Mitchellife As We Know It: May 2015

Austin, Texas

Peter somehow talked me into going with him to Austin on business. I was gone for three nights, which pathetically enough is the longest I think I've been gone from the kids since I was pregnant with Will. After school ended I was pretty wiped out and I had been feeling pretty overwhelmed but then I got to thinking about it and decided we needed some time together.

My first view of Austin from the hotel room. Atypical weather for this time of the year as it rained a lot of the time we were there.

While Peter went to the tax firm I explored downtown Austin on my own. I don't care about going places by myself but wasn't looking forward to having to take a taxi last minute thanks to the downpour.The hardest part was just leaving the hotel room. I survived and was able to see some great art work.

I love museums. Got to see a whole exhibit about Alice in Wonderland with original photographs, writings, and art. I'm not really a fan of the story but the exhibit was great and got me interested in finding out more.

University of Texas

Capital Building

There are stars on EVERYTHING in Austin.

And my hair was wavy and flat in the humidity.

I like spending time with Peter but I don't like flying. FOUR flights. Four times taking off and four times landing. Happy to hit the ground in Salt Lake.

Will & Peter

One nice thing (among other things I love) about Peter working from home is he gets to spend a lot of time with Will. The bummer is Will doesn't always know dad's working!

If given the choice Will will generally pick dad. Tonight I took him up to Fathers and Sons after Peter got the tent set up and he got to hang out for a few hours with his daddy before I came back and got him. (He isn't quite ready for the overnight part.) He was loving it.

Walking with dad in the rain.

John leaves Cub Scouts

John thought it would be funny to tell me he was excited to now be in "the BS." I don't know where he gets this stuff but I suspect other 11-year-old boys might have something to do with it.

Mother's Day

Most of the time being a mom is great. Like when you get to just hang with your kid in nursery and he's looking so cute with his blondie curls--

Actually this Mother's Day was kind of a bust. Sacrament meeting made me feel like a failure and this was my one and only acknowledgement of the day from my children:

We did get to talk to Nathaniel, which was nice, but also made me want to bury myself in my bed. Maybe next year will be better knowing that is the last Skype we'll have with him before he comes home.

When John "plays" with Will

Don't you love finding our two year old in a sled strapped to a tree? It's exactly what you expect to see when you go outside to check on them.

Somehow I like this better:)

Sarah goes to the Prom

One night at about 11:45 we hear this rapid knocking on the door. Peter and I are in bed and are like, what the heck? So I go to the door and there is a note on the porch that says, "Sarah, follow the string." I knew this had to be something to do with a dance because, you know, we live in Utah.

Sarah came out in her bare feet in the dark and proceeded to follow the string around the neighbor's house and then across the street. It went back and forth across the street several times and we were beginning to think it was going to go all the way down the block when it came to a stop on the porch of our Bishop. His son was asking Sarah to the prom. Thought it was a clever way of asking someone right down the street to a dance.

The terrible thing, and honestly the first thing that went through our minds-- is that we're going to have to find a dress and Sarah HATES to look for these dresses.
Turns out we had good reason to fear because it was a total nightmare. Won't go into the details but seriously it got to the point where in the middle of a Sarah meltdown I asked if she really had to go because I knew at that point she was done with it.
The good news is that we found a dress. I really had the feeling it we were going to find the right one. This was actually dress #3. The first didn't work out, the second was too informal and I just didn't feel like it was the one and then at the very last second while we happened to be shopping for another tie and accessories we happened upon the perfect dress. At a store we'd been to a million times before. Unbelievably it had just come in. I couldn't have been more excited had I won the lottery.