March 2017

Each March, someone who loves me always gets me this wonderful gift.  And I cherish it.  And I dry them out and keep them all for myself.  And savor them.  For some reason, Peeps really make me so happy.

Raleigh's Uncle Jamie was in town for a couple of days.

And he invited us out to the family home in Entrada for Italian Night.

It's a beautiful home.  Dinner was yummy too.  

Spring Break was the week of Morgan's 18th birthday.

We planned a little weekend get-a-way to Las Vegas

We visited M&M World

And tried to decide which ones to fill our bags with

We also visited Coca Cola World

And we sampled Coke's from around the World

Peru, Germany, France, Djibouti, Greece....

South Africa was yummy.
There was one that tasted like raw ginger
and burned our throats. 

And then there was Italy

Which tasted like Stomach Bile apparently...

I wouldn't know because Morgan was the first to try it

and she literally cried and choked back her vomit for a 

solid 2 minutes and the whole restaurant watched her

We just threw that one in the garbage

Then we went to Chilis for dinner

Saturday, we laid out by the pool the whole day.  

It was so warm and relaxing

And some of us got some good color...

And some of us are pasty white and freckly no matter how many hours we 

spend in the sun (Like for instance, Raleigh and his daughters: Peyton and Morgan)

We got cleaned up as much as you can when you are

staying at a Casino.  And we tried to run to the car so that we

wouldn't stink

I love this picture

It's so sunny

Yay!  It's my birthday

Peyton chose sunglasses for her souvenir 

And she thought that she was so good looking in them...

Ryker chose a water bottle

We ate at my favorite restaurant in the whole world

The Claim Jumper.
The food is literally to die for and the portions are big
enough for two men.  I just love going there.  

And we also hit all of the outlet malls

Raleigh bought me new shoes at the Nike outlet 

because my current gym shoes are BIG and CLUNKY

and OUT OF STYLE.

When we arrived home, there was a package waiting for Morgan

from South Africa.  Inside was a tribal bracelet and necklace.  And a Durban rock.

And birthday cards from all of Parker's companions.  

Plus lots of pictures and a love note. 

We ended the celebration at Sakura.

Ryker was TERRIFIED of the fire.

But, the little kids loved the experience.

Lefty using chopsticks

Ryker can play with Play-doh for hours.

He loves it.

He is right-brained and so creative.

He also had a play day with his buddy, Liam
who also had an ear ache

The second half of Spring Break...  The big girls decided to go up North.

So, I had to get creative with my child care.

Papa was available and willing. 

The kids were so excited for him to come.  

He always goes ALL OUT when he babysits.

They went to the park.

They had a picnic. 

They went on a bike ride. 

They were SO tired.

Ryker did REALLY well with no training wheels.

We had just removed them the day before.

The girls rocked back and forth in Dad's hammock

for two straight hours. 

I love how they are holding hands.

Raleigh ran in his second Spartan Race.

This race was in Mesquite.

I wasn't as nervous this time because it was closer to 

home than the Ogden race last year...

and he was so much more in shape this time. 

Instead of mountain terrain, it was sand and dry landscape.

He doesn't know which was more difficult.  

He shaved an hour off of his last time.

But, he was in quite a bit of pain the next morning.

His hips were really bothering him and he kept

cramping up.

It was a HUGE accomplishment to say the least. 

He is happy that he did it.

Such a good looking Spartan

His grubby friends

put their grubby hands and bodies all over 

our car and made it SO dirty and stinky.

 Morgan reminded me of Women's Conference.
I totally would have forgotten.  I had to work that Saturday and I was
off my routine.  I appreciate her goodness.  I am also glad
that I didn't miss the messages that we heard.



Peyton has unfortunate problems with her teeth.
Her teeth don't fall out on their own easily at all.
They get loose, but not to the point that they can be
easily pulled out.  And then her permanent teeth
grow in around them.  She had to go to the dentist.....  again
to have teeth pulled.

If you look very closely, you will see a snaggle tooth 

in the middle of her two front teeth.  And also a very loose,

hanging by a thread side tooth.

Of course,  she was a model patient.

The dentist was completely impressed with her.

I found this first grade picture of Quincey
last week.  I thought, until I turned it over
to check the name on the back of it,
that it was a picture of Peyton.
My mom has always said that Peyton looks
like Quincey,  but I could never see it.
Quincey is a Koenig not a Little.
But, then I saw this and I got all confused.
This picture looks exactly like Peyton.
It's FREAKY.

Peyton's first grade field trip was to Staheli Farm.

I filled out a permission slip at the beginning of March.

Usually,  I write events on my calendar right away, but

I must have been busy and I forgot to write it in.

I completely spaced the date of the trip.

Good thing we happened by chance to send her with a 

home lunch instead of school lunch or it would have

been another one of those spazzy/clueless mom vs. Elementary

School mishaps that happen ever so frequently at our

house because I am always going in 12 different directions

and have waaaaaay too many children/events to keep up with.

 Nevertheless, by some stroke of good fortune....
and heaven knows I deserve some.....
No one, including Peyton had a clue that I
was not on top of my game.

Ryker is such a good kid.
He wakes up every morning and gets ready to
go to Sandra's.  I drop him off on my way to work.
It's our routine.  We spell words as we drive along or he
will read the signs of various businesses to me.

On this particular day, he was very quiet.
I looked in my rear-view mirror and he had
massive tears streaming down his cheeks.
And I had no idea he was quietly sobbing in the backseat.
I pulled over and asked him what was wrong.
"I just don't think I can go to Sandra's today."
he sobbed.  And my heart broke.

I turned the car around and took him home.
How could I take him when he was so sad?
I still don't know why he was so sad.
But, the next day after I dropped him off,
I was so emotional.  And I bawled all the way to work.
I hate this working mom thing.
Sandra sensed my sadness and she sent me
a picture of him letting me know that he was doing alright.
It is so hard to be a mom.

We went to Chick-fil-A

for Friday Night Restaurants

And Raleigh's cousin, Katy from California was in line in 

front of us.  It was so fun to see them and get caught

up, even if we had to speed talk while we waited for 

our food.  

We had a good month.  St. George had a ton of rain.

We are excited for warmer weather so we can 

start eating outside again.   We have set some fun

goals for April which will be fun to accomplish.

We also have a couple of projects to work on.

I sure love this family of mine.