SPRING BREAK, yo!

We made it out of the driveway before 7am! Yay us!

Ready to go!

Psycho pic of me and Devil's Tower


Heidi and the DT




Addie and the DT




James at the DT ranger station

Kids & Devils Tower

Heidi, James & Addie at the foot of DT

The Legend of how DT was created

Zoomed-in: Climbers on the tower

The girls and me watching the climbers

We had another tourist take this pic of us and the tower, but she got the foreground instead. Shucks.

Kids in Rocks
***

We got to Rapid City at 5pm and hurried to play in the water park and slept soundly at our hotel. The next morning we set out for adventure...

On Thursday Morning we went to Mount Rushmore. This is how it looks from the "entrance."

We found Arizona in The Hall of Flags

Kids at the entrance

Me & kids at the hall of flags

The kids found Montana at the hall of flags

Thar she blows...Mt. Rushmore in all its glory!

Heidi with the Presidents

James with the Presidents

Niles looking out the window of the visitor center

Niles and the Presidents

***

After earning our Junior Ranger badges at Mt. Rushmore, we went back into Rapid City, had some Taco Bell lunch, and checked out the dinosaur park.

James & the TRex

Kids with Stegosaurus

Kids with the crumbling Brontosaurus

TRex again

Triceratops

Maiasaurus

***

After Dino Park, we had froyo and went back to the hotel for swimming at the waterpark. We had pizza and culvers frozen custard for dinner.

Addie & Heidi on the "toilet bowl" slide

weeee!

The waterpark from the top of a slide

Addie on the slide that runs through the bar & grill

Splash Pad

The waterpark as it looked from the hotel entrance

Heidi on the bar & grill slide.

We took this pic for my brother Willy

***

On Friday we went to the mall in Rapid City to look around and get Heidi's ears pierced for her birthday.

Niles in his stroller

Heidi getting her ears pierced.

Nervous

Ta-Dah! Pierced Ears!

We tried BACON SODA from the fun candy store there.

We couldn't agree on a place for lunch, so we went to Golden Corral where everyone could get something they wanted. Like ice cream and chocolate dipped strawberries.

Silly Niles at lunch

Even sillier Heidi

We promised the kids they could try something they've never eaten before and they all wanted to go to Lobsterfest and eat lobster, so we did...

Concensus: meh. But we had a FUN time together!

Heidi & James in the playland at Rushmore Mall

***

Saturday morning we headed home to Montana. I stopped for a potty break, when what to my wondering eyes should appear...

We could see Devils Tower from I-90 (we hadn't noticed before).

Addie laid by Niles & entertained him.

Heidi and James in the back seat.

The minute we got home, James wanted to excavate his dinosaur skull

(this is what he got at the mall candy/toy store in Rapid City)

My little paleontologist found a triceratops skull which is proudly mounted on our piano now ;)
***

As we drove into town, we got a message that Addie won the Easter coloring contest at Albertson's, so we stopped there and she picked up her prize--a giant, fluffy bunny! We are so proud of her!

SO--that was our spring break. We unpacked and changed gears right into EASTER.

Happy Easter!

After a whirlwind Spring Break, we got home from South Dakota at 6pm, had a song practice at 7pm, then had to unpack & get to bed & get ready forthe Easter Bunny really fast.Here are the kids on our way into church on Easter Sunday.

Addie-10, Niles-11months, James-5, Heidi- almost 8!
Familia Melin on Easter 2012
***

Here's the pre-church action...

Niles with his basket

James, Addie, and Heidi checkin' out their booty.

***

After church we went to Grandma's for an egg hunt and dinner

James

Niles found a stick!

Kelli and Jess hiding some eggs on their persons

Addie

Heidi

Little Cousin Lexi & Grandpa Melin

Addie & Heidi hunting

Little Cousins Simon & Niles...too little for hunting eggs, but just right for Easter snuggles!

MiddleMarch

Oh, my--where to start??

My Dad Post just had emergency heart surgery yesterday--SIX bypasses--is that a sextuple bypass? It took a good 7 or 8 hours, but it seems to have gone well. The whole mess started on Thursday , I think , when he had been sick with a bronchitis-like virus for quite a while. He finally went to the doc with trouble breathing and was ambulanced from American Fork to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center with congestive heart failure. An angiogram on Friday afternoon showed six blockages to his heart and surgery was scheduled for Monday. This is all alarming since Dad has seemed to be in good health (although he mostly relies on herbs and hasn't been to the doctor for years--I suppose this could be a good advertisement for integrated medicine--use your herbs, but keep up on your annual physicals!). Everyone is in a little shock, especially his dear mother, my Grandma Sine, but we had a family fast Sunday and I have felt totally at peace ever since. I know Heavenly Father is aware of us and Dad is in HIS hands. My Sis Jill and nephew Jack, Papa Post, brother Matt and nephew Jake at the ranch, 2005 [those boys are 8 now!]

I was playing the piano for singing time in Primary (which is a great gig, if you can get it) and I was just drowned in The Comforter as the junior Primary kids (ages 3-7) sang "Choose the Right" and "I Am a Child of God" with all the joyful noise they could muster. It was AMAZING and I blinked back tears as I played. "Let wisdom mark the way before; in its light, choose the right, and God will bless you evermore" and "Lead me, guide me, walk beside me"--reminded me of THIS: "I will go before your face; I will be on your right hand and your left, and mine angels round about you to bear you up." I knew that those words were true for those precious babies, for me, and for my Dad. It's all good.

***

ANYHOOOO...here's what else we have done this month.

The month began with Dr. Seuss' birthday

Our version of green eggs and ham...Quiche Lorraine!

We read our favorite Seuss books all week...this one is MY favorite!!
"I meant what I said
and I said what I meant
An elephant's faithful,
100 per cent!"

Speaking of elephants, true to her Atkins-diet-since-birth nature, Heidi demanded green eggs and ham with NO CRUST ( aka scrambled eggs) for our Seuss Birthday dinner.


This is blurry evidence that Addie & James also celebrated.

On March 8th, I entered the orders for our PTO spring fundraiser (we sold locally made filled patries called butter braids)--we had a goal of $3K but we made $5K, so we celebrated with a family movie night watching Hugo. The boys tried out the girls old Princess chairs. They loved them, so I think I might re-upholster them with some less froofy fabric. We really loved Hugo, by the way.

March 10th was an exceptionally warm, sunny day, so the kids went to the park with Grandma. Earlier, we had gone thrifting and found this army costume for James. He LOVES it and thinks he looks just like Uncle Mark in Afghanistan ;)

Sans Hat

Heidi spotted a friend--what a fun spring-ish day!

***

Speaking of SPRING, today is the first day, the vernal equinox, the day when things take a turn for the brighter--YAY! Here's how my street looked at 8am (all that foggy looking stuff is snow blowing in the fierce March Winds)--pretty glorious, I say.

My girls made these yesterday...

And so, as is our tradition here at LIaNT, I give you the song of spring. And today it is dedicated to all my sibs who are keeping vigil with Dad, and Dad himself..."and I say, it's all right..."

Mad Handsome Men

I recently watched all the Mad Men episodes on Netflix and look forward to a new season next week. I couldn't help noticing how much Don Draper (Jon Hamm) reminded me of old pictures of Grandpa Art (my great-grandfather, my Grampy Elrey's dad). Does anyone else see it?

Jon Hamm as Don Draper

Grandpa Art Elrey

Suave, no?

I know his foxy white legs are distracting here, but if you zoom in on his smile, that's a Don grin if I ever saw one. Besides, awesome picture (crabbing in Oregon, I think) , huh?

Eleven

My Hubs, The Dashing (albeit much younger) Richard Melin

Dear Hubs,

It’s been a month since our 11th anniversary, but you know how crazy the past month or two has been, so I don’t have to explain why I’m a month late wishing you a Happy Anniversary, right?

I’ve just been thinking about how when we got married, it was a huge act of faith, since I didn’t know you very well. Luckily, I’d learned to stop leaning to my own understanding and go with my gut most of the time, so I said YES. Best. Idea. EVER. I remember when we were engaged I told you that you were the first person I’d dated whom I liked more and more everyday rather than less and less (granted this has a lot to do with youthful idealism I was finally shedding at 29, but I digress…). I realize now, looking back on 11 years together that I was right, but I had NO IDEA how wonderful you are.

I had no idea what a wretched pregnant person I would be. I had no idea what kind of emotional rollercoasters our extended families and our children would send us on. I had no idea that that the world would change in an instant 7 months after our wedding, and with it the economy, our career paths, and all our future plans. I had no idea that I would swap my health for four wonderful kids and that I would have to lean on you so very much.

Fortunately, God DID know all that. He gave me you—my “helpmeet-and-exceed,” my rock, my constant, hilarious friend.

I knew you were good with kids, but I had no idea you’d almost be a better mom than I am. I love that you love our kids, that you can’t think of anything more fun than being with us, planning memories and experiences for us, being kind and calm when I am losing my patience, and being firm when I’m ready to cave. I feel so lucky that we are your only real hobby and priority. I love that you never ignore us for a TV show or a game or work. I love how excited you get about surprises. I love that you spend a little time with each kid every night and you’re happy to do it because, as you remind me regularly, “Soon they won’t want to talk and snuggle, and then they’ll be gone. I’ve gotta take every opportunity!” Best dad ever.

I knew you were tech-savvy and a handy man, but I had no idea that you could fix or build ANYTHING. I love that you built our house and half the furniture in it. I love that when I have a vision for the house, you find a way to make it happen. I love that, even on our tight budget, you are clever enough to find a way to give our family every comfort—organized craft supplies, more room to play wii, air conditioning, a functioning dryer for almost free, a convenient kitchen garden, a place to store bikes, a faster computer for free, a fast way to scan slides and store memories, spectacular family vacations on very little money, just to name a few. I had no idea you were such a genius, but I LOVE IT.

I knew you were a kind and gentle person, but I had no idea the depths of your patience. Nor did I imagine how incredibly silly you could be. As I mentioned before, we have been through the ringer in ways we could never have foreseen. I am not proud of the ways I dealt with the disappointments. But you never stooped to fighting or blaming or kicking against the pricks. You keep your eye on the prize, step over the mess, and keep on truckin’. Thank you for not engaging when I pick a fight. Thank you for forgiving me for being nutty as a fruitcake and still letting me raise our kids and run our home. You’re rubbing off on me, you know. I don’t know if it’s showing yet, but I do feel much more peaceful than a decade ago. And that’s mostly because you’ve shown me that every little thing is indeed gonna be all right.

Thank you for saving me from myself. I love you more everyday, still. I’m so glad I married you — good call.

Love, J