Sweethearts Dance

Tonight my oldest son attended his very first formal dance.  He looked dapper.  His date is darling, and I'm sure they are having an amazing time (no, he's not home yet;~)  This brings me back to all of the formal dances I went to as a teen: it's fun to get fancy, dancing is one of my favorite forms of exercise, and I never had the displeasure of going out with a creep, so I have just happy, cheerful memories.  What fun!

Preston and his date, Mary.  They both are ridiculously good looking.

My only regret was that I didn't take more pics to get better lighting. Oh well.

They are good friends from drama.

They're all from drama, and just finished performing in Mary Poppins.

Had to get a picture with this well groomed, handsome man-cub if mine.  He's got me by at least a foot.  He may be taller, but I'm wider!

Beautiful Baby Beads

A dear friend of mine came up with a fab idea for my baby shower a few weeks ago: have guests each  bring one bead. With that bead, they were to write a wish/hope/blessing for me and baby Norman.  The idea being that all of the beads would be made into a necklace and worn/seen/held during delivery and all of the love and good sentiments would be felt whilst I was giving birth.  Basically, it's such a beautiful, thoughtful, brilliant idea. I finished making the necklace today. I'm clearly not in labor and it is already working it's magic. I already feel the love and support of all my dear friends.  So, if you are ever planning a baby shower, I don't think my pal would mind it if you used her idea.  After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Here are most of the beads on a dish. Super bright and fabulous.

Each bead was stuffed into a tiny envelope. Next to the envelope were some slips of paper where people could write a cheery thought about the bead, labor, motherhood, etc. 

A frying pan charm. You've got to be kidding me! And the eggs look perfectly done!

I also love the "N" which my friend wrote could either be for "Norman" or "Narcotics", depending on how delivery goes. Totally awesome.

This is the completed necklace.  I simply love it! My hospital bag is not packed, because I am a slacker, but my necklace is ready so it mattereth not.

FYI: Ryan just finished day four of chemo.  He is hanging in there.  We are hoping that Norman arrives in about 10-15 days which will put him entering our family at a time when Ryan's chemo will be taking a break... Crossing our fingers.  If wishes were fishes we'd all have a fry (my Dad used to say that.)

 

Special People

Today was spent in a most pleasant fashion. I met with my midwife and got to listen to the heartbeat of what will be the newest member of our family, Norman. I visited my Opa and found two aunts at his home as well, and then I got to have lunch with a friend from Tucson who is visiting the snow with her crew.  Her five year old daughter joined us as well.  Lots of special people in my life.

My Grandpa is 94 years old. He's a snappy dresser, an excellent golfer, and a high quality grandpa.

Melissa and her daughter and me.   I got an open faced steak sandwich with french onion soup. Melissa got empanadas, and her daughter got tacos. The food was great, the company was better.

The Joy of School

It's always comforting when my children finally memorize my phone number. It means that no matter where they are, as long as they can find a phone then they will be able to get a hold of me, especially if they are in an emergency.  Annie Joy knows my phone number, by heart.  She has it down. SO she can call me when she isn't feeling well, or forgot her library book or homework... or if she doesn't like her outfit or wants a different pair of shoes or a jacket or headband or... It seems that I get a call from her almost everyday. I love that my children can so easily use the phone if they need to call me.  I hate that they can so easily use the phone if they "need" to call me.  I got a phone call today from Anners about feeling super sick to her stomach.  She mentioned something at home, but then ate breakfast as usual and headed off to school. However, when I got to the school to take her home, she was no-where to be found... She was out at recess. When she was paged to come to the office, she wandered in giggling with her pal. Not sick. Clearly not sick.  Let's just say that my girl has officially placed herself into the fable "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." She's the boy. I'm the townspeople, and hopefully for her sake, there won't be areal wolf for quite a while, because this is one townsperson that no longer trusts the validity of the cries. 

I had the pleasure of joining Calvin Smith for his student led conferences at his jr. high.

He showed me work from all of his classes, explained what he's learning , and basically impressed the pants off me.  He just made the high honor role, which says everything about his personal desire to try his best, and says almost nothing about my parenting.  What a guy!

Chemo Take Two

There's no fun way to package this: Ryan is going to do one more round of chemo to ensure that no nasty little cancers cells escaped his colon before the bad bit was removed.  This is a cautionary move; one that was approached with second and third opinions, one that was not made lightly, one that will hopefully decrease the chances of a dr. ever telling my handsome husband that he has colon cancer. Now for the details. The plan is that he will undergo 6 treatment cycles, each lasting three weeks long. He gets an iv infusion (four hour affair at the Huntsman), that's followed by two weeks of chemo pills (morning and night) and then one week to rest before the next cycle starts up.  18 weeks. I am grateful for medical advances that make treatment of this possible. I am not a fan of Ryan having to endure this, but with full faith in God and confidence in a larger plan (one in which I'm not always privy to) I know that Ryan is up for the challenge, that we will get through this together, and that in a year, we will be able to look back on this time as a time of growth, learning, faith, mercy, and support (from dear, appreciated friends and family.) In conclusion for today: "All is well", and we will "Come what may and love it."

Ryan. It's easy to see how excited he is to be back at the Huntsman Cancer Center undergoing

 chemo treatment.

Tonight the ladies in our ward (ages 8-108) gathered for a tea party.

Some of us wanted to be fancy so we wore tea party hats.

A group of playing getting to know you games.  

Well attended, well planned, well executed and loads of fun.

There is a scripture in the Book of Mormon that was the theme for the night, It reads:

"Hearts knit together in unity and love."

Feeling lots of love for my church sisters (and squirrelly daughter) tonight, and also for my two sons Preston and Calvin who came and manned the nursery and helped with the take-down.

Hunter S Thompson

Tonight Ryan and I acted as witnesses for our friends who were having their will notarized.  In honor of such a bleak prospect, I found one of my very favorite quotes about death. It's by Hunter S Thompson. Enjoy!

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”

True That.

We all used pens with blue ink.

Last performance of Sound of Music for the Yellow Cast tonight.  Everyone did such a fab job.

Annie and a fellow goat.

Simon, with his legs crossed, a very relaxed Admiral Von Schreiber.

Well done, Si-Guy and Anners!

*** This post is for Monday, February 23, 2015***, a day I did not have a baby. 

A Special Breakfast in Bed Kind of Morning

Owen Smith seems to think that one of the very best things that can ever happen to a person is to get breakfast in bed.  He woke up early, along with his other siblings.  When they wandered upstairs we announced that we got donuts last night for breakfast. Owen requested breakfast in bed. For some odd reason, Annie Joy thought that sounded like a great idea. She got the tray out, sent Owen back to bed, grabbed two donuts, made toast with butter and Nutella on the side, cut up some strawberries and bananas, poured some milk, and treated her younger brother to five star breakfast service.  Annie is bursting with energy, which can sometimes be problematic, but this morning, that trait meant breakfast in bed for Owen. Lucky boy.

Happy Owen.

Simon gave a talk in primary today on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It was a winner. He's a good boy.

What Not to do with Our Dog

Saturday in nut shell: churchy opportunity with Annie whilst Ryan and the boys did a DI run, nap, Simon and Annie in another Sound of Music performance, Baskin Robbins 31 Flavors Ice cream (mint and chip, as always), Ikea, date on Bountiful Blvd with my handsome husband, Sunday prep grocery run.  Good day. Love my family. Still pregnant.

Right before we headed in to the chapel.

Annie looked darling today.

Annie with some other gals in the ward that are in her age group.

Owen thought it would be a great idea to put a t-shirt on Cricket.  

She looks so cute in shirts, but bc she was a seeing eye dog, she acts just like she would if she was in her harness. So we let Owen take a pic with her, then took the shirt right off. We love our Cricket.

Preston and Owen helped put together Norman's new stroller.

I match the stroller. I was in the middle of changing clothes when I was called down for the pic, thus the jeans and dress wardrobe.

Dinner at Ikea, whilst watching Despicable Me.

We love it when our kids watch shows while eating dinner...

The Hills are Alive!

... With the sound of music! Tonight was the opening performance of The Sound of Music at our elementary school.  A friend of mine has a business that does professional quality plays with children (Spotlight Children's Theatre) and our school was smart enough to jump on board.  Simon was Admiral Von Schribber, Annie Joy was a goat/ Austrain, and the rest of the crew were entertained for 1 1/2 hours of musical theatre bliss.  What a wonderful way to spend Friday night!

Simon is looking delightfully official.

Annie and Simon are so lovely on stage.

Simon's part was just perfect for him.  He remained stern and serious throughout the show, just as an admiral should.

Annie was a delightful goat.

Speaking of goats... before the play I went with a friend to Wheeler Farm.

We saw loads of animals...

Chased some geese...

Gotta love anywhere with an old fashioned jungle gym, in the form of an old wagon.

Dangerous, awesome tree to climb.

Several monkeys in a tree.  

Pasta Perfection

I taught a fabulous pasta class tonight with some amazing ladies.  6 friends for a private cooking party.  The food was wonderful, the class was fun, and .... I am really very pregnant.  My feet are so swollen, but not pain no gain.  I love teaching classes! Shameless plug: Seriously fun girls night out is a cooking class with the Chipper Chef. Enough said.

Rolling out the dough.

Cooking is fun.

Ravioli Rocks!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Two of my darling children are in a Chinese immersion program in their elementary school. That means that English is used during half of their school day, and the other half they use Mandarin Chinese.  As a grown woman, set in my ways, not particularly gifted in linguistics, I seriously have no hope of joining them in learning the language, but I am doing my part by making some fantastic Chinese food. Like tonight, I made ham fried rice and dumplings.  What a great Chinese New Year meal... almost.

Annie zipped right by, but I did convince her to pause and let me take a picture.

Here she is with several of her darling school friends.

Yeah 3rd grade!

Owen in his school parade, wearing red. I barely caught his attention, and they zoomed by so quickly that I didn't even get a good pic.

The Dentist!!!

Owen has been begging me to have his teeth cleaned for the last two months, and today it finally happened! In honor of this special day, we went to Nielsen's Frozen Custard for lunch, a family favorite.  His teeth were cleaned. Owen chose "Pina Colada" flavor for his polishing paste.  He left with a rubber popper as his prize for healthy, handsome teeth.  I'm not quite sure why visiting the dentist ranked so high on his personal to do list, but I hope it starts a life long dedication to flossing, and brushing.  Well done, Owen.

Cheeseburger, fries and root beer.  A dental cleaning pre-party!

Pina Colada. Yumm!

He's rocking the lead x-ray apron!

Some dear pals, neighbors, and church sisters gathered tonight and threw me a baby shower.

Of my five children, my oldest is 15 and my youngest is on the cusp of turning 7. Basically, it's been a pretty long time since I've done the baby thing.  How fun it was to celebrate the joy of motherhood with all of these lovely women in my life!  The hostess with the mostess has a chalk board in her kitchen and is an artist.  I loved the sign she made!

Several gals chipped in and brought some tasty treats to the shower.  The bottom left is a melted cheese and heaven dish in a cast iron skillet, which was wonderful. And several pals brought varieties of rice Krispy treats, which I thoroughly enjoy.

My fab friend made this darling diaper tower for me.

I undid the tower at home so that my kids could join in on the action. It's loaded with diapers, rattles, onesies, blankets, booties and love!

My mom and I joked about the idea of wearing a "Blue Boy Baby Belly Bow" to the shower. I found this blue scarf and threw it on. As soon as Ryan saw it he asked if I was really going to wear that... if I thought it was a good idea. HIs tone and lack of enthusiasm made me want to wear it even more.  What was really exciting was when we found a bag that matched the belly bow.  Good Times.

10 million points to all my pals who came, made food, helped with invites, gave Norman a gift, helped with the group gift, have prayed for our family, and have been my friend.  I believe that angels record our good deeds in heaven, and last night many friends from my neighborhood and congregation got another good deed listed in their Book of Life. 

*** This post is for February 17th, 2015***