Monday, June 25, 2007

Here's What I Love

Here's what I love: weekends off. I get every other weekend off, and this one was a particular treat for 2 reasons. First, I had just finished spring term check-out and summer term check-in which was hectic. Second, we had a weekend getaway.

Here's what I love about my husband: He likes to do fun things. He suggested we go out to Spring Lake--a tiny little town by Payson, Utah, where Grandma Tillie has a little farm house--the house, in fact, in which Grandpa Blaine was raised. I thought maybe we should just stay home and have a quiet weekend, thinking packing up and going out there would be too much work. (Do you ever do that? Resist something great because it'll take SOO much effort--when really it requires you to do nothing more than toss your toothbrush and some clean underwear in a duffel bag??) Taylor convinced me it would be great. So we packed said toothbrush and underwear up, and off we went. We stopped at Gram's to get the keys to the Spring Lake house. (Note: On the way to Gram's, we saw some cute kiddos selling kool-aid outside. Here's what I love about summer: cute kiddos selling kool-aid outside. Taylor and I have a policy to always stop the car when we see such a sight and encourage the budding entrepreneurs of this blessed capitalistic society (Taylor loves capitalism as much as he loves me). For 2 quarters we got 2 dixie cups of severely concentrated kool-aid (you know the kind, S-T-O-U-T!) and loved every drop of it. Then it was on to Gram's.

Here's what I love about Grandma: She absolutely adores Blaine and loves to think of things that will entertain him. She'd gone out and bought this sprinkler for him to play in.

Here's what I love about Blaine: those two dimples above his two cheeks.

It's a quick, pleasant drive out to Spring Lake--just about 30 minutes south. We grabbed a bite to eat in Payson just before we got there. Taylor and I had teriyaki chicken and veggies. Blaine mostly wanted to eat ice.
Here's what I love about Blaine: He loves to chomp ice like his mom.

We spent the early evening showing Blaine around Spring Lake.
Here's what I love about Spring Lake: GRAPES!


Right across from the little house is the lake. It's peaceful, quaint, picturesque. We went to the lake and fed the ducks. They weren't hungry for bread apparently. Blaine was. So really, we went to the lake and fed the Blaine. Taylor showed Blaine how to climb a tree. Here's what I love about Taylor: He detests video games as much as I do and wants our kids to grow up outdoors. (Please note: I am not passing judgment on video gamers.)
Blaine really dug the bell hanging by the back porch. He rang it--very loudly--several times.
Here's what I love about Blaine: He's a smarty these days. He's learned a bunch of baby signs, so he did not get lifted up to ring the bell until he rubbed his little chest ("please"). How presh is that? I take no credit. Taylor was the diligent baby signs coach.

After Blaine went to bed, Taylor made a campfire. (Note to my family: Taylor did not earn his eagle scout award-a black-sheepish thing in our fam- but has all the necessary skills, so don't worry about me.) We had delish, gooey s'mores and I made him answer questions like "Where do you want to be in 5 years?" and "What should we name our first girl?" Then we played cards, which we almost never do, read a 1997 People mag, which was a riot, and had snacks--kettle corn and Simply Limeade (my new obsession, see
here). I spent some time reading my other new obsession. If you want to know what it is, click
here. Here's what I love about getaways: You do things you wouldn't normally do, like play cards. And you don't do things you normally would do, like spend too much time blogging!

Here's what I love about Taylor: The fun never stops. Even after we packed and cleaned up in the morning, our whimsical rendezvous was not over. We drove back to Provo and went straight to the Grower's Market. Turns out it's not as much a grower's market as it is a crafter's market, but we loved it. We ate incredible asiago cheese artisan bread and fruit sliced and in a clear, plastic cup served up by a cute li'l Mexican muchacho (if you've been to Mexico you can totally picture this classic fruity treat). Blaine had a ball chasing seagulls. And I bought these 2 cute cards. Here's what I love about the cards: The fabric designs are stitched on. How cute is that? While I can make some pretty darn clever cards, if I do say so myself, I will likely never stitch anything on a card. I also bought some little magnets that are made of old vintage buttons. Now that I might try. Here's what I love about the women who sold me these wares: They were so friendly and gushed about Blaine. And they call themselves "The Tree People," so I felt ever so connected to them in all my treeness. (Fellow Oregonians, you know what I mean.)

And so, with that photo of an elephant with a bedazzled adornment for an eye, I leave you. Here's what I love about blogging: I am actually keeping a record of my life, and have made new friends all the while. Love ya!

12 comments:

Katrina said...

Love, love, loved this post! It had all the best elements of a great blog post: it told a story with both pictures AND words, it shared part of your life, and was entertaining to boot! Well done!

Kate said...

Anne,

I play video games and my children will be raised on steady diet of halo and fruity pebbles in whole milk. Their bottles will be filled with Diet Coke. I am offended.

Sincerely,

Mark Butler

ps. friendship over

Kate said...

I want to be part of your family! What a fun trip you had...and I can just see you three (or two depending on the time of night) sitting by the fire laughing about what Paula Abdul wore in 1997 and playing a mean game of speed, all the while pondering what gorgeous name your gorgeous future baby girl will have! Oh I love talking about baby names (except when you have to actually name a real live baby then it get really hard, really fast!)

I am also here to vouch that our children won't be raised on fruity pebbles(gross!) or Diet Coke or Halo...so anyone who was going to call Child Protective Services on us, don't worry I have a watchful eye on Mark and our babies bottles...although whole milk probably will be used.

ps. I'll take Mark down...friendship not over

Christina said...

Your weekend sounds so great. We have a great farmer's market, you'll have to go while you're here. It's my favorite activity for Saturdays!

jeanine said...

I often turn down fun things because it will take a little effort... bad habit. It sounds like your weekend was fantastic though... how fun!

liz said...

First of all, I am a cub scout den leader, and am totally fine with Taylor's non-eagle status. I wish they would phase the whole program out before all my boys have to do it because it's full of beaurocracy and too much work for the mothers, IMHO. If he can build a good fire, great.

Second, has Mark Butler met Brian Hall? I think they might be friends, based solely on diet -- does Mark like Pringles, by chance?

Anonymous said...

have to say that the limeade you mentioned does totally rock! soo good...I'm gonna have to run to the store!

Anonymous said...

Here's what I love: delightful posts about nice moms and dads who like each other, and cute little boys who know how to sign "please." i needed this little drop of cybersunshine in my rainy world today.

Mrs. Cropper said...

Katrina-thanks, dear! I was explaining to Taylor how I know you and thought of that time we drove back from Em's baby shower in Heber together and how we had such fun chatting!

Kate and Mark-Taylor and I were dying laughing at Mark's comment. Then I laughed even harder picturing you, Kate, arguing with him about his parenting plan! "You're making me pretty mad right now!"-that's one of my favorite Kate-isms. I hope you said it at least 7 times to Mark about the fruity pebbles bit. Also, funny you should mention Paula Abdul, because she was totally featured in that mag on the 10 worst dressed of 1997 list!

Christina- count us in at the farmer's market in NS! Also, I am hereby volunteering Taylor to do some cooking with you at the B&B.

Jeanine-although I've read your blog before, I just now looked at your Blogger profile. Judging by your taste in movies, music, TV, etc., I'm pretty sure we are supposed to be friends!

Liz, we totally agree about phasing out scouting. The other day my m-i-l was asking Tay and I to guess her new calling, and was hinting that it was not the most desirable. I automatically shouted, "den leader!" She said, "worse," and I said, "There is no worse calling than den leader!" Note to any readers: I am not a bad person. I accept church callings when asked to.

Kira, I KNOW! I am super obsessed with both Simply Orange and Simply Limeade. Sooooo good.

Em, real, weatherly rain, or figurative rain? I hope the former. More sunshine and kisses coming your way, right....NOW!

lori said...

Ah, how delightful! Can't wait to discuss our various adventures in person on that walk we're going to take together sometime before the summer is over ;)

Hope camp treats you well!!!!

Everyday Adventuress said...

Anne! I love this! You are too wonderful for words. And by the way, I'm totally in love with those books, too. Who would have thought that a series based on a teenage vampire romance would actually be good? I can't wait for the next one to come out this summer.

b. said...

I LOVE Spring Lake! I have family there.
Don't even get me started on how my husband won't be allowed into the CK without his Eagle Scout Badge!