Jordan Joyriding

My mom came into town for Spring Break. It was really fun to have her around. She came for Pearl's baptism, which would be at the end of the week, but we planned a few other activities beforehand. One was to attend the Jordan River Temple Open House.

We all packed up on a Tuesday evening and went to check out the remodel of the Jordan Temple. My mom has been having some problems with her leg, so we requested to use elevators while we were there, but even better, they got her a wheel chair on sight so we could push her around.

It was a blessing because even with the elevators, it would have been a lot of walking. The temple was beautiful and it was nice to talk to the girls and remind them what temples are used for and why they are so special. I feel very blessed to have temples close by.

We didn't watch the movie, so it was a short, sweet tour. After, we took a picture by the temple. I love this family of mine.

It was awesome because they called for a cart to come take us back to our car. The guy brought one over and we all managed to squeeze aboard, and we used every available seat. Look at us joyriding on temple grounds.

The driver was kind enough to lean out of the picture when we took our selfie, but I wanted to remember him. He was so kind to take us all the way around and right to our car. Front door service. Fabulous. Thank you Brother Kindness. 

So many people come and volunteer to make the experience of visiting a temple special, and there were plenty of people that made our experience wonderful.

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb and All the Pieces in Between

Also know as a phone dump...

March was a busy month. And I'm happy to be reporting about it before April is over. I am pretty caught up people. Especially if you don't count last year which I have yet to finish.

Let's jump right into all the tid bits of the blustery month of March.

At the beginning of the month was Sixth Grade day. That is the day when all the sixth graders who will be seventh graders next year come visit the Junior High and get a small taste of what is to come. As they walked into the building, Jazz band was playing away. Robyn is rocking the congas.

I found Ivory with her classmates. She is headed my way next year.

We got to see Robyn perform in the band and June play in orchestra. I didn't stay for everything, but I'm pretty sure drama and choir also did a little something.

I wonder if they are influenced by these performances? Ivory already knew what she wanted to do before she came.

Here is Robyn washing off her Valentine's painting.

Got to get ready for the next holiday. I like this one a lot.

Here is Pip. She likes the heat vents in the winter. She is not a big dog, so she soaks up as much warmth as she can. Oddly, Moxy never laid on the vents.

We still take pictures of Robyn when she is sleeping on the couch. But look where she fell asleep this time. It isn't the best picture, but it was all I could get while I was stopped at a red light.

Pink Sock Day was on the 7th as usual. I hope you all celebrated. We even got Pip involved this year.

The Bean Museum had a cool exhibit for a bit. It was called Titanboa. Apparently they found the vertebrae of a mammoth snake. So they made a model of what they thought it looked like. I don't think you'd want to run into something this size. It eats crocodiles for breakfast.

Student council elections were last month at school. I didn't have any kids running, but I saw a lot of posters in the hallway. This was my favorite one.

Granny V sent Pearl a birthday gift a little late. I can see why it arrived after her birthday. It must be hard to ship a fish that is so big.

Tried to get another picture of Robyn sleeping, but she was faking. She may be on to us...

The big game around here recently has been Secret Hitler. It is so fun. We play it almost every Sunday night. Camie and Nate introduced us and it has been the base for many jokes, including one on Tyler's egg in the last post. Here we are saluting the fun we have.

And here we are with our Hitler staches. Sometimes the fascists win and sometimes the liberals, but in the end...Hitler will always wear his mustache.

One day while in the copy room, there was this awful noise coming from the hallway outside. I stepped outside to see what was going on and I found everyone like this.

I guess it was an assignment to listen to different types of music and draw images that come to mind. The first image that popped into my head was a guy who was learning to play the guitar and he wasn't very good.

Track has been going on. Sadly June has missed a few meets because of weather and orchestra. Also, her shins have been awful. Lot of splints. Poor girl. But it is still fun to go watch her run.

Although it leads to her being tired. Haha. More sleeping pictures. It is only fair that we have one of June after all the ones she has taken of Robyn.

June HATES potato eyes. She thinks they are some of the grossest things ever. Which is weird, because I've never really thought about them much. So you'd better believe that when I left a sweet potato in the cupboard and then found it growing like crazy, that I took a picture and sent it to June. She loved it. (Not at all.)

June did honor society this year. She is smart enough and responsible enough to have done it every year, but I had issues with the price. Why so expensive? And it gets less expensive as they get older. Why is that? I have no idea why it is the way it is. But she is official now.

I found this sign at Hobby Lobby and I felt like it describes my life pretty well.

The kids like to steal my phone and edit the pictures. I didn't even know you could do this. (Not surprising.) I thought these were funny, although I edited the last one and added words. (I know how to edit photos, but only in photoshop.)

Ivory was running for queen in her class. (They change officers frequently.) She ran a unicorn campaign. I loved her horn. Very glittery. I don't think she won, but she gets an A for effort. And she was still part of the royalty.

And finally, this is what it looks like when we all do laundry in the hallway. There is probably a better place, but sometimes you just gotta sit down and get it done.

And thus March has left us and April is not long for this world. Can't believe May is right around the corner.

All Things Crack

As Cazier's, we take cracking eggs to a new level. We usually have no less than five Crack Offs, but this year we downsized. I still did one at school, and Tyler did one at work, but besides that, we didn't do a neighborhood one and June never got around to organizing a friend one. I did a small one with the activity day girls, but we still saved dozens of eggs this season.

Let's take a peek at all the egg cracking that did happen. First up, cute activity day girls. We made our eggs right after school. Ivory had already graduated, so just Pearl and Daisy (and I) made eggs. Here are our creations.

I like Pearl's beach ball egg. And Captain America.

Daisy did great with her Little Girl and Illumination. She was so clever. When she beat another egg in the competition, she said, "You have been illuminated." Hahahaha.

Here are my eggs. My juicy egg and my Firecracker. (Get it?)

All the girls brought their own decorated eggs and we let them vote. Daisy took second place. That is where she got the bunny ears she was wearing for Easter.

Emily was in charge of awards and I loved her trophies for first and second place in the Crack Off. I shamelessly copied her idea for our other Crack Offs.

Next up was school. I have done many Crack Offs at school, but I limit them to fifth and sixth grade now. So Ivory got one in her class. It was fun because many of the kids had done it before, but we always have people that experience it for the first time. Many people have started their own family Crack Offs. That is my favorite.

We don't have decorating contests at school, but they still get to draw on their egg before go time. Our very first crack happened to be on a colorful egg. So colorful that it took us a full five minutes to find the crack. It was impossibly small, but I am an eggspert eggzaminer!

Ivory's class had fun. They are a small group. Less than twenty kids in her classroom. Better odds for winning maybe.

Lydia and Olivia were our winners. Good job ladies!!

One of the moms took the idea back to her family and her daughter, Ivory's good friend, won their family Crack Off. She sent me a picture. Love it!

Moving on to Tyler's work Crack Off. They had some fun entries.

Tyler did the R2D2 egg, but sadly, it did not make it. It took more damage than most. (I was trying something new when I boiled the eggs and maybe I didn't boil them quite enough. That egg seems a little soft boiled.

I think Brett won. Clearly Tyler didn't.

Now for the one you've all been waiting for...the family Crack Off. This is where the decorating gets fierce. Luckily, I bought enough prizes that everyone got something, but that doesn't diminish bragging rights. Hitting the top three is high praise. And we brought the Call's to come play with us and they are artists. We never said we take it easy on ourselves.

Check out all this deco goodness...

Oh, but check out the hedgehog face...so cute.

Now that you have seen all of these beauties, which was your favorite? Everyone got to vote for their five favorites. And I totaled the votes like I always do. (Maybe that is why I always do well.) Jk, this is serious business. I never cheat. The votes never lie. Here are the winners.

Let's look a little closer. My sweet little Piranha Bait won. I was not expecting that. Robyn's Narwhale came in second, and June's Egg2D2 came in third. I think it was amazing and obviously she and Tyler were thinking along the same lines.

But all these lovelies have imminent doom hanging over them. Out of this group, only one will survive. Who will it be? Pick your horse now and see if they win in the end...

Cracking is always suspenseful. Well, not for me. I usually lose. But it is always fun. Here is the tallest versus the smallest.

Cracking is for all ages.

It is brutal on eggs though. My Piranha bait got hit in the head, hard. You could reach in and feel his brain.

Many eggs later, it was down to two. Tyler was undefeated and Daisy was working her way back from the loser's bracket. Here we go...the finals.

And Daisy won. But Tyler was undefeated so she had to face down his other egg. Here we go again...

And guess who won? The NERD. No, not Tyler. Daisy's egg. She was stoked to take gold. And Tyler was our runner up.

Wow, love a Crack Off! I hope you had fun playing along, and we'll see you next year!