Lorna's Cake

Jared's sister, Lorna, had a birthday last weekend and the family threw her a party. Jared's mom asked me to make the cake which both excited and worried me. I always fear the great ideas in my head won't look the same once they make the long trip from my brain to my fingertips!
I really wanted the cake to be great, you know, kinda like Lorna. When Jared was younger, he used to go on family vacations with Lorna and her family. When we got engaged, she made my wedding dress. She has always treated me more as a daughter-in-law than a sister-in-law. She's always given us advice we've asked for and let us make our own decisions. She's always adored our kids. She's always made us feel like there is no one else she'd rather see when we go to visit her.
So, for all of those reasons, I wanted the cake to turn out well. Happy Birthday, Lorna!

Successful Sales techniques

Overheard on the phone this afternoon:

"Hi, Grandpa? This is Cameron. My school is doing a fundraiser and we're selling chocolates. I tried to sell some to Manda and she said she doesn't have any money. She said I should call you because you ALWAYS have money. Do you want to buy some?"

Like he can say no, right?

And believe us, Grandpa, when you're chocolate gets here, we'll make sure to get it right in the mail to Louisiana!

Who says I need a girl?

I've got Sammers!

Flash Forward

I dropped Cam off at school this morning and had one of those mom-moments where you see into your child's future.
Cam got out of the car and stealthily snuck up behind the little girl that had gotten out of the car ahead of ours. He succeeded in lightly pouncing on her backpack to startle her and then walked alongside her, saying, "Good morning" as she gave him a smile and a shy wave.
Cam's gonna be that guy in high school that everone loves. Do you remember that guy? The one with the personality and all the girls loved him? With Cam's sense of humor and compassion, I'm afraid that's where he' s heading.

When's the Marty Girls Party?

Josh was really excited for Mardi Gras even though he didn't know what it was or how to say it! We decided, though, theat Lehi Mardi Gras serves a totally different purpose and draws a totally different crowd than New Orleans Mardi Gras!

These are the wicked hott invites Manda made up for the party. Abby added people in teh windows, I'll have to find that one and post it later.

Lib and Manda showcasing the yummy Mardi Gras foods. This is really the only reason we celebrate - the food! Manda made jambalaya, Lib made red beans and rice, Ab brought LOTS of french bread and soda, and I made Nachitoches meat pies. We branched out and invited non-family this year, Jen and Dustin from next door. She's from Arkansas so we thought that was close enough (plus she makes really yummy peanut butter bars and cheesecake brownies for dessert!)

Grandma and Grandpa crawled in teh streets of Shreveport after their parade to get beads for the kids. Kate and Grace lucked out being the only girls, no one else really wanted the pink and purple ones.

Grace and Cam. I think this was Grace's Mardi Gras mask to wear for the parade. We didn't really to floats and parades this year. Did I mention we really just wanted to eat the fried southern food?

We're Symphony People

Jared has been excited all week about our secret date he's had planned. All I was allowed to know was that it was in Salt Lake and I needed to dress in my nicest clothes. Which made me wonder, "hmmm, which of my two boy-proof church dresses would be considered my 'nicest'?"

Anyhow, I threw on the one with the least amount of visible stains and we headed to Salt Lake. We started with a nice dinner, just the two of us. Jared dropped hints such as we have to be in our seats by 8:00, my friend with great connections got us tickets, etc. My curiosity was piqued, but I was enjoying the excitement of the surprise!

After dinner, we went to Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake. To see the Symphony. Do you see the symphony or hear the symphony? Doesn't matter, we went and it was amazing! My favorite piece was Antonín Dvorák Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, op. 95 (Don't I sound cultured?). Dvorak is from Africa and this piece had a lot of drums and African influences. The conductor was incredible. He conducted with no music of his own! I loved watching him weave and jump to bring in the different instrument groups. Amazing!
During the intermission we met with Jared's parents. They have season tickets and when Jared told them we would be there, they wanted to see us. We abandoned our floor seats and watched the second half from the balcony where they were sitting. Although I loved being close on the floor, being able to take the whole stage into view at one time and see all of the bows moving together was great, too.

So, I love the symphony. We're symphony people now. We have culture. We wear fancy (yet boy-proof) clothes. We go to the Big City. Yep, I know, you can be jealous if you want.

I Heart Walgreen's

We got all this for less than $14 today!
Thanks Walgreen's!

Cool Valentine's

So, it's a little hard to find just the right Valentine's when you're a boy. We're too old for superheroes and Hot Wheels, but we're not really into the 'tween stuff like Jonas Brothers, either. It needs to be cool, but not look like you tried too hard. What to do? What to do?

This is where mom has to try with everything she's got not to explode with all of the ideas she's seen on craft blogs in the last two weeks. Play it cool, Mom. Don't let the excitement show, that's a real turn off for these boys. Throw out the idea and let them know they can take it or leave it.

Wait for it....Wait..for..it... BINGO!

They took the bait! I'm really proud of my... er, um, their Valentine's. I think they turned out really manly in a elementary school way, definitely NOT cute!

Sam's Subtle Reminders

We forgot who was Boss tonight when we decided to play board games for Family Night. Sam showed his disdain for being excluded in various ways:
a)poured his milk all over the floor
b)used three dish towels when we told him to clean up the milk
c)chewed up apple and spit it on the game board
d)threw licorice at the game players
e)ate all the weenies out of the pigs in blankets that were part of our party food dinner

I guess we didn't give him enough credit when we thought we could pull this off!

P.S. Sam read his first scripture tonight. Jared helped him one word at a time to read a verse. He was so pleased with himself for reading "scritchas".

P.P.S. Did you realize Orihah had 31 kids? 23 boys and 8 girls - his poor wife! (The Duggar's have nothing on him!)