Stuff that April was Made of

Five Star CA trip

Dallin & Daphne had show choir trip to CA to attend a competition in Burbank.  They hit Bearizona on the way out and also did Disneyland while they were there.

Arthur went as a chaperone on this trip--what a guy!!  (That's a long bus ride!)

They did a great job on their show, Video Game.  Melanie came out to see them perform which was super cool of her.  The next day they got to go to Disneyland and had a super time getting as many fast passes as humanly possible.

Gardening

While Arthur, Dallin and Daphne were in CA, I worked on planting our garden.  This is the herb garden I put in.  Digging through those rocks to get to soil is hard work!!

Lip Sync Night

Also while they were gone, we all went to a lip sync night at our friend's home.  This was our first Lip Sync battle and it was super fun!  This picture is Hayden and I lip syncing to a recording of Dallin and Daphne singing a duet when they were really little.  We weren't sure what to expect, and ended up putting this act together on the fly.  But we'll be way more prepared next time because my kids have been practicing and brainstorming what songs they might do since the drive home from this event.  Good times!

A Cello Problem

Bennett went through a phase of being obsessed with the show Little Einsteins.  It's a great show for a lot of reasons, one being that it familiarizes the viewer with lots of classical music and instruments.  With his obsession with Little Einsteins came increased interest in the musical instruments at our house.  And one day, while I was in the shower, (and I tell you it was only a 5 minute shower that day), I came down to find THIS:

Bennett made quick work of disassembling that cello!  Thank goodness I have a friend, Maggie Naegle, who plays the cello and she was able to put it back together without too much trouble.

Speaking of Good Friends

Another good friend, Tamera Shepherd, brought our family dinner while Arthur was out of town, just to help me out.  I am so fortunate in my friends who are endlessly thoughtful and kind.

Flower Bed

Just gotta brag on my flower bed in the front yard.  It looked pretty amazing this spring.  The pansies, daffodils and tulips were quite splendid.  And since I planted them, I feel somewhat responsible for their splendor.  That's all.

More Purging!

My purging slowed down the larger I got.  But in April I tackled one of the bigger purging categories at my house:  Sheet Music!  This took me a solid 5 hours.  And I got rid of several garbage bags full of sheet music and filled a large box with more to donate.  I organized and consolidated the rest that I wanted to keep, and it felt great to whittle my collection way, way down!

Sydney Ties Shoes!

Cute Sydney learned to tie shoes, and lined these shoes up to show me how she could tie each pair. 

New Mailbox!

Our mailbox has been a disgrace since we bought this house, but over the last several years, has become almost dysfunctional.  I decided enough was enough and ordered a new one.  When it arrived I thought maybe I'd made a mistake because it seemed huge in our house.  But after Arthur and Dallin installed it, it was clear that I had made a great choice.  It's pretty much the best looking mailbox in the neighborhood.  Well done guys.  So grateful for strong guys in my family to do projects like this one!