A Valentine's to Remember

This year we had our annual family Valentine's dinner on the 12th because we had a birthday party to attend on the actual day. 

I decided to decorate the night before so the girls could wake up and get excited for the dinner later that night. The dinner went well and I was smart enough to hold off on revealing any candy or presents until after dinner had been eaten.

Actual Valentine's Day started a little unusual. Elise had thrown up the day before so I stayed home from work with her. Sadie excitedly went off to school with her little Valentines for her classmates. 

Elise's stomach was feeling better so we picked up some donuts and ran a few errands before picking Sadie up from school. Elise had been begging to go see Dad at "bayou" (translation: BYU), so we drove the 15 minutes down to him to say hello. The girls were sad when he went back into the Marriott Center for practice so I suggested some Jamba Juice smoothies. As I was turning into the parking lot I noticed the car behind me was coming up on me fast. She noticed- too late- that I had my turn signal on and attempted to get into the lane to her left to avoid hitting me. There was a car there and she swerved sharply back, hitting our rear bumper in the process. 

The funny thing about it all is if she had just stayed in our lane and slowed down she probably wouldn't have hit us. Her car wasn't damaged at all and ours just needed a new rear bumper.

The other driver was an 18-year-old girl who immediately pulled over and jumped out of her car to make sure we were all okay. When she saw I was pregnant she freaked out a little more. My girls actually didn't even notice we were in an accident because it felt like driving over a curb or big pothole. I called Daniel to see his opinion on calling the police, which he insisted we had to do. The girl called her dad and got yelled at. I felt really bad for her but I knew Daniel was probably right to call the police. We waited for about 45 minutes for the police to come. The girl stayed by our van and talked to me and my kids the whole time. She was so apologetic and kept telling me it was all her fault. The police officer that came was super reasonable and calm. She gave the other driver a ticket, made sure we were all okay, and went on her way. My kids still insisted on Jamba Juice so that's where we went. By the time we got back home I brought Sadie to a play date she was late for, put Elise down for a nap and spent the next couple hours on the phone with car insurance companies. This was my first car accident, and man, are they annoying or what? Daniel pointed out that we want a car accident that seems like an annoyance and isn't a tragedy or even the cause of minor injuries. We were all completely fine.

Finally late in the afternoon we headed to our neighbor's birthday party. They had invited a bunch of families from the neighborhood for pizza and cake, a bouncy house in their garage, and various other games. I love birthday parties that involve the whole family. We hung out for a few hours and brought our exhausted kids home for bed.

You're Gonna Hear Me Roar

Sadie is thrilled with her hip hop class. Her favorite thing about it is probably her teacher, Miss Sophie. Actually, no, her favorite thing about it is the freeze dance game they play that Sadie is apparently really good at because she wins every time. But a close second is her energetic and adorable teacher, Sophie. Sadie sticks to Sophie's hip the entire time. After class each week Sadie starts the countdown until the next class. 

Another perk is the contemporary pop songs Sadie learns as a result of class. Both Elise and Sadie now know most of the words to "Roar".

I am really looking forward to the recital in a few months. 

Basketball babymoon

A couple weekends ago I joined Daniel on the road in San Francisco for a little babymoon. Actually I hate that term. So I went on a short trip without the kids while very pregnant. Before I left Sadie told me, "I need to take some pictures so you remember what I look like." Below are a few of those precious pictures. Unfortunately those are the only pictures I have on this post which feature a person looking at the camera. I apologize in advance for all the pictures of sights instead of people. 

After a series of small delays and weird issues (one example: my plane circling for a half hour before landing, then descending to a few hundred feet from the runway-with the wheels out and everything-- and suddenly pulling back up to circle for another 15 minutes) I made it to San Francisco just before Daniel's game against Santa Clara. I walked in to find that Santa Clara's colors are maroon and black. What was I wearing? Maroon maternity pants with a black top. Perfect.

 BYU played terribly in the first half and barely pulled out an overtime win. The picture above on the right is after BYU hit an important 3-pointer towards the end of regulation. The picture on the left is just of typical Juddy position throughout the game. The assistant coaches are well-acquainted with his backside. I discovered that it is very stressful for me when I get to actually watch the game instead of handing out snacks and stopping Elise from running up the stairs. The baby was going crazy in my belly. After the game we went to IHOP with the whole team. We got back to the hotel room after midnight and I crashed hard.

 The next morning we slept in and drove up to San Francisco in pouring rain and drove to some of the sights. Unfortunately rain was the theme of the trip. Oh well. You win some; you lose some. Rather lose on the weather than lose on the basketball court, right? 

We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge and looked across...to see a faint outline of the city in the fog. We ended up at a huge downtown mall for our fun day. We ate a good lunch, got some clothes for the girls, and I had the most delicious Ghirardelli's ice cream sundae ever.

 Saturday morning I got up to meet my friend from high school, Mara. She took me to a spot with delicious brunch. We spent the next few hours catching up on the last 8 years of life and driving around to the sights of SF: the painted ladies (AKA the Full House house- which one was the Tanner's? Kimmy Gibbler's?), the most crooked street in America, the beach, Golden Gate park, and numerous other cool places. I forgot to take a picture with Mara and I in it. It's really too bad that San Francisco was having record rainfall during my trip. I really enjoyed the city and it would have been even more cool without all the rain.

That afternoon BYU barely won again. I was, again, super anxious the whole time. I am kind of glad I have distractions during the games. I think my blood pressure would be through the roof otherwise. The picture below is the only one I got of that game. I think I was trying to get a picture of Daniel doing something funny doing warm-ups.

Daniel's college roommate Jared and his fiancee attended the game as well. Afterwards I hung out with Jared and Katherine while Daniel went back to the hotel to change. Again, no pictures of people! Blame the baby in my belly- it's always her fault. We met Daniel and the team back at the same mall we went to Friday. We ate some dinner and of course I had to get another of the delicious Ghirardelli's sundaes.

Sunday was spent flying back to Utah. Traveling with an entire college basketball team and staff takes so much time! It took all day to get back home. The girls were excited to see us and show us the little presents that I had left for them to open each day. So many thanks to Hill and Ben for watching the girls for us back at home. 

Despite all the laziness and ice cream sundae eating I did, I managed to not gain a million pounds. Although, between my 24 and 28 week doctor appointments I went from measuring 23 weeks to measuring 29 weeks. That's just the baby getting stronger, right?

A lovely waffle, just for me

For the most part recently, I have had no desire to cook. But a couple Saturdays ago I made some delicious waffles complete with Kneaders Caramel Syrup, fresh whipped cream, and strawberries. That's about as fancy as we get around here. Sadie ate 2 whole waffles by herself.

Halfsies

At Sadie's preschool they have a nice little birthday tradition that Sadie has been excited about since the first birthdays happened in September. Since Sadie's birthday is in the summer, I asked her teacher if we could celebrate her half birthday. Her wonderful teacher agreed. Sadie looked forward to this day for the entire month of January. She would frequently ask me to get the calendar out so we could count the days until she celebrated her half birthday at school.

 

So last week on Sadie's half birthday I showed up for the last 20 minutes of class and brought treats. Sadie was so happy. She had gotten to wear the birthday crown all day. Then she stood with her teacher while everyone sang happy birthday. Sadie was thrilled to be celebrated and recognized. She giddily handed out napkins and cookies (that she helped me make) to all her classmates.

PS- Even official 4 1/2 year olds need the occasional afternoon nap

My girls

With Daniel traveling a ton the second half of his season, the girls and I have had lots of alone time. It has actually not been as bad as I anticipated. I find myself wishing I had a few extra months before this baby was due so I could have some fun summer memories before we have to drag a newborn along with us. 

These last 3 are from a wedding reception where the girls danced for 45 minutes. By themselves.

Potty Words

Thanks to preschool, Sadie has been introduced to the idea of potty words. The first thing she reports most days when I pick her up from school is how many potty words the boys said. She now frequently notes if potty words are part of another word. For example, she heard the name Peter and told me "Mom! That has a potty word in it!" While Sadie mostly views these words as abhorrent, she occasionally gets in a silly mood where she utters one of the words and giggles.

A couple months ago at work there was a mass email with erroneous deadliness sent out. There was a follow-up email saying "We apologize for any confusion and incontinence this may have caused." I just giggled and giggled when I read it. I made sure the employees in offices around me noticed it as well. Everyone laughed. A third, and very apologetic, email correcting incontinence to inconvenience was then sent.  I saved the incontinence email in my inbox and read it frequently while I laughed to myself. I finally deleted it today.

So I guess you just never grow out of thinking potty words are funny.

I think I may go un-delete that email.