weekend update

Well, it's over now. I made it through all of the things that were overwhelming me. I don't know why I let myself get like that -- it really wasn't such a big deal once I broke everything down and took it one step at a time. I'm 37, for heaven's sake, how old do you think I'll be when I have learned this lesson once and for all?

First things first:

The blossoms popping out on our plum trees herald the official beginning of Spring for me -- and it finally happened this week! I snapped this photo before Jill arrived for Creative Friday. These pretty pink flowers never last long enough, but while they're here they lift my spirits every time I look out at them. Such a happy sight.

Jill came bearing lunch for us (tacos & burritos) and she also brought along her little niece Ashley. Eva's playdates are very few and far between, so she was beside herself with excitement.

It just cracked us up that they could split a kid's meal from Wendy's and still have leftovers! Jill divided the tiny kid's Frosty into two little ramekins and Eva still couldn't finish it. Perhaps I would be tiny M if I only ate a couple of bites at each meal...

Ashley climbed right into Eva's crib, something Eva has never managed. She came running out for help to get in and join Ashley. They played babies for awhile, and then called for rescue. (It was a day of many interruptions.)

A very blurry photo, but I just love their expressions when Jill told them to say "cheese". We didn't get any pictures of them jumping on the trampoline, but Eva was reminiscing about it tonight before bed and told me that Ashley has very golden hair in the sun. Yes, she does.

I fear Jill's productivity suffered in helping me to accomplish something. She responded to many of their calls while I sewed away on my birthday banner. And guess what? After she left, I actually finished it! dum dum da dum! Just in time for our party on Saturday. (I've had some requests for more info on the banner, so that will be a separate post.)

I got Max off to his Scout campout on Friday afternoon. It took several trips to get all his gear in the car. He seemed fine with going, but I was honestly a little nervous about how cold it was going to be that night.

We went to our first ward activity in the new ward on Friday night. It was called "Getting to Know You". Unfortunately, we just weren't feeling too capable of going outside our comfort zone in order to get to know people. We sat down at a table and when another family that we already know joined us, we were none too disappointed. They had the bishopric sit up on the stage after dinner and had people ask them questions. We found out that one of the counselors (who lives across the street from us and we thought we knew fairly well) runs ultra-marathons! I've never even heard of ultra-marathons (50-100 miles) -- as if regular marathons aren't insane enough already! So that's now he stays so thin... another point of interest: he revealed that he was an extra in Footloose! Now we want to watch it and search him out...

I love the way Lucas misses Max when he is gone, even for a short while. He had to come out and solicit one of us to go into his room and make sure his music was at the proper volume when he was on the top bunk (Max is usually his music & lights regulator). When Max returned, Lucas informed him that he did more screenwatching than he had done all week, and it was all Max's fault for being gone. (!)

On Saturday morning, I had to make the birthday cake. I slept in and had a bit of a leisurely morning, so when I decided that I just had to make a cake that my grandma made for Marc's birthday -- that I didn't have the recipe for -- I was a little under the gun. Long story short: I called my grandma and got her voicemail. I ended up getting the recipe from my mom but there were some misunderstandings as to the doubling of certain components of the cake. (Mom says double the filling and the frosting; I found out later that Grandma says not to. "Well, your mother is quite extravagant," she said.)

That would have been all well and good had I not made a serious error in the doubling of the filling. I remembered to double the cream cheese. I forgot to double the whipped cream. Oops! It was still tasty, but it definitely had more a cheesecake flavor than whipped creamy goodness. This particular cake requires slicing each layer in half horizontally in order to create 6 layers. I know that this is a tricky enterprise, but I'm no cake novice, I've done this before. You would have thought I used a chainsaw given the way it turned out! 3 of the halves completely fell apart into chunks and I had to pretend that I could salvage the mess by gluing it all together with the filling. Good grief. It was, without a doubt, the ugliest cake I have ever made in my life. But, as Grandma told me, "nobody gives a damn about how the cake turns out except for you, honey". Too true.

When the cake was out of the oven, we headed to Thanksgiving Point to meet Marc's parents and his sister Michelle's family. I think Michelle's 13-year-old daughter was pretty bored, but Lucas and Eva had a great time seeing all the animals, and Marc and I had fun seeing the kids so entertained.

Lucas feeding corn to the goats. There was one goat who was a bit of a bully, always nudging the others out of his way. Lucas would never feed him as punishment.

Marc actually got Eva to feed the animals! I can't believe that the girl who is petrified of a cat on our porch would pet horses and feed goats, sheep, and a calf. Will wonders never cease?

This little calf was absolutely adorable. I don't know if you can see her long long eyelashes, but... wow.

Not surprisingly, Eva was Marc's little buddy, even holding his hand all during the wagon ride.



sheep! My favorite kind, too. This one was baaaa-ing incessantly, it was hilarious.

By the time we were finished with the animals, Eva and Lucas were cold (it was extremely windy) and ready to go home. We decided it would be best for us to skip the tulip festival and head home to be there for Max's return. (Plus, I still needed to assemble the cake, oh the humanity.)

Max got back not long after we did. He dropped his gear and went right in to take a shower. He returned with this entire bucket full of rocks that he had dug up -- I guess Topaz Mountain is full of topaz, and they went excavating. What will we do with all of these?


We put 3 candles in the ugliest cake that ever has been and sang to Eva. I honestly think that her favorite part about birthdays -- hers or anyone else's -- is the birthday bear that Grandma brings, along with the birthday hat. Look at that grin!

After we sang to Eva, we put in 10 more candles and sang to Nicole.

They didn't seem to mind sharing their celebration.

Michelle gave Eva a Zoobie. I had never heard of these, but they are super-soft animals that zip open to reveal a super-soft blanket inside. Hers is a tortoise, and I think she's smitten. She also got Dora Legos and Dora Play-Doh. She's in heaven.

I looked over at Max during the present-opening and saw this. He had a good time on the campout, but it was really cold at night and now his cold symptoms and fever have returned. I sent him to bed at 8:00 and he didn't even protest! He was snoring a little while later.

I didn't get to prep my lesson until last night. It went fine. It wasn't the best lesson in the world, but at least we did get some interesting discussion going. I'm just glad it's over.

I took this picture today. It's fully loaded now!