Life is Beautiful

Motherhood, Sewing, Family

Ana’s B-day

~ Etc.

first, i have a question to ask you…
i’ve been meaning to do a 1000+ followers giveaway for awhile
and have been thinking about what to give away.
i wanted it to be special and to show you how much i appreciate you.
so…i was thinking of doing a giveaway of what i do best,
 transforming old clothes.
the winner would send me an item from their closet they no longer wear
and we’ll brainstorm together what we can re-create.
if you trust me enough with your clothes that is. ha.
so if i do that, would you trust me enough to enter the giveaway?
and for ana’s birthday we kept it low and simple with just the family.  and let me tell you, it was sooooo nice not having to plan a big b-day party.  i figured she’s still too young to fully know and appreciate parties thrown for her and i would be throwing her b-day parties every year from now on so i thought i’d give myself a little break for just one year of her life. i did feel like i was kinda being a bad mom since i threw adalie her 2nd b-day party but i’ll make it up by throwing her a nice, big one for her 3rd b-day party.
ana got to open one of her presents the night before which was dora pj’s.
disney on ice
then we had my parents over and jay’s brother mike for dinner.
we make sure to buy a few small presents for the other sister so she doesn’t
feel so left out.  and we sing them a birthday song too.

valentines♥

~ Etc.

we went to a valentines dance where my friend rachel and i danced like crazy with not a care in the world whether we looked ugly or silly(which i know we did) and laughing like little girls until our bellies hurt, (thanks jay for not being ashamed to be my date…or at least pretending not to be)
made heart rice krispie treats and decorated them, went to a hot pot place for v-day dinner where the owner gave adi pink girly plates and utensils and ana a spider man plate and a fork because he thought ana was a boy and said to jay, “oh your daughter is so pretty! she looks like her mom. and your son is so handsome, he looks like you.” hahaha which happens all the time even though she’s wearing pink or purple with flowers on it.  i just say, “why, thank you!” when they say how handsome she is.  i might start getting a little offended when she gets older and has long hair but until then i think it’s pretty funny.
and to end the day i made a valentines dessert for the hubby. i feel so lucky to be his wife.  he makes my life complete.

adalie’s b-day celebration part 2

~ Etc.

on the evening of adalie’s b-day, i made one of her favorite food,
a spicy korean rice cake and went to the kangaroo zoo.
we love that place and have a blast everytime.



poor jay, since you have to be under 150 lbs. to ride, he just watched us.but he was a good sport and took fun pictures for us.



it was exhausting since i had to carry ana the whole time since
she is too little to climb up or get up on the inflatables.
but she was really good at climbing up the ladders on some of them,
we were very impressed! both of our girls are very athletic and it
doesn’t hurt that they’re fearless and such daredevils.
and we came home and sadly, i didn’t prepare any birthday cakes for her for that day
since i made one for her birthday party the day after.
so we just put candles in a ice-cream cone which she didn’t mind one bit.
kids get happy with the simplest things.
one of the many reasons why i adore little children.

my stud’s birthday

~ Etc.

p.s: i had so much fun reading all your thoughts on my last post!
you ladies are so fun, come out and say hello more often. 🙂
my stud got a year older on his birthday. (really?)
he told me a week before, “hun, please don’t go overboard
for my b-day like you usually do, you always stress out so much
and it stresses me out watching you. so take it easy and simple ok?”
so he didn’t want to celebrate at all or do anything special.
oh he wanted to renovate our house like he does every night.
but i don’t feel like i ever go overboard for special ocassions!
rememeber when he had a personal sushi chef come to my house
to feed 20+ people for my b-day party this past year?
anyway so i tried to keep things simple for his b-day.
i made his favorite food for his pre b-day dinner:

samgyumsal-korean pork.

japchae-korean glass noodles
then we were so excited to go to tucano’s(uh we LOVE meat & their chewy cheese ball breads!)but they were closed due to construction so we went to red lobster with our family.


jay’s beloved cousin jasmine and bobby
brothers
then they got out the lobster for us to touch.
but no way was i going to touch that thing!
i was scared that the lobster would break open the rubberbands with its
giant claws and bite adi. then i would’ve grabbed it and threw it against the wall. i think…
uncle mike eyeing adi, “hey! don’t touch my drink! i don’t like to share
with a precious tiny 2 yr. old who can’t drink more than 0.002 oz.!” 😛

actually i lied, my kids can down the drinks pretty fast. you gotta
literally take the straw away from them or they’ll keep
drinking and drinking. do babies never get brain freezes?
did you know that my husband never gets a brain freeze?
he says it’s because his brain is so big.
but i say it’s because he has none.
haha jk jk the birthday boy.

then we had friends over for some cake, donuts & hot chocolate.

these apples were HUGE!
apples w/ peanut butter caramel dip


with topping choices of nutella, powder sugar, krispy kreme glaze, and apple cinammon glaze.
it was a big hit.

adi discreetly poking the cake and eating the whip cream
while making sure i’m not looking.
raspberry cheesecake ice-cream cake. got this idea from my cute friend but i didn’t have the recipe so i made it up. it took a little bit of time since the brownies, the ice-cream, and the whip cream were homemade but if it wasn’t, then it would’ve been super easy and fast.


this is adi helping me to cut the cake. this is how she helps me everytime
she helps me cook. like when i need to crack an egg open, she’ll squeeze
my wrist tight when i’m about to crack it. so cute.

him being his OCD-clean self, his favorite b-day present was me unpacking
a room full of boxes and putting it away. he raved about how it was the
best present he’s ever gotten over and over. maybe it’s a hint that i should clean more?
nah.

he also loved the cake and made me make the cheesecake ice-cream the day after,
after he finished the rest of the cake himself. he also asked me to make the cake
every year for his b-day. haha i’m glad you liked the cake hun.

I LOVE YOU.
so much.
you make me completely happy.

happy birfday wifey dear!

~ Etc.

I give Sarah props…she puts up with my nagging, my OCD cleaning, my tightwad budgeter self, and lives to love Mr. Responsible (u can ask her why she calls me that…I still have no clue) Staying at home with the kids all the time in Utah winters is really tough on her. It’s too cold to go outside and play and driving in snow isn’t anything close to fun for her, so driving places is fairly limited. I really appreciate all she does for me and the girls. She spoils us with good food every night and more often than not tops that off with some kind of delicious desert! Sarah originally asked me to write her a card of 26 things I love about her since she just barely broke the quarter century mark plus one, but there’s really not enough room on this blog to write everything I love about my wifey. That might seem like a generic way to get out of writing a list but it’s really true. Sure she’s not perfect and I’m not perfect but despite the chaos of being newlyweds that ended up together based on pure fate, on top of that, you add two young girls to the mix and I think for the most part, we’re pretty happy and doing pretty good thus far.

We always have these little “surprise” get-togethers with close friends and family on each other’s birthdays, but this year I wanted Sarah to have an AWSOME birthday to show her how much I love and appreciate her. I always get stressed because we usually go to Hawaii for Christmas then come back right around New Years and then BOOM its Sarah’s birfday and I feel bad because more often than not, it gets overlooked since it’s so close to Christmas. I was brainstorming and thinking since before we went to Hawaii and was still clueless as what to do since get-togethers are fun, but I wanted this year to be different. We went to my co-worker/good friend/wannabe Japanese geisha’s private sushi party the day we got back from Hawaii and had a blast. Sarah raved about how much she liked not only the atmosphere but the sushi itself and how fun it was to have a sushi chef hand make and roll dozens upon dozens of sushi rolls for everyone. DING DING DING…we have a winner and I called and booked him the next day!

I usually have to work late on the 4th of every month and I told Sarah this month was no different, if not busier since I was gone for the holidays. I acted all bummed and depressed that I wouldn’t be able to be with her on her birthday night and suggested she go out to PF Changs with her cousin Ginny. Ginny and Colby schemed with me the whole time and truth be told, I couldn’t have pulled this off without their help.

I came home from work at about 5:30 to watch the kids while Sarah got ready. Ginny and Colby came over at 6:00 and Cobly was going to watch the kids while Sarah and Ginny went out to eat. Sarah looked sweet is and I kissed her and ran out the door “back to work” but really just parked my car on the side of our place. Sarah and Ginny went to PF Changs to go “eat” and when there was no wait, Ginny delayed and said she wasn’t hungry just yet and would rather go shopping for a stint at forever 21:

Meanwhile Colby and I were busy prepping the house for the big sushi party and then when everyone had shown up including the sushi chef, Colby and I had to make Ana cry while Colby called Sarah. Ana’s been a little sick and so he called Sarah and told her that both girls had massive diarrhea and that Ana kept throwing up. We were trying not to bust a gut as Sarah sounded bummed but said she’d come home real quick to check on the girls. Sarah walked in and had no clue what was going on, but the perma-smile on her face was a great way to celebrate the love of my life’s birthday and start the new year off right! Sushi chef Colby (different guy than Ginny’s Colby) made sushi for 4 hours straight and plated at least 45-50 platters of sushi for us. It was bomb. Everyone had a great night and we all went to bed happy that Sarah was born 26 years ago…

Ana: Dad I was sleeping…Who woke me up???

Sarah all smiles when she eats good sushi!

Sora made these three cheesecake tarts…SCRUMPTIOUS

Some of the party peeps


For anyones birthday, Adi always thinks its her birthday and has to be sung to and also has to blow out the candles


Birthday girls

The get-together setup


Me and Sarah with Colby the Sushi Chef


Some of the 45-50 platters of sushi

Sarah will probably kill me for posting this…but this is just one of the 26 reasons i love her, reason #9 to be exact…”i gotta stretch for my body to roll” 😉 love you babe!