Happy April!

Spencer took another Lego Robotics class from February through the first week of April. The class ended with a tournament where the robots played a kind of Steal the Bacon game. The robots had to capture their opponent's three blocks while trying to protect their own blocks. It was fun to watch. Spencer's robot didn't do great and he was disappointed, but he still had fun and learned a lot so we counted that as a win. Mason entertained himself between battles by sliding around on his tummy on the slick floor and running up and down the ramp leading to the library at Edy Ridge about a million times.

We had fun making these gelatin and bird seed bird feeders last spring so I decided to make them again with Mason. They are kind of smelly before they set and Mason didn't like that, but he enjoyed helping me hang them up in the backyard. Not many birds got to enjoy them before a naughty squirrel gnawed through all of the strings and hauled them off to his hideout though!

Kiki has been so happy to get out in the backyard again. So far we've been able to grab her from the top of the fence before she jumps over. I don't know how long our luck will hold out, but I feel so bad for her being cooped up inside ALL the time.

We made it to a Home Depot Building Workshop on the first Saturday of the month. We don't make it to many of them anymore with Spencer's and Alan's busy Saturday schedules. Both boys love it though. Spencer can pretty much do the projects on his own now.

I have been teaching Art Literacy in Spencer's class this year. It's ironic because I'm probably the least artistic one in my family! They were desperate for volunteers though and it doesn't really require any creativity because all of the presentations and projects are prepared by someone else. I've just had to present some info on five different artists throughout the year and then lead the kids in a little art project. With the exception of the project we did with printer's ink that took me 30 minutes of hard scrubbing to clean up, it has been really fun. I still like teaching! This was one of the last projects we did on Alma Woodsey Thomas.

The boys and I went to Healthy Kids Day at the YMCA one Saturday while Alan was timing a race. We decided to run there to give Spencer an extra run since he is doing track right now. It was warm and he wanted to walk a lot, but it was good for him. ;) We did lots of fun activities once we got there, but I think this light game was the favorite. They had to press as many lighted buttons as they could within a set amount of time.

We have had a warmer and dryer than normal spring and I'm not complaining! It has been so nice to play outside every afternoon before dinner. Mason is strong enough to pull Spencer in the wagon now!

Mason and I visited a feed store one morning to buy flowers and look at the chicks. I so wish we could have chickens in Sherwood!

We had fun at our neighborhood park another afternoon. Part of the forest was carpeted in dandelions and so I taught Mason how to blow the seeds for the first time. He's so cute!

The Rest of Spring Break & Easter!

Sadly, the morning after we got back from Bend, Spencer got sick. He wasn't up to doing much besides hanging around the house so that's what we did. It actually worked out alright because Alan needed to replace a section of fence in our backyard and staying home for several days gave me time to learn what to do and get it done. Now he'll be ready to replace a whole bunch of fence this summer! ;) I don't know why I didn't take a picture of him working on the fence. All I have is one of the finished product.

Easter and General Conference came at the very end of Spring Break. We dyed eggs and had our normal egg hunt in the backyard on Saturday morning before Conference. Spencer saw the Easter Bunny hiding the eggs this year, but wasn't too surprised or disappointed. Haha! Mason was thrilled to find a Cars 3 Lightning McQueen in the grass. He and Spencer had been fighting over our old Lighning.

I don't know if we did it every year, but I remember going on several Easter picnics with my family as kid. I gave up hoping for a picnic around Easter in Oregon years ago, but was happily surprised to have partly sunny and semi-warm weather this year. We decided to check out a new park for this one. I had heard about a park with a huge slide in Newberg and even though it was well-hidden in a neighborhood, we found it! Spencer was a little nervous to go down the slide the first time, but he loved it after that. Mason went down several times on my lap. It was still chilly for picnicking and we didn't have much time between Conference sessions, but it was nice to be outside.

Like usual, we watched the Sunday sessions for Conference at Alan's parent's house. Mason and Spencer invented a game between sessions where Spencer would be the alligator lying in the space between the couch and footrest and Mason would try to jump over him without getting caught.

I took Mason home for a nap after a yummy lunch of Darwin's homemade pretzels and then he helped me frost the Hummingbird cake and make a salad before going back to Darwin and Debbie's for Easter dinner. (Note to self: try to find a healthier Hummingbird Cake recipe next year!) We feel blessed to have at least one set of grandparents so close! Plus, Conference was even more wonderful than normal with the sustaining of President Nelson as our new prophet and some big organizational changes announced. It is such a blessing to have a living prophet on the earth today and I'm so grateful for my testimony of him and the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Spring Break Mini Road Trip

For spring break this year, we decided to pick a new city to explore. Alan had driven through Bend a few times, but none of us had ever spent any time there so that was the city we picked. It was a short trip (3 days and 2 nights) but there's not a shortage of pictures here. ;)

Bend is a 3-4 hour drive from our house. Alan thought it would be 3 hours, but I'm pretty sure it was closer to 4. We drove right over Mt. Hood and the large amount of snow on the mountain made me nervous about how cold it would be in Bend. Thankfully though, Bend is a high desert area and there was no snow. It was even almost warm there. As we got close, I was shocked to see how much the terrain looked like where I grew up in north eastern Arizona. That area is high desert too. The brown grass and cedar trees were very familiar. I had no idea that existed in Oregon!

After riding in the car, watching movies, and eating snacks for four hours, we were all anxious to get out and move around. Alan found a fun park and we played there until we could check into our hotel. Spencer was a good big brother and did all of the little kid things with Mason. They created a little obstacle course and had fun racing each other (and Dad!).

Spencer discovered that rolling down hills with half-dead grass is a little painful.

After checking into our hotel and eating dinner at Round Table Pizza, all the boys wanted to do was go swimming at the hotel's pool. A swimming pool and free breakfasts and requirements whenever we look for hotels! The water was cold, but they didn't care one bit and had a great time.

The view from our room - right on the river!

We started Tuesday morning with a large breakfast and then went to the High Desert Museum just a few miles south of Bend. We stayed for 4-5 hours and had a great time!

While Alan and Spencer went a birds of prey show, Mason and I hung out in the little kids room - a room filled with rocks and a beaver dam to climb, caves to explore, and desert animals to find. He loved it! He was proud of himself for climbing all the way to the top of the beaver dam, but was really scared to come back down. I had to really work to get him to slowly come down backwards. ;)

After the bird show was over, we all met back up and visited a settler's village outside. Spencer thought the out house was funny. The nice gentleman who presented at the saw mill let Spencer and Mason help him cut a log with a two-handled saw. We sure have a wimpy way of life now!

We all liked the otter exhibit too. These three, little buddies followed each other around everywhere. 

Mason found a piece of wood that looked like a saw in the outdoor play area.

After the museum, we were ready for a treat so we checked out a very small ice cream factory. We took a short, self-guided tour and then got some ice cream. We have been spoiled by the Tillamook Cheese Factory though and this didn't compare at all. 

We still had lots of time in the afternoon so we decided to hike up Pilot Butte, the cinder cone that Bend is built around. It was only about 1.5 miles, but Spencer was NOT happy that we made him hike. Haha! The trail was paved and we were super glad we had packed our jogging stroller so Mason could ride up. It was steep and would have been difficult to carry him the whole way. Spencer's mood improved a bit once we got to the top. Sadly, it was too cloudy to see most of the mountains that surround Bend. It was a nice view, but I'm sure it's gorgeous on clear days.

Brown grass and cedar trees just like home!

We were ready for a good dinner after the hike so we found a local burger place with great reviews. We were not disappointed. My Hawaiian burger was amazing! Mason got mini corn dogs, but took the breading off each one and ate them separately. Haha!

We ended that full day with some more swimming. 

We were tired and slept in a bit on Wednesday morning. We don't watch cartoons at home so it's a big treat to watch them in hotels while they're waiting for me to get ready for the day.

We decided to check out a bouncy house place to let the boys run around before driving back home. They didn't like this one as much as the one we have close to home, but it was still fun. They didn't actually have many bouncy houses, but had some other fun things to play with. Mason loved this truck the best. He was tired and just rested in the tree house for part of the time. Spencer and Alan had a lot of fun shooting hoops.

Our last stop was to walk along the Deschutes River for a bit. We were actually trying to find a souvenir shop, but didn't have any luck.

On the way home, we made a bathroom stop on Mt. Hood. There was a ton of snow still and the boys had fun playing in it while I waited in a long line for the bathroom. I'm not a fan of snow at all so I was glad Alan got to supervise that activity. ;)

Bend turned out to be a fun, quick trip and I'm glad we went. We'd like to visit again in the summer so we can see the lava tubes and water falls that were still closed for the winter and ride bikes around Sun River (a resort town just outside of Bend).