Anniversary Celebration

We went out on Saturday night to celebrate our anniversary. We dropped the kids off at my moms to have a sleep over since were going to be out late. We tried out Farrelli's (thanks for the idea Karolee via Kathleen). It is a movie and dinner theater in Scottsdale. We watched Juno (funny, similar feeling to Napoleon Dynamite, not for the prude(I hate that word but I don't know what else to call it))and ate dinner. We had a spinach and artichoke dip as an appetizer, which seemed like it had cheddar cheese or something it was a little different but good. Scott ordered the baby back ribs, his review: good, ribs are hit or miss so he would probably try the cheeseburger if we went back (he always regrets trying anything besides a cheese burger). I had a tomato and mozzarella salad with a balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing and I added chicken, my review: pretty good, just enough food, I just thought it was odd that the chicken was not hot. The Harkins theatres have priority to the movies so they have to wait until Mr. Harkins is not showing the movies anymore so they are not the first showings although there was a sign on the door that said Century Fox will now be releasing their movies to them so they know that they will be showing Nim's Island when it comes out. Overall review: ALL staff very friendly, seating is more comfortable and private than other movie theaters, food a little expensive and attempts to be fancy, but still ok. It was overall a good experience that I would say is worth trying. It would be a great idea if it was closer and served more casual food then you could save time (I am thinking $ for babysitters)by doing both things at once. Happy Anniversary to us!
(Pictures to come when I get my camera working)

Flashback Friday

Here are some pictures of Scott and I dating, and on our wedding day since it was our anniversary this week. I was hoping for some childhood pictures of Scott since it was also his birthday this week, but no luck, maybe later.

Another Favorite Meal

Here is another favorite meal of ours (I really do love food don't I?). The kids scarf it down, it's quick to make, and the leftovers are just as good!

Cheeseburger Rice

1 lb. ground beef

1-3/4c water

2/3c ketchup

1tbsp mustard

2c instant rice

1c cheese

Brown meat and drain. Add ketchup, mustard, and water. Bring to a boil and add rice and cheese. Cover and cook on low heat for 5 minutes. Sometimes I double it or we do not have any leftover.

9 Years

Wow! It's been 9 years since Scott and I were married for time and all eternity. I can't say it's all been easy, lovey dovey and fun, but we have made it this far and we still love eachother. Of course, like most of our holidays/family events this one is also over ruled by sports. Scott will be going to some March madness games tonight and we will go out and celebrate on Saturday night instead.

9 Things I Love About You

1. You are incredibly FORGIVING. You have forgiven me time and time again. You are not judgemental and accept people and their faults unconditionally.

2. You have this amazing ability to be DIRECT with people in a way that it is not offensive. You can tell anyone they are an idiot and they love you even more. I don't know how you do it.

3. You are the LIFE OF THE PARTY. Not in a self-indulgent obnoxious way you just always have ideas of what to do and keep the party entertaining. People can always come to you for ideas of what games to play and what to do.

4. You are a HARD WORKER. At anything you do wether it is work, serving and you play hard. You never stop.

5. You are a terrific DAD. You are involved with your kids, you put them to bed, you make sure they do fun things, you wrestle with them, you do your funny laugh with them. You never complain about having the children when most men think of it as babysitting and you take them often allowing me to regroup.

6. You're the HEAD OF OUR HOUSE. Although I am a control freak with strong opinions, I love that you step up to be the patriarch of our home. You lovingly discipline our kids and you can get them to clean up quickly with no complaints. I love your sense of duty and willingness to provide for the family. It is hard work and not a burden I would want to bare and yet, you do what you can so that I am able to stay home and be the mom.

7. You are UNSELFISH. If anyone asks you to do anything (play, work or serve) you do what you can to figure out a way to do it. You always let me drive the nicer car, let me choose where to eat, and forgo your wants and needs to meet the needs and wants of your family.

8. You are SMART. Most people do not realize this about you or give you the credit you deserve because you are not a loud personality. For some people this might make them frustrated, but you are fine to let others that need the attention and control have it. And of course you know every single thing about sports.

9. You're HOT! I love your blue eyes, manly shoulders and strong biceps.

I LOVE YOU SCOTT!

Scott's Birthday

As we were on our way home to surprise Scott I snapped some pictures of the wild flowers in bloom. Some as I was literally driving by and the red ones were when we were slowed in traffic.

Yesterday was Scott's birthday and he thought we were going to be at the cabin so I planned a little surprise for him. We headed home in time to blow up some balloons and things and then we went to surprise him at his soccer game. I had gotten some email addresses from Scott's email so the soccer team would know what was going on(he will probably change his password now) and made sure that his friend would have him at dinner until the last minute before his soccer game. I called him as we were on the way to the soccer game and I heard him say to his friends as he answered the phone that he had to go to his soccer game. We were really tight on time and him coming from Costa Vida we were going to be getting there at about the same time. I told him that were still atleast an hour away from home and he reminded me that he had a soccer game and would be home late. I tried to keep him on the phone so he could not say bye to his friends by singing Happy Birthday on the phone but he threatened to hang up so I stopped. We pulled in and as we were getting out of the van he pulled in but the kids ran over with the poster and the balloons and said Happy Birthday! It worked out a lot better than the original plan and I would say that he was surprised. He got a little testy with my whole production because he does not like "public attention" even though deep down I know he does. At the end of the game (which they won) everyone had chocolate chip cookies which Scott requested instead of cake. We got him a new Wii game and the charging station for the controllers, but he may change that for another controller instead.

So, I came home only to realize that I did not have a house key on me so we had to go to my mom's for the girls to take a shower (which they had not had for like 5 days) and to blow up the balloons before we headed to the soccer game which ended up to be a good idea since we were in such a hurry my mom was able to help me. The 1st picture is of Claire's new toy. She just kept watching the balloon move as she moved her leg. The 2nd picture was of all of the balloons that were let go in the process of blowing them up.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT!

(I think he is past the age where you disclose it, but I will leave that up to him)

The Cabin

Monday morning I packed up the van with all of the stuff for Me, Claire, Tate and everything for Scott's birthday surprise (details coming in next post) and headed to Scott's parents property. We let the girls miss a couple days of school since Telia was in town. The weather was sooo great! This is the perfect time of the year up there where the days are not hot yet and the night are still cool enough to have a campfire.

Above is some pictures of the cabin. What you can't see just below the bottom of the first picture is a creek that runs through the property. The kids got wet in it several times. The next picture is a the ramada where we gather and talk and eat and just in front of it is the campfire circle.

Below is the kitchen. Scott's parents and Scott's grandpa (Lynda's dad) did all of this work with re-claimed from a property down the way . This is where I had to cook 3 batches of chocolate chip cookies for Scott's birthday. The next picture is Claire in the swing while I am making these cookies. I am afraid there is not really anything I can do about this finger sucking even though I swore my kids would never suck their thumbs or any fingers. Never say never especially when it comes to what your kids will or won't be.

This is the kids with Uncle Joe who was so good to give them all rides on the 4 wheeler since Scott was not able to be there (he has been super busy with work lately). The next picture is of Tate because he basically just sits on the quad all day waiting for someone to come give him a ride. Everytime I would walk by he would say "come on mom let's go".

Easter Sunday

We did not have much going on before church since the girls were gone and then we went to church. The talks were wonderful and the music was so moving. After church we went over to my parents for an Easter dinner where mom and dad gave us the whole report on their trip to Scotland. Then it was on to the infamous Easter egg hunts! Grandma Phillips had goodie bags for all of the kids and had eggs hidden in the back yard for the kids to find. She had a color for each kid to find. Tate's color was yellow although he was more interested in just getting the quick ones in the grass. He quickly lost interest and was playing with the tether ball and riding bikes. Then it was on to the adult hunt. This was the first experience for Dustin so he was shocked when we got so violent and ruthless to find the eggs. As I was clearing a pathway Scott and Toby started to fight over an egg that was over my head and knocked my camera out of my hands-and we had not even started! At one point after the hunt had started we counted eggs and I only had 5! I was thinking I could only have $5! We counted all of the eggs and realized that there were still 16 left to be found. So on went the hunting. By the end of it I had 12 eggs. And the winner is..........ME! I came out with the most again this year with $45! Tara and Jared had the least with about $25 between the both of them. It was funny at the end we were talking about how when my mom first started doing this it was only $1 bills and now we complain that we only got $25. Hopefully mom doesn't think we need some humbling next year:-)! I had my dad take some pictures while we hunted so I could show you. Claire was quickly declining and getting sicker so we headed home to get her some medicine and get some rest before we headed up to the cabin the next morning.