Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all!  I had a great day thanks to these cute people.  They made me a lovely breakfast and gave me super cute cards.  Aiden's card had a cute poem that ended with "I hope you will like the gift you receive.  Stay right there and don't leave."  He then presented me with a gift certificate for a facial.  He entered an essay contest at school where he wrote about why his mom deserved an hour massage or facial and he was one of two winners for the school! 

Chris and I have this "tradition" when it comes to gifts for me.  He asks me what I want, I tell him I don't need anything.  He tells me to give me a list.  I finally give him a list of a few things I would use, he tells me my requests are unacceptable (he still brings up that I asked for a banana hanger 13 years ago).  He likes big deal gifts.  This year I decided to skip a few steps and I sent him my list three months ago because it was something that had to be ordered online.  I was sure he wouldn't remember from that long ago so I resent the list last week.  Friday night Chris told me that wouldn't work because he wanted me to have something by Mother's Day and if it had to be shipped it wouldn't be there in time.  I will admit I was a little (or a lot) irritated to be shopping for my own mother's day gift that I didn't even need to feel loved on Friday night.  I may have let my exasperation show.  On Saturday Chris had a last minute flash of inspiration and took the kids on an adventure to get it.  Sunday morning when I woke up I came out to find...

 

A BRAND NEW BIKE!  

It's pink and fun but I'm kind of a scaredy cat to ride it.  I go really slow, ride the breaks and yes I walk it down our inclined driveway.  Whatevs, I break my ankle tripping over toys.  I don't think there is a too careful for me.  The even better surprise is underneath the bike.  Yep the rug was my list!  My tricky husband already had it and put up with my crankiness for the sake of surprise!  He's a keeper:)  It is so plush and super soft.  So much so that Dalin thought it would make a great landing spot for a cannon ball.  I didn't see it so I don't know if he actually landed on his booty, but he's pretty sure his crack is even bigger now.

Ninja Warrior

Chris has a thing for Japanese game shows.  There is some cable channel where he can watch several of them, but his favorite is Ninja Warrior and he got the kids hooked as well.  It's like a super obstacle course with three different rounds and only a handful of people have ever completed all three.  It has caught on in America and the finals were taped here in Vegas.  Chris and the girls were able to attend a taping of American Ninja Warrior (su-weet!).   I think the winners get to go to Japan to compete in the original Ninja Warrior.

  

People weren't supposed to take any pictures let alone walk up on the stage but Chris convinced one of the workers to let Kaylee and Ashton on the start point.  They had to pretend they were looking at something, hence the pointing.  Right after the picture the guy got more than a talking to (oops!)

 

Makoto Nagano!  An actual Ninja Warrior super star!

The Circle of Life

Dalin thinks a lot about growing up.  Things like who will he marry, how many kids will he have, will his mustache grow in before he becomes a father, you know life's big questions.  One day when these questions must have been running through his mind he shared this thought with Chris.

"Dad when I'm a dad you'll be a grandpa, and when I'm a grandpa you'll be dead."

Along those lines, a few weeks ago we ran into aunt Natalie at the store and Dalin had this discussion about the aforementioned mustache.

Dalin: When I'm a dad I"ll have a mustache.  But I can't grow one yet, it just won't come out of my mustache hole (the divot below his nose)
Natalie:  Why do you want a mustache?
D:  Because then I can do this (twirl his mustache) when I'm thinking
N:  Maybe you can grow a beard and do this (stroking the beard) to think
D:  Yeah that might work, but for now I'll just have to use my thinking face

The "thinking face"

Pictures!

It has been waaay to long since we've had family pictures taken.  I kind of stand in my own way.  I think waaay to much about picture clothes, locations, time of year, weather etc.  I'm a little (or a lot) obsessive that way.  I may need to see someone.   After a year and a half we are finally updated!  Much thanks to Mandy Frehner:)  Here are some of my favorites.  (One of these days I'll figure out how to do a picture collage;)

Hair today gone tommorrow

Kaylee has been going back and forth on getting her hair cut short for a few months now. Chris, who is not a fan of long hair, even put a bribe on the table to help her choose. Last Saturday she finally took the plunge and got a whopping 10 inches cut off. Her hair hasn't been this short since second grade. I was worried it wasn't going to be what she was imagining, but she really likes it. I like it too but it makes her look a lot older.

I forgot to take a before picture. This is from a couple of months ago.

After. That girl has some thick hair!

He's a cool kid

Dalin had an awards ceremony and I was sure it was going to be for something like A+ attendance, or make everyone feel special or something. It turned out it was the end of the trimester awards assembly and the awards were actually special. There was citizenship, most improved, smarty pants (not really, but something to that effect) and the coolest kid (like student of the trimester). It was almost over and I thought they had mistakenly invited me and I had gotten Dalin excited about getting an award for nothing. In my mind I was starting to curse the whole system for disappointing my son when I heard, "The Coolest Kid award goes to Dalin Edwards!" That will teach me for doubting my kid's coolness:)

Major Award

With "Da Bear!"

Blessings

We were able to travel to Utah this past weekend to go see my brother Austin bless his baby. It was kind of a big deal so I was really happy that we were able to go. My brother Brandon was able to make it down and it was great to see him, even if he didn't bring his baby. (Yep it's all about the babies now).

We haven't been out of town for quite a while so we decided to tourist it up a little while we were there. We went to the fancy new museum of natural history in Salt Lake with Grandma Romney and Craig. We followed that up with a visit to "The Pie" pizzeria where we got waaay to much pizza that lasted until after we got home. Of course there are no pictures because I didn't have the camera and I never really think to use my phone (lame).

After we said good by to grandma and Craig we decided to go to the zoo. It was pretty cold so most of the animals were asleep or hidden away. We did find a playful monkey that would put it's hand up to the glass when the kids put their hands up. And we also saw a giraffe that kept spitting on the wall then licking it up over and over again. Yes disgusting, and yes we stayed there the longest, I'll spare you the video.

Hatching Ashton

Token monkey measuring

On the way down to Provo Chris asked if I wanted to stop at IKEA. I've never been there and every time we've passed by it was always a Sunday or we don't have time (two points Chris always brings up with mock sympathy) so I was surprised that he even mentioned it. We ended up having dinner there then putting the boys in the child care (the girls were to tall much to their dismay) then wandering around the store. It was kind of fun, and I think it was the highlight for the kids.

The other blessing of the trip is that our car actually made it home. It was struggling on hills and we were worried we might have to replace the transmission while out of town but we made it home safe and sound and it's been working fine since.

Ashton Sings

Ashton was asked to be part of a choir that sang at the teacher development at the high school. I'm all for my kids being involved is school so I had no problem letting her do it. Then I realized she had to be at the school by 7:00 on a day off of school. I'm still glad she did it and I guess it's okay to give up a little sleep:)

It's kind of hard to see her but she's on the second row, third from the right.

In a somewhat related story, after this experience I thought Ashton wanted to do choir in middle school (yeah middle school, I'm trying not to freak out about that). When she came home from the tour of the school she told me she signed up for band. Go figure!