Crazy Hare Day

We may be evil geniuses. We have figured out a way to take our stuffed animals to school AND replace those goofy bike helmets. 

Crazy Hare Day....get it? 

We are hilarious.

And Everly gets to wear her bunny to Crossfit.

Fox in Socks

It's Dr. Suess night for the first graders. 

Anna had a very tough time settling on a costume to wear. She wants to stand out, but not TOO far out. She wants unique, but still solidly in the cute arena.

How can you go wrong with Fox in Socks?

I think we nailed it.

But there is always the fish hat!

I Spy a Mathew

Laney hid in the van and videoed Mathew's attempts at sliding down our icy driveway. It seems the only thing that really works are his shoes, but not for lack of trying!

This is Us

Some crafts are just on the next level.

This one is so slimming!

Snow day

School got cancelled today. We all received notification on our various mobile devices during seminary and instantaneously the joy and energy in the air was alive with the spirit. Perhaps the prayers of dozens of tired of teenagers were answered in that moment and testimonies were strengthen. 

Either way, we're having waffles WITH strawberries and whip cream. 

And then we'll be honing our ukulele skills.

Garagefit is born

Mark has worked so hard to build this gym in our garage. He has arranged and rearranged. He seeks form and function and isn't afraid to devote his free time to making it the best it can be.

And then he shares.

Garagefit is born.

And I think we need more floor mats.

Maybe a few kettlebells.

6-8 abmats....a couple jump ropes.... let me get a paper and pencil....

Why not?

I always laugh when I see my kids doing something for fun that could easily be a part of a torturous Crossfit workout.

Straight as an arrow!

Good Jean Day

You know that saying, "I'm having a good hair day"?

Well, I'm having a good jean day and when you're stuck in a dressing room at a thrift store and you look in the mirror and think, "Yeah, girl!"...

That's something to post about.

Don't laugh from the futere, kids. Skinny jeans were in. You just wait....

Heart Hair lives on!

Our valentines are not homemade and we haven't bathed in days. 

But we have heart hair and it's time for Valentines Parties!

Let's do 42

I'm not sure I expected a whole lot from this birthday. I mean, it's on a Tuesday. What can we can we do on a Tuesday? In February? 

I'll tell you what. I woke up to breakfast smells at 4:30 AM. Mathew had got himself up and was making me a HuffMuffin before he left for early morning seminary. 

Now, seriously. 

Isn't that just something?

About an hour later, Mark was home from the gym and putting together a 4-layer chocolate and vanilla cake with some especially fantastic chocolate/almond buttercream frosting. I asked him to put it in the garage fridge so that I didn't do something I'd regret before the birthday dinner.

Everyone headed off to work and school and I had a few minutes to go shopping at a couple thrift stores.. one of my very favorite things to do! I found a cute stripey grey (of course) shirt and a couple fun pairs of earrings for under 10 bucks....Happy Birthday to me!

Mari picked up Everly from preschool and told me to meet her at Carmen's Cocina for a yummy lunch. When I walked in, I realized she had invited several friends to come and celebrate with us. Regina Sirois, Lauren Terry, Jozianne Bartholomew, Heather Jensen, and Gina Hoffman all came to eat and chat.

After lunch, I went to go treat myself to a car wash, since my brown minivan used to be white. Mari texted and offered to have Everly come play so I dropped her off on my way back and went home to take a quick nap. I'm not quite over last week's flu. I had no idea how painful sinus pressure can be! ouch.

We completed our extensive 'pick em all up from school' parade and soon we were home and Anna began work on her life size birthday homage.

My four layer birthday creation!

Lighting the candles....a two man job.

Watch the video, kids. It took a solid minute to get all of these lit. (It's somewhere in the family files...or google photo...which probably won't be a thing by the time you are reading this and care to look)

So much warmth put off by the flames!

Every try to blow out a small brush fire? Not easy.

But, oh, the rich rewards.

Here's what I loved about today:

1. Mathew's thoughtful breakfast

2. Mark going all out to make a showstopper cake

3. Talking to my sisters and feeling the love of being remembered

4. Having a nice chat with my mom and laughing about trying to get the card in the mail on time. 

5. Tacos with fun ladies

6. Gifts left on the porch and dropped off throughout the day from kind and generous friends. A Secret Garden book, cute little potted succulents, chocolate bars and citrus soaps. earrings and mittens and best of all...cards full of love and friendship.   

7. Beautiful tulips for the table

8. Original streamer decor by Mathew

9. A dozen roses from Ethan, chosen because they reminded him of Dad's favorite peace rose.

10. A delicious meatloaf dinner with my whole family. 

11. Brand new work out clothes!

12. A one of a kind family portrait made by Anna and given by Everly. And don't forget the ceramic unicorn made by Laney, given to Anna, then given to Everly who gave it to me. It's practically and heirloom at this point. 

13. Everly's shoebox gift with all her pennies taped to the top.

14. Anna's super duper long birthday card. She worked on it so long and kept yelling at me, "Don't look over here!"

15. Lots of hugs and loves from my kids.

16. Sitting around the table and playing one of our many alphabet dinnertime games. 

Trying to get through

Sometimes pictures are the only way to explain

A needle and a thread

I got the flu. Luckily it wasn't the really super bad one that is sending people to the hospital. It's just the one that keeps you home from church and buys you a ticket to spend the entire day in bed. 

I love that kind of flu. It's my favorite.

Long story short, I had 6 delicious hours in a quiet house. 

I may have watched an entire season of Project Runway. 

Mark even put in a yummy pot roast before he left for church. And rolls. 

After dinner, he had a couple meetings he had to go to. No prob. I'll just break up any fights and let the kids do their own thing.

Then Laney came up to me and asked if she could practice sewing. I figured I'd give her a needle and a thread and let her loose on a scrap of felt. I must have been out of my mind with illness because it  didn't occur to me that that would lead to Anna and then Everly wanting a needle and a thread too. Which naturally led to getting out the big basket of felt and the buttons and sewing knickknacks and before you know it, I was guiding them through sewing their own stuffed animals.  

Sometimes kids just force you into being a good parent one little request at a time. I'm glad I sat up and spent the time with them. They are such cuties!

Petland

Did you know there is a place where you can go and "check out" a puppy to play with and snuggle?

It's called Petland and it is amazing. 

Aren't these the cutest little pups you ever did see?

And because of Petland, I only have to clean up after one of them. See you another day, little guy. Someone else is cleaning up your piddle. I'm just here for a few snuggles.

The Greatest Showman

Mark and I went to see "The Greatest Showman" with several other couples a few weeks ago . I'll  admit that I hadn't actually wanted to see it and really we just went because we were invited and we'll jump at any opportunity to get out of the house and go on a date. Then we sat down and the singing started. This movie is ALL IN with the singing and dancing. 

Mark leaned in and said "How much did we pay for these tickets?"

I replied, "5 bucks?" and then he said "Okay, that's a five dollar nap" and closed his eyes. 

I was raised on Gilbert and Sullivan and have no problem with a little singing and dancing, but even I needed about 20 minutes to fully accept the no-holds-barred exuberance and romance that was coming at me from the screen.

Once I did, though. Oh baby! I loved it. 

And I even caught mark tapping his foot and decidedly not napping.

Last night Megan asked me for the 14th time when I would take her to see it and reminded me that I had promised her and all her friends had seen it and she was dying inside and why wouldn't I just freaking take her???

So we had dinner and FHE and put all the pups to bed and we hopped in the car to go the 9:30 showing. That's 9:30 PM on a Monday night, folks. 

We had the entire IMAX theater to ourselves. It was huge and it was loud and Megan loved it! I loved it too. I already knew what we were getting into and so it was fun to embrace it from the beginning. Everytime the music really got cooking and those big numbers were in full swing, she would grin at me and say 'I love this!!!" and she'd dance around in her seat and throw her arms up into the air.

She's the person you want to see a musical with.

When I finally climbed into bed at midnight, Mark asked sleepily, "Where did you go?"

"We went to the CIRCUS!!!"

Prairie Day for Anna

Finally! We have a dress up day at school that we already have all the stuff for. Do we have sportswear? Or "travel apparel"? Or Christmas shirts of Valentines shirts or any kind of anything printed on it that would make it so we can't wear it on the other 364 days of the year?

No, we do not.

But we do have a pioneer skirt and bonnet. and we can most certainly pack a prairie lunch in a little Easter basket.  That's a win for the Mormons!

Isn't she the cutest?