So I Should Probably Clarify Something...

Yes, this is my parking spot.

No, this isn't my car.
My brother and cute new sister-in-law parked THEIR car in my spot so it would be safe while we all traveled to California for THEIR seconding wedding reception.

I hope this clears up any confusion.

Love and handshakes,
Mindy

Wedding Day

A wedding day is supposed to be the happiest day of a girl's life, and it was... for Ruby.


 Ruby got to leave extra early in the morning to ride to Temple Square with Grandpa, Grandma, and me. While the grandparents were in the temple giving Greggie oxygen, Ruby got to have pancakes and hot chocolate in a mall, while her brothers ate Kix at home.

Then she pretended to fall into every single fountain on and around Temple Square...

...flirted her way into the visitors center before it was actually open...

... and played with her Idaho cousins.

The highlight of the day was helping the Bride with her wedding dress. All in all, the day was a dream-come-true for little Rubistar.

Oh, and speaking of the Bride, I think she had a pretty good day too.

It's a shame little Ruby doesn't get to attend the reception in Monterrey this weekend. She would have a blast posing for photos  pretending to fall into the ocean.

I guess I will have to play in the ocean for her.
Am I a good aunt, or what?

Summer So Far

Did I happen to mention that our yearbooks were late this year?

Like, TWO WEEKS late?

The books arrived one day before the very last day of school. Needless to say, I was a little bit stressed.

 But thanks to my fan-tab-u-los Yearbook Ninja Princesses, I didn't spend one second stressing over the books themselves.

 Irony = the most manly book we have ever produced, designed by an all-girl staff. Well done, Ninja Princesses. Well done.

Once the yearbook crisis ended, my summer vacation began.

I have partied with my Idaho Niblets.

And had some fun with my Utah Niblets.

I am currently in the middle of a scripture-memorization challenge with these three little dorks... and I am pretty sure they are kicking my trash.

And then there is this little guy: Stormageddon (a.k.a. Alton, a.k.a. Grumpy Baby, a.k.a. Bread-Dough-Boy, a.k.a."The Cheeks").

He is the most kissable little thing on the face of the earth.

I kissed him. A lot.

And I am planning on kissing him a lot more.

I have spent the last two Sundays at the Spanish Branch helping them put together a video about visiting teaching.
In Spanish.
Which I do not speak.
But now half of my internal monologues are conducted with a Spanish accent.

The other half of my internal monologues feature a Scottish accent, thanks to a historical fiction novel that my sister INSISTED I read.
I did read it.
And then I read it again.
If Jenny wants her book back, she might have to trade her chunky-monkey baby for a week.

Diane is still sacrificing her sleep to walk with me at 5 a.m. most mornings.

Have I mentioned how kind and charitable she is?

And the Elizabeth, Pam, and Stephanie join me at the pool for lap swimming from 6 to 7 a.m.

And then, because it is beautiful, blessed summer, I walk home and take a nap. 

I saw this movie twice in three days.

It was awesome.

I also saw this movie twice, although I have to admit that the motivation behind my second viewing was the chance to see Mr. Cumberbatch in action. 

I have missed Benedict so much, I would have liked to have spent some of my first weeks of summer writing letters to the BBC demanding they bump-up the air-date for season three of Sherlock, but I didn't have time.

Instead, I spent around seven hours each day doing a curriculum review for the State Department of Ed. 

I will spend a good chunk of this week in Boise, working on final reviews and recommendations with the other task force flunkies.

 It won't be a ton of fun, but when that is over, the vacation part of summer vacation can officially begin. 

And that will start with attending the wedding of these two crazy kids next weekend. 

Congrats in advance, Greg and Kristina!
And if you are still looking for something to do for your respective bachelor and bachelorette parties, I highly recommend a double feature of Now You See Me and Star Trek Into Darkness, followed by a healthy dose of Sherlock seasons one and two.
And a couple kisses from this guy.

Yes Alton, they do.

Bad Wolf

Did you know that there are Doctor Who holidays?

In April, some of the kidlets helped celebrate Silence Day...

My start-of-summer visit to the Utah niblets happened to coincide with yet another Doctor Who holiday...

The niblets and I spent the morning writing "Bad Wolf" all over their neighborhood.

 They seemed pretty into it.

Then I made a quick run to Target, where I saw that someone else had been Bad-Wolf-ing that day. I took a few photos and then showed them to the kids when I got back to the house.

Then they got really excited and insisted on Bad-Wolf-ing the rest of the neighborhood and another nearby store.

It was at this point that Jenny pointed out that the niblets must have thought they were just humoring their crazy aunt all morning. Poor kids.

When they found out that it was, in fact, a "Real Thing", I think I earned a few more Awesome Aunt points.

Of course, if Maxwell's poetry book is any indication, I think I might have a surplus of Cool Aunt Points built up already...

Summer is off to a good start!

Happy Anniversary!

June 1st was my parents' 40th wedding anniversary.

Tonight, a few of us put together a fun little video tribute.

We think they will like it but, if not, we will try again for their 50th anniversary.

We love you Mom and Dad!