Bugz

In mid-April, all the first graders at Logan's school put on a play. Well, to be honest, it was mostly a concert with a few speaking parts in between. The play was all about bugs and the kids did a great job. Logan played an army ant and spent far more time planning and worrying about his costume than I did. He really wanted full camouflage attire, but I've never been much for camo so we had absolutely nothing to draw from. Finally I broke down and hit up Goodwill to buy him some army pants. I know he wasn't completely satisfied with his getup, but I think he looked pretty cute.

Logan had one small line that was part of a sound-off style song. This kid does not have a shy bone in his body so I wasn't worried about stage fright, and sure enough he hammed it up and did a great job. It's a little hard to see, but in the first picture he is saying his line at the mic just left of center stage, and the second he is doing some funny dance move.

It feels a little bit like Where's Waldo trying to find Logan in the masses. We were sitting clear at the back of the gym but I was able to come up at the end to get one close up. Now I can see why Logan was stressing a bit about his costume. I couldn't believe how elaborate some of the other kids' costumes were! Oh well, it's never to early to learn not to compare ourselves to other, right?

District of Columbia: girlfriend style

Once upon a pair of newlyweds, we lived in a cute neighborhood of townhomes, complete with a cute collection of neighbors. During the short two years we lived there, I developed relationships with many wonderful women that have withstood the test of time and distance. Now we are scattered across the country, but still find ways to stay in touch and get together whenever possible. When a trip to Washington D.C. to visit one of our recently estranged was proposed, I initially dismissed it. There was no way I could work out all the details, and our savings are in overdrive right now which means it's hard to justify any big purchases. But over the course of a few weeks, everything came together and next thing I knew I was flying out east!

Here are the four of us at MarKey's house in Maryland. We did not plan on matching so well, but that doesn't surprise me. That's just how we work. :) MarKey (purple) was an amazing hostess and made us darling welcome baskets that had a lot of much needed things, including hand sanitizer and a subway map. She also was a trouper and put up with tons of walking despite her 30-something week baby bump. Nicole (pink) and Lindsey (green) came out from Utah.

We spent the first day touring MarKey's, uh, quaint, town. I actually loved it. It was smallish, but big enough to have everything you need, and was full of history. Driving along she pointed out "slave houses" next to the big houses. She also took us to an awesome donut shop. It is only open at night and is down an alleyway. You would never know it was there, but she says most days there is a line of cars going down the street. And well worth it. They were TASTY.

The next day we headed into the city. Before checking into our hotel in Bethesda, we stopped for some famous Georgetown cupcakes. I am not much of a cupcake fan, but these were pretty good. To be honest, though, I'd take the donuts from the day before at a fraction of the price if given the choice.

Our first night we walked the streets of Bethesda before finally settling on an Italian restaurant for dinner. Our waiter was hilarious and we were a little slap happy so we were having a great time until another employee came over with a bottle and five shot glasses. We all looked around uncomfortably for a minute before MarKey blurted out, "Um, we're ALL pregnant." (Only partially true, but the easiest cop out at the moment.) 

The guy looked at us in disbelief, then said, "ALL of you?" MarKey stood up to prove her point, and he just shook his head and poured himself a glass. "And here I thought you were going to tell me you're Mormon." At that we couldn't help but bust up laughing, and tell him that that was also true. He filled his glass again (pretty sure he was tipsy to begin with) and asked us to tell our waiter that we were all pregnant and that it was the same father. Since we were already in a goofy mood, we went along with it and had some fun really creeping out our waiter. Before we left, we made sure to set him straight and assure him that we do NOT actually do that.

The next two days we packed in as much sightseeing as we could. But first, we had to figure out this:

Of all the subway systems I've ridden, this had the most complicated ticket vending machines I've ever seen. It took us 15 minutes the first day just to figure out which farecards we needed and how much to put on them. Once we got that figured out, the next challenge was finding a machine that was actually in service. Eventually, we made it to the mall. Notable stops included the Smithsonian Museum of American History, Arlington Cemetery, Ford's Theater, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Vietnam Memorial, WWII Memorial, Korean War Memorial, and the Holocaust Museum. We couldn't have come at a better time. The cherry blossoms were at peak season and the weather was amazing.

I really enjoyed Ford's Theater, especially after reading Killing Lincoln. It was a haunting experience to sit in that theater and imagine what it would have been like to be there.

The tower of books on the right are all about Lincoln. Pretty amazing, huh?

This was going to be my favorite picture of the whole trip, but handing off my camera to strangers is always a gamble. So enjoy the tack sharp cherry blossoms and the blurry faces as best you can. Oh, and the Jefferson Memorial in the background.

The trip was over much too fast. We wanted to milk every minute together, and as such stayed up way too late the night before our EARLY flights. Yuck-- remind me not to book flights that require waking up at 4:30 am anymore. Thank you ladies for a wonderful and memorable trip! Next time... New York!

Ice, ice baby

Isn't weather an interesting thing? It is something that everyone has in common, and it is always changing. As cliche as it is, talking about the weather is always a safe bet, and almost everybody has an opinion about it and it seems like it's always interesting. At least I think it is. One of my favorite parts of moving to a new area is experiencing new weather. And Oklahoma has plenty of it!

In April I finally witnessed the famous ice storms I had heard so much about. More dreaded than snow, ice storms typically close businesses and shut down schools. I happen to be at the gym when this one hit, and drove slowly home in awe of the beauty of the storm. All around me people were complaining (and for good reason-- the storm took out tons of trees), but I could not get past how beautiful everything looked. It was as though the entire world had been dipped in water then flash frozen. Every tiny branch and wire was coated in a glossy layer of ice.

I loved the itty bitty icicles on everything. The power lines got their share too, which left many communities without power (another reason for the complaints) but we were lucky and didn't lose ours.

The trampoline net was a solid sheet of ice, too. It's amazing how quickly this all happened, too. Within an hour everything was frozen. And by the end of the day it had pretty much melted. I'm just grateful I got to appreciate it while it lasted.

Easter with the missionaries

Easter Sunday we went to a shortened block of church, then had the missionaries over for dinner. We've loved sharing our holidays with the missionaries. They help us not miss our families so much, and I like to think we help them not miss theirs. One of the elders' mother sent them a bunch of money filled eggs. Jeff and the kids hid them, and them we set the missionaries loose. I have never seen two boys so excited for an Easter egg hunt. This is Elder White in the top picture, and Elder Winterton below. Elder White was recently transferred and we were sooo sad to see him go. I mean, you know you have a quality missionary when he eagerly uses your daughter's pink Easter basket for his egg hunt. :)

We tried to get a picture of all of us via timer, but Jeff's head is cut off and Izzy has her finger up her nose in every picture. I forgot that I had set the camera up to take 15 pictures in a row, so after 4 or 5 we got a little silly. I apologize for the picture overload, but you have to see the entire sequence to appreciate it.

Easter outfits

A few weeks before Easter, I was in a major rut. My energy was zapped (I'm blaming pregnancy hormones) and I was having trouble finding motivation to do anything. I decided I needed a project to help me snap out of my laziness. Easter skirts turned out to be the perfect thing. These skirts were so easy and turned out so cute!

I was also excited to have an excuse to get an updated picture of the kids together. When I got around to uploading them to my computer, I was super bummed to find that Logan was the problem child in every single one! Really? My almost-7-year-old? What a stinker.

It really is nearly impossible to get a natural smile out of this kid. I'm impressed I got him to give me this much.

Savannah on the other hand, is such a poser. I did not prompt her for any of these photos. Just point a camera in her direction and this is what she does. I'm in SO much trouble.

See what I mean? What a little diva.

And here's baby Izzy (who I will continue to call my baby for the next 4 months until she loses the title). Isabelle loves her Easter hat. It has now made its way to the dress up box and has been modeled on numerous occasions with many interesting combinations.

For a child that has had a head of hair since birth, I am only just now able to get a small french braid out of it.

Just for the record, as much as I complain about the drama, I love having girls. Matching Easter skirts is just one of the reasons why.

Pre-Easter activities

Easter is rapidly climbing the ladder of my favorite holidays. It seems like the perfect combination of fun and meaningful, and has enough anticipation to make it exciting but not so much that you suffer post-holiday blues. I've worked extra hard the last two years to make sure the fun doesn't outweigh the meaningful, and I think that's why I am learning to love it so much. One of the ways we achieve this is by having our egg hunt and baskets on Saturday so that Sunday is saved for the Savior.

We dyed eggs using cool whip and food coloring. It didn't work out so well, but it was fun and different and the spills weren't so bad.

For family home evening the Monday before Easter, we made resurrection rolls. Not only did they help the kids remember the story of Christ's resurrection, but they were pretty tasty. The kids are still asking when we can have them again.

Also as part of our Easter preparations, Jeff and I sang in a small choir that performed Rob Gardner's Lamb of God. If you are not familiar with this music, I highly recommend it. We were introduced to it last year, and when given the chance to perform, we jumped on it. The choir was small (about 20 members) with an even smaller orchestra, but we had incredible soloists and the music itself is so amazing. The entire experience helped me understand and think about the Savior and his followers in a way I never have before. Words cannot express my gratitude for what He did for me, and I cannot begin to tell of my love for Him. I'm so glad we have this holiday to really focus on His life and resurrection. Now I am working harder to keep Christ at the center of my life year round.

Dallas

For the second half of our spring break, we drove down to Dallas for a few days. Dallas is our next closest big city, so it's a great place to get away to without having to travel too far. Our kids love staying in hotels with swimming pools, so sometimes that's all it takes to have a great vacation. But we tried to get around and do some other fun things while we were there, too.

The only time I got my camera out the whole trip was when we went to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. Our passes to the science museum in OKC are part of a network that lets us get into other museums all over the country as well. I was excited to see that the brand new Perot museum was part of that network. Unfortunately, we arrived at the same time as about 20 buses full of field trippers, so the place was packed. But we still had a good time and got to see some fun stuff. I especially enjoyed the sports hall that focused on the science of sports.

I tried to get a picture of the kids showing me the turtles they made, but this was the best I could get. I promise they were having fun, despite the looks of incredible boredom and apathy on their faces.

This is a blooper picture, but I just had to put it up here because it makes me smile.

Aside from the museum, we visited Ikea (of course!), the Cowboys stadium (just the outside, I'm keeping my eyes peeled for a Groupon to take the tour), and Legoland Discovery Center. Thanks to some recommendations, we ate at La Madeleine, Twisted Root Burger (crazy hamburgers like alligator and buffalo), and Del Taco. Yeah, I know, Del Taco isn't exactly a Dallas local joint, but we stopped there for a quick dinner and Logan and Savannah fell in love with their bean and cheese burritos. I indulged them and we went back a second time because who can pass up on an $0.89 lunch?

Red Rock Canyon

Just for the record, education-related jobs have the best holidays. I love that Jeff has all the same holidays as the kids. For spring break this year, we planned some getaways to a few nearby spots and had so much fun. We started with a camping trip to Red Rock Canyon. I had always thought Utah and Arizona had dibs on all the red rock in the country, but I have since learned that Oklahoma has its fair share of red dirt and rocks. Our camping friends, the Stuarts and Waggoners, introduced us to this location. It's a small canyon cut into the middle of a typical flat Midwest field. You drive a short ways down a steep hill and suddenly it's as though you've left Oklahoma and entered the southwest. Our campsite was great-- sheltered with a big area for the kids to play and a fun wall to scale.

I've mentioned in the past these awesome VW buses that our friends have, but last time we camped I failed to get a picture. I am super jealous of them, especially when it comes time to set up and take down camp. We get along just fine though in our gigantic 10-man tent.

Each of the kids took a turn climbing up the wall. At the top of the rim you could see rope marks from rappellers. I guess we're not the only ones who thought it was a good wall to climb.

For the most part, Izzy was content to sit and watch.

Sometimes her friend, Avery, would come and join her. Avery is right between Savannah and Isabelle in age and they both adore her. We are so lucky to have such great friends.

We took a short hike to the top of the rim overlooking our campsite. Our tent is just behind us and down about 30 feet.

We had so much fun camping with these guys! Ever since that weekend I've been trying to convince Jeff to buy a pop-up camper so we can go more often without it feeling like such an event. Still unsuccessful on that front, but we'll see what happens...