lost in spokane

That was fun! NOT. Just got home from dropping my mom off at the airport. Here's my drama for today:

After dropping her off and saying goodbye, I realized that I needed to find a gas station before heading back. The only problem was that there weren't any stations JUST OFF THE FREEWAY, (well, maybe there are, but I couldn't find one) so you have to go out of your way to get lost, and then hopefully you can find your way back. (I'm so not a good navigator, I'm terrible with directions) Finally found a good-priced gas station (there's an oxymoron) and then set out to find my way back home. Nice little hour-long detour....NOT.



Found a couple signs that helped guide me to where I THOUGHT I wanted to go, but then got lost amid the one-way signs and AWFUL SPOKANE drivers! They're so RUDE! Maybe they're okay, but I just happen to get a few grouchy ones in a row. It's overwhelming being in a city that you only know ONE person; thank you Cassie for staying on the phone with me and telling me how to get home! Carter doesn't feel very well and was very uncomfortable and crying, Dawson wanted to get out and was crying because he missed his "Grammie" and Ryanna was bored and wanted to go over to Cole's house. It was a VERY LONG JOURNEY home! So glad that we got home safely, though. We were only in car for 5 1/2 hours! I'm sure that Mom even made it to SLC before we even got home. Thanks for coming to visit, Mom!

how many more?

In the last two days, we've squished, whacked, slapped, thunked and splatted ELEVEN wasps inside our house! We've looked around and can't really see where they can enter the house and don't know where the little buggers are hiding. The last two years haven't ever been this bad, so I don't know. Any suggestions how to locate and get rid of 'em?? I'm so JUMPY now!

sweet pictures

A couple pictures from yesterday's festivities from Mom's party and from the pool. (thanks Mom for letting me steal these from you!)

cake and presents

A very special HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear Mom! I am so tickled that she wanted to come up and spend her birthday with us! We're off to buy her a Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake and she's getting some really cool presents from Bath and Body Works. (there aren't many things that she can take back with her to China...but she still has priorities!) More pictures from the party later. Happy Birthday to my Mom!



Mom with Sister Julie Beck. (Mom's on the right)

She makes friend where ever she is.
Ryanna with her Grammie when she was little...oh how we love Grammie!

random pictures

What do you get when you take: one suitcase, some dress-up clothes, a trick-or-treat Winnie-the-Pooh bucket, a wig and a hat?
"A little statue of a girl" Ryanna says!

The kids are good buddies. They're waiting to go to the pool and are patiently watching a movie.

love to blog

This is my 218th post since last June...I love blogging!

You know your life revolves around your blog when:
-something happens to your child and instead of grabbing a band-aid, you grab your camera
-the only thing that gets you out of bed in the morning is a thought, "what can I blog today?"
-you take your camera everywhere just to make sure you don't miss that "special" photo (because you used to only take pictures during birthdays and holidays)
-something happens to YOU and you say to yourself,"this is a horrible situation, but it will make for a fabulous blog post!"

no longer a baby

My precious little boy is officially a walker! I honestly kept him FROM it for as long as I could. He walked 5 feet yesterday without falling and now is testing the waters as much as he can. He still climbs like a little monkey and now he's walking! I'll be sure to record a little blip and see if I can post it later this week. He's a cutie!

she's here!

After weeks and weeks of anticipation, my MOM is finally here! She's here at my house and will be here for 10 days. She brought presents from China for us and it's so fun having her here. She's going to let me read her copy of 'The Host' (I know, I'm so behind) and I can't wait to blog the fun. Hooray!

sparklers and tank wars

I'll post about Italy like I promised soon. But first, a delightful show with sparklers! We didn't buy any new fireworks this year, since we had a few tanks, sparklers, snakes and flashers from last year. The kids loved it! After our few boxes of fun were gone, I broke out the real fun! The little glowsticks that the kids love, they usually play light sabers with them. One box had jewelery accesories, so Ryanna wore earrings, a necklace and bracelets. She danced and sang and made up songs about the Fourth of July and made Dawson do it too. (which he wasn't too keen on) It was a fun Fourth!




We started out with a tank war. Mine is on the LEFT and I kicked Ryan's trash! (and I certainly did NOT kick it over with my foot!)


"Come on! Shake your tail feathers!"
.
The kids got the hang of lighting sparklers off of eachother's

Dawson said, "It smells like STINK!" and plugged his nose a lot because of the smoke coming off of the sparkler. (I think because it was a year old, is smoked a ton)


I told the kids to dance during the flashers, and this is what I got. Ryanna was still shaking her tail feathers, and Dawson was dancing like Princess Leia from his Star Wars Legos game.









Silly kids! They had a blast!

rencontrez-moi à Paris

Sorry for the blurred spots in the photos, but I just had to take pictures of my pictures again! Today, exactly 10 years ago, the Americans staying at our hotel in Paris wished us, "a Happy Independence Day" and to enjoy ourselves in France. I'll never forget that moment; how we Americans celebrate this very special day in history, and outside of that bubble, the rest of the world doesn't care. They have their own celebrations, but how truly we lucky and fortunate we are for our independence. What better way to celebrate that luxury by climbing it! It truly is the "City of Light" and is goregous.

Mom and I climbed every single step! The Eiffel Tower was built for the World Exhibition in 1889, held in celebration of the French Revolution in 1789.
The construction was only meant to last for the duration of the Exposition, but it still stands today, despite all protests from contemporary artists who feared the construction would be the advent of structures without 'individuality' and despite the many people who feared that this huge 'object' would not fit into the architecture of Paris.


Here is the "Sabrina" spot. Remember from the 1995 version with Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond, where she is helping a photoshoot after she arrives in Paris? That was shot at this location. It was so cool!
We laid on the rocks underneath the Tower, and took this picture.
Notice the 547 on the Tower? It was a countdown until the new millenium, the year 2000. They also hung a picture of Gustav Eiffel to honor him. What a truly remarkable story about this monument.


Musee D'Orsay! It was spectacular! The museum contains 2300 paintings, 1500 sculptures and 1000 other objects. It covers a period from mid 19th century till mid 20th centuries and contains works from Monet, Manet, Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh and others.

Notice the teeny, tiny clock just above and to the right of my head? It's small from here...


But it's HUGE! We're actually inside of the clock.

Notre-Dame was so cool. I loved the gothic arcitecture, and inside houses the most intricate and beautiful stained-glass circular windows I have ever seen.

We enjoyed the view when we climbed to the top of The Sacré-Cœur Basilica located on Montmarte. The massive building has managed to keep its beaming white color even in the polluted air of a big city like Paris. This can be attributed to the Château-Landon stones which were used for the construction of the Sacré-Coeur. When it rains, the stones react to the water and secrete calcite, which acts like a bleacher. It is an amazing place.


We also visited Hard Rock Cafe and ate a good burger, drove through the tunnel where Princess Diana famous and tragic accident took place, signed her wall where "her" flame is. Ate chocolate eclairs in the Louvre, admired the famous parquet flooring, and got to see the highly overrated Mona Lisa painting. (among other things) You can't even get close enough to really see her.






Another HILARIOUS thing that happened to me...I was so tired when we were taking tours of all these museums and historical sites that out of the corner of my eye I saw a bench so I went and sat down on it.
I had only been there for a couple minutes while the group was admiring some masterpiece, when I heard something like this.
"Hé! Descendez de cette œuvre exposée immédiatement! Ce n'est pas un banc. Levez-vous en ce moment!" Which as you probably guessed means that I should get up immediately. Come to find out, I WAS SITTING ON AN EXHIBIT! I got up and looked down, and it was just a big stone slab. Who knew that was ART? ha

All-in-all it was tremendous! My favorite part of the trip is yet to come though...tomorrow's ITALY!

Oh, as a small note, the World Cup was going on. France vs. Italy. Today we were in France and tomorrow we will be in Italy (10 years ago, of course) and it was very very very obvious who won...