One More Week of School (and ten other random facts)

Fact #1: It’s after hours - meaning that my littlest ones are asleep (or will be momentarily). The big kids have retreated to the basement, and Scotty has gone to “band practice.” Therefore, I’m kind of alone. 

Fact #2: There’s so much I want to do with this time! I want to finish watching A Small Light (even though I’m pretty sure I know how it’s going to end).

I have a book I need to finish that was due back at the library today (Hang the Moon by Jeannette Wells), and I also wouldn’t mind going for a walk around the neighborhood because I didn’t exercise today, and I spent three hours sewing which means I sat down a lot. I’m also in the middle of an audiobook I am loving (Who Asked You? by Terry McMillan) (sexual content warning), and I could go for a round of Wingspan. 

But for now… I’m blogging. Because that’s also on the list of things I want to do.

Fact #3: The other day, one of my children, who shall remain anonymous (but if you know my children, you can do the detective work), used nail polish remover instead of make-up remover.

On her eyes

Twice.

Sigh.

Fact #4: I keep having dreams wherein “Brass Monkey” by the Beastie Boys is playing. 

Fact #5: The other day, I went to Kohl’s to return something to Amazon (a too-small shirt, if you’re wondering). There was a family in front of me that had two bins from their house labeled “Amazon returns.” They were returning about 12 items. I can only assume that this is a common practice for them. What kind of shopping habits do you have if you have to have labeled bins for your Amazon returns? I have so many questions.

Fact #6: One of my playlists I listen to when I exercise is titled “Musical Workout.” It features some of the more upbeat selections from musicals, such as “Stick it to the Man” from School of Rock and “Non-Stop” from Hamilton (can’t beat that synth). 

Might I say that the Moulin Rouge cast recording saved me from my workout slump this week? 

Fact #7: Speaking of musicals, I feel like I was born to play Mme Thenardier in Les Mis. But only because I’m too old to be Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray or Charlotte in Cinderella. 

Alas, my acting resume includes playing Mama Bear in my preschool exclusively, and I didn’t even get to sing or show off my sweet dance moves. 

Fact #8: I’m still on edge about yesterday’s text messaging fiascos!

Fact #9: I think we are finally done with end-of-year school performances. Daisy had her last (I think) Dance Co performance at school today, and I did an evil thing and talked Zoe out of doing her school talent show. I made it up to her by watching her do a ten minute miming routine in my living room.

Fact #10: I must now move on to my next activity… which will be brushing my teeth. But then! I’m going to read for ten minutes and then listen to my audiobook while playing Wingspan (which takes advanced skills).

Twenty Minute Brain Dump

My mind is very unsettled right now, so I’m going to attempt a 20 minute brain dump. It probably won’t fix my head, but it will be fun to see what falls out, right?

Twenty minutes of writing - whatever happens happens. 

Aaaaaand go…

(I’ve attempted 20 minute brain dumps before, but I always cheat. Wait… are there even any rules? Not really. But I kind of imagine that a bloggy brain dump means you have to publish and deal with whatever you write. You can’t go back and edit afterward, and you must absolutely stop writing when the timer goes off! And in previous brain dumps, I have not always obeyed those unofficial rules. This time I will. I swear. Maybe. Am I wasting my twenty minutes on this parenthetical paragraph? Dang. I am). 

I just ate a PB&J sandwich, and I really want to brush my teeth, but it’s too soon post-sandwich. I need to give my teeth some time. As I wait, I have Korean taco and PB&J breath. That’s not a good way to end the day.

But is that what’s making my mind all a-jumble? No. 

Nevertheless I look forward to a date with my toothbrush and possibly some Listerine. 

One thing bothering me today is that I’ve been very burdened by other people not returning text messages. I’m frustrated. And then I got on Instagram tonight and saw a post from Emily Belle Freeman (whom I don’t even follow, but that’s what Instagram desires to show me this round) where she shared a screenshot of a text message, and she had 301 unread texts. It made me feel crazy. 

I can’t stop thinking about the fact that if I texted Emily Belle Freeman, she probably wouldn’t text me back. Because she is the kind of person who has 301 unread texts.

Okay, I’m suddenly realizing that this is what’s ailing me. It’s the texts. My unanswered texts. And hers. Hers put me over the edge. 

I struggle with people who don’t respond to texts. In my mind there is a list of people I don’t trust because they have left me hanging by not responding to texts. Today I had to attempt to correspond with TWO of those people. I was already pre-stressed just having to attempt to communicate with them because I know what to expect. Have either of them replied? Nope. How many hours has it been? Sixteen hours for Person #1 and fourteen hours for Person #2. The first person is leaving me hanging. The second person is leaving my child hanging. Which is all the more frustrating. 

Wow. And there went twenty minutes. My timer just went off, and this is what you get. 

Do the world a favor and respond to your texts! Kthanxbye.

——————-

And here is where I break the unofficial Brain Dump Rules and come back to make a clarification. My frustration lies with consistent offenders. Missing a text message every now and then is forgivable. But let’s keep it rare, mmmkay? 

40x40 Update

As you've probably noticed, I’ve spent a lot of time this year discussing the fact that I will be turning 40 on my next birthday (January 1, 2024). 

Last fall I started working on a 40x40 project - a list of 40 things I want to do before I turn 40. Now, you need to understand that I am very boring. My list is not full of things like “Travel to Europe,” “Go skydiving,” or “Write a novel.” It’s more like, “Renew my Church magazines” (which I did this week, thankyouverymuch) and “Take my kids to the eye doctor” (Done!)

I thought I’d do a quick accountability post to discuss how I’m doing. I haven’t ever posted my list of 40 goals - I just reveal them as they are relevant. Here are the goals I’ve mentioned on my blog so far:

• Make deviled eggs (done)
• Read Atomic Habits (done)
• Re-establish dish days for my kids (done)
• Pay off our truck (done)
• Add ten new healthy recipes to our meal rotation (5/10)
• Get updated family photos (done)

Here are some goals I’m working on that will take the rest of the year:

• Read 365 books with Eva (I’m at 108)
• Play 500 songs on the piano (I’m at 166)
• No soda for a year (140 days so far)
• Read one “spiritual” book per month (I’ll post a list at the end of the year)

There are a few things I’m tracking - I don’t have specific goals other than to just track my habits:

• Gospel study (I’ve studied 133/140 days)
• Going out to eat (I’m definitely not reporting any numbers here)
• Family Home Evening (here’s an honest moment - we’ve done FHE 4 times this entire year. I end up yelling at my kids every. single. time. we try to do FHE. It's basically Family Fight Night)

I have a few goals that aren’t easily measured:

• Listen to more church music in the home (I made a "worship" playlist that I sometimes play in the kitchen)
• Improve my fasting habits (no comment)
• Keep my hair healthy (meh)
• Drink more water (I do okay)
• Prepare better for Christmas (we'll see...)
• Take better care of my face and skin (I’m doing terrible at this)
• Do more creative writing (haven’t even tried)
• Pray with Zoe and Eva (sucking at this)
• Improve some strained relationships (I should probably choose a few to target)
• Be nicer to people (no comment)

There are some goals I’m going strong on and some that I’ve lost interest in. My momentum is definitely decreasing, but I decided even if I think I can’t (or won’t) finish a goal, I’m still going to at least keep working on them. Will I play 500 piano songs by the end of the year? Maybe not, but I might as well keep tracking it even though I’ve fallen way behind for where I should be mid year. 

My hope is to set myself up for success for the next decade of my life. I don’t know what I need to achieve in my 40’s, but I’d love to thrive. Time will tell.

An Incomplete List of Awkward Situations (Part XIV)

When you’re 22 calories away from closing your rings, and it’s bedtime, so you march in place next to your bed for five minutes in your underwear, and when you check your watch, it’s dead, so you just did the giant, white undie dance for nothing.

When you’re walking out of the gym and a gust of wind blows a handful of McDonald’s receipts out of your purse, revealing to all the other gym-goers that you are a glutton and a litterer.

When you learn that the Miley Cyrus song says, “Welcome to the land of fame excess,” but you always thought it said “fame and sex,” and you’ve wondered for years why they play it at all the church dances and youth karaoke nights.

When you realize you’ve just spent twenty minutes reading Facebook comments about how to properly wipe your bottom - proving not only that people will argue about ANYTHING, but that people will also READ anything.

When you are walking in the same direction as an elderly person, and you’re not sure if it’s okay to pass them at 5x their speed or if that’s rude.

When your credit card expires, and you’re transitioning to the new one, and for a whole week, you are a major inconvenience everywhere you go as you slowly update all your accounts.

When your friends are in a musical at a small theatre, and you avert your gaze every time they face you from the stage because you are afraid of initiating eye contact and making them mess up. 

 

When the guy in line in front of you at Disneyland won’t stop itching his bum, and you’re not a germaphobe, but you’re definitely not going to touch any surfaces for the next two hours. 

Ten Days of May

“Where has Britt been for the past ten days?” you may be asking yourself. 

Or maybe you’re not.

But let’s pretend you are, and that you’ve missed me. It’s good for my self-esteem.

I’ve been consumed by May. In a series of bad photos, here’s what the past ten days have looked like:

Radio station interview for Zoe

Family History Library with the youth

Organizing supplies for girls camp in June

Guardians of the Galaxy

Theatre performance 

Making jam with leftover strawberries from Mother’s Day

Rainbows 

Mother’s Day

Planting the garden (and then weeding it and watering it and weeding it and watering it…)

Nicky being woken up at 4:30 a.m. on a Saturday for a surprise theatre breakfast

Three nights of dance concerts (two for our community dance studio and one for the junior high)

4th grade Utah program

Stress eating

Band concert (my view when sitting behind Jack)

Field trip

Getting a jump start on Memorial Day

Theatre banquet (and this is where my blog formatting gets wonky, and I can’t get it to adjust)

Seeing our friends’ performance of Freaky Friday

Not pictured: excessive laundry, continuing to keep everyone fed and sheltered, a massive shopping trip at Sam’s Club with mega food prep afterward, and trying to exercise in between all of it. 

I think the “May stuff” is a ploy to try and get me to look forward to school being out. Luckily I’ve been able to squeeze in a couple of books for my sanity, and I’ve beat Scotty at Ark Nova twice. 

Thanks for reading. My blog formatting has now gone back to normal at its own will. Plan on mostly list-style posts until May goes away. 

 

Currently {May 2023 Edition}

Reading:

Wearing: my pajamas. I’m blogging from my bed. Scotty is sound asleep next to me. I live a whole life without him while he sleeps. I think he’s fallen asleep at least 18 times today. 

Annoyed by: always having to cough. 

Embarrassed by: my neck hump. I have a neck hump, and I really, really don’t like it. 

Sad about: Dooce. 

I haven’t followed her in years, but back when I started blogging, she was the blogger to watch. 

Watching:

Cooking: pancakes. I have some Cool Whip and fruit that need to be used up.

Struggling with: exercising. I’ve lost my umph. I started going to the gym at the beginning of February, and I’ve been very consistent up until last week. I still went a few times last week, but it was so hard. I don’t want to be there. There are a thousand other things I want to do. After three months, I don’t feel stronger or healthier, so I just want to quit.

Dreaming of: an electronic sign up list where people can sign up to go on a walk with me, and twice a week (or whatever), I walk and talk with different people, and we laugh and heal and get exercise. This is my dream. Would I ever actually do this? Probably not. Why? 

A) I’m lazy

B) Fear of rejection

C) It’s a bit pompous to assume I would require a sign up sheet to grace people with my company

D) Mostly I’m lazy

Looking forward to: reading (er… listening to) the new Kate Morton book, Homecoming. But her books are so stinkin’ long, I feel like I really need to be ready for it and in the right state of mind. 

Just a nerdy tidbit… most of Kate Morton’s books are read by Caroline Lee. This one is narrated by Claire Foy (the first to play Queen Elizabeth in The Crown). 

Eating: pretzels. I snuck a few while packing lunches tonight. 

Listening to:

Wondering: if my donated hair has been sold and used to make hair extensions, and someone commits a crime while wearing them and leaves my DNA at the scene, could I be falsely charged? 

Wanting: to fall asleep, but my brain is going haywire. It’s not even the same night I started this post. I think I’m on about day three of trying to write this. 

Enjoying: the mild weather. I like it when it’s warm in the sun but cool in the shade so I always have somewhere to move to accommodate my temperature. 

Dreading: helping on a field trip with Zoe’s class. I am not a field trip mom, but my kids always beg me to sign up. I should be flattered that my kids want me there, right? Fine. I will go just this once.  

Procrastinating: unpacking from our Disneyland trip. 

Buying: plants for the garden. 

Grateful for: comedic relief.

A Very Disney Anniversary

Tuesday was Scotty’s and my 20th wedding anniversary. Every time we reach a milestone anniversary (which seems to be any anniversary divisible by five), I feel like we should do something special, but we made the mistake of getting married in May, and we didn’t know that getting married in May and having a family meant that we would always be too broke and too busy on our anniversary to ever do anything more than (maybe) get Chinese food three weeks later. 

As our 20th anniversary approached, I really wanted to do something, and I wanted to do it as near to our actual wedding date as possible, so I suggested to Scotty that we make a plan. We considered a few options and decided to go to Disneyland because A) we had Sky Miles, B) it’s close enough to make a quick trip, and C) it’s familiar enough that we don’t feel like we need to do every single thing there. 

We ended up booking a really short trip (60 hours total - the only way we could make it happen during May), and with the help of our moms, we went to Disneyland! We flew out Saturday night after Eva’s baptism and came home Tuesday morning (following a three-hour flight delay due to the airplane needing a tire change).

The night we left (Top Gun vibes?)

Rainbow over Delta

Scotty and I had never been to Disneyland just the two of us, so we thought it would be an interesting marriage test. Luckily, we had a lot of fun and came home agreeing to stay married.

Since I’m an enthusiast for documenting events, here is the rundown of what we did for two days at Disneyland (yes, I kept notes. It's what I do):

DAY 1: Sunday

8:00 a.m. California Adventure

Rope dropped Guardians of the Galaxy (x2)

Breakfast at Pym Test Kitchen

Behold my tiny egg

Web Slingers

Soarin’ Over the World

Radiator Springs Racers

Food break (tacos, bread pudding, sourdough loaf)

Best Fast Sunday ever!

Little Mermaid

Incredicoaster 

Midway Mania

Goofy’s Sky School

Soarin’ Over the World

PARK HOP: Disneyland

Jungle Cruise

Pirates of the Caribbean

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Food break: Golden Horseshoe (chicken tenders, mozzarella sticks, fries, peach cobbler sundae)

Splash Mountain

Haunted Mansion

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Food break: chimichanga

Snow White

Pinocchio

Magic Happens Parade

Small World

Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway

Food break (Scotty): cream cheese pretzel

Shopping (Britt): sweatshirt

Indiana Jones

Buzz

HyperSpace Mountain

Autopia

Train from Tomorrowland to Fantasy Land

Story Book Boats

Peter Pan

Total rides: 27

DAY 2: Monday

8:00 a.m. Disneyland

Rope dropped HyperSpace Mountain

Food break: breakfast chimichangas

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Pirates of the Caribbean

Food break: beignets

Jungle Cruise

Pirates of the Caribbean

Indiana Jones

Haunted Mansion

Splash Mountain

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Food break: hamburger (Britt), chimichanga (Scotty)

Alice

Mr. Toad

[Scotty nap on bench]

HyperSpace Mountain

Food break: pastries

Pastries

PARK HOP: California Adventure

Radiator Springs Racers

Midway Mania

Food break: Mickey pretzel (Britt)

Goofy’s Sky School

Guardians of the Galaxy

Monsters Inc

Food break: shawarma (Scotty)

Mater

Soarin’ Over the World

Little Mermaid

Incredicoaster

Food break: sourdough Mickey

Incredicoaster

Total rides: 22

On Tuesday we had to get up at 4:45 to catch a Lyft to the airport at 5:00. As previously mentioned, our flight ended up delayed for a few hours, but we were kid free, so it was tolerable. 

Here are some comments and memories from the trip:

I discovered that I have a very distinct "woo" I do on rides. I also make a lot of sound effects throughout the day - especially "boop" and "wahwah." I didn't even realize that I did these things until I got away from my kids' constant noise for 60 hours and was left to face Scotty's and my noises. Speaking of which... Scotty whistles or hums constantly. I mean... I knew he whistled (Zoe does it, too) but I didn't realize how much!

Sunday was Goth Day at Disneyland and Monday was Star Wars Nite, so there were some great people watching opportunities. And so many lightsabers. So very many.

We officially rode Splash Mountain for the last time (since it is closing this month and will be renovated to Tiana's Bayou Adventure). I decided I'd go big and take the front seat. I've ridden in the front before, but this was definitely the wettest I've gotten! In fact, I never dried off.

Before

After

Back in 2016, I discovered that if you sit in the front seat on Incredicoaster (at the time it was California Screamin') at dusk, you will get hit in the face repeatedly by swarms of bugs. I can confirm that this is still true. 

I'm deeply bothered by some of the impractical outfits people wear to Disneyland. Please wear proper footwear and secure your boobs. No one needs a nip slip on Guardians of the Galaxy. 

I am also deeply bothered by the foul language I overheard in Disneyland. That hasn't been a major problem in the past, but holy moly! There were 'F' words flying all over the place. I'm finding more and more that people no longer hold their tongues around children. It makes me really sad. 

I've always thought the food prices at Disney parks were atrocious, but now that the cost of everything has gone up so much everywhere else, Disney food doesn't seem so bad anymore. Even though Disney has raised prices for a lot of things, their food prices don't seem to have increased at the rate of everything else (when they read my blog, they'll raise everything. Just wait!) 

Trying to stay soda sober at Disneyland was so hard! I love drinking Coke at Disneyland, and the second I walked in, I was tempted at every angle. I can't even tell you how many times I almost broke down and bought a Coke. Then, finally, during the last two hours at California Adventure, I made the decision that I was going to have a Coke. Just one. And I remembered something... they have paper straws. I hate paper straws and always take my own straws to Disney parks, but this time I didn't because I wasn't going to drink any soda. That is what got me through. My hate of paper straws is stronger than my love of Coke. Thus I remain 129 days soda sober.

During the last few years, while I've been away from Disneyland (my last trip was December 2019), I've been exposed to some "influencer Disney culture" (not even on purpose! I don't follow any of it - but you know how the algorithms be), and I started to get a tainted view of what Disneyland is like. I was worried that I'd get there, and it would be full of Disney Bounders and influencers, and that the whole place would be overrun by Tik Tok trends. I definitely saw some of that, but it was minimal, and I'm happy to report that Disneyland is still Disneyland... full of tired, screaming children; arguing spouses; and people who can't walk straight. And while I hate all that, I'm just happy that Disneyland is still full of normal people. 

Speaking of arguing spouses...

Scotty and I hate Autopia, and we were like, "It's so nice not having the kids here because we don't have to ride stupid Autopia!" But then the sun went down, and I was like, "Hey, have we ever ridden Autopia in the dark?" and Scotty was like, "No! I don't think so!" so we decided to ride it. Suddenly we became an elderly couple arguing on the road for the entire ride! Scotty drove while I nagged him about following too close. We hit our twentieth anniversary and turned into Scotty's parents!

I've been to Disneyland somewhere between 22-25 times (I tried to figure it out while we were there, but I couldn't get an exact number), and I've never bought myself a clothing item from there. I didn't take a jacket, and I never dried from Splash Mountain, so I was freezing. I ended up buying my first Disneyland shirt ever! It's laughably low quality, and I look like a fruity, alcoholic beverage in it, but I have arrived!

After Splash Mountain got the best of me

We usually run into someone we know any time we go to Disneyland. This time we didn't, and we're still shocked. However, there was a man I walked past that I know I've seen before. I wish I would have seen his kids so I could see if I recognize them. 

We didn't even step foot in Galaxy's Edge.

As you can see in one of the photos above, I took a word puzzle book in the park with me, and I was perfectly happy playing my word games while waiting in line. De. Light. Ful.  

-----

And there you have my re-cap of what may be my 25th trip to Disneyland, but I really don't know. But for sure, it was my first trip to with just Scotty, and I'm not opposed to 24 more. 

Eva’s Baptism

Over the weekend our last child was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. What a milestone to host our final baptism! 

The most recent baptism in our family was Zoe’s, and that took place in December of 2020. The Church’s COVID procedures for baptisms allowed us just enough people that we could have our immediate family and Zoe’s grandparents attend. Then a few days before her baptism, due to a spike in cases, they changed it to household members only (and a presiding member of the bishopric). So we had a very small event broadcasted over Zoom to family and friends (they secretly loved it because they all watched from their beds in their jammies). 

A few years later, it was quite the experience to have a “normal” baptism! With people!

Here’s how Eva’s special day went:

Dress #1

When Daisy was baptized, I decided that since we had three daughters, it would be a fun tradition to have a dress they could all be baptized in. 

All three girls in their shared baptism dress

The sizing wasn’t exact, but for being dunked in water, it didn’t need to fit perfectly. 

(Note that if you want to go this route, you’ll probably want to have the child wear a slip as well to prevent the dress from being see-through when wet. For underwear, my girls have all worn white cartwheel shorts because it’s not easy to find affordable all-white underwear). 

Now I’m deciding - do I keep the dress for possible granddaughters? (Will it yellow?) Or should I offer it to another family so they can have the same tradition?

Big decisions here!

Dress #2

After the baptismal ordinance, the child typically changes into “Sunday best.” A lot of parents will buy their sons a suit or new church clothes and their daughters a white dress. This is only a tradition and not a requirement or expectation of the Church (I didn’t have a white dress for my own baptism). 

When Daisy was baptized, I made her a dress out of my wedding dress. I hoped that all my girls could wear it, but the sizing didn’t work, and I really don’t know anything about sewing, so I didn’t dare take on the project of trying to adjust the sizing of the dress. It was a miracle I fashioned a dress freehand to begin with (I just begged everyone not to look closely at it). So Zoe and Eve each ended up getting her own dresses.

I found Eva’s dress for $8 at the DI (she doesn’t know that), and I took the belt from Daisy’s dress and added it to Eva’s. 

The Baptizer

Nicky was eligible to perform the baptismal ordinance, so he baptized Eva. It was really sweet to see my son get to do this, and he did great! 

The Confirmation

After her baptism, Eva was confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost by her dad.

The Lunch

After Eva’s baptism, we hosted a lunch for family and friends at our church. This is another common but optional tradition. We wanted to do it, especially since we didn’t get to gather following Zoe’s baptism, and I love to feed people.

We had pot roast sandwiches for the main dish, and I also made a potato salad and a strawberry romaine salad. Our extended family pitched in with fruit and veggies, another salad, chips, eclair pie, and tarts. 

I thought it was a great lunch! Hopefully everyone else did, too!

Eva’s Thoughts

My kids have never been very spiritual at age 8. I always wonder whether they should really be getting baptized, but then I get little glimpses of something within them, and even though I don’t fully comprehend it, it ends up feeling right. 

After Eva came out of the font, and I was helping her change from her wet dress to her dry clothes, she said, “Mom, I kind of liked getting baptized!” It was really cute. 

————

As this milestone approached, I was, once again, made aware of how fast time is passing. My baby is eight! My children are all baptized. I’m okay with it, but I’m always surprised by how fast we got here. 

Twenty Year Timeline

Tomorrow is a pretty exciting milestone in the Brittish Household: Scotty and I will celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary!

How will we celebrate? Here’s a hint.

In those twenty years, we’ve experienced so much together. Since we married (very) young, we did a lot of growing up side by side. We’ve learned a lot, argued a lot, changed a lot, and accomplished a lot. It’s been beautiful and challenging, and there’s no one else I’d rather do this with! So I’m in for twenty more. 

As we approached this anniversary, I decided to make a timeline of our twenty years with some of our “bigger” experiences. Here’s a very small glimpse into the past twenty years:

2003 - We got married

2004 - We bought our house

         - I graduated from LDS Business College

         - I got a job at a special ed school

2005 - I started blogging 

2006 - Scotty felt very strongly that he needed to go back to school, so he did

         - We had Nicky

2007 - Scotty lost his job

2008 - Scotty started a job in Orem that we thought would be temporary (he worked there for 8 years)

2009 - We had Daisy

2010 - We went on a trip to South Carolina where Scotty served his mission 

2011 - Scotty left his job in Orem for six months and then went back

2012 - Scotty graduated from Sat Lake Community College

         - We had Zoe

2013 - We bought our first van

2014 - Scotty graduated from Utah Valley University

         - We ran the Spartan Beast together 

2015 - We had Eva

2016 - Scotty got a new job in Salt Lake

2017 - I graduated from BYU-Idaho

         - Scotty started working for the Church

2018 - (I’ve combed through my blog and Instagram archives looking for some kind of milestone for 2018, but things were pretty chill that year)

2019 - We bought a truck and a motorcycle

         - We took our whole family on an airplane for the first time

2020 - PANDEMIC!!!

         - We finished our basement

2021 - All our kids made it to all-day school

2022 - We went on an epic family vacation to Disney World

2023 - We made it twenty years!

It's May

Every year, it's tradition for many of my friends to send me Justin Timberlake "It's gonna be May" memes." This has gone on for so long, that if I haven't received any by April 28th, I start to get nervous. Luckily, they always pull through.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again... May is cray.

(Just my annual reminder to everyone in the world... don't get married in May!)

(Also, I just have to point out how outdated I am with my Justin Timberlake memes and my use of the term "cray" - which I only use to make fun of the term "cray," but then I have to laugh at how making fun of words ends up making them part of your vocabulary, and in the end - the stupid words win!)

So May is upon us, which means stress is upon us. But there's one thing that's very exciting to me about May: it means the final birthday poster for the school year!

Ten years ago, my kids started at a brand new school, and the PTA president asked me to make a monthly poster for the students' birthdays. I got to have a break during COVID, but now I'm back at it. Last week, I did the final poster for the year and skipped out of the building with my head held high. Bring on summer break! (Break from the birthday posters, that is. I'm scared to death - as usual - of having my kids home for three months). 

Here are all of the posters I made this year:

September

Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons

This year, I wasn't feeling very creative, so I started re-doing posters from past years. This is one I had done before. I had to start from scratch, though. Part of me wishes I'd saved all the posters from past years so I can re-use parts of them, but the other part of me is unwilling to store them. Also, after being rolled up, they're not always in good shape anyway.

October

Haunted Mansion

This is one case where I was able to re-use an old poster. I painted this Haunted Mansion poster for a trunk or treat a couple of years ago, and I re-vamped it as a birthday poster. It was a little wrinkly, as you can see, but it worked.

November

Sponge Bob 

This one was fun and new and probably my favorite poster of the year. 

December

Penguin

This was another recycled idea. I made this penguin several years ago, and Zoe insisted on bringing it home and hanging it on her bedroom wall. I reclaimed it, added a scarf, and made a poster. 

January 

Rocket Ship

Not much to say about this one. 

February

Groundhog Day

You may recall that I have a daughter who's obsessed with Groundhog Day. Zoe really wanted me to make a groundhog poster in February, so I obliged. I even made an extra groundhog so she could hang one in her room. She ended up taking this one, too, so there are TWO groundhogs hanging on her bedroom door. 

March

The Madness

This is anther poster I'd done in the past. I had to ask Scotty if March Madness still exists (it does) before I made it. 

April

Popcorn

This is another re-do from a past year. Not my favorite. My first one was better, but I remember not liking that one, either. 

May

May the Fourth be With You

And finally... it's May. And another poster re-do.