something to do...

We were out running errands today and I remembered that they were tearing down the Deseret Towers at BYU.  So, I told Rick to swing by there and see what was going on.  We parked in the parking lot north of the dorms and watched with awe as the wrecking ball took swing after swing at the tall building.  I think Rick and I were having more fun watching the demolition than Cole.  Cole was more interested in the skid steer that was buzzing back and forth on the other side of the construction zone.  Next time we head out to run errands maybe we'll bring a picnic and stay for the afternoon.  It was sort of like the good old days when you could go sit in your vehicle at the drive inn theater and watch the entertainment on the screen, only we were sitting in our vehicle watching them tear down a building.  Fun.  I had no idea how much fun it would be having a boy in our little family.  

Movie Review...

We watched August Rush last weekend.  It was good and I really recommend it.  It was recommend by Jessica (Tall Fillmore) and that is all I knew about it.  I was hoping that it wasn't too girly and Rick would approve--he did.

Next movie was Waking Ned Devine.  We got the video about a year ago because we loved it so much when we saw it for the first time years ago.  I can't believe we waited so long to finally watch the video we had purchased.  It had been so long that we had really forgotten almost everything about the movie.  I don't know what it's rated, but it's clean except maybe for some random British swear words that just go right over my head anyways.  Funny movie.

I just got done watching the Bee Movie with the kids.  I fell asleep which is quite predictable but Summer said it was cute and they were happy with it.  I bought it yesterday as a bribe.  I told the kids that if they did the entire job list, house cleaning, piano practicing and anything else I asked then I would buy them a movie.  It worked.  Mostly.  But the house is not as spotless as it was yesterday--oh well.

I'm not a big movie watcher these days.  I fall asleep.  Rick took the girls to see Horton last week, but I stayed home with Cole to take a nap.  I told Rick that it would be cheaper to nap at home than at the theater for $6 which is exactly what would have happened.

If CSI, Chuck, Criminal Minds and a few other favorites come on TV soon, and if the weather warms up and I can get outside to play I won't have a reason to watch many more movies, so don't wait up for the next movie review from me.  But, I'd love to hear some suggestions from you while I wait for good TV and warm weather.  Have a good week.  And go fill up your water jugs for your emergency preparedness. 

Nobody trips over mountains.  It's the small pebbles that cause one to stumble.

the girls

It was much easier to get the girls so pose for a picture than it was with the boys. I don't know why that is...

Egg Hunt

my mom did a little egg hunt on Sunday. This was probably the only egg Cole found. He was more interested in the sand box and chasing the dog.
























I love how my mom stands at the edge of the drive way and just tosses candy and stuffed rabbits and the kids run around and grab it.

Grandma Nanner's munchkins

happy to you

Today is my dad's birthday. This is a sample of the quilt that hangs over my couch. It's not a ral soft and cuddly blanket, but it does keep me warm. It is made out of patches of my dad's Pendleton shirts. My mom came to visit in MS for Thanksgiving the fall after my dad died. She brought me this and made me promise not to open it until Christmas. I really love this quilt and I love to keep it out on the couch where I can see it every day. This afternoon we will head North for piano and swing by the cemetary to drop off some flowers. I put together an arrangement last week so I could have it up there for Easter and birthday. However I enjoyed having flowers on the counter so much that I have waited until today to deliver. They are a little droopy, but I don't think Dad will mind.

This is my husband...

We don't get invited out much. Maybe this is why.

Tractor Boys

Have I mentioned that Cole loves Tractors?

He does.

Happy to You

This is my adorable brother that I lay awake each night losing sleep over. Seriously. I somehow feel that it's my sisterly responsibility to find him a suitable wife. I don't know why. I should probably just worry about getting the laundry done and the kids fed and world peace and such. But every time I see a cute girl between the ages of 20 and oh say 90, I bluntly ask if they are available and then pass them a little card that I had made up with Bryan's vital statistics and his phone number on it. I'm not sure how many phone calls he's gotten yet, but I hope it's working.
I even tried to get Bryan to attend Parent/Teacher Conference with my last week while Rick was working. Both of the girls have young, single, and ADORABLE teachers that I have subtley hinted would be a perfect match for my brother.

The photos are from his birthday party last week. The gift bag was from me, I recycled some gift bags that the girls got last year for their birthdays and the Barbie just happened to be the only one big enough to contain the gift I put together for Bryan.

my future sister in law

Right now she is Rick's cousin, but Rick and I had this brilliant idea today that she would make a good sister in law. What do you call someone who is your cousin and then she marries your wife's brother. I don't know, but wouldn't it be great to find out?

When is Easter?

I was thinking about this very topic this evening while I was driving to Walmart. I looked up into the East sky above Maple Mountain as the full moon started to peak his beautiful face between the mountain peaks. It reminded me of the most valuable information I acquired while at BYU. I contemplated the thousands of dollars it cost to acquire my degree from BYU: tuition, rent, car, insurance, gas, bus passes, blue books, pencils, pens, highlighters, backpacks, books, lunch at the CougarEat, late night run to 7Eleven for slurpees for study breaks, the list goes on and on. I thought about all of the various facts that I learned and while accumulating those 128 credit hours required for graduation. And I fondly remembered the single most valuable thing that I learned while at BYU for 5 1/2 years. It didn't come from a Religion class, from Biology 100, or even Early American Literate. It came from one of my most favorite, yet least necessary classes as far as my degree in English goes--Floral Design. Before I share with you the most profound information of my college career, let me just say Floral Design was not for the Pansies, if you will. It certainly was not an "Easy A" (I had a hard time finding any "easy A" classes at BYU, and believe me, I looked!)
The most valuable information that I retained from my 5 1/2 years of study is this...
When Is Easter: "Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox"


Yes, folks, that it is. Whenever anyone asks when Easter is I can confidently share with them this little tidbit of knowledge. It seems to come in handy from time to time. It seems to be much more impressive than being able to share with someone whether or not they correctly used the subjunctive case of a particular verb in conversation. Most people don't really appreciate being complimented on their verb usage. I just secretly make those notes to myself and patiently wait for the right opportunity to share with my friends why Easter is so blasted early this year that we couldn't even plan an outdoor Easter Egg Hunt this year for fear of snow.

So go outside this lovely Spring evening and check out that full moon and share your knowledge with those you spend time with this Easter weekend. I won't tell anyone that you got your random trivia from me.

Let me save you some time...

if you are looking for something fun to do this warm, sunny, (I'm being optimistic) Easter weekend and you are thinking of heading out to Old Navy to find a cute little spring outfit...DON'T. They have nothing. Rick and I went this morning. He headed off one direction and I headed off another direction. When we met up, I asked him to help me decide which solid color t-shirt I should get. He said "Neither". And he walked around to help me find something cute. Finally he said, "No wonder you picked up a solid color t-shirt. That's the only cute thing for you in this whole store." No kidding. I did buy a cute little short sleeve sweater that I will be taking back because I was dumb and I didn't try it on in the store.
I guess there are plenty to cute little clothes if you are an adorable blond 3T sized boy. Because mine scored big.
Anyway, have a Happy First Day of Spring no matter what you do.

Easter 2002

What the Easter Bunny taught me:
1. Don't put all of your eggs in one basket
2. There is no such thing as too much candy
3. Everyone needs a friend who is all ears

Happy to you.

S, C, and S

This is the last of the vacation photos.

girls at the beach

The weater wasn't super warm. But the girls love the water so the were brave and waded in. We wandered around and picked up shells and we even found a sand dollar.

Cole at the beach

Most of the time when you go to the beach you think, "Water, waves, sun, sand, etc." Not Cole. The only word he said: "DIRT" He was in heaven. good thing he had a tractor to play with in all that sand (Rick has spent the last 3 days putting in a sand box in our back yard. However, it won't be quite as big as the one on vacation.)

Tagged

I was tagged a while ago, but I didn't get it done before the San Diego trip so here it is now:

What was I doing 10 years ago:
Rick had just been accepted to medical school and we had just sold our fixer up twin home. I was working like crazy, packing up our house and moving it into storage, and taking care of my cute little baby Summer. It was a chaotic few months.

5 places I've lived:
Orem, Utah
Kirksville, Missouri
Grand Blanc, Michigan
Brandon, Mississippi
Mapleton, Utah

On my to do list:
run, mop kitchen floor, make another apron

Bad habit:
I pick my nails/cuticles. I always have. Except when I'm pregnant. Rick has demanded that I get fake nails put on so that I will stop picking, but I'm too lazy to bother with it. I'm trying really hard to stop picking.

Places I've worked:
Arctic Circle (like you couldn't guess that one)
tutor
substitute teacher

5 things you don't know about me:
1. I graduated from BYU with a degree in English. I could have had a minor in Business if I had just taken one more class: Calculus, but I knew I couldn't pass. I could have had a minor in Spanish, too, but I didn't want to take the last class for that one either.
2. I'm really good at remembering dates but I couldn't tell you what I did yesterday.
3. I count everything. Like when I run I count how many steps I take between the sidewalk cracks. Or I add up the numbers on license plates when I follow a car on the freeway. I count how many cabinet doors there are in my kitchen...and on and on and on...
4. I talk to myself
5. When I eat cake and ice cream together I have to have equal amounts of cake and ice cream in each bite and I have to end on a bite with both cake and ice cream or I have to get more and try again. Also, I hate ice cream cake.

There. Done. Now, I'm going to go mop the kitchen floor and then go for a run. Bye.

Mississippi Mud Cake

Funny story first...We had a family birthday party yesterday. Mom made tacos, etc. Everyone has 9:00 church right now but us (1:00). So, mom was nice and tried to have everything done by herself so that we could just leave church and come to the party. I told her that I would bring SOMETHING. so, I talked her into letting me bring the cake. Well, she didn't think I would really come up with something great so she made a cake too. We ended up with 3 different cakes. Here is the cake that I liked the most:

1 c. butter
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. cocoa
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 t. vanilla
1/8 t. salt
1 1/2 c.flour
1 1/2 c. chopped pecans
1 (10.5 oz) bag mini marshmallows
Chocolate Frosting

Whisk together melted butter and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in flour and pecans. Pour batter into a greased and floured jelly roll pan.
Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven. Top with a layer of marshmallows. Return to oven and bake 5 minutes. Drizzle chocolate frosting over warm cake. Cool completely.

Frosting:
1 (16 oz) package powdered sugar
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. butter, softened
1/3 c. cocoa
Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.

Hey Bryan

Try leaving a comment now.

Feeding the deer

We got to feed the deer, too. I am hoping that by teaching Cole how nice the cute little deer are, that I won't have to worry about any deer heads hanging up overlooking my kitchen.

Wild Animal Park

Cole had so mucn fun feeding the birds...

This is for the birds...

For some outrageous price we bought some nectar and feed the birds.

The cutest Penguins in San Diego