get yer irish on!

Remember the "Elf Yourself" web campaign by Office Max for the last couple of Christmas seasons? Well, the manufacturers of Irish Spring are getting in on the crazy act.


In the spirit of the upcoming St. Pattie's Day , I decided to get my Irish on at their "Turn Yourself Irish" website-for a great laugh check it out here! And for even more fun, check out Collin's! He's a natural in a green suit!

i. hate. daylight. savings. time

Anybody else with me on this?

It messes with my sleep, and worse than that, it messes up my kids' sleep. Which in turn messes up my sleep even more. And don't even get me started on the sheer tedium of having to scour the entire house [both levels] and garage and even our back patio for every possible timepiece just so I can change it by one hour. Only a man could have come up with something this ridiculous. Thanks a whole bunch, Benjamin Franklin. You're a real smartie. Obviously you never had to raise kids or manage a household.

Maybe we should move to Arizona.

Nah. Way too hot.

new first presidency portrait

A friend sent me this picture of the new First Presidency, so I thought I'd post it for all to see! Shown are Thomas S. Monson, Henry B. Eyring, and Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Check out http://www.lds.org/ for more information on the new official portrait.

my fella

Collin atop his favorite perch in the mall playground!

We were planning on going to story time at the library this morning, but when we got there we found that the children's librarian was sick today. Poor Miss Valerie! So, after we collected the books and DVD I had on hold, we decided to go have some fun. I had a couple of errands that needed running at the mall, so that's where we headed.

After making my stops, we made for the playground, Collin's favorite place to hang out at the mall. His favorite thing to play on is the yellow VW bug-he especially likes to jump off of it [that's where he's perched in the above photo]. And of course we had to have lunch at the mall while we were there-we shared a huge plate of nachos. Collin loves his chippies. Since no trip to the mall would be complete without the requisite visit to the See's Candy establishment, Collin giddily picked out a small chocolate rabbit and sat down on a nearby bench to relish it.

All in all, a good morning!

happy leap year day!

Picture circa London 1884

Happy Leap Year Day!

Some fun facts about Leap Years:

In older times in England, February 29 was ignored and had no legal status. This custom also migrated over to the United States during that time. You probably wouldn't want to close escrow on your house on a Leap Day back then.

This is even better: a Leap Year was the only time that society permitted a woman to ask a man for his hand in marriage. And if he declined a proposal in a Leap Year, he owed her a silk dress and a kiss on the cheek!

Leap Year Balls were all the rage in both England and America. They were given all throughout the Leap Year, and the women were the ones to ask the men to dance. They could even cut in on other women during dances, just as men are wont to do. To learn more about the picture above, check out this link to make sense of it all!

And finally, here's a link to a funny little story about Leap Year that appeared in the Washington Post today.

Enjoy your extra day!

blossoms in the orchard

blossoms detail

busy bee

reflections

Yesterday I stopped at this orchard in bloom after taking the kids to school to get some fun pictures. And the orchard smelled so good! I'm not sure what kind of stone fruit these blossoms will become, but it smelled heavenly. It was buzzing with bees as well, as you can see from the second picture!

pretty blossoms

When I took Julia's glasses in to get fixed, I couldn't help but capture theses lovely blooms on camera. I've always had a fondness for tree blossoms, and the tall, graceful orange iceland poppies always stand out in a crowd. I am loving spring right now-I feel that if I don't take my camera with me everywhere that I might miss something great!

little bitty gets glasses

A couple of weeks ago I took Julia in for her scheduled eye exam. She hadn't mentioned any vision problems to anyone, but it soon became obvious during her exam that she was having trouble seeing the smaller letters! Sure enough, Julia is following in her parents' and older brother's footsteps and is myopic just like them! I was about the same age as Julia when I started wearing glasses, so it shouldn't have been such a surprise. She was really excited about wearing glasses and picked out her favorite pair at the doctor's office. For the next few days, every time the phone rang she asked me if it was the eye doctor, telling her that her glasses were ready! I'm really glad that she is excited about wearing them. It sure makes my job as the mom that much easier. Now my biggest concern is that these glasses stay intact until our insurance pays for another pair: she's been wearing them for almost a week now and we've already had one repair made on them!

in the backyard

Some pictures I took on Saturday while goofing around with the camera in the backyard, in between rain showers.

star wars according to a 3 year old

This little girl is so cute! And she only saw the movie once!

what would you do for a klondike?

This weekend Owen and Bailey participated in the annual Klondike Derby with the Boy Scouts. It's all about the snow! They built a sled to mush their gear into camp [since it's all snowed in] and they spend all weekend in the snow. Brrrrrr. They had lots of fun, though, participating in all the activities and finishing up the day with a massive snowball fight. Even Owen, who never gets cold, said that sleeping in the snow was "a little cold." Almost makes me feel a wee bit guilty for having that nice, warm bed all to myself Friday night. Almost.

girl's night out

Last night was girl's night out!

Julia, Libby, and I headed over to catch the Hannah Montana concert movie. Here are the girls in their humungous 3D glasses. Yes, I wore them, too. And it was pretty darn cool!

valentine 4 u

I couldn't resist this one. Hope you have a happy Valentine's Day.

sugar sugar

My valentine bunny and See's Candy from Owen. Isn't that sweet? The bunny is from Build-a-Bear and was Libby's pick for me. Although it was Owen's idea to go there for my gift. I know! I'm pleasantly surprised as well. She's really soft and snuggly. Collin went with Owen to get it, and when it came time to name the bunny, he wanted to call her "Superman." The girl at the store cracked up over that! In the end, they decided to let me go in for the birth certificate myself so that I can name my own bunny. Maybe I'll go with "Supergirl."

Here are the kids having their Valentine's Day breakfast of chocolate and sugar. Why not? It's only once a year. Umm, except for Halloween, Easter, Christmas. . . OK, never mind. At least they don't have school today-they're off for this entire week.

happy valentine's day!