Ducks!

School is out for the summer! So while McKay has been on the prowl for an internship, we've had a few days to do whatever we want. We've been to the park quite a bit, and last week we ventured out to the duck pond with a bag of bread. Tyler was determined to feed the ducks that were waddling around. Unfortunately, I think we showed up right at their bedtime, as they were doing all they could to escape him and his offered bread.

They eventually waddled away up the hill for the night, and Tyler went with Plan B for the bread leftover in his fist.

In sadder news, our good friends and next door neighbors, the Warrens are moving away! They've been our neighbors for the last year and a half. In BYU-years, that's about a lifetime. We'll miss them and their little boy Adam, who has become Tyler's best friend. We're convinced they'll end up as mission companions or dormmates their first year up here at BYU.

California Trip

Tyler and I took a quick weekend trip down to California, and we kept busy from the minute our plane landed to the minute our next one took off!

I always loved getting out of school early to be spoiled by family, so I picked up Kristen and Richard (my brother and sister) from school and took them to lunch on Friday, and then we spent the rest of the day baking for the spaghetti fund raising dinner that night. Every year, the young women in my home ward do it for Girl's Camp, and then they have a dessert auction. Kristen and I made a four layer Death By Chocolate cake, and it was oh-so-good.

Here's Kristen working it with the KitchenAid.

And here it is.

Tyler rather enjoyed the spaghetti. You can see the evidence on his face, and also in the form of a perfect orange hand print on my jeans.

Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Parsons for the first time on the blog! (Lauren was not pleased with the last picture I posted of her, so here's me redeeming myself.)

Leah, me and Bree Harrison. The three of us were inseparable in middle school, and haven't seen each other since high school. Love these girls! It's a little weird that we're all moms now.

So we were pretty busy during the shower on Saturday, and this was actually the only picture I took. It was my present to Leah, a big Angels-themed diaper cake.

That night, Kristen and Richard and I needed a break from working, so we went to Shakey's, a sort of mini-Chuck E. Cheese and were just silly. Kristen brought her friend Adrianne too.

Richard is just too cool for pictures.

Showing off their bling prizes from their tickets. Watch out, boys, these girls are hot!

Flying out of Long Beach.

I love visiting my family! You guys wear me out, but I love seeing everyone and driving around my hometown. Tyler had a big smile for McKay when we finally made it back to Utah, so I think he was ready to go home too :)

What the snow?

Alright, Utah. Is it April or is it Christmas?

This is what we woke up to this morning:

We did an Easter Egg hunt the morning after Easter with the other kids in our 4-plex. Better late than never, right?

Anyone who knows Tyler knows he loves putting things in baskets, and also balls. Well, he kept calling the eggs "balls," and loved collecting them in his basket. Of course, he also loved throwing them. Good thing we just dice them up anyways for sandwiches!

Tyler and his best friend, Adam Warren. When we go running in the morning, and they see each other, they just point and yell. Adam actually calls Tyler "Ty-Ty."

Blowing bubbles.

Tyler did not feel the need for a group shot. We had a fabulous Easter, even if it did snow a few days after. Luckily, Tyler and I get to escape it for a few days in California this weekend!

Living Scriptures

Last year, my parents gave us their collection of VHS Living Scriptures movies. We have a little TV/VCR combo, so one day I popped a movie in for Tyler to keep him busy while I did dishes, and he LOVED it! It is now a daily thing for him to watch one. Because the tape pops out when it is finished playing and rewinding, Tyler can just run up to the TV and push it in to start it up. He climbs up in our big papasan chair and he's ready to rock.

His favorites are the Joseph Smith Story and Nephi and the Brass Plates. I never would have thought he would like it so much. It's sort of random, but it's good way to start him loving the scripture stories while he's young, huh?

You can see Laman and Lemuel on the screen here. It's sort of funny to hear these movies on in the background because I can remember watching them when I was little, and you just remember all the funny parts of the movie that have no scriptural basis (like Lemuel's whiny voice, or Zoram's commentary on "leaving the city").

Unfortunately, Nephi wasn't enough to keep Tyler up after church today.

Yard Sale Junkie Update: I hit up a rockin' yard sale yesterday, and got three really cute dresses (I wore one for Easter today), a cute shirt, a pair of American Eagle jeans, Moulin Rouge and You've Got Mail, all for $10. I can't stop!

Hurricane (hûr-ri-kin)

We spent conference weekend at my beautiful sister Robin's home in Hurricane. Not only did it snow for most of the trip down, Tyler got sick ten minutes before we arrived. In spite of all this, we had a great weekend! My whole family except Kim was there, even Lauren, who made a surprise appearance the next morning with her nicely growing belly! Kristen and Robin share my obsession with yard-saling, so the three of us plus Daddy were out bright and early Saturday morning to all two of Hurricane's yard sales. I slacked on picture taking duty, but we managed to snag a few:Me and Lauren, who was doing a Little Mermaid pose to show off her tummy.

We had a hard time getting a good picture. Sorry, Lauren!

We went to the movies to see Knowing, and it seriously took all three of us (me, Lauren and Kristen) to decide on a candy.

Robin made these amazing cinnamon rolls on Sunday morning. I was especially impressed because I have never made cinnamon rolls that turned out well. So once we got home, I decided to give Robin's recipe a try. After an entire afternoon spent baking and several frantic phone calls to Hurricane, I am pleased to present these beauties:

We smothered these with obscene amounts of cream cheese frosting, and they were heavenly. Thanks, Robin!

Come Back to Texas

With all this snow and yucky weather and lots of our friends graduating and moving away, this video pretty much sums up what I've been feeling lately. Texas-haters, avert your eyes!




(It's about 0:39 that the video makes its point if you're getting bored during the first part.)

I was amused and homesick at the same time. I hope the whole state would sign a "Come Back" petition for me, although I don't think I would need it!