It's Raining, it's Pouring....

REALLY it is!!! We need the rain so badly and it's great - it's not 100 degrees outside, there's no wind blowing it all over the place and taking down trees, there's no thunder and of course that means no lightening. Today Brayden and I were at a friend's house when it started to rain. When we got home, I ran inside, grabbed our jackets, an umbrella and the camera. Brayden has next to no experience with rain, so it was fun to watch him "explore" it all! I just kept snapping photos until my camera battery died... I didn't want to leave the little bugger alone outside while I looked for the extra battery, so I didn't get as many pics as I wanted, but I'm really happy with what I got. After he was done playing with the umbrella, he discovered that the gutters have good splashing puddles, so we walked the entire perimeter of our culdesac with him the gutters, splashing all the way! He was having such a good time, I couldn't even bribe him to come inside... I tried, a sucker, chocolate, ice cream, popcorn and a movie... he said no to it all... I finally put the umbrella on the porch and grabbed him and hauled him inside, so we could get his soaking wet shoes and socks off and eat lunch!

I just couldn't decide which pictures to post, so I included a slide show of them all!

Elf

So I was blog surfing this morning and came across a cool website where you can download up to 4 photos and insert them into an "elf" dance. It's difficult to describe, but HILARIOUS!!!! It made me remember how much I love the movie "Elf". Many people don't like Will Ferrell, but in this role, he's amazing!

One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when he's walking home with his younger "half" brother from school in Central Park and they get pelted with snowballs from some bullies. Buddy exclaims, "Son of a... NUTCRACKER!" We all die laughing every time we hear it! I also love the song that Jovie sings in the shower "Baby, it's cold outside"... I'd never heard it before at Christmas time, but I love it. And I always (no fail) tear up when they are trying to fix the sleigh and there isn't enough Christmas spirit. Jovie remembers that Buddy had said, "The fastest way to spread Christmas Cheer is singing loudly for all to hear." So she conquers her fear on singing in front of people and gets up on a carriage to start the group carolling. It makes me cry EVERY TIME!!!! So, if you haven't seen this movie, find a copy of it before Christmas. It's one of my favorites! I'll even lend mine out if you promise not to keep it too long!

Click on this link to see my kids doing the elf dance:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9633972105

What's Your True Color?

Today I had a very serious decision to make at Walmart - every 10-12 weeks I go through this ritual... picking a hair color. I've been dying my hair since 1996, but I really am a blond... I swear! (And yes, I'm proud of it!) And no, I don't consider myself a "dumb blond" and I love blond jokes and one of my favorite movies is "Legally Blonde". I've known plenty of "dumb blonds" in my day, but I love having blond hair. Something about having kids has darkened my hair into that dirty dishwater color that's between blond and brown, but just looks yucky! I always tell people that if my hair could have darkened into a pretty brunette, I'd be happy with it and leave it alone, but who am I kidding? I'm a blond and I can't see myself in any other hair color, just like I always tell people I have blue eyes, but since I've had kids, they are more often green than blue. Not to mention the unsightly gray hairs that have mysteriously appeared in the last year... ugh!

So, back to Walmart and I'm standing in the hair color isle... wishing I'd saved the top from my last hair color box, but of course, I never remember to do that. So, here's what I'm thinking as I peruse the selection (which is way too big!):

Let's see, it's not Garnier Nutrisse... love their shampoo and conditioner, but their hair color leaves a weird residue on my hair that only washed out with a vinegar rinse...

Used to use Feria religiously, until they changed the formula and made it too runny... last time I used Feria, I dribbled hair dye all over everything I was wearing, not cool!

I think I used Clairol Nice n' Easy last time, but what color??? the "Natural Medium Golden Blonde" box looks really familiar, but did I really buy this one last time? ... I just can't remember if I like the golden blonde better or champagne blonde...ugh....

...so many choices, what's a girl to do??? To prove my true haircolor, here's a picture of Eric and I at our 1st Anniversary... December 30, 1993. This is before kids, but I was still blonde.... Can you believe it? Eric actually used to have hair!!! And for the record... I had a perm, and I will never perm my hair EVER again, even if it comes back in style soon! I don't think I will have bangs again anytime soon, at least not until I'm old and have too many forehead wrinkles I want to cover up!

Wish List

Things I want to do this month:
*go to the temple to see the Christmas lights
*make time to do a session at the temple
*walk (or ride bikes) through our neighborhood to see lights
*make cookies with my kids(and gosh, would it be too much to ask someone else to clean up the mess when we are done? lol!)
*go caroling (is this a lost art? nobody does this anymore!)
*get some Caramel Apple Cider from Starbucks
*make hot chocolate with milk (instead of water) and stir it with a candy cane... mmmm.....
*get all my gifts wrapped before December 23rd
*sing in the Ward Christmas Choir (this will be asthma dependent)
*host an impromtu christmas party for my kids and some of their friends
*make some fun crafty things to give away to friends
*go sledding (okay, not at all realistic, but I can dream, right?)

I'm always dreaming of a White Christmas... don't think I've had one yet! Miracles do happen!

Breakfast for Dinner

Do you like Breakfast for Dinner?
My family does! Maybe because I never make breakfast food in the morning when you are supposed to eat it. I'm just not a morning person, and I don't like to eat anything until I've been awake for an hour or two.... everyone else wakes up famished! My kids only get pancakes, etc. on the weekends and Eric makes it most of the time. Tonight, I didn't have a clue what to make for dinner, so I made breakfast... pancakes and french toast. I have a great french toast recipe that's fancier than just eggs/milk and I love it.


Eric has a weird love that he's passed on to my kids.... they all love uncooked pancake batter (yuck!) So when Brayden saw me making pancake batter, he found the stool and dragged (or is it drug?) it over to me.... good thing Eric was just getting home! I don't like feeding the kids raw pancake batter, so I don't accommodate them. It grosses me out especially when Eric lets them lick it off his fingers!!! Anyway, Brayden made quite a mess eating the batter while I cooked dinner... but it was so darn cute!

When it was time to eat, we all sat down to pray and Eric decided to see if Brayden would say the prayer.... we'd attempted this before with no success, but tonight he mimicked everything Eric said. We couldn't understand it all (due to his preference for Ewok talk) but you could tell my the inflections that he was copying Eric. After the prayer, we all cheered for him and so he decided to pray again just for theatrics..... what a ham! This kids knows that he is the baby of the family and EVERYONE adores him!

After dinner, the kids wanted to play a board game while Eric watched Monday Night Football... so I compromised.... Eric played LIFE with the kids (Megan and Ian) while I cleaned up the kitchen... I had days of pots and pans piled up that I'd been procrastinating washing by hand and I just couldn't stall them off any longer! Of course, they were struggling with the rules because Eric didn't read the instructions and hadn't played this game in years.... so they were trying to figure out how things worked and Megan said, "Ian, this game is to help you get ready for LIFE as a grown-up!"
I could have just died!!!! It was hilarious!

Odds and Ends....

Today has been a good Sunday. When I can keep the TV time to a minimum, we are always better off (I'm sure my kids won't agree....) During dinner, we had a discussion about ways we can keep the "true spirit of Christmas" through the month of December. I'm not sure my kids understand the value of service or giving (and not receiving in return), but maybe this year, we can show them a bit of what it's about. We usually make a Christmas Eve run to the Dollar Store where the kids get to buy one gift for each member of the family. We've decided this year that we will draw names and make a present (homemade) for our partner. Hopefully this works out well. We've also talked about doing a Secret Santa or 12 Days or Christmas for a family in need. We'll fine tune that plan over the next week or so....

We got our christmas tree up yesterday... it's not fully decorated, but hey, I don't know why I care... Brayden has already rearranged the bottom half of the tree.... by Christmas it's going to be a total mess, but oh well. Maybe this will be the last year he messes with it.

Tonight Ian was singing along with a kids CD to Jingle Bells... it was so cute... he was singing, "Jingle Bells... Jingle Bells... Jingle all the way.... oh what fun it is to sing a "silly" song tonight"... it was so cute (silly should have been "sleighing")!

Brayden has really come out with some cute words lately... we call his jibberish "Ewok talk". He jibbers so quick in a foreign language, I don't usually make an effort to understand it. Over the weekend he's come out with some very clear and understandable words, like "chocolate, tacos, meat, cookie...." That's all I can remember right now, but it's been entertaining this weekend to see what he'll say next!

One thing I've really missed living here in AZ is our fireplace... in CA I was notorious for stinking up the house with a good rip roaring fire. (Eric always hated the smell...) Our house here doesn't have a fire place.... which caused me a lot of grief when I first tried to find a place to hang stockings... anyway, I've drooled over those fake fireplaces that you can install against a wall, but in reality it's a lot of money to spend just for "ambiance"... then I found the solution... we walked into Sam's Club last week and they had a TV playing with a fireplace scene running on it... it was awesome! It even has the realistic fireplace noises that you can play or mute. There are 8 scenes to choose from and I love it! Today I put it on the TV with some Christmas music and it totally made my afternoon! Best of all it was only $7 and it didn't stink up the house or get us too hot! I LOVE IT!

Thanksgiving

Thursday:

We had a fun and completely relaxing Thanksgiving! We invited the Braddocks to come over and hang out and eat dinner with us. None of my 4 children like turkey, so I always wonder, what's the point??? Last year, we started buying a "turkey breast"... it looks like a turkey, but without wings and legs... kind of like a quadraplegic turkey... but none of us like dark meat, so why bother with all the extra work just to throw it all out? So we bought a turkey breast again this year and it was more than enough meat to feed both families with some left over. I made the turkey, gravy (from the jar), and green bean casserole. Eric contributed his homemade mashed potatoes (made with red potatoes and lots of garlic). Lynette and Cory brought stuffing (I want that recipe... it was so good!), homemade rolls and pies. Our favorites were the ice cream pies... hmmm... my kids might actually ask for pie now that they know you can make them with ice cream! It was a great dinner!!!

We spent the rest of the day scrapbooking, watching Christmas movies and football. At the end of the day we got sucked into a program on the Travel Channel about Houseboats. You would not believe some of the amazing houseboats that exist out there!

Friday:

Friday morning we crawled out of bed after not getting any sleep.... I'm still suffering from residual head cold and Eric just developed a cold Wednesday night. I thought on Thursday, I was almost done with it, but I was up all night with sinus problems. By the time I woke up on Friday morning, I KNEW I had a sinus infection. I've been fighting headcolds and sinus headahes

chronically for 3 months, but this morning I KNEW (without a shadow of a doubt) tha I had a sinus infection. I called my doctor, who was off yesterday, so I drove myself to the Urgent Care... after an hour wait, I got into see a doctor, got some antibiotics and a prescription for a nasal spray to help keep the sinus headaches away. Oh HAPPY DAY!!! I felt like crap, but my spirits were finally high because I knew relief was just a couple of does of Augmentin away!!! So, at this point, it's noon and Eric and I wanted to hit a few sales before they were gone, so I called him, said I was on my way home. I picked him up and we went over to Kohls... what a joke! The wait in line to buy stuff was at least an hour! We both looked at each other and said, "it's not worth it to stand in this line to save $5 on something...." so we browsed a bit and left. Then we went to Target to get my antibiotics (no wait at the pharmacy) and looked at a few things, but didn't really buy anything exciting. Then we went to Sam's Club and bought 2 bluetooth headsets... they were on sale (Friday only) for $24.

After that, we headed to the Verizon store and both of us got our birthday presents... mine is a few weeks late and Eric's was a few weeks early. I've been in the market for a new cell phone, but couldn't decide what I wanted. I really wanted a PDA phone, but there are so many choices out there, it was hard to decide. I finally came away with a Motorola Moto Q. I'm really excited about it and I really like it so far. Verizon was having a sale yesterday too, so we ended up buying Eric a new phone for his birthday present too... in helping me look for a phone he found his dream phone (the Samsung I760).... and we saved an extra $100 by getting them both yesterday! If any of you have Verizon, I know the best place to get phones... nice and not pushy or arrogant salespeople... the Verizon Store in the Sam's Parking lot... they are great and cut us a deal that a bigger store wouldn't have done!

Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving Day!
Today I'm going to list some of the often "overlooked" blessings I have:


I'm grateful for carpet because when my 2 year old throws himself down in a fit, he doesn't get a concussion.

I'm grateful for the ability Brayden has to have a tantrum... it means he has determination, stubborness, spunk, creativity and above all free will!

I'm grateful for a BBQ so I don't have to run my oven for 3-4 hours cooking a turkey today.

I'm grateful for the internet... it provides an "outlet" for me when I need to escape from motherhood for just a couple minutes!

I'm grateful for disposable diapers - I can't believe that 13 years ago, I thought I'd try to save money by using cloth diapers (that lasted less than a month!)

I'm grateful for email - it helps me keep touch with my far away friends and family.

I'm grateful for digital cameras - if I never scrapbook my pictures it's okay, at least they are safe on CD's.

I'm so grateful for modern medicine - today I'm especially grateful for Sudafed and Tylenol!

What "overlooked" blessings are you grateful for today?

Blogger Milestone

It's only taken me weeks to figure out... I don't know why, I'm generally pretty computer savy.... anway, I finally figured out how to put a music playlist on my blog... just in time for Christmas Season... yeah... my favorite!!!!

Ikea

I'm feeling soooo much better today! I'm so grateful to have some energy and spunk back before Thursday... I want to enjoy Thanksgiving, not dread it!!!



I went to Ikea this morning with friends... boy it takes a lot of restraint to keep the spending to a minimum in that place - here are some of the great deals I found:

*bamboo placemats - 99 cents each!

*animal hand puppets (for christmas gifts for the toddlers on my list) - $4 each!

*christmas colored twine for gift wrapping (each spool is 21 yards) - 99 cents!

*I'm most excited about a lap tray I found - I need to do a better job at my daily scripture study, so I was just thinking in the last day or two that one of those "breakfast in bed" trays would be perfect for me to sit in bed, lay my scriptures on it and still be able to mark verses, etc.... well, I found a cheap plastic one at Ikea for 99 cents!!! Yes, it's cheap and cheesy, but it will totally work for what I had in mind and it cost less than a buck! You can't beat that!



Some of the more irritating things I discovered while there...

*they've converted over most of their check outs to self serve... I'm all about self serve checkouts, but a lot of people don't like them... there were a lot of people struggling in the self checkout line that I know would have preferred the traditional check out method....

*they are charging for bags now.... 5 cents per bag.... seriously, if you are going to ding us for bags, just increase every item in the store by a penny or something... it just irritates me that there's a surcharge for bags at the check out. I know they are trying to save the environment by getting people to waste less, but it was really annoying!!!

... but not annoying enough that I'll stop shopping there.... sigh....

Grateful for Blessings...

...Literally! This last weekend I was sick with a bugger of a headcold once again. This is like my 4th nasty headcold in 3 months. Let me tell you, it got old 2 months ago! Anyway, by Sunday I just couldn't deal with it anymore. I went to church, even though I didn't feel like being there and when I got home, I couldn't even take a nap. Standing is the position I get the most relief... when I'm sitting or laying down, I just can't stop coughing enough to relax and fall asleep.

Anyway, I had a RS Stake Meeting last night and I waffled all afternoon about going... I didn't feel like it, but I knew I wouldn't get any rest by staying home, so I went. I asked Eric give me a blessing when I came home from the meeting. So.. two hours later, I'm coming home and I find Cory Braddock's car in front of my house... he'd been at my house, giving blessings with Eric to Ian and Brayden because they were sick as well, while they waited for me. Of course, I missed it, but apparently Ian was wailing and crying due to a stomach ache and when they were done administering to him, he walked away smiling.

That's the second time I can remember something like that happening with Ian. When he was 2 or 3, his finger got smashed in the hinge side of the door. It looked really bad and we decided to take him to the ER. We called our Home Teacher first and asked him to help Eric give him a blessing before we headed to the ER. He had been absolutely hysterical for about 20 minutes while all these decisions were being made and the ER was a 25 minute drive, so it wouldn't be fun... Anyway, he sat on my lap and during the blessing, he abruptly stopped crying and when they finished, he jumped up and ran away to play with the other kids. It was truly miraculous!

Okay, so back to yesterday, Eric and Cory gave me a blessing and I've gotten more sleep in the last 24 hours than I've had in 3-4 days! I'm so grateful for the priesthood and also very grateful that Cory dropped what he was doing to help us out... when Eric called him he was in the middle of cooking dinner for out of town guests. He didn't even make me feel bad for how long he waited at my house for me to come back from my meeting... believe me... if I'd known he was there, I would have hustled a bit faster! Today we are all grateful for the Priesthood and for great friends we can call anytime day or night!

Dining Dilemma

So, right now the only real "empty" room that still needs to be furnished is our formal Dining Room... we've never had one of these rooms before and our kitchen table area is huge, so it hasn't been a big priority to get a dining room set that we might use once or twice a year! We've been on the lookout constantly and occasionally we've really spent hours out hunting for the right set, but have never found anything that we just loved.... you know that feeling when you look at it and think "That's the ONE!" Well, I got the Sam's Club Holiday Catalog in the mail last week and saw a set I really liked... the only problem is that it's counter height, so not really appropriate for a formal dining room... but I REALLY, REALLY liked it! (see above photo) I even saw it in person when I was at Sam's Club doing my monthly visit, which made me like it EVEN MORE! (Speaking of Sam's (or Costco...) my friend calls it the "hundred dollar store"... you can't walk out without spending at least $100... ) So, after scrapbooking with Robin on Friday morning, I decided that I wanted to take Eric to see it, just to see if he even was interested. If he didn't like it, I would just walk away and try hard not to think about it anymore! We went over to Sam's (just down the street) and they didn't have it... it was gone! We asked around and found out they only had one left and the box was open and it was possibly damaged. So we went to the car and called the Sam's in West Chandler... they had 2, so we went over there only to find out they really had just the display. Eric got to see the display and he fell in love with it too.... So, we came home and searched around and found out that a Sam's in North Scottsdale had 8 sets... we were willing to drive up to pick it up, but we had no idea if the boxes would fit in the back of the car without making 2 trips. So we went back to our Sam's (down the street) and found the "damaged" box set so we could measure the boxes. Since we visited last night, they had marked that set down $100 because of the broken box. We found a guy who helped us open it up and we could see no damage, so we decided to skip the drive to Scottsdale and chance it on this set. (They assured us that if we got the boxes open and found damage, we could still return it.) We got it home and it's perfect and gorgeous and we saved an extra $100 too! (The set was a steal at $650 anyway....) So now our formal dining room has furniture... our old battered and dirty kitchen set is going to sit in the dining room (until we can find a suitable replacement)... maybe if I keep a very pretty tablecloth in it, no one will notice how grimy it really is!!!! Ah... who cares.... we NEVER eat in there anyway!!!!

Christy-ology

Rules: Let others know a little more about yourself, repost this as your name followed by "ology."


CHRISTY-OLOGY
Q. What is your favorite fast food restaurant?
A. Wendys
Q. What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?
A: Strawberries
Q.What are your pizza toppings of choice?
A. pepperoni, pepperoni and did I already say pepperoni?


TECHNOLOGY
Q. What is currently on your computer wallpaper?
A:

Q. How many televisions are in your house?
A: 4 (yikes.....)


BIOLOGY
Q. Are you right-handed or left-handed?
A. right
Q. When was the last time you had a cavity?
A. Not sure, at least 5 years ago...
Q. Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
A. no


OTHEROLOGY
Q. What color do you think looks best on you?
A. cranberry red or deep blue
Q. Have you ever saved someone's life?
A. Drawing a blank.... don't think so.....
Q. Has someone ever saved yours?
A. I'm not sure. You never know, right?


DUMBOLOGY
Q: What is in your left pocket?
A: No pockets right now... I'm in pj's
Q: Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie?
A. Yes... especially if you've lived in Idaho about 10-15 years ago.....
Q: Last time you had a run-in with the cops?
A: This is a loaded question - my dad is a retired cop, so that would count as "all the time" ... never been pulled over, but I did get a photo ticket in the mail once... NOT COOL!
Q: Last person who called you?
A: Taylor (he was babysitting... wanted to know if they could make popcorn....)
Q: Last Person you hugged?
A: Ian


FAVORITOLOGY
Q: Number?
A: 8 and 24
Q: Season?
A: Fall - where is fall this year????

CURRENTOLOGY
Q: Mood?
A: Exhausted... it's too late and I should be in bed...
Q: Listening to?
A: Whatever Eric is watching on TV downstairs... don't have a clue what it is....
Q: Watching?
A: I just got done watching Thursday night's episode of The Office.


RANDOMOLOGY
Q: What can you not wait to do?
A: Breath freely again without asthma meds...
Q: What's the last movie you saw?
A: part of Spiderman 3, before that it was part of Masfield Park (it's hard to watch a whole movie around here....)
Q: Do you smile often?
A: Yes, I love to be happy.


TAGOLOGY
Tag, you're it.

Thankful Thursday

I just realized last night it's only one week until Thanksgiving... November is flying by so fast! Yesterday it seemed impossible that Thanksgiving is so close... what with our record breaking heat! Who can get excited about Turkey Day when it's 88 degrees outside? But this morning, it's cool and cloudy (it might even sprinkle...) and I feel right at home... and it feels like fall today... Hooray!

So there are only 3 more Thursdays left in November and I'm going to try to write about things I am thankful for on each one... here goes....

• I'm thankful for my husband (we are 6 weeks away from our 15th anniversary) and even after all these years I love him more now than I ever have - he's a good man and I'm grateful for his determination, hard work and his one-liners!
• I'm thankful for Taylor and his good nature and his honesty. He's the best big brother for my other kids and I can wait to see him in action when Megan is old enough to date... I won't have to worry about shady boys hanging around her at school with him watching over her!
• I'm thankful for Megan's happiness and enthusiasm - she is such a sweet girl and always has a hug for me (whether I want it or not!)
• I'm thankful for Ian - he keeps me on my toes - he always has something funny to say and he loves to spend time with his younger brother.
• I'm thankful for Brayden and his 2 year old-ness... all two year olds have their moments, but then they do something that is so darn cute that it makes up for the tantrum they just had a few minutes ago! Plus, Brayden is my last 2 year old, so I'm trying to enjoy everything about it... even the tantrums!
• I'm also thankful for modern medicine... so many simple problems in our lives would have been a death sentance in the pioneer days... right now I'm back on my asthma inhalers and I can't imagine how I would survive without them! Maybe 150 years ago I wouldn't have!
• I'm so thankful for my testimony and faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ. His love for me truly lightens my burdens and helps me to keep the right perspective in life... when it's all said and done, what really matters????

What are you thankful for???

Last Night...

...was one of those crazy nights where you are living in your car and moving from one activity to another.... This is how my afternoon went yesterday:

• 3:30 Ian got home from school, we hurried and got his homework done and got him and Brayden a snack


• 4:00 pick up Megan at school (every Tuesday she has choir after school until 4:00)


• 4:15 drive to Santan to pick up Taylor... he has a cross country meet that was supposed to start at 4:00... my plan was to get there in time to watch his race, then hop in the car and head home... of course, my plans are always foiled... the race didn't start until 4:30, but it worked out okay because they ran the boys first this time.


• 4:30 watched Taylor's race - he placed 7th overall - 1st in his school - we don't know yet what his time was....


• 5:00 left before the girls' race began... too many things to do and places to be....


• 5:15 got kids home to do homework and Taylor needed to shower.... and everyone needed to eat dinner... I've already deemed it "fix it yourself" night (sadly, my kids love this...)


• 5:45 left for Karate with Ian


• 6:00 watch Ian's karate class


• 6:30 head home with Ian to change clothes


• 6:45 changing clothes and I am finally putting on make-up (and a clean shirt)... I still haven't eaten and Eric is sharing a bowl of cold cereal with Brayden


• 6:50 last minute practice for Megan and Ian (Megan has a piano recital and Ian is going to accompany on a drum...)


• 7:05 arrive at Finlinson's home 5 minutes late, but it's okay because 2 families cancelled, so there is only us and the Diehl's..... Robin is a fantastic piano teacher and she knows how to calm nervous kids before a recital... feed them! We always have a potluck and we eat first, then the kids perform. So we ate, but since there were only 3 families contributing, my dinner was strawberries (with fruit dip), garlic bread and choc chip cookies... an odd combination, but I didn't care!


• 7:45 All the kids played, and had fun. Megan played her song last, it was called "Hiawatha"... it's an American Indian song and Ian accompanied on a drum (for fun...) and then Robin played as well... she has amazing talent, but is just as shy about performing as the kids are!


• 8:15 headed home and got everyone ready for bed... Taylor finished up his homework and I folded laundry (while I watched Desperate Housewives from Sunday night) after the 3 younger were in bed...
• 9:30 I was just finishing up Eric fell into bed exhausted and by the time I'd brushed my teeth, he was sound asleep... it didn't take me long to fall asleep either... it was a long day!

These are Days to Remember....

So our final day in the cousin reunion was spent at the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson... if you haven't been there, it's well worth the trip! I've compiled a slide show of the entire weekend, so sit back and relax for a while... it's long!

Tag, You're it...

This is the first of many tags sent my way, but I'm NOT going to do them all at once... that just spoils the fun! This one is "Seven Random Facts About Me..."

• I met my husband at a Singles Ward Blood Drive - isn't that good movie material for the Singles 3rd Ward??? I was so unconcerned with meeting guys that I brought my MOM along... how dumb was I? I guess it didn't matter... I got rejected for donation (I often do because of low iron counts...) and I met Eric at the cookie table while I waited for my mom.
• I'm very weird (anal, maybe...) about how I load my dishwasher... everything has a specific place to go and if someone else is loading, I have to walk away, lest I offend them by re-arranging how the dishes are loaded! Interestingly enough, I hate doing dishes.... go figure!
• I love to decorate rooms in my house, but I'm cheap and I'm slow. I'll spend months planning a room, and finding ways to do cute things for next to no money... but once I get going on it, I'm a mad woman until it's done... I hate half finished decor!
• I'm a classic backseat driver. I have a hard time riding shotgun with most people... I'd much rather be the one driving. I think I must have control issues... this is why I don't like flying... not thrilled with my life being in someone else's (as in the pilot) hands.... I'm absolutely NOT going to be able to teach my kids to drive - I'll have a heart attack first!
• Disneyland is my favorite vacation destination... Maui is a close second... but Disneyland is better.... :)
• I'm terrified of the ocean. I grew up in Northern California where shark attacks happened frequently. I just can't go in any water that isn't clear and I never even watched the movie Jaws... but the idea of it scarred me for life. I will snorkel in Maui, but I'm only good for 10-15 minutes and then I'm heading back to the beach....
• I can't multitask at the grocery store... I see people all the time cruising down the grocery isles and gabbing the on phone at the same time. I can't do it... it's pathetic, because I'm generally a good multitasker. When my mom happens to buzz my cell while I'm at the grocery store, I'll stop dead in my tracks, talk for 2 minutes and then tell her I'm grocery shopping and I'll have to call her back!

So, I'm tagging anyone who has me linked on their blog... you know who you are... except Elise!

Going the Distance!

The last three days have been exhausting!!! We've crammed so much into a short amount of time! All day Thursday was spent preparing for Enrichment and going to Taylor's first Cross Country Meet. He took 3rd place and did really well.

Friday morning we just vegged out!!! After Enrichment Thursday night, I just fell asleep on the couch and slept after the kids all had breakfast. Then I took my mom Christmas shopping for my kids (no small feat...) and we made a Sam's Club run. I only allow myself to go once a month, because I always spend in the $300 range when I go!

Saturday we took the whole group and hiked Camelback Mountain! It was even more challenging than I remember, but we had a good time! On the way up, my nephew, Ben (who is the king of one liners...) was huffing and puffing over a big rock and said, "man, this is a nightmare!!!" The college age girl passing them at the time was busting up! On the way down, Ben and Ian were following Taylor. Most of the hike is boulder hopping and rock scrambling. Ian told Taylor, "you're going the easy (but hard for a little guy) way..." We were all cracking up!

The kids all enjoyed climbing the rails and on the way down Grandma Carol and Megan stopped for a rattlesnake to cross the path.... good thing he wasn't in a "fightin" mood....

Saturday night we all came home and vegged out - ice cream as a treat, then dinner, then more ice cream for dessert! We're breaking all the rules this weekend!

BIG Suprise!!!

Yesterday, my parents came to visit. Everyone knew they were coming and had looked forward to the visit for weeks. What my kids didn't know was that they were bringing along my nephew, Ben, who is 8. Eric picked them all up at the airport last night and brought them home. Ben got out of the car alone and came up to the door and rang the door bell... assuming it was Grandpa and Grandma, Ian went flying to the front door, only to find Ben hiding just out of sight... boy were they shocked to see him on the front porch!

After they unloaded the car, we all went to grab dinner at Wendy's. My mom has a severe sesame allergy, and therefore can't eat at any restaurants that use sesame seed buns. Wendy's is one of our favorite places to take her that is sesame-safe! At 9:30, we finally got them all in bed, and at 10:45, I had to break up Ben and Ian because they were still up talking.... and Ian is going to school this morning! I'm sure he'll be worthless by noon... I've already told him he can play hookie tomorrow to spend more time with Ben. It's not like he's going to be worth anything in class!

Orange Chicken

Here's the recipe I made for Taylor's Birthday dinner - he LOVES it and I love it too... plan for 3-4 hours total prep time (this includes down time while chicken marinates... could be done the day before if you are really on the ball!)

• 1 1/2 c. water
• 2 T orange juice
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. vinegar
• 2 1/2 T soy sauce
• 1/4 c. lemon juice
• a couple shakes of onion powder
• 2 T cornstarch
• 4 chicken breast fillets, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 c. cold water
• 1 egg
• 1/4 t soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 c flour
• 2-4 c veg oil (for frying)

Combine first seven ingredients in a small saucepan - bring to boil, stirring often. Once it come to a boil, remove from heat and let cool. Put cut chicken into a large ziploc bag and pour 1 c sauce over the chicken to marinate. Let sit at least one hour, longer if possible. If sauce is too hot to put in ziploc, add an ice cube or two to cool it quickly. Cover remaining sauce and save for later. Once chicken is marinated, heat 2 inches of oil in a wok or large deep pan. Combine cornstarch with 1/4 c water and add to sauce. Reheat on high until sauce boils again, then put aside and cover to keep warm - hopefully, it will be thick. Combine water, egg, soda, salt and 1/2 of flour. In separate bowl, put remaining flour. Dip chicken in plain flour first, then into the egg/flour mix. Fry in oil 3-4 minutes on each side until done. Place on paper towels to soak grease and toss in a bowl with the sauce. Serve over white rice.

The Thirteenth Year

Congrats Taylor - you made it to "teenagerdom" - you are now officially 13! I can't beleive it was thirteen years ago yesterday (November 4) that we were in the hospital in Provo.... okay, I'd rather not relive too much of that!!! I've delivered 4 kids in 4 different hospitals and if I could rate them best to worst, Provo would be at the bottom! Luckily, it was my first delivery, so I didn't know how bad it was until later...

But now I can get all mushy and say how proud I am of the Young Man that he has become - he is one of the most caring, honest kids I know. He truly has a desire to do good and follow the Savior's example. Yes, he is a teen, and has his crazy moments, but even when our tempers collide, he ineveitably, comes back and apologizes and gives me a hug... yes, he's a huggy kid... not in public of course, but who is at 13???

So here's a recap of the weekend:

His birthday fell on Sunday (fast Sunday no less...) so we celebrated all weekend! Friday night, we gave him his big gift - a new "man sized" mountain bike. This kid looks like a giant riding his BMX bike around... it was getting ridiculous! Both Grandma's chipped in so we could splurge a big and get him a nice one... not the "Diego" bike we'd been taunting him with forever... he he....

He also had 2 friends sleep over Friday night and we watched Spiderman 3, and ate lots of cake and ice cream. Megan baked the cake, I frosted it, and Megan and Ian decorated it... nice, huh??

The boys slept on the trampoline, but we woke up the next morning to find them back in the house - I guess by one am they were too cold and came inside.... wimps!!!! Anyway, we had pancakes and donuts for breakfast and I took Taylor and his two friends to Scottsdale to go paintballing. Taylor had been invited to a paintballing party almost a year ago and he's been planning it for his next birthday ever since. Since it's been so hot, we offiered to take him and some friends wakeboarding, but he wanted to paintball... I guess wakeboarding wasn't that exciting to him, since he's been doing it all summer!

While I was waiting for them to finish up and come out, this sweet limo pulled up with a couple dozen kids in it... just had to take a picture of it- it was the second limo I'd seen that day (while the boys paintballed, I went to a nearby mall and saw a black hummer limo that was really impressive, but didn't have my camera in hand for that one!)

All in all, I would say he got a good birthday - on Sunday, the real day, I made his favorite meal, Orange Chicken. It's a clone recipe from Panda Express, except that I don't make it spicy. It's really good, but pretty labor intensive, so I save it for special occasions. The good part is that it made enough for two whole meals! I love you Taylor!!!

Halloween

Here's some pictures of Halloween:

Only Megan and Ian carved pumpkins this year - luckily for me, Megan did hers all by herself! Ian needed a lot of help, though....

Here's Megan out trick or treating... one clueless dad asked her if she was "Anna Nicole..." she said, "huh?"... I quickly said, "Hannah Montana..." He said, "ohhhh... ooops!" I'm grateful Megan has no clue who Anna Nicole is.....

Getting Brayden to stand still for a picture didn't happen. In the end, I didn't attempt the original costume I bought him (Yoda) because I could remember where I'd put it after Saturday's trunk or treat party. He ended up walking around the neighborhood wearing a Superman cape and carrying 2 swords... one red, one blue... everyone thought he was a pirate when he walked up to their door, but I'm sure they were scratching their heads when they saw the cape walking away....

Taylor re-used his Scream costume again this year. He went out trick or treating by himself tonight... he didn't want to be seen with the little kids. I keep trying to tell them, that people give more candy to big brothers taking their siblings around the neighborhood than big teens out by themselves... oh well... he still came home with lots of candy!

Ian didn't want to sit still for a picture either, he was too anxious to go trick or treating... then when we got back he was too busy ransaking his loot to care about the camera!