Princess Diary

Once upon a time

 I started this little blog with the intention of sharing photos and stories from my princessing and performing careers.

However, I met Patrick shortly after getting it up and running and the blog's focus quickly changed to our adventures together.

With Baby Marks soon arriving,

I feel it is time to begin a new blog.

It only seemed appropriate for my final Princess Mandi post to actually be about princesses!

The Little Mermaid/Ariel

Over four years ago, I hosted my first princess party as Ariel.

This little side job has been one my most favorite experiences ever.

"Yes, I would love to get paid to dress up as a princess and make little girls' dreams come true!"

Even though I've been portraying Ariel the longest, she is still by far my favorite character.

Cinderella

I added Cinderella to my repertoire three years ago.

I love that she is the classic princess...beautiful dress, sweet and kind, graceful.

The only downfall to Cinderella is that blonde wig.

It took me four different wigs over the years to finally find one that covers my dark hair well.

Anna

Of course we had to add the FROZEN princesses after the movie came out near the end of 2013.

Anna has such a fun personality.

I knew I loved her the moment I saw she had freckles on her shoulders just like me! Ha ha!

Elsa

My first Elsa party was so overwhelming.

I was swarmed by little girls tugging on my dress and screaming as loudly as they could to get my attention. Basically, I received the same reaction at each Elsa party.

Little girls cannot get enough of Elsa, but I can.

Once my baby belly forced me into (temporary) princess retirement,

I quickly sold my dress and wig.

I just never felt Elsa was the easiest and most enjoyable princess to portray.

Hopefully after the baby arrives I'll be able to play princess again!

He's So Cool

My brother Austin is just a cool person.

I'm pretty sure if there was a cool person handbook, it would state that being in a band is a requirement.

Austin's band is called The Cold Shoulders.

They play surf-punk music.

Patrick and I were not familiar with surf-punk music so we were anxious to see The Cold Shoulders live at Kilby Court last week.

Their music was fun and entertaining. I'm pretty sure Baby Marks was having a party in the womb right along with us!

Austin is an extremely talented musician.

He is also very smart, athletic, good looking, a super nice guy, and incase you missed it above... the epitame of cool.

The Big Kid

On Thanksgiving Day we played the game Don't Eat Pete! with the nieces and nephews.  Patrick taught the kids how to cheat to win the game and eat every piece of candy.  My mom kept muttering, "Patriiiiick. Oh, Patriiiiiick. Oh, Patrick!" under her breath.  Later she joked with me that I'll have my hands full with Patrick and the new baby... It'll be like having two kids!  Patrick is a bit of kid at heart and that's one of the reasons I love him. Life is always fun around here!

Well, every kid needs at least one toy for Christmas.  I found a make-your-own clay Ninja Turtle kit for Patrick's stocking.  I think Patrick enjoyed his little arts and craft activity and he was quite pleased with the finished Donatello figurine.

"Donny" can now be found on our desk keeping us company while we work on the computer. 

Broadway Baby

Dear Baby Marks,

Ever since the day we first found out you were coming our way, this Mama has put in hours of rehearsal and performance time. Everyone keeps joking that you will dance your way out of the womb and greet us with singing rather than crying.

Sounds like a good way to make an entrance into the world, if you ask me!

Even if you don't grow up to be a Broadway baby, I hope that you will have an appreciation for the arts.

It is such a big part of my life...

And your Papa and I wouldn't have had an excuse to go on our first date if it hadn't been for a play our mutual friend and matchmaker, Kimberly, was starring in!

While you've been busy growing,

you and I spent time as pioneers at This Is the Place Heritage Park,

sung the songs of the fifties and sixties as Missy in The Marvelous Wonderettes,

and helped the people of Salt Lake celebrate the holidays by playing Becky Sue When 

in Desert Star's How The Grouch Stole Christmas.

Everyone in the cast was so excited when I let them know about you.

If they ever got tired of me talking about you, they sure didn't let me catch on.

What nice people!

 (From top left: Krystal/Samantha What, Matt/Grouch, Melissa/Cindy Lou Who, and Todd/Kenny)

 A few behind the scenes snapshots for you...

 Krystal and Lee were my make-up counter mates.

 Holly/Mama and I weren't sure why we had to be wigged when we already had "Who hair."

Our Olio costumes 

(The costumers, Mary and Lynn, did a great job keeping my growing belly comfortable and concealed during this show.)

Just a photo of all the girls.

We had so many people come and see the show:

The whole Jensen crew... even the Montana Jensens!

My fan club president, Krystal

Several friends from church

My non-cheese-loving but still supportive friends, Heidi and Kayla

Miss Chantryce 

The Fondario and Marks side of the family

Several aunts and uncles

(Oh, I'm sure I've forgotten some others but we'll just have to blame it on pregnancy brain because it totally is a real thing and I have it!)

Okay, just because The Grouch is my last show before your arrival, don't think you'll get a break from my singing and performing quite yet...

I've still got lots of Kindermusik classes to teach and I really need to start practicing my ukulele!

xoxo Mama Mandi

Highlights of 2014

Another year come and gone!

Patrick and I were looking back on 2014 and there were three things we both listed as highlights...

#1 Our Montana Trip

#2 Paying off all our debt and reaching our emergency fund goal

(Thank you, Dave Ramsey!)

And of course,

#3 Finding out that Baby Marks will be joining our little family in May!

Between the baby's arrival and Patrick finishing school, we know 2015 will be another amazing year!

The Marks Come to Utah

We were so glad that Patrick's parents and brother were able to come up from Texas for Christmas this year.

The holidays are that much more wonderful when surrounded by family.

Temple Square

Temple Square truly is magical at Christmastime.

In addition to our date at the Roof, 

we had multiple opportunities to spend time downtown amongst the lights.

We attended the First Presidency Christmas Devotional with our upstairs neighbors,

were lucky enough to tag along with my parents to the Mormon Tabernacle's Christmas Concert featuring the Muppets and Santino Fontana,

and we of course made a trip or two to City Creek to finish our gift shopping.

 

  

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!!!  After very little snow up to this point, we were thrilled it turned out to be a white Christmas!

We spent a quiet, laid back holiday in Erda...

Just my parents, Garrett, Austin, Patrick, and me.

We had a Mexican-themed meal, opened presents, had a white elephant exchange, passed gag gifts while mom read from "The Night before Christmas," and played a few games.

 And we ate homemade apple pie!

Christmas Details

I love seeing our holiday decoration collection grow a little bit each year.

Here are some new details that were added for Christmas 2014...

Once again, our bookshelf served as our "mantle."

I was so excited to put out the Nativity pieces we were given by my mom last year.
She plans to gives us another set in the collection each year until we have the complete Nativity.

I tried to mix in the Christmas decor with things we already had out around the house.

This fun poinsettia is from a little shopping trip we took with Noni and Pete on Patrick's birthday.

Finding a couple of Christmasy pillows was on my to-do list this year.

And keeping with the little tradition we started our first Christmas together,
here is this year's photo ornament.

Gingerbread A-Frame

Building a gingerbread house each Christmas season is a fun tradition I so look forward to.

Most of the kits you see in stores basically have the same style house so I was so thrilled when Patrick and I spotted this charming kit at Trader Joe's...

 I've always loved the cute A-frames that you see in the ski towns and knew this was the kit we had to  buy this year.

 We decided to cheat a bit... We never eat our gingerbread houses so we hot glued the pieces together and then covered the seams with icing.  I wish we had thought of this brilliant idea sooner!

 The front view...

 And the back.

It isn't a complete project without our trademark "P+M."

Year of Dates: December

December marked our final "Year of Dates" date.

I wanted to make sure we ended with something extra special.

Every Christmas, we go and see the lights at Temple Square. I decided that for our final date, it would  be fun this year to view them from The Roof Restaurant. 

 The Roof is considered Utah's premier dining buffet. Perfect for a husband who loves food and a pregnant wife whose appetite has greatly increased!

 In addition to the fantastic food, we enjoyed the live music and the overall atmosphere of the restaurant.

 I could have filled up on the french onion soup and the creme brûlée alone.

So amazing!

 The whole experience exceeded Patrick's expectations. He was planning a return visit before we even got to dessert!

 I am now convinced this is the only way to see the lights.

I think it is safe to say that the "Year of Dates" was a huge success!

I can't think of a better gift than time with the person you love.