New Neighbors

Could anything be better than getting new neighbors that have kids the same age as ours.  I have always hated that our houses and decks are so close together.  I guess it is not so bad.  The boys throw footballs back and forth all day.  Maybe we should take our fence down?

General Conference

 This may sound really lame - but it is completely sincere.  General Conference is one of my (two) favorite times of year.  It has been since high school and has also been the same for Jason.  We have always watched all 4 sessions no matter what.  And we plan to keep it that way and hope to instill that same love for our children.  That is a tricky line.  Because we want it to be a LOVE - not something that is forced or even boring. 

 

We have always tried to make that weekend different.  But this year I wanted something to lead up to conference.  I saw this idea in the Ensign a few months ago and thought it sounded great.  The game is "guess who is coming to dinner".  Each night (they loved it so much we actually ended up doing it at every meal) I would put clues on the chair about a certain apostle.  "in the navy" "mission to England" "Born in Idaho" "has 6 kids"... things like that.  Then they would guess who it was.  OBVIOUSLY this year they had no IDEA who anyone was (except for Monson and Uchdorf - they knew them) - but that didn't keep them from guessing - and it was fun to put Dad on the spot to see if he knew.  Then we put their picture on the chair and  the children insisted they get a plate and utensils also.  They loved it and ate this game up.  Then we hung them on the wall to stay all week.  They remembered things when it came time for conference and talked about them often.  This worked so well that I decided I am going to do it in all areas of our lives - prophets from the scriptures, historical figures the kids are studying in school, ancestors, or even family members living far away.  It was so fun.

When it was time for conference I took all the "clues and put them on one side of the wall and their pictures on another side.  When that speaker came up we tried to remember which "clue" was theirs.  I am interested to see how their memory is in 6 months - or even what they might remember about some of them in a few years (heres to hopen we don't have many deaths :)



I started a new tradition of making scones on Saturday morning (enough to last for Sunday morning too).  I felt just like my mom and grandma while I was making them.  I grew up watching them make scones - but had honestly not ever really done it before (I did it once the first year of our marriage and Jason told me that he didn't like them  - so I never made them again - but now he is out numbered - sorry honey!!)

 

Conference went over great.  When we woke up on Saturday morning all the kids said, "happy conference day" - like it was a holiday!  It made me smile.  They were so excited all weekend.  I hope it will last for maybe years - if not forever!

 

Denver's Spring

In Utah there is a saying about the weather I always heard, "If you don't like the weather just wait 5 minutes".  It was usually very true.  Rain in the morning does not mean rain in the afternoon.  In Denver I have found that their spring is VERY bi-polar.  Even the winter is strange too.  But by strange I mean wonderful.  It is basically in the upper 50's low 60's all winter and then one day it drops to the 30's and snows - but by 2:00 in the afternoon it is back to the 50's. 

 

The same is true for the Spring.  Its 60's and 70's for days and days, then the next day you wake up to 2 feet of snow, then the next day your back to 60's and 70's.  The pattern just repeats.  I don't know when it will end.  They say March and April are the months with the most snowfall.  These pictures were taken one day after the other.

I kind of love it.

Denver Nature and Science Museum

We also went to the Denver Nature and Science Museum.  Since we had a pass to Discovery Gateway from when we lived in Utah we get in free here - but it is pretty far through some bad traffic - so this is only our second time.  It is not for young children like Discovery Gateway is - but my kids have liked it well enough both times.  They do have a "Discovery Zone" for hands on learning but its not very big - but they have really cool exhibits that my kids have enjoyed - especially a really cool one about gems and precious minerals and Egyptians mummies.

They do have a tiny little astronaut section for kids under 3.  Both the girls wanted to dress up.

 

 

By the time we hit the discovery zone it was about nap time.  Madison was VERY ready for lunch and naps.

 

You can dig for dinosaur bones.

 

I can always count on Megan to find the puzzle.

 

Noah built and kicked down towers.

And played with the magnet wall.

 

Brock, for the first time, seemed to be too "big" for most of the stuff.  He was kind of bored and wandered from one activity to the next.  I always thought I would be sad when they were in school all day and missed our activities - but truth is - he is too old for most of the stuff we do.  It is the natural progression of life I guess.

Bounce House

We have made some good friends here in Denver.  One of them is the Birches.  They are in our ward and had us over for dessert our first Sunday in the ward, and they had Jason over for Sunday dinner when I was in Salt Lake, and they had us over for Christmas dinner, and we trade babysitting all the time, and she makes sure I go to the temple once a month by setting up babysitting for stake temple night, and they have kids our kids age, and they are wonderful, and fun, and awesome, and, and, and... 

 

Anyways, we took the kids to a bounce house over spring break.  Me and the girls stayed for 3 hours (a record!) and then the boys stayed with Veronica for another 2 hours!  I guess we got our money's worth!

 

The kids had a lot of fun together.  Activities like this are always better with friends!

(Boy in the black shirt on top is not ours) Megan, Lucia, Madison on the top

Carmen, Harry, Noah, and Brock sliding down.

 

 

Madison would only slide down with me.  Here we are about to go down.  Then finally right before we left she went down by herself!

 

Having our snack.

Temple trip

There are a few things I miss so much about Utah it makes my heart hurt.  There are some things that my kids miss and they constantly ask for.  A few things (well, actually most things) on those lists overlap.  (In case you are wondering I don't think Jason misses one thing about Utah - except friends and family... and his mother's egg rolls.) 

 

Well one thing that is an overlap on both mine and the kids' list is temple square.  I hadn't felt so homesick as when I saw temple square on the screen at the General Woman's Broadcast.  It hit me like a ton of bricks.  That wasn't my home anymore.  I was far away.  Far away from my mom, sisters, aunts, and grandma - I was alone in a chapel hundreds of miles away - I was supposed to be with them.  And those flowers on temple square... will I never see those tulips again?  It sounds dramatic and I am SURE I will be back in the spring - but not every year and not THIS year. 

 

The kids had also mentioned how much they missed temple square.  So we made a trip to the Denver temple.  It is only about 10 minutes from our house (closest we have lived to a temple since Provo).  It is a small temple.  Small grounds.  And to be honest... they are not as nice and accommodating to children as Utah temples.  We visited many of the Utah temples several times and never once did I feel like we were unwelcome.  But we felt... well... unwelcome.  Regardless, I told Jason I will just have to change the culture of the Denver temple, because we will be back. 

They do have this Christus statue in their visitor center.  The boys wanted a picture in front of it - but the girls did NOT.