I hear it's your birthday

Ok not yours, but mine. Yes I am officially one year older and wiser too! Jeremy took the day off and we lounged around the house. I then got to work in Logan's classroom while Jeremy did the Costco shopping with the four little ones, I know he is amazing! After that a good friend showed up with goodies in her hand. After welcoming her in and talking for a minute, Jeremy says "I haven't told her." She was there to watch our kids so we could go out to lunch, eat SLOW and TASTE the food. It was really nice, I am grateful for such a wonderful friend. Then we hung out and Jeremy cooked me dinner, Tri-Tip and baked potatoes. Then I made dessert, Apple Turnovers, those were almost as good as the Tri-Tip. While things were cooking I got to open my presents.

Jeremy decided to switch things up this year. He handed the kids a baseball cap with slips of paper in them. I got to pick out a paper, one at a time. As I quickly found out, the slips of paper held the clue/location of each of my gifts. There was a gift hidden in the bathroom, our bedroom, mixed in with jeremy's GRAPHIC NOVELS aka comic books, my china cabinet and a few others. It was a fun way to receive gifts. The kids and I enjoyed running around the house to locate my treasures. I felt extremely spoiled.

Thank you to the man who takes care of us, even though his plate is jam packed with responsibility. We are still number one to him and he spoils me even when I am a little less than deserving. Thank you for all you do and thanks for the fabulous gifts. I love every single one!

Speechless

It is birthday week, so that means the surprises never cease! We celebrated with family tonight, Jeremy cooked, since he had to work all day he actually stopped and got mexican food on the way home, and it was GREAT! As always I was spoiled and got everything on my list, mostly books and cake decorating stuff. I also got to go spend a little birthday money today. At dinner Jeremy and his mom were whispering about "has she seen it yet?" Jeremy said dessert was taken care of. I assumed that they had gotten a Dairy Queen ice cream cake, which I do love. I would never have imagined what was for dessert.

In case you are a little confused I am minorly obsessed with the Twilight series. There is the apple from the cover of Twilight, the white flower with red from New Moon, the red ribbon from Eclipse and the chess pieces from Breaking Dawn. Jeremy's co-worker made this cake for me. Can you believe she works at a credit union by day and is like super-hero cake lady by night? She does this for fun!

Truly all my gifts were my favorite but this takes the cake as making it one of the most memorable birthday moments. I feel so lucky to be surrounded by people who think I am worth it, from Jeremy making the celebration of me special, to phone calls, cards and $$$ to spend from those who can't celebrate here with me, to some one willing to watch 6 kids on top of her own so I can go on a date with Jer, being treated to ice cream and girl gab. The gifts and stuff is nice but I am extremely and abundantly grateful for all the fabulous people who surround me. Thank you, each and everyone of you who made this birthday special! And thank you Cindy for making this, I am truly speechless.

Happy Birthday to You!

It was one year ago that I was introduced to this healthy 10lb 5 oz little girl!
Now she has grown into this:
And this is what happens when she doesn't get her way:
But this is what life is mostly like:

She is now around 17lbs. She is still pretty tall for her age, so maybe we have the beginning of a super-model-esque adorable little girl. She makes me smile and so proud to be a mom. Who knew one little heart could hold so much love for 5 children!

Thank you to Mandy who captured my cutie in true form...always sucking her thumb with a little bit of tears thrown in to make herself known. Hey she's a girl and has her own opinions too!

My Baby Girl

I had to put a quick post of representation that my little girl turn SEVEN yesterday. Holy Smoke is time flying. I have to say these last few months she is going through such a growth spurt. I am not necessarily talking physical. This will be a moment to brag so if you are not in the mood to read about a mother's love for her daughter and the pride she feels skip this post.

Miranda is an amazing girl. She has such light in her eyes they sparkle with beauty and creativity. She sing non-stop and talks almost as much, Jeremy claims this is from him and I will concur! A few things happened recently and I could help but feel my heart swell. We were walking home form school and we were coming up behind a young boy who must have been learning how to drive his classy high powered electric wheel chair. It wasn't easy but he was doing a good job. As we were walking by Miranda looked at him with a cheery expression and said "Hi Alex." In a world where disabilities almost cause you to be shunned whether it is to not may eye contact or show pity or making sure you are not staring, she said hello and we stopped and talked to Alex. What a super kid he is and to think I would have walked right by. The other thing was yesterday. It was Miranda's actual birthday. We have a few traditions that we do like getting morning donuts, and maybe go out to dinner. Since it was Sunday we didn't get donuts and the morning was filled with the hustle and bustle of going to church. We came home and made a friend a cake since she has no family to help her celebrate with her kids. That night I was laying down with Miranda and asking her if she had a good birthday she gave the thumbs up. I asked if she missed out on anything and she said yeah, I wish we could have put candles on friend's cake. I though how selfish am I that was the last thing on my mind. I would have thought how unfair it would have been that my birthday was not as fabulous as it could have been.

I am not sure if either event causes you to see the pride I feel but my heart is full with gratitude that she is a part of my life, the laughter she brings to us and the caring & love she shows and the desire to be a great big sister.

Happy Birthday Miranda!

Another Awesome Gift!

The gift's keep coming! Hannah is my favorite child for the hour. She is I would say 90% potty trained. She wakes up dry and has one accident in 3 days. Here is a picture, I wanted to show her big girl underpants, but I thought that may be inappropriate. So I kept the picture but edited it. Just so you know she is not wearing a diaper or pull-up. She is officially the youngest to be potty trained! Yeah for me...I guess she did some of the work too...OK Jeremy gets a little credit also!

I also get to go see Hannah Montana with Miranda for my birthday and I am also excited about a gift card to Home Depot. I am torn between several projects right now, oh the decisions!

This really has been birthday month. I have been able to go lots of places, be treated fabulously by a multitude of people. Life at 30 is good!

Haylie if you are reading this birthday month is not over. You have 1 day to be potty trained! I guess if you are reading this I will let the potty training slide for a little bit longer and celebrate your (fictional) amazing milestone of reading at age 2.5!

I am offically 30!

In honor of turning 30 I thought I could share 30 great things that have happened in my life. Lucky for me I have 6 right off the bat.

1. I married the best husband of all time in May of 2000.


2. I have a beautiful, kind, sweet daughter, Miranda who is now 6.5


3. I have a superbly handsome son (who looks like his daddy I might add), Logan age 4 and 5/6.


4. I have an energetic, gorgeous twin daughter, Haylie who is 2.5


5. I have a super cuddly momma's girl, twin daughter Hannah who is surprise 2.5 (and Potty trained...mostly


6. I have a dream baby, Lauren who is 5 months old, by the way she is beautiful too.


7. I own my own home (well we own it together.)


8. I get to be a full time stay at home mom.


9. I graduated from DVC with my Associates degree.


10. I was able to spend a semester of college away from home. It was a short stint but I got to try real college life. I totally recommend it for my kids.


11. I have been to Disneyland lots of times, again thank you Honey!


12. I can cook way better than I could 10 years ago.


13. I am the aunt to 8 soon to be 9 and hopefully 10 not too long after that!


14. I drove with my kids to Ohio and back to visit family.


15. I have worked at the following places, Nature Company, IHOP, Going to the Game, Wells Fargo, Ross Gordon & Associates, Vinyl Specialists, Blanding Boyer & Rockwell, LLC, Aqua Products Group, and sorta CD Federal Credit Union. BB&R was where I met a great friend!


16. I became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Where I met the rest of my great friends.


17. I have completed scrapbooks of my wedding, and Logan & Miranda's first year. As for Haylie and Hannah I am up to two months and Lauren well that's another decade away!


18. I was able to give birth 2 times with only the lamest drug ever given to anybody, Demerol, and my biggest baby was without any drugs what so ever.


19. I have beaten Jeremy in Lord of the Rings Trivia (he edited to add once).


20. I have been labeled the "Best Cooker in the whole wide world"


21. I am, for the most part, sane with lots of youngin's running around!


22. Although this is a repeated accomplishment, I go food shopping with all the kids in tow!


23. I am co-room mom for the second year in a row.


24. I have single handedly fattened up my husband with lots of love and cooking.


25. With the help of friends and family I am able to work in the classroom with Miranda once a week.


26. I have not had a moving violation in several years. I did go through a bad streak for a bit though.


27. I have read ALL the Anne of Green Gable Books and they are Grrreat!


28. I can spend hours on the computer, my new fascination besides blogging is making slide shows to music.


29. I have made my own television debut on The Concord Channel in an Adopt-A-Street commercial.


30. As of next week I will have seen the following musicals: Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast, The Phantom of the Opera, and Wicked.

I am so grateful for the life I have and the wonderful friends and family that surround me near and far. I feel I am abundantly blessed.

Wa-hoo!

I just can't stop smiling. Last night we celebrated my birthday with family. It was a fun evening and as always I am truly spoiled. I am not going to list the gifts but I am going to brag about what my awesome husband did for me. He told me about three weeks ago that he was done shopping for my birthday. Since then we have bought a few things to put away for birthday or Christmas. The kids gave me a few smaller but equally desired things. Then Jeremy handed me a box and told me to open it from a certain side. I opened it and it was a two pack of Barbies, if you know me you are probably thinking "I didn't know she collected Barbies. Well you would be right. These Barbies were Glinda the Good Witch and The Wicked Witch of the West (there was a little Munchkin one too). As I opened them I thought "I know I wanted to see Wicked and love the music, and these collector type dolls are pricey but I don't collect Barbies" So I tried my best to fake happy but I was waiting for the "punch line." Then Jeremy said turn it over and on the back were two VIP tickets to see Wicked down in L.A. We are driving down next Friday and staying with Jeremy's sister and her family. They will babysit our kiddos and we will see Wicked Saturday night relax with them on Sunday and then drive home on Monday. Needless to say the Husband of the Year Award has been won by my husband so I wish your hubby better luck next year!

Here is a video of the evening. As always I am not thrilled with me but hey I am what I am. As you watch the snap shots make note of Logan, he cracks me up.

Thank you to the rest of the family and the wonderful gifts, as always you made me feel especially spoiled and special.

30 Flirty & Thriving.

I am not quite the big 3-0 yet but real soon. Friday night some super amazing ladies threw an awesome suprise dinner party for me and two other good friends who are slightly older than me! ha-ha! We ate a great dinner and did a birthday girl roast! Each guest brought a gift for the birthday girls. Thirty of something, then they got to make us blush by showering us with deserved ...or undeserved compliments. We then played a few party games. Pin the lips on Timmy (Tim McGraw to all you who don't know Teri). Then the real fun began as we attempted to smash a pinata with the GOOD candy. First off watching April P. try to re-hang the wet pinata back up was comical, luckily no-one was hurt. A few of us gave a reat effort, but the fun continued as I was swinging and the sprinklers went on, holy moly they were impressed that I could move that fast! Then when April P. swung the pinata was scared to make contact but just threw candy at her. Little did we know that sweet Liz packs a wicked hit! She made contact with her first swing but NAILED it with the back swing. It was obliterated. I think the candy landed about 15-20 feet away. After laughing so hard we had a cookie cake and some ice cream. They had a picture of us on a TIME magazine cover framed. All the attendees signed the frame with more wonderful comments. You girls are the best. Thanks for making this a great night.

Once I get the pictures I will post them. I am sure the pictures will not do the evening justice. It was a blast!