Monday, April 30, 2007

Contain the Excitement
You see that little face? That little face has brought me so much joy over the last few days that I can hardly stand myself! I love the picture above because you can't see his mouth. For such a long time the only noises we got from that sweet little mouth were laughter and cries. But not now. Now he is starting to say things and if I could do flips and cartwheels, I would. But I'm not fond of pain or making a fool of myself on purpose. So, we'll just have to settle for jumps of joy. ANYWAY, on Saturday Little Bug and I were in the truck waiting for Hubby and Baby Girl to pick up some food (Red was at a birthday party). I started to say some of the ABC's and their sounds. He has been able to say quite a few letters and their sounds but on Saturday he said almost all of them! YES!! And on Friday he came to me and said "Mama... mama... drink...firsty (thirsty)... jooooooce (juice)... apple..." BE STILL MY HEART!! You have no idea how exciting this was for me!! I let him pick the color of his cup and gave him the straw of his choice for his fruity beverage. Then I ran and called Hubby and my Mom to tell them all about this amazing experience! For 6 years we have waited on pins and needles for tiny glimpses into what his voice might sound like. In the past there have been big spaces between words. He would say something and then not say it again for a long time. We have tried to be patient. We just want to hear another word - any word. And now we are getting all kinds of wonderful moments of interaction with him. It's a dream come true. Little Bug will be 7 this fall... I have a feeling that 7 is gonna be an awesome year for him and us! :)

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Big Bear + Small Family = Great Fun
So much fun - I just had to share all these pictures... I know it's a lot, but it was hard to narrow it down! We got there around 9:30 in the morning and started hiking. We saw TONS of lizards along the trail. Red called it "Lizard Heaven" and I think he might be right. They were EVERYWHERE!! The kids loved to chase them around and watch them scatter. That was probably the highlight of the trip for them. Then we had a picnic lunch by the lake and the kids threw rocks in the water. After that we hiked back to the van and went to the other side of the lake for the alpine slide. I don't have any pictures of this because I wasn't sure what I would do with the camera while I was on my sled. It's kind of like a bob sled track that runs down the side of the mountain. You sit on a sled that has wheels and control how fast or slow you go with a lever in the front. If you want to see a few pics from the website(not of our family), you can go here. Red loved it, I rode the first time with Little Bug and he was not to sure of it. He kind of squeaked all the way down. Hubby took him down the second time and he was a little better, but not much. Baby Girl went with Hubby the first time and loved it! I took her the second time on the faster track and she had a ball. First, she talked smack to her older brother by announcing that we were gonna "RUN YOU DOWN! YEAH!!" Then she screamed "faster faster! Catch him! Get him!" all the way down. What she lacks in stature, she makes up for in mouth!! We had to leave early because Red had a birthday party to attend. All in all it was a wonderful day. Great hike, beautiful scenery, happy family, exciting activity and exhausted kids in the end. Who could ask for more??





Saturday, April 28, 2007

Go Towards the Light
We spent the day at Big Bear Lake and had a blast! I'll post more about it tomorrow... right now, I'm tired. So, enjoy this picture - it makes me laugh every time I look at it. Do you think that we will have to pass through a metal culvert to get to heaven??

Friday, April 27, 2007

This week's theme for Photo Hunters is "Rare". Had a hard time coming up with something for this week. I don't really own anything rare... so, you get my kinda sick and twisted version. Can you say "CARNIVORE"??
Frozen Bacon...rare...
frozen fillet... rare...

Beef... it's what's for dinner... only been in the crock pot for 45 minutes... safe bet it's still rare...

Pork ribs...rare....

Pork ribs covered in homemade honey BBQ sauce... yummm... not cooked yet... still rare...

Well, there you have it. We love meat and it was all I could think of when it came to "rare". Of course, it isn't rare when we eat it. We're more of a "well done" kind of family (except hubby who likes his more of a medium...) Hope I didn't gross you out too bad... oh, and just so you know, I made the pork ribs a couple of nights ago and the roast is tonight's delish dish. We may be carnivores, but we aren't total gluttons! Enjoy!

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Misnomer
Heather at 4B's in a Pod wrote about a cook book she has where the authors should have considered a pen name instead of their real names. You can read about it - here. I was thinking about this yesterday as I was in Kohl's. Now, the women's clothing is divided into sections - Juniors, Misses, Petite, Plus Size, Maternity, Women's and Old Lady. Okay, so the old lady isn't technically the name, but you know the area I'm talking about - all the pants have elastic in the waist and all the tops have big floral patterns. The tags on some of the clothing in this area caught my eye. I'm sure I could have found this brand name in some of the other areas, but it just struck me as odd in this department - Sag Harbor. Now, I'm only 30, but my body has a few saggy spots. And when I'm ready to shop in the old lady department, my body will be saggier still! The last thing I want is to get up each morning and put on clothing that reminds me of how saggy my body is. Sag Harbor. Now, I know that there is a Sag Harbor in New York City (thank you Google) and so I'm assuming that the clothes are made there or something. But, couldn't they have found a different harbor? Boston Harbor, Santa Cruz Harbor, Washington Harbor - those don't make me feel saggy at all. And to top it off, the clothes are expensive. Saggy and broke. It's a double whammy.
Blog Fodder
I have a file folder on my computer called "Blog Fodder". I take random pictures that I want to blog about later and then put them in the folder for times when my brain won't work without a little visual push. My inspiration comes from anyone and anything. I just write about whatever strikes me... pretty spontaneous, and yet obsessive (there's that word again) about making sure that the posts make sense. I will edit and re-edit each one many many times. So, I was just wondering, what inspires your blog posts? Do you have a list of things that you want to try and cover? Or are you more random? And are you obsessive about editing? Or do you write and publish and be done with it?
Toyota
Okay - I have limited time right now... I'm sorry the picture didn't look. Last night we got a new van! I'm not going to have time to take pics today, but here is a link to go look at it... it's still listed with the dealer! I hope the link works... it won't let me save the pics from the site, so hopefully the link works... if not, let me know and I'll see what I can do :) Take care Bloggin Buddies!
p.s. that is NOT the price we paid... lol...

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Teaser
I'm sorry I didn't get to visit everyone's blog today. (See, obsessive... I feel guilt over not visiting all of my online buddies!) Anyway, I'm gonna try harder tomorrow... but, it's late again. Tonight we have a good reason though for an unreasonable bedtime... I don't have time to write about it now... but here's a clue:

The Monster
Our story begins in a quiet little neighborhood where three children kept a deep dark secret. You see, their mama, when woken too early, was like a raging, ferocious, dangerous beast. Frightening in every way. The children lived in fear of this monster and took every precaution to be quiet in the wee hours of the morning. But one day, they were so delighted in their play (at 6 a.m.) that they forgot to speak quietly. The mama ignored it. Lucky for them, she was exhausted. A few minutes later they started to tease each other and again, there seemed to be no consequences. Maybe, all this time, they had lived in fear of nothing. So, the youngest tried something bold - she stole a toy from her sibling and he responded with a high pitched scream. They had gone too far. The monster emerged from the dark foreboding cavern to find that not only were they teasing their brother, they had taken ALL the bedding off their beds and made a gargantuan mess. The beast lost it... she bellowed and howled and commanded that the disaster be taken care of without delay. But then, something happened to the beast. She was able to fully awaken. Her mind cleared and she realized what a brute she had been. Guiltily, she apologized and helped to clean the mess. Secretly she vowed to go to bed earlier so that the beast within would not rear it's ugly head ever again.
Sigh... do you ever have moments where you loose your cool? :S

Monday, April 23, 2007

What is that word...
You know, the one where you're tired, but you can't sleep... where you stay up all hours of the night blogging when you should be in bed... oh come on... you know the word... help me out here... the one that describes how hard it is to turn the computer off without checking to see if there's just one new comment... what is the word?
OH YEAH! Let's try OBSESSIVE... and maybe we could add a little COMPULSIVE on there. Yeah, that's what I was thinking of. Okay... just gonna publish this, check email, and then come back to see if there are any other OC late night people who just want to look one more time... :D

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Pictures of the items confiscated from Little Bug last night... we have a dinosaur, a piece of our ball run, a yellow Lego elephant, Baby Girl's dress up shoes, the bottom half of a tin box, 3 Thomas the Trains, a Littlest Pet turtle, a Littlest Pet snail, a plastic potato, an army guy spotlight, the letter A, Littlest Pet packaging paper, purple magnifying glass, small hand held game, flashlight, and, of course, the sprinkler nozzle. Sigh... join us tomorrow for another installation of "Little Bug's Loot" - cause I'm sure he'll do it all again tonight! (oh, and I made the little header thing!! How cool is that? I take joy in simple things... lol)

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Totally Random Thoughts
I have several things I want to blog about tonight... bear with me here :)
The other day the kids were jumping on the bed... so I tackled them and tickled them. Little Bug loved this and so did Baby Girl, at first. But then she got very defensive... not of me tickling her... she didn't want me to tickle her brother! "YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE!!" she would scream. "STOP! IT! NOW!!!" Ah, my little defender...

Little Bug loves to have half a toy store in his bed! Last night I found 3 plastic eggs, 3 Thomas the Trains, a Fisher Price horse, a My Little Pony, a rock, a yo-yo ball, Lofty, a plastic cactus, the pig from Toy Story, and the elephant. I left with the booty and then heard him giggling mere moments later. Went back in and he had another plastic egg, the sprinkler nozzle and he was eating jelly beans. This kid is gonna be a GREAT scout someday! Very resourceful. I'm going to start a new thing each day called "Little Bug's Loot" and I'll show you all the stuff I confiscate from his bed each night.
Wanna know why you should NEVER give your 8 year old $2 and then let him go to the neighbor's yard sale without you??


Because he will come home with HALF A MILLION ARMY MEN!! What was he thinking? What was I THINKING???
But, even with all the craziness, they are still darn cute!

Saturday, April 21, 2007


Lord of the Flies
I am so sick and tired of having flies in my house. They are EVERYWHERE! The fly swatter has become an extension of my arm. And I'm getting pretty good at killing them off. Yet, the more I kill, the more I find. It's like they are coming to avenge the dead. There is one buzzing my head right now... taunting me... teasing me... daring me to give it my best shot. They are going to make me totally insane... case in point: tonight, I beat the crap out of a cocoa crispy on the table because I thought it was a fly. It never stood a chance.
This weeks theme is steps... and I looked and looked through my photos trying to find some steps. I guess I just don't photograph steps very often... so, we're going to think of other ways to do steps... I'm going to show you the steps I took to refinish a side table for our living room. Off we go.
Before...
After the hardware has been removed and it's been scrubbed down ...

Then I sanded the finish off, but not all of the paint...

The next step actually involved spending hours at Home Depot looking for paint, but I don't have pictures of that :) Then I painted it...

Put the hardware back on and put it in the living room. All done! :)I'd like to get more accessories on it, but my kids like to walk off with all my fun little trinkets. So, for now, it's books and a lamp. But the table turned out pretty good, I think! The only thing I don't like is the handle. It makes the dresser look like it's smiling at me... or something :)

Friday, April 20, 2007

One Track Mind
Okay... so I'm an idiot. I was reading about the NASA building that is being evacuated and read the caption at the bottom of this picture:

Now, most people can look at that and see that it says BLDG. knowing that it means "building". But not me... I'm thinkin "Why in the world are they evacuating a BLOG??" Yep... total idiot. That's me. Of course, if I was a GOOD Mormon I would have thought that CTR. was choose the right... I think it's time to get off the computer now...
Yada Yada Yada
Usually Baby Girl is a talker. She talks about anything and everything. From horses to snakes; princesses to dinosaurs; she loves to ask questions and to pretend. The other day I heard her yelling "Mommy! Mommy!" so I ran to see what was going on. She had two of her dolls out and one was lost, looking for it's dolly mommy. Of course, when the mommy was found it scolded baby dolly for wandering off... hmmm... maybe she remembers how frightened I was the other day when she disappeared at Best Buy... ANYWAY... lately she has developed a new technique for getting our attention. She will YELL AT THE TOP OF HER LUNGS for us, but when we get there, she won't speak. She will either mouth the words or try to pantomime what she wants. Now, I've never been very good at lip reading or charades, so this has become a source of frustration for me. You'd think the quiet would be a nice change, but, I kinda miss her prattling on about whatever strikes her fancy. Hopefully this is just a one or two day thing and it won't turn into some kind of make mommy crazy marathon. Cause I just might have to start talking to myself if she doesn't start soon... and that's just scary!

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Okay, so, I've never met Heather. I probably never will. But we have something in common - we're mom's. And hey, when a fellow mom is in trouble, we should rally around her, right? Unfortunately, her trouble is pretty big - Heather has brain cancer. BooMama has mounted an effort to (and I quote) "Bless Heather's socks off" :) I know we can't all donate money, but who doesn't have 30 seconds to offer a prayer? If you get a chance to go to her blog, I suggest that you do. Her faith and attitude are AMAZING. And, if you'd like to make a donation, here is the link - For Heather It's through PayPal and amazingly easy to do. And like I said, if you can't donate, remember her and her family in your prayers.
If You Take a Girl to Costco
If you take a girl to Costco, she will prepare by putting on her most comfortable clothing and a good pair of running shoes. Also, as part of the preparation, she will skip breakfast. When you get there, she will ask you to find a flat bed truck to drive through the warehouse. She will go down each and every isle so she doesn't miss a thing. She will insist on stopping at every tasting table because she is hungry. She may even go back for seconds or thirds, as long as the lady in the hair net doesn't recognize her. She might buy a couple of gallons of milk, a video or two, a flat screen t.v. or even a Cadillac golf cart. When it's time to check out, she'll ask you for your Costco card. You'll find that it has expired. She will offer to pay for part of your membership fee (because she's good like that). Once everything is paid for she will find herself completely exhausted. She will ask if you'd like a HUMONGOUS ice cream bar dipped in chocolate or perhaps a churro and a fruit smoothie. After eating a snack you'll drive the flat bed truck out to your vehicle and spend the next 2 hours arranging and rearranging your purchases to get it all in. When you get home, the girl will ask where the super mondo mega pack of toilet paper is. You look and find it is not there. And chances are, if you have forgotten the t.p., you will have to take the girl back to Costco.
;)

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

WAHOO!!
I have had trouble finding someone who can help me with my blog design. You see, I want a great design, fun graphics and I need it for a price that hubby and I can agree on. I would find a designer I liked, show their work to Hubby and then I'd hear "That's nice... wait...you wanna spend HOW MUCH on your BLOG???" Ya have to say BLOG like it's a dirty word to get the full effect here. Anywho, I have finally found someone who does design in the new Blogger format and is very reasonably priced - Goofy Girl Designs. She's backed up till June, but I'm willing to wait. Check out her portfolio - she's done some great things! I'm half tempted to get more than one skin so that I can change it whenever I want. You know, just to keep y'all guessing! So tell me, who did the design for your blog? Did you mess around with things for yourself till you got it just right? Or did you fork over the dough so that you didn't have to mess with it? Now I can't wait for June ;)

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Questions for You
I'm in the market for an MP3 player... and I want to know - do you have one? If so, do you like it? What brand is it? What do you like? What would you change about it? I want to get one for my trip... I'm also looking for some feel good music. So, what do you love to listen to that just makes you feel good? What do you love to dance to? What do you listen to when you want to relax and just feel at ease? All time favorite song? Favorite artist? Band?? Can't wait to hear from y'all :D

Monday, April 16, 2007

The Latest
First off... forgive the red eye in the pics. I don't have time today to adjust the photos... sorry. This is just an update on my kiddos... I know you're all waiting on pins and needles to know what they are up to. So, I will put your minds at ease... Little Bug is doing so awesome! Each spring he gains a lot of language skills and then they disappear over the summer. This year we are seeing more progression than we ever have. This morning he signed "Mom" and "Dad" and "baby". Not sure where the baby came from... maybe he was referring to Baby Girl... yeah. That's it. Or maybe, because I pigged out over the weekend, I look like I'm going to have another baby. The possibilities are really endless! Moments before I snapped this photo he had all of those toys in his hands. Not just the two he's holding, but the other Thomas, the plastic egg, the monkey, the lion, the ball, the block AND the towel that's around his feet. Wahoo for the opposable thumb!

Red came home the other day from school all upset. Turns out that some kid at school punched him in the nose. Sigh. So tired of dealing with bullies with this kid. Then on Saturday he went out to play with the neighborhood kids and they formed a club - which is always a BAD thing because someone always gets left out. This time, the unfortunate soul was Red. He is not part of the bratty, snotty, obnoxious kid club. Hmm... maybe it's not as bad as I thought. On a good note, he has been invited to a birthday party for one of the kids from church. And he is more than excited about it! So, that will be a fun thing to look forward to :) Oh, and in this pic, he is not wearing lipstick. It is frosting. Someone brought cupcakes to school and apparently I have failed miserably in the manners department because he was covered in green frosting. And quite pleased about it too...
Baby Girl still can't get he/she right and it is making Hubby CRAZY. Yesterday he followed her around correcting her. He said "he" so many times it started to sound like laughter... "He... he... hehe... hehehehehehehehe..." No wonder she's confused! She let me tie her hair yesterday and then got in the car, tipped her head back and wiggled. Making a LOVELY mess. She looked like a tumble weed by the time we got to church. Fortunately, I had brought an elastic for just such an occasion. So, I untied all her hair and put it in a pony tail. Sigh. I did get a picture before church though...As for me, I'm tired. It's a rainy cold day - which is rare in these parts. It makes me want to curl up in a blanket with a good book, a cup of cocoa, and just relax. Too bad it's Monday and I have laundry and general insanity cleaning to do. It's all good... right? Please... someone tell me it's all good... :)

Friday, April 13, 2007

This weeks theme is "Hobby" I haven't participated in Photo Hunters for a couple of weeks because of travel and forgetfulness. So, here are my hobby pics... I collect fabric...

Then I get out the sewing machine...
Then I start to piece the fabric together .... this is the one I'm in the middle of right now...

Then we have a quilt top... well, lots of quilt tops... I love to piece them... then they just sit around... or I sell them at a yard sale. :)

I have more pics, but I can't find them. Someday I might actually finish one and if I do, I'll let you know... :)
Language Skills
We are having fun with language in our house. First of all, there's Little Bug who is EXPLODING with words! For those of you who don't know, he has Autism and can't talk. But lately we are getting all kinds of fun things from him! He is saying the alphabet and the sounds that each letter makes. He has gained so many words that it excites us every time he opens that sweet little mouth. His latest word is "sun" - meaning that he wants to go outside :) Pretty clever, I think! He does this every spring. He will make huge strides in his language skills and then loose them over the summer. Luckily, he qualifies for extended school year. We are praying that the words will stick with him this time :)
Our other language fun comes from Baby Girl. Who surprises us with her extensive vocabulary, most of the time. She still gets her "she" and "he" mixed up - Red is getting pretty tired of being referred to as a girl. ;) But she still gets words scrambled a little bit. Usually with humorous results. The latest funny was this morning. She wanted to watch a movie. It's really windy here today, and I wanted a few minutes to blog, so I said okay. She told me she wanted to watch....
"Mission Turtles"


Ah... gotta love those "Mission" Turtles :D

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Guilty as Charged
I'm cheap. I don't buy things for myself unless I can find them at a yard sale or a second hand store. Which means that I have a closet full of ill fitting clothing. It's so hard for me to spend money on clothing for myself. I can buy TONS of stuff for the kids or hubby and not bat an eye. I don't know why. I'm weird. I'm starting to accept that. Yesterday, at Target, I tried on a dress. It was brown and a nice cut. Baby Girl loved it. She cried when I put it back on the rack, "But Momma, it's your Cinderella dress! You look so pretty!!" Real tears run down her face. :S And I start to wonder, am I teaching her something negative here? I didn't feel like I was worth the $25 for the dress. It did look good on me. But I found something wrong with it (decided I didn't like the collar) because I couldn't justify the price. I'm NUTS!! Because, to me, $25 is just too much for a dress. I do this all the time. When I pulled into our garage I cried. Why don't I feel like I'm worth 25 lousy dollars?? I thought about this a lot yesterday... and today I went to Kohl's determined not to leave without at least one item. I found two pairs of shorts, a nice shirt, and two different tank tops to go under my new shirt. I know... I'm a wild woman! LOL But it felt nice to get something new. Something that fit. Something I felt good wearing. Everything was on sale, so that was a plus. And then what did I do? I opened a Kohl's account so that I could get another 15% off. And then I got to scratch a little card, because of said account and I got another 15% off. So, it really wasn't too bad. But, I still want to run back to the store, give all the stuff back, go to the 80% rack and find something out of season, out of style, not my size, but super cheap!
The Laugh
So, I've been looking for a good laugh... and Kailani over at An Island Life posted this today... and I think y'all should check it out :)

  • Go to Google
  • Click on the Maps link
  • Go to the directions and type in New York, New York to Paris France
  • Read line #23
  • Laugh - I know I did :)

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Wordless Wednesday
Help!
I'm feeling a little down and I'm looking for something that will be a pick me up. Something LEGAL ;) Anywho, I was wondering if you had seen a good movie? Read a good book? Found a website or blog that just makes ya smile? I'm specifically looking for something funny, yet clean. I know. That's a pretty tall order. But, if ya have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!
I've been tagged! :) So Grateful to be Mormon has tagged me with the 3 meme... and actually, Bex at Pale Orange tagged anyone who read hers... so I guess I should have done it then :D Anyway, fasten your seat belts, please keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times and off we go...
Three Things That Scare Me:
1. spiders - nasty horrible things. We get HUGE black widows down here... I watched Arachnophobia as a teen and didn't sleep for weeks... terrible...
2. drowning - more specifically, my kids drowning. I have these horrible nightmares where my kids drown and I can't do anything about it :S
3. being unsure of myself. It scares me that I can't trust my instincts sometimes... when really, I know I should.
Three People Who Make Me Laugh: in real life -
1. My youngest brother
2. Andrea
3. I can't do just three... so I'm gonna lump all the gals from Hermiston here... I have some fabulous friends there and we love to laugh together
my alternate cyber-existence:
1. these are all bloggin buddies... Amber at Crazy Bloggin' Canuck
2. Eve at Good Enough
3. Sarah at Hollywood Flakes (who is hopefully having her baby today!!)
4. sorry... you'll just have to deal with another one...lol... Jamie J. at I Love Flip Flops with this post made me laugh like crazy...
Three Things I Love:
1. my family - kiddos and hubby are the best :)
2. eating out
3. swimming - I love the water. If I could swim every day, I would.
Three Things I Hate:
1. bad news
2. LAUNDRY
3. moving - we've moved 12 times in 9 1/2 years... and no. We're not in the military :)
Three Things I Don’t Understand:
1. math
2. why we can't invent disposable clothing... thus eliminating the need for doing laundry... oh what a world that would be!!
3. rap music - literally. I can't figure out what they are saying.
Three Things On My Desk:
1. papers - lots and lots of papers
2. digital camera
3. chocolate coins :)
Three Things I’m Doing Right Now:
Now really... what kind of question is this? I know I'm female and so I can multitask, but how many things can you actually do while typing a blog?? So...
1. typing
2. sitting
3. breathing
Three Things I Want To Do Before I Die:
1. visit Australia - huge dream for me :)
2. visit as many Temples as I can
3. Basically, I want to travel. A lot.
Three Things I Can Do:
1. play the piano
2. do a little sewing
3. have fun :)
Three Things I Can’t Do:
1. math - if I get up past simple math, I'm totally lost.
2. make decisions - I admit it - I tend to flip flop
3. Wordless Wednesday - I talk/type too much. I can't put a picture on my blog and then not say anything about it! :)
Three Things I Think You Should Listen To:
1. good music
2. good friends
3. laughter
Three Things You Should Never Listen To:
1. bad music
2. gossip
3. telemarketers
Three Things I’d Like To Learn:
1. how to get organized
2. to swim better
3. to play the guitar
Three Favorite Foods:
1. Italian
2. Mexican
3. Chinese
Sorry - couldn't limit myself to three plain dishes... so I broadened my horizons :)
Three Shows I Watched As A Kid:
1. Brady Bunch
2. Saved by the Bell
3. Smurfs
Three Things I Regret:
1. being a teenager - not the actually age, but I was mean to a few people when I was a teen. :(
2. not taking more time for myself - I tend to neglect myself
3. not getting better at math!!

Okay... I'm not gonna specifically tag anyone this time... if you'd like to participate, that's great! Let me know when you do so that I can come over and read it!

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Hide and Seek
While we were in Idaho, I was a good mom and let my kids have a bath or two. I know - Mother of the Year award coming my way! Anyway, after one of Little Bug's baths I handed him his clean clothes and left him to dress himself. A little while later he had to go to the bathroom and I notice that he has put his old underwear on. I look around a little, but can't find the new ones I'd given him. So, I get another new pair out and just assume that I'm loosing my mind. It's a fairly safe assumption these days. And then I forget all about those Scooby Doo underoos. Fast forward to yesterday. My Mom gives me a call. She was watching a little t.v. (she's home sick... we were nice enough to leave her with Baby Girl's flu bug - sweet, I know :S) And there was a show about the Book of Mormon (scripture that my church - LDS - uses) So she opens her scripture case and....
TADAH!! Underoo mystery is solved! Nothing better than a pair of clean underwear in your scripture case - you know, for emergency preparedness and all that.

Monday, April 09, 2007


Eye Spy

We had our Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts on the Friday before we left for Idaho. Each father and son was supposed to make a cake and decorate it together. We scoured the Internet and Red was set on making this cake. I think it turned out kinda fun... in a gory gross kind of way :)

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Calendar
When hubby and I got married a little over 9 years ago, a friend gave us a magnetic calendar. You just write on it with a water based marker and then you can erase it and use it again and again. At first, I didn't think I would use it. Now, it is my brain. It is covered in phone numbers, important dates and notes. One time we had a water fight in the kitchen. The next day I noticed that the time of a doctor appointment was completely gone and the phone number had dribbled all down the fridge... along with phone numbers for both the boys schools and the bus. :S But this calendar is a source of delight for me too. Weird, I know. It has spaces for 5 weeks. So, after 4 weeks have passed, I wipe all the old stuff off and put the new stuff up. I love it when something that I have been looking forward to is finally on the calendar. Today, I got to put my Oregon trip up. You have no idea how happy that made me! :) But, I do have a dilemma that I need your help with. I have not told Red that I am going to Oregon. He misses his friends there terribly and I know he will be VERY upset when he finds out that I'm going and he isn't. He asks me all the time if we will ever go to Oregon again. So, Bloggin Buddies, I need your help... how would you break the news? Ideas? Thoughts? One good thing... hubby's parents are coming down to help with the kids while I'm gone. I think I'll tell him about that first... any suggestions? :S
I was tagged by Kailani at An Island Life to list 5 things I'm obsessed about or with. Hmmm... this list could get kinda long... but lets start here:

- blogging - I know I should spend more time doing other things, like cleaning my house, but if I get the chance, I'll check my blog, ya know, just to see if any of ya dropped by to say hi :)

- peeps - the marshmallowy goodness is almost at an end till Halloween. Tomorrow, I'm going to go stock up and store some away. Kind of like a squirrel does with nuts... does that make me like a small rodent?? Hmm.. ANYWAY...

- American Idol - sad, eh? I have never watched a full season of AI. I usually get really bored. But now, if I miss an episode, it makes me mad. So weird.

- hubby coming home from work on time - he has to come home RIGHT NOW and save me from these crazy kids!!

- my trip to Oregon - I am so excited about it, and yet kinda sad now too. One of my best friends won't be there the entire time I'm around and I'm obsessed with finding a way to get there early or leave a little later than planned so that I can see her. It's not going to happen, but my brain is working over time trying to scheme something up. But I'm also obsessed with trying to get the most out of this trip. It is my get away and I WILL ENJOY IT!

So, there are my five. Not too weird... sort of... :) Now I get to tag 5 of you! Let's see... how about: Amber from Crazy Bloggin Canuck, Eve from Good Enough, Jamie from I love Flip Flops, Bek from Ignore the Crazy, and Bex from Pale Orange. I hope I got all the links right! :D Let me know if you do this so that I can stop by and read it! Have a great Easter!

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Photo Shop
Okay - so I downloaded a trial of Photo shop and I'm kinda addicted. I only have 6 more days to play and I am wishing I had the money to buy this thing! I'm loving the different looks I can give my pics! It's probably a good thing I don't have the money. I know I would spend WAY too much time on the computer :) (Second photo is edited... what do you think??)



I know you're all wondering.... did they make it home alive? Is Baby Girl still sick? Were they able to make it in one day? Will they ever make a trip like that again? Did she eat her young along the way? The answers... yes, yes, no, no, no. :) But here are a few pics of scenery we saw- kinda fun :) And yes... I took a couple while we were driving... I'm horrible, I know. The top two were around St. George, UT, the third is from our hotel room in Provo, UT, and the last one is in Idaho.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

The Flu
Gotta love the flu. The doctor told us that there is a strange virus going around that seems to affect children more than adults. It's mostly manifest in fevers, lasts about 6 days, and there isn't a darn thing they can do about it. So, we are just dealing with the miserable fevers and hoping she will be well by Saturday. We were supposed to head home tomorrow, but that isn't going to happen. SIGH SIGH SIGH. Oh, and I think I've gained 50 lbs here. My Mom always has ice cream, brownies, cookies, and other fun treats. I just don't have the will power when I'm here! :)
(p.s. Is it weird to feel a little flutter of delight when the spell check comes up as "no misspellings found"?)
:P~~~
So, after 2 1/2 days of horrible fever, we are headed to the doctor. Baby Girl is not getting better. She keeps falling asleep and can barely stand up. My sister in law is going to call in awhile and possibly take Red to the park. So, we are waiting till then to go to the doctor. So fun. We probably won't go home tomorrow. I just don't see how I can. She can't even sit up for 2 minutes to eat something. How in the world can I make her sit in her car seat for 14 hours??? :( Anyway, if you wouldn't mind sending a prayer or two our way, we would sure appreciate it! I'll check in a little later and let you know how everything went.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Idaho Trip: Part II
For some reason, we can't come up here without someone getting horribly sick. It's humanly impossible. Last time Baby Girl had a urinary tract infection. Fun. The time before that, I got strep throat. Goody. Little Bug used to get ear infections almost every time we would visit. Yeah. This time, it's Baby Girl who's sick, again. Aside from the vomiting, fever, diarrhea, aches, and general miserableness, she's great. Every few hours she gets a little Motrin and as soon as it kicks in, she starts talking. And she doesn't stop till the fever comes back 4-6 hours later. It's like she has to make up for lost time or something. So, my master plan isn't working out so well. We aren't going to be able to visit everyone like I had hoped. We are getting less sleep than we would have at home. And it's too cold for the other two kids to go outside. :( I don't know what I was thinking. I know that March/April is not a great time in Idaho. It snowed the other day, but it didn't stick. Which kinda disappointed the kids who were hoping to play in it for awhile. You think I'd know better. Perhaps I'm a glutton for punishment. We have yet to have a sick free spring time trip to Idaho.
But, behind all this craziness, there are a few things to be grateful for. This trip has given me a greater appreciation for my family. My Mom got up with Baby Girl last night and cleaned up the mess that was made. She has bought Popsicles and other foods to keep my kiddos happy. She plays games, watches silly cartoons and helps me out in so many ways. My brothers love my kids - they play and tease and chase and in general have a ball with my kids. The kiddos look forward to seeing their uncles so much! My Dad comes home from crazy work and finds time and energy to still be with the kids. He loves it and they look forward to that time all day long. My sister and her daughter come to play every day when they can - unfortunately, they have this same flu this time. So, we haven't seen much of them. Hubby's family is awesome. They take time to come and see us. They clear schedules so that kids can come play. They are so supportive and we enjoy visiting them so much! So, while this may not have been the best trip ever, I think we have still had a good time. And even though it will be nice to get back to our own home, I will bawl like a baby when we leave. And then look forward to our next trip. Hopefully it won't be too far off. Oh, and I had some awesome pictures to share, but my parents' computer has a pretty strict pop up blocker... it won't bring up the page to add photos... so, you'll just have to wait till we get home... or till my brother gets here. He's pretty good with figuring this stuff out :)
Till next time Bloggin Buddies

Monday, April 02, 2007

The Trip: Part 1
Okay, so, I'm hoping that the worst part of this trip is over. Where to begin... hmmm... well, let's start with Friday night. We went to a cub scout pack meeting. They had a dinner and presented awards and Little Bug threw up. Great fun. He was terribly pale and so lifeless - very unlike him. So, I wanted to wait a little while on Saturday morning before we left to see if he was okay. He was fine, but I had a super mega ultra headache. Yeah. You see, while in Idaho, we were going to go to a swimming pool called Green Canyon. But I had nightmares about Little Bug drowning all night long. So, I got no sleep and what little sleep I did have, was horrible (by the way, I'm not going to take the kids swimming... :S) ANYWAY, I finally get feeling better. Hubby goes out to hook up the DVD players. He turns the car on and then forgets to turn it off. Battery is dead. Does this trip sound like fun yet? Wait... it gets better. So, we charge up the battery, get everyone loaded and head out the door. Things are going well. Then we hit traffic. There is not a town for miles... we were out in the middle of nowhere. We ended up being at a complete stop for over 45 minutes. Then it took us another 45 minutes to go about 2 miles. Half an hour later we had moved another 2 miles. So, in about 2 hours we moved 4 miles. I kept thinking there had to be construction or an accident or something. We finally got moving... nothing. No construction. No accident (which, really, is a good thing). Nothing that I could see that would completely stop traffic like that. Anyway, we finally decided to stay the night in Provo, UT. We pulled in at 11:00p.m.. The hotel only had rooms with one King bed. Now, I know that for some people, this wouldn't be a problem. But, my children break dance in their sleep. No, we needed 2 queens. Off to the next hotel. They have a room with 2 queens. YEAH!! It's 11:30 and we all climb into bed. Baby Girl is not tired. She took a nap in the car. She keeps giggling and reaching over to touch my face. She likes to put her nose next to mine and say "Mommy are you sleeping?" She keeps sticking her feet on me and then laughing. It's midnight. I'm ready to scream. She finally falls asleep, but like I said, my kids are mobile sleepers. Soon, her feet are in my face. She kicks. That one hurt. Then I hear snoring. Thought it was one of the boys. Nope. It's our neighbor. I can hear them through the wall. I move Baby Girl back to her side of the bed and try to go to sleep. She immediately puts her feet back onto my pillow and I get a few toes up the nose. I don't remember sleeping. I know that I must have gotten a minute or two, but I don't remember it. I pry the kids out of bed at 7:00 (which, to their little bodies feels like 6... California time...) and off we go. We make good time and finally, we are here. It is cold. It's windy. Pretty cold. Kinda rainy. Extremely cold. Really cloudy. And very COLD. But, we are here. We are visiting with family and loving it. I have pics, but I don't have time to share. We are heading off to play with cousins... inside. Hope y'all are well. I will check in again in a few days.
Till then Blogger Buddies - enjoy!