Real Love

This past week Trav was in St. George for a trial (in a courtroom, not like one of those survival camps). It was great for him and he loved all the experience he acquired. Plus going out to eat at fancy restaurants all week long. What's not to love?
I was worried about the rest of us here at home though. For starters, he left Sunday night just before bedtime. Anna cried for about a half hour because she missed her daddy so much. I was pretty sure we would repeat that scene over and over all week, and I was not looking forward to it.
But it actually went pretty well. The girls had a sleepover with Grandma Alice and Pappy on Monday night and loved spending time with them. And what did I do, home by myself for the first time ever? It's embarrassing and glorious to admit-- I woke up around 7 in the morning, then watched chick flicks while eating breakfast and crafting. I had made a silly goal to watch a chick flick a day while he was gone (because if there's one thing Trav hates it's chick flicks). But, we don't have Netflix so I was dependent on the library to supply my movies. Here's my rating of the movies I watched this week:

1=Best 6=Worst
1. Notting Hill
2. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
3. 10 Things I Hate About You
4. Two Weeks Notice
5. Bewitched
6. Definitely Maybe

And here are some observations of my movie watching week:
1. What's up with all these movies set in New York City?
2. I like Hugh Grant movies. It's the accent.
3. Andie Anderson is not actually a stupid name. It's kind of like Laurie Larsen. Alliterative.
4. What's up with all these movies that have numbers in the titles? (I have to add that some of my other favorite chick flicks are 27 Dresses and 17 Again.)

I also read a fabulous book (Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien) and hosted Activity Days. The girls had their regular slew of play dates/school/extra curriculars... so it turned out to be a busy week. Friday afternoon we celebrated with brown toppers at Arctic Circle and a movie (Lilo and Stitch-- not exactly a chick flick).
The best part of the entire week, however, was when Trav came home. I was asleep on the couch with some chick flick on in the background, and the girls were upstairs safe in their beds. As soon as she heard the garage door open, Daisy went crazy. When Trav walked into the kitchen, she was practically doing backflips because she was so happy to see him. After the dog calmed down, it was my turn with Trav. And even though it was midnight and we were both exhausted, we stayed up for almost 2 hours just talking.
Because we're in love-- not some cheesy movie sort of love, but the real deal where your greatest joy is just being with one another. The kind where you're delighted to read scriptures and say prayers together again, because that's how it's supposed to be and it's been a while since you could. The kind where, when the kids show up at 6 am demanding breakfast, you slug him in the arm and let him know it's his turn (as with the explosion out of Eve later that day). It's not flashy or glamorous, but it's real love. And I'm glad to have it.

The Best Birthday Ever

This year for my birthday, my parents took us to lunch at PF Changs (yum!) then I went to the temple while Trav took the girls shopping. It was fun to visit the temple grounds with the kids.

 My actual bday was on Sunday which was great. Trav took care of all the kid/household responsibilities while I got to take it easy. Then he and the girls made me a fabulous birthday cake!

 It's supposed to be a castle tower. Can't you tell? They had to use chopsticks to hold it together. :)

After dinner and cake we just turned on the Christmas tree lights and sang Christmas songs. The dog laid on the couch next to me and while I stroked her fur and gazed at my darling little family dancing to the Peter Breinholt Christmas CD, I thought "This is the best birthday ever."

Incidentally, Trav's bday was two days ago and I didn't take a blessed picture. But we did make him raspberry muffins and smoothies for breakfast, gave him some needed Scout supplies, and went to the Utah Flash game as a family that night. His mom came down the day before so we could attend stake temple night, and my parents took us to dinner and watched the kids last night so we could go to the adult meeting of stake conference together. It was a great weekend for me, hopefully for him too!

New Year's Eve 2010

I've always felt like we were the ultimate lame-o's on New Year's Eve. We just stay at home with our little family, maybe watch a movie. Definitely never make it till midnight.

And yet, in spite of our lack of socializing and wild partying, we had a great time this year. Some traditions that I think we'll keep for years to come.

We started the festivities by dressing up and dancing to the Tangled soundtrack. 

 What a show!

 Then we made homemade pizzas. (Thanks Lanae for teaching me how!)

 One thing you might not know about Trav is that his 9 year old self dreamed of working at Domino's. As you can see, he's got the skills!

 Evie loves Daddy so much!

After pizza and a movie (Beauty and the Beast, Eve's favorite), we had a Silly String fight. It was so fun! I don't know if I have laughed so hard in all my life! It was an incredible mess, because Silly String does not clean up well, but we're keeping it as a tradition for the joy it brought.

We put Eve to bed at 8, but let the older girls stay up to watch Toy Story 3 with us. Trav and I both fell asleep on the couch, but the girls made it through the whole show. Then we tucked them into their little beds and ignored the hullabaloo of midnight.

Christmas 2010

Christmas was a magical time at our house this year. The kids loved every little thing-- decorating the tree, making ornaments, baking treats, and of course opening presents. The girls especially loved singing Christmas songs. "Once in Royal David's City" was the most requested.

 Dancing to Christmas music at my mom's Christmas Eve party with cousins.

 Eve and my cousin Emilee. She is our favorite babysitter!

 Evie loved Christmas morning. She chugged the juice she got in her stocking in about 2 minutes, loved munching candies all morning... and kept finding presents under the tree and asking "Mine?" This is Eve with her dolly. The girls each got a doll that looks like them and matching outfits with their dolls.

 Kate was enchanted by Christmas as well.. She loved her dolly twin.

 Anna loved her dolly twin most of all the girls, but after holding it for 30 seconds, the arm broke. Literally, the plastic snapped in 45 peices. In turn, Anna spent a good portion of Christmas morning crying. (Don't worry, we were able to replace the doll after Christmas and she loves it.) She was happy to get some Little Pet Shops though.

 Anna also got a cupcake making kit-- which we had to do at 7:30 am to get over the sorrow of her dolly's broken arm. She was so proud because she did everything all by herself.

 Kate helped me prepare the veggie tray for our Christmas party at Grandma Nancy's.

 Eve helped by eating the veggies.

I feel bad that I didn't take any photos at our Christmas party at Nancy and Cory's. It was just so chaotic with 10 little kids opening jillions of presents. The girls love playing with their cousins and even performed a Nativity play that they organized on their own. They were so cute! Also, Nancy got pneumonia this Christmas so she was feeling pretty bad all day. Bless her soul for still hosting the party when she really wanted to lay in bed all day.

 

 Anna REALLY wanted the Tangled dress up and Rapunzel wig. What a cutie!

Me and Trav on Christmas afternoon at my parents' house.

Thanks to all our wonderful family and friends for making this Christmas wonderful!

An example of effective communication in marriage

I made this fabulous dinner the other night. Spinach with fusili and asiago cheese. Fancy, huh? I knew it wouldn't be at the top of the kids' list, but I thought Trav and I would enjoy it. Then he called and said he had to work late and was just going to go straight to Scouts from work. Kind of a bummer, especially since the kids really gave me hard time during dinner about how much they hate spinach.
So when Trav got home, he looked in the fridge and I bustled in and pulled out the leftovers for him.
"Here's your dinner," I said.
"We had pizza," he replied.
What? Admittedly, there was some leftover pizza in the fridge from when my mom took the kids to Chuck E Cheese. But really? He's choosing nasty, flavorless Chuck E Cheese pizza over this delicious meal that I had lovingly prepared?
I let him have it. "Am I the only one who's concerned about feeding our family, healthy, nutritious meals? Don't you care that I worked so hard to make this, and you didn't even have the decency to be here at dinnertime, and now you won't eat it at all? What kind of husband are you?"
Meekly he said, "No, we had pizza at Scouts. I'm full."
Right.
On the up side, he ate the leftovers for lunch the next day and loved it.