how to cill elmo, 'n stuff

First and foremost, Happy Birthday Scott!! We had a great day together starting with breakfast at Joe's Cafe (heavenly biscuits & gravy, omelets & waffles, and Joe was, well, just so Joe-ish). Then that afternoon Scott and I and friends Ryan & Emily saw Brian Regan perform live at Abravanel Hall. It was our first time seeing a live comedy show and it was really funny. Followed by a delicious dinner at Sawadee with even more friends (Jacobsens & Hardys) and then heavenly chocolates at some little place Holly recommended made for a great day all around. Sunday the fam come over for dinner and we enjoyed a coldstone ice cream cake for dessert. (sidenote -- will the kids ever outgrow wanting to "help" blow out the candles?) (another sidenote -- isn't that a great shot -- all three of them with puffed up cheeks?!) I'm sorry you have to get older, Scott. But I love you all the same (or even a year more) and couldn't ask for a better companion for life.

Other family business...

image from Island Def Jam Records

Friday night Scott & I took the boys to see the Neon Trees play in Provo at Velour. (Paul Jacobsen & the Madison Arm were supposed to open the show, but unfortunately Paul got detained in NYC. Boo.). I just have to say it was an AMAZING show. I was sooo impressed with their showmanship, professionalism on stage and off, how nice and friendly they all were, and how really great their songs were. Oliver could barely keep his eyes open, but we made it to the end for autographs and all. Brenden sat right up against the stage and even got the attention of the bass player who played right to him on one of his solos. (Watch them on Jimmy Kimmel Live on March 23rd.) So great.



The boys got new shoes -- for Oliver's birthday (and Brenden paid for his own) they got to design their own Converse. It was an agonizing long wait to get them all the way from China (exciting for Oliver) but they are thrilled with how they turned out. It's cute how Brenden is trying to define his style. He said he wants to become known as "crazy shoes guy". I think he's on the right track with these ones.

So the other day Brenden and Oliver both had friends over and I look out back to discover this happy scene -- all the kids crowded around the firepit - that's right - PLAYING WITH FIRE! My natural instinct as a mom was that I was supposed to run out there and chastise them and yell and stop them and tell them never to play with fire. But somehow I couldn't bring myself to do it. They were outside, they were excited, they were playing nicely, and they were basically doing a science experiment to see how different materials burn. They were being safe -- in the firepit, fire never got too big or out of control, no lighter fluid, hose nearby. So I just stood there and watched. And debated. I finally concluded to let them go and keep monitoring the activity, and as each of the friends went home I told them, "When you go home and tell your parents how fun it was to play with fire at the Wileys house, be sure to tell them I was there and made sure you were being safe." So I probably won't win the Smokey the Bear Best Mom Award this year, but maybe my kids will give me a few fun points. (Did your neighbor's friend's brother burn his face this way? Maybe I need to hear some horror stories to change my mind.)

Huck is easily distracted while eating.

June is a great helper :)

And finally, I'll leave you with a nice little bedtime story written by Oliver.

(wait - is this a sign I should have stopped the fire activity?)

Justin Hackworth session

Last summer Justin Hackworth was running a special and I signed up for a mother-daughter photo shoot. I scheduled it for the beginning of August since I'd be very pregnant and I could use it as maternity shots as well. Huck surprised us at the end of July, so our session was put off for a while. Justin came to our house last week and did his thing. June was a little less-than-cooperative (that is unless there was a pink dora phone or a stuffed boots the monkey or a dart gun in the picture) but he still managed to get some great shots of her. Here are some favorites.

classic "i'm not going to smile" face

the darn dora phone

Oops - boots made it into this shot

Here's June singing the lead in a musical

Happy Birthday to me! (Among other things)

This year on the actual day of my birthday my brother Steve came to town and provided the impetus to get all the local family adults to hit the slopes together. It's the first time that has happened in years and it was a blast. Steve, Mom, Dad, Christine, Scott & I all managed to take the day off, make arrangements for the kids, find all our snow gear, rent equipment, and spent the day at Brighton together. As a mom (or really any type of adult), your birthday often passes as you take care of normal daily duties and people ask "are you having a nice birthday" and you grin and say "yes" even though you're just changing diapers and doing dishes again. It was so special to get to do something so out of the ordinary on my actual birthday -- I highly recommend it. We stopped at Hires on the way home, then had some dessert with the kids.



Yellow cake straight out of the box mix with chocolate frosting from the tub remains the best cake in the world -- especially the leftovers. Man that's a lot of candles.



Other family activities...

Haircuts for the kids at Cookie Cutters (in Lehi). I highly recommend this place. Besides the fact that each kid gets to pick their own movie to watch or video game to play, besides the special cars to sit in and kid-friendly dispositions and tricks of the stylists, besides the jungle gym and computer to play on in the waiting area and the balloons & lollypops at checkout, besides the reasonable prices (especially given all of the above), this place actually gives decent haircuts.

Did you know Provo has it's own DINOSAUR MUSEUM?!?! We've been wanting to go for a while, but their hours (M-F 9-5) aren't completely convenient. It was totally awesome. They had lots of cool stuff set up and you can watch the BYU professors/students working on some real fossils. Definitely worth the $0.50 admission price.

We have been enjoying some nice weather lately, and trying to get outside more. Can't get enough of feeding the ducks! Also the past couple of days I've been tackling the massive amounts of yard cleanup work that should have been done last fall. At first it was overwhelming, but now I remember how much I like working out in the yard and am opting to be outside over pretty much every other household responsibility I should be doing. I wonder if it will snow again this year. Probably about time to take the Christimas lights down.