New Project

I'm making my first quilt! ...and not your average grandmother's quilt either. I've been cutting quilt squares all week (whenever I get the chance). I'm actually planning on making 2 of them, for bunk beds. I bought new bedding for them about 6 months ago, but I'm sick of them and I can't find anything I really like. I've looked at stores and online, but I'm just not impressed. So, I decided to make my very own. Something custom that no one else has. I'll post some pics of my progress and of course, the finished product...which hopefully, won't be too much longer.

Jeremy's Surprise Party

For over a month now, I have been planning a surprise birthday party for Jeremy. It all came together on Saturday with the help of friends and family. I couldn't have done it without them, once again. Jeremy's dad and brother-in-law took him out to the shooting range for a couple hours, went to some stores and kept him occupied until 5:00pm. Well, it actually turned out to be 6:00 when he finally showed up, but I blame my mother-in-law for that. He walked in the door and all the lights were off. Everyone was bent down in the kitchen behind the counter. The lights went on and SURPRISE! I was so nervous he would find out and he would 'act' surprised, but nope, he was really surprised! - I could tell, I'm his wife. It was really great to see friends and family all come together for this occasion and I know he really enjoyed it. I wanted to make him feel special and thanks to everyone (except Kyle), he did.

Since Jeremy has a sugar intolerance, instead of making a cake, I made (well actually, my sister Chelsea made most of it) a large sugar-free oatmeal raisin cookie with 26 candles. Chelsea didn't see the applesauce sitting on the counter to add in for moisture, so it was pretty dry. It tasted like a dried out powerbar. "It's not bad, but it's not good either" is how my father-in-law described it. HA! Don't worry, Chalice make chocolate cupcakes for everyone else who has normal taste buds. Thanks to Alyne & Darren, they were all frosted with sprinkles and oreos.

So there you have it...a successful surprise party and no pictures to show for it :(
(Unfortunately, I became so focused on making sure everything went according to plan that I forgot to bust out the camera. It wasn't until the candles on the large dry cookie were burning in front of Jeremy's face, that I realized, "hey, isn't this a kodak moment!?" Crap!) I can't believe an event this monumental occurred and I didn't get one picture. So if any of you have any...please send!

My favorite part: (besides the surprise part, of course) was when....well, let me back up...everyone got a necklace at the beginning of the party. If you were caught saying 'Jeremy' your beads were taken away and whoever had the most at the end received a prize. Lets just say there were some very clever and conniving ways to get someones necklace. ..the candles were lit and everyone began to sing loudly, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHday to j.... (no one said his name. Everyone just looked around the room at everyone else waiting on edge to catch someone uttering the words so they could win!) HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!
It was funny. You shoulda been there.

Glad you had a great birthday Jeremy!! I love you.

PS. That cookie was so dry, I'm surprised the birthday candles didn't catch it on fire.

Edit... Thank you Christi for sending a pic!

NYres Update

So, an update on my most important New Years Resolution: Improving Punctuality...
...the whole month of January, I was on time. On time to work, on time to appointments, and Oh, shocked my sister when we arrived in the valley before noon. Go me! February however, is not going so hot. It's almost the end of the month and I am failing miserably. I cannot seem to be any less than 15 minutes late to work. I plan to go to bed early, but then something or someone always keeps me up too late. A crying toddler fell out of his bed and needs to be comforted - A child woke himself up from yelling too loud in his sleep at his little brother - a fussy baby needs to eat again and cannot sleep on an empty tummy. My husband will tend to this if I ask him, (except the nursing part :) but they want 'mom'. Then I am so exhausted the next morning, I keep hitting snooze, then BAM! I jerk up out of bed, awakened in an instant, and my adrenaline starts running when I notice the sun looks oddly bright to be on time. 30 minutes later, I didn't get a shower, but I'm finally dressed and looking presentable by 7:45 am. Which is perfect timing if I had already eaten breakfast! Why do I ALWAYS forget about breakfast? I grab a banana and am ready to fly out the door. ..."MOM! I need juice! I neeeeeeeedd juice! :(" What kind of mother would I be if I ignored my sweet little son's call for juice? Okay, I'll hurry and just get some juice. I get him some juice and I'm on my way out the door. "MOM! I want juice too! and I'm hungry. I want a baggie of Cheerios!" ...and then, "I wan Cheos too and I wan watch a oovie" (movie). So after pouring 2 sippi cups of juice, filling 2 bags of cereal, and starting a moving, I finally walk out the door at 3 minutes to 8:00 am. It takes me 15 minutes to get there. This is NO bueno!

Starting tonight, I am getting into the habit of having juice, cereal, and a movie ready to go the night before, whether I have to work the next day or not.

I have gotta get ahead of my game!

NY Res

New Years resolutions are so overrated. You've got this whole big list of goals to become a superhuman and feel so determined that it could actually happen. Then you eat one too many slices of chocolate cake, skip the gym more than you intended, and broke your promise to stay calm during traffic...in front of your kids. Suddenly, it all becomes so overwhelming, you give up, and it's only the first week of February.
Who am I kidding? I'm still going to make a New Years Resolution. Only, just not so unrealistic. Here goes...

1. Read the B of M (this is a given)
2. Visit teach no later than the 2nd wk of the mo.
3. **Improve punctuality! (I'm a chronic later :( and I hate it)
4. The obvious, tone up the bod and lose 10 more pounds of baby phat
5. Teach Brayden to read
6. More Temple time
7. Be an 'even better' wife & mom :)
8. Stay away from chocolate until Nov 25th, then binge from Thanksgiving to New Years
9. When awoken from sleep, come into consciousness before throwing punches
10. Blog more