Happy Birthday [52]

Today my mom is 52. 

(Mom-o and Alisa and some wedding we were at)

52. She loves black licorice. Gross, but I won't tell her that 'cause it's her birthday.
51. She once took me to Sea World AND Disneyland in the seventh grade.
50. She would always let me borrow anything I ever wanted from her.
49. She knows how to BBQ as good as any proclaimed Grill King.
48. She probably has the best relationship with her parents that I have ever seen come between parent and child... well, they do live in her backyard half the year!  
47. She has made, literally, hundreds of receiving blankets AND hundreds of crocheted baby booties for the Humanitarian Aid.
46. She taught me to love the Temple.
45. She has great skin. Seriously, she looks 10 years younger than her age. I will be singing her praises once I hit my forties.
44. In elementary school, she would always wait for me at the end of our street and walk the last little ways home with me. With a cold, diet caffeine free Coke for me of course.
43. When I had nightmares growing up, she would hear me screaming and come in to lay by me.
42. She's in her fifties and didn't have a single gray hair until... her fifties. And even still, it's just a single. gray. hair.
41. She taught me that Michael's, JoAnn's, and Ben Franklin can be toy stores in themselves. For Mormon ladies.
40. She'd always watch my ridiculous reality TV with me. Oprah, America's Next Top Model, Project Runway, American Idol... I'm sure the reason I don't even know when those are on now is because I don't watch them with her anymore!  
39. She was born in a gorgeous home in Rigby, Idaho.
38. She's a current BYU student.
37. She earned her Young Women's Recognition twice.
36. I would always go grocery shopping with her growing up and it was one of my favorite activities.  
35. She's the best mom for me. 
34. She always has a funny or good story to share every time we visit her. 
33. Her and I share an absolute love of Colorado and could easily live there.
32. She is pretty obsessive about her cats. But... you aren't really a member of the family if you're not.
31. I think it's safe to say that her favorite band is The Eagles.
30. Her favorite flowers are lilacs.
29. She loves her Kindle.
28. Speaking of, she's an active member in her book club!
27. Her favorite lotiony good scent smell is Sweet Pea.
26. She loves a cool breeze.
25. She loves anything and everything to do with Noah's Ark. Must be an animal thing! Her entire living room is decorated with super cute Noah's Ark decor.
24. She's a major rootbeer fan... I think she had a short-lived stint at A&W back in the day.
23. She is an amazing gardener.
22. She's beyond patient.
21. She is a NATURAL when it comes to being a grandma.
20. She is a major Star Trek nerd. And proud of it!
19. She's a big Tom Hanks fan. So am I. Yeah yeah we're alllll aware of his Big Love involvement but I'm over it.   
18. She is an excellent cook and knew how to get me to eat some of my least favorite foods... except broccoli. I still won't it. 
17. She loves having her hair combed and back scratched. One of my favorite things to do as an 8-year-old.
16. She loves a good candle. Don't we all?
15. Even still, our house growing up was always filled with the smell of home cooking moreso than a candle or potpourri. 
14. She loves the epic cinema. Ben Hur, Dr. Zhivago,  Spartacus, Dances With Wolves--even a few of the good cheesers like Titanic and Pearl Harbor. If it's shorter than 3 hours, it ain't epic.
13. She always made sure we ate together each dinnertime as a family. 
12. One of my favorite traditions was receiving a new ornament each Christmas until we were married (when we got that same, last porcelain ornament of a man and woman dancing). Can't wait to start that tradition with Beckett.      
11.hji gramma! (that was Beckett, he wanted to help)! 
10.  She is the best sewer. THE BEST. Nearly everytime we see her, either Elliott or I have something we need fixed and she does it better than any seamstress could... And she doesn't give us crap for constantly needing our clothes fixed! 
9. She is the only woman I know that has made an entire large room her sewing room for which she utilizes every square inch. 
8. She has a fabulous voice as a... tenor. That's right. In church choir the director refers to her section by saying, "OK men and Angie." She holds her own with the best of them.
7. She is incredibly craft-oriented. She can paint, create and glue like mad.
6. She never has a negative word to say about anyone, even behind closed doors or when she's the most upset.
5. She is the most genuine person I know.
4. She loves her two grandbabies.
3. She is a devoted wifey who loves her hubby
2. She is easily one of the easiest people to talk to. I  used to whine and complain at all her talking to the ward ladies but she was probably just doing her thing, making their day or something. 
1. I love my mom on this here her birthday. Feel free to wish her a happy day too!
0. She's cool enough to not mind me saying her age on here...  

Meh

Better luck next time. Thanks Elliott for giving this plant virgin a shot at being an eco-mama. She sucked at it. It gets hard for a girl when it's SO hot that she can't even put on decent clothes to walk three steps outside to water her zinnia. 

I'll spare you the pictures of my orchid. Though, I'm not sure what went wrong there. I actually did water it when I was supposed to AND gave it plenty of light. Maybe those things just have a lifespan of one month. 

I KNOW, I MADE IT LAST A MONTH!    

JFK Airport Bathroom Floor.

Because I am a nursing, pumping, whatever mother, I was able to partake in the experience of taking my breast pump to NYC and inconveniently find opportunities to pump 3-4 times a day. It wasn't too bad for the most part. Sky Harbor offered a family restroom that locked and even had a bench. Pumping on the trip wasn't bad either. I was always able to do it at least 3 times a day and, temporarily speaking, that's not too bad for being on vacation. While waiting for our flight home from JFK airport, Brianne and I were at a smaller part of the airport so I asked where the family bathroom was. The worker pointed me toward a handicapped restroom to which I went in, locked the door, and proceeded to take out toilet seat liners and drape them on the bathroom floor to ensure that this princess had a throne to sit on. I was nervous about pumping in a handicapped bathroom because, physically speaking, I'm not handicapped. Five minutes go by and a woman knocks on the door. "SORRY, I'M IN HERE!" I yell. Two minutes go by and I hear the woman talking outside the door. "SORRY IT'S JUST GOING TO BE A FEW MINUTES!" Five more minutes go by. *KNOCK KNOCK,* "I JUST NEED FIVE. MORE. MINUTES." "Yeah you said that five minutes ago," she informed me as if I had no clue. I hear her talking to someone else: "She said five more minutes but that was TEN minutes ago." I could only think, "Yeah. I wish it was ten minutes ago because THEN I'D BE DONE!" Two more minutes pass. I keep hearing her talk only it was muffled. Feeling pressured, tense, and vulnerable as I'm holding my hands to my boobs sitting on the bathroom floor, I yell out in complete desperation, "IM PUMPING BREASTMILK!" Not another word, not another knock, not a single sound as three minutes later I pull open the door and rush out, not looking around to see who it was waiting for me. Now, I would put serious money on them NOT being handicapped as the only people I saw out of the corner of my eye were standing behind the door (possibly in guilt-ridden fear) as I opened it to leave. Hence, I never saw who it was. But, I could be wrong, and because I knew I wasn't handicapped, cut my pumping session 10 minutes short for fear of possibly being assaulted by a wheelchair or being walked in on by airport security (and an angry handicapped person).  Now, I am all for pumping or breastfeeding in public and probably could have pumped problem free sitting in our empty terminal. It's practical and efficient. I didn't want to, I don't like to and I chose not too, especially when opened to the possibility of a private restroom in a minorly busy part of the airport. That, and I have a real awkwardness with discreetly utilizing the pumping/breastfeeding "smock." I'm sure constant nip-slips would ensue. But that's just my handicap.  

New York. City.

This and so much more sum up the best girls trip I have ever been on. 

ANYTIME Brianne. 

It Hurts.

I flew into New York City on July 7th, Ringo Starr's birthday. OF COURSE, I had seen the man perform before and it was incredible. But, I knew that he would be performing at Radio City Music Hall on his birthday. There's always something special that happens when a musician performs on their birthday whether it is from them or the audience. The show was sold out on Ticketmaster and I was with Brianne who, out of the goodness of her heart, would have gone and bear with me (she even said so). But, wanting to make this trip not so... obnoxiously dominated by a Beatles' fan, I refrained from desperately scouring Craigslist and eBay listings for resales. Alas, I chose to forget about the whole thing and naturally had an amazing trip, sans concert. I was SO Beatles neutralized that I didn't even get the least bit upset about not having enough time or energy to visit "Strawberry Fields" in Central Park (I did get to on my last visit)--a lot of places were like that on our trip! I felt as though I was progressing through my Beatleaholic Anonymous program quite well. Last night, Elliott's dad thoughtfully called us from Salt Lake saying that Paul was performing at the arena there and that they could hear him loud and clear from the street singing "Let Em In." Oooooo anything like that immediately puts me in a Beatle's mood and today I checked the Paul McCartney website to see what exactly his tour was shaping up to be.

I saw this:   

Ringo's 70th Birthday Surprise

As a surprise to celebrate Ringo's 70th birthday, Paul joined Ringo Starr's All Starr Band onstage last night at New York's Radio City Music Hall. Paul performed The Beatles classic 'Birthday'.

The last time Paul and Ringo performed together was on the same stage last year 

for the David Lynch Foundation benefit 

show.

Of course. OF course. I went to Craigslist and eBay. Old listings had pairs of tickets selling for around a mere $100. Always trust your Beatles' intuition and know that it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. As a way of coping with the pain I have chosen to post another Microsoft Paint classic I created several years ago of my sister and I at a Paul McCartney show, ironically in New York. Strangely enough, the only picture I have of this is one of it ON another computer... why would anyone ever be motivated to delete the original? I mean really. 

Ps, Anna and I are actually covering what was originally a large... very large man taking the photo of himself at the show. It took two people to cover him up. And two hours of "painting" to do so.

I[love]

We had ourselves a fun time in NYC. 

We gabbed, we shopped, we walked, we saw, we rode, we avoided [crazies], we experienced [crazies].

But when it was time to go home, we were ready. 

And that's a feeling that comes ONLY after you have had the most enjoyably jam-packed, fulfilling trip.    

I came home to a poured bubble bath prepared by Elliott, who also unpacked for me. It was 11:30 at night.   

Brianne came home to an outbreak of the stomach flu at her house. 

We all hope no one else gets sick and that poor lil' Claire and Lily feel better.

I missed Elliott like a madwoman and agonized over leaving my little baby. 

They, of course, were both safe, happy and had a fun time of their own while I was gone.

Special thanks to Brianne for putting up with a new mama.  

And to Elliott for watching the baby while I was gone and on HIS break. We're both bummed that less than 12 hours after I return, he has to start his first day of school. Fortunately he loves what he does and will do great. As always. 

The pictures from our trip will come later once we've had a chance to catch our breath and load them up.

Two Months

We love you. 

So much.

For effin' ever.

Joo-lye

June, it is with the utmost enthusiasm that I say, "Goodbye, and see you in 11 months." I have done nothing these past four weeks but anticipate the arrival of one of my other favorite months of the year, July. Well, that's not true. I did make it to the Outlets at Anthem as well as whip up a few new and old simple recipes... but just a few. And I also made a few more trips to Ikea than I would care to (2). Then there's the matter of getting to love on Beckett without as much junk in the trunk as there was last month. And LASTLY/more importantly, I was able to get together with both sides of my family. So we had a good run June but, as always, you're about to be outdone. Again.   

(The ever big, ever enchanting Ryan explaining Robin Hood to cousin Beckett.)  

What's to look forward to this month? A trip to New York with my best gal pal, a trip to The Buttes with my best guy pal, the start of the SECOND HALF OF DENTAL SCHOOL, fireworks and the Fourth, no Ikea trips, more baby weightloss and fam time, and some snuggles with my babies (little and grown). 

ps, Anyone see the "In Memory Of Skinny Elliott" post? Yeah, Elliott did encourage and initiate the joke  but I just couldn't leave it up! My honey's gauhhhgeouss. And now... He's a braceface cutie! Pictures to come later.