Happy Birthday Jeff and Mary Kate!

What a great day to celebrate! It's another shared birthday by two of my most favorite people, my little brother Jeff and my Miss Mary Mack.

11 years ago, when we found out Mary Kate's due date would be around the end of June, Jeff determined that his very first niece would be born on his birthday, June 30th. When the doctor sent me to the hospital on June 28th we were sure she would just miss the mark, but Jeff got his wish when it took Mary Kate two more days to actually arrive. She was born on his birthday afterall.

It's a little hard to believe, now that Jeff is 28 and Mary Kate is 10, that I used to rock both of them to sleep when they were babies. Time passes much too quickly and I'm feel ing old.

I was just thinking the other day about one of the happiest times in my whole life. My first trip to Disneyland, just a little over 4 years ago. Mike and I went and we took Mary Kate and Jeff with us. We had the BEST time. Jeff was the perfect traveling companion and Mary Kate was completely delighted with every single thing. Wish I could do that trip all over again.

Happy Birthday Mary Kate and Jeff. I love you both very much.

Ingredients for a perfect summer vacation......

1- A darling baby niece


2- A cool park to play in


4- A surrey bike to pile into


5- A warm pool to swim in

6- Cookie Crisp to eat for breakfast

7- Good looking outfits to wear on your ride around the lake

8- Mud for facials

9- Wave runners to look hot while riding

10- Life jackets for when mom decides to try the wave runner (she totally did it!)

11- Awesome sister-in-laws to hang out with

12- A lake to play in all day

12- A good farmer tan

13- Inventive sun protection head gear

14- Mud to squish your toes into

14- Paparazzi worthy beach wear

15- Waves to ride

16- SUNBLOCK!!!!

and last but not least....

17- Best family in the world to spead time with!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Mary Kate and I were extra lucky to be invited to go with Shawna, Belinda and their girls to Park City for a mother-daughter extravaganza last weekend! We had a splendid time. Lots of girl bonding going on. Here are some of the highlights.....



First, card making. I designed three cards for everyone to put together. We used all kinds of paper, ribbon, and rubber stamps. All the cards turned out fabulously. The younger girls especially loved stamping and assembling. They thought it was so cool to being doing something they usually watch the grown ups do.

Afterwards we all took a personality test. It was interesting to read every one's results. For the most part they were right on. The test assigns a descriptive title for each person's set of letters. We had among us a companion, a protector, an inspector, two healers, a counselor and me, the supervisor. What a shock that my title would be supervisor! Am I bossy? Okay, don't answer that.

In the end, we all decided that variety in personalities is what brings spice to life.



We also spent lots of quality time in the hotel pool. I just tried not to think about all the kids that had probably peed in it, and tried to enjoy myself. We did some water aerobics and had some very close Michael Phelps-esque races across the pool. Even Brittany's baby, little Belinda, enjoyed splashing. She was as sweet as could be the whole weekend. She got her cute little chubby cheeks kissed enough to last a life time with all of us clamoring to hold and cuddle her. Isn't she adorable! Fat cheeked babies are the best.





Here we are, the striped bathing beauties, me, Belinda and Shawna, two of the best friends a girl could have.


After lunch we braved the Alpine slide and coaster. The scenery was beautiful and the weather, perfect.





In usual form, I screamed all the way down the coaster making myself horse. It was quite the thrilling ride actually. Also in usual form, Mary Kate insisted on braving the coaster all by herself and would have done it over and over if she could have. That girl likes a thrill, another way that she is like her father and not me. She even tried the bungee trampoline thingy, managing to do a few double back flips. What a girl!



Other activities of the weekend included the watching of chick flicks while doing manicures and pedicures, eating delicious food (almost every meal included avocado in some form or another which made me very happy), and shopping at the Park City outlets, where something happened that should be mentioned. I managed to shop for an entire day and not buy one single pair of shoes! This is unprecedented folks! Miracles never cease.



It was a perfectly "girly" weekend. Upon my return, I filled Mike in on the details of our trip from crafts, to fingernail polish, to shopping. His only response was, "sounds like torture to me." He's only saying that because he's a guy and doesn't understand how to have a good time the girl way. Thank goodness I've got friends like these in my life who do know how to do things right. I love these ladies. They're fabulous people, especially the little red headed one who cuddled up next to me in bed both nights. I'm so glad I've got that girl. Love you Mary Kate. Thanks for coming with me and for being the best daughter ever.

A special thanks to Angela for the awesome pictures and the late night chat. You're one very talented person. And to Mom, Dad and Mike for once again watching the boys so we could be girls. Love you guys!

It Was a Perfect Birthday

I turned 35 yesterday. What a perfect day it was too. The loveliness started with breakfast at Belinda's house. She set the table so beautifully just for me and made some fancy and delicious food too. I can't thank her enough because I love being fussed over like that. I can't even recall the last time someone made me breakfast at all let alone all fancy and beautiful like that.

Mike had taken the boys to the father and sons camp out the night before and when I got home from breakfast the boys where waiting. Jonathan had collected a birthday present for me up in the mountains. Mike said that he had wandered off and was found in a field picking flowers for me for my birthday. He hung on to those little weeds all the way home down the canyon and presented them so adorably my heart just melted. "Here's some flowers I picked for you mommy. Do you love them?" Big grin, hopeful expression. So cute!!!






My sweet husband, who forgot my birthday the first year we were married and learned the hard way to never do it again, also brought me flowers, but his were a little less wilted and weed like.



So beautiful! Thanks honey.

Because our friend Brandon's birthday is the day before mine we decided to combine the celebrations. Mike, Brandon, Ashley, Brandon's sister Brook, my cousin Marc, and I all went over to the church to play a little half court basketball. I know what you're asking yourselves... how did I get roped into playing basketball on my birthday? I don't exactly know, but it ended up being actually quite fun. Marc was on one and making me laugh my guts out. I always love a good belly laugh or two. We kept the games low key and just enjoyed each other's company. As you can imagine, Mike was very happy with this part of the my birthday celebrations as well.

After basketball we joined up with Kendall and Chris in Emigration Canyon at Ruth's Diner for dinner. The atmosphere was perfect and the food delicious. I had a blue cheese burger with the best fries I've ever eaten, but the biggest and possibly best surprise of the day was when we got home. We pulled up the driveway and in the headlights we could see the words "Happy Birthday" spelled out with sticks with arrows pointing to the the front door. Upon entering there was a red carpet rolled out for me and a huge happy birthday banner created by the kids stretched out across the doorway. The boys were bathed and in bed sleeping and Mary Kate and Rachel (greatest babysitter of all time) had cleaned the house thoroughly from top to bottom. I'd be hard pressed to come up with a better birthday present than this. Here are Mary Kate and Rachel in my spotless kitchen, holding the happy birthday sign.

And if that wasn't enough, Kendall showed up a few minutes later with an ice cream cake for Brandon and I and we sang Happy Birthday with candles and all.

As you can see, I was treated perfectly on my birhtday. The day before Belinda stopped by for a visit and gave the boys a little talk about how to treat mommy on her birthday. They really took her advice to heart and even they were thoughtful and well behaved (mostly). Thanks to everyone who made my birthday so perfect. Thanks to all my friends for their thoughtful gifts and cards. I have the best friends in the world. (Michelle, I'm listening to my new CD this moment and Shawna, just so you know it's 1:05 in the p.m.) Mike, Mom and Dad, Dave and Lynette, Laura, everyone for their gifts and phone calls, and kids for the good behavior and house work. I feel so loved.

Two Wheelers

Last week Jeffrey went over to the neighbors for a few minutes and came back riding a two wheeler without training wheels. Our three year old neighbor Ian claims that he was the teacher. I'm not certain about that, but sure enough, there was Jeffrey, racing down the driveway and doing figure eights in the street as if he had been riding without training wheels forever.

Jonathan, not wanting to be shown up by his little brother, put on his helmet, picked up the bike, climbed on and TOOK OFF DOWN THE DRIVEWAY! No problem! Mike and I just stared at him with our jaws dropped. Am I weird that I'm so amazed by my boy's ability to just ride a bike without being taught? It took me forever to learn to ride a bike.

The boys are pretty good at the bike riding thing, but certainly not perfect. They wobble a little and have a hard time stopping. Usually their dismount is a crash. I had to restock my supply of band aids this week. The boys are impressive though, when the horse bucks them off they get right back on, so to speak.

A few days ago Jeffrey suffered a particularly bad crash. He hit a parked car (not the first time), and hit hard enough that the handle bars jammed into his stomach and knocked the wind out of him sending him to his knees on the asphalt. He got up and stumbled around trying to catch his breath and fell on his forehead, resulting in a nice sized, scraped up goose egg. I watched the whole thing from the neighbors lawn, too far away to catch him before the fall. The poor kids was pretty banged up, but 10 minutes and five band aids later he was back on his bike racing the neighbor boy.

The boys LOVE riding their bikes. I can't keep them off of them. They're up at 6 a.m. begging to ride. We try to hold them off at least until after breakfast. I don't blame them really. I remember learning to ride a bike and how fun it felt to be able to cruise all over the place. It was a new found freedom. By next summer we'll be ditching the bike trailer and the boys will be able to keep up with us up the Provo Canyon trail. Heck, maybe they'll be able to beat Uncle Brad up to Sunrise? We'll see.

Hats Off to Mrs. Bingham

Mary Kate had a great 4th grade year, thanks to her teacher Mrs. Bingham. My daughter is one of those kids who does very well in school as long as she knows that her teacher loves and accepts her. She wants to please her teacher, and please she did. She came home with all A's this year. I was so proud of her. She even got A's in math and P.E. which I could never manage to do when I was in school. Just another sign that she is truly her father's daughter.

Mrs. Bingham has been pregnant this year with her first baby. She's been super sick, but managed to be a great teacher despite all of it. I wish her luck with her new job as mommy. I'm sure she'll be great at it. Mary Kate will miss her at school next year when she makes the daily rounds to say hello to all her old teachers. She gets SO attached.

I have a soft spot in my heart for teachers as well. I think teaching is such a noble, self sacrificing profession. I never feel like I can thank teachers enough for what they do for my children. I know they don't get paid what they're worth!

Thank you so much Mrs. Bingham!

Next year Mary Kate is going to be in fifth grade! When did I get old enough to have a fifth grader?