(Psst, WP is doing a funny thing right now where my photos looks sideways in my draft, but right side up in my post preview. I’m going to wait to see what it looks like when published before I play around with it too much, so if you see this before I get a chance to fix it on Friday, sorry! I’ll have it fixed soon, I hope!)

I love these Five On Friday posts where I can give you a little update on the things we’ve been up to! Most days we don’t do too much, but sometimes we do do fun things, ha, but I don’t necessarily want to write up a full post for each thing. With Five On Friday I can combine them all into one! Win-win!

1 | A March Utah Visit

Last month we drove south to visit our family and friends in Utah for a week. The main reason we drove down was to celebrate the March birthdays on the Hanson side. Kyle and Abe have theirs, of course, and so do my sister-in-law, Melanie, and my nephew, Liam. We had a really fun lunch at my in-laws to celebrate, complete with cake and ice cream, of course! We also were able to invite a few of Kyle’s friends are their families over to celebrate Kyle’s birthday. He doesn’t see his friends as often as I do, and I thought he’d like the opportunity to hang out with them! Of course, his friends have become my friends, and I love to see them, too! Another reason we drove down that weekend is because there was a girls night planned for all of the women on my mother-in-law’s side. It was amazing that all of us were able to get together for dinner, minus my sister-in-law, Brooke, who lives in California. It was so much fun seeing and catching up with Kyle’s aunts and cousins, who have become my family, too. And two bonuses of the weekend? One, my best friend, Dani, had her baby two days before we drove down! So I was able to sneak in a quick visit to snuggle sweet baby Gwen. And second, it was also the Provo City Center Temple dedication that Sunday, so Kyle and I were able to go to a session together, while his parents watched the kids, before we drove home. All in all, a fantastic, successful weekend! (Read about Dani’s baby shower and the Provo City Center Temple open house here!)

2 | March Birthdays and Celebrating Easter

Of course, we celebrated Abe and Kyle’s birthdays and Easter! Abe’s birthday was the day before Easter, so we went to a small neighborhood Easter egg hunt and it was so much fun! I made meatballs that night for dinner (one of Abe’s faves) and other than that we mostly just spent time together. Abe got a bike for his birthday and LOVED it. The next day was Easter, we went to church, spent the day together, and had ham, of course! Our kids were spoiled by Papa Rue and Papa Steve (my dad and his partner) this year, and Abe was extra spoiled with his birthday and Easter being right next to each other. Lucky kid! Kyle’s birthday was that next Thursday, and we had corned beef and cabbage, one of his faves. He got a super cool canopy to use while camping and vacationing this summer (and all the summers to come) that he was really excited about. (We miiiight have bought it back in November during an Amazon Black Friday lightening deal, ha.)

3 | General Conference

The first weekend in April is always General Conference, and as always, it was amazing. I look forward to these weekends where we can spend time with friends and family, and learn from our living prophets and apostles. You can read/watch/listen to this most recent conference here. You can read two of my favorite talks from this conference here and here. Our friends Emma and Daniel also came over on Sunday for the last session and then to have dinner, and it was so fun to see them!

4 | A Fun-Filled April

April has been packed full of fun activities. The first full week was my little sister’s spring break, so she and my mom came up to spend the week with us. It’s always fun to see them! That week I also got together with my friends Shaeli and Kacey and their kiddos. The three of us were besties the last time we lived in Pocatello, and did a lot together. Kacey has since moved to Texas, and Shaeli moved about an hour north of Pocatello, (and of course we moved way north before moving back) so this was the first time we had been together in almost 3 years! It was so good to see them. I love those ladies! K, the kids and I also went to a wedding reception that same weekend. Two of the families in our ward congregation from up north had kids marrying each other, and were getting married in Rexburg, which is about an hour and 15 minute north of us. We worked with a few of their kids when we lived up north in our youth groups, plus one of the dad’s was our bishop (like a pastor or preacher) so it was definitely worth the drive to see them! Plus, Kyle’s old boss and friend, Tyler, and his family, who were also in our congregation up in Post Falls, live in Rexburg now, so we were able to meet up with them at the reception, and have dinner at their home afterwards. It was so great to see all these friends that we grew to love in our two years in north Idaho!

The bride’s sister, Emma, and I. Emma was in the youth group I taught and is just one of my favorites ever!

Two other acitivies to note: last week was the annual fundraiser for Bright Tomorrows (read more about them here), which was amazing. And this past week I met up with my friend Chelsea (from Life With My Littles) and her kids at a park, and then we went to grab some lunch at an amazing local burger place. K and I met Chels and her husband Dan when we were in the same church congregation while going to school at BYU, and we’ve stayed in contact since. Dan just got matched for his residency (yay!) down in San Antonio, and we will miss them! Phew, told you April has been full of fun things!

5 | Looking Ahead

The fun doesn’t stop! This weekend I’m heading down to Provo to visit some friends. My sister-in-law and I are going to a craft expo tomorrow, and one of my college BFFs is flying in from Kentucky to attend her brother’s graduation from college, so lucky me, I get to see her! I also get to grab lunch with another bestie while I’m in town, and spend time with my in-laws, so hooray! Kyle isn’t coming with us this time, but he’ll be able to do lots of home improvement projects around the house, such as painting the bathroom! I can’t wait to come home to that 🙂