My double life

I confess, I think I have been leading a double life. Last night while I was getting ready to go out to see the PCD and Britney Spears concert (and applying waaay too much dark eyeliner), I realized it. I was going through my day and I thought okay, here I am going to a concert where there is going to be a lot of frivolity, I will stay up until 2:00 am on a school night and tomorrow, I will get up at 7:00am get dressed, get my daugter on the school bus, and then be a chaperone for the preschool field trip. How cool is that! I truly get to have my cake and eat it too! I get to be a Mom of two adorable girls, have cool friends who like to have fun, have a husband that loves me even with a few extra pounds and too much eye-makeup, AND go out and party once in a while to remember what it feels like to be a teenager.

Here are a few of the fun pics from my double life. This all happend with in 24hrs.

The show was AWESOME! The Dolls sang all their songs, had a ton of energy and really rocked their fishnets.

Britney put on a fantastic show, circus acts, fire, acrobatics, lip syncing, dancing, costume changes and lots and lots of high energy fun. It was a great night! We even had fun watching the drunk chicks next to us fall over and get lost.

Thanks to Anne for being my concert buddy. We always manage to rock our socks off. Who says blondes have more fun??

Great read

So I just finished a great book. I read it in about 5 days and it was spellbinding. Not what I usually read, but capitvating anyway. I actually felt smart reading this... strange.

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld.

It is a novel about a fictional character based on Laura Bush. It was facinating to me to learn about a woman so important in history that has such drastically different views than her husband. I loved the way the story unfolded as if she was sitting with me telling it from start to finish. It also gave me a little perspective on what it might be like to be the Wife of the President and not want the fame and influence that goes with it.

When I finished it this morning, I was overwhelmed with the reminder that it is okay to be different and think differently than my spouse. We can still have a great marriage even if we don't see eye to eye on every issue

Spring has brought me such a nice surprise...

Ok, not! After returning from a week long hiatus in the sun with perfect weather we got another treat of nice spring time sun. I even got a little sunburn while selling girl scout cookies. It was sheer bliss. See, I am not a big fan of winter, I am diminishing how much I don't like the snow, so Spring is my 2nd favorite season ( summer rules) because it means that there will be an abundance of rain (which I love) and sunny afternoons (which I love).

So when I woke up Wednesday and saw this I was so mad I wanted to punch someone. But instead I grabbed a shovel (the blower was put away) and started shoveling. Yuk. Mother nature is such a "Spring tease."

Spring Break!

Nicole's Spring Break Top 10

1. Riding a Zip Line 200 feet long and 300 feet above the ground through the jungle of Belize.
2. Swimming in a Mexican Cenote (underground caves filled with clear water)
3. Driving a beat up Jeep with my posse and getting whistled at by Mexican construction workers.
4. Getting a 60 min massage on the beach for $20!

5. Eating delicious food anytime I wanted.
6. Spending some quality time with my hubby of 10 years.
7. Playing dress-up with my BFFs
8. Riding the water slide on top of the ship while going 17 knots in the Caribbean.
9. Scuba diving in the Bahamas- we saw about a dozen Lion fish.


10. Going to dinner with Nacho Libre

11. Doing all these awesome things with awesome people while wearing awesome shoes. Keens rock. (another post another time.)Other great highlights...

We spent a great day in Costa Maya enjoying the beach, yummy guacamole and doing some serious shopping for my recuerdos (souvenirs).


My favorite recuerdo- a true Mexican Sombrero in the colors of the Mexican flag.

We got a "bonus" excursion when we missed our connecting flight in Washington DC and had to stay the night. We rented a van, piled in and visited some of the memorials on the Mall. It was a cold and rainy night that was full of adventure!

When I look back at these pictures I am still amazed that we actually took this vacation! it was one of those things that had been an "idea" for nearly a year and here we are! We did it!

Bubble Butt

This was too cute not to comment on. This was a clear example of what boredom and creativity in the bathtub can create.

Days of my life...

A few Sundays ago while we were sitting in church Reagan and I had our very first heart to heart about boys. This was a pretty exciting moment for me. You see, as a girl, I was what my 4th grade teacher called boy crazy. This hurt my feelings at the time but was entirely true. I played with boys at recess, called them on the phone had day dreams about them (many involved me running toward a boy and dramatically kissing him than saying something like "I can't live without you!")

I have always been okay with the fact that Reagan was not looking at boys like that because it eliminated a lot of potential issues. So imagine my suprise/delight when she had a question about boys (which I consider myself and expert on).
"Mom, how do I know what boy I should marry?"

"Well, he will be a boy that does nice things for you, makes you smile and laugh, and buys you pretty presents."

"What if I have to choose between two boys?"

"Then you are a very lucky girl."

"Beacause Carson at school says he wants to marry me and likes to hug me, but when Eli sees him, he tells Carson to keep his hands of me 'cause I'm his girl. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings but I don't know who to choose."

"Well, lucky for you, you don't have to pick just one boy! You won't get married until you are like 25, so you can hug all the boys you want until then."

I am not sure how Dan felt about my side of the conversation, but I thought I was pretty smart and cool about the whole thing. Luckily, it was just a conversation about hugging...

I am more than willing to talk to any of my fellow Mom's/girlfriends' daughters about boys whenever they want. It is one of my favorite subjects along with teen boy bands, HSM, clothes and any TV shows on the CW. Reagan is becoming the little girlfriend I have always hoped I would have when I first looked at her.

Can we be friends?

Last night was not a typical Tuesday. After dropping of the kids at Grandma G's house we were off to the Hello Katy Concert in SLC. I thought we were way early and I was begging dan to take me to Ben's Cookies nearby to grab an oatmeal cookie before the show (we were virtuous and had cereal for dinner). Thankfully we didn't because when we drove by, the line to get in was over 3 blocks long! I had no idea...

Well, I am still stoked because Katy pointed at me! I know... Awesome. It all happened like this- I was dancing and singing and then she looked right at me, I looked at her and waved my arms madly like a crazy person, then she pointed back and nodded her head. Yeah, pretty cool I know. I think it was her way of telling me she wanted to be my friend. You know we are practically the same age and stuff.

She wore these shimmery silver leggings, a long graphic T/Tunic, a red studded belt and the coolest pair of high heel blue sued booties. It was a fun 80's style outfit. I think dan was hoping she would wear an outfit like the one on the Kissed a girl video... Sorry. But she did change into a full-body leopard cat suit for the encore. It was cool. She got more crazy and bizzare as the show went on and told some funny stories. At one point she bent over into the crowd and let all the crazies touch her hair and... probably everything else.

I had a killer time and danced and shimmied alongside my very tired/stoic hubby. Luckily he does not get embarrassed of me and thankfully, I don't need someone to dance with me to enjoy it. It seems like going to concerts is my new favorite thing.

So, if you read this Katy, yeah, lets be friends. It could be cool. I could teach you things like how to make sugar cookies, knitting scarves, and making crafts at church. And you could take me to meet all your friends, or to the Grammys. We could go to the mall and share a pretzel and then I could show you some of my awesome dance moves in one of your new videos.