Sense of Humor Wanted

*This is just one of those posts for myself that I wanted to remember because I know someday it will be funny. And even though I might complain about my kids sometimes (especially M, the spoiled baby of the family), I really and truly love them more than just about anything. Tantrums and all.

 Yesterday was an interesting day. It was Sunday, so of course we had church. For once I didn't have any meetings and I didn't have to do the lesson for my class. I only had 4 kids to get ready for church, so you'd think I'd have my day made, right?

Wrong.

Andy came down with strep throat over the weekend. He has NEVER EVER had it in his life. Guys, he was wanting to die. And, I don't blame him. Last time I had strep throat I literally wanted to carve my own tonsils out of my throat. The medication takes about 3 days before it starts giving any relief. And I just think every sickness is way worse as an adult. It's awful.

Anyway, he was down for the count. All morning I was trying to keep the kids quiet because he was trying to rest. Now, the hierarchy between my kids is this: Laylah and Daphne are equal but they rule over Magnus. He always plays with them and they tell him what to do and he loves it. Between Jonah and Baron, Jonah is one step up. Bear is like his little puppy dog and follows him around and does what Jonah says. Now, with Jonah being gone (out of town with his friend, remember?) Bear is a lost puppy dog and isn't quite sure what to do. It was sad. He kept trying to play with the girls, but he was bothering them more than playing with them, so I was referee all morning and getting sick of it. 

I finally got them all ready for church and we were on our way (in the snow. Stupid, stupid spring snow.) We were going to be about 5 minutes late and since it was rain/snowing, I dropped the kids at the door and told them to hurry in and get us a seat while I found a parking spot. I ran inside and got to the chapel only to find that it was jam packed and my kids were in the overflow. I would have to walk across the hard wood in my very LOUD stilettos and the sacrament prayer was about to start. Right then I realized I had left the church bag in the car. I figured we'd be okay without it, after all I had pens and notebooks (and a few old boxes of raisins, haha) in my Young Women's bag. I tried to quietly sneak to my seat but my shoes gave me away and of course people turn to see what the noise is about. I finally sat down only to have Magnus start yelling that he NEEDS his FISHIES!! Where are his FISHIES?! Did I forget his FISHIES?? I tried to quietly explain that I had accidentally left them, but before I could even finish my sentence he was throwing a tantrum because heaven help him if he doesn't get his goldfish crackers. He'd woken at 5:30 that morning to go to the bathroom and never gone back to sleep and now here it was, 1 o'clock church and he hadn't had a nap and he was just ready to be done 5 minutes in.

I tried damage control, but he wasn't having any of it. All of the sudden he jumps up and starts racing to the back of the gym and I barely missed grabbing him as he ran past me (ugh!) I asked Daphne to go and get him, but of course, I forgot to say "and be quiet about it" which she figures gives her free reign to be as loud as she darn well pleases. She throws her hymn book on the floor, BAM! and races after the little devil, err, I mean, her brother to which immediate screams follow as he realizes he's being chased. She grabs him and tries to drag him back, because lest you remember he is a big boy and she is a small girl and she probably only weighs about 10 pounds more than he. More screaming follows so I take my shoes off and run/walk back there and tell Daphne to quietly go and sit down and then grab Magnus and yank him out of there so fast that hopefully he has whiplash.

I marched him over to the stage stairs and plopped him down and told him that he could sit there as long as necessary until he was ready to behave in church the proper way. He pouted and cried on those stairs for a good 10 minutes and then all of the sudden stopped and told me he needed to go to the bathroom and that he would be good now. I took him into the bathroom (which opened a whole new can of worms about it being the girl's bathroom and he wanted to go in the boy's bathroom because he is a BOY darn it!) and me explaining that daddy wasn't here and this would have to do. More tantrum, yada yada yada, finally we made it back to the chapel.

Once again, no toys or books or snacks for M. I offer him the old raisins, he eats a few and then hands the box back. "I don't want these," he says with a disgusted look on his face. "Can I have some toys?" I search and search through my bag only to find an empty flip-top tube from some mini M and M's and after asking Laylah to look in her scripture bag she came up with a baby-sock coin purse (used to keep her tithing in) and her Chinese umbrella that looks like a little Chinese lady (from my mom's trip to China). I figured he had a pretty good imagination so he could come up with something to do with these random objects, so in a fake-excited whisper I say, "Look at these fun toys!" only to have him take them from me and stare at them all for one long minute. After his assessment he looks up at me with a matter-of-fact look on his face and says, "These aren't toys! This is an empty M and M box! And this is a thock! (he has a lisp...) and this little lady is a 'brella! I don't want 'em!" He lies on the floor, finally defeated and I think that just maybe he will fall asleep (because the kid can literally sleep anywhere.) After about 5 minutes he sits up and glances at me and quietly grabs the M and M container and plays with it (it's an airplane! No, it's a soldier guy! No, it's a horse!) for the rest of Sacrament meeting. Amazing.

When it's time to go to primary I brace myself for the tantrum that will ensue (M and primary don't get along too well. He would much rather still be in nursery. And I was right... "I don't want to go to big primary! It's no fun!") I end up bribing him to go and as I watch him walk in, he plops himself back down on the floor in front of his class' row of chairs. At least I got him in there.

Throughout Sunday School and Young Women's my throat starts to ache and I start to feel a little queasy and achy and by the the time church is over I am just done. We head home where I warm up leftovers for dinner and then clock out for the rest of the evening. Maybe someday Sundays will be relaxing, but until that day.... I'm just trying to keep a sense of humor about the whole darn thing.

And yes, it looks like I have strep as well. Luckily I already have a prescription, so at least I got a jump on that!

Blast From the Past

 My friend Cristan sent me this photo the other night and Andy and I about died laughing. It was at her wedding 11 years ago where I was a bridesmaid with a specially tailored top to fit my 7.5 month pregnant belly. Andy looks like he's about 15, no wonder everyone thought I was older than him. We were giving them advice on their wedding video and by the look I'm giving Andy, I must not think much of his advice, ha! We'd been married for almost 10 months at this point so what did we know about marriage anyway?! I still feel like a newlywed sometimes when it comes to marriage with all that I don't know and all that I still need to learn.

 But this photo reminded me that I started telling our love story months ago and had never finished, so enjoy...

( And in case you have no idea what I'm talking about, part 1 to this story is HERE and part 2 to this story is HERE.)

After Thanksgiving night I didn't think much more about Andrew Collette. I was busy with work and school and I lived an hour away in Provo. I was dating lots of boys and just having fun. One night I came home from school and had some messages on the whiteboard that several people had called (hardly anyone had cellphones back then and my roommates and I shared a landline.... Weird!) One of those people was Andy. I didn't think much of it and left the message up so I could call him back later. A few days later there was another message from him. I figured I better not be rude so I called him back that night even though it was fairly late. I didn't get home from school until about 10:15 most nights but he answered on the second or third ring. He sounded happy to hear from me and he asked me out for the next Friday night. I agreed and we chatted for a few minutes and then I told him I had to go (because I actually had a little date right then with a guy in my ward to go get ice cream) and he told me he'd be in touch about our date. 

That Sunday I had a meeting with the Activities Committee (yup, I was on the committee. Awesome calling... not really though) and we were finishing up our planning of our Christmas activity to go up to Temple Square to see the lights. The activity would take place the next Friday. I suddenly realized that was my date with Andy and made a mental note to call him later and cancel. We finished up the details in the meeting and I went home to give Andy a call. He answered right away and I explained the situation to him and apologized that we would need to cancel. He told me he didn't want to cancel and that he would be perfectly happy coming along on my ward's activity with me. I was a little taken aback but I told him that if he was okay with that then that was fine with me. 

So the night came, the night of our first actual date. I met up with my ward (we were carpooling up) and I didn't take anyone with me because of my "date" but I drove up alone to my parents house where Andy was picking me up. I got there and waited a few minutes and then heard a knock on the door. When I opened it and saw Andy standing there all handsome and stuff I suddenly got a few butterflies in my tummy. He smiled and held his hand out to me and said, "Hey pretty lady... You ready to go look at some lights?"  Smoooooth, right? Haha. I kind of laughed and took his hand and he led me to his truck where he opened the door for me. We had an easy time making conversation. We liked the same music and we knew some of the same people from high school even though he is 3 years older than me. We made it to the temple and headed over to meet my group. We had hot chocolate and donuts and a little devotional and then split up to go walk around Temple Square. 

We walked and talked and laughed and had fun. At some point in the night his hand found mine and didn't let go. We sat at the reflecting pond and stared up at the beauty that is the Salt Lake Temple. I told him I was going to get married there someday and he said that he had the same plans.

We left when it got too cold and decided to grab a movie to go watch at his parents house. We went to Blockbuster (remember those?!) and grabbed Legally Blond (one of my favorites that he hasn't seen because it came out while he was on his mission) and went to watch it. We snuggled up on the couch and watched the movie. When it was over I asked him to tell me about his mission because I thought I might like to go on a mission in a few years (later Andy told me that he immediately had the thought of, "you won't be going on a mission" which made me chuckle.) He told me about it and I listened and then our conversation went into other things and we just talked and talked and talked so easily. This next part is slightly embarrassing because it shows what a HUGE flirt I was and if I ever see my daughters flirt the way I did back then I will slap them.

Anyway, Andy told me he was a wrestler in high school so I told him to show me some moves (gag). We got down on the floor and he was very professional about showing me exactly how I was supposed to try and pin him. I gave it my all but of course I didn't get far before I was pinned flat on my back and we were just sitting there giggling and staring at each other. All of the sudden Andy leaned down slowly and kissed me and I kissed back! I loved kissing him (ahem, still do too) but after a minute we got up and he took me home with the promise that he would be calling soon.

It was a memorable first date, and I still love thinking about it. 

This is taking way longer than I thought, and of course my lack of brevity doesn't help. Hopefully I can wrap it up in one more post. Until then, to be continued...

Sometimes You Just Need Your Girls

 Ahhh, today is the start of my kid's spring break. Mine was a couple weeks ago, but it didn't seem like it because I still had to study and I still went to work and my kids still went to school and yeah. It wasn't fun. My kiddos are out of school for 10 whole glorious days! Sleeping in! No getting ready! No homework! No projects due! Just fun and lazy. Well, it won't be all fun and lazy, I have a few spring cleaning projects planned, but hopefully we can get those done and be on with the fun part. And also, it will be super weird because Jonah got invited to go to San Diego with one of his best buds for 8 days. That's a long time for me to not see my boy! I will surely miss him, but he will probably want to be adopted by his friend's family by the time they come home. Haha. Anyways....

I have had several GNO recently and I just have to say that they were glorious. I used to live for Girl's Night Out. It was marked on my calender every month, not to be missed. And it was always fun and good and I loved it. But somewhere along the way it kind of got lost in the shuffle and it became really sporadic and occasional. It started to seem like more of a chore because I was already away from my family so much that I felt really guilty leaving them again just so I could go and have fun. But after having a few really super fun nights with my ladies, I realize that it leaves me feeling refreshed and like I can be a better mom and wife because of that little break I got to have. I need to schedule more GNO.

Last week I got together with some ladies from my ward/neighborhood. One of our friends, Holly, is moving so we threw her a going away party. It was themed Ugly Momma's Night Out. The goal was to dress as ugly as possible. Well, I had work and then school all day, so I showed up looking semi-normal in my work clothes. They forced me to put on a hideous silk dress that was 10 sizes too big and resembled draperies (or Joseph's technicolor dream coat). Everyone else looked simply amazing. Her are some photos to prove it...

 We played laser tag against a bunch of teenage boys who pretty much thought we were crazy. We had a dance party and went to dinner and then cruised around looking for trouble and dying of laughter. It was pretty much the best night ever. I loved it. That's around the time I realized that I missed my Girls' Night! I need to have them more often. Laughter is good for my soul.

Later that week I was able to take my two darling girls to a Lion House luncheon for a little family reunion on my Grandm'a Marge's side of the family. It is a ladies lunch, so no boys allowed :) It was fun to see most of my cousins and get to catch up and chat and eat yummy food. Afterwards my mom, Laylah, and I went shopping for Easter outfits for the kids. We found some winners, so you'll get to see the kid's outfits come Easter! They are pastel and colorful and they will all look like Easter eggs. And I will love it. Here are some photos of the day.

I also got to chaperone a field trip for Laylah's class last week. I just love getting to spend time with my kids one-on-one.  We went to the nature center and learned about animal adaptations and went for a beautiful nature walk... and I was late getting my group back to the bus. Whoops.

Last night for our Young Women activity we decided we all needed a Girl's Night Out as well and headed to The Chocolate for some delicious desserts and girl talk. It was hilarious. I have to say, I love my Young Women and my calling.  I have had a post in the works all about my last year as a Young Women leader, but it isn't finished yet. I have a lot of posts in the works...

And last but not least I got to have a fun birthday lunch (only a couple months late :) with my lovely Grandma D. I love her, she's so cute and fun. She took me to my favorite Leatherby's and we talked and ate fries and ice cream.  She's the greatest.

So there you have it. It's true what they say, sometimes a girl just needs her ladies.

Just, You Know, Life

 So, as you can imagine, life with 5 kids is a little bit crazy at times. Or always. There is always something. Somebody always has a program, a special day at school, a tournament/game/class/what-have-you. And I love it (for the most part). I really do like to be busy and involved. It makes me happy to see my kids perform in any situation. Here is just about a month's worth of going-on's at the Collette household. Just another month in paradise...

Baron had his 100th day at school so they celebrated by dressing up like 100 year old's. It was funny. And pretty darn cute.

Just thought I'd throw this in here. My sweet childhhod pup Lacie passed away. She was nearly 17 and even though she gave my parents some grief in her last few years of life, she was still just a great little dog. I will miss her.

Here is Laylah at the school spelling bee. She took 6th place and they only took the top 5 to region, darn it. Barely missed the cut-off! Oh well, she hardly studied and hopefully she can make it next year. She is a great little speller.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again. I just love our neighborhood. All of my kids have such wonderful friends and we do too. We spent the evening with some of our dear friends the Heath's and the Murray's and their two boys just happen to be Baron's two best buds.

Besides just our neighbor friends, we love friends in general. Miles and Magnus spent a fun evening playing together while I did my best gal pal's hair (Miles' mommy, Cristan)

And then we went to Leatherby's where we realized we have the exact same purse. Random! I just love this lady. Friends from the very beginning.

And Magnus is busy coloring away. He's taking after his big bro Bear and loves to do all things artsy.

Andy and I were able to attend the Blue and Gold Banquet with Jonah for scouts. I love this kid.

 He earned a badge for winter scout camp.

Just a nice sunny day at piano lessons. Laylah was inside getting her lesson while everyone else was enjoying the gorgeous weather. I want a playground like this in our backyard soooo bad!

Another one of M. He is completely obsessed with motorcycles and had to sit on my dad's new toy.

A rainy day

Andy and I were able to go to my Uncle Jim's surprise 50th birthday party. I adore my mom's brother's, they are the best uncles a gal could ask for.

 And my darling cousins were there too.

 It was a karaoke party and my mom and Andy did a duet, ha! It was pretty dang funny.

Jonah loves chess, so when there was a chess tournament in the district he wanted to sign-up right away. It was his first one and I was amazed at how well he did! He only lost one match out of 5, had 1 draw, and 3 wins. He had one of the top scores and got 6th place out of 38 kids in his division. He got a gold medal. It was such a fun morning and I hope he wants to do more tourney's.

 These were a bunch of kids from our school there. Some of these boys are in his class.

 Jonah's luck wasn't over for the day. He had his last basketball game of the season where he scored half of his team's points! It was a great day to be Jonah :)

We got the boys a new bed. M had completely outgrown his toddler bed. We got another bunk with a twin over full and I found some really cute sheets. Bear and M have done really well sharing a bed and now I just need to find new quilts.

I had an all day work training and it was fun spending the day learning new techniques and doing hair. I really like the girl's I work with and we had a fun time.

 We went to lunch across the parking lot. I was surprised how fast the day went by.

Just a sample of some new styling techniques I learned. 

Andy finally got the go-ahead to wear regular shoes again. No more boot!! His scar looks much better and he also started back to work. It's been an interesting transition.  He'll still have physical therapy for several more months, but he is definitely on his way.

Just one of the hazards of working in the beauty industry. Some guests are so picky and want to see every single lipstick/eyeliner/blush color we carry in the store...

Just a shot of my Laylah girl.  She's pretty cute I guess ;)

Parents and Pastries at school. We get to go read stories and eat donuts a couple times a year before school starts. It's early and we are always late and barely make it in time to get a donut. But it's fun.

Jonah had a biography fair at school. He got to choose someone (that was dead) and learn about their life. He made a poster and memorized some tidbits and then had to dress like his person. The whole class was supposed to be statues and they had little buttons on their desks that could be pressed and then they would "come alive" and talk about their life. It was so much fun and so cool to see Jonah. He did Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter. I loved it.

I've noticed that I take a lot of photos of food.  I don't post them a ton, but this one had to be because there is a story that goes along with it. Andy and I go out once a week. We usually agree on somewhere to eat, but not always. If we don't, we take turns choosing. Well, one night he wanted mexican food (and I really don't like authentic mexican food) so we went to this place called Morelia's. He kept saying we had been there before, but I had absolutely no recollection of it. So I ordered this combo meal thing and when it came out I was shocked at the size. Just look at it!

Yuck! I had a few bites of each thing and then I was done. Andy ordered something similar and ate all of his and then pretty much finished off mine. Yeah, he wasn't feeling very well a couple hours later and didn't join us for church the next day due to some GI issues. I'm just glad he won't want to go back there. Haha :)

Just another Sunday playing games and eating a giant skillet cookie smothered in ice cream, fudge, and whipped cream.

Super busy day at work. I made a huge mess.

The kids choir group sang at a district meeting. They did such a great job.

They're pretty cute. I'll keep 'em.

Here's just a couple photos from my least favorite holiday, St. Patrick's Day. We had green eggs and milk, wore some green, and a leprechaun brought us a little treat. And we call it good.

Daphne had a grandparents day program at school. Andy and I were able to go to the dress rehearsal and the day of the actual program only grandparents were invited and they had cookies and punch afterwards. Daphne had some lines and some photos in the slides how. It was a darling program and I loved watching her. She's on the back row, third in from the right.

And that's that for the last month and a half or so. Our lives continue to be fun and busy and I love it. I love my family. Work and school are fine. It's just a lot. Life is a crazy thing. Anyway, I won't start rambling. I hope to stay a little more caught up on here, hopefully.... later alligator.