Utah trip

I have been on vacation! My friend Kate and I went out to Utah for a week and had a blast. We visited friends and family, and did some site seeing. The pictures explain most of them. None of the pictures are in order, so enjoy the randomness.

My friend, Sarah is getting married in June, but we were out here to see her bridal shower. Here she is opening my gift, home pregnancy test in a must in my gifts.

We had a chance to catch up with an old friend who used to live in our home ward, Brittany, we had such a good time seeing her. It had been 7 years, since Kate and Brit last saw each other.

We had a small party at Em's place with some of the old Remington girls,( my last apt before getting married) and made the best dessert, Italian sodas! Kate and I ended up having them two more time this trip.

Just chilling with the girls.

Sarah and I after her bridal shower.

We went to church with Brit and her family, then went to lunch afterwards. It was a great blast from the past talking about what has happened to the ward since they moved out.

Brit and her husband Andy, with Kate and I.

We went up to BYU-I to visit Kate's sister Audrey. This was my fav. shot of these two.

Kate making fun of my belly. I am 24 weeks along!

After doing baptisms at the Salt Lake Temple, we saw the Joseph Smith movie in the J. S. Memorial building, then decided to treat ourselves to the Garden Restaurant on top of the J. S. Memorial building. It was amazing view and food.

Touring the Visitor's Center.

Having fun on Temple Grounds.

SLC temple at twilight.

My Aunt and Uncle told us about being able to see the Motab practicing in the Tabernacle on Thursday night, so we went to see them. It was weird not seeing them look alike.

Sarah had dress fitting, and since I won't be here for the wedding, I got to see what her dress is like. I thought it was beautiful.

Aunt Laura, Kate, kids, and I got to do was go shopping! I was in need of summer maternity clothes, Mark was born right before Christmas. I love having an excuse to shop.

We hit the Provo temple, Kate did baptisms and I did initatories.

Our first night there, we went to Leatherby's and had some of the best ice cream. Mine was a chocolate raspberry brownie thing.

When we made the car reservation for the trip, I signed up for an economy car. I wanted something good on gas, and something cheap. When we got there, the rental guy walked us up and seriously said " here is your economy minivan". I wasn't too please, but having worked in a car rental business before, I have had to do that to other people. I figured we could last a couple of days with the van, but we would need to switch out to a smaller car before leaving for BYU-I. Two days later we switched to a Kia Rio. Kate kept calling it our clown car because of how small it was. I think it was the right size, it fit me.

I am such a Mom...

This last week, our well used dryer went completely on the fritz. The motor was over heating, no matter what setting it was on, and therefore not rotating. Ethan and I had been dicussing getting a new one, and oddly enough I was the one doing the major researching this time. Normally Ethan has a lot of down time at work and does the computer researching. But when it comes to the chore of laundry, I am the one that does it. Ethan and I fully when know what chore the other hates, mine is dishes, and his is laundry. So Ethan let me get a dishwasher, making life much easier. I hate the feeling of the food in the dishwater, it really grosses me out. As for laundry, it is not a chore I mind. I actually kind of enjoy it. I can sit there and watch a little t.v. while folding, usually after Mark is asleep. Down time that is still productive.

After going through many different specifications as to what I want, it came down to price, size - 7.0 or larger (need to accommodate for growing family size), if possible a stainless steel drum, and as an added bonus as many features that can possibly be added without jacking up the price. The stainless steel drum to deal with our severe heavy iron problem in our well water. The other stuff would have stained eventually. As for features, that is pretty self explanatory. This was the best deal of them all http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100498354.

They will be delivering, installing, and hauling away the old for free! Five years ago, I couldn't have cared less, it is amazing what makes me excited now. The only downfall is that it won't get here until May 12, which is the day I leave for Utah, meaning I won't see my latest appliance until May 20th when I get home. I am such a Mom

Yard sales

So I went Yard saling for the first time this year, this weekend. Yesterday was a total bust, but today made up for that. I am really finicky about how much I pay for something, and can't stand going to the sales that people are trying to sell 50 cent things for $5. When shopping I am mainly looking for some baby clothes, for the new babe, toys and clothes for Mark to grow into, books for any age, my children's book collection would put many to shame, and I am proud of it. I don't just do the toddler stuff either, it is anything from babies to learn to read, young adults to adults, anything. Once in a while there will be some other things I need to look for, like now I am shopping for a toddler bed, two chest of drawers, things like that to put in the kids rooms. Well today I manage to grab two bar stools for our kitchen island - $5, multiple Church clothes for Mark - $4, 6 tennis ball for my ball happy son - $2, 7 books - $4, and a new baby jumper(I have one, but I really don't like it very much) - $3, and for the grand finale............... a used piano for $20, and the best part about that, they are delivering it here for free! I have been after a piano since we got rid of the one we had, no way was it going to be okay after a couple of months of storage, so we gave it to some one else. I am estatic about this find.

THE NEW TOY

Ethan is very very happy here is what he got

pictures

They are very good at entaining themselves.

First real Easter egg hunt.

His' "Oh really" look.

I am ready to be a big brother.

Last night I went to the church for Activity Days, I am one of the leaders. Well, my other partners weren't able to help out, one was sick and the other had a meeting for scouts she needed to attend. There were only three girls that showed up last night, we have five regularly.

Anyways, we were doing this engineering activity involving playdoh, bendy straws, and paper cups. They are supposed to build a structure that will hold the cup above the ground, and we fill the cups up with pennies and see who's can hold the most. They weren't see each others work until everyone was done. So I had them split up around the primary room. Frieda (she cracks me up on regular basis) decides to claim the piano for her working area. I didn't think much of it, but oh well. So I give them 15 min. to work on their towers. Terry and Heather had very similar projects, but then there is Frieda. When she claimed the piano, I had no idea that she was actually going to incorporate it. She puts half of her playdoh in the cup and has the straws bent over the edge of the piano with the other half of the playdoh holding them to the piano. The straws are then shoved into what playdoh in the cup. Just looking at it you knew it wasn't going to hold anything. Honestly the cup itself kept falling off. Frieda keeps messing with it to no avail. The other two had long ago finished and we were just waiting for Frieda. I had to use the bathroom, so I tell Frieda that she has until I get back from the bathroom to finish. I get out of the stall, and there is Terry standing there. She starts, very poorly I might add, trying to keep me from going back. They conspired to keep me there for as long as possible. They are 9 years old! By the time I am "allowed" back into the room, Frieda had completely changed her tower. I couldn't believe they conspired against me. I love these girls, and they constantly amuse me.

So I have been realizing that besides the normal grouchy-ness or extreme hyper-ness, Mark has develope a new symptom when he is tired. He hits his head more often on objects that he has long ago learned to go around, he falls to the floor, reverts to crawling anytime he falls. He has an equilibrium problem. Is this common with your children?