they glow the prettiest at night.

i really 

really love this place.

and this guy. 

they always glow the prettiest at night:)

young bucks {phillip phillips}

last night sean took me out.

i put on makeup.

curled my hair.

and tried on about twenty shirts.

really, i'm not exaggerating.

each time i tried on a shirt i texted linsey the picture of me standing in front of the mirror.

i got a LOT of thumbs downs.

it appears i may need to update my going out apparel. 

finally, i decided on my blue lacy shirt.

jeans.

and chucks.

with a necklace AND earrings.

this is big business around here people.

HUGE!

we went to sushi and then to PHILLIP PHILLIPS.

i could hardly contain my excitement the entire day.

sing me the phone book PHIL.

sing

me

the

phone

boooooooooooooook.

seriously,

he's just that good.

and we sat there all cuddled up on our seats together, 

and i thought about how surreal it was to be watching him 50 yards away. 

singing all of the songs we listen to almost every night around our dinner table.

and the songs we hear him sing on TEE-VEE!

he made fun of his dancing skills.

or lack thereof.

goofy was how he put it.

he held his guitar the way he does.

all crooked, but just right.
like he was making love to it right there on stage.

he talked about his grandpa/smoker voice from singing too much, 

and grandpa socks.

and then about his grandpa.

he made us beg for home.

we stood up.

we sang.

we clapped.

we yelled.
we danced.

and then he sang thriller as an encore.

the entire drive home we blasted songs by phil through the speakers in sean's car.

and i told sean i felt like a young buck again.

then i teased him about how he was swerving all over his lane.

and he said it was b/c he had such a pretty girl in his car to look at.

what a charmer.

i love him and the sweet things he always says to me:)

we talked about our dreams for the future,

how much we love our kids and our life,

and about the first concert i went to 15 years ago.

BFD5.

when no one but a few of us knew who blink 182 were ,

and i saw green day set their drum set on fire for the first time.

that didn't make me feel like a young buck at all.

once we got home we had some snacks, i washed off my makeup, and we went to bed holding hands.

yep, we really are that cheesy.

it's my favorite way to fall asleep.

especially after a night out on the town with my man.

 THE END.

not the best sharer.

i was feeling like i was getting into a slump.

too stuck in our routine.

wearing the same clothes every day.

falling onto the couch in complete exhaustion every night.

and i realized today,

NO MORE!

so i pinched my cheeks,

clicked my red ruby slippers,

and called sean's mom up for some grandma time with the biggest gibbies.

then i straightened my hair,

squeezed into a pair of jeans that actually buttoned 

{no i am NOT back into my regular pants, 

just my after baby pants,

 and they're tight,

but they buttoned.

it always takes me a good year. 

and really, i just like panel pants a lot.

just sayin'.} 

so i put some makeup on my pretty little face,

and took my two men out on the town.

i nursed my baby right there at the table.

a first for me.

although i'm not one to nurse al-a-mode {wink wink},

it wasn't so bad all covered up.

and quite convenient i must say.

my new favorite way to wait for my food to come.

don't judge.

i had to fight baby chase off of my raspberry lemonade.

his charming little face almost made me cave to give him a little taste.

i didn't,

but mainly b/c i'm not the best sharer.

it's a work in progress.

baby steps;)

sean and i shared our entree b/c we're cute like that,

but i made him get his OWN cheesecake.

like i said,

i'm not the best sharer.

but let me tell you,

i was the bell of the ball with those two men on my arm tonight.

one lucky lady i am.

happy date night.

i've missed you.

no one but ourselves

dinner
movie
gift cards to shop with {i have learned i can only afford bowls and mugs at anthropology}
the most perfect bowls ever created.

kids sleeping at grandma and grandpa's
little america hotel
staying up late talking about life and other gossip
not being able to sleep a wink b/c of a hard mattress and stretching skin that burned
baby picked a bad night to grow
thus he grew
and my so did my skin
ouch
waking up early to talk about life and other gossip
the most beautiful breakfast in bed i've ever been treated to
a morning nap
a hot shower without any children interrupting
no one to take care of but ourselves
picking up children that love you more than they ever have before
hugs all day
kisses all day
mommy, i love you ALL DAY:)
afternoon naps to recover from no sleep for any of us
basketball game for the boys
dirty dancing and early to bed for the girls
sleeping all night
happy christmas present from sean.
love him.

"adult" vitamins

i am a puker of vitamins.
always have been.
always will be.
right after sean and i got married i thought i was pregnant b/c i took my vitamins before i left for class and had to pull over on the way to puke up my breakfast.
i was not pregnant.
it was the vitamins.
so i try to take them right before bed,
but sometimes i just don't fall asleep fast enough.
it's not pretty.
so you know what i discovered today?
adult gummy vitamins.
and they are AMAZING.
i'm scared to have an entire bottle at my disposal.
might be hard to discipline myself to only one.
they are that good.
here we come target.
for my adult gummy vitamins.
that sounds like something you would buy if you wore depends.
"adult diapers" AND "adult gummy vitamins."
wait, i don't think they're called adult diapers anyway.
what do they call them?
...
we went to the rascal flatts concert on friday night.
white stage.
LED lights that made your eyes sparkle and zing.
kind of like what the adult vitamins do inside my mouth.
so on sunday brennan has my phone.
and he's looking at my pictures.
and then he says,
"mommy i cleaning up the pictures in the trash! i'm so good!"
at which point i realized he was deleting all of our concert pictures and videos.
before i had the chance to save them.
thank you brennan.
thank you for not trashing them all.
just the last 10.

my water was $4.75
ouch.
it was worth every drop:)

get fancy

get babysitter.

get fancy.

get Excedrin for migraine.

get a night out with all of the grown ups.

in attendance:

dad, sandie, brother adam, sean, me.

prime rib.

baked potatoes.

loaded.

stuffed mushrooms.

calamari.

cokes for the mormons.

wine for the catholics.

lemon drops for the other.

chocolate cake.

creme brule {my favorite}.

after dinner drinks.

and a whole lot of laughing.

...

have you ever mixed chocolate cake with creme brule?

well,

you should.

that is all.

the happiest place on earth: not disneyland.

i don't like my cheeks in this picture.

tell me they look great.

please, validate me.

thanks:)

...

i wish you could have been in the draper temple with me tonight.

the chandelier in the celestial room was the most beautiful chandelier i have ever seen.

i think that room might just be the happiest place on earth.

sparkly

and white.
all of the prisms in the chandelier reminded me of polyanna.
and her glad game.
and of heaven.
i can't imagine heaven being any more beautiful than this room in the draper temple.
and i had lots of happy thoughts.

peaceful happy thoughts.

gloriously, heavenly,
peaceful, happy thoughts.
the temple is really good for that.
disneyland's got nothing on the temple;)
AND it's free.

living social

$7.50 my friends. $7.50.

it was the first time the popcorn actually looked like a good deal.
i had my heart set on raisinettes.

there were none at the 7-11 we stopped at on the way to the movies.

and we were late.

the cashier just raised his hands in disbelief.

good thing our 2 tickets only cost $9.

thank you living social.

thank you late night date night.

{and ashley for babysitting}

i did manage to get my liter of smart water in.

wrapped up in my hanalei bay sweatshirt.

i'm still dreaming about floating in hanalei bay:)

eating raisinettes. 

tippy toes

saturday is a special day:)
i love this picture.
i came back from putting a load of laundry in the dryer and found him here.
on my emily stool.
on his little tippy toes,
with his fingers in the cookie dough.
this is what it's all about.
...
the finished product:

tonight,
sean is taking me out!
dancing,
dinner,
and big department of physical therapy school 40th anniversary party!
and the grandparents are coming to babysit.

you KNOW i'll have pictures of this one:)

time to go put my face and fancy shoes on!

the story of a famous steak {sundance}

today i saw something beautiful.
i stood in my kitchen and saw a gorgeous sunny, blue sky day coming through my front windows.
as i turned my head to the right,
out our back window,
i saw it snowing two streets to the east.
pellet snow.
snowballs falling from the sky snow.
have you ever seen spring to your left,
and winter to your right?
it was a first for me.
incredible.
the cherry on top of a remarkable day.
the kind where i am feeling so accomplished.
i organized my shoes.
my closet doubled in size.
really,
you should try it.
i did 3 loads of laundry.
bathed the kids AND myself.
the bathing myself is the part i am feeling most proud about.
sean went to his boxing class while the kids took naps.
we ate leftovers from our hunt for hollywood starz dinner last night for lunch today.
i am happy.
sundance last night:
saw no one famous.
but did hear that T.I. ordered a shirley temple last year when he came to ruth's chris.
made me feel liberated for always ordering one at fancy restaurants.
AND that one republic had been in.
AND that pierce brosnan loves the hotel park city, and is a regular at ruth's chris during sundance.
too bad he wasn't at the table next to us.
that would have been awesome.
but really, the food was famous enough to fulfill my desire to see someone famous.
i kid you not,
the best meal of my entire life.
a ribeye steak,
brought out on a 500* plate.
the juices boiling on the plate.
it cut like butter.
and tasted like every flavour you could possibly want in your mouth at one time.
even the green beans made you lust for more.
the potato shoe strings are the french fries i've dreamed of all my life.
then creme brule
the cheesecake.
we sat in that little booth for 2 hours.
side by side.
yes, we're cheezy like that.
sharing a plate.
and laughing.

then we drove down main street in park city.
a bus covered in blue christmas lights lit up our car.
and the most exciting people we saw were three girls in long white coats,
who had just met up with three boys in matching red outfits.
they were taking a picture together,
and everyone was cheering.
the excitement of the town was something to experience.

 i love this weekend.

superSTARZ {sundance}

it's the sundance film festival this weekend.
i've never been.
but it's date night.
so we're headed to park city to say we have been.
does it count if you don't go to a movie?
or can you say you've been if you've just been to park city during sundance?
what time do you think famous people eat dinner?
i want to see someone famous.
we have reservations for dessert.
i wonder if they are allowed to eat dessert?
maybe they can only order fish and vegetables.
or maybe they can only have fruit.
but no whipped cream.
i hope i'm never famous.
i love whipped cream.

pretty much means always now.

desperate times call for desperate measures.
target date.
i had a list.
we had a babysitter.
off we went.

do not buy this mop.
it bites.
don't be fooled by the good looking handle.
we returned it.
and went with mr. clean this time.
realized there's nothing we are exempt from anymore.
alcohol.
cigarettes.
rental cars.
fireworks.
too bad i don't want any of that.
well, maybe the fireworks.
a good 15 min. we stood in front of the baby food aisle.
trying to do the math in my head of 10 for $9 vs. one for 46 cents.
yes, i really stood there trying to figure that out.
tired mama picked the glass jars b/c those were the ones i wanted anyway.
decided i didn't care which was a better deal.
dr. scout master scanned everything i wanted with his phone.
it told him where we could get everything for cheaper.
i told him to stop it.
i didn't want to know i could get it for less.
i was here and here is where we were gettin' it.
we talked houses.
we are getting ready to want one.
well, we've been wanting one for quite some time.
but now we get to really want one for real.
like plan for it.
like don't put the sparkly bows in the cart for max b/c we'd rather have a house.
the moon looked like it had eyes, ears, a nose, and a big smile.
it made me think of goodnight moon.

and the cow jumping over the moon.
and 3 little bears, sitting on chairs...

i love that i'm so exhausted that i actually look intoxicated.

Arctic circle is the new way we end our dates.

at least, it's how we've ended our last two.

which pretty much means always now.

i jumped up on my tippy toes for several seconds in excitement when i saw this.

i hope my mr. clean mop doesn't bite.

the scout master has informed me that i need to schedule make out time in the car next time.

i laughed.

mama still got it!

yeah baby;-)

my greater trochanter.

it was my year to plan.
i thought we needed some SPICE!
spicy sushi.
then spicy fun.
go carts.
we were squished in our cart b/c we wanted to ride together and take turns driving.
he said he could feel my greater trochanter.
woo woo.
except what that really means is that he could feel a part of my femur sticking out.
or some physical therapy term like that.
he was a MANIAC on the go carts.
i kept screaming, "NO BUMPING!!! NO BUMPING!!!"
he laughed and did more crazy stuff.
it was awesome.
on my turn to drive i kept worrying i was going to get a warning for bumping.
i was very concerned about bumping.
it was my first time, i couldn't help it.
i screamed a lot.
sean laughed a lot.
it was TONS of fun:-)
batting cages.
i hit 5 balls.
then shrieked b/c it hurt my hands so badly.
did you know it hurts to hit balls in the batting cages?
i had sean do all of his tokens and mine.
his shoulder still hurts this morning.
but boy oh boy was it HOT.
i'm trying to convince him to play baseball now.

we REALLY needed that:-)

on the way home we stopped at arctic circle for chocolate dipped cones and it made me wonder,

how do they chocolate dip the cone without the ice cream melting?

(big thanks to grandma gibson for taking the kids)