foot surgery

I forgot that a few of you asked about "going under the knife" from my other post. I am just having bunion surgery on my right foot...I feel so old when I say that!! My mom is coming out to take care of us for a bit since I am "supposed" to be off of my foot for 2 weeks and recovering for about 4 weeks. The surgery is April 13th so wish me luck :0

This is how I found the kids this morning when I woke up. 

Lately they've been waking up earlier and just taking care of themselves for a bit. Zanna is constantly coloring and drawing and James is being her coloring consultant. I love what great friends they are and you can't help smiling when you listen to their little conversations. I love my kids!

tip of the day...

On Tuesday I unfortunately had to go to court to argue 2 parking tickets- one for parking on the wrong side of the street, on the wrong day, in the wrong month, in the wrong time of day, in the wrong time zone etc... (those signs are ridiculous and I didn't see it until it was too late) and one for not having a front plate on the van.

Anyway, they said to come early to get a spot for court, but Dave got home late so I didn't get there when I wanted do. By the time I got there at 6:30, there weren't even any seats left and the guys in charge were saying we could be there until 9:30!

Dave and the kids were at a friends' house up the road from the courthouse for dinner and I was hungry and sad that I wouldn't get to hang out with them.

So- here's where it gets good- the court started and a lady went up first who had her daughter with her. After she went, the prosecutor asked if there was anyone else with children because they could come up first--the lightbulb went on.

I called Dave right away and said, "I need a kid, bring one of them down right away!!"

We decided James might bring on more sympathy (he's younger and had a big bandage on his head) and 3 minutes after he got there we were talking to the prosecutor, I got my tickets reduced and I was on my way to our friends- it was BEAUTIFUL!

So, moral of the story, always take your child to court and if you don't have one- borrow one!

Thanks James!! 

This is the tracing we made of James at Joyschool this week- I love the spiked, rainbow hair and the green and brown fingers :)

friends since 5th grade

Heather and I can't help acting like kids when we get together...

and Dave can't help it either

(we were actually duplicating a picture we took like this a couple of years ago that Zanna loves and keeps up in her room- I guess she likes to see us being silly too!)

We walked the Brooklyn Bridge and had the delicious, fresh-made ice cream on the Brooklyn side (it's a great view and a really fun thing to do in the city)

We walked so much that day and it was pretty cold- but we were tough girls!

That same morning we got up at 5:15am to run a 5-mile race in Central Park with some of our great friends in NY. It was a beautiful run and I got to see areas of the Park I had never seen before. My feet were killing me afterward- but it was a good last race before I go under the knife!

Running Buddies- Rachel, Heather, Me, Cindy, Jeremy and Julie 

(sorry for the small pic- I got it off facebook)

The kids loved having Heather around (as you can see of James' face) and we had a yummy Indian dinner at Nanking!

We love you darlin' and we were so lucky to get to have you all to ourselves for the weekend! 

James in the ED AGAIN!

Last Sunday we had Jess and her boys over for dinner and it was a blast. Everyone was laughing and doing stupid human tricks and it was just a great dinner

and then...

Dave took the kids up to the roof to see the sunset and came back with a screaming, bloody faced little boy.  He had tripped with his hands in his jacket pockets and hit is head on a vent.

So, we took another little walk down the hill to the ED and Dave and the amazing Plastic Surgeon put James' forehead back together with about 30 stitches.

The cut was vertical but they were actually able to flip it so it is now horizontal and the scar will be less noticeable and go inline with the brow lines. I was amazed that they could do that and I also almost passed out :) Between the staples last year and this I am learning how weak-stomached I really am.

James did an AMAZING job and just laid really still and was so calm about it all. He got all his hospital stickers, 0h- and of course was dressed like Spiderman for the night 

(he really wears this almost everyday).

He thinks he is pretty tough now and the scar is looking good. 

I'm afraid to say this probably isn't the last post about James and the hospital adventures...

NYC never gets old!

We had a great visit from the Thompson family last week and 

it was so fun for the kids to have their friends sleep over and play, play, play!

We had some delicious long-island pizza...

played on the rocks in central park ...

(the kids were being lions from The Lion King)

rode on the Carousel in Central Park for the first time...

had fun catching up and holding their sweet little baby Kayson...

and, of course we dressed as Princesses at FAO Schwarz.

Kyle & Bryn went to see WICKED and we had a party at our house with all the kids-

Thanks for coming guys, and we wish you the best in Kentucky!

The previous Saturday...

the kids I met my incredibly awesome cousin Jess in the city

to play at the park in the beautiful 60 degree weather

James has so many great faces :)

We met my aunt Janene and uncle Warren in Times Square for dinner

and all ended up in I Love NYC t-shirts!

Zanna spilled her water and Jess took her out to buy a new t-shirt and came back with shirts for everyone- she's the nicest person I know, by the way, and we were all diggin' the new colors of shirts. It was great to get together with family and the kids love their new shirts- but I love mine more...

i am a lucky lady

I think this will be my last little excursion for a while, but I just got back from a quick, wonderful weekend in Utah to be apart of little Isaiah's blessing last Sunday.

I couldn't get enough of this little guy and loved the outfit his Grandma knitted for him for the blessing- he is one month old and just a great little baby.

Matt and Courtnee are one of those couples that just make you happy to be with- they are so loving and calm and silly and I was so glad to be there with them.

My little brother gave a beautiful blessing to his son and I just have to say- I love this kid and have always been so lucky to have him as my little bro. 

I went without the kids and it was nice to be able to hang out with my family- all my siblings were there, except our oldest brother Tom and we really missed him and his family. This picture is taken in Mindy's beautiful, newly remodled house- they did an amzing job! Mindy and Andrea are both expecting so "baby" was in the air this trip :)

The new little family that made this all happen.

I also got to have a fun breakfast with Rach (we had the best White Chocolate, Macadamia Nut Pancakes and The Original Pancake House in Sugarhouse) and have a great chat with Kurt and Jean.  I surprised Caroline and Aimee with a little visit too and was so lucky to catch everyone at home.  Bryce and I went for a really fun bike ride and all my family went to "Taco Time" for old time's sake :) I had lunch at Rumbi's but sadly, never got to Cafe Rio.  Unfortunately, we almost all caught a "bug" or got "food poisoning" and I got really sick and threw up right before my red-eye flight home on Monday night. It was a pretty awful flight and I was very happy to get home to my bed. 

In closing, I want to thank my supportive husband Dave (who said I live like a rock-star with all my vacations) and my AWESOME neighbors, the Guymons, for making this all possible!! I owe them big and couldn't have done this without them! Love ya!