March 18, 2007

• The more time passes the harder it is to sit down and do this. 

  Shortly after posting last Mom and Dad arrived in Las Vegas.  They were with us a few days.  In that time we spent some time showing off some of Brians work as well as our lot.  We also had the Shahs over for chocolate fountain, icecream, and chat.  We also toured Marens school which was very interesting and great to get a visual on the place that it all happens.  I would love to take selective classes there. 

  

  Any of you girls remember doing this to Dad’s hair.

  On Wednesday the 7th me and the girls preceded Mom and Dad to Ceder City where we spent the next few days hanging out with the Arnell contingency there.  It was so great for the kids to see their cousins again and I hardly saw them except when they wanted something from me.  As for me, I spent a bit of time brushing up on Nintendo as I needed to make sure it was in good working order before I leave feedback on Ebay.  It worked great and I’m afraid I wasn’t the best influence for the kids.  There were occasions they wanted to play more than work on the chicken mansion being assembled outdoors.  We were also treated to a Safety Kids presentation that was well done by Ceder’s best. 

  

  Cousin tub time…

  

  Rosie ‘helped’ build the coop…

  

  

  Saturday we headed to Logan stopping for gas, lunch and to pick up Maddox chicken for all the folks in Logan.  The girls were great travelers even without DVD entertainment.  They sing and play, sleep and snack and I rarely heard a complaint.  Serra asks how much longer about every 15 minutes though. 

  We saw all the sibs in Logan several times and managed a trip to Bear Lake for the day.  The smell of farm in the spring was quite pungent and at one point Grandma’s front door was open and Grandma asked what that smell was.  I would have thought she was familiar with it after so many years.  Maybe with 2 diapered babies in the house she just wanted to make sure it wasn’t coming from a closer source.  It was hard to stay clean as everything was steeped in mud and little peoples shoes seem to end up on big peoples clothes.  We visited a bit with U.Dallas and A.Theresa too and she seems to be recovering from her double knee surgery and cancer ordeals, although that seems quite a lot to deal with in a few short months. 

  

  Julie was preparing for a big Enrichment dinner and ordered some cute picture holders from the Oriental Trading Co.  Of course, she failed to read the fine print and when they showed up they were in need of assembly.  They took about 10 minutes a piece to put together and she had about 60.  Do the math.  With little children it’s hard to find time to get your everyday stuff done let alone 10 hours worth of do dads for some activity.  We spent the better part of an afternoon finishing those up.

  I was finally able to locate and purchase (after 9 years of marriage mind you) a picture of our temple in Logan that I liked well enough to hang on my wall.  Now I just need some wall space.  I might have to wait until we move. 

  Mom and Dad bustled about the whole time, barely sitting for a minute.  They seem to have a lot of business to attend to.  We got a few mission stories at meal times and in the evenings though when places were closed.  

  Wednesday last we headed back to Vegas and again the girls were faboo.  No crying or complaining.  We broke it up with a few stops which really helped and were back in time to spend a quiet evening with our missed Brian. 

  We came back to record breaking heat for the season.  We all got a little scorched at the park on Friday.  It has been in the 90′s since and the plants outside are going wild.  While I went to a great Relief Society program on Saturday morning, Brian spent time in our Desert jungle and got rid of weeds and mowed the lawn.  (It hasn’t needed mowing since October…weird)   

  Back to the RS Program.  A woman from Africa spoke to us of her tragic story and about how as a refugee she lived off of a hygiene kit and blanket sent by the church.  It was really great.  They also had this great display of BandW photos all over the cultural hall of women in the stake.  I didn’t even know they were using some photos I had taken at RS events this past year.  It was fun to see some things I had taken blown up and displayed. 

  I had to leave before it was over so we could attend an Irish drinking party.  It was actually a ST. Patty’s day party thrown by one of Brian’s client.  They threw it in conjunction with the completion of their remodel and invited folks to come and “meet the contractor”.  Brian was able to meet a few people and pass out cards.  We went with the girls and they charmed the “old folks”. 

  We dropped the girls off at Jeff and Maren’s where Maren had crafts all ready for them to do.  It’s no wonder they adore her.  She really gives them undivided love and attention whenever she is with them.  Jeff also wore them out by taking them for a walk to the pool and tossing them in the giant sac.  They were beat when we picked them up. 

  But before we picked them up we celebrated our anniversary with a nice dinner at a nice Italian place called Lucios.  Then Brian surprised me by taking me to see Donny Osmond in concert.  I have always loved the purity of his voice.  Brian thought he would just sit back and take a snooze but ended up having as much fun as I did.  It was a small theater and so even though we were on the back row we were still right there.  He put on a great show, really interacted with the audience, and made me want to run out and buy his new CD.   It was a great way to spend an anniversary since we got to sit close and listen to great love songs sung well.   If you ever get the chance to see him perform… do it.  We both agree if he comes back we would love to go again. 

  So today is our actual anniversary and we think that it seems like we have been together forever and yet just like since yesterday. 

  

  We have started collecting things for the new house.  Last week a mosaic for our entry way arrived from Syria.  It’s very pretty.  We also have a fireplace taking up place in our garage as well as front doors.  We don’t have anymore room so we better get started.

  

  First Phase…the dirt.

   

  • 5:09 pm
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