Springtime in the Rockies!!!!

My 3rd nephew got married last week in Salt Lake and we were able to go! We started our journey by getting up at 4:30 am EST. The Indianapolis airport is brand new and REALLY cool. My kids did great on the plane, they loved looking out of the window. It was shocking to go from 70 in Bloomington to 28 in Salt Lake!

I was totally in shock when I saw how GINORMOUS the mountains are! My cute dad picked us up at the airport and took us to Shivers! Lets just say, I wish I had an IV of FRYSAUCE! We had the wedding dinner at the Lion House. It was so good to be with family. It felt like we never left! My kids got to hang out with Grandma Retta and were in HEAVEN!
The wedding was in the Salt Lake temple. It felt so good to be there. I sat there and cried for the first part of the ceremony. One of the things I love about the temple is the mirrors in the rooms where marriages are performed. We believe that our families can be together FOREVER. As I sat there with my family looking in the mirror, I realized how amazing that really is!

After the ceremony we went to The Paradise Cafe. Yum! I have the greatest family ever! I love this picture of my brother Eric, never fail, he has his eyes closed!
We stayed with my twin brother Gary aka Guncle and his wife Lisa. OK, he is 4.5 years older, but we always try to trick people. He made Cooper this sweet HotWheels track out of scaffolding and a vacuum tube. The car would drop 2 stories and then had a pulley system to pull the car back up. Hours of entertainment!

The reception was so much fun. Cooper especially enjoyed the chocolate fountain. He had chocolate up his nose by the end! My cousin asked me when I was due. I told her not until October. She said, "WOW that's going to be a BIG BABY! Are you having TWINS?" What tact!

We got to visit lots of great friends. I feel blessed to have so many great friends! It was fun for the kids to play with all of their cousins and pals.
One of the highlights of our trip was watching General Conference. 2 times a year we have the opportunity to hear from our Prophet and the leaders of our church. It is always so inspiring. It recharges my batteries. We sat in my brother Robs bedroom and watched conference as a family.
We did so many fun things!

• Childrens museum with Rich Cousins and Poppa and Sharon
  
• Swimming with Poppa, Sharon, Rich Cousins, Katya and her new baby sister
  
• Natural History Museum with Guncle and Lisa
• Games at Rob's
• Kite flying with Virgina Petersons
• Hair cut with Erin (my favorite hair dresser :))
• Easter Egg hunt with the Riches
  
• LOTS of YUMMY FOOD: Shivers, Einsteins, Riches Bagels with Springer, The Pub, Stella, Cafe Rio, Training Table, The Lion House, conference waffles at Rob's, and my own lemon merange pie from Lisa!
• Breakfast Bunch at Kenningtons
  

I got to hang with my girls at Cafe Rio! It felt so good to laugh with with girl friends.
The bad part about visiting is saying good bye. I did much better this time than last. I only shed a couple of tears. It is so nice to know we have a great place to return to. Thanks to everyone who made our trip so much fun!
Having fun on the plane.
Goodbye mountains!

All tuckered out. Home again, home again jiggety jig!

Spring Break 09

Daddy was gone to Japan, so we decided to have all sorts of adventures while he was gone. Monday we drove to Nashville, IN. They have some very SWEET candy shops. We also mined for jewels and ate some yummy ice cream.

Tuesday was St. Patricks so we had some yummy green pancakes, milk and eggs. Ruby was wearing her lovily feather boa at breakfast so I asked her to take it off. She somehow flung it across the freshly poured pancakes in the frying pan without me seeing it. I am thankful it didn't start a fire and I have also decided that I prefer pancakes without feathers!
We drove up to Indy with some friends to the Traders Point Creamery. It was such a beautiful day! Some of the buildings were realy cool. The bricks were totally random. The ice cream was very yummy. The best part was the attack rooster!
After the creamery, we went to the Childrens Museum. They had a cool lego exhibit. Next week, a Star Wars exhibit will be there. Guess where we will be going? We went to one of our favorite restarants, The Spaghetti Factory aka The Spaghetti Office for dinner. It sounded so darn yummy until I started eating it. I need to not go out to eat for the next little while. I am afraid I won't like ANYTHING before I am done being pregnant! We came home and did a Leprachaun scavenger hunt (Thanks for the care package Grandma Retta)
Wednesday was another beuatiful day. We went to the library, spent HOURS at the park with lots of fun friends from the ward, shopped at Mal-Wart, and went to dinner with our neighbors.
Yesterday we drove back up to Indy with the Bransons and the Taits to the zoo. I feel so blessed to have such great friends here and so do my kids. We had so much fun!

Today is freezing again! We are just hanging out at home. I just made whole wheat bread which I normally LOVE the smell of. I am currently trying not to gag! I am ready to be myself again!
Matt comes home late tonight. We are so excited to see him.

Next week life goes back to normal and then it is off to UTAH!

National Maple Syrup Festival

This is Coopers new best friend Moses.
Normally we have the rule that pancakes shouldn't swim in syrup, NOT TODAY!

Today we drove down south to Medora, IN. for the National Maple Syrup Festival. It was pretty amazing to see how much work they go to to get a little bottle of syrup. They tap the Sugar Maple trees when the nights are cold and the days start to warm up. The sap slowly drips into the bucket. We tasted the straight sap, it isn't sweet at all! It takes 50 gallons of sap to get one gallon of syrup! They cook the sap down until it turns to syrup. We had it on pancakes, MMMMMMM good! Unfortunaltly due to the price, we are going to have to stick to Aunt Jemima (which contains no autual maple syrup) My dad just reminded me that Joseph Smith's family made syrup for a living.

Climbing @ Hoosier Heights

A couple weeks ago we went to a huge climbing gym. The night before, Matt said he missed my spunk and sense of adventure due to my expanding belly. Well, MR. RICH, how many other 35 year old, pregnant women do you see here climbing? Back atcha! (Too bad you can't really see me!)

The Bachelorette

My darling friend Rim Jhim from India had us and another cute couple from Mexico over for some YUMMY Indian food. We had a great time. They wanted to know what American food we eat all the time. All I could think of was cold cereal, pb& j, and turkey dinner.
A big group of us went to see the Broadway production of Mamma Mia. We had so much fun. I can't stop singing all of the songs! (thanks for the picture Beth)

Matt, the lucky dog, is spending 2 weeks in Japan. He is doing a study abroad program with the MBA school. It is now day 4 of him being gone and we still haven't heard from him. I confirmed he is still alive with this picture I found on my friends facebook page. Good to know I am not a widow! So far so good. I haven't gone crazy yet (don't worry, there is still time). We have decided to party like it is 1999 while he is gone.

I think I am getting used to this pregnancy thing again. I gag from the depths of my belly everytime I brush my teeth or have any gunk in my throat, but have only puked once. My sweet daughter said, Mom, what color was it? That is the only sympathy I am getting from my dear family. I have this disgusting metalic taste in my mouth that changes the flavor of everything.

Rubes was mad at Coop for something the other day and she said, "He should be PUNISHED for his own sins!!!" She totally cracks me up!

Brewsters!!!

There is a little piece of paradise in Bloomington called Brewsters Ice cream. Yesterday they gave out free waffle cones to anyone that was brave enough to wear their P.J.'s. So much fun! Key lime pie is my favorite flavor. To make the day even better, it was 70 degrees! Tuesday was 11. Go figure! Can't wait to see what the weather will bring us this week! Remember my neighbor who was shoveling snow with a garbage can in her shorts a few posts back? We yesterday she was laying out in her bikini on the driveway!

Introducing our new lima bean.....

Just wanted to let you know the Riches are growing by 2 feet! October 9 is the big day. We got to hear and see our tiny little friend yesterday. You would think the novelty would wear off by #3 but it doesn't. Hearing that heartbeat makes me want to cry every time I hear it! I am 9 weeks tomorrow and feel like hud most of the time, but it will all be worth it in the end.

I need to clarify the last post. We are just doing a summer internship in Ohio. We will keep our place here over the summer AND get a place in OHIO. When that is over we will come back here and Matt will finish his 2nd year.

I was wearing brown tights today and Ruby told me I looked like a brown footed BINGO!