One Year Wiser!

So it was my Birthday on Saturday and although I’m a year older, I would also like to think I'm a year wiser too. I love my family; they did their absolute best jobs trying to make the day extra special for me. Sometimes I'm not good at expressing gratitude directly- (something I hope to do a better job on in my 32nd year.) Therefore, to my family- these are the things that I was especially thankful for on my Birthday.



Greg made me a very delicious breakfast, including his world famous apple cinnamon pancakes (If you have not had these you definitely need to make a "pancake request")




A cute card with a special message inside from Greg (that also included a gift card for a massage!!) that was very thoughtful- I Love You!



This nice card from my kids that also had a special message from each one of them



This might look like an ordinary lunch bag to you, but Raija painted it just for me and filled it with treasures for her mommy



A picture of the Manti Temple where Greg and I were married, and where RJ says she wants to be married



She also had lots of other little treasures that were special to her, so she gave them to me



KJ did an amazing job on all these bead shapes- she also had them individually wrapped. She said the purple plane was to take Greg and I to Hawaii (she knows that purple is my favorite color). The little brown figure is a Hersey kiss, and the three squares are O's for kisses. She said she was sorry that she couldn't make X's. The red shape is lips so that she can give me lots of kisses. What a thoughtful and creative little girl.



Dinner on Thurs. night with my mom and sister



I forfeited a cake this year to enjoy myself some Mmmmmm Yogurt! Greg surprised me and put a few candles in my yogurt and they sang Happy Birthday to me




Aaaaaahhh!! I've been waiting for this for a while. My family will be eating like royalty for a long time to come. I've said this before and I'm sure I will say it again, I love Our Best Bites


Everything is better when it's mini- I can't wait to start decorating some cute mini cupcakes, and now I have a place to display them for all the world (or at least my kids) to see



Red Curry soup- I really enjoy Thai food. Thank you Greg for taking me out to dinner. On a sad note, our favorite Thai food restaurant changed owners (the food just wasn't the same :(



I ended a great day with a great movie- I highly recommend this one



you must also have a little bit of this



and a little bit of this

Thanks Greg, KJ, RJ, Anton, Mom, Gloria, Grandma and everyone else who truly did make this a special day for me :)

The Icicle

Greg was outside playing with the kids the other day and Anton came inside with a huge icicle. I really wanted to take it away from him, but after seeing the look on his face as he started to eat it (yeah, gross, I know) I just didn't have the heart. So the next best thing a mom could do was to take pictures.





Look how happy he is- I told you I couldn't take it away



He is even showing me his great find. "See mommy, look."
P.S. it was a lot bigger when he first brought it into the house



Let the nibbling commence



and the sucking too



He is telling me how cold it is- "Hurt teeth mommy, hurt teeth"



I guess after the initial cold shock wore off and the numbness set in, polishing that baby off was no big deal

We Heart You

A little bit late Happy V-Day to everyone! The girls had fun parties at school, and we had an awesome party at home on Tues. It's nice to have a party the day after V-day, I got all the decorations for 50% off. I was also busy at the beginning of the month making fun treats to pass out.




Learning is fun- and tasty. Candy heart graphing












RJ passing out her cards at Pre School



that was one good chocolate cupcake. Notice her cute bubblegum necklace. That was another fun project that the girls and I worked on this month



Heart shaped pie pops. I just have to say that I really enjoy Our Best Bites blog. My birthday is next week, so if you were wondering what to get me....their cookbook is coming out at the end of the month or in early March :)






Cake balls- need I say more






the finished product- white chocolate dipped pretzels, cake balls, and pie pops






Dinner Time







I have a Crush on you!



Everyone "Loves" pizza









a nice healthy salad- complete with heart shaped orange bell peppers


















Yummy pudding filled cake- I'm taking a cake decorating class from Michael's. That is my birthday present to myself. I'm really enjoying the classes and learning a lot. There might be a cool cake or cupcakes headed your way soon.

Gung Hei Fat Choi!

Happy Chinese New Year! The kids have been studying about the Chinese New Year for the past month and this weekend we topped off all their hard work with a cool field trip to Sacramento to see a CNY festival. They had dancing, singing, face painting, games....the whole nine yards. The kids thought that the dragon and lion dances were the best and that the Chinese opera singing wasn't really for them (I would have to agree with that). It was fun for me to teach them something new and I learned quite a few things along the way too.




For those of you that don't know- it is the year of the rabbit. We studied a little bit about rabbits as well



KJ did an excellent job writing facts about the CNY. We checked out about 20 books from the library that helped us learn lots




This is what Anton enjoyed doing while his sister's were painting



Paper plates are great for all kinds of art projects. The girls are busy painting their plates, soon they will be cute little rabbits






And there you have it, a cute little bunny



Chinese lanterns


Painting egg cartons to make our dragon











All the children get lucky red envelopes filled with money



Dig Raija, dig



Mom is cheap- so they each got a dollar and three chocolate gold coins
(the chocolate was an instant hit)









And now for the dinner portion of our studies and celebration!






Notice there are NO forks
I'm so proud of my family, they all ate with their chopstick without complaining, and surprisingly enough RJ took to it without much effort, she loved it-we all did.



Got fried rice? This is one of my favorite recipes, it always tastes d-lish






Anton is soooo excited for dinner
































All gone! Let's have dessert



Fortune cookies- How fun!









And oranges too- they bring joy, luck, and wealth



Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It's off to Sacramento we go


The lion dancers were a lot of fun- we happened to be sitting in the middle next to an aisle so when the dancers came into the audience KJ, RJ and Anton got to touch them. Anton kept saying scary, me scared, but I think he liked it at the same time. They also had live amazing instrumental accompaniment while they were dancing.












The dragon dance



Did somebody say oragami?



cute, cute, little hands folding origami



Look mommy a boat



RJ decided to make the traditional swan



Hello Kitty face painting






Martial Arts dancing