Catch-up

Been a while since my last post; here's my excuse: I had family in town last week. This should bring y'all up to speed.

Coloring eggs:




Easter morning:




Hanging out at the mall:


Fort Worth Zoo:




JFK Memorial in Dallas:


Hot tubbin' in McKinney:


My Grandma Grenz gettin' CRAZY with the Texas Lotto scratch-offs:


And to round out the week:

a trip to the Instacare for AJ (Doc said it was an ear infection - BULL-SH&# - because the next day, I came down with it and have spent the last two days in bed.)

Here's to getting back to regular life. Cheers!

Happy Easter

All in all, it's been a great week. We're settling in for a nice Easter weekend.

I saw "Penelope" with some friends this week - soooo cute!

I was not really dying to see this, but there wasn't much else playing. So glad!!! It was funny and had a sweet message, but most of all - it was total eye candy. To say her wardrobe is drool-worthy is a major understatement. And her bedroom? That is what my heaven will look like. I am frantically trying to find a way to put a giant red tree in my scrapbook room. Beautiful. I totally recommend this movie - especially if you have daughters you can take to it.

AJ had more than her share of cupcakes at the Relief Society Birthday Celebration last night.


And today, she made out with quite a haul at the annual Easter Egg Hunt.



Hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend!!

Best Day

Yesterday, I had the best day. Don't you love those days? Where nothing really spectacular happens, but you feel 100% happy?! Craig started his new job yesterday at Raytheon. (I can't even explain what they do. Feel free to check out their website and NOT figure it out for yourself.) We are finally done with the infamous swing-shift. He's now on a Mon-Fri shift, no weekends, and because he can go in as early as he wants, he will be home by 3:00-4:00pm each day. So excited!!! We can now actually do things like Family Home Evening, dinner together, and Friday night dates.

So for the first time in, well 2 1/2 years, Craig left early for work and AJ and I were up, showered, fed, cleaned the house and on the road by 10am, which made me feel like my own personal hero. (I'm kinda lame.) I met up with some friends at Let's Jump (AJ's little heaven on earth)




She ran around with her friends for a few hours, then a few of us went and picked up $5 pizzas from Little Caesars and took them to the park, where the kids played in the "woods" and built tree houses and booby traps. The weather was perfect and I so enjoyed the wonderful conversation that never fails with my great friends. After all the playing AJ actually ASKED to take a nap and slept for a couple hours while I checked emails, balanced the checkbook and scrapbooked a little. When Craig came home, we had dinner and went grocery shopping. While at the grocery store, I got a phone call from my friend Candace.

Her husband has been having a horrible battle with cancer and a couple weeks ago was told he only had a week to live. He is back home now and she called to tell me he was doing better than he had in a long time. He was able to walk all the way down the street and back (which is amazing since last week he didn't even have the strength to sit up and eat.) We are really hoping he has turned the corner and she said it was her best day ever too. I went to bed feeling ever so grateful for everything I was blessed with this day - and everyday. I hope you all feel joy and blessings in your life today too!!

Book Club

Yesterday I hosted our book club. It was fun to be able to be a little fancy for a change.


I used the beautiful china I got for Christmas:


Made this centerpiece:


(Almost had an aneurysm doing this to 3 dozen eggs for the centerpiece)


Made these place cards:


This was our appetizer:


Main course was this:




Drank Mint Juleps (my favorite Disneyland drink):


Our dessert:


Oh ya - the book.

We discussed "March" by Geraldine Brooks, the story of the absentee father (Mr. March) from the classic novel "Little Women." I really liked this book and even though not everyone else in the group did, it did make for a great discussion. I'm so grateful for wonderful friends and the chance to spend a lovely afternoon together. Thanks to all of you for making my big day a success.
And a special note of appreciation to my wonderful hubby, who really helped me pull it all together, who was up at 2:00am the night before helping me set the table,

and even added a little color to my life:

Love you!

Go Cougars!

Photos from the BYU Basketball game last Saturday. Gotta love cotton candy!

Tom & Jesus

A few days ago, a friend of mine dropped off an Easter basket full of goodies. AJ got so excited and said "Oh my gosh," (her new favorite catch-phrase) "look mom - Easter commed!" I was happy that she was so elated over a basket of candy, but felt inclined to once again go over the true meaning behind the holiday.

I reminded her, we celebrate Easter to remember that Jesus died for us and then was resurrected. I searched her face hopelessly for any sign of recognition, since we've had this talk about eight-thousand times since I bought our Easter "nativity" set, but no such luck. So I explained again that resurrected means that he died, but his spirit returned to his body and he came back to life. Her eyes lit up and I thought "Yes - I've done it. She really gets it this time!"

She enthusiastically says "He died and came back, just like Tom and Jerry!"

Right - Just like Tom and Jerry. And the mom of the year award goes to...

Tunesday

I'm a little bit country...

Sometimes I'm just in the mood. Here is a bit from my Country playlist:

She's Everything by Brad Paisley
Winner At a Losing Game by Rascal Flatts
Where the Green Grass Grows by Tim McGraw
Lubbock or Leave It by The Dixie Chicks
Red Umbrella by Faith Hill
How I Feel by Martina McBride
Wannabe Rebels by Kenny Chesney
Crazy Dreams by Carrie Underwood
Nothin Better to Do by LeAnn Rimes
Our Song by Taylor Swift
Some Beach by Blake Shelton
Once In a Lifetime by Keith Urban

What the...?!

So this is us yesterday. Nice and warm. Fine day outside. I read a book on the patio while AJ played with the bubble machine.


And this is what it looked like today:


Seriously? What is up?!?!? I have never seen snowflakes this big. And I'm from Salt Lake City! Give me a break.

Good thing I have a new kitchen table to cheer me up:



That's right folks. After 8 years of marraige, I finally have a real dining table to call my own. We've been using our $100 farm table way too long. The chairs were seriously so wobbly you were taking your life into your hands just to sit down for breakfast.

Before:



After:



We got an AMAZING deal on it and I luckily had enough of my scrapbooking funditure set aside to make the purchase. We even sprung for extra chairs so that when we put the leaf in, it will seat 8. Just imagine - now I can have people over for dinner and not ask half of them to sit on the couch. Move over Martha! (Or pull up a chair. I have eight, you know.)