Author: heidi

After Urbana, we found ourselves on two lane roads through small towns on the way to Nauvoo. This was actually a really beautiful drive. It was nice to be off of the freeway and to see some of less-noticed sights of the farms and homes. Most of the pictures don’t turn out well while driving, but I would definitely recommend checking out the world from off the main road. We saw lots of nice farms and enjoyed the time together, driving through open fields and listening to good music.

We also learned not to trust Priceline for hotels. We expected Hotel #1 (the Star Motel in Macomb, IL) to be old and cheap, which it was, but we did not expect a cop out front and a price jump to get the two beds we thought we had already booked online. Hotel #2 (Days Inn in Osceloa, IA) was almost double the price to get two beds and a crib. By Hotel #3 (Ramada in Cheyenne, WY), we were wary, but this one took the cake. We had tried to splurge for one with a nice pool to let the kids swim, but the doors were outside and it looked like a re-furbished factory. The hotel manager said we could park by his car, one of the only ones out front, and the only other customer was a construction worker that was booking for 4 guys for the week. I should have seen all of these as warning signs, but I was tired and giving them the benefit of the doubt. When we walked in the room Cristian said, “Doesn’t something look funny to you?” The beds were not made. We went back, tried room #2, and found it smoked though it was supposed to be non-smoking. As the last try, and hauling both kids up and down the outside (freezing) stairs, we went in room #3. Beds made, no smoke, this might work out. Then we hear a funny noise. Drip, drip, drip. A full stream of water coming out of the ceiling!!! Needless to say, I told manager we were sorry, but we just had to go somewhere else. Cristian was dying laughing by now. And we both learned to get hotels the old-fashioned way: pull into town, check out a few hotels, tell them it’s cheaper across the way, and get a normal hotel for a normal rate at a normal hour. Yep. That’s what we did on the way back.

A small stop-over in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois gave us a peek at the University of Illinois campus, some good Thai food downtown, and time to run the wiggles out at a park.

In May, we took a long journey out to Idaho to visit my family. Merayla and Oliver did surprisingly well, and we had a great time! Since there are tons of pictures, I plan to break this up into several posts. But to begin, here’s what we looked like in transit:

Starting Out

Mid-Way

At Journey’s End (definitely comfortable in that car seat!)

The following videos are dances from Layla and Bird. Merayla performed for the winners of the romantic Valentine’s Dinner for Two on the evening of February 14th, 2011. Oliver started dancing while I was practicing a ward choir song, and Cristian caught some of it on video on Saturday, March 5th. Hope you enjoy the show:

cleaned up

or not

One of my sister’s friends made her a baby bib out of an old dishtowel, and I loved it! It covers perfectly for messy toddlers when they are excited to feed themselves but everything doesn’t quite stay on the spoon. It has arm holes, a tie in back, and is long enough to cover their laps. Here’s how to make one in five easy steps:

1. Fold 1/3 of the dishtowel over (with the cute side down if it has some kind of decoration).

2. Cut a small half circle—about the diameter of the child’s neck—in the center of the fold of the fabric. Then cut a straight line from the circle’s side to the 1/3 end of the towel.

3. Fold bias tape around the rough edge of the circle, leaving enough extra tape on both ends for the tie. Sew with a simple straight stitch, being sure to catch the fabric. Finish off the stitch on the tape, and reinforce the ends by folding over and stitching.

4. Fold over and zig-zag the open edges of the straight cut to prevent raveling. But don’t worry about it too much because this is the back.

5. On the forward side, zig-zag a small (about one inch) area at the bottom of each arm hole to create the sleeves.

 

There it is! Put the child’s arms through the sleeves, and tie it behind his neck:

Then let them run wild. Without the mess!

I just love this picture. It looks like he’s sitting there wondering, “What’s it all for?”

Look closely. It’s not just eggs and deodorant.

Here’s a better angle, just in case you haven’t seen it yet. Follow those feet hanging off the end.

There she is!

She told me she wanted to lay on the bottom so she crawled under there all by herself and fell asleep.