And the award goes to...

me...

for the most correct guesses for our annual family Oscar party!!

Give us an excuse to eat a lot of yummy food, hang out together for a few hours and 'theme' something up and we really outdo ourselves.

This year we decided to do a Hawaiian theme in honor of one of the best picture nominees, The Descendants. So my mom went all out with a luau in February. Caitlin did shredded chicken sandwiches and a yum pineapple-ish cake, Blake did grilled kabobs and rice, Calah made yummy guacomole and my mom finished up with everything else: salads, fruit and plenty of movie treats!

Lucy wanted to be decked out in a party dress and counted down all day to go to the party...she may have been a bit disappointed when she realized the 'party' was watching tv.

Aloha!

Of course Blake and I swept both contests. He scored us a Jamba Juice gift card for winning Oscar Bingo and all of my studying paid off in guessing the most correct wins during the ceremony. Lucy should be so proud of her parents.

My parents are always such great hosts and really, there's no better way to watch a 3 hour award show than with our crew!

A few notes:

For being one of the nicest people on the planet I don't understand how Brinton can't stand Oprah...and Meryl Streep?!

My dad loves a good 'In Memoriam' segment

Blake knows every single person in show business (well, not personally) and every movie they've ever made - he really puts my celeb knowledge to shame

George Clooney was robbed! Really, The Descendants is such an amazing movie and he was so good in it. I never thought that much about him but after this movie...wowza! It should be out to rent soon so make sure to give it a watch - by far the best movie I've seen in a long time!

love is all we need

Blog, schmog.

Sometimes life is really amazing but really not that interesting to blog about. That's been us for the past month. Life is just moving along...preschool, work, family date nights, zumba therapy sessions, learning to read, Barbies.

Pretty much how things should be but no one really wants to read about it because they're doing it too. Sometimes I feel like documenting the mundane but not this month. I've just enjoyed living it.

But then one day you feel bad because the four people who read your blog probably are sick of seeing the latest post and one day I really promise I'm going to print "the blog" and I would hate Lucy to think that we stopped taking pictures of her for a month.

Lucky for us Valentine's rolled in this week and sparked some enthusiasm to update...

This year we did the 14 days of Valentine's again. A little treat, note, present in Lucy's mailbox every morning. I don't do well with junk toys but when you need 14 gift ideas something from the Target dollar section is bound to get tossed in. I think next year it might be easier (and cheaper) to have the Valentine fairy (or whatever this is called) to bring $1 a day.

The final gift on Valentine's morning was two tickets to see the musical Beauty and the Beast next month at Capitol Theater! I spent over an hour trying to secure some tickets. They weren't specifically for a Valentine's gift but when the treat cupboard was empty on Valentine's eve I decided it was the perfect time to tell her about the tickets. Sad for me she's insisting on Blake taking her. Her words..."Daddy just LOVES Beauty and the Beast...so we will go on a daddy/daughter date night and you can stay home and look at your computer."

Thanks.

This is what she got for that daddy she loves so much...

I looked to Pinterest for some Valentine preschool motivation but it just made me anxious. Too much cute stuff. So we just got some cello bags, Target treats, stickers and called it good. They turned out cute and Lucy loved taking "ribbon bags" to her friends.

I had to work on Valentine's but Lucy had a special afternoon with her Gammy and Poppa. They had a special lunch and fun treats!

After we picked her up we had a dinner date out and heart-shaped sugar cookies in bed. Because yes, she's almost five and still coming in to sleep with us...

...and as much as I complain about getting kicked in the neck all night some day she probably won't even unlock the door to her room. So snuggle in little Valentine, snuggle in!

trending now

On my yahoo home page they have a "Trending Now" sidebar with what I expect is supposed to be happening, searched or popular topics. Sometimes I think they're fake and yahoo just stuck some random thing in there. Because today...Herniated Disc Surgery. Really? I mean, I've had one but I really hope that's not a trend. So anyway, jumbled thoughts and all this is my personal trending now post.

Kindle Fire: Okay, I got one for Christmas and it's been the best gift ever. I have been so bad at reading the past year or so. There are so many books I want to read but I'm lazy and never make the time. I guess by not having to turn a page it's really made things easy for me and I've read three books since Christmas. Going along with this trend is the Hunger Games series. Leave it to me to be a year or two behind the trends but I started these after Christmas and I really like them. I've avoided them because of the futuristic/science fiction-y idea but they've been great.

Zumba: My cousin Alisa and I bought gym memberships on living social. She's a superstar and goes to every class but surprisingly I've got hooked on a few classes too. It really helps when it takes 2 1/2 minutes from my driveway to a parking spot to get to the gym but I really actually enjoy it once I'm there. My favorite is our Zumba class. Who knew I would have so much fun and not dread going to an hour long class which turns me lobster face red and a sweating mess. A lot of it has to do with the instructor...he's amazing! At the end of a long day it's so therapeutic to dance around with a bunch of strangers (and my cousin) to a latin-themed Pump up the Jam.

Downton Abbey: Last weekend my cute friend Stacy mentioned this PBS series on her blog. Stacy has really amazing taste so I knew this could be worth watching. Then on Sunday there was an article in the Tribune about the second series starting and how it was even better than the first. Well, in just a few days I'm almost finished with the first season and I have all of the second season set up to record on the dvr. I LOVE it!! The costumes and sets are spectacular and the different story lines draw you right in. This is highly recommended! The episodes are on Netflix but I've been streaming them from amazon for free...you guessed it, on my Kindle! Thanks Stace...

Bathroom cell phone pictures: Even though it hasn't been that much of a winter yet. There are still some long days. When the crafts are done, one too many episodes of Caillou have been watched the next best thing is to put on a little makeup and take pictures.

Noel Gallagher: The first gift I ever gave Blake was an Oasis cd. Then Wonderwall became our song. Well, the Oasis brothers have broken up but lucky for us we're still going strong. Noel Gallagher has started his own band and he really brought us back in with this song. Romance! So as I start packing for a mini vacay retreat with my bestie I'll leave you with the video. This one will be 'trending' for awhile!

holiday recap

Happy Holidays...from the Suk!

Christmas this year flew by but it was still pretty fabulous even if it still seems like a blur. This year we hosted Christmas Eve with the Schrecks. I worried about squeezing everyone into my dining "area" but it worked...nice and cozy. Blake and I wanted to get all theme-y and we did more of a southern bbq Christmas. Well, Sugarhouse BBQ did more of a southern bbq Christmas!

To go along with our down south theme we had our own little hootenanny! Janet brought her guitar and we all sang along. Lucy was in performance heaven...and Blake pretty much was too.

Baby Everett! This is Lucy's first and only cousin. And our first and only nephew. We love him so much and he was dressed very dapper for the night.

And lucky for us we'll get another little boy cousin in late spring. Clint and Abby are expecting their first and we love him already!

everyone's favorite...uncle Kyle

After the festivities we did our Eve pajamas, new Christmas book, note and treats for Santa, and Lucy did a lot of "oh dear, I hope I get my American Girl doll".

Christmas eve jitters!

And the sigh of relief Christmas morning that he came...

and delivered!

Out of nowhere Lucy came up with the name Annison for her new AG doll. And she's now a part of our family. Seriously, I'm putting a seatbelt on this doll every time we leave in the car and kissing her good night. Lucy's pretty vocal about NOT wanting siblings but she sure loves this new addition.

After presents at home we raced over to my mom's to open presents. We got showered with amazing gifts (a Kindle fire to help with my resolution of reading more books and less "updates") had a delicious breakfast and spent time lounging before continuing on with our day.

Trying on her new rock star jacket and looking a little holi-dazed...

And unfortunately that's all that was captured on camera. But the rest of our day was a good mix of food, family and togetherness.

Moving right along - Lucy plans to pull out Valentine's decor this weekend!

counting down

So there's no snow here yet but we've been counting down for Christmas for the last couple of weeks and now we're just a handful of days away....woo hoo!!

I've been so excited for Christmas this year so instead of waiting to almost the middle of the month we bought our tree and decorated right after the first of the month.

This chair is my early Christmas present!! I made Blake go to a Pottery Barn Christmas entertaining class with me (mostly for the 10% off coupon) on a Sunday early in the month and as we were checking out we spotted this darling chair. We've wanted an armless to add to the living room and this was what I was looking for. So, early Christmas for me!

I needed a mini tree in our bedroom this year just to have another room with glowing lights. I might have to keep this up longer than our usual December 26 purge.

This is Lucy's. But since this picture about 400 more pink sparkle ornaments have been added.

I made a Christmas activity list because the month flies by too fast and I want to make sure we get in as much in as we can. Well there were only a handful of ideas I came up but we ended up doing a lot more...We've done Zoolights, Lucy made a gingerbread house, went to the Nativity in the Glen, adopted an ornament and went shopping for UAID, drove around to look at lights and eat treats, went to my work party at the country club, Blake went solo to his "no spouses" party at Grand America, Lucy saw Annie at Pioneer Theater with my parents, decorated cookies and visited with good friends, made crafty ornaments on a cozy morning with good friends, had my work girls gift exchange and dinner and lots of Christmas movies cozied in at home.

And one of the highlights was Lucy's preschool Christmas program!

Rockin' out on her homemade guitar, strummin' away singing "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree".

Preschool has been the best decision ever. I only wish she would have had another year here because it's been such a great experience. Almost every class in December she came home with a darling project. This performance was the best and so was seeing Lucy pop up standing on the church pews looking back for us!

Who knew "All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" could be so funny!!

The day after her performance we got up bright and early for Breakfast with Santa at Grand America. The breakfast buffet is delicious (white hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows!) but the highlight of course is Santa and Mrs. Clause. In the middle of breakfast you hear the jingle jingle and then the two of them singing (and having everyone else join in) "Santa Clause is coming to Town". Pure magic!

After they come around to each little table we go into the next room for some one on one time to discuss matters.

Santa got specific requests: American Girl doll, with red curly hair, blue eyes and her ears pierced...let's hope she's been good!

Taking in all of the festive hotel.

We've had such a good month spending time with friends, family and just the three of us. Now let's hope for at least a little snow!

Merry Christmas!

(yeah, I was busy having too much holiday fun to do Christmas cards...so this is it!)

sugarplum

Saturday morning we were treated to dancing sugarplums!

Another Christmas recital with Miss Julie and all of her darling dancers. The Toddler & Tiara episodes must be rubbing off on Lucy because she kept asking for more makeup and lipgloss...

sparkle baby!

I think this was our best recital yet. Lucy could not wait to get on stage and perform and she managed to situate herself center stage!

Wednesdays are all about two things: Miss Julie and Lucy's sweet friend Amelia. This is their third year together in dance and it's so fun to see how far they've come and how much they've grown!

happy birthday mom!

Yesterday my mom turned the big...6-0! On Saturday night we all got together for yummy Indian food at Bombay House, chocolate cake and to celebrate my mom.

Nani and my parents.

Caitlin and Brinton had a big announcement for all of us that night....

they booked their trip to Peru!

(waa, waa, waa)

Maybe by my sixtieth birthday they'll have the announcement I'm waiting for!

Caitlin made my mom the Pioneer Woman's chocolate sheet cake it was delicious that night but so amazingly delicious the next morning for breakfast.

Happy birthday Mom! We love you!!