Favorite Words

Tonight was a great night all for the simple matter that as we were walking out of Wal*Mart (we were there to get a birthday present for a party A is going to tomorrow) K - who was a super trooper walking around the store while A made up her mind as to what to get for her little friend) lays her little sweet head down on my shoulder and of her own accord says the most precious words in the Universe - "Mommy, I love you!!

There is NOTHING sweeter, I am sure! And she is mine, all mine!!

(Photo courtesy of A, the budding photographer!)

My kids really do say the sweetest and funniest things sometimes and I only wish I could remember them all and get them written down before they fly from my mind, as most things often do. Atleast I captured this precious moment and will try in the future to be better. Maybe I need to start carring around pen and paper to record the other many pearls of wisdom that come from my children's mouths. I guess I have to start somewhere!

Little Moments of Fun

K apparently likes to like flowers instead of smelling them

. Who knew they could be so tasty! And I am sure the flowers didn't mind the extra moisture at all!

A and K have so much fun at the Children's Museum in SLC, we have renewed our membership as they can not get enough of the place. Plus I love having somewhere to go that's fun and entertaining and that gets us all out of the house.

A and K feeding the plastic Pony a plastic carrot, and making the appropriate munching, crunching, eating sounds!

Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss! A came home from school with a recipe on how to make green eggs and ham and insisted that we make it for dinner.

Even though I couldn't stomach the green eggs in their abnormal color, the girls ate them up - literally!!
St. Patty's Day - I think my girls were covered with the "wear something green" and avoided getting pinched this year!!A came home from school telling me all about leprichauns and thier hidded pots of gold. Oh the silly things they get to learn about.

Spring is almost here and Easter came a little earlier this year. Along with it came the oh so highly entertaining Easter Egg hunts! Thanks CeeCee and R for having us over for a super yummy dinner and egg hunt.

So much fun - so much comedy from ones so young. (BTW - I miss the Colorado Easter Egg hunts - just so you know!)

K really got into the egg hunt this year and I bet it had nothing to do with the fact that there was candy inside. She wasn't particular - chocolate, jelly beans, marshmellow bunnies - it was all good to her!

K showing me her chocolate treat - or "yummy, yummy" as she was calling it!

B, K, F and A - cutest cousins in Utah (notice the state qualifier there, as there are equally cute cousins in AZ and CA, who we sooo wish could have been there with us!)

Life, Liberty (and most importantly) Justice for all!

So, this morning began very early for me. 7:00 am to be exact, but if truth be told with the recent change to Day Light Savings it was more like 6:00 am and that my friends is way too early. For those of you that really know me, you know that I don't function too well in the morning. I just don't see the point of getting up from a nice warm cozy bed when it's still dark outside and there are more logs to be sawed.

I don't know if it comes from finally being at place in my life where I don't have to rise up at the crack of dawn to rush off to work, because seriously the laundry can wait till 10:00 or 11:00 to get started. It's not putting any pressure me or enforcing any deadlines. So why rush it?

Maybe my lack of desire to rise with the sun stems from the fact that I have (luckily) been blessed with children that actually sleep in and get up at a more agreeable and reasonable hour in the morning. They usually wake up around 8:30 or 9:00 and that is a much more perfect time for me to get myself together and going. I know this will have to change a little once BB1 starts all day school, but for now I am enjoying the later starts to the day!

As for why I was up at what felt like the crack of dawn this morning, I had an appointment with the South Ogden Traffic Court. You see there was this pesky business regarding a traffic citation I received back in January where the officer cited me for "Improper Lane Travel". Hello - I was just making a left hand turn and entered into the turn lane, going about my business, doing nothing illegal, when the cop pulled out from the right hand, through lane and then proceeded to pull me over.

You can imagine my complete shock/indignation/frustration as to why this cop was pulling me over when I hadn't done anything more than drive my car well within the confines of the law. That frustration only grew when I asked him to explain why he pulled me over and he absolutely refused to discuss it with me and simply stated "I won't debate this with you" and walked away.

Oh how I wanted to smack him. When he came back to the car he handed me an "invitation" to attend traffic school, which by the way cost $75 and would require me to spend 8 hours learning about how to drive and the law. Are you kidding me? I didn't do anything wrong. My desire to back hand the cop only grew, but luckily I was able to control my growing temper with the thought that it would be much worse to get carted off to jail for assaulting an officer. I consoled myself with the thought that I would have my say.

So needless to say this little encounter set me off on a path of very righteous indignation and I was all about fighting the citation. So, I let the time frame to sign up for traffic school lapse, which sent the traffic school invitation back to the courts and a citation was issued in it's place, along with an invitation to come to court.

So off to court I went - the first time - thinking I would be able to confront the judge, tell him my side of the story and walk out of there with a dismissal in hand. I was psyched and just a little nauseous only to find out that it was all for nothing. I wouldn't meet with the judge as I had to first meet with the court prosecutor for a Pre-trail hearing. And I had to have an appointment in order to meet with him and that would mean I would have to wait another week before presenting my case.

And oh what a case it would be. I had satellite imagery showing how many feet into the turning lane I entered and copy's of the Utah drivers handbook, all showing me to be in the right. I was ready!

So today I went to the court for the second time to meet with the prosecutor. He called me back into his office behind the judges bench. He was able to pull up video footage from the cop car from the day the citation was issued. I wasn't worried for a second. He showed me everything he had and listened to me explain what happened and before I even had to pull out my satellite maps (thanks Google Earth) and DMV documentation, he said the most wonderful words in the universe "I am going to recommend this citation for dismissal!!" and "You were in the right!"

"Thank you, Thank you very much!" (said in an Elvis drawl & tone)

There is indeed justice in the world and I am so glad I fought for it. It might seem like a small thing, but it was my thing and it even made getting up at the crack of dawn worth while!!

So let freedom ring - Power to the People - and don't be afraid to fight for what you know to be right!

Happy Birthday Baby!!

BB2 is officially 2. On one hand I am in denial because it means my baby is growing up! But on the other hand she is sooooo 2 years old. Yep, the temper tantrums and demands have gone onto a whole new level. At least she is balancing out the "bad" with some serious sweetness when it comes to giving loves and kisses.

Her party theme was monkeys - not Curious George - just monkeys. She got a huge purple helium filled monkey balloon which she loves and freaks out any time her sister tries to take it away from her, which is often. She started pulling down on the string and thought it was the greatest thing to watch the balloon go up and down. That is until it poked her in the eye and she needed some convincing the monkey wasn't trying to hurt her. I love the way kids brains work as they are so highly entertaining without even trying to be and so quick to recover from bumps and boo boos.

You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find cute monkey theme decorations with out having to resort to the Curious George ones.

Luckily by making the decorations myself it allowed me to tap into my creative side, which is a rare thing as my perfectionist side tends to take over, but luckily this time there was a pretty good balance between the two. I just have to say thank goodness we have a pretty good color printer and there were some decent monkey graphics in Microsoft Word Clip Art.

As for how the overall decorations turned out, just picture various sized monkeys and bananas hanging all over the house with green streamers and green curly ribbon (aka "jungle vines" ) also hanging all over the place. Lots of fun and BB2 loved it.

She did total justice to her birthday cake and I just have to give serious props to her Grandma L.(my mom) for having such a delicious frosting recipe. Fluffy frosting is by far the ultimate in cupcake toppings and a big thanks to Aunt CeeCee for reintroducing me to the fluffy sugary goodness.

We used to ask for it all the time growing up and it just takes me back to a happy place whenever I taste it. It had been way too long since my last indulgence and needless to say we all heartily partook. The bowl was seriously licked clean. Yum!

The picture on the left is of BB2 in her new ballerina dress-up with a matching one for Spice Bear that she wore around for the rest of the party.

She also LOVES her new chair and now doesn't want to sit anywhere else but in her chair. This could pose a problem at meal time.

All I can say is she is adorable (and yes, there is a huge amount of personal bias, but you have to agree with me!!)

Thanks to all the family that came up and celebrated the day with us. It was so much fun!!

And for those who were too far away, we know BB2 was in your thoughts as we were wishing you could be here with us!

Happy Birthday Baby - You are growing up way too fast!

Not the sharpest tack in the box!!

Sheesh - Apparently my math skills need some work!

What I meant to write in my previous post was to enjoy your extra "1440" minutes, not the "1660" that I put in.

Guess I just really, really, REALLY wanted to create some extra time for those people nearest and dearest to my heart.

It's all about the love, baby!