Park Day

Sometimes Ian forgets how old he is. Anyway....

Friday night the boys had some friends spend the night so Saturday morning, we went to the park (actually, earlier Saturday morning I took Xander and his friend Hudson fishing and almost froze my fingers off, but that's a story for another time).

When we got there, Ian spent a good 20 minutes chasing the boys around threatening the eat their brains. It's funny how the only boy brave enough to fight back was Joshua. So then Ian picked Josh up and used him to fight Evan. I wish I would've taken a picture.

Brothers! I love those 2 boys.

Awwww....the swing. All the boys took turns in the swing. Christian got there first and I thought he might spend the whole day there. He really loved it. :)

Xander wanted to sit in it and relax but Ian snuck up on him and started pushing.

Ian took a turn.

Liam finally got his turn! He'd been waiting for a while but whenever it was free he was off somewhere else.

Next up: Football!
I'm pretty sure my boys could play football all day and be happy.

I love that picture of Liam.

It was a fun way to spend the morning.

Computer-ized

So...I'm pretty sure this boy is more computer literate then I am.

His favorite site is pbskids.org. He won't sit through a tv show, but let him on the computer and he's good for an hour.

It's kind of scary.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving started off with me running the Turkey Trot and Ian and the boys playing football. I'm happy to report I did NOT have to stop for a Dr. Pepper. I did pretty good - I ran the whole thing except for about 3 minutes of it (I took my stopwatch).

We raced home after because Thanksgiving dinner was supposed to be at 12:00. I was in charge of the mashed potatoes and rolls - luckily Ian helped. Although, it's never good to have an artist in the kitchen. When I ran in from the bathroom to check on him he was just about to put some vanilla (yes, you are reading this right) in the potatoes. He'd already put some other spices in. I had a little freak-out (just enough to let him know it was NOT o.k. to take liberties with my potatoes). He then made his own little batch where he added all sorts of stuff (cheese, bacon, parsley, ect).

When we got to my mom's the football game was on.

The boys watched that for a while. Also, we all took turns sneaking some of my aunt Denise's rice krispy cookies that Kim had made. Mmmm....

Ben tried to sneak a roll.

Above is his sneaking face.

Finally...Dinner! Complete with brown sugar'd sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, 3 kinds of stuffing, turkey, rolls, corn, green bean casserole, assorted veggies and fruits. Delicious strawberry lemonade. And pie! Adam made Aaron's cream cheese pie. And Kim made her pumpkin delight. Both were awesome. I brought an apple pie and an apricot pineapple pie (my dad's favorite).

Evan voted to play instead of eat. I think he ended up eating 3 rolls and some whipped cream. Awesome, huh?After Trina, Darrel and my mom cleaned up while Kim played with the little kids. I helped here and there...but mostly I sat around and napped. Running + eating makes me tired!

I followed Ruby and her roll around for a while. She tried to feed me some and when I pretended to take a bite out of it she wasn't fooled. She pried my mouth open with her hand then shoved the roll in. She is one determined little girl!
It was a wonderfully relaxing Thanksgiving. We hung out at my mom's for a while - talking, playing and watching football and watching Modern Family. It was a great Thanksgiving.

More SYTYCD and Thankfulness

Lisa sent me these pictures yesterday. They made me so happy.

Kent!


Even though I look like I have some disease in this picture I still LOVE that we are in front of the SYTYCD wall! Don't be jealous, but it was everything we hoped it would be and more. Ian didn't want to be in the picture and I'm sure he'll regret that for the rest of his life.

Ade = awesome.

Robert was pretty good but the faces he makes drive me IN-SANE. Not in a good way, either.

Sooo...in honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I'd post my thank-full list. Here are the things I'm especially thankful for this year:

1. My husband. I don't think he knew how high maintenance I was when he married me. But he loves me and he never lets me feel sorry for myself and he keeps me positive and he always makes me laugh. Plus he's an awesome dad to our children. Which makes him sexy too.

2. My kids. Nothing makes me happier than spending time with them. I am thankful Xander finished his science project (mostly). I'm thankful Ben loves math. I'm thankful Max finally lost his other front tooth. I'm thankful Evan gives me the best hugs. I'm so proud of each one of them.

3. My family. My mom. And dad. My super awesome sister Kim. And the rest of the gang. Especially those cute little nieces of mine.

4. My friends. I'm so lucky to have some super great people in my life (you know who you are). I'm specifically thankful for my friend Tiffany who has got me through some major rough spots this year, just by listening to me and giving me advice. She could have a second career as a psychologist.

5. My home. So glad we still have one :)

6. My neighbors - specifically my aunts and uncles.

7. My ward at church and the Bishop. Most of the women there feel like my sisters. And the bishop is awesome. Every time he talks I can feel his geniune love for me and the people in our ward. It sounds cheesy, but it's true.

8. That Ian and I both have jobs. And for the people I work with.

9. Baked goods. Cupcakes. Cookies. Pie. And Trifle (although I haven't had it yet, the way Tiffany described it, I'm pretty sure once I taste it I will be thankful for it - did you follow that?)

10. Music. When I'm super down and don't want to talk to anyone, listening to music and running get me through. It's the magic combination.

SYTYCD: A Magical Night

We had been waiting for this night since July. And just so you all know, I brought a perfectly good camera with me. And the battery was dead. A little part of my heart died when I discovered that. I'm not kidding. So I was stuck using my phone and couldn't take pictures of the stage because of the glare - didn't know until today that I could take the flash off my phone - bummer. Anyway...back to our magical night. We arrived around 6:30 and ate dinner at the same BBQ place that we ate at last year at So You Think You Can Dance. Why mess with a good thing? btw, I love pulled pork. Yes sir, I do.

After we made our way to the arena and down, down to our seats ON THE FLOOR! Super close on the floor. Like close enough to see facial expressions and see tears. That close.

Me and my better half. I love my husband. Not only because he's more obsessive about SYTYCD than me, but also because he makes me laugh so hard that sometimes my stomach hurts.

This girl is so awesome. And she is totally her mother's daughter. Which makes her super awesome.

*I had a picture of Tiffany to post here, but since I value our friendship, I didn't post it. Even though she looked hot in it.

Lisa and Julie came too. Btw, Julie's hair is magical. She can flip it and people give her what she wants. I've seen it.

The show was everything I wanted it to be and more. Seriously. So many of the dances gave me the chills. And since it was the last night of the tour and Lauren & Ade's hometown, the dancers were in high form. Ade and Allison switched outfits for the bollywood number. Lauren lifted Kent (instead of the other way around) during the disco number. All the girls wore mustaches during that number. Jose and Dominic stuffed their pants for their hip hop number. And Dominic was freakin' hilarious. He totally stole the show.

We decided after intermission to give each worthy dance a standing ovation. We are such nerds, but it was so much fun. And we totally made eye contact with the dancers. Ian swears he had a "moment" with Kathryn.

My favorite dances included: Fix You, the best friend's dance, the Mad World dance and the prom dance. I also loved the dance with Russell, Dominic and Jose. Mostly because of Dominic. I would've loved the Alice in Wonderland dance but they put Lauren in instead of Allison. It was still good though.

A picture of the stage at the end. I wanted to remember how close we were. Because it was the last night of the tour, the director put a montage together and we got to watch it with the dancers. This is the dancers leaving after.

Ok, so after we were waiting in line to get t-shirts when a woman approached Julie (it's the hair) and gave her 2 backstage passes. Of course she took Lisa backstage with her so the rest of us waited in a room by one of the exits. There were also a whole bunch of teenagers there with shirts that said something like, "I loved Lauren before America". Whatever. Anyway, when the security guard asked them why they were loitering they said they were waiting for Betsy Frodman (Lauren's mom) to give them backstage passes.

A couples minutes later in comes Betsy with a bag full of backstage wrist bands. She starts handing them out. I beg Ian to get some for us. But he won't. Then we see super creepy guy ask Betsy and she gives him two. I guess Ian figured at this point, why not? So he went over and had a conversation with Betsy while me, Tiffany and Tayler tried to pretend we didn't know him (I know I told him to do it but it was still embarrassing!). So....thanks to Ian we got to go backstage to meet the dancers! WOOOOHOOO!!!!!

We quickly made contact with Lisa and Julie and then waited. In the meantime Julie used her hair to get us some posters from Betsy (I feel like it's ok to be on a first name basis with her because she did give us the passes). A while later, the dancers came up!! I first saw Dominic and Ade and right then I felt like my evening was complete.

Dominic was rad. I asked him if he was still in Quest Crew and he said "no" but hoped to be in it again some day. WE LOVE YOU DOMINIC!

Then we met Ade. We had to wait because he was hugging his mom and family. But it was worth it. I told him he was my favorite dancer - which is mostly true. If you haven't seen him dance, I'm sorry. He is amazing.

Ian was a little obsessed with Kathryn. He's pretty upset that this picture is blurry. Hey! I was using my phone! She was gorgeous and super nice. I could've stayed and chatted with her all night.

We tried to get to Kent but a whole bunch of old ladies were surrounding him. Poor kid. He was so awesome. Oh! and I loved the Kent/Allison relationship dance. LOVED IT!

Here is Allison and Ian. We have loved Allison from the beginning when she danced with Ivan to "Why". And remember when she left and Travis was crying and she danced around him. I'd pay good money to see Allison and Travis dance together. We told her we loved her.

I also met Billy but he was snotty. So whatever. The other girls got a picture with Courtney and Lisa told her, "I've loved you since Courtney and Gev!". All the dancers were there, but the only ones I really wanted to meet were Dominic, Ade, Allison and Kathryn. And I did. :)

It was one of the best nights of my life. I'm not even kidding. I was with some of my favorite people in the world meeting some of my favorite dancers in the world.

It was perfect.

P.S. My apologies to Trina because I didn't get a chance to ask Lauren or Kent if they were really dating. If I had to guess, I'd say no.

Birthday party

Let me preface this post by saying: Wow! even with the exceptional camera that I have (thanks Dad!) I can still take some pretty crappy/blurry pictures. But you get the gist.

Saturday, November 6th Evan turned 4. Since we had games all morning we let him open his present from us. Buzz Lightyear! Now, we do already have a Buzz but it was Xander's and now sports a goatee and mustache and has no wings...so Evan wanted a new and improved Buzz. Which we got him.

He was pretty happy. Although he did ask where Woody was - luckily grandma & grandpa got him Woody!

This year Tiffany's daughter Tayler and her friend Phoebe planned Evan's party. It was awesome. They just told me what to buy and they did the rest - including making their super good and tasty cupcakes (better than Sprinkles in my opinion) which I didn't get a picture of. Lame. The cupcakes were so cute too -with minature knights and dragons on top.

The theme for the party was "How to Train Your Dragon". Tayler and Phoebe came up with some awesome games (I'm pretty sure their moms helped a little too).

In this one they had to catapult balls to hit the guys in the castle. Later Holly (Phoebe's mom) offered $10 to the first adult who could hit the Viking King - thinking there was no way they'd hit it. Paul got it. So then Ian had to try until he got it.

I'm so mad that I already forgot the name of the games. In this one they had to throw a ball attached to a string and try to knock over water bottles.

Ruby tried to get in on the action too. Also, how cute are Tayler's pants? I'm just sayin'.

Then they had the kids play "Viking, Viking, Dragon!" which can also be played as "Duck, Duck, Goose!" I think we all know how much Evan loves that game.

Next they tired the kids out by playing freeze tag. And lastly, they did an awesome treasure hunt for the kids - complete with pictures on the clues since Evan can't read yet. They thought of everything! Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures. I don't know why. I guess I was feeling lazy since Tayler & Phoebe were doing everything.

Each kid got a shield and sword and they all took turns fighting Ian.
Luckily Ian is a good sport.


Finally Evan got to open his presents. Boy was he excited. He got some great stuff too. I'd say it was a very happy birthday!