Lydia's Night with Shakespeare!

I have one of the most amazing daughters ever!  Lydia decided to participate in Shakespeare Night this year.  She worked and memorized one of  Titania's monolauges from Midsummer Night's Dream.  She really did it all on her own with very little help from Wes or myself.  The night of the event there was a huge snowstorm but we managed to drive the couple of slippery blocks to the school.  When it was Lydia's turn I held my breath.  As she began I was absolutely tingling with excitement and was absolutely amazed at her poise and passion!  I couldn't have been prouder of my oldest girl.  While she didn't win she was given compliment after compliment from her peers and the teachers.  She was so happy! I wish we could have all attended, but at least I got it on video.

Every Girl Needs a Shopping Buddy

Pooh Bear is the ultimate friend. He is soft to cuddle up with at night, he can keep you company when eating breakfast in the morning, he is a shoulder to cry on, and he is a great shopping buddy, especially for my little Violet!

Time Alone with You

Valentine's Day went by without too much of a fuss this year. Small gifts were exchanged. Flowers were given. Brownies were made. I think Wes just had a craving for chocolate though.

After Erica and Phil's wedding I was really longing for some alone time with my sweetheart. I decided I would surprise him with something really special. I arranged for Ellen to babysit and then gave Wes this special invitation.

You are hereby invited to join your Queen for a Royal

Evening of Romance. The festivities will begin on

Friday, February 25, 2012 at 4:00. You will be

treated as a King and will enjoy every leisure and

comfort on your royal outing.

Wes seemed excited for our adventure. We headed out first to Pei Wei for dinner. Wes kept trying to figure out what we would be doing. Was their a Renaissance festival going on? It was great to see the wheels turning in his head. I usually am unable to surprise him. Granted that is because I get too excited and spill the secret. This time for sure though I didn't want him to know. My lips were sealed.

After dinner we did a little shopping at the mall and walked around. Finally I took him to our destination.

The Castle Creek Inn in Sandy! I had packed bags for both of us in secret and put them in the trunk. I was grateful Wes didn't open the trunk when cleaning out the car right before the start of the date.

I reserved the Palace Royale Suite. It was oh so wonderful to get some alone time with my man and a much needed break!

Erica's Big Day!

On February 18 Erica was married to her sweetheart, Phil Knight. Phil and Erica met online on a website. Phil is from England and it took a lot longer than expected for him to be able to get approved to come to the United States. When he was finally able to come over Erica was so excited!

The ceremony was held at an LDS church house near Wes's parents home. Erica, Ellen, and Lexie put a lot of work into the planning and decorating. Everything was beautiful!

Violet and Adelle were flower girls. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the girls walking down the aisle. Violet wasn't entirely certain about the flower petals. She threw a few down the aisle, but most of them ended up in a pile at our feet while we watched the ceremony.

Lydia looked so grown up as a bride's maid!

Devin was the the best man and Lexie was the matron of honor. They are such a cute couple!

Kyle was pretty sweet with Violet.

Wes snapped an accidental picture of me and I actually like it.

Erica had the most amazing idea for the children that were attending the party. She set up a kids table with fruit snacks, goldfish crackers, coloring books and crayons! The kids loved it. There wasn't any crying or screaming. It was funny watching the kids though. It was a little like musical chairs with the swapping of seats, coloring books, and snacks.

Erica's cousin made an amazing pirate cake. The wedding was pirate themed and quite fun!

The sign was pirate themed but also had an airplane since Phil is going to be a pilot.

Phil and Erica are so funny and sweet together. It is nice that we are starting to get to know Phil more and more. Only the best man will do for our special Erica.

Lydia and Adelle looked so beautiful in their blue dresses. Lydia was also wearing her first pair of high heels.

It was a mad time of flashes and lots of picture taking for the next little while. It was hard to know which way to look when the pictures were being taken. Phil's parents flew all the way out from England.

I absolutely love this picture of the men being super silly! They look like they are finishing a rousing musical number.

Erica is the belle in the middle of it all! Poor girl having to grow up with so many boys!

My cute little Violet happy as can be with her crayons and candy!

She was quite taken with Erica at one point and didn't want to leave her said. She kept wanting Erica to pick her up. Maybe she sensed that Erica and Phil probably won't be in the state with us much longer.

Violet also is a little OCD. There were glass marbles in front of the cake. There is a rounded side and a flat side. Violet kept flipping all of the marbles so they would be flat side down.

In the lobby with the guest book (which I'm pretty sure I forgot to sign) where a build-a-bear bride and groom. Erica made the cat years ago. She made the koala when she was missing Phil so much. They were finally reunited.

Adelle also kept lingering around Erica and Phil. She is very worried about Erica moving away. She just adores Erica.

It was fun to hang out with everyone and even chat with people that we hadn't seen in awhile.

It was finally cake cutting time. Phil and Erica were very sweet to each other. There was no cake smashing at all.

For the rest of the wedding I just took videos including advice for the Bride and Groom. I think the funniest advice came from Lexie who said "Fight Naked". In the end Phil and Erica snuck away without saying goodbye. Luckily I caught it on video. Devin, Lexie, and Adelle even decorated Erica's car. Phil's parents reserved a suite in the Grand American Hotel. I am so excited for Erica and Phil and I hope they having an amazing marriage!

End of Year Activities and Sick Days

I took the last week off of the year to spend time with the family and just to relax. We did various things from just hanging around, shopping, and even making a trip to the Aquarium. Lydia wasn't with us because she was at her dad's house, but my brother Philip joined us. Violet had her ups and downs this visit including a mega meltdown when it was time to go, but she absolutely loved the seeing the fish. She especially loved seeing Dora and Nemo in the tropical section.

Philip seemed to enjoy himself, except when Violet was having a rough time. We love hanging out with him.

It seemed like a great idea to get a picture of the girls on the frog, but Violet wasn't having it.

So instead Adelle rode the frog...solo.

The aquarium, though small, has so many fun things to see. When we went this time the penguins were especially active swimming around in the water. They were amazing to watch.

New Year's Eve was spent pretty uneventfully we just hung around at home, but right around midnight Violet got violently ill with the stomach flu. It was quite the start to the new year. Poor girl. We all came down within the next few days.

Christmas Turkey and Cramped Spaces

We made plans for Wes's family to join us on Christmas night. I decided instead of cooking the usual cheesy potatoes and ham I was going to be brave and cook a very large Turkey. I got it free at Winco thanks to a special they were running. I think it was 22 pounds! Turkeys have always made me nervous, not of course the live turkey, but the actual cooking of one. I fear dry meat, and I did not want to fall in the category of making a dry, parched turkey. I decided to use the recipe from a Real Simple magazine and made a cider glazed turkey. It required basting every half an hour, but it was so worth it. The turkey to my delight ended up being so yummy and moist! Thank you Martha Stewart. We squished everyone into our compact living room. I love family get togethers!

While we all ate and waited to open presents Violet played with Mac and Lightning.

One of the great things about buying Lydia a camera is not only is she taking pictures, but she also lets us take her picture now! Erica was really missing Phil, her Fiancee.

Adelle loves holidays so much and she always gets so excited.

Once everyone had eaten we all exchanged presents. We gave Ellen a super soft blanket. She hadn't been feeling very well and needed to rest a lot, so we figured a blanket would help with her resting time.

Violet got some really great presents from Ellen and Erica! Play food that you can cut and put back together.

Adelle loved looking through all the presents to see who each present was for.

In the end she ended up being the present girl and passed them out to everyone. I love Devin's surprised face!

Violet decided to spend the rest of the evening playing with her pretend food. There was nothing that was going to pull her away!

In the end we all ate way too much, but the company was amazing!