"Funniest Laugh Ever"

If you're having a tough day this will brighten it up!
http://www.break.com/index/funniest_laugh_ever.html

Our Past Week

Julia, Eliza, Jimmy, and Israel excited for the small circus to start.

Israel trying to be like the circus. I still don't know how he got Julia up there.

Having our neighbor Jennifer and her friend Barbara over for a Birthday Dinner Celebration. Jennifer turned the big 4-0.

Israel picking up trash with the Boy Scouts for our town's BUCK A BAG contest

unloading the Doria's trailer

Our van with trailer attached. As you can see we still need to build up the sides:)

Happy Easter!

Our Easter Creations

I got it in my head to make something for all the kids for Easter this year.

For the house:

Peeps using Dana's tutorial over at Made

For Julia:
a reversable knitted toy- bunny or duck from Spud & Chloe

For Eliza:

a PINK apron with ruffles from I Have to Say I changed this pattern slightly- instead of the flapping bib I made 2 pockets for putting utensils in and for the ties I angled the ends because I think that makes for prettier bows

For Israel:

I couldn't think of anything he'd really be excited about that I could make, so instead I bought him Connect 4 for only 1 dollar with those awesome Hasboro coupons that came in the Sunday paper and the super sale at ToysRUs.

For Mrs. T:

a zippy wallet from Noodlehead
one of our peeps bunnies decorated by Israel, and a spring colored dish cloth using my grandfather's pattern (sorry no picture)

We found the basket at a thrift store for 50 cents!

The Marshmellow Test

Stan came home last night talking about how incredible the priesthood session was. He told me a lot of little details, the first one being THE MARSHMELLOW TEST. When my little bro called today and asked if we'd tried it yet (and that little Lauren who is barely 3 ate it pretty immediately) I was really curious. Here's the deal

A scientific study was done in the 60's and 70's on self control in children. They were placed in a room with a marshmellow. The proctor told them if when he came back the marshmellow hadn't been eaten then they would get 2 more. They were left for 15 minutes.

Of this study 3 different groups came out:
1. those who held out for the extra marshmellows
2. those who held out for a while be eventually caved
3. those who immediately gobbled their marshmellow

The study followed these kids over the next 20 years I think (I really should check the conference talk) the most successful ones being those in the 1st catagory.

Here's how it went at my house-
Julia age 2- she waited for maybe 1 minute and then began slowly eating the marshmellow (we used the big ones) group #3
Eliza, age 4- held out for a whole 10 minutes before she caved group #2
Israel, age 6- added on to the test. His response to the explanation, "and then if we don't eat those we get 3 more." Okay, I agreed. Right now he's waiting for his 3 more because he made it easily to 15 minutes. I told him he had to wait 20 minutes- no problem by the look of things:) group #1

Try it out at your house and let me know how it goes.

Me, Liz, downtown LA, and Claremont, CA

Last weekend my good friend Liz was in Claremont checking out a PhD program she was accepted to (making that big should I move and do this program decision). Claremont is 2 hours from me and about 30 miles outside of LA. The second I took the Claremont exit I was surrounded by the most pleasant, appealing, and safe feeling community. I really hope Liz moves there so we can get together more often.

Stan kept the kids for me so we could spent the day together. We decided to be adventurous so we headed for LA's fabric district. I was armed with a GPS, printed directions, and an incredible guide from Dana at Made one of my all time favorite blogs. We had a super fun, tiring time. We did get lost, but only 1 time, all the stores were so fun and I was able to get some serious steals on fabric. It was quite the experience. We even saw a protest rally. When we got back to the car and realized we hadn't taken a single picture Liz took one of me by the car. I know, goofy, but what can I say.

Next we went back to Claremont and enjoyed the gorgeous botanical gardens and all the unique signs inside of it. I couldn't resist taking a picture of each of them. I hope you think they're as funny as we did.

More Cousin Fun- Joshua Tree Style

Keys View- you can see all the way to Mexico- the fault line, Palm Springs etc. An incredible view, but boy is it windy!

Julia and I exploring at Cap Rock
Matt, Israel, and Cline. They loved scrambling over all those boulders and getting lost up inside Cap Rock (Grandma didn't love watching it:)
Stan and Susan together.
I'm sneaking this photo in- technically this is still a cousin picture because this is the St. Patrick's Day dress Susan bought for the girls. Doesn't Julia look so cute surrounded by all those flowers.