Flashback Friday - Alicia

It's that time again. Today's Flashback is starring Alicia. Alicia and I grew up in the same ward together. Her sister is Diana (remember with the hair). You can read Diana's post for a more detailed version of my friendship with Alicia. Sorry I'm a little busy at the moment trying to get ready to move out of my house. Don't forget, it's still not too late to join in the fun.

Farrah, Allyson Alicia, Kim

Angie, Chad, Alicia, Jamie in Allyson and Farrah's bedroom

Alicia, Cori, Anne at girls camp

Charlotte, Mary Ann, Alicia at my wedding

Stuck In My Head - Pretty Little Souped Up Four Wheel Drive

This song, although one of my favorites, is really driving me crazy right now. It might have something to do with the fact that Emily has had it on continuous replay in the CD player for the past 3 days. I can't find a decent version that I can embed so click here to see.

WebCam Wednesday - Something's Fishy

You might have had enough of our vacation by now. But I haven't. So too bad for you. We went to the most awesome aquarium while we were in Gatlinburg. AWESOME. For real. And just in case you don't believe me, here is a video to prove it. This underwater tunnel has a moving sidewalk that takes you through it and it lasts forever. I couldn't believe how long it was.

Third Time's A Charm? Yeah, We'll See About That.

I just finished giving monster baby her third bath of the day. Why the need for a bath this time? She climbed onto the bathroom counter and schmeared hand soap all about her face and neck.

Monday Morning Musings - Nose To The Grindstone

Huhhhhhhh.......Right now I am taking a much needed break from packing. I'm startin' to freak out. How much stuff is actually necessary for human survival? I am guessing we have more than enough. Huhhhhhhhh..........

Last week when we got a contract on the house I told Steve we are going to play a fun game for the remaining 2 weeks we have left in this house. It is called, "What can we make for dinner out of the food we already have". I am not packing up a bunch of food. We have a pantry and 2 refrigerators/freezers full of food. I really do have plenty of food for meals. Only we are running low in the snack department. Remember we had just gone on a trip right before we sold the house so I hadn't gone shopping for a while before that. So last night I was starving. I went to find a snack. This is what I had: a glass of OJ, a handful of crasins, and a chunk of peanut butter cookie dough. All of those things in and of themselves are quite tasty. Together, not so good.

I think I am the only person in the world who hasn't watched any of the Olympics. None. And guess what? I have zero desire to.

I think it is funny how life works. At the end of the school year back in May, I was so ready for school to be over. I was so sick of schedules. I was sick of having to get everyone up and ready and out the door every morning. I was sick of pre-school drop off and pick up. I was sick of homework. I was sick of bedtimes. I needed a break. Well right now, a week before school starts, I am so ready for it to start. I am sick of not being on a schedule. I can't wait to get back into our nice little organized routines. I am ready for my children to go to bed at a decent time. Holy cow am I ready for that.

I guess I better go back......and pack. Jack.

Get Your Motor Runnin'

This picture is of Steve when he was riding on our vacation. Apparently they have a sort of roadside "Paparazzi" that photographs people riding and then posts the pictures online for purchase. I bought this picture and they said I could use it on my website as long as I gave them credit, so here it goes. Photo courtesy of killboy.com

Turned Tables

The girls were down in the basement watching TV. I went down just in time to hear the catchy tune at the beginning of the show. I naturally broke into a little jig. Emily looked at me horrified and said, "MOM! STOP IT!", "MOM! YOU LOOK RIDICULOUS!", "MOM! PLEASE STOP NOW!".

Well, of course, that only made me want to do it more.

So she yelled up the stairs, "HEY! GUY WHO'S FIXING OUR DISHWASHER! COME DOWNSTAIRS AND WATCH MY MOM DANCE!".

That pretty much put a stop to it.

Flashback Friday - Juliekins

Here we are again. Flashback Friday, staring you. I am gonna say this again, cause I still have people commenting, it's not too late for you-click here. Today is my friend Julie's turn. Julie moved into our neighborhood about a year and a half ago (is that right Julie?). I remember the first day I met her, we sat next to each other in Relief Society. I found out that we were both Texas girls. Julie has become a good friend since then.

Decorating Halloween cookies at Betsy's house. Julie is in the back holding the baby.

The Zoo. Max, Meg, Zac, PJ, Matt, Madi, Caleb (Julie's son), Kylee, Emily, Aubrey

A little girls night we had at my house. Emalee, Allison, Julie, Jessica, Laura

Dianna, Julie, Emalee, Allison, Jessica

Last month at the park. Julie, Allyson, Betsy, LaRee

Thinkin' Thursday - Pack Rat

2 rooms down

a freaking heck of a lot more to go

14 days and counting

i'm thinkin' i have a pretty.....massive.....job.....ahead.......

but i'm not complainin'

i'm very happy to do it

WebCam Wednesday - Water Fight

I told you about the water fight we had on vacation. Here is a little piece of it.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Grab a snack, this is gonna be a long one. (Don't worry, I narrowed it down from 652 pictures)

We had a fabulous time on our vacation. We met all of Steve's family in Tennessee in the beautiful Smokey Mountains. We stayed in the most awesome of cabins. It had just about everything (except a pot big enough to cook spaghetti in for 27 people).

It had a fabulous view
A place to swim and float down the river

A hot tub. Looks relaxing, doesn't it?
A game room

A fire pit, for the roasting of the marshmallows

A playground
Vampires galore
Kids galore
We went to the most AWESOME aquarium
We almost left a few kids behind in the fish tank

We ate at Bubba Gumps and had fun playing movie trivia
Shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, sautee it. There's, um, shrimp kebabs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo, pan fried, deep fried, stir fried. There's pineapple shrimp and lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich...

Steve rented a motorcycle and a group of people spent a day riding in the park.

They rode "The Tail Of The Dragon"

which has 318 curves in 11 miles.

I don't have any pictures from that day, but this was when he went to take the bike back.

We had an all day water fight.

I'm not kidding. It lasted all day. The kids had been having a water fight for several hours when my sister-in-law Sheila and I decided to ambush the kids (I'm' on the left with the gun, she's on the right with the gun). After the adults joined the fight it lasted for another couple of hours. It was the most fun. And when we were done everything was wet, inside and out.

No family get together would be complete without the playing of "The Game"
Most everyone was asleep except for the game players and a few movie watchers. Some of us got bored and started playing "Truth or Dare".

It then turned into "Dare or Dare".

The poor people playing the game and watching the movie were our innocent victims. And some of the sleeping people too. The kids all thought it was awesome to wake up with smiley faces drawn on their hands. Good tip to keep in mind: Never sneak up on a war vet while he is sleeping.

We had a sad little girl who had to set her pet frog free
We had a lot of laughs

Most of all we just had fun being together. The trip ended way too soon.

In case that wasn't enough pictures for you, you can view more here. And if you're really, really bored or trying to find a way to waste your time, you can check out this blog set up for everyone to share their pictures and videos from the trip. There isn't anything there yet, but there will be soon.

I Was Going To Title This Post "Houston, We Have An Offer" But I Thought The Whole "Houston, We Have A...." Thing Is Too Overdone Instead I Decided To

Go With This Big Old Long Run On Sentence For My Title.

Rude. It wouldn't let me do a title that long.

YEAHHHHHHHHH!!!!! We have an offer. I am so very very extremely excited.

I think it is funny that I have killed myself cleaning every time someone has come to see the house. And the one time that someone came to see it and it was totally trashed and the back patio was vandalized, those are the people who want to buy it.

They are pre-approved for a loan, which is a good thing because I have heard stories about how hard it is to get approved for a loan nowadays.

They are a nice young couple with kids. We talked to them for a while when they were here. I think they are the perfect people to take our place here in the neighborhood. We have been praying for good people to take our place here and it looks like those prayers and many others have been answered.

They want to close and move in on the 28th of this month! Wowsers! I guess I better start packing.

Remember my "Positive Visualization Therapy" thing? I have been planning on moving out before the end of August all along.

Monday Morning Musings - I'm Baaa-aack

We are home from our fabulously fun fantastical family vacation. We had a fabulously fun fantastical time. I will have to tell you more about it later. It really was fun and a much needed break for us.

We flew into Nashville and I hadn't quite prepared myself for the accents. The first person I heard say anything was at McDonalds. We stopped there to eat Monday night after we got off the plane. I was ordering one of the kids a meal and I said they wanted milk with that. The guy said, "Ya wont whot malk?". And I was like , "Say what??". I was very caught off guard. It took me a minute to process what he was saying and figure out that he was asking if we wanted white milk. There were times on our trip when we would be in a place full of people talkin' Tennessee and I had a hard time not laughing. And it was really upsetting to me because I am from Dallas. I spent the first 20 years of my life listening to people talk with accents. I never thought it was funny before. I guess I have been away from home a little too long.

Another thing that I grew up with my whole life but again hadn't fully prepared myself for was the humidity. HELLO! Holy cow I thought I was going to die the first day. Thankfully it didn't take long to get used to the oppressive constantly feeling wet and dirty feeling. The good thing was I didn't have to apply lotion or chapstick the entire time we were there. It is nice to be home and dry and fresh feeling again though.

So the entire week we were gone, no one came to see the house. Rude. But that all changed yesterday. I really think everyone was on vacation last week. We were. Everyone in Steve's family was. Duh. And my sister Farrah and my sister Kristy were also. We got home yesterday and within an hour of being home we had 2 people stop out front and sit there for a while, calling and listening to the recorded message about our house. Then about an hour later a lady came up and asked if she could walk through it really quick. While I was showing her the house the phone rang. I didn't answer it but apparently I should have. This one needs a new paragraph.

It was our agent calling saying someone wanted to come see our house. I didn't find that out until they were standing on the front porch. We were half dead when we came home so we just threw suitcases down and stuffed some food in our mouths and passed out. The house was totally trashed and here were more people with their agent wanting to have a looksie. They really liked the house. REALLY liked it. I would even go so far as to say they LOVED it. They were probably here for an hour and a half. They talked to us for a long time about the neighborhood and the house. She loves my red living room. They love the main bathroom. Their agent said they will hopefully get an offer to us soon. AN OFFER. TO US SOON.

We found out, upon our return home, that someone had vandalized our back yard. We had one of the guys that works for Steve over at the house painting our interior doors and he left the paint out on the back patio. Someone dumped the paint all over the back patio and then painted all over our chairs, grill, lawnmower and wall. That was nice to come home too. And to explain to the people looking at the house.

I better go now, I have a lot to get done today. Happy Monday!

I'm Leavin' On A Jet Plane

It's true. We board our plane tomorrow. We are so excited. We are meeting Steve's Family in the Smokey Mountains for a little rest and relaxation.

We are celebrating the safe return of our Brother-In-Law, Ed. He just got home from his second tour in Iraq.

So I will be away from the computer for a whole week. I will think of you all when I am sitting in here:

My Mom Calls Me Monster Baby

My mom has this nifty sewing machine that embroiders stuff on stuff (?)(I'm not a sewing person) and I made Addison a shirt that says "My mom calls me MONSTER BABY". Here are a few pictures of my cute sweet little monster baby. Please note she likes to smear things all over her face.

I call this one Popsicle Schmear:

She found the box of....junk....cords, chargers, headphones, and was walking around the house dragging stuff behind her:

Marker Schmear:

Lotion Schmear:

More Lotion Schmear:

My brand spankin' new dishwasher is broken so we are back to trashing the environment. We can always tell when Addison is finished eating because she starts taking bites of her plate:

Sour Cream Schmear:

Why is my brand spankin' new dishwasher broken, you ask? It could be because the dial gets turned about 10,000 times a day. Especially when it is in the middle of a cycle:

Mascara Schmear:

Very pretty Addy!