Don't Do

Just don't.
:)

Easter Eggstravaganza

photo taken by Jennifer Nielson

Here is what the Waldron's did over Easter weekend:
First, we all attended Dallin's early morning soccer game. He is doing such a great job this season!

We then high-tailed it to Pulte park for the ward Easter party. Here is Bishop Waldron supporting his wife who is on the activities committee by holding Spencer the entire party.

photo taken by Todd Crump

The kids participated in a great egg hunt and scored quite the egg collection.

photo taken by Todd Crump

Next we went home, counted the candy, ate some and then decided that we needed some more.
Dallin, Claire and I hopped in the car, drove back to Pulte park for the homeowners association egg hunt and party. Not to be rude, but it was pretty lame. Not what I was hoping for the $60 monthly association fee paid by us each month. Claire, however, was in love with the Easter Bunny who roamed the entire party. She told him her favorite everything and was thrilled that he couldn't speak so she could do all of the talking. Dallin was pretty stoked when he saw the clown doing face painting. Check out this work of art:

Coolest Pikachu ever (who in the world is Pikachu anyhoo?)

Easter Sunday was wonderful.

The kids woke up to find Easter eggs strewn all over the house, but first they found their baskets filled with fabulousness and goodies. They then took their newly emptied baskets on an egg hunt... Spencer had a blast watching from the Baby Bjorn. After presents and eggs, we had a cinnamon roll breakfast and we felt so blessed to have Daddy/Bishop home all to ourselves for the entire morning.
We then went to church and our ward choir sang for the first time since its inception last month (I have been called as the ward choir director, so this was pretty exciting)!
We came home from a wonderful and uplifting day of church to a delicious Easter dinner with some special friends. Bill and Donna Cherry as well as Bob Hunt and Diane Burd all came over and spent the rest of Easter with us. It was so wonderful to visit with them and have a special Easter dinner and lesson with them.

What a great weekend filled with a special mix of Easter fun and it's true significance. How incredibly grateful we are for the birth, life, death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

He is truly what makes it a Happy Easter.

Happy Easter.

Monster Meal

These little mints have provided our little family with a game that will probably never be forgotten. First of all, if you know my Dallin you know how much he loves to eat at the Olive Garden. We go there every-so-often together as a family and this is what we do every time our meal is finished and the after-dinner mints are brought to our table:

1- the kids quickly get under the table armed with a fork to hide from the Olive Garden "monster"
2- when Peter and I "see" the "monster" getting closer, we begin to stomp our feet in a rather wild fashion (remember the kids are right there, under the table)
3-the kids poke the underside of the table with their forks (shh, don't tell the restaurant on us) in order to scare the monster away
4- the monster is so incredibly scared that he "poops" under the table and runs away.

The poop happens to be these delicious little dinner mints. The kids are stoked that they scared the monster away and are ever so grateful for the delicious "poop" left behind.

Not very proper or dignified, but Waldron none-the-less.

Brother Band

My cool and super-talented brother, Scott, is in an electro/synth band called Killing Thursby and they just debuted their very first album under the new name (they used to be called Mosiac)!

Check them out at www.killingthursby.com. Cool stuff!

Sweet Staycation

Last month, we decided to take a break from the norm of life and go on a little family staycation. We drove for 1 whole hour to Disneyland, checked in at the Grand Californian hotel and enjoyed 3 days of play time together.

Dallin, our funny bug waiting to see "A Bug's Life"


Pink dress + pink teacup = Claire happiness

A happy Spencer... even in line

Dallin is our program-director-in-training

Claire was hating her Minnie shirt that morning until we actually saw the real deal

Hanging Loose

All three kids on the trundle part of the bunk bed that Spencer slept on (turn your head to the right to get the full effect :))

Dallin trying out the kiddie water slide at our hotel pool

Peter and Claire enjoying time together while Dallin and I went down the big water slide in the background. Such a fun hotel and pool! We went swimming a few times while we were there and it was definitely the highlight.

This is the hotel we stayed in (you can see our room from this pic). The entry straight ahead went from the hotel right into California Adventure... it was nice to have everything so close by.

The boys in California Adventure

The first ride we went on (Buzz Lightyear) during our early morning guest admission (played in Disneyland an hour before it opened)

Watching the Disneyland fireworks from our hotel balcony (there was even a TV channel that played the music in sync with the fireworks)

The much-loved bunk bed

Teacups!

Spencer's first time on Small World (and our first time since its renovation)

If you have made it all the way to this point and actually looked at all of those pictures, I know you must really love our little family. I am so thankful to live in such a fun place with so many "staycation" options. Yay for family time!

Little Lola-Foof

This is Lola-Foof... a skinny kitty we found roaming around our backyard last Sunday. Claire immediately bonded with her and knew that this skinny cat needed some food and love. Claire also insisted that we give her a permanent home. After hanging out in our house for awhile, snarfing down the tuna and milk we spoiled her with she stayed... and stayed... and stayed. Lola-Foof (I named her Lola and Claire eventually changed it to Foofa so we compromised) would wait for every ample opportunity to run into the house and rub Claire's legs. The cat was declawed, so we knew she belonged to someone and that someone needed to be found ASAP. I really do love animals, but here are 10 reasons why I am, however, not ready for a cat right now:

1- I am more of a dog person
2-I am actaully more of an "I'm not ready to clean up anyone elses poop right now" kind of person
3-Having another set of needy eyes stare deep into my soul scares me
4- Lingering tuna smells horrible
5- Cat poop smells horrible (especially without a litter box)
6- Hide and seek isn't as fun with cats as it is with kids
7-I honestly don't know if I could call something Lola-Foof for the rest of my life
8-I have quite the aversion to hair hanging around the bathtub, nonetheless the entire house
9-I don't know if I could handle hearing "when are we going home to Lola-Foof?" one more time
10- Claire doesn't need something else to squeeze... Spencer seems to fill that role quite nicely all by himself.

At one point, when all of these thoughts came racing through my head, I knew that serious action needed to be taken. This cute kitty needed her real home and not the Waldron Hotel.
I gathered up the kids, wagon and Lola-Foof and we went door-to-door in search of "Lola-Foof's mommy". No success. I then spotted a "Lost" poster on the side of a mailbox down the street with an exact description of Lola-Foof. Without hesitation, I called (feeling really excited that we had found her home and made some owner very happy) and sure enough, it was a match! A little 10 year old girl had lost her first kitty over a MONTH ago and was so thrilled to have her little Riley back. This little girl was much better at naming kittens than we were.
I am relieved, but my sweet Claire cried for days. She is back to being happy with Spencer and the bunny that visits our backyard as her pets... those are all I can handle right now.

Broccoli Binge

My son quite possibly might not be my son. Dallin will only eat a half of an Oreo (seriously), but will eat the whole bowl of broccoli. Take me to that place, Dallin... please take me there.

Mini Man

This little man is heaven. He is happy, snuggly, in love with everyone (especially his Daddy and siblings) and it is hard to imagine life without him (even though I do dream of being alone on a beach every once in awhile :)). I just had to share this heaven baby with the world.

Stray Snapshots

Here are some of the random/favorite photos that have been taken recently...

I haven't seen wax lips in years... still a hit


Dallin, Claire and the Lowe boys at the San Diego Wild Animal Park

Dallin's St. Patricks Day leprechaun trap


This photo sums up Claire right now... little mama in love with bubblegum (look in her pockets)


Um, I love him


Dallin's tribute to Dr. Suess' birthday


Claire in her favorite place... dance class!

Dallin's interpretation of the 70s for Disco Day at school

Jedi Junior

There is something so amazing about dreams coming true. There is something so empowering about overcoming a fear. There is something so wonderful about an incredibly happy child.Dallin has been so scared (and excited all at the same time) to take part in the Jedi Training Academy at Disneyland. Over the past couple of years, we have sat in the audience of this Star Wars show where they take volunteer kids from the audience to learn the ways of the force and then duel with either Darth Vader or Darth Maul. Each time we try, Dallin decides that the "Darths" are much too real and much too scary to fight.

This past week, however, he overcame his fear and did it! We arrived at the show early to get good seats, he sat and waited anxiously in his Star Wars shirt and eventually was chosen to take part and become a Jedi. He was in boy heaven. First he went through lightsaber training and then used his new knowledge to fight DARTH VADER...

He is so proud to officially be a Jedi and has even taught some of his little buddies the ways of a Jedi in our backyard... oh yeah, he's that ligit. Such a fun memory and experience for my happy little Star Wars fan.

Random side note: one of the Jedi trainers was a girl that I went to high school with in Washington. Crazy, huh!

Dancing Date

Tonight goes down in history as being one of the most fun evenings ever! I went on a date with my "little" boy, Dallin, and we had some serious fun.

We started the evening with some dinner at the Olive Garden... Dallin's all-time favorite restaurant due to their Zuppa Toscana soup and breadsticks. Dinner was full of wonderful conversation, the 20 questions game and some creative art made with Bendaroos.

We then headed to Dallin's elementary school for a mother/son dance. The theme was sports based playing on the idea that moms are our son's #1 fans (hence the soccer jerseys). We had our pictures "professionally" taken in the library and then jetted out the door to get our groove on in the cafeteria. We had a BLAST!! The DJ was fabulous and Dallin was in his dancing zone... we got our crazy groove on. We were hot, sweaty and in Mom/Dallin heaven.

At the end of the dance, the DJ played a slow song. I got on my knees, Dallin put his cute hand on my shoulder and the other hand in mine. We danced, he smiled, I smiled even bigger, he kissed me on the cheek and I knew that moment would forever be with me. I don't know how long Dallin will think I am the coolest, but tonight I made him promise me that he will always dance with me no matter how uncool I become.

After the dance, we decided to get some incredible dessert... Dallin chose The Melting Pot. He has never been there, but all I had to say was "strawberries to dip in melted chocolate" and he was sold. It was another special moment on one of the most special dates.

The elementary school puts this dance on every year and I think that next year's dance date has a lot to live up to. Thank you Dallin for making me the most happy mom around... I am most definitely your #1 fan.