Bones

Well, the floor is done. It has consumed my life enough, so we decided to finish it. And you know what's worse than a month of hard work to make your house look better? I'll tell you. A month of hard work making your house look better only to move a few weeks later. Yes, I'm moving. I'll go into that later. I have a lot of catching up to do first. Anyway, the floor looks awesome! I love it. The kitchen is my favorite part. It just looks so nice.

Here is Nate working so hard. This was near the beginning of the process so I was still in a good enough mood to take pictures.

One of the highlights of the process was the day I didn't have time to make the kids lunch so I let them eat chicken right off the carcass. I just threw a couple of pieces of bread at them and called it good. It cracked me up! They loved it though. They thought I was an awesome mom that day even though I knew better.

Looking back now, I'm actually pretty impressed that they were dressed that day. Maybe it was one of those days that we crammed in a trip to the grocery store and I was able to throw some clothes on the boys. No shoes though. Who needs them? It was probably at least 35 degrees that day. That is perfect barefoot weather!

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.

Nonspecific

Playing cars.

The picture I took of G at Lowe's when he was saying "forklift" in his own special way.

I had to take a picture of this. You don't see B.A. cuddling anyone very often. Unless it is a dog.

We made chocolate chip muffins on the best Saturday morning I have had in a long time.

It's Curling!

We "curled" today. The rules were a little different. For example...

There is no ice.

We don't slide heavy rocks.

There was no bumping of other people's rocks.

There were no teams either.

Or scoring.

There weren't any big painted circles on our board. Just squares made out of painter's tape. (Squares were much easier.)

And there was no sweeping of ice. Or strategy.

But other than that, it was pretty much the same game.

If we would have had a winner, Dare would have been it.

Mads' technique was jumping as he threw. Gorgeous, but not very effective.

G was the biggest cheater. We gave him a DSQ several times.

**********

P.S. If you ever get bored in the car, G has lots of ideas you can do to keep yourself entertained.

#1 Claiming the Crayons

More to come...

Mighty

I don't really know how to introduce this. Just watch...

Come on! It's not that long!

Don't you love how he tells Nate he wants to do it by himself TWICE? Story of my life with this kid. I'm not sure what he said a lot of the time, but he managed to bless food a couple times and our house. Oh, and he prayed for Grammy's house, and Mark. But of course my favorite parts are the long, drawn out aaaaaannnnddds.

Oh, and I had to reel him in there at the end. We might have kneeled there all night. I just got lucky that he let me help him that time. It was hilarious after that, how he gave Nate the I-told-you-so look. I'm not sure why.

Right Past the Fireflies That Sleep in My Heart

Last week B.A. was Star of the Week in her class. She made a poster about herself and got to do special things at school. On Friday she was able to bring a visitor to join her at lunch, and talk to the class about her poster and answer questions. Since she was sick on Friday, we did this yesterday. When I got there she was already eating her lunch. This didn't stop her from running up and giving me a big hug. She was sitting on the very end of the table. I just kicked a couple of girls off the bench and sat across from her. Just kidding. I didn't kick them off. It was pretty funny how they kept looking at me though. She did a lot of talking to her friend, Savannah. We played a story game while I watched her put her bell peppers on her ham sandwich before she ate it. I joined her for recess. She wanted to run. I just watched. Then we walked around talking to all her friends and seeing what they were up to. I learned that B.A. doesn't like doing the monkey bars in the winter because her hands get too cold, and she doesn't like playing soccer because of all the weird boys. We joined some girls doing cartwheels, and I even showed off my handstand skills.

Her presentation was outstanding. She wasn't nervous to speak in front of her class at all. She told the class all about her favorites, what she wants to be when she grows up, her vacations, and her family. Then the class asked questions. One kid asked what continent she would like to visit the most, and she said Asia. Another question was would she rather drown in freezing water or hot lava. B.A. said she would rather not drown at all.

B.A. is such a cool kid. Sometimes I forget because of all the drama, but she is awesome. I love that she laughs so easily. I just have to get her to stop worrying so much and she might laugh even more.

Thanks, B.A., for letting me hang out with you.

Cerulean

Rhon and Dare dressed up G the other day...

He seems oddly pleased with himself. Is it the pink skirt with no back? He probably likes the naked bum feel.

Maybe it's the bangs.

Nice Skull

Mads' first ever buzz cut. I love it.

Dueling

Last night I had to carry two kids to bed. Well, Nate carried one and I carried the other, but two kids had to be carried to bed. I was up late with my boyfriend, Mario, and at two separate times during the night one of my children came to join me. See if you can guess which two.

This is Rhon's bed. This was taken several months ago, but it is like this every night. I am not exaggerating. Every single night. It doesn't matter what I say to Dare. It doesn't matter how a threaten her. She will not stay in her own bed all night. EVER.

Now you are probably thinking one of the kids was probably Dare, right? Because she can't stay in her own bed. Nope. It was Rhon. Dare has a way of making Rhon the uncomfortable one. She always manages to take all the pillow and most of the space. Poor Rhon. And yes, I had to move Dare back into her own bed before I could put Rhon where she belonged.

I bet you can guess who the other kid was this time. Yup, Mads. He came out telling me that G was taking all his space. This picture was taken a couple nights before, so I guess this will be a nightly thing for the boys too. I'm not too surprised. Dare and G are alike in every other possible way, I don't know why this would be any different.

I guess I should be glad he choses Mads' bed instead of mine. But that hasn't stopped him from coming into my room at 5 every morning for his daily sitting-on-my-head routine. And, just for clarification, he isn't wearing pajamas because he takes them off. I don't know why. He just likes nakedness.

Art Nouveau

Fortunately in our house, we have a budding interior decorator. He takes plain, boring colors and designs around the house, and makes them better. He makes them POP! if you will...

Sheets generally have no texture. Not in this house! Not only did he give us a print, but it has a delicious sticky texture too.

Hand fluffed toilet paper. It is much more comfortable this way. And attractive. You'll never go back to boring old rolled-tight toilet paper again.

Plain green soooo boring. Here he favored us with a limited edition abstract design. Much more interesting.

Mood lighting inspired by Louis Tiffany perhaps?

Here is a detail of one of the mood lights. If you look closely, you can see not only the blue design but a brown substance that I hope is chocolate.

I bet crabs in the wild wish they had this shiny green top coat.

The beauty is everywhere!

More.

And more.

He wanted to do frescos but had to settle for murals.

Thanks G. Our house is the most interesting one on the block.