Easter Weekend

As usual, our trip down to visit with our families started later than we wished... Luke had to attend a play for school and so we didn't even leave Logan Thursday night until 11 pm! (yes, I did say PM) So we arrived at my parents house around 2 and then the poor guy had to stay up another hour and a half to work on an assignment that was due. (Pretty much WAY excited for the semester to be over with in a few weeks)
Anyway, after sleeping in.. yeah right... Tianna woke up at 6:45 because she was so excited to see her Grandma. We got up and headed out to meet up with all of the other campers. We camped at a cool place near the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry.

I'm posting a slideshow of our weekend but there is one drawback. One day when I get on the stick I want to print out my blog for a book and I don't know what to do with the slideshows. But for now, ENJOY!

We had such a good time. Friday the weather was a bit chilly but beautiful. I even made out with a sunburn (woooooot woooooot) Tianna had tons of fun running around with her cousins and friends (we had a really large camping group which consisted of my family, my brother-in-law's family, some of their in-laws, and a couple of other friends) Luke enjoyed shooting guns, riding horses, playing with the men-folk, and riding four-wheelers around. I spent most of the time sitting by the campfire and chasing Tianna around the camp. I went on a couple of good walks/hikes on the rocks and stuff near our campsite. We ate lots of good food and loved spending time with everyone.

Saturday was raining and cold.... but we made the most of it. The Easter Bunny made an appearance between breaks in the storm and it was so fun to watch the kids find their eggs in the rocks.
Tianna had so much fun with it that she kept saying, "More eggs?? Let's go find more Eggs!" So.... we rehid the eggs she had already found. It entertained her for a bit longer. :) Basically the entire rest of the day she spent her time digging in the dirt. I never imagined that would last for hours on end but it did!
Another funny thing she did while we were out there was falling in love with the many dogs running around. One in particular became her favorite. His name is Kozmo but for some reason she renamed his Goofy. The other dogs were Pongo and "other Pongo"-- neither of which were their real names either.

Now on to Easter Sunday. Late (again) Saturday night we made it to Luke's parents house and visited with his parents and his sister and boyfriend who flew in that day from Nebraska. After church on Sunday we made the rounds at the grandparents houses. First we went to GMA and GPA Peacock's house but they were headed to Uncle Gary's for dinner so we tagged along. (Luke's parents and siblings were out on the desert so we were sort of nomads.) Dinner at their house was really fun and Tianna enjoyed playing with their kids.
After that we made it over to GMA and GPA Lake's house for a good visit. After a little while Luke's immediate family had gotten off the desert and started trickling in to visit too.
Evenutally we made it back to his parent's house and had a late family dinner with them. It was a rarety to have all of his family under one roof.... so... of course we ended up staying way too late again. We left Castle Dale around 10 PM... at least it was an hour earlier than Thursday night..hahaha.

"Tianna, do you know what Easter is about?"

Yesterday morning while getting Tianna ready for church I asked her, "Do you know what Easter is about? It's about Jesus."
She looked at me as she twirled and said, "Yeah.... and my pretty dress."

So, I may not have gotten the message through to my two year old that Easter is a very sacred and important holiday about our Savior Jesus Christ, and it's not about the new pink dress she got to wear to church (or the Easter Bunny who hid eggs the day before), but hopefully I can help share the true meaning with you. We'll keep working on Tianna.

YAY FOR SUNSHINE!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..............
I love it. We've gone like... 4 whole days without a single layer of snow on us! No no.. i take it back, Saturday we woke up to white but it quickly disappeared. Okay, so 3 days without snow! Yiippppppeee! It was awesome to walk around outside today. Everywhere we went there were people outside. Now, if only Easter weekend would be this nice....

In other news-- Conference----WAS AWESOME. It's so nice to listen to a prophet of God and know that no matter how scary and crazy the world gets, we're gonna be okay if we follow him. I felt like so much focus was on just finding joy in difficult times. Life = trials. That's what we signed up for and so we shouldn't complain so much about it because it is only for our benefit and growth. I'm one of those they mentioned that has had pretty smooth sailing for quite awhile now (life really has been pretty good for us!!!) and I almost feel like a sitting duck waiting for something really difficult to hit us. I don't "want" trials but I know they're bound to come so... i guess it's better I'm feeling prepared for it.

I also have a renewed determination to serve more. I've been feeling the need the past few weeks and listening to conference certainly confirmed it for me. However, I also really appreciated what Elder Oaks said about service because he made mention of parents raising children are serving.... so although I feel guilty that I use being too tired from pregnancy and chasing after a 2 year old to get out a serve other people, at least I'm serving my family.

So many talks were focused on serving in the temple's too. We've been pretty good about going once a month, but sometimes we feel rushed and I liked how they emphasized the need to go there without a time restraint and leave your watch off so that you can completely focus on serving, learning, and feeling the spirit. I came away feeling very grateful to live in the shadow's of the temple.... That one guy (forgetting his name) who talked about the Logan Temple in particular-- yeah, that was pretty cool to us.

One last talk I want to make mention of is Elder Hollands... wasn't it amazing? He said some pretty profound things about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am just sooooooo grate ful for a knowledge of the Savior and His plan and that we have purpose here on Earth. I loved General Conference so much. I also loved spending time with my husband this weekend. We went on several walks with Tianna and took her to the park. We had some friends come over for the Saturday afternoon session and it was also fun to do something with them.

All in all, it was a great weekend. I love that it was followed up by a beautiful sunny day.

He's a glimpse of our crazy Tiannimal. She's such a joy in our lives! Here she is just enjoying General Conference to the fullest! (Like she does with most things in life)

This is the winter that never ends...

Yes it goes on and on my friends. Someday it started snowing, and me, not knowing it wouldn't end, and I'll continue singing this forever just because, this is the winter that never ends!!! (oh come on, you miss watching Lamb Chop!!!)

Okay, seriously, though. I have complained a lot about the never ending winter, but it hasn't bothered me tooooo much until today. It's really been buggin' me because...

I want SUNSHINE!!! I want to go outside without a coat!!! I want to walk on ground that isn't completely soggy or covered in snow. I want my tulips to live. I want to take a walk. I want to take Tianna to the park and not freeze. I want April to actually be like SPRING!

UGH! Does anyone else feel this way? I feel so bad for Tianna too. She watches way too much TV and I let her. (I know, i should get the worst mother of the year award) But she's content doing it. She gets tired of her toys really quickly and has no problem sitting and watching something for a couple of hours.
Me, on the other hand.... sit guiltily at the computer while she's entertained. I could clean my house, do laundry, or fix the next meal... but I did it all yesterday, and I'll do it all tomorrow... and... get the picture?
Plus, I just found out yesterday that my iron is low. I expected as much. I knew there had to be something wrong when those dirty, crusty piles of snow outside that I LOATHE so much actually made me crave a good cup of ice. Low iron could also explain my unambitiousness. So between being bored, lazy, pregnant, and sick of the weather.... I am in need of a pick me up. I am looking forward to General Conference. The only down side-- that's 2 more days of endlessly being cooped upside. Oh well. It will totally be worth it! Plus, I just need to remember, it's moisture and we need it. We are being blessed...
I just think this mommy could use a sunny day or two.

Can you see how desperate we are getting?

Today we spent an hour in the tub "swimming." I know swimming wouldn't be an option even if it were a warm April, but it was fun to sport our swimming suits and pretend.


Anyhoo-- on happier updates, Tuesday, Tianna and I went down to Ogden and Salt Lake for a fun visit with friends. We stopped at our good friends Robby and Sarah Jensen's house. We haven't seen them since their little guy was a baby and he's already well over 2! We had so much fun visiting them!



Next it was off to Caitlin Preece's baby shower. It was really nice catching up with old friends from high school. Since Sarah, Alicia, Me, and obviously Caitlin (otherwise why would she be having a baby shower?) were all pregnant, and everyone else I saw pretty much had fairly new babies it was fun swapping war stories and laughing at ourselves.

Brag Time

I just want to brag on my husband right now! I don't know how I got so lucky, but I am married to one amazing guy! :D

Yesterday he watched Tianna while I got my hair colored and when I got home he had gone to the store and bought me GORGEOUS flowers since it was closing night.

They are so beautiful and they look so spring-like! Now even though it snowed AGAIN outside today, I at least get to have spring inside.

Then last night Luke came to my show for the 4th time and stayed afterward while we had to strike the set, clean up, and put away all of the costumes. He even helped (practically did) my job for me! Several people commented to me how nice my husband is and how cute!! I totally agree!!

Then today, since I was completely exhausted from the play and staying late for the cast party etc. he let me take a good long nap and when I woke up HE HAD MADE ME CUPCAKES!!! At this present moment he is outside barbecuing some dinner for us on the snow covered grill.

How did I get so lucky to have such an amazing and wonderful husband and such a delightful daughter who makes everyone around her laugh? A quick update on her-- she LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVED watching the play. Twice Luke couldn't watch her so I brought her with me the theater and she sat with friends or someone we knew and watched the play without a parent. She was so great to sit still the 6 times she saw it. In fact, all day today she's asked me when we get to go watch "Mommy's play?...Watch Mommy's Joseph again?" She knows the songs and loves to sing them with me. I 'm pretty sure we have a future actress on our hands!

I'm including a picture of the cast gift we gave our directors. It was pretty cool and so i thought I'd share!

A little tid-bit of interesting info too (I'm sure you are all sick of hearing about this play.. but too bad :D hahah) At our last Saturday matinee THE ONE and ONLY casting director for all LDS church films was in attendance. She has heard about the Old Barn Community Theater and when she found out we were doing "Joseph" she contacted our directors to see if they would help her gather information about the cast members to put in her database for upcoming films. She requested that they secretly be really hard on us to see our reactions and how we were on and off stage. Any day now she'll be sending them packets to give to some of us to fill out. It will be interesting to see if any of us end up in some church movies!

In fact, apparently just as they were starting to film a movie their 32 year old Joseph Smith quit and she talked to one of the "brothers" in the Joseph cast about it. Had he been several years older he would be playing Joseph Smith in a movie THIS WEEK!

Then on top of that, last night the casting directors for the church's theater productions came to see the show. Luckily it was our very best performance and we got a standing ovation from the entire audience. It was such a thrill!! I'm so grateful to have been a part of this production. It will be my last play for quite some time........... and what a great show to end on!

3rd Installment of Hotel Peacock

As promised, I am now posting pictures from last weekend when we were privileged to have the Casey and Jana Hopes family visit us.
We had a wonderful time with you guys! My only regret-- I was gone most of the time. :P That's the problem with having people come see the plays I am in.... I feel like I never get to see them because I'm at the theatre so much. But thank you for coming all the way up and spending the weekend with us. We loved it! PS- Thanks for emailing me all of the pictures, Jana! My battery was so low that all my pics turned out blurry. Way to save the day!

Some of the highlights--
First we have Tianna's salon tactics on Payton. Too bad Jana had just fixed her hair... thus needing to REFIX her hair when Tia was done :D



They made it to the neighborhood park to enjoy some sunshine before lunch.

Oh.. you were probably expecting pictures of the kids. Right...




Then they attended the matinee performance and had some fun waiting in line (and here's a glimpse of our oh so fancy theater! The old building is a historic building next to the barn.. i believe it use to be an old hotel. Now it's just someone's house.


During intermission the kids had fun posing inside of the jail.


Sunday we went to church and had fun "hanging out" before they had to leave.

Rambings of a March Whirlwind. Or rather, Whirlwind March

10 "Joseph" performances down, 3 weekends in a row of company down, (which I'm sad to see over) and a lot of season changes-- let's face it, I'm being really lazy today to recoup! This month has been so fun and it's flying by very quickly. Yet, at the same time, so much has happened that if feels like its been March for a long time.
Like my last post showed, my parents came up for the opening weekend of the play. The next week was super busy. Not to mention the array of seasons we've had!
Very last minute I was asked to sing 3 songs for the Relief Society birthday party on the 12th. The theme was "Errand of Angels" so we sang songs associated with angels and we had only 4 days to learn them. It turned out great and the whole program, food, and everything was awesome!
By Thursday I had just enough time to get ready for round two of guests at Hotel Peacock.

Luke's family came up the weekend of the 13th. We had quite the houseful! His mom, Courtney and Dale, and Chris, Monica, and Aden all came! We had so much fun with them!! So much fun that i forgot to take out the danged camera!!! I feel really bad about that! It makes me feel a little better knowing Monica didn't get hers out either (although if she had, we'd have pictures to prove they were at our house!) I had 3 performances while the Binghams were with us so I didn't even get to spend a lot of time with them. Luckily Luke and Tianna did though.
They left Sunday but Belinda and Courtney and Dale stayed until Tuesday. We were so glad they could stay longer!
We ate really good food (spent too much $ eating out of course) stayed up so late playing games that we were slightly delusional, and we even got to go to the temple together. That part was especially nice! I'd say that was the best way to celebrate St. Patty's day!

I did manage to get the camera out a couple of times after the weekend was over, but unfortunately, none of those times were with Luke's sweet mom. (Happy late birthday last week by the way.)
So here's some of Tianna and the Flink's!


After they departed, I decided to bury my sorrows in a craft that Belinda and I bought the makings for. I should have taken pictures of it when I made it... because when I took the pic today it had already been through quite a lot.


The wind Saturday night did nothing for the cute wreathe. I'm pretty sure at least one chick blew away and the bow may never look the same. It probably shouldn't be an outside decoration... oh well.
The last hazard to hit my poor little chickies and one of the eggs came in the form of a Harley. (my sisters 11 month old) I brought the poor wreathe in out of wind and stupidly left it on the floor. The next morning I witnessed Harley decapitate at least 3 of the baby chicks. hahahahah... it was soooo funny! I think with mild surgery they can be restored.

As earlier noted, we've had a lot of seasons packed into the last few weeks. We've had highs near 70, with sun shining, birds chirping... then watched as 13 inches of snow piled up THE NEXT DAY.. (wish I had a picture of that! Let's just say, pregnant women trying to shovel off 13 inches of wet, heavy snow must of been a funny sight because two kind neighbors came to my rescue.) ANYWAY... then, it got warm and sunny again...melting away all of that snow and then some. It got really warm last weekend where everyone was donning sandals and capris and loving every minute of it.
Then the wind blew in Saturday night and then yesterday it started out warm and rainy, then it quickly went to cold and rainy... and today it's just been snowing all this gloomy day.

Since this post has ended up being really really long as mine usually do, I'll post this past weekends events in a few days. Ta ta for now! And thanks for everyone who's visited and also for those who have attended the play. It's always more fun performing for people I know! :D