open road

somewhere in idaho

Grateful to have the twelve hour drive north behind us, at least for a few days. Can't believe my sister does that as often as she does. For the most part it was a great drive considering the time and place. It wasn't the most beautiful drive I could imagine, but there is something lovely about the vast open spaces even if they are barren.

I started the trip off by choking down a diet coke, can't stand the stuff (I'm a water drinker), and remember wondering why it always tastes better when Adam makes it. I guess that has a lot to do with only taking sips inbetween buttery popcorn while enjoying a flick. At least it served its purpose -- took me forever to get the caffiene out of my system and fall asleep. I opted not to drink one the next day.

We stopped in Boise and stayed at a hotel that first night (we left late enough on Friday that I wanted to split up the drive). It was funny when the girls realized our plan to stop midway, they wouldn't stop talking about the hotel. In their celebration I wondered if they remembered their cousins were actually the final destination? They were more than a little excited to be sleeping in a foreign bed. They claim it was their first time -- I had to correct them, the first they can recall.

Of course I could have done without Megan puking in the back, at the perfectly wrong place, and being completely unprepared. There was no where to stop along the windy canyon so we were forced to wait -- without napkins, tissues, or anything close to paper towels I might add (don't ask me what I was thinking traveling without it, I have no idea). Poor Megan was not happy about it, though she took it like a champ. It was the rest of us who couldn't wait to get away from the noxious smell. Have I said too much? Don't worry, I will spare you with the details of the crazy clean up and what I saw when I finally opened the door -- it was everywhere. I will tell you, however, about the generous woman who was a God send and gave me a box of baby whips to clean up since the rest stop had no paper towels.

With the lack of civilization on the road we didn't have a radio signal to pick up general conference. I was quite let down, that was my big plan, but luckily I came prepared with a book on cd just in case. We listened to Thomas S. Monson's biography and loved knowing the girls were actually listening to. They kept asking me to turn it up.

I was shocked by how I never once heard, are we there yet? or how much longer? Maybe all my threats ahead of time actually worked ;)

I can't tell you how many times I wanted to pull over and grab my camera. It was torture that I was the driver and didn't have free access to shoot, even from my car. If I could have I would have showed you pictures of old barns and fences, rolling hills of green, barren lands, orchards just beginning to bloom, misty mountainous roads, Oregon pines, the road sign that said we were half way from the north pole and the equator, windmills in the distance, sunset peaking through the clouds, bridges and dams.

All and all it was a successful drive, though I'm more than happy to have reach our destination and to be spending time with my sister.

Happy spring break!

spring break photos

Megan came to me Sunday night crying. Spring break had been so good she didn't know how to go to school the next day--all she wanted was sleep in and lay in bed all day. Adam sat laughing in the background as I tried to talk her through it knowing his amusement was due to the fact that he had heard something very similar from my lips hours before.

I guess you could say spring break was good to us. We left the rain and cold weather behind and lazied about all week in the sun. Well, we weren't entirely lazy. When we weren't swimming we were riding bikes around the neighborhood. I'm pretty sure Tess was in heaven each morning as we hit the road. She loves to bike, but has major hills to contend with at home so she goes back and forth a lot on the same street. Needless to say I think swimming came in second on this trip. Even Megan, who has lacked confidence in the past, was acting like a pro the last day. I'm so glad we took the bikes this time.





















Other than those two activities it was pretty low key, but perfectly what we all needed--a spring break.

hitting the road again for blue skies and warmer temps.
our spring break starts now...

spring break in photos | part 2

We went to the art festival.


Not only did we enjoy the sun, but we ate up the festival food which sadly ended up being sub-par.




Flowers because I'm craving them today.


They did surprisingly well listening to conference while coloring.


Bella of course ended up taking notes...all four hours.


Can't let Easter go by without coloring eggs.


Every time her mom took a picture of her she'd say, "lemme see" or something like that. So cute.


egg hunt.




Bella took a break from notes Sunday morning and colored with Tess instead.


On the way home Adam had copied lyrics for the girls and we had a family sing-a-long. I was surprised he thought to do it in advance, not to mention he's not a big singer. Of course it was songs he could get behind. We had a lot of fun.

spring break in photos | part 1

The drive down that seemed a bit crazier than normal.




How ironic to be in a desert and enjoy green grass. Delightful.






She found the letter M on one of our walks and asked that I take a picture. In fact she said, "Mom, hurry quick, it's the letter from my name."


While everyone back home experience winter weather we thankfully had excellent weather. Warm enough for outdoor swimming and getting a little sun-kissed.


nothing quite like napping at the pool.




I find palm trees to be very intriguing.




Each morning we went on a walk together, a favorite place of theirs in the neighborhood with a stream and pond. They ran around, tried to spot the biggest fish and attempted to skip rocks. I so enjoyed this time with my girls.




I have never in my life seen a plant/flower like this. I don't even know what it is, but I loved it's uniqueness.

random thoughts on a spring break saturday morning

-I feel slightly bad everyday I hear about the weather back home and know that I'm enjoying delightful spring like temperatures. I'm so glad I didn't stay in town to face the snow. It would have been completely depressing to spend spring break indoors.



-It's been so nice having nothing I "have" to do and have been able to find time to read. I'm almost half way through The House At Riverton and am really enjoying it. It's too bad I won't be able to finish because when I get home I probably won't find time for a while. I have a bit of anxiety thinking about what's waiting for me at home. I've been pushing it out of my mind since last night.
-Speaking of last night Chris, Amy, Adam and I went to see Clash of the Titans. UGH. What a disappointment. I wanted to see it because I grew up watching the original. Loved the original. It was a love story, but unfortunately the 2010 version is based on revenge, however, that isn't what makes the movie lame. Right now, I can't put my finger on it, but I was instantly bored and could have easily walked out. What a waste of an evening without kids.
-Megan slept with me one night and instead of getting out of the bed on her side where she wouldn't disturb anyone, she rolled over me, got right in my face and said, "good morning mom", and then ran out. Got to love their enthusiasm for a new day.
-I've been running in the mornings since I've been here and it's harder than I thought it would be. Another reminder when you don't keep up with something you loose it so quickly. It has been nice though and beautiful watching the sunrise and enjoying the spring color. I will miss the blossoms and green grass. Hopefully it won't be too long before it looks like that at home.
-I'm really looking forward to General Conference today and tomorrow.
-I've really enjoyed hearing the kids from a distance play together. Right now they're playing house and going to school. Megan and Estee are fighting over who gets to take what to school and I'm hearing a lot of "It was mine. I had it first." and Tess is stepping in trying to make everything good again. I find it very endearing.

spring break has offical begun | st george here we come

I'm hitting the road and heading out of town today in search of spring. We were going to leave on Tuesday afternoon, which turned into Tuesday morning, which turned into this morning. I was lying in bed yesterday afternoon thinking, why in the world am I not leaving town Monday? So we are. The girls were super excited about skipping school and spending the week with their cousins, well, except Bella who was concerned she needed to let her teacher know.

I'm looking forward to this break myself. I need sometime to just relax, read and not thinking about everything I need to do in the coming month.

What are you doing for spring break?

changes in our house

It was our spring break last weekend. No, we didn't do anything special like go out of town, but I must say it has been nice sleeping in for a few days not having to get up to take kids to school, too bad that all ends tomorrow. It hasn't just been good for me, I know the kids have had fun just being able to play with no obligations. I think with Bella gone all day and then homework and violin to practice they don't get to play as much as they would like. I often hear them late at night getting together and playing. It's too sweet to stop.

So here is my recap.

After asking for about a week non stop we finally decorate eggs Thursday night. It's something we always look forward to and surprisingly it's never as big a mess as I anticipate, even with Megan. This year the girls decided they wanted to put their initials on the eggs to ensure they wouldn't get mixed up (they're so big into what is theirs these days). I wish they would have mentioned it earlier and we could have put there names on with white crayons and made a very cool effect. Oh well, maybe next year.

We went to the zoo on Friday. I must admit I didn't want to go, but I sort of felt like I had to do something fun with them. So we got up early and made sure to be there when the zoo opened. This actually ended up being the best thing we could have done because when we walked out 2 hours later (yes, you read that right, I got off easy) the lines were huge and no parking was to be found. I felt extremely lucky we were on our way out and that it was such nice weather. One more thing. Does this freak anyone else out? As I was watching this cheetah walk back and forth staring at us I just kept thinking the only thing separating him from us was the glass.

Saturday was a bit tough, even though I had anticipated this event for the last several weeks, I didn't realize how hard it would be to buy Megan a big girl bed and finally after 7 year put down the crib. It is the weirdest feeling to see Megan growing up, no more diapers (she has been doing great except she doesn't want to go in public places), and moving into a big bed. I had a friend once ask me if I was ready to be done with the babies. You know I feel that I am, but when it happens I sort of have this bittersweet feeling going on. It feels wonderful to be here and yet I am sad at the same time. My family is growing up. I just don't know where the time went. With all the mixed emotions I know it means good times ahead. I look forward to what the 5 of us will experience together.

Needless to say Megan is thrilled with her new bed. I wasn't worried at all about the transition or that I would need to worry about her falling out until 1am last night when we heard a huge crashing sound followed by wailing coming from her room. I felt horrible, but grateful Adam was out of bed before I could figure out what had happened and that she was fine just scared.

I guess that brings me to Sunday. Before walking out the door to go to church I took our traditional Easter dress photo. I struggle to take photos like this, as it's rare that everyone cooperates, plus we are bound to have other friends involved (kitty and duck with Megan), but I still enjoy looking through them each year and remembering.

It was nice today when I went to my mail box and actually had mail let alone four pieces of good mail. I say that because my mail didn't come two days last week (Thursday and Saturday). This has happened before and I'm getting pretty upset by it. Anyway, Thank you to Robyn & Hannah for the nice thank you note, Lelly for the thoughtful "just because" note, and Kristi for the, once again, awesome holiday mail. Loved it. Thanks ladies for helping make my afternoon.

I hope your Monday is off to a great start. I love Mondays.