Piggie

One of the best things about a family text group is that one innocent photo of a gumball machine piggie will turn into...

This!

One of the better uses of technology, I'd say. 

Lipstick

 I truly never know what to expect around here. 

Brace yourself

 He hasn't changed a bit. 

Quintessential Mathew

 Makes me laugh every single time.

Toes

 That's 100% Blanchard, right there. 

A spectator sport

The wait is over. Whataburger finally opened its first location in Kansas City. 

And the burger was good. It was a real burger and I appreciated that it was not comprised of two layers of beef lace.  

The fries were decent and I regret not ordering the Dr. Pepper milkshake that our group found so distasteful. 

But I don't remember ordering the heaping side of onlookers that surrounded our table as we ate. I am not exaggerating....it was weird. 

Looking back, I should have slipped one of those guys 10 bucks to order me my shake. 

Twinners

 I will 100% guarantee to that when Ethan came home to show me his new clothes, he wasn't hoping to hear me say....

I HAVE THAT EXACT OUTFIT!

But I will also 100% guarantee you that he is super excited to find someplace for us to go in our matching duds. 

Cuz he's the sweetest. 

Florida Bound

Megan is off to Florida with the Falcon Regiment. 

This is the stuff you look forward to, the stuff that makes the other stuff worth it. 

And someday, if you're very very lucky....I might tell you the very very questionable, possibly morally wrong thing I did to make sure she was able to go on this trip. It will never be written and I will deny it fervently in a court of law...but I'd do it again and it's pretty freaking awesome.

Planning the List and Making the Wall

Bucket List brainstorming is underway. 

I love side walk chalk...it's my chosen medium.

 Wish I could leave the list on the driveway!

While we're cooking up our plans for the summer, Ethan is getting ready to head out! We went back to the fence to get a few photos for his missionary plaque. 

As expected, he gave me quite a variety to choose from!

Even though we had all those excellent choices...we decided on this one!

Choreographed requests

 There's no getting around it...

If the request includes dance moves, there is a significantly higher rate getting a yes from Mom.

Steamed

 

I'd say Blake got his money's worth out of garagefit today.

Off to a good start

 The moment Mark brought home the Pooping Dogs calendar last year, I should have known that 2020 was doomed to be a heaping pile of number two. 

Lessons have been learned. 

And 2021 is bound to be better!

Sabbath Discovery

We were just minding our own business and singing Book of Mormon stories after a very lovely home sacrament meeting when we realized that there are LOADS of verses to that song...

And we couldn't resist singing them all.

Mark provided the questionably offensive raindance strumming.

You really never know what's gonna happen in Hufford First Ward.

High Fashion

The girls are feverishly producing one-of-a-kind clothing for their barbies. There is felt and hot glue EVERYWHERE.  The messes have reached unprecedented proportions. 

I keep finding these adorable little miniature accessories all over. They melt my heart!

Barbie-size sheet music....charming!

An itty bitty box of chocolates...precious!

Little toilet filled with melted chocolate......oh. Oh no.

No no no.

Entertaining ourselves

Cooped up a bit, Megan?

There are few things are satisfying as a A/C vent and a triangle dress.

Advent Day 13....Chillaxin and Mistaken Identities

Everybody needs a little break from the frantic pace of Christmas festivities. Roasting marshmallow over a candle fire ALL DAY, really takes it out of a girl.

The kids had a fun movie night at home, while Mark and I went to the Wachter Christmas party. It's always a weird mixture of being excited to eat food that I didn't prepare and not actually liking that food. Being excited to talk with other adults and remembering that I don't actually KNOW those adults. We forgot to take a photo of the event. Not even a selfie.....

Luckily, we got a caricature done:

Unfortunately, it was a SPOT ON depiction of what Emma Flynn and Barack Obama would look like as a couple.

I'm not lying.  Emma.....

Barack:

You see it now, don't you?

John Mayer and the Spotlight

I bought tickets forever ago to go see John Mayer in concert with Mark. I mean, he's so great and we both love his music. I was determined to get better seats this time and we did actually get pretty close....

Only one eensy weensy little problem....that spotlight was shining right in our eyes the whole time.

Still, we got kinda used to it and the music was so great. He played all his favorites throughout the years...it would have been so much fun...only the people right in front of us (like INCHES away) would NOT stop making out. It was pretty distracting.

But hey, nothing is perfect, right? We learned to live with the spotlight, we poked a little fun at Mr and Mrs. Smoochville and we sang along to all the best songs.

We had a great time!!

SBL: Coterie Theater with 64 of our best friends

So here's funny little story....I thought it would be fun to take the little girls the Coterie Theater. I went online to buy tickets and they were SEVENTEEN DOLLARS apiece!! 

Insanity!

Then I read that they were only 5 dollars apiece for the group rate. So I put out the word to see if a few of our friends would like to go with us...and then I started thinking of more people that might feel left out if they caught wind of our little fieldtrip, so I invited those people too. Then those people texted and asked if they might invite a few others, and how could I say no? It is a free country after all....

And very soon I had a big old group of people signed up to go and I was putting it all on my credit card and praying that they would all be honest and pay me back. How do I get myself into these things???

Well. They did all pay me back and I fibbed just a little bit on the start time to make sure they all got there early and we could all walk in together as I stood with the usher and we counted everyone off that was in my group. I must get a subconscious kick out of making life as silly as possible. 

But the play was SO cute. I was completely enraptured and laughed harder than the kids. I can't wait for them to do this one again! 

We loved going together and we'll have to put this one on our bucket list for next year too.

Of course, we'll have to see if our 64 best friends are available that day....

What the future holds

You see, there's this app....

We're all pretty sure it was designed by nefarious Russians that are up to no good. But we just can't help ourselves!

Awwww...what a sweet sad little Grandpa Mark is going to make!

Don't try this with kids. It's freaky. 

Our absolute favorite....Ross Terry as a happy old fella going for his Sunday drive!