Crazy Saturday!

Yesterday was a busy day for us. We can go weeks with blank squares on the calender and then we get a day like yesterday, when everything lands on the VERY SAME DAY!
I had originally planned to go to Preston - it was the weekend of the annual Franklin County Medical Center Health and Wellness Expo. That was to be held from 8am to Noon. Then there was a Vintage Fashion Show at the Worm Creek Opera House at 3:00, the proceeds of which went to remodeling the Oneida Stake Academy (one of my pet projects)
That's not all! - In the evening was the Preston High School Ballroom Dance Concert (I thought it would be fun to go, since I was once on that team.)

BUT as more and more things crowded my schedule here in Pocatello - my plan of heading south quickly changed.
So here is what we did yesterday - in our CRAZY BUSY day!

I attended a couponing class at the Chubbuck Public Library from 10 - 11. I was surprised at how many people were there - about 60. This lady, a young mother on a tight budget, started using the website pinchingyourpennies.com only 3 months ago, in January, and has since mastered the system and has been saving hundreds of dollars on her grocery bill every month since. She's so excited about it that she's been holding these free classes teaching others to do the same.
It was AMAZING - I'm super impressed and am going to try... If any one is interested her next class will be May 23 @10am @ the Chubbuck Public Library.
Ryan had to work Saturday morning so a lady in our ward agreed to watch the boys while I went to the class. So I took them there around 9:30 - they played outside until I got there around 11:30 to get them.

We then dashed home so everyone could use the potty before dashing off again.
Our next adventure of the day was a birthday party of a little girl in Canton's preschool class. The party was at "Randy's Tumbling and Extreme Fun" in Chubbuck, across from Geraldine's Bake Shoppe and Deli, from 12- 2pm. [I took these pictures on my cell phone so they are not so awesome -it's not good at action shots at all!]
It was a really fun party and I had a blast, as well as the kids. It was fun to have so much room to run and jump and play. I think Canton would really like being in gymnastics. He had fun jumping on the trampoline, diving into the pit with the spongy blocks, and doing somersaults one after another until he was too dizzy to stand.
I was involved in gymnastics when I was younger. So I played on the blue springy floor. I did lots of cart wheels, round offs, back hand springs, and hand stands while all the little kids "Ooed" and "Ahhed." It was fun for me - but my arms are a little sore today...We had pizza and cake after we were done playing.


We then hurried home to squeeze in a nap before we had to dash off again. Once my exhausted kids were sleeping I hurried around the house clean it as quickly as possible (I was quite impressed - I guess I can get a lot done if I really put my mind to it.) I started vacuuming at 3:30 which, as I had hoped, woke my sleeping children and we got ready to leave AGAIN!

Our next engagement was yet ANOTHER birthday party. This one for a little boy who's the same age as Tate. Their family used to live in an apartment in our ward. They have since bought a house across town, but we've kept in touch.

His party was a bowling party at "Pine Bowl" from 4-6pm. It was all kinds of craziness - and I now have the opinion that bowling parties should be for no one under 8 years old! It was dark, there was a black light, but it was far too difficult to keep track of small children in the dim lighting.
Then there were a bunch of 3, 4, and 5 year olds trying to bowl! We had pinched fingers, smashed toes, and Canton kept stepping over the line as he attempted to send his ball down the alley - this causing him to slip and fall down. He was rubbing his bottom and with a pouty face said, "Kiss my bum, Mom, it weally hurtz!" I didn't do it.


The music was REALLY loud, we all had to shout just to hear each other and be heard, and the music wasn't very wholesome. So I was in a dim lit, smelly bowling alley, blaring swear words and alternative life styles, trying to keep track of my kids. I was not having so much fun. Another mother there went to ask if they could change the station or at least turn it down, they were very rude to her and refused to change the music in any way.


Things got a little better when we all sat down to eat. We had yet another meal of pizza and birthday cake. My children weren't so excited about that, but I didn't care if they didn't eat it. Ryan met us there after he got off of work. He helped Tate bowl a couple more times and then we went home.

We had 20 minutes to change before even more excitement. I was sure glad I cleaned up earlier. My Aunt had some extra tickets for "Power in His Touch" at the Steven's Performing Arts Center. Ryan went to get her son so he could watch our kids while we went.
It was my favorite part of the day! It was a musical performance about repentance and the healing power of the atonement. It was very well done and gave me a different perspective than I had seen before.
Ryan and I both really enjoyed the music so we bought the sound track after the show - he figured we could buy the CD when we hadn't had to pay for the tickets (Thanks Bonnie!) The writer was there so we had her sign it.
So we ended on a good note. It had been far too long since our last date night.

My cousin took such good care of our kids!
This morning the boys were telling me all about it! "Kyle fought the monsters in the dark and defeated them!" "Kyle said if we sleep all night our muscles will get big and strong like his," "Look, my muscles are already BIGGER!!!" I think Kyle's pretty awesome :)

We got home around 10:00 last night - then I prepared a Primary lesson, for today, before heading to bed. It was a VERY long day!