April

 April started out with General Conference. Alan had to work all day on Saturday, but the boys and I watched all three sessions. Mason played bingo for candy as usual. Spencer played bingo too, but also took notes. There weren't any big new changes this time, but the talks were excellent and the Spirit spoke to me through several of them. 

Alan was home on Sunday and we all did a pretty good job of staying awake. ;)

I don't remember what Spencer helped me make, but he doesn't help a ton in the kitchen so I guess I thought it was picture-worthy. :)

I hosted the Fool's Cafe that evening for April Fool's Day. I'm not much of a practical joker, but this is always a super fun and silly tradition.

Mason discovered The Candy Shop Wars books on Spencer's shelf and devoured them. And he went to the orthodontist, again.

Spencer's second band concert of the year. He really has come a long way since first picking up a clarinet last summer. The level of musicality at these concerts is impressive and they are fun to attend. Sorry for the super crummy pictures though!

Primary Easter Egg Hunt at the Burnett's: The rain stopped for a day and all of the kids had a great time. Mason did NOT want to me take a picture of the slug that somehow wound up in his hair! It was too funny/gross not to though!

Mason ate a donut and a bunch of candy at the egg hunt and then came home and spent the night throwing up. He had to miss his first soccer game of the season because of it. I didn't have much sympathy at first, figuring he had done it to himself. But, then Mason developed a weird rash all over his body on Sunday and we started thinking it was more than just eating too much junk.

A visit to urgent care on Monday morning confirmed that Mason is allergic to the amoxicillin he had been taking for a week for the ear infection he got over spring break. It was a relief to know what it was and that it wasn't contagious. Mason has always envied Spencer's peanut allergy just a little so he was actually happy to have his own unique allergy! Ha!

Sadly, Mason's illness ruined our Easter Sunday plans. I stayed home from Church with him. We had been invited to my boss's house for an egg hunt, Easter dinner, and games, but only Spencer and I wound up going. I loaded up plates for Alan and Mason and took them home. Spencer stayed longer for some games. It was the first time we had been invited to anyone's house (besides family) for Easter and was a big bummer! 

We did have a quick egg hunt at our house for Mason. It was pouring rain outside so it had to be inside this year.

Sick day Monday: Luckily, I don't work on Mondays and it's easy for me to stay home.

Another home track meet for Spencer. Spencer ran Varsity for the 3000 at this one and finished with a PR of 9:57. His first time under 10 minutes and he was happy!

Mason rash and tummy troubles cleared up quickly after stopping the amoxicillin so he was well enough to play in his soccer game by the next Saturday. This was our first experience with spring soccer. They don't have any practices - just games on Saturdays for a couple of months. Mason has enjoyed it.

Easter dinner redo the following Sunday. It was a much better day.

After a big finger-sucking set-back, Mason decided to try quitting again by using a sticker chart to earn prizes. He did good for the first week and earned a small stuffy. Everything fell apart again after that week though and I think we're going to have to find a specialist to help him break the habit. We've tried so many other things and everything just winds up making things worse. 

Professional picture that a photographer shared after another meet. I didn't attend this meet, but Spencer ran the 1500 in 4:38 - another PR!

My favorite trees were in bloom at the temple! They almost look like fluffy, white clouds.

More soccer. Mason insisted on wearing a long-sleeved shirt and then was super hot. It totally drained him, but he wouldn't let me help him take it off. Oh well!

And, more track. Spencer won the JV boys 3000 with a time of 10:01! Whoo hoo!

Alan works most Friday and Saturday nights during track season so I made these two be my dates to the high school's production of Beauty and the Beast. Some of us were more excited about it than others! Haha! It turned out to be a really cute production and it was fun to see a few kids we know in it. I hadn't been to a play in a really long time and thought it was super fun.

Alan was home for one of Mason's games!

Catch with Daddy on a Sunday evening:

Spring Break

We stuck with our usual Spring Break template of visiting someplace fairly close to home for a couple of days and spending the rest of our time at home. It's enough to keep us from getting too bored while providing plenty of time to relax as well. 

We had been wanting to check out this trampoline park in Beaverton for awhile so we bought month-long passes and went twice during the break. The first time was a Friday afternoon before most other school districts were out yet. It wasn't crowded at all, but the boys wished they had friends to play with. We meet up with some friends from the ward the time and it was super packed. Spencer and Mason had fun, but I don't think they're super anxious to go back. 

We woke up to surprise skiff of snow on Saturday morning. Pretty rare for March 25th here. I still went on my usual run and snapped this picture. It was pretty and melted off really fast.

We decided to spend a little time at the coast this break. We had never really explored Seaside so we went there first. We were lucky that it was a sunny and semi-warm day. Mason was super excited to try the bumper cars, but they were way harder than he expected. He had more fun in the arcade and we stayed there for awhile. The beach was warmer than I expected, but we didn't spend much time there because there were lots of other things we wanted to do.

After Seaside, we headed down the coast to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We got samples, watched the cheese makers, and waited in a long line for ice cream cones. I don't love ice cream like I used to, but there is still something so satisfying about eating an ice cream cone at the beach. 

We had decided to stay in Lincoln City because that was the best hotel deal we found and the hotel is right next to our favorite place to eat there. Sadly, Puerto Vallarta was closed on Monday nights so we went to Galluci's Pizzaria instead. They were very busy and it took almost an hour to get our pizza. Mason almost didn't survive. ;) Spencer and Mason swam in the hotel pool for a few minutes after dinner. It was small and crowded so they didn't stay long.

Really the only time they watch cartoons:

Mason drew silly pictures on every page of the complimentary notepad in our room:

We drove further south to the Newport Aquarium on Tuesday morning. It was Mason's first time. We got to see the otters being fed and I think that was all of our favorite part. They are super fun to watch. The deep sea tunnels are also really cool, but hard to take good pictures in. I thought the aviary was still closed due to the bird flu, but it was open and that was fun too. 

After the aquarium, we ate a picnic lunch in the car at the lighthouse lookout and then went down to the bay to see the sea lions. They were a ways out and we couldn't really see them so that was kind of a bust. Mason liked the displays in front of Ripley's Believe It or Not though.

We stopped at another beach on our way back north, but I don't remember what it was called. The rocks were fun to jump on. Our last stop was in Depoe Bay for salt water taffy and hoodie shopping for me. I've been wanting an Oregon hoodie for a while, but I didn't find one I liked enough to buy. It was a fun, little trip and I'm really glad we got to go before track season got too crazy for Alan. 

 

Spencer had track practice every morning the rest of the week. We had some nice days and played outside some, went to Brick's and Minifigs, and did lots of reading. It was a good spring break besides the ear infection Mason came down with towards the end of the week. Poor guy!