Robots in Disguise

I was listening to Harry Potter the other night, and decided that I had to stop and go to bed. It was already past midnight and I knew that if I kept listening I would stay there til 3 in the morning. When I climbed into bed Joe was already asleep. This is how the conversation went:

Me: "I can't sleep."
silence
Me: "Joe, I can't sleep. I'm too excited. I can't sleep. I just want to keep listening to Harry Potter, but I can't or I'll never go to sleep."
Joe: (groggily) "Just...think about science."
Me: (slightly taken aback-Joe knows how much I loathe science) "I...I don't even know HOW to think about science."

I sat and contemplated how pathetic it was that when I tried to think about science, such a broad topic, my mind went totally blank. I began saying aloud then only things I could about the ominous 'science'.
Me: "atoms....chemistry....cell walls....platelets....catalysts.....atomic numbers....facial nerve...."
On and on I continued. For at least ten minutes. One word statements generally referring to science, but never really saying anything about it.
Me: "kinetic energy....biology....protons....deceptacons"
I giggled. There was no way I could seriously THINK about science, but it did help me fall asleep. No wonder Joe always sleeps in class.

Part Two

Spokane

Vienna

South Africa

Montana

Long Island

London

Tahoe

Kenora, Canada

Austin, TX

wide open spaces

i absolutely LOVE living in Iowa. I thought that I would hate it, and every time i tell people how much I love living here I surprise myself. Why on earth would i enjoy Iowa? I had myself a good cry before i left Salt Lake, where all my friends and family live. I knew all the good places to eat or play or hike or camp. i was comfortable there. So why would i want to move to a place that i knew absolutely nothing about except that it didn't have any of my friends or family in it. I thought of moving here as doing time. Turns out that I'm doing the time of my life, and yes i got that line from my new fav show Arrested Development.

So ever since i realized that moving away from Salt Lake wasn't the end of my life I've been excited to decide where I'll go next. I realize that there is this tiny voice in the back of my mind that sounds like my sweet mother that says "you have to move back to Salt Lake, you can't live away from your family" but I still like to dream. Unfortunately i cannot narrow it down in the least. every week I've got a new possible destination. Poor Joe. I always ask him, "Joe, where do you want to live?" and he dutifully responds with the place that i had most recently "decided" that we would live, only to have me convince him of how wonderful it would be to live someplace else. here is my most recent list of places that I want to live someday.

Bear Lake

Amsterdam

St. George

San Francisco

Wyoming

Oh, the list goes on and on. There will most likely be a part 2 to this post. There are so many breathtaking places to see in the world, I just want to scoop it up and devour it like ice cream and a bag of doritos. Any suggestions? I've lived in Salt Lake for 20 years, and i feel like there is so much of the world that i don't even know about.

Trip to Utah

Phew! we are finally back from our trip out to Utah! We had a LOT of fun visiting family and meeting some new family members for the first time. We started our trip leaving Iowa at around 5 pm and arriving in Utah around 10 am. We were quite nervous about attempting the drive all in one shot, but it ended up working out quite well...for the most part. We would definitely recommend doing it this way to anyone-unless your kids won't sleep in the car. We encountered this problem on the way TO Utah, but on the way back we made sure they were properly medicated so they would have a sweet restful night in the car seats.
Anyway, i could talk talk talk about this trip, but that would take forever so I'll just share my favorite pictures. Sorry to all of the family that we didn't get pictures of!
Jaden and Mason, the oldest set of twins

Ethan, displaying his inner petersen-going after the kitty with a bat, naked.

2 out of 3 sets of twins after a long day of swimming.

And little chunker Conner, this was our first time meeting him.

For the first part of our trip we spent our time with the Petersen side of the family. We were lucky enough to have the generosity of my SUPER AWESOME Aunt Sheila who let us sleep in her brand new monster RV. It was incredible, and quite the lifesaver for us. Thanks again Buchei family!

We spent a LOT of time in the water to keep ethan and noah happy since they were understandably grumpy from all of the traveling and dry heat. Hence all of the naked baby pictures you saw. We even lucked out that they had a little kiddie pool at my cousin's baby shower. The boys just hopped right in, fully clothed, but they couldn't have been happier. I gave up trying to stop them and figured that they had their blankets in the car and plenty of extra diapers, so i let them have at it. It was very funny. And I know funny (that's for you Dad).

We got to visit aunts and uncles grandparents and cousins from both sides of my family and Joe's maternal side of his family.

We then spent a day in Logan, a day at Starvation Reservoir, and a few days at my cabin with Joe's side of the family. The whole trip was a blast (despite getting overwhelmed with my boys' tantrums) and i can't say enough about how lucky we are to have such wonderful friends and family. We love all of you and wish we could have gotten to see more of you. Special hello to Joe and Britt, Addie and Hayden, and the twins. Get better Austin, we are thinking of you and love you all!