Busy week and new baby (for the Merritts)

 Jacob had to go to Georgia for work the week after Easter. Of course that happened to be a very busy week here at home, but we managed. Ryan got to register for high school classes, which was exciting and a little stressful, having to choose just 2 electives out of the 6 he wants to do. He is excited about the new engineering CTE, and settled on Jazz band as his second choice, leaving concert band and ASL as alternatives if those don't work out.

We also had Girls Camp Kickoff that week. Annie is a YCL, and Megan is going to camp for her first time, so it was a fun girls night. As we left Megan asked why they do it so early--it makes them all excited for camp, then they have to wait almost 2 months before they actually get to go. I'm glad she's excited. She'll have fun.

Thursday morning Samantha Merritt texted me saying their baby was likely coming that day, so I was on call to come help out with their other kids as needed. Labor didn't progress incredibly fast, but by the time Megan and Ryan were home from school, they were ready to go to the hospital, so they brought the kids over and left their car with all their carseats. I had a PTO meeting to go to, but Annie, Ryan, and Megan did watched the kids while I was gone, and had a blast.

They loved hearing Rachel playing her trumpet. Billy was laughing up a storm hearing her play. 

After I got home from my meeting we had dinner, then Megan came with me to put the kids to bed (thank goodness, because she is a lot more familiar with how they do things, and was a huge help!). Charlie had a cough, so had a hard time falling asleep, but the others went down pretty easily. Their new baby was born a bit after 10pm, so I stayed at their house overnight so Chas could be there to help out as needed (Rachel came to take Megan home). With Charlie's cough waking him up a couple of times, and Elwin wetting the bed because I didn't know to wake him up before I went to bed, I was up multiple times in the night and only got like 3-4 hours of sleep according to my FitBit. I am not used to waking up multiple times in the night like I once was. Chas came home in the morning and I went home to sleep for a bit.

Jacob got back from his work trip midday and he picked up Megan and Annie from school, much to their delight. We had the kids over again that afternoon so Chas could go hang with the baby at the hospital, and Saturday morning Megan and I went over to watch the kids so Chas could bring Samantha and the baby home. The kids were all so excited to see the little one, and Megan was super happy to get to hold Celeste before we left.

Fast forward to today, Sunday, April 19th, and we were blessed to be invited to the baby blessing in their home. The kids latched on immediately to Megan and Ryan like usual, Jacob was happy to get his turn holding the baby.

Easter

 Annie participated in the youth choir for the Lamb of God for the second year in a row. She didn't love being away from home every Sunday night to practice, and some of the kids got on her nerves, so she's probably not going to participate in the choir next year, but she did like hanging out with her buddies that also participated, and it was a good way to prepare for Easter. 

On Good Friday we colored eggs for Easter. 

Our stake put together a very well done "Walk Thru the Holy Week With Jesus" at the stake center. We did family pictures on Friday night, then, since we were already halfway there, went to the Stake Center. It was only like 10-15 minutes, but it was cool to experience and helped focus more on Easter.

Easter morning was General Conference, and our family was asked to go to the church building in case any visitors decided to come to church on Easter, so they wouldn't find the church empty. Which meant that we had to get all our Easter egg hunt and basket stuff done in time to get dressed for church. Everyone was happy to get up earlier than they do most Sundays, though only Megan, Jacob, and I, went out onto our patio to watch the Bible video of the first Easter morning, as has been our tradition the past several years.

We had Easter dinner with my parents, and enjoyed the afternoon session of conference at home. It was a lovely Easter weekend.

Biosphere 2

 Jacob's work had their annual picnic at the Biosphere 2 this year. We had just been to Oracle the week before for ziplining, but we made the drive again and it was worth it. It was cool to see the different ecosystems. There were a few displays around, including one about ocean animals with a dolphin skull, shark jaw, sting ray parts, and more.

As we were moving from the desert into the ocean area, the Merritts caught up to us. Their kids latch onto our kids almost immediately when they see us. We spent the rest of the tour with them, and ate lunch with the kids that wanted to join us. 

It was a lovely family outing.

March Family Outing: Ziplining

 We tried to reserve a time to go ziplining in February, but the times were already full, so we snagged the next available Saturday, which happened to be the 3rd Saturday in March. We were glad to be able to schedule it before it got too hot. Or so we thought. Then it hit 100 degrees 2 months earlier than it normally does just a couple of days before our reservation. But it's fine. The Ziplining place is in Oracle, at a higher elevation, so it was about 10 degrees cooler (and didn't even hit 100 that day, so was just in the high 90s in Tucson) and there was a lovely breeze that kept us from getting too hot. 

We got all harnessed up and headed out. There were 5 ziplines, the first two were not very fast, then they got a little faster, until the last HUGE zipline that was very fast. We all had a super fun time. It was definitely family bonding time well spent.

Megan:

Annie:

Rachel:

The whole crew:

Ryan:

Megan:

Annie:

Rachel:

Jacob:

Colette:

The last tower was very high and had two ziplines coming off, so we could go in pairs and race. Jacob and Grandma went first, then Ryan and Megan, then Rachel and Annie, then I went with the guide.

Jacob and Grandma:

Jacob:

Megan:

Ryan:

Rachel:

Annie:

Ryan turns 14!

Ryan is now 14! He decided to have his friends over for a party the weekend before his birthday for some games and maybe a movie. Not surprisingly, they did not get around to watching a movie. They did have a lot of pizza, soda, jackbox and other games, and even watched a Dry Bar comedian with water in their mouth trying not to spit laugh. 

For our family celebration on Sunday I didn't get any pictures, but he got some games he wanted, and some new ties that he was especially excited about. On his actual birthday he got a brain-rotting day where I didn't tell him to get off screens at all (and since it was Spring Break he had A LOT of time to waste).

This past year Ryan has definitely grown. He's taller, his voice is deeper, and I don't mix up him and Annie when they call on the phone any more. He's got a good group of friends and is a good kid making good choices most of the time. He's a great student, a great lover of math and puzzles and strategy, and is kind to everyone. We're thankful he's in our family.

Spring Break

 We laid low this spring break, no overnight trips for us. Normally our spring break includes the great bedroom rotation and cleanup, but since Rachel is just staying in her bedroom until she moves out there was no moving kids to different bedrooms. They did, however, all have a detailed list to do to get their rooms cleaned, hopefully at least almost as much as a normal year.

Rachel still had work most afternoons. We did try to have a few outings over break to make it more exciting (and get the kids off the screens). We went to the temple, then met Jacob for lunch.

Megan spent a lot of time crocheting. She asked me to take her to Hobby Lobby the first Saturday of break, and in just under a week she had a new sweater made.

Rachel wasn't interested in going to Patagonia Lake with us, so we went one of the days she had to work. It was beautiful weather. A little hot, but the water was still plenty cold, and the wind was minimal, so paddle boarding was fun.

We watched Lego Ninjago for family movie night and that renewed the kids' interest in the Lego Ninjago series, and since them watching a show together (especially this one) feels a lot less like brainrot and more like quality sibling bonding, they took advantage of more flexibility with how much time I allowed them in front of a screen while watching together, and made it all the way to season 8 on the Lego Ninjago marathon they implemented over break. Megan happened to find a green ninja peep at the store and had to take a picture in honor of Lego Ninjago. 

The last Friday of break we went to Rocks and Ropes for some rock climbing fun. Everyone had a good time, even if some were sore the next day.

Rachel got a lot of college prep stuff done over break, catching up on her to do list. She and Lydia were able to secure their dorm room and already have a group chat going with some of their new roommates that will be sharing the apartment with them. Rachel got her scholarship applications wrapped up (she got a full tuition scholarship to BYU already, but is applying for a few local scholarships). She talked to an advisor and got her major changed to pre-english teaching, and her minor to music. She applied for a credit card, got turned down because of her income falling just under their cut off (despite a surprisingly high credit score already), applied for another one specifically for students and got that one. And finally, the last day of break had a 40 minute session shooting senior pictures. I'm excited to see how they turn out. We haven't done professional pictures since she was a baby, but it was pretty painless, so for my Mother's Day present I'm having my family do family pictures with her so I have some nice pictures of the whole fam before Rachel heads off to college.

My baby's all grown up and saving China! ready to take on her next adventure!