Happy Birthday Mom!

Sunday we celebrated my mom's birthday. Thursday was her real birthday, but Sunday was the only day we could all get together. For starters, my mom made dinner for us. Yup, SHE made dinner for US! She would say it wasn't fancy, but our BBQ sandwiches had all the fixin's..YUMMY! She never misses the little details. On my diet, I don't eat much..so I especially enjoyed my one meal of the day. Our plan was to see the movie Avatar. Matt had agreed to stay back and watch Jamie so that Lauren and I could enjoy the show in peace. I was thankful for the break even though I wasn't exactly excited to see the show. Man, was in for a suprise! First of all, we saw it in an IMAX theatre in 3D and my mom ordered tickets in advance so we had the PERFECT seats! This movie was AWESOME! It was amazing and truly beautiful. I was SO into it...I laughed, I cried, I clung to Lauren because I couldn't stand the suspense. I LOVED IT...awww. So happy just thinking about it. The show was groundbreaking!

In attendance: My mom and dad, my sisters; Ashley and Sarah, my niece; Alysia and her girlfriend Katie, and Lauren and I. Matt and Jamie came for dinner, but left for home when we left for the movie.

Here are some pictures of us singing Happy Birthday!

As usual, I didn't snap too many pictures. I was able to snag one of my mom and me!

I wish that I could be creative and sweet like my friend Misty....instead I will just name a few things that I LOVE about my mom:
*She is a great cook (as mentioned above)
*She is a great hostess, she always thinks of the details (as mentioned above), she makes everyone feel welcome, and well fed!
*She always puts everyone else first
*She is always calm and collected
*She is great at listening to my gripes and she sees every side of the story (even when I am mad and want her to be on MY side)..she is usually right. She also gives the best advice, whenever I am at a loss..never fails, she knows what to do!
*She LOVES my kids, she watches them for us almost every day. I think that my kids would rather be with her than with me
*She makes all of us four kids always feel like they are the favorite kid, I mean I am the real favorite of course, but the others THINK they are too
*She has always been so supportive of me and my endeavors, she never complained about her time and money that she so generously gave
*She is deeply religious and I admire her faith and her steadfastness (I hope that is the right word)
*I love that she texts, she started texting before me! She texts in all capitals, gotta love that!
*I like the quirks like she won't drive on the freeway and that when she drives, she drives with two feet...he he he.
*She isn't lazy at all, never has been
*She loves to plant flowers and plants and has a garden in pots around her yard that she loves to show off
*She always takes care of me when she is around me..even though I don't deserve it, it is nice to be "mommed" every now and then
*We talk almost every day, feels like an eternity if we skip a day
*She is very organized and not forgetful at all
*She has really thick and pretty hair
*She is not materialistic at all, she is the easiest person to buy for as she doesn't spoil herself at all
*As a kid I used to wonder why she didn't have a gaggle of girlfriends, as an adult I see that her large family contains all of the best friends she will ever need
*She is just the best mom and friend in the entire world, well, in my opinion and maybe in four other people's opnion too
***Well, I could go on and on and maybe I will just stop at 20 because it is getting late and now that I took Jamie's bars off his crib, he gets up much earlier..so now must I***

Bad Blogger

Okay! I AM a "Bad Blogger"! I know I promised to post more...and it has been over a month since my last post. I feel like I am so busy now, and barely have time to sit down. I guess that is a good thing. I am not one for routines...but I have found myself in one....let me break it down for you.
5:15 AM Get up, get ready
5:40 AM Leave for work
5:45 AM-9:00 AM WORK
9:05 AM Get home, feed kids breakfast, do 1 house chore, lay clothes out for next day
10:00-11:00 AM Work out downstairs, while kids ride bikes around me
11:00 AM-12:30 PM Take a shower, bathe and get the kids ready
12:30 PM-1:30 PM Cook lunch, eat lunch, clean up lunch
1:30PM-2:00 PM Clean up any mess the kids made while I was busy with lunch prep
2:00 PM...put Sponge Bob on for Lauren, put Jamie in crib for nap
2:00PM-4:00 PM Watch a bit of TV, NAP!
4:00PM-4:20 PM Freshen up, pack dinner for work
4:25 PM-Kiss Matt as he arrives from work, and I am in my car heading BACK to work
4:30PM-10:30 PM WORK AGAIN!
10:30 PM-11:00 PM Change into PJs, clean up any messes kids made while I was at work
11:00 PM-12:00 AM Watch a bit of TV with Matt
12:00 AM Go to sleep....

What a day, eh? Kind of exhausting! But worth it to our kids, we think! I am quite proud of myself for working out everyday....and now being so active and having the time to eat lunch, I have lost almost 7 pounds. I am not trying to diet, just to make healthy choices...and hope to lose weight that way. I think it helps to be on the GO..so much. I now hardley have any time to make jewelry, talk on the phone, watch TV, or get on the computer to BLOG. Sorry! From now on I won't make any empty promises.

Today was my day off...so I had time to try to fill you in on a few events over the past month:

My mom is gracious enough to babysit for us quite often, so that Matt and I can get SOME alone time. The weekend of her birthday, she took Lauren over-night. When we met up for her birthday dinner...we arrived to see Lauren's hair styled by my sister Sarah:
(Lauren is such a poser...where did she get THAT from??)
Sarah and Lauren...do they look alike?

Jamie was happy to see his sister. They are the cutest kids, EVER! (at least I think so!)

I happen to think that I have the greatest mom in the entire world....she is sweet, un-selfish, practical and hard working...I am lucky to have her as a mother and as a best friend:

Here is the entire clan (minus my brother and his wife...they live in New Mexico)...even my niece, Alysia came:

On January 17th, we were invited to my friend, Carissa's son's birthday party at the Kangaroo Zoo (yes, Christy I found it!). Here is the birthday boy; Mason:

Jamie was shy at first, but then he loved it! Afterall, it combines two of his favorite things: wrestling and falling!

Jamie and Mason

Jamie on a slide:

Lauren, of course, had a blast...who doesn't love jumpy-houses??

AND Jumpy-slides...CRASH!

AND Dinosaur noses....(don't you just love him when he smiles? I sure do!)

We also ventured out to the Utah Auto Expo (AKA Matt heaven)....Matt took a kajillion pictures, and would have taken more if my battery hadn't died. I had to include one shot of the car he thought was the coolest, the Mustang:

Personally, I was the most excited to see Nascar Driver Denny Hamblin's #11 Fed Ex Car. Oh yeah, we are huge Nascar fans!

Okay...jump ahead one month. I literally took NO pictures for a month. Maybe my camera needed a rest from the Auto Expo. ANYWAY...I broke it out again for Valentines Day. I had a great family oriented Valentines Day. First we took the kids to eat with us, lunch at Red Lobster. Here is cheeser Lauren:

As a Valentines treat, the kids were actually uncharacteristically well-behaved during lunch. Jamie, obviously enjoyed himself:

Matt has been spending a lot of time getting our old house ready to sell. I hadn't been there for a while to see his hard work. So, after our Valentines lunch, he took us there. I had to post all of the pictures because I am so amazed that he can do all of this work himself....

Here is a shot of the tile he is putting down in the dining room and kitchen, and some of his tools:

I had to take a picture of our empty kitchen. It was so weird going back:

Our closet, Matt installed the closet system. It made our closet so much more organized:

Our bedroom. He has ripped up the carpet all over the entire house:

The hallway:

The guest bathroom, oh and Jamie's head:

Lauren's purple bedroom, he painted this room right before Jamie was born:

Our backyard. It is strange...our old house, although only 10 minutes away, is at a much higher elevation, so there is always SOOO much more snow at the old house than at the new house. At this time there was NONE at the new house...and about 5 inches at the old house....hmmmm:

The fridge used to be here...now it houses the painting supplies:

The kids enjoy checking out the house too:

Matt framed the basement all by himself:

Matt's two old cars are occupying our garage. Here is his El Camino, and his Camaro:

Here is the old place....I miss the cute little shack:

Okay, these next shots got out of order somehow...so bear with me.

The lake behind our house recently became inhabited by two ducks. The kids and I could not be happier. Here is a shot of them in the lake:

You can see the lake is coming along nicely..another shot of the ducks:

Okay, back to Valentines day...here are the flowers that Matt got me...it was a very nice suprise...they were very beautiful. He also got Lauren a stuffed animal, and Jamie a toy car. What a sweet Daddy! This is how we ended our Valentines Day, grocery shopping. Good times!

Well...that about sums it up. Oh, I forgot to mention that I started managing a new team at work as of February 1. My team calls people in problem mortgage states and offers them lower payments and lower interest rates. I have had to learn a lot and it has been sorta stressful, but every day gets a little better. Nothing else too exciting. I will try to post more often, but no guarantee's folks!!! Lauren's birthday is next week...so I will do my darndest to share that as soon as I can. I still can't believe my little girl will be 5!!!