another one of my favorite people

it's been so fun to have TWO birthdays to celebrate in our little thursday group - happy birthday to my sweet friend janae! we celebrated at the cheesecake factory last night - janae's fave.with cupcake wrapped gifts, yummy food and fabulous cheesecake for dessert, it was a great night! at one point an older lady walked by her table on her way out, she had been sitting at a table near us. she leaned over and said, "you ladies are having way too much over here". luckily she was smiling and i thought, and she was right! hopefully everyone around us felt the same way?! so happy birthday to janae, and of course, here's a list of ten things i love about her! (ps i have purposely not looked at any of the other thursday girl blogs because i didn't want to be influenced by their lists! sorry if we end up with duplicates!)

1. she is a great mother to FIVE darling GIRLS! and two of them, maybe three, are alpha females and still manages to keep her head on her shoulders! amazing!

2. the girl can cook - i mean, we are spoiled rotten every time it's her turn to be in charge of thursday lunch. we steal her recipes and try to make them our own but nothing is as good as when she cooks it! 3. she can cook an entire meal from scatch and only take up three feet of counter space AND have it done in two hours. i admire this because it takes me all day and my kitchen is a disaster once i'm done!

4. janae is definitely pinkalicious and has pinkalicious skills - you should see her cakes and cupcakes, beautiful! 5. ok, i'll choose something besides a cooking one - she loves to go over the top for her girls' birthdays making it a super special day for them, right down to flowers with breakfast.

6. she is so generous and always willing to help.

7. she gets up every morning EARLY to work out even though she is not a morning person. 8. she is sensitive to other's feelings and wants everyone to be happy and goes out of her way to make this happen.

9. she could possibly be ethan's future mother in law (and that would be GREAT with me!) 10. she's a wonderful friend and i LOVE her!

happy happy birthday janae - have a great weekend!

word up!

i've been thinking and thinking about a "word of the year" choice, and of course, with that comes a lot of self reflection, which i guess is the whole point. one thing that keeps coming to mind is how easily overwhelmed i feel with life in general. i end up creating so much unnecessary noise in my life, emotionally, physically, and spiritually because i'm turning my wheels about everything i think i need to change, do, and make happen. i'm very much an "all or nothing" kind of person, and because i can't just do it all i end up sprinting to the freezer for some ice cream therapy! obviously i have some serious work in this area, all the junk in my trunk is just a symptom of this disease. i need to give myself permission to just deal with one thing at a time, remember not to sweat the small stuff and to live in the moment. so my word for this year is FOCUS. with this single word goal, i hope to remember to-

FOCUS on the task at hand, one task at a time.

FOCUS on just enjoying the moment.

FOCUS on filling my own cup before i try to fill everyone else's.

FOCUS on the choice in front of me.

FOCUS on creativity.

FOCUS on my family.

FOCUS on my relationship with my Heavenly Father.

and even though it doesn't have my actual word in the quote, i love how this quote sort of sums up what i'm trying to accomplish...

“When you chase two rabbits, both will escape."

i'm also setting a goal to blog about the different ways i try to keep my FOCUS so i can see my progress. i saw today on 2cleverblog this gorgeous handmade jewelery by pamela susan with the most reasonable prices! i immediately ordered myself a necklace with my word - i love this!

*photo courtesy of mr. goodbar

inspiration everywhere!

i am adoring the new creative blog of my cute friend kristi (pink) and her girlfriend 2cleverblog.com and decided i really needed to share all this goodness! i don't know her girlfriend (think) who does the blog with her, but i'm excited to get to know her through the blog. i am a big fan of kristi's, i really think that she is really is amazing. i have no idea how she accomplishes everything, but i'm glad that she is generous enough to share her ideas! i have been a lame photo taker of the many projects of mine that i have come from her great ideas, but so far, from being a regular reader of 2 clever, and her personal blog, i have: 1. given conference weekend kits to the ladies i visit teach with much raving and compliments. 2. i brought allie's fabulous sixth grade teacher to tears with one of kristi's wonderful 100 books last year. 3. and most recently, i sent some good mail to presidents bush and obama to thank them for their public service. i told you! inspiration everywhere! the most important thing that i've learned isn't really about cute cellophane wrapping or brightly colored ribbon. she has taught me that every day is worth celebrating, whether it be silly or sentimental, find what is good about it and celebrate it! i love this girl! the bottom line, if you haven't visited 2cleverblog - do it now! who knows how she will inspire you!

one of my favorite people

my girlfriend kristy celebrated her 39th birthday this weekend while i was under the weather. we celebrated early with a girlfriend lunch at happy sumo - which could've been MY birthday for how much i love that place! and thanks to my saintly husband for taking a half a day off of work to stay home with the sick toddler so his wife could get out of the house and save her sanity! just like any other time we get together, it was full of smiles, laughter and good times. i would be a lame friend i didn't do a birthday list for her, she ROCKS and here are ten things i love about her!

1. she is super friendly and easy to love 2. she is always willing to help - poor girl got sucked into the gift basket fundraiser TWO years in a row because of me (and her inability to say no to anyone who needs help!) 3. she cooks yummy japanese food for me.

4. she was my super early morning seat saver partner for the pioneer parade this year. this dreary job has never been so much fun! i hope we started a tradition! 5. she loves ethan and he loves her - she never seems to mind that he is always our tag along wherever we go. 6. she is very crafty even though she thinks she's not! everything she touches turns cute!

7. she is always smiling and has a great sense of humor

8. she is a good listener - when we talk on the phone it's always for a long time - i'm sure i do most of the talking!

9. she is a get 'r done girl - if it needs to be done, she just does it! i admire this so much!

10. she's one of my favorite people on the planet.

happy birthday kristy girl!

i love you!

sick of the sick

friday morning i woke up to find a toddler with a very low fever and was so happy that i started to count my chickens before they were hatched. he has still been really lethargic and only wants to lay on the couch. he's still hacking away with this terrible cough and very drippy nose but at least the fever has gone down - we'll take it. the saddest thing you've ever heard though is his sweet little voice all horse and scratchy.

then about half way through the morning i could feel the first little tingles of a cough in the back of my throat and kept saying to myself, "i will NOT get sick, i am NOT getting sick, i don't have TIME to get sick, uh-uh, no way, absolutely NOT, no sir." then spencer called from school and needed to be picked up because he is was sick. this morning my "stay well mantre" was quashed by my sinus headache which i haven't been able to shake all day. so can i just ask WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON HERE!? we just don't get sick very often and i guess that's a good thing because i'm just not patient enough to deal with it long term like this. i'm officially sick of the sick. bleh.

fresh air

for me, the inauguration was not about politics. it was not about red states or blue states, right wing or left, or even who won and who lost. it was especially not about black or white. for me, this new president means a new beginning, excitement, youthfulness, and a big breath of fresh air. i felt all of these things during president obama's speech, especially the breath of fresh air part.

i thought his speech was fantastic, i appreciated so many so many of the things he said. but i especially glad to hear his remarks about coming together as a nation and the idea that we can pull ourselves out of these hard times with work, sacrifice and service. i believe this whole heartedly and feel like this message has been lost a little bit in this country. i almost jumped up and shouted amen! when he said that it wasn't just the "big wigs" fault that our economy is such a mess. it's also because people weren't willing to make the hard choices - as in not over-extending ourselves with purchases that we can't afford - what a concept! and that it will not be by government alone that things get better. each american is responsible for doing their part, working hard, nurturing the children, improving our schools and serving in our community. - all things that are near and dear to my heart. in other words, he doesn't have a magic wand people, we all have a part to do.

while the election had nothing to do with skin color, at least for me, it was such a tender thing to see and even feel the last of the racial divide in this country finally closing up. to hear him say that even sixty years ago his father wouldn't have been served in a restaurant. i'm so proud of my parents and so many others who taught their kids that people are just people, we all bleed the same. i think they played a big role in closing this divide so quickly.

i'm inspired by the hope that he seems to have been able to inject into this country, and if nothing else, that is a very good thing. and i hope he's right that after we're done here and it's time to hand over the reigns, that we are able to take pride in delivering a safe, free country to our children. that is something, we can all hope for, no matter which way your vote went.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

helpless

there is nothing worse than when your kids are sick. it's just such a helpless feeling, especially for a mom, whose job is to make everyone feel better. poor little ethan has been hit by a nasty cold and cough bug AND the flu bug and is just so miserable. we are going on our sixth day of really high fevers, drippy nose, weepy eyes, no sleep and a limp toddler who just wants to be held around the clock. it's breaking my heart! and i'll be honest, i'm feeling a little stir crazy, i'm sure ethan is too. and i think i could live without ever watching another episode of "little einsteins" again and die a happy woman. the bad news is that our pediatrician said the flu strain this year is about 10-14 days! what the? the good news? it's not the "throwing up" kind of flu, and, we're not in the hospital, so we'll take it and just count ourselves lucky. poor little guy.

a reason to celebrate

we had a good reason to get up extra early this morning to meet as a family at the breakfast table. there were balloons and a banner, yummy breakfast, eclairs, gifts and even a goofy hat from a friend waiting for someone special...

happy birthday spencer michael!spencer turns TWELVE today and believe me, no one is more shocked by this than me. really, when did this happen? i really hope that i can pay closer attention to the next twelve years since the first twelve seemed to have been snatched from me so quickly. spencer has been looking forward to his brithday because it means a whole bunch of new and great things: decon's chorum and wednesday night mutual, camp outs with the "big scouts", and passing the sacrament. but especially, leaving primary. i've never known a kid so happy to graduate out of singing time! we are lucky to have spencer in our family, he makes us laugh - a lot, and we wouldn't be the same without him! as per tradition - here are ten things i love about spencer...

1. he is taylor's best friend, and taylor is his. i think it's so great that brothers can be such great friends.2. he is as stubborn as a mule! (yes i love this about him - mostly)

3. he finally fulfilled his life-long dream of playing the violin this summer - and we still have our ear drums!

4. spencer loves the winter time and especially the snow. he takes off at least once a week with friends to go to the local park for hours of sledding time.

5. it took a long time, but spencer finally caught the reading bug. he has been really into the fablehaven and charlie bone series this year. it's so fun to catch him reading on the couch without being forced to sit there and do his "twenty minutes".

6. he was born with a hollow leg that never seems to fill up. at least, that's the only explaination i have for where he puts all the food that he eats. spencer is tank, always eating, i can't keep him fed enough!

7. he's not afraid to march to the beat of his own drum. he gets a lot of flack from kids at school, and his family about his long hair, but he likes it, and to him, that's what counts.

8. when it's time for chores, he is a super-hard worker.

9. he loves to sing and is always at least humming some kind of tune. and he might not know the lyrics to a song, but that doesn't stop him from singing it anyway. :)

10. he loves to spend time with the family, but we all know that ethan is his favorite.

happy birthday spencer!

we love you!

the best of both worlds - this is not a hannah montana post

today ethan found a ring pop somewhere in the house - probably allie's "secret stash". his reaction when i opened the candy gem was, "ooooo" which totally cracked me up! later he came into the office where i was working and said, "look mom, a candy binky", which is great for him since it meant the merging his of his two favorite things. he must have decided that he can't live without the real binky though because later he appeared with both "binkies" in his mouth at the same time. i think that's called having your cake and eating it too?

land of the living

i love getting into the hot hot shower after days of being sick and staying in the same stinky clothes and scrubbing every last little bit of flu memory from my skin. i finally did that today, somewhere around 2pm when i decided it was time to re-join the land of the living. it felt so good to blow dry my clean hair and put some make up on. spencer's birthday is tomorrow so i ran a few errands to get ready for his birthday breakfast and it felt so good to be out in the fresh air! i even went to book club tonight, which i love - why have i never blogged about book club? next month. my stomach even feels pretty good after being served a super yummy but very rich treat, so life is good. i love being well, and some times it takes being sick to appreciate your health!

side note: it's after midnight and so i'm not looking as "fresh" in this photo as i feel. also, the flash is not my friend. i hate using a flash, but i missed my opportunity to take a self portait in day light today, so for now it has to do.

kidney bean shaped invaders

last night i was all excited to be so pepared to teach my first week of the CTR 5 class. i felt like a high schooler all ready to turn in a big project that i knew was great. you know this feeling? then, somewhere around midnight, it all went wrong. wrong as in sitting on the potty with the garbage can because you can't predict which end will blow first. sorry, there just wasn't a better way to say it. sleeping with the heating pad to try and get warm, shivering so hard you begin to wonder if it's really possible for your teeth to shatter. then you close your eye lids over your burning hot eyeballs and think - dang, the one year i miss the stupid flu shot!

needless to say, i didn't teach my class today. i had to call the primary president and bail on my very first day. i was so embarrassed - i promised her a hundred times on the phone that i really AM dependable, and really, i hardly ever get sick. she was of course fine with it, but still. hopefully i can generate the same kind of excitement for myself next week.

as a side note: i was really pleased to find this image of the influenza virus during a google search. pleased because, it shows exactly how i'm picturing my insides right now. all green and gross with little kidney bean shaped invaders swimming around. ok, i'm going back to bed now.

sunbeams vs. mama's boy

ethan made the big jump today from the church nursery to his sunbeam class. he is so young still, he only turned three in november and is still in diapers. i think kids should graduate into primary just like the twelve year olds graduate out, but whatever. if any of the general authorities call me wanting my opinion, there it is. because he is such a nervous nellie about being left anywhere, i knew this would be a hard adjustment for him, and i was right. i sat with him in opening exercises until it was time to start then left. it didn't last long. he was already crying and running down the isle to catch me and i'd only just gotten to the door. the boy has no shame in being a mama's boy that's for sure.

so, with the threat of loosing a finger to ethan's death grip, i attended sunbeams today too, which was fine, we had a lot of fun actually, and i think he even liked it well enough to do a little better next week. during class i had the "jesus wants me for a sunbeam" song in my head, only i kept changing the words a little so it went something like, "jesus wants me - and my mom - to be sunbeams".

chivalry please

on my way out of the church building this afternoon i almost had a near death experience. really. it's totally true. our parking lot was one big sheet of ice and in order to get to my car, i had to cross it. i had only made it about a third of the way with every step requiring the flailing arms of a high wire act in order to stay verticle. upon arriving at a section of ice that was completely hopeless, i stood still for a moment thinking to myself, "i am going to fall in front of all these people and break my neck. i hope when i'm dead someone will pull my skirt down and move me out of the middle of traffic." just then, a very nice gentleman appeard out of no where (how did he get to me so fast and why weren't his arms flailing?!) and said to me, "it looks like maybe you could use an arm", as he offered his elbow as a life line.

at this point, i wish i could tell you that i held on to his elbow with only three fingers all scarlet o'hara kind of lady-like. but i can't, because it would be a lie. i grabbed on to his elbow with both hands and held on for dear life. i did laugh though, the kind of nervous giggle that says "i feel like an idiot". he ended up walking me all the way to car and even opened my door for me, asked how my family was doing, and then wished me a nice afternoon. i of course thanked him for helping me get across the ice without breaking my neck, i was so grateful.

so i'm going to make a batch of cookies for him tomorrow to really say thank you, but i wanted to say on this blog, for the public, that chivalry is not dead and i for one, am grateful.

the mystery tenor

during a hymn at church today i found myself really enjoying the beautiful tenor voice of the dad sitting in the row behind me. i love sitting in front of people who can really sing because they help me stay in-tune and i end up enjoying the song even more. it wasn't until about the third song that i realized the people behind us didn't have a dad sitting with them. the lovely singing was coming from taylor, you know, the teenager who lives at my house? i forget sometimes that his voice has changed a lot in the last few months. sometimes i don't even recognize him when he answers the phone. i'm thinking, "who's this guy answering my phone?" and then i remember that he's sounding more like a man. the realization that the beautiful music was taylor was a little startling. but, i purposely moved past the saddness of how fast he's growing up and moved right into feeling so pleased about what a great young man, and singer, he has become. oh man i love this kid.

buenos dias!

it stunk big time to set an alarm last night. we moved to 9am church today, which, by the way, i think is cruel and unsual, but that's a soap box for another time. the point is, i haven't set an alarm for two weeks - TWO weeks! and it's been glorious. i have been relishing every minute of our two week break from school, homework, dance, piano, guitar, violin, scouts, mutual, blah blah blah. the best part is that rich has even been home from work so we've been hanging out in our pjs a lot. just enjoying board games and movies and a lot of competative wii time. we've also been very productive on a couple of house projects because nothing else is pressing for our time.

so this morning, when the alarm went off before the sun was up, i'll be honest, i felt a little ripped off. i shouldn't have to wake up early on the last day of my vacation right? to add to the confusion, the alarm was somehow set on a spanish station and for a few minutes i was dreaming about eating lunch at bajio. it's not a good thing to wake up thinking about yummy food on fast sunday.

so, the days of getting an extra hour of sleep in the morning, cleaning closests, getting caught up on the laundry, lounging in pjs and having no schedule what-so-ever are over. tomorrow morning i'll officially be back in the saddle again. and even though having a routine will feel kind of nice, i'm sure i'll be dragging my feet the whole way. especially when i send rich out the door to work and ethan looks at me as if to say, "where did everybody go?"

2008 round up

loved having participated in this little questionaire last year as a sort of yearly re-cap and was reminded of it when reading lelly's blog. some of the questions are a little superficial but entertaining, and most of them could be answered with some sort of relation to my weight but i resisted the urge to talk too much about my bottom. so here i go....again.

1. what did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before? i was girl's camp director! i have helped with girls camp before, but i've never been in charge. i did it! and it was great!

2. did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? i never make new year's resolutions but i do set goals all year long. i did finish some of the house projects that i wanted to get done, but i didn't get any skinnier.

3. did anyone close to you give birth? yup. cutie little coley boy was born!

4. did anyone close to you die? steve brown, a close friend of the moores and the man who married rich and i, died unexpectedly of a heart-attack on the first day of school. and dan pickett, our neighbor from the old cul-de-sac died in november of cancer. both men were way too young and left behind young families. i am still having a hard time making sense of any of it.

5. what countries did you visit? does la-la land count?

6. what would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? serious yoga skills

7. what dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory? november 4th, election day. which ever way you voted, our first black president is big deal for our country. and, september 12th, my best birthday ever!

8. what was your biggest achievement of the year? i've learned to say NO more often.

9. what was your biggest failure? i really wanted to get the kitchen cabinets painted but it never happened. soon...

10. did you suffer illness or injury? no, thank goodness, but i feel like maybe i just jixed myself just by typing that.

11. what was the best thing you bought this year? the fiestaware dishes that i have been coveting for years but could never justify financially.eighty percent off was just too good to say no! and...i finally bought a vera bradley bag!

12. whose behavior merited celebration? each of my kids this year have given me reason to celebrate - i'm so proud of them all for different accompliments.

13. whose behavior appalled you? i don't know about "appalled", but i don't understand people who choose not to vote.

14. where did most of your money go? our house, always the house.

15. what did you get really, really, really excited about? it was fun knowing ethan was going to meet buzz and woody and how cool that would be for him - and it was!

16. what song will always remind you of 2008? anything from david cook and david archuletta

17. compared to this time last year, are you a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? a) i'm struggling a little more this year with depression so i guess sadder but in general i'm a happier more focused person, b) saddly, a little fatter, and c) probably a little poorer. hmmm, this question is kind of depressing!

18. what do you wish you'd done more of? laying on the beach

19. what do you wish you'd done less of? laundry

20. did you fall in love in 2008? sure, lots of times for reasons both sentimental... ...and superficial.

21. what was your favorite tv program? chuck, myth busters and american idol. these are also the only three shows we ever watch.

22. do you hate anyone now that you didn't last year? yikes, hate is such a strong word, i can't really think of anyone that i hate. i hope i never do.

23. what was the best book you read? pillars of the earth. but. it's shamefully inappropriate, so if you choose to read it, your recommendation did NOT come from me!

24. what was your greatest musical discovery? really, i was blown away by david cook this year on AI, he was just so original, i found myself looking forward to seeing what he was going to do each week. although i really thought there was a lot of great talent this year, i'm really glad DC won, i thought he really deserved it.

25. what did you want and get? a year of health and employment and progress.

26. what did you want and not get? hard wood floors - hopefully this year.

27. what was your favorite film of this year? mama mia - especially because of the memories associated with it. plus, it's just so fun to sing along with, except pierce brosnan - what the heck is that about?

28. what did you do on your birthday and how old are you? my 34th birthday this year was probably the funnest of my whole life so far. my closest girlfriends spoiled me rotten with take out lunch, my favorite dessert - sour cream lemon pie from marie callendars - tons of new fiestaware to add to my new collection, vera bradley goodness and even table decorations and daisy wrapping paper! i felt like a million dollars and the luckiest girl in the world! later than night, rich surprised me by coming home from work (which he never did during the fall because of horrible game deadlines) and took me out to dinner - it was the best day!

29. what one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? i want to say maybe daily massages but the real answer is spending more time on my knees.

30. how would describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? basically, if it fits and doesn't look like a moo-moo, i'm wearing it. and on this subject, i have a few questions for the fashion designers of the world. one - why if i'm fat does this also mean i must be very tall? can i get some fat short people clothes. and two - can i get some cute fat clothes? i mean, just because i'm fat doesn't mean i want to dress like a freak! sorry, i'm off my soap box now.

31. what kept you sane? friends, theraputic thursdays, play group time to gab with my cute sister in laws, supportive family and creativity.

Happy 2009!