Books?

As you can tell from the sidebar I love reading. I have a list of some of the books I've been reading recently. I'm constantly looking for new books to read. If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

On the road again

We're on the road again. I still haven't finished posting about my trip with Natalie to CT, Kent hasn't posted about the Noorda-Clark family trip to Zion's Ponderosa and now we're on the road again. We came up to Utah again so we could visit with my family and some good friends. It was a good time because Amy and her family are here too. Since they now live in CT, and it's not really cost-effective for me to fly the entire family out there, we're meeting up here with everyone. We got here last night, and we spent most of the day here at my grandparent's house. Then we went to Liberty Park where we walked around, rode the Ferris wheel and swing ride, got snow-cones, stopped at Sizzler (I totally missed Sizzler, but after eating there today I'm not sure I can say that anymore), then to Wal-Mart because Kent forgot to pack Drew's toothbrush and toothpaste... and I realized that I left ALL of my hair care products at home... That boy is really easy to please in almost every way, but when it comes to his toothbrush and toothpaste (and very few other things) he is adamant that he use the right ones.
We are going to the duck park in Layton tomorrow with my sister and her kids, the MacKay girls (we grew up with them from the time I was 3) and their kids. The guys are going golfing (blah) while we go to the park. Then we get to go to the open house for a new temple. Later in the week we get to meet my cousin and his kids to go to Hogle Zoo. My mom, youngest sister Katie and her dd Melia are coming up later in the week. We'll get together with them and my uncle's family when they get here. It should be a fun time.
Well, I keep losing my train of thought. The kids keep popping in here and goofing off so I guess I should go be Mommy for them before they go to bed. Have a great one!

Another quick update from the East Coast

I was all set to post pictures when my Photoshop editor quit working. So… no (good) pictures until I can edit them. Since I last updated we went to the Maritime Aquarium, FAO Schwartz so we could let the kids dance on the famous piano, the American Girl store (where Natalie found a doll that looked just like her for the small price of $120), and Shake Shack.
Michelle, Michael and Varick came over for dinner. Amy made shredded BBQ chicken, a green salad and I made a fruit salad. Yum, yum!
Today it rained cats and dogs so Mikaya's beach party was cancelled. They had their party in the classroom instead. We went to the party, then to Michael's and Target to get some fun rainy day crafts. I taught Amy and her friend Ginger how to make floral hairbows. (I laughed to myself because I was the only one who got the Gilligan's Island reference with a Ginger and a Maryann.) Our flowers turned out really cute, and Natalie can hardly wait to wear them. I might even wear some myself. Oh, I also finished crocheting the blanket for Varick. Yay! I just need to deliver it to them.

These are the hair flowers I made today. A very colorful assortment, isn't it?I wanted to show what at least one of these looked like in Natalie's hair. I really miss my Photoshop!) I know it's a bit overexposed, but here's the purple flower.

Tomorrow Natalie and I are going into the city with Michael. We're going on a boat ride in Greenwich, then going to drop Varick off. From there we'll go to the city, hit Chinatown, SoHo and a few other places. I think we'll meet Michelle for lunch somewhere. We're not sure what we're doing for Saturday or Sunday yet. I'm sure we'll come up with something fun. Natalie and I head home on Sunday night. Natalie is going to be so bummed when we have to leave the girls. I think she'll go through withdrawals. Those will NOT be fun.

Kent and the boys in Zion's Ponderosa

The day before Natalie and I left for our trip east Kent and the boys went to Zion's Ponderosa this weekend with his family. He said it was a lot of fun. They got to ride quads, play games, ride the zipline, and do all sorts of fun stuff. I'm hoping that he'll be able to tell me about it (or type this up himself) so that I can hear about what they did and see the pictures they took. It sounds like they had a great time. For now I'll settle for pictures on Facebook that his sister posted.

Natalie and I Go East

I tried uploading some of our pictures from our journey to CT but Blogger keeps giving me an error message. I'll try posting again tomorrow, and if that doesn't work I'll post them when we get home. We are having a lot of fun. On Friday night Amy, Mikaya, Taylor and Michelle came to the airport to pick us up. We stopped at Michelle's house to see Varick. He's gotten a lot bigger since we last saw him!
Then Saturday we waited for Gavin to get home from golfing to go into the city. We went to Ground Zero, the memorial they have, and then looked at the Statue of Liberty from the shore. It was raining cats and dogs so we didn't want to actually go out there that day.
Since Gavin's work is crazy enough to keep him from doing stuff during the week (I can relate with Kent's schedule), we drove to PA. We went to Hershey's Chocolate World. I took a couple of pictures outside, and 2 of Soren getting into drinks, but that's it. It was a bit of a disappointment. But at least I can say I've been there now. From there we drove through Lancaster, PA and saw several Amish people walking to church, and some driving their horse drawn carriages in the same roads as the cars. There was horse poop everywhere, and we kept driving through it. It was impossible to avoid. It was a very peaceful and beautiful community. We continued through to the City of Brotherly Love- Philadelphia, PA. We went to Independence Hall and then to see the Liberty Bell. We couldn't do the tour, but I got a book about it. We walked for quite a while, hearing the kids tell us how hungry they were, getting cat calls from various men and saw a lot of people wearing rainbows. (You could say that it was a very different feeling from the community we had just left...) We finally made our way back to the car and went to Pat's. They have been featured on the Food Network for having the best Philly Cheese Steaks. I got one, and it was pretty good. We drove home from there, and everyone crashed.
Today we went to the Bronx Zoo. It's HUGE! Having only been to the Hogle and Phoenix Zoos I can say that it's significantly bigger. They had a better variety than we can have in Phx... obviously the animals are smart enough to not like the heat.
I love how green everything is. It makes me want to move out of the desert even more whenever I leave it to see the lush green in other parts of the US. It's rained every single day... another HUGE plus for me. I love the rain. For the most part it's not been driving rains, but good drizzles. Yay!
I'm not sure of everything else we're going to do, but I know that we're going to a beach day on Thursday for Mikaya's class party. Then on Friday my brother-in-law Michael is going to take Natalie and I on a tour of the city. I'm going to be prepared with snacks for my daughter who won't eat much of anything at any given meal, but is starving throughout the day.
Amy and Gavin have been gracious hosts, and the kids are all getting along well. Soren is even warming up to me. He makes me miss my little Drew Dog.
All right. That's it for now. I'll try updating with photos later.

It's almost time!

Tomorrow morning (or today, depending on when you read this), Natalie and I will be flying to JFK to visit my Connecticut sisters. We can hardly wait. We're going to do a ton of fun stuff, and hang out with my sisters, their hubbies and kids. It's gonna be a blast! I just have a few last minute things to do and then I'll be ready. Our darn dryer has lasted 13 years, but it's dying out. Most loads are taking 2-4 cycles to get dry. Hopefully I'll come home to a new one... Hint, hint... I'm so nice that I've done all the laundry, dishes and left the house in a general state of cleanliness.
Oh, Natalie wanted me to say that we both got haircuts today. (She still hates short hair. On me. Only. Because it looks SO ugly. Ask Christine. She can verify this.) She told me later that either I need to get blond hair or she needs to get brown hair. I'd make a terrible blond, so I'm not going to change that! After we got our hair done we stopped at the mall, then the library, and finally got pedicures. It was a relaxing day.
I'll post pictures of our adventures when we come home. I'm out!

Scouts

Okay, as you may already know I accepted a calling into scouts again... same position as before Wolf Den Leader. (Yes, that makes 3 callings for me. Why do I do this to myself?) Okay so today we had our den meeting at Tena's house. She decided that we'd have the boys earn their belt loop for playing chess. The only problem was that neither of us has played before. Two of the boys knew how to play and did a great job. The other two had played with their dads in previous years and kind of knew how to play. Hilarious. We had to have the other 2 boys help the boys because we couldn't really help at all. I am a bad scout leader... couldn't even help my boys out with this one.

Update: The Beginning of a Crazy Week

Yesterday was Lincoln's baby blessing. My kids were alternately thrilled and nervous to miss church and attend sacrament meeting in another ward. Justin and Trevor were brave enough to bear their testimonies in their ward, though. (Yay!) After sacrament meeting we went to Christine and Cody's house for lunch. I got to feed Lincoln his bottle. While I was burping him he spit up everywhere. And I do mean everywhere... my shoulder, down my back and ending on my bum. Plus it was all over the couch. One of Christine's sister-in-laws was kind enough to wipe me off. It was quite a way to break in my new dress.
Then last night at 2:30 a.m. I took Justin to his scout leader's house so they could head off to scout camp. He was nervous about it. He still has major anxiety when he isn't sleeping at home so I was proud of him for being brave about it. I was all set to leave, but then he asked me to stick around until they left. Several hugs, kisses and reassurances later he was all set to go. I had stuck a card with a note in his bag, that I had intended for him to find when he was at camp. However he found it before we even left the driveway so he was able to use that to look at too. I hope it helps him!
I was wide awake when I got home, and when I crawled into bed Kent's jerky movements made sure that I stayed awake. At 4:14 I'd had enough... so I got after him. And then he didn't move at all which made me mad, so I got after him again. What can I say? I'm not exactly rational that late at night. He was kind enough to offer to take Natalie to her 6 year well check appointment today so I could get some sleep.
This morning when I rolled out of bed at whatever o'clock, I found out that Drew had been sick on the floor in the family room. Yuck. He has a terrible headache too. I didn't even know 4 year olds could get headaches. He's sleeping soundly on the floor right now, but he's been sick since I came downstairs. Poor boy.
In the meantime I have several things to do before Natalie and I fly to NY in a few days, and with a day at home (forced though it may be) will allow me to get some of these things done. I just hope that my baby boy feels better soon.
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My little Drew is feeling better. He slept a ton and has been fine for the last several hours. Good news. I'm making my yummy blueberry muffins- from scratch, of course! Drew really wants me to make chocolate chip cookies as I sent the last batch with Justin up to scout camp. Now because Drew slept so much today he's wide awake! He has no interest in sleeping right now. So we're watching the Phantom of the Opera: Behind the Mask. Phantom is one of my favorite shows EVER. I've seen it four times at Gammage. I'm hoping we'll see it again soon. But according to their website they aren't coming here anytime soon. Muffins are done. TTFN!

Natalie's 6th birthday

Happy birthday to Natalie! I can't believe she's already 6 years old. She thought she was already 6 because of her party being held in May, and that today was her 7th birthday. She was rather disappointed to learn that she's really only 6.
One of her friends from her kindergarten class had her 6th birthday party today so Natalie got to go to that. Then our ward Family Ice Cream Social was held tonight, so it was just one big party day for our girl!

Here's the birthday girl! Six years old already!

The boys gave Natalie Blendy Pens (which after seeing extensive advertising on TV she just had to have!) I let Natalie take one thing out of the bag at a time. Drew was very curious to see what she got.

Kent and I gave her my old pink Nintendo DS. She was so excited! She always wants to steal it so now she's gonna have her own! We also got her a fun new game that will *hopefully* keep her happily occupied on our long plane trip next week. She did a happy dance...