Hate it when that happens....Part 2

I hate it when you're getting ready to go out the door to church, and your 1-year-old grabs a mostly-eaten bowl of cereal off the table (no, I had not cleared the table) and gets it all over herself and the floor. Then, after you've cleaned that up, I hate it when you're 3-year-old spills a cup of juice all over the floor. (note to self: clear the breakfast table before leaving for church)

Then, halfway through sacrament meeting, I hate it when another 3-year-old*, sitting in front of your 1-year-old, upchucks her breakfast all over your 1-year-old.

My only consolation was that I was not holding Grace during the puking. I did, however, feel REALLY bad for my friend who was holding her...and for the poor guy who was trying to give his talk through all the commotion.


*No offense at all to the mother of the little girl who puked; she's a friend of mine!

Girls Weekend

**I have a whole lot of catching up to do, so here is an influx of posts!**

Two weeks ago I flew solo to Arizona for one of the best weekends I have had in a long time. It started nine years ago when I moved into Deseret Towers dorms at Brigham Young University and met the most awesome group of girls in the world! We became such good friends that we stayed friends all through college (some of us moving in as roommates after the dorms) and twelve of us still keep in touch.

Eleven of us met at a resort in Arizona (10 of us flying in from other states) and had a fun-filled weekend of no kids, no jobs, no worries. A whole lot of laughing, swimming, eating, reminiscing, and not a whole lot of sleep. I had not seen most of these ladies for four years, others even longer than that, but once we got together it was as if the past four years had passed in one day. Before I post pictures of the weekend, I want to post some stats from the group (I'm stealing this from Lisa's blog, and the formatting from Jessica's!):

We ALL graduated with a bachelors degree
1 is in the process of getting her doctorate
1 has her masters (I think)
1 is almost done with her masters program
1 served a full time mission for the LDS church
5 of us have kids (2 each)
2 are pregnant with their first, both due on the same day, both having boys
1 is starting the adoption process
10 of us are married (all in the temple), ranging from 6+ years to less than a year
1 has already retired from a successful career
1 is starting her own business
5 live in Utah
2 in California
1 in Texas
1 in Idaho
1 in Maryland
1 in Washington
1 in Arizona

And now on the the picture madness!

The empty chair is in honor of Giselle, who couldn't make it :(

Upon arrival, the first place we went was to the hot tub, baby!


We spent LOTS of time at the pool:

From L to R: Jennie, Natalee, Karly, Lisa, Emily, Shauna, Me, Reina, Maren, Jessica, Meredeth

We ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory:
Natalee, Jennie, Reina, Me


Me and my main woman, Meredeth! We were roommates in DT.


On Saturday morning, we decided to go on what we thought would be a "hike" up Camelback Mountain. Little did we know it was really a rock climb! Seriously, there were parts of this climb where it was so steep there were railings to pull yourself up with. Yikers!


Strong women!


Happy to be at the top.
Emily, Jennie, Me, Natalee

On the way down, Lisa and I decided to take the easy way down the steep sections.


Two days was not enough time. During this weekend, I realized again just how amazing these women are, and how blessed I am to associate with them. I also realized that out of all of us, I have by far the whitest legs. Until we meet again, Ladies, in 3 years!!

I stayed an extra two days at my parents' house visiting with my family. I wish I could have had Glen and the kids with me, since my family hasn't seen my kids for almost a year, and my siblings have not seen Glen for 2 1/2 years!! Someday we will live in AZ...I'm lame with a camera and didn't take any pictures of the latter half of the weekend, but it was great.

I also got to spend a couple of hours at my parents' house with my very best friend from high school, Chelsea. I'm kicking myself, Chels, for not getting a picture of us!! Our friendship began our Sophomore year of high school when we discovered that we were both huge fans of the band, Erasure. I knew at that point that Chelsea and I were bosom friends! And we still are.

It was a fantastic weekend, and a HUGE THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to my amazing husband who took care of our two children for FIVE DAYS. I missed the kids, but not as much as I thought I would because I knew they were in great hands. I told Glen before I left that I did NOT want to worry about the kids while I was away, so unless he had to take them to the hospital, I didn't want to know anything. He obliged to my request, and I didn't know until I got home that 1) Glen had taken Grace to the doctor on Friday for a 102.7 degree fever. And 2) he locked them all out of the house on Thursday night and ended up kicking the door back door in, ruining it, and installing a new door (it needed to be replaced anyway). Thank you for keeping me in the dark, Glen, and thank you for letting me have this wonderful weekend!

She's a Climber

Grace has picked up a skill that Caleb never did, still hasn't, and probably never will...Climbing. Here are just a few of the places she has climbed.

It started out with this:



Then this:



Which soon turned into this:



These days, I frequently find her here:





I always have to make sure the kitchen chairs are pushed in, otherwise she'll be up on the table in 5 seconds flat.

Seriously, Caleb NEVER climbed. He slept in his crib until just past his 3rd birthday because he never attempted to climb out. He still struggles to climb into his bed, poor kid. (I'm not complaining about it, by the way, I've always been grateful for it) I have a feeling we'll be getting one of those "crib tents" for Grace before she's 2.

Oh, and whenever I take a picture of Grace doing something, Caleb has to do something similar and insists that I take a picture:

April's Family Adventure Day!

In April, for our FAD, we decided to take the advice of Elder Gary E. Stevenson from the most recent General Conference, and take our children to the Temple. Elder Steven said:

The First Presidency has invited “adult members to have a current temple recommend and visit the temple more often” where time and circumstance permit and encouraged members “to replace some leisure activities with temple service.” They also encouraged “newer members and youth of the Church who are 12 years of age and older to live worthy to assist in this great work by serving as proxies for baptisms and confirmations.” Even our young children have been encouraged to visit the temple grounds and touch the temple. President Thomas S. Monson once counseled, “As we touch the temple, the temple will touch us.”