Spring Break

Hello!! I haven't completely fallen off the face of the blogosphere, but I have been incredibly neglectful. What happened to me this winter?? But now it's officially spring so maybe I'll be better about it all.

I have to play catch up again so first here's a post about our spring break. Here in CO spring break does not at all coincide with Easter - I don't know why, but it doesn't. So at the end of March Sophie and Ben had a week off from school and preschool so I decided to head to Utah for some fun visiting with our families there. Adrian couldn't get the time off work so he basically just did the driving with me and flew back for work during the week then flew out again to Utah for the drive home. It was so great to see our families and the kids had an absolute blast with their cousins. This post even though in bullet form is bound to be of chunky length, there is no shame in skimming. Actually please skim, I'll feel bad if you read it all!:) So here we go, on with the highlights:

• Fabulously yummy lunch at Los Hermanos with Adrian's Mom, Francine and Augusta, and Brad and Connie and kids. It was so lovely to catch up with everyone. I got a "cold fusion" like I always do and eating there always brings back nice memories (we've had many family dinners there like Adrian's college graduation dinner).
• Driving around Provo showing the kids all the places we lived and worked and eating some Burger Supreme goodness. (I'm mentioning food a lot aren't I!)
• Going to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point with the kids. Nina yelled, "Dinosaur eat me!" when she saw the big dinosaur mural on the side of the museum, but got over that and all 3 kids had a great time. They have a fun water-table play center and dinosaur bones digging center so it was very hand-on and cool.
• Shopping with my Mom and Grandma at Quilted Bear and the University Mall. I always have to take a trip to these places when in Utah. Where else can you choose from such a selection of hair bows for Nina and layering T's??
  
• Going to the Children's Museum in SLC with my sister Lori and her adorable little boy Zach. The kids all had an awesome time and that place seriously rocks at keeping kids busy and happy. We spent the whole afternoon there until it closed and then we all went to Chin Wah for delicious Chinese food. I was seriously impressed by how much Zach who is only 3 loves Chinese food - he ate egg rolls with all sorts of cabbage and bean sprouts clearly visible inside.
  
• Seeing my wonderful friend Cami who has recently moved to Utah. It was so weird to see all her TV room furniture in a different room! Oh all memories that big ol' TV and comfy couches have from our ANTM and SYTYCD nights!! It was so good to chat with Cami again. I can't even tell you how much I love this girl and how fun it will be now that she lives in Utah where we vacay lots! And the kids all had so much fun playing together. Cami even made delicious snickerdoodles - you are a rock star Cami!:)
• Learning how to bake super easy and really good bread from my sister Julie. She got this amazing recipe at an enrichment and now bakes tons of bread and other things like stuffed crust pizza. Only problem is now I totally want a Bosch mixer because I witnessed it wonders in person.
• Having family dinners with my whole family watching the kids eat all together in happy cousin-ness on the deck while the adults sat around the table inside and talked.
  
• Playing Scattagories and Apples to Apples with my sister, her kids, and my grandma. My grandma is quite the gamer with an amazing vocabulary. Very very funny answers came up and I laughed till my gut hurt quite a few times.
• Hanging out with my Dad during the day and hearing him playing Wii downstairs with my kids. Dad you are a very patient person to listen ad naseum to every facet of Sophie and Ben's game strategy in Super Smash Bros.
• Meeting my mom at the school she and my sister work at for Pizza day. It was fun for Sophie and Ben to eat lunch with their cousin Jon and have recess with him while he was in school.
• Going to the BYU Museum of Art with the kids and my grandma. We had such a great time. There were tons of painting that I remember and have such fondness for (I used to work as a janitor at the museum when I was a student at BYU and absolutely loved all the alone time with the art while I cleaned), but there were also some great new stuff. There was an exhibit with amazing paintings of Christ one of which Ben just mentioned the other night during FHE. Yay for some of it making an impression on him. Also there was this amazing installation art exhibit by Dan Steinhilber that we all enjoyed. In one room a bunch of packing peanuts were piled up in the corner and a regular intervals a bunch of fans turned on and blew them all over, it was COOL! Nina did not want to leave the "popcorn room" as she called it. Then there was also an exhibit by Walter Wick the artist behind the I-Spy series of books and the kids LOVED it. It was such a neat trip to a museum, no one was bored and I basked in the glow of one of my favorite places in the world and the opportunity to share it with my family.
• HFAC - of course since I was so close to my beloved HFAC, the building I spent so much time in as an art history major at BYU, I had to take my kids in to show them and I wanted to walk through it again. I think it had been probably 10 or so years since I went up to the rooms where I used to sit mesmerized by the clicking slides and the voices of my professors as they lectured on my favorite subject, art. It was kind of bitter sweet actually. If I'm being honest I admit that I still beat myself up about not finishing my degree so it was weird to be back in that building, walking past those classrooms... But I took a picture of the kids sitting on one of the benched that I frequented as a student and I realized like a lightning bolt how much more my kids mean to me than that degree. I love their guts and wouldn't change the decisions that I made which took me away from my student life. Okay that was heavy, let's move onto the next highlight.
  
• Having dinner at the Spaghetti Factory in Trolley Square with Adrian's dad and stepmom. It was great to catch up with them and we were so happy that the night that Adrian flew into Utah coincided with Adrian's dad being there on a trip from Idaho.
• Getting together with my side of the family to celebrate Adrian and my sister Lori's birthdays. We all went to Cracker Barrel together and had a great time talking and eating yummy food. The cousins all sat at their own table together. Cute. It was so neat during the whole trip to see what a strong bond all the cousins have even though we've pretty much always lived in a different state.
  

Sadly we had to cut our trip a little short and leave right after the birthday get-together to beat a snow storm in the mountains. We did beat it, but ended up getting home at 3 in the morning so it was kind of a rough drive. Of course 3 am is tons better than driving through snow so it was all good.

Another Book Review: The Hunger Games

Ooh, I just finished The Hunger Games for my book club coming up tomorrow night. I am still trying to digest the book and figure out what my opinion is on it. I am biased in the fact that I generally hate science fiction. Really really hate it. But I did not hate this book and I'm trying to understand why. It was nasty subject matter, a horrible world that I did not like spending time in, and a classic commentary on mans inhumanity to man along the lines of Lord of the Flies or Animal Farm... So why am I not writing a horrible review on how gross and icky it was?? Okay, I'm thinking it was because I got involved in the story of the main character. I liked how plucky and courageous she was. I like the tangled romance and especially the sweetness of the would be love interest Peeta. The story line kept you on the edge of your seat.

Oh I guess I should say what the story was about. So there's this world that exists in what was once North America. It has a main government seated in the Capitol with 12 "districts" surrounding it. Well at one point there were 13 districts, but the districts rose up against the Capitol and were beaten down with the 13th district being completely obliterated. So as punishment for the uprising the Capitol draws the names of 2 children from each district and makes them compete to the death in "The Hunger Games". Doesn't that sound absolutely disgusting? And really it is. But I got so caught up in the story that I didn't hate it all. It was such a quick read and I do recommend it. It was not a feel good book, but interesting and cleverly written. I guess it was like a really nasty and to the death Survivor. Crazy that I like it. Um, the ending totally perturbed me though and I'll leave it at that so that I don't give anything away.

Time Out, Fish, and Tess

Time to play catch up. I can't believe I've gotten myself out of the blogging loop again. I really don't know what's wrong with me this winter... Anywho, I've had a pretty full last week and here's what I did (with pictures!!):

Time Out for Women:
This was a really fun event that I went to with Ashlee. The talks were all very inspiring and some of the music was great - to my surprise I really liked Michael Maclean. Not in a buy all his albums kind of way, but I thought he was quirky and actually a really funny guy. I did find out I'm not a huge Kenneth Cope fan, but that's okay, right? He's just a bit cheesy to me. The exception being "His Hands" which I think is an absolutely beautiful song. Some of the presenters were Mary Ellen Edmunds, Michael Wilcox (I've read one of his books - Fire in the Bones), and Deanne Flynn. These were my favorites anyway. I really got a lot out of Michael Wilcox's presentation about the personality of Christ. It was such a comforting and inspiring message about the love that the Savior has for each one of us. Deanne Flynn's presentation was just plain funny, she had us all laughing the whole way through. It was so neat to spend so much time listening to inspiring things and chatting with Ashlee. I definitely plan on going again next time its here in Colorado, so if you want to go too let's go together!


Aquarium:
Sophie and Ben had Monday off of school and preschool and instead of hanging around the house all day I decided to take the kids to the aquarium and it was so fun. The kids have been talking about it non-stop since and even Nina loves to mention sharks and fishies whenever she can. I loved the otters (they are so darn cute) and I think the kids all loved the shark tank. We went through really slowly and I let the kids turn around and go back to anything they wanted to see again (needed to get our money's worth right?!), so it was a nice leisurely day and I'm so glad I decided to try it. Next time maybe the childrens museum...


There were fish up above you in this area of the aquarium and I love this shot of Nina straining to see a shark go by.


Book Club:
I'm so happy to be a member of 2 book clubs! Yay! Right now they are my only extra-curricular activities (for lack of a better word) and it's great that we've been reading some challenging books that are great for discussion. On Wednesday we discussed Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Oh Thomas Hardy... I wish I could have met him because he must have been a very sad and twisted soul that needed some cheering up - maybe I would have made him some cookies or taken him a pass-along card or something. I'm not going to lie and say that I loved Tess. I can definitely appreciate the writing, but man it was painful - nothing is EVER happy, or if it is momentarily happy you know something horrible is right around the corner. I could not believe the whole Angel sleep walking scene... Okay its very symbolic and everything for him to say "dead, dead, dead" to Tess and then lie her in an open tomb, but honestly was that necessary?? Golly, that scene was morbid and horrible. I won't even mention the murder at the end or the laying herself up as a human sacrifice in the middle of Stonehenge... But then I guess I just did.:) Lots of misery and pain. Bleak stuff. But the book did point out some horrible social issues of the Victorian age and others that transcend time and place so all was not in vain. It's hard to think that there are places in the world right now were women are still treated like this. Also I appreciated the book because it is a really interesting study of someone who feels trapped by sin. It shows what someone does and thinks when they feel completely worthless and unworthy of love. Tess did not sin, she was sinned against, but she blamed herself right along with everyone else. THAT was hard to read. Oh, and I think Alec is one of the most deplorable characters I've ever read, Tess's mother and father are dangerous loonies, and Angel is a complete and total dork (even after he comes back, oh I'm not forgiving him at all and am glad he got sick in Brazil). But I digress.... Back to the book club. We had a great discussion about the book and other tangent topics as all book clubs should include. I love talking with these ladies and hearing their perceptions and perspectives. It was a good night.

Amazon Funny

I had to quickly post about this... Almost everyday I get an email from Amazon telling me about the wonderful products on their site that I might be interested in because I've bought such and such DVD or book. Well today's email is the darn funniest email I've ever got from them (quite possibly the funniest email I've ever gotten full stop). It said:

"We've noticed that customers who have purchased or rated The 1900 House have also purchased The Girls Next Door - Seasons 1-4 on DVD. For this reason, you might like to know that The Girls Next Door - Seasons 1-4 will be released on March 10, 2009. You can pre-order yours at a savings of $58.93 by following the link below."

WOW. I guess all the other 1900 House buyers are a freaky-deaky bunch, eh?!! Do you see a connection between these 2 images??

Yeah, umm... Amazon I'm thinking I'll pass on your generous offer on those Girls Next Door DVDs. I have a funny feeling that a slight judgment error was made in sending this particular email out to all your 1900 House buyers... While I am a huge fan of PBS period reality series and do own and enjoy the 1900 House, I'm pretty sure that a series about a lovely British family living in turn of the 20th century conditions is quite a bit separated from the floozies living in the Playboy Mansion... Call me crazy if you like.

Last Week

Argh. I have not been a good blogger at all. Not at all. I have been reading posts, really, but haven't commented for weeks now. Sorry 'bout that. And I haven't been posting because I'm completely boring. For the last week I've pretty much stayed at home except for the occasional trip to Sonic for a big old diet cherry lime-aid (we all have our weaknesses, right?) and a day out yesterday with Sophie. We've been staying home because Nina's immune system is really suppressed due to the oral steroids that she was on for a week so we've kept away from public places to hopefully avoid another upper-respiratory infection. We've been having Sophie and Ben use hand-sanitizer as soon as they get home from school or preschool. Right after Nina got home from the hospital she got a horrible stomach flu and couldn't keep down any food for days (that one she probably got from the hospital or her doctors office because those were the only places she had been). Poor thing, she really has had a rough couple of weeks, but is now feeling much much better. We are doing her breathing treatments only 3 times a day now - yay!

Oh, this last week I think I created a tradition. I read the whole Shopaholic series over and I realized it was this time last year that I did the same thing (link to last years post). I think it's an awesome February/March thing to do. Winter can be bluesy, but you can not have the blues while reading these books. Hilarious. I love Bex! And Luke is quite Mr. Darcy-esque which is also very happy.

Maybe due to the whole Shopaholic reading and being stuck inside all week I decided yesterday to take Sophie for a mother-daughter date to the mall for some shopping. I've been needing some new jeans and it was fun to spend some one on one time with Sophie. She got a little bored after a few stores, but made very good critiques of different outfits. I think she's going to be a great shopping buddy in a couple years. I found a jean skirt and a great navy sweater that was over half off at the Sundance store (I LOVE that store tho I probably wouldn't buy anything there not on sale). SO many sales right now in all the stores, I guess everyone wants you to spend your tax returns at the mall. Sophie and I couldn't believe the number of people walking out of the Apple store with computer boxes. Sophie didn't want to shop for any clothes for herself (she's not all that into clothes yet), so after I found what I was looking for we headed to Mrs. Fields and that made us both happy. It was a great day out with my sweet Sophie and made me realize how important it is to spend more one-on-one time with my kids. They are each so different from each other and it's amazing to discover more and more about them as they get older and more opinionated.

Home

Nina is home! Yay! And a bit hyper I might add. It's as if she is making up for all those hours cooped up in a hospital bed. She had a really good night last night. She was able to come off the oxygen and space out her breathing treatments to every 4 hours. Yipee! It's was actually quite a change because yesterday afternoon they tried taking her off the oxygen for a little while and with in 2 minutes her oxygen levels were too low. Oh, I can't tell you how happy she was to put on her jacket and leave. She kept saying "Carseat! Carseat!". We had a follow up appointment with her pediatrician this afternoon and she says Nina still sounds "junkie" when you listen to her chest, but hopefully the medications (she's on 4 different prescriptions) will clear everything up soon. We have to give her nebulizer treatments every 4 hours even at nights so it will kind of be like having an infant again, but I'll take waking up at night here over waking up at the hospital any day. Thank you thank you to all you wonderful friends who have helped us with babysitting, and meals, and kind words of encouragement. I am so grateful...

This Creature's Comforts

So I've been noticing some things in the last couple of days. It's been a stressful time for me, but I've been able to look at a few things I've done with a curious sociological/psychological sort of perspective, probably because I've had lots of time to think whilst sitting around cuddling Nina or watching her sleep. I guess I have become slightly introspective. Did that make any sense at all?? Sorry. Anywho, I've noticed the things I've been drawn to (book-wise, clothes-wise, music-wise...) to comfort myself and thought I'd write a list, because I love a good list! Don't you?!

Fleece Hoodies -Now if you know me, you know I am drawn to this particular article of clothing, but in particular I've found that my fuzzy fleece hoodies (I have a mint green one and a salmon colored one) are like wearing a comfort blankie. So I've been reaching for them each morning, which means I need to wash one if I'm going to wear it tomorrow.

My Comfiest Jeans - I know a day will come when I get a hole in these jeans (oh they are probably a good 6 years old now), but I'm glad it hasn't happened yet. Nothing better than comfy jeans and a fleece hoodie. Ahhh.

Wuthering Heights - I've been reading this for a book club, but kept reaching for it in the hospital because it takes me to a different time and place that so far from where I am. I read it out loud to Nina that first crazy night in the hospital and it was the only thing that helped her fall asleep. I hope I didn't create some aversion to Wuthering Heights by reading it to her at a bad time. I guess if she loathes it in HS I'll tell her this story.

See's Chocolate - I know chocolate is a given, but man that chocolate bordeaux heart that Adrian gave me for Valentines day was dreamy today.

My Europe '95 playlist on my i-Pod - This definitely takes me to a different time and place. I've mentioned it numerous times, but I backpacked Europe with a friend when I was 17 and recently took all the songs that I had with me on that trip and put them into a playlist. How happy it makes me. I've pulled out my i-Pod while Nina is sleeping and it's totally soothing... Actually "Soothe" by Smashing Pumpkins is one of the most comforting ones of the playlist.

Toddlers and Tiaras - This is a completely silly and at times hilarious (and cringe-worthy) reality show on TLC. I watched it late last night because I was having a hard time falling asleep and completely lost myself in the little beauty queens getting ready for the Chittlin Strut Beauty Pageant in SC. Man, all the rhinestones and hair teasing...

Book Club - Adrian encouraged me to go to book club tonight. It was the Wuthering Heights book club and he knows how much I love that book and how for weeks I've been looking forward to discussing it with other ladies. I totally thought I wouldn't go, but when Adrian encouraged me I agreed that it was a good idea. (Adrian watched a movie with all the kids at the hospital while I went.) It was so battery charging to talk with these wonderful ladies and though I know I am slightly deranged for liking Wuthering Heights (Heathcliff especially) it was so fun to air my views and hear what other people thought of the book. When I went back to the hospital I felt renewed and ready to give 100% again, which is a happy result I think from 2 hours of chatting.

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