February

Weston's 7th birthday fell on a Tuesday so the Saturday before I let him choose a friend to take to the movies. Collin had his first baseball practice at the same time so Dad took him and Tanner. We saw Paddington 2, then they got $5 each to spend on arcade games and ended with a game of mini golf. Fat Cats on a Saturday. Woof. Or I guess I should say meow. I couldn't wait to get out of there. I thought banning Amazing Jakes was going to save my sanity but Fat Cats might get added to the list. His very favorite friend right now is Benson. They sit together on the bus and are in the same class. I should probably find out Benson's last name.

That night was the monster truck show that we gave them for Christmas, so it was just me, Olive and Tanner that night. I had a craving for this delish place in Mesa that has crepes and ice cream cones dipped in amazing chocolate. We had both. :)

Grabby McGrabberson also had his first taste. 

Some pics of the boys!

Dinner at Islands then on to the big, bad monster trucks!

 I bought the cheapest seats (man, tickets get expensive! All those fees!)

They thought they might move down to empty ones, but never did. 

Collin inherited his Grandma Dog's love of heights. ;)

 Go Gravedigger!

Trying out some heart hair for Valentines!

Had my first run with Botox!

Not what you're thinking though.

I've always hated my "gummy smile". Before, when I researched, the only solution was surgery. But lately, I've found dermatology offices that offer Botox injections that paralyze the muscles right under your nose that pull up your lips, thinning them when you smile. 

I was SO excited for this. Just ask my sisters... I couldn't wait to try it out!

It took 5 days for it to finally kick in and work, and work it did. I couldn't sip out of a straw, say my "b's" or "p's" or really even eat. I had to cover my mouth with my hand because I had to eat with my mouth open since I couldn't chew and keep my lips closed. It was pretty awful. Travis didn't want me to do it in the first place but he was nice to not say "I told you so." It did help my gummy smile, but the side effects weren't worth it. Such a disappointment! 

Actual birthday for Mr. Weston Travis!

I picked him up for a lunch date from school. He chose Buffalo Wild Wings. Probably because his older brother loves it so he thinks he does too.

If this picture doesn't just sum him up perfectly!

Weston is... yep you already know... the BIGGEST sweetheart. 

He is oblivious to what's going on in the world. Just floats through life. Always outside. Constantly has shoes full of sand. Does not like schoolwork or reading (but we just found out was 2 points away from qualifying for the gifted program). Loves his "spike" in his hair. Hasn't lost any teeth. Thinks he can talk like Sponge Bob. If he could have any wish in the world it would be for a pet dog. He loves me to snuggle him at night while he's falling asleep. But really just uses that time to ask me a billion questions. Fights a lot with Olive. Always looking for and collecting rocks. Sleeps with his head at the foot of the bed.

He got a Beyblade, binoculars, new minky blanket for his bed and a harmonica as presents. Only, he calls the harmonica a "whore-monica". Travis started to correct him, but I put an end to that, hehe.

A few funny moments from Weston lately...

At dinner I said to the family, "You should have seen the sunset tonight.. it was absolutely gorgeous."

Weston chimes in, "Yeah. It was GORGEOUS".

Travis questions him, "Do you even know what that word means?"

Looking down at his food while scooping up his next bite he immediately replies with as much ambivalence as anyone can muster, "NOPE."

Travis and I were in our room when Olive ran in tattling, "Weston PEED in the bathtub!!!"

Weston, hot on her tail, protested, "No I didn't!!!"

Then added indignantly, "I peed in THE WATER."

(Cuz that's different than peeing in the tub when it's empty, huh?)

I had cut the boys' hair and commented on how many moles Weston had on his head that showed up when his hair was really short. The boys thought that was funny and started making up nick-names for themselves based on physical characteristics. Collin said, "Well, since Weston has so many moles, we'll call him "MO-leston!"

Now, just say that out loud fast.... Moleston. :/

It gets better.

Then Collin continued, "Yeah, and I have so many freckles so I can be "Fu-collin!"

But not pronounced, "Foo-collin".

Pronounced, "Fuh-collin"

Again, say that fast. But maybe not out loud. Lol. 

They obviously had no idea why I was snickering so loudly. 

We were driving in the car and he wanted to know what the most dangerous job in the world was. Obviously, I had no idea, so at the next stop light I quickly typed the question into Google. A list popped up. #1 was a logger. He wanted to know what that was. I explained they cut down trees in the forest. "Well, why would that be dangerous?" he wanted to know. I mused that maybe trees fall on people?? Or the equipment is dangerous?? Next on the list were fisherman. Again, he wondered why that would be dangerous and we thought of reasons. This went on for a couple more jobs before I read #6 was farmer. Now, he was incredulous. "A FARMER?! Why in the world is that a dangerous job?!" Two seconds passed and as quickly as he was disbelieving, he had come up with the most obvious reason. Very simply he stated, "Oh yeah! Because of all the poisonous berries." It took me a second to process what he said then I busted up laughing. Of course. The poisonous berries that grown farmers innocently munch on, then make them keel over in the fields. Naturally.

Again, in the car he got a runny nose and said, "Mom. I have a runny nose." Pause. "It's. It's extreme."
Ha. I don't know why, but it made me laugh.

I was laying in bed with Weston one night when he asked me, "Mom, do you know what one plus zero is? Sensing a juvenile joke, but not having heard this particular one yet I hesitatingly took the bait. 

"Um, one?"
"Nope! He happily retorted. "It's a VOLCANO!" And he proceeded to take the pointer finger of one hand and poke it through the "O" he created with his other hand, repeatedly jabbing it through while making volcano type exploding noises. You know... the perverted sexual gesture.
I'm not even joking.
I was almost too stunned to reply, but my mind was racing, wondering what sick kid on the playground taught him this dirty joke!
Keeping as calm a voice as I could, I mustered, "Um, Weston, honey, who taught you that?"
(Cuz I was about to pound whoever this sick kid was. Or at least pound the parents!)
Weston genuinely answered, "I made it up! Benson taught me that 1 + 1= a window." And he crossed both pointer fingers, making an T shape. "And 0+0= glasses!" Holding both hands in circular shapes up to his eyes like he had binoculars.
"So I made 1+0=  a volcano!!" (Doing the motions again)
He was so proud of himself.
The innocence.
Now, I was cracking up, but trying to figure out how to tell him that this creativity could never be shared again. Anywhere. With anyone. Oy vey!

The night of his birthday was the Blue and Gold Banquet where Collin earned his Wolf.

Way to steal the thunder, older brother!

We consoled Weston with the fact that there would at least be birthday cake!

Howie and Collin. 

They are goofy trouble together but oh they love each other!

Getting my mom pin. Sis. Bentley really should be the one getting it. She has been the most amazing Wolf leader! Collin's favorite day of the week is Tuesdays because of Cub Scouts. He got really lucky.

Chugging the wolf "blood"!

The next evening, Weston got his requested birthday dinner... soft tacos! 

With chocolate cherry cake that actually turned out to be dang good! 

I love to read a conference talk with my daily (well, I try) scripture study but was feeling frustrated with how quickly I'd forget what I had read. I would highlight and underline, feeling so uplifted by a talk, but ask me the next week what I had learned and I couldn't tell you. After writing a particularly wonderful quote on a sticky note for my bathroom mirror one day, I decided it could be a good way to create a visual reminder of the talks I had read. So now, after each talk I'll pick my favorite quote or line and add it to the mirror. It's fun to look it over while I'm brushing my teeth each night or getting ready in the morning. 

Some of my favorites....

We managed to get away for a weekend to see the Shaheens!! The kids are always overjoyed when they get to see some of their favorite friends. Us too. :)

Bron was doing the Keto diet so not long after we showed up Friday night, he was making an enormous sheet of jalepeno poppers. 11 o' clock at night and we're downing greasy bacon nuggets, picking up like we'd never spent any time apart.

I swear I did this last time... forgot to take any pictures of Weston and Rubi!!! What the heck?! The poor, middle children are always forgotten.

Saturday morning we went to The Plaza for breakfast. How funny is this picture?! Olive was licking the last crumbs of brown sugar out of that cup and Steel looks like he's just infatuated with her. Mesmerized by her gluttonous sugar licking! Hahahaha.

The dads took the kids to the rollerskating rink while Megan and I stayed home with the sleeping babies. At lunch time, Megan pulled out her electric cheese grater (which admittedly sounds like a jackhammer on steroids) and Tanner was NOT a fan. But why is this face so cute?! ;) 

That night we met the Haws at Fratelli's for dinner (so fun to catch up with them!) while the kids stayed home with a babysitter. It's been an unusually warm winter, but when we walked out, it was SNOWING!!! I was gleeful!! It felt like the first time I had ever seen snow or something. I was laughing and pulling out my camera and trying to touch it. I tell ya what, snow is so much more fun when you don't have to live in it.

Both mornings I was up at 5am with Tanner. It snowed quite a bit that night and everything was under a layer of white! We didn't bring any snow things. In fact I had forgotten to even bring a jacket for me or Olive! So the kids just ran outside to touch it. 

It happened to be their ward conference and Bron was put in as bishop a few months ago so it was fun to be able to hear him speak in sacrament meeting. We let the kids go to the first hour of Primary, but then we left so we could get home before bedtime. The Kings were in California so we were sad to not get to see them, but it was such a fun, short trip. Megan is due next month and I can't wait to meet their 4th little girl. We just love the Shaheens a little bit. 

Lindi came to play one day without her hair done. Olive had braids left over from the day before. So I braided Lindi's hair and let Olive have what we call, "Lindi hair". Down with a top knot! It made me giggle that they had swapped hair styles. 

More Valentine's Day hair!

Actual Valentines Day was busy!

We secretly heart attacked Travis's office and left homemade sugar cookies for everyone.

Collin's homemade Valentine's day box for school. Pretty creative!

I made a special dinner and invited my Grandma and mom over to join us! My mom was coming over to watch the kids while I took Weston to his music lesson so then she just stayed to eat. Which was so helpful to have her hold Tanner while I cooked. My Dad and Craig had mutual otherwise they would have come too. I dipped strawberries in chocolate and had sugar cookies for dessert. 

Cute boy thinks it's fun to get stuck on top of the foosball table!

The guys were doing a dunes trip (Travis couldn't go because his arm is still healing) so us girls got together for dinner! We went to Alessia's in North Mesa. I'd been wanting to try it for a long time, so I was excited! The brushetta and house bread dipped in oil was yummy. We all wanted to get different things and share so I ordered something the waiter said was popular. Soooo not good. It was a red sauce pasta but it just seemed like crushed tomatoes with bitter herbs. Not homemade pasta. Thumbs down. Everyone else's tasted good though. I'm just not a huge Italian food lover, so I don't think I'll go back. I probably wouldn't have said anything, but Abbey brought it up to the waiter when he checked on us. I wasn't sure what to say and stammered that it wasn't very good... but in my defense, it was $17 and it was yucky enough that I didn't even want to eat it. You would have thought I had taken a swing at his mother... he was really rude and I felt so awkward. But they didn't end up charging for it, so I suppose that's something.

But let's talk about the gelato next door! Mmmmm mmm!

We went on a family hike in the San Tan mountains and our little diva was a dancing hiker!

The kids did great. It's the perfect, family hike. Gets steep at the end but nothing crazy. Weston only scared us silly once at the top. Mr. Oblivious needed some reminders that a cliff would not be fun to fall down.

I forgot a bottle for Tanner, but he did pretty good with an applesauce pouch and orange slices!

Always running ahead to find a ditch to hide in.

I wouldn't have normally posted this picture but it's the only thing I have to document this date gone bad! I made a reservation for us to get massages at a place nearby that does Reflexology Massages. I had gotten one in Dallas with Rachel and it was awesome! You leave your clothes on, and it's only $30 for an hour massage in a big room with massage tables all lined up near each other. Well, this place was not like that. It was small and dark with only 4 tables in the room. They used gobs of this super stinky lotion, GAG, and the whole place was so run down. I even noticed a hole in the sheet I was laying on. In the middle of the massage, Travis's masseuse left to go to the bathroom which was right next to us. Like, we heard the toilet flush and out she comes to finish. Sooo weird! I couldn't even relax, it was just so grody. And I had just showered and washed my hair and now I reeked and was all greasy! Blech!!! Literally, the second we got home I jumped in the shower and washed my hair and scrubbed every inch of my body. Such a waste!!!!

The only highlight was dinner afterward. We finally tried out The Keg. I had no idea it was so fancy! We didn't have reservations so we had to sit outside, but man oh man, that filet was like butter! The twice baked potato was tastiness! And I think the sauce was meant for the steak but I doused every bite of potato in it and was not sorry. We shared the creme brûlée trying our best to not spoon fight over the last bites. 

We had time to spare so we wandered around DSW and grabbed a few things at Sam's Club. A true, married over 10 years type date night. :)  

Someone is popular at Grandma's house on Sunday nights! It's so cute to look over and see a circle of his cousins fawning over him.

We are SUCH good parents. 

4 years old and having her first teeth cleaning.

Lunch with Uncle Ned afterward.

I pulled up to the Wal-mart grocery pick up and spied my cousin Kristen to my right and Chelsie to my left!

Weston went on a field trip to the zoo and ran into Secily! Carrie was with her and sent me the picture. I feel bad that I haven't done field trips this year, but that's life with a baby.

Briste is a friend from dental school who I haven't seen in 8 years. We stayed with them when we went house hunting the summer before we moved to New York. Briste was always truly the NICEST person. So so sweet and giving. They lived a street over from us and we did a lot with them those first two years before they graduated. She and Dave moved to Colorado after dental school and we were bad about keeping in touch. Her parents live half the year in Florence and she was coming to visit them so we met for lunch at The Olive Mill in Queen Creek. 

It was SO fun to catch up with her!! It's crazy how so many years can pass, but you can see someone you love and it feels like nothing has changed.  She has been through HARD things since I last saw her. Broke my heart. It's hard to even imagine someone surviving such difficult trials. If you know of a good guy near Vail, Colorado, let me know. She deserves the best.

As far as the Olive Mill goes, I can't wait to go back! This pizza was amazing!! Worth the drive in and of itself. 

This place was PACKED. It seemed to be snowbird heaven and they were all drooling over this little guy!

My big Christmas gift was tickets to see Hamilton. It's all the rage right now but the tickets were stupid expensive. I searched and searched every performance for the least expensive seats and ended up spending $300 per ticket for second balcony seats. What.ever.
I was still super excited and spent the weeks leading up to it, listening to the soundtrack.

We got Moreno's for dinner then barely parked and made it inside Gammage before it started. 

Seriously? The seats were worse than I imagined. Definite nosebleeds. Should have brought binoculars.

However, when the curtains pulled back and the room erupted in cheers I was back to my giddy anticipation! The first half was awesome. The dancing is absolutely incredible. The singing and rapping is mind blowing. (Yes, it's a rap about revolutionary America.) I was dancing in my seat, mouthing the words and hanging on every scene. The second half isn't quite as exciting though. It's more of the drama and progression of the story. I wasn't singing along or dancing anymore. I had no idea how it ended and it all seemed to close rather unceremoniously. We stood and clapped and began the long walk back to the car. I started thinking. Yes, I loved the music and was mesmerized by the elaborate dance numbers. Buuuut, was it really worth $600?? That is a LOT of money. I started thinking about all the things I could have bought for $600. My stomach twisted a little. Maybe if we had had better seats... then would it have felt worth it? Or if it had only been $300, could I have swallowed that a little easier? I mean, it was a FANTASTIC show. True talent and ridiculous skills. But, ugh. I had to face the facts. It just wasn't worth it. I regretted buying the tickets. Maybe in a few years we could have seen it and not paid so much. We just aren't at a place in life to do something so extravagant. I kept reminding myself that it was my big Christmas present. It didn't ease the regret much. Oh well. What's done is done. We saw it. It really was amazing. (You know, from what we saw two miles away.) Just don't spend ridiculous money on it unless your seats are just as ridiculously good. Or you live and breath Broadway shows. Or your child is in it. Those are probably the only legit reasons to dish out your hard earned money. Bless Travis and his easy going soul for not making me feel bad about the expenditure. 

The month ended with our 3rd Annual Lindblom Lip-Sync Battle!!!

It was hard to schedule this year with so much going on and in the end my parents couldn't even come because they were both so sick. :(

We did it on a Sunday night at our house and just had pizza for dinner then I made strawberry shortcake for dessert. 

Abbey and David drew the first slot so they started us out with "The Scarn" dance from The Office! Too funny!

Marcie and Austin imitated one of James Corden's shows when he had Alanis Morisette on to remake her hit, "Ironic." I was dying! That song is iconic and I loved how they memorized the whole thing. Austin's faces were cracking me up!

Collin was intent on competing this year (he had his eye on the Blizzards) so I helped the kids choreograph a little number to Bruno Mars, "Uptown Funk". Collin and I butt heads a bit during the whole choreographing part but we finally came to some resolutions, haha. They took it SO seriously, and practiced the whole night before. Everyone was laughing and impressed that they pulled it off! Good job Evans' kids!

Shelley and Casey did their number to MC Hammer "Can't Touch This".

Casey seriously came out in a wig and bikini top and DANCED! Like, really truly danced! I think if we weren't laughing so hard we would have been stunned into silence. I don't know what Shelley slipped into his drink but our crazy family FINALLY got Casey Goodman to let loose! Waahoo!

Last year, when our number flopped I had the idea to do the Spartan skit next time. So I've been thinking about this a whole year! But then all of a sudden it was February. We did practice all week though and it paid off. We had it down pat, which made it so much more fun to perform! :) The only bummer was that the big speaker was out of battery so we had to use our little speaker and the sound wasn't very loud. We still scored first place! Go Spartans! David and Abbey came in 2nd and our kids placed 3rd. They were stoked. I had bough DQ blizzards for the top 3 couples which we just gave to everyone else and told the kids we'd take them to DQ later. We had fun laughing and talking around the table the rest of the night. I don't know how I got such fun siblings, but nights like this one are my favorite memories.