Nathaniel and Audrey's Open House/Reception

It was so wonderful to have everyone in town this weekend!  Emily flew home on Saturday, April 16, Papa flew in on Wednesday, April 20, and Nathaniel and Audrey drove home on Thursday, April 21.  On Thursday, I spent the morning doing prep work for the open house.  I also had to deal with the leak we had downstairs.  This was not the best weekend to have to deal with that, but as Michael said, at least we weren't having the open house at our house!  In the afternoon, we went to Jonathan's track meet at the high school.  Nathaniel and Audrey met us there and were able to watch Jonathan's second race.  After the meet, we came home and ate beef stroganoff and read scriptures.  

On Friday, we had to take the BMW to get the tire fixed.  Papa and Emily picked up doughnuts at a new shop called Drizzle Donuts.  They were really expensive and not as good as Bosa, but they were fun to try and had some unique flavors.  I enjoyed the cookie dough ones, and so did Audrey.  We even tried maple bacon.  The boys had school.  The restoration company came by to check and see if the walls were dry enough.  Another bummer was that the AC in the kids' rooms wasn't working, but thankfully, it wasn't too hot and everyone was able to stay cool with the ceiling fans.  Emily, Audrey, and I got our nails done in the afternoon.  We enjoyed getting pedicures together.  I already had a manicure and Emily didn't want one, but I had scheduled one for Audrey with my favorite lady and her nails looked so pretty!  We all went to dinner at Osaka, which was delicious as always, and then came home to watch The Batman.  

Saturday was our busy day.  We had a lot going on but it was wonderful!  We even had the restoration guys come again and the wall still wasn't dry enough.  Michael and I went over to the office to meet our decorator so they could get started.  Then we picked up the cake and brought it back to the office to put in the refrigerator.  Audrey, Emily, and I all went to get our hair and makeup done in the afternoon.  Emily just got her hair done.  Audrey had been debating about getting a haircut as well, and ended up having 12 inches taken off.  We all had a good laugh about the fact that Nathaniel didn't even realize it until she told him the next day.  I went straight from the hairdresser to the office to finish getting everything ready and meet the caterer.  Everyone arrived right when I asked them to so that we could get some good family pictures before the event started.  The photographer was great.  She took some beautiful pictures of all of us and also took pictures of the food and decor.  

We even had a photo backdrop set up for our guests to have their picture taken.  

It turned out to be a beautiful event, and Nathaniel and Audrey loved it.  It was so fun to greet all of our friends and to give them a chance to meet Audrey and congratulate the newlyweds.  Everyone loved the delicious food and cake.

  

The seating was perfect and many people used the outdoor seating areas.  Our photographer walked around the whole time and took many beautiful and fun pictures.  

Andrew and Austyn walked around and took some video with my camera.  

We had a lot of food left over and enjoyed eating it over the rest of the weekend and throughout the next week.  It didn't take long to get everything cleaned up.  Nathaniel and Audrey helped us load up the leftovers and we sent them home.  Papa and the kids had already left.  When Michael and I got home, everyone helped put everything away and then we played some Jackbox games and went to bed.  

We had a nice day at church on Sunday.  It was hard to say goodbye to everyone on Monday!  Papa and Emily flew home and Nathaniel and Audrey drove home.  It was so great to have them here!!

Awards Night

Andrew and Daniel's Underclassmen Awards night was tonight.  Unfortunately, Daniel was sick today and stayed home from school so he didn't get to go.  He was really broken up about it (said sarcastically, haha).  Michael, Emily, and I all went and sat with Andrew's friend, Austyn.  They both received an award for having above a 4.0, and Daniel is in the top 1% of his class!  I am so proud of my boys!  

TV Appearance

I wasn't too keen on appearing on TV, but our marketing director convinced me that they needed me so I agreed to do it.  I was a little nervous, but everyone else said it went really well.  We made three recipes using SweetLeaf products.  We made Raspberry Lemonade, Citrus Dijon marinade, and Orange Creamsicle ice cream.  All of them are sugar free.  This was for a TV show called The List.  I guess we'll see the final version soon.  It was fun and easier than I thought it would be!

Desert Racquets Tennis

Our season is over.  While I'm sad to not be playing again until September, it is nice to have a break.  Tasha and I have enjoyed being co-captains for the last five sessions (that's about two and a half years), but I knew it was time to take a break and step down.  We had two ladies step up and I know they will do a great job.  Our last day of play was April 13 because we had a rain day, and we also had a nice luncheon that afternoon.  The ladies all got together again to get gifts for me and Tasha, so that was nice.  They made us cards and gave us a few cute gifts and Costco gift cards.  After the luncheon, Tasha and I stayed after to talk to the new captains.  One of the ladies from our sub list who is now on our roster also offered to help with the computer side of things and so she stayed as well.  I'll miss tennis over the summer!

National Honor Society Induction for Andrew

We are so proud of Andrew for being accepted into the National Honor Society!  His induction was tonight.  Great job, son!

 

Spring Break 2022

We had a great Spring Break!  Michael and I had our two work trips: Expo West and the Atlanta NASCAR race.  So, we were gone for two weekends in a row.  The boys enjoyed having time at home to relax for two weeks.  When we got back from Expo West, we had painters here for a couple of days.  They repainted the walls and baseboards in our foyer, family room, kitchen, and downstairs bathroom.  It looks so good!  It is the same color, but it is a different finish that will be easier to clean.  It was hard to clean that flat paint and it was starting to look pretty bad.  

The boys helped move the TV and console and Andrew helped organize the cords as we prepared this space for the painters.

The boys enjoyed playing some board games, like Monopoly, during their media-free time.  

Michael took a couple of days off, so that was nice.  One afternoon, we went to lunch at Gecko Grill and went bowling at Fat Cats.  That was so fun!  

Andrew had a track meet on Friday, so I took the boys and Andrew's friend Austyn to go watch.  He did a great job!  

I couldn't believe this was a high school track.  It's so nice!

Andrew's cheering section

It was pretty hard for the boys to go back to school.  I can't believe there is only one quarter left of the school year!