More Than the Mulberries

I Had a Birthday...awhile ago....

2013-05-09T10:49:00.001-06:00

I had a birthday!!

I wanted to write about my big day - and since time seems like it's in slow motion these days, it feels like it was just yesterday.

I started celebrating the night before with my best friend, Kjersten.

(Looking hot with our feathered hair circa 1990)

We went to Nordstrom and hoarded free samples, smelled 100 new perfumes trying to find a new perfect one for summer, oohed and ahhhhed over $400 shoes and $3000 Burberry purses that we will never own and picked out some new make up.

This made us very hungry, so we split some flatbread at The Cheesecake Factory (try the pear and blue cheese one - SO good!) and ate cheesecake until we were sick. It was SO good! Such a fun night - I love that we have been celebrating birthdays together since we were 12. Almost 30 years...yikes.

I woke up the next morning to little giggling kids who gave me these awesome gifts...

My very own BeyBlade from the boys (they gave me a good one, I might actually win a match now!)

And Lauren wrapped up her Rapunzel tower just for me.

The presents starting coming in! My sweet in laws drove up to give me these pretty flowers and say hello.

I met my cute friends Marcy, Rachel and Leslie for lunch at my new favorite place, Cafe Bella Rue for a yummy sandwich and gelato. Have you been there? The sandwiches are SO good!

Later that night we got some Olive Garden to go at my mom and dad's - which was good because I started feeling really, really awful/weird and had to lay down.

I saved my piece of cake for breakfast the next morning (don't judge, you know you'd eat bithday cake for breakfast if you could too...)

It was a great day with friends and family. Dan always treats me like a queen and spoils me rotten. I love it.

Couldn't miss a shot with my dad - ever since his stroke he's decided to go all rebel by growing a beard, his first one ever in his 70 years.

My mom and I hate it, but if this makes him feel like a tough guy, then whatever. ;)

3 Month Anniversary!

2013-05-01T11:01:00.000-06:00

Happy May Day - I've made it!

It's been 3 months today since my hysterectomy!

I can't say that I feel 100% better.

More like I traded a huge set of problems for some new ones.

I think (?) I am glad that I had the surgery done - I guess I didn't have much of a choice, but man this has been tough!

It feels like everyone around me expects me to be back to normal. I know this isn't really the case but I'm comparing it to how when you tell someone who doesn't see you everyday that you are pregnant. And you wait a very, very long 9 months to have that beautiful baby. Then that person says, "Already? Wow, that went by fast for me!"

Well, of course it did, you weren't the one growing a new person inside of you!

I thought I was having a heart attack on Friday. So much so that I made Lauren leave the store with me and we drove straight to the hospital. And of course everything was fine by the time I got there. I did meet with a great doctor later that afternoon who gave me a kind but stern reminder that I was expecting WAY too much out of myself WAY too soon. Full recovery for having multiple organs ripped from your body via two abdominal surgeries in four months should be more like a year. Not three months.

I'm just doing the best I can. This new thing of anxiety and panic attacks have been the worst. If people around me don't understand, that's fine. I don't need them to and they can think what they want. I'm just going on a day to day basis around here of what I can and cannot do. It's the only way I seem to be able to function and keep the shred of sanity that I have left for the time being.

Thank goodness for my mom and Dan who listen to me complain and be sad that I am not "me" yet. Sometimes just saying things out loud make it better, you know?

I've become a bit of a recluse. I have this fear now since the surgery of being in places that I can't get out of or leave quickly from.

Rumor has it that when I was put under I really fought against getting on the surgical table, which doesn't surprise me. I was scared to death and one of my favorite phrases is "You're not the boss of me."

We had dinner with our friends the Troxels on Sunday night and Kjersten gave me the book "Heaven is Here" by blogger Stephanie Nielson to read. (Nie Nie)

I know everyone knows her story.

But I finished the book in two days - it was exactly what I needed to read this week.

Patience

Blessings

Being grateful for what I have

Things can always be worse and they will get better

Did I mention patience?

I'm working on it.

Getting the Garden Going

2013-03-20T12:08:00.000-06:00

Last weekend my friend, Kjersten and I spent the morning at the Home and Garden Show at the local expo center. We had a great time oooohing and ahhhhing over all the fun things we wanted to do to our houses this spring!

I came home itching to get my garden going and started making some serious plans.

This is how I spend a Saturday night, who knew married life would be this thrilling?

I decided to ditch the cucumbers this year. I've tried it two years in a row without even a smidge of luck, so I give up. Thankfully, there is a local farm stand nearby where I can pick up some pickling cukes for summer snacking.

Have you ever made Bread and Butter Pickles? SO EASY! And they taste amazing! I can't wait to make these again this summer!

I am making some extra space for zukes and a few more Roma tomatoes. I love making all the fresh salsa and sauces to can. I've pretty much got it down pat and although it is a lot of work, I almost find it relaxing to do.

We worked together as a family last Saturday getting the garden boxes ready to go and prepping the soil.

We found that our one box with no bottom did twice as well as the one we built with a bottom. So the boys took over the job of drilling in drainage holes for that.

And if you find that you are not up for building your own from scratch, Sam's Club has some really great square foot garden box kits right now that are a cinch to put together.

Boys + tools = pure happiness. It starts young!

So far we've only planted spinach, carrots and our bush and pole beans. Dan built me an awesome trellis last year but we planted the peas late so they never really took off that well.

At least the place was looking WAY better than it was last year!

I wouldn't say Mel would be proud by any means, but at least the patio doesn't look nearly as bad. I was glad I put the garden to bed last fall better than I have in the past!

Other patio plans include building either new steps or a deck out to the backyard and sprucing up the place a bit. I'm so happy spring is finally here!

How about you, do you grow a garden at all?

Linking up to:
French Country Cottage
What's It Wednesday
Be Inspired
Tuesday's Treasures

Model Home Tour #2

2013-03-15T17:20:00.000-06:00

Second on our stop yesterday was Candlelight Homes.

They have a few here and there lots to build on where we were at.

This was their Sun Valley model

First stop...living/dining/kitchen combo.

I have this in my house and I'm sort of over it. I wish things were slightly more divided up.

All I could see when I saw this table was fingerprints. Glass tables and kids just aren't a smart mix. Unless you are the CEO of Windex.

Right off the kitchen was the mudroom/garage door. Again, open cubbies = mess for everyone to see. No thanks.

Lauren loved the living room chairs and pretended to be the queen. Who are we kidding, she IS the queen.

Living room with the ugliest fireplace ever.

I do love the couch and chairs though.

View walking into the living room of the loft upstairs. You could turn this into another small bedroom if needed.

Master bedroom. It was a nice size but my mom didn't like that you could see right into the master bedroom when you walked into the front door. It was pretty odd.

The master bath was very large as was the walk in closet.

So master on the main, 3 bedrooms + loft upstairs, and office. 4041 square feet total (including the basement)

Price of this place was $389,000 I believe.

For that much I would rather find my own lot/builder and go to town with a floor plan I really loved. This one did not seem worth the money at all.

Model Home Tour #1

2013-03-14T17:24:00.000-06:00

It's not a secret I LOVE going to look at model homes. Maybe because they are all new and shiny with zero clutter? It's fun to see how they are decorated and maybe get some fresh ideas on what to do with my little home.

So Lauren, my mom and I took a little drive yesterday and found this model by Fieldstone Homes. Hate to say it, but this builder was around when Dan and I were house hunting and their floorplans were AWFUL.

Looks like they've done some major re-vamping in that department and they are really cute houses! Not sure on the quality though?

This model was3156 sq ft
As is was $265,000 - not too bad with all the upgrades they had.

Anyhow..here's a few rooms I thought were cute! Not my best photos, but you'll get the idea!

This kitchen was such a great size...sigh. And the pale blue wall color was just perfect.

Quartz countertops. Look at all that workspace!

I am loving these putty colored cabinets with the white subway tile backsplash!

Cute green hutch. I love the dark wood floors but geesh these were dirty. I know they look good when clean, but you must have to clean these things 100 times a day.

It was a really nice sized family room. Better space than mine to be sure. At least there is more than one place to put the couch, unlike in my house. I really loved the couch. It was this neutral nubby woven fabric that would hold up well with my rough and tumble kids. I'll never buy a cotton couch again, lesson learned.

Pretty blue tiled fireplace. I'm not a huge fan of using color for things like this. But if you are good at re-tiling when you are sick of blue in 5 years, then I guess it's not a big deal?

Decent sized mud room going out to the garage. I think I like cabinets better that hide all the clutter. I've never seen a "normal" mudroom that looks like this.

Upstairs was the master bedroom. Huge space with a lot of light!

Master Bath vanity. I love all that counter space! I still hate cleaning two sinks. I know everyone thinks master baths should have two sinks, I just think it's one more to clean.

Hall bathroom

They had this bedroom staged as a craft room. There was an office downstairs in the entry but it was a cluttered mess so I didn't take pictures of that.

Boys room. I still love the simple board and batten look.

There was another girls room upstairs but it was pretty boring.

Upstairs laundry with cute red cabinets

Nice loft space...

So a 4 bedroom/2.5 bath with loft & office.

You know, like what I have now pretty much. It's hard to think of moving when the space you have is the same and on a bigger lot. But I am getting itchy to do some painting now, love that blue!

We went and saw 2 others...I will post those tomorrow!

Greg's Baptism Day!

2013-03-13T17:05:00.001-06:00

I would love to say what a great day it was...

And for Greg, it WAS!

We are Mormon and Greg chose to be baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints earlier this month!

He was a little nervous, but pretty excited to have his dad baptize him!

He loved wearing his new "grown up" tie. I really need to learn how to do that...tie a tie!

We had a nice program at the church where his Nanny gave a talk on testimony. We were able to share this day with our Bishop's family and their son, one of Greg's friends.

In our church, we baptize by immersion. Greg does NOT like being cold and was relieved to find that the water was nice and warm in the baptismal font that morning!

We all came home afterward for a nice luncheon. He wanted me to serve his favorite food, steak. But we went with some other favorites, hot dogs, chili, chips and salads.

He requested his favorite desserts of Rice Krispy Treats,

BYU Mint Brownies

and a blue dinosaur cake from CostCo that said "Choose the Right"

(ALL Greg picking that one out!)

I was so happy my mom and dad could be there! Dad was in the hospital 2 nights earlier so it was a little iffy there for awhile....him and Greg are great buddies, it would have been sad for him to not be there.

I have ZERO pictures of me and Greg on this day...NONE! We did a few family shots outside and someone changed my settings so they all turned out like this:

Yes - that's a picture. We look like aliens.

It was a great day...

Greg had no idea that after a crazy Friday of cleaning and getting the house/food ready that I did not get more than one hour of sleep!

For some reason I woke up in the middle of the night, and I knew if I went back to sleep, I would NOT wake up.

Dizzy, shaking, total out of body horrible experience.

I needed to go the hospital but I knew if I did, I would miss his early morning baptism.

So I stayed up. All.Night.Long! Went to his baptism a dizzy and sick mess but made it through to an InstaCare visit later that day after everyone left! WHEW!

I am so proud of Greg and his choice to be baptized!

Lego Late Over Birthday Party

2013-02-27T17:54:00.000-07:00

The parties just keep coming around here!

After a small celebration for my dad who turned 70 (hooray!!) we moved on to Greg turning.....

Since we like birthdays to drag out forever, we started on Friday by me bringing in cupcakes to share with his class at school.

He got to wear the birthday "necklace" and obviously loved hearing his class sing to him!

That night he invited some of his good friends over for a

LEGO LATE OVER!!!

Miss Natalie over at Natty Sue Designs made this awesome invite for us:

We did a similar party like this for Graham's 8th birthday also.

It's a really fun theme that the boys love and not too stressful for me. Which is what I needed!

I am getting better and better everyday, but I'm no where near 100% yet so I am still trying to take it easy!

Dan put up some simple decorations and the boys set up the tables and chairs for me.

As the boys arrived they played with a huge pile of Legos and waited for the rest of their friends.

Dan & Lauren went and picked up pizzas and breadsticks.

We had 2 slices left over!

Hungry boys!

We played a few Lego games...the first was where they sat in a circle and started building for 1 minute. When the time was up, they passed their creation on to the next person who added onto it.

After about 7-8 turns, the last person had to explain to the group what the creation was/used for. We got some REALLY creative and unique explanations. It was hilarious!

Next up? Lego Chopsticks!

They had one minute to see how many Lego's the could pick up using the chop sticks. We did this a few times, they loved this game!

Last up was the Lego Memory Game. I put some odds and ends on a cookie sheet and they all had a short amount of time to look at the objects. We then took the objects away and they had to write down what they remembered.

Lauren totally WON this game. The boys were super sore losers to find out that a 5 year old girl smoked them. Too bad, so sad.

We all went downstairs to watch the Lego movie, Clutch Powers

Have you seen it? It's awesome! The boys were mesmerized!

We came up later for cupcakes and ice cream.

I have gotten more use out of this cupcake stand, I love it!

I found these awesome Lego minifigure and brick molds on ebay

to make the cupcake toppers out of melted chocolate.

I used the brick mold for crayon favors, really easy!

I think the boys, and most importantly, Greg, had a great time!

We are so happy that he has such a great group of friends. They are all so fun and nice to each other.

Happy 8th Birthday Gregory John! We love you!

Birthday Girl

2013-02-21T15:11:00.003-07:00

Lauren had preschool the day before her birthday and celebrated there with her little friends.

She was thrilled to get a pink crown, balloon and be the special helper that day.

Two weeks ago, Lauren and I sat down and put together little treat bags to hand out to her friends at school. Each had a cupcake, shape ruler, stickers and party horn.

We started off her birthday with her favorites for breakfast, pancakes!

Not so easy to make a pancake in the shape of a 5, but Dan managed to pull it off.

She wanted one of her favorite friends, Miss P to come over and have a play date. They are so cute together, they like painting their nails and playing Barbies. They wanted to make Fairy Houses so they worked on that for awhile.

Lauren and I made a cake for that night. I saw this beautiful rose cake on the Farm Chicks blog and we decided to copy that. It was SUPER easy to do and I thought it turned out darling!

So pretty for a Valentine week birthday celebration!

I love this red cake stand my sister in law, Kelly gave me.

Pink wasn't enough, so Lauren asked to put sprinkles all over it. We usually have birthday dinners with grandma and grandpa but I still wasn't feeling that hot and making this cake was about all I could do. They came over later instead for cake and ice cream and to open presents.

She made a BIG wish. And wouldn't tell a soul.

I was worried with my not being anywhere near back to normal yet that this might be a cruddy birthday for her. It was low key but perfect and I think she still had a wonderful day answering telephone calls and opening up presents from her cute cousins.

I'm still a little in shock that my baby is now FIVE!!

It seems like were JUST celebrating her first birthday last week!

5th Birthday Fairy Party

2013-02-20T18:53:00.002-07:00

After many weeks of counting down, Lauren has turned FIVE!!

Hip hip hooray!

We started out the party weekend with some of her friends over for a Fairy party.

Her nanny bought her a new birthday dress when I was in the hospital and it matched her party colors perfectly. She was so excited to wear it!

My good friend Natalie, at Natty Sue Designs made these really cute invites for me.

Let me stress that I sat almost the entire party. Dan was the best Fairy King one could ask for. I had almost everything purchased and ready to go prior to my surgery, so all he had to do was implement it.

We forgot a few things. I didn't have half as many decorating details as I normally do for my kids parties.

NO ONE NOTICED.

Lesson learned!!

We started out making fairy houses.

I found the cardboard bird houses online for .83 cents each and bought some rhinestone stickers for the girls to put on. I also had some silk flowers to glue on.

Dan's sisters, Sarah and Jaylene drove up to help with the party.

Lauren pretty much idolizes Jaylene so she was thrilled to have her there.

They played a few games like Pin the bow on Tinkerbell (a poster I bought at Wal-Mart with pictures of bows I printed out online) and Hot Potato (with a fairy wand)

I pretty much recycle games for every kid party, just changing it up to fit the theme. Lazy or smart, I can't decide.

Each of the girls got a set of glittered fairy wings to wear and keep. They looked so cute running around the house wearing those!

Since there was a fiasco of 3 little girl parties in the neighborhood that day, we did the cake, presents at ice cream early, since some girls had to leave early and some got their late.

We did a pinata downstairs. I think I'm totally over pinatas.

Too much stress wondering who will get whacked in the head.

Making a very big wish on her flower cupcake!

At the end we had a little extra time and the girls watched Secret of the Wings downstairs while we waited for parents to pick up. It was a really fun party!

As sad as it was for me to sit there and not do much, I'm really glad we went ahead with having it. You can't really cancel a 5 year old party without years of regret and therapy now, can you?

Made It To the Other Side!

2013-02-15T16:59:00.003-07:00

There is no other way to really say this, but I would be perfectly fine pretending like last month never happened.

I spent 7 weeks without a washer or dryer that worked, hauling my clothes over to my parents home several times weekly. Thankfully, this has been resolved!

I was denied my surgery by my insurance company. Then I was told I needed to have a surgery to PROVE I needed to have the surgery. I dreaded waiting around for pain that I KNEW was coming, I just never knew when. STRESSFUL.

My hair started falling out. Most people might not notice but when I'm pulling it out in clumps or seeing it all over the bathroom counters and floors, I know it's happening. Apparently a lovely reminder of my gallbladder surgery in October and quite common? Which is fine, except for when it happens to you. So I started wondering if I would be bald this summer after having two more rounds of anethesia!

I cut 4 inches off my hair to make it not seem so bad.

I have an amazing doctor (she delivered Graham and Greg and now specializes...I am so lucky!) who called my insurance company and told them "No way Jose, she needs one surgery and she needs it NOW."

I wonder if a male doctor would have done this?

So after over a year of going into episodes of screaming, doubled over, cannot walk, move pain, trips to the ER and generally feeling like death....I went in for my hysterectomy on February 1st.

I worried myself sick over it.

What kind of incisions I might wake up to, how I would recover afterwards, if people helping would remember to put a bow in Lauren's hair. You know, important stuff. I was wondering if I would feel broken having my uterus ripped out and sweet Dan told me, "Why? It was great when we needed it and now we're done with it...get it out!"

I cried like crazy that morning...surgery is scary. Waking up from surgery is even scarier. I take forever to wake up....(2 hours this time) But really, this went 100 times better than expected, the nurse put the IV in one painless shot (13 sticks with Greg!) and according to the OR room dr.'s, I have some pretty serious opinions about what a skank Ke$ha is.

I was home a little more than 24 hours later. Only 3 tiny scars to prove it! My sweet in laws kept the minis all weekend long. Amazing women friends from my church brought us dinner every night for a week.

The recovery pain was LESS than what I was having to deal with every month. I got caught up on New Girl and Nashville. I did not die. (Whew!) I am so grateful to sweet friends and my mom who stopped by, brought me trashy magazines to read or called to check on me.

Looking forward to feeling better this spring!

And wearing pants that zip and button again.

Brrrr...

2013-01-09T22:46:00.000-07:00

I took Christmas down. It always makes me sad to do it. My house is a mess 10 months of the year but I really think I do Christmas half way decently. I LOVE my tree, even on years like this one where I let Greg and Lauren decorate most of it.

If you've been to my house and disagree with my skills, just shush.

It's way too cold here.

I'm walking around the house wearing coats and gloves and stealing the kids snuggies at night when I watch tv. I didn't even want to drive over the 12 houses over to my moms the other day because that would mean I would have to expose myself to the elements.

But she's doing my laundry for the next 6 months while my new washer and dryer are waiting to arrive. So I had to go.

(Thanks mom)

When they arrive I will have a big party, we will have some yummy Chinese food and sit and watch my laundry being done in the laundry room. Call me if you want an invite to that.

You won't need a coat or gloves since it will be August by then.

We heard about some crazy people who have way too much time on their hands down in our old neighborhood. After seeing and not believing the pictures, we took the minis down on Sunday afternoon to investigate.

Quick timed race across the empty lots and back. Except mom forgot to count. Ha ha. So it was a tie.

The giant snowman made with ladders and a forklift. Arms are a golf club and rake. Inside supposedly reinforced with steel. Obvious identity crisis with the Utah Utes red scarf and BYU square head.

CRAZY!

It will probably be there until August as well so if you want to see it after my washer/dryer party, let me know and I'll send you the address.

Dan will kill me for this but look who is a total softy...Miss Darcy was shivering, even in her new pink ruffle coat. So her nice daddy help warm her up. Oh my goodness we all love this cute dog!

Ending the Year

2013-01-02T00:20:00.000-07:00

We went over to my parents house for dinner. My dad still wasn't feeling all that hot so we had the kids open presents in their room so he could be around all the excitement with the kids.

We decided that we had enough toys around this house to last us awhile and thought a family membership to the local rec center would be a fun family gift. But just telling the kids that would be sort of boring.

So I wrapped up three presents. Each one had an envelope with a puzzle in it, and they had to open the those in a certain order.

Putting together the first puzzle...

Lauren's envelope had $500 cash in it (for the membership...) This explains her huge reaction and her thinking that the money was hers for a brief second.

Another puzzle asking if they could guess what all that money was for.

And the third puzzle telling them it was for the rec center. They were SO excited! They love going there and it will cover going to the outdoor pool in the summer as well.

So it was all a bit silly, but prolonged the anticipation of opening up a gift and they were thrilled at what was inside when they finally figured it out!

They made a New Years cake all by themselves. I let go and walk away, letting them have total control in the kitchen. They had so much fun baking, frosting and decorating our 2013 cake!

Singing Happy Birthday to the New Year and making a New Years wish!

I can't believe it's 2013!

I hope all your New Years wishes come true!

Happy New Year!

2012-12-31T13:50:00.000-07:00

Who is excited to start a New Year?

I AM!

2012 has seemed like a long, bumpy road to me and while I think the beginning of 2013 will be the same, at least I can see the end in sight!

Things I have learned this year, some lessons are new and some are just more of some old ones.

Stop trying to please people. Either people will like you or they won't. If they don't, it's okay.
Real friends are not that easy to come by the older you get. Treat the friendships you have with love & quick forgiveness.
Having a child who learns differently than the pack of sheep at school is a blessing, it has taught me patience and admiration for brilliance of doing things outside the box.
Never turn down the invitation to snuggle with your son.
Make overs done by a 4 year old will turn out better than the time you wore full make up with blue eyeshadow at girls camp .
Losing weight is fun. Hard, but fun.
Noticing your neck is aging is not fun.
Getting the giggles when you're supposed to be quiet never gets old.
I need to keep my mouth shut and listen more than I talk.
Feeling closer to God happens more outside of church than in it. Enjoy those moments no matter where & when they happen.
Be grateful every day for the amazing and handsome man I married.
Be grateful every day for the family and life we have made together. Glamorous or not, it's ours.
Stop wasting time. Wasting time doing things I don't like to do. Spend time doing things that I want or are good for my marriage, my family. In my head I am still 20, but the reality is, I need to do things now before the opportunity passes by and I'm too old and it's too late. I have never once regretted kissing a stranger on top of the Eiffel Tower. Would I do that now? Of course not, but I am so glad I did when I COULD!

I wish you the happiest of New Years! We are celebrating by finally having our Christmas dinner with my dad now home from the hospital, the kids are busy baking the New Year a cake and we might get crazy and play a new board game Santa brought us. Perfect night to me!

What are your New Years plans? What have you learned this year?

Christmas 2012!

2012-12-26T12:20:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

I spent Christmas Eve driving 30 miles an hour on the freeway to head up to the University Hospital to visit my dad.

The kids had made some sugar cookies for Santa and decided to make a few special ones for Grandpa.

We had a short Christmas Eve lesson and then hurried back on the road home before it got much worse.

The kids loved playing in the wheelchair and I think all the noise they made had my dad grateful we were leaving so soon.

We got home in time to clean up the kitchen and get ready for our traditional Christmas Eve Dinner - pizza and sparkling cider. Afterward, the kids said their good-bye to Trixie the Elf and got to open one gift each (which is always new pj's)

We headed downstairs to read "The Night Before Christmas" and watch some Christmas videos put out by the church.

A new favorite is the story of the red coat. A short 2 minute video with a simple message of showing compassion and love to others.

I was shocked and delighted at how fast they fell asleep and we got to work!

I didn't get to bed until 2 a.m. :(

Christmas morning the kids started ringing their bells and we all went out to see what Santa had brought.

We gave the kids half of what we normally do, mostly due to my lack of planning.

I'm sure some of it was done sub consciously since the clutter in my house is driving me mad.

The thought of more sends me over the edge.

They were still beyond thrilled - so happy and grateful. We gave Lauren an umbrella and I thought she was going to DIE with happiness.

We couldn't stop laughing she was so excited about this!

I could NOT find a BYU snuggie to save my life, so my sweet friend Julie sewed these for me.

I love that the kids loved them - this was the present I was most excited to give them! Perfect for movie nights downstairs!

We had a nice, relaxing morning and then went down to Orem to see Dan's family for a late lunch. We drove back downtown to see my dad again for a little while and then headed to Temple Square to see the lights.

The Visitors Center wasn't open but it was great to see all the beautiful lights and I loved that there was hardly any crowds.

The kids loved the life sized nativity scene and it was really touching to listen and watch this on Christmas Day.

We didn't plan this all out but it was really the perfect way to end the day.

I am no professional photographer, although I love trying...this picture makes me laugh.

Dan and I kept trying to get a shot of the two of us..we aren't very good at accomplishing this most times.

I loved all the pretty luminaries and lanterns.

Dan and I walked around looking at the lights on Temple Square for our first date 12 years ago. So this could have been really romantic - but we had 3 kids and a Darcy with us. So it wasn't.

At.all.

That's okay - I'll trade that for a evening with these cuties. We hurried and left to pick my mom up at the airport, came home and went to bed.

It was a long and busy day, but really perfect, I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! The wheels in my mind are already spinning on my New Years resolutions - but you know how I love a good project!

Let's Discuss...

2012-12-19T13:20:00.002-07:00

Everything that can happen, tends to happen when you are already a crazy, busy wife and mom. It never happens on the week that there is nothing scheduled on the calendar and the house is clean!

For instance:

Breaking your favorite hot chocolate mug that you just got hand delivered to you from California. Because I refuse to drink from a Utah mug. Sigh...it was the perfect size too.

your dad having a stroke and being in the hospital (that is 45 minutes away) for two weeks and over Christmas :(
Your washer dying a slow death
Driving 3 hours one way to a wedding so your kids can see their East coast cousins, if only for a few hours
Going to your husbands fancy work dinner party with really nice co-workers and getting a SWEET Christmas bonus.
Thinking for a split second you get to use the bonus to go to London or put in granite counter tops
The washer = DEAD.
Spending Christmas bonus 24 hours later on a new washer/dryer (at least I got the pedestals that match)
Finding out c-sections have ruined you and needing surgery that requires 6-8 week recovery time
Getting said surgery scheduled for New Years Eve - SUCK!
Oh wait, no. Insurance needs up to a month to approve this. WHAT?! No planning this out I guess.
Realizing that Christmas is 6 days away and you have not wrapped a single thing
Or that you have no present for your husband
Washer/Dryer won't be here for 7-14 days. :( Piles of clothes building
Losing 2 more pounds - YAY!
My hair dryer EXPLODING (sparks! fire!) allowing me to splurge and get one that might last me more than 6 months

I think this is all I can handle. No, really. It's plenty, thanks.

It can always be worse right? Someone always has things worse. All the events have actually made me feel blessed that if THESE are my trials, then I am a very lucky girl.

But I think I need a mocha.

Catching Up

2012-11-24T10:09:00.000-07:00

Last I posted we were having a grand time with the kids being off track. Then two days later I ended up in the emergency room.

If you are ever trying to make it to the emergency room in a hurry - do not have your mother drive you. She will go into panic/auto mode which will make her car drive you to the nearest shopping center. :)

I've been having problems with my gallbladder for about a year now and finally was scared into avoiding anything and everything that might aggravate it. No cheese, butter, creamy stuff, sauces, very little dairy...you get the picture. Which has resulted me losing a considerable amount of weight - but the more I lost, the more frequent the attacks. So that sucker came out the next morning and the after 1 painkiller and a weekend at home, I was feeling great!

Dan took pictures - this is where that picture would go if I wasn't horrified by this.

GROSS.

It's nice not to feel scared of when that might happen to me again!

We celebrated Graham's 10th birthday!

He didn't want a big party this year, just to go to Boondocks with his 2 best buddies. We had a blast and it was a great birthday for him!

We are so proud of Graham, he is such a sweet and considerate boy and is a grand negotiator. He can always think of five different ways to do something better or more efficiently.

(If only he would apply this to his room cleaning skills, right?)

And smart! He was selected to attend the gifted science symposium with our school district in the spring and he is so excited about that!

And since we needed more excitement in our lives with such a boring month (ha!) we bought this precious girl. Meet Miss Darcy, Duchess of Knightsbridge! She is a King Charles Cavalier and is the sweetest puppy!

Cavaliers come from England - and if they were good enough for Queen Victoria, they are good enough for me.

Thus the name "Darcy" (get it...as in THE Mr. Darcy, but.. she's a girl) and I am obsessed with all things English. Knightsbridge was a favorite area of mine to spend a Saturday afternoon when I lived in London.

We looked for about a year to find the dog in the breed we wanted and a tri-color (at the right price!)

Isn't she the sweetest? We love her to death! I will love her even more when she stops biting my toes and eating Lauren's headbands.

Downtown Fieldtrip

2012-10-13T14:32:00.004-06:00

The kids and I met up with a friend on Tuesday to walk around downtown Salt Lake. I used to live a block from here at the Brigham Apartments when I was single and I rarely make it down here anymore.

We started off at the church history museum. If you have never been, it's always a fun (and free) place to take kids with lots of hands on exhibits.

Large replica of ship that pioneers came over from Europe on.

A family of five sleeping in here each night? Uh - no thanks!

The boys thought this model of downtown Salt Lake was pretty cool

A replica of the Conference Center pulpit. After just having conference weekend the boys played here forever pretending to give super silly talks to me.

Building a ship

Lauren practicing her Latina dancing

Shhh...don't let Greg know I caught him trying it out also!

Lauren LOVES the Salt Lake City temple and me telling her about our wedding day there. Any resemblance to a fairy tale castle is instant love for her. She had so much fun pretending to be a bride and was even more excited to see a few real brides that day on the grounds.

View from the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Greg and Lauren being silly and re-enacting Dan's proposal to me. Minus the walking around for hours in 103 degree July heat while he worked up the nerve to ask me.

We stopped for lunch at City Creek and then headed home.

The kids had so much fun just being outside most of the day and seeing everything downtown.

My stupid mom moment. I told the kids to remember where we parked. Graham then tells me..

"Mom. Just take a picture of it so we know and won't forget!"
DUH!

This came in handy 4 hours later when I was thinking we parked on Level P5?

There is no P5 friends.

Thank goodness for smart 9 year olds with bright ideas.

So 26 days of....

2012-10-05T11:39:00.002-06:00

Dan hijacked the computer yesterday. Which was fine since I needed to be downstairs on the treadmill watching Glee anyhow. Did you see the "Break Up" episode last night. So sad - even fake break ups stink.

Everyone is busy, but this month has felt even more so than usual for me with all the sports activities and Dan working later hours.

I feel like I am drowning some days and my house is drowning also. You would think when it gets like this I would want to work extra hard to get my act together.

But I don't.

I sit here and just look at it and feel overwhelmed and very discouraged. And then I get a little cranky.

So my 26 days "thing" is making my drowning house feel more like HOME.

Cozy, warm.

Clean.

Functioning.

I'm going to take care of 1-2 irritating things (to me) each day.

Before pictures might be absent but after pics will for sure be happening!

31 Days of ..... ?

2012-10-04T03:00:00.000-06:00

I signed up for 31 days of ...? not sure yet with The Nester.

And I'm a few days behind already so we'll call this 27 days instead.

I sort of know what my "27" days of posting should be about. But it's hard and I don't like it so I am avoiding it.

I'll see what I can do with my day and post my #27 this afternoon.

Where to Begin?

2012-10-03T10:07:00.000-06:00

Um...not sure what happened but it's been a month since I blogged? What?! Just got caught up in the amazingness that is my life I guess. Like loads of laundry and spending THREE hours scrubbing my floors last week. I know you're jealous.

Greg started running cross country. He is the only person I know of that can run a 2k with a gummy toothless grin on his face.

Let me tell you about Greg. He likes to wake up for school at 6:30 a.m. He gets himself dressed, brushes his teeth, packs his own lunch, combs his hair, makes his bed and then waits. And waits. And waits some more for Graham to even wake up.

Greg likes to do his homework packet in its entirety the very day he gets it so his homework is done. He thinks his spelling lists are too easy so he likes to practice Graham's instead.

The only fault we can find right now in this 7 year old is that he refuses to wear a tie to church.
Uhhhh....I'll take it.

Dan and I aren't sure if these things are a fluke, a phase or what. But we have considered a golden plaque for his bedroom door that reads "Favorite Child."

Dan and I celebrated our 11th anniversary! We were going to take a fun trip but his work schedule was just too crazy this month. Maybe in the spring! So dinner and a movie was the plan instead.

It seems like a lot of people we know are getting divorced or having marital problems. It seems like those people often like to dole out marital advice as well. Which I find amusing when their marriages go ka-put and mine is going strong? I don't know...

Dan and I have seem to have found a great balance. I make lists, he crosses things off the lists. I come up with huge over the top projects, he says "good luck with that." I worry, cry and fret about things going on with the kids, and he says "It'll be okay baby, it will all be FINE."

Seriously, he is the calm to my storm and I adore him. It doesn't hurt that the man knows to give a girl a bit of Tiffany along with the power paint sprayer as her anniversary gift.

Be.still.my.heart.

Aren't these sweet? A little bow necklace and matching earrings - to remind me of "the day we tied the knot."

Swoon!

Home Organization 101 - The Kitchen

2012-09-07T15:47:00.002-06:00

I LOVE the idea of being organized. I used to be organized. When I was single. Now I am just a mess of piles just trying to survive. I really dislike this about myself but I really do try.

(Mom, I know you read this...really, I do.)

Kids are now back in school and our routine is back - so I signed up for Home Organization 101 and this week's assignment was the kitchen.

You all know I was in serious canning mode last week, right? Because when I was done, my kitchen looked like this....

Uh...yeah. Horrible, right?

So I emptied out every.single.cupboard and started all over.

Before

After

Before

After

This might not be my kitchen for too much longer. Dan and I have decided not to move but we I do want to upgrade the crud cabinets.

My heart is set on white cabinets, but with three kids I am totally scared of them not looking pretty for too long.

Any thoughts? Who has white cabinets with kids and has lived to tell about them? I would love to hear!

I would love to make the ones by the sink have glass doors so I can put some pretty things in there. Not just bowls and multi-vitamins! We also want to expand our island out at least 12-18 inches. Right now I just have wasted space and not enough shelves.

Dan's reply to this is "People in Germany live with kitchens half the size of ours."

True..but last time I checked, no one in my family has lived in Germany since the 1700's.

And I added a new addition to the cupboards to balance out all the junk I threw out...my perfect fall treat. Let me get a little closer for you...mmmmmm! I love this stuff and now Wal-Mart has it!

Hello! I'm so excited to try it!

It's not too late to join in the party...come over to A Bowl Full of Lemons - see her darling kitchen and start to get your home organized!

Linking up to:

Serenity Now

Pinterest Impossible #2

2012-09-05T14:49:00.004-06:00

Our Labor Day weekend plans were pretty low key. Dan decided he was 20, not 40 a few weeks ago and had an incredible time water skiing up at Deer Creek. He did amazing!

What was not amazing was the muscle pulled in his back that made him miserable for the 2 weeks afterward!

He's much better but still not good for a big project like building our closet like I had hoped - so I stuck with canning while he took the kids swimming this weekend!

I love our local farm stand. And seriously - the farmers are hot. Any guy who can run a tractor gets bonus good looking points in my book. The tomatoes were on sale, $12 for a 20# box and I grabbed up three and got busy.

This is my second attempt at following a Pinterest recipe. I chose this one...

from The Crazy Life. I mean - the girl is just darling. She lives in Idaho, is married to a farmer (we've talked about the cute boy factor there) and cans her little heart out. She's pretty much living my dream except there is no pool on her property and I'm not sure how close she is to a Target. Other than that...she seemed credible so I followed two of her recipes to a "T."

I went ahead and used my own salsa recipe that we know and love.

Tangy Spaghetti Sauce for Canning
-3 medium onions, chopped
-2 cups green bell peppers, chopped
-1 cup banana peppers, chopped (use Anaheim if you can't find these - about the same heat)
-2 pkg. fresh sliced mushrooms
-4 cloves minced garlic
-16 cups tomatoes, peeled and chopped
-3(12oz) cans tomato paste
-1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
-3 tablespoons brown sugar
-1 tablespoon dried oregano
-4 teaspoons canning salt
-2 teaspoons dried basil
-1 teaspoon black pepper
-1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
-2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
-1/2 teaspoon cumin
Add all ingredients to stock pot. Heat until boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered for about 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally. Fill clean, sterilized jars within ½” of top. Put on tops and tighten. Process for 35 minutes for quart jars in water bath. Serve over pasta.

Homemade Canned Pizza Sauce
Combine in blender:
-2 large onions, quartered
-4 cloves garlic
-3 Tbs. olive oil
-2 Tbs. lemon juice
-a bit of tomato juice to help blend
Blend until smooth. Add to:
-25-28 tomatoes, peeled and pureed in blender
-1 tsp. pepper
-3 Tbs. brown sugar
-2 Tbs. parsley
-1 Tbs. oregano
-1 Tbs. basil
-1 tsp. rosemary
-1 tsp. celery seed
-2 tsp. salt
-1 tsp. garlic powder
-1/2 tsp. summer savory (Utah friends, Harmons carries this in a small pkg - produce section)
-1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
-3 large cans tomato paste
Combine all ingredients in large pot on stove. Simmer for about 3-4 hours until moisture is cooked out and sauce thickens. When sauce is done, transfer to jars and seal. Process for 25 minutes in a hot water bath.

I ended up with over 50 jars of pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce and salsa and it is DELICIOUS!

So glad I found her pin and followed her recipes!

Linking up to:
Coastal Charm
House of Hepworths
Savvy Southern Style

Fifty Shades of WHAT?

2012-08-29T16:00:00.003-06:00

I am SO excited to be the Book Fair Chairperson at my kids elementary school this year! I seriously love to read, I love books and I love throwing parties.

It's PTA perfection for me!

I attended a meeting this morning at Scholastic to learn more about the detail of throwing a fair. I took a lot of notes, got my Idea book and they even gave everyone there a free book.

Sweet, I love free stuff.

The only bad part of the meeting was that the food table was right behind me and I kept smelling these delicious bagels for the whole two hours. When you are trying to avoid bagels, bread, etc...this is not a happy thing. Why do things like that smell SO much better when you tell yourself you can't have them?!

My mature "business meeting with all the other soccer moms" demeanor gave way to a small fit of giggles and wishing I had a friend there to laugh with when I picked up a card of bookmarks. My eyebrows shot right up and I started to laugh...

Ages 12 and up? I hope so! I know this isn't the same as "50 Shades.." but still! Close enough?

(A book I am choosing very deliberately not to read by the way...)

What a very very unfortunate book title for this author!

Pinterest Impossible

2012-08-24T06:00:00.000-06:00

I know I can't be the only one who is drawn to life on Pinterest. Where every kitchen is pristine and white, you are super cool crafty mom doing cutesie smarty pants things with your kids and dressing in size 4 amazingly accessorized outfits, each with it's own $500 coordinating handbag. (Thank you Polyvore...thank you.)

(This outfit is SO ME by the way...except the heart earrings, I hate heart shaped jewelry even though everyone always gives it to me? Ok, the ring is cheesy too...I like it without the words. But bling watch? Mixed with tennis shoes and a hoodie? Oh yeah.)

I LOVE Pinterest.

LOVE it. I want to marry it. I only WISH I had been the one to come up with the idea so I could buy a Pinterest looking dream house.

Spaces design

It's fun, relaxing and I decided today to actually make something I had pinned. Shocker. I've *heard* of people doing this, but could it really be done??

I found one for 5 crock pot meals in 1 hour. Here.

Gathered up my ingredients. I did have to pick up a few extras at the store for $45 (mostly meat)

Labeled my bags.

And no joke...if it hadn't been for stopping a few times to cry over onions and to help Lauren, this would have only taken me ONE HOUR. I made these 5 meals plus one in the crock pot for dinner. It was the Honey Garlic Chicken and it.was.so.good!

I'm going to have to refrain from pinning now and then and start making more things!

Have you made anything you've pinned?

Linking up to:

Coastal Charm

House of Hepworths

A Bowl Full of Lemons

Glass Front Kitchen Hutch

2012-08-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

Look at what I bought this afternoon!

Poor Dan threw his back out water skiing and I still made him help me load it up (well, thankfully the SUPER nice people I bought it from helped the most!) Poor guy.

Can you believe I picked this gorgeous girl up for only $150?

I have B-I-G plans for it.

Off to Lowe's tomorrow to get some supplies and get started!

ps...this sweet girl started preschool today

I may have gone here...

And walked up and down every isle in peace and quiet for 2 whole hours.

I don't think I have done that since 2002 when I was 8 months pregnant with Graham.

I somehow managed to spend $113 on Band-Aids, plastic organizing bins and a cardigan.

How does that even happen?!

Linking up to:

A Bowl Full of Lemons

The Thrifty Groove