a little chocolate fix

Three more days.

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By 10:00 Thursday night, graduate school will be a thing of the past for the Glauser family (well, except for the actual graduation ceremony part, but everything else will be finished).

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I think we just might make it! The last couple of weeks have been a little....intense, and this week will be no different. Matt is feverishly finishing his presentations and papers, and I'm trying to plan 3 trips and a move (actually, maybe 4 trips now as we're considering a last minute 2 day trip to San Ramon to find a house), while cleaning, organizing and getting ready for the movers to come.

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So, it worked out nicely that this past weekend I helped with a wedding reception and came home with this huge pretzel tub full of chocolate leftover from the chocolate fountain.

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This is some serious chocolate.

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Nothing tempers stress like a little chocolate. Tonight, I consumed an entire 1 lb. package of strawberries, dipped in this pool of chocolate- all by myself. I feel sick, but a lot calmer.

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I've got another package of strawberries for Matt when he gets home. He probably needs it more than I do!

oral surgery, spring temperatures, and impending birth

(No, not one of my impending births...read on. )

Why today was such a great day:

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1. Garrett's oral surgery this morning to correct his tongue-tie went incredibly well.

He was such a sport and was so sweet and brave. I don't care how simple the procedure, it's still frightening to see your child go under general anesthesia. He was groggy for a while, but quickly bounced back to his energetic self. He's quite enjoying the extra attention and milkshakes!

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2. We donned our hats, sunglasses, and sunscreen and spent the afternoon at the playground while eating a picnic lunch.

Well, as long as you consider a picnic lunch to be two moms sitting at a park bench handing out blackberries, sandwiches, and pretzels to anyone who managed to break away from the playground, racing around the tennis court, or rolling down grassy hills long enough to walk by looking for food! Oh, and just for the record, two kids fit very comfortably in the baby swings.

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3. This girl:

Such a little personality!

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4. I got to spend the afternoon with this girl:

This is my incredible friend, Kristin. I love this girl.

I love that her name is Kristin Smith. She's the third friend I've had named Kristin Smith.

I love that our kids are best friends.

Kristin is giving birth to her 4th baby in 9 days. Really, 9 days. Doesn't she look great?

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This was a good day.

one last time

Just to make sure we really got our fill of New York before we move, we went one last time yesterday. It was a beautiful weather and a perfect day to spend in Central Park.

on new things and really good food

Knowing that with Matt's job we will be moving around periodically, Matt and I have decided to really try and capture the experience of being where we are at any point in our lives. One such way of experiencing new places is with food. We are proud to say that we have broadened our "food horizon" since being near New York City.

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Two of our newest food fancies: fondue and Mediterranean cuisine.

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On Fondue: We met our friend, Mason, and his fiance, Mala, in New York a couple of weeks ago and went to a fondue restaurant. I know many of you are fondue experts already, but we hadn't ever done it before. We had a cheese fondue, followed by an incredible chocolate fondue. It was so much fun. So fun in fact, that for my birthday last weekend we had our own little fondue party. We made a broth fondue for chicken and vegetables, and followed it up with a cheese fondue. We ate it while sitting on pillows on the floor and watching The Holiday. We planned to do a chocolate fondue as well, but the first two lasted for the whole movie, so we'll do chocolate next time.

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On Mediterranean food: Last Saturday, Matt and I went to dinner at a French/Moroccan restaurant in New York called Marsailles. I admit that I was nervous to spend so much money on food that I didn't know if I would even eat, but we LOVED it. I seriously dreamed about our hummus appetizer that night. I really love food.

blogging when I should be doing dishes

We're on the countdown. We've got just over two weeks left here. Then we begin our whirlwind month of May in which we will attempt to squeeze into the schudule:

three last east coast trips,

a birthday party for Garrett,

a variety of doctor/dentist appointments

finals,

graduation,

moving out,

moving acrosse the country (would you believe this will be the 4th time we will have moved from coast to coast in less than 2 years?),

moving in,

a wedding

and somewhere in there...sleep.

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Matt and I have both somewhat mentally "checked out", which has made things a little frustrating. Frustrating because we feel like we've moved on (or are ready to move on) in our lives yet we still live in this tiny, not-all-that-3-kid-friendly apartment (and even less so now that Lydia is walking AND climbing and into all sorts of trouble), and because Matt really still does have to finish a whole slew of projects, papers, and test for classes. I'm sure the kids can sense that huge change is on the horizon and have been having issues of their own. We're really starting to go a bit crazy.

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Thanks to Dori, who came and spent the day and evening with the kids (we just love you, Dori!), Matt and I got away to New York together one last time on Saturday to celebrate my birthday. Not that New York is relaxing in any way, but we really enjoyed going just the two of us and came home feeling rejuvinated and ready to finish out the rest of graduate school.

This is us at South Street Seaport, which in contrast to Midtown, really is quite relaxing.

spring break adventures #3: DC

We finished off our week with with Dad, Ryan and Nathan in Washington, DC.

They left DC Friday evening for Philadelphia for the night to catch a Saturday morning flight back to California. We had such a great time all week with them!

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The only thing that made it bearable to say goodbye is knowing that Dad will be back in a few weeks for Graduation, and we'll be in California with them all by the end of May. We love you guys!

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We stayed in DC Friday night and enjoyed a few more sites.

I love the cherry blossoms. The boys loved the museums and had a great time flying their airplanes they got from the National Air and Space Museum.

Matt loved not having to study for a little while, and Lydia just loved being outside!

I also enjoyed a session at the Washington, DC temple.

We also met up with some old friends from BYU, the Wadleys, that we haven't seen for a long time. It was so fun to see them- too bad we forgot to take a picture! .

. This will be our last time down to DC in a while. We're going to miss it!

Easter

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday. Did you get your copy of The Testaments, yet? I just LOVE that video, and it was so perfect for today. Happy Easter!

spring break adventures #2: NYC

The Greatest Show on Earth

We went into New York on Tuesday to see the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. It was as fun and excited as I imagined the circus would be. It was also really loud. Garrett and Ethan both spent most of the night with their hands over their ears!

We also did a little sightseeing, and ate pizza at Lombardi's, the restaurant that claims to be the first Pizzeria in America. It was pretty darn good pizza.

spring break adventures #1: Shore

Our first adventures included Sandy Hook Lighthouse, and Belmar Beach. Did you know that the Sandy Hook Lighthouse is the oldest working lighthouse in the country? It is. It's almost 250 years old.

I call this one, "Waiting for Her Ship to Come In":

Near the lighthouse is Fort Hancock. They boys were happy to find a missile shell (or whatever those are) in each of their sizes.

At the beach:

Stay tuned!