Another week of birthday

14: Stopped at Juniper's for dinner in Logan on our way up to Preston. Also, a library trip.
15: Took a quick early morning jog with my brother and sister. Man, I like those people. Spent the day at Preston with extended family.
16: Father's Day, made a big breakfast for my husband and father-in-law. We did some delicious dutch oven for dinner.
17: Went to lunch with my mom and sister for her birthday.
18: Swimming at Layton Surf 'n Swim with cousins and grandparents. My nephew's orthodontist rented it and friends and family were invited. levi even got a free t-shirt (ironic, since he's the one who didn't need braces... and then Nathan won him some pretty sweet black and neon-green sunglasses).
19: Another t-ball game? I kind of don't remember this day.
20:  A trip to the main library in Ogden. Checked out and read a funny book.
21: Went to the temple in the morning, tried Desert Magnolia for lunch, and watched Midnight in Paris after the kids went to bed. (Three things in one day! Check that out!)
22: Yard work, while not fun, was satisfying to finish. I read some of Operation Mincemeat and Levi made an awesome dinner.
23: Levi took the kids for a walk just as I got home from ward council, and I got to read the paper in peace. Took a walk later, by myself.
24: Took a nap! and finished Operation Mincemeat.
25: Another library trip, to get myself some more books. (Have you noticed lots of my fun things has just been allowing myself to read more? It's been great). Oh, and tonight--late night appetizers (half price after 9!) at Applebee's with some of my book club friends.

So, nothing too ambitious. Mostly I've just been finding small ways during my normal day to slip something fun in. I've liked it. Maybe I'll pretend every month is my birthday month.

Father's Day 2013

Between Pinterest and my children's brains, Father's Day was pretty funny this year.

Clara:
My dad is 35 years old.
His hair is black and his eyes are blue.
My dad likes to wear glasses.
He loves to eat eggs.
He is smart because he knows how to help Nathan ride his big bike.
My dad works hard at writing on the computer and with a pen on paper.
Daddy always tells me to get dressed.
It makes my dad happy when I get dressed.
If he could go on a trip, he would go to the desert and  he would take Alice.
I really love it when my dad rides his bike. ("When will my father ride his bike?")
If I could give my daddy anything it would be a present.
My favorite thing about my dad is giving him a present for his birthday.

Nathan:
My dad is 35 years old.
His hair is gray and his eyes are green.
My dad likes to wear red clothes.
He loves to eat peppers.
He is smart because he knows about airplanes.
My dad works hard at work.
Daddy always tells me don't do something wrong.
It makes my dad happy when I obey.
If he could go on a trip, he would go to the desert or Australia and  he would take an airplane or he would drive.
I really love it when my dad takes me to the airplane museum.
If I could give my daddy anything it would be a house.
My favorite thing about my dad is he loves me so much.

This was the only surprise I could muster for Father's Day, and I'm surprised that we could even do that much. Levi I think is destined to not have any more surprises, ever. Nathan spilled the beans about his birthday ("We bought you a barn!"). Clara, at two different times, told him all about Father's Day (a screwdriver and a tool bag). And pretty soon Alice will be old enough to tell him things. Happy Father's Day, dad. We love you too much to keep any secrets from you.

House Work

First of all, let me give you some advice: Never never never buy a house with aluminum siding. Why? Aluminum siding is terrible. Especially if you live in an area with hard water, which, probably is the entire universe. Why else would there be such a roaring industry for water softeners?

My house, coming up on thirty, is showing its years. (I'd like to think I'm weathering the years a little better than the house, which is a few years younger than I am). I didn't think too much about it when we moved in because I was a little busy with the raptures of a new baby. But it's bothered me for years. So this year, with Alice not quite so dependant and no more babies imminent, is Operation: Deuglify. I started with the siding, faded, oxidized, and with hard water marks. I found a product online called Everbrite. You scrub the house with the included cleaner, let dry, then apply the everbrite, which renews and protects the paint on the siding. Magic! It's wonderful. And expensive. So, after buying some and loving it, and some talk with my parents and more research online, I decided to try some linseed oil on the siding above our garage roof. And...

It does the same thing, for a fraction of the price. I did the remaining 2/3 of the house with linseed oil. It gave my neighbors some entertainment to see me up on a ladder, laboriously rubbing a cloth over each square foot of the siding. My neighbor told me later his wife dared him to call across the fence, "You missed a spot!" I told him I would have invited him to climb up and finish the job himself.

So, working on it sporadically, on weekends, for a month, it's done. During that month I also repainted the shutters, planted a garden, all the work that goes with three kids and a demanding calling, et cetera, et cetera.

Worth it. Now on to the next project.

More birthday fun

Here's what's up. June is being awesome. And busy. I've been working some more on my birthday month of fun:

June 7: attended Whitney's wedding reception, where I got to see Shelly and Kristen. Four of the six from Morgan Hall apt. 203.
June 8: Finally finished linseed oil on the house (woot!), and free swimming at the complex.
June 9: dinner at my parents' house with all my siblings and their children, as well as Linda and my grandparents.
10: play group at the park, then getting my house clean before tball. Getting my house cleaned up, while not exactly fun, was deeply deeply satisfying.
11: Hosted cousins in the morning, and friends in the afternoon. During a busy day of kids playing, I managed to sneak in about ten minutes of uninterrupted reading time, sitting in the shade in the backyard. Wonderful.
12: Play date with my good friend Aubrey and her kids, watched Mulan with the kids in the afternoon, t-ball pictures, picnic at the park, and then more t-ball.
13: cousin day at Beus Park, princess party at the community center, and, the highlight of every month....Book Club. It deserves to be capitalized.


And, I better write this down before I forget it:

Nathan, after we drove past the house in Roy I lived in until I was seven: "Mom, thanks for showing me about the good old days. When you were little, did you have cars?"

He then told me that if I didn't have cars, we could have just ridden around in carriages pulled by horses.

Golden Birthday Month

In my bloggy reading, I came across this poster. Which, really, can you argue with that? And so I've taken it for my mantra. Doing things fills up that anxious time between waiting for things to happen and fixing things that aren't going right. It's a poster that I would like to own, but then again, I'd have to pay money to get it. Which really isn't part of my strategic plan.

This month is my golden birthday. I've looked forward to my golden birthday, since it's supposed to be some magical golden shimmering thing of wonder. And, really, you need something to dress up 29. Such a blase number. So, my strategic plan for my birthday month is to do 29 fun things, one for each day.

Here's what I've done so far.
1. helped at a yard sale benefit for my cousin (sometimes, work can be a fun thing). Got a bike trailer/jogging stroller for only 35 dollars
2. taught a Relief Society lesson (it went well--I made people cry--and so that was a sort of fun thing. Can you tell I have to look for fun where I can find it?) Levi dutch ovened steak, potatoes, and a pineapple/mango cobbler--delicious
3. finding myself alone in the middle of the afternoon, I took myself out to lunch at Cafe Zuppa's. That night we used our gift certificate to Farr's and went out for ice cream.
4.  visited an elderly couple in our ward, who insisted on making cotton candy and sno cones for my kids
5. attended Nathan's first t-ball game. It was an excercise in hilarity.
6. worked on making a mix of funny love songs as part of a wedding present. As part of this I reconnected with an old college friend whom I haven't talked to in too long.

So, there's six days so far. Nothing too ambitious, but I think I can fit fun things in every day, or at least recognize that I'm already doing fun things. Any ideas for what else I can do in my birthday month?

Memorial Day weekend = zoo trip!

First, just let me start by saying, I love the Charlie and Lola cartoons. We get them from the library. Maybe I love them so because of the charming artwork, or their British accents, but I think it's because Lola says things like "Snow is my favorite and is my best." For whatever reason, it's lovely.

But enough about television. The Zoo is why we are all here today, reading this blog. Right?

 I brilliantly thought the zoo would be less crowded on the Friday before Memorial Day. And it possibly was, but it still felt pretty crowded.  The parking lot was full. We ended up parking up the street near a little monument about Emigration Canyon, which was well worth the read. Very interesting. So we had a fairly good walk before we even got to the zoo.

For the first few minutes Nathan would look at an animal for about ten seconds before he was ready to move on. At that rate, we would have covered the entire zoo in about thirty-seven minutes. Luckily he slowed down when we got to the seals.

Having a snack at the elephant pavilion. Arriving at the zoo around lunchtime, armed with only paltry snacks, was not my best moment as a mother. We snacked on peanuts, carrots, banana chips, and pretzel balls for a couple of hours before I broke down and bought the popcorn Nathan had been requesting since we arrived. All the treats available, and he wanted popcorn? But the bag fed all of us, and paired with a tiger's blood snow cone, it felt pretty good.

 Unbidden, he decided to see if his head would fit in an elephant's mouth. It would. Good to know?

 The seals were really cool. We stopped here for a long time, had more snacks, then watched a short presentation about animal habitats, when the kids got to touch a snake and a rabbit.

 Part of the zoo is closed, but I'm glad they moved the lion drinking fountain so we could get a drink. We had to wait in a pretty long line. According to the kids, totally worth it.

 After hearing these kids fight so often, it does my heart good to see Nathan help Clara with things. He's turning out to be a good big brother. Here he's pushing the button because her hands weren't strong enough.

 Alice got a short nap. Lucky. Later Clara was tired so we took (now-awak) Alice out so Clara could ride. She got pretty mad. That was her stroller.

 Lego monkeys!

 In the reptile house. We had to take two trips inside to see the alligators. Or are they crocodiles?

 Nathan put his hat on the tiger but wouldn't stay for the picture.

 Hm. Blogger has decided to stretch horizontal pictures weirdly. Sorry.

Alice loved this elephant. Also, she prefers not to hold your hand while walking. She knows that's just a ploy to get her to go where she doesn't want to. She's a smart cookie.

The kids slept all the way to Burger Bar, where we picked up dinner before we got home. Burgers and a peach shake. Hello, summer. Nice to meet you.