Tulip Festival

Saturday we woke up to a non-rainy day, finally, and decided to go the the tulip festival. It was a lot of fun and very beautiful. Ethan had a great time playing outside.

Here You Go Marian!

I had a request to post a family picture from when Steve's family came to visit, so that you all can see how amazingly beautiful we all are. Also, the background is pretty, but not as pretty as the people.

Latest Trick

Ethan started doing this the other day... don't know where he picked it up, but I think it started with butterfly kisses.

My Sweet Boy and Childhood Reminiscing

So I was going about my business the other day when I heard a lull in the constant noise coming from Ethan. I suppose you can say that a lull is not normally a good thing, it typically means trouble is brewing... so I went to inspect. Instead of the disaster that I had anticipated, I found my sweet boy had climbed into the glider with one of his books and was having a good read. After I snapped this picture I continued to watch from the sidelines as he got out of the chair, went to the bookshelf and pulled off two or three more books to take back to the chair and read. I hope that this new found love of reading is something that sticks!

Another thing that Ethan really loves is watching Bob the Builder and Sesame Street. It was while I was watching Sesame Street that I was reminiscing about how it sure isn't the same as when I was a kid... they've even modernized the opening song! It also got me thinking about all the really cool things that I loved as a child that they don't have around anymore. Here are just a few of my favorites that I still miss to this day:1. Rainbow Bright - she was the coolest! and I really loved her furry friends, though I don't remember what they're called anymore. I always wanted a dress with the puffy sleeves like hers.

2. Popples - I had one popple, it was the white one I think. They are the furry stuffed animal friends that you could turn inside out into a ball... boy were they the coolest... I wonder what happened to mine? My mom probably DIed it in hopes that I would forget this obsession. Apparently it worked.

3. Mr. Men and Little Miss - I LOVED these books. In fact, if anyone knows where I can get some I would love to have some to read to Ethan. I don't think I will ever get over this love. One day I hope to own a little miss t-shirt... I just can't decide which one!

4. She-Ra and Heman - I used to own a shera action figure and her horse too. I'm pretty sure she lost her head to my older brothers and the horse was lost in one of the moves... I think Michigan to Utah. I also seem to remember calling them SheMan and He-Ra... don't know why we did that, I guess we thought it was funny... it still kind of is, but with different implications now. 5. Strawberry Shortcake - I remember owning some strawberry shortcake dolls that were scratch-n'-sniff so you scratched their bellies and they smelled like their flavor. Blueberry was my favorite smelling one, so she ran out of her scent the soonest. Somebody should develop permanent scratch-n-sniff so the smell doesn't fade with time. That would make big bucks.

Just a few other things that have come to mind that I miss... slap bracelets and pogs. Wow... talk about a nice trip down memory lane.

A Different Kind of Book Review

Real Life Financial Planning by some people:

This is not my typical kind of book. I read novels and Steve reads factual boring books. So we decided to switch it up a bit. Steve read Twilight (I know you are all wondering if he liked it, but you'll have to ask him) and so I read a book that our financial planners gave us to read. It even looks boring from the cover!!! So it was a rougher read than I am used to, I don't know a lot about investing and insurances and retirement plans so it was tricky to figure out what they were talking about, but it was a very useful read. I have felt like whatever the financial direction that we go and whatever the financial escapades we undertake, I would like to be able to make informed decisions and I feel like this was a good step towards understanding. It was also kind of an overwhelming feeling, there is so much that we have to do and none of it is done! So many aspects to think about that I hadn't thought about! Anyway, that is WAY too much babbling about financial plans. I will say that it was particularly helpful because these people specialize in helping medical professionals, and they understand what needs to be done to set up your own practice. It really was helpful, but very slow going. I think Steve read Twilight (at least 500 pages) in the time I read this one (100 pages).

FreeRice

I saw this on one of my friend's blogs, and I think it is awesome. You get to help with ending world hunger (one grain of rice at a time) and expand your vocabulary. I know that in conference they said that TV and surfing the internet was wasting your time, but I think and occasional grain of rice or two would be alright :) Give it a try! http://www.freerice.com/. The highest I have gotten is level 44... I hope it doesn't go to 100 because that's not saying good things about my vocab skills!

Visits, Weddings and "Breaks"

And so it was that Steve completed another quarter in school, leaving only two quarters remaining until the blessed day of completion. Unfortunately we have been prematurely kicked into the real world of not-getting-a-break-every-three-months. Steve got a break from classes for two weeks but was still required to be in the clinic for his clinic time. His family came to visit us for the first weekend of the break and we had a wonderful time going to the park, going to the Saturday Market and celebrating Easter together. The next weekend I went to Utah for my friend's wedding. It was so wonderful to see everyone and I am very grateful to my mom for babysitting Ethan while I spent time catching up with my best friends (who I only see every two years or so... darn East Coast). Then when I came home I was hoping to be able to do something fun for the "break" with Steve and Ethan. Well... instead of having class Steve spent his time getting caught up on paperwork, which he is woefully behind on. Now school has started again and all we got to do was relax in the evenings by watching videos. Hopefully Steve will get caught up on his paperwork by the time he drops his two off-site shifts and we will see a bit more of him around the house. Maybe he will be caught up by next break and we will get to go and do some camping and zooing and other fun things. In the meantime, here are some adorable pictures of Ethan, I'm sure that will cheer you all up :) Steve and Ethan at the Duck ParkThis is Ethan's favorite new hiding place. He hides himself there and he also hides any shoes he finds there... if you're missing a pair of shoes it might be in there, you never know.Grandpa Taylor, Ethan and Mom in Utah

Ethan loves being on the computer. His favorite thing is opening outlook forty times.

Geisha, A Life

Geisha, A Life by Mineko Iwasaki:

Well, after taking time out from my avid reading schedule to participate in life a little bit :) I have finally finished the book! I really do enjoy a good biography every now and again, but this one does not top my favorite biography which was about Maria VonTrapp. It was an OK book, the really interesting parts were realizing how much Memoirs got their culture wrong. It is especially interesting because Arthur Golden used and cited Mineko as a resource, so presumably he knew all the things she mentioned in her book and just decided to ignore certain bits. For example... in Memoirs you get the impression that Geisha only entertain men, not so! Also he makes a big deal about the Mizuage, which is apparently something completely different if you are a Geisha (he uses the term with the meaning that the prostitues use). I'm sure this all makes complete sense to those of you who have never read either book! But if it comes down to giving it thumbs up... it really only gets one. The stories were interesting, but the plot of Memoirs was far more readable.