Princess Charity

Today I am officially closer to 40 than I am to 30.
Yikes.

I'm sure you are wondering how I spent this birthday of mine. I would like to inform you that I spent the day living my dream. I have dreamed of doing many things throughout my life. Around 5th grade, inspired by my love of history and my fascination with Indiana Jones, I wanted to be an archeologist.
Later, I had a dream to go to the National Spelling Bee. Seriously. I wanted to do that. The closest I got was 18th in the state in 7th grade. I got out on the word repartee.
Off and on I had the dream of being in the Olympics. It seems every sport I tried out I thought maybe I'd make it. Especially when I got into swimming. As a distance freestyler, I was hoping
to be the next Janet Evans.

In High School, I was in the plays, and enjoyed those too. I dreamed of being on stage. I use to think it would be cool just to get to act in a commercial. These dreams came and went and changed throughout the years, but one dream I always remember having. From the time I can remember I always longed for this.

I wanted to be a mom.

So, you see, today on my birthday, I got to live my dream. Of course, I have had the pleasure of living that dream for the last 14 1/2 years, but that's not what I was thinking about today. As I pondered all the things I could hope for on my birthday, I wondered to myself, "what have I always wanted?". And I had one of those moments. You know what I mean. I realized that I was one of the lucky people to HAVE what I had always wanted. A family, with a loving husband, and wonderful children.

Do I always remember that this is my dream? NO. Do I ever wonder why this is my dream? YES. But perhaps the same would be true if I were digging for days on end as an archeologist (or worse yet sitting in a library studying for years just hoping to get somewhere to dig). Or studying spelling words instead of hanging out with friends, or swimming till I wanted to die, or auditioning yet another time for that elusive acting job. The fact is, any dream comes with it's challenges, it's ups and downs. So, why should I expect any different from motherhood? I came across a quote that sums up the idea very nicely:

Motherhood brings as much joy as ever, but it still brings boredom, exhaustion, and sorrow too. Nothing else ever will make you as happy or as sad, as proud or as tired, for nothing is quite as hard as helping a person develop his own individuality especially while you struggle to keep your own.
- Marguerite Kelly and Elia Parsons

So, today I lived the life of a Princess. Not in the sense that I sat on a throne, or wore a crown of jewels, or was waited on hand and foot (though my family was very good to me). But Princesses get to live their dreams, and that's just what I got to do today.t

Just Curious...

What other households out there are excited today because of this:

I'm 5th in line at our house to read it. Don't spoil anything for me. Ours will be here today sometime, thanks to Amazon.com.

Some Things Never Change

Today is Rick's birthday, and I've just been thinking that after 39 years of life, Rick is still...

Smooth with the ladies (pretty sure that's his cousin, Stacy).

An avid reader.

A snappy dresser.

A lover of the great outdoors.

A lifelong learner.

My Superman (that's a Superman patch on his back pocket)

A valiant servant of the Lord (on his mission in Mexico).

I love you, Rick!! Happy Birthday!!

Happy Pi Day

That's right, it's Pi day, 3-14, and it has not gone unnoticed in our house. Dallin and Dailie both celebrated in their Math classes at school on Friday. They each made a pie for the celebration, and did a fabulous, creative job. Here's Dailie's pie: (FYI, both crusts were made from scratch by the kids)

And Dallin's apple pie. You might not be able to read them, but around the edge he wrote out Pi to 180 digits. Clever and creative kids.

PARTY!!

Friday we had Audri's birthday party. Let me tell you, this place was loud and crazy, with nine 10 and 11 year old girls in the house for four hours. Lots of fun. They started out painting their pots for their Potted Candy Plants.


While those dried, they ate dinner and played some games.


Then they went back and finished their yummy potted plants. Here are a few samples.


Then it was on to dessert. Audri wanted to make some food with her friends, so instead of cake she had fruit pizza. I baked the sugar cookie crust, and spread it with the cream cheese layer. Then, we split the girls into two groups and had each group "decorate" a pizza. I thought they turned out beautifully. Here's the first groups' finished product:

And the second one:

A fun party, for a fun girl!!

Happy Birthday Audri

Yesterday, Audri turned 11. My middle child. Audri has an older brother, older sister, younger sister and younger brother. I think she's lucky.

Audri loves koalas. She hopes to go to Australia one day to see one in the wild. She also loves tiny things. Anything small, or miniature. She loves climbing trees, reading books, doing gymnastics. Audri is also very good with small children. I love my little Audrianne and am so glad she came to join our family 11 years ago!!

Table for Two

Blogger is being annoying, and I don't feel like waiting until it wants to cooperate. So, I'm doing this post in the random order that it decided to put these pictures on, since it won't let me move them around. Anyway, this past weekend, Rick and I got away. We went to San Antonio, Texas. We decided to get away for our birthdays, both which fall in the month of March. Rick has been wanting to take me to San Antonio ever since he went for business some time ago. Away we went. The picture above is of Rick at Mission San Jose, a Spanish mission built 250 years ago. This was one of 3 missions that we visited, in addition to the Alamo, which I'm standing in front of in the picture below. There was a lot to see and read at the Alamo. It's amazing how much more I can learn about a place when I can actually take the time to read everything!!

Here we are at one of our many tables for two. What a different experience to walk up to an eating establishment and ask for a table for two, instead of for 7, every meal of the day : ). There are so many great places to eat along the Riverwalk in San Antonio. The difficulty was in deciding where to eat, and what to leave out. One of the things we wanted to be sure to get was Texas Barbecue, and this was where we got that. Yummy lunch!! Oh, and we couldn't leave out the cheesecake!!!

Our first night in San Antonio, Rick at made reservations at the Chart House Restaurant at the top of the Tower of the Americas, pictured below.The restaurant rotates, making one rotation in about 1 1/2 hours, giving you a view of the entire city while you have dinner. Our reservation was just at the right time. We sat down as the sun was starting to set, so we saw the view in daylight, during sunset, and in the dark, with the city all lit up. It was beautiful and delicious, and the company was just perfect too.

And, here's the Riverwalk. It's just beautiful, and amazing that it is tucked in the middle of a busy, bustling city. It was like descending the stairs to enter a whole new world.

We had a great time together. Thanks to my mom and dad for coming to stay with the kids.

Passing on Good Stuff

I've been hearing about this idea for awhile. A quick, inexpensive place to go for things like strep tests, and school physicals, etc. I heard an advertisement for a take care clinic at Walgreens about a month ago and was curious. So, when Daniel showed signs of strep on a Saturday morning, I decided to try it out. It was a great experience. This morning I woke up thinking I had strep. My doctor's office didn't open until 8:30, and I had no idea when I'd get an appointment after that. At 7:55 I left my house. At 8:55 I returned to my house, having had a strep test performed, come back positive, received a prescription for an antibiotic, and picked up the prescription. All in an hour. And they take my insurance, as well as many others!! The clinic is run by ONE person. Either a nurse practitioner or physician's assistant. They have touch screen computers that you check yourself in with, and then the NP or PA do all the rest. Both that I had were very nice, and seemed totally competent. The total charge for the visit with strep test was $82. I don't know yet how much my insurance will pay. Right now they are offering camp and sports physicals for $35. That's what I call the free market doing it's part to help out on Health care reform.

Look for one in your area. You may just save time and money. Just passing on a good thing.

American Idol

Hey all you American Idol fans out there. Come and join in on the blogging fun at American Idol(Ed), where Ed does the blogging and the rest of us do the commenting. It'll help boost the excitement for this season!!