Never smile at a crocodile

... or stick your head in its mouth, for that matter. But we'll get to that part.

Matt and I headed to Utah over Easter/conference weekend so he could attend his first mission reunion in nearly five years. It was so much fun seeing President and Sister Wirthlin and meeting a few of his old companions and mission buddies.

It was only after the shindig was winding down and the crowds cleared that I was introduced to a new side of President Wirthlin that I never saw coming--the serious game hunter. Welcome to Africa, er, his home office:

And it was then that Matt's MTC companion, who is sitting on elephant feet stools with Matt in the picture below, told me that I hadn't seen anything yet. He proceeded to take us down to the basement where we saw...

This. I nearly died. Remember my adult-onset fear of crocodiles and alligators? Yeah, so while I wasn't exactly scared of the 14-foot monster on the basement floor, I was entirely creeped out.

Which only led the boys to dare me to stick my head in its mouth. Since I'm apparently as mature as a five-year-old, I quickly agreed and hopped on the floor. But let me tell you, those jaws look a whole lot different once you get up close and personal.

I turned to Matt--"Do you have any idea what this thing has eaten before?! Think of the germs..." to which the men assured me that the crocodile had been fully sterilized prior to making its home behind the couch. That satisfied me, until I started to stick my head inside only to have a tooth scrape my scalp. Yep. Gross.

Nonetheless, I took it a few inches further and smiled for the camera. Happy, Matt?

Guess not, since he proceeded to hop right down and stick his head even further into the croc's mouth. Show-off.

If you can't tell, it was a good time. We were laughing so hard we were crying. President Wirthlin would be proud. Meanwhile, Sister Wirthlin is a saint for allowing all of those animals in her home, don't you think? Although, she did offer us a lion on our way out.

Warning: here's where the post gets extremely random, as it was an extremely random trip home and I'm far too lazy to separate it into separate posts right now.

As for the rest of our trip home, it was all family, all the time. The babies fully enjoyed their Easter egg hunt in between sessions of conference.

After the hunt, I asked the babies if they could smile nicely with their full Easter baskets and got this instead. Where on earth did Joshie get that from?

And speaking of the little stinker, he celebrated a big birthday while I was in town--he turned 5 on the 5th! He was pretty excited about it and understandably so. Birthdays are such a big deal when you're five.

I still remember my fifth birthday perfectly well. We went on a treasure hunt and found the treasure hidden on the roof of our home, my friends loved our golden retriever, and I had a troll on my cake, because trolls were the "in" thing back then. See?

Anyway, back to the present. Matt flew back into town and was a pallbearer for his dear Grandma Jean. (Picture by Matt's sister-in-law, Laci.) The funeral was a beautiful celebration of her life.

The family celebrations continued with a big get-together at Matt's parents' house. It included tree climbing...

... serenading ...

... and some quality Mario Kart racing.

Before taking off for LA, we headed back to Cedar Hills for one last party--the twins' 20th birthday.

The lucky ladies even got the ceremonial confetti drop usually reserved for the babies.

And thus concluded our wonderful whirlwind of a trip back home.