Happy Birthday to me!

What an incredible birthday weekend! On Friday, the whole family went up to Cherry Hill. Aaron got some great video of the kids swimming (He will be doing a post about it). We did everything, Teague was so happy to have daddy with us that he wouldn't stop showing off, and he really didn't want to have anything to do with momma. For some reason, the kids couldn't get enough of the mat slides, which was fine with me, it totally reminded me of when I was a kid.

Saturday, my actual birthday, was great. Aaron had to get up early and go to school, so he wasn't there when we woke up at 9:00. I had told the kids on Friday night that we would go buy a box of cereal for each of us in the morning - So we went to Albertson's (in our jammies) and we each got a box of cereal, it was not a tough decision for me, Honeycomb. However, the kids had a much more difficult time deciding, Teague wanted to get the kind that makes you strong, but he couldn't find a good one, so he ended up getting a box of Cookie Crisp. Piper didn't know what she wanted, but she too finally decided on a box of Cookie Crisp. We went home and ate our bowls of cereal. Then we got ready for the day.

Aaron called at about 11:40, and told me that he was on his way home, so we went outside to wait for him. At about 12:00, he called again and told us to come outside, I told him that we were already outside. All of the sudden, Aaron is riding a lavender girls bike down the street - MY BIRTHDAY PRESENT - He looked a little silly, but I was SO excited, I got my bike! And hanging from the handle bars there was a gift bag with...get this..."Dirty Dancing" 20th year special edition DVD inside it.









The kids also gave me their presents that they made, after I got my bike. Piper gave me a little heart box that she had decorated with a heart ring that she made for me inside. Teague gave me a heart box that he had decorated with a purple feather inside.





















So, our whole little family went on a bike ride up to Grammies house. While we were at Grammies, Grandma Wilma asked if we wanted to go to "Lone Star" for my birthday lunch, so we ended up meeting her and Grandpa Paul there at 1:30.



After lunch at home, Teague also gave me a little heart box that he had taped a rubber band onto, he calls it, "in case your toe gets hurt." Then he showed me how to use it.






THEN...We dropped Piper and Teague off at Grammie's at 4:30, so Aaron and I could go on my birthday date. We went and saw the movie "Evening" which I really enjoyed, and so did Aaron (even though he doesn't want to admit it). And then, the best of all, we went to our very favorite restaurant EVER, Caffe Molise If I could only express to you how much we LOVE this place, but I am pretty sure there isn't enough words to do so. So I will just post some lovely pictures of the most delicious food. We save going to this restaurant for special occasions only. The first picture is a dinner roll that you soak in balsamic vinegar and oil. The second is Pomodorie Mozzarella. The third is the house salad. The fourth is Arista. MMMMMMMMMMMM, SO GOOD.





















Sunday after church, we went over to my mom's for my birthday dinner! HOLY HONK! It was so incredibly delicious, I seriously couldn't stop eating: Pork roast, roasted potatoes, cucumbers, pickled carrots, olives, pickled beans, rolls. Then cake and ice cream for dessert.


What a great birthday weekend. I mean really, who could ask for more?

Tradition!

Another Salazar Family Tradition: The Utah Arts Festival. We go every year and we usually skip church and go on a Sunday. This year we met Grammie Annie there and hung around with her.
First Aaron went over the rules with the kids; No talking to strangers, you always have a partner, if you get lost find someone in a uniform etc....






There were a lot of really great booths this year, I especially love the jewelry booths. Every jewelry booth we stopped at Piper would ask if they had any Amber(because her daddy was telling her about Amber on the way to the festival). Again, our friend Marla wasn't there, she wasn't at Living Traditions either, so we are hoping she will be at the Park City Arts Festival.

However.....NO FIRED PICKLES! I was so bitter, you don't understand how much I love fried pickles. So I got french fries. The kids got a slice of pizza from The Pie booth and Aaron got a Garlic Hamburger.



After we ate our lunch, we listened to this guy play an instrument that is sort of like a guitar, I can't remember the name of it, but it has 12 strings, and there are only 2,000 in the USA. Annie actually ended up buying two of the guys CD's. Piper really wanted one. She can just listen to Grammies.





I didn't get anything this year, I usually get something, and neither did Aaron. Teague didn't want anything (that worked out) and Piper got a tied eyed tank top. Grammie bought it for her. Piper and I were in the booth and she decided that was what she wanted and I told her that I didn't have any money (meaning Aaron had the cash in his wallet), so Piper went up to Grammie and said, "My mom needs some money." So Grammie came and bought it for her.



I am so proud of myself! I usually give in and let the kids get their faces painted, but I didn't this year, they always end up looking really crappy.



Unfortunately I wasn't feeling very good, so we didn't stay as long as we usually do. When we decided to go, Teague and I took a rest on the lawn while Aaron and Piper went and filled the water bottles.

It was a really good day.

I am sorry that I have all these posts on one day, but I have a really crappy sinus infection, I actually haven't got much of anything done. Except relaxing. My poor house!

Like Mother....Like Daughter

These are just some cute pictures we got of me and Piper on closing night.

Closing Night

Again, I am such a nerd! During Piper's last curtain call, I started crying!! No, really I did. I just know that feeling of working so hard for so long, then it's all over and you say goodbye and you don't know if you will ever see these people again etc...

I am so proud of Piper. I am so proud of her for working so hard and so proud that she did such an incredible job. I am so happy that she has such a love for performing. She has made so many good friends and had such a great experience. It is really exciting.

I tried to get a picture of her in her froglet costume, but it was really hard, this is the best I could do:
Each one of the 28 cast members got a poster to take home and they all signed each others. I am going to get Piper's framed.



We got a bunch of cute pictures of Piper with her friends, but I just chose a couple to post on the blog. I chose one with her and "the boys" and one with her and Theresa. Piper loves Theresa.



After all was said and done, I had Lyn (a mom) take a picture of our little family.

Cast Party

The cast party was simple yet fun. They served hot dogs, chips, salads and popsicles. Erin (the stage manager) had made some really cute Duckling cookies. It was outside on the terrace at the West Institute, but everyone ended up sitting on the lawn in the shade. Everyone just sat around and ate and talked.

Matinee

Saturday was the last day of Honk. We started off the day with a Matinee. Since Piper slept at Isabel's (which by the way was a success), her mom just dropped both of them off at their call time. Aaron, Teague and I met Piper up there, so we could go to her cast party. As we were sitting in the foyer waiting, Uncle Kent came out. We told him he had to wait for Piper so she could see him. Unfortunately Aunt Mia had to work, so she was unable to come. Piper was very excited to see yet another family member come to her show.

Grandparents are cool

Last night was a very good night for Piper, not only did three grandparents come to the show, but so did Aaron's Aunt and Uncle who are in town from Washington.

When Piper finally came upstairs (she is always the last one...always). She saw Grandpa John (Aaron's dad) and went running to him and gave him a huge hug. It was so sweet. I'm sure she would have done the same with my parents, but she sees my parents nearly everyday, she hardly ever see Grandpa John, so it was a real treat for her. Then she gave Danny and Esther a hug, and my parents a hug. Then we took some pictures.



After we said goodbye to the grandparents, it was time for my to say goodbye to Piper.

She was going to have her very first friend sleepover. She had been so excited ALL DAY long, it was all she could talk about. But....when it was time to say goodbye to Daddy earlier (Only I took her up to the U) she lost it, absolutely lost it. She bawled and bawled, even on the whole car ride up to her show. I finally had to tell her that she needed to stop crying so she wouldn't look silly on stage with swollen eyes.

I tried to say goodbye to Piper, but she was so excited, she didn't seem to care that I was trying to say goodbye, she just wanted to go to her sleepover. Finally, she did the "I love you, but I rock!" sign to me, and that was good enough for me.

It is so cute that she is such a "daddy's girl."

Here is a picture of her and Isabel, they are so ecstatic for their sleepover!

Best teacher EVER!

I have been thinking ever since Piper's show tonight. I don't think that any of my teachers ever came to see me in anything that I did. RUDE!

Tonight I was sitting in the foyer of the Babcock waiting for Piper to come upstairs from the dressing room when Ms. Jessica came walking out of the Theatre! I was so happy to see her. I told her to wait for Piper, because I knew that Piper would want to see her, so she did, and she and her hubby were kind enough to pose for a picture.

When we got in the car Piper said, "I was wondering when Ms. Jessica would come, I wanted her to come most of anyone!" I was so happy for Piper.

Unfortunately Ms. Jessica is not going to be at Sandcastle Academy next year, but luckily she is still going to be teaching.


As I was sitting in the foyer waiting for the show to end and reading #3 in "A series of Unfortunate Events" I suddenly heard, "Hi Momma!" I looked up and there was my little Piper with a froglet friend running to the restroom. So, of course I made them stop for a quick picture.

FREAKING OUT

Okay, I know that I am a little bit nerdy, but this takes the cake. Why is it that spiders are so scary?
Since our lawn mower is still busted, I was outside attempting to make our yard look a little better, I was trimming the forest in the front yard (we have an aspen tree that sprouts miniature aspens all over the yard) And pulling the weeds. I also decided to spray off the house, we have mosquitoes like crazy, so we have to spray the house every once in awhile, especially in the summer. As I was doing all this, the kidlets were in their swimsuits playing in the yard. Piper came up to me and said, "Momma, the spider that likes our front door is back!" There is this Huge spider that hangs out on and around our porch, we just let it be. So, I went to look and sure enough, there he was, so I got the camera and took some pictures.










After I took some pictures, I told Piper that I was going to kill the spider and she started freaking out, so I didn't. I put the camera away and I came back to the front porch to do a little more weeding. THE SPIDER WAS GONE! HOLY CRAP! So I immediately started spraying the house with hopes of drowning the spider. I don't know where he went, but I'm hoping he is no longer. I am still getting the creeps while typing this entry.

When I was all done with the yard I came inside and did a search on the Internet to see if I could find any info on this peculiar spider. and I did find out what kind of spider it is and that he is harmless, however on the site it says that they are as far west as Colorado, I'm in Utah. The spider is called a Phidippus Audax, a Jumping Spider of the family Salticidae.

While I was searching, I found another spider that we have in our basement and around our house, they too freak me out mostly because they look freakin' psycho. They too are harmless. They are called a Sow Bug Killer Spider.

Here are the links:
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/spiders.html
Sow Bug Killer is about 3/4 of the way down the page.

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/spiders2.html
The Phidippus Audax Jumping Spider of the family Salticidae has two pictures, one is about 1/2 down the page, and the other is about 3/4 of the way down the page.

You MAY just get the heebie jeebies while looking at this site, but it is very interesting.

Matinee

Saturday afternoon Piper had a matinee. Aaron's side of the family came, and apparently, they loved it. After the show we all met at Sizzler and had a late lunch, then we had to drop Piper off again for her evening performance. A busy, but good day.

In the picture:
Top row: Aaron, Teague, Grandpa Paul (Aaron's grandpa), Gina (Aaron's sister) Grandma Wilma (Aaron's grandma) Aunt Val (Aaron's Aunt) and Grammie Annie (Aaron's mom).
Bottom row: Josh (cousin), Zac (cousin), Piper & Morgan (cousin).
These cousins are Aaron's sister Gina's kids.