Sabbatical

Yes, I've been on blog sabbatical. At first it wasn't intentional. All summer I kept thinking, "Why don't I have time to blog? I really need to update our blog." Somewhere in August, I realized that whenever I had the time to think about how I really needed to blog, I was sitting poolside. I started counting up the pool time: three, sometimes four days a week, I was playing in the pool with kiddos and then enjoying friend time and sunshine while they were napping. Thanks, Nana, for making our summer so splendid! I shrugged my shoulders and happily declared myself on sabbatical.

I thought I might end my sabbatical on September

1, when the weather suddenly shifted to fall (no lingering summer around here this year) and we started a school year schedule. Ellie is in preschool! But then I was mourning the loss of lazy summer days and trying to get used to living on a schedule, so my sabbatical continued. Now we are more than adjusted, and I find myself wri

ting blog posts in my head. I think that means it's time to come back. Today, I'll just post some pictures and let them speak the thousands of words that are our lives lately.

At the end of June, Mom and Dad bid farewell to Salt Lake and the Bonneville Stake and went off to preside over the Spain Barcelona Mission. We love their frequent updates, and can hardly keep up on all the mission stories. Like drinking out of a fire hose? You bet!

Here are two pictures of our frequent summer pool days. How did I get such cute kiddos? Can't you just smell the sunshine and warm water? Is summer almost here again?

Rob turned 30! Here are the kids celebrating at his office. Rob and I spent the weekend of his birthday in lovely Newport Beach, soaking up sunshine, time with each other, and time with dear, bestest friends. Thanks, Brooke and Nate, for marrying each other! We loved every minute of your wedding festivities!

Two weeks after Rob's birthday, Ellie turned THREE! Here she is with the pink cake and pink frosting that she decorated all by herself. Then just a few weeks later, Matt turned ONE!

Finally, Ellie started preschool. I think her start week marked the official end of summer and transition into fall. She is loving her school, her teacher, and her friends. It's pretty adorable.

Now it's time to wake Matt up from his nap, get Ellie from preschool, come back for lunch, and then settle in for afternoon naps. Coming soon are pictures of our trip to the pumpkin patch and then of Halloween.

"Oh, thank you Dad!"

We've been promising Ellie a big girl bed for weeks. Months, maybe. Poor girl - she's been really patient. First, we couldn't go to IKEA because we didn't have a Jeep. Then the weeks were so full that we couldn't get the Jeep up there. Yesterday, Rob and I switched cars so that I could take the Rabbit in for its 30,000 mile checkup. By late morning, Rob decided it was time to make good on our promise. The man who has billed over 200 hours for the last three months left his busy desk and drove 40 minutes north to IKEA, bought all the necessary bed parts, loaded them in the Jeep, and then drove 40 minutes back downtown to continue his workday. He had a work obligation last night, so he got back long after the kids were in bed and then unloaded the Jeep into his upstairs office/guest room. Today he called at 4:00 to announce that he was on his way home. What a treat! Talk about sacrificing for your kids, putting fatherhood first.

It was worth it. Ellie was so excited! She stuck by Rob all evening. She helped him take apart the crib in her room and reassemble it in Matt's room (the poor kid has slept in a pack and play his entire life). While I put Matt's bedding together and let him explore his new accommodations (he appears happy with the change in scenery), Ellie helped Rob put her bed together. She fetched tools and held screws and provided a running commentary of their work: "We have to put more screws in the holes. Where's the next hole, Daddy? Here's some screws, Mom, can you hold them for me?" When we couldn't find one of the parts, Ellie searched all around the room, "Where could it be? I had it!" When Rob came up with it, she said, "Oh, sorry guys." She held the drill and made sure the slats were appropriately placed.

Finally, the bed was finished, sheets and comforter and all. Ellie smoothed out the sheets. She climbed in, rolled her head to the side of the pillow, put her thumb in her mouth, and then declared: "This is a comfy bed. Thanks, Dad!" She kept repeating it over and over, "Oh, thank you Daddy!"

While I ran to Wendy's to get dinner (Ellie said, "Oh Wendy's! Mom, I want lemonade and fries" Yikes), Ellie helped Rob put up the valence in Matt's room. At last it was bedtime, and Ellie needed no prodding. I climbed in and read a few books with her, and then she told me, "I just want to stay in my bed all the time, Mom."

Thanks, Dad.

Bubble Blowing Skirt + Top

The fabulous Kathleen of Grosgrain does it again:

Bubble Blowing Skirt and Top GIVEAWAY!!!!

Oh, don't you just long to see Ellie wearing this? Sigh. Pick me, Grosgrain Kathleen, pick me!

Happy Earth Day

I try to be Green. I do, but it's hit and miss. I still have a "but I need the convenience" excuse. I want to use cloth diapers, but I just can't face it. I want to compost, but I think the smell of fermenting matter would make me gag. I try to buy organic local food to avoid the environmental impact of pesticides as well as the fossil fuel necessary to transport my produce from California or Latin America. I can't give up bananas or pineapple.

Today on Earth Day I'm more cognizant of my successes and failures. So here's what I've done right today:

Take Ellie and Matt to Pottery Barn Kids, where they gave out flower seeds and provided an earth day coloring activity

Put energy saver light bulbs in the basement

Watch a Project Runway episode where the designers construct clothing out of recycled products (Stop shaking your head. It counts.)

Used my reusable bags at the grocery store rather than bagging my food in plastic

Recycled three aluminum cans

I was giving myself a pat on the back, until I looked at a sour cream carton and casually threw it in the garbage can rather than take it out to the recycling bin. I was tired of cleaning up the kitchen and, for an instant, decided I didn't have the energy to walk all the way out to the garage. Then, feeling a pang of guilt, I remembered the other snubs I've given the earth today.

The seed packet is still in the car. Will I actually plant it with Ellie and start her on a path to earth-saving? Who knows. My front yard loudly proclaims my gardening failures.

Remember my decision to use reusable bags at the grocery store? After proudly loading the bags in my cart, I surreptitiously grabbed a half dozen of the plastic variety and stuffed them in one of the bags. Those little plastics are invaluable for wrapping diapers that shouldn't be left exposed in the can until garbage day. Yesterday as I changed my third stinker of the day, I found I was out of plastic bags. No way around it, I need that plastic. With a sigh, I realized that my proud display of reusable bags at the checkout was pure vanity. On Earth Day, I wanted my fellow shoppers and my cashier to think I was Green.

Our mailbox was full of the usual junk catalogs and other toss-away envelopes. Sometimes I toss them in the recycling bin in the garage. Today I threw them in the trash, right along with the sour cream container.

Sorry earth. Like I said, I'm hit and miss. So here's a vow to recycle the sour cream container next time. Maybe I'll get those seeds planted. Meanwhile, I can at least enjoy my energy saver bulbs.

Here are a few pictures from Easter. We tried very hard to get a good family Easter picture; this is the closest we came. Ellie loved twirling in her fancy pink dress. We decorated eggs with the extended Jensens on Saturday night, had a quick Easter egg hunt with Ellie Sunday morning, had a bigger Easter egg hunt with Lesans in the afternoon (Grandma, Uncle Marc and Aunt Sarah make amazing Easter bunnies), and had a wonderful dinner with the extended Lesan family. Beyond the fun of the egg hunts and twirly dresses, we were most grateful to be able to reflect at church and all day on the life of our Savior, His Atonement, and His Resurrection. What a wonderful opportunity!

If you don't like it, you don't get it

Saturday was our first lawn-mowing of the season. Somehow in the past two weeks our winter stubble has grown to something of a green savanna. So off I went in the riding mower, a task I find quite fun - sort of like riding the bumper cars at the amusement park.
I started mowing the lawn a few years ago. I know that most people, Rob included, make nice straight lines with the mower, and the grass has a lovely uniform pattern when completed. I prefer a more avant-garde approach. Rather than moving back and forth in straight rows, I make circles around the perimeter and then move inward. Have you ever seen the Spiral Jetty in the Great Salt Lake? Very similar technique. I like texture in my lawn. I don't cut each swath the same length. I miss a few spots here and there for effect. I leave the grass around the close edges of the house and the swingset long. We don't have a bag on our mower. Rob and I prefer that the cut grass fall in random patterns. It's an organic look, enriching our lawn while adding additional texture to the overall scene.

My neighbors shake their heads and smile, thinking I just don't know how to mow a lawn. Not so. It's a consious choice. It's art. Here in the suburbs of the midwest, everyone mows their lawn the same way. That's fine, but it's sort of like a museum full of watercolor landscapes. They are beautiful, but after awhile you long for a Rothko Square, or the rhythm of Jackson Pollack, or a Calder sculpture. And that is the gift I give my neighbors all summer long. Contemporary. Abstract. Dare I say? Edgy.

Now the day is over

As if it's Christmas or Easter or a birthday, my family and I have been closing emails and phone calls this week with, "Happy Conference!" Hey, we're quirky. But what a wonderful General Conference it has been! Tonight I have that peaceful feeling that always comes after the Sunday afternoon session. A big sigh that we have to wait six months for Conference to come again, and a big smile trying to store up and savor all the good moments of Saturday and Sunday.

We watched the morning sessions (well, noon for those of us in the Eastern time zone) at our house, and managed to get both kids asleep so that we could actually give the speakers our full attention. For the afternoons, we went to Jensens to watch with Amber and Andrew (Keith and Nan are out of town, alas). Also, Nana has a bigger playroom on a different floor than our preferred Conference-watching space, so it works out well for Ellie. She can explore the basement toys and we can enjoy the session! Today we also had the twinners, Jacob and Claire, so it was quite a party in Nana's playroom (requiring some intervention by the adults upstairs every so often).

Now we are home, and I'm feeling grateful for all that we learned this weekend, and all that we'll continue to learn as we re-read or re-watch the addresses. I don't have much more to report in this post, just that I am grateful, grateful, grateful for General Conference.

Happy Conference!

PS: The picture? Ellie said, "Mom, I take notes. We watch the satellite? And Conference?"