baby, it's cold outside

Who would have thought that the shorts and flip-flops weather that we have had of late would turn into coat, snuggly blanket and hot chocolate weather… all in one afternoon? Well it has and I’m not complaining. I love cold weather… and I am not looking forward to the summer heat. But, I do wish the weather would make up its mind.

We had a wonderful weekend. I’ll say it again – wonderful weekend! Friday night, my mom came and watched Ammon so that Brian and I could go out for dinner and a movie – for Brian’s birthday, of course. We ate far too much and then went to see Horton. I am a bit of a purest when it comes to Dr. Seuss, and I tend to not like remakes as much as the originals. But this was a fairly good movie and we enjoyed ourselves… unlike my mom, who had a very cranky boy on her hands. This proved to be the case for most of the night. Ammon and I ended up sleeping on the couch.

Saturday (Brian’s actual birthday), we left Ammon in Enterprise and travelled to Destin, Florida for the day. This was the first time that I was away from Ammon for more than a few hours – and it was the farthest that I have ever been away from him. I must say that I was pretty upset about it for the first little bit of the drive down (what am I saying – I was very upset about it – I chewed off all my fingernails before we even crossed the state line). Then, I started to enjoy my little break. While we thought of nothing but Ammon while we were gone, bought treats primarily for him, and couldn’t wait to get home – we had a very nice day. We didn’t go to the beach because it was very windy and a little chilly. We shopped a little and went to Hard Rock Café for lunch – always very yummy. When we picked Ammon up, we discovered that he had slept for most of the day – he took good naps, didn’t have to be wrapped up to be put down, and actually enjoyed his bath! In other words, he was better than he is at home. But this is typical, I am told. We got home fairly early and put Ammon to bed. We had another long night… I guess Ammon sensed that he was at home, and decided that it was time to act like a pterodactyl. Ammon and I ended up sleeping on the couch… again. Just to give you interested readers an idea of what Ammon’s idea of fun is: We were up playing from 2:00am until about 5:45. Fun, fun, fun. After he got tired of playing he was absolutely purple with rage. Those of you paying close attention to his Easter pictures can probably see the self-inflicted wounds on his sweet face.

Easter Sunday didn’t go as nicely as I had hoped it would. Being Ammon’s first and all, I wanted it to go smoothly – get all those pictures – and it just didn’t (just like Christmas morning didn’t). First off, we woke up only an hour before we had to leave (thank heavens I had gotten everything ready the night before… Saturday is a special day. It’s the day we get ready for Sunday…); Ammon was being a pill; before we even got to church, there was spit up all over Ammon’s new Easter sweater... after only 30 minutes at church it was all over his onesie and pants, too; Ammon didn’t want to cooperate for his Easter pictures; I was exhausted; etc., etc., etc..

But despite all this, our Easter was still special. How could it not be? How nice it is to have a day set aside to remember our Savior’s atonement for each of us. To quote my dear friend Hila, “…I am grateful that He loved me enough to die for me. I cannot even come close to understanding how much He must love us. As deeply as I have loved, I know it does not even begin to compare with the love He feels for us.” She said it better than I could have. I, too, am grateful to have an understanding of His sacrifice and resurrection. I know that He lives. I am grateful for His sacrifice. My family is grateful for His sacrifice. Because of it, we have the opportunity to return to live with our Heavenly Father. How great is that knowledge.

Sunday afternoon was a busy one for our family. We spent the afternoon with Brian’s family and, to mimic his cousin, I think that we celebrated more in one day than we ever have before – and that is definitely saying something. Not only did we celebrate Easter with a big, delicious dinner and Easter egg hunt, but we also celebrated the birthdays of Brian and our nephew, Caulin (who turned 4 on St. Patrick’s Day). We had a busy afternoon, but really did have a good time with our family. The kids had great fun finding all their eggs. It was such a beautiful day to be outside, even though it was so cold – we could actually feel the temperature dropping in the short amount of time the kids were hunting eggs. Caulin opened his birthday presents while we ate birthday cake – Brian enjoyed playing with our gift to Caulin. Can anyone guess what it was?

Today was fairly uneventful. Ammon slept fairly well last night, and took two good naps today. All of which I am eternally grateful for. I woke up this morning feeling cruddy. Pure cruddy. My allergies/sinuses are not enjoying the massive amounts of pollen that can be found around our home. Brian washed my car on Friday, and by Sunday it was already completely yellow. Yuck. This is only the beginning…