My Birthday

For my birthday, Chris surprised me by getting his parents to come up for a couple of days to stay with the girls while he, George, and I went up to Vegas. We stayed at the Loews at Lake Las Vegas. It was really nice. I got to do a little shopping, have a fun Cinco de Mayo lunch, sit by the pool, see the Pionkes, and spend time with Chris. I gotta say, he and I always laugh a lot together, but we laughed super hard together on this trip and I really loved our near-alone time together. And I also gotta say, I forgot how easy life is with just one kid! Man!! Anyway, we had dinner at the Hash House a Go-go at the M, and it was so so so good! When we got back to the hotel that night, I was secretly wishing I could eat cake on my birthday but I was pretty full so I forgot about it. I had climbed in to bed ready to go to sleep when there was a knock on our door. It was room service bringing up a little chocolate lava cake with ice cream and berries. Lovely! Chris took a picture - pay no attention to my attire, please. It was a nice getaway. But I was as excited and twitterpated as a schoolgirl when we got home to Olive and Lucy. Happy Birthday to me!!

Easter

Arrival of George

For pictures and details on the arrival of George, I'm going to be lazy and just point you to his blog.

George's blog

Lucy's 1st Birthday, and Papa's 60th

Chris and I sang Happy Birthday to Lucy when we went into the girls' bedroom in the morning. After that, when I got her out of her jammies and changed her diaper, I noticed a horrible rash all over body, and there wasn't much birthday fun for a while after that. I didn't want to overreact, but it was pretty alarming. We decided to head to the ER. Nestor and Rosemary got there just in time to stay home with Olive while we went. Sure enough, the doctor there let us know that Lucy was having an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin she's been on for her ear infection. They gave her an oral steroid and some Benadryl, and sent us on our way. She slept for most of the day. She woke up just long enough for us to go to the park and have dinner and cake for her. While she was sleeping, Chris took Nestor flying. When they got home we presented him with the gift we had all gotten him - a new Macbook. He was pretty thrilled. We gave the girls dinner, and I had made a chocolate cake for Lucy and Nestor. Lucy had fun eating her cake. We put her back to bed, and had a babysitter come over to be with Olive until she went to bed. We took Nestor and Rosemary to eat dinner at The Refuge. It was lovely. I think Nestor had a pretty memorable 60th, and in spite of the ER drama I hope Lucy felt loved and happy on her 1st.

Jimmy's Family Came To See Us!

They got here Friday night, and we took some Little Caesars down to Rotary for the kids to eat and play. When we got home, Olive and Rosie took a bath together and then all the kids camped out on our bedroom floor in their jammies. They watched Aladdin and ate popcorn. We ordered Havasu Pizza and played Trivial Pursuit. On Saturday morning we took a scenic drive down to the Parker Dam. We actually saw wild donkeys down there! After that, we took the kids to Bubba Jump and let them go nuts for an hour. Then we came back and had lunch. I stayed with Lucy and Aria while everyone else went to the Aquatic Center and swam. We gave the kids dinner, and then we had 2 babysitters come over and hold down the fort while we adults went out to dinner. We stayed up and talked for a while after that. On Sunday Chris and I left the kids with them and went to Stake Conference. Afterward we took a picnic down to the island and hung out for a while. They got on the road from there. It was so fun! We really loved having them!

"Not Even For Wearing That Hat?"

Papa and Oatsie and Anna came up for a quick little visit. We had a good time. Olive enjoyed bossing Anna around and having a playmate. Anna, I don't think, really enjoyed Olive at all. But she was a good sport. The best part of the weekend was when we were all piled in the wagon on the way home from the park. Chris had previously arranged with Brian Stock to pull Nestor over and scare him a little. Brian did a routine check at first, but then he asked Nestor to get out of the car. He started questioning him about his nationality, and asked if he'd ever been arrested. When Nestor said no, Brian said, "Not even for wearing that hat?" And that's when Chris and I lost it, and the game was over. It was funny! That night Brian and Leslie came over and played Trivial Pursuit with us and Nestor and Rosemary. Also, super fun. So glad they got to visit!

Chris is busy, and it's teaching us both.

Chris was called to be the executive secretary to the new bishop (Rhett Burgener). He's on the phone seriously a ton, and on Sundays he's at church from about 9 am to about 5 pm. It's definitely a different weight than when he was Elders Quorum President; it's much busier and heavier. Also, the week after he started the calling he had to be in Florida for a week for work, and he's been really pushing harder with work in general (this past Monday he started a big 13-week push for a new drug indication). So, what I'm getting at is that he's gone more and much busier. We're both striving to deal with the changes gracefully, and we've felt lots of help from on high. It's been hard. But more importantly, it's all a very good opportunity for our family to grow spiritually and to appreciate our life together more. We're learning, and we're happy.