Jetttttt Laggggggg

Here's what I was doing a week ago:

Lounging on the balcony of our room, reading a magazine and enjoying the sunset with a nice hot cup of tea.

Today I am still in my pajamas trying to recover from being thrust back into the real world.

But boy, was it worth it!

(The kids are also trying to recover from our trip and all the sugared cereal grandma let them eat. They are suffering from withdrawals, even as we speak. I also got quite a shock when I saw Austin for the first time, because I forgot we had shaved his hair pretty short before our trip to make it easier to take care of. I was expecting to see my little mop headed boy, and instead he looks like a convicted felon. His head now looks about two sizes too small.)

Favorite Photo Friday

This will be a quick one because I've got a lot to do today.

First, here is Morgan holding Ally when she was first born. I thought it was just a sweet photo.

I think it's about the only time for the next eight years or so that one or the other of them wasn't either screaming or crying.

Next up is Austin, he LOVES fiddling with gadgets (what little boy doesn't?).

Too bad the lens cap is still on. I might have actually looked good that day!

The New American Gothic

A couple weeks ago it was time to start raking the leaves. We have a LOT of trees so this is a huge job every year.

The girls were not thrilled.

Last year, though, we did discover a new technique that has saved us a lot of time. We rake a bunch of leaves onto a tarp and then drag the tarp to the garden so we can pile up the leaves and compost them. Hal mows up the ones we don't get to.

Austin, as usual, ended up with the cushiest job.

Happy Fall!

Too Much of a Good Thing is Still Too Much!

We had a wonderful stake music extravaganza tonight. Morgan played in the orchestra because we made her do it. (Sorry Morgan!)

There were a lot of really nice musical numbers. It was wonderful, it was uplifting, it was very professionally done. It was enjoyable.

It was also very LLLOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNGGG. It lasted a little over two hours.

We watched many small children cry and/or fall asleep. (Did I mention it was long?)

I'm glad we went to it, but we had to send our younger children home early with the grandmas. It was apparently too long for them too.

Morgan's New Pet Peeve

Tonight Hal called into Morgan's room and asked if she'd like to come out and have dinner.

While he walked outside to do something else, she came out and told me she had a new pet peeve. I asked her what it was.

She said, "I think it's dumb when someone says, 'Do you want to come out and have dinner?' or 'Do you want to come and have scripture and prayer?'."

We discussed this for a minute and I had to agree with her. Because really, what are your options for responding to that type of rhetorical question? Well, we did come up with a few good ones. Unfortunately, none of them would be fully appreciated by her father.

Anyway, Hal came back in and we got ready for dinner.

The first thing he said was, "Morgan, do you want to say the prayer?"

Favorite Photo Friday

In honor of our exciting trip coming up, I'm going to post two of my favorite vacation photos.

These are from my first ever trip to New York City, back in November of 1993. We went with our friends, Paul and Debbie Trette, who we were visiting in Boston and then we met up with Brian and Natalie Broadbent who were living in New York City at the time. They were great tour guides and we were able to see an amazing amount of things in just one day.

I don't think this first one with the Statue of Liberty is the best shot, but I have good memories when I see it.

This next one is probably my favorite vacation photo of all times. Again, since it was before 9/11, the Twin Towers were still in their full glory. To be honest, the reason I love this shot is a little more shallow. I love my hair in it. (You can click on the photo to get the full effect.) I think it's cool how it is blowing in the wind. This is the one and only time in my life that I've ever felt like a supermodel.

I think it's probably always windy on Liberty Island but it was also really COLD that day. We had to buy sweatshirts on Canal Street to stay warm.

This was the beginning of my love for this city. I think I've been there about seven times so far since then.

My unsolicited advice: Go in the spring or fall. It smells much better! (Summer is not the time to go.)

A Tug at my Heartstrings

Hal and I had a morning prayer with Austin before he left for school the other day.

After it was over, he (Austin) came over and sat on my lap and I held him for just a minute. He is still just the perfect size to sit and hold and snuggle with.

That made me think of my girls and how they are too big to hold anymore and it made me so sad!

I would give almost anything if I could have them back little for just one more day, so I could hold them and have one more tea party like we used to.

Despair.com, Ya Gotta Love It!

(I swiped this from Lacey, one of my "blogging friends".)

We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today.

Happy Halloween 2009

Ally as "Artemis" from the Lightning Thief series. She and Hal painstakingly made the bow about an hour before the first party she went to this year.

Austin as "Harry Potter" (who else?), complete with real wand and a potion he whipped up in our kitchen. He promptly lost the wand at the Halloween party at Uncle Thom and Aunt Monica's house.

Morgan didn't dress up, for the first time, this year. My (biggest) baby is growing up.

Hal made a bonfire on our driveway again, which was great fun until we almost set the neighbor's stroller on fire. Darn wind.

Also, we only Trick-or-Treated a little this year because Austin was so freaked out by some of the neighbor's decorations. A few of our kind neighbors even walked out onto the street to give him some candy. Now that's what I call going the extra mile!

Hope everyone had as much fun as we did this year.