Spring Break (Part 2)

GRANDMA DARDEN VISITS!

ST. LOUIS ARCH

ZOO AGAIN...OF COURSE!

RANDOM ACTIVITIES

Indiana Cousins

Since Steven was approaching the final weekend to study for his huge pediatric opthalmology...(insert)..."we can't wait until you no longer plague our lives and we are free from your bands of insanity" exam, I decided to drive the kids to Indiana for a visit with their cousins. It was a wonderful visit, as the pictures will show! The good news is, we've already experienced a fun filled fantastic few days (try saying that three times fast), and yet, Spring Break just started!

Azure And Romney

I received an email that Mitt Romney would be visiting the St. Louis area last Tuesday. The location was just a few miles down the road so I secured a play date for Haley, then Azure and I headed on. Once we arrived I realized we were surrounded by a ton of people that I knew. It was great. We got a great spot and soon after Governor Romney began walking down the isle shaking everyone's hand. As he passed me he glanced down to read Azure's shirt and said, "Really!" I shook my head and he started to laugh and continued forward shaking hands. He spoke to the crowd and then used a good portion of his time to interact with the people. As he walked back down the isle he stuck his hands out and said, "Is she for me?" I responded (half shocked) with, "really, that would be great". He held her up and as I took my photo the crowd reacted loudly with "ohhhh's". He then backed away and turned to the other side, receiving the same response from the crowd, all the while little Azure just staring away at this unknown individual. Throughout the remainder of the day I received phone calls from friends all over that told me Azure was in the news. Ironically, the following day Steven was at work and sat down to check the drudgereport, as he does every day at least once or twice. He scrolled down, squinted at the picture smack dab in front of him, and said, "Hey! That's my baby!" It was a great rally, and an exciting few days.

Wonderful Weddings

We happen to be the current, lucky residents of the exact city that one of our cute nieces chose to be married in this past Saturday. It was an amazing weekend filled with a large number of the Ballard family gathering to attend Keri and Skyler's wedding in the St. Louis temple, which also happens to be conveniently located just minutes from our home. It was a beautiful ceremony for a wonderful couple. In addition, the kiddos were given a full weekend with numerous cousins, and, Grandma and Grandpa Ballard. Honestly, under those circumstances I'm pretty certain that no weekend could get better than that! Alright, I know it could get better if we had every Ballard in attendance. You know what that means don't you? One word............... REUNION!!!

Primping, Parks, And Princesses

Last week was spent preparing for the wonderful gathering of family scheduled to take place the following weekend. First item on the list...haircuts! Since this was Haley's first, I made certain to seek out the funnest, most "princess" like hair salon I could find, and boy, did I score. They had video games, movies, and pink, pink, pink everywhere. It was almost as cool as our dentist's office...at least that's what Thatcher said. As he climbed in a blue chair to receive his haircut, not taking his eye's off the screen in front of him he asked, "Did you guys put this here to distract me from the fact that your about to cut my hair?" The beautician smiled and answering honestly said, "yes...yes we did." Thatch shrugged and sat back to enjoy his movie. Since Haley's goal is to have hair like Rapunzel she only allowed a small trim, however, Ryley and Kadyn were more than ready for a new look and gave the beautician permission to trim right above their shoulders. All of their cuts turned out fantastic and we left with happy kids, prizes, and balloons for everyone.

We also had the chance to finally stop at a park we had spied numerous times on our way to music lessons. Now that it's staying lighter later, we stopped and enjoyed. The fact that it was 70 degrees at 5:30pm didn't hurt either. The pictures of this particular park visit are cute, but they are also perfect exhibits for exactly why our kiddos needed haircuts!

Princesses...well, just enjoy the pictures below and know that if I could freeze time at any point in life...I would press pause now. It's truly a gift to spend my days with these six special individuals.

P.S. That wasn't a pregnancy announcement....I'm including my dear husband in that figure.

Valentines Week 2012

We started with PINK chocolate chip pancakes and PINK scrambled eggs. Thatcher gave it his best shot, but colored food is apparently a bit too much for him to handle. Dinner consisted of normal colored hamburgers, RED jello, and PINK smoothies, all served on RED heart plates and PINK napkins. We also had RED chocolate covered strawberries drizzled with white chocolate (which by the way are SO simple to make - so don't buy them and I'll post how to do it). I believe Azure enjoyed those chocolate strawberries to the fullest (see pic below). Steven has always been in charge of Valentines and has never failed to impress. He returned home with double chocolate ice cream and the newest (and funnest) member of our family...Uno Roboto. We also had some lovely days at the park and squeezed in a great movie, "The Secret World Of Arrietty".

Valentines has and always will be one of my very favorite holidays. I LOVE the love and kindness that you see and witness all throughout the day. I was reading various quotes that morning and one in particular stuck out in my mind. It was shared by Thomas S. Monson who I believe read it on the wall of a relatives home. The plaque very simply stated, "Choose Your Love, Love Your Choice". I thought about that throughout the day, and while Valentines is a sweet holiday of kindness and love, my deep hope is to create a home in which that same mindful and abundant love is present in each and every day.