Spring Break is Here!

 Alex started Spring Break, or as I'd like to call it - A Very Much Needed Break!  (for all of us!)

We started off our Saturday with a training from our Stake on how to be tour guides for the Kansas City Temple open house. We were asked to be tour guides for April 17th. During our training we got to take a tour of the temple. It is just so beautiful! We feel so blessed to have the temple just up the street from us and can't wait until it is dedicated and in operation. 

Here is a short Mormon Messages video on the Kansas Temple open house.

The training lasted from 7:30 am until about 10am. We went home to change quickly, and then took off to the Farmer's Market downtown... something I've been wanting to do for a while now.

 

 

So many colors, smells, sounds, and yummy things to eat! We hear that the Farmer's Market gets really big in the upcoming months with tons of vendors. We will definitely be making a trip back!

After the market, we headed to the zoo. But on the way there, both kids fell asleep. So we took a little detour, parked the car in some shade, and me and Alex relaxed on a blanket under a tree. We were there for about an hour enjoying the peaceful, serene nature that surrounded us. Alex joined the kid's in catching a few z's too.

All four of us... :)

We eventually made it to the zoo. I had the brilliant idea to not bring the stroller and to just carry the kids since we were only going to do a couple of things. Yea... bad idea. We ended up being there for a couple of hours trying to contain squirmy kids and every time I would put Todd down to give my arms a break, he would put some dirty thing from off the ground in his mouth. I don't know what I was thinking... a stroller is a must - always.

We topped off our day with a trip to Applebee's where we met up with one of Alex's classmates and her boyfriend. The day couldn't have been any more perfect! This week is going to be amazing... we get to have Alex all to ourselves all day, every day! 

Flowers, For Me?

I always think of high school in two categories: 1) my best friend, Hannah, and all of our ridiculous adventures together - most of them happening at the lunch table with Steven, and 2) crushing on Alex all four years.

Oh goodness.... did I ever crush on him bad! Any interaction with him made my stomach swirl and I would replay that brief moment in my head over and over - just wanting to relive it once more. There were bouts of jealousy when he was around other girls, along with feelings of "why not me?"... but I just kept on crushing on him and didn't let it bother me (too much). 

Since my best friend was Alex's sister, we all hung out together often. I will never forget this one time when we were driving around the mall together. Alex was driving, Hannah was in the front seat and I was in the back. (Maybe Steven was there too... but I can't remember). We came to a stop light and as if it was a knee-jerk reaction, Alex opened his door, reached for a flower, picked it and then handed it to me. The light turned green and he just started driving again. Wow... that was suave! On the outside, I was playing it cool. I smiled and gratefully accepted the little flower. But on the inside!! Oh man! My stomach dropped to my feet and my jaw was down to my chest! Who just does that?! It might as well have been a scene from a chick flick. 

It was really no effort on Alex's part, but it meant the world to me! I mean, here I am almost nine years later still swooning over that moment. 

Little did I know that nearly nine years later I would be calling that car mine and Alex would be bringing me home bouquets of flowers!  What a dream!

Saturday

What started out as a spontaneous morning breakfast at Denny's, turned into a spontaneous trip to the zoo... which turned into a spontaneous purchase of a zoo pass!

You can see by the apparel of my children that it was indeed a very spontaneous trip.

A black velvet dress, black tights, a maroon princess jacket, a purple bow, and white tennis shoes complete with a butterfly necklace made by Lucy herself. hahaha! oh embarrassing!

It took us our fourth ride on the carousel to realize that the kangaroo was sporting a UMKC saddle. 

That's right... Alex's mascot is a fierce kangaroo! 

Lucy telling Alex that he's not invited to ride with her and to kindly get off. 

That is if you consider screaming and pushing kind. 

Todd is ready to pounce on that bird!

The weather has been incredible and we're on our way to the zoo again this morning!

Week in Review

We finally went and visited the historic Liberty Jail. We had a really special time together and the Spirit once again bore witness to us that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God.

Sunday was unusual for us. With the Kansas City temple open house starting soon and the temple being dedicated in May, the Church asked if they could come take pictures of our congregation. So after our sacrament meeting, we did a mock sacrament meeting where we sang "Choose the Right" all the way through twice and had people give "talks" and all the while there were two photographers taking pictures of everyone. The pictures will be used for the open house as well as stock for the Church. They didn't get any pictures of just our family, but maybe we'll be in the background of some picture one of these days in the Ensign! :)

Just as Todd was on the verge of sleeping through the night, he started getting his two front teeth in. Now he is stuck in a rut... wakes up at 2 and 5:30 every morning on the dot. But the thing is, he doesn't go back to bed at 5:30. So I've been up at 5:30 every day this last week! UGH! This WILL stop.

I found out yesterday that I got accepted to Park Univeristy! I'm so excited to be starting classes again this fall! What I love so much about their art program is that along with getting a BA in studio art, I can also get a certificate to teach art for K-12. How fun would that be?! We went and checked out the campus yesterday and it was beautiful! Half of the campus had these gorgeous buildings that were built back in 1875 and the other half of the campus is literally built underground.
We can't decide if the campus is more like Hogwarts or more like The Shire...

"No Play With Friends, Play With Boys!"

Lately when I ask Lucy if she wants to go play with friends, she replies, "No play with friends, play with boys!"

We've got our hands full with this one...  :)

Picture Collage

The first thing I wanted to do when we moved into our split level town home was to create a picture collage going up the stairs. I've seen people have these in their homes and I was always so jealous that I didn't have stairs because I really wanted to make one. (Yes... jealous of stairs...)

I'm really happy with it! No... I love it! 

Week in Review

Lucy's idea of napping

We took Todd to the hospital a couple of days ago. In short: He pulled down a 12lb set of ceramic bowls onto his right foot. It kept bleeding and bleeding and was pretty bruised and swollen. We weren't sure if he had fractured it or not. After xrays and 4 hours of waiting around, it turns out he was just fine. I'm sure grateful for little 9 month old rubber feet!

After the hospital, I took Lucy to go play at the mall and get some icecream (thanks Grandma!) :)

She did amazingly well just hanging out and controlling her urge to push every button and pull on every tube that was in her reach. 

I am constantly reminding Lucy that she has to color on paper... not the walls or couches. Even with all of the constant reminding, I found that she had drawn on Todd's head!! It took a few days for the pen marks to finally wash off. 

A few of Alex's single med student female colleagues asked him if they could come over and play with the kids after their test was done. By all means they could come by! Better yet... have them babysit for us!! 

We ditched them and had a wonderful date at the Cheesecake Factory. Anytime they want to come play with the kids and get their baby fill is alright by me!!

Whenever I hold Todd these days, he surprises me and bites my arm and then yanks his head back with my skin in his mouth. I know you're teething, kid... but gracious! That hurts! I've got bruises to prove it!