A prom story.

Once upon a time a boy named Carter decided he would ask a girl to prom. Though he was recently 16, and a novice at the whole dating scene, he did know you couldn't just go up and ask a girl but had to do it with a little flair. After enlisting the help of his mom (who has a serious problem of always thinking in puns) and a talented Grandma (who is always willing and able to turn his mom's cheesiness into something cool), a plan was hatched. Carter and his mom made sure to pick a night where the girl would be away from home, and arranged to go and plaster packages of Extra sticks of gum all over her room. Then, they put the cool poster (see above) on a post just inside the door to her room.

Inside one of the packs of gum was this tiny picture of Carter, aka the 'Gum Bandit'.

A couple of days later, Carter was summoned to the office during school. He was very surprised to be greeted by a police officer who said he needed to talk to Carter about a warrant that had been issued for his arrest. Carter was literally in shock. The only thing he could think he'd maybe done wrong was drive the car without a learner's permit while his parents were in it with him. Yes. He is a rebel. The police man proceeded to hand him a typed document. He was relieved to see that it was actually a very clever answer from his prom date referencing his 'gum bandit' stunt.

The only arrest that took place that day was Carter's near cardiac arrest!

Several weeks later, after much planning, tux shopping, and anticipation, the big night arrived. Carter's cousin Jeff was in the group, and the 2 handsome, young men were willing to pose for some pictures in their tuxes prior to picking up their dates.

The days events included: surprising their dates at 9 am for breakfast, picking the girls up later for a trip to the carnival and out for ice cream, then later taking the glammed up ladies out for a nice dinner and to the dance.

Carter and his date Moriah.

Yes, both of their last names happen to be Christensen, but they are not related.
The whole group.

Just the ladies:
Moriah, Ali, Victoria, Ashlyn, Terin

Just the guys:
Jeff, Jared, Zach, Carter, Callen

How does a group of ten get around? A retired retirement home bus, of course. Decorate it with mini white lights, balloons, streamers, and stars; set up a mini-buffet table complete with gift baskets full of their favorite snacks and drinks; enlist the cool BYU student home for the summer as the chauffeur; and you've got the ultimate in fun prom date transportation!

The boys only regret was decorating the wheel chair lift with balloons. They wish they had used it to lower themselves and their dates at the door of the prom, complete with some dry ice smoke. Hey, there's always next year.

The End.

Spring. Once in awhile.

Once in awhile we have a day that feels kind of like Spring. For the most part is has been windy, rainy, and kind of cold. Luckily Easter was a pretty nice day. We had the Easter hunt at home and then headed to Uncle Gary and Aunt Kim's for a wonderful lunch and fun with the extended family. The kids on Easter morning, arriving home from church and ready to start the hunt.

Chloe thinks the whole Easter egg hunt thing is pretty cool.

Our tradition is to do a scavenger hunt where the Easter Bunny leaves rhyming clues with goodies leading them to the next hidden treasure. This year the bunny seemed frustrated creating clues that will make a 16 year old think and participate, but not leave a 3 year old in the dust.
For the most part they seemed to be having fun.

For the most part---why is it that someone always seems to feel left out? Corbin's facial expression says it all!

Prior to Easter, Chloe begged to make cupcakes that look like grass. She must have seen them somewhere. We had fun dying coconut green and letting Chloe decorate the cupcakes with pastel candies. I think those Easter colors are the cutest. Pastel m&ms are so pretty.

I enlisted the help of the kids to get some flower pots planted. Since planting them, it has been freezing, windy, and rainy with occasional sunny days.

Chase told us he thinks the dirt smells so good. He told his baseball teammates that when they were putting new dirt on the mound and he got labeled "tree hugger". I thought is was automatic that farmers thought dirt smelled good. I guess some things are better left unsaid.

It's Great to be Eight!

Yesterday Caleb celebrated his 8th birthday! He had a malt cake with fresh strawberries and malted cream frosting (kind of our take on a strawberry malt). It was super yummy.

We had a big party planned with the aunts, uncles and cousins, but Chloe had to go to Urgent Care for her respiratory problems, so the big family party got downsized. We still had a good time eating cake and reminiscing the day Caleb was born in Mesa, Arizona.

Doesn't Caleb look handsome?

Now that Caleb is 8 he will be getting baptized soon. He got a new suit, tie and stripling warriors tie tack. He also got his very own quadruple combination scriptures with his name engraved on front as well as a 'nice' CTR ring. He is pretty excited about all of this. Now that he is 8, and his birthday fell on fast Sunday, I was impressed that he made the decision to fast. I had even planned to make a big waffle with strawberries and whipped cream breakfast for him. But, he reminded me that wouldn't work. Good kid.

He loves the rapid fire dart gun he got!

As well as his new cub scout stuff. Being 8 means you get to start cub scouts, too.

He got a new book that teaches him all about the promises he will be making on his baptism day.
I think the kid on the cover kind of looks like a kid version of Obama. Maybe he's been hiding more than just his birth certificate! ; )

Caleb loves anything to do with shooting and hunting. He got a new hunting game and a brick of .22 ammo.
He will be having a double birthday party with his cousin Jett next week. Two guys turning 8 and getting baptized the same day. Cool stuff. The theme of the party will be "hunting". We'll post a full report of how it turns out.