I've done it!!!

Well I did it...I managed to put up my tree and all the other Christmas decorations in 2 days!! That might be a record in my book...I hate to say it but this is not my favorite thing to do. I know you are probably thinking..."Bah Humbug", but it is just sooooo much work. I am always glad when it is done but I turn into "Miss Cranky Pants" while I'm doing it! I have to get about a million boxes in from the garage and then unpack them all so I can see what I have and where I should put it all. This in turn causes total chaos in my house and so I must hurry if I don't want to go insane. I have to admit, I like having an organized and clean home. And even if it's not totally clean, it has to be at least picked up! But now it is done and I have a month to enjoy it...then start the process all over again.

'Tis the season, right? A season filled with peace, joy, happiness....oh come on, whoever said that must've been living in a monastery!!

Put the Modge Podge down and no one will get hurt!

I am seriously like a clown in the circus lately! I had my flying oatmeal experience and now this. Today I was working on some projects for enrichment...my new calling...and I was shaking up the modge podge that I was about to use. Thinking that the cap was on tight I proceeded to shake that sucker hard, (shakin it like a Polaroid picture!) Of course the lid was not on all the way and soon the modge podge came flying out and landed on my face, all over my clothes and elsewhere. I had to hurry and take the clothes off because for those of you who do not know what mp is... it's sticky glue!!! So when I run to the laundry room to strip down I get it all over my arms and hair...because of course I have to pull it over my head to get it off. So now I run to the bathroom to wash it off my face and hair...a little too late cause it was already stuck in my hair. The good thing is, if I ever run out of hair pomade, I can always use the mp!! It has been a couple of hours since this has happened and my hair hasn't moved an inch! Anyways, I don't know what my deal is lately...I am like a bull in the china store. A big, fat bull who is using modge podge to decorate books for 90 RS sisters. Oh JOY!!

UPDATE: It is now the next morning and my hair is seriously plastered to the side of my face. Man this is going to force me to shower...Rat farts!

Holiday Weekend

Here is a recap of our holiday weekend. We had Randy's parents in town and enjoyed time with them. Got to see Tara and Jeff for dinner, which is always fun...man I love those guys!! I had a good time embarrassing Jeff with my close hugs and kisses!! Thanksgiving day was filled with food, naps, and puzzles. We worked on the most impossible puzzle the entire weekend...yikes, I am not a very smart puzzle worker :) We took the girls to see "Enchanted"...a very cute movie. Saturday we hit the BYU vs Utah game...of course I took my usual stand and refused to wear blue, but this time I promised Randy I wouldn't wear red either. So I made like Switzerland and wore beige...very neutral. To end the weekend I enjoyed a spa night with the girls, and that was very needed. I have to say I have the greatest friends ever!!

Our great friends...Tara and Jeff
Dad and Hailey carving the bird!

My cute friends...Rachel, Christine, Jen, Char, and Kim!

Overall, we had a very nice weekend. I even managed to take several pictures of the girls so we could find one we all liked for our Christmas cards. Good times, good times!

I am very blessed indeed and thankful for the many blessings that are abundant in my life! Thank you for being among those blessings...my bloggin pals make me smile daily :)

Happy Birthday Hannah

Happy Birthday Hannah...we can't believe you are 17 years old! We love you and are so proud of you for the woman you are becoming! Hope this is a great year for you...you have so much potential and we can't wait to see what lies ahead! LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!

And the oatmeal went a flyin!

Oh man, I wish I had this one on video...I could have entered it into America's Funniest Home Videos and won a million bucks. So here is the story:

Yesterday I was getting ready to go VT, it was 8:55 and my first appointment is at 9:00. I am starving and so I quickly fix myself a bowl of oatmeal. I am carrying it up the stairs into my room, (cause of course I am not finished getting ready yet) when I proceed to trip on the stairs. I manage to somehow keep my balance and not fall...at least not yet. I continue to walk up the remainder of the stairs and into my room, still trying to get my footing, when I just lost it and went flying! I laid there on my floor, sprawled out, oatmeal was everywhere... I mean everywhere...it was on the bed, under the bed, in my hair...all over! Now I am pissed... I have a mess, I'm going to be late, I'm still not done getting ready and I am hungry! So I don't bother to clean anything up... I just march into the kitchen and fix another bowl of oatmeal, let the dog in and tell her to eat up the oatmeal and finish getting ready. I finally limp out of the house (I really hurt my knee during the fall) bruised and beaten but faithfully doing my time, I mean visiting teaching! The funny thing is that my oatmeal bowl and mess is still under the bed as I walk out the door.

I really wish I would've taken a second to fetch the camera...then I could show you the mess I made. Man, where were my blogging priorities? But I did take a pic of my beautifully bruised knee...look...

So let this be a warning to you... next time you are in a hurry to go visit teaching and are carrying a bowl of oatmeal to your bathroom...wear knee pads!

You want Fry Sauce with those shoes?

This one made me laugh for sure!! Hope was looking through my shoes the other day and came upon these (see pic). She stared at them for a minute and then said, "These remind me of fry sauce"! Huh....come again? Fry sauce...not the first thing I think of when I slip these bad boys on my feet! Oh she is a funny kid! I just figured it must be the color of the shoes that make her want to dip her fries into them.

A little motivation if you please!

Randy has been out of town and I have been tearing it up over here...I mean, cleaning like a MAD woman. I have organized, decluttered, cleaned all toilets, updated all my photo albums and much more this weekend. Since I have company coming next week I decided not to gross them out. It's time to get my butt in gear...and get a-crackin'! I did take a break last night and took the girls to see "Fred Clause" (not so great) but other than that I have been very productive! And to think I have done all this without my usual dosage of Speed...JK everyone, calm down! Who would have thought a bunch of caffeine can go such a long way? Whenever I have started to slow down I just put on my recorded episodes of "Oprah's Hoarder specials" and that gets me going! Seriously, that has motivated me like no one's business. So now we will see just how long this house stays clean...maybe till tomorrow morning.

A Blog To Call Home

Doesn't my new banner look fabulous? Thanks to Natalie, I have some new digs for my blog home! A million thanks Nat...you are amazing and I love it. I love having totally talented friends, they come in soooo handy. Hopefully now my computer will behave and I will have this banner for a long time. Thanks again Natalie...I really do appreciate you hooking me up! Love ya!

Help!

If you haven't noticed I am having troubles with my blog backdrop. My computer is retarded, or I am, and I can't get anything to work. The last one, the pink with dots, was way too big and I felt like the font was written for a 90 yr old woman with cataracts...TOO BIG! So now I have decided to just go with a simple banner. Problem is, I have no idea how to do this. So, ahem Natalie and Holly, if anyone could show me how, I'd be much obliged!!

Now this I can do...

It is a well known fact in our home that when you hit about 4th grade, you start passing up mom in the math department. It's ok, I've made peace with this fact years ago, although I am still slightly embarrassed by it. But let's face it...I am just not a numbers, fractions, geometric, word problems (man...those word problems ARE hard) type of person. I chalk it all up to the fact that I was born with 6 fingers on my left hand and did not have it removed until 2nd grade. (Which by the way, I had to miss a field trip for!) So that whole time, in my early developmental years, I was counting to 11 instead of 10 and that can really mess a kid up! (I kid you not...I really did have 6 fingers on one hand...don't believe me, ask my mom!)

So anyways, I really stink at math to say the least! When any of my kids start to learn their times tables, I break out into a cold sweat for fear that they'll ask me what 8x7 is! At this point, Hudsen is the only one left that I can be of any help to with math homework. I know, poor me or just plain stupid ole me.

So my point of this entire post is to show you what I can do...I can help with some things, I'm not totally useless. This, my friends, is what I can do...

No, I did not invent or discover these cells, nor did I illustrate them...I COLORED them! That's right, the brightly colored diagrams were colored by me...hold your applause please. Why did I do such a thing you might ask...well Hailey had piles and piles of homework last night. The poor girl seriously worked on various assignments all last night. So at about 10pm she was about to break and needed to just go to bed. This assignment still needed to be finished...colored to be exact, so I willingly volunteered to do just this. All I needed to do was just color all the same parts the same color...pretty easy, eh? But wait a minute, give me some credit...I did stay in the lines!

See, they do need me...my kids still need their mother...my 7th grader still can use my help. JUST NOT IN MATH!

Hoarder

Did you happen to watch "Oprah" today? If you did, then you saw the hoarder...oh man, was that crazy or what? I've seen these types of hoarders before, it's unbelievable to say the least. So if you are ever feeling down about the way your house looks, just take a look at this...


Man, compared to this I am a Neat Freak...I can not possibly imagine living in this! Now I've got my compulsions, to say the least, but this is DISGUSTING! So after watching today's show...I am an amazing house cleaner!!!!

Happy Birthday Randy!

Well today is Randy's 45th birthday....Happy Birthday Babe...I love you!!! I'm telling all of you out there...this is a GREAT man. I am the luckiest woman in this world, to be spending my life with him. I think he is one of the kindest, funniest, stable, loving, best looking guys out there!

He is always concerned about his family and wants us to be happy. He is a hard worker and provides well for his family. He loves his girls and worries about them...he wants them to be happy! I really could not ask for anything more in a man.

So here's to you babe...I fell in love with you 14 years ago and still love you as much today. Here's hoping today will be a fantastic day!!

Do you dare?

So I was wondering...what's by your bed? Are you brave enough to show us what's on your nightstand? What are those things that you must have access to at night? I always have my one (or two) books that I'm reading...my tissues (or whoopie wipes), the phone and other various items. You can look, just don't look too closely...I'm sure there is a layer of dust covering the table! A closer look at my smaller hygiene items...notice the certain dri (I'm giving it another shot)... The ear plugs are a must (Randy watches alot of late night TV)...the floss is a must (it's the only time I'll do it...at night)...2 lip balms and my favorite lotion for my hands!
Here's a look underneath...I know, it's a mess! But among all those books and magazines...if you look really close...you'll see my scriptures. Ok, I know they are at the bottom...but they are really there...I didn't dig them out for this picture! I swear, it's not a staged picture...now if I'd only read them a bit more often!
So that's that...no crazy X rated paraphernalia (that'd be on R's side)...Just kidding mom and dad and Hailey!!! So to all of you who are reading this, consider yourself tagged...you're it! What's on your bedside table? Are you brave enough to post????

My Bach and Beethoven!

Bach, Beethoven &...Hayley!

Today I had the pleasure of going to Hope (future Bach) and Hailey's (Beethoven) piano recital. Of course they were great although you would've thought Hailey was having a root canal...needless to say, she didn't smile much! Watching your own children is fine...it's just all the other songs you have to listen to. Not to diss those other kids, it's just that how many times can you really listen to "Camp Town Races" without wanting to pull your eyelashes out, one by one?

We survived and I really am proud that they play the piano...I was a stinker when I was young and finally convinced my mom to stop making me play. Now I wish I would've stuck with it...boy, how many times have I said that before?

After that I finally got to meet Hayley for lunch....Yea! I thought about wearing a bike helmet to meet her for the first time, but didn't know if I would've offended everyone around me. We had a great visit...chatted for about 1 1/2 hours and then parted ways. She is really one cool chic and soooo easy to talk to! So thanks Hayley, hope I didn't gross you out too much by dissecting my sandwich in front of you. So now that I've meet Hayley, Holly, and even Heidi, I've just got to meet Heather to complete the 4 H sisters! I really did enjoy getting to know you better Hayley!

So tonight Randy and I are headed out for a date...dinner and the spa! Sounds delightful, huh?
Hope everyone out there in blogging land has a great weekend! Chow...

Please indulge me one more time!

So I'm sorry...but I just had to post this letter from Hudsen. Now I know that I have been known to do this alot, in fact I just did it yesterday...but how can I resist when she writes such darling notes? And keep in mind, she is my BABY! And of course your baby can do no wrong, right? The thing is, I think she is catching on to the fact that I post these on my blog...and this girl loves attention! (I wonder where she gets that from)

Regardless of her motives...this one is a keeper. And at the end of the day, when you get a note like this from your child...it makes being a mother worth every heartache you have ever had over that child!

I am a Man!

OK, so I really don't think I'm a man...I mean I act like a girl, I hate mice, I wear makeup, paint my toenails, can scream like a girl if I had to...I do all those girly things, BUT...here's the thing...I SWEAT LIKE A MAN!

Yes it's true...I have been given male sweat glands! But this just all happened to me about a year ago...some "Freaky Friday" switch-a-roo took place. I sweat under my boobs, on my forehead and especially under the "pits". Can I just say that I HATE it...everything I wear has permanent sweat stains. Come on, how unattractive is that? I could be in the arctic cold in my underwear and still be sweating. I have tried every kind of deodorant made and nothing does the trick. So, am I doomed to the life of a sweaty man? HELP!

That Hudsen!

Have I mentioned that I love my Hudsen!! She is always making me laugh and keeping me on my toes! I found this cute note in my bed...she likes us to shut her door at night, after she has fallen asleep. I guess this is just a little reminder for us...just so we wouldn't forget! Another funny thing she did; I found her name written in dust on a piece of furniture this morning. Ok, enough already...I'll dust...I get the picture. Just stop signing your name all over the place. Man aren't we glad we have these kids...they keep it real for us!

Man, am I grateful for tampons!

Last night the entire family was crammed in the Suburban, going on a family outing to Cabela's...oh happy day! So anyways, we were talking about being grateful...how we should be thankful for all that we have and blah, blah, blah! So Hailey wants us all to say 5 things that we are grateful for...the list goes alot like this, -family , health, friends, our house, Mocha and so on and so forth. All good answers right? So then Hannah says, "Oh yea, sorry for this dad, but tampons...I'm grateful for tampons."

Ok then...but she does have a point...what would we do without them? (RC likes to refer to them as man hole covers) AMEN!

I can dream, can't I?

Well I wish I could say that these were recent pictures, but they're not. Too bad for me because I could use some Disney magic these days! It seems that many of my friends have been going here lately...none have invited me to jump in their suitcases...so I'll just re-live my own memories! But don't you just love a good trip to the Magical Kingdom? Why is it that it is impossible to be unhappy when you are here? Even if your kids are having a meltdown because you haven't spent 60 bucks on the princess dress she wants and you are going to have to mortgage your home just to buy that last churro? You are just HAPPY when you're there!
Ahhh...hopefully we can get back here next year...I love Disney!

Poor RC

Many of you might not have seen this little witty comment my husband left after I posted my IUD blog, so....I thought I would reprint it for your enjoyment!

RC says:
"Okay, so you got a little work under the hood done. No biggy. At least they sent you on your merry way and you were able to walk with your normal gate. The last time I was strapped down on a sacrificial gurney I limped for days. If I could produce again I'm pretty certain that those children would limp as well. It didn't involve some little piece of plastic either, no sir this took some special scrotum scapula that the sight of causes men to poop down both legs. I won't begin to go into the horror because my Therapist says I wear Big Boy pants now. But trust me on this one An IUD errrrrr WMD........... PUD.......... or Sandra Dee ain't nothing compared to getting your boys cauterized.(It's spelled right, but I had to look it up). Love Ya Babe, RC"

Now please girls...don't feel to sorry for him, after all I am the one who carried 4 children for 9 months and then had to birth those puppies (Ok, cute babies)!

Happy Halloween

We had a great Halloween filled with parades, class parties, chili eating and trick or treating!Hope was our charm school witch...enchanting! (Perhaps she could change Dumbledoor back)Hudsen was Stephanie from "Lazy Town" and most people did not know who that was so she was disappointed. Sorry munch, that isn't on TV anymore so that's what happens when your favorite show is cancelled! Hailey was Penny from Hairspray...you got to love the hair!
To get it this high we put an empty toilet paper roll in it and wrapped hair around it. Pretty cleaver, eh?And this cute baby ballerina is my Ellie...Heidi's baby...she was sooooo cute! I love this girl! Heidi and Nate had us over for chili before trick or treating.

Sorry no pics of Hannah, she didn't dress up this year and was off to a friend's house. Man, I miss those days of having all 4 dress up! All in all, it was another successful Halloween. Girls got lots of candy and I've managed to stay away from it while they were at school. Count for today...only 1 mini snickers eaten so far! But not to worry, tomorrow's a new day...I still have a chance to pig out.