road tRiPPin...

we headed out for our spring break this week...this is the "toiletry bag" you get with 3 girls!

jilly enjoying her gas station treat...nothing like a little twinkie on the road!

 i thought i pretty much ate my way across new mexico but i guess i slept a little bit of it too...cameron is a machine at the wheel, he just keeps going & going...funny how all our heads are turned to the same side. 

 cameron's favorite random stop so far for obvious reasons...

things we are luving...arizona sunshine, the pool!, friends: janae, sterling, johnny & linda, jamie, sarah, scotty & andrea, wish we could have seen more of our old AZ gang & ward, the girls luv sleeping on the hide-away beds in the hotel rooms, i am sick of trail mix, have i mentioned the sun?, what did we do before dvd players in cars (and ipods too), a great mani / pedi, being together!

ps...forgot to mention we totally missed our chance to sleep in a WIG-WAM...

it's like a pit in my stomach, how did i not plan better.

*what are you guys doing this year for spring break? what did you do growing up?

we are on a road trip...utah to arizona to new mexico to colorado...to home! this is really our "first" spring break trip, seeing that savannah' is only in first grade and cam has a more flexible schedule now. i don't remember taking official spring break trips growing up. our BIG trip was our summer trip when we drove to utah - we lived in indiana. we drove it in our station wagon...me, my 4 sisters and mom & dad. it rocked. 

*do hotel bed comforters freak / gross you out?

yes. no question.

*do you always have to get a treat at the gas station when you stop for gas?

i don't think so...i even packed great treats this time and also pb & j with bread. but then it's like you run in to go potty and those darn isles are calling your name...and the crushed ice is too much sometimes. but we have been pretty good...so far: twinkies, skittles, and a pack of gum are all the treats the girls have gotten on the "pit stops". and pretty much hit up every sonic along the way as well...did i mention i luv crushed ice.

*does your conversation ever go blank / dull with your driver and how to survive it?

we always start out strong...we are rocking the convo, laughing, singing michael jackson...we could write a book we start coming up with such good insights, memories, current events, future plans / goals and then it hits like a fly against our windshield. flat. dead. we know it is there (not the fly, the silence) but we just keep driving. i wanted to get one of those "300 questions" to being a better couples book but then i just decided i would instead tell cam, "hey i am just gonna rest my eyes" and then discretely catch up on my sleep. cheerio.

lasagna. and such.

....yes, all these pictures are uploads from my cell phone.

no touch-ups, no special lighting.

i am pathetic.

i made lasagna back in the year 2000. right after cam and i got married. it was my mom's famous recipe...i don't know how i screwed it up, but i did. i swore it took me like 5 hours to make / cook. it tasted like cardboard. i threw the whole thing out. i vowed never to make lasagna again. i havent. until last month. my sister-in-law, you can call her Eve or SJ...she will answer to both :), swore on a "No-Fail" lasagna recipe. ive been cooking it ever since. probably cooked 10 lasagnas in the past two months...for my family, for my extended family on sunday, for a neighbor and for a young womens activity.

call it perspective or perseverance or just a really good recipe but sometimes in life you gotta take a step back, you gotta look at things from another person's point of view, forgive yourself, never give up, and enjoy the goodness in life - don't give up on it just cause it sometime taste like cardboard. these past couple months have been busy, ya know the madness and craziness of life. all of you can relate. but a dear friend moved to a state that i am not even sure where it is located in the US (yes you heid...where is iowa again?) and another is moving from Utah back to san diego and i can't help but luv blogs because they help me keep in touch with all the special people in my life. i luv reading and seeing your pictures...

here's a little update of my cam2 life...

i don't know who this child is. it certainly can't be my little jilly...i can't believe she will be 2 in may...how did her legs get so long...

lu...there are no words. i luv this girl to pieces.

st. patty's day rocked. thought of the lind's & edgington's :)

lucy & savannah were sick the whole month of february...this is no joke. savannah will have her tonsils & adenoids taken out in two weeks :/

a fun girls weekend to salt lake city with the kesler girls...a three hour excursion in IKEA, a session at the Draper temple, delicious food at Cheesecake Factory, some shopping, awesome tours on Temple Square, a brisk walk with M.L.K, and of course "Who's Terri?"

THREE ski days with cam in ONE month. beautiful, beautiful weather. the best company ever. park city. brighton day. brighton night.

spring you are so close...i won't give up on you. i will continue to walk and run and beg for your arrival...you are so close!

tell me she doesn't make you laugh too?

savannah j. turned 7. sigh. she got a trampoline. best investment we have ever made. the girls are oBseSSED! i had a fun date night with her at the Salt Lake Real soccer game...just me and Vanny. luv her. a little bff. funny. silly. sensitive. smart. strong.

been working on a quilt...i figured since i couldn't go to hawaii this year with emily and my mom (who are going in ONE WEEK :( that i would instead make a hawaiian quilt...pathetic again right. its taking forever but i refuse to put the card table away so it is sitting in my front room...totally a mess and i sew a square any spare moment i can. lucy is a great helper!

so many reasons to luv this photo...i was at my wits end, cam had been working a 24 hour shift. it was sunny outside - THANK YOU SUNSHINE - but it had been a LONG day...didnt want to cook so i headed to iceburg, but along the way there was a neighborhood girl selling snowcones so we bought one for everyone...my little niece ellie was having a sleepover. so we were waiting in the drive through and the car was full of pandemonium...jilly had a bloody nose and was screaming blood murder because she wanted her own slush, savannah was crying because she was sick of sharing her slushee, a fire truck was going by so ellie and lucy were laughing and screaming at the top of their lungs...and me, i was just taking it all in...moments later...

have i mentioned i luv utah.

and i luv waking up to lucy snuggled in my bed.

jilly is everywhere and into everything at all times of the day in all different ways. be afraid be very afraid.

and a very fun visit from my niece morgan from denver...so luv you morgy! swimming at the rec center...

and then there is me...depressed after the byu loss and to put a knife in my back, the duke loss. jimmer it was fun. duke, obviously you will be back in full effect next year...no doubts. march i luv you.

and to my life, i luv the madness.