I'm Still Alive

I woke up this morning with a pulse. Normally that's not really remarkable, but today it means I survived my two week stint as a single mom! Carter will be home tonight. Hooray! I have been dreading these two weeks alone for more than a year and I honestly wasn't sure how I was going to make it. But I did it! And we actually managed to have some fun. Our secret? Staying REALLY busy:

We did loads of crafts (one each day). This was the first day when we made a countdown 'til Daddy gets home. (Look at how long that puppy is!)

We went to the movies (Kung Fu Panda was excellent. Well, the parts I saw when I wasn't busy wrangling children and picking up goldfish crackers were excellent. I told Chloe to do a kung fu move for this picture and this is what she came up with. Yeah, don't expect it to instruct you in kung fu, just entertain you.)

We enjoyed a Diva Reunion with Amber and met the beautiful Sydney (Chloe took this picture for us! We couldn't believe how well she did as our photographer!)

We rode the carousel (on a couple of different days. Definitely the girls' favorite. The thing they love best: picking what they're going to ride! Once we even followed this activity with ice cream cones. Pure Nirvana for them. Sometimes it is so easy to make kids happy.)

We had a picnic at the park (that's poor Owen Elsmore we're dropping here. The Elsmores were SO nice to us, hanging out with us on multiple occasions. Plus, Josh even watched all the big kids on Saturday so the mommies and babies could do lunch in Park City and hit the outlets!)

We went to the aquarium, which everybody, including Sadie, loved. Except don't ask them to pet a sting ray (even if you assure them that the stingers have been removed and that the rays are used to people). They are too smart to fall for that one.

Chloe and Piper developed a game where they would raid Sadie's closet and dress Piper up as a baby. It was pretty funny!

Additionally, we went to BounceU (I am a huge fan of this place! I wish I had pictures, but I couldn't manage the camera AND kids that were literally bouncing off the walls), ward Lunch Bunch (at Rumbi Grill, yum!), and dinner out with Grandpa Durham. We survived two ear infections, two trips to the pediatrician, two shots of antibiotics, a last minute Relief Society teaching gig, two Sundays at church (this last week we stayed all THREE hours), a nasty bout of teething (Sadie's tooth count is up to five!) and hearing all the wonderful things OTHER family members were doing (Carter hitting the National Gallery, the Louvre, Stonehenge, and Wicked in Europe while Katie was going to the Coldplay concert and shopping at an Anthropologie with three floors in New York). And, of course, we survived Father's Day without a father (Carter's absence was definitely the hardest to bear)! Despite all the odds against me making it through WITHOUT some type of psychotic break or dying from pure exhaustion, we did it! The fact that there are mothers out there that do it alone all the time simply amazes me. Welcome home, Carter!

Wicked Fun

Today Carter got to see:

while he was here:

Today I got to see:

while I was here:

Who had more fun? Well, before you automatically declare Carter the winner, please remember that nobody dumped a bag of goldfish crackers in his lap during his show. And he missed out on the distinct pleasure of following his theater experience with a visit to the pediatrician to solve the mystery of Sadie's 3 AM crying jags (the answer: double ear infections).

Yeah, he wins by a million percent. No wonder I'm feeling a bit "witchy" tonight.

My Little Marmoset

Last week we took Sadie to the zoo for the first time. And she fell in love with these guys:

We stood at their cage for about 15 minutes while she laughed and clapped and pointed at the little marmosets running around like they were possessed by demons. Crazy little monkeys!

Everybody else had a nice time, too (even though it was cold and rainy. Personally, I was glad for the weather. Less people and less zoo smell!)

Chloe is rocking the pose she learned at her school photographs (she has done this ever since she had her portraits taken a month ago) in front of the giraffe pen. Watch out, America's Next Top Model. Here she comes!

This was taken moments before Piper went down the elephant slide and got covered in playground bark. She wasn't thrilled. But in this picture, she is (despite the fact I forced her to wear pants).

It was a good day!

Let's Go Exploring . . .

We got to attend a real, honest to goodness premiere last week. While there wasn't exactly a red carpet (it was at the Varsity Theater at BYU), Chloe and Piper DID get their pictures taken with the star of the show:




This is Jack from Imagine Island, which is the new TV show based on the software program Imagine Learning English. Carter and the rest of the video department at Imagine Learning, Inc. have been working for over a year to develop this show. It's a cute concept: an explorer (Jack) and a little robot (Booster, who speaks Spanish or Korean or whatever language they load for him) find treasures for the Imagine Museum. It helps children learn English vocabulary and letters. (If you want to learn more or even watch an episode, they have a fun website). BYU Television International picked up the show and it begins airing in Mexico and parts of Central and South America the first week in July. Additionally, the show has already earned a Telly Award. This has been a big project for Carter (he's written scripts, filmed, and edited for these first 26 episodes). And last Friday was the world premiere, where all of the company and their families got to see the show for the first time. Chloe and Piper had a sneak peak, though. As the shows have been filmed and edited, Carter has been bringing them home, so the girls were VERY familiar with Jack. When he walked out for his appearance, Chloe just about fainted. In fact, she had the same reaction I imagine I would have had if Jack from LOST showed up to take a picture with me (or Sawyer . . . I'm just like Kate--not too picky when it comes to those two!). She got all excited and twitterpated. SO FUNNY!

In addition to enjoying the premiere (which came complete with free food and goody bags with DVDs and posters and stuff---yes, we got swag!), we had the chance to walk around campus a little bit so that I could show them where I went to college:



Not that you can actually tell this is BYU from these pictures. But that IS where we were. They weren't bugged by the roaming EFY groups at all. In fact, they found them charming. I wish I could say the same for myself. Anyway, it was a great day! We are all so proud of Carter and all of his hard work that made Imagine Island come to life!