Lemonade stand

Olivia and her friend Emma,  with a silly wig and high heels. Selling lemonade.

At the rec center this morning

Emi's team just won their first game of the day. And Olivia and Evan are having fun in the pool.  I rode my bike down here to meet Taylor and the kids. I'm realizing I'm a little out of shape from the winter if the 10 miles to the rec center makes me tired!

where to mail quarterly reports

941 goes to:
Internal Revenue Service
Ogden, Utah 84201-0005

UITR CO Unemployment tax goes to:
Colorado Dept. of Labor and Unemployment
Insurance Employer Services
PO Box 956
Denver, CO 80201-0956

Evan's jumping spider presentation

Evan is giving us a practice run of his spider presentation for tomorrow. It took some coaxing to get him to finish working on it.  But now he's animatidly explaining all about the jumping spiders to his sisters.

American Girl Party

Olivia and Emma are dressed for an American girl doll party.  It's the theme for a birthday party of one of their friends. It's not till Saturday but they had to get their costumes ready. So I figured I'd take a picture.

And Taylor in front of our old apartment ....

Our first apartment

So when we went to BYU we had to take a picture at Union Square, our old apartment.  This is in front of our old door. I had a picture of me with Emi here when she was a newborn 12 years ago. Her birthday was the day before this picture.

Another pic with the Edgley kids

Should we be concerned?

This is what Evan and Olivia did last Sunday to entertain themselves. 

Home from vacation

What I was happy about when we got home after a 9 hour drive:
1. Russ, my handyman, redid our wood floors and our downstairs bathroom. I love it!! In an effort to save a little money, I opted to do the painting of the bathroom myself, which when I get around to, I will post pictures.

2. To be home.

3. That the weather here is just as nice as it was on our trip. Beautiful.

What I was not happy about when we got home from our 9 hour drive:
1. Our refrigerator is still broken (repair man came when Russ wasn't here, rescheduled) and stunk pretty bad. So I cleaned it and threw out stinky/moldy food.

2. A pile of laundry that almost brought me to tears.

3. After getting out of the van from our trip and getting back in, I realize it smells awful. I carpool with the nieghboors and when they got in this morning they said "wow your car smells terrible". Thanks. I know. And I don't even know what's left in it to make it stink so bad.

OK, one more happy thing to tip the scales. I listened to General Conference this weekend which was very inspiring as usual. I always need the spiritual boost it gives me.

At City Creek

Here's us at by one of the fountains just outside Deseret Book. I think Emi was still inside Deseret Book because someone else took this picture.

On heroes, perfection, and dog poop

Speaking of heroes, two more of my heroes are Emi Edgley-daughter of Elaine Dalton and her husband Steve Edgley, son of Bishop Edgely, which means something if you're Mormon and watch General Conference. She inspired the name for my Emily (who we usually call Emi). They are amazing people who have done great things in the face of adversities. Steve had a stroke when he was 28 and finishing medical school. He has gone on to be the head of the stroke department at the University of Utah hospital. And they are both the most positive and happy people and I just love being around them. They make me want to be a better person.

I wish I would've gotten a picture of all of us together, I didn't think of it at the time. They live in Salt Lake and we stopped by there house after dinner to visit for a bit. I have to admit after seeing their toy room with all toys organized into neat clear bins lining neat shelves in a neat room, I feel like I have some room for improvement as a homemaker. I admit as she took me on the tour of her house I was secretly hoping to find at least one mess somewhere. Nothing. Neat and tidy everywhere I looked. And when we met for dinner, it was just on a whim we decided to stop by. Her dining room table even had a table cloth on it with two decorative candles in glass vases. Which means she cleaned her table and then put said decorative items on it. Most of my kids toys are shoved under their beds (if the room is clean, if not they're scattered on the floor) and half the time I don't even finish completely cleaning off the kitchen table before it's time for the next meal (you know, a cup, a sticky knife, a small spill, maybe some cereal stuck to the table for a special touch). But I was ever grateful to their dog Ollie who took it upon himself to poop on their front porch while we were visiting. I'm glad to know crap happens even at the Edgley's house.

At Temple Square

On Thursday, we went to BYU and all got BYU shirts then went to the volleyball game. Then on Friday we went to Temple Square and to the new mall, City Creek. Notice Friday we're all still wearing the same clothes. We're on vacation so it's OK.

I met Stephanie Nielson

While we were out in Utah I got to meet Stephanie Nielson, author of the nieniedialogues and new book "Heaven is Here" which I read on the way home. She was doing a book signing at Deseret Book. She is one of my heroes and I've been following her blog (the only blog I follow) for about 2 years now. So I was really excited when I found out she was going to be there doing her book signing when we were there. We went out to dinner with our friends the Edgley's across the walkway at BlueLemon right before her signing so it worked out perfect. I can't believe how gorgeous that mall is. It is probably the nicest one I've been to.