Spring break 2022 - Spy Museum

I made pancakes for the crew Thursday morning and then we headed out around 10. 

We met up with Alli at the stake center and she piled into the JGG. Then we were detoured through Suitland and there were dozens of police officers everywhere. Not sure what happened, but the kids had lots of theories (mostly escaped prisoners). 

We parked near the Spy Museum and Delaney started searching for her shoes. Only, oh no! She left the house without them. We found ourself in our paid lot, downtown DC, with a 10 year old with no shoes. Thankfully Le Enfant has a mall attached and a very expensive shoe store where we found 2 sizes too big tennis shoes and $10 socks.

And then these spies hit it up style!

Everyone meandered and every few minutes the adults would try to track everyone down. 

The spy museum is huge and kind of confusing, especially with lots of kids. 

But everyone had fun. Adi probably understands it best since she’s been the most and is the oldest kid. 

I also tried to fit into this hollowed out car and it did not go well. 

We left around 4:00 and I wanted to let the kids run around on the mall but it started pouring rain. We ate at the food court and drove a very loud, very silly truck full of kiddos home. 

That night Kristi, papa, Matt, and I went to Outback for dinner. Max won for most annoying souvie with his voice changer. It “got lost” several times. 

Friday morning brought more fun and adventures!

Spring Break 2022 - part 1

We’ve had an amazing spring break. So much fun and family and friends. 

Church on Sunday was beautiful. Both Adi and Delaney bore their testimonies and while I wasn’t surprised about Adi, you could have knocked me over with a feather about D. She’s more sour that sweet lately, but she still has a heart of gold. We watched Once I was a Beehive that night and it was a nice, quiet Sunday. 

Monday was our working day. We went through drawers and closets and changed from winter to summer wardrobes. It’s still been pretty chilly, but now that the girls are older I really like to have them try things on, so it worked. We spent all day organizing and cleaning, washing and sorting. We took lunch and dinner breaks, but didn’t fully sit down till after 7. So glad that job got done!

In preparation for his birthday Matt got an Irish shirt from my dad and some gourmet cookies from his work. Birthday week!

He also mowed our beautiful grass, and then Delaney went behind him with her scissors and got the edges. We offered her actual gardening tools, but she’s always enjoyed that job and preferred scissors. 

Papa sent us a fun mystery box game thing. We’re not sure what it is, but excited to find out!

Bubba and jeanne shared florida pictures, so Lexi shared her spring weather. Oh Montana. 

On Tuesday we met up with friends at Ann Marie Gardens. We didn’t think to get pictures till several people had left. And they lined themselves up in height order like this. 

Silly shot #1.

Silly shot #2

Then we were treated to a musical by Frankie, Savannah, and Abby. It was very sweet. 

Delaney made herself a big bowl of sand soup. 

We ended up staying till after 5, and I needed to go shopping for the rest of spring break including visitors, a birthday, and Easter. I took Abby and Savannah with us and Delaney went with Aina’s. We did lightning speed shopping at target and Aldi, ate a quick dinner, and then Sarah and I went to a RS activity at the church. 

Wednesday we did Delaney’s choice of spring break activity - 6 Flags. We convinced papa to come with us and picked up Ellie on our way out of town (poor Abby was sick).

While Ellie and I went back to the car for her water, these crazies got a picture. We met Kristi, Max, and Quinn for our day of fun. 

We rode the Ferris wheel in the kid section. Poor Adi got stuck with Kristi and I for this one. 

I tried to get the kid balloon, but it was tough. 

Meanwhile in Florida, Bubba and jeanne got smart after their initial sunburns and got swim shirts and hats. 

Zydeco Zinger fun with the whole crew!

We had even numbers, so everyone always had a ride buddy. 

The story behind this picture is that right after it was taken, they had to get off the ride for a malfunction. They’d waited a really long time, and then even longer to be able to sit in the front, so they were pretty sad. They didn’t think to ask for passes, so I took them back later and they were willing to let them hop right on in the front again. 

Baby bug. 

Auntie Alli met us that afternoon. 

Kristi bought everyone Dippin’ Dots so we took an ice cream break. 

I’m not sure why this was decorated so colorfully, but it was so pretty!

Delaney has been feeling very confident in her 6 flags riding, and patiently worked on encouraging Ellie to ride the drop tower with her all day. She finally felt brave and they held hands as they rode. 

She did it! 

We were all so proud of her, and she was proud of herself. And relieved to be done. Side note - I have not ridden the drop tower. 😂

The kids found ways to keep themselves occupied waiting in lines. 

It was a warm day, high 80’s!

Six flags is small and cute and fun. 

Papa got some nice pics. 

Poor Frankie had to work to keep her bandana on her head all day. 

Adi is hilarious. 

We had chicken tenders for lunch and everyone was happy as it cooled down and the crowds dispersed. 

Oh Max. 🙄

Ellie thought it was funny that Laney was driving with the outside gas pedal. 

Meanwhile in Montana, Lu took Emmi to see Blippi. 

He was cheering and singing the whole time, it was the cutest!

We stayed till closing time at 7. Everyone was starving, so we had dinner at McDonald’s and got home around 9. A little bit burnt and a whole lot tired and happy. 

The weekly

On Monday we went to piano and jiu jitsu and a PTA meeting. I cleaned and did laundry during the day. 

The boys got new big boy beds and Lexi’s been sending me adventures in sharing a room. 

On Tuesday I let myself take a long nap. I made cookies and we had a general conference home evening where we watched the Saturday morning session. 

On Wednesday I did paperworky things and then went to a balance and hearing dr’s appt. That was interesting and she said I did well, so that’s good news. We went to jiu jitsu and then to a service project at the Aina’s. It’s been raining a ton, and though I made sure the girls had boots and coats, I didn’t bring boots for myself. So I visited with Jess and held Ezra and redirected my girls a million times. 

*this night was my favorite. Poor baby! Lexi said he didn’t fall out of bed though, he just gets up to talk to Emmett a lot, and didn’t make it back to his bed in time. 

On Thursday Adi and Delaney went to the dentist. They took progress pictures, and the change was pretty incredible. Hopefully they’ll give us all the progress pictures, because they were neat to see. 

Delaney’s teeth hadn’t really moved at all, and I didn’t have the heart to tell them I was gone (again) and her expander probably didn’t get tightened. I shouldn’t be gone anymore, so as Matt would say, we’re gonna yeet these crooked teeth. 

That night I had an MRI scheduled. I’ve had an mri on my foot, but that’s not a big deal. I think i also had mri confused with ct scan, and when they asked me if I was claustrophobic and I told them kind of, that they would use something that wouldn’t make me feel claustrophobic. So I take off all my metal and put on their hospital pants and pick my music. I laid down with my mask on, they put headphones on me, and then a boxlike contraption on my head, then slid me on into a long metal tube and I was like not today, satan. What in the heck, it was terrible. I asked if I could take my mask off because it was hot and I was feeling very squished with stuff all over my head, but they said no. In normal circumstances I don’t mind wearing masks, but I was clearly not doing well and I would have been in that room alone. 🤷‍♀️ They were very kind and told me so many people don’t go through with having an mri and not to feel like a baby at all. They might have been too kind, because I actually didn’t feel at all bad about leaving. Well, I feel a little bad and I definitely wish I could just push through, but noooo. I also don’t really think an mri is necessary. I think dr. Chen is just being extra cautious, which I appreciate and was happy to go along with (hello 2 hour hearing and balance test an hour away) until it was awful. I guess we’ll see if he really wants me to try again and go from there. 

Friday was a half day, so we went to a makeup piano lesson (again) since Johnna was sick one day. I made Marry Me Chicken for an early dinner, and then we ju jitsu’d then went to target. 

Bubba drove down late last night, so he spent the morning with us. He showed us his orders and where he’ll be and all the fun things he’s been doing to his truck. He and jeanne are heading to the Florida keys for a week of kayaking and beach time, so we hooked them up with everything that they’ll need. 

When they left, we watched half of the Saturday afternoon session of conference. This is pretty good for half a session. 

These kids made it to Florida and I can’t wait to see all their adventures this week. 

Matt and I were invited to serve during the VIP weeks of the temple open house, so we ate dinner at Chicken Rico on our way up to the temple and it was so yummy!

Delaney got to go to Emma’s birthday party and I heard everyone had a blast. 

I’ve been wanting to go bowling for awhile now, so this looks like so much fun!. 

We got to the temple an hour before our training and we were invited to do the walkthrough with the first group even though we were a few minutes late. So we ended up walking through twice, which was nice and we were not sad about. Oh Matt. He was cracking me up!

It was so exciting to be in our temple after 4 long years! It is so beautiful, I especially loved all the new artwork. We did a walkthrough, then a sit down training, then another walkthrough. it was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday night. So very grateful for this opportunity. 

Next week is spring break and even though we’re not going away anywhere fun, we’ve got some fun things planned for each day. And we’re all so stoked to sleep in for 10 whole days!