Worse than dreaming you were naked in front of a crowd

So, you know those mom moments where you forget that you were supposed to be somewhere at a certain time and totally spaced it? Happened last Tuesday. Picked up Becket from scouts and needed to get some produce.  Shopping, shopping, shopping along when I get a phone call from Becket's teacher Ms. Yawn, "Are you coming?"
Me, " Uh, coming where?" as I'm frantically picking through my file in my head trying to find some clue where she would have me be.
Ms. Yawn, "It's the story telling competition tonight for district and Becket was to represent us."
Me, "Right! On my way."
Ms. Yawn: "He's up after three people."
Me, "Stall if you can."

Check out, rush my kids to the car and I head onto State Street which is packed with traffic.

Ms. Yawn calls in a whisper, "Where are you Becket is up!"
Me: "Stuck in traffic! I'm so sorry and so embarrassed.  I have food in my car for all of you if you can just wait!" I don't know what I was thinking with offering them my carrot sticks and bananas, but I new that my little guy would be terribly upset if he didn't get to participate in the contest.

At this point on the road, your mental anxiety goes through sunroof. You're yelling at the stop lights, taking deep breaths, throwing the kids raspberries to keep them from peeping, you're praying, yelling at your kids to pray, pep talking yourself and then finally you peel off to a side street just short of Dukes of Hazard style to find a faster route.  I sped through those back neighborhoods like nobody should be doing,  flying over the speed bump my weak night vision failed to see mind you, waking up Micah who is now crying only to find myself in the district parking lot. Whew! We run in frantically listening to our Jedi powers to find the room that the competition is in and fling open the doors.  There before us were 25 parents and their small crying children, the judges, and the teachers staring at us.  I tell myself, no need to make eye contact with any of them."  They hand Becket the microphone, he jumps right into character and delivers.  I whip out my phone and start filming and still trying to avoid eye contact.  After it was over, I profusely apologized to Ms. Yawn and the judges and still avoided the parents. She was very understanding.

He didn't move on---but we made it, he shared it, and didn't shed it and I want to forget this ever happened. It's worse than dreaming that you were naked in front of a crowd.

Post-Op Birthday

I may have to wallpaper this picture on my phone. We spent the weekend in St.George with family for Mat's birthday. What a blessed good time. We tried to go rock climbing, but St. George was slammed with the holiday sun seekers. Everywhere we tried to get on, it was crawling with people--especially silly little college students who like to talk about their disgusting social life ad nauseam. We did get a couple of wee spots, and it worth it even if we were just hanging out to joke about the college kids.



Later, birthday wishes after an Indian dinner (Thanks Dannielle)



We did hit the rocks on Monday with the Larkins



And I may have bought a gigantic light for my future patio that I don't have from a store going out of business. Mat just shook his head and I grinned from ear to ear knowing he would thank me later.




Happy Birthday Bart Rock Starr!

Happy birthday to my fine husband

Jist wanted to wish Mat a happy birthday. I'm afraid I've packed his day so full of fun that he won't even have time to read this. I will post pictures later of his new life at 36.

Arterrific!

Becket would like you you to know about his new blog arterrific.blogspot.com. He wants you to know that you can do it and any one can make up something, even if there are no directions. You'll have to read about it, it made me smile.

Love

I needed to be to school a tad early to prepare for valentines day in the classrooms that I ran out of time to do Micah's hair. I saw these heart twist so I found the tutorial and gave it to Mat saying , "here watch this, and see if you can do this. (smile) I have to run to the school." He wouldn't want me sharing this because he might be classified as a hairdresser, but I felt they were too cute not to share. Happy Valentine's Day one and all.




I told the kids to create their own cards using this program on the iPad. Give them their picture to decorate and they go wild. This is what they produced:

Queen Gretchen



And hot dog Gretchen:



Sith lord Becket:

X Country Skiing Action

It was a little icy, but Mat and I were desperate in this drought of snow. We pretty much crashed and burned the whole way down because neither of us could stop on the sheet of slickness. It was still beautiful and birds were chirping. Serenity.





We need some X Country skiing buddies. Please come join us.

My Mom Surprises Me

My mom is a wonder.  My aunties plan a lunch for those who have birthdays in the family. Person with said birthday picks a place to dine and we meet up on the special said Saturday. My aunts have a very contagious laugh, so it's always enjoyable.  Well, lo and behold we pull up to my local taqueria and we see my mom through the window sitting with my Aunt Trish all the way from St. George! I didn't believe it.  I've been trying to get her to come up here for ever!

It was so nice to sit next to her and stare with amazement. After we chowed, I showed her the future neighborhoods we want to live in or should I say, wish to live in, and we showed her the office.  I was so happy. Thanks for coming girls. My life can go on now!

Wearing out the podium steps

Becket has been on an academic tear the past few weeks. He started it off by winning the regionals in Reflections for his video "Diversity Dinosaurs."  He didn't let it go to his head in the least. Immediately after he won he said, "Now on to win state, then country, then the CONTINENT!"





He followed this victory up with the Tiger Pride award for January at his school.  He busted some hooligans stuffing a toilet full of paper towels and was rewarded with a commendation in front of the school.



Just when he thought he was done (because he was starting to think he was invincible), he wins this storytelling contest at the school and gets to go on the tell his rendition of Puss in Boots to the district judges.  Later that day, he beat his personal best distance run and came home with 2 certificates.  Now if it sounds like a bunch of proud parent yammering, you have to know us.  Although this kid is amazingly creative, he can be maddenly neurotic and aloof.  So when things like this happen, we get pretty excited to see him so happy.  He has such a great heart, you just can't help but want to see him succeed.  Keep it up Beck!

Tooth Fairy Ultimatum

Gretchen is a tad money minded right now and she is always thinking of ways to earn money so her little mason jar can burst at the glass seams. The latest: "Maybe if I could get my teeth out, that'll be another few bucks." Genius! She persists to gnaw on carrots the rest of the day to loosen it up, and Cha- Ching! Extra mula in the pockets, but instead of money she thought of something else:




And then she proceeds to set up her Tooth Fairy trap so she can look her square in the eye for her magic! She's got a chiming dream catcher tied to her note and tooth!



My response in my best Tooth Fairy writing

Brian Regan

May I be the first to congratulate Brian Regan for making my face hurt. At the end of his 1.5hr display of comedy I had to physically smooth my face out with pressed hands to make it go back together. You nailed the tough guy.

Picture from Abravanel Hall



Favorite Brian Regan --the Eye doctor (of course) and the Trip to the ER