More spring skiing and General Conference

Since we are now a skiing family, I took the boys up skiing once again on the first weekend in April.  After school, Jill took the boys to Scheel's to get their skis and then met me at the base of the canyon.  Alyssa was happy to stay home with Jill this time.  We also took up Hammer (Hyrum Barlow) and I taught him briefly, while Logan and Landon went off to get in their first runs.  Then Logan and Hyrum went together for a bit, and then Landon and Hyrum.  By the end of the night we all got together for a couple of more runs.  It was fun to teach Hyrum and really fun to spend time with the boys, now that they feel more confident in their abilities.  Skiing is much more fun when you've had a bit of practice and aren't having to learn.  We even did the bigger high-speed lift and loved it! 

We've developed a good skiing routine this spring.  We go to Scheel's and pick up equipment around 2:30 p.m. and then get up the canyon by about 3:30 p.m.  We're ready to ski right at 4:00, when night skiing begins.  In the Spring there is still quite a bit of light at 4:00 and even for a few hours after that.  With a granola bar in our pocket, we push through and end sometime after 8:00 p.m.  This time we skied until the resort closed at 9:00 p.m. and then drove down the canyon for a late dinner at Cafe Rio.  The boys were starving by then, but we had a great dinner and had fun telling stories about how great skiing was.

Meanwhile Jill ventured south of the border with Alyssa and her friends.  Now that the boys are getting older, one thing they love is to ride their bicycles to Taco Bell.  Alyssa loves to get in on the action whenever she can.  Jill agreed to take Alyssa and her little friends to Taco Bell for dinner.  They felt so big.  Alyssa was in heaven having an "eat-over" with her friends Calli Chandler and Claire Sligting.

Silly girls.

General Conference was also the first weekend in April.  Priesthood session is now just once a year, in the spring.  This was Landon's first time to go, since becoming a Deacon in November.  He wasn't sure what to expect, but he enjoyed being with all the men in the Bryant family (except Jake). This year Corwin and Judy were in Omaha so we didn't have the traditional dinner at their house before separating for Priesthood.  Instead, we grabbed dinner on our way to my parents' chapel.  Landon was a good sport and we all enjoyed conference.  There were so many announcements last year, that everyone expected big announcements this time, too.  Obey the commandments was the big take away.  Do what you are supposed to do.  No big change.

Jill and Alyssa played with my sisters and Mom and had their traditional Chinese food.  They played games and then we met up together after the meeting.

For conference Sunday we had our traditional amazing breakfast at mom and dad's house and then watched the morning session of conference together.

 For a beehive activity, Jill had the girls paint.  Alyssa loves it when she can participate with the girls.  She was able to join in with them and paint.  She had so much fun.

Shed Lights, Skiing, Goblin Valley, Half Marathon, and New Glasses

For over a year now I've wanted to run power to the shed in the backyard.  The ground can be so hard, though, so I've been waiting for spring when the dirt is soft.  This spring was my year.  I dug a trench to the backyard and Kent Candrian from our neighborhood ran the electrical from our house to the shed.  It's going to be so nice now having power back there to charge batteries and to see at night.  Also with an external plug, I would like to put up some holiday lights in the winter.  The possibilities are endless now that I have power! 

After taking Logan and Landon skiing, it was finally Alyssa's turn on March 23rd.  She had such a good attitude about going.  I decided to let Logan tag along, too, so he could get some extra practice.

She looked adorable up on the slopes.  She struggled like the boys the first time down, but she did get better.  Then, for some reason, she told herself that she couldn't do it and it got worse from there.  She is so cute and we did have a fun time together, but in the end she was tired and didn't come away with the best memory of skiing.  Hopefully next year we can give it another try and she can build on what she learned this time.

While we were skiing, Landon had a fun scout campout at Goblin Valley.  He loves being outside and being active.  His leaders said he did really well at being the first hiker to finish each hike.  They hiked Wild Horse Canyon on Saturday morning and Landon really enjoyed it.  His only disappointment was that the rest of the boys didn't want to hike further.

On the drive home, they celebrated at Wendy's in Price.  Landon really enjoyed being with his friends.

March 30th was the Riverton Half Marathon. This year it was just Kent Candrian, Kevin Palmer, and me that ran it.  We had fun and I did really well.  Chalk up another great race.  I finished 39th overall with a time of 1:39:46.  Not too bad.  Last year I finished with the exact same 1:39 time.  So I haven't lost a step!

I love my cheerleading squad.  They are always so good to support me in these crazy races. 

The Burtons hosted a murder mystery dinner that night at their house.  We sure enjoyed being in character and spending time with friends. 

Alyssa and Calli Chandler sure love playing together.  Here they are being crazy with play dough. 

Also, during the last week of March, Alyssa was able to participate in Kids Marketplace at school.  It's an activity for all the third graders.  They get assigned a "job," are given a "paycheck," and then have to spend their "money" at tables set up around the gym.  It encourages them to think about budgeting and learn to make decisions with their money.  If they spend all their money on the designer clothes, for example, they may not have enough for the groceries they want to buy.  Alyssa was excited to be a Nurse for the day and had a lot of fun with the activity.  Jill volunteered at the "furniture store" and had a lot of fun too!

It's time for new glasses!  The boys are both in contacts now so it's just Alyssa in glasses.  She had been having a hard time seeing, so we knew her prescription had gotten worse.  All of our kids are nearsighted, but Alyssa seems destined to be the most nearsighted.  She is always excited to pick out a new pair of glasses. She was so happy to be able to see again!

Basketball Madness and Winning Region

At the youth auction I had the winning bid for Jazz tickets.  They were in the lower bowl and the seats were really great.  Jill and I had a terrific time relaxing together and talking.  So often we are with the children and my favorite line is, "I'll talk to you tonight at 11:00 p.m."  We enjoyed the game but mostly being together was really nice. 

March is a good time to fly a kite.  I helped Alyssa fly her Frozen kite one day, but the wind wasn't really strong.  Every kid knows that if you run, you can help the kite hold the air that it needs.  Running helps the kite fly, but you always get tired.  Well, without any prompting at all, Landon went and got his Christmas present Segway.  It was the perfect solution for flying a kite when there isn't very much wind.  It was brilliant!

We had a quiet St. Patrick's day holiday compared to other years.  We celebrated quietly at home, but of course we still had green slush and green French bread for toasted ham and cheese sandwiches.

For March Madness basketball I got out all of the shirts that I have for teams that are in the tournament.  I wore them to work the week that the team played, which was kind of fun.

Logan's church basketball team is really good.  They won the stake level of play and when they got to the region tournament, they dominated there, too.  I don't think any of the games were very close up until the championship game.  Ironically enough, in the region championship we played another team from our stake.  I took video of the game and Ben Barlow took some good still shots.  I used his pictures of Logan in action.

Their team designed jerseys one week for Mutual.  For some reason, they decided to put Muppet characters on them.  Logan had to leave early, but the rest of the team finished choosing nicknames for everybody.  Logan's nickname is Pepe.

Logan isn't the player with the most points, but he does a really good job of plugging up the lanes and he is really good as a passing option.  The guards can penetrate and pass to Logan, who can find someone open and score when needed.  His team was a lot of fun to watch this season.  Of course most of these boys were on our  Jr. Jazz team for seven years, so I taught them everything they know! :)  It was exciting to see them do so well and to win the region championship!

Landon was also able to play church ball this year.  The deacons are a smaller group, so they were combined with another ward.  The team played pretty well together and were also able to play in the region tournament.  Landon enjoyed playing more basketball, but preferred the intensity of our Jr. Jazz team.

Logan's friend Hyrum is beginning to act. Oquirrh Hills Middle School put on a production of Pirates of Penzance.  Since Hyrum had a pretty big role, so we went to support him.  He did a terrific job. 

Logan is getting pretty good at the trumpet.  His band had a Spring concert in March.  Of course, he played really well.  After listening to him practice at home, it's always fun to hear his trumpet notes as part of a bigger band sound.

Landon's class had a field trip to the zoo and Jill got to be one of the chaperones.  The teacher loves it when Jill can help because Landon's best buddies are a bit excitable.  Jill does a great job watching Landon's friends, allowing the teacher to focus on the rest of the class.  Landon's teacher added a couple of girls to calm the boys down. It seemed to work; they didn't want to be as crazy around the girls!