Thankful

Everytime we go on a roadtrip I promise myself we won't be taking another one until we get a motorhome. Nothing super fancy. Just something with a toilet. And couches. Something like this. Is that really too much to ask?!

It might be cheaper to buy my children bigger bladders and give them Dramamine.

Anyway. Complaining. That's not very Thanksgiving-y. And I do have so much to be thankful for.

Like these lovely, lovely people.

{I'm pretty sure Lilian [my brother's wonderful wife] is squishing my head.}

And, of course, mashed potatoes.

And for this cheesecake.

 

And this adorable little boy. Who has had a bloated tummy since Thursday. We will say nothing about my tummy. NOTHING.

And for Emily for this adorable outfit. And for Elliot for getting the smile.

And for Claire's friend. 

(She would be thrilled to live with Grandma. She would jump up and down in elation watching me drive away.)

And you.

The end.

Insane.

Pregnancy makes me crazy. Not just emotionally insane (although, that too), but also sort of just stupid. I kind of lose my grip on reality. I forget to consider the consequences of my actions. Like wearing high-heels, for instance.

This pregnancy, most of the results of my insanity have been good. I've moved, I've started a preschool, and on Sunday I returned from an 1800 mile trip that we spread out over an exhaustingly short 3 days. And yes, I am due in two weeks. (Don't worry. Brad's EMT-Basic trained. He totally could have handled delivering a baby in the car.)

It was my brother's wedding. Good cause, no? Still, you should have seen the looks I got from well-meaning wedding attendees insisting I was completely nuts.

That's just what every pregnant woman loves to hear.

But it was fun. I might even say it was worth it if my car wasn't suffering the after-effects of the tantrums of two young children in the car for 28 hours in one weekend.

I do not want to clean that thing.

No photos, Mom. We're miserable.

I should probably also remember for next time that the car is uncomfortable.

Okay, no. Car trip and all, the trip was fantastic. Fast. Fun.

The ceremony was beautiful.

The reception was at La Caille. No need to say more.

But I will anyway. Of course.

I should warn you that this will be long. And probably boring. You read at your own risk.

The place is amazing.

The food is incredible.

 The plant life... invasive.

Yes. That is a golfing strip for poor bored gentleman. Brad took full advantage.

And my children even behaved. Through a formal sit-down lunch.

Grace enjoyed every minute. She and Claire were genuinely spoiled by my family and she was thrilled by the attention.

...until Aunt Karlee won the bouquet toss instead of her.

And then she was sort of devastated.

But that wasn't why we went. This is why we went:

Is it just me blushing right now? Whew!

I, for one, am really excited for Lilian to be in my family. I love her.

And... bonus. We even got to sneak a trip to Ogden to see the Neville family for a couple of hours.

The whole thing was crazy. We are crazy. But it was a blast. Even if we didn't get rewarded with any beautiful photographic souvenirs of our trip. I mean, look at that charming, photogenic family there.

*Sigh.*

A Day Out

It has rained here for the past two days. Straight. And in our neck of the desert, when it rains, it floods.

Kind of like this.

We are inside our apartment most of the time anyway. The rain doesn't make much difference. But today we got the chance to go to an art festival here in town. Grace was stoked. The main exhibit was a showcase of Lego art. On top of that, there were crafts for the kids, elaborate toy train sets, and community shows.

After the Home Depot Build a Bank craft, I asked the girls to hold up their work and smile. In other words, I requested they pose.

We all know how that goes.
"Thank you, Grace. Claire, look at the camera!"

"Thank you, Claire. Can you smile now? And Grace, look at the camera!"

Grace: "Claire. You smile like this, see? This is how you smile for the camera."

Claire: [fish face.]

Grace: "Good, Claire, that's good trying."

Yes, I believe that is Claire's real attempt at a smile.

And... that's as good as posing gets around here, folks.

Universe, can we be friends now?

Last weekend I drove to visit Brad in Lubbock. Alone. It was hard to leave the girls since I see so little of them as it is. But I missed Brad. A lot. And 12 hours of driving in only two days with two little girls in the car just felt overwhelming. (Finding bathrooms every two hours and holding one daughter while helping the other onto the toilet, for example, is more than I was emotionally ready to deal with on that particular weekend.) So, I packed the car and took off.

I stopped once. It was for gas. And I left my car running while filling up since the alternator is troubled and sometimes the car won't start. I didn't want to have to ask a stranger for a jump. It was much easier to risk a static fire and blowing up the gas station instead.

Brad and I had a wonderful time. I really like him. He makes me laugh. 

And then the next day I packed up and headed home. In the middle of the day. Because I get sleepy and apparently drunk driving is a problem for highways in the middle of nowhere. Thought I would avoid problems.

Until I hit a deer. 

To be fair, I think it should really be blamed on him. The deer. I mean, he saw me. He saw me long enough to hesitate, actually bound away momentarily, and then decide, "Yeah, I'm going for it!" 

I saw him long enough to slow down from 70 mph to 40.

And then I passed slowly enough to watch him flip 6 feet in the air and land on the side of the road. When I turned around to find him, he was gone. 

I felt sick. I'm pretty sure I fatally injured that deer. 

Surprisingly, I thought nothing of my car. Until I thought to myself, "How am I not finding it? Shouldn't there be blood or antlers or tire marks or something?" So, I got out of the car, looked around the area, turned... 

and my hood was just completely crumpled.

I made it home fine. But remember the fritzy alternator? And although my hood is crumpled enough to see underneath, I can't actually open it. You know, to jump it.

Guess whose mom is driving her to work and picking her up everyday?

Add that to apartment rental problems (and wicked expensive apartments!), drama at work, an unusually grumpy and obstinate Grace, an unsleeping Claire, and an absent (temporarily) husband. And that would be why I'm a little nuts. and tired.

 

But writing this made me laugh. And that makes me feel betterish. How about you? Anything you can make funny and laugh about?

Nothing Good

...ever comes from playing outside on a Sunday. We have lots of multi-generational examples proving that only injuries occur following Sunday play. So we can add an incident from last Sunday to that list:

Grace insisted on a band-aid, and we spent the rest of the evening making cookies. All better.

A Lot Going On

Sometimes motherhood is stressful. And kind of embarrassing. Like today. When a member of our stake presidency came to set Jay apart for his mission and Grace let him in. She was stark naked. Really set the mood for the evening.

I'm sure I'll laugh about it. Eventually.

I know this because today I found some pictures from last June. The month we were so overwhelmed that we both forgot our anniversary. But still I took pictures. Because a lot happened. And I knew I would laugh someday. And this week, I did.

My children. sort of clothed. Shredding newspaper.

Oh, and Brad. Feeling overwhelmed over all the work required on our house. Hoping I will be cleaning up the mess. Which I did. It took me a week. There was a lot of newspaper.

Very happy. Maybe they should have been hamsters. Hmm. Missed opportunity there.

Really excited about shredded newspaper.

The toys were packed. They would have been excited playing with dirt. And, in fact, they were. That, and food they scavenged.

That is a package of Gerber Sweet Potatoes. And that is our only couch. And Claire. Naked.

And that is Cran-Applesauce with Cocoa Puffs. And new grout. And Claire. Naked.

And that is Great Value's version of Nestle Quik. And Claire. Naked. Apparently we packed the clothes with the toys.

And based on these observations from our household in the month of June, we learn that my children are hungry, bored, naked, and in need of attention.

But deeply loved. And very funny.

Another Year Has Gone By...

... and I still have last year's unmailed Christmas postcards sitting on my desk. The top on the pile is addressed to the Cunninghams and includes a postscript urging Sarah to start a blog. She still hasn't. Probably because she never got my postcard.

She wasn't the only one. Most of them are addressed. But I am really challenged by putting on stamps. And walking out to the mailbox. And so for those of you who are sitting here in my unsent pile, for your belated benefit, I present last year's postcard.

I'm dumbfounded by the difference that a year makes. Serious changes, people.

Although I suppose the important things have stayed the same. Like my tendency toward lateness, for example. Or not-at-allness. Which is my cue to announce that Christmas postcards are not-at-all this year. This probably does not matter to most of you since cards from us were not-at-all last year too.

My apologies. I am not Superwoman like the rest of you. Okay, let's be honest. You can't qualify for Superwomanhood if you can't even remember to buy stamps. Or make a list of addresses. Or take a family photo during the full course of one year. 

And put it that way, I sound pretty lame. Bummer.

Taking it Back

I'm sure you've been sitting on the edge of your seat for the last few days to see how our experiment has been going. Okay, so you don't really care. I'm gonna tell you anyway.

We've been for a walk around the pond where the ducks came to eat Claire's coat and Grace's fingers. 

Brad brought Claire to lunch at work where we watched her walk and trip and try to run.

We hung out on the porch teaching Grace to jump rope. We didn't have a rope, so we used one of Grandma's extension cords. [Don't tell.] And we discovered that our man, Daddy/Brad, is pretty good at jumping tricks. 

And today we met at a park on my way home from work.

It's going well.