Itty Bitty Baseball

Miles got to do Itty Bitty Baseball for a couple weeks at the rec center and he really really loved it. I had signed him up because, let's be honest here, he was super bored with no one fun to hang out with during the day. Plus, he just needed to get out! Itty Bitty Baseball is adorable and I was more entertained watching 50 3 & 4 year olds learn baseball skills than watching an actual professional game.

April: Autism Awareness & Acceptance Month

April is always a busy month, but in a good way. It's always the month I get to attend the Autism Conference at UVU, which is always amazing. This year the speaker was Ron Suskind: journalist and author of Life, Animated. I had previously purchased his book, which I am really happy I did because they ran out of books to buy really quickly at the conference. Anyway, I got to meet him and get his autograph, as well as listen to him talk about his son and their journey as an autism family. He was pretty incredible. The classes I took were equally amazing and I had just a great time! 

The Melisa Nellesen Center for Autism at UVU finally finished being built and had its ribbon cutting! I am super excited about this center because it is going to be such a great resource for so many families in the community, as well as a huge asset to UVU. Being on the Parent Advisory Board for the autism center, I know so many people have put so much energy and work into making the center a reality and I am just so excited that it is complete! 

Finally, UVU held its annual Uplifting Celebration for Autism and it was fun but so much more crowded than previous years. Which is great! But also, super crazy. The boys loved the reptile booth the most, but there were all sorts of activities to do. And yes, I know the balloons are bad for the environment. I'm still trying to convince them to do something else. 

Cruise's Bird Pictures

Cruise is still at it with his birding. He's been getting a lot of good shots of different birds lately. Jett attended a birthday party on the lake side of Saratoga Springs a couple weeks ago, so after dropping him off, we all drove to find a bald eagle by the lake that I had heard about on a Facebook birding page. We found it sitting in it's nest!

Cruise found these in our neighborhood:

Starling

Dove

Kestrel

Robin

Sparrow

These he found at American Fork Harbor:

Western Grebe

Killdeer ready to mate

Killdeer

Osprey

Osprey

Cruise saw these ducks at Salem Pond when he went on a field trip this last week.

And this one we are still trying to figure out what it is. Cruise found it in the trees by our house.

Cruise has gotten so good at identifying birds and carries my camera everywhere he goes. We took the boat out and as much as he enjoyed being pulled around, he really just wanted to take pictures of birds.

Easter Weekend

Miles was really excited for Easter this year. Mostly because he has been really into sidewalk chalk and found out that the Easter Bunny always brings new sidewalk chalk in their Easter baskets. So for a couple weeks, he would always check with me: "Easter Bunny bring me chalk?" "Yep! The Easter Bunny is going to bring you lots of chalk!" So all this other Easter tradition stuff he just dealt with, just because he knew that one morning he was going to wake up to a brand new box of sidewalk chalk.

Saturday, we drove to Orem to do an Easter egg hunt and eat lunch at the Ybarra's. Mom was in Idaho helping Dave's sister Katie, so unfortunately we didn't get to see her, but it was fun seeing everyone who could come.

On Sunday, Jett walked into my room bright and early and asked if they could dig into their Easter baskets. The kids each got a chocolate bunny, bubbles, Bunny crackers, sidewalk chalk, a water gun, eggs with candy, an egg with a Lego Batman lego guy, and a little toy chick that peeps when you hold it in your hand. Those were actually a big hit.

Miles went straight for the chalk. He could've cared less about the rest of the stuff in his basket. All he saw was the chalk. 

 As far as church went, it was a little more stressful to get the boys all ready and to church on time. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get different sizes of ties, they only had size 4-7 left, so Miles' is too big and Cruise's is too small. At least one kid had a tie that fit! We couldn't get a very good picture beforehand, but we did get a few better ones after church, even though everyone's hair was a little messed up.

 I made a huge meal that of course, I didn't get any pictures of. I made a slow-roasted rosemary and garlic leg of lamb, garlic mashed potatoes and gravy, oven roasted asparagus, and herb-roasted carrots. I bought pound cakes and whipped cream, and sliced up strawberries for dessert. Abby brought rolls, drinks, and made an amazing vegan carrot cake. It was all so good. Abby, Casey and Liev, Dave's Dad and brother Joe, all joined us for dinner and it was just enough. We didn't have any leftovers except dessert. Which is never a problem.

It was a really nice Easter and I was grateful to have shared it with so many people I love.