*100 days*

Kindergarten has been in session for 100 days.

It is a big deal around here.

Each student made a hat that had 100 things on it. Liam wanted a space hat and so I was trying to come up with some complicated extravagant project but then we went to the dollar store and he found stickers and a colander. I bought a balloon weight that had some wirey star things on it that I clipped off and put on the top of the colander, covered it with foil, and voila. You have a space hat.

Liam thought it was awesome, even though it looks a little ghetto.


He got to lead the parade. He was pretty darn psyched.


They paraded around the school and everyone came out of their classrooms to line the hallways giving the kindergarteners high fives and a ton of applause. These darling kids were beaming the entire time.


They came back to the classroom to do different "100" activities. I was in charge of 100 exercises. The kids didn't really pay attention or count so it was a whatever you want to do activity and it worked out great.

Here is their cute class in all their hats.


Congrats on 100 days Liam!

*love day*

I am an idealist.

I frequently have unrealistic expectations and frequently end up with shattered pieces of what I have built up in my mind of how things are supposed to be. It is not a healthy way to live my life, I do realize this, and while I do have wonderful moments in my life, I rarely have ones that are truly utopian.

Valentine's weekend exceeded all expectations because I didn't have any. Sure I had some plans that involved activities with the kids for their boxes and valentines and such but as much as I could have tried to, there was no way to plan the way things arranged themselves in perfect harmony. It just happened. And there was a moment that I wanted to tell everyone about but if I would have told anyone they would have given me a strange look and wonder why in the world I was telling them since it was nothing special. To them. It was my moment to cherish and love and remember when I need to remember something happy.

We went to Journey 2--not high on my list of things to do but the only kid friendly movie out at the time. And you know what? I loved it. It was cute and much better than I expected. We looked at a super cute house that day and I even was called off off work that night. The start of a perfect weekend.

On Monday, the day before Valentine's day, I had a rare burst of energy and was able to get all of my projects done. You know, to create my perfect holiday.

While I was getting things ready for dinner, Justin was helping the boys with their boxes, and Nick was singing the love song from Rio in his newly acquired baritone while helping me cook. It was so serene and the love I felt for my family right there and then was almost palpable. This simple and remarkable twinkling was my utopia. It filled my soul and I just stood there for a minute and soaked it all in.

Justin has so much more patience and creativity with this kind of thing than I do. I think he created, with the boys' help, some pretty phenomenal boxes.


I loved how Liam's valentines turned out.


I even had time to put together a little gift for the boys' teachers.


The next morning we had red velvet pancakes for breakfast. They were sinful.


I was also able to go and help with Liam's valentine party at school.






Then made dinner and went to work where we had a party to celebrate love day.

Pretty much the best weekend ever.

*quotes*

Luke has not been very reverent in church lately.

He got in serious trouble one week for yelling "DIARRHEA" in the hall not once, not twice, but thrice.

The last one was in the glass partition as you walk outside and it echoed. A lot.

He was grounded for a week from all things fun.

The next week he was in Sacrament meeting he was being rowdy and I turned to him and I asked:

"Why can't you just be good? You know you aren't supposed to act this way in church."

He replied with "Mom, there are too many distractions."

He was grounded from the TV for a week.

The next week went a little more smoothly. When Andrew was trying to make him laugh Luke shot him a dirty look and said: " I have not been able to watch TV for two weeks. I want to watch it this week so leave me alone!"

Then today after I picked Liam up from school I asked him what he learned today. He was rattling things off and then his face lit up when he remembered that they did first grade math.

I asked him what that meant and he told me that ten plus 6 is sixteen and that ten plus 9 is nineteen.

We were driving along for a minute and then he said: I know some college math."
"Oh! You do?"
"Yep. 120 is 121."

Unfortunately for me, the logic behind college math truly was that confusing.

*January*

January was quite lovely. It was a nice balance of big and everyday activities and I relished every moment I could relax because busier times are just around the corner. And the fact that it was unseasonably warm made January not so dreary and actually enjoyable.

Some highlights include:

Watching my darling nieces while my sister and brother in law celebrated their anniversary. I had so much fun. We walked around their neighborhood for a bit collecting pinecones. I never tired of little O urging me to find "mo pinecone" and miss C's declarations that "this is the most beautiful pinecone in her collection." We decided to head over to Wendy's for lunch and then choose a treat from the Sweet Tooth Fairy. There was just enough time for makeovers when we arrived home before mom and dad's date was over.

I was taken to the special clubhouse ( a small linen closet in the basement) and then they closed the door and talked in whispers. They sat so still and perfect for their makeovers and I was lucky enough to get my own.



Luke continued playing basketball and did pretty well. His team was terrible so it was a bit painful to watch games sometimes but Luke tried his best and had fun so that is what matters. Right?

Because of Jr. Jazz, Luke received a free ticket to sit in the boonies at the Energy Solutions Arena to watch the ants play ball. Fortunately, Justin gets tickets that are in the lower bowl from his job so he took the older three boys to the game and I toted Liam to the movie theater to see the most recent Chipmunk flick.

Dumbest. movie. ever. but Liam loved it and it was fun just spending time with my littlest man and not having other obligations pulling me every which way. When I asked him what his favorite part of the movie was, he emphatically stated "ALL of it."

We (I say WE because even though it was Andrew's project, it was really mine with Andrew's name on it) had a science fair project to see which brand and flavor of gum lasts the longest. Just so you know, it is 5 gum, mint flavor. You're welcome. Here is Andrew showing off his knowledge at the science fair and Liam had to get in on the action.



Then on Martin Luther King day since everyone had the day off we headed up to the new and improved Museum of Natural History at the U. It is pretty darn amazing. I loved it even that much more because I got in free due to me being an employee of the hospital. Score!

There are so many hands on exhibits to explore and one of the favorite sites was the underground dig that you could walk over. It was pretty funny to watch Liam tentatively step on the glass because he thought he would fall into the ground.




Of course there were dinosaurs and gemstones. I loved looking at the Native American exhibit and the huge display of butterflies. It looks like we have one that morphed into some sort of insect before we left.








After we had perused to our hearts' content, I suggested we go to the Pie for lunch. My never ending complainer son whined that everytime we go out we get pizza. For one, we don't go out that often. And two, I think we have gone out for pizza once. Like a couple years ago. And his argument is that he wanted to go somewhere good. Like McDonalds.

I ignored the complaining and said that he would love this place because there is a lot of food and the atmosphere is fun. It didn't really stop the grumbling but he reluctantly agreed.

When we walked in, the boys were a little frightened and said the place looked weird. I think they warmed up nicely once the food came out.



There was a chorus of "ahhhhhs" when the cheesy breadsticks came out and the cheese just kept coming as you pulled them apart. They loved the pizza and the never ending sodas. I think it is a keeper...even for Andrew.



And last but not least, Santa brought Justin, Nick, Andrew, and myself tickets to see Brian Regan.

We wanted to go to our favorite special occasion restaurant but they are only opened on the weekends and we ended up with opening night tickets on a Wednesday. So we ended up at another long time fave the Dodo.




We then laughed the night away in the company of, in my opinion, the best stand up comic out there. I also loved watching the boys' reactions to him and hearing their comments. My favorite was when Nick squeaked out "I can't breathe" with a huge smile on his face and tears running down his cheeks from laughing so hard.



Nick started baseball practice, there were playdates, I went on a few lunch dates, I gave a talk in Relief Society, the boys went with Justin to the batting cage, and Liam had an eye appointment in which the doctor declared that "his eyes are the best they have ever been."

What joyous and sweet music to my ears.

More to come!

*rare*

As I was sitting waiting for Nick and Andrew's recital to start, I overheard one of the most tender exchanges between these two brothers.

As I was reading over the coming program I realized that Andrew was playing the same song as one of the other students. This is not uncommon occurance so when I pointed it out, Andrew just gave me his classic shrug of the shoulders and little grin.

Then Nick piped up and told him the sweetest thing ever. He said "You will play it way better than he will."

Now, Nick is a fabulous young man but he gets great pleasure from teasing his younger brothers, unceasingly it seems at times. So I had to look at him after he had made his comment to see if he was joking around.

He wasn't.

I reveled in this rare moment of true brotherly love and listened to my boys perform wonderfully on their violins.

I am truly blessed.

*2012*

I rang in the New Year welcoming in babies and spending time with my lovely co workers.

It was super nice at this beginning of the shift and we did not have one patient on the board.

Some of us made awesome hats.


We watched the ball drop and celebrated for a few minutes with our fake wine.

After the new year showed itself, the patients decided it was time to head into the hospital. I ended up with a super cute girl who delivered the first New Year's baby at our hospital! We didn't have the first in the valley but maybe next year!

*outings*

I have mentioned before that I have been blessed with good friends. I also have been very lucky to have kept in touch with some of them over the years, although I wish I kept in touch with more.

I had fun getting together with my bestie from college over the Christmas break. She and I were joined at the hip for quite some time. I can't remember the exact moment we became friends or how we started hanging out together, but she is one of the most wonderful people I have ever known.

We were similar to the odd couple: she was sophisticated, wealthy, and classy and I was, well, not. But somehow the opposites attract principle applied to us and held us together like glue.

We lived together for a year in the Chi Omega house and helped each other navigate through some pretty sticky situations. It is also through her that I met Justin. After I had Nick, we lost touch for a while and through the miracle of Facebook, we were able to reconnect and get together when she comes into town.

The most fantastic thing about good friends is the fact that you can go a while without talking and then when you actually get together it is like time never passed. I am so grateful to have good friends like these.

This is us at a fireworks show many years ago. We look like babies. And yes, back then overalls were totally in style.



Here we are now.





I am also lucky that I can call my family my friends as well. We all met for lunch at Vento, a cute little pizza place in downtown Salt Lake, to celebrate my sister's birthday. Not only do they have amazing pizza, their gelato is superb.

Unfortunately, Justin was unable to make it and Nick had a migraine but managed to smile for the pictures. What a good boy.