thanks be to brenda!!

My very sweet friend, Brenda, gave me a gift of service for Christmas.  I decided to redeem it this weekend and it was a much-needed break away from kids, stress and the world.  This is what my gift entailed:

-26 hours SOLID with my husband

-a catered, romantic, candle-lit dinner for two

-two tickets to the Majestic Cinema

An hour after I dropped the kids off at her house, she showed up at mine! With THIS!

Menu:

-T-Bone steak cooked to perfection

-Smashed Golden Yukon potatoes with Rosemary

Roasted lemon and rosemary asparagus

-A side of salad

-Homemade rolls by Dani (her daughter)

-Strawberry Shortcake for dessert

It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Ryan was very excited for the steak.  I LOVED the smell, the aroma that descended from our plates...oh I love ROSEMARY!

After dinner, she gave us two tickets to here:

So we went and saw this:

(a few parts inappropriate but highly HILARIOUS!! I loved it)

Then we stayed up way too late watching episodes of:

AND this:

The next morning, STILL WITHOUT KIDS...we went to breakfast at my folk's house.  It was a yummy pancake breakfast before going to BOONDOCKS and playing Miniture Golf! I haven't done that in YEARS.

We took it very seriously as it was windy and had to account for swerveage.  And guess who only LOST BY A POINT?? Yeah, me.  I got a HOLE-IN-ONE on the last hole, saving my bacon.  It was fun!

After golf, we went to a little bookshop and browsed.  Then we ate lunch at Ryan's favorite Vietnamese Restaurant and had Cha Gio. 

We've been eating there a few times a year for the last 10 years. It's delicious.  The food is much yummier than this picture.  TRUST me.

We ate in peace and quiet.  On a whim, we decided to hit Overland Park Cinemas cheap theater for another movie:

I was excited to see this as I like Greek mythology.  I haven't read the books. thought that the actor was a cutie but HOLY COW!! I thought that it was more along the lines of a KID'S MOVIE.  Good thing we didn't take Ryanna to it.

I was not impressed by all the swearing, gambling and other things that these "kids" were doing! Disappointing.  Some of the people they cast couldn't even ACT! Pul-LEASE. It could have been so much better.  Dang it.

We killed a few more hours after the show and then picked up the kids.  They all had a blast: Ryanna asked to be adopted, Dawson didn't want to go home with us, Carter keeps asking for "Turtle!" And I'm pretty sure that we are getting a gecko.  (they have 4 very darling ones)!

Thanks again, My Sweet Brenda, for providing the means for us to escape and eat yummy food.  You are the best and I appreciate you.  I will not be forgetting this gift of service!!

 

new earrings and a lot of trauma

 This is her BEFORE picture:

-no tears

-no earrings

-brothers NOT crying

Getting a little nervous...

Dawson's fine too! He's excited for Ryanna.

It starts.  She gets one ear done and starts SCREAMING!!!

Which startled Carter.

She gets the other ear done, while still crying and holding Daddy's hand.

Carter is VERY upset that Ryanna's crying and being HURT.

Dawson freaked out too.  See his tear-streaked face?

ALL THREE KIDS WERE IN TEARS while Ryan and I laughed while people were turning their heads and wondering what could possily be happening!!

She calmed down enough and the gal that did her ears felt so bad and made sure that she was loved! It was so cute.  Ryanna only cried for another minute, then she was fine.  She looked so cute!!

The AFTER picture:

-tear-streaked face

-brothers in tears

-relieved that I only have to do this ONCE!

Isn't she darling?

ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew

**If you like mice, DO NOT LOOK!** 

Over the last few weeks we've had a garage full of poop and it's been a pain to clean up.  We couldn't catch the darn mice that have left the mess...until the other morning!!! I'm SO GLAD. Now onto the ant infestation.  HOW do they get into the house??

I feel a little sorry for this poor little dude, but WA-HAAA. 

Gotcha.

ears full of what?

"Look Mom! I talking on the phone."

He stuffed playdough in his ears and told me to look at him.  When I asked him what he was doing, he told me that he was talking on the phone! He saw my brother Aaron with a Bluetooth just ONCE and it stuck. 

Literally.  In his ears.

ryanna and her pink party

Happy Birthday to Ryanna! She turned 8 on April Fool's Day, and I'm so far behind...but here's the post on her party.  Better late than never!

Ryanna and her little cake that I made with fondant...all by myself.  I loved it.  Took me forever to cover it and figure out the POINTY corners, but it worked.

She got some pretty good stuff: A Harry Potter Clue Game, Camp Rock bedsheets (I know, "who invited THAT kid?" right?) Her very own set of SCRIPTURES with her name on the front and a ton of pink!

Ashley, Aaron, Mom, Dad and Uncle Kevin came to play.

She was so excited for her own set of scriptures.  I can't believe she's this old!

Uncle Kevin (my uncle) gave her earrings for her newly-pierced ears.  (another post on that trauma later...)

She loves them!!

And loves her Uncle Kevin!

Dawson and Sir Toppam Hat.  In fondant.

Carter's creation.  The dinosaur was hungry, he says. What a kid! Thank goodness for plastic tablecloths...

visit to utah

Mendon, Utah!

We went to visit a couple weeks ago and it was so nice to get out of town.  It was a last minute trip because Ryan had some business to do over in Eastern Idaho and we decided to be dropped off in Northern Utah for the few days he was doing business! It was so nice to visit family over there, we've sure missed them! The area is BREATHTAKING. 

Logan Utah Temple.  It's beautiful! I love the homes around the area, brick and ivy.  Gorgeous!

I loved being surrounded by the snow-capped mountains.

The Smith's house was built in 1898 and has a huge yard.  I was TAKEN with their house. I wish I could have taken a picture of every square inch.  It's very full of personality and I loved it. 

Ryanna, Max, Andrew (who consequently looks like a dinosaur) and Dawson playing Moon Sand. 

More of the boys playing...see the dinosaur again?

Cute Kaleigh!

Beautiful Morynn!

My kids love their cousins.

They grow their own chickens for eggs, Carter loved chasing them! He'd run with them and when he got within grabbing distance, he'd FREEZE.

He kept calling them Cows.

So instead, he'd jump on the tramp.  Then he got too tired after a minute!

Taking a break.  Jumping is HARD work!

This picture was cool, except I don't know who that extra boy in the front is! After I took it, I was told he was the neighbor. How funny that I didn't even notice.  No wonder he kept NOT responding to me when I was calling him "Max" ha!

They ran around the yard, jumped on the tramp, basically wore themselves out every day.  It was AWESOME.

Thanks to our family, The Smiths, for letting us come and visit! It was a wonderful trip and we loved seeing you!