Blogger Lunch! (Yah, I know. You've already heard about it.)

(Tiburon, Me, Sher)

A few weekends ago I had the chance to go to lunch with some of the people I stalk my friends. Kudos to Kristina over at Pulsipher Predilections who planned the whole thing! I was so excited to go, but a little scared to go alone. So I put on my Unibomber sunglasses and my hooded sweatshirt and I sent an email to Sher. In the email I did my best to convince her that although we'd never met, we should definately carpool together. Lucky for me, she trusted me enough to let me come to her house the next day and pick her up. We instantly hit it off and the drive to Draper just flew by.

(Kristina, Amber, Arianne, Melissa)

We arrived at the resturaunt along with 38 other blogging women. Everyone I met was so....normal! I especially loved sitting by Vanessa, Tiburon, Melissa, Arianne & of course the lovely Sher! These women are beautiful, talented, hilarious and sarcastic! (Pretty much everything I look for in a friend.) And Vanessa and I decided that we are pretty much soul mates and the universe was just waiting for a chance to get us together.

(Vanessa, Me, Sher)

(Melissa, Martha, Sheila, Tiburon, Vanessa)

Before we left for home, Sher and I took advantage of Kristina & her Snuggie for a photo op. Thanks Kristina for a lovely Meet & Greet!

Happy Birthday

Last Friday my oldest had a birthday. If I was on the ball I would have posted about it the day before, or at least the day of. But I'm not. So I didn't.


He's 14. He's taller than me. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Seriously though, he's a great kid. He's a FANTASTIC athlete, a pretty good student and.......he just texted me and asked me to come and pick him up from school because he is going to throw up. Gotta go!

P.S. If he pukes in my car I'm going to take back all the nice things I said about him.

Thankful Thursday

I know that I am on a blogging hiatus, but I can't pass up the opportunity to show some gratitude. Because, in the wise words of someone named Melodie Beattie:

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.

This week I am thankful for:

1. Kids who are AWESOME at the dentist. Once they are in that chair with headphones and a movie, they don't make a peep! Even my 4 year old. I usually just sit in the waiting room and read a book while they are getting teeth cleaned and cavities filled.

2. Birthday Parties. They give me an excuse to get together with family.

3. Piccolo Brothers Pizza. Nuff said.

4. Blemish Control Toner & Acne Treatment Gel. TMI?

5. Being able to work from home.

6. Blogging friends who (even though I am a slacker this week) still let me read and comment on their blogs.

7. Creative people like Tib who let me steal the Thankful Thursday logo.


What are you Thankful for?

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Friday Night Fights

Cage fighting, Mixed Martial Arts, Ultimate fighting. Any way you put it sounds painful to me. But what do I know?
Last Friday my husband and two oldest boys went to the Energy Solutions Arena for the Throwdown Elite "Showdown III". My husband invited me to go, but I was pretty sure the boys would enjoy it much more than I would have. (Now that I think of it, he probably knew I wouldn't go, and was just trying to win points by asking.)
They got to see the Jazz Bear's motorcycle up close and personal.
They got to eat dinner at their table which was right by the ring. And of course they got the all-important photo with the hot chic/"Ring Girl". (Thank you Ring Girl for wearing clothing.)
After the fights were over they got to meet some pretty awesome people. This is Travis Marx a.k.a.T-Train. He has a 12 and 1 record and I wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley. Actually he is polite, gracious and humble. (Although he probably wouldn't want you to say that in front of his next competitor.)
Son #2 has not let ANYONE sign his cast, but when Travis said he would be "honored" if he could sign it, he couldn't find the sharpie fast enough! That's a pretty cool souvenier!
But even cooler was when Travis took his red gloves (see photos above) that he wore in the fight and signed them and gave one to each of my boys!

I love to see the temple

We took the family to the Draper LDS Temple open house last Friday. I'm so glad we went. The kids were looking forward to it all week and they had lots of questions.
I was very impressed with how well organized the whole thing was. You can go online here and get tickets. We started at a nearby meetinghouse where we watched a short film about temples and why they are important to us. Then we boarded the bus that would take us up to the temple.
The bus ride was about 5 minutes. One of the volunteers was talking and answering questions during the bus ride, but we were in the back and couldn't really hear what he was saying.
Once you get to the temple they have a long line of tents set up to protect you from the weather as you walk from the bus to the temple. (The weather was beautiful when we were there, but I can imagine that those tents have come in handy with all the snow we have been getting!)
The tour of the temple was fascinating, especially for the kids who'd never been inside before. My 4 yr old was convinced that the baptismal font was a swimming pool, and everyone loved looking in the mirrors (in the sealing room) where you can see "eternity".
After the tour there was a reception at the chapel next to the temple where they had diplays, pictures, beautiful music and refreshments.
The kids loved the tour and they were very repectful and reverent. It was neat to be there as a family. It just makes me even more grateful for Eternal Families.
Wow! That is one good lookin' group!

The early bird catches the....?

Early one morning:
Sleepy six year old (looking out her window): "Mom, why's there a toilet on our lawn?"
Me: (thinking to myself as I walked down the hall to look out the window): "..silly girl she must be really tired! Why would she say such a thing?"

Me (looking out the window now): "Hmmmmmm.....because it's true."
Sleepy 6 year old: "Told you!"
Me: "Somebody please go check out the toilet on the lawn."
(stomp, stomp, push, shove...4 out of 5 kids run to the door at once and push their way outside.)
Kids: "Holy Cow!?!"
Me: "Don't TOUCH it!"

(Of course, they don't listen.)
Kids (after a thorough investigation): "It's emtpy."
Me: "Whew! Just leave it there, he'll be back to get it later."
This is why I love my neighbors. They crack me up!
This was apparently the result of a long-running slightly irreverent email conversation that had gone on the previous day between my husband and several of the other husbands in our neighborhood.
The neighbor across the street came later that morning and retrieved his throne. But only after I'd sent him a threat an email that went something like this, "That's mighty bold of you, considering you and your lovely wife will be out of town all weekend.....just sayin'."

All I can say, Mr. Neighbor, is watch out!

Seriously though, I really love my neighbors! They are hilarious and sarcastic. What more could you ask for?

Big Sale!

I got up at 5:15am this morning. Not to exercise. To save money! There's a big sale at Albertson's.

Some of the things pictured aren't usually on my list because they can be pretty expensive (and sometimes not very nutritious). But I figure once in awhile it's okay and when you combine coupons with the sale then I can afford it. My kids seriously thought they were in heaven when they got to have Toaster Strudel for breakfast this morning! (And as you can see, I also go some milk, wheatbread and whole grain cereals.) The only thing NOT pictured here is the Dr. Pepper that I drank on the way home.
(He's pretty excited about the Batman fruit snacks.)

Total value = $445.21

I paid = $100.21

A Savings of.....$335.00!!! WAHOO!

...and now I need a nap.

PS If you want to learn how to do this you can visit: Grocery Smarts or Pinching Your Pennies
And if you want someone to come and teach you (for free) how to do it, then go and visit Stacy here. (She didn't pay me for this advertisement. But good grief she taught me how to save $335! Thanks Stacy!)

Valentine

This is my kindergartener.
This is her (shoebox-mod podge-paper-glitter) valentine box.
This is her valentine hair.
Happy Valentine's Day.

PS. I got the idea for this cute heart hair-do from a girl at church. She has four kids ages 5 and under and I've never seen her girls without a cute do! She's way talented and you can check her out at Pigs & Ponies.

Happy Valentine's Day

These are heart pillows. Not just heart shaped pillows. They are "Heart Pillows". You see, we have a tradition at our house that from February 1-14th if you clean your room, make your bed and set out your Heart Pillow, mom will put a treat inside. The kids LOVE it! As soon as they come in the door after school they race to their rooms to see what's in the pocket of their Heart Pillow. (Even the big kids!)

My mom started this tradition when I was little. We always looked forward to February because we knew it meant heart pillow time. The biggest and best treat always came on Valentines day (usually a box of chocolates) but every day was a new surprise. The pillow above is the one she made for me 30-something years ago. It now belongs to my daughter.

Up until now my youngest hasn't had his own pillow and he really didn't care. Frankly, he was more concerned about the candy than the delivery method. But this year he noticed. So I took him to the fabric store so we could make his heart pillow. (I really like going to the fabric store. I love the sound that the scissors make as the lady cuts the fabric using the groove in the table as a guide. Am I crazy?)
Anyway, I told him he could pick out any fabric he wanted. Right off the bat he spotted this Matchbox Rescue Vehicles fabric and there was no changing his mind. So we bought enough to make him a pillow case as well.

I think my mom is still doing "Heart Pillows" for my youngest sister. She's in college and doesn't live at home, but the other day she saw my kids' heart pillows at my house and said, "Hey! What day is it? I'm missing heart pillows!"
So Mom, if you read this, she hasn't forgotten!

Happy Valentines Day!

This is a first

We've never had anyone in a cast at our house. We've had plenty of stitches and even surgeries. This kid holds the record on both of those so it's only right that he gets to be the first cast as well! His wrist is damaged at the growth plate. I honestly can't tell there's a problem, but apparently the gap between bones is too wide and off center. (I'm just going to trust the surgeon and his 30 years of experience on this one.)


He doesn't look too thrilled. I think he was hoping for some kind of miracle cure. This pretty much puts an end to his snowboarding season and his basketball season (where his team is undefeated in two different leagues).


This will be a lot more comfortable than the splint he has been in while we waited for the swelling to go down.


He's a pretty tough kid and I'm sure he'll come through this without a hitch. Just to make sure he was off to a good start we headed straight for Carl's Jr. where he ate a Bacon Avacado Six Dollar Burger (the whole thing!), fries and a coke. That ought to help, right?

Something's Wrong Here

Here's a comparison picture of Son #2's wrist after his snowboarding "incident". Yeah. Definitely a problem. The swelling is even worse now than it was when that picture was taken. The doctor is concerned about the growth plate.
We get to go visit the orthopedic surgeon on Monday. In the meantime he looks like this:

Was That My Out Loud Voice?

Time for another exciting edition of things that may or may not have been said in my "out loud" voice:

Are you nuts? It’s whipped cream & pudding! Who doesn’t like whipped cream and pudding?

I’m not rolling the window up until one of you claims that! C’mon boys man up.

It looks like it’s just us tonight. We’ll get all cozy by the fire and you can pluck this hair out of my chin.

Enjoy it dear, ‘cause it ain’t never gonna happen again!

Close your mouth or close your door. You choose.

Thank you for the “shimmy”!

DON’T touch my Dr. Pepper.

Please don’t go commando in my pants.

Wow, that is one boyscout of a sling you’ve got there. It just screams merit badge clinic.

(said by 4yr old): Who’s the King? ME!

Thankful Thursday

Last night my 12 yr old went snowboarding. He had a little accident and this morning we took him to the doctor for xrays on his wrist. There are no visible fractures of the radius or ulna (long bones of the arm) but they are worried about the growth plate where the bones meet the wrist. The swelling is pretty bad so it is in a splint for now. We will see the orthopedic surgeon on Monday.

It could have been something a lot worse so we are looking on the bright side and today I'm thankful for:

Good friends

Ice Packs

Good doctors

Modern Medicine

Xray machines

Tough kids

Ibuprofin

Dr. Pepper

Laughter

What I'm NOT thankful for? Ski Resort First Aid people who let an injured 12 year old sit in the lodge for 3 hours WITHOUT an icepack!!!

It's been a long 24 hours. I need a weekend.

(thanks for the logo Tib)

Treasure?

In our basement we have a really old armoire that we acquired from my husbands grandparents. We put it to good use in our first house, as we didn't have a closet in our bedroom. Once we moved into our current home, I wasn't able to part with it. It has too much potential.
Some day, I'm doing to strip it down and refinish it. Someday.
But for now, it waits.
We use the shelves to hold various boxes of books and trinkets but have never used the bottom drawer. It has been preserved. It is exactly the way we found it. Like buried treasure....
Treasures like: a broom, two lantern wicks, an old mason jar, three american flags, an empty salt shaker, 2 rolls of toilet paper, a bottle of coffee grounds and what's that?.....
...a bedpan.
Yes. That's a male urinal.
And so I close the drawer and leave the contents untouched. Literally.

My Favorite Handy Man

Remember a few weeks ago when I listed some of the things that I love about my husband?
One of the items on the list was: "He can build just about anything".
He really is a talented guy. And it's a good thing because being that it was January and all, I decided to set some goals for 2009.
One of which is to get our food storage built up to where it should be. When he built our home, he outfitted the storage area (under the porch) with awesome custom shelves which I promtly filled with large amounts of "stuff". Mostly boxes of clothes labeled for the next kid in line and holiday decorations. But what it amounted to was a lack of storage space for food! If I'm going to make sure we have food storage I've gotta have someplace to keep it. I needed more shelves!

Strange how my goals neccesitate work on his part.
But this past weekend he got tired of listening to me nag jumped at the chance to make me happy and set to work!
Voila! A few short hours later we have new shelves! He knows how to make my heart go pitter-pat.
Now that the decorations have a new home, I will have plenty of space for food storage. I'll post some pictures of the food storage area once I move it all in. I'm a woman on a mission!

Heaven on a Saturday afternoon

There's not a better way to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon.