Mini road trip..

We drove Tiffany half-way home last night. We met her family in Malad, just over the border into Idaho (or as my children say, Hide-a-ho).  It made for a nice Sunday drive.  And for whatever reason my children were thrilled that we were going into a different state.  Jake in particular loves watching for the "now leaving..." and "Welcome to..." signs.

As we crossed the border back into Utah we had the following conversation:

Jake: Are Utah and Idaho in a dispute?
Me: No. Why do you ask?
Jake:  There seemed to be a gap between the states, like where you leave Idaho and enter into Utah. I thought maybe it was a kind of neutral zone...
Brian (while snorting): No, if there is a gap it's just where the signs were placed.
Me: Yeah, don't worry. We aren't going to war or anything with Idaho...
Brian: But if we did we would definitely win.
Me: Unless the weapon was the potato gun. Then they would totally kick our butts.
Jake: Well, if we do go to war with Idaho we have to make sure to get Tiffany, Steven and Kaia out before the fighting starts...

Girl time!

Okay, the details of our fun day out:

I got up and went to the gym early. When I got back Tiffany was awake...

...but Caite (who had spent the night) required a little torture persuasion that it was time to get up.

This is me telling her it's time to be happy!

This is my response when she said she didn't want to.

Once she decided we weren't going to leave her in peace she got up and we all got ready. 

First stop was haircuts. I decided that I was ready for a change and tired of fighting my hair every morning.  Tiffany wanted to even out her layers (which took an amazingly long time... that girl has a ridiculous amount of hair...) and Caite just had hers washed and styled. 

Then we went for pedicures. Caite and I went with holiday colors. Mine are green and Caite's are gold.  Very St. Paddy's, don't you think? (I am kicking myself for not getting all of our toes in one picture.)

After pedicures we went shopping! Clothes shopping is so much more fun when you don't have tired children or an irritated spouse waiting around for you. I found some new shirts, a fun pair of starfish earrings that just seemed to scream "SUMMER!" to me, and a new wallet. 

Then it was time for lunch at Cafe Zupas.

Caite and Tiff enjoying their chocolate covered strawberries.

This is my "Why are you torturing me with chocolate?" face. Don't worry. I didn't eat any of it...

I did lick the smallest of crumbs off my fingers after I sat it down though.  That can't be too many calories right?

After lunch we went to see a chick flick that we knew our husbands would never want to see. Beastly, a modern day retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I wasn't sure for the first little bit, it seemed like it was going to be a really dumb, teen angst-y type of show. But it got better, and overall I enjoyed the show. It was very much a "I love love stories"  kind of moment.

Then it was on to more shopping until we were literally dropping.  We were all exhausted by the time we got home late, but oh it was so much fun.  

Happy Birthday girls! It was fun to share our celebration together. 

So much fun it killed me...

Today was an all day Girl's Day Out! We had so much fun, but I am done in and will have to give you the details tomorrow. I don't think I can be coherent tonight...

Toddler Warpaint

My kids love cheese flavored chips and snacks.  Lila got some today to keep her happy while she was drug around on errands. (I firmly believe in bribing my children for good behavior...)

When we got out of the car at home we discovered that she'd wiped the cheese that had stuck to her hands across her face.  It reminded me of a little of Braveheart.

"Ye can change my diapers, but ye'll never take my Cheetos!"

Birthday Weekend!

Caitlin, Tiffany and I are celebrating our birthdays together this weekend. Mine was 2 weeks ago, Caite's is this week and Tiff's is next week. We are have a girl's weekend of shopping (i.e. taking as long as we want to try things on without husbands or children in tow, and getting honest and helpful feedback... not just "Yah- that looks good too."), getting pedicures and hanging out.

Tonight we went out to dinner because it is my day off on the diet. We had Indian food. Oh my, so good. We had chicken madras, chicken kurma and lamb biriyani. I ended with a delicious dessert of Kulfi (a homemade ice cream with pistachios, cashews and cardamom).  Eating out has become such a treat for me that everything I eat just tastes amazing! I guess the old saying that hunger is the best  sauce is true.

We plan on spending tomorrow hanging out and sewing and crafting, and then on Saturday we'll hit the stores. Yay for a fun weekend of girl time with great gals!

Too much Mickey...

Today while we were driving Lila dropped her book in the car just out of reach. After the initial fussing she started mumbling something I couldn't quite understand.  Then, sounding very indignant, she said, "Mom! The handy helpers not get my book for me! Where are they?!"  I turned to Brian and said, "I think she's watching too much Mickey Mouse Clubhouse..."

I don't mind that she has become a Mickey fanatic. I think it's cute that she pretends to call Donald and Goofy on the phone. I like that she's learned most of her shapes, colors and numbers from watching this show. I'm a little concerned that now every time she has a problem she stops and calls out, "Oh Toodles!"

Temptation thy name is chocolate!

Today I feel like Miss Hannigan's less nice sister. My children would probably agree wholeheartedly with that assessment.  I am counting the minutes until bed time... mine or theirs, either would be fine.

On days like this my normal recourse would be to eat some chocolate. (Mmmm, medicinal chocolate... I know all you ladies out there know what I'm talking about...) That's not an option today, which is really not helping with my bad mood. Today is the first time since I've started the diet that I've really struggled with emotionally driven hunger.  I can recognize it for what it is, but that doesn't make it any less crappy to deal with.  I swear the devil on my shoulder is a piece of devil's food cake, and the angel is angel food cake, straight out of a cartoon. They are going to reduce me to tears!