Grandpa's Cioppino Night (Spring Break-part 4)

 The much-anticipated day had come that we would be warming our bellies with Grandpa's Cioppino for our evening meal.  The morning did not disappoint as the crisp spring air gave opportunity for a jolly jaunt with relatives at a park in Lehi. 

 Then, afternoon was upon us.  Not wanting to miss the Cioppino tutorial, we arrived at the Lauret household.  The trees were in bloom welcoming us there.

 The kids busied themselves by playing outside in the warm sunshine.

 The adults found good conversation among themselves as the Cioppino cooked.

 Little ones began to hunger for the want of food...

 Then long-awaited faces of far-away relatives arrived for Grandpa's Cioppino.  It brings family together.

 Not one drop of Cioppino was going to be wasted down a seafood-sneering child's lips, so fried rice was made the Lauret-Chinese way, that is to say in a wok on a "camp chef" on the deck.

Ham, veggies, and egg get fried up first.

 Then the massive white lump of day-old rice is added.

 He breaks it up and frys it all up with shoyu.  Yum.

 Meanwhile the Cioppino was cooking.

 We all enjoyed visiting as the tantalizing aroma filled the air.

Love my grandma!

 Many people, many cars.

 Cioppino is almost done.

 And there was much rejoicing the household of Lauret.

 This is one memorable meal!  Thank you Grandpa!

 It was quite delicious, fed our crowd, and not one drop remained.

 After Cioppino, there was much conversing.

My dear cousin, Evelyn :)  It's been so MANY years!

 Later, Ben mesmorized the children with his fancy card tricks.  The kids LOVED the tricks.  Even after he went home they longed for more.  Ben obliged their requests and filmed himself at home and posted a bonus card trick on YouTube for the kids.  There's a mansion in heaven for you, Ben!

And don't forget...

Grandpa's Cioppino Tutorial Slideshow:

Make a free photo slideshow

Flat Stanley and Wreck It Ralph! (Spring Break- Part 3)

 Flying Kites with Flat Stanley

Lily and Amara got kites in their Easter baskets this year, so the next day when the wind began to whip, our family took them to the park just down the street from Grandma Christensen's home. 

We brought Amara's "Flat Stanley" to the park to fly kites.  For those who don't know who Flat Stanley is, let me explain.  In Kindergarten the kids color a picture of Flat Stanley, then they have to send him on an adventure by mailing him to someone.  The Flat Stanley recipient is supposed to take Flat Stanley somewhere and document their time together, then mail him and the documentation back to the school. Amara actually made 2 Flat Stanleys or perhaps I should say Flat Stellas (females) and she mailed one to Orem to her Lauret grandparents and one to American Fork to her other grandparents.  She met up with both Stanleys on our Spring Break and both Stanleys did Easter things with her.  Then the Stanley that went to American Fork got emailed off to Cambodia where her Uncle Matt lives.  He took Stanley on a few adventures and emailed back the pictures.  We've compiled the Flat Stanley stuff into a smilebox presentation for her to share with her class.  It's also found somewhere in the middle of this post.

The kites flew and it was fun.  Then the strings either broke or got so tangled up that the kites were done, which worked out because the wind was starting to get really cold. 

Here's a few more pictures of us being hanging out at Steve's parents' house...

 

And here's the Flat Stanley presentation...

Another photo album by Smilebox

Movie Night with Cousins

We went to Micah's house for a movie night. 

Cute Rexton!  I had fun holding him.

 

With bowls of popcorn, we watched "Wreck It Ralph" and the kids sat on a blanket in front of the T.V..

                                                       

At the end of the movie everyone danced to the music!

We had a lot of fun together.

              

EASTER! Spring Break- Part 2

It was so fun to share Easter with more family!

We spent Easter day with Steve's family.  The girls got to wear their new matching Easter dresses to church (Thanks Grandma Debby!) and they were excited to have pretty fans given to them from the Easter bunny!  Steve's dad has joined his ward choir and it was fun to see him up there with everyone else in the choir as they presented a beautiful sacrament meeting program.

Later that afternoon, Lily made name cards for everyone that was coming to dinner.

 Easter dinner was extra-special this year as Steve's mom planned a menu focused on our Savior and the foods that he would have eaten.  Behold!  The honeycomb.  She even tracked down a local farmer that sold her some.

Pomegranite juice... yum!

 Cooked asparagus, carrots, lentils, and white fish...

Carob, Figs, goat cheese, olives, cheeses, some raw veggies, and stuffed eggs (that last one wasn't mentioned in the sciptures, but hey, what's Easter without stuffed eggs?)  There were also some fresh buns that Beverli had made, but didn't make it onto my camera roll.

 This feast was so yummy, I forgot to take a picture of my plate until I had already eaten a bunch.

 The honey comb was a nice chewy wax.  Some of the combs had a bee nestled inside, but we avoided that area.  Except James.  He decided to eat one.  And I can't remember, but I think he liked it???

 

After the feast, we enjoyed an Easter -hunt for all sorts of treasures including garden seeds, frisbees, gardening gloves, and candy.

 Amara was very excited to find so many garden seed packets.  She really loves to garden, but I think we may have gotten a few more seeds than we needed, so we shared with others :)