home in Washington. That night we went to our Uncle's house and had one of the most delicious dinners ever (my cousin cooked lamb, which I was afraid to try, but tasted just like steak and was to DIE for. You wrapped it in lettuce and dipped in this delicious sauce and now I will crave it the rest of my life) I made some Easter desserts for it: a sunflower-peep cake and rice-krispie egg nests. Brigham also surprised me with some flowers and my favorite Easter candy.

My kids were so good this trip, I was truly impressed and the weather was so beautiful! They looked so good in their Easter outfits.

And here they are, the day after Easter, in their BYU shirts the Easter Bunny left them in their baskets. Mmmmm hmmmm, you have good taste Easter Bunny!


It's no wonder I love this time of year with the pastels, candy, sunshine, springtime, and family. During church, we sang "He Is Risen" and it made me want to truly shout out my joy that Christ is risen and that He lives. I can live again with my family and because of Him I can become better every day because of His atonement. I hope everyone else had a wonderful Easter and felt the joy of our Savior as well.