Birds behind bars

They pooped on the wrong car this time.

The Smart Alec Society...

...is alive and well in Salt Lake.

Tulip festival

We squeezed in a very quick trip to the Tulip Festival while my mom was here. The tulips were looking a little battered from the rain/hail storms earlier in the week, but the grounds were still pretty. We happened to go on one of the "Dutch Days" so there were tents with vendors and food for sale...food makes any activity better.

Mollie amongst the flowers.

In the village, the quiet village

I ended up not going to Idaho for Megan's graduation (logistics problem) so Bryce promised he would take me "somewhere fun" that weekend. Unfortunately for him, I got to choose where I thought would be fun and I chose Gardner Village. The weather was cold when we left for the day, but it was perfect by the time we got up there. We window shopped and got a treat at the bakery. My camera was either struggling with the strong sunlight or is stuck on a setting that makes everything over-exposed. I didn't realize this until just now when I uploaded a bunch of pictures so everything I took over the last month is like that. We'll just consider it artistic license.

Feeding the ducks...or, more accurately, throwing pieces of bread at uninterested ducks.

Gratuitous self-portrait

What will I do when the males in my house refuse to go shopping with me?

Updates

FYI: I just posted a bunch of back-dated posts that I had sitting around waiting for pictures. They are all dated March 24. Just so that they are vaguely in some kind of timeline. So you will have to scroll if you want to see them. Which I'm sure you are dying to do.

There is also an Easter post dated April 5th.

That is all.

Of Mice and Men

In mid-April my little sister Megan became a college graduate. She graduated from BYU-Idaho with a degree in music education. With the highest g.p.a. in her college she might like me to add. Two weeks later Mollie graduated from BYU with a degree in psychology. Magna cum laude she might like me to add.

Thanks to their graduating 2 weeks apart my mom was stuck in Utah with nothing to do. Nothing besides volunteering to watch her two adorable grandchildren, that is. This child-free getaway opportunity was discovered months in advance so Bryce and I spent Christmas thinking of all the places we could go...Europe? Argentina? Alaska? Puerto Rico? And then....we realized we didn't have passports. (I've never had one and Bryce's is expired.) And then...we realized that we (ok mostly me) were not comfortable with going out of the country (into the big bad world where people are kidnapped in broad daylight on public streets...or so I've heard) with our two little boys at home. And then...we decided to go to Florida for the shuttle launch in May. And then...I went on my unexpected $2500 kidney stone vacation. And we found our plans scaling down more and more.

Until we ended up with a long weekend in a truly exotic location:

Now that may look like Salt Lake, but it is actually Sweden.


Ok. It is Salt Lake. We take what we can get.

We posed in front of the local sights - such as the martini ad in the elevator. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

It happened to be Restaurant Week so we had a good time eating out choosing different places for 2 course lunches and 3 course dinners. Of course, the thrill wore off when we added up the prices and discovered that the maximum discount we received with our "special Restaurant Week 3 course dinner" was $1. All the food was good though, and I ate entire meals without getting up, cleaning spills, refilling drinks, or having someone snatch food from my plate so that was a bonus.

I had looked up some area flea markets to check out. We went to an indoor flea market on Redwood Rd. one day and an outdoor flea market also on Redwood Rd. the next day. They were pretty much identical except for the roof and walls part. And I'm not sure why I was picturing jolly Santa-esque bearded men with tables full of Antique Roadshow contenders. There were none to be seen. I'm pretty sure that 90% of what was for sale was stolen goods. But, hey, if you are in the market for neon colored bra and underwear sets then it is the place for you. "Four for $10!" My favorite was the booth full of dirty 80's comforters that I'm confident were swiped from motel beds. Oops...I just spoiled the surprise for a lot of your Christmas presents.
After fleeing the flea market we stopped at a gas station. Bryce asked if I wanted anything to drink. I requested a water - the bigger the better. So he bought me a gallon jug. Which I should have expected.

We went to a movie, and ate, and ate, and ate. (The hallmark of a good trip in my book.)

By Monday we couldn't think of much else to do in Salt Lake so we decided to head home and take the boys to a movie. Because even though we had been looking forward to some kid-free time for months, after a couple days we missed those buggers. We're lame like that. We took them to How to Train Your Dragon in 3d and they had a great time.

Over-educated

Me: Look at that little mouse!
(We were watching the new Life series on tv.)
Will: Oh. Is that a mouse?
Me: Well, it is a shrew.
Will: Oh. A shrew?
Me: Yes.
Will: Is a shrew an animal?
Me: Yes.
Will: Does it carry diseases?

PS: And because of the back-dated posts I just published this is my 200th post. Wahoo.

There goes Peter Cottontail

We had a week of Easter fun. We started with the egg hunt at the church. Will was very particular about choosing his 6 eggs. Sawyer was not happy that he had to stop at 6 eggs.

Then the boys got Easter baskets in the mail from Grandma. Complete with money-eggs!

The day before Easter we dyed eggs. The kids were not happy that I only had a dozen. But really how many hard-boiled eggs can one possibly use?


This year Easter fell on Conference Sunday (twice yearly televised meeting for all Latter-day Saints worldwide - takes place in Salt Lake City) so we had a casual day at home watching the meeting on tv. In between the morning and afternoon sessions we went for a drive and what do you know the Easter bunny came to our house while we were gone. Will was most excited about getting a long coveted Bakugan action figure in his basket. Sawyer was most excited about his binky that the Easter bunny found in the house and put in his basket. It had been missing for days.
For future reference, it is Mollie (a.k.a. the Easter bunny) in the picture above.

We finished off the festivities with Easter dinner. Why can't ham come in 2 lb. portions?

we gots our hairs cut

Say goodbye to the everyday ponytail. (In my case anyways.)

We had different stylists, but ended up with similar cuts after telling the stylists to do "whatever."


When I got home Sawyer looked me up and down and said "Is that you Mommy?"..."You got more hair?" (I think he thinks I went and bought it like a wig.)

For Megan

The boys have a video message for you.
(I can't upload their response to your video - I think the file is too big?)

And here is a dance video they made for you.

And another.

guh...guh...guh...Happy Burfday! (You know like Gus...on Cinderella)

These two were born 22 years ago today.

Happy Birthday Mollie and Megan!

You two are so....special. Um..yes. Especially Megan (on left).

Hope you guys have a great day! Looking forward to hanging out next weekend.
Love, the big sister.