Peace and Pandemonium

My brother Christian was is town last week visiting from Boise, while my dad and his wife went on a trip to Cancun. It's always such a joy to have Christian around because he's such a freakin' cool kid! He's a long haired skater boy who is obsessed with World of Warcraft and who is a total lover. He is generous with hugs and kisses and affection. He is also willing to let my kids literally beat up on him constantly whenever he comes over to hang out. He's such a good uncle. I had intended to do a photo shoot of him before he left but I put off too long and he had to leave, slightly unexpectedly. However, on the night that I was snapping pictures of Ashley, I was able to catch one picture of my extremely handsome, fourteen year old brother.

For three months Isaiah has been going to play practice once a week. Every Wednesday after school he has been learning songs and rehearsing his part in the musical production of Hansel and Gretel. His part, along with all of the other Kindergarten and first graders was that of the stepmothers servant. While his part was small he was on stage often singing and doing little dances. He even had a speaking part that he was able to say into the microphone. So cute! The play itself was a little all over the place...it combined the story of Hansel and Gretel with many other fairy tale characters and even though the main characters were wearing microphones, they were poor quality and the audience only heard about 50% of what was being said. Well that and the fact that a lot of the lines were forgotten. : ) That being said, it was an elementary school play not Broadway so my expectations were met and even exceeded at times. Isaiah had a lot of fun and we were glad that he was able to have this experience.



I caught Isaiah peeking out from behind the stage curtain...the little rebel. I was actually glad because I love this shot!



So lets talk about this costume. First of all, I had no idea that he was supposed to wear white...oh well, the blue did make him stand out more. In addition, I love that Isaiah couldn't be bothered to take off his jeans, or even his slip-on shoes for that matter...



Then again, it could have been worse. This little girl (er...boy??) seems to have spilled her (his?) drink down her (his?) shirt. On second thought, Isaiah's shirt is equally dirty so maybe it is worse!? Ehhh, what are you gonna do?



Singin'



and dancin'.


On a photography note...once again, I didn't have a tripod and the auditorium was dark so the lighting wasn't ideal. I caught a couple cute pictures but majority of them were blurry. Argghh, this is becoming very frustrating to me. I'm wondering if I need to upgrade my lens or my camera (the Canon Rebel XTi for those of you who have been wondering) or both. Maybe I just need a tripod. I don't know but I still trying to learn how to use this camera and I'm doing it by using the manual settings only so bear with me. In this case, I finally gave up and took these pictures on auto with a flash and they turned out less than thrilling.

An impromptu photo shoot at 11:30 at night led to some "dreamy" (ok fine, blurry) images of my beautiful sister.

Isaiah and Matias are playing soccer this season which I guess makes me an official "soccer mom". This has made me very busy lately with games and practices 4 days a week. What did I get myself into?

Isaiah is playing on a team with a few friends from his first grade class and a neighborhood friend, Jackson Kemp. This has proved to be great for me because Liz and I get to hang out during the game and Matias, Chloe, and Sophia entertain themselves. Combined the boys have had four games so far and have lost all of them but I have reassured both boys that winning isn't the reason for playing. The point is to have fun, get exercise and of course, the most important part of playing team sports, to get treats. Isaiah is willing to accept that, Matias is not. I think he would rather win! : )








Matias is playing on a team with a bunch of other 4 and 5 year olds. He is the smallest and the youngest on the team which makes the competition a little bit more intimidating but he has done quite well so far. He occasionally forgets what he's supposed to be doing and when that happens he is the only kid on the field not caught up in the herd of kicking feet and swinging legs. I think both boys have really enjoyed themselves so far which is good because the season has just started and there are many more games to be played. Maybe our record will even improve.

It all started with a slightly annoying cartoon.

Matias and Sophia watch Caillou five times a day (for real) and on one episode, Caillou and his family go to a place where he gets to paint a mug. This was the bright idea behind having Matias' birthday party at Color Me Mine.




We gave each party goer the choice of either a mug or a plate to paint. Matias was the only kid to choose a mug. Yet another expression of his rebellious nature.




Auntie Tay helped Sophie to paint her plate, and when I say help I mean, she tried to keep her from turning the paint into a muddy mess. She was partially successful.




Daddy helped Matias with the "bubble blowing" technique. A few of the kids saw this and wanted to do the same. It went really well with one exception, Isaac May really wanted to suck the paint up the straw instead of blowing air out of it. Needless to say Isaac's plate doesn't have any bubble paint on it. : )




Isaac, Matias and Calvin munching on cupcakes...more importantly however, is Calvin's Beatles t-shirt. I mean seriously, how cute is that?




A nice shot of a bunch of wild 3 and 4 year olds is challenging to say the least. I did my best and this is what I came up with. What a cute group of kids!



I don't know if it was the sugar high or if Uncle Greg is really just that funny but these four were howling with laughter for a good 10 minutes straight. Oh, the comedy!




"Sweet" good-byes.




Sweeter good-byes! : ) She's so tall, and he's so small.

Matias was showered with friends, hugs and gifts and he loved every minute of it!
Thanks to everyone who came to and helped with the party. It was a lot of fun and Matias and I are excited to deliver everyones plates on Monday.

Today was Matias' fourth birthday party.







These were the cupcakes I made for the party. I had never heard of baking a cupcake in a cone before yesterday but I think I will be doing it that way from now on! 100% edible + no more wasteful wrappers = perfection! The trickery here is that the "soft serve" is actually whipped frosting.
These tasted sooo good. Yum!




Isaac gave Matias a birthday hug. What sweet boys.





Is is terrible that I chose to post the picture where Steven and I look halfway decent but our kids, not so much? Rarely do I post pictures of me and my hubby. I wanted us to look good. I have plenty of the kids looking adorable. They will be posted shortly.

These four pictures were taken by my very talented friend Leah, Thank you m'dear!

While not every word fits, this beautiful song captures my emotions today. Everyday by Britney Spears...I know, Britney, crazy huh?

Notice me
Take my hand
Why are we
Strangers when
Our love is strong?
why carry on without me?

CHORUS:
Everytime I try to fly,
I fall,
Without my wings,
I feel so small
I guess I need you baby
and everytime I see you in my dreams
I see your face, it's [you're] haunting me
I guess I need you baby.

I make believe that you are here
It's the only way, I see clear
What have I done?
You seem to move uneasy?

CHORUS

I may have made it rain
Please forgive me
My weakness caused you pain
And this song's my sorry

At night I pray
That soon your face will fade away

CHORUS

On Monday we took Gus to the vet to be neutered. It was a sad day, especially for Gus. Afterward, Isaiah had a lot of questions about the procedure, as usual. This question made me laugh despite poor Gus and his tragic loss of manlyhood.

"Where did they..." then he stammered for a while not knowing what the appropriate words were to form his question. He finally resumed, "...take out his neut?"

Oh man, this boy cracks me up!

Her willingness to please everyone.
Her soft silky skin.
Her sweet disposition.
Her lovely, curly locks of hair.
Her gentle kindness to everyone around her.
Her inability to pronounce the "f" sound so instead it's "sp". For example, "Mama, I want some spood." "You're spunny, daddy!" "I spound it!"
Her reply when I ask her how she's feeling, "I'm speeling better." (It's always better.)
Her incredible intelligence.
Her surety that kisses from mom or dad will make everything better.
Her sincere compliments.
Her exceptionally polite manners.
Her innocence.
Her delicate butterfly kisses.
Her tender hugs.
Her captivating smile.
Her overwhelming beauty!

She is my daughter, my joy, my delight. She makes my heart sing. I adore her. I admire her. I feel blessed to have her in my life. I am overjoyed to be her mother. I am filled with love and appreciation for this little angel we call Sophia...

While Steven and I were in St. George, we went hiking in Snow Canyon and found a lava cave.

(He says..."I'm your master spelunker.")

My Matias turned 4 today!

I wanted to post this picture.
It is moody, mysterious and intriguing...just like Matias.
This photo captures more than just his image.
It captures a feeling
an emotion
and that emotion moves me.

Happy Birthday baby!
I love you more than you know!

So I'm told that while we were down south seeking out the warmth, the weather back home was nice enough for a day at the park. To proove it, Ashley got the kids out and took some great pictures!! Thanks Ash!














Here's my only question...Why is it that as soon as we went south for warmer weather, northern Utah warmed up and everyone got to go outside. Then the day we got home, (no, no, no, let me be more specific, within an hour of us getting home) the weather turned freezing again??

Can you believe these were only 20 bucks? Marianne commented that I should pair these with a pair of tights and a cute ruffle skirt...I couldn't agree more. I'm excited to wear these babies out. I've also come to the realization that I have a thing for pink shoes...random I know but I'm drawn to them like a moth to the flame. I'm not even all that into pink but there's something about a pink shoe that makes me swoon.

The first half of our day in Vegas was not great. Steven and I have very different ideas of what's fun to do in Vegas and we were not at all on the same page for the first half of the day. I do not enjoy gambling. I think it's such a waste of money and it isn't all that much fun. I can handle blowing 10 bucks on video blackjack or nickel slots but other than that, I prefer a sure thing. Steven on the other hand enjoys sitting at the blackjack tables (which terrifies me because I don't know table etiquette) and is comfortable losing money. Throwing it away. Well to make a long story short we spent the first half of our day struggling to find a happy medium. Steven passed on his time at the blackjack table and I passed on my "sure thing". We ate a nice lunch at PF Chang's and then I found some ridiculously cute hot pink cowboy boots at Urban Outfitters on sale for $20 down from $125. That cheered me up a little. But in the end it wasn't until we watched this water dance at the Bellagio that we were finally able to reconnect and decide that we were not going to waste anymore time not having fun. This water display was the inspiration I needed to capture the Vegas spirit. After this our night got much better.

After Steven and I arrived in St. George on Wednesday evening we were ready to get our vacation started. A friend of ours works at a fancy schmancy restaurant called the Painted Pony. We decided to pay him a visit and enjoy a slightly pretentious dinner while we were at it. The overall experience was fantastic. The setting was warm and atmospheric, our server Nate (our friend) was fabulous and the food was quite good. The appetizer and dessert were especially delicious...



This was the appetizer we ordered and it was amazing. It's called the Phyllo Baked Brie and I was completely surprised by how fantastic the flavors blended together. We needed a brief tutorial and this is what we learned...You take a slice of the toasted bread and spread a clove of the roasted garlic on the bread (like butta). Then you spread a healthy slice of the oozy gooey cheese on the garlic bread. Now this is the especially delicious part, the dark stuff that looks like black beans are actually blackberry compote. You then spread the blackberries on top of the cheese and enjoy. I'm telling you, this dish was divine. I've never tasted anything else like it. Muy magnifique!!

My steak was overcooked and that's never a good thing so we wont talk too much about the main dish but...dessert, that was a whole different story.



I ordered the White Chocolate Cheesecake Tower. It made me so happy. It was cheesecake filling spread between walnut lace cookies and topped with raspberry sauce and blueberries. I couldn't eat the whole thing, but oh my, what I had was sooo satisfying.



These lilies were so beautiful and I wish I had captured a better photo. The camera that I was using wasn't great and this picture ended up being kind of blurry. (Hence the photoshopping) I still love this picture. Lilies are my favorite!
It was a wonderfully relaxing beginning to a much needed break. More to come...