2018- Week 7(Feb 12- Feb 18)

My all time favorite holiday was on the 14th- Valentines Day or as I like to say my half anniversary. Jeff was out town so we celebrated the day before. He always buys me and the girls flowers and I buy the everyone candy and a small gift. He bought me the most beautiful lily that smelled awful. I didn't want to say that to him but then later he said this stinks and I told him I hated it too. I bought the girls socks and Ethan a t-shirt. They recently opened up a Village Baker by my house so I also bought everyone a big heart shaped sugar cookie. We had Chinese food for dinner. In was mutual night so Jeff didn't get home until later unfortunately- hadn't really thought that through. I also took our train table to my cute neighbors house because we don't use it anymore and she was right in the middle of making her girls Valentines boxes so I decided to help her. I made a pineapple. I forgot how much fun making those things are. Maybe next year I'll force my kids to make one ha ha. We didn't do our traditional love notes because I had buried the tins when we moved everything into the storage room so we can finish the basement. It was still a fun day. I love my family.

This lace table cloth belonged to my grandma.

We are trying to make design choices for the finishes in the basement and it is a lot harder then I thought. I could never ever build a house. I went to the Home Depot just to get some ideas and felt completely overwhelmed after five minutes. The number of choices for faucets alone was crazy. So I called my neighbor Julie whose home I love. She has my same style and as it turns out she has a secret wish to work at a tile store so she jumped at the chance to go with me to Floor and Decor. She was the right one to take because everything she pointed out I loved and a few times we would both see a tile and say at the exact same time "I love all of those". It was funny. She helped me narrow it down and between that and looking at bathroom ideas online I know I want to go with a black and white theme with a brown cabinet. I kept being drawn to this color scheme over and over and I think it is timeless enough that I will still love it years from now. Now we just need to pick carpet and laminate and paint and doorknobs and lights and........ I really didn't realize how much goes into a space. We start next week and we are so excited!

This week was the start of the Chinese New Year or Chinese Lunar New Year. So of course it was a big deal for Ethan at school and for us on our street. Ethan's class at school is preparing for a huge Chinese cultural celebration that will be held on March 1. His group is studying the art of Bian Lian or face changing. Have you ever seen a quick change artist- well you haven't really until you've seen someone perform Bian Lian. It's beautiful. Each year is associated with an animal and this year is the year of the Dog. "People born in the Year of the Dog are usually independent, sincere, loyal and decisive according to Chinese zodiac analysis. They are not afraid of difficulties in daily life. These shining characteristics make them have harmonious relationship with people around." In our family we have someone born in the year of the...

Dragon (Jeff): People with Chinese zodiac Dragon sign are usually a group of people who are lively, intellectual and excitable. They can clearly tell right from wrong. They are upright and frank. However, they are also a bit arrogant and impatient. Female Dragons tend to be overly confident. They hate hypocrisy, gossip and slander. They are not afraid of difficulties but hate to be used or controlled by others.

Snake (Amanda & Ashtyn): Usually, people regard Snake as a cunning and sly animal, which likes hanging out in darkness. In fact, this animal is also a symbol of wisdom and wit. Therefore, people with Chinese zodiac sign 'Snake', sensitive and humorous, and most of them are gifted in literature and art, such as Goethe and Picasso. Suspicion is their weakness, which makes them hesitant and a bit paranoid. Surprisingly the Snakes best match is a Dragon:) I also know this is a perfect match for me because Martha Stewart, Audrey Hepburn, Sarah Jessica Parker, Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln also are a Snake and those are my favorite people ever!

Horse (Whitney): Most have nice personalities, such as warm-hearted, upright and easygoing. Hence, they usually have a lot of friends flocking around them. Independence and endurance makes them more powerful, and they do not easily give up when in difficulties. Positive attitude leads to a brighter direction.

Monkey (Ethan): The general image of people born in the Year of the Monkey is of always being smart, clever and intelligent, especially in their career and wealth. They are lively, flexible, quick-witted and versatile. In addition, their gentleness and honesty bring them an everlasting love life. Although they were born with enviable skills, they still have several shortcomings, such as an impetuous temper and a tendency to look down upon others.

I'd say it's surprisingly accurate in most things for each of us.When finding your Chinese zodiac sign you have to use your exact birth date and not just the year since the Chinese new year starts later then the traditional Western year. My sign is right on the border of the year of the Snake and the year of the horse and I think I have personality traits from both.

We held our traditional Chinese New Year dinner with all of our neighbors who also have children in immersion. This year only the Barneys and Peterson's and us were able to attend. I got lo mein and sesame chicken from my new favorite Chinese cafe called The Red Dragon. When I asked them how many portions a to-go box held they told me one but the box was 9 X 6 X 3 so their one person must have a huge appetite. One box ended up serving all of us at the party- mental note for the future. I made fortune cookies like always and this year I put funny fortunes into a few of them. 

It was a fun night.

Sunday was our Baptism Preview. I spoke about the Holy Ghost again and we gave them flashlights to remember it with. It turned out great. I love the Primary!

2018- Week 6(Feb 5- Feb 11)

DUP was a talent show this time. So many people brought beautiful things they had made or painted or baked. There was a woman there that talked about being the first female fire fighter in South Jordan, a woman that is an expert seamstress and designed and made all of her girls prom dresses and wedding dresses, a woman that is a sculptor and her work is known through out Utah- she even did some of the sculptures at Hogle Zoo. I was telling the ladies that it is a real shame that a lot of those talents like needle point, crocheting, tatting, sewing etc. have not been as popular in my generation. We finished the day with a nice luncheon.

I worked for the first time this year. It was fun to get back into it. I have been studying the Deseret Alphabet so that I can learn to write it and teach it better. 

After work I went to lunch for mine and Brooklyn's birthdays with my Mom and Liz and Melinda. We went to Zupas. After lunch I took Brooklyn shopping for her birthday. We went to Toys R Us because she wanted a bike for her Barbie and I knew they had one. It's a pretty far drive from my house and she was getting tired and asked me if it was OK to sleep in my car. When we got there she asked if she could still sleep in the cart but then as soon as we got to the Barbie section she perked right up. That girl LOVES Barbies and always has. We got the bike and she was so excited. She kept telling me the whole way how that she was "so so excited and that she couldn't even hide how excited she was". She also asked me to turn of the radio because she needed some peace and quiet and said "Ah isn't this silence so nice". She's such a funny girl.

Wednesday night I taught the first half of the Cooking Merit Badge to the 7th ward boys. As I have been preparing for this I have discovered that I don't know anything about cooking- ha ha. 

Thursday I had lunch with my friend Melissa and then that night it was Jeff's work party that was suppose to be for Christmas but they couldn't get a reservation until now. We went to the Viking Yurt again. It was just as fun as the last time. The food is so so good. We had red wine braised short ribs. I am always saying that fancy pieces of meat are wasted on me because I can't tell the difference between a great piece of meat and a crappy piece but now I know the difference. This was amazing and tasted like nothing I've ever had. It was a nice night with Jeff's co-workers. I love that we are friends with them outside of work too.

On Friday night we got invited to a Valentines Day party at our neighbors home, The Christiansen's. They invited about 20 other couples as well. We had appetizers and visited and then we played the newly wed game. They asked the men three questions and then the women three questions. Jeff and I did pretty good and got 4 questions right. We would have gotten all six if we had gone with our first guesses. One of the questions was who kissed who first and Jeff made a joke about being a "player" so now I get called Mrs. Player at work- ha ha. The funny thing is that if any one is the player it was me. I kissed way more boys then he kissed girls in our dating years. It was a really fun night.

Saturday was Brooklyn's Birthday Party. She turned 5. She got spoiled with a ton of Barbie things and some beautiful dress up dresses. When she opened the present Brody gave her she ran right over and threw her arms around him and gave him a huge hug and said I love you Brother. I sure do love that little girl! After the party Kevin and Melinda came over to finish the shelves. They look awesome and I can't wait to reorganize that room. We offered to babysit to thank them. Brooklyn helped me make dinner- she is a really good little cook and then we watched the ice skating events for the Olympics and she pretended to follow along with their routines and was "skating" and dancing all around the room.

2018- Week 5(Jan 29- Feb 4)

Monday night after FHE Jeff said he had an early birthday present for me. He handed me an envelope and inside was a paper that said "You Are Going To Disneyland" and two park hopper tickets to go. Then he went outside and came back in with a Mickey Mouse balloon and a gift bag that had two matching Mickey shirts and a Mickey mask. I was seriously in shock. I had meetings and thing scheduled all week so it was a mad dash Tuesday to get groceries, clean the house, do laundry and pack. He had made all the arrangements for babysitters and rides to and from the airport. He had a plan for us once we got there too. Wednesday morning we packed the last of our things, my mom took us to the airport and we were off. When we arrived we got an Uber to take us to our hotel. We've never tried Uber and it was great. The app tells you exactly who is picking you up, a bio all about them including a picture, what kind of car they drive, the license plate number and shows you exactly how far away they are. It also shows you how many rides this person has given and what people rate them. Our driver was Richard from the Phillipines. He was a great driver and so funny.

We arrived before our room was ready so we left our bags and walked to Downtown Disney. It's between the two parks and free to get in. There were a lot of cute shops and restaurants. We grabbed some lunch at The Earl of Sandwich. I ordered the quinoa salad and Jeff laughed at how I said it- apparently he's never heard of quinoa ha ha. This was the first of every single choice that I got to make on this trip. Normally when we go on vacation we all have to compromise on where to eat and what to do and what to spend money on- but not this trip. Jeff let me make all the decisions. I have never ever gotten to do that and it was so weird and yet so so awesome. It's not that I've never got to make a decision in our marriage, just not all of them. Also I am layed back about what we do and such so I usually just let him decide or the kids. They had a Lego store there and there were some amazing and huge creations.

I had on my Stranger Things shirt that day and I kept getting the most disgusted and confused looks so apparently no one in Cali watches that show.

That night we went to the Cheesecake Factory for my birthday dinner because we knew we would be in the parks the next two nights. It was close to our hotel so we walked. There were tons of homeless people and I felt bad that we didn't have money to give them. I ordered the orange chicken and Jeff ordered the burrito. The orange chicken was the best I've had. Even better than Panda Express which I love. The restaurant was dimly lit so it was kind of hard to see our food. But the atmosphere was nice. We called the kids and talked to them during dinner since they were an hour ahead and would be going to bed by the time we were done. We ordered a slice of strawberry cheesecake to go. When we got back to our hotel we read our scriptures- we had both been doing a 30 day Book of Mormon challenge that I had wanted to do before my birthday and we only had two more days to go. Then we went to bed. I woke up at 5 because I am use to waking up at 6 at home and we were an hour behind which was so annoying and I couldn't go back to sleep because I was too excited to go to Disneyland.

We woke up early so we could get to the parks before they opened and get in line. We decided to go to DCA first and ride Cars because it is the busiest ride out of both parks and we knew if we didn't ride it right away there would be a line for it all day. They start letting you in the gate a half hour before the park opens and then you have to wait behind a rope. Once they take down the rope and say you can go people start running and they have a bunch of employees that keep telling you to walk and not run so then people start speed walking- it's hilarious. We only had to wait about 2 minutes to get on the ride and it was as fun as I remember. Then we went right over to the new Gaurdians of the Galaxy ride which was formally the Tower of Terror. It is more terrifying now and it took me a few minutes to feel balanced when we got off. It doesn't make me sick just feel weird. It was pretty awesome though. We spent the rest of the day ride hopping to all the rides I wanted to go on and all the shops I wanted to see. We ate burgers and chicken sandwiches for lunch with amazing onion rings. After a while we went over to Disneyland and discovered that Main Street was under construction which sucked because you can usually get a perfect shot of the castle but the big boxes blocking the street made that hard. We rose Space Mountain which is my favorite ride of all. We also rode Pirates, Indiana Jones and the Haunted Mansion to name a few. We only did the rides I wanted to so we didn't do much in Fantasy Land. We did ride Peter Pan and Snow White so we could film it an send it to Ashtyn who is terrified of that ride- ha ha. She said it's even scary on video. By 8 I was so dead tired. We must have walked over 15 miles between the two parks so I couldn't stay another minute. We stopped so I could get a caramel apple and then we headed home. For dinner I wanted pizza from the Pizza Hut by the hotel mostly because I just wanted to go to bed. Boy I am getting old aren't I. I am proud to say we finished reading the BofM this night. I love that book. I know it is true. I learn something new every time I open it's pages. I'm glad Jeff did this with me. I felt very united reading together. It was the perfect gift to give myself for my birthday.

The next day it was time to get up early again. This time we started out in Disneyland.  First thing we went to City Hall and got my birthday button. Before we'd even gone a hundred feet people were starting to wish me happy birthday. It was awesome! We rode Space Mountain first and then got a fast pass for it as well. After that we decided to head to It's a Small World which another ride I love that was closed the day before. On our way we decided to ride Autopia. The man at the entrance sang me a song and told us jokes and was so funny. He let me go ahead of Jeff because I told him I couldn't let Jeff beat me. I forgot how slow those cars go, how hard you have to press the gas to get them to go, how easily they die and the awful gasoline smell- ha ha. Yeah we only rode that once.

It's a Small World was as fun as I remember. We rode the Matterhorn which is one of Jeff's favorites and my least favorites because I get bumped around so much and it kills my knees. On our way to the other side of Fantasy Land we saw Mary Poppins riding the carousel along with Bert who know one cared about. For lunch today I wanted a corn dog. They are so good here. It was a lot more crowded this day. After lunch we went back to DCA so we could ride Grizzly Rapids which we have never done. It was getting more and more crowded as the day went on so we had to wait 50 minutes for this ride. The man at the front said Happy Birthday- I'll make sure you get extra wet. I thought he was kidding or maybe it was just bad timing but we did get completely drenched. We hit a geyser exactly right and it showered us- twice. There were people laughing hysterically on the bridge above us. When we got off I was shivering. We had a fast pass to ride Soarin so we had to stand in the sun for an hour so we could get dried off. We stood on the bridge and watched people who never ever got wet- in fact only about every ten boats even got a little water and no one as much as us. Soarin was cool- it use to just be over California and now it's over the world and we got to see the Eiffel Tower up close. After Soarin we went and sat in the sun to warm up and Jeff got us a fast pass to ride Guardians again.

After a while we went back to Disney so I could try a mint julep and Mickey beignets. While we were waiting in line Jeff overheard a woman say that they tasted like mouthwash so that's all I could think of when we first tried it. It did taste like toothpaste. Then after a while it tasted like mint flavored lemonade which was actually pretty good. The beignets were hot and fresh and amazing. Jeff lost his sunglasses on the Pirates ride this day which sucked. We rode a few more rides and went into a few shops to find something for the kids.then went back to DCA to ride Guardians as our last ride of the night. We never did stay long enough to see any of the night shows or the fireworks, but that's fine with me. We walked back to the hotel and had leftovers for dinner.

The last day we were there we decided to go back to Downtown Disney because there was a California shirt I had really wanted. On the way there I changed my mind and ended up getting a Disney sweatshirt that said "Happiest Place on Earth". Which is absolutely true for me. I loved every single minute of this trip. I told Jeff this was the "Best Day Ever" and that I have never had so much fun. He said are you saying I've never done anything else fun for you our whole marriage and I said of course you have- in fact he is so dang good at always doing things for me that he knows I will love. He has taken me on some amazing vacations over the years and they have all be so awesome, but this was only the second time I could remember getting to make all the decisions. Usually when we go on a trip we compromise on where to eat, what to do etc. and usually I just let him decide or the kids decide because I really don't have a preference and I'm just happy to be along for the ride and that works fine for me. But this time getting to choose every ride, every meal we ate, everything we did was so fun. It made me feel so special. Like I myself was a Disney Princess. If only midnight didn't have to come. I can't thank Jeff enough for this trip. He is the BEST!

I was excited to see my kids when we got home. Later that night my sister came over and worked on the shelves they are helping us install in our cold storage room in anticipation of our basement being finished later this month. Sunday was the Super Bowl and we went to Jeff's parents for dinner and to watch the game. Because I was just coming back from an amazing time I didn't even care that we were watching it and usually I hate watching the Super Bowl. Plus JT was performing at half time and I love me some Justin! A huge thank you to our parents for all of their help with our trip and to my great kids for willingly letting me go even though I know they wish they could have come. On my birthday Jeff gave me some beautiful notes they had all written to me. They each wrote 40 things that they love about me. Some of the things brought me to tears because they are things that I thought my kids hated about me or that drove them crazy that I do. I can't believe how loved I am by these four people. This has been a truly amazing week!