Yet Another Reason to Love Grand Junction

We had seen on a map that Colorado National Monument was close by...

But we never ventured out to it.

Then while I was in AZ, Tyson decided (with nothing else to do while we were all gone) to go and see it.

He called to tell me, "I'm going to see the monument"

Ten minutes later he called again, "I'm at the moment...you've GOT TO COME!"

So, I came home...and we went.

Seriously...all of this was 10 minutes away??!! Practically in our backyard!!?? It was GORGEOUS!

Man, I love Grand Junction. A national monument for a backyard.

Rockin'.

Literally.

The girls probably found the dirt on the ground the most exciting part.

Although Eden did like the canyon where you yelled and 2 seconds letter it echoed back to you in perfect clarity. She also liked the rocks shaped like an "Egyptian Mummy", "Fries", and "Elephant" (only the mummy was labeled a "mummy" and she found and named the fries and elephant).

We also went on a little hike. That was probably one of Leila's favorite parts....running full speed ahead downhill ready to biff it or fall over the edge at any instant.

Overall, a very awesome day.

And on a side note...the picture below is when Tyson and I went on a "Walk From Obesity" that the staff at the hospital participated in. I got to meet all the doctors he's been telling me about over the past two months, get free t-shirts, get a little exercise, and get a free lunch from Subway at the end.

Arizona

Me and the girls went to Arizona to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa Finlinson's 60th wedding anniversary. I forgot a camera, so there are very little pictures of the event...

First off...the girls and I drove from Colorado to Utah. Tyson's sister, Kylie, had an urge to chop off all her hair. I decided that if she was gonna do it, I'd go ahead and do it. I have been a little sad about my hair since I got it cut last (not because it was bad but because I kept comparing it to my last haircut which was similar but longer and seemed a lot easier to do). So, I wanted a haircut that wouldn't remind me of my REALLY long hair from before.

It worked. I love my hair (with an occasional tear as I mourn the loss of long hair).

*p.s. Thanks to Mesa Thrift Store and gift cards to Ross and Wet Seal I was able to put together that new outfit shown above as well as a 2 other skirts, 2 other shirts, 2 other belts, and a pair of shoes with spending less than $20.

Then we headed out in a LARGE van for a LONG car trip to Arizona.

We threw these three car seats in the back, and it worked really well.

Nana was the real life saver who came up with the brilliant idea of having a new little "surprise" for the girls ever hour of the trip to keep them from getting bored. $1 store items go a LONG way during a LONG trip.

But we all had loads of fun going out to eat at the favorite spots, having parties on grandma and grandpa's behalf, and we even took a little dip in Aunt Diane's pool. Granted it was FREEZING and the ONLY person to dunk their entire body (and head) under water was Eden. All she needed some incentive. Macie offering 4 quarters was definitely incentive enough.

Overall, it was wonderful!

Ward Talent Show

We had a ward talent show a while back and I never had the chance to blog about it. It was TONS of fun.

Eden went up there and was quite a star.

Tyson and I tried to convince her to sing "I Am a Child of God". But if you try to "convince" her to do something....she's won't do it. She'll shy away and have an instant phobia. But if you say, "Its OK Eden, you don't have to do anything. No worries." Then she'll become the bravest girl in the world.

So, she didn't sing I Am a Child of God.

Before the show I took her up to the stage to see her reaction. She got shy. So, I said, "Its okay, you don't have to do this if you don't want. Its okay." Then she became brave and said she wanted to do it. So, not to give more undue pressure I said, "You can sing whatever you want...but there are two rules. You have to know the WHOLE song and it has to have words." (to eliminate the ever so lovely "Ariel song" among other things).

She was second in the talent show. I put her on the stage and gave her the microphone.

Eden: "Hi. I'm Eden Finlinson and I'm going to sing the 50 States."

Low and behold, she sang the 50 states without a problem (minus a few states she tends to always miss because I don't really know the song well and often sing it wrong myself).

The crowd cheered.

And then Tyson and I felt sad because we totally forgot to take a picture or video of the event.

A while down the line, I went up and performed with a group of ladies from the ward.

We performed the "Evolution of Dance" (with a few minor changes).

Here's the original YouTube craze video below for all of you saying "What in the world is the Evolution of Dance?"...

We all decided to dress up in different decades. Here's us ladies (minus one who had to leave the show early).

We tried to get a video...doesn't seem to want to work. I'm gonna see if I can get a video from someone at the church who had a camcorder running the entire show.

One of the ladies we danced with had a little girl that was also named Eden. Eden and Eden seemed to think it was so cool that they shared the same name. They played together and made friends.

Eden and Eden (and a little girl on the right who ISN'T named Eden)

Eden had a great time. She mostly loved the free popcorn and desserts. She definitely ate her fill of those.

Overall, we all had a blast!

Happy Girls' Day

The girls recently got a postcard in the mail from their Grandma and Grandpa Sakamoto who are serving a mission in the Sendai, Japan mission.

It was to wish them a happy Girls' Day. I believe Girls' Day, then called Hinamatsuri, started as a thought that dolls possessed some kind of spirit and they would send them away on boats....but it later became the now "Girls' Day" and the girls will display and show off their dolls to others. (Honestly I'm not sure if that is 100% correct, so don't quote me on my Girls' Day history.)

So I told the girls to get their favorite "doll" and we'd take a picture....

They grabbed Lamby and Raffy...not exactly "dolls" but they insisted that these were their favorites. So, I decided to let them show them off.

Then Eden insisted she wanted to take a picture with my camera. I was quite impressed with her photography skills...so I'm sharing.
Happy Girls' Day everyone!!!

p.s. While taking pictures I thought, "Wow...Leila has BEAUTIFUL HAIR! So, I took a picture to show off those beautiful curly locks. Those are all-natural curls...no curling irons here!

Sick Days

We've all* been sick lately.

*Okay, Tyson's not sick....but he injured his rib and it hurts to move much.

So, he may as well be sick.

I'm sure that you are ALL asking yourself...

"What do the Finlinsons do when they are sick?"

Obviously that's the first question that popped into your mind....

We sit around and draw house plans of our "dream home".

Don't you do that?

Leila was just scribbling (although deep down I wouldn't doubt if she was thinking "and this is my bedroom with loads of puzzles, games, and things to climb on.")

Eden was actually drawing her dream house. The important things were that the house had stairs and her bedroom was upstairs (we currently don't have stairs in our house and she seems to think stairs are the "cool thing"). Downstairs was a family room.

Tyson and I have been coming up with our "dream house" since we were married.

Tyson draws house plans and I find pictures online.

Too bad our dream its on a long waiting list....

1. Survive med school
2. Decide what Tyson wants to do with the rest of his life
3. Survive residency
4. Pay off student loans
5. Save up for house
6. Get "dream house"

Currently, it'll looking something like this....(but not exactly, I'm sure)

Kitchen

Nothing huge or fancy...pretty simple

A courtyard where we can eat outside

And stairs....for Eden

And a large Minerva Teichert

*Sigh*

One day.

Then again, when that day comes, our dreams will probably be different.

For now we will dream....cause its fun.

And spend our lives the way sick people do....

...watching movies and eating Ramen noodles.

p.s. This is totally random. Leila's been signing "potty" to me recently. So I'll take her to the bathroom, strip off her diaper, and she'll sit on the potty for what seems like forever. She never does anything. I ask, "Are you done yet?" "No." Sit, sit, sit. "Are you done yet?" "No."

Today she totally took me by surprise when she pooped in the toilet!!! A part of me wants to explore getting her potty trained (even though she's only 19 months old) but I'm not too stressed about it.

I'm just happy there was one less poopy diaper I had to change today.

Alyssa and Ben

This past weekend my sister, Alyssa, and brother-in-law, Ben came to visit. We had lots of fun...mostly just hanging out, walking around downtown, and playing LOTS of Settles of Catan.

We happened upon a parade in downtown Grand Junction....and all I could do is laugh. It was a little....what's the word....sad. Definitely a "small town" type parade. It was for the Lions Club. Mostly people walked around in old (and rather abnormal) Halloween costumes trying to get you buy raffle tickets and a bunch of cars with advertisements. I do wish I got a picture of the type of car that Leila seems to really like. It was somewhat like this...

The old blue buggy. It was always the blue ones...but they were prettier than this one. Those were the cars that always got Leila excited.

But the highlight (or low-light) of the parade was the group dressed up like terrorist protesters protesting airport security. Hmm....questionable.

Other than the parade we also went out to eat. Alyssa and Ben took me out for the late birthday dinner. Alyssa was able to get her flute fixed (which was the main reason for the visit). We visited the candy store and the kids got discounted valentine chocolate heart pops. We went to a friend's house to eat dinner and play games. Talk about food and house plans (which are both highlight topics of conversation in my book). And the kids LOVED Alyssa and Ben around to play with all the time.

Thanks for the awesome visit Alyssa and Ben. You're welcome back anytime!

Birthday and Valentines

I'm gonna put the pictures in first this time. Change it up a bit. Then type, type, type...

Here's what we did on my actual birthday.

My 28th birthday was on Monday (the 13th) and the next day was Valentines of course.

You know, the only time it seems sad that my birthday is the day before Valentines is when I need to blog and I end up combining the two into one post.

Other than that, I really don't mind it.

Its like two days of being spoiled. No complaints here.

It actually started on Saturday....so really I got FOUR days of spoiling.

I told you all how much I wanted to go to the temple and my hubby sacrificed by staying home with sick kids. Then he left that night to grocery shop for Sunday.

Well, Sunday I didn't feel the best, Leila was still coughing, and we thought we'd give Eden another day to recover (leaving Tyson to take care of us all)...so we didn't go to church.

We stayed home and relaxed but Tyson had planned a glorious meal to have that night (since he didn't have work he figured that would be the best day to make me a birthday dinner). He made me chicken and shrimp carbonara with a blackberry sage lemonade. Yum. Very yum.

Then on Monday night (my birthday) I had a spontaneous thought. "Let's go bowling!" And since it was my birthday, nobody complained. Even though we knew it would run past kids bedtime, we headed out the door. It was a lot of fun. The kids mostly just played around but they enjoyed themselves too. Tyson won...but not by TOO much. Then we came home and had some strawberry short cake and sang happy birthday.

Tuesday (Valentines) was a bit crazy. We had a Valentines Day party for preschool at my house. So I had to plan everything out, teach a lesson, and pretty much we just let the kids go crazy in the kids room and the mothers sat around chatting and eating snacks. Then I went to a baby shower a few hours after. Then I came home (later than I planned) not having anything special for a valentines dinner.

Tyson came home with beautiful flowers and Hagan daaz ice cream (in my favorite flavor).

I made leftovers.

How romantic.

Tyson's MUCH better at "romantic" than I am. Obviously.

The kids were beat after preschool and the baby shower (with no nap) that they went to bed a little early.

Tyson and I were very unromantic although I admit that I really enjoyed myself and thought it was romantic. Tyson just knew that he was dedicated to me all night. That sounded like a good Valentines to me. :) We ended up watching hulu on the couch while giving foot rubs. Then we fell asleep on the couch cuddling until we woke up realizing that we needed to really get to bed.

Call me crazy. I totally think that's romantic. Relaxing with my hubby. Foot rubs. Falling asleep cuddling. And course those beautiful flowers that remain on my kitchen table.