Counting in Hours

We are getting close enough to the wedding that we can almost count in hours instead of days! I did a bunch of chasing around today, including picking up most of the things we need to get prepared for the luncheon and the other last minute items. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Their cute apartment is very nearly finished. Drama Queen and I went to Ikea yesterday and bought the bookcase and the rest of the squares for his cubed pantry and his clothing storage system. She came over after work today and we put everything together.

I still have to modify my dress and make gifts for my helpers and tomorrow I get to have my hair done, which makes me very happy. I'm finally starting to look beyond the wedding to what is in store for the coming weeks and life will slow down, but not incredibly much. I keep reminding myself I like it that way... most of the time...

Even basketball season for me is almost over.

Donut Birthday Party

Remember I told you Twizlet turned 1 last week? Well, yesterday we had quite the celebration for her! My favorite part was that I didn't have to do much of anything. Teach planned a super cute Donut party for her.

Not sure who won this matchup.

Crafty made the small smash cake and the cupcakes, but Teach and Twiz brought all the donuts, the decorations, the ice cream, and most of the food. Dog Walker and his crew of brothers and nephews set up the tables and chairs while I wrapped presents.

She is so good at unwrapping gifts!

By 5:00, everything was ready, including games like Bite the Donut and stringing a necklace with baby donuts (Cheerios and Fruit Loops). Twiz even made some 1-inch donuts as an appetizer. It was all so fun and cute.

After dinner, Twizlet opened her gifts and then she got to work on eating that little cake. She did a pretty good job and didn't even get that messy. Sure love that sassy girl!

Saturday at the Temple

Saturday was a beautiful day! We spent the afternoon in the temple with many members of our family and Cat Lover's family and she received her endowment before she and the Dog Walker get married next Friday. There is no feeling in the world like meeting up with some of the ones you love in the Celestial Room.

After we left the temple, we stopped at the Italian Place for a sandwich and then my sweetie drove me, Bossy, and Drama Queen down to the hospital to see our little Supergirl. She is getting so big!

 One last stop for ice cream finished out the day perfectly. We even got home in time to get a bunch of work done on The Apartment. I'll show you some pictures in a day or two. It is almost ready for the newlyweds to move in.

Look at this amazing man I married; such a sweetie.

Oh, and did I tell you I finished the quilt? Only a few days before the big day...

Bachelorette Party for Cat Lover

We have had a ton of snow today! I was worried that it might keep my daughters and my daughter-in-law away from our bachelorette party we had scheduled at Drama Queen's house for Cat Lover. I shouldn't have worried. They are all so excited for Dog Walker to find a wife.

 That didn't stop some of them from being late, though. Even the bride was nearly half an hour late because of the weather. I worried about Princess the most; she traveled all the way from Springville, and we missed Prima Donna. She started a new job this week and didn't dare ask for the time off. Especially since she doesn't want to miss the wedding next week.

Anyway, we started our party with dinner consisting of a baked potato bar and lots of yummy treats. My favorite was Princess's lemon bars. Then we spent time visiting and hammering out last minute details for the wedding next week. Cat Lover opened gifts and blushed so pretty at each nightie.

The official party broke up a little early because of the snow, but some of us lingered and helped Drama Queen put her house back together. I just love hanging out with all of my girls. There is nothing better than family.

Guest Blogger: The Bachelor Party by the Dog Walker

My Mom asked me to guest blog about this event that I've done before Cat Lover and I are married. I was told that I was going for a Bachelor party at The Beast's house. I wanted Cat Lover to come along with it, but Mom and Dad kept telling me that the Bachelor Party is for guys only. At first, I thought that was the most sexist policy, but they told me it's just having a little party with the certain gender you are before living a marriage with the person, like a Guy's Night while the bride is having a Bachelorette Party where the groom isn't allowed to go to either. I felt like I didn't want to go to fun events without Cat Lover, because it would make her feel lonely. 

Anyway, I just have to explain how the party went. It was fun to be around a lot of guys, but I couldn't imagine how lonely it would be without the wife-to-be to be around the husband-to-be. I should be positive about this. After I spent a little bit of the day with Cat Lover and dropped her back off to her home, I went to The Beast's where he was hosting the Bachelor Party. He was serving Papa Murphy's Pizza and we were going to play games like JackBox.tv and Pin the Kiss Lips on the Groom. All the boys told me that those are the body parts where Cat Lover should kiss me by the time we're legally husband and wife.

Right after the games, we had Ice Cream Cake with this encouraging message saying that I made it to marriage.  It was quite an inspiration and great support from my brothers, brother-in-laws, nephews, father and grandfather who have helped me so far to find the right girl to get married to. We then did presents. I only got three gifts, but I wasn't expecting more to come to me. I got two different brands of hygiene that I should use for Cat Lover and I also got this shirt that Princess and the Frog made for me that I can wear until the wedding.

It was a fun party, even though I still wished that Cat Lover would've been invited to it, but I've been told that she has her own tomorrow with my mother, sisters, and sister-in-laws. I hope that this was great to hear about. Cat Lover and I are still excited to be married and it's only a week away! Hurray!

Birthday Lunch at McDonald's

I told you we were celebrating Twizlet's birthday with her today since both her mom and dad had to work. Crafty was home from school for parent/teacher conferences, so the three of us headed for the high school. Twizlet was a hit, of course, and Crafty's teachers agreed she was a definite cutie.

When we were finished at the school, we decided to take her to McDonald's for lunch. I think she chewed on half of a chicken nugget because all of her french fries seemed to be on the floor when we gathered up to leave.

Of course I didn't think to take a pic until we were ready to go, and by then she was playing with her little toy so I asked Crafty to lean in. I'm not sure Twizlet was happy about sharing the spotlight...

Happy First Birthday, Twizlet!

It's hard to concentrate on much of anything except for the wedding lately, but you should know that our cute little Twizlet is turning one today. It sure seems like this past year has gone by so quickly and yet there have been so many changes. Especially in her...

Just born

Even when she was tiny, she ruled with an iron fist.

Love those eyes

Cutie Patootie

She loves hanging out with us.

Happy birthday, cute girl.

Guest Blogger: Cat Lover's Childhood Pictures by the Dog Walker

I'm giving you an update about these cute looking pictures of Cat Lover as kid. They will be added to the video, I wanted to make these bigger from scanning, but it's time consuming right now and I still need time to adjust these a bit to add to the wedding video. I finally got them resized, so I take back that previous sentence. We're still excited for the wedding. We're looking forward to a marriage. I hope you enjoy these pictures of Cat Lover. 

Happy Birthday, Burrito!

I told you that Burrito was turning 11 and tonight we had a birthday party for him here at the house. His menu was easy... Hawaiian haystacks and rolls. All I really had to do was make the cake and then Crafty and Scout took over the frosting and the decorating so I didn't even have to do that.

In fact, I took a 3-hour nap today after church!

The family came over about 6 and we partied for a couple of hours. Burrito almost got all the candles in one breath, but my sweetie spun the cake just as he blew and the poor guy didn't have a chance.

Now Taco and Burrito are having a sleepover here with us and Crafty and Baby Doll are having a sleepover at Drama Queen's house. The Presidents' Day weekend makes it so we can just keep the party going...

Happy Birthday, Burrito!

Super Saturday

We had such a fantastic Saturday!

The morning started with the kids cleaning and sorting through things in their bedrooms. I would sure love to get the opportunity to finish downsizing a bunch of stuff, but I guess that will have to wait until after the wedding. We did fill a couple of large garbage bags full of clothes and stuff for charity, but it didn't seem like much this time.

We got my tire fixed and filled the fridge with milk and then it was time to celebrate. Tomorrow is Burrito's birthday and I wanted to do something fun with the family so 17 of us went to see The Greatest Showman. We chose a matinee to save us on the price and everyone chipped in their random gift cards and it cost less that $50 to get us all in. Then we had coupons for popcorn and drinks, so that helped too.

Waiting for pizza

Bossy and I both had coupons for free personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut for the kids, so we got pizza and then played some cards during the evening. It was nice to think about anything but the wedding for a few hours.

Please Go To Bed!

Remember my excitement last night over the sleepover with my cute little granddaughter? Well, it's 2:00 AM and she is still going strong. I think I underestimated her powers of mess-making. During the day we have time to play and stuff. Tonight when I was trying to accomplish something, she is in to everything!

She just emptied a box and dumped the garbage can in the amount of time it took me to type this last sentence, and I'm pretty fast.

Please, Baby Girl, go to bed!

Worst selfie ever

Friday Already?

What happened to this week?

Only 2 weeks from today and we will be getting ready for Dog Walker's wedding. Still so much to do! We have finally gotten a bunch of the invitations in the mail and delivered, but we need to get out again tomorrow and finish them up.

I want to give a shout out to Sam's Club. They donated frosting and cupcakes to Bingham's Cupcake Club for their latest activity. The kids decorated enough for the State FCCLA parent meeting and to take home to their families. I love when companies are supportive of activities going on right here in our city.

My boys basketball team has their last game tomorrow night. Surprisingly, I have really enjoyed coaching them; they are a great bunch of kids. I sure wish I could get more than 6 of them out at a time for practice...

This week was Teach and Twiz's 2nd anniversary and they are planning an overnight trip away for tomorrow night. We get to keep Twizlet here with us. It has been a while since I have been in charge of a baby all night long. It should be a fun (and likely sleepless) adventure!

The Greatest Showman for Valentines Day

Last night, after my sweetie had gone to bed, Sport and I headed out to the grocery store. He wanted to buy some Dr. Pepper for his girl and I needed milk. We wandered the store for a while and as it turned out, Dr. Pepper was on a fabulous sale! Sport got his 6-pack of bottles, and I bought 19 six-packs for my sweetie.

The Dog Walker carried them all upstairs for me while my sweetie snoozed away. Then when I finally found my bedroom, I took the bottles and formed them into a giant heart for him to find when he got up in the morning. My efforts were a success and he was quite pleased.

My afternoon was filled with being in charge of the 6th grade class party for Scout's class. It was fun, but not quite as smooth as I had hoped.

Then my sweetie and I went out tonight and had dinner at Red Robin. After that we went to the Megaplex and watched The Greatest Showman. Some of my kids have seen it and they loved the music and the characters, so we decided it would be a good one to see.

We were not disappointed. In fact, we liked it so much we are thinking maybe we should take the whole family on Saturday. Even though I know it is not completely historical, it is a fun and uplifting story.

Happy Valentines Day!

Last week Bossy sent out a text that even included a picture:
  

Siblings I have Valentines bags for each household. I will leave 

them at mom's today so you can add yours if you want.

Like the dutiful bunch we are, the kids made a large valentines box for the part of our family still living at home and then everyone made valentines for each other. The Dog Walker even made a separate box for his own soon-to-be family.

At least they love each other. :)

Happy Valentines Day!

Guest Blog - Valentines Day Dinner and a Review by Sweetie

On the way home today I called my beautiful wife to tell her I was coming home early. I've been out of town for three weeks and wanted to spend some extra time with her. As I talked to her, I could tell she had not had the best day, so I asked what I could do to help. She said, “Cook dinner... oh, and make sure to cook something that requires the use of a meat thermometer.” 

She doesn’t enjoy meat as much as she used to (no gallbladder...), so I was a bit surprised. But I quickly learned she had a Cave Tools Instant Read Digital Cooking Thermometer she wanted me to do a review on. That sounded like fun, Cave Tools has good stuff. 

So off to the store I went to find a good deal on some meat. As I walked through the door, I was hit with flowers, hearts, balloons…only two days until Valentines Day or Single Awareness Day as my single daughters refer to it. Umm…that means steak will be on sale. Score! And as luck would have it, Ribeyes were on sale. The outer ring of a ribeye is one of the few pieces my wife enjoys enough to deal with the challenges to digest it. Ribeyes it was, plus I could make this the Valentines dinner for the family, and maybe I could convince my wife to go out on the 14th. I got some fresh asparagus and some mushrooms and headed home.

The thermometer has a calibration feature, but it comes pre-calibrated. I seasoned the steaks with salt and pepper and let them begin to warm up a bit at room temp. Once they were, it was time to grill. The thermometer worked great and the steaks were perfect. (I like to get the centers to 132 give or take a degree and then let them stand for 5 minutes to finish up.)

Can you believe steaks like this for less than $5 a pound?

The Cave Tools Instant Read Digital Cooking Thermometer does a great job of getting an internal temp on a steak way better than most meat thermometers. This is definitely the best thermometer for steaks I have ever used. My wife enjoyed her steak, and the kids didn’t even notice that I cut the outer ring off their steaks to give their mother. 

Family Valentines dinner is taken care of. I’m thinking a restaurant for just the two of us on Wednesday... what a good way to start the week! Maybe I can even find time to make some toffee before Wednesday. With this thermometer, it will be a cinch.

If you want one of these amazing thermometers for yourself, you can buy it here from Amazon or if you want to go to the Cave Tools website, I can save you 15% with this code LH58KB66. Enjoy your Valentines Day!

***We received an Instant Read Digital Cooking Thermometer in exchange for our open and honest review.***

Time to Breathe

We took a few moments to breathe today before we are off and running on a new week. I didn't even have to make dinner since we had a birthday party for The Beast at his house tonight. All we made were green beans and German chocolate brownies without nuts.

We got home about 8 and I cut my sweetie's hair while he told the kids stories from his childhood and our dating years. They were so fascinated with the stories that I even had time to cut Sport's and Baby Doll's hair as well.

After that we had scriptures and homework and sent the kids off to bed. I checked and trimmed the quilts we made last night at the shower and now they are ready for binding tomorrow. The Dog Walker told you about his quilt, but he didn't tell you that Bossy wanted to set up a baby quilt for Supergirl as well. It didn't take long to tie and it was nice to have the space in the gym while we were tying the big one.

Cat Lover reminded us that the wedding is in only 18 days, which was rather stressful. I still have not sent out a single invitation, so I guess that will be the next project on the agenda; and binding a quilt, of course.