the frontrunner

If you live in Davis County and you are looking for a great adventure you can try what we tried this evening. We went carless and hopped on the new front runner train for an evening in " the city" as Sophie calls it. We took the train to Salt Lake and then hopped on trax and headed up to meet my parents and Naomi at Trolley Square for some shopping and food. It was an adventure and the kids thought the train was the greatest thing ever. John and I felt like we were on vacation- something about riding a train that made us feel not quite at home. An acquatiance in Pottery Barn Kids said we were on a "stay-cation". I guess that means when you stay in the same place but you are on vacation. I can handle that. Bring on the "stay-cations...." Some helpful hints if you happen to hop aboard the front runner yourself.

1. Take your kids at least once. They love the view and it is pretty entertaining. At least on the way there. 2. Have a helpful tour guide.

3. Pick a good destination- We went out on a limb here and decided not to stop with the front runner. We hopped on trax and continued around town.

4. Enjoy your company- It was so fun to meet up with Mushie, Papa and Naomi. That way we got to laugh about our little adventure with someone else. Enjoying our kids company was a bit of a stretch at the end on the way home. We had to wait for the train for 20 minutes and then ride home. Car seats were invented for children like Parker who should be strapped in when in a moving vehicle. (That being said though- I was actually glad he was being so crazy. He ran in front of some guy at Trolley Square and got pummeled to the ground to put it lightly. So as crazy as the train ride home was- I was happy to see him laughing and playing.... and not acting like he had a concussion. He probably should have for how hard he hit his head.)

5. Lastly- Don't leave your cell phone on the Front Runner... but if you do.... make sure you have a really obnoxious ring like John's and call it over and over til the really nice lady who was working on the train picks it up. John just drove back over to the station to meet the train that was arriving back from Ogden. "Lucky John", is what I say.

All in all-Great night. Gotta love good public transportation and the warm fuzzy feeling you get because you might just help the planet by using it. Plus- I always love spending time with my cute hubby and kids.

The catch up. part two. album of the month.

April was tough, lots of good music.* And I'm late posting this. (I try to post our album of the month two weeks into the next month.) So I will be short.

The album I enjoyed the most this month-
Afer much deliberation Attack and Release by the Black Keys beat out The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit.** Great music. Big blues rock. Dangermouse production is spectacular. A little reminiscent of Zeppelin at times. Try Psychotic Girl and I Got Mine.

The album Ashley enjoyed the most-
Matthew Ryan vs. the Silver State by Matthew Ryan. Hard to go wrong with this guy. Great songwriter. Springsteen comparisons are appropriate. Try American Dirt, or It Could've Been Worse.

enjoy.

* April by Sun Kil Moon. The Fleet Foxes EP. Los Campesinos. Hayes Carll. Langhorn Slim. Flight of the Conchords. Portishead.
**The Frightened Rabbit album is very good. It's a little coarse in word choice and heavy in subject matter though. Review the profanity policy (outlined in Feb's An Endorsement post) before you listen. You may want to skip Keep Yourself Warm. But try Backwards Walk, Good Arms vs. Bad Arms, Old Old Fashioned, or Twist.
*** In what will surely be a "Best Segway of the Year" nominee, the local newscaster just shifted the news focus to the weather with this. "Well Jodi, it's easy to believe that the rain we've seen today is simply the heaven's weeping for our own David Archeletta." Sorry about the Idol loss little guy.

The catch up. Part one. Where we were.

Mexico.
It was sunny. (mid 90's)
We had good company. (A and Dan.)
There was a large body of water. (Sea of Cortez.)
We read. (Ashley- Three Cups of Tea and The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio. John- Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, spin magazine, t shirt logos, signs, poorly translated menus, tea leaves)
We ate good food. (mostly shrimp.)
and we did nothing else.
good trip.

Spoiler Alert: She marries the writer.

Preface: Considering entertainment in food terms, if "To Kill a Mockingbird" is a good balanced meal, packed with fresh produce, possibly locally grown, and "TMZ" is a twinkie wrapped in chicken skin, battered and deep fried, then what is your typical romantic comedy?

I am stuck. I am entranced. I am one hour and 30 minutes into a movie that I was sure I did not want to watch, and my list of "things with equal or greater entertainment value that I could be doing instead" is growing by the minute.
I could be sleeping.
Or cleaning the baseboards.
Or reading a book about math.

Yet I cannot leave.

"You've come this far, John, ride it out. Give it a chance, maybe they'll right the ship...
maybe...
probably not."

"But how does it end? "

I don't know the answer to that question for so many "its" in my life. And I don't need the question, "will the 28th dress be a wedding dress?"floating around with "what will my kids be like in 10 years?"
Will they like the Beatles?
Will they like me?
Will I like my job?
Will I still have all my fingers?
Will Team Snake beat the Fur Traders this year?
etc.
So I will fight on, waiting for a good song in the soundtrack (thank you Ray Lamontagne for letting your music be in so many crappy movies), or one mildly entertaining bit of dialogue, until the sweet, sweet end.

Just to know the answer for something.

Tractors, tractors, tractors!

We celebrated Parker's birthday Monday night Cinco de Mayo/tractor style! Here are our favorite things about the party!

1. Papa's tractor. And this picture. Doesn't get much better than this. All of the kids looking at the camera and smiling! Priceless. (Owen, where were you when this picture was taken??)

2. Parker's love of the tractor and the excitement that accompanied every gift he opened. Thanks everyone!

3. The little cake that could. I made this then transported it to Salt Lake to the party. Bad idea. The windows melted off on the way down and there was some serious settling as we drove over the bumpy road. With a little frosting and some oreos I salvaged it and it ended up lasting until we sang. Then the kids couldn't wait to get their hands on it. Plus watching Parker try to blow out his candles cracked me up. He has been singing "happy birthday" all week and then blowing at the end of the song.

4. The marshmallow fight. Why don't I have a picture of this? While opening presents my Dad started passing around big marshmallows to everyone (mind you I am oblivious to all of this going on- completely engrossed in Parker's opening of gifts...). Then all of the sudden Adrianne decided to launch a marshmallow right at me. And full war was on. 20 or 30 people, mostly adults, engaged in intense mashmallow to marshmallow combat. Seriously one of my favorite moments ever. I had no idea that a marshmallow could be used as a weapon or hurt when being thrown so hard. Classic.

5. Of course... friends and family that came to celebrate with Parker. We love you!

Happy Birthday Parker. Can't wait to do it again next year!

Happy Birthday Parker!

Parker turned two today. We are having a party on Monday so today was pretty low key, but fun. Parker is such a fun kid to have around. He is happy, funny, sweet, determined and so cute. He makes me laugh all the time. Here are some fun Parker pictures. Love you bud.
Happy Birthday little bubs. We love you so much!