Find Us at the Farm

Annie and Thys both love going to the Thanksgiving Point Farm, so we finally bought a membership. It was only $20.00 for Anna and me for the entire year (Thys is free.) I think one more visit and we will have covered the cost of the membership, which we have until next year March. I quit taking the cameras because, really, how may pics can you take of the kids on ponies and looking at animals? But Anna insisted we take the camera last time, and I'm glad I did. She is so cute in these pictures! She LOVES riding the ponies, and she wasn't too heartbroken when she had to use Thys's ticket. He would NOT get out of the stroller to ride. (The first time he rode he cried almost the entire time, but Mel made him stay on, and the second time, he didn't cry, but he was sure scared!)

My Other Kids

First of all, thanks to all of you who watched my kids this week! It was announcement assembly week, which to most of you is just something I talk about that you don't really get and is something that takes an unreasonable amount of time--except I believe a few years ago a couple of my girlfriends did come to see what this production was all about (now those are TRUE friends!). Anyway, just thought I'd give you a glimpse of my life as a producer. The kids I work with are fabulous, and to their credit, they do all the work. I just supervise, give deadlines, and mediate the arguments; although to the credit of this year's group, they didn't have THE argument that inevitably comes with the stress of this week.

This year our productions was Toy Story 2, and during our reproduction of the story, we announce who the new SBO's will be for the following year. It is by far the biggest thing we do all year--ironic, isn't it, that our biggest thing is really giving up your position to someone else?!?! We build an entire set, or two usually, and we go all out on costumes, lines, etc. So, here is how it turned out.


Here is the group in full costume. They were just about to find out who was replacing them five minutes before the assembly started (can't tell them before that with texting and such!)
These two pics are of Andy's room. They built the big dresser and bed, painted them, and made all the giant toys. My job was to run the video parts of the assembly (see the projector). They filmed and edited all the movie parts themselves.

This is a pic of our second set--the collector's room. The trophy case and was the back of the dresser, and on the back of the bed we had Woody's Saloon. We took pictures of our Woody and had them made into giant posters to create all the Woody paraphernalia.
This girl stole the show. She is this tiny, cute little blond girl, who was a good sport and played the prospector. She even carried Woody over her shoulder offstage and up the aisle of the auditorium running. She was in her box most of the assembly and was sooo funny. Just a note: she's wearing my overalls--gotta love when your clothes are used for the fat people costumes!

These kids are great and really end up being my good friends. In fact, a girl from last year's group is the only person who called and wanted to spend my actual birthday with me--a few of them want to take me to lunch. (That isn't a feel sorry for me comment. My family already celebrated, and I did have friends ask what I wanted to do--just haven't responded yet--my birthday is kind of a crazy day :)

Finally Spring!

Well, spring is finally here, supposedly. Even though we've had a few late snow storms, around here we're getting ready for the warm weather.
We got Thysie a swing because he couldn't quite stay on the others, and I have a feeling we will be spending A LOT of time outside the next six months. We also are equipped with kites, if you look at Mel in the background. (You've got to love a 3 1/2 year old's taste in outfits!)
Here is one of the few signs that spring really is here. We love all our tulips!!! These were the first to bloom. This pic was last Saturday, but today almost the whole bed is in bloom!

Easter

We had a great Easter. Saturday we went to Opa Ray's for his annual Easter egg hunt, then Sunday we had a hunt and Grandma and Grandpa Jorgensen's with all the cousins. We colored eggs at the crack of dawn on Saturday because Anna couldn't wait, and Thys thought the colors looked like great drinks. He is not at a particularly good age for that part of Easter, but he loved the Easter egg hunts. He figured out very quickly what was inside the eggs, and he only needed to find one before he ripped th e egg open to find the candy. Then he realized he only had a few eggs after he'd eaten the candy and decided to "borrow" some candy from the other kids. I don't think they missed it! Everyone had plenty. Easter egg hunt at G & G's

Our cute Annie in her Easter dress.

Again, the Easter clothes, but how do you get a good picture with an 18-month old!?!?!!

Thys's first Easter egg hunt at Opa Ray's

Annie at Opa Ray's

Mel's Big Day

This wasn't on Mel's birthday, but I love this picture. You can see how much Anna loves her Papa. She was waiting for him to talk to his parents, I think, and she fell alseep. Papa just let her sleep there for a while.
I'm running a bit behind, but here is Mel on his birthday with his new office chair (which you can't see because he is sitting in it, but how interesting is an office chair to look at?!?!) and his new Crocs, which are on Anna's feet. You can also see his fancy truffle cake he loves that I really messed up on, but it tasted good anyway. So what if the filling and the outside ganache mixed together?!!?

Happy Birthday, Mel!

Newborn Mellie
One-year-old Mel (on the left) with his cousin's child? I'm not sure. It is one of my favorites!!
Three-year-old Mel. Cute kid!!!
Twelve-year old Mel
This picture is of Mel's sixth birthday party, I think. It is one of the slides he's been scanning, and it was cracked--hence the line down the middle.

I'm a bit late, but still would like to share some of Mel's good years with you! We are sure grateful for such a good husband and father. He is always happy and loves to spend time with us. He works hard and takes good care of us. We love you!!

Sunny St. George

The first stop on our long weekend was St. George. We stopped at the temple, then we let the kids play at the park. I think it was 74 degrees. The kids had a blast, then we ate at Pizza Factory and headed to Zions. One of the sisters at the visitor's center insisted on taking our picture with the Christus. Bless her heart.
Annie was the best. She wanted to run barefoot in the grass, then she laid down on the grass to watch the clouds. She knows how to enjoy the warmth! (Is that inappropriate on temple grounds?!?!?)