Christmas Pictures

Tyler and his leapster. Santa brought him a swimming pool, which will be a lot of fun in the summer...the kids are all very excited for that.

I had Rose and Jeff's name this year for Christmas. I made her a "Mr. Fritz Mouse Pad" in memory of her favorite cat that just passed away. She cried a little. I love it when you just know that you have the perfect gift for somebody.

Brooklyn gets a box full of candy! Need I say more?

Tyler and I have been playing this game. It comes highly recommended by us.

Chris and his double guns. I love that smile. He is really trying to hide the smile that is always on his face. I wish that everyone could see it in real life because it is so cute.

Brooklyn's Day Care Services

Brooklyn got a baby from Santa. She also got a baby from Grandma Jill and another baby from Grandpa Tracy. Tyler got two twister games and Chris got two Fisher-Price race tracks and I am making the boys take the extra toys back and exchange them for something else. Brooklyn on the other hand gets to keep all of her babies, and she has named them "Holden and Will and Holden." She takes care of them all and is regularly seen carrying all three of her new babies around the house. She has woke up two mornings in a row now at 4:00 in the morning and I clearly hear her talking as loudly as she can to her babies who are tucked in to the doll cradle in her room. (I might have to find a new home for the baby bed.) Anyway with all these new babies, one might think that the old ones were getting neglected. Nope. Brook is still taking very good care of them as well. Yesterday I found three babies on my lap which I was to hold until she came back to get them. If I put them down or let Chris or Tyler touch them there will be a major temper tantrum that follows. Every baby is named Will or Holden and occasionally Baby Lilly. This morning I actually got her to name a baby Nancy, but within two minutes it had a new name "Holden." It is so cute watching her play babies. And when Erica is around with the real Will and Holden she watches her to see exactly what Erica is doing. If Erica's babies need to eat, so do Brook's. If Erica is bouncing her baby, So is Brook. She just loves taking care of babies...as long as they are named Will or Holden.

Kirby

A man came to my door yesterday around 1:30 in the afternoon. The first thing that he did was ring my doorbell. Now everyday at 1:00 I put my twins down for a nap, so someone ringing my doorbell at 1:30 is not something that makes me happy. Anyway this man was not someone that I would describe as "clean cut," and he was an oldish gentleman. He wanted to sell me a Kirby Vacuum, and as a special offer he was offering a knife set which he pulled out and showed me. Now if you are a salesman, going door to door selling vacuums, in the middle of the day to stay at home moms (who are most likely home alone with their kids this time of day), and you are not really great at making yourself presentable...is pulling out a knife set the best way that you can think of to get in the door to make a sale??? He didn't make it in my door that's for sure. I also locked the door behind him and made it a point to go out and shut down both of my garage doors while he was still in my driveway. Idiot.

Christmas Lights

Brooklyn wanted her Baby Will to see the Christmas lights too.

(These pictures loaded in the wrong order, sorry)

On Sunday night we went with Shane's family to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square. It was around 5:20 when we got to downtown Salt Lake and the place was totally packed. Apparently it was the Christmas Devotional at the Conference center too that night. There was people everywhere, and there was also no parking. So we drove around and around looking for the place that Jill and Chelsey were parking in and by the time that we found it we were all separated. Thank goodness for Milo and Otis that was playing in the backseat the whole time because it kept the kids in a pretty good mood. Anyway we finally got on to the temple grounds and we were trying to find Jill and Tracy and Josh and Jamie and my eyes were drawn upward as a very tall man walked past me. As I looked into his face I realized that it was Todd! And I looked down and there beside him was Val and their kids! It was so fun. They almost just walked right by me. But we got to visit for a minute and we got to take some pictures by the lights with them. Anyway, you never know when you will see you cousin that lives 200 miles away. We did have a great time at the lights. They are pretty this year (as always). And despite the crowds that we fought actually getting to the temple, the devotional started at 6:00 and so when we were walking around there was no crowd because they were all in the conference center. We left just before the devotional got over and so it turned out to be the perfect time to go. On the way home we stopped in at McDonald's and bought the kids a quick chocolate chip cookie. Tyler commented "I didn't know that you could get cookies at McDonald's, that's pretty neat isn't it mom" I also got some apple pies from there which we split when we got home. They are pretty tasty too.

And now I'd like to say something about personal outside Christmas decorations. I've debated addressing this issue for a while, but while I'm on the subject of Christmas lights...When I was little there was a house that put up the best display in town. It was the house that we all looked forward to seeing. And now that all their kids have grown up, they have resorted to putting up two blow-up lawn ornaments and a strand of super-fast blinking lights! What a disappointment! I hate the blow-up lawn ornaments. They should not count as Christmas decorations. There is one family here who has something like Tigger driving a Nascar...What does that have to do with Christmas! and they think that it is ok because he has a Santa Hat on! They are so ugly!

Last thing. It is so cute when Brooklyn talks about Santa. She calls him Danna Dogg. At the ward party Santa showed up and was in the hallway waiting for his turn to come in and she saw him and was giving him fives and having a great time. She'd been talking all day about how she was going to tell him to "bring me baby, bad" So when I finally got her up to sit on his lap she cried so hard that she couldn't even tell him what she wanted. She did remember to at least nod her head when I told him that she wanted a baby. When Shane went in to get her out of bed the next morning the first thing that she told him was "Danna not bring me baby anymore, me cried and cried." It was so cute, but so sad too. Chris on the other hand was the first in line to talk to Santa. In fact, I was trying to get Brooklyn through the line to stand next to him and I knew that he was close to the front, but by the time I had pushed through the crowd, he was already on Santa's lap and I had to hustle off the stage to get a picture of him. He likes to remind me that Santa already brought him candy.

If only it were just a final TWO!

Well I just paid all ten of my online votes to ED! As bad as I hated to do it, I still think that Heba should have gone home WEEKS AGO! I also still believe that Ed should have never made it back to the ranch, but at least if he is in the final three we know that he won't even have a chance at beating the girls out. I am so sick and tired of those two and Vicki. What is it with Bob's teams lately? Remember the PRIDE gang of last season? Maybe we should get rid of Bob all together and bring in a fresh trainer...someone who won't turn the team into a bunch of whiners that make the rest of the country want to pull their hair out.
Anyway, I just want to encourage all of you to log on to nbc.com and cast your vote (for Ed). I'm going to have to skip my aerobics class next week for the finale.

Christmas Program Details

I forgot to mention. The Christmas Program is on Dec. 18 at 6:30 at the High School Auditorium in case any of you would like to attend with us.

Winter Wonderland

Tyler has been practicing Christmas songs for his school program. As we were riding home this afternoon he recognized a song and told me that it was in the program. So I started to sing Winter Wonderland after dinner and he started to sing along.
Me: In the meadow we can build a snowman. And pretend that it's a circus clown.
Tyler: No Mom. It goes In the meadow we can build a snowman, and pretend that it is parsley Brown.
Me: (Laughing) No, not parsley...Parson.

Later tonight...
Brook: Nap (wrap) up my baby daddy.
Shane: No, I don't like babies.
Brook: How bout this baby? (as she holds up a different doll)
Shane: No thanks Brook.
Brook: How bout this baby, Baby Holden? (as she holds up yet another doll)

I love it when Brook starts in with the "How bout..." I also love that every doll is named Baby Holden, Baby Will, or Baby Nilly (Lilly) depending on the mood that she is in. I had to wake up the twins from their nap today so that we could take some banana bread to my friend who just had a baby. I asked them if they wanted to go see a brand new baby with me and they both got so excited and then they both insisted that they bring a 'baby' with them. Chris brought Baby Will and Brook brought Baby Holden. I also was playing with them earlier in the week and brought out some old empty baby food jars and some baby spoons. They have played "feed the dolls fake baby food" pretty much nonstop since I did that. It is sure cute to watch them play together.

Good-Bye Diapers

I went to Wal-mart last night. I needed Pull-ups and Diapers. We were out. I had about 4 princess pull-ups left in the whole house and they are not good enough for overnight. I do admit that I buy the brand name pull-ups, but only if I have a coupon, because they are like $.20 cheaper than the White Cloud brand that way. I didn't have a coupon last night, so I bought the White Cloud brand. Two packs one for boys and one for girls. I also bought the mega pack of diapers. I used to get Huggies, then Luvs, now I go for the Parents Choice. I don't prefer them, but I am so sick of spending all my money on Diapers and they are pretty cheap. So I had three things in my cart. I picked up a $10 Christmas present and 3 $1.97 christmas presents and a chapstick. That was IT! The total came to over $60.00! I couldn't believe it. And that is the reason that I have decided that these are the very last packs of pull-ups that I am buying. When they are gone we are switching to full time big boys and panties. Now I've said it, the next step is actually doing it. I think that we are going to need to get the carpet cleaner back down here.

I don't usually allow myself the right to purchase any new Christmas decorations. I have so many that I can't put them all out. But when Jill came home from Tai Pan with this string of jingle bells, I really felt like I needed to have them. Isn't that awful. So when she said that she was going to go back, I had her pick some up for me. I have to admit that they look really good when the railing is all lit up at night. They really jingle too so I catch my kids running their hands across them as they walk down the hall.
Here are a few pictures of the kids that I took this morning.

I thought that this one turned out pretty good.


A while ago, I walked out of the bedroom for a few seconds and when I came back in Brooklyn was sitting on the floor and her eyes were watering. I asked what was the matter and she looked at me and said, "Sticker in my nosey." So I tipped her over and looked up her nose and indeed there was a sticker in there. It was too far for me to get it out myself. And too far for me to feel comfortable sticking a pair of tweezers in to get the sticker out. After several unsuccessful attempts of trying to get her to "blow the sticker out." I called the doctor and made an appointment (more of an 'I'm on my way down right now' kind of thing) to have the sticker professionally removed. I did give her several more attempts to blow it out and finally it did come out without having to go to the doctor. Whew. Well today we were coloring...and when I looked up from my crayons, this is what I saw. She's so naughty sometimes. She, of course, thought that she was hilarious. I've coached her several times about what is appropriate to put in her nose (nothing), and what is inappropriate to put in her nose (markers, stickers, marbles, food, fingers, toys). I don't think that it is working.

I Love Thanksgiving

Well we had a great Thanksgiving. My Aunt Pat and Uncle Dale hosted a great party. We met at a church not far from their home in Idaho Falls and we visited and the kids got to play and we had great food. My camera was semi burried out in the trunk of the car so I don't have any pictures of the actual event, but we were there and it was a lot of fun.

Here is the view off of the balcony of our hotel room. It is the "falls." My Brother in law Justin walked around them and read all about them. He was pretty disappointed that they were man made. I still think that they are quite beautiful. I prefer to walk around them in the summer months.

Here is our hotel room. I was really worried because Tyler had to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor and most places don't have enough room for that. Our room was nice and big and there was a fridge and a microwave. It really was nice, especially for the price.

Just in case you are in a hotel room and on the toilet, and feel the urge to make a phone call. These guys really thought of everything.

Let The Holidays Begin!

I am so excited that Thanksgiving is this week. Tyler has an ABC feast at school today. He has the letter T, so I'm making him take Tomatoes. He hates them and wants to take Tacos. I told him that there was no way that I was making 21 tacos for him to take to his class. Then there is no school tomorrow (at least no kindergarten). And on Thursday morning, we are off to Idaho for Thanksgiving with my Grandma Carver. Now there is a real lady. I've really missed her, so I'm totally excited for the couple of days that I get to spend with her. When I get back I'm going to put up my Christmas tree and really go all out with the decorations, and I get to post my new Christmas Playlist for all of my blogging friends. I've been working on it all month. And I must admit that I am pretty happy with it. I had to make a few adjustments this morning, but now I'm pretty sure that it is complete and how I want it. You'll have to stay posted for that. I just love this time of year. I love Christmas shopping. I've already started, and I think that I have a lot of it done. Tomorrow, I am expecting a shipment from some online shopping that I did last week. It is like you get two Christmases when you do online shopping, because it is so fun to have stuff delivered. I am also exploring the world of Handmade gifts this year. I'm starting small with just a tu-tu and an activity book, and a blanket. I'm already feeling the pressure for these though, so we may need to stick with only a few small handmade gifts every year. I have also considered baking things to take to my neighbors...I might not get around to that. Anyway, I don't anticipate another post until after I get home so Happy Thanksgiving to all!

They Say It's Your Birthday!

Today is Tyler's 6th Birthday. I got to go to his school and help out. I was in charge of the worksheet called Will It Float? and we got to experiment with different objects and see if they would sink or float. It was a lot of fun. I didn't tell him that I was coming to his class and I think that he was suprised. Anyway, I like to see what he is doing in school and how things work in the classroom (rather than just wonder), so I had a great time.
Tonight later we are having a small family birthday party. Mostly just the grandma's and grandpa's, and Chels and Josh and Hallie. He really wanted a friends birthday party, but I think that I am still burned out from the one last year, so I told him that he had to wait another year. Now I feel a little bad about that, but I think that it is ok if I don't let him host a huge party every year. Anyway, I hope that he has a fun day. His cake has a Transformer on it. It looks pretty cool, I'll post some pictures tomorrow of his party.
I can't believe that I am old enough to have a six year old. I hate the fact that I can CLEARLY remember more than a decade of my life.

Caramel Christmas Rolls

Yesterday I made some rolls for lunch at my Grandma Judd's house. I put the frozen roll dough in the pan and covered them and let them rise while I was at church. When I got home I found that I had left the remainder of the bag of frozen dough out on the counter as well. They were thawed but still cold, but I couldn't re-freeze them. So I put them in the fridge until I got a second to do something with them. Just before bed I made my favorite Christmas breakfast... the caramel rolls.

You need: 18 frozen rolls
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
1/2 package of cook and serve butterscotch pudding
nuts (but we don't do nuts here, so I just leave those out)
and a Bundt pan

First you butter your bundt pan (with different butter than what is listed on the recipe, you'll need all of that for later). Then you sprinkle in the nuts, and put in the rolls, then sprinkle the pudding mix over top of the rolls. Next melt the butter and brown sugar together and pour it over top of the rolls too. Then leave the whole thing out on the counter overnight and in the morning bake on 350 for 30 minutes. You won't be disappointed I promise.

Don't add more rolls either because I had two dozen that I had to use up last night and so I put them all in there and I had to cook them for about 10 minutes extra and the rolls were pushing the caramel mixture out of the pan all over the bottom of my oven. It doesn't look like 18 will be enough, but in the morning your pan will be full. I promised myself that I wouldn't make these until Christmas morning this year. Oh well, I've made them now and I'm loving them. I think that I've eaten about seven of them today so far and it is only 2:00!

Happy Birthday to my Dad!

I would like to say Happy Birthday to my dad. I hope that he has a great day. I would like to thank him for everything that he has done for me. I was talking to my grandma the other day about how he taught us how to drive. He would take us out to the feild across the freeway to feed the sheep (and later cows), and horses and he would put us in the truck on our knees and unroll the window for us and we would steer the truck while he would throw the hay out. Then he would yell out from the back of the truck "go to the left" and we would crank the wheel as far as it would go and next thing that we knew he was screaming "NO! The other LEFT, The Other LEFT!" and so we'd crank the wheel all the way the other way. I love how he calls me his "little Sara," and I love the way he plays with my kids. They beg me to go for a walk up to his house everyday, and I think that it is so he can chase them around the pantry in the kitchen.

Every Summer when school let out I would go and get a new summer job, and every year when I'd get the call saying that I had a new job, my dad would come home with a pocket full of bills and change and he would make up story problems for me. I bought $13.87 worth of bagels. I paid with a $20.00 bill. Now count back my change to me. (When the computers went down at the bank one day, believe it or not, but I was the only one who could count back people's change.) So there's just a few memories that I have about my dad. I love you.

Tyler has to do a report about buffalo for his kindergarten class on Monday. So yesterday we went to the Library to get some resources. Next to the animal encyclopedias that we were looking at was the seasonal children's books and I picked up (for Brooklyn) "A Pussycat's Christmas" by Margaret Wise Brown. My kids love "Goodnight Moon," and cats and so I figured that they would love this book. I read it to Brook around 2:00 this morning while we were up and IT WAS EXCELLENT. It is so well written about everything that the cat is experiencing at Christmas. The pictures are excellent, it is very descriptive. Brooklyn was totally in to it. I was not expecting so much from this book. I looked it up on Amazon and it is only 6.99. I'm totally recommending this to all of my cat loving readers.

P.S. Pretend that there is a picture of the book right here. Stupid blogger.

Disney On Ice Memories

Here is me and Tyler. He is sticking his tongue out and having a great time.

Here is Tyler with his $12 Snow cone that we'll call Bruce. He was a little mad that I wouldn't let him get the light up sword, but in the end (the next morning) he was glad that he had the new mug. And it is microwave, and dishwasher safe which is more than I expected.

Here is our family (well most of us) having a fun family activity. Maybe next time we can get a smile out of Shane.

Bottom Line: I LOVED the Disney on Ice. I will be returning again. And the Disney Company has found yet another way to separate me from my dollar.

P.S. I didn't dare take my nice camera to the ESA, so the poor quality photos are a result of my camera phone. And just a side note about the ESA, I think that they probably have enough funds to hose the place down every once in a while. The floor was really sticky and gross from the moment we walked in the doors, yuck.

I'm not done yet

I forgot to mention two things in my earlier post. #1 A couple of weeks ago I was riding in the car with the twins and Tyler and they were watching a movie in the backseat, and I was just driving along, listening to the radio, when it occured to me that there was talking going on in the backseat. You know how you just kind of tune stuff out. Well I started to listen to what was being said and it was Chris. So I looked back and said "What?" and he looks at me and puts his hands out and says "Where my binky at, Bebe?" I laughed so hard. What a funny kid. And #2 is that I got the new Nursery manual. I read that the Church was recommending it to use for family home evenings, so I wanted to give it a try. I have the FHE lesson manual that I was using, and adapting the lessons for my family, and it was getting the job done...but I am totally recommending the Nursery Manual. It has short lessons that are complete. They have all the pictures, songs, something to color. My kids loved it. And it was simple enough that they were participating. I just wasn't getting that from the other book. I know that I've only used it once, but I'm looking forward to next Monday when I can try it out again.

Toys R Us, Aerobics, and Disney on Ice

Since Tyler's birthday is in November, Shane and I get a chance to go to Toys R Us before the Christmas rush. Because the place gets so crazy (as do all the toy isles in every store around the world) right around the time of his birthday, we go ahead and get all the toys that we think that we will be needing for Christmas too. So we went on Saturday. We took the twins with us, because they will forget anything that they see anyway. The place was a MADHOUSE! It was only the 8th! There were people everywhere. I couldn't believe it, but I am glad that I won't have to go back. Besides that, I got two "big toy books" in the mail, because I am such a great customer, and I got one in the Sunday paper a few weeks ago, so I had tons of great coupons. I saved roughly $25.00 on my purchases, and I got 2 $10 gift cards back. I thought that was great!
After I got home from my aerobics class last night, Shane had to leave for an Elder's quarum meeting. My muscles were still shaking from the workout, but the kids insisted that I show them every excercise that I had been doing. Then they tried it. "Watch me mom!" It is so fun when they are excited to see me! I was not really excited to be doing more excercises, but they were laughing and playing, and jumping around. On a different note, I also got home to catch the weigh in on the Biggest loser. How the heck did ED get back? And when will Heba get kicked off. For next week I'd like to see Heba and Vicki go below the yellow line and then in a shocking twist they both have to go home...I was so happy to see that Amy didn't vote for Michelle. I wanted Brady to go home.
Tonight is the night that I've waited for for a really long time...DISNEY ON ICE! I know that most of you have already probably seen the Disney characters skating around the ESA, but I haven't. In fact I haven't even been to the ESA since it was the Delta Center in 1997. And that was not for Disney, but for Alannis Morrisette. So I am excited for tonight, and I know that we are going to have a great time.

4:30 AM

I was just up with my twins, and as I was putting them back to bed Tyler woke up, went to the bathroom and requested that I tuck him back in. So I did. As he was crawling back into bed he said to me, "My butt is a lazy butt, because all it does is sit around." I'm not sure where he got that one, but it made me laugh and I didn't want to forget it.

I'm skipping my workout to update

Here is Tyler the "Bloody Ghostbuster." This is his costume for Halloween night

Here is Chris. He was a frog. I would have posted a picture of him without candy in his mouth, but I didn't have any. In fact he had to throw himself down on the ground while we were in the middle of trunk or treat and have a little fit because I wouldn't let him eat his candy yet.

Here is Tyler as a "Bloody Football Player." This was his costume at school. Jill saved this football uniform (it was Shane's when he was little), and recently gave it to Tyler to play with. The elastic was all shot out of it and needed to be fixed. On Halloween morning Tyler asked if he could be a bloody football player instead of a bloody ghostbuster. I said well I'll have to see if I have enough elastic to fix it. I did and I set off to work getting the new costume fixed. Over an hour later I had repaired the costume and had lovingly set aside all the things that I had to do before Tyler went to school. So I went into his room to help him clean it up and I picked up the ghostbuster costume and started to fold it and he says to me "Can we leave the ghostbuster costume upstairs in case I decide to still be a ghostbuster?" My response was "I just spent OVER AN HOUR sewing your pants so that you can be a FOOTBALL PLAYER! There is no deciding if you want to be a football player, you are going to be a football player!" I was a little ticked.

I wanted to make Brook a witch costume. A few months ago Tyler was asking the twins what they wanted to be for Halloween. They didn't know what he was talking about but Brook said that she wanted to be a pink bunny. My mind immediately remembered that Hallie had once been a pink bunny and I called Chels. Here is the handmade (by Grandma Robin) costume. In a way I was kind of glad. I didn't have to buy one costume this halloween, and except for the last minute repair job on the football costume, I didn't have to sew any costumes either.
I hate Halloween. Maybe next year it just won't come at all.
On a better note. I LOVE November. Why? I don't know. I love that it is almost Thanksgiving. I love that it is almost Tyler's birthday. I love wondering if I am going to go Christmas shopping on black Friday. If it snows in November I don't feel like it is too early, I still get that excited first snow feeling. And you can bet that on the way home from my Grandma's house on the day after Thanksgiving I'll be listening to my Jessica Simpson's Christmas CD. And in November this year I'm taking Shane and Tyler to Disney on Ice! I've wanted to go to Disney on Ice my whole life, and now I finally get to go. Is Shane excited to go? Heck no! But I told him that we were going to have a fun family experience and he had to participate. That is on the 12th. I hope that my mom remembers that she is tending the twins for us that night.

Places to go, Rocks to collect

I was down at Moore's getting the oil changed in the car today. The TV was set to the Travel Channel and I totally got hooked on the show that was on. It was called Treasure Hunting in America 2. It suggested that I go to Hiddenite, North Carolina to the Emerald Mine and dig for my own emeralds. They pretty much guarantee that I will find a precious or semi-precious stone in their $5.00 bucket of rocks! I very quickly put it on my list of places to go before I die! I can't wait until I can go there. But then the next segment was on Trilobite fossils in Delta, UT! I can go there in only like 3 1/2 hours! I'm totally going to go there with Tyler next summer. The website there says that in 4 hours at the quarry the average visitor can find 10-20 fossils. How did I not know about this place? Anyway check out the websites if you want to go with me to either of these places, because it is going to be tons of fun.
www.hiddenitegems.com
www.u-digfossils.com


P.S. You guys didn't know that I was a closet Geologist did you.

Weekend happenings

I have a book party at my house tomorrow night. The place is the shambles, I have so much work to do here. What will I do today? I'm going to meet my friends Yara, Claudia, and Michelle and we are going to go to lunch. I got up early so that I can get some of my work done before the kids wake up....now I'm updating my blog. I have a lot of ambition.
On a different note. I found a coupon in the parade magazine for $3.00 off the twister hopscotch. I wanted to get that for Tyler's Birthday, I was totally stoked.
I lost my debit card last week. I'm not really worried that someone used it, or stole it. But I cancelled it anyway, because I still can't find it. So I have been using checks all weekend. What a pain. It has really been a long time since I have had to write a check, and it upset my schedule so badly that I left a sack of my stuff at Wal-mart! I always check to make sure that I've got everything, but since I had to write a check, and everyone in the line behind me was waiting for me, and I almost dumped my (big) purse over, and I got flustered and just took off without checking. So I have to go back to Wal-mart today. Brook and Chris have learned to say Wal-Mart. Does that make us look like red-necks because my two year olds declare that we need to go to Wal-mart everytime that we are out of something?

Back on the Top

Well I finally got my house vacuumed! It has been probably 3 weeks. I also have the laundry going and I'm pretty sure that I can tackle the bathrooms tomorrow. With all of that said, I feel like I am back on top of my housework. I still have clutter in every corner of the house, and I am still working on getting through the bags of hand-me-down clothes that I received last week (thanks again, by the way Chels, Josh, and Kari!). Anyway, it feels clean in here and that is a feeling that I really haven't felt for a while.
This weekend, Brooklyn (or one of the boys) got a hold of a purple marker, and proceeded to color on stuff. They colored on the windows, table, snack table, filing cabinet, and finally the back of my cabinets beneath the bar. I knew that it had happened, shortly after it happened, but it was a Crayola marker and I didn't really worry about it. I didn't know that it was under the bar until HOURS later when I finally noticed it. I immediately tried to get it off: straight water didn't work, almost every household cleaner that I have didn't work. I finally tried softscrub with bleach (on the snack table first) and had a little bit of success and so I scrubbed it for about an hour trying to get it to come off. It is mostly gone. If you know where to look you can still see remnants of the marker, but who knows what the softscrub will do to the finish on the wood. Anyway, needless to say, I have banned all markers from the use of my children. They are pretty upset about that because they pretty much don't color with anything else.
Tomorrow I have to go to the school for my first parent teacher conference. I'm pretty nervous about what Mrs. S is going to say about Tyler. I worry about what he does while he is away from home, or when I am not around. I suppose that if it were going to be bad I probably would have gotten a call from the school sometime before now. As I was sitting in primary on Sunday with my primary class, I was talking to them and learned that Tyler did in fact have an assigned seat on the bus for a while but he didn't anymore. But I also learned that for serious offenses the bus driver will call parents. I learned that from the brother of one of Tyler's friends (whose parents did get a call from the bus driver). I'm glad that I haven't been called.
I have been potty training my twins. It is really hard because while one is on the potty, the other one is standing there peeing his/her pants. I don't want to have to train one and then the other I want to do it at the same time. I think that Brooklyn will be trained first. She always comes and tells me when she pees in her pull-ups. I told her that it makes the princesses sad if the flowers get wet and so she comes up and tells me her princesses are sad and they are soaking wet. I have to still work on my timing on getting them to the potty on time. My goal is to get them trained before spring, so we'll keep working on that.

Just stuff

Well it has geen a good week. Sort of. I do have a cold, but I am so far feeling a little bit better. Tyler got his school pictures back on Monday and they are cute, but he is sticking his tongue through his teeth. I asked him why he did that and he said "Well the lady told me to say thththth." Why? What sort of smile is that going to produce? Whatever. I joined Facebook the other day and I was able to find some of my roommates from BYU. I am so bad at keeping in touch, I just figured that I would never talk to any of my old friends again. I am grateful for the internet because I use it everyday to feel like I am friends with my friends again. (Does that make sense?) Anyway, there isn't a whole lot to say. I haven't even showered today yet. I feel like such a bum, because that is the one thing that I don't ever give up, but I needed to do some Usborne work this morning, and when I was done the kids were all awake and needed breakfast and attention, and then I have to get Tyler dressed, and then it is lunch time (you know 10:00 am), and so on and so on.
One funny thing that Brook does is she adds an "ee" on the end of things. Blankee, shoesees, lunchee. I'm pretty sure that I encourage this because I never correct her. But today at lunch, while I was fixing the food and they were starving and crying because I wasn't doing it fast enough, I brought out a box of crackers and they were eating them and asking for more and she looked up at me and said "More crackee mommy." It made me laugh. I thought that crackee was a funny word.

Vegas (The Recap)

Shane and I went to Las Vegas this weekend. It was so much fun. We stayed at the Stratosphere and within the first ten minutes of playing the slot machines Shane had won about $250. I figure that it was a good thing that Shane won the money because he had a little bit of a cold when we left on Friday. By the time that we got to Vegas he was totally sick and we decided that he was way to sick to go to Erica's house and see the babies. So I left him at the casino while I went out there and he played the slots and it didn't cost us anything! It was so much fun to see Erica and the boys. They are such cute babies and it really made me realize just how much fun twins can be. I don't recall much of my twin's first few weeks, it felt like it was just a matter of survival. I can remember feeding them all the time, and I know that I was stressed out about all the stuff that had to be done, and I know that I let a lot of housework go unfinished so that I could get plenty of naps in (because I was so exhausted all the time), but I don't remember just sitting and holding them and thinking about how cute they were, or wondering what they were dreaming about, and I am kind of sad about that. Maybe with Erica's boys I am supposed to have a second chance with that. That's all I really did. I sat and held them, and snuggled them, and loved them. They are so cute. They are still only about 7 lbs a piece and they feel so tiny and cuddly. I could have stayed there all day, but after about a half a day, Shane started to send me text messages wondering when I was coming back to get him because the slots weren't quite as friendly and fun for him on the second day. So I went back to the hotel room and picked him up and we went out shopping on the strip because we promised that we would bring something back for our kids. We went to the M and M's world store and I thought that it was a lot of fun. I'd never been there before. We also went to the mall that is down there. I really love the Hello Kitty store there. I know that there is one here in SLC, but I never get to shop there because I never really need stuff there, but when we are on vacation I get to make an exception. Anyway it was a pretty short trip. We left Erica's house about 10:00 Sunday morning. I cried. I felt bad that I didn't get to stay and snuggle her babies and visit with her longer. But we had to get back to our own kids before my mom and dad went completely nuts.
P.S. We should have stayed. The kids didn't miss us for even a moment. Mom and dad took them to the homecoming parade, Wendy's, Cabela's. Dad taught them to sing "She'll be coming round the mountain when she comes...Whoa Bill!" They sing it all the time and when they get to the "Whoa Bill!" all three of them burst into uncontrolled laughter. After I finished doing Brook's hair today she looked in the mirror and said "Go Grandpa's house now?" as if that was the only thing that we had to do today.

In case you didn't get the email

I am starting to book my Usborne books Christmas shows now that it is October. I know that I sent many of you an email the other day, but if you read this and didn't get one that doesn't mean that I don't want you to get free books, it only means that I probably don't have your email.
So here is the deal. I want to get you lots of free books to give (or keep) for Christmas. All you have to do for me is host a party, get all of your friends together and I'll show my books and you will visit. At the end you will have lots of free books, and lots of half priced books. It is a really fun time. Think about it. Leave me a comment if your interested and we can work something out.

Note to Self

KFC and Little Caesars Pizza really hurt your ulcer. Please don't ever eat at these places again!
Thank you,
The Management

Tu-Tus! (and some other funny pics)

For Lachlan's 3rd birthday I made her a light pink and dark pink tu-tu. It had ribbons and a bow with a button on it. It turned out pretty cute. I wish that I could include a picture of her in her tu-tu, but I didn't remember to take my camera to her party. Sorry about that. Anyway since then, I made one for Brooklyn. It is purple and white and it has sparkly silver ribbons in it and a big sparkly silver bow on the front. She loves it and regularly wears it around the house.

This weekend I also made one for Sierra, while her and Susie were staying at my Mom and Dad's house. I have to say that Sierra's was the one that I most worried about because it was green and yellow, and I didn't know if it would be cute or not. Now that it is done...it is my favorite so far. I glued little yellow fake flowers on it and it turned out super cute! I told Sierra that I made it for her and she was really excited about it for a minute and then said "Actually, I have a pink tu-tu at home already." After we made her try it on for us she liked it though and she was doing her tu-tu dance and bouncing and twirling all over my mom's house. It is so fun to make little girls happy!

Yeah, I ran out of green tulle and so the front of the tu-tu is just plain yellow. It still looks cute, but you can tell when it is on crooked!

Brooklyn loves to take care of people. Here she is "feeding bubby drink water"

Look at how she is taking extra care to support his head, and get the straw in just the right place.

Here is a picture of the leaves changing up Spring Canyon. I call this picture "Land that I Love."

Double Rainbows over GoGo's house. (They were a lot brighter than they appear in the picture.)

Spa Day

On Saturday Jill, Chelsey, and I had a little girls day out. I met them in Midway at the Homestead (they stayed overnight), and we went shopping. First stop was at All that stuff in the barn. I've only been there during Swiss Days when it is totally packed full of people. It was so fun to actually take your time in there and look at everything that they have. Then we headed off toward Heber and stopped at a little restraunt called Breadstix. It was so TASTY! All of us thought so. I'm totally going back there someday. Then we went to another place that is owned by Jill's cousin's wife Heidi. I can't remember the name of it. It was a pretty cute place too, but they are in the process of moving their store so they didn't have the usual selection of decor. Then we had to hustle back to the Homestead because at 1:15 I was scheduled for a pedicure. Whitney did my pedicure and she did a great job. It was so relaxing, and it smelled so good there, and even though it was a Saturday it wasn't busy so it felt like we were the only people there. And I have rhinestones on my big toes now! Chelsey had a manicure and Jill got a massage. It was so fun, I know that I told Jill thank you all ready, but I want to say it again. Thank You! I had the time of my life, it felt like it was just what I have been needing. I am so grateful that you and Chelsey accept me as a part of your family, and I really enjoyed spending this day with you.

So on Monday my dad was up the hills with Tom and my Uncle Bryan and got smashed up into a fence by a horse and broke some bones in his back. I heard him tell someone on the phone today that he "wasn't laid up...he could move from his bed to the bathroom and back." They were just loading the horses up to bring them home, and now here he is stuck in bed all day. I grew up helping on the farm. And I knew that it was sort of dangerous, but I don't really recall anyone getting seriously hurt all my life. I mean we got plenty of scratches and scars and we've all been chased by the mad cow that wanted to kill us, but I never thought that something like bringing the horses home for the winter was something potentially life threatening. Or like when my grandpa got hurt...his job was to stand by the fence and count the calves as they went through the gate...sounds pretty safe huh. Well apparently it wasn't. This accident (although my dad will be fine in a few weeks) really scared me. How can everything go fine all my life and now in just the last couple of years it seem so dangerous? Just some thoughts.
By the way, my sister Rose posted a pretty funny letter to the editor on her blog, you might want to link over and read it.

Dinner Prayer

Tonight when we sat down for dinner I said "Let's say the blessing everyone." And Brooklyn folded her arms and started in on some jibberish, and I said to her "Do you want to say the blessing Brook?" and she said "Yeah." So we folded our arms and she said (with some help) "Heavenly Father, Bless Food" I tried to get her to say the rest, but apparently she was too hungry because after the bless food part she unfolded her arms and started to eat. It was still pretty cute though. Last night we had dinner at my mom's house and while Tyler was saying the prayer she shouted out a "Bless Mommy." in the middle. I think that she must have thought that I would need an extra blessing (she's probably right).

On the Bus

Here is some information that you will need to know before I get started on my story for today...Tyler has a friend that lives down the road we'll call him B. He is in the first grade, but he rides the same bus, is in the same primary class. He just moved in at the end of the summer but they were like instant best friends.
Okay so here is the story. Last week Tyler comes home from school and it was pretty much the usual routine and we were talking about school and he suddenly remembered something and he got all excited to tell me. (Now the tone of his voice told me that he believed that this was the most awesome thing that had happened all day long). "Mom, do you know what?" "What" I said.
"B has his own seat on the bus. And it has a sticker with his name on it and everything!"
Now without even asking I know that this really cool personalized bus seat is the front seat of the bus, and that it is reserved for the naughtiest kids on the bus (when I was in school it was always reserved for a kid named Dutch). I didn't tell this to Tyler. Instead I asked if he had a seat with a sticker on it for him. He said no and I was secretly glad. So at primary on Sunday I was telling this story to another lady (whose boy also rides the same bus) and right as I get to the part about B getting his own seat with a nametag on it, the other boy walks in and says "Yeah! Tyler has his own seat on the bus too!"
I asked Tyler about it yesterday before school and he denied it again, he even said that I could ask the bus driver about it and she would say no too, so I guess that I have to believe him and hope that if there is a real problem the bus driver will let me know.

8 Years Ago Today!

Today is going to be such a great day. My favorite day of the year. Not only is it Shane's and my anniversary but it is also the day of the Biggest Loser Season Premier! Who could ask for anything else. It is also Tyler's picture day at school, if Grandma Jeane were still alive it would be her 85th birthday. I'm pretty sure that I instead of going out for our anniversary (I already vetoed any plans for tonight) we have decided to take a little vacation to Las Vegas to see the new baby twins. So for tonight I will cook up an easy to clean up meal for all of us so that I won't be stuck doing dishes when My Show comes on! (Real romantic isn't it!) I love you Shane, Happy anniversary!

A New Adventure (But no match for Becca)

Yesterday after I got home from Stake Conference, I started to can my peaches. I have never done this before so I was a little nervous. I also picked a perfect day to do it since my mom took off to Las Vegas and she was my source of knowledge. She did however leave all of her big pots and canning accessories for me. So after I put the kids down for their nap I got to work. The first step is peeling the peaches and my mom said that if I dunk them in hot water then in cold the skin will come off a lot easier. This process intrigued Shane, and so he came over to help with the peeling. To my surprise he stuck around for the entire time and I am really grateful. It went pretty quick and now I have seven pints of sliced peaches and 13 quarts of quartered peaches. And all of them sealed! Not too bad for a first day. Today I am going to try and locate seven more pint jars and see if I can finish off the last few peaches.

Ulcer Good Times

I remember when Chris was a baby. He was only about two months old when he would get really sick after I would feed him. He would cry and cry. So my dr. told me to get some liquid maalox and give him a dropperful of it and see if it helped him feel better. My dad was working at the Smith's branch of the bank and so I called him to bring me home some Maalox. To my horror he brought home the Strawberry flavor and it smelled as bad as I thought that it would. It just killed me to give it to my tiny baby and he kind of had to choke it down, and I thought that I would probably gag on just the smell of it....Who knew that only two short years later I would drink that exact entire bottle of Maalox (Minus the few dropperfuls that I gave to Chris) in less that one week, and go out and buy more!
So lately I have become really aware of exactly what stresses me out. How? Well I get sharp burning pain through my stomach every time that I get stressed out. What is on the top of that list? My kids waking up crying in the middle of the night. I don't know why but they will sleep really good for a couple of months and they they will wake up every night for a couple of months. Right now, while I have an ulcer they happen to be on a wake up every night schedule and it sucks. Last night I had to get up three times with them, and I had to take my Maalox two of those times just so that I could maybe get back to sleep. Apparently watching "Sept. 11 relive the WTC towers falling" TV shows is another thing that stresses me out because Shane watched that last night and I hurt so bad when it was over. Making phone calls to people I don't know, or only slightly know is another one. I sure hope that I can get rid of this thing soon because I just don't like it.

A Dedication to my New Neighbors

The three houses next door to my mom's house have been for sale all summer long. The first (and smallest) of the three was sold sometime around the beginning of the summer to Shane's ex girlfriend and her husband. Well recently the second (still not the biggest, but pretty big, also known as "Thad's house") was sold to some out of towners. Well the rumors are that the new neighbor is the lead bass player for Bon Jovi! So for the next little while I am going to post an all Bon Jovi playlist in honor of my new neighbor. Hope that you all enjoy it!

Sweet Relief

So lately I've been getting these burning stomach aches. They kind of come and go. Mostly they hit around 8:30-9:00 at night and last all night. Or if I get really hungry. Then a couple of nights ago, it kept me up all night and it lasted all day long. So I sucked it up and called the clinic and got an appointment. I felt pretty silly sitting there answering her questions. Do you take any regular medications? No. Have you been eating lots of new foods lately? No. Are you under a lot of stress? No. Have you been taking a lot of Tylenol or Asprin or Ibuprofen lately? No. They went on and on. I don't think that I answered yes to any of them. In my mind I was thinking that the lady was going to tell me that I was crazy.
I was wrong. She thinks that I have an ulcer. So she sent me home with lots of prevacid and told me to double up with the maalox for a couple of days until the prevacid could really take effect. I didn't wake up with a bad stomach ache all night long! It was so nice to finally get a good night's sleep. So it looks like for the next eight weeks I will be taking the prevacid and hopefully my ulcer will heal and I won't have to get it scoped (she said that would be a worst case scenerio).

Chokecherries Anyone?

Well here is a picture of one of the chokecherry trees that is up Spring Canyon. The choke cherries are huge, ripe and there are thousands of them. And they are so easy to pick. They practically fall off of the tree. It only took us about 15 minutes to fill a five gallon bucket. I have tons of good pictures that should be posted along with this one, but apparently they are not meant to be posted because I have tried several times to get them uploaded and they just won't. So this is all that you get. But we had a good time with mom and dad and we didn't even get rained on. We went up on Sunday afternoon. We did ride up the canyon a little farther and it was a really good ride. Mom and Dad were in the jeep and they left before it started raining. Unfortunately it was only about two minutes before it started raining and they got SOAKED on the way home. Mom has made batches and batches of Chokecherry Jelly and it is absolutely delicious. When I ask Brooklyn what she wants for breakfast in the morning she always says "Nanny Jello" That means Toast with Chokecherry Jelly on it.


These are for Erica. If you'd have been there with us, I would have nailed you with one of these fat boys for sure!
We were going to go to the zoo on Monday. When we got to the city it was pouring down rain and we couldn't go. So we took the kids to Cabella's instead. They have lions and zebras and bears just like the zoo...only not alive, so it was almost the same. We bought some fish food out of the dispenser and let the kids throw it into the pond and they had a pretty good time anyway.

First Day of School!

New Lunch Time: 10:00 AM. This will take some getting used to. I hadn't even gotten breakfast cleaned up when it was time to feed Tyler his lunch.

I said: "Say Cheese Tyler!" He said "I'm going to say 'Schoolboy!'"

This is the snake that Tyler found (and caught) while we were waiting for the bus to come. It peed all over his hand and arm and I had to send him in to get washed. I was sure that that was the moment that the bus would come, luckily I was wrong.

Stop #1 for the Kindergarten bus is Beau's. Stop #2 is Tyler's. I didn't know that until today, but Tyler seemed ok with it. I also didn't know that on the way home, his teacher puts him on a bus at the elementary school then it travels about two blocks to the middle school and high school where he has to get off the bus, find his real bus, then load up again. Who thought that it would be a good idea to have kids get off a bus and reload two blocks from where they get on the bus? I was stressed out all day that I would wait for him to get off the bus and he wouldn't be there because he didn't do the transfer right.

Here he is getting on the bus.

I'm pretty sure that this lady was my bus driver for a little while back when I was in school. I was sure glad to see that his driver had lots of experience, and I knew that she was super friendly too.

Here is Chris. Laying on the rocks, crying, and being mad because I wouldn't let him get on the bus with Tyler. He just kept yelling "school bus! Bubby! School Bus!" It was kind of funny.

Brooklyn was pretty upset too, she cried but at least she didn't need to have a major meltdown in the middle of the driveway!

When Tyler got home I asked him how school was. He immediately got excited and said "For snack Mrs. S. brought gummy bears, swedish fish and licorice!" Pretty much that is all that I have been able to get out of him. Maybe he will remember something else later.

Kindergarten

Today we got to go to the kindergarten and meet Tyler's teacher Mrs. S. She is super nice and seems to know what she is doing. It also sounds like she has a lot of fun things planned out for the kids in her class. Tyler had a great time seeing some of his friends from preschool again, and I think that he is ready to get going to school.

Here he is sitting at the table with Keagan and Tayler (both were in his preschool class).

This lady is going to be helping in the classroom most of the time, I can't really remember her name, but Tyler seemed to really like her. Others at the table are Hayden and Wyatt, and I don't know the girl, but I don't think that she is going to be in his class anyway. Tomorrow we have to go and get another skills test, but I am confident that Tyler will pass it with flying colors. I'm pretty sure that he will be the smartest kid in the kindergarten this year. I am so proud of him, and I am also glad that both he and I are ready for him to be in school. He will love it so much, he is so ready to learn about everything around him and now he is finally going to get the chance. And I was sitting next to a lady today that was just bawling her eyes out. I'm just not like that. I have never even come close to crying over Tyler going to school, I am totally excited for him to go and learn and be with his friends and then come home and tell me about it. And he will get to ride the bus with all of his friends and he is just going to have a good time.

Super Heros and Broken Bikes

I'm getting sick. The day after the babies party, Brooklyn and Shane came down with a pretty bad cold that has progressively gotten worse as the week has gone on. Well last night I got a sore throat and Shane suggested that I take a Tylenol before bed so that it wouldn't keep me up. Well I did that but since it was already bed time I decided that I would take the Tylenol PM instead. Chris woke up at 4:30 and I felt pretty good except for my sore throat was back and so after I put Chris back to bed I took some more Tylenol (not PM this time) and I went back to bed. Next thing that I know it is 8:00 AM and I had had some pretty crazy dreams. The first one was that I was outside trying to clean up the toys on our back patio and I went to get Tyler's bike and he had left it out by the dump truck and it had both of the handlebars broken off of it. And I tried to teach him a lesson about how he couldn't ride his bike anymore because it had no handlebars and he didn't care. It made me so mad, I couldn't figure out why he didn't care about his bike anymore.

The second dream is a little bit more bizzare. Tyler and I were at my mom's house visiting with her and my dad when we got word that the three scary guys from one of the old Superman movies were in the neighborhood causing all kinds of distruction. (You know there were two guys and one girl and I think that they were from the same planet as superman, but they were evil and shot lasers out of their eyes). Anyway my mom had this little piece of gold string and she gave it to me and then we went down into their basement to hide. So I am holding this little gold string and I suddenly remember that the bad guys don't like the gold string because it is what kills them. Then I sneak out of my hiding place to see if they were in the house yet and they were and I started running back to my hiding place and I think to myself, I wish I had more gold string and I could make it into a lasso, like Wonder Woman! Then I remember that I AM Wonder Woman, but I don't know where my outfit is, and as I am wondering where I put my Wonder Woman outfit I open my eyes and wake up. I know that it sounds like I made it up, but I swear that I remember it that clearly. And I really did just wake up right in the middle of it. I still feel a little hung over from all the Tylenol last night, (I only took the recommended dose), but at least it is keeping me from having too bad of a sore throat.

Birthday Party Recap

Remember when my twins turned two years old and I had a half a sheet cake (i.e. a REALLY BIG cake) in the fridge, and I had a big birthday barbeque and people started to leave when the party was over, and I had forgotten to get out the really big cake and serve it? AAAA! Who does that? Who forgets to have their kids blow out their birthday candles? Well apparently it is me. Luckily for me Chelsey had a package of hot dogs in my fridge and saw the really big cake and reminded me, and I was able to call back most of the relatives before they left to come and eat some cake. And the kids got to blow out their candles and everything turned out just fine. I was a little nervous about how the cake was going to look, but it turned out pretty cute.

Here they are opening up their presents. They only really opened up this first one all by themselves. After that it was complete chaos.

My mom and dad gave this little stroller to Brooklyn. She immediately demanded that someone go in the house and get her a baby (which they did) and then she played with her stroller pretty much for the rest of the night. Oh yeah, and if anyone else even came close to touching the stroller, she would scream and cry until they moved away from her toy.

Here is Hallie, helping open up presents and proudly displaying the purple lip gloss. I bought the Disney Princess Lip Gloss necklaces for all of the girls as a party favor. They were a big hit. Before we knew that it was not really "gloss" and more like "paint" Sierra had put it all over her lips, Susie's lips, and my mom's lips. It didn't really rub in or wipe off and so for the rest of the night most of the girls walked around with bright purple lips.

Chris's favorite present was the "Cowboy on Horse" from Nanny Nancy.

Brooklyn loved the "Princess Phone" from Chelsey's family.

We gave the kids each a trike. Chris was really happy right from the start.

I had to take Brooklyn's baby stroller away from her just so that she would open up the trike, and that didn't go over so well. She was really worried about her babies.

She did finally leave the stroller to do a little coloring with her new markers from Aunt Susie's family.