Conference Brunch

Last year we had a gathering before General Conference. We enjoyed it so much we decided to do it again. We worried about the weather a little after the snow on Friday but things turned out. It was kind of fun to throw a party with our neighbors too--we had twice the chairs, tables, and help setting up. Heather also made some impressive cinnamon rolls that really made the food spread amazing.

Clarks

Calderon and Curtis Families

Rose family and more Clarks

Sara, Christy, and the Hull Family

Mary and Lacey with Dan in the background

It was a fun morning. Everyone brought something to share. There was quite a bit of tasty food when all was said and done. The kids enjoyed the ride on toys and running around the backyard. A few played inside when they got too cold. I love having parties especially when there isn't too much cooking involved!

General Conference Weekend

Don't let this cute carpet picnic fool you...

I'm pretty sure they were only on their best behavior for about 10 mintues. David managed to list a few of the prophets off the chart I spent hours making.

I did have moments of peace and feeling uplifted in between the noise from two little boys.

Goldman Gala

...this event is also called "dental school prom" by many. I didn't even know it existed the first year--Brad's probably appropriate retort was "I didn't tell you because I knew you wouldn't have wanted all that pressure to find a dress two months after having William." The second year we just didn't feel like shelling out the money. This year we decided we'd better try it out so we could at least say we went to one!

We were able to ride to the fancy hotel with our friends the Clarks. Of course the men reverted to dental talk in the car but us women quickly changed the subject since we didn't want to spend a special night out talking about root canals and school (sorry guys!)

They really knew how to put on a nice evening, but I suppose they better have done a good job for the ticket price! There was the social hour with impressive looking and tasting h'odurves. Next it was one of the most beautiful and tasty dinners I've been to in a long time.

Brad and I at dinner.

A flower arrangement at dinner.

Charles and his fiance Nicole.

The lovely Lindsay, it was really nice to talk with her over our meal.

Mark and Nancy.

Brad has been very fortunate to have some wonderful friends. Dental school is a lot like high school in the sense that you spend inordinate amounts of time with your classmates. Might has well enjoy it.

After we finished our dinner it was onto the dancing...

Dean Hutter dancing with his wife. This guy is the nicest. I've always been so impressed each time I meet him at a social function or at the dental clinic. He remembers me and our kids. Brad says he literally runs around the dental school with a sort of boyish excitement. He is very in touch with the students and apparently not afraid to dance either.

Us and the Clarks

Jeff and Cheryl Clark again--we'll miss them dearly.

Cheryl has been the sort of person I can (and have) called at all hours of the day or night. Jeff has been a great resource and friend to Brad too.

Some other friends--it looks like Lindsay and John are heading onto the dance floor and that maybe Tamsen and Melissa are trying to convince Melinda to go as well. Melinda's husband Derek was a dancing maniac but she was a little more reserved.

Brad and I danced a bit and it was fun but I had the odd sort of feeling that I was 17 and at a church dance. This feeling was strong and I wasn't the only one there who admitted to it. Maybe we need to get out more?

A nice little tooth sculpture.

I really did enjoy the chance to get out with Brad alone and meet some of his friends. Sometimes it can be a bit awkward tagging along as the wife in a world you aren't completely familiar with. It helped that I'd met many of the people before and there were lots of other students who brought their special someone. I noticed a 4th year girl who brought her husband. He did something admirable but simple for a living and I really related to him and could tell he felt a little uncomfortable too. I guess we all can't be dental students! :)

April Fools Day--No Joke

A friend of mine titled her snowy April Fool's post "Mother Nature Thinks She is Sooo Funny" and that is the cold truth. You might think these photos were from our epic winter but think again...they were taken April 1st. No lie.

I'm sure many of you are thinking "Deidre, just STOP complaining about the weather!" I feel bad but I can't help it. It affects my mood. Even though I acclimate pretty quickly (60's are warm now instead of 80's or 90's) I still compare what I grew up with (March= spring and April is quite warm) as normal. Maybe we all compare where we grew up with where we end up living...for better or for worse!

The snow didn't stay around for long. It melted and we were even able to have a party in the backyard on the weekend.

I'm glad we weren't here on April 1 1997 when mother natured dumped 2 feet of snow on Boston! A few inches seemed much more manageable.

Everyday Happenings

I always have to throw in a "normal" post to level things. I tend to blog about fun, funny, or more-interesting-than-the-usual events. Most of our life is messes, chores, errands, saying NOOOO! 400,000 times a day, and so on. Here is a fun photo of David hugging William. Cute and trouble all rolled into one.

Here is a picture of David talking on the phone to his Grandma Kathy. He is so used to Skype that he assumes she can see what he his doing when he isn't talking to her on the "computer phone." On this day David was driving his bus over an animal puzzle road that he had made. He was intently showing her what he was doing. I had to take a picture so Grandma could see.

Sorry buddy no Skype until you can make your case for an iPhone 4...

Just another day!

St. Patrick's Day

If you know me at all you've probably already heard that I really REALLY like St. Patrick's Day. I was very upset the year Easter landed at the end of March (not that I don't love the true Easter) and I could barley celebrate March 17th because apparently it isn't a holiday to most.

St. Patrick's Day this year was about as far away from Easter as it could possibly get!

The little leprechauns visited our house again. This time they brought some actual chocolate candy coins to go along with the fakey ones. David and William aren't known to sleep in but by some stroke of Irish luck they didn't arise until the leprechauns had finished their work.

David excitedly emerges from his room.

William got right down to business and started eating the coins up before he even followed the little trial.

I didn't make a green breakfast so we had green plates and bowls instead.

If you really follow this blog well you'll notice that we celebrate every holiday by wearing our Christmas pajamas.

The boys and I "leperchauned" a few neighbors. They had a lot of fun lying the little coins out but we got caught at 3 out of 4 of the houses.

The weather turned out to be beautiful and spring like. We spent a long morning at the playground with friends. I can't remember the last time the weather permitted us to get out like that. It was treat.

And finally, we had some good friends over for corned beef and potatoes. I forget if cabbage was involved but it was tasty and fun.

Can you spot the non-green wearing person?

Cupcake Wars

I borrowed (read--stole) an idea from a few friends who had successfully thrown a wonderful Cupcake Wars inspired birthday party. I have four good friends who had recent birthdays (three of them during the same week!) so it was a perfect theme.

Most of the guests brought cupcakes to enter into the competition and this is what the spread was beautiful. And HUGE. Don't underestimate how quickly you get full after eating several tiny cupcakes. Must. Have. Milk.

It was really amazing to see what everyone brought. They were all different. I hadn't ever heard of most of these types of cupcakes before.

We opened a few gifts first.

l to r: Eliza, Akayleia, Lacey holding Jenna's baby Landon, and Jenna

But then the party really got started.

Akayleia might have failed to shove that entire cupcake into her mouth but it was just a snippet of how the night went. I honestly have not had that much fun since high school. I mean that in a good way. There was some WILD giggling going on. I suppose that is what happens when you get a bunch of Mom's together after kids bed time and supply infinite amounts of sugar. :) I'm already wondering if we should do it again next year.

We had the birthday girls judge the cupcakes. Every participant got an award. Some of them were for cutest and best decorated. Others were for "fits in your hand but not in your mouth" (wonder who got that award) or Next Stop Food Network, Julia Child in Disguise and so on.

We voted for our favorite cupcakes and picked a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Embarrassingly, my cupcakes won first place. I blame Noelene's lemon curd filling. Even though I made the cupcakes Brad had made the filling and it just wasn't right for me to take the credit. He got to get in on the award action too.

Heather came in what I'm assuming a close second. She made two different types of cupcakes that were out of this world.

And Lacey came in third with her delectable cupcakes.

Yum. Fun. What more could you ask from a birthday party? I'd say it was a success!

A photo of the whole crew. Watch out! We bake cupcakes.