Being a grown up...

With Will's tournament finished (at least the part he was participating in) we got to spend a few extra days in Vegas just being grown-ups.  We just enjoyed relaxing and eating way too much food.  It was perfect.

One thing I wanted to see was an art exhibit by the artist Yayoi Kusama.  She makes these infinity rooms in a few cities, they look very cool.  We did make time on our way out of town to see her exhibit.  It was just two rooms, one filled with mirrored balls and one filled with mirrors and lights.  They were both cool but the mirrored room was the coolest!

It was a lovely trip.  We are so grateful to Grandma Judy for holding down the fort at home (and running kids all over creation) for us. 

He likes to do hard things...

Will has been back in the wrestling saddle this season.  He has worked hard, got in shape, and is ready to wrestle in the National Open Championships in Las Vegas.  I don't know how he does this stuff but I do know he loves it.  

We left home early Tuesday morning for the Luxor hotel.  We checked in and Will went to sweat out his last tiny bit of weight before weigh-ins.  

I left him to his sweating work and took myself to the temple.  Our temple in Oakland has been closed so we have to go when we are out of town.  I enjoyed being in the temple and not being around Will.  I love that guy but when he is hungry and cutting the last bit of weight, he is so cranky!  He was short-tempered on the flight and getting to our hotel.  I was glad to send him off on his activities and to go off on my own.  I also enjoyed meeting a geological engineer and his son (who had Down Syndrome) on the temple grounds and having a good long talk about the environment.  I had a great Uber driver on the way home who knew the back roads and was able to get me back to the hotel without sitting in rush hour traffic!

Once I got back from the temple, Will was finished with weigh-ins (he successfully made weight!) and we could have dinner.  He was so happy to belly up to an all you can eat buffet (of course).  Look how skinny he is!  Look how full his plate is!

Wrestling for Will's weight, age, and level started Wednesday morning.  Will was ready!  Unfortunately, he lost his first match and had to spend the rest of the day fighting back to wrestle for second place. 

He won all of his following matches and made it to the second to last match.  He was amazing!  Luckily for me, he had a big cheering section and his matches were broadcast on an online wrestling network so lots of friends and family were watching.  The family watching online said they could hear us cheering.  Good to know we made a difference. 

After wrestling four matches, Will ended up losing the second to last match of the day and taking 5th place out of 16 guys.  Did I mention he was at the top of the age range for his level?  He was wrestling guys who were 10 years younger!  He really did an amazing job.  He is bummed about the two losses but the guy he lost to first ended up taking second.  There were lots of impressive wrestlers there and Will beat many of them.  We are all so proud! 

April Stuff...

Adell gave us an excellent Family Home Evening lesson about Easter.  She stuffed eggs with symbols and scriptures about the Easter story and had us find the eggs.  She told us about each symbol and read the scriptures.  She did a great job.

Grandma Judy and Grandpa Dan are in town for Easter and the week after (to watch our kids while Will and I go to Vegas).  Will took the kids and his mom on a gorgeous green hike. 

Easter Sunday was also Stake Conference Sunday.  We went up to the Oakland Interstake Center and listened to conference.  When it was over and we were all piled into the van, Colter announced a need to relieve himself.  We told him to go behind a tree.  We meant a tree right next to the van...Colter thought he should cross the parking lot, hike up a hill and pee in the wide open.  We were all confused and amused.  It was too funny. 

Bravery at 6 years old...

Colter's class went on a field trip to the farm today.  I chaperoned, two of the boys in our group were named Abram and Isaac.  I felt like I was transported back to biblical times calling out for the boys all afternoon.  

Colter is pretty timid when it comes to animals.  He had a dog jump him (in joy) when he was about three years old and he has been so afraid of animals (dogs in particular) ever since.  So being at the farm with really large animals all around was kind of unnerving for Colter.  He kept a safe distance and declined offers to feed the animals celery or lettuce but he observed closely.

Colter's biggest act of bravery was to read this book about spiders and insects.  He wouldn't even go near the book at first.  I had to take some of the kids in our group to the bathroom and left Colter with another group.  When I came back, Colter was pouring over the book.  He looked up at me and said: "this is actually really interesting."  I need to find the book at the library so he can finish reading it. 

Back in February, we signed Adell up for swim team.  We also decided to sign Colter up too.  He has been taking swim lessons at Splash for over a year and really doing great.  He loves swim lessons, they are his favorite time of the week.  He has made great progress and can swim the length of the pool without help easily.  We figured he would be ready for team.  As soon as we told Colter he was going to do swim team in the summer, he told us "no way".  It wasn't going to be easy. 

He had his last swim lessons this week and ended up earning his purple ribbon, which was the level Adell reached before she stopped taking lessons and switched to team last year!  We were all so happy and proud of Colter.

So swim team started last week and Colter promptly started losing his mind.  He would get weepy and worried as swim team practice time approached.  He watched the clock, changed into his swim jammers on time and started getting a tummy ache.  We talked about it a lot.  He insisted he was sick...I insisted he was nervous.  Finally, we figured it out.  He was afraid of swimming the length of the pool without having the ground to touch in case of an emergency.  I told him to swim however he was comfortable and to grab the lane lines whenever he needed.  That was all it took...and knowing he would only be racing against himself in the meets.  He has avoided tummy aches at practice ever since.  He still has to be pretty brave.  There are a lot of kids in the pool, he is little and can be overlooked sometimes.  We are proud of this brave guy.

General Conference hike...

Twice a year (in April and October) our church has a General Conference where we get to go to church by watching church on TV.  It is awesome.  When I was a kid, we would drive to our church building and watch the broadcast on TV at church.  It was still a break from regular services but we had to go to church because we didn't have a satellite to be able to watch the broadcast at home.  Now they broadcast the conference on a cable channel and we get to watch on our couch!  I love it.

We also bribe our kids to listen by giving them bingo cards and candy.  Every time they hear a word on the card (Jesus, pray, love, etc) they get to mark it with candy.  Once they get 5 in a row, they get to eat the candies.  I know we should focus on the real gifts of the spirit and looking forward to church because of the goodness we feel inside from attending...but let's be real.  Those are some big, mature feelings to have.  It can be hard to find them...it is easy to love candy.  If my kids can look forward to candy now, they can look forward to spiritual development later.  It will all work out.

After some church at home we took a break to enjoy church out in nature.  It has been raining like crazy this winter.  The hills are saturated in green grass and wildflowers.  We took one of our favorite hikes in Sunol and soaked up the beauty.  We also had to bribe the kids with ice cream when we finished the hike.  We are out of hiking practice and we were all a little tired this time around.

Lorien took some pictures of the kids on a little rock face and did some photoshop work to make the pictures look super dramatic. 

Southern California...

Will is in North Carolina for a work conference this week.  The big kids want to watch their screens and be left alone.  So, I headed south with Adell and Colter, planning to meet Clare in Huntington Beach with Aunt Jenn and Cousin Clara.  She had flown out to Utah to spend a few extra days with cousin Clara.  

The drive was easy!  I was so proud of myself for doing it by myself.  We stopped once to drive through for ice cream and french fries.  Colter peed in a bottle a couple of times and we made it to Aunt Colleen's house without incident for dinner.  

The first night there, I went out to get my keys from my purse.  I bent down to pick up my purse (on the floor next to a chair) and misjudged where the back of the chair was.  I cracked my forehead on the chair and got a wicked goose egg and headache.  Winning!

The kids spent their days swimming and playing.  It was restful and fun.  We are so thankful we can go down to Aunt Colleen's house so easily.

We had one afternoon at the beach.  Clare and Clara didn't want to spoil their hard work in getting pretty for the beach so they just laid out in the sun.  Colter and Adell had a blast jumping in the water.

Colter is so much more comfortable in the water!  He starts swim team with Adell next week.  He knows how to swim the length of the pool but doesn't know any strokes.  He is also pretty comfortable diving into the pool.  He got lots of practice in Aunt Colleen's pool.  Nicky and Rusty came over one afternoon.  Nicky and Rusty are such good cousin-friends for Adell and Colter.  They always come up with great games to play and get along so nicely. 

Adell's one request for spring break was to make oobleck (cornstarch and water).  The day we left for home she was able to get her oobleck made and have a fun mess outside.

My one spring break request was to get some family history information from Aunt Colleen.  I was able to get some family stories from her.  She also let me take some pictures of some of the "Davis" pages from a book about the settlers of Gorham, Maine. 

We drove home as easily as we drove out, just with Clare in the car too.  It was a great trip and I'm glad we got to go.  Will had a successful trip in North Carolina and the big kids had a lovely time zoning out at home.  Everyone got what they wanted.