The Francis Family Invades San Luis Obispo

This peaceful location was the site of the Homer and Marie Francis family reunion. All surviving children and most of their kids and grand kids were there. 

There were bouncy things

 

 hilltop swings

and songs to sing. 

 The kids went on a treasure hunt.

  And the non-germaphobes participated in a cow pie toss. 

 It was a great day filled with lots of fun with a great family. The next morning we all met for breakfast and then I took these posers across the street to the beach.  

There is nothing better than being with family.

Car Show

This seemed like a good idea: 

 We saw some cool cars. 

 This could be a picture with Batman but he was too shy so we had to get this off to the side shot of the bat-mobile. At least I think that's the bat-mobile. 

 There were plenty of Bumble Bees and Delorians and most importantly, 

 CORVETTES!

Reward

Our family completed reading the Book of Mormon so for a reward we went downtown to ride the High Roller. But first, we stopped to watch a street skateboarding contest. 

 Then we went over to Container Park. Matt has been trying to get me to go but I've been reluctant. It sounded lame, but it is not. This praying mantis breathes fire and scares the crap out of anyone nearby. Good times. 

 We have been to the LINQ multiple times and finally pulled the trigger on riding the high roller. We had a pretty big group with us but they wouldn't let us ride in our own pod. I felt bad for the others with us because we were a little unruly.  When we reached the highest point (535 ft) these crazies dropped and did push ups. 535 of them. Ha, maybe 5. 35 of them. 

 Ben had a Titanic moment. 

 I don't love heights so I was a little nervous about being in the World's Largest Ferris Wheel. But it moves slowly and is so huge that it was kind of relaxing and definitely fun to look out over the strip at night. 

This Also Happened

Matt loves to post pictures of his fortunes on Instagram, this one was right on the money. 

 Twinner twinner out to dinner.  We are not going to Sadie Hawkins. This was more embarrassing for me than it should have been. 

 I managed to buy two boxes of Froot Loops with marshmallows without the marshmallows. I called and the nice people at Kelloggs sent me coupons to buy two more boxes, which I cautiously did and ended up getting some with the marshmallows as advertised. What a relief!

 Matt's soda consumption had been driving me crazy because I thought it was causing him kidney stones. He loves the stuff but I could take it or leave it. Mostly leave it because it makes my tummy hurt. Then I started thinking about how hard it would be for me to quit eating chocolate and candy because I do love me some candy. I decided that if I expected him to quit something he likes I should be willing to do the same. So we started the no soda for Matt not candy for Kliss challenge the day after Easter. It was hard. My kids thought I would fail first. I eat candy all the time just out of habit. Then I started doing more research on kidney stones and no where could I find soda as a cause, so I let Matt off the hook. He went almost a month, so that was impressive. I thought I would drop all kinds of weight by going candy-less, but it didn't do a thing. That's about right for me. 

 This might have been the most exciting day in April--Kings of Leon AND Young the Giant!?! I have plans for September 27.  I can't wait!

Easter in Vegas

 It was a little weird to be home for Easter. I tried to do some Easter-y things but my kids are mostly used to hanging out with cousins, riding 4-wheelers and jumping on the trampoline none of which happen to be in Vegas. We half heartedly dyed eggs. 

 Didn't our golden egg turn out amazing, just how you would expect a golden egg to look? Wait, you don't see a golden egg? It's there, all golden and sparkly just like the drawing on the package.. see, bottom right hand corner. 

 The kids found Easter baskets Sunday morning. 

 And we did our own kids Easter egg hunt. It wasn't as fun, but at least it was warm. 

 We already checked and we have the same Spring Break days as the Ricks' next year. Hooray!! 

Spring Break Dilema

We always go to Idaho for the annual Easter egg hunt during our Spring Break. This year was made more complicated by the Ricks' move to Colorado and having completely different schedules. To add to the trouble, I bought tickets for a Young the Giant concert months ago that turned out the be the same weekend that worked best for everyone else. What to do!? 

 Go to the concert, of course. Family...shmamily. Actually it just didn't work out so we stayed in Vegas and did our own thing, which included NOT being in a car for 10 hours. It was a little weird but we made the best of it. 

 Zack and Ben are always requesting a staycation, so we books a couple of rooms at the Palm's Place. 

 Went for ice cream and treats at the LINQ

 

 

 and enjoyed spending time together with just our little family. 

Conference Time

We all enjoy conference weekend, and I am not just saying that to sound super righteous. It's pretty much the only time the boys can get away with this (hid your head in shame, Zack): 

 In between sessions, Ben was the only one who wanted to go on a walk. We walked to the end of civilization (or up the hill). 

By this time next year, or maybe even October conference, it will be empty no more. 

 Noah, in one of his culinary moods, decided to make some pretzels from scratch. I finally had to text him this picture as proof that after three attempts the mess still wasn't cleaned up.