Movies, music and family fun

M2B =) days 427 - 430  Thursday, April 7th - Sunday April 10th.  

Thursday, April 7th happiness:  The radio was good to me today.  I guess I should say that the ipod was good to me today.  Every single song that came on was great!  Even though it is my ipod, I share it with Brian and we don't always have the same taste in music, so there is a lot of songs that I have to pass over.  Today I didn't pass any.  It was one great song after another.  It started with The Killers "Read My Mind" - my favorite Killers song.  I also got "Love Song" and "Catch" by the Cure, my favorite Guster song, "Homecoming King", and finally, "Soul Meets Body", by Deathcab for Cutie.  It was a good ipod day!

Friday, April 8th happiness:  A while back, my mom, Sheri and I decided we would form a book club.  We would read 1 book a month and then meet and discuss.  This month we read Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale.  Thanks to me, we had to keep re-scheduling book club.  So, instead, we did a girls night out.  We drove to Scottsdale to see Jane Eyre.  I had read the book in high school, but because that was so so so long ago, I didn't remember much.  

While the movie was just ok, (I love period pieces, but it just moved waaaay too slow.  Too many scenes of her staring off into the distance, with piano music playing in the background) the company was great.  I love my mom and my sister.  I think I'm going to like our new book club.  

Saturday, April 9th happiness:  Rain!
Also, tonight for family movie night:
I love love love this movie.  

Sunday, April 10th happiness:  Family Home Evening.  I know I always choose FHE, but I can't help it.  I love hanging out with my family.  

The kids love grandpa:
I got to hang out with this super hero:
I was taking pictures of Alex, while he was taking them of me!
Tricia and Anna and James entertained us with some fun songs.
Two of my favorite boys:
Ruby knows what's up!  She went straight for the brownies.
I love my family.

Happy Day!

O Happy Days!

M2B =) days 417 - 426.  Monday, March 28th - Wednesday, April 6th.

Monday, March 28th happiness:  Last day of spring break freedom.  Joe wanted to go see Rodrick Rules.  I won't lie.  I was NOT looking forward to this one.  But, I wanted him to have a fun last day of freedom.  We took Max and Ben with us.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I really ended up liking it.

Tuesday, March 29th happiness:  Went to Oregano's tonight with some of the ladies who are in young women's with me.  Any time I get to go to Oregano's is a happy day!  Tonight was great.  Good food, good people, good times.  We hung out in the parking lot afterwards just talking for the longest time.  I love these girls!
Wednesday, March 30th happiness:  Tonight for mutual we had a "P" party.  We worked on personal progress, had pretzels, popcorn, pizza rolls, peanut butter cups (you get the idea).  The best part was that we got to come in our pj's.  I secretly wish that I could just wear my pajama pants all of the time.  If only that were socially acceptable.

Thursday, March 31st happiness:  Tonight was book club.  I haven't been for the last few months.  I actually read the book this month and loved it.  So I went.  I had such a good time.  The character in the book was Italian, so we had yummy Italian food.  The book was about a girl getting her first kiss, so kissing was pretty much the topic all night.  What a fun group of ladies.  Had a fabulous time.

Friday, April 1st happiness:  Let me tell you something about myself.  I hate April fools day.  Actually that is a bit of an understatement.  I LOATHE it.  So I was not looking forward to today.  I just wanted to get it over with.  However, when I got to work, these were on my desk:
Mrs. Johnson had brought me flowers.  She said she saw them and they reminded her of me.  How sweet is that?  Today wasn't so bad after all.

Saturday, April 2nd happiness:  Joe mowed the lawn today!  Yay for having a teenage son to do yard work!

Also, tonight was priesthood session of conference.  Brian and Joe went to conference and then to dinner which meant that I had 4 hours all to myself.  Yay for conference!  Lastly, Brian brought me steak and green beans from Outback.  They have the best green beans ever.  I dream about them!  Yay for Outback!  Today was a good day.

 Sunday, April 3rd happiness:  Conference today.  I love being able to church in my cozy clothes.  I think I stated before that I would wear my pajamas always if I could.  I love Conference.  There is always something to uplift me and make me feel better.  Also today, Brian planted my flowers for me out in the back yard.

Monday, April 4th happiness:  Today was just a lovely breezy day!  How do you take a photo of a nice breeze?  Like this, of course.
Tuesday, April 5th happiness:  I don't know what was up today, but I really didn't feel well at all.  I went to bed early.  Since I have trouble sleeping, a friend told me to try Valerian Root.  It is my new favorite.  I don't feel groggy in the morning like I do with some sleep aids (of course, I only take 1 pill when it says to take 3) , and it helps me sleep great.  Love it.  
Wednesday, April 6th happiness:  Rain.
Happy Day!

Cabin days

M2B =) days 414 - 416.  Friday, March 25th - Sunday, March 27th.

Friday, March 25th happiness:  There is snow at the cabin!

I loved this picture of Michael and Joe.  For some reason, it didn't transfer to the blog well.  It is clearer and has better color in my photos.  Oh well.  It made me laugh.  What you can't see in this photo is how hard the wind was blowing and how freezing cold it was.  Michael is crazy.
So, the ranger was broken =(  We had to find other things to do.  So, we went to the swing.  On the way, we rounded a turn and one of the boys said, "This is where we saw that baby elk that one time."  No sooner had they said it, then I spotted 2 elk.  When we slowed down to get a better look, we realized that there were more like 30 or so.  It was awesome.  I was so enthralled, that I completely forgot to grab my camera.  Oh well.  It was cool.

Michael's first time on the swing:
Joe and Alex decided to try it together (again, I don't know what's up with the photo's coloring, sorry).
So, then Michael and Alex had to take a turn together:
Alex got a little daring with it:

Saturday, March 26th happiness:  Funky clouds!
We took the boys to Greer (of course).  Within 5 minutes of being there, Alex was doing this:
I love Michael's face in this photo

Good times.

Sunday, March 27th happiness:  Even though we had to go home today, any day that I wake up at the cabin is a good day.  We had a fun time, being lazy, watching movies, doing puzzles (me!) playing games and enjoying the beautiful weather.  

I love cabin days.

Happy Day!

Kids, cookies and cabin

M2B =) days 412 - 413.  Wednesday, March 23rd - Thursday, March 24th.

Wednesday, March 23rd happiness:  I got to hang out with some of my favorite people today.

I even got to see this girl (and her dad), which I hardly ever get to see.
Other happiness today:  Joe went home teaching for the very first time.  I'm such a proud mom.  Also, Sheri put music back on her blog.  I clicked on it and listened to the Format for a long time.  Thanks for reminding me just how much I like The Format.

Lastly, this photo was taken at like 10:30 at night:
I love spring break and making chocolate chip cookies with Joe late at night.

Thursday, March 24th happiness:  Joe asked me yesterday if he could visit great grandma.  It makes me happy that he asked and wanted to go.  I called grandmother, and she said we could visit today.  We brought Josh and Michael with us.

Joe and Joshua:

Grandmother showed us all of her plants she is growing in the back yard.  She gave me a flower to plant when I get home.  She showed Joseph all of her paintings she has been working on.  She knows he likes art and she painted one just for him to bring home.  I thought that was sweet.  And, of course, we couldn't leave grandmothers without being fed.  She whipped up some pastrami sandwiches with cooked onions.  Joe and Michael were a little reluctant to try them, but after they did, they both raved that it was one of the best sandwiches they had ever eaten.

I made sure I took a photo before we left.

After leaving grandmothers house, we hurried home and packed our bags, picked up Xander and Michael, and headed to the cabin.
Any day that ends at the cabin is a great day!

Happy Day!

More March happiness

M2B =) days 403 - 411.  Monday, March 14th - Tuesday, March 22nd.

Monday, March 14th happiness:  

A place full of books that you can just borrow whenever you want.  What's not to love?

Tuesday, March 15th happiness:  I was grouchy this morning, so when Sheri asked if I wanted to go with her to take the kids to see the new Joseph Smith movie at the temple today, the answer in my head was "NO!".  But, the answer that came out of my mouth was "Yes".

I am soooo glad I went.  What started out as a super grouchy morning turned into a great afternoon.  I really enjoyed the movie.  And, as a plus, there was a Walter Rane exhibit.  He is my very favorite LDS artist.  It was awesome.

Also, one of the great things about the temple grounds is the gorgeous flowers.

And I got to see this today:
It really was a great way to spend the afternoon.  Thanks Sheri.

Wednesday, March 16th happiness:  Watching American Idol with Brian.
We paused it for a minute, and this is what it paused on.  Joe thought it was hilarious.  

Thursday, March 17th happiness:  The satisfaction of a clean (ok, semi-clean) house.  I love my Dyson vacuum cleaner.  Too bad the house won't stay clean for very long.  It felt good today though!

Friday, March 18th happiness:  Tonight Joe spent the night at Sheri's (THANK YOU!!!)  So, Brian and I were a couple of couch potatoes.  We caught up on all of our shows.  It was great.

Saturday, March 19th happiness:  Went to Joe's farm grill for lunch.  Oh the deliciousness!  I love you Joe's farm grill. 

 Tonight Joe, Brian and I went to birthday party.   Lemon cheesecake, Pistachio cake, Brownies with chocolate chip cookie dough and chocolate ganache - enough said!

I took this photo at the party because it looked like Brian had a tree growing out of his head.
Here is Joe, partying it up:
Good times!

Sunday, March 20th happiness:  It was a beautiful night.  Joe and I hung out on the patio.  
Guess how many days until our San Diego vacation....
Monday, March 21st happiness:  It was a beautiful gray day!  
Rain!  woo hoo!

Tuesday, March 22nd happiness:  First of all, I just need to say how much I am loving spring break.  It is going by soooo slow.  I love it.  

Also today:  I made chicken enchiladas with rice(fried rice with tomato, green chile and bacon).  It was a super long process, but so worth it.  Yum!

Happy Day!

chick-fil-a to lemon chalet

M2B =) days 395 - 402.  Sunday, March 6th - Sunday, March 13th.

Sunday, March 6th happiness:  Today I had the BEST BOWL OF FROSTED FLAKES EVER!

Maybe it was because it was Fast Sunday and we don't get home from church until 4:30, but man that bowl of Frosted Flakes tasted fantastic today!

Other happy moments today:  Joe was ordained as a Teacher!  When did my boy get so old?  I did my best to keep it together during the prayer, and only cried a little.  Also, Joe got his first home teaching assignment.   He was super excited to find out he was partners with Brother Munroe.  Woo hoo!  I am one proud mom today.

Also tonight was FHE.  I got to see this kid:

And all of the other kiddo's too.  I love FHE.  Also, Jared made his wonderfully delicious Doubletree Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I love them so!  I should have taken an extra one home.  I think my mom took all of the extras.  

Today was a good day.

Monday, March 7th happiness:  As I was rushing around this morning trying to get ready for work and pack my lunch, I noticed we were out of pretty much everything.  The cupboards were bare.  So, instead I had to buy lunch today.
Yum!

Tuesday, March 8th happiness:  We had dinner on the patio tonight.  It was a beautiful night.  Also tonight, I got to hang with my sister Sheri.  We went for a walk, and then worked on a puzzle.  Loved it!

Wednesday, March 9th happiness:  Dear Excedrin Migraine, you kicked the massive headache I've had all day long.  Thank you!
Thursday, March 10th happiness:  Today was my 3rd graders music concert.  They played songs on the recorder.   They were so happy and proud to put on their concert, and so many of the parents showed up to watch.  It was great.

Also today, Brian turned The Killers on the ipod, so when I got in the car, "On Top", would come on.  He knows how much I love that song.  I thought it was pretty darn thoughtful.  

Friday, March 11th happiness:  Brian went to dinner and a movie with some friends tonight, and Joe was at youth conference all evening.  Do you know what this means?  I had 4 hours all to myself tonight.  It was heaven!  I can't remember the last time I've had that much time all to myself.   Also, today was the last day of school for 2 weeks.  It's Spring Break - woo hoo!

Saturday, March 12th happiness:  Brian and I went to a movie today.
It was very different than I thought it would be.  I really liked it though.

Sunday, March 13th happiness:  Eating Lemon Chalet's on the couch tonight while hanging out with Joe.  Does it get any better than that?
Happy Day!