Whoooooo had a Birthday?

Being the first kid can't be that easy. I have some high expectations and I rely on Ellie for a lot of help. On the upside she gets a lot of perks that I won't mention for fear the other kids will read this one day and wonder why they don't get as many benefits. To my children in the future I offer this advice: work harder and whine less.

One of the perks for Ellie is her birthday party. Her birthday is at a great time of year usually because the holidays are over and summer is on my brain so I'm not stressed out or overwhelmed. I usually start planning it around February right after Valentine's Day is over.

This year she wanted to base her party around a pair of owl pajamas she has. I stumbled across a cute cute blog where the lady had made owls for all the girls. I immediately called my party planning co-conspirator (I think she'll like that better than "my sister who I always talk into my insane ideas") and asked her if she would make 8 owls for Ellie's party favors. With that, out theme was ready to take flight.

Ellie and Sadie were BIG helper. They designed and glued together the birthday party invites, which were ENORMOUS. I ended up just doing an e-vite for everyone, but Ellie still wanted to hand deliver some of the invites.

They also helped me make the cake.
Poor Sadie was really distraught when she couldn't come to the party. And even more distraught when every single girl we invited made it to the party, so there was no left over owl for her. Or Ellie.

We played 7-11, made lip gloss, played hide-and-go-seek in the dark, watched party of a movie, and went on a scavenger hunt for glow-in-the-dark stars. At the end of the night it was time for the owls. They were a HUGE hit. But, how could they not be loved and cherished. They are SO cute.

My sister is amazingly selfless and talented and if you don't have a sister like that, than I guess you must *BE* that sister. I am lucky enough that she loves Ellie and me so much that she put her blood sweat and tears into these. THANK YOU SCUTTLEBUTT!! And now I'm indebted to you for all of Livy's birthdays for the next 10 years.

**SPOILER ALERT**

This blog post will discuss the validity of the Easter Bunny -- so if you have no desire to know, DO NOT READ THIS!We were having a very spiritual Family Home Evening on Monday discussing Easter and the reason we celebrate it. Sadie kept bringing up the Easter Bunny and finally I was so sick of listening to her try and squeeze the Easter Bunny into a lesson about Christ's Atonement that I blurted out, "THERE IS NO EASTER BUNNY." Ellie already knew and I'm pretty sure Nate wasn't believing the whole giant bunny who brings eggs either, but I did feel kind of bad taking away some of Sadie's childhood.

She was sort of agog and stared at me with giant bug eyes, but we managed to get back to get everything back on track and finish things sort of spiritually. Then I turned secular and we dyed Easter Eggs.I should also mention that since I had spoiled the whole Easter Bunny thing, I also made them stuff their own Easter Eggs with candy. WIN for me!! Should I make them hide them too??Oh yeah, Luke was there too.And to wrap this up, Thursday was Sadie's Easter Egg hunt at school. First thing she said when I picked her up was, "MOM! The *real* *live* Easter Bunny came to our school and hid eggs." So I guess I didn't really rob her of anything.

Let them Eat Cake

I exaggerate a lot. I think most people know this about me. What I do not think they know is that am deadly serious about dessert. I never exaggerate when sugar is involved. Below are 3 examples from April alone, where I fed my kids cake for a meal.

1. April Fool's DayOK, not real cake and yes, I have done the cupcakes before. But in my defense, Sadie didn't remember them so it was new to her and I did make Cocoa Krispie treats to look like meatloaf. Those little tomoatoes are frosting from inside Christmas Oreoes. YUM!

2. Caketini
Dustin and I went on a much needed date up to Olive and Ivy in Scottsdale. I was foolish enough to let myself get talked into the ice cream sundae for dessert (I don't like ice cream, so I have no idea why I thought I might like this) so I insisted Dustin take me somewhere for MORE dessert. Sprinkles had already closed so we headed over to Caketini which everyone had been raving about. We ran into some friends, got overwhelmed by the choices (I may have eaten part of a random stranger's cupcake at one point -- but she INSISTED!) and ended up with half a dozen cupcakes. Lucky breakfast for the kids!

My review: Mixed. I found the chocolate cupcakes disappointing, but the fruit flavored ones were really really good. But then again, I don't like most of the Sprinkles chocolate cupcakes either. I do prefer Sprinkles frostings to Caketini frosting.

3. Karen Malanca cake
We invited a friend over for dinner. Despite me telling her not to bring anything, she brought us a giant double layer chocolate cake. Sadie saw it, asked Karen if she could have some (who of course said, "SURE!"), grabbed a fork and started eating before we had even started on dinner. She probably ate a quarter of the cake BY HERSELF! She seriously looked like she was on Man vs. Food at one point.
Anyone else confused at why Sadie is all of these pictures? She only likes fruit! Literally I asked one day if she would rather have a pear or fresh baked cookies. I think we all know what she decided. She even picked a TOMATO over cookies.

Culinary Adventures

Over the past few years I had transformed from cooking dinner a few times a year to cooking dinner practically every single night. Dustin is still the Master Chef in this house, but I do a pretty good job of it as long as it doesn't revolve me touching large chunks of raw meat.

It took me about 6 months to get comfortable and then I started getting a little bored, so I gathered recipes from food blogs and started on those. I was still slightly limited, though, because I HATE touching raw meat. I don't mind ground turkey or fish, but chicken breast made me want to gag and pork loin was even worse (we don't eat red meat). I finally got to the point where I could empty them into the crock pot and then shred the meat. This got me another year of recipes. But after that. BLAH! I honestly don't know how some of you have cooked for 12 plus years of marriage, because after a few years I had pretty much done it all and was running out of new ideas. Everything seemed like the same recipe with a few tweaks.

And so I decided. . .it was time to touch chicken.

Earlier in the week, my neighbor had me come over and gave me a crash course in wheat grinding and bread making (which I've actually gotten really good at BTW). (PS Ever wondered what I look like when I haven't showered or bothered to try and do a thing with my hair?? Now you know.)
Just call me the Little Red Hen, but when I was done making my bread I felt so empowered! I could conquer anything in the kitchen! Even chicken!

So I got that chicken out of the freezer and I pounded it and then I covered it in panko bread crumbs and made my kids a nice baked parmesan chicken. And just this week I progressed to CUTTING the chicken into squares and making homemade chicken nuggets. I may even get brave enough to cook chicken in a pan someday. But at least chicken in the oven recipes are being made.

Any great recipes to share? Or suggestions of what to try next??

March Madness

About a month Spring finally hit Arizona and my friend Karen invited some friends to join them for dessert at their park one Sunday. Spring doesn't last long in Arizona, and we all agreed we should have another dessert night soon before the weather got unbearable.

Now, if you know me at all you know that I think everything is better if there's a theme and a challenge. Seeing as it was right around March Madness time, I suggested we make the next dessert night into a competition and quickly set up an ESPN league for everyone. The winner would decide the theme and who had to bring which dessert.(Sadie picked BYU to win the whole thing)

At the same time I was in a very competitive March Madness league with my family as well, where my sister and I had done a lot of thorough research by clicking the "Pick the Expert Picks" box which automatically filled in our brackets. I was pretty sure that I ("the experts") knew what I was (they were) doing so I might have started some good natured trash talking. Mostly geared towards Mike Bryner because he likes the Utes and they weren't even IN the competition.

Never before have my kids loved March Madness this much. Maybe it was because Jimmer was playing and BYU was doing pretty well, or maybe it was because they were tracking the brackets hoping someone in our family would win. . . but my family went basketball crazy in March.

Well it was a crazy year with lots of upsets and none of us won, which didn't bother me too much. I didn't care who won, as long as it wasn't Mike Bryner -- who picked Notre Dame to win the whole thing. Unfortunately, he still came freakishly close to winning and I was in panic watching the UConn game. If they pulled it out, Karen would have enough points to push Mike out of first and I wouldn't have to wear red shirts for the rest of the year or paint UTES rule on my grass. Luckily for us, UConn pulled through and Karen decided she didn't just want dessert, she wanted a whole party. She had put together some Minute to Win It games for a party that had never been used and since she hates planning parties, she was happy to hand everything over to us and bask in her winner awesomeness.

I give you the teams:

Karen's only request was that the Bryner's be the Blue team and show some Cougar Pride. I just about died when a Zoobie mom and Robbie Boscoe walked in. I always appreciate a good sport! Sadie even had purple sunglasses. She was FULL of team spirit and definitely happy to be on the Purple Team with the "Roneys."No, we did not win. We did look fierce, though.

We squeezed in about 5 games between dinner and sunset, just enough so everyone could do one. My favorite was watching the kids transfer cotton balls between bowls using vaseline and their noses. The prize for the winning team was cotton candy.

And the hardest one has to have been the cup stacking game. The boys were suppose to build a tower out of plastic cups with cards in between each layer and then pull the cards out until the cups were all stacked inside of each other. Maybe if we used the red plastic cups next time??

In the end, Red ruled the day, but the best part had to be watching the kids get into everything. This was definitely the longest competition, but made for a fun month.

Field Trippin'

Last Friday was Nate's field trip. We got to go see Sleeping Beauty at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theater. Despite the fact that it as a "girl play" and Nate was very upset in the weeks leading up to the event, he ended up having a fantastic time.

Now, I could spend this blog post telling you about how much fun it was but how generic would that be? Of course riding on a school bus for the first time is thrilling. And of course a buffet line of pizza, chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, hamburgers, hot dogs, salad and a dessert buffet would send a little boy over the moon. So instead of a paragraph or two or details, I'll give you a really humiliating moment of my own.

There were so many volunteers that we each only had 2 kids -- mine were Nate and his friend Connor (so much nicer than the year Ellie was in Kindergarten and I had 7 kids in my group). When we got to the Theater for our matinee the first thing all the kids had to do was use the bathroom. Since I only had two boys to worry about, we made a bee line for the Men's restroom where I walked the boys in and herded them towards the stalls. They then informed me that they just needed to pee and started walking to the urinals. I then thought, "Wow, how come I usually don't have Nate use the urinal?" Then it went to, "They don't normally have urinals in public bathrooms." And then the sudden awareness struck. . .Yes, they do have urinals in public restrooms. IN THE MEN'S ROOM. I AM IN THE BOYS BATHROOM!

I literally just walked right in there like I owned the place. What on earth was I thinking??? The most humilating part was walking back out to all the other BAZILLION mothers (and fathers) who were waiting for the boys in their group to finish using the bathroom. Outside of the men's room. Like normal people.
"Apart from that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?" The kids were enthralled, the musical was cute and there was definitely some great kid humor. I think the only part that threw me was that Prince Philip was really disappointing. As in the kids weren't the only people who were weirded out when he kissed Sleeping Beauty.

In like a Lion

March always seems like the longest month. It's a full 31 days after the shortest month of the year. Somewhere in that looooong stretch we managed to make it through.

Speech meetings, Student Led Conferences, poem recitations, book reports, Dr. Seuss Day, field trips to Peter Piper Pizza and the Zoo, Youth Conference, birthday parties, softball. . . all that stuff in the first 2 weeks and not one picture.

The only pictures I have from the first two weeks are of us making cookies. Because honestly, if anything sums up my life, it's making and eating cookies. On any given week you can guarantee this occurred in my house.We had 4 extra kids for a weekend and I got a glimpse into the fun of early morning seminary and the appetites of teen age boys. I can't believe how fast we went through everything -- milk, eggs, bread. . . toilet paper.The girls even made Luke a train sugar cookie. And don't worry -- a haircut for Luke was also on the list of things we did in the first few weeks of March.

The next two weeks of March were Spring Break! I had visions of long lazy days with lots of cuddling and crafts. The kids, however, did not. They wanted to be entertained. NOW!

So we jammed packed the days. Playdates, the park, crafts. . . whatever I could think of. One day Ellie and her friends ran a Day Camp to learn babysitting skills. They all determined that being in charge of a group of kids is harder than they imagined. Ellie said the hardest part was "when the kids wouldn't listen to you." I somehow felt validated as a mom.

One of the activities they planned was to sell lemonade to raise money for Japan. It was very spur of the moment, but they had the best time mixing the lemonade, making signs and talking to all of the customers.

We also made a trip to the Zoo with friends. This is probably not a big deal to most, but I HATE the Zoo. The last time I went to the Zoo I was 9 months pregnant with Sadie and went only as a last resort since that stinker would not come. So over 4 years ago. I hate how much it costs and schlepping the kids all over to squint in *hopes* we see an animal. This year we lucked out -- Karen got us all in for free and almost all of the animals were up and entertaining.
The bad side -- it was freakishly hot. Around noon we were looking for a place to eat lunch when we passed the Komodo Dragon exhibit. Nate was dying to see a real life dragon, but when we stopped the girls informed us that they were "dying" and "literally going to pass out." There may have been some eye rolling going on too. Hooray for pre-teen girls! When we finally found a shady spot it was close to the water features and we ended up with a lot of soaking wet (and half naked) kids.

I'm not a big St. Patrick's Day fan, so usually we pretty much ignore it other than wearing green. But this year for entertainment's sake I turned all the toilet water green, made the milk in their cereal turn green and even made rainbow pancakes for dinner.

There was also a sleepover where the girls played their favorite game: Serious Business
I have no idea how to play the game except it seems you say, "Serious business. . ." at the beginning of every sentence and it involves a headlamp, but the girls love it.

The second week of break was marked by the visit of my most amazing sister, who came to entertain us while Dustin in Philly for the first of 3 straight weeks of traveling. It was so nice to have her company!!The nights were a lot shorter when I had someone to talk to and she always manages to entertain my kids. It was a blur:

painting pictures for Livy's room

(this is Nate's)

Midnight Runs to Sonic

I believe this is Nate telling us about how he almost DIED from rolling the window UP on himself when his head was hanging out the window.

making doll houses shopping
Build-A-Bear -- Livy is modeling the new Hello Kitty slippersthe park
sleep overs where Nate ans Sadie cuddle Lola so she couldn't sleep
BYU basketball
lots and lots of games (pictionary, Guess Who, Charades, Boo. . .)

photo scavenger hunt
even more baking. . . especially for our Bake Sale.

The kids had so much fun with their lemonade stand, they decided to to do a Bake Sale the next week to earn even more money. In the end, they earned over $200 to donate for relief for the people of Japan. I am so proud of them!

We also filled the March nights with GNOs, birthday parties for friends, hanging out with old neighbors, and lots of basketball watching. I may have been too invested in March Madness this year, but we can save that for another post. Along with my culinary adventures. See how I leave you hanging with *such* great cliff hangers. To be continued. . .

Ragnar 2011-- Up and Running

*** Disclaimer: This post was written by my sister after copious amounts of begging from me to just do it for me. While hilarity is guaranteed, truthfulness is not. *** Back to the blog:

Ragnar 2011: I put a year by it, so that must mean I plan on doing it again. If I only planned on doing it once, it would say Ragnar. Period. But it was so much fun, I'm already jazzed up for the next one.

If you haven't heard of a Ragnar, let me point you to the website for more details: Ragnar Del Sol. If you havem SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH! It was basically a 200 mile relay race with 350 teams of 12 runners. Each runner runs 3 legs which are predetermined and listed with length and difficulty and you assign your runners from there. The first 6 runners are in van 1 and you rotate out with the next six runner after everyone has run one leg. I was runner 3, which meant 21 miles total. Our team had a lot of newbie runners, so they opted for the shorter legs putting them in van 2 and leaving me with a nice big empty van (well, Dustin had agreed to do it too, so I had a van of two). True to our team name, Commitment Issues, we had a hard time getting a full van of 6, but finally with less than a month to go, we had a committed six willing to run 110 of the miles. I should mention that what Van 2 lacked in experience they MORE than made up for with enthusiasm and team spirit. They were the drive behind the whole thing and without them it never would have happened.

Thursday night I was running around in full panic mode. 6 sleeping bags, 6 pillows, 6 reflective vests, my clothes, food for everyone, switching out the vans, stuff for all the kids, Ellie's concert straight to dropping them all off with friends. When I got to Karen's I literally started crying from all the anxiety and stress. I didn't want to leave my kids. I didn't want to run this at all. Why did I think this would be fun??

Finally I pried myself away so we could take off to the airport (which was a disaster because NASCAR was also this weekend) to pick up the only 4 runners friends we could talk into this (from NY, PA and TX) and proceeded to get a dinner of champions: Burger King. Because that is exactly what you want to eat before you're going to be stuck in the car with people for 36 hours. When finally reached Wickenburg and settled in for a total of 4 hours of sleep before we had to run and then... my sister took over my blog as I threatened to cut her baby's fingers off for touching my TV. She's a little hazy on the details because let's face it, she tuned in and out of the story several times, AND I've given her the liberty to make up any and all details so here you go:

At 4:30 the next morning we found out that we WERE THE NEXT CONTESTANTS ON THE PRICE IS RIGHT. But seriously, that was Brad's ring tone, and yes, it was the most annoying ever. I took it upon myself to be the perky one, does that surprise you? I gave everyone a good foot rub and a stretch out, we loaded ourselves into our stylin' mom van and hit the road.

Stop One: The Safety Briefing.

As you can see, Team Commitment Issues takes safety very seriously. In between hearing horror stories of head ons with semis and Brad feeling the need to rock a stylin 3-6 months size shark/dinosaur hoody we tuned out on safety and in on straight up fun.

Don't we look excited?
Before you wonder for the ten millionth time, IS DUSTIN HALF GIANT, the answer is, YES!

At 6:30, Brad, runner numero uno ran first for 8 miles UPHILL, Casey was #2 and then ME. This is the face that greeted me as my first seven miles was about to begin:
Well, that face and an anonymous runner about to be flattened like a pancake. Apparently we weren't the only ones who felt a certain way about a certain mandatory safety briefing.

And if you're wondering what the number one thing on my mind was at that exact moment: pooping. It should have been on how I was going to entertain myself for seven straight miles with nothing to stare at but the luscious brownery of deathly desert earth. But no. I was going through all my old pooping haunts on my regular runs. The gas station on the corner, an abandoned field, friend's houses. You get the point. It was a pretty boring run, I'll be honest, especially when you've got a one track mind on the porcelain god.

But I DID end up passing a man who informed me pre-run that I *might* possibly be able to pass him by the end... a hot minute later.

Don't you wish you had my arms? Ragnar 2012 will be done in the wheel-barrow position.

Then Sarah, then Dustin, whose music mishap did NOT send him into a deep enough depression to make him even half desperate for a radio disney-fied IPod, courtesy of yours truly.

Dustin took us into the exchange to switch off with Van 2 who greeted us with chocolate chip cookies (guess who ate them all) and oreo truffles. I *heart* van 2. They were all showered and clean and still excited for the run ahead of them. We were tired and stinky and desperate for icees.

We hit up Cracker Barrell where I ate food that weighed more than my youngest two children combined. And lots of water, to pad the fall. No seriously, I replaced my entire blood supply with water. Ice water. And a chicken sandwich.

Next we hit up Lifetime Fitness to work out. No point missing out on a routine and a creepy naked gym shower. Oh and a eucalyptus steam bath. Please note, that THIS, as opposed to the rest of the story *did* indeed happen (only we didn't work out, we stretched out).

And then we went all hobo and slept on the front lawn of a random high school until the exchange. In the middle of the night I woke up to find a cougar standing over me. And by that I mean my husband, Dustin Robin Rogers, BYU fan, extraordinaire.

After a seven hour window of opportunity for an early evening meal, we started our second leg energy free and in a frantic panic to get to Subway. We dropped Brad off for his first run with the promise of a hearty foot long by the end of it. Well, thanks to lax immigration laws, language barriers and the hazards of the food service industry we wound up late at the exchange, the clock ticking away time.

After that we all committed ourselves once again to Team Commitment Issues, kicking it into high gear. And that was before my night run became a high adventure nightmare.

We live in the suburbs, of a desert. On a clear day in Arizona you can see 600 miles, because there are no hills. Okay, that was clearly a lie. You *could* see 600 miles if it weren't for the mass exodus of people that have made their way to Arizona and populated it greatly. So to prepare for my climb through the mountains I did stairs: in a well lit, expensive parking garage in a Beverly Hills-esque mega mall. But in the pitch black, I took an off roading acid trip run into a whole new world of magical terrain. Sand, dirt, mud, sprouting wings and running straight on top of a lake, you name it, I did it. Wild Cat Spotting Total for the run: 6 coyotes, 1 cougar and a werewolf. He looked a great deal like Jacob to be honest. And at the end I felt like this:

But our van kept chugging along. And by chugging I mean speeding, quickly and without pause. The chair people of the race even nicknamed us team lightening for our relentless speed and dedication to all things Ragnar. Even if on the inside we felt like this:


And by the time our van finished we headed to the community center for some zzz's. D. Robin Rogers brought an air mattress for added comfort but when I met the glares of running demons being awaken from their exhausted slumber at the sheer volume of an echoing air tank I pretended not to know him.

By the time we hit our third run we were ready to be showered, done and have a medal around our necks. So we decided to absolutely kill our expected times. 7.7 miles in under an hour for me thankyouverymuch.
And that's the anti-climactic ending to the adventure that was Ragnar Del Sol 2011.




And of course, one last shout out to my wonderful sister who literally blogged this for me with a poem she wrote me the evening before, in less than ten minutes, please note the line about me almost dying, it is highlighted in bold for your pleasure:

You’ve trained and trained, you’re fit and trim
But now it’s time to sink or swim
That pun, in this case, just made no sense
For running is the talent with which you are blessed

...So off to Ragnar my sister does go
It’s going to be hard and might even blow
But conquer it she will for she is a beast
Her reward will be glory and a calorie counting-less feast

Maddy you are, the world’s greatest inspiration
To go on this journey without the slightest hesitation
Climbing mountains and dodging the fastest of cars
Filling your car with oranges, knives and granola bars

In the middle of the night you’ll be strutting your stuff
While I’m sleeping like a baby you might huff and puff
But a runner’s high like absolutely no other
Who knows, by the end, you might shout, “LET”S DO ANOTHER.”

I think you are crazy, but seriously the best
The perfect big sister who aces every test
You make us all proud with your energy and heart
Now go off on your journey and do your part.

Talented

For Girl's Camp they have asked the leaders to preform a 3-5 minute "talent." Now, I don't think I'm talent-less, but pretty much all of my talents do not lend themselves to a 3 minute demonstration on stage. I really dislike the whole idea of forcing people to fit their talents into a performance.

When I was in HS my Principal asked me where I was going to college, I said BYU. He didn't believe me because he didn't think I was Mormon. When I insisted that I was, he said, "But, you don't sing." There are so many fantastic talents that don't involve singing, dancing, music, acting. . . and sometimes it feels like if you can't do something along those lines, you must not be talented. So in honor of all the others out there who don't fit the "Mormon Musical" mold, I give you a list of some of my most amazing talents:

1. Super Hearing -- I can probably hearing you chomping on your cereal right now. And I'm probably annoyed. Nothing can drive me crazier than my dad eating a banana. And poor Dustin cannot fall asleep before me at night, because if he so much as *breathes* loudly I will kick him for waking me up. I know each time my kids go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and I know when they are sneaking food out of the pantry. They think I'm some sort of psychic genius, but it's my crazy ability to hear every single noise.

2. Super Sweet Tooth -- I have never met a dessert I didn't like. I can inhale a dozen cookies in less than 5 minutes. Especially if they are warm and I have a mug of milk. I remember someone offering me *a* cookie once and being totally confused. Did normal people only eat *one* cookie? Because I wanted 5! Luckily, I'm pretty good at making treats, so I can make myself something and gobble up half of it without anyone knowing how much I ate. Then I will force the other half on my friends or children. My kids actually turn down sweets because they are so prevalent at our house.

3. Super Speed -- I can accomplish 8 tasks in a single bound. When I decide to do something, it gets done, and it gets done ahead of schedule. I even eat fast. It does mean that I'm usually waiting on other people a lot, which just gives me *more* time to get stuff down. And then I sit around and wonder why everyone I know is so slow (mostly my husband).

4. Super Bossy -- There are million things I want to do and I probably want you to do them with me. I will then convince you that running dozens of miles each Saturday, dressing up in 1920'a garb, or driving all over the East Valley with nothing but random clues is the best idea ever. (see don't I look convincing??)

Then at some point I will come up with another brilliant/fun/super awesome idea and decide that I don't want to be in charge of it, so *you* should do it. And you will because I made it sound so glamorous. I will then remember how bossy I am and start interfering until I have pretty much taken all control back.

And so I ask you -- which of these talents should I share on the stage at Girls Camp?