Big Test

At the end of April, Chad was encouraged by his collogues and boss to take the final test to test of of training to become certified as a System Operator. I've never seen him so stressed as that test approached. He was studying full days at work and studying at home and dreaming about what he studied! His brain was fried. Not only do they test your knowledge, but they put you under a little pressure to see if you're consistent and still make the best choices when stressed. Most of his co-workers didn't pass on the first time. But Chad did! When I got the call that he passed I could feel this huge burden lift off of both of us! 

He actually had to drive south to Cedar City since there is no testing sites in SLC...lame, right?! When he got home, we surprised him with some Crumbl cookies to celebrate this huge accomplishment. I think he took one bite and went straight to bed. He was so tired! I think he finally slept well with the test behind him. Passing this test means shift work is just around the corner. We didn't want it but right now we don't have a choice. I've been worried about this for a year and here we are going right into it. I'm writing this a few months into shift work and it really hasn't been too bad. There is aLOT of overtime right now as they try to get more people trained and tested out. It's intense right now but the days off are so very nice! Even Jilly enjoys having him home in the middle of the day. He's been able to sleep which has been a blessing and somehow we are surviving sports season! It hasn't been bad at all. 

But I'm very proud of my husband and how hard he's been working to take this test and better himself and our familie's situation. Love you dear. I'm so thankful I have you. 

 

April things

April brought some wild storms but the boys were happy because they could squeeze in a few more boarding trips!

Carter also went to his first school dance! I made sure to embarrass him and show him how to slow dance. He didn't even get to slow dance with a girl because they had no slow songs! Still, he said he had a blast and dance in a group of friends. It was a decades theme so here he is in his best decades outfit.  

I got to meet up with Aub for lunch. I sure love this lady and I love how we always can catch right up and long for the next time we can do it! 

I took my kids to the temple...it was COLD! I love being there with them. I hope they will gain a testimony of the temple at a young age!

Sunday selfie with Brielley!

Soccer selfie with Rylee!

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Fires are starting already!

 

Easter

Easter this year was an indoor shin dig! We borrowed Adam's church to have an egg hunt and dinner. We also played games in it the night before and had a lot of fun! We all laughed when we all walked into the gym carrying big bags of balls. We had PLENTY of balls to play with. And we played hard! Dodgeball, chair soccer, basketball, sling ball and all sorts of ball games!

When it was time for the egg hunt, Carter thought he was too big for it so he helped hide eggs. 

As usual, they all got plenty of sweets!! Here's G&G with the kiddos!

The party didn't stop there, after a big Easter feast, we headed off to Arco to spend some more time with G&G Hymas! They told us they were going to do a passover dinner and to bring our robes. We didn't know quite what to expect but as we prepared for dinner, Clyde and Evelyn went around and washed everyone's feet! It surfaced a few giggles, but we all could feel the sacred symbolism of the event. 

We then had a dinner on the ground with nuts and berries, fruit and ham and pita bread. It was all really yummy and it was neat to get to experience. 

And its not a visit to grandmas if we don't get some freeze dried candy! We picked up our freeze dryer from Ronald this weekend too and I was very anxious about it but excited to get it going!

Easter is always a very special time, and I love studying about the Savior more and growing closer to Him. I love him and I know the atonement is real and allows us to change and become better. Happy Easter!

 

Spring Sports

April always means spring sports! This year Carter is doing flag football and on the 49er's team - which he was stoked about. Mollie is still on her same Elite team. Brielle played rec for Elite this year and Rylee played for TC United! To say this spring season is busy is a major understatement! But I love that they all want to get involved and play hard. 

Mollie's team was honored at the ReAl game in SLC for winning the last tournament we played in. Chad and I took her to the game and left the others home!

It was a beautiful evening! And it was my first professional mens game. It was so fun! The energy is unreal in that stadium!

Her team got to run onto the field while they did all the opening stuff. It was awesome. 

They also got on the jumbo tron a time or 2. 

Hello Leo!

And Zhane came and found Mollie. They have season tickets and so she got to sit by him for most of the game. They are so funny...they barely talk to each other! It was a seriously fun night!

 

Thirty-seven

My birthday week was super busy! I was in cheer tryouts the weekend before my bday so we celebrated any time we could. I REALLY wanted to go to Canes and have chicken strips so Chad took me for lunch one day and they were EXTRA delicious. 

I cut 4 inches off my hair and got it dyed. Its so nice to have fresh hair!

My birthday was on conference weekend, as it often is, so we woke up, chad made me funfetti pancakes and later he took us to Thirst for beignets!

I then opened presents and got some really cool things! A new tiered tray with things to go on it and some Hey Dude shoes. 

Socks and treats and sweet cards were also given. 

For lunch it was Jalepeno cheeto mac and cheese. Its pretty darn good!

I started a puzzle that was SO hard! I started it and then put it away so we could do birthday things. 

A fun surprise was the Eash fam stopping by with some balloons for me. I kept them on my banister for quite a while!

Chad of course made me some cupcakes. I had a heck of a time finding the frosting I love so I ordered some online. I got 4 of them! When they showed up, 3 of them were cracked open. I sent them back. On my birthday I didn't get my favorite frosting but my mom made me some good ones with the 1 frosting can I had later on. 

That evening we had a bunch of friends over for cake and cupcakes and ice cream! Chad is too good to me and I felt really loved by all my friends. 

And by gosh I got this puzzle out later in the week and worked so hard on it and got it done! I felt very accomplished getting this 2000 piece puzzle done!
 

End and start of cheer

It's crazy a whole year went by of cheer. It flew! And there was hardly any time to breathe between the end of cheer and the start of cheer! I attended the banquet and enjoyed hearing the funny jokes and memories that had happened through the year and a nice Olive Garden dinner. The girls were so sweet and gave me some nice gifts. I took a pic the night of the banquet because I felt pretty!

All the cheerleaders at TCC and Tooele performed several numbers in an end of year performance. It was so exciting to feel the energy in the room!

And just like that, it was time for tryouts all within the same week! We didn't have as many girls as we have had in the previous years which was nice. And I was really impressed with the amount of talent that we had. I'm really excited for a new year and the chance to try again and make an even better team!!

The Seniors love to participate in the tryouts and gave some good feedback. After the list of who made it was posted, the Seniors go kidnap the team and take them to  breakfast. Such a cute tradition!

 Here we go, round 2!