Fun Filled Saturday

So, this was the weekend of the Erie Town Fair, and I have to say, it puts Steel Days to shame. My tiny town puts on a darn good show! The day started at 6:30am at the Annual Balloon launch at the Vista Ridge Golf Course (which is in our neighborhood). We rode out bikes over to the driving range to watch about 50 hot air balloons take off into the sky. Unfortunately our camera battery was dead, so we got no pics. But I will post one from last year so you can see how cool it is. Then it was off to the Erie airport (tiny little airport) to see all the cool plane. They were even giving free airplane rides to kids 8-17 yrs old. I asked Rust if he thought I could pass for 17. The raised eyebrows indicated NOT. DARN. But, Josh is obsessed with airplanes, which, living right by the airport, are flying over our house all day long. I'll be up in his room putting him down for his nap and he'll be practically asleep in my arm and he'll hear and airplane fly by. He opens his sleepy little eyes, says, "Airplane," makes the sign and goes right back to sleep. So funny.

As if all that weren't enough, then we got the treat of the century--going to Halle's Spring Singing Recital. Wow--those kids are headed for Broadway! (All except Halle who seems to always be a beat or two behind everyone else. Remind you of anything Nat???) Anyway, video is on the side bar.

Then came the ward BBQ where food and fun were had by all. Josh even had his first T-Ball experience. I'm going to have to go get a set--he loved it.
whew, what a day!

Mother's Day

For their Primary activity the kids made mother's day cards and bracelets. When Halle got home from the activity, Rusty asked her to see the bracelet she made for Mommy. Halle paused and said, "Well....actually Dad, the bracelet is for me." Rusty raised his eyebrows and said, "Halle..." in that "I know what your're up to" tone of voice and she said, "Ok, it's really for me and Mommy to SHARE." So hard to give up cute bracelets! (and share we did, which means the bracelet is now lost)
And this is the card she made. I'd like to address the subtle nuances in this card that are very indicative of our everyday life. 2. What does she do? "Clean the kitchen" Seriously, I feel like this is all I do day in and day out. You should see the PILES of food I sweep up at the end of the day. Totally disgusting. 7. What is her favorite movie? TV. True, true. Give me re-runs and reality TV! And my personal favorite 8. How many brothers and sisters does she have. None--just me and Josh." LOVE it!

My Mom's day was amazing. Or I should say the day before was amazing. I got the entire day to myself. I went to the mall and got some clothes, a new dress, and some makeup, then I took myself to lunch. After that I took myself to a movie where I splurged and bought popcorn (which was actually kind of gross). It was so great--when I got home the kids were in bed so I picked up a book, read until I was tired (Which was probably before 10pm) and then went to sleep. Thanks RUSTY!!!

Sorry Chelsi

I had a really funny dream a few nights ago that I thought some of you would get a kick out of. It was one of those "in between" dreams, so we were high school age, but Sara and I still lived in CO, and Chelsi still lived in AZ, and Kasey in UT. A little background on what brought on this dream--Sara just moved to Brighton, which is only about 15 min from my house. It is so fun to have her so close, and we are looking forward to summer when we get to see more of each other. Anyway....Sara and I took our kids swimming the other day, and then she came over to my house and we just hung out the rest of the day. It was so much fun. Ok, now to the dream, which I'm sure you're waiting for with bated breath. I dreamed that Kasey called me up and she was soooo mad. In the firmest voice Kasey possesses, she said, "I can't believe you didn't call Chelsi to hang out with you guys today. I understand why you didn't call me, I have to work, and it's a far drive, but you should have called Chelsi. She is pretty upset about the whole thing." So, I hurry and call Sara and we decide to fly to AZ to make it up to her. When we get to AZ in the afternoon we find Chelsi still in bed, with big red eyes from crying. Sara and I apologize over and over and tell her we'll call her for sure next time so she could drive out (a mere 13hours!), but she won't forgive us. That's where the dream ends. So, SORRY CHELS!!!

Days of our lives

So my baby Joshe went to nursery for the first time today! It was an exciting day, especially for Rusty, who is in charge of the ornery boy on Sundays. We were pretty worried that he would just scream and cry the whole time, but he totally surprised us and did GREAT! He didn't even cry when Rusty left him--which is seriously a small miracle. So WAY TO GO JOSH!

One more Josh Story--He has become quite the Daddy's boy lately and prefers Dad to Mom at any given time. He wakes up and as soon as I walk in his room he asks for "Dada." Well, we were at Costco the other day and I tried to push the cart. He screamed and shoved my hands off the cart and said, "Dada, Dada." Can I say Brat, with a capital B? Does he realize I threw up hundreds of times to bring him into this world??

Now a funny Halle story. Her favorite primary song is "Tell me the Stories of Jesus." We sang it in primary today and there is one line that goes "And how the Master, ready and kind, chided the billows, and hushed the wind." (Referring to when Jesus calmed the sea, for all y'all who need brushing up on your primary songs) Anyway...it was pretty windy today (she HATES the wind) and she said, "Mommy, do you think I could hush the wind like Jesus?" SO CUTE!

YEAA for Me!

I defended my thesis on Tues!! After many years of procrastination, I am D-O-N-E. I passed my defense, and after a few changes I will officially have my degree. Hip-Hip Hooray! And I swear, if I ever hear another word about trans fat, it will be too soon...Unless you ever have any trans fat questions and then I'd be happy to gab your ear off for an hour or two;)

Colorado Springs

My parents were in town last week and we had so much fun! We got to go and spend a few days in Colorado Springs, and we wish we would have stayed longer! It is so beautiful down there and SO MUCH to do. We went to "Focus on the Family" which is a HUGE kid play area with slides, airplanes, trains, dress-ups, books, puppets, etc. The kids had a blast. Then we stopped at a pond to feed the ducks. Josh tried to walk right out into the lake. That kid has no fear. They also loved swimming at the hotel--I thought Josh was going to jump right out of his skin he was so excited.
The next day we went to Garden of the Gods, which is beautiful. It's a little like a mini southern Utah right smack dab in the middle of Colorado Springs. Halle, of course, got very tired on our mile, paved trail hike. We've got to toughen that girl up...... Then we went to see Seven Falls. It is a pretty impressive water fall, and even has an in mountain elevator to take you to the top. You can also do the stairs, so Rusty and I climbed the stairs while Grandma and Grandpa took the kids on the elevator. Well, it turns out we took the wrong stairs--we wanted to go to the top of the waterfall, and these stairs only took you up to a viewing point where you could get a good look at the waterfall. I was all staired out, but Rusty and my Dad went back down and found the right set of stairs. Good for them.
But Halle's favorite part of the whole Grandma and Grandpa trip was getting to stay the night in the hotel with my parents. They stayed at a hotel in Thornton while they were here, and took her back with them one night. She did "seat drop stand ups" on the "BIG" bed, got to play candyland 4 times (and won every time!) and she got to get a treat out of the vending machine. The girl had died and gone to heaven. She still speaks of it with awe in her voice.

HAPPY EASTER!

We had a great Easter at our house! The kids had fun with an Easter Egg hunt yesterday with all their friends, and then baskets today. Halle was especially excited to wear her Easter dress, and woke up at 7:30 am and put it right on. We painted her fingernails and toenails (which she loved) and put curls in her hair (which she did NOT love). Josh got his very first tie, and he looked so darn handsome! We got to go have a YUMMMY dinner at the Yate's house (thanks Susan!) and the kids had a blast playing baseball with the dads. Halle and Jenna even got Dayton to be Prince Phillip while they were Sleeping Beauty, so it was a perfect day. Rusty got to go to the Dimig's cabin this weekend with the scouts, and had a blast tubing, snowshoeing, and playing Guitar Hero till all hours of the night. Also this week Halle sang in her first ever musical performance. She is in a little singing group called Tiny Tunes, and they sang at an Assisted Living Center during Tea Time. The kids looked so cute in their black pants, white shirts, and red scarves. I'll post a few of the cutest songs. But the best part was that they got to stay for tea after they sang. They drank lemonade out of real tea cups (scaring all the mom's to death--kids can't have glass cups!) and hand little pasteries and sandwiches.

Pics of Golden Gate

Golden Gate Canyon State Park

You may look at the pics and video of our trip and say, "Wow--looks like they had a fun time." Well.....we didn't. The pics you see recorded about 30 min of our weekend get away. And by far the best 30 min. We went up to Golden Gate Canyon State Park and stayed in a little cabin. The plan was to go snoeshoeing, sledding, and other fun winter stuff. But fate was not on our side. We'd only been out snowshoeing for about 30 min when Halle started whining to go back to the cabin. We drew it out as long as we could, then finally headed back. I was trying to lift Josh over a snowdrift on the side of the road when my snowshoes crossed and I fell to the road, Josh in arms. I broke most of his fall, but he still smacked his head on the road. And I completely twisted my knee. It was one of those totally nauseous with pain moments. Needless to say, I couldn't walk the rest of the trip. And the bathroom was not near our cabin. I took a little rest, hoping it would get better, but I spent the rest of the trip hopping from place to place. No more snowshoeing for me. BOOOOOO. AND Josh was getting a tooth and he whined and cried more often than not. AND he hated his gloves, so he'd pull them off, then he'd scream and cry b/c his hands were cold. AND, Halle had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night (like I said, the bathrooms weren't that close to us!) AND she grinds her teeth LOUDLY while she sleeps. By the time morning rolled around both Rusty and I were ready to pack up and head out, so that's exactly what we did. Rusty was a trooper, a "make the best out of a bad situation" kind of guy. I give us an A for effort and an F for execution. On the bright side, I did get to hop out to the campfire and we roasted marshmellows--Halle's favorite. It snowed in the night, which made everything BEAUTIFUL in the morning. Sure would have been fun to snowshoe in all the new powder.......
(Ok--I can't get pics to upload. I'll try again later)