APRIL

CONFERENCE WEEKEND - Even though we had just been gone the weekend before and spent the entire week in between with sick kids, we decided to head to Eastern Idaho the first weekend of April.  The main reason was because it was the only time Jed could go get his horses and bring them back to Boise.  I really just wanted to stay home with the kids and send Jed, but somehow he tricked me into agreeing that we would all go.  It is always nice to go, but sometimes it is also a lot of work!  We were able to see family and watch some sessions of conference together so that was fun.  We left early on Sunday morning so we were able to stop and see Sydnee and family.  It has been awhile since we stopped in Gooding and was nice.  Sydnee had put a turkey in to cook so we got a full fancy meal when we stopped which was good timing on our part.  :) 

When we go to Grandma & Grandpa Erickson's house the kids always like to check out their "clubhouse" to see what needs to be fixed.  This time Ava wasn't as interested, but the other two spent a lot of time getting it back in proper shape.  Kasen made a sign that said, "The Cowboy Club" which to him included boys/girls, but Kinsley wouldn't stop bothering him until he added the word "cowgirl" as well.  G&G's dog Kate had just had puppies and the kids just couldn't get enough of the little puppies.  They were pretty cute I have to admit.

When we got home all the trees in the subdivision were in bloom.  They looked so pretty and pink.  I tried to capture it in pictures but it doesn't do it justice.  I love it when they bloom, but hate that they only stay this color for a few weeks.

DALLIN 11 MONTHS OLD - Another month for this boy!  Can't believe he is almost one.  There was a few days this month that Dallin wasn't feeling good.  He would just cry and cry and had diarrhea and would throw up.  I couldn't figure it out.  One morning he woke up just burning hot and shaking, so I put him in the tub to cool him down.  That was the worst morning, but after that he started getting better.  He must have had a stomach bug.  Even though he was hurting he was still pretty happy.  Right before he turned 11 months his 2nd top tooth popped through.  This was right around when he was sick so I'm sure that didn't help. 

One day I had to meet Jed at his office and his staff was at lunch, so Dallin got to play with him for a few minutes.  I really love this picture.  Dallin looks like such a big boy.  He loves his dad! Dallin has gotten really fast at crawling now.  He is hard to catch!  He has also started getting into everything.  I will take my eyes off of him for just a few minutes and come back to find major disasters all around the house. 

Dallin is a pretty fast little crawler now.  He can zoom around.  The problem is that he is also quick to make a mess!  He can destroy a room in a few minutes.  He thinks he is just so funny when he is doing it too.  He destroys and then moves as fast as lightning.  I had all the kitchen cabinets tied together with elastics, but he figured out how to get those out.  His little path of destruction usually runs down the kitchen stopping first at the tupperware, then the cans on the bottom shelf of the pantry, then the drawer with all the plastic bags/wax paper, aluminum foil, then he moves on to the family room and dumps out every toy.  If he is upstairs he loves dumping out all the movies and throwing the remotes.  That doesn't even include closets, bathrooms, & bedrooms. Heaven help me.

EASTER - This is one Sunday that I look forward to every year.  It has become such a special time of year to me as I've gotten older.  I love Christmas, but I think Easter time is when I feel the most spiritually.  I love my Savior so much and am so grateful for His sacred gifts and all that He did for me and all mankind.  We had a really great Sacrament meeting with beautiful music and I was able to teach the laurel class lesson.  That was actually nice because it caused me to study more about the Savior to prepare to teach it.  After church the kids found their Easter baskets and we watched some movies about Easter.  Later we went over to the Balls for dinner.  Jed and Jeff hid Easter eggs and the kids went on a hunt.  We visited and hung out.  Tyler finally decided Dallin could be his buddy and even gave him a kiss.  It was a great day.

I'm going to go backwards in time now to explain how we celebrated the rest of Easter.  The week before Easter we had a Manwaring FHE with a lesson on the resurrection, a craft of the empty tomb, and an Easter egg hunt.  It is always fun to go to those things.  Then Saturday before Easter the neighborhood had their annual Easter egg hunt.  Ava felt awkward participating, but luckily her friend Lily was there and I talked them both into going over and at least look for the prize egg in their division (bc there were like 5 kids total.)  I know she is growing up, but I'd like it better if she didn't stop liking kid stuff! :) I forgot to mention that on Easter when we were at the Balls, Jeff hid one of the eggs in a real nest which was really confusing to the kids and hard to find.  While we were there we also celebrated Tyler's 18th birthday!!!  It is crazy that he is that old and graduating HS in one month.  It sure has been fun getting to know this kid over the last 3 yrs.  He is definitely smarter than you think, a very sweet and strong boy as well. :)

GRANDMA ERICKSON VISITS - The weekend after Easter, Grandma Erickson came to town.  She brought Jace over to go to a basketball tournament and stayed for a few days which was a great treat.  She brought with her a puppy for the kids!  Ever since conference weekend they had been begging to keep one of the puppies.  We kept telling them we would think about it.  Ava had recently done a report on why her being a pet owner would help her to be more responsible and Kasen claimed he had been wishing for every birthday & praying every night for a puppy for the last 5 years.  Jed and I just got so sick of hearing about puppies every 5 seconds we finally said yes!  But Ava had finished every single thing (not just the required ones but every one) in her Faith in God book and Kasen had done 9 extra belt loops in scouts so we felt like they had worked hard to earn something special.  The puppy is stinking cute though.  Hopefully it is a nice puppy.  We got a girl they had picked out and liked because of her two spotted front paws.  After lots of thinking we decided to name her GG because she came from Grandma & Grandpa. 

I was worried that she would be too rough for Dallin when we went outside, but it may end up being the opposite!  While Grandma was here we went over one night to the Balls and took the puppy to show them.  Dallin was sitting on the cement and GG went up and started biting his arm.  He just laughed and then backhanded her across the patio!  So GG may have to watch out for him...

Lots of wide open spaces to play with GG at the Ball house.  Are we going to become the family that takes their dog everywhere???

Dallin wanted to show off his new walking.  He still needs lots of help, but he is so proud of himself.  He is getting sturdier - I wonder how long it will be before he goes on his own.  Dallin is such a happy little guy. 

The kids wanted to ride WJ for awhile.  Dallin really likes the horses - and anything outside for that matter.  Both Ava & Kasen got the horse to a slow gallop.  They were doing good.  Kinsley never wanted to ride, she was having too much fun on the trampoline and her hair was having a party too!

KID'S ACTIVITIES & SCHOOL - One day I got a text from Ava's GT teacher.  They had been working on some dodecahedron/icosahedron models and Ava had built this one.  The teacher said Ava was really really proud and excited about it and wanted me to see it.  She is a pretty awesome girl!

Kinsley has been working hard on her homeschool with me.  Most days we get it done while Dallin is napping, but every once in a while he is awake and tries to take over everything Kinsley is doing.  Kinsley has been working from a book with 100 reading lessons in it for quite a while.  She finally finished it the last week of April!  The reward she had set for finishing was getting her ears pierced.  She was soooooo excited.  She got the nervous giggles right before.  They pierced both ears at the same time and you could tell it was quite the shock to her, but she tried really really hard not to cry.  She only shed a couple of tears.  She was really brave and with an ear piercing she even got a little stuffed animal too.  She was really brave and lovessss having earrings.  She sneaks into the bathroom all the time to look at them.  I'm really proud she set a goal and worked hard to achieve it!

Kinsley loves to write notes now that she can.  I will find notes all over the house.  This was one of many she wrote to Dallin this month.  She asked me if she could tape it near his crib so he could see it every day.  She also likes drawing and creating.  She makes little things and likes to tape them up.  This is a monster she made over a couple of days. We had to go to the Eagle library to get some books for a report Kasen had to do.  Kinsley wanted to get a picture with the "learning children."

The kids had school class pictures this month.  They all turned out really cute.  Kinsley is on the 2nd row & Kasen/Ava are both on the top row.  They have all had such great teachers this year and love going to school.

FUN STUFF - A few random things that also happened this month.  We discovered we had a new neighbor.  For a few days we kept seeing a male/female mallard duck around our house.  Almost everyday when the kids were leaving for school we would see them out in front.  A couple of times they were on top of our neighbor's roof!  We figured they were looking for a place to nest, but weren't sure where they ended up.  Jed found the nest while he was doing some yard work.  The mother duck made a nest right in our front flower bed next to the garage.  She is hidden so well and covers up her eggs with feathers you would never even know they were there.  Jed found the nest when she wasn't there and saw 7 little eggs so we have been checking and watching wondering when we will see cute little ducklings...

Kasen started spring flag football.  He was excited to play again and then he found out that his team was actually going to be the Denver Broncos and his mind exploded.  Literally.  He said so.  Ava also got all the invitations sent out for Cousin Camp this summer at the ranch house.  She is planning it for her YW project (even though she isn't in there yet.)

On April 12th & April 14th we had two surprises.  The first was a new baby lamb was born at the Balls.  The surprise was that it was a brown lamb!  The kids thought it was pretty cute.  The 2nd surprise was one morning when we woke up to a blizzard!  First it was light snow, then heavy snow, then hail.  Not that that is really that big of a surprise in Idaho though.

Kasen's den was in charge of pack meeting this month so they planned a campfire program.  Unfortunately because the weather in April is so crazy the night they had planned for was so wet and crazy they had to change it to indoors.  They made a pretend campfire with crete paper and it was still a lot of fun.  Ava was invited to a birthday party that same week and it was a "red carpet" event.  She could barely escape the paparazzi!

We got out some old toys for Dallin, but the other kids had no problem taking them over.  It is funny how much they like old toys.  That is why it is a good idea to rotate your toys and not keep all of them out together - because then they are like new toys when you get them out after a while. Kinsley has been working hard at dance and they got their costumes for the recital mid month.  She was so excited and just kept saying how absolutely darling they were.  She loved the big diamonds on them.  She is definitely my jewelry girl!

 My girls are the greatest.  This month I got to go to a Mom/Daughter date for Activity days with Ava.  We played dodge ball and had yummy treats.  It was all about avoiding the fiery darts of the adversary.  She even made a cute little arrow.  Kinsley, as mentioned earlier, loves primping and so one day decided to not wait for me to do her hair, but go for it on her own.  It was so wet and slicked back, but she kept talking to herself in the mirror and telling herself how gorgeous she looked.  She asks me every day if she can do a little makeup before school!  

I got into a spring cleaning mood and started clearing out/rearranging the kids' rooms.  I haven't known what to do with this old dresser we've had forever.  Jed talked me into having it re-finished and so I asked around to find someone.  Turns out our new neighbor across the street had set up a workshop in his garage.  The wife volunteered him to re-finish it  for $20 plus cost of supplies.  Her husband hasn't done any projects for anyone else yet so that's why they charged me so little.  I matched the color to Kasen's headboard and it turned out so good.  It matches perfectly and looks new. I was really excited about it.

Jed started roping already this year.  He decided to rope in Homedale with Bruce Seal and some other people.  He did great and actually ended up winning the roping with Bruce.  They both qualified for the World Series in December.  I told him he could now be done for the season and not go to anymore ropings!  haha  He didn't think that was funny though.  He was very excited about it and it was nice to know this far in advance that he would qualify for Vegas and make plans already for that instead of waiting until the last minute.  He still plans to go to more ropings this summer and fall, but it will be nice to have the pressure off to win.  Now he can just go and enjoy himself and he will probably rope better because of it!  He ended up buying the horse from his parents he has been roping on for the last 2 yrs too which makes us a two horse family.  Two horses and a dog - we've got the animals for a farm, we just need the actual farm!  And on top of that, Jed decided to buy a new horse trailer.  This one has a small sleeping area that is separate from the tack room which will be nice if/when we go with him for a place to hangout when we get bored.  He said back in March if he won the basketball bracket then his prize would be a new horse trailer.  I will definitely pay more attention to what he says next year!

IDAHO FALLS TEMPLE OPEN HOUSE - The last weekend in April Jed had a roping in Pocatello.  It was the perfect chance for us all to go and attend the Idaho Falls temple open house as well.  I was excited for the kids to see the place where Jed & I got married!  This will always be a special temple to us because we got married there 13.5 years ago, engaged there 14 years ago, and each took out our endowments there before our missions 17 & 16 years ago. Now look at us!  Can't believe so much time has passed since those events.

For the open house we had to park at a stake center about 10 minutes away from the temple and be bussed over on a big charter bus.  That might have been just as exciting as going through the temple for the kids!  They thought it was so fun.  The temple was very fun to go through and see again.  Everything was in a lime green & purple color.  I was a little surprised by the colors, but it was still pretty.  In the celestial room, Jed was telling Ava about how he proposed to me there and Ava pointed up to the mural and said, "Oh wow Dad, they even painted you guys on the wall."  lol  Forgot about that part of the mural. :)

After the temple, Jed took us up to Rigby and then he went to the roping.  He roped with Jason and some other people.  He ended up winning 2nd with Jason in one of them and 5th in another.  It was another good weekend for him.  It was so rainy and cold all weekend we decided not to go down to the roping.  So we spent Friday up at the loft helping Grandma get decorated for her new store - Lofty Treats.  They will have ice cream, cheese, chocolates, and a little place for soup & sandwiches.  The kids had fun helping to decorate.  Probably less helpful than they think they were!  After that we spent the rest of the day hanging out at Abby's house with her, Jordan, & Jaxon.

Jordan showed the kids how to play on the guitars and they played some pool.  Kasen played a lot of basketball with Jordan on Jaxon's little hoop.  Saturday after the roping we decided to stay an extra night and go up to the ranch with my parents and Hamiltons.  We made Idaho brownies for Kasen's early birthday and had fun hanging out.  Sunday we came home!  Fun way to end April.