Elated

Okay, maybe not quite elated, but for no explicable reason I feel pretty good right now. Possible reasons may include:


Lolly fell asleep by herself in the living room--curled up all cute, naked, and covered in green marker (thank you so much Danielle for telling me about washable markers) on the white armchair, and smelling strongly of my favorite bath and bodyworks hand sanitizer, of which she is holding the now-empty bottle. But she smells absolutely delicious, and I am so happy to have a little smelly kid with so much curly hair and marker marks. I snatched her up and stuck her in her bed before the other kids woke her up--just in time, too. Enoch and Nana ran up right after I closed the door. Someone hit someone, and they made up and stopped crying much more quickly than usual--so that was nice. And since Levi is also asleep, I have appx 2 HOURS all to myself! (*insert crazy lady laugh right here) It was a nice break from what normally happens in the afternoon. (Even if I was scared sick that I couldn't find Lolly anywhere for a few minutes.)


I was able to go crafting today. I met two new people, and found out that Karie, whom I met on Sunday, is super cool. Seriously. You should see the pictures of the cakes she has made. I told her I want to be her best friend. She said that would be fine. lol


Robert watched the kids while I was out, apparently they had a lot of fun outside in the hammock and even played soccer, and he made zupa tuscana (or however you spell it) for me for lunch--and plenty of leftovers for dinner. YAY! He does make a mean bowl of zuppa toscana. . . even if he won't get home until 11:30 tonight. Again.


Last night Robert asked me out on a date to Waldameer tomorrow. He set up sitters and everything. I didn't even have to prompt him or anything! I don't think he's EVER done that before. Not even before we were married! (Okay, maybe he did then, but I'm not so sure. . .)


I tried the "waterfall braid" on myself today, and it was WAY easier than it looked like it would be. My hair isn't as straight as the lady in the tutorial, so it isn't quite the same, but it's all good. I curled mine just a little, and I really love the way it turned out. I'll be doing it again. For Sure. Oh, and I finally got my eyeshadow to do the things I've been trying for. I was HOT today--if I do say so myself.

Let's see. . . and I got an email from Kathy saying to come up with ideas for Super Saturday (I'm on the RS board). That is my FAVORITE thing to do--looking up crafting possibilities. And I got a phonecall from my friend asking if I could help with a RS activity. That's great too (both the phonecall and the assignment). Oh yeah, and Robert let me have the laptop today, which is so much faster than our desktop, and has one note and some other neat programs that I'm lovin'. I'm REALLY excited about that program. My life might actually start having some order from it! Especially my school life. Aaaaand, I just got on to google +, which so far I think is more awesome than facebook--I think, okay, I'm still on the fence, but it is pretty neat. I guess it's kind of like facebook and blogger combined, which is kind of nice. . . and of course, discovering pinterest a week or so ago has changed my life! Shoot, digital technology right now is SO fun!

Tooele Museum

Grandpa Gardner took us to the train museum in Tooele

It was pretty fun.

The kids loved it.

I couldn't get them to sit still for a decent picture for anything. . .

That's how much they loved it.

Anniversary #6

Robert's Mom watched the kids so we could go out. We got our favorite icecreams at the Dairy Keen in Heber, and then we were off to Park City!
Robert really wanted to go on the Alpine Slide--so I agreed. I was scared, but I agreed.
Getting ready to go.

So far I survived the lift ride. . .

See how much more relaxed he is than me? lol
It wasn't too bad, though. I actually really liked it. Just not the price ;D.

You can't go to Park City without window shopping. Loosey Moosey had a makeover since we saw her last. . .

These two look about the same, though.

MMMMMmmmmm. Mainstreet Pizza and Noodle. So Good!

The lighting was pretty good too.

All in all it was a great day. And we went dancing that night--which was a BLAST! But, we don't have any pics of that :/.

I have so much to do

There's so much I want to blog, study, create, clean, that I am paralyzed by the thought of all of it. I need to make a list. This is a good enough place to do it, right?

Complete Independent Study course
Catch up in Journal (I'm 4 weeks behind.)
Blog Trip to Utah
Create Travel Books
Create bathroom sign
Send signs to family
Clean.
Clean some more.
Excercise
Laundry
De-Junk!

Now, where to start! I honestly can't figure it out.

Anything New?

Not really. That's why I haven't been posting again. That, and soon we'll be going on "vacation" for a month (a rotation in Provo), so I probably won't be posting much then either. It will be nice to take a breather. A breather from what, exactly, I don't know.

Since I've been in a really rotten mood lately, I'm a little worried that I'm going to do something stupid or say something stupid--especially on here--so I'm just not going to say anything more for awhile. Here's some pictures. Not even new ones. Just some pictures.

Nana's Birthday. . . still catching up

Catching up on April: Nana Turns 5!

It took me forever to find the energy to throw her a party, but it turned out really nice. We had a Tangled theme. Rapunzel reminds me a lot of Nana: never cutting her long blonde hair--but when she did, it turned brown; climbing everywhere; I used to braid her hair a lot, or it would get into things; she sings really well, and a lot; she also has an evil fake mother and magical healing powers (okay, maybe not those last two, but I AM in love with how awesomely wicked the mother is--such a great character).

I used a bunch of +ups and bought her an awesome tower tent thingy for pretty cheap at Rite Aid. I thought it was perfect. The girls all pretended to be princesses. It looked like they had a lot of fun. Although, one of the girls ate all of Nan's easter candy when no one was looking. That made Nana kind of sad. Poor girl. I was fine with getting the candy out of the house, though!

Things I Want

Okay. It's time for me to be shallow again. I've had a really hard, uh, while. Who knows how long it's been now. So, I'm going to make some goals and some wishes (that have nothing to do with what I REALLY need for a "successful" home life), and see if that cheers me up.

Graduate. With SOMETHING. (realistic estimate: 2 to 4 years)

Have a clean and organized house with no remodeling projects. (realistic estimate: 6 to 12 months--oh, yeah, but then we move)

Learn to sew--a lot better than now. (ongoing)

Get an awesome TV, and a Wii to go with it. (realistic estimate: ask me when Robert gets a paycheck)

See the world before I'm 80. I've always wanted to see the ruins in Belize. (realistic estimate: hopefully before I'm 80, and probably after we get the Wii)

-Goes along with learn a foreign language and use it in a foreign country (Canada or Mexico would not count)

Read more of the classics. (ongoing)

Learn photography better. Maybe break down and buy photoshop instead of using gimp. (ongoing)

Get a real gemstone and look at it under the lights in the big room in the religion building at BYU. (long story--longer realistic estimate)

Get to my goal weight. (realistic estimate: 1 to 60 years--80 is going to be awesome)

Do something new--something cool no one else I know personally has done yet. (hmmmm. . . don't know how to estimate that one)

Take pictures at Time's Square. (1 to 60 years)

Laser procedures (hair removal, lasik, scar removal maybe?) (Again, ask me when Robert has a paycheck)

Be in a choir. And I don't mean ward choir. (This one seems kind of hopeless since my singing gets worse every year, but it would be SO cool)

I guess I'd be okay without most of these. Just not super okay.

Things I absolutely DO need?

Finally be okay with past hurts. REALLY believe in God. A good relationship with my kids and spouse--especially spouse. Aaaand, maybe it sounds shallow, but a paycheck would be nice.

Oops

Somehow this photo was deleted from the last post. My sister Jenny and her husband showed up for the baptism, too. It was a nice surprize, and so fun to see them!

Catching up. Again. Uhhhhh. . .

This is all roughly from March.

Levi is so adorable. As you can see . . . This is what Enoch's hair looks like in the morning--on good days. I've had a few baby showers, and a few diaper cakes. This was the first time I tried a guitar. It was pretty flimsy. I'll have to work on that.
We went on vacation spur of the moment to go see my brothers and their families down in North Carolina. The kids loved the dogs. They talk about them all the time. Even though Enoch usually looked like he was getting trampled by a bouncy ball of fur.

Nana fell in the pool. I wasn't happy. Daddy thought it was funny--guess who was watching the kids when it happened. Rachel took really good care of us. I want some more of that bread!
We went to the park. Levi had to bundle up, but the weather was infinitely better than Erie! The kids all milked a goat at my brothers' friend's place. It was neat. It was the first time the family met Levi. And it might have been the first time Brandon and Rachel met Lolly, but I'm not sure.
Katelyn had her baptism while we were there--part of the reason we decided to go. The night before we left we walked around town. It reminded me a little of Park City--without the hills. When we got back to Ryan and Carolina's place, we played Just Dance 2 on the Wii--now I want one. It was SO much fun. We went to church with them just before we left--There meetinghouse is right next to the temple. The live so close!

On the way home we stopped for a rest stop. The bathrooms were closed, but we saw this really cool bridge. We would have walked closer, but I REALLY needed a bathroom!

We always have to hold our breaths and make wishes when we go through the tunnels in Pittsburgh. We must be at the end of one here, because Robert looks like he's about to pass out!

St. Patrick's Day. I know I still look pregnant, but Robert and I started a "March Madness" weightloss thingy, and so far, I've dropped almost 15 lbs! (Oh, and I totally beat him, so he had to arrange a babysitter and plan a date.)

Growin' Up Gangsta

He's not just my snuggly little newborn, any longer.