Why Relax When You Can Go On Another Road Trip?

For Spring Break we drove to see Grandma & Grandpa. (Yes, we are crazy. No, we don't have any more trips planned. Oh wait. After 2 weeks we won't have any more trips.) Poor Grandma worked till 7pm every night, so we "helped". Ella picked some lovely little bouquets and labeled the place settings to avoid confusion:



The girls helped Grandpa in the yard when he got home every night, then sat with him while he watched the basketball games and asked about 1,000 questions (I don't think either of them had seen a basketball game before. The only sport that's on in our house is football. The real football. You know, the soccer kind.)



I met up with my book-by-mail book club pals Britt and Jeanette, though I didn't think about getting out the camera till AFTER Jeanette had left. Thanks for meeting us Britt & J!



We went to the Hogle Zoo, where the highlight of our whole trip was watching the gorilla pick his nose and then eat it. (You could hear the delighted screams of disgusted children for miles.)



And, for the first time in 14 years, I stepped foot back on BYU campus. (Apparently I graduated and never looked back. Though I did have fun while there and met people who I'll love forever.) I took the girls to the bookstore where Ella picked up a new chapter book. (She carries it everywhere with her now & tells people it's a "College Book" since she bought it at the University Bookstore.) Gretchen picked out a lovely picture for her room. Then we visited the library, where Gretchen almost punctured a hole in the gigantic globe in the cartography department, then we visited the Fine Arts Building where Gretchen almost knocked over some BFA Student's pottery exhibit, then we visited the museum where she hopped from one bench to another singing "Jin-Gle (hop) BELLS (hop) Jin-GLE (hop) BELLS!!!! (hop) JINGLE ALL THE (hop) WAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!" while the other patrons attempted to view Carl Bloch's paintings of Christ. Then we went to the Sculpture Garden and yelled at ducks.



In an attempt to cut down on whining and keep Gretchen in her seat (since she can now unbuckle herself) I handed her the camera. This is what she looked at for the 8 hour drive home. No wonder they both go crazy in the car:








Instead of doing laundry when we got home, we celebrated with friends at the mall....



...and had a Preschool Easter Egg Hunt & BBQ.



The best part of Easter (besides, you know, going to church & thinking about Jesus) is black jelly beans. I've got a WHOLE BAG all to myself because no one else likes them. (Gretchen told me they look like poop and taste like poop. And look like poop. The whole preschool is going through a potty-talk phase together. It's lovely.)

Gretchen ran around so much this week that she told me her face was leaking. (It was sweat). Nothing says fun like a sweaty, flushed cheeked three year old.

Now I think I'll take a nap. What are YOU up to?
xo

Lamar Odom

He's my favorite because he is really good a shooting. Aunt Apryl, you should really watch a laker game if you want to find out more about him. here are some facts. His wife's name is Khloe Kardashian. He is the 6th most known in the whole NBA. By Christian

How to Recover from Late Spring Snowstorms

I now have no reason to complain (not that it will stop me). At this very moment, I have NO DEADLINES!!! Come tomorrow morning, I expect that will change, but this weekend I've been reveling in free time. Yesterday while I was at the gym (do you like how I drop that in to make it seem like I'm super healthy? I know) anyway, while I was on the elliptical (level 10 for 40 minutes, no biggie), I planned out a picture book I've been wanting to put together for a while. Last night I sat down & typed out the manuscript (which sounds impressive, but is maybe, MAYBE, 200 words), then worked out thumbnail sketches. I even started the first page's sketch. See what happens when I get a calm in the storm? Magic.

Part of the stress I had a few weeks ago was that I had to finish all my projects so we could meet Lismarie & her family in PALM SPRINGS!!! Well, technically it was Indio, but if I say, "Indio!" You will say, "Where is that?" (Unless you are Grandpa Conrad or love Grandpa Conrad, in which case you will already know where Indio is...) So I will just refer to our vacation destination as Palm Springs. But I did it. I even cleaned the house before we left so that we wouldn't come home to a disaster. Well, it was a little disaster-ish once we got home, what with the four semi-unpakced suitcases & a carload of crap-that-you-unloaded-but-didn't-put-away-yet sitting in the hallway... Our apartment is tolerable when it's clean. When it's messy, it makes me want to go to bed and sleep for a week. So clean is good!

Right Gretchen?



Right?



Right.

And how was our vacation? TOTALLY WORTH IT. Totally worth the 2 days of driving (driving with a three year old, I might add). Totally worth the weeks of work on top of mothering on top of more work on top of cleaning and chores. Totally worth it.

What did we do?

Um. Well. We ate.


We wore our bathing suits all-day-every-day.




We swam and napped and ate and then swam some more. We floated in the lazy river. We steamed in the hot tub. Gretchen & Ella blew bubbles in the water. Ella kept saying, "Watch this!" and then dunking her head totally in the water (which I must say {without exaggeration} IS A MIRACLE!!!) Paradise. Lismarie, THANK YOU SO MUCH. It was wonderful. We met Grandpa Conrad for lunch and he suggested a number of activities we might enjoy. I had to stop him. Our only plan was to swim and lounge. Anything that involved getting into the car and planning potty breaks wasn't going to work. Sigh. Vacation bliss.

Now back to our strange, real life.

xo

MY FAVORITE BASKETBALL TEAM AND PLAYER

Here is a photo of Lamar Odom on the Lakers. By Christian

Wonderful Regular Old Boring

I didn't take any pictures this week. That is so unlike me! I'm sure we'll make up for it next weekend when we go on an adventure with Lismarie and family! Woooot!!! (Lismarie and I tried to coordinate a spring-break vacation, but our kids spring breaks were in totally different months. And no where near Easter. So instead we're ditching our lives for a few days and driving to someplace warm. It will be fabulous.)

There's a dangerous new store in the mall. And since the mall is a quick walk across the street, we go there a lot. They sell...

PUPPIES!!!!

I know, I know, it's horrible every way. Who knows what kind of breeder they came from, they're stuck in little cages all day, and there are so many dogs in shelters that need homes (plus they're all "purebred". I like muts. Purebreds are always so high strung and inbred. But wiener dogs are awesome. And puggles. And boxers. And Siberian Huskies. And I want to take them all home, even though the store smells like dog pee. A lot. Shoot, puppies have some sort of strange magical cuteness to make me overlook that smell.) The girls and I want a dog. But we're not going to get one till we have a house. Cause bringing a dog into this tiny apartment would just be mean.

An amazing thing happened this week, I finished the last work project on my list of projects. I sat down at my desk to ponder the rest of the week. It's been so long since I've had a free day to work on whatever whim wandered into my mind. Oh the possibilities! I could work on the fairy tale I started a year ago. I could work on the music theory board book Aunt Ne & I are putting together. I could map out a craft book idea that's been bouncing around in my head for the past 3 years. I decided to quickly check my email. My free time lasted LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES. I'd finally heard back on the set of sketches I was waiting for & now before we leave town I'll be finishing the 59-spot illustration job! But after Friday, I really SHOULD be done with my projects again. Till the next one. (Not that I'm complaining, I'm grateful for the work. Especially jobs like this with a big fat paycheck at the end. Oh how I love getting paid!)

So what have you been up to? Do share!!!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Hi Family,

Helping Jaden last week with homework, there was a word problem about "Dave" having 37 pennies. Jaden says to him, "Dad, you need more pennies!"

Teagan's latest:

"Ready, 'het', go . . . " and

"Oh GREAT" said very sarcastically . . .

Video Proof

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeey.

How was your week? Ours was stylish:



(She actually picked her ensemble herself. Don't the white cowgirl boots bring it together?)

And to prove that we don't neglect our other child, here's a picture of Ella at dance class.



But then here's another one of Gretchen. (I like this picture because it looks like someone took out all those Dancing Cowgirls. But they're just sleeping, dreaming Cowgirl Dreams.)


I really tried to whittle down my videos of the class, but I couldn't. I really won't blame you if you don't want to watch them. But SO CUTE, right? I KNOW!









In defiance of all this girliness, Gretchen decided yesterday to be a boy. She wore some elastic-bottomed navy sweat pants, vans, and a Bob Marley t-shirt (which is also known as the "Scary Man" shirt at our house, since they're both slightly terrified of Bob Marley's picture. They feel so brave when they wear that shirt). She was known as "Buddy", and she corrected me many times when I slipped and called her Gretchen.

Last Christmas I dragged my Hammered Dulcimer out from it's hiding place under my bed. I usually only pull it out once a year at Christmas to play for the Relief Society. But this year I got asked to play again in January. And it's been out since then. In years past I've had to keep it either hidden away or hung high up on the wall, but it seems we've reached a milestone. I CAN KEEP MY DULCIMER OUT NOW. The girls totally respect it. It probably helps that I let them play it whenever they ask nicely. I taught Ella a few basics & then how to play "Twinkle Little Star". She was so proud of herself, she had me write a note to her music teacher to see if she could do a demonstration at school. And kindly enough, her teacher obliged. (It just happened to be Celtic Music week!) Ella did GREAT!



That's about it for us. And I promise I won't post any dance pictures next week. Really.
xo