Homemade Fun

Inventory of things we have made lately:

Playground equipment. Ella is the designer of this little beauty (it's a seesaw).

Homemade strawberry jam is Bryson's pet project. Ella and I are the chopping crew.

Easter notebooks I made at cRaFt NiGhT!!! They have been well loved and are full-time church drawing pads now.

And Avery is very good at making a mess!

Down the Bunny Trail

General Conference + Easter Sunday = two weeks of Easter. Here are four adults (not pictured) trying to get two little girls to smile in their week-after matching pastels. It's harder than it looks. Ben and Sherrie, how did we manage to not take any pictures of you guys? I bet you would have smiled. Well, maybe for candy.

A successful holiday was had by all.

Valley of Fire

This Saturday we scouted out new territory: the Valley of Fire state park in Nevada, about an hour away. Warmer temps and sunny days = recipe for perfect weekend trips.

Elephant rock

Ancient Indian petroglyphs

Re-creation of adobe housing structures at the Lost City Museum

Avery ate a real apple. It's possible she applesauced a little, but I saw some actual bites swallowed.

Atlatl spear-throwing contest. We both did a few practice throws, but decided we ended up in the correct century.

Hanging out with my girls. Ella set off the fire alarm at the museum trying to go out an emergency exit and scared herself half to death.

And so begins the spring season of lovely weather and weekend playtime. Ahhhhhhhhhh, lovin the Vitamin D!

Business in Malaysia

(Bryson)

This is my first blog post ever so please don't delete our blog off your favorites after reading my post, I assure you the quality will return with subsequent posts.

My company sent me to Malaysia to assist our sales team in obtaining a large order from the Malaysian government. They were evaluating our system and I was needed to help prepare H1N1 samples for testing.
My arrival at the Taipei, Taiwan airport was a welcome sight after spending the previous 15 hours sitting on a plane from LA.


Chinese New Year decorations Once in Malaysia the hotel I was staying at is the tallest hotel in Kuala Lumpur and from my room on the 30th floor I had a great view of the Petronas Towers.



On my last full day some of the women I had met and worked with offered to take me out to lunch to try satay and drink sirap selasih. Afterward they took me shopping to get some souvenirs to bring home. The following morning we visited Batu Caves where several beautiful Hindu temples and monuments had been erected. While I am glad to be home, I will miss my new Malaysian friends. I hope that I will have the opportunity to return and continue exploring the beautiful country of Malaysia.

Valentine's Tea

These...
...led to this...


...and this...


...and this.
Fancy schmancy is the only way to celebrate Valentine's Day.

I'm not gonna lie

When I slept through running and my day started with yoga yesterday, I knew I was taking steps toward a white trash Wednesday. When I then proceeded to storytime and Smiths mega sale still wearing sweats and no makeup, I realized I was there. When I saw everyone and their dog at the library and grocery store, I just hoped that everyone else realized what I'm starting to embrace: sometimes white trash Wed. is the best day of all.

What happens at Disney on Ice, stays at Disney on Ice

At least when it's in Vegas, baby!

Last week we took a little mid-week vacay and headed to Vegas with the Quarnbergs and the Stuart family for the opening night of Disney on Ice.

The show featured Cars, Little Mermaid, and Lion King, with Tinkerbell as the big shabang. Lucky for Ella. All she wanted to see was Silvermist, her favorite. And Silvermist was ALL over that. I seriously have wanted to go to Disney on Ice since I was 6 years old, so I was pretty excited too.

Due to inclement (and that's an understatement!) weather, the girls did not wear their princess dresses that we brought. Oh well, I guess we'll have to go again sometime!

And this is why we do what we do.

Birthday Girlz

My friend Kandyce and I have the same birthday; how crazy is that? We invited everyone and went to 25th and Main last Saturday to celebrate. Happy birthday to me, caprese panini. My friend Chris celebrates the anniversary of her 29th birthday every year since her 29th birthday. That means this was my last "real" birthday!!! Next year the anniversaries begin...

This place is famous for awesome cupcakes, so four of us shared so we could try more flavors. Coconut cream, you are the winner.