Sick of cold

I'm sick of having a cold......

I'm sick of being cold.......

I'm sick of Macy having the eternal cold....

I'm sick of my kids one by one thinking they have a cold....

I'm sick of it being spring break and having a cold....

I'm sick of it being spring break and it BEING so cold (I know...I chose to live in Utah)

I'm sick.....

After the last few weeks of my life, I can't say I'm surprised that I'm sick. My mom and dad moved in for a stint after her knee replacement surgery. Wow! I always think I'm at the fullest capacity that I can be at, then the Lord finds a way to give me more, probably to humble me. I'm so glad she could recover here, but it was work to maintain 7 people (not counting me...I was not maintained). It had it's advantages, like someone to read stories and play games with kids, but my mom is normally such a busy lady, it was hard to keep her down!

Then Bill announced to me in the same sentence that he was basically gone for 2 weeks AND could we have his sister's wedding gathering (if I call it a reception, I'll freak) at our house?Hmmmmm.

Then he takes Quinn and Parker to Moab....great, yes, except he and the boys narrowly escaped death. Not his fault....dealership forgot to tighten lug nuts on FJ....yes, that is a big deal. Needless to say, I was shaking for a good 12 hours after the event.

Oh yes....I have 150 dance costumes to distribute out to my students and put on production for 1500 people. No pressure there.

It's a good thing I have a good sense of humor, diet coke, and good friends to complain to! And a half-eaten pan of brownies....

March Madness....pics of the fun.

Sorry...this post is only a little bit about basketball. Mostly it is just showcasing the highlights of a very busy March.

Macy wears everyone hats....she is constantly putting them on and taking them off. She has spent most the day in a race car helmet.

Emi was the only one brave enough to try green scrambled eggs on St. Patty's day. Wimps.

Parker had his "Utah History" school program. So cute....and they really made it interesting. Parker had several speaking parts.

Quinn has a newly found vigor for sports....he mentioned that he likes to shoot hoops at his friends house, and Bill was all over it. He went out and bought the hoop that weekend. Quinn spends so much time shooting hoops. He has obtained the nickname "Quinner Fredette". He loves it.

You can tell Macy is home with Quinn most of the time. The girl loves Rescue Heroes, trucks, basketball, etc.....She just throws her dolls around.

As you can see, her finger is in her mouth a lot. She is a character and quite a dancer. She is standing here right now shirtless, in one snowboot, and carrying a pinwheel.

Emi achieved her gold cup in piano for Federation and got to play in a special recital. She was so crazy nervous, but did wonderful.

Cowboy day at preschool. Quinn told me about it for a week ahead of time.

Yee haw!

Macy isn't much for eating in her high chair, but loves to snitch food from any of our plates. My mom always said that a messy eater meant you would be creative in later life. Macy will be an artistic genius. As will Parker.

Emi had her 2nd grade program...it was about the continents of the world. She danced 3 times in it and ended with a very cute penguin dance to "Boogie Wonderland". Bill is donning her beak.

Quinn and Emi filled up their charts with stars and each earned the right for a Beta fish. This is Quinn with Bullet (I talked him out of the name Blackie). Emi's fish is named Sparkles and is the laziest fish I've ever seen. I thought it was dying until the weird girl at Petco told me some are just lazy.

Macy...18 months of fun and frolic

Oh yes....indoor soccer. Quinn LOVED every moment of it and his team went undefeated. His favorite thing to do is slide on his tummy. Emi's team did not score one goal. But she is scrappy when it comes to soccer. It's fun to watch her.

Anyway...there was March. It is April 3rd today and snowing like crazy. Emi started the weekend in a swimsuit and ended in snowpants. Utah is weird. Conference was really nice and I found myself enjoying Elder Scott's talk, which I never understand why they stick that slow, soothing voice on Sunday afternoon. Of course, I was on a peanut butter M&M high. Thanks, Monika, for scoring me some of those beauties. I needed it!

Bill's Decorating Genius

There they are....my new coat hangers. This was all Bill's doing, so I made him be Vanna for you. Fun, huh?

2 posts in one week?!? Wow.

Oh yeah....we went to Arizona

It's been 2 weeks since Bill and I returned from our Arizona getaway, and it seems more like 2 years. However, the trip was amazing, wonderful, and all too short.

Why Arizona? We had a cheap-y deal with Marriott that we had to use up quick, and Arizona in March sounded splendid. I've done AZ in August. Not too smart. We had 85 degree temps and no kids. What could be better?

(BTW, there will be no pics of me... I can't stand the sight of my braces. I don't want them recorded forever. I also have no self-esteem)

We flew down Thursday morning. Thanks to Hertz screwing up our confirmation, we had to book it to Avis to get whatever they had left. This was it. Fun, yet completely hard to get into the back seat...not that we went into the back seat. The trunk is ridiculous. Fun, but dumb. We hung by the pool and had lovely naps in the sun. Then off to Cheesecake Factory. I could've been happy with just that, but I still had 2 1/2 full days left.

85 degree temps don't feel as good when not by the pool, but still a great day for a spring training game. We saw the Dodgers vs the A's. Dodgers lost horribly, but we got 2 great homeruns out of it. Nice way to spend a weekday afternoon.

Speaking of home runs, on the way home from the game we stopped at "Last Chance". This is not Nordstrom, or even Nordstrom Rack. It's where everything goes after that. I've been there twice and scored great deals everytime, so I had to introduce Bill to the fun. Guess how much we paid for all this loot. I'll tell you in a later post, but just take a guess. 3 dress shirts, tweed skirt, running shoes, matching flats for the girls, a suit for Bill, sunglasses, tights, pantyhose, a few little toys, etc, etc.....

We had a great outdoor mall by our hotel. Friday night was wonderful. We sat outside (not even cold) and ate Rubios on big comfy couches while listening to this local girl sing. Not bad. We kept updating the BYU game score on my phone. Ahhhh, perfect night. We even had time to watch the Netflix DVD thats been collecting dust on my TV for a month.

Saturday, we spent another lazy day by the pool with guacamole and smoothies. I read almost an entire book. Why did I have kids? Seriously?

Oh yeah...this is why. Grandma and Grandpa had a super time with the kiddos and luckily had good weather to spend outside with them. Yeah for them for handling our brood for 3 days. Thanks guys!

Please don't leave me!

I estimate that there are about 10 of you who read my blog, so I know this won't effect a wide range of people. I really, really want to post stuff, I just don't have the mojo to accomplish it all right now. Please come back to me when I can spare a moment to talk about my trip to AZ with Bill, fish drama, and the oh-so many other things that have happened recently. I will come back. I just need to sleep, focus on family, etc. Thanks!

Girly stuff

Here is a picture of Emi at the exact same age as Macy is now:

She was my little girl...she stood still for pictures, smiled when I asked her to, made all appropriate doggy/kitty sounds when asked. This was very refreshing after Hurricane Parker hit. I thought this was how all little girls were.

Ummmm, nope.

Can't keep a handle on this one at all. She's everywhere. This is her running circles around my driveway. Macy is curious and crazy. She's up, she's down, she's all around. She's in toilets. She's in garbage cans sucking down leftover drinks. She's trying to grab her poopy diaper before I can get it off her bum. She used to say doggy and kitty sounds, but now does this silly heavy breathing thing whenever asked. Any body part you ask her, she will touch her hair and laugh her head off because she knows she's wrong. Macy giggles in glee if you have to chase her through Blockbuster. She's truly a bubbly little blonde.

I'm not sure I'm ready for this again. I have 3 others to keep up with as well.

She did, however, sit very still for her first haircut with Natalie.

In other girl related news, about 3 weeks ago, I took Emi on a mommy/daughter ski day. The boys had done one the week before with perfect sunny weather. We were not so lucky. It was the coldest day I have ever skied. Winds were crazy and visibility sucked. We ended up going to the bunny hill because it was kind of shielded with trees. Needless to say, she wasn't thrilled about the whole event. She was even less thrilled to find out that her friends had gone to a special "American Girl" Valentine party at the library while we were freezing our tails off at the ski resort. I felt soooo bad that I hadn't had the forsight to make a better choice.

A mother's guilt (when it has to do with her daughter) is a big deal. I searched everywhere to see if this party was being done at any other library. It was, but right during one of the classes I taught. In steps my wonderful mother! She saved the day and took Emi to the other library. ANNNNNNDDDD....Emi got chosen to wear one of the costumes. Wait, it gets better. She was chosen to be Felicity. This was her first AG doll. The guilt gods were smiling upon me that night. She was so happy. There is redemption.

What's new with me

1. Snow...it was the lovely kind that is fluffy and doesn't stick to your driveway. I didn't have to go anywhere in it. Snow is welcome for about 7 more days, then I will really hate it.

2. Macy has moved to 1 nap. This is her as tired as can be after church. This one nap thing has made her wake up about an hour earlier than normal. I don't understand it. Poor thing is trying so hard to stay awake. In other news, Quinn has moved to no naps, so I'm basically accomplishing nothing!

3. I lost my sanctuary. Bill works from home most days. This is not permanent and I will truly miss the benefits when it's over, but I've lost my master bedroom. My office space (truly, the greatest part of my house) is perfect for me and my studio. Wouldn't be great for him as it doesn't close off. As happy as I was that Macy was a girl, it meant all bedrooms were going to be actual bedrooms. Sorry honey. I used to have this lovely corner in my bedroom....now this is what I see. I listen to these conference calls and have gotten to know people through their accents and voices. It's a strange little world.

4. My new FAVORITE THING! This watercolor. I kept seeing it and really felt it was for me. Sounds corny, but I know I was supposed to have it. This is how I've always pictured babies coming from the pre-existence. I cry when I look at it. Like everytime. I can stare at it forever. It's by Brian Kershisnik and I love it, love it, love it.

5. Recital stuff is in full swing. Costumes are all over my house and my creative juices are a-flowin. It's a big pain but it's MY big pain and I really love it.

6. My new knit cardigan from Down East. No one was home to snap the pic. It goes great with jeans, sweats, and skirts.

7. Emi's long lost slipper...has anyone seen it? I feel like I've searched all weekend for it. She's devastated.

8. Teeth in ........

...and teeth out.

9. A lot of yelling.....my kids have been hard. I will say it's not me always yelling. They are just noisy. Probably cause they are cooped up a lot these days. They yell, I yell, Macy has a piercing scream that leaves my deaf. I'm ready to throw them all into the backyard. Parker has pressed every last button on me and I'm just trying to remain sane. February is always his worst month of the year. We can't explain it, but every year, it hits like a hurricane.

10. A beautiful new necklace from Bill. It's got the SL temple on the front and says "Together Forever" on the back. It was hanging from my rear view mirror yesterday. I really, really needed it. Not to end on a bad note, but it's been a hard few months for me. It's a big mix of being highly overwhelmed, stressed, big-time anxiety, and a bit down. No biggie. Just nice to know I have someone cute in my court. Love you, honey!

What's new with all of you? (Who's really reading this...I want to know!)