Tuesday Tidbits--Lots of Them

I'm way behind on tidbits, so buckle up.

Every fall I plant daffodils and tulips in the hopes of having a glorious Spring display. This Spring started out pretty well with our daffodils and they made me so happy for a couple weeks (they are now shriveled and dead). 

We saw a lot of this lovely face.

Cathy and her family came to back from Saudia Arabia for a 3 weeks at the beginning of the month. She came over to visit on a Sunday afternoon and then we went walking several times during Spring Break.

Speaking of Spring Break, it was a little rough. My car was in the shop (where it still is!) with a dead transmission plus we didn't have plans or funds to go anywhere. I don't usually my hanging out at home, but it wasn't very pleasant since the kids were grumpy about it. Landon mowed the lawn and then spent some time soaking up the sun afterward.

Whitney had her Monster Dolls and their homes all over the place...no it didn't drive me crazy at all. I am constantly at odds with the lack of space we have in our house because I like it that we're cozy as a family but can't stand it when there's no where for stuff to go.

I gave my co-worker this cute glass dome filled with Cadbury Eggs for her birthday, I thought it was a very pleasing gift.

One day at work the orchestra teacher brought in a quartet of violinists to play for us during Flex Time. They played "You Raise Me Up" and miraculously the phones didn't ring and no one needed anything for those few beautiful minutes.

Lori and Whitney have been taking a cake decorating class at Michaels but had to miss one of the classes because of the school talent show and Lori's bookclub. Because of this Lori had Whitney come to her house one evening to work on the stuff they would be missing in class, this is what they made!

I found Landon napping in the middle of the floor (again)...I just don't understand it when cozy beds are so closeby.

Whitney and I updated our photo wall a bit by adding the S's and a few more frames.

I have fabulous, new visiting teachers who have spoiled me already with a flowering plant and chocolate-covered strawberries in addition to their thoughtful lessons and wise comments.

My blogging friend Ashley stopped by the junior to bring me Jim Gaffigan's book Dad is Fat to borrow. We had a fun visit (she came at a surprisingly calm time) and it was an unexpected surprise in my day...plus the book is very funny.

We are still plodding along a half chapter to a chapter at a time in our morning Book of Mormon reading. One morning last week was particularly rough and I captured it with my phone. I didn't even get mad because it was just so funny.

We started a new Secret Pal rotation at work last week and this is the first thing my pal gave me. I had actually seen this at Walmart the previous week and thought it was mighty cute. It's now in our kitchen window.

The lilacs are blooming! Saturday was super rainy and mellow which was oh so pleasing.

I spent much of the rainy afternoon finishing this book, which was delightful but ended with me sobbing.

Amie was going through her old stash of Christmas cards and texted me this photo of ours from 2006, ouch.

Michelle and family are in Paris for BYU's Spring Term and we spent some time texting back and forth and I had her take this selfie by the window. I love it that I've been there and can picture the apartment and city so well...it's painful not to be there though.

She's Instagramming from Paris which is both awesome and painful too.

So Adam ended up putting an Easter Eggs Hunt together for his neighborhood and jokingly said something to another guy about bringing a bunny suit, and crazily enough someone did! Adam in a pink bunny suit just makes me happy!

One of the teachers at school has a ton of tulips in her yard and has kindly brought some to me twice. It was amazing to watch these flowers open up like this because they were closed when she brought them to me.

My Secret Pal gave me these cards and this nice note!

It snowed on Monday! It was swirling and cold, but didn't accumulate. 

Today I needed ice cream for breakfast.

Talent Show Glory

Remember back in 2012 at our Thanksgiving Talent Show how Whitney did cartooning on demand? It was a big hit with the aunts, uncles and cousins, so I suggested Whitney do that for her school talent show but on an iPad with image projected up onto a big screen.

She had to try out because they only chose 5 of the 7th graders to perform their talent, but she ended up being one of them! She performed for the 7th graders during school on Tuesday and then again on Thursday night for anyone who wanted to come.

She told the audience she "mainly draws dogs, cats, and foxes" so they could yell out something for her to draw and she would do it. This is a cat slapping a dog.

This is a cat twerking!

This is two dogs eating spaghetti.

She did so great! She looked totally calm and collected even though the auditorium was full of teachers and 600 other 7th graders! She later said she was shaking and nervous, but it didn't look like she was at all.

This is the program for the Thursday night performance when lots of parents, teachers and students came to watch all 3 grades perform.

This time she knew to use the microphone more to tell the audience what the crowd had suggested she draw and she knew to leave the drawing on the screen until it was time to do the next drawing (instead of erasing it immediately which she did in the first performance).

My parents were kind enough to come. I had seen the program earlier in the day while at work so I had texted them to let them know she was 3rd on the program (there's no way my dad would have made it through the entire show, he left a couple performances after hers but my mom stayed for the whole show).

The same boys who had requested she draw a twerking cat at the Tuesday show requested a twerking dog at the night show (she just happens to have a huge crush on one of them).

One student requested she draw a fat cat saying "aint nobody got time for dat".

This is a bloated fox floating in the sky.

It was so fun seeing her in action like this and hearing the response of the crowd. Everyone was oohing and aahing. She's now famous at school!

Birthday Alley 2014

We finally got together to celebrate Amy's 38th, Adam's 41st, my dad's 65th and Bella's 14th birthdays a couple weeks ago at Adam and Amy's newly remodeled house (which is a couple streets up from their previous house).

Their house backs up to the mountain so they have a fabulous view of the entire Salt Lake Valley, and their house is full of windows to take it all in.

Poor Megan was super sad that Robyn's kids couldn't be there that day.

Evidence of Andrew (of course he was sitting right next to them).

We had croissant sandwiches with my mom's fabulous shredded beef, salad, fruit, chips and queso dip.

The pile of gifts for the birthday people, plus I returned the huge book Adam lent me (which took 2 months to read).

We put Bella in the hot seat to open her gifts (she wanted cash because she's saving for an orchestra trip).

Andrew found a couple Woody and Jessie dolls Adam had in the house, then he sat at the table admiring them.

The backward 4 candle threw Amy for a loop and caused me to laugh so hard my abs hurt, I love it when that happens.

Adam entertained us as usual.

Hugs.

I gave Amy this necklace with her word for the year.

Check out this tile pattern Adam had done in the girls' bathroom.

Sadly as we were leaving their neighborhood our car slipped out of gear and wouldn't go back in! Fortunately we weren't on the highway yet and were able to call my parents who turned around to pick us up and give us a ride home. 

You should have seen me, my mom, and Whitney trying to squeeze in the back with Andrew! He was not having it! Whitney ended up sleeping over at Adam and Amy's house because there wasn't enough room in my dad's car. (She was thrilled!) Adam was so great and said he'd have our car towed to one of the mechanics in town he has connections with (since we don't know Salt Lake at all). 

Update: We found out it will cost $2600 to rebuild the transmission of our 2003 Ford Escape, so now we're in the market for a newish car because it's not worth it to put that much money into that car. I'm so sad about this, I have loved that car and it hasn't given us any trouble so this was super unexpected.