A Most Marvelous March

Because of Brenna's momentous birthday, she was able to be baptized the first Saturday of the month. 

She has been counting down the day and she was glowing. 

 Our ward is a large one and typically every baptism service has a few kids sharing their special day.  Brenna shared with two fun peeps: Cooper Jesperson and Kylee Nelson. 

Each of the kids were baptized by their dads.  Dave prepares and looks forward to these special moments with our kids and we are grateful He is a priesthood holder. 

 We split up the program- Cooper's grandma spoke, Grandma McArthur spoke and all the siblings from each family sang with the special 8 year olds.  

The song they performed was "Choose Him Again" and it was so sweet.  It was a special and powerful message about choosing Jesus in our lives and I know while Brenna chose Him as she made those baptismal covenants/commitments we have to continually choose Him.  

We have to always remember Him and put him as the center of our lives, even (maybe especially) over Zac Efron...who Brenna thinks is dreamy and even requests coloring pages of his handsome face.  

The following day was fast Sunday. (side note: A month or so ago Harrison got up distressed one Sabbath asking me over and over again if it was a quick Sunday, or if it was hurry Sunday.  It took me a minute to realize he was referring to FAST Sunday.  We typically do have to hurry to get out the door, how that happens with 11am church, I do not know, but it does.  Now, I sometimes have to refer to Fast Sunday as Quick/Hurry Sunday just for kicks).    Anyway, Brenna got to sit on the stand and she had been itching to bear her testimony for a good year.  We told her when she was baptized.  You better believe she raced up to that microphone when it was available.  

She shared that she had felt the Holy Ghost 'so much' at her baptism, I hope she can always recall that she did.  I did too.  

Harrison did not share his divine experience with me, but he did tell me the other day "I felt the spirit when I watch Avengers

...but not the Holy Spirit."  At least we are learning that there are all sorts of spirits out there! Ha! 

Soon after our sweet girl's baptism, we were celebrating our other little lady and her birthday! 

The big 1-1 for Miss Katelee! This tween-er and her gal pals roamed the mall for a scavenger hunt birhtday party and it was hilarious. 

We split into two teams, with the help of Super Aunt Shannon and met back 45 min later.  We looked for an exit sign, a frog, something fuzzy, a size 13 shoe, etc  Katelee's team beat my team by a hair, but they definitely took the prize for best 'something fancy.'

Best part was watching them dance in Forever 21.  She had Pyper, Emily, Capri, Nicole, Peyton, Brylee and Breanna.  She's lucky to have great friends.  

Her birthday party was fitting for a pre-teen with emoji cakes and a gift of an Alexa speaker.  Alexa allows her to listen to music, set an alarm, talk about the deep things of the universe and most importantly tell the weather and jokes.  We have to keep those coming at our place.  

Katelee is an emotional, dependable, good to the core, kind young lady.  We are blessed by her genuine concern for others and it's balanced out so well with her goofiness and sense of adventure.  Harrison walked by her the other day and said, "oh, it's Katelee-the person with issues." She is not quite perfect, I guess. 

Katelee also had a fun month with her theatre school.  She was bummed to miss it last year, so we were pleased to get to enroll with Emily Cowley.  

The two learned vital theatre skills-singing, dancing, confidence and combat.  That last one probably comes in most handy at our house.  Although, now she is trained in stage combat, it's hard to tell what is legit and rehearsed here now! 

On to another production-Singing in the Rain.  Oh yes, take a double take of this picture below...

That is right!  It is Grant-the fellow who has never wanted to be in a theatre performance has finally caught the performing bug.  He wasn't too sure about it at first with the rehearsals, but come to the actual performance nights and he had a grand time.  He is already gearing up for some more time on stage. He was a natural for sure! 

The end of the month was Easter- and early one for us this year.  It wasn't too cold to have the city chaos collection...eh, I mean Easter egg hunt.  There was a mom that yelled at another mom there and I thought there was going to be a cat fight before my very eyes over a tootsie roll.  But, we keep going back every year.  It's pretty much hilarious...usually.  

 

 We love to remember the true meaning of Easter and spend time together reflecting on the Savior and the plan that allows us to live eternally because of Him.  Harrison, while angry the other day mumbled, "i don't care about Jesus."   I asked him what he said, slightly shocked that that came out of his mouth and he told me that I didn't hear anything.  I know he didn't mean it because really nothing else matters and Jesus is the reason the things we do care about last forever.  

The Savior also makes it possible to wipe away mistakes and come clean.  While attempting to be clean in the tub the other day, Harrison was showing me how he can touch the bottom.  He took a deep breath and went for it.  When he came up gasping,  I knew he hadn't quite made it.  He looked at me and frankly stated, "Well, that was humiliating." 

We finished off the month with a visit from Grandpa-we had just seen him for the baptism, but we were happy he got to spend his birthday and conference with us.  Good news was we also were going to be heading out to Florida a couple weeks later, more of those details with April's post! 

February Fun-Celebrating Life

I got back from Las Vegas (as may be recalled from the last post), the day before Grant's birthday.  It was Teen Eve, if you will.  I got home in time for the Superbowl (Brenna asked why the players had binkies! Ha!  Those funny mouth guards), and to wrap my head around the era we were all about to enter.  

We had a great day celebrating our firstborn.  He is a good soul.  His heart is good and I do say, he is becoming quite the handsome fella.  We are awaiting the official passage of puberty, but their are some certain signs...ahem, emotions at least.  Grant decided to have a guys night out and hit the Black Panther movie with is buddies to celebrate his advancement to the teenage zone. 

I pulled a stalked mom and followed them in to the theatre.  He has gone to the movies with friends since and it has been mom free zone.  He has recently started a 'movie group' with peeps from school.  I have to regulate that he is not the only fella because he seems to be surrounded by ladies.  Entering into this teenage zone, I just don't know if him being the only y chromosome around is normal or not.  For now, the wing man rule stands.  

After the movie, Dave took the boys for some real man food-Barbecue and then they had to hit up a declicous dessert spot as well for a pazookie.  It was a good party for my amazing Grant!

Brenna boo had her birthday just a five days later...it happens that way every year!  hahaha! She had a momentous birthday as she turned 8!  We had a small friend party this year, which was declared as weird by our neighbor because there weren't a lot of people! We took them to Airborne to be wild. 

 She had invited a couple more buddies, but one was throwing up just before.  Her mom almost sent her, and I was sweating having to clean up vomit from a foam pit.  Luckily, she opted out.  

The friends that accompanied us were:

Natalie Robinson, Kinley Smith, Madison Burgoyne, Kate Cowley and Lilly Taylor. 

It was good sweaty fun! 

We celebrated with family on her actual birthday with cake, ice cream and presents.  

My spunky little firecracker is 8!  Brenna is all intensity, passion and heart.  She is luke warm about nothing. She is always all in and a natural bossy pants...um, I mean leader.  She has become and incredible dancer and we love watching her do her thing.  She claims 'dance is life.'  

Loving holidays continued as we moved on to Valentines day.  I was sickly, but we just couldn't skip our fancy dinner/dance.  I love these traditions our kids anticipate.  They better be perfect dates after these training sessions!  Brenna's grade had a manners dinner where they got a partner and the boys pulled out the lady's chair, they talked to each other, helped with the door and tray, etc.  Brenna was anxiously anticipating who her partner would be.  She didn't want one particular classmate to be her partner.  I don't blame her, since he called her a 'fat lard.'  That typically doesn't set well with the ladies on a first date.  Ha!  Luckily, she was with a boy down the street.  As you can tell, she was not disappointed with her 'first date,' Tyler Baker.

 Harrison is currently fighting an Oedipus complex.  I think it's fairly normal, but he would give Dave a run for his money right now.  He attempts to attack me with lengthy kisses.  Sometimes afterwards, he will gaze into my eyes and ask, "are you in love with me yet?" 

All the romance was felt the night of the dinner/dance because on Valentines Day, Dave and I doubled with some friends to the Jazz game.  And we pretty much were playing basketball with the team.  I could hear them talk and nearly wipe their brows.  It was pretty awesome. 

School was extra busy for me that month as I was in charge of Literacy Week with my friend.  We were able to schedule author, Jennifer Neilsen.  Ms. Neilsen and I emailed all year and I felt like we became such good friends.  That day there was an awkward hug or handshake moment, but overall it was such a great experience arranging it for our school.  She motivated the kids to read and challenge themselves, to go for their dreams and work hard.  It was fabulous.

 We followed up with a reading minute competition.  Both the girls were in the top twenty of their grades and got special prizes.  We had a read-a-thon at home and read all day long one Saturday.  It was fun fun fun!

 Being able to celebrate 2 birthdays in February always gives me time to reflect on when they were born and how I knew when I first held baby Grant and baby Brenna that they didn't just start when they took their first breath.  I knew their spirits were vibrant and real before.  This year Dave's family said goodbye to his Grandpa.  Grandpa Church was the absolute epitome of charity.  He was modest and non assuming while wise and knowledgeable.  We were very blessed to have him influence us.  

 Those same thoughts about life that I had with my babies gives reassurance that life extends not just before Earth, but after as well.  We know we will see Grandpa Church, and all of our loved ones, again.  For now, we hope to live up to the legacy they gave us.  

When You Wish Upon a Star

For Christmas, the McArthur family opened tickets to none other than 'The Happiest Place on Earth.'  It was a long month waiting to redeem those tickets, but on my birthday we flew the coop and headed for California.  Everyone was super grumpy that day, so after a brief flip out by mom in the car and some tears from Katelee about everyone ruining my birthday, there was an adjustment in attitude and we were ready to party!

We started our excursion in California Adventure.  

 It was one of the best Disney days in the history of ever.  It was overcast and little cool, which is nice for us cold weather fans and it wasn't crowded.  

We got to ride the Radiator Springs racers two times and we were so fast-we won both races.  The kids thought we were pretty amazing.  

 Backing up to the beginning of the day, we went to Guardians of the Galaxy because we anticipated needing to grab a fast pass to get on later.  There was no wait (yes!) so we decided to jump on.  Well, that may have been a bit ambitious for Master H.  He went on that free fall and vowed never to go on that in his whole life again.  We also sufficiently scared him as he went to the 'It's Hard to Be a Bug Show' and screamed at the top of his lungs thinking the giant spiders were falling from the sky to get him.  It was a great way to start the day!  Haha!

Permanently scaring our child was not the main focus of the day, we went on plenty of kids rides (including the Goofy Coaster, carousel and Toy Story Mania) which he loved.  

 The highlight of his day (or life) was meeting Captain America.

We all know Harrison has been a long time fan of the Original Avenger.  He had adopted his persona for much of 2015 into 2017.

 Cap and Harrison talked about patriotism, villains and saving the world.  

 They made an awesome pair.  Our world is save in the hands of these two.  It really was so fun to see Harrison meet his idol.  Dreams were coming true!  Captain America even inspired Harrison to have more courage because by the end of the night, Harry was asking to go on Guardians again!  And he did!  He ended up having a great time...we didn't subject him to the gargantuan spiders again though.

 We rode absolutely everything we wanted to (that was open) multiple times and met some fun friends...

 We were tuckered out and ready to hit Magic Kingdom the next day.  

Harrison continued his quest for vanquishing evil as he trained to be a Jedi.  He took on Darth Vader like the force had been building inside him for ages.  Darth never knew what hit him. Harrison is already telling us he needs to go back to train to fight Darth Vader again.   

We rode lots of rides, ate some yummy treats ( I fell in love with the raspberry macaroon)

met a couple characters...

 

Harrison declared Belle to be his girlfriend, which is a little rude since I used to be the girl of his dreams, but I suppose Belle can fill those dreams now.  

Disneyland itself is magical and is the place where dreams come true.  For Dave, however, it is sometimes the place of nightmares.  He does not look forward to spending time in a place of musical, cartoon, giddiness.  He is not a fan of rides all together, as is perfectly displayed in the evolution of ride photos here...

He starts out "trying" to like it...

 He eventually just isn't amused...

Then, he just pretends it isn't happening.  bwuahaha!!

 

We loved it, even if it wasn't his top destination.  He was a good sport though and had to even give up sit down restaurants so we could get to every attraction I had mapped out.  That is a big sacrifice, if you know Dave.  

We had one more amusement park day at Universal Studios.  Universal was much more crowded but there aren't as many rides we wanted to go on, so we were ok.  We got to meet up with Chris and Les and Co as well as Shannon, so that was a lot of fun!  

To cap off our last full day, we dined as they did in the Dark Ages and cheered on our knight at Medieval Times.  Brenna was awarded the banner for queen of the banquet and now we all have to bow to her...actually we had to do that already, so no change there.  

 The following day we tried to be spiritual and attend a local church, but it was a regional conf, so we walked the pier at Newport instead.  

We made some fun memories and can't wait to go back to Disney!  I may have to take the kids solo, but we will be back someday!  Haha!

The next week, I joined my mom and sisters in Las Vegas

 to celebrate Shannon and her 40th birthday.  We went to the Beatles Love show.  It was lots of fun-we were singing and dancing in our seats!  We had a yummy dinner, some treats...

 and a grand time.  Shannon and I finished it off with a buffet brunch at the Wynn.  It was a Wynn for both of us!  Ha!