the domino effect...

Have you ever had days where something goes wrong first thing in the morning and then it's like a row of domino's, things keep falling apart at an increasing fast pace and you are hopeless to stop it? That was my day yesterday. I knew I had a full day when I woke up. I cataloged everything I had to do in my mind so I could accomplish everything. Of course, my short term memory is about ten seconds, but at least I had a plan. Later that night there was going to be a big activity with the Laurels and some of the sisters from the Relief Society. I was in charge of it so I knew all the final preparations would take the majority of my day.

Things got thrown off a little when Cassie missed her carpool and was late to school so I got a later start than I wanted, one domino down. On the way to school, I failed to come to a complete stop while turning right at an empty intersection and was pulled over and issued a citation. Hopefully the money will go towards something useful in my city! Cassie was at this point, totally in tears because she though it was her fault. I tried to tell her that unless her foot mysteriously took over the gas pedal, the blame was mine. I was trying not to get frustrated or break into tears because this wasn't scheduled into my agenda , so I'm sure my voice wasn't exactly calming when I spoke to her. I got kudos from the police officer for being polite; he said, (as he handed me a ticket) "Don't let this ruin your day ma'am" ( Was he kidding? and then added insult to injury by calling me ma'am!) Second domino down.

I got to the store for my first errand and realized my debit card was on the counter at home and I had used the last check that morning for lunch money. Third domino down. I made it home from my errands and started making the four cakes I needed to bake. I opened the fridge and realized I have zero eggs, so back to the store again! ( I am thinking taking a few minutes to make a list first thing that morning might have been a good idea) I made sure I had money this time and I stopped for at least three seconds at every stop sign. I was hoping that something would start to go my way if I was learning from previous mistakes. Fourth domino down. By now, they know me by name at the store..(happens when you are there three times in a half hour!) Maybe they thought I was trying to get some award for the millionth customer, and would keep coming in until something happened.

I was baking cakes and could only find one measuring cup for a fourth a cup. Ever try to count to 24 while adding six cups of flour to a recipe? If Josh were there he'd be yelling..."fifteen, six, hundred and two" while I was doing it. Cakes turned out beautifully amazingly enough...yeah, something went right! (Admit it, you thought I'd burn them didn't you?) I made some decorations for the night and they looked cute. I was on a roll. I did carpool, ran to the craft store to pick up some balloons and back home again to tackle homework. I forgot that helium balloons and ceiling fans should not coexist in the same space for any length of time...Eight balloons died in the battle and my dog will need therapy after all the loud popping and my screaming. Which domino are we on now?

Anyway, that was my day. I could add I lost patience with my kids, didn't get any housework done and it was FFYN (fend for yourself night) at dinner. I would not be up for any mom of the year awards, but maybe if I went back to the store, the customer of the day one would still be available.

The activity was a success. We had fourteen of the seventeen laurels there, their mom's, and some Relief Society sisters that had been secretly dropping things off to them this past month. The theme was a Chocolate Appreciation Night (I mean, I'm planning it, could it be anything else?) We had fun games that mixed people up and got the Laurels talking with different sisters they didn't know well. My candy bar type flower arrangement was cute, and all the cakes tasted good! All in all it was a success!.... Or was it? Sometimes I feel when I succeed in one area, I fail at being a mom. It's good that these days happen once in awhile so I can reevaluate things and hopefully learn something in the process. All I know is I don't want to eat chocolate for awhile and if I see a domino anytime soon I can't guarantee it's safety.

own little world...

I just realized I never posted on Josh's birthday over a month ago!! What a terrible mom I am. I love Josh. He makes me smile no matter what I'm doing. His crazy sense of humor gets me through tough times. He is very talented, he can figure out how things work and design ways to fix things that I had never thought of. He will make a good engineer someday. I can't believe he is 15! He has his learning permit and always wants to go driving. He is pretty goood already! He is an awesome student and gets great grades in hard classes. I love Josh because sometimes things are hard and he has learned to make it through tough times with faith and strength.

I have to include one of the off the wall silly things he has said recently. They just fly out of his mouth without thought and we all laugh. On our trip Josh was being goofy as usual and I remarked that he was in his own little world. He promptly remarked, "yep...population me....and a billion fans!" that is pretty true I think. Even if Josh is in his own little world most of the time, I'm glad I get to visit and be one of his adoring fans!

the easter egg fiasco....

The night before we left for our trip, the day before Easter, Ryan asked a great girl to the Prom. He had it all figured out. He would drop a big chocolate easter egg off at her house with a note saying he would be honored and "egg-cited" if she would go with him to the Prom. Then he told her to go as soon as possible to a local park to find easter eggs with clues of his identity. Great plan, right? I was elected to go hide the eggs at the park while he doorbell ditched the chocolate egg on her porch. He called me from behind some bush in the neighbor's yard saying he thought he saw her running up the street to find out who dropped it off and was worried he was going to get caught. We learned later that it wasn't her running down the street. (Note to self, send binoculars next time)

Meanwhile I was off to hide eggs. It was 5:00 p.m. and cold and blustery outside. No one was at the park, so that was good. I hid the eggs around, slightly visible, but hunting would be required. I hurried and moved my car to an undisclosed location and hiked back to the park to hide behind a bush (now you know where Ryan got his undercover skills) and watched. I waited and waited and was getting cold. Still no prom date sightings. After about a half hour I thought I might be looking suspicious to neighbors because of my spying skills or lack thereof. All I needed was an arrest for stalking! (Note two to self, wear camoflauge clothing next time). I decided I would drive in loops around the park and see when she arrived, hoping that the eggs would be undisturbed. That was not to be. Ryan, by this time was at the Priesthood session of Conference and unreachable. (Note three to self, have a backup plan in place).

After another half hour, I was wondering if I had missed her? I again parked and hiked the back way into the park trying to spy plastic eggs in the distance. Suddenly, I saw a few kids walking through the park. I watched as my perfectly placed eggs were being gathered up and opened! Oh no! What should I do? Should I run up and grab them away from their little hands? I could see the evening news, "Tonight, a crazy lady was spotted at a local park stealing eggs from children, more news at 10:00..." I again didn't want to involve the police so I decided it was time to call it a day. It had been an hour and a half since the first message was placed and for whatever reason, she wasn't coming. Not that there were any eggs to gather at this point.

On to plan B, not that we had one yet. I went to the store and bought more plastic eggs, because we were going to need to figure out a way to do this again. We had left Kelly's cell phone number with the original note, with instructions to text "help" to that number if problems were to arise. We hadn't heard anything so we didn't know what to think. We decided to try again the next day on our way out of town and put the eggs in her yard. At 11:30 that night Kelly got a call on his cell phone from the dad of the future prom date, wondering if they should grab flashlights and head to the park. They had just arrived home. :) We told them not to worry, new directions would be given the next day.

On our way out of town, Ry dropped by and tossed the eggs around her front yard. It was snowing and he didn't want to leave footprints so tossing was as good as it got. :) Two days later, at Disneyland, Ryan got a text from an unknown number telling him to go to Sleeping Beauty's castle and find an attendant there and she would have something for him. Sure enough he got his answer right there at Disneyland. A handwritten note on parchment all rolled up with a ribbon. How did she pull that one off? Ryan said later, "I toss eggs around her yard and she figures out how to answer me at Disneyland!" What can I say, girls are pretty clever! Way to go Keslee. Looking forward to posting pictures soon.

Spring Break

Two years ago for Spring break we took a vacation to California and to Disneyland. We had a fabulous time, the park wasn't busy and we were able to relax and enjoy. Because of that experience, we decided to do it again this year. The difference was Alpine School District just happened to schedule their spring break with the rest of the world! So although we still had a great time, it was a bit more hectic and less relaxing than we had anticipated.

We drove the first day to Vegas and stayed with my sweet sister Cora and her family. They totally rolled out the red carpet. We had tons of room, great food and fun company. It's not easy to host a big family of six, but we were so comfortable and had such a great time. Ryan even held his cousin Jessa, he hasn't held a baby in such a long time. It was really sweet to watch this big kid of mine hold this little girl. He looked a bit stiff, but she warmed right up to him and put her head on his shoulder. Cassie had a great time playing with Jaydee, she loves playing the big sister role.

Ry with Jessa

Jessa and Jaydee

Then on to California. We had a great hotel that was less than a ten minute walk to the park. We spent three days enjoying the rides and the crowds there. Sometimes we had quite a wait in line, but I kept telling the kids it was good bonding time. I mean how often do I get everyone together when they can't go anywhere. :) Mark was still pretty hesitant to try some rides. Kelly and I split the time taking him around to the ones he wanted. The older three loved all the coasters and more exciting rides.

One of the highlights of the trip had to be the night we ordered pizza in our hotel room. We ordered their "big mama" sized one, thinking we have to feed Ry and Josh and really how big could it be? I remember thinking maybe just one pizza wouldn't be enough, we usually eat three Little Caesars; then the pizza arrived and we all gasped in amazement and then collapsed in laughter. That thing was huge, almost three feet in diameter, a few more inches and it wouldn't have made it through the door!! Needless to say, we were grateful for the microwave and fridge in our room, because we ate pizza a lot after that! Best value in Anaheim!

We spent a day in the middle of the week at the beach. Amazingly it wasn't crowded (probably because everyone was at Disneyland!) We flew kites, collected shells, built sand castles and played in the water. I even got some time to relax and read! Kelly was great getting down with the kids to build in the sand, or getting a kite up in the air! What a great man I married, I love to see him play with the kids, and even at times act like one of them!

I always forget that kids have the same issues with each other on vacation as they do at home, it just happens in smaller spaces! Rule number one, when you go on a trip don't to expect it or everyone to be perfect. We had our share of disagreements - similar to "he's touching me" or "she's breathing my air" (my favorite line from Elder Bednar's conference talk last fall). Mark and Cass sat in the back seat with the seat in the middle open. Most of the ride we kept hearing reports of someone crossing over the imaginary line drawn down the middle of the empty seat! Good grief of all the things to argue about, the seat? Really? I understand if it was over who ate the last cookie, but a seat? :)

I love my family. They make me smile and even through the struggling times it is always great to see the little things they do to help each other or make someone smile. I remember big hands of brothers reaching out to Mark to help him not be scared of a ride. I remember Cassie's laughter and smiles when everyone else was grouchy. When I asked her about it she said, "you don't want me to lose my happiness do you? Then what would we do?" I don't ever want her to lose her happiness! I will remember the times we all got SOAKED on Grizzly Rapids and spent the rest of the day drying out or the boys coaching me how to make it through Space Mountain (I survived by the way!) I loved the shared cotton candy and ice cream and catching Kelly's eye as we walked with our crew to yet another line. Families are the best, they are there for you through good and bad times and everything else in between.

Dancing Cassie!

Cassie had her spring ballroom recital the first of April. She did a fantastic job and we are so proud of her. One day her dance partners will be taller than she is. Way to go Cass! (put the cursor on the slideshow and you can turn on or off the music)