ahhhh....

Today was absolutely perfect. And I think it had to do with the weather. Who couldn't be in a good mood in over 60 degree weather after a long winter?

It was the beginning of Spring Break today and although it is definately something to look forward to, it is hard to work nights and sleep and make sure the kids aren't totally bored out of their minds.

I worked Sunday night and told the boys that we would go do something if they let me sleep until 10:30. And, it worked. We decided to go to the zoo.

I have been dissing on our zoo lately. I mean, there are hardly any animals left there. Everything has died or left our zoo to be at other zoos. But Nick had not seen the baby elephant yet and how often do you get to see a baby elephant in person? So, we went.

We got to see a peacock in all its glory.


It really is so dang cute!




Here I had the boys prepped for a perfect picture and the giraffe started peeing right as I was going to take it sending the boys into hysterics. Ahhh, nature.


Right after the giraffe on the right peed, the one on the left put its head to the other's bottom and stuck its tounge out. This also was quite entertaining for the boys.


There was a super cute interaction in the tiger enclosure. One of the cubs was the only one awake and wandering around forever trying to find a playmate. He finally walked over to one of its brothers, nudged it with its head, gave it a big lick on the cheek, and plopped down next to him.



I can't remember what this animal is but I have officially decided it is the scariest animal there. It truly is freaky.


We spent a considerable amount of time in the creepy-crawly house. I let Nick be the photographer and I don't think I have ever taken so many pictures at the zoo.
He actually snapped some good ones. Luke also saw two frogs "wrestling". Ahhh, nature.

Then the boys went on the merry-go-round. I love that they all wanted to go on it even though most of them are getting so big. I guess the most simple things can make us happy.




We also played at the little park there for a while which we haven't done in years. Then off to 7-11 for the slurpee we get everytime on the way home from the zoo.

Then for FHE we decorated cookies. Yum.






Luke's cookie won the decorating contest...I love the rainbow effect.

luke

I just love, love, love this kid.








These are a preview of his baptism pictures he had taken on Wednesday. In my opinion, he looks delicious.

*scrumptious*

Tonight I made these to dip in this.

It was a hit. I even got a celebratory fist in the air from Liam.

Yes, they were that good.

*worst nightmare*

One of my greatest fears in life is losing one of my children.

I cannot imagine not having one of them in my life. It would devestate me to no end. I realize that they are a gift from our Heavenly Father to watch over in this life, but I have become quite attached to my boys and don't want to see them suffer, be in pain, be critically ill, or not be well enough to fufill their dreams.

There are thousands of sick children all over the world. Thousands of children die. It is a sad fact but I am still able to go about my daily activites and really not give it another thought.

There is a girl at work that has a son that was very recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer on February 2. She had quit just days before the diagnosis because she felt she needed to be at home more. She has a blog (www.mysuperspence.blogspot.com) that she puts daily posts on that I have been following and it breaks my heart. I have read other blogs that have sick or dying children, but this one really hits home. Her son is 7, just like my Luke.

What would my world be like if I were in this situation? What would I do if it were Luke in that hospital bed sick with cancer?

I am so affected by this that I think about it probably more than I should. I know there are so many things that need our attention and finances but I just want to advertise a fundraiser for this family. It is this Saturday, March 20th from 12-3 at 12791 South 6000 West in Herriman. There is more information about it at www.superspencevscancer.blogspot.com. Another way to donate is to buy a cute lolly bag. Perfect for work, a diaper bag, or a new bag to put all of your stuff in for church. You can find examples and can order them through www.sandinthecracks.blogspot.com.

If anything, please pray for this family. They are such a sweet family and need all the support and blessings they can get right now.

{thanks again!}

Whoever is the sneaky one who sent me the most adorable thank you cards, I thank you. Never in a million years did I expect to open up my mailbox today to such a delightful surprise. I am so excited to use them and I wish I could thank you personally but here I am, doing it on my blog because whoever you are put my address as the return address. So thank you, thank you. You made my day! You have stinkin' cute handwriting by the way. (I didn't mean to rhyme, but it works, doesn't it!)

*lucky number 13*

Last weekend we celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. We celebrated a week early due to a baseball tournament that happens every year over our anniversary. Had I realized this 13 years ago, I may have waited until April or something or gotten married a week earlier. Oh well, it was all about the way the date sounded when you said it--March 21st sounds way better than March 14th, don't you think? And it looks cool too: 0321. So, I don't really think I would change it. But, it worked out perfectly this year because we got to see the fabulous Brian Regan perform at Abravanel Hall.

Holy cow, he is hilarious. My cheeks felt like they did on my wedding night smiling at everyone for hours. There were times that I had to stop laughing because I just couldn't laugh anymore and my sides hurt so bad. His facial expressions are marvelous. He is not crude or gross or vulgar...just good, clean fun. I only got a couple pictures...the picture nazi was hovering just behind me after my second one. Bummer.

Then we went to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner. Have you ever been to Five Alls? I absolutely love it. I crave their water. They serve it in pewter goblets so it is super cold--your lips kindof stick to the cup and you can see steam from your breath against the top of it. We were seated by the fire so it was nice and cozy and we could see the snow fall outside. Very romantic. I also love the atmosphere of the restaurant, it is centered around the Medieval time period. I am captivated by this era. Yes, the beheadings and tortures and diseases would be bad but I love the castles and the balls and just the romantic air it has to it. Our cute waitress put candles in our dessert to make it more special. She said that all of her tables that night have been couples celebrating their anniversary. We had a fabulous time and we discussed making a Five Alls fund so we could go there once a month. Then we decided it would be more like every other and then it moved on to taking the boys when they turned 12. I think that is more realistic.

I love Justin so much and how he has been able to put up with me for all these years is a mystery to me. I am very lucky to be married to such a wonderful guy!

happy birthday(s)

I love birthdays and I like celebrating them even more. We celebrated two: my grandma's 85th and my mom's...I am not sure how old she is. Or young, I should say. It is even more exciting when your awesome uncle is in town and gets to hang out too.

We went to Q4U. I have to tell you, I have been wanting to visit this place for quite some time because they supposedly had awesome barbecue.The food was okay but the service wasn't...our waitress was a condescending Southern woman who I hope was just having a bad day because I hope that she is not so pleasant all the time. But, it was fun being with family none the less.


Back: Scott, Dad, J, Liam, me, Laura, Dave, mom
Front: Nick, Gigi, Luke, Erika, Andrew, Clark, and (his cute new fiance as of 2/27!), Kate




I think my grandma rocks. She is one amazing woman. She has shown me how to handle adversity with style and grace. She has an amazing memory. She just turned 85 and can remember specific details about her life and I can't even remember what I did yesterday. She loves music and one night we would say a word and she could sing a song with that word in it. I thought it was pretty amazing. One day when she was babysitting us--she was probably in her late 50s-she showed my sisters and I how to do a tripod headstand. She also has an intense love of junk food and a not so intense will power that I have inherited. She says she inherited it from her mother. At least I can blame my poor eating habits on my ancestry.

I think my mom is pretty neat too. She helps me out in so many ways and I love how she loves my boys. On Sunday I asked Liam where we were going. He said: "Disneyland?" "No, but we are going to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Would you rather go to Grandma and Grandpa's or to Disneyland?" He said: "Grandma and Grandpa's." She is oober talented and my best friend. I love her a lot.

My Uncle Scott is very cool. I have always thought he was the best. He lived in Utah and went to the U when I was little and once he took me on a tour of the U and I thought I was so cool hanging out with my college age uncle. He is personable and funny and down to earth. He is an amazing artist. I love his wife, my aunt Robyn. She is rad. Yes, I said rad. They have adorable children. I love them all.

Family is my favorite thing ever. I am so blessed to have a family who supports me and Justin and are so close knit. We are always doing things with our families whether it be parties, vacations, helping move out or in, good times, bad times...I couldn't be a luckier girl.

*sexy*

I was upstairs helping the boys get ready for church. Luke always seems to have a hard time figuring out what to wear. Nick came out of his room with his shirt and pants on and said: "Luke, you just have to wear something sexy. I am already sexy and I am not even finished yet."

Oh boy.

*thanks*

Isn't the power of gratitude amazing?

I used to think myself a pretty nice person. I say thank you and do nice things for people, but I have a lot of work to do. One of my downfalls is writing thank you notes. It is not that I hate writing them, they just are hard for me to write, to make things sound real and sincere and so I just have put off the art of writing them. I don't think I even finished the ones from my wedding.

But there is something powerful about a written thank you.

In the last three and a half weeks I have received 4 thank you cards telling me how much people appreciate me and what I do for them, how I inspire them. Every one of them made me cry.

Funny thing is that I was receiving a favor from one of the authors and she thanked me for the opportunity to serve and made me feel super good about myself, another I received from one of my best friends that has always been there for me and want to be as good of a friend to her that she is to me that I have been feeling guilty about not seeing for months and we finally got together telling me how good of a friend I am and inspire her to be a better friend, one I was just doing my job and took care of the most amazing patient ever, and another one was because I was totally bugged last night because I was called into work ten minutes after I was called off. My cute hubbs wrote me a beautiful card and bought me roses because I was a grouch.

How lucky I am to have such wonderful influences and a husband who truly loves me for who I am.

Then, I opened up this month's Ensign and there is a slew of articles about gratitude. One was particularly interesting to me since it was about writing thank you notes and how one made a dying woman feel so important. You never know how much a kind word can help someone and lift their spirits.

I have wanted to be better about this for some time, but I have a new resolve. I think that expressing gratitude is so important and makes one so happy to read how much they are appreciated. I have so much to be grateful for and I need to make sure that my loved ones know what they mean to me.

Does anyone know where to find cute cards? I may even send you one.