Family Conversations

Nate's interpretation of our family structure

Kristy: "Matt, I have some projects for you to work on this weekend."

Matt: "I don't want to do those projects."

Nate: "Dad, when my mom tells you to do something, you are supposed to say, 'Yes, ma'am!'"

Nate: "Mom, we need to manage that silly old Dad."


Christopher's entrepreneurial skills, which he demonstrated at our garage sale

Kristy: "Christopher, you can't sell those cups of lemonade for more than a nickel, because they are really small."

Christopher: "Ma'am, would you like some lemonade?"

Nice Lady: "Of course! How much is it?"

Christopher: "A quarter a cup. And when you're done, could you please return the cup? We're almost out of cups."

Projects at Papa's

When we visited Ted & Mary in Provo, the kids kept themselves busy all afternoon! They were quite fascinated with the cream separator, and spent a long time filling it with water just to watch it work. Neither of them could remember that it used to belong to our neighbor in Kansas, and Papa and Mana drove it home to Utah when she sold it to them!

When I was little, I loved to visit my grandparents' farm in Idaho, and always went straight to my favorite things, just like my kids and the separator. I loved the antique adding machine, the "shoot the moon" game under their bed, and was at once fascinated and horrified by the bear skin rug in the guest room. I'll freely admit that I still love the smell of manure because it takes me back to those days!

Even More Chickens

Because it was a windy day and we have fun kites from Costco, we thought we would enjoy flying them at Christopher's school today. There is a huge, tree-free field there, plus a nice playground, so we also thought we'd try and catch a family picture. Taking your own family picture, I've discovered, is no simple task.

See?

And here is Christopher's kite, which he kept airborne for almost an hour, but we made him stop and he was annoyed with us.

Just Us Chickens

Lottsa Folks

Dads and stepmoms here: Matt's dad, Vic and Matt's stepmom Sylvia, plus my dad, Ted, and my stepmom, Mary. Those stepparents are good frosting on the divorce cake, I tell you.

Easter Sunday

Matt and I have a big, complicated family, with lots of in-laws, step-parents, step-parents-in-law, and so forth. We have to quiz our kids sometimes on their grandparents' names and their relationships to us. [For the record: Papa, Mana, Oma, Frank, Grandpa Vic, Grandma Syl, Grandma Mar.]

One of the great benefits of divorce is the opportunity it provides for family expansion, and we lucked out by joining up with the Ferguson family. From top left to right [below]: Kate, Annie, John, Sam, Lisa, Mary Lou & Bob, and Grace. Since we don't have any little girls in our family, I took an unusually high number of pictures of these adorable girls. Aren't they adorable, just like I said? Now, I did not forget Frank, the head of the family, master architect, and brioche baker. His brioche are simply heavenly, and he works hard every Easter to be sure that a supply of their yummy warmness is always available for his guests throughout the day. He has quite a system to keep the baking process organized and productive, and I couldn't resist taking a picture of his schedule. While Frank bakes, Lucille/Mom/Oma keeps the scrambled eggs, bacon (and turkey bacon), fruit and juice going. Fortunately, the Eckersleys broke out the ketchup and the Urses brought chilled Diet Coke for those of us whose palates are damaged.

Nate discovered his new heaven on earth: the zipline in Frank's backyard. It's rigged up so that the little kids can run it to the top of the hill, then sit on the "hippity hop" and zip down. Scott strongly recommended that we catch Nate at the bottom so he wouldn't crash into the tree, but after the first 50 or so injury-free runs, we gave up, and Nate insisted, "I don't want to be catched!" Elliott wasn't crazy about riding, but he had a blast running up and down the hill while Nate zipped. The kids all enjoyed the egg hunt, but Nate was far too busy digging in the sandbox to participate, and preferred to enjoy the chocolate later in the day, without all that tough hunting of eggs. Harper was content to snack on brioche, and Matt was in charge of video (we got a total of seven minutes of Easter footage). We really had a nice, leisurely Sunday afternoon, and even Kathy and David drove up from Price to enjoy the day with us. Please congratulate them on their new car purchase, which we helped with at the Lexus dealership the day before: Nate made such a menace of himself that they cut a great deal on a new car just to get him the heck out of there.

Spring and Snow

Although we almost changed the dates of our trip, we finally decided to spend Easter weekend in Utah. What a great decision that turned out to be! We timed it just right to see Utah in all its gorgeous springness, and the kids were thrilled to see snow on our way to the airport. That's right: snow. When we got on the plane, though, the pilot announced that it was 100 degrees in Texas!

I have so many pictures that I'll post a few at a time so it's not too overwhelming. Here are a few to get you started, and I'll have many more later. The weekend was absolutely lovely, and I could often smell the flowering trees as we drove. The flowers looked really nice with all the snow on them, and the temple looked pretty, too, in the snow.

Nate, I guess, didn't remember seeing the temple before, because he pointed at it and said, "Hey, mom! There's a guy up there!"

Goggle Boys

The boys take swimming twice a week, and they both love it. Christopher is perfecting his form and swims lots of laps, and Nate is learning to blow bubbles and put his face underwater. Nate did have to leave class a little early today because he dismantled the preschool class fence that contains the preschool-aged swimmers, but he assures me he won't do it again, because he wants to go back to swimming class next week.

Howdy, Y'all!

Nate had his first real birthday party today -- the kind where you invite friends -- and he had a blast. He needed a couple of time outs at the beginning (he slightly injured a few party guests), but quickly shaped up when he realized he would miss out on the fun if he had to stay in the laundry room all day. Christopher was a great help playing "There's a snake in my boot!" with the kids, and they all got covered in glue while making their cowboy picture frames (thanks to the moms and dads who partied with us today). My friend Valerie made Nate's cake, which was not only extremely cute, but also extremely delicious, and we polished it off quickly. Also, I couldn't resist including a picture of Skyler, not only because she is Nate's very favorite friend and next-door neighbor, but also because she just looked so gosh-darn cute in her cowgirl outfit.

Hope You Can Make It

Thanks to my friend Lori for the design: www.lgcards.com.