"I don't make resolutions, I make plans." I heard that somewhere and I like it. So here are my plans.
1. Not eat treats until Valentine's Day. I'm 8 days into it and am going through all the stages of grief. Despair, anger, bargaining, all that. But I've done 90 days, I can do 45. It's not a no sugar thing...that would be impossible because yogurt and maple syrup are life sustaining. No, the rule is, if it's something I wouldn't let my kids eat until after they finished their dinner, it's a treat and it's not for me.
2. Put together 72-hour kits. Our water was off for 30 minutes on Sunday. It was a rude awakening to how quickly and without warning things can change. I'm making a list of all the things I need in a kit and get 2 or 3 things a month. So let's hope nothing happens before December or I'll have an incomplete kit. Wouldn't that be ironic? I've had no need for an emergency kit but when I start assembling one, wham-o! no electricity for a week.
3. Clean out the basement (so Justin can finish it). This was going to be January's big goal but it's super cold down there so I may wait until spring to really tackle this one. January's goal is to get the Christmas boxes back in their spot and take care of the "to be filed" stack of papers on the desk.
4. Get up before my kids at least one day a week and get some things done. This may sound pathetic to some of you but I think sleeping in as much as I can is a perk of being an at-home mom. Someday they'll be in school and I'll have to get up early so I'm going to enjoy this while I can.
So let's back up several days to Justin's birthday. We celebrated the day before at his parent's house with his family. He has a theme each year for his dinner and this year it was fried food. He and his dad deep-fried anything they could.
It was delicious and sickening at the same time. These are 3 kinds of wings and french fries. Not pictured are the turkey legs and coconut shrimp.
What's this hockey puck Henry is chewing on, you ask? It's not a hockey puck but a solid hunk of chocolate.
For dessert, cheesecake and pie. Sarah is all about photo-bombing my food photos.
I made this pie. (Photo-bomb Sarah again.) I'm not a pie person and feel it is a waste of my culinary time to make a pie since I don't want to eat it. But I love my husband more than I dislike pie so I made it. He said it was good. It was raspberry chiffon, for those of you wanting to know.
We got smart and put Henry in the highchair so he didn't get hockey puck chocolate all over the house.
I'm pretty sure this chocolate was semi-sweet. We got even smarter and took it away before he got sick. We gave him a bowl of ice cream instead. Such nutritious parents we are.
Cheesers.
I love this picture.
The real birthday, December 31. Justin finally got to wear his coat he ordered over a month ago. Sarah and Henry got him a flashlight/lantern for camping. Then Sarah ran upstairs saying she had another present for him to open. She came back downstairs with her arms wide open. Her gift was a hug.
After breakfast we drove to Logan for my family's New Year's party at my brother's house. Henry was pretty good at keeping himself entertained.
We hit 144444 miles. Woohoo! And we are speeding.
So this is at Hardware Ranch up some canyon in Cache County. Since 1949, some government agency provides food for the local elk herds to prevent them from migrating down into the valley and getting hurt. For $5 you can ride out among the herd in a horse-drawn sleigh and get an up-close look at the elk eating and occasionally ramming heads and boxing. Perfect birthday activity for Justin.
As our sleigh pulled into the clearing, another sleigh drove right through the herd, scattering elk every which way. I thought it was part of the experience. But then the sleigh didn't slow down and continued to drive erratically. As we got closer, I could see the driver was trying really hard to keep the horses in control. The other 3 sleighs, including ours, were brought around to the run-away sleigh in attempt to control the horse and force it to stop. But the corral attempt didn't work and the horse found a way out--right by us. As the driver of the runaway sleigh came near us, he yelled "Get your hands in, we're going to hit." Then the right side of his sleigh hit the back end of our sleigh, sending us sliding to the side a few feet. It was loud and jarring. The people on the crazy sleigh looked afraid. When the crazy sleigh came around again, they forced it to stop and another driver hopped down from his sleigh and freed the crazy horse from some strap that was not where the horse wanted it to be. The horse didn't have rabies, just an annoying strap. I don't get horses.
I don't get elk either but I learned a little more. Like that they expend more energy keeping themselves cool in the summer than they do keeping themselves warm in the winter. Good thing too, because it was 14 degrees.
And when it's time for the baby elk to eat, the mama elk will call for them. That's not how it works with my babies.
Happy birthday, babe.
Love me some big blue eyes. Don't judge him on his pink scarf. It was 14 degrees.
Here's a picture of a bull elk so Justin doesn't get mad.
Sarah thought it was pretty fun.
This is inside the visitors center.
This is the elk herd as seen from the visitors center. Go do it. They do tours through March. Bundle up.
Back at my bro's, we ate a lot of food and played lots of games.But of course we stopped playing games to sing happy birthday to Justin. This is not an over-baked white cake without any frosting. This is baked s'mores my friends, one of the best desserts you will ever have.
Photo-bomb Matt.
Cute kid.
I didn't see Sarah much the whole time we were there. She was in cousin-mode and didn't need her mom. Here Kyra made Sarah into a mermaid. And yes, that is a gingerbread house in livingroom, complete with paper fireplace with candy-filled paper stockings for all the cousins. Lisa is a very creative mom.
Tuesday morning, the kids went swimming at the motel my parents stayed at. Then we made candy sleighs for racing.
We did several heats to find the fastest but I don't remember who was the overall winner.
And that is my son walking around with his blanket on his head. And I don't know what Tyler is doing but I'm pretty sure if he was barfing, I'd remember.
We needed to start earlier in our celebrating because we didn't even get to this year's taste test: microwave popcorn. Sarah cried when it was time to leave; she loves her cousins Jaana and Kyra so much.
-----Back at home------
Remember how Sarah gets attached to biodegradable things?
In my purging of all things Christmas, I made Sarah pose with her gingerbread house she made at preschool. Then I threw it away. She doesn't know nor has she noticed.
This is the balloon I got her after she let go of her birthday balloons outside. She's had it since October 30th and it was floating until a couple of weeks ago (Macey's balloons are long-term investments, apparently) and has been slowly dying the past few weeks. She asked to have her picture taken with it a couple of days ago. It's sitting on my kitchen counter breathing it's last breaths.
She just saw this picture and asked where her balloon was in panicked voice. We may have to have a funeral for this one.
