Good Mail, Good Friends, Good Family

This past Saturday began with an unusually freezing day of soccer games. Unfortunately, we all woke up at 8:30 to get to Jake's 9:00 soccer game and didn't even step outside until after we were all dressed in shorts and sandals. It was freezing!!!!!! The other spectators were dressed in winter coats, and my poor kids were frozen. Max spent the game buried under two blankets. Devin just curled up in a fetal position with Nate holding him. I felt like a horrible mother. I did dress the kids a little warmer for Max's 12:00 soccer game, and we were just fine until it decided to rain/hail on us. Of course, we didn't have umbrellas or hoods, so we were drenched.

My Saturday ended up on a much happier note when we got home from the games and got the mail. I got good mail on Saturday!!!!!!!! Talk about a happy day. The first package was from Michelle. Inside was a cute little journal (I love to write!), Reese's Pieces (my favorite), and ribbon (blissfully beautiful).

The next package was from Jill. Inside were 6 spools of ribbon. (Have I ever mentioned that I would love to have a whole wall of just ribbon? I don't know what it is about it, but ribbon just makes me smile.) There was also a CD of mellow music. Oh......happy, happy day.


THANK YOU, MICHELLE AND JILL!!! What fabulous friends you are. Thank you for thinking of me.

Saturday was also Nate's birthday. Of course, birthday boys get to do whatever they want to on their birthdays. And, in this house, a fun birthday includes sports. So, we all sat and watched the BYU game on tv. (Well, let me clarify. I sat for 5 minutes here and there until the 4th quarter and then I watched the last 7 minutes.) This would have been a perfect way for Nate to spend his birthday had BYU won.

I decided to make Nate's favorite cake -- Red Velvet -- from scratch. I had never made this cake before, and I'm not one for making a cake from scratch when the mix tastes just as good. But, I decided to do something a little different. It took me an hour to make this cake -- I followed every direction. (Surprise, surprise.) My plan was to have a little birthday cake and then to take our little family to the Mayan for dinner. The kids have always wanted to watch the cliff divers there. Now, you will remember that whenever I plan something to do and/or make something that takes a long time, someone always calls and invites us to do something. It happens every time. Well...this time was no different. Just as I finished frosting the cake, Nate's aunt called to see if we wanted to have a little birthday party for Nate, Nate's great aunt, and Nate's grandfather (who was in town from Idaho.) Of course, the answer was "that would be great!" They had reserved a club house, which meant that I didn't have to do anything at my house and didn't have to clean (woo-hoo!!!).

So...the Red Velvet cake went uneaten, we'll go to the Mayan next week, and the little party at the club house was a success. Nate's aunts prepared all the food -- we had yummy tacos, carne asada, and salad, store-bought birthday cake, and just talked. It was fun and I'm glad that we went.

(Picture of Nate with his grandfather and great aunt, LeAnn)

Overall, this was a great weekend. It ended on Sunday when Nate told me that he and the boys would do the dishes and that I needed a nap. I didn't need much persuading. I went right to sleep and slept for 3 hours, uninteruppted!!! It was a good thing that I got the nap, too, because last night I could not sleep at all. The baby's head felt like it was stuck in my pelvis and it gave me the worst cramp. So...I had to try to sleep sitting up. Then, every time I turned, some part of his body hit my bladder and I had to go to the bathroom. From 3:00-3:30 am, I went to the bathroom 4 times!!!!!! Overall last night, I probably went to the bathroom about 10 times. I haven't gotten a good sleep in a long time. But...I guess that last night was technically the start of this week. So, that means that this weekend was just blissfully happy.