June Randomness, Pre-trip

 Here are some random fun things that happened in the month of June, just before we left for our Utah trip:

A bunch of free stuff I got from Fry's grocery store one week.

I had a piano recital for my total of 2 students.  I made Gabe and Elisa played.  I also played, and so did Erik! I stupidly did not get a video of anything.  Elisa played "Love Somebody", Kitty's in the Well", and her own made-up song, "Unicorns". Gabe played a Super Mario Bros. tune, Erik played Pachelbel's Canon and Jesus Joy of Man's Desiring, and I play a Chopin Waltz and the Maple Leaf Rag.  I think it went smoothly.  At least, I played my music without screwing up:

We got our passport pictures taken.

A mini girl-version of her daddy.  You can't tell she has bright pink hair underneath!

 A mini boy-version of his mommy (me!). I think this will be the last time Gabe gets this haircut.  It's not for him.

 An adorable, perfect mix of mommy and daddy!

We can't wait to use these passports and see where they will take us!

My friend Elisa invite me and the kids over to swim at her aunt's house, a day or two before we left for Utah.  We had a fun time! It was, however, the beginning of the end of Elisa's pink hair, despite my attempts to save it by buying a swim cap for her head.

Elisa's New Hair!

And now, time for something fun and special for Elisa! I asked my friend Elise to come over and give Elisa a fun hair-makeover.  I was originally thinking pink streaks, but I changed my mind at the last minute and decided to have Elisa give Eesa "peek-a-boo" pink hair instead. It took along time because Elisa's hair had to be bleached first, but the end result was super cute & cool!  Her hair underneath was poppy-troll pink for a week or so, before it all came out from swimming.  Even though the pink came out, her hair still looked/s pretty neat because of the light/dark contrast, especially when I put her hair up.  Elisa's hair grows super fast (a good thing, except in this case), so it doesn't look as good at the moment (three months later), but I'm going to have it re-bleached (even more hair this time).  I'm hesitant to have it colored pink again because I'm not sure of the school's stance on wildly colored hair at the moment.  I will look into that.  I'm considering getting purple/reddish ombre coloring in my hair, if I can get up the nerve, haha! I like it when Elisa has fun hair because it grows out so fast, and its something she'll have good memories of!
 

Elisa's hair has gotten so dark as she's gotten older.

 Applying the color

 Super awesome in back!

 You can't hardly tell with her hair down, that's why I like the peek-a-boo hair.

Her new hair is fun because depending upon how its fixed, the pink can really show through, or be almost invisible!

Memorial Day Trip to St. George

 For Memorial day this year we took a quick trip up to St. George to see Grandma and Grandpa.  The kids swam in the pool (big surprise there), and played with toys.  Elisa hung out (or rather, hung on) Grandpa and Gabe obsessed over the Nintendo games while Ian obsessed over the Mr. Potato Heads. Erik and I went out for dessert to get some sugar cookies.  My dad came down from Cedar to see us and we went out to eat at a Mexican grill restaurant.  The food was good, although a little bit too greasy. We also visited Dixie narrows for a bit.

The kids in our messy stinky van on the drive to St. George.  Look at Gabe sleeping, haha!

The kids' main activity: swimming!

Family and food at Angelica's Mexican Grill. I think we (at least most of us) approved of this restaurant.  

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Dixie Narrows:

Cuties!

Erik, Gabe, and Elisa went through the narrow opening in the rocks.  I didn't go in too far because of the recent vein procedure I had.

Grandpa Ron bought the kids a snow cone from the ice cream truck

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 A box of super-delicious mini sugar cookies from The Sugar Cookie (creative name, right?).  

 A side-by-side comparison of Elisa and Erik, and me and Gabe on the bottom.  Genetics are fun!

On our way out of town, we stopped by a wood-fired pizza place called Riggattis Pizza.  It was good, expect the peach dessert pizza was undercooked.  Biting into raw dough is very unappetizing, which is too bad because it would have been a really yummy dessert pizza had it been cooked properly.

Erik and I shared a pizza while the kids got their own (pepperoni) pizza all to themselves.

The peach dessert pizza

May Randomess

 Here are some pictures of live in May 2018:

Springtime in the desert is so pretty but it doesn't last long.  This little palm tree in the back of us was a late-bloomer, which gave me a chance to snap a pic of these cool flower-things springing out.

 Gabe and Elisa's well-child check-up at the pediatrician's.  They are doing well, except Elisa is too skinny and needs to eat more.  She hasn't grown much since last year.

Mother's Day:

 I got to go to Elisa's Mother's day celebration in her classroom.  It was really cute.  She got to serve me my choice of muffins and other breakfast-y items, and read me a poem (not sure why I didn't get a video of it).  As a gift from Elisa, I got a keychain with Elisa's school picture in it. 

Erik got me somethings off my Amazon wish list.  From left to right: a mole remover, a microderm abrasion machine, and some mouldable glue.

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 My view from my sewing room, the bus dropping off the kids.

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Me:

A facebook friend posted this picture on her FB page.  I was thought one of the girls looked strikingly similar to me.  After some memory-searching and a lot of squinting, I realized that that girl was indeed, actually me.  It was from a time when we all went to Six Flags to hang out.  I had completely forgotten about that until this picture reminded me.

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I wasn't consistent in my dental visits and I had a huge cavity that needed an $800 crown.  I have the worst teeth ever.

My veins are horrible so I had to have my faulty vein in the upper back of my right leg lasered out.  It was not a pleasant experience.  I hate to wear compression stockings (especially when its hot out) and I didn't care for the doctor who did it.  It hurt for weeks after, too. 

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Elisa:

Erik took Ian and Gabe on the father/son campout.  I got to hang out with little Elisa and I spoiled her! First I took her to Walmart and she picked out a toy (a silly furry stuffed toy called a "shnook"), then we went to The Cracker Barrel and Elisa ate some biscuits, and of course, the chocolate cake! Can you tell she enjoyed it!  Just call her the cake monster, lol.  Then she got to have a sleepover in my bed!

Elisa got a new donut dress! She wore them with donuts earrings, which she managed to loose the first day of wearing.

Elisa painting a picture with the paints she got for her birthday

Elisa, throwing a fit over something inconsequential.  I can't even remember what she was fussing over.  I was so small that it was amusing to me, so I snapped a pic.

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Ian:

Ian got a trendy new haircut! It was cute for awhile but it grew out really fast and I don't like having to fix his hair everyday, especially when he refused to cooperate with me.

A picture of me and my cute Ian snuggling on the couch.

 My cute Ian.  He discovered icecream sandwiches this summer (Erik brought some home from the hospital cafeteria) and it was love at first bite!

 This goofball.  He ate a bagel and didn't even notice the cream cheese that got caught up in his nose!

My adorable Ian and his silly sculpture, made from found objects.

Got into my lipstick! The cute little stinker.

Ian loves going to the library for story time!

Ian had a little end-of-the-year "party" at his preschool.  All in all it was pretty lame, mostly because Ian was grumpy/tired and refused to do much but stand there and cry.  I'm not sure what exactly was bothering him.  There were crafts for the parents to do with their kids, but Ian and I just left because he was so moody. 

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Gabe had his dental appointment.  No cavities! He wouldn't stop talking to the dentist.  Silly boy.

Taking Ian and Elisa out for dinner at Wildflower.  I think Gabie was at scouts.\

 Silly Eesa in her skates before catching the bus.  Ian wanted to be in the picture, too!