The Best Gifts, Yucky Surprise, and a Broken Washer

Yesterday turned into an adventure for me! DH came home early...which is probably the best present of all. He works so hard and so many hours. We ate a quick dinner (still wasn't hungry from Olive Garden) and had "cake." I have never been a big fan of traditional cake, so every year I try a new dessert for my birthday. This year was simple and yummy....Jell-o's No Bake Cheesecake. I used to hate cheesecake, but now I really love it...especially the fake kind. Don't ask me why, but I think I like it better than a homemade one.

After dinner, I was presented with my presents. The very best ones were the letter C wrote me inside his card and the card that DH gave me. Amazing how dots of ink on a paper (forming words) can mean so very much. They both made me cry and I have reread them already many times. Here is what C wrote:

Included in my card from DH was a note saying that in a couple of months he will take time off so I can go out of town for Time Out for Women in another city! Yippee! I am so excited. We can leave Friday morning, drive there, hang out, shop, eat dinner...whatever we kidless Mommys want to do...go to the night part of the conference for three-ish hours, sleep in a hotel, go to the other 6-7 hours the next day and drive home (two nights without wives and with kids might just put the DHs over the top). I think my sister can go, too! That would be awesome. I hope a lot of my friends can make it. It is actually on two of my close friends' birthday...maybe they can for their present, too.

Okay..now for the surprise...right as we were finishing the gifts, LD decided to contribute one of his own...he vomited all over! Now I know why he was cranky yesterday...the poor baby's belly must've been hurting. If vomit can ever be cute, this was. The poor guy would puke, say "uh-oh, uh-oh," puke again, "uh-oh..uh-oh," and so on. He was so concerned about this strange mess that he was making. Poor guy!

Of course I immediately cleaned up the mess and threw everything in the washer. Guess what! When I woke up at 3:30 (more vomit) I went to move the laundry and.....my washer is broken. The water won't drain out. I've dried a bunch of things, but nothing helps and the soonest the repair guy could come is Friday! UGH! I've been frustrated about it all day. Luckily, though, I have been diligent in setting money aside in savings and I'm not worried about the expense part, just annoyed that I have to deal with it.

One last picture...for our day off of school on Monday, I took the kids to Jumping Party and my sister and her kids joined us. SOOOOOOOOOO fun to have cousins close by! Here they are (minus LD (too squirmy) and her little baby (asleep, I think)):

3 cards + 3 visits + 5 emails + 6 phone calls=

Happy Birthday to ME!

Yep. It is that time of year again! Time just goes so fast. Today hasn't been all that great so far. I guess that it hasn't been horrid either. Ya know....normal stuff has to be done. I was hoping to get a few minutes to read or have "me" time, but LD is being VERY clingy and won't take a nap. UGH!

I did, however, get soup, salad, and breadsticks at Olive Garden courtesy of JK, one of my best friends. Amazing how filling those fatty little breadsticks can be. I am still not hungry. It was great to be out for a little bit with friends, too. I really am so blessed.

I realized that while today might not be anything too special....I am so blessed that every day is special. I know that I have a Savior that loves me, I have a wonderful family (DH and three kiddos), I live in a wonderful country, I have a beautiful home that protects me from this darn wind (but also from rain, cold, heat, etc.), we always have enough food to eat, I have the most amazing friends ever, my sister lives close to me now, my kids have a great school to go to, etc. See...I don't need to feel like a princess on one day of the year....I get to be one EVERY day! :)

Nails and a Symphony

For Valentine's Day, DH told me to look in the mail (He also came home from work and brought me a dozen gorgeous roses during lunch!). I dutifully looked and looked. All I knew was that we were going to go out on Friday night and that something was coming in the mail. I LOVE surprises. I am the type that would know that a present was somewhere and not look at it since I'd rather have the surprise on Christmas morning. Seriously. No peeking from me. Anyhow, they never came so DH had to tell me. We are now rest-of-the-season ticket holders to the symphony!

Friday was our first one. For my birthday, as well as the symphony, my sister and I went out for me to get my nails done. I LOVE the French tip. LOVE it. I have always had natural nails, but I've gone a few times for a French tip manicure and I've done it myself many, many times, but it never seems to last very long...even when they airbrush it. So, I decided to try the fake nail thing. Never been a huge fan...too much money, too fake, too long, too impractical...etc. But, I had the guy cut them as short as my natural nails so they really don't hinder me at all. And I LOVE them. I think they are so gorgeous. I love that the white tip doesn't chip within ten minutes. I will have to see if I love them still after I keep going and paying for the fills and such, but for now (as they say in the song)...I feel pretty oh so pretty.

And...the symphony was even better than I'd expected. I thought it might be a little boring honestly. The music, however, was beautiful. It was fun to dress up. It was awesome to be out with DH. And...we have three more to go. How fun is that? DH thought of it all on his own, set it up, and now we have mandatory dates! LOVE IT!

Just Had to Try it Again!

81 words

Speed test

This was fun! Next time maybe I will do better.

72 words

Speedtest

Don't they look like angels when they sleep?

What you don't get from the picture is....he woke up at 4:45 this morning! Wide awake. Guess who has also been up since then!?! Thank goodness for pictures like this. I am sure that in 5, 10, 15, 20, 25,... years I will look back on this picture and weep for my little baby. I have to savor the moments today.

Profound Random Thoughts

I have a few profound thoughts to share. It seems like a lot of things have especially touched me today.

1. I was in charge of a funeral luncheon to feed 100 people. It took a LOT of phone time and coordinating, but I am just so touched with people's compassion. Today, as this steady stream of people kept arriving to drop food off at the church, my eyes teared as I noticed old, young, richer, poorer, those that knew the family, and those that had only been in the ward a short time all come with their hearts full of compassion and their arms full of food. What a tribute to the wonderful side of human nature!
2. When I got home at 3:30 this afternoon, I had not had lunch. I mentioned this to the kids as they got home from school and the next thing I knew there was a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of water sitting on the table. C had decided that he would make me some lunch since I had been so busy with the funeral today. Isn't that touching?
3. I love to listen to Dr. Laura and I got to just for a few minutes today, but she said something I found profound...this is a paraphrase since I was in the car and wasn't able to write down a direct quote...What matters is if there's love in your home at the end of the day, not perfection. Isn't that great? My home doesn't have to be perfectly organized and clean at the end of the day (like it is in the house of my dreams in my head), but I have been successful if my kids feel safe and loved and taught. This is the most important.
4. Heavenly Father is always sending us promptings. My best friend, A, and I have been talking about this a lot. He is always sending promptings and we rarely know why, but we are always blessed if we follow them. :)
5. I love BYU Radio. On Dish Network, it is channel 980 and it is the same here and at my parents'....so I assume it might be the same everywhere. It is on all day long. I just turn off my TV and route it through the surround sound. It has uplifting music all day. Then, at various hours it has conference talks, scripture reading, etc. No matter what I am doing, I can listen to a few minutes and it always inspires me to do better. Or, all of a sudden, I will hear a chapter from the bible. I think this is one of the main reasons that I have been able to listen to the those promptings from #4.

That's all. Now it is off to basketball practice, dinner, creating Valentine's and Valentine boxes, and preparing for C's class party tomorrow (I am the room mom).

Really Quick

I only have a short moment, but I am trying not to neglect my blog so often. Just a fun couple of pictures. I walked into the kitchen today and found.....THIS! What you can't tell is that I have 10 ft ceilings (that slope up to 12 ft) and she is at the very top (before the slope). 10 feet high! What was she thinking?

Driving Me Crazy.

Does anyone need a 16-month-old for a week or so? He is driving me insane. The last two days have been almost intolerable. Right now...he is asleep! :) We tried to go out to dinner last night...usually a fun adventure and LD was horrid. He was whining and throwing food, dishes, silverware. He didn't want to eat any of his favorite foods or anything new either. At church today, he was the poorest behaved he has been in months. Can we say "nursery?" Good thing I love the kid so much. Good thing that his smile melts my heart. Good thing I love to hear him say "Cristo" (Spanish) as we walk down our hall and he sees a picture of Christ. Good thing he gets excited watching his siblings play basketball. Good thing I can handle anything he gives me since I also have a Mother's love.

On a similar note, I have been thinking a lot about the frailty of life during the last few months. I recently reread an entry in my journal about it (I think I commented here as well). It said something about how I realized that death will come. If not a physical death of my children or family passing on, then death of time. In a few years, we will not hear the patter of little feet or the fighting of siblings for, even if we are granted many years together in this life, the moments are still fleeting and will come to an end. It's just a reminder to live in the here and now for it will never come back.

The Best I Can Be

Last night, I realized that while I am nowhere near where I want to be, I am working; I am moving forward in many aspects of my life: organization, financial, spiritual, kids, health, etc. I am really trying to be the best me that I can be. I realized that by working towards all my goals...I AM being the best me! Although I've heard this many times, it was very comforting to realize that all that is expected of me is to be improving and working. Thank goodness for a loving Heavenly Father that knows our thoughts and the intents of our hearts and knows if we are stagnating or striving to improve.

• In other news, I am so happy that my sister is here! The cousins love each other so much and I know my kids wish that they lived next door.
• K is feeling better, but I think that LD is getting it or something else: he is very clingy, very tired, and has a runny nose. -sigh- It's just that time of year!
• My vacuum is broken. The same part I had to replace about a year ago is broken again. I don't know what to do. The part costs about $50 and I have to order it so add some shipping to that. We've had the vacuum for five years. It is a middle grade Kenmore (costing about $200-$250 new). So, do I buy a new one or buy the part? Do I buy a cheap, cheap vacuum and just replace it later? Do I buy a really expensive one and hope it lasts longer? Any thoughts? It is just driving me CRAZY since I love to vacuum and do so about every day (except Sunday).

Crazy Weekend

My wonderful Sis and her hubby are here! What a big blessing to our family. Hopefully it is to theirs as well. Saturday, we went to move their stuff from the moving trailer into a storage unit. Silly me. I really thought it would take 2-4 hours. I just have forgotten what a big job moving us, and we had the baby while a babysitter had the big kids, and there wasn't a storage unit super close to where the trailer was. So...we worked and worked. DH and Sis's DH worked longer than us, as we had to get back to relieve the babysitter.

While we were doing all this moving, my parents were driving Sis's other car here. They ended up stopping just two hours away in a hotel and staying overnight that night and getting to our house on Sunday afternoon after church. It was nice to see them, even though they were here for less than 24 hours. Since they were here on Sunday and DH would be working Monday and Sis's DH would be leaving to go out of town Monday, we had to finish the unloading, even though we usually wouldn't since it was the Sabbath. It still took awhile, but the four of us did it! Sometimes the boys might have thought we were in the way...but, really, it took all four of us to do the work and my parents keeping all the kids (except K...she was sick, so we kept her in the car watching a DVD with us) to get it all done!

It was such a short, busy visit that I really didn't take many pictures (Darn it!). I am always sad to see my parents leave, since I don't get to see them much.

And...they're here!

After many long days of driving. Sometimes through horrid weather. All with three kids (ages 3 and under), my sister and her hubby made it! :) Finally, they are here. They have to live in an apartment for a month while their house is finished, but they are here and in their "home." -sigh- What a relief! We got to have them over for dinner last night and it was so fun. The "girl cousins" took off to K's room to do....well, who knows what...girl stuff, I guess. C and S played football, basketball, and tackling, ya know, boy stuff. Little Dan joined the boys in running around and screaming. And....I got to hold my newest niece (2 months old) for the first time! It will be so fun for my kids to have cousins to grow up with. I am so grateful that they are here and that I don't have to worry about the long drives any more....although my parents are driving here on Saturday with their other car and some of their stuff....I guess I do have to worry for a couple more days. How exciting, too, to end up with an unexpected visit from my parents. It will be a crazy weekend, but extremely fun, too!