Happy Happy Days!

It has been a great weekend. It started out with me turning the big 2-5! Oh time flies! A quarter of a century...CRAZY! Well looking at the events of my life, I thought when I turned 25 I would have just gotten married, maybe pregnant. Well I have two kids now and my oldest is about to start school and Lola is already 15 months, walking and talking. It is amazing, but I feel older or I should be older because many people my age, outside of Utah, are either getting married or still playing the field. I wouldn't want to trade. I like how I did it all at a young age. It makes me happy being a young mom and thinking about being a young G-ma. Did I have goals I wanted to reach by the time I turned 25? Possibly. I tend to put my goals in Greg's timeline. Especially when 30 seems like around the corner for him and I will not turn 30 at all.

Let me tell you about my bday because I consider it the best I probably have had. It started on Thursday night when Greg surprised me with a spa night. I had a facial and a massage, which was so relaxing and great. If you know Greg and I at all, we don't do well with surprises. We tend to open our Christmas presents early every year and then wrap them so we have presents on the bottom of the tree. If Greg does surprise me, I have a tendency to return it. I told him to get me whatever and you should be proud of me for not actually having something specific in mind. In the morning, he let me sleep in, made me breakfast, and I got to go get a pedicure and my hair styled. We made arrangements to drop off the kids with Grandma and Grandpa.


Anniversary Time! We celebrated our 5 year anniversary. We made reservations at the Anniversary Inn. We stayed in the Lighthouse Suite. It was a lot of fun and relaxing. We went out to dinner at Flemings at the Gateway and watched a movie. Saturday we went shopping, which we were in line at Old Navy for an HOUR. The jeans were $12 and we all needed some new ones. It was nice to not have the kids with us. We sometimes forget how much fun it is just the two of us is. We need to do this more often. It was a blast and the kids had a blast with the grandparents. 5 years...Who would've thought that after 1 night of making out would lead to this!

Good News or Bad News?

Which do you prefer first? Good news or bad news? That is a common question that comes from Greg and he should know the answer by now because I always say the same thing. I prefer bad news. After the bad news, I hope to be uplifted by the good news and that rarely happens. It seems that usually the bad news outweigh the good, but in the news I have to share, it is a fair trade. Well it depends on the audience, so you be the judge.

Bad news first. The sixth Harry Potter movie has changed its release date. It is moving from November 21, 2008 to July 27, 2009. You can find more details in the article.

Good news. Twilight moved from December 12, 2008 and snatched Harry Potter's November spot.

That's the news folks so what do you think? Are you under Harry Potter's spell or are you bitten by Twilight?

Having Fun and Keeping Busy

Here are a few pics for your viewing pleasure.






After my eventful weekend of Breaking Dawn, I didn't know what to do with myself. I wanted to reread it. I needed to keep myself busy so I wouldn't think about it. I continued the whole potty thing with Caden which has gone great and he even wakes up at night to go, which I still put a pull-up on him, just in case. He hates the pull-up because he knows that it is time to go to bed. On Monday, he got enrolled in a preschool that I am super excited about. He keeps bringing it up everyday and I have to keep reminding him that it doesn't start for a few weeks. Tuesday, a friend and I made jam for the first time and it was surprisingly easy. We made apricot-pineapple freezer jam and I am excited to make more because we love freezer jam. I never knew how to make it because I thought it was hard so we would always take some from Greg's mom. Now I know what to do, we don't have to do that anymore. Wednesday, Rachel and I had a date night. We went to dinner at Red Robin, which was really good, and then we watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. We were in the front row and it was such a good chick flick. It made me laugh and teary-eyed. It was really good! I would totally recommend this movie to those that are in the mood for a good chick flick. In addition, it had awesome previews, especially the Twilight and Harry Potter:Half-Blood Prince. This year is a great year for movies. The rest of the week, I went school shopping for the kids. Yes, I said KIDS. It is only natural for me to buy school clothes for both Caden and LOLA. How can I not when girl clothes are so cute? Greg had to work all weekend and I ended the week with bridesmaid dress shopping. I have been staying up late looking online for weddings, on a budget, ideas for my BFF Hannah. It can get difficult when I am here and she is in WA. We communicate through email and IM. It is coming along and I picked a pretty, purple dress. I never realized how expensive weddings can be. Do you have any ideas to keep weddings in a reasonable budget? If you are married, what did you do to keep the costs low? Please help me out so I can pass along the info.

It was an eventful week last week and it is just getting crazier as the summer comes to an end. Oh, I forgot to mention we watch the Olympics every night until 11. We love the Olympics!

The Question that Kills me.

So we have finally come to this point! I must go to the library and check a billion books out and look on the internet for the impossible answers. The past little while, I have been questioned of my intelligence every minute of the day. My Caden needs his mommy to be smarter. I thought it would be when he starts going to school so I can help him with his homework, but the time has arrived in a 3-year-old. Caden has grown up to a curious little boy and has asked the magic question that makes myself question my own knowledge.

WHY?

He is never satisfied with my answer to his question because he asks me "why" to my responses to his "whys" and I just have to casually end the question answer conversation with "the end". He went from "What's that?" to "Why?" Toddlers are amazing. Their minds grow so fast and have to know everything. I love it!

These are a few of my favorite things.

Eleanor Cleverly Takahashi: One of my favorite people in the whole world.

She is one of my best friends and we have had a great time in Utah (and Indy) together. She is moving to New York to get smarter and stylish (if that is possible). You will be missed, but I know we will see each other soon that I am not going to cry...yet. Here is my dedication to you my friend.

Top reasons why I love El.

15. She totally looks like an Eleanor.
14. It is so much fun to make fun of our husbands together, even though we are the only ones laughing.
13. Great taste in clothes, shoes, and design.
12. Your obsession with Harry Potter. (You have to remember that Greg and I did sort of tell you about them before you started to read them)
11. Your creativity in everything that you do.
10. You rarely answer your cell phone.
9. You would rather take a train instead of a plane across the U.S.
8. Your frequent anxiety attacks.
7. You dropped everything to go to Indiana to be with your husband, who was with my husband, that totally slacked off and were bad influences on each other, then getting pregnant there at pretty much the same time, then getting new cars at the same time, then buying houses at the same time, and having our little monsters 3 weeks apart, and now you are leaving Utah, which we aren't doing at the same time :(
6. Your obsession with Harry Potter.
5. You are one of the funniest and craziest people ever.
4. Your love of books and knowledge.You have a goal of reading 10 books a week, which you tend to reach.
3. Your love of anything that has sugar and everything that is chocolate.
2. You look hot even when you had shaved your head. (Shouldn't that be a reason to hate you?)

AND THE TOP REASON WHY I LOVE THIS GIRL...
DRUM
ROLL
PLEASE

1. Did I mention, your obsession with Harry Potter?

I love you El. I will see you when you either come back or when I come to NY to party it up! Try not to turn into an Upper Eastside Manhattan snot. I know it is inevitable, but just try to slow it down so I can attempt to keep up with you somehow.

Back to Reality!

Well I have finally come back to reality and just finished Breaking Dawn. I thought I was going to take my time, but I think 2 days was long enough, don't you? Greg was kind enough to be with the kids while I was in my own world.

9:00am-Let's start with Friday morning. So, I decided to wait in line for my wristbands for Rachel and I to get our book that night at midnight. I got to Barnes & Noble at 9:15am and they started to give them out at 9am. When I arrived in the parking lot, there was a huge line in the front of the store and I couldn't even see the end of it. I started around to the side of the store and line continued to stretch. I went around back and it kept going until it finally stopped after 3.5 sides of the building. Was it really worth it? What time did the first ones come? I had to call Rachel and ask her if she still wanted to do it. I called Greg and he wanted me to come home. Greg had work off so it worked our perfectly that he watched the kids. So what did I decide? Rachel got her sister-in-law to watch her kids and she came to wait with me. How often do I get to do this? It was getting really hot waiting in line and I was just hoping to get around the corner of the building to hit some shade. It finally happened after an HOUR. Was it still worth it? I tried to call Rach, but she had already left so I will just wait for her and then leave. Sure enough, she came and we stayed in line. There were women, all different ages, moms their teens, tots, and babies. It was unbelievable! After 2 hours of waiting, we finally got our wristbands and we were the letters F.

6pm- Heading over to Rachel's new condo that her and Hiro just bought. Super cute by the way! We started our fabulous T-shirts. We decided to put I Edward in the front and Bite Me! in the back. It took us a little longer that we thought, but we still had all night to get to the book party.


8:00-We went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner, which was amazing. We ordered all appetizers. Thank goodness for free/no workout days and fried foods. Rachel and Hiro had gift cards for it and it covered our food and tip. Thanks again, Rach.

9:30-We headed over to Barnes & Noble and it is just packed and crazy. They fortune telling, face painting, a fashion show, and live music. They kicked everyone out at 11pm to form in more lines outside of the building. I bought 2 magazines and we read and played games. It was so much fun. It was also hot, stinky, sweaty, and crowded. They finally opened it up again at midnight and we went to alphabetic order to get our books.

12:45-We got our books, yay! We got them and then we went home. Isn't that crazy? You do all that and wait in lines forever and you get your book finally and then you just go home. Greg just asked, "that's it?" and I said, "that's it." It was fun and it was a great night without the kids. Some people brought their kids and I probably would've gone nuts.

1 to 1:30- Got home and went to bed. Some people, probably most, stay up and read the book, but I was exhausted. I have been waiting in line all day.

Saturday- I read most of the day and I went to bed at 1am. The book is really good and I can't really find a place to stop, but my eyes were doing tricks on me so I had to and go to bed.

Sunday afternoon- Finally, I'm done! There are a couple of things I wish would've happened, but all in all, a good way to end the madness that is Twilight. I can't wait for the midnight showing of Twilight the movie in December.

If you haven't read them, they are easy, enjoyable reads. I would recommend them. I gotta find me another book. Any suggestions?

Naptime=Blissful

Naptime is the greatest, but it is even better when I am taking one too.