Another Mega Post

 I would save my self a lot of time if I blogged once a day, as I intended at the beginning of this year.

So another mega post not in order of events.

 We went to a family reunion for my Mom's side of the family. Her Aunts, Uncle's and Cousin's are all there and all the new little families that have been added it was fun to see how big everyone has gotten and my most exciting news from all of that is........I secured myself a position to take on a family tradition of elaborate Gingerbread houses. My Mom's cousin Rosie is a MASTER Gingerbread house maker and enters at least one every year into the Festival of Trees. I did a sneak attack on her as she was heading into the restroom and told her I wanted to carry on the tradition she graciously allowed me the chance to take it on. Coming soon in a few months a beginning to new endeavor.....btw she will teach anyone if you want to learn her secrets let me know and I will bring you with me to the secret location....

(some of you may or may not know I did not have a wedding cake at my wedding reception I had a gingerbread house made by her:) pictured below~

 Alivia this year was a part of the Lehi Children's choir and she has loved every minute of it, this is her end of the year performance called "Arf" as you can see she was a Dalmatian. It was a really cute play with a lot of cute little jokes.

 Kessler is potty trained for the most part, but is still the baby of the family. He is a mamma's boy through and through. He can fall asleep by me or with me in no time at all (if he is tired of course).

 We sold Ben's beloved Tundra a month or so ago, and went a bit with one car, it was very painful to say the least. We ended up going to look and found what we were looking for, the mileage was good and the price was good as well. Back to a two car family........huge sigh of relief.

 We went to this great park in Orem that had an amazing spred of tulips. We ended up finding out in the little pond were a whole bunch of ducks with eggs waiting to be hatched, it was really exciting for the kids to see that. (I didn't get any pics of them :(

 Alivia went to the dentist and was cavity free again:) and we decided to put some sealant in her teeth to help prevent any future cavities. (the glasses are UVB protected-clear lenses she bought with some of her chore money, she loves them)

 We went to a early dinner the other day to Chili's in American Fork. I left my keys on the table went back into get them, came back out and Cooper had pulled one of his Spider-man tricks, had climbed up this sign. People were walking past him, cheering him on...."way to go Spider man". Every where we went that day, people were saying hey look there is Spider-man, Cooper was in heaven!

 Alivia had an end of the year recital for her ballet class. She was really excited she got to put make up on and the big ruffly tutu she got to borrow from the dance studio. 

She did a great job, but it brought a flood of emotions back for me when I was her age and a little bit older. I wanted so badly to be good at something and never felt that I was. I sat there watching her feeling those emotions come back with a vengeance it brought tears to my eyes. Mostly not knowing how to help her not feel that same way. I asked her if she was happy with how she danced and she said she was, I also said that I thought she did an amazing job. It was amazing to be there and be taken back so many years in time.

Happy Birthday Bauer!

 Bauer turned 5 and couldn't be more excited for his birthday it is pure torture to have a birthday last in the months of birthdays we have in a row around here. Ben -December, Alivia- Jan., Cooper- Feb., Kessler- March, Andrea- April and FINALLY May for Bauer.

He asks and asks when it is his birthday and since he shared a birthday with Mothers day, I went and picked up his balloons on Saturday and that was even harder. He kept wondering where his cake was and asked 500,000,000,000 times if it would be yellow.......WOW I can't imagine what would have happen if it wasn't yellow?

He got  a Buzz Lightyear that he has wanted since right after Christmas safe to say around here the boys are all obsessed with the Toy Story characters still.

 5 wonderful things about Bauer.

1. HE STILL LLLLOOOOVVVEEESSS Yellow!!!

2. He is a good sleeper.

3. He says no the most but gets in trouble the least?

4. He loves school and loves being the special helper, days he knows he is not the special helper he will say maybe I can be the special helper instead (i think hoping they are not there)

5. He has the most amazing smile, I can't look away when he smiles at me, it captures my attention and melts my heart every time. It is so amazing and never want to forget how it makes me feel.

Don't ask me what days these are for I don't even know what today is?

 Move over Spidy there is a new super hero in town, I missed an opportunity to take a picture of Cooper unloading the dishwasher in his Spider-man costume, it was so funny.

There has been some serious heartbreak in our ward, there was a really sweet Mom in our ward who suddenly passed away after a ward party. If you would like to read about their story go to this link, it is touching, heartbreaking, inspiring all at the same time. www.dennyandwendy.blogspot.com

 We are trying to potty train Kessler, first day 2 in the potty 18 times not in the potty. Day 2- 4 in the potty and 6 not in the potty. We will see what day 3 brings. Warning to any of my neighbors, I am not putting pants on Kessler right now, so if he is out in the dirt hill with only his underwear and shirt I did that on purpose:)

 I was recently at a friends house of mine, I grew up somewhat with her family and her and I were roommates at one point. ANYWAY when I was at her house I had this flashback of being at their house she had this little hutch that stored table clothes, it brought back such a warm fuzzy feeling that I remember having the many years ago, sitting around their family table and them treating me as if I was one of the family. I decided that day I was going to get me some table clothes and not just copy those, but that feeling that came back so strongly. So here are my first three. FYI the blue one below is actually a shower curtain, it was the exact measurements of my table and it was only 3.24/clearance at Target. I love that you can't tell and it works really, really well.

Easter mega post followed by a Birthday post.

 We had a great Easter around here, except for little Kessler was sick. He started Easter Eve off with a fever, cough, running nose and everything that goes along with that. So some last minute Easter shopping was postponed until about 10pm the night before.
The kids woke up and Cooper came in my room and told me there were eggs everywhere and asked if they could get their eggs. They waited patiently for Bauer and Kessler to wake up and then the hunt was on. I didn't get very many pictures just the post hunting and eating candy for breakfast before church?
For Easter dinner we got out the nice plates and glasses, we made the always fantastic Ham and Cheesy potatoes, we had some red and purple bubbly (red cream soda and grape soda) with my own version of ham glaze which turned out a lot better than I thought it would (a mixture of brown sugar, maple syrup, ketchup, mustard, garlic, salt, pepper and cloves) With some cinnamon rolls for dessert!

 I was cleaning out the couch cushions the other day and I usually flip them over and vacuum them and saw this little beauty. I asked Bauer if he did that and he said he saw Kessler standing by the couch with a pen, trying to blame him but not really say it (man that is something I would have done, smart kid) anyway he finally got a smirky smile on his face and ran into his room. I will take that as guilty other than it says HIS NAME!

I love having a Birthday I can buy myself things and not feel guilty unlike the rest of the year I will still buy them and feel guilty so I suppose it is a free pass of sorts?  It started with the curbing for the yard, that originally was going to be about 300$ and then ended up being triple that. ( I will say it looks amazing and has really helped the yard look so much better)

That followed some with a dump truck load of dirt a few trees, some new perennials for the yard. 

We also will be adding some new window treatments to the front windows of the house which I am the most excited about.

I have been trying to work more (see above paragraph) and everyday I got home from work my feet specifically one foot was so sore. I waited a tad bit too long to get a new pair of shoes but ended up going with my favorites. Dansko's (see picture below of old shoes, I tend to walk on the side of my heel?)

I will say the new ones are so comfortable. I am excited to go back to work and try them out.

I actually ended up taking the old ones down to Lucky Sole shoe repair in Lehi and he is only going to charge me 20$ to fix the old ones he is going to fill them in and put a new sole on the back. Yeah! money well spent I would say!!

 Thanks to a cute neighbor of ours he got the idea from Cooper that he loved spider man ( the fact that he changes into his costume everyday after school) he gave him a "build a bear" type outfit for his little brown bear and he LOVES it!! so funny that little Cooper boy! THANKS Cayden!!

 Ben has gone a little OCD? overboard? over the top? a little much? with the just the starting of the garden this year, it usually starts out slowly a few "Jimmy Garden starter packs" with some peas, carrots, corn in them. They did go up in price this year, must be related to oil right? anywhoo, Ben came up with this crazy but genius idea of doing his own, he has had these containers around waiting to organize something in them (he is Gina's brother you know) and so he stopped by Walmart got some ice cube trays drilled a small hole in the bottom filled them up with potting soil, put the seeds in them and them put a little water in the container and voila, there is Ben's idea of garden starters?
I asked him a few time why is he planting things that our family doesn't eat that much of? squash, beets? he said it was his 72 hour kit.....ok I think my family might start liking beets and squash this year...oh yeah Cooper is my child yeah right! I am excited to see how they work and if it does I am glad to know we won't have to buy anymore of those pricey but easy Jimmy kits.

Today is my BIRTHDAY hip hip hooray, I will try and make the most of it with some guilt free shopping (just kidding) I will make it a day of catching up on my blog, updating my 365 pics and maybe, just maybe cleaning the house? not sure about that one yet.
I thought in honor of my 34 years, here are 34 things that you may or may not know about me?
1. I listen to some of the same Mormon Tabernacle songs everyday. (my favorite for the last year or so "all through the night".)
2. I love digital scrapbooking a lot and HAVE lots of kits and wouldn't mind some day selling pages, templates or calendars?
3. I love the resturaunt Rafaels in particular the entree the Big Jose (see picture)
4. I love playing Mario Brothers with the boys I especially love battling with Cooper who will get thrown into the lava first.
5. I love rearranging furniture.
6. I think the Cafe at IKEA is gross?
7. I have written a number of emails to Chilis about bringing the lettuce wraps back.
8. I love the popcorn at Target, it is really salty.
9. I LOVE my job, and would love to write a book or be consistent with writing a blog about the nice, mean, funny passengers that travel the world everyday!
10. If I were in need of a make a wish -wish it would be to sing with the Mormon Tabernacle choir.
11. I don't understand how people leave their blinds closed all day?
12. This is going to be harder than I thought.
13. The 365 project was easy at first it is hard to come up with a picture everyday.
14. I want to enter a digital scrapbooking contest to win 10$ worth of prizes?
15. For my 35 Birthday I am going somewhere fabulous.....just saying.
16. I have been trying to get pregnant for over a year.
17. As I have gotten older I love to weed more.
18. I love Ben's grey hair.
19. I love my Suburban.
20. I were pants outside that may not be too flattering?
21. I am kind of excited about Target Canada and the possibilities.
22. I am a slightly paranoid person.
23. I worry about Cooper.
24. I sometimes baby Kessler because he is the baby.
25. I am sometimes hard on Alivia.
26. Bauer reminds me of me when I was little.
27. I have ZERO patience when Ben leaves the legs up on the couch.
28. I can unload the dishwasher in under a minute and have most of it put away.
29. I haven't taken a shower in more than a year:) only baths.
30. I am excited for school to be out.
31. I love my Mom, she is an amazing person and one of the most compassionate people I know, she is the one who reminds me life is fragile.
32. I love my kids, I wonder how this all happen, I find myself thinking in the quite moments they call me Mom, and will they look back and be thankful for the way they were raised?
33. I love Ben.
34. I am thankful for my life, that I live here and now, I love my life the challenges, the blessings and the opportunity every day to be a better person.

What have I been up to lately?

What have I been up to lately, especially when it is raining and I should probably should be cleaning something. I just picked a few I have probably done more than 30 or so. Will I ever be caught up ....no...I don't necessarily go in order either..oh well. It's fun.

Caught up...not quite!

Why is it so hard to stay caught up on my blog, fo' realz people. What haven't we been up to. Lets see we have been to the park, outside doing spring projects which include taking down the play house and remodeling it, applying curbing to our existing flower beds and making some new ones at the same time. Digging, raking, tilling, mowing, and then the rain and snow to send us back inside to clean the basement for a visit from Papa Whidden.

Last time he was here we were on our way to Orlando and he stayed here by himself but we were able to hang out with him this time and play the Wii, help with homework and reading. Help with breakfast and the dishes and some other chores. 

I personally love the talks we have.

We were able to take him to a steak dinner something he misses while living in Germany.

Watch HNIC with Ben and witness the Canucks win their last game of the regular season.

Stanley Cup this year?

 Cooper is still costume obsessed he has to ask permission before he can change and I get asked everyday if he can where a costume. He also loves his mother and know that I loved my hair combed. He is the sweetest little thing ever!!

 Alivia's bed on a good day, I had to take this pic for the 365 project. I love that she loves all the stuffed animals her favorite the dogs, she could buy or get as a gift a stuffed animal dog once a week and be in Heaven!!

 Yes you can see the playhouse also known as 'The projects" is coming down with some major prodding to Ben, I convinced him it needed to be remodeled do we know what the remodels are...no. But Alivia drew us a picture and she wants four floors one for each kid and each room should have a bed and there also needs to be a bathroom and a kitchen.

This was one of the funnest parks we have been to in a while at the West Jordan park next to the Rec. center. SO FUN.
The only sad part is that I was playing on some the equipment and it spins you around and around, my old age is getting to me and I was so dizzy and started to get sick to my stomach....the days of the Rock o' planes at Lagoon are probably over....boo!