Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids...

Today Natalie, Benjamin and myself embark on possibly the scariest thing I can image ... an airplane ride to Idaho WITHOUT Kevin. I am absolutely terrified. Terrified that security will take away the kid's snacks, or Ben's milk, or that one or both my kids will cry the whole time.

But it will be okay.

There will be someone nice on the plane to help me out, right?

I'll let you know.

Here's my point. In order to help prevent any breakdowns I thought I would give Natalie a lesson on airplanes. She already loves airplanes and helicopters and is always pointing them out. So we colored some pictures of planes, pretended we were planes, played an airplane matching game, then we had a picnic on the roof of the car at the runway and watched the planes land.

It was fun, but after about two planes Natalie said it was time to go. It was hot and they got pooped out fast ... see ...

Parties, parties everywhere, and not the time to nap...

We had quite the day yesterday. Natalie was invited to two birthday parties (little miss popular), we had a baby shower and a ward party. We were pooped by the end of the day. I took a few pictures at the first party. It was a Wonder Pets party. Totally TONS of fun ...

Walks

We LOVE walks. And walks with the wagon are our favorite.

Actually it is pretty rare that Natalie actually rides in the wagon.

Last Monday on our way home from Utah, sweet Natalie got the flu about 20 minutes away from home. She was sick from 8pm til 5am. She and I got about two hours of sleep poor thing. The next day we were pretty much zombies, but by about 4pm she wanted to go for a walk. So she got some shoes on, we put Ben in the wagon and she grabbed her blanket and we went walking. She was feeling great and walking much faster than her ol' mom. And her walk was just so cute I couldn't resist. Enjoy.

New Projects

I have been accused of being a serial project starter. I actually promised my mom after Christmas that I wouldn't take on any new projects. Well, I took two new projects on. BUT one is done and the other is 2/3 the way there ... so now I can get back to all my unfinished work from last year *sheepish*. Here they are ... tell me what you think.

So ... Natalie was needing extra space for all the preschool supplies and books we are accumulating so I found these awesome bookshelves on Craiglist for $45

And turned them into this ....

Hey! If I can do it ...

My second project was redecorating the dealership! I was so honored that the Underwood/Painter men trusted me with this responsibility. Here are the main things that I did (repainted and totally decorated the main showroom and second finance office/spare office). I still have some odds and ends to finish up but this is pretty much the finished product.

These are just the afters. Kevin has the before's on his work computer.

Second finance office/spare office

Main showroom

I had so much fun doing this!

iDoctor

Our computer was sent out to be repaired ... this is what you missed from two weeks ago....

We took a trip to the zoo with the Underwood/Painter clan. Natalie's favorite part was the pond with the fish. Next time I'll just take her to the park across the street.

Natalie and the baby orangutan.

Cousins Paige & Lizzie

Natalie with cousin Wendi and her friend Hannah

Here is the pond with the fish and a turtle!!

My beautiful Benjamin and Natalie!

Pretty soon we found the little kids area and Natalie couldn't get enough of the slide.

I had to literally pull her away.

We had so much fun!!

Ben-ing

You've heard of planking....

Everyone has Tebowed...

The land down under gave us coneing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WygNjMSllLQ

Now introducing ... Ben-ing