Buckle up!

So yesterday we had a preschool fieldtrip to the fire station. The fireman was explaining safety to the kids and was talking about the importance of wearing a seat belt. Brooklyn raised her hand and said "Sometimes my mom doesn't make me wear my seat belt". The fireman then said "Who's your mommy? You tell her that you need to always wear your seat belt". I was so embarrassed! True, I don't always buckle my kids up if I'm driving around the neighborhood but it looks like I need to or Brooklyn is going to get me in trouble!

Turning 30...

I'm officially 30 now! I have mixed feelings about turning 30 but I'm also excited to see what this new decade brings for me and my family. It's not that I feel "old", will kinda I guess. But so many great things happened in my twenties, here are a few of my most memorable experiences in my twenties...

AGE 21:

• I got to spend an entire summer in England with some of my good friends. We all got jobs on a airforce base in Harrogate, England. I worked at the "Shopette", it was a small grocery/video store. Then the last month we were there, we backpacked all over Europe visiting: Dublin, London, Paris, Cannes, Florence, Rome, Venice, Vienna and Prague. I got to see some of the most beautiful places in the world, this is an experience I'll never forget.

AGE 23:

• Met and married Rich, best decision of my life.

AGE 25:

• We built and moved into our home this year, I was 8 months pregnant when we moved into our home in Saratoga Hills. We love this area and have great friends here.
• Brooklyn was born. Words cant even describe the feelings you have when you give birth, I was so excited to be a mom.

AGE 26

• Weston was born, I was thrilled to have a boy!
  

AGE 28:

• Rich graduated with his Bachelors degree, exciting day for both of us. He went to school in the evenings and worked during the day. He worked very hard while working towards his degree.

AGE 29:

• Blake was born, I was so excited for Weston to have a brother close in age.
• This was also the year that Rich decided to make a huge career change and go back to school and work towards a career in the medical field. Huge changes this past year, but they've been great and I cant wait to see what the future brings.
• Running a marathon. I learned a lot while training for this race. I learned that I can do anything if I set my mind to it. I am just an average person who was wanted to see how hard I could push myself. I learned that you don't need to be an athlete to run a marathon(because I am far from it!), anyone can run 26.2 miles if they want it bad enough.

AGE 30 so far... So yesterday I woke up and Rich made me breakfast in bed and then went off to school. It was a very good breakfast! I took Brooklyn to get her kindergarten shots, then I had activity days later in the afternoon. In between all of that I got phone calls and emails from friends and family wishing me a happy birthday. I had a few friends drop by with treats and cards. Thanks everyone. I have one friend in particular that I have to thank for not going to overboard on my birthday this year. You know who you are (Crystal)! Last year she took me snowboarding at Park City and out to dinner, which was so thoughtful and nice. It really was a FUN day, but I felt bad she spent so much on me. This year she called the night before my birthday and was stressed about what to get me, I told her not to worry about a gift but I knew that would be impossible for her to do, so she went against my wishes and brought me over balloons and a big balloon filled with gifts and treats. I still feel like she did too much, but I do think she scaled back a bit from my last birthday. So thanks Crystal. When Rich got home late last night from school I was already asleep, and when I woke up he was gone for school. I went into the kitchen to get some breakfast and saw he had bought me a new cake stand and it had a sweet love note in it. I had broken my cake stand that we got as a wedding gift a few months ago and I almost cried when it broke partly because it was sentimental and I used that cake stand almost everyday. So it was sweet of Rich to get that for me.

So, it was a great birthday. I usually don't enjoy the attention when it's my birthday, but since this is a BIG birthday for me I thought it was worth blogging about.

I made Rich's favorite chocolate cake today and put it in my new cake stand. If anyone is looking for a great chocolate cake recipe, let me know and I'll post it. This is Amy Wards recipe, it's REALLY good and easy to make!

You gotta love Albertsons!

5 pack Kraft Mac & Cheese

3 boxes of Cereal
7 cans of Progresso Soup
2 Chex Mixes
7 boxes of Nature Valley Sweet&Salty Granola Bars
3 Campbells soup at hand
5 boxes of muffin mix
5 boxes of cake mixes
2 brownie mixes
1 Pot Roast
I paid: $43.95
I saved $47.47 with my preferred savings card
Coupons $30.00
Total savings: $77.47
They are having a great sale at Albertsons right now it's called the 10 for 10 sale. When you buy 10 sale items then you get a 10 dollar credit toward your bill. You can mix and match the items which is nice. I bought 30 of these sale items and that's how I got a $30.00 credit towards my bill. I went to the Albertsons in Lehi, all of the sale items were at the front of the store when you walk in.

Day with Grandma...

Rich's mom took my kids to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy yesterday. My kids had a blast and loved all the different fish they saw. Weston thought the sharks were scary and Brooklyn loved all of the tropical fish.

Weston getting a closer look at the octopuses.

My brother in law Broc petting the sting rays.(Yep, my kids have a uncle that's 8!)

After we saw all the fish, grandma took the kids to Mcdonalds for lunch and to play at the funhouse. My kids got very spoiled yesterday! Thanks Renae!

Our Valentine Weekend...

Our Valentine meal... heart pizza, strawberry jello, cherry cheesecake and sugar cookies. Not the healthiest meal, but it was good! We don't usually have two desserts but the kids wanted cookies I wanted a cheesecake. So we did both, Rich was working all weekend so I figured if I couldn't spend Valentines with my husband then the second best thing is having my favorite dessert!

We even threw some cheese on our pizza, we usually keep it off because it makes Rich sick. The kids loved it!

I've never been able to get Weston to try pizza, he's a super picky eater. I think he ate it because the pizza was in the shape of a heart, maybe we'll be having heart pizza's more often.

Blake will eat everything, it amazes me how much the kid can eat! He's turning into a little chunk!

Paula Deen's #1 fan...

Brooklyn has been obsessed with the Paula Deen show lately. It's pretty cute. When she first started watching the show with me she would ask me if she could watch the lady with the white hair. She calls Paula a "good cooker". She also likes to watch Barefoot Contesa and Throwdown with Bobby Flay. But Paula's show is her favorite. I think it's because Paula likes to laugh and have a good time when she's in the kitchen. I think that's why I love to watch her cook too. She's hilarious to watch, and I love her southern accent. Sometimes, Brooklyn will ask to watch Paula's show over a cartoon! She's a funny girl, maybe I have future chef in my house. I cant figure out how to rotate the video the right way, does anyone know how?

Enjoying each day...

The other day I went into Blake's room to wake him up from his nap so he would sleep well during the night. (I just realized he's still in his pajamas in this picture, must have been one of those days.) Before I woke him up I was staring at him and thinking what a sweet boy I have and how did he grow up so fast! It made me think about a talk that was given last conference about enjoying each day and moment, and that someday we will look back and even miss the sticky finger prints on our walls. I really think that talk was meant for me. I have learned it's ok to throw out the to-do list sometimes. The laundry will always be waiting for me, the kitchen floor may be sticky and gross, my carpet will most likely have ground up cereal in it. Before I heard that talk I was feeling so overwhelmed with each day, I felt like I could never stay on top of everything. I couldn't keep my home clean the way I would like it to be and be a good mom. It was hard to find a good balance. I knew I needed to relax about my to-do lists and focus more on the time I spent with my kids. As I've tried to do this, I've realized how fun it is to just sit back and watch my kids during the day. Kids really do say the funniest things and I am glad that I've finally realized that I cant be this supermom that's I've been trying to be, and that what my kids really want is just time with me.

Sweets Factory

We went to the Sweets Factory in Salt Lake with Brooklyn's preschool group this week. It was a lot of fun, it was a 40 minute tour of their factory. We were all lucky enough to wear the lovely hairnets, it reminded me of working in the school cafeteria in junior high. So embarrassing! I thought the tour was really neat, it was interesting to see the whole process of how candy is made and packaged we even got some free candy a long the way. We couldn't take pictures inside the factory, so we just took a couple of pictures at the candy store in the lobby. I'd have to say that the purple gumdrops were my favorite, I usually hate gumdrops but these were sooo chewy and soft, I loved it! I knew that walking through a factory full of candy at hands reach would be a hard temptation for Weston to resist so I brought along his bear leash. It's funny because sometimes I get glares from strangers that I'm treating my child like an animal, and other times I get moms coming up to me asking where I got it. I figure if his bear leash makes my life easier and if it keeps him from getting lost or running off getting into trouble then it's a great thing to have. Weston thinks it's cool too, he pretends it's Diego's rescue pack!
My kids were on a SUGAR RUSH the rest of the day because they ate way to much CANDY, but they had a great time and a fun memory was made.

Draper Temple Open House

We went to the Draper Temple Open House today, we watched a short movie about temples at a chapel near by then we were bused up to the temple. Brooklyn has always wanted to ride a big bus like this, anytime she sees a school bus or a big greyhound bus she gets so excited. She thinks once she turns 5 and starts school this year that she gets to ride a bus to school, I keep telling her school is just down the street so she wont ride a bus, but she really doesn't believe me. She's going to be very disappointed.

Blake looks like a little fat man in this suit, his button is about to burst. He was a pretty good boy during the tour.

Weston thought the bus was "AWESOME!", but he thinks everything is. He did think the temple was pretty but his favorite part of the trip was the free cookies at the end of the tour.

You cant really see us in this picture but you can see how beautiful the temple is. The celestial room in this temple was probably one of the prettiest celestial rooms I've ever seen. The Los Angeles temple's celestial room has always been one of my favorites, it's really beautiful but now I have another favorite. The chandelier in the celestial room is absolutely breathtaking, Brooklyn kept saying how "sparkling" it was! This was a really neat experience to go inside the temple together as a family, I'm so grateful for temples and for the feeling of peace I have when I go. We really are blessed to live in a area surrounded by temples.

My Picky Eater...

Dinnertime with Weston is a struggle every night! Tonight was a good night for him. His pediatrician has always told me to never cook special meals just for him, he should eat what I fix for the whole family. Easier said then done!! I have to admit I'm not always consistent with trying to get him to eat dinner, it can be very exhausting and it can ruin dinner time for the whole family. He will literally sit at the table for hours just staring at his food crying! All I really ask of him is to eat two bites! That's it!! Sometimes it's easier to just give him what he wants which is either a bowl of cereal or a peanut butter sandwich. So one of my new year resolutions this year is to be consistent with dinnertime, if he doesn't want to eat dinner then he'll have to go to bed hungry and wait until breakfast to eat. His doctor said he wont starve missing a meal, it's just kinda sad when he keeps saying how hungry he is. I really hope I can follow through with this and not give in!

Oh man... chicken is yucky!

Aahh, do I have to??

Please mom don't make me!!

I'm not so sure about this??

Yeah! I did it!! And it tasted pretty good...

I think I'll have another bite.

Look who's turning 1!

Blake is turning one tomorrow, and I cant believe how fast this year went by. It seriously feels like I just brought him home from the hospital, but as you can see he's not a little baby anymore! Rich's grandparents were having a new years party, so we had a little party for him at their house. I love the newborn stage, but I really love the age he's at now. He's walking now and has really discovered his voice. It's been fun to watch him interact more with Brooklyn and Weston, he likes to get in on the wrestling matches they have. He's been been a joy to have in our family. Happy Birthday Blake!

Building a Snowman...

Rich helped the kids build a snowman last week. Here is the finished result, our snowman has a camo hat, a lava lava on, my red scarf and orange construction paint for his eyes and mouth. Rich and the kids were very creative!
Brooklyn and Weston are very proud of their snowman, I think I'm going to have two very sad kids when their snowman melts away.

Christmas Day

We had a really great Christmas this year, it seems like it gets better every year as our kids get older. Rich raced home from work on Christmas morning, because he knew the kids were waiting to open up presents. I kept our kids trapped in our bedroom with a movie until he made it home. Brooklyn's favorite gift was a pack of craft beads that you make using patterns. It was only $6.00, so you cant beat that! She has already spent hours making designs and having me iron them out. Weston loves his Diego aquadoodle and a set of Lincoln Logs. I was really excited about my purchase on the Lincoln Logs, they normally cost $24.99 but Shopco had them on sale for $9.99 but were sold out, so I priced-matched at Walmart, and they matched that price. You gotta love Walmart! (I have to thank Cami for teaching me how to price-match!) Blake had fun just playing with the wrapping paper, but he did seem to like the couple of toys we got him. I was also excited for Christmas morning to come because my sister Kelly had a ultrasound on Christmas Eve to find out the sex of the their baby. They had the ultrasound technician write down the sex of the baby on a piece of paper so they could open it on Christmas morning. They found out they were having a boy! My sister has 3 girls and one boy, so now my nephew Mason will have a brother.

Hope everyone had a good Christmas, I am already looking forward to the new year and what it brings.

Christmas Eve Party

We had our Christmas Eve party at Grandma Stowes house. The kids got to dress up as Uncle Lamar read the nativity story. Brooklyn was pretty lucky to be able to be Mary. Then we played some games and the kids got to open up one Christmas present. Later on we sang some Christmas songs, then Santa showed up! I love to see my kids faces light up everytime they Santa. They've seen him 4 times this month, but they get excited everytime! Rich was planning on coming with us to the Christmas Eve party, because he was scheduled to go into work at 11:00pm, but he got called in early. He was missed by everyone, especially me!

Last couple of days in Peru...

Rich spent the last couple of days deep in the jungle working in a clinic. It looks like they gave the students some time to have fun. Rich is on his way home now, and will be home tomorrow afternoon!

Here he is trying to be Indiana Jones

This must be where they slept or maybe it's the clinic

Fishing trip...

I might have to frame this picture of Rich wearing flip flops, he absolutely hates flip flops! He hates it when I wear them, and I've never seen him wear a pair. But he was told to bring a pair for his trip. Maybe he's coming home a changed man, and it wont drive him nuts when I wear them. He does look pretty relaxed laying here in the hammock.