My New Favorite Song

This one has been stuck in my head for days! Ben's first grade music concert was Wednesday, and all the first graders sang this wonderful song together. They really get into it, don't they?

Grandpa Morgan's Love Affair

My father-in-law has been having a love affair with Little Debbie for years now.  When he went to the hospital for heart problems several months ago, his doctors told him "NO MORE LITTLE DEBBIE!"  So what did my husband do when we went to visit Morgan at the hospital?  He looked in the gift shop to see if they sold Little Debbies so he could bring some up to the CCU.  Fortunately, they didn't.

Last Saturday was Morgan's birthday.  Brad and Ben made Morgan's birthday cake.

Look at the desire on the man's face!  Total infatuation!

 He's incurable, and with a son who encourages him, who can blame him!

Welcome, Mariko!

My sister, Tifanie, had her first baby today!  Mariko Kisa Mitsui was born at 11:56 am.  She's 6 lbs. 14 oz.,  19" long, and absolutely perfect.  We got to visit this evening and fell in love instantly!  Ben wanted to hold her the whole time. 

Look at those loooong fingers!  And doesn't she have perfect features? 

Cousins!

The happy, (tired) family!

Gardening and Pioneers

Sounds like I'm going to write an essay on the horticultural habits of our ancestors, doesn't it?  Sorry, not today! 

Brad, Jillian, Ben and I worked in the garden today, and Nathan and Kylie went to the Stake Pioneer Pre-Trek activity this afternoon.  About all they have in common for this post is the fact that they both happened today, and I took pictures of both.

Ben went with me to pick out our seeds this morning and we ended up with beans, lettuce, carrots, spinach, beets, and three types of squash.  We also had some seed potatoes from our garden last year.  Ben is hoping to have an abundant harvest so he can make some "really good vegetable soup."  We came home to pouring rain, but plant the garden was on our calendar for today, so we didn't let the rain stop us!  While Ben and I were seed shopping, Brad and Jillian went to get a truck load of "Emu-Poo", our favorite compost.  So we also had the job of top-dressing our front flower beds and around the fruit trees to complete.  Ben and Jillian were great helpers.

While we were digging and planting, we kept coming across these centipede-like bugs.  Brad asked the kids, "Would you eat one for five dollars?"  Both said, "NO WAY!"  Then he asked, "What would you give me if I ate one?"  Ben said, "Five doll hairs," really quickly so it sounded like "five dollars" (one of our family jokes).  So Brad said, "OK!"

Just when he was about to pop it in his mouth, Ben shouted, "No, Dad!  Don't do it!  Do you really want Doll Hairs?!"  Where was Ryan Reynolds when we needed him? He would have done it!

As promised, a picture of the pioneers:

Don't they look so cute?  They're being pretty good sports about the whole thing.  Kylie has accepted the wearing of the dress, and Nate said he'd go to the activity if they didn't have to stay for the hoe-down. They got to participate in  fun pioneer passtimes like  butter churning, taffy pulling, candle making, log sawing, stick pulling, and stilt walking. (I didn't know that stilt walking was a pioneer thing, but what do I know?)  The actual trek is in June, which I'm hoping will be a great experience for both of them. 

Wacky Dream

I had a wacky dream last night.  I dreamed I was at my 20 year high school reunion. (Which is coming up on August 6th.  I didn't think it was even on my radar since I'm not planning to go, but I guess all that it implies is lurking in my subconscious.)

Everyone was arriving, welcoming each other, hugging, etc.  One of my friends whom I haven't seen in over 20 years was there.  He didn't graduate from my high school, but was there Freshman and Sophomore years.  I was very happy to see him and asked what he had been up to the last 20 years.  He told me he was secretly living in a library in Vermont, but had just been found out and was going to be sent to an orphanage (at age 38!)  I asked him if his library had internet access.  He said it did, and I said, "Then you should be on Facebook!  I've been looking for you on there and I haven't been able to find you."  He said, "Do you think I want people to know I'm being sent to an orphanage?" 

Then everyone filed into a big auditorium where we were going to listen to some of the alumni sing while we waited for our dinner.  Brad had been with me, but decided to get in line to be first for dinner so we could leave more quickly, so I went and sat down in the auditorium.  Someone came around collecting $5.00 from each person so they could pay the people who were going to sing.  I didn't have any money, so I went out to find Brad to see if he did.  I ran into another friend who asked me if I had the book "The Charisma King" from the "Mousely Series of Events."  He wanted it for his daughter, who had been begging him to buy it for her.  He had ordered it online, but it wasn't going to be delivered for a year.  I said, "No, but I have all the books from the "Series of Unfortunate Events." 

When I went back into the auditorium, I saw two more friends sitting together, but before I could talk to them, my alarm went off.  Bummer!  I really wish I could have heard what wacky things they would have said!

17 Years

Our anniversay fell on a Saturday this year, just like it did 17 years ago when we were married.  We got to get away this weekend to celebrate.  Friday night we had a hard time deciding where to go for dinner, so we ended up at the local drive-thru, then took our burgers and yummy shakes to the beach to watch the sun set.  It was cold and windy, so we stayed in the car, unlike the young couple parked next to us who hung out on their truck roof, cozily snuggled together.  I commented to Brad, "That was us 17 years ago."  But we did get out of the car for a few minutes, just long enough to take a picture together.

A beautiful sunset, made to look even better with the "sunset"setting on my new camera!

Saturday morning we went into town to the Farmer's Market, where we purchased fresh king salmon, some hand-crafted cheese, and a loaf of artisan bread for our dinner.  (Also went to the grocery store to get veggies, not quite the season for asparagus and new potatoes at the Farmer's Market.) 

Then we headed up to the Fine Arts Center, perched high above the city with an amazing view of the harbor.  There's a house turned art gallery, which displays local artists' paintings, photographs, and other "indoor" art, and then there's the year-round "Art Outside" exhibit, where you follow paths through the woods and discover all kinds of amazing outdoor art.  I loved it!  Here are some of my favorites:

It's hard to see from the picture how intricate and beautiful these copper leaves are. 

This was my favorite.  Reminds me of the exhuberent way children play while they walk together.

A doorway, of course!

I would love to come across one of these on a ramble through my woods. 

Later in the afternoon, we went on a hike to one of my favorite places.  It was about 45 degrees colder than the last time I was here, we took the shorter route (a little over a mile, instead of three), and the water was nowhere near as calm and inviting as it was over the summer, but still a beautiful spot, and I was able to show Brad since he wasn't with us last time.

Last time I was here, there was no snow on the top of the mountain!

When we returned, I turned our Farmer's Market finds into a delicious meal:

And then we soaked in the hot tub under a clear, starry sky!  Perfection! 

Sunday morning was slow and relaxing, no rush to get home.  We sat outside on the deck in the sun, watching the beautiful lake and moutain, then I went for a walk.  Eventually we packed up and headed back.  It was so nice to spend time together without all the distractions.  We could actually have a conversation without being interrupted!  That alone was amazing. 

End of an Era

While cleaning the kids' bathroom this morning, I noticed the green plastic bucket of bathtub toys sitting dejectedly behind the door.  They haven't been touched in weeks.  Ben has officially graduated to showers.  I sifted through them, picking out the Legos and Playmobiles, and ceremoniously dumped the rest into the garbage can. Good bye rubber ducky, shark squirt gun, frog and pig squirty things, small plastic animals and race cars, coated with soap scum!  I'll miss the days of giggly bubble baths, sitting by the tub to make sure they don't drown, and small, damp, warm children wrapped in thick bath towels.  We've moved on to steam filled rooms, clingy, drippy shower curtains, pounding on the door to hurry it up or you'll use all the hot water.  Fortunately Brad installed a new shower head in the kids' bathroom so they no longer beg to use our shower.

Eggs

Between Conference sessions on Saturday, we went to our favorite annual egg hunt.  It was much smaller this year, but still great fun.

Here's Carlyn welcoming everyone and explaining the rules, which are:

1.  Don't fall into the pond!

2.  There are some eggs with names on them.  If you find one that has someone else's name, don't take it.

3.  Have fun!

4.  Don't fall into the pond!

And they're off!  Yes, all those spots on the grass are eggs!

After about ten minutes, Ben's basket was full!

But there were still more eggs to find!

Saturday evening, I realized we hadn't colored eggs yet.  I pulled out the food coloring and vinegar and realized we didn't have any red food coloring, just blue, yellow and green.  Not a very colorful assortment!  Oh well, the kids still had fun.  We tried a new trick, wrapping rubber bands around the egg before dying it.  It made for some interesting patterns.  Ben also loved coloring with crayons on the eggs.

And then Sunday after Easter dinner, we had another egg hunt with the cousins.  It was drizzly, so I didn't take very many pictures.  Jonah was so adorable in his yellow raincoat!

"Stay-cation" Day Five

It was pouring down rain Friday.  I was getting tired, physically, from all the activities we've been doing.  It was Nathan's choice.  We went to the movies.   Perfect.  Fortunately, my sister, Tif, was willing to come along, since Nathan's movie choice wasn't quite appropriate for the younger kids, and Jillian and Ben couldn't agree on one they both wanted to see.  We ended up in three different movies, I know, not quite a FAMILY outing, but hey, how much family time can you have in a movie theater anyway?  Thanks goodness for mulit-plex theaters!

Nathan and Kylie saw

Tif and Ben saw

and Jillian and I saw

We were all happy.  It was a fun, busy week.  I'm looking forward to watching General Conference for the next two days and getting together with family on Easter.  Then back to real life again!

"Stay-cation" Day Four

Another ferry ride to Seattle, this time to the International District, my choice!  We walked through Pioneer Square up to the International District to meet Brad for lunch at Uwajimaya.  We got there just in time!  Right after we found a spot to sit in the food court (not an easy task during the lunch rush to find six seats all together!) it started pouring rain outside.  We were able to sit inside and watch people rush past, soaking wet, while enjoying our melange of chow-mein, spicy chicken teriyaki, green curry, and odon noodle soup. 

Then it was time to browse in Uwajimaya.  If I squinted, and pretended not to see the "Digiorno" and "Breyers", it was almost like being back at the grocery store in Cagayan de Oro. 

I wish I had made a list of things to buy, or at least found a recipe with ingredients I could only get at Uwajimaya before we got there.  I get very overwhelmed when I'm surrounded by choices and can't focus.  I ended up getting some unique noodles, but I'm sure I won't have the right ingredients to make anything exciting with them.  We also picked out a few "treats" to try.  I told the kids they had to pick something unusual.  So we ended up with Wasabi roasted peas and licorice flavored melon seeds.  And some chocolate/almond Pocky, and chocoloate Collon (not quite unusual, oh well!)

After Uwajimaya, we walked up a few blocks to the Fortune Cookie Factory outlet store, where for only $7.25, you can buy a 5 pound bag of "Unfortunate Cookies", the rejects!

Walking back, we made sure to notice the beautiful buildings tucked between the stores and offices.

This one had a unique blend of Oriental and old-town Seattle.

The Pavilion and the Gate, two symbols of the International District.

And then we stopped at Union Station, which has been beautifully restored. 

Jillian said it made her feel dizzy looking up at the ceiling, and that Ben was "awed", or maybe she meant "odd"? 

We also had to stop at Magic Mouse Toys to play for a few minutes.  Ben made a fun purchase:

And then back to the ferry, where we broke open our bag of treats.

The licorice melon seeds, by the look on Jillian's face, weren't a huge hit!  The wasabi peas were tasty, though, and of course cookies never disappoint!