This Week

Hello friends. Busy week. Busy month. Don't love Easter in March. Its messing with my spring cleaning schedule. Not getting nearly the amount of stuff done that I wanted to. This past week was especially a busy one. Stuff going on every single day. Fun stuff though. So thats good.


Monday night was Thiago's brothers birthday. We all went out to Happy Hashi. Just like Tepanyaki. I was skeptical. Didn't know if I'd like it as much as Tepanyaki. I was pleasantly surprised. I think I dare say I like it better than Tepanyaki. Same exact type of food, but Happy Hashi had a totally different taste and I think I kinda loved it.


Shalae, Gus, Rosemary, me and Thiago.


This kid. I put him in a fresh diaper right before we left our house. I picked him up out of the highchair at the end of our meal and he was SOAKING wet!! Completely peed through his diaper. Somebody drank a little too much lemonade. Could not believe it!


Tuesday morning we met up with some of my sweet friends at the Children's Treehouse Museum in Ogden. My friend Deeann and her little Dexter, and my friend Becca and her baby Ryder. And Ash and the kids as well.


My little ones love it there, and it had been awhile for us. I purposely didn't tell Carson we were going cause I knew he would be mad he was missing it while he was at school. Should have known loud mouth Lincoln would blab all about it. Cars was pretty upset at first, then I bought him some fries and a smoothie and he forgot all about it.


Their favorite was probably the little schoolhouse. Linc was the teacher and taught us all how to write Lincoln. Drake ignored him and just colored on his own slate, which in turn made Lincoln really upset that Drake wasn't paying attention and trying to write his "L". Oh these two...they are going to be the death of me.


Elle bell was a good participant, she let bossy pants Linc instruct her what to do.




I was only thinking we would be there a couple of hours. We got there about 10 and my friends had all left by about 12:30, their kids are younger than mine and were needing naps. My boys were still going strong though, the place was starting to clear out cause of lunch/naptime so it was kinda nice. Had it all to ourselves. We stayed til almost 2. The boys were just so happy and playing so cute together, that I just completely threw out my schedule for the day and let them play away. We grabbed some quick lunch after and then stopped at Farr's icecream for an icecream cone. It was such a happy little morning.


Speaking of happy..our weather!! We hit 70 twice this week. Oh my gosh, that sunshine feels good after the winter we just had. It was a harsh and cold one, and that sun and warm temps were oh so welcome. Today the rain and 40 degrees are back. Bummer. Thats a Utah spring for you though, nothing but a tease. Warm one day, cold the next.




We took full advantage of those above average warm days, bikes, scooters,cleaned the garage, took down our christmas lights (first chance we had, our snow just barely melted), cleaned off the trampoline and.....mowed our lawn. First mow of the season. Getting it ready to fertilize. Come on summmer!!


A few quiet moments this week too...


Sleeping on mama's bed...washing sheets day.


And Thursday...dropped off the babies with my mother in law, and pulled this boy out of school a bit early.


Headed down to Primary's for his yearly ECG on his heart.


For those that don't know or remember Cars has a small heart condition. Bicuspid Aortic Valve. Will eventually need surgery to replace the valve but not anytime soon. Boring, quiet visit this time....things still look relatively good, no signifigant change in the growth or leakage, so all is well for another year. Phew....I like boring.


He actually kinda loves visiting Primary's, loves this little train/carnival display they have. We have to check it out every single time.


And of course we stop in the gift store for a small prize for the boy. Heck, he has a heart condition, that deserves a prize.




He was absolutely giddy, loved having mom and dad all to himself. Always reinforces how valuable one on one time is with my kiddos. Those babies thrive on it, and honestly so do I. Loved this afternoon with my oldest.


Next up was something I had been greatly anticipating. My first ever visit to Trader Joe's. I wish this place was a bit closer to me, cause seriously friends, I fell in love. The happiest little store I have ever been in. Have heard so much about this place and it seriously did not disappoint. Somehow this has got to become part of my weekly errands. I could have spent hours in here. Everything is organic, and fresh , and natural. So many unique little yummy items. The store itself was so bright, and clean, and just happy. Me and Cars had the best time.




And last but not least, the three of us stopped at Texas Roadhouse on the way home. We let Carson choose, and he chose steak. What else. Great day.


And just to show you...this was my number one item I was looking for at Trader Joe's. Coconut body butter. My rough, cracked, dry Utah hands were in need of some major love. I have only been wearing this stuff for 5 days now and I can already see a difference. And the smell, magical!


A few more treasures....cookie butter, Joe-Joe's, hummus, black bean tortilla chips, buttermilk pancake mix, strawberry jam, dried pineapple and bananas, almond cereal with the hugest nut clusters I have ever seen. Love that store...I'll be back.

Thats it for now..headed to my mama's for Sunday dinner. Bye-bye!

Odds and Ends..

Now that we are into March, guess I should wrap up our February happenings. Always a quiet month. Winter is starting to wear out its welcome. We have seriously had snow covering our yard since Christmas, finally this week it is warming up!!! Near 60 by next week. That is BIG news for us northern Utahners....yay, spring is in sight!

Way back on Super Bowl Sunday I made a few new recipes that looked fun. Found this recipe for shracknel dip (as they called it). So yummy. Black beans, northern beans, corn, tomatoes, avocadoes, red onions, green peppers...it was alot of work chopping up all those veggies so fine but the end result was well worth it. We grabbed some tortilla chips and used it as a dip, but the dressing you covered over it was so good, I was just eating it by the forkful. Yummy.


And then one of our tried and true family favorites. Lil' smolkies, wrapped in bacon and brown sugar and thrown in the oven. My family of meat loving boys is all over this. Their favorite. These things go fast in my house. This year we went over with some of our friends to a little super bowl gathering. It was fun. They have a family of four little girls, right around the ages of my boys. They have so much fun together. I had no idea who was playing, or who won for that matter. But all the food was delish!!


My big boy got the chance to be star student of the week. Big event amongst First Graders. He was so excited, aren't they all at that age. We spent hours pouring over our photo albums picking out the perfect pictures to display on his poster. He for sure wanted one of him and his best friend/cousin Lance, one of him skiing, one of San Diego and our annual family trip to Island Park, one with his brothers and he wanted to draw a picture of his Lego Ninjagos (to display his love of building legos and his love of drawing). Sweet boy, loved that he had such an opinion and saw a vision of how he wanted it to look. I was to happy to put that vision into a real life poster all about him.


I had the idea to back all the pics in blue, since that is his favorite color. Pretty much the best idea ever. He thought I was the coolest mom for coming up with that idea. Kept telling me that none of the other kids had thought about that on their poster, they had just put the pictures up. Haha. So there you have it, I am pretty much a genius in the eyes of my 7 year old. Love him.


In other 2 year old news...look at the baby. Does he look different? He's sportin' a new do. Finaly decided to spike up his hair like his big brothers. Not sure why I waited so long. Actually, I do know why I waited so long. I was trying to keep him a baby and thought his hair not being done accomplished that. Sadly, he is not a baby though and I think he looks pretty stinkin cute with his hair done.


Along with the rest of the world, we have been passing sicknesses back and forth. Like I mentioned in my Valentines post we all got a bit of a stomache bug. Carson was the last to get it. I kept hoping he would remain untouched but nope, it got him too. He had to miss two days of school because of it. Missing school gives me anxiety. Oh well.


By mid morning of the next day he was doing much better, sitting up in my bed and playing with his brothers. I think he secretly loved his sick days. Who doesn't like to play hooky, lay in your moms bed and be loved on all day long. Sounds pretty fabulous to me. Wish someone took care of me like that when I was feeling under the weather.


Baked up a holiday staple. My homemade oreos...I always alter the frosting to fit each holiday. Pink and white for Valentines. They are another thing that goes pretty fast in my house. Carson alone can pretty much eat the whole stack.


Spring cleaning has begun. I had quite a few people on instagram think I was kinda nutso for starting spring cleaning when there was still snow on the ground. But no, I tell you, I am not crazy. Every week I do a quick cleaning job on my house, just the basics. But come spring I like to deep clean each room. Which means closets, walls, bedding, dressers, light fixtures, blinds, fans...you name it. Obvisously this takes a while. I start in February and work on one room a week in addition to my fast job on the other rooms. So it pretty much takes me til May to get it all done. And when real spring hits, who wants to be stuck inside cleaning? Not me. I want to be out in my yard, getting it all cleaned up. So I start in February...makes perfect sense.


My baby boys have spent quite a few days in their pj's as I have cleaned.


Happy campers surrounded by all their toys and no place to go but home.




No rhyme or reason to these two pics...I just thought they were cute.


A couple Sundays ago, we were staying home for dinner. I recently got a new cookbook that I am way excited about and decided to dig into for Sunday dinner. I basically spent the entire day in the kitchen and while I did that and the baby napped my big boys brought out their watercolors. It was such a great afternoon. The sun was shining, church was over with for the day, we were all in comfy clothes, and I got to bake away as I listened to my boys chatter. Moments like that I know I will never forget. This time while they are young is so fleeting, and I know in a few years from now my heart will ache to have those little boys back. It was a beautiful day.


My food turned out pretty good too. We had roast chicken, loaded mashed potato casserole, broccoli with cheese, parmesan rolls and for dessert cinnamon roll cake. Sorry I didn't get pics of all of it, but it was fabulous. I pride myself on big Sunday dinners. Feels like I am turning into my mama, which is a pretty grand thing. Always happy when I pull off a big meal like that. Go me!


I leave you with this final pic of my cake.....it was divine!

A little love...

Hi friends...anyone still out there?? I am so sad...I did three posts for the month of February. THREE!! All time low. Oh well, so here I am with our happenings surrounding the day of love. It was a little different this year. A little good, some bad...but still filled with love!






Nothing sweeter than my little lovebugs. We did most of our celebrating in advance this year. Thiago was headed out of town over Valentines weekend. And Lincoln boy went with him. He had a soccer tournament in sunny St. George for the team he coaches and we thought it would be fun for Lincoln to get some special one on one time with his dad. Chance to spoil him a bit. We really are going through such a struggle with him right now. My poor boy. I love him so dang much but he just isn't an easy child. I feel like I am constanly reprimanding him, reminding him to be good, to do this, to do that. He seriously spends about half of his life in time out. Which worries the heck out of me. I already worry so much about him, I so don't want him having that "middle child syndrom". I try so hard to make sure he knows how valued and special and loved he is. I notice he acts out the most when he is bored or feels like he is being left out. He starts to antagonize people and pester and bug. Which in turn makes other kids put up a wall around them and not let him in. Breaks my heart. I know he is the one being annoying but it is just cause he feels left out. I have such a hard time discplining him, because I understand why he is acting the way he is but at the same time he has to know that behavior is innappropriate. Oh, its a constant worry for me. Always on my mind. Anywho, to get on with this blog post we really thought he could use some time away with just his dad, and the chance to be spoiled. It was everything we hoped it would be. He just soaked it all up, Thiago said he was an absolutel angel while they were away and loved every minute of it. Oh my sweet boy.


Prior to the big day, we got the boys' valentines ready for their classmates and their little cousins. I am not the kind of mom that does homemade valentines. Nope, never will be. We buy the boxed sets at the grocery store and that suits us just fine.


So back to a couple days before, we planned our little cousin party for the kids. I am always in charge of the game, which is fine but this year it all just kinda snuck up on me. So I had to throw this little BINGO game together at the last minute. Which is just fine, cause those kids LOVE Bingo. Always a hit. With all ages too. Winner!














Started off with a little craft. Ash had made heart shaped rice krispies and brought cute little boxes and valentine paper to make a little gift out of them. THe idea was for them to give it to someone they love. They all just ate their own instead. Haha. Should have known.


They did have fun making little valentines though.




Then Bingo. Like 8 rounds. Told ya they love it. It's the game that just keeps on giving....


We also played a little Valentine version of hot potato, as well as a Valentine's exchange between the kids. Then we ate pizza and cookies and strawberry milk. However I quit taking pictures, so you will just have to take my word on that.


Next day was Lincoln's class party...I just thought he looked cute in his red and white. He was so excited once he got home with his little bag of treasures. Him and Carson dug right in. He is always so sweet to share with Carson, always looking for that older brother's approval. Cute boy.

That was the night Thiago and Lincoln left for St. George. They ate dinner with us and I bathed Lincoln and got him all snuggled up in pj's and slippers and they hit the road. Lincoln talked Thiago into stopping for a kids meal (even though he just claimed he wasn't hungry when I presented him with our dinner, stinker, and his dad's a sucker)anywho, Lincoln ate the kids meal and was asleep within 30 minutes. Not great traveling company. Haha!


I got their little gifts ready the night they left, that way Thiago could take Lincoln's with and give it to him on Valentines. Only I was majorly distracted that night cause my cell phone quit working. It was ridiculous the amount of stress this was causing me. I was so afraid of him being gone and me not having a phone. So he and I kept messing with it, trying to get it working again. I was throwing things into a bag for Lincoln, I had no idea what I was packing cause I was so preoccupied with the dang phone...anywho, to make a long story short I accidently sent Carson's present with Thiago, and kept Lincoln's present at home. Whoops. Big mommy mistake!! I was so mad at myself...however we did get the phone working, so that was good.


Next morning, I made a little breakfast for my other two loves.


Waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, sausage and orange juice. Carson gobbled it up and loved every bite of it. Drake barely touched it, which is really unusual for him. He is usually my best eater. Should have been my first clue right there.


About a half hour after we dropped off Carson, Drake started acting really funny. Super whiney and just kept laying on my shoulder. Then all they sudden the puking began. Poor babe. The stomache flu. All day long. Puked about 4 times that first hour, then he fell asleep for awhile, woke up, puked again, then the diarhea started. Sweet little babe. Breaks my heart. Luckily it only lasted a short 24 hours, and the puking was really only the first little bit, after that it was just diarhea and feeling kinda sleepy/achy. Unfortunately, it was the start of that sickness for all of us...soon enough it spread to every single one of us. Bummer.


Here he is after he woke up, look at that sweet smile. And yep, nothing but his diaper and blankey. Seemed easier.


Poor miserable babe.


I pulled myself away from his snuggliness so I could go and get ready for the day. I got to help in Carson's class party....which is my most favorite thing to do.


Gathered the supplies I was bringing, dropped off Drake with my sister and got to spend the next hour with a bunch of cute first graders.

Pretty quiet for the rest of the night, and once again my pictures came to a stop. We got Zupa's take out for me and Carson and enjoyed a nice little quiet dinner, just the two of us.



And that was our love day.

Thiago and Lincoln got home that following Sunday. Full of fun and happy memories. So glad my boy got the chance to go with his dad. Shortly after he caught the flu bug as well as Carson and Thiago. I had it mildly but not too bad. Oh well.

Be back soon friends. Hopefully.