easter 2010.

Easter 2010. Good times. Our ward had a little Easter Egg Hunt at the park, so we packed up the double stroller and walked on over. I made a dumb decision to wear "newer" shoes that apparently weren't broken in yet. On the trek over, I rubbed my heel raw. Bleeding everywhere. Perfect start to the day. :) Jk. It was fine, as long as I didn't have my shoe on. Fashion over comfort, ladies. SOOOO not my motto. Obviously.

Anyway, Tillie had a blast with her bunny ears (she magically kept them on all day!) and was thrilled to find CANDY in the eggs.

Her mom is new to this whole "cute Easter basket" idea. A Wal-mart grocery bag isn't acceptable? Who knew? Next year, she won't be so ghetto. And, she chose her outfit this day. A whole lot of pink and pattern going on. Work it, Matilda.

love this next action shot.

**The next day was a "mock" Easter Sunday. Nana Nise had purchased a little cute gingham pink dress for Tillie to wear. Since General Conference fell on Easter Sunday (and we'd be watching it from home), we decided to have her wear the dress the week before.

As we were taking some pictures, right after these group shots below, Tillie took a spill and fell smack dab on the corner of our brick pillars. Sad. Only a little blood, not too bad. But, let's just say, she wasn't in the mood to take more pictures. :) I wonder why?

thank you self timer. aaron was running and barely made it in time for this next one.

I've been realizing that there are hardly any pictures of me with my kids.
So, Aaron has been helping out in that department.

***The next weekend, Aaron was able to get Friday off from school. Since we didn't have any big plans, we decided Thursday night that we should go visit Houston. Only a few hour drive? Sure why not. We probably should have gathered our things together that night, but were too entranced in YouTube looking up videos of people opening up their mission calls. Oh my. We were laughing so hard. If anyone is hard up for entertainment, feel free to search for those.

You won't be sorry. Perhaps we'll post some of our favorites that we kept watching over and over. We saw some tears, some illiterates, some disappointed smiles, some cheers... it was too funny.

Anyway, we packed up the next morning and headed down for the day. We knew we weren't going to be able to do a lot in our little time, but the idea of just driving around sounded fun. We did, however, make sure to stop at the Rothko Chapel. Anyone ever heard of Mark Rothko, the artist? I did a huge research paper on him in college and am in love with his paintings. Anyway, he built this chapel for some of his HUGE paintings. Here's a picture I found doing a google search:Anyway, it was pretty impressive. And, right across the street there is a great art museum with a lot of modern works, which I love. It's called the Menil Collection, and the whole area is beautiful. We'd definitely recommend it. I have to say, they had some impressive paintings there. And, a few more of Rothko's better known works like this baby:

Rothko No. 21

Do you love those colors or what?!
sigh.

Anyway, we hung out in the big grassy area between the two places. It was great.

outside the Menil. there is a little statue of a kid on the roof playing drums. pretty cool/creepy.

I learned how to make fabric roses in the car on the way down. Kind of fun.

Calvin, per usual, is such a handful.

Tillie loved the swinging on the tree.

sorry about the scrunched ear, Cal. it almost looks a little elfish. sorry. but, it didn't look like you minded too much.

cutie Matilda wanted me to hold her hand. Love that.

she loves to pose. don't know where she got that from. probably from her dad.

***Aaron was born in Humble, Texas. And, this, my friends, was the house he was brought home from the hospital too. It was pretty cool to see his old house. His family has a cross stitched picture of this house over the fireplace in their home... so it was fun to compare the REAL thing to what we've seen for so many years. His Grandma Petty did a great job replicating it!
Anyway, here's the house!
*** We made it home safe and sound later that evening. It was a fun day, and we decided we really like Houston. We are definitely planning to go back and see more and more of the city.

The next day, we had a lazy day, cleaning the house, doing stuff in the garage=sweating, and what-have-you. Well, after two weeks at the mechanic, we found out that Aaron's little white car, Ruby, was ready to be picked up.

So, we all hopped into the car, looking disgusting and smelling foul, I'm sure. We go pick up the car, and on the way home, I get a call from Aaron that it had just died as he was driving on the FREEWAY! Nice. So, he was on the shoulder of the road and needed me to pick him up.

We had a decision to make... yet again... do we try to fix Ruby ONE MORE time, or not.

Well, we had to do something, b/c the car wouldn't start up (thanks for fixing it, mr. mechanic)... so we had to call a tow truck to pick her up. What we thought would be a small 30 minute drive ended up being a 2+ hour ordeal. I had my camera in the car, so I snapped a photo as I was nursing Calvin at the gas station. Can we say ghetto? hA! Glad that day is over.


So, a few hundred dollars later from the tow fee and having the mechanic try a new part---we are glad to have Ruby running again. I guess it's much cheaper than one of these puppies I've been dreaming of...


Ruby's been a good car for us, and we like the fact that she's lasted as long as she has. We'll see how long she'll hang on.

***Next day was General Conference. It was a great day. I love hearing all the great messages. It leaves me so motivated to be better and try harder. One of my favorite messages was from Sister Beck, the General Relief Society President. Here's what she said on Saturday morning. So many great parts. Feel free to read it.

Parts I loved...

"A good woman knows that she does not have enough time, energy, or opportunity to take care of all of the people or do all of the worthy things her heart yearns to do. Life is not calm for most women, and each day seems to require the accomplishment of a million things, most of which are important. A good woman must constantly resist alluring and deceptive messages from many sources telling her that she is entitled to more time away from her responsibilities and that she deserves a life of greater ease and independence. But with personal revelation, she can prioritize correctly and navigate this life confidently."
...

"Good women always have a desire to know if they are succeeding. In a world where the measures of success are often distorted, it is important to seek appreciation and affirmation from proper sources. To paraphrase a list found in Preach My Gospel, we are doing well when we develop attributes of Christ and strive to obey His gospel with exactness. We are doing well when we seek to improve ourselves and do our best. We are doing well when we increase faith and personal righteousness, strengthen families and homes, and seek out and help others who are in need. We know we are successful if we live so that we qualify for, receive, and know how to follow the Spirit. When we have done our very best, we may still experience disappointments, but we will not be disappointed in ourselves. We can feel certain that the Lord is pleased when we feel the Spirit working through us.9 Peace, joy, and hope are available to those who measure success properly."

Man alive. Is she inspired or what?


Anyway, it was a great weekend filled with us stuffing ourselves with Pilsbury Orange Rolls (aaron's family tradition. I wanted to break from it and try another recipe, but he reminded me that he doesn't often request very many things from me... :) so I obliged and we bought a few packs to eat ourselves and also decided to share with neighbors.)

Here I am with the kiddos, and my good friend, President Uchtdorf (excuse our mess around my computer).

Full tummies. Good messages. Happy campers. Life is good.