It's Easter, but it's still time for "Thanksgiving"

We don't have many hard-and-fast traditions associated with Easter. We don't usually have family & friends over (this year, we tried calling the in-laws, but they'd already made plans). We don't talk about the Easter Bunny at all. We don't buy many, if any, presents for the kids (I've never gotten the girls new spring dresses--it would sure be nice, but it isn't always in our budget).

We do, however, have an Easter egg hunt! Usually in the morning, when our kids are still in their PJs.

Celeste was the lucky girl who found the Tangled DVD--our only big "present" for the kids this year (well, that plus all the candy).

Aurora celebrated her first Easter egg hunt by "finding" 2 eggs (with Daddy's help), then sitting down & eating all the candy in said eggs while the older girls found all the rest. Maybe someday she'll learn that there are lots more eggs to find than just two or three; hopefully she'll get more candy that way!

We also hid a few eggs in the backyard...

Lorelai had issues finding a few. Can you see the egg in this picture? You'll probably spot it before she did... :)

Then it was time to feast on their treasures.

 There was one (icky) snag, however. Celeste was digging through her Easter bucket and told us there were "bugs" on the eggs. We looked inside, and sure enough...there were a few ants crawling around!! After frantically digging around for a few seconds, we found one plastic egg with like a dozen ants crawling on the surface. Without further ado, I opened the back door & chucked the egg out. When it hit the ground & broke open, dozens of ants sprayed out onto the patio and started crawling everywhere. GROSS!!! Moral of the story: don't hide Easter eggs outside...at least not overnight!





The rest of the day was fairly uneventful; we ate a Mediterranean-themed dinner (Crock-Pot lamb, couscous, pita bread, & raw vegetables). We like lamb at Easter; maybe because Christ was the Lamb of God? Because it's common fare for that part of the world? I'm not entirely sure.


Now, if I may wax somewhat spiritual...


We were able to get our family pictures taken on Good Friday. As is our family custom, we drove up Madera Canyon, a beautiful getaway from the usual desert landscapes. We took the pictures then had a picnic dinner...good times in a peaceful location. We'll share some of them on the blog later.

Our photographer is a wonderful, brave friend of mine with two lovely children...a friend whose husband passed away just under a year ago, after a yearlong bout with lymphoma (you can read more about it here and here). He was 30 years old; his children are now seven and four years old. It has (understandably) been a really tough year for their family.


In a similar vein, I received more bad news Sunday morning. A married couple who used to live in our ward (they were Lorelai & Celeste's nursery teachers) had a baby at the beginning of March--their first, a little girl. The baby had been diagnosed with heart problems and had open-heart surgery just days after she was born. Well, long story short, she took a turn for the worse and died pretty suddenly--early Easter Sunday morning. It was heartbreaking news; I know that I could barely stand it if any of my beautiful girls were to leave me.

Sometimes, when I see and hear of stories like this, it's normal to feel so powerless against death--and so confused as to why something like this had to happen. I'll freely admit to feeling that way many times. Then Easter comes along--and I'm reminded of why I don't need to feel powerless or confused:

It hurts so much to lose the ones you love, but that loss is not forever, thanks to Jesus Christ. It is so reassuring to know that I will see my loved ones again...and that our sorrow here is only a temporary, mortal sorrow. Christ has given me so much to be thankful for, but an eternal family is surely close to the top of that list. I can look at that family picture and project that happiness into eternity...wow, what a heartening thought!

In Primary yesterday, my photographer friend's 4-year-old son spoke to his classmates. He spoke on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and how because of it, he will be together with his daddy again. It was a beautiful moment, one that made my whole Easter.

It made me think of the things for which I am grateful: a loving, supportive husband; my three beautiful, healthy daughters; a lovely home in a lovely town; many friends far & wide who bring so many different joys; and, last but not least, my knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is my compass, my rock, and my security blanket all in one. I am grateful for Easter; Christmas is really fun, and it's wonderful to acknowledge the birth of Christ, but in a way, Easter is more meaningful because it celebrates the mission  of Christ and the works of Christ. May we never forget them...and may they bring comfort and joy to everyone across the world.

Moving On Up Part 2: Adventures in "Pемонт"

"Pемонт" is a word that was on my mind a lot recently...and I'll tell you why. "Pемонт" (pronounced "ree-MONT") is a Russian word I heard a lot on my mission. Basically, the translation is "repairs" or "maintenance," but it's often used as a catch-all phrase to describe any housework. Painting a kitchen? You're doing "pемонт." Putting up curtains? Doing "pемонт." Mopping the floor? "Pемонт." Knocking out a wall to expand your living room? "Pемонт."

The week of March 26-31, 2011...was my family's Great Week O'Pемонт. We may not see its like again for some time...mostly because it left us all wiped out!!

And let me say, at the start, that we couldn't have accomplished everything without the extensive help of my mom & dad. My dad is quite the handyman, and has always been a "do-it-yourself" kind of guy. Even though he's slowed down and taken it a little easier in recent years, he still really enjoys rolling up his sleeves and throwing himself into a project. My mom helped with a lot of the pемонт, as well, but probably her biggest contribution was as a babysitter. It was very helpful (and refreshing!) to not have small children underfoot while working hard. Thanks again Mom & Dad...love you!

Now...let's take a look at the fruits of our labors!

The day after Mom & Dad arrived from Colorado, we headed up to Lowe's and bought a new kitchen sink to install. We spent the rest of the day pulling out the old sink and installing the new one. As you can imagine, lots of grunting, heavy lifting, screwing, and unscrewing were involved. Not to mention a good helping of plumber's putty and a trip or two to Ace Hardware to buy special tools.

Strictly speaking, this wasn't an essential upgrade, but it was deeply desired by both Nate & I. The old sink (not pictured because it's gathering dust in our garage) was probably the original cheapskate sink installed by the builder (or, worse yet, the bank, when this house was in foreclosure). It was way too shallow for a family of five (seriously, the thing was barely six inches deep). The one pictured here is about 8 inches deep, and it makes a huge difference. The faucet is new as well (it was installed by Nate's parents shortly before we moved in--again, the original faucet was super cheap, little more than a pipe sticking up out of the sink). So, it's not the fanciest sink ever, but it's attractive & functional, and will last us for many years (we hope!).

Next on the agenda was painting our front room. Our whole house is painted white right now; we are planning on doing the rest one room at a time. We wanted to do the front room first, since it is the room the "public" will see the most often (as you can see, it's where the piano is located, and where I hold my lessons).

First, we assembled the gear...

Then we taped the walls & baseboards...

Then, it was painting time! A good friend watched the kids, and my parents & I got it done in just over 2 hours:

We are pretty happy with the results! The tan color is actually a little lighter than what we had expected; I'm glad we went with the darkest hue available on our color swatch! It really makes the whole room look a little warmer & classier (plus, it really accentuates the colors in both the rug and the piano).

Next was a project we hadn't planned on doing...but it ended up becoming the biggest project of the week! I am referring, of course to the Great Pruning. The mesquite tree in our front yard is a pretty impressive specimen (a.k.a., a big freakin' tree). I'm happy for the shade, but have felt ever since we moved in that it was a little...ahem, out of control. It has about ten thousand branches, and they all criss-cross each other and sprawl out everywhere--up to and including our neighbor's roof!

My dad took a look at the tree and agreed with me. In fact, he said, it looked like a significant portion of those tangled branches were dead! This tree was long overdue for a pruning. Good thing he brought along his electric saw:

Oh, yeah, tree...it's on.

At first, it was just a few stray branches here & there...

But it got more & more out of hand, until we'd shorn off fully half the tree's branches. Needless to say, this took hours of sawing, climbing, stacking, and Grandma Nash worrying (that her husband would fall or that someone would be injured by a falling branch, take your pick). Nate came home from work towards the end of this obsessive task, and this was the sight that greeted him:

As you can imagine, he was a little shocked, and irritated that we hadn't consulted him before beginning to prune. Oh well, you know what they say...it's better to ask forgiveness than permission and all that. Luckily, this horrible mess didn't stick around long. It took two more days, about 10 hours more work, and an extra set of pruning shears, and LOTS of industrial-strength trash bags:

Afterwards, my arms were very sore and covered with scratches, but at least our yard was clean. And the tree...well, it's still a big freakin' tree, but at least it has a little breathing room now in its upper branches. We also turned on the front-yard irrigation, so the tree could start recovering from its extensive makeover (we'd turned it off during that big freeze back in February). I'll try & post more pictures after it's in full bloom.

In other tree-related news, we bought some all-new trees for our backyard. At first, I'd wanted to buy a citrus tree or two (I've always had a fantasy of plucking oranges & grapefruits from my own backyard for breakfast!), but cooler heads (Nate's) prevailed, and we settled for two palo verde trees--specifically, the Desert Museum hybrid breed with no thorns--yay!

Why palo verdes, you ask? Well, for one thing, we need shade in our south-facing backyard, and we need it soon! Palo verdes grow fast & they thrive in hot, dry climates like ours. Their hardiness will also come in handy since I am a confirmed "black-thumb" who can't keep plants alive very well. I figure that if I can kill a palo verde tree in Arizona, then I'm just going to have to throw my hands up and build a bunch of awnings for shade.

Luckily, there were two spaces ready-landscaped for trees. We just had to dig out the hole:

Then Nathan & my dad removed the trees from their containers & gently set them inside the holes, adding some mulch and additional soil to retain moisture in the surrounding earth:

...And voila!! They're ready to start growing! (As long as I water them regularly for the next several weeks). As of this writing, both trees had already put forth some additional leaves, and even produced the bright yellow flowers that are common to palo verdes in spring. I'll take that as progress!

There was one last major purchase:

Some bar stools for our kitchen counter! I grew up with bar stools at my parents' house, and it was a fun way to bond with my mom or dad while they worked in the kitchen--and even lend them a hand once in a while. The girls love them, and they've already had just about all their meals at the counter since we got the stools! Lorelai often does her homework at the counter now, as well. These were a little fancier than we'd intended to get, but we loved them! Luckily, our local Fry's store had a special clearance sale on the chairs; we got 4 of them for just $100!

So yeah...we're pleased. This house is starting to feel like "ours" at last! Too bad we're too tired to appreciate it sometimes...

We've Done Other Stuff in 2011 Besides Move...

...AKA, We Don't Have Any More Home Updates Yet, or We Are Late Updating Our Family News To The Blog.

January-February 2011

Nathan & I tried something new this New Year's Day...a friend from the ward (who has a pool) decided to hold a Polar Bear Dip and invited all comers. I don't know why we thought this would be a good idea, but I guess we were ready for a change in our normal New Year's Day routine (sleeping), so we decided to take the plunge...literally.

As expected, there was a lot of screaming, yelling, & flailing to get out of the water as soon as possible. But, we survived...and had a great time jumping into a freezing-cold pool with several other brave, daring souls (mostly guys--I was one of only 2 girls to jump!) Lunch was served afterward, and a good time was had by all. Maybe it wasn't the most HARD-CORE Polar Bear Dip known to man, but it left us quite invigorated! 


For the record: yes, the photo above looks bright & sunny. We live in AZ, not AK. It was about 11 am and about 45 degrees outside--a pretty chilly day, by our standards. The water, as you can imagine, was quite a bit colder than that. So, you cold-weather friends can feel free to mock our wussiness--but only after you do your own Polar Bear Dip! Agreed??

It was a big month for our youngest daughter, as well...Aurora turned 1 year old! She is shaping up to be a terrific toddler! First, she moved up to the front-facing car seat, to her great delight (and wouldn't you know it, just a couple of months later, the guys at the AAP are telling us that kids should sit in rear-facing seats until they're at least 2 years old. But look at that face, I tell you! Would you want to wipe the smile off that kid's face by turning her towards the back again? I didn't think so).

She had lots of fun at her birthday party (a family affair):

She LOVED her new shoes!

And she really enjoyed her cake, too.

Also in January, Nathan & I had a late anniversary date--we went to see the musical "Wicked." We had a great time, and I wrote more about it in some other blog post--look it up.

Aunt Kelli, who was visiting from Colorado, helped watch the girls while Nate & I went out, and I was so happy--finally, my girls in the care of someone who can actually DO HAIR! And Aunt Kelli didn't disappoint:

she even got Celeste's fine, wispy hair into 2 beautiful braids! The girls were happy to show off this look for as long as it lasted:

of course, they were still their goofy selves. Plus, it was fun to take the braids out & watch the explosion later:

Not too long after this, Lorelai got another haircut--a cute short 'do:

Mama was especially excited, because this is one of the first times she's given a haircut in a LONG time, and it actually turned out pretty cute!!


This winter has also seen some more unfortunate fashion choices on my girls' part--mostly makeup-related:

Here, Celeste is giving us a preview of her teenage "goth" phase. And I don't even know what to say about Lorelai's makeover...

That's my little tomboy!!

At least Aurora knows how to accesorize:

She carries the purse around with her everywhere...even in the car sometimes! She is getting very good at mimicking Mama. I wonder if we will have another "girly girl" in the house soon.

So, as you can see, our lives haven't completely been on hold from the move (just mostly on hold!). We've still had a little time to goof off and enjoy the company of our wonderful children. I hope this bare-bones outline of our last 2 1/2 months makes that a little more clear.

Time to send this post out with a bang (Lorelai's school science project, that is):

Moving On Up Part 1

Happy Ides of March, everybody! I am writing this post from our new crib/domicile/roost/house. We finalized our move on Feb. 26, 2011, and have been recovering ever since. Not coincidentally, I haven't blogged in over a month--moving to a new house tends to sap one's energy and time. However, we are finally starting to feel caught up on our lives...so it's time to start recapping the chaos (though probably not all in one night--it's late & I'm tired & lazy).

As you may remember, we closed on the house on Feb. 8th. We celebrated by taking Grandma & Grandpa Barrett out to lunch; after all, it was thanks to their help that we were able to obtain this house in the first place!! We gave Grandpa the honor of throwing out the big obnoxious "Auction.com" sign!

It was then that our real work began...moving over all our stuff, of which we have a lot. We had already moved over some "deep storage" items, such as our long-term food storage, etc. Now it was time to start moving over more and more of the "essentials," one minivan load at a time.

I probably don't need to say that it required many many minivan loads of stuff. I lost count, really. It was one of the many times when I was very grateful we finally have a big enough car to move some major items. In fact, I'd wager that more than 75% of our stuff was moved by minivan--that includes both our dressers, our entertainment center, and even our dining table & chairs!

I'm also grateful that we had a month to move...while it was still pretty tiring, it made the whole procedure a lot less stressful than a "weekend" move. We could set the pace ourselves. Best of all, it gave us time to "unpack" and organize our things as we went, so by the 26th (when we used a UHaul to move over our piano/beds/etc.), our new home was fully set up & comfortable! Hopefully, we can do more moves like that in our future! (just not soon, I hope)

We also managed to do a few decorative alterations before moving in:

This room was the largest bedroom outside the master bedroom; we thought it would be perfect for the girls to share. But first, it needed a little color:

...like pink! This was the first painting project Nathan & I had ever really done, and we got a lot of help from Grandpa Barrett. We made a few mistakes, but mostly minor ones...hopefully, nobody will look too closely!

Anyway, we were very pleased with the final result:

...and so were Lorelai & Celeste!

Another room I had a lot of fun putting together was the loft:

As you can see, it's a little odd-looking; most lofts are carpeted, while this one has a linoleum floor. Not to worry; we've decided to convert this into the playroom (for now, while the kids are young); they can tear up that floor and mark up those dull white walls all they want for years to come! Later, when we have a bigger budget, we'll make this a nice entertainment center for the whole family.

However, it was still lots of fun to decorate it and organize the girls' (many) toys. I think the end result gives kids of many ages lots of possibilities for fun!

Later on, I'll post some more pictures of other rooms in the house--including our living room, which we'll be painting next week when my parents come for a visit! However, there is one more major item we just had to deal with before moving in:

Namely, a ceiling fan which gives whole new meaning to the words "tacky" and "chintzy." This lovely number was in the front room, ready to greet guests as soon as they arrived! Doubtless, it was put there by the same owners who installed the similarly-themed metal door out front:

I wish I could sit down with the (doubtless well-intentioned) previous owners and gently explain that living in the Southwest does not require you to go overboard on loud, kooky, faux-Native-American decor. Sigh. I was willing to live with the door (such metal doors actually make homes safer, plus they can cost a pretty penny!), and I actually like the "Southwestern-y" tile around the fireplace, as shown...

...but that fan...that fan had to go! Luckily, Nathan and his parents were completely in agreement with me on this point:

In fact, Nate's father helped remove the offending accessories himself! The lightbulb covers were easily removed, as were the saguaro fan blades (shudder). However, the large sandstone ring covering the main fan motor wouldn't be removed, short of disassembling the whole fan. No, thank you, we said, and thus it became "hammer time"! CRASH...just like that, it broke into dozens of chintzy, tacky pieces all over the floor. We shed no tears as it took a trip to the Dumpster. As to the remainder of the fan kit, we gave it to a friend who actually liked the design (his wife, though...that was another story!)
Amazing what a few new light coverings (and a fan-blade kit) can do!

I think that's about it for tonight. We'll post more "home makeover" updates as they come! Hopefully I'll also get the blog caught up on a few other family-related topics, as well as some entertainment ramblings of my choice. Stay tuned!