November 19th was Erics 36th birthday. Since he really never wants us to make a fuss about his birthday and always wants "a nice quiet evening at home" (I don't know where he lives, but that rarely happens in my house) we have had to improvise.

We have a little tradition where the kids get to pick out the cake, and bake it and decorate it pretty much all by themselves for Daddy's Birthday. Paige got to pick the cake this year and she picked Fun-Fetti everything. MMMMMMMMM!

Paige was very proud of her creation. We bought the "36" number candles but Paige found a box of candles in the cupboard that she had to put on the cake and guess how many were in the box...36!

Yup that cake was ablaze! If you look closely you can see the Kit-Kat in the front center that is on fire due to the lit candle right below it.

See the smoke coming off the cake- that's Kit Kat smoke. Cameron thought it was his birthday all over again and dove head first into the diabetic coma inducing cake.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

In case you care

Opening Act- New Kids on the Block, Salt Lake City, Single

I am too old for this...

I have been quite the crazy concert goer lately so this post is dedicated to two things that at one time I thought I loved...and then I grew up.

Madonna

(This is the most tasteful pic i could find of her)

November 6th I saw Madonna on her LA stop at the Dodger Stadium. Anyone who might be judging me can just stop "casting stones" for a minute and think back to when you wore leg warmers and giant bows in your side ponytails and rocked out to "Material Girl". Everyone has some memory that has something do with a Madonna song and I vowed that I would see a Madonna show before I died. The woman recently turned 50 (which doesn't sound that old to me since I am only 19 years behind)and even from a half mile away- she looks amazing and she sounded amazing. It was an awesome show and fairly PG-13. There were even cameo appearances from Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Kanye West. Very cool.

~Britney and Madonna. Britney was surprisingly tasteful and sounded really good. They sang the controversial song "I'm Not sorry" aimed at their X's. Very entertaining, especially if you have an X~

~Ecstatic Madonna Fans- or maybe we were just high...still not sure which~

~Do you see the resemblance? Uh, we didn't either~

NEXT...

NKOTB

Otherwise known as New Kids on the Block. Just believe it...after hiding for 15 years they decided to make a comeback and their tour landed them in Salt Lake City. Apparently, however, the November 15th concert did not sell very well because the only reason I went is because I got 6 free tickets through an email I received. Seriously- I would not have gone if the tickets weren't free but, honestly, I have to admit, that it was pretty fun. Made me feel young and REALLY old all at the same time.

Probably one of the coolest parts of the show was the opening act- Natasha Beddingfield.

I didn't realize that I was a fan but I love her music.

~The entire show as a highly choreographed and they changed outfits like 4 times at least. The white attire was reserved for the "I'll Be Lovin' You Forever" by Jordan Knight~

~I had to add the one on the left since this was where Jordan ripped his shirt off and danced around the stage half naked. Not bad for a old guy~

I was going to add video but I think you got the point.

Here is my official review of both:

Madonna: Hot to trot at 50 and very entertaining despite the obvious twisted political agenda.

NKOTB: Sounded pretty good live and the show was a great mixture of the nostalgia of NKOTB and today's THE BLOCK. Brought back many embarrassing memories of prepubescent swooning. Jordan and Joey are still the hottest New Kids.

In both cases, I have to say...it's time for people to start acting their age-

including myself.

Escape to Fantasyland- November 08

On November 5th we kicked off our Watson Family Disney Vaca to California. We planned this getaway a few months ago prior to Whitney's engagement. They set their date for November 1st and opted out of the family trip (heavens knows why?) but we still went with it and it was a BLAST!!

The trip was especially great for a few reasons:

1. My immediate family has not traveled together since about 2002 when we went camping in California together and got the flu together (lovely and memorable, maybe that's why it has been so long).
2. Jenice (My lovely SIL whose face is pictured below was a Disneyland VIRGIN). She even got a button.
3. My 84 year old grandmother also joined us and she had not been to Disneyland for about 45 years. (Qualifies as virgin if you ask me). They gave her a button too!

4. I saw Madonna in the flesh. (Like a virgin!)

Oh and I forgot to mention that this was a primarily ADULTS ONLY trip. Yeah!! Do we love Disneyland, you ask? Well I am not sure why you would think that since I have only been 5 times in the last 12 months and am an Annual Pass Holder even though I live in Utah, we are Disney Vacation Club members and half the time we go there WITHOUT our kids. I suppose you could say we are fans. There is just something really special about escaping to a land of fantasy. And since this trip hit right after election day-- we figured it was a PERFECT time to escape to another land. Agreed? Obama can't be EVERYWHERE.

This is Eric, Myself, Jenice and Ben our our way to the Disneyland Hotel. I think Ben was especially giddy!

The Disneyland Hotel is a really nice place to stay especially if you are a Disney Freak. Everything has reference to some Disney character...everything. Even the little shampoo and conditioner bottles have mickey ears. Seriously.

My Grandmother rented a little scooter so she could conserve her energy since there is no such thing as a short walk around there. She dang near took out a couple small children and ran over some toes here and there. Did you know that if you have a person in your party with a wheelchair of any kind you could get to the front of every line? Who knew? HE HE. Let's just say this was a VERY productive visit to Disneyland.
My mom was merciless on the Roger Rabbit ride. I thought my grandma was going to lose her teeth more than once. She says she had a wonderful time even though we made her go on all the rides with us. She was nervous but I am pretty sure she had the time of her life.

The Nightmare Before Christmas theme was in full swing and I love it. Its nice to mix things up a little here and there.

We caught Goofy for a quick photo shoot in California Adventure. I am pretty sure he goosed me after this picture but there is no evidence...or maybe it was Eric. Hmmm.

Grandma on her HOT ROD with her sexy shades. Watch out!

Yes, just believe it. We stood on line for about an hour to see the Princesses. I hear that is short in comparison. I am pretty sure the boys were hoping that Ariel was in her seashells but no such luck.


A highlight of my trip, as I mentioned above was that I got to see Madonna in the flesh. No that is not Madonna in the pic. The is my good friend Brenda that used to live here in Utah but moved to California to be with the cool people. So she came to the Madonna Concert with me, my mom, and Jenice. I will soon dedicate an entire post to the Madonna concert. I really can't do the experience justice without adding some video. Stay tuned!

Ben and Jenice on the Matterhorn.


Us at the Mexican restaurant in Downtown Disney.

Ben and my other brother from another mother Johnny being the children they are.

I promise the next time we go to D-Land we will take our kids, ok? I will not be selfish and hog all the fantasy filled fun. Don't quote me on that.

And Now what you all have been waiting for...

November 1st was a gorgeous day. We were preparing for the worst weather and hoping for the best and it was perfect.

Waiting for the New Couple...

The Bride and Groom

The Family

The Reception at Noahs

HALLOWEENIES

Since Halloween this year was the day before Whitney's wedding we spent the early part of the day prepping food for the reception the next day.

We took the kids (including Bonnie's kids and my dad's little kids) to the ward Trunk or Treat which was great since this year was amazingly warm for Halloween. It sprinkled a little but it was so nice. The kids had so much fun.

Cameron made his Halloween debut as Squirt, everyones favorite little turtle.

I think Braiden has pretty much been every super hero yet. This may be the second time for Batman- its all a blur.


My brother from another mother, Lee



Paige and Abby- Best of Friends and Worst of Enemies

Blast to the Past

October 25th Cameron and I took the longest plane ride of our lives to Seattle. It was probably the longest plane rise of 100 something other people's lives as well. I say that because Cameron screamed the entire way. An hour and half of the screaming and squirming that left me in a cold sweat. He was not a happy camper. That's OK I will never see those people again, right? I know that they hope not.

We went to visit my best friend of 15 or so years Tamara and her daughter Marissa. She and Cameron are 5 weeks apart so they share a special bond and Tamara and I are determined to play matchmaker for the two. We will be in-laws yet. Tamara and I are amazingly very good friends. We seem so different but we are so alike. We spent 4 days doing the things we enjoy most: we shopped, we ate, we watches hilarious movies, we gossiped, we laughed, we ate, we shopped, and the we ate some more.
We took the kids to the pumpkin patch and braved the mall a couple times with the both of them.



On that Monday we made the 4 hour trek to Portland were our college friend, Carrie, lives with her hubby and 3 kiddos. It was so good to see Carrie and have the 3 of us together again. Again we did the things we love: we shopped, we ate, we laughed, we cried, we gossiped. See I told you we had a great time. Thanks to Carries sweet hubby, Anthony, who totally watched 5 kids under the age of 5 so that we could go out for a girls dinner and chick flick. It was a total blast to the past and so worth the nightmarish plane ride.

In case you were wondering...the plane ride back was 100% better. I suppose it helps to give the kid a nap RIGHT before the trip. Note to self...baby Benedryl does not work.

Let's Back up a Little...

I know I promised Whitney's Wedding pics but in an effort to maintain synchronicity (is that a word?) I need to talk about her Bridal shower. We had this way back in October but I am lazy and easily distracted. There, I said it. So we had her shower in this great little store called "Bags that Fit" on Main St. in Lehi and it is ADORABLE! The closed the store down for us and Whitney basically made a wish list in the store so peeps could buy her what she wanted from there to spoil her rotten. Since she is 25 and practically and "Old Maid" she already had the home essentials that people usually would get a new bride so this seemed like a perfect alternative. Can I just say...JEALOUS!!! She made out like a stinking bandit and its not even her birthday. It turned out so great and I am pretty sure she loved it. How could she not?

Happy Fall and gorgeous Wedding Day!

It is a somewhat quiet Sunday morning so here I sit at my table with my laptop while Cameron plays on the floor beside me with a toy that needs new batteries and sounds really sick but it makes me laugh that he loves it so much. I currently have a post wedding hangover- no not that kind, but the kind where you feel like you were at Disneyland the day before... I have a huge headache, my legs are sore from running non-stop yesterday and wearing shoes that I should never have purchased because I will probably never wear them again now that I know how much they hurt. My car is full of wedding decorations, the wedding dress is hanging in my living room and there is a huge wedding cake in my fridge.

Yesterday was perfect here in Utah. Since my sister had decided to get married on November 1st we have all been planning for the worst weather possible. Guess what...it was gorgeous and a record-breaking warm yesterday. Everything went off without a hitch (oh, except a little issue with my temple recommend which almost prevented me from attending the ceremony but we got it worked out. Don't judge me. I make fun of people that don't check the expiration dates on their recommends before important events like sister's weddings but this one was an administrative error. No really, it was.) Whitney looked gorgeous, Ashton had a perma-grin, the kids were semi-well behaved and we all were soooooo happy that this would be the last wedding for my mom to plan and make food and cake for. YEAHHHH!! Not to mention we can stop hearing Whitney cry about being a 25 year-old OLD MAID. Ha! As I write they are off to their Honeymoon for a week of wedded bliss in Mexico.

I will post wedding pictures later when I have the strength to get up and go get my camera out of the car.

I am happy for you Whit and Ashton- there was most definitely a special spirit at your wedding yesterday and I am honored to have been able to share it with you. Take care of my baby sister, Ashton- or else! Love you guys!