Good times in Minnesota . . .

Who knew Minnesota could be so much fun? My mom and I are visiting my brother and his amazing family this weekend and what a blast! We went to the Mall of America where I went on this CRAZY roller coaster (Sponge Bob Square Pants Rock Bottom Plunge)
which I screamed more and louder than my 9 year old nephew (how embarrassing) but what a thrill . . . and then we shot all of the ghosts on the ghost shooting ride followed by my nieces and nephews picking a ride of their own to enjoy.



After the adrenaline rush we ate at a fantastic Italian restaurant and then Eldon took the kids to the Lego store so Cami, my mom, and I could shop. Sweet, right?



The rest of the weekend we hung out, talked, attended soccer and gymnastic practice, went to church (where I got to attend Cami's Gospel Doctrine class, which was wonderful, and see Eldon do the Bishop thing) ate the best rib eye steak ever, and balanced soccer balls on the top of our feet-which is a talent I definitely lack.

Thanks Mom, Eldon, Cami and kids for a great weekend!!

Ode to my computer . . . .

My computer is back and better than ever!! After months of my computer being on the fritz and me pleading and begging with Costco, it's concierge service and HP I have a seemingly full functional love of my life computer again! Oh how I have missed it!! (insert happy dance here)

You know what this means . . . drum roll please . . . I must recite a poem dedicated to my computer . . . :) However since its getting late and I still have 5 loads of laundry to do, my computer will just have to be in suspense for a while.

But YEAH! I finally have a working computer again!!!!!!

my daughter the spiye ...

Nicole is so inventive. Last night we had Greg's parents over for dinner and Family Home Evening which was so much fun. Afterward's Nicole headed downstairs for a while only to come back up with some stylin' sunglasses from the '80s, a notebook and a pen. She then proceeded to "spiye" on Grandpa V. by asking him his favorite fruit, color, sport etc. She even asked for his autograph.

Someday I might tell her what spying actually entails however for now I'm just enjoying her creativity.

time to pack our bags . . .

We did it . . . we FINALLY sold our house! Well, almost... our buyers are axiously waiting for Wednesday when we hand over the key. It's a funny thing though, you would think since we've been trying to sell for so long that we would be ready to go with all of our bags packed and our goodbyes said and at least a plan of where we were heading. HA! I just wish I was that on top of things. No, I would describe myself to be in more of a sheer PANIC with maybe a hint of feeling a lot overwhelmed.

I don't know why I am overwhelmed even . . . 2 weeks is ample time to pack, look for another place to live, plan and pull off a ward party, enjoy my brother's wedding, transfer school records, look for another preschool and gymnastics place, make dinner for a new mom and dad, run out of gas, get the house inspected and apraised, re-assure my kids that we won't forget to pack their toys and yes, we will make lots of new friends in the new place, cheer BYU on in an AMAZING basketball game against the U, and say goodbye to all the wonderful people we have had the priviledge to know while living here --sigh-- I'm just sure glad that Heavenly Father truly listens and answers prayers even if they are coming from a partially insane woman right now. ;)

And right now (2:43 am on Friday morning) my house is a wreck with unpacked items and boxes everywhere, preparations for our Ward's party (that Greg and I are in charge of tomorrow) in the midst of it all, my kids and hubby sound asleep and all I can think of is the need to blog all of this. I guess my "partially insane woman" statement from above should probably read "way crazy lady" instead.

Six years . . . we've had so many memories, learning experiences, and trials. We've lasted through two really tough pregnancies, a back surgery, 2 pet bunnies, a couple of jobs, and tons of fun. We've made lots of great friends and even a couple of enemies and I am going to miss 'em all so very, very much. Gosh, every time I look out the window I get all choked up- I am such a girl!

Natalie...

I love my Natalie... she's two years old and boy is she good at it! She's so cute, so curious, so forgiving, so much fun and yet so exhausting.
Tea party with her BFF Ellie . . . Katy O. (aka Ellie's mom) invited Natalie over for cupcakes and "tea". They had SOOOO much fun. Natalie got all gussied up for the event, making sure that she brought her purse with all of the necessities (chapstick, 2 packs of gum- 1 for her and 1 for Ellie, earrings, and cell phone). The gum was digested in minutes as were the cupcakes and water.

A couple of weeks earlier (Dec. 17, 2007): Natalie and Ellie escaped from gymnastics while Katy O. and I were getting our shoes on. After Katy O., Coach Shane, and I ran out the door to catch them, I got Natalie in her seat belt and asked her where she was going with Ellie. Apparently she was taking Ellie shopping to get her a new guitar. She's TWO!

This is definitely one of my favorite pictures of Natalie... she is such a sweetheart but boy can she show you some attitude. We went to Disneyland and California Adventures before Christmas and we had such a great time. Natalie enjoyed most of the trip, however we got to see her grumpy side quite a bit. By the time we made it over to the Bug's Life area of California Adventures we couldn't help but take this photo opportunity. . . he he he

Snow White ride . . . So who knew that this was such a scary ride? I had never gone on it before but I guess I just assumed since it was one of the originals that it would be fine for my 2 year old. I tried to cover her eyes until we passed the step-mother witch, but the witch was EVERYWHERE, that added to the music and lights... After the ride was over, I got Natty out of the cart, she walked a couple of steps, turned around and stuck out her tongue and blew a huge raspberry. She then proceeded to chew out the ride in her two year old jibberish while stomping her foot numerous times.

Hubby

I truly am married to the most wonderful man in the world. I was reminded of just how great my husband is by one of my dear friends (thanks Katy O.) the other night when I was asked if Greg ever did our girls hair. Of course he has, but I had totally forgotten the following experience until Katy revved my memory:

I try my hardest to be on time for things, I really do . . . I'm just not very good about achieving this goal. I've tried everything from setting my watch ahead 5 or even 10 minutes, setting clothes out the night before, packing diaper bags and backpacks way before I need them, etc. So when the time changed in the fall of 2006 I had the most brilliant idea . . . I was going to leave all of our clocks on the old time so that in the rush of getting up and out the door in the morning I would forget that I had not changed the clocks and therefore even though I would be running 10 minutes late I would actually have another 50 minutes. Of course Greg knew I did this and being the patient person he is, went along with my crazy notion.

My idea was seeming to work--that is until about two weeks after the time change when I came home late from exercising to a frazzled hubby frantically combing through our daughter's hair, trying to get her to eat breakfast and dressed for school while juggling our other two girls at the same time. As I walked through the door I was greeted with a "Honey, um, do you know what time it is?" spoken in a slow, steady voice. Me," Ya, its an hour before school starts..." Apparently in his sleepiness that morning he had looked at our alarm clock (with the wrong time), panicked, woke up the kids, fixed breakfast, and gotten the kids mostly ready for the day all the while just wondering why his wife was taking so long at the gym. :)

Oh how I love my husband!

I can still picture him frantically combing Nicole's hair, trying to figure out how the barrette is supposed to work. :)