Hoppy Easter!

Natalie, Ella, and the Easter Bunny (otherwise known as Sadie) wish you a beautiful day!

Tour de Willden

So, my mom was here for a few weeks and we played and played and PLAYED! We all had varying degrees of colds and the weather was generally pretty icky, but still managed to have fun. One Saturday I woke up to find that Greg and Grandma had decided that it was a good day for a bike ride. I wondered at Grandma's enthusiasm for the plan, but it seemed genuine, and I'm always up for a bike ride so off we went to the mission trail. Natalie had her first ride in the trailer, and I pulled it for the first time EVER (I am SO TOUGH), while Ella cruised behind her dad's bike on her new Schwinn Runabout. Have you seen these things? They basically create a tandem bike--Ella loved it. And Grandma? Well, she made it to the first hill and decided she would find a comfy spot in the shade and wait out the rest of the ride. We picked her up when we were done.

The helmet didn't last--it was way too big. And she was sitting in a pool of snacks by the time we were finished.

Greg and Ella took the lead on the trail and Ella shouted warnings to me as they rode: "Bridge!" "Big bump!" "Going uphill!"

I eventually fixed Nat's straps and removed the helmet so she no longer looked like a little slumpy mushroom.

Fortunately for Grandma, she had her cell phone with her so she could make some calls while she waited for us at Mission San Juan.

Love Darts

Natalie and I just got back from a walk, and it is a gorgeous day--warm, blue skies, mild breeze... As we walked, I caught a scent in the air that took me straight back to my elementary school playground, a smell that can best be described as "hot weeds". It made me smile, and suddenly I was thinking about love darts. Did anyone else make these or were they peculiar to Walnut Acres Elementary? During recess, we would run around picking weeds, specifically a hard, round yellow one (which I am pretty sure is chamomile because that's part of the "hot weeds" smell) and a feathery green one that we thought looked like a stalk of wheat. We stuck the feathery one into the yellow one, and voila! A love dart! I don't remember the exact magical powers of the love dart, but it had something to do with the boy you hit falling madly in love with you forever. (We were VERY careful with our aim, believe me!)

Which led me to think about Eddie Rathbun, my first boyfriend. We were 6 years old, and quite the hot item of the first grade. In the third grade we suffered through a unit of square dancing together and had to HOLD HANDS, which was mortifying, but in the first grade everyone knew we liked each other, and that was pretty much it. Well, except for the day I kissed him. It was recess and I was at the water trough (remember those?), probably on a break from running around, throwing love darts at boys. I was trying to have a peaceful drink, but Eddie was pestering me. I tried to think of a threat that would make him back off, and this is what my 6-year-old mind came up with: "If you don't leave me alone, I'm going to KISS you!" The pestering continued, and what can I say? I couldn't back down--I had to kiss him! I chased him, caught him (he was shockingly easy to catch), and planted a smooch on his cheek. But it didn't work! He didn't go away! Ah, the power of love darts. I'll have to warn Ella, who is now a first grader, that kissing boys as a way of getting them to leave you alone may not have the desired effect.

And check this out--a genuine picture of me in a play in the first grade! I was a gypsy, can you tell? (Nice handiwork, Mom.) And Eddie is in the picture, too--he's the kid in the back with his head down.

Here's one more of me, age six, minus the fetching kerchief and beads.

5,256,000 Minutes of Wedded Bliss

10 years ago today Greg and I were married! It was a marvelous day. Despite predictions of apocalyptic storms and "gale force winds" our wedding morning dawned gray but pleasant. Our sealing at the Oakland Temple was beautiful and we were surrounded by loved ones. My bouquet was a masterpiece and smelled divine--whenever I smell stock or tuberoses I go right back to that day.

People are STILL talking about our reception ("My reception, my reception!") 10 years later because it was a rocking party! We danced the night away. Our cake was utterly delicious--layers of chocolate and hazelnut topped with vanilla buttercream. It was so good that instead of sticking the top of the cake in the freezer for a year to become increasingly inedible, we took it with us on our honeymoon and enjoyed it properly.

You know, I knew when I married him that Greg was the right man for me, but every one of the 5,256,000 minutes that have passed since that day have confirmed and enlarged that understanding. I love him with all of my heart. We have had the best of good times together, and he has been my steady rock during the more turbulent moments. He's my best friend and the love of my life. I look forward to the millions and billions of minutes ahead of us, whatever they may bring.

Oh My Heck!!!

We won, we won, we won! Greg just called me and said, "I thought I'd let you know that someone in Hurricane, Utah has commented on our blog to congratulate you on winning the Shannon Hale contest." Huh? So I did a little investigating, and lo and behold, WE WON! To see the announcement, go to Shannon Hale's blog at http://oinks.squeetus.com/. You can see our entry here.

I am so thrilled! We had so much fun reading the book, discussing, and putting our entry together. Four of the six of us (Mandi, Jen, Rebecca, and I) have birthdays in March, so this is one heck of a birthday present for us. We'll have to throw ourselves a party, with Jell-O, birthday pie, and punch, and open our present! (Oh, the contest prize is a box of books from the author.)

Mandi, Jen, Rebecca, Debbie, and Amy, you are the best! I love you lots!

Outlaws From Other Planets

Ah, Valentine's Day. Not a year passes that I don't fondly look back on the Valentine's Day I spent as a missionary in Seattle, Washington, way back in 1998. My companion, Sister Jeppson, and I were out being diligent missionaries and we met a very special lady. Here's part of my journal entry from that day:

"We met a most interesting lady while tracting today--Dorothy Sinclair. The first clue to what awaited us inside her house were the three totem poles in her front yard, the most prominent a HUGE seahorse. She invited us right in to talk--something was definitely fishy. Turns out she wanted to talk to US. She told us about how many lives she's had, about the UFOs she's seen, and the extraterrestrials she's met. They get planted here, you see. Outlaws from other planets, sometimes. There is another Earth behind the sun in our Earth's orbit (so we can't see it, of course), peopled by Neanderthals--she was once there during an out-of-body experience. She spent 600 years on Venus during one of her lives--did you know there is no monetary system on Venus? In another life she was a Pygmy in Africa, a male one. One day while she (he?) was off hunting bears (yes, bears in Africa) to eat, she keeled over dead. She read our auras--mine was blue with a little pink around the hands and yellow around the head and silver around it all. There was no star, which means I am not on any kind of spiritual quest on the earth, but I did have a lot of question marks, which meant I wasn't believing all she was saying. No, REALLY!"

One of the best days EVER! Kids, grow up and serve missions! You'll never be the same. Dorothy Sinclair, wherever you are (Jupiter? Hunting muskrats with fellow Inuits?) , I salute you!

Rodeo Time

It's Rodeo, San Antonio! I took Ella, Natalie, and our friend Rachel to the Stock Show last week and a good time was had by all. What's not to love? Cows mooing and being led (sometimes pushed) across the walkways by their teen-aged owners, a petting zoo full of the most docile critters that have ever nibbled on your clothes, free bouncy castles, free food samples, rides and junk food galore, pig races, and hats and boots as far as the eye can see. We look forward to it every year, and it never disappoints.

Yep, that's a pig snout in Natalie's hand. She liked it, too. She also LOVED the petting zoo, where she tackled, mauled, and kissed (yes, kissed) every animal that wasn't faster than she was. I chased her around saying, "Soft, Natalie! Be soft!"

Natalie also loved the carousel, which we call The Fastest Carousel in the West due to its unnaturally high speed. She loved it so much that she threw a screaming, kicking fit when I took her off. The very nice ride operator let us ride again for free, which made the girls very happy and made me very dizzy. It was worth it to see Nat get giddy when the ride started up again.

Ella and Rachel, long time best buds, sampled all the delights of the day, including a cotton candy for each of them, lots of bouncing, and a variety of rides. Here they are posing on a fake horse. Who knew it could be so much fun?

Hooray for positive peer pressure! Rachel is the 4th of 6 kids, and as such is much more daring in the rides department than Ella. Ella rode a few things, including the big swinging boat ride, that I could never have gotten her on in a million year, purely because Rachel was brave enough to go on them. Check out the following action shot:

Stampede!!!

This year for the very first time we went to the Rodeo Stampede, the official opening of the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. A herd of longhorn cattle trotted down Houston Street and ended at the Alamo, and that was pretty much it. Oh, wait, there was also a slightly alarming group of elderly samba dancers that started the whole thing off, banging and stomping down the street. One particularly androgynous hoofer had us giggling for hours. It was a simple event but also really fun. How often do you get to see a herd of cattle walk down the street, with plenty of cowboys on horses close by?

Greg took this great shot of the herd.

After the herd had passed, Natalie said, "MO!" As in, "More cows, please!"

It was a cold, clear day in San Antonio. Ella found it necessary to wear her nose warmer from Grandma Hawkie, which she actually wears pretty regularly. It cracks people up, and she doesn't understand why.

Crazy Lady

So, Natalie is part girl child, part Tasmanian Devil, and some days the devil portion really takes over. Mondays tend to be especially action-packed because that's the day I clean the house and she trails not far behind me, making more messes. Yesterday I was getting Ella an after-school snack while also doing laundry in the laundry room-cum-pantry when suddenly I noticed that Natalie was dangerously quiet. I entered the pantry and found this:

Apparently she was in the mood for some Rice Chex mixed with floor dust. Notice that her binkie ("Bee") and fuzzy ("Fuh") were both within arms reach, as always. Another day, I came downstairs after my shower and found her very happily sitting and watching Elmo like this:

Binkie and Fuzzy, together again! I removed her and five minutes later she was back in the drawer. Another day her BFF Tyler came to play. It's a good thing he's a solidly built little dude because she really rolls him around. She decided he needed a little help with his Cheerios, whether he liked it or not:

Did you notice the cute little ponies she was sporting in her hair in the last picture? It's her latest look--they look like two pompoms stuck to her head. Here's what her hair looks like at the end of the day when her dad removes the rubber bands and brushes her hair:

She saw the camera coming and said, "Chee!" and made that lovely face. There appears to be something lodged in her hair--not an uncommon occurrence.

And tomorrow I get to clean up the pile of rice and chicken bits that she threw on the floor at dinner time. (She likes to throw food on the floor and then shake her finger at me, saying, "No! No! No!") I've learned by experience that rice is much easier to sweep up when dry and crunchy. Oh, the things that this kid is teaching me!