Z: Zoo

It was like a ZOO yesterday! So many bodies. The screaming and yelling went on forever. And the celebration lasted well into the night. No, I'm not talking about William and Kate's Royal Wedding. Although there is that. Corinne had a "late night pajama party" to get herself all turned 11. And I think it worked!

Here she is with flowers from Dad.
The little family party before THE Party. (A little party, not little family!)

At her party she and 9 other girls played all sorts of giggle/squeal inducing games. The favorite one was Spin the Nail Polish. Each girl would spin a different color of polish and whoever is pointed to had to paint one nail that color.
The colorful results:
The girls thought it was really funny that she got TWO of these. One girl said, "Now you have enough to make each of us a bracelet!"
The birthday girl in her new chair.
What a fun group! After pumping them full of M&M's and cupcakes, we had them all home by 11:00pm.

Thanks for sticking with me to the end of my A to Z challenge. Today's been so busy I was afraid I'd blow it on the last day. If you'll look to the right, you'll notice that the highest number of posts I've ever done in a YEAR is 27. I've just done 26 in a MONTH!! (You might not hear from me for a while.) Now that it's over I won't stay up so late working on my blog and instead I'll get some ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ's.

Zee End.

Y: Yearly Celebration

After much planning and speculating and waiting it's here! Finally!! The most anticipated day of the whole year! Who will be invited? What will the cake be like? What will she wear?? No, I'm not talking about William and Kate's Royal Wedding. Although there is that. I'm talking about Corinne's birthday! And I may be prone to exaggeration at times, but THIS is not one of those times. If there was ever a girl who loved her birthdays, it's Corinne. She looks forward to it all year long. And it's not about the presents--ever. Truly, I sometimes wonder if she's pleasantly surprised on birthday morning to find gifts waiting at her breakfast plate. Kind of like, "Oh yeah. And presents, too!" She just loves the whole day! I have to admit that I do too. It's starts at bedtime when I tuck her in and say, "Good night. Sleep tight. Don't fall out of bed when you turn 11 at midnight!" (I started saying this years ago. Now the kids roll their eyes at me and give me a "Mo-om!" So of course I'll never quit.) I, and sometimes siblings, wake her in the morning with that song from "Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses". And just yesterday I realized we have another tradition. I asked Corinne if she wanted to get up really early to open presents before Matt and Nicole left or wait to open them at dinner and she said, "No. I'll open them at dinner, except for the one with new clothes so I can wear them to school." I stood there like a guppy with my mouth opening and closing. I had no comeback. She was right! There was a new outfit sitting in my closet ready to be wrapped. But SHE didn't know that. I guess that's the downside of tradition. You sort of give up the surprise element. No matter. It was still a lovely morning of cinnamon rolls and singing and new clothes. She left for school with a whole day ahead of her--much to her delight!

(Click on the link to hear our Barbie Birthday song: YouTube - The Birthday Song . Cute huh! Now you'll have to watch the whole movie to see what happens next!)

X: eXempt

No one in the Family Felt plays the xylophone. And no one has had to have an x-ray recently. (Knock on wood) And since this IS a family blog I can't do X-rated so I'm going to have to cheat today. I'm perfectly okay with that.

As a matter of fact I feel eXhilarated at the thought! I've always felt that an eXcess of eXactness is eXasperating. Matt of course being my eXception. ;) As I eXert myself to eXpatiate on this subject I eXhort you to eXtend eXorbitant amounts of eXculpation. My eXposure to the topic is eXiguous and this eXperiment is nothing short of eXhausting to us both. My eXploit seems eXtreme, so without eXplanation I make my eXit before I eXpidite a mass eXodus from my blog!

(So apparently X means whatever I want it to mean. Don't you judge me! It's not the easiest letter and I'm on DAY 24!! My thinker is running out of thoughts!)

W: Writing

I am in awe of great writers. Anybody who is creative and talented enough to author a story that gets my heart pounding and demands my attention to the last page has my deepest admiration. I LOVE books. When I find a truly great book it is a treasure. I was only 18 when I read Lonesome Dove but I can still remember clearly, racing through all 960 pages only pausing when absolutely necessary and even then keeping it next to me with my finger marking my place. The first time I read Jane Eyre I was blown away! More recently I read The Book Thief. The story was very good, but the writing was amazing! I would read a line and stop to exclaim to Matt, "Listen to how he worded this sentence!" Sometimes it's a character who grabs hold of me. Mrs. Baker, in Wednesday Wars, is someone I would love to be friends with, and who wouldn't want to attend a meeting of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society? And then sometimes it's not the best writing but just a true story that had to be told and opens my eyes to things far removed from my safe little world. Books like Lone Survivor and To Destroy You is No Loss affected me deeply. Our grade school librarians tried to instill in us that "we can travel the world just by opening a book". I agree! I would love to see The British Isles, but if I never get there I've read some very beautiful and magical stories that paint a picture in my mind that may be better than the real thing!

About a year ago I was approached by a friend who wondered if I would be interested in joining his writing group. He knew that I liked to read and they were looking for people willing to critique for them. Surprisingly enough, it sounded really fun to me. I couldn't figure out why. It's basically like homework. I give my time and energy freely, with nothing in return. When I explain this to people I get a little embarrassed because even to myself it sounds weird. But I love it! The only explanation I can come up with is that I guess I've finally found my true talent in life: telling other people what they are doing wrong and how I think they could do it better! (Matt's known for a long time that I'm very good at this.)

So now I'm in a writing group. But I don't write. The writers in my group encourage me to give it a try but I have a lengthy list of excuses ready for them. "Who has time?" "I don't have any ideas." "Maybe when my kids are older." "I'm not talented enough to actually publish anything, so why waste my time?" They don't accept any of them. And why should they? They're actually doing the work and laying themselves out there each week for me to slice and dice and skewer any way I see fit. I try to let them know, often, how very impressed I am with them. They are all very talented and I get so excited for them when they produce something extraordinary! As for myself, I'm content for now to write this blog and enjoy the delicious fruits of others' labors.

(SHAMELESS PLUG: One of the writers in my group just published his first e-book on Amazon. If you have an e-reader go buy it for .99!Amazon.com: Jabberwocky eBook: Daniel Coleman: Kindle Store He's really good!)

V: Vick's Nyquil

Yesterday at this time, I felt completely healthy. Not even a hint of what was to come. Sometime in the late afternoon, I began to sneeze. By evening my nose was running, and by bedtime I had myself diagnosed with acute viral rhinopharyngitis--the common cold. It's inevitable with five kids that there will always be some bug running around between us all. Especially with one of them going to preschool and another one in that dreaded cesspool disguised as a church nursery. Over the last decade-plus, with the kids bringing all of these germs home, I've had MORE than my share of colds, but this time it's different. I get to fight back!! For the majority of the past 13 years I've been either pregnant or nursing, which if you've ever taken the time to read the warnings on ANYTHING, you know that means that I was not allowed to medicate myself, repair a toaster, or read past a 3rd grade level. But now, my body belongs to me and only me. I can drug myself to my heart's content without any amount of guilt. So I did. Right after threatening all of the kids to go to sleep or I'd PUT them to sleep, but just before turning my back on a kitchen that still had dinner dishes on the table and dirty pans on the stove, I downed a pharmaceutical cocktail specifically designed to bring me to that blessed oblivion I so craved. And HALLELUJAH! It worked!! I slept fabulously and woke this morning to a foggy, drug-induced medicine head that was more than worth it. Thank you, Mr. Vick for a good night's sleep!

P.S. I may be able to take all manner of FDA approved goodies now, and enjoy more intellectual reading, but I still can't repair a toaster.

U: Unplugged

We tried something this weekend that we've never done before. We went "Unplugged" from Saturday morning to Monday morning. That meant NO computer, NO television, and NO video games. I've been toying with this idea for a while now since this is my most common sight of my children around the house:

So with "U" coming up, now seemed like a good time to try it.

As I anticipated, my idea met with some resistance. Wait, let me rephrase that. There was a major freak-out on Saturday morning! The weeping and wailing, and gnashing really didn't do much to help their cause. It kinda made us think we should have done this long ago and more often. But as the day progressed and they began to understand that we weren't going to budge they realized that there is life away from the screen.

We took a small road trip, painted Easter eggs, visited friends, and read a book. We also weeded the flower beds, played cards, made crepes and went to grandma's house. The road trip had me worried, without a DS or DVD player to keep Matt and me sane. And I'm not sure the kids avoided the TV at Grandma's house completely. But when the weekend was over, it really felt good. At dinner on Saturday, Paige said, "This is the best Saturday ever!!" You better believe Matt and I didn't let that go without a few "We told you so's!!".

In the weeks leading up to this I had these grand visions of something amazing happening due to our self-imposed denial. Perhaps by Sunday evening the kids would all be serving one another, finding fulfillment in being together, and the lion would lie down with the lamb. But it really was just another weekend. It was very nice not to have to deal with kids fighting over the computer or the DS, but that doesn't mean they didn't fight. I myself had a few moments where I looked at the computer and gauged my chances at being able to check my email and be done before they came back in the room. But I held strong.

This morning on the way to school I told Nicole that I really liked going unplugged and thought we should do it again. I won't go into detail but I really don't think she shares my view. At least there was no teeth gnashing!

T: Teller of Tales

Last night, Nicole and Corinne and I rushed straight from the soccer field to the “Author Event” being held twenty minutes away at the same time as our games. It was a dilemma. On the one hand we had our games. And you learned yesterday, we’re kind of fond of those games. On the other hand, this was a chance to meet our FAVORITE author! But apparently you CAN have your cake and eat it too, because we made it just in time to get in line and become sufficiently star-struck. Jessica Day George was the object of our affection. She’s not a household name yet, not like say, that Rowling chick. But I will love her forever. She taught my girl the joy of reading!

In 5^th grade, Nicole was old enough now to check out something other than comic books from the library, but nothing appealed to her. I tried and tried but she just had no interest in any of the novels I suggested. But one day she came home with her nose in a book and didn’t look up for two days! I was shocked. “What is this book that has finally caught her eye?” It was Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George.Well, I had to know what kind of book this was so I could go stock my library with more of the same, so I opened the first chapter. And two days later I looked up. It was just a sweet, funny, action packed, story of a young dress-maker who happens to be friends with the dragons which of course means there is danger and adventure and a prince. It was the first of a trilogy, so we ordered the next two. And I’ve since bought the other three novels written by this author. Corinne is almost through all three Dragon books now and loves them too. This one is my favorite. (I would LOVE to wear that dress! Look at the embroidery on that thing!!)

So yesterday evening found us standing in front of our hero of sorts, with our arms full of her books and trying our best not to embarrass ourselves by acting all fan girl on her! It was a fun experience and I was so happy to be able to share it with my girls. To see them enjoy a book the way that I enjoy books is gratifying indeed!

S: Soccer

If you can believe it, adding up the cumulative soccer seasons of five kids, we've been able to avoid 19 opportunities to be soccer slaves each Spring. Until now. Nicole and Corinne decided that they were missing out and asked to play this year. Oh, that's all fine and good. It's really not a problem getting them to practices and games. Outfitting them didn't even turn out to be as expensive as I thought it would be. And they really love playing. But then, the unthinkable happened. I called the coordinator to find out about Nicole's team, because games were starting soon and we hadn't heard anything.

Her reply: "Oh, yes. We haven't put that team together yet because they don't have a coach."

Big pause.

Me:"Ummm. Oh."

Big Pause.

Me: "Soooo. Um."

Big Pause.

Her: "Yeah. They don't have a COACH?"

Bigger Pause.

Me: "Do...you...want......(choke)...ummm....me?"

NO PAUSE!

Her: "Okay! Thanks! I'll get your roster to you this week. Sounds great. Bye!"

So, despite the fact that I've never played a minute of soccer outside of the 3 week unit in 9th grade P.E., and despite the fact that my kids have never played, so I've never even watched a minute of soccer; I've been given the reins. Who knew it was SO MUCH FUN??! I coach Nicole's team and I can't believe how totally into it I am. The kids are great and I'm learning a lot from them. Like, how many people play at a time, what a goal kick is, and what to do if the ball goes out of bounds. They are very patient. In return for their patience though, they get a coach who is very fair, understands that we're all here for fun, and is so competitive that at halftime she whispers cheap tricks they might want to try on the opposing team.

But enough about me. The girls are doing great and they have so much fun. Corinne's team works so well together. I went to her first game and was way impressed. She's got hustle! She's all over that ball and when she took her turn at goalie she had several stops and came away good and muddy. (It rained through the whole game.) She had her second game tonight (which Matt went to since Nicole's team played at the same time) and they are now 2-0.



Nicole's age group is co-ed and it's so fun to see them all play and have so much fun together. We only have 1-2 subs a game so she gets plenty of running in and does a great job! They are also 2-0 and tonight's game was against what I thought at first impression would be a really hard team, but it was never even close. She generously told her team before the game that if they won she'd buy them all a pop. I guess I should give her props for the good motivation! GOOAAALLLL!!

R: Ramsey-itis

Tonight Matt and I will attend our final class--graduating if you will--from the Dave Ramsey school of "How to stop being stupid and learn how to be a gajillion-zillionaire like me". We are followers of the almighty Dave. Because of his wisdom we are now RACING with gazelle-like intensity toward Financial Peace.
For 13 weeks now we've gone every Thursday night and heard Dave tell us things like:

"I've done extensive research & found that 100% of foreclosures are on houses with mortgages."

"People resist change much like a 2 year-old resists having his diaper changed. It might be stinky, but it's warm and it's all mine!"

"Broke people giving financial advice is like a shop teacher with missing fingers."

"If you want something you've never had, you'll have to do something you've never done."

"Life is hard. But life is REALLY HARD for stupid people."

See? Brilliant! I admit, in the beginning I resisted. "No!" I told Matt. "I do NOT want to have some guy tell me that I can't spend my money!" But by about halfway through class #2 I was SOLD! Now, I'm just another sheep in Dave's herd, baa-ing to the masses about his greatness and glory. I feel a little cheap but I can't stop myself! Most of my conversations these days eventually work their way round to, "Well, Dave Ramsey said..."

I apologize now if you've been the recipient of my enthusiasm. (Which is YOU if you've just read this post!)

In other "R" related news: I noticed yesterday that a prong on my wedding ring was bent! The diamond was still there, thank goodness, but I took the ring off until I can take it in to be repaired. It's driving me NUTS!!! I didn't realize how many times a day I fidgeted with it.

Q: Quid pro quo

Q is for quid pro quo. Which should be double points for me because it has TWO "q" words. I picked this today because it's a cool phrase. At least I've always thought so, ever since Hannibal Lecter creeptastically introduced it to my generation.

So...what was given? In exchange for what? Well, I spent the better part of my day yesterday making Matt's favorite dinner. Spring Rolls. How two simple words can create such paradoxical feelings is crazy. I often find myself channeling Joan Jett when I'm making them, "I hate myself for lovin' you!" They are divine. Mouth watering. You can't eat them standing up. But to make them requires serious planning, patience and three or four mental pep talks. I picked yesterday because the kids didn't have school. I needed Nicole and Corinne here to help me with the wrapping. And Paige kept Claire and Spencer busy during that time. A regular little sweat shop. We made 134 rolls and with all three of us wrapping it took us just over an hour. And that doesn't count the hour it took me to make the filling. Or the hour to prepare the vegetables and sauce. Or the hour to fry them. Can you see why maybe this deserved a little quo? or quid? or whatever? Anyway, the fam LOVED them. I was a little shocked to see that between the seven of us we ate 92 of them at dinner. That's like 14 a piece!

So after dinner I told Matt that I thought I would go out for the evening. A little shopping maybe. And he just gave me a kiss goodbye and told me to have fun and be careful. He was a happy man. I was a happy woman. All is right with the world today!

P: Pets

P is for PETS! This is a gratuitous post to introduce you to the other animals in our family. Even though they are strictly outdoor creatures and they do not vacation with us, wear clothes, or eat gourmet food they are still an important part of our lives and we love them! Right now we have four pets in our care.

First is Lily, the buck rabbit. Lily is somewhat androgynous because we really don't know whether to use he or she when talking about him/her. He/she started out as a girl and we loved her and named her Lily. And she loved us! When Lily was about 6 months old I was holding her and petting her and I had her cradled on her back like a baby and was scratching her tummy when I noticed a TUMOR growing on her abdomen. I gasped and thought "Oh no! Not our Lily!" But my fear turned to confusion when I suddenly noticed ANOTHER tumor, exactly the same shape and size right next to the first one. "What?" I thought. And then, "Ohhhhhhh." We didn't tell the kids for about three years. Moral of the story: Don't ever believe the teenage boy at the farm store who says, "Yes, this is a girl." Because what he is really thinking is, "How the hell should I know? Just buy the stupid rabbit already!"

Next on the food chain is Ginger. She is our mommy cat. But due to some promiscuity 2 years ago (once we can understand, but twice in 3 months?? Noooo, ma'am!) she is past her kitten bearing years. She's a good girl though. She has a favorite spot on the window sill outside the family room. She can watch over her domain and her family at the same time.

Here she is with her first litter. She had ONE! Weird, right? But, as I said above, then proceeded to have four more 10 weeks later. They found new homes, but this little guy got to stick around.
His name is Tigger and here he is two years later. He's a beauty. Really! I think his face looks like a bobcat--which I'm sort of partial to. He and his mom are also good mousers. Which is probably the ONLY reason Matt hasn't put an arrow through them both.
Last summer he adopted Claire. Anytime she went outside he was right there with her. It was a mutual love and fun to watch.

Last but not least we have Belle. Her official AKC name is Belle O' the Ball. Because we're Irish. Or Southern. Or she likes to fetch. Or everything else that went with "Belle" was already taken. Or something like that. But for the first few years of her life her name was NoBelle. Like the prize. OH MY GOSH! Do not underestimate anyone who ever tells you that a puppy is a lot of work! She's five now and it's SOOOO nice to finally see some mellowing going on.

But look at that face! So stinkin' cute.
A picture of her first hunting season. She does AWESOME! Never runs out of energy and finds and retrieves the birds amazingly well. (Or so I'm told--you won't find me tromping through the river bottoms on a frosty November morning!)
Here she is looking slim and trim on a little outing we took one evening.

She totally thinks she's a kid. Once I took her for a run and we went past SO many dogs and she never left my side. Then we got to the school and the second she saw the kids she was gone!

We really weren't trying to be mean in this video.

And here she is this morning. In dog years she's about my age now, so I'm not going to judge her too harshly for those extra inches of winter blubber. But she and I have some running to do!

O: Old?? Oh no you DI'INT!

Three months ago I was sitting in church, minding my own business, when I glanced down at the announcements and read, "If you are interested in playing on the Relief Society Basketball team at the Region Tournament please call...". Wait, what?? Relief Society? Basketball? Since when did they let the women play basketball?? I read it again three times to make sure that I had really read it correctly. I was so excited!! Nearly bouncing on the pew, I leaned over to Matt and pointed at the words on the paper. He read it, looked up at me in what seemed to be something like disbelief/mockery and said, "It's been a LONG time since you played basketball." Then looked away as if to say, "end of discussion." Wet blanket, bubble burster, you pick your metaphor. However, because I was in church I couldn't give voice to the response that was quickly forming in my mind, so I placed a few more kids between us and fumed.

In all fairness to Matt, he WAS right. It had been a LONG time since I played basketball. There was nothing but truth in his words. But COME ON, Baby!! Have you not learned yet how and when to lie to a woman??

No matter how indignant I felt, the seeds of doubt had been planted. By the end of the meeting I had convinced myself. He's right. I'm too old. What am I thinking?? But I really WANTED to play. So a week later in Primary, when they read the same announcement out loud and even had little handouts to go with it, I timidly raised my hand. GAH! What if the other women look at me and wonder what's wrong with me? I have 5 kids! I'm too OLD to play basketball. But I squashed those feelings aside and showed up at the meeting two days later. Are you dying yet to know the end of this story? (Or just dying to be at the end of this story?) Well, turns out, there were 8 other women at this meeting, ALL within a couple of years of my age. Some older! I'll skip some of the gory details. Yes, we played at Region. And yes, those younger girls from Logan wiped the gym floor with our sorry hides. But we had fun! And no one needed oxygen.

So fast forward to now. The gals and I decided we liked it and started playing regularly every Thursday A.M. We run hard and trash talk and make fun of ourselves and it's so fun. Given that we all have too many kids to count, we bring them all and try to play around them. It works best when we play full court because then when they come to us wanting something we just run away. It's pathetic! But have I mentioned we LOVE it?

Matt has come around now and seems to think it's great. But last week, one of the gals shared with us that her husband had asked her if maybe she didn't think she was too old to be playing basketball. Well, that just opened the floodgates! In my naivety I really thought Matt was an exception. I pictured all of these other supportive hubbies, but NO! Every single one of us at one time or another has been asked/told in one way or another that perhaps we're too far on in years to dribble anything but saliva. I seriously don't understand it. They want us to exercise and be fit and healthy. But we're too old for basketball? Are they embarrassed? Or just protective cavemen? Granted, we're not Spring chickens. Between Kelly's back, Laura's ankle, Valerie's knee, my shoulder, and Julie's feet we're kind of falling apart. But OLD?? Never!!

N: Nearsighted

N is for Nearsighted. I am nearsighted. I wear glasses and because some eye doctor long ago told me that I have an astigmatism, I've never worn contacts. It's a nuisance. I'd love to have Lasik, and plan to someday, but for now, I wear my glasses when I want to see things. And it works! I put on my glasses and I can see clearly all those distant sights that were so blurry just seconds before. This post isn't about eyesight though. It's about being nearsighted in life. Sometimes it's too easy to focus on what's right in front of us and get distracted from the better, more important future.

Nicole really wants a horse. I mean she REALLY wants a horse. She has saved every penny she's ever earned or been gifted and now has the funds to pay for half a horse. The problem is, the other half will be financed by Mom and Dad, but conditionally. Before we will give the okay for her big purchase, she has to show that she is really ready to be mature and responsible with horse ownership. We're getting closer to an actual realistic date so to help her out with this I made a sign recently:
The arrow moves up and down depending on, well, lots of things. I KNOW she wants this. But the arrow just kind of hangs around the middle. It's a little depressing to me. Frankly, it won't matter to me one bit if the horse doesn't happen for several years. But it breaks my heart to see her giving up on her goal because it's not fun to clean her room or practice the piano. She's certainly not alone. How many chores and projects and piles do I have that get put off and put off because it's just not fun NOW. I need to do better and hopefully by my example and help, all of my kids can learn that deferred gratification--a concept pretty foreign to their generation--is really the only way to reach their goals. And the goals I am most worried about are FAR more important than a horse. I wish we had a pair of glasses that we could slip on and bring those big goals right into focus again anytime we lose sight of the prize. But I guess if it were easy, everyone would do it, right?

M: Musician

M is for Musician. In an attempt to bring more culture into our lives, (and to support our daughter) Matt and I attended the Mountain West Strings Academy South Cache Concert last night. A couple hundred 4th and 5th graders playing their hearts out--it was awesome! I love orchestra music. To be honest I'm very glad my kids play string instruments because I'm just not sure I could find the same enthusiasm for band. (And now I've offended all the band people out there. It's just a personal preference, people!) Anyhoo--Corinne is in her second year playing the cello and she does a great job. Here are some shots of my little beauty with her instrument, as well as 2 of the songs that she played last night. As you can see, we had very good seats!

Wipe Out!

Fiddler's Frolic: Part I

Fiddler's Frolic: Part II

L: Little Man

The daughters had their 15 minutes, so of course I will give equal time to Spencer! He is my Little man. He looks at me with those big brown eyes, and I melt every time. He's such an easy going, happy boy. All trucks and dinosaurs and cowboys. You would think being surrounded by princesses and barbies and butterflies he'd get sucked in. But he holds his own and keeps an even balance in the house. One day I found a barbie in the garbage can and I yelled, "Who threw this away??" He scowled and explained, "They left that dumb girl in my room!!!" He's just such a delight to us all. He loves to play rough and tough and wrestle with his dad, but then at bedtime he snuggles right up with a big hug and kiss.

It's so different being a mother to a boy. When the girls were born I was filled with joy at the thoughts of shopping and talking and friendship for life. But with Spencer it was almost a crazy feeling of panic from the moment I held him. I felt that every minute that passed was one minute closer to him leaving me. Someday he'll grow up and some "girl" is going to take him away from me. I hate her guts already!! It makes me sad, and it also makes me feel deeply indebted to my mother-in-law for letting me steal Matt away from her. Although, if she would like him back, we might be able to work out some sort of joint custody arrangement? Maybe during hunting season?? :) See?? I'm awful! Daughter-in-laws are awful!! They make mean jokes about their husband. What if some bratty girl who knows how to bat her eyes just right at Spencer, makes a mean joke about him someday? UGH!! Not only am I a mean DIL, I'm also going to be a Monster-in-law, aren't I??? No. I'm not. I'm going to get it together and spend the next 15 years coming to grips with the fact that it's not only okay, but it's wonderful for Spencer to grow up and leave his mom and be a great husband and father just like his dad. But maybe I'll start tomorrow. Tonight I'm going to read him a story and when he smiles at me, I'll just fall more madly in love with him. And then in the morning I'll think about growing up.




This last picture just made me laugh. He's trying to be very sneaky and lick the snowman while I take his picture, without me knowing.

K: Kinky

Of all the letters so far, this has been the hardest one for me. I have been completely stumped by "K". Until last night when inspiration struck. No, don't get ahead of yourselves. It was last night while checking the comments on my blog. A friend commented on yesterday's post: "Your posts are always so refreshing and wholesome." Like milk. So I thought, "Do I need to mix it up a little bit? Make sure my readers (all 3 of you) don't get bored?" So today I'm doing away with refreshing and wholesome and I'm going to tell you about a little weekend getaway that Matt and I took. It started out fairly innocent. But when we got to our destination our room was double booked as was the whole city due to the "Wizards & Turtles Fetish Convention" being held in our very hotel. Well, we had two choices: turn around and go back to the kids or...Nope. Just one choice. Long story short, one thing led to another and we found ourselves in the hotel ballroom picking out our wand and shell and...yada, yada, yada...we're now card carrying members of the WTF association. The nightmares and flashbacks only lasted a couple of years.

Now don't get used to this type of sharing. I think I'll probably stick with refreshing and wholesome. It's who I am. It's how I roll. It has to be. My mom reads this blog. But get me alone some time and get a couple of virgin jello shots in me, and who knows what will come out!

J: Just for fun

Yesterday after the kids got home from school I took them up to USU for an Easter Fair that I had seen advertised. The fair turned out to be quite a bit less than what we were anticipating, but Matt came and met us after work and we let the kids wander around campus for a while, Just for fun! Both of us having gone there for school, we love that campus and it was just really nice and relaxing to explore with no schedule or deadline. The kids seemed to love it and were quite impressed that "ALL of these buildings are one school!".

Sitting atop the famous "A". The kids thought it very gross what goes on there.
Claire on the balance beam.
Posing with the statue of the boy who found the severed hand. (10 points if you know the quote!)
They found a "tree fort"
Katniss, I mean Nicole, climbing a tree. (5 points for that source)
Another statue:

In this picture Matt is pointing across the island to the other bench, showing the kids where he grew up.
We ended the evening with Aggie Ice Cream. SOOOOO good!!!