Spring Break, the rest of it

On our way back to Nampa we stopped to see the Hagerman horse fossil at the Thousand Springs Visitor’s Center. We had lunch in Twin Falls at a chicken place where the sauce is the only redeeming quality. Justin suggested we stop to admire the gorge and bridge. Walking under the bridge with traffic thundering overhead was quite disconcerting. The views were stunning. Onward to Hagerman. I was expecting a cool experience. Instead we were routed 20 minutes away to a random plaque stuck in the ground where the OG excavation took place. As we made our way back I noticed some awesome waterfalls, we drove the opposite direction in  order to locate the visitor’s center. Indeed, the replica of the hagerman horse is grandly displayed right outside the restrooms, almost tres chic. The center had a couple pertinent display cases with some fossils and tools, the coup de gras? A mammoth skull. Quite underwhelming. In order to make the detour more worthwhile we drove back to the waterfalls. That was quite refreshing! Spring flowers were blooming all around, don’t think the trees are wintering any more this year. We found two dead porcupines and a particularly smelly skunk, a couple snakes, and butterflies. Nothing else of note to mention for the rest of the drive home, except I got grocery shopping ordered. Yay. 

It was spicy hot this week! Tuesday and Wednesday broke heat records at 84 degrees since before temperature records were kept! Josie and Oliver had a three-day lemonade stand going, they raked in $50 which they promptly spent on a digger toy. They sweated outside for quite a long while selling drinks and shells! Sister Titus delightedly purchased lemonade and two shells! Kara came over for an afternoon on Wednesday. She had a fun time helping at the stand. Josie had a bucket of water to drench herself when she got too hot. Evelyn and Everett went to play tennis 3 days at EVMS with Jana Izatt. Evelyn invited over her friend to hang out Delaya to color and play tennis for a while. 

St Patrick’s day was underwhelming much to the girl’s dismay. I was too tired to play tricks and such this year. We wore green to celebrate. I cooked Irish food for dinner, ya know: corned beef, braised carrots, with roasted potatoes and fried cabbage. I also made a cheddar and herb quick bread just for fun. The girls had strings lesson this week, we headed out to Melba for their lesson after dinner. Both girls are closer to competition ready, music memorized and working on fine tuning their songs. Emma, Eliza, and I chatted on the porch while the girls played on the swings after lessons. That was good for the soul. They are headed to BYU-I and USU this weekend. Looks like Eliza and Rachel will meet up with Amelia on Friday. Hooray!

Josie and I finally got to take some birthday photos on Thursday. I spent 3 hours that morning getting the van’s oil changed and the tires balanced. The tire tech said the tires were horribly off balance and balanced “janky” with random weights and clips. No wonder the kids were bouncing around in the van! It rides much smoother. I really wanted to get a fancy dress for Josie’s birthday photos but did not want to spend $70 on a dress. Evelyn spotted a fancy green dress at DI in Idaho Falls that was exactly Josie’s size, Amelia even found the matching bow in the women’s section. Bring it on! Kendria and Kara invited Josie and I over for some photos with Katie the horse. Josie loves Katie so much! She was thrilled to get fancied up and prance around with Katie. We rushed right over to the church after photos for the RS dinner. I got there in time to enjoy a lovely message using quilts and music to testify of Christ. Evelyn and Everett were at the church to help babysit any little kiddos, turns out Oliver was the only “little kid.” They spent the time doing skits for each other until the dinner was over. Spring Break flew by way too fast. It’s time to go back to school on Monday. Josie and Evelyn invited Sara to go out to Bruneau sand dunes on Saturday, they forgot to let me know about the adventure. 

We left around 8 am for our Bruneau adventure. The morning air left the sand cool and delicious on our feet! We rented 3 sand sleds and wax this time around. All the kids had a blast sledding down the sand and trudging back up for more. We heard more than a few “As you wish!” yelled as our kids rolled down the sand dunes. We had a massive picnic spread with sandwiches, fruit, veggies, and chips. Phillip morphed into a sand crab, he was literally showering himself with sand. That kid was covered with sand from toenails to ear canals. We had so many glimmers as we explored the dunes. Sara started digging a hole which turned into 6 different holes connected with tunnels as different kids joined the fun. We ended the day with ice cream cones, I wanted to coat my feet in the ice cream just to ice my aching feet. It was worth it. 

Josie volunteered to play Come Thou Fount for the Primary children’s fireside hosted by the Stake Primary council. She worked to learn the song all on her own! I was texting with the Stake Primary President last week, she texted to ask how Josie’s song was coming along. I could sense some panic from her, she was nervous because the entire devotional was planned and managed by kids. I would be nervous as well! She expressed how amazed she was that all the children passed every expectation with the assignments they had. The devotional was so good. Two primary kids gave talks, two bore their testimonies, two special numbers, and then two adult speakers talked. Josie and I managed to play beautifully! That was a miracle. Josie ran a fever last night of 102.2 and had one this morning as well. She rallied enough to get dressed up and play for the devotional. 

Nina challenged me to try out a new method with Evelyn a few weeks ago. I read the book, “The Explosive Child,” by Ross Greene to learn about the method. Essentially the theory is that neurodivergent children are underdeveloped in some areas and need a different approach to teach and resolve issues. Explosive outbursts are not willful misbehaviors rather signs that the child lacks skills in flexibility, tolerance, and problem-solving. The method is easy in theory: use compassion to collaboratively solve issues and teach skills. It will take lots of work but my gut is telling me this is what our family needs to help Evelyn, Phillip, and even Justin work through their outbursts. Here’s to progress. In church today the lesson was on the Proclamation on the Family. I made a comment about parents needing to change the way we parent, the answer is not always “my way or the highway” but listening with compassion and making a plan that everyone can agree on. That plan will change as bugs are rooted out and new issues crop up. I felt the spirit so strongly during church, I really feel that if we (I) can make some small and some large changes that we can help each other develop crucial skills to succeed.