Holy Cow

People, I just got back from India. It was crazy. Every cliche I've ever heard about the place is absolutely true. India is absolutely a land of contrasts.
I feel so lucky I was able to go on this amazing trip. I really hit the jack pot with Tyler. Do you know what he said to me the day I got back as I was telling him all about my adventures?? He said, "You should go on a crazy trip like this once every year." Seriously. All four kids came down with the flu while I was gone and instead of venting to me about how tough it was for him, or asking for some time for himself to go play basketball or something, he's sitting there on the floor in Flossie's room genuinely happy for me and probably subconsciously planning my next adventure. I never did anything great enough to deserve this wonderful man.
That is all for now.
I am tired. I went to bed last night at 8pm, woke up at 11:30pm when Tyler came to bed, and I've been up ever since. I tried to fold some laundry, but I got distracted. I ended up putting up some Christmas decorations and making waffles instead. I'm trying my best to make everyone happy I'm home.

Bed

Tyler is the bed maker in our family. Much to my mother's disappointment, I never really picked up the habit. It is so nice to walk in and find the bed made for me by my husband. He is top-notch. I'm in Paris now and he is home in Washington State. I wonder if he makes the bed when I'm not there. I'm going to pretend he doesn't. Miss you Tyler.

Weekend at Kassey's

Right after school ended this year, I decided to take the two older boys to Utah for the weekend. We were going to try to catch a flight on Thursday, but it rained and the traffic was so bad we missed our flight. No problem. Tyler set the alarm for 4am and we were on the first flight out in the morning. Visiting Kassey is great because she's always glad to see us. I feel like no matter what she's doing, she'll find a way to fit us into her day and despite the last-minute flight change, she was there with all her kids happy to pick up at the airport.

What was our first stop? The gym! Not living by my sisters, I feel like there are somethings I miss out on, like a good gym buddy. So we stuck the rugrats in daycare and got to sweatin'. Kassey warned me that the front desk people were going to try and scam me into a membership so I was ready for them. When they asked where I was from I told them, "Out-of-town". Gotcha! Next stop? The post-workout-snack. Terrible and wonderful. Kassey took me to the Lehi Bakery while her girls were in swim lessons. Have you ever been to this place? It's like the best Mexician dive ever, only a bakery. It's like a buch of chubby Relief Society ladies got together and started selling really yummy Mormon comfort food. It's like the absolutely antithesis of everything that is cool and hip. It was really REALLY GOOD. We tried to think about how much shortening they must use in their goodies, but it was too scary. Go there.

After packing the kids a lunch (Kassey is really good at this too. I never have the right stuff in the cupboard for a spontaneous picnic), we headed over to the farm at Thanksgiving Point. We let the kids play unsupervised as much as we thought we could get away with while we sat on the grass eating cherries. Henry loved the pony ride, but Mack thought he was getting too old for them.

Saturday was the BEST. After stopping by the bakery again --thin I am not-- and stopping to visit Grandpa Cal, Kassey and I took all kids but Gus to meet up with our Grandma Judy at the community Pool in Provo. When we arrived our little old Grandma had dragged up 3 pool chairs and 2 loungers into just the right spot on a grassy hill where we could easily kinda watch the kids and work on our tan at the same time. That lady is something else. Highlights include taking ridiculous picture of each other and dragging our frady-cat five year olds down the watersides, which they later said they loved. I'm definitely heading back to this pool again with the whole family. But I did just read about this, so disclaimer alert. I asked Tyler if I should put this picture on the blog and he just laughed at me. He's right, it is funny.

Stick Together

One of the things I love most about Tyler's flight benefits with Delta is taking our children along our travels. Yes, they're too young to remember most of the trip. Yes, someone (or several someones) may throw up in the car. But ultimately I am going to remember these travels. I genuinely enjoy dragging our kiddos along with us for the ride. For our children (but Mack and Hank especially), seeing Mommy and Daddy excited about something makes them excited about it too. If I tell them that The Tower of London is THE COOLEST place in the word, they believe me! Flossie and Wally aren't really buying what we're selling at this point, but they've got some cool pictures out to the deal and it's keeping them out of Chuck E. Cheese. gross

I realize many people out there think we're crazy for taking our kids on 12 hour flights for fun. Many of these same people think I am crazy for taking my 4 children to Target. To these people i would just like to say whatever. Don't knock it till you try it. And if you do try it, let's hang out. I think we could be best friends.

Le Ballon Rouge

On Monday for Family Night, we cheated and watched The Red Balloon. We're hoping to trek off to Paris for 2 weeks in July so I thought the film might get the kids in the mood. I was thinking maybe they'd notice how quiet everyone is and be feel inspired to live a more French lifestyle.

Mack sorta remembered seeing it before so he was fine with it, but the other little kiddos thought it was a tad boring at first. However, once the action picked up and the Balloon started following the boy (Does that little guy have a name?) they were all hooked. Well, everyone except me, I was reading Rick Steves France 2013 on the couch.

I've spent most of today looking over options for apartments to rent while we're in Paris. We still haven't closed the deal yet, but we do have a front-runner. Usually, when we go away, we try to rent a flat with a crib, but no such luck this time. Looks like Tyler will be dragging our Pack'n Play on the train, because there is no way I am trying to get a jet-lagged toddler -aka Flossie- to sleep with me. Anyway, I'm sure that position will be occupied by Wallace. I don't know how people co-sleep with their kids, it only leads to angry-sleep at my house.

I've got a list of Parisian films to watch before we leave town and two feet tall stack of travel books to sort through as well. One of my favorite things about traveling is the book prep. I remember reading once that anticipating a trip is good for your health and I definitely agree. I love it.  Unfortunately for me, I think any health benefits may be balanced out by all my family's pre-trip-laundry.