Night O Fun ... and more!

I'm feeling very loved today :). You see, it's my birthday, and we've been celebrating for about 24 hours now. And the party hasn't stopped yet!

Yesterday Jarad kidnapped the kids and me for a Night O Fun. He planned it all out and surprised us all!



First we went to Red Robin and filled up on lots of fried food. It was the best. Always a gamble whether the twins will make it through dinner. We give it a go about every six months to see how they'll do. Last time was an utter disaster. They made it through ordering, but Jarad was out in the car with the twins before the food was even delivered to the table. They brought it to me and I had to immediately ask for take-away boxes. But last night was a dream! They both did great and loved their pizzas :).

Next was a stop at Mesa Riverview Park (to kill time on the way to our next adventure). I got some cute pics of the kids, and it was a great opportunity to let them run around and get their wiggles out before our next surprise, which was...

Wall E at the drive-in movie theatre! You think we're crazy for going to a drive-in in the middle of July in Arizona? Slightly. It was warm when we got there, but the storm that blew over Mesa and Gilbert also blew some cool breezy air our way. It was cool to watch the lightning behind the screen, and we were glad the storm didn't make it out to Scottsdale! The kids had a blast - their first drive-in. There was so much going on that it took us about 45 minutes to figure out where everyone wanted to sit, who was too hot to sit in the car, who wanted snacks. And who wanted to watch Wall E. Problem with drive-ins is that you can see all the other screens. So Case was more interested in Space Chimps, Jarad probably would rather have watched Hancock. Emma had her eye on Mamma Mia... you get the picture. But about halfway into the movie we had all settled and enjoyed watching Wall E and Eve save the planet.

It was great fun!

Today I had a nice lengthy lunch date with my awesome sisters-in-law. It's rare we get to sit and chat without a million kids running around (OK between the four of us there are only 14 kids ... only ... but sometimes it seems/sounds like a million). It was a great afternoon.

And as we speak, Jarad is at Cold Stone picking up my birthday cake. Nice way to round off the 24-hour celebration!

Thanks to everyone who has called and sent cards to wish me well!

One-word survey

OK one more of these posts, then I'm done for today. I got this survey via email from my friend Victoria and thought it would be fun to post here. Now copy it and post on your blog!

The catch is that you can only use one word for your answers.

REMEMBER - ONLY ONE WORD

1. Where is your cell phone? -- dead

2. Your significant other? -- Jarad

3. Your hair? -- blondish

4. Your mother? -- happy

5. Your father? -- wise

6. Your favorite thing? -- family

7. Your dream last night? -- odd

8. Your favorite drink? – water?

9. Your dream/goal? – salvation :)

10. Room you're in? – bank (don’t ask)

11. Your hobby? -- reading

12. Your fear? – losingkids (one word, right?)

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? -- here

14. Where were you last night? -- home

15. What you're not? -- angry

16. Muffins? -- chocolatechip

17. One of your wish list items? -- lens

18. Where you grew up? -- anchorage

19. The last thing you did? -- read

20. What are you wearing? -- tee

21. Last person you talked to? -- Case

22. Your pets? -- nope

23. Your computer? -- laptop

24. Your life? -- full

25. Your mood? -- bored

26. Missing someone? -- Mom

27. Your car? – minivan (stop laughing)

28. Something you're not wearing? -- makeup

29. Favorite store? – shopping?

30. Your summer? – over :(

31. Love someone? -- kids

32. Your favorite color? -- green

33. When is the last time you laughed? -- minute

34. Last time you cried? -- Thursday

Curti Memories

I just left a comment on my friend's blog who did this, and thought I'd give it a go here. I don't know how many people even read this thing, so here goes...

Directions: Leave a comment on my blog about a memory of you and I together (that's either me, Katie, or someone in the Curti). It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, just whatever you remember! Then repost this on your blog to see who leaves comments for you!

Could be fun, right? C'mon just humor me! :)

Is it time already?

The unavoidable is here. I've put it off as long as I can. It's time to potty train the twins. I waited until we were done with all our road tripping (for obvious reasons), but alas... it is time.

And I'm totally dreading it! I have no idea what I'm doing!

You see, with our older kids we had this wonderful secret weapon in our arsenal. Her name is Christy. She watched our kids while Jarad and I both went to work. So in all honesty, she did the majority of the potty training, and I am FREAKING OUT about having to figure out how to do it, two at a time! Christy, if you're out there, HELP! (Christy is also a mother to triplets, so she knows exactly what I'm going through here)

Tess is actually driving this effort. I knew it was coming, but she has gotten up the last two mornings in a row, taken off her diaper and gone potty on the Dora Potty (I love having to give "potty candy" to kids at 7 a.m.). So today I busted out those thick training panties and she has only had one teeny accident so far. Go Tessie!

Case, on the other hand, is fighting it tooth and nail. I coaxed him into wearing a pull-up, but twice already today I've put him on the potty, he sits and sits and finally says "I can't." Both times I've taken him off the potty and was getting ready to put his pull-up back on and he pees on the floor. So I dediced to try to bribe him with Scooby Doo underpants. "Don't pee on Scooby! He'll be so sad!" He just peed on Scooby.

So that's day one. And it's only 1 p.m. I have a feeling I'll have more stories in the coming weeks, so if you're sensitive to yarns about bodily functions, you might want to take a break from The Curti.

Wish me luck!!

Newfound respect

I have always had a deep respect for my husband. In his innate sense for what's right. In his patients with our kids (and others'). In his beyond-his-years wisdom.

Now it's gone even further.

He invited me to do a swim workout with him the other day. I cannot hang! I swam a couple of laps and was sucking in air, holding on to the edge of the pool, willing myself to just ... swim ... one ... more ... length! I can't believe these crazy triathletes who get out in open water, where there are no lane lines and no walls to hang onto. Who knows WHERE in the heck the bottom is! They swim 1/2 mile, a mile, and longer with no options to stop or hang on!

So my props go out to Jarad and my sister Kristin (who recently placed 2nd in a half-ironman and has a sponsor!) and all those other insane triathletes out there. More power to ya. I'll stick with my pool swim, thank you very much.

Emma's growing up!

A few indicators that Emma isn't my little baby anymore:

1. She lost yet another tooth, in the car on the way from McCall to Orem. The tooth fairy had to come to Grandma and Grandpa's house.


2. She insisted on cutting her Rapunzel hair as soon as we returned from our trip. I held off as long as I could. It's cute though! As soon as her hair was short again, we started getting the "she looks JUST like Mary Kate & Ashley!" comments.


3. She is officially online. She has started her own blog: especiallyemma.blogspot.com. Check her out (she's also on my list now). I helped her with layout and her first post and now she's an addict. Much like her mama. "This is soooo cool Mom! I'm onLINE!!"

McCall Madness!

The second week of our trip was spent in McCall, Idaho with my side of the family for a reunion. McCall is this fantastic little town on Payette Lake about 2 hours north of Boise. We have twice been lucky enough to rent this house with enough room for 35 people, two kitchens and its own private beach and dock. We are so bummed this is the last summer they will rent it out, though, since the couple who owns it will be living there full time when they come home from their mission in January.

Anyway, we spent the week getting to know each other again (it's been four years since our last reunion, and we are spread out all over the West) -- tubing and wakeboarding (I only went tubing thank you very much), fishing, doing puzzles, watching my brother Mark's slideshows of the day's activities :), playing water volleyball, and just sitting around on the beach/dock. We even found time for some spirituality with a Sunday meeting where Mom and Dad shared experiences from their mission, and a great testimony meeting around the campfire on our last night there. Although I spent much of the meeting wrestling Teslin and trying to keep her quiet, I was still able to feel the spirit so strongly and it was wonderful to hear testimonies from my parents, brothers and sisters, my aweseome in-laws and even a few of the nieces and nephews. We just don't get a chance to share those kinds of things with each other, so I'm so grateful we made the time to have a testimony meeting. I hate the end of a reunion because I feel so close to everyone by the end of the week and then that closeness gets lost so quickly when we get back to daily life. Especially the closeness to the nieces and nephews because who wants to text thier fuddy-duddy old auntie, or read her blog??

Anyway, sorry to get morose. I just want to say thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make this reunion happen. We all had so much going on and everyone pitched in to make it an awesome week! My poor brother Matt, whose Alaskan skin hadn't seen the sun in, well, maybe ever, got a serious sunburn early in the week. He developed blisters the size of golf balls on his shoulders and back. It was unreal.

Here are some pics of the fun!

My niece Jayme was so great with the little kids. She has so much energy, it was great to "let" her play with the kids and get them all run down (Jayme included).


Our last night there was Fourth of July. We were all geared up to watch the fireworks display the town put on in the middle of the lake. Alas, all we could see were some sparks behind the trees. I guess the shoreline turns more than we thought! But Trent and Josh (with help from Bridger and even Jarad) put on a show of their own. Here's Emma and Fisher watching the amazing display :).


We all converged on Caryn and Mark in Boise the night before we went to McCall. Emma and Payton picked up right where they left off four years ago with craziness in the pool. You can tell neither of them like having their picture taken!


Tubing buddies Gabe, Coleman and Fisher. These guys would have rode the tubes 24/7 if we had let them. They kept asking for more turns and more speed. Crazies.


Emma's fish. The guys found this great lake for family fishing about 10 minutes up the road from the house. The kids were pulling them out! And by the way, that isn't sunburn on Emma's face - it's colored zinc sunblock.


Fisher's fish.


Case's fish.


This is the twins asleep around 7pm on our last night there. They were just plum tuckered at the end of every day, but at the end of a week of nonstop fun, they just crashed. I felt the same way!