Thanks Kailan!

Kelsi used to want to watch Kailan - ALL THE TIME. We fed her hunger by DVRing every episode so they were on demand. It's not on anymore (that I can find???), so she hasn't watched it in over a month, but it was a great show. It taught social skills like : What to do if you are feeling angry, how to be patient, how to share, how to include everyone, and what to do if you are sad, etc.

Yesterday, I was having a rough afternoon. I tried a new recipe that night for dinner and somehow when I was about to put it in the oven, DROPPED IT all over the floor. I lost it, said a few words and then started crying (sometimes the stupidest things make me cry). Kelsi wanted to know why I was sad. I called John and asked him to bring something home for dinner and Kelsi asked to talk to him. I handed her the phone and I heard this:

"Mommy is sad, can you help her?"

When she was done, she hugged my leg and looked up at me and said, "Don't worry mommy. Daddy is on his way home and he will make it all better." I picked her up and gave her a hug and told her that she was making me feel better. She pulled back and said "I'll make a silly face". She made the funniest face and said, "THERE! Silly faces always make you happy!"

I JUST LOVE MY LITTLE GIRL!

(For those of you that don't know every Kailan episode by heart, like we do. Kailan is sad one day after a surprise party she is planning is ruined and her friends try to cheer her up by making silly faces.)

So, THANKS Kailan! You are SO wise!

EASTER

I got home from UT on Saturday and we got right down to Easter prep.

Kelsi had a blast decorating her eggs.

She put a million stickers on the eggs.

See??

Easter morning, Kelsi checked out her basket that the Easter bunny left her.

We had our Easter Egg hunt outside and she had a ball!

We spent time with family and reflected on the atonement and the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. We are so thankful for our testimonies.

UTAH

Last week I was able to fly down to UT for Kaylee's graduation. When I arrived on Tuesday, this handsome guy picked me up from the airport!

I have missed his mommy very much. We worked together years ago when we both lived in Los Angeles and became great friends. We got to catch up for a bit, go to dinner and then get dessert.Sweet Tooth Fairy....I wasn't sure if it was going to be worth it...but it WAS. Moist and yummy.

Then Kaylee met up with us and took me to her apartment, where I stayed for the night. I got to re-live college life...in cramped quarters and with crazy girls not going to bed until all hours of the night (OK, I went to bed at 11pm...but they were LOUD!)

The boys apartments are across the quad...this cracked me up. Those kids are GENIUS! No wonder they got into BYU.

I loved seeing my parents. I miss them all the time.

We had a lot of laughs....and ate WAY too much food. I'm STILL not hungry.

I took Kaylee to get her FIRST pedicure. WHAT???!!! She's 22!!

Kaylee entertained us with her guitar skills and showed us all of her artwork. Can you say talent??

Graduation day was beautiful.

We took endless pictures, but we were proud of her!

We missed Tamar, but had a great time. I love my sisters!

3rd time's a charm!

6 months ago, I took Kelsi to Chuck E. Cheese's for the first time. It was a sad experience. She screamed, cried and clung to me the whole time. She wouldn't go near any of the rides, was kind of afraid of chuck e cheese and she kept telling me that she wanted to go home. 3 months later, I braved it again for another birthday party, and to my surprise, she sat on all the rides (except one) but wouldn't let me put any tokens in (baby steps). She was content to run around and play the games and sit on the rides. 3 months later (earlier this month) we went again, and WHAT A DIFFERENCE 6 months MAKE! Kelsi went on EVERY ride...even the dreaded helicopter ride (pic below). I was SO proud of her.

My friend Shannon taught her how to play air hockey.

and she had a great time!

Hooray!

Feb and March...a blur

Sadly, I don't remember much about Feb or Mar. I think I remember snow in Feb....and snow and then some rain in March. Something like that. I do remember that March was a hard month for me, especially the beginning. I was just down and I couldn't tell you why. I kept thinking of all my wonderful blessings...John, Kelsi, my testimony of my savior, my friends, my home, my health, etc, etc. I kept telling myself that my attitude is a CHOICE, but I just couldn't shake the blues. Even Zumba couldn't cheer me up. I confided in a couple friends who always know how to make me feel better. Another friend suggested Vitamin D....I bought some...started poppin' it and I don't know if my funk just passed or if there is some real truth to Vit D deficiency...but I feel SO much better. So...BA-BYE DUMB feb and march. BRING ON SPRING!!!!!

CATCH UP

A small tragedy has happened in our home. We found out recently that our laptop has a failing hard drive. Our programs on the computer starting shutting down one by one and a lot of my pictures have vanished. We took it in and the techies were able to recover a "few" of the pics, but basically everything labeled after the letter "H" is gone. Sadly, our wedding pictures, John's bday, Karina's bday, Kelsi, etc, etc are gone forever. Luckily, we have a few pics on our blogs and in books so they aren't lost forever. So, these next few posts won't be that fun to look at, but for journaling purposes I will still write them.

On January 25th I turned the big 3-0. I was not looking forward to it. I know all that hooey about age is just a number and I understand how I feel inside...but 30's???? Yuck.

Anyway, a few days before my bday while we were just getting up there was a knock on our door. John answered it to find a breakfast tray full of "apple jacks, apple cider, apple danishes and a card with a letter A on it that said "ABCDEFG since you're about to turn thirty HIJKLMNOP it's Happy Birthday from A to Z."

My amazing friends up here surprised me ALL day with things from every letter of the alphabet. I did have pictures of EVERYTHING they did, but sadly....they are gone.

That morning, I went to my regular zumba class and a few songs into the class (of 100 people), my zumba instructor pulled out a letter "B" and announced that the next song was dedicated to me for some major "BOOTIE" shaking.

After class I went to put on my boots and inside my boot was a big bottle of cranberry flavored water (for the letter C). Then when I picked Kelsi up from playcare, the worker handed me a box of "Ding Dongs" (guilty pleasure).

When I got to the truck, there was a writing all over the windows saying "Happy Birthday, Flirty Thirty, We love you, etc" and a note. The note read " Hope this does the trick, because "E" is for EMBARRASSING windows all decorated with a coloring stick." What I REALLY wished for is a picture of my friend Shawnte (who was 9 months pregnant at the time - she actually had her baby ON my actual bday) climbing into the back on the truck and writing all over it. I am sure it was HILARIOUS to everyone who saw.

When I got home from the gym, there was a BEAUTIFUL, HUGE bouquet of "F"lowers on my doorstep. Another note was attached that said "G"et ready to be picked up at 12 for lunch, we are going to..."H"erbies (a really good sandwich shop).

When my friends arrived, they handed me an envelope that said "I"nside you will find "J"ust enough coop coupons for a "K"elsi free "L"unch. We dropped off Kelsi at coop and headed to lunch. Once there, another friend handed me a big bag of "M&M's" (another guilty pleasure). When were leaving another friend handed me a envelope that said "N"otes "O"f a"P"preciation (aren't they clever?). Inside were notes from all my friends saying the sweetest things.

Then when they dropped me off I was handed another envelope that said "This is good for "Q"uiet time while you "R"ead with your new..... (I opened it to find a Kindle gift certificate).

Later that afternoon, a friend stopped by with a bath and body works gift set of "sweet pea" scents (my fav!).

Later, I received a text that said "T"ime for "u"nother (what a stretch) surprise! Right away, there was a knock on the door with the cutest little 2 yr old boy at the door with a big "V" taped to his head (his name is VANCE) and he was holding a "W"icked soundtrack CD.

Then another friend dropped by with a huge pack of Xtra gum that said "an Xtra surprise will show up around 4pm". At 4pm, my mia maids from "Y"oung Women, surprised me with value magnets that they had made for me and sang me happy birthday on my doorstep.

WHO WANTS TO GUESS WHAT Z WAS????? Here is the background....I knew it was going to be zumba. I mean, what else COULD it be??? I knew that my fav instructor threw private gigs and I had actually BEEN to a bday zumba private party before. The plan was that John told me we were going rock climbing for our date and that's why I had to wear exercise clothes, but as we were getting ready, my zumba instructor sent me a text that said she lost one of her contacts and she needed her fav doc to bring her one to parkside fitness (which is right by his office). Dead giveaway. So, we stopped at John's office, he picked up a fake contact and then we went to parkside, walked in and all my friends were there with a sign that said "Z" is for ZUMBA!! A few friends from Clarkston even drove up for the party! THAT was a true surprise. Then we had a fun night of dancing/exercising and then went back to a friends for cake. And....I have it all on video.

John later told me that he called my friends and said he wanted to do a zumba party for me. My friends were planning the A-Z thing so it would work perfectly. John said he tried to convince them to do it separate because he knew I would figure it out, but it was SOOOO fun. I LOVE MY HUSBAND and I LOVE my friends. I am VERY blessed.