Bike Ride

I think I could have assembled a Ford Taurus in less time than it took to put together Rachel's new seat and install it on the back of my bike, but I finally got it on and we went for our first ride as a family in Syracuse yesterday.

After a few initial moments of shear terror, Rachel got the hang of what was going on and really enjoyed herself.

What to do?

So, have you noticed our blog background? Of course not! We don't have one. Here is the story. Most husbands leave the decor of the house (and now blogs) to the wife. In our marriage, we both do the designs and decorations in the house and now the blog. So, here we have a woman and man trying to mesh their feminine and masculine tastes. In other words, we have nothing until we can both agree on a background: one that is not too girly, one that is not too dark, one without polka dots, one with some color, one that is symmetrical, one with no flowers, one with some texture. . .You get the picture. However, I HATE our background now. It is obviously boring-no character. Does that really represent the Lloyds? Not even close. So, WHAT ARE WE TO DO?

Cowgirl

Rachel showed off her wrangling skills at the ward party last night.

Sweet Brag Moment

After two months of taking the written and pratical test, I finially recieved my letter that makes me a certified group fitness instructor. Whoo Hoo!!! Basically, I can teach aerobics and strength trainning to a group. Getting certified is an additional part for my major, plus I think it will be fun to teach people and help them get fit. I am still learning how to teach, but I hope to have a job this summer teaching that will help me improve my skills.

This and that

Tyler here, clearing pictures from the memory on my phone and sharing some recent pics:

We went to Logan over the weekend. While there, we saw this creepy window display at a downtown store that sells missionary clothing:

(no wonder some people think that missionaries are like robots)

If the Corsica wasn't already a total piece of junk, I'd be more upset about the 6' piece of steel pipe that flew out of some hillbilly's truck on the highway and hit my car on the way to school this afternoon:

Tori had a meeting tonight and didn't make dinner before she left, so for dinner I ate the can of beef stew that we'd been avoiding for close to a year now. It was even worse than I thought it would be:

I've been watching a new show on ABC called Better off Ted for 15 minutes now. It's really wierd. I can't decide whether to find something else to watch for the next 15 minutes before Lost starts.

Little Piggies

Every week or every other week, Rachel and I learn about something new. Last week and this week, we are learning about pigs. Today, we painted pig snouts from the piece of an egg carton.

Also, we have library books about pigs. Here are our top three:
1. Pigs Love Potatoes by Anika Denise
2. Hog-Eye by Susan Meddaugh
3. Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, by Leslea Newman

By the way, does anyone know where we can visit some pigs at a near by farm or something ?

Morning with Daddy

I have an internship Friday morning, and now that Tyler has some Fridays free, he gets to have a daughter/daddy morning. Today, they decided to go to Ogden via Front Runner. Rachel always has fun on the trian.
She is a big girl now and can sit all by herself on the trian.

Their last stop was the temple where Rachel played in the water. It was a perfect morning for her. We sure do love her.

Busted!

Late for Christine's baptism this afternoon-

we were speeding to Brigham City.

.... and got a ticket.

We called from the car and told them we'd be even later. Fortunately, we stepped in the door just in time to hear the end of Ben's opening prayer:

".... and please bless aunt Tori and uncle Tyler not to get stopped by the police again so that they can get here in time to see Chris get bapstised."

Sometimes prayers are answered immediately.

Princess Party

Rachel was invited to her cousin Christine's princess birthday party this afternoon. She loved all the pink, frilly party favors, but there were too many girls for her. They decorated crowns, played place the glass slipper on Cinderella's foot, pass the poison apple, and guess which princess.
Here she is decorating her princess crown with "gems":

....and acting like a spoiled little princess herself:

Music in the Car

So, the only time I really listen to music is when I am running. So, obviously this is music from Cake, Killers, Beyonce, Techno etc. Certainly not music for my Rachel. At home, we listen to preschool songs. In the car, I usually listen to NPR. Occasionally, I turn on music in the car which is music similar to what I listen to when I am running. Rachel, however, can memorize really well especially when words are set to music. So, I wanted to get some church music for her to have in the car, because church songs are much better to memorize than the lyrics of "If You Liked It, You Should've Put a Ring on It" by Beyonce. My friend Marillyn Adams suggested this CD. I found it at Seagull Books for only $3.99, and it is so neat. It is not dull like the Children's Songbook. Children still sing the songs, but it sounds great. Rachel, of course, caught on quickly too. I am so glad that I found this to have in the car. This is certainly something that you should look into if you have primary children in your home.

By the way, Seagull Books is fantasitc place to buy discounted church material. LOVE IT!!