Date Night

While we're in Utah, we are taking full advantage of dating opportunities. Saturday night we went to Acapellastock. It is a concert that showcases acapella music put on by T Minus 5. Well, this year they brought one of my very favorite groups, Toxic Audio, so we HAD to go! We had planned on hiring a babysitter, but with our kids still sick, we felt like we couldn't expose her poor family to our bug. Luckily my parents were available at the last minute so we were able to go. It was so much fun to see people we haven't seen in ages! I thoroughly made a fool of myself, but had so much fun doing it, I didn't even care!


Our friend Michelle of Toxic Audio and my father-in-law took us backstage for this picture, we felt kind of silly walking on the stage to get back to the green room, but it was fun!


Do you recognize this guy? His name is Barry Carl, he was the MC for the concert. He is the former bass of Rockapella (you may recognize him from Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego?) T Minus 5 is on stage with him, Ethan's brother Tom used to be their manager, so they love the Woodburys. They did a fantastic job, the show was great! And hooray for getting such great music out here in Utah!


Like I said, we had a lot of fun seeing people we haven't seen in a while. This is Ethan's cousin Debbie and her husband Mark, I think we may have embarrassed them more than ourselves! They are awesome though and just laughed at our dorkiness.

It was weird coming from Oregon where we knew people, but not a lot of people, to here where we knew so many people. That never happened in Oregon. It was great, though we stayed out way too late, we didn't get home until after 1 am. Thank heaven for grandparents!

Tag, I'm it!

A friend from high school tagged me, so here goes...

5 things I was doing 10 years ago: (junior year of high school, people)
1. Music Man (not to mention being sad that I was only a chorus member-oh well there are no small parts only small actors, right?)
2. Spending way too much time with my first boyfriend (we had a lot of fun though)
3. Missing all my friends that graduated the year prior and trying to find new ones (I scored big time on that front!)
4. Having fun with the Drama Club Presidency-taking LOTS of pictures!
5. Apples Are Gods Bottles (ala Choralaires in those horrible dresses (sorry Joni, but I looked dreadful)!)

5 things on my to-do list today:
1. Go for a walk with my boys
2. Try to get Bryant in preschool for a couple months
3. LAUNDRY (we're still puking and pooping)!
4. Paint
5. Get things ready for our family reunion this weekend (for which I'm so excited)!

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. Sweet 'n Salty Peanut Granola Bars
2. Yogurt (I missed it for the year of nursing)
3. Chips and Homemade Salsa (thanks Jane for teaching me how to make such a delicious treat)
4. Bananas (frozen for an extra delight)!
5. Any bread I can get my hands on!

5 songs I know the lyrics to: (You can definitely see an Ethan influence)
1. Crazy-Good 'ol Patsy Cline
2. Insomniac-Billy Pilgrim
3. Don't Worry Be Happy-gotta love Bobby McFerrin
4. We've Only Just Begun-The Carpenters rock!
5. Just Like Heaven- The Cure
(on a side note, some friends said they remember all the songs from Chamber Quire and I just want to say, "HOLY SMOKES!" That is incredible, the thing I remember most vividly in choir was snapping at Mr. Wood about cocoa!)

5 Things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Can we say GET OUT OF DEBT?!?
2. Pay for my parents & in-laws to go on a mission
3. Travel to England with Ethan
4. Buy a house (nothing extravagant, just something that would be ours)
5. Hire a housekeeper- I keep telling Ethan, "I can't take care of the boys and the house. That would be TWO full time jobs and I'm not up to it!"

5 bad habits:
1. Lose my temper
2. Pity-partying (I think I should go into rehab)
3. I'm just so lazy! I love to sit way too much!
4. Spend too much time on the computer (darn this blogging)!
5. Buy too many luxuries (though less than most)

5 things I’ll never wear again:
1. Overalls-they are just so unflattering!
2. Shirts with the side clip
3. Jelly Shoes (Stepped on a nail one too many times in those babies)
4. Shirts that are 3 sizes too big (Whoops! That would be what I'm wearing right now!OK, not in public)
5. A badly fitted bra-go get yourselves fitted ladies, you won't regret it!

5 favorite toys:
1. My boys
2. Books, books, and more books (come join us at the book nook!)
3. Sudoku
4. My stroller (and backpack-so I can lug all the lil'uns at my own pace)
5. Camera

5 people I'm tagging:
1. Misses Ali
2. Terra
3. Carrie
4. KellyAnne
5. Ethan

Wow! That was a lot harder than I expected!

Bear Lake

Maybe its just the biased mother in me, but shouldn't this kid be on the advertisement for selling this tube? Who wouldn't buy it seeing how much fun one kid can have on it?

A few days after the big move we headed out to camp at Bear Lake with my siblings. When I was a kid we used to camp up St. Charles Canyon every year and my brothers recently decided it was a tradition worth revisiting. Apparently the Oregon rain followed us, we got drenched Thursday night, but it cleared up by Friday afternoon and we were able to spend some time at the lake Friday and Saturday.
Between sick kids (more diarrhea and vomit-thanks for all your help cleaning up Kari!) and the weather its a wonder we could have any fun, but you know us, fun seems to find us (how could it not with a bunch of wild and crazy boys like we have?) We had a fantastic time, the only real down side of the trip was that the batteries on the camera died and so did the spares-so we only got a few pictures. Enjoy!

Bryant was so excited to swim in the lake, here he is practicing his back stroke.

Jonas had the time of his life...dirt to roll around in and water to splash in...what more could a kid want? We spent a good hour or more digging the wet sand and pouring it all over our bodies and rinsing it away, it was heaven!

Apparently, all the swimming tired Bryant out, he was eager to catch a ride with Levi. I don't think Levi was too keen on the idea.

The Long and Winding Road...

We made it!!! Again to any and all who helped us getting ready for our move, THANK YOU!!! If you watched the kids, scrubbed the floor, washed the walls, filled a box, packed the truck...or anything else we want you to know that we really appreciate all your help. We are so sad to leave our fabulous ward in Forest Grove, but hope that we will make friendships all along the way over the next year.

Our drive started off bad and only got worse. Levi had a major blowout all over his outfit while in the Forest Grove Safeway parking lot. Once that was cleaned up (thanks Grandma Jane) we filled up our van at Chevron and headed out to the highway when Ethan calls me from the moving truck to mention that the flap to the gas tank was open, so I pulled over and found that the cap was missing. So I had to turn around and head back into town to either find ours, or purchase a new one. Luckily, it was still at Chevron, good thing they pay those guys good money to fill my tank for me! :)

Hooray! We were finally on the road (again)! Driving through the gorge was beautiful and sad (to think that was the last time for so long we'll see that splendor). Nearing the end of the gorge Levi started getting restless again and then let his breakfast fly to high heaven. So we pulled over to clean him up, again (luckily we had caught up with Ethan at that point). I have to say traveling with boys is easier than I imagine girls would be, while cleaning Levi up on some random exit Bryant could take care of business, thereby avoiding another stop.

Well, I'll spare you all the gruesome details, but 3 blowout diapers later (yes, later, much, much later) the kids were all asleep and we were trying not to join them. Around 2 am I said to Jane, "Let's play Encore!" I explained the rules as I remembered them, that you have to come up with and sing at least 7 words of a song that include the word of choice. Whoever can come up with something when the other can't wins the round and can choose the next word. I thought it would be good to start with an easy word, since it was 2 o'clock in the morning, I didn't want to have to think too hard. The word was "love" and Jane and I sang and laughed and sang and laughed until we pulled up at 4:15 (mountain time) Sunday morning. For all of you worried about Ethan, don't worry, he was riveted listening to the latest Harry Potter book.

So now we're here and almost settled and looking forward to seeing many old friends and loved ones. The road was long, but we're glad it led to your door. The boys are happy to be in their new home with so much room to run around (especially outside). here are some random pictures of our current base camp (most were taken in February when we came down for Erin's farewell). Enjoy! We sure will! :)

The kitchen

The dining room

The dining room, a different angle

The apple tree

The backyard

The living room

Another Funny Conversation with Bryant

I was just trying to get something unstuck from one of our games and Bryant wanted to help saying, "I'm sure I can do it, I'm the strongest!"

To which I replied, "Its not a matter of strength, its a matter of long fingers, Daddy might have to do it."

He thought about it a few minutes and then, while looking at a picture of Jesus said, "Its not a matter of long fingers, its a matter of faith, mommy."

Well, we got it out, so I guess we have enough faith!