HANDS DOWN - BEST ALBUM ARTWORK EVER!

I just wanted to say that I love the itunes single of the week, "Walking On A Dream" by Empire of the Sun --- It's a breath of fresh air, I don't care if you hate it. And if you don't like the song, at least you will love the album artwork. I mean...it's absolutely incredible. These guys are geniuses.

easter

Easter was really great this year, even better than normal because everyone was in town for once. Here are some fun pictures I took of our egg hunt.

bubbles

(You probably noticed that all the kids were matching. That's typical Udall fashion).

do you cha cha?

So Bret and I were chatting late last night and he told me about this texting service called cha cha. I'm sure most of you have heard of this but I tend to be behind the times. I guess if you text any question to cha cha (242242, standard messaging rates apply) they'll respond promptly with an educated answer. Apparently it's great for those nagging questions you want answered quickly like when did Japan attack Pearl Harbor? or who starred in the movie Sixteen Candles?

We asked this question:

Who would win in a fight, a jack rabbit or a possum?

Six minutes later we received this reply:

A jack rabbit is faster, but the opossum can play dead therefore he'd probably win cause the jack rabbit would walk away.

Forget Google. I've found a new fount of knowledge.

talent in the family

I think I’ve already mentioned here once before that my talented sister Amy has a really great quilting blog. Well, this week she is the guest mom on the blog, Design Mom.

Go here to see all the fun posts she’s done on that blog and here to see her own blog. She has been and will be featured everyday this week so be sure to check out all of her posts. She’s got great taste in fabrics and wonderful ideas for both quilts and other fabric-using crafts. I continue to marvel at how she can do so much while being such a busy and effective mother.

conference weekend

We had a great conference weekend. Our friends, the Wilsons, needed to move their things into storage down at Caitlin's parent's ranch in Southern Utah so we and Scotts went to help. After unloading and packing everything safely away, we spent the rest of our time watching conference, four-wheeling, playing nerts and eating ourselves silly.




Bret got sprayed with mud. He looks cute with freckles.

This is how we spent most of our time, making and eating food.
This is good.


We stopped in St. George on our way home so the girls could soak up some sun and the boys could get their wiggles out.

waiting for the weekend

Do you have a bad case of the Friday afternoons? I do. I just want to go home and play with my little niece Norah who came to town today. Here’s some fun things to get you by until the weekend officially begins.

This game is tricky and highly addicting. It's called Escapa! (which reminded me of Finding Nemo). My highest score is 21 seconds but a girl in our customer service department got 32 seconds, so I hear. Play it here.

Those who know me well know how much I enjoy Art History. I took this quiz that I found on How about Orange to test my skills. I was pleased with the results.

a second chance

I’ve been fighting this for way too long and I don’t think I want to anymore. You see I never fully understood those country music lovers; never got why someone would be so excited about a Rascal Flatts or Keith Urban concert. Because it’s true that those that like country, love it. I’m just not one of those people. It would be unfair for me to say I never liked country music at all. There were always those days of idolizing the Dixie Chicks and who could pass up a Garth Brooks tune now and then? That I could handle—heck, I choreographed a dance to Alison Kraus in high school. It’s those ultra twangy songs that you listen to and wonder “who the heck sings about juice boxes?” that I have a hard time with.

Lately though I've decided to give country music a second chance. I don’t want to hate it. I mean people must love country music for a reason, right? So I’m not fighting it anymore, in fact I’m embracing it. I compare it to a time long ago when I trained myself to like V8 juice. I forced myself to drink glass after glass until I could tolerate it and eventually enjoy it. I’ve taken that same approach this time, forcing myself to listen to country music stations for my entire 40 minute commute to and from work. I guess you could say I’m swimming in it, soaking it all up. We’ll see how long it lasts before my fingers get all pruney and I can’t take it anymore.

I blame that Taylor Swift and her catchy ballads.

seattle

Bret and I spent our last week of March up in beautiful Seattle. He had a couple of interviews up there that week but his sister also lives in nearby Kirkland and we worked it out so that the rest of his siblings and their spouses could meet up with us for a few days, too. It turned into a great little trip. I feel bad that I didn't take many pictures of us with Bret's family while we there. I guess I just didn't feel like being that annoying person who needs to take pictures incessantly for the blog (I'm usually this person you see).

At the Seattle (Woodland Park) Zoo.



Kirkland. It's magical. Please notice the girl captured in mid-air and the couple looking into each others eyes.Some punk teens laughed at me for this. I was offended at the time but now that I see it myself I confess I would have done the same.While Bret was interviewing in downtown Seattle one day, I seized the opportunity to really explore the city. I walked all over town, visiting the typical sites like Pike's Market (where I tried some chocolate pasta-very good), the funky-looking glass library, the wharf and some of the best antique stores around. I also spent a good hour in the famous local bookstore, Elliott Bay Book Company.

I'm a fan of that show Cities of the Underworld on the history channel, so I indulged in my history-loving/Indiana Jones-wannabe side and went on an underground tour of Seattle.

I got to learn neat things from this guy like about the ghost who guards the old bank vault and why toilets are called crappers (I'd be happy to let you know if you're curious).

While walking around town I saw a tough looking guy wearing a kilt, I thought that was weird but then I saw this a couple blocks away. Apparently that's in?

We had a great trip, especially all the time we got to spend with Bret's family. A special thanks to Lynette for letting us stay with her! The more I saw of Seattle and particularly the surrounding cities, the more I grew to love it. I guess we'll see, huh?