Vercation

We were supposed to go to the beach in Cali last week.  

But we thought it might be a good idea to penny pinch for grad school.

Sigh.

However, we went to Flaming Gorge with our friends Richard and Amanda and their kiddos for not nearly long enough. We spent a day on the boat, and I came back with a wicked bad sunburn though I relotioned myself at least eight times.  Anyway, so fun and so worth it.

Ammon faced his fear of water and had a great time.

Skipper Morgan

Tubing is waaaaaaaay scarier than waterskiing.
 I screamed the whole time.

Also, I can waterski for 14 seconds.  Go me!

This is my favorite picture of Maya.  She is seething anger through her eyeballs because she is so pissed off that Ammon had her thrown in the 50 degree water. His idea, not mine.  She was mad for hours.

Water babes: India and Kirsten

Playing on a private beach.  Next time I will have to get pictures of the gorgeous scenery. 

 Utah is so pretty!

Maya, not so mad to be in the water now.

Pretty Girls

India wanted rockstar curls today.  That's what we call my three barrel curling iron.  And India is my little rockstar.    She is constantly coming up with fun family "fraditions" (aka traditions).  

Playing with friends is definitely the most important part of her life.  Several times a day she asks me, "So, who is going to play with me now?"  Luckily, we have lots of friends to play with! 

India likes to pretend that her birthmark is shaped like a diamond because she is the diamond princess. 

Today was Maya's first official day in nursery.  And, of course, she loved it!  

Maya's vocabulary grows daily though her favorite words are still "No" and "mine" and "Belle" (family doggie and name of any other doggies or kitties). Hitting and yelling "no" have become a problem, so she sits in timeout ALL THE TIME.  I'm amazed timeout still works.  She folds her arms in the corner for 1 minute.  Sometimes more if we forget.  

 She calls Ammon "da-yee" instead of "dada." And only Ammon can cuddle her to sleep.  Her favorite books are Are You My Mother? and There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.  I super love that Maya wakes up, puts all the Barbies in her crib, and plays until someone gets her. She even makes a kissy sound as the Barbies kiss.  

Funny, huh?

Lemonade Rain

Every morning India snuggles in bed with me, so "I" won't have bad dreams.  

After personal prayers, sometimes we talk about what kind of things she can dream about, so she won't be scared.  In the middle of the night, I'm too brain dead to think of anything comforting to say.

This week she decided on her own she would dream about

 lemonade rain.  

Maya Portraits

Finally

I can check professional pictures off my to-do list.

Broccoli Salad

This is my new favorite way to eat broccoli. I use a lot of broccoli (as in, I fill up the bowl --- not sure how much that is) and not as much dressing because I like that barely there taste. You can add whatever tasty embellishments you want.

• Broccoli
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 4 pieces of crumbled bacon

Dressing

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise (or miracle whip - blechy)
• 2 TB sugar
• 2 TB white vinegar

Awwww Nuts

I have a problem.

I'm late.

I'm always late.

I was born 2 weeks late and have never been bothered much by it. Inconvenienced, yes. Bothered, nah. Then I married someone who belives if you're not 15 minutes early you're late. Somehow this was never a problem when we were dating. And somehow I never remembered this irritating Ammon for the next six plus some years.

So earlier this year I decided I would make a concentrated effort to start being on time (read: early). And not just to scheduled appointments . . . everything!

But I blew it. Again.

I got an overdue notice from the library today.

Centerville Library will not let me pay in advance for late fines and damages.

I was just trying to be realistic.

And I paid eight bucks for the last redbox movie I rented. (In defense, it took us all eight nights to watch Sherlock Holmes because we'd watch it in 15 minute segments because Ammon was pooped at the end of his 15 hour work days).

The list goes on.

I've become so unorganized and irresponsible.

But I'm not giving up.

Any sage advice?

Cupcakes, Mullet Proof, and Cheating

Cutest cupcake eater ever.

After everyone had gone to sleep, I cleaned the kitchen and found a hole in all (minus one) of the leftover cupcakes. I laughed. And then I frosted them anyway.

3 weeks later: Slight improvements, but still a mullet.

Can you believe I paid money for this? Good grief.

At least my hair is still growing.

We played India's new game Pretty Pretty Princess from Uncle Donald and Aunt Beverly for our Family Home Evening activity.

Now is it sad or funny that Ammon cheated to win?

Or wonderful that someone who hates games and would rather watch basketball will dress up in clip-on earrings for his wife and daughter?

Must Read

Lovely and easy read.

Brilliant. Deliberate. Poetic.

My new favorite book.

Buy it.

For those who still love princess stories.

And I do.

For Grandma

Happy Mother's Day!

We love

Grandma Elizabeth

Grandma Mac

Great Grandma Parker

Great Grandma Garey

and

Great Grandma Clark

The words:

It's always fun when grandma comes, when grandma comes, when grandma comes,

hurray!

She always says the kindest things in the kindest way.

She has a twinkle twinkle smile everyday

Oh when Grandma comes!

Spring brought me bouquets of flowers everyday.

Note:  It should be required for everyone to have hundreds of tulips in their yard.  

Fact:  Mom's tulips did not disappoint this year.  Thank you for letting us live in your beautiful home and take care of your even more beautiful yard.  

Sponge Bob & Rap Music

She says "Sponge Bob" (or spa-ba-ba) after watching clips on the computer with Uncle Bryce or Aunt Brittany. It seems like she picks up a new word every other day! Ammon is not happy she refuses to say da da even though she can.

Maya is our little dancer too. Anytime she hears music she starts dancing. My favorite is the squat and hover, but I've yet to capture her moves.

Please excuse Barbie.

She is entranced with the beat of the music! Just watch the first 15 seconds.

She does the same thing for the rest of the video.

I Have a Mullet

I went in to get this haircut:

And I came out with this haircut:  Twice. 

But the good news is there are at least 15 ways to style my hair as shown above.

You know when something is so bad you can't even cry because you're laughing so hard because it's ridiculous? Yeah . . . that's me.

As Uncle Bryce So Delicately Put It . . .

I guess "stupid" is not such a bad word anymore.

This is after the fact my four-year-old use the phrase "damn sidewalk" after tripping.  

I'm gonna go clean my own mouth out with soap now.

Spring Break

April Fool's Day.  I love the snow!

Easter Sunday. 

She won't let us paint her two middle fingernails because she doesn't like the taste when she sucks her fingers.

Lovely Baby.

A man's job.

Dying eggs with Asher-man & Jeremy.

Cheesing.

This is what happens when you feed the kids candy for breakfast.

 

And so is this.

Date

Ammon took India on a date to the  bookstore to buy some more poem books for bedtime. And then they got icecream.

The girls were both asleep at 8:30pm last night

. . . and that is only the second time they have ever gone to bed that early!

Since When is Napping This Horrible?

I don't believe that parents don't have favorites.



I gave up after an hour. The screaming and fit-throwing was much worse every time I closed the door. She's also picked up the naughty habit of hitting me in the face when she doesn't get her way.

Some days Maya pretends to be a sweet, adorable baby. She'll blow kisses, play mmm, have dance parties with me. See evidence below.

Just Because He Loves Me

 I miss Ammon today.  I'm glad we are different from each other.  It keeps life interesting! 

Here's proof he loves me. 

1. Doesn't understand the non-logic of sleeping in between clean sheets, but he will put the top sheet upside down on our bed anyway. (Obviously both sides are clean . . .)
2. Attended Swan Lake with me. Strike to his manhood ego. But gold star - double brownie - husband points.
3. Hasn't been remotely upset or irritated or annoyed about me using his stuff (and by stuff I mean everything - you imagine it, I've used it) without asking (and I do it ALL the time).
4. Making all us girls laugh during family scripture study. (Examples: Maya kept licking Ammon, so he started licking her whole face, or the "real" dialogue between Lehi and Sariah).

Hair

I found a hair blog here that has a plethora of fun ideas.  

One of our simple hair fixes.

On bath days, we do princess hair down - meaning little or no fixing from me.