My cup runneth over

First of all, my good friend Jill surprised me with this cake at a Book Club meeting we had at my house last week.  How sweet is she?  Jill is so crafty and talented.

Ryan and I spent our anniversary having a bunch of fun with the kiddos.  They were off school that day, and I told them it would be a technology-free day.  After many groans, they agreed that a game of baseball or kickball outside would be fun.  They worked hard to finish their chores, and I called the Napiers and Simmons to ask if they wanted to join us.  As soon as the chores were finished and the kids were excited . . .it started raining.  Instead of cancelling our plans, we decided to head to the church and play a friendly game of kickball in the gym.  The Napiers and Simmons joined us and we had a blast!  I wish I would have taken pictures.  I'm glad I could prove to my kids that exercise and time together can be even more fun than technology!  After a rambunctious game of kickball, we all went out to dinner together.  What a perfect celebration of my 15 years as Mrs. Ellefsen.

Last week was a very sad time as our friends, the Lucas', held their baby Carter for the last time and began to plan his funeral.  The "Celebration of Life" they held at their church was a beautiful service, but (in my opinion) left a lot of words unsaid.  Their preacher did the entire service, including any prayers or songs.  Although the Biblical words about peace were very comforting, I felt like jumping up and saying, "Yes, this is right!  And there's so much more!  I wish I could help you understand the whole plan.  Carter is perfect and alive!  Families can be together eternally, and there are so many more beautiful scriptures that can bring you peace!"  I'm so grateful for my knowledge and understanding of my Heavenly Father's plan, and I cherish my personal relationship with Him. 

While Ryan was traveling for a couple days last week, I decided to be spontaneous and take the boys to see Star Wars 3D in the movie theater.  They ended up being the only people in the theater, so I left a couple times to do nearby errands.  Brevan kept in touch with me over his phone and took very good care of Logan.  I couldn't stop smiling at my baby boy wearing his 3D glasses upside down!

The girls felt quite left out that evening, so after the movie and took the girls out to dinner.  They brought Lilly and Amelia along, and we all enjoyed some yummy Mexican food.

There have been so many exciting announcements about the Kansas City temple dedication!  My oldest boy gets to perform in the cultural celebration for the Prophet!  I took him to a fireside last night where they discussed the MANY upcoming practices and couldn't stop tears from falling from my eyes.  What a wonderful, life-changing experience this can be for these tender youth.  And how incredible to be involved in witnessing a temple built RIGHT HERE IN CLAY COUNTY!  The early Saints will be cheering along with us as we celebrate this momentous occasion.  The theme of the cultural event is "Of One Heart in the Heartland" and I will get to be involved with the planning and production since I'm in a youth presidency.  The cultural celebration will be performed on the evening of May 5th, and our Stake will be hosting families and youth from all over Missouri.  I hope I have a basement full of guests with us that weekend!

Ryan's parents get in town on Wednesday, and will be here for almost two weeks!  The first week will be spent with our whole family, and the second week they will be watching our kids while Ryan and I jet off to Puerto Rico. 

I've had the most spiritual 6+ months of my life.  The Spirit has literally flooded me and I have never had such an abundance of joy.  My cup runneth over.  :)

My brilliant boy

Front page of the local newspaper for doing some incredible service!

And a grade card any mama would be proud of.  But he is extremely disappointed in himself for not having all 100%, even though all his grades are "A"s.  He'll be my self-motivated child who works his way into the college of his choice.

I can't explain how much Brevan has matured this year.  I thoroughly enjoy him.  I love driving him to school and picking him up at the end of the day.  He trusts me, is affectionate and has become incredibly witty!  He has an amazingly good group of friends, and I honestly don't let a prayer go by without thanking Heavenly Father for the great boys he has chosen to hang out with.  So far, raising a teenager has been pleasantly enjoyable.

And just for kicks, here's a conversation he just had with me while doing his homework tonight:

Brevan:  I can't wait until this quarter is over so I don't have to take Health anymore.

Me:  Are you not enjoying learning all about the reproductive parts?  All those fascinating things you can learn about the female reproductive organs? (giggle)

Brevan:  Ew.  That's disgusting.  Some boys in my class have skipped ahead in the book to read that chapter.

Me:  And you didn't?  Aren't you mildly curious?  And disgusted at the same time?

Brevan:  (giggle) Yeah, I guess.

Me:  So you should look forward to that amazing week in Health class and then you won't be completely shocked when you get married someday. (another giggle)

Brevan:  Gross.  I'm just gonna wing it.

The toothless blondie

These are some of my recent Lindsey favorites - and it was hard to pick just this many because she's flippin ridiculously cute and hilarious.  The soccer pictures were taken the weekend I was out of town with Bryn.  Her hair looks awful but she was so proud that she had pulled it into a ponytail all by herself!

Ryan is the assistant coach of her basketball team, but the head coach (and quite a few of the girls) couldn't attend the picture appointment.

How's this for guilt-inducing??

The best valentine I got this year.

I think she SHOULD run for president.  I bet she could do a better job than any of her opponents at "eprishiate"ing her fellow Americans.

What an adorably narcissistic positive portrayal of herself!

And finally, a new haircut for the princess who has the most sensitive head on earth.  Now hopefully she won't cry so much while I brush it out in the morning.

This week we will celebrate a great milestone:  our 15th wedding anniversary.

But we will also be attending the funeral for this little guy.  My heart is so heavy tonight.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/carterlucas

The angel food cake dinner

While Bryn and I were in Texas over the weekend, Brevan decided he wanted to throw an impromptu surprise party for one of his friends, Clayton.  Ryan agreed to help him pull it off, and they started planning the event that would be at our house Saturday afternoon.  From a few states away, I was very excited about the fact that Brevan was having many of his best friends over (and he even thought to invite a brand-new boy who just moved here!), but was feeling a bit OCD about the fact that I was not involved in planning the party.  I LOVE to have people get-together, so an impromptu party is right up my alley, but the mom/detail freak in me went into overdrive and kept asking the boys many questions on the phone, such as: 

"Did all the boys ask their parents if they could come?  Do the parents know they will need to drop off their boy and pick him up later?  Is the house clean?  No, I don't mean just the kitchen area.  I mean like the whole house - all those areas that I clean because I seem to be the only one in the family that notices they are dirty?  What activities will you guys be doing?  Oh, I think that movie is PG-13. You better check with the parents before showing it at the party.  Did you get enough decorations?  What will you serve for dinner?  What desserts do you have?  I think we are out of sour cream.  Don't forget to run to the store and get some first.  And when the boys arrive, make sure they all feel comfortable and are included in every activity."  I'm sure they were thrilled that I can even lecture them from afar. 

After getting home on Sunday, I found out the details of the party.  There had been plenty of food (pizza, soda and some homemade desserts that Brevan MADE HIMSELF).  The house had been clean enough, none of the parents had been asked about the rating of the movie, and one boy had burst into tears at one point and ran upstairs, but he wouldn't tell anyone what was wrong.  I've spoken to his mom about it, and she assures me that he had a great time and didn't mention getting upset.  So for the most part, I guess the party was a success.  I've been cleaning up candy wrappers, empty soda cans and popped balloons for days, so it looks like it was great fun.

Well, like I said, I got home from our trip late Sunday night.  I had all kinds of plans to get the house cleaned up the next day, come up with some fun ideas for a Valentines dinner the next day, get the bills paid, etc.  Instead, we had a snow day so all the kids were home.  And it turned out to be a lot of fun, but the already messy party-house became an episode of Hoarders.  That evening, I realized the girls had not prepared all their valentines to pass out the next day.  They had decided to create their own valentines this year, so I had purchased all the supplies, but they had run out of steam half-way through the project.  I stayed up until 11:30 creating glittery, colorful valentines.  Ryan thought I was crazy and gave me a lecture on doing too much for the kids and not requiring them to be responsible.  Dangit, I think he's right.

So on Tuesday morning I had so much to finally get accomplished before the afternoon when I had volunteered to help at both Lindsey and Brynlie's Valentines Day parties.  I was also in charge of bringing strawberries to both parties, since the room moms wanted the kids to make chocolate-covered strawberries.  After getting a few things done in the morning, I rushed to get Logan from preschool before having lunch with some friends.  Christine came with me in my van, and we decided that after meeting the others for lunch, we would stop by the store for the party food before driving to the Elementary for the parties.  On the drive there, she noticed my gas light was on and commented that I was almost out of gas.  I told her I would get some gas later, and that I had never run out of gas.  But that brought up a great story from the previous weekend when I'd been out of town and Ryan HAD run out of gas on his way home from church with the kids.  A new family in our ward happened to drive by soon afterward and rescued my stranded crew. 

After lunch, we ran to the store for the supplies before getting on the freeway to head to Kearney. Suddenly I noticed that my van was slowing down, even when I was pushing on the gas pedal.  Then I noticed that my power steering was gone.  Neither Ryan or I have ever run out of gas, and then it happened to both of us in the same week!  I quickly called Brenda, who I knew was shopping nearby, and she came to the rescue about 15 minutes later.  She took me (and Christine and Logan) to the gas station to buy a small gas can.  After returning to the van, I put the gas in and tried to start it.  Nothing.  So we had to go back to the gas station again.  Then back to the van.  We were all laughing pretty hysterically by this point.  What a crazy adventure!  This time the van started up, so I was able to drive it back to the gas station to fill it up ALL the way.  But by this time the parties were almost over.  I felt horrible that not only were my two girls going to be disappointed that I didn't attend the parties, but so were the rest of their classmates because they wouldn't have the food!  Not to mention Christine's 3 elementary school kids and Brenda's 3 kids, who also had to party without their moms.  While driving to the school, I realized that Brevan was going to get home before I would and the house alarm was set.  I haven't yet showed him how to operate the alarm, so by the time I called him he had already triggered the alarm and the cops were dispatched.  I got a hold of the police and reassured them that everything was fine at the house.

Once Christine and I picked up all the kids, we had a good laugh about the bags full of strawberries I still had.  On the way home from the school, we stopped at the store and bought the rest of the supplies for a Valentines Day angel food cake.  I figured my day had been so crazy that I wouldn't have time anymore to put together a great Valentines dinner, but at least we could have a yummy cake after dinner that would use up many of the strawberries. 

Unfortunately, the evening consisted of getting the girls to choir, picking up Brynlie early from choir so she could attend Activities Days at the church, picking up Lindsey when choir was actually over, and having Brevan, me and Ryan attend the Youth activity.  We didn't get home until after 9:00 pm, and no one had even eaten dinner yet.  I put the cake on a plate, sprayed whip cream all over it and topped it with a handful of strawberries.  Happy Valentines Day, family. 

I cleaned and organized for hours today, and I feel like order has returned to our lives.  I even made a yummy dinner to make up for the insane Valentines Day yesterday.  All is well, and I will never let my gas tank get that empty again.

Snow day - FINALLY!

Since I had been in Texas for several days, I wasn't watching the weather in Missouri and was surprised to get a text from the school district at 5:15 am on Monday, telling me that school was closed due to snow.  I quickly opened the window blinds to see . . .real snow!  Amazing!  We were starting to think we wouldn't have any snow this year, since it's been mostly fall-like temperatures.  I quickly turned off the kid's alarm clocks and whispered "snow day!" in their ears before they smiled and drifted back to sleep.

Besides the fact that the kids were able to sleep in (since I wasn't able to go back to sleep), I'm going to admit that I wasn't completely excited about a snow day.  I had a lot to get done, so had mentally planned out my entire day.  Instead of getting a darn thing accomplished, I spent the day bundling up kids, trying to keep melted snow off the floors and feeding half the neighborhood.  It was a great day and I ended up being glad for the distraction and extra time with my kids.

I bought Lindsey's snowsuit at a garage sale last year.  It looks almost identical to the obnoxiously bright snowsuit I was sporting in the 80's!  It matches her personality (and hat and gloves coincidentally) perfectly!  Logan was super excited about the snow and played outside until his hands and cheeks were icicles from throwing snowballs at Parker.  Brynlie endured the snow for a few minutes before spotting her friends and inviting them inside the house for a day of mess after mess . . .I mean, extreme creativity.  Brevan has the horrible job of being the oldest kid, which means it is his responsibility to shovel our L O N G driveway.  I did pay him for a job well done, after he even shoveled a couple neighbor's driveways out of kindness.

"Not everyone can come and go by bubble!"

So instead, we went by plane.  And had a wickedly, wonderful good time.  We left early on Friday morning, and landed in Austin by 9:30 am.  I must say that I'm darn right proud of us for renting a car on our own and exploring a town where we've never gone.  We were very grateful for the invention of a GPS!  After checking into our hotel (we stayed at the Marriott downtown), we strolled through town for a bit before decided to eat at the Melting Pot . . .which was closed.  So instead we ate lunch at Fogo de Chao, and oh my goodness it was good.  Brynlie was not so impressed however, because all the food choices stressed her out.  Decisions are not a quick or easy thing for this girl.

We took this picture on the plane.  I sure wish my nose was still small and cute like  Bryn's.  My pre-accident nose was much more petite.

After lunch, we got in our red rental car and headed to the mall.  We wanted to get all "done up" for the big show that night!  I needed some things from Sephora, and was greeted by this fun girl from Wales.  She pretty much demanded that I sit in the chair and get a make-over, since I was on a girl's weekend with my daughter.  While she made me beautiful, we talked all about the different countries in Europe.  She has traveled to almost all of them, and enjoys the different cultures as much as I do.  I could have spent the whole weekend with her!  She had the cutest accent and was proud to be celebrating her 7th wedding anniversary soon.

 Bryn walked around Sephora taking pictures of everything, until she was told she needed to put her camera away.  When I saw all the pictures she had taken (most of which I did not include in this post), I laughed out loud at the next couple shots.  I was VERY glad the cute girl from Wales had helped me instead of either of these two employees.  I don't think I could have taken any of their advice seriously.

After a make-over for me, it was time for a fancy up-do for the princess.  We found a salon willing to fit her in their schedule.  After looking at prom hairdo's in a couple books, she decided on a fancy bun in the back of her head.  She looked beautiful!

After dinner at the food court (which was extremely exciting for Bryn, since I never take my kids to indoor malls), we headed back to the hotel for a little rest before getting dressed up for the musical.

We had a little issue getting to the venue (since Mrs. GPS was not helpful in telling us where to park), but made it in time!  Doesn't she look ecstatic as she waits in her seat for the show to start?  Every time a song finished or a scene ended, she was the first to start clapping loudly!

During intermission, we took some pictures of Bryn since she has to make a poster of the event for her Beyond Basics report next month. 

My favorite line from the musical was, "It looks like the artichoke is steamed!"  Haha, we laughed so hard during much of the play that I wondered if we were bothering those sitting around us. We didn't get back to our hotel until almost midnight.  I made sure the "do not disturb" sign was on the doorhandle, closed all the curtains as tightly as possible, and slept until 9:30.  It was amazing!

After brunch at a fun British restaurant, we had planned to spend the day riding a tandem bike around the river.  There's a beautiful area called Zilker Park that has a natural heated spring we wanted to "swim" in.  Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and it was downright cold this day.  (Of course, now that we've left town it's in the mid-70's in Austin again).  So we had to change our outdoor plans to indoor plans.  After some discussion, Brynlie decided we should get pedicures, do some serious shopping/browsing at the mall, eat lots of good food, and rent a movie in our hotel room (because "then it feels like I have a TV in my bedroom!").  So off we went to get our toes all prettied-up.

Brynlie's "before" picture while waiting at the nail salon.  Kinda gross.  Good call on the pedicure!

This is how I know that I'm getting old.  When they have to whip out a cheese grater to get my feet looking decent.  Way to make me feel young on my 35th birthday.

Only on vacation could this girl get away with ordering a Dr. Pepper.

The first place Brynlie wanted to explore was a large furniture store.  Seriously.  She thought it was so exciting to "play house" in all the rooms!  She walked like a runway model through the store, telling me "this is how rich people walk around their houses."

Then it was on to Dillards, where we got super silly.

The shoe department was probably the best part of the whole trip for Bryn.  She's always trying to convince me that high heels are awesome and she needs to wear them.  Uh, no.  Anytime I told her she was weird or that I hated a pair of shoes she loved, she would say "Mom, you don't understand!  We are just different!  I like to look fancy ALL the time and you . . .don't."

I guess maybe she is my daughter.  This is how I walk in heels, too.

We wandered the mall like teenagers with no where to go.  I thought it was hilarious that Bryn finds the mall so exciting.  I don't think I've taken her to an indoor mall since we moved to Missouri over 6 years ago. 

Bryn enjoyed giving me a fashion show of all the best outfits she could find.  I vetoed this one pretty quickly.  She looks like Michael Jackson.

How do you think I would look in this dress???

Our beautiful toes.  Brynlie wanted a pattern, which reminded me more of the 4th of July than Valentines Day!

More pictures of our time away that I took with my phone camera.

At about 11 pm the night of my birthday, I was craving chocolate in a SERIOUS way, even though I'd already eaten plenty of it during the day.  We walked down to the lobby in our pajamas and purchased some Half-Baked ice cream.  Yuuuuum.  It was just what I needed!

Our last stop at the Starbucks for hot chocolate.  We literally got a peppermint hot chocolate every time we walked into the lobby of the hotel.  Oh how we miss it.  I should always have a Starbucks in my "basement."  I took this picture on Sunday morning, as we were getting ready to head to the airport for our flight home.

We had a blast on our first-ever girl trip together!  A few other memorable moments:

• Bryn got very excited when we saw a "I'm a Mormon" billboard right outside the airport.
• Bryn had to pee literally every 20 minutes.  I had to start limiting her fluid intake so we didn't have to stop at a bathroom constantly!
• On the last day of our trip, I found a note on the bottom of my suitcase.  It was from Lindsey, and she had tucked the love letter in my suitcase as I was packing a few days earlier.  It made me cry and I couldn't wait to get home and hug my other babies.