Easter

A little late, I know.

We went to Pigeon Forge, TN for Easter this year. This is where Dollywood is, for all my friends and fam in the west. We "unfortunately" did not make it to the infamous boobland. We were lucky enough to spend a lot of our time in the Great Smokey Mountains. I think we all had a blast seeing all of the great waterfalls, 2 cute back bears (although they probably would have ripped our faces off), and the real hiking trails. The water in the river was beautiful. Kelly and I would love to go back this summer and do some camping, fishing and floating. It could happen. I will only be like 9 months pregnant by the time we find time to go up there. I am pretty hard core, I could have a nature baby.

We went on a hike that was a mile in and a mile out. It took for-ev-er because we tried to make Ryan walk. To pass the time we were talking about our favorite hikes. Kelly asked Jannica what hers was and she said "I don't know, I really don't like walking that much." totally serious. I have high hopes for her Olympic future. The day before she had a tantrum over the fact that we would not let her go on an 11 mile hike. Maybe this gets easier with boys.

This is Ryan getting ready to jump and grab a leaf to make a boat. She did this everywhere we went.

Easter was fun, the girls got gardening Easter baskets. I thought it was a good idea, but all in all I don't think the girls care much. So next year we may need to come up with some other celebration of Easter. Maybe just an egg hunt with cool things inside.

Garden

I am loving this gardening thing. It goes along with my longing for Martha Stewart-hood. I have been harvesting my lettuce, spinach and broccoli. My carrots, potatoes, sugar snap peas and onions are all growing beautifully! All of which survived the blasted snow storm in March.

Who knew potato plants grew in these little bushy things, Not me!

I just planted 20 tomato plants. I was feeling ambitious. Here's the problem, I think canning time comes around baby time, so anyone interested in giving me a shower gift can give me help with canning. I also planted corn, 3 different types of cucumber (again, ambitious) and some squash. I am ve-e-e-e-e-e-e-ry excited (as Ryan would say).

Another cool thing was that Wal-Mart had some flowers on sale for 50% off, so I dove right in and bought a whole bunch. The front garden is no longer weeds. Now it is a wonderful flower bed! I also planted my shade garden which I have been waiting to do for a while. I finished everything about 11 PM on Friday night before we left for Hawaii. Ahh, procrastination, it is the only way things get done!

Ryan LOVES helping in the garden, she gets to play in the water that comes out of the hole in the hose and she gets to have a Popsicle to keep her busy while I work. Her life is great!

Thanks to Melissa P. for helping me keep the dream alive while I was out of town!

The Ultrasound

A few days ago we took the kids to the doctors office to go see the ultrasound of the new baby.  Jannica was happy because we took her out of school for a few days.  Ryan just knew that we were going to see a picture of the baby.  So the ultrasounds starts and Ryan is entertained for a few minutes.  Jannica is very interested though.  After about 15 minutes the ultasound tech said, "Can you tell what kind of baby it is?"  I (Kelly) screamed out, "It's a boy!"  Jannica echoed my comment by saying, "Yes, it is a boy."  I asked her if she even knowa how we know that it is a boy.  She replied like I was stupid and said, "He's bald.  That's how I know he's a boy."  It might be about time to have that conversation with her.

Well, all three of my girls were a little dissapointed that he'll be a boy.  They'll get over it.  They are both still very excited for a little brother.  And me too.

Boston!

Jannica and I got a chance to get away after her birthday. We were originally headed to Des Moines, Iowa but naturally the flights were oversold. I mean duh, who would not go to Iowa in March? So we detoured to Boston. Jannica has wanted to go because she has been studying the revolution. She was nearly as good a tour guide as the book I bought

We were lucky enough to go with our good friends Shelyce and Mikayla Denison. (incidentally, we have found our new favorite travel companions.) We got there on Friday night and spent the evening at the hotel either in or around the pool. The girls were in heaven and that was all they wanted to do the whole trip.

Saturday we walked the Freedom Trail. This is a 2.5 mile (one way) walk through Boston's historical sites. We saw great things like the church where "America the Beautiful" was first sung, graveyards full of famous historical figures, (one I swear was haunted) like Paul Revere, Mother Goose, Samuel Adams and many more. We also went to see Old Iron Sides (not much to look at, but cool to visit) and the Bunker Hill monument (my personal death trap). The monument is like the Washington monument, and you walk up 294 stairs (at the end of the 2.5 mile walk) to get some great views of the city. Needless to say, I was the last one up. I blame it all on pregnancy, not on the 20 extra pounds that were there pre-pregnancy and the sedentary lifestyle I lead.

We decided to wander back to the hotel (2.5 miles back to where we started). On the way we stopped in Little Italy to enjoy some authentic Italian and the great ambiance. Shelyce was a little skeptical about going, but in the end I think we were all very happy with the choice we made.

Sunday we went to a great ward in a cool old warehouse in Cambridge. Totally awesome to sit through church without worrying if Kelly had taken Ryan potty yet, and to be able to go to Relief Society.

All in all it was an awesome trip. We will hopefully be going again with the Denison's sooner than later.

This is a one of the views from the top of the Bunker Hill Monument. I do not know any of the geography of this city so I will say that you are looking at Boston Harbor where the famous tea party took place.

This next one is of Jac by a Paul Revere statue and the "one if by land two if by sea" church behind it. I don't even remember the whole story, if you want to know you are on the Internet, look it up.

This is Jac and I on a bridge on our way to see Old Iron Sides. A very old ship that has never been boarded or beaten. I thought it was cool, but the money the government has thrown into keeping it afloat is appalling. Freakin' liberals!

Lastly this is a Jac and I in the restaurant about to enjoy our wonderful dinner. Jannica had lasagna and I had fettuccine alfredo. When our food came, Jac exclaimed that she loves fettuccine alfredo (although she refuses to eat it at home). Luckily I like lasagna and so we were able to share and get a taste of a couple of things at the restaurant. The fettuccini was the better of the two, we both agreed.

By way, we are having a boy.

Indiana Jones, Eat Your Heart Out

Sadly, in the Kartchner house, things often go missing. Shoes, wedding rings, phones, socks, remotes, books, clothes, toys, you name it, some unknown beast has eaten them. Well, as of last Sunday, the beast has officially been beaten to the ground and hopefully (but probably not), been expunged from our lives forever.

Kelly was complaining that he could not find the remote for the downstairs TV (MIA for appx. 6-9 months). I jokingly said it was probably with the phone (MIA for appx. 3 months after having it for maybe 3 weeks). I told him that I had checked the couch, but he could check again.

This man generally walks into a room to find something and stands in the same place with his eyes closed for a few minutes and then comes back to tell me he can't find what he was looking for. This causes me to then go and find it immediately because it is in plain site. I divulge this information, only because the following is JAW DROPPING and AWE-INSPIRING and you need to know why.

Back to Sunday.

He does a little looking in the couch and pulls out the phone. Yeah! We were all so happy and kind of laughing that his was not a fruitless search, although he did not find what he was looking for. Excited now, he goes back for more and emerges with the remote control. Wahoo! I thought that puppy was gone for good! I continued to email and not pay attention when he comes in to kneel by the bed. I stopped what I was doing to look at him and he pulls out MY WEDDING RING! He asked me to marry him, and since I was so impressed I had to say yes. I have lost this ring several times throughout our marriage, most recently was four years ago when I was newly pregnant with Ryan. I have been looking for the thing everywhere and had given it up as long gone. We were planning on getting me a new one.

I have vacuumed that couch at least 4 times in the last four years and luckily have never sucked up the ring. I do not know how Kelly did it, but man oh man, he is on the nice list again!

Last thing, just so you don't put Kelly on too high a pedestal (we wouldn't want him to fall), My couch is still all pulled apart and the vacuum still sitting where the cushions should be:)

Some kids can name all 12 apostles.......

Ryan may not be able to tell you what a temple is, who the prophet is or anything like that, but she has memorized something pretty great. If you come over on any give day you will hear my 3 year old singing "honey, honey, how he thrills me, uh-huh, honey honey!" or "Mama Mia, here I go again, my, my, how can I resist ya?" And then to top it off the other day during breakfast she started listing off names "Sam Carmichael, Harry Bright, Bill Austin" and so on. She randomly says phrases from the movie. I have only let her watch it like 5 or 6 times, but, now I have had to hide it because both girls are making every effort to memorize it.
Jannica asked the other day if this was a church movie. I swear we are teaching our girls about standards and stuff, but I think we might need to kick it up a notch.

Sneaky Little Devil

Kelly and I were being lazy and so did not put our "sweet little angel" to bed one night last week. We were letting her lay on the couch and watch a movie until she fell asleep. I had left her alone to go lay on my bed.

About a half hour later, I sent Kelly upstairs to see if she had fallen asleep yet. Kelly came back downstairs after a very short time. He was laughing, and said you gotta come see this.

I followed him upstairs to find this..........

Notice the intricate use of eyebrow pencil, eyeshadow, blush, lipstick and whatever you put on your nose? She has taken the use of markers to a new dimension. We were laughing too hard to get too upset. We learned that blue does not come off for about three days. Luckily her face was mostly green.

I have a similar story from my youth only my older brother was my palette. I guess what goes around comes around.