The Prince takes his Princess to Prom

Tonight is Prom at Liberty High School. Chase asked Jessica Porter to it and they doubled with Codi and his date. This afternoon the boys slaved in the kitchen making breadsticks, caesar salad, and lasagna. They set the table to look like an Italian restaurant and then picked up their dates around 7 pm. Apparently the dinner was fabulous and they all went away very full. The dance is at the Press Box on the Air Force Academy and the theme is "A Night in Paris"
Steve and I get to chaperone the "after prom" activities at the high school from midnight until 0400...sounds like fun, Huh!!! Don't they all look fabulous!!!

Spring break in Moab, Utah

Our spring break was back in March and if you want to enjoy some warm weather you have to leave Colorado during spring break because it almost always is cold and snowy at that time. We left on Friday morning and drove our trailer up over the Colorado mountains and arrive in the desert oasis of Moab, Utah in the early afternoon. Spencer, Chase and friend Codi drove the jeep following us. We set up the trailer and camp and then went for a bike ride on the Slippery Rock practice trail. It is always a difficult ride but gets easier each time. Lots of sandstone, hills and valleys and a few sand pits to trudge through. But it is way fun!
We camped at the Slickrock Campground and enjoyed the camp with Steve's little sisters Teri and Jody and their families. Our friends, The Packers joined us also...it was fun to see them again! We enjoyed the hot tubs at the campground, went biking and jeeping and on Sunday afternoon, after church, we went to Arches National Park and hiked to delicate arch. Maddie, Mike, Lilly and Grandma Merta came on Saturday night and spent 2 nights with us...it was Lilly's first camp trip and she loved the fire. It was also Grandma's 69th birthday so we celebrated with a dutch oven chocolate turtle cake and ice cream.
Lots of fun was had and we enjoyed 80 degree temps for the first few days and then it was in the 60's but very nice.
This was our 3rd annual trip to Moab for Spring break and we love it lots! Especially when we get to see family and friends!!!

Our house get's an upgrade...or two...or three...

We've been doing a little upgrading to our house, since we've got an extension at the Academy and will be here till the Summer of 2010. We decided that we wanted to enjoy those upgrades for a while and not just do them to make selling the house easier. We needed to replace the carpet in the family room, because of the years of pets and traffic. We went with a darker, speckled color that'll hide dirt better. Its much softer than what we had before, and the boys enjoy sitting on the floor more. In fact, Spencer and Austin sat on the floor the whole session of Sunday morning conference coloring in coloring books.

We went down together and picked out the carpet. We've been talking about it for quite a while, but finally decided it was time. Steve was a carpet installer for 7 years with Grandpa Anderson, and could have installed it himself, but after two knee surgeries he decided it was worth it to him to pay to have someone else put it in. Eventually we'll be doing the stairs, the den, and at least the master bedroom. They are all in serious need of replacement soon.

Then a few days after we bought the carpet, but before we had it put in, the dishwasher started to make some really ugly noises. We couldn't find the problem and learned it would be too expensive to fix so we decided it was time for a new dishwasher. Last summer we antiqued the kitchen cabinets, and got new counter tops, which highlighted the fact that all our appliances were mismatched. We wanted to slowly make the move to replace the white and cream colored ones with stainless steel, so we determined there was no time like the present to start the transition with the dishwasher. When we started looking, we found a pretty good deal on an entire stainless kitchen set that included the dishwasher, range, refrigerator, and over the range microwave. We talked about it, and decided to go for the whole shebang! The day came for the big purchase, and unbeknownst to Steve the purchased turned into and entire stainless kitchen...AND a new front load washer and drier! The money was flying out that day...Steve was a little more than surprised because that part of the big buy hadn't been discussed. That's okay, Maddie is happy that she'll be getting the old ones, and we'll recoup some of the money from selling the old ones and by getting rebates and tax credits for energy savings!

Steve and the boys have had a couple of very busy nights moving all the furniture out of the Family room on Wednesday and Thursday night. The appliances were delivered on Thrusday, and the delivery guys only installed the Washer and Drier, and the Stove. Steve had to hook up the water to the Fridge and the Dishwasher on Thursday night. Then on Friday the carpet was installed. So Friday and Saturday everything was put back into the Family room. (Saturday between Conference Sessions, and other running around). Then today, he and the boys finished removing the old microwave and installing the new one.

The house is looking good, and we'll be able to enjoy our improvements before we put the house up for sale in about a year. ... By the way, anyone want to buy an electric range and over the range microwave???