let's pretend

Let's pretend that it isn't freezing outside now. Let's pretend that there is no snow.

When I take a deep breath and close my eyes, when I know something will hurt and I am trying to think of something positive, when the yoga instructor says to relax...

the image in my head involves me on the beach, sometimes napping, sometimes reading and sometimes looks something like this:

and this

and this

The kids are excited about the snow. Samuel went out and took a big bite. I am not so excited about it. I want summer back.

This is up at Bear Lake. Karl's sister invited us up a while back.

The girls found "the things that look like hot dogs" (cattails) and made a little sculpture of sorts with them. One of the (very outnumbered) boys decided it would be fun to steal them and chuck them in the lake. Just because. I think you have to be a boy to understand stuff like that. Abbi, Ryan, and Kitty, we missed you.

Samuel is trying to give Karl a kiss on the cheek. Samuel did not get Karl's complexion.

Enjoying a happy Utah treat, Fat Boys.

Sand, water and mud fights. They never end until someone is crying. It is just the way it is.

There are a few things you can count on in life. The sun rising is one of them. Another one is "barbecue" (not to be confused with A barbecue) sandwiches with see through potato chips in the yellow bag and rainbow jell-o at family get togethers. Traditions are nice.

The kids all slept in the loft. They chanted for bedtime stories and giggled a lot.

My parents have a new project. It is in Paris. Paris, Idaho. We went and visited.

It has a pink tub and a retro fridge. The pink tub matches the pink everything else about the house. There are few pictures that can make me giggle every single time I look at them. Samuel carrying the heavy slate is one of them. My dad posing in this picture is another one.

I am going to use the Secret. I am going to put this beach on the vision board in my head. If, I mean, when it is suddenly sunny, warm and beach weather, you will have my thoughts to thank.

related

Growing up, I had exactly five people that I was related to in this country. My mom, my dad, my sister and my two brothers. That was it.

Then I married Karl.

On Friday, we headed up to Cache Valley because Karl's sister and her husband were getting an award at USU. We needed someone to watch our kids. So, Karl asks one cousin. But her daughter ended up getting sick. So, Karl asks another cousin. So sweet, said they were going to hang out with friends that night but were willing to have my kids join them at their friends' house.

When we pick the kids up, Karl's cousin had a funny story to tell. She was calling Samuel by his full name to try and get him to listen (what? Samuel not listening?) and her friend says, "Wait, what is his last name?" Turns out she has a great-grandma Eva, too. Turns out that she and Karl are second cousins. So, well, it turns that the kids were baby sat by cousins on both Karl's mom and dad's side!

How would it be to be related to so many people that you don't even know. Karl joked that he married me, just to be totally safe that he wasn't marrying one of his cousins.

The next day (well, night) we went to the pumpkin walk. It was a first for me, but a long standing tradition in Logan. And it is run by, you guessed it, one of Karl's relatives.

Karl's mom joined us. The kids adore their grandma and were so excited to go see her.

(When choosing Eva's coat, we went for function over style. She likes her coats long. She kind of looks like E.T.)

Karl's grandma painted these signs for the pumpkin walk. I see where Eva and Karl's art skill come from.

These were a few of our favorites:

Here is an article on the pumpkin walk. Guess who took the pictures. Yep, another one of Karl's relatives.

We got a kick out of all the hand painted stick-your-face-in-the-cut-out-to-kind-of-look-like-a-character things. My favorites were the Yoda and Eva in the air plane. And though Eva loves to tell people she doesn't like princesses, I think she secretly still likes them.

And we turned the corner and guess what we saw? Yep, Karl's relatives. This time it was his grandma and grandpa made out of pumpkins.

Guess who made the Aggie Icecream display? You know the answer by now, Karl's relatives. His uncle and cousins.

There were more relative run-ins, more than I have time to post. Things like, "That's a big house." "Oh, that is my cousin's." And I am sure more than I even knew about.

I guess I always knew that Karl came from a huge family. His dad is one of 12 and his grandpa is one of 12. It just seems like I was re-realizing it this weekend. But I just have to say that my kids are lucky to grow up having so many people that automatically love them, even if it is just because they are family.

minnesota, the reason

The wedding day finally came.

It was a beautiful, perfect day. Every detail was taken care of. Best of all, we all had a great time.

My family. The wedding party.

Eva was flower girl. I didn't know that I love dahlia's so much.

My kids sporting their special smiles that they save just for photos.

They had the wedding in the Minnesota History Center. The setting was perfect.

The American ceremony.

My dad. Close up.

My parents brought a bunch of kimonos and set them up. They were so pretty. The bride and groom made sure to make the whole event included a little bit of Japanese, Hmong, and American culture.

They had a kids table complete with treats, coloring, toys. Seriously, every detail was taken care of.

My brother's friend is a writer. He read a poem that he wrote for the bride and groom. It was amazing.

The food. Of course. All fancy and tasty. They served Walleye. Walleye makes me giggle because the only time I had heard of it was on Prairie Home Companion. I ordered it just for that reason.

The cake. The cake close-up. I wish I didn't know what those marks were. I wish I didn't know who did it. I wish I didn't have to cover it up with a leaf. I am pretty sure everyone was having such a great time that they weren't bothered by it.

Dancing. Loved seeing my family dance. They got my parents to dance. Turns out, my mom loves to dance. Turns out, my dad can find ways to make himself busy and disappear so no one can make him dance anymore.

My nephew was the life of the party. He loves to dance.

Karl loves to dance, too.

The scarves everyone is wearing are gifts from the bride and groom. They used them to decorate our chairs and then we got to take them. Beautiful, thoughtful, genius.

The limbo. Karl is good at the limbo. I got to see my mom do the limbo. My nephew was hilarious. He kept crawling under it.

Of course, my nephew won the limbo contest. Just like a good life of the party should.

Bro in law and niece are counting money from the dollar dance. Bo totally won.

Eva dancing with my brother.

Karl and his new found friend, Bo's cousin from France.

At one point he did a rap. So it was a Hmong guy from France doing a rap in America. Where else can you see that?

Oh, and where else can you see a Hmong Elvis impersonator serenading your daughter.

He was trying to get Eva to dance but Eva said she didn't want to.

Samuel pulled out his infamous Swiffer Sweeper move. It started in the middle of the dance floor. And it wasn't so much then that I was embarrassed. Or even when he started moving across the dance floor. It was more when he started going off the dance floor. And straight into the dining area that I really felt embarrassed.

The Hmong dance.

My bro, nephew, and dad (who are apparently and coincidentally non-dancers) were busy taking care of the car.

The whole event was so much fun. My brother said something to effect of, "I had a blast! Who has fun at their own wedding?"

The flight home.

Seats come in sets of three. Karl sat with the kids on the way there AND the way back. Was like a mini vacation for me.

I remember after I had Eva and I was on the airplane with her and feeding her, holding her, changing her, comforting her, cleaning up her spew. I remember looking at a lady in front of me who was all relaxed and reading a book and wondering, "Will I ever be able to read a book on an airplane again?"

Looks like my time has come.

Unless, of course, I have to sit with the kids both ways the next time we fly because Karl did this trip.