Happy Birthday Zach!

This is a little overdue since your birthday was Monday but with the excitement of the dog and all I guess I can get away with it. WOW! I have a teenager. That is a landmark! I know being born first has not always has its advantages and the fact that you are very responsible makes it even harder for you because you get more of the burden placed on you than the other kids. I can always count on you to do something the first time you are asked. You have the ability to do things very well (especially when you are being bribed!) You are such a deep thinker and ask questions that are beyond your years. You love nature and will often comment on the beautiful sunset or how pretty the mountains are as we are out driving. You have a very tender heart, especially for animals. Is it any surprise that your favorite show was Bambi when you were little? You a very smart and have always been serious about school work. I am so proud of you for getting a 3.9 this term! Especially considering you are in all the gifted classes (and you're not a nerd!) Zach, I love you and am excited for the great potential that you have in life. You are a wonderful boy (okay young man) and I am proud to be your mom!

What better thing to do on Spring Break than to BUY A DOG!

Sometimes when you are not really looking hard for something is the very time you find it. So I decided to skim the classifieds last night at about 9pm just to pass time and stumbled across this adorable dog. She fit all my criteria. She is small (20lbs) She is cute. She doesn't shed. She isn't hyper. She is house trained and she was under $200. The only problem was..she was in Smithfield which is by Logan. Well, I called on her anyway and after a conversation with the owner, I decided she just might be the dog for us. So I packed all the kids in the car and headed for a long drive to Smithfield. We got out of the car and the kids said, "We don't care how ugly she is..after driving this far we are taking her home." Well, we were relieved to find out that she is ADORABLE! Yes, we are in love with our new dog. Okay, so we have only had her for about 9 hours now but so far she couldn't be more perfect. She is SO great with the kids and is so mellow! After deliberating over and over about a name (and we had plenty on our list to choose from) we decided to call her Lacey. Her original name was Penny but we opted for a different one. Check back with me in about a week but for now..I am a pretty proud and contented dog owner!

Spring Break Tomorrow? YIKES!

I can't believe Spring Break is tomorrow and ugh..we have no plans! My kids are going to expect something grandiose because afterall, it's THEIR vacation. (unfortunately it's not a vacation for me..just more work!) My first thought is.."cool, built in babysitters!" but I realize that it's not quite fair to do that to them. So, unless I have some fun things planned it will quickly turn into a next few days of severe quarrelling! I am envious of any of you who have travel plans this weekend. Anyone up to doing anything? Here's my ideas so far: Go see "Horton Hears a Who", hang out and make bows with my sister-in-law Amy (that is if she calls me!) or anyone else for that matter who wants to adorn their girls w/obnoxious boys like I do, ( okay I really meant to say BOWS but I thought I would leave it purely for a good laugh at the typo) and I am really hoping to take Zach skiing on Monday for his B-day (that is if I can find sitters!) Nothing is concrete so if anyone can think of alternative ideas to keep us all from going crazy for the next few days..let me know. I'm up for it!

Happy Birthday Alan!

I meant to do this yesterday since it was your actual birthday but the day got away from me. I just wanted to let you know how much I love you on your 42nd birthday! I often think how lucky I am to have a husband who displays the following characteristics: (don't worry I am not going to do 42 of them! Just a few of the most cherishable ones!)

1. First and foremost you are always willing to help me. You never mind going out of your way or being inconvenienced. (even if it means going to the drugstore in Maui at 3am to buy me an enema after a severe case of "vacation constipation".)

2. You never complain about what I have not accomplished during the day (unless you don't have any clean underwear or jeans to wear)

3. You never get sick of hearing about all the cute or funny things the kids say. Even if I call you 10 times a day to tell you.

4. You are always supportive of things I want to do. (basically, you rarely tell me no.)

5. You are never possesive. Sometimes to a fault. (I know so why do I love that about you yet dislike it also? Because I am a woman and we are complicated)

6. I love the way you walk in the door each day and say "Hello Babar!"

You are a wonderful man. (I never thought I would be married to a 42 year old man! wow!) I appreciate all of your hard work and sacrifice by the long hours you put in each day with rarely a complaint. Thank you for being such a great dad to our children and such a sweet husband to me! I love you!

Charity Never Faileth...

For those of us who belong to the Relief Society Organization, we are all too familiar with these words but do we really live by them? Fortunately there are those around us who do and last night I was a recipient of such a person. In reading my last blog post, you learned of my Sunday frustrations. I received a lot of encouraging comments with great ideas of how to make my upcoming Sunday a more peaceful one. I started mentally preparing myself Saturday afternoon by thinking of what needed to be done, etc. I even got the kids clothes ironed. Alan and I left early evening to go out to dinner and upon returning home I found the most pleasant surprise. After reading my blog, and realizing my struggle with Sundays, a most wonderful friend had brought over a dinner that was all ready to throw in the oven with a note attached saying "Happy Sunday!" WOW! How on earth does someone take time out of their evening as they are trying to get their own family ready for Sunday and think of making my day a little smoother? What a great example to me! How many times have I thought to myself "I should really take her kids for her" or "I really need take dinner to them" but quickly think of all the reasons that I am too busy or that maybe I will do it next time. How many times do I find myself saying these all too famous words "Let me know if there is anything I can do?" Like anyone is ever really going to call you and say "hey listen there is something you can do..." (well maybe some people would but I certainly wouldn't!) It's easy for me to run a loaf of banana bread over to my neighbor or sign up to take dinner to a friend after they have had a baby but it's the times that I may be prompted to help someone when it's a little inconvenient that I often ignore. My eyes were definitely opened this weekend by such a simple act of service rendered yet the profound impact it had on making me want to try a little harder to serve a little more.