Grandma, Grandpa, and Brett come to visit

Monday was pretty normal again.  Jared had soccer practice right after school again.  We had been waiting for his coach to show up then going home for a few minutes and going back to get him, but his coach never showed up.  They still had practice and did all their normal stuff the kids just ran it.  They did a pretty good job.

Tuesday morning Alan had a phone interview with GE global research.  It is located in upstate New York.  He feels like it went pretty well.  That evening we went to a city council meeting.  They are talking about placing a bus stop close to Wasatch along 9th east.  With all the traffic they are diverting along that street with closing campus drive plus being so close to.the school we were trying to get it moved.  They just wanted numbers at the city council meeting to show how important of an issue it is to us.  From the meeting we hurried to Jared's soccer game.

Caught in the act!

He loves pasta...well he loves tomato sauce and that comes on pasta.

Wednesday was our 9th anniversary!  I was pretty tired all day long.  Connor went to see the pediatric gastroinestinal specialist Dr. Sutton.  Their computers went down right when the doctor was coming in to visit with us, so he wasn't able to see any of Connor's test results or charts from the BYU health center.  That was kind of frustrating.  He said there were 3 reasons why he isn't gaining weight.  First he just isn't getting enough calories, Second he has some kind of cronic illness that makes him not gain weight and third he just burns calories really fast.  He said he thinks it is the first reason...and Connor just needs to eat more.   He talked about all the same things the health center talked about with calorie packing not feeding him empty calories.  Connor is supposed to get 1000 calories a day.  We also had to do another 3 day food diary since Connor's diet has changed some since we last did one.  He wanted us to go back for a weight check in 3 weeks.  I was a little frustrated since he didn't tell me anything new...and I can do weight checks for free at the health center.  But he didn't seem overly worried about him...and I'm still not either.  That night Alan came home early (for him) and we went to Trafalga in Orem and went mini golfing on the outdoor course we hadn't been on before.  We had a lot of fun.  Then we stopped and picked up a papa murphys pizza on the way home.  We watched some pictures on the computer while we waited for it to bake.  Jeff and Elizabeth stopped by and Grandma and Grandpa Schachterle called too.  We had a fun evening spending time together.

Thursday morning we went and helped in Lauren's class.  I spent lots of time in the afternoon working on dishes that had been neglected for several days and just cleaning up the kitchen.  Then in the afternoon Lauren had a soccer game.  Lauren had several awesome plays this game.  She scored 2 goals.  One drive she didn't score on, but she just kept going.  She kicked it and they kicked it back and it bounced off her shin guards.  The other team then kicked it and the ball hit her head.  She just kept following the ball and she did almost score.  It was fun to watch her.  After the game a mom from the other team came up and said is your daughter the little red head.  I said yes.   She said "She was my favorite part of this game and I'm from the other team."  She was pretty fun to watch that game.  Just her heart and the pure joy she expresses when she does well.

Best team photo we got.  It's missing one girl.

Friday I went and helped in Jared's class and Bradley and Connor went to a friend's house.  We played a reading game we had played at least once before.  After school we worked on cleaning up more and getting ready for Grandma, Grandpa, and Brett to come visit.  We also got to go to a birthday party for a girl who lives in our stairwell that turned 8.  It was a wild animal party.  We all had a fun time.  Jared, Lauren, and Bradley were so excited for our company to arrive they went over to Jeff and Elizabeth's house to wait for them.  Connor was feeling pretty left out so when the soup was finished we went over to Jeff and Elizabeth's house too.  We all came back to our place for corn chowder.  We had a fun time talking until too late.

Saturday morning Lauren and I hurried to winco for a quick trip.  Then Jared and Lauren had soccer games at the same time (only time all season).  Alan dropped Lauren and me off at her game and he took everyone else to Jared's.  Grandma, Grandpa, Brett, Jeff, and Elizabeth split time at both games.  We had a little lunch when we got home and rested just a little.  Then we all hiked the Y.  Alan carried Connor in the front pack, but everyone else walked the whole way up and down!  There was the fast bunch with Jared, Jeff and Elizabeth.  The medium group with Bradley, Grandma, and Grandpa. Then the slower group with Brett (only because he was doing some pretty good encouraging...and telling good stories), Lauren, me, Alan (and Connor).  Bradley had to go to the bathroom really bad at the top.  I let Alan help him. :)  When we got home we had a yummy barbecue and played some fun games.

Brett got trapped into playing in the hole.

We made it!

Yum Yum Yum!

Sunday was a pretty normal day.  I got to lead music in primary, which had seemed like forever since it had been my turn (before conference).  We worked on mother's day songs and remembered some old songs we learned last fall (Build an Ark) and started learning Scripture Power.  After church we had cafe rio type food for dinner.  We talked about the reunion and got all excited for it and played more games and heard more stories.  We were sad to have to say bye to Grandma and Grandpa that night, but excited that Brett gets to stay and that Grandma was coming back so soon.

Just another fun Spring Week!

Wow !!! It has been a long time.  There is so much to catch up on.  Monday I'm sure we tried to clean up a bit around here, but I don't remember it really getting very clean.  Jared had soccer after school.  It wasn't as cold as the week before, but he still needed the sweat pants I took for him... Not his shorts.

Tuesday was Bradley's last day of preschool.  He pretty much just got to have a fun party.  We all took treats to share and his teacher took all the left over paint so they could paint lots of pictures and play in her bouncy house.  Bradley and Connor both had a blast.  That night Jared had a soccer game.

Alan took this picture of Connor when we are on our way to drop him off at work after dropping the other guys off at school.  It looks like Connor is winking, but poor guys just has tons of eye boogers sealing it shut.  I guess that's what happens when you get woken up to go.

Wednesday Lauren got to celebrate her unbirthday at school.  First thing in the morning we got to go in and read a book to her class (all of us went except Jared).  They had been telling jokes in her class recently... For show and tell.  Lauren picked the old old book Goofy's Gags and Alan read it to the class.  He had them all laughing pretty good between his voices and the jokes.  Lauren also took popsicles to share with her class, but they ate them later...too bad it was still a pretty cold day.  I just figured she has a summer birthday so they could have a summer birthday treat.  They were even tropical flavored twin pops...and Lauren says the pina colada one is the best.   Lauren had a great time having a special day at school.  She also got to pick from the treasure box, pick a book, and lead the class in a birthday dance.   Wednesday was also ready to learn.  We went to the new meeting thing they are doing before hand and got lunch there too.  That night we went to Hope of America in the Marriott center.  We all enjoyed it...and Alan nicely went with us and suffered through it.  He came home in time to eat his dinner while we walked down to it and then came home and helped us all get to bed then went back to work.

Ashley's quick dinner idea of deluxe quesadillas were a hit!

Thursday we went and helped in Lauren 's class.  They were working on their Eric Carle pictures.  It was a fun crazy day...and now that I have seen some of their finished products I can say they turned out amazing.  My visiting teacher came in the afternoon.  Lauren had a soccer game after school.  She always does awesome and gets very into playing.  Later that night we went to a Y-juggle closing social.  It was here in Wymount at another apartment.  We had fun eating snacks and juggling outside until it got too  dark and time for bed.

Friday I went and helped in Jared's class and Bradley and Connor went to a friend's.  We were able to walk down and pick up Jared and then we walked over to the creamery on ninth so I could get some cabbage and green onions to make coleslaw for the evening.  We went to a lab barbecue at Alan's advisor's house (Mike Goodrich).  We had a really fun time there even though it was pretty breezy and chilly.   Jared, Lauren, Bradley, and Connor all loved jumping on their trampoline...ok Alan too.  On the way home Alan let us stop and get 16 pounds of strawberries and 21 pounds of bananas ( they were all on really good sale).

Saturday morning a boy in our quad on Lauren's soccer team came over for awhile ( His mom wasn't able to take him to the game so he tagged along with us all morning and part of the afternoon).  Jared's game was first and he had a great time.  The two teams were pretty evenly matched.  Sometimes they aren't and more often than not Jared's team is the one getting killed.  Jared liked having things a little more even...and even winning the game.  After the game we hurried to the car to get Lauren and Jeffrey to their game and it took the car a couple of tries to start, but it did start and we made it up the hill to their game.  Lauren had a great game like always. When we tried to start the car on the way home it wouldn't turn over at all.  (I had forgotten that it had had a problem before and I was like oh yeah.). Luckily there were still a couple.of cars in the parking lot (it was the last game time of the day and it cleared out fast).  We were able to get a jump start and make it home.  The guy who helped up got locked out of his car by his kids and they would not let him back in.  He tried everything including calling his wife, counting to ten and the guy even said "That's it you've lost all your marbles"....hahaha...it was just so funny when he said it.  I really would like to know if she lost all the marbles out of her reward jar or not.  After that we started to leave and before we were out of the parking lot she let him in.  Alan let us all climb out at home...and made sure to not turn the car off.  Then he went down to a car place to make sure it was just the battery...and it was.  I was really glad all it took was a new battery.  That evening we went to a picnic at a park in Saratoga Springs.  It was with a whole bunch of families that used to live in quad 2 (most have moved out, but a couple are still there).  It was super fun to catch up with these friends and see how their kids have grown and see new little babies.  These are the kind of friends that feel like family.  We really did have a great time spending time with all of them!!

Playing in the hole!

Sunday after church our ward had a linger longer. It was a dinner planned by the bishopric...mostly the bishop.  It was nice to not have to worry about dinner when we got home.  I gave all the boys hair cuts.  Connor sits the best out of all of them!  Alan also went home teaching that night.

Soccer Season is ON!

Monday morning our little friends came for the last time...their mom has finished school for the semester.  We cleaned up around here and just did our normal Monday things. It was super rainy and cold all day.  I guess a good day to have to go back to school on.  Jared did have soccer practice right after school, but it was only 38 (or so) outside.  We all had to come home and warm up.

Tuesday we woke up to snow and I had to scrape the car off to go to school.  Bradley had preschool.  It was his second to last one.  After getting Lauren we went to a birthday party for a little boy in our quad.  He turned 6 and had a super hero party.  It was a lot of fun.  After the party we had to run to Macey's to get soccer treats for Jared and Lauren (since we didn't go to the store the weekend before.)  Then we picked up Jared.  Luckily it had warmed up into the 40s by the time Jared's game started.  Jared had a great soccer game!  He was playing against some kids from his school class which was fun. (2 boys from his class are on his team too)  Wasatch school has 8 or 9 teams of 1st and 2nd graders.  That's a lot of kids playing soccer from Wasatch.

One of the last egg cracking contests!

Wednesday was a nicer day...not much warmer, but sunny.  We went to story time at the library.  Then dropped Jared's lunch off to him.  He had forgotten to take it with him in the morning. (Tuesday he had forgotten to bring his lunch box home and we had to go back special for it.)  This was the first time all year he's forgotten it (or left it).  We hurried home so we could walk back down to pick up Lauren (we didn't want to wait there 20 minutes).  We got to talk to grandma for a couple of minutes too.  After getting Lauren and lunch we went to walmart for a few things we needed.  We walk to pick up Jared too.

These guys crack me up.  I'm not sure why Bradley needed the fabric tied around his head like this, but he did.  I think it looks like he has a tooth ache.  They are playing general conference.

Trapped!  (Better trapped underneath than standing on top...which he also did last week.)

Thursday we went and helped in Lauren's class.  It has been awhile since we've been because of spring break and early releases.  We helped with writing little green books.  Bradley got to make a smushed paint butterfly...it was one of the centers.  He was pretty sad he had to leave it there...even though we assured him Lauren would bring it home when it dried.  Thursday afternoon we went and learned how to make salsa from a lady from Mexico in our ward.  She showed me 5 different sauces/ salsas.  Then we walked down to get Jared.  Lauren had a soccer game that evening.  She scored a couple of goals.

Goal!

Friday I went and helped in Jared's class and Bradley and Connor went to a friend's house.  Connor has been getting up around 9:40 all week.  Since I let him sleep as long as possible I have to hurry and get him ready.  I was back getting him dressed and all ready to go.  When I came out I didn't see or hear Bradley, so we quickly grabbed the rest of the things we needed and ran out the door.  Bradley was standing by our car waiting for us with bread in had.  (Fridays they bring day old bread to the office for people in Wymount.)  Bradley had gone and picked three things from the bread (2 for us and 1 for his friend) and was just waiting at the car.  After helping in Jared's class we hurried home and ate lunch fast.  Then we went back to the school for a PAWS meeting (the parents association at the school).  I hadn't been to a meeting before but they were talking about things at this one that I am really interested in.  Since BYU is closing campus drive the bus stops that were at the wilk have to be moved.  They plan to move the bus stops to 9th east between the comprehensive clinic and Wastach and part of the law building parking lot of the other side of the street.  Closing campus drive will divert about 8,000 cars a day onto an already busy 9th east.  With the added bus stop it just seems like too much...plus it is going to be so close to the school.  They also talked about wanting to rebuild Wasatch.  We were able to pick up Jared right when the meeting was over.  In the afternoon we were finally able to play outside some.  It was a really nice day.  In the evening we went down to the GSS (grad student society) closing social for dinner.  They had J-Dawgs.  They had also hidden little crabs all around Brigham square that the kids had a fun time finding.

Saturday Lauren and Jared both had soccer games.  Both did awesome!  At the end of Lauren's game the other team was down a player.  Lauren switched her jersey so she could play for them (and really just so she could play more)...no one else wanted to.  But right when she got situated the game was over.  I went to a baby shower for a friends from quad 2 for a few minutes between their games.  It was fun to see some some old friends there.  We got a few things done around here and went to Winco.  In the evening we watched The Computer Who Wore Tennis Shoes.  We all enjoyed it.

On another goal scoring drive!

Jared didn't score this week, but he had several really good shots on goal.

Today was a good day.  They were doing a special visiting teaching conference Relief Society lesson so all the sisters went to relief society.  They had the elders quorum cover primary and nursery.  Alan got to do singing time and Jonah Barnes played piano.  He said it went well.  Our bishop's wife did do sharing time.  I caught a few minutes of the lesson in relief society between entertaining Connor and chasing him down the hall.  This afternoon was cool again, but Alan went out and barbequed for us.

Breakfast!  I love it when they all sit to eat meals...which Connor is getting better at.  He likes to be big just like the other guys.  They are having raisin bran.  Alan said Connor picked out all his raisins before he got the milk on it. :)

 We took a picture before church today.

Tulips and trees have started to bloom here and Bradley is always the first to point out a blooming tree to us.  I love it!  Alan hasn't been feeling well all week, but he is starting to feel better. We had a great week and are looking forward to another good one!

Spring Break!!!

This has been a fun week!  Monday our friends came to play.  Then in the afternoon we spent a lot of time outside and just relaxed and enjoyed the first no school day of spring break.

Tuesday we all went to Bradley's preschool.  After preschool we took Connor over for a weight check.  He gained 2 ounces in 3 weeks...so he is up to a whopping 17 lbs 7 1/2 ounces.  He needs to gain about 3 lbs to even reach the bottom of the weight chart.  We found out that his sweat chloride test was normal.  The doctor decided she wanted some stool tests done on him too....so we got to work on that Tuesday too.  We played outside more too.

Wednesday was a rainy morning...most of the mornings this week were rainy.  We went to story time at the library.  We stopped by the museum of peoples and cultures on the way home.  It had cleared up by lunch time so we went on a picnic to Rock Canyon park.  We walked all the way up and around to the top playground at the back and ate and played.  Then worked our way back around the park and eventually home.  It was a fun afternoon.  That night I went to a Relief Society activity.  It was a service auction.  I made a ruffle scarf and took that for my service.

Thursday in the morning I had to talk to the doctor some to get appointments scheduled for Connor at a pediatric GI specialist.  His stool tests came back normal too.  We'll see what the specialist says, but I'm still not worried about him.  He seems just fine.  Except for being small he is happy and doing great!  Thursday we also went to a health and safety fair at the county heath department.  These guys had tons of fun going around to the different activities and booths.  We came home for lunch and I looked at the BYU calendar.  I saw that the engineering department was doing it's capstone project show off day.   We went last year and Jared loved it so we hurried down there again.  There were some pretty cool projects and we had fun checking them all out.  Then we walked over to say hi to Alan.  We played outside when we got home for a little bit.

Connor loves egg cracking contests!  He does not like to be left out.  He gets really into it and makes a grunt/ sigh when he hits someone else's egg.  Connor will even check his egg after it gets hit to see if it was damaged at all.  It makes me laugh every time.  It is pretty cute.  Bradley has had to share the wins with everyone, but I think he still has the most. 

Friday we went back to the museum of peoples and cultures.  They were doing some fun activities for spring break and had story time at 11.  (If I had known on Wednesday that they were doing that we would have only gone once.)    Then we went to the museum of paleontology.  We had fun looking at all the dinosaur bones.   We saw some friends there too.  They have a rock there that looks like it has powdered cheese on it, so we had to come home and have macaroni and cheese.  After lunch we cleaned up (which hadn't happened all week...or so it seemed) and folded laundry.  We got all ready to go to Grandma  and Grandpa Atherton's so we could leave as soon as Alan got home from work.  We got out to the ranch around 9:30pm.

Jaguar 

This is the only one of several where someone isn't a complete blur.

We had a fun weekend out at the ranch watching conference, swinging in the meadow, having a birthday party for Great Grandpa Young (he turned 85), roasting hotdogs and smores, making giant paper airplanes, playing legos, sewing with Grandma, and fishing.  Alan and Jared both caught fish...it was Jared's first one!  We got to eat lots of yummy food too...barbecued turkey...with all the sides, cake, Belgian waffles, strawberries and whipped cream, and all the yummy leftovers.  It's nice to be home to sleep in our own beds tonight.

Conference bingo: almost to blackout!

Like one of Lauren's shirts says "Do these glasses make me look smart?"

Jared's first fish.  He was pretty nervous to hold the line where he is.

Waiting for a late lunch...and loving the red pepper.

Bradley got to be right next to great grandpa since it was Bradley's half birthday :)

This was between rain, hail, and snow showers.

Loving the hot dog!

marshmallow mustache (and ketchup and mustard) 

Having so much fun on the swing.

This one just makes me laugh!

It was a fun week!  We have to go back to school this week, but that will just get us closer to Summer Vacation...we can't wait!