Temple Square

For our family trip we decided to go to Temple Square for church on Sunday.  Teagan was old enough to go to the live Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert so he and I went to the real thing and Zac took the girls to the broadcast at the visitors center.  It was so much fun to have a little date with Teagan, he love it too!  The further along he gets with piano, the more his appreciation for music grows.  I'm so glad that we have that in common!

After Music and the spoken word we went to the visitor's center and walked around the temple grounds and it was great.  Teagan thought that it was fantastic.  "This is way more fun than going to actual church, we should do this every sunday!"

Addy wasn't into picture taking, but Eloise and Teagan's enthusiasm for the photo ops more than made up for it!  I sure love my forever family!

Family Spring Break Trip

Between Zac's big job switch he had a whole week off and we had such a great time.  We worked for a few days in the basement and then spent Wednesday-Sunday in Salt Lake on Vacation.  It was such a blast!  We stayed at an airbnb in Salt Lake that was a super nice townhouse.  They even had this fun park across the street.  I cannot say enough good things about staying at an airbnb instead of a hotel!  There was a full kitchen, bedrooms for everyone and plenty of space.  Plus we saved a ton of money! I think we have found our new favorite way to travel.  

We loved spending time at the fun recreation centers in Salt Lake.  They have them all over and they are indoor pools with water slides, lazy rivers, and toys for the littles.  My favorite part is that our whole family goes for $15 and has hours of fun!  We went once with just us and then we met the Lewis crowd on Friday at a different one.

We got to get together with Jesse, Bri, and Quinn one night too.  We went out to dinner and then they came back for yummy treats and hanging out at our house.  The girls are completely taken with Quinn and dote on her and just love her.  The three of them had so much fun together!

One of our favorite Utah stops is the Museum of Natural Curiosity at thanksgiving point.  We went there on one of our first days and spent pretty much all day there.  The kids loved it, as usual.

We also went the dinosaur museum which is pretty fun and interesting and saw all the bones.  It is fun to have Teagan be older for these things now because he reads all the signs and is constantly being amazed by all the cool information.  Watching him experience life is so fun!

Adeline was very unsure about the dinosaur bones.  She kept crying and hiding behind me and then she would point at them and say "NO!"  She definitely struggles with new things and looking at skeletons for several hours was definitely a new experience.  After 30 minutes or so and an explanation about what the bones were she settled down a little and enjoyed herself.

Adeline didn't really get naps this weekend and she definitely still needs them so she had to catch up on sleep in strollers and driving around in the car, she was sure a trooper.

We took a quick trip to Ikea and Adeline was too small to go to the kids play area so she had to hang out with Zac and I.  She found this cute little lawn chai and dragged it all over and then would sit on it for a bit.  I was so tempted to buy it for her, but she got two tables and chairs at Christmas so the last thing we need is more mini chairs!

We found a great park just down the street from where we were staying and Teagan and Zac jumped in on a game of pickup basketball with some local kids.  They had a pretty good time.  My favorite was when the older boys decided on teams, Zac and the two 8 year olds vs the other 4 teens/preteen.  haha!  It's really a compliment to Zac and Teagan, they could tell that they were super athletes and they were right.  It was fun to watch them play!

We had such a fun weekend!  I want to take more time to do trips as a family, we always have such a great time!

Spring Festival and Recital for Teagan

Teagan did amazingly well at his recital and festival and we were so proud of him and all his hard work.  He practices everyday and it paid off!  He was one of only 5 kids out of 85 who got perfect scores!  Go Teagan!  He does even better under pressure than he does at home, which is an amazing skill he did not inherit from me!  I would always play the songs really well at home and just demolish  the piece at the recital because I was so nervous and shaking so bad.  He kept his cool and did awesome.  Good job!

Happy Birthday Eloise!

Eloise has been so excited for her birthday this year!  She has been planning the exact cake she wants and who she wanted to come over and talked about it for months.  We started preparation the day before because the cake was going to take some time.  She wanted a rainbow Moana cake.  She LOVED being a part of the whole process and helped with every step!

The day before her birthday was Zac's last day at his old job.  One of his coworkers gave him some amazing balloons as a goodbye present.  One of them was a giant unicorn because Zac is so unique.  The other one said "We will miss you!"  So Zac kept them hidden and put them out after Eloise was in bed and gave them all to her.  We had to have a little chat with Teagan and make sure he understood that we were pretending that the balloon said "Happy Birthday" not "We will miss you."  I bet that won't work next year because she will be reading.  I can't believe she has grown so fast!

She had a fabulous day.  She got new bedding and we completely rearranged her and Addy's room and separated the bunk beds (the pins are in the top drawer of Eloise's dresser for future reference).  We set up the trampoline and they all loved jumping on it all day.  Teagan had his spring recital on her birthday as well so they got to share the glory.  Then all the cousins came over and played and ate and had fun.  She was on cloud 9 all day and just loved being the center of the world for one day.

Here is a little bit about Eloise:

1.How old are you: 5
2. Who is your best friend: Jordyn Heath
3. What is your favorite thing to do? Play with Friends
4. What is your favorite color? Purple and Pink and Red
5. What is your favorite food? Mac n Cheese
6. What do you like to do with your family? Bounce on the Tramp
7. What is your favorite toy? Daniel Tiger Neighborhood toys
8 What is your favorite sport? Soccer
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? Doctor
10. How old will you be when you get married? I have no idea, 12
11. How many kids are you going to have?  12
12. What is your favorite book? Tiny Turtles
13. What is your favorite show or movie? Poppy (???)
14. What makes you happy? When I sing and do what my mom tells me.
15. What makes you sad? When I don't do what mom tells me and she spanks my bum
16. What do you think about before you fall asleep? Having good dreams
17. What is your favorite part of your birthday?  When we have cake
18. What is your favorite scripture story? Lehi?  Hmm, whatever you think.
19. What is something that you think you will accomplish before you are 10? Do hard work
20. What is one word that describes you? Loving

Teagan's Basketball Season

Teagan loved basketball this year and had a fun time playing on the same team as some of his good friends.  He improved so much this year and it was really fun to watch him play!  They started keeping score and playing by real(ish) rules so it was a little more serious.   He worked his tail off speeding up and down the court, guarding like a ninja, making some great baskets and he made us so proud!   Teagan liked it pretty well, but he still says that soccer and football are his favorites.  

 I don't know all their last names but here is what I know from left to right: 

Landon, Jarom, Eli Heath, Matthew, Bracken, Teagan Daniels, Duncan DuMont and Jared Heath was his coach.

Happy Birthday Zac!!

Zac turned 34 this year and we had such a fun day celebrating!  We started with presents in the morning, which he gave a superb reaction to. The kids love doing heavy heavy hangover, and love to smash the present down on dad's head.  Everyone laughs and laughs and thinks it's so funny.  

Per Zac's request, we worked in the basement that morning for a bit and then went and partied in Idaho Falls.  We went our first ever family bowling trip and Eloise creamed us all!  It was a ton of fun.  Then we went to the paramount and watched Moana, which was really good.  Zac sure knows how to party!  That night Zac's parents took us out to dinner at Jaker's and we ate amazing food and had great company.  It was a very fun filled and action packed day for us all.

Update on Zac: So Zac has been trying some new jobs lately and keeps growing and growing.  I'm beginning to see that there is really nothing that he can't do once he puts his mind to it.  Last September he left Manual Solutions to become a therapy director at Life Care Center of Idaho Falls.  He learned so much there and really enjoyed spending more time working as a manager and less time treating patients.  Things were going great there, but another opportunity presented itself and Zac jumped in with both feet.  He is now the Therapy Director at Nuclear Care Partners (NCP) which is a similar job, but this one provides him with bigger growth opportunities in the future.  They are wanting to expand and make an outpatient clinic and Zac will be heading that up in the coming years.  We are still getting used to the new schedule and demands, but overall, he is really happy with the change.  We are so lucky to have him, he supports our family in amazing ways; physically, spiritually and emotionally.  He deserves the happiest of birthdays!

Lewis Cousin Fun

We went to Salt Lake for Austin (left) and Scott's (Right) baptism.  They were so excited and we loved being there to celebrate with them!  Teagan is just loving his cousins and they are like three peas in a pod!

Here are all eight of them, this was the best picture we got.  haha  It is so fun to have all these cousins close in age!

They all love to play together and try crazy ideas and make huge messes and they laugh so hard and never fall asleep and wake each other up and the crack of dawn...all the things cousins are supposed to do...I guess 

One thing that makes these cousins especially close is the unique way our families are set up.  The Lewis family has 1 girl and then 4 boys while we have the opposite, 1 boy and then 3 girls.  When we get together Teagan LOVES to have "brothers" and plays constantly with all the boys, and I think the Lewis boys like having a male leader that has the wild boyish ideas and similar interests.  Kate loves having Eloise and Adeline around and they all play girly games and she dresses them up and takes their pictures and my girls loving having the sweet, soft spoken leader for a change.

I came downstairs when they were watching a movie early Saturday morning and my heart swelled to see them bonding.  The girls had snuggled right up to Kate and all three seemed to be in heaven.  Then across the room the boys were spread out as far as possible.  I laughed and laughed when I saw them.  (I think Ty and Logan were still sleeping).

While the kids run around together and make memories, the adults have a blast playing games, talking, watching sports, eating delicious food and laughing so hard we cry.  I could spend every weekend with the Lewis'!