Our weekly review

Danny left  last Sunday morning for 3  lloonngg  weeks on a business trip to California..Sad.. (sigh) I’m really grateful for this business venture so it’s exciting, but we really REALLY miss him.

Whitney helped Parker ask his girlfriend, Brittany, to prom last Monday.  He and Jessie bought Whit, uh, a ‘princess’ dress from Kid to Kid to dress up in and had her deliver a cute message of some sort. Whit was all over it. Since then, the new dress has been worn every day..even slept in!

Every M W and F our ward does aerobics at the church. We have a variety of work out video’s that we do. We just bring the kiddos and they run around the church and play. It is really fantastic and my kids LOVE going! Wednesday morning Whit was dressed and ready to go in her princess get up. I was doing something in the kitchen and I heard her getting into something in the bathroom. I asked her what she was doing and she just said that she was brushing her teeth. I was so proud of her for doing that, with out me asking. WELL… I went into the bathroom and she was NOT brushing her teeth but rather putting on all my make up. Princesses need to wear make up.. according to her. As we were walking out the door she said to me, “Mom, everybody is going to FREAK because I look so pretty!” And, indeed everybody did. She kept telling me over and over again at the church, “Mom everyone freaked, huh.”

 **Note to self: Stop using the word  'freak' in my vocabulary.**

After aerobics Whit had earned a treat for good behavior so her reward was bubble gum from 7-11. We went and everybody gave her the same reaction.. “look at the pretty princess” reaction. Our cashier, whose nationality is Arabic- middle eastern- I think- said in his heavy accent, “ I could have been a king once.” And then pointed to his long mustache. I then responded, “Ya, like you could have been Aladdin.” He didn’t think it was that funny and didn’t even crack a smile or anything. I wasn’t trying to be rude, but just trying to paint a picture for my 3 year old of what kind of king he could be. Oops. We quickly left. Hopefully he won’t remember me the next time I go in. I would hate to have to switch gas stations. This 7-11 is so convenient and close!! ;)

**Note to self: Don’t call a stranger  Aladdin.**

We went to a couple of Parker’s Junior Jazz basketball games. Hank is so crazily obsessed with balls and shooting in the big hoop. Every timeout we would have to go and shoot the “ba ball”—as Hank would say—into the hoop.  He loves basketball and plays it all.day.long. at our house on his little hoop. It’s so cute and funny to watch him. WOW.. boys and girls are so different! I’ve got a super sassy princess and a little man that only cares about balls or “ba balls" and his mommy. So funny.

Other random highlights from the week:

We had a fun play group at Ali Micek’s house. Thanks for hosting Ali!

We went to Airborne and played with fun friends.

{Hank, Whit, Gates, Driggs, Charly and Gracie}

Friday night was spent playing all sorts of random games.  Muffins jumped into Hank’s crib and the 3 of them played for a long time. Sooo long that I was able to fold all my laundry AND put it away!

**Note to self: Make them play in the crib together more often. :)**

Through my work, I earned a movie on the clock so we went and saw This Is War and I really liked it. I thought it was cute and funny and I absolutely l.o.v.e Reese Witherspoon.

By the time Saturday hit I think we were all missing Danny! I was trying to figure out what I could do to keep the kiddo's entertained and luckily some cute young women in the ward  called to see if they could come over and play with the kids. So they did and we had a fun day playing the Kinect, watching movies, making cookies… etc

{The kids playing Dance 3 on the Kinect}

I love my kids! ;0

Our Valentine Week

I got hit really hard this week with a super nasty cold. It left me feeling exhausted and achy.  I think that mom’s deserve a ‘no sick’ guarantee card. . I have not been very effective this week and I  don’t  care one bit.

Valentine’s day was a busy one. Danny had to go out of town for a quick trip to California and back in 1 day. He flew out super early and came home super late. We played with our friends. Had a romantic Hagermann’s dinner with the kids. And then ending our evening by going to young women’s. We did a babysitting activity for couples in our ward so they dropped of their munchkins while we babysit. It was fun. My kids had fun running around and playing with their friends. Actually, I take that back. Whitney had fun running around with her friends. Hank tends to stay very close to his momma. He is some -what of a mommy’s boy and I don’t mind it one bit.

We did have a little incident earlier that day with the dramatic daughter of mine. She jumped off her bed and landed on a toy. I’m assuming she bruised the bottom of her foot, but she screamed and cried for a good 20 minutes and then laid on the couch for the rest of the afternoon.. claiming she couldn’t walk on her foot. Anytime she had to go anywhere she either crawled or hopped on her good foot. I had to go to the grocery store… she couldn’t wear shoes.. her  foot hurt too bad. She couldn’t sit in a cart.. her  foot hurt too bad. So I had to carry that dang girl the whole time. Gggrrrr. So when we went to young women’s and her hurt foot miraculously healed and she was able to run around I knew she was milking her injury.  What a little stinker!

Saturday we celebrated our Valentine's and Danny gave me a 'Mindi day'- as he calls it. Where we get to do whatever I want and he can't complain... much ;) So we went to the temple and had our Valentine's dinner in Park City at Ruth's Chris with the Gleason's.  My parents soo nicely watched our kiddo's for the evening and they ended up sleeping over. It was Hank's first sleepover and according to my dad I think he liked it! He woke up at 4:00 AM and got to sleep with him (my mom was with Whit downstairs) and every hour  Hank would wake up and smash my dad's face and laugh. He is a WILD sleeper!

And a picture just because...
I love this little man. He is my very best bud!!

Our week

Ali had a birthday. Happy birthday!

Hank cheered on the New York Giants during the super bowl and loved the half time performance!

Zoe had her baby blessing.

Hank and I played lots.

His new fav activity is playing with the water at the sink. He will pull the chair over to the sink.. by himself.. climb up on the chair.. by himself.. and whine until I turn the water on. Silly boy!

Uh, Whitney had us playing lots of pretend play and gave me a run for my money on the amount of times she changed her outfit each day.

1. She wanted to dress up as a cow girl. She said she needed a big necklace so she is wearing my medal from the Top of Utah 1/2 marathon. She is holding her horse which is proudly named Scala and wearing a random belt.

2. Ooohhh her new favorite game. I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of it, but Hank and I played anyways. She is the bad cop.. with a mask on (which is actually one of my head bands).. and she had a pretend knife (spoon) in her pants. She would take me and Hank to jail  and guarded us by pacing back and forth so we couldn't get out. If I said anything she would scream, "Silence!" and would pull out her spoon to 'get us.' Yikes! I think I am going to have to veto this game.

3. Dressed like a fairy, holding her baby. During this pretend play session she said the following:

(her baby had pooped and she was 'pretend' changing her diaper on the couch):

"OMG, this poop is disgusting." As she stomped over to get a diaper wipe and pretended to wipe the baby's bum.

I replied, "Where did you learn the word 'omg'?"

She just shrugs and said, "I don't know, but I know that it spells poop."

Uh, ok. 

Lastly, this week Whitney did a mini cheer session at Brighton high school with Gabi.

Fun times.

Friday

We enjoyed nice enough weather that we were able to go to the park:

Hank thinks that he is a baby again. I got out the swing for Zoe, but he won't even let her lay in it.. IT'S HIS!!

And Friday night I went out to dinner with the old young women leaders that I served with in the previous presidency. (We get together every couple of months to celebrate birthday's and what not..) We went to Zupa's and  4 1/2 hours.. oops.. still there and talking! We had to leave only because Zupa's was closing. Lots of catching up to do! We laughed and cried and talked about everything in between.

I love them.. like a lot.

Today,  I read a FANASTIC article in the New Era. If anyone needs a good one, this article is great. It really helped me today (as I was in a weird sorta depressing mood) so maybe it will help someone else too.. ;)

Resolutions

1. Run a marathon:

I signed up through my work for the Utah Valley Marathon on June 8th. They will pay for it and help me train.. so what the heck, I'm gonna do it!

2.Be proactive

3. Go to the temple monthly

4. Read the Book of Mormon with Danny.

To be completely honest, Danny and I suck at reading our scriptures TOGETHER. So far for 2012 we are in 1 Nephi chapter 3 which is farther than we got last year. Go us! ;)

5. Enjoy Utah. 

There is a lot to do here and we don't ever take full advantage of it. Danny has never been to Moab so that is a MUST. He has also never been to Jackson Hole.. I realize that JH is not in Utah but close enough.

Our house hold motto for the year:

-Thoreau

Leftovers

..from January.

1. Uh, Danny started P90X and apparently so did the kids. ;)

2. I tried sushi for the first time and I loved it! We ate at the Naked Fish in Salt Lake and it was delicious! 

3. We built a snowman.

4. Danny fell asleep waiting for his mistress (Jared Davis) to call him so they could get online together and play some MW3.

5. We made some goodies and tried out a few new recipes.

6. Babysat these cute boys. They're all enjoying their ba's while watching Mickey Mouse.

7.  Breakfast for champions. Oatmeal with Diet Coke.. yummm

8. While watching the boys, we went to Airborne and tried to jump out all their energy! :)

9. One morning Whitney came out and was so excited to show me that she had dressed herself for the day. She is wearing a green skirt with pink leggings and a blue bow. I love it! She is such a sweet girl.
10. We started watching  Zoe a couple of days a week and she is the cutest thing in the world! Not to mention the best baby ever. If I could guarantee a baby like her the next time around we might have a 3rd sooner than expected.. I just gotta convince the hubby. :)

I read this from the Ensign a couple of days ago and I loved it:
"Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don't judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone's differences, weaknesses and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn't handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another's weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other."
-- Elder Marvin J Ashton

I have learned a lot about charity this month, not necessarily because I have given it, but rather I have been placed in situations where I  have wrongly judged. When you understand other's paradigms better, you are less likely to judge and your empathy and love for that person(s) grow. Hopefully I can better! But I have definitely learned some good lessons this month. :)

Poor Pup's

I really do love having dogs. Despite the fact that they stink up my house and have ruined my couches, they provide hours of entertainment/torture for the children and have been great.

Muffins and Mo do put up with A LOT from the kiddos. Hank loves chasing Muffins around the house with the fire truck. She hates it but endures it every time. 

Whitney is constantly trapping the dogs in random places. Mostly her room. She wants them in there when she is playing, apparently she needs an audience and her brother isn't good enough.

Hank loves riding the dogs like horses. 

Yes, the dogs do get their fair share of torture but are also rewarded very much so by the 2 that like to do the torturing. Hank's favorite thing in the world right now is feeding the dogs AT LEAST half of all his meals. (Hence the picture below.. He laughs and laughs.)

And the dogs do get some good cuddle time late at night.