Spring Break 2018

One of the major benefits of having a spouse in public education is . . . he gets a lot of breaks! And they're usually the same as breaks for the kids! This year, his spring break was the same time as spring break for the preschool, so we decided to go to California and spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Rusch, who are serving in the Fresno mission!
We had so much fun!
Chris said to me before we left that we should check conditions at the mountain pass. "Nah," I thought. "It's spring! No big deal!" Boy, was I wrong . . .
We left a day early so we could spend time in the Bay area, with my friend from college and a few other friends who live out there. But, I-80, over the mountains, closed. So, instead, we spent the day in Reno, Nevada.

These are pictures of Circus, Circus in Reno. We were sad to miss out on friends, but tried to make lemonade out of our lemons!
The next day, we had to take the back route to get to California. I was grateful that I have a husband who loves (obsesses over?) the Western States 100 race, because he knew which way to take when we got to a place that I didn't know. (Note to self: take an atlas in the future. At times, a map on the phone is not useful!)
We reached Fresno and had so much fun playing with Chris's parents! They were so happy to have kids running when they knocked on the door in the hotel room! Their ward is very friendly and it was great to be able to go to church with them. There were so many people who said how much they loved their missionaries!

Chris's parents live in backwoods, CA. They actually live in Prather, CA, which is 40 minutes away from any hotel, and a very remote location to get to. They showed us around their ward boundaries, and the area that they cover in their missionary efforts. It was so fun to see!
On Monday, we drove to Yosemite National Park. This has been on my bucket list for a long time, and it was so fun to see in person! The weather on Monday was great, so we were able to see El Capitan beautifully.

 Davis decided that he was a photographer, and took lots of pictures that are . . . maybe not the best. But, I think this one is actually pretty funny:

Chris's dad got us some great accommodations in Yosemite:

We had so much fun in the three-bedroom cabin that we stayed in! We just wish the weather would have been better for the occasion, but the company was great, so we can't complain!

Seeing El Capitan with the fog around it was pretty breathtaking though.

The trip back was basically uneventful. We stayed at Circus Circus in Reno again after making the pass over the mountains. It was cute to see Davis pulling some luggage in the hotel.

On the way back, we stopped through a place where Chris served his mission. This was a landmark for him, so we took a picture of it:

It was pretty fun to do a road trip. We were a little nervous to start, but it ended up being a ton of fun. The kids did great in the car, because we had DVDs, treats, and lots to do!

It was a fabulous trip! We learned a lot, such as:

• A road atlas would be a good idea
• Our kids are great on the road, especially if they have adequate entertainment!
• Davis was pretty much the ruler of his own little universe! He thought it was pretty cool to be able to reach the treats, toys, and everything his heart desired from his seat!
• Getting a room with two queen-sized beds actually works really well for our little family!
• There are adjustments that need to be made, but if we basically have a good time, it is a success! And we need to be very flexible!
• We love each other and are grateful for these opportunities!

Also, have you ever seen a WORSE misspelling of Chris's name?

Thanks, Arby's!

Davis is FIVE!!

Davis turned FIVE this week! Holy smokes! It's hard to believe that he's really been in our family for five years . . . part of me thinks it's been an eternity that he's been here, and part of me feels like it started yesterday!
We had a very fun little superhero birthday with his friends on Saturday.

 They had several games in the "super hero training," including push-ups, sit-ups, and burpees. Then we went downstairs and shot silly string at a poster that had spiders on it. We also did a pin-the-dot on the Batman insignia, and a target practice as well. The kids thought the games were great.

Blowing out candles on the birthday cupcake. This was actually the only time that he blew out the candles. #momfail. Oh, well.

Then, on Sunday, we had a party with family

He opened his presents, and then we all had ice cream and cake, which was great fun. We had mint ice cream, chosen because he wanted the green one.

On Monday, we had to make a trip to Utah to get both of our fingerprints taken. So, after we got home, we opened presents, and then took the kids to Reed's Dairy and they had ice cream for dinner. Another #momfail. But when it's your birthday, it's okay, right?

Eating lunch in Odgden

Opening his presents from us, including a tool chest that now resides in his bedroom. Along with his legos, his bedroom is now a more popular place than the family room!!

Things I want to remember about Davis turning five:
1. He is still such a nice boy. He always tries to be kind to everyone, especially Reagan.
2. He loves to play pretend. From one moment to the next, he might go from PJ Masks to Batman to Spiderman to Thomas the Train. And every time I try to call him by whatever he is pretending to be, he says, "Mom! I'm just pretending!!" I always say, "Oh, thanks. I get mixed up."
3. Most of his games with Reagan are just one telling the other one what to say. Sometimes they try to tell me what to say too. It never works.
4. Davis is FASCINATED with numbers and letters and EVERYTHING!! He loves to tell me what he has learned in preschool and try to figure out how it works in real life.
5. Davis still loves to sing. He has brought several new songs that he has learned in primary and preschool home with him. They are always fabulous songs!

We love this little boy and can't wait to see what he will turn out to be in his life!

Halloween 2017

Halloween 2017 was definitely a success! Even though we are currently undergoing issues with unemployment and Chris, we were still able to have fun with the whole holiday! First, we had the ward trunk-or-treat:

Davis was a pirate for this, because no masks were allowed. Reagan chose to wear the Tinkerbell costume, because she could.

The day before Halloween, we went to see the hay bales in town that were decorated to look like Star Wars characters:

They do this every year. We really should make it a tradition to go see them, because they are very cool, and not too far away!
Then, of course, the pumpkin carving:

Davis wanted his pumpkin to be a ghost, and Reagan wanted hers to be a kitty cat. Chris is an awesome and skilled pumpkin carver, as you can see!
On Halloween, this little girl sat with me in the family room and watched Halloween kids shows while I was folding laundry. I know it's not too exciting, but there you have it. This was the only part of the festivities where she wore the original costume I got for Halloween, which is Belle. But that;s not really the point of getting costumes, right?

On Halloween, we went to the Halloween party at the library. It was a lot of fun!

Reagan was the very first one to dance along with the music before the festivities. And she decided to wear her Snow White dress for it.
And then, the real event, the trick-or-treating:

Davis was a storm trooper, and Reagan was Snow White. Notice the snow coats under their costumes. I love living in Idaho! We mostly went to see family, which was super fun!

This morning, Davis was disappointed that we still had Halloween decorations in our house. So, we promptly took care of those and put up the Thanksgiving decorations.

Davis is sitting by the boy scarecrow, and Reagan is sitting by the girl. Because duh!

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!!

Preschool!

Davis started preschool. He LOVES it! He might be a little bit like his daddy, because he LOVES to learn absolutely everything he possibly can! So the first day was an open house, and we all went together to look at the school and get to know everything. Honestly, he was grumpy when we left, because he WANTED to just start learning BY HIMSELF already. But then it was better when the first day came.

 This is how excited he was for the first day!

This is his progress report. Teachers love kids who are enthusiastic! It does pretty good for a Mom's heart to see how well he is doing!

Preschool at the Pumpkin Patch

We do a mother-led preschool every week, and one week, we decided to go on a fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch. It was a lot of fun to ride the train, and pick out pumpkins. It was not a lot of fun to have Davis get lost for a few minutes, but thankfully, we found him again and no one got hurt.