April

At the end of March, Brent had to go back to Tennessee for a month to finish up school.  We really wish we could have gone with him.  

We especially missed each other on our 10th wedding anniversary.  I thought it'd be fun to take the kids to Temple Square on our anniversary.  It was a beautiful, beautiful day.  A little too much like our wedding day.  I missed him so much more than ever. 

Griz looks like he's doing the potty dance... sigh... I guess a decent picture is just too much to ask.  Sanna refused to get out of the stroller even.  I'd like to see them recreate this picture in 20 years.  Ha ha.

Chico was trying to help me out, here. Sanna was just being so stubborn!!!

One of these would also be great for them to recreate in 20 years.  She would not budge from that shade!!!

and now look how cute and innocent she looks in these pictures.... little stinker... too stinking cute to stay in trouble for long.

As we were nearing time when we would be heading home I saw this view. I got all excited knowing Brent would have loved to see this and would have told me all about the jets flying and why they were flying right there in that way.  But he wasn't there and no one else seemed to care or notice around me so I took a picture. In a way it was kinda another connection to Brent for me that day. Sounds silly.  The kids should have sufficed as my connection to Brent but this meant a lot to me too.

The next day was our nephew's birthday. We went and celebrated with them and saw him smash a cupcake. He didn't like the taste of it and probably ate only the one bite.

The boys glady helped him out.  Strangely enough they both had vibrantly green poop a day or two later.  Wonder if it was from the food coloring in that frosting?

The rest of spring break was covered on Instagram including Seven Peaks and Clark Planetarium. Fun times!

With Easter approaching I wanted to do some fun easter activities with the kids ahead of time because I'd be gone Easter weekend. So I decorated eggs with the kids with my Mom. Pictures from decorating the eggs are on her camera.
Then I got together with Christa and her kids to decorate sugar cookies with our easter themed cookie cutters I had.  It was a lot of fun.  The toll house copycat sugar cookie recipe was a good choice for this particular activity because it kept it's shape for the bunnies and eggs. I was quite surprised!  Always a good time with Christa's fam.

Chico and "N" had more fun playing the piano together... they actually sounded pretty good with the song they made up together!

After school one of the days I hid their easter eggs and they got to find them.  It was fun for Griz and Sanna... Chico was only mildly interested, he thinks he's a grown up all the sudden at 8 years old.

There were some hidden along that back fence there that we just couldn't find which really frustrated Griz.  Luckily his neighbor friend came over and found them really fast.  So weird we couldn't see them!!! I'm the one who hid them for heaven's sake!

On April 13th I was getting things squared away for leaving town. (I was flying out to photograph a wedding of a friend in the Nashville Temple)  It had been a really busy week with a bunch of orders on Etsy of my painting of the Savior.  Its probably because it was the week before Easter.  Anyway life had been crazy and Sanna had a stomach bug.  I was starting to not feel great myself but just ignored it because I had too much to do, if I ignored it enough it would go away right?  Wrong.  I had just dropped off the kids at my mom's so they could sleep over there because I had to leave at 4:45 am for the airport.  So it's 9:30ish and all the sudden the most intense stomach pains started and... the following is probably TMI and is more for my own journaling purposes, feel free to skip if you don't enjoy these types of stories ha ha....
I was running back and forth to the toilet for the next several hours and just crunched up in bed trying not to move as I writhed in pain. I was so worried about what to do on my flight.  Luckily by 4:00 am I had a break from it all and Brent called me when he woke up and saw my texts.  He told me to take some Imodium so that I could get on the flight.
I made it on the flight, and though nauseous throughout the whole first flight to Denver, I made it without any issues.  I sat as still as can be in the Denver airport for 5 hours watching the Great British Baking Show.  It was a fun way to pass the time.  The next flight was a little better and when I got there I braved a little food.  Maybe not the best idea but I still felt a little better having some food in me even though it made me have to run for the bathroom yet again.  I couldn't believe how flat my stomach was after all of that.  If only it was always that way!!! Ha ha.

After waiting in the airport for an hour or two Brent arrived! My knight in shining armor had come to whisk me away for the most wonderful yet simple weekend getaway.  I was so glad I was starting to feel better because it would have sucked to continue to be sick throughout our time together.
We went out to eat a bunch... Cracker Barrell...El Vallarta a few times... Jasmine's for curry and sushi.... and Zaxby's for lunch after we shot the wedding in Nashville.  We visited several branch members.  Had a great time at the reception visiting with our friend's.  Also had a wonderful time at church seeing everyone and hearing Brent sing. :)  We especially enjoyed our time with the VanHusses.  I wrote about that on Instagram though.  We also just got to spend a lot of time relaxing and enjoying our time with no children. It was a little bit too much fun.  Monday morning we went on a 4 mile walk through the beautiful countryside. Then we packed my few things up and we went and visited with Sandra and her kids at McDonald's for lunch before I left.  She's such a good friend, I sure miss having her around, I always get a good laugh when I'm with her.  I wished I could have seen my other friends more too but it just didn't work out.  I would have loved to see more of Sarah Rose, besides just at the reception and church but it just ended up not working out. :(  It also would have been fun to see Priyanka, Melissa, and Teri. If I'd have brought Griz along I'm sure we would have gotten together.
Brent happened to not have school that day either so he was able to drive me to Memphis.  It was so hard saying goodbye.  I just didn't want that weekend to end.  It really was just so magical. Flights home went well but were a little squishy.  I made it there nice and late, grateful that Ellen picked me up from the airport.  I collapsed in bed and the next morning my mom brought the kids home to me.  They were so excited to see me.  I think they actually like me! It's questionable sometimes. Ha ha.

The rest of April is pretty thoroughly covered on Instagram including... Discovery Children's Museum for Grizwald's friend's birthday, the Raingutter Regata for cub scouts, and my baking as a stress reliever as I waited for Brent to make it home from Tennessee.
I guess I didn't go into detail about the craziness of Brent's trip home... and I don't really want to remember the stressful time Brent had getting home but it should get recorded. Basically... he had a hard time getting out of Tennessee due to a project he got involved in but couldn't finish because of being in rural western TN which had none of the supplies he needed. It was super duper frustrating, can't even describe how frustrating it was for him.  Anyway he finally got out of there and then he left his wallet in Nebraska when he stopped for dinner but he didn't notice until that night when he stopped in Wyoming.  Luckily we had a friend who is a trucker who was on his way back to Paris and was stopped there for the night too.  I was able to send some money to him and his friend helped him get a bit of gas in the meantime.  Then his friend picked up his wallet (the DQ had found it luckily) as he passed through Nebraska on his way to Tennessee.  So yeah, it all worked out in the end but there were some stressful times for Brent and all I could do was sit and worry.  So I baked to relieve the stress.  It was really fun and I can't wait to perfect my croissant skills down the road and even try out croissant/donuts.  Mmmm, they look good.
Anyway we had a fun time welcoming him home.  The kids went crazy, they were waiting outside barefoot in the rain for him to arrive.  They sure missed their daddy! A month is just TOOO long!
And a weekend is just too short of a time... yep, he only got to be with us for a weekend before he had to turn around and leave again for a test review in Las Vegas.