"Spring" break

Apparently, Utah missed the memo from Punxsutawney Phil that it's supposed to be springtime right now. The weekend before last, Matt and I left our perfect weather in Southern California to visit our families in Utah. We were greeted by winter, as evidenced by the snow-drenched yellow daffodils in my parents' front yard, but still managed to have a great weekend despite the cold. Then Matt took off for a business trip in Texas so I hung around to spend time with my siblings during their spring break and see my sister's college graduation this Friday.

My siblings were excited to have us in town, of course, but the babies are far less thrilled now that it's just me at home. Have I mentioned before that they love Matt infinitely more than they love me? It's probably the only drawback to marrying someone as fun as my husband, and is super sweet at the same time. Every time we walk into the house, there's an excited chorus of "Maaattttttt!!!!!!!!" and then an, "Oh, hi Ashley," as an afterthought. The babies wake us up every morning by jumping on the bed begging Matt to come play with them. They also have inside jokes with him and countless nicknames for him (my favorite is "Matty the Matt"). So yes, I'm the big sister who plays with them but also makes them do mean things like brush their teeth and go to bed, and Matt is just their big toy. They seriously adore him.

That leads me to a conversation I had with Gabey Baby (who is four) yesterday afternoon. He came up to me in the kitchen and asked, "Ashley, when are you leaving?" To which I responded that I'm staying until Coley's graduation and that he shouldn't want me to leave ever, of course. Gabe paused for a second and then said matter-of-factly, "Um, excuse me, but Matt is missing you." So I explained that I missed Matt, too, but sometimes Matt has to share me with other people that miss me, like Gabe and Mom and my friends.

Gabe thought about that for another few moments before responding, troubled: "Um, excuse me, but if you stay here then Matt will be all alone and will choose another girl!"

I laughed and told him that since Matt and I are married, he doesn't get any more choices that way, and it seemed to pacify Gabe just a little bit. I'm pretty sure he's still anxious to get rid of me to ensure Matt's eventual return, though :-) In the meantime, I made Matt promise to try really hard to not choose another girl this week.

Back to the point of this post -- our "spring" break in Utah. One of our most important stops while staying at my parents' house was the Mount Timpanogos Temple, which is a mere three minutes from home.

We got back from the temple just in time for Matt to play football with the kids at Josh's 6th birthday party. The freezing temperatures outside made for an interesting game in the bonus room!

We also went to the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU with my parents before heading north to see Matt's family. It was beautiful. It's open for another couple weeks, so if you're in Utah, hurry to Provo!

We went on a fun double date with Matt's little brother Andy and his wife Kristen that night and spent the next day hanging around Brigham City in a blizzard. Highlights included a tour of Matt's dad's new office building and a family party with Matt's siblings, nieces and nephews.

This past week, I've stayed busy playing with the babies, hanging out with my siblings, running errands with my mom, having cousin parties, seeing friends and helping paint my parents' house. Meanwhile, Matt had the rough job of flying F16 simulators in Texas. But we'll save all that fun stuff for another post!