Easter Fun!

We had a lot of fun for Easter this year…It all started the week before Easter as it usually does with the Annual Schaff Family “Basket Discovery Day”!

Grandpa Schaff and Grandma Tamara spend the entire year looking around their house, spotting out the best hiding spots ever.  He are a few that they used this year:  (Keep in mind that “baskets” are really zippy bags filled with candy and gift cards) Our basket was in the magazine basket under the entire pile of magazines and newspapers, under a false bottom at the bottom of the basket!  Mike and Jen had to dismantle the bottom portion of the dishwasher where the spinney part is to find theirs.  Cindy and Garrett were deceived by what seemed to be a brand new unopened box of Kleenex under the bathroom sink.  Bart and Jill found theirs in the plunger(I don’t think I would have touched that one!)  Andrea and Lance’s was the tube inside the wrapping paper.  Nate and Miranda found theirs in a plant filled with moss, under the moss!

They may be a little crazy, but we have a lot fun!

The little ones also had an Easter egg hunt outside before dinner.  This was Chloe’s first one.  After a little hands-on help and some coaxing from Daddy to pick up the eggs, she got the idea.  Avery was an old pro and got as many as she could.  Their baskets were hidden more simply than ours.  Chloe’s by the side the big puffy chair and Avery’s behind an end table.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!  We had a great time!

Saturday (the day before Easter) the Easter Bunny came to our house!

He left this…

 

and this…

and these…

And then it was off to Centerville and Dick’s Market for yet another Easter egg hunt!

It was a little colder than I thought it would be…their cute outfits weren’t quite warm enough!

The girls got to meet the Easter Bunny, Avery was a bit more excited than Chloe.

That is about as close as Chloe would get!  But Avery snuggled right in for a hug!

 

The older girls (Avery, Lauren, Ella & Adalynn) entered the coloring contest that they held.  We were so excited when Avery’s name was called, and then Lauren’s name was called, and then so was Ella’s!  They all three won very cute stuffed animals! 

It was then back the Grammie and Papa Jensen’s for the coloring of the Easter eggs.

Papa really got into too!

Grammie hid Easter presents downstairs.  Each girl got a beautiful, white flowing nightgown and a picture of Jesus also wearing white.  Thanks Grammie for helping us remember the true meaning of Easter and that if we try hard we can all be like Jesus!

January 2009...A month in Review.

With the holidays over we have finally gotten back to our normal routine!  Preschool started again, Jeremy and Jordan made it home to Ohio safely, and the church callings are still calling!

Early in the month we had a great time with Jeremy, Jordan and Adalynn before they headed home.  We took all the girls to Kangaroo Zoo in North Salt Lake.  This is a great place to wear the kids out!  It is a big warehouse filled with huge bounce houses and slides.  The girls played hard for almost 3 hours and even Chloe started to warm up to the unstable bouncy surfaces.

 

As Christmas came around I was singing "All I want for Christmas is for Chloe to walk, Chloe to walk, Chloe to walk..."  Well I didn't get it for Christmas, but not too long after.  She relied on her walker push toy for quite a while, but now she is off and running all on her own!   She runs the house giggling about her new found independence.

 

Avery and I got to have a Mommy Avery date last month.  We went to see The Wizard of Oz at Roger's Memorial Theatre in Centerville.  We sat on the 2nd row and she loved every minute of the show.  Okay, not every minute...the monkeys and the Wicked Witch of the West did make her snuggle a little closer to mom.  She kept asking about all the things on stage..."Is that a real house?  Is that chair real?  Is that a real girl and dog?"  I guess maybe there are too many movies at our house if she has to ask what is real and what isn't!

The end of the month we were able to attend cousin Sydney's baptism.  What a wonderful spiritual experience for our family.  Sydney looked beautiful in her new white dress and we are so proud of her decision to be baptized.  She is such a good example to Avery Jane.

Okay...almost done.  This month, Stephen was FINALLY released as the Elder's Quorum Secretary!!!  He has served in that same calling for the last 4 years and 3 months. (That is how long we have lived in this ward!)  He and the EQ President (Blake Bodily) had their callings longer than anybody in our ward!  They even survived a ward split/reorganization.  He enjoyed the calling but was ready for a change.  He was just called as the 2nd Counselor in the Sunday School Presidency and is looking forward to the new calling and responsibilities.

That's it...More in February.

(P.S.  We are NOT moving, though we are starting to wonder what everybody else knows that we don't!  So if you are looking for a house in Woods Cross...Come on down there are plenty to choose from!)

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve has taken on a whole new form. In our younger day we would party with friends until 2 a.m. followed by breakfast at Denny's. This year we found ourselves playing the Candyland DVD with 3 girls under the age of 5, a chocolate fountain with rootbeer and midnight celebrations (9:00 p.m.) with bubble wrap on the floor and party poppers in the driveway. Good Times! Here are a few photos of the girls and their New Year's Eve activities...Lauren may have had a little too much root beer!

"Square Temple"

So Christmas is over and Stephen's schedule at work has been a little crazy with the big project release. We didn't make it to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square before Christmas so we took some time afterward to check them out. We picked Stephen up from work and Avery was so excited to tell him that we were going to "Square Temple" to see the Christmas lights. It was a little cold, but we had a great time. Avery learned a little bit about Jesus and why he had marks in his hands and feet. She got to see the inside of the Tabernacle. She said, "I know this, that's where they stand up and sing!" She really wanted to stay and hear some singing but Stephen coaxed her back outside to see more lights.

Merry Christmas!

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Christmas Dresses Galore!

Grammie Jensen has been busy! She learned how to smock and decided that all 6 grand-daughters needed smocked dresses for Christmas. So in August we went hunting for fabric and she got started. The girls got to wear them to church today (December 21st) and they looked so cute! I think they felt pretty in their new dresses. Chloe just kept swinging her hips side to side to feel the dress swish against her legs. The smocking turned out gorgeous! We love them Grammie...THANKS!

Some New Christmas Traditions

As we start our little family down the path of traditions and things that we like to do around the holidays, I think we may have found a few new ones. We attended the Bountiful City Light Parade. Not the grand "sleep on the ground all night" kind of parade that the Schaff Family usually goes for, but a simple hometown good time. We sat the girls in the back of Papa Jensen's truck and ate pizza and drank hot chocolate while the 10-12 lighted floats passed by. The highlight was of course Santa on his sleigh at the end. Maybe next year there will be more floats to see. (We didn't get any good pictures 'cuz it was a little dark and the camera phones aren't great in the dark!)
Another new tradition was the Festival of Trees. All the money made at this huge event goes to benefit Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. We went this year because cousins Lauren and Ella got to dance there. We then took some time to wander through the fun trees, gingerbread houses and of course the kids area...what a hit. Avery got to stand inside a bubble as big as she was, got her nails painted in candy cane red and white. She made a reindeer craft out of a paper bag and bought a gift for her Secret Santa at preschool. She loved it! Spending a night surrounded by family, Christmas trees and the spirit of giving really put us in the Christmas spirit. We even found a tree perfect for Grandpa Schaff! Too bad it was already sold!

Winter Fun!

Winter is finally here! Avery had started making her own snowflakes out of paper because we were worried it would not snow in time for Christmas. But we finally have some snow. And as per tradition...the snow man was built. We tried something new with the eyes this year and as you can see it didn't go so well. With black eyes and the holes that Avery Jane poked in his tummy we dubbed him "the gangster" snowman. Oh well... before the week was over a big wind blew his head right off. Now he stands headless in the front yard. Here are a few pictures of "gangster" and the family. We hope your snowman building efforts go better than ours!

Chloe's First Birthday

I realized this week that I had not yet posted any pictures from Chloe's birthday! She had 2 great parties with family. She loved her chocolate cake at Grandma and Grandpa Schaff's house and her pink frosted cupcake at our house with the Jensen/Evans side of the family. Thanks for all the fun gifts from everyone. Here is a quick digital scrapbook of some of her moments. (She was pouting because we wouldn't let her touch the burning candle! Go figure!)

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October with the Schaff's

What a fun time of year.
We are loving the beautiful fall weather and the gorgeous leaves!

Avery started “reading practice” with mom and “piano practice” with Aunt Rebecca. She is loving her new found talents. Chloe turned one year old on the 29th. She is babbling more laughing more and trying to stand alone. She is still as bashful as ever.

We had fun Halloween parties with the Schaff family, at the ward, with Avery's preschool class and a new tradition (hopefully) of spaghetti dinner and donuts on Halloween night. Our family took on safari themed costumes this year. Avery was a tiger, Chloe was our little monkey and
Stephen and I were the hunters!

Good times had by all!

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Thank You King Benjamin!

As General Conference approached I started to dread the 8 hours ahead. I knew that Avery Jane would really struggle to stay quiet and keep herself busy enough that her dad and I could listen and get anything out of conference. Last year was a nightmare and I had to wait for the Ensign to see what conference was about. So I did some searching for activities (mostly coloring) that might help keep her busy. Then the October Friend came and we found the story titled, "Conference Reverence Tent". So that became our FHE the Monday night before conference. We also reviewed the story of King Benjamin and how when he spoke to his people "they pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple, that thereby they might remain in their tents and hear the words which king Benjamin should speak unto them." (Mosiah 2:6) We had FHE that night in our own "conference reverence tent" and Avery got so excited to have her own tent for conference. We are now into the Sunday Morning session of conference and she has been WONDERFUL! She colors, strings bead necklaces and listens for a few keywords like prayer, faith, Jesus, kindness. So...Thank you to King Benjamin and the example of his people.

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