death

My kids talk about death all the time. All the time.

Paris: Mom are you afraid to die?
Me: Um, no, but I don't want to. I don't want to leave you guys.
Paris: Ok, when I see a shooting star I run and get you and we can wish on it together that we will never be grandmas.
grandmas die.

Last night at the Hope for America Concert a 91 yr old lady danced and she GOT DOWN. At the end of her dance she did the splits! I was laughing so hard. It was awesome.
Enjoy this video:

joke:

Why did Tigger put his head in the toilet?
He was looking for Pooh!

Charla gave Leif a huge joke book for his birthday and when flipping through it that was the first one we read!

Spring Break

This is the first time since living in Utah that we have had a week for Spring Break. We took advantage of the time off from all activities and went to Moab, our favorite Utah destination. Since the kids are getting bigger we took more adventurous hikes and daring climbs in Arches. The three youngest cried only once and told Rich that they hated him when he boosted each on a ledge. Paris said that she hated Goblin Valley because it was too scary, but really we all had a great time and are trying to figure when we'll be returning. We saw a hundred deer- the kids' count was 183, 10 pronghorn antelope and a bear (in Spanish Fork Canyon on our way home). I think that Zion and Bryce Canyon are next before our National Park Pass expires.
On one of the longer driving segments we had this conversation: Paris to me: "Mom, is Mickey Mouse real?" Emilia and Richard together: "yes, at Disneyland-you remember!" Paris screems:"NO- I am asking MOM" Me: No, he isn't a real person like you and me". Paris: "I know Mom, he is a mouse!" Duh! I was laughing too hard to say anything else.

growing up

My Saturdays of late have been my grocery shopping day. I get it all done in the morning and then relax the rest of the day. Well this past Saturday I was at Walmart earlyish in the morning. As I got all my groceries I also went looking for undershirts for Emilia. In the Girls' department there was a mom who was buying what look liked a first bra for one of her daughters. The daughter was so embarrassed and kept hiding behind the clothes rack as the mom was picking up bra after bra and checking the size etc! It reminded me of getting my first bra- way before I needed it, but so wanting it. My mom took me and of course my sisters and a friend who's mom wasn't around, to Mervyn's. I think my first size was a AAA and it still didn't quite fit! And I can still feel the embarrassment when I forgot to wear it a few times in the 7th grade even though I didn't need it. Thank you girl's PE!

O.k, on to more important matters: I found the very best chocolate chip cookie recipe. It comes out great every time- even when I half the recipe. When halving, I use the pound plus dark chocolate bar from Trader Joe's- one of the few benefits of a traveling husband. It freezes well too. I put many scoops on a cookie sheet and freeze them for later.