Palmyra, People

We headed off to Palmyra for another trip to the temple. And it made my heart happy to be there. Everyone should go to Palmyra in the spring--there is something so tangibly sacred and spiritual about Palmyra in the spring. As usual, the temple trip was good for the soul (even if the six-hour round-trip car drive with a toddler was not good for the soul. Thank goodness for my son's seemingly unhealthy obsession with Baby Einsteins). Here are some shots of the family in the Sacred Grove. (And thank goodness it was not rainy like last time).

This is actually outside the Sacred Grove where we ate lunch on some picnic tables. Have I told you how much this kids loooooooves to eat? And how he will eat anything & everything? I had gone to this yummy local cafe and I was only going to buy two sandwiches to share between the three of us, but then I remembered how much my son ate. And he ate an entire adult-sized sandwich all.by.himself. And he loved it. And he kept making the sign for "more".

Will RAN in the grove. He loved it. He loves trails and nature walks and being outside in general. He went up to every tree and gave the tree a hug (I tried so hard to get a shot of that). And he refuses to hold your hand when we are on walks, as you can see from the above photo. And please ignore the fact that it is not a shot of my best "side".

He tried to pat all the leaves, pick up every rock and run down all the ravines.

And since we didn't have time to spend three hours there, Josh had to carry the peanut on his shoulders. And, of course, Josh's head became a drum.

Aren't my boys the cutest? I wish I could somehow express in words the absolute peace and joy I always feel when I go to the Sacred Grove. And I wish I could convey the overwhelming feeling of gratitude that overcame me as I walked through that holy place with the two people I love most in the world and how blessed I felt for all that I have. With the sun streaming through the leaves, casting intermittent rays of sunlight on the path, with the birds chirping in the trees and the sound of my son's laughter and awe at every new thing, I truly felt blessed. I am blessed. Happy Palmyra Trip!

Thirty, Flirty & Thriving

Well, it's official: I'm thirty now. When Josh and I met in Jerusalem, I had just turned twenty. I was so proud of myself for being twenty, constantly claiming that I could do anything now that I was twenty. Well, now that I am thirty I am not so bold. However, one thing that I can do now that I'm thirty, that I surely couldn't when I was twenty: change three messy diapers before 8:00 a.m. That's right--I'm thirty now and I can change a mean messy diaper. That's saying something.

My b-day week, as I like to refer to it, was marvelous, perfect, everything that I had asked for. It started off with a bang: Will waking up at 4:00 a.m. with one of those precious diapers. But b-day miracles do happen--Josh heard him (a miracle in itself) and got up unprompted, changed the diaper and rocked Will back to sleep. Impressive. It was all uphill from there. Will woke up again at 7:00 (again with the messy diaper--that's #2) and when I went in to go to the bathroom, I found a note leading me on a treasure hunt to find all my b-day prizes. And what prizes I received: bike shorts, bike shoes, clipless pedals (brave of me), bike socks, bike gloves. I'm sensing a theme. But I was stoked. Josh told me the other day that I'm starting to look like an actual cyclist. I wonder what I looked like before? After the treasure hunt, I got my third b-day present from Willy--yup, the THIRD messy diaper before 8:00 a.m. Happy B-day to me...

Anyway, my visiting teachers came and brought me flowers, I went out to lunch and then Will took a nice long nap while I got caught up on all my shows. Even though it was a Monday and that's my cleaning day, I did not do one productive thing. Perfect. Then, that night after I went running in the rain, took a shower and read on my bed in my robe (one of my favorite pass-times) I got the dream dinner: chicken Marsala, molten lava cakes and even cake batter ice cream (one of my favorites). We finished watching Australia (good show) and then were off to bed.

Here's the man cooking the meal (yes, in his penguin jammies--real men wear penguin jammies):

Friday rolled around (my official celebration day) and I got everything on my list. A homemade breakfast of steel-cut oats with all the fixins' (after I slept in, of course):

(Attractive photo of me eating breakfast, no?)

A mani-pedi: (showing it off in my new gold wedges) A family nap (love those. No photo included b/c we were sleeping!)

A romantic dinner at our favorite restaurant. I wish I could give the meal justice: spinach, artichoke dip for appetizer; pecan, cherry encrusted pork chop (dream); and chocolate pecan pie for dessert. Yes, it was heaven. And while we were enjoying a candlelit dinner, these two hooligans were babysitting our child:

(lucky for us, Will was in bed the entire time)

The peanut & the b-day gal:

Will's new trick:

He was sooooooooo excited that it was my b-day:

And how sweet is that face?

Happy 30th B-day to me! Thanks to my specified list (and my dutiful hubby), all went spectacularly well! Thanks, Squish for a great week! Thanks everyone for all the cards, calls, thoughts and presents! And the best gift--my sis Emily and her little guy Garret came the next week for a visit! Yipee! More to come on that.

Here's What We've Been Up To....

Building fancy towers.
Singing songs (this is the chorus to one of his favorite songs 'Slippery Fish.' He sticks his hands to his face when the song says, "Oh, no the slippery fish got eaten by a tuna fish." It really is the cutest thing. I'm pumped I got it on film).

Taking all the Tupperware out of its proper place and then putting it on his head.

Climbing into the toy box, sucking on every last toy and then throwing every last toy out of said toy box.

Posing in his little spot on our front step. We have been playing outside like crazy (when our unpredictable spring weather permits) and Will loves to climb up the front steps and perch himself on the door. He thinks that doorstep was made just for him.

Of course, we've been doing other things like sleeping and eating and getting into every off-limit item in the house, but these are the few things that I just happened to document.

Easter 2009

Easter 2009 was a huge success, mainly because we, once again, were fortunate enough to have our crazy cousins from the North join us. Here's the break-down of our fun-filled weekend:

• Getting far too little sleep, thanks to two little boys who, apparently, love each other so much that they want to spend time together at all hours of the night
• Doctoring one sick, sick, sick baby boy (Will)--just like last Easter
• Devouring burgers at Five Guys, as always
• Staying up waaaaaaaaaay too late (especially considering the fiasco that is two boys four-months apart sleeping under the same roof)
• Enjoying a fun, scenic bike ride sans kids (they were at home with a sitter)
• Dying Easter eggs--glitter this time!
• Eating at The Cheesecake Factory where the kids were beautifully mannered and we walked right in and got a table (unheard of in this town--then again, we did go to dinner at 4:00 in the afternoon; I'm sure that helps.)
• Watching Juno again--what a great flick
• Participating in EASTER MORNING: watching the kids find eggs (mostly Beth, though Will did find a few of his "ball" eggs) and opening their baskets
• Relishing our homemade Easter Brunch: yum, yum, yum
• Arriving late to church, even though it's at 1:00, all so we could attempt the pre-church Easter shots that were not so successful (see below)
• Remembering why we celebrate Easter: because of Christ's victory over death we can live together forever as families (but hopefully in heaven those little boys will sleep--otherwise, I'll take option B, thank you very much).
• Happy Easter to all and to all a GOOD NIGHT!

Enjoy the photos:

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Bunny?

Not my son. Perhaps his inordinate fear of large Holiday figures has finally disappeared. Perhaps it is because his dad never let him go. Or perhaps it is because he has finally figured out that large Holiday figures, strange as they may be, are somehow connected to the sugary goodness that is candy. Whatever the cause, there was no screaming involved during Will's first encounter with the Easter Bunny. So, though he wasn't exactly thrilled to meet the Bunny Man, we'll still call it a success.

What he was thrilled to meet: eggs (which he called balls the entire time) filled with chocolate. Plastic eggs really are my new favorite friend as well. He loves figuring out how to open them and then when I put prizes in them (usually just goldfish and raisins at home) he thinks that is the greatest thing, so it occupies tons of time. I just hide eggs around the house and then I have some uninterrupted time, just like that! (On a side note, I was trying to hide Easter Eggs for a Young Women's activity at the church yesterday and Will was "helping" me. By helping I mean un-hiding all the eggs I had just hidden and then taking out whatever was inside those eggs and destroying it. So very helpful, right?).

I'm pretty sure that he just stole an egg from this fellow. Ah well, at least he got an egg.

Here he is with his "balls", lovin' every second.

Happy Easter!

General Conference

I love, adore, cherish, treasure, relish and every other synonym you can conjure General Conference. And this last weekend was no different. I loved the messages, the spirit, the renewed desire to do better, to be better. How blessed are we to have living prophets on the earth today to guide us and direct us in our lives? And, of course, I also love General Conference because I get to spend time with these two crazy hooligans:

You Know You're in Vermont When....

....it smells like cow (and I mean really smells like cow). And even though it smells like cow (or maybe because of it?) we keep going back; we just can't get enough. And why can't we get enough? Because it has everything we love: maple sugaring; fun bike rides; dreamy restaurants like The Kitchen Table; entertaining violin concerts presented by one Beth Madsen; and, of course, some of our favorite people--Beth, Sam and their parents (yes, that's what you've become, Nate and Amy--Sam and Beth's parents). This time Vermont even had an added perk--Josh's mom, Adelee, as we so fondly refer to her, was visiting, so we jumped in the car, hopped on the ferry and were there in a jiffy to spend time with our fun Granny. And what fun we had. Thanks Nate and Amy for housing all us crazy hooligans for the weekend and thanks to Adelee for all the good times. We heart Vermont!

Willy Will and Sammy Sam in their twinner outfits (bought independently, mind you). The boys were so funny that night--Will trying to wrestle Sam, Sam trying to kiss Will. It was a riot!
Maple sugaring at Taft Farm (where we bought $80 worth of maple syrup). Oh, the smell, the pungent cow dung smell. I can smell it now, just thinking of it. However, the smell did not deter Will. He loved him his cows and wanted to touch them and play with them and roll in their dirty, mucky filth. Yum, yum, yum.

What would VT be without a picture of Beth? Too bad it's blurry.

This is Will's face when we went into the barn. Pee-yew!

On his first John Deere--it was love at first sight.