2009 April: Bates

This month was packed. I had all the normal busy with work stuff, but we also did the following:

-Put a swing in our front yard. It's big enough for 2, so Tamara and I can swing together. Orianna loves it, especially now that it's getting warmer.

-We've done lots of yard work (including plucking the same amount of dandelions everyday. No matter how many you weed out and throw away, there is always the same number the next day).

-We went to Rexburg for Easter and had a surprisingly restful Easter. It was nice to be able to just chill and talk a bunch.

-We kicked our dog, Max, out of the house. He is now living in the garage, but has a dog run and a doggie door to the garage, so he pretty much has full reign of the back yard.

-We went to the zoo with Tamara's extended family, and had an absolute blast there. Orianna loves the animals. I actually just went during my lunch hour, but then when I was done with work, they were still there, so I went back and ended up seeing most of the zoo still.

-I went to a ghost town with Tamara's family (Tamara did not wasn't to go, so she stayed with the baby). It was pretty cool. They had a cemetery for all the villagers that were burned to death when the town burned down... twice. It's the town of Mercur.

-We had a BBQ in our back yard, and had a fun time cooking hot dogs. Max loves hot dogs, but refused to eat Tamara's Sister's Tofu-Dog when it fell on the ground (proof that Tofu is not fit for mammalian consumption [Rule of Sanitation: If a dog wont eat it, you definitely shouldn't]).

-We went to Comedy Sportz (an improvisation club) with Tamara's extended family. It was also a blast, though Orianna was very excited and kept talking loudly at the actors, so we had to take her out a lot.

-We had another amazing BBQ at Tamara's Aunt's house. They fed us gourmet steaks and BBQ chicken. I nearly exploded in a delicious blast of BBQ sauce.

-We also sent Erica off to Europe. I dropped her off at the airport for her BYU-I trip all around Europe.

-And finally we went to the Aquarium again (with Tamara's extended family). It was fun, again, and Orianna loved the colorful fish & coral, still. Then we came home and had a game night and played Domino-Train and Killer-Bunnies (2 quite fun games).

I know we sound like an adventuresome bunch, but really it is all Tamara's sister's doing. She is leaving on a mission in May, and organized a bajillion fun activities for us all to do. It has been super fun (but also super time-consuming and expensive). So, after the 13th of May (when she leaves) we will probably take a very boring rest for a few months while we make up for all the money we're spending now.

Hope you are all doing great! Cheers,
-The Bateses