Date 5 of 52--The Home Show, Burgers, and Lots of Bonus Points

I'm going to preface this post by stating for the record, that I have the best husband in the world.

I awoke Saturday morning at 7:30, after going to bed at about 11 pm the night before. Dixon had miraculously slept through the night, and Mike had gotten up with him at 5:30, feeding, changing and entertaining him, leaving me to peacefully slumber for an extra 2 hours! (Bonus Point #1)
When I finally dragged myself out of bed, I found that Mike had made and fed the girls pancakes, and was in the process of divvying out "crusties" to them. I don't exactly know how or when it got started, but whenever Mike makes pancakes, he purposely drips little dots of pancake batter onto the griddle, and the girls go giddy over getting these little "crusties." I don't have the patience or time or patience to flip hundreds of tiny dots of pancake batter, and thus, the girls definitely favor Dad's pancakes over Mom's. (Frankly, I have NO problem leaving it that way.) Not only did I not have to make breakfast, but I adore seeing how engaged Mike is with the kids, and how much he loves to make them happy even if it means spending half the morning flipping hundreds of "crusties" over for them. (Bonus Points #2 and #3)
After eating my portion of pancakes drizzled with scrumptious blueberry sauce, topped with a dollop of whipping cream--Mmmm. I get happy just remembering it. I know. I'll post the recipe for that soon.--I got myself into the shower to get ready for the busy day ahead. I walked into the bathroom, shut the door, and proceeded to spend the next 30 minutes relishing every minute of my piping hot shower, with the door shut. I LOVE when Mike is home and I can take a real, long, hot, quiet shower. (Bonus Point #4)
By the time I emerged, Mike had cleaned up the kitchen, sent the girls off to get dressed and had put Dixon down for his morning nap. (Bonus Point #5)
I retreated to my bedroom, got dressed and started in with my hair and makeup. At about 9:15, I was reminded that I had volunteered to bring 2 lbs. of cooked pasta to the luncheon for the Stake Women's Conference that was to start at 10:00. Without missing a beat, Mike went to the storage room, got out the pasta and started cooking it for me so I could finish readying myself. (Bonus Point #6)
Without a minute to spare, I hurriedly grabbed the bowl of pasta, my purse and my keys, and headed through the mudroom. As I tried to avoid a backpack that had been left at the top step, the heel of my boot caught on its strap, and me, the keys, the purse, and yes, the pasta, went hurtling through the air, landing with a thud and a splat at the bottom. As I laid in a sea of noodles, with my legs in the air and my head against the concrete wall, I tried to yell for Mike to assist me, but I couldn't be heard over his vacuuming. (Bonus Point #7)
One of the girls happened to open the basement door right then, revealing their pathetic mother, and with a look of bewilderment ran up to get Dad. I'm pretty sure he was suppressing his laughter as he helped me up and feigned concern for this poor old bruised up body. For a moment, I considered crawling up the stairs and back into my bed, but thought better of it and decided to suck it up and go to the Conference anyway. After tending to the wound on my shin and making sure all traces of spaghetti were gone from my hair, I hobbled to the van and drove myself to the Stake building. I immediately went to the kitchen and apologized for showing up empty-handed, but as with all Relief Society functions, there was PLENTY of food there, with some to spare. My little offering would thankfully not be missed.
As it turned out, I desperately needed to be at that Conference. It deserves its own post entirely, so I won't go into detail here, but as we were getting ready to pack it up, Mike called. He asked if I needed him to bring over some pasta, because he had made another pot of it just in case. (Bonus Point #8) Seriously? Who does that? Apparently, my sweet and thoughtful husband, that's who. So now we have a whole bunch of pasta in the fridge just waiting for me to whip up some sauces for it in the coming days. Talk about your meal planning!
After I made it home, we packed up the kids and took them over to a friend's so Mike and I could go out on our date. I was very excited to surprise him with tickets to the SLC Spring Home & Garden Show, but forgot that I had posted on FB what my plan was. Surprise ruined. I love when I trip myself up. Oh well. We drove to SL in a lovely spring snowstorm, then joined 50 other drivers as we searched the parking lot for an available stall. After some swift maneuvering, we landed a spot and headed in to the chaos that is the Home Show. We wandered around for about an hour, where the only interesting products (besides the booths full of fudge) were a showerhead and a steam iron. It wasn't all for naught, though, because the best part was just walking around, Mike holding my hand, and not having to keep track of any little ones in that crazy crowd of people. (Bonus Point #9)
It was nearly dinner time, so we left the show and I treated Mike to his first taste of an In-n-Out burger. It was almost as good as I remembered them being, and certainly better than Wendy's or Micky D's. Quite a drive to Draper for them, so we won't be frequenting the place, but if we ever have a reason to head south, we may just have to put burgers on the docket.
We got back on the freeway and headed home, stopping for gas, Girl Scout cookies (Samoas and Thin Mints!), the Red Box, and a quick peek inside a local refurbished furniture store I've been dying to check out for months.
We picked up the kids, took them home & put them to bed, then vegged on the couch with popcorn, our GS cookies, and the movie "2012."
In the quiet moments before I tiptoed into our room and crawled under the covers next to Mike, I thought about what a great day I'd had (despite my little tumble), and the majority of things that had contributed to my happiness that day were because of him. I ended the day thanking my Heavenly Father for such an amazing husband, and for all the little experiences that had shown me how blessed I really am.

The Right Decision. (or, Date 4 of 52)

Now that it's March, I'm in charge of planning our dates for the month. I was SO EXCITED to surprise Mike with this first one, because I knew he was going to LOVE what I had planned, and I hoped it would set the tone for the rest of out dating experiences this year. Being a lover of all things BYU (and get this--he's from Wyoming!), and a lover of all things basketball (Laker fan. Ugh.), I got us tickets to the BYU/Utah basketball game last night. Nose-bleeders, mind you, but tickets nonetheless. I had Meredith lined up to sit for us, who was even willing to take the kiddos overnight! (You're all wishing she was your sister, right?) I was going to be a perfect date!

On Tuesday, Maggie came home a little distraught. She didn't pass her 7's. In order to attend her class's Fiesta on Friday, she had to pass off all her multiplication tables by Thursday, and she still had her 7's, 8's and 9's left. I knew she wouldn't be able to pass them off without some intense work, so after telling Mike about what I'd planned for our date, we agreed to forgo the game to stay home and help her study. Last night, Mike plopped himself down on the couch with his iPod in his ears, listening to the game while I quizzed Maggie on her 8's & 9's. I admit that I was pretty disappointed that we weren't at the Huntsman Center, right in the middle of all that fun.
After exhausting every brain cell, we called it a night and Maggie and I got up early this morning (5:30!) and worked some more on those tables. She didn't quite have it down by the time her carpool picked her up, but I prayed all day long that she'd be able to remember what she'd worked so hard on. I waited with baited breath as I picked her up from school today.

The giant grin on her face said it all! She'd passed!

All of a sudden, the disappointment of missing the game turned into complete joy at the accomplishment of my sweet girl. Heavenly Father surely answers prayers, and blesses us for making sacrifices to help those we love the most. Now it's time to Fiesta!

All Because a Good, Honest and Loving Boy Was Born

Many, many, many, many years ago, in the border town of El Paso, a little boy was born to good, honest and loving parents who would teach him how to be good, honest and loving. He would grow up with the bright Texas sunshine bleaching his blonde hair an even brighter shade of white as he spent his summer days trying his hardest to become a fish at the local pool. He loved the smell of his oiled leather mitt and donned it as often as he could as baseball became his life. Even the burn in his legs and in his lungs from running the stadium stairs day after day couldn't keep him away from The Diamond. Soon it was time to leave his good, honest and loving parents for higher learning and of course, more baseball. Little did he know that his travels would take him far beyond the boundaries of his baseball league, as The War came and he was called up by the Navy to serve his Country. While stationed as a Recruiter, he met a good, honest and loving girl whom he asked to be his wife. And so it began. This good, honest and loving man and his good, honest and loving wife journeyed together to different parts of this great Country, adding five precious little children to their family along the way. They raised them to be good, honest and loving people, and after beginning journeys of their own, are raising their children (all twenty of them) to be good, honest and loving people. All because a good, honest and loving boy was born this day, many, many, many, many years ago.