Vacation in Orem

It's no secret that I've been a little overbooked and a little bit stressed lately. So this weekend, I took an unexpected vacation... in Orem. Friday was Murray's sister's birthday, so I met up with the girls and kids of the family to celebrate and have fun at the park. Here's Gulliver at the park.


Then I had students come over to Murray's parents' house for an Illustrator lesson. That same evening, Murray had a commitment with friends (for the first time in our marriage) and conveniently Murray's sister (not the bday girl) was spending the night at her parents' with her kids, so we were able to have a sort of girls' night. You know, with kids! She and I slipped away to go to the Gap so that I could do some online shopping returns and there I found two pairs of wonderful pants for $20 each (steal!) and a really nice cardigan---great clothes for BlogHer '09!

Murray was going to be out late, so I told him that I was spending the night at his parents' and he could join me, and I told him which room I'd be in so that he didn't accidentally crawl into bed with his sister.

I visited all evening with my mil and sil and the kids and it was great.

Saturday morning, Murray left to go and teach a couple of students, and I spent the morning and afternoon playing some more with my in-laws. Can I just take a moment to say how much I love my in-laws? Murray and I both lucked out in the family department. We both absolutely love our own families and we adore each other's families, and we are sooooo grateful for the fact that we know that we'll never have family stress as part of our marriage. (Until Gulliver marries a girl who I can't get along with and she steals my baby away from me!!!)

My nephew, "Cody," who is nine sat me down and asked, "You know how you call [Gulliver] Gulliver on the blog? Well... I was wondering... what would you call me on the blog?"

"Hmm. Well. I don't know. What about Jedi Boy?"

He scrunched up his nose and said, "No."

"Well, what would you like to be called?"

"I'd like to be called Cody."

So here's a picture of Cody with his turkeys:


I also spent some time coloring with my niece. She thought that I made really really nice clouds. And then she colored in the clouds purple, which I may have indicated was a little silly. When the picture was done, there wasn't a single white space left on it. She said that we should give the picture to baby Gulliver, so I said we needed to sign our names to it so that it would be worth more. But then there wasn't a white space left to sign our names. I let her know that if someone hadn't colored in the clouds purple then we could have signed our names in the clouds, and she indicated that she thought that was a little silly. Names in the clouds! Then she suggested signing our names on the boy's face, which I told her was the worst idea yet. Ultimately, we went for the grass.

I didn't spend any one-on-one time with the youngest nephew, but when I was at their house a couple weeks ago, I spent about twenty seconds with him on the trampoline. Only twenty seconds because that's all it took for me to discover that my bladder control post-baby isn't what it once was.

The weekend was sooooo relaxing and I just realized that all I needed was to get away from my computer for a little while. It was wonderful. On Saturday evening, Murray and I went to see Up (which was excellent, and the animate short was my favorite to date, and the movie made me cry without being emotionally manipulative).

On Sunday, we got together with the in-laws again. Usually, Murray and I meet up with Steve and Cici (Murray's brother + wife) at their parents' house for Sunday dinner. (Before me and Cici, the boys would just go home every Sunday for dinner where their parents would ask them about their dating lives.) Steve recently asked his mom if she would take dinner requests, and I know that she's all about dinner requests because she hates having to plan meals. He requested artichokes, and I just happen to make artichokes a lot every spring, so I volunteered. We had a wonderful meal of salmon and potatoes and artichokes, and at the end of it all, I said we should get more requests, so Steve decided "flan!" off the top of his head, and I happen to know of a good flan recipe that I had at my cooking club, so I volunteered for that one, too! Can't wait for next week!

Here is Gulliver taking a Sunday nap in a fort I made for him so that he wouldn't roll off the bed. I also threw a rattle in there so that when he woke up, I'd hear the rattle and come rescue him.

On our way out, we ran into Murray's best friend and his wife and son. It was a great photo op to get the friends and introduce the boys. The last time they met, Gulliver was only a week or so old.


So that was my wonderful, relaxing weekend. And here are some other pictures from before the weekend:

Gulliver's first pool at the Bean's birthday party, Thursday evening.


Gulliver's wrinkly pool feet.


Gulliver in our bedding that we bought at Ikea. I was ready for a change and wanted something very light and bright and summery.

Gulliver in a cart for the first time. He lasted about 3 minutes. He didn't like the cart and preferred to be carried by his #1 dad.