And now I'm 40! :)

Well, it's here!  It's one of those birthday's that you think about quite often in your life and finally I've seen it.  :)   I never have thought it would be super hard on me and so far I still feel the same way.  It's just a milestone and the actual day doesn't mean much.  I think the last few years have been different as far as how I view myself and my life.  Lots of thinking, remembering, trying to put some type of clarity and focus on the "meaning of life".  It's all very interesting.  :)

As far as the actual day itself...it was actually so nice!  I don't usually look at my birthday as a big deal but this year I was really looking forward to have a "me" day which I definitely did!  I started off the day by being very lazy and sleeping in!  Well, I don't know if I actually slept late but I didn't get out of bed, which to me is just as good.  After checking out how amazingly clean the house was...thanks to the kids and especially Jessie!...we all decided to head out to lunch at my favorite place, Texas Roadhouse.  We very rarely all go out to eat together so that was a nice change.  Evan is finally old enough and behaving well enough to do that so I think we'll have to take advantage of it more often!  We went by the mall afterward to see a picture Hadley had displayed.  Apparently the art department at Jackson decided to put a few displays out and Hadley's was picked!  It was really cute.  After that we headed over to the movie theater, although not without what has become a regular occurrence when we are all together as a family.  Bryan came upon a wreck and stopped to help since he was the first one on the scene.  It was a traffic accident at an intersection.  I think everyone was okay but there was a 6 year old little girl who was knocked out which is scary.  Anyway...we ended up making it to the movie and saw "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" which is taken from a series of books a few of my boys have read for years.  We weren't sure how Evan would handle the movie but were prepared for Bryan to take him out and home if necessary.  Well, he did amazingly well!  At one point Bryan and I just laughed so hard...we looked down the row to check on him and he is sitting in this big chair leaning forward over a huge tub of popcorn just glued to the screen!  It was so cute!!  I wish I had a picture of it.  The movie ended up being pretty cute.  Definitely a family movie but nothing I would see without kids.  Conner and Landon hated it but who knows...maybe they are just too zoned into being teenagers to appreciate any family type movie right now.  :)

After our day out we headed home to relax and do our normal family birthday party.  I was very pleasantly surprised when we pulled up to see cars in the driveway and find that Stacy, Dory, Dad, Kim, Jacob and my nephews and nieces were there to celebrate with me!  It was so unexpected and caught me so off guard.  We had a really nice time and Stacy brought the beautiful birthday cake that you can see in the picture above!  So sweet!  Stacy and Dory gave me an adorable wagon that will sit out in the flower bed that says Beck and under it says Est. 1989.  It's so nice!  Dad and Kim gave me some nice perfume and beautiful bracelet.  Lodema brought over two tulip plants and the New Moon DVD along with pre ordering a book I can't wait to read!  I felt like a little kid again.  haha       

We ended the birthday evening playing a Wii game called Just Dance.  It was fun!  Between myself, Stacy, Jessie, Jacob, Libby, Hadley, Payton, and Broderick I think I was most impressed with Jessie!  Who knew she could move that well?!  haha.  After she refused to dance at the age of 4 I don't think I've ever seen her do any type of dancing so that was fun.  (Jacob did a pretty nice job himself!  haha!)  No...I didn't manage to get Bryan up in front of the TV to show off any moves although I should have guilted him into it using my birthday somehow.  Maybe next year.                                  

Spring is almost here!

It is hard to believe how fast winter has flown by but I'm not sad about seeing it come to a close!  Spring is coming this weekend (I think the first day is usually my birthday but I'm not positive!) and I'm so ready for warm weather all the time.  I noticed yesterday that our bulbs are shooting out of the ground!  Pretty soon we'll have beautiful flowers and green grass...of course along with those wonderful things come the stressing about the boys mowing, etc.  Oh well, I won't worry about that right now.  :)  Just have to say though...I miss the days when we had Coach Wachter mowing every week and I just knew I could sit back enjoy our yard.  I know it's good for the boys to have jobs but I wish it didn't involve me having to gripe at them once I see how long the grass has gotten or having to feel irritated by the fact that they miss spots or there is grass all over the driveway, etc.  I could go on and on.  Ughh!  Enough.

We've been our normal busy selves the last few weeks.  Orthodontist appointments which included Payton getting his braces on!  Poor kid is finally getting to the point where he can actually eat hard food.  They put all of the braces on in one day AND his rubber bands!  I was actually really surprised since all three older kids have had, or have, braces and usually it takes months before they use rubber bands.  He's handled it well though.  I had minor surgery on my leg to take care of some not so pretty veins that were giving me some problems.  It went fine and my leg is healing nicely although tons of bruises.  I'm suppose to be wearing these support hose which are the worst thing you've ever seen!  haha.  They are so thick and painful that I actually only lasted one day.  They said three weeks!  I don't think so.  (Hopefully I don't regret that someday.)  ;)   What else...oh, Conner and Landon have been busy with choir.  Their spring concert was last week and Sunday we went over and they were having a recital with all of the individual performances they are taking to contest this week.  Conner is singing with his Boys 8 again this year and Landon is with two groups.  One is a Boys 8 his age and the other is a Mixed 8.  All the groups were pretty good although on Sunday during the recital Conner couldn't stop laughing when their group had a few issues.  That wasn't good!  Landon did fine except Bryan and I noticed at the same time with one of the groups that he forgot his words!  haha.  It was pretty obvious to us although he tried to fake his way through it.  We'll see how they do Friday at contest.  :)   Their full choir is amazing and there isn't any question in my mind they will get all ones again.  They always do.  

New topic...68 days until our trip!!  Getting so pumped!  I just ordered a Safepack backpack for us to use during the trip and I love it!  It's amazing and has steel wires in the bag to keep anyone from cutting the straps.  (Apparently there are tons of pick pockets where we are touring and the more I read about it the more I felt we needed something better than my normal purse or Bryan keeping things in his wallet.)  I talked to Disney the other day and our Adventure package we are using for touring is full already!  They were taking 40 people in the group and he said they filled up quickly.  It's kind of an experiment for them to use Adventures by Disney along with the cruise.  He said once the new ship Disney is building is done and they have a ship permanently in the Med. they will probably mix both of them again.  

Well, the other big news of the week is my BIG 40th is on Saturday!  Hard to believe, really.  Bryan and I have talked about trading the Suburban in (okay, I've talked about it TO Bryan) and yesterday when he came home from work early he told me we were going over to get the car I have been talking about!  Yay!  Anyway...we went over and after finding out we could get a great trade in price on the Suburban I picked out a new Traverse!  I love it!  It should take 4 to 6 weeks to get here.  Of course, I picked black. I can't help it...I just can't see myself loving anything more than black.  I wonder if that makes me totally boring?  haha.  I have read somewhere that people who pick the color black for their cars are introverted and somewhat antisocial.  I guess that would fit me a little bit.  More as I get older, that's for sure!  :)

I am looking forward to the weekend though...Jessie is coming home and we haven't seen her for a couple of weeks.  I told Bryan that for my birthday I wanted all of us to go to eat and a movie.  That sounds kind of boring to most people but we rarely ever go out to eat as a FULL family unless we are on vacation and we never go to the movie together anymore.  I have to drag Bryan to a theater so I have to make it something I really want to see.  (Of course, since we are all going I have to pick a kids movie so I guess I'm limited!  haha)  Think Avatar is considered kid friendly?  ;)  I guess not.

Glad it's March

It's been a normal busy week here in the Beck house.  Lots going on as usual.  Spent the weekend being kind of lazy, which was wonderful!  Jessie came home which made it all the more wonderful.  Bryan took pity on me and took a turn with the boys and their swimming commitments and spent the weekend in St. Louis for the Ozark Championships.  Landon qualified to swim the mile and Payton qualified in a couple of back strokes and a free style and he also swam 4 relays.  Doesn't sound like much but the swims are all spread out over a few days so it's A LOT of waiting around with a packed house.  Exhausting actually.  Landon ended up cutting his time again which was awesome.  Payton had an up and down weekend.  The bad news was that he and the three boys he was swimming his relays with were on the pool deck and because of all of the chaos they actually missed their swim!  (Bryan said that Coach Steve was so mad at them that he almost sent them all home. haha)  The great news was that he qualified for the finals swim in one swim and came out with an A time!  His first and he's been working on it for over a year...so it was wonderful for him.  We keep telling him if he was a little more consistent with practices he'll have a bunch of A times.  We'll see.  Part of his problem is his mother.  :)   It's hard to get him to practice 5 to 6 times a week when we are so busy and there is so much going on!  OH WELL...we'll just keep doing our best.  ;)

Parent teacher conferences were last week and after hitting all 4 schools and meeting with a ridiculous number of teachers, all seems to be well with the kids and their grades.  I did hear something fun about Hadley from her Alert teacher though.  She attends Alert once a week for half a day and at the beginning of the day they get a sheet of "thinkercises" and it's full of mysterys or puzzles (that kind of thing).  She told me that Hadley does so well on them that the class has made it almost a challenge to knock her out of the top three in the class because she's been there all year.  I thought that was pretty cool...especially since she has never told me that and the teacher said it's an honor.  :)   

Today should be a little hectic because we are having our last team meeting with Matt!  I'm excited and a little worried all at the same time.  I am so ready to move forward with Evan though!!  He's still doing great and talking to everyone he sees which is fun but is starting to concern me as well.  On Sunday we were walking down the hallway together and an older sister in the Ward walked by and said hello.  He looked at here and said, "You're so small" and just kept saying it!  ugh!  She is short but still.  She kept walking and didn't act like she heard him so who knows....but he's just very blunt and who knows what he's going to say in the future!  hmmm.  He could get a little embarrassing.  haha.

Okay...Evan just woke up so that's going to be it for now.  His new thing to call me is "little girl" so the first words for this morning are, "Hey little girl...good morning".  lol.

Countdown to the Mediterranean!

 89 days until we are in Barcelona, Spain and boarding the cruise to start our amazing 10 day trip (11 if you count another day in Barcelona we are staying after the cruise!) that will take us to so many amazing places I've only dreamed of seeing!  Can you tell I'm excited?! :)
Everything is finished and there is no turning back now...no matter how nerve wracking the thought of flying over the ocean is!  haha.  Somehow we'll make it through that part, I'm sure.  Conner is probably going to have the hardest time with the flight and is already mentioning that maybe Grandpa or Bryan could prescribe something to just knock him out.  I don't think that's going to happen but won't be telling him that.
This blog is really for me and to look back at as a journal type thing so I'm going to ramble about our trip!  It's going to be so neat!  We are flying to Barcelona to board the ship.  After a day at sea we will be in Valleta, Malta.  I have to admit I have never, ever heard of it before the planning for this trip.  We will be doing some kind of power boat trip where we will end up eating at a nice outdoor restaurant on a cliff overlooking the ocean.  Day 3 takes us to Tunis, Tunisia.  I can't remember the excursion for this port at the moment!  oops.  Day 4 is to Naples, Italy where we are going to split up some.  Bryan and the three boys will be traveling to see Capri and the Amalfi coast.  I will be going, along with Stephen and Leslie (I think), to see the ruins of Pompeii.  This is one of the things I want to see the most!  Bryan has already been there and while he loved it, he was excited about doing something different this time.  Day 5 is Civitavecchia, Italy where we are traveling into Rome.  We are going to see the Vatican City, the Catacombs, and the Coliseum!  Oh...and I'm totally looking forward to seeing the Trevi Fountain and make a wish. :)   Oh yeah....the Sistine Chapel should be okay too.  haha.  Day 6 will be La Spezia, Italy where we will be going into Florence.  We'll get to go into see the original statue of "David" although Bryan has said there are many replicas all over the place.  Still!  It seems like it will still be special to me.  The only thing that I'm a tiny bit disappointed in is that we won't be going to Pisa.  I'd love to see the leaning tower but it's pretty far from there and Bryan said it's overrated so I'll have to take his word on it.  I guess if we ever make it back to Europe I can put it on the schedule.  :)   Day 7 takes us to Ajaccio, Corsica where we are doing a historical tour.  Apparently it's Napoleon's hometown.  Day 8 we will be in Villefranche, France where we are going into Cannes and touring the royal palace there.  After all of that craziness we will have a sea day where we will probably collapse from exhaustion!  Hopefully we'll also have time to just breathe and take in the last of a wonderful experience.  We'll debark back in Barcelona the day after and spend the day there where I've booked a segway tour for our whole group!!  The boys are totally excited about it and so am I!  I don't know if I have mentioned this to Bryan's parents yet...so hopefully they are up for it!  haha.  It's basically three hours on a segway checking out the sites of the city.  Should be very neat!
Okay...enough for now.  But I can't wait!!

Conner's 17th birthday!

It's so hard to believe how fast time can fly by.  It is just hard to put into words how amazed I am that my second child is 17 years old today.  It feels like it was just yesterday that we were walking up the steps to find his name on Miss Patty's door on that first day of preschool, or the day of his baptism when Grandma Anderson gave a talk using string to demonstrate our time here on this earth, or starting junior high when I had to sit down with a counselor to pressure her to let Conner go into Algebra 1 (at Conner's insistence) yet he became mute in the meeting and it looked like I was "crazy, pushy mom".  :D   So many memories that feel like they were only yesterday.  

I am so proud of Conner is so many ways.  I don't think I tell him often enough how much he helps me since most of the time I know it feels like I'm nagging him to help more, be more mature, be nicer to his younger brothers and sister, and take more responsibility and initiative in his school work.  He's had to follow in some really tough footsteps (Jessie!) and it's really neat to see Conner coming into his own.  We are starting to see some real maturity from him and I couldn't be happier!  It's so strange but you can actually see that maturity increase daily right now.  He's been so much more helpful with his sibling and especially Evan.  I will find Conner sitting with Evan watching "Veggie Tales" clips or movies all the time.  I know Conner is getting as big of a kick out of them as Evan is which is so cute!  Conner's been so much nicer to his brothers which I know has been something he's had to really work at.  He's been trying harder in school and has shown a real interest in computers which seems like a good fit for him.  He's showing  maturity in his friendships and his testimony.  He's been asking me about FHE and family scripture study and it is coming at a time when I really am struggling with keeping all of that together.  As far as friendships...for the first time, probably ever!,  he actually told us that he wasn't going to a friends house for their monthly/weekly video game all nighter because he didn't feel good about it.  He's just shown us some real maturity and I just love him so much and can't explain how proud I am of the young man Conner is and of the man he is becoming.  We haven't hit perfection yet but we're on the way.  haha!  He's a joy to have in our family and I am so thankful he is a part of our family.  

Happy birthday Conner!

Jessie's hair is back. :)

I forgot to update a picture of Jessie's hair since she has gone back to blonde although I just realized she's in Bryan's birthday picture from a previous post.  Oh well.  It looks really nice although a little darker I think and she's upset there is more strawberry blonde in it than she would like...but it will just have to grow out.  It looks wonderful and it is so nice to see her back as her normal self.  :)

The 40 things I love most about Bryan!

1. my song
2. our children
3. your passion for all kind of music
4. your work ethic
5. your honesty
6. your taste in jewelry! :)
7. that you always put your family first
8. your drive to stay fit
9. your amazing brain
10. your generosity with me
11. your trust in me to "run" our family
12. your love of Disney!
13. the way you light up when you watch one of the kids accomplish something
14. that you always invite the kids along with you when you run errands and love spending time with them
15. your sense of humor
16. your sarcastic outlook that compliments mine
17. your soda addiction because it makes mine look mild. :)
18. that you hate veggies too!
19. your hidden talents that you pretend you don't have...like your ability to draw and write
20. the beautiful poems you've written for me
21. knowing that you can handle any problem that comes up and the feeling of security it gives me
22. hearing you play the piano
23. your persistence to reach all your goals
24. that you have more clothes in your closet than I do. ;)
25. that you always stretch yourself and are always reading different kind of books
26. my favorite gift you've ever given me...Evan's therapy scrap book.
27. that you are generous to your family when help is needed
28. that you passed your musical talent on to our kids
29. your unwavering commitment to exercise
30. that you are willing to try new experiences...like swimming!
31. your love of scuba diving and excitement for the kids to share it, even if they don't. :)
32. your strength, inside and out
33. our similar feelings and views on religion and politics
34. your support of all things Evan, even if it took us a while to get there!
35. your commitment to our marriage
36. your love of cruises
37. your willingness to apologize
38. that you are even more handsome now than you were when we met
39. your patience with me when I am having a bad day...or even week.
40. that you have been an amazing partner, friend, love, and confidant for over 20 years!

I love you Bryan!

Happy 40th birthday!!