Spring Fever

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ok just to warn you this is going to be a long post, because soooo much has happened the last two weeks! Nothing really prior to that, except an update on the dishwasher, DISH HEAVEN!! Man that is one invention I am very grateful for!

We first have a cousins birthday to celebrate which is Conner. He is now a big 3 and is quite a neat guy! Happy Birthday Conner!

Starting the weekend of conference we made some plans to go up to the mountains to camp out and watch it on satellite, well it turned out it was going to be VERY cold and snowing, so we decided to camp out in their back yard. We had a total blast and enjoyed being with them. We helped chop up an old fence for LeAnne to use for vinyl signs, which turned out really cute, for a craft sale on Saturday. We also made a movie screen for outside shows, (which we are thrilled about and going to use quite often) The kids got along great and played all three days together wonderfully. We also got quite a laugh we were catching up on old times and I was looking at the scrapbooks and was looking at the engagement pictures that they had taken for their wedding 13 years ago. She went to get the scrapbook with the invites in it and low and behold there was my invitation (right on top) no joke. We died laughing. What are the odds?? We only had one mishap for the weekend...poor Danny got bit by Chance (sp). We took him to the ER (which was horrible we had to wait FOREVER!!) He ended up with two black eyes, his face was quite swollen and a puncture wound on the left side of his nose and a scratch under his eye and antibiotics. Chance was quarantined for 10 days. The poor dog, is older and has a depth perception problem and was startled by Danny, it was a total accident. Both are doing well.

Well that started are Spring break...so awe to sleeping in! I went down to Bakersfield for a Doctors appointment on Monday, Forgot Piano lessons on Tuesday. But remembered Baseball practice, that they didn't have... LOL but we were able to work on the signs for the back fence. Matt and I with several of the girls softball team, along with Robert, Sam, Kamela, and Samantha's mom are painting and stenciling and outlining for the season. We are also helping with the general clean up of the field. Now the funny thing is this is the field my father helped build when he was a child so this has a lot more meaning to it. It was the field he spent several hours on playing his favorite sport. Talk about making grandpa proud that all of his grand kids are playing ball on His field. Well while working on the signs we were talking about drive in theaters and how it is such a shame that they are all gone here in the valley, and came up with the idea of using the screen we just made and having a BBQ and having a double feature after Erik's teams scrimmage on Thursday! We had an absolute blast! What even made it better is that we had gone to the coast for the day to go see Grandpa and Hearst Castle (explanation in a minute) and Grandpa got to come home and watch the scrimmage too!

So that was Tuesday and Wednesday we hung out and worked on the garden, it was great no Webelos, Activity Days, Gymnastics, etc. Ahhhhh! So we were also able to get ready to go the next day to the coast. We took Grandma with us and headed over to met up with Grandpa. We totally enjoyed the beautiful drive over seeing all of the grapevines and Spanish Moss filled trees. After picking up Grandpa we headed over to San Clemente to visit Hearst Castle. Wow what a beautiful place, see pictures. There was sooo much to see, and we didn't even see half of it. We headed back to make it to Erik's scrimmage (event above)and were a little bit late!

Then Friday came and oh what a day to remember! It was Daniel's 5th Birthday! Yup my baby is 5 and he has been going on about his birthday for months, so fun to be young! We had a little get together with the Wilcox's and opened presents and had a Transformer cake and watched Marley & Me. My sweet little boy is now 5 (it is unbelievable that he made it to that age and those that know my son are probably dying laughing at that statement) We had planned to go to the snow for his birthday that day but it was bad weather so we planned to go on Saturday. David Jr. stayed the night for fun and ended up going with us to the Primary Activity and to the Snow on Saturday.

So Saturday, in true Poole form, we were suppose to be at the Activity at 9:00, we got there at 10 just in time to drop off the goodies at the Fire station and play a little at the park. Which was a perfect spring morning of about 55-60 degrees. Then we drove about an hour east and we were playing in the snow, where it was snowing! Yup just an hour. The great benefits of living in CA. The coast 2 hours away, snow an 1 away from our house. It was so much fun throwing snowballs around and getting shots with bluebonnets. On the way back down we stopped in for a treat at Reimer's candy store. Ice Cream!! LOL, kids are totally soaked from the snow and cold, and what do we go and get. It was so fun! After making it back down to the valley we dropped David off and went shopping for Easter. While shopping dad called and asked us to stop by Carrie's to see the project they had been working on. Shelves in the office, they turned out really good. Then they took Erin and Erik with them to the movies to watch Monsters vs. Aliens. Matt, me and the boys went up to Visalia and picked up the airbrush system Matt had been looking at to help with the sign project. Those signs are going to be really neat looking.

Well when we got home we started prepping for Easter Sunday. We have several traditions that we do to make Easter so meaningful. We make Easter Cookies and talk about the death and resurrection of Christ, and die the eggs for egg wars. We also have a tradition instead of an Easter Egg hunt, the Easter Bunny has a scavenger hunt for the kids to find their Easter baskets. That Bunny is quite creative let me tell you. We got up Sunday and got ready for church. Had a wonderful Sabbath morning except Matt's truck wouldn't start, so that was kind of frustrating, so we missed half of sacrament. But primary and Matt's class went really well. We then headed over to Aunt Carrie's to let them change and pick up the gifts for Danny's birthday and Easter dinner stuff. And then the entertainment began! Matt came home instead of going over to Aunt Carrie's to get things started for lunch and make sure the Easter Bunny had come. The kids found a note on the door from the Easter Bunny with a basket and pencil. They had an absolute blast figuring out all of the clues and it was nice having Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Carrie here, with Aunt TT on the phone watching it all. Then the egg wars began! Danny ended up the WINNER! Lunch was so yummy! Then we celebrated Danny's birthday, boy this kid totally made out with some cool toys. Mom and Dad also got gifts for the kids and us for Easter, and Aunt Carrie totally scored with the kids with some See's chocolate bunnies. Matt got some really cool books on how to make some neat toys, and I got a cookbook with probably the most fabulous recipes in it. Can't wait to try them ALL!!

Well now that you are all caught up! and totally exhausted from reading this, go relax and have some of your kids Easter candy to get your energy back to make it through the rest of the day. Enjoy the pictures.