Thursday, February 12, 2009

Good Heavenly Days!

What is it about this time of year that makes me feel so bogged down? Is it the cold? The unplowed driveway? Discarded resolutions? Who knows, but I'm kind of getting sick of my own whining! If I'm getting annoyed, who else is bugged? Don't answer that.

Anyway, I'm just itching for Spring and getting outside with my stir crazy children and breathing non-inversion air. Come on, March!

The weekend before last, Jake, Caitlan and their friend, Doug, came up to Logan to visit us. I love having visitors, especially when they're my fun siblings. It's always fun to hear Jake and Chris joke around. Lucky for our visitors, Saturday night was Tom's "Monster Concert". The concert is performed by all of the Youth Conservatory students-- literally, at the same time. On Tom's piece, for example, there were 16 pianos with two students on each bench, plus 6 keyboards. They all play the same song at the same time. It's kind of cool, but not a solo event. I joked that Thomas could have avoided playing his song altogether and no one would have noticed. Really, though, he had practiced for months and did a fantastic job. In fact, I get "Russian Wedding Dance" stuck in my head on a regular basis. Dum dum, da dum dum, da dum dum dum...

Anyway, here we are before the big performance at Kent Concert Hall. Isn't Tommer a cute lil' bugger?



In between the music numbers, which were really cool, they had an ongoing skit about a monster trying to win a million dollars. Neil had the right idea.



The concert was held on the same night as an Aggie game and before they started, the announcer said something about trying to keep the show short so that fans could watch the game. Chris said, in a not-so-quiet voice, "Please let it be so!" I gave him a little slug in the arm.



Our guests didn't leave until Sunday night, so we had plenty of time to hang out, eat, and play games. My never-ending pile of laundry was neglected, but it was worth it.

This last weekend, we braved the snow and went to Salt Lake. Our first stop was the Clarke Planetarium, where I pulled out my camera to take a picture and realized that the batteries were dead. Lame. Nevertheless, we had a great time. Chris's parents were kind enough to watch the boys-- all three of them!-- so Chris and I could go out for dinner with Jake and his date on Valentine's Day. This is the first time Neil has been without one parent or the other for more than 30 minutes, but he was pretty good. I have to say, it was fabulous to be baby-less for an evening! We went to Gepetto's in Holladay, ran into some old friends from Washington, ate really tasty pizza, and generally had a great time.

On Sunday, Gary and Marilyn treated us to Sunday Brunch. The boys were well-behaved and the food was amazing and I probably gained a few pounds. Again, totally worth it.

Now, we're back to life, school, laundry, and the Logan snow. Maybe I should get into snow-shoeing or something, so I can better appreciate this chilly weather.

This afternoon, Gordon was playing around and said he was a knight. He asked me, "Do knights wear black undies?"

I thought this was funny/random until I talked to Chris and learned that earlier, he and Gordon were watching Monty Python clips on YouTube, in particular the clip where the black knight gets his limbs cut off. Mmm, glad that's emblazoned on my three-year-old's brain. Nice.



One more thing-- for you digital scrappers, I've got a couple of new freebies on my blog! Yay for free! I'm participating in a designer challenge for the next few weeks, so check back each Monday (or, ahem, Wednesday) for my latest digi gifts. Mwa!

Friday, February 06, 2009

Why we love to play with Neil...

Top Ten

How about a top ten list to recap the last couple of weeks?

I LOVE (in no particular order... well, maybe chronological)...

1. Man Mecca. Or, more specifically, the recap of Man Mecca and the funny pictures that go with it. I have a sneaking suspicion that my dad really wanted to have six sons, either in place of or in addition to the one son and five daughters he did have. Lucky for him, my sisters and I are well on our way to making his dream a reality, and we've picked some pretty good ones for him. Twice a year, the men in my family get together for an outing affectionately named (by none other than Todd Flatland) "Man Mecca." Their January excursion this year took them to Salt Lake City, where they enjoyed a Temple session at Jordan River, a trip to Gilgal Gardens (creepity, creep creep), the Rodizio Grill, and finally, a hockey game. Good, good times. And funny, funny pictures.





2. Going to Idaho Falls with the little boys, hanging out with my mom and sisters, going to Target (why doesn't Logan have a Target? Why?), and eating a real live chocolate shake with Becky and Elena late at night. ♥ Oh, and cute Becky for mailing Neil's missing sock to me!

3. Cash Cab. I love Ben Bailey.

4. Spending a perfect Saturday with five Renfroes!

5. Thomas and Gordon in this picture...



6. My live-in comedian. Quotes:

"Mom, why do they call him 'Winnie the Pooh'? Like, 'Winnie the piece of Pooh'?"

"I broke this and I did it on purpose."

He was protesting having to leave the bookstore earlier today and finally yelled, "I DON'T LIKE YOU!" as I was dragging him out. Then, he spotted the candy bars at the checkout counter. "Can I get a treat?"
Elise: "No, you can't. You shouldn't say, 'I don't like you'."
Gordon: "Well you shouldn't listen!"

At least he's cute, right?



7. Boys who fall asleep in funny places.




9. My little half Ute-half Aggie. Chris took him to a Utah State Aggie basketball game this week and man, he had a great time. He got a new shirt and said today, "I'm going to wear this every day!"

He means every day except when the Utes play the Aggies, right?




10. A husband who sends me videos like this:


Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.