Breakfast in Bed

So it was my birthday! (2 weeks ago but you know...) It was a wonderful day! My sisters and I always joke that on your birthday you wash dishes, change diapers, do laundry, vaccuum, and cook at least 3 meals.....birthdays for Moms are just not the same as they were when we were 10. In spite of regular life - it was a really great day. For my birthday the girls were extra helpful, sweet, and obedient - I have decided I need a birthday at least once a week :).

Here were my highlights!

Yes I did! :)

I got these shoes as my "get one half off" after replacing my regular shoes! Yay for $10 pink shoes!!

 

I am definetely not the only girl in this house that loves a good pair of high heels. The girls spent forever trying to figure out how to walk in the pink shoes.


With a husband busy with medical school I still got a birthday cake. Of course, it was from the Wal-Mart bakery and the day old rack (Because Paul can't pay full price for anything). The kids loved it and I didn't feel guilty throwing away the left overs, so everyone wins!

My kids drew me these birthday cards -

Hudson's card

Bristol's Card



Vienna's First Card

Vienna's Second Card

Front of Vienna's Second Card

Paul and I went out to dinner - alone just the two of us!! We never do that! Our friends were so great to watch our kids for us and we had so much fun! It was nice to get out and away from kids and school and reconnect with who we are together.

BEST PART OF THE DAY:

We have a birthday  tradition of breakfast in bed. Paul had a test on my birthday so for the first year ever I wasn't going to get breakfast (aww medical school). V was determined that I needed to have a special breakfast. So, I got up and made breakfast with her help, and then she insisted I get back in bed and she put the food on a plate (she made it fancy) and brought it into me. Breakfast in Bed!

Road Trip

My mom and I took a trip to Arizona last month. It was a fast trip but a fabulous one. We left Thursday morning, arrived early Friday morning (our time), left Saturday morning to come home and got home Sunday morning. We literally spent more time driving than actually in Arizona.

We went for my cousin's wedding. I am so grateful I was able to be there to see her get married and start a new life with her husband. She was a gorgeous bride and I have never seen her look happier. I wish we could have spent more time together but she was busy - you know, getting married and stuff. Sheesh, priorities....

 

I can't get over how GORGEOUS the church looked! They spent hours getting
everything done but it was stunning when they were finished!!

I inherited my sense of direction from my mom. Believe it or not, there are two of us with the inability to tell you at any given time which direction is East and which is West. Fortunately, neither of us has an issue with asking for directions - mostly because we are very practiced. Knowing our history, I asked my mom if she had printed off directions from Google - I knew that without directions we would end up in Alaska - and confused about how it happened.

My Mom introduced me to Atlases...Atlasses... whatever. I honestly didn't know people still made these. Not only make them, but actually use them. For me, it was like finding out people still use rotary dial phones.

The thing is, I loved it. It was awesome to pull out the Atlas and check where we were. I like how smart it makes me sound to say, "according to the Atlas..." I think the Atlas helped me to appreciate each town we saw rather than the Google directions that don't give any information except, go South for a million miles.

We did have a moment of confusion when we crossed into New Mexico. We saw a sign saying Las Vegas 132 miles. So I am like - "Hey lets take go to VEGAS!!!" Then I think about it and I was like - "How in the world can you get to Vegas from here in only two hours?" So I pull out the Atlas, (it really never gets old to say that) and I start trying to find the road that goes through New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, and/or Utah to Vegas in two hours. I could not figure out how to make it work. I was sure we must have seen the sign wrong. Until, "Las Vegas 32 mile".  Hmmmmm.....

Go figure....

 

Remarkably using the Atlas (and with me navigating - always a dangerous choice), we only got lost once - and really El Paso wasn't all that far off the beaten path.

PS - I left my kids home with Paul! First time ever leaving them for more than a few hours. Paul was great about keeping them home. Oh, and thanks Stephanie for keeping them alive! :)

Perfect

Here is my attempt to share some of our "real story." Here a just a few things from our last week to bring us all back to reality.

What "Perfect" looked like this week:

I booked a rental car for the wrong weekend so the GREAT price I found turned out to be DOUBLE when I got the dates right

I didn't finish all the laundry on Monday so the clothes stayed in piles on my bedroom floor until I finally just put them back in the hampers...maybe next week (the clean clothes are folded but aren't put away)

A friend from the ward offered to make dinner when I was sick but I declined because I didn't want her to see my messy house and undressed kids after spending the day laying on the couch sick

We ate frozen pizza - twice

We didn't do school AT ALL this week because I got sick and then left for my last minute trip and because it felt like too much work with everything else going on

I left B on time out for - I don't know how long, because I forgot she was on time out

I fed the girl's Lucky Charms for breakfast and lunch the day I was sick

I sprayed air freshener in the kids bathroom instead of cleaning it

I put my kids to bed at 6:30 when Paul was at school late because I just couldn't handle it anymore

I feel like I can't possibly get all of the stuff done that I NEED too which means I definitely don't get to do stuff I WANT to do

I wish I had more pictures of the kids when we go places but instead of taking pictures I try to not lose any children

I pretended I didn't see B and V putting stickers on the wall because I wasn't ready to deal with it

When V gets mad - she says all the things I say when I am mad....I really HATE that! A 4 year replica of all of my worst qualities

I found gum in V's hair

Bean Bags

This summer, I was visiting a friend of mine and she had Letter Bean Bags. The girl's loved them and played with them A TON while we were there. I decided to make some for the kids. I naively thought, I could finish a set in one night. Not sure where I got that idea!

I printed off the letters, cut them out, traced them onto applique paper, cut them out again, cut my fabric into squares, ironed the letters onto the fabric, sewed them on, put the bean bags together (I stitched around each one three times because I don't have a Serger), filled them, and then finally hand-stitched each one closed. NOT the quick, simple project I envisioned which is particularly silly since I was aware of the process BEFORE I started. (I guess 'perfect' me does things way faster)

Originally, I planned on making only Uppercase Letters but then I decided to do Lowercase too, because I have no filter when it comes to projects. I hate to admit, but I really did think - "No big deal to do lowercase too and how fun would that be?" Ironically, everyone else seems to be able to see what I am getting into...everyone but me! :)

These were finished several weeks ago and the kids love them! We play hide a seek, matching games, sorting games, and Paul plays catching and tossing games with them.(With the kids not by himself...although he probably would play with them by himself) In the end, I am glad we have them but would be in no hurry to take these on again.

My redo on these would be making the Uppercase letters just a little bit
smaller so they weren't so close to the edges.

Surviving Medical School

Medical School is HARD. Lonely. Discouraging. Overwhelming. Never - ending. Disappointing. Time Consuming. Awful. Trust me, I could easily go on! We are at the beginning of our second year and it has been a tough year (all four weeks) for us. We have had a lot additional challenges on top of school in the last month, and I feel like I have been rapidly approaching my limit.

Today was not a good day for me. Paul took a test this morning, (his third in four weeks) and I spent the day feeling miserable. By the time Paul walked in the door, he was greeted by hungry, tired, sick kids and a crying wife. Welcome home! I sent a message to a friend about my day - looking for support and friendship.

Ally and McKenzie showed up a couple hours later with this!

They found me not dressed, watching crap TV, in a messy house .... basically the epitome of pathetic. They didn't make me feel stupid or guilty for being a mess - just grateful to have such awesome friends. Not only that, but they let me vent, completely incoherently, about my day, and life, and medical school. They brought a lot of support, encouragement, and love and made my week!

I can honestly say the only thing that has gotten me through our first year and this year so far are my friends. I believe Paul and I came to this school so that I would have my girlfriends. These girls are my life line. I am so blessed to have them in my life and so grateful the Lord knew that I would need each of them and brought them here for me.

Now - I am going to watch a chick flick, eat chocolate, and get ready to face reality again tomorrow. I feel like now I can go back to surviving!

Pinterest

Unless you are living under a rock - you have heard of Pinterest. I heard of this a long time ago and finally joined and started pinning a few weeks ago. Since I am a copycat - I very rarely, if ever 'create' something original. I enjoy finding ideas on Pinterest. But there are some things that I think are CRAZY about Pinterest:

1. Birthdays:

Via - tiffanybillsdesign.blogspot.com

Maybe a little much for a first birthday? Or any kid birthday......I mean seriously!! I love to have birthday parties for my kids but this is a little much for me. Every possible theme by year and gender can be found and some make the above look simple and understated. Who spends $50 on party favors? 

2.  Hair:

This is probably because I am HORRIBLE at doing anything besides a basic ponytail. Poor V and B. I will not be doing their hair, or mine, like this anytime soon. Even though "they" say this style takes minutes and is super easy it looks like an entire army of hairdressers wielding curling irons and straighteners and an entire ozone of hairspray were involved.... 

Via - girlydohairstyles.com

                  

3. The four hundred people who re-pinned that couldn't possible have made it right? RIGHT???

Via - cs.uofs.com

4. Beauty Tips: Some of these are brilliant some of them leave me speechless...

Via - 500px.com

5.  From now on, anytime I give someone a cute gift, make a dinner, actually complete a pinned project - all of my friends and family will say - "Oh, from Pinterest right?"

For me, the trick is to let Pinterest live in 'perfect world.' Where my neatly organized boards highlight what my life would be like if I didn't have 3 kids, a husband, a house, only two hands, a need to sleep, a budget, etc. When I close the internet I am back in "real life". No sense comparing the two.

And, in case you were wondering, I did stop mid-post to pin something.....twice....it's a love - hate relationship.....

Let them eat pie......

I finally attempted to make pie on my own - on my own meaning that my mom and mother-in-law both received somewhat frantic phone calls during the process. (Good thing they are always available when I get ideas like this..) My conclusion after the first try is that it is a good thing I didn't need to take my pie anywhere and that I wasn't the key to the first Thanksgiving dinner cause the Indians probably would have let the pioneers starve.....

I learned a lot though and I think I will attempt the pie thing one more time (I will need to do this like a hundred more times). In the mean time I appreciated Paul's enthusiasm about my first try and my girl's ability to love anything with raspberry's and ice cream.

You all have permission to laugh at this pie - don't worry I got a kick out of it to! :)

I think the worst part of this is the crust - I tried to do this beautiful edge
like my mom does - I have no explanation for what happened....

The hilariousness of this pie crust is lost in print. Some of the edges are
barely an inch high and it is like three times thicker than my mom's
crust I OBVIOUSLY need WAY MORE practice

Kathleen Kelly

"What happens to me when I'm provoked is that I get tongue-tied and my mind goes blank. Then I spend all night tossing and turning trying to figure out what I should have said. What should I have said, for example, to a bottom dweller who recently belittled my existence? [stops and thinks] Nothing. Even now, days later, I can't figure it out."

I love this movie. I love Kathleen Kelly and Joe F-O-X and today I had a Kathleen Kelly moment - big time.

When we first moved in, a couple of our neighbors warned us about the guy who lives below us. Well, today I met our charming neighbor. Lucky me. I will spare your intelligence by not repeating the full extent of his comments and though his claims may have been centered on some aspect of truth, his amplifications and veiled threats did little to help his case.

My response? Nothing. I think there was a vague nod at one point and possibly an okay and next thing I know the rant is over, the neighbor is gone, and I have nothing left to do but shut the door. The worst part is that I spent the rest of the day rehashing what he said and thinking of all of the clever and scathing remarks that I should have said. I realize I was only belaboring my own negative feelings and regardless of the number of eloquent defenses I composed they were simply wasted on a sparkling clean kitchen floor and the laundry.

I wonder why I freeze when confronted and later know exactly what I should have done or said when the moment is past. Maybe Joe Fox is right:

"But then, on the other hand, I must warn you that when you finally have the pleasure of saying the thing you mean to say at the moment you mean to say it, remorse inevitably follows."

But then why am I feeling so bad for saying nothing?

Dishwasher

Our apartment has a dishwasher - which is really exciting for me because I never had a dishwasher before - besides Paul. Of course, I realize that by the time you rinse all of the dishes, load them, and unload them, you could easily have washed them but still - it was like setting foot in the 21st century. UNTIL - the morning after the first time I used it. The dishwasher didn't get any water so when I open it in the morning to unload it, all the dishes are still dirty and sat there all night - so I washed them (not a great start to any morning) and called maintenance. I have since called maintenance 3 times and the dishwasher has only washed one load of dishes (in 2 1/2 weeks). It was a pretty great load, but I am starting to lose faith in the miracle of the dishwasher - and starting to really miss my old dishwasher!

Meet Zoey

We finally got moved and after about three weeks we are finally hooked up to the Internet again. Yay! Paul also gave me my adorable (despite what he says this computer can be described as adorable) new computer! I don't really need anything fancy just something that will let me do basic - very basic - stuff -

Meet Zoey my new, very cute, mini laptop. The screen is 10.1 inches and I got red (obviously)! How can you not think that this is adorable!?!? Now that I am back from the Internet dead I have lots of stuff to update everyone on! Stay posted - more to come!!