St. Patrick's Day

The big leprechaun made his annual appearance in Sam and Declan's classrooms to teach the kids about Ireland.

And then the leprechaun hopped a plane to Reno to spend a weekend with his leprechaun brother. So his family headed to Salt Lake for the weekend, and to go to the big parade with Nana.

We met Cait and her kids for lunch and a trip to Bountiful to see the house they're buying, then the kids and I rode Trax...

...down to the Jazz game.

It was a great game, the score was close the whole time and the Jazz won in overtime.

Declan got a little bored at the end, but they all loved it. It was a very fun night.

We spent another night at my grandparents' apartment by Temple Square, then went to church with Cait and her kids before heading home. We hit a major snowstorm and I just wasn't up to inching my way along I-80 in such bad weather, so we grabbed a hotel room. Cuddling up and watching Iron Chef turned out to be a much nicer way to spend the night.

After an early morning breakfast, we hit the road with better weather and still were only a little late for school. It was a fun weekend. It's a bit of work to take them places on my own, but we have so much fun going on new adventures (and getting out of Wyoming!)

Fire Station Field Trip

Declan and I got to go with his adorable preschool class to visit the fire station. He was VERY into the whole experience - he listened intently to the firemen, his hand was the first to shoot up for any question, and he decided afterwards that this was the job for him.

I'd call that a successful field trip.

Surprise Party!

Last month the Beckstead siblings planned a surprise 60th birthday party for my parents. It was so fun to all get together and celebrate two of the most wonderful people in our lives.

We had such a great time that people were sad to see it end:

Valentine's Day

To celebrate Love Day this year, we had our traditional "Fancy Dinner" and chocolate fondue fountain.

These pictures simply do not do this night justice. What I really should have photographed was the aftermath of Declan tripping over the fountain's cord and spilling chocolate all over the floor, while everyone screamed and tried to keep Nacho away until we could clean it up. Or maybe I should have done a video instead, capturing the loving voices of the children: "Mom, he's going to stab me with his fondue fork!" and "Hey! No double dipping!" and "Stop dripping chocolate all over everything!"

On second thought, I think I'll just be happy with the above pictures, which portray (albeit falsely) five loving, happy, peaceful children in the midst of making a childhood memory.

Happy Birthday to Me and Wrassling

This year marks one of my favorite birthdays ever. It fell on a Friday, and Garreth took the day off work and sent me to Park City for a day of shopping...alone. (For an introverted mother of five, "alone" is one of the nicest words ever.) As if that wasn't enough, I came home to this:

And then, to make things even better, my sister Cait and her three kids came over to spend the weekend with us. We all went out to my favorite Mexican restaurant, then home for birthday key lime bars and presents.

I was spoiled yet again by this awesome family of mine.

The kids loved having cousin time.

Having Halle, Kael, and baby Ryan at our house is one of our favorite things ever. And getting to snuggle a newborn on my birthday? The absolute best.

Liam and Declan finished up another fun year of wrestling with the Pee Wee Tournament the next day.

They both worked hard and did their best.

Declan gets a big laugh over this sport. It's cute to see him having so much fun!

He lost the first match and dominated the second (it might have been a slightly dirty fight - the other kid started crying and wouldn't go back out on the mat to finish) for an overall third place in the 43-45 pound weight division.

Over in the light heavyweight division, Liam took things a little more seriously.

The first match, he fought a very strong kid and lost. Liam doesn't take losing well, and he channeled all his frustration into the second match, which he won by a landslide for an overall second place.

I never thought that I would be excited about my boys wrestling, but it has been so good for them. I think it has given them a lot more strength and self-confidence and discipline. I wish Sam would do it to, but he just doesn't like all those eyes on him while he's on the mat - and I totally get that! Maybe next year he'll get the eye of the tiger, too....