My 35th Birthday/Birthday week

I just finished celebrating my 35th birthday with a full week of fun. 
I can hardly believe I'm 35 but the way my body has been aching lately actually proves my age. 

On Monday I got to have lunch with a  bunch of my girlfriends. It was so fun. We all met at "Tacos for Life" and it was such a good time. We talked and talked until I had to leave to get Benson from Pre-k. 

Tuesday was my actual birthday. Chris worked from home so I could have the day to myself. 
I started the day by sleeping in a bit and then going to High Fitness at the gym. 
Tori taught the class and since our birthdays are just a day apart, we celebrated together. 

After class, I went home and showered. Then Chris, Benson and I went to sushi house for lunch. Benson loved this so much. He felt so special getting to go with us and getting his own sushi roll. It was pretty cute. He kept giving me snuggles the whole time. 

 

After lunch I met my friend, Jade, for mani/pedis. It was so nice and relaxing. I found a new nail tech and I wont ever go anywhere else. She did such a great job and gave the best foot massage. 

After getting my nails done, I picked the kids up from school and we went to the school book fair and the kids got a  bunch of books. Then we came home and hung out for a bit before driving to dinner. 

We finally got to eat at "Texas Roadhouse". It opened about 4 months ago but has been consistently busy, with a three hour wait every time we call. But on my birthday we got right in and got seated. 

It was really nice and the food was delicious. I was so spoiled with food. 

After dinner we went home and we were all too full to eat cake right away, so I opened my presents. I got lots of fun stuff for my birthday and it was awesome. I even got a new game for the family. We played a round of our new game called "Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza" and then we ate cake. 

 

My family and friends spoiled me rotten. I'm so grateful for them!

I think one of my favorite gifts was this bluetooth eye mask. I can listen to music or audiobooks at night while I fall asleep and I love it. It's way more comfortable than falling asleep with my airpods in my ears. 

On Wednesday, my friend Erin took me out for Brunch. We went to our favorite brunch place "First Watch" and had a great time chatting and eating. The food is always so good!

Then on Thursday, Benson and I were home together. We cleaned around the house and did laundry, Then we decided we needed to get some lunch, so we went to get some Mexican food together. Benson and I thoroughly enjoyed our lunch. 

Thursday night I got to go out with my friend April. We both had a ton of errands to run before our spring break trips so we ran our errands together. We had a great time hanging out, talking and laughing together. We also grabbed some dinner. I've missed that girl. 

Today, Friday, I mostly just packed and got us ready for our trip. Benson and I did eat a sub from "Firehouse subs" and worked hard to get the van cleaned out. 
Now we are all packed. The van is loaded and tmrw we leave for our Spring break trip. 

This week was lots of fun. I loved getting to see so many friends, spend time with my hubby and sweet kids. I loved getting spoiled with awesome gifts and I love my pretty nails. What a great week. Maybe 35 won't be so bad! Only time will tell. 

 

St. Patrick's Day Fun

The kids woke up this morning to find the leprechaun had visited our house and they were so excited. I love waking up to their cute little voices and exclamations of excitement. Benson and Tucker loved the green foot prints on the floor and the green toilet bowl water. 

The leprechaun brought the kids gold chocolate coins and lucky charms cereal. 

The kids had the lucky charms cereal for breakfast and they were pretty excited about that. 

 

Then after school we ate the rest of the treats. We had little green frosted sugar cookies and their chocolate coins. 

I sure love these kiddos. They all wore green to make sure they didn't get pinched. Although Tucker was really nervous to wear a shirt that said "Kiss me, I'm Irish". 
I did my best to convince him that nobody would care about his shirt. But to be sure, he took a green sweatshirt too. Then at school he got hot and took off his sweatshirt. But a little girl in his class told him that his shirt was "inappropriate" and asked him to put his sweatshirt back on. 

He was so embarrassed. Tucker is the child that never wants attention on him and the fact that he had been nervous to wear the shirt already made it so much worse. 
It was 78 degrees today but he got into the car after school all red-faced and sweaty because he was too self-conscious to take off his sweatshirt again. Poor buddy. He's such a sweet, sensitive kid. But me talking him into wearing that shirt was definitely not a parenting win. lol 

I hope everyone had a fun day today. Happy St. Patrick's day everyone!

Tanner the Basketball Star

Tanner just finished his first season of basketball. He played through "Upwards" and he really enjoyed it. The kids on his team were so great. He made some great friends and he had some great examples of teamwork and sportsmanship. 
Here are the kids on his team, just for the record.
Back row: Josh, Tanner, Malachi, Brandon, Joseph and Ryan
Front row: CJ, Hudson & Noah. 
Julian wasn't pictured. 

I really loved "Upwards" because they are so Christ centered. Every game began with a prayer. 
The coaches, while very enthusiastic, were very compassionate and always reminded the kids what the most important thing was- being christlike in all aspects of life. 
The coaches even gave out little awards at the end of the game and one of the awards was always "Most Christlike". I loved that. 
Tanner came so far in basketball. He went in with very little experience and he made so much progress. 
He got really good at defense and would steal the ball from the other team multiple times each game. 
Chris and I both really enjoyed watching him play. 

Tanner really loved this action shot I took of him during his last game. 
It was an awesome steal and shot. 

We are so very proud of Tanner. He went out of his comfort zone and tried something new. He practiced and played hard and learned new skills. That kid is awesome. 

Here is a team photo. Mike Wilson was the head coach and then Coach Craig was the assistant coach. 
The boys loved their coaches and they really got along well as a team. 

I love this kid so much! 

Tanner's team made it to the semi-finals tonight after ranking second in their age group. 
Sadly, they lost by three points so they wont advance to the championship. 
The boys were so disappointed but we were so proud because they really played hard. The boys played hard on defense and offense. Tanner stole the ball from the other team atleast half a dozen times tonight. He was awesome. 
Way to go Tanner and TEAM HEAT! We are so proud of you!

 

Covid Update and Life

We've had a bit of a rough time this year, health wise. 
Chris and I had a wonderful time in Mexico but we came home to house full of kids with COVID. 
Poor Aunt Laura, who had been babysitting for us, had it too. 
Luckily, no one had it very bad. It was like a cold for Tucker and Tanner. Bailey and Benson didn't show any symptoms, but still tested positive. 

Eventually Chris and I got it from our kids too. We just felt tired and both had headaches for a week or so. 

After we got over COVID, I immediately got another virus. The doctors didn't know what it was but it wasn't COVID again. So they just gave me an antibiotic and sent me home to recover. By the time I was feeling better, Benson started throwing up. The kids all took turns passing around the stomach bug. 
All the while, we were experiencing a ton of winter weather. Because of all the snow and ice, school kept getting cancelled and we had virtual days. 

Basically it felt like we were all home for about a month. 

This was a common scene around our house during this time. 
Lots of electronics, screen time and board games. 

When we were feeling up to it, we played in the snow. 
We've really had a lot of snow. Sadly, snow days are a thing of the past. Now the school just has AMI days (alternate methods of instruction) and we have to do school virtually. It's a pain, 
However, the kids have gotten pretty good at it, since we've had a lot of practice.

Finally, the first week of March saw all my kids back to school. They were all gone at the same time and Chris returned to work in person. My house was so quiet and it felt so weird. 
I'm so happy everyone is healthy again and hopefully the weather is done being yucky. We are ready for spring. 

As for COVID, its been almost two years. After the omicron variant surge in January, the country as a whole has seen a decrease in cases. It feels good. Because we have all had COVID now, we have stopped wearing our masks. Masks are no longer required at church anymore either and Benson's preschool just dropped their mandate. We are so thrilled. 

Here are some COVID stats as of today:

Total cases of COVID in the US: 79,248,406

Total deaths in the US: 961,620

81% of the country has had at least 1 dose of the vaccine. 

Arkansas Stats: Total cases in AR: 801,118

Total deaths: 10,799

66% of the state has had at least one dose of the vaccine. 

We were lucky enough to get the omicron variant which was a very mild variant. We've gone through 5 variants of COVID so far, varying in severities and transmissibility.  

I don't want to get my hopes up but it does feel like maybe life is getting back to normal. 

It seems crazy that we've been living this COVID life for almost two years. But things are getting better. 
I actually just had the chance to speak at our Stake Women's Conference about my anxiety and my discipleship journey. Since COVID was what accelerated my anxiety I related to them my story and how I have worked to find peace while living with anxiety. 

It was such an interesting opportunity. I was beyond anxious to talk in front of a crowd of 300+ people.

But it also gave me the incentive to really dig in and put to paper what I have learned about myself and my testimony during this time. 

I'm forever grateful for a loving Father in Heaven and a Savior who knows me better than I know myself. I've learned to rely on my Savior, to take part in his atonement and to pray to my Father in Heaven when I need help. I'm so grateful for the gospel and the eternal truths that offer me comfort and consistency. My family, friends, my doctor and the gospel have been the things that have gotten me through this hard time.  I'm very grateful. 
That being said, I really hope this is the end of COVID life! Fingers crossed. 

 

Valentine’s Day 2022

We just celebrated valentine's day. It was such a nice day full of love and quality time together. 
I did have to work at Rhea Lana while the kids were at school, but after they got home we partied together. 

I put together a small party with a "conversation heart" theme. We had cupcakes, cake and lemonade. 
The kids loved it and were so excited to see it when they got home. 

 

 

I had a small box of chocolates for each kid waiting for them at their place at the table.

Each kid also got one of these funny lip suckers. The sucker faces crack me up. 

These kiddos had a great time partying and celebrating valentine's day. 

 

We were lucky that our conversation hearts were soft and not rock hard. 
The cupcakes were yummy and the cake was strawberry flavored with cream cheese frosting. 

 

I love throwing little parties for these kiddos. I'm sure at some point we will all outgrow the parties, but until then- I'm going to enjoy it to the fullest. 

Chris and I stayed in this year and had a nice dinner with the kiddos. 
We had a surf and turf dinner. Chris grilled steaks, I made shrimp cocktails and baked crab cakes. We had cheddar bay biscuits and salad with a side of mac-n-cheese. 

There was so much food. We were all stuffed and it was so delicious.

We had a great valentine's day together. I sure this family of mine. They are the best!