How I Feel About Blogging Right Now.

One of these days, I will get caught up.

But that day is not today

(or tomorrow or the next or the next...)

January 28-February 3 {Highlights + The Second Picture We Ever Took Together + 5 Facts You Didn't Know About Me}

The week started off with Isabelle addressing and delivering 

her birthday party invitations for her friends at school!

This will be the first "friend" party Isabelle has ever had

and she's SO EXCITED for it!

A pioneer party at the Lion House!

How exciting is that?!

Isabelle loves anything to do with the pioneers!

Making sure Cecile and Marie-Grace stay in style!

Thomas' kindergarten class had a 

'100 Days of School' party!

Thomas contributed a bag of fishy crackers

for the snack,

and this is the '100' poster he made,

decorated with Cars stickers.

He was really, REALLY excited for this party!

I have the sweetest fiancé in the whole entire world,

and now my house smells like spring inside!

Greg is the 

B

E

S

T

!!!

Pinterest gave me the idea of doing 

'14 Days of Loving Your Husband'

{to be}

and since I'm trying to be just a fraction of 

as awesome to him as he is to me,

Greg has been coming home to treats

and corny notes on his bed everyday.

We really are!

He really does!

{Me and Greg at Archibald's}

Greg's mom had a birthday

{HAPPY BIRTHDAY LORI!!}

and so we celebrated with the Walker family

at Archibald's at Gardner Village.

Such a fun afternoon!

{Thomas, Nat and Isabelle at Archibald's}

{Bubbles bubbles everywhere! 

And what is that creepy shadow figure in the window?!}

The weekend was AWESOME!

Greg and I took the kids + Max up to the cabin

for a weekend of snowmobiling, hot tubing,

sledding, and game playing.

Making the hot tub super bubbly was 

the most fun part!

The kids had so much fun they didn't want to leave!

This is the second photo Greg and I ever took together -

and we had even been dating for a whole 

four months at this time.

{What is the first picture we ever took together, you ask? 

It was at Greg's company Christmas party in 2011,

but it's not one of my favorites;

the angle is funny}

Anyways.

I don't know what our problem was.

Prior to taking this picture we had been to 

Las Vegas together twice and to St. George once -

so basically three trips and zero pictures!

So anyways, almost exactly one year ago to this day -

it was just a few days before Valentine's Day,

Greg and I were having lunch at Lamb's Cafe

{our place!}

and I told him it was a lifelong dream of mine

to see the Tree of Utah out at The Great Salt Lake

{it really was.}

Greg is a "make it happen" kind of guy,

so after lunch we drove directly out to the

Great Salt Lake so I could see the Tree of Utah.

It didn't disappoint.

We continued on driving all the way to Wendover,

visited the WWII museums there,

took this picture of us wearing the 3D glasses,

walked into a Casino

{Peppermill perhaps?}

got an ice-cream cone and then drove back home.

This was circulating on Instagram, 

{I love Instagram and I LOVE Max!!}

so here goes -

5 Facts You Didn't Know About Me:

1. One in every million people is immune to the chicken pox and I am one of them. So basically, I am one in a million.

2. I never leave the house without earrings in {unless I'm going to the gym, and in that case I don't even wear my ring} but other than that I always wear earrings. I even carry an emergency pair in my purse.

3. I am a certified SCUBA diver, but because of my irrational fear of sharks I will never go diving.

4. I shave my legs every single day, 365 days a year, no matter what.

5. I have a severe aversion to mayonnaise. I don't even have any in my fridge, and my goal is to never have any in my fridge. I'm being honest - my children have no idea what mayo even is.

January 21-27 {Highlights + Isabelle turns 8! + That Awkward Moment When You Show Up For A Concert A Day Late}

{Max at the vet.}

The week started off with two very sick boys -

Thomas and Max.

Poor Max had a skin infection on his tummy

and he had to go to the vet.

The Doctor gave him a shot and prescribed an antibiotic.

He's doing much better now!

Little Thomas had walking pneumonia and missed 

two more days of school.

It was rough... Thomas was really tired,

had a nasty cough and just wanted to sleep a lot.

It's sad when little ones are sick!

Thanks heavens he is better now!

{Isabelle on the morning of her birthday!}

The HIGHLIGHT of the week was 

my Princess Isabelle Grace turned 8!!

Eight! I have an eight year old!

It's great to be 8!!

We spent the whole entire day 

celebrating Isabelle non-stop.

I know that this is the BEST birthday

she has ever had, no question!

What an exciting and special time this is for

my Izzie Grace!!

Birthday cupcakes!!

I brought cupcakes into Isabelle's class at school.

The frosting and sprinkles were bright,

and the cupcakes were topped with:

shoes, purses, butterflies and dragonflies.

Very fitting for my birthday girl!

{Isabelle eating a cupcake at school}

{Cupcakes with a classmate!}

{So that's where my Christmas magnets went!}

Before we left the school,

Isabelle wanted to show me how she's decorated

the inside of her locker door.

{Nat and Thomas having a birthday cupcake at home}

After school I had to pick up a few things from 

Barnes and Noble,

and while I shopped

the kids had a lot of fun playing at the 

Lego table upstairs.

So much fun in fact it was hard getting them to leave!

{Me. Greg. Olivia. Stephanie. 

Sarah. Thomas sleeping. Nat. Isabelle}

The most special part of Isabelle's birthday is that

she shares it with my sister -

her Aunt Stephanie.

So every year we have double/"twin" birthday parties!

My mom was still in South Dakota with my grandma

for the double birthdays and my day had

an appointment

{we'll celebrate with them when everyone is back from SD}

so my wonderful Greg took

us all out to dinner at Benihana's downtown.

Thomas and Isabelle had never been there before,

and having the chef cook their food right in front

of them + the eggs rolling, flying shrimp, 

fire and juggling of the knives - - 

 they were mesmerized.

The food was so good too,

it's one of the most fun nights we have

ever had all together!

{Isabelle and Nat}

{The "twin" birthday girls and Sarah!}

{With four of my favorite people in the whole world!}

{Me & Mr. Handsome}

{All of us!}

At the end of dinner, Isabelle and Stephanie were sung to

and brought out ice-cream,

 and then we opened presents at the restaurant.

Isabelle was thrilled with her American Girl presents!

Anything American Girl is her favorite thing

in the world!

Thomas and I gave her oodles of doll clothes

for Marie-Grace and Cecile,

Greg and Nat gave her American Girl books,

and Olivia gave her the American Girl dog Pepper.

Tonight was quite the birthday bash at Benihana's!!

Now Isabelle is looking forward to her upcoming

8th birthday party at the Lion House!

It is something I have wanted to do for her

when she turned 8 ever since she was born 

{for real}

so both Isabelle and I are very excited

for this next event!

{Jailbird Max}

On Friday Greg and I put Max in his kennel and the

three of us drove up to Heber for the night.

While we had a lot of fun up in the mountains

for the evening,

we completely missed the George Strait Concert

that Greg bought me tickets to for my birthday.

Suite tickets.

We both thought the concert was on Saturday...

So on Saturday night,

{"concert night"}

Greg and I went out for sushi downtown and then

walked over to the Delta Center

Energy Solutions Arena and were confused

by the lack of country radio stations and 

rednecks crowds and were wondering why

the people walking in with us were wearing

Jazz jerseys instead of cowboy hats. 

When we got up to the door, the guy scanned 

our tickets and:

FAIL!!

Then we looked down, saw the date,

and saw that the concert was the night before

and it was just a Jazz game that evening.

I wanted to die, and I felt like crying and

eventually I did start crying.

I was completely sad and devastated.

I had so been looking to seeing George Strait

{it's his final tour!}

for months and months now.

Luckily, Salt Lake was not George's final

city to perform in.

Greg found tickets to an upcoming show online 

and then booked two plane tickets 

half-way across the country so we I can see 

The King of Country before

The Cowboy {officially} Rides Away.

So, it really was that awkward moment when we

showed up for a concert a day late.

If it weren't his farewell tour I wouldn't

care as much,

but he is my favorite, and traveling to the mid-west

in the middle of winter to hear him perform

THIS song alone is so, so worth it.

SOUTH DAKOTA!

{Loretta. Me. Jane. Mom. Evelyn}

Not much of a vacation spot,

especially in the middle of the winter

with the wind chill making it -17 degrees

{yes, minus 17 degrees}

but last weekend I flew to South Dakota

to spend a few days with my grandma.

My grandma had surgery

{everything went well, she is ok!} 

and was in the hospital for a week.

The surgery was last minute,

and as soon as we found out

 Greg {Mr. Wonderful} booked a ticket 

and flew me out

and my sister Stephanie took care of

 Thomas and Isabelle so I could have some

much needed South Dakota family time.

{my magazines for the plane trip}

Me & Uncle Steven

I won't name names,

but someone visiting my grandma was wearing this shirt.

My mom and I spent everyday all day at the hospital 

with my grandma.

On the second night we were there, 

a bunch of us went to dinner at Tea. 

In real life, Tea has the best steak in South Dakota.

Tea is why I cannot be a vegetarian.

At Tea, there are two things on the menu:

steak and Jack Daniels.

I don't think people in South Dakota drink anything

but Jack Daniels.

It's super convenient having the slot machines 

right there just feet away for gambling in

between courses.

{Great Uncle Mark. Me. Uncle Steven. Great Aunt Ardis. Mom}

See all the bottles behind me?

Yep, that's Jack Daniels.

All. of. it.

"Cowboy boot stores" in South Dakota blow our one

store here in Utah out of the water.

I have never seen so many cowboy boots in my

entire life!

I was in cowboy boot heaven.

My family in South Dakota are real-life legitimate

farmers/cowboys/cowgirls

and I am clearly just a wannabe

{as if I could ever plow a field or rope cattle!}

but at least now I know where I get my redneck ways from.

I love cowboy boots.

I love Greg in cowboy boots.

I love Greg even more in a cowboy hat.

{I do not like Wranglers though}

I love horses.

I love rodeos.

I love George Strait. 

I love Reba.

I have a mad passion for Johnny Cash,

the man in black.

I have gone country.

Yes, I did buy them both and no,

I don't think I am being excessive.

Spending a few days with my family -

most of who I haven't seen since Isabelle

was just a baby,

was exactly what I needed.

It's hard to explain, but spending time with

my grandma + SD family

always pushes my "reset button"

and I came back to Utah feeling

a hundred times better and more like myself

than I did when I left.

I think families {Grandma's especially} and

cowboy boots must have a way of doing that.

January 14-17 {Highlights}

When I was Isabelle's age,

my most favorite book in the world was

Prince Bertram the Bad

by Arnold Lobel.

It's about a prince who does all sorts of bad things

and eventually he turns into a dragon.

It's out of print now,

but lucky for me I was given a copy as a gift

several years ago.

Like mother like daughter...

Isabelle loves reading Prince Bertram at night 

before she falls asleep!

 Isabelle had a play date after school with her BFF Riley.

This wasn't just any play date though...

Isabelle and Riley had an American Girl Doll play date.

Max likes to lounge on the arm of the couch.

He will perch up there and watch out the window

and bark at passerby's - especially at the mail man.

I told Greg that in our new house on the new couch

this louging-on-the-arm will have to stop.

Dog hair on the furniture makes me a little crazy.

At the end of the week, both Thomas and Isabelle

got really sick with bad colds/flu and they

missed a couple of days of school.

It was pretty miserable for them.

My angels, sick in bed.

With the kids being so sick, this is all they

wanted to eat and drink for the next few days.

Having sick kids in the middle of winter is

 the worst!

January 7-13 {Highlights}

On Monday morning Greg had just because flowers 

delivered to me.

I love the colors, pink and red.

Just because flowers on a Monday morning

are the best way to start out the week!

Jazz vs. Mavericks

Greg and I went to a Jazz game with my mom and dad.

We had dinner upstairs in the Executive Suite.

The Jazz won... Go Jazz!

{Our official engagement picture}

I love this picture of my hand, Greg's hand,

and Max's hand paw. 

We really do have a love triangle going on,

Greg, Max and I.

Both Greg and Max are attention mongers,

so its only appropriate that this engagement picture

of sorts be of the three of us.

Here, it looks like Max gently placed 

his hand paw over mine.

In reality, he was throwing an absolute fit.

This is what getting this shot really looked like:

Thank heavens for photo editing!

Even though Thomas weighs as much as Isabelle,

she still insists on hauling her baby brother

around the house piggy-back style.

Thomas, Isabelle and I can't get enough 

CandyLand playing-time in during the day!

It's the kids' favorite game!

So proud of himself!

Thomas won this round of CandyLand.

On Saturday night Greg and I went to dinner

and the symphony with our friends, Cathy and Garr.

We went to Caffe Molise for dinner

{where we went on our first date,

except for this time it was more like 

our 220th date!}

and afterward we walked to Abravanel Hall

for the symphony, 

Sibelius' Violin Concerto.

It was beautiful.

:: THE END ::