The Pollan Post: May 2011

Springtime Fun

So, I mentioned on our Anniversary weekend that we went and test drove scooters. Well, we have purchased one. I am so excited to get it. It was supposed to get here yesterday but now maybe tomorrow it will come. We are keeping our fingers crossed. It is a Stella which is a new scooter made from an old factory cast of the 1970s Vespa's. I can't wait to get it. It is a clutch transmission so that will take some getting used to as I haven't ever driven dirt bikes or anything but I am up for a challenge. I test drove it and was able to do it in first gear okay but never got the chance to go into second since I was in a parking lot. The good news is I didn't run it into any parked cars or anything like the lady they were telling me they had in the shop the weekend before. Nice! So, Happy late Anniversary to both of us. This is our first "toy" purchase and we couldn't be more excited about it.

I planted these two apple trees over three years ago and one of them has done pretty well. We have only gotten two apples off of them but at least it looks like a tree. This year it has tons of blossoms and I am so hopeful we get a bunch of apples. It is looking really good. The other tree still looks ridiculous, worse than ridiculous. I should really just yank it up and start over but I have great hope for it's future apples someday and will give it one more year to start looking like a tree and not a twiggy thing.

This is a photo of my side yard, it is looking really great with the tulips that are left after the deer had their fill. You have to plant three times as many as you really want so you have a few left after the deer go through and graze on off the property. I am thoroughly enjoying spring and am so excited to feel like we are out of the winter months. Though the next ten days look like seven of them will be rain and then the whole valley is going to flood, but still. I am so excited for summer. Three more weeks of school and I get my sweet kids all to myself. I can not wait! Things can slow down and we can just enjoy for a while. I love tutoring and volunteering and helping out at the school as much as I do but I am very much looking forward to having free time to just play. So are my kids. We are all ready for a break.

Family Photo Shoot

Byron's darling sister Hollie was gracious enough to share her talent with us. She gave us a family photo shoot for our birthdays which Byron and I both celebrated in March. She was here then but we decided to wait till April so we could catch nicer weather and more flower/greenery in the photos. We decided to head up Memory Grove as I had heard that is a good place for photos. Apparently everyone else heard it too because it was full of photographers and mostly engaged couples. It was fun to trapes around and get our photos taken. Hollie did a great job doing her best to make us into a presentable family. I think the photos came out great.

The photo above is my favorite memory of the trip. Hollie was trying to get a shot of Byron and I but of course our kids were buzzing around like bees trying to see what was going on. I had just told Byron to give me his best "smolder" and he just couldn't pull it off. He decided his smolder was broke. We were all busting up because it refers to a new Disney movie that is watched 24/7 at our house lately, Tangled. Totally hysterical, even Ali was dying with laughter. So, needless to say we didn't get a good smolder photo but we got some really great shots regardless of Byron's smoldering troubles he was having.

Memory Grove is somewhere I have never been, it was banned when I was a kid by my dad because apparently a lot of drug deals go down there. So, I never went when I was younger but we had a good time taking photos and looking around a bit.

Baseball and Cello Farewell

Tyler's first baseball game resulted in a hailstorm with thunder and lightening followed by a downpour of rain. After we all huddled under our folding chairs, laying over our children so we hail wouldn't pelt them we were rewarded with a rainbow and blue skies....crazy weather. No, they did not cancel the game. After a short hail intermission they resumed play in the freezing rain. The game ended with the Rattlers, Ty's team up by one run which Tyler scored! He was thrilled to be the one to score the only run of the game. We went out for hogies and frozen custard at Nielsen's. Yummy! Great game Tyler.

This is Carter's last performance on the cello. He has been taking for 8 months and is dong amazingly well. Unfortunately for me the band recruiters came through the orchestra class and he has been declared a natural at the trumpet. Urgh! So, he has been wooed and is now moving toward the Concert Band. We rented him a trumpet and are saying a sad farewell to the cello. For some reason I am the only one crying, well Ali is now realizing that the cello is a much quieter instrument than the cello. I am hoping he will end up disliking the trumpet greatly and will beg to go back to cello. Kids! What are we going to do with them?

Tyler is loving baseball, this is his second game. Byron couldn't be more happy with this as he was a baseball lover himself as a kid. Tyler played T-ball and then took a year off and is not back in the game with machine pitch. He is doing really well. He is one of the most consistent hitters and is even pretty good in the outfield. He has made some key plays in pivital games!! What a guy. It is fun to watch his team get better and better every week. Go Rattlers!!

Anniversary Trip- Park City in Spring

Happy 13th Anniversary to us!!! How can time go by so quickly? We have had an amazing thirteen years together and are excitedly looking forward to the next thirteen, an the next thirteen after that!!!

Byron and I celebrated our 13th Anniversary by taking a little trip. If you read my blog you know how much I love tripping without the kids. I like to trip with the kids as well, but if you haven't tripped without kids lately you really should!!! We have a place up in Park City we like to stay at, it is awesome. Hotel Park City. They have these cottages that are so cute and wonderfully lush. The beds are amazingly comfy and each cottage has their own private hot tub on the deck. It really is a fun place. We headed up the canyon and enjoyed each other for the weekend, we also enjoyed the Pad Thai and Curry at our favorite Thai restaurant in Utah. So good we almost ate there twice in a row but decided to venture out and try something new. Anyway, we had such a fun time being together. A huge thanks goes out to my sister Sonja who kept the kids for us so we could go. She is amazing! They had so much fun without us. She even let them get seconds at the Frozen Yogurt shop they love. Seconds? They had a blast.

As part of our fun weekend adventure we decided to test drive scooters. What were we thinking right? It was so fun! Beside the freezing wind chill factor, really snow in April? It wasn't snowing while we were test driving but leaving the parking lot it shortly began to snow. Regardless, it was a cold test drive but totally fun. We drove Vespa's and the Buddy but really I fell in love with the Stella scooters which are an old vintage looking scooter. So totally cute!

We also got in a lot of shopping. Thank you outlet malls! We both purchased more clothes than probably the last 6 months combined. Again, what were we thinking? It was fun though and they were having some great sales so if you are going to spend your time shopping you might as well buy and make it worth the effort. We shopped till Byron pulled the plug on the whole ordeal and had to refuel with food.

After lunch we headed for the art galleries and Main Street. We found our future octypus coffee table for when we buy a beach house. It is only $12,000...no sweat, right. Seriously though if you have a beach house this octypus table was amazing. Those eight twisty turny legs holding up a thick piece of glass. Really something. It was probably my favorite piece of art we saw that day. So cool. Plus, you can get the octypus in pretty much any color you want. Of course we would do red, when we get the beach house.

Needless to say we had a fun weekend, ate lots of food and enjoyed great company. I am so happy to be able to say I love Byron more today than the day I married him. He is an amazing husband and father and I am so lucky and blessed to have him in my life. I recently was filling out a card for a wedding and said, "Congratulations on your marriage. Make it great." Our lives are what we make them and I am so glad for the decisions that we have made to bring us to today, right now. We have an amazing life together and I wouldn't change a thing.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Springtime Fun

Family Photo Shoot

Baseball and Cello Farewell

Anniversary Trip- Park City in Spring