Dinner at Virg's

There is this strange little restaurant in Taylorsville called Virg's. My dad LOVES this place. It's a mom and pop throw-back to a dinner. It's not a greasy spoon but it serves everything from breakfast to burritos. It's weird, but they have the best onion rings of anywhere I've eaten in my life.

The kids broke from their usual chicken nugget routine and ventured out into the menu. Anja ordered a corn dog, Jensen got a kids burger and Carter ordered the small breakfast with one pancake, bacon and a scrambled egg. This is what we got..

..a pancake bigger than his plate...

..a full size burger with a ton of tot's...

...and a corn dog bigger than the little girl who tired to eat it. The prices are pretty reasonable too. We all ate for under $35.00 and as you can see, we brought a bunch home.

Mommy Miracle...

I'm writing about this only so I'll remember it when I slurp this blog into a book.

My dad was taking the boys the the Scout-a-Rama on Saturday. As we were making the kid swap, I watched Carter's umbrella walk the boys safely to grandpa's truck. I took the car out of park and looked over my shoulder to start backing out. I then had this overwhelming feeling to change the radio station. I can't even remember what was on. It was so strong. I didn't give it much thought, took five seconds to push another present button then turned and looked over my shoulder again, only to see Jensen pop up from behind the car. He stopped right behind me to look at some worms.

Five seconds, that's all it would have taken to change our lives. Five seconds to receive a blessing without even realizing it.

The "TALK"

I believe that there shouldn't be just one "talk". Instead, I think it should be an ongoing conversation. When one of my kids asks a question about reproduction, I answer it. Latest conversation with Carter:

C: "Okay I get the whole cell divides and becomes the baby, but how does the sperm and egg get together?"

M: "Well, God made it possible, that when a married man and woman love each other and are ready to start a family, the husband's sperm connects with the woman's egg and the cells start dividing. It really is amazing."

(Long pause, I was expecting an exaggerated, "I get that mom, but how" instead I got...)

C: "Yeah, whatever mom." and he left.

I think I got off pretty easy!

Spring in Utah

If you don't live here you can't appreciate how welcome nice weather is after months of snow and ice. We live as close to the Oquirrh Mountains as you can get so we get slammed with snow. The first sign of spring and our neighborhood comes alive. Over spring break our cousin Nadia spent the night so we spend the next day hanging out at the neighborhood park with our friends..

After a little playing, we learned to fly a kite!

Spring Break

I read this article about a woman who was committing herself to being a happy and fun mom. It really hit me-- happy as a mom, I guess so. If that means happy as a person, yes, I would consider myself usually happy. Fun mom, sometimes. But, I have issues when things are not organized, categorized and compartmentalized.. type A personality?? So I committed to do at least one thing a week that my KIDS would classify as fun, not necessarily me. Spring break we turned over to them and we let them choose the schedule. We ended up doing a lot of kid stuff and eating a lot of kid food. Rich and I had a blast watching them suck it all in...

We went to the star show at Clark Planetarium with our friends, Joey and Linzey

We walked on the moon...

We found out Anja isn't afraid of anything, including the rides at Jungle Jims...

Or the roller coaster...
...and she thought the Farris Wheel was a bit boring after riding the roller coaster.

Fun? I think so.

Sometimes you do crazy things...

It's not hard to believe that I like to push the envelope. When I start to feel restless it's usually because I'm not pushing myself to do something-- to take a chance-- to walk the line. That was my general mood back in January. I didn't really have a personal challenge, until Cindy called. Next thing I knew, I was training to run the 5k in the Salt Lake Marathon.

I'm not a runner. I don't enjoy it like my dad and sister do. It hurts my body. I consider myself generally in good health and in pretty good shape, but I don't run. Until now.

Yesterday was the day. A 5k is not that big of a deal if you run, but if you don't it seems like a full-out marathon! We got there early in the morning and waited anxiously for the starting horn-- then we started. All three of us ran until the first mile, then we lost our first running buddy. As we hit the base of the last hill, my last running partner slowed down but I kept going. Thanks to pure adrenalin, Katy Perry and the Ting Tings (favorite running music) I put one foot in front of the other until I was at the crest of the hill. I tore off my jacket and shirt (I left on my tank top, mom) and sprinted for the Gateway.

I can't tell you how good it felt to cross that finish line and think I did it. Me, a 34 year old stay-at-home mom did it because I wanted to, not because I had to. It felt great! I came in 148/254 in my age division and 791/1522 out of all the women. My time was 36:15. not bad for my first time.

Did I get the bug? I don't know yet. But, there was an undeniable synergy about running in a group. Thanks for the talking me into it Cindy!

Open wide!!

This picture is worth the story... Rich and I went out to eat at one of those Japanese restaurants where they cook the food in front of you. The boys were with my parents so we took Anja. We were a bit worried all the noise and fire would scare her-- then remembered which child we had with us. She was a blast at the table. She kept cheering for the cook and telling him, "be careful it's hot, it will burn" whenever the food was on fire. When it came time for the traditional catch-the-shrimp-in-you-mouth theatrics, Anja watched everyone do it then dutifully opened her mouth when it was her turn. The cook shrugged his shoulders and tossed the shrimp in the air and SHE CAUGHT IT!!! Everyone was in shock, even Anja. I grabbed my camera and asked her to do it again. This is the picture I got. Way to steal the show little girl.