Did you know that talc is the softest mineral on the Mohs scale?

"I like minerals. I like rocks."

Rhon had a play a couple weeks ago. There was singing, arm movements, rock clanking, and they each got to say a part about minerals and rocks. It was so awesome. I love going to that stuff. A few days before, she made an invitation for me AND Dad. Since he was invited, and he was able to, he came too. Then we decided to invite Grandma. So she came too! Grandmas are awesome. Rhon was so excited. She did such a good job.

It was pretty funny because Mads was totally into the music. He was smiling and grooving the whole time. He is so cool.

Right after school that day, we went straight to Leatherby's for dinner. We got two orders of fries and ice cream. You know you wish you had that for dinner.

This Was Two Weeks Ago

It wasn't the first snowfall in the Spring, and it won't be the last.

We went outside, and the boys had a blast.

That sounded like a poem, didn't it? I can't keep it going. I'm not that clever.

They were sliding down the driveway on a strip of ice. They went down on their butts, and backs, and bellies. G would run down the driveway, and if he didn't slip he would make himself slip. It was quite dangerous. They both got a tiny flesh wound. It was a great day for playing in the snow because it was really slippery and it wasn't very cold out. I was happy they got another chance to play in the snow before it is gone for a while.

It was cracking me up because G had "frozen face", so even though he was laughing and smiling, it looked like he was in pain.

Yes, they were so cute I ate them for dinner that night.

When I got the sleds out, they stopped sliding down the driveway. It would have been smart to get them out right away, but I'm not that quick.

The Cat's Meow

Sunday isn't always the best of days. But today, it was. I wish I could figure out what we did on days like this to make it feel so good. Just so I could do it every Sunday. Today wasn't just good, it was awesome.

I slept in late. I got up when it was almost eight.

We laid in bed while listening to the kids play nicely together.

We had our hourly talk about the upcoming events in our life.

We fasted.

B.A. and Rhon fasted too. It was their first time.

Getting ready for church went smoothly. I even had time to make the girls' hair look cute.

We got to church almost on time, and got seats. That is a big deal, I promise.

I bore my testimony.

G wouldn't go to nursery. Which isn't actually good, but I didn't have to go to Sunday School because of it.

RS was good. It made me want to be a better visiting teacher.

We made cookies a little while after we got home. We had to try out our new scooper.

They were delicious!

I fell asleep, the kids watched a movie, and Nate made dumplings.

We had a yummy Chinese dinner.

We talked again about upcoming events.

The kids were happy all day. I don't think there was one fight. (Oh wait. They fought about which movie to watch.)

Mads played with cars by himself. This never happens. He hasn't learned to play by himself very well.

We only had to threaten G once to stay in bed or we would shut the door.

Now I am blogging, and Nate is playing video games.

Perfect.

Time Turned Fragile

I've been inspired to write about my Valentine's Day. I don't know what inspired me, but here it goes.

It the best one ever! Nate surprised me with plane tickets to Phoenix and concert tickets to see my favorite band in Tucson.

That's not entirely true. I pretty much planned the whole thing. But it sounded much more romantic that way, didn't it? I'm not really much for romance, so I'll just tell the truth. In fact, this had nothing to do with Valentine's Day at all. It just happened to fall on the same weekend. Nate and I just killed two birds with one stone. How resourceful of us.

I had been planning this night for 10 years! Okay, more like 2. Alright, it was just a few months. But I love Motion City Soundtrack and I was desperately hoping when they started touring again they would come to Utah. Nope. Then I thought, well maybe we could go to Vegas. That would be really cool. Nope. Phoenix? Nope. Then we saw that they had added Tucson to their tour list. Tucson? Really? It was close enough to Phoenix to make it work.

Our original plan was to drive with the kids and stay for the weekend. I couldn't get over how terribly boring that sounded for the kids. Wake up early drive for 12 hours. Play with grandparents for a day, and then get up early and drive 12 hours again. Yuck. Then we thought that we should bum plane tickets off of Jut again! Of course. He always comes through for us when we need him the most. And he did. We got the tickets and the plans were formulating.

What to do with the kids? Those darned kids. They always ruin my fun. Lucky for me my brother married a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful lady who not only offered to watch them (well, I asked her first), but did it with a smile, and actually thanked ME for letting her do it. She is my new best friend. And her sweet daughter came to help and entertain. Big big smiles.

So we were all set. The plane left at 10-ish, and that puts us in Phoenix around 12. Didn't happen. No space. We tried the next plane. No space. No space on the one to Vegas either. We decide to go to LA. I guess less people want to go to Phoenix from LA than from Salt Lake, or Vegas. Sheesh. But we didn't make the first plane to Phoenix once we got in LA either! No space. I was frantic with worry! I had friends waiting for me and a show to see! Well, we finally made it to Phoenix. It was about 7 1/2 hours from the time we got to the airport in Salt Lake. It was okay. Nate and I walked around the airport in LA looking at all the latest styles in clothing, wishing there was someplace we felt like eating that wasn't a total rip off. We got some frozen yogurt.

So our friends picked us up at the airport and we drove straight to Tucson. Here is proof of our road trip...

Liz. She will love the band someday. But bless her heart for tagging along just because she thinks I am a bucket of laughs. And Mike. I will be forever indebted to him for saying yes. And also for loaning me 10 bucks so I could by a shirt.

Speaking of Mike, I will never forget about the "cheese journal". I hope to witness pages being added to it someday.

Sheri. The driver. She did so good. Kept her eyes on the road almost the whole time. She even drove around looking for a free place to park so we didn't have to pay 5 bucks.

Ian and Nate. I almost made Ian eat the cake I brought because I made it, and you have to be crazy not to love a homemade cake. I didn't though. I just turned away as the tears streamed down my face.

Don't ask me what face Nate is making. Hopefully it isn't what it looks like.

My favorite memory of our car trip conversation was when I was telling whoever would listen that if I ever got mugged, I would swallow my wedding ring. Good idea, right? Apparently Liz thought it was better to just go straight for the bum hole. Why go through the whole digestive system when going the other way serves the same purpose? Touche.

We got there. I was beside myself with excitement. But I was also starving. Remember? No food in LA. So we ventured out to find something to eat. We found a diner-ish type place. I got a reuben sandwich. It was pretty good. Nate got the same thing. He only got away with that because we were sitting at different tables. Sheri got a chicken sandwich that was dry. But there was a sauce on it, so it made it all better.

Finally we are in the venue. It was small. And there were teenagers everywhere! We were definitely some of the oldest fans there. There were a couple opening bands. The one I remember was called Set Your Goals. They were very energetic. I was impressed.

Then the moment of truth.

It was a really good show! MCS didn't disappoint at all. The music sounded good. Justin didn't act like an idiot. He was even funny. My favorite part was when they were singing Attractive Today, and the part where he says, "Say you like me," he had the crowd sing, "I like you". And then he said thank you. I loved it. I also liked how he said thank you after every song. I didn't bring my camera. I was afraid I would lose it. I regret that decision. But I stole this picture off of their website. They will never find out!

I'm pretty sure that's the same place.

The car ride home was a bit more relaxed than the way there. Sleepiness kicked in. We slept at Ian and Sheri's. They debated over who would drive us to the airport in less than 6 hours. (I didn't want to get stuck. We took the earliest flight out.) It worked out. We made it home.

It was one of the coolest things I have ever done.

Grand Illusions

My new floor.

No, it is not done yet. Ask me in a few months.

: )

You Couldn't Pay Me To Do This Again. Ever.

All I am going to say is that Nate and I will never buy a old house and experience the joys of fixing it up.

'Fixing it up' is not a joy for us.

Here is where our books and bookshelves started...

The carpet is gone!

Then the books ended up here... (the shelves are crammed in our bedroom)

It wouldn't have been too bad if it stayed in those neat piles. But, of course, they are all messed up by now.

Here is where we are trying to live...

Luckily the kids are adaptable. They went from tumbling all over the carpet, to running and jumping all over the plywood, to dancing and sliding all over the laminate flooring. Everything is a toy to them.

Socks have never played such a prominent role in floor related recreation. But there has also been butt sliding, blanket sliding, back sliding, and belly sliding. It's been great fun. I think they all have a head start if they ever need to learn how to slide into home.