March began with an exciting events for Eric. He graduated from his headgear! He wore it every night for about 9 months -- to correct an underbite. He was very faithful about wearing it and avoiding all things chewy. I told him we'd have a party, which he'd been looking forward to for months. The day he took got the gear off we had other things and it was getting late, so I tried to convince him to do it on a weekend. What was I thinking???? We ended up having the "party" that night in pajamas. Here are Eric and Tanner with some forbidden foods -- gummy fish, popcorn, and gum. (Oh, and of course the headgear.)
Brian and I also attended a mission reunion. He served an LDS mission in Brisbane Australia. After 25 years, there were not a lot of people Brian remembered well, or at all. But he did reconnect with his MTC (Mission Training Center) companion. And his Mission President from New Zealand was there too, so that was fun. The President spoke for a while about the growth of the Church in Australia. I had a difficult time understanding him sometimes, given his thick accent. :)
For Easter weekend we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Idaho. We had a great time. Here are the boys dying eggs.
And with their Easter goodies.
This was Tanner's reaction after seeing that the Easter Bunny brought him a book with Princesses in it. Silly Easter Bunny! Who cares if there are an equal amount of "boy" characters too!
Having a fun, and quick, Easter Egg Hunt at my sister's house.
Cousin Jacob had a new pet -- a snake! My sister is much more tolerant than I am, I think. :)
My dad had heard about a pizza place in a nearby country town....a small town with a big 32" pizza. It had potential, but there were a couple of parties right before us so the wait was very long. But we enjoyed the visit with Grandma and Grandpa and the novelty of such a large pizza.
In April Eric turned 8-years-old. It was the first year he wanted to have a friend party. We had a sports theme party and had a great time. Of course, I asked him what his favorite part was and he said "the presents." (I'm rolling my eyes now.) We did it at the park which was great -- I didn't have to clean my house, and the weather was perfect, and the boys ran around like boys do.
Eric got a new bike! He was riding one that was way too small, so this was a great present.
We celebrated April birthday's with Brian's side of the family a few days later at the park. The kids had so much fun playing soccer and on the playground. I enjoy seeing them play so well together.
And here is the big 8-year-old before he was baptized! It was a nice day and we enjoyed having many family members there for the baptismal service and lunch afterward.
Tanner's favorite part of the lunch were the "8" cookies on a stick. He kept coming up to me "Mom, can I have one more?" Then, Allyson sent us home with several too. Happy Tanner!
Finally, it's soccer season. So 2 nights a week and much of Saturday is full of Soccer practices and games. The boys have both improved significantly this year -- spending a lot of time in the yard playing ball. Eric's played more in the Forward position this year and has made several goals.
But there is always little time for goofing around with teammates!
Andrew has played a lot in the defensive position, his coach calling him the "Iron Fence." But he has played some in the offensive too which is nice because he's worked so hard on kicking.
