L man

I had the opportunity to hang with L the other day.
He is 10 years old and it's not always cool to spend time with your mom.
But it totally rocked!
He loved it but I am pretty sure I loved it more.

L had a retainer about 2 years ago so he occasionally goes back to the orthodontist for a check-up.
The other kids were at school.
I love moments like this that give me the opportunity to spend one on one time with each of the kids.
I often feel like I ripped L off of time when he was a baby because I had B so soon and then had a wicked post-pardum depression.
We have had to learn to work together but I am grateful for his patience with me.

He is so fun and relaxed when it's just us.
His humor is just amazing.
He was running around and being a little bit crazy and he said "I know mom, you are going to want to wrap my mouth up in duct tape!
I am so grateful for times like this that we just love to hang.
(I am really glad I am still cool enough to hang with him!)

Green Eggs

With today being St. Patrick's day, my friend posted something about her favorite green eggs recipe.

It has not a thing to do with food dye!

Here it is, I love it!

Probably will have it for breakfast at least 4 days a week

2 cups of spinach, blended (I put mine in my food processor)

1/4 - 1/2 cup skim milk

as many eggs as you want/need for your family meal

Blend them all together until you cannot tell that it's spinach in there.

Fry them in a pan (or bake them but I could not give you instructions on that like time and temp) until they are done.

You could serve them with mozza or salsa or whatever you like on your eggs.

I would skip the mozza next time. 

I have never had mozza on my eggs until now and don't really like it, that could be just me though.

Serve!

YUMMO!

***EDIT***

My friend who gave me the recipe texted me after and said that she blends Laughing Cow cheese IN with the egg mixture. Gonna try that one next time. Thanks T!

Time

Sometimes that is all we have to give someone.
I have been trying to have better quality time with each of my children.
When they come in from school, instead of washing down a counter while they are telling me about their day, LISTEN to what they say as they sit next to me.
I am loving this!
Today I had Miss M who was not feeling so great but needed to have a bit of quality time.
She chose a walk.
It was a walk around the block.
I loved it that she chose something simple but important to her.
And she was SO happy!
I am grateful for T.I.M.E with each of my children.
And that they WANT to spend time with me too!

Alaska

It was so funny when I would tell people I was going to Alaska.
"Why would you go there in winter, most people head to a sunny beach!"
I have 2 important people in my life who live there so it was easy to go!

I am NOT a fan of flying.
At all.
I talked to the doc before we booked the ticket to be sure I could get something to help me out for the flight.
I am not sure if it was the meds that made it easier or a pep talk from my Uncle Rob that made it better but the flights were not as bad as I expected.
The first flight I was lucky to sit next to someone who was just as nervous as I was!
Some how, that helped.

Alaska was just as beautiful as I remembered it.
I don't know what it is about Alaska but I love it.
The people are all so welcoming and polite.
The scenery is amazing.
And they have every speck of snow that we don't have this year.
It's crazy.

This is a picture loaded post.
Most of the pics I have up on my facebook but this post is specifically for family and friends that I don't have on facebook so they can see my pictures.
Feel free to comment though even if you have on facebook!

This is the first thing I noticed when I sat down. 

Not super comforting!

My view while on the tarmac. fun eh?

Notice how much snow there is on these mountains.

These are the rockies as I was leaving Calgary.

I think this is flying into Anchorage. 

I love to see the lights from the air!

I could not figure out how I was supposed to fasten it otherwise, thanks for the tip though!

I just think this is so pretty!

I went on a hike up the side of a mountain and this was the overlook.

Beautiful Eh?

This is the path ahead that we were going to hike on the mountain.

Trusty little companion. 

Spending the week with this little dog made me actually consider wanting one!

We had to stop once we started sinking hip deep

This mountain is called "sleeping lady" 

Can you see her?

This is an artisan well up on the mountain, I thought it was beautiful.

We were trying to climb up the left hand side.

look at all that snow! 

Wild eh?

trying to show the snow.

Husky dog races down the road. 

B is determined to get a husky.

how the dogs travel

I love this sculpture!

but this one should win just on the fact that it has a Canadian flag on it!

This one was amazing to look at!

This was so beautiful to look at! 

The details were so intricate.

I am not a chocolate lover but loved this fountain!

This is leaving Anchorage.

Sorry the pictures are so bad, they had just sprayed de-icer on the wing and it was going all over the window.

Isn't it just beautiful!

Can you see the small glacier in this one?

Does anyone have any clue what this is?

I loved it! 

Momma's girl

M has become a real momma's girl lately.

I LOVE IT!
She goes thru these phases where I am "just a joke"
(I think that's her term to tell me she does not like me. Not that bad of a word when I think of the other options!)
Then she goes thru phases where she really really loves me.
Like wants me to carry her everywhere love.
Like wants to sleep in my bed every night cause she misses me.
Like won't let me go to do laundry by myself.
Like she's attached to my hip kind of a love.
I love it that she really loves me.
I love her too.
Here are some cute pictures of her and I that I took.
She is really into that.
Me, not so much.
But I recently read a blog that encouraged parents to get out behind the camera and take pictures with their kids to have those memories on film.
This is my feeble attempt.

Kub Kar Rally

B was the  only one of our boys who wanted to go in the district rally this year.
He did really good at the ward rally so he was quite confident going in.
L was not so confident so he chose to not go.

On the way to the rally I talked to B about being okay with not winning everything.
He will sometimes have a breakdown in public so I wanted to be sure he knew what I expected out of him (mentally today I could NOT have dealt with a public breakdown)
Maybe that's why he won! haha

He was quite funny when he wanted to come up with his design of his car.
He was very specific and knew how he wanted it to be.
He was blessed to have a poppa who cut it out for him the way he wanted.
He painted it the way he wanted it.
He put his little stickers on it that we searched for!
He called his Grandpa to get his opinions on weights and where to position them.
I guess there is strategy to this thing, at least in the mind of a 8 year old it is!

It was fun to watch him today as the race was happening because I could tell he didn't quite know how to act.
I am proud of him.
He won 3/4 races and had the fastest time of the day 2.8 seconds!
It's fun to be a mom and see when his hard work pays off.
Here are a few pictures.

B and a buddy

"the car"

I found the saying "If you want to be a turd, go lay in the yard" on pinterest. I was thinking that as I was taking this picture!

He r.e.f.u.s.e.d to smile for the pictures. 

Good thing I love him!

Laundry blessings

This morning I was doing laundry. 

I sure enjoyed the laundry break while I was gone. 

Not only enjoyed it but loved it! 

I don't enjoy most forms of cleaning that happens in the home but detest laundry. 

I think it's because I am never really done. 

Ever.

The clothes we are all wearing will need to be done. 

The beds we are sleeping on will need to have their bedding washed.

Summertime is my favorite because my kids LOVE their swim suits so they spend most of the summer in their suits. 

No joke.

This morning though I was putting in one of about 9 loads I will do this week (I try to do them all in one day and then unplug the washer so I don't think about it the rest of the week. It works for me)

Then I thought that instead of being all grumbly about laundry I would just be grateful.

Grateful I have a washer so I don't have to wash it by hand.

Grateful I have a dryer (Although I really do want a drying line for outside to use in the summers).

Grateful we have money to buy clothes.

Grateful we HAVE clothes.

Grateful I have a family to do laundry for.

Grateful I was able to find soap and dryer sheets that does not bother my scent sensitivity.

It really helped  me to be grateful for the many blessings I have.