The Best Mothers Day Gift

I got a "love kit" that Alan made at school. Inside were various things he had made with a cute note attached. My favorite was the teapot card he had made. It was shaped like a teapot and inside was this cute poem.

Here's a gift for Mother's Day:

"I'll try my best in every way."

But when you get upset

with ME.

Relax and have a pot of Tea.

Inside was attached, not a tea bag, but a packet of hot cocoa mix. Alan told me "It was going to be tea but I reminded Mrs. E that we don't drink tea in our house." What a fantastic gift to have Alan remember these things and to not be afraid to share them!

Grrrr. . .

If you know us well you know that John and I are a little slow to enter the technological age. We got our first cell phone just a little over a year ago, and we have one of the worlds ugliest and oldest TV's in our living room (but that's another rant). We don't have cable and we don't have Direct TV or any of that stuff. So needless to say we are having to get a digital converter box.

Problem is, we have tried FOUR converter boxes and none of them will work right. Actually the first one worked for two months and the broke. We tried three more, and all of them have a LOUD buzzing sound in the background. You have to turn the volume up really high to hear what's going on over the buzzing. Grrrr. . .

We even considered buying a new TV instead. We thought we could spend $100 for a cheap new TV. Nope. If you haven't gone TV shopping in a while (OK I realize that we are probably the only people in the U.S. that haven't), the best $100 can get you is a 4 inch screen. Sorry I just don't' want to spend $400 on a new TV (seeing as we only spent $25 for our current one).

While I am complaining about digital TV. . . . Two years ago John got me a nice under cabinet TV for me. It was a stretch of our budget for John to get it for me, and now two years later it is obsolete. Oh I could get a digital converter box but come on, I got an under cabinet TV because I didn't want anything on my counter. Come on! I just want to be able to watch Lost! At least the digital switch happens during the summer. Maybe we will take our next step into the modern age before the next season starts.

Saleing

When John and I were engaged we were at my parents house one day. My sister who had stopped by said to me,
"We're going saleing on Saturday. Do you want to come?"

"Sure" I replied. "What time?"

"Eight o'clock" my sister informed me. "I'll pick you up"

"Sailing?" John asked surprised (and excited). "I didn't know you guys had a boat."

"No John, SALEing. Not SAILing." I explained to him. "As in, garage saleing."

I think John was a little dissapointed but he has since learned to appreciate my genetic love for garage sales. Growing up it was just what we did on Saturdays. Alan is starting to appreciate garage sales too. I don't think I could go saleing by myself anymore if I wanted to. If Alan sees me gettting my shoes on Saturday morning he run's to his room to get dressed quickly so he can come too.

It's become a special time for us. He happily holds my hand as we look for treasures, and he talks to me about school, his friends, scooby doo; all the important things. He tells me things that don't simply come to mind when I ask him "how was school today?". I dry his tears as he realized that the giant oversized stuffed animal costs more the the one penny he has left, and I see his excitement when the man at the garage sale gives him a compass for free.

It takes a little bit longer to get through a garage sale as he spends 10 minutes in decision as to which action figure to buy. But Alan and I, we make a good team .

My Husband Rocks

So yesterday as we were in the middle of finishing up tiling our bathroom (yes the six week project is almost done!), I was surprised by my sweet friend Becca P. showing up. John handed me some cash and told me to that he was sending Becca and I out to lunch and out shopping for my Birthday. How fun!

Check out the darling apron Becca made for me. Isn't she so talented! And now my favorite 3 boys are making me chocolate peanut butter fudge cake while the pot roast that John made is cooking. Is this a good birthday or what?

Not too old

I always seem to be surrounded by people older than me. Obviously being the youngest in my family does that. My freshman year of college all of my roommates were juniors and seniors. Most people assumed I was older because, why would a bunch of seniors room with a freshman (answer: my sister was one of those seniors).

One day I was talking to John (who then was merely a friend) and his roommate Spencer. They were discussing how they really wanted to move out of the apartment complex we were in. Spencer lamented the fact that "It seems like all the girls here are 19 year old UVSC students." At first, I laughed at the joke, because I was a 19 year old UVSC student. Then I realized that it wasn't a joke. He didn't realize that I was only 19. So instead of him teasing me about being young I got to tease him about being a jerk (Spencer and his wife are still dear friends of John and I. I wasn't really offended but it's great that I can still tease him about it 10 years later).

Now my friends are still for the most part all older than me. Every birthday I still feel like I am the young one (it helps to have my husband 4 years older than me).

My birthday is on Sunday. I was feeling great about being so young. Then this morning, I found my first grey hair. Maybe it's time I stop deluding myself.

April Fooling

I considered writing a post yesterday to tell everyone that John had quit his job and we were moving to Brazil to teach English, but I just didn't feel up to creative writing. So the best of my April fools was the dinner I made for the kids. I told them we were having cupcakes for dinner with berry soda.

Hyrum was positively thrilled.

He was a little less than thrilled when he discovered that the cupcakes were actually shepherds pie covered with mashed potatoes died pink.

This kids did like their jello drink even though they eventually discovered that the straws were a little bit useless.

Of course we had pizza for dessert.