Spring Break, Easter, and fun stuff

Spring break at our house has been pretty mundane with a few exceptions, and they are:
The boys had a fantastic time playing in our neighbor's mud! After a Spring rain shower there was plenty of mud for them to splash with and make a lot of dirty clothes and faces. It was fun while it lasted, until mom came along and made them wash off the neighbor's house where they had splattered mud all over.

This is Haley in her Easter crown, each of the kids had one. They did not see much wear but they were fun to paint and they looked so cute in them.

Pa and Betty's ward had a carinval and the boys loved it. They each got their face painted; Caleb and tiger, Peter a spider, and William Spiderman. They had other fun games and contests. All the kids were entered in a rootbeer chugging contest and when they gave Peter the root beer he told them no because "it is bad for my body." Such a cool kid.

Today was the Gray Easter egg hunt and it was such fun! We all gathered at my house (Diedre and Rob's) and ate a yummy breakfast then the kids were so excited to get out there to clean up the eggs. They all did so good at gathering up the eggs. We only hid one Golden Egg this year so there was more of a challenge to find it. Caleb was the lucky kid this year and he really cleaned up! Steve was awesome enough to help William gather eggs during the hunt and then he helped Willy count all the loot. Then Steve humored all the boys by willingly walking into their traps and playing with them outside. We have an awesome family.

My boys also took some time today to work in the garage making another garden box for us/me. Yeah! It will be so fun to have more space to plant. Caleb loves to get a hammer, some nails and wood and just hammer stuff together. Tonight he made himself a version of R2D2. I have an awesome husband, and kids!

Finally, Diedre's most exciting moment of the weekend was when Rob took me tonight and bought us two wonderful fruit trees for our yard. Look at those beauties! I so hope they do good, grow well and produce such yummy fruit. We are so excited for them, especially me. Did I mention that Rob is awesome! After a long day he was out there digging a hole for the peach tree (the other is a Red Delicious Apple), chopping with an ax, and being all tough. He is the best! And I have two new fruit trees, Yeah!

These boys are funny

Driving home with Jonah or Jonathan in our truck is always amusing. At times we give them rides and listening to these boys talk and play is always great. For example, last night Jonathan was in our truck and the boys had been talking with Emily before we left the Grays. So, I get in the truck and they start telling me their secret agent names as it were. Caleb: "The name is Gray, Caleb Gray, Double Stuffed Oreo." It went the same with all the others. Jonathan: "The name is Gray, Jonathan Gray, Double O Cherrio." Peter: "The name is Gray, Peter Gray, Double 11 Volcano." (His was a little more random.) William: "The name is Gray, William Gray, Double Stuffed Oreo." (William of course went with Caleb's name but it was still cute to hear him say it so excitedly.) Then they made one up for Haley: "The name is Gray, Haley Gray, Double Decker Sandwich." My personal favorite! These boys are awesome!

Springtime in Utah

Ahhh, there is nothing like Springtime. The sun is up longer, more time to play outside without gloves and heavy coats, blooming flowers and rainbows, planting seeds and watching them start to grow, and then the occasional snowfall. That good old snow that stops you from planting when you want to and keeps your seedlings indoors way longer than they need to be.

Case in point, our snowfall from this weekend. Do you love our garden box? Fortunately we have not even thought about planting outside, but just to spite these Springtime snow storms we planted seeds today! HA!

My boys were not the most excited to plant when I wanted to. I was interrupting their play time but I thought playing in the dirt and with the seeds would be fun too. Silly me. We planted pumpkins, zucchini and squash. It will be so fun!

These are our pea plants that are doing beautifully! We planted these a few weeks ago and I am excited to see them grow more. Willy loves carrying his pea plant around and showing everyone. He is so proud. I never started to pay attention to the weather patterns in Utah until I started gardening. There really is no Spring in Utah. Spring kind of does it's own thing without regard to what is expected. I am not complaining, we know not to plant until late May and to maybe even plan on snow for Easter. It's just what happens here. Until May we will watch our seedlings grow in their little cups and hope their roots do not get too crowded until the snow stops for good.

The Music Man

Dacia, Jonah, and Jonathan starred in their stake's production of "The Music Man" and they were fabulous. Does it surprise anyone that both Dacia and Jonah had leading roles and Jonathan danced his heart out right there in the front of everyone on stage? It was such a fun afternoon for us all. Caleb, Peter and William all loved watching the singing and dancing and they were thrilled whenever Dacia, Jonah or Jonathan came on stage. Dacia was Marian Paroo and she was amazing (sorry, if you do not want me to boast for you, Dacia.) Her singing was beautiful and she was so fun to watch. Peter kept wondering why Professor Hill did not know her real name, I think he had a hard time realizing this was just pretend. Jonah was Winthrop Paroo and he was so awesome! He did such a fabulous job with remembering his lines and with getting his lisp correct. He was terrific. Then when he sang "Gary, Indiana" he was so animated, dancing so wonderfully around the stage and he was enjoying himself so much; everyone loved it. My favorite part, besides his dance, was when he screamed as the angry crowd was taking Professor Hill off stage; I could totally tell it was him. Jonathan was such fun. My boys loved watching him on stage. He was one of the River City Kids and he was so cute in his hat and dancing his heart out in front of everyone. Then when he came out in his band uniform, it was awesome! We loved it so much! I really hope someone out there got a picture of them and posts about it. I wish I had a picture for you all but take it from me; Dacia was beautiful and the star of the show, Jonah was awesome and so cute with his big smile, and Jonathan was awesome and perfect as his first part in a play. What fun for them all! Tonight is their last performance and I know they will do terrific. Good job guys, we love you and are proud of you!

Kids have a way with words

In just the past two days my kids have said the darndest things! Last night for example we returned home from Parent Teacher Conference with two beaming parents and one excellent kid. He is so smart and awesome at school. However at bedtime my oldest and middle showed me their, I cannot even come up with the word, intelligence...stupidity...innocence.... Anyway, the conversation went as follows; we were reading a story about a character changing what kind of animal it wanted to be. I asked my kids what kind of animal they would choose and why. Peter said a rhinoceros and I thought that was kind of cool. Then I asked him why and he proceeded to say, "because they charge at things and they are mean." WHAT?!? Because they are mean? Because they charge? I do not know what I was expecting from him but that was not it. But I will say that explains a lot about his behavior sometimes.
Then Caleb; last night he was being rather obstinate about getting ready to go to sleep. I asked him nicely and all but he was just being my boy. Some how it came out that he is so much better at school and why. He informed me that if he is not good for Miss Pasker he will get into trouble. I just stared at him with my mouth open wide. What? You do not think you will get in trouble at home for not doing what you are supposed to do? How does that work? Of all the things to say to your mother! "Mom, I'll be good for my teacher because I have to. But for you, you are not that special." I am still shaking my head over the whole business.
Now for today, Peter was helping me make some bread and he started talking about a time when he went to one of Caleb's friend's house for a play date. He informed me that this kid's mom is so pretty and nice looking. He described how her hair looked, how nice she was and what she was wearing. "His mom was so pretty and awesome!" Hummm, I stood there looking down at myself and really tried hard not to be hurt but it did not work. I even clarified for myself by asking him, "so, she was prettier, huh?" He agreed. I know, he is just a little kid and means nothing rude by it but still, what a thing to say to your mom. Gosh, I really have got to do better about certain things if I am to live up to my kid's expectations.

Snow day, but not for long

Yesterday we were blessed with some beautiful white snow. I know for some family members out there they may not want any more snow, but we were excited for it. As soon as Haley went to sleep this morning Peter, William and I were out the door for some fun. I hope Caleb had fun at school because the snow did not last for long. Even as we were building the snowman the snow was dripping off of the tree. Then as I was constructing our fort the sun was heating up and I was even considering taking off my coat because I was getting hot. But we went on with building and packing and it was great! My boys loved tearing down the fort as I was adding on, thus I seized the moment when they went to play in the slush and I really added to the fort. Alas, within one hour of coming in the house part of the fort had toppled because of the sun and by noon the snowman had been cut in half due to that beautiful sun. I should not boo-hoo the sun, it made the weather wonderful for playing in the sun. I just wish that the snow could have lasted maybe one day longer!

In Memoriam

Today was a sad day for our family, but not as sad as for our pet. "Sparks Gray" lived a short, but fulfilling life. He had his own tank with a plant and a filter and all the nice things that fishys like. Unfortunately for him, he had an owner named Spencer. This morning I was dead asleep in bed, no pun intended, when Jonah ran into my room yelling: "Spencer just dumped the fish down the sink!" Sure enough the tank was empty. We (Jason) tried to salvage Sparks by taking off the U-pipe under the sink to see if possibly he might still be there, but alas, he was gone. Jonathan offered to say a prayer for Sparks. He prayed, "Heavenly Father, please help Sparks get to the ocean quickly." I about lost it then. I didn't mean to snicker, but I'm afraid I did. I really wish all drains did lead to the ocean like in Finding Nemo.