Misc. pics

Here's a picture of the snow we got a few days ago. It's melted now, and I hear that it's supposed to get up to 63 Sunday or Monday and I'm so happy at the prospect of warmer weather!

This is Dalan's burned finger. Can you believe a firescreen could burn someone that bad?! I couldn't!

Here's the girls in their Easter dresses. No, I didn't make them; I slacked off this year and bought them (but they were on sale for a really good price-only $13 each!). I was going to make their dresses, but just didn't. Maybe I'll make them some cute summer things. (Yeah, just keep dreaming, Sonnet!)

Adventures and Mishaps at Ariane's

After a long, very long, car ride, we arrived at Ariane and Matt's house. We left at 8:30 am Monday morning and arrived at 1:15 in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. We even gained an hour on the way because of the time change, so that makes it a 17.5 hour trip! I don't know if I've ever been nearer insanity then I was at that point and that's saying a lot!
We spent all week at my sister's house and left Sunday morning. The ride home was a lot shorter and the kids were much better behaved, thank goodness! We left about 6:45am and got home about 11:15pm, so it was only 15.5 hours on the way home. We only stopped for gas and food (I let the kids eat in the car while I fed Elias). Even though the ride back was much more bearable, I still don't know if I'll do that trip alone again.
While visiting Ariane, we went to IKEA (our favorite store ever), visited almost all the thrift stores within a 20 mile radius (we love thrift stores, too!), and had an adventure in Seattle. We got to Seattle later than we were planning because we went there after IKEA. By the time we found a parking place and unloaded all 5 kids and walked to Pike Place Fish Market, it was closed! We heard that the library is cool, so we loaded the kids up again and drove around for a while, trying to find it. Jonas (my 17-month-old nephew) threw up when we were almost there, and then threw up again once we got there. We cleaned up the puke in the parking garage at the library, but by the time everything was cleaned up and clothes were changed, the library had just closed. My kids were about to wet their pants, but they wouldn't even unlock the bathroom to let them use it, even though we made it into the building before they locked the library. To top it off, we had to pay for parking! Oh, yeah! After all the puking, getting lost, and arriving too late, we forgot to drive by the Space Needle, so my kids didn't even get to see it. We didn't even realize we forgot it until we were almost to Ariane's house.
After the trip to Seattle, we decided we needed a nice relaxing day at home, so I convinced Ariane that we should paint Jonas' room. (What was I thinking? I don't know--grumpy kids+ puking child + nursing baby + painting = a ton o fun, right?!) Anyway, Ariane and I painted Jonas' room with three colors. We did a solid all around the bottom half of the room and stripes with two different colors on the top. It looks pretty cute. She's going to hang a wall paper border inbetween the two. It wasn't that hard because Jonas slept most of the day (when he wasn't recycling his lunch) and my older kids played outside in the rain and watched movies. Elias played in the crib in the middle of the room while we painted. I had hoped to paint her kitchen, too, but we didn't get that far! Me and my big ideas!
Overall, I was glad that I made the trip, chaotic and long as it was. I was really happy to get to see Matt before he got deployed (love ya, Matt!) and it was fun to visit my sister. I look forward to seeing her again at Disneyland and my kids are excited to see their cousin again.

Cool architecture in Spokane

I love looking at old buildings and I took some photos of my faves on our trip. Some were a little difficult because I was the only one in the car that knew how to use the camera and I was driving, but it worked.

Note: These two pictures (above and below) are of a building that were in one of my dreams a few years ago. It was SO weird to be driving along and see this building a couple of blocks away. I instantly recognized it and had to drive over and take a picture. I remembered the dream so well because I thought the building was so cool and I remembered feeling so sad when I woke up because of the dream. In my dream, it was on a steeper hill and a bigger city, but otherwise, it's the same building. I was looking around this big city (in my dream) for a little girl with black hair. I found her in this building, which was a Catholic School in my dream. It's really the County Courthouse. Any interpretations or explanations anyone? I had never been to Spokane before and I had the dream when Kydee was very little, probably younger than 2. Freaky, huh?!


This picture (above) was taken while driving and very difficult to get.

This was taken while driving, too, but I was stopped at a red light, so it wasn't too hard.

Riverfront Park in Spokane

On the way to see my sister in Spanaway (near Tacoma), we stopped in Spokane. Tamra told me about this cool park. Here's some pictures of just a few of the neat things there. After going to the park and driving around Spokane, my kids decided that we needed to move there.

Notice the giant red wagon in the background. That's the reason why we went to this park, but it was closed because the city was painting it before summer. The handle is a giant slide. My kids were really bummed, but figure we'll go back when it's open. We'll see about that! I don't think I can handle taking all of them that far by myself again (Dale didn't come on the trip with us; he had to work.)

These are pictures of the garbage eating goat. It has a vacuum inside it and kids love to put garbage in its mouth because then it 'eats' it.


Elora insisted in wearing shorts. Silly girl! On our way back home, we stopped in Spokane again and the kids wanted to go back, but it was so snowy that I couldn't see very far ahead of me and I definitely wasn't going to take them to the park in that weather.

Easter

Here's just a few pics of our Easter hunt that we had in our basement because, yes, you guessed it! The ground was covered in snow and it was really cold outside. We invited some friends over and the kids had a great time.

Good news, bad news

Bad news:
I'm still in my robe and pj's and it's almost noon.
My CD player in the van broke, so not only can I not listen to CD's anymore, 6 of my CD's are stuck in there--3 of which are Collective Soul!
It's still snowy here! (It has snowed three days this week.)
Elias has an ear infection in both ears.
Dalan burned his finger (3rd degree) when the fireplace screen fell on his hand and it's looking infected.
Eli (my brother) had an accident with the 4-wheeler a couple days ago and broke his neck.
Matt (my brother-in-law) is being deployed to Iraq in a few weeks.


Good news:
I can get dressed any time I want, I'm just lazy.
I guess eventually I might get the CD player fixed; until then, I have the internet, but I can't get most of the Collective Soul songs I want. Oh well, I'll survive. At least the engine didn't break.
Someday it will be warmer; at least, that's what I keep telling myself.
We got some antibiotics and Elias is feeling much better.
We have bandaids and Neosporin--if only Dalan would leave it alone.
Eli had surgery last night and everything is going to be alright, he just has 3 months of recovery ahead; but he will still be able to go on a mission.
Matt is well-trained and we have faith that the Lord will take care of him, no matter what happens.

I'm practicing having a 'Pollyanna' attitude in finding the bright side of every situation. I guess we really can find good in everyting life hands us!

Another TAG

10 YEARS AGO:
I was a Senior at Fruita Monument High School, in Fruita, Colorado. I worked at Zuka (Jamba) Juice and was looking forward to graduating. I never thought that in ten years I'd be married, have 4 kids, and live in Idaho!

FIVE PLACES I HAVE VISITED:
1. All 48 contiguous states
2. New York City
3. Mexico City
4. Cancun
5. Washington DC

FIVE THINGS ON MY TO DO LIST: I didn't know if this was daily to do, or lifetime, so I put both!
Daily
1. Shower (yes, I have to put this on my list, or it doesn't get done)
2. Clean the bathrooms
3. Update my blog with trip to Spokane, Seattle, and Spanaway
4. Vacuum out the van
5. Play with my kids individually (I've decided they need more one-on-one time with mom)

Lifetime
1. Go on mission with spouse
2. Visit Asia and Europe
3. Own a business
4. um....oh! Build another house (my 'dream house')
5. Take Tamra (my lifelong best friend, who's never seen the ocean) to the ocean

THREE BAD HABITS:
1. I will eat the whole bag of M&M's by myself (I'm talking about the big $2.50 bags, not the little 50 cent ones) (I bought a bag of peanut butter M&M's from the Easter clearance sales and finished it off today)
2. I am very critical of other people in my mind (that made it sound like I have other people in my mind that I'm critical of) (Jeez, I'm even critical of myself!)
3. I love to lay in bed in the morning as long as possible (I stay in bed until the kids start fighting, or break something, or they make a giant cereal mess)

FIVE THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME...
1. I love to dance, but only do it at home, by myself, 'cause Dale doesn't dance.
2.I'm addicted to Guitar Hero and I've only played it a couple of times. (But I really want to buy a Playstation or XBox, just so I can own it. I also imagine playing it when songs come on the radio that have a lot of guitar. Yes, I know I'm weird!)
3. I like punk music.
4. I would love to live by the ocean someday
5. I think feet are absolutely disgusting!

I tag Audrey, Bonnie, and Katie.