Saturday Busy-ness

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were full of 3 birthday parties, a play date, a baby shower, a basketball banquet, a speaking assignment, and a homecoming.  And that’s not including the party we had planned at our house, but had to postpone.
Of course, since we were heading in ten different directions on Saturday, it snowed.  Hard.  I almost had second thoughts about going to Herriman for my niece’s baby shower because the roads were so bad.  But I wanted to see my family more than I wanted to stay off the roads, so I took Koko, Emma, and Annie and went.  Camri had a birthday party or she would’ve come too. 
The roads weren’t as bad when we got there, and I’m glad we went!  If you’re invited to a party planned by Arianna, you don’t want to miss it because you KNOW it’s gonna be good!
The decorations were darling, and she MADE these!  Those duckies are edible! Fantastic! Oh, and the cupcakes were delicious…mmmm, almond extract.   
We played some Minute-to-Win-it games…hilarious!
Blowing bubbles, pulling tissues, shaking booty, balancing lemon heads, and more…



Maybe we had a little TOO much fun?
Annie loves Darci…we all do.
Easton loves Nana…we all do.
Nice face Darci.  Nice socks Liz.
Thanks for a fun party, lovely ladies!!

Jr. Jazz Banquet

I use the term “Banquet” loosely.  It was just the boys and some pizza.  They passed out their trophies and pictures and had a fun party. 
Since the assistant coach offered to host, Joe offered to pick up the pizza…we must keep them safe.
They watched “Thunderstruck” with the boys.
Just a bunch of cuties…Go Kings!

They got their stuff, but the best part was just hanging out with each other. 
Dakota’s friend lives there too, so she tagged along for the teen portion of the party.
Let the weekend begin!

Eagle of the Month….Colin’s turn!

I love the phone call I get from school telling me that my child was selected as Eagle of the Month by their teacher, don’t tell your student, it’s a surprise, and please join us this Friday for the presentation. 
I’ve had this call a few times over the years and this time, it was for Colin! I’m not surprised he’s a good kid, but I’m a little surprised because he’s so quiet.  Normally that’s good at school, but in Spanish Immersion, they encourage speaking.  Each Parent/Teacher Conference I hear one thing, “He’s really smart and a great student, but we need him to speak up more!”  It’s quite different than what I hear from the teachers of my very talkative daughters. 
Imagine my delight when the Principal started reading what his teacher wrote about him,
“I have nominated Colin for the following reasons:  Quiet little Colin continues to quietly work in class.  He works hard and continues to improve.  He takes part in Spanish class and helps others learn.  He will do whatever we ask.  He builds and encourages his peers.
Mr. Cook and Senorita Ordaz”
I’m so proud of my boy, he works hard and it’s nice to know that it’s not going unnoticed.  His teachers are incredible and he is thriving with them this year.  Way to go Bud!!












Dad even got to come!
The whole gang…
Principal Sanford.
I’m so happy for you, son!!

Ski Day!!

On Sunday, Eric asked me if I wanted to go skiing with him the next day.  Hmmm, the kids are out of school, so Koko could babysit…YES!!  Actually, Koko offered before Eric even asked me, that’s how awesome she is… “Mom, isn’t Eric going skiing while he’s here?” Me, “Yes.” Her, “You should go with him, there’s no school and I can babysit.” Me, “Are you sure? That’s a long time.” Her, looking at me with disgust as if I questioned her very existence.  It’s true, she is an awesome babysitter! So, thanks to Koko, I spent the day with my brother on the slopes.
Wow, it was fun!  I was trying to calculate how many years it’s been since I last went skiing.  Let’s just say it’s been a lot, okay, almost 20 years.  What?  How can I even say that? Wasn’t I born 20 years ago? 
Luckily, I have the right clothes, but I needed to rent skis. Eric picked me up and we went to Ski-N-Ski for our stuff.  We loaded up his car and went up to Brighton. 
It was a gorgeous day! Blue skies, a few clouds, not very cold, and lots of good snow.  We got there right after it opened and got half-day passes.  I requested a warm-up run so I could see if I remembered how to do this.  Green Circle runs, here we come! 
I was shocked at how easily the technique came back to me.  The muscle memory? Not so much.  The feeling of flying down the slopes heavily outweighed the soreness in my legs and I felt like I was in heaven. 

We quickly advanced to the trickier slopes and even (accidentally) took a double-black-diamond path down one time.  The views were breathtaking at the top of the mountain, it was stunning! 

Cute Eric. 

I seriously had so much fun with my brother.  I miss him since he lives across the country, but today, we were little kids again, riding up the lifts and talking and laughing and thanking Dad for all the times he took us skiing when we were growing up. 
It doesn’t matter how life changes, skiing stays the same. 
I got him on film, and he got me.  I had to prove to my kids that I could actually ski!

Our passes expired at 12:30, but by the time we were done, it was 1:30.  Oops, I guess I figured they would stop letting us go up when our time ran out.  So, we got an extra hour, lucky us! 

I didn’t want our day to end.  We went to lunch down by my house, and in that short car ride, my sore muscles stiffened…so did his.  We looked so funny trying to get out of the car and walk to the restaurant!  At least I wasn’t the only old fart on this trip!
Love you brother….let’s do that again!!!

Joe’s office

Joe’s office is so cool.  First of all, he can see me when I pull up because his window is right there.  I could drive into his office if I wanted to.  But I don’t. Secondly, he always has treats, just in case someone brings kids in to visit.  And he has incredible will power, so he can leave them out and not eat them all.  Even M&M’s.  He also used to keep toys in there until recently when he gave his Easter and Santa Potato Heads and pirate figurines to our kids.  But he still has his football helmets and golf figurines. 
Anyway, it’s a cool office.  And he works with cool people.  This is my favorite job he’s had since we’ve been married, it’s a great place for him.  The President of the company gave him a jersey for Christmas, since they “have service as unique as a two-dollar bill.” 
See?  Cool. 
I’m so grateful for my hard-working man!

Sunday Funday

Because of church, of course!  We actually have 9:00 church this year and they have (mercifully) switched back to having Sacrament Meeting first.  Whew, much better with little ones!!  After the first few weeks of this schedule, Joe decided we should maybe drive separately since Relief Society is last and by the time he gathered up all the kids and put them in the car, they still had to wait for me.  What can I say, we have some great ladies in our ward!
On this particular Sunday, we were excited to go to Grandma and Grandpa Pulsipher’s house because ERIC IS IN TOWN! We had a nice, big family dinner and it was fun to see everyone. 
We had an impromptu program that included Koko singing, Mom on violin, and Lori on piano…doing the song they did at Women’s Conference. All aboard the Neck-Rub Train…
Look at Liz’s cute baby bump. 
It was fun to visit and laugh and eat. And laugh.  And laugh.
We love our Pulsiphers!

Valentine’s Day Weekend

Since Valentine’s Day was on a Thursday (awesome!) Joe and I did our fancy date on Thursday and our Kid Date on Friday…it worked out perfectly.  It’s an odd year (I get the evens), so it’s Joe’s turn to plan our Valentine’s Date.  He did good.
All he told me was that we were going to dinner and a movie…and that’s what we did.  He led me across Jordan Commons to the other side and took me up rose-petal-covered stairs to a room with tables set up, a DJ, and prom decorations.  THIS was dinner! 


We had salad, yummy breadsticks, and pasta…and don’t forget the Cold Stone stand right outside the door, just for us!  Yes, please! We were able to text requests to the DJ and most of the songs were from movie soundtracks…Wedding Singer, Titanic, Moulin Rouge, etc.  The song choices were most excellent! 
We ate, we danced, we talked, we laughed, it was marvelous!  Then it was time for our movie.  They hooked us up with drinks and popcorn and sent us on our way.  We saw Safe Haven, which was totally for my benefit…probably not a flick that Joe would’ve picked otherwise.  But it was good and we both liked it. Such a fun night! 
We got out to our car and had a special surprise from our friends, Joe immediately knew who it was when he saw it…
Thanks Des and Phil for our special Valentine’s note! 
On Friday, it was kid day. I put some ribs in the oven at 9:00 and let them cook all day, cleaned the house, got our gifts ready, and it was time to party!
We watched Skyfall with the kids, Grandma and Grandpa Heugly joined us too…fun!
After the movie, the kids got their gifts…a gratitude journal and some chocolate (except for Koko who’s not eating candy this year, she got fruit roll-ups)…

I am most grateful for my little family and my true love.  Happy Valentine’s Day!