A SpEcIaL Day

Today was a Very Special Day for the Grover family,

especially this sweet little angel.

Her daddy gave her a beautiful blessing.

(this is not a picture from today, but you may recognize

it as one from Karli's recent Easter blog post) Unfortunately, I did not get any

pictures of Avery before she was

taken out of her beautiful little dress,

but I am VERY sure her mommy did!

Afterwards, Karli was a wonderful host

and served some delicious food.
All were well fed, with full, happy tummies!

these two took turns with the little kid chair

we were soo thankful we could

REPRESENT the Asplund side of the family

and share in this special day for precious Avery.
(Jason and LeAnne were actually here this weekend

so they got to stay just long enough

for the blessing and then had to hit the long

road back home to Oregon).

despite the cold temps outside

the OLDER kids headed outdoors,

while cute little Taylor

watched from indoors.

that little Kaiya is quite the driver

in this little machine.

NO FEAR driving off the curbs and

down the sidewalks. My kids were even

having fun taking a ride in the passenger seat!

thanks Kar for inviting us to share in

this special day with your beautiful family!

Guess Who?

At School, Kaipo has been learning

Nursery Rhymes, so this week

they got to dress up.

Can you guess who he was?Old King Cole

It was a very LAST MINUTE

throw together.

Thanks BK for the crown (that I covered

with gold wrapping paper) and

DI for the robe and gold belt.

Grandma

We got word this morning of the passing of Grandma Asplund.

Although we knew her health was failing, it just didn't

prepare any of us for this sad news.

The hardest was when I finally got to talk to

my parents and to see my dad's eyes filled with tears.

I just can't say enough, how grateful I am that we made

it to Canada last fall to be with her and the

Asplund Family to celebrate the 90th birthday of this beautiful,

amazing woman. It wasn't an easy trip for any

of us, and it wouldn't have been possible

without the tremedous help of my parents.

But it was soo worth!

My kids still talk about our trip to

CANADA all the time. I am so glad

they got to meet her and now have fond

memories to hold dear. At dinner tonight I talked with the kids about the passing

of Great Grandma. And as sad as we all felt, we

agreed she is peaceful now, in Heaven WITH

Great Grandpa.
My sister Karli, who is soo eloquent with words,

shared a beautiful tribute to my grandma.

I could never express it the way she did.

So go to her blog and read what an amazing

grandma we have. No wonder we have such

an incredible father!

Leah Asplund was and is a woman to

cherish and remember with fondness!

Easter Fun

the kids decorated eggs were all smiles
and Ame took it VERY serious.

with a touch of gold and

their own personal artistic touch

This year our neighborhood started

a NEW tradition, that I LOVE...

instead of going to the ridiculously

crazy, city park egg hunts,

we had a neighborhood hunt.

It was Fantastic!

We had a great turn out and I am excited

to see it grow as the kids do!

Then we headed to the GRAND opening of

this place in Bountiful.

Ame's polynesian dance teacher's sister

opened this restaurant, and so Ame's group performed.

It was FREEZING, but the food AND entertainment

was well worth it!

For those who know the group Fiji.

I was told the group who performed Na Drua

are their cousins (that doesn't mean much

since every polynesian seems to be cousins),

but they were great to listen to.

Nalu loved the music and dancing

and kept trying to join them.

A fun filled Saturday. No one

ended this day on an empty stomach!

*And if you are ever in, or passing through

Bountiful, you should definitely check this

place out. The food is AWESOME!

(it's off the 5th South exit)

Easter

A little out of order, breakfast came in the middle

of these pics, but I didn't feel like trying to reorder these.

Caught 'em before their mad dash

to see what the easter bunny brought...

the EB always brings flip flops for all the kids.

Too bad the weather hasn't allowed

for wearing them yet?!
I think Ash had most of his candy eaten

BEFORE breakfast...he is a candy junky for sure!

Nalu was excited to be apart of the
craziness, even though he didn't quite get
what was going on.

this year the EB brought each of the kids
a new church video. Since church movies
are the only thing allowed in our home
on Sundays, the video supply needed some
new additions.
It was an EARLY morning, but once the
baskets were devoured and breakfast was
had, all by 8am, videos started and all was quiet.
(thank goodness we don't have church until 11)
And mom could take a shower :)
Here's the kiddos all ready in their Easter attire.
Ash got to give his first prayer in Primary,
so he was extra excited!
We tried really hard this year (despite the
small amount of Easter treats & prizes)
to help the kids remember and focus on the real
reason for our celebration at this time.
As Kaipo put it-
all the eggs and candy and stuff don't really
matter...It's Jesus who does!
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this picture of Nalu.
Just too cute.

Have to share a quick story about Ame
and the hat. SO I was out shopping and looking
for other things, and saw this hat. She already had
the dress. I called her and asked if I got a hat would
she wear it, and she said a BIG excited YES.
She LOVED her outfit, until she arrived at
church and NO one else was wearing a hat.
She became very self conscious and did not
want to wear it anymore. I finally convinced
her it MADE her outfit and its OK
to be unique and different.


No pictures, but after church we headed down
South to spend the rest of the day with QUinn's
family. His sister doesn't have grass in their yard
yet, and we heard it was going to rain, so we
did an UNTRADITIONAL pinata.
As QUinn overheard me discussing the idea
with his sis a few days prior, he commented
You know we are not hispanic, RIGHT?!
The kids don't care how they get the candy.
It's great no matter how it comes!
*************************
It was a simple, but crazy day.
I am thankful for the brief moments
I was able to spend in contemplation
of my Savior and HIS sacrfice and death.
And then HIS amazing resurrection.
For each one of us.
I feel truly blessed and grateful
for my knowledge of the Plan of Salvation
and the peace it can bring,
amidst life's challenges.
HE LIVES!

Hola!

On Friday, Ame went down to BYU for the Language Fair.

A few select students from each grade level, in the

Spanish Immersion Program were selected

(they had to try-out)

to join a team to represent our school.

Each student had to do something independent,

Ame did a "show and tell", all in spanish of course,

and they were also involved in a group skit.

They have had to go to school early 3 days a week

for the past 6 weeks to practice, and she

has spent a lot of time at home memorizing as well.

They had to be at the school bright and early

in the morning, 6:30am!

She was sooo excited for this day.

Here's Ame and Taelynn, on their way...

waiting for their turn...

getting ready to perform their skit

She had 2 parts, here she is one of the bugs,

and she also had another cool mask to play the part of The Wind.

Ame and Emma (she is one of her good friends in third grade)

Grandpa came with dad to support Ame.

Mom just thought it would be TOO MUCH to

drag all our boys to this even EARLY in the morning.

I was sad I couldn't go, but grateful QUinn was able to.

We are SOO extrememly proud of Ame!

She worked so hard to get ready for this,

and unlike the majority of the other students involved

this is her first year learning spanish.

She got a rating of EXCELLENT-they were graded

on projection, clarity of speech, pronunciation

and a few other things I can't remember. Ame you are OUTSTANDING!!!

We love you precious girl

PIzza and Movie night with Friend

The kids were promised as part of their SPring Break fun

that they could have FRIENDS over for Pizza & a Movie.

The kid got to MAKE their own pizza.

Ame also made a Yummy ice cream treat, which everyone of course devoured (despite the fact that there was a blizzard outside). Kaipo invited a boy from his class named Braxton and Ame invited 2 friends Olivia and Taelynn. I felt kind of bad not arranging for Ash to have a friend over too, but he didn't seem to mind.

7 kids=CRAZINESS!!!

In addition

We have been getting some much needed

SPRING CLEANING done during spring break,

but also Ame and I have been doing some baking and crafting.

Ame checked out some books from the library

with kid friendly recipe's.

She is just like her mama in that she

likes to try new recipes, especially when

they include chocolate!

And we made some new hairclips.

I sure enjoy our GIRL time together!