Will's 6th Birthday!

On December 10th my sweet little baby boy turned 6 years old!! I can hardly believe it! He's so grown up and such an amazing human being! I feel so blessed to be his mom!

I wanted his day to be extra special from beginning to end... unfortunately we had a little mishap that I must briefly share. As you know, I've been teaching full-time, so Jeff and I have been juggling around the boys to accommodate me not being home. Jeff made Will a special birthday breakfast and sent him off to school. I packed treats for his class in his backpack for him to give out (something I already felt bad about because this is something I've always brought in, in the past). Then my mom was supposed to pick Will up after school. Well, my mom had a devastating morning filled with Doctor's appointments that were not bringing her good news, so needless to say, she forgot to pick up Will from school. I got a call at my school from Will's school informing me that "the birthday boy had been waiting for 45 minutes for someone to come pick him up"! I felt awful!! Like the worst mom in the whole world! Here I am transitioning into a working mom and already I'm falling short! And on his birthday of all days!! I couldn't hold back the tears! I ran to the office and begged the copy lady to take over my class for me so I could go pick up Will from school. Picture me in tears as I explain to my 7th graders that they need to be nice for the copy lady while I go take care of a family emergency. It was pathetic! By the time I got there to pick him up, my mom was there and feeling horrible (not only because of the bad news from the doctors, but for forgetting Will) which made me feel even worse because I just kept thinking that it's all my fault! If I hadn't been at work, none of this would have happened in the first place. AAghh! It was not the wonderful day I had hoped Will would have, but fortunately he was completely understanding and didn't stop smiling for one second! It was his birthday after all, and it was a good day no matter what happened! So the day proceeded as planned from there. Grandma took Will shopping for new cowboy boots and out to lunch, while I went back to school. All is well that ends well!
That night we went out to dinner at the Olive Garden with both sets of Grandparents (and Josh, which is always a bonus!). We opened gifts and sang "Happy Birthday" and ate the yummy chocolate cake that they provided.

We got him Lego Rock Band and he was sooooo happy!

I just put this one in to show that he still loved me and didn't hold a grudge for me leaving him at the school on his birthday!

Will with his Grandpa & Grandma B.

Will with his Grandpa & Grandma P.

Grandma with Will in his new cowboy had and boots that she got him.

Drew with Will in the Captain Rex outfit that Drew got him.

Happy Birthday Will! Thank you for being the wonderful person you are! I have loved every minute that you've been in my life and I love looking forward to the future with you as my son! I love you!!

Happy Birthday to Me!

In honor of my 34th Birthday, I decided to re-post the following "note" that I posted on my facebook account several months ago. It's got more info about me than ANYONE would ever want to know (except maybe Jeff because he loves me and never tires of hearing about me...), but I'm posting it anyway... If you've seen it before, you don't need to reread it, unless you're totally bored:~)

1) I was born in Pittsburgh, PA, and am the youngest of 3 kids in my family. We moved to Utah when I was about 3. My parents divorced when I was 4 and I was raised 100% by my mom. She remarried when I was 10 and I gained 2 younger sisters who I love like they're blood relatives.

2) My name is spelled with an "I" because my mom works at a credit union and has always hated it when letters (like g, p, y) fall below the line when signing checks or the backs of credit cards. So therefore she named all her kids names that are spelled with only letters that stay above the line (Paul, Aimee, Wendi).

3) My mom is my hero and I rely on her for advise, support, perspective, babysitting, you name it! She is the smartest woman I know.

4) After high school I moved to Cedar City to attend Southern Utah University. I loved it there! I studied Journalism, French and Secondary Education and graduated in 1997 with a double major in Journalism & French and a Secondary Ed teaching certificate.

5) I met my husband on a blind date while I was in college. We were set up by my step-sister who was engaged to Jeff's cousin. We met again at their wedding and became best friends and dated long distance until he moved to Cedar City to be with me. We got married when we were really young and thankfully, we still love each other!! We have grown up a lot together and I love him more than I ever thought it was possible to love a person.

6) After I graduated college, I went on a study abroad trip with the University of Utah to France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Austria. It was amazing and I feel so fortunate to have had that experience (especially because Jeff stayed behind and worked his butt off to fund my adventure!).

7) I did my student-teaching at Alta High School in 1997. I taught French, Journalism and Yearbook.

8) Jeff joined the Air Force in 1998 and I followed him across the country... we lived in Biloxi, Mississippi and Valdosta, Georgia. Valdosta for the longest period... we were there for 4 years. When he got out and was hired by the FAA, they sent him to Oklahoma to attend the academy. Drew and I went along with him. I have loved all the places we have had the privilege of living... though some I didn't realize how much I loved until we left.

9) I love nature and the beauty of the earth. When we lived in Georgia, I was the Executive Director of the local Keep America Beautiful organization... I planned all sorts of community clean-ups. I still teach my kids the importance of taking care of the earth and noticing the amazing cycles of life the earth creates. We do neighborhood cleanups and recycle everything!

10) I had to use fertility meds to get pregnant with my first son, but not with my second. I had a completely natural childbirth with my first son (no drugs at all), and had the epidural with my second. I nursed them both for over 1 1/2 years.

11) I joined Weight Watchers on September 11, 2001 after feeling like my whole world was out of control. I lost 60 pounds and have maintained my weight-loss for 6 years (I had to lose 45 lbs. again after my 2nd son). I have worked as a Leader for WW ever since I reached lifetime and it has completely changed my life... not just my size. I would recommend it to anyone!

12) After watching the movie "Super-size me" I went on a personal boycott of McDonalds (even though it was my first job back in the day) and refuse to eat there or take my kids there. My youngest son has never been to a McDonald's in his entire life... he's 5. I know my boycott isn't bothering the McDonald's corp., but I'm so far into it now, there's no turning back. I still go to other fast food places sometimes though, just not that one.

13) I am not a Disneyland/world fan. We've taken the kids there once (Drew twice), but I just can't see wasting all my vacation money on a Disney trip when there are so many other wonderful, fun, educational, entertaining, REAL places in this world to see!

14) I am a scrap booker and am completely current in my family scrapbook. I don't do individual books for each kid; I just keep one family book and try to keep it to one book per year. I take a ton of photos and consider myself a pretty decent photographer.

15) I try to be the best mom I can be, but I admit that I fall short a lot! For example, I'm on the community council, am room mom and volunteer weekly in Drew's class, but I've never volunteered even once in Will's preschool class this year. I try to make up for it by playing educational games and giving him extra attention, but I still always feel like I'm falling short.

16) I am type-A in the planning department. For example, I have a grocery list that is laid out according to the store I shop at (broken down by aisle) that I print up and then highlight the items I need according to my two-week meal plan that I keep in my family planner. Go ahead and laugh, but it works!

17) Jeff and I live on a very tight budget. We believe in the principal of "paying it forward" so we have savings accounts set up for all of life’s needs... from birthdays and vacations, to car registration and health deductibles, and more. We save money each month so that we'll have the money when/if we need it. We keep all our receipts and Jeff balances our books each week.

18) I love to do volunteer work and feel it's extremely important to help out my community in as many ways as possible... I do this by volunteering monthly with my boys at the food bank, working on my mother-in-laws festival of trees committee (selling tickets, creating crafts, etc.), participating in Race for the Cure & Strides Against Breast Cancer, raising money and biking in the MS150 (I've done it for 6 years), and more that I can't think about right now. Bottom-line, I love helping out!

19) One of my life long goals is to publish a children's book. I love to write and read and teach my kids cool things. It would be awesome to put it all together one day!

20) Though I consider myself a very spiritual person, I do not believe in organized religion. This results in feelings of isolation and loneliness because it's very difficult to find like-minded friends. I teach my boys about all religions so they will better understand the world they live in. But I do not tell them what they need to believe other than in themselves.

21) I'm pretty out-going and can have a conversation with ANYONE! I have no problem striking up conversations with strangers... I attribute this to being a journalist:)

22) One of my favorite things to do is snuggle with my boys when I put them to bed at night. I love it so much I have a tendency to fall asleep in their beds because I'm so comfortable. They are the most amazing human beings and they bring so much joy to my life!

23) I LOVE SLEEP! But I have a hell of a time falling asleep at night! It's not uncommon for me to lie in bed for close to an hour or more before finally falling asleep. It's SOOO frustrating!! But I refuse to take meds because I can't ever wake up after I do.

24) In addition to working at WW, I also am a freelance writer and producer. For the last 2 years I've had the great privilege to work at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City (last year for Entertainment Tonight, this year for Associated Press). I got to interview lots of celebrities on the red carpets before their film premiers. It was an awesome experience!

25) Yoga makes me happy. I've been doing it regularly since I was pregnant with Drew. I also love running and biking.

So there you go... more info than you ever wanted to know about me. Thanks for reading!

Mom's Surprise Tea Party...

My wonderful mother has never (in my lifetime) had a birthday party so I decided that for her 60th Birthday, she deserved something BIG! So my siblings and I got together and pitched in to throw the most awesome birthday/tea party EVER!

We held it at the Beehive Tea Room in downtown Salt Lake City and were lucky enough to reserve the entire tea room for our party. Mom and my aunts walked in the Race for the Cure that morning (something my mom and I have been doing together since 1998 and she was so disappointed to hear I couldn't join them this year), and they brought her to the tea room for the surprise.
I set up a table with her photo and a photo book I made of her life for people to write personal messages to Mom as they entered. Then each table was set with a photo of Mom and there was a TV set up playing a DVD I put together of her life so far. The place looked great and she was so elated when she arrived and saw that all this was in celebration of her! There was hardly a dry eye in the place!

Family members (Aimee & my niece Emily even flew in from Oklahoma) and friends (some she hadn't seen in 30 years) came to celebrate the inspiring life of my Mom. We ate scones, brownies and fresh strawberries and everyone had tea or Italian sodas. Then Aimee treated us all to a toast to Mom and if folks weren't crying before it, they were definitely crying after! Her toast was amazing and full of thanks to Mom for being such a wonderful mother and friend. It was such a special moment!

Then Melissa brought a beautiful cake and we pretended to have Mom blow out the candles as we all sang "Happy Birthday!" to her. She was so happy and surprised and she told me that she felt like "queen for the day". Which in my mind is truly what she deserves! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful mother.

She has been my rock, my sounding board, my support, my deep-thinking companion for my entire life. There isn't a special moment she hasn't been there for, and for every sad moment, she's been there to dust me off and get me back on my feet again. And as a Grand-Mother, she is continuing her legacy by loving and encouraging and caring for her grand-kids. (My boys go through withdrawls when they don't see her for a week!). I feel like I'm a strong woman and I know it's because of the strong woman who raised me to think, feel and love! I love you Mom! Happy Birthday!

And thank you to everyone who helped me put this together by offering advice, ideas, photos, money or just plain encouragement! It was worth every bit of time and money that we put in to it!

Jeff's Golf Birthday!

Yesterday was Jeff's 36th birthday... I can't believe I'm married to such an old man! What's crazy is I've been planning birthday's for him for 14 years now! Believe it or not, I'm beginning to run out of ideas! But the boys just couldn't fathom not having some sort of themed birthday party for him, so we all decided that a golf birthday would be fun, since daddy loves to golf!

Jeff picked out his own present... a brand new driver (holy smokes those things are pricey!) to replace the one he finagled from his years working at Hidden Valley Golf Course when he was a teenager.

We took the boys to Mulligans to go mini-golfing and thankfully the weather cooperated with us. After golfing, we bought a bucket of balls and went to the driving range so Jeff could try out his new driver. Look at that form! He's so mmm mmm mmm:~)

I should mention that in honor of his golf birthday, we all wore golf-shirts the entire day... (I had to borrow one from Jeff and it was so big on me that I had a complex about it the whole day... I just don't feel comfortable wearing baggy clothes! I work too dang hard to be able to NOT wear them!)

This is such a cute pic of Jeff teaching Will how to hit the ball. The boys both had such a great time and they decided that this bucket of balls thing needs to be our new Sunday activity!

Later that night we had a little BBQ with Rachel & Brian and then had cake and ice cream for dessert. I attempted to make a golf ball cake, but it did not turn out anything like I had planned... I am no Betty Crocker, that's for sure! Anyway, the boys were more excited about the trick candles we loaded on to the cake to worry about how ugly the cake was. They were laughing and cheering and Jeff kept asking "are these things supposed to be sparking?" "Is that what they're supposed to do?" Eventually he got them all blow out and we all enjoyed the ugly cake.

Will is still asking Jeff if he had "the best birthday EVER!" It's very important to him that birthday's be the best and most wonderful day of the year. So Jeff keeps telling him that it was "the best 36th birthday EVER!" and that seems to please Will very much.

I just want to end with a big I LOVE YOU to Jeff and say that I am so blessed that he was born and that he is in my life. I am the luckiest girl in the world to have found my best friend and soul mate and the man I adore and who treats me and our children with such devotion and respect! You're the best Jeffy! Happy Birthday to you!

Drew's 8th Birthday!

Drew chose to have a dog party to celebrate his 8th Birthday and I'll tell you what... P. D. Eastman was definately on to something when he wrote "Go, Dog. Go!"... a dog party is a GREAT idea!
Drew and I sat down together and planned his party together and it was so fun to hear all his great ideas! He's very creative and when we put our heads together... fun, fun, fun was the result! We started the party with a hot dog dinner and all the boys decorated their own dog bowl. Then we played games centered around things dogs are good at... we had a smelling contest with all sorts of different smells, held a barking contest similar to charades, played a Go fetch! relay, and instead of a pinata, we filled a baby pool with shredded paper and candy, taped the boys thumbs (because dogs don't have thumbs) and let them dig for their treats.

It was total chaos and so much fun! We winded down to some doggy yoga and then watched "Space Buddies"...
The party could have/should have ended there, but call me crazy, the boys all slept (if that's what you can honestly call it?) over... I won't go into detail, but let's just say, we won't be having sleep-overs again anytime soon:) But what we'll ALWAYS remember is that Drew had an AWESOME 8th Birthday! I love him so much and am scared to death about him growing up too fast, but I am so proud of the young man he is becoming!

Will truned 5!

Just as I feared would happen, I forgot to blog about Will's 5th Birthday! I knew that would happen with a December birthday even though I vowed not to ever let Winter Holiday's take over our focus on Will's birthday... alas, I failed... so here I am, trying to make up for it.

We celebrated Will"s birthday with a HUGE party at Bouncin' off the Walls (a gym filled with inflatable slides and bounce houses) and invited all Will friends from school and the neighborhood, as well as both sides of his family.

He chose the theme of a Super Hero training camp, so all the kids came dressed as their favorite Super Hero and bounced and played and had a great time! Will made a total haul and brought home so many presents that he said "with a birthday in December, who needs Christmas!"

Turning 5 is a big rite of passage in our family because it means that Will is no longer our little baby boy... Although he'll always be my baby, he has grown up and matured into a little person with a big mind and great personality who everyone loves to have around... especially me! I love you Will you great big 5 year old!!!