Signs of Spring!

Today I went outside to do some weeding. I cannot believe how SO MANY weeds can grow and thrive all winter long. It felt so great to be outside, working on the yard for the first time this year. I actually really enjoy yardwork because it has immediate gratification. There's something really satisfying about yanking out a bunch of weeds by their roots and beautifying your home instantly. While on my hands and knees, I was met with the most beautiful sight. I have 4 fabulous little crocus flowers blooming in my flowerbeds, and the leaves of dozens more are popping up. I cannot wait to see the bulbs that I planted last Fall come up. That is one part of yardwork without the instant gratification...I planted over 100 bulbs last Fall, the first bulbs ever planted in this new yard, and then I just waited and crossed my fingers that they'd survive. I think that's why tulips are my favorite flower (and, really, crocus just look like mini-tulips!) They are the first signs of Spring and they bring with them the happy, happy thoughts of warmer, sunnier weather. Yahoo!!

Hey, baby, let's go to Vegas!

Well, I took my SAD self to some sunshine last weekend! We decided to take a road trip to warm, sunny weather and it was wonderful. We went to St. George on Friday and stayed over at my sweet Gramma & Grampa J's house. Saturday morning we saw a really neat wildlife museum in St. George. A hunter who's been all over the world on some very wild and expensive expeditions had full-body mounts of all of the animals he's taken over the years. The museum is full of all the animals in lifelike poses; when you walk through the museum you listen on a handheld "telephone-radio-thingy" to facts about the animals and the areas they are from. The most interesting part is to listen to the hunter himself tell stories about particular hunting trips. Tess and Miles got a kick out of holding the phones up to their ears. We also saw a live bat flying around in the museum and thought that was pretty fun too. I didn't get a picture of the strangest animal there, but I downloaded a few from the internet: This is a Saiga Antelope, from Mongolia. It has a huge crazy nose and they said that it is important because the cold air that it breathes is warmed in the nasal cavity before reaching its lungs. It also said that it can run even faster than a cheetah! (But I'm not sure if I believe it because nothing I read on the internet about it mentioned that...who knows? All I know is that it could easily outrun me.) Here's Tess with her great-grampa, listening to the phone.

Then we went on to Las Vegas. It was beautiful warm weather and we all loved walking around in the heat with no coats or jackets. We walked up and down the strip in the afternoon. It was pretty jam-packed on a Holiday Weekend Saturday...but we still had a lot of fun. We all really liked the fountains at the Bellagio and Caesar's Palace.

We also went to the Bass Pro Shop/Silverton and saw a big aquarium they have there. The kids loved seeing the tropical fish and searching for Nemo and Dori. I love this picture of Miles--we didn't even notice Miles' reflection when we took the picture, but when we uploaded it we saw his sweet face reflected in the glass. What a cutie!

On Monday we drove down to Hoover Dam and took a tour there. It really is amazing. They are building a huge new highway-bridge and it was awesome to watch them lower some of the giant concrete pieces into place. In this picture Tess was not being very cooperative ("Chuckles Tess," as we call her--it's a term we borrowed from Bryan's sister that describes a child who is so far from being happy that it's funny to watch how ornery they are.)

This is at gma's house on our last night: Poor Tess was pretty pooped out by this point.

All in all it was a really great trip. The kids did very well with the long car rides and we just had a fun, relaxing, WARM time!

Budding Sense of Humor

Miles is starting to have a cute sense of humor, even though I'm not sure he is really TRYING to be funny. Today while Tess was singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" Miles starting singing with her: "Mary had a little Miles, little Miles, little Miles..."

Also he has begun a little joke where he turns our sentences around on us, like so: we say, "Miles, you're a stinker." And he replies, "no, YOU'RE a stinker!" Pretty cute, but even more funny is what he's doing today, which is turning everything into that joke, like so: "Miles, here's your cereal." "No, here's YOUR cereal!" .... "Miles, let's change your diaper." "No, YOU'RE a diaper!" .... "Miles, do you want to watch TV?" "No, YOU'RE a TV!" Ha, ha!

I forgot to mention that when he says "you're" it sounds like "you's." So it sounds like a little New Jersey mafia boy: "You's a ginkuh!" ("you're a stinker!")

Conversation with a 4-year-old

For some reason Tess has started asking a lot about Millie, our dog that we had for only about 9 months, for which we found a new home in January 2008 when we decided that we're not really pet-people (at least while we have little kids). She hasn't been around for 2 years but Tess is really feeling nostalgic for her and wishing that we had her back. Anyway, we were talking about pets in general and she said she wants a pet. She came up with a great solution and said that our van could be our pet!
Me: Great!
Her: We need to give our pet van a name. How about Freckle?
Me: Sounds good. I like Freckle.
Her: It needs three names, like I'm Tess Kathy Terry.
Me: OK--you pick something.
Her: Freckle Van Terry.
Me: Sure.
Her: Mom, I really want a pet. (pause) That is NOT a van.