i love that man i call sean {mother's day}

{i didn't take a single picture yesterday. how is that even possible???}

...

"nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing 

unless it means effort, pain, difficulty...

i have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. 

i have envied a great many people 

who led difficult lives and led them well." 

-theodore roosevelt

...

my peaks of mother's day:

max waking me up with "happy mother's day! you're the best mommy in the whole world!", followed by a kiss on the cheek and a great big hug. the best part was that sean was still fast asleep. she remembered what day it was all on her own, and it was the first thing she did right when she got out of bed.
best mother's present ever.

sean staying up until after midnight the night before chopping cheese, hicama, oranges, and avocadoes while he blended his homemade cilantro orange citrus salad dressing. which might i add was the best dang salad i've ever had. even my kids had two helpings each. the filet mignons he grilled out back were just icing on the cake. except really, the icing on the cake was his homemade chocolate drizzle over a triple chocolate bundt cake. the only cake i like. {i'm not a cake person, except when it comes to this cake.}

breakfast in bed. my kids always end up eating most of it because they're there all excited to "be-prize me" {surprise me} and haven't eaten anything yet themselves. imagine 3 little birdies in a nest with me and a fork, balancing orange juice and hot chocolate like a teeter totter on my lap. it's hilarious and i love it! sean shews them off after about half of my food is eaten and 2/3rd of my drinks are gone. it works out pretty great.

eating chocolates during sunday school from a little green box that said "happy mother's day" on it.

watching pretty little liars in my room for two hours in my bed all by myself after church:)
yep, i did. i have no shame.
and i'm always scared of the dark after.
actually i'm even scared when the sun is out. i'm such a whimp with murder mysteries.
oh the thrill!!!

getting homemade mother's day gifts from my children at church.

sean doing my job all day long.

having the most glorious dinner prepared by the loving hands of sean.

sean telling me he's ready for me to have my job back, that i'm the most amazing woman in the entire world, and how do i do what i do AND have friends over to play at the same time too? 

it pretty much made me feel awesome:)

my pits of mother's day:

a cold fast shower. we spent too much time gabbing with our own mothers and grandmothers on the phone and ran out of time, so i had to shower at the same time as the kids, and our water heater is pretty much pathetic. i knew i was doomed from the start. it was fine.

brennan yelling he hated me during sacrament meeting because i wouldn't let him go play in the bench across the aisle with cade. then crawling under the pew in front of us and kicking the bottom with angry eyes, then crawling under our pew and worming his way out into the aisle to see cade anyway, 

and then crawling back under the pew in front of us and kicking it even harder until sean finally had to carry him out like a toddler. it was so special.

max told me she wasn't going to be my kid anymore because i wouldn't let her go over to sit with cassie during sacrament meeting. basically the swensen family bench is like disneyland, and apparently we are great america. ok, maybe we're just the quarter rides at the mall. it was just one of "those church days."

chase running down the hall at church chasing max, only to have someone open the door and smack him in the face full steam ahead, at which point he flew a foot in the other direction. it was so so sad.

...

if life were easy, it wouldn't be hard.

-sheri dew

best job in the whole entire world:)

i love this life.

i love these kids.

and i love that man i call sean.

amen.

he can grill a steak like nobody's business!

happy mother's day to all of my mothers!

the pancakes he saw on rachel ray {mother's day}

6:51am-chase wakes up, sean puts binky in, everyone goes back to sleep.

sometime with a 7am in front of it-brennan wakes up and wishes me my first happy mother's day of the day. he has to say it twice, b/c i had my ear plugs in the first time and had to take them out to hear him say it a second time. he kissed me and hugged me. i will always remember the cute smile he had on his face. i love him.

{sean makes card with pictures of he and the kids on the card, including the morning's shenanigans.}

{to be placed on my breakfast in bed tray.}

{all while i am still fast asleep.}

9:34am-brennan with a tall glass of orange juice that i for sure thought he was going to spill, sean with a tray of food and a baby man on his hip, and max with a giant smile, bring me breakfast in bed. i feed them bites of sean's raspberry and blackberry infused, topped with honey butter homemade rachel ray syrup, kodiak cake pancakes. we pass the orange juice around. i open my card and pampering day present. the kids were SO excited. i loved it, even in my half awake state. sean tells me he found the pancake and syrup recipe while watching rachel ray's cooking show at a patient's house, who he was stretching, who was watching it. get it? so cute:)

9:42am-sean shoos the kids downstairs and tells me to stay in bed and relax, read a book, or whatever. i call my grandma joy, and drink some more juice with my pancakes while he feeds the kids breakfast downstairs. i lick the syrup off of my plate. it's amazing syrup. i call my mom. we chat.

10:15am-i get in the shower, brennan comes in once. sean comes in twice. chase gets put to bed for a nap. no idea what max was doing. bless her. so easily entertained with herself.

sean's parents and grandma arrive for hellos, hugs, and flowers.
get ready for church, search for my phone.
start roast in crockpot and try to get to church by 2.
when it starts.
yes, i'm serious.
2pm.
awful, except on mother's day when it works out really GREAT:)
grandma carol meets us at church.
comes home with us from church.
dinner.
sit on the patio.
push the kids on the swings.
pull chase out of the dirt.
scold brennan for throwing sand in the sand box.
sean changes max's underwear that she peed in.
dessert.
pajamas.
bed.
sean does dishes.
call family.
tango more family.
call more family.
bed.

 {above: my beautiful mom on mother's day, and the happiest baby man alive.}

...

my favorite part of the day?

when sean collapses and tells me he doesn't know how i do it every day:)

b/c he's been in the kitchen making food, cleaning up food, taking people to the potty 50 times, and put kids in time out for what feels like the entire day.

i laughed really really hard.

and smiled SOOOO big:)

in an 

"i'm so appreciative you love and appreciate me, and our life is so crazy funny AWESOME"

kind of way.

i love these babies.

i love that man named sean.

i love my mom and sandie.

my mother in law.

my grandma's,

past and present.

my friend's moms.

and the many other moms i look up to in my life.

happy mother's day to all,

and to all a good monday!

{below: me and sandie two years ago at the lake house, dinner out. she is such a doll!}

......

ANNNNNNNNNNND,

last by certainly not least,

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to my awesome DAD!!!!!!!

at the right bold age of 66 he is more fit than most 25 year olds.

really, it's true.

i dare you to try the single water ski.

i bet you can't.

he still can.

go dad.

aloha.

an entire bottle of bubble bath {mother's day}

who knew sean was a gourmet chef???

have mercy,

it was the meal i've always dreamed of,

but never knew it.

and he came up with it,

bought it,

with two kids in tow,

cooked it,

and cleaned it all up.

by himself.

complete with the lava bunt cake of my dreams.

amazing.

I LOVE HIM!!!

and mother's day:)

...

breakfast and flowers in bed,

from a smiling husband,

with the fruit ninja i've been dreaming of for months.

{my kale smoothies just reached a whole new world starting tomorrow}

and 2 cranky kids by his side.

one that woke up at 6:30am for no apparent reason,

other than the sun being up then too,

and

the other one i was up with until 2am with a teething fever of 102.

those 2 year old molars are beasts.

molars-2

{3 if you count me}

toddlers-0

that's a first.

and then there was sleeping chase,

that sean briskly wheeled into our closet

before the circus monkeys climbed into his bassinet.

then the two big boys went off to church,

and the other three of us stayed in our jammies until lunch.

...

i spent the afternoon soaking in a bubble bath,

with my head propped up on a towel,
and a book in my hands.

i poured an entire bottle of bubble bath into the tub,

and locked the door.

2 hours of no interruptions.

i had the best day:)

happy mother's day indeed!