April 2025 - Trip to St George, Pinewood Derby and Easter!

April 5 Sat - General Conference, coloring, crochet and learning. 

April 8 Tue - Homeschool plus at Cottonwood Wash. Melissa invited Lynette and one of her granddaughters.  

April 11 Friday - A few weeks earlier Melissa said, "if I could get a couple of days alone, I could organize the house."  So I checked my schedule and took the kids to St George on my next long weekend.  We drove on Thursday, arriving late. We swam Thursday night and Friday morning.  

Then we met up with Grandma and Grandpa Aurich and some of Darlene's grandchildren.  They are living with them near St George, so we all went to the Children's Museum together.  Then we swam at our pool, had dinner in our AirBNB and the kids watched most of a movie.  

This was "putting away" the foam building bricks.  The children's museum was fun. 

April 12 Saturday - Grandma and Grandpa Jack spent the winter in St George, so that Grandpa could try to stay physically active.  His dementia has really accelerated, but he still enjoyed seeing the kids.   He had this little electric puppy which he really enjoyed sharing with the kids.  Grandma Shirley had birthday presents for all three kids, since we were right in between their birthdays.  Grandpa Don and I had a funny moment while Shirley was showing the kids around the house.  There was a pillow on the couch and he motioned for me to pick it up, he wasn't speaking well, but used hand motions.  I picked it up and tried to hand it to him, but he motioned for me to hug it.  I did and it started vibrating.  He laughed at my confused face.  Grandma said he's been tricking everyone with that pillow.  Even as his mind is struggling it was was fun to see him laugh.  The kids really enjoyed their visit. 

We decided to have a bit of a "yes weekend," so we were busy!  We spent a few hours back at the AirBNB for bathroom and quiet time.  Then we visited the St George temple.

Went to the Washington County Fair, where the kids were completely terrified by this little kid roller coaster. 

And ended the night (9:20 PM) at Nielsen's Frozen Custard.  We'd seen this place earlier and I told the kids that I remember visiting it with Granddad and Nana during a trip to St George as a kid (probably her "League of Cities and Towns" trips).  Finn chose cotton candy at the fair over frozen custard, but the girls gave him a bite or two.  

April 13 Sunday - We woke up early, drove an hour to Cedar City and stopped for church.  Lily was adamant that we stay for both hours, then we headed back to Blanding.  We arrived with just a couple of minutes to spare at the park before a reenactment of Jesus' triumphal entry.  

Melissa's friend, Nikki, asked her to make a crazy crochet jacket.  It took Melissa months and she used dozens of different yarns, but it turned out really fun. 

April 17 Thursday - Homeschool Pinewood Derby!  All these kids, and an adult or two, brought cars.  One of the Monticello families were ringers!  Their cars beat everyone, in every race. 

But it was a fun night!

April 18 Friday - The kids made papier mâché tombs with Melissa and once dry and painted they showed them off with Melissa's rock tomb. . 

Then it snowed! Because Blanding spring time. 

Finn found a horny toad on the dirt hill, so he lived with us for about a week. 

April 19 Saturday - coloring eggs for Easter. 

and putting up the frame for a shade sail. Thank you Mason for helping me when I couldn't do it on my own. I should have called you earlier, like Melissa told me too, but I'm stubborn.  


April 20 Sunday - Happy Easter! 

Grandma and Grandpa came over after church. 


April 27 Sunday - The twins had their spring recitals. 

They both did great. They are so brave to show off their progress. 

Not to be left out of the special weekend, Lilian lost another tooth. 

April 28 Monday - A little overcast, but technically shady.

Monday night was the dance recital.  Grandma and Grandpa Aurich came to spend the week for piano, dance and gymnastics. 

But both sets of grandparents left before we could get pictures. 

April 30 Wednesday - took Grandpa Aurich to Sand Island. 

Then that evening was the show off.  All three kids worked really hard this year.  They spent the last several weeks practicing handstands almost every day, sometimes with the help of our neighbor Maci.  They all made excellent progress. 


And after all the hard work, we celebrated at Patio. 




 

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