We love St. George!

For spring break we went to St. George for a few days. It is always a perfect time to go because I am soo sick of winter by the time April is here, so going to St. George gives me the warmth and sun that I so desperately crave. Plus, the kids just LOVE it there and everyone has fun. It's not too far away so it makes it possible for us to make the trip. I think this is the third year in a row we have gone with the cousins that live here. It is always so much fun. We played racquetball, played at the park, went to the pool, shuffleboard, tennis, the kids collected snail shells, played basketball, played games: Dominion being the popular one this year, the list goes on. It was a wonderful get away and something our family looks forward to every year. I'm so glad we have some family close by and that we are able to take these little trips together. It makes me so happy to see all the cousins playing and having fun together. They are building friendships that will hopefully last the rest of their lives. It just doesn't get any better than that.

Our trip started this year with Alessandro loosing his first tooth on our way there. He was thrilled!!!

We shared a condo with Peter and Amanda's family this year.

We love the beach!

On Friday we spent the day at Sand Hollow and played on the beach. It was just perfect! Peter and Amanda brought a big canopy which worked great for the babies. Matt and Jamie brought wave runners, which were soo much fun!! I haven't been on one since I was 14, I totally forgot how much fun they are! Everybody had a great time on them...even Mia and Luca went for a couple of rides. We had lots of sand toys for entertainment and a fishing pole with a fake fish on it which seemed to provide endless amounts of fun. It was a great day!!

Luca was still a bit unsure at this point

Fun in the sand

Mia didn't like falling in the water

Ready for a ride!

Collecting shells

Snack time!

I don't know why, but I love this picture

We love the pool!!

This was our last day in St. George and we spent some time at the pool. It wasn't as warm as we would like it to be (for the pool), but the kids still had fun. Luca played hard and then wore out pretty quickly. (I think the late nights and no naps were catching up to him). Mia had fun in the water but was definitely more cautious. I didn't take any pictures of the older kids. I don't know why!! :(

We love Custard!!

While we were in St. George we went to eat custard twice! mmm mmm good! Yes, I know, we were only there three days, but come on! It's custard!! :) The first time we went I was planning on sharing with Mia instead of getting her one for herself. Well, once she saw everyone else getting cones for themselves, the fit began!!!! And it didn't stop until it was time to go home. She would rather throw a fit than share one with me. So she got none that night. She spent almost the whole time sitting outside with just me or Udine because she was being so dang loud!! Stubborn girl!!!! But the second time we went, I didn't want to deal with it, so before any tantrums began we got her one of her own and she was very happy. :)

Happy Easter

We had an Easter egg hunt with the cousins at Matt and Jamie's house the day before Easter. The kids always have a good time with this. Mia and Luca got tired pretty quickly and plopped down to check out their loot before they even found all their eggs. The older boys were terrible lookers and took forever to find all of theirs! :)

During the Easter egg hunt there were some juice boxes for the kids to pick up. Mia was so funny when I'd try to put the juice box in her basket.

April Fools!!

April Fools Day is one of the favorites in our house. Udine always has soo much fun pulling pranks on the kids. Last year he did so many on them that they were expecting it this year. Unfortunately we were out of town until the night before April 1st, so we didn't have much up our sleeves. But once we saw they were so excited about it, we pulled some last minute pranks that didn't take much prep time. It was great. The boys tried to get us with using the pranks we did on them last year. They need to learn to be a bit more discrete though. :) For example: Alessandro put paper in my shoes so I couldn't get my feet in. So he brought me my shoes and said "Here mom, put these on" and Diego saw that our toothpaste was red so he put ketchup on our toothbrushes and said "I put toothpaste on your brushes, go brush your teeth." hahaha Not only were they tricks done last year, but the way they presented them cracked me up. I'm sure we'll be in trouble once they're teenagers though. :) Here is a clip of the classic prank that worked wonders on Diego. I laugh everytime I watch it, but I'm not sure if it's because he was taken by surprise or if it's Udine's laugh that busts out the second it happens. hahaha good times.

Basketball

Basketball has been Diego's new love these days. He asks daily if we can get a basketball hoop because he is always the first one out at speed when they play at recess and he says it's because he doesn't have a hoop to practice on. He may have a point. :) He does practice in our driveway, but when he's shooting with no hoop, I think he has a valid argument. :) Anyway, today a neighbor stopped by and they decided to play basketball. The next thing I know, they are using our garbage cans as a hoop and when they make it in, they just tip the can over, crawl in and grab the ball. ugh! (It was garbage day today so the cans were empty, but still...) We told them that they couldn't use the garbage cans as their hoops and they were very disappointed. Even though I was grossed out, I had to give them credit for making the best of what they have!!

On a side note and totally off the subject....My daredevil daughter decided to try and jump from the couch to the chair. I'm sure she has witnessed an older brother doing this and since she seems to be as daring as Diego when it comes to thrills, she tried it on her own. Lets just say she has a nice bruise on her head. It has been an interesting day!!!