Roadtrip: Part One: Utah and Yellowstone

We started our marathon of a roadtrip by going up to Utah. This first round there, we stayed with Zane and Bridget. Always fun! Sunday after church we went up to Provo Canyon. I don't think I'd been up there since right after Jon and I got married, and it was a blast!Action photo of Jon playing frisbee!

Action photo of Teik playing frisbee!

Nyah and the butterfly she caught!

Sevy and Nyah on a scooter.

After Utah, we headed up to Idaho to see a bunch of my family! Because we were so close, we had to make a trip up to Yellowstone!

At the entrance of Yellowstone Park.

After Old Faithful went off, we discovered this awesome seat area where we could have watched the whole thing on comfy rocking chairs and a warm building!

Lamar Valley. This is Jon and Kris's favorite place in Yellowstone because there is always an abundance of wildlife (bears, elk, buffalo, etc.). It was in this valley, as Teik slept, that he decided to blow up diaper wise, then top it off with throwing up. Bless that boy!

Right outside of Lamar is Mammoth--can't remember the full name!--In the parking lot, there were elk and buffalo all over the place! Technically we are not suppose to get this close, but they didn't seem to mind!

Summer Goals

I will soon update from our awesome roadtrip, but first I decided I need to write down my summer goals. I always feel if I write them down, I'm more likely to actually do them!

1. Finish my load of craft projects without starting new ones. (I made a new list yesterday, so hopefully I won't find new ideas!)

2. Teach Teik colors, shapes, and the alphabet. He gets neglected on stuff like that.

3. Make summer program for Sevy to keep up on all the awesome stuff she learned in school.

4. Organize baby stuff.

5. Finish Sevy's room.

6. Get an stellar tan. (I'm really not one to worry about skin cancer!)

7. Get Jon in shape. (His goal too--school does a number on normally active people).

8. Keep working until at least the end of July--except my water classes which I should be good through August.

9. Keep my garden flourishing (aka, remember to water it.)

10. Make my lawn presentable. It's really sad right now.

I really should include things like: Eat out less, Keep up on my housecleaning, Cook more, Save money, etc. but honestly, I don't know if that will happen. It's our last official summer here in Houston and I want to hit up the beach, and Sea World, and pools and such, and in doing that, I'm sure I'll be picking up food, and spending money on gas and sunscreen and frankly-clothes that fit! My house is always that last thing on my mind. Still hoping the kids will take me seriously when I tell them to pick up their toys!

Easter!

I love Easter! I love the lessons surrounding the Resurrection, I love Easter baskets, I love the songs we sing at Church, I love getting/making the kids cute outfits, and I love dressing up and taking pictures! This year, was no exception! Being in the Branch, and the Primary at that, I get to teach a lot of lessons every Sunday. This year, both Sharingtime and CTR revolved around Christ's death, resurrection, and the fact that thanks to Him, we shall have Eternal lives! Loved it! What made it even better was the view right as we pulled in! Do you see that in the picture above?! That's right! Our new building is ACTUALLY getting walls! We also learned this week that the new building will have a font! So exciting!
After church, we decided to take pictures. Every time we drive down 288 we pass this random steel yard with funny sculptures. For the past 3 years I've been wanting to take pictures here! Today, my dream came true! This is Teik under a Rhino.Jon and the Hippo.
Me and a Stegosaurus. Oh, I'm basically 21 weeks pregnant! AND a shout-out to my mother-in-law for the outfit!
I LOVE this picture of Sevy and Teik. I will crop out Jon when I print it! Check out the random sculptures! I love this place!
Sevy and her new dress I busted out yesterday in 3 hours! I'm not in love with the top, but I love the bottom! I stole the idea from here. Not willing to spend the money, I did my own thing with muslin and tulle and a Butterick pattern I've had for awhile!

Tonight we had a fabulous dinner with our friends the Talbots, Greg Opdahl, and of course Kris and Ashley! It was amazing and I think I ate ham for 4 hours straight and still could eat more! Happy Easter!

Strawberries!

In Alvin (about 30 minutes away) there is a fantastic farm that you can go pick your own strawberries! I've been aching to go, so finally, Friday, Jon got home early and we went! The kids loved it! They got pretty good at picking the nice strawberries, though Teik kept going for some weird ones!
One of the best finds of the day! Teik was pleased! It's like 5-in-1!
In the end we picked about 4lbs of the freshest, yummiest, strawberries ever! We've gorged ourselves on them all weekend, and I made 6 jars of freezer jam, and we still have quite a bit left for shortcake tonight! Ahhh, glorious strawberries!

March Madness

Lots of fun things have been going on this month here in the Ormson home! Here's just a few of the many adventures!For Jon's Spring break we took our adventures up to Amarillo/Lubbock to see family and talk to a few Dentists. On our way we passed these AWESOME signs and had to stop!I don't care that I don't like pecans, put my name on a building and I'm all about a picture!
While we were in Amarillo, we hit up Cadillac Ranch. As per tradition, we wrote our names down in pen.
The family. One day we'll actually take a "real" family photo!
Sevy kept picking up all the spray cans she found and tried to make her mark. Apparently all the spray-painting I do at home is rubbing off on her!
On our way to and from Amarillo, we hit up Sea World! Sevy is now a big fan of roller-coasters now which makes these trips even more fun!
While at the "Shamu Rocks" show, Jon insisted on the splash zone. When that time came, I pulled a true mom and ran for dry ground! When I came down, both kids were screaming. You can tell by the picture that Sevy didn't get over it quickly!There's a new area that's all about Sesame Street! We took pictures with many of our favorite characters! Teik was not a fan of these guys, but he got better the more we saw!The count is probably MY favorite from Sesame street! I think he's trying to give a thumbs up!Belle has needed a hair trim, but when I took her to the groomers, it was worse than I thought!Here is Belle after the cut. They had to shave her! I didn't recognize! I still crack up, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be!Sevy turns 5 on Sunday, and this year she wanted her first "girly" birthday party! We had her two little girly-friends over and had Sevy's Fairyland in our backyard!We decorated our tent in the backyard with butterflies and these flower-lights I've fallen in LOVE with! Thanks again to my friend Julie who came to help decorate!This is part of the lunch they had! I loved how everything turned out, and I think the girls had fun. Sevy did at least! I still can't believe my little girl is going to be FIVE!

Our Crazy Life

Our life has been a little crazy lately! I like to use that as the excuse for being so behind on updating our blog. Here's the rundown for basically February. One night, while getting the kids ready for bed, Teik was running around like a crazy person. We heard a huge wood-splitting crack, and this is what happened.
Of course they didn't see us for hours in the E.R., so Teik knocked out, and I curled up on the chair trying to get some sleep. In the end, they put a little vaseline on his cut and sent us on our way. I was mad. I could have done that at home. Less than two weeks later we were back at the E.R. with Teik. This time he was running around like crazy, bounced off the couch and straight into the corner of our Ikea coffee-table. Jon took him that time. He got a CT scan, but thankfully checked out alright. Boys.
My sisters came to visit in February! It was a BLAST! Have I ever mentioned how much I love my sisters?! We went shopping (3 of the 4 shirts in the picture were purchased on the trip!), and crafted, and went to Galveston, and just chatted and hung out!
This is a funny store we found in Galveston. I always just go to the beach, but we were touristy and walked around The Strand. Jaclyn found a sweet ring at "The Witchery", and now I know where to go if I ever need to buy a cauldron, or need my palm read!
We had our final farewell party for our dear friends the Martinez's! We really are excited for their new job, and I'm also super excited that they have relocated super close to the temple! Now we can see our friends, and go to the temple in a single trip! Primary really hasn't been the same without them!
And finally, guess who's now about 14 weeks pregnant?! We are super excited, but it has added to the craziness of our lives thanks to being super sick, tired, and busy! Bless Jon for being totally fine with eating chips and hot sauce almost nightly for dinner, and for Sevy who is convinced that I will never get better, and doesn't understand why I get so sick making a baby, but Aunt Brandi is fine! Ahh, gotta love kiddos!

The Branch!

Yesterday we had a picture taken of our funny little Branch. I think this only really happens when a great family is moving away from us. (I think the last picture was right before we lost the Malnar's and Poll's). This time around we are losing the Martinez family. They got a great job offer that would be impossible NOT to take, and so we are really excited for them, but really sad to lose them. Their youngest kids Julie and Diego are in my Primary and I just LOVE them! The oldest kids Shay and Eliza are our favorite babysitters and the kids beg Jon and I to go on dates so they can come and play! Raph and Tamara have been great neighbors and friends and a huge asset to the Branch. We are so sad to see them go, but they will only be an hour away, and we plan on visiting and camping near their new home! Bless the Branch!

First Tooth!

We had a very exciting morning! Sevy has had a loose tooth for a few weeks now. She is really young to actually have a loose tooth (not even 5 yet!) , but the permanent tooth has been coming up too! This morning it was super close, so Jon decided to take it out!

Right before we took it out! She was super excited!

Right after we got it out. You can see the tears! She was a real trooper! We videoed the whole thing, but figured not a lot of people would want to watch! It was fun watching Jon work. My dad used needle-nose pliers. Jon used tweezers and floss. Yeah, I think it would be scary either way you do it! But, Sevy is VERY excited for who's gonna come visit tonight!

In other news: This is for our former Sunnysiders! Here is our building and parking lot. Now, when you turn around, instead of a big lawn and lots of trees you see this:

Oh, yes. That my friends is progress!

The trees are down, the grass is cleared, and by my book, that's a lot more than what has been happening the past years and promises of a new building!

Which Gringo's?

I've been craving Gringo's fajita's for weeks now, so I finally convince Jon to take me yesterday at 4ish to avoid a crowd (after 5pm and you are bound for a long wait). This place is AMAZING (well, their fajita's are) so I was excited. As we are eating, Jon remembered he got a text about getting $1 off an adult entree. So we show our waiter, and he brings over his manager. The manager looks at it and goes and talks to his boss. No one has heard of this text. Jon gets texts from Gringo's a couple times a week. So the GM asks Jon to forward it to his personal phone, but is nice and gives us $2 off our meal.

After he walks away, I lean up to Jon and had to ask, are we at the right Gringo's for the discount? Back home, in Rexburg, there is also a Gringo's Restaurant that is most excellent. They have a appetizer called a Cheese Crisp that I literally get EVERY time we go there as my meal, and just talking about it makes me want it! I'm pretty sure last time I was there with Jon (I go basically every time I'm home, even if Jon's not with me!), we signed up for the texts to try to get some $$$ off our meal.

In the end, I'm pretty sure it was the Rexburg Gringo's that got us a discount on our Houston Gringo's meal! Bless you Gringo's . . . every one!

We Had a Date!

This is a little behind, but Jon and I had a date! And not even our "free movie" date either! We went to an Aeros Hockey Game. For those of you who are hockey clueless, the Aeros are not a NHL team, but rather and AHL team (like minor league). The Minnasota Wild (an NHL team) takes their players from the Aeros, and if one of their guys suck, they drop them back down to them. Anyhoo, the game was highly entertaining, and we had a blast!
The Aeros play in the Toyota Center, which is also home of the Houston Rockets (for those of you who are basketball clueless, they're a NBA team, and sometimes quite good).
We got our tickets through Groupon and so as part of our package, we got a picture with the mascot . . . who I totally forgot his name! Oh well! He and I made Jon jealous! Gotta love a great date!

AWESOME!

Today, we got a check in the mail for $50. How did we randomly get this money, you ask. Well, let me tell you! This was money that was owed to me back in 2003 (or so) while I was living in Utah. It was probably a deposit or something silly like that, that I didn't even realize.

Okay, totally not making sense here, let me back up. A while back we were at our Aunt Judy's and she was showing us how to look up unclaimed property. You go to this website, and look it up by state. So we did, and lo and behold, MY name came up in Utah! A couple of years later (present day) Jon was bored and looked it up again. My name was still there, so we filled out the paperwork, sent in proof of address (I randomly still had crap from my Liberty Square days), got it all notarized, and voila! Just a few weeks later I had a check in the mail! So funny!

Most states actually show what is owed (Utah is not that nice). Like in Idaho, you can find out that you are owed "less that $5", "$50-100", or "$100+". Apparently my dad is owed less that $5. Not really worth the effort!

It's like a highly addicting game, and I'm still floored that it worked out! We may have to celebrate by going out to dinner!

Why I Love My Rotten Teikerton

Teiker's is a boy, through and through, and while he is a rotten stink (as proved by my earlier post), he always does something to crack me up. Like Saturday, he decided he wanted to wear underwear, and then decided to dress himself. The photos are as follows:
Okay, out of order, but here is Teik in his outfit. It's hard to tell, but he is wearing a button-up shirt, followed by a polo shirt, and then threw on a pajama shirt--backwards--to finish up his top. His bottoms are his church pants which in hindsight, was a really dumb idea to let him wear while in undies since he is in no way potty-trained. Luckily, it wasn't too cold for wearing shorts to church! (Teik only owns two pairs of pants!)
Teik--post bath--showing off his undies! He's posing so I could take a picture of his cutie behind featuring Buzz and Woody!
Now for the "no pictures Mom!" pose of the front! I think he's learned how to pose from his sister! Oh! This kid makes me smile when I don't want to rip out my hair!

Adventures at Church

So, many of you know, the Branch is not a normal church at all! First of all, we don't really have a church building, but meet in an old home that was probably built in the 1950's. (For a picture and a funny account of our Branch check out my friend's blog here.) In this old house, we are constantly fighting for rooms. The Primary uses the Sacrament meeting room (which has a kitchen in it) for Sharing time, and have a big room for classes, but if I want to split into separate classes (not mixing 2 year olds with 10 year olds) we use the small area outside Jon's clerks office. Anyhoo--There is a bathroom, that would be like a half-bath in most old homes (complete with a padded toilet seat), that is in the hallway of our two main rooms. The handles are old, the lock is a twist lock that was likely original to the home, and the only way to really do anything to the door is if you are on the inside. It was this bathroom, that my 2 year old decided to lock himself in today.

In hindsight, it shouldn't have surprised us. He kept disappearing on my all day, and Jon mentioned he was trying to play with the door when he took Sevy to the bathroom earlier. So when I was trying to leave and the end of a long day at church, and my son goes missing, of course this is where he ended up.

We spent a long time trying to talk to him and tell him what to do. He was calm for a good 5-10 minutes, but then started freaking out. We tried to take off the knob, but that really wouldn't do anything because of the twisted lock. Jon and I didn't know what else to do, so we finally ran up to ask the Branch President. Brother M. heard the news, and came down to start busting down the door (something we wanted to do, but you don't just start doing with all those people around and without the consent of the presidency!). During his time with the door, he pinky got a little too involved, and last I heard, he was in the emergency room for his pinky which got really ripped up. Jon took his turn at the door, when a linebacker of a 14 year old came up to help. The thing about this situation, is it wasn't just busting open a door--it was busting it open with a frighted 2 year old on the other side, and a garbage can and sink that was probably going to get attacked on the entry. Isaiah did the trick! I think it took him one try and the lock tore through the wood and Teik came screaming out. Poor kid was a little traumatized, but I feel terrible about Bro. M's finger and the church's door.

On a happy note, they have started work on our new building! It's been promised for years, but now there are trees down, and machines in place, and a deadline! I'm so excited to not have to share rooms, to have our own official piano specifically for the Primary, and separate rooms for all my classes--even if I don't have separate teachers for them!

Random Christmas Break Photos

You know why I LOVE Chick-fil-a? Because the good one's go out of control at decorating. Like having this guy next to Santa! (that's Santa's hand in the photo. His statue was huge!)

Or having these guys lined up! Honestly! Where do you even find Nutcrackers that big?!

And here we have Jon and I at our New Year's dinner at "the club" with the Ormson's.
It's our second year doing this, and the dinner was about the same, but the dessert is ridiculous! It's a shame we are always too full to really eat it!