Learning From My Mistakes

I know summer just started, but I feel like my eyes have been opened and that I've learned SO MUCH already in this short amount of time......so I thought I should share these "enlightening moments" or "painful mistakes" (whatever you prefer to call them) just in case it might prevent you from going thru what I've unfortunately gone thru. Alright let's do this......eh hem.......

*Lesson number one- There are two different kinds of pudding. Did I just blow your mind??? Because when I found out it definitely took me a minute to catch my breath. Yes. There are two different kinds of pudding. Instant pudding (the only kind I thought existed--and the only kind that should exist I might add) and cook and serve pudding. You have to cook it first and then serve it.....clever name..... I made the horrible mistake of buying these two different kinds of pudding. I wanted to make a combo of vanilla and chocolate pudding, but when I saw that there were two different instructions my mind seriously couldn't even comprehend what was happening. I sat there for like twenty minutes trying to figure out what the heck was going on. I literally called my mom because I was so baffled and so confused. I gathered my strength and I did my best to make the cook and serve kind, but it was a complete failure. I don't see how anyone could make it successfully.....it was terrible. Lump after lump after lump. I had to run to the sink so many times to spit out all the goobery chunks.....bleh! I didn't even get half way thru before I tossed it in the trash (which says A LOT because I love me some pudding). I feel like it is my duty to save you all from suffering a similar fate so here is a visual so you can see the difference....

Here is the good kind...... Mmmmmm......see how it says INSTANT? That's your ticket to gold. Instant pudding.

Ok, now I know this may be visually disturbing to look at, but you've got to learn......this is the BAD KIND. Do NOT buy this pudding. It is terrible. Unless you enjoy eating goobery globs of guck then by all means go right ahead. If you like delicious edible pudding then buy this kind......

Not this kind......

Ok I'm done. Sorry if I seem really heated about this topic. It was just the worst experience EVER. It makes me so mad just thinking about it. What a waste! Everyone needs to be educated..... Oooooh maybe I should start teaching a beginners pudding course.....??? Maybe I've finally found my calling in life!!! :)

*Lesson number two- You need to add sugar to your carton of whipping cream. I sadly learned this lesson the same night I made the pudding. I bought a little carton that looked like this....

and wanted to make some yummy homemade whipping cream to put on my pudding so I figured you just dump it in a bowl and mix it with a beater and walla! Nope. After dishing up big piles of cream on our pudding I took a big bite and BARF. So nasty. Apparently it is common knowledge that you have to add sugar to it because there are no instructions on the carton instructing you to do so. Worst. Night. Ever. So what is the moral of the story? Stop trying and just buy cool whip. 

*Lesson number three- Being a "good mom" has its consequences..... When summer first started I went on Pinterest and found a ton of cute ideas to keep your kids busy and entertained for the summer. I got all jazzed and pumped up and wanted to do something fun every single day this summer. Oh how those dreams came crashing down.....

First I got them both little work sticker books to fill out and play with. That's seems safe right? Well, after just one day of having them my house stared looking a little like this...

And like this.....

And this.....

Who would have thought that stickers could be so dangerous??? Every day I seem to find a new patch somewhere even though I swear I keep throwing all their stickers away! 

Our next day adventure was to make homemade slime. Everything was going great and my kids looked just like all the cute kids in the Pinterest photos, but they forgot to mention one tiny little detail in the instructions....after you make the slime be sure to throw it away immediately because if your kids disappear and play with it in various parts of your house it WILL get stuck to everything it touches and never come off.....

Here is some slime on Sam's mattress. I failed to take a picture of it stuck to our red couch and stuck in various places in our carpet, but you get the idea.... I tried everything to get it to come off, but ended up having to get one of Kevin's crazy sharp knives and literally cutting it off of everything. Now I think I finally understand why my mom never let us play with silly puddy :) 

The next day we busted out some play dough. I don't need to elaborate on this one.... I'm sure you know where I am going here. All I'll say is make sure you have a designated play dough area (like the kitchen table) and don't let them take their play dough and play with it wherever they want because you WILL be picking up tiny clumps of play dough for the rest of your life..... The. Rest. Of. Your. Life.

Next day was crayon day.......which brought to pass the "Crayon Wars".....that's what I like to call it ;) We basically had some cute and fun art stuff planned, but Sam and Jane made it very clear that they did not want to share their crayons with each other so they each took them and hid them from each other. It became an on going battle of Jane sneaking into Sam's room and breaking his crayons and peeling the paper off of them any chance she could get. Sam would be heartbroken every time he'd find a crayon that had "fallen" so I thought I was being nice by buying him another box. He hid it pretty well for a short amount of time, but then one fateful day I'm pretty sure Jane snuck in there again but instead of getting mad Sam decided, "Hey if you can't beat them....join them!" I'm not 100% sure this is what happened, but I did walk in and find them both sitting together peeling all the paper off together. I guess instead of being annoyed that I had to clean up this.....

And this......

(Because apparently they must have gotten bored ripping the paper off of their crayons and moved on to ripping up their work books and the crayon box itself.....) I should be grateful that they found an activity they could bond over.....😁 

I'm laughing so hard as I am writing this because basically if I would just stop letting my kids take whatever they want into their rooms there would be no more problems!!!! Hahaha! I guess that's why this post is called "Learning from my mistakes!" Ha! Ok and now we have reached my final lesson.....

*Lesson number four- Don't tell your father in law that you will do a 5k with him because then you will have to do it which means you have to learn how to run which means you have to run. 

I'm not sure if I have made a mistake or not because it hasn't happened yet, but this Saturday I am running my first 5k with my father in law. I've been training for it and it's been rough! I really thought I would get to a point where I would start to enjoy running (what is this "runners high" that everyone talks about???) but so far it's just been really really hard and I am terrified. My goal is to run the entire thing and not have to stop and walk so I hope I'll be able to do it. I get really embarrassed because my face turns purple when I run so I haven't gone outside where people can see me.....I have only been in my cold basement on my treadmill so I have no clue how Saturday will play out. It's supposed to be 90 degrees this Saturday....maybe I'll wear a ski mask.....black looks better then purple right?!?  Passing out is less embarrassing then a sweaty purple face......right??? Well, whatever happens please wish me luck. I'll probably blog about the race so stay tuned!

I hope you learned something today. I know I certainly have! If you skimmed thru because it seemed a little wordy I'll sum it up for you right here..... 

*Just buy pudding cups to be safe, add sugar to absolutely everything you make, if you want to be a "good mom" then be a SMART MOM, and don't make promises to your father in law.......*

Bam. There you have it! Hope you're having a fun summer! We definitely are!!! :)

New York! New York!

I had the crazy amazing opportunity to go to New York City this last weekend and man oh man was it a complete dream come true!!!!! I have a horrible habit where I build things up so big in my mind so when they actually happen it's such a disappointment and a total let down, but I can honestly say that every single moment of this trip completely exceeded all expectations that I had made.....if I didn't have pictures to prove that it was real then I would think it was all just a dream! I'm pretty sure I'll never go anywhere ever again because this experience was just too amazing and nothing could ever live up to it!!! (Sorry Kevin....hope you didn't want to travel anywhere!) 

Alot of people have asked me if I've been there before and why I went so let me give you a brief little history....

I went to New York for the first time when I was in seventh grade with my ballet studio and we performed at Carnagie Hall. It was so magical! Then I auditioned and was accepted to study at the School of American Ballet (SAB) when I was 15. I lived there for a summer and it was the most terrifying and wonderful experience I have ever had. I really grew so much during that summer and discovered who I was. My favorite part of that whole experience was truly gaining a testimony for myself of the Gospel. I was all alone in some huge scary city so my mom told me to turn to the scriptures to get me thru and instantly I was comforted and knew I was NOT alone. I opened my scriptures and the first verse I read was Alma 37;37.  Go look it up! You can imagine the peace it gave to a 15 year old girl who was crying in her bed all alone late one night :) Then the summer after I graduated high school I went to New York to perform in the Hill Cumorah pageant and that was a very different, but very incredible experience as well. So needless to say I LOVE NEW YORK!!!! 

When I danced in the Nutcracker as a party girl, my party brother was Robbie Fairchild. He also studied at SAB and went on to become a principal dancer with New York City Ballet. He is incredible! So when I heard that he was going to make his Broadway debut in An American in Paris I knew I had to go see that show. I grew up watching and loving that movie so there was no doubt I was going to go. He plays the Gene Kelly role and he was ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL. He has been nominated for a Tony for best actor in a musical and the show has a total of 12 Tony nominations. So the whole point of me going was originally to see him and this show, BUT I found out that Ramin Karimloo was playing the part of Jean Valjean in Les Mis so yea.....if you don't know who that is then please go on YouTube and look him up or never speak to me again.....JK!!! I love him as much as I love Michael Ball so ya.....that shows you how much I adore this guy. (If you don't know who Michael Ball is either then please go get help because I don't know how you are still alive...) Here's a pic of Ramin for obvious reasons ;) 

He made all the other performers look bad. Really bad. If you know what I mean ;)

My cute and awesome sister in law, Siena, is from Manhatten so we planned a trip together and we were able to stay with her dad which was wonderful and so much fun! She showed me a different side of the city and now I love it even more. It really was a perfect trip. Just wish my sister, Morgie, could have been there to share all of the magic with me. No one appreciates ballet and musicals the way I do more then her. One day :) I was so scared to go on this trip because I was afraid that New York wouldn't seem as magical as I have always remembered it to be......but thankfully it was even MORE magical then I ever could have imagined :) Here are some pics from my trip!!! Sorry there are so many! You've been warned!!!

New York City here we come!

Getting a little nervous to get on the plane! 😁 Ya so it turns out I am terrified of flying. I sat with my hands gripping my arm rests the entire flight. Not fun! 

My first night in New York..... I slept on a cute little roll away bed.

Siena's apartment she grew up in :)

The view from their home.

Making the subway look good and cheesy ;)

My first stop..... Lincoln Center! This is the home of the New York City Ballet and where I spent my summer.

I totally fit right in with them right? Right??? Why is no one answering?!? ;)

Home!

Inside.....there is Robbie Fairchilds pic :)

Couldnt be any happier right here at this moment :)

Juilliard! This is where I lived :)

All the glass is completely new......lots of changes!!!

Another big change.....where I went to church each week is now the temple! So cool to see it!

Upstairs is still a chapel and Siena showed me where she was Baptized!

Beautiful streets!

I loved the brown stones!!!

I decided I want to live here :)

I ate the most delicious cookie I've ever had! Those are globs of peanut butter you see there.... Mmmmm!

Central Park! This is for all you Beatles fans out there...

The bridge where they sing and dance across in Enchanted!!!

Beautiful view!

Cherry blossoms!!! ❤️❤️❤️

A giant bubble came right at me! Luckily it popped before it ran into me, or I could have been seriously injured.....

Big spot where they sing and dance to the song "That's how you know" from Enchanted!!!

"How does boo know he loves her?!?" :)

Here's where they dance with the old ladies and old men and the brides!

I found a stage so naturally I did something cool on it ;)

Took this pic for Kevin....if there is anything he loves more then me, it is definitely Apple :)

The plaza!

FAO Schwartz

This shows how itty bitty Siena is.....look how big that normal box of Mike and Ike's is compared to her tiny body! 

The piano from Big! Or one that looks like it ;)

Having fun exploring :)

Had to stop at Tiffany's ;)

Trump Tower

The most beautiful cathedral I've ever seen!

Rockefeller Center!

NBC studios......no one famous came out :(

The Tonight Show!

Super cool!

Radio City! 

I know this is a horrible pic of me, but the pizza was too good not to share! A slice of New York pizza!!!

Times Square!

You can see An American in Paris!!!!!!

Phantom and Les Mis.....so awesome :)

We found the theater for Les Mis! Gah!!!!! Ramin!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let me in!!!!

Carnagie Hall :)

Serendipity!!!

We got the famous frozen hot chocolate and it was delicious :)

An American in Paris....playing at the Palace Theater!

Times Square at night!

Ready to get my Broadway show on!!!

At the show!!!!

What a dream :)

We were soooooo excited!

Final bows!

I was sobbing hysterically at this point....... I am not exaggerating.... I was bawling!!!

Siena's dad googled where the stage door was hidden so we found it and waited to see if anyone would come out.....

This is Brandon Uranowitz...he played Adam the piano player and he was one of my favorite parts of the whole show. I predict that he wins the Tony for best supporting Actor! He was SO nice!!! He gave us his pen because we didn't have one. So sweet!

The amazing leading lady, Leanne Cope. She was the sweetest person I've ever met and one of the most beautiful dancers I have ever seen! She asked me if I was a ballet dancer and I told her I used to be and she told me that she could tell because I looked like a dancer. That's probably the nicest thing you could ever say to me....made my night!!!

The leading man Robbie Fairchild!!!! He was signing my program and I said, "sooooooo you were my party brother in the Nutcracker....." And he snapped his head up and said, "You! It's you!!! We've been facebooking! I'm so glad you came!" And he pulled me into a big hug and I said, "I'm so glad YOU came!.....Uh.......I uh......" Ya, so embarrassing!!!! I was a blubbering idiot the whole time we talked! Hehe!!!!

Here's the statue from Enchanted where she looks up at the statue and says, "she's beautiful!" Haha!

There is the location of the Fox Books superstore in You've Got Mail!

Cafe Lalo from You've got Mail!

I got sooooooo excited here! Just to think that I stood where Joe Fox stood when he realized his shop girl was Kathleen Kelly! Ah-mazing ;)

The view from inside....

We ate some lunch and had a red rose and a book on the table just in case Tom Hanks strolled in ;)

We made it on the jumbo tron in Times Square! Can you find me?!?

The Freedom Tower :)

The World Trade Center memorial....

It was huge! And sad.....

They always place a single white rose on a persons name if it's their birthday....

Beautiful city.

Had to summon my inner Gene Kelly and take a pic with a lamp post!

The Met. (We actually only went in to check out the gift shop....) hehe!

Waiting for the show to start!!!

Artsy pic ;)

Shot of the stage!

This was my view to the right....they sang right up there! A little awkward during the lovely ladies part..... 😁

You can see here how close we were to the stage!

Row B baby!!!

Siena and I at intermission.....can you tell how deliriously happy I am?!? Sooooo fun :)

Final bows!

Oh Ramin.....you are too wonderfully perfect!

Waiting at the stage door.... "Ramin? Are you there?!? Hello? Please come out!" --we waited for over an hour but sadly he didn't come out. I asked the guy who played Marius if he was coming and he said "oh no he never comes out this way. He's too big. He has to sneak out."-- Smart move on his part. I probably would have mauled him. :)

Last ride on the subway. Had to ride it for two hours to get to the airport.

Then I rode the Air Train to get to the airport. I saw this really cool cemetery on the way. It went on for miles!

I was getting really nervous to fly home by myself and then I looked out the window and saw a single white swan in this little river.....can you see him?.......tender mercy :) 

Goodbye New York! Until next time :)