Easter

Easter baskets:

 Easter egg hunt: 

Family pictures:

My favorite picture of the day:

Back in the Saddle

I can't remember the last time I rode a bike. Back in the day, I rode my bike regularly. It was my primary mode of transport the first summer I worked in Jackson Hole. But even after all the miles I put on that bike, I still consider myself a recreational rider. I like a leisurely pace, low hills and lots of space. I can go long distance, but I'm not going to set any speed records getting there. I enjoy biking, I'm just not hard-core. 

I married into a family of bike enthusiasts.  If they weren't so nice, I'd be intimidated.  I've made a fool of myself before (Moab) and set the bar pretty low when it comes to my biking skills. There is a fun little ride in St. George called the Green Valley Loop, aka, the Whoop-de-dos.  It was the first mountain bike ride for Noah. He has the Francis biker gene. I am seeing many more biking trips in his future.

 

When we finished, Noah immediately wanted to do it again.

 As for me, I didn't crash and I had fun. Thank heavens for less difficult routes and family members telling me which path to take. Now that Zack's on a two wheeler, we'll probably be putting a few more miles on the bikes. I'm looking forward to it.

Early Easter Eggs-travagana

With a title like that you may want to proceed with caution, there is no telling where this will go.

I am going to guess that we've been Easter egg hunting since 2002. It's a big deal and my kids look forward to it almost as much as Christmas. For the boys, I basically buy three of everything.  I write down the prizes, put the slips of paper in Easter eggs color coded for each kid and they find them. It's a no risk situation. And yet the boys worry. They open each egg and claim their prize like it's a major victory. I love it. It won't be as much fun when they get old and jaded. 

The Francis boys did take a little gamble this year and found grand prize eggs. I was worried that Zack wouldn't be ready for the disappointment, but Noah switched prizes and everyone was happy. Noah is a good kid.

Like I said, we've been doing this awhile and one of the best parts is setting out and arranging all the stuff. This year the kids took on the displaying responsibilities. Noah did our family prizes (on the left) and we discovered a hidden talent.

It takes awhile to get through all the grand kids. There are nine (Shaylee & Brock are not pictured) and 10 prizes per kid. We might need to modify that soon, it is kind of long.

 Grandpa couldn't stay awake. He did have pneumonia, so I suppose he was allowed. 

The adult hunt is a whole different story. There are good prizes and there are great prizes. There are even grand prizes. We can't be bothered to actually hunt for the eggs. Instead, you draw an egg out of a bag, read the number and wait for Mom to reveal your fate. Will it be Brush-ups or the Smash-box makeup set? Reece's peanut butter cups or a tri-pod flashlight? It's heart pounding excitement. I probably look forward to it as much as Christmas too.

A wedding

This is Brandon at my wedding. I think he was seven. I also think he owes me big time because I chose this picture of his youth (even though I look horrible) rather than the one of him in his skivvies and chaps.

This is Brandon at his own wedding. He's taller now.  

If I ever offer to be your wedding photographer say no. It won't hurt my feelings because I will probably only be offering to be nice.

 

 

 We are excited that Brittni has joined our family. I hope she's been around us long enough to know what she's getting into....

The Six Year Old

Kids grow up. Zack had the nerve to do that today. Another year! How rude. I would be fine if he stayed 5 for a little longer. It's a fun age. He's a fun kid. I think that won't change even if he gets older. It's just kind of a bummer to see him get taller and smarter and sassier. I love him so much I could just eat him up. He has to remind me that he would taste gross, but I can't get enough kisses and hugs from him. Poor kid. At least he's still willing to cuddle me and watch Phineas and Ferb. Although sometimes I prefer to watch it alone. He laughs at the jokes and after about every other sentence he has to see if I "get it."  Then he'll explain why it was funny just to make sure I got it. 

This birthday was pretty low key. Matt & I had big plans to have the house all decorated. All we managed was this fun hallway. 

We have to get up extra early to open presents before Matt leaves for work. Zack is my best sleeper and was not ready for the morning. He is wearing a custom birthday hat he made about two weeks ago.

Zack wanted to make his own birthday sign. I should have had him start it when he made his hat. He got side tracked with other projects and didn't do it on time. Five year-olds are so unreliable.   They do however, tend to destroy things. As fate would have it, he pulled down our curtains yesterday which gave me this opportunity. I did the name & balloons. He added the rest using the window markers he got for his birthday.

Drawing is Zack's favorite thing to do. His proudest moment in kindergarten was winning a coloring contest in September. His teacher tells me that he still reminds her about it. This is the art wall in his room. He and Ben are supposed share it, but all except for two of the drawings are Zack's.  He is getting more diverse in the things he draws and he's starting to add little details. On his dresser is the hat he decorated for Dr. Seuss' birthday. I love the flames & skulls.

He's been into fancy cakes for the last two years. I wanted to do something different and surprise him. He did not take the news well. He really wanted to decorate his cake and told me so about a million times. I didn't give in and in the end he loved the cake.

It's a good thing because that could have been a birthday ruin-er. He did say that  I should have made it a box of markers not crayons. Picky picky. He will be doing his own cake next year. 

Happy Birthday Cub Scouts

Prior to being a mom, I had zero experience with scouting. I grew up with sisters so the world of blue and gold was foreign territory.  Now that I have two scouts and served a brief stint as a bear den leader, I'm practically an expert. Not really. Blue & Gold this year was a celebration of 100 years of Scouting.  They had a cake decorating contest. This is our entry: the skateboard cake. 

The competition was really stiff. Honestly, we didn't have a chance. We won the fastest cake award. Or in other words, we didn't really win. Thanks for softening the blow though. The taco, camp site & fire cakes won. Zack was disappointed because Ben was given recognition for making the cake even though Zack contributed the stars on the wheels & the number 8.

Ben earned a whole bunch of belt loops. 

This was Noah's last night in cub scouts and was awarded his Arrow of Light. Our scoutmaster makes these neat awards for each boy. He better be the scoutmaster for about 5 more years so Ben & Zack can get one too. 

The tradition is for the boys to cross "the bridge" to 11 year old scouts. Good times. Sometimes they make the parents be part of the bridge. I think I can thank the other advancing scout's mom for being pregnant so we didn't have to.That was smart thinking.

I am glad we have super leaders who help my boys advance and make it fun for them. Eventually I hope all three boys become Eagle scouts. We are off to a good start.

Best Futsal Game EVER

I have sat through enough Futsal games to know what I am talking about. Tonight was the final game for the 3rd (Arsenal AP) & 4th (Saratoga Rage) place teams. We competed in a more difficult bracket for this season and it's been a good challenge for the team. I was so riveted to the game that I didn't take any pictures. But here is the rundown.

They scored the first goal. Our next shot hit the left post pin-balled over to the right post and bounced out. GOAL? I swear it had to have crossed the line at some point, but no call. Bizarre. The next shot was a clear goal and we tied it up. Then they scored two more goals and we went into the half down 1-3.  But within the first 4 minutes of the second half we tied it up 3-3. They scored another goal and then we did. It was intense. Our boys played as good as I've ever seen them play. At the end of regulation it was a 4-4 tie . Do you know what that means? Penalty kicks and a big jump in my blood pressure.  

Our goalie won the rock/paper/scissors off (apparently no one had a coin), so we took the first kick..and missed. Nate blocked their first attempt. Noah was up and kicked it high and hard right into the goal.  What a relief!  They missed their next shot and I thought it was over-we won.  I was wrong. All 5 players on each team get to shoot. We miss, they make one, we score, they make one, we miss, they make one. Game over. We lose 3-2.  It was still a really fun game to watch and I couldn't be more proud.