April in Cache valley:

my cherry tree droops under the weight

of snow

ice

and blossoms.

Bountiful Baskets

Have you heard? There is a new food co-op in town called bountiful baskets. It's a volunteer based buying group that skips the middle man (grocers) and sells delicious fruits and vegetables directly to customers. I've gotten a basket a few times now, and I'm really thrilled with it. You simply make a $15 contribution on the website http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/ and then you pick up your laundry basket full of produce on the weekend at the nearest pickup location. You never know what will be in the basket, so it's kind of fun to use new produce. This is a picture of what I picked up this weekend. I also ordered the Mexican packet for an additional six dollars, so everything in the picture was $21.

Happy 4th b-day Andrew!

Andrew turned 4 on April 13th. I can't believe my baby is so big. He is growing up so fast and is a constant delight to the family. His birthday was a very busy day for everyone - Mike had to teach and spend a lot of time doing prep work, Joshua had school and a soccer game, I had to clean at Mom's and teach piano lessons, etc. By the time we got around to celebrating it was almost bedtime. But we made it a good half hour none-the-less.

The only thing Andrew said he wanted for his birthday was a really neat dinosaur birthday cake. So that's what I got him. Andrea and Betsy collaborated with me and came two days before to help make the confectionery masterpiece. I've gained some skills over the years with my gingerbread fetish, but this was my first attempt at decorating an actual cake. Aside from neglecting to freeze the cakes before decorating, things turned out pretty well. Betsy had a good fondant recipe which worked out nicely. Andrew was thrilled with the cake, and I was thrilled that my friends were willing to help me out with something that may have seemed inconsequential but was very important to one little 4 year old.

6 months

It just keeps getting bigger.....go figure. Six months now, and I already am getting antsy to be done. I've never been "big pregnant" in the heat of summer before, and I have to say I'm not looking forward to it. Hurrah for swelling. Baby is very active, and last night I felt her get hiccups for the first time. That made me giggle. She's an energetic little thing.

Hill AF museum

Everyone enjoys a trip to the Hill Air Force museum, especially tightwad parents looking for cheap activities to fill time over spring break! We went down to Ogden and met up with Carrie and the kids at the museum. Everyone had a great time seeing all the airplanes, helicopters, missiles, etc. We had a nice (if somewhat cold and windy) picnic lunch together and then came back home. We were able to bring Zion back with us for the rest of the break which was really nice. She had a great time with Joshua and Andrew and also got to spend some quality time with Ma.

Easter

Easter brought with it a lovely snow storm up here in Cache Valley. As a result our annual Wapiti HOA Easter egg hunt was very white! I loved these pictures of the boys at the egg hunt in their snow clothes. Everyone still had a wonderful time, and the eggs were easy to hunt against the white background.

And of course, Easter wouldn't be Easter without a pipping contest. For those of you unfamiliar with the Jaussi tradition, each contestant has a group of decorated hard boiled eggs which we take turns smacking against each other. The egg that does not break is the winner. Contestants go around and whack each others eggs until only one egg is left uncracked, and this is the champion. This year Joshua had the championship egg which he is proudly displaying. We take this contest very seriously and it is a source of honor throughout the year to be the pipping champion.

Spring is for nesting...right?!

As soon as we found out that the expected baby is a girl I quickly clued in to a rather critical fact: we have nowhere to put a baby in our house. There were two options - 1)move the boys downstairs and the adults upstairs and put the baby in with the toys and computer, or 2) finish the master suite and put the baby in her own room downstairs. Which do you think we went with? That's right, we're finishing the basement. I have the electrical done, the phone and cable run, the plumbing done, the jetted tub installed, the cement board put up, the greenrock in the bathroom put up, and some of the sheetrock in the bedroom put up. It's going faster than I expected and I have learned a lot of new skills over the last few weeks.

Joshua took a video to show you just what's been going on. He is pretty excited about the project, and he even got to take a bubble bath in the new tub last night. I wasn't going to let anyone use the tub till the whole project was done, but none of us could resist! It's nice to work hard during the day and then relax our muscles in the tub at night.