February

Little Miss Thang is shaping up to be very similar to Collin in her eating habits. As in, a stinker. She is getter pretty picky and hates her highchair. So she sits in a booster now at the table. She'd really just prefer our laps though.

Finally using my Cricut! It comes with this preprogrammed Thank You Card you can make so with very little effort you have a finished product. It's true. I felt very accomplished. ;)

Collin's class had been working on this song about Martin Luther King Jr. and memorized part of his speech. They invited all the parents to come in on the Friday before Valentine's to perform it and have a pizza lunch. He was so cute singing, even though he wouldn't look at me videotaping or smile. Weston was in 7th heaven, eating lunch with his big brother and friends. 

The Sunday after Valentines, Travis and I were asked to speak at a youth fireside. It literally was a FIREside in someone's backyard, next to a fire. We were supposed to speak on not letting your testimony burn out. I was actually excited to speak, up until I started talking. Then it was just nice to have it over with! Subsequently, I got called to Young Womens. But until they find another Cubmaster, I'm doing both. Because we all have time for that. 

The middle of my February crashed and burned. Much like my nachos one day. I had put the chips in the oven on broil to warm them up and I swear 2 min. later there was a roaring fire in my oven. I tried blowing it out a couple times and that was stupid. It just roared bigger! I honestly panicked for half a second, thinking, "Where is the fire extinguisher?!", then saw my glass of water on the counter and just tossed that on the flames.

 

Pulling the charred mess out, I couldn't help but think, yeah that fits.

 

My back went out for a couple of weeks. To the point that I literally spent days on the couch. So annoying! I was determined to go to the store one day and took a Soma, thinking that might help. I dropped Weston off at the office because Trav had a patient cancel. I probably shouldn't have been driving. I was so looped out. And I was in so much pain when I got home, I couldn't even take the groceries out of the car. I've never taken medication for my back before but it's also never hurt this badly! I taught a whole week of school once, at a 90 degree angle. Not ideal, but I could do it. Now, I'm a hunchback, but in too much pain to even walk around. It is SOOOO frustrating not being physically able to do the things you're used to doing. It's like I had to do mental exercises to just calm myself down that my to-do list was staring me in the face all week, with nothing getting crossed off. After several days of pain, I cried myself to sleep, not seeing any end in sight. We went to Grants the next day for the all day, stake trek activity, building handcarts. I was no help at all. Pres. Hine suggested giving me a blessing. So he and Travis gave me one in a classroom. He counseled me afterward to have faith in immediate healing. I think I needed to hear that. And it's true, I started to feel better after that.

I wasn't totally out of the woods though, so that Monday, I saw a chiropractor. Wow... I LOVED him. So competent and knowledgeable. But even he admitted, he didn't have any magic up his sleeve, and my pain would be a long process. I spent the next week, being able to do a little more, but not really. And still in a lot of pain. Add 4 extra days off of school due to holidays, snow, etc. which meant Collin was home, causing problems and making Weston cry. I felt like all I heard was fighting. Plus, Olive was a BEAR. She has just been hard the past few months, but those couple of weeks she was ridiculous. Always crying. Always wanting to be held. Not sleeping well. I was beyond exasperation. There are not words for how difficult she's been. I think I hit the lowest low I've had since having kids. Maybe since ever. On one particular day that school was canceled from snow, I was done. DONE. Couldn't do it one more second. I felt broken. I literally crawled up the stairs and hid in the hall closet crying. I didn't know what I was going to do. I felt so worn down and now I was to the point that I couldn't even survive. I know that sounds dramatic. But it wasn't even just from those two weeks. It was like those two weeks were just the straw that broke the camel's back. From months and years of fighting kids. Someone always needing something. And not just the kids. Everyone! The day in and day out of being a Mom. It's pathetic, I know. It's not like I've been a Mom that long. Or I have a particularly hard life. Actually, I have the opposite! I have a wonderful life. The best husband. The gospel. A loving family. I guess it doesn't make sense. Or I'm just weak. That was the thought that made me the most sad. Realizing that maybe I'm just weak. But whatever it was, I just felt like I couldn't do it one more second. Then I got a call from Travis that he was on his way home. His patients had all canceled that morning because of the snow and he was coming home to rescue me. I just started bawling. I knew immediately, and without a doubt, that Heavenly Father was sending me a tender mercy. Makes me cry just thinking about it again. I don't know what I would have done without him that day. Actually, it scares me to think what could have been. Then, I was in charge of the Blue and Gold Banquet that night. I don't even know how pulled myself together and did that.

 

Poor boys. They must have accidentally taken this picture one of those days that I was miserable on the couch and they spent their day playing on my phone.

Another accidental picture the boys or Olive must have taken. It kind of makes me laugh though because it's not a scene anyone would want to take a picture of, but I'm glad I have it. Just me on the couch and Trav probably asking what he can do for me. Very illustrative of our week. I felt so guilty the whole time because the poor man did EVERYTHING. He'd pick up dinner, bathe the kids, put them to bed, clean the kitchen, pick up the house, fold the laundry, and on and on. While I laid there feeling like the biggest parasite ever. And he never acted like it was any burden or problem at all. He was so sweet to me and took care of all of us. I tell you what, it sure makes you grateful for your health and being able to do all those little things that you previously took for granted. Or even resented doing. A working back is a precious commodity! 

 Some pictures of Blue and Gold...

I bought flowers for the den leaders. They really are amazing women and do SO much for the scouts. They surprised me and gave me a gift as well. But their's was way more generous than mine! Made me feel guilty. I had no idea they were going to do that. They said some nice things about me in the program that felt really good. I'm lucky to have had this calling.



 I decided to buy some actual centerpieces for the tables so that they'll have them for future years. It was just homemade, faded paper stuff before.

 

 We presented the Pinewood Derby awards that night. I made a "Flat Tire" cake for the boy whose car lost every race. It looked more like a sombrero.

 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners!

 Each den performed a skit.

 Getting all the other awards ready and presented was stressful, but at least I didn't have to do an Arrow of Light Ceremony! That gave me an ulcer last year.

Here's Emily, Ida, me and Colleen. I appreciate these women so much!

 

This was a much needed laugh.

 Oh, how I love Grandmother!

 

Why does he love to sleep with a hat on?! Funny boy.

Both boys were spotlighted in Primary this month. Weston hasn't stopped talking about his future mission to the mountains. ;)

 

 I don't usually cook on Friday or Saturday nights. So last Friday, I suggested we go get Zen's sushi for take out. We put on a show for the boys and bribed Olive with a sucker to stay in the living room so we could eat in peace. As we got our food all set up, it made me laugh. Like an impromptu date in the dining room. It reminded me of being little and being put to bed early so my parents could have their "date night". We'd smell Chinese food and hear a movie and knew fun was being had without us. I remember sneaking out of our rooms to spy on them. You don't even realize it as a child, but there is a safety in knowing your parents are happy and in love. I hope my kids feel that way about us.

 

The next morning, we woke up to snow. And I mean SNOW! It was a winter wonderland outside. All I could do was praise the heavens it was Saturday and not a school day!!! I made pancakes for breakfast.. cuz you have to have warm, comfort food on a day like this... then we went outside to play! The Shaheens, and later the Jennings met us at Ford Canyon to do some sledding.

And snowball throwing....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though I hate snow. (And I mean HATE snow), I think this is exactly what I needed. A fun day out, laughing and playing with my family. I think my kids needed it too.

 The Dads started rolling some monster snowballs and forming them into an igloo.

 

Trav's bum sticking out makes me giggle (he was the support while they put the roof on), but I think Bron's onsie steals the show, haha!

 

 

 I love this one! If it wasn't for that stylish Flipee that Weston is wearing, I'd call it a model shot. ;)

 

 

 

We are one, snow glove short for Olive. So she got mittens with a plastic bag duct taping it to her sleeve. Worked like a charm!

 

 Megan brought hot chocolate for everyone, because she's Megan. :) Yum! Afterward, we went out and got Big Hero 6 and Bron brought the girls to our house for a movie and popcorn. (Well, the dads and kids enjoyed it... I blogged. :) Shaped up to be a pretty great Saturday.

That evening we got a babysitter so we could go see Living Legends perform at Gallup High School. It was mostly a dance performance with a little singing of Latin, Polynesian and Native American dances. It reminded me of what you'd see at the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was really good, but you wouldn't expect much else coming from BYU! We offered to host some of the performers that night, so we had two of the boys stay with us. I got a ride back home with our neighbor, but Travis had to stay until 11pm before they were done taking down their sets and were able to leave. When they got to our house, Travis asked if they were hungry and they sheepishly admitted they were. 6 quesadillas later they were filled! It honestly made me happy that they ate so much! You'd definitely work up an appetite with all that dancing and jumping around they did!

 

And the next day was the BIG day! Olive is officially 18 months old and can go to nursery!! She was a little clingy to me at first, but I stayed about 10 min. and then a leader got her occupied with play doh and I was able to leave. They said she did great and didn't cry at all! Yay! Hope it lasts! I felt like I was on a date, being able to sit next to Travis in Sunday School and hold hands.

Freeeeeeedom!!

 

 I hope she never grows out of this smile! Hehehe! It's my absolute favorite.

I feel like lately, I've been focused on how hard she's been. But I really do love my little girl! She's at a hard age and she's very stubborn and wants to do everything HER way, but she's also a love. She regularly will come up and snuggle me. Never for very long, but it's sweet. She will not say Dada. She only says Mama! Poor Trav. She knows full well what she's doing too. Such a tease. She says a few words. Bye bye. Hello (but it sounds like Hewoe!) I love you.. sounds like wuv-oo. Ball. And she'll repeat a lot of simple words like apple, dog, cat, but they are pretty rough ;) She does NOT want to be held as we walk into a store and has started refusing to hold my hand too. Independent, I tell you! She loves books, sitting in my lap for bites of Maltomeal, trying on shoes (especially Rubi's), saying "uh uh uh uh" (like 5000x a day) when she wants something, and grabbing her crotch and saying "poooo" when she needs a diaper change. She is actually VERY friendly and will let herself be held by just about anyone. In fact, at one particular Round Table meeting, there was a strange man sitting behind me, and she wiggled out of my lap and I turned around and she had sidled up to him and laid her head on his knee, while sucking her thumb. I about died! Boundaries, Olive! She's growing up so fast! I love our few minutes together before bed, rocking and singing Rock-a-bye Baby and I'm a Child of God. Even though she's feisty, she has a tender heart and is concerned when others are sad. We all love this girl!

Valentines!

Ahh, Valentines. The day of loooove. You can almost hear Barry Manilow in the distance. :)

I decided I wanted to have some fun and throw a couple's Valentine's party!

Here is the invite. Trying to give it an old fashioned, love letter feel.

I wanted to hand deliver each invitation with a single rose.

But I was swamped and behind as usual. Soooo, knowing we were leaving town the next day and really wanting to them to be delivered that night, I importuned Travis to do the deed. AND he took all the kids too! I felt bad asking him, but it was sooooo helpful having him do it. Upon his return, he walked in, almost stoically, handed me the leftover roses and drily said, "I hope you can appreciate how AWKWARD it was for me to hand roses to all the women in the ward. Yeah, just women. No husbands answered the door."

Ha! It really hadn't crossed my mind that that could have posed a rather uncomfortable situation. But it just makes me love him more! And in fact, at the party, all the girls laughed about how it was to have Travis show up on their doorstep with a rose for them. Brinn said she was so delighted she resisted the urge to reach over and hug him! Haha! Glad I could share the love. ;)

I wanted everyone to have a little something to take home when it was over, so I made some sugar cookies and packaged them up cute with some help from my Cricut! First time using it. Yikes, I have a LOT to learn. But it really is the coolest machine!

I didn't really decorate much, but here is a few things...

I had been wanting a Valentine's table runner, so this was the extra push I needed to get it made. Just sewed some ribbon to burlap, but I liked how it turned out!



We had Café Rio salads for dinner and I had everyone help bring the toppings. But I bought the yummy chips and tortillas from Food City in Mesa, earlier that week! Da best. 

I made molten chocolate cakes for dessert. 

I had a few active games intermixed with a few talking games.

Of course, the ping pong ball shake game had to be included... serenaded by Taylor Swift's Shake it Off! We had 3, very pregnant ladies jumping around like crazy. Thought we might induce labor that night! 

This game had to be my favorite. It was called "Tiny Dancer". Each couple had a piece of butcher paper to stand on. I'd start playing a song and everyone had to dance without stepping off. If you did, you were out. After a minute or so, I'd stop the music and everyone would fold their paper in half and we'd do it all again. It was hysterical! It wasn't such a big deal until about the third fold, then the grasping, shrieking, laughing really started! The Cashs and Jones ended up doing it piggy back style. I was really surprised how long Megan and Bron lasted. Meg's faces were my favorite! The Jones' took gold on this one!

We also played a game where each couple had a balloon that they had to pop between themselves, with no hands. Get it? Wink wink. I had a special song to serenade this game as well... "Push It" by Salt and Pepper. Hehe. We had two couples compete against each other at a time. The Shaheens were in the first group and neither couple could pop their balloon for the life of them!! We were all DYING laughing watching Bron try to squish this balloon on poor Megan who was crying laughing herself and squirming all over the place. There just aren't words! I wish I had taken video with my phone instead of just on my video camera. Come to think of it, this game might have taken the cake. My cheeks were in PAIN from laughing so hard!

 

We also played the Newlywed Game and a few other similar ones that had us guessing which facts belonged to which couple, or husband and wife answering questions, sitting back to back. Actually, that one was pretty interesting. The husband and wife sit back to back and have their own shoe in one hand and their spouses shoe in the other. I'd ask a question like, "Who spends more money", and each person would lift the shoe for who they thought answered the question. I got the idea from Marcie's groom's dinner. The truth came out on that one! Trav and I still need to have a foot race to settle who would win. ;)

 

After dessert, we ended with the White Elephant Game. I had each couple bring a love themed gift for it. After all but one gift had been opened, we had the pleasure of picking the last box. Inside was an article we had never heard of before... underwear for two! Haha! Or Fundies, I guess. Well, we HAD to try it on and model for everyone, of course! OKAY, we were so coordinated that as we tried to pull it on, we literally toppled over onto a chair, knocking it over and falling in a heap on the ground! I can't believe we didn't break the chair! We could hardly stand, we were laughing so hard. Other people had to come over and lift us back up! Oh my gosh, it was a hit for sure! Thank the Jones for being the most creative on bringing that one!



My only regret is that I forgot to take a group picture! Boo! But, thanks to the Shaheens, Kings, Hatches, Foleys, Cashs and Jones, we had a hysterical, fun filled night!

 

The next day, on actual Valentines, we started off the day cleaning the church. That led to a heart shaped pancake breakfast and cleaning out the garage! The fun never ends around here. ;) Actually, cleaning out that nasty garage was super fun for me, if I'm being honest.

We found a babysitter that night and Trav and I got to go eat Surf and Turf at Badlands. But since I look 300lbs in the picture, we will go sans photography on that one. ;)

 

Olive was the special one and got a fun outfit for the occasion.

If there is anything cuter than her cheese- it smile, I'd like to know what! 

They each got a small gift that included cotton candy. Olive wasn't a hug fan. She doesn't like it when her hands get dirty and that sticky cotton candy was definitely getting her hands dirty! So she offered up her fingers to Collin to clean.

Aunt Marcie spoiled them with fun gifts, including these botox lips!

Weston went to the cutest Valentine's party at Megan's house with his preschool group. I put together these Valentine's for him to hand out. Thank you Pinterest!

I tried for a second photo shoot before church the next day. More cheesy smiles!

Oh, did I mention they got Flipeez in their Valentine gift?

Yes.

We all flip for Flipeez.