Christopher's Signs

I love my Squishtopher.

He's the best.

This is our front door.  I think the current sign reads "Exit/Entrance Only" (apparently he's not a fan of loitering)

He is obsessed with signage.

My friend Jamie added the comment just to see what he would do. (He didn't seem to care)

Both the label kind of signage,

and the warning kind of signage.

He's very concerned with Safety.

And super helpful when things break.

He's even been known to make his own caution tape out of yellow crepe paper streamers.

While shopping at Target one day, he announced to me that they had 7 wet floor signs being used.  I notice those things long enough to make a note and not slip and fall, but he catalogs them in his brain.

The hall closet. (there was nothing wrong with it)

Sometimes I keep the signs up for awhile, sometimes I don't.

I think I shall keep this one up forever.  It's just darn good advice.

Oh, Spring in Utah, How I've missed thee.

It's been 15 years since I moved to Arizona from Utah,  and this was the first time in all those years I've been able to go back in the springtime.  Spring used to be my favorite season.  So much color after all those months of grey barrenness. It was like the whole world was celebrating the fact that we had survived one more winter.

Now of course, my favorite season is the Fall.  (which I find that most people here in Arizona agree with me) Not that the leaves change color or anything, but once again, it means we survived.  The weather begins to cool down, and signs of life begin to return to the neighborhoods.  Kids can once again play on playground equipment without risking burns, and everyone seems to be outside remembering why we live here.

Anyways, I miss those beautiful Spring flowers.  They don't grow here in Arizona because they need the frozen ground to hibernate in.  Sometimes I will buy a bunch (or two, or three) of daffodils from Trader Joe's to brighten up my kitchen, but that's about the best it gets.

So imagine my joy when my dear sweet friend Chelsa announced she would be getting married in the Spring, in Utah.  (And on my dad's birthday, too. It's like the perfect storm.)  Plus, I got to spend time with two of my other good friends that I miss.

Because of Christopher, whenever I travel, I try to sit over the wing and take a picture for him. 

First, I visited Brenda in her new hometown and she showed me the sights.

By far my favorite thing was this chocolate bar we went to.  It's like a wine tasting with chocolate.  We did a little mini tasting.  I guess on Friday nights they do a bigger thing.  And they have rules about how you eat the chocolate.  You have to gently warm it between your fingers, give it a bit of a rub, smell the chocolate, then finally you can put it on your tongue and let it melt.

I've always been a bit of a chocolate snob, but even I learned a few things.  Most fascinating was that different beans can give off different flavors.  I tried some chocolate that had a very raspberryish flavor to it, but there were no added flavorings.  That was just the bean.  Blew my mind.

For my dad's birthday I picked him up some Hungarian chocolate.  It had anise (black licorice flavor) and lavendar.  Chocolate and black licorice are his two favorite treats, so I thought "Why not?"  (Plus, it's pretty)

Of course, since I do know my dad, I knew he'd probably prefer I spend my money on a bunch of Hershey bars.   I actually deliberated buying it, and the sales girl was a little horrified when I said that I just didn't think he'd appreciate it as much as he would said Hershey bars.  She totally winced when I said- "This is the guy who dips his Snicker's bars into Hershey's syrup because the Snickers aren't chocolatey enough."

I also got to go see my long time BFF (for more than 25 years).  We just hung out.

She took me on a tour of her new place, and I kinda geeked out when we walked into her office and I saw a TARDIS.   It was a media cabinet her dad had built for them, and she was trying to paint it the right color of blue, and then I was treated to a fairly entertaining argument between her and her husband as they freeze framed shots of the TARDIS (from Doctor Who) on the television and argued over what the best shade of blue was.  It was pretty fantastic.

And then of course, was the reason I went up there in the first place, to see my friend get married.  She was sealed to her sweetheart in the Salt Lake Temple.  Which was where I was sealed so many many years ago.  I smiled to remember when they brought in Nick (we were married civilly a year before because I was already pregnant.) He was just a little guy, all dressed in white, and I remember him trying to eat the lace on the altar. And I just sat there and cried.  I hope they thought I was crying because I was so happy for my friend.  I was surprised at how hard that was for me.  Remembering the starry eyed little girl I used to be, with hopes and dreams, and feeling like "We made it!" And then life happens and you get your heart broken.

But on to cheerier subjects.

The temple grounds were gorgeous, and so was the bride.

They had a fun party at Red Butte Gardens. Dinner.  Dancing. Ring Ceremony.  The whole nine yards.

It was a very good weekend.

Spring Break

When I was a little girl, I never understood the hype around Spring Break.  We only ever got one extra day off from school (Good Friday).  While I was always excited to have an extra day off, it was just one day.

However, upon moving to Arizona, we realized the glories that Spring Break can be- A whole week off from school!  (We even think that if our district were to change to year round, and we got two weeks off, we wouldn't complain)

Admittedly some breaks are better than others.  Some years we do fun things, some years people come visit us.  This year Nick and Maddie both had various things (Nick on his mini mission, Maddie had drama stuff at school) so it was mostly just me and the little boys.

Christopher and Zach had a lemonade stand.  It was pretty successful in that while they didn't sell much in volume, the few people that stopped by were pretty big tippers.

We visited the State Capitol.  That was my first time ever since we moved to Arizona.

And one day my sweet friend Teresa picked up the kids and took them to the zoo.

And awesomely enough, they saw a Delorean in the parking lot.  I'm just proud that my kids know to be excited about Deloreans.

And we figured out that the local Deseret Book carries BYU Creamery ice-cream, so the kids were pretty excited about that, and we didn't even have to go to Provo.

mini - mission

I think one of the best things Nick did to prepare for his mission, besides attending his weekly mission prep classes, was to go on a mini mission.  I guess it's not (yet) a church wide thing, just up to the mission presidents, still in it's infancy as far as programs go, or as far as I understand, but Nick was privileged to be able to participate in this program during Spring Break.

Our stake partners with the Gilbert mission to pair up "not quite mission age" boys and girls with real full time missionaries, and they go out and experience life as a missionary.

 For four whole days he lived and worked and behaved and taught as if he were a missionary.  He left his cell phone and the rest of his worldly cares at home and became a missionary for a week.

He loved it.  It was hard, and exhausting, and awesome.  He rode a bike until he was sore, got doors slammed in his face, people swore at him, and he faced lots of frustration and disappointment.  But then there were some awesome moments. And learning moments.

He stayed in an apartment with 4 full time missionaries, and three other wanna-be missionaries.  (for lack of a better term)

It was hard on me though.  I might not see him much, as he's at school or work, or with friends, but I text him a lot.  Like I think of something I need to tell him, and I fire off a text.  I see something funny or interesting, and I fire off a text.  I don't always expect an immediate response, because he's at work, or school, or on a date, but just knowing he's on the other end of a phone is kind of nice.

And when he's at home, you KNOW it.  He sings, he whistles, he bounds down the steps in no more than 4-5 steps, with a bit of a "thunk" on the landing.  The house was just so quiet when he was gone.  There was definitely a hole in our family.  I can't decide if knowing how big that hole is going to be is a good thing or not.

They had us drop them off at the church and say goodbye, and then four days later, they came home and the kids bore their testimonies of their experience.  It was pretty sweet.  And he came home fired up.  He was pretty nervous before hand.  I could tell,  I know my boy.  When he's nervous he gets quiet.

But he came home fired up.  He had a better understanding of what it takes.  The awesome parts and the really hard and crappy parts.

And he can't wait to do it for reals in the great state of Montana and the northern part of Wyoming.