My Talented and Nice Sister

We spent Memorial day with Layne and her family and at some point she said something to the effect of "I'm so lame, but I don't have your birthday present ready." I told her she didn't need to do anything, but she said it screamed my name. I saw her on Saturday (5 days later) and she gave me the gift. She made me a really cute bag. She knows I love blue and this was the perfect material for me. Now I want a bigger one to use as the kid's Sunday diaper/toy bag.



Layne is so thoughtful of others and I'm glad that she has taken the time to develop her talents, because I've been a lucky recipient many times. I need to be more like her and be more willing to even try new things. Thanks so much for thinking of me. I love you.

P.S. - This was first thing my neighbor noticed when I walked into Sunday School today and she said, "Where did you get that....you're sister made that...what does she charge?"

Oh, My! I'm 37.

On Friday, I turned 29...no, wait...that was the date...I turned 37, YIKES! Charl planned a fun day for me. Charl left work early and we went golfing at Talon's Cove in Saratoga Springs. I put Holly down for a nap and sent Anders and the baby monitor over to Brooke's and she graciously watched the kids. (Holly slept the whole time.) We played 9 holes and it was so fun. I last golfed nearly 2 years ago when I was pregnant with Holly so I wasn't sure what to expect of my game. But, I was pleasantly surprised when my first drive (perfectly straight) landed in the middle of the fairway. I managed to play fairly well (for me) and I ended the round with a par on the par 5 9th hole. My third shot was just a few feet short of the green and I chipped to within a foot of the hole and tapped it in for my par. I normally get triple bogeys or worse on par 5's, so it was a fun way to end the round. Charl also did great on the final hole as well...he was on the green in 3, but managed to 3 putt from about 10 feet, but his approach shot was the shot of the day. (He claims he needs a new putter.) We were both excited that we only lost 1 ball each. I really liked this course with it's gorgeous views of the lake and mountains. There's nothing quite like the peaceful feeling of being out on the golf course. I guess this is why I like golfing so much. This was the perfect birthday present.



Then we raced back home, packed the kids in the car and took them to Orem where Teresa watched them while we went to a movie. We say Disney's new 3-D movie "Up". It was such a great movie. We didn't have time to eat before the movie started so we snacked on popcorn during the movie and then we got take-out (thai salad) from California Pizza Kitchen and a small chocolate ice cream cake from Coldstone. We took our food back to his parent's house and ate and had a mini celebration with the kids, Teresa, and grandpa.

Over Mother's Day weekend we had a Louw family BBQ at our house on Saturday since we all couldn't be together on Sunday. It was a perfect day up until 5 pm when the winds picked up and it got a little chilly. (That, of course was our designated start time.) We moved the grill in the garage (due to the flame being blown out by the wind), grilled some dogs, burgers and chicken and had a wonderful feast. We ended the night with a little guitar hero. Fun times!

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"Holly's A Cat!"

Last week while I was showering, I left the kids to their own devices, which meant Holly pulling makeup and hair clips out of the drawers and Andersen sliding in the bathtub (none of this is out of the ordinary). Not too long into the shower Andersen starts yelling, "Holly's a cat." I wasn't paying close attention to him the first 3 times he said this and when I finally realized what he was saying, I looked at Holly and this is what I saw.

Andersen is Three

Andersen celebrated his 3rd birthday this week. We've had 3 different "mini-parties" per say and there's still one more to come. On his actual birthday, our family just stayed home and had hot dogs and hamburgers. We had him open some presents. He got a jungle toy from Mom and Dad, a Mack truck from Holly, and a Care Bear Movie granny Ann. He was too involved with his new toys that he didn't want to go out for ice cream as we had planned.

Friday was the second and third birthday celebration. In the morning, Granny and Grandpa Louw took him to the Thanksgiving Point Farm. (Mom and Holly tagged along.) He got to see a bunch of farm animals and he even got to pet a goat and a rabbit. The first animals we went to were the sheep and Holly got a big fright by a sheep that "baaaaaaahhhhed really loud right in her ear. She would have jumped right out of the stroller had she not been strapped in...needless to say, she wanted to be held the rest of the time and observe the other animals from a safe distance. As we walked around some more, Anders kept asking, "Where's the cow?" We did manage them, though the big cows were being lazy and sleeping way in the back of their shady pen, but Granny and Anders got to feed corn to the cute little calf. Anders went on his first pony ride...a true cowboy and since we had 3 more tickets to use up, grandpa stayed behind with the stroller while the rest of us went on a wagon ride pulled by 2horses, which was also fun. After visiting the animals we went to the restaurant there and got a sandwich and Anders got a mini ice-cream cone. Grandpa was a big help maintaining the "dripping" factor. Good thing we just got the free mini size or else the mess would have been even greater.

The third celebration was Friday evening. Layne brought Marin, Natalie, and Seth over for dinner and cake and ice cream. (Rich & Turner were on Father and Sons campout.) So between the farm and dinner, I had to make the birthday cake and pizza. Good thing the kids napped and it all went faster than I thought it would. The pizza was delicious and the cake was cute. We had a fun visit and the Bushell's got Anders some fun gifts...more Cars. He got Doc Hudson as the crew chief and Ramone. He was so excited. They also got him a Spaghetti Factory playdough set and all the kids had fun playing with that. He also got a scooter from mom and dad and granny Ann.

Thanks to everyone that made Andersen's day a special one! Here's a slideshow of all three events combined. Enjoy.

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A Visit from Yo

Charl's roommate from his single days in California, Yo, was in Utah for a visit. He came to Sunday dinner with us at Charl's parents. His mom made a yummy "post birthday" dinner with salmon, chicken and too many other items to list. For dessert she made a coconut cake soaked in jello, topped with pudding and berries. Very delicious! Since we didn't sing Happy Birthday at the restaurant, we put a candle in this cake and sang away. This, of course, was Andersen's favorite part of the meal.

The anticipation....Andersen is dying to get that cake.

Blow. We didn't make it too tough for him this year!

Yo was so cute with Holly and Andersen. Holly has been so attached to me lately and has not wanted anyone else to hold her for a long few months. When we got to Granny's house, Granny was on the phone with an important call, trying to get dinner put together and 2 minutes after we arrived their home teacher comes for a visit, unbeknown to her. So I took over in the kitchen prepping food, and handed Holly off to Yo expecting a major meltdown. The meltdown never happened and she went to him many times throughout the evening. (It looks like Holly likes people again.) I even think Yo forgave her for "leaking" on his sweatshirt. Oops, I meant to change her diaper as soon as we had arrived. Sorry about that! We had fun spending the evening with Yo.

Charl's Happy 37th!

Charl turned 37 last Friday. I'm not very good at getting cards...mostly because I don't like to write in them, so I made a video instead and had him watch it before he left for work. I think he enjoyed it.



The Story of the Day: The plan for the day was to have everyone (Louws and Pews), meet for dinner and ice cream at Emmett and Ethel's, a gourmet hamburger and ice cream shoppe in Lehi. It just opened up a little while ago and we wanted to try it. But before dinner and while Charl was work, I had to get the present ready. A week before his birthday, his mom asked him what he wanted for his birthday. He didn't really give an answer, but a day later he made a list and e-mailed it to his family. Then his mom called me for help on making a decision. That's when I told her that the thing he would be most excited and surprised about getting is a basketball hoop, which was NOT on his list. (Ever since we've been married -almost 4 years- he's been dreaming of getting a hoop.) But, I said that I'd only get it if my birthday was included in it as well since it's a pricey gift. I had told my mom about the idea and she said she would contribute to the gift too. Well, my mom nearly ruined the surprise. The morning of his birthday, she e-mailed me and asked if I had gotten the b-ball hoop for Charl. I was fuming when I saw this e-mail because I could tell that Charl had already read the e-mail. My mom had no idea that we use the same e-mail and that he checks it from work. The wheels in my head began to turn once I cooled down. I replied back to my mom saying that I decided not to get the hoop because it was too expensive and our backyard wasn't ready for a basketball hoop yet. I also let her know that Charl and I share the e-mail address and that he already saw her e-mail so she was lucky that she didn't ruin any surprises. I created that story knowing that Charl would also read that e-mail. After my "damage control" story, I loaded the kids in the car and met Charl's mom at the mall to buy the basketball hoop. We needed to put the basketball hoop in her car so Charl wouldn't suspect anything. I waited until the day of his birthday to buy it so he wouldn't look at the credit card statement and wonder what was purchased at Sport's Authority...the accountant in him can't resist looking at bank statements! We also ran into Costco and got him a basketball, too. Fast forward a few hours...We all meet at the restaurant and have dinner (that's another story). After we finished eating, his mom said I'll go get the present from the car. At this point Charl is thinking it's not a basketball hoop because he know his mom couldn't bring that into the restaurant by herself. She returned with the basketball. She didn't wrap it so Charl just had a strange look on his face, not sure what to think. Then he opened up the card and inside was money. He was thankful and slightly stunned at the amount of money inside. Then his mom said, "the rest is in the car." He was dazed and said "what! you got the hoop?" We all laughed. So in the end I think he really was surprised. On the drive home, we finally talked about the exchange of e-mails from me and my mom. The story I fed him did throw him off so he wasn't expecting the hoop at all. He said it was a good surprise and that it still would have been a good surprise had I not created the cover up story.

He spent all of Saturday evening putting it together...which is not an easy thing to do by yourself. Now we are just waiting for warmer weather so we can enjoy it!

Here are some pictures from dinner at Emmett and Ethel's.

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