April 2014

Time for the monthly wrap-up. My life has been kind of a blur lately, so I'm not really sure there's going to be much to say. I'm sorry if I miss something important.

We didn't do much for Easter because we didn't feel that any of the traditional activities were age appropriate for Sprout. Coloring eggs would have been a disaster, and he would have no idea what we were doing if we set up an egg hunt. We did get a little Easter something from Grandma Holdaway for Sprout which was very nice.

Mr. Mitchell and I went to 'Walk With Christ' in Pocatello, and that was very nice. It definitely put me in the Easter spirit, and amped up my gratitude for the Savior. You can click here to read about it and see some pictures. The pictures don't do it justice - there was obviously a huge amount of work put into transforming the building into the event.

My mom sent me a text about mid-April asking if I would be able to get myself to Boise if she bought tickets for Wicked. I was excited because we were supposed to see it in London together, but then she ended up not being able to come over at the end of my semester there. It ended up working out that my sister, Jayme, and brother, Garrison, were able to get to Boise to go and see Wicked. It was fun!

Trying to sneak a picture.

All of us.

The show was super fun to watch, and it was almost sold out. The guy that played Fiyero was kind of a weak link in the cast, but otherwise I thought they did a fantastic job. We had a great time, and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to finally see it. Thanks, Mom!

My dad gave up his ticket for Garrison (who was a last minute addition), and I feel badly he wasn't able to go, but he didn't miss out on all of the fun. We stayed up late talking, went out to eat a few times, and went shopping. Here's a little plug for Yard House in The Village in Meridian: they have great food! It was delicious.

Her lemonade was EXTRA good.

Watching the fountain show after dinner.

After our brief weekend in Boise I had to scurry straight down to Salt Lake for a business trip. I picked up my boss from the airport, and we headed over to Park City to view some of the homes we just acquired. In the morning we drove back into Salt Lake City where our conference was being held. Some of it was blah, some of it was informative, but it was so nice to meet the people I work with. Luckily, I was able to video chat with my boys everyday so I didn't get homesick.

April Treasures:

Sweet Moment: Sprout was running around the house singing something not quite discernible so I joined in with my own song. He stopped singing, sat on my lap, and snuggled into my chest. After I finished the song he looked up at me and said, "Please!" So, I sang another song while he snuggled. After I finished he looked up again and said, "Please!" We continued that pattern for probably close to ten minutes with him just snuggling in while I sang him song after song.

Sprout also really likes to drag me over to the piano to play songs for him. His favorite right now is "I See the Light" from Tangled. He'll have me play it over and over.

He's still in a container phase. He loves to put things inside of other things. A favorite is the laundry basket, but he's recently discovered the bathtub doesn't just hold water.

His mimicking phase has now included footwear. He likes to make me put on my shoes, and then he'll put on Daddy's shoes. He's hilarious to watch trying to get in Daddy's boots because he'll put his head and hands on the floor, lift his leg in the air, and then he'll swing his little foot around until it finally lands in the boot.

It's finally getting warm enough to go out and play. Sprout loves to go to playgrounds so he can stick bark on the slides. He'll go down the slides if we put him at the top, but he has more interest in digging around.

Lastly, a little video of our amazing, little boy. He is too much fun!

Salt Lake Trip

Mr. Mitchell and I had the opportunity to go down to Salt Lake City for a few days mid-December. The trip plan originated when we heard that one of my roommates was going to be back in the states visiting her in-laws in Utah. Then we discovered that that same weekend my family was going to be in Salt Lake for the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert. Party!!

We started the trip at Kneaders with my good friend Talyn and her husband Colby. Talyn and I were besties in London, and it all started with a quote from Cold Comfort Farm. If you know anything about that movie it probably helps you understand our friendship a smidge. I miss her quite a bit, but she sends me terrific emails to help with the pain.

Isn't she a babe?

They're just a little bit taller than us.

After that very brief reunion we were able to spend some time with another bestie of mine, Heather.

We were assigned in the same dorm freshman year at BYU, and we became pretty quick friends. Our first conversation went something like this:

S: Have you cried yet?
H: Yes.
S: Cool. Me, too.

We were roommates from then until I got married three and a half years later.

After that very brief visit we went back into town to dinner with the family. Unfortunately, we have no pictures. We ate at Olive Garden with my mom and dad, Garrison and his girlfriend, and the Smiths. While it was very nice talking with everyone it was probably our least favorite visit to Olive Garden ever. We were a rather large group, but it was two hours before we had our food. We had about 5 minutes to eat before the group had to jet to get the Christmas concert, and the food didn't even taste that good. It was like they ran out of salt or something. My niece ended up feeling pretty sick so she went back to the hotel with Sprout and me, and Mr. Mitchell took her ticket. He was incredibly psyched about that because one of the guests for the concert was John Rhys-Davies. (For those of you that don't know: He's Sallah in Indiana Jones. If Mr. Mitchell could be Indiana Jones he would be in a heartbeat.)

In the morning, my parents watched Sprout while Mr. Mitchell and I went to Music & the Spoken Word. The morning after the Christmas concert they do a mini-concert, and so I was able to see most of the concert anyway. We had amazing seats, and the concert was fantastic, as always. We had taken a picture of ourselves in the Conference Center (which I can't find for some reason) and the flash had been off. I assumed the flash would still be off when I tried to snag a picture of John Rhys-Davies on stage. Silly, silly, silly me. The flash went off. The flash went off about 30 times. The flash went off and I was frozen in fear and humiliation. Just look at the stink eye I got from the guy holding the poster.

And to add insult to injury, the most obvious thing in the picture is random dude's ear. (In case you can't find him, John Rhys-Davies is next to the opera lady in red.) So, there's my confession. Come and arrest me Conference Center police. I am still mortified, and I accept my fate.

After the mini-concert we said goodbye to family and went to our little roommate reunion. We had lunch, watched A Christmas Carol, drank hot chocolate, talked, and watched the babies play.

You've already met Heather, but I need to introduce you to the rest. We were all roommates our sophomore and junior years at BYU in Raintree. Oh, the times we had!

Liahona showed up a few days later than the rest of us, and I totally missed when she arrived. I just realized one day that there was stuff in her room, and I totally went in and snooped with Heather. All I remember specifically right now are measuring cups and a beautiful picture of her. She's from New Zealand and is half Maori.

She met her husband, Mark, at BYU working in the same office together. They were married a couple of weeks before Mr. Mitchell and me.

They had their adorable little boy in the spring of 2013. He was born far away in New Zealand so this was the first time we got to meet him.

The first time we met Kristina she was moving her stuff in with her little sister's help. She was very quiet, and went home almost every night until the school year started. After a while she warmed up to us and showed us how silly she can actually be.

She met her husband, James, through a good friend of hers. They were married after they both returned from their missions. Unfortunately, James wasn't able to make it.

Click here and scroll towards the bottom of the post if you would like some insight into our friendships. Good, good stuff.

Enjoy the photo bombardment:

I have no idea what is happening in this picture.
I swear I was never this sad during our trip.

It was super awesome to see everyone again. I wish we could have spent more time together, but everybody was in a bit of a time crunch with work and/or travelling. Destination reunion next time? Hawaii, maybe? Start saving!!