Sunday is a 'special' day

Do you ever wonder if it is all worth it? Of course we know that it is, but let me tell you, today has been one of those days! I'm sure that you have all had days like this, especially with kids, but here is our story...

We usually give the girls a bath on Saturday night since we have 9:00 am church, but last night my wonderful parents watched the girls so that Nate and I could go to a movie. That meant that we got them to bed late without a bath. This morning Nate suggested that we just rub them all over with smelly lotion, but I decided that a bath was in order, so at 8:00 this morning I was in my pjs, with wet hair, and the girls were in the tub.

Nathan teaches the Gospel Doctrine lesson and was hurridly putting the finishing touches on his lesson, but he graciously took a quick break and dressed Allie while I dressed Claire. I got them both breakfast and went to blow dry my hair. I finished getting ready at about 8:40 and was feeling okay about the time.

I called Claire in and combed her hair, then sent her to look for her shoes. Meanwhile I grabbed Allie to comb her hair and found her with a poopy diaper. I hadn't factored that into the schedule, but these things have a way of happening at the least opportune time. The next 10 minutes were a whirl of diapers, shoes, bracelets, headbands, diaper bags, and jackets.

We got out the door at around 9:05. I teach primary so the girls go with me. Do you ever feel like you are carrying around the kitchen sink? Here's a quick list of what I carried to primary: Allie, Allie's jacket, Allie's blanket, Allie's diaper bag, Claire's jacket, Claire's church bag, and my church bag. I need 10 more hands!

We walked in late, which I hate, but sharing time went fine. Nate came and took Claire to class (thank you, Nate!) because when I take her she forgets what a sweet and cute girl she is and she becomes a crying, whining, beast. When we got to class my partner had the lesson, which I appreciated, but she does tend to read the chapters verbatim to our class of 8 year olds. I tried to jump in now and then with some 'clarifications'. Allie was crawling around the classroom quietly but then she bonked her head on the door and began screaming. I tried to quickly quiet her down without disturbing the class too much, but as I shooshed her I heard one of the kids (who is a youngest child in her family), chanting "Make it stop, make it stop!"

Finally it was time for sacrament meeting. I made Allie a bottle during the opening song and hoped that she would sleep through the rest of the meeting. Nate fed her but when she was done she sat right up and grinned. (Darn it if she doesn't have the cutest grin in the whole world.) She sat quietly during the sacrament, but just as the first speaker stood to talk, she coughed and out came the 'formula fountain'! She threw up all over Nate, me, her blanket, Claire's jacket, and a little on the floor. Somehow she managed not to get any on her dress, it's a talent of hers. Nate and I looked at each other and said, "Let's go!". We felt bad leaving church early, but I really don't know if we could have taken much more, plus the smell might have bothered the people sitting around us.

So there you have it, we got home and put Allie down for a nap, had some lunch, and Claire and I made cookies. It was a beautiful ending to a not so beautiful morning. I can't wait until next week!

Nothing grows in the snow!

Okay, so I was checking out the blogs of some of our friends and family and getting really jealous! Matt and Melissa live in St. George and they have recently been to the lake, swimsuits and all. And then there's my cousin Jamie who lives in California and she has cute pics of her daughter at the park in shorts and a t-shirt. Do they realize that it snowed here today?!! I guess it is just another typical spring day in northern Utah!
Yesterday was a nice day, we worked in the yard most of the day and Claire had a blast playing outside. Nate said he was glad she is rediscovering her love of playing outside after being cooped up in the house all winter. As we were working in the yard I commented to Nate that I think my green thumb must be more brown than green because I definitely don't have the 'gift' to make things grow. I am planning to cover another of our flowerbeds with grass later on this summer. (Who puts 4 flowerbeds in one yard?!)
Our latest project is growing a little pot of strawberries on our kitchen table. Claire was excited to put in the dirt and the seeds and water them, but although I explained to her that it will be a LONG time before they grow, I think she checked them 15 times yesterday. Today she was sure that she could see something growing, but no, it was just a crumb. I'll be sure to let you know when/if we get a sprout!

Moooooom, I wanna ride the PONY!

Time for another entry in the ongoing saga of the ever-exciting, don't-you-wish-you-were-us lives of the Throops!

I know that in the last entry I mentioned that Allie is now a mobile little wave of destruction, but I felt like I just couldn't express the level of excitement she feels in her newfound crawliness. Imagine, if you will, a grin that is somehow both devilish and innocent at the same time, a grin that says, "As soon as your back is turned, I'm eating whatever I find on the floor!" and "You can trust me, I'm a good girl!" That's the grin she has as she sneaks (yes, she does sneak) around the house. That's the grin Kayley managed to capture in the above picture with Claire. Scary, isn't it?

Yesterday we went with Kayley's family to a local park/farm so the girls could see all the newborn animals. Right near the entrance there was a pony ride, and we made the mistake of pointing it out to Claire. Here's a quick tip for everyone out there who doesn't have a little girl yet but might one day have one: If you're not going to let her have a ride right then, DO NOT POINT OUT THE PONY RIDES!!! Claire had a great time holding and petting the ducklings, kids and lambs, but after each one she would ask, "Mom, can we go ride the horsey now?" I got to the point I would grit my teeth after each new animal in preparation for the inevitable plea, whine and pout. I felt like she wasn't just getting on my last nerve, she was using it as a trampoline. ("Mommy, I wanna ride the pony." "Not yet." "But, I wanna. Please?" "We'll do it when we leave." "Buy whyyyyyyyy? sob.")

Finally on the way out we stopped at the pony rides, and let her have her turn. I expected her to want to back out at the last minute like she often does with this sort of thing, but she surprised me by jumping right up and riding around with a huge grin on her face. On the way home she said in a wistful tone, "Daddy, I loved riding the horsey!" It may sound cliche, but that made all the whining worth it.


Not much new on the Kayley and Nate front. Kayley is still working on getting her reading endorsement and is having whole messes of fun teaching full day, even though she sometimes complains about a problem student named Nathan (Ah, the namesake lives on!). I'm still chugging away in biochemistry and will hopefully be able to get an internship down in Salt Lake this summer. It'll be hard being away from Kayley and the girls 5 days out of the week, but it'll only be for the summer, so we'll manage.

Well, that's the update!

After church today, Kayley told me in no uncertain terms that I was to get on that danged computer and write a danged blog! Some men may have been offended and not done it, but I, being the humble and obedient husband that I am, do hereby acquiesce and am now writing a danged blog.

Well, this last week was kind of a big one for the Throops because my WHOLE FAMILY came in from diverse locales for my nephew Kalon's wedding. If you haven't met my family you just don't understand the level of wierdness and political conservatism (in about equal portions) that entails. If you've ever seen the movie While You Were Sleeping, you'll get a good idea of what my family is like if you imagine the dinner scene where Bill Pullman and Sandra Bullock do nothing but laugh at everyone else. Now instead of a conversation about tall actors, make it a political argument in which no one is really taking the con side; everyone just talks really loud and fast to try and make the good observations first. Finally throw in a healthy dose of my dad's horrible (and I do mean horrible) puns. That's every family get together I've ever had, and I gotta tell ya', I love it!

Allie has decided that she's done with the whole waiting-for-Mom-and-Dad-to-pick-me-up-and- take-me-places thing. She is a crawler! I don't know how Kayley and I could have forgotten that when babies learn to crawl they require more supervision, not less. The other day I walked into the hall to see her quite happily trying to jam her finger into the only uncovered electrical outlet in the house.

Claire had a fun day yesterday finding Easter Eggs at Grandma Mary Kay's house. The entire neighborhood knew each time she found one because she would let out an earsplitting yell of, "MOM, I FOUND ANOTHER ONE!!!" It was interesting to me that even after finding twenty of them, the excitement was still almost more than she could handle. Evidently, the Law of Diminishing Returns has no hold on our Claire-bear.

Finally, we have had a hard time with being sick in the Throop household this winter. We've several colds come through, flu, strep and now we are graced with the presence of....Pink Eye! The girls and I have gotten everything we have been exposed to, while Kayley hasn't gotten even the sniffles. Right now I'm writing this post with eyes the color of a circa 1985 leotard. Hopefully, once spring rolls around, we'll start being healthy at last.

Well, that's the update! See ya' again next...well, whenever I feel like writing another!