2015 Thanksgiving

It was the perfect Thanksgiving.

I loved that the kids had the entire week off from school.

The Friday before Thanksgiving had a wonderful feeling of celebration. We were headed into a nine day break from school!

Brian and I had a date night on Friday. We splurged and went to the full price theater to see The Intern (even though it was probably headed to the discount theater a week or two later). It was worth it. I thought it was a cute show.

Saturday night, Brian was covering an event at Station Park in Farmington. I love that place. It has such a good vibe. The landscaping is so pretty and the architecture is grand. It is a fun place to shop or go out to eat and they always have over the top events.

We took the whole family because Santa was making his debut.

There were tables set up around the fountain where the kids could frost cookies, play games, get their faces painted, get a balloon animal, play games or pick up fun freebies like donuts, popcorn and glow in the dark necklaces.

Everything was decked out in Christmas finest and the fountain was putting on light and water shows to Christmas tunes. There was also a band and Santa made a fantastic entrance on a fire truck with all the lights and sirens turned on when the band sang "Santa Clause is Comin' to Town."

Sophie and Ian were good sports about skating on the little outdoor rink while I stood in a very long line for two hours with Katie and Isaac in hopes of meeting Santa. Our long wait turned out to be for nothing when we decided to leave because we still had a very long wait ahead and it was getting too cold.

It might have been a little miserable if it weren't for all the festivities going on around us and the outdoor fires where we could warm ourselves up in rotation while one person held our place in line.

The good news was that the person who hired Brian to take photos of the event handed him a bunch of free tickets on our way out that helped us have some holiday fun on Monday.

We had a nice Sunday dinner at my mom's house.

On Monday, I worked until about 3 p.m. Then, the kids and I headed back to Station Park where all four kids got to ice skate for free, we ate a free meal at Brixton's near the fountain (and saw Santa and Mrs. Claus enjoying their food at a table next to ours). Katie got to meet Santa. This time there was no line at all! We walked right in. We even got a free 5x7 to remember the moment.

She was so very cute skipping up to his cottage and sitting on his knee with wide, shy eyes. In a quiet voice she told him she wanted Disney princess figures and a pony. He looked alarmed when she said 'a pony' until she clarified that she wants a toy pony.

Sophie, who will forever love imagination and meeting characters, had to sit next to Santa and tell him how much she wants a Chromebook for Christmas. The boys were far too mature to meet Santa.

While the kids ice-skated, I decided to take an hour to hit some of the shops. I think Harmon's is one of my new favorite places! It is so cool. It feels like a whole foods with so many specialty foods. The hot chocolate and gelato - yum yum! There is a darling area upstairs with tables and couches around a fireplace right next to huge windows overlooking all of Station Park.

It was a wonderful day and I don't want to forget how cute all four of my kids were on the ice. When I returned, there was a little boy holding Ian's hand, skating around the rink. Apparently, he had chosen Ian to teach him how to skate and Ian is way too nice to say 'no.' The little guy made a good choice. Ian is as nice as people come.

All four of my kids were whizzing around the ice with big smiles.

Tuesday, I needed to get a lot of (office) work done. I decided to work from home and invite the cousins over to keep my kids entertained. They had fun playing together and making so, so, so, so many things out of paper. The adorableness of paper projects is wearing on me a little. Ream after ream of frogs and paper airplanes and snow flakes and such. But, I was glad they were happy.

Right at 5 p.m., I took my three youngest and their cousins to my brother's house where everyone was so excited to have a sleepover!

Since Sophie is older than the cousins, she stayed behind with Brian and me and we decided to spoil her by taking her to a movie -- her choice -- The Good Dinosaur, on opening night. The movie was ok. Sophie thought it was great.

I woke up Wednesday knowing it would be a good day. I took advantage of the quiet morning to sort through the toys and get rid of a bunch that were broken or no longer being used. I cleaned my whole house too. After I picked up my kids, I did something for myself and got a massage. It snowed. Katie and Isaac made snow angels and played with the sleds. That night, we put up the Christmas decorations as a family. It was a very, very good day.

Thursday morning, Brian ran a 10K with a friend while I baked rolls, steamed veggies and got the kids bathed and ready for a big lunch at my mom's.

I loved how Katie put on her most sparkly dress, purse and shoes for the big occasion.

The feast was picture perfect. Every dish was delicious. All of my siblings were there. I kept thinking about how I can't take Thanksgivings like this for granted. My mom is an amazing cook and we are so blessed to have her host such beautiful Thanksgivings every other year.

In the evening, we drove to Brian's parents house to see more family and eat more pie. Brian's mom makes the most delicious apple and lemon merengue pies from scratch. Even though I was stuffed, I kept making more room to enjoy the delicacies of the day. There was also cheesecake and pumpkin ice cream pie. Yummy! The kids were happy to eat more pie. Especially the ones who forgot to eat pie at my mom's house.

Friday was a lazy day. Brian had the day off, but he spent it working on a tile project for a friend. He worked hard, but the kids and I didn't accomplish much. We stayed home and it was nice.

Saturday morning Brian ran 14-miles. It was snowing again. Sophie and I went to a yoga class. It was my first yoga class in years and it felt so good. I also took Katie to a "little yogis" class. I took her to the class three weeks ago and she has requested to go every week since.

My kids wanted another lazy day, but I needed to run errands and be productive. We did get to go to my mom's for Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch. In the evening, we went to Brian's office because it is located on Washington Blvd. along the Christmas Village parade route. We were able to watch the evening lights parade from the warmth of his beautiful office. Seriously -- there was even a glowing fireplace to relax next to. Occasionally, we would walk out onto the second story balcony to get a better view of what was passing by. And, of course, we had to go outside to see the fireworks. But, mostly we were hanging out in that lovely office sipping hot chocolates. I said, "This place is so homey, I could live here." That is when I found out it actually use to be a funky loft apartment with shops on the lower level. Now, G.O.A.L. has transformed all three stories into office space. Brian's office is in the loft on the 3rd level. The 2nd level where we were hanging out has a big open kitchen, fireplace, etc. It's pretty sweet.

Today, I taught Isaac's primary class. It was so fun. I have really missed being a primary teacher.

Church was finished at noon. After a nice lunch, we had a talk with our kids about setting some ground rules for all the things they need to accomplish before asking for an electronics turn. We wrote up a nice list so that they can refer to that instead of incessantly asking me if they can get on their electronics from sun up to sun down. They took it to heart and were so sweet about completing everything on the list for the rest of the afternoon.

Things have been pretty quiet. I am enjoying our lit up tree and our stockings hung by the fireplace as I type this. I wish this week didn't have to end. It has been so peaceful.

I was beginning to feel as if my life was on repeat. Run here, run there, eat, sleep, repeat. It was so refreshing to take a break from the daily race life has become and enjoy some downtime together. I am thankful for this family of mine! I am thankful that Brian helped Katie with the dishes today and listened to her read five books. I love to do those things. But, sometimes it is nice when someone else does those things.

Denver 2015

I visited the lovely city of Denver Monday through Wednesday last week.

I should back up to Halloween, which was the Saturday before I went to Denver. Here are my kids in their costumes:

Katie was the beautiful ice queen Elsa and insisted on wearing the plastic high heels that go with the dress everywhere we went--including trick or treating through the neighborhood for hours. Fashion diva. Sophie was Vanellope Von Schweetz from Wreck it Ralph. We made her stop trick or treating two years ago. To make up for it, we threw a big Halloween party for her and her friends. This year, I had a change of heart. She loves Halloween so much and she really wanted to dress up and go trick or treating and I thought -- what the hey! She is growing up so fast. How many teenagers knock on my door every year? There are worse things she could be doing than wanting to still be a kid at fourteen. We let her go trick-or-treating. Isaac was an army guy. This is the 3rd year in a row he has mirrored his best friend's costume. First they were army guys together, then they were construction workers together and this year they were army guys again. I love it.

This picture shows Katie's dress a little better. So sparkly!

Ian decided he is too old for trick or treating and dressing up. Unlike his older sister, he came to this conclusion on his own. I bought him this shirt that has holes where the eyes go and a pocket inside the shirt. You put your phone (or, in his case - ipod) inside the pocket and download an ap that makes it look like the zombie's eyes are looking all around. It is seriously cool and turned out to be a big hit at the junior high. On Halloween, he stayed home and helped Brian pass out candy while I took the others trick or treating.

Halloween was a weeklong event as usual. I took the kids to an evening carnival at the church and a carnival at the school on a different evening. On Friday, they dressed up for school and had their class parties. Of course, there was trick-or-treating on Saturday.

The timing of my Denver trip was unfortunate as I left so soon after Halloween which meant there was a lot of work to do in the office the week before to prepare for the meeting as well as a lot to do to get myself packed and ready to go. For this reason, I ended up working until 7 p.m. on Saturday and I was having a little pity party as I rushed home. I usually like to get an early start and leave our house at 6 p.m., it was already 7 p.m. and I needed to help everyone get into costume. As it turns out -- even if you start trick or treating after 7 p.m., your kids still get waaaay too much candy. Halloween was saved!

Another blessing of the night was that Brian was able to be home with the kids and he made this for their dinner:

I am being transparent when I say that switching gears to being a working mom has been a challenge for me over the past several years. One of the best parts has been seeing Brian step up to fill in the gaps. It is a very big blessing to me and our whole family.

Halloween 2015--Success!

Monday morning, I left for Denver. Here are all of the wonderful parts:

The two people I was on-site with are two of the most amazing people I have ever met. Working with them is such a privilege. 

We stayed at the Four Seasons. Here are some pictures of my room:

The waterfall feature at the top of this shower was luxuriant.

A sunken bathtub too? Yes!

 I had such peaceful nights sleeping in this cozy bed with four giant pillows and a down comforter.

I had a beautiful view of downtown Denver from my window.

When we arrived, we had a working lunch at the Four Seasons. Seafood cobb salad - Yum!

That night we met at the bar for martinis (mine was virgin of course). The weather was gorgeous. We walked to Capital Grille. It is one of those restaurants where the entrees are $40-$50. Then, you choose your side dishes separately. It is always fun to try new things. This was not like my normal life for sure.

I had the most tender scallops with risotto. There was also the best coconut pie in the world for dessert. That is what the waiter called it. And, I think he may have been right.

In between enjoying the finer things in life, we were very productive. In fact, when the trip was over, my colleague and I figured out that we had worked 12-hours each day we were there. It felt good to be so focused and to accomplish so much in three days.

The meeting began Tuesday. That night we dined at Ocean Prime. Brian would later ask me, "How do you go out to dinner for four hours straight?" That is the way dinners always are on these trips. It is an art form. It is kind of amazing and probably more amazing to me than the others since I'm always the only one not drinking the $100 bottles of wine. 

I had a gorgeous filet mignon with giant shrimp scampi, brussel sprouts and lobster bisque. My colleague insisted that everyone get dessert to go and ordered me the most scrumptious chocolate peanut butter pie, which I had to enjoy the following day because I was so full.

Even after working all day and enjoying dinner until 10 pm, it was funny to me that all three of us were in our rooms working and texting each other about work for another hour. So much to do!

The next morning, breakfast was a lovely spread by the Four Seasons. The meeting went smoothly and at 2 pm we were taking a car to the airport to fly home.

I arrived at my home at 7 pm. It was so wonderful to see my kids! It was a short time to be away. I have to admit that having someone make my bed every morning and turn it down for me every night with a fresh little carafe of water and bucket of ice on the nightstand did make me feel like a princess. It's the little things. But coming home to my messy, chaotic house felt simply like heaven.

I am blessed beyond words for this job opportunity. I can not complain. It is a gift. 

Full disclosure -- when I missed Katie and Isaac's Halloween parties on Friday so I could work I found myself sobbing in my office as I printed materials and updated lists. I had thought it would be no big deal and I had to get the work done sometime. But, when I was there, it hit me that I was missing out on memories that I could never get back. I realized I have never missed the kids' Halloween (or Valentine's Day) parties. I guess I didn't realize what a big deal it was to my mother heart. Luckily, I was in my office alone so I could have a little private cry about it. It is very hard for working moms to have our cake and eat it too. 

Speaking of cakes, there is a lovely one pictured here. I gave Katie my room key when I got home so we could play "hotel." She is very good at it! First she made my bed. Then, she brought me room service:

She even "vacuumed" my room with a stick she was pretending was a vacuum. Next time, I need to give her the real thing - Ha! Isaac kept saying, "Katie, quit playing the 'do chores' game." What a stinker trying to ruin our fun.

For weeks, Katie has been asking me to take her swimming. Remember how she learned to swim in California in June? She has been itching to practice some more since summer ended. It was very important to her that we go to a pool just the two of us. Sweet thing. As the youngest, she has hardly had a moment alone with me in her whole life. 

Yesterday we made it happen. This daughter of mine could not go down the curly slide. She could not play on the water playground. The only thing she could do for two hours straight without a break is swim from the side of the pool to me and back again. She is obsessed with becoming a better swimmer. I love it! There was definite improvement in the two hours we were there. She even relaxed and learned to float on her back. It was a wonderful time for the two of us and I will treasure the memory.

One story I forgot to add -- the night before Halloween one of my favorite radio personalities Bill Allred came to the G.O.A.L foundation to record a podcast. The recording was set up inside Brian's actual office (up in the loft of the building). There was delicious food from Rooster's. Fun night! Life is good. So grateful for Brian's job and for experiences like these.

 A photo with my husband and celebrity crush.

Bill telling stories about growing up in Ogden.