Sushi Night!

We decided to go out for sushi with the kids ( minus montana, she was at a bday slumber party). We headed down to the Gateway Mall to go to Happy Sumo- one of our favorites. We had an hours wait- so we went out shopping while we waited. Gateway has every store you never knew you wanted to shop at. We were in and out of clothing stores, gift shops, jewelry stores & shoe shops. Eric picked up a shirt at Hollister- Sierra was so proud! He looks great in it. Justice got a car launcher at Claires of all places. Sierra and I, like true women, couldn't decide on anything and came home empty handed. :-( sigh. We finally got in at Sumo and it was worth the wait. We were stuffed and happy! Justice didn't try anything but rice. We got him teryaki chicken, which we thought would be very safe, but no dice. Oh well. It was a great family date.

www.happysumosushi.com

We love our dog!

Roxy is our 3 year old Lab-Weimereiner (spelling?) Mix dog. We inherited her from my friend Amber when she was just 5 months old. We lucked out because she was already potty trained and knew a few tricks. That was such a blessing. She is very skittish when people come to the house-especially if they knock or ring the doorbell. She will bark at people until she knows they are safe. She is very protective of us- which is good and bad. There are a few people that she does not warm up to and we have to put her outside. That has to be the most annoying thing about her. It's hard to bring people to the house because she is such a spaz!! The rest of the time she is a lazy, cuddle dog, but no one believes us. Eric even likes to hold her like a baby sometimes. Those two are goofy together. Anyhoo- Justice wanted to take her to school for show and tell. I had taken her to school last year for Tana and she did great- so I was hoping for a repeat of that. Much to my surprise, again, she let all of the kids come up and pet her, she showed her tricks: Sit, Lay down, Up, Shake Hands, Dance- and she didn't bark at anyone! I was so proud of her. It's funny how pets become a part of your family. She always comes through for the kids when they need her. So despite the fact that she loves to eat the trash, barks at strangers, covers the house with black hair and the yard with dog doo- we still love ya Roxy Roo!

A Day Off

We all had President's Day off yesterday. No school, no work, nowhere to be. It was nice to just be hanging out with each other. Sierra had flown to Houston for the weekend with her dad and flew back unaccompanied minor. So Montana and I went to pick her up. Montana had never been through security before so that was kind of fun. She is easily frightened and she was squeezing me the whole time. She has never flown anywhere, I don't know if she could handle it. But she badly wants to get on a plane and go somewhere. Sierra is such an experienced traveler- I think she has been on hundreds of planes in her lifetime. They have such different lives- but they are really great together. Sierra is always joking with her and has a very special relationship with her. We watched movies the rest of the day and just enjoyed laughing and being silly with each other. We invited Mom and Dad over for dinner but Dad ended up being sick- so we postponed that for another time and went out for dinner. It was a great day for everyone.

Tana's Art

Here is Tana's latest creation from her art class. The pic in the corner is what she was trying to replicate. We think it is one of her best pieces yet.

Crazy Snow!

We had the storm of the decade yesterday. It started out as a sunny day, about 45 degrees, snow melting. We could even see the grass. Then about 5:00, it started coming down hard. Eric comutes about an hour each way. It took him 5 hours to get home. Yep, I said 5 hours. Traffic was at a stand still. There was 6-8 inches on the freeway. Cars were sliding off everywhere. In Lehi, school buses couldn't even get the kids home and they had to be taken back to school for the night. Our kids saw that on the news and were mad that they didn't get to have a sleepover at the school. I was worried sick about Eric, but he finally made it home. We ended up with about a foot in the valley. WOW.

Valentines was a lot of fun. The kids had fun with their parties at school and Sierra had a Spirit Week Assembly and Dance. They got lots of candy and valentines. I tried to raid the good candy out of their boxes- but they have already scarfed it down.

My valentine and I had some good smooches, but we will save the date for another night since I had to work. Hope everyone had a great day too.

It's Valentines Day

Well today is Valetines Day. I am not sure what to say. All I can say is that I have a very special woman at home. I don't think she realizes how much she means to me. We have our days when we like to be apart but that just makes the times when we are together more special.

I love and cherish you more than you know. Happy Valentines day.

The Best Day

Well, after the crappy day posting- I had the best day!! Eric came home and suprised me with an early Valentines present!! Two tickets to Hawaii for our anniversary coming up in November. We will be staying at a fantastic resort and I can't wait!!! Nothing like the thoughts of sandy beaches, palm trees, and sunshine to pull you out of a bad mood. :-) Ahhhhh

Crappy Day

I have found that when my day starts to go south- it usually snowballs into a giant hurricane. I have been on my own since Thursday with Eric out of town, and I think we have just reached the limits of handling things without him. It was his birthday today as well as my moms and I was missing him. After a phone conversation with the birthday boy instead of being happy that I talked to my honey- I was upset. Justice- was having tantrum after tantrum. My nephew has started teething, so he was inconsolable today. Montana came home from school because she poked herself in the eye and couldn't calm down. She is having eye therapy and freaks out whenever anything happens to her eyes. She thought she was blind. Sierra had a game and a performance, she kept calling me and asking me to bring something she forgot. THREE TIMES I had to turn around and go back for something else. So with my patience worn thin- I sat at Sierra's performance watching my kids from a distance. I realized that maybe the problem isn't my kids- it's me! Some days, being a mom is just plain hard. I know I can't do everything- having my husband come home at the end of a long day is a great break. Good Luck all you moms out there. May we have more patience today than yesterday, and God bless us when we love our kids even at their worst.

Remembering John

Happy Birthday to my brother John on the 5th of Feb. He would have been 36. Hard to believe he died 17 years ago. I still miss him as much as I ever have. I started a new tradition this year- we make one of his favorite weird snacks- Corn Flake souffle! It is a concoction he made up. I feel John is one of my guardian angels. Whenever I need him, I ask for him and he is there to comfort me. I can always hear him telling me when I am exaggerating things out of proportion. My kids would have loved you so much, you would have been such a great uncle. I can't wait for them to meet you one day. Anyhoo- love you bro! Big hug!

HM 3D pix

These aren't great- but Sierra taught me how to get them from my phone to the blog. Yeah!

Hannah Montana

I took Montana and her friend Maddy to see the HM 3D movie! It was soo fun! It really was just like being there- except for the popcorn and 3D glasses. We were singing and they were squealing, everyone was clapping and having a great time. They had a red carpet where you could go up on the little stage, complete with lights and karaoke machine, and sing your heart out! They also had "Sweet and Sassy" there (See link below) doing little mini makeovers on the kids- sprayed them with glitter hair spray, put a glitter star on their cheek, and gave them lip gloss. Let me tell you they were in heaven. It was a lot of fun. Took some pics on my phone/camera but they didn't turn out real good and I can't figure out how to get them on the computer (Sierra-help!) So if I can I will post them later.

www.sweetandsassy.com

We ended up not being able to go to either funeral yesterday due to scheduling issues. I forget how busy Fridays are- here's our typical schedule- just so I can remember the fun in the future when I look back at this

7:00- Get home from long night at work
7:30- Take Sierra to school
9:00-Take Montana to school
11:40 Take Justice to school
12:45 Pick Sierra up from school
1:45 Pick up Justice and Tana from school
2:30 Tana's art class
4:00 Pick up Tana

And I was suppose to squeeze in two funerals at 11:00 and 1:00? Yeah- I don't know what I was thinking. Then we shifted into dinner- and got ready for the HM movie. So I feel extremely guilty today but I know it would have just not worked out. Started filing our taxes last night- YIKES!! We had our best year ever- but now it is biting us in the butt!! This is the first year ever we have had to pay. I know- boo-hoo, poor you! We need to work out a plan for next year- so we are sitting down for a serious strategy session this weekend. STRESS!

I started a water aerobics class today. I was thinking it would be a nice way to work back into things with my ankle still being tender. It was a great workout and I was the skinny one in the class- BONUS!! It was fun and I can really feel it in all my muscles. I went into it thinking it would be a piece of cake- it sneaks up on you!! Sat in the steam room after and felt like I was in heaven. Can't wait to go back!! Nice way to de-stress!

Eric may be going back to Europe soon and possibly Russia for work. So I am getting my passport in for renewal. Hopefully I will be able to get in on at least one of those trips! Also we are planning a Mediterranean crusie for our 10th anniversary coming up in November. Wahoo!!
That's it for now I guess!!