Sam I Am

Tonight for dinner we had Tacos. Of course in the true Grace manner of doing things, she turned her nose up at it and said, "I don't like that." I told her she had to at least try it. After nibbling a few little bits she exclaimed, "I like it, I like it!" I could see that she was excited and I asked, "Are you Frances trying a new food?" (Side note: Grace loves to pretend to be different characters from books she reads. Frances is the title character in Bread and Jam for Frances which is about a little animal who will only eat bread and jam, but finally realizes she is missing out on all kinds of other yummy food.) Grace responded, "No...I am Sam I Am!" (The creature from Green Eggs and Ham that finally persuades his friend to eat the bizarre dish.) She continued to eat her taco, but insisted that she have her copy of Green Eggs and Ham open at the table so that she could look at "Sam I Am" while she ate!

Eve also did something pretty funny tonight. I watched her move a chair from the kitchen table over to her high chair. She then climbed up onto the chair, then up onto the high chair tray, and into the seat of it and sat herself down. I guess that was her way of saying, "I'm hungry and would like to eat now." Also, as you can see from the picture, she is improving on her fork skills!

By the way, things with the new house are going well. We are moving in next Wednesday!

San Diego

We returned late last night from our short trip to San Diego. Aaron had a National Prudential Convention to attend, and the girls and I went along for fun. He stayed in a downtown hotel right by the convention center with his dad (who was also attending the convention.) Grace, Eve, and I stayed with Aaron's sister Angela (husband Jared, and kids Julia and Dallin) who lives down there. They were such great hosts! We really enjoyed our stay.

While Aaron did his "conventioning" the girls and I played! On Monday we went to Birch Aquarium with Angela and her kids. We had a lot of fun seeing lots of marine life...Grace was amazed by all the different creatures that live under the sea! We picnicked outside the aquarium and took the rest of the day pretty easy while the cousins played. The next day there was a lot more playing and cousin fun! It was a cold, overcast day but we went to the beach anyway to let the kids dig and run around. Grace was so excited. When she found out we were going she exclaimed, "I've been waiting to go to the beach all morning!"

I also got to see my life-long friend (literally...since birth) Charlotte while I was there. She lives and works there in beautiful San Diego. Angela was awesome enough to offer to watch the kids for me while Charlotte and I had a girls night out. We had a blast! We ate wonderful sushi and later got ice cream sundaes at Baskin Robbins. We talked and laughed (almost constantly.) It was really fun to be carefree for a few hours...I felt like I was in high school again!

Tuesday evening the girls and I said our good-byes to Angela's family and headed downtown to pick up Aaron at his hotel on our way out of town. By chance, another childhood (through adulthood) friend, Chelsea, was vacationing in nearby Newport Beach. She, along with her husband Travis and kids Boston and Cassidy, had been there a few days. We met them for dinner on our way out of town and had fun catching up. Boston (2) and Cassidy (2 months) are so darling! All the kids seemed to get along really well and chased each other all over the restaurant (except for baby Cass of course!) I forgot to bring my camera in, but Chelsea got some good shots that I'll post as soon as she e-mails them to me.

It was a great trip! Now we are home, escrow closes today, and the reality of just how much we have to do over these next two weeks is really sinking in!


Grace and Julia by the whale fountain in front of the aquarium.


The girls looking into what Grace referred to as "the big fish tanker."


Charlotte and I on our night out...I just love her!


Eve at the beach. She wasn't a big fan of the sand. She got mad when it stuck to her feet!


Dallin, Grace, and Julia making what they called their "scary" sand castle. These cousins had a ball together!

Busy

Busy, busy, busy…that’s what our life is going to be like over the next three weeks. Last night Aaron and I sat down together with our calendars and realized just how packed and stressful the coming weeks will be. We have appointments to keep (like signing escrow papers and the final walk-through on our new house), a four day trip to San Diego (Business for Aaron…pleasure for me and the girls!), escrow closing on the 21st, arranging work we’re having done on the house separate from the builder (i.e. tile, carpet…), dress rehearsals or performances almost every night for two weeks straight (Aaron is in a five-stake production of “Savior of the World”), doing the rest of the packing and actually moving it all to the new house, not to mention that work for Aaron is very busy right now with lots of people wanting to put their houses on the market. Its all good stuff…it’s just a lot all at once! Needless to say we are looking forward to the second week in April!

Aaron is still at a rehearsal that goes until 9:00 p.m.(haven’t seen him since 8:00 this morning) so I’ve been a little eager to get Grace and Eve off to bed. In fact, I did everything a little early tonight. We ate dinner at 4:30, had the girls bathed and in their Pajamas by 6, let them savor ice cream cones, and had Eve in bed before 7:00. Grace was not in bed quite as early, but still by 8:00. It was actually kind of nice to start the whole winding down process early, because there was absolutely no need to rush through anything. The picture above is just a fun shot that I took of the girls eating their ice cream cones tonight.

Spring

I LOVE SPRING! I guess it's not technically spring yet, but it sure feels like it. The Hyacinth bulbs are coming up, the trees are all covered with white or pink blossoms, and the sun is shinning warmly with just the right amount of cool breeze. It's by far the loveliest season, but unfortunately it also seems like the shortest. Which is what makes me want to enjoy it so much while it is here...before it turns into another hot summer.

It was such a beautiful morning. A little after 9:00 I loaded the girls into the bike trailer and we went on a bike ride to the park. We spent some time playing there before we rode home. After arriving home we just didn't want to stay inside (because, of course, it was so beautiful outside.) So we spent the rest of the morning playing in the backyard. We pulled out the beach toys and dug in the wood chips, "painted" the patio with brushes and water, and topped it all off with a picnic lunch!

Although the reason I'm enjoying my day so much is in part the nice weather, it's also because it is such a contrast from my challenging yesterday. Eve was in pain from a double ear-infection and we couldn't get a doctor's appointment until 3:30 p.m. She was up very early, was extremely irritable, and the poor little thing couldn't nap more than 15 minutes at a time (because of the pressure on her ears...plus she couldn't breathe through her nose.) She is so much better today. She's been on an antibiotic since last night and prescription ear drops that numb the pain. She's actually napping right now...what a relief!

Flying High

It was a gorgeous, sunny afternoon and the girls and I spent it playing in the backyard. While I was pushing Grace on the swing she asked, "Do you know what I want to be when I grow up?" I genuinely did not know what she had in mind (as it changes almost daily) so I responded, "What?" She replied, "An airplane!" and she added, "Airplanes fly high in the sky!" Come to think of it, that would be a fun thing to be!