Awesomeness 41-50

Halfway done with this challenge.  Catching up!  

Day 41. Sunday March 2 we celebrated Lauren's birthday with the family.  We went out for lunch at Red Lobster..then we had cake and ice-cream back at our house.  I always love getting together with our big old combined family.  Here is my little family. 

Day 42.  I couldn't resist posting this picture of my little boy.  I love that sometimes he will say "Mom, take my picture".  When he looks this cute, who could resist?

Day 43. Tuesday March 4th, 2014.  My last Diet Dr. Pepper...at least until Lent is over.  I wanted to make it challenging for myself this year.  So I gave up..all soda pop, candy/cookies/cake, and elevators.  I wanted to limit breads, coffee/tea, Facebook/games and weighing myself.  I wanted to add 4 random acts of kindness, 10 rosaries, reading the bible with the kids, and being a better wife.  Whew.  So far, so good.  BUT still looking forward to Easter and to having an ice cold DDP!

Day 44.  Wednesday March 5th.  Matt left for Chicago that Monday...so I took the kids to Ash Wednesday mass by myself.  I am slightly clausterphobic and at our church..holidays and special events like this are SUPER packed and I usually avoid it.  I do think it was good for the kids to experience it.  I told Jamie to not wipe his ashes off, but he came straight home and washed them off!  What a stinker.  So..here is JUST Lauren and I with our ashes on. 

 Day 45.  With Matt being out of town, the week felt SUPER long.  I took one day of PTO to come in 2 hours late for 3 days...but the days felt just as long..and I was more tired than usual, despite going in later.  I posted this pic because I couldn't get that dang song that Lauren loves out of my head... "I'm a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world".....

Day 46. Friday March 7th.  This day would have been Suzanne's 60th birthday.  I miss her so much and think of her everyday.  I would love to spend just one afternoon hearing her opinions on everything that has happened since she has been gone.  I still remember her beautiful blonde hair...and how much she loved Lauren.

Day 47.  I came home from work on Friday, and my husband surprised me with this Blu Ray of Catching Fire.  He said "to thank you for taking care of everything while I was gone"...how sweet is that? I love everything Hunger Games..the books, the movies, the soundtracks.  I totally geek out about it.  Sigh.

Day 48.  Sunday March 9th.  Jamie has had a raspy voice on and off for the last couple of months.  This past week he had complained here and there about his throat being sore.  I kept taking his temperature and he hadn't been running a fever, on our way out the door for church, I took his temperature and boom, he was running a fever.  SO...instead of church, we all headed to Instacare.  He was positive for Strep!!  Lauren tested negative.  We came home and snuggled on the couch and watched Freebirds.  It seems we have less and less snuggle time...so I enjoyed this time with my boy.

Day 49.  This week I bought my Divergent premiere tickets.  I also purchased the soundtrack.  Love it, love it.  One more thing my bestie and I have in common...the love for books and totally nerding out over them.

Day 50.  We are in the process of getting the kids' rooms in order.  The #1 problem is that they have TOO much stuff in a tiny space.  We bought this bookshelf from Ikea to bring the books that were crowding up Lauren's room into the loft.  For her birthday, we bought her two new dressers.  It is still a work in progress, but we are getting there.  One step at a time.

Keep on being awesome.

Days 31-40

Trying to stay on top of my Days of Awesomeness.  Time flies!

Day 31.  Two days a month, Matt takes a class at work, so he is away from the office.  I asked him to take a selfie and send it to me.  He never does stuff like this...but being the sweet hubby he is...he made my day by sending this to me.  What a handsome fella.  I really am so lucky!

Day 32.  I don't know what happened...I can't find #32.  Facebook is so weird sometimes.  Oh well.

Day 33.  On February 21, my best friend Misty and our friend Destiny went to the Walk Off The Earth concert at the Venue.  It was seriously one of THE BEST concerts I have ever been too.  I danced so much I literally danced the curls right out of my hair!  I sung at the top of my lungs and just had the time of my life.  I SOO much want to do that night all over again.  I don't ever really get "girls nights out", and the hubster once again was the hero dropping us all off and picking us up and taking us out for donuts and hot chocolate after.  Sometimes life is SOOO good.   Can you see me in this pic?  (hint balcony-pink shirt, middle!)

 Day 34.  Sometimes Lauren and I are alike and sometimes we are VERY different.  Sometimes it is good and sometimes it is bad.  One way that our differences are good is that she LOVES green and yellow Sour Patch Kids and I love the red and orange ones!  It makes splitting a package SUPER awesome.

Day 35.  I keep this picture of my grandpa on my visor.  Call me silly, but it makes me feel like he is guarding over me.  Seeing him just like I remember him, just makes me plain old happy.

Day 36. Usually life is pretty awesome but sometimes I have rough days.  Yes..sometimes I fail to see the bright side of life and can be somewhat crabby.   Nothing can make me happier faster than this sweet little boy and his little smile. Here we are one Tuesday...in the car...waiting for his class to start.

Day 37.  February 26th...my baby turned 10.  Holy crap.  It is hard to even remember life before her.  She really is my best little buddy.  I love her more than she will ever know.  She can be sassy..fun..smart..sweet..cute..fashionable...daring...outspoken...quirky... I adore her.

 Pic Collage was TOTALLY bugging me this day..it kept leaving a picture out...grrr..so here are two options. I am REALLY into birthday pictures.  They mean so much to me, capturing a moment in time forever.  I love to look back at these old pictures and see how my baby has changed over time.  I remember each of moments so clearly..it makes me happy and sad at the same time.

 Day 38.  I have never had fish before.  I have to say that I do enjoy these finned friends.  I am impressed that these four have lasted almost 2 years! They have grown so much!  We had to invest in a larger tank.  I know Matt dreads cleaning the tank every week...but we have learned a lot about taking care of fish, and it is harder than you think.  We even tried to get some little Tropical fish for the smaller tank that the big fish had outgrown and they were doing pretty good until I brought home a suckerfish that I had INSISTED on having...which consequently gave ALL of the fish ICH and slowly killed them all.  I felt HORRIBLE.  I loved having suckerfish, but can't bring myself to get another one after that incident.  Well...Finn, Dash, Gulliver and Mr. T have done very well, so I just sick back and enjoy these guys.  They really do brighten my days.  Matt's too...and most mornings he usually is heard saying "HI FISHY FRIENDS"....he is the morning person NOT me.

Day 39.  February 28th...we had Lauren's FRIEND birthday party...for the 5th year in a row..at the Fitness Center.  This time we tried swimming.  It was fun to hang out with both of my sisters too!

Day 40.  We rang in March with a trip downtown to City Creek.  We had lunch at the Blue Lemon and walked around to check out the creek.  These three are my WORLD.  Such cuties.

Days 21-30 of Awesome

I am enjoying this challenge a lot.

Day 21. I found this clip and I just loved it. I have watched it a bunch of timea, the kid in this video cracks me up, his expressions are the best. If you getba chance,  check it out. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ4Rnba85o8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Day 22. I was getting worried that we were half way through the year when I realized that neither of my kids had won. I had nothing to fear!Way to go little girl! I was so happy when she showed me, I almost cried.

 Day 23: I love reliving the fun of the holidays with my own children. The kids' new school encourages celebration of the holidays, so we decided to go all out on Valentine boxes. This was my first attempt. Actually, Lauren did hers all by herself, it was her idea and everything!! I took her picture and ordered it..the rest was all her. The onlya sucky thing is..now what do I do with these boxes...I don't have the heart to chuck them.

Day 24. Lauren was tickled pink when a boy from school brought her a stuffed monkey and some candy. We decided to pay him back by bringing him a gift. My normally very frugal daughter coughed up $13 for this gift. His mom and I have gotten to be friends, she is such a cute gal, and I stile this picture from her..notice Jamie and my foot in thw background.  Classic. Oh..and how about Lauren pulling an "Earl"..she is her father's daughter.

Day 25. Speaking of Valentine's Day. The hubs asked what I wanted and BOOM..I got it. I love this gorgeous purse. I am so impressed that he picked such a beauty. I almost fainted when I saw thw price tag, he assured me that he did not pay that for it, whew. He loves me.

Day 26. Sometimes my kids play together very well...and that is usually when Lauren is making Jamie do something....here he is dressed up by her. I was cracking up. All was well until he did a cartwheel and smacked Lauren in the face. Peace never lasts too long.

Day 27. Feb 16...I finally made it to my four month mark!! I followed my doctors orders, and I wore these ugly bad boys almost 24x7. I stayed away from all excercise and tried to elevate and ice as much as I could. My feet feel good and I am ready to get back on my feet.

Day 28. The kids were off school February 17, so I took PTO and we had a fun day. We ate at Costa Vida and then went roller skating. It was soo much fun. I was very sore the next day from balancing the children. I didn't think they liked it, but they begged to go again and we did the next Saturday and we even drug Matt out with us!! Ha ha!

Day 29. I got another Top Eagle in my nest. I really like the kid's new school.

Day 30. My daughter was ready to head off to dance in this saucy little number she put together herself. She has a great sense of style sometimes. Woot. Woot.

Looking for the positive everyday really helps me stay positive..who woulda thunk it!!