Easter

St. George

My trip to St. George was fabulous! I left on Monday, the 17th and travelled all day, three different flights to get there. I arrived at 9:00 pm. Shana picked me up at the airport and the fun began! We stopped on the way home to pick up a few groceries for the week and then went on to the beautiful vacation home she and her husband own there in St. George. We talked a little but went to be pretty early so we could get a good start to the next day.

Tuesday morning we had a tennis lesson with an amazing tennis pro/instructor named Dave Smith. He was really great and I feel like I learned a lot in just three short days. The lessons were outdoors and the weather was beautiful! We had our lesson and then Shana and I played against each other a little bit. She beat me every time we played--she's definately better than I am, but it was still so much fun! We were trying to be healthy so after tennis we went home and ate a big spinache salad and then headed to the spa for a two-hour couples massage. Talk about Heaven! It was definately the best massage I've ever had! After that we came home and rested for awhile, got dressed up, and went to a really nice restaurant called the Painted Pony for dinner. It was a good thing we ate a healthy lunch, because we didn't do so well for dinner. We shared a delicious brie appetizer, and then I had a super tender steak with mushrooms, mashed potatoes, and broccolli for dinner. We topped it all off with some amazing banana bread pudding. Then we rolled ourselves out of the restaurant and went home to begin watching Pride and Prejudice (the long version), which I had been reading but had not yet finished.

Wednesday morning started with a healthy breakfast and tennis at 9:30. We played for almost three hours, got a little sunburned, and then stopped at a fresh Mexican restaurant on the way home for a yummy Mexican salad. We watched some more of the movie and then went shopping at the outlet mall in the afternoon. We found Shana a couple of spring dresses since she didn't have one actual dress in her whole closet, and bought some cute things for the kids at Gymboree. We stopped at a sandwich cafe for dinner and treated ourselves to Cold Stone Creamery on the way home where we watched a little more Pride and Prejudice and went to bed.

Thursday morning began much like the others. Tennis from 9:00 until 12:00, and then we hit another Mexican restaurant for lunch. By this point most of our healthy aspirations were out the window, and we shared a quesadilla and a HUGE basket of nachos which we could hardly even put a dent in. Then we headed to the spa again, this time for a sports massage and facial. The sports massage was awsome, but somehow I had scheduled a body scrub instead of a facial for my second treatment. I really wasn't interested in the body scrub so they let me cancel it, and I went outside and layed on the grass in the sun for the next hour while Shana got her second treatment. It was so nice and relaxing--I think I even fell asleep for a little while. That night we ate at a really yummy local pizza place and then finished watching Pride and Prejudice, which we both loved.

sans make-up on the way home from the spa--yikes!

Friday morning we got up early and went to the 8:00 session at the temple. We had time for a quick breakfast, a short drive up the hill to the red rocks where we took some pictures, and then it was off to the airport to drop me off. It was such a wonderful, relaxing trip, and so much fun to spend time with Shana! She's one of those amazing people who just inspires you to be a better person. I can't wait for our next trip!

Catching Up!

It's been so long since my last blog I guess I have some catching up to do! February was a busy month for us. It started out quite normal, but then got crazy just in time for Valentine's Day. Jordan's Grandpa Nielsen passed away on the 10th, and Jordan was asked to give the eulogy at his funeral. So he flew out to California on the 13th (Wed.) and was able to spend the weekend through Sunday with his family there. I heard he did a wonderful job with the eulogy and actually learned a lot about his grandfather in the process. I was really happy for him that he could go and have that bonding time with his family.

Meanwhile, we had invited a few kids from church and school over for a Valentine's party on the 13th. We didn't invite a ton of kids, 7 total, so I thought it would be pretty easy and low-key and planned to do the party by myself. Luckily one of the other mom's ended up staying, 'cause boy did I underestimate the challenges of throwing a party for 11 kids age 8 and under! We played some relay and other games with balloons and decorated Valentine cookies. The kids had a blast!

A few days after Jordan got back, his parents came to visit for few days. We always love it when they come, and the kids adore spending lots of time with Grandma and Grandpa Post. However, their mother was a slacker and didn't take any pictures, so she'll have to make up for it with lots of pictures when we visit G&G in California this summer.

With February already over, Jordan and I made a plan to go to the temple on Saturday. We are in the Oklahoma City temple district, so it takes us a full 3 1/2 hours to get to the temple (not to mention about $8 in tolls) That's just one way, so we usually make a whole day of it. We left our house at 6:00am, drove straight to the temple, and finished at the temple at about 12:30pm. Then we went to eat at Macaroni Grill (one of favorite places) and stopped at a mall on the way home as well. When we got back into town we went straight to Stake Conference where we heard some great messages about marriage and family, and we finally got home at around 9:30pm. Although we did a lot of sitting, Jordan and I had a great time, and I really enjoyed spending the entire day with my husband. It's rare that we have that much time together, without interruptions from children, and that time helps me remember what a fun, intelligent, entertaining, and loveable husband I have.

Alright, so now it's March, and my much-anticipated trip to St. George is only 12 days away! I'm meeting my college friend, Shana, there and we have lots of fun stuff planned. We're going to take a few tennis classes, go to the spa, shop, eat yummy food, watch chic-flicks, sit in the hot tub, and just relax (if there's any time left for that)! Because I'm flying out of a rather small airport into another small airport I have several layovers making for about a day of travel each way, so I'm needing some suggestions on books to take along with me. What have you been reading lately? I'm also open to suggestions on movies that Shana and I should rent while we're there. The only one on my list so far is Casablanca--let me know what you recommend!

Bonus picture

Bits and Pieces

Just a little update today. Life is good but very busy. I feel completely worn out today! Alexis and Spencer have been sick this week--I hope the rest of us don't get it! The kids have been really great lately and I've found myself often thinking how grateful I am for them and for Jordan. By the way, Jordan finally got his promotion last week--HURRAY! He's a director now and still learning a ton and doing a great job in the real estate finance dept. at Wal-Mart.

Alexis started piano lessons a couple weeks ago. It's kind of been a struggle because it's not as easy for her as school has been so she actually has to work at it. She gets frustrated very quickly when she can't play a new song perfectly the first time or she doesn't understand something and then she wants to quit, at least for the moment. I hope it gets better because I really want her to learn to play and I'm not going to let her quit!

Spencer has been such a sweetheart lately, reminding me how glad I am that we made it through those tough couple of years with him. He was such a stinker sometimes--getting into everything he wasn't supposed to, drawing with black permanent marker on the white cabinets, deliberately defying me while I was looking right at him! He's not perfect, but he's soooo much better, and he's so sweet with Trista. I love to watch him play with her and help her and take care of her. He's such a good big brother! Spencer's funny quote of the week is, "Dad, can I get a credit card? I want a credit card. I reeeaaally need a credit card! I love credit cards!" (Does he even know what a credit card is?)

Dallin keeps me laughing, except when he makes me want to cry every night at dinner because it's such a struggle to get him to eat. He still hates "grown up" food and wants kids stuff (chicken nuggets, ramen noodles, hot dogs, etc.) for every meal. We have to monitor every bite of food and are always waiting for the very loud gagging sound he makes just before spitting his food back out half the time. Will this ever end? He does have a lot of redeeming qualities though. He's very righteous. He wants to say the blessing at every meal, and Jordan has been talking to the kids about praying every morning right when they get out of bed. The other morning at breakfast I asked the kids if they prayed when they woke up. Dallin burst into tears because he had forgotten. He was sobbing, totally distraught, and wouldn't believe me that he could go back to his room and pray and it would be just the same. Dallin's quote of the week is, "Well, when can I have a girl in my bed?" (In response to Trista sleeping in Alexis' bed instead of her crib one night.)

Finally we have Trista. Trista is so happy, fun, and good natured. Everywhere we go (the gym, the babysitter, the nursery at church) people are awed and amazed at how good and happy she is. I'd like to take credit and think that it's because I'm such an impeccable mother, but sadly I don't think that's the case. She's just been an impeccable baby (and toddler). She's finally starting to talk more. She says "tan to" (thank you), uh huh, Tih Ta (Trista), and our favorite "I do!" The whole family goes around asking question after question--"Who wants a drink?"

"I do!"

"Who's cute?"

"I do!"

"Who has a stinky bum?"

"I do!"

Sometimes you don't even have to ask a question. Lately she's been eating a TON (she must be having a growth spurt), so everytime I mention a meal or I'm in the kitchen getting something out of the cabinet she just pipes up--"I DO!" We love it! And we love her!

I'm still working and being Mom. I'm looking forward to my two trip this spring. In March I'm going to meet a friend in St. George for four days of "girl time." We're going to go to the spa, have some tennis lessons, go to a show, eat good food, shop, and whatever else we want to do--KID FREE! I'm actually really getting spoiled, because then in May I'm going down to see Angie in Costa Rica for about 10 days--by myself again! Speaking of all this girl time--I've been wanting to post this picture of Angie and I with some friends we got together with at Christmas. Aren't girlfriends (and sisters) the best?

Check out my Slide Show!

Christmas

We had so much fun with all of my family at Christmas!
All of my sisters and their families as well as Grandma and
Grandpa Salmon (and even my cousin Crystal with her hubby
and baby) were at Mom and Dad's house. So fun!

Booty and the Blessings

So here is a picture of my booty....

Sorry to disappoint, but I wasn't talking about that booty. I'm talking about my booty like a pirate's booty or loot! It seems like every day I come home to boxes at my front door from Maybelline. Usually they're filled with boring stuff like papers, coupons, free samples to pass out. But yesterday I opened up a box and found this stuff inside! It was like Christmas all over again! Nevermind the fact that a lot of it is in colors that I wouldn't choose or that won't match my skin tone (I'm thinking of making a trip to Wal-Mart for an exchange), I'm just excited to get free stuff!

While on the topic of Maybelling and my job, the second part of this blog is in regards to some blessings I received that I wanted to document (since this is as good as it gets in the journal department for me). Just before Thanksgiving I finally got a key to the Maybelline storage unit in Bentonville. It's just a small storage unit filled with boxes and fixtures and random stuff, but I'd been trying for a couple months to get the key from a very busy lady who works around here for Maybelline putting together the Wal-Mart Maybelline walls. Anyway, I got the key one morning in November and went to the unit to look for a few things, and had the hardest time with the lock! It was an old rusted padlock, and I could hardly get it open. It was even harder to get it shut! I struggled and struggled and finally put the small key down on the cement outside of the door to work on getting the padlock locked. Finally! it locked and I was on my way!
Fast forward to two weeks later, the beginning of December. I made a quick stop at the storage unit to pick up an eyeshadow tray I needed to replace in a store. I jumped out of the van and put the small key on my keychain into the padlock--or should I say "tried" to put it in. No matter which way I turned the key or how hard I wiggled the padlock the key wouldn't even fit into the hole! I was getting desparate when I finally remembered putting the small key on the cement the last time I was there while struggling to get the padlock locked. Had I remembered to pick it up? Was this key on my keychain even the right key? If not, what is this key on my keychain, and even more importantly, where is the key to this storage unit that I just got two weeks ago? YIKES! I got really worried for a minute, thinking of what an idiot I would look like calling the lady back and telling her that I'd already lost the key--after using it only once!
I got back in the car where Dallin and Trista were waiting for me and I said, "Dallin, we need to pray!" So we did. We prayed that I would be able to remember what I did with the key and that when I did I would be able to find it. As I finished praying I felt like I should start driving. So I slowly made a circle around all of the storage buildings, just to make sure I was even at the right unit, and ended up where I had been before, in front of the correct unit. But as I stopped the van, I looked out the window and my eyes went directly to a place in the gravel where a small gold key was barely poking out of the dirt and rocks. I jumped out and grabbed the key. I couldn't believe it! Well, I could believe it because I know the Lord answers our prayers, but I was so excited! Was this the key I had put down a few weeks ago while wrestling with the padlock?
I put the key into the old rusted padlock and, VOILA, it fit! And, DANG-IT, that was about it! I couldn't turn it at all, couldn't even get it to budge! I took the key out and tried it in the adjacent units' locks (just to see if it happened to be to another lock that wasn't mine) but it definately didn't fit in those. It had to be my key! So I tried again, to no avail. "Okay, that's it," I thought. "I need to pray again!" So once again I prayed, "Please, let me able to turn the key, let the lock open, let me get in! Please don't make me have to tell the other lady what an idiot I am!"
I tried the lock again. I put the key in, wiggled it a little bit and AAHHHH (picture the clouds opening up and angels descending with some really pretty background music)! The lock opened! I got in! I got what I needed, very carefully put the little gold key onto my keyring this time instead of on the ground, and was on my way. I am so blessed! I was/am so grateful that he helped me with something that in the long run is so trivial, but to me at that moment was so important.

ISN'T THE LORD AMAZING?