Check out Joe's Birthday post

I finally finished Joe's birthday post on the family blog. Head on over and check it out! For some reason I don't have a link to Brian's blog under my links. What's up with that? Brian - will you fix that for me?

So, to check out Joe's birthday tribute click here: Joe's birthday post

It's long, but mostly because there are a lot of photos.

Finally Caught up! M2B =) days 23 - 26 (Feb. 27th - Mar.2nd)

Saturday February 27th happiness:

This year for Joe's birthday, he didn't really want to have a party with friends or doing anything super special, which he has in the past.  So we kept it really low key.  Easy for me = happiness.

All he really wanted was for Alex, Michael and Dallin to come over, eat cake and ice cream and play some rock band.  Since Ben and Max had spent the night, the Trezise clan joined us for cake too.  Good times.

I forgot to take a picture of the cake until it was half gone.  Oh well.  At least it wasn't like the elaborate ones that I used to do when he was little.  After spending hours on THOSE cakes, I would have kicked myself if I didn't get a picture.
The boys acting silly.  They didn't actually end up playing rockband.  Instead, Brian took them to the park where they played capture the flag.  Double happiness- my son was having fun and I had the house to myself for a while.  Woo hoo!
After Xander and Michael left, we took Dallin and Joe to the mall.  Seeing this made me extremely happy:

Sadly, I have not taken a photo since Saturday.  So, the rest of this post is sans photos.

Sunday happiness:  Stake conference.  It was the best one I think I have EVER been to.  And to think, I almost let Joe talk me into ditching.  Butch Haught (I hope I spelled that right), who used to do my hikes when I went to girls camp gave the best talk ever.  I laughed, I cried, it was fantastic.

Also Sunday, we went with Sheri, mom, dad, dallin and michael to visit grandmother.  Happy Day.

Monday is a blur.  It's only Wednesday today, and I have already forgotten Monday.  See what happens when I don't take my photos.  Shame on me.  Anyway, the one thing I do remember about Monday is that we had a really good family home evening.  Now, they are not always good - often rushed, forgotten, complained about, or argued through.  Every once in a while, you get one where everything is good.  Monday, everything was good.

Yesterday was a rough day all around.  I won't lie.  It was really hard to find the happiness yesterday.  But there was a bright spot.  Yesterday I fit into a size of jeans that I haven't been able to wear in a LONG LONG time.  Woo hoo!

Happy Day!

Days 21 & 22 M2B =) Feb 25&26

More catching up on the happiness blog:

Thursday I had to go to the store to get stuff for Joe's birthday cake.  Josh wanted to tag along.

It was fun to go down the toy aisle with him and look at all the cool toys.  We stayed the longest at the spiderman display (of course).  I love hanging out with this kid.

Joe's very last picture as a 12 year old. 
Friday February 26th, Joe turned 13 years old.  How did it go by so fast?  Here is his very first picture as a 13 year old.  He's holding his new poster that his dad picked out for him.  He is currently obsessed with Green Day.
Dad also made him a special birthday breakfast.  His famous cinnamon, vanilla french toast.  He usually just gets cereal or fruit.
While Joe was at school, I got to hang out with three very handsome boys.  Ben, Evan and Joshua came to visit for a while.
Ben was watching the movie Mulan.  The little boys were playing with toys until the song "I'll make a man out of you" came on.  Then Josh stopped what he was doing, stared at the t.v. and sang along to every word.  Evan tried to talk to him a few times during the song, but Josh did not break concentration.  As soon as the song was over, he went back to playing.  Cute.
Friday night Max and Ben spent the night with Joe.  
Happy Day!  more on the birthday festivities tomorrow.  Also, I am doing a birthday tribute to Joe, but it will probably be put up on the family blog - aka Brian's blog.  Check for that later today!

Peace out.

Coming Home M2B =) days 17 - 20

Here I am trying to play catch up again.  What else is new?  These happy pictures are from Sunday - Wednesday.

Sunday, we had to leave San Diego and come home.  While that was not the happiest thing ever, the weather on the way home made up for it.  We drove through a cloud for a long time.

Brian said the fog on the green hills reminded him of Switzerland.

Joe made me take a picture of the fogalanche.
Joe loves to ride with the window down (so do I).  This may be my favorite picture of Joe, ever.
The best thing about coming home was seeing this cute face.  He missed us.  Thanks mom for checking up on him while we were gone.
The best thing about Monday was the clouds.  Hey, I spared you this time and didn't post the picture of the clouds, which I DID take.  I will take the cold for as long as I can get it.  It will be a million degrees here before you know it.  

Monday and Tuesday nights, Brian made a fire.  There is just something so cozy about a fire in the fireplace.  I put a pillow on the floor, and put my cold feet right in front of the fire and watched the Olympics.  It was fantastic.
My favorite part of Wednesday was watching Ben's concert at his school.  In case you don't know Ben, he is the super cute boy in the middle, wearing the white shirt and tie.
He even got to play the drum for a bit.  Thanks Sheri for inviting me.
Playing more catch up tomorrow.

Happy Day!

Beach Day! M2B =) day 16 (Saturday)

Saturday was beach day, and what a perfectly glorious day it was.  Is there anything better than beach day?  I submit that there is not!  Mission Beach is one of my favorite places on the planet.

Being SUCH a beautiful day and all, the sailboats were out in full force.

Oh happy day.  Happy, Happy beach day.  I realize that Joe doesn't look super happy in this picture, but he was.  I just really liked this shot, so I had to include it.

And this one too.  The boy has an active imagination, what can I say.  It's one of the things I love most about him.

Here is my hole.  I know you wanted to see it.  It would have been deeper, except for the stupid carpal tunnel in my hand.  After digging this much, my right hand was completely numb. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.  

Awww, it must be love.

There it is.  "My town, my street.  Give me peace of mind that can't be beat."  We always drive up the hill to get the full view of San Diego.  You can see downtown on the far left, all the way to the beach on the far right, and everything in between.  I love this place.
The view from our hotel room on Saturday night.  Awesome.
Saturday was the bestest, happiest day I have had in a long long time.   I loved every minute of it.

That's it for today.  More catching up tomorrow.

Happy Day!

M2B =) days 14 & 15 (last Thursday and Friday)

So, I am behind again.  What else is new?  Anyway, Thursday I didn't take any pictures, but I took more than enough to make up for it on Friday.

Thursday what made me happiest was packing for Joe when he was at school.  He didn't know anything about the trip this weekend.  We were sneaky and packed his clothes and the car while he was at school.  It made me happy thinking about surprising him.  He loves San Diego as much as we do, plus he got to miss a day of school.  

Friday's happiness in pictures:

Normally I don't think of the desert as being pretty.  It's just not my thing, but for some reason this trip, I really saw the beauty in it.  It made me happy. 

This smiling face in the back seat made me super happy.  He was just so surprised and so excited.  It was the best when we made him get ready for school and then drove right on by it and onto the freeway.  He was confused.  
Sea Port Village.  It is a MUST every time we are in San Diego.  
Seeing a chicken at Sea Port Village.  We've been there tons of times, but this was the first time I've ever seen a chicken there.

The super cool rock sculptures.  I don't know how the guy gets them to stay like that.  They are completely balanced.  No glue or anything holding them together.  We got to watch the guy making them.  It was cool.

Brian was inspired by this statue to check.  You never can be too careful, you know.
Joe just made me so happy on Friday.  He was happy all day, and he even told us a few times that we were the best parents ever.  Sorry to the rest of you parents out there, but we are #1.  
I loved hanging out with my men.
The beach at night - fabulous.
More from the trip tomorrow.  I didn't want to overwhelm and post everything at once.

Happy day!

M2B =) days 12 & 13

Well, Tuesday was a bad bad day.  I was tired and I felt really really sick all day long.  Looking back I'm not sure I felt a whole lot of happy that day, but I did feel grateful.  Brian came home and made dinner so I could just lay in bed.  I was extremely grateful for that.

Wednesday was much improved.  I was feeling a lot better and I finally started the book for book club.  I have to say, I was kind of putting it off, because I didn't think I would be all that interested in it, to tell the truth.  Also, I'm reading another book at the same time.  Anyway, I finally started and I am enjoying it immensely.  I'm about 5 chapters in and I love it.  It made me very happy today to have time to read.  It is one of my favorite things to do.