"It is so dang fun to have a fish." -Easton

Our Spring Break is almost over and we decided to get one last family activity in before reality and finals are upon us- so this afternoon we headed over to the pet store and bought ourselves a new pet. Now... we have been thinking about this for a while and it actually took us a while to decide if we were ready for the commitment- but we now are the proud owners of our very own fish. As you can see Easton is very excited. He is so happy- I can only imagine if it were a dog or something that actually reacted to him, but that can all come later. As for now, he is perfectly content watching "Sharky" swim around in circles.
This is how you give a fish a hug:

the scariest experience of my life.

I am going to try to tell this story so it makes sense...

When we arrived home from our road trip we started unpacking our bags and loading stuff into our apartment as we usually do. Derek was inside and I went out to the car to get another load and Easton was standing between me and the front door. As I reached into the back to get out a bag out of the corner of my eye I saw a man in a black hoodie running about 3 feet behind me pointing a gun and he started yelling "freeze- you right there!!!" I totally went into panic mode and as I turned around I realized he was pointing the gun at my neighbor who was getting into his car right behind me. About a million thoughts raced through my mind and time seemed frozen. I just knew I had to get out of the line of fire so I grabbed Easton nearly throwing his arm out and dragged him into the house and slammed the front door- all the while screaming "get on the floor and don't move, Derek call 911 there is a guy with a gun running through the parking lot!!!!"

S0... Derek goes to the office window (the office is attached to our apartment because we are the apartment managers) and says that the guy with the gun IS the police. We watched him arrest our neighbor- then UN-arrest him and apologize. Then Derek went over to make sure everything was OK- I guess they had the wrong guy and they had been waiting for him to come out for a couple days and it just happened to happened when we were right there and they had to make a decision. In my mind he made the WRONG decision. For all he knew the guy he was arresting was a dangerous criminal and he knowingly put me and Easton right in between them. If there were a shoot out we would have been no more that 5 feet avay from either of them and right in the line of fire. I am so aggrivated by that even though it was fine. He came over and apologized for scaring me.

I was still pretty shook up and as soon as they left I just started sobbing and looking up new places to live and trying to convince Derek that we needed to move. I am still very upset and I haven't answered my door or phone all day. Derek is telling me I will be fine in a couple days and I am pretty sure I am going to have PTSD and need therapy or something. It was seriously the scariest thing that's ever happened to me and I hope I am NEVER in a situation like that again.

* on a side note- I need to add that Easton didn't see the gun because he was on the other side of the car so all he saw was me freak out and in fact, while we were talking to the police in our office, he came out wearing his police officer costume and carrying a huge nerf gun with his tough guy face. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever and just love him so much. That boy is my favorite person. He kept hugging me and wanting to cuddle and telling me not to be scared.

I've heard that when you take your kids you should call it a trip and not a vacation. So true, so true. I am exhausted from our whirlwind road trip we went on with the our good friends the Lofgran family. We drove to Crescent City California, had Easter in our hotel room, an Easter egg hunt in the Redwoods, a bonfire at the beach, pet real sharks at Ocean World, Derek got attacked by an Emu at a drive-thru safari, the sea lion caves and we sure did a whole lot of eating in between. We had such a great time and the kids did so well! Especially considering we had 8 people crammed into one car. I mean, you have to really like people to go on a trip like that and still come home happy. We had a great time and are so happy to have a few days to recover... Easton is now offically wanting to be adopted by the Lofgrans. Sigh.

Spring break "vacation"

Rent-A-Brother

Sometimes we borrow Easton's buddy Jackson after school or to play- Something we have termed the "rent- a- brother" program. They have so much fun together- Easton get good playtime and I get stuff done without feeling like I am neglecting him. It's a win-win-win. today we colored some Easter Eggs (thanks to Mel's package) Star Wars is always a hit and this was a really fun/ easy egg decorating experience... I am not quite sure how I am the only one who ended up with my fingers stained. I was so worried about them not making a huge mess but neglected to be careful myself. :)

this is my personal favorite...

Ok- so you may have noticed that I have been a little obsessed with my blog this week- I have to say a HUGE THANKS to Bekah for helping me re-design- you rock! We had a ball letting our kids do some St. Patrick's day crafts yesterday while we talked and goofed on the computer- it was such a fun low -key day.

I just HAD to post some pictures of this STELLAR package we got from my dear sister Mel- she is so thoughtful and totally rocks. She is literally the busiest person I know- but she somehow still finds time and money to spoil us! As you can see from the pictures- Easton LOVE packages from aunt Mel because it's a lot like Christmas... he especially loved the chocolate gold- what kid doesn't? thanks Mel! Now all I need is for her to ship herself to me so she can cut and color my hair!

I also had a fabulous day because I found out that me OTHER sister has finally gotten things pretty finalized with her adoption and she and her husband are flying to Ethiopia at the end of April to go pick up my new nephews! We are so so sooooo excited to meet them and just thrilled that they get to be a part of our wild and crazy family! Wahoo!

SO- I think it's safe to say that the luck of the Irish was with me this year.
I am part Irish so I have always loved to Celebrate St. Patrick's Day. We had "mildly" green pancakes for dinner and "orange-gold" juice. I didn't get a cute picture of my table- but it was really green and cute and totally too much work. :) I loved it though!

I just feel really blessed right now... I am so LuckY.

Easton is going to kill me...

someday I will pay for posting this picture- but he is so funny and totally loved to dress up in costumes-especially if he can get a laugh! I love this silly little boy!

Girls night out! "da da da da da da da da da da da da da da dum"

What a fun night out! Meg and I went to the High School's musical "Fiddler on the Roof" and we pleasantly surprised at the spectacular talent here in out little town. I have been humming the songs all day- I felt like I was taken back in time and I pretty much sat there with a perma-grin on my face the whole time. I have so many fun memories (like many people) of the music in this show and I thought about my dad throughout the whole thing. Poor Papa- blessed with FIVE daughters! And not a rich man either! But (on the other hand... he he) we love him and I am pretty sure he wouldn't want it any other way. I am so glad I got to have a fun night out and see this show. Thanks to our hubby's who so patiently watch out children so we can have some time to get a little culture back into our lives. I am also so grateful for you dear friend who sat so patiently and listened to my commentary throughout, and who appreciates and loves this as much as I do... you are like a sister to me and I love you Megan! What a treat!

So a number of times I have considered making my blog more private... I have never really had anything weird happen, but I realize that there are a lot of weirdos out there and I wouldn't want to endanger anyone by putting the information out there for all to see. My brother-in-law Boyd's words keep echoing in my head "Is the risk worth the reward?" I keep going back and forth on this issue because on one hand it is really fun to get in touch with old friends when they "find" your blog... I really can't decide... so I need some feedback. I know some of you who read this have a private blog and others are public. I was wondering if anyone had some suggestions on how to keep it more safe, and any good websites I could look at that could help me make up my mind. What should I do???

Here's to a great weekend...

So it was a great weekend here... we had a pretty busy week and Derek has been so busy in school lately. Friday it was nice just to have some down time and hang out together. Then we got up early Saturday and I had Easton and Derek come with me on an adventure... but before I get into that I will explain this picture:

It was our friend Carrie's birthday and for her party she wanted to do a murder mystery and it was so fun! Her and her husband put so much work into it. We (of course) went a little overboard with the costuming (thanks to Goodwill)... I guess I never quite grew out of loving to dress up. I am so happy that Derek is fun when it comes to stuff like this and we really have fun together. We got to go in character and John Evington-Brown III and Rose Evington-Brown a socialite couple in the 1940's. It was a very entertaining night- especially when everyone started to get into their characters. It was a great night out and thanks to the Jacks for all their hard work and for inviting us!Ok-- now back to Saturday morning... I have had my eye on this box for months. It is 100% my style and I have been wanting to buy it from Costco forever... so I finally indulged myself and bought it. It came with cards inside... but I took them out and I am going to use it to store my recipes. It is so cute and I realized when I got home it was almost exactly the same as one of the pillows on my couch. I guess I like what I like and I am really into orange organic looking flowers right now....who knew?

As for the adventure took us all on... well many of you might have bought or sold something on Craigslist and I had sold, but the idea of going to a strangers house and buying their stuff is a little weird... but I have really wanted an elliptical for a long time and I found one I REALLY wanted to I got us all in the car and we drove to find this random house in the sticks. Well, it was a beautiful drive and there were lots of glorious houses along the way so I am thinking to myself, "Hey this is looking promising." No. We pulled up to the address and there was this dilipidated shack of a house and like 10 dogs. scary. Derek just looked at me like I was insane and going to get us all hacked to bits by some weird psycho in the boonies of an Oregon field. Well, it actually all turned out fine and there was a young guy in he's 20's selling it and he was actually very nice. I guess that just show that first impressions are often wrong. So- after squeezing it into our car with less than an inch to spare and a VERY THOROUGH disinfecting and sanitation wipe down.. I am happy to report that I am now the proud owner of my very own elliptical.

sunday was also a good day. Easton was so grumpy before church and I forgot about the time change- but I really felt the spirit so strong during Sacrament meeting and I just felt like I got my lamp filled you know? I love weeks like that. so... here's to a great weekend and now that it's monday I need to get off the computer and go clean, clean clean!!! Yipee!!!

bag tag...

I guess I am supposed to tell you everything in my purse... this might be a little boring... I have:

my new fabulous wallet that opens three ways and has adorable yellow and cream lining...

my cell phone

my keys... I have a million keys on my key chain and I look like a janitor.

two tubes of lip gloss

chapstick

a piece of a sucker Easton didn't want wrapped in a receipt. yummy.

a band aid. (thanks Bekah)

a few pens including one I accidentally stole

girl stuff

my sunglasses

Easton's sunglasses

a granola bar

a notepad

a bottle of rubber cement (I don't always carry this with me for rubber emergencies, but I bought it today at Walgreen's and put it there.)

lots of loose change and old receipts.

pretty typical mom purse. I am sorry this post is boring... to liven things up I will add a picture of the FABULOUS new bag I got at IKEA this week. It is supposed to be a laundry bag, but I am going to use it for beach/pool stuff. I LOVE IT!!! p.s. thanks for browsing IKEA with me Becah... I am so glad when I get to go there with someone who loves it as much as I do...

Also... I should also thank Lindsay who introduced me to IKEA three years ago. I fell in love the first time I looked at that magazine and I owe it all to you. :)

I tag: Shelly, Melanie, and Megan... and anyone else who wants to do it :)

disclaimer: I have to vent about a little no-- BIG pet peeve of mine. I guess this is the place for it . . .

I understand that it is cold/flu/allergy season but I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE SPIT LEWGIES ON THE SIDEWALK!!! It is the rudest, grossest thing ever. I do NOT want to see your PHLEGM people! Get a drink- go to the bathroom- good HECK SWALLOW!!! Please! Common courtesy! It is so disgusting! Derek thinks it is sick to swallow- I agree, but it is so rude to hack up a big spit wad onto the sidewalk. Just plain sick and rude. When did this start? Why do people do it and think it's OK? Nobody wants to see it. Let's just all keep our bodily fluids inside and not expel them onto public places OK? It makes me gag. Sickoes.