Like Everyone Else

Today DH took the day off work and we took advantage of the free ride days (like thousands of other people) on the FrontRunner, a new train that goes from Ogden to Salt Lake. It makes a stop just a mile or less from our house. We got on at 8:30 (I'm pretty sure the nice couple sitting next to us talking to M was Elder & Sis. Featherstone) and I think that was a smart move because the way home at 1:00 was way crowded.
Anyway, we did get a seat on the way there, and on the way back someone moved so me and M got to sit. It was a smooth ride and even when it costs money, I think we'll try to usually take it to Ogden or SL for our outings. Hooray for public transportation!
When we got there, we went to the Gateway and our plan was to let the kids play in the fountain (we've never done that) and so we'd packed swimsuits and towel all the way there. It was conveniently closed for maintenance today, plus it was not as nice of weather as we thought it was going to be. Oh well. (they didn't know, we have learned not to tell them about things until they are for sure) We played in the entrance to Discovery Gateway (children's museum) for a few minutes, then when that got old we went to Barnes & Noble, since it was 9:15 and nothing else but Starbucks was open. Me and M read a bunch of poetry, which he loves (April is poetry month and they had a huge display) while E ran around being ornery (a trend that has spanned the whole day so far) Then, to their surprise, we took them to Cummings and let them pick out whatever chocolate they wanted. (frog and car shapes) Over to Gymboree to get more underwear for my extremely picky son who doesn't like the "itchy kind." (ie anything under $4 a pair) Then it was off to the Planetarium!
We checked out the pendulum, moon rocks, fake Mars terrain, etc... but of course the gift shop was their favorite. (eye roll here) M was treated to some glow in the dark stars for his room that he is now obsessed with.
My biggest boy had to visit the Mac store, so me and the littles kicked it at the kids video game mac kiosk while he checked out the newest imac and whatever else. (man, that store is ALWAYS crowded!)

The food court was our last stop, where they reveled in their giant slice of pizza and hotdog on a stick. I even payed for them to ride a few of those stupid ride thingies I always say no to. Yay!

Back to the train station and home to sell our car. (the lady said she'd be here at 2:00, so we kind of rushed) She called and switched to 7:30. Hopefully it will happen. I'm not holding my breath, but hopefully it will go through. Probably as of tomorrow we will be a 1 compact car family!

So that's our big adventure! Probably a lot like hundreds of other families' these last few days. I wonder how many people will have a similar blog post :)

Camry For Sale

Okay, so this is probably tacky, but I thought I'd put my advertisement on my blog as well so if anyone's cousin's brother's neighbor's dog groomer's daughter is looking for an inexpensive car you can tell them about mine!

We're asking $3500 but will take any reasonable offer. It's a:
1996 Toyota Camry
4 door, automatic
Dark green, gray inside
Miles: 145,776
A lot of things have been replaced in the last few years and so it runs really well.
It is posted with pictures on KSL.com's cars area if you want to send someone that link.

We are hoping to get a different, (non-green) Toyota that possibly has room for a few more kids so we won't be left out on carpooling opportunities, etc.. Feel free to advertise something like this to me!

Vote for your kids' Reunion shirts

Here are a few shirt designs incorporating the ideas that Aunt N. came up with. I need votes from the 3 families that this applies to. Others without kiddos can vote if you want as well. I will make the shirts for the kids all the same as each other. I just want to know if you like the more cartoonish or the more rough/artistic look.

#1

#2
Don't know what the background would be on the 2nd one. With the high-quality transfer paper, background is white as opposed to transparent, so if I do colored T's (which I think we should for kids) I would do some sort of border/background color to make it look nice when I trim. If this doesn't make sense, don't worry about it.

A Horse Party!

Well, it's official, my "baby" is now 2 years old! Where did the time go? As I was laying next to him tonight while he dozed off, I tried to remember his birth and first few days and it seems so surreal now. He was born 2 years ago today in Bountiful at around 5 pm and was the most beautiful thing. He was 20 in. and 8 lbs. 10 oz. He looked chubby right away. This is what he looked like at a few days old:




Today was really fun. We had Grammy & Pops all the way from Boise and had a party at Grandma and Grandpas for E. He is VERY into horses right now. I tried to find a way for him to ride a horse for his birthday, or even go feed one or something, but I didn't really know any owners and we had a busy day with late church and all. So we had a really fun party with pin the star on the boot, a horse cake, and friends and family. He had a ton of fun. Thanks everyone for coming and Mom & Dad for hosting!














So, you can read about what happened when we got home from the party HERE on DH's blog. I couldn't believe it!!!

Happy Birthday dearest E.

A real TV family

Are there any families on TV that you think seem like they could be an actual family? (I am not talking about "reality" shows) I have been watching the show Medium for a few years and mostly because I love their family! I would seriously watch just for the little 9 year old girl in the family. Last episode, she was wearing these ugly boy pajamas and she's so hilarious! It shows the husband and wife doing actual housework, having arguments, looking less than great, and their preschooler is in bed with them by the end of most nights. I also really like the actor that plays the husband. I also love that Patricia Arquette looks like she could actually be those girls' mom. I mean, she's a movie star and she's pretty, but she is a) not a twig, looks like a real person and b) old enough to have given birth to a 12-13 year old. I think a lot of times they' ll put someone who's 30 on a show and try to convince us they have 4 teenage boys or whatever.

Obviously, not a lot going on. We've been sick since we got back from Boise. I trimmed our hedge, we got our free food package booked for Disneyworld and saved $1600! (it opened today to the general public if anyone is interested in booking in Aug-Sept) We have a lot going on in the next few days so I hope E has a complete recovery (nothing like trying to get a sick birthday boy to cooperate!)

Easterfest

We really tried to limit the "stuff" that our kids got this year, but it didn't work very well. There were many activities this year. We participated in a city egg hunt, a neighborhood one, and my mom did one for them. The city one was really kind of silly. They had a field for the 0-3 crowd, covered with eggs. Great. Only they were filled with tiny (chokable) toys and gum. E was pretty sad he couldn't have anything, so finally his dad let him eat the gum (he doesn't understand to just chew yet) I don't think a mom was the one ordering these prizes for young children. It was fun anyway.

Our neighborhood had an egg hunt where you visited many people's yards while just collecting one egg at each house. This way, everyone gets to hide eggs in their own yard, and 10 minutes lasts 2 hours. Tiring but a fun experience for everyone. Many people commented that it was just nice to see so many people out and about at the same time, a chance to visit with neighbors outside the walls, gates, fences we all live behind. I totally agree. Once the boys caught on to the "just one" rule at each house they had a ton of fun.

On Easter morning, we ate overnight pecan rolls from the family cookbook and talked about the resurrection and the empty tomb. It was a nice moment.

They found their easter baskets and had fun with those. E ate his candy in about 2 minutes flat. I'm glad I didn't put much in.

Then, this year we got them new clothes because they are getting their pictures taken tomorrow and we thought it would be fun to have for easter. So we made them go outside for the traditional pictures, except this year there are no blooms because it's so early! Cute anyway.

Primary was a bit crazy. You could tell the kids were all high on sugar and tired. Jr. Primary was paying a little bit of attention, but it was rough. Probably because I wasn't doing any fun egg/bunny things and was trying to make it about Christ. It was okay, though. Then nursery was a madhouse. I was glad I had brought instruments, because although they couldn't even hear me singing over the cacophony of sounds, it was crazy anyway so today was the day to just be loud. Good times. DH taught in EQ and I think people were all pretty tired because he said he had a hard time getting any participation. It was nice to go and feel the spirit and remember why we were celebrating the day.
My mom's Easter dinner was the traditional (for her) funeral potatoes, ham, rolls, and spring veggies. DH made his usual deviled eggs. It was good, then we went out and watched the boys hunt for their prizes. The favorite were these Disney things to put in their shoes.

I hope everyone had a great Easter!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (Late)

No lack of green to wear here. All of our closets were full of plenty of choices. I guess that just goes with being in our family! The boys were invited to a little party and had a ton of fun. They followed shamrocks to a hidden treasure, made & decorated hats, decorated and ate cookies, and played a game.

Good times!



We hope you all had a great day and didn't get pinched too much.

PS- E will hopefully start sleeping better since I've started treating his outdoor allergies. I've never given him anything for them, (he's had outdoor allergies since birth!) but I think he's probably in pain, (I know I am) so I got him some medicine for it. Thanks for all your encouraging comments!