More insane, but good insane

Unfortunately I have no pictures of today but had to share the morning. We woke up to quite a few inches of snow on the ground this morning and Nelson and I decided we couldn't pass this up. Too bad for the kids, school and all. Living in Utah we get treated to the greatest snow all the time but I think today beats all. The powder at Sundance was so light and dry. At times, I looked down and couldn't see my legs or the bottom of my jacket either. This is the kind of skiing you see in movies, where they swish back and forth, snow spraying up to their waists and even over their heads at times. Wow. What else is there to say, it was SO amazing!

Crazy kids

This past weekend was Sweethearts with a Disney theme. Katie went with Lars Anderson, the little brother of her last dance date, Hans. You see, Katie originally asked Lars to Preference in January but he had already been asked...by one of Katie's good friends, Jenny. Oops. You know, the frenzy of "oh no! Everyone is already going to be asked, I need to ask someone and quick, no need to check all my sources first." Just a bit awkward. Lars sent Katie a really sweet sorry-I-have-already-been-asked-but-I-owe-you-a-date answer so here's that date. They went to the Provo Beach resort and bowled and went on the ropes course. Then after dinner they watched a movie and then went to the dance. So fun!

Near the beginning of the year we had a lesson in Relief Society about keeping the sabbath day holy. We have all heard this lesson a million times but this time it hit me a bit different than in the past. Over the last three years with Nelson as the Bishop, Sunday has kind of been up to me. After this lesson, I decided we needed to spend more time together, doing enjoyable or meaningful things. We also decided that there would be no computers and only one thing watched on TV which is usually a movie we all watch together. No facebook, no checking e-mail and no blogging (gulp). We have tried to do things that put us together, not separate us. Is this making sense? Well, it has been a rough change, even for me (no blogging) but it has been more fun and we have made an effort to play more games, write more to Jordan on her mission and do stuff like that. A lot of Sundays are still a struggle, you know, "there's nothing to do! this is so boring!". I think, however we made a huge breakthrough this past week. It only took eight weeks of Sundays for the kids themselves to initiate an activity. Have you ever seen the Mythbusters where they intertwine the pages of two phone books together page by page and then try to pull them apart? Well, David and Caroline tried it.

Oops! Some pages ripped off the end...

...Ok, let's flip back each page, page by page to get them apart...

...faster, faster...ripping, ripping...

...phonebook page angels...

...Katie on the chair foolishly thinking we will have a quiet Sunday, trying to nap...

Whooo-hooooo! This is what two phone books look like ripped apart page by page in case you had ever wondered.

Ok, napping is for the birds, this is more fun!

Whew, now we need a nap. I hope we continue to have some crazy family moments on Sundays.!

Katie has decided to run for student body president with her friend Ben as vice-president. They took pictures yesterday for their campaign posters. They are the Random Tandem. They have put videos on facebook of them doing random things and their posters were pretty fun. The primary elections are this Friday so we will know then if they get to move on to the finals next week.

Thanks to the Cox's for letting Katie use the bike for her photo shoot, and thanks to David and Caroline for taking such fun shots.

family pics - 9th post today, whew!

Michael came home Sunday in his suit to try on all of the missionary clothing we have bought lately and make some decisions about what to keep. This has caused me equally the amount of stress as the bathroom remodel. The information you get about what to bring on a mission is pretty slim. It just lists items, doesn't say much else. The winter coat is the big issue. This is what we came up with, down Eddie Bauer hooded parka, windproof, waterproof shell to wear over the top or separately if it's not so cold. If it's wrong, oh well, he will have to shop in Romania in November. I just wish I could stop thinking about if it's the right thing or not, ugh.

We needed a picture for the ward website so we pulled the curtains(do you love our super backdrop!) and went for it. By the end things were beyond silly and I was exhausted. After not enough sleep in St. George, the hot water not working, running to Oranee's for a quick before church shower, teaching Sunday school, going to choir, having a camp YCL meeting, fixing dinner and then this I just wanted to drop.

David taking notes about how to pose for the ultimate GQ picture.

Too cool.

Blushing and giggling Katie after being encouraged to smile by mentioning a certain boy's name.

Even Nelson gets into the mix.

This is the best picture of me of the night, fixing Nelson's hair.

Can we hold it in for just one second? Apparently not.

Do I look tired? I think so, that's why today I have done nothing but catch up on my blog. Feels good.

Max got in on the action too.

Girl's trip

This is how I escape the stress of bathroom remodels, I vacation with girlfriends and then come home and do nothing but blog, aaaahhhhh. Every year, the book club I'm in goes to St. George for a couple of days to get away for some girl time and sun. Cafe Rio is a must and this year we stopped in Cedar City and Suzette picked up Erika from SUU for lunch with us. When my girls saw the pictures from the trip, they said" Erika got to go?" No, just lunch I assured them, they were going to be jealous.

Lesa entertaining us on the long ride.

The first day, four of us went to the beauty school and had facials. Then we went out to eat and had Thai food. I am so glad to have friends to eat out at yummy places. Then all 8 of us went and had massages. MaryBeth had her 50th birthday a couple of weeks ago and we treated her to her very first ever massage. Sorry Ward, she's hooked! What an awesome day! Then we stayed up too late solving all of the worlds problems and providing for each other a much needed gab session.

The next morning, we picked up Tammy from the shuttle and all 9 of us went to the Bear Paw for breakfast. We were so sad to not have all 10 of us for the weekend. Melanie got to spend the weekend with sweaty boys at a rugby tournament in LasVegas, eating McDonald's drive through, so sorry for us and you. The rest of the weekend we shopped, sat in the lounge chairs at the pool, napped, ordered pizza, watched a totally cheesey chic flick and made Valentines day cards. Saturday on the way home, we went on a new hike and it was really great. It is about 15 minutes North of St. George and is called the Red Cliffs Recreation area. If you are heading that way, I would definitely stop.

(I don't know why I am typing like this is a link, sorry, not computer savvy) Tammy said she felt like she was following twins. Which one is which? can you tell? Jennifer or me?

We asked several people passing by to take pictures so we have a few in different places of all of us. Wow, these look so put together, we must all be super photogenic. We miss you Mel!

It's hard to see, but there is a waterfall to the right.

We got to a spot where you had to hold onto a rope and step in the foot holds to go around this corner. Lisa was the bravest and went first.

Really the scariest part was that if you fell you were going to drop into a pool of water. I would love to come back in the summer and hike in a swimsuit and swim too.

We had a really great weekend!

more insanity

Goodbye to my cute Mary Englebreit inspired bathroom. What else could I have done with yellow tile when we moved in? Besides, anyone who knows me knows I love black and white checks. I want it on the floor, everywhere. Luckily I don't get everything I want or that might be a bit much.

Even though I think this bathroom is so cute, we came to a point last year, and it continues, that this tiny bathroom is just a daily source of frustration and ill will when it comes to 4 teenagers getting ready for school at the same time. Michael is away at BYU this year so we really only have 3 teenagers right now but the girls are demanding more. Last year I actually had a cabinet guy and carpenter come in to give me bids to remodel and decided against it. Bathroom remodels are just too expensive. However, last month I found a super deal on a 6 foot vanity at costco and decided the time had come. So, all of us are sharing my bathroom right now and I am anxious to get it done. Here are some pictures, we are in the middle of the yucky part, I can't wait...I can't wait...until it's done!

New wall built between the tub/shower area so someone can be in the shower and someone else can be at the sink at the same time, yay!

The top of the stairs, turn to get onto the upstairs deck through the door, bathroom just to the right...

Door gone to the deck, wall gone to the bathroom...

new wall enclosing the landing to make more room for the vanity area...

old bathroom exterior wall, next to deck door...

vanity area (tape on the floor to see new area spacing)

wall gone...

new pocket door installed to separate the two rooms. Whew, that probably didn't make much sense, sorry. I will take pics after we are all done. Remember what I was saying about remodeling in January's post about the laundry room? I will say it again. I could NEVER build a house. The laundry room was just paint and some new door trim, no biggie. This is where to place light switches, new light fixtures, faucets for vanity and tub, floor tile, shower surround tile, what type of texture surface do I want, mirror choices, towel hooks....oh my. All I can think every day is...I need to lie down, I need a nap, I just don't know. This stinks. I wish I had a designer, that would help. I have been to the tile store I don't know how many times. Beyond sharing a shower for the time being, I really just need the stress to go away. I can't get anything else done, my house is a mess, we eat mac-n-cheese on a regular basis now and I am dreaming about buying tile, yikes! I am thrilled to be solving the morning dilemma but how does one deal with this? Wish me luck.

Totally Redundant

School is all about progress. Get smarter, learning more so what is the deal with persuasive writing? The first time I learned about persuasive writing was in the fourth grade. We learned everything and THOUGHT it was the end. Unfortunately we do a three month unit just on persuasive writing every single year. Um.....Why? that's all I want to know! Why do they insist on re-teaching this every year? We don't even learn anything new! It's always exactly the same material! Do they not think we understand it already?!? Do they think we're so stupid that we can't remember anything?!? Seriously... we've been doing this for five years now.... let's move on with the rest of our lives. -Another Spontaneous Remark of Caroline

Birthdays!

Caroline made Nelson a birthday cake this year. She also decorated all around it, balloons and all.

This isn't 45 candles, I think we made shapes of numbers 4 and 5. Make a wish!

The next day was Caroline's birthday, same as always, funny how that works. She said what she wanted for dinner was a good steak so we went to Texas Roadhouse for the first time. It was pretty good but how can steak be bad?

Not getting so much cooperation from the boys...

even Nelson.

Katie ordered this massive burger. She said it was so good but 5 bites later, her burger was probably 75% still there and she was full.

Do you notice how cloudy the first pictures from the restaurant are compared to these? Nelson cleaned off the lens of the camera on his phone and retook a picture. All together now...eeeewwwww. I guess I need to be doing that in the future if I am taking pictures, pretty gross.

At the restaurant, they bring a saddle over for you to sit in while they shout about it being your birthday, etc. Nelson passed on this opportunity.

Caroline's birthday cupcakes with 1 and 5 candles.

Happy Birthday!

The celebrating didn't stop then. Caroline invited a bunch of kids over on Friday night to play games in the basement, watch a movie and have cake.

Another Happy Birthday to you!