What a great picture

The other day Nikki was showing a picture that she had drawn to Nate. On the same piece of paper she had asked me to draw a horse with wings like on the Barbie Pegasus movie. I know I don't have any drawing talent, but when Nate saw it he said, "Oh Nikki, what a great picture. Did Hannah help you draw that horse?" Ha! Well, he may have mistaken my artwork for that of a 5-year-old, but at least he knew what animal it was!

Marshmallows and chocolate chips

Hannah has a new favorite dessert -- marshmallows and chocolate chips. She would actually eat them for lunch, snacktime, and breakfast if I let her. This morning I was making my shopping list, and I asked the girls if they could think of anything we needed from the grocery store. Hannah's request was chocolate chips. Then when we got to the store, that was the first thing she wanted to go looking for. I love chocolate too, and it's scary to think how much she has learned from me in her short five years of life.

who needs a gym membership?

Ever since our girls were old enough to crawl they have loved to come and attack anyone who lays down on the floor. They think it is the most fun thing to swarm all over you. Nate probably laid on the living room floor for about an hour today, but he certainly didn't get any rest. He was worn out by the time they finished playing with him. I think the girls' favorite part was when he was using them to do a bench press.

Torero's

Last night Nate and I went out on a date, and we ended up eating at this neat Mexican restaraunt in downtown Goldsboro called Torero's. It looks like just a little hole in the wall, but it was soooo good. They had a guy with a guitar walking around singing. He was really good and it added a lot to the atmosphere. Then we ordered. Now I usually like Mexican food, but this was the best I've ever had. Nate tried to tell me I was just hungry, but when the leftovers today still tasted like a little piece of heaven I knew I was right. I ordered a Macho burrito which, by the price of it, I didn't think would be a major platter. Well, it was about three times the size of what I expected. I should have portioned it out to last three meals, but it was so good that I admit I ate half of it. I got chicken in it, and I wish I had the menu to describe the rest of what was in it. It was fabulous. I just can't say it enough. Nate's order was wonderful, too. I can't remember what it was called, but sausage and eggs was the main ingredient. He said he used to eat it a lot on his mission in Argentina. They brought his out on a large round plate that had the sausage, refried beans, rice, lettuce and vegetables all laid out. And then they brought him a little dish of tortillas, so he could make his own burritos or fajitas or whatever it was called. All of it was just delicious. I ate so much that I don't think I'll be hungry for the next week.

Killer mosquito

We spent the 4th of July at JW & Alli's house and had a really good time. Mike brought some water balloons and the adults probably had more fun than the kids did. JW even took a trip onto the roof to get Mike with the water hose. While we were outside I noticed a mosquito on Hannah's face just under her eye. I shooed him away and squished him, but apparently not soon enough. The next morning Hannah woke up with her eye red and swollen. She also has a bite on her calf that is puffy. The poor thing. She is also really sensitive to fire ants, and I don't even want to think about what would happen if she got stung by a bee or wasp. I've never seen anyone so sensitive to small insects.

And this is right after a couple of weeks ago Nikki woke up with some kind of a bite on her foot that caused swelling up past her ankle and started turning purple. She was limping on it whenever she tried to walk. JW gave her a shot of prednisone and it cleared up pretty quickly after that. But I was starting to get a little worried about it. I'm starting to think that North Carolina has some killer insects.

Heat wave

Wow, has it been hot this week! We were only playing outside for a little while Wednesday morning when everyone was ready for popsicles. I thought Nikki found the perfect position to relax and cool off.

Random thoughts

We were riding in the car today and Nikki started making up her own little song. It was really funny hearing her sing out her train of thought. Her lyrics went something like this: "I want apple juice. I don't like water. I like apple juice and milk. Not water. I be good at the library. Where is daddy? I don't know. Daddy is at work. Where is Hannah? Hannah is right here. We are Hannah and Nikki." And this went on for about 10 minutes. I wish I could remember more of what she said. It was so random.

Speaking of random, this thought has nothing to do with what I was just writing about. I got a haircut on Saturday. That is always such a huge ordeal for me. I remember my mom saying that it really wasn't that bad that my dad lost his hair because he had bad hair anyway. What she never directly admitted was that I inherited his hair. Usually I never like a haircut until it has grown out for about two weeks, but this time I didn't come away on the verge of tears. The stylist straightened it with a flat iron thing (you can see how out of style I am since I don't even know what it is really called). I had never used one on my hair, and I was so surprised that she could actually get it completely straight! I have always just roundbrushed it, but I really liked it. Then she also did this anti-frizz treatment, so my curls are better too. So what a nice experience to actually be satisfied with a hair cut.

Nauvoo, Illinois

We spent last week with Robin, Mike, JW, and their families in Nauvoo, Illinois. We missed Kellee, but it was a lot of fun having the rest of the siblings together again. We drove there and back, and the girls did such a good job. We set up Nate's laptop in the back seat so the girls could watch DVDs, and Nikki was in heaven. She would rather watch a movie than almost anything else. We got home Saturday night, and then we drove to Manteo (about 3 hrs away) on Sunday for my cousin Bonnie's wedding. When we were getting in the car after the ceremony to go to the reception, Nikki stopped dead in her tracks and screamed, "I don't want to get in the car!" I guess she had had enough driving, and I really couldn't blame her. I felt the same way when we got home that night.

Nauvoo was so beautiful. We stayed in a house that overlooks the Mississippi River, and it was absolutely gorgeous. The weather was perfect, hanging out with the family was a lot of fun, we had lots of good food, and it was really neat to tour the church history sites. We got a chance to attend the temple one morning, but I never did take a picture of it. It's one thing to see a picture of it and then a completely different thing to actually be there and see how beautful and large it is and think of the sacrifice the early saints made to build such a magnificent structure.

So, it was a really fun vacation, and I have just been exhausted today. I don't think we'll go anywhere for a while. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Hannah, Emma, & Lydia

These three love to have their picture taken. We took a wagon ride around Nauvoo one afternoon. It was especially nice because Nikki fell asleep on it. I can't imagine traveling across the plains going so slowly. Taking two days to drive there seemed like a long time until I thought about going across country at the pace of a horse-drawn wagon. Thank goodness I was born late in the 20th century.

Like he really needs to be any taller!

I think Nate had just as much fun as the girls playing the pioneer games. He said it was pretty hard walking on stilts, but he did get a few steps in.