I felt so loved....

You know how some birthdays are just better than others?

Well this one was one of my favorites yet.

The whole weekend was just so fantastic and nothing extraordinary happened really just a pleasant weekend with lots of love as corny as that sounds.

It started out on Friday night on a date with this fella.

(Don't mind his poor little red face, he has a cold and it's really done a number to him.)

Background behind the date: my mom always takes me out to dinner around my birthday. Just me and her, it's the best. However this year because I have missed like the last three family events I have not seen my sisters in like a month. That's a really long time for me. Teri and I thought maybe we could have our date with our mom together so we could catch up with each other as well. Of course catch up is a term used very loosely since I talk to her at least once a day over the phone more often than not a few times a day. We certainly didn't have a ton of catching up to do unless you count discussing Matt Nathanson's new song Run which we both love. But hey we definitely count that as catching up!

We also decided to invite Lance and Carson along because these two best friends have been missing each other as well. They are both at the age where having them along is really quite fun and no longer work like it tends to be with younger kids. So that's how a date with my mom turned out to be a date with my mom, sister, and my two favorite six year olds.

The original plan was Cheesecake Factory in SLC. However after being told it would be a two hour wait just to be seated we all looked at each other astonished and decided Macaroni Grill across the street was a better, faster idea. It was such a fun night, our little boys were perfect gentleman all evening long. They giggled with each other while us girls chatted the night away. Only thing is we couldn't get cheesecake out of our heads, so upon leaving we decided to place a to go order and head on home to Teri's for a late night snack.

By the time we finally reached Teri's it was just over 10 pm. Knowing I still had over an hour drive ahead of me my mom invited Lance, Carson and I to have a sleep over at her house.

It was perfect she set me up in the guest room.

While the little ones curled up with each other on the mattress pad in front of the TV. Yes they watched Smurfs at 12 am.....shhh......just don't tell their daddies.

They were having the time of their lives.

Lance and I hurried home the next morning to make it in time for his 9 am piano lessons.

And what did I arrive home to?

French toast, bacon, a slightly smoky house.......poor honey had a little trouble with the bacon, a sweet gift from a really sweet friend (thanks Genn!), birthday money, birthday cards and lots and lots of very sweet phone calls.

Did I mention I just love my birthday?

I threw myself into the shower to clean up real quick for the day so we could make it Lance's 11 am basketball game.

Grandma and Carson even came along to cheer their best buddy on!

And Luke befriended a fellow angry bird fan up in the stands.

This little boy stayed glued to Luke's side listening to him "blow up the naughty piggies", as he likes to refer to it.

After the game Eric took K out to do some birthday shopping while my mom and I headed home with all the boys.

She had herself a little snooze on Lance's bed because we may or may not have stayed up until 2 am the night before.

What can I say I love talking to my momma.

While she snoozed and the boys played I ran through my whole house cleaning up a tad.

Dishes needed to be loaded, laundry needed to be started, beds needing making, and lots of toys needed to find their way back home.

I tried I really tried but I am incapable of having a happy birthday with a messy house.

I just can't do it.

Little boys playing Transformers.

And it's present time!

I made Eric promise me no presents this year.

Naturally I did not stick to my budget on the project going on in the boys bedroom.

I told Eric that was present enough for one year and I did not need anything else.

Of course he didn't listen to me.

He got me this sweet little wallet and check book cover with lots of fun bling attached!

It was such a thoughtful gift and made me smile lots, because I just wasn't expecting anything.

My old wallet is really falling apart so this was such a cute surprise.

And my next gift the beds and other furniture was delivered for the boys room.

What fabulous timing, how did those movers know it was my birthday.

Sweet Eric spent the rest of the afternoon getting furniture set up and mirrors attached.

This week is operation decorate around here, I am so excited to see their room come together!

That evening we headed off to SLC yet again for a birthday date night.

5 Alls I love it so much.

The Smith's introduced me to this restaurant ten years ago this last December when I accompanied Eric for his birthday dinner with his parents when we were dating.

I have now been 5 times total.

The prices make it a little hard to justify going on a regular old date night.

But for my birthday it was fantastic, you just cannot beat the atmosphere there.

So much fun.

And that brings us to Sunday.

After church we headed down to Layton to attend our nephews birthday party, sweet little Jacob turned two!

And to top off birthday week I met and snuggled my newest of little loves.

Mr. Russell Smith our sweet nephew is just ten days old.

He is every bit as precious as he looks in this picture, Matt and Brooke I sure am missing your baby!

Give him a squeeze from me, he will love having his birthday in January along with his best auntie. It's the greatest!!

This Week

Hey friends it's my birthday weekend did you know?

I love birthday weekend, I try to squeak birthday week out of Eric but he doesn't go for it. So we compromise birthday weekend it is. Okay actually he only gives me my birthday but I start celebrating today for myself. It includes lots of cokes, saying no to laundry, yes to dinner with my mom and sister tonight, a date with my oldest baby, and lots of other good stuff! Now if only I could get Eric on board to start spoiling me a day early too! I deserve it I work hard the other 364 days of the year!

Before we can get to my birthday weekend though we must finish up the week first.

Here is what the last few days have looked like.

Anniversary was good. Like I mentioned Eric didn't make it home until just after 10. But as luck would have it we found a bottle of sparkling cider leftover from New Years in the fridge.

We popped that sucker open and it was a perfect companion to our treat.

Lots of you asked if I made this.

Why yes I did!

Thank you for saying it looked like it was from a magazine.

I have to say I agree, I was so proud of it.

I was feeling a little sad Monday afternoon knowing Eric was working all day long.

I hadn't minded too much up until then because I was supposed to be heading to my nephews birthday party.....but it snowed me out.

Stupid sardine canyon.

So there I was stuck at home with crying boys who were desperate to see their cousins telling me "mom the snows not that bad, you could really make it."

"Sorry boys every party has a pooper that's why we invited me!".

Sorry I just couldn't resist that stupid song. But yes blizzards of snow scare me just a bit, something about not being able to see the road in front of me on curvy canyon roads just do me in.

We all needed a little cheering up, so this was our answer.

The boys were so cute I kept telling them they would be in bed before daddy got home and this cake was for him for our anniversary. So they would not be able to have a piece until the next day, because yes I am mean I didn't want them messing with the finished product before it could be admired by their daddy.

I just sucked the fun out of their whole day didn't I?

No cousins, no cake, no party.

Looking back maybe I should have let them have a piece.....but I didn't.

Lance kept saying "oh daddy is so lucky, he's just gonna love that cake!"

Anywho it went over well and here's the recipe some of you asked for. I would just type it up but it seems easier to just send you to the source Fudge Lover's Strawberry Truffle Cake.

I also mentioned Luke was sick that same day.

As luck would have it it seems to have just been a 24 hour bug.

A 24 hour bug that none of the rest of us caught, go figure.

But I am not complaining.

Sick week would have put a big damper on birthday week.

Oh here's another recipe I wanted to give you.

Fresh Spinach Dip

So easy and so good.

1 16 oz fat free sour cream

1 8 oz fat free cream cheese softened

10 oz fresh spinach washed and dried

l envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix

and 1 small red onion diced.

So so so good and no guilt!

I was sad because I took a pretty picture of it all lined up with fresh veggies we had one night along with our dinner of chicken tacos.

And I erased it!

So just pretend you see lots of carrots, cucumbers, celery and cherry tomatoes along with the dip okay?

There is another reason this week is deemed birthday week around here.

I have four, yes four nephews who have birthday's that fall from the 19th-27th of January.

Crazy right!

Our newest little nephew was just born on the 19th.

Naturally K and I had to do some shopping for all of these little sweethearts.

The crazy snow weather this last week has forced a lot of indoor play.

Thankfully Grandma Smith was cleaning out her game cabinet and donated lots of new fun games for the kids to keep.

It's made for a lot of fun afternoons inside watching the snow fall, drinking hot chocolate, playing Monopoly Junior to our heart's content.

Oh that's a nice picture I just painted.

Unfortunately the little sweetheart is a mild terror when it comes to everyone else trying to play a nice fun family game.

She reeks destruction wherever she goes.

Poor kid has spent a lot of this week in timeout.

Only problem is she thinks timeout is funny.

Thank goodness she's a cutie, we think we'll keep her anyway.

Mostly because she makes Valentine slippers look so darn good!

Have a happy birthday weekend!

Oh that's right it's just my birthday (well me and my twinner), but that just makes it double the fun!

Christmas Favorites 2011 Part 1

One of my favorite posts from last year was right after Christmas I recapped a few of our family favorites we received that year. I know years from now I will love looking back at what my children were drawn to at certain times of their lives. This is a fun post for me to put together, unfortunately I didn't get all the pictures I needed before I ran out of light so part 2 will have to be another day.

And don't for a second think all of this fun stuff was from Santa, what can we say the kids have great grandparents who spoil them rotten!

HARRY POTTER LEGO'S

Hands down this was is one of me and Lance's favorites. This is the first year one of my boys requested Lego's, I was just waiting for the day those tiny little pieces would invade my house. I have to say this one was a great one to start out with for a Harry Potter loving girl like myself. I love that Lance loves him too and of all the sets to chose from this is the one he wanted. I mean really how cute is Hogwarts, and the little Gryffindor bunk beds, and a Lupin and a mini Harry. It just doesn't come any funner than that!

NUTCRACKER

Now this one I must tell you a story about my sweet Loubird and his Granny. Luke received this Nutcracker not for Christmas but for his birthday on the 27th from my dear little Granny O. You see Luke loves nutcrackers. There was a giant blow up nutcracker in our neighbors yard all December long. We had to drive by it every time on our way to town and lots of times our Granny happened to be in the car with us. She heard Luke's many exclamations and excited yells over the giant Nutcracker. She called me a few days before his birthday wondering if I had seen any Nutcrackers around town, she wanted to get him one for his birthday. I told her I had not really noticed any but not to worry about it because I knew they could get pretty pricey as a present for a 5 year old.

Come his birthday, Granny's present was one of the very first he opened. The screams that were heard were the highlight of our night. He died over his Nutcracker, we are talking on the floor rolling around in wrapping paper hugging his Nutcracker to him. Granny got the biggest loving of her life that night from a new little five year old.

After the excitement wore off he handed the Nutcracker to me so he could continue on with his presents. I noticed the $100.00 price tag on the bottom of his foot. I gave my Granny a look that said "tell me you didn't". She proceeded to explain to me that she went to a few different stores looking for a Nutcracker. All of them were well over a hundred dollars, finally she found this little guy pricing at $102.00. Upon further examination she noticed he was missing half a mustache and his foot was falling off. Taking it to the clerk she showed them the problems and proceeded to get a price of $35.00.

Sold.

She took him home, taped his foot back on, drew on a mustache and the Loubird has never been the wiser.

That story means the world to me. Everybody at the party kept saying what a cute and random gift it was. Only my sweet Granny knew it was not random indeed. Only she knew her Luke that well to know he loved Nutcrackers so fiercely. Only she went to three different stores in hunt for the perfect Nutcracker. Only she would take a less than perfect Nutcracker home with her to fix up with a Sharpie mustache.

I love her so much.

Mobigo's

Wow! I had no idea how big these would go over.

These have been the source of many threats of not going to bed for the boys.

All I have to say is no video games tomorrow if you are not in bed right now.

Works like a charm, they love these things.

BASEBALL AND BASKETBALL CARDS

Eric got each of the boys their first set of Jazz and Cardinal cards this year. They love them especially Lance. On New Years Eve Eric and him spent awhile going through all of the cards and finding Papa Jeff''s favorite Cardinals players. My dad is a huge Cardinal fan, the next morning at breakfast with my dad he was blown away as Lance proceeded to show him each and every player saying "and here's another of your favorites Grandpa, you like him don't you?"

BITTY BABY

Oh little K's Bitty Baby is hands down her very favorite, well that and it's a tossup between one other toy that will have to be shown in Part 2. Her newest offspring fits in well with the rest of the gang. My favorite thing is watching K trying to carry all six of her babies in her arms at the same time. Eventually she gets so mad that it's not working out, she tosses each and every one of them down in a rage of frustration. Obviously this little mother is a work in progress!

SHOES

Had to toss this picture in I love these shoes of Katelynn's. Why the heck did I get her a size 6, next week she will have outgrown them.

WALL ORGANIZER

And as for me this little lovely is my favorite of the year. I have had my eye on this thing for years at a local boutique here in town.

Here's what I love.

I have a spot to hang favorite snapshots, obviously these are a little old dating back to this summer.

Time I due a new picture order I am thinking.

I love the chalkboard I use it to right down dinner for the day and any reminders for the family.

I think this will be a major bonus as my children grow older.

Love the mail slots.

The top is Incoming, right now it holds my Life planner, a birthday invitation, and a coupon for a Costco canvas print I am using for the boys bedroom.

The Outgoing box on the bottom is holding a few bills, a Redbox to be returned and new car insurance policies to be placed in our prospective vehicles.

Love love love this thing, not to mention it gave me another cute little spot to hold a few Valentine decorations, those little hearts are so fun!

Alright Part 2 will be coming soon!