Is this really helpful?

So I was sitting at the car dealership today waiting while they changed the oil in the van and the TV in the waiting room was tuned to one of the local talk shows. One of the topics for today was How to use wrapping paper to really make a birthday party special. Since we have several birthday coming up I paid attention. They suggested to buy a roll of wrapping paper and use it for all your decor and favors. Some of the ideas were to make a banner to hand make party favor bags out of it. wrap the bottom of cupcakes in it, and even to wrap it around candy bars and soda pop bottle and make new labels. Some of these ideas were super cute, but the way the people on the program presented these ideas made it seem that these are all necessary things to do and that our party's would just flop do unless we do all these things. Now I am craftier than some, but really do I need to wrap my soda bottles in cute paper to make my kid feel special on their birthday? I have been watching a show called Mad Men, it is set in the 1950's and I often think that I'm so glad I didn't live back then and have to look perfect in my dress and heels while I cook dinner in my spotless house. But then I watch show like Studio 5 and Good Things Utah and think that now we have even more pressure on us, dresses and heels have been replaced my designer jeans and even higher heels, and we still are expected to be gourmet cooks, have spotless houses but now they must be decorated with things we have crafted ourselves. Our children must be dressed in perfectly matched outfits and the hair of our little girls fashioned into the latest fabulous hair doo topped with a gigantic flower (hand made of course). And we all need to do these things while fulfilling our church callings and running a home based business. And the sad thing is, is that it is mainly other women that put these pressures on us.
So are shows like these really helpful? I think not.

I wish I was an Ostrich

Half of the birthdays in my little family and in my extended family occur in the first 2 weeks of May, add in Mother's day, dance recitals, PTA training, and I have got a very very busy couple of weeks. I like being a little busy, but it seems like in my life things come in waves. Either I have nothing going on or I have everything going on. I wish my busy would spread out a little bit. I know a lot of the things are unnecessary and just things I put on myself (I'm making both girls quilts for the birthdays) and I also know that I am a huge procrastinator, but some days I want to just go stick my head in the sand. I need to remind myself that I'm lucky that I don't have work thrown into that mix and that I can do so many of the extras at my kids school. But thinking about the next few weeks just makes me want to take a nap!

National Park Geeks

When I was little my family didn't go on many vacations. I only remember 2 vacations when I was young. Jon's family on the other hand had a motor home and went on many vacations. I remember when Jon and I were driving to California for our honeymoon and thinking it was the biggest adventure we had been on and thinking someone was going to stop us. When we started our family I knew that family vacations would be an important part of our lives.


We have always enjoyed visiting the National Parks. We went to Yellowstone, Zion and Mt. Rushmore before we were married. And our trip to Yellowstone with friends the summer before we had Bri was one of the funnest trips to date. This past fall we watched a Ken Burns documentary on PBS (see we are old fuddy duddys) called National Parks; Americas Best Idea, it was a very, very good program(you should watch it if you get the chance) renewed our interest in visiting the parks. Jon and I have made a goal to try to visit as a many National Parks as we can, and drag our poor children along with us.


We are so lucky to live where we do and have so many National Parks to choose from. So for our most recent vacation we chose to go to Moab, UT, where we could go to both Aches and Canyonlands National Parks.



Lots and lots of Pictures to follow

Arches National Park

First stop on our journey was Arches National Park. Jon had been there when he was a teenager, but I had never been there before.

Even our campsite was amazing. We are lucky enough to have access to Jon's parents motor home, Thank heavens, because I am not a camper. There were tons of short hikes and just great rocks to climb on right outside our door. The girls loved it!

This is Landscape Arch and it was less than 500 steps from where we camped.

Carly is a daddy's girl.

The girls at balanced rock.

Me and my girls at balanced rock.

Turret Arch.

Window Arch.

Delicate Arch. We wanted to hike to it but it was a 3 mile hike and the last bit of it is pretty steep. We didn't think the girls could do it so this one might have to wait a few years.

Brianna holding the sun.

Sunset from our campsite.

Landscape arch. The man that took this picture for us was from Massachusetts, He and his wife were so nice and we chatted with them for quite a while. We really enjoy meeting people from all over the world on our trips. We met another couple from the Netherlands, a family from New Hampshire, a couple from Michigan, and so many more. I was amazed at all the people who had come from far away.

These Juniper trees were all over and they were really cool looking.

This is a hike to a little place called Sand dune Arch. It wasn't a very long hike but it took you through fins to this neat little sand box.

Jon and the girls climbed up to the top of the Arch.

This is a full view of the arch with my little family on top.

Zoom.

Canyonlands

Our next stop was Canyon lands National Park.

Just one of the many little alcoves along the trails.

Mesa Arch. There are sheer cliffs on the other side of that Arch made me very nervous.

Daddy and his girls at Dead Horse Point.

Jon and I at the Colorado river.

Our family at Dead horse point.

Another little cave.

Upheaval dome. The girls were trooper, we probably hiked at least 3 miles a day between all the hikes we went on. The girls also both got their Jr. Ranger badges at both parks so we felt like the trip as even educational.

Our last hike was up Whale Rock. It's a short hike but takes you straight up and you can see everything. It was really windy.

Jon is such a great Daddy. I'm so lucky to get to go fun places with my little family. I can't wait for our next trip!

The best and the Worst

The top 5 best things about coming home from vacation

1. Seeing my house after a long day of driving
2. A long hot shower in my own shower
3. my kids playing for hours with the toys they have missed all week
4. A DVR full of all the good shows I missed while I was gone
5. sleeping in my own bed

The 5 worst things about coming home from vacation.

1. The funny smell of my house after being closed up for a week.
2. Unpacking the motor home
3. A fridge full of iffy food.
4. Unpacking the motor home
5. Mountains of laundry.

Moab trip pictures coming soon!

Confession

Confession: I am a blog stalker. I'm not creepy about it. I'm not obsessed with any one person, or family, I just think it is so interesting to get glimpses into people's lives. Even strangers. So there is this blog I love to read written by a dress maker, and her dresses are amazing. She pretty much has my dream job of making wedding dresses. I would some day like to ask this woman some questions but I wonder if it would freak her out that a stranger is looking at her blog and commenting. I think I would like to know if some one I didn't know was reading my blog on a regular basis. It might startle me at first but I'd love to hear what people have to say.

Fish

The girls got their fish Saturday and they couldn't have been happier.

As much as I don't love having fish, these smiles make it worth it.

Bri released the fish.

Watching them swim.

We ended up getting fish called Platys. The girls were sold once the lady at the store pointed out that they have a Micky Mouse shaped marking on their tails.

Carly got white fish and Bri got red fish. 2 each. Bri named her Micky and Minnie and Carly named hers Donald and Daisy.

They love to sit and watch them hide in the castle and the plants. They have even marked the calendar so they know who feeds them every day.

I have a feeling they are going to spend many many hours just like this.

Easter

I love Easter time! The eggs, the dresses, the candy, it's all so much fun. We had lots of fun this weekend.

We dyed some eggs

With our cousin Atty

And of course the Easter Bunny hopped on by.

The bunny like s to hide our baskets and leave a trail of eggs for the girls to follow.

He left the girls some books and games and clothes

And they each got a zhu-zhu pet.

They had lot of fun.

We had brunch at my brothers and of course had an egg hunt.

Checking out their haul.

Picture with Grandma. Little Jack took a tumble yesterday and had to get stitches, he's still pretty darn cute.

We had a great day with family.

We also got fish this weekend. I'll post about them later.