My {birth}Day

Getting older doesn't really bother me. 30 is a year older than 29 just like 29 is a year older than 28. We started celebrating my birthday a night early when Jason invited friends and family over for a little surprise party. When I opened the door, everyone was on the porch with a sign and balloons. Surprise! I was surprised. Normally I check the peephole. Not this time.

"I love parties! I also love pink sparkly princess hats and photoshopping pictures of me since I have nothing better to do with my time!"

Then came Saturday, my actual birthday. We went from one thing to the next. All day. It was good, but exhausting.

Wake up (very important)

Make breakfast

Shun the Sun race with Clara

Watch Clara, Lucy and Elsa eat cookies, frosting and sprinkles for breakfast

"These people don't care how many sprinkles we put on our cookies. Yay!! The more sugar we eat, the faster we'll run!"

Run race with Clara, Kathryn and her girls.

"Mmmm, that leftover frosting and on my mouth is just what I need to keep running!"

Face painting & bouncies (I think we'll definitely do this next year - the race was not long {thank goodness!} and the after party was super fun)

"Cheeez that sun is bright. But we are butterflies! I'm a tiger! With rainbow pants! Rar!"

Angela's for camera

Home to shower and change

Feed Hazel

Visit Jason's dad in hospital (he had a little heart scare earlier this week that ended with him being flown the Arizona Heart Hospital for an outpatient procedure - he's okay and we're all happy about that).

"Hello! I'm alive!"

Mason's birthday party

"Boing, boing, boing"

Dinner at Liberty Market

"I love Liberty Market! I'm so glad to be here!"

Home to change

Head to friend's reception and take some pictures

Home at last - after 10pm

Pass out on bed without washing face or brushing teeth

I had great plans of posting about what a great birthday I had. I promise it was a good day. It was busy and I thought that staying busy kept me from thinking of all the things you wish for on your birthday. Let's be honest, whether you are 3 or 30, everyone wants to feel special on their birthday. But really all I did was postpone my over thinking and pity party for a day. Sunday wasn't busy and I had a little meltdown when no one was around. I think sometimes I let myself pretend I'm a better person than I really am. I try to talk myself into thinking I am the kind of person I wish I was. The person that doesn't let little things bother them. The kind of person that everyone loves. The kind of person that doesn't feel sad or hurt because they only think positive thoughts. The kind of person that is happy despite their circumstances. Eventually, the truth comes out. And on top of having all the emotions I previously blocked come flooding in, I also felt like a bit of a failure for not being who I wish I was. Double fail. Apparently perfection doesn't happen in 30 years. Darn.

Destination: Utah

Purpose: Emma's baptism

Consequences: lunch at Pizzeria 712 (just me and Rachel - no kids {bonus #94 of traveling with Jason}), snow, learning (through his prayer) that Lucas is thankful "for our 206 bones", the baptism, seeing Daniel and Steven looking great (especially in white shirts and ties - so handsome), baptism dinner, the Levis, The Nobles and of course many, many laughs.

The drive: We decided to drive all night again. I didn't have a turn until after 5am. I love driving during sunrise. It gives me time to ponder on the sun. How it lights up the world before we can see it. So many parallels to the Son. Plus, I get to see Jason cuddle up with a flowered blanket.

Seeing Family: Steven loves, loves, loves kids and they love him. I loved visiting him and Daniel, talking with Rachel and laughing at Lucas. He does his hair over and over all the time, by himself. Anyone think his mohawk is inappropriate for church?
Snow: I was so excited to see a light dusting of snow Saturday morning when we woke up. I knew Clara would be so excited.
The baptism: What's not to love about baptisms?
The after party: What's not to love about good food and awesome people?
The Levis: Kiri and I think way too much alike - I wish I could convince her to move back to AZ.
Random: Lucas spends more time on his hair than Clara.
The Nobles: Always good, hearty conversations with Jen.
Cousins: Not only does Clara love her cousins, but some of them are boys! She doesn't spend much time with her boy cousins... since she's only got three and they all live out of state. Rachel's kids love and adore my kids and play so well with them.
Random: Cutest shows Hazel owns. I bought these when I was pregnant before Hazel.
iGenius: Rachel was showing Hazel her iPhone and Hazel would take her little ET finger and slide down on it.
Random: pretty temple
The trip home: I almost wanted to drive all night just so my kids would sleep and we wouldn't have to stop 3 times. We decided not to and although we did stop 3 times, making our trip over 12 hours, Clara and Hazel were great. Hazel didn't cry once. She squawked a few times when it was getting close to feeding time, but after a few Cheerios she stopped. We had snow most of the way home, so that was fun. Although, the roads weren't bad and if they were, it wouldn't have been fun. Clara is always a little wild in restaurants when we're traveling. She hops up and will just start dancing around. I don't blame her. Oh, and these thermals cracked me up. I bought them a while ago on clearance, but just opened the package in Utah. The pants were super short and fat - not exactly Clara's type. Hopefully they'll shrink a bit.

Why must my sisters live in different states? Visiting with them and hanging out never gets old. It seems so cruel that life allows siblings to be separated by state lines. These people that I can relate to so much, that I feel comfortable around and at home in their houses and that treat my kids like their own. I often wonder why can't we all live in the same neighborhood. Of course I know the answer, but that doesn't mean I don't wish for a different reality.

Wow

I'd like to share the most hilarious and bizarre moment of my recent trip to Utah.

In the party store, Rachel and I saw several life-size cardboard cutouts. In addition to those below, there was of course, Justin Bieber, but I couldn't bring myself to putting his picture on my blog.

Mater, okay.

Princesses, okay.
Presidential hopefuls and past presidents, okay.
Jesus? Not okay.
And Jesus in between a former US President and Victoria from Twilight?

Who's idea was this?

We laughed all weekend about this. I still can't get over how strange it is. Rachel threatened to gift it to me for Christmas with a sign hanging on it that reads, "What would Jesus do?"

Visual Catch Up

I don't have time to catch up on life in a wordy post. (Wordy being relative.) I'm sure you're disappointed. Here's a partial update of life over the last few weeks.

Someone finally decided to start pulling herself up on things, just four days shy of 10 months (10.22.2011). This was the first time she did it and she didn't sit/fall for quite a while. She also got tooth #7 a week or so after that.

A few weeks ago, Jason and I got to attend our friend's temple sealing. First to each other, then to their three children. Maybe someday I'll expound, but for now, trust me when I say it was incredible.
Sunday photos
My new favorite of Clara
Lilly turned 13. She wanted a fun cake so Kathryn and I divided and conquered. My idea of a 13 layer cake didn't quite pan out. Instead Lilly got her own wacky 4 layer and the other 9 layers were for everyone else. Kathryn did the topper on the big one - thank goodness.
One day Clara was flying.
On the 29th our Ward participated in the Stake Service project by doing a number of projects in the Washington district in downtown Mesa. All day I teetered between feeling so grateful to be among such generous people, blessed and guilty for all that I have. In addition to the project, they also had a bike drive. There is a man, an ex-con, that fixes up bikes for people trying to get back on their feet who obviously need some mode of transportation. He got emotional when someone told him we hoped to provide him with 50 bikes. Imagine his reaction when he saw two trailers deliver nearly 200 bikes.
10 months have come and gone, documented for safe keeping in my ever growing blog post drafts. I have the hardest time getting good pictures of Hazel. I think it has something to do with her short attention span and not looking at me when I do get her attention for more then .4 seconds.
And finally, I have been coveting this. I have always wanted one so much it sometimes feels like a need, but have been patiently waiting until it makes sense financially. Patiently waiting, that is, until this week when I took a few pictures with Angela's and all patience seemed to disappear. I'm off to dream about finding a few extra thousand dollars in the near future. Because if I don't, I might just buy it anyway.

Who Does That?

The Thursday before last I showed our rental to someone that seemed like a great fit. They wanted to move in by the 1st and said they had the full deposit and first month's rent, which was more than anyone else we had an application from.

Last Friday we met, they gave me the deposit, signed the lease and told me they needed to "get their money together" for the rent. Whatever, they still had a few days until the 1st. I called the two other people wanting to move in the 15th and broke the news.

Monday the "renters" called to say they had the rent so I exchanged the keys for their money (a little after 1pm). See? I told myself, nothing to worry about.

Monday (THE SAME DAY) they called to see if they could back out (less than 6 hours after they paid their rent).

Seriously.

Happy Ending: One of the other interested people were still interested, I kept almost half of the other people's deposit, I got a deposit from the new people today, they will be moving in the middle of the month and when all is said and done, I only lost $87.50 plus utilities for a few weeks. As far as I'm concerned, in the long run I think it will be well worth the headache and cost.

Oh, Halloween

I think Halloween is fun, but I don't get too into it. We do simple costumes here, but simple doesn't mean less fun, does it? I think I'll throw a party next year.

Clara was a butterfly princess. Don't you love how kids can just make up their own costumes? Her wings are adult size, which, with her tiny little kid size body, made her look like a proportionately correct butterfly. Hazel was Tinker Bell, or in other words, the first and last awesome costume I made for Clara (four years ago). (See?)

We enjoyed our annual Neighborhood Halloween party like last year. In case you're wondering, pushing a stroller with two kids in it in the grass with one hand while holding two plates of food and a bowl of chili in the other hand wasn't fun. Jason got stuck in traffic and I was at the party for way too long by myself.

After the party we went to my mom's and then we came home for baths. Too bad the eye glitter I thought could double as hair glitter wouldn't wash out.