My Insights for the Day

I found Hallie standing in my closet with my high heels on as she was perusing through my jewelry box. We were running late to go somewhere and I said, "Hey Hallie, you ready? We gotta hurry babe." She calmly grabs the first necklace she sees and clomps her high heeled self into the bathroom. As she is climbing up onto the stool she says, "Just a minute, I need to make sure I look okay." I smile and watch. She takes literally two seconds to stare in the mirror, give herself a big smile and says, "Yep! I'm perfect! I look perfect Mom. Let's go."

I know it was so simple but my little Hallie just got me thinking. (she seems to secretly teach me things all the time.) Why can't I or others think of ourselves as a little 3 year old girl does? Why don't I ever just take a few seconds and say, "Yep! I'm perfect!" when I look in the mirror instead of automatically finding 10 things to pick apart about myself? We train ourselves to do the opposite. Why can't we just learn to love ourselves and be thankful for what we are?

The same day while we were at the store, I came across a beautiful girl who had severely deformed lips. She acted happy, confident and full of life. I walked away from that store full of emotions. I just started thinking, how stupid it sounds to complain or be unhappy with my little insecurities. I am so blessed to have a body, to have my health, be able to live normal everyday. When I look at it in that type of perspective, it sounds so silly to even worry about the fluff stuff. Who really cares. When I think about the people I love. I don't think about what they looked like, what they were wearing, etc.. I always walk away remembering the way they made me feel. And that is what's important.

This lesson must be one that I need to work on because the next day I read THIS POST by my lovely sister. She's awesome! And such a good example to me. So...this is my insight for the day. We need to love ourselves! And just Be HaPpY with who we are.

"The talent for being happy is appreciating and liking what you have, instead of what you don't have."

Surprise Surprise

Whenever I get back from a trip to Utah, I dread blogging because I do so many things, take way too many pictures and have way too much fun that I hate to think about being back home and trying to explain my fun in one little post. So I put it off and then it gets so overwhelming. So here it goes.

Such a fun trip! My sweet dear Aunt Dicksy had this great plan to fly me out to Utah and surprise my mom and family for a Sisters Weekend. It was SO FUN! I was so proud of myself for not spilling the beans. It was SuPeR hArD! I guess I am a wonderful liar because they were completely shocked. Don't believe me? Watch this video. (push pause on the sidebar music)

WARNING: Yes, my cousins convinced me to dress up in this bear costume. It was pretty funny. I now know what a mascot feels like and I give them madd props! How the hecko do they see out of those two little holes? I seriously thought my mom was going to have a heart attack. So did Natalie. She thought it was my cousin Brandon (glad to know I'm not the first person people think of when they think "who the heck would dress up in that costume?" No offense Brandon). (and yes, Natalie calls me a butt munch. She likes to much butts! he he. inside joke)

Well it was such a great weekend. Here's a few highlights I enjoyed:

I arrived in UT 2 days before the big surprise so I got to stay with my Aunt Dicksy, Uncle Bob and cousin Steph who had flown in too. It was a blast. Steph and I are too much alike. It's scary.

Having security come to our door to inform us we were being too loud. And then having the two little worry warts worried it could've just been some man acting as security.

Spending time chatting till the wee hours of the morning without a bazillion interupptions

ShOpPiNg, sHoPpInG and more ShOpPiNg without kids

Winning the prize for the best story. I'll have to thank the ol' Buick Regal for that one. He is missed. (thanks Tam for the awesome Twilight scrubs :))

Delicious bundt cake, pizza, ice cream, candy, etc. YUM!

Meeting cute little Savannah. She is adorable!

Yummy Olive Garden Dinner

Bobbi Ann's exclusive party :)
(Bobbi Ann, you look like you're being smashed! This makes me laugh remembering trying to take this)

and Chatting about memories of Grandma and Grandpa.

SUCH A FUN WEEKEND!  But...WE DID MISS CHELSEY!!! Love ya sista.

The Rest of the Fun...

Since Aaron was on SICU rotation  (Surgery Intensive Care Unit) and we weren't seeing much of him, we decided to stay for 2 weeks. Here's some more fun we did.

Watching the Jazz games with Jordan and my sleeping mother

Bajio, Cafe Rio...mmmmm.

My mom took the girls to get twirly skirts and cupcakes. They loved it!

Making smores in the fireplace

Hangin with the fam

Jordan thinks he is so tough. Nice Jord.

Dustin wanted to dispaly his sweet shirt for the pic! Love ya Dust.

Don't look too happy to be taking a pic and getting hugged Dust :). You know you love it.

 Going to see niece Storie and fam on her 10th bday

Visiting with Aaron's mom and Bill. They were SO nice to watch my girls while I went. The girls had a blast and they loved playing with them. Hallie is all about the milkshakes!

Park with SIL Linds and Gayla and Bill

Peyton LOVED Grandpa Bill

Playing with cousins. I just love how we can be gone for months and my girls and Nat's kids act like they see each other everyday. They greet each other with squeals and hugs, run to the toy room and shut the door and begin their play immediately. It's so cute. Maybe someday we can live by each other.

We tagged along to the Bean Museum with Natalie and Avery's preschool (thanks for the pics Nat)

Seeing my friend Andrea. We lived in Iowa together while both our hubbys did the med school thing. It was so great to see her and meet her new little Millie. Hallie LOVES Mykah and was so excited to see them (even if she whined the whole time about her dang bandaid falling off :))

horrible pic, I know. Andrea does not have a multicolored face in real life :). I was too lazy to fix the shadows.

Seeing Sarah and Whitney and meeting little (not really little) Luke. Wish I had a pic.

Going with my friends Lindsey and Beth to St. George (thanks to my fam for watching the girls)

All night card nights require drink runs!!! I LOVE that these girls can and want to play cards just as long as I do. They are the best!

So...do you remember the show Teen Angel? Yes, this is him. Beth pointed him out at Red Robin and I was so excited. Totally had a crush when I was younger. Lucky for me I had my point and shoot camera in my purse (which is what the majority of all the pics in UT are taken from). I made Beth pretend she was taking a pic of me and Linds and zoom as close as she could to snap a pic. Yes, she thought I was retarded, but I didn't care!

So this guy next to us was like, "Hey why don't you let me take it so you can all get in the picture." Notice the total fake smiles of "I'm so glad he didn't know what I was really doing."

Little Maggie Mu joined us too. So cute.

Lunch with Grandma Janice at Brick Oven. So sweet of her to take us out.

Midnight hangouts with my mom eating our guacamoli and chips, watching TV and me wishing I had a snuggie (thanks to Dicksy).

Pirate Island
 (showing off their prizes)

And my favorite...the number of injuries Hallie got while we were there.

1. Running smack into a glass door (bruised nose and forehead)

2.  Smashing/cutting fingers in door.

3. Gashed forehead from a rocking chair.

4. Lip cut while playing (not quite sure how)

5. lip gashed open from tripping and hitting a chair (see pic)

6. lost count of how many falls and trips (she loves to run with her head turned backwards.)

7. Ringworm (gross)

(showing off her fat cut lip)

Hooray! Finally got that out of the way. Now on to the current...another day.

Hallie's February Captured Saying

• “Oh, thank you sir!” (talking to Aaron while playing store)
• “I just love you sweetheart” (I overhear her say this to Peyton a lot)
• After I said a prayer, Hallie said… “Wait Mommy, you forgot something!” “Please help Peyton to not laugh at me and cry and just go to sleep. K, bye. I mean Amen.”
• When we say our prayers before bed she says, “Ask to help me fall asleep 2 times!”
• I had been wondering if Peyton had an ear infection. Hallie said, “Well Mommy, you just need to take her to see Doctor Daddy.”
• “Happy Valentine’s Day Mommy!” (said this TONS) “Know why we say that a lot? Because we just love the people SO much!”

• Hallie: “How come I’ve never seen a unicorn before?”
Me: “Remember they are just pretend. There aren't really unicorns. Just pretend.”
Hallie: “NO THEY’RE NOT! I’ve seen them on Dora before! They are REAL!”
Me: “Oh, I’m so sorry. Because surely Dora is real too.”
Hallie: “Do you know how they get around?
Me: “I have no idea!”
Hallie: “They ride around on rainbows.”

• My sister Natalie is a much nicer mom and animal lover than I am. Well they got a dog and Hallie’s cousins are in love with it. We spent some time with them and so of course, Hallie and I had the following conversation.
Hallie: “Mom when will we ever get a cat?”
Me: “Never”
Hallie: “Ohhh…why?”
Me: “I’m allergic to cats.”
Hallie: “What does awergic mean?”
Me: “It means I’ll get really sick and die.”
Hallie: “Oh. Okay. Well how about a dog? Are you awergic to dogs?”
Me: No, but we can’t get one until you can take care of it all by yourself.
Hallie: I could! I could!
Me: You would have to feed it and give it baths…
Hallie: I could do that!
Me: And you’d have to play with it and take it on walks…
Hallie: I could do that too!
Me: And…you would have to pick up its poop.
Hallie: “EWWWWW!!” How bout you just do that part.”
Me: “Nope, if you want a dog you would have to do it.
Hallie: “I know! I could let you use my cleaning tools in my toy room and scoop it up in my little dustpan. Then you could do it!”
Me: “No, you would have to do it sweetie.” And…you would have to keep all your toys picked up or the dog would chew them up!
Hallie: (long pause) “Well…how about I just think about it for awhile.”
Me: “Sounds great!”

Peyton's February Captured Moments

• Really gets into singing and actions at story time.
• Loves to take care of her babies. Rocks them, sings to them, feeds them, shhs us when we are loud, etc.
• Loves watching the animal channel. She is fascinated by it and could sit and watch it forever.
• Still thinks she’s so funny with the diaper. Much to my horror, she took her diaper off in her crib with poop in it! Not once, but twice! GROSS! Bring on the duck tape.
• LOVES to be a tease.
• Loves to wear my high heels and dance around it them.
• Twirls in circles until she literally runs into walls. But she’ll get right back up and continue dancing again.
• Loves babies. Anytime she sees one she’ll point and say, “bebe bebe”
• Loves the boys. We went to Utah and she seriously was so attached to the men. It’s the same at home. She loves her daddy.
• Likes to say her animal sounds. Her favorite is a tiger. She can roar pretty good.
• Loves reading books. She can sit and jabber to each page forever.
• Imitates Hallie in her actions.