Summer is here

OK, summer is not officially here, but it sure feels like it right now.  We turned the AC on for the first time yesterday, bought our first box of popsicles for the season and mowed the lawn for the first time.  We also painted one of the spare rooms.  All in all it was a fun and productive weekend.  The only bummer was Jeff having to leave at noon on Sunday for a few days in Elko.

I should probably make a rule about never posting Saturday morning pictures of myself...certainly not too flattering...but we were having fun.  Jeff's folks watched the kids so we could get serious about painting.  Can you see how serious we were?!  The room actually looks great now.  We picked a bright yellow in the hopes of transforming it from a dark cave to a more cheerful space.  I think we succeeded.

Popsicle time.  They are so messy, but so loved.

The future president with his popsicle!

I'm trying not to be overwhelmed by the yard here.  We have been so focused on projects inside the house and now that it's time to head outside I'm seeing so much that needs to be done there too.  I definitely missed our old perfectly rectangular and FLAT Brookhill Drive yard as I was mowing.  I walked along the seemingly endless rows of yet-to-be-filled flower beds and freaked a bit, envisioning all the planting and weeding and maintenance that we are in for.  But I came around the corner and found this scene and realized...it's all good!  If we have a few years with sandboxes for flower beds I'm OK with it.  The kids were obviously very OK with it and I have a feeling we'll be spending a lot of time up there!

Here's Iris testing out her new, very own sleeping bag.  We got it last weekend in preparation for our first camping trip of the season.  If the weather cooperates we will be heading to Escalante this weekend.  I'm hoping she will be as excited then to get into her bag as she was here on the day we brought it home from REI.

Here comes the helicopter!

There was a safety fair today at the Department of Health, which is the same building the daycare is in.  The kids were invited outside to watch a Life Flight helicopter land in the parking lot.  The office is near the airport so we had several false alarms on arrival time!  It was so fun to see how excited they got.  They were allowed to climb inside and check it all out.  There was also an ambulance there for them to explore.  I cross my fingers that their only experiences in either of those vehicles will be at events like today.  

Incoming!

 Miles, Iris and Grayson in the helicopter. 

Easter fun

We colored eggs on Friday night.  I love coloring eggs!  Everyone has fun and it's actually kind of therapeutic.  We learned last year that 2 dozen eggs go super fast so no messing around this year.  I bought the 5 dozen pack at Costco.  Jeff and Iris are going to have lots of hard boiled eggs to eat!

Iris with some of the finished product.

Check out his focus.  The geographer was making a 2012 special edition globe egg!

A fun way to spend a Friday night.

My pretty centerpiece.

Found it!  Last year it was in the washing machine.  This year that sneaky rabbit hid it behind the couch.

Miles "helped" Iris find her basket this year.  He said, "Look for your basket Sissy.  It might be on the shelf by the TV."  The end.

Our friends Kari, Zach, Scott and Sarah brought Grayson and Emma over to join in the morning fun.  We all had brunch and I was excited that my breakfast casserole was not only edible, but actually even pretty good.  Can you feel the pre-egg hunt energy of this group :)

Iris and Emma in action.