Florida

Monday night we met up with Brandon's mom and her family in Destin, FL.  I love the humidity and warm weather here!  Tuesday was overcast but warmed up enough to go to the pool.  Jonah and Brandon were in heaven.  The pool is pretty awesome with waterfalls on an island in the middle and all around, a zero-entry side, and a hot tub, we all managed to have a great time, get some sun, and play in the water a bit.

It poured rain that night and was still going strong on Wednesday morning.  We decided to leave the house (a fabulous 4-bdrm rental in an adorable gated community a nice walk from the beach) and go to lunch and a museum.  My cousin Nicole recommended we eat at McGuinnes' Irish Pub since the food is great.  Not only was the food fantastic, the building is enormous, the decor, ambiance, gift shop, and service were fun. While we ate the skies cleared up so we finally got to go to the beach:)

This morning was cloudy and cool.  I grabbed a few groceries (third trip for food already!) and went to a bookstore (came up empty-handed) when the others finally got up to keep an eye on the kids who didn't want to come with me even though they'd been up for over two hours.

It might be sunny enough now to head to the pool.  Lots of pictures to come when I get home.

Bones

I've made it up to mid-season 3 of Bones on my Netflix: Watch Instantly feature.  I love it SO much (both the show and Netflix)!  The dynamic between the two main characters, FBI Agent Booth and his partner, forensic anthropologist Dr. Brennan (whom Booth affectionately calls "Bones"), reminds me so much of the partnership chemistry in X-Files.  Yes, it's another solving murders tv show (I also love Perry Mason, CSI Miami, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Mentalist, Numb3rs, and Crossing Jordan) but it certainly puts a unique spin on things though in a similar vein to CSI.












If "Dr. Brennan" reminds you of someone but you can't figure out who, like she did with me, maybe this will help:

Zoey and Emily Deschanel, sexiest sisters in Hollywood:)

Dancing to "The Good Night Song"

More Funny Stuff My Kids Say & Do

The last two weeks we've been having our annual Utah "Spring Tease" right now.  The weather gets warm and sunny and nearly all of the snow in the yard melts.  I started rooting around in our front garden spot and dreaming of summer and home-grown produce.  I found some earthworms and Elora needed one to hold.  After a couple minutes I said to her, "Do you want to give that worm to the chickens?"

She said, "No, I love he."  And a moment later she gave him a little kiss.

Elora was singing I am a Child of God to herself and I joined in, "Lead me, guide me, walk beside me".

"Not you, ME," she corrected me.

Jonah likes running "super hero fast" lately.  He also has decided he loves the color orange for some reason.  Today he started doing fighting poses complete with aggressive facial expressions and claimed he was doing Karate.  He also told me for Elora's birthday we should get one of those things that you hit with a long stick and candy comes out, so it looks like we'll be doing a piñata for her birthday:)

Do These Make Me Look Smarter?

wearing Grammy Linda's glasses

I just found a bunch of 'draft' posts that I never published.  This one was from 11/15/08.

Nonstop Laughs

Elora: Mom, watch this, I run faster than Buzz Lightyear.

Jonah: Mom, I'm a cheetah, I run really fast.

*Jonah resting a moment later*

Me: Joe, are you already tired out?

Jonah: Yeah, cheetas run for 40 seconds and then rest.

Elora: I'm a tiger.  Rawwrrrr!

Jonah: I'm a cheetah.  My name is Brandon cause I'm a dad cheetah. *pets invisible baby cheetahs and speaks to them* Babies, I'm gonna go take care of that tiger.  I'll be right back.

Jonah: Mom, there's a sun on this box (Raisin Bran).

Me: That's because the sun turns grapes into raisins.

Jonah: Raisins come from the sun?.... And ham comes from pigs!

Me: You're a smart guy.  Raisins actually come from grapes, but the sun can turn them into raisins.

Jonah: Raisins come from grapes? I didn't know that!

I picked out her shirt and pants but she picked out and put on the lipstick, headband, shoes, and socks herself.

Random Recents

The kids driving their "rockets"

Awhile back Elora decided that whenever she is pretending to be a dog, she has to wear a pair of socks on her hands and her feet (and often nothing else) and walks mostly on all-fours.  In this particular instance, Jonah joined in on her game.

Rachel and Elora at Joyschool learning about the presidents for Presidents' Day.  Notice how these little girl's dress themselves in the middle of winter in Utah.

Why is Elora's hair so cute in a simple ponytail?

"Mom I saw you in that store getting salsa.  I waited in the car and I was being very patient." - Jonah

Jonah calls the Cheshire Cat the "Treasure Cat."

Karen: Did you get that cat postcard I sent you?
Jonah: Yes, it was lovely.

"Ballerina Girl"

Elora started "Creative Movement" dance class for three and four-year-olds in February.  As you can see, she is the tiniest one in the class.  She is also the cutest and the best, in my totally biased opinion.  She LOVES being a ballerina.  She also loves watching older girls in their dance classes.  Come over sometime, she will probably already be wearing her ballet shoes and she isn't shy about showing off her dance moves.  Also, her leotards are now her second favorite thing to wear (after her fancy, purple dress that she got from Santa Claus and spends most of each day wearing).

Jonah is Four

Jonah had a party with a few friends up at the cabin.  We all had a really good time.

Orange cake with a star on it, as requested.

The orange chiffon cake with whipped cream frosting was a hit, but it wasn't nearly orange-y enough for me to make it again.

Jonah's Grandpa "Owl-an" rented skiis and took him skiing on the hill behind the cabin for his birthday. Nana Lisa and family got him Hex Bugs and a "habitat" as well as a Leapfrog learning to write thing that is really cool.  Lots of awesome presents and a great weekend overall (even if it was over a month ago).

Dessert Addiction

As most of you know, I love desserts.  I'm not even that particular about what type of sweets I eat, but after every meal, I like to have a little something sweet.  Ice cream was my dessert of choice for a long, long time, but I've been favoring homemade cookies for the past year or so.
Anyway, my FIL, Alan, shares my love of desserts and because it was his birthday a couple weeks ago, I went scouring the ice-cream aisle to find something delicious for us and I picked up a few pints.  These discoveries were so incredibly delectable, that I decided I need to share them with you.

If you want to know if we have similar tastes, my old B&J favorites are Mint Chocolate Cookie, Cherry Garcia, and Phish Food.  I also love anything Breyers, especially their Brownie Mud Pie, Oreo Cookies and Cream, and Natural Vanilla.  I don't live near a Baskin Robbins, but my favorite flavor since childhood is their Daiquiri Ice.

Future Stylist?