happy {surprise} birthday

Michaela is FINALLY back in Utah! I wish it were for good, but it's only for two and a half weeks. I'll take it! It's her last hoo-rah in poo-tah Utah before she leaves in April for an 18 month church mission. Let's not even go there yet...mentally I'm like a 2 year-old dropping their ice cream cone on a hot summer's day about the whole thing.

But her birthday was also the day before she came out, so naturally, I threw her a surprise party! I've never thrown anyone a surprise party before, so I will openly admit my efforts were partly selfish. I don't need much of a reason to throw a party, so a birthday goes without saying. 

 But the best party? She was completely surprised!! Success. 

Happy birthday to my incredibly beautiful and amazing sister! I love you seester!

valentine's day part two

Even though the day of Valentine's Day was pretty chill around here, that doesn't mean we don't know how to get our love party on (..yikes..this is NOT x-rated).

Because we had an awesome gift card to Ruth's Chris Steak House, we decided to hit up to Park City on Saturday and make a night of it. 
By the way, has anyone ever tried to understand how that name grammatically works? Ruth's Chris Steak House? Was it Chris' Steak House then Ruth bought it and wanted to keep the name? Or was there a guy named Chris that everyone kept getting confused with another Chris until someone finally labeled him by his uber controlling wife Ruth? "Chris who?" "You know...Ruth's Chris" "Ohhh...poor SOB".

/Shrug/. Inconsequential. 

 
The appetizer, sides, and dessert were all incredibly delicious. And OH EM GEE how have I only ordered creme brulee twice in my life?! I really need to branch out of the chocolate side of the dessert menu because I've really been missing out. But the steak- "just okay". I've had better, cheaper steak actually.

I think Park City is GORGEOUS. I love walking up and down Main Street (bad idea in heels though) at night and seeing all the lights and little shops. James also put me on "celebrity watch out" duty. No celebs were in town though. Bummer.

There are also a lot of shops with really eclectic stuff. Like a man thong made of bear fur and a tail. Not pictured. Gross. 
And wolf carcasses made into hats. More gross.  

Happy Valentine's Day, lovers.

what actually happened on valentine's day

What I meant to do this Valentine's day:

Do something cute and romantic for James

Take a cute picture of Jillian with a festive photo prop 

Get something for Jillian

Make a cheesecake 

What actually happened:

Didn't think of anything in time to do for James

(why you fail me pinterest?!)

Botched Jillian's bangs in a nasty trim; didn't get a photo prop= no Valentine's picture of Jillian

Didn't get anything for Jillian

Forgot to buy stuff for cheesecake

Fail. 

Sometimes that happens. But ultimately, James isn't into the cheesy stuff I find on Pinterest, there will be plenty more opportunities to take festive pictures of my kid (and those bangs will grow back), Jillian won't know she missed out on getting her a Valentine's treat (even though Nana totally did get her something- way to go Nana!), and brownies for dessert will be almost just as good as cheesecake. 

And ya know what? There won't even be a picture of me and my Valentine because some days, you just feel like staying in your PJ's and not putting on any makeup.  

But it's okay. The forfeited instagram moment doesn't matter, because today I'm still surrounded by the people I love more than anything.

Oh, and looking back...maybe the brownie WAS better than cheesecake.

Happy Valentine's Day!  

new hur

I thought you might want two different facial expressions. 

I tried a closed mouth smile. It felt weird. 

But I love ma' new hur do.

In related news, I trimmed Jillian's hair for the first time ever. With makeup scissors (Jaime Williams is cringing right now). The back turned out fine, I trimmed off maybe 1/8 of an inch, mostly so it will start to GROW (it may or may not be even, but I tried).

Her bangs on the other hand...it didn't SEEM like it would be too hard. She had one really long chunk that just hung down in her eyes, so I just wanted that a little shorter. Well. When your toddler won't sit still and you're trimming from above..uuhhh..

Good thing I always push those suckers to the side, cause we got a real Lloyd Christmas situation going on. 

Jillian I promise to never ever ever trim your bangs again.

a quickee

Last Thursday Jillian and I flew to Florida for the weekend. It was the first time I've flown with Jillian by myself, so naturally, I was crossing my fingers almost the entire time that she wouldn't scream incessantly for no reason, or throw her toy at someone's head, or poop everywhere. 

I was incredibly surprised (and grateful) that on both flights out we had an extra seat she could sit and play in. I think that was our saving grace. She was superbly well-behaved and poop free. Although she did drink like 3 cups of juice and peed nonstop. Those fold down changing tables in the airplane bathrooms are NOT made for toddlers. I deserve an award for that maneuvering. 

The trip back to Utah wasn't all rainbows and sprinkles. No extra seats. In fact we sat next to a professional hockey player. Thems ain't small people. Fortunately he said he had kids himself and wasn't bothered by her spontaneous and whiny thrashing.

Our trip was a blur. We were only there for 3 days. On Friday we went to Orlando and Downtown Disney, or as my Mom calls it, the "free Disney experience". My mom and dad took the girls to the Disney store (probably one of the biggest to exist) and let them each pick out something they wanted. Would you guess we ended up with MORE Mickey Mouse Clubhouse stuff? Jillian now has a total of FIVE Minnie Mouses. FIVE. All different sizes.
Aye aye aye. 

As always, we had a great time and can't wait to go back!

ain't nobody got time fo dat

This is how I feel lately about:

blogging

cleaning

cooking

washing my hair

dishes

cleaning up Jillian's toys

folding laundry

and

putting on deodorant: