Spring Break Simple

After taking a trip to Utah in February and then having the Ludlows visit for Easter, we were pretty happy that we didn't have to go anywhere for Spring Break.  We stayed home and planned just the right amount of diversions for the week off of school!

First things first: getting the discounted candy from Target on the day after Easter!  Somehow the boys had managed to eat most of their loot by Sunday night, so they were feeling pretty worried about it and wanted to use their own money to stock up.  After all, Peeps only come once a year!  Oh, wait, that's not true anymore...

We had some time for play dates with the Severson boys, which is pretty much everyone's favorite thing to do.  Archer even got in on the fun!

Ellis got invited to visit Sam's preschool as a special alumni guest at Miss Nancy's!

So Henry and I decided we needed a trip to the Botanic Garden while they were at preschool.  Unfortunately, it was still a little cold and there wasn't much growing outside.  So we enjoyed the indoor gardens, which had some pretty blooms.  

Henry was pretty interested in the corpse flower, which apparently smelled really, really bad when it first bloomed, but now it's in a less smelly phase, thank goodness.

Here are some of the pretty flowers in the greenhouses.  When it's "spring break" and doesn't feel very springy, it really helps to see color like this!

Oh yeah, Archie was with us too.  He was being cute, as usual.

I have been dreaming of eating in the beautiful setting of the Garden Café for quite some time.  Unfortunately, Ben's schedule has never allowed him to join me for this dream.  So Henry got to be my date!  This challah French toast was truly to die for, and the setting did not disappoint!

Archer got to sample the strawberry-rhubarb compote from Henry's French toast.  He was a fan!

More lazy, happy, book-sharing time.  They spent a lot of time reading the blog book this week!

Friday was April Fool's Day, so I took the opportunity to make some cotton ball truffles for the boys.  They were very disappointed!

Ben took the day off, and we were going to go bowling, but the lanes were all full.  So we tried our hand at Bocce ball.  It was really fun!

The boys turned out to be good little Bocce players.  

And this is the "winning team" picture!

We had wanted to take a little overnight trip somewhere close by, but when we realized it was Conference weekend, we decided to stay REALLY close by.  We figured the boys just cared about the hotel anyway!  We enjoyed swimming, happy hour snacks, cable TV, and yummy breakfast, all for less than we pay for 1 hour of swim lessons for 3 boys.  

In short, Embassy Suites is our fave!  

And to end our Spring Break, we had a lovely little snow fall.

April Fool's Day for the Books

I can't tell you how excited we were to find out that our Spring Break trip overlapped with my favorite holiday, April Fool's Day!  

This is what I wore on the plane on the day we arrived to visit our families.  Fun surprise, right?

  What our families didn't know is that I had a belly like this one above at 11 weeks, and with friends who saw me on a regular basis, the fact that I was pregnant was quite obvious from about 8 weeks.  I would have loved to tell our families, but who can resist the chance to tell them in person, at 16 weeks, and on April Fool's Day, no less?!?

The day before we flew to Utah, we had an ultrasound, during which we found out that we are expecting a baby boy.  Boy #4 for the Iversons!  But we thought it would be more fun to tell our families that we are expecting TWIN boys, and it was a fun little joke as they tried to figure out if this could in fact be an April Fool's joke, and if it was, which part of it was a joke.  Was I actually pregnant?  Was it one boy or two boys?  Or was it a girl?  Or did I not even know?  These questions and the accompanying torment filled my parents' kitchen for a painful 2 hours.  I kind of wanted to tell everyone the truth, but I honestly couldn't figure out how to tell them in a way that would make them believe me.  No matter what I said, it sounded like another addition to my April Fool's Joke.  "It's a girl - April Fool's!"  "It's a boy - April Fool's!"  "I'm not actually pregnant - April Fool's!"  It got painfully annoying after a while.  My mom just wanted to go to bed, so she could wake up and have it not be April Fool's Day anymore . . . but she knew she would not be able to sleep!  

Brady saved the day with some April Fool's entertainment of his own.

Finally, I pulled out the ultrasound prints and let them see the single, adorable baby boy for themselves.

I quickly updated my shirt with the truth . . . to clarify everything on the morning after.  Anti-climactic?  Maybe.  But it was kind of an adventure.  

We spent the rest of the week laughing, crying a bit, and mostly celebrating all the really great boys in our family.  These are some of the boys in the Griffin family.  My parents have one adorable granddaughter - Sophie, who will be followed by TEN grandsons in a row!  Yes, it is true.  Time to restock the Nerf bullets.

We played with Iverson cousins and had a fun family night with cousin Zach.

Henry, Ellis, and Sam enjoyed getting dirty in the Ogden River with the Jackson cousins.  

Sam and Max threw at least 800 rocks in the river.

And Ellis and Henry stretched their normal levels of bravery and insanity to impress their cousins, by crossing slippery rock paths and dunking different clothing items in the water.  Yeah.

We enjoyed the annual Iverson egg hunt.

Sam got a golden money egg!

And Ellis scored the broccoli egg!

Ellis amused us all with his uncanny resemblance to Little Debbie.

We spent lots of lazy mornings sorting and eating Lucky Charms (especially me).

We had a fun visit to Ogden's Treehouse Museum.  Don't you love my little firemen?

And my cowboys?

And my brave and chivalrous knights?

And my talented calligraphers? 

I love them too.  I felt so lucky to get to bring these three boys (plus one little bump) home with me.  I'm a lucky lady.

Why Spring Break needed to happen in Utah

First of all, I found ridiculously cheap tickets to fly to Utah.  This was after my Mustache Bash trip was already planned, but I really wanted to take the boys to Utah.  Secondly, Ben was going to be busy during Spring Break week and wouldn't be able to play with us adequately.  Thirdly, Chicago is WAY too cold in early April.  And winter had been going on long enough.  We had no choice but to scoot out of here!

The boys were champions on the flight.  It helps when they are old enough to be fully captivated by small portable electronic devices (which can now stay on during take-off and landing... huzzah!).

We also had the most kid-conscious flight attendant ever, who brought us chocolate to help get through the flight, as well as a special drink for the kids he called "pilot's punch."

This right here is why I wanted to take my boys to Utah.  

 They got some special one-on-one time with my grandparents, who played outside with them and prepared Easter eggs to dye together.  My grandpa limited them to "only 12 eggs each."  :)

The weather was lovely and so very rejuvenating.  I'll say that it thawed our hearts.

This is on antelope island with Ben's parents and Andrea's family.  We're going to pretend like it wasn't teeming with mosquitoes.  It really is such a pretty place.

 Grandpa time.

 Henry sang, "I'm on top of the world," his current favorite tune.

 Mountain men.

 It was fun to be with cousin Zach.

 Utah views.

Sam-o was pretty sure he didn't like anyone or anything on this trip.  But he sure is cute.

 Um, yes.  Reason enough to hop on a plane right there.

 Sunset

Utah is such a good place to spend time outdoors.  We enjoyed a little hike with Grandma Lori up Adam's Canyon (wearing coon-skin caps, of course).

Utah is also a good place to eat Lucky Charms and pancakes for breakfast.  Every single day.  

 And who doesn't enjoy a good cousin photo shoot?

I know at least the photo bomber enjoyed himself!  

Somehow I didn't get any of the other Jackson kids in my pictures.  I guess we'll have to go back soon!  Hey, why not in a couple of months?