Quick Funny

Driving home from town with the kids when "Bad Romance" came on the radio. Brekken shouts "Yady Gaga!" (Lady Ga Ga) and they all cheer then car dance all the way home!

What a day!

Yesterday was a busy, busy day for our family. But lots of good stuff!

We started off the morning with the Lochbuie Elementary School talent show. Haley's PAWS group (her afterschool daycare) has been working on a dance for the assembly for the past month or more. I've been hearing about it every single day. So it was great to finally see it! The PAWS teachers made little skirts for the girls (and matching suspenders for the boys). I must say that Haley looked adorable! The dance was cute, too. I was impressed with how well Haley did. It was pretty long and there were a lot of steps to memorize, but she did great!

We had to skip out of the assembly early - which sadly meant we missed some numbers by kids in our ward - because it was time for Kindergarten graduation. I tend to think that graduation ceremonies for anything other than high school and college are a bit silly. But they did look awfully cute in their little caps and gowns! As part of the ceremony, each child stood up and said what they want to be when they grow up. Haley said she wants to be a mom because she likes babies and she likes to stay up all night. :) My favorite was the kid who said he wants "to be Indiana Jones, because that guy is awesome!"

We went back to the classroom for a graduation party... enough sugar to hype up all the kids for the rest of the day! This is Haley and her beloved teacher, Mrs. Badgett. We have loved Mrs. Badgett this year, and Haley just adores her. Haley was very sad that her year with Mrs. Badgett is over - it was hard for her to say goodbye. Luckily, we have her e-mail address, and Haley says she plans to write every day. We were awfully disappointed to learn that Mrs. Badgett is moving and won't be back next year. We were hoping she would be there for Preston and Brekken, too!

We took the kids home for lunch afterwards. Preston had been wanting watermelon, so we bought one for a birthday treat. After all the looking forward and excitement... he ate about three bites. That was enough. He doesn't want anymore. I'm glad we bought a whole watermelon for that!

Haley went off to an end of school party at PAWS and the boys to daycare for the afternoon so Aaron and I could go to an ultrasound appointment. Our appointment went fine - everything is just as it should be. The excitement came when another patient came in to the office very far along in labor (instead of going to the hospital where they had told her to go more than an hour ago!) and came close to delivering in the office. That spiced up the afternoon for all of us in the waiting room.

We picked up the kids and took them to the store so Preston could pick out his birthday cake. Sadly, the Cars cake he wanted was not available, but he decided he was pretty happy with this one. We took the cake and some dinner to the park because that's what Preston wanted to do. They played a bit after eating, then we tried to light the candles. I say tried, because the wind blew them out faster than I could light them! Finally, we sang Happy Birthday and I struck a match. Preston blew it out before the wind could get to it and we called it good.

After cake, we went home for presents. Preston was very generous in letting Haley and Brekken help him open everything. He hit the jackpot of Diego Train playsets from Grandma Shields. She sent him three different sets and he was thrilled with them. Started putting them together right away.

By the time we got the kids to bed, Aaron and I were wiped out! But it was sure a fun family day. :D

I could really use this makeover...

Specifically, a bra makeover! It seems ridiculous that at 35 years old, I still can never quite figure out what size bra I need. I currently have several different sizes, none of which fit quite right. (Yes, some of that can be blamed on pregnancy, but a lot is that they weren't great in the first place!)

So I'm intrigued by this new contest from Playtex. It's at www.PlaytexBraMakeover.com. You can apply for a bra makeover for yourself or nominate a friend. (That part seems strange to me. I can't think of anyone that I feel like telling... I've noticed that your bras don't fit. Allow me to nominate you for a makeover!)

At any rate if you (or that friend with the ill-fitting bras) is chosen as a winner, you will be flown to New York to receive a Bra Makeover with style expert Alison Deyette. Deyette is a fashion and trend lifestyle expert who has been featured on Bravo's Millionaire Matchmaker and TLC's Ten Years Younger, as well as in print publications including Good Housekeeping, The Washington Post, and O Magazine.

The 10 winners selected for a Bra Makeover will also star in their very own webisode. The makeover candidate will receive a fitting with Deyette and walk away with the perfect Playtex products. A new webisode will premier on www.PlaytexBraMakeover.com every two weeks.

Apply for your chance to win a Playtex Bra Makeover today. The last day to apply is Friday, May 21st, 2010.


By the way... the legal stuff! By posting this information, I am entered into a contest to win a free bra from Playtex. I did not receive any compensation for this post and thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Quick Funny from Preston

Last night - pretty much out of nowhere - Preston told me:

"Mommy, I don't eat people. Because when I get to the eyeballs they would be squishy, and that would make me throw up."


Good to know.

Date Night

A few weeks ago, I made a comment in a blog post about liking Greek food. My friend Cara and I exchanged a few comments and e-mails about it, and we ended up deciding on a night out so Aaron and I could introduce Cara and Richard to our favorite Greek place in Denver.

We had a great time! Once we thought about it, Aaron and I realized that we've gone out with groups, and we've gone out by ourselves, but we've really never just gone out with another couple before. I'm so glad we did. We had a fun dinner, then followed it up with a quick shopping trip (we needed to pick up some junk food), then saw a movie (thus the need for junk food).

Richard really wanted to see Robin Hood, and since Aaron and I never go to the movies, we were okay with anything - after all, we haven't seen a movie in the theater since... I don't even know... so anything was new to us! I'm glad we went with Richard's choice because the movie was awesome! Action, a bit of (tame) romance, an interesting storyline. I liked it a lot. Russel Crowe makes a great Robin Hood!

Turns out it's a pretty long movie. 2 and a half hours! None of us realized that going in, and didn't even realize it during the movie because we were so wrapped up in it. (For someone who is running to the bathroom about every 30 minutes, this is quite an accomplishment.) We were all a bit shocked to come out of the theater and realize it was 12:30 in the morning! I felt bad for our poor babysitter when we had to wake her up to take her home. But glad that she (and her mom!) were understanding when we were more than an hour later than planned.

It was a great date night, and convinced me that Aaron and I really have to do this more often, either on our own or with other people. I don't know if we'll be able to manage once a month, but we can surely do every other month at least, right? Hey, if you want to show us one of your favorite restaurants one of these weekends (or try one of our favorites) let me know!

I May Be Stalking Jim

Quite some time ago, I wrote a post about how I Like Jim. Just someone I saw walking to the bus stop every day, but he seemed nice.

After a while, I stopped seeing Jim very often. I didn't really think much of it. Occasionally I would still see him, and we would smile and nod and move on with the day.

Recently I've gotten kind of bored with my walk to the bus stop, so I've been varying my route. It's all based on the lights and walk signals when it's time to cross a street. I just go ahead and go whichever way the Walk signal is currently lit. Once you do this at 3 or 4 different intersections, it gives you several possible routes to get you where you're going. They all take about the same amount of time, so why not?

But now I keep bumping into Jim again. It's not always at the same place, like it was before. It can be a completely different street each time. Jim stills nods, but the smile is not as friendly as it used to be. It makes me wonder - does he think I am following him? Maybe varying my route to seek him out?

I thought about whipping out my phone to take a picture of his slightly suspicious expression yesterday... but decided that would really confirm the stalking theory. ;)

Baltimore, Birthday, Mother's Day

I spent last week in Baltimore on a business trip. I was not very excited to go and leave my family for the week, but they did fine without me. I was worried that my morning (all day...) sickness would kick in on the plane and I would have to use the tiny airplane bathroom to throw up, but luckily I was able to close my eyes and sleep when I started feeling queasy on the plane rides and never did have to throw up on the plane.

I mostly spent the week in (kind of boring) classes and we were far from downtown Baltimore. We were out in the suburbs, which were pretty generic. I could have spent the week across from Park Meadows Mall and had about the same experience! There were a few high points, though.

I've mentioned before that Aaron and I like to find restaurants from Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives when we travel. Turns out that Jay (the co-worker I was traveling with) also likes to do that. So on Tuesday night we visited the Broadway Diner.



That was fun. And really good food, too!

Wednesday night our vendors took us out to dinner. They took us to a hibachi restaurant where the chef cooked at the table with all kinds of fancy knifework and shooting flames and other excitement. That was a lot of fun to watch. The food was probably good, too. Sadly I was too sick to eat any. But I enjoyed the show!

The low point of the trip would be on Thursday when Brekken got hurt back at home. As part of a fight with Preston (not at all uncommon for those two!) he got slammed face-first into the fridge and then fell on the floor. He split his lips open and forced his two front teeth back up into the gums and backwards at quite an angle. Poor baby. Aaron had to take him (and the two others!) to the ER on his own. I felt really bad that I wasn't there to help, but they managed fine without me.

This shot is from a couple of days later (when I got home) so some of the swelling has already gone down on his top lip. It's still pretty noticeable, though. And you can only see one of his two front teeth, because the other is still shoved up and back. He has a visit with the pediatric dentist on Friday to see if the tooth is going to shift back where it should be on its own or if it will have to be pulled.

I was VERY glad to get home on Friday. Aaron and the boys (Haley was on a school field trip) picked me up at the airport and it was so good to see them. And since it was Brekken's birthday, we went almost immediately into birthday celebration mode... at least, we did once Haley was home, because we'd promised not to start without her!

Brekken picked out his own birthday cake (from the store, since I didn't have time to make one). He really enjoyed blowing out the candles. He did not like it when we sang Happy Birthday to him. In fact, he cried rather pathetically and told us to stop. He does NOT like it when people are singing.

He had lots of fun opening presents. He got some legos and a dragon and pajamas from Grandma & Grandpa, all of which were a big hit. He also got a new shirt from Great Grandma Shields, which he insisted on putting on immediately.

He also really liked the big dump truck from Mom & Dad... he and Preston have been fighting over it ever since. I believe Preston will need to get a similar truck for his birthday next week!

Mother's Day came along a couple of days later, and that was nice, too. We were running late and by the time we made it to church, there were no benches left (apparently Mother's Day is a big day for church attendance). Rather than sit on the uncomfortable metal chairs in the overflow, we opted to sit in the foyer and listen. This worked okay until the end when they passed out the Mother's Day gifts. They didn't come out to the foyer to hand any around. Figuring it was the usual plant (which my brown thumb and I would immediately kill) I didn't worry about getting one. I was sad to learn later that it was actually candy bars, which I would have taken! Oh well.

When we went home, Aaron fixed dinner. Mashed potatoes, pot roast, and yellow squash - some of my favorites. And leftover birthday cake for dessert (which we actually ate before dinner, because we were hungry). Pretty nice! They gave me some new books I had wanted and the Glee soundtrack. Very fun!

And I received news that my Grandpa - who had been life-flighted to SLC the night before - was on the mend and doing much better. That was the best gift of all!!