Benihana

Last night we left these guys with a babysitter and went out to dinner for my birthday. Jansen's been having a hard time when we go out lately, so we try to make the night fun for him and Natalie by throwing some treats in a bowl and letting them watch a movie. Lately they are loving a fighter pilot documentary called Operation Red Flag. Out of all the movies we have, they just keep wanting to watch that one. It cracks me up. 

 Nate and I went to Benihana. It was in a hotel near the Strip, and the ambiance inside the restaurant was really awesome. It's fun to be entertained while eating.

 I got yakisoba and Nate had filet mignon and scallops. Our meals included onion soup, a salad, vegetables, rice, some shrimp, and a bowl of ice cream. And I just now remembered I have some leftovers in the fridge. Excuse me for a minute.

 My ice cream had a candle in it, and after they sang to me and I blew out the candle, our waitress asked if I  had made a wish. Some cheesy part of me put my arm around Nate and I said, "It already came true." Hahaha. Well, that's really how I feel though. :) The Japanese waitress was just incredulous that we had kids at home. 3 of them! She thought we were both single and just on a date. I laughed because if we had been at a Benihana in Salt Lake, everyone would take one look at us and  think, "I bet they are Mormon, married, have a few kids, and have been married for 5-10 years." But not in Las Vegas!

It was a wonderful night. Couldn't think of a better way to start off my 30s!

How an Almost 30 Year Old Parties

The adult Easter egg hunt we host every year just gets better and better. There were over 600 eggs strewn across our neighborhood park this time. I think we had 13 couples from our ward there. 

Julie and I had our baskets on display as everyone came in...I'm sure it was great motivation. The "golden" basket went to the couple who collected the most eggs, and my "nasty" basket of shame was filled with awful Easter candy and went to the couple who gathered the least. Notice the framed Easter egg cross stitch.

 Here are the troops. Some were penalized with a late start for turning their eggs into us late or arriving late to the party. We don't mess around.

Looking high and low for those eggs...

I gave everyone a mini LED finger light before we started to aid in the hunt.

I'm sure it's a blast collecting the eggs, but the real fun starts when everyone returns. We go around the room, one couple at a time, and open all the eggs. One rule: if you open an item that can be worn, you must put it on. You don't have to wear it correctly, it just needs to be displayed somehow. We started off with a bang:

 There was no shortage of thongs. Although I started to wish there was...

The disposable adult diaper made an appearance.

 And whatever these things are...

 Just look at the faces in this one. Oh my gosh, we were all DYING. That thing is so nasty hilarious. 

 There were also lots of awesome prizes, cash, gift cards, candy, and coupons. It takes a couple hours to get around the room and open everyone's eggs, but the time flies. We had so much fun, and I feel like I am already on the look out for ideas for next year's eggs!

Christmas in March

The night before my mom and sister came to visit, I told Nate it felt like Christmas Eve to me.

I like them that much.

Our first order of business was to get Emmy to warm up to them.

 These two are already very warmed up to Grandma Becca and Lexi.

Maybe it's the freckles? Freckles bring people together.

 We had a movie night. Jansen and Natalie didn't care what we watched, but Grandma requested Puss in Boots. Which I quite liked. I like most things that are accompanied by pizza and cinnamon sticks though.

 The kids have been begging for a trip to the science museum. They wanted to see Curious George, who is on display there. 

 Jansen opted for things like this, rather than the hurricane simulator. (He has a terrible fear of the wind and severe weather.) 

Grandma let Natalie have some makeup and nail polish adventures. I quickly confiscated the lipstick...Natalie cannot be trusted with a tube of her very own lipstick.

And now our little guest room is empty once again.

It was a little easier saying goodbye knowing we'll see them in a few weeks during a trip to Utah on General Conference weekend.

Painting

Anyone else's heart sink a little when the kids want to paint or do Play-doh? Always right after you've finally cleared off the counter? And swept? And their clothes are clean? I guess as long as they're having fun, right?   RIGHT!???

Service

As I was driving down the freeway today, I glanced at the billboard for the Las Vegas Premium Outlets. I thought of all the people shopping there today...having a good time. I thought, "Wouldn't it be fun to go there today? Ooooh, and what if I got to shop there almost every day?"

My second thought was, "You know what? That actually wouldn't be all that fun. Sure, I love to shop and would love to go there, but if I had the choice, money, and time to shop there several times a week, I would never in a million years do it." 

I thought about how I would feel at the end of the day, every day, if I filled my hours with shopping. Pretty empty inside. It really gets me thinking about what I can do each day to really feel fulfilled when I go to bed at night. A friend texted me a few days ago and asked if she could bring my kids slushies. No particular reason. It made their day, and mine. It made me think about how I can incorporate small acts of kindness into my life more often.

 I'm so thankful that out church is so service oriented and provides me with many opportunities. Last Saturday morning our ward cleaned, swept, weeded, painted, and gutted a nearby park. We brought the whole family. 

 Nate gave Jansen these shears to bring...despite my concerns. ;)

 Nate also let Jansen do some painting...despite my concerns. He's so lucky to have a dad that lets him learn and experience when I'm reluctant to.

 Natalie, Emmy, and I did a lot of weeding and garbage collecting. Emmy mostly dumped dirt and rocks into the garbage bags. She's my little helper. :) 

It was an awesome way to start our day.

On Catching Lizards

If at first...

you...

don't...

succeed...

smile anyway!

Good Work, Buddy

On Monday, Jansen ran in the door from school hooting and hollering about something. He was just so darn excited. Turns out he earned the most AR points during reading week out of the whole first grade. To tell you the truth, I'm not exactly sure what that means. Basically, I think he read the most books and passed some short quizzes about each one. He got a complimentary pass to the local kids' science museum. 

UNLV Game

Nate had a rare opportunity to take Jansen to a UNLV basketball game about a week ago. It was the perfect way to spend a few hours...just the two of them. Here are some pictures from their afternoon together:

Jansen has been more interested in sports lately. I love it! There are some older boys in our neighborhood that like to play basketball in the culdesac, and he shoots around with them a little bit. They are very patient with him. :) He'll start church t-ball again this week. We've been hitting some balls around in the backyard and lose an average of 2 balls a day over the fence. Yesterday Nate jumped the wall in his suit (as in Sunday dress) and retrieved a few for him. It was awesome. 

The Color Run

Believe me, I am more surprised than you that I did a race.

You see, I don't really like to run. My high school soccer coach is partially to blame for that. Oh boy did we ever run our little teenager guts out. And it's soooo boring. All I can think about when I start is when I'm going to be done. But I think it's so important to exercise regularly, so when I got an email from a friend asking if I wanted to do it, I just quickly typed that I did and sent it before I could change my mind. 

I knew I wouldn't regret it, and I sure don't. What a blast.

Here are some "before" pictures. A couple of these girls I hadn't even met till that morning, but we had a grand old time together anyway. 

So, here's how it works. After each kilometer you run through a designated area (seen in the background of this picture) and get color dust thrown on you. I look like I dunked my arm right in the bucket in this picture.

This is us at the finish line. I actually could not believe it was over already. I wish 3 miles always went by that quickly.

Me and Becca in the middle of a purple dust storm...

 I've never felt more beautiful.

They gave us each a little packet of dust and we were supposed to save it till after the race. Then we had a countdown and everyone opened their packets and went crazy. That's what's going on behind us.

 I have a lot of great poses, but this has got to be one of my best.

We dusted ourselves off the best we could, but we had to lay beach towels on the seats of the cars before getting it. The crease of my elbow was stained purple for a couple days from all the sweat and color trapped in there.

 I will soooo be there next year.

Sprouting

Nate took the kids to Lowe's a few nights ago to get some stuff for the lawn. They came home with a few extra things...namely seeds. The kids were so excited to plant some tomatoes, sunflowers, and a few others I can't recall at the moment. They kept the little pots in their rooms till they sprouted, and now they are invading my counter, but how can I not let them have a place in the kitchen? Those little sprouts are bringing Jansen and Natalie such joy. Natalie thanks Heavenly Father in her prayers that her seeds are growing.

 I am so supportive and happy that the  kids are having this experience. I wouldn't have done it with them on my own, so I'm very grateful to Nate for the ways that he enriches our kids' lives in ways that I don't.

 Speaking of dirt, Natalie wore these pants for just a couple hours one morning. And she got this dirty. Oh that girl. I was having a really rough time with her tonight. She uses a baby voice that curdles my insides, and there are a few other silly, insignificant things that drive me totally nuts. To the point where I was just closing my eyes, breathing, and literally praying to have the strength to be patient. I wanted to explode. And believe me, I didn't completely keep my cool. Now that I've had a moment to regroup, I need to go in and kiss that sweet little one and give her an extra squeeze.