A Busy Week

Wow. So much has been going on. Greg and I decided that since David had an upcoming "big two" birthday, he was ready to get a big boy toddler bed and move out of the crib. We shopped around and found a cute one at IKEA. It has been a HUGE challenge getting that kid to stay in his bed. We put it together four or five days before his birthday and have been trying to train him to stay in bed. He doesn't fall asleep til 10:30 or 11:00 because he won't stay in bed and we have to keep going into his room to put him back. I guess I deserve having a hard time with this one since my other two were practically perfect from the first day with staying in their beds after we took them out of the crib. David has been so naughty. On a side note, he's also turned into quite the little nudist. I find him SEVERAL times a day stark naked. He is clever enough to figure out how any outfit comes off. As well as his diaper. At my sister's brilliant suggestion we cut a pair of feetie jammies off at the ankle and zip him into them backwards with the zipper in back. It was worth ruining a pair of pajamas. He can't get out of them. We do that at night time now. Anyway, we also decided that since Andrew was the oldest he could move into his own room and we would put David and Nathan together. So we un-bunked the bunk beds and moved Andrew into David's old nursery. The previous owners of our house had painted quite the mural on the wall of that room. Andrew did not want it at all for his new room, so I agreed to paint over it. I didn't love it either. It's just not my style to have pictures all over the rooms of my house. Every bedroom of the house has some sort of painting on it. So we've been slowly painting over them. I will admit, I do like the huge Thomas the Train that is on Nathan's and David's bedroom wall. That one I can tolerate. But I got busy painting Andrew's new room. It needed several coats of primer to cover it completely. Then I painted it the same green that I had left over from the living room. Waste not, want not.
David's birthday fell on the older boys' last day of school. Greg had to work late, so we celebrated the day before. We had a dinosaur cake and just a quiet family party. His new bed was one of his presents. We also got a new bike for mommy and a baby seat to go on the back. I love that I got a new bike on his birthday just so we could install a child seat for him on the back. Bonus for me! We've had lots of fun riding it so far.
Andrew's last day of school was today and it was a neat experience. The principal of his school is going to a different school next fall and the whole school gathered outside after school to cheer him and wish him well. It was neat. He's a great guy and we'll miss him.
Nathan also graduated from preschool today. He's had so much fun at Miss Heather's Preschool. It has been so great for him. He's really come out of his little shy shell and it developing socially and academically. It was an adorable graduation ceremony and we're so proud of him!
We're off to Idaho for Memorial weekend and to officially start our summer vacation. It was a great year for both boys in school and now I have to come up with things to keep them busy so we don't sit around all summer. Suggestions welcome.

You can tell that Andrew is super excited about helping hold up the bike so I could take a picture.




Nathan and his Miss Heather

Diploma!

Buddies Nathan and Spencer

Andrew's new room "before."


Andrew's new room "after"

New toddler bed

Leaving on a Jet Plane

My sister Gwen and her family live in Rochester, NY. I had never been to visit her since they moved out there. It took a bit of planning, but I finally was able to go see her for about a week. Greg took some vacation days from work so he could stay home with the kids and play Mr. Mom. My younger brother, Paul, also came on the trip. It was so nice to be able to travel child-free on an airplane. It was so nice to just relax and have some time with my siblings. It was unfortunate that the only time Greg could get some time off happened over Mother's Day. So I had to miss that, but the primary kids in Gwen's ward were just as cute. Though, not my own kiddies singing "Mother, I love you. Mother, I do..." to me. But they've made me lots of school things and church things and it was alright. We arrived in Rochester Saturday and Gwen had gotten a babysitter for her kids so that the adults could go out to dinner. We went to this really awesome Mediterranean restaurant and had some yummy Greek food.
Sunday after church we drove 1/2 hour to Palmyra, NY and did a tour of all the historic Church sites. I had been there before about 10 years earlier, but it was still so neat to be there. We first drove to the Grandin Building where the Book of Mormon was printed. There was a sign on the door saying it was closed for a filming project. They usually are open on Sundays, but they weren't that day. Probably making some church movie or something. But it helps to have a brother in the film business. Paul new some of the guys who were there filming and they opened it up to us and we got a private tour all by ourselves. After that we drove to the Smith Farm house and did the tours there with the sweet sister missionaries. We then spent some quiet, peaceful moments in the Sacred Grove. After that, we drove to the Hill Cumorah. It was a very cold, windy, rainy day, so we didn't stay very long. Gwen had a lot of day trips for us planned after that. We left right after the bus took her kids off to school and got home in time to get them off the bus after school.
Monday we went to a place called Watkins Glen. It's a state park full of water falls. We started at the bottom of this gorge and climbed up over 900 stairs and three miles following the water falls up to the top. It was absolutely beautiful. We had Gwen's two youngest children who weren't in school with us and they were real troopers. Lots and lots of stairs. But it was so beautiful.
Tuesday we went to Niagara Falls in Canada. Another, wet rainy day. We didn't want to inflict too much torture on the kids, so we didn't do the boat tour, or the walking tour. We just snapped some pictures from the road that drives by the falls. Niagara Falls (the town) has a space needle type building that is over 500 feet and has a revolving restaurant on the top. So we rode the elevator up and ate lunch in the spinning restaurant. It takes an hour to make a complete circle and the panoramic view of the falls and the town is gorgeous. Yummy food and lots of fun.
Wednesday we went to the Corning Museum of Glass. This was the coolest museum I have ever been too. It houses thousands of glass art pieces that are so amazing. They have ancient Roman, Islamic, Greek glass that dated back to 1500 B.C. Extremely old glass next to modern, new artsy glass. It was pretty dang cool. They also had a glass blowing demonstration. It was fascinating to actually see the craftsmen do their work. So neat. The hot glass looks and feels exactly like taffy candy. It is very pliable and sticky looking. While it's in that state, they mold it and shape it into these unbelievable pieces. They had classes to take where they would let you do it, but we didn't have time to go to one. And of course there was a gift shop that was as big as the museum itself. I bought a few long stemmed flowers made out of glass. They are about as long as my arm and I was worried about getting them home on the airplane. So I had them shipped to myself and I hope they make it home to me safe and sound.
My return flight was scheduled for Thursday morning. I was supposed to arrive in SLC at 2pm, but because of horrible thunder and lightning storms in Chicago (where I had a connection) my flight was canceled. So I asked what they could do for me and they switched me to a different airline that went to Atlanta, then to SLC. So I did that. I got home much later than I wanted, but Greg and the boys were at the airport in jammies waiting to greet me well after bedtime. It was a wonderful trip, but I was so happy to see my sweet little kids racing towards me. Nathan started to cry! and hugged me for so long. It was a tender reunion and I'm glad to be home. I've posted more pictures than necessary, but this is just a fraction of all that I took.

Grandin Printing Press




Palmyra Temple

Smith Frame Home


Sacred Grove




The Hill Cumorah


Watkins Glen
pics are small, but click to enlarge






Niagara Falls




Glass Museum



This chess set made me chuckle. One side is Jewish Rabbis and the other is Catholic Priests. Everything made from glass. En Guarde!


For those of you who know Abravenel Hall in Salt Lake, an identical tree thing (except it's pinkish) piece is in the foyer. Same artist did both.

A small accomplishment

I don't have much in my life that I can brag about. I do however, have a perfect record at the dentist. He patted my shoulder today and told me I get an "A" for oral hygiene. Not a single cavity in my whole life. That's about the only thing I can brag about today on my blog. Oh, I vacuumed and folded a ton of laundry. That too.

I Loved This!

It's so true. I would choose the escalator every time when faced with stairs. But maybe if it was a piano, I would spend a couple hours on it going up and down just for fun.

Sigh...Tags?

I have been tagged by other bloggers to do this several times and I've always ignored it. But now that I am completely alone, I guess I will. (Greg took all three boys grocery shopping!! Is he great, or what?!) This tag is called "all 4s." Pretty self explanatory.

4 shows I like to watch...

1. The Office
2. Clean House ( I LOVE sassy, black girl Niecy Nash)
3. The Berenstain Bears on PBS with my kids. Really, I do.
4. Modern Marvels on the History Channel.

4 things I am passionate about...

1. My children.
2. My husband.
3. Maintaining my personal happiness and looking for ways to grow.
4. my iPhone.

4 phrases I say a lot...

1. No, David!
2. Who has my keys?
3. I love you.
4. Get your shoes on and go to the bathroom.

4 of my favorite stuff...

1. Laughing Cow cheese triangles.
2. My summer flip flops.
3. My flowers in bloom.
4. A good work out.

4 things I have learned from the past...

1. Hindsight is 20/20.
2. Things always seem to work out.
3. If a child is throwing up during the night, let him finish and get it all out before you change sheets and pajamas.
4. Nail polish doesn't come out of carpet. EVER.

4 places I want to go...

1. Europe.
2. Hawaii.
3. Alaska.
4. Australia.

4 things I would like to learn to do...

1. Fly an airplane.
2. Learn a language beyond the 2 years of German I took in high school.
3. home decorating
4. garden (better)

4 things I did yesterday...

1. Went to church.
2. Cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on our grill.
3. Took a nap.
4. Went to bed at 7pm (I have been sick...that's why all the sleeping)

4 things I am looking forward to...

1. Summer!
2. Greg's student loans paid off.
3. The end of the binkie phase.
4. My anniversary in CA.

4 things I am not looking forward to...

1. Scouting with 3 boys. (Yes, I need an attitude adjustment)
2. Cleaning my garage.
3. Spring allergies.
4. potty training my youngest.

4 things I love about Winter...

1. Skiing
2. The associated Holidays.
3. Watching my kids play in the snow.
4. The beauty of the snow covered mountains a stone's throw away from me.

4 things I love about Summer...

1. Mowing the lawn.
2. Family vacations.
3. Having an air conditioned house.
4. Swimming

4 things that bug me...

1. When I wake up an hour before the alarm goes off and can't go back to sleep.
2. Most reality TV shows.
3. When a movie or book ends unhappily. It just irritates me for days.
4. Cleaning up after boys in the bathroom. Aiming for cheerios doesn't work at our house.

4 things on my wish list...

1. furniture for our basement.
2. a new car for Greg.
3. some M&Ms
4. a Kindle

4 things on my to-do list

1. de-weed the garden, then lay sod
2. paint the boys' bedrooms
3. fold all the laundry
4. organize my office

4 of my favorite foods

1. avocados
2. raspberries
3. popcorn
4. Italian food.

4 things I do when bored

1. play marioKart on the Wii
2. re-read a favorite book
3. play the piano
4. vacuum. (I love to vacuum)

So if you made it all through that and care to join the madness, tag you're it!

Spring Break 2K10

Greg asked for (and was denied) the week of our spring break off from work. So we did the next best thing and just made a quick trip over the weekend to St. George, Utah. Just so our kids got some sort of trip for their spring break instead of staying home and complaining. Which they had been doing the whole week before the trip.
We checked into our hotel Friday night and had much fun jumping on beds, checking out the mini fridge, pulling lamps off the table, calling the front desk accidentally a few times, enjoying the lovely view, then finally going to bed.
The next morning we got up and loaded into the car and drove the 45 minutes or so to Zion National Park. I had been there before with my family when I was younger and remember it being super hot and just a long, winding drive. That's probably what our kids thought on this trip (except the hot). But it's a stunning drive and we snapped many pictures. There was a mile long tunnel that goes through the mountain which the kids thought was the best part of the drive. We stopped a few times to get out and hike around a bit. We found a nice trail that was marked to be 10 miles long but we probably only went a half mile before we turned around. After we'd had our fill, we drove back to St. George and spent a couple hours in the hotel pool.
Sunday morning we got up and went to church at the meeting house across the street from the temple. My grandparents used to live in a town house across the street from the temple and this was their church house, though I don't remember the ward. We just went to the 11:00 ward there and sat quietly in the back. After church we wandered around the temple grounds for awhile, then went to the cemetery where my grandparents are buried. We left for home and made it safe and sound. All in all, a nice, quick family trip.




David's foot after the pool.




We passed an ostrich farm (or something) on the way to Zions. So we pulled over for a closer look.