April

School out is a great way to start April.  General Conference and Easter were the first fun thing we did.  Omi and Opa came down for the weekend and we took the opportunity to do some family history on Dad's side and we scanned in and tagged lots of photos of the Sale family.  Adam came over to help as well.  Though really, dad and Adam just chatted while I scanned and Omi corrected photos.  It was very pleasant though.  Saturday morning we had our own Easter Basket fun--the kids got books, ties, and fun treasures (and not much candy).  We did a fun activity though.  Instead of candy in eggs, the Easter Bunny made a giant egg hunt of a secret message.  Each egg had a word and once they found all the eggs, they put the message together.  It said something about Jesus and his resurrection. That afternoon Omi and Opa went off to a Brown family get together and we all went to the Daw Family Egg Hunt.  Kids came home with pounds and pounds of candy.  I am sick of dentist visits, so we have been saving all our candy, and then kids can then turn it in for a big family gift.  They kept a few for themselves, but mostly gave the rest to me (and I didn't eat any of it!).  Just last week we bought soccer goals with our "candy money".

On Easter I made my favorite Morning Buns (melt in your mouth) and had a nice day--I love the combination of General Conference and Easter.  Omi and Opa went home, and we went up to the mountains to spend time with Norma and Elaine at their cabin.  We made hamburgers and hot dogs and sat and watched the last session of General Conference and then after just came home.  It was a nice relaxing weekend.

All the kids were out on Monday, so we had some fun together time and we went to a movie at the theater.  The rest of the week Weston had school but the others didn't, so we found a few fun things together--playing in the sand at Daybreak Lake, playing at the Curiosity Museum, bikes rides, etc.

That weekend was one of the funnest we have ever had.  Scott and I had bought tickets to a Questival--similar to an "Amazing Race" or Mega Scavenger Hunt.  We were hoping friends would sign up with us, but no one did (too bad for them!), so instead, we thought it would be fun to do as a family.  And it was one of the best family activities we have ever done!  We had to do certain "tasks" and take a picture or video of ourselves doing it.  Each task is worth a certain number of points according to how difficult it is.  We told ourselves that we wanted to get 100 points by 5:00 pm.  And we just BARELY got it-- the last 5 seconds we were shoving a pie in Scott's face and taking a picture of it! This activity could easily be done at any time--you don't have to sign up and you could just change it to fit where you live, etc.  I wrote down a bunch of the activities (listed below).  I am hoping to make it into a service activity for the youth.  The idea being that there is a list of service things ranging from planting flowers in someone's yard, to cleaning windows, to gathering food for donations--and each service would get you points.  Now, I am thinking I could easily put together household spring cleaning chores and kids get points doing those chores.  Wouldn't that make it fun for the kids?  We had such a good time, I'd like to do it every year.

Weston went on two field trips--one to the Clark Planetarium and one to the Krista McAuliffe Center.  I got to go with him to the McAuliffe center and it was so cool.  They got to do space flight simulations--kind of.  Each child was given a role and they had to use their knowledge to help the crew overcome obstacles, etc.  Really fun for everyone. (I think Beanie and Tallis did this one year)

Brennan and Aidan both had field trips as well.  I got to go with Brennan and they went to Texas Roadhouse (see what happens in restaurants--they got to make their own rolls), and the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point.  Aidan went to the Bean Museum at BYU.  Both of them also participated in a speech festival.  Brennan recited "Table Manners" by Gelett Burgess and Aidan recited "Buffalo Dusk" by Carl Sandburg.  Both did great!

All the boys are doing great in school--we are so happy to be a month away from summer, though.  The nice weather is getting us itchy to play outside til all hours of the night.  We have broken out the bikes, soccer balls and even the water guns!

I got to go up to Idaho with Elise to "help" Beanie with her Distinguished Young Woman program.  It was really fun to be a part of it and to see Beans be so grown up!  It was fun to go shopping for shoes and jewelry and then to do makeup and hair!  She looked and acted beautifully.  Elise and Rowan had a grand time together.  I showed Heidi how I make my french bread (recipe below) and we did a lot of hanging out and talking.

Brennan finished up his Let's Play Music class and did a great job at his recital.  His main piece was the song "Caterpillar Song" and he did wonderfully.  He is really playing around with songs and becoming quite a pianist.  He is following in his older brothers' steps!  Weston has finally finished piano lessons.  He had to work until he had passed off a certain number of songs and he did great!  Aidan worked on a duet piece in the month of April, and I was able to practice the accompanying part with him.  He did well, too.

Elise has started a reading program (Teach your child to read in 100 lessons) so that she will be ready for Kindergarten.  She is doing well and mostly a silly fun girl. We went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point together and enjoyed the gorgeous gardens. We are having a great spring and ready for summer!

Eat spaghetti with no hands

Draw a ketchup smiley face

Drink water without bending your elbow

Toss food into someone mouth

Pie someone

Drink a slurpee really fast

Run a mile

Do a handstand for 5 seconds

Do a yoga pose

Do a fake Karate fight

Go down a slide at park

Ride a bike while singing

Photo of Waterfall

Photo of Sego Lily

Photo of 3 generations of people

Photo of Someone with a dog

Photo of Someone in a scarf

Photo of Alaska or Hawaii liscence plates

Photo of Cool car

Give flowers to someone

Donate clothes to DI

Help someone cross the street

Give a pillow to a homeless person

Pick up 100 pieces of trash

Do a random act of kindness

Write a Thank you note to a teacher/leader

Donate 1$ to a charity

Visit a nursing home

Share stories with the elderly

Sing at hospital

Sing National Anthem

Sing a song like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Arm wrestle a stranger

Yodel outloud in public

Sing a song from a musical

Write a rap about….

Write a haiku about…

Get 20 people to high five you in 20 seconds

Get 4 people you don't know, to dance with you in a circle

Draw a portrait of someone and give it to them

Do the Ellen Dance Dare

Crash someone's wedding party (pic with bride and groom)

Play tic tac toe

Geocache

Visit a museum

Visit animal shelter

Go to a sporting event

City Hall

Chamber of Commerce

State Capitol

This is the place

Trolley Square

Tracy Aviary

Elevator in SL Library

Fountains at City Creek

Fountains at the Gateway

Ride the frontrunner (one stop)

Ride Trax (one stop)

Historical Monument

International Peace Gardens

Milk a farm animal

Learn a first aid skill

Tie a bowline, clove hitch, square knot

French Bread

2 pkgs dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups hot water

3 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp salt

5 Tbsp melted butter (or oil)

6 cups flour, divided

egg white or butter

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water.  Let stand 10 minutes.  IN a large bowl, combine 2 cups hot water, sugar, salt, butter, and half of the flour; beat well.  Stir in dissolved yeast.  Stir in remaining flour.  Mix well.  Leave spoon in batter; allow to rest for 10 minutes.  Stir vigorously.  Allow to rest again for 10 minutes.  Repeat 3 more times.  (Can be done with bread hooks on my mixer)

Turn out dough onto floured cloth or board. Knead once or twice until lightly coated with flour.  Divide dough in half.  Roll each half into a 9x 12 inch rectangle.  Starting at the long edge, roll loosely as for jelly roll. Seal edge.

Place both rolls seam-side down on one large baking sheet.  Gash top of each loaf diagonally 3 times with sharp knife.  Brush with beaten egg white or butter.  Let rise for 30 minutes.  Bake at 400 degree for 20 to 35 minutes, until golden brown (you may need to lower the degrees according to your oven).  Cover with foil if needed.  Brush with melted butter when done.  Makes 2 loaves.