Look at our fun month!!

We've been having the best time with my parents here. Celebrating Christmas is so much funner with some extra family along to share it with. Here are some fun pictures from the month.

Tagged

Tagging really is the best when your mind is so unorganized and you can't put any other complete thoughts or stories down. So here it is in all its glory.

Five things I Was Doing Ten Years Ago
1. Living the life as a freshman at Ricks College
2. Lots of cheering, dating and not so much studying
3. Faithfully writing a missionary I was certain I was going to marry
4. Not making any money
5. Meeting with the Dean for breaking rules

Five things on my To Do List (short and long term)
1. Complete a triathlon
2. Live in a small town
3. Serve a mission with Chris
4. Visit Every State
5. Own Power Tools and build cool things

Five things I'd do if I was a Millionaire
1. Visit my family much more frequently
2. Travel the world with my family
3. Pay off all my debt
4. Decorate my house
5. Buy new cars

Five things I'd never do again
1. Never really is a long time, I can't think of specific things. Maybe there are too many. I would hope that I'd be more independent, strong, optimistic, self assured and less worried about everything.

Five Favorite Toys
1. Bike Trailer
2. Sewing Machine
3. Bosch
4. Computer
5. DVR

Five Things I've Read Recently
1. Animal Vegetable Miracle
2. Complications - A Suregeons Notes on an Imperfect Science
3. The Christmas Box Miracle
4. Austenland
5. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Five People I'm Tagging
1. Amy
2. Tanya
3. Jessie
4. Tori
5. Rachel

A few reviews

I've been thinking about all these things I love lately and have to give some positive reviews for a few of my favorites.
1 Fall Decorations and smells, pumpkin spice wall flower from Bath and Body Works.
2. Two Rows - Fruit Cobbler. Who know that somewhere so close could have such deliciousness. It was even more exciting that we've lived here over a year and now just found it, it made it seem more like a hidden treasure discovered. You must try one yourself.
3. Sprinkles Cupcakes - I've almost tried every flavor. I get all hooked in the craze of new and exciting things. If you have to stand an hour in line to get one, it must be that good right? That is my way of thinking. That's why day after Thanksgiving shopping at 5am in the freezing cold is so much more fun then any other time. I'm sad and sorry for you if your not in an area where you can get one of these. Should you ever visit us, it's the first place we'll go.
4. Dan in Real Life. - This movie was such a delight. Squeaky clean and hilarious especially if your future will involve a teenage daughter. Go see it if you haven't already.
5. Wal-mart paint. For all of you anti-Wal-mart people out there I'm sorry it's at Wal-mart. It comes in a plastic container with a screw on lid. It's genius because when you take the lid off it's a little bowl perfect for touching up with. I've been getting my paint at Home Depot forever and paying twice as much. I really think it even covered better and was overall better paint (it could just be the savings or fun plastic container swaying my opinion). Again, sorry it's at Wal-mart for you haters.
6. The "Buy it Now" option on Ebay. I've been discouraged to many time being out bid or paying waaayyy to much because the bidding up becomes a game for me. The "Buy it Now" option was made just for me. Find the item, click, buy, no waiting, no stress, not so compulsive buying.
7. Reading blogs. Here is why I never post, because I'm always reading all of yours. The blogger world has exploded and so many friends and family have joined me on the bandwagon. There really isn't enough time to read them all as often as I wish I could, and that really leaves no time to ever post. All of you lives are so much more exciting to here about. I really love it.

Halloween!!!

Presenting...Queen Frostine, Princess Lolli and Mr. Mint

I really do love this holiday. The purpose is pretty lame but I can't help but love it. The decorations, the food, the costumes, it all makes me so happy.
Here are some kid pictures. I've yet to figure out how to get a good one with three kids but when I do I'm enlarging it and framing it. This is the best we could do.

Mason looks like he can't possibly put down another candy bar (but he did, many more). Mason loved every minute of the night. He had his cute little bucket that he dragged everywhere. We kept offering to pack it for him but he refused to turn over possesion. At one house we got these Star Wars plastic head filled with candy. You couldn't see the candy inside and Mason thought it was just a toy. As he would walk from house to house he'd sort through his goodies, find the "toy" and throw it out saying "not candy". Each time Chris would pick it up and put it back in his bucket and each time Mason found it he'd throw it back out "not candy".
Charlotte picked out there costumes. She came up with the idea all on her own that they should be the Candyland characters. It was a cute idea and since you can't buy those in the store we had to get creative. You sure can go a long way on a costume with some fabric glue and tape. I didn't want to dress up like Grandma Nut and we couldn't convince Chris to die his hair pink and be King Candy so we settled for the iron on t-shirts of the gameboard.

FireStation and Nocturnal Parade

I've been busy producing an owl costume for Charlotte's nocturnal parade costume. It actually didn't take that long, one movie's worth of time, "The Wedding Planner" one of my favorites. All I had to do was glue on a bunch of brown feathers to a vest. I thought the owl would be finished at that until I put it on her and decided she looked more like Davy Crockett then an animal. So yesterday we had an emergency bib and hat making. We borrowed some owl glasses from a friend and we were set. Charlotte loved it, she was posing all last night.

I love how she still has "red eyes" even with the glasses. We joked that she should have been a raccoon because of her black eye. Since many of you asked how she got it.....she was dancing at a birthday party and got an elbow, or head, or some other body part thrown to her eye. Apparantley at the same time she got her head banged from behind. She started to cry and asked for an ice pack, while she was sitting there with the ice pack on they saw that her eye started to swell up and turn black. They kept asking her if the front of her head or eye hurt but she said no.
I'm glad the owl project is over. These kind of things are frustating because I put alot of love and care into that owl and then I get to parade and see things that are so cute and took way less time. If you ever find yourself making a nocturnal costume for you kid, take my advice...go buy some Zoo Pal plates, cut eye wholes and tape some string to it so it's a mask. It was so cute, so easy and so .25 cents. Why couldn't I think of that.
Next project, Halloween costumes.
I also got such cute pictures of Rozlyn and Mason on their recent fire station tour. Mason had no fear as usual. After the fireman was all geared up they asked if anyone wanted their picture. Mason was the first one to march right up there.

Getting the tour.

Almost as tall as a firetruck tire.

Cute kids.

Baskets, Birthday Party, Black-eye...

and so so busy. I really didn't plan everything to start with a B but once I started I couldn't stop. This post marks the end of my busy days. Last week was the busiest week in forever. I dreaded each day every morning I woke up, and all throughout the day I'd complain about how bad I hate being busy. I'm changing my ways.

As Charlotte's room mom I had the task of creating the class basket to be auctioned off. Our theme was "Pamper Me". We had tonz of donations so we had to split the baskets into two. I thought it would be fun to have Lottie participate, so away we went to all of the fun girly pampering kind of stores in town. The pressure of putting it together was a little daunting. We had to use shrink wrap which was a first for me, that is some fun stuff. Everything looks prettier in shrink wrap. We shrink wrapped the baskets, then shoes, then each kid got to pick out a toy. We had so much fun that we used up the whole roll. You can get it at Hobby Lobby for 4.99 and it really is worth the fun. You'll all be getting presents shrink wrapped from me for Christmas this year.

The baskets were due on Thursday and I was in charge of the combined YW activity on Wed. It was a huge birthday party for all of the girls. I'm sure your not really interested in the details but it did take lots of planning and I'm trying to paint you a picture of my busy week.

We had this gag gift exchange and I got the game Scrabble. I was so excited and it was much better then the old sequins dance unitard I gave away. I came home that night and it was late from cleaning up and made Chris play the game with me. There's nothing like ignoring all you have to do by playing board games late into the night on a weekday. I wasn't so great on night number one but on Thursday night I got the word "Quince" which is some sort of apple fruit. I was so proud that I knew what the word was and that I had all the pieces to play it that I got skipped five times in a row waiting for a place to lay it down. Chris hadn't ever heard of the word which made me more proud because it might be the only word I know that he doesn't. I'm so grateful for the ABC fruit book where I learned it.

Lastly, Charlotte survived another birthday party with no peanut emergency but did come home with a black eye. It's faded a little bit sense she got it a few days back but you can still kind of see it.

Chocolate

Roz brought home a teddy bear last Thursday in a cute little bag with extra teddy clothes from preschool. This bear came with a journal that was for recording Chocolate's (the bears name) adventures. I thought it was such a cute idea. We are a pet free family. We once tried a goldfish and I honestly was traumitized by it's death. Chocolate is kind of the next best thing. All the kids fell in love with him. For me it was a lot of pressure. We had to have something great to record. I've been in quite a lazy parenting slump. Maybe Roz's teacher could sense it in me when I dropped her off. The previous care takers from her class had such fun things to say about the time spent with Chocolate. In the end we didn't do anything elaborate. It's just a sad wake up call that a small Teddy Bear was what was driving me to be a fun parent this weekend. Chocolate ate with us, said prayers with us, participated in FHE with us, slept in Roz's bed with her and lost no limbs (even though there was plenty of tugging back and forth on this beloved toy). This morning before we returned it, Charlotte found him tucked under the kitchen cabinets on the cold tile where he slept last night. I'm sure that was an accident, but confirmed to me that Chocolate is the only kind of pet will ever have.
I hear we get one more weekend with him (if he survives his adventures until the end of the year). There will be a poll going on for suggestions to entertain Chocolate. Get your ideas ready.

My Month Long Sabbatical

Good stories to entertain you and make you laugh still on their way. For now just pictures.

Early morning hot air balloon festival. We had quite the good seats as you can see.

Family photos from our Idaho trip. I couldn't ever talk about it before because it was a big suprise for my mom's big 60th!!! It was the first time in who knows how long it's been since we've all been together. I think it was when my dad retired 6 years ago. The photographer was so great, just look how many of us there were. Plenty of kids and plenty of adults who act like kids.

Okay, long boring and no good stories.

Game Day!

We just got back from our weekend adventure to Tulsa to watch the Cougars play TU. We rented a 15 passenger van (a.k.a the fun bus) and rode down with some friends. I've learned that every trip doubles in fun when you ride on a bus or 15 passenger van. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the whole crew standing in front of it so you could see just how large it was but forgot before we had to return it.
The kids had so much fun. Mason even proudly wore his cougar shirt. Before the season even began I'd always show him his shirt, point to the cougar and growl real loud because scary is cool for little boys right? Wrong. For the Arizona game I went to put it on him without thought. He freaked out started back stepping as fast as he could. My whole idea of getting him excited about his shirt had backfired. He was terrified of the cougar and screamed and wrestled me as I attempted to get it over his head.
Prior to the game we went to the tailgate party with the rest of cougar nation to eat some good barbeque, hang out with cosmo and watch the cheerleaders. Mason was having a great tantrum because mom and dad said no to the "all you can eat cookie buffet". It took Cosmo to distract him enough to quit crying.

I love BYU football. It's to bad the outcome was a big "L" but oh well, the trip was a blast. The game didn't end until 12:10. We knew that once it hit midnight of the sabbath they were doomed. J.K. Charlotte is a true fan, just like her mom. She cheers and cheers and really seems to care. She would constantly remind us of the scoreboard with what yard line the ball was on, what the score was, how much time was left. Finally with about 5 minutes to go in the 4th quarter she laid down during a time-out and never came back up. When we woke her up to take her home the first words out of her mouth were "Did we win?" Then walking to the car she asked if she could go on another trip to watch BYU football when she turned 8. I'm pretty sure there are no other 6 year old girls out there with that request.

Two Two Two!!!

Blow!!!

I didn't notice that the boy behind the cars has his pants down until just now.

The whole family loved the yummy yummy cupcakes!.
I'm about two weeks late posting b-day pics but better late then never. What can I say, I love my boy. The Wiggles were the theme of birthday number two. Mason knows each wiggle by name and color. I'm sure I shouldn't brag about this but it is a little impressive for a two year old. We took the kids to the Wiggly Play center and got our fill of the music, the yummy yummy cafe (fruit salad, hot potato, spaghetti) and big red cars. It wasn't a real big Friday night hang out spot because by 6:00p.m. our family really were the only people there.
Chris was the master cake decorator including each wiggle color. I wanted to do this cute fondant polka-dot cake but really ran out of time. Chris stayed home from work that day and we went and played all day instead of sitting home, neglecting him on his b-day, decorating a cake as I otherwise would have done.
After the cake we did presents and played with his brand new trains and tracks. He loves them!!! On the information sheet it said, this is for ages 3+, and then in parentheses it said (do not buy your 2 year old toys made for 3 year olds) you can imagine that I felt pretty pathetic.

Happy Birthday Mason!

Let the party begin

Let the Party Begin!!! Here is one happy 1st grader, ready to celebrate. The first grade theme had something to do with parties and celebrating. At back to teacher night (the night I refused to talk about) each kid took home a cute present from the teacher. Inside it were all these items that coordinated with a 1st grade survival list (smarties - everyone's a smartie, Lifesaver - you can talk to any adult if you need help, Band-aids - to help hurt feelings, Hugs - everyone needs hugs, starburst - all the kids are stars, erasers - we make mistakes and learn from them). Charlotte ate all the candy right up, without giving any thought to what each treat meant but I kept the cute list and she'll appreciate it more someday.

The big first grader!

One year ago.

Not that different. Her face is maybe a little more babyish last year.

I thought I could keep my emotions together because we've done this once before but I was wrong. It wasn't anything compared to the sobbing mess I was a year ago, but there's something about stepping on that campus full of kids hussling around on the first day that makes me sad or happy. I'm not sure which, I just know I felt like crying. My big girl just keeps getting bigger. Here's the differnce in just one year.

Mason got put in timeout this morning and he cried out for "Joe" to rescue him. He'll be a sad guy when he realizes she won't be around much. Another difference in this year and last is that I've already done a few errands today. I think last year I sat in the house by the phone waiting for the call that I had to come rescue her. It never came. Having a cell phone didn't help because I wouldn't have been close enough to the school to get to her in time.

Here's one more picture of her with her new teacher Mrs. Graham. She was her student teacher last year.

So for some last minute sappiness. I don't know why I'm into sharing stories and poems but I was telling my friend about this one this morning and had to go dig it out. It will make you cry if you have little ones in school because it relates so much to how we feel as mama's. We got it from Mrs. Dorsey when Charlotte started preschool so some of you might recognize it.

To Whom It May Concern

by Ina Hughes

Wouldn't it be nice if a mom could send her child out into the world with a list of instructions and a guarantee? The day they set out for kindergarten, all slicked up in a new outfit and carrying shiny new lunch boxes, if we mothers who smile and sniff back at the bus stop had our "druthers," we'd send along a letter that goes something like this:
To Whom It May Concern, and I Sure Hope It Does:
This is a Very special little five-year-old girl. She is especially special to her father, who is still mumbling incoherently about where all the time has gone.
It seems like only yesterday when she spent her mornings flopping around in my shoes and watching Captain Kangaroo. However, if you know a few important things about her, I am sure she will love school as much as I did a hundred years ago.
Whenever she gets hurt or upset, she gets a stomach ache. The best remedy is to put her on your lap and kiss her three times~on the cheek, neck, and forehead. Just a little family ritual perhaps you should know about. She likes to be called Snicklefritz, her daddy's pet name for her, which might come in handy if she gets homesick.
As for lunch, she doesn't like spinach, squash, asparagus, cooked carrots, yams (only sweet potatoes with marshmallows), beets, veal, or potato salad. She likes hot dogs (no mustard), hamburgers (with mayonnaise), soup (Campbell's Chicken & Stars), pizza (plain), and peanut butter (not the generic kind and never crunchy). Please add a teaspoon of sugar to her milk or else she will make a horrible face and may spit it out.
Her lunch money will be in a little purse around her neck. She knows her quarters from her nickels, but dimes give her a fit. Just remind her a dime is the thing she swallowed once. If she ever should lose her money, please don't let her go hungry. We have MasterCard and Visa.
She forgets sometimes that she needs to go to the bathroom, but you can usually tell by the way she stands. She doesn't like to wash her hands before lunch, so will you patiently remind her about ten times?
Should there ever be a thunderstorm during school, please hold her hand and make jokes about how the angels must be bowling in heaven. I know that's not very scientific, but it helps. You'll probably need to comb her hair every day after recess. Please use only covered rubber bands, and I'm sure you can tell that it looks better parted on the left.
She's very worried about carrying her own lunch tray without the food sliding off, and about finding my car after school. So, would you carry her tray for, say, the first six months? My car is a green Dodge, and there will be a dog waiting in it with me.
She has several special talents perhaps you should know about. For instance, she made up a cute little song about a bumble bee. If you ever could use it, I am sure her father would be delighted to come do the background buzzing. She can make French toast in her Easy-Bake oven, get to fifteen doing the lemon twist, and recently wrote a poem about "Giggley, the Wiggley Worm," which might be nice for the school paper.
If you will remember these few things about our Precious Angel, I am sure she will be your favorite student, destined to fame in the Red Robin Reading Group, the Talent Development Program, the Safety Patrol and, eventually, Phi Beta Kappa.
Should you need me, don't hesitate to call: 373-0689 (home); 332-5123 (office); 375-3969 (next door); 352-8197 (her dad's office); 382-1763 (the grocery store where I shop, just in case); 387-5211 (where Dad eats lunch); or 374-2221 (police).
I'll be happy to come sit in the desk with her, if you ever need me.
P.S. Please donl make her grow up too fast. We like her just the way she is!

Back to School

Back to School night with three wild kids, all alone, lots of lines, too many people = many girls nights out. Thats all I have to say.

New Me Blog

Do you love it!!! I can't take any credit for it. My super talented and amazing friend Debbie put it all together. It's another talent chalked up for her on her never ending list of them. I love it, thanks Deb!

The difference in a year

It's been over a year now that we've been settled into our nice house and made all the adjustments that you're forced to do when you move.

Leaving Houston was bittersweet for me. I was excited for the opportunities that awaited and nervous about leaving the comfort zone I'd established our four years there. We had to start all over, like everyone else who moves. I've never been great being alone, I've always needed people and excitement surrounding me. I was grateful for the quality time with the kids but still so sad. I hardly left the house because there was nowhere to go, no one to go with and no babysitters to leave the kids with. I was so sad and lonely and didn't realize just how depressed I was until I look back now.

We moved into our house and slowly but surely things improved. I got Lottie's postcard in the mail with her teachers name on it, and it was just a name. I knew no one at the school, I knew no one to ask about teachers and no one to call and see if our kids were in the same class. Every face was unfamiliar at church, the school, everywhere we went.

Life is the opposite now, familiar faces everywhere, more people to talk to on the phone then my kids would like, saying no to social outings because the calenders full. I'm so happy to be here and would be sad to ever leave. Some people give their spills that you can be happy anywhere, happiness isn't a place, it's what inside you, and I'm sure it's a little true but I'm just not that strong of a person. I'm just so happy that my situation from those dreaded days a year ago are over and that I don't have to go back to that "place".

It's all the difference one year makes.

I love this story called "Welcome to Holland" by Brookie Peterson. It's about her handicapped child and so beautiful. I would read it after we moved and it would bring me to tears. While it best pertains to having a handicapped child, I feel like it realtes to so much more, whatever the challenge is were going through at the time: moving, spouses, college, kids, etc.

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says. "Welcome to Holland".

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to bein Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there a while and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, and Holland even has Rembrandts.

I'm normally not this serious but it's been on my mind so much lately. I just keep thinking about tough times and how they usually always pass. I realize it doesn't make it any easier while your in the middle of it. Whenever things change or are different I always think of Holland. Sometimes some of life's lessons just hit you like a ton of bricks and it all seems so simple and clear. This is how it was for me looking at how time heals wounds and the difference time makes.

Lack of Productivity

Two weeks until school starts. I'm sad at having to go back to a routine. I'm sad at having to wake up and get ready in the morning. I'm sad because the relaxed life will be over. Ohh why did summer have to go by so fast? Is it really the middle of August? Time slow down, somebody make it stop.
In the meantime I should do something productive but can't seem to find the motivation. I could sure use some ice cream right now and good ole chick flick.

Now and Then

I just returned last weekend from a short, packed full of activities, weekend to Idaho Falls. It was the first time in 10 years that I'd flown all alone. No kids, no husband ,Chris was the best to stay home, take a day off and make the kids wish that I wouldn't come back anytime soon. I flew in Monday night and Chris picked me up at the airport with the little ones. That night during Roz's prayers she blessed "that mom can go back to Idaho again and dad can keep watching me." How's that for a warm welcome home. Seriously though, I'm glad that Chris is such an amazing dad and that they all adore him so much, I wouldn't want it any other way.
So the reason for me leaving was my sister's baby blessing and ten year high school reunion. Here's a pic with me and little Johnna, my newest neice!
I also went to the good ole IFHS class of 97 reunion. I have to admit that I was quite nervous to go. My fear of potentially regretting not going outweighed the fear of going so I went. I'm happy I did. It was nothing spectacular but good to see lots of faces that I haven't seen forever. I was a little dissapointed at the lack of drama, I was hoping for some major drastic changes in people (went off the deep end, came out of the closet, gave up the party life) just to keep things exciting, but everyone was really the exact same. I guess thats O.K. too.
My own little 10-year spice girl reunion (sort of)
Brooke, me, Tera, Shanan and Rochelle in 1997. We really were cooler then the spice girls.

Rochelle, Tera, me, Shanan and Brooke now.
Here we all are ten years later. The only real difference are the husbands, babies and careers that we each have now. These girls have been great friends since 7th grade junior high. I have so many memories with each one of them. We're all in different cities now and I'm especially far away, so this reunion was a real treat!!

Girl talk and raw cookie dough still go hand in hand.

Another 1997 reunion photo: This is my roomate McKenzi from my freshman year at Ricks standing in front of Carriage House #207. We cheered together, snuck out together, dated together, cried and laughed together. Sometimes you just have to be a little crazy your first year out on your own. Not only is McKenzi such a great friend, she set Chris and me up on our blind date, and look where we are now.

I wish that I would've had more time to catch-up but in a short weekend and juggling time between a million family members and friends there just wasn't enough. There are advantages to having both sides of the family in the same city/area because you can see everyone in fewer trips, it's just that the time is so split up. My solution is to drive next summer (because after our last trip I've decided flying with three kids just isn't for me) and spend a much longer amount of time there.

A little bit of a scary story kind of realted to my reunion:

A few weeks before I left a lady from church who I hardly know, came up to me and told me how she saw a girl named Rainie on CSI, and how it stood out because she'd never heard that name before. Since I couldn't think of anything better to say I asked if (Rainie the actress) was cool. I hope someone with my same name isn't a loser. Anyway she proceeded to tell me that she was murdered in the episode. The short story is that she went back to her ten year reunion, she was a cheerleader in high school and the other cheerleaders had something against her and arranged for her to be killed at the reunion. It sounds a little funny but actually was very disturbing to me for qutie some time. This lady didn't know that it was my ten year reunion this summer or that I was a cheerleader or I'm sure she wouldn't have told me. I guess I didn't have to ask about the character either but once I did, it would have been wierd for the lady to reply "I don't want to tell you what she was like". I feel happier and safer now that I'm home from the reunion and still alive because if it was some alumni of my class that is now a rich T.V. writer and wanted to get back at me then the plan didn't work. My friend told me to look up the writers for the show but I can't take that step because if I did recognize a name I'd be so sad and more paranoid then I already am for the rest of my life.

Seattle/Bear Lake

I can't believe I've already been back one week. Some vacations you are ready to have end but I have to admit that I was sad to see this one wrap up. We had the best time, lots, of sights, lots of sun, happy kids and not nearly enough sleep. Just the way a family vacation should be.
We flew to SLC on Friday night 9pm, almost two hours after they should have already been in bed. I kept them awake, played hard all day Friday, expecting them to sleep the whole way. I was very wrong. We landed at 11:30, slept in a hotel and were back at the airport Sat. 5am to fly to Seattle. That was the worst of the trip, from there on out it was the best.
We were able to see my sweet nephew baptized Sat. We flew in our church clothes, drove straight there and showed up with about 5 minutes to spare, but we made it!!! It was such an awesome baptism, the spirit was so strong and I was so happy that my girls could watch one of their cousins be baptized. We had an awesome lunch and the kids ran and played for hours in the gym while we gave plenty of hugs to all of our long lost family. (Not really lost but they live a long ways away). Ryan and Brenda, showed us to the Northwest Trek that afternoon and took us to Eatonville, some small town at the base of Mt.Ranier to eat and have yummy ice cream. The next three days we spent in Seattle taking in all of the tourists sights. We saw the aquarium, went to the beach, rode the ferry, Pike's Market, Poulsbo(sp?) this great little Norweigian town with the biggest donuts I've ever seen. I didn't make it up to Forks, I did suggest it but was voted down.
After we said goodbye to the Morris clan we headed to Utah to see the Graham fam. It was so great to fly into Utah and see the mountains in the daylight. I was just so happy to be in Utah. It had been a long time and it brings back so many memories every time I'm there. We took our kids to the same Taco Time that Chris and I went to on our honeymoon where we ordered, got the total and decided it was too much money so we just kept driving past the pick up window. We've come along way in nine years since not only could we order and afford it for ourselves, we could feed our whole family of five! I was able to see my long lost Houston friends Melissa and Nan which was the best!!!
On the way to Bear Lake we hit a deer. I was so traumitized even though I didn't see it. As soon as I knew what was going to happen I closed my eyes so instead I got the sound effects from both that poor deer and Chris. I was all worried about ruining the rental car but luckily our credit card covered it all. Serious perks to having a credit card. We turned it in early in the morning and they told us we were the third car to be turned in that day that had hit a deer.
Chris's family had a big cabin overlooking the lake were we all stayed. It was the best for us to visit with brothers and sisters and the best for the kids to have cousin sleepovers. We went through tonz of sunblock, went boating, jet skiing and made many sand creations.
Our last day before flying back to the real life we went to see the new kids Rat in a kitchen movie that's to hard to spell. Chris went and got the tickets for us and his two brothers and ordered 11 kids tickets!! He had to repeat himself because apparantley thats even alot for good old Utah! We got a picture of all of the kids outside the theatre because there were just so many of them.
Wow!! If you made it through all of that then you deserve a serious prize. I put a slideshow on of some of our favorite moments!!! Sorry for the sideways pictures. I'll have to figure that glitch out next time.
(The slideshow will someday make it back when I figure out how to not make it monster size).

Twilight/New Moon Frustrations

Disclaimer: Don't read this post if you're going to read the Stephanie Meyer books yourself and don't want to know anything that happens.

So there are many of you out there who have already read this book and made comments about it. I'm joining in with my opinion. I read twilight so quickly and moved right on into New Moon. I loved the begining just as much but cannot seem to finish it. Once she headed to Italy I lost all interest. My book came with rub-on Tattoos and if I had a camera that worked I would firmly plant "Jacob" on my bicep and take a picture for you all to see because he's my guy. I have no idea how the book ends because seriously I can't finish it, I can read a few pages at a time because the obsessive Edward/Bella connection is way to much for me that I feel like puking a little. I'm not even excited to read book three know because I know I've set myself up for dissapointment. I just love Jacob and the way Bella was when she was with him. So to continue with this blog world book club can anyone feel my pain.

Now I have to run and pack, I just keep putting it off hoping it will magically get done. I'm such a procrastinater. We're taking off for Salt Lake - Seattle for the next ten days. I hope to have many great stories to tell when I return and post many good pictures with my new camera. I'm especially hoping to post one of my three kids behaving like angels on one of the plane rides.

Big Fun 4th Weekend

We love to be in Idaho for the 4th of July, the family, the food, the fireworks but are getting there a week late this year so we had to make do here in Texas.
Keeping with tradition we had our own red, white and blue breakfast with friends from the ward. Chris was the official pancake maker and shopper. He spent all one night looking for the master pancake recipe he grew up with. We pulled out a million cookbooks, allrecipes.com and looked at a 100+ recipes it seems. He was determined to have this specific one where you whip the egg whites and a bunch of other fancy steps. His mom was out of town and I tried to convince him that pancakes were pancakes just pick a recipe and get on with the night. At 10:30p.m. our time he called his Sis in Utah who luckily for him had the very recipe. So it's ours now, in our possesion if you ever need the perfect pancake recipe. (They were delicious). He got lots of blueberries, raspberries and strawberries to go on top for the "red" and "blue" and then the spray coolwhip stuff for the "white". It was so fun and we were glad to bring the Idaho touch here to Texas.
If you've followed the weather (I never do) you'd realize that we're building boats at this point because the rain will not stop. It has rained ALL summer long, huge heavy storms day in and day out. It doesn't even seem like summer yet because we've had maybe two sunny days. My kids love to play with umbrellas and get drenched and Sat. was no exception. They jump in the puddles and dance in the rain until they're soaking wet. The street gutters make a swift stream and they've been racing popsicle sticks and laying down in the water. It's gross but will definately be a memory of this summer.
The rain stopped long enough for the fireworks to go off. It seems odd to have the big firework celebration in June but that's when it was. Normally everyone piles onto the grass near where they shoot them off but it was WAY WAY muddy. Instead everyone was piled in the streets on some nice hard concrete. Comfy. We still got so dirty because even the sidewalks are covered in mud. We're living in swamp land. We were filthy and bug bitten and had to laugh at how pathetic the whole situation was when the kids fell asleep half way though and it's just Chris and I sitting there. Of course the fireworks didn't compare to the good ole Melaleuca Freedom Festival but that made the situation even funnier.
That night we came home and I beat Chris 4-2 in a "how many flies can you kill contest".
Today I gave Charlotte a perm. You wouldn't know by looking at her though, because the curl hardly took, it's wavy at best. She still looks so cute and was so excited to have it done.
Happy 4th of July to everyone!

Making Pappa Proud

So I went and found my green thumb and got to work weeding the much needed flowerbeds. I got out the kids shovels, buckets, and gloves so that they might be somewhat entertained. As I was weeding I came across many worms. My girls love the book "Diary of a Worm" so I thought it would be fun to show them a few of the real things. They were super squealy and squirmy of course. I also have no desire to touch them now but I did when I was 4 & 6 because I grew up in Idaho "worming". (This was a another Southeast Idaho friends entry). Anyway, Charlotte would scoop the little worms up with her shovel and show them to Mason who quickly learned that the rest of us wouldn't want to be near them and gave him some good eeewwwhh reaction. He then went on to break them in pieces, the girls were fascinated that both ends still moved. And breaking them once wasn't enough, each worm got serverly severed. I hope you're not to grossed out that I didn't do anything to stop him, but as a mom of three I was just happy he was staying busy and entertained while I got the work done. Also deep down there was a small sense of pride that my little guy was doing little guys things. I knew it would make pappa proud.

The poor fella is so surrounded by girls all day every day that he must be confused. Chris walked in from work one night and found him wearing this.

In a sad voice Chris just said "It's not what boys are supposed to do". (I'm sure I'll be in huge trouble for posting this pic to the public but I think it's dang funny especially that he knows to carry the purse and is still carrying the blanky). I've been sent on a mission to find boy dress up clothes, capes, swords and superhero suits.

After all the worm breaking was done, and all of my work was done I got to go at the bushes with the electric hedger thingy. I loved it, in it's own way it was very therapeutic. It was like giving tonz of haircuts without worrying so much how it would turn out. I would take a picture but it doesn't look all that good, it just was a lot of fun.

Rashes, fever, and tantrums

Rashes, fevers and tantrums. What an optimistic blog, right? That has been our house for the past week. The fever started with Rozlyn which I think she got because I saw her lick the cart at Kroger. Then to Charlotte and now to Mason. It's that fever that after it passes the kid breaks out in a rash.
So Monday Char and Roz started these summer school district camps. Roz's is called Icky, Sticky, Gooey and Charlotte's is messy hands. It was sure to be a week of fun and well worth the money I spent to put them in it. Monday went well, everyone was happy. When we got home that afternoon, Charlotte came down with this high fever. (Rozlyn had just gotten over it). I was all bummed out because the camp is only 5 days and she would for sure miss some days, not really worth my money spent. This also really ruined my motivation to still take Rozlyn because the truth is that the only reason she was there was because Charlotte was. Charlotte went to the Doc Tuesday morning, no fever, perfectly happy and never got sick again. The appointment was already made and they would have charged me to cancel so why not. Usually I'm not so aggressive to get them in the Doc but thought we should check for strep because of all of her signs. Tests came back negative but I'm sure we made the Doc happy to spend his time looking at the worlds healthiest and happiest patient that's only desire was to look at a germ under a microscope (that was an actual request). I send her to school Wednesday and they call me a few hours later because she's now covered in a rash. I felt like the lame mom because even though everyone knows there not contagious at that point its still freaky to be playing and interacting with the rash kid. So we're now on Thursday and she's seen 1.5 days of camp. GRRRRr.
In addition, Mason is sick, addicted to the T.V. and unable to communicate. Can someone offer some advice about how to keep your sanity when your kid is ready to blow up because no one understands what he's trying to say or ask for. The tantrums are so frustrating for everyone, because we're all trying so hard to figure him out so we can make him happy. His limited knowledge of sign language is not helping out. Something funny about him not being able to talk is his new love for "knock knock" jokes. He copies his sisters and knocks on the table two times. We then say who's there and he responds with his usual grunt sound. We all try to guess what he's saying and he shakes his head no and says "Nope" one of his favorite words, because apparantly we never guess what he's trying to say. This game goes on and on and it really is funny.
Also on the upside, when he has his fever, he cuddles and its so fun to hold my little busy body. He even watched "The Queen" with me yesterday. It was the first time a non kid movie was on in the daylight for a long time.

Fathers Day!!

I can't believe that the snakes story is still the most recent one, thank heavens for a new post.
This is my shoutout to my favorite daddy's in the world my Dad and Chris.
I feel so lucky to have both of these amazing men in my life and for the endless joy and happiness they each bring me.
I've always been such a Daddy's girl for as long as I can remember. He's such an amazing role model and example of pure compassion for people. He would gladly go out of his way to help anyone out in need. To know him is to love him, plain and simple but so true. When I first ventured out of the Utah/Idaho territory he was there at the airport unti the last possible minute waving goodbye and making me cry on the flight to Houston. He came to Houston on his own to babysit while Chris and I house hunted and then came back a year later and played Mr. Mom while I was on bedrest and completely and independently handled the cleaning, cooking and kid entertaining. We still talk on the phone almost everyday and I can't imagine ever not having him a phone call away. Whenever I complain about being sick or busy he asks if he'd like me to come and let me knows how fast he could get here which I know he would gladly do if I ever consented.
Each time I'm with him he gives me many lasting memories, like the time he was in Houston with us and set off the fire alarm in the hotel by overcooking his peanut butter cookie in the microwave or the time he sat by our realtor and had to share salsa with him while Chris and I laughed from the other side of the table. His head rocking back when he's laughing, or heading rocking forward when he falls asleep in the middle of one of my boring stories. Sometimes he shows up misssing when he's visiting and we always find him outside in the front yard looking around, just dying to go on a walk/run to figure out whats around him. I've nicknamed him John McNally because of his fascination with directions, GPS's and maps. We accused him of being peeping John when we lived in Provo because he went out one night after a football game with his binoculaurs to look at the stars (it didn't look right at the aparatment complex). We got him to go down the water slide fully clothed at Lagoon because the kid in him couldn't resist and had to walk around the rest of the day in his thick wet jeans. And just as recently as yesterday my sister was telling me how he was bragging that he could ride down the pass from blacktail (very curvy and steep) on his motorcycle, with no hands the whole way. He still acts like a 16 years and I can't believe this year is his big 70th birthday. So to you dad I say "Happy Father's Day, I love you so much and feel like the luckiest girl to have you for a daddy."
The standard my dad created for my future hubby left alot to be expected but I can happily say that Chris has delivered. He's such a great guy and one of the first things that stood about him was the same quality my dad had of everyone who knew him loved him. He's such a likable guy, so nice and so willing to do anything to help out anybody. He has the best sense of humor and always can make me happy when no one else can. Sometimes he complains that I was spoiled by dad and it isn't fair to him but I have to admit that I'm spoiled by him as well. Chris is so selfless, just last night while I'm crashed out on the couch (after falling asleep during a chick flick which Chris rented just for me) in the middle of messy house after a long weekend Chris stayed up so late cleaning the house, the bathroom, laundering and ironing shirts. You can guess how lame I felt this morning to see all he had done and to know I was just sleeping through it all. It should have been Mother's Day this morning after that suprise! He's the best dad and so to you I say (on behalf of Lottie, Roz and Mace) "Happy Father's Day, we love you so much and feel like the lukciest family to have you in it!"

Life Lately & Snakes

Summer is officially here. Charlotte's last day was last Thursday. I'm so excited to have the more relaxed, less of a routine, summer. It's hard to believe she's a big 1st grader now! Where did the time go?
We've been relaxing, sleeping in, eating lots of pancakes for breakfast and doing nothing too interesting to blog about.
Now to my snake phobia. For those of you who know me well, you are aware of my complete phobia at all things living that I can't talk to. The other day driving home there was some low budget poster taped onto our stop sign, not the pole, the actual sign, indicating that the memo must be pretty important. In some 8 year olds handwriting it said
"Snake farm
1200 Salado Drive
$5.00 to pet and hold"
At least it didn't say "missing snake" because that would have done me in. Salado is just a stone throw away from where we are. The questions that immediately ran through my head were: Where is this farm located? How many snakes are on this farm? And is this farm ran by the same person who wrote this poster? (I hope not!)
Just yesterday at PetCo, I screamed out loud when I stepped on a piece of cat food because I was watching the mice and was sure I'd stepped on one. My poor kids must have been so embarassed at the attention I drew to myself and then had to apologize to the onlookers that it was just some food.
Tonight at Young Womens I walked in to opening exercises to see one of my sweet Beehives eyes filled with tears. I gave her a hug and asked her what the trouble was. She told me there was a snake in the building and she was scared (a Laurel had brough her new pet python). I didn't believe that hogwash for a minute. True there might have been a snake in the building but 12-13 year old girls only cry about boys and friends. She persists to make me believe in the snake. Now I'm feeling a little creeped. Right then I look behind me to see a snake coming my way, I start this crazy speedy scooch which got me nowhere because the room was packed. All I did was trample and squish some girls with my determination to get as far as I could from the snake. Then the sweet Beehive, the same one who with tears in her eyes, lets out the loudest shrilling scream and bolts it out a door. Obviously the person conducting had no one's attention and the sweet sobbing girl in the hall had all of it.
The night went on without her until finally she was persuaded to rejoin us by sitting with a wide view and easy access to the exits.
We all talked about our phobias and scary snake stories and had a good ole time. I'll tell you the best snake story and not bore you with the rest (there were plenty shared). This is truth, a firsthand account from the very Beehives in the room. They were all out riding their bikes together when one of them ran over a snake. It instantly snapped forward and popped the tire on girls bike next to her.
As a side note, there's been an ongoing Indian Leg Wrestling competition going on between me and the Beehives. I was up tonight to battle the fear-of-snakes girl. I'd forgotten all about it and was chatting away in the hall. Our activity had been over for 15 minutes when a girl comes out and tells me that this girl is waiting to wrestle me in the Relief Society Room. The poor girl had sat in there 15min because she was to scared to leave the room and venture into the hall where there might be a snake run-in.
Girls camp is next week. I can only hope and pray that there are no snake encounters.
I'm off to bed and I'm sure I'm going to have some scary snake dream after all thats been happening.

My Little Dancers

Here is a little video collection of my cute girls at there first dance recital. They both did amazing and made mom and dad quite proud. In the "lets make a train" portion you'll notice a fight between Roz and the girl ahead of her that caused some drama and was so funny. Hopefully you'll recognize who ours are, they keep on getting the close-up shots.
Enjoy!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Join Team Mitt

So I have to apologize for this bold move of putting this on my blog, but it's my blog and I do support the guy. You know I'm really not all that political of a person but I'd invite you all to check out his website and jump aboard the grassroots movement to sign up 240000 supporters in 24 hours. It ends tonight so get cookin!
At least check out the website.
www.mittromney.com
and since many of my closest friends and bloggers are colored blue (you know who you are!) I won't talk about politics with you, mostly because I'd be scared, and this will be the last you hear from me about anything that would be covered on a news channel for a long long time.

Mother's Day

First of all a shout out to all of you moms out there who always inspire me. I hope you were able to sleep in yesterday and feet very apprciated all day long.
My mother's day was a little depressing if you want the truth. I never could figure out why this day made people sad, now I know!! Here are a few things that happened to me.
First, Charlotte draws me a picture for the big holiday and before showing it me says "Sorry you look dead in it." Whoa, you can bet I was excited to see that one!
Next, Rozlyn and Charlotte both made these cute little, All about my mom projects at their schools. Here are there answers.
(Question in Bold, answer in Italic.)
Rozlyn's
How old is your mom: 39
My mom always says: Go clean the whole house all by yourself
Nice, I know.
Charlotte's
My mom and I like to: watch T.V. (a little trashy don't you think?)
In her free time, my mom likes to: sleep
My mom likes it when: I am quiet
My mom always says: Go do your chores.
They both answered that the food I cook best is mac and cheese.
I hope this makes the rest of you feel better. I'm so glad that these are all official and laminated so whenever I'm feeling extra good about myself I can go read them and be humbled again.

Crazy Storms!!!

Time for some off-roading.

Isn't he cute with his blanky, puppy and helmet?? The adventure was to tiring for him.


No skinny dipping for these guys anymore.



Serious road block!

Here's Salado for those of you who know.




I wanted to post some pics of the last nights storm damage for those of you intereseted. We had no idea this storm was coming or how bad it was going to be. I was oblivious to the whole things since there were no warnings and it came and went so fast. I was at the church last night with the youth when it all happened so Chris was home with the girls. This probably worked out good for me because I tend to freak out and make all the kids take shelter in the closet when the slightest chance of a tornado comes through.

Anyway, during the activity the church started to flood. Water was cruising in through the foyer doors, the kitchen and some classroom windows. The combination of the wind and rain were so bad that it came in through the locks on my friends door. Isn't that crazy. Later a friend told me a bunch of trees were down by our house and realized just how bad this was.

Our street was in almost perfect condition, no huge trees down, no big fences down but the street, literally paralell to us got hammered. I can't believe how close it was and how much destruction. Our whole sweet innocent neighborhood has been badly damaged. There are trees blocking streets and sidewalks. I'm not even all that much of a tree hugger but my heart is so tender right now towards these huge old trees, that took forever to mature, to have been destroyed. Another blessing is that we had power all night unlike many friends and neighborhoods right next to us, just a few streets over. Charlottes school was with out power but they had class anyway. I know it seems crazy, they had tonz of flashlights and were going to have school in the dark. I thought the whole thing was a bad idea and offered to bring Charlotte home since it was optional but she really wanted to stay for the excitement. (The power did come on at 9am).

Anyway, I feel lucky and grateful that we were all O.K. and watched over, it's so sad and definately is humbling. I feel so lucky that we never even lost power and that are phones are working unlike many around me.