Memorial Day Weekend

Saturday morning was spent at Liberty Park, mostly at the Tracy Aviary, but we took some time to ride on a couple of the very old fair park rides they have there too. The morning was followed by some home improvement work in the bathroom. We are replacing an old, unattractive light fixture with two small ones that will look better. Then, a special treat, Grandma and Grandpa Judd took Kate and James for the evening while mom and day went on a date -- dinner and a movie. Thanks!

Sunday was spent with the usual church and family time, but then, the normal routine went out the window. Ben decided to risk the slightly cool weather and small chance of rain and decided to give the kids a preview of camping by sleeping in a tent in the backyard. We have a short camping trip planned for June with the McAdams. I think the kids will be fine in June. It rained all night long and my campers slept through the whole thing. I'm glad I was in the house.

We met with some of the Judd family for breakfast on Monday morning and then spent a little bit of time remembering Grandma and Grandpa Wilson at the cemetery. They are my mom's parents. I never knew my grandfather, but have heard many stories about what a loving father he was and how he got mom's lunch money gambling and liked ketchup with everything. We spent the evening with Grandma McAdams and our Williams cousins. Happy Birthday Tammy!

Associate General Counsel

A little more than three months after ending my clerkship, I'm again permanently employed. I spent the three months doing a couple of freelance projects and having a some down time. The break was nice, but I'm very excited about my new job. I'm now an Associate General Counsel at the University of Utah. I'm anticipating interesting work, great colleagues, predictable hours and adequate flexibility (i.e. not a law firm), and a very short commute! I started on Monday. So far so good!

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

After a super productive day organizing all kinds of things into our new garage on Saturday, we picked up our kids that had been watched in shifts by three family members. We drove into the driveway, unpacked the various bags and other gear that were cluttering my van and left them on the driveway by the side door to take into the house a little later. We put our tired kids to bed and then returned to the garage to work until we were too tired to do another thing. We drove our cars into the garage to make sure we'd left enough space to open doors without banging shelves, etc. Things fit great!

I backed the van out of the garage to make some space for one or two more tasks. I backed the van over a small bag holding our nice, expensive MacBook Pro!

The screen looks like shattered glass. The computer makes some noise when we try to turn it on, but without a visual, we don't know if any of our data is retrievable. We'll know the true extent of my stupidity within a couple of days. We'll learn whether the laptop is a covered item under our homeowners policy in the morning and I'm taking the broken laptop to a "Mac Genius" at the Apple Store to see if a data transfer to a new laptop is possible. This idiotic move makes James and Kate's little experiment with Leather Lube seem incredibly trivial.

One more thing: Thanks to my wonderful husband for not saying a million things that have surely been on the tip of his tongue since Saturday night. I love you!

The Hogle Zoo and the lion drinking fountain

I took James and Kate to the Hogle Zoo this afternoon. How many of you out there that grew up in Utah (or visited) have a picture of you drinking from this fountain as a kid? I do.(They actually have two of them now. And, I think I recall seeing one at the Bronx Zoo, so maybe several zoos have one or two of these.)

Bryce Canyon

Ben had a conference in Bryce Canyon the last few days of this week. Since I'm not yet working full-time, I thought it would be fun for me and the kids to join him. We didn't see much of Ben, but we had a great time looking at the hoodoos during our two hikes and playing near the lake by our hotel. James and Kate were great little hikers and seemed to enjoy the adventure.
Taking a short break during our Queen's Garden hike.
James never grew tired of throwing rocks into the lake. I sure wish I knew of an activity at home that could keep him entertained for so long.

Our Fun Family Vacation

I've been telling Ben for years that a cruise would be the ideal vacation for us. Ben loves to see lots of different places, but I dislike packing and unpacking multiple times on a single trip away from home. With the addition of two toddlers it seemed like an even better idea because Carnival Cruise Lines accepts two-year-olds into their daycare program (the only cruise line that does). We could spend some time all together and some time sans kids. I first tried to book a 7-day cruise, but Ben, claiming that the kids would be bored, convinced me to stick to a 5-day cruise. It took me longer than it should have to realize that Ben was really afraid that HE would get bored, not the kids.

For you cruise lovers out there, please don't be offended by our post-cruise opinions. To sum things up, we all got bored. Kate and James didn't care for the daycare program; we don't gamble, we don't drink; Ben doesn't participate in hairy chest contests; we don't sunbathe; we don't swim in unheated pools; we couldn't read books while entertaining two-year-olds; a few hours at a port wasn't nearly enough time to us to even feel like we had been to a new city (Ben likened it to a long layover at an airport in a cool city); and, as Ben put it, I "locked him in a Chuck-a-Rama for five days."

Nonetheless, we had a fantastic vacation! It was fun (but exhausting!) to be with James and Kate for 10 whole no-work days. They loved nearly every part of the vacation, which included: packing and pulling their own suit cases; flying on an airplane; riding in multiple taxis (they have no problem recognizing them now, see here); going to Sea World; staying in a hotel; being on a "really big boat"; going to the beach in Cabo, Mexico; a short excursion in Ensenada, Mexico; staying with Aunt Sherri, Uncle Sam, Baby Daniel, and Lucie in California; going to Disneyland; and going to the beach in California.

Below are a few, okay, several, pictures of our adventures.

James was so excited to have his own suitcase. He saw it in the car a few days before we left on vacation and insisted that he have it immediately. He dragged it around on the driveway and in the house until the time finally came to pack his clothes in it and leave for vacation. He never let it out of his sight at the airport (how responsible) and always kept track of where it was in the car, hotel, or ship.

Kate with her Elmo suitcase. She also liked having her own suitcase, but isn't quite as obsessed with the notion as James. And, she was more than willing to let Mom or Dad carry it most of the time.

The end of a fun day at Sea world. Ben made sure we sat in the Splash Zone for both the dolphin and whale shows. The kids loved having the animals get them wet and asked for more when each show ended.

James was the only one willing to play in the cold water of the pool. He loved it. He even picked a water fight with two kids twice his age. They went easy on him.

Kate preferred to relax in the sun next to me.

Beach play with our ship, the Elation, in the background.

Ben spent the afternoon helping James and Kate dig holes, castles, mountains, etc. in the sand. I loved watching them play from my beach chair in the shade of an umbrella.

Ben and James spent a little time in the water.

Kate and James loved playing on the beach. They could have spent our entire vacation just playing in the sand.

Kate busy at work.

James lounging after some hard work in the sun.

A little pause for some kid time during our port excursion in Ensenada, Mexico.

Kate has become quite a ham. James likes to say she's "such a tease." This picture offers a glimpse of how she made us laugh each day on our vacation.

Kate and Pluto. Kate loved meeting all the Disney characters. She gave each she met a big hug.

Kate and Donald Duck.

Kate and Mickey.

James loved to look at the characters, but when it came time to actually get close and pose with one, no thank you. This is the best we got of him with Mickey.

James aboard Dumbo with Aunt Sherri and Cousin Daniel.

Such a cutie!

The end of a very long, but fun day at the Happiest Place on Earth. This is the only picture (of ten) where neither James nor Kate is picking their nose.

The beach on Balboa Island, California. They are STANDING under all that sand.

The Sand Master modeling his creation.

Our gracious California hosts (Uncle Sam, Aunt Sherri, Baby Daniel, and their dog Lucie (not pictured)).

Uncle Sam reading a Czech bedtime story to Kate. So cute!