February came and it was a busy month.
February brings Valentine's day celebrations at the elementary school. First, Kaleb and I had to make his Valentine's box. When I was a kid, they always just made them in class, but not any more. We took a shoe box, wrapped it in wrapping paper, then wrapped the lid, too. Then Kaleb decided he wanted a Pokemon character on it and we printed it off, colored it, and glued it to the top. Then I cut the mouth out. It turned out super cute!
I told Kaleb's teacher that I could help with their class party. I was asked to do a craft. So I found one that I thought would be easy for the kids to put together. I asked Kaleb if he felt it was good and if his classmates would like it. He said it was awesome and that they would love it. So on Friday, February 13th, I found out Kaleb was wrong. The class divided into stations and were given 8 minutes at each station. I wasn't told that's all they would be given, and some of the kids did not find my project easy. So a lot of the time, when the 8 minutes was up, my kids were not ready to move on. :(
That is a picture of the project. They are just paper sail boats, a craft stick with paper sails, and I added a little fun sized M&Ms to go inside. Easy, right? Especially when someone is showing you step by step what to do, right? Well, not so much. And I'm not a teacher for a reason. It would have been nice to know about the time limit. Then I could have timed how long they took to make.
So, after getting home from that exhausting party, I came home and made some Red Velvet Chocolate Chip cookies for the boys and proceeded to eat a bunch of them, too. They were delicious.
For Valentine's day, Kurtis and I wanted to go out to eat and see a movie. I decided that I didn't really want to go out, but we ended up going to Costa Vida and watching Jupiter Ascending anyway. After eating, I felt a little bit better, so it was okay that we went out.
Kurtis got me a bunch of cds and the first two seasons of Arrow (yes, I love that show!). He went a little overboard on the cds. But he told me they had been on my Amazon wish list for awhile and he didn't know which one to get, so he got them all. That made me laugh.
I got him the Underworld series. The trilogy set and the fourth one. He likes them.
Emily was due on February 14th, so I texted the morning of her due date to tease her about not having her baby yet. Joel texted me back that she was in labor, had been all night, and had just been admitted to the hospital. I spent the day worried about her, but fifty-six hours of labor later (not exaggerating), on February 15th, she welcomed my newest NEPHEW! into the world. Another boy! The ratio of boys to girls for my parents' grand kids was officially 8 to 1.
I wanted so badly to go meet him, but alas. When you are sick, you must stay away.
So I didn't get to meet my new baby for awhile. But Ben sent me a picture, so I guess it's okay.
Oh, my heart! It really started to feel like the Universe did not want us to meet.
Six days later, on February 21st, my brother texted me to let me know Lili was in the hospital. She was laboring to deliver their second baby. Lili's niece had been with Gus during the birth, so I asked if he would like me to come watch Gus for a bit so he could be with the new baby and Lili. Gus wasn't allowed to visit his new sibling in the hospital. As I was on my way down, he let me know Ben and Jayden were also on their way down. When we got there, we helped Michael give Gus lunch and then took him to a museum on the college campus near their home. He loves that place.
I couldn't stay long because I had plans, and Michael told me to come meet the baby before I had to go. So I only stayed at the museum long enough to snap a few photos of the little whirlwind loving the museum.
He loves looking at all the animals.
Especially the elephant.
He's fast and zipped around that place like it was his personal playground.
Maybe it is.
This is awesome. It's made of butterflies.
This one is awesome, too. The designs on the back of the beetle are made of beetles.
So cool! I have to take my boys there this summer.
I know I took a few pictures at the hospital, but they are missing, so here is one taken soon after my new nephew was born. My heart! He's adorable! I love him so much!
Now the ratio of boys to girls is 9 to 1. I'm hoping one day, we get another girl that I can spoil with cute pink clothes and My Little Pony dolls, though.
Then I got called to jury duty. On February 26th, I got up early and went to the court house.
I watched a video about being a juror and then waited to see if they would actually call me to the jury. They didn't.
So I texted Emily and asked if I could come visit my nephew. She said I could. I was so excited! Finally!
He has big feet and was very tall when he was born.
He's such a serious little sweetheart.
I loved him from the minute I met him. I didn't want to go home.
I'm so happy for my sisters! What a month of magical moments.
Oh nothing. I just wanted to show off these other two cards that I made.
My cousin's wife had a baby girl in March and so she was thrown a baby shower. I bet it was fun, and I wish I could have gone, but I had to do a matinee performance for the show I was in. But my mom took me her present for me.
Here's the card I made. It's a total rip off of one I have pinned on Pinterest, but it turned out so cute!
Mine.
The one I found on Pinterest.
I like them both. :)
Then I made a card for my sister-in-law who also had a baby in February. That's right. I got two new babies in February! I'm so lucky. ;) This one is for a boy and is pretty much the same as the pink one.
These were fun to make, and I think they turned out really cute.
On January 17th (the day after my play opened), my mom, my sister-in-laws, her mother-in-law, and I threw a baby shower for my little sister! It was a really great party with lots of people. I got lucky though. All I had to do was invitations and decorations.
These are the invitations! I think they turned out really cute, but they were too much work. The next ones will have to be simpler (just watch, they won't be). I also ran out of ink and had to start using an different color for them, but I didn't take pictures. I think I went with yellow because Emily and Joel were not going to find out the gender of their baby before he (or she!) came.
This is the card I made to go with their present. I think it turned out really cute, too!
Food is always one of the most important things.
Jayden (my new sister) was in charge of the party favors. She asked me to make her some more balloons and she taped them on the bottom of suckers. Wal-la! Hot air balloons.
Lili was in charge of games. She came up with one where you draw a baby on a piece of paper you've put on your head. Then Emily would pick out the one she thought would most resemble her baby. It was fun and mine didn't look like much more than a smiley face.
Emily's haul and the banner I made.
We measured Emily's belly and the person who guessed closest won a prize. Also, you can see one of the three hot air balloons I made for decorations. They turned out pretty cute.
This little girl's mom kept telling her not to touch their presents, but Emily said, "That's how you know it's kid approved." She's an excellent mom.
My mom made the baby a blanket. Its covered in stars. Emily's favorite shape.
She also made this banner to hang on the wall with the extra fabric. It turned out so cute!
I took a lot more pictures, but this last one is just of what I gave her. I think there was a little bit more in the bag, but I can't remember what it was. After the baby was born, I bought her some clothes. I was so excited to meet their little baby!
And now, for your listening pleasure, a party song:
In November last year, a few days after Angel Street closed, I received a phone call while I was dying my hair. When I returned my friend's phone call, she told me she needed a replacement for one of her actors in the show she was doing.
Apparently, this woman didn't want to do any shows on Monday night because that was Family Night and felt that the theatre should just change the dates of the shows if she asked them to. My response was, "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." So she dropped out and my friend told me I was the fourth person she called. Thanks.
So that's how I became a part of one of the most awfully written plays I have ever read. Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, sentences that made no sense. One of the characters' last name was changed three different times. It was sexist and made people from Idaho look really dumb and people from California look really spoiled.
When I was called, I had just done a very emotional part that was all me on stage 95% of the time, so I was going to take a break (I usually don't do shows during Christmas anyway), but when someone needs my help, I like to do my best to give it. I asked if it was a big part, or if it was a smaller role. She told me it was medium and not too many lines to memorize. She lied. I was practically the main character. Connie, the mother of three spoiled children living in California who marries a country boy from Idaho. The show is really an ensemble piece where there really isn't a clear main character, and everyone had a good amount of lines, but as I read the script, all I could think was, "What have I gotten myself into? What does she mean this isn't that big of a part?!"
I had a hard time memorizing my lines and didn't feel a great bond with the cast. The guy playing my husband didn't even act like he liked me on stage until like the week before the show opened. You know. Newlyweds touch each other and it was weird that he didn't. We had problems. I'll admit my attitude didn't help me much. But neither did when the director seemed to be having panic attacks over the show and I had to tell her it would all work out. It would have been nice for her to say the same thing once in awhile or you know, say I was doing something right. But I think we disagreed about my character. She thought Connie was a dumb idiot and wanted me to play her that way. I don't think she was dumb at all. Just extremely overprotective. She had no compassion for my character. The way she wanted me to play her was very unlikable. I didn't appreciate it when she wanted me to say my lines a certain way. She didn't trust my instincts as an actress and that made her very difficult to work with.
I thought I was the only one who didn't like the show, but I found out a few days before we opened that I was not alone. I felt so much better. We really did the best we could with what we were given and were surprised when the audiences who came were laughing (it was a comedy after all!). We were so glad when people laughed. Don't get me wrong, there were some funny parts in the show, but it wasn't One For the Pot or Death By Chocolate.
Well, I no actor gets to love everything they are in, I suppose.
Jan - Nedra's friend, Mooney - Nedra's boyfriend, Nedra - Connie's daughter, Johnny - Chris' nephew, Dee Dee- Nedra's friend, Junior - Connie's son (he was double cast, so both boys in the whit t-shirts are Junior), and Debbie - Connie's baby girl.
It's 1959. Chris and Connie are so in love, but the honeymoon is over the next morning when Nedra starts telling Chris he can't tell her what to do because he is not her father. Junior said the same thing to him earlier and Debbie loves Chris after the spanking he gave her. Because you know, all kids need is a little "discipline".
She tries to sneak off with her friends after being asked to go to bed, but Johnny catches her.
Connie's mother is a sarcastic and down to earth woman. Nedra has asked her to find one thing nice about her friends Drag and Mooney (spoiler, there really isn't much to like). She replies, "They didn't belch."
Chris and Connie were discussing their honeymoon plans. Chris wanted to bring the kids. Connie was like, "Whaaaaat?" Debbie and Junior are very excited that Chris decided to buy his own boat instead of borrowing his brother's. Connie - not so much.
Let me explain something to you about Connie. Her first husband died and it traumatized her. Now she is afraid of horrible things happening to all of her children. She doesn't even want Junior to have a scooter. She's ridiculous.
Sheila loves Chris. She is so excited to have him as her brother-in-law. He's a real man in her eyes and wants one just like him. But in true sisterly fashion, she makes Connie think she's trying to steal her man. So after saying she'd like to wreck her marriage, Connie yells, "Well, isn't that nice Chris? Too bad you can't win Neddy over so easily!" And storms out of the room. Sheila just laughs because, you know. It's so easy.
Dee Dee falls for Johnny. He's a dream boat.
Jan and Dee Dee don't understand why Nedra finds Johnny so repulsive.
Drag and Mooney start playing football with the fruit and knock it over.
Everyone is leaving to go to the beach with the boat, but Chris has told Nedra and Junior that they need to finish their chores before they can go. Nedra has to clean the whole house and Junior the storage room. So Nedra leaves a not saying she's going to elope with Mooney and Junior buys a bus ticket.
They've come home from the beach and had a very good time. Well, probably except for Connie.
Because she comes home to find Junior missing. She blames Chris for everything, finds the note Nedra left, and decides to get on an airplane to go look for Junior. She leaves a note for Chris telling him their marriage is over. A little drastic, but so what if she's in love with him? Her children have got to come first, and they will never accept him as their father.
It's the next morning. Junior came home from Disneyland (Connie believed him to be in Fresno) around four in the morning. Chris and Johnny have decided to clear out and go fishing. You know, because Connie told him to go. Junior is wondering why nobody is worried about his mom.
Connie comes home to find Nedra has also come home and is vacuuming the living room.
Nedra lets her know she never wants to see Mooney again and then surprises everyone by kissing Johnny. Because she loves him. Johnny always had a crush on her from the minute he chased her down the driveway when they first met.
The kids tell Connie they like Chris after all and everything is all better.
Oh, and Chris doesn't love Sheila. He just wants to take her to Idaho so she can meet (and maybe marry) a couple of bachelors on his potato farm who would get a lot more work done if he could marry them off. Best show ever.
There are a lot of things that happened last year and in these last few months that I never blogged about. I want to mention them, but I can't give them each their own posts because I will never get caught up and I want to blog about the things that are happening now, so here's just a recap of the things that happened at the end of 2014.
In September, my bestest friend Nicole and I went to ComicCon and met this guy:
He was very kind and we loved meeting him. Epic.
In October, my brother got married. So I got a new sister.
I think we'll keep her.
Then Riley turned 12 and became a received the Aaronic Priesthood.
After which we celebrated with steak and then cake.
He doesn't like it when I take his picture.
For Halloween, the boys dressed up and went trick or treating. I made their costumes. Well, most of them. Riley's vest did not turn out, so we went searching for on at the thrift store.
Kaleb is an elf, Riley is a Hobbit, and Zachary is a thief.
In November, I started rehearsals for Five On A Honeymoon (more on that later).
Kaleb made a snowman with the tiny amount of snow that fell.
We celebrated Thanksgiving at home. It was so yummy.
In December, Riley graduated from the Dare program.
I don't think he thought I would come (because I think Dare graduation is silly).
But I think he was happy I did.
I'm only including this picture of Riley's teacher so I can point out that he looks like Iron Man.
Kaleb also turned 10 in December. All of my kids are now in the double digits. No big deal.
I think the reason there's only one candle in there is because I could only find one candle.
Oh hey. Guess what I forgot to post last week. Okay. More like two and three weeks ago.
I have two Sacrament Meeting Art pieces for you today. Because I forgot to post them sooner. Now, I have to think what dates they belong with...
Sacrament Meeting Art #5: March 22, 2015.
This piece is based on a picture I found on that facebook page I follow. I can't remember who did it. Oh, fine. I will try to research it. Hang on.............Nevermind. I remember now. Kurtis shared it on Google+ and as far as I can tell a person named Sunkara Yeswanth is the person who posted it. I have no idea if it is his photo though. But it is gorgeous and Kurtis kind of challenged me to use it, so I had to do it in crayons.
Here's the original photo. Gorgeous!
Sacrament Meeting Art #6: March 29, 2015.
This one comes from a puzzle app I have on my Kindle. Kaleb said I should do this one, so I did. I don't have the original as I am too lazy to take a photograph of my Kindle. But it's a field of poppies by the ocean or a body of water as the sun rises. Gorgeous! I love sunsets and sunrises. I see more sunsets than sunrises though because I don't like to get up early enough for them.
I hope you had a wonderful Sunday and a wonderful week. I know what I'm going to do next, too. Which is nice because sometimes I really don't have a clue. That's why I did the puzzle.
And now, for your listening pleasure:
Not sure why, but when I see look at the photograph above, that's the song that came to mind.
So this story is old now, but I don't write much on my blog anymore and I've been meaning to put this one down because it is hilarious.
First, let me start off this story by making a confession. I only have three pairs of pants. I wear the same pair of pants until I do the laundry next, or if an unfortunate accident with food happens. Like if I get chocolate on them, for instance. There. Now you know one of my secrets.
So it was March 5th. A Thursday. A laundry day. As I was looking for the clean pair I wanted to wear, they were mysteriously not hung up in my closet. "Weird." I thought to myself. "I must have worn them and they must be in the wash already." Which is weird because I don't remember wearing them sometime between Monday and Wednesday. I may be genetically predisposed to dementia, but I think it's a little early to be experiencing early onset. Meh. I shrugged it off and took my laundry downstairs to sort with the rest of the kids' clothes.
At the end of laundry day, my pants had not turned up, so I tweeted:
"It is always weird when you go through your closet and find a pair of your pants are missing."
I went out to dinner with my bestest friend and we talked about the missing pants. She has three daughters and completely understood. Her pants and clothes go missing all the time. I said, "Yes, but that's to be expected. You have girls and girls do that. Boys don't usually take their mom's clothes and wear them."
Two days later, I asked Zach if a pair of my pants had accidentally been put with his pants. You know, sometimes I can be absentminded and start thinking about other things and put my stuff in the wrong pile. It's rare. And actually, this seems to be the first time I have ever done it with my clothes. I know that I have looked at a shirt and not known which of my children it belonged to and put it in the wrong pile to catastrophic consequences. Who knew boys would be so possessive of their clothes?
Anyway. Zach checked his pile of pants he had yet to put in his drawer, but to no avail. So I tweeted again:
"It seems the case of my missing pants has gone cold. :("
And I kept telling myself I should just buy myself like five more pairs of pants because then this wouldn't happen again. But I didn't because I had other things to do. Maybe I will get to it eventually. It's obviously so important to me.
The next day was laundry day again, and as I pulled Zach's clothes out of his hamper, there they were. My pants! My girly pants with the decorations on the back pockets. I sighed. And then I just burst into giggles. Did he not notice the pockets were decorated all fancy? Well, probably not. This is Zach we are talking about. He's not very observant and it's quite possible he gets dressed in the dark. I tweeted:
"The case of my missing pants has been solved. They were found in Zach's laundry basket. Now the ?? is: Did he wear them? More on that later."
When he got home from school, I told him I found my pants and asked if he wanted to know where.
"Sure." He replied.
"In your laundry basket. Does that mean you wore them?"
He got all sheepish and a little embarrassed and said, "I may have."
"Didn't you find them a little bit baggy?" My waist is about seven inches bigger than his.
"A little bit. Yes."
Mystery solved.
And now for your listening pleasure:
The song the title comes from. A big thank you to my friend Amy for helping me out and telling me about it!
