Swimming, Snow, and Eggs

I looked out the window and what did I see...

Popcornnn......I mean....a family of snowmen looking at me!?!

One day it's snow. The next day it's beautiful tulips. The next day no tulips in sight thanks to our friends the deer! Darn things! At least I got a picture of a few of them before they turned into dinner.

And the next day it's swimming with snowmen.

2 days after the snow, the temps soared to almost 60. That's swimming weather for these two. The Easter Bunny had brought them a new pool this year and they just had to pull it out. Speaking of Easter (that's Ava's new phrase, "Speaking of school mom, when do we pick up the kids." It makes me laugh to hear her try to be so grown up.) So speaking of Easter... here are a few of Luke and Ava's little egg masterpieces...

Ava.

Scooby Doo.Luke finding an egg outside.Breakfast.

Easter morning chowing candy in the pool.

Project New Orleans Square Courtyard

I am just itching to pull out the paint brushes. Last summer we left a lot of projects unfinished on the outside of the house. Every day I see them they scream at me to be finished. Remember the inspiration for my garage doors...

(I'm sure you can tell that these are not our doors....dang.... just my inspiration picture.:))
Ours are sanded and awaiting a few degrees warmer nights to have a nice fresh coat of paint slapped on them. The poor ugly things...Jeremy and I are so sick of looking at them (and I'm sure the neighbors are too!) But the project I am really excited about is my little "courtyard". It's just a tiny area between the house and the garage but I see big things in it's future. Maybe not quiet this big...

but my favorite little nook in Disneyland is the inspiration for this little spot.

So this is what I'm working with. I know it doesn't look like much... just a little spot Luke and his buddy have been using as their rock and treasure washing area (notice all the rocks everywhere). Last fall Jeremy built in the little arbor Karen gave us with some fence from Rice King. It makes for a fun little cozy nook. Some paint on the fence and trim. The side garage door painted the same fun blue as the stairs in the above picture. Bright potted plants/flowers and patio lights. Maybe an new umbrella for the table and there you have it. If it ever warms up enough we can get 'er done.

Little signs of spring are popping up everywhere. My little artichoke even made it through this long old winter. Yay! Happy little purple Hyacinths are starting to bloom despite getting munched by the darn deer. Today was so nice and warm!

My little Ava set her mind to riding her bike without training wheels last week and just did it! Now rain or shine she's out in the driveway circling and circling for hours and hours a day, singing to herself the whole time. It's the cutest thing. I'm so proud of her.


We went out shooting a couple weekends ago.

Notice the little crack showing in this picture. :) haha

Back in January I ran a half marathon with Thomi. No, I am not a runner! I ran in Em's place because she had to work. It was fun. We all enjoyed the nice St. George weather and swimming. I took some cute pictures of the kids but unfortunately lost our camera on the trip!!! Grrrrr!!! I really liked that camera darn it! Anyway, that's a little of what we've been up to these last few months.

(I have no idea why this picture is so blurry?) Us ready to run...my pockets stuffed with an Ipod and snickers.:)

Happy Birthday Emmy!

Aunt Emmy's birthdays are always so fun. She plans something fun to do with the kids every year. This time Grandma and Rice booked us all rooms at a fun hotel up by the E-Center. We've driven by this hotel plenty of times owing and awing. From the freeway you can see it's big water slide coming right out of the building. It's like a mini indoor water park. The kids were soooooo excited! Just a little heads up if you go... kiddos have to be 48" tall to ride the big slide....this was devastating for a certain little teeny tiny named Ava. After dinner that night she ran right back to the pool to see if she had grown enough. :( No luck, but she still had a blast. The slide is pretty creepy at night. It's pitch black and you have no idea where you're headed. Oh and the hot tub (my personal favorite) was awesome! The continental breakfast was really good too! Scrambled eggs, omelets, ham, bacon, yummy cinnamon rolls, cereal, fruit...the works! Two big thumbs up for this place...especially when you're good and ready for winter to be OVER!!!

"Scuba Steve"

After breakfast and more swimming we drove up the planetarium to look around and take in a cool 3D movie. The kids loved it. The movie was about the Hubble telescope. It was awesome! Thanks Emmy, Grandma and Rice for the "summer fun" weekend get-a-way!

It Snowed.

What the....

Can I just vent for a page or two. So I feel like a criminal lately and it's REALLY getting to me. It all started last February with my first speeding ticket. Speed limit sign was moved from one side of the hill to the other and bamm.. I get hit with a $90 ticket and one year later I'm still mad about it. PS that speed limit sign was moved back to it's original spot a few months later....umm...I want my money back! Fast forward to December. I help an Animal Control Officer catch two roaming dogs in my yard (that I didn't even call about!) The guy asks me if my own dogs are licenced. Umm...no...what? BAMM $75 ticket + $15 per dog/per year to licence and one appearance in court in front of a VERY rude judge. PS who licences their dogs and CATS?? with the city anyways??? anyone? I had never heard of it before. Not to mention I helped the idiot catch the other dogs bugging my dogs!!!! GRRRRR!!! Rude!!! Can you tell I'm mad.

That brings us to today. Today I walked out the front door of my home and was almost plowed over by three deer booking it through my yard followed by two dogs hot on their tails. (they were not my dogs) Well after all the crap Animal Control put me through I swore to bug them with any petty little animal problem I saw. Plus I didn't want the deer or the dogs getting creamed by a car. So I reported it. But I couldn't just leave well enough alone...no...I decided to hop in the truck with the kids and drive down the hill by the river bottoms to follow the deer and see if they were alright. No sign of them. So we headed back home. I "totally paused"at an empty 4 way stop. Turned the corner. Cop car sitting there. I passed him and in my rear view mirror saw him flip around behind me. I was completely "Clueless":) as to why he was pulling me over...but found out that "I hadn't stopped at all at the stop sign". YES I did!!!!....I didn't really say this to the cop but believe me I wanted to! Apparently my "pause" as he called it was not complete or long enough. That's when he asked for my licence and registration. And that's when I remembered I hadn't grabbed my purse in my hurry to find the deer. CRAP. I explained what had happened and he went back to his car with my name and registration. After my story checked out, that I really had called in the deer/dog complaint, I don't think he believed me at first, he came back with just a warning for me......THANK YOU.......but that still didn't help the fact that I now feel like a total criminal. Do I have a "Please give me a ticket, I want one" post-it note on my back? All I want right now is to spend the rest of my life locked safely inside my little house....minding my own business...and I want all COPS and ANIMAL CONTROL and MEAN JUDGES to leave me alone! 10 Billion acres Sarah, 10 BILLLION acres!!! The end. I try really hard to be a good person and follow the law.... I guess just not the super stupid and petty ones, oh and the ones I've never heard of thank you very much! Okay I feel a little better, the end.

A little Wigged Out

Ava spotted this picture on the side of my computer screen and she couldn't stop laughing. Which made me start laughing and we both couldn't stop. You know when something just hits ya like that. It still makes me laugh to look at it.