Spencer turns 11 & House to Heaven, plus, prom, Easter, preschool, and more!

 It's easy to feel like all we are doing is getting this house ready to move (and easy to put off blogging in the process!), but as I unloaded the camera, I was reminded that life keeps moving on, busy or not!
Here are a lot of pictures (and little narration) to prove it!:

We finished my last teaching rotation with Lucy's "Home Preschool"--ADORABLE munchkins that we love--what a lucky group we are!!

 Finally allowed Spencer's hair to grow out for Crazy Hair Day at school (actually, "Break the Rules Day" of which Crazy Hair is one)--he's wanted to do it all year, but we were never firm about when Crazy Hair day was, and last time, we trimmed his hair LITERALLY the weekend before the school announced it.  This time, he had enough growth for a pretty mean mohawk!

 And Jane has learned how to talk on the phone (we're still working on the actual words)

Spencer, Emily, and I got up at 5AM on a Saturday for the Lunar Eclipse, and were glad we could see it from inside the deck window.  It was hard to see much red until we used the camera, but it was a fun morning :) (even if Emily admitted she may not have gotten up had she realized how UNdramatic it would be!)

 Enjoyed a WONDERFUL Easter Weekend, SO relaxing and refreshing to feast on Conference for 2 days, and to feast with cousins on Saturday.  We colored eggs, had 2 Egg Hunts (our color-coded tradition kept in tact thanks to Dad Sunday morning), and spent the week reading excerpts from the Savior's last week for Scriptures each day.  I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!

 We had really run out of sidewalk chalk, so when they got some with Easter goodies, these kids made this on our sidewalk Sunday morning!

 AND... Spencer turned WONDERFUL 11!! He was SO happy all day, tickled pink about everything, and really fun to be around.  He wanted me to check him from school for lunch at Arctic Circle, so we had fun with that, went to piano lessons, and had pizza and Chocolate Oreo Wafer cake for dessert.  Though almost none of it was a surprise, he was thrilled to get his new scout shirt w/ headlamp and camping tool, "I Survived" books,some new church clothes, and a triangly-chopped version of a Rubix Cube.  He is SUCH a happy boy, and really gets excited about almost everything!

 We were busy last Saturday with Piano Festival for Maddie, Emily, and Spencer up at Utah State, then to Anne's Suzuki Graduation recital--our sweet neighbors came to support her!--and then Maddie's Prom day! She had a fun/crazy group date in the afternoon, where the girls were sent all over on a scavanger hunt to "rescue" their dates, who were tied up w/ duct tape and "trapped" in a sewer grate!, then enjoyed a nice dinner, the dance, and playing games that night.  I was SO sad we missed seeing her off for Anne's concert, but I got one shot of her as she came in, and shared fun shots from the photo-mom of the group :).  She has such fun friends, and Utah really is a fun dating place!

 Spencer also did a great President Report on Taft: (Spencer tells that old bathtub story in the most sympathetic way you've ever seen--doesn't want Old Taft feeling embarrassed even all these years later!)

 And, to keep with tradition, here are our hopeless Easter shots of the new clothes:  A week late (because that's when 2 of the dresses got here). After Brent changed (into stealth photo bombing clothes??--it actually started off as a girls picture, but he couldn't resist!!--the more Anne protested, the bigger his smiles!). While Jane slept (she didn't even have a new dress anyway).  During Anne's complete meltdown, and while Spencer was obliviously consumed with his new Rubix Cube-thing until the last few shots.  They may not be frame worthy, but we all crack up to look at them still!

 

And, last, but not least (or maybe it is LEAST in what actually matters, but MOST of what has been on my mind and time lately!!), a few shots of house progress.  This is the new rug, in the red front room, then painted the light blue to tie into the rest of the house and lighten things up.

 Kitchen Before:

 And After finished paint job (no antiquing this time) and tiled backsplash:

 Living room--not much change except no family photos:

 And more to come, as we've sold our great Kitchen "Wardrobe," painted and put in floor of the laundry room, and packed, packed, packed.  Meanwhile, Brian tried the biggest case he's had since starting his new job, AND WON GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS!! (putting a child molester behind bars) this week, then took Friday off to get loads of mulch, and after a MEGA family yard day Saturday:  first helping paint a fence at a Community Service project, then coming home to weed a FOREST out of our very neglected back yard, spread weed barrier, and dump mulch ALL over all of the islands of the house, all before doing Saturday Cleaning inside, and Brent mowing the lawn!! I took a few worthy helpers (those over age 8) out for slurpies that night!! The yard, for now, at least, looks GREAT--huge relief, as we get closer and closer to listing! Here's Jane looking out at the fine yard--even serious, she was cuter than the mulch shots I could've grabbed :).