Anybody Still There?

So, I had a fit of 'time to get every project you've been thinking about doing for the last year done'. SO, after making some serious headway in the realms of mounting things on the wall, random organizing (picture me, a bajillion greeting cards, and a cute little file box - it's sickening and wonderful all at the same time, I know.), and, of course, more unpacking. I've had enough. For awhile. (I'm really quite productive when I'm not blogging, or reading what everyone else is blogging. Who knew.) Then an overly happy announcer-type appeared out of nowhere, shoved a microphone in my face and said "Well, Wendy, now that you've finally folded all that laundry and painted another wall shelf, what are you going to do?" Like any good American wanting to help spur the economy I cried, "I'm going to Disneyland!" And so it came to pass. We've always tried to do Disneyland in the off-times before but I had to see what all the "It's Halloweeeen Time" fuss was about, so off we went - along with at least half of the state (and some Az folks too) during Fall Break. Somehow we fit two eleven-hour days at Disneyland, a day at the San Diego Zoo, and a day at the beach in. I have to admit, the parts of Disneyland and CA Adventure that were decorated were pretty cool. Seeing the 'new and improved' Haunted Mansion alone was worth the trip. I'd like the Disney Staff to come and decorate our house for Halloween now, please.

The boys throwing out . . . who knows what signs.

Noodle and Tyler

Oh, look, it really IS the happiest place on earth.

We stayed with our good friends, Kara and Jason for the last few nights. One night we even left our kids with their kids and snuck out for an amazing dinner at our friend Jason Knibb's restaurant, nine-ten, in La Jolla. We miss his cooking Soooo much. He left the Tree Room five years ago and our mouths still water just thinking about our many favorites of his dishes. He truly has a gift. Mid-bite of one of the appetizers Jason sent out Tyler rolled his eyes back in his head and actually said "If he was a girl I'd date him!". Um, yeah. I know. At least it's not as bad as what I thought he said at first. . .

The next afternoon at the beach wasn't warm enough for playing in the water, but the boys did anyway. What was I thinking by NOT putting them in their swimsuits and heading to the beach?

To be fair, Max kind of tried to stay dry, and kind of succeeded.

Nick was scared to get in the water without holding one of our hands. (except for the moment of heroism when he tried to pull Kara and Jason's toddler out of the oncoming tide to 'safety'. . . by her hair. Poor Nick was so scared of the water he was crying the whole time he was 'saving' Mia.

Grey, on the other hand, was being typical Grey. He's 'not trying to get wet' in this picture in fact. Notice, please, that his hair is dripping. And, yes, his clothes couldn't possibly soak up any more water than they already had at the point I took this picture.

Kara and Me. I know, I look ridiculous. My hair gets all psuedo-curly in humidity, and then the jewelry. . . For all you know I'm wearing a big frilly white skirt. Cha, cha, cha!

Our two families. . .Ready to go 'home' as the sun sets. Thanks for you hospitality dear friends!

Spring Break!

Spring Break came at the perfect time this year - Tyler and I were both about at the end of our ropes managing the building of the new house, still fighting the city about the old house, and handling life in general! If the only thing we did was NOT have to get the kids up for school that would have been enough to get through. We decided we really wanted to get AWAY for a few days though so we spent the second half of the week in St. George. It was just far enough away to relax a little bit (alas, the cell phones still worked. . .). The weather was perfect, we visited our good friends the Kinyons there, and had good friends from home down as well. The boys played in the pool for two days straight.





On the third day we went to our favorite place for breakfast (& lunch): Bear Paw Cafe. The decor is awful but the food is SO good the cheesy southwestern indian art prints are forgivable! While we waited to get in we played in the park across the street. The boys thought this bench with the statue of Brigham Young was even better than the scary Ronald McDonald on the bench in our local McDonalds. (Grey thought it was supposed to be Santa in the 'off-season', but Max quickly corrected him with 'It's Abraham Lincoln, Grey!')I love the look on Nick's face.



Later we went to the park that has the little water play area in 'downtown' St. George. We were totally unprepared - no swimsuits, no towels . . . no swim diapers. Max was completely dismayed by this. Nick, on the other hand, ran right past the "no running - swim diapers required" sign with his regular diaper peeking conspiculously out of his shorts and onto the slippery surface where little bursts of water shoot up. His face was complete glee until he slipped (right in back of the "slippery surface - water shoes recommended" sign) flat on his back. He cried until he saw the manmade sandstone waterfall and river area. Back to bliss. The two older boys were super whiny about wanting to be in the pool instead until they saw how much fun Nick was having. Check out the evil eye Max is giving me in this first photo!




It was hard to come back, but we were glad to see the house still standing when we did.