Salt Lake County Republican Convention

In case you didn't already know, I went to the caucus meetings and was chosen as a county delegate for my precinct. Although, part of it was because no one else wanted to. I would have liked to be a state delegate but I wouldn't have been able to attend the state convention on May 8th since it's my anniversary and I have a Primary activity to go to. Maybe next time.

This has been a fun experience. I started to realize why there weren't any volunteers. There is a lot of pressure to know what's going on and who the candidates are which means you have to go to town hall meetings and meet and greets. I did most of my research online since I have limited free time, but I was able to go to a few. Even the convention itself is time consuming, and for those of you who know me well will understand the sacrifice I made to be at the South Towne Convention Center at 8:00 on a Saturday morning. That's a 7:00 wake up time, people!

When it came down to it, it wasn't really that hard to get up early because I was really excited to go. When I got there at 8:00 I was able to wander around and talk and listen to the candidates. Which was good, because they're all really good people and it was really hard to choose between them. I ran into Jaaromy's aunt Penny and his dad who is a state delegate and so didn't really need to be there but he came for the first part just to learn more about the candidates, and also many of the state candidates were there too. I'm glad Penny was there. I was prepared to go through the day all by myself, but luckily, I didn't have to. Plus, it was helpful to hear what the other delegates were thinking. I think a lot of them were having just as hard a time deciding as I was.

We also had to register with our Legislative District. I got my ballots and my credential.


So after the mingling and registering, we sat down to listen to the speeches. There was a lot of committee type stuff ie: motion to do such and such, I second that, and so on. After that we got to hear from the candidates we were voting on. I'm glad we did, because I had gone into this part thinking I knew who I was going to vote for and in both cases I changed my mind. I say both because there were only two offices that had challengers. All the other candidates were running unopposed. But we heard from them anyway, which is good. Come November if any of you have any questions about some of the names on the ballot, I can tell you about them.

The state candidates also spoke and there was not a lot of love for Bob Bennett. One of his volunteers cornered me and Penny afterwords and we told her why we didn't like him. She didn't make a very convincing case, and yet, somehow I ended up with a Bob Bennett T-shirt. I don't think I'll be wearing it anytime soon. Speaking of T-shirts, I ended up with three!

While we waited for the ballots to be counted, we broke off into Leg Districts and since my representative, Ron Bigelow, is running unopposed we were able to ask him questions. I had never heard him speak before or even seen him. I've just heard his name. But I was really impressed with him. He answered all our questions honestly and it sounds like he's really trying to reign in spending and keep government small. If only for that, I'm glad I came. We really should know who our representatives are.

Well, in the end, both of the guys I voted for won. Although one of them didn't win with over 60% of the vote so their race will go to the Primary. I'm glad because I had the hardest time deciding who to vote for in this race so it will be good to learn more about them before the Primary in June. If any of you are registered Republicans I hope you'll vote in the Primary.

Spring Fling

So it appears to be Spring. I don't think I trust it completely that it's here. It keeps throwing snow in our faces as it runs away laughing. Even as I write this, the forecast says it might snow tomorrow. I can be patient though, because I know that it won't be long before I'll wish for cooler weather. That, and because Spring does shine forth in all it's glory often.

To prove it, I decided to take some pictures of my flowers. My camera has a micro setting and I love experimenting with it.


These are the tulips in my front yard. Tulips are very photogenic and I have a lot of tulips and a lot of pictures of tulips, but I decided that I liked this one the best. It was really windy the day I took these pictures, can you tell?


These tulips are all by themselves closer to the house and they begged me to take their picture. I was happy to oblige.


These little flowers are in my backyard. They come out really early in the year and I was worried they wouldn't make it when it snowed. I also have pink and blue ones but this was the better picture. Plus, they look so soft, don't they?

I tried to take pictures of the blossoms on our peach tree but with the wind it was really hard to get a good shot. I did manage to get this one though.


Jonathan thought it was too bright when he opened the door to go to school so he ran back inside to grab his sunglasses. I really didn't expect to see those sunglasses again but I was pleasantly surprised to find he still had them, and he was wearing them.

Why don't you come to my place for the weekend?

Nathaniel has wanted a pet for a long time. We've considered small, less-traditional pets(ie: anything that isn't a dog or cat) but we're just not ready to commit.

So, when it was Nathaniel's turn to take care of the class hamsters for the weekend I sent a note to school giving my approval. Friday afternoon Nathaniel came home from school with two bags full of hamsters and hamster supplies. If I had known he was going to have to carry so much, I might have gone and picked him up. As for the hamsters, I think they might have been a little freaked out from what was surely a bumpy ride. The boys were quite taken with them and we sat and stared at them for a long time.


The boys were also anxious to let them run around in the hamster balls that were included in the bag of hamster supplies. But since they seemed a little freaked out, I decided that we should let them acclimate(yes, I used that word with Nathaniel so don't be surprised if you hear it from him soon) for a day, then we can put them in the hamster balls.

So the next day they got their wish. It totally worked out because it gave us a good excuse to clean up the family room. The boys were happy to help clean up to make room for the hamsters. It was a hoot to watch them roll around the room, they're so fast.


Unfortunately for the hamsters, my wireless card isn't working so I had to use the cable and the router is by the tv, so they had to keep rolling over the cable. Sometimes they made it and sometimes they didn't. I think the hamsters got tired before the boys did because after a while they would stop rolling around and just sit in the ball. It worked out because then I could let Jonathan hold the ball while he played video games.

As a side note: In my post about the bird in our dryer, there was one part of the story that I forgot to mention. When Jonathan heard about the bird in the house, he really wanted the bird to stay and watch him play Zelda. I'm not sure why he was so desirous of this and he was really disappointed when we told him that the bird was gone and couldn't watch. When the hamsters came to visit, he was excited about the idea of the hamsters watching him play Zelda. So when the hamsters got tired of rolling around, I figured it was a perfect opportunity to let them sit on his lap and watch him play video games.

Overall, it was fun having the hamsters around. It kind of stressed Jaaromy out to have them rolling around for some reason and they bit his hand quite a bit when he put them in the hamster balls. And it was a little disconcerting to hear noises coming from the family room late at night, but it was fun and the kids enjoyed it. Who knows, maybe the boys will get a pet of their very own one day.

Easter

Easter seemed to come too fast this year. I wasn't quite ready for it. I blame myself, I wasn't in tune as much this year as I have been in the past. Luckily, Easter fell on Conference Weekend and so a lot of the deep thinking and introspection was done for me and all I had to do was watch and learn.

Since Easter fell on Conference we had to do our Easter festivities another day. For Jaaromy's family that other day was the following Saturday. We couldn't stay as long as we would have liked and so we missed the egg hunt, but Grandma Patti decided to get a piñata this year and we were able to participate in that. Although we underestimated the strength of some of our toddlers and it broke before the older kids got a chance to try. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take any pictures. It was fun to see everyone, including Kelly and Megan who recently moved up here from Arizona and can now come to all our family get-togethers.

Sunday we had an egg hunt with my family. The weather was nice, it was overcast and not too hot or too cold. It was fun to watch the kids find their eggs.


Nathaniel is old enough that he found almost all his eggs by himself.


Jonathan had fun looking for his eggs with my help.


Since I helped him, he finished before Nathaniel and so went right to the swings.


Brigham had no interest in looking for eggs and Jaaromy and I ended up finding his eggs for him. Oh well, maybe next year.

We also celebrated 7 April birthdays, but after the fourth time through "Happy Birthday" I gave up and started a show for Brigham in the toy room.

It was a fun Easter.

Now that it's Spring

Since it's been getting warmer, we've actually played outside a little bit. We were all looking pretty pale from staying inside all winter so the sun on our faces was very welcome.

It all started around Easter. The boys each got sidewalk chalk from the Easter Bunny, who, by the way, should be commended for getting anything done since his heart may or may not have been in it this year.


So, in between sessions of conference they drew for a while but soon moved to the swing set.


Brigham has found a new favorite thing. He loves to go down the slide. The only problem is that I have to go with him because it's a little steep and he usually ends up on his hands and knees by the time he hits the bottom so I have to hold his hand to help him keep his balance.


I took this picture another day. Jonathan and Brigham were both going down the slide and Jonathan would wait and let Brigham push him down. Brigham thought it was hilarious and I'm so happy I was able to get this picture since my phone camera has a delay.

I'm getting behind in my posting so I think I'll leave it at that and try to post some more tomorrow.

I don't think that's the Easter Bunny

So I thought I'd get in a load of wash in between Conference sessions today. I went into the laundry room and I heard a loud rustling in the corner. It sounded like something was in the dryer tube. I called for Jaaromy so he could hear it, and of course it stopped when he got there. I climbed on top of the dryer to see if I could get it to move again. It did and so we moved the dryer out a ways so we could see what was going on. Well, the tube came out of the dryer so whatever was inside could now crawl out. We waited with great anxiety as we heard it crawl closer to the opening. What is it?! Jaaromy immediately thought rat. This was such an amusing scenario that my mind started thinking of more pleasant possibilities, such as a small puppy. We were both surprised when out popped a bird.



It kept going back and forth between the tube and the dryer, and then suddenly started to fly around our tiny laundry room. Apparently, I'm a girl because I screamed. Nathaniel had chosen that moment to see what was going on and saw it flying around and it startled him quite a bit as well. It flew to the small window but it was closed, of course. So Jaaromy opened it up but that was a little to close for comfort for the bird so it flew into the ceiling which was missing a panel because of our leaky bathtub last year. So we went back to the business of taking care of the dryer. The bird had apparently been in there before since there were feathers all over. Turns out that what we thought were discarded feathers was actually a dead bird. It was inside the dryer. I don't think it could have been there very long. I hate to think that it was my last load of laundry that did him in. He probably thought that it was warm...at first. Jaaromy was taking care of the dead bird when we heard more rustling. There was another bird in the tube! So Jaaromy lifted it up towards the window and out popped the second bird and it flew out the window.

As I write this, the bird may or may not still be in the ceiling. We decided to leave the window open and close the door and let it get out on it's own. I hope it works.

Dear Spring, April Fool's! Love, Winter

Today, Jonathan saw the snow outside and decided that he wanted to play in it. Of course he wanted me to come and play outside with him. Of course I did, even though I was in the middle of reading scriptures and I hadn't even showered yet. Yep, I totally have my priorities straight. He got himself dressed and I had him put on two pairs of socks because his shoes are worn out enough that I knew his feet would be wet within minutes. Other little boys might have boots, but seeing as how this is the first(possibly second) time this winter that we've even played in the snow, I think you'll understand when I say that I didn't want to waste the money. As for getting him new shoes, we're practically to sandal weather. I don't want to buy shoes for only a couple of months of wear only to have him keep growing over the summer while his shoes sit unused and the same size.

Anywho, Jonathan decided that he wanted to build a snowman. The snow was a little tough to work with, but we managed to put together a toddler sized snowman. We found sticks for the arms and nose, leaves for the eyes and tree bark for the mouth.

Jonathan was pretty happy with the results so he suggested we make another one. So we did, and it was essentially the same snowman, just a little rounder. If I'd thought ahead I would have built it a little closer to the first one to make taking a picture a little easier.



Unfortunately for the snowmen, it isn't actually winter. By the time I actually wrote this post, this is what the snowmen looked like:


But at least we have these great pictures to remind us of the fun!