The post about that awesome little trip we just took.

No, not the New York trip. A different awesome trip we just took. For the first time in my life I feel like a spoiled brat. Nevertheless...

28 is great.

Because I went on a trip with my mate.

To celebrate.

It was an overnight date.

We stayed out late.

We had 7 different salsas on our plate.

Burritos and pizza and cake is what we ate.

Then we had a bunch of chocolate & gummy worms which made us gain weight.

We got a hotel in Park City for a half price rate.

We went down the mountains with a sled, not a skate.

We got a military hookup for a bunch of free rides by a dude named Martin, not Nate.

The fallish mountains were gorgeous and we hiked them in zigzags, not straight.

The weather was perfect and it made me glad to live in this state.

We hit some yard sales at some rich folks estate.


I know, I'll stop, it's so bad. I do it to my kids all day. They think I'm funny.

I need to talk to more adults.











If you think it's fun to get in a sleeping bag and dive down a set of stairs, you have got to try this...


Saturday morning we were happy to go to scoop up the sloppy seconds of all the rich Columbia-wearing residents of Park City (where I scored my new favorite pair of jeans for a buck and a beautiful antique bench for $5).

Then we stuffed our guts full of some seriously tasty breakfast at Squatters. Sausage and gravy, sooooooo good.

Then we went back to our hotel to procreate. Wait. The rhyming part is over. Anyways, we just went and sat in the jacuzzi. And I laid out. Next to Braden! He made it a whole ten minutes! Surrounded by beautiful colorful mountains. I require nothing more to make me happy. Well, I wouldn't have turned down a diet Guarana, but it really was my idea of perfect.

Next we decided to hike one of those beautiful mountains. How could we not? I mean look at them?







Happy Birthday to me. I mean, us. We celebrated a week early because he was going to be gone on my actual birthday, and I decided that since he will be gone on his birthday also, we should combine it. Also, our birthdays are exactly six months apart so you don't have to wait so long until your next birthday. Also, you can rationalize spending more money because after all, it is our birthdays.

I find myself sitting here daydreaming of that trip. Is it because the girls are acting out horribly in his absence? Perhaps. But- I just can't get over how great it was to ride the coaster up the mountain, snuggled up together in the fantastic fall sunshine, and then scream our heads off all the way down. I killed four bugs who got stuck to my lip gloss. Totally worth it.

Thanks to Martin for the hookup, Mashay & Jason for watching our sweeties (they are sweet, they are sweet, they are sweet), and Braden for planning an awesome surprise trip.

Little smallish girl prayers

Do you know what's sweeter than a baby folding their arms when they hear the word 'prayer'?


Nothing. Nothing at all. It's the sweetest.

Even if they didn't exactly wait for the prayer to start eating. And even if they don't close their eyes.

In other prayer highlights from the week:

Not long after Braden left Lila had just said goodnight to him on skype and went crying and sulking to bed. She walked into her room, knelt by her bed, and said this prayer through hiccups:

"Dear Heavenly Father, thankful that we could talk to Dad. {sniff, sniff, sniff}. And thankful that he would talk to me". That was all. It tugged at my heart.

My friend Jamie had a son who passed away this week. His name is Seth and we have prayed for him for over a year now. The night he died I wondered what Anabelle would say in her prayer instead of praying for him to get better. She said, "Please help Seth and his parents as they are far away from each other". I thought it was perfect. I love to see her simple faith in the gospel.

After we said a breakfast prayer the other morning Lila said, "Where is Jesus?" and before I could answer she said, "Oh, I think he's probably just in my room I guess". And then she took a big bite, apparently satisfied with her own answer.

If it was true it would have been good timing, their room was actually clean.

On Being Ignored

Last night, during the pre-bedtime toy round-up, I asked Lila to pick up the Potato Heads. (This after I had spent the day trying my darndest to clean faster than they could destroy, with little success, but I had worn myself out in the effort just the same).

Then I asked her again while I cleaned up the play food.

She was prancing up and down the hall wearing the Potato Head pieces. I know she heard me but clearly didn't care to stop her frolicking about.

I asked Anabelle to put her jammies on about 5 times but she just couldn't get over how funny it was to dress up her sisters.

They even got the baby in on it so everyone was playing and no one was cleaning. Oh wait, except me, I was still cleaning.

I asked Lila a few more times, my voice growing in sternness, eyeballs all buggy, and I was whipping that pointer finger all through the air, saying that "you had better put these potatoes right here in this bucket right now".

Meanwhile I was trying to clean every part of the house I could. When I passed their room and saw the entirety of our Potato Head collection still strewn about, all my motherly love and kindness vanished. And I went a lookin' for her. I think I even said out loud, "Oh no she didn't". Because I'm from Colton and the ghetto in me tends to flare up when my children disobey. So with full intentions of busting her real good, I came around the corner to find this...





How can you look at baby Mater and still be mad?

But next time they better listen to me if they know what's good for them. That's not gonna work every time. Unless they put those wigs on with the potato pieces, now that would be funny.

A house divided

Half of us are getting excited for Halloween. The other half of us are crying about wearing purchased costumes. So the costumes got returned, dag-gummit. But not before I snapped a few pictures capturing their true feelings for Halloween. That would be crazy.

I don't know why people don't like this holiday. It's the only time where you are authorized to look like an idiot and everybody gives you candy. What's not to like? Plus I feel that I am obeyed more readily lately because I've been saying everything like The Count. "And now, we must clean up all the toys or I will suck your blood. Mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!" I mostly just do it to hear Lila copy my scary laugh. Nothing's funnier than Lila trying not to be funny.

Except Lila wearing a wig.

Or maybe Maisey wearing a wig.

You decide.

The Seven Year Itch

On August 21st we celebrated seven years of weddedness. My brother asked me if we had gotten the itch. Heck yes we have. The itch to take a trip, that is. When we first got married we got a rewards credit card with the intent of taking a sweet trip one day. So we decided that the day had come- what with Braden having a real j-o-b that pays him to go on vacation, and my not being knocked up, (two factors that have not been widely prevalent in most of our seven years), we decided we better jump on it. We cashed in all those points, booked Grandma for a week, kissed those kidlets, and put ourselves on a plane to Washington DC. That is after one small spat, pre boarding. Hey, we've only been married seven years, we haven't figured everything out yet.

We flew all night on a red eye (might I say, much less painful in the absence of toddlers), and were zipping around the city at outrageous speeds in no time. This made possible by none other than Nate Dawg, one of Braden's besties. (Do boys have besties?)...Anyway, we decided to start with something we haven't seen before, the Library of Congress. Although both of us have been to DC several times, it's one of those places where I always feel like I missed tons of good stuff. Plus, even if you've done it before, I believe if you do something sans children, it is a whole new (am I allowed to say better?) experience.

In case you didn't know...

The Library was founded in 1800, making it the oldest federal cultural institution in the nation. On August 24, 1814, British troops burned the Capitol building (where the Library was housed) and destroyed the Library's core collection of 3,000 volumes. On January 30, 1815, Congress approved the purchase of Thomas Jefferson’s personal library of 6,487 books for $23,950.


The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with more than 147 million items on approximately 838 miles of bookshelves.

And, it is beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. I loved all the details. The architecture, the engravings, original pieces of history, perfectly preserved. I especially loved all the quotes that surround the main part of the building. I photographed a ton of them but I will spare you all those pictures. Although you would be a better person if you read them. But I can't be responible for that.













Then we went to eat lunch. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought of that meal at least 30 times in the last 30 days. Does that mean I think about it everyday? Sure. The next time I talk to you it's possible that while I'm nodding and voicing validating responses, it's quite possible that I'm really thinking about seasoned fries from the Good Stuff Eatery. I'm not messin around, that place brought serious joy to my heart in the form of higher cholesterol and squishier thighs and I don't even care a little bit.



Then we went to the art museum and saw some art. Because that's what you do at art museums. You look with your eyes, not with your hands. Observe Braden's proper art-seeing stance...

...now I know. Sheesh, I don't go to places like that often, how was I supposed to know?

Then we went to the Arlington National Cemetary. I don't think you could ever go there and not be moved. And if you can, then you're un-American and you should probably just get the heck out of here and move to Siberia or something. We met our dear old college pals Jared & Jackie there and made it just in time for the last ceremony of the changing of the guard.





There is a sacred feeling on those grounds.

And I loved being there with people I love.






It was hard for me to capture the feeling I had being there with my limited photography skills. I stood there for a while alone looking at this scene and trying to figure out why it was so moving to me. I think it is the tree in the middle of the graves. The new life among the dead. Nature teaching in its silent way that the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. I have a reverant feeling as I walk among the final resting place of those who have offered a sacrifice I hope to never understand.

Then we went to the temple to pick up another friend who was getting married the next day. It was great to be back at my college temple. This time, married to my college sweetheart.


Then we went to dinner at about 10 pm. Did you catch that? 10 pm, and I was awake and out on the town and not freaking about about going home so as not to have to pay the babysitter a million dollars. It was just like college. It was fun. Lots and lots and lots of fun.

Did I mention how much I loved seeing Jack?


And then we all went back to Nate's and crashed wherever we could, college style.

The next day we met Damon and were able to show him around the city he lives in and point out the high points we think he should be aware of, namely the Capitol building. We went to the Botanical Gardens first. As we were walking out the door to leave Braden paused and said, "I can't in good conscience leave without showing you something". He hesitantly took me to a room of lillies he knew I had not seen but that I would love, even though he was SO over looking at flowers. I shall keep him forever.


We did a little shopping and ate some lunch and mostly just loved hanging with D. It brought back tons of good memories from....oh yeah college. When will I get over how fun that was?

And then D took this classic touristy picture of me right before he found out his car got towed.


And you'll never guess what we did that night...we got together with more college friends, Steve and Maggie. The boys drown each other in a game of pool basketball where the losers got slapped in the face (a compenent of all worthwhile games, I am coming to believe), and the girls talked and talked and talked. And everyone was happy. Except you know when you're in the middle of something so rad and part of you is happy but another part of you feels a wee bit sad because you know this will never ever happen again, so you laugh more and stay up later, and try to suck up every possible moment you can? Yeah, that's how it was.


We didn't plan for all that to happen. In fact, we had absolutely NO plan. Because we're us and that's how we roll. There is no way I could have hoped for that to work out better. It was amazing fun.

And the next morning we got up and jumped on a bus to New York City.

And that is a post for another day. Maybe tomorrow. But probably not.