15 Books

Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Copy the instructions into your own note, and be sure to tag the person who tagged you.

1) Treasure Island
2) Crimson Petal & the White
3) Dangerous Fortune
4) Lion Witch & the Wardrobe
5) Pippi Longstockings
6) The Valley of the Horses
7) Outlander
8) Harry Potter
9) The Other Boleyn Girl
10) The DaVinci Code
11) The Red Tent
12) The Mists of Avalon
13) Humbug
14) Water for Elephants
15) Garden Spells

May Recap

Well, May was a pretty busy month for us. I seem to never have enough time to do all the things I want anymore. I feel like everyday is booked up for me lately. As you know, we got back from our trip to Iowa at the beginning of May. That was so fun, and I'm really missing everyone in Iowa now. Of course, I don't miss the stressful dramatics of my children while I was there.

Ryan and I got to go on 2 dates last month, which is very rare for us. Grandmom said she likes to watch the babies, so I like letting her. For one date we went bowling, and that was super fun. We bowled like 7 games though, and by the end I wasn't doing very well, and I had a huge blister on my thumb. Stupid rental bowling balls don't fit my fingers right. The second date we went to see Angels & Demons at the movie theater. It was a pretty good movie. I liked it better than the DaVinci Code. I've read both the books and loved them. Maybe it helped that I read the book 4 years ago, so it's not fresh in my mind.

We also went to Spokane for a mini-vacation last month. I had a doctor's appointment there and Ryan was getting his truck wheels polished, so we took advantage of that and stayed there 2 nights in the Davenport. (I got a different car the day before we left. It's a GMC Yukon Denali. It's so nice to have extra room!) This time we stayed in the Tower instead of the main hotel. It was really nice, but it didn't seem as nice as the main hotel. The bed was the same though, and that is the most important part. It's like sleeping on a cloud! So comfy. Too bad I had to sleep in the other bed with Byron and Lillie. Ryan got a bed to himself, because our son kept having bad dreams. If I'm in the other bed then Lillie has to be by me so she can nurse. I do kind of like cuddling with the babies though. While we were there we ate at some really delicious places like Old European, Gordy's Sichuan Cafe, and of course the hotel restaurant called the Safari Room. All yummy and recommended!

Then we had Memorial weekend, which was pretty low-key for us. We just hung around and enjoyed the warm weather. We got Byron a baby pool with a little slide. I took the kids to the parade on Saturday night. On Sunday we went to Ryan's parents for a while and went on a little boat ride. Monday, was just a normal day for us, because Ryan had to work.

The last week of May, I started moving all of the things upstairs around to make a room for Lillie. That has been a huge project that resulted in me cleaning out most of the whole upstairs of silly junk that I saved. A good thing! But it really took over my house, and I feel like I'm just getting a handle on it again.

So anyway that was our month. Here are a few pictures of the babes.

Visiting my grandparents while we were in Spokane.

Lillie on the first hot day of the year!

Byron on the first hot day!
Byron's new pool.

Iowa Trip

The kids and I made a trip to Iowa from April 28 to May 2. We went to visit my brother, niece, and a couple of old friends. Travelling with two small children on your own is challenging, and I wouldn't recommend it. If you want to read more about that side of the trip you'll have to read my other blog. It was really great to see everyone though, and after a few days Byron was more normal.

This is my brother and Byron on the first night we got there. His poor nose looked terrible from the cold he had.

My step mom Kathi made some matching outfits for Lillie and Naomi. So we took some pictures for Grandma to see!

They are so cute I had to add two pictures of this !

My brother, Jed, with the little baby girl.

On Thursday we went to the mall and walked around with my friend Brooke and her daughter who is also named Lily. This is the meeting of Lily and Lillie.

Byron was not enjoying himself. He kept asking to go home and was in a bad mood for the first 3 days of the trip.

This is him yelling at me that he wants to leave Stella's (a really fun '50s diner), and me trying to get one decent picture of the two of us on this trip. Didn't happen.

He didn't even think it was fun to get a milkshake poured on your head!

Naomi thought that it was cool though. She didn't cry!

On Friday we went to lunch with Kelli at her parent's restaurant and then to their house to play. Byron really enjoyed doing something more normal, and had a much better mood the rest of the trip. I wish I got some pictures of that day!

Then on Saturday my friends Stacy, Kelli, Brooke and I took all our kids to the zoo! This is Byron in front of the aquariums.

This is Grayce (Kelli), Byron, and Nina (Stacy) in front of otter. I thought this was such an adorable photo! I only wish the otter had managed to swim in to the picture at just the right time. THAT would have been perfect.

This is Kelli (my best friend from high school in Iowa) showing Byron the zebras. I had a baby strapped to my chest, so it wasn't easy for me to pick him up.

Byron really loved interacting with Lily (Brooke). It was so adorable how he kept holding her hands and showing her affection. He even helped her stand up to see the goats. He's so sweet with babies.
This was the last day in Iowa. We spent the whole day with Uncle Jed, and relaxed eating Chinese food. We were sad to go home, but it did feel great to sleep in our own beds once we got there. (For a more thorough and humorous version of the Iowa trip broken into 3 parts visit my other blog http://www.ihatepinkmom.blogspot.com)

A gratuitous Lillie Post

Lillie is doing great. She is my little smiley girl. It doesn't matter how bad of a mood she is in you can start smiling and talking sweetly to her, and she will coo back and smile with those precious little dimples. It makes my heart melt! I have two beautiful children. I can't believe she is going to be 11 weeks old on Saturday! It's going by so fast already. Here are a few pictures of my pretty girl for your enjoyment.
This was out at the park on Tuesday. It was gorgeous! In her pretty spring dress that Jennifer gave her!

Easter 2009

This was the first year we really "did" Easter with Byron. Last year he participated in the playgroup egg hunt, but he was still a little young to get into it. So this year we did the whole shebang! We decorated eggs, and went to 2 egg hunts (plus we did our own at home today).

Here is a picture of him decorating eggs with Conner.

It was so much fun to see him figure out what the whole egg hunt experience is about. If you read my other blog, we had quite crazy experience at the big egg hunt yesterday. But it was still fun, and I was so proud of my little guy. I coached him before he went out on what he was supposed to do, and he did a good job.

Here is a picture of him during the egg hunt.

Here he is hunting his eggs at home this morning.

Three days of Easter festivities gets a little exhausting! Last night I felt like someone had taken a blow dryer to my eyes and shot me in the butt with a tranquilizer dart. I had to counter act it with candy for breakfast! haha At lunch we had a birthday celebration for my mom with ham, and a gluten-free carrot cake. I told my sister that it gets a little hectic to try to find something we can all eat these days. We have someone who eats Kosher, someone with nut allergies, someone who doesn't like fish, someone with wheat allergies, and people who don't like vegetables! YIKES! It was a lot of fun anyway. I think my mom had a pretty good birthday party.

Last weekend we went to the Spring Fair, and the Chick Days at Basin Feed. Here is a couple of pictures of Byron with the baby animals.

New Blog

I started a new blog. This one is just about being a SAHM, so I can post some of my funny stories for everyone. It's called "I hate pink." Go check it out!
I'll still post our family stuff and pictures on this one.

Happiness

For a few weeks now I've been wanting to write a little blog about happiness. I guess the big news is, I have it. Before Lillie was born I was worried that maybe it would make our lives too stressful, or push Ryan and I apart. So her birth, joyous and pleasant (scoff) as it was, I was nervous about how it might change things. I didn't realize that it could change things for the better. I feel like my body is humming with happiness right now. It's so nice to not be stressed out over things all the time, and just take them in stride. I got NO sleep the whole time we were sick, and I was still happy. I don't know how much of this has to do with finances. We have our finances much more under control now, so I feel very liberated by that, even though we are still paying our debt off. Or maybe it's because Ryan and I work together more to take care of the kids. I don't know what it is, and I don't care. I'm just so excited to be in this happy place. I mean it's snowing outside right now, and I'm still happy. It just makes me want to bake cookies. haha My body is thrashed by giving birth to a big headed child, and I'm still happy (it helps that I know my husband loves me, and my body no matter what.)
Happiness I haz it!

Now I wish that I could give a little of my happiness to the other people in my life that are having a tough time right now. I have friends going through divorces, cheating spouses, financial hardships, and illnesses. It almost doesn't seem fair that I should be happy right now, and have nothing to complain about. So I'm going to enjoy it as long as I can, because believe me there has been a lot of struggle to get to this place. I guess that means I've earned it!