Spring Breakin!

March 15 -24 Matt, Carter, and I were lucky enough to have my mother-in-law Bonnie, sister-in-law Whitney, and friend Carrie come out to Pittsburgh to visit us for their Spring Break. Sadly there wasn't much "'spring" involved. One of our good friends describes Pittsburgh in the winter time as an old lady naked, Matt and I feel like that is an adequate representation. Pittsburgh when green or changing colors in the fall can be very pretty in places but other than that it is mostly a big, old unattractive city. Anyway, we were still delighted to have them come and hang out with us. Because I have had family members ask about what we did, and for the sake of my own documentation, I thought I would share our trip with everyone who reads our blog. Also, I am not as creative as some with my words (ahem Becky T) so sorry if this post drags at times.



Monday we drove to Kirtland, OH. As you can see from the picture below with us in front of the Kirtland temple it was pretty cold still with a bunch of snow on the ground. Much of the Kirtland I had seen before during the summer time was closed down, but the little replica town of Kirtland was still open and has such a powerful spirit about it.


Tues, Wed, and Thurs were pretty much filled with shopping. Clothes for the girls and birthday bedding for me (my b-day isn't until June but you better get while the getting is good). I know we did other stuff, but I am loosing my mind at the age of 25. We did some Pittsburgh stuff, I did a little bit of my nannying, the girls played a lot of solitaire . . . We had fun!



On Good Friday we went to the strip district where Pittsburgh's fresh fish comes in. There were a lot of Catholics out and about buying their fish. Plus a bunch of street vendors and fresh fruit. Then we went to The Children's Museum where Carter loves to play with the train table, rice table, and water tables. Grandma is an excellent playmate as well. In the afternoon while Carter was sawing logs, the 3 women went to Pittsburgh's Botanical Garden, Phipps Conservatory. It is a very beautiful place and a great pick-me-up during a gloomy winter/spring.




We also ate a lot of good food if I may say so myself. The girls one morning decorated a delicious fruit pizza, yum yum. It looked spectacular!

We did a few loads of laundry and Carter loves to give a helping hand. But he definitely has a thing for Auntie's Panties!





The Saturday before Easter the girls decorated Easter eggs in the morning and Carter got to search them out in the afternoon. In the middle of his hunt it started to snow on us! Bummer. We had made such fun plans to do on this afternoon, but because of the freezing, soggy weather all we could do was a quick backyard egg hunt.

The Easter stash! Though not included is the other Grandma's package: Scripture Scouts (these are the coolest tapes-now CDs that I grew up on, anyone else grow up on them?), little "nerf" gun, and more candy!

We tried to get an Easter Family picture but Carter is at an age where sitting still for a picture is pretty impossible. He has to be on the move.

No matter what our "formal" activity was, I personally thought the most fun was just being able to hang out together. Oh yeah, and finally be able to watch American Idol all in person so we didn't have to call each other during commerical break. Carter loved having his Aunts (Carrie is an honorary aunt) and Grandma out to play, laugh, snuggle, and just give him more attention than mom can. They left early Monday morning and when Carter woke up one of the first things he did was scoot down to the basement to play with his buddies, but alas they were not there and he just wandered around trying to figure out where they had gone. Thanks for coming guys!! We love you so much!!!!