Scary Fish, Mommy.

Warning: This post may be disturbing to some people--it was to me, anyway.

Kate was taking a bath tonight and I went to another room to get something when she calls out to me--"Mommy! Scary fish, Mommy!" Recently, she saw Pinocchio and calls the gigantic whale a "scary fish." Well, she has a whale bath toy and so I assumed she was talking about the toy. She kept saying it, though, and sounded disturbed. I went in to see what she was talking about and yelped when I saw an unidentified (at first) dark object in the water. Kate was hugging herself on the far end of the tub and the "scary fish" was still at the other end. She had cleaned up her remaining toys and gotten them out of the tub. She looked up at me and pointed to the object. "Scary fish."

I informed her that it wasn't a fish at all, but it was her poo. She didn't really care for explanations, she just wanted the heck out of there. Who could blame her? After I got it cleaned up, Kate asked me, "Where'd the fish go?" This time she seemed less disturbed and more concerned about the fish. I'm sure the fish will be back to visit another day.

Tea Parties Across America

How adorable is my niece! My brother's tea party in AL had face painting and sun!

Dripping it out in Salt Lake. Poor Kate. It really was wet.

My sister, Angie, in SLC

The Omaha rally

On April 15th, Andrew, Kate, and I went up to Salt Lake to join my sister and her husband at the Federal Building to protest the ever-expanding and oppressive federal government. This was Kate's second protest in two years! :) She wasn't loving it, since it was snowing the whole time, but we are glad we went. My brother in Omaha went to the tea party in Omaha, and my brother and his family attended theirs in Alabama. Everyone's pics are above. :)

If you haven't heard about what the Texas governor did recently, watch this clip (this will explain my sister's sign). http://governor.state.tx.us/video/12232/ It's only 17 minutes--definitely worth watching. It is really inspiring, and it gives me hope that other states will follow in stepping up their commitment to states' rights and keeping the federal powers in check.

Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter dinner at Andrew's grandma's house last night. We hid some candy, and Kate had a fun time trying to figure out why there was candy in the couch and on the piano. She looked so cute in her little Easter outfit. Of course, she wouldn't let me put anything in her hair.

Llamas are the new pony.

And there was a cool white peacock!

My niece, Kimber, was leading our llama "Dennis"

I never knew one could ride a llama. Apparently, in Spanish Fork, at the Hare Krishna Temple--you can do just that. My sister's kids love llamas (I'm not sure the story behind it, but they really love them), and so she invited Kate and me to go down with them.

Kate has been deathly afraid of anything and everything lately--bark that looks like it might be a bug, dogs, noises upstairs, new people, etc. So I really didn't think I'd get her to sit on a llama or get anywhere near one really. At first, of course, she was terrified of them. We were right next to them and they towered over her (for the second I wasn't holding her). But when it was time to ride, she sat on it with very little trouble. When we went down a hill, and the llama was going pretty fast, she was thrilled and giggling. She hated to get off of it, and has been talking about how fun it was to ride the llama ever since.

Magic!

Kate has been a bit of a tyrant lately. There are many examples...but I will make this short. This is one that ends well...many do not. Lately, when we have been saying our family prayers at night, Kate does not want to join in right away (she usually comes over after we've started). Anyway, the other day we all learned the song "Happy Family" (is that what it's called?), and she LOVES it. So now when she doesn't want to come, Andrew starts singing that song and immediately she comes running over, kneels down, and takes our hand. She smiles broadly, and says, "Say prayer! Say prayer!" Then after the prayer she wants to hug and sing that song over and over. It has worked EVERY time--it's like magic or something! Hopefully, it doesn't wear off.

Another one DONE!!

Well, I just finished another history! So the last one took me about three years...I got the main chunk of layout/editing done for this one in about a month. All the finalizing stuff took about three months. I was very happy I could get it done so quickly--amazing what a little motivation can accomplish! Our cousin-in-law, Candis, did an awesome job designing the cover. I love it! (Check out her website http://www.heirloompaperie.com/.) We offered two pictures for the cover because family members were split down the middle with which picture they preferred. Anyway, it's Andrew's beautiful Provo Temple pic on the back, and a tribute from a grandson below. This was for Andrew's amazing grandmother. I really love doing histories!

I am working on my mom's history right now and will be finishing my dad's interviews over the phone. Still looking for clients...

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

So we decided to become kite-flying people. Neither of us had flown a kite in many, many years. We went out a few days ago, ready to go. It was really a pathetic attempt to fly a kite. There was kind of a light breeze (every now and again), but we thought it'd be sufficient if we ran really fast, pulled the string tight, threw it up into the sky, etc...but we had no success. We had really talked up kite flying to Kate, but I don't think she saw the appeal.

Today, though, was super windy (and cold), and perfect weather for kite-flying. We bundled up and hurried outside and sure enough--the kite flew. It was really the easiest thing ever. We just let go of the kite, and it started flying on its own. By the end, all of our teeth were chattering, and poor little Kate's lips were turning blue, but we flew a kite, dang it!