Birthday Weekend!

It was Sterling's birthday this past weekend. He turned 28. I'd mock him, but that means just around the corner I'll be turning 27. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO OUR TWENTIES?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?

Ahem. So anyway. He wanted to study all day Friday, and he had classes anyway, so I went to a Girls Night Out Party while the kids slept and he studied. It was AWESOME.

The hostess was fabulous, the food was amazing (chocolate fondue, plus cheesy artichoke dip with bread it was AMAZING), and everyone seemed to be quite giddy to be out of the house. Me included. Every five minutes a timer went off and Britni would ask a question that we'd go around and answer. It was a fun way to get to know more about people! Then we played the name game. Or, in my family, the Barney game. Only in my family we only write out THOUSANDS of famous names and do just the one round of trying to guess  names. This way (and I've played it this way before) you do the one round of using words, the second round you use the same names but only get three words, and the third round you have to act it out. It was hilarious. Also...I am (and always have been) terrible with knowing famous people. But at least in my own family we have our "standard" names  that I can count on. Guys. I got Chris Farley and it went something like this

"He's a comedian...I think. He's fat....I think. He was in that one movie..."

--at which point my good friend Tricia is rolling her eyes and saying "GREAT! THAT ONE MOVIE!"

Then, I was all proud of the heritage my brothers gave me and said "FAT MAN IN A LITTLE COAT!!!!" Expecting, of course, that everyone would get it. No one did. And that is my one and only Chris Farley reference. So we sat there, in agony, for another 45 seconds until the time ran out. BUT I WAS RIGHT! THAT IS CHRIS FARLEY!!!!

Then, there was also the time when I, on the 3 word round, said "Tom Sawyer" hoping, of course, that everyone would guess Huckleberry Finn. The name was Huck. Nobody guessed Huckleberry Finn (seriously guys?!?!?!). That was AGONIZING. Only to find out, when they checked the paper, that the name was HULK!!!!!! WHAT?!?!?!?!?!? The hilarity and laughter that followed that. Yeah, I might never live that one down. Luckily, I single-handedly brought down my team every single round. I am sure they loved me. (Actually though, I was quite proud at how well I did. For me, ya know.)

We basically stayed up WAY too late and had WAY too much fun! It felt like I was back in high school and I feel like I know these girls well enough now to really just have fun. Especially when Tricia dibbed the corner seat of the couch--full on sisterhood right there. That was a long overdue party for me, so I am just so happy that someone threw it together and can't wait to do it again soon!

In the morning, I turned off Sterling's alarm and we made gluten-free brownies as well as bacon, eggs, and hash browns. Complete with candles, Happy Birthday signs, and the kids made cards for him. Then we went upstairs and woke him up by singing. It was the greatest. Yeah for breakfast foods being gluten free!!! Sterling got a new razor for his birthday. He may or may not have started using it two months ago. But hey, it was still a pretty fabulous birthday present. He was also spoiled by his mom and sister--so I'd say he had a pretty great weekend!

Will's cheeks!

His old/new razor!

 The Farmer's Market at Tropical Park

We tried this out after Sterling's birthday breakfast before he started studying again. It was small (several people were setting up as we were leaving. Oh Miami, I do not like how late you start. It's too hot! Why don't you want to beat the heat!?!) but still fun. We tried some authentic ceviche and fell in love. It's also the first time I've had conch and I liked it. The kids tried out some authentic drinks (I'll have to ask Sterling for the names of them again) and they liked them. I was not so much of a fan, but the lime juice was delish once you got past how tart it was! The flowers were gorgeous and everyone was so friendly, so we had a really great time!

Here was the man cutting coconuts for the sign in the picture above ^^. SEE THAT MACHETE?!?!

 On Sunday we attempted walking around this lovely picnic/park area. We lasted about seven minutes before we were all eaten alive by mosquitoes and called it quits. But it was BEAUTIFUL!

I love the moss that hangs down from the trees here. 

Sterling caught the kids' cold (they've had hacking coughs all week. It's been quite miserable actually. I've had to pull out the nebulizer and give Will albuterol treatments twice a day because his wheezing has been so bad.) and was totally wasted by Sunday. So he stayed home and slept with Molly (it's her nap time so she slept almost the entire time) while I took Will and Ruth to church with me. It went like this:

sacrament meeting with two ragamuffins all by myself (they actually did great)

drop Will off to nursery

help Ruthie give her talk in primary

give the sharing time lesson in primary

teach the Valiant 9's sunday school lesson

(quickly stop in nursery to take Will to the potty)

play piano for singing time in primary

WHAT?!?! Yeah, it was quite the Sunday. I am really glad I didn't have to worry about Molly in the midst of all of that. It went off pretty fabulously. I understand the idea behind putting presidency members in charge of two classes so that they are prepared when we need a substitute, but man! it makes for a full day when we actually do have to sub! But Sterling had dinner mostly made when we got home and he was feeling much better, so it was a nice evening after all that craziness. Also, I love my kids. I teach piano lessons to almost half the primary, so I feel like I know the kids WAY better than the adults haha, and I really love teaching them. The entire Valiant 9 and 10's are taught by me, which made teaching Sharing Time really fun because I could tease and cajole them because I already have a background with them. Good times. Especially when I spend half my time teasing Joseph-haha.

Which reminds me, some piano lesson hilarity:

Joseph and Zachary came to lessons missing all but two of Joseph's books (Zachary had zero books). And I couldn't get a hold of their mom. So...we were just hanging out. Zachary asked me if prophets saw Jesus. I said some did in the temple. He said "I am going to be the prophet so that I can see Jesus. Do you see Jesus in the temple when you go?" I told him that I didn't, because he usually only came to special rooms that the prophets were in (I am the worst at this! It reminded me of when I had to give a semi-impromptu birds and the bees talk to my nephew because of his questions and I was dying inside!!!). "Special rooms? What are they?" Well, I can explain it because they display them in the visitors centers, right?!! "Do they appear to apostles?" "Yeah, I'm sure they could appear to apostles too."

Then the best part: "Well, then I don't want to be a prophet, just an apostle, because that is much easier and I'll still get to see Jesus." HAAAHAAAHAAA.

Then I gave Joseph full points on his lesson (he only had two books) which has not happened...maybe ever. He starts out singing so loudly "FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FOREVER..." It was the greatest. Those boys always have me rolling.

My kids, on the other hand, do not have me rolling lately. They have been waking up at 5:30am, getting up multiple times at night, acting super ornery (I know, I know, they've been sick all week but I am worn out!) and on top of it all it has been raining like crazy so we have a huge case of cabin fever. Luckily, it was SUN SHINING Miami weather yesterday, so we hit up the zoo. I might have died of humidity, but the splash pad was awesome and my kids slept like logs (until 5:30am) so it was all worth it. Good, good times.