Yep, the Easter Bunny came.

 

 

Jess and Pepper were also there, but they specifically requested I not photograph them (Party Poopers).  Don't worry though--Lukie's shrieks of enthusiasm more than made up for their duddiness.

Later, we had Easter dinner with some friends.  They requested I bring my cupcakes--REQUESTED, I say!  I'm allowing myself to feel like Susanne right now.

Someday, I will be able to make a batch of cupcakes and not take a picture of the finished product.

Today, however, is not that day.

 Lunch date with two of my favorite boys!  

Brad and Adam were golfing, Jess was still at her friend's, so Pep, Luke, and I made our own fun.

We capped off this lunch with a movie--The Croods.  I slept through most of it (the movie, not the lunch).

 Tonight, Brad and I snuck away to a late showing of The Host.  I read the book years ago when it first came out, and it wasn't really my Cuppa Tea, but I was into Stephenie Meyer at the time, so of course I had to read everything she wrote.

When we saw the trailer a month ago, Brad didn't think it looked too terrible, and I was interested in seeing how it would be in movie form, so we made a date.  It's the rare movie we both want to see, so we had to take advantage.

Our consensus after seeing the movie = meh.  

The whole two-characters-occupying-the-same-body thing was awkward, and the actress playing that body was super irritating.  In fact, the whole film felt staged and awkward.  It was a good reminder that not just anyone can make a slick, quality movie--I guess film-making isn't as easy as the great film-makers make it look.

However, it did provide fodder for some snide whispers between Brad and me that left me laughing hard enough to go home with smeared mascara.  If you look closely, you can see the streaks.

Thursdays are crazy around here.  Jessica has tennis at 5:30 and Pepper has soccer practice at 6:00.  Both of them are in different towns, about 30 minutes away from our house--in different directions.

We make this work by me dropping Jess at Brad's office at 5:00, who then takes her to the club for her tennis lesson.  From there, I drive home, pick Pepper up (who gets off the school bus at 5:10), and we high-tail it to his practice.  We usually make it pretty close to on-time.

Well, tonight, a wrench was thrown in the works when Brad didn't respond to MULTIPLE phone calls telling him Jess and I were waiting in his office parking lot.  Finally, at 5:30, we gave up and came home.  Luckily, Pepper's practice was cancelled, so it didn't foul things up for him.

Nevertheless, I was less than pleased to spend an hour of my time driving to Brad's office, waiting a half hour, then driving back home for no reason.  Plus, after tennis, Brad was supposed to take Jess to meet her friend Gyllian (at another town 45 minutes away), with whom Jess had plans to spend the weekend.  Because Brad was MIA, I "got" to do that too, which I had not planned on.

All this happened at dinnertime, which left the boys at home to fend for themselves.  I have to admit, the kitchen was not clean to begin with, so it was a real pigsty by the time Brad got home.  It turns out a MAJOR issue hit the fan at work, so he was in a frantic meeting, talking his boss off the ledge caused by a $60 million misunderstanding (Brad wasn't the problem--he was the guy called in to fix the problem.   Basically, he's the hero of the story).

Anyway, even though he had a totally good excuse for standing me up, Brad knew it wouldn't hurt to suck up to me.  So when I finally got home around 8:30 PM, I was greeted by my dreamy hubby giving the spotless kitchen one last wipe down.

He even hand-washed all the dishes that didn't fit in the dish washer.

He knows the way right to my heart.

So, it's baseball season.  Pinch me.  I love baseball!

Tonight was Luke's T-ball practice, and while you and I may think that it doesn't take a lot of athletic prowess to hit a stationary ball sitting atop a tee, don't tell Luke or his coach.  Lukie's coach spends a LOT of time coaching these little boys on their swing.  Even at the games, he will stand behind the plate and make sure each player is positioned exactly right before he will let them take a swing.

Lukie can SMACK it!

It's pretty much awesome.

Today's post is brought to you by my Dino-Pod.

You'll remember that I have an antique iPod in my car that will only play 58 songs.  I love it, because while 58 songs may sound like a lot, it's actually not.  It has to be a pretty great song to make my Top 58.

Most of the songs on my Top 58 are songs that I consider the Soundtrack of My Life--if my life were a movie, these are the songs that would be playing in the background.  One such song is "I Think I Love You" by the Partridge Family.  Nothing brings back the 1970's like the Partridge Family. 

(To hear "I Think I Love You" by The Partridge Family, click HERE.)

As I googled photos of the Partridge Family, I came to the conclusion that there were no good pictures taken in the 1970's.  This particular photo looks like it was taken at the back of a Kmart somewhere.  In fact, I'm pretty sure my own family has a picture in front of that same background.

The 1970's is also the decade that brought you this photo of me:

 I rest my case.

"Read this book," typed Jill, between great, gasping sobs.

 Yep.

 Last night, we went out with a coworker of Brad's who is visiting from Australia.  Because a visiting Aussie simply can't come to Texas without eating a steak dinner and going to a rodeo, we ate a steak dinner and went to a rodeo.

Really, it was just an excuse for the First Official Wearing of My Cowboy Boots.  Yee Haw!

After I die, when they ask me to compile the Top Ten Hours of My Life (because, of course, they will), three o'clock on Saturday, March 23 is going to be on the list.

Because that is when I got to watch Kade, one of "our kids" from youth conference, be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

 Kade is the handsome young man standing between Brad and me in this photo of nearly our whole youth conference family just after he was baptized.  When they heard he was getting baptized, they rallied around to support him, just like they all supported each other at YC. 

 I've said before that we had the best family.  That doesn't even begin to describe the feelings that exist between these people.  There was something extraordinary about the way they treated each other and spoke to each other and just loved each other during those three days we spent together.  I truly believe that Heavenly Father hand-picked this group to be around Kade as he made the decision to be baptized.  His bishop told us that Kade had been on the fence for some time about whether or not to join, but on the Sunday after youth conference, Kade told him that he'd gotten his answer because of the experience he had with this "family".  And Kade himself is a huge reason for the closeness we all feel together.  He is one of the most kind, respectful, thoughtful, humble people I know.  He has a way of including everyone and reaching out to them that is a true gift.

"Popping the Eleven" yet again.

It is such a privilege to be a part of this group.  They make me cool by association.

Welcome to my Friday night.

That book on the ottoman is Crossed, book two in the Matched series by Ally Condie.  Just in case you're wondering--yes, you should read them.

Brad is also having a similar Friday night, only his is located in our bedroom.  He literally locked the door so I wouldn't take a picture of him reading his comic book novella. 

(Right now, I'm feeling really clever that I figured out a way to still blog about his reading material, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to be in huge trouble when he sees this tomorrow.)

 Do NOT get me started.

 I'd like to introduce you to the most spoiled dog on the planet.

Joey was snoozing on my couch with this blanket beside him.  I felt bad that he couldn't grab the blanket and pull it on top of himself, so I walked over and covered him up.

Then I remembered that Joey is a dog and rolled my eyes at myself.

Sunday, after church, we had a quick dinner and then I had to leave to take Mom to the airport.  Jess and Pep came with me, and because we had to rush, we left all the dishes on the table and the kitchen a mess.

We got Mom to the airport without incident, but coming home, the ramp to the freeway we needed to take was closed due to construction, so we had to take the scenic route.  The very scenic route, it turned out.  The take-an-extra-hour-to-get-home scenic route.

So, you can just imagine my grumpiness when I finally got home and found the dishes still on the table and the kitchen still a mess and my husband in the bedroom taking his Sunday Afternoon Nap.  Add in the fact that we had to leave in a half hour in order to make the Youth Conference fireside and you'll get the whole picture.  If I'd been a cartoon character, there would have been steam coming out of my ears.

So, in my Passive/Aggressive finest, I commenced cleaning up the kitchen, muttering and slamming like the martyr that I was.  Adam, who'd set the table earlier so he technically had fulfilled his dish duties, stepped up and offered to help me.  At that moment, he was my Most Favorite Child, and he received all the praise and appreciation I could dole out while begrudgingly loading the dishwasher.

Well, tonight was Adam's regular dish night and he tried to pull the Since-I-Helped-On-Sunday-When-I-Didn't-Have-To-Do-I-Still-Have-To-Do-Dishes-Tonight? card.  

Not to be out-done, I played the I'm-So-Sad-You-Helped-Before-Just-So-You-Could-Get-Out-Of-Work-Now card.

I totally won this one.

You knew I was going to post this picture, didn't you?

Notice there are TWO sets of blanket-covered legs watching the DWTS season premiere.  That's because my dreamy husband watched it with me.  My joy knows no bounds.

Here is our flag from youth conference, so sad and lonely on my living room couch.  You can see that all "our" kids signed it.

I am so not ready to come down from my Youth Conference High.

This morning, we had to pack up camp.  I did not expect to be this sad to be going home.

Once everything was packed up, the kids had some solo time where they could pray, reflect, and read the letters that their parents had sent.  Afterward, we met for a testimony meeting.

Yes, it was as hot as it looks.  Two hours in the blinding sun was a bit much for me.

But then we were rewarded with a Grand Feast.  The stake leaders told us they had 400 pounds of meat to barbeque, and it was good.

Each of the families did a little presentation.  This is our Human Bicycle.  We're pretty sure it was the best.

Here is Pepper with his youth conference family.  He got to be with our stake president and his wife, so he really scored.  They took great care of my boy, and Pepper now wants to join their family permanently.

After eating ourselves silly, we had to say good-bye.  The only thing that kept me from losing it completely was knowing that there will be a big fireside/slideshow tomorrow night, so I get to see "my" kids again.  

I wish I could think of the right words to describe the time we had on this youth conference.  There just isn't enough meaning in "amazing" or "great" or "mind-blowing" or "wonderful".  These last few days have been among the best I've ever spent in my whole life and I am so grateful that I got to be a part of it.

"Bitner's the Winner!"

(just typing that makes me tear up)

 Today was a long day at Youth Conference, but our group came through like champs!

We spent the morning playing a bunch of cool Life Games:

This is not as easy as it looks.

This is our "family" with the other family that we were racing against.  We totally cheated and still lost.  Oh well.  You can see a bunch of our kids "Popping the Eleven".  We were Family #11, and our kids came up with this gang sign for us.  You'll see a lot more of it in the pictures to come.

Reviewing Lehi's Dream before doing the Iron Rod game.

Our whole family made it to the end, where we got to partake of the most delicious fruit, which in our case was DumDum suckers (hey, you work with what you've got!).

After we'd traveled the Iron Rod, we got to be scoffers for the next family.  We did our best to tempt them off the straight-and-narrow.

The idea behind this Life Balance game is to put 2-4 people on this teeter-tottery thing, get it balanced, then switch places while keeping it balanced.  For the record, it's impossible.

So we ate more DumDum suckers and goofed around.  Also fun.

This was our favorite game.  One person stood in the A-frame, and the rest of the team pulled the ropes to make it "walk".  We ROCKED this!!

After a morning of games, we went on another hike.  I should point out that there was no lunch today, so by now we were all tired, hot, and hungry.  But look at all those smiles--these kids are amazing!

By now, we've perfected the Pop-the-Eleven.

Waiting for dinner and still happy.  We loved that our family liked to spend their down-time together.  We really had the best group.

When food for dinner FINALLY arrived, we had to prepare it all before we could eat.  You can see that the kids all stepped up and chipped in.  In fact, Brad and I had to leave to go help Pepper, who had a small seizure due to low blood sugar and dehydration (we'd given him snacks so he wouldn't be without food, but it just snuck up on him, poor kid).  By the time we got back to our "family", they had dinner all ready.  Have I mentioned that we had the best kids?

After dinner, we had another fireside, then our family took off to explore a cave we'd seen earlier.  The "cave" turned out to be just a big hole in the cliff, so we settled on the beach by the lake and had a final family devotional.  I may have cried.  I may have cried a lot.  

When we came back to our campsite, nobody wanted the night to be over.  The mean stake leaders had to come kick the boys out and break up the party.

Youth Conference!!

Brad and I were asked to be "parents" to a group of nine teenagers for our church's annual youth conference.  Since camping isn't really my thing, I had my reservations about spending three days living in a tent with no running water (aka no showers), but we forced Jess and Pep to go, so we couldn't really say no.  

I am so glad we didn't!  We had such a good time, and grew to truly, truly love the kids in our "family".

When they first arrived, we played some Get To Know You games.  None of these kids really knew each other, so it was a little awkward at first.

There was some down time in the afternoon, where the kids just kind of hung out and played football, soccer, volleyball, etc on the big field.  Some kids opted to try out this rope swing.  A few of them landed in the muddy puddle, which is just how you want to start a three day camping trip with no showers.

After dinner, we headed over for a fireside.  This picture was taken as we waited for the fireside to start--you can tell everyone is still a little tentative with each other.

Once it was completely dark, we all went on a night hike.  The leaders asked us to avoid using flashlights as much as possible so the kids would have to rely on their other senses and each other as we hiked around a lake and through the woods.  It was AWESOME!!  Our family really bonded as we looked out for one another and made sure nobody got lost.  By bedtime, it was like we'd known each other forever.

Look who's in my kitchen!!

My mom flew out to watch Adam and Luke while Brad, Jess, Pep, and I all go to Youth Conference this weekend.  Yesterday, Jodi called me out of the blue to ask what we are doing this Spring Break week, because her family is coming our way for a little Dallas vacation.  So, it worked out that we all got to hang out tonight for a barbeque.  Yay!!

*squeal of breathless delight!*

Big news today--The Bachelor is going to be on the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars!

PLUS, he is partnered with Peta Murgatroyd, whom I love.  Catherine should be very nervous.