After Lindsey and the kids left, John had gotten a babysitter for that night and we went out for a much-needed date. It was just what I needed after being with the kids all week and away from him. Since it was Mother's Day weekend, I got to choose. It was between Thor or Something Borrowed for the new releases that weekend and what do you think I chose. . . .
Of course, John wanted to see Thor and definitely vocalized it the whole night, but he did say pick what I wanted. . . and I did. Why would I want to be the only girl in line waiting for a guy movie? He wasn't the only guy in the theater either as he thought. Their were many other great men taking their ladies out too. In John's defense, he usually never complains taking me to girl/date movies and we like to go to those together. He just really wanted to go see Thor. We did end up going just a few weeks later, so he was happy.
So, on to the movie, while it wasn't the best date movie out there, it was still entertaining. The funniest character in it was John Krasinski. He had the best lines in the whole movie. The thing I didn't like was they made it seem like it was ok to cheat with the right circumstances. Not too cool. Other than that, it was fun and worthy of a Redbox or Netflix rental.
On Saturday morning, our Stake had our annual Women's Conference. I have to say, I hope they do this again on this same weekend next year, because it was wonderful taking a break from the kids for half a day, enjoying time and food with friends, and listening to amazing inspired talks. It was wonderful! I learned how to make my marriage a fairytale, that I was born for such a time as this by divine design just as I am, and the miracle of food storage. They were all based on examples and lessons learned from woman in the scriptures. There were many other classes and talks that I wish I could have attended.
It inspired me to do better especially in way of food storage, something I felt very unprepared with. So now, a few of my friends and I have a food storage group and we meet to figure out what to do with our food storage. Our first class was dealing with wheat. We ground our own wheat, made loaves of bread for each of us, made brownies substituting eggs and butter/oil for black beans (crazy!) and did a bizarre science project of turning wheat into ground beef! All of these recipes we tried the finished product at the class that day and they were delicious! Your family would never know the difference. If you're interested in these recipes, here is the website to the sister who taught the class. She is the RS president in the Irvine stake and she is a testament of the need for food storage. Check it out here at http://foodstoragepreparation.blogspot.com/ . I love this group and feel so much more confident if we need to use our food storage.
While I was at women's conference, John took the kids up to his parents' house and took his mom out to breakfast for mother's day. I met them back home and we dropped Brody off at his friend's birthday party and took Piper to the store. Later that night after the kids were in bed, we watched some of our shows on the Tivo.
On Mother's Day (Sunday), John and the kids let me sleep in forever! I think I woke up at like 10:30. It was wonderful! Then they made me a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast and then it was off to church. The Primary had put an insert into the program and had each kid's name with them finishing the sentence, "I love my mom because. . . " Brody's said this, "I love my mom because she washes the dishes." I looked at all the other kids sentences and most of them have about what yummy food their mom makes or how nice they are to them or how they play with them. Not one of them had anything about cleaning, so apparently I am the only one that actually cleans my house. That is probably not too far from the truth since we had one RS lesson on work and most of the discussion was on how to teach your kids to appreciate the cleaning lady. So, either I am a clean freak and not spending enough quality time with my kids or Brody just notices a clean house and appreciates it. He actually said it because of a time I let him wash the dishes with me in our old apartment. Ok, that is cute. John can't wait for Father's Day now when Brody says, "I love my daddy because he plays video games with me!" We'll see if they actually do one for the dads.
The Primary kids also went up to sing a few Mother's Day songs. John had to prep Brody ahead of time all throughout sacrament so he would be brave enough to go up. He did go up, though, but sat in one of the chairs on the far end and refused to sing. He was very visible to the congregation as we have a large chapel and smaller Primary. At least he went up there. That is a HUGE improvement. My goal for Father's day is to get him up there and at least stand with the rest of the kids. That would make John (and me) so proud.
I might sound ungrateful for saying this, but I had high hopes for our Mother's Day gifts/treats from our new ward. It is the wealthiest ward in the stake and I thought they would have given out something great. Well, my expectations were too high. Unlike other wards I have been in, where, after the prayer is said, everyone stays in their seats and all the women stand up, everyone got up to leave. The young men came around eventually with some Halloween looking candy and a bookmark, only because John nagged them since their pockets were filled with candy. It was a disgrace. Maybe this ward just doesn't think it is important and maybe I shouldn't either, but I think you should show your appreciation somehow! Anyway, I'll wait to share my opinion when I see what the men get for Father's day. Ok, there's my rant for the month. . . . I hope. :)
Church was wonderful, though, and I was invited into to Brody's Primary to be apart of a question and answer in sharing time. They had a few moms there and we all sat in seats in the front while our kids stood behind us. We were asked questions and wrote down our answers prior. Much like the newlywed game, the kids had to try and see what we answered. As I predicted, Brody being as shy as he is, hid under my chair for a good portion of the activity. So I answered all the questions myself. Most everyone thought that was pretty great. Brody was the youngest child to do it and guaranteed he wouldn't have known any of the answers, but I am sure that is the fun of it all. It was still fun to be in there with him.
After church, John and the kids made me a great dinner of BBQ Tri Tip, Parmesan noodles, corn, and asparagus. John cooked the asparagus on the BBQ and it tasted great. It was a delicious meal. After dinner we called our Mom's and wished them a Happy Mother's day too. It was a great day and I hope everyone else got to enjoy and appreciate all the mothers in their lives as I did.
It was held at a hard-to-find campground in the mountains behind our house. John had a hard time even finding it in daylight, so thank goodness he left early enough before it got dark. It seems like they had a lot of fun though, except John's eye's were really bothering him from his allergies. We later found out though that it was pink eye instead. It was really fun the week after when Brody got it really bad in both eyes. We cleared his up and then Piper got it the week after, but I caught it really early, so hers did not get bad at all. But back to the outing, Brody had so much fun playing with all the boys, especially his friend Max. They were inseparable. Some of the families brought their dogs too, so Brody had lots of fun playing with them.
