Red Robin Round-up

Hello everyone! May 14th was my birthday! Woohoo! 22 will be a good year, I can feel it. The night before, Matt and his mom surprised me with a birthday cake that was delicious! It was a white cake with a small layer of raspberry jam and a small layer of cream in the middle. Everyone that was there sang "Happy Birthday" the night before so that Spencer could be there and have some of the cake, as it is his favorite kind. It was totally unexpected and actually brought tears to my eyes later that night. It was very sweet of Denise to do that.
It is a tradition for me (for the past 3 years, that is) to celebrate my birthday by going to Red Robin! I love Red Robin! With a passion. It all started with my 19th birthday, at the Red Robin in Murray, Utah, with Carrie, Nathan, Tessa, and Raven. And Matthew, of course! So, in commemoration of that day, we all went this year for dinner and had a blast. My favorite thing was the mud cake that they brought out because of the wonderful day that it was! All in all, it was an amazing birthday. I was able to witness the Spirit as we were at the MTC and find joy in the righteous choices of a loved one. I was incredibly surprised by presents and a sinfully delicious cake from Matt and our family. Move over chocolate! -Yep, that good. Although I wasn't able to be in Tennessee with family, I was well taken care of by my family in Utah. The Crazy Clan
Oh, isn't this a normal family picture?
I figured that since everyone loved seeing the cake after Lily got finished with it at her party, that maybe you would all like to see my Red Robin mud cake once everyone was almost done with it. Yummy, huh?

Missionary Man

One of the biggest reasons for our trip to Utah was to see Spencer leave for his mission. He gave his farewell speech on Sunday, which was Mother's Day. It was amazing! It was one of the most influential and spiritual talks I've ever heard coming from a soon-to-be missionary. Spencer's topic was faith and he also said something that I think was the sweetest thing a son could say about his mother. "I have spoken in this ward on Mother's Day for the past three years. I think it's because everyone must know how wonderful my mom is." I don't remember it word for word, but it was something along those lines. I don't think there was a mother there that had a dry eye!
That next Tuesday night, Spencer was set apart as a missionary by the stake president. He received wonderful blessings that I'm sure will help him not only on his mission, but throughout his life. It was an emotional night for everyone that was there. Oh, and you've got to love that Will was wearing his red crocs with his superman pajama's in the picture above.
We all took Spencer to the MTC on May 14. Carrie was so nice to watch William and Lily for us while we went. It was an amazing experience. I had never been there before. You can't even imagine what kind of a connection you can feel with the Spirit while you're at the MTC. There were several missionaries leaving to several different places. Both Elders and Sisters. When it was time to say goodbye, it was very difficult. Almost everyone was crying, but I think that it was because of the mixed feelings that were surrounding us. We were sad to see Spencer leave, but also excited because he's doing the right thing and we're happy that he has chosen to serve the Lord and the people in Spokane. There's no doubt in my mind that Spencer is a great missionary already. It is estimated that he'll leave the MTC on June 2nd. I'm sure he's anxious to get out there and start the work!

Lily in Love

I found out something else about Lily while we were in Utah. Not only does she love looking at herself in the mirror, she also loves men. I think that when it comes to people she doesn't know very well, she prefers to be held by men more than women. Don't get me wrong, I think it's good she likes men! Although, I wish that she would have been a little more open to the family in Utah. She had a harder time being held by some of her aunts. She would be in tears sometimes and she would reach for me or Matt. Grandma was very good and patient with Lily. Grandma let Lily come to her when she was ready. Lily absolutely loved her uncles, though. Here, she is sitting with Josh and Spencer. She loved them so much! She had no problem going to them. I think that Josh and Spencer kind of liked it too. I'm learning a lot about Lily. It's funny how she's showing personality more and more. These pictures were taken the night that Spencer was set apart as a missionary, the night before he left on May 13. I will talk a little more about that on tomorrow's post. Lily and Joshua
Lily and Spencer (Elder Townsend)

Lily's Mirror Friend

Hello again everyone! We are back from the Beehive State! I can hear you all cheering from here. We were certainly busy practically everyday we were in Utah. So, now that you've had a week of no posts, you will receive a week of posts! This is the first installment of the "Townsend's in Utah" Saga. I have a lot of pictures, a lot of memories I don't want to forget, and a lot of fun stories. Let's start with this doosie above.

Lily has never shown an interest in seeing herself in the mirror. I have put her in front of the mirror numerous amounts of times, but she would honestly rather be doing something else. In Grandma and Grandpa's house in Utah, there is a room that was once used as a work-out room and it has mirrors along one wall. I put Lily in front of it and she found her long lost friend. I couldn't help myself. I had to record this.

Fantastic Slams

I am very particular about my hair. I wear my hair short and when it grows out, it always gets into this weird phase. I feel like I need a trim and I wanted to get it done before we leave for Utah on Saturday. Matt gets home about 4:30, so it wouldn't be until then that I could even leave. I called Fantastic Sams. They did a great job on my hair last time and they're pretty cheap. I just wanted to know when they closed.

"Seven O'clock," the lady said.

We said our goodbyes and got off the phone. All day long I have been looking forward to this. It's not anything big, but I'm sure that all women can identify with the excitement I felt. I drove about 25-30 minutes to the Fantastic Sams. I walked in.

"Can I help you?" the woman at the desk asked me.

"Yes, actually, I didn't know if there was time for me to get a partial highlight and a trim," says I.

"Well, no"

"Okay, can I get-"
I couldn't even finish my sentence.

"Actually, we stop taking walk-ins at five," the woman says, interrupting me. I looked at the clock.

"Are you serious?" I asked in disbelief.
She just nodded her head with perfectly highlighted and cut hair.

"Okay," I said and walked out.
I got in my car and looked at the clock. 5:12. No joke. Now, I understand that policies are policies and work is work. I'm sure that all of those little people doing their own hair in the back just wanted to get home. But.. I was one more paying customer - and I'm a big tipper, might I add. Why is 15 minutes such a big deal?
Now, my other thing is... why didn't the lady who I talked to on the phone bring this up to me when I called earlier that day? C'mon people!

If anyone else has had a bad experience, my comment box is open to more fantastic slams.
By the way, thanks to Carrie for the awesome title.

Welcome to Consequences Fella

Matt and I have always wanted to try and make our children understand the fact that consequences follow a choice. Bad consequences for bad choices and good consequences for good choices. Sounds simple enough, right? Not quite the case. I understand that we are not always as consistent as we should, but I think that we get our point across. There is one thing that I cannot stand. I absolutely HATE when my children throw their unwanted food on the floor. Lily is just now getting into that phase, and I have patience with her. She's still a baby! William... oh, William. I think he knows. Today, he threw ramen noodles on the floor, which, by the way, are some of the most tedious little things to clean up! They go everywhere and there are billions of them! I told Will that he needed to pick them up. After picking up a total of 2 noodles, William looked up at me and smiled. Then he tried to give me a kiss. He thinks he can sweet talk me out of this, I thought. When he gave me a kiss he started to walk away. I knew it. It took about 15 minutes to get to the point where Will ended up in bed and there are still noodles on the floor waiting for him to pick them up and throw them in the trash when he wakes up from his nap. I've gotta tell you, I'm surprised at Will. Way to show a little personality into trying to get your way, William. Sorry it didn't work.

Two Birthdays Down, Two to Go

William's 2nd Birthday Party! It was a cook out and the food was delicious! It was a lot of fun. After we ate, we opened presents and then after Senor cranky pants took a nap, we ate cake and ice cream. No, Senor Cranky pants was not Matt, it was Will. His party had a Cars theme because William is sooo into that movie. I made his cake because we're scrimping, trying to save some money. As you can tell from the picture above, I have NEVER in my life made a child's birthday cake. Total amateur, but he's two right? What does he care? Atleast he had a cake. By the way, Matt did the writing on the cake. "I made it look so bad", he says. Well, Matt, it's better than anything that I could ever do. All of the pictures below are ALL the pictures that we have of his party. Yes, it's because Matt had the camera and the NFL draft was on. I had to tell him to take these pictures.

This is Will loving on his new Cars t-shirt. You'll probably notice in the following pictures that I had to put this shirt on him after he opened it.

Bowling! John and Krystin hit the nail on the head with this one. It has a ball and things to knock down with the ball. I think this has Will written all over it.

Grandma and Grandpa got Will a rug with roads and cars on it. They got him some cars to go with it. Jennifer and her kids also got him some Cars mini's that fit perfectly on here.

I don't think he knew what was going on when we were singing to him. He liked the Lightning McQueen though!

Only at your birthday party can you eat cake, ice cream, and a sucker at one time. Oh, and before dinner too.


Keaven made an adorable blanket for him that had the Cars material on one side and had Will's Town on the other. And ofcourse it features "Will's Town's End". Gotta love it. I don't have a picture of it yet. As I said, I didn't take the pictures at the party. But, I will take one and let everyone see the cuteness of Keaven's efforts!