Perspective.

Ben got a hold of my camera. There were a lot of pictures to chose from, but those two are my favorite. They kind of say: "and this is my dad....and this is my mom..." as only a two-year-old can. I love that kid.

Not Really A Crafty Mom

I found this in a "recipe book" that I forgot I have (I'm going to summarize the recipe and see how well the picture in your head compares to the actual thing)

Take a chocolate covered graham cracker (we used regular graham crackers and broke them in half), outline it with frosting and put a dot of frosting in the center. Place an animal cracker on the dot of icing and two life savers on the icing in two bottom corners of the graham cracker. Using the icing, make three vertical stripes down the graham cracker and over the animal cracker.

First: How'd did my description compare to the actual thing? (it's an animal cage train thingy)

Second: How sad is it that I'm not crafty enough to think of something like this on my own?


I love Ben's face here. He was just saying cheese and not smiling, so I gave him an example of what "cheese" meant. Yes, he definitely got the meaning of "cheese." And I can't tell you how many pictures I have of myself looking exactly like that...

Pack. Pack.

I love this little man.

Spoiled.

Aubrey's sleeping.

Ben's playing.

The dishwasher is washing my dishes.

The washer is washing my clothes.

I'm eating Jell-O and thinking grateful thoughts.

It's Hard Not to Be Happy When...

...Chili's gives you a free dinner. Mmmm. I smile just thinking about it.

We'd heard (thanks to Renae) that Applebee's was doing a free entree for military tonight, so we packed up the kids and went out. Unfortunately, the line was ridiculously long, so we started to head home (finals week shouldn't be spent waiting in line for food). But since we'd "wasted time" in the car anyway, Joel suggested we stop at Chili's (up by Arrowhead) since there wasn't a line there.

Okay, I'm now boring myself. And I can't even say "well, to make a long story short," because I've already made it a long story. Ugh.

Before ordering, I mentioned we'd probably do the 3 courses for $20 deal, but were they doing anything for the military today? Turns out they were doing the same thing as Applebee's, but since we both had IDs and she knew we wanted the $20 thing, she asked the manager and they just gave us everything for free. Including Joel's drink. They were SO nice about everything too. The manager came by and thanked us for our service and for even coming in. Maybe he's a good actor, but it seemed pretty sincere to me.

You all know that I love coupons and deals and absolutely anything free, but a lot of times, people make you feel like crap for using coupons or making sure you get an advertised price or taking them up on an offer. This was just nice. If we ever go out to eat again (maybe on our 50th anniversary or something like that), it makes me want to give them my business.

The End.

Except I should probably tell you that the American Fork High School Marching Band was able to raise the money they needed (see below) and are leaving to compete in Grand Nationals tomorrow. I am so happy for them. I admit that I have mixed feelings about all that money, but that doesn't take away from how I feel about the sweetness of kids being able to reach a seemingly unattainable goal. GO AF!