Last month Parker’s dad bought him a plane ticket to California for Spring Break. Parker decided he wanted to keep it a secret surprise from his mom and sisters. It was REALLY hard for him to keep this secret! He was SO excited to see his family! He hadn’t seen his mom and dad since summer, so it was a LONG time waiting! His flight was scheduled for Friday at 4:45, so we decided to leave to Utah Thursday after school so we could have a mini-vacation in Utah. We got a hotel room in Salt Lake and went to the Living Planet Aquarium. It is a little aquarium, but it was a lot of fun! The pictures are pretty blurry because it’s hard taking pictures of moving animals in the dark 
After Parker’s plane took off I headed down to Pleasant Grove to spend the weekend with Lori. I LOVE hanging out at Lori’s house. Lori’s older kids are all moved out and on their own, but her little boys are still around. Hunter is 8 and just got baptized. Morgan is 6 and is a total hoot. Last time I visited, Morgan was still a little shy with me… but this time he wasn’t shy at all. It was SO fun! On Saturday Lori had a couple errands to run, so I stayed home and played with Hunter and Morgan. We played Mini-golf, bowling, tennis, and Pokemon on the Wii! When Lori got home we took the boys to a birthday party. Lori and I had several hours to ourselves to just TALK. We had so much to catch up on! Lori showed me how to make Taco Soup and I watched her make her famous homemade bread. MMM… Warm bread out of the oven is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!!!!!! When the boys got home they wanted me to play hide-n-seek with them. Morgan was the BEST and made me laugh for hours! I told him I would count to 100 then come find him… he would go hide, and then yell “I’m ready” from wherever he was hiding! I didn’t have the heart to explain to him that he was giving himself away…. so I would look everywhere, then find him. It was SO fun. After hide-n-seek we played tag and chase and tickle wars. I was worn out! On Sunday Lori and her family went to church while I slept in
After everyone left Lori and I played Qwirkle with Morgan. What a fun game! Hunter made me his famous dessert (SO FUNNY!) It was cut up banana in the bottom of the bowl and then cut up strawberries around the banana. He said, "it’s healthy and delicious!” I told him I needed the recipe! He was SO cute and pestered his mom for hours about writing down his recipe. I’ve decided to call it “Hunter’s healthy banana-strawberry extravaganza”! It was very tasty. Hunter and Morgan were so sad that I had to leave Monday morning. They are on Spring Break all week as well, and wished I could stay and play all week. I wished I could too! I had SO much fun. I could go on and on about this trip. I was able to talk and talk and talk to Lori. I was able to talk with David, which was so nice. I haven’t really had a chance to talk to David much since his illness. Although David is very different mentally, he is still such a great friend to me. I just love these guys and I didn’t take ANY PICTURES
Here are some pictures… sorry for the long post
I had planned to go out to dinner and a movie with some friends. Parker planned to be home to cook himself some dinner, then his friend’s parents were going to pick him up for a sleepover. He’s made himself Macoroni and Cheese a bunch of times, I didn’t worry at all. He called while I was in the movie, so I text him to let him know I was in the movie and I’d call him after. Well, instead of him sending me a “checking in” text….. he sent me a text saying he forgot about the mac and cheese on the stove and went to his sleepover. A hour or so later he remembered and FREAKED OUT! His friend’s sister drove him home to help take care of the problem. The smoke alarms were going off, and I can imagine utter chaos. Parker was very, very upset. He and his friend and his friend’s sister cleaned up best they could (luckily the neighbors didn’t hear the alarms!). I text Parker back that it was okay, and to enjoy his sleepover. Throughout the movie I was a little stressed, but thought it was a little bit comical. I came home from dinner and a movie and walked into a house that smelled like burnt noodles! He did a pretty good job cleaning up, but the pan is toast (literally). Parker is still pretty upset about the incident. He feels SO bad and offered to buy a new pan out of his allowance. He is such a great kid, I couldn’t even be mad. I think his guilt was consequence enough! 
