Be Mine

Another Lover’s Day came and went (along with mine and Dave’s 11th anniversary). Our anniversary was actually spectacular this year…super unusual, but one of my personal faves. We went to a cooking class at Taste Culinary Boutique at Gardener Village, and the food was DELISH being an assortment of European dishes! The only problem was we only got “tastes” of each of the courses. I mean…SERIOUSLY??? By the time the class was over, we were both starved! We headed Salt Lake way, and ended up at Bruges for the Torpedo waffle and fries; love the chocolate placed just so inside the sugary waffle, garnished with strawberries and crème fresh. Mmmm!!!  After, we hit up Trader Joe’s so we could buy all of the ingredients to make our new, exciting recipes from our class (and we also stocked up on their awesome macaroni and cheese). And then by this point, we decided we couldn’t end the night without a little gelato from Dolcetti. That place is awesome. Every flavor is wonderful…we should know since we sampled almost all of them. I know what you're thinking: What is wrong with these people?!!! Why do they eat so much?!! I don’t know. It’s an illness really. It was A LOT of food, but you know what, it made for a magical night! So fun!!

So Valentine’s Day happened something like this…

We forewent (is that a word?) individual gifts this year since we’ve got a few upcoming adventures in the works that we’re trying to save for. But I still got a darling bouquet from the husband. The leaves were shaped into hearts, and the roses had little diamonds at their centers. Such a cute, unique bouquet!

Dave is King of Romance I think. He comes up with (I’ll say it) the sexiest;) of ideas for Valentine’s Day dinners with the kids. Last year was Carrabba’s take out, which we all love. And this year? Cheese and chocolate fondue. It was so perfect! He had all the fixings, but of course, the kids loved the marshmallows, popcorn, and chocolate the most; pretty sure they were in Wonderland eating that for dinner. But anyway, he’s the one that always puts it together, and it’s always a flawless, fun dinner.

 

       

After dinner, it was time for me to put on my show…the annual Heart Hunt. This year was neat because Kate could READ all of the clues without help. She would read each clue, and then quickly run off to find the heart. We kept having to make her wait for little brother. As you can see, he had a few fits throughout the scavenger hunt:

It’s hard being the little one

 

The hunt ended in Kate’s closet. Sissy threw her arms up in the air when beholding her prize, a Cuddle-Uppet. And Cole beamed at the sight of his new race track!

 

What a consummate Valennersary!

Snow Shovelers

We had a storm that DUMPED snow! Kate was excited to go out in it, but it took a little convincing with Cole. Our little polar bear hates the snow; he does, however, love a shovel! I pulled out one that was just his size, and he even agreed to put on a few snow clothes. The mom was proud, and I think he really had a good time.

      

 

Snow Angels

 



    

And the best part? Hot chocolate afterwards. Cole could only say, “Mmmm…dood (good)"; the perfect payment for all their hard work;)

The Lyle In Me

My dad is Lyle. He's your average Joe for the most part, except that he is a remarkably lucky guy. The man has won various things over the years. I do not have luck like this...usually...but once in a while, something good comes my way. Take, for example, last Wednesday night:

Dave and I got invited to a Jazz game. Lucky. Not any old Jazz game; a luxurious Jazz game including 5th row seats, courtesy of the Peterson's. Super lucky! This is our 2nd time in 1 year sitting in premium seats, which included dinner before, and desserts during half time. Lucky again. There's just nothing else like it. I mean NOTHING. It is a night of pure bliss when you are sitting that close (and we are forever ruined because of it).

And the dinner, lest we forget, was delightful. I thoroughly enjoyed the salad, cheese and crackers, fruit, chicken, rolls, eclairs, fruit tart, cookie, and anything else I may have left off the list. So good and SO FUN! Oh, and winning a Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone (valued at $599) all while being on the jumbo tron; that was amazing too. Crazy lucky...just like my old man.

Trying not to boast here, seriously, I'm not. It was just that great of a night to be left off the books!

You Know You’re a Redneck If…

 

The Monster Truck Show; nothing else like it. Revving engines, beers, boobs, kwuality people all around; oh, and two little people who very much enjoyed themselves.

                 

We got there early for a little meet and greet with the drivers. The kids got their checkered flags signed, climbed into real life monster trucks, and fine-tuned their redneckognizing skills. I’m joking. The drivers were all very nice; not so nice that I’d invite them to my kids’ birthday parties (like the Hitman (below) offers, but nice enough for a photo opp at least.

  

  

 

We were really grateful that Dave works in Payson. The southern Utah Valley folk instructed him to buy ear plugs, which we would have never known to do. Ear plugs were definitely essential for enjoying the night since it gets crazy loud! Snow cones and a large ice cream bowl also played a large part in enjoying the night. And let’s not forget those motocross riders; they were actually way cooler than the monster trucks!

 

The best part of the night (in retrospect) was the ride home. Just as we were exiting the parking lot, Cole starts chanting, “Go Potty, Mom!” Oh, heavens. When Cole says this, I know I’ve got approximately 15-20 seconds max to get him to a toilet. But just where were we going to do that? There we were, late at night, in West Valley City, with Cole in the back seat (who had recently polished off 1.5 large, juicy snow cones) painfully repeating, “Keep the underwear clean! Keep the underwear clean! Keep the underwear clean!” Oh, my heart just hurt for him since he was trying so hard to hold it in. We finally found a Starbucks, but by then it was too late. Soaked pants. We went in, tried emptying out the rest of the snow cone in him, changed clothes, and then got back in the car to head home. It was actually pretty funny and we kind of laughed about it the whole way. But then, seriously 2 minutes from home, we hear it again, “Go potty, Mom! Keep the underwear clean! Keep the underwear clean!” Didn’t quite make it home in time for that one either.

Anyway, the kids were SO tired after their monstrous night out. And so were the parents, especially after the ride home. But what a fun night to remember! Everyday since Cole asks, “Monster truck show today, Mom?” To which I reply, “Nope, no monster truck show today, buddy.”  Glad he liked it.

Happy Birthday, Rachel!

Kate got a My Generation doll this year at Christmas. She lovingly named her Rachel Mya Blackhurst. The doll looks very similar to Kate with dark hair and blue eyes, and Kate has taken to her like she is her own little girl. She sleeps with her, carries her around, wraps the doll up in her favorite blankies, changes her daytime clothes to jammies (and vice versa), and even bought her a salon chair so she can adequately comb her hair. But sweetest of all, she threw one heck of a birthday celebration for Rachel’s 4th birthday (all Kate’s idea), which was on January 5th. She made her a card, blew up balloons, bought her a puppy as a gift, and baked a very special cake in her Easy Bake Oven. She’s a doll of no words, but Rachel Mya surely loved it. At least she darn well better have.

An End to An Era

This has been a whirlwind of a week for all of us! I up and decided to potty train Cole this week. It was terribly cold outside. We were going to be homebound and miserable anyway. So why not?

I feared potty training in the greatest way because, let’s face it, I wasn’t super successful with the first child. Sweet Kate has always struggled with it due to her constipation issues and such. My sweet neighbor emailed me an ebook that explains how to train in just 3 days. I was doubtful, but followed it the best I could. In short, I owe this author my life (maybe that’s a little drastic; but my sanity, at least). He was pee-pee trained in 3 days, while the poop took 5 days. And it’s him that tells me when he needs to go; I don’t even have to ask. I think that’s pretty amazing!

With potty training, I had him throw his diapers and bottles into the garbage (which I later pulled out and hid away;) Then we switched out the crib for a big boy bed. Whew!! That’s big stuff for a boy who liked being the baby, and for a mom who liked having him be the baby. The bottles were the hardest thing to say good-bye to, but he’s now gotten over it, and is happy with Big Boyhood. I, on the other hand, am struggling a bit with it all. I’m so proud of him, but want to cry every time I see that tiny person sleeping in that big bed. I can’t believe there are no more babies in this house:’(

 

Cole, the underwear model:

                         

Old bedroom (shown off by the old, Baby Cole):

New, Big Boy Bedroom:

          

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve was cold and snowy! Kate did everything she could to help Santa find his way. She sprinkled a reindeer feed composed of delectable oats and sparkly sequins all over the front lawn (which the birds proved to love the next morning). She also set up a very nice cookie, caramel and
Coke plate because, apparently, Santa prefers Coke to milk.  These things definitely drew in Santa, and his many wonderful presents too.
      

Christmas gets sweeter and sweeter each year. The kids’ expressions and excitement make the morning so much more lively and memorable! That being said, this year Santa surprised the kids with a BoUnCe HoUsE! The parents thought this would be a jaw-dropping, poop pants-ing, unforgettable, who cares about the other presents, amazing surprise. We had the camcorder all queued up to catch their astonishment and…NOTHING. They took one look at the thing, and ran over to the wrapped presents. Huh. Totally not the reaction we had envisioned; it’s just too bad the video camera wasn’t recording the looks on the parents' faces;) The kids blissfully opened their presents, and eventually moved onto the bounce house. They’ve since spent hours on end in it, with endless screams and bounces. And we’ve loved how quickly it blows up and takes down. Maybe they were just so shocked that it took a few minutes to sink in?      

       
     

Another noteworthy part of the morning: Dave had been telling Kate for over a month now that she was going to get coal in her stocking. She didn’t believe that. Dave managed to find some chocolate coal just for her and strategically placed it in the top of her stocking with with the label of “coal” hanging out for her to see. Guess what was the very first thing she saw? Those tormenting letters: C-O-A-L. As her eyes welled with tears, we quickly explained that it was just chocolate coal and that Santa was being a tease. She was relieved, but can you believe he has such a twisted sense of humor?

 

Early morning bedhead:

Needless to say, we had a very, merry Christmas. Our house is once again fully stocked with too many toys and lots of smiles. I feel very blessed to have such a one, hard-working Santa to provide these things for us, as well as two little people in our house to enjoy them. And, of course, we’re very grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ, who is the reason we get to celebrate and enjoy this perfect time of year.