The rest of March

Yes, I know it's April 18th. But there are still a few things from March I need to post for posterity. And by "posterity," I mean for my own sake when I go back and read this when my blog book is published.

Allie and Damon took a trip to the pediatric dentist. It wasn't all good news for either of them. They both had some cavities they needed filled and Allie needed a tooth pulled (it was blocking one of her permanent teeth that needs to come down). They both handled things well, but Allie doesn't love the laughing gas. It makes her feel weird and then it makes her feel sick. This is how she spent the night after getting her tooth pulled:

The aluminum bowl is for throw up, which she did need once. 

Here's the offensive tooth, complete with one whole root! The tooth fairy left her $5 for this one. Either very nice, or it was all the cash the tooth fairy had. :)

The girls also talked me into signing them up for ice skating lessons. I was convinced that it would be too hard for them and they wouldn't like it, but luckily I was wrong. They both really enjoyed it and learned quickly picked it up.

Allie enjoyed it. She looked forward to going, but was always ready to go. Kyla, on the other hand, LOVED it. She was always the last one off the ice and begging to go back. Her teacher said she picked it up really quickly and would probably do very well if she were given private lessons. I doubt she'll become an Olympian or anything, but it is fun to watch her out there.

Kyla out on the ice.

Allie holding her certificate of advancement. She was finished and didn't want to stay out on the ice for an action shot.

Kyla, a little red from a hard workout

I got some new high heels because, frankly, Jeff said I don't have any and he'd like me to have some. I thought he might enjoy these. As it turns out, the kids enjoy them more than anyone. 

Allie had a dance festival at school, with the rest of the dual language classes. I had a seat on the side, so I didn't get any good pics of the actual dance, but here is a cute one of her with her class. 

Spring Break

 It's become something of a tradition to spend Spring Break in Arizona. It's the best time of year to get out of Utah and see some sun! We bought into the Marriott Canyon Villas in Scottsdale, and along with most of Jeff's family, we enjoy an awesome week (once we get through the 10 hour drive down there!).

Here are some pics taken with Jeff's new camera. It is amazing.

 Some of the cousins ready for the Easter egg hunt at the Marriott. The three boys in Abercrombie shirts and Damon.

Carter playing a little shuffleboard with Grandpa Fred.

 

Easter Sunday

 

The weather was great for swimming (for part of the week, and then it got a little bit cold and the hot tub was the only "swimming" the kids wanted to do), and Jeff's camera got some good action shots.

Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of many of the activities, including dinner with Jeff's 259 friends, the Children's Museum with my sister Heather,the Phoenix zoo and dinners with the Trapnell adults only! We all caught a little stomach bug (Carter and I had it the worst--throwing up and stomach cramps--but everyone had it a little), and ended up staying an extra day to make up for the day we lost. It was a great time, it always is, but a lot of work. It's not going to be a relaxing vacation any time soon, but one of the things we all look forward to all year.

We drove through the Blizzard of 2012 on the way home, and couldn't even make it up the hill from Panguitch to the I-15 but had to turn around and head through Richfield instead. Our two wheel drive van with bad tires couldn't handle the snow and we were sliding around. Damon freaked out, crying, "We're going to die!" as we were trying to get out of the way of oncoming traffic. It ended up being a good decision on our part, as the freeway was stopped for 90 minutes because of accidents, and we made it home a good 1-2 hours before the group with four wheel drive that didn't have the same problems we had!

After we got home, the kids got their Easter gifts that I left home (dvds for their Easter baskets. Probably could have come in handy on those two 10-hour drives we took...) and their new clothes.

 

The kids wearing their new Easter clothes a week late. McKay doesn't love pictures...

Last Chance

I'm so far behind...but before I get to Spring Break and all the other things I need to write about, I wanted to post a little about our STEALS from Last Chance in Scottsdale. Last Chance is the Nordstrom return/defect clearance store, and if you know what you're doing, you can find a bargain. We went four times while we were in Arizona, and didn't come out with everything we wanted/needed, but we did find some screaming deals. We didn't even know how well we had done until we got home and checked the retail prices on the website. Here's a sample (some of the stuff we bought isn't on the website anymore, like the Juicy Couture shoes I bought for Kyla for $19.99, so these are just a few of the things you can find if you're patient. And lucky).

Retail: $199.99

I paid: $59.99

Retail $114.95

I paid: $24.00

Retail: $325.00

Jeff paid: $39.99

Retail: $68.95

I paid: $18.99

Retail: $165.00

Jeff paid: $14.97

Retail: $325.00 (Seriously? For a shirt? This isn't the exact one Jeff got, but it's the same brand)

Jeff paid: $19.97

Retail: $49.95

I paid: $12.99

Retail: $43.95

I paid: $18.99

Retail: $19.50 

I paid: $.97

A New Hobby

Ever since we have been married, Jeff has always been interested in something. Buying and selling sports cards, collecting coins and currency, old maps, breeding lizards...there's always something going on. His latest hobby is collecting pennies. But not just any pennies. No, he found out that copper is worth $3.85/lb and pennies before 1982 are 95% copper. His first thought was to try to make some money off of it, buying pennies from the bank, taking out the pre-1982 ones and trying to sell them as scrap copper. He quickly learned that there really is no money in that. Copper isn't worth enough, and since it is illegal to melt US currency, it just wasn't going to be worth it.

BUT, it was still intriguing. Even if he just had some copper lying around, maybe one day the penny will become obsolete and then maybe it will be okay to melt pennies for their metal content. He thought it would be fun to just have some copper. And it would be fun to try to get it. 

So he went to the bank and came back with $25 in pennies. He got Damon and me involved, and we started searching through the rolls for the copper pennies. On average, we would find 18 out of 100. He put all the old pennies in a sack and then we were left with a huge pile of post-1982 pennies. So, he found a solution. He found a coin sorting machine and we started the process of bundling those up.

Damon displaying a couple rolls ready to go back to the bank.

Since then, we have done a couple more boxes, with similar results. We have about 14 lbs of copper pennies and the rest have been deposited back in the bank. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. But I also love how excited Damon has been during the whole process, so it definitely hasn't been a waste of time or money. Even McKay got in on the action, although he was kept far away from the actual coins.

We have been married long enough now that I have just accepted that Jeff will always have some new hobby. At least this one hasn't ended up in injury! And there are SO many things he could be doing with his free time that would be a waste of time and money. So I support him. And I love him. 

I took this picture one night when he was playing the piano. I love how the light is just perfect. It may be my favorite pic of him ever. I'm a lucky girl. And if the penny can ever be melted down, I may just one day be a rich girl...

March Funnies

Kyla-"If someone had a sharp knife and chased dad, he wouldn't be able to run away because of his leg. That's sad."

Jeff and I were watching an edited movie on TV and out of curiosity, I got online to see how many times a particular swear word had to be edited out. When I told Jeff the obscene number, Allie asked, "What was it? H-E-L-L or H-A-T-E?" I'm glad those are the only two bad words she knows.

Kyla, the day after we had eaten at Chick fil A, "I want some more of those pancake fries."
Me: "You mean waffle fries?"
Kyla: "Yep."

I asked Carter what his favorite food is, and his answer was, "lunch."

Allie, looking at a sign at the Seven Peaks Ice Arena that said "Concessions," asked me what it said. When I told her, she said, "Oh, I thought it said 'concussions.'"

Damon: "Did you hear that the Hungry Games movie is coming?"

Kyla has to answer the "question of the day" in preschool. One day, the question was, "would you rather have gold or candy?" Knowing how much Kyla LOVES candy, I asked what she chose. She told me gold. I asked her what she would do with the gold, and she told me, "I would buy candy."

Kyla: "I love you and dad, Damon, Allie and McKay."
Me: "What about Carter?"
Kyla: "No, he poos a lot."

Me: "Carter, when you turn three you can get potty-trained!"
Carter: "Potty choo-choo train?"

Kyla, looking at a picture of Paul Millsap (Utah Jazz player) in the newspaper: "Can I hang this picture of a brown skin BYU guy on my wall?"

Kyla-"Hudson can't have any food, because he only has two pieces of teeth."

Me: "Mama called the doctor and the doctor said..."
Carter: "Thank you."

Allie: "Mom! Damon called me 'Michelle Obama!'"

Carter, to McKay who was trying to figure out how to use his sippy cup, "Tip it, bud!"

A note I found written by Allie. "I'm happy, please don't make me mad. Pose I'm happy, por favor. Don't maki mei madde." Clearly she has a future in Spanish/English translation.

Jeff and I were going away for the night, and Damon wrote a note for the babysitter. Here it is:

Day Report
Arrive at 1:00 at our house on Friday. Babies will be asleep. Wake them up at 3:10. Leave at 3:15 to go pick up Kyla at Orem Elementary. You should be there at 3:20. After you get Kyla come and get Damon and Allie at Cherry Hill Elementary. You should be there at 3:30. Wait for us at the side of the school. Don't pick us up at the front. You don't have to pick us up inside. Just wait for us at the side of the school. We have to drop off 2 other people. Then we go home and play. At around 5:00 order the pizza so we can have dinner. After dinner we go get a red box movie. Carter and McKay go to bed at 7:30. After they go to bed we watch the movie. We go to bed at 9:00. Then you can go to bed whenever you want. In the morning we have Saturday cereal. We play until my mom and dad get back. Then you can go home.

Finally, Kyla made this face and asked: "Do I look like an Indian?"