Wow--Christmas is just around the corner!

I can't believe December is moving even faster than November did. We have been very busy. I'm sure that is why time has flown by. First off Derek finished his finals and projects just in time to come home and go to the airport and then to...dun, dun, dunnn....DISNEY WORLD!!
We were all so excited. We had such a great time and it felt so good to forget about school, jobs and housework and be together and have a load of fun!
It was so special for my kids. I remember being a kid always dreaming to go to Disney World but never going. It was a great experience to see all the joy in their faces as they saw their favorite Disney characters, ride roller coasters for the first time (even X was tall enough to ride a few roller coasters--that girl is tall!), and experience all of the hustle and bustle.

We arrived home and went to Derek's graduation the next day. That was so exciting! It was special to realize that he has really accomplished so much in such a short period of time. I am so proud of him and all of his hard work.


Last but definitely not least, today is Grandma Jo's birthday. She is so special to us and the kids have reached a new level of gratitude since she was the one who treated us to Disney World.

I wanted to write the top ten things we love about her--in celebration of her birthday.

Here's Mom and Hanner at Minnie Mouse's house.

1. We love the way she is so giving (especially now, as the girls will always remember how Grandma Jo was the one who took us all to Disney World).

2. S especially loves how when she stays at Grandma's she gets to be treated to yummy hot waffles with the choice of blueberry or chocolate chip batter.

3. The first thing L said was that she loved how pretty Grandma is. How true that is, she sparkles from the inside out. It's not only her great genes that make her beautiful but her pure, gracious spirit.

4. Derek's first gratitude towards Mom was to quote from the Book of Mormon, "He never doubted that she always knew it". Meaning that he never doubted that his Mother always knew what was good and true and she taught that to him.

5. There have been so many instances in my life when I asked myself what would Mom do? She is so kind and patient, when I try to gain more patience I ask that question over and over.

6. She is a beautiful synchronized swimmer. She truly has a talent (and an amazing work ethic) for this sport. She has won at Nationals and performs so wonderfully. I hope one of our girls follows her in her footsteps.

7. I have never heard her speak bad about anyone, she seems to find the good in all people.

8. She is fearless. Not only has she been on a sky diving team as a teenager, but she raised 8 wonderful children (8 kids! That can muster up fear in the best of us!), has moved across the country numerous times, and always knows a way out of any sticky situation.

9. She loves the temple and it shows in her demeanor, house decor, and her temple attendence.

10. Derek would like me to put down that he loves his mom for buying him a Nintendo, but I am grateful for her that she once threw that Nintendo away! You go MOM!

Furrrrreeeezzzzing!

Here's a picture of our car taken yesterday, before it snowed all night. There is a pile of snow on our window outside. I just went out to walk my dog and he could only go as far as the bushes or else he'd be engulfed by snow (he's such a little dog!)

Well I'm hoping today's snow day is as laid back and nice as yesterday's. The girls stayed home and at first I was a little afraid we'd all get cabin fever and start getting angry at one another. But that wasn't the case. Infact my kids seemed better behaved than when they come home from school. It must be that they were able to relax and not be all wound up from school.

However my house suffered the ravages of childhood boredom.

This picture is actually quite tame. Imagine more mess, more balloons, christmas music, dancing and perhaps playdoh that's been chucked across the room (Derek found some green heart shaped playdoh carefully plastered to our bedroom wall).

But when the craziness inside gets intense, we bundle up and go outside. Yesterday there was a boy with a snowboard taking all the kids for a ride down a hill. It was fun. Unlike Utah cold though, here it's so bitter and the windchill is such a factor that we can't stay out half as long as our sledding adventures at Rock Canyon Park.

Here's some things we did to have a crazy yet enjoyable snow day.

1. Spend hours blowing up 30+ balloons and letting the kids draw what ever they want on them.

2. If you own a treadmill or elyptical runner it automatically turns into a human hamster wheel. The kids spent a lot of time trying to run as fast as they can--one at a time or two at a time.

3. Play doh is fun for the kiddies but monitor them closely or you may spend your evening finding their "creations" in the darndest places.

4. Dress up your dog as Santa--the kids won't stop laughing or stop taking pictures of him. Here is my favorite shot.

5. Dress up each other in Christmas attire and take photos. Here are some of the results.

6. Play outside and freeze your brains out and come inside for some yummy hot cocoa. **So glad I stocked up on hot cocoa!!

7. Just have fun--We had such a good time being cooped up with each other, it makes me appreciate my "colorfully crazy" family!

Help Me PLEASE!

I've been in Young Women's as a Personal Progress Leader, for a while now and I am sad to report that I haven't been too active with my own goals in Personal Progress. So I made a new goal to work on it actively and I'll need your help. I am really interested in what your opinions and your experience have been when it comes to learning the gospel. The Personal Progress Experiences often have you read scriptures and then journal your feelings, or ask other people what their experiences have been with certain gospel principles. So I am opening up discussions on the Experiences I am currently working on. I've posted these discussions on a second blog called Book of Beginnings. Please, Please, Please check it out and write in your opinions and experiences for the topic I've posted on. It will help me finish my goals in Persoal Progress and hopefully inspire me to keep working on goals. Thanks!!!

http://bookofbeginnings.blogspot.com/

check it out :)

Imogen Heap - Just For Now (live at Indie103)

Imogen Heap - Just For Now live at Indie103 This is why I like Imogen so much. It really showcases what's behind the creative process in music. The video is out of sync a little, but I still enjoyed it! If you want to watch the whole thing and see it with the sound and video aligned properly visit: http://www.rehearsals.com/exclusive/last_kiss/

Ahh..Kids, They're Great Aren't They?

Here are some highlights of my day, get ready for the good, the bad, and the bald spot.
1. Woke up to S sitting at the table doing her homework (I thought of what a good kid she is--we forgot about homework and she woke up early to finish it)--Good
2. I might be able to go visit my Mom all by myself and Adri will be coming too! yeehaw!--Good
3. While I was on the phone with my Mom, Derek cleaned up all the messes I was trying to avoid--Super Good!
4. When L and S got home they informed me that X was in her room covered in Sour Cream.--Bad
5. Then while i was trying to clean up X, L came in covered in sour cream as well.--Bad!
6. While L was doing crafts at the table she made X a hairbow out of paper, then rubber cemented it to X's hair. Found out about it too late. X will have a super huge bald spot if I don't find out HOW to get caked-on rubber cement out of her hair (Any tips will be GREATLY appreciated!)--The Bald Spot!



These two are partners in crime. Two incidents in one day--they are tiring me out! Will post a picture of the bald spot if I can bring myself to actually do it--but if I don't cut it out or get it out I'll feel bad that my kid has a big glob of "bird-poo" looking gunk on the back of her head!

Mixing It Up a Bit

Thought I'd make some changes to the old Blog. I'm sighing with relief right now because I had to figure out sooo much stuff for my non-computer mind. Looking like this right now.

I'm sure I'll get my sanity back fairly soon.

Happy Halloween!!

Every fairy secretly wants to be a vampire, right? At least our Tinkerbell does.
We went to Hallozooween last friday night. It was really fun. There were a ton of people. Which was frustrating at first, then we found out that zoo members had a VIP pass that got you past all the lines. We felt so special!
The kids liked riding the zoo train at night and trying to see some of the animals that were out. There were booths set up for the kiddies to trick or treating and games and pumpkin painting.

Our kids this year are tinkerbell, dorothy, and cinderella (I still need to get X to pose in her costume, although she does like wearing it).

I was so proud of myself, I made the Dorothy costume all by myself and in one night. An accomplished seamstress might laugh at that because it was a simple pattern. However I was still scared of the gathers as I have never done them before. Now I know gathers are a piece of cake! Well I might do other "dress-like" projects in the future--we'll see.

Warning I will probably post more Halloween pictures after tonight! Hope everyone has a fun and safe night!!

Just What's On My Mind

Ok, ok I really don't have anything SUPER interesting going on right now. The weather is changing. THere is that smell of coal in the air, and there is a splash of pumpkins everywhere you turn.
Yet right now, I don't know if I'd say I am in a content frame of mind. I mean I have things that I enjoy--spending time with my family, dance class, the occassional party but I am just getting ansy. Maybe it's because Derek has been bringing home graduation papers, attire, the whole works. I'm in that uncomfortable pre-change place. I don't know how to explain it. I know anyone who has lived in Provo knows what I mean.
I know the enevitable will come, we'll pack up our things and move to a new place. I guess there are some knots inside my stomach for a mid-school-year change. I'm worried about my kids adjusting to a new school. I'm worried about finding housing, I'm worried about if I'm going to meet new potential friends, I'm worried about moving to a bigger city.
I haven't been admitting this to anyone, but it must be in the back of my mind because I keep getting distracted from house work, schedules, etc. I find it's usually times like these that I need to sit down in whatever mess I've been neglecting and just find my thoughts and come to grips with whatever is on my mind.
It's weird because we've only been here for a year and a half and there is so much I will miss. There are so many people I will miss. I hate to admit that I was a little sad to move to Tulsa because I was really looking forward to living in Rochester, NY. It looked like a beautiful city, I new someone from there and their mom kept calling me, making me feel welcomed and making me excited to move there. Plus I was excited that an old friend from Missouri lived there, I was excited to reconnect and get to know her again.
Then our plans changed and we decided to move to Tulsa. Which really was the best decision, yet I was more excited to be four hours away from my Mom and my brothers than the actual place itself.
But I underestimated this place--to someone who has a real young-party-type-active life Tulsa may not be so much fun. But for a family-it's really great. There are the nicest people here. There is that sweet "southern" hospitality where ever you go. The grocery store, the park, just everywhere. I'll be sad to leave that and go out east where you hardly make eye contact with people walking right past you.
FLashback--happy memory of Tulsa
**THis one's for Miss J. Fryer--I'll really miss our walks around LaFortune even though we haven't walked for sometime--And the people we saw walking that I'll really miss are as follows:
-Man with dog, wearing dog's scarf (probably to go with his booty shorts ha!)
-Tom Hanks
-Group of really fast chubby women who always lapped us (probably my fault I know I was the handicap)
-Group of really old men who'd lap us (my fault again)
-laughing at the spandex pants the old men wore & and especially missing at us laughing at their flat bottoms once they did lap us.
-just laughing-we'd start laughing and never stop it seemed

It's some how a relief to blog--why? I don't know. Maybe it's like talking to a friend on the phone--it's just you don't know which one is on the receiving end.
Well I'm out of that low, unmotivated place. It's amazing what conjuring up images of old men in spandex will do to you. I'm off to clean--gonna play some tunes to keep me feeling good.
Ciao!

Dancing Queen

Once upon a time there was a little girl, who was rather clueless and awkward. She a had a beautiful, talented mother who really was worried about giving her daughter a chance at experiencing new and wonderful things.
This mother saw her little girl dancing in the backyard and watching "Great Performances" on PBS. The deal--She would became the ballet seamstress and her daughter would be enrolled in the Ballet Conservatory. And the rest is ancient "Independence-style- Nutcracker" history!

Yeah, yeah ok, enough of the sappy fairy tale writing. As you can tell-- young, awkward, clueless girl is--of course me. And my Mom??--- the fabulously, gifted seamstress (she once sewed my girls Snow White and Cinderella costumes by hand, with dental floss!).

Where am I going with this you might ask? Well I have rediscovered my love of dancing. As a kid I must admit I down played this interest. Perhaps it was embarrassing teasing from my relentless Samoan uncles and Grandpa (when they heard I was taking ballet my Grandpa said, "Bucky show us some of your moves." So as a good, obediant granddaughter I showed him some of my bar exercises. He and my uncles decided to throw in fart noices when ever I made any sort of bending movement--humiliating and lesson learned--never dance infront of family--potentially embarrassing incident may occur). Or maybe it was due to the fact that standing in front of a mirror as a an adolescent teen of "normal to larger" bone structure, in tights and a leotard next to preteen--let's face it sticks, was the real problem. But whatever the reasons were, the truth was that I really did enjoy ballet class and dancing like a crazed lunatic when ever no one was watching.

Case in point. Any one who drove past my place in Provo might have had quite a show. Cause when the kids went to bed I usually did the night time tidy up to my favorite Bollywood hits and danced around as if Gauri from Lagaan (usually with all lights on and bay window still uncovered). Pathetic and derranged, I know. Thankfully I've taken my freak show to the YMCA for some fine tuning in respectable, "real" dance classes. I am soooo LOVING it!

The nice thing about taking dance now is really three fold.
1. Half the class consists of senior citizens
Don't get me wrong. I am in no way saying that because many of them are older I by default look better. It's more along the lines of-- no one is trying to one up each other in class. They are taking it for the same reason I am, for the love of dance. Of course, not having to look at preteen sticks in leotards is an added bonus. Which brings me to part deux.

2. Not having to wear a leotard to class.
Ahh liberating. Let's face it, no one in their right mind wants to see me "'a la Madonna" prancing around on the dance floor with a glossy leotard and leg warmers. No! For me, wearing workout pants and a regular shirt does wonders for my dancing self esteem.

and

3. Variety.
I am taking ballet and jazz, latin dance, and belly dance. All are fun and I don't get overloaded with one genre and each is a great work out for different reasons. Plus having so much variety helps me remember I'm not trying to make it to Julliard, just trying to loosen up and have fun dancing--which I find is necessary for me.

So perhaps I'll keep an update of my dancing experiences. I've been doing the dance thing for a month now and have been enjoying every second of it!

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!!

There are a lot of amazing things about Elizabeth. She has always been good to me and my family. Thanks for being there when I needed a friend. Elizabeth is one of the calmest, sweetest people I know, emphasis on calm! I hope you have a fabulous birthday!

Here are the top ten things I admire about my good friend Elizabeth

10. She makes the yummiest desserts! From peanut butter and chocolate popcorn balls to delicious fruit tarts--she definitely has a talent for baking yummy food.

9. She is very thoughtful. I still remember her watching my kids right before I left for Tulsa and making them all gift bags and taking me out with some friends my last night in town!

8. She is nice to everyone.

7. She is a very caring wife and mom--you always think about the other person.

6. She has such great taste in movies. Any show Liz has said to watch has always been good.

5. She is fun to be around. Liz has a calm personality but really knows how to let loose and have a GREAT time!

4. She has been to more countries than states. That is definitely something for me to admire.

3. She always has such great stories to read on her blog--it makes me admire her and feel a little jealous :)

2. She says I can stay at her house if I ever visit Hawaii--Admiration is overflowing by those prospects!

1. My favorite thing about Elizabeth is.....
she has a great outlook on life, I've never felt pulled down around her. She really has an optimistic personality.


Happy Birthday!!!

And I Say Hey! What's Going On?

Here's a little update, for anyone wondering about my family's sanity after my last post. We are all healthy again and doing fine! Derek and I finally had our date night and it was terrific of course! We were able to watch a movie--The Gridiron Gang (it was really good, which I was glad about because we mostly watched it cause the Rock was in it--only Samoan Hollywood Star--can anyone think of any other famous Samoans??)
Then we went to Borders to hang out, that is actually a lot of fun for us. Especially when we can peruse through the store with out us sheep hearding our kids to stay in the kiddie section. We had a fabulous babysitter too. She's a Young Woman in the ward and my girls were doing back flips when they found out she was coming to babysit--it was really funny.

Also S and L were Pom Girls for a high school football game here. Sports here are a real buisness and they go all out on their stadiums, cheerleaders, pom girls etc. They both enjoyed it. I failed to hear the instructions to dress the girls in black shorts, so you can clearly see S she is in pink shorts in the middle. L was harder to see since she was in black shorts.

We went to a birthday party for a little boy in our ward. His Grandpa owns a horse ranch and they brought up a horse for the little kids to take rides on. Most of the children were afraid. In fact only my kid's and the birthday boy and his sister rode the horse, because all the other little ones were too afraid to sit on it. The Grandpa just loved X. She by far was the most excited by the horse. And Granpa was very patient with X's enthusiasm. Because when ever we tried to lift X off the horse, she'd clech her legs against the saddle and stiffen up so it was soo hard to remove her. Grandpa just let her stay and pet the horse until she really understood her turn was over. Then afterwards he came and sat by me and said, "Are your kids Native American?" And I said that they were and he looked at X and said that he thought he could tell. I guess he was part Cherokee and Chactaw (sp?) is what he said.

Just Been One of Those Days.

When I woke this morning I had totally forgotten it was my birthday. I got the girls ready for school. Then my husband came out and gave me a big hug and wished me a Happy Birthday. If I was smart I would have ran to my journal and jotted down how wonderful my 28th Birthday was.
However, in life some times there aren't happy endings, or else the happy endings come much later than expected. Anyone catch where I might be going with this one??

Well after the nice hug and morning prayers I walked the kids to the bus stop. I found it highly unusual that S was hiding behind me grasping to me around the arms. When the bus pulled up she flat out refused to ride the bus. So I waved Goodbye to L and went home with S clenching onto my arm. When we got home she seemed sad and she said she felt sick. I told myself something was up, she didn't want to go to school. I had to take X to her little gymnastics class so I said Adieu to S and Daddio thinking that I'd sort it out later and left to go to class.

When I got home S was wailing. Wailing is really an understatement, apparently she really WAS sick and her ears were in excruciating pain. One thing I learned about S today, she REALLY hates medicine. Especially tylenol. I tried to conceal it in ice cream, no go. I tried to mix it in water, still tasted it too much. I even tried to teach her how to take the tylenol gelcap. Well after 3 hours of pleading, frustration on my part, and for her agony and pain, I decided (this may sound harsh, but she was in so much pain!) to force it in her mouth. I held her arms made her open her mouth and tried to pour the liquid in her mouth, then tried to squirt some water in her mouth too to help her swallow it.

Mistake! She was NOT amused, apparently she thought I was trying to hurt her cause she screamed at the top of her lungs- "Why are you trying to KILL me!"

Well her daddy came out to help with the situation and I went to sit on my bed. I felt horrible. I kept thinking what a terrible Mom I am. She must of thought I was some maniac trying to make her take poison. On the other hand, she rarely gets sick, so that may explain her uneasiness towards taking medication.

Wait...
cause it DOES get worse. I think some friends from church were coming by to surprise me and take me out to lunch when the whole episode was going on. Cause I get a phone call and my friend asks, "so how is your birthday going?" Okay maybe it was innocent. But I kept imagining them standing outside my door questioning each other whether they should knock or just go back to the car and call me to make sure everything was ok.

Well I totally dished about the whole thing to my friend and she was adamant that she would pick up the right kind of medicine for S. I went back to my room contemplating whether I should have just let her scream about the pain or tried to trick her a few more ways...

Well true to her word my friend brings a present and the medication. It is fast dissolving children chewable tylenol--bubble gum flavor. So I tried it. Boy, it was still a no-go. S put it in her mouth for two seconds and spit it out. However there were only a few bits to spit out so I tried to coax her to just stick a couple more in her mouth (her dosage was three tablets). So after a couple more hours she finally had dissolved her other two and she laid down. Probably exhausted from all the screaming.

Ok while all this was going on I called the clinic we usually go to and they say I should go up there tomorrow at 7:30am to get in for someone to see her. I'm crossing my fingers she doesn't feel as sick tomorrow and that this ear infection can go away quickly.

Well after all the screaming I looked at the clock and realized I didn't feel like going out. I'd rather have a fresh day to get excited about going out, so I cancelled the babysitter. Watched Wife-swap while my husband took X out to play and put S and L to bed.

Oh yeah and my birthday cake I had left out so we'd have it when everyone to got home ended up looking like this--

That was X's handy work. I guess she was tired of waiting. I guess it's a little worse looking because L had taken a piece by this point.

So I will be celebrating my birthday this friday--sitter is ready and we will be having birthday cake again--when everyone can enjoy it!

However I should list some of the GOOD things that happened for my birthday this year:

First, good things started coming in early--Grandma Jo and Grandma Kathy sent gifts--thanks loved them! Elizabeth I got your card--it really made my day--I got it on Saturday! I love the thoughtfulness of Mark Twain! On Sunday some other friends from church gave me some goodies and a much wanted Karate Kid II movie.

Dad called and wished me a happy day as did Carly and Mom and the boys. And of course Elida and Diane who came by bearing gifts and the life saving fast dissolving chewable tylenol--THANKS!! And my husband who started the day off with a hug and helped out with so much today and gave me a card that put tears in my eyes. I guess there are a lot of things to be grateful for! Oh yeah, and for my kids--they are great kids even if they refuse to take medicine and put paw prints in my birthday cake.

After writing all the wonderful things that actually happend I feel a lot happier!

On a side note, my favorite quote of the day is from my brother Carl. After I went into detail about S and the medicine incident--his reply was classic.

"Well here's to one more year of parenting."

Right you are Bro, right you are!

Week Update

Labor Day weekend food aside, was a lot of fun. We rode four wheelers at my Uncle's farm and went to Stockton Lake. We had a really good time.
Then when we got home I heard the news that Steve Irwin died. It made me pretty sad, I wasn't crying or anything. But randomly through out the week I'd just say, "I can't believe the Crocodile Hunter died. "
It's weird because I know he just had a TV show and that it is sad because his wife and children lost him so tragically, but where is this sadness coming from inside of me???
So I thought about it some more and I realized something.. . . .FLASHBACK .....
Does anyone remember when we had the little preschool in Provo where we would go to everyone's apartment and do a little lesson and let the kids play? Does anyone remember when S was in her Animal Planet kick and she'd set all of the stuffed animals up and explain what they were and what they ate, etc? Well I just realized that I have fond memories of my kids learning from the Crocodile Hunter, so that's part of the reason why I was so bummed, it was like an old teacher of their's dying.
Why am I writing about all of this you may wonder, well Derek was either sick of me randoming saying "I can't believe the Croc Hunter died." Or he was just being sensitive to my feelings so he emailed me this link check it out http://hunterjedispirit.ytmnd.com/
Did you check it out?? Hope it isn't disrespectful but I really enjoyed it. Hope you all too, especially if you got a little down over your favorite Aussie.

Culinary Delights

Yeah that's the face I usually make when I think about Kansas City. The Beatles singing about KC who knew???


Just came back from good ol' Kansas City. I am sure I've gained 5 pounds over the weekend. One nice thing about KC that I never gave it credit for when I was a kid was how fantastic food is there. No wonder it's one of the "over-weight" states. There's good eats every where you turn.

Just as a good daughter of KC should I hit some of my favorite spots over the weekend. First stop wasn't so much a restaurant as it was good grocery shopping. We stopped at the Kansas City Farmer's Market by the river and the deals and the assortment were delightful. I say delightful because I didn't buy so much (cause I was visiting my Mom and I knew all the home grown yummy tomatoes would probably get squashed on our way back to Ok.) so mostly I just walked around and appreciated the atmosphere.

Here's the typical scene on Saturday at the farmer's market. This is only a small portion. There are lots of earthy looking people and Mennonites who come down to sell their home grown organic produce. And the prices are amazing! The things they sell are so non-mainstream. There were yellow flesh watermelons, white japanese egg plants, and many types of tomatoes--talk about yummy!

Here's a Mennonite lady selling some of those delicious tomatoes. It's really weird at first, because when you go up and start talking with them you are struck by their thick accent. And you think, "they are Americans since way back when, living in Missouri just like me, but they have a thick--"German" accent." I like that--diversity, it's good.

I just got done watching Sound of Music a few nights ago, so when I saw the young man with the suspenders and "Alps" hat I had to take a picture! This kid had a thick accent too. Weird--you expect them to sound like Joe Schmoe down the street and they surprise you with the accent--as you can tell I can't get over it. Take a look at those cantalopes--Do Mennonites bio-engineer produce cause those are gi-normous!

Well after the farmer's market I was patting myself on the back for being "healthy" as I had bought home grown grapes, and egg plant (to make Babba-ganouch--my Mom's is the BEST!), and pita bread from the Jerusalem Cafe (for the Babba-ganouch of course) and some small pear tomatoes for the kids. Then as Mom and I were driving through the city we saw this guy with a box of Lamar's donuts walking down the street. Our sweet-o-meter was going through the roof (Lamar's are the best donuts ever!). So we asked the guy where the Lamar's shop was and off Mom and I went to indulge in some goodness. Take a looksy.

The second donut is regular size, it's a crueller, the chocolate iced, custard filled bismark on the bottom was mine of course! It was more the size of a cake than a donut really.

Next that evening Derek and I went on a date to . . . . drum roll please. . . . . .our favorite. . . . . .

Ahh... the awesomeness of BBQ. It's a great debate in KC as to which place is someone's favorite. I have many but for all around goodness, a nice place to eat, and reasonable prices Rosedale's is my pick! Here's what we got. Rack of ribs $13.95, order of fries (like we needed that--but they are seriously the best fries I've ever had) $1.70, and rootbeer $1.50 each. A nice meal for under $20, yee-haw! On Mondays and Wednesdays the rack of ribs are only $11.00!!!

Note the sliced white bread. They usually stick it under the ribs, maybe they're changing their style. But words to remember, you know it's good BBQ if they serve the ribs on ordinary cheap-o white bread--tis the truth!

I took a lot of pictures of food this weekend, but since we were in the neighborhood )--this picture is for Jenny!

Did I get it right?? It's been so long I wasn't sure if it was your's or not.

Oh yeah and I know it's getting picturey but I saw this van driving on our way home, I HAD to take a picture of it.

It says "power to the peaceful" on the bumper. And if you haven't figured it out, that is an actual wooden entry way on the back of the peaceful-purple van. Bizarro!

Fond Memories of ....Aldi?

Did anyone grow up around an Aldi? Or as I called Aldis which is either Missouri style or my family style. I haven't been around one for YEARS. Infact one time in 1998 I went with my in-laws (Mom, Dad, brothers and sisters all of them) to the Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra. On our way back we wanted to stop at some place to buy food for our trip home. When we were in Pennsylvania and I saw the big Aldis sign. I became VERY excited--probably too excited---anyways...after ME telling THEM how GREAT Aldis was --cheap pop, chips, ice cream (apparently these were the only things I liked to buy when I was a kid) we stopped. So after I was asked , "You mean it's like a Trader Joe's?" and I replied, "Oh yeah, probably, it's a really cool store". We decided to shop there.

I guess I was having too much fun trying to find the exactly right dimension of box to fit my chocolate coverd graham crackers, Aldi cheetoes, and Aldi grape sodas to notice how they must of felt when they went through the line only to find out that Aldi doesn't accept credit cards (because as all Aldi regulars know it's cash only--well until recently I think). After they scrounged up enough money to pay for the food we got back on the road. Someone iwho apparently failed to hear my speech on the wonders of Aldis, started bad mouthing Aldis! Gasp! What? Not fall in LOVE with Aldis??? How could someone say that?!

In their defense, now that I've had the Trader Joe's experience, I realize that they were seriously led astray as to the type of store Aldis truly is. After all there are no Italian sodas, frozen Thai noodle entrees, or gourmet truffles anywhere in the store.

But for the meager in cash Aldis is AWESOME! It's a little warehousey looking. People usually have to find a box to put all their groceries in. But when your a kid with a buck to spend---Aldis was definitely the place to spend it--I could have bought a million sodas with that kind of cash, or at least 20 sodas with a dollar, back in the day that is.

But I digress....

I just went there. I placed my quarter in the cart to unlock the chain and went on in. All the memories started flooding back. My brother and I sliding down the tiled isles, looking for boxes to place groceries in and getting to pick a soda and a type of cookie (chocolate coverd graham crackers are STILL my favorite Aldi cookie).

Now there is a lot more selection than I remember, but it is still great. As I was standing at the counter where you box your own groceries I saw the sign that said no running, standing, or playing on the boxing counter. Ha! That sign must have been there when I was a kid, but I remember actually running back and forth on that boxing counter. It's a miracle I never fell of off it and broke my neck. Oh well, there it is the wonder that is Aldi. On a side note I always thought Aldi would do really well in Utah. Does any other Aldi-lover agree??

What they're actually saying about Aldis, I have no clue. But if I was hungry on a spaceship I'd want to be beamed down to Aldis to replenish my pantry supplies--definitely!

A little rest is what's best!

The school year just begun and I'm trying to find my rhthym again. The two oldest are in school all day which really frees up my days. I've started to go on outings again. By outings I mean a relaxed, I'm-in-NO-rush type of outing. What a contrast to the past few years when I had one kid in this school and another in this pre-K across town.

I've found out a few funny things about my littlest one now that I have all this free time.

She loves rocks! Actually love doesn't even describe it. She's obsessed with rocks, is that normal? We went to the zoo (as I said tons of free time) and I decided to check out the butterfly exhibit where the butterflies fly all around you. I was worried X would try to catch one and touch a wing. However, this was NOT the problem. ex. a beautiful, large, velvety clubtail flies and lands right in front of us on a bush. I turn to X, point and say, "Look at that beautiful butterfly!" X makes the most animated surprised expression and says, "Ohhh...Wow....a wock!" and picks up a large, normal looking grey rock laying in the dirt directly under the bush the fantastic looking butterfly is hovering on.

Now fish on the otherhand X definitely loves! We went to the aquarium (free time is great!). She ran from tank to tank doing her signature squeal, "WOW!" She loves fish. She'll sit and look at them floating back and forth. Quite frankly I was getting a little bored but you know I was in no rush so we sat for however long satisfied the little squirt and went to the next display

Here's the cool fish I really liked. Look at those lips--eeekk! He's like the Casa Nova of the fish tank for sure!

Ok. So one last and final thing I realized. I always thought X did silly things, because she was following her older sister's example. As you can see below. . .

Just a typical morning at breakfast time. Girls laughing at each other--their cereal getting soggy, and THIS is what they are laughing at ( I thought it was pretty funny too). X would have done this also except she couldn't figure out how to get the raisin to stick to her tooth.

Well a few days later, I was totally dismayed when I went to the kitchen and X was in the fridge with the yogurt opened. She turns her head and this is what I see. I laughed so hard that she gained some confidence with what she must have done so she ran to her sister's room roaring like a lion trying to make them laugh and they were in hysterics and they loved her moustache. So she is silly by her own accord. Interesting, very interesting. . .

Off to School We Go!

It is finally here the first day of school. It is so weird to be at home with just one child again. I keep saying what am I going to do all day--have no fear things like that seem to be a fleeting moment once nostalgia runs out and reality sets in.
S has been such a great big sister. She was explaining to me that she is going to walk L to her class every morning and make sure to sit with her on the bus. She was even telling L not to worry about bullies cause if anyone messed with L they would have to answer to S.

**Doesn't L look happy she just completed a full day of school? Personally I like the dress, I know it is a little costumey but she wanted to wear it and besides it's only kindygarten!**

I remember having my older brother in school one grade above me and feeling so secure like he would take care of me. I just told Carl this summer thanks for being such a great older brother. Watching my oldest makes me respect his role as the oldest sibling in my family. They really do lead the younger ones and help them feel secure and watched over when mom and dad are not around. Thanks Carly for being a great big bro!

***Here's the big sis--doesn't she look rather responsible, maybe school's not that great cause it's about 150 degrees outside, or so it feels.***

I have a top five list of things my kids told me on their first day of school.

5. S says very gruffly "Don't worry L if there is someone who is a bully just tell them you have a big sister who will find them and make them get in trouble!"

4. L says, "Mom can I wear lipstick to school?"--(inside my head, "Heck no! she can wear makeup maybe in college, Man, I am going to have to insist she not play with my bright red old lady lipstick anymore!)

3. S after school says, "I am soo sick of school!" I say, "Already?" She says, "yeah all my teacher wanted us to do is do math all day--I am really starting to hate school!"--I think my kids had too much fun being bums this summer!

2. 7 am--S says, "Hurry up! I don't want to be late for school!" I say, "School starts at 8:50 you will not be late don't worry." S replies, "Nooooo---you don't know mom, believe me I went there last year, school is going to start hurry up!"

And last but not least the #1 best thing said on the first day of school is.....

1. L is laying on her bed ready to sleep and looks up at me and whispers, "Mom how many times do I have to go to school?" I reply, "Five times a week sweetie." L sighs, "Ahh Man."

--I repeat my kids had too much fun being beach bums, jumping on trampolines, being spoiled by grandmas and grandpas and being full fledged cartoon addicts this summer. You would think I'd worry about their attitudes right? Nope, the way I see it you're only little once, right?

Case in point, my childhood---

When I was little, in the eighties of yore; before regular use of video games, you know, pre-computer and pre- internet, even cable tv was a novelty, Cartoon network you say?--non-exsistent!--I lived on a street fittingly named Pleasant Street and I had a real rip roaring time during the summer. Carly, Christel, and I would start the summer off probably riding lots of bikes and red wagons and having races down the long hilly street. I'd say our starting line was by the McGrath's house and we would race to the end of the street, which meant we would have to brake real fast to: One, not get hit by a car that could pass on the street perpendicular to ours or Two, brake real fast so we wouldn't go tumbling down the driveway at the bottom of the hill which was all rock and had a steep slope. Yeah baby--Fast and the Furious Missouri style!

Does anyone remember when David switched bikes with me and I rode his cool BMXy looking bike while he took my Yellow Banana Bike? Does anyone remember how when we decided to race the chain came off the bike HE lent to ME (infact my last memory before waking up was me frantically trying to brake Flintstone style and barefoot no less). As I was told by onlookers I flew off my bike and landed in the previously mentioned driveway of doom; battered and unconscious, waking up in my bedroom with mom's face looking at me like I had died or something. Ha! The days before knee and elbow guards, helmets, and bike saftey. We were a tougher stock back then weren't we? Hmmm...all of a sudden I feel a sudden urge to watch Karate Kid--Wax On! Wax Off!















My favorite part of the movie--When Daniel-son finally "gets it". You think a kid nowadays would wax all those cars or stain all that fence, or paint a whole house? Heck No! Well maybe it was pretty unbelievable back then too. How good of you Daniel-son!

Mr. Miagi's the BEST around!

What was that move anyway? Cause it never worked on Carly!

Times-a-changing

Well I have done a facelift or two on my blog. I've just been messing around trying to make it more my own. I thought I had made a cool design--maybe some of you saw my pastel and snail motif--it was yucky you can admit it. However I spent a little more time and brain energy and while it still looks a little unprofessional it is waaaay better than before.
anywho...
What can I say the summer (for us at least) is almost over. Our over scheduled days are numbered and now we are preparing for the school year. I can't believe S and L are going to be in school all day. We have had some good times this summer. My mom came out last week to visit us in Washington DC. This was a BIG deal, because I don't think my Mom really goes on vacations. She and my little brother and all of us went to Virginia Beach, Williamsburg and Jamestown. On a whim we rented that movie The New World, we heard the scenery in it was beautiful. It made us want to go to Jamestown and check it out. When we drove to Jamestown there is still nothing there (by way of buildings) so it is great to imagine what it would've been like when they landed here in America. It is an interesting drive because there are little roadside markers that tell of various events that occured in different places leading up to Jamestown. If you are a history buff (like me) then it is the coolest thing.

Before my Mom left we toured the memorials in DC. We left at 8pm to try to avoid the sweltering heat of the day. On the way down my father-in-law, who is actually a really great tour guide--the man is like a Washington DC encyclopedia!, was telling my mom we'd stop by the white house then the memorials. My mom didn't want him to drive out of the way so she kept saying no, no, I don't need to see the White House the memorials are what are meaningful for me. However my father-in-law had a little trick up his sleeve. If you've never been to DC, you head down 14th st and you're surrounded by huge tall buildings then out of the blue right in front you where the street ends is a tiny white speck--which is of course the white house--you have to be paying attention or you'll miss it. Anyways--he got a tricky look on his face pointed directly in front of us and my mom let out a HUGE gasp, she was like oh my gosh it's the white house, it's the white house!! As if it was the Beatles or something! We were cracking up! She actually shed a few tears before we jumped out of the car and walked down to the white house. Our pictures didn't turn out so well cause it was dark out, but it was wonderful seeing all the sites with mom.

S in front of the first lighthouse commissioned by the United States.

Me striking a pose in front of a different lighthouse built in the 1800's.

During our trip to Virginia Beach we went to Busch Gardens, here's the crew as we wait to ride the Haunted Mansion--They just might kill me for publishing this photo--I'll take my chances!

Ouch!

The crazy gang. . .Whatsa matta fa you!

Here's Mom and I at the Jefferson Memorial--can you see the admiration in my mom's face (remember she's the one who screamed "It's the White House, the White House!"