Happy Birthday to me

So, Saturday was my birthday. It wasn't a big one (that comes in another six years), but Mr. Prefect loved it because it's a double-digit: 44. He loves double numbers.

Game Boy and Beatles Lover were with us the whole weekend again (very nice!). This weekend was also Taylorsville Dayz. The city celebrates with a three-day carnival/fair, fairway rides, free concerts, and fireworks. The big acts this year were an Elvis impersonator and Imagine (a Beatles tribute band). The fireworks happen Friday and Saturday nights after the concerts, and they are amazing. I wonder if maybe the city spends a good 1/4 of the year's budget on those fireworks.

Saturday evening, a very dear friend got married. It was a beautiful ceremony in her parents' backyard with dinner after. We were still able to get home in time to change, grab the kids, and dash to the park for the Beatles tribute and fireworks. We have tried to convince Beatles Lover that she could easily learn to drive my car (2009 Nissan Sentra 6-speed) so that they wouldn't have to wait around for us to go places, but I remember how intimidating the idea of a stick-shift was when I was 16 and a newish driver. But the kids still had time to meet up with friends, get some dinner (pizza at the park, what could be better?), ride some rides, and enjoy themselves immensely.

Mr. Perfect and the kids gave me Wii Fit for my birthday. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Oh no! A man should never give his wife a gift that has to do with exercise or fitness because it's a sign that he thinks she's fat." Not so. This is something I've been wanting for quite some time, so when I opened it, I was so excited. I haven't had time to try it out yet, but I did put the board together before leaving for church Sunday morning.

Sunday evening, we celebrated again with a delicious cheesecake with fresh raspberries and real (yes REAL) whipped cream. I am so loved!

The Saving of the Popcorn

I have a confession to make. I just took the last bag of popcorn from the tin here at work. We have a chocolate jar and a popcorn tin. The chocolate jar has been empty for a good month now. I don't know who usually fills it (probably Boss Girl, but she just hasn't had time to get to the store lately). The popcorn tin, however, is filled by....

ME!

Which means that I am completely justified in taking the last bag, right? In fact, in the last three years, I don't believe anyone else here has contributed to the popcorn tin. Granted, I eat most of it. It is Orville Redenbacher's 94% Fat Free Butter Flavored -- so there's also no guilt involved here.

But can I really call this post The Saving of the Popcorn if all I'm gonna do later is eat it? Is that really saving it? hmmmm....

Happy Father's Day Mr. Perfect!

I think that Mr. Perfect enjoyed Father's Day this year. We had Beatles Lover and Game Boy home for the whole weekend. They even went with me to pick out their gift to their dad. Not bad, considering that they are both teenagers, and you know how they can be. The kids gave him a nice, linen shirt with short sleeves but still dressy enough to wear to work. I gave him a bluetooth for his phone. Now he can be safe whilst talking on the phone in the car and shifting (Dexter, the Xter has a stick-shift) at the same time.

For dinner, we grilled a marinated beef brisket Mr. Perfect had picked out at The Costco. He also chose cauliflower -- not a favorite of the kids (but the dinner wasn't for them, right?) and a lovely salad with enough extra stuff in it to make it a vegetable for the non-cauliflower eating children. Beatles Lover and Most Happy Girl then played 1-1/2 hours of Beatles RockBand while Mr. Perfect took a well-deserved nap.

We also were able to see both of our dads to wish them "Happy Father's Day!" Very satisfying. Indeed, very satisfying.

Genius Child #3 valedictorian!

Yes, I just have to brag a little about my amazing nephew, Genius Child #3. He was valedictorian at his high school graduation. As you can see from the picture, he was decked out with honors and ribbons, and got to speak. (No, I don't know who the mysterious cellist is). This is the third child from this family to arrive at such a destination. (Okay, okay, Genius Child #2 was only salutatorian, missing valedictorian by one AP class). Litle Big Sis and Painter Extraordinaire sure know how to do children.

Freaky Utah weather

The weather here in Utah has been pretty bizarre this spring. Although I'm not entirely sure you could call what we just went through spring. Sure, we passed through the months of March, April, and May, but I doubt that May saw more than a handful of days over 65 degrees. We're more used to having two weeks of spring in late March/early April, and Zing! right on into summer.

What this all means is that our garden is growing at a very slow pace. We've planted sugar peas, carrots, beans, squash (no, not zucchini), cucumbers, and tomatoes. Everything is finally starting to show up through the dirt, except the cucumbers, which I have to admit we did not plant good and comely spot of the vineyard (hmmm....sounds like a Book of Mormon reference, doesn't it?). I'm most excited about the beans.

One perk from the freaky weather is that last night, Mr. Perfect and I were driving home from a family party in Lehi and the lightning storm was really cool. On the downside (aside from the slowness of the veggie growth) will be the gas bill, because it just kind of sucks to have to have the heater in the house still running in MAY!

More leaving Las Vegas

More pictures from the trip. Something I forgot to mention was that because Mr. Perfect is a structural engineer, the one thing he really wanted to to in Vegas was go to the top of the Stratosphere. So we did. It was a BLAST! We even did one of the rides. *gasp!*

Leaving Las Vegas

Here are some pictures from the temple in Las Vegas.

Mr. Perfect acting a little too much like Psycho Wunderhund