I'm Spoiled So Rotten, You Can Probably Smell Me From There!

 This is the post in which I attempt to describe my wonderful weekend so I can remember it forever. A week from tomorrow is my birthday this year. It's not a nice, round number birthday. It's just another birthday. But Geoff decided to make it really special. He combined an overnight stay that we won at a Conference with a bunch of creativity and romance and made a truly great getaway.

Somewhere during the planning stages, he asked me if I would ride the train into Salt Lake to meet him. Logistically, this made a lot of sense. We could leave our wheelchair toting van with his Aunt, who would have our kids overnight and he wouldn't have to come back and forth (half an hour each way) in his car. Emotionally, this freaked me out! I get nervous driving places I've never been and somehow, rather illogically, this translated into me being scared of a train that moves on the same track back and forth. He told me a few nights early, which helped because I could get a lot of my nervous energy out beforehand... I cut out a dress and watched Chuck. :) 

Geoff forgot to take the suitcase with him in the car, so I took it with me on the train. It wasn't really in the way since I was going into Salt Lake at 3:00 in the afternoon, so it wasn't crowded. I did get asked if I was going to the airport like some sort of world traveler. ;) The train was quiet and interesting and I spent an hour looking out the window and people watching. It was really fun to see Geoff on the platform when I got there. A - it meant I had made it to the right place and B - it was an unusual place to see him from afar and he just looked so darn great! 

I was looking forward to seeing where he's been working for the past few weeks, but it was already 4:00 on a Friday and his coworkers had pretty much split, so we didn't stop by to say hi. Instead, he took me A.A. Callisters. The same one I bought myself my very first cowboy boots and jeans in high school. He bought me a pair of jeans (with just a smidge of bling) and a turquoise color woven belt. Spoiled! 

The overnight stay we won was for the Grand America. Have you been there? Wowza! Opulent. Fancy. Hoity Toity. We were on the 14th floor, facing the mountain towards home. It was gorgeous!

I love this chair and the guy sitting in it!

This room had 2 entryways before you even got to the room!

This is what I did right after we got there.

Our house is on the other side of that mountain on the left.

We dressed up for dinner and I wore the dress I had finished sewing earlier that same day. We ate at The Roof! Also very hoity toity. I felt so elegant eating my choices from the gourmet buffet. We ate beef medallions, stuffed pork chops, honey baked ham and various salads, cheeses and delectable side dishes. After perusing all of the desserts, I came back around to the cherry cheesecake. I can be talked into a lot of favors using cheesecake, for future reference! ;)

View from the windows outside of the restaurant.

Beautiful sunset while eating.

We danced around our room to the Sinatra-esque stylings of Michael Bublé and just thoroughly enjoyed each other and doing whatever we wanted and watching whatever we wanted. He even let me sleep WAY in! 

We ate breakfast at a little cafe that had yummy muffins and to-die-for caramel hot chocolate. Turns out, we were right next door to our next activity, which turned out to be watching the Hobbit 2. Lots of action, Benedict Cumberbatch's smooth tones coming out of a dragon and a great middle movie that continued the story without really finishing anything up. Love me some Legolas! It was fun to meet Tauriel, too. I'll have to mull it over and then see it again before I really process the whole thing, if you know what I mean! I love the books, so whatever they do in the movie is fine by me. If I don't like it, I'll go immerse myself in the books again. Why complain? ;) 

I am one spoiled girl to have a man that loves me so much. We've been through a lot over the years and it's really great to take a few moments to remember what a great team we are. 

Eleventween

Blessing dress by Mom. Blessing blanket by Great-Grandma Elkington. Blessed April 2000.

It's really hard or me to believe that I became a Mom 11 years ago! I mean, I remember a lot about being pregnant with my first baby and all of the drama we went through coupled with the miracle that all babies truly are. And here we are 11 years later and there is still a lot of drama and still a lot of miracles.

Becca age 2

This year of Becca's life was significantly toned down from the years directly previous. We went from seizures every day and at least one big one every week to no seizures at all. She has had mixed blessings come with being more aware of herself. She's more aware of the things that she likes (us, music, etc.), but also more aware of the things she doesn't like (chaos, physical discomfort). She used to just sort of exist in this state of placidness. Seizures were these rude little monsters giving her an unexpected re-boot that totally threw us all for a loop. We know how blessed we are to have the Ketogenic diet work for her.

She is quicker to smile these days. She is happier, like giddy, giggly, joyfully happier. Her happiness and her smiles last far longer than they ever did before, too.

Becca age 11 Great-Grandma Sagers age 92 :)

She's also been a lot warmer this winter! It kind of hit me one day that jeans are about the dumbest winter-wear for Becca there ever was. They don't hold out any of the cold nor do they hold in any of the warmth. Other than being trendy, there's really no use for them in Becca's winter wardrobe. She has a couple of fleece pants from Old Navy, etc. and I had the thought that I could make some more. In steps Grandma Lee with her fairy dust and made her several pairs of the cutest fleece pants ever! With matching hoodies to boot! And speaking of boots, another addition this year, are the Ugg knock offs that turned out to be the best investment I ever made for calf and ankle warmth. I was always worried about getting them on and off and having them stay on. Turns out, she has just enough flexibility to get them on and just enough ridgidness to hold them on! Win-win!

Becca after school January 2011, hair re-do by Gracie

We hope we made this year enjoyable for you, BeccaBug! We love you SO much and are blessed to have you in our family. Please forgive us for our shortcomings and we'll keep doing our best to help you enjoy your life and feel loved and be comfortable.

P.S. Next time I write a birthday post, I will post it, instead of saving it until I found more pictures and posting it a month late! :)

Growing UP

Growing up as in Tall

We do a lot of this at our house! All of our kids are above-average in height, which isn't surprising given the height of their parents. I have noticed some hemlines raising lately and it's not due to haute couture, but rather because the occupant of the clothes has lengthened their legs. Those tags they put in clothes with the size on them are suggestions, really. If I want to cover my kids modestly, I usually have to get them a size ahead. I just moved Ethan up into 6 to 9 month clothes because the 3-6 were too tight and short. He just passed 3 months old a couple of weeks ago. Landon has been wearing 3T since he turned 2 and it's not limited to the boys... the girls all wear a size ahead, especially in dresses to get them the right length. I don't remember if it was this way for me when I was a kid, but I know now that if my pants do not say "long" in the size, they will not be anywhere near long enough!

Growing up as in Old

I have always said that it is not my birthdays that make me feel old. It used to be my siblings. My sister is 21 months younger than I am and, without fail, every time she has a birthday, I'm like, "Aren't I that age?" Nope, about to turn the age that is 2 years later.

Now, it is my kids. Becca is about to turn 10! WHAT?!! When did this happen? She's going to have double digits! Emily turns 8 this year and WOW! Talk about a wake up call! Being LDS, 8 years old is pretty special. When Becca turned 8 we did things differently and it was a difficult time to wrap our head's around. Now Emily is here and even though we won't miss the 'milestone' of Baptism this time, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. I remember being 8! If I mess things up for her, she'll REMEMBER it!! Maybe that's a silly thing to worry about, but there it is! We went to a special little meeting yesterday that was focused on the kids getting Baptized this year and it was so neat! They listened to talks and went around to 3 different chats about different aspects of Baptism that they got to raise their hands and participate in. Emily really felt like a million bucks when it was all over! It will be really neat to invite family to our special event in June.

So, even though growing up doesn't actually mean gaining more height for me (thank goodness!!), I am constantly amazed at the rate in which time passes and my enduring hope is that I can keep up! I want to remember all of this! I don't want to miss important things because I was focused beyond them or even behind them. I want to be here... present... for all of the exciting things my family and I are going through. Especially in this year of double digits and Baptisms! :)

Five Star!

Gracie has reached a QUINTessential milestone! She is 5 and will be going to Kindergarten in the Fall. Ready or not, here she comes! :D

How old is Gracie?!
(Btw, now that you've seen what I look like early in the morning, I'll have to shoot you!) :D

New shorts made by Mommy... she hasn't taken them off since! :D

Fun school supplies and candy from sisters, brother and Mommy and Daddy... there was also paper to practice letters on, pink pencils and more candy. :)

She was REALLY excited about the pretty hair decorations from Grandma and Grandpa Lee!

Grandma and Grandpa Lee know just what a new Kindergartener needs! A new back pack! And they packed it with fun things to do... stamps and ink and containers to organize everything in. I'm not sure how I'll feel watching the back of this back pack walking away from me, but for now it is super exciting! :D

This is Gracie the purple unicorn, perhaps you've met? :)


Baked by Mommy, iced by Daddy, blown out by Gracie, enjoyed by our nearest relatives...


Gracie, Bella, Daniel, Andrew and Landon.
Apparently, Andrew is super interesting. Your guess is as good as mine! :D


Karina, Emily, Becca and Gracie.

Happy Birthday, Gracie!
This next year is going to be full of so many new, fun things! We love you SO much and if you never forget that, you'll be alright. ;)

Landon's Two

Okay, so he's been two for a month, now... does it really matter? HE didn't yell at me for not blogging about him on his birthday, so I'll have no judgements from you either! ;)

It's July and it's hot and Mama is the size of a small hot air balloon, so we didn't as much GO anywhere as spend time together at home. :) These pictures are from the great 'opening of the presents' event that happens on Mom and Dad's bed on Birthday morning. Rest assured however that every picture of him you see posted here until next year is of him being 2. :D

He got a bunch of matchbox cars... individually wrapped of course... from his sisters and Mommy and Daddy.

Here's the unwrapped version.

This book is from Grandpa and Grandma Lee... his favorite page to date is the one with a big gerber daisy on it. He calls it a "thlower" and will turn the pages back and forth to find it. :)

This is possibly the coolest puzzle ever... also from Grandma and Grandpa Lee. It has different metal locks on each little wooden door. He can now do all but one all by himself and he does them over and over! :)

Happy Birthday, Buddy Boy! We sure love having you in our family!

(In case you forgot or are wondering where the Sagers fit in, I only have to look out my back windows to remember this.) :)