Grandma's 86th Birthday

On the 9th we celebrated my Grandma's 86th birthday.  She's had such a crazy year and we actually didn't know if we'd see it to her next birthday.  This was her first outing since October and she did great and had a great time eating ribs at her favorite restaurant "Famous Daves."  This little lady loves her ribs!!  Her 2 sisters were there to celebrate and make her day special.

Below is Aunt Dora reading Grandma all her cards.

We went on a Monday afternoon so most of the boys had to work.  From right to left top row: Uncle Mike, Eric, my mom.  2nd row: Stacey/Darci, Boone/me, Grandma, Aunt Carol, Aunt Dora (sitting), and Claudia - Aunt Dora's daughter in law.

Happy birthday Grandma!!  We love you so much!

Easter

We had an Easter egg hunt at our house this year.  The Easter bunny did a good job of hiding the eggs right in the middle of the day!  Boone caught on right away how it worked and he was actually good at looking for the eggs.  After the hunt we had an Easter dinner that we (Mason and I) prepared that turned out wonderfully!  I made my first ham and it was DELICIOUS!  We had a great day!

After the hunt we dyed eggs.  Surprisingly Darci got messier than Boone!

We called her "The Hulk" 

After dinner we utilized Boone's T-ball set.  Even Darci got in on the action! 

Crossroads...

I thought I'd just post an update as to what is going on in our lives right now. We are at a crossroad in our lives and I'm quite curious to know how the next 5 months are going to play out. As most of you know Mason was applying for his Doctorate of Education at ASU and USU. Well we found out Friday that he didn't get accepted to either one. The reason being that both schools look for applicants that have more than 2 years of experience. Understandable. I just wish we would have known that before hand. Anyway... so here are our options:

1 - Stay in Arizona in the same house and Mason stay at the same middle school with the same awful students and likewise awful principal. Not to mention the hour drive to and from.

2 - Stay in AZ and Mason applies at a bunch of high schools in the Peoria area and has a much shorter commute.

3 - Being Mason is needing to teach more years before his doctorate we should probably just move to where we want to end up and start getting our roots sprouted. If he is going to teach for the next 4-5 years then we should move back up to Utah (where we ultimately want to end up) and he should get his name known in the district so that he can later become principal/super intendant/whatever.

My thoughts are so mixed on all of these options. I really don't like Arizona but the thought of leaving it is unbearable because that means I'd be moving away from my parents again who I have seen ATLEAST once a week for the past two years of living here. They have gotten to know my little Boonie and he just loves his Grandma. The thought of him not knowing her and her not knowing him brings me to tears every time I think about it. Plus his cousin who I feel he is finally getting along with lives here and I love watching them grow up together. I've made good friends and I love the ward we are in.

But then like I said, I hate Arizona and I don't want to raise my kids here. I love the seasons of Utah and the culture that exists there.

So the plan is for Mason to apply to high schools up near our house and apply all over in different cities in Utah and do phone interviews and then make our decision once opportunities have presented themselves. But it's so crazy to think about. I asked Mason ever so nicely if we could try and avoid any major life changing decisions or events in the future when I am pregnant. This happened last time when I was pregnant with Boone. We packed up and moved to AZ when I was 6 months pregnant. Not only am I worthless but my emotions are going crazy!! I'm just trying not to think about anything right now because there really is nothing I can do. If you know me, I am a planner and I want to have every single thing planned out up until my due date. So for now I'm just in denial until things start to become a reality.

All boy

The other day during conference Mason and I were inside sitting on the couch and Boonie was outside playing. He comes running in and gives me the tiniest yellow flower. It melted me to the floor. About 3 months ago Mason had picked a flower at church and told Boonie to give it to me, but that was the only time. We couldn't believe that he had found such a tiny flower in our grass and thought about bringing it to me. What a sweetheart.

Here are some pictures of my handsome little boy who is ALL BOY. He loves balls. Any type of ball he is obsessed with. Mason bought him a t-ball set the other day and Boonie loves it. I think we have a sportsman on our hands.

Love that kid.

Phoenix Zoo

Stacey and I bought year passes to the Phoenix Zoo. We've been about 4 times now and the kids love it! There is a splash pad there too that will be opening up in a month or so too which we are excited for. We haven't taken too many pictures so this last time we made sure to take a couple!

I love his eye being poked below. Poor unsuspecting orangutan.

Spring Break - Shooting Rang/Domes

The week of spring break we went down to Casa Grande for a day to have fun. We ended up going to the shooting range. I loved Mason's quote at the end of the day, "Wow, that's the last thing I thought I'd be doing with the Leybas's. You guys are so random." It's true. You'd never guess that we had 3 pistols and two rifles out there with more at home!

Ok, so everyone did alright and hit their targets every now and then, but this woman below... don't mess. She was a dead shot on everything she called EACH AND EVERY TIME! Who knew she was such a marksman! Well she did... and she would brag about it and now we believe her.

The little gun my dad is shooting below was/is my Grandpa's. He use to carry it around with him everywhere he went. Yup... we're Mexican.

After the sun went down and being we were so close I suggested driving over to THE DOMES. Did the name just give you chills?? It should have. The domes are some strange weird thing that makes Casa Grande even more strange than it already is. The domes aren't known about except to the locals and mostly high school students who like to go out there and scare themselves. When I went out there before when I was in high school we had seen sacrificed goats and all kinds of other creepy things. Sounds like fun huh!? Well I had to take Mason out there to show him the place I'd been telling him about since we met! The last time I'd gone out there about 5 years go they had fenced the things in because they were collapsing. But the fences were gone!!!! My cheap thrills were in heaven.

Ok so here's a picture of them in the daylight, but CLEARLY they are much creepier at night.

Mason thinks he's so brave. I had to warn him of the holes in the floors being we had no flashlight. Look at all the orbs in this picture below!!!!!!

Kyle being not so brave - actually I should call him smart. He knows.

I'm so glad Mason got to experience the DOMES. Stacey, you missed out. She was being nice and staying home with the babies who wouldn't have enjoyed the sound of shooting guns.