April Update

I can't believe we're already three weeks into April! Time just flies when you're busy!

Things are good here-- and I have so many, many pictures and adventures to share. I think I'm going to break my post up into a couple of sections, mainly so that you don't get completely sick of reading. And so that I'll have some motivation to blog again tomorrow.

First off, the first weekend in April, my brother, Jake, came to visit us. It's always so fun to have Jake around-- in fact, he's coming again this weekend. Hooray for brothers!

Thomas and Gordon have been practicing tuning into their inner Zen. Hopefully this means less fighting and more brotherly love.



I thought this picture of Jake and Neil was so cute. Sigh, look at Neilly's crazy long hair. More on that later...



The day after Jake left, Monday, April 6th, we all got in the car and drove to California! Wahoo! I was so ready for a vacation (and I'd take another one any time!) and there is just something about owning a mini-van that screams "ROAD TRIP"! It really was ideal-- we put the front passenger seat down for the mini DVD player, I sat next to Neil in the middle, and Thomas and Gordon had the back row to themselves. I stuffed a blue Ikea bag full of treats, coloring stuff, and DVDs, so we were prepared for the somewhat dismal drive across Nevada.

Good times.



Our first stop was Sparks, NV, where we ate dinner and spent the night at a hotel. The boys were so excited to swim and relax after a long day in the car! This was Neil's first time in a pool-- can you tell if he liked it or not?



On Tuesday, we drove the short distance from Reno to the Sacramento, CA area where I was born and where my mom's dad, my Poppa, still lives. The strangest thing about this part of our trip was driving to my grandpa's home in Elk Grove and seeing all of the familiar landmarks I used to look for as a child, but realizing that Chris and I don't share this part of my history. My family drove to Sacramento at least twice a year for the ten years I lived in Idaho Falls, but Chris and I had never been there together. Sad. It was so fun to go back and reminisce and I was reminded that I need to make the trip more frequently than every ten years!

It was so fun to visit with Poppa and Sue and see their beautiful home. They have a gorgeous garden and a tree full of gigantic lemons, some which Sue was all too happy to donate to us.



Poppa and Sue also have a Wii, so I'm sure you can imagine how Thomas spent nearly the entire day.



Poppa and Neil seemed to really connect-- it was so cute to see them together.




Sue and I had time to catch up as well-- it was such a nice visit! She is such a sweet grandma! We hope to head out there again next year and possibly see Poppa and Sue if they visit Idaho any time soon.

I'm going to blog about the rest of our trip tomorrow, so let me fast forward a bit to our present. After too many comments about Neil's hair, and the fact that I just couldn't keep it out of his little eyes, I decided to take him to Great Clips to see what they could do. No, I am not comfortable cutting his baby hair myself.

Well, the trip was a success-- the girl cut off just enough, but not too much, and I made it out of there without balling. He does look old, though, doesn't he? Oh, but so cute!

Before:



And after:



More tomorrow (promise!) on our trip and what we've been up to!