Learning to Ride

We finally decided it was time to teach Max how to ride his bike. He got it last September for his birthday, but we hadn't found a chance to go test it out. Saturday we took the boys to the newly paved, flat church parking lot to give it a try. At first he was a little nervous, but started to get the hang of it a little. Dad was still never able to let go so it will take a few more practice sessions to get it. Mason also gave it a try on a little bike we bought from our neighbor's garage sale last fall. He loved it, but also couldn't keep his balance enough for dad to let go.

I'm hoping that they all get the hang of it soon so I can pull out my bike that I haven't ridden since before I had kids and maybe we can take some family bike rides. That would be awesome!

FINALLY!

It has finally felt like Spring this past week. We took advantage of it today and went downtown to see all the beautiful flowers at Temple Square. It was perfect!

Once again our fabulous Aunt Tracy went with us to help with crowd control. It's a good thing too because Max managed to get himself lost in our first 3 minutes downtown. We parked at the Little America hotel planning to ride Trax the rest of the way. When the elevator came, Max hopped on while we waited for the people to come out. Before we knew it, the doors closed and took Max away before any of us could jump in there with him. Panic!! We ran up the stairs and told the front desk that the elevator had taken him to who knows where. They sent out an APB to the workers. Meanwhile Max rode all the way up to the 15th floor and got out to look for the stairs. When he started to cry a hotel worker found him and brought him back down to the lobby. Not the best way to start out our Temple Square experience, but luckily we managed to hang on to everyone after that. It was a lovely day and when we were leaving Mason said, "This is my favorite place in the whole world."

Movin' Right Along

It's official, Miles can crawl. Guess I better start baby proofing everything again. This could mean trouble.

9 months 3 weeks old.

Spring Break/ Easter

I love having my kids home. I love not worrying about homework or bedtimes. I especially love how my kids play together and keep each other entertained. It was a fun and relaxing six days together and this is how we spent it:

Wednesday

We dropped Miles off at Grandma Miller's and picked Mike up from work to go see "How to Train Your Dragon" at Jordan Commons. I had some free popcorn coupons which made it even better. It was such a cute show and my boys and I absolutely loved it. We chose not to see it in 3D because I was too cheap to pay the extra money, and now I wish we would have. We just might have to go again. Thursday

We spent the afternoon at Classic Fun Center. My boys tried rollerskating for the first time, and it didn't really go all that well. None of them could keep their balance and couldn't quite get the hang of it. I was proud of them all for trying though.

This is before they tried.

This is how Mason felt about it after he attempted to go half way around the rink. Not a fan!

Right after I took this picture, Max fell flat on his bum and was done.

They all liked the Jungle and the bounce houses much better. It was a great afternoon spent with fun friends and lots of exercise for the boys (but not for Miles and I. We just sat there watching)

Spring break means that the bed time is not so rigid. Mitchel and Max loved to stay up a little later than normal reading. We have also been reading some books together. In the past few weeks I read them Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and right now we are working on Shiloh. Mike has gone through all the Percy Jackson books in the past week and I am reading The Lost Symbol. We love to read at the Harker house!

This is just a cute picture of Miles with a duck my mom gave him.

Friday

Mike and I were lucky enough to go on a date night while the kids slept over at Grandma and Grandpa Miller's. I decided to wear my new Easter dress just for fun since I wouldn't be able to wear it anywhere on Easter.

The bummer about our date night was I had a Jordan Commons gift card to use at any restaurant there. We chose to eat at "The Last Samurai" a Japanese style place where they cook all the food in front of you. It was yummy and fun but expensive. When we went to give them our gift card to pay for it, they told us that they don't accept the Jordan Commons gift cards. Crap! So we had to pay for it, and that was NOT in our budget. Oh well. It was fun anyway.

Saturday

We spent the whole day watching conference and, for the first time ever, my kids watched it all too. They had been given some fun things to work on from Primary and my mother- in -law had printed them out some bingo cards. They listened so well for the words on the card and actually enjoyed it.

I also was able to listen to every talk in every session this year. It was wonderful! It seemed like there were tons of talks aimed toward mothers and parents and leaders of the youth. I was once again inspired to keep plugging along and doing my best. Our leaders sure know what they are talking about and I am excited to get next month's Ensign to reread the talks and hear what they said in the Priesthood session. Mike said that was really good too.

That night was the Easter egg coloring.

Sunday

We got together at Aunt Tracy's house this year for Easter dinner. Yummy!

Then the Easter egg hunt. Not quite as fun and crazy as when the Miller cousins are with us but my boys still had fun running around Aunt Tracy's back yard finding more than their brothers. Cousin Jack was there too, but he wasn't much competition yet.

In the end, everyone was happy. Mitchel and Mason found the golden eggs which each had $1 and Max got the silver one with $0.50. Plus tons of candy.

Monday

Monday was spent taking Dad's car up to Big O tires to finally fix his flat tire and see if it could pass inspection. Then back home for a spring break nap (my favorite part of the whole weekend). That night we went out for some pizza with Aunt Tracy and had a great Family Home Evening.

So even though it was crappy, cold, snowy, weather we still managed to have ourselves a wonderful Spring Break. I love my kids more than I could express and I love spending time with them. They are such good kids and I love how they play and care for each other and for me. I am so blessed to be their mom. Can't wait for summer!