Spring Break: And This is Why We Can't Go Anywhere Nice

Hello Family & Friends.

After the craziness of Christmas, we decided to save our sanity and the $1000 we would have spent on gas and just stay in town for spring break. Stay in town so we can appreciate the little things. Like finding the Easter hats and white gloves and having an impromptu tea party (the gesture of Gretchen's hands in this shot just kills me. So very proper.)



A few weeks ago, Colby turned the big 4-0. I was pretty proud of myself for thinking up an awesome present, but then I possibly ruined it & asked him if it was really what he wanted. (What if I dropped all this $$$ on a gift and I got the wrong thing?) But he liked it. And it's changed our life. Here he is opening his brand new PS3.



We also got him Rocksmith, which is like Rockband but you use AN ACTUAL GUITAR!!! So you, you know, actually learn how to play an instrument. UM, AWESOME. Also awesome? That we can stream netflix directly to our TV now. Yeah, our basement is going to be so amazing one day...when we get the stacks of boxes sorted out.... All the makeout parties will be here. In the windowless basement. With two turn tables. And a fireplace. What could go wrong?

Amber, Dan, baby Lucy, Krista & Jimmy came over to sing "Happy Birthday" at Colby. Gretchen played with fire. Altogether, a successful evening.



Then came Easter.

"We've been eating Easter Candy all morning! Take our picture! Then take us to church for three hours!" Perfect plan. Again, what could go wrong?


I did hear one of the older ladies audibly gasp when she saw Gretchen's outfit. A gasp of being overwhelmed with cuteness. Yeah, that's why I go to church. Thanks Aunt Terry for passing this lovely dress on to Gretchen. We'll send it to Teagan next so she can overwhelm the ladies in her ward with her the cute.



Since we didn't go anywhere big over the break, we went lots of places small.

FIRST UP - The Crystal Mine. Or, rather, the crystal hill that you can find crystals on. If you look under the snow. 5 miles on a dirt road, plenty of snacks, 1 leaky water bottle, and a whole lot of crystals = good, good times.





I love this picture because we all look like we're having fun. Even the dog. She's totally smiling. Even though we made her climb to the top of the crystal hill to look at the view.



Woo hoo! Crystals!



Pensive, thoughtful Crystals.



That fabulous adventure almost doesn't happen. Here's the back story, lest you think that we actually, you know, have it together.

Sunday - spent 1 hour+ looking up directions to the Crystal Mine. Which is hard. Because it is on unnamed dirt back roads. And the 3 places I found with directions were all slightly different. Huh.
Monday, 9am - printed out maps; topographical AND road maps. Printed out the history of the mine, educational information about the crystals, and 3 sets of directions. Colby is not excited about the 3 sets of directions.
10am - Packed snacks and water bottles. Told the girls to get dressed.
10:30 am - No really. Seriously. Get dressed girls.
10:45 - Ella decides that she doesn't want to go because she doesn't want to wear jeans. Gretchen can't find her boots.
10:46 - Tell Ella she can just wear pants. Ella doesn't want to wear pants. Gretchen is "looking" for her boots on her bed. Well, actually she's just reading.
10:48 - Ella throws fit when I agree that maybe we shouldn't go after all. Gretchen cries dramatically on the floor. Tears. Sobs.
11 - I take a walk around the block. Possibly slam the door on my way out. While coming back home, I resign myself to the fact that this outing will not be happening.
11:10 - I come back home. "Mom, there you are! We're ready!" (Apparently I need to leave in dramatic huffs more often.)
12 - Finally make it to the mine. Fun times ensue. Forget drama of the morning and wonder why we don't do more fun stuff like this. Gretchen is so excited to pee outdoors, she does it twice in one hour. She is thrilled to be making yellow snow.
2:30 - Arrive home happy with a small collection of crystals.
Tuesday morning - find Gretchen's boots in the bottom of her dirty clothes hamper. Sigh deeply.

Besides the crystal mine, Ella also played Laser Tag for the first time. Gretchen was so, so sad that she wasn't big enough. Soon, my darling, soon you will get to run around in a dark room and shoot at people. I know, life isn't fair.

Wednesday we drove to Sacramento for two exciting things. Ikea and Aunt Bonnie. Aunt Bonnie is awesome.



Thursday we visited Alicia who's on week 6 of maternity bed rest. I am no longer jealous of the amount of time she gets to sit in bed.

Friday we went to the library and the Minden Pool (which is indoors and super fun and SUPER far away) and the Chocolate Nugget candy shop. You know, cause we need more candy.

Saturday we sat at home and watched movies and played Little Big Planet.

And today I took a nap.

So how was your Easter Break?

Making Some #*#% Pasta

Hello! Look at me, updating our family blog again.

Here's what our kitchen looks like. I staged this photo just for you, including that box of tupperware that I've been meaning to sort out for.....three months? Gretchen crafted this seat herself.


Like this look? You can match it yourself with bulk paper towels and TP at Costco. Simply leave them in the corner of your kitchen for a week while you figure out where the h you're going to fit them, then see what happens! Easy peasy! (You can add it to your pinterest account under "Decorating Ideas")

I handed Gretchen another fudgesicle on the way to pick up Ella on Wednesday. By the time we got to school she was (of course) covered in melted chocolate goodness. The teacher on duty said, "I swear every time I see that kid she's covered in something." Yes, yes she is. After brushing her teeth tonight her cheeks were still smeared in something red. And I'm not sure what we ate that was red today. Colby and I both had to send her back twice to "try again" to get her face clean.

After church last week Colby pulled out his pasta roller.



Ella helped.



My old dish rack helped.



Gretchen helped.



And I helped eat it. It was good. We had leftovers, but they didn't last very long. They got all et up. It also took a long time. I'm not sure how pasta ever really took off. "Hey guys, I have this idea. We'll take dough, roll it out really thin. It'll take about three hours to make enough for all of us. Then they'll all be gone in 10 minutes!" "Brilliant! Let's do it!"

BECAUSE ELLA DOES NOT READ THIS BLOG...
EMBARRASSING STORY ALERT!!!!
Ella and I were sitting at the dining room table working on homework when she dropped this little nugget on me...
Ella: I think K likes me.
Me: What makes you say that, sweetie?
Ella: (Giggles hysterically, covers her mouth Harajuku-girl-style) I can't say! (giggle) I can't say right now!
Me: Ok....
three minutes pass
Ella: Well, you know what I said about...K? (giggle)
Me: Yes....
Ella: We sort of held hands!!!!
Me: How did that happen?
Ella: Um, well, it was 'silent reading' time, and we were sitting next to eachother...
Me: Yes....
Ella: And he put his hand on my knee, and then we held hands!!!! But under the table. Because we didn't want anyone else to see.
Me: !!!!!!!!
Ella: I know!

She brought home his number so they can plan a playdate. Colby is not pleased.

And now here's another embarrassing story. But mostly embarrassing for me. Ella dropped something on the floor the other day and said, "Oh da.....Oh mom! I almost said a bad word! The D word. Not the D-U-M-B word, the bad word that YOU say...."

I'm such a good mom. And don't tell Ella I told you that story. That's right, I'm gossiping about my own daughter AND teaching her how to swear on one blog entry. Woo hoo!

Hey Look! We're Still Here!

Hello loved ones. It's been a LONG TIME. Things are finally getting back to a "normal" level or busy instead of a "GOGOGOGOGORIGHTNOW-5DEADLINES-PAINTTHEHOUSE-MOVE-HOMEWORK-UNPACK-CHRISTMAS-TRIP-FUNERAL-TRIP-FUNERAL-SCIENCEFAIRPROJECT?-OMGKILLMENOW" busy. I'm almost recovered. I've been spending my Sunday afternoons either rocking back & forth in the corner muttering to myself or sleeping. But now I'm feeling almost like a regular person again, and I can commit to a blog post! Hooray!!!!

So we'll have to do a little bit of the online-house-tour at a time. Right now there's about 3 square feet of our house that is presentable. So you get a shot of the outside. Look at how cute that architectural detail is! The sweet little story-book roofline is pretty much what sold me on the house. Well, that and and the other awesome things, some of which we are still discovering (like daffodils, iris and tulips coming up in the yard. Awwwww!).



Most of you already know, but we are now Dog People. We take our new dog everywhere. But seriously, LOOK AT THIS FACE.


Can you blame us? She is amazing. Hannah is a six year old English Bulldog. We like to call her "The Most Expensive Free Dog In The History of Free Dogs". But she is 90% recovered from her ear surgery (you can see the stitches and sad nastyness in some of these earlier pictures). And right now she has NO OUTSTANDING VET APPOINTMENTS!!!! That means we won't have to go see our friends at A+ Animal Hospital on a weekly basis anymore! (We heart you, Animal Hospital! But we like having a healthy dog even MORE! THANKS for getting her there!)

I love her so much.


Not enough to make out with her like Gretchen though....



Here's a picture of her from today. Ears all better. But oh so tired.


And here she is with Gretchen & her BFF playing dress ups. I think we may have a whole new William Wegman project coming on... She LOVES DRESS UP!!!


Colby took Ella to her school's "Sweetheart Dance". Oh, and bonus, here's a shot of the finished birch trees in the dining room. AND the amazingly awesome mid-century teak dining set that I scored at Savers. (One of the great things about Reno is that no one here has really caught on to the mid-century modern trend. So you can get stuff like this at thrift stores FOR SO CHEAP. Seriously. I'm in love with Reno Thrift Stores. But don't let the word get out. I don't want all the hipsters from the Bay Area coming over. Let's keep Reno SECRETLY AWESOME.)

Oh yeah, the point of that story is that Colby took Ella to the Sweetheart Dance.


Ella wants to be a photographer when she grows up so that she can take pictures of her friend who will be a movie star. (This makes me so happy.) To assist her in reaching her dreams, I gave her my old camera. She is a GREAT photographer. Just look at the portrait she took of Colby & I on our anniversary. (This is before we dropped them off at Auntie Amber's house so we could go party.)



We're slowly getting things set up. The weather has been so nice lately, I pulled my beloved hammock out of the garage and strung it up between the cherry tree and the plumb tree.


Hilarity ensued.


(Don't worry, she was laughing the whole time)

Gretchen at the river this afternoon. Rockin' Aunt Adrianne's early 80's era hand-me-down.


That's it for now! I hope y'all are doing well!

Aloha to Grandpa Conrad

We love you, Grandpa!

Cade's Mad Skateboarding Skills

A couple weeks ago I was at Aaron's house and got to see Cade skateboarding. He's getting good! I asked him to show me a trick so I could record it on my phone and post it on the family blog so everyone could see.

Don't you agree he's getting good? (Sorry, the video is sideways...)

Don't stop practicing, Cade! You get better every day!

Just don't break any bones when Aunt Nie is watching you...