Sea World

Nate and I spent Easter weekend with Jim, Alisha and the kids...well, at least we had one day with them, but we made the most of it and went to Sea World!

Group shot.

Jim, Lish and Ethan on Shipwreck something or other...Ethan was in love with this ride. :)

Aunt Liz and Ethan.

Liz squared. (ps-I was way proud because Lizzie actually wanted to be on this ride with me. Silly, but it made me so happy.)

Ethan and the very popular Uncle Nate.

Nate and Afton waiting for the Shamu show to start. Or was it Ramu?

Maybe kind of a bum shot, but I thought all that hand holding was so cute.

Lilly meets a seal.

A statuesque seal.

The kids with their souvenir necklaces that Jim magically purchased in about 15 seconds without the kids noticing.

We had such a good time it was ridiculous; thanks for letting us tag along!

Ethan's belated southern birthday party

In the first phase of the Harrison/Higley extravaganza, we hosted Jim and his family for an evening, so I decided it'd be a good time to have a quick birthday party for Ethan.

Look how happy he is. ;)

Ethan and Lizzie with the dirt cake. (we sang "happy dirt cake" instead of "happy birthday")

Digging in!

The proud maker of said dirt cake.

Harrisons...and a crazy Jim.

Nate helping serve.

Ethan hopefully liking the books we got him. :)

What's a party without a shark puppet wearing a pull-up? ps-Lilly was concerned that he was using her pull-up.

Springtime in Las Vegas

Just a few things we've run across lately here at home:

FOXYGMA is right.

Baby gucks

Baby Kathryn

Bellagio lobby!

We had a lovely visit down to the Strip. We've learned the right time to leave (when people start getting drunk(er) ) and it was perfect.

On our way home on the freeway, we saw a major accident happen right in front of us. The car right in front of us was hit by someone that came out of nowhere across all lanes of traffic. Everyone was all right, but it was crazy to watch and think about how close it was to being our accident. I got scared and cried. Through my sobby voice I reminded Nate we needed to pick up some bread at the store. Last night's blessing was getting bread at Albertson's. :)

Gray's Blessing

A couple of weekends ago, we visited Utah for a special occasion; Gray's blessing! Thankfully, there's a spelling difference, because I am now the aunt of Grey and Gray. :) Ben and Jenn's cute Gray was the man of the hour and it was so fun to be there for it.

Gray and Uncle Nathan

Ben, Jenn and Gray

Liz, Lisa and Ivie

Rhea, Ivie and Mom Lisa

I was as proud to catch this smile as Nate was to have been the reason for it. :)

In other news, Ben and Jenn's cats have had no problem with adjusting to life with a baby. Luckily they've figured out the many benefits of baby gear in the house.

Mom and baby Gray

Clean up party

Usually every year my mom throws a big "party". Growing up, these parties = a trick to get some yard work taken care of. While it was still the same trick, I was excited we'd be home to participate! I can't say I personally got a lot accomplished in the yard, but it was a fun social hour and the yard looked better when we were done, so I'd call the party an overwhelming success.

Nate, Tom and Grey

Most of the girls: Alisha, Stacey, Ruth, Mom

GQ Yard Nate and Braeden

Grey getting things done

Nate with Andrew and Grey

Dad and Braeden

Impromptu birthday party for the twins

Nate and Grey flying.

It was so fun to be all together. It was a perfect morning. :)

My mom was right...

...I do regret giving up on piano lessons. Turning 30 hasn't done amazing things for all parts of me, but it has strengthened my resolve to take care of a few things. One such item is getting back on the Dozen-A-Day/John Thompson saddle.

Ruth recently gifted me her keyboard (she's upgraded to the real deal) and once we we got around to taking our Christmas tree down (we were bordering, if not completely white trash this year about that), Nate set up the keyboard in the front room so my keyboard is in plain view to remind me to practice.

Kathryn's not so subtle form of protesting the removal of the Christmas tree.

Starting over officially bugs me. Playing songs that I know I played better in elementary school is horribly depressing, but maybe that's the humility I need to keep going. My goal is to beat my younger self, and at this point all I need in order to do that is to not be a quitter. Eh, Mom?

I've been at it about a month, so it almost feels like a habit, and while I'm without a metronome, Gwen Chesley saying "and it's MEMORIZED", Cheryl Morrow complimenting my sight reading skills, and Mom telling me I couldn't quit until I could play the hymns...it's still something. My very own piano hymn book came today too. The real one too, it was a bit less expensive than the simplified one and I decided to set my sights high...or at least to my mother's 15 year old standard.

Speaking of goals and repeating things, I started back to school last week. Again. This time, I really started over. I have to take Portfolio I over again because I've been out of school over a year. That seems fair in some respects, but it's difficult to think about when I took that class the first time...between piano and school and working at GoGo again, I feel like I may be regressing.

Silver lining: I can still play "The Man in the Moon" in all 12 keys and I still give one heck of a PowerPoint presentation*

*provided Nate creates/polishes my slides

Adjusting

I've lived in Las Vegas for about five months now. Five?? There are some days when I feel like I've been here forever, but I have more days when I feel like I'm living amongst and working with people I don't know. Nate of course doesn't fall into this category, but hopefully you get what I mean. To help me stay sane during the work day, I've taken to eating lunch in my car. The temperature will allow me to get away with this for now...I know it won't last, but in the meantime I've been very grateful for the escape. While I eat, I read; and I've made it through a few books. I recently finished one, and close to the end of the book, I read a paragraph I've been thinking about a lot:

"You get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place, I told him, you'll not only miss the people you love, but you'll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you'll never be this way again".*

I think my problem is I assume I will stay the same person; that I could go right back into an old situation and feel right at home. While I know that is of course not true, that is normally what I tell myself when I leave somewhere or something, just as a way of coping.

We've fallen into a lot of wonderful things out here, but many moments still carry a sting, because I can't help but compare them to either my life in Utah or Ohio; mostly Ohio, honestly. I miss the friends I could've only made in Toledo, as well as friends I was able to "follow" out there and hang on to. Las Vegas is becoming our home, but as it happens, I am often reminded of what home has meant in other places.

Just had to get that out.

*Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azir Nafisi