Happy Birthday, Zachary

My baby boy turned five last week. Where did the time go?!? They always say it flies by, and I guess it really does.

In any case, Zachary wanted a spider birthday cake and a spider party. He's terrified of real spiders, so maybe this was his self-therapy attempt. :) He won't go into the backyard for the rest of the day if he sees a spider out there. Let's not go onto the other .2 acres, let's focus on that itsy-bitsy spider. I regress ...

So, the frosting had to be blue and they HAD to be black widows. Oh, I forgot to mention that every spider he sees is probably a black widow. Again, maybe he's just trying to get over the fear. A red M&M had to suffice to make each ding-dong spider a black widow ... although you couldn't see them once they got onto the blue spider-web cake. (The spiders had to have blue eyes, too, because that's Zachary's favorite color.)

I love that the back spider looks like it has a mouth. Thanks, Hostess, for giving us an imperfect Ding-Dong. (On a side note, Paul doesn't think Ding Dongs are as yummy as he did as a kid.)


Anyway, I was very excited to give Zachary his gifts since I made them and figured he'd LOVE them. He's totally into Superman, so I made him a cape much like one my little brother had growing up. He's excited about it, but he doesn't insist on wearing it to the store or anything:



And since my boys are totally into Star Wars these days I went a step further and even made him a Darth Vader cape. The details on the front of Vader's chest weren't the easiest to copy, but I think I did pretty good. (Star Wars fans, go ahead and check for accuracy!) Anyway, Zachary thinks when he wears the cape he better make a face like Darth Vader since we don't have a mask. I had to really keep from laughing about this one:



How cute!

Enter the temper tantrums

Well, I thought we were in for the perfect child. Shayla has been so good and rarely gets angry. However, this week alone she had something like three temper tantrums. What's going on here?

Now, to most of you only three in one week may sound great. Believe me, it is. I LOVE it!!! But those three are three more than she usually has. Hopefully it's a short-lived phase and we can return to perfection soon. :) I know, tough life ...

A-Z About Me

Thanks, Ashley for the fun idea. I've seen lots of these, but this one is different than the one I see circulated most.

A. Attached or Single? Attached.

B. Best Friend? The one I married, or the one I didn't? I'll let Paul and Hilary fight over this "title."

C. Cake or Pie? Depends on the type; depends on the day. Love an orange poppy-seed cake I make sometimes (no oil in it, but VERY moist), as well as a Skor cake (to DIE for!) and German Chocolate. I also like cherry pies, apple pies, cream pies, etc., etc., etc. Prefer brownies over both of 'em.

D. Day of Choice? Depends on my schedule. Sometimes it's during the week when I have nothing to do (which rarely happens), and sometimes it's on the weekend when we have fun family plans.

E. Essential Items? Essential for what? Usually only food, water and air are essential. Oh, and brownies.

F. Favorite Color? If it's Tyler asking, green. If it's Zachary asking, blue. If it's you asking, I don't really care!!!

G. Gummy Bears or Worms? Worms. They don't taste better, but they're way more fun.

H. Hometown? Mapleton, Utah. (Lived there before all the rich people moved in!)

I. Indulgence? Dreyers ice-cream, and eating it after the kids are in bed. It's so extremely yummy, but it's pricey. We only buy it on sale. I also indulge in a scrapbooking item here and there ...

J. January or July? I prefer May or October ...

K. Kids? Yes, four. Our first child, Tyler, is 6 years old. Our second, Zachary, turned 5 this week. Our third, Becca, turned 14 this month! Our baby, Shayla, is no longer a baby and will soon be 2!

L. Life isn't complete without? Happiness

M. Marriage Date? 11-4-00. B-day? 4-11. Hubby knows any combo of the numbers 11 and 4 means GIFT!!!

N. Number of Brothers & Sisters? 4 sisters, 3 brothers. I'm a middle child (4 of 8).

O. Oranges or Apples? Oranges!

P. Phobia or Fears? I have a few, but I think the most bizarre is that if I'm driving with my window down a rock will be thrown up by a passing motorist and hit me in the head. It may not kill me, I suppose, but it didn't do Goliath any good to be hit in the head w/a stone!!! Fortunately the chances of it happening are very slim. But if it ever does, you'll be impressed that I had reason to fear ...

Q. Quote? One by John Groberg that says basically that the Lord will stop us if we're going in the wrong direction for us -- not that it's wrong for other people, but if it's wrong for us. It's too long to type here. So instead I'll type this one: "Enduring to the end is like shaving -- No matter how well you do it today, you have to do it again tomorrow." No idea who said it.

R. Reason to Smile? Because people think I'm ticked if I'm not. Lovely facial features I've inherited ...

S. Season of Choice? Spring or Fall. Spring is such a welcome relief after the cold, wet winter. The blooming plants are awesome. Then again, Fall is a welcome relief to the hot summer and the changing leaves are pretty all over the mountainside.

T. Tag 5 people? I don't believe in online tagging. Or forwarding any message that says to forward it. Favorite Web site? Snopes.com. It tells you if most of the stuff you get via e-mail is true, and most of it isn't!!!

U. Unknown Fact about Me? I can do great impressions of any adult on Charlie Brown. Oh, and my kindergarten teacher married a man named Charlie Brown. Oh, and my first Christmas tree as a Brown was a Charlie Brown Christmas tree that I didn't pick out. (Does that mean I am related?)

V. Vegetable? California Blend: Carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. I'm trying to like others, but I just don't. I finally figured out that I can handle grape tomatoes or sugar babies (a small, sweet tomato that's yellow). Let me know if you know how to cook any others so I'll like them more!!!

W. Worst Habit? Being lazy about my spirituality.

X. X-ray or Ultrasound? Depends on who is giving the ultrasound. My first one was so extremely painful that I thought I would get bruises. It was on my birthday and was miserable! For my second one, I told the lady if she didn't let me use the restroom I would go right there on the table. Fortunately she believed me, because I really was going to. Good news with Shayla was that I didn't have to drink tons of water before (HOORAY for advances in technology!) and the guy was such a pro that it didn't hurt, we got great pics, and he got the gender right!!!

Y. Your Favorite Food? Too many to name. That's why I'm a little overweight, huh?

Z. Zodiac Sign? Aries

Cody

OKay, does anyone out there know a good Cody? No offense to any Codys, but I have never met one who was not a deliquent or mean or just plain annoying. I've been paying attention my whole life, and I have yet to meet one Cody I really liked. Mind you, the only two Codys I've known were both juvenile deliquents; however, from everyone I've ever asked, I've never heard someone say, "Yes, I know a great Cody." And I've asked A LOT of people ...

Why do I care? Well, I could have been a Cody. That's right. The boy's name my parents had picked out for me was Cody. But I was a girl, so I got Denise instead. Is it possible my whole destiny could have been different had I been a Cody? Would I have been a trouble-maker instead of the perfect child I was? (Good thing my mom's Blogspot is in Korean so she can't comment on that one!) My sister does know and like a GIRL named Cody, so this must apply only to the guys with the name.

So, once again I ask, does anyone out there know a good guy named Cody???

Walk MS: Provo

Saturday, April 26 I'm joining my family in the Walk MS: Provo. We are all going to be a part of "Tiffany's Team" in honor of my sister Tiffany who has MS.

We didn't know about the walk until this weekend, so we're probably not going to be able to raise a lot of money. However, you're welcome to contribute to the cause before then! Someone is diagnosed with MS every hour of everyday. Our small amount will contribute to research to find a cure and improve lives of those with MS. (If you're interested, you can mail me a check made out to MS or visit my online "Tiffany's Team" site: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/UTUWalkEvents?pg=team&fr_id=7911&team_id=123856)

Although we won't be able to raise much money, we will be able to let our sis know how much we love her. She lives with MS everyday and still manages to work full-time and raise a family. I'm tired just raising a family without working or having MS, so I'm pretty amazed by her strength.

My sister was diagnosed two years ago. She started having symptoms while they were on her daughter's Make-A-Wish to Disneyworld. Her daughter has Cystic Fibrosis, so we'll be walking and raising money again in June for CF. If you don't have a cause of your own, feel free to take up one of mine. :)

Watch for pics after the walk, and next year you may want to join us -- my family is crazy, so we're sure to have a lot of fun! Here's a pic of Tiffany's Team (minus the brothers :) to prove my point. Tiffany is second from left.

It's snowing!

I looked out the window and what did I see? Not popcorn popping -- snow falling!!! So much for "Spring" break ... and global warming!!!

Happy b-day mom ... hope you like snow!

Spring Break

I knew we were in trouble early yesterday afternoon when Tyler said, "Mom, I don't know what to do." We had already been to the park for more than two hours, and we were only on the first day of spring break, and already he was bored. This is our first year of Spring Break being a full week -- usually it was only 3 days. I think I'd prefer the 3 days, because I'm afraid first grade has taken away Tyler's imagination. He used to be able to entertain himself for hours, and he was even mad when he started first grade and didn't have enough time to play. Now when he has time, he can't think of anything to do.

At least we're finally having warm weather so they can play outside. Last week was FREEZING! It even snowed. I took a picture of a poor bird hopping around the snow:


I froze at Tyler's soccer games last week and probably would have skipped Thursday's game if it hadn't been picture day. Yesterday was perfect. Today a storm is blowing in so it's not nearly as nice, but hopefully it's just today. We're ready for spring ... as are the birds!

Happy Spring Break to you whatever weather you're in!