A bit over the top

D went to a Harry Potter themed birthday party. In an attempt to be cutsie, I made a covered notebook with the young women last night at our activity. I found a Hogwarts coat of arms online along with a HP logo. I printed these on scrapbook paper. Then I covered the notebook with other scrapbook paper (ModPodge!) before gluing the printed decorations down. This morning in a fit of insanity I decided to try to cover the spine of the spiral bound notebook with ribbon. I think it turned out okay. I can see where I messed up. Also, I know the ribbon is actually sewn wrong side out. Good thing it looks okay anyway! I took pictures to document it before turing it over to a 6 year old. I think we all know what will happen to it now....

You didn't know I was a Gourmet! Me either...

Yesterday was the General Young Women's Broadcast. The Stake YW leaders had printed fliers announcing there would be gourmet cupcakes afterward. Cool. Imagine my surprise when I got a call for the Stake YW Secretary informing me that each Ward YW Secretary would be providing the gourmet cupcakes. This afternoon I spent several hours with two young women helpers to prepare said cupcakes. I think they turned out pretty well. I'll have to see if I can get pictures from one of the girls because I didn't take any pictures myself. We made Lemon Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream Frosting (fluffiest batter EVER! like whipped cream) and Salted Caramel Cupcakes (didn't work as well as I'd hoped). I was super impressed with the cupcake selection there. I ended up trying a cupcake with cookie dough filling. It was good but way rich. I could have had 1/4 of it and been good. Someone brough S'more cupcakes with toasted marshmallow frosting. They looked professional! I didn't try one though. I held myself to one cupcake.

Where's your history?

Friday I had an amazing experience. I was invited to teach at a youth conference for a ward in our stake. It was a culminating weekend of a couple months' work for the youth in this ward. They have been learning about Family History and preparing names to take to the temple (they had 71 family names to do baptisms for!). So my part was to teach four 40 minute classes about Blogging, Scrapbooking and Journaling. I have been preparing and praying for direction for about 3 weeks! It went really well. I really feel like the youth were receptive-- for the most part. There was only one boy in one class that I felt stonewalled from. And I don't think it was me. I think he is struggling right now. So I'm glad he was there. It really was fun. They all wore name tags which made things WAY more fun because I could call them out by name. We started with a scripture, 3 Nephi 23:6-12, and a quote from President Spencer W. Kimball: "I am glad that it was not I who was reprimanded, even though mildly and kindly, for not having fulfilled the obligation to keep my records up to date." Quote from here. Then I would call someone out - usually one of the boys who was not paying attention - and ask what they would do if the Savior asked to see their journal or records. Seriously, the faces I got were hilarious! Deer in the headlights! One resourceful priest said he would go to his room and start writing like crazy. Anyway from there we went into their ideas of how they were keeping their records. Usually one of the first things mentioned was Facebook. But also video, audio, email, letters, pictures, etc. We then talked about each of the ideas they mentioned with special emphasis on using technology and the internet because I feel like that is were they are spending their time. I asked for ideas about how to make Facebook a permanent record of their lives (because it isn't permanent *shock*). In two different classes a deacon mentioned he could just keep reposting his statuses. 'Cuz that's gonna happen? Anyway, it usually came back to copy and paste. We talked about blogging. Two of the classes were interested enough in blogging that we actually went through the process of setting up a blog. This meant that for a couple of days I had 2 weird blogs attached to my profile but I have gotten around to deleting them. We talked about scrapbooking and digital options for their pictures. We wrapped it up by me handing out a paper for them to commit and write down one way they were going to keep their record and when. I hope they really felt the desire and urging to keep a history of their lives. I know preparing and presenting this has inspired me to be more faithful in keeping a history both here and in my personal journal.

Actual Conversation.

Me: "Where do you want to go?"

D: "Ummmm.... to TOYSRUS!! To play with the trains!"

Me: "Uh, no. It is too far away. How about the library? Our books are almost due."

D: "Oh YEA!! I forgot they have a train play place!! Let's go to the library!!"

Me: O.o


Picture taken at home no more than 5 minutes after above conversation.

Birthday Gift = Barstools

For Roy's birthday he kept telling me that he either wanted barstools or floor mats for the van. He told me this several times. Until the day I asked him what he wanted after I had purchased his gift. That day he said he really just wanted me to not spend any money but leave it in the bank for paying off debt. Heh.

So these came and I picked them up. It is really had to keep a secret when you have to pick them up from the store with 3 kids in tow. *sigh* I did manage to keep him from actually seeing his gift until his birthday. That's something right?

One reason for not getting them out earlier was the seats. These barstools came with beautiful, brown, micro-fiber seats that would be toast within 3.32 minutes. I happened to have some clear vinyl laying around waiting for a good purpose. I had to buy a heavy-duty stapler (a whole story by itself... imagine trying to weigh the virtues of various hammers while keeping 3 young children from emptying every staple from every box or sword fight with crowbars.....) which became part of Roy's present. Nothing says love like buying something you want and giving it to your spouse for their birthday. Anyway...what was I saying?

Oh yea, so I used a blow dryer to heat the vinyl enough to make is pliable, molded it around the cushion and stapled those bad boys down.

I think they turned out quite nicely. People think the cushions came that way! That's a good sign.

Every meal since we got them has been eaten at the bar. I'm sure this will wear off.....eventually. In fact, here are two satisfied customers right now!

I love how A's chin barely clears the bar!

Say what?

D has had issues with water for a long time. He used to scream about getting his hair washed (okay, he still does). Taking a shower was a near death experience for him. So imagine our surprise when he wanted to shower instead of bathe today. I've been trying to lead him in this direction but never expected it to take so quickly.
Still, I figured he'd climb in (maybe) and freak about the water in his eyes and ears and yadda yadda yadda. Yeah. He love it. He danced around in there and shouted happy shouts and declared that he LOVES to shower.
Perhaps someday this will save us water but judging by the length of todays shower, that day is a ways off. : )

Surprise!!

Last night was a special night. In all our years of marriage, I've never thrown a party for Roy's birthday. We've done the family thing with cake, singing and presents but never a party to invite his friends to. So this year, being that he turned 30, I decided to have a surprise party.
I've been planning this for quite a while. I had several party ideas but finally went with the tried and true potluck dinner at our house. I planned a mexican theme because Roy loves mexican food. I invited 23 couples and started cleaning.
Last night was the culmination of all my effort. I arranged for a partner at Roy's firm to 'hold'
Roy there until 6 -- couldn't have him coming home early! People started coming at 5:30. By 6 I had a house full of people (13 total) and my kids farmed out the the neighbors. Roy came in the garage door and started up the stairs. "Surprise!!" and he was!
He had no idea. It was awesome! He went around and shook everyone's hand and greeted everyone. We ate an amazing dinner with good friends. We had brownie sundaes for dessert. It was really a lot of fun. By 8 everyone had pretty much gone home. We got our kids back and put them to bed. Then an old law school buddy, Sean Currie, came over to visit. He hadn't been able to come earlier but it has been over a year since he's visited so he came anyway. It was fun. More fun for Roy and Sean. I mostly laughed and groaned inwardly as they rehashed old professors, laughed at legal stuff I don't understand, and talked about terribly interesting things like the UCC and bankrupcy and debtor's exams and such. Really, a very successful evening.

Happy Birthday Roy!

My DH turned 30 today! I am so lucky to be a part of his life. The kids and I have been getting his birthday ready for a while. BTW, kids can't keep secrets to save their lives! Roy has known what his present was since I picked it up with 3 small children in tow. (Barstools BTW)

I decided to make Roy and omlete for breakfast. This is his FAVORITE breakfast that he never gets because I don't like eggs and he's too busy to make it for himself in the morning.

Roy headed off to work and I headed out grocery shopping so I could make cinnamon rolls to take to his work. K and I made cinnamon rolls during A's nap and while D was at school. The amount of flour that one pair of jeans can hold is astounding. After D got home, we headed downtown to take still warm cinnamon rolls to the firm. They were a big hit. Everyone was very appreciative -- especially Roy. The kids and I rarely visit daddy at work (something about 3 young children at a law firm....) so it was an extra special surprise.

After Roy got home we had Honey Mustart Chicken and rice before sharing some delicious birthday S'mores. We had determined to forgo the ice cream cake this year owing to the enourmous sundae we ate over the weekend (see previous post). I got this s'more roaster and a Hersey Kiss fondue pot at Goodwill for $3.50 a while ago. I've been holding out for a special occasion to unveil it.

D helped himself to 3 s'mores! K really just wanted to marshmallow and chocolate. No roasting for her. And A missed this photo but she was running around trying to snake sugar wherever she could get it!

Roy swears it was a great birthday. He thanked us several times for making is so special. We love you, Daddy! Happy Birthday!!

Awesome Weekend! (prepare for an epic)

We went to Spokane this weekend for a wedding and a visit with old friends. I was planning my week around us leaving Friday between 10 and noon. Thursday evening Roy got home and informed me we were invited to the sealing which was scheduled at 1 p.m. so plans changed. I frantically finished the laundry and packed the kids until after midnight then got up at 4 so I could be ready and pack myself to leave at 5:30 a.m.! Good news, we made it. The sealing was wonderful. The kids played with some friends while we were in the temple. Afterward we were able to crash at Val's house until the reception that night.

Here's the happy couple cutting cake! Just in case you couldn't tell what this was...

We saw so many old friends from our 3 year stint in Spokane at the reception. It was fun to see how grown up my old beehives are (!!they're seniors in HS now!!). We made some fun plans for Saturday night before heading back to Val's to crash into our beds.

*Funny story: K had decided her tummy hurt and she wanted to go. Val and I took her and the rest of the kids to the van while Roy finished chatting with some friends. I thought it would be nice to move the van up by the entrance to pick Roy up when he came out. Before he came out I made a joke about him missing the van. Which there was NO WAY he could do that because he would have to pass us to get back to the parking lot. yeah. he did. As he was walking away, Val and I were laughing and I honked the horn. Roy didn't even look back. This called for more drastic measures. I pulled around the loop so the van was facing Roy and started flashing my brights (I didn't want to disturb the reception with lots of honking). NOTHING. HE STILL DIDN'T LOOK BACK. It wasn't until he got to where the van was originally parked that he started to figure things out. Honestly. I know he is not observant but really. We all had a good laugh together over that one!

Check out that Iainee-meenie grin!

Saturday started out great with breakfast with the O'Quinn family. I used to babysit their youngest when we lived there. Sean (the dad) used to joke that he wasn't mormon but he had a son who was because Iain would pray with us and whatnot. They are such a great family! We really had a great time visiting and catching up. Hopefully we can get at least Shelly and the boys over here this summer *hint*hint*

After walking in the park with them I dropped Roy off at Ray's house. He and Ray had big plans to go shoot guns and do manly man things. I think they were both too tired to move so they just talked about manly man things.

I took the kids back to Val's for 'quiet time' which translated to me taking a nap on the couch while they played upstairs. SO GLAD they didn't destroy anything! I was pretty much useless and Val had gone to run errands.

Saturday night was a big night. We had a girl's night planned but decided to invite husbands. Only two were available so luckily they are good friends! Leatha, Bethany, Val, Me, Roy, Tina and Brady headed out to enjoy the goodness of Texas Roadhouse only to find a 90 minute wait. On second though we went to Dockside. Dinner was meh but dessert...

Holy huge ice cream Batman!

I took a huge hammy bite before I realized Roy took a miniscule dainty bite. Sheesh.

I swear Roy ate most of it not me! I contented myself with picking out the Butterfinger crumbs.

We laughed. We talked. We remembered. Seriously good company. And the kids were all asleep when we got home. Roy went to bed. Tina and Brady left. Leatha took the babysitter home. Val, Bethany and I? Finally went to bed after Dave called to see if Bethany was okay at 2 a.m.

Good times. Little sleep. Definitely a trip worth repeating. Maybe sometime when the famous Joe is around so we can meet Val's wonderful man.....

Making Wedding Plans

Will you marry me? Please?

Actual Conversation from this morning:


D: "I know who I'm going to marry."


Parents: "Oh, really? Who?"


D: "Daisy Mackenzie."


Parents: "Okay. Why are you going to marry Daisy Mackenzie?"


D: "Because she has eyes like I've never seen before. And she has hair like I've never seen before."


Parents: "Well, when you are 25 if you still want to marry Daisy Mackenzie that is okay with us as long as she is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."


D: "Why does she have to be a member of the Church?"


Parents: "So you can get married in the temple. If you choose not to get married in the temple you can't be sealed and be together in heaven. Would you want that?"


D: "No."


Parents: "But if you get married in the temple you can be together in Heaven and your children will be sealed to you to. Would you want that?"


D: "Yes. So when I'm 25 I'll ask Daisy if she is a member of the Church. If she says no I'll look for someone else who has eyes like I've never seen before and hair like I've never seen before."

Sometimes he is the funniest kids ever!