Once upon an Easter

What can I say....I have a TON to blog, therefore I'm not blogging.  But Easter came and she went, and I have to have it documented.

First.....we went to the Easter Pageant.  Maggie was utterly and completely rapt.  She watched with wide eyed wonder throughout.  And then on the way home sang a song about Jesus, loving her family and Jesus dying at the top of her lungs.  So glad my parents got to experience that.

over 450 people in the cast y'all.

My beloved friend Jenee just got made THE director of it all.

Yep, that's a fluffier Jer, the first year we did pageant.

Last year he played Pilate.

This year he couldn't do it because of a show at ASU.

Second.....we dyed some eggs.  THAT was an experience.

What?  Don't ALL girls dye eggs with pearls on?

Love Maggies face here.  She was NOT happy with Max sharing the chair.

Third....the Easter Bunny came.  Which means on Saturday I hit the dollar spot at Target and the Dollar Store.  I didn't even manage to buy my kids one jelly bean.  What kind of freaky bunny am I?

Not a bad haul for being so last minute.  And I only spent about 25 bucks total on all Easter.

What is already in the garbage?

bubbles, silly string, slinky, pez dispensers and a bouncy ball

most of the golf set is missing.

LAME!

Fourth.......the kids got to come down the hall and then check out their loot.

Why yes, yes they are completely dressed and ready at 7:30 a.m.  I had to sing in my parents ward at 9 a.m. and was therefore somewhat on the ball for the first time in my life.

Fifth.......there was a rather small and anemic egg hunt for the kids.  BUT, there were pennies and quarters in those eggs, which to my children meant the GREATEST treasure ever found.

Ummm, Maggie won.

By a landslide.

Max didn't care one bit about this whole finding eggs thing.

Sixth......we hurried and took two very quick Easter family pics.  I completely failed to even get ONE picture of just my kids, standing still in all their Easter best.  DORK!  At least we're all documented.

Aren't the roses pretty?  I don't know HOW they bloomed since I never remember to water them.

HAPPY EASTER

I sang "His Hands" for quite possibly the eleventy millionth time in my parents ward that day.  But, apparently it is their Easter tradition they can't live without.  We then hightailed it back to our church mtgs. because Maggie gave her first ever talk in primary that day.  It was really just A for adorable, if I do say so myself.

Her talk was about......Jesus.  DUH!  And I'm proud to report, she was about 89% memorized.  I was nervous, because until now, she has not been known to, you know, actually perform for anyone.  But, she was so pleased that her Gramma and Auntie were there to watch her, and pleased that she was up in front.  She stood right up and literally LICKED the microphone as she gave her little talk.

Did Jesus really live again?

Yes, when the third day came.

There were nail prints in his hands, and a spear wound (she said knife)  in his side.

Did Jesus really live again, after he had died?

Oh yes, and so shall I.

Today we are celebrating Easter, which is about Jesus and his resurrection. (when Jesus came back to life, her words)

I know that Jesus suffered a lot of pain so that we can repent and be forgiven when we do something wrong.

I know that Jesus loves all of us, especially the little children (the most is what she liked to add to that).

I am thankful that Jesus lives again, so I can live again too.

Did Jesus really live again, after he had died?

OH YES, and so shall I.

I might have been pretty proud.  Maybe. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent napping and playing with Easter toys. 

That evening the kids and I went and had a spectacular time at the Wright Family Easter.  My family went to Lamesville and didn't do anything together.  Wierd.  BUT, won't lie the Wrights was spectacular and fun, and filled with laughter and JUST what I needed.  Later that night Jer and I went to my sisters for a singing party/hangout and to meet my nephews new girlfriend.  That was good times as well.

All in all, an Easter success! 

Hope yours was great too.

And finally, this little gem.

The other day we were driving down the road listening to "Lamb of God."  It was at the part about Judas, and the narrator said "betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss?"

And I hear from the back of the car...."EWWWW"  "That's Sick".

I asked what Maggie meant and she replied.

"Kiss Jesus?  That's sick!"  "I don't like kissing JESUS."

I was most amused that she was even really paying attention and understood what that meant.  But then the fact that she was so grossed out by it was even funnier.  That girl never ceases to amaze me.

Chocolate bunnies and smelly eggs,

Allyson

Royal Schmoyal

First things first......Happy 500th post to me!  Were I cool and all bloggy suave there would be giveaways or something.  But, I'm neither cool or suave, so ya get just me.

Apparently there was a royal wedding in the middle of the night.

Meh......

Instead, I'm bringing you quite possibly the coolest, most innovative wedding invitation EVER made.  And also one of the prettiest couples ever born.

Of course they're related to me, because I'm surrounded by brilliance and gorgeousness, if nothing else.  tee hee

This wedding invitation belongs to my cousin Merek and his wife Brittney.  They are SUPER artsy, both photographers and way cool.  It doesn't hurt that Mereks mom (coolest Aunt I have) created Scrapbook.com and is herself rather brilliantly artsy.

So, here ya go, a truly "royal" couple:

Yep, it's a wee little book.

It came in a handmade envelope, hand stamped address upon it.

Artsy, brooding.

SUPER happy, I promise.

These wee bookmarks were also handstamped on the back with info.

Mmm hmm, that is in French.

Their first kiss was in France, at the Eiffle Tower, or something totally non-romantical like that.

Click on the pic.  It's their story.

So cute!

What a cute pic.

Their reception was in this most magical and enchanted garden with the most flowers and twinkling lights I've ever seen.

I'm only slightly bitter that I couldn't find anymore pictures of it to show you.

And off they went, happily ever after, into the sunset.

If this tells you anything about these two....they went straight from their reception to a Mumford & Sons Concert (don't worry, I don't know who they are either).  Their honeymoon is in a few weeks, to, where else....Europe.

Now THAT'S royal.

Speaking of, here's a shot of MY royal kiddlets before we went to the reception that night:

Why yes, those are tattoos.

What ISN'T royal about a few tatts on toddlers?

Maggie may or may not have danced the entire night away.  She was so immersed in the dancing that my parents had to bring her home, because leaving with me would have caused her to die, JUST DIE!

Some girl time...

I think with everything that's been going on around here (aka depression sucks), and me leaving town a couple weekends ago, etc.  Miss Maggie of the uber sensitive spirit has reallllllllllly been feeling it.  The other night when I went to leave she literally begged, cried, blocked the door, BEGGED me not to leave.  She said she just wanted me to stay home and play with her.  Heartbreaking much?  Yeah.  It was.  Clearly my sassy muffin needed some girl time.  So, I promised her that the next day we would go out, together, just her and I.  She got a glimmer of light in her eyes and was only mildly appeased.

Cue Saturday.  She asked all day when we were going on our "secret" date.  Oddly enough, if she doesn't want Max involved, then everything is "secret."  I told her we were going to Wal-Mart first, which she found epically disappointing, until I told her that was NOT our secret date.

Anywho....it was time for our date, and I had no idea what we were gonna do.  So, I suggested we do what any self respecting girl loves to do.


PEDIS!

Off we went to not my favorite nail salon, but it was close, and Maggie was fuh-loating at just the fact that we were alone in the car, much less the prospects of getting her toes did.

She insisted on having her own purse slung over her shoulder, and a whole LOT of sassy tude, 'cause we was girls out to have a goooood time.  Mmmmmmkay?!

On the way there I asked her what her favorite thing was that she did while I was gone.  She thought for a minute and then replied....."Ummm, my FAVORITE, FAVORITE part was when you came home." Awww, seriously, stop hurting my heart so much kid.  Short ride later, we were there.

First things first...pick your polish.  You may be surprised to note....she picked PURPLE AND purple sparkly.  We weren't messing around here people, dual polishes!

They got us "right" back.  Put me in the soaker and Maggie in a little chair next to me.  And there we sat for nearly FORTY minutes.  She was amazing.  She never said a word.  Just watched everything, looked around, got up and gave me kisses, smiled at me and was just genuinely GOOD!  The guy who ended up doing my toes was reallly taken with her.  He couldn't believe how good she was, and mentioned how pretty she was a few times.  Which worked out delightfully in the end, because he didn't charge me for Maggie.  Way to pick a good time to be a pleasant "lady" little Miss.  Timing....it's everything.

After shes waited a good long time.  Just being patient.

FINALLY...getting something done.

She was very pleased with the service.

Look at those adorable little Flinstone feet.

And yes, she does like to "assessorize".

Together time!

I asked her several times what she wanted to do next and she would look up and "think" deeply for a moment and say, she didn't know.  So, just before we left, I asked if she knew what she wanted to do.  She said yes.  When I asked her what it was, she said indignantly...."MOM, I haven't THINKED it yet."

Needless to say, I may have steered her in the direction of just wandering a little party city store for a few minutes.  She was pleased and had a grand time wandering the aisles, telling me just what we should buy.  I allowed her to get a few little trinkets and she was happy as a clam.

As we were leaving the store, she insisted on sitting down on the display and having me take her pic.

Lest we ever forget that she chose a magic wand as one of her treasures.  It's right here in technicolor.....magic wand....check!

All in all it was a really sweet afternoon with my sweet 'n sassy Maggie.  Definitely just what we needed.  I'm hoping that she feels more secure and that she knows she is very loved.

Pedis and parties,

Allyson

So THIS happened...

Monday Max and I had a little time alone while the girls were having some reptile party at school.  Frankly....I find nothing LESS desirable than a reptile of any kind.  But whatevs, they thought it was great and it gave me 2 free hours with my little man.

Because we're party animals here in Mesatown, Max and I decided to hit up Costco for a few things and some lunch.

After procuring Max's hot dog and heading for the table someone standing at the drink place caught my eye.

My mind processed and said....."Ummmm, I think that's S----".

So I turned around, walked up to this stranger and said, "I'm gonna be random here and just say....You're S---- aren't you?"  He nodded that indeed he was.  I then proceeded to tell him, I used to visit teach his sister years ago,and wondered how she was doing, where she was, etc.  I'm fairly sure he was refreshed that I wanted to talk to him about someone other than himself.  He was really nice, told me about her and then we walked to our respective tables.  We ended up sitting facing eachother at opposite tables.   And then, he proceeded to just chat me up.

We talked for a good 20 minutes, just me and  this guy:

Yeah, me and Sione, kickin it.  Practically BFF's now.

And let me just get one thing straight......

He is HOT!  As in HAWWWWWWT!

Ok, now that that is off my chest.

He is also one of the nicest, most peaceful aura, NICEST guys EVER!

And, I so have the inside scoop on some fun BL stuff.

Seriously, so FUN!

So yeah, that TOTALLY happened.

IN-appropriate?!

The afternoon stretched before us like the waistband of John Goodmans underpants.  Just Chris, Sabrea and I in the snow covered Salt Lake.  What should we do?  What entertainment could we find.   Well, we're a scrappy bunch, and we set out to fill John Goodmans waistband.  Wait, what?  That didn't sound right at all.  Anyway......

First we made our way to some outdoorish mall near Temple Square and enjoyed some delicious lunching at Rumbi.  As we went to leave we ran into "The Jordan Bluthe" (whom I lurve) and his father in law and brother in law.  After a quick chat, we were on our way.

I handed over the car keys to Chris, he's a gifted driver in all parts.  And we were off, I'd like to say, like a shot, but it was more like a herd of turtles.  We got all turned around near Temple Square and had to find our way up to the Capitol.

Hi Chris.

He loves all things architecture, building, creating, etc.

So naturally the Capital building called to him.

She is quite majestic looking up on top of the hill.

After looking around there we decided to check out the HUGE and stately homes that fill the neighborhoods around the capitol.  These are some mamber jamber houses.  Some rather ritzy.  Some crazy stuck in the 70's, but clearly snazzy in their time.

A dreary view from up there THAT day, but clearly spectacular on a clear day.

Clearly I needed to take a shot of me in ALL that blasted snow for Jeres sake.  He was a titch bitter that I got to be in snow.  Whilst I was a titch bitter-er that I HAD to be in snow.  I mean, I risked my hair for this shot people.  SHEESH!  I hope he appreciates my undying love.

Alrighty, after the snow photo op, I hopped back into the car and we began our slow move through the neighborhood. With the sounds of Mozart or Beethoven ringing in our ears (not really, but it sounds classy no?) we wend our way through the neighborhoods.

There we were driving amongst some of Salt Lakes elite when what to my wandering eye should appear but? Please insert the sound of the record being scratched RRRRrrrrrrrrRRRRR and silence ensuing, right here.

"STOP THE CAR.  STOP!  Now back up slowly, oh so slowly.  Please tell me you see what I see."

Chris dutifully backed up, and the moment he and Sabrea saw it, they laughed uncontrollably.  I was relieved to know I wasn't the ONLY one with a gutter mind.

Aint no Mozart playing around THIS (more like a little Marvin Gaye and "let's get it on"):

Do my eyes be deceiving me?

Is that what I thinks it is?

Did Playgirl landscape these parts?

What in the name of all thats good and holy are three PENIS trees doing in the middle of this neighborhood?  Who DO dat?  Gurrrrl my eyes be trippin.  Did I just slip into the phallic zone? Whose idea of a sick joke was this?  Did somebody play a mean trick on the homeowners?  Or did some twisted mind REALLY think this was a good idea?

Well, I mean, for our entertainment, it WAS a GREAT idea.  But for the everyday neighborhood populace........I.DON'T.THINK.SO.  Mmmmkay?!

IN-appropriate!

Or wait, perhaps THIS was more inappropriate.

Don't anyone worry, there was a FAR more inappropriate picture taken.  But for the sake of my Mother and innocent children, I abstained from posting it.  I do have a teeny tiny spec of morals left in me.

So thanks swanky neighborhood.  Thanks for the ridiculous penis trees.  They WERE entertaining and gave us a great laugh.

Good thing we were off to Temple Square to sing about spiritual things.  This really "helped" with that.

IN-APPRO-PRI-ATE!

Phallic and funny,

Allyson

The cute is killing me...

I ask you.....is there ANYTHING cuter than a wee bum in underpants for the first time?

I submit.......there is NOT!

Unless of course,  it looks like this:

Cause 2 year olds learning to put ON said underpants the right way is apparently pretty tricky.  And who doesn't love a good bum cheek?

We continue to be accident free, and therefore diaper free.  Halleluia and glory be.

In other news...I promise to come back someday and write about my adventures in Utah, and life here with the MVP's.  But for right now, I'm just not sure I have it in me.  Just know that there are some good things, needed things happening, some soul searching, some fear and all kinds of daily living.  So please, don't give up on me, and pretty please be here when I get back. (don't judge if that happens to be tomorrow, but it won't, but just don't judge.  Just sayin.)

Carry on,

Allyson

Off to Recharge

Well friends, in a few short hours I'm outta here.  I'm off to spend a few days here:

To sing in a little production of this:

At this historic, amazing location:

Don't recognize?  Well, it is the home to this:

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, or Mo-Tab, if you will.  C'mon now, you've heard of it.

I am excited beyond words to be going on this trip, for so many reasons.  Not the LEAST of which is....singing in this most amazing building.

But also, because:
1. I get to see friends that I haven't seen in years
2. I get to see old Mission companions and have a fun reminiscing time.
3. I'm s'posed to be meeting up with a couple of my blog land friends and cementing our BFF status in REAL LIFE.
4. A time away from the stress of life, to be by myself.  To recharge and fill up my reserves so I can come home a better Mother, wife, sister, daughter, friend etc.  Basically, I NEED this trip.

The one thing I'm NOT looking forward to is this:

Supposed to snow the whole weekend.  I am NOT a fan!
Hopefully I will have lots of pictures and stories to share when I come back.  So, try not to miss me too much.

Peace out,

Allyson

Trash to Treasure Tuesday

I know, I KNOW....it's 2:18 p.m. and you're all in a panic because I haven't posted yet.  Well sweat no more, I'm here.  I just hope you're not too disappointed with the minimalness of it. 

Alright, so here's the deal, I really love these jewelry boards.  They're fun, and awesome and oh so handy.  I even had people contact me when they saw my feature on "Better After".  Oh yeah.....I totally got my feature on there.  It was so FUN!  Anyway, they asked about them, and what they were.  I wish I could take credit for thinking of them.

I found this lil' ol frame in a forgotten corner of Goodwill and snatched it up.  Then, when I walked into Home Fabrics one day this bird print literally had a pillar of light and a chorus of angels (or birds) singing around it.  Seriously, my eyes went to it and I think i had an out of body experience.  It was much more what I'd had in mind when I painted that chair red.  I loved it with the heat of a thousand suns and hugged it to my generous bosoms and said, "IT'S MINE!"  Thank goodness for our pal Todd and his handy saw for cutting down my ply for me.  All in all a fairly quick project.

BEFORE:

Guess who is the dork?  I am!  I had already started priming before I took a before pic.  OOPS!  Anyway..standard brown frame, you get the drift.

AFTER:

Sometimes I think it's just as much fun standing in the notions aisle at JoAnns picking out the decorations. 

I was so excited when I found this little button that matched.  I whipped up this little flower out of a scrap piece of red, and then glued the little red button on the other button.  I glue the ribbon on so that it CAN be used to clip hair flowers on.

Over all, I'm pretty pleased with this little treasure.

Oh hey, it's also for sale. 

$30.00

If you're interested just let me know.

My Boo Grew and other news....

One day last week my Baby turned into a Boy/Man and I'm not sure I'm even ready for that.  He went from diapers to underpants, gave up nummies, got his hair cut without crying ( because as he told me "Ima big boy now, I not cry.")AND busted out complex/comprehensive (whatever) sentences.  It's messing with my mind I tell ya...MESSING!  Though I will admit that there may be nothing cuter than his litte bum bum padding around in Bobba Fet underpants.  Aaaack, SO ADORABLE!

So, here's a rundown of how it went down.
This account I'm about to share is TOTALLY true.  Don't be jealous or haters after you read it.

Last Sunday Max woke up from his nap and said, "I wanna wear big boy pants."  This was rather random, as we have not even attempted to do any form of potty training.  I agreed and pulled out the Spider Man underpants and put them on.  I said, "Now Max, you know you HAVE to tell Mommy when you need to go potty."  He nodded at me.  I reminded him again, and then he said "Oh, I needa go pee pee."  I put him on the toilet and he promptly peed.  Fast forward, it's Monday morning.  He woke up and I asked him if he wanted to wear big boy pants.  He was very excited and said yes.  I reminded again that he had to tell me.  On went the Ironman underpants.  He successfully peed on the toilet and all was going well.  But then....pee pee in the pants.  Got him changed, played some more, and then JUST as we were walking out the door to go visiting teaching he said 'Uh oh, I needa go poop."  I rushed him to the toilet, but JOKES on me, he had already pooped IN his pants.  It wasn't too bad for cleanup and we moved on.  Now we were in the front yard of our lady we were visiting.  The kids were all running around and playing while we visited.  I happened to look over and there was Max with this shorts down.  I said, "uh oh, no no we don't drop trou in the front yard.  You need to pee?"  He said yes and then I got over there and OOPS, he'd already peed.  He was none to pleased that he had to walk home that way.  So, we got home, I put on a diaper for his nap and that was that.  Except, apparently, whilst he slept, the lightbulb went on and he figured out what it meant to go BEFORE an accident happened.  And believe it or not, he has not had ONE accident since Monday afternoon.  He is soo good about telling us every time when he needs to go.  He wakes up dry from naps, and this morning woke up dry at 6 a.m., waking me to tell me he had to go potty.  Then tonight, he woke up at 10:30, confused, but awake and told me he had to go potty.  He went pee and went back to bed.

He gets SO offended when I put a pullup on him for naps or bedtime and yells out "NOOOO I HATE diapers."

GENIUS i tell you. He is not quite 2 1/2 yet.  And I literally had to do NOTHING for this.  Thank you Max.  Thank you VERY MUCH!  Heaven knows I had NO idea how to go about potty training, and I was not gonna do it.  Maggie also just one day was like, let's do this, and had next to NO accidents.  My kids rock. The only bummer is, I had JUST bought a box of diapers.  Wah wah.  Anyone wanna buy some size 5 Huggies?

BTW, much as I love this whole going potty, not wiping poopy butt thing...his newfound obsession with his Yankee Doodle has now reached new heights.  I just looked over and he had his hand down his pants for some recreation I guess.  It took me 3 times and a voice raise to get that hand out.

The nummie got a huge hole in it on its own, so it mostly took care of itself.

One morning Max was in bed with us (I allow him to crawl in IF there is only 30-40 minutes before it's deemed time to wake up, and mostly he'll fall asleep or just lay there) and Maggie came in.  She said, "Why is Maxi under the covers?"  He turned his head and said  "Because Maggie, I'm freezing cold."  I was just surprised that he understood to use "because" and answered specifically WHY.

And have I mentioned that he now insists on dressing himself.  He puts EVERYTHING on completely backwards and most of the time inside out.  It's so cute, because he's so proud of himself that I just let him go around that way.  Well, NOT if we're going in public, but I bet you already knew that.




In Maggie news....she has taken to this phrase.
"Oh HONESTLY."  She'll be trying to do something and I hear this exasperated "HONESTLY."  Or she'll be with max, trying to help him, or get him to do something and she'll say "Oh HONESTLY Max...."  it cracks me up everytime.

Her Justin Bieber obsession has reached critical levels.  I literally had to BAN Justin Bieber from the house because she and Brooklyn were so out of control.  They literally go around all day saying  "I want to MARRY Justin Bieber."  "I want to KISS Justin Bieber." Or they just climb up and literally KISS the poster of Justin freaking Bieber.  These girls are THREE and FIVE.  Cuh-RAZY! "Who is the best singer EVER?"  "JUSTIN BIEBER."  And then they fight over which songs to listen to, or just play the cd at insane decibal levels and dance around their room and sing.  And whilst this was really cute for a minute or MONTH, i finally reached my limit.  So, the Biebs is on ice around here.

Maggie has a little obedience problem.  As in...ask her/tell her to do ANYTHING and she simply WON'T!  She thinks it's too hard to do anything (and by anything I mean, pick up the mess she JUST made, put away toys, etc) by herself and wants help always.  And by help, she means, everyone else do it while she just sits there.  I have to ask her at least 4 million times to do anything before it semi gets done.  BUT, if she does happen to do what I ask, she is sooo proud of herself she tells me about it over and over seeking validation and my undying love for her awesomeness.

The other day I asked what they wanted for lunch and gave two options.  She informed me she would be having mac n cheese.  I kindly stated that THAT was not an option given and then restated her two choices.  To which she replied  "I SAIIID I will have MAC N CHEESE."  I replied "I SAIIID that is NOT an option." (what, dont judge my maturity as a Mom here)  Then she folded her arms very matter of factly and said in the MOST snooty tone EVER, "Well then I will have McDonalds."  I laughed and said, 'Ummm no, that was certainly not an option I offered."  "Mom, I will HAVE a McDonalds hamburger and french fries."  "Maggie, no you won't.  Now sit down and eat your sandwhich."  She wasn't happy, but she did eat it.  But not before rolling her eyes so hard she probably saw her brain.

The last week was a little crazy (literally, haahaha) and I'm embarassed to say there was a few to many fast food meals.  As Maggie was eating a french fry one night she said, "You know Mom, french fries will make us fat." (that's because I told her that one day when she was asking for them, and then clarified that if she at them ALL the time they'd make her fat).  I guess she realized she'd eaten them one to many times that week.  HA!  At least she's hearing me. SOMETIMES!

And just to clear my conscience...last night I became one of "THOSE" people.  You know, the ones that have their small children at Wal-Mart at completely inappropriate times of the night.  We were on our way home from the theatre and a night out and Maggie REALLY wanted to come with me to get Tangled.  So I obliged.  There I was at 10:30 p.m. with my three year old in Wal-Mart.  I chastised myself, so no need to do it for me.  HOWEVER, we DID get "Tangled" which so totally worth it, right?  AND, Maggie looked like this:

Some redemption. Right?

Off to watch Tangled and enjoy a Conference Sunday.

Grown up babies,

Allyson