Work & Play

After 20 consecutive days of never sitting down, talking non-stop, selling his shorts off, eating greasy food and getting home after 10:30 every night- Shaun is finished with the 2009 boat shows!!

He started January 20th in Seattle, then moved on to Spokane on Jan. 28th, and then traveled to Salt Lake on Feb 3rd and finished up on the 9th. The best part is they met their goals! Wahoo! (The pictures are of the Spokane boat show booth; their Seattle booth won a major award!)

He was so exhausted. He called me late one night during the show and told me he'd just been on the phone sweet -talking some stranger for 3 minutes before he realized he'd dialed the wrong number. I laughed for days!

While Shaun was working in Seattle and during part of the Spokane boat show, the kids and I were out visiting my family in St. Louis. Seriously, is there anything better than being at Mom and Dad's? It'd been TWO YEARS since I'd been back to So. Illinois (thanks to all the trips my parents took out to see us!)

We had some lovely warm days so we played at the park. It gave me hope for winter's end. And then my hopes were quickly dashed with two snow days. But, the kids were happy playing inside with all of the non-toy items and my lovely sister Adrienne.

Keeping with tradition, we celebrated Chinese New Year and Mom made some of our favorite traditional dishes. Technically they're Korean dishes, but do you know of any major Korean holidays?




We drove out to the Mills outlet mall in St. Louis and had fun riding on the carousel, shopping, eating at Johnny Rockets and stopping at my Dad's fav place: Cabelas! Joseph growled at all the bears and Emma was disappointed that she couldn't shoot any bears since this store didn't have a shooting range.

For our next adventure, we tried out the children's museum, the Magic House. This place was amazing! I was sad when it was time to leave! This is the BEST museum I have ever been too. It was brilliantly done with all the favorite activities- water playstation, market place, pretend houses and restaurants. On top of that it had a kids TV newscast, mock oval office, fairytale land (Emma climbing the beanstalk), musical chairs that played music when you sat down, science experiments, and tons of fun, random things! Emma loved the fishing pond and stream where you could throw in a fishing lure at one end and follow it down to the pond.

Everything was separated into small, gated areas with an musuem person at each gate so you didn't spend the entire time corralling children. It was so much fun- we can't wait to go again!

Emma for President!

Of course we worked on sewing projects while I was there. Mom helped me make new chair cushions for my dining room and this cute apron (one side for Fall, one for Christmas). Don't you love pictures post facto?

If you've got to have one of these aprons- I can get you the kit with instructions. (It's made from a charm pack, but you don't have to make it double-sided.)

My Grandma Jan drove down from Nauvoo to visit with us for a few days too. Emma gave her the perfect welcome by running outside and shouting, "Hello Great-Grandma, welcome to my Grandma's house!" She then spent the next few hours discussing how she has a great-grandma and two grandmas and they're the moms of so-and-so, etc.



My Dad left a few days before we did to head to Utah for the baby blessing of my nephew, Logan. Emma rode along to the airport and had this conversation with my parents (affectionately known as "Marmie" and "Grumps"):

Marmie- Emma, if you could fly anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Emma- St. Louis!

M- Why?

E- Because I love you and Grumps!

M- Oh, that's sweet of you. We love you too!

E- Umm, am I on the cutie list now?

I'm so glad she's learned early that certain phrases will get you whatever you want in life. It's an invaluable lesson.

We were sad to leave, but ready to see Shaun again. I wish I had the airport reunion on camera. I heard Shaun's phone ring before we saw him and called out "Shaun!" to get his attention. It's the first thing Emma heard so she ran down the entire baggage claim shouting "Shauny, Daddy, Shauny, Daddy" and jumped into his arms. Ahh, true love.

We sat down to dinner that first night we were all home and I almost cried, it'd been that long since we'd been able to enjoy a meal together as a family! It's good to be home!