Tyler's birthday

Turning 8 is a big deal around here so we went all crazy and took all of Tyler's friends to Classic skating...again...to celebrate. The really crazy part of this was that I bombed out on the cake. I just couldn't manage a Snake eye and Storm shadow cake with them both fighting. They are really detailed people and, well yeah, I just wanted to buy a cake like all the other smart moms out there.

So here's the story. Brian, being the fabulous savior that he is in situations like this called everywhere. When I say everywhere, I really mean EVERYWHERE. After several failed attempts at going to cake places that said they had what we were looking for and didn't he finally struck gold...sort of.

What you are seeing is a Winnie the Pooh cake, turned GI Joe cake. They had the plastic characters for a GI Joe cake, but everything else was really girly. So they took off the winnie, scraped some frosting off and made it into a "forest fight". If you look close...closer...see that little bee happily buzzing on the side there? We left that for laughs. We didn't tell Tyler until the party was over, he never knew the difference!

Tyler's Baptism

Years of preparation finally came to a close and now we begin a whole new chapter in raising our oldest. Tyler was baptized April 10, 2010. After fasting and prayer he made the decision that this was the right choice for him. I'm so proud of the choices he's made and his decision to be baptized. We were lucky enough to have all grandparents there for it as Brian's parents were in town attending a BYU dance team reunion. Brian's mom, Diane danced with the BYU traveling dance team performing in all sorts of competitions including Blackpool. I was lucky enough to get to join her in the friday night performance of the current BYU dance teams. It was amazing and I'm so grateful for my mother-in-laws willingness to share the evening with me instead of Doug!

We had a great turnout for the baptism with family and friends. The room was so filled with love and our wonderful bishop was so great in his talk, pointing out to Tyler that everyone was there because they love and care about him. It was really special.

Here we are with our dude. Tyler just looked so grown up that day!

Ok so the hug from Jake was a little forced, but he didn't argue about it, maybe we are on the road to making better choices already!

I might point out that I was wearing 3 inch heels and Tyler was slouching. That's why he looks shorter than I am. Those of you who see us in real life know this picture isn't quite accurate......

My handsome boys. We clean up pretty good. You'd never know these were the three guys that putter around my home in ratty jeans and baseball hats.

Mothers day

Tomorrow is mothers day and it lends me time to reflect tonight. I know what my breakfast is going to be. It's a classic burrito with potatoes, no pico and a side of ranch from Eggs in the City.

Brian and the kids drove to Sugarhouse today to get it for me. It's in the fridge. My gift was dirt. Seriously, 2 cubic yards of really beautiful dirt to go in my freshly made planter boxes. In which I plan to provide myself with lots of healthy cooking additions to our meals this summer.

Although I know these things and I'm excited about tomorrow for how cute the boys are trying to do nice things for me, tonight I'm really realizing that I've got my gift, it's love. And the best start to my day comes not from a tray with a newspaper, eggs and cocoa but a little almost-six-year-old-my-birthday-is-in-three-weeks warm person climbing into bed and knowing with every piece of his soul that this is the place to be if you want to be cozy. Then the day gets better as his older I'm-too-cool-for-hugs-in-public-but-there-better-be-a-spot-for-me-in-this-bed brother comes in to join the party. This is what my life is made of.

Now it also is made of not so Hallmark moments. For example when Jake made Tyler laugh so hard today he threw up all over the freshly cleaned carpets. I was not amused. Or that moment when you realize your kids really don't care about helping you out at the moment, they just want to play with their stuff and you have to beg for help with the groceries. You don't see that on a greeting card. As I stood in the card section perusing for the perfect card for my mama, I did however see a lot of "I know I didn't appreciate how wonderful you were then mom" and "All your suffering has made me into such a successful person" and I felt gratified. At least someday those moments will have some happy light shed on them and they will then officially be a Hallmark moment. For now they are the beats on a drum that marks the rhythm of my life and I"m happy to report, it doesn't sound like a funeral march.

It's one of those crazy African drum beats that you just want to swing your arms and dance to even thought the tempo and cadence will change at any given moment and then you look like a moron jumping around. Would I change it and stop dancing? Nope. Mommy hood has been the single most wild, crazy, silly, funny, sad, unpredictable adventure I've ever been on. Those of you who know me the best, that's saying a lot. I love this. Let me say that one more time and this time say it with me.....I LOVE THIS!!!

As Jake was laying on me the other day I could feel his heart beating and I realized it's been beating next to mine for 5 years 9 months and 15 days. That's something. He said he could hear my heart. I asked what it was saying. "I love you" he said. Brilliant.

Happy mothers day. To everyone who is a mother, and everyone who wants to be and everyone in between. What a gift.

Just a few of my favorite photos from this section of my life. And no, it doesn't get any better than this :) I don't think my heart could handle that much love and happiness.

Turning Eight

It's happened, I've reached one of those big mommy milestones, My oldest turned eight. I may be a little partial, but doesn't he look handsome in his scout uniform?

Tyler lucked out for scouts, the space derby (pinewood derby with rockets instead of cars) landed on the day before his birthday so he got to participate. He was so excited! The rocket got painted red with a lot of help from grandpa in his workshop. Tyler won 2nd place! His rocket was super fast.

He's been looking forward to scouts for a really long time. It doesn't help the anxious waiting when his mom and dad are the scout leaders for the 8 year olds. We're excited to have Tyler officially joining our group!