Easter, Spring, and All That Good Stuff

Happy April!

Now that Spring Break and Easter are over, it feels like the end of school and summer vacation are just around the corner! This year, like all others since my children have started school, seems to be flying by at record speed.

We stayed local during Spring Break, but had a great time going on hikes and having picnics, and taking a short trip to the Jelly Belly Factory. (Free candy, baby!) Easter and General Conference were also wonderful, and then Monday brought us back to the reality of school and schedules and homework.

But because I don't want to think about all that right now, I will reminisce about our backyard Easter egg hunt instead.

Wait, before we get to the egg hunt, here are the kids with some of their loot. (Hooray, Dollar Store!)

Cal was still sleeping when the baskets were opened, but once he woke up, he was more than a little excited to find a new jump rope. The boy loves cords, jump ropes, and basically anything he can trail along behind him. It's a very strange obsession, but hey, what can you do? Better than Dexter refusing to try on anything but girl's sandals at Target. But I digress.

Ok, now onto the hunt!

After the first round of hunting was done, we discovered they had all found the exact same number of eggs. (And Jay and I barely interfered, I promise!)

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Dexter eventually agreed to buy boy's sandals. He looks like a little man in this outfit ... it kills me.

The end!

Scenes from Sacramento

Every few days, I will randomly exclaim to Jay, "I really love it here!" And it's true. I am happier here than I expected to be. Or, better put, I thought it would take a lot longer to love our new hometown than it did. I love the neighborhood, the friendly customer service, being close to bike trails and the lake, being literally 5 minutes from the temple, and watching wild turkeys meander in our backyard.

Of course, I might change my tune in July when the approximately 150 degree weather hits.

Anyway, the point is, as I was looking through pictures thinking about what to post, I found a lot of random snapshots of our life here that I thought I would compile for your viewing pleasure. At least I hope it's a pleasure.

A small section of Candy Heaven in Old Town Sacramento

A very small part of the Railroad Museum, which is always a bit hit with all the kids

Atop the Capitol Building with Jay. I nearly had a panic attack climbing the rickety spiral staircase to the cupola. My sister-in-law, Emily, and Jay both had to keep reassuring me that I wouldn't plunge to my death. Incidentally, this part of my behind-the-scenes tour of the Capitol made me seriously reconsider my plan to climb Half Dome with Jay this Spring. I don't remember having a fear of heights until I had children.

Speaking of children, here's Cal (with his new haircut!) roaming one of the many wide open spaces near our home.

During a bike ride with Jay and the boys, we stopped at a local bakery and refueled before heading back home. The boys were a big hit in the bakery, and they scored some "hard hats" to wear on the ride home.

Two wild turkeys hanging out on our deck. Cal is slightly freaked out by them, but Dexter always wants to go outside and touch them. Of course, they fly/walk away as soon as we open the sliding door.

Well, I think that's the end of our Sacramento tour for today. I hope it has convinced you to come for a visit! You're more than welcome! (Just don't all come at once....)

More Home Improvement Fun

So, during the same week we did the Stars Wars bathroom, we also updated the entryway. The entryway wall was white - one of the only walls without wallpaper - and boring. (I searched for a "before" picture, but we don't have one, so you'll just have to use your imagination. It shouldn't be hard ... think, "plain white wall.")

We had such a hard time deciding on a color to paint the entryway, mainly because we had already painted the nearby walls some pretty bold colors, and we didn't know what other color would work with them. Probably because there *is* no color that will work with them.

So, Jay suggested we put flooring on the walls.

And that's what we did.

Jay and his brother, Jack, used IKEA laminate floor and adhered it to the wall while I watched from the sidelines and tried to keep the boys out of the way. I am so happy with how it turned out. I've even stopped worrying about the fact that the instructions screamed "do not glue down the laminate under any circumstances!" We're all about throwing caution to the wind here.

Here's the view when you walk in the door:

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "That's paneling! I thought the Fear's hated paneling!"

We do dislike paneling ... bad early 80's paneling like this:

What we have now is flooring. On the wall. Horizontally. It's different, I tell you, it's different!

Ok, where were we? Oh yes... here's a view from the living room. You can see one of the bold color choices I was talking about, along with my knock-off George Nelson clock.

I really love that view. Except for the flooring and the wicker chair and the 80's chandelier ... but those are projects for another time.

We're having a lot of fun putting our stamp on this home. It's leaning towards the 70's a bit, but hey... the house was born in the 70's and so were we. It's like going back home, man. Like going back home.

Mix Tape

Jay surprised me with a new iTunes playlist of songs that remind me of my growing-up years. It was awesome. I was rockin' out in the kitchen as I flipped pancakes and sang along with every new song. Some of the songs we already owned, and some were new purchases that I know he only purchased for my sake. (Rick Springfield!) I really lucked out in the husband department. As if I need to tell you all that.

Here's a list of what he included. I'm rocking out to #21 right now.

The question is, what songs would you add?

1) If You Leave (OMD)

2) Walk Like An Eqyptian (The Bangles)

3) Karma Chameleon (Culture Club)

4) Jump (Van Halen)

5) Policy of Truth (Depeche Mode)

6) Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (Michael Jackson)

7) You're So Vain (Carly Simon)

8) Forever Young (Alphaville)

9) Oh l'Amour (Erasure)

10) Glory Days (Bruce Springsteen)

11) Red Rain (Peter Gabriel)

12) The Reflex (Duran Duran)

13) Jessie's Girl (Rick Springfield)

14) Faith (George Michael)

15) Everybody Wants to Rule The World (Tears for Fears)

16) Mony Mony (Billy Idol)

17) Mandy (Barry Manilow) - I think it's hilarious that it comes after Billy Idol

18) Who Can It Be Now? (Men at Work)

19) Head Over Heels (Tears for Fears)

20) Your Love (The Outfield)

21) The Promise (When in Rome)

22) Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen)

23) Drive (The Cars)

24) Total Eclipse of the Heart (Bonnie Tyler) - if you haven't watched this version on YouTube, then you haven't lived.

25) Just Like Heaven (The Cure)

26) More Than Words (Extreme)

27) The Heart of Rock & Roll (Huey Lewis and the News)

28) Don't Stop Believin' (Journey)

29) With or Without You (U2)

If you're ever bored, you can look up a lot of the original videos of these songs on YouTube. It's quite entertaining. But for now, get commenting! I know there are some awesome songs I missed. (But don't say "Tainted Love." Oh, how it irritates me!) :)

She might not look like much, but she's got it where it counts

Jay had a few days off in a row, so we tackled some projects around the house. First up, the upstairs bathroom! We kept our specific plans a secret from the kids, but when Natalie found out we were planning on making changes, she was very apprehensive. For some reason, she had become attached to the faded yellow 1980's wallpaper that adorned the walls. I tried to assure her that she would love what we had in mind, but she seemed skeptical.

The before ...

With wallpaper (and me! hello!):

With wallpaper partially taken down:

The After ... (It's a challenge to get good pictures in a small space, so you'll just have to use your imagination to piece it all together.)

A Star War's theme!

Old-school Star Wars poster

"May the force be with you" vinyl on the mirror ... my favorite part!

And yes, that is the Millenium Falcon attached to the back wall. The kids haven't been playing with it as much (it had been in our garage for months), so we put it to good use. It can still be taken down and played with if the kid's are begging.

The only thing left is to put the kids' names above each of their towel hooks. I tried to paint them on myself, but it was, um ... unsuccessful. I contacted the person who made the vinyl we purchased for the mirror (love Etsy, by the way), and they are going to custom make the kids' names in yellow vinyl Star Wars font. The perfect last touch, I think.

When we did the grand reveal for the kids, they were very excited. They have been telling everyone, including strangers in Dexter's case, about their new bathroom. And the biggest fan of all? Natalie. I guess Star Wars trumps funky yellow wallpaper after all.

Picking On Someone My Own Size

Every time - and I mean *every* time - my mom and I are in the same room, the discussion inevitably turns to height. There is a constant need to determine who is tallest, or rather, who is shortest, since that is the least enviable status. We will visit for hours without the subject coming up, but as soon as we begin to depart, the following scene takes place:

We will be saying our goodbyes at the door when Mom will turn to hug me, and will say, "How did you get so short?" I will argue that we're the same height, and then before you can blink an eye, our shoes are off and we are standing back-to-back, surrounded by various witnesses who are crouched down so that our heads are at their eye level. If my sister is with us, then she will be subjected to the same routine. Of course, we never come to a final agreement on who is the shortest, as there are usually many accusations of poofy hair, or some other obstacle to an accurate measurement.

(Yes, we could use a tape measurer and measure our individual heights and then compare them, but where is the fun in that?)

The last time Mom came up to visit, the brouhaha was just beginning when Jay announced he had finally had enough. (He has only had to deal with it for 9 years ... I've been dealing with it all my life, the lightweight!) Jay went to the garage and came back with a gargantuan level. We stood back to back, had the level placed across our heads, and had pictures taken of the result:

Huh. Turns out I *am* the shortest after all.

(Although, if you look closely, you'll see that Mom's hair is much poofier than mine... I'm sure it affected the outcome....)

School Holidays Make Me Happy

Oh, how I am loving President's Week! I never realized how much I would love breaks from school, but I think it's possible that I enjoy them even more than the girls do. I love having all my kids home, safe and happy under our roof. And I must admit, I really love the lack of a schedule. I stay in my pajamas until Cal's morning nap, and it is heaven! (Although the Girl Scouts who delivered our cookies and the neighbors who see me run out to check the mail in the morning might disagree.) It's possible that by the end of the week I will be happy to send the girls back to school, but I sort of doubt it.

Have I mentioned that the weather here has been gorgeous? I am sure that is contributing to my happy President's Week mood.

Another thing that is contributing to my happy mood is that our good friends, the Oler's, came to visit! It was wonderful to see them. We ran around Sacramento, battled the crowd at Fairytale Town, boogied the night away at a church dance, and ate way too many cinnamon rolls. I loved having them here. Dexter loved it, too... he has asked about them every day since they left. He hasn't added them to his prayer list* yet, but I'm sure that's coming.

(*Dexter's prayers almost always go something like this; "Heavenly Father, keep this day. Papa come back, Grandma come back, Daddy come back. Jesus Christ amen.")

Here are Joyce and I, ready to leave for the dance. Surprisingly enough, the theme was not "Polka Dots," it was "Dancing with the Stars." We might not have had Oscar-worthy ball gowns, but we did get to ride in the 'Rolla, so we were feeling pretty fancy.

I think we looked pretty cute, if I do say so myself. It was either those outfits, or these:

I think we made the right choice.

Happy President's Week, everyone! And in the words of Dexter, "Oler's come back!"

What We've Been Up To

Dexter in time out

(kidding! We have a much smaller castle for time-outs)

Dexter in happier times (must be the haircut!)

One of Cal's latest obsessions ... climbing into random containers

See?!

(nothing cuter than a baby in a box!)

Cal's also been throwing things away lately... things like shoes and much-beloved personalized water bottles. And of course we didn't figure out what was going on until it was too late and the garbage was already rotting away in a landfill.

*Constant Vigilance!*

Bea celebrating 100 days of school ... complete with the obligatory macaroni noodle poster board (not pictured)

Matchy-matchy, cuteness squared!

The girls are really into matching lately. It's a very sweet phase, I must say. I am so glad they love each other. Here's hoping it carries into the teenage years.

Top Ramen chest hair.

What more needs to be said?