Category: photos (iPhone)

Saturday Adventures

Normally we keep things pretty low-key on Saturdays but this weekend we were crazy busy. 

In the morning E and I checked out a neighbor’s garage sale and he was so excited by the experience that we decided to drive around and see if we could find any other sales, which we did. I scored a nice craft book and a pair of shoes and E got some art supplies. 

When we got home we picked up N and Mimi and went out for brunch.  Thus fortified we visited the children’s farm by our house where E fed the goats and sheep and rode on a pony and Mimi checked out the animals from her stroller.

When we got home Mimi was pretty zonked so we left her and N at the house and E and I went to the rec center so I could renew my membership.  We didn’t know about it beforehand, but they were having “Member Day” so E scored a few free balloons and was accosted by a friendly mascot.

Next we went grocery shopping.  E wanted to be a “helper” and pushed a kid cart around the store and I chanted “walk SLOWLY!” like it was a mantra.

That evening N and I went on a date down to the old Food4Less in Spanish Fork to watch a roller derby bout with friends.  It was so awesome.  We chatted with some of the girls afterward and they tried to recruit my friend Erica and me to come to their “fresh meat” tryouts.  (Hahaha!)

After the bout we decided that since we were already down south a visit to Cracker Barrel was in order.

Yep, all that AND fried okra.  –EPIC.

These Two

Lately, E has turned into an ever-negotiating little guy who wants to know “why?” about everything and who is just starting to realize what a big place the world is (and is therefore suffering from a bit of anxiety). For the last week or so every night when I put him to bed he begs me “don’t let the sun go down!” His faith in my abilities is both flattering and a bit heartbreaking.

And Mimi, well, lately Mimi is just everywhere.  She’s not quite walking on her own yet but she gets around astonishingly fast.  Unlike her brother she flagrantly disregards any and all admonishments to “leave it alone!” and loves to pull things out of cabinets and strew them about.

Lately it seems like both E and Mimi are changing and growing up noticeably every day.  It’s both thrilling and bittersweet.

And in other news, I am *this close* to finishing the kitchen update.  I can’t wait to share it with you!

Tulip Festival

Last week I took my mom and her friends to the tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point.  The flowers were stunning.  Every time I visit the gardens I’m impressed by the amount of work it must take to create such a lovely place.

The festival’s over but the gardens are still worth checking out.  It’s a great place to turn the kids loose and let them run around.

Legoland

E’s cousins are really into Legos and so we went with them to Legoland for a day. It’s a little pricey: admission is almost as much as it is at Disneyland even though Legoland is much smaller. But the kids had a great time.

E loved the rides but my favorite part was seeing the Lego models. The attention to detail was amazing! They had a large section of Star Wars dioramas which were especially fun.

Easygoing Mimi


I love this sweet girl.

Mimi was a real trooper on our trip. While we were at the parks she was usually content just to chill in her stroller.

But for the record she did go on a few rides at Disneyland: we took her on the submarine ride and into the Tikki Room theater which she loved.

E is already asking when we can go back to Disneyland: we told him that we have to wait until Mimi’s big enough to go on Space Mountain with him 🙂

An Evening With the Derby Girls

On Saturday N and I went with our friend Erica to our first roller derby bout. We had a great time!

Our home team, The Molly Morbids (love the name!), was playing a visiting team, the Nevada East Roller Girls. The wife of one of N’s coworkers is on The Molly Morbids (her derby name is Pain In The Nikki) so we had a lot of fun cheering for her and the rest of the girls on our home team.

The little knowledge I had about roller derby came from watching the movie Whip It a few years ago so I was a little unclear on the rules but after we watched a few jams (plays) it was easy to catch on to the gist of things. The finer points of some jams still eluded me sometimes but it was easy to know when to cheer.

Basically one girl from each team (the “Jammer”) tries to lap the other plays on the rink. The Jammer that gets out in front first becomes the Lead Jammer and scores points for every member of the other team she passes. Her teammates try and help her get past the other team while the other team tries to block her or knock her down.

Legal blocks include hitting anywhere from the other player’s shoulder to their upper thigh (so no smashing them in the face or tripping) and you can hit with your hips, torso, and arm and shoulder (but not elbow).

Besides the exciting plays there are other fun aspects to roller derby: the girls wear fishnets and little spanky shorts and have punny names like Chiquita Wa-bam Ya and Beat-Her Venkman. There’s a lot of entertaining showmanship. But make no mistake, the girls are in great shape and amazingly tough. And you also see women of all shapes and sizes playing this athletic game.

Things were pretty clean the first half of the game but in the second half the blocks were flying. When the girls get knocked down as they’re whipping around the rink it can get pretty brutal, as you can imagine. It was really exciting and I found myself whooping and hollering whenever we scored.

The local league plays most of its games down at an old Food 4 Less in Spanish Fork, which is a long drive for us, but if they come back to Orem I’m totally there.

For more information, see the Happy Valley Derby Darlins site.