The Big WYO

Hello, I'm a resident of Wyoming!

But seriously, it's like a conspiracy. We all want you to believe that Wyoming is super lame, so we can keep all its awesomeness to ourselves. I'm a self proclaimed WYO-hipster (it's totally a thing).

We're settled in to our new routines (oh? the coach is gone/busy all the time? how shocking and also unexpected.), and getting used to the town. Elliot is loving her school, and I am loving the feeling of finally having a child in school all day. Stori, Rou, and I are also loving that we live just two streets away from the library and that they offer story time three mornings a week. It's also weird to me how much I'm loving mornings here. I blame it mostly on Elliot being in first grade, but by the time I have her off to school, the day is still all laid out ahead of me and best of all I let the other two kids sleep in. I'm a stellar parent, I know. And so I spend my mornings right here:

My absolute favorite spot in our new house. I'm aware that sitting on the countertops is generally frowned upon in most houses, but this is just the most perfect place to enjoy a cuppa, a little music, and lovely natural sunlight on book pages. Blissful.

Home ownership is weird. This is our first house that is really and truly ours, and it's funny to me how excited I am getting about things I never thought twice about before. Curtains! Paint schemes! Cabinet hardware! Garden tools! It's life-changing. Even the dumb things, (like sweeping the stupid Russian Olive leaves from our neighbor's tree) seem fulfilling. It's an older house, so there is a lot of work that can be done (no ceiling light in the bedrooms? Seriously you guys?) But it's nothing we can't handle, and I'm stupidly excited about the work.

Other things I'm all about:

• The crazyawesome thunderstorms 
• The best, most non-judgemental, friendly, welcoming, diverse, helpful, SO not like my old ward, absolutely-perfectly-suited-for-me ward on the planet
• Living one block from the church building
• Cowboy Donuts (seriously. you guys.)
• Trees in my yard
• No fines for overdue items at the library (yes.)

Summation: I like it here.

Ten things, er, posts.

Do you really think it's possible for me to write ten whole posts? Maybe not. But considering all the goings on here, and all the Mormon-housewife guilt I feel for not documenting it, I should at least give it the ol' college try, right?

The Ten Posts:

1. All that boring moving business.

2. Cabin music.

3. Where I talk about wacky dreams.

4. An excuse to take pictures of my kids and brag about them a bit.

5. A post about the coach.

6. Why blog friends are real friends.

7. I'm going to talk about food here.

8. On letters, writing, and books.

9. Guilty pleasures.

10. A ten things list. Just like the good old days. (Ah organized randomness, how I love you)

Adventure is Out There!

And I mean waaaay out there.

It is true. Team Einfeldt is relocating to the fabulous world of:

Cows!

Horses!

Antelope!

Cowboys!

Seriously Utah, I love you, but this just isn't going to work out. It's not us, it's you. You just didn't appreciate us enough. Blair (and by extension, me and the girls) has found someone who wants to treat him right, allow him to teach in an environment where he is not subject to the will and idiocy of St. Kaiser Stupid Face (it's a long story, and probably not wise to post here.),  and give him amazing insurance. I hope we can still be friends. Kind of...

1. Elliot is nearly six, and is shaping up to be the raddest six-year old girl ever. When asked what she would like for her birthday party, she responded without hesitation, "A Spiderman pinata, and Star Wars stuff." She can stay. Happy Birthday Elliot!

2. If anyone wants to come to my house and help me put things into boxes, I'd be, like, your best friend. Ever.

3. Remember how I made a goal to read 52 books this year? Well, I was doing pretty dang awesome, until Game of Thrones came along and started throwing off my groove. It's great, but WHY is it SO LONG?

4. Obviously, since I am writing this post, you can assume I have a teensy bit of free time on my hands. Time which I should be spending on packing. Not blogging. I should get some kind of procrastination award.

5. Back to work. Boo.

Elliot will be home any minute.

Phone to blog post number two is a go!

1. So, the Blogger app isn't very fancy. One might even call it lame. I can only post pictures at the bottom? That's dumb. Nevertheless, I shall soldier on.

2. I discovered the Instagram. I'm pozeur, by the way. We should be Instagram friends.

3. Big News. Tonight I am going out. With grown up girls. Grown up girls with whom I have been acquainted for less than twenty years. WITHOUT CHILDREN. I have actually never done this before. I feel like I'm 16 years old and going on a date.

4. Word of advice: Do not buy U brand liners (the black box ones) unless you love rubbing your skin on cactus.  Then, by all means, go ahead.

5. I feel like a Hipster saying this, but I've loved Nate from the band fun. way before they were ever even popular. If you have never listened to The Format, just go do it. You'll be glad you did.

6. Rou has fallen in love with Angry Birds (Anry Birss) hardcore. Some wise guy Easter bunny honestly didn't foresee that a stuffed red bird toy would be used for nothing but hurling destruction at everything in the house (family members included). Nice going Easter bunny.

7. Yes. I was the nearsighted Easter bunny. What of it?

8. Blueberries cannot come in season fast enough.

The Cool New Thing

It has become painfully obvious that I am no longer the master of my computer. It has been requisitioned by Astoria for the use of CharlieAndLola.com and by Rou for the listening of the Angry Birds Rio theme song on Spotify. And so, in an effort to reconnect with the blog buddies I've left behind (all four of you) I'm attempting to post from my phone.  Does this mean an increase in posts? Possibly. Does it also mean an increase in spelling and autocorrect errors? Certainly.

However, it also might help me keep track of this silly life if mine a bit better.  We'll see what comes of it.

The Comeback Kid

AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!! THIIIIIIIIINGS!!!!


1. I said fare-thee-well to my twenties last month. We had some lively times. Including: working at Disney World, starting a band, going to concerts, meeting a super-neat guy, marrying that guy, having some babies, graduating from college with honors, making some quilts, teaching some Zumba, writing some really boring things, and other stuff. On to the next adventure! I was ever-so blessed to be able to spend my birthday weekend with my beloved friend Katie doing all the things that I love. Reading, eating ethnic food, hanging out in little breakfast cafes, watching UK period dramas, jumping on hotel room beds. It was marvelous. Oh, also, neither of us thought to bring a camera, which is ironic, since she is a professional photographer. Nice.

2. Elliot has a sweet little friend who carpools with us to Kindergarten. He can never quite remember Astoria's name, and has started calling her "Australia". Awesome. I like that kid.

3. Did you know that my two-year old has figured out how to open all the doors in the house, and completely disable those little child-proof doorknob covers?  I cannot tell you how many times a day I scream into a pillow. It is a lot. While it is true that children are wonderful and full of sweet and hilarious things, they are also little turds. All of them.

4. I am collecting songs that involve hand claps. If there are any you know and love, leave it in the comments. Some I've collected so far: Photograph - Weezer, 1234 - Feist, Close to Me - Get Up Kids (The Cure Cover), The First Single - The Format. But I need more than this, or my bathroom just isn't going to get clean. That's a fact.

5. So, like any mom, I love bragging about my kids. Love it. And it's totally easy, because my kids are geniuses (they get it from their mom, of course). So the fact that my youngest is now visiting a speech therapist is, well, a different experience. Part of me wants to hold on to her adorable "deedle dees" as long as I possibly can, but when it comes to trying to decipher what she wants when she's furiously pointing in a vague direction screaming "deedle panna!!!!" (No. I have no idea either.) It's more than obvious that she needs a little guidance from someone who knows about these sorts of things.

6. Downton Abbey. Yes yes yes yes yes.

7. Did you know that both songs nominated for Best Song at the Oscars are in some way directly connected to Flight of the Conchords?

8. This song. A million times.

Outdoor Church

This is a post that was supposed to happen a long time ago, but didn't because these pictures were all on Blair's phone.

One sunny August morning, the Einfeldt family was anything but peaceful. No one could find their shoes, some people wanted to play on the computer (or check baseball scores) instead of helping little ones get dressed, some had nothing to wear, someone ate someone elses graham cracker, everyone was yelling at someone else. It was an all around bad morning. We finally were dressed and ready for church, but as 5 grumpy people got into the car, we made a quick game time decision. At the end of our street, we turned the other direction, and drove up the mountain for outside church.

It was an excellent decision.