Song, Song of the South

I never realized the freedom of having someone watch your kids for two days! David and I went down south for the weekend to attend the temple and to do some much needed shopping for professional attire (as in David). We left the girls with Nona, Daiya, and the recently returned Caiti. I didn't realize how hard it was going to be to leave them. I broke down a couple of times on Friday morning. I had never been away from my girls that long. It was difficult for me to fathom. But when I realized David had no problem leaving them, I had to toughen up. I didn't expect to be sad to be away from them, but I was.

When we finally got the road, I realized it probably wasn't that great of an idea to be wearing flip flops since it was in the low 30s (oh, and neither one of us brought a coat, just a sweatshirt). I really realized it wasn't a good idea when we were basically driving through a blizzard. When we stopped for gas, this was what the car looked like.

I thought this was pretty cool. That's ice and dirt.

It looks like a Coke Slurpee blew up on the side of the car.

And here we are prepared for another winter... in spring.

Least to say, the roads and weather were really bad. I thought we would hit a certain point and it would get better, but that didn't happen. The closer we got to our destination, the worse the weather got. It was amazing. I ended up wearing David's boots in the parking lot because, A.) My tennis shoes, which I just happened to throw in, were in the back of the car and, B.) The water came up over my foot. It was a literal lake in the parking lot. I can't believe it is the end of April and it is still coming like a Lion! Here are a few pictures of the weather.

These roads are not so bad.

Getting a little worse...

I don't know if you can tell, but there is a man out there shoveling the snow. Poor guy, it must have weighed a ton. This was some wet snow.

Some more fun images. The gas price makes me cringe. We ended up paying over $4 a gallon twice.


The road was so bad that it was difficult to change lanes. You had to stay in the rut or risk spinning. It was scary when people would pass because their car would dump on you like the slime on Nickelodeon.

Just more craziness.

The hotel parking lot. It was a pretty nice hotel. Thank you William Shatner for your pep talks on tv! Hooray for Priceline.

All and all, we ended up having a great little trip. The hotels were nice, the service at the restaurants we ate at was lousy, and I ended up really loving the time to ourselves (well, slightly to ourselves. We brought iLyn with us. She was fantastic!!!) It was wonderful to be able to reconnect and have some one on one time that lasted for more than a few hours on date night. I had a blast with David and hope we have the opportunity to do it again some time in the future. Here are a few pictures of iLyn I took on the ride down. They have a surprised feel to them.

I think she is adorable... but that's just me :)

This is what Bo was doing when we came home. I think it is adorable that she is sleeping with her princess barbie. I could think of more uncomfortable things to cuddle up with, but I won't. It was cute.

These are for my mom who specifically asked for pictures of the baby outside of the carrier. It's hard when girlfriend cannot sit up on her own!

I think she cried not too long after this was taken, as you can see.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

I know it's dark, but I didn't think about it at the time. I guess after a winter of dark, I don't really know the difference! Anyway this is cute, stinky, but cute.

Baraky the Movie

I am not going to get into politics, nor am I supporting either of these candidates (or any candidate for that matter. I usually write in someone), but I just saw this today and thought it was pretty funny. People really have too much time on their hands (not to mention a whole lot of skill), but I am glad they do because they make me laugh.

For a Good Time...

Go to www.freerice.com. One of my loverly sister-in-laws told me about it last night (thank you Daiya! I have no idea how to even spell that one Julia. Maybe I will as Bo to spell it since it is her word). You can practice your vocabulary skills and donate rice to help end hunger. It's pretty awesome and made me feel not so dumb! It's a fun and charitable way to waste time! So get out there and practice your vocab for the big quiz of life.

We Have Progress

I just thought that since I have been missing my camera for the last week and a half (cough, cough, David), that I would add a new picture. Boo drew this. I made a few of the heads, but she did the faces. I would never want to meet these people in a dark alley, but I was impressed with her newest skill. I love that she is drawing. I don't, however, love her using permanent marker on paper to draw some pictures and it bleeding through onto the cover of a friend's cookbook. I could have done without that one.

Picasso in the making

Loud Mouth

We have been experiencing what I like to call... horrible weather! It's spring around the rest of the world, but for some reason this place thinks it still needs to be cold and snowy. We probably got about half a foot last night and this morning. For me, it is depressing. Why, oh why??? The Lord knows something I don't. Good grief!

So because of the snow and cold we have resorted to taking our children to McDonald's so they can get their "energies" out, as Boo likes to call it. We usually stay a couple of hours to let them play and pick up as many germs as possible. The other day we went and Boo came up and told me there was a boy who was being mean to her and another little girl. I told her to stay away from him. She turned to me, after he walked by, and said, "See Mommy, I stayed away from him," fairly loud. Then later, after I told him not to punch or push people, she yelled, "Mommy, he be nice." Boo would be a great assistant to someone who didn't have a conscience and needed some help because she will tell anyone anything, at anytime. My favorite was when she told people at church I was pulled over by a cop. It was extremely embarrassing, but a lesson learned. She is a sharer... with things other than her toys.

I have decided, with the price of diapers jumping up $9 a box in the past month (cough, cough, choke, choke), that it is time to potty train little Bo. Yeah, right. When I tried to potty train Boo it was a train wreck. We both ended up in tears with David shedding a few as well, I believe. It was a horrible experience and so I didn't even try again until after she was three. We don't have that option. So the other day, following the advise of some friends, I put little Bo on the potty after her breakfast. I thought if I let her sit in front of the tv she would just sit and go. After 45 minutes of not going, I gave her a little something to drink, but she didn't drink a lot because well let's face it, milk isn't that exciting. After 15 minutes her her not going still, I gave her half a can of diet orange soda (which she chugged like a sorority girl). The kid STILL didn't go. She was sitting on, or standing around, the potty for a HOUR AND A HALF and still nothing. I took her diaper off for two hours after dinner that night and I got... a drop. She has the best bladder control I have ever seen. When she gets it down we will be golden, but until then I believe she will have to drink something the size of the Great Salt Lake before the flood gates will open. Good night nurse!

And, it is good to know that some things never change. For example, my girls love Strawberry Shortcake and, after this weekend, a movie that I loved so dearly when I was a child. I rented ET and we watched it last night. We have now watched it twice. Of course, I was the only one who cried yesterday, but the girls loved it. It warms my heart.

And, for my poor mother who is complaining about nothing new, here is a little something from iLyn. Enjoy!

Let's Go To the Movies Annie...

Sorry, I love the movie Annie, as you can tell. Here are a few videos of the girls. It always takes me a while to get them up because it seems like such a process. Hopefully they work! The second one is of Bo last summer when she was starting to talk (or when we were starting to understand). I added that one because she isn't in the first one.



Yes, that would be David snoring in the background.

Having Fun

Here are a couple of pictures my friend sent me of the girls and her son. Apparently Boo convinced the others that they could all fit on the couch. Here are a few pictures from their play date.

Adorable

Less adorable, but still cute (and scary)

Heaven Help Me

"They may be pushing 40, but the New Kids are returning to the block. The Boston boy band New Kids on the Block, which sold 70 million albums in the 1980s and early 1990s, has reunited and plans to release a new album and go on tour. The reunion comes 20 years after the release of the group’s multi-platinum album, “Hanging Tough.”

Anyone who truly knows me would know that I would have prayed for this (or probably did) many years ago. I fell in love with these five bad boys when I was but a wee impressionable twelve year old. Their plights and music ruled my entire existence and, let's face it, they basically acquired my entire allowance for at least three years. I continued to love them (even in secret... I am sorry Tiffany, I wasn't as strong as you) until I was a freshman in college when Bethany and I wrote them the sappiest, most pathetic letter I had ever written to that point inviting them to meet us on the Eiffel Tower (sadly the letter was returned to sender as their fan club had dissolved. Beth-wab... do you remember our taped confessions to one Take That??? I think that might take the cake in my career as fan/stalker) . Oh New Kids! Where were you years ago when I was without a date, without a chance, and without any sense of dignity? I could have drooled over your luscious pictures then. Now I have to find out about your reunion in passing because I barely have time between diaper changing and baby feeding to read People magazine. I know I have moved on because I no longer consider Joe McIntyre the love of my life (THANK YOU DAVID!), but I don't know if I will be able to control the heart palpitations. I hope I am not Pavlov's dogs. All I know is that I turned back into a fifteen year old at my ten year high school reunion when the boy I had the worlds LARGEST crush on walked in the door five minutes after I arrived (he could have at least waited another hour for me to enjoy myself or at least act like a normal adult), therefore it would be safe to say that by the first note of your harmonious prepackaged melody I will be on the floor, crying the disappointed tears of fandom unclaimed, and wishing that I too was from Beantown and a groupie. Heaven help me!

Thanks to My Little Helper

I just want to take a moment to thank my little Boo. I know she cannot read this, even though she thinks she can, but I just want to save these moments. Boo is always helping me out by getting me endless diapers, wipes, and giving me lots of hugs and kisses. She is growing up so fast and, even though she can do more and help more, I don't like it! She is starting to look older and taller and is a whole lot sassier. But to me, she is still my little girl. I told her she can't get too big because then she wouldn't be my little baby anymore. She told me she won't, she will just get as big as mommy (and unless we are talking horizontally big, that's not that big :) Anyway, she spent yesterday afternoon helping me in the house. We cleaned up and she even did the dishes (and she rinsed it in the hot water and didn't complain about the temperature... a chip right off the old block! I say that because David always asks me if I have any feeling in my hand because I use the hottest water we have to do the dishes. Aren't you supposed to do that? My dad made it clear... if you can still feel your hands, it isn't hot enough). She also loves to help me cook and bake. She received an apron from Santa this past year and she is ready to wear it out. Our little girl is a sweetheart, a singing and dancing drama queen, but a sweetheart none the less. I love you Boo and am so grateful for you and for who you are turning out to be. Please know that no matter what, you will always be my little girl and one of the beautiful holders of my heart!

Cooking pasta with Daddy last summer.

Hooray for cooking!

This is a Snack Attack and This is Happening!

Am I the only one who absolutely loves, and looks forward to, Sonic's adds? Oh my goodness! These, in my expert opinion, are some of the best ads on tv (I mean, if you have to watch them you might as well enjoy them, no?). I do believe, however, that this is my favorite one. Snack attack. Brilliant!

I have been adding a lot to the blog lately. I have been slightly up to date in adding recent pictures. The old pictures, well, we will just pretend for the moment that they don't exist. I won't be adding any too soon because David has our camera locked up in some secret location on campus because he is recording people for a project. Anyway, I feel like sharing a few tidbits of information.

First off, David has another interview for another internship. This time it is with the city (the other one is with the borough). The lady asked him what kind of job he wanted. That threw him off a bit because he wasn't sure how to answer that. Who knows, he could be working three different jobs at the same time. Fascinating! He has a meeting next week to discuss the first internship he acquired. Things are looking up!

We have learned from experience that we cannot tell our children anything we are possibly doing in the not so immediate future. I say this because they will consistently bother us with unending questions about the event and/or when we are leaving for said event. For example, a friend of ours watched the girls for a couple of hours the other day so that we could go to an appointment. I told Boo and Bo about it in the morning as I was getting them ready. For the next five hours, the two of them must have asked us, and I am not exaggerating here, at least 100 times when we were leaving and that we needed to leave or we would be late. These would come at about 2-5 minute intervals. It was utter craziness, to say the least. Boo wakes up every morning and asks me what we "have today." I have decided that every day will be a nothing day and I will just surprise them with the daily activities just so I can avoid the Spanish Inquisition.

I also had a hilarious, if not slightly disturbing, experience with our oldest child the other day. She was wearing her Belle costume, as is custom in our home despite the piles of laundry that would lead one to believe she wears something other than that dress. Anyway, she was wearing her dress and the next thing I know, she is stuffing tissue paper (we had received a lovely gift from a lovely lady) down the top of her dress. I was talking on the phone at the time so it took me a minute to realize what she was doing. I asked her if she was trying to look pregnant and, to my surprise, that wasn't the look she was going for (pillows under the shirt are things that start happening when you are pregnant around little girls... or at least I hope that is common). My child was... giving herself a chest. I asked her if that was what she was doing and she just kept saying no and turning away from me laughing. I continued to inundate her with questions of what she was doing, but she just answered no and laughed. I told her it was okay (what else do you say) if that was what she was doing and she finally admitted to me what her ultimate goal was with stuffing her shirt. Good grief! They are growing up so fast these days. Good thing there are things such as Brat dolls and Britney Spears to set good examples! Phew! :P

We received some other good news this week. Little iLyn's medicine is working great where she is at right now. Apparently half of the lowest dose is giving her thyroid the extra boost it needs without doing all of the work for her. I also had to take her to the doctor yesterday (she was just in there Monday for her two month check) because she sounded as though her cold had moved to her chest. Fortunately, her congested cry was from drainage and not something worse. Thank goodness.

I am currently trying to move little Bo into a big girl bed. She has taken several naps on Boo's bed this week which is a big step for her, as well as for me. It's not that I don't want to acknowledge she is getting older by putting her in a regular bed, nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is that I don't want to have to refold all of the clothes in the chest of drawers every morning because she is into everything. She is going to have to get used to it because once we move (in the next month or so) she is going to be in a regular bed (space, glorious space! How I can't wait for you!).

What other information can I heap upon the masses? Oh, I guess we are going to try to go to Utah this summer. We are still waiting for specific details. If you will be in the Happy Valley area in July, we would love to see you!

Well, I am going to get off of here. I just remembered it is conference weekend (brain dead! Lack of sleep) and I have to get Boo off to ballet. Hope you all are swell!

Since I put some bad hair pictures on here, I decided to put some good hair pictures up. I even saved them on the computer as "good hair."

Daddy was helping them do silly poses.

I love my sister! To death!

Swinging in her little swing or, as I like to call it, the babysitter.

As you can see, she is very relaxed with the babysitter.