May, and Remodel Part 3

We celebrated Elise's ninth birthday!  She picked out an Oreo ice cream cake for our family party, which is pretty much the best cake in the world.  Her gifts included an enormous canvas print of a peacock, which she wanted placed right above her bed, a 3DS video game about pet puppies, and several large boxes of fruit rolls and treats.
   

While sitting and watching taekwondo, Corinne started taking pictures of the class.  At least someone was doing it.
  

Corinne Self Portrait (In the Background)

  

Connor and Grady Sparring

  
We did the final Disneyland day on our three-day pass.  Corinne mostly hung out with me, while the older kids did scarier rides with Dad.

 

Waving to the Princesses

In mid-May, I signed Corinne and Evan up for two weeks of swimming lessons.  The goal was to get Corinne pool safe by the time summer started, and she made it!  She can now swim, take a breath, and swim again.
  

  
Connor got to attend 11-Year-Old Scout camp, which is a great introductory overnighter in the local park.  He was a little nervous about going without Dad (Ryan was at a conference), and sleeping in a tent with a kid he didn't know, but ended up having a fantastic time, and made a new friend.
   

The end of the school year brought final exams for the older classes at co-op.  Connor took his Insects exam and his First Form Latin final (which took over two hours and was done at the park.)  He did great on everything.  Elise took her last Prima Latina test, and got the high score!
  

Insects Final

Latin Finals

  

  
While trying to avoid an oncoming car on our street, I took out a neighbor's garbage can.  My poor side mirror got destroyed.  Luckily, Ryan was able to order a new one and put it in himself!
  

Elise's dance class got their recital costumes, which were an awesome combination of lumberjack, long-haul trucker, and sequins.
   

  
In Primary, we decided to revamp the gifts we give to kids after their baptisms.  I made some great "My Gospel Standards" bookmarks at home, and we put them in a cellophane baggie with a scripture pencil and their Faith in God books.  Cute and inexpensive!
  

  
For Memorial Day we were invited to a potluck at our friends' house (the same friends who invited us for Thanksgiving and the Superbowl).  They were about to move to Orange County, so it was our last chance to celebrate holidays with them locally.  Ryan smoked a pork shoulder AND tri-tip, which were both a huge hit.
   

Memorial Day with Friends!

We decided that as long as we were messing with the inside of our house, we might as well update the outside, too.  This is what it looked like before most of the work got started:
  

 
After lots of agonizing, I decided to take most of the trim off of the house, which meant we had to repair the stucco.  Picking paint took forever - I think I made the paint guys try out eight or more samples, but I finally decided to just drive around until I saw a house whose color made me happy and copy it!

My lousy picture manipulation, to see if the house would be okay without it's "rays."

My Color Inspiration

Peach Smoothie

Construction waste turns into great Kid Art.

  
Meanwhile, the inside of our house was a total mess.  We had cabinets filling up our whole dining room, all our food on our table, and all our linens in piles in the kids' rooms.  We got really sick of toast and microwaveable oatmeal (okay, only I got sick of it - the kids were in heaven.)  Eventually, the new cabinets got installed in the kitchen, hall, and bath, and we picked out tile and paint for the master bathroom.
   

Piles

  

Oh, and we continued to have to pick and buy stuff.
  

All this time, my poor kids were pretty neglected.  They just hung around, doing minimal amounts of schoolwork and goofing off.
  

Yellowjackets on Chicken (by Elise)

The Church Tree

Vegas, and Remodel Part 2

The remodel continued during and after our weekend in Arches, with walls being framed and drywalled, windows moved or installed, and a closet built.

Our Awesome Closet Plans

  
We spent more time picking out stuff like cabinets and tile.  Not my favorite thing to do, but I think it turned out pretty well.
   

      

During all this, Evan earned the final stripe on his preschool taekwondo belt, which made him eligible to be promoted to the "big kid" white belt class.  His teachers decided to give him an extra few weeks in the younger class to practice paying attention, though.  I thought that was an excellent idea.  Not to be outdone, Elise made a beautiful and extra sturdy mud dome in the backyard.
    

Whenever possible, Ryan still goes on his Midnight Rides the last Friday of every month.  They normally center around downtown Los Angeles and the West Side.
  

  
To celebrate Ryan's and my 15th anniversary, we planned a fabulous Las Vegas getaway.  We would have preferred a cruise, but my pregnant condition made almost all cruise destinations too dangerous due to the Zika outbreak, so we decided Vegas was the answer.  First, though, I had to drive the kids up to stay with their cousins in Orem (thanks Kyle and Kelli!)  We stopped at Grandma and Grandpa's house for a short visit, where Corinne got her first taste of fry sauce.  She still talks about it.
    

Cousins Week!

I spent the night with the Murrays, then drove back south to our hotel.  Ryan flew in to join me a couple of hours later.  We stayed at the V'Dara, which was pretty great, especially since it's one of the only hotels in Vegas that's entirely nonsmoking and not a casino.  We had a great view of the strip, including the Bellagio fountains.
    

On day two, I got a pedicure, we went to the Las Vegas temple, then we had a great dinner at what's supposedly the fanciest buffet in town.
   

  
Day 3 was our tour of the Hoover Dam, which is way more complicated than I thought.  On the way back into town, we stopped at Nana and Al's old house, just for fun.
  

That night we ate at a super fancy restaurant whose name I've already forgotten.  Joe's Seafood, maybe?  We had stone crab, bone-in ribeye, and a bunch of expensive veggies.  It was probably my favorite meal.  After that was our first big show - we had tickets to see the Blue Man Group.  It was noisy and fun, but apparently too much for Ryan.  We had remarked a week or two earlier how lucky it was that he had escaped the stomach flu that got the kids and I.  Right during the show's finale, with loud music, flashing lights, and all kinds of streamers and confetti, he barfed all over the floor.  So sad.  Luckily, with all the craziness and paper mess, nobody else noticed.  I did stand guard after the show, though, to make sure the disaster didn't get stepped in.  
  

The next day was obviously pretty low-key.  Ryan stayed in the hotel, sipping Gatorade, while I explored a bit by myself.  I had to send him a picture of the amazing crepe I had for breakfast, to cheer him up....or maybe just to brag?  By late evening he was feeling well enough to go to Cirque de Soleil (the 'O' production.)  That show was definitely my favorite.  I'm sure it was Ryan's, too.
    

The next morning was the end of the trip, but Ryan was determined to have the french toast advertised at the Brasserie next door.  They had this awesome accordion player wandering from table to table, and he did the greatest rendition of the theme from "The Godfather" for us.
  

  

We then drove north and met Kyle, who was bringing our kids down to meet us, at a gas station in Parowan.  Somewhere between there and St. George, we stopped and played in the Virgin river for awhile.  Places like this are so different from Los Angeles - I wish my kids had more chances to skip rocks!

   

The next morning, just west of Las Vegas, we explored Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.  I had never known there was nature in Las Vegas, but it was really quite beautiful!
  

Corinne had run out of clean clothes, so she used Evan's.

  
The visitor's center helped me figure out what this cool plant was.  I thought it was cool, anyway.  After hiking and driving the scenic loop, we left for home.