We're All in this Together!

Girls night out usually refers to a night of ‘I have got to put on unmommy clothes, get the heck out of the house, devour some form of chocolate, laugh and sometimes cry with my girls until the wee hours of the night or I am going to go absolutely crazy.’

We had girls night tonight, but it wasn’t the usual! Melanie and I decided to plan an afternoon of activities to lead up to the surprise of the High School Musical tickets my parents got our girls. We had so much fun (we even took a turn walking the catwalk despite the strange looks from the other adults in the store), and I am pretty sure the girls liked it too!


I made an invitation to give the girls a heads up on the evening’s agenda and then found matching HSM t-shirts at K-Mart. They were so excited when they opened them. The invitation read:

Get ready to be:
Glamorized at Sweet n’ Sassy
Hair, makeup and nails @3:45 pm

Photographed by the infamous
jamilyn photography
Prepare to work it girl!

Entertained by Broadway’s High School Musical
Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City @8:00 pm

They were all so surprised and excited! It was really cute to see how into being made up the girls got. You could tell they were surprised and that they were in heaven during their glamour session. They just ate up all the attention we could muster to give them, and Eden worked the catwalk!



High school musical was a great production! There was only one super cheesy part that I could have lived without, but I really enjoyed the play and the music. My favorite part was that the t-shirts the girls were wearing had a pocket on the bottom that when pushed would jam, “We’re all in this together.” My sisters and I had a blast embarrassing the girls by making their shirts sing whenever we could.

Thanks Mom and Dad for the tickets! I think we might have a new yearly girls outing tradition on our calendars because we had so much fun. Next time though I am getting my toes done too.
Go Wildcats!

piCTuRe PeRfeCT

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from a photo shoot with my Uncle’s family tonight. They have such a beautiful family that I love, and they are lots of fun too! Barbie & Ken even stopped by. Check out their incredible yard!

Happy Birthday Mom!

I feel so lucky to have been able to be with both my parents on their birthdays this year so that I could spoil them a little bit!! The kids woke up early this morning to make my mom birthday cards. They were so excited to give them to her that I had to hold them back from waking her up. While we let her sleep in, we made her Hootenanies and a smoothie for breakfast.

Hootenanies (aka German Pancakes)

This is one of our family’s favorite breakfasts! We have it at least once a week!

6-8 eggs

1 C flour

1 C milk

¼ C sugar

¼ tsp salt

While blending ingredients in the blender, melt 3 T butter in a preheating oven.

Bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees.

Mom, I don’t know how I got so lucky to have you for a mom, but I don’t know what I would do without you! I have been thinking about some of the reasons why I love you and this is the tip of the iceberg…

MY MaMa:

- she taught me to love chocolate

- she knows how to smooth anything over

- she is a creative genius

- she truly considers her possessions just ‘stuff’

- she has an uncanny ability to tune out fussy kids (and grandkids ;))

- she has mastered the art of turning conversations

- she will drive a mile out of her way to turn at a light

- she never complains

- my friends growing up called her little mama

- she is one of my best friends

- she makes everyone in her presence at ease

- she always puts things into perspective

- she has an obsession with purses

- she doesn’t do things half way

- she can’t remember her kids names

- she uses knives to get things she can’t reach

- she always leaves things better than she found them

- she and her sister struggle to hear and talk but they understand each other perfectly

- sometimes I still cry for her

- she is more hip and up on pop culture than I am

- she isn’t ashamed to cry when she feels the spirit

- she tried really hard to teach me how to cook and sew before I left the house

- she is beautiful

- I have never heard her yell

- she is tough as nails

- she’s quirky too (eating m&m’s in bread)

- she has no idea how talented she is

- she owns 101 pair of glasses and still can’t find any

- she loves her husband and family more than anything

- she is MY mom and some days all I want is to be with her!

my favorite day of the week...

Sunday is my favorite day of the week! Every Sunday we wake up early, (correction: Damian wakes up early and I sleep in until the last possible minute that I think we might be able to get everyone fed, dressed and to church on time) and get to go to church. There are so many reasons I love Sundays at church: seeing our friends, the common values we share, the principles taught, my kids getting two hours of gospel-centered instruction by someone other than me, but mostly because of the feelings I feel there. Those feelings of peace, comfort and truth usually catch me off guard, but they are a tangible reminder of why I choose to live my life the way I do despite feeling overwhelmed and crazy at times. Okay, most of the time.

Today we went to my sister’s church in Draper at 9 am. We felt at home as we snuck into one of the rows in the back right after the meeting had started. I know, shocker. I was late. I was kicking myself for getting up and making smoothies for breakfast when Landon poured his all over his fresh out of the shower body and nice church clothes. Good tardy excuse, right? I was completely frazzled trying to keep 3 kids happy and reverent as we sat there. It was one of those Sundays when I wonder why I even attempted to go to church because I couldn’t listen and I was struggling to keep my good mommy face on. But like clockwork, those feelings came and I knew that I was right where I was supposed to be. Knowing I made the choice to be there despite the chaos made me proud. I love Sundays!

Another reason I love Sundays is because it is the one day of the week that I know we’ve been commanded to keep holy. Besides going to church, I cherish the family time without distractions of errands and keeping up with the pace of the world. When I can steal a Sunday nap like today, it is a guilt-free pleasure!

Surf's up!

As soon as we got in town I had a run in with my typical traveling to Utah illness. Like clockwork it happens every summer. I guess I stress myself out too much preparing to leave or something, but I was so bummed because it was the last couple of days I would get to see Damian and I had to miss out on a day of boating with my family.

The boys are going through some kind of weird fascination with their boy parts and anything that has to do with bodily functions. I know, it sounds like just a boy thing, but Carter and Landon have issues. They find potty talk of any kind absolutely hilarious. Today on the way to the lake, Damian was rockin’ out to some song on the radio, which apparently rocked Landon’s body. Landon said, “Dad, my johnson is dancing in my diaper!”

When they got to the lake, Carter was eager to jump in and surf with Damian. Damian bribed Landon with a pack of Skittles to get him to surf with him, but try as he might Eden wouldn’t cave. Eden came home mad because her brothers were making fun of her that they got to pick a treat out at the gas station and she didn’t. I don’t know how daddy’s little girl could let her daddy get away with that one. Deal or no deal, daddy that was naughty!

Are we having FUN yet?

It was so magical to be out of the close quarters of our all too familiar minivan! I finally got to see Macy and the cuteness of those chubby cheeks! Linds and Jeff adore that baby girl, and are such good parents already. I knew they would be!

As you can tell by the pictures of Landon sacked out, we played hard today! We met up at Draper park for a pizza dinner and some more play.

Draper or BUST!

It was hard to leave Kevin and Megan’s new place this morning. Of course because we love them, but also because they spoiled us! The moving company delivered their stuff yesterday, but that didn’t stop them from having a yummy BBQ dinner and soft clean beds ready for us to sleep in when we got there at 10 p.m.!! Then we woke up to the scrumptious smell of breakfast casserole wafting from the kitchen. The best part was that Megan had all the kids ‘helping’ her while we slept in. Wonder Woman! Thanks Megan!

They live in a great condo right next a really nice park that the kids loved playing at this morning, and I am positive Kevin and Megan were relieved to get their energetic little bodies out of their house before too many things got broken. It was fun to see them again and I love that I will be able to visualize where they are now. The mountains were gorgeous and the weather was actually a little chilly this morning…a welcomed break! They sent us off packed with sandwiches and treat for the last leg of our 9 hour trip to Draper. See, totally spoiled! Love them! Miss them! Can’t talk about them anymore or I’ll cry.

We made it to Draper! Seriously, phew. I am so done with road trips for a while! My brother-in-law, Steve, brought 3 of the cousins over when we got here. Isn’t family the best? We got to hear all about their recent 2 week trip to Thailand and the cousins were so excited to play. Now I can’t wait to get my hands on baby Macy, my brand new niece, tomorrow!

sOggY bRitCHes!!

We have had to cancel four swimming lessons due to rain, but our yard needs it and this is the next best thing... here are some pictures of the kids playing in the recent downpours!

hair poos and Excedrin...

You might be asking yourself, “Just what is a hair poo?” I believe the term hair poo was coined by my grandmother, Doris Dudley. The history behind the hair poo: Grandma would offer a small amount of money in exchange for a relaxing and thorough scalp massage. Most of the grandkids would jump at the chance to earn a few shiny coins to spend in Dudley’s laundry mat vending machines, to play Pac Man with or get a treat at Tastee Freeze. A coin or two was enough incentive for us that Grandma was put to sleep almost every night we were there on vacation with a hair poo. Well, that is until Grandpa spoiled all the grandkids by supplying us with rolls of quarters whenever we visited.

The hair poo then went from being a paid chore to a service of love for all who were willing to spoil Grandma. If you knew my Grandma you would know that she needs lots of relaxing and can always use a little more TLC! (Both she and Grandpa are 85 and still work everyday to help to run their family business!)

Desire to be the recipient of a hair poo must be somewhat genetic, due to the frequent requests I have received from my dad. I never minded playing with his silver hair though because I would do anything for my dad, and also because I felt like it was in my job description as his favorite daughter!

I, too, inherited the need for hair poos gene. I guess I somewhat expected my children to fill their hair role like I dutifully filled mine, so tonight I asked for one. You would have thought I asked them if they wanted ice cream they were so excited. Eden had me lay down, told me to relax and brought me a magazine. She then instructed Carter to ‘keep her busy’ and she disappeared. Ten minutes later she had the whole family room covered in hair paraphernalia. Two hours later, it was not quite what I expected but it was fun despite my massive headache and severe loss of hair.

meet Toadie

Toadie, any one of our resident frogs, was captured this morning after a long battle. Poor Toadie.

Toadie suffered poking with several blunt objects (including but not excluding fingers, sticks, and straws), near squashing with a wooden spoon, incubation inside a pitcher, and most definitely trauma.

Toadie made several valiant escape attempts but he was clearly outnumbered.

After surrendering, Toadie willingly posed for pictures and was then released (dropped) to go lick his wounds. For his sake I hope Toadie only comes back to eat the bugs when it’s dark.