February

We finally broke Olive of her bad habit of carrying her pink blankie around with her everywhere. It's a shame really, because it served so many purposes... like keeping the sun out of her eyes, haha.

Our neighbors dug up their backyard BBQ which meant we saw multiple scorpions this month!! EWWW!!! The final straw was when I found a big, fat, LIVE one under the vacuum! I swear I screamed and freaked out like a wussy baby. Then I called our exterminators and made them come over to do an extra spray inside the house. DIE evil creatures from the dark! Die!!

Olive loves her little friend, Posey. When Travis comes home from work and asks her what she did that day, she'll often lie and say she played with Posey. At least this day it wasn't a lie! ;)

I had lots of quality Josie time this month. I finally got to go hear her speak for the second time ever at a Relief Society conference that my aunt was in charge of. She knocked it out of the park. I just sat there in awe of how she's developed as a public speaker. She is loved and admired by so many, but I know how these speaking assignments drain her. They moved that very weekend to Utah. It was so sad to see their "barn" all cleaned out. It's making me sad just writing about it! At least I know they'll visit often. Utah is a lucky place!

My parents treated us all to a rousing night of Super Cross!! We carpooled to Glendale and ate at Islands first. I busted some music and spastic dance moves in the front seat with the windows down while we parked. (My husband REALLY loves me.) Marcie said people's reactions were hysterical. Granted, someone must have slipped something in my drink because I was alllll over the place, but she said people were either disgusted or loving it. Relax, haters. Dancing is good for the soul. No alcohol involved. 

Stop working, DAD!!!!! It's impossible. 

I wasn't sure how much fun this was going to be, but I actually really enjoyed it! There were a couple minor crashes, but no one seemed to get very hurt... phew. And my sprinkle dipped ice cream cone was a nice touch. ;) 

Not exactly football people over here, but how can I pass up an opportunity to make Super bowl food?? We invited both sets of parents over plus Aubrey and Craig to help us eat carne asada fries, chips and salsa, jalapeno poppers, broccoli salad, veggies, and bread and dill dip. Then I made Texas sheet cake for dessert. Go orange team! ;)

Ohhh that spike is getting intense!!

Collin's Valentine's Day box. I'm rather impressed with how our ninja turtle turned out, but would like to know why this was a "home" project??! 

I don't feel like I save any of Weston's drawings, so this one is making the blog! This was back from Thanksgiving time. I love the boys' "spiky" hair. :)

Every day when I drop Weston off at preschool, this cute, little dog is patiently waiting at the door! I die! You'd almost mistake it for a porcelain decoration, but nope, it's the real deal. It might be my favorite thing in the world. How perfect does this preschool get, anyway?!

One, Friday morning we made it over to Grandma and Grandpa pomegranate's house so I could get some pictures. Grandma took the time to show me a few things on several genealogy sites and the kids played so well while we did that. We noticed "popcorn popping" on the tree as we left! It was a nice visit. We need to do it more often!

They even got a pomegranate to take home. :)

One Friday morning, Travis got a call from Bron saying he was coming down with the kids for a quick trip to Scottsdale while Megan was in Utah. So Trav met up with them at their hotel and let the kids swim all afternoon and evening. Worked out great for me! I got to go shopping, try a new Zumba class, get my toenails done, go to Target and grab some Gecko Grill for dinner. I watched Gilmore Girls (oh Rory!) and ate in peace. It felt like a Father's and Son's outing or something! Come down anytime, Bron!! 

The next day I joined in on the swimming. I was not expecting to be lying poolside in February, but man oh man, it was NICE!!! 5 stars, Arizona. You've outdone yourself. The kids swam to their heart's content and I even jumped in at the end. We ordered pina coladas and lunch and I felt like I had died and gone to heaven!!! Every once in a while, we live the posh life!

My old roommate, Stephanie, from BYU had text me earlier in the month to see if we could get together. She was coming to Scottsdale for a couple days with her husband for a conference. We met at True Food kitchen in the Scottsdale Quarter and 3 hours never flew by so fast! The food was AH-Mazzing!! This place has my love and devotion!! My mom was so nice to watch the kids for me. It was President's Day so she had all 3! Such a relaxing afternoon. Love this lady!!

One Saturday Aubrey and Trevor took the boys to a Diamonback's thing... I feel bad I don't even know what to call it. Collin and Weston were in Goldschmidt heaven though. Aubs and Trevor are my heroes. They had them for like 5 hours. It was weird for Trav and I to basically have a whole Saturday with just Olive. (But I'm not going to lie... it was awesome.)

While they were gone we decided to take our bikes out on the town! Tempe town lake to be exact!
I was in a funk from something that happened the night before so this was just what the doctor ordered. It was beautiful weather and with just one kid, it felt like we were on a date or something! 

We got a bite to eat at a little, corner cafe. Olive was totally hogging my salad! Eat your sugary muffin, girl! We got you the good stuff. Salads are for the miserable days of trying to care about your waistline.

Taken with a lame, I-phone, but I loved the symmetry of the light poles going on forever.  

One Saturday night date consisted of Masa Sushi (get the popcorn lobster!) and some politicking! Leah invited us to a meet and greet for a woman running for the U.S. Senate. It was a small gathering which made me nervous because I'm not "in the know" enough for intelligent questions. Still, it was interesting to hear her speak and  by the time it was over she definitely had our vote! Go Dr. Ward! Let's get McCain out of there!

I don't make breakfast during the week (OK, minus Olive's Malt-o-meal. The girl NEEDS her Malt-o-meal.) But Sunday is a different story! This was my first attempt at poached eggs. It shouldn't be that hard but boy it was a ROUGH go! I tried to do a bunch at once and had to toss them. I finally ended up with 2 for Trav and 2 for me, half of which were overdone and the other half were OK. My hollandaise didn't cream up very well. The kitchen was a disaster and the kids had to have egg-less pancakes because I'd blown through all of ours. Sigh. I WILL perfect this eventually.

I've been reading the Book of Mormon this year with David J. Ridges's supplement. This sentence hit me hard and I've thought about it constantly since. For me this is 100% accurate. And if it weren't for social media, I'd be doing a lot better job at it. :( 

In exasperation at having kids constantly needing me and following me around when I'm trying to get something done, I asked Weston to read Olive a book. (The alphabet book... her fav.) And he did it!! For heaven's sakes it worked! Maybe only for 10 minutes, but hey, I'll take it! 

If Olive could just be read to all day, she'd be in heaven. And if I had nothing to do all day long and could grant her that wish, I'd be in heaven too. Alas, she's lucky to get a couple a day. Here's Trav, throwing her a bone. It was so cute to see her so zoned in.  (I love that book!) When she noticed me taking a picture, she got a little distracted. :)  Pay close attention, Olive. Some boys are bums like Ronald. But not your Daddy.