Par-Tay in SLC

On Monday we took the excursion in Granny's van (Thanks Granny, it was SO nice not to have to drive!) to SLC for Mary's 30th bash!

Here's a VERY unattractive picture of Ella in the back seat, but I didn't want to forget her!

Here's a disgruntled Mia, not too sure about this ride that doesn't include her own comfy car-seat! Oh man, this baby was SO tired with some serious sleep deprivation for the day!

Happy Birthday! Sheesh Mar- 30-candles is next to day-light!!!! :D

Left to right: Granny, Lily, Mach, Tessa-Rooney, Noah (bee-boppin' by), and Sawa!

OOOOO, that's one grumpy Mia-babes! You can see she doesn't feel good either. :(

I was gonna take a picture of Wow, but all I got were Wow-Cheeks.

Speaking of cheeks, Mach has some full ones (from a seriously delightful dinner), but you'll never see them puff out -that's the ole' French-Horn pucker hard at work!

Super-fab pregnant Lexie -just found out on Wednesday that she and Dave are having a GIRL!!! Congratulations guys!

Dave doesn't look too especially thrilled here, but he may have been listening to something interesting... We're all pretty interesting, I have to say.

Here's me and the Tess-Meister! This baby is SUCH a sweetheart, and has such a calm and loving disposition. She loves to be held -and she is so bobbly, it's absolutely adorable! Rachael and Seuao, you two are ROCKSTARS for hosting the whole fam-dam-bly at your home! Thanks so much, we had an excellent time!

Party o' Five?

It is true.

We are blessed.

...lots more to come...

Mary-Chewy

My dear sister Mary turns 30 years old today. She is only a year younger than me, and was the next year behind me in school. Some of my fondest memories from Mary come from when we had 1st and 2nd grade together in the same class… We had Mrs. Holman for the split teacher, who was absolutely engaging and active with her class. Mary and I used to have to memorize poems together (some Dr. Seuss, and a TON of Shel Silverstein). I remember sitting behind the Christmas tree back in Panguitch (a favorite Barbie site as well), talking about how lucky we were that it was easy for us to do… :)

About Mary:

1- I’ve learned from her that you can’t assume you know everything about people, everyone has their secrets.
2- I’ve seen her hard work actually and eventually get her a degree!
3- She’s taught us that sleep deprivation is what you make of it: Apparently, I work more than a “princess-shift”! Mary might even call it a “baby-princess-shift”!
4- There’s a look Mary can give that will –NO QUESTIONS ASKED- make you leave her alone!
5- There is a song that goes with EVERY situation, and probably a movie quote to boot.
6- Mary’s eyes are ‘SO BLUE’!!
7- Mary has been a pillar of strength when she hasn’t even known it- she was the most important person in the world to me after my first marriage ended. Her strength when John died was beyond what she’ll ever know: I remember her telling us that as she walked into the room (she worked at the hospital at the time) where John was on the table –she looked at him and said something to the effect of “some joke, huh?” –she brought me back to the reality of who he was, and the relationship he had with us. Unless you’ve lost someone, it’s impossible to describe how they become immortal immediately, but when you can get back to the real person you’re grieving, it’s more comforting. Mary did that for me.
8- Mary is an AWESOME shopping buddy.
9- Mary is a great hostess and is VERY creative.
10- The friendship that I have in my sister Mary is beyond priceless. I hope she knows what she means to me, and how crucial and integral a part of my life she actually is.

Happy Birthday, Mary. I love you so much.

:( Poor beebee

Oh my poor baby! Lance took her to the Doctor for her 1-year check-up (better late than never!) the other day. Her height and weight have always been over the 100th percentile, but they’ve remained proportionate. That is no longer the case. My sweet baby now tips the scales at 37 lbs –this little girl isn’t even 14 completed months old yet. It breaks my heart. She’s not a huge eater –and she’s even on skim milk.
The good news is that the Doctor believes it’s more than what she’s eating, but rather an endocrinology issue… They’re sending us to Primary Children’s Hospital this March. It will be good to have the problem addressed, and hopefully solved.

ambition vs. family

Do you know what bothers me the most about President-Elect Obama? It’s that he’s put his career aspirations above his children and family. Don’t get me wrong, we have had other presidents who have younger children but I can’t pass that kind of judgment on them... The reason for this is because I live in reality: because of his race (which to me, shouldn’t have ANYTHING to do with it, but again, I live in reality) he has a HUGE target on his back, as does each member of his young family. His children have a massive risk of growing up without a father now, because of what he wants to be right now (rather than raise his girls, then move back to the political arena). Black president? White president? I don’t care; just fix the problems with our country!

This man has significantly less potential to fix anything in my eyes because he has NO respect from me as a parent: he's breaking what he has.

FAMILY FIRST.

I hope I’m wrong about him.

Dinner with the in-laws!

This has been a very rough weekend for me with pretty-much one consistent headache. We did get a bit of a break on Saturday night and went to my in-laws for some delicious pork loin.

Lance took these pictures with his cell phone -so why not share some of Donny's dazzling delights?

Mia was completely diggin' the dessert. We had a lovely evening.

french kisses on the forehead?

So I get home from work yesterday...
Bec- "Honey, what did you do?? Is there something I need to know here?" -staring at husband's forehead.
Lance- "NO WAY!" -smacks forehead and runs for mirror.

After much giggling, we both determine that suction cups are probably not the best way to entertain kids!

I can't look at him without busting up!

band geek?

So Miss Amelia decided that she needed to express a bit of frustration with a face so hilarious that I can't do anything with but laugh so hysterically that I literally fall over with tears in my eyes. I was SO excited when I captured the picture of the face, it would have been beyond indescribable. I think the teeth are what kills me the most!

Note the one dimple on the side of her cheek -I have a similiar one that you only see when I pull out the ole' french horn. I think we have a future band member on our hands, folks!!!!

Here you see the pursed lips and the alert look on her face... Oh yes, she's looking for a leader! She needs a conductor to begin the off-beats with her horn playing for perhaps the pep-band, or even better, All-State!!!! You go, girl.

Our weekend

Maaan, did we have a lazy weekend. I know I got a movie watched (righteous kill -not too bad), some GORP made (yay! thanks for the recipe, Mary!), and we went to Lance's work "Holiday" party -which was good eatin'. I normally hate days where I don't accomplish something, but I guess in my wiser older years, I have gained an appreciation for a good lazy weekend. :)

5 big ones

Lance and I celebrated our 5th anniversary on January 3rd. We had an absolutely beautiful wedding. We were married in the Lion’s Lodge in Smithfield. It was just after the holidays, so we went with that theme; with Christmas greenery, lovely trees with white Christmas lights, and red roses all over the place. All of our family was there, with Chaedon as our ring-bearer, Aneesa (my niece) as our flower girl, my sister Rachael was my maid of honor, and Lance’s brother John was his best man. It was very small and quiet –with a lot of snow falling outside. Magical.

New Teeth!

Mia has been teething lately -and I've never seen a kid worse at it! Ella just showed up with teeth one day, without much ado. Mia has been waking up crying in what looks like a LOT of pain. :( I hope this isn't a sign for the future regarding her pain tolerance, bless her heart! The girl has got to tuffenup! ...Is that mean to say? Thank heaven for teething tablets...

...last night...

Last night I had one of those parenting moments that made me absolutely heartsick. Ella was whiny about going to bed, and I was a bit reactive to it. I’d sent her down to her room after I heard Mia crying in her bed so that I could make Mia a bottle first. I got down to the girl’s room, picked Mia up, and tried to rock her to sleep. Ella stayed very quiet, but I noticed that she was crying. She looked at me with such a sad face. I put Mia down after a moment and came over to Ella who said “you’re being nice to Mia and not nice to me”. I started to cry. I told Ella how sorry I was and that I would work on MY attitude when she goes to bed too. I told her that being her mommy is the best thing that ever happened to me, and that I loved her so much it makes me cry sometimes.
Bless her heart. I don’t mean to be unfair to either of my girls at any time. This would have felt pretty crappy if I were in her place, and when she said that, it broke my heart. Ella, you are you baby, and I love you more than you’ll ever know.
When I left the room I sat down on the stairs and said a prayer. I know I’m so unworthy to be the mom to these two angels –and why God trusts me with them, I’ll never know. I’m sure grateful that He does, though.

One Word Tag

1. Where is your cell phone? Desk
2. Where is your significant other? Home
3. Your hair color? Fabulous
4. Your mother? Busy
5. Your father? Wise
6. Your favorite thing? Sex
7. Your dream last night? Disturbing
8. Your dream/goal? Joy
9. The room you're in? Work
10. Your hobby? Writing
11. Your fear? Failure
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Secure
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. What you're not? Humble (huge flaw)
15. Something on your wish list? Date
16. Where you grew up? Logan
17. The last thing you did? Restroom
18. What are you wearing? Leather
19. Your TV? Flat
20. Your pet? Toys!
21. Your computer? Trunk (ask Lance about that one)
22. Your mood? Good!
23. Missing someone? Yes.
24. Your car? Corolla
25. Something you're not wearing? Necklace
26. Favorite store? Salon
27. Your summer? Warm
28. Love someone? ‘Course!
29. Your favorite color? Pink
30. When is the last time you laughed? Yesterday (Ella says: “Crayons aren’t toys, mommy.” and I said, “Sure they are, you play with them, right?” She said “No, breaking them would be playing with them.” I said “Good point.”
31. Last time you cried? Yesterday

I tag....YOU! Go forth and post (thanks Pegs!)…

God Bless Tess!

Baby Tessa was blessed on Sunday. Rach's and my friend Steph made the dress for her -and I talked mom into getting it for the baby. I've never seen a baby blessed in pink -but I LOVE it!! How darling is Rachael's cute little family? We spent the better part of the day in SLC. Rach and Seuao put on a lovely lunch and we all got to spend some fun time together.

Left to Right: Grandmother, Dad, Seuao, Lily, Tessa, Rachael, Mom, Granny
Cute little Lily -she is a charmer with the stuff she knows. She can count to 5 in Samoan!

There's our GQ Noah... He's a little dream-boat, and will be a great big brother!

Noah's mommy!Here's Grandmother with myself, Mia, and Ella.

Here's Dad -all business, gathering stuff to get outta there! (When it's time to go, it's time to go!)

Sarah and Mary!

Mary and Allen's beebee Benny! He has the brightest blue eyes you'd ever see!

Here's my Ella. She's starting to look so much older in photographs! :(

The girls were exhausted and fell right asleep on the drive home. I had some lovely quiet driving time. I was belting out some Shania Twain "Come on Over" tune-age. :)

Chazzy B-day

Happy Birthday Chazzy-Bear!! Ella's cousin Chaston turned 4 on New Year's Eve. He's such a little sweetheart (and a lil' bit crazy too)! We love you Chaston!
Here are Debbie and Donny -someone said somthing funny, and I caught some great smiles!

Mia enjoyed the stairs! Lance took this "back the truck up" picture!
We took these last night -thought they were too cute not to share.
Happy New Year!