JOSEPH SMITH

I have a firm testimony of Joseph Smith the prophet. I am grateful for his life and his legacy. I am grateful for his prophetic calling.

POLLY WIGGLE

For you grandparents who missed it. It was so cute. Wish you could have been there!

SUNDAY, hair drama

I did Sierra's hair in the smallest sponge rollers Saturday night in hopes the her curls would last longer.

It was poofy.

She hated it.

She said she looked weird. Her hair made her ears look big. She looked stupid and on and on.I puffed it up more and put a beret in it, just like my mom use to. We laughed.
Then I tamed it.

At church she was whimpering. I look so dumb. The girl over there is way more beautiful than me. Her father overheard her. He put his arm around her and insisted she know that she is the most beautiful girl in the building and in the whole world for that matter.

She is in CTR now and she got her ring. (It stands for choose the right.) She was so excited.

She prayed in Primary today. She said the closing prayer. This was her prayer, "Heavenly Father, thank you we could come to church. Thank you we could dress modest and have covered up bodies. Thank you we could have three, I mean one chance to be good. In the name of Jesus Christ amen." (Hilarious.)
MJ was throwing a fit at church. She wanted the crackers from the kid sitting behind us. (I didn't know the family at all or I might have begged a few off of them.) I whispered we would make crackers when we got home. She screamed louder. She has been under the weather and we don't like to give gifts in nursery, so Nate was planning on taking her home after the first hour anyway. Rather than fight through the rest of sacrament meeting, he picked her up and took her home.

I came home two and a half hours later. She was screaming in the living room. I picked her up and she said,"Dad's don't know how to make crackers."

We made crackers using this recipe. They were so yummy.

PICNIC AT THE DELICATE ARCH

Yesterday we decide to have a picnic at the delicate arch.

We can do that because we live only an hour away.

It was a perfect day. The sun was shining but there was a cool breeze blowing.

A lot of people must have had our same idea. I think half of Japan and a good chunk of Europe was there. Also, several cute Mormon family's with more than four kids. To say it was crowded, is an understatement.

There is a steep drop off not too far from where we are sitting. We got the girls settled and Nate was passing out sandwich, he went to hand Sierra a sandwich and we couldn't find her. Both our hearts sunk, we started to panic. She isn't a cautious child. I think she has almost killed herself a dozen times and we knew this was it. She had just hit her ninth life. We both immediately ran to the edge and peered over, screaming her name. She popped out from under an outcropping of rocks behind us. She was hiding. I was relieved. Nate was frustrated. He told her to stay by us. I think in the picture she is still irritated with us.... she was just hiding. (Thankfully.)

I think between the crowds and that incident we were ready to go home by the time we got back to the car. We got Slurpee's and went back to Colorado.

Madison is sick again.

She was throwing up all night last night. I think I did six loads of laundry. I am so grateful to have a washer and dryer in my home. I kept thinking that all night last night. What if you were still on the 19th floor and dealing with this? I am so blessed.

Sierra wanted to play UNO with me. I would play a round and then attend to the laundry and then play another round. She loved every minute of it.

I KISS MYSELF

Madison was kissing herself in the mirror yesterday, after I finished doing her hair. (We will see how long her hair will last today.)

She kept saying, "I kiss myself," as she kissed herself over and over again.

I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

When Sierra came in the bathroom to get her hair done MJ started ripping the toilet paper into pieces. I told her to stop in a stern voice. MJ's lip immediately curled downward.

Sierra said, "You hurt her feelings."

I said, "I don't mean to hurt her feeling but she can't waste the toilet paper."

Sierra said, "If that was Madison's daughter, she would say, "Good job, baby!"

I and Sierra cracked up. We almost feel over in hysteria. "Good job," is Madison's mantra.

As I dropped Sierra off at school today I begged her to skip school and come play with me, she said, "I can't mom. I have to go to school. This is life." I love my girls. They make me laugh.

SILLY BALLERINA

First I want to clarify, I put MJ's hair in piggy tails but she ripped them out declaring, "my hairs ouchy."'

And do you like the hole in Sierra's tights?

Sierra went to ballet yesterday. She gets prizes for being good for a certain number of practices in a row. She got to pick a prize yesterday. She chose bubbles. She declared in exasperation when she climbed in the car, "It was so hard to choose. There was a so cute coloring book. I chose the bubbles with the fishy on them." I thought to myself, fitting.

Last night, the silly ballerina was on my bed reading me a library book. She would read really fast, then really slow, then in a high voice, then like she had marbles in her mouth. I said, "Sierra read in your normal voice." She said, "My teacher said to read with expression."

PLAYDOUGH

Yesterday, after we dropped Sierra off at school. MJ, as usual laid on the couch and watched Dora. This is my one hour during the day, where I am allowed to do whatever I want to... Lisa time. However, MJ got bored with Dora, an absolute shocker. She came over to me and said, "Mom, my playdough go in trash. Need more playdough." She was right, about a month ago MJ's playdough was played with a little roughly and lids weren't secured, so they reached an early demise. I assured her by saying, "We can buy some more," and that was all she needed to hear. She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the door. I distracted her by telling her to turn off the television and go find shoes. I finished what I was doing and we headed to the store. She must have thanked me a million times in the store. Her and her sister had a lot of fun playing play dough after school. Sierra, molded a picture of Kit and Glug, her favorite story book characters. For more about them click here.

FIRST PIGGIE TAILS

Isn't she the cutest thing ever? I love this little munchkin of mine. We got back in town yesterday afternoon, after a week and a half of spring break vacation. I will be catching up on my trip over the next few days. Enjoy.

HOME in CALIFORNIA

Are there places you go to that you just know you belong?

This is one of those places for me. The minute the car reaches the summit of the high Sierra mountains, I feel like I am coming home.

Nate was teasing me in the car, "You wish that this is where you grew up."

I assured him I am glad I grew up in Utah. However, I do love the high Sierras of California very much. Sadly, I have never had the pleasure of visiting in spring until this trip. It was a million times more beautiful than it is in the summer, fall, and winter, and that is saying a lot because it is beautiful then too.

This sturdy oak tree is so beautifully flocked in bright green moss. It resides in the front of Nate's parents home. Whenever I gaze at it, it seems to tell me stories of a little boy I never knew, who grew up and became the man that I married. The tree isn't the only one that holds secrets of that little boy but every corner of the property and every wall of his boyhood home.

One of my favorite places to go whenever we visit is church. I love to see the looks on the members faces when they see Nate again. They are always thrilled to see him and talk to him. He hardly ever makes it out of the chapel and into Sunday school because several people crowd him and want their chance to talk to him. They were all disappointed the girls weren't with us.

My birthday was the next day, so my California family met up at Mom and Dad's house and we had a little celebration. Mom made a really good dinner and yummy brownies. My little niece and nephew came to celebrate. It was so fun to just be an Aunt.

THE BIG UGLY

I know catching up like this is abnoxious at best. Bear with me.

We arrived in Utah. Nate wanted to continue onto California. I was dragging my feet.

The thoughts of traveling 10 more hours in the car was mind numbing.

My mom volunteered to keep the girls, so Nate and I could have some time together alone. I think that was all I needed to hear. I grabbed my bags and headed out the door before she could change her mind.

Nate always tries to tell me the drive is shorter than it but it isn't short. It is torture. This is the view till you reach Califorina. (We both call it the BIG UGLY. It is like a never ending ocean of brown and scrubs.)

Often I would see a home, in the middle of no where, just off the highway. I could not help wondering, who lives in that home in the middle of no where? Where is their nearest neighbors? What do they do for fun? Where do they work? Why did they choose to live in the BIG UGLY? I just want to spend a day at their home, just to see what it is like.

We stopped in Reno for a burger. Don't you love In and Out? Yum. I really am such a hamburger and french fry girl.

My in-laws were kind and grateful to have us but couldn't help wondering why we left the best part in Utah. I am sorry Mom and Dad, maybe next time I will be braver.

CREATIVITY

We went to Creativity.

It is an artistic wonderland. You can use a potter's wheel, paint on a canvase, or paint ceramics.

The girls had fun.

Nate had more fun. He went there twice. He painted two bowls, both of them look like fish. If you want to see the final product you have to go to my sister's blog, click here. He is a man of many talents.

Driving to Califorina the next day our conversation went like this.
Nate: I sure hope my bowl turns out.
Me: I am sure it will.
Nate: I hope I got the color's dark enough.
Me: I am sure you did. You went over them enough.
Nate: I can't believe how much fun that was.
When we got back from California he went again.

UTAH HERE WE COME

Nate has two forced vacations a year. They shut down the office and make everyone go home. Luckily, (I am sure not by mistake.) one of these weeks falls on spring break, so we loaded up the car and went on a trip. In true Nate fashion, we didn't know where we were going, for how long, or when we were coming back, but that is all part of the fun. First stop, grandma's house... decided five minutes before departures. (Other suggestion... the Grand Canyon, the Green River, Arches, California and the list went on, but at least by the time we pulled away it was settled.)
Did you know we live ten minutes from the Utah border. I always have to tease Nate and say, "I am only a few minutes from home."
This was the view pretty much 60% of our journey. (Not the eagles on the highway sign, but the terrain.)
The Green river, one of Nate's favorite fishing spots. (He doesn't really like to fish the river this far south, he likes to fish the northern parts but this is it none-the-less.)
The Book Cliffs. This mountain range reaches an end as you are suppose to take your one exit.
After the book cliffs the terrain looks like a barren desert again until you get past Price. Then you get to drive through the mountains.Here are the snacky foods we picked up for the trip, cream soda and dorritos.
Funny how different one side of the highway looks compared to the other.
The other side.
Back to the other side again.
And back. In another life I want to be a geologist. I was fascinated.
I don't know what you call these. I do know they capture wind energy to produce power. They are at the mouth of Spanish Fork canyon. CC always squeals, "We are there." When she sees them.
Nate curses Utah every time we drive onto I-15. He told CC, "They have been working on this road since you were born and look at it. It is still a mess."
I grew up under the shadow of these mountains and I think I will always feel like I am coming back to a place I belong when I look at them.