Dear Family and Friends,

I hope everyone is enjoying their Easter. Yesterday and today we have had sunshine and warmer weather (low 70s) that has felt wonderful. Yesterday afternoon I felt very self-indulgent as kids were occupied with friends and I went to run in the canyon for the first time this year (I remember the route feeling a lot shorter last year!) and then coming home to lie in a bath in the middle of the afternoon with the sunshine pouring in and a good book in hand. I day dream about such moments.

The Easter bunny came to our house while we were at church. Spencer could not understand why they didn't just have sacrament meeting so everyone could get home to do eggs, like they did at Christmas time for presents. Had a little talk about the meaning of Easter. Girls were all dressed up for Easter. Allison got a new dress but Robyn had several hand me down's to choose from. We had a really hard time finding dress shoes for Allison in her size and ended up finding a pair last night on our date for her. Unfortunately they are a little big on her so she was limping a bit by the end of church complaining about her blisters. She looked beautiful though!

In just a little bit Jason's family and Lauri are coming over for dinner and to do a candy easter egg hunt. We do a real hardboiled egg one with the Easter bunny. So the kids get two hunts every year, which they think is great. With all the candy they have already eaten from their baskets you would think they would be jumping off the walls but after we went for a long walk they have been pretty mellow. They sure look forward to having cousins over. It was cousin pizza and movie night this week so they have been able to see them twice which they think is wonderful.

This week was the week of then dentist. All the kids had appointments to see the dentist Monday morning. Everyone looked good except for Spencer having one cavity on the corner of his molar. They watched him brush and he never turns his brush to hit that one spot. They had repaired Spencer's retainer and glued it back into place. We grabbed happy meals for the kids to eat on the way to school and dropped off each kid at school along the way and went home to collapse. An hour later I get a call from Spencer that his retainer broke. I was not happy. So we load everyone up and go back down again (its a 30 min drive each way). The dentist said that when the repaired it they overheated the contact points so it wasn't Spencer's fault this time. So they did another mold of his teeth and said we could wait an hour for them to make a new one. So we ran up to pick up Lauri for St Patrick's Day dinner and came back for them to refit and glue in the retainer. On Tuesday afternoon Spencer shows me how the rings are sliding off his teeth. (This is while we are driving to and from SLC with all the kids for Spencer's psychiatrist appointment) I was not happy! So Wednesday morning we are back again at the dentist for them to glue it in again. This time they used super strong glue and crimped it to his teeth. They all remembered us at that point.

Other news of the week is that Jeremy has been receiving all the new equipment he needed to get for his Donny tour. He has been very happy trying everything out - Christmas every day. One new lens he got was broken by Robyn an hour after it arrived - a bad moment - but Jeremy gritted his teeth and refrained from saying anything he would regret. His knee is doing better although he still just sucks it up a lot. The insulation was finished in our basement this week. Tomorrow the sheetrock starts arriving. It is looking like real rooms down there now. Jeremy spent yesterday cleaning out all the construction debris that has built up and vacuuming out all the dust. While he was on a roll he even powerwashed out the garage and of course if you do that you have to clean off the driveway. What a guy! This week he and Jason got to take the kayaks out to start teaching the young men in preparation for their trip. He is figuring out how to mount them in our garage.

Rest of the week is pretty routine. Lots of little girls running around. Spencer cruising up and down the street on his wave board. Robyn being found with a hamster in each hand trying to have Mickey give the "girls" a kiss. Allison making it 15 yards doing crawl. Meeting with an accountant to be told that yes we really do owe that much. Spencer going to the planetarium and learning to weave an easter basket. Filling 80 eggs with candy for Allison's easter egg hunt. Reading a bunch of spiderwick. Somewhere in there laundry, shopping and cooking happen. Keeps us busy and happy. We had a enrichment night dinner this week and one of the questions asked was to name something unusual about yourself. I really couldn't think of anything. Made me think that to describe my life to outsiders might sound very plain but living it feels anything but!

Love to you all, Heather