Things I have learned

I've learned a few interesting (to me) things over the past couple of days that I would like to share.

1. The altitude here in Rochester, MN is higher than in Phoenix, AZ. I was hoping that altitude may have been why I couldn't get a recipe from Ben's Mom to turn out, but that wasn't the reason.

2. Cities complicate all sorts of things. Take gardening, for example. We got a garden plot in the community garden this year. But, we have to follow all these rules and regulations, plus they want us to go to a gardening class since this is our first year. What ever happened to digging up the dirt, planting seeds, tending to the plants, and then harvesting the bounties?

3. When you get a wart frozen off, the liquid nitrogen isn't used to kill the wart. It is used to kill the healthy cells around the wart to rush white blood cells to the area and then have those same white blood cells attack the wart virus itself. I just hope my wart is gone for good now.

4. Old McDonald apparently only has tractors, garages, trucks, and trains on his farm. At least, that is what Russell thinks. We can never get any animals on that dang farm when we sing the song anymore since he always picks what is on the farm now.

I want YOU to go to BYU.

Easter 2014

This Easter we went to Mom and Dad's and spent Ben's entire spring break there. Because of all the snow days and the fact that this school district thinks they have to make up days, spring break was Friday only so our stay was shorter than we would have liked.

It was also fun to see Joseph and Tracy and kiddos while we were there (Ben and Shannon and girls too, but we almost always see them when we go to Mom and Dad's). Russell loved having cousins to play with but wasn't sure about having to share.

 Russell especially loved Baby Alexa and Holly. He would ask to hold Alexa and would give plenty of kisses, plus he liked to play with them when they were hanging out. Hopefully,this is a good indicator for the future :)

 The grandkids colored Easter eggs. Grandma is getting soft because she said they could color seven eggs each! Due to some unfortunate events by the egg cooker, they only got to do six each and some of the grown ups got to color one.

Macey and Afton had a blast, Joseph and Tanner were in their little world, and Ben and Sadie are unimpressed with the whole thing.

 Ben's Mom would make these bunny rolls for Easter each year. We will also be making them every year because they are delicious. It was unfortunate that we had to share them with everyone else.

 The next day we had a little Easter egg hunt for all grandkids. It was hard to get them to sit long enough for a picture before everyone headed outside.

The little kids waiting to go outside.

The big kids had to wait for the little ones to get a headstart.

 Because we practiced beforehand, Russell was excellent at finding eggs. I'm sure in the future when he can run faster, he will beat his older cousins at getting eggs. Plus, he can just use his weight and push them out of the way if need be.

*-Good picture of the boys. Bad picture of the girls.

Good picture of the girls. Bad picture of the boys. How do you get 5 young kids all looking and smiling at the same time?

 Russell was a super stinker on Sunday. He was quite uncooperative and wouldn't let me put his Easter outfit on, so we'll have to try again next Sunday for a good Easter picture. When we left, Rusrsell was basically asking for me to get him all snuggled up in his chair with his best sleeping buddies by the time we got to the freeway.

 He had a good nap on the drive home, plus an awesome night of sleep thanks to being thoroughly warn out from all the fun with cousins (including being awakened early by Afton to find his Easter basket), not getting normal naps/sleep at night, and getting home after his bed time. Plus, we had thunderstorms last night and it was still dark and rainy this morning so he slept in past 8:30.

We all had a wonderful Easter celebration and are grateful for the reason that we can celebrate Easter.

We are a happy family

Russell received one of those little wood train sets from us for Christmas. He really enjoys it and gets hours of fun out of it--from the very minute he wakes up until he puts them away for the night. He loves his "choo! choo!" We had to help him set it up at first, but he can put the tracks together on his own now. I'll find him playing away quietly in his room.

I got an awesome deal on this train set. I saw it at Aldi around the beginning of December, and it was $20. I couldn't bring myself to spend that much money on it. Then the week before we left for Arizona, they had it in their clearance cart for $10.99! I was happy. So was Russell when I handed it to him as he sat in the cart.

It originally had 80 pieces when we bought it. Every time we clean it up at night, it seems like there are fewer and fewer pieces in the box. I'm pretty sure that when we move we will find a ton of little pieces in every imaginable place in this apartment. Among those 80 pieces are these four  people.

Ben and Russell have affectionately assigned each of us to someone in the family. It is really strange when Russell is calling out "MAMA", and I'm sitting right there with him. He clearly doesn't want me, but is wondering where my little figurine is. There are times when I see him giving them hugs and kisses during the middle of his playing, and once he starts with one of them, he has to hug and kiss them all. And, then I have to hug and kiss them.

Can you tell who is who?

PS. I made Robert Redford for dessert. It was delicious! And, totally satisfied a big craving I had been having. There might not be much left when Ben gets home from school tomorrow.

PPS. We rearranged the furniture in our living room and have given ourselves so much more space! It is wonderful. Russell has been super excited to have more room to run around. Ben and I keep congratulating ourselves over how smart we were at 10:30 last night when we figured out the new arrangement, and it fit!