Dave's Trip to England and France

So here are some pictures of my (Dave) trip to England and France. I went to France for a few days to visit Ryan and Liz and had a great time.

This one is of Owen and I in front of Carcassonne. We were driving past, and Ryan just mentioned it off-hand, and I begged to stop to take a picture.

This is a clearer picture of Carcassonne. It was gorgeous, and just when the sunflowers were about to bloom.

This one is with Ryan and I snorkeling in the Med. Yep, that's me in all my blazing-phosphorescent-blindingly white glory. Notice, Ryan had a wetsuit. The water was just a bit nippy.

This one is on the trail from Gavarnie, to the Cleft of Roland. It was just amazing! Unforgettable, verdant, astounding, Middle-Earthian. Of course, my wondrous fear of heights made for some white-knuckled climbing toward the middle part (end for me...Ryan ran ahead), but it was still amazing.

Just above the Cirque de Gavarnie, in the basin leading to the trail to the top.

Me, chasing waterfalls.

Ryan at the Cleft of Roland.

Cleft of Roland...border of France and Spain.

Porter's Bday/Grandpa's Funeral -- April 29th

I planned a fun birthday part for Porter for his friends after school on Friday the 29th. We were excited it was his actual bday. Then Wed morning we got the call that Dave's grandpa had passed on Tuesday night. So i spend Wed canceling the bday party, canceling subbing on Thursday, canceling my dr appt and dentist appt, canceling a weekend getaway with some girlfriends for a birthday party, doing laundry and packing. After Dave got home we headed to UT to be with family for the funeral.

So instead of doing a party w his friends on his bday we did one with family. We all got together that night and went to the bowling alley. It was awesome b/c we had the kids lane with bumpers up and the adult lane for real bowling. The kids were so pumped to rub it in that they scored higher than all the adults. The bragged about their strikes and their spares and did tons of dances of victory. It was really fun!

The funeral went really well on Sat. I was running around the church setting things up. We had taken a lot of time to prepare Porter and Eva for the funeral and talked a lot about what to expect. I went through the gym with Ivy where the viewing was and she saw the casket with Grandpa in it. She remembered him from our visit at Christmas and she was really worried about him. She asked, "Mom! What's wrong with him?" I explained that grandpa was dead and he had gone to live with heavenly father. She asked, "What happened? Did the bad guys get him?" I told her no that he was just old. She just couldn't grasp that and kept asking about the bad guys and how they got him and what they did with him. I finally got her convinced that there were no bad guys involved that Grandpa Porter was just dead. She thought about that for a while and then decided to make sure everyone knew about it. So she started walking around the halls telling everyone she saw in her loud, matter of fact, three year old voice, "My grandpa's dead! Grandpa Porter is dead!" She would grab people, look, them in the eyes when she told them. There was no way to get past the honest truth of that statement. I thought she was fine, but turns out she's been having a hard time with it. She keeps waking up with nightmares of Dave dying and just cries and cries and says, "I don't want my daddy to die. I don't want him to be a robot. I don't want the bad guys to get him." We reassure her as much as we can, but she still freaks out whenever he goes to work or leaves the house. Hopefully she'll settle down soon. I think Dave might secretly like it b/c he has gotten more snuggles and kisses from her than ever. :)

Easter Sunday -- April 24th

Sunday was Stake Conference and Easter Sunday so we did our easter egg hunt and then spent the rest of the day crashing. It was so nice to be able to sleep for a good chunk of time.

The kids' bikes were all broken and trashed by the sun so we got everyone bikes for Easter. The Easter Bunny was smart and numbered all of the eggs so we knew exactly what ones were missing. We still haven't found egg #2. The kids keep talking about it...I keep hoping the dog ate it...fingers crossed!!

Ed & Julie's Visit -- April 21st

I worked Mon, Tues, Wed and Ed and Julie came out Thursday night. We went to the Easter Pageant over at the temple that was really nice and fun. Dave and Ed wandered over to the Antis and had fun messing with their minds. For bed we put Ed and Julie in Porter's room on the queen and the Sara and Stacie in the girls rooms on the bunkbeds and then we threw everyone else out in a tent. My kids were drop dead tired and didn't appreciate it until around 5:30 when they woke up with the sun and birds. They played out there for a good couple of hours which we enjoyed sleeping a little longer. After breakfast Julie and I took the two girls and went shopping for swim suits. They are definitely the lucky rabbits foot when it comes to shopping for suits. We found a 50% off sale and everything anyone put on looked amazing! It was so much fun to shop with them!! After that we went to Porter's basketball game and then hit the pool for about 3 hours. The community pool is really fun with 3 slides, a lazy river, a spinny vortex, lap pool, 3 diving boards, and a play structure. For $1 each it was AWESOME! I felt bad it was a little breezy and chilly at 85 degrees, but the kids didn't seem to mind at all! After the pool they headed back to Julie's sister's place and Dave and I went to a concert. It was a band called "Mumford and Sons". It was an awesome concert!!!

Warren's Visit -- April 14th

Well after that we got nervous about running around in the van and after talking to warren (and having a good laugh about my attempts with the fuel filter) we decided to buy Warren's CRV. So that weekend April 16th we had Warren and Rachel come out to visit. It was a lot of fun to have them. We decided not to buy the CRV but had so much fun with them while they were here. They're so fun and easy to get along with. They are so easy going that they are great about running errands or just kickin it together. One of the most exciting things was that Warren fixed my icemaker. While this may not sound like a big deal to you guys. I had a bid to have it fixed for about $150. The motor worked and the pole turned but it just wasn't moving the ice to the hole. I guess it popped out of the little plastic groove the metal fan turny thingy was supposed to go in. So Warren broke out his welder and 10 mins later it works! WAHOOO! I now glory in my fantastically magical ice dispensing. The cool thing is that our last two cabinets came in and we got them installed that Sat. so Warren and Rachel were able to ooooo and ahhhh for us. Originally we were just going to leave our old white stove in place but after seeing the cabinets we couldn't bring ourselves to put it back in. So we got a fancy new stove that is BEE-UUU-TILFUL!

Warren and Rachel left that Sunday. I really wanted them to stay but I guess Rachel has a job she has to be responsible for...dang it...

Kitchen Cabinets--April 4, 2011

So April 1-3 we ripped out our old cabinets and countertops. And started the install on the 4th. The 1 day install took two days then they had to finish up on Sat. Even with the extra days we had to wait another two weeks for drawer banks that went on either side of the stove. Which meant that we couldn't put in our countertops. And of course no countertops meant no sink, no sink meant no dishwasher which of course meant we flushed cereal down the toilet and washed everything in the bathroom. For some reason it just doesn't seem as sanitary to me.

Luckily our cabinet installation guy totally rocked and I spent the time while he was here kickin it with him and when he came in on Sat to finish up he and the granite guy had a surprise for me. They decided to brace the countertops with 2x4s so we could install the sink and everything. They also moved some of the clients around that they didn't like so that they could do the granite a week earlier than they thought. They were amazing!!! They are a cherry wood with antiqued black pulls and the granite is called Verde Butterfly. It guess it's a Grade C level of granit, but my guy had bought a bunch of big slabs and sold it to us for the Grade A level and only charged us for what we used rather than two slabs with the extras tossed to the side. Plus he upgraded my edge so I have a double beveled edge. I LOVE it!

In the middle of the cabinet installation my van decided not to start. i called Warren and he thought it sounded like a fuel filter and I decided I would be able to change out the fuel filter. So I got a ride to AutoZone and spent by $20 on the new filter and armed with a socket wrench thought I found the right thing. Warren said I would hear a his as pressure released and to step back b/c it could spray a fine mist of fuel. So I started loosening the nut and sure enough it started hissing and spitting with released pressure. I let it blow out for about 10 mins before I decided I maybe loosened the wrong thing...turns out it was the AC thing and now in addition to getting the fuel filter fixed I would have to take the @#$ van in anyway to get the AC recharged. I decided to laugh...really is hilarious...right?...right?!? So I put the couple of things that I moved around back and got a friend to tow the van to the shop. Turns out it was the fuel filter AND fuel pump for $800 and the AC recharge was $200 and I decided with summer coming on that we should get the fan fixed so we have more than a high setting, luckily that was only $50. Nothing like a $1000 worth of car fixing in addition to redoing a kitchen.

Teresa in New York

A friend of mine had a conference for work there and wanted to hang out in the city. The hotel was covered and she wanted to know if me and a third friend could go do NYC with her. My answer was OF COURSE! I had frequent flier miles that I used so the cost of the trip was only my food for 2 meals a day and all the playing and shows that I wanted to hit. Luckily I have been substitute teaching a ton and had a tidy little sum to put toward my super fun trip!!

We left Thursday morning early and landed in NYC around 5pm. We had bought tickets online to the opera La Boheme at the Metropolitan Opera House. So by the time we got to our hotel and got settled we had to throw on our clothes and headed out for our show. It was so beautifully done and amazing. I was worried that I would be so tired that I would sleep through the whole thing, but I stayed awake the whole time. Unfortunately we were in such a rush that we didn’t grab anything to eat and it was 11pm by the time we got out of the opera.

We caught a taxi back to our hotel and he dropped us off at the top of the block right in front of a New York pizza place. They had those huge slices with tons of different types of pizza and so many delicious desserts that I was in HEAVEN. I got a slice of something and was so proud of myself when I folded it in half and ate it just like the New Yorkers. I usually think that’s gross but it was awesome! Then I had a chocolate dipped canolli. I don’t know if you’ve had a canolli before but it was light and delicious. I’m usually not a cannolli fan, but man I ate one of those almost every day I was there! After dinner we headed up to our room and totally crashed. Our room was on the corner of the hotel and looked directly down on Time Square. That big Coke sign was right outside our window. SO COOL!!!

The next morning we headed to the Statue of Liberty. It was the perfect day to be out on the water. It was 64 degrees so we just walked around in our tshirts and jeans with a light sweater to throw on when were were out on the water.

We bought our tickets early and were able to get tickets to the Pedestal but not up to the crown. You have to book tickets up to the crown about 5 months in advance. While it was too bad, it was still so amazing to see her and walk around inside. I’ve seen about a million pics of the SofL but it always blows my mind to see things like that in real life. We kinda blew through Ellis Island. I wasn’t super interested in it. I’ve never really been interested in the research end of genealogy, but it was cool to walk around the building for a bit.

Sat. morning we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They had a great Egyptian exhibit and had some amazing artists on display. Van Gough’s Starry Night on display. So it was really neat to see those. I really enjoyed the Monet section. I’ve been lucky enough to see a lot of his works at the different museums I’ve been to. That night we weren’t able to get into a musical so we totally crashed. It was nice.

Sunday we spent the day walking around to all the different fun stores. We went to FAO Schwartz which is a super cool toy store that had 4 levels of different types of toys. It was so fun to wander around and look at all the different types of toys that they had. All of the toy stores were about 4 stories tall. I couldn't believe everything they had. My favorite display was this huge Transformer.

We also walked around at Tiffany’s. SO amazingly beautiful! I wanted to get on charm made out of silver and it would have been $250. Needless to say I didn’t get anything from there. We got tickets to the matinee called Chicago. What a disappointment. The dancing was ok the voices were ok and the stage was blah. Totally felt like a high school production instead of a Broadway show. After the show we spent the rest of the day walking around the different stores and looking at things. That night we went searching for dinner at a local place. We found a pub that had AMAZING burgers and fish and chips. It was so good. We had asked a street worker and he sent us there. It was totally better than anything they had in the tourist traps on the square!

I’m surprised at how much NYC reminded me of my mission. The smell of a big city and all those people who get grumpy with you just because you’re walking down the street was a trip down memory lane. We rode the subway and it totally took me back in time! It’s funny how you forget little things like that when you’re not around it.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed my long winded trip to NYC. I know I sure did. I really appreciate my husband and friends for helping out with the kiddos while I was off raising a ruckus!

Happy Birthday Eva!!!

This year Eva got to choose how to celebrate her 7th birthday. We let her decide if she wanted to invite everyone and have a party at the park or if she wanted just a few friends and we'd go get mani/pedis then go to Red Robin for dinner. She chose the mani/pedis. It was the easiest birthday party EVER! It was only $10 per girl and they got to sit in a chair for an hour and get pampered by other people. I even got one too! I didn't have to yell at the girls once! Red Robin was a lot more noisy and giggly, but it was still super fun and easy (and cheap!) to do the whole thing!

Happy Halloween 2010

I have decided that Halloween is my second favorite holiday. You just can't go wrong wearing glitter, crazy hair colors, funky clothes, and all the candy you can eat! It's AWESOME!!

This year the kids all dressed as rockstars! The loved it! Dave had a lot of fun covering them with tattoos and teaching them phrases like, "Where's my doobie?" Needless to say he got a lot of eye rolls with that last one. For trick or treating on Sunday, Eva decided she wanted a second costume and settled on Rapunzel. She put on her princess dress up clothes and put her hair in a ponytail. I was worried she was going to feel bad about her 1 inch long pony, but she said, "It's OK Mom, I can just pretend it's really long and lays all over the floor. The entire time we were trick or treating, she proudly told everyone that she was Rapunzel. Everyone glanced at her hair then would look at me and smile. Eva felt so beautiful and I was so proud of her great imagination!

I dressed as a Mad Hatter-ett. It was so fun! Dave went as Tobias Funke. If you know the TV character you will never stop laughing, if you don't it's best not to think about it too much.

We went to a totally rockin' Halloween party with some friends of ours and we were a huge hit!!

Grass Castle

One of the "perks" of living in Arizona is that we get to plant grass twice a year. Part of this process is mowing the current grass down to dirt, spreading seed, spreading fertilizer (steer manuer), and watering like crazy. We personally end up spending the rest of the season slacking and not mowing our lawn. The neighbors love us! ANYWHOOO....I mowed the back lawn today and after filling the big black garbage can and 6 big bags with the clippings, I just started dumping it in a pile. Ivy was thrilled and spent the day admiring my "Grass Castle". Evertime I dumped a pile of allergy inducing grass clippings she would clap really loud and say, "Good job Mommy!" She's great with the positive reinforcement!