Princess Me

So it was my birthday on the 27th (in case you didn't hear my yelling it from the roof tops...) My husband and best friend, Kim made it an amazing day! My office was filled with pink balloons and flowers. Soon afterwards, I received my pink tiara and a ring to match which I wore for the entire rest of the day, of course. Kim treated me to a massage and a facial at Salon DeLeon (I think.) It was PURE heaven. Then my husband took me to see Angels & Demons which was my FAVORITE Dan Brown novel and really close to one of my favorite books ever. I also got to buy a new dress and a shirt to go with my white skirt. So all in all, I had a heavenly day. I just had to brag. My husband spoils me a lot, but it's not every day that I get to wear a tiara. This picture is not the most flattering but it's the only one I have with my beloved pink jewels. Ha ha!

Memorial Day Weekend

Chase's boredom often leads to creativity.....

Of course these boys fell asleep 10 minutes before we got to my parents' house.
They were driving us nuts before that!

The kids at Weeping Rock. I have no idea what Chase is doing with his shirt!

My cute mom and dad when we were walking along the river

The kids overlooking the valley at the Weeping Rock

Our whole cute family at The Patriarchs

We went to visit my parents in Mesquite over Memorial Day weekend. It's been our tradition since we've been married to go visit my parents over the holiday weekend because it's my birthday weekend and my mom and dad make our birthdays and event! This weekend we went to Zion's National Park and took the shuttle thru the park. We did the short walk to see the view of the Patriarchs. Then we did the trail up to the Weeping Rock. That was the coolest! We tried to get some good pictures of that. It was so lush and beautiful, with water just dripping out of the sandstone and flowers and plants growing out of the stone. It's one of those reaffirming moments when you know without a doubt that there is a God and He lives. Our last stop was the River Walk where we saw lots of different micro-environments, desertscape, swamps, etc. It was really amazing. I grew up in the shadows of the Tetons in Wyoming and Idaho but I do believe that Utah is the most beautiful state!!

We had a wonderful weekend and I had a wonderful kickstart to my birthday. My parents took us to see Night at the Museum, Battle for the Smithsonian. The kids loved it and it cracked us up! It was hilarious. We made snow cones and played in the gorgeous weather. My mom is her ward's Relief Society president and she took me along with her to visit a couple sweet sisters in her ward and I was able to listen to her wonderful lesson that she taught on Sunday. All in all, it was perfect and rejuvinating. I love to spend time with my precious kids without the pressure of work and school and all the other nonsense we have to deal with. And of course, I love to spend all the time I can with my amazing husband!

Of course, we remembered those who have passed on. We play in memory of my grandfather, whom I still miss with every beat of my heart.He is the one who taught me to appreciate the beauty of the outdoors. And now Matt who's passing is still so fresh and still so painful, but he would have been the first to join the hiking in Zion's this weekend. He loved the outdoors. I know they are well and doing work for us on the other side.

My Ethan is TEN!!!!

So my baby turned 10 on May 16th!! What? Where did that come from? He just turned 1 last year!! Where did the time go?

He asked to have a Luau/water party. I was really worried about it because May weather can be unpredictable, but the day was beautiful and we had so much fun! We decorated with palm trees and tiki torches and leis and grass skirts. The boys had lots of water toys and got to soak each other over and over. We put the pool up and also had a way cool slip and slide. We break a pinata for every birthday in the Montrose family, so this year Ethan's was a treasure box. It was pretty cool. Ethan asked for and received lots of Lego's (poor vacuum) and a new scooter and some much needed clothes. He said it was the best birthday ever! Well, what do you expect when you turn 10 and enter into the double digits??

Happy Birthday Baby E!!

Mckenzie's Dance Recital

Mckenzie is in dance and her dance recital was this past weekend. She had 5 performances at the Covey Center for the Arts in Provo. Her dance number involved a scooter. It was very brave of her teacher to attempt that one. Ha ha! Anyway, Mckenzie is adorable, with her crazy, teeny, tiny muscular body. She's such a shy little thing, but she LOVES to perform and be on stage. It cracks me up.

I'll post her professional dance pic when I get it. It's so cute!

My Boys

Carter

Chase

Dog pile

Garret getting some serious air

Doug and I were grocery shopping today (I still can't drive) and we were passing the meat department and I asked him if we needed any meat. He said no, he'd been stocking up on meat that had been on sale every time he'd gone grocery shopping. I realized then that I've been living in an alternate universe for the past few months. Usually, I'm the "stocker-upper." But my loving, if not over-protective husband, has donned most of the household responsibilities. He is slowly relinquishing some responsibility to me.... but I have spent the better part of the last few months in my room, with the blinds drawn, trying to get rid of or live through the latest headache or recover from the last seizure/stroke. I help the kids with homework in my room, I play games with the kids in my room, I read to the kids in my room, we do a lot of things lately in my room! I am so sick of my room!!!!

Today, my husband took a much needed break and went to a movie with my brother and brother-in-law, so I took advantage of "my time" and hung out with my kidlets. I burned some CD's for Ethan and Chase, played some games with Mckenzie and tried to be enthusiastic about the rolly poly bugs my kids have adopted as pets. (ick)

I was working up the energy to clean up dinner when I looked outside and noticed it wasn't raining anymore and Garret, Chase and Carter were jumping on the trampoline. I grabbed my camera and just started clicking. Before long we were all laughing like maniacs. Usually I'd be on the tramp with them, but I can't do that for now, so taking the pictures was almost as much fun. I got some good ones of them catching some good air. They are soooooooo cute.

Well, I'm off to have a popcorn pajama party with my babies. I haven't seen Bolt yet. I hope it's good!