My Birthday

I had such a great time for my birthday - here's the lowdown.....

The day before, these cuties picked me up to go to lunch and shopping!  It is always so much fun to shop with these ladies!!!  One time we were in New York and Company - in the dressing rooms trying on - when this lady asked us to help her pick out an outfit too because her girlfriends weren't there with her and she was going to her high school reunion.  We always have a blast and I know I can count on them to be honest with me!  I love that and we find some awesome deals when we go!  I got a super cute purple cardigan ($15), a GORGEOUS grey peacoat ($20), sunglasses ($3), necklace ($3) (a few things for my girlies - but at a really good price), pair of heels ($8) (which apparently break Utah state law because they are over 2.5 inches tall), and a pair of tennis shoes ($8) - all for $57.   We had a wonderful time!  Love these ladies in my life!

That night we picked up Fuzzy early from dance and headed to the Chinese buffet for some Mongolian Barbecue.  It was kind of a bummer!  There was someone before me that had put hot sauce on their Mongolian BBQ and so mine turned out SUPER SPICY!!!!  I got a new one after I ate a few bites, but my mouth was already on fire!

The next morning we had donuts and chocolate milk and headed to the pool for some swimming.  We had a fun time, then headed home to go to Scotty's basketball game.  Pizza and America's Funniest Videos was for lunch then I had LOTS of visitors come over (OK two, but that is lots to me).  Love having a Saturday Birthday to spend the day with my family!!!!  Lisa and my cousins, Julie and Taylor, came for a visit.  Between the phone calls from family and friends, treats dropped off at the door, and facebook messages, I felt totally loved.  Thanks everyone!  

Corry headed off to the Stake Center for Stake Priesthood Leadership Meeting later that afternoon, then he and I headed to the adult session of Conference that night.  Really what better way to spend my b-day than with 300 or so of my closest friends listening to great speakers!  I also got lots of hugs and happy birthday wishes.  :)

After that Corry and I headed to grab some quick dinner and run to the grocery store for Corry to cook me a special birthday meal the next day (stuffed chicken - delicious) with our good friend.  Well, we headed to Costa Vida - they made our meals and then we went to pay....

I hadn't grabbed my purse because I wasn't driving and I figured Corry had his wallet.  He didn't!  HAHAHAHAHA

I laughed so hard (I think Corry was more embarrassed)!  We told them we would have to go home really fast and grab our wallets.  They thought that was silly because by the time we got back our food would be cold.  So they told us to sit and eat, then get our wallets and come back to pay them.  

OH MY GOODNESS!!!

We couldn't believe how wonderful they were to us!  So, we ate REALLY fast and then hurried home and back to pay them - with a very generous tip!  

Great day and great memories!

Then the next day Julane came for a visit and brought me a gift....

Abish - the first book.  Remember I had posted about really liking this book , but realized it was a sequel?  Well I had told Julane about that the week before and she had already gotten me the first book!  HAHAHAHA again!  So funny and a great gift!

Then a few days later, my sis took me to lunch at Chili's.  SO FUN!  We went there to get the sweet corn chowder... they don't make it anymore!!!!  :(((((  Still fun lunch with my sis and great chips and salsa!  Almost as good as Macayos!

Then (it is the birthday that never ends) a few days later my crazy friends brought me to lunch at Jamie's house.  It was my National Day Birthday Party:

National Hugging Day 

I got lots of hugs

National Squirrel Appreciation Day

...because squirrels and humans have a lot of interaction, but not a lot of appreciation.  They gave me "Scardey Squirrel Has a Birthday Party"

National Compliment Day

I got 5 compliments from each of them written in a book

National Measure your Feet Day

We measured our feet - then measured our friends' feet for extra fun - plus I got a gift certificate to go buy shoes, not that I know my correct size

and finally National Pie Day

We ate pie and I got a pie and tarts cookbook (DELICIOUS!!!)

Thanks to everyone for making my day special!

Scary Day for the Neighbors

I took a bunch of pictures, but this is the only one that came in from my card.  SAD!!!  

Anyway my neighbors across the street came over one afternoon, just before the kids got home from school, to ask for a phone book.  They didn't want to call 911 and have the firetruck come (can you tell that didn't work), they just wanted to call the fire department and find out what to do.  Their 14 year old son had left his electric blanket on all day in his room in the basement.  It had smoldered all day and their basement was filled with smoke.  (They found out what it was because she ran into the smoke filled room to find the cause - probably not the best idea.)  Luckily it was a BEAUTIFUL January afternoon, so they just opened all the windows.  Anyway, after she called the fire department, the ambulance and fire truck came, complete with sirens on, just after all the kids had come home from school.  It was a good show and luckily nothing was really damaged (other than the electric blanket and a spot on the floor where it sat).  Their house was pretty smokey for a few days, but thanks to their 18 year olds son's prompting to go home instead of where he was supposed to be going, nothing major happened.  And my kids got to see a firetruck in front of the house.  They thought that was AWESOME!!!

First Family Active Activity for the Year

For our first activity, Scotty wanted to play basketball. We were scheduled to help clean our church building and decided to stay for a game of basketball after.  We had so much fun together running up and down the court - girls agains boys!  Hehehe!  It was a little heavy on the girl side, but what we girls had in numbers, Corry had in height, so it all worked out!  

A Few of My Favorite Things

Today is my Birthday!  So, I thought I would write a little about a few of my favorite things today!

Number one has to be this handsome guy right here!  I am married to my best friend.  He is definitely my favorite thing!  I love that he makes me laugh everyday.  I love that he works so hard for our family.  I love that he loves me - despite my shortcomings - he would probably say because of my shortcomings.  He truly makes me happy!

Then there are these cuties!  I sure love being their mom.  They cause me the greatest joy and the greatest heartache (sometimes all in the same hour).  I love that I get to be with them, take them places as well as learn and grow along with them!

These people are the people that helped me be the person I am.  They are definitely high on the favorite things list!  I love who they are, who they try to be, what they taught me, how they continue to teach me, how they love me and love my children and husband.  I love their strength and I love to see how they handle adversity - kinda like me.  A little stressed sometimes, a little gloomy sometimes, but always coming out strong in the end with faith in Christ.

I love all the wonderful girlfriends in my life!  I am so lucky to be surrounded by so many wonderful women.  I laugh with you, I cry with you, I pray with you and mostly I just love you!  (There are so many other wonderful women in my life I couldn't find pictures of - I love you too!!!!)

These are my crazy friends that I laugh A LOT with.  I love who they are and I love their strength! I love that at one moment we can go on a stealth mission - get caught playing fugitive by the police - and the next minute we are sharing our testimonies.  They bring light and laughter to my life!

These are the women I laugh and cry with the most.  They are always there for me - during my emotional breakdowns.  They are usually the first I tell about my joys and my pains.  I dearly love these women!

Hahahaha!!! I love this picture!  

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this curling wand!  It takes my hair from straight to curly in 10 minutes!  I know because I timed it yesterday when I took the second picture!  BTW the second one in my official birthday picture for 2012!

I love to shop for clothes!  These are some of my favorites stores.  Modbod, they usually have a 20% off coupon I can use and when I forget it - they give it to me anyway!!!! Plus $10-15 swim separates!  I love BellaElla too because of all their sales and coupons.  And it is right by my house!  New York and Company is fabulous for pants (and other things) because they have TALLS from 0-20ish they have petite, average and talls in all sizes.  They are expensive, but they have coupons and good sales!  Most of my pants come from that store.  LOVE them!  Plus I just got cute things there yesterday when I went shopping with Mindy and Wendi for my birthday!

I LOVE to play games!  I don't get to do this NEARLY enough in my life, but I love to play most any game.  I even play trivia games and have fun even though I am terrible!  I don't retain stuff like that well!  These are a few of my favorites to play.

I LOVE food, especially bread, but I have to say that stuffed shells might be my all-time favorite meal (homemade of course), but my favorite bread had to be Macaroni Grill's bread.  I LOVE it and wish I knew how to make it!  Plus I cannot forget in my list of favorites, the best donut ever!!!  Dunkin Donuts Vanilla Creme Filled - YUMMY!

 I absolutely LOVE to watch Food Network and HGTV.  Love most all their shows. I can't even pick any favorites!

My favorite other shows are Castle, Psych and White Collar.  Although I can't watch them without Corry - especially Castle because sometimes it creeps me out!

 

I love BYU - what it stands for, the sports, the education.  Like anything else in life, it isn't perfect, but I love it.  I loved my years there - who I became there.  Go Cougars!

I love teaching dance, watching my girls dance, and I love to dance!  I love being with my daughters and having something to really connect with them on.  I have loved being with Alli teaching her.  I have loved having Missy and Fuzzy teach with me.  I love having something to keep me busy (although at times it is too busy) now that my kids are all in school.  I love the little girls I get to teach.  I love their hugs and feeling like I am making a difference in their lives when I tell them what I liked about them that day! I love to be backstage when my girls come off to hug them.  I love being a ballet mom!

I love vacations and all things water related!  I love to sit on the beach, swim in the water, watch others playing in the water, boating, skiing - all things water related!

I just love to travel around the world and see all the wonders man and God created.  I truly love my home, but I LOVE to go see other places and then come back to my home!  (BTW that is my mom on the slide!)

I love my extended family.  

I love the family I grew up with.  I had a great childhood.

I love stealth operations and doing crazy things like a stealth baby shower - complete with head coverings and a cloak!

I love the temple.  Love that I am close to the temple and can go almost every week.  I love the mountains I live by.  I love to see them, I love to hike them, I love to be in the beauty of the canyons.  I live in a beautiful place!

I love looking at houses!  One day I would love a new house, but I will probably like looking then too, because I love to see different floor plans, different styles and what people can come up with new and creative!

And lastly for today, I love crafts and cooking.  I love to make things with my hands and see with my eyes that I accomplished something and that it has beauty - maybe not always beauty in looks, but beauty in taste or beauty in accomplishment!

Interesting Book

So I read an interesting book the last couple of days (no staying up until 5 am this time though).  It is a loosely historical fiction about Abish from the Book of Mormon and the people of Ammon - all their joys and sorrows.  It was so interesting to me because it was so much about being a mother and all the joys and sorrows I experience too!  I  have had way too much sorrow lately and it was nice to read about another mother, although fictitious, she mirrored my thoughts and feelings so it can't be too far off right?

I have often times been obsessed by wanting to know what it was and how the Mothers of the Stripling Warriors taught their sons.  Why wasn't there a list in the Book of Mormon about what they taught, when they taught it and how they taught it?  I have read and reread the verses about it as well as read talks on the subject several times.  This gave me such insights that I haven't gotten anywhere else - even if it was fictitious.  The conclusion I came to was that they were mothers just like me!!!!  They tried, failed, tried again and always included their Father in Heaven in their everyday discussions with their children.  Sometimes they got down, sometimes they got angry, but I think what I learned is that they continued to seek guidance and ask forgiveness when they made mistakes.  I think I have always put them up as perfect mothers.  Maybe they were, but I am guessing they weren't.  They just didn't give up.  In the end what they had was faith and hope.  Faith that the Savior would come and they would be together forever and hope that somehow everything would work out.

I was reading a blog series about one word resolutions for the year, and I think I found mine.

Hope

Another Cake by Missy

Missy made another cake for one of her best friends (and cousin), Haley, for her birthday.  Haley's birthday happened to be on a Friday which meant that we had to make the cake on Thursday - our craziest day of the week.  Missy ended up having about 1 hour and 20 minutes to work the fondant, color it, roll it out, cut it and then place it on the cake.  Let's just say she did a GREAT fast job!  We wish we could have cleaned up the colored fondant a little to get the sugar off it from rolling it out, but I think she did great!  She loved it and I think Haley liked it, although she only got a tiny little piece and Missy never even got a picture of Haley with her cake. :(

Why Don't They Think We Mean It?

Seriously!  When we tell our kids something, why don't they think we mean it? ...until we loose it with them.  I hate that.  I think that was part of my problem through December and the first part of January.  Mostly I do well with Corry traveling, when he is home working long hours and fulfilling his church work, but sometimes I feel like it is all too much.  Add to that pms, the kids not listening, and feeling like I was doing everything at the house by myself - led to an emotional breakdown by me.  Sometimes I feel like I am the only one that has those.  Everyone else is strong all the time - I know that is not true, but when you don't see it from others...

Anyway, things have been better the last week - mostly.  I think partly because I was able to let it all go.  Partly because thing have been better.  And partly because life goes on and it has to be OK.  You just have to get back up and keep trying.

That is where I am.

A New Year 2012

I am all about New Years Resolutions.  I think it is a great time to reevaluate and try to improve myself.  So first, update on last years goals:

I always like to base my goals on the scripture in Luke 2:52, "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man."


Wisdom - read more non fiction books - I read 3 I believe.  That is more than I read before!  
Stature - Work on maintaining the weight loss I had and strengthen my core.  I have only put on between 5-7 pounds since I lost the 25  at the end of 2010.  I think that is pretty good!!! Also I have tried to work on sit-ups more often.  I haven't seen much improvement, but I am still trying.
Favor with God - Learn more about the law of the fast and practice it more.  I found some YW Personal Progress Goals on this and fulfilled the requirements.  I think the Lord helped me with this one because he gave me plenty of things to fast for.  I am still not very good at it, but at least I improved in that area.  
Favor with Man - I honestly can't remember what I was doing for this one.  :( Hopefully I made some improvements!


Now on to my 2012 Goals:


Wisdom - I want to learn more about gardening this year.  I love having fresh veggies and flowers and have had a lot of luck and success.  Now I want to learn more and do better!
Stature - Continue to strengthen my core and be active as much as possible.  One thing I am doing with this is I have a fitness jar.  Every time I workout, I put $1 in the jar.  When I get to $100 I get to go shopping.  Teaching dance helps with this, but it would take me a long time to get to $100 just working out twice a week (almost a whole year!!!).  I already have a bunch of money in there - it helped the day I ran on the treadmill, taught dance for 1.5 hours, then played tennis later that day with a friend!  $3 on one day! This will also helping with my unwritten budgeting goal because I don't get to buy anything for myself until I earn this money!
Favor with God - I decided the thing I needed most in this area is to be more grateful.  Psalms 100:4 says, "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name." I have thought about that a lot.  I have been given so much.  One quote I found on pinterest says something to the effect of, "What if you only had what you thanked God for the night before?"  So I have started a "gratitude to my Father in Heaven" blog journal called www.365daysofmerfysgratitude.blogspot.com.  There is a link to it on my sidebar.  I want to be happier and I know that when I see all that I have been blessed with I am happier.
Favor with Man - I think in this area I want to improve most with my family.  I want to dedicate at least 10 minutes to each of my kids and my husband a day.  I know that doesn't sound like a lot - but it is!  It is so hard to find one on one time.  But often I have it and don't make the best use of it.  I want to do better there!


While I am at it, we decided to do family goals this year, so here are the Cloward Family Goals 2012:


Wisdom - Learn more about growing our own food year round and build a green house.
Stature - Have at least 2 active family activities a month - taking turns who picks our activity
Favor with God - be better about our Sunday scripture study.  We read everyday, but Sundays we have a little more time to study and that doesn't always happen - we want to do it every week.  After all, we are hoping to finish the Old Testament sometime (we started this Sunday study, including reading the study manual, last January and we are only to Genesis 50 for this week - one it takes awhile and two, sometimes we miss). 
Favor with Man - Get to know new people by inviting new families, or families we haven't had over for awhile, to dinner at least twice a month.  

One more for 2011

I can't believe I forgot to write about my favorite day of break!! Friday! We got up slowish and then watched the BYU bowl game and we won! I love watching my cougars! I think college football is so much fun to watch, more fun when your team wins, but still love the game! After that we headed to the tennis courts to play tennis with our friends! It was an awesome day! We finished it off with pizza and movie night! We don't have nearly enough of those. Plus I love Papa Murphy's vegi-delight pizza and we got to watch "Dolphin Tale", which I loved. How could I forget such a great day?

New Years Eve

My really lame, not very fun new years... OK, it wasn't that bad, but I did spend new years away from Corry for the first time since 1993 (I didn't even know him then).  We were engaged in 1994 and spent New Years Eve in the Bahamas with his dad and sister watching Junkanoo on the roof top of a friends building.  Since then we have spent New Years Eve with my parents several times, the Olsens and the Averys several times; with the Austins several times, with the Johnsons several times, and with the Cloward family several times, but not this year.  This year we were all divided.  Corry's band (The Buzztones) were invited to play the last set from 11-midnight at First Night SLC 2011.  That is super cool and a really great honor and we were so excited to go and listen as a family (minus Missy that was going to the New Years Eve Stake Dance for the first time).  But, Scotty and Alli were fighting tons and I didn't think I wanted to deal with drama up there from 10-midnight, then not get home until 1 AM, then deal with all the drama the next day because they were all tired...  plus Scotty was up the night before with a stomach ache and we just didn't think it was a good idea to take them up.  So, Fuzzy went up with Corry and I stayed home and put Scotty and Alli to bed about 10 PM after watching some crazy Youtube videos (there are some really funny and amazingly talented kids out there).  

Here are the pictures from Corry and Fuzzy's fun New Years Eve date (kinda fun - Fuzzy just sat there most of the night - but they did get to go to the top floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and see the view from up there).  Thanks for the pictures Jamie.

Like I said, I put Scotty and Alli to bed at 10 ish, then started reading a book about 10:30 PM.  Now you have to understand that me and books have a love hate relationship.  I LOVE books, but I HATE to put them down.  So....I didn't put it down.....until 5 AM when I finished.  It was a good book and really intense.  The book is called "I'll Find You" and it is about a little 5 year old that gets abducted from his front lawn while his 5 year old best friend watches in horror.  Let me just say that I had EVERY intention of picking Missy up at the dance which is all of 1/2 mile away from my house.  Leaving the little ones asleep - I would be back in less than 5.  Well, I was reading a book about a child being ABDUCTED - there were a bunch of crazies out in the streets - and I was NOT leaving my little ones alone.  So I asked Missy to find a ride home!  THANK YOU THANK YOU to Kenzie's parents for bringing her home!!!!  I just want to say that the next day I got up, went to church, taught music in primary and came home, played with the kiddos, read scriptures, watched a movie and only had about a 15 minute nap all day!!!! (and I wasn't that grumpy)

Fun with Hair

We decided to try some more fun things with hair, including the sock bun curling method.  Here are the results:  

Missy's didn't turn out as well - I think because of the layers

Alli's hair

Fuzzy's hair

Fuzzy's hair definitely turned out the best.  I want to try again and use a few new tricks I have read about online.  I will show the next results...

Piano

OK, so the story behind the late to the piano recital story.  I thought it started at 6:30 PM, not 6:15 PM!  OOPS!!!  Anyway, we were just home playing games and then got ready, but I decided to mess around with some fun hair styles I had found on pinterest so the girls hair looked cute from the back, so we were even a little more late because of that.  Anyway, I never got pictures of the back of their heads, we got there and had missed Scotty and Alli's performances and Fuzzy was up next, so we stood outside in the doorway, watching them go up and perform a little out of breath.  I never got my video camera or regular camera out until it was all over.  They all did great though with Missy having the honor of going last.  It has been so much fun to see her and her friends go from Alli's level to the levels they are at now.  I love to hear my kiddos play!

So, after it was all over, we got a picture of them together - when Trina stepped in front of the camera!  Hahahah!  

My little piano virtuosos!