Easter

Easter was spread over two days for us. The Easter Bunny came a day early to Grandma Reynolds' house. Ellie had her first Easter egg hunt in Grandma and Grandpa's basement Saturday after General Conference. She was so excited! No one really had to explain what to do either. Ellie was pointing, running, ooh-ing and aah-ing, shaking, and spilling. The Easter Bunny at Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds' house left her lots of treats, hair accessories, little gardening tools, a Minnie Mouse T-shirt, and some polka-dotted tights. We didn't get any pictures, but hopefully Grandma will share hers with us later.

Easter morning, the Easter Bunny left Ellie a set of bowling pins next to her basket. She also got a new Mickey Mouse coloring book, new board books, more hair clips, some bunny marshmallows, and lots more candy. He left Weston a new hair clipper set, and a Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives book. I got Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred DVD, an i-tunes gift card, and a yoga mat.

Later that day, we went to Easter dinner at the Weston's (Rylee's family) house. We had the best salmon I've ever eaten as well as steak. It was so delicious! It was also very nice of their family to have us all over for Easter dinner. While there, Grandma Sorenson brought Ellie a little golf set the Easter bunny left at their house for her. She sure got spoiled by the Easter bunny this year.

Next year, we hope to actually color eggs at our house and have an Easter egg hunt of our own. We had just come back from vacation and were so busy we just couldn't do it this year. We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

What I Did Last Friday

I wish I would've taken before pictures, but then again it was really bad. I decided to surprise Weston by organizing the garage. We put the shelves up together about a year ago, but then just threw stuff up on the shelves from the basement. We didn't really ever get around to "using" the shelves appropriately. We still need to find something to organize the tools that are on the bottom shelf, but this is a great improvement! Total cost for Rubbermaid tubs: about $80. Being able to find things in the garage: priceless.

The long awaited: ARIZONA

I have had many requests to post about Arizona. Sorry it took so long. We got back a day and a half before Easter Sunday, but life has been crazy ever since. I have found myself saying "I wish we were still in Arizona" several times in the past week and a half. We are readjusting to normal life, but it sure was nice to have that wonderfully warm vacation.

Ellie is holding her Great-Grandma Reynolds' cane and wearing her hat.

We arrived in Arizona on a Sunday evening. Sorting out the rental car mess, finding our hotel, and eating dinner were about the only things we did that night.

The only other "for sure" thing I wanted to do while we were there was to go to the zoo. I've only ever been to Hogle Zoo so I thought it would be fun to see another zoo. Ellie also loves animals and their noises so it was the perfect place to spend many hours tiring her out. The brochure we had said to plan at least two hours. They really mean "at least" because that zoo is HUGE! We were there for probably three to four hours and still didn't see it all.

One of the coolest things Ellie did was pet the goats in their petting zoo.
I also got to pet a cow and it licked my hand like a salt lick. It felt like coarse sandpaper.

During our stay, we attended four of Marc's (Taylorsville's) baseball games. We went to Old Town Scottsdale, a MLB Spring Training game, the Easter pageant on the Mesa Temple grounds, and the movie theater to see "How to Train Your Dragon". Todd and Brooke paid for Weston and I to eat dinner at Fox Sports Grill for our birthdays. Then they took us out to ice cream at "Cherry on Top". That was the most awesome frozen yogurt shop I've ever been to and I think it would be fun to open one in Salt Lake. We ended up returning almost every night of the trip to taste a new flavor and topping combination. Mmmm! We went swimming at the hotel a few times when it wasn't too windy. We also attended the team's barbeque where Ellie got to play on the playground.
Our last day in Scottsdale, we went shopping at the mall and spent most of our time in the Disney store. I really miss having one in Fashion Place Mall. We bought far too many things for Ellie in there and then rushed to the food court for lunch before we had to catch our flight.

Ellie with Uncle Todd at the Royals game

We had so much fun spending time with our whole family. Thanks to Mom and Dad Reynolds because it wouldn't have happened without them! We really appreciate all they did for us.

My Dear Grandma Zaugg

Yesterday, Grandma Zaugg left our world of pain and illness to see our Heavenly Father again. I am so grateful for the knowledge of the plan of salvation and to know that she is not suffering anymore. I love her dearly and will remember what a fun grandma she has always been.

I still remember her coming for LDS General Conference every six months. We would watch out the window until their car pulled up. As soon as it did, we ran out to meet them. Being small children, one of the first things we wanted was the Berenstein Bears book they would bring. Then we would usually ask for gum. Grandma always had gum and it was usually a good kind like Trident.

Grandma is one of the best mothers I know. She knew how to do everything! She cooked delicious food, sewed beautiful things, crafted like crazy, kept a beautifully clean house, and loves her children dearly. I love to hear about their time serving two missions and serving in the temple. She was a beautiful bride and an even more beautiful grandmother.

Grandma Zaugg is a fun grandma. She loved to do things with her grandchildren and was always interested to know how we were doing. Even if they weren't her grandchildren, Grandma loved all children. I still remember hearing about the neighbor boys that would come over every day to get an ice cream bar from grandma.

I am so grateful we were able to visit my grandma and grandpa this year for Christmas. For months before Christmas, she could talk of nothing else. Our whole extended family was there. Even though Parkinson's had changed Grandma a bit, I still loved spending time with her. I can't wait to spend time with her again.

I have a testimony of Jesus Christ. I know that he died for us and was resurrected. He lives and I know my grandma will live again. Until we meet again, bye Grandma. I love you.

Where did Spring go?

This is what we were wondering after baking our pork chops instead of using the grill. It is also what we pondered after we readied our shopping list, drove in horrendous snow through many darkened streets, wondered why firetrucks were blocking the road by Cyprus Credit Union, and finally arrived at the Smith's parking lot only to find they were functioning on back-up power. While we were writing the list, we heard a very large "bang" outside and we seem to think a transformer blew or something. Many, many blocks in Magna were without power. We didn't even try to go into Smith's. There was an employee manually opening the sliding doors to let customers out, but probably not in. We ventured down the street to Ream's instead. They had power and many more customers who had come from Smith's to do their shopping.

After we had settled snug in our beds with our power still working, we were awakened two hours later to a beeping sound. I'm not talking about a quiet beeping like when your cell phone is dying. I'm talking about an obnoxiously loud chirping sort of beep. You know, like the kind when you are testing your fire alarm. Indeed, Weston walked into the hallway to find our fire alarm/carbon dioxide detector on the ceiling beeping. We would silence it temporarily only to find it beeping thirty seconds later. Being worried it might actually be carbon monoxide setting it off (the blue light was flashing instead of the red for fire), we went downstairs to get the CO monitor Weston's parents had given us for Christmas one year. Turns out there was nothing to worry about. The door leading into the garage had been left open and we read in the owners manual condensation due to cold temperatures can cause false alarms. We had to reset the dang thing by turning off the power, unplugging the monitor, taking out the battery, pushing the reset button, then getting it put back together again. It was crazy! And it took us an hour and twenty minutes from the first beep to the time we got back in bed. Thankfully, Ellie slept through all of this. We settled back in bed hoping the worst was over and crossing our fingers it wouldn't beep again.

At 7:20 a.m. Weston woke up abruptly. He had slept in. Why? Because our power went out in the middle of the night and his alarm did not go off. The house was freezing, Ellie wanted to watch Mickey Mouse, and I wasn't sure how long we would be without power. Thankfully, the power was restored within the hour, but seriously, where did spring go?