Andrew's 30th and an afternoon on the Farm

The Big 3-0
During college I student taught art at a middle school located in Springville, Utah. We only had one car at the time, so Andrew often drove me to and from school. One morning we were running late and I was dropped off right as the school buses were pulling in. The following is a conversation I had with one of the 7th graders about an hour later-

Student- "Hey Mrs. Willis, who was that guy who dropped you off today?"
Me- "That was my husband."
Student- "EWWWWWW! He is so OLD!!! What, is he like 30???"

At the time Andrew was a mere 23.

Well, as of last Monday Andrew is officially "old"... at least according to one 7th grader. I always thought I would have a big surprise party for him, but (a) we have to move in 3 weeks so my life is utter chaos right now and (b) he had class that night until 10 pm. Since he had to go to Scouts the following night, I decided to bake some cakes and cupcakes and have the youth and leaders surprise him. It sounded like it went well!

Farm Visit
Contrary to popular belief, we actually live very close to the country. Proof of that took place yesterday when our friends invited us to their relative's farm for their daughter's 4th birthday party. The farm is located on Sugar Loaf Mountain, and I'm posting a picture of the mountain for all our of our west coast friends to have a good laugh (I'll admit, it is a very liberal use of the term mountain). Either way, we had a blast! For me, the best part was that our kids could run and explore like crazy and I never had to worry about them. With that said, I think I may have worried just a little had I known that what I thought was a cow freely roaming around was actually a bull (he was later penned up). Aside from the bull and cows, they also had ponies which the children were able to ride on. I'm pretty sure that they weren't trained, but they behaved well enough to let each kid have a short ride. It was also great to be together with some of our friends who we don't get to see so often anymore.

Luke with one of the ponies

The Mountain behind Afton (going at her front carrier) and me (I chopped off 7 inches of my hair this week)

Easter 2009

Prior to Easter, it had been 7 months since our last visit to New Jersey. I know that may not seem long to some, but when you only live 3 hours away from your parent's house, that is a long time! The reason for this delay was my largely growing belly and then Afton's arrival. But, we did make it home for Easter and it was about time!

It still shocks me to see the family dynamic now that my little sister Becca is the only one left at home. I am the oldest of 5 and when I left for college the three youngest were 13, 11 and 7. At that time it was impossible to sleep in because they were always up at the crack of dawn, usually riding their scooters in circles THROUGH the house with the DOG following them. There was also no such thing as "privacy" because they LOVED to spy and report back to my mother. Now my little sister sleeps in until 1o am or later. 10 AM! She also has all of the privacy in the world...unless my mom is spying on her. What a life! I guess I will get my shot at sleeping in 20 years from now.

me and my sisters in 1999

Back to Easter. It was great to be home with my family! We did all of the traditional Easter activities- egg dying, egg hunt and a nice ham dinner. I also dressed the kids in cute outfits Easter morning, but by the time I was finished getting myself ready, well, I just didn't have the energy to get a picture of the 3 of them. Lame! It was a very fun, relaxing trip and hopefully we'll make it back home again soon.



Here are some other pictures from this past week-

Afton is now 4 months old and a happy little baby

The boys love climbing trees now, and found a great one at a nearby park

Changes and Cherry Blossoms

Postpartum jean shopping. Road Trips. Driving through Nebraska OR Kansas. Sick kids. Potty training. Cockroaches. March Madness. Dickie V. Jimmy Buffett.

The above are all things that I hate, and now I have something new to add to my list...house hunting. We sold our condo 1 week ago (YEAH!), but since then I've been on the brink of losing my mind. I thought that finding a house would be fun and exciting...ohh how young and naive I once was. Why was I not adequately warned of the stress that accompanies this process???

Dragging my children house to house...not fun. Keeping my children from touching the personal property of others...not fun. Trying to find a house in our budget, in a good neighborhood, with good schools AND close to the metro...NOT FUN! With that said I think the hard part is over. There have been tears, gnashing of teeth and hair pulling. We've aggressively scoured the county and I think we have narrowed down our search to 3 neighborhoods. At this point we are just waiting for the right house to pop up.

In addition to selling our condo and house hunting here are some extra happenings for us this past week-

• Luke now requires CONSTANT supervision while awake. His latest activities include shoving mounds of toilet paper in the toilet, coloring 70% of his body with marker, and overflowing our bathroom sinks with water.

• I've now embraced the official "mom on the go" uniform- jeans (or sports pants), a sweatshirt, and sneakers. Ensemble completed with wet hair thrown into a ponytail and minimal makeup.

• Afton has decided that she no longer likes to sleep in her car seat, thus making the whole "mom on the go" thing a little tricky.

AND FINALLY....

• The cherry blossoms arrived this week!!! I'm convinced that the Japanese were thinking of me when they gave the US the cherry blossom trees nearly 100 years ago. We went downtown Saturday morning and were able to enjoy them during their peak period. Between that and General Conference I have to say that the week definitely ended on a high note.

*Afton was with us, she just slept the entire time. So much for coordinating her outfit to match the cherry blossoms!