Saturday Sunshine

• This week went by quickly! That is good for two reasons. First, because I am counting down to our Nauvoo trip. And second, because I have been very worried that being a stay at home mom would make the days just draaaaaaag on. But they don't. I keep very busy. And feel pretty productive. Most of the time. Good.

• I had a BLAST at the splash park with Laura and Brittney and their kiddos. Olivia hated the water. It definitely wasn't her bathtub. But we had a good time and she stayed pretty content just sitting on the grass with mommy and sucking on a carrot.
  

• I worked on our 72 -hour kits this week a little bit. I basically just took stock of what we have, got rid of what had expired, and made a list of what we need to replace. Olivia didn't have one previously, so I started hers with the basics and we'll get everything back in place a little at a time! Because being prepared is expensive if you try to do it all at once!

• Brother Heder was my seminary teacher (I can't remember what grade) for one semester in high school. He lives up the street from my parents and is in their stake presidency. His wife's blog has been on my blog list for the past six months. She created the blog in January to share the experiences they had as Brother Heder underwent treatment for Leukemia. He passed away on Wednesday. This is sad news, but the light in all of this is that he was such a great man and is free of pain now. If you have a minute, read some of the posts from their blog. They are short and touching.

• Olivia has been taking two two-hour naps each day. One in the morning from 10-noon, and one in the afternoon from 2-4. This is heavenly. And although it restricts me a little as far as what time I can run errands and such, I am totally ok with that. For 4 'free' hours a day, I'll take it! (and by 'free', I mean laundry, cleaning, and dishes)

• I cooked dinner every single night this week. They were not spectacular meals. And probably not even well-rounded nutritionally, but I made them. And I have discovered two things in this process. One, that there are a lot more dishes when you eat strictly at home. And two, you have to clean the kitchen three times as often when you make three meals a day. I live in the kitchen. Which is ok, I suppose.

Monday: Pizza

Tuesday: Chicken and Zucchini

Wednesday: Tacos

Thursday: Fettuccine

Friday: Stir Fry

• This was a conversation between Ryan and I yesterday:

J: Don't we have free tickets to Toy Story 3?

R: (grumpy voice) Yeah, but why don't you give them away because we can never go to movies anymore. We didn't even go to Iron Man 2. (huff)

Little does he know that I've been planning a surprise date for us to the movies for a week and a half now. I've made arrangements for Olivia (thanks Brit), bought the candy (yes, we sneak it in inside my purse. Naughty, I know), and made a fake excuse about a primary activity to make sure he's home. It's nothing big, but I hope he's surprised and I'm completely excited about it. Oh, the little things you look forward to once you're a parent. LOL