We have saved money for the last four years for this very day!! I have been anticipating this purchase for months. We have spent hours upon hours researching our options. We have had a few let downs in the process. We have squashed and squished for long enough! We finally had enough $$$$ for this smokin' hot MINI VAN!! Woo HOO!! I'm dancin' right now! It's a scary thing to buy a car! Here's a picture:
Okay...so I have finally gotten my watch bands done and I am ready to go. If any of you want one-let me know. They are $1o for the watch face and $15 for the bands. They are interchangeable so once you get a face you can change out the bands. To check out everything that I have for sale you can go to Little Miss Priss.
My birthday was SO great! I seriously have the best family and friends ever. My morning started off with John making me a delicious breakfast. After John brought Hailey to the bus stop he told me that I needed to get ready for the rest of my day. He had told Hailey that she was going to take me to get a pedicure and then out to lunch. We had so much fun together. I picked her up from school and we had a P A R-T A Y!! She thought that it was so fun to pick out her own nail polish out of the 100 choices! It was so relaxing. I had forgotten how much I love to get my nails done.
For lunch she wanted to take me to Chuck E Cheese's but I wasn't so excited about eating pizza for lunch. I was thinking more along the lines of a nice sit down meal that we could share a dish together and chat. Our nails took a little bit longer then I thought and I was worried about my hungry little guy at home so we opted for Chick-Fil-A....yummy food, quiet restful atmosphere, and quick! It was great! Thanks for taking me out for the morning Hailey!
When we got home John had all of my gifts sitting out and a beautiful Butterfly cake that he did ALL BY HIMSELF! He knows that I don't like store bought frosting and so he made a tasty Buttercream Frosting. I was so surprised. He had hid all of the things to make me this cake and it was so sweet. I love surprises!
For dinner, John had made arrangements with my Aunt Dixie (THANK YOU SO MUCH) who was sweet enough to offer her services to us. She came over and played with the girls while we took Talon with us to Friday's. The girls love her so it was perfect. We had a great time while traveling in the car to the restaurant (Talon was asleep and there was rush hour traffic so we had some quiet time with just the two of us). The rest of the evening wasn't as successful. Talon cried the entire time that we were at dinner and our food was NASTY! Our waiter was also the bus boy and the Host...and the place was packed. It was still nice to get away from the house and the normal evening routine. We sure did have lots of laughs!! We came home to happy little girls which makes the evening a success!
About a week later we were able to go out again (thanks Burtons!!) and the night went more smooth. It was our first time leaving Talon and WOW it was so nice to be just with John.
Thank you for all of the wonderful gifts, phone calls, and emails! It was a great birthday!!
I really like Holidays. I think that they bring families closer together. They build relationships and memories. We usually celebrate most holidays for a few days. Valentine's Day was no exception.
I tried to do Hailey's hair in a heart a few times this week and I kept forgetting to take pictures of them. I came up with this one on my own and I think that it turned out cute.
It was so fun to go to Hailey's Preschool and volunteer for their Friendship Day! All five of us were there and we had a blast. Hailey received so many sweet Valentine's from her friends. I was amazed to find that while Hailey was passing out her Valentine's, she could read all of the names on the cards. All by herself. I didn't know she could do that. Everybody LOVED Isabella . In this picture they are all in awe by her! She was coloring...WOW!
We had the yummiest Mac and Cheese on Friday night...not your normal Mac and Cheese. This is a five cheese championship winner for T.G.I. Fridays. It is a little time consuming and a little pricey but for the right occasion it is worth it. It's almost always worth it to me if it tastes good! John has loved every savory bite and was so sad when the last of the leftovers was gone.
On Saturday the kids woke us up bright and early and we made red, heart pancakes. The girls thought this was so fun! John had cards for each of us that were so sweet. After opening up a few gifts John sent me (and Talon) back to bed for a few hours to nap (my nights have been insane-I have only been getting about 30 minutes of consecutive sleep). By the time that I woke up it was time for everyone to get dressed. While John took the kids to the park I got dressed and got the house all cleaned up. The rest of the afternoon was spent playing games and getting ready for dinner. Growing up, my mom would decorate the dinner table for Valentine's Day and she tried to have a little gift for us. I want to carry on with this tradition so we went for the pink, red, and white place settings. Dinner was eventful...like usual. As John was pouring the kids their Sparkling Grape juice, I suggested that Hailey and Isabella get the White Grape juice and not the Red Grape Juice. John thought that Hailey could handle the red stuff and about two minutes after he gave it to her, it spilled all over the table cloth and all over ME! My favorite skirt was COVERED in RED GRAPE JUICE! John and I hadn't even started eating yet and the next few minutes were spent trying to get the stain out of my skirt (we were successful...I told Hailey she was really lucky :)! The rest of the night was fabulous!
On Sunday morning John got up really early and intercepted the kids before they could come and wake me up. Heaven! I actually slept in until 7:30! John had to get ready for Bishopric Meeting so 7:30 was the max. That is really great! REALLY! Isabella has a double ear infection and so she needed to stay home from church. It's flu week and with her body taking antibiotics we don't want her to be around any other sickos! John came home to be with her and he folded all of the laundry which was a great surprise for me to come home to!
It's true. I am a Virginia Raised Utah girl. I love Utah. Some don't. I do! Nough said.
1. It's beautiful! I love the mountains and hiking and camping. I love looking out almost any window and seeing these beautiful mountains.
2. Everyone is so creative and crafty. I love all of the crafter fairs and all of the craft stores. I love the way that people decorate. I love these beautiful watches that I learned about while in Utah! I am so going to make these if any of you want one!!
3. I loved this place called Jump On It! It was so much fun! I know this is an awful picture but it sure does show JUST how much fun I had. Kevin (my bro) and the two girls and I all had a blast here. It is basically a huge room filled with connecting trampolines! SO FUN! My mom was a great sport and she watched Talon for me while we bounced away.
4. I love how many people do hair in Utah. This messy bun I learned from my friend Natalie who is born and raised in Grantsville. I love big hair too...my brothers hate it but I think that it looks great! I always get my hair done while visiting Utah.
5. All of our children's Grandparents are in Utah! We love to visit family-who doesn't!! We will always have a place to stay and warm loving arms to snuggle with.
6. It's a great gathering place for relatives and friends who are spread across the country. It's almost in the middle of the country (umm...kind of) and most LDS families have one reason or another to come there.
7. There are so many fun day trips to do. We went to Daniel's Summit for a few hours: ate lunch, bought fudge, hung out at the lodge and then headed back home.
8. I love the weather! There is snow in the winter, which can get old after a while but it can also be so much fun. If it's cold outside then there might as well be beautiful snow to play in! I also love the summers there. In Virginia it's HOT and HUMID and in Utah it's only HOT and it doesn't even feel that hot!
9. I love the high standards of most of the people around you. We have been very lucky to live in a community here in Virginia that is full of Christians and people with great morals and great families. That is hard to come by! Sure there are some strange ducks but who doesn't have those?
10. There are a few places that will always have a special place in my heart...of course they are all linked to food! I love Cafe Rio...yum! I love Gandolfo's... another yum! On my first date with Johnnie boy we bought these delicious sanwiches and hiked to a waterfall to enjoy them. John and I also love this really old burger drive-thru called Brand X located in Springville (Heather...you know the one that I'm talking about!) A few other favorites are Magleby's Fresh and the grocery store- Macey's. I also LOVE Downeast Basics (the only link this has to food is the way that my fat bum fits into them ;)!
