Mom, Don't Read This!

Seriously.
Stop.

Snakes.

I warned you.

Found this little guy in the yard just before mowing. Let the kids hold him for a minute, then we mailed him to Idaho

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I found an excuse to see Gibbs this last weekend. Yes, I saw others as well, but I don't see some as much as others, so when I see the some, it makes the news and when I see the others, it doesn't as much. Makes sense?

One of my favorite parts of Gibbs? His kids. All of them. All five. It's a shame we don't get to see these kids more than we do although I'm not sure whether that's intentional on the part of their parents or not. Notice Gary's one eye smile in the photo? Now you know where the Dude gets it. And here's most of them after the baptism. Cousin fun is some of the best fun!

April Flowers

For some reason the other morning before school felt like a picture morning.



What do you do when your 4 year old wants to wear his Halloween shirt in April? You say OK.

Spring Break Remodel

So I'm often asked what I do when the Littles leave me to go on vacation. Well, after I eat their candy, break their toys, sleep in their beds, and rummage through their closets to wear their clothes, I get restless and redo their bedrooms. This year, in particular, I felt Nut's room needed a makeover. Something that says "a girl lives here" rather than "a girl's dad decorated". So I enlisted the help of some coworkers and a sister-in-law to put the project together and give me that feminine insight that I'm lacking. And they helped me take a pretty plain room to a whole new level.

BEFORE

IN PROGRESS

 

What you don't see is that we also added a desk, got stuff hung up on the walls and some shelves and blah blah blah. A lot of stuff. Now she's able to have all of her nick nacks out, pictures and other things that were wasting away in storage bins in closets. So here's her reaction when you got back from out of town.

 



 

I really couldn't have done it without Jamie from work and Kip's miracle gal Brittany. And so many people offered little items or help along the way. Thanks guys. It was worth it and I love it. And every time I see this video I smile. Big. And now this is her favorite place. She even does homework at her desk by the light of her Eiffel Tower lamp.

 The dude got a new bookshelf and room design too, but he still colors out at the living room table.

Heavy Dose of Spring

Turns out my kids really love camping. And by camping I mean ALL their pillows and blankets, some electronic gaming devices, and snacks in the comfort of their own tent set up inside the house. The weather isn't quite warm enough yet, but it's getting close. And until we can sleep in the backyard, we'll just keep tenting it up in the spare bedroom.

Turns out the aquarium also has a great indoor play area. I think we are seeing less and less of the animals and more and more of this playground. It's epic. Where were these places when I was a kid?

And before the kite-eating tree had its way with our kites, we also found out the Dude really loves kite flying. It's awethome!

 

Shows how smart our schools are. They let me chaperone Nut's fieldtrip to the zoo. I even got to ride on the bus the whole there and back. I was easily the loudest and most disruptive. I have a reputation to maintain.

 

I was also able to dig the bikes out and get them tuned up and ready to go. I love that these Littles love riding bikes. I'm still working on the love for baseball, but I'll settle for bikes in the meantime.



Sushi

It's now official. All my kids love sushi. Dangit! I was sure the Dude was my hot dog and macaroni guy. But enough visits to the sushi place and watching his big sis put down the California rolls, and the Dude finally decided to join the club.

Model Train Show

A highlight of the early Spring was heading to Ogden (no stabbings reported) to see the model train show. It's our third or fourth time finding a show like this and the Littles really seem to have fun. The know if they endure looking at the exhibits they'll get one souvenir, a train ride, and a chance to do something we normally only do when we're hunting homeless people. That's right, climbing on trains. Freaking homeless people!

Suddenly, Cameras Everywhere

I hate Selfies. I hate the name, the definition and the act. But I love Themsies.

 

And they're also snapping photos where they shouldn't. They are sneaky dogs!





State Capitols

I had to take the scouts to the Utah State Capitol Building the other night. The Dude and Nut tagged along. I gave the Dude my phone to take pictures and play on while we toured. This is the only picture NOT of his thumb or up his nose. So I thought I'd document it.

Thkool!

The Dude finally started preschool in February. He loves it! He finally gets to use his backpack. I think that was how I convinced him to go. Plus, coming with me to work every day wasn't as cool as he thought it would be.

 

And Bubble Toes won her first student of the month award. I was able to sneak away from work to attend the assembly. That's right assembly. In front of the whole school. She's the first one in my line to win an award that wasn't related to "most improved". I would also set the bar so low so when I did mediocre work, my teachers were astonished! Way to go Nut!

Clown-Free Circus

You'll have to take my fuzzy picture's word for it. The kids rode an elephant. But the best part of the story is how I found it in our backyard, wrangled it using a garden hose, sold it to the local circus and used the profits of the sale to buy us admission to said circus to ride on the aforementioned elephant. That's a lot of work to sit on his hairy back.

Bubble Toes and her cousin also got their faces painted. No clue what they got painted as, but they got painted.