Mother's Day Getaway

Jordan pretty much nailed it this year. He sent me away to NYC for two nights with a best friend.
4 Mommies + 0 babies + 0 husbands + NYC + Jack Kelly of the Newsies = LEGENDARY.

12 years

Happy Anniversary to Us! 12 Years!

Jordan and I wandered around Macys, tested out some new mattresses, and ate out at Red Lobster. And of course forgot to use our Gift card! Ugh!

Funniest line of the night:

Jordan: "Our marriage has been the past 12 years of my life!"

Me: "It has been the past 12 years of my life too!"

Hahaha... we crack ourselves up.

I won't get too mushy on our blog, but I love Jordan deeply. It really does get better with every passing year. He asked me at dinner what personal changes he could make that would make me happy. I told him that it would be nice if he retired some of the shirts he's been wearing since we were dating. I was going to ask him what changes I could make....but then our food arrived. Darn, maybe next year.

Jordan's birthday bash

I threw a birthday party for Jordan this year. And if I do say so myself, it was AWESOME! I'll let the pictures take you through the evening.

 

 



New Calling Official

After two weeks, it's finally official. Well, unless you count Sam announcing it prematurely in primary last week.....oops! I am the new Primary President. I hope I'm not this exhausted every Sunday! Yowza! I didn't even have any official responsibilities today and I'm tired! I'll admit that
today was rough. It's too much of a blur to detail it all, but I realized many things today: Jordan should never travel on a weekend. We need a minivan. I have great neighbors. I should never skip breakfast. It would be a good idea to set out church clothes the night before. I should always keep my cellphone close by, you know, in case there is a message that I need to pick someone up in 5 minutes when I'm already running late. I also realized that Grant needs an intervention, and that I should never attempt a craft project involving 35 children by myself. I think this day happened to teach me that I would be crazy to attempt this calling alone. I need help; lots of it....and without today, it might have taken me a long time to realize this. So I guess I'm grateful for the lesson. But boy did the lesson hurt! I will say that I'm already feeling the blessings of this calling too. One being the opportunity to attend a priesthood preview for the 11 year boys which was a great experience. It reminded me that I have been given a great privilege. Children really are the best among us.

Kid Stats

Grant (20 months):

Loves yogurt
Brushing his teeth
Dancing
Yelling Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom into infinity....
Always wants to be outside
Pronounces please, "cheese"
Loves baths, cuddling and Choo- Choos
Wants to do everything himself
Is obsessed with shoes and was one of his first words
Is yelling as I write this
Says "eww" when he needs a diaper change
Laughs a lot


Ben (5):

Also loves yogurt
Would be content with a chocolate diet
Is obsessed with the military and terrorists
Still dresses up/accessorizes everyday
Is very enthusiastic about learning to read
Always reminding the family to do family scripture study and prayer
Would sleep in until 11am if I let him
Has some crazy ideas about how things work, are made etc... and will not let you tell him otherwise
Insists that he and Jordan's ties match for church
Is into Pokémon cards and legos
Has an incredible memory and ability to absorb information
His best friend is Thomas but has many girlfriends!

Sam (9):

Reading more than ever
Loves sandwiches and makes them by himself
Begs to make dinner for the family and to play restaurant
Is  often lost in his own world playing with action figures, legos, or even kitchen tools
Working toward his red belt in karate
Wants an airsoft gun
Hates to clean his room or do any kind of chore
Is learning how to manage money. He has saved $42.00 so far.
Loves movie nights and requests them every night.
Is watching Diary of a Wimpy Kid downstairs right now
Loves the Wii, Poptropica, writing stories, poems, and playing school with Ben
Would like a baby sister

Happy Sunday!

Late Night Shopping

I do most of the grocery shopping late at night by myself.  I don't love trudging through the aisles half awake, dodging shelf stockers and large groups of teens, but I have little choice. During the day is out of the question. Grant is THAT child at the store. From the second I put him in the cart, he wants out. I spend so much of my time distracting him to keep him calm, that I end up distracting myself from the task at hand; namely picking out food. I often leave with a crying 1 year old and a mish mosh of groceries that don't come close to resembling a coherent meal. So I often go when I'm already out for the evening, whether for book club, my scripture study group or meeting. The only problem with this is that I'm often exhausted and this had led to two brain malfunctions resulting in serious humiliation.

Incident #1: I was invited to a Christmas party at a girlfriend's house for appetizers and dessert. The other purpose for the party was so that a mutual friend could display her jewelry that she sells. The company is called Paparazzi and basically it's super cheap costume jewelry. Everything is 5 bucks. So I went that night, had a wonderful time and bought a super sparkly three tiered gray necklace. It coordinated perfectly with what I wearing that night so I wore it on my way out. Despite being tired, I knew that I should stop at the grocery store before going home. It helped that I felt super cute that night. Since I was feeling festive and pretty, I was a lot more interactive than I usually am at the store. Typically I am a head down, get business done kind of gal. You could probably mistake me for being a little cold. But this night was different. I was talking to the stock boys, exchanging pleasantries with passersby's and making chit chat with the cashier. She was a teenager and seemed bored so I though I'd compliment her on her sweater and ask about her upcoming dance. She was pleasant enough, but something was off about our conversation. I started to feel a little dumb for having engaged her. Did she think I was old and lame? Anyway, I wouldn't let it get me down. I got home and starting unloading the groceries. I went into the living room to find Jordan when I passed by our large mirror. I stopped dead in my tracks and burst out laughing (the laughing you do when you are beyond embarrassed). Sitting on my shoulder and hanging down the front my shirt was a tag the size of Texas! My necklace that it was dangling from was even tied up in it so that it looked like a jumbled mess on me. I felt like such a dork! Of course I had to replay the scene at the store over and over again and think of all those poor people I had talked to. Maybe they were too tired to notice? I certainly was! It was 11pm after all.

Incident #2: Last night I was doing major shopping so the cart was pretty packed. I was running out of room in the basket, so I decided to place my jars of spaghetti sauce on the bottom rack. I knew it was a bad idea the moment I did it but I think I was too tired to care. I got halfway down the aisle before it happened. One of the jars rolled right off sending glass and sauce everywhere, including my new winter boots!  Because it was so late at night there weren't many people around to ask for help. I had to stand there like a goober waiting for someone to walk by. Eventually a man stopped. There were a few that just walked by and stared. I decided to cut my trip short and check out without running into the same cashier from the other incident. One of my boots is permanently stained pink where there was once white rubber and I'm now reconsidering my night shopping routine.