Birthday Good Mail

I was blessed with a very healthy dose of birthday good mail this year (which I loved!) and just have to document it.


Natasha sent me this personalized birthday card (she knows crocodiles give me the willies) a sheet of postage stamps (woohoo and I've already used them all) and a bag full of Sharpies in all different colors.


Amie gave me 2 Twix candy bars (she knows they're my favorite) and a tube of magical eyelash serum. I thought it was mascara at first, but then looked online and found out that it's full of nutrients and peptides and creates twice the volume of lashes. I can use the help.


Esther sent me a package full of various sizes of envelopes, if only I had a reason to use them...hee.


Kristi sent me (hello, 8 pound package to mail!) a set of her favorite 425 thread count King Sized sheets! This is luxury she enjoys and thought I would too, um yes please! She also sent this package of cute, little magnetic picture frames. I think I'm going to put quotes in them and hang them on the fridge.


Laurie B., Becca and Melinda all went in on this thoughtfully, genius gift for me. It came in a big box from Target (this is what the UPS man brought earlier in the week) and caused me to squeal as I opened it. Now I have shave ice technology at home! I just need to accommodate more ice trays in my freezer to keep up with the demand.


Patsy sent me these fun flip-flop note cards, some Bath & Body goodies, a tissue tote (I always carry mini tissues with me) and some cute clips.



Melinda (in addition to going in on the ice shaver) sent me one of her awesome, homemade birthday banners! How festive is this?


Shannon sent me an odd-shaped package complete with her own touch of whimsy with her good mail label wearing a birthday hat, I love details like this!


The odd-shaped gift she sent was this very cool, monogrammed mug (with some ice breaker mints inside), darling return address labels and a cute notebook.


My sister-in-law Amy sent me a nice birthday card that arrived on my actual birthday (so nice) even though we'd already celebrated my birthday as a family the weekend before.


This is the note that was on the box of donuts Claudia's cousin dropped off for Claudia. That was such a nice thing for Claudia to arrange and her cousin to do for me. I thought it was funny that it was addressed to "Missy" and from "Missy" since that's what we call each other.


Kim Sue sent me a package of her awesome Italian Photo Cards. I love these! Even though I make photo cards all the time, they're not fancy and cool like hers. I was thrilled to receive these.


Denise sent me a Sonic Gift Card (woohoo) along with a very enjoyable card. I'm always happy to have gift cards to anywhere really, but I LOVE having a Sonic gift card especially. I am there every other day for a bag of ice and every Creative Friday to get Michelle's drink and my cup of ice, plus random visits for slushies with the kids.

This was written on Denise's envelope, another fun detail.

Laurie M. sent me this nice birthday card.

Heather did it again, she gave me another generous birthday gift, this time a certificate to Bath & Body Works. I just wish it wasn't so hard to choose what I want!

My sister-in-law Daniela (and family) sent this birthday card.

Kacey sent me this nice card and some postage stamps (woohoo and already gone!).


As Landon carried this present in from the mailbox he said, "Hey mom, did you make some labels for a girl named Wende?" I thought that was funny since I AM THE GIRL who makes the good mail labels, but I was very happy to see that she had 3 of them on this package. Her gift was a set of these very cute cupcake cards she makes, now I'm stocked for birthdays for awhile.

A friend from Church gave me a nice card and a bottle of lotion.

Ann sent me a nice card with a very festive envelope.

Becca (in addition to going in on the ice shaver) sent me a delicious (yes it's gone already) chocolate bar, some foot cream and a lip gloss.

I hope I haven't forgotten anything, I'll add it if I did. I really appreciate all of this generosity and good mail loving!

**Isn't the ice shaver a genius idea?
Do you love gift cards?
Do crocodiles give you the willies?
Do you love colorful Sharpies?
Have you ever received postage for your birthday?**

Finally, My Birthday Post

I had to be awake by 8:00 on my birthday in order to get the kids ready for Jared to come pick them up at 8:30. He saved me a trip to Freakin Eagle Mountain (which was a birthday gift itself) because he'd gone to an early-morning temple session and was heading back home at that time. How nice!


I opened the door for Jared and found these darling balloons on the banister. I was surprised and happy, because nothing is more festive on a birthday than balloons. I had no idea who they were from until later in the day when I got a text message from Lori.

After the kids left, I had a leisurely morning of blogging, reading, going back to sleep for 1.5 hours (I'd been up very late the night before) and then had plenty of time to get ready for the day. It was luxurious, I love not being in a hurry.


I picked Michelle up around 2:00pm for a birthday lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. I didn't get the Tostada pizza this time, but got the BLT pizza instead and loved it.

We had an hour to go shopping in the mall after lunch and Michelle scored a bunch of cute items. I struck out most cruelly even though I took like 10 items into the dressing room with me. I like to increase the odds of finding something, but only came away with one dressy cardigan I can wear to church. Hmph. (That sounds super dowdy doesn't it? But really it's cute.)


At one point, I was sitting outside the dressing room waiting for Michelle to finish trying things on when a woman in the next dressing room came out and asked me to help her with her zipper. The funny thing is that the zipper was on the side of the dress right under her armpit and involved very close proximity to her teal bra. Also, the dress DID NOT FIT so there was no way to get that zipper up. There was a language barrier between us, but I tried to convey the fact that it was not going to zip up. It was a rather tiny party dress for a not so tiny girl, but she ended up buying it anyway. Maybe she has some sort of magic, slimming undergarment I should know about.


After our speedy shopping session we went to the Dollar Movie Theater and met up with Collette to see '17 Again'. She had already seen it, but liked it so much she wanted to go again. Michelle and I both loved it and felt like giddy school girls, which is funny because we were surrounded by real, giddy schools in the theater who were all dreamy-eyed over Zac Efron the way I was over Ricky Schroder back in the day.


Michelle and I then went back to the mall (Collette had other things to do) after the movie and subjected ourselves to more reality-check, self-esteem-busting dressing room time. Oh the humanity! I found myself wondering what serious lapse in judgment I must be having to consider trying on clothes on my birthday (as if I need any help being mental on that day). Remarkably, I held it together, did NOT go into a funk (truly amazing) and found a couple shirts and a couple skirts, plus I had a coupon for $25 off. It was a birthday miracle!


I then took Michelle home and opened the super cute gifts she had for me. First of all, they were in the world's cutest, reusable shopping bags. I thought she must have used rub-ons to put the "J" on them, but she said they actually came that way (they're from T.J. Maxx).


Then she had very cute, color scheme-themed gifts for me. Red place mats, a red tea towel, a red spatula, black & white polka-dotted plates, a black, white and red notepad and note cards AND a King Sized set of her favorite Long Staple Cotton sheets! I was elated!


I am so grateful to have a good friend like Michelle to spend my birthdays with. It's always a fun day with her, and this year was even better because I was inexplicably stable. There were no waves of disappointment or mysterious melancholia, all was well! I'm wondering if 38 is my year of official maturity? Could it be?


After leaving Michelle's house, I drove to Los Hermanos for a lovely birthday dinner (complete with fancy drinks) with Lori. We had a nice, leisurely dinner and then spent another 45 minutes talking in the parking lot. Good times. (It ended up being too dark to get a good self-portrait so the drink photo will have to do.)


I came home just after 10:00pm to find these goodies waiting for me. There was a bowl of cut up watermelon and a little gift bag from Amie, flowers and a Chili's gift card from Madison's mom, and a box of donuts from Claudia that had been delivered by one of her cousins.

How happy is this?!

The kids had already brushed their teeth, but were super thrilled when I told them they could have one (so was Randy!). Apparently they feared I'd keep them all for myself, sheesh.


Landon gave me this sweet card he made for me. He doesn't usually like to do anything artistic, so this was really a gift of love from him. (Whitney had given me her handmade card first thing in the morning, but I can't find the picture of it right now.)

It was such a great day, and ended perfectly because there was a new episode of So You Think You Can Dance there for me to watch.


I received a lot of great birthday good mail, but that will have to be another post.

**Do you like to go out on your birthday?
Is shopping traumatic for you?
Have you ever had BLT pizza?
Have you ever given a color-themed gift?**

Feeling Fancy

This is what Whitney came up with today during an hour of creative play on her own. She's usually such a champ about entertaining herself, but since Landon was at Lucas' house all day she seemed to think that meant she and I should be doing fun things together...um, no. Thankfully the heavens smiled upon us and Madison invited her over this afternoon, otherwise things might have gotten ugly around here.

**How often do you play with your kids?
Have you ever made a Play-doh top hat?
Do your kids entertain themselves?**

Campalamadingdong

I have no idea where that title came from, but I'm going with it. Once again I find myself feeling totally overwhelmed by the thought of posting a big event like our family camp out (I still haven't posted about my birthday or the rest of our vacation in June because of this!). I took so many pictures and loved the time on our camp out so much that I don't want to skip anything, but must. Oh the humanity!

I'm doing a random smattering (that's right, a smattering) of camp photos for now just to make myself feel better.


This is one of the church's official Girl's Camps, but they let families make reservations for Friday/Saturday camping. We made our reservation a year ago in order to get a spot.


We celebrated Megan's 5th birthday around the campfire. She was convinced that the entire family camp out was for the purpose of celebrating her birthday, so we let her think that.


We had s'mores with Reese's, good conversation, and a gorgeous view of the stars.


The kids had a cabin all to themselves and were so excited (so were we!).


I didn't do a whole lot of sleeping, and was the first one up in the morning (what the?) but was rewarded with gorgeous scenery and solitude until the boys woke up.

Lori has the best laugh ever!

The kids learned what's it like to really sweat (thweat according to Megan) and got to ride paddle boats and canoes for the first time.

Robyn taught us a new game using SkipBo cards, and the beauty of it was that it was fun for the adults AND the kids!


We were so happy to have a successful camp out, especially after considering last month's busted trip to Park City.


The amount of stuff we took was unbelievable, but made for a good trip. Whitney zonked out on the car ride home, surely that's a sign of a good weekend!

**Did you like my title?
Have you been to Heber Valley Camp?
Do you know this card game?**

Sunday Thoughts

"For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith." 2 Nephi 27:23


I was reminded today, during a talk in church, that this is one of my favorite scriptures. I know the Lord is the same now as He's always been throughout history. I know He works miracles, talks to His servants, knows each of us personally and is just as involved in our lives as He was in the lives of the people back in the days of the Bible. It's comforting to know this and to be reminded that it's only a matter of us having faith and opening the door for Him, that we may have His influence and miracles in our lives.

**What do you think??**

Six for Saturday

We have just returned from a fun, family camp out so I am exhausted, neck-deep in laundry, ravenous and really just want to lounge on the couch watching TV, but no...I must blog in-between putting things away otherwise I'll never get it done and will end up whimpering with frustration for giving in to the pull of the couch!


1. When my mom came over with Robyn's kids last Monday, she brought along a little sewing project to teach Whitney and Olivia. She taught them how to sew, cut-out and stuff simple, little dolls as part of a humanitarian project she's working on through the church. The girls loved it. I don't know how I ended up with NO sewing skills whatsoever when my mom is such the seamstress.


2. Andrew was in the car with my mom the other day when they picked Landon up so I took this picture. He is always funny to me, and I love how consistent he is with the things he loves. He always has his Toy Story Woody doll with him and he always listens to "My Turn On Earth" when he's in the car. He has been responsible for me getting that song stuck in my head many, many times!


3. On Tuesday after I picked up Landon from his sleepover with the cousins we went to Paradise Bakery for a little something (courtesy of the gift card from Robyn). It's unusual for Landon and I to be in a restaurant alone together and it was hanging out talking to him. He's always enjoyable.


4. Amy and I did a sleepover switch with the girls this week, so that meant I had a house full on Wednesday and Thursday. I was so happy they played outside (in the brown pool water) for 5 hours! They actually made minimal trips in and out of the house (which is unusual) and only devoured one batch of grapes in addition to their breakfast, lunch and dinner meals. (They're usually insatiable so this made it easier on me.)


5. I saw '17 Again' twice in a 5 day period and loved it both times. Not only is Mr. Efron deliciously cute, but the whole story was enjoyable and funny; I think I'll end up buying the DVD when it comes out.


6. Lori and I went to Noodles & Company for dinner the other night and I ended up walking on the wild side by ordering meatballs in my macaroni and cheese (as suggested on the menu). It wasn't until we sat down at the table that I saw this hilarious (at least to me) advertisement for the dish. A noodle and a meatball holding hands, that's funny right?

**How was your week?
Have you had Mac & Cheese w/meatballs?
Have you seen '17 Again'?
Can you sew?**

Creative Friday--Insanely Productive Edition

Michelle and I had to get together on Wednesday for Creative Friday (the name still stands, no matter what day we meet) due to more Friday busyness going on. I like getting together on Wednesdays because it feels like such a bonus to the middle of the week. Also, I'm not rushing home to host game night, so it feels much freer than normal.


To back up a bit, Landon and Whitney both had sleepovers with cousins on Monday night, so that meant I had Tuesday all to myself (glorious!). I ended up being super productive and spent the whole day and the whole evening (even after picking Landon up) working in my studio-office-no longer scrapbook room-room. I finished watching disc 2 of Little Dorrit (oh how I love BBC and Masterpiece Theater) and watched Best in Show through Netflix' Watch Instantly. The time just flew by.

The reason I mention Tuesday is because it meant I was super prepared and had primed the pump (so to speak) for Creative Friday on Wednesday (say that 3 times fast). I had a bunch of pictures printed for cards and picked them up at Walmart on the way to Michelle's house so within a minute of walking in her newly painted door I was down to business. That's right, within the minute! I was a girl with a mission and I accomplished it.


I always feel guilty when I sit down and start working while Michelle gets busy making our lunch, but she tells me not to, so I listen. This time she grilled burgers for us, and they were deeeelicious (one "e" just wasn't enough). We have finally figured out (after so many years) that we work best when we eat first.


Eva decided to eat only 1/4 of this tiny waffle for lunch. How would it be to have no appetite? Also, in this picture she was holding up the waffle to warm herself, what the?.


I paused from my productivity only long enough to eat, then got right back down to business. Michelle did too, and suffered only minor interruptions from Eva. Landon and Lucas played elsewhere for quite awhile, and with Whitney gone (she was still with the cousins) our day felt easy breezy.


Max often plays games on the computer nearby, but he also played video games with the boys and went to practice his tennis serve as well.


We had peanut butter m&ms and m&m cookies to help us keep our strength up, and it worked because we both had very pleasing stacks of mail by the end of the day.


We really need to get back in the habit of taking our self-portrait at the beginning of the day when we're in better form; clearly that did not happen this time.

**Would you have guilt about being served lunch?
Do you love Peanut Butter M&Ms?
How about that stack of mail?
Have you been insanely productive lately?**

The Airing of Grievances--Plus An Edit

I know life is good, that it's about finding joy in the journey, blah, blah, blah, but right now I feel like airing some petty grievances, so here goes.

--It's too freakin hot outside!

--My car, even with air conditioning, was too freaking hot while running errands.

--I HATE having to pinch pennies!

--I don't look good with my hair pulled back, but it's hot (did I mention that) and thus I want it pulled away from my neck and face.

--My car has been unregistered since last November.

--My computer seems to be running slowly, even though I've been deleting things and ran a program that took 3 hours to defragment the hard drive.

--It takes forever to load pictures into blogger, Smugmug and online sites. What's going on?

--No one is blogging or commenting much this summer, why is that?

--A Paris trip in the fall seems very far out of reach.

--Michelle leaves for Paris in 8 weeks!

--School starts in just over a month.

--Our washing machine is ridiculously loud.

--We now have irrigation water to use in our yard which is good because it's much cheaper, but when filling the kiddie pool today it was brown. Nothing says "refreshing fun" like a pool full of brown water!

--I'm hungry.

--I have no pebble ice at the moment.

--Our recycling container is full and the next pick-up isn't until Tuesday.

There, I feel better just having spewed these things.


Edited to add at 9:00pm: Look what wonderful Hannah dropped off at my door!!!! Suddenly my grievances are gone.

**Will you air your grievances?
Do we share any right now?**

Wordless Wednesday