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Holy junk am I behind on the last 2 months. I am only taking online classes so I wouldn’t have to take a semester off or miss class for Master D’s homecoming and a few little trips thrown in, and … Continue reading
The gang at Brighton on a beautiful day – minus Michelle & Aub at home ‘slaving’ away.. (Wyatt and Lelu in the helmets)
It’s a problem when you wait almost 2 months to write about stuff. I will most likely forget something. This year for Thanksgiving, we were lucky enough to have Michelle & Maruan, Aub, Jeff, Christina and their boys. The day before, however, on Wednesday didn’t quite go as well as I usually like it too. I ruined the first set of rolls that I made, then the next batch just didn’t quite raise, so the rolls were pretty much a bust for our meal and then Aub’s flight was VERY delayed and a nightmare of traffic at the airport.
Thursday morning shined anew and we had plenty to be grateful for:
1. The turkey got put in bright and early
2. We went skiing. Christina skied for the first time in eight years and didn’t fall down once – neither did I. That’s a big deal. We rocked it!!
3. Michelle and Aub prepared all the veggies and peeled the potatoes while we were gone.
The adult table with an Ari photo bomb
The table of kiddos…poor Landon & Lelu. They are almost adults
4. The food was awesome – except the rolls…. yet no one complained that the rolls sucked.
I think this is Lelu’s plate so not all food groups are represented, but you get the idea..
5. i dragged everyone to see “The Book Thief”, which I absolutely loved (in my top ten favorite books) and no one else did because it’s kind of a downer story — even though the main character triumphs in the end. I’m grateful they humored me.
6. On Friday, it was fairly nice weather and we all walked to the park. We played baseball & soccer. Aside from B pulling some kind of toe/foot muscle, it was a ton of fun!
a little soccer..
An electronic game at the park, that would be Michelle diving for the button, And the little kids just hanging around..
a friendly baseball game, with little to no bad sportsmanship from unnamed players..
Lucky little Ari got a ‘massage’ from uncle Maruan
The brothers Taylor settle in for a hold-your-tummy-long-winters-nap.
7. This is the last Thanksgiving without Master D. He had 3 meals that day. So much gratitude for the people of New York!
8. I have a nearly perfect life….just the right amount of imperfection.. for me… and it’s enough. For that I am pretty dang happy!
11/2/13 Gastby Masquerade Ball. This was a girl ask guy dance & Lelu went with Tanner this time and 18 other kids including Chandler and two more boys from our old ward. Where else but UT would you see 20 kids ready for a dance and 40 parents in a backyard taking photos?
Lelu with two new girls (Megan and McKenna as opposed to Madison and Madison) as dates for the original three boys who travel together as a package. I think the 20’s was a good era to copy for a formal dance! Don’t they look cool?
11/7/13 Happy 12th birthday to my twins! I have a tradition of decorating the house with balloons and a banner for everyone’s birthday. When I went to Zurchers to get balloons I saw this one and thought a big balloon would be fun- not knowing how massive it was because it wasn’t blown up yet. They blew it up and this little old lady working there popped it. The whole store heard it and came up to see what happened and this poor little lady was traumatized with her voice shaking that it about knocked her to the ground. I told them they could just give me a refund but they hunted down another one. Getting it home was fun – I had to put it in my passenger front seat and it blocked my rearview mirror, my side mirror and the view from half my windshield. It was quite the hazard. But it was all worth it because they LOVE it!
B was out of town and the kids wanted to go to Joe’s Crab Shack. I think it’s all because they dress them up, make them stand on a chair and the whole staff sings to them. I don’t think we’ve ever gone there NOT on a birthday. I think Ari’s coconut bra is more like an 82 year old than a 12 year old….
Ari’s new beehive leader made her this cake to welcome her in. I love this kind of stuff – esp when we are the recipient! Why don’t the boys do stuff like this? haha On Sunday when they called them up to the stand to say they were moving out of primary and on to the youth program, I was really sad! The last time I felt like this was when I took Aub to sunbeams – it’s just so final of a milestone that all of my babies are now grown up. Woe is me…..We’re officially old parents!
B got home so the real family partying continued. Of course, they each like different cakes so we had a full key lime cheesecake and a full picnic cake. And they picked two totally different home cooked dinners so we had an eclectic buffet on Sunday dinner of steak, mashed potatoes and Michele’s lettuce wraps (my girls are totally wowed by her cooking as am I after making this recipe that calls for 27 ingredients) We invited the J&C fam and then their two bff families for cake and we still didn’t eat all that cake.
11/16/13 Just when you think the party is over – think again! Indoor skydiving, surfing & pizza. And the birthday is finally partied out! Ready for take-off L-R Back row Mr. T (being cool) Caden, Aubrey Front Row: Wyatt, Chase, Ari, Sierra, McKinley We adore these kids!
TT flying
Check out their shoes – Converse are the THING!
November may kill me from exhaustion, school is in crunch time, I should be writing a paper or TWO right now and Thanksgiving (that I am hosting – can’t wait to see Aub, Michelle & Maruan) is this week. One day at a time, one post at a time, one word about Plato at a time….repeat
Is there anything wrong with living a little vicariously through your children? Oh my, did I have so much fun! Warning: a whole lot of photos in this post. Cherie and I have been friends for going on 15 years. Lelu and Chandler spent a lot of time together growing up. Now that Lelu can date, she really wanted to go to homecoming. I didn’t realize how much I wanted her to go too! So here’s how it all went down;
On a Monday night at about 10:15 there was a very loud knock on the door and this was left on the doorstep. The next morning I got a text from Cherie with the super disclaimer that Chandler came up with asking her on his own and obviously made the poster on his own – she would have made Lelu sugar cookies (her absolute favorite). I think It is way more fun this way – sorry Lelu no sugar cookies – but I love that neither of us moms orchestrated their date.
Inside the marshmallows were these little power rangers because all Lelu remembers playing at Chandler’s house was power rangers – she was always pink. And we thought Bridger and Kenzie would like them too. Dropping this off was hilarious because we took the twins and Madison to answer and Chandler was in the garage working on his jeep and Cherie was in the driveway talking to her parents in their car and my kids thought they could somehow still pull it off in stealth – needless to say..they were totally caught and I had a very good laugh!
I did her hair….I still got it…yes? We had to show off the very cute back of the amazing dress – that I would totally wear if it fit me.
My friend, Ann, who is very talented at make-up came over and transformed minimal make-up Lelu into something quite spectacular without making her look like she had on too much.
Ari was a little bit envious of all the attention – but I assure you when her day comes – I will be just as excited!
TT didn’t think it was that big of a deal and wanted to know why he had to pose for a photo
Um she didn’t know how to pin it on, I made an attempt and poked him with the pin and then Madison’s mom made it work.
Lelu and Chan Man all grown up and ready to hit the town – Okay so honesty moment, Cherie and I did orchestrate the outfits and went shopping together and picked out Chandler’s outfit too. One of the perks -that I don’t think will happen again
The group: Lelu and Chan, Tanner & Maddie and Tanner & Maddie – Honestly that’s their names! The night was a huge success. They are all friends so it was totally comfortable, had a great dinner, the dance was super fun and then they went swimming in a pool that was heated to ninety degrees and then Cherie made them all delicious hot chocolate. First date – TOTAL SUCCESS!!
My house was the last stop so all of the parents showed up here to take photos. I think I had as much fun as Lelu did.
I am a month behind. Such is life. The last three weeks I’ve been in dodgeball match with lemons being pelted at my head. This is the truth about blogs and my blog is no different really: They just don’t tell the “whole truth”. How can they? I love my life overall, that is true! But I am not immune to the downs, I am working on being resilient – but that is another blog for another day, when I am actually caught up. If ever. But if I am going to leave a written legacy for my children about my perspective on our life – I want to remember the positive. The ego LOVES the negative and happily replays those stories over and over especially when a lemon comes hurtling at your face – that lemon carries the weight of all the past and it hurts more than it should. And as such (that’s for you, B) I am sick to death of lemonade and therefore I will be creating quite a compost heap.
Lelu turned SIXTEEN! And it was a big deal. I wasn’t writing my blog when Aub turned 16, but we went to Hawaii for her birthday and then Master D had the big limo party. I’ve set myself up for creating big events. But Lelu is different and this was a challenge. She didn’t want a big party, or a surprise party (heaven forbid), or a limo and school had just started so we couldn’t go on a big trip. She is my most frugal child (B’s prodigy) and so I had to get creative:
First stop – hair being done at 7 am – yes SEVEN AM for the drivers license photo.
8:00 am DMV then home to get SS card we forgot – back to DMV – late to school and breakfast through the drive thru because she had a test. (This is a photo of an instagram screen. I lost the original photo of this on my old phone and for technical reasons that I have no patience to figure out, cropping out the instagram part is not taking)
Friends decorated her locker and the hallways
40 of them distributed around the hallways – that the administration decided needed to be taken down. Alta didn’t have that stupid policy – what the heck is wrong with party poopers in the schools??
Since I got a new car (that B surprised me with for my bday – and will get brownie points for a lifetime) Lelu gets to drive the pilot – which I decorated and left in the parking lot at school.
B and Jeff bright and early went to the round-a-bout in Draper and put up a banner which I “accidentally” went the wrong way to the DMV with her in the car for her to see. She didn’t kill me.
Lelu’s dinner request…..Michelle S recipe for chicken lime tacos – mmmm
After football & soccer practice The family celebrated with at home dinner and strawberry shortcake including J, C, Landon & Wyatt
Final fun….one short night between tennis, soccer, volleyball games and practices – I took Britney, Madison, Madelyn, Aubrey and Lelu to stay in a hotel in Park City – they got their own room to hang out in with mom across the hall enjoying my own book and more sleep.
Was it as awesome as Aub and Master D? I think she thought so. Phew Good thing I have four years to plan for the twins!
08/19/13 New schools for everyone except me. Not just my kids either, Jeff and Christina took the leap of faith to join us in Zion. haha – that’s a joke. But they up and sold their house in CA in one day and moved up here just in time to start the new school year with my kids. They’ve been staying with us the last two weeks and tomorrow they are thrilled to move into their own house here in Draper. I still can’t believe it and Continue reading
Guest Blogger: Lelu
When the parents are away, the kids can finally play 🙂
This is our Utah-Arizona adventure extravaganza with some of our favorite people.
Lelu only spent one day surfing – the wet suit doesn’t allow for getting a tan or checking out the multiple young attractive boys playing volleyball
This could be a postcard – Lelu and Landon loving the sunset. I can’t help but think “God loves us!!” every time I look at something this amazing!
The tandem bike is a great idea IN THEORY for kids to have fun….not so much in practice. Note to self -Next time I will not be talked into it.
We ate at a nice restaurant one night. As B and I were enjoying our salads, the manager came over and said “Did you not get food for the children?” I said “no they ate yesterday” What kind of parents do we look like?
You know I almost named him Noah, I thought Noah and Ariel would be cute together….not even knowing they’d be such ocean loving, surfing loving die hards. They were out there for a minimum of three hours for three days.
This is the only photo of me, you know ‘the mom behind the camera predicament’. This is how I spent a bit of the time they were surfing. Walking up and down the beach. As it seems it’s one of my all time favorite activities. I happened upon a seal playing in the surf and wished I took my phone with me to snap a photo, so I sat and watched it long enough to soak in the coolness of the moment and burning the image into my brain.
Did you know this CA boy had never surfed before? I didn’t. But now he has and he was gnarly! Is that even a surfing word? One of these years I’ll get out there too. I took up running at 40, B took up surfing at 50 – so 45 sounds about right? Next year…
We hired the same instructor as last year and he remembered us. Ari was very well named – water and the surfboard just seems a part of her. She hasn’t stopped campaigning to move down there.
We attempted to play volleyball – Me, Christina, Landon, Wyatt, Lelu, TT and Ari. Let me just say it was very evenly matched in a ‘none of us knew how to actually play’. And it was fun until I got nailed in the face with the ball!
We actually came home on Easter Sunday, so this year the Easter Bunny just happened to see us on the street the night before and had no baskets for anyone. It was a little sad, but since we had just spent five days at the beach – the Easter bunny did not feel very much guilt. What’s up with the boys and their hoodies? I just noticed that.
Huntington Beach is officially one of our favorite places to go – especially for Spring Break. We played all day, the kids were wiped out fairly early and B and I got out our laptops – isn’t the tech age amazing? Homework and work didn’t have to be totally neglected while the kids thoroughly enjoyed their spring break. I love those win-wins! We got to hang out with Christina and the boys a couple days, and Jeff, Christina and the boys for a day. Jeff was inspired to try to surf too since B did. I just didn’t catch any photo ops for him. Wyatt showed us all how it’s done and Landon toughed it out without a rash guard – suffering some wicked surfboard rash.
12/2/12 Lelu doesn’t look like a little girl anymore, she looks too grown up. Cherie couldn’t make it this year so my friend Cami came along. She has 4 boys but really wanted to go, so she took Cherie’s coveted spot tagging along with us. It such a fun girly tradition!
It was unseasonably warm so we headed up to City Creek to eat dinner and the girl’s had fun re-enacting the Nutcracker for the other shoppers.
While we were enjoying the dancing, Continue reading