Talented.

Just wanted to share Mar's performance in the CiMS Talent Show last night:

I'm super proud of her and think her ability to overcome performance anxiety is impressive.

We laughed as she shared how her knees started shaking halfway through the performance.

She said she was glad that she hadn't taken a good look at the audience prior to going on stage because that would have made her even more nervous - her whole table group (all boys) from Science class was there.

A dad behind me asked how you introduce the ukulele to your child...

well... when your child decides she can't try out for the talent show because she's not quite ready on the guitar that she just got for Christmas, you suggest that she try the ukulele because it's much quicker to pick up and only has 4 strings opposed to 5. And it just so happens that a ukulele is accessible.

Afterwards we celebrated at Kneaders, then ran home so Mar could finish up some homework.

I can't wait to see where Mar's talent takes her.

Great job, Mauri!

A Panoptic of Projects and Parenting.

It's been a stressful week around here.

Mar, in particular, has been freaking out about this, that and the other,

and I think it's rubbing off on me.

Nothing like a quick blog post to put things into perspective (at least that's what I'm hoping!).

Today:

Work

(I'm so thankful for a slow day every now and then)

Wedding projects

(I'm grateful for the warm weather so I could get started on these babies)

A run to Goodwill for an outfit for Mar for the Talent Show

(fyi - green tags are 99 cents, today only. Good thing, there's no way I'd pay $7.99 for someone's old shoes).
I hope she likes it!

The Talent Show is tomorrow... one of the reasons for Mar's hypertension. 

Here's another:

Freshman meeting tonight at the high school... registration due by next week... too many things she wants to do. It's freaking me out a little that's Mar's old enough to start high school (I'm trying to mentally gear up for early morning Seminary, too).

Other projects on my plate:

Wedding favors + a wedding video (not started yet)

The 2014 Legend Ward History 

(started it on Sunday... it must be finished and submitted by March 1st)

Mar has a boatload of homework and tests this week, and has recently started piano lessons with a commitment to practice 45 minutes a day. She's stressed about letting her piano teacher down (lesson today) because she missed practice yesterday.

Bill asked if we could host someone at our house for a couple weeks.

Still trying to decided the balance between WWJD and "...it is not requisite that a [wo]man should run faster than [s]he has strength." Anxiety levels rising.

My stress + helping Mar deal with her stress = an uncontrollable urge to eat.

I've been noshing on these.

They make my stomach hurt.

I feel sick just looking at the pic.

I think I'll go sort the laundry and tidy up the loft for Mar's piano lesson.

But, as Winnie the Pooh says,

  "Let's begin by taking a smallish nap or two."

For My Children:

Someone shared this on Facebook today...

I love this.

I love President Hinckley.

I hope all of my children will take a few moments to listen to and incorporate into their lives these wise words from a prophet of God. I love you guys!

A Simple Celebration + Inspiration.

We celebrated Bill's 49th simply.

A cake.

 I tried a new recipe from Pinterest for the icing... Dulce de Leche, homemade by cooking sweetened condensed milk for two hours in the oven...  It was supposed to be much runnier and much more beautiful. It was okay. I won't be making it again, and have since sent the pin the way of all unfulfilled Pinterest dreams. It was a good, honest effort, and it's the thought that counts, right?

Homemade ice cream.

Pizza.

 I was tempted to purchase the big stuffed-meat-pizza from Papa Murphy's that Bill loves, but opted for a simpler, healthier version made at home with ingredients on hand.

Bill arrived home for the evening a little before 9pm.

We snapped a pic of him at his exact time of birth.

We lit 49 candles and sang Happy Birthday.

Then he blew those candles out.

We ate cake and ice cream.

Perhaps Bill was a little disappointed in the simpleness of our celebration.

For memory's sake, I have to make mention that he asked several times if we should call the Weeds and invite them over for cake.

My response (both times), was no.

It was 9:30 pm.

The kitchen was a disaster.

I was a disaster (why I'm a no-show in the pics).

It had been a long, full day-between-two-work-days, and I had spent it trying to make progress on wedding centerpieces (mainly a full-day fail, with a final few moments of success), running to the bank to transfer $ to a child in need (in sweatpants and a baseball cap), compiling a quick birthday post on the blog, baking a cake (+ Dulce de Leche... for two hours), driving the school carpool, and driving my lone child to and from her youth activity. I kept thinking of my most-often-quoted-to-myself line from Snow White: "But you don't know what I've been through."  I was pleased with the results of my efforts, however meager they may have seemed. It felt like a widow's mite - all that I had.

I made promises of a big celebration next year.

This is helping me today:

(source)

I especially appreciate the the line, "...decide what is important and then move along at a pace that is comfortable for [you]..."

I love Sister Hinckley. She was a wise lady.

I listened to this talk this week. I love the counsel we can receive from living prophets. I love that it's so accessible. I feel blessed to live at a time when more is immediately accessible than ever before (talked about this with my Sunday School class on Sunday). I felt prompted to talk with Bill about how we deal with the stress of everyday life by sharing with him this thought from Elder Perry:

"On days when the stresses and anxieties of our tumultuous life were about to get the best of us, my wife and I found a way to relieve them. We drove to a place just a few miles from our home to get away for a few moments of relief from our troubles, talk, and give emotional comfort to each other." Elder Perry goes on to say how it was a special place where they could "pause, reflect, and heal." 

I need this!

I've yet to find the right moment to share this recent inspiration (probably part of our problem - no moments not encompassed by exhaustion), but I'm determined that we find a "place," and that we utilize it in like manner. I think I'll make the discussion, and locating our "place," a date-night priority.

This has helped me a bunch this week, too:

Doin' it.

Birthday, Birthday.

It's feeling like a birthday kind of a day.

First, a shout out to my main man:

I mustache you to let me wish you a happy beginning to the last year of your forties.

I also mustache you to let me tell you how much I love you.

You are {the} best.

My birthday advice to you: {Don't regret}

(source)

Next up, a shout out to my beautiful DIL Lynnea:

You are a blessing to our family!

I hope you have a blessed day, month, year, and life. I love you.

My birthday advice to you: {Appreciate your youth}

(source)

Happy, happy.

First Church Dance.

I had to quickly post a picture of Mar's first church dance.

She and Bill are headed off to a For the Strength of Youth program tonight,

followed by dinner...

and a dance.

We gave her a few parental pointers:

• Accept all invitations to dance

(unless it's from a guy that's been rude or disrespected you in any way)

• Watch how the other kids dance

(we have no idea how kids dance these days)

• You can always throw in some of your DanceDance moves

(you ARE the queen of DanceDance)

• If the same guy KEEPS asking you to dance over and over,

kindly tell him your dance card is full

(or something like that)

Wouldn't dance cards be nice these days?
She wore high heels, but put some flats in her purse. For the dance.
Love that girl.

Good thing Papita (the helpmeet to Mamita) will be there the whole time to keep an eye on things.

Quarter of a Century.

A shout out to Jason for his big 25th!

Can't resist sharing a pic of him from the past (since I have access to it):

I'm loving that Lion King lunchbox!

Supa proud of my girl Lex for making an awesome cake on her very first try:

It's a good year for a good year...
...Hakuna Matata...

...may all your wildest dreams come true!

Happy Birthday, Jason!!

We Had A Party.

Here's a quick rundown of Mar's Birthday celebrations:

Her Mia Maid leaders came and put this cute sign on the house.

 We left it up for four days and were super impressed that those balloons stayed in good form the whole time.

The evening of her birthday we took Mar dinner - her choice.

She wanted to go back to CRAVE.

Bill and I, who are trying to eat "healthier," threw resolutions to the wind and whole-heartedly joined in the food celebration.

 I tried the WISEGUY with sweet potato fries.

 Mar went for the SIN CITY again, but tried DAS FRIES for her side.

Note: Beer cheese is not some fancy kind of cheese... it's quite literally beer, with some cheese melted in it, and the main component of DAS FRIES. It's better to clarify those things BEFORE you order {wink}.

 Bill went for the LOVE STINKS with the Parmesan Garlic Fries.

We shared our burgers with each other, and I concluded that LOVE STINKS is my fave.

And those Parmesan Garlic Fries are da bomb.

After dinner, we took Mar to a movie.

Big Hero 6.

She's been wanting to go for ages.

I, however, had mistakenly thought the movie started at 7, but it really didn't start until 7:35, so we were at the theater a good hour early.

After the movie we went home and Mar unwrapped birthday gifts.

But the celebration was not over.

That Saturday Mar had a late-night party with some of her best girlfriends.

I told her it would need to be {simple}.

There were no invitations other than Mar's verbal or text invite.

We reused the fun fringe banner I had made for Lex's last b-day - when I sent her a Party-in-a-Box (see note at the bottom of this post - she saved it and brought it back to me, knowing how I like to make hard-work-and-effort pay dividends for years to come), and purchased some pizzas at the local Safeway. I had originally intended to have the girls make-their-own, but after working a full day at the salon decided to nix the needed Costco run for pizza items and run next door to Safeway where I could purchase a couple large take-and-bakes for less time, energy, and $$. Win-win.

Once home, I assembled Mar's Crash Cake, made a quick batch of Muddy Buddies, popped some popcorn, and dumped all of our leftover candy (from Christmas... Halloween... and who knows when) in a bowl for the girls to snack on.

Birthday party simplified.

 These cute girls had a great time eating, hanging out, and playing games.

After the party Mar said, "We needed more time. We should have started earlier."

The party was already 5 hours long.

They didn't even watch a movie (no time).

They spent most of the evening breaking up into groups, taking turns being judges, and performing skits.

That was my kind of simplified party, and infinitely easier than the hair journey of last year.

That evening, after her friends had departed and before turning in for the night, we snapped a pic of Mar with her bear.

I've missed a few years here and there (shared here, here, and here) but love this fun tradition.

I finally took a few minutes to round up some of our vintage prints and give them a quick scan.

Here was Mar's first year (in months) with Bluebeary (her name for Mr. Bear):

Fourteen years.

Wow.

Note: I intended to post about the Party-in-a-Box I sent to Lex months back for her b-day. It was a fun, simple thing to send long distance to let her know we were thinking about her and celebrating her BIG 21st.  Since I don't think a separate post will ever happen (we are still supa busy around here... trying to figure out WHY), you can see a few more details at the bottom of the post here.