A REAL LIFE update!

So, life has generally been crazy around here, nothing unusual in that. I have been busy designing, trying to get my house clean (which I have discovered is a never-ending process and just makes me feel like a complete failure), studying and trying to stay caught up with my History class, trying to scrapbook occasionally, and keep my girls from killing each other. They are so cute together most of the time, but Ainsley has recently discovered that she has an opinion and it doesn't always coincide with Hannah's opinion. And they have both decided that sleep is no longer a necessity. And since I can't get a thing done with them awake, I have been staying up until 2 or 3am just to have some "me" time. It has been insane and it has to STOP! Anyway...

Thomas came home from work yesterday with an announcement. He bought plane tickets for us to visit Chicago in the middle of November! We get to go see my parents! I thought we weren't going to be able to go until next summer! Although, he wasn't thinking and scheduled us to fly out on Wednesday night, so I have to miss class. I have to find someone to take notes and/or record the lecture for me. Thankfully, it is NOT the night of my big presentation or my mid-term, so that's good at least.

This morning, the girls both woke up at 5:30 and decided it was morning enough for them! So, we had an early start to our day... should have known it was going to be a LONG day! About 7:30, the power went out. A phone call to the power company let us know that it would be a few hours. A car hit a power line and it went down. Hannah was being really cranky and wanted her "kids' shows"! So, I sat her down and explained to her that there had been a really bad accident and someone in a car hit a big pole and it knocked down the electricity lines. And she still got really angry, so I had to go into a bit more depth and explain to her that someone was probably hurt very badly because it couldn't feel good to have your car hit a big pole. She got this look of complete sadness on her face and asked me if it was a daddy with kids or a mommy with little girls. I told her that I didn't know who it was, but it could have been someone's mommy or daddy or someone's little girl or boy in the car. She got so sad and asked if we could bless them in our prayers when we ask Heavenly Father to bless Cousin Paul's heart. What mother can resist that???? So, we said a prayer for Cousin Paul and the "mommy or daddy who hit the pole with their car so we can't watch kids' shows." I almost started laughing right then! After prayer, she asked if we could read together. I agreed, of course. So, she went in her room and came back after a few minutes really upset because she couldn't find her scriptures and she really wanted to read them. Wow! My four-year-old teaches me lessons every single day! So, we got my scriptures out and read them instead. She got bored after a verse or two, so we ended up having a tickling match. Ainsley got bored reading a book and fell asleep, so Hannah came in the kitchen and worked on some fall crafts while I cleaned the kitchen. I got the dishes all done (cold water is worse to wash dishes in than hot water!), the counters scrubbed, the trash taken out, the bathroom scrubbed, the floors mopped and the toys all put away. Man! I felt so productive! I think I am going to declare "Electricity Out Morning" at least once a week! Then the power came back on and I started working on some projects and the house is a wreck once again... but at least it is clean UNDER the toys and laundry... and the laundry is clean, too! :) We had a pretty uneventful rest of the day.

We left home at 3:30 to pick Thomas up and head down to Provo for our family photos. My friend, Jenna Nelson, is an absolutely amazing photographer! I am seriously hooked on her work! I check her photography blog all the time just to see if she has done any new shoots! So, this afternoon we headed up Provo Canyon to get some fall color shots. Since the girls got so little sleep last night, they were little stinkers this afternoon. Ainsley did not want to be held for the pictures or even sit still. It could be partly due to the hour drive it took to get down there. She is not a very patient child. And Hannah was just a typical four-year-old. We just want one good family photo. I like the family photo we got, but I don't like the way I look in it. I think that's typical, though. I don't think I have EVER liked a photo of myself! We haven't had a family photo in three years, so we just need one to put up on the wall and in the scrapbooks! Jenna put five of her favorite photos up on her blog and I uploaded them to mine... with her watermark of course! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the photos of the girls! I have a feeling we are going to have an entire wall of framed photos of the girls! Seriously. I love them all! If you want any of these, let me know so we can get them ordered early next week. There will be nine or ten more photos up on Jenna's site tomorrow, so we have even more to choose from! Okay, here's the part where you tell me how adorable my girls are!!!! And really, how amazing Jenna is! If you were with us, you would be amazed that she got anything from our cranksters!






I love the photos! And the more I look at the family photo, the more it grows on me. That's us. That's our life. Hannah doing her own thing. Ainsley doing her own thing. Thomas and I trying to just smile and get through it.

AFTER the photo shoot, we were HUNGRY! So, we drove through Orem trying to decide what to eat... Same stuff we have in Salt Lake... Thomas wanted Outback. I hate Outback... tastes like your food is already digested and spit back up for you. Blech. We've had a gift certificate for Outback for 5 years and haven't used it yet. I really wanted BBQ... REAL BBQ. So, we drove to downtown Provo and stopped at Smokehouse Pizza & BBQ. Jenna took the photos for the menu. And yes, the food is just as good as Jenna makes it look! Although... both of my kids turned up their noses at the macaroni & cheese, probably because it wasn't the fake orange Kraft stuff. But I have to tell you... their beef brisket sandwich is amazing! Mix the sauces and it's just PERFECT! The kids were both cranky. Ainsley kept climbing out of the highchair and screaming. Hannah was talking soooo loud. Thomas' only complaint was that they serve Pepsi and they didn't have french fries. But their homemade potato chips were really good. Sweet potato chips would have been better... hmmmm, sweet potatoes sound GOOD right now!

We came out of there totally full and drove around Provo for a bit, reminiscing and showing Hannah all of the places we lived and even drove by Grandpa Sardoni's house. Hannah kept telling us "Enough exploring, let's go home already." So, we headed up toward the freeway and yep, you guessed it... Krispy Kreme had HOT NOW doughnuts! We are both suckers for Krispy Kreme and it's hard to find good doughnuts in Utah that aren't made with either almond extract or a citrus mix. We ate a couple of doughnuts on the way home and still have quite a few left over for breakfast tomorrow. Hannah is excited because she gets a doughnut and chocolate milk for breakfast. I know, really healthy! She'll have a yogurt and fruit for lunch to make up for it! :) We got home around 8:30 and were exhausted. We aren't used to going out for long trips! I threw all the photo shoot clothes in the washer because Hannah & Ainsley both spilled most of their dinner on themselves and then transferred it to both Thomas and I. And I had to wash the clothes tonight because guess what we get to do tomorrow afternoon.... TAKE MORE PICTURES! Thomas' dad & step-mom arranged for a family photo shoot tomorrow afternoon in Park City, with a photographer friend of theirs. We haven't been in a Cardall Family photo since we were married so this will be good for us. Last I heard, the photo shoot is on the side of a highway, so hopefully we have all of our children with us when we finish. I am going to take my camera and try to play with a few settings/landscapes myself. I may need a few landscape shots to round out my family photo collage that I am going to have hanging on my wall!

Well, I think that is about all we have been up to lately. Just trying to get by and stay sane. My kids are both finally asleep, so I am going to go get some sleep because I am sure that they will be up at the crack of dawn in the morning. I'll post more photos when I get them...