The Boy's Birthday Bash

 The boy had a birthday over the weekend.  We had a blast celebrating him!

Every once in a while I pull something awesome out of my head:

The boy's first birthday surprise:  a balloon shower.

We had French toast for breakfast, one of his faves:

And then, since his birthday was on a Saturday, we started the day by opening presents, so he could play with them all weekend long.  And, he did.

 That is a Wii U game.  Our family has finally joined the video gamers throng (we are very entry level gamers - we have no idea what we are doing).  The boy was thrilled, but we all enjoyed the morning playing games in our pajamas.

We went to see the new Lego Batman movie (it was good, but not as good as the Lego Movie, in my opinion).

 And then to Chuck A Rama.

On Sunday, we had our traditional "fancy" Valentine's dinner.  Nick was doing a balsamic reduction and the kids thought that was the grossest smell they've ever smelled.  I told the kids that if they didn't like it they could go outside.  The kids had other ideas.  Their solution: 

 Ha ha!  Kids are so funny!

Everett was told that if we did Chuck A Rama for his birthday dinner, he'd have to do birthday cake the next day.  He was cool with that:

 Isn't his cake awesome?  That came out of his head, he's been telling me about it for weeks now.  He wanted a Lego guy falling down a waterfall.  :)  He wanted to put his jet on it as well, but it was too big, so he made a tower for it.  I LOVE this kid.  I'm so glad we have him.

Our "fancy" dinner this year:

 Yummy steak dinner/barbecued chicken with homemade pretzel rolls and cheesy/veggie spread (with the offending balsamic reduction).  And bubbly.  That makes any meal fancy.  It was all delicious.

My girls dressed up for the event:

 They make me smile.  :)

And then, we had cake and ice cream:

Have I already mentioned how much I love this kid?  We have a lot of girl stuff going on here, so I'm so glad to have this boy in the middle of it all.  He's not really into sports, which is super fine with us.  He IS into building and being creative and using that awesome brain of his.  I can just see the wheels turning.  He gets so excited about something, and jumps right in, whether that's drawing, folding origami, or building with Legos, K'nex, or Zoobs.  He is happy and just plain fun to be around.  Plus, he still likes mom snuggles.  And, he asks to be tickled.  Cool kid.

I took my two winter birthdays to take photos.  Yep, you wanna see:

Crazy

 My cute girlie-os:

They are (usually) the best of buds and (usually) play so well together!  I love having them be my buddies.

We had such nice weather over the weekend, I sent my kids outside to play.  Hurray for warm sunshine after a few snowy, cold, gucky air weeks!

On Sunday afternoon all 4 of my girls got their dolls out and were playing nicely together.  Love those moments!

 I know (boy, do I know - and I'm sure this is only the beginning) that girls can be drama-full, but it sure is fun to have a house full of girls.

Today was crazy hair day at school:

Fun times!  Bonus, they were all really excited to get out of bed for school this morning.  :)

The Past

I am a journal writer.  I've kept a consistent journal since I was in my teen years.  It provides hours of entertainment (and embarrassment) when I go back and reread.  Lately, I've been typing my hand-written journals, and specifically the time period of when Nick and I were dating/engaged/newlyweds.  Wow!  What a ride it has been for me to go back and relive that period of my life.  Here are some thoughts I've had:

*Love is a choice.  When I first met Nick, I was impressed with him but there was never a moment where I was "knocked off my feet".  I knew there was dual interest there, but I had to make a conscious choice to make getting to know him a priority.  I am eternally grateful I did!  He is the best choice I ever made.  It was so fun to reread our love story.  It was an exciting time for sure!  I'll call that 'exciting love'.  Now, we have 'familiar love'.  Exciting love is fun and all, but I think I'd prefer the familiar kind.  :)  I certainly have fallen just a little bit more in love with him every day.  He's proved that love over and over (and over and over) again.

*Relationships change.  I had a lot of close friends and spent a lot of time with them back in the day.  I was surprised at just how much time I spent with friends, because now it seems so sparse - I can go an entire week without really speaking with another adult.  I'm grateful that those close friends then are mostly still close friends today, but a good portion of them have drifted out of my life.  I'm so grateful that they came into my life and made a difference to me.  Also, family relationships change.  Back in my single/newly married days I spent a LOT of time with parents, brothers and sisters and their children.  Between Nick and I's families, we were with family several times a week.  That seems crazy now.  I mean, we still enjoy time with family, but we've got our own busy household to run and those relationships have taken backstage to what is going on between the 7 of us.  As I was reading, I kept thinking just how grateful I am for the people in my life who have helped me become who I am today.

*Kids change everything.  I don't want to sound like a downer here, but I used to have freedom.  I could go and do as I pleased with no one to report to.  I used to have an identity all my own.  And now... yep, not really my own person any more.  I wrote in my journal shortly after Ellie was born how frustrated I was that I couldn't just go work outside alongside Nick because I now had a newborn to care for and couldn't just leave.  I wrote, "I suppose that is the sacrifice of motherhood."  Ha!  I wanted to go back and tell the 'me' 11 years ago, "Just wait!  You have no idea!"  Now, all that said, I wouldn't rather be ANYWHERE ELSE.  Being a wife and mother has always been my dream, and I am so grateful to be living it.  But I had no idea that it would also create loneliness, frustration, self-doubt, never-ending mess, self-deprecation, not to mention a loss of brain cells.  It is a sacrifice well worth making.  Kids have also brought more love and depth to my life and have certainly helped me become a better version of myself.  Motherhood forces me to face, everyday, the choice to step it up and be better.

*Heavenly Father is in charge.  It is interesting to go back and look through my life through the lens of perspective.  What was challenging and frustrating to me then has worked it's way out and doesn't even seem to be worth fretting about now.  Also, we do not understand the Lord's timing.  Back then, there was a problem that I was concerned about and prayed and prayed to know what to do.  The answer never seemed clear and kept being put off.  Months went by.  Still praying and confusion.  Then, one day I went to the temple and the answer came to me clear as day.  Why not months previous?  I don't know, except that I strongly suspect that I had some things to learn during that time.  The Lord knows us very well.  Looking back, I can see His timing and guidance for Nick and I to meet and marry.  I have no doubt He has a very specific plan for me.

If you read through all of that, you deserve a gold star.  I'm so grateful for my journals.  They prove to me that I am, indeed, day by day, making progress in this life.

A photo of Nick and I, in the midst of 'exciting love':

Some things never change. ;)

Winter Wonderland

 I love it when kids work together:

They almost made it to the ceiling!

And yes, that is laundry all over the floor.  It's clean, at least.  This is my messy life and I love it, come on in!  And no, my little girls never get out of their nightgowns.  I could fight it.  I could.  But why?

We've had a LOT of snow in the last week or so, and the kids (and I, if I don't have to drive in it) have been loving it:

A highlight of our weekend was our Butternut Ravioli-making party with our good friends, the Bs.

 I didn't keep track of how many we made, but it was enough to fill up 3 gallon sized freezer bags.  Fun time!

Of course, we had to end our party with a delicious homemade pasta dinner!  It was a hit!

That's our kind of party.

Ellie's Day

 My baby #1 had a birthday last week!  She is now 11!  My, I know it's cliche, but these kids grow so darn fast!

Birthday pancakes:

Ellie has the sweetest friends.  They threw her a little surprise party.

Ellie and her Grandpa share a birthday.  Her Grandpa is her favorite person, so she thinks that is about the coolest thing ever.  We got to take them both out for dinner:

She wanted ice cream, no cake.  Brownies were acceptable, so brownie sundaes it is!

This present got a fun reaction:

 Everett had serious pouty lip because he was jealous of all that money.

 What's in the box?  It's a soft velvety blanket.  She loves soft things.

Our Ellie Belle is such a blessing in our family!  She is so helpful and responsible.  She usually only has to be asked once to do a job (love that!) and is really good at getting her after school work done.  She is not a kid anymore.  She wants to be in the know.  (In fact, we were visiting G&G the other day and Grandma says that Ellie came and sat in her room and was chatting with her.  Grandma was telling me how much she enjoyed it and asked if I had told Ellie to do it.  Nope, that's all her!)  She enjoys being creative and says she wants to be an artist when she grows up.  She loves spending time with grandparents and cousins.  She loves all things soft and babies.  We are so glad to have her!  We are proud of the young lady she is becoming!

Christmas

 Welcome to 2017!  Christmas break has been so nice.  My alarm clock was not so nice this morning.  This year, I especially missed the cabin.  :(  This was the last time we were there.  One of those things you take for granted and then one day, it's gone.  Oh well.  I'm just going to have to buy my own cabin.  :)

Anyway.  Clear back before Christmas we took the kids to Temple Square:

And decorated cookies:

 Are you super impressed with her bedhead?  I am.  This girl gets home and changes right back into pjs.  Not that I blame her.  This particular day, she had just woken up from a nap.

We had fun going to the kid's school programs.  Lu was so confident:

On Christmas Eve we enjoyed our afternoon with Nick's family:

Funny girl.  Perfect expression.

We had homemade tamales for dinner on Christmas Eve, as in Nick made them.  They were so yummy.  And not as difficult and time consuming as we had guessed.  That means we'll be making those more often.  Did I mention they were yummy?  Like, the best I have ever had.  Mmmmm.

Excited about their Grammy jammies, ready to go to bed!

Christmas morning was wonderful.  We loved having Uncle Nate with us again.  Here's some of my favorite photos from the morning:

 Yep.  Ukulele rockstars right there.

 She got her nail polish.  :)

 Uncle Nate is a more patient teacher than I.

We enjoyed our Christmas Sabbath attending church and then just chillin' at home.  The one day of the year that we snuggle in and just enjoy each other and new toys.

During the week we went to Grandma's and played in the snow with cousins: 

We did other fun things also, going to movies, going out to eat, taking kids out for one-on-ones, playing games, doing puzzles, reading, you know, the important stuff.  A highlight for me was this:

The original 6, together again.  I have known 4 of these ladies way back to when we were 13, but they really got to know me, and I them, when we moved in to Heritage Halls at BYU 20 (TWENTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!) years ago this coming Fall.  Their friendship continues to be a great blessing in my life.

We are party animals, as you know.  We spent New Years Eve at my sister's.  We watched the New York ball go down New York time, made lots of noise, and then came home and went to bed.  :)

Our last day of break we wanted to go sledding, but had no snow.  Right as we were heading out to go find some, it dumped on us.  Perfect!  We found a hill not far from home and had a wonderful afternoon together:

Today, back to life, back to reality.  Reality stinks.