Parker's first friend party

Months back when asked about what kind of birthday party he wanted, Parker replied with no hesitation that he wanted a Mickey water party. Okay! A strange combination, but whatever the little guy wants, right? Somehow I had to marry the two, which just turned out to be Mickey decor mixed with some water fun ... so I present you with

Parker's Mickey Splash Party! :)

The BiRtHdAy BoY!!!

The silly minor details that the Mom obsesses over...

The FUN!

I stole this water bottle idea (above) from one of my favorite blogs....they work out great because they last so much longer than squirt guns and I put their names on with vinyl lettering so as to not mix them up. I had to swallow my pride on these as I went to at least five stores trying to find ones that matched the red, yellow and black decor with NO LUCK! Oh well. I kept having to tell myself, "4 year olds aren't going to care if they match, Michelle". Well, I DID care - but ah well. They were fun anyways. :)

The party-goers who made the magic happen! (minus darling Addi who wanted a few more minutes at the table inside:))

Parker LOVES his friends! He is quite the social butterfly and is a friend to anyone and everyone. I hope that he will always show love, kindness & acceptance to those around him. He wanted to invite even more kids but I had to draw the line somewhere... these cute kids are all from our street! We are lucky to live in a place where Parker can be surrounded by so many great kids! We sure love our neighborhood.

Thanks to everyone for coming and for all the fun gifts! You all make Parker feel so loved! :)

The celebrations continue...

On the morning of the 24th of July we had breakfast at the Hansens & also celebrated Parker's birthday with them.

They gave him an awesome bounce-back soccor net which will be an exciting accessory for our backyard. Parker's Daddy kind of likes it, too! Cute Aunt (& Uncle) B gave him a FUN (Guess-who like) game that is especially great for traveling, and the coolest frisbee-like toy. He also got $ from Great-Gma & Gpa Lonczyna for his missionary fund.

The kiddos always like to hang out at the Hansens as they have quite the fan base there. :)

At lunchtime we went home for naps (for the kids of course -- although I would have loved one myself), then we were off to my Dad's by dinnertime for yet another party!

Included in the birthday activities, we played darts for prizes which of course was a dream come true for the Birthday Boy. What 4 year old boy doesn't like to chuck sharp objects at balloons and then pull a string for a fun prize/treat? He looooved it! Even my cute Grandma whom just a few months back we weren't sure if she would walk again joined in on the fun. Parker got some really fun toys and games (including Buzz Lightyear, an art set he is obsessed with, and some bases for T-ball which he loooved playing with this afternoon - just to name a few). So needless to say we have been playing it up the last few days with all his fun new stuff!

Thank you everybody for making this little boy feel so special on his birthday weekend! He is very blessed by all of you!

FUN FUN FUN! :)

Fourth Birthday!

Our cute little Parker turned FOUR on July 22nd! I have lots of celebrations to post and little time but we'll start out with his actual birthday....He is at such a fun age this year & I'm not sure who was more excited to celebrate his birthday - me or him!

Parker woke up to a room full of balloons and then had a Christmas morning-style birthday with his presents awaiting him downstairs...

Among his gifts he got the Handy Manny Repair Shop (proving to be a great purchase!) and the Wii-obsessed child got a Wii game chosen by the Mom who pretty much despises all video games (induces such unproductiveness) and limits the little guy's time on it...BUT I knew he would love it -- and guess what, he does!

Chris didn't have to work until that afternoon so we were then off to Kangaroo Zoo (Parker's pick) for some fun bouncing around. It was such fun. :)

The BIRTHDAY BOY!

Love this little guy!

Then we were off to none other than "Old McDonald's" for lunch (once again - Parker's pick). I think it's been years since I've actually eaten inside a McDonald's. It wasn't so bad. :)

I'm not a person big on fast food (except for occasional fries) & I once swore I would never feed my children chicken nuggets or any so called "meat" from such places... Well, so much for that! I guess it's taken me four years to give in (they had them for the first time - to my knowledge - a couple months back... & guess what? They love them - despite the negative nutritional value & whatever ickiness they grind up in those things...but that is another story)...

All in all, it was a great day!

The following day is when the parties begin...

Stay tuned! :)

Then & Now

Growing up, I didn't have a lot of women in my life. My mom, yes. My 2 grandmas - yes. But only several aunts (all but one out of state), no sisters (cute stepsisters & a half sister later but none whom I saw often), & just one girl cousin. I always resented the fact that I didn't have a sister and was jealous of those who did, but she - my cuz - just three months younger than myself - was like the sister I didn't have - a few months out of the year anyway.

We were complete opposites -me the somewhat reserved (in comparison) middle child, girly, & a bit molly Mormon you could say. I did grow up in Utah after all! She was an extrovert, an only child who loved the spotlight & who grew up in a very non-conservative home in Palo Alto, California. (I actually think conservatism is probably the one swear word in their home - but I have to say I love them for (& in spite of) their passionate left-wing political views...) Nonetheless, we had such great times together & to this day I think we can still appreciate our differences & what each can learn from the other. :)

In the summertime, Megan would come out to Utah and spend several weeks with our Grandma who lived in the Avenues of Salt Lake & so would I. I loved those few weeks with her & we cherished that time together with our Grandma. We spent those weeks playing Rummikub and SkipBo, taking walks to the "Little Store" on the corner to buy treats, playing in the Salt Lake City cemetery across the street, swinging in the cherry tree, making up skits for our family, playing office on the patio, eating chocolate pudding with chocolate chips, drinking A&W Rootbeer, rollerskating through our chalk-made cities, playing with Elizabeth McRea the next door neighbor.... the memories go on and on. I would also fly to California on occasion and stay with she and her parents. We had more great times there riding bikes all over Stanford University and the Stanford Shopping Center (& making embarrassing movies of course...).

Here we are back in 1986 with our cute Grandma who always seemed to be wearing an apron... and some shade of her favorite color - pink. She was also always snapping pictures which to the annoyance of some I have followed in her footsteps of...

My Grandma passed away of pancreatic cancer in 1996, my sophmore year of High School.

Don't you love the retro decor? Ahhh... the memories...

FLASH FORWARD 24 years...

Last week, Megan and her husband Adam came to visit us on their drive from California to Massachusetts! It was so good to see them! I didn't make it to their wedding as it was shortly after I had Emmie, so this was my first time meeting Adam. He is a great guy and they obviously make each other happy which was wonderful to see.

Not too soon after the recent purchase of their dream home in downtown San Francisco, the opportunity of a lifetime came up.... Harvard came knocking! No, not to be a student, (she just graduated from Stanford with her PhD in Math!) but she was sought out to join Harvard's faculty as a post doctorate fellow and do math research for the next several years with 2 Harvard professors! AMAZING!!!

Did I forget to mention that she's BRILLIANT?

Well, she is.

So off they go to HARVARD for a great adventure. I have to admit that a tinge of jealousy runs through me as I've dreamed of living back East since I can remember....*sigh*. It will probably never happen for me (however if Chris were to give the okay tomorrow I would be there), but how exciting for them!

It was so great to see you guys!!!

Hope you make it out here again soon - or better yet maybe I'll make it back there to visit YOU this time.

HUGS! :)

Friends in town

We were lucky to have our friends the Bloomfields in town for the whole month of June. They were some of our first friends in this neighborhood and we were sad to have them move back East last year for MBA school.

(L to R: Ty, Cam, Parker, Emmie & Jakey)

Check out these cutie patooties...with all the light hair, blue eyes and dimples they could all be related. There is no question that Emmie will have a plethora of cute boys to choose from in this family in the years to come! These cute little guys don't completely dominate their fam anymore as they have a darling new little sister, Claire. Their Supermom Karen somehow manages to keep her sanity intact with 4 kiddos under 5 years old! I don't know how she does it except that her kids are pretty darn good. As for me, I am barely sane with 2 kids under four. Barely. She is awesome. Me? Apparently not so much. :)

The boys even got to play soccor together for the month of June & share a gymnastics class. These two little cuties will both be FOUR on July 22nd!

It was fun to see you Bloomfields! Come again soon! :)

Our summer fun...

Need the perfect solution for a hot afternoon?

How about this new splash park less than five minutes from home?

LOVE IT!

~Need to work that pitching arm?

...How about feeding the ducks at a nearby park?

~Need to practice up on your mommy skills?

...Baby Minnie to the rescue!

~Need a ride? Big Brother will make room for you!

~Need a loyal friend?

No worries. Roxy is always nearby watching over you!

Cute things at cute prices

OLD NAVY.

$4!!!

YES HUH!

Smiles of Satisfaction all around.

Oh how we love love LOVE to find great things at great prices at our house!!!

Drama at the Stadium of Fire....

I absolutely love the Fourth of July! I also know how unfun it is to have kids stay up late and be rocked off of their schedule, so it's been a good four years since we've stayed up to watch fireworks let alone go anywhere special to observe them. Well, this year, after talking to a neighbor who swore her two year old did great at the Stadium of Fire last year, I got brave and found last minute tickets on KSL.com to go see the exciting event a few days before the holiday. FIREWORKS + AMERICAN IDOL'S AlUMN, CARRIE UNDERWOOD....

Could it get any better?!

In my eyes, it was the opportunity of a lifetime, and Chris and I decided it was well worth chancing that our kids would actually sit still (a very rare thing) and behave well (huge risk given that the show didn't start until an hour past their 7:00 bedtime!).

The Hansens stake out a spot each year outside of the stadium. They have a picnic and watch the fireworks, so we stopped by on our way in to the big show. In case you can't tell, the kiddos are quite popular with the aunties and uncles (Top right: Chris' sisters Bethany and Sarah - Bottom Middle: Uncle Zach)

Then we were OFF to the stadium!...

BUT... not without an accident first. Little P tripped and fell just before reaching the gates and skinned his poor knee. The kid was HYSTERICAL all the way to our seats. Poor guy! I would have been too...I think the blood and the immediate swelled goose egg freaked him out all the more...

While Chris was off to find a bandaid, I, with my arms full of Emmie, purse and camera, my hand holding screaming P, scoot the 3 of us in through the crowded audience to the middle of our bench row.

Relieved to have made it, & feeling sorry for my little guy who was still in hysterics, I turned to comfort him when not thirty seconds after I sit down this nice lady:

{white shirt below)

whips around out of nowhere and very curtly says, "Will you get her FOOT OFF of me?!"

Whaaahut!?

I look down, and Emmie's (sitting on my lap) sandal is barely hanging over the back of her CLIP ON CHAIR, her toe lightly resting on the woman's back.

(The way that she said it you would have thought that we had just thrown up on her & believe me later in the night I was almost wishing one of my kids WOULD heave all over her crisp, white shirt...)

Uhhh.. Seriously?! I just sat down, lady -GIVE ME A BREAK!

Shocked, I muttered a "sorry" and that we were just getting situated....

Nevermind that I'm comforting my hysterical, bleeding three year old, and that we'd only been sitting there SERIOUSLY for 30 seconds when she freaked on me AND had she waited another minute or so for me to assess the fact that her clip on seats that they brought were cutting a good three inches (before they sat back in them) into my very little leg room to begin with!!!

UMMMM, I'm thinking you're the one guilty of invading MY space, woman!!

So for the next ten minutes that Chris was gone, she kept throwing me these nasty looks over her shoulder and huffing and puffing and rolling her eyes in sideways glances - to the point that it angered me so much I was fighting back tears. (we weren't even doing anything!)

I TOTALLY get being bugged by some kid kicking your seat or touching you for 5 or more minutes when you've paid money for something, but GIVE US A CHANCE! We had just sat down! I'm always that mom afraid that my kids are going to drive the people surrounding us crazy & that is why we never attempt things like this. & the one time we finally do, of course we had to have the wicked witch of the west in front of us.

I HATE RUDE PEOPLE!!!!

So for the entire show, I was on edge trying to make sure that no one touched Queenie's chair. I don't know why, I should have let them kick away! Seriously! They were the ones invading our leg space to begin with and were lucky that they had 5'1 ME sitting behind them opposed to my 6'1 husband who is twice my weight because HE wouldn't have fit behind their stupid egocentric chairs. I was sitting sideways and was completely squashed! I was afraid to relax my legs the entire time!

DEEP BREATHES

I am not normally a grudge carrying person at all or someone that takes things personally... I am pretty good at letting things just run off my back....but one thing I don't tolerate well are MEAN PEOPLE!!!

CAN YOU TELL!??! :)

Well, I wasn't going to let her completely ruin my one shot at Carrie Underwood LIVE and watching my kids enjoy fireworks for their first time (their ears stuffed with earplugs). So despite the reminder that some people are incredibly rude, insensitive and completely tactless, I did still manage to enjoy the show! Thank goodness. Carrie Underwood was amazing and tacked on an incredible rendition of 'How Great Thou Art' to the end of 'Jesus Take the Wheel'. Being such big American Idol fans made it all the more exciting for us to be there. WE LOVE her! (yes - even Chris who professes to hate every other female singer!)

The kids were sooo good & P said of the fireworks that he liked them, but that they were too long and too loud...he was really tired and told me several times that he just wanted to go to bed. But all in all he was a trooper. Even the NICE lady behind us kept commenting on how good the kids were. We need more people like that in the world! What a contrast to the woman in front of me!

What I learned in all of this was just to trust my mommy instincts. Events like that are too stressful with tiny kids. We won't be doing it again next year. But for Carrie Underwood, this year it was worth it even with the worse possible person sitting in front of us! :)

HaPpY fOuRtH!!!

10 Year Anniversary

Chris & I celebrated our TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY on June 24th! Trust me when I say that I can't believe it either! It floors me to think about it!

We had such a wonderful day. Probably my favorite annniversary yet! After playing with our kids at the splash park during the day, we got a babysitter ( a rarety) and went to dinner at the ROOF at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in downtown Salt Lake with a view overlooking our wedding place, the Salt Lake Temple (note the picture above). We had our wedding luncheon and reception in this building (JS Building) so it is definitely sentimental to us. We also went to The Roof for our one year anniversary, so it was fun to visit again 9 years later!

....We went and peeked in the same room that our reception was held in during the exact same hour - just ten years earlier. It was occupied by a wedding dinner...darn! We were tempted to crash it but restrained ourselves...It was truly surreal to think that we were there celebrating our own wedding 10 years earlier to the hour in that same exact place! It was really neat to be there. These pictures were taken on the Mezzanine floor which is where we had a large portion of our wedding pics taken.

Off to the beautiful temple grounds....

The cute sister missionaries that took this picture above for us guessed that we were celebrating our FIRST anniversary. Haha! You can imagine how their jaws dropped when we told them it was #10! No, I didn't get married when I was 13 (almost 21), I am just cursed to look like a perpetual teenager. With wrinkles. :) Although I think we are getting a little less dorky looking as we age (maybe?), so that is a good thing... :)

What a wonderful journey it has been! Click here for a stroll down memory lane, a wedding pic, and the mushy stuff....

and for the record,

these two are definitely our greatest thrills in life:

My patriarchal blessing talks about how 'great joy will come into our lives as we bring into this world some of our Heavenly Father's chosen spirits'....That is truer than I ever could have dreamed! We are so grateful for our two little ones and the way they have enriched our lives!

What a blessing to have the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and to be an eternal family!

Happy Anniversary to us! :)

Check marks

We've had some exciting, long-awaited changes take place around here in the last couple of weeks....

Emmie, who is quickly approaching 2 years old coming up in August, has been riding around town in her baby car seat.... up until about 2 weeks ago that is. That's right... Same rear facing baby seat that she came home from the hospital in. (Hey - the weight limit is 35 lbs and E is barely over 20...) It was high time for her to graduate and move onto a big girl seat, so - well overdue, I marched our little fam to Babies R Us and told the stressed husband that we weren't leaving without a new seat for Emmie. It's never easy for him to spend money - even on necessities such as this. (Understandably - is it ever fun to drop $300+ on a car seat?)If I had left it to him, I'm pretty sure she would have been stuffed in that baby seat until Kindergarten. Love ya honey. But you know it's very well true. :)

THE PROUD PASSENGER:

Needless to say, Little E has been thrilled ever since & loves her new ride.

New carseat for Emmie: CHECK!

NEXT UP:

THE P-MAN

This little guy, who is rapidly approaching the big 4 next month, had still been sleeping in his toddler bed - up until 2 weeks ago that is. Same drill as above....forced a family shopping outing on the hubby and told him that our little guy was growing and that he no longer qualifies as a toddler, therefore his "toddler bed" was no longer acceptable.

Above is the before...

Beige blah walls and itty bitty bed (that was made that day by P himself btw), transforms into:

{DRUMROLL PLEASE}

{...& Hallelujah chorus sets in}

A big boy bed!

HOORAY!!!

and how about that? even got rid of the icky wall color in trade of a serene blue.

THIS much needed transition makes me so so so happy! WHY?! I don't cringe with guilt at having my growing little guy stuffed into a tiny bed every time I walk through his door anymore. & absent are the feelings of being a bad mom due to never having painted his room a fun color due to the chaos that collapsed on us soon after we moved here (my brother's unexpected death followed by a stressful & difficult pregnancy (heart issues at 20 weeks followed by preterm labor and bedrest)).... Sounds silly, but I am breathing easier these days as a result of these simple but overdue changes. Pictures still need to be hung but I am truly content with it for now! YAY! :)

BIG BOY BED FOR P: CHECK!

NEXT UP:

Alright so this one did not fall into the "necessity" category but it sure has boosted my sanity levels!

Last Fall we brought inside our little outdoor picnic table to use for Joyschool. It was never intended to stay in our kitchen... but it became such a practical convenience that it ended up staying put. Practicality seems to be something that we succumb to when our lives revolve around little ones.... even when it's a huge eyesore. Which is fine, & I'm all for it...it's how we have to roll sometimes, but inside I longed for something a little bit cuter. & a little bit smaller. Something that actually didn't overtake our kitchen as a bulky bright red and blue blob that matched nothing but the crayons used on it....Having said that I do love the picnic table - such a great purchase - just not as the focal point of my main living area...

Then I saw it. At Downeast Home. A highly discounted Thomas Table originally from Pottery Barn. And red chairs. That matched my great room. PeRfEcT. I really wanted it. Oh how I wanted it. I'm not an impulse buyer. I am a frugal, careful shopper. I don't covet many things. I went home and pondered it. Told the husband about it. Told him why I really must have it. It would make me so happy. So so happy. Couldn't stop thinking about it. Blessed Husb gave the green light to get it.

WHAT?!

{Hallelujah chorus repeat}

Bless him. I love it. Absolutely love it. It makes me happy. Ridiculously happy. & the picnic table is happier to be outside. Where it belongs. With popsicles and melted mac and cheese on hot summer days.

And these two? They love it too. Maybe not as much as me, but they like it alright.

& as you can see, they love P's new bed, too. At night time, they climb in together squealing and laughing, Emmie telling me "Night night", followed by her yelling for me to, "Go!".

It almost hurts my feelings. :)

No, they don't sleep in the same room. They just find it highly hysterical to pretend that they do....

....& that's the excitement of our crazy month. Three big things (wait - FOUR - definitely 4 with that check mark next to girls camp) checked off my list, making JUNE a highly productive month in my book! :) YAY!