A Visit from Yo

Charl's roommate from his single days in California, Yo, was in Utah for a visit. He came to Sunday dinner with us at Charl's parents. His mom made a yummy "post birthday" dinner with salmon, chicken and too many other items to list. For dessert she made a coconut cake soaked in jello, topped with pudding and berries. Very delicious! Since we didn't sing Happy Birthday at the restaurant, we put a candle in this cake and sang away. This, of course, was Andersen's favorite part of the meal.

The anticipation....Andersen is dying to get that cake.

Blow. We didn't make it too tough for him this year!

Yo was so cute with Holly and Andersen. Holly has been so attached to me lately and has not wanted anyone else to hold her for a long few months. When we got to Granny's house, Granny was on the phone with an important call, trying to get dinner put together and 2 minutes after we arrived their home teacher comes for a visit, unbeknown to her. So I took over in the kitchen prepping food, and handed Holly off to Yo expecting a major meltdown. The meltdown never happened and she went to him many times throughout the evening. (It looks like Holly likes people again.) I even think Yo forgave her for "leaking" on his sweatshirt. Oops, I meant to change her diaper as soon as we had arrived. Sorry about that! We had fun spending the evening with Yo.

Charl's Happy 37th!

Charl turned 37 last Friday. I'm not very good at getting cards...mostly because I don't like to write in them, so I made a video instead and had him watch it before he left for work. I think he enjoyed it.



The Story of the Day: The plan for the day was to have everyone (Louws and Pews), meet for dinner and ice cream at Emmett and Ethel's, a gourmet hamburger and ice cream shoppe in Lehi. It just opened up a little while ago and we wanted to try it. But before dinner and while Charl was work, I had to get the present ready. A week before his birthday, his mom asked him what he wanted for his birthday. He didn't really give an answer, but a day later he made a list and e-mailed it to his family. Then his mom called me for help on making a decision. That's when I told her that the thing he would be most excited and surprised about getting is a basketball hoop, which was NOT on his list. (Ever since we've been married -almost 4 years- he's been dreaming of getting a hoop.) But, I said that I'd only get it if my birthday was included in it as well since it's a pricey gift. I had told my mom about the idea and she said she would contribute to the gift too. Well, my mom nearly ruined the surprise. The morning of his birthday, she e-mailed me and asked if I had gotten the b-ball hoop for Charl. I was fuming when I saw this e-mail because I could tell that Charl had already read the e-mail. My mom had no idea that we use the same e-mail and that he checks it from work. The wheels in my head began to turn once I cooled down. I replied back to my mom saying that I decided not to get the hoop because it was too expensive and our backyard wasn't ready for a basketball hoop yet. I also let her know that Charl and I share the e-mail address and that he already saw her e-mail so she was lucky that she didn't ruin any surprises. I created that story knowing that Charl would also read that e-mail. After my "damage control" story, I loaded the kids in the car and met Charl's mom at the mall to buy the basketball hoop. We needed to put the basketball hoop in her car so Charl wouldn't suspect anything. I waited until the day of his birthday to buy it so he wouldn't look at the credit card statement and wonder what was purchased at Sport's Authority...the accountant in him can't resist looking at bank statements! We also ran into Costco and got him a basketball, too. Fast forward a few hours...We all meet at the restaurant and have dinner (that's another story). After we finished eating, his mom said I'll go get the present from the car. At this point Charl is thinking it's not a basketball hoop because he know his mom couldn't bring that into the restaurant by herself. She returned with the basketball. She didn't wrap it so Charl just had a strange look on his face, not sure what to think. Then he opened up the card and inside was money. He was thankful and slightly stunned at the amount of money inside. Then his mom said, "the rest is in the car." He was dazed and said "what! you got the hoop?" We all laughed. So in the end I think he really was surprised. On the drive home, we finally talked about the exchange of e-mails from me and my mom. The story I fed him did throw him off so he wasn't expecting the hoop at all. He said it was a good surprise and that it still would have been a good surprise had I not created the cover up story.

He spent all of Saturday evening putting it together...which is not an easy thing to do by yourself. Now we are just waiting for warmer weather so we can enjoy it!

Here are some pictures from dinner at Emmett and Ethel's.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Easter

The Saturday before Easter we went to Granny Louw's for a visit so Charl could finalize their taxes. Granny had an Easter goodie bag for Anders and Holly. Anders got a chocolate "race car", which he absolutely loved. Holly has a nose for candy...as you'll see in many of her pictures, she is always holding candy and trying to figure out how to open the wrapper.

This is for me? Thank you!

This is a really cool car! Thanks Granny.

Tastes good, too!

The kids Easter baskets. They got books, flip-flops and sunglasses. Holly's shoes were too small, so I'll have to exchange them. I made the chocolate covered peanut butter eggs. That was the first thing that Holly grabbed! I had to take it away from her because it was making a mess on the carpet. Andersen still hasn't eaten his candy because he's been sick. He wasn't feeling well and he came down with a fever and ear infection. I'm trying my hardest not to eat ALL of his candy.

Holly is raiding Anders' basket while he is consumed with his stickers.

Anders is saying I don't want to wear pink glasses.

More candy.

Carrying this basket is a lot of work.

"Mommy, open this one, please."

Interested in candy more than posing for an Easter picture.

Anders checking out his basket.

He loved his book of stickers. It kept him fairly quiet during church.

On the hunt.

Sharing the love with cousin Gwen.

Spring Vacation

Back in January, Charl found a pretty good deal on airline tickets to Atlanta so we took advantage and booked a trip for the last 10 days in March. Charl was anxious to get away and this was a good time for him to take off work before his "busy" time started. We were hoping to escape cold weather in Utah and enjoy the warmth of the south, but the weather didn't cooperate as we had hoped. We spent 3 days at the beach in Panama City, FL and it rained about 85% of the time we were there, but we still were able to do some fun things. Nonetheless, my parents were excited to have us and so were the Kangs. I'll do a short summary of each day and add corresponding pictures.

Thursday, March 19: Travel day. The kids did pretty well on the flights. Anders only had 2 fits on the first leg of the flight out and he managed to crawl under the seat and come out in the row in front of us. The lady kindly handed him back to me. We landed at 12:30 am, so we didn't make it back to my parents until 2 am.

There's our plane. Getting ready to board in SLC.

Cool little playground in the Dallas airport. It was sparse at 9:30 pm.

Holly's looking a little tired. But this was a nice break.

Anders on the suticase slide.

Friday, March 20: We slept in and just stayed around the house and let the kids play. I didn't take any pictures on this day.

Saturday, March 21: This was a full day. We went with Granny to Kohl's to exchange a dress and I found a white sweater for Holly. Then we drove up to Amicalola Falls (about 45 min. north of my parents house). Anders loved seeing the waterfall. We only spent about 2 hours here because we had to get back in time for Charl and I to go out to dinner with my friends Ginny Hemsley, Jeff Holleran, and Jonathan Edwards. We ate at a BBQ joint. I had ribs, Charl had beef brisket. Then we had ordered cheesecake to go from another restaurant and went back to Jonathan's house where we could visit some more.

Granny pushing Holly up the path leading to the Amicalola Falls.

This is the platform where the stairs begin. Holly and Granny stayed while the rest of us climbed to the top.
175 steps up to a platform just below the top of the falls. They're almost there.

We made it.

This is the very top of the falls. We drove the car up to this lookout. Look at the beautiful north Ga. mountains. It was late in the day and a little overcast, so the picture doesn't do it justice. This is the start of the Appalacian Trail.

Another view from the top. Anders really did love these waterfalls. He talked about them a lot.

Charl and the boys (Kyle & Anders)

If we could only figure out how to make our backyard look like this!

From the top of Amicalola Falls...A better view of the mountains.

This is where we ate dinner.

Sunday, March 22: I took Charl and the kids to my old ward instead of going to my parents ward (they overlapped). It was fun to see some old friends and some of the kids I used to teach in Sunday School.

Monday, March 23: We drove out to Jennifer and Sherman Moore's house to spend the evening with them. We got to see their new home and Sherman went all out and grilled us steak (fillet Mignon)...and it was the best steak we've ever had! I took a picture of Sherman cutting the tenderloin that he got from the meat market, but for some reason my camera lost that picture.

Kyle taking Anders drinking and driving in the Dodge Viper .

Charl shooting some hoops. We played a game of horse...I forgot who won.

Charl and Holly on the porch at the Moore's home.

Holly checking out the dog, Lola, in the arms of Ryan.

Kate & Jen.

Tuesday, March 24: We went to the Stidsen's for dinner and we celebrated Dwight's birthday. We had more steak. Good thing it's my favorite food!!! Stephanie and Eric just had their 3rd daughter (Ansley) a month earlier, so it was fun to hold a newborn. Stephanie, Eric and Dwight were the first people I met when I moved to Atlanta.
The kids played in the "soon to be" flower bed in the Stidsen's front yard. Holly ate the dirt and Andersen stole the older girls pails and shovels. (Holly, Anders & Mia)

This is a cool tree in the Stidsen's front yard. I took a picture of Rylan on his 4th birthday sitting in this tree and it has always been one of my favorite pictures. So, I posed Anders in the same tree and he actually smiled for me.

Anders and Alexis (aka: Alex & Lexi Lou)

Dwight holding Sara and Eric holding Ansley.

The whole gang.

Wednesday, March 25: Charl and I went to meet with my financial advisor...exciting, I know. But I was able to withdraw some money to pay for the built-in cabinets I'm putting in my kitchen. I can't wait!!! (Now I'll have a place to hide the clutter!) I made dinner (fajitas) for everyone and we spent the evening packing for the beach escape.

Thursday, March 26: The 6 hour drive. The drive went mostly pretty well except that during the last hour of the trip Anders kept hitting Hanna in the face. She was sandwiched between Anders & Holly in the back row and I think he just wanted to get out. Hanna was trooper for putting up with him. (On the drive back, we put Anders in a captain chair so he couldn't reach anyone.) We arrived in the late afternoon and it was raining, of course. We checked in and the kids went swimming for a little bit, then we went out to eat at the Olive Garden. It was a long wait to get our food and Anders threw a pretty LOUD fit. It was a little embarrassing...I'm mean everyone turned to look at him. So we hid out in the bathroom for a little while and played in the sink.
Hmmm...should I get in the water??

"That was fun."

Friday, March 27: More rain! Tornado warnings, too. We swam in the morning and then we went to Gulf World. This was a perfect thing to do on a cool, windy, rainy day. We saw a sea lion show, a dolphin show, a bird show and a reptile show. The kids got to pose with the sea lion and Rylan got kissed on the head. Julie had the sea lion kiss her too nearly 15 years ago. It was a different sea lion, however that sea lion still is at the park, but he's retired. The shows were every bit as good as Sea World and because it's a small park, you really get up close to the animals.

A dolphin stamp. Now he can see the shows.

Waiting for the Sea Lion show.

I forgot the Sea Lion's name, but he could do lots of cool tricks.

Posing with the Sea Lion after the show. He kissed Rylan on the head.

Waiting for the dolphin show to start. Holly couldn't wait...but she had a good nap.

Look how close we are to a dolphin.

Saturday, March 28: Heavy winds and rain captured the morning. By 1 pm, it let up a little bit and we decided to go to the outdoor pool anyway. The water was a little cool, but tolerable. We moved over to the hot tub and that felt great!. After 20 min. in the hot tub, the sun broke through and it got warmer. We made our move to play in the sand. Granny brought down the sand toys and we got to build sand castles and walk and run on the beach. The beach was closed, so we couldn't go in the water because it was too dangerous. That was fine by me because it was too cold for my liking anyway. After we got cleaned up we went to the outdoor mall and ate dinner and browsed the shops.

Me and the kids in the kiddie pool.

Hanna is fleeing to the big pool.

They had play equipment on the beach for the kids.

Playing in the sand. This is what we came here for.

R & R

Future Lifeguard.

Jogging.

So sweet.

The girls.

Just playing.

Let's go surfin' now...

Sunday, March 29: Beautiful sunny skies, but chilly (55 degrees). We walked down on the beach one last time to take some family pictures, but it was rather windy and the kids didn't really cooperate...what's new. Then we drove home and did all our laundry and packed, again.

Hold still and look at the camera...not a chance!

Sadly, this was the best shot we got.

Monday, March 30: Back to the airport. Anders threw another fit getting out of the car because he wanted to keep Kyle's favorite green car. This tantrum must have distracted me! We quickly unloaded and I was trying to control Anders while Charl was dealing with 2 suitcases and Holly in a stroller. We said a quick goodbye to my dad and he took off. With Anders kicking, hitting and screaming, we barely make it into the ticketing area and that's when I realize...my purse is in the car...heading north on I-85. I called my dad's cell phone numerous times, but of course, he couldn't hear it. So, if you're wondering if you can get on a flight without a driver's license or picture ID...apparently you can if look innocent and desperate enough, though I don't recommend it. When I got to the security checkpoint, they called a special TSA agent over. I explained the situation and he says, "I need something with your name on it." I'm thinking, duh! it's all in the purse, in the car, heading back to Alpharetta. Then I remembered that I had a copy of our marriage certificate in the diaper bag. It had my name on it...he said, "that will have to do." He let me go through the screening, but I had to be "patted down". That was a stresser!!! My mom overnighted my purse to me the next day. All is well!