a new coat and a conversation

First things first...

Lizzy got a new coat.

We like said new coat.

Although I can't imagine Lizzy ever finding a way to articulate it, I can tell that she feels cute in her new coat.

She also feels cute when her hair is crimped.

That said, I wanted to share these photos of Lizzy in her new coat and with crimped hair and then relate to you a conversation that she and Ben had in the car yesterday.

We were getting in the car to head out yesterday...

Ben: "laura, do i have to have my buckle on?"

Me: "Yes, Ben. You do."

Lizzy: "ya ben. if you don't wear your buckle and the policeman catches you, he will take you away and lock you in the dungeon."

Ben: "oh ya. they will. they will take us away and lock us in the dungeon."

Me: "No they won't. If you get caught without a seat belt, then I would get in trouble, not you."

Ben: "ya. they would give you a ticket."

Lizzy: "ya. a ticket to the dungeon!"

And then they continued to talk about the policemen and their dungeon for several minutes when Ben interjected...

"but wizzy. what is a dungeon?"

To which Lizzy replied "oh. ben, a dungeon is the place... that the policemen... they... um... it's where the policemen live."

"oh!" responded Ben. "yes, that's right. they live there. in the dungeon"

And the dungeon talk trailed off. And then we drove by Chuck E. Cheese's, which inspired a whole new conversation about who Chuck E. Cheese was, what Chuck E. Cheese was and why he was so very scary.

I got out of the car thoroughly entertained. I love those kids.

A New GF Venture

Since my life is very uncomplicated and I don't have nearly enough to think about, I decided to start a new blog. It's a Gluten Free eating blog. (as opposed to a GF clothing blog or a GF cleaning blog) It's a blog about my current obsession, which is trying to keep my family nourished while trying to avoid gluten in it's entirety. It can get tricky, and to do it, you kind of have to become obsessed with it.

I will be posting recipes that work for me, tricks that I'm learning along the way and lots of other good recipes that just happen to be GF as well as our experiences trying to eat out and feed little kids without gluten. I'm hoping that this will be a successful blog, so I'm inviting any and all of you who have any interest to head on over and to send your friends and family in that general direction as well.

Here you are...

Living the Gluten Free Good Life: Why should you eat mediocre food when you could eat really, really good food?

It has a subtitle. Everything in life should have a subtitle. Everything.

High on the Mountain Top

Over the long weekend, my family and I went down to southern Utah to visit our parents. Oh how I love having southern Utah to escape to on long weekends. I'm not a homebody at all. I need to get out. I need to breath. I need to leave my home and my obligations and go to southern Utah or my sanity will start to wane.

We spent most of the weekend in Summit sipping hot chocolate by the fire, but we did take a couple of excursions, including one down to Springdale to visit Brent's parents.

Once you are in Springdale and looking around at all the hills, it's very hard to restrain yourself from climbing them, and so we went a-climbing.

Seriously, how can you NOT want to get out and climb? It's impossible, I tell you. Impossible!

Charlie was ecstatic to be out, communing with nature.

And he sort of stole the show. It tends to happen a lot around here. Charlie's a total glory hog.

But we were all there in our Sunday best, see? Even Buster got to get out and feel like a wild animal, until we put his leash back on him and shoved him in his little box in the car. Not too much nature for him. If I'm going to have a dog, he needs to be good and domesticated.

And there you have it. So to sum things up...

We weren't home this weekend.

Southern Utah is great.

I love hot chocolate.

Especially the Stephen's mint kind.

I also love fires.

Springdale is lovely this time of year.

Charlie is a glory hog.

Buster, the domesticated Shorkie, managed really well going on vacation with us for the first time.

Except for the incident in Brent's parent's bedroom.

It was an unfortunate incident.

I still feel bad.

The End.

JOOTD - Valentine's Party Special

Last week, I made an innocent trip to TJMaxx with Leslie and our respective youngest children. We were gearing up to dodge out the door before anyone noticed that Charlie and Davie had taken several toys out of their packages when I saw it.

The dress.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

It was love at first sight.

I knew that my life would not be complete without it.

Does anyone else have these feelings about children's clothing?

When Jane found it, she became determined that it would be the perfect item to wear to her Valentine's Day party at school. And although I felt slightly irresponsible for letting her go to school with bare legs and wearing flats when most of the ground was still covered with snow, I let it slide. Wouldn't you?

McDonald's, McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut

My mom has been in Provo this week staying with my Aunt Barbara and as a result, I've probably made more trips down to Provo in the past 7 days than I made in the previous six months combined. Moms have that impact on us all, I think.

So Leslie and I took our children - sans Jane - down for lunch this week and when you have that many small children to feed and entertain for any period of time, I believe that the rule of thumb is that you take them to McDonald's. Which is exactly what we did.

For the record, I would like everyone to know that the McDonald's in Provo next to the hospital has the best playland for small children that I've ever seen. Beware, though... they charged 16 cents for ranch and another 16 cents for some sweet and sour sauce. Not cool. As a frequenter of McDonald's, I found this practice to be unusual and annoying. The kids had a great time though, and I caught a few photos of them on my phone that I now intend to share with you.

It took me a while to finally catch a good ('good' being a relative term) photo of Charlie on the lap of his future employer. He was quite taken with Ronald, as was Ben. They had long, meaningful conversations with him wherein they shared their hopes and dreams. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to compete with that, which is why I rely so heavily on McDonald's to raise my children for me.

Lizzy was also happy to spend some quality time with Ronald. That little boy in the photo is a random little boy who, when he saw that I was taking photos, hopped into the picture and started hamming it up. Someone should get him into show business.

And I had to post this one of Leslie retrieving her small child from the hamster cage because what kind of little sister would I be if I didn't take advantage the opportunity? I would be a lousy one. A lousy little sister. And no one wants that, do they?