My Mom and our St. George Trip

I have such a wonderful mother. She really is a saint. She has been through some extremely tough trials in life and she doesn't complain. She had to bury a 3 year old son and a 1 day old baby girl. I remember talking to her, when I was a little older, about their deaths and her telling me when she starts to feel sorry for herself she thinks of the pioneer women who had to bury their children in the wilderness and how blessed she is to have her children buried in an actual cemetery. She has taught me that whatever you are going through there is always someone worse off, so be thankful. When we lost Andrew I remember thinking 'Oh, no my Mom should not have to deal with this again.' She rushed to the hospital and was so great. She sat with me through my 20+ hour labor and held my hand when I needed it. She gave us her advice only when we asked and was so thoughtful to go to our apartment and pack up most of the baby stuff, but not all so we could have that healing time as well.

She stood in the background, so not to disturb Phil and I when McKell was born and has come for Alyssa and Nate's birth as well. She is an awesome grandma and when the grand kids ask for a second Popsicle she doesn't even pause before telling them yes. She spoils them all and reassures the moms that she gets the Popsicles with no sugar.

She has worked with my father in their business throughout their marriage and they are still married. If you know my dad you would realize this would be big mark under her sainthood. She has dealt with all of his poor health and still has a good attitude that things will get better. She is such a selfless person and can give and give and give. She taught me that in this family divorce is not an option, what a great piece of advice from your mom.

Ever since I was in 4th grade my grandmother lived with us. It was such a great thing to see my mother and her mother-in-law be such good friends. So when I was married and started to notice all the mother-in-law bashing that goes on I was a little appalled. My mom taught me that this new person in my life should be different that your own mom and to embrace what they have to offer, I am so glad for this advice and I hope to pass it on to my own kids.

My mom is an amazing person and she is so anti age. I have never heard her tell a single person her age. I remember figuring it out when I was little and thinking I was so clever, when I would say it she would get a disgusted look on her face and tell me she is only (real age minus a few years) with no wink or smile or anything so I would always second guess myself- she still does this. Anyway, the point to this post is this- she was having a big birthday this year and my sister-in-law, Lisa, and I decided it would be fun to throw her a huge surprise party. We got a list of people and sent out 'save the date' cards. In the mean time we started to get a little nervous about how she would deal with the party and Lisa started to get nervous that she would not be viewed as the favorite daughter-in-law any longer unless there was something a little more exciting than just a party for my mom. So we decided it would be great for me and the kids to fly out and surprise her. After many, many, many Internet searches for cheap tickets I took the plunge and got the tickets.

I flew in a few days before the party and my brother picked me up at the airport. We stayed at his house for the night and the next morning my mom was coming over to watch his boys for a few hours. After she opened the door the kids jumped out and yelled 'SURPRISE'!

She was like this, with this shocked smile on her face, the rest of the day. We went and surprised my dad as well. He had no idea we were coming, he is not the best secret keeper in the family. He too was shocked beyond words. It was so fun!!

We played around the next few days enjoying the wonderful 100+ degree weather while we had it.

We played in the splash pad at the new park by Lisa's house. McKell learned how to do cart wheels in the grass when she was 'bored', thanks to Sam- a daughter of my friend from high school.
After a canceled movie we ended up at a very fun little water park downtown St. George. Who knew they had all of this fun stuff in St. George these days. It happened to be a car show so they had the big air slides and snow cones, we had a blast. I even talked McKell into coming down the slide with me and she did it! Wow that is huge for her.

Saturday night was the big party and we surprised my mom once again. She was shocked to see a house full of friends and family to celebrate her birthday. It was so much fun.

The next Monday was my birthday and we celebrated with a day at the pool, Cafe Rio for lunch, and out to dinner with the family. It was so fun to be in St George for my birthday. Phil was on nights at the hospital so I didn't think my big 30th was going to be very fun.
My mom's actual birthday is the day after mine and we spent it a little more low key. We spent the rest of our time there shopping, playing with cousins, and hanging out. For memorial day we were able to spend it with a lot of extended family. It was so fun to see everyone. What a great surprise trip!

LIFE!!! (April)

I have been putting it off and putting it off and now I guess it is time to finally do some catch up. I am not usually a procrastinator but once I got behind it was too overwhelming to start but being the over achiever that I am (ha, ha, ha) I decide to do it all at once.
McKell has thoroughly enjoyed Kindergarten this year. She loves her teacher, she loves her school, she loves the kids in her class. She enjoys every part of the day at school, never complains about going and is always happy to see us when she gets home. I was the same way with school and I still love learning so I hope McKell can keep the excitement going. Her school had a music show where the whole kindergarten group performed a few songs, it was fun to go and see her in her 'element'Iowa has an AWESOME children's museum. It is at the mall, which I can see from my house. So we have really enjoyed spending time there having fun. They had the actors from Cirque Du Soleil come one Saturday and play with the kids. Phil had worked all night the night before so we left him and Nate sleeping and ventured over to see what was going on. They girls were definitely in their element with face painting, hats and skirts to make, and silly people everywhere. The girls were asked by a museum employee to pose for some pictures that would be put in a publication, I signed a consent and they were led around getting pictures taken. They also had a drawing and McKell entered us, we WON two tickets to the performance in Cedar Rapids. Phil and I decided to go use them and it was AMAZING! It was so fun, Phil enjoyed it so much that he said he would pay the $70/ticket to see it, and if you know how cheap Phil is that is saying something! Love ya, babe. We (a group of friends) head up to Bluestem whenever the weather is nice. We started to go last year and have been looking forward to it all summer long. I call it our Iowa mountains because it seems like we are away from everything, it is actually about 15 minutes from our house. We eat dinner sometimes, but we always make a fire and roast marshmallows and make s'mores. We try different varieties, chocolate marshmallows, different kinds of cookies instead of chocolate and graham crackers, but my favorite are still the regular traditional kind. The kids have a blast playing soccer, having water fights, going on walks, just spending good ol' 'cousin' time together. Last year whenever we would go and Nate was awake he would scream and scream. So when we went for the first time this year I was a little nervous to see if he still hated it. Luckily he loves it now and has even had his first s'more now.
McKell had her dance recital and is done with dance for the year. She LOVES to go each week and talks about it all the time. She especially loves to get in her fancies and perform. It is fun to see her get so excited about it.


We love listening to children's singer Charlotte Diamond. If you haven't heard her and you have kids you really need to get a CD and listen. My kids totally love her and request to hear her in the car all the time. Kasey made us a 'favorites' CD with only Charlotte on it, thanks Kasey- it is a hit. Charlotte was coming to Coralville for a concert and a few of us got tickets and went. It was so much fun, the kids were dancing and singing. They were chosen to go up on the stage and help with some props. They met her and got her autograph, a fun time for all- especially Sarah and Jessie who were remembering their earlier days at concerts.

My Embarrassing Indulgence

I am SO excited for this movie. I am totally addicted to this show and watch all the reruns. I actually never saw an episode on HBO, but have been watching reruns for the past 3 years. I watched the cast on Oprah yesterday, just randomly turned on the TV, then had the kids go downstairs to watch Nick Jr. I was just giddy thinking the movie is coming out this month! Anyone want to come with me?