Flashback Friday - Good For A Laugh

One of my favorite pictures. Taken in 1998 by my sister Farrah. We used it for our Christmas cards that year. Here are some more from that same day.

OK. This is the most disgusting picture ever (of me-Steve and Zac both look good). I guess I was trying to see just how close I could get those mom jeans to my arm pits. I think I did pretty good. With the belt and the shirt tucked in. Mmm. I was was one hot momma, what can I say? The only reason I threw this picture in was to give you all a good laugh, so laugh away!

A side note, in my defense: A while back I was flipping through channels and the movie "You've Got Mail" was on. I watched it for a minute. And then BAM! There was Meg Ryan in pleated khakis pulled up to her arm pits. I was just a product of that time period.

A Special Post

On Thursday, May 5th, My sister Lauren had the opportunity to participate in the torch run for the Special Olympics, which she will be participating in this summer. All my kids were at school, but I was able to go and she her run with the torch.

She attends a Special Need Mutual and on April 28th and 29th they put on a Spring Musical. Lauren was a Tulip. She had so much fun going to the practices and then performing in the musical. She did a great job and we were all so proud of her.

She cleaned up in the Flowers department

The kids with her after her performance.

Monday Morning Musings - 1/4 After One

Yesterday was a loverly Mother's Day. I woke up and Emily made me a delicious breakfast. We went to church, I came home and took a long nap, woke up to Steve and the kids making their speciality- lasagna, my mom and sister Lauren came over, and Zac made fabulous dessert. And my family gave me the most fantastic gift (that I bought and told them they were giving to me) of a complete auto detailing. HELLO! I can't wait to use that puppy. What a thoughtful gift! After I use it, we are going back to new mini-van rules of absolutely no food, drink, or toys in the van. We will see how long that lasts. Thank you to my wonderful husband and children for making it such a special day!

Apparently Emily's head hurt and she took a bag of peas out of the freezer and attached them to her head with a Ziploc bag. I don't know who took the picture and I was wondering why I found a bag of thawed peas sitting on the kitchen counter.

Sometimes I can be so so stupid. Stupid #1: Steve was out of town all last week. The kids and I needed to get out of the house. We decided to hit the new grocery store since I didn't really get to see it when I was there because there were 10 million people in it. Also, we heard they were giving out a ton of samples. Guess what? Still 10 million people in it. And taking 4 kids to a brand new grocery store to have a look around is still taking 4 kids to a grocery store. Stupid #2: While I was there I bought a ton of cereal and chips because they were on sale for super cheap. I also bought 2 big family size packs of lunch meat and some really good (aka: expensive) hot dogs. When I got home all exhausted like from taking 4 kids to a grocery store with 10 million people in it, I was so tired, that I just left the groceries thinking it was only chips and cereal, to put away the next day. I was so mad the next day when I found the lunch meat and hot dogs that had been sitting out all night.

One day last week, Addy and I were not getting along very well at all. She said this to me, "You're a MEAN mom! You can bet when I'm a mom, I'm gonna be so nice to my kids! I'm not going to be mean like YOU!"

So I have this tendency to sing what I say (mostly just in the privacy of my own home-you can thank me later). Last week Emily and I were in the car waiting for Aubrey to come out of school. I started singing a song about Aubrey and how we couldn't find her and would she please hurry. My song was phrased as a question to Emily and she answered by saying, "I don't know where Aubrey is and I don't break out into spontaneous song either because it's REALLY ANNOYING!" Well, ex-ca-use me!

On Friday, I went to my semi-annual 24 hour scrapbook thig-a-ma-bob. It was so much fun. These girls and I laughed so much and scrapped so much. And we really got on each others nerves with singing. I was so tired Friday night so I was the first one to go to bed. As I was climbing into the hotel bed, I looked at my clock and saw that it was 1:15. So naturally I started singing, "It's a quarter after one, I'm a little drunk and I need you now." I texted that to LaRee and she texted me back a while later that now that song was stuck in every one's head and they were mad at me. Then when they were coming to the room, the song was playing in the hotel lobby. So all day the next day, we were all singing that song. And it got really annoying really fast. We decided we needed to find a new song to sing. No one could think of anything. Then someone, I can't remember who, started singing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. So then that song was stuck in our collective heads. All day long we were alternating between the 1/4 after 1 song and the Hallelujah Chorus. For some reason, at one time, we were also singing the Star Spangled Banner. I am sure we were really annoying the heck outta the people around us. Because we were really annoying the heck outta ourselves.

Every time we go to our scrapbook overnighter and spend hour after hour hunched over a table working, we say we need to hire someone to come in an give us massages. Well, after years of talk, we finally did it! Our friend Lindsey has a friend who is a massage therapist and she came and brought her table and HELLO HEAVEN! I had a one hour massage Saturday morning in between scrapbooking and it was fantastic. We already have her lined up to come to our next one!

While we were there, I scrapbooked our entire 17 Day Epic Trip of A Lifetime to St. Louis and Dallas, in which we celebrated Christmas, New Year's, a wedding, a funeral, 2 Birthdays, stitches x 2, and a ticket for running a red light. 92 scrapbook pages. Oh yeah. You know it. Better get on up an show it. Anyway, upon returning home, I showed the completed album to Zac. He informed me that I put the pictures in the wrong order on the page below. Apparently, when he was trying on all of Grandpa's hats and weapons and having me take pictures, he was doing it in historical order. How was I supposed to know that? Better yet, how does he know all that? I was so impressed with his knowledge, I have decided to remake this scrapbook page. One of these days....

Flashback/Flashforward Friday - What's In Store

Flashback: 1993

Flashforward: 2011

As you can see from the above-above picture, the above picture is not the first time I have sought amusement from a store. The first picture was taken the year after I graduated from high school. I was living in Salt Lake City and we were on our way to a dance and had some time to kill. What better way to do it than at the grocery store. And you already know the story of the bottom picture. If you don't, well where have you been? If you would like a refresher, click here. I have been causing havoc in grocery stores for far longer than this. I remember when my sister Kristy and I used to go to the Albertsons by our house every single day. And we would sit on floor of the candy aisle and play with the Pez dispensers. That was way back when we were.....teenagers. And I can remember one time, I think my sister Farrah and our friend Kristin were at the store with me. And we were throwing things over the top of the aisles to each other and we knocked down one side of the sign hanging from the ceiling telling you what is on that aisle. We got outta there real quick like.

Anyway, Emily has been wanting me to take her to Walmart to play, ever since she saw my Walmart post. I am afraid this will only make her want to go even more. I am thinking of making a day of it this summer with all the kids. I am such a bad influence.

I Just About Had A Major Freak Out

Really, I just about had a complete freak out panic attack meltdown a few minutes ago. Thankfully I was able to avoid it. I just looked out my kitchen window and saw a dead chicken. But it wasn't really dead. Thank goodness. But I swear it was. This is what happened.

Yesterday we were gone. My neighbor Lori called me and said, "You're not home, are you?" And I said, "No, why?" She went on to explain that one of our chickens just got attacked really bad by a dog.

You see, we have a trail that runs the length of one side of our property. And people use it all day long. A lot of people walk their dogs on the trail and very rarely do they have their dog on a leash. I always have dogs in my yard. And they always run up to my chickens and sometimes it is really hard for the owners to get them away from the chickens. But I have never seen one actually hurt a chicken.

I have to be honest and say it really freaks me out because I have a 4 year old who plays outside and if a dog comes into our yard, she is going to run up to it and try to play with it. And I kinda have this thing about her around dogs. I freak out when she is around them, because she got hurt really bad by one last December.

So my neighbor, Lori, she is one brave chick! She saw the dog attack the chicken yesterday. And she saw the owner get the dog and start to take off without even checking to see if the chicken was OK. And she went over and gave him a piece of her mind! (This is the same lady who has the trail going down the side and behind her house also and one day as her family sat around the dinner table, they watched a leashless dog murder their cat while the owners of the dog looked on) And she checked on the chicken to make sure it was OK. This is what we came home to, a ton of feathers everywhere:

The chicken was pretty shell shocked. It wouldn't come out of the coop the rest of the night. There was no blood or anything, thankfully, just a lot of missing feathers.

And Aubrey, our little chicken lover went out to hold her. It is Zac's chicken, Chikenzilla, who got hurt. Usually this chicken doesn't ever want to be held and will fight to get away from the kids, but last night she just sat still and let Aubrey hold her. And she kept her eyes closed the whole time.

Anyway. Back to the dead chicken part of the story. I let the ladies out of their coop this morning and they all seemed fine. I have been gone all day. I got home, looked out, saw all four chickens sitting in the shade. Then I looked out about half an hour later and there was a dead chicken! It looked as if it had just fallen right over face first in the dirt, with it's leg sticking up at an odd angle. I have never seen a chicken look like that before. I really didn't want it to be dead, so I sat and watched for a few minutes. The more time that went by without movement, the more freaked out I became. Freaked out because I knew I would have to do something about it before the kids got home from school. And I didn't want to touch it.

Then I reminded myself that just a few weeks ago, I went over to my neighbors house (the ones we got the chickens from) and I skinned and gutted 2 chickens with my own bare hands. And I was all like, "Oh wait, there's still a lung in here...*rip*....got it!" Then I brought them home and cooked them and served them for dinner. I didn't tell anyone until after they were all done eating. And they all started freaking out. I was like, "HEY! Every time you have ever eaten chicken before in you whole life, it has been killed by someone!"

So I couldn't understand why now, with the prospect of having to remove a dead chicken from my yard, I was all about to have a nervous breakdown. So I gathered up every ounce of courage I had and walked out the back door to see about removal. But you know what? As soon as I opened the door, the dead chicken hopped right up and ran over to me! YAY! SHE'S ALIVE! I don't think she is all well and whole. But she IS alive.

Zippity Do Da

On Monday our dear neighbors the Nielsens invited us over for a little backyard fun. They have a new zip line they just put in. It was SO SO SO much fun. The kids loved it. And after they were all done, I tried it out myself. I so want a zip line in my backyard now. Too bad we picked a lot without telephone poles in it.....

Monday Morning Musings - McDonald's Is My Kinda Place

So today is the grand opening for a new grocery store. They had this thing going on where the first 200 customers get a free bag of groceries worth $50 and 5 of the bags had a $500 gift card in them. Since were are living in such great economic times, my neighbor April and I, and Lori who overslept and missed it :( decided that we would get up at an unreasonable hour and go get a bag. April and I got there at around 5:30 AM. They were supposed to give the bags out at 6 (we thought). It was after 6 and we heard that they were going to give out wristbands at 8:00 and we had to come back after 10 when the store actually opened to get the bags. HELLO! Are they insane? Everyone was getting mad so they handed out the wristbands then and we still had to go back when they opened to get the bag. April and I were #191 and #192 so we just barely made it! We just now got back from getting our bags. There were 5 million people at that store. I am so not kidding. Neither of us got the $500 gift card, but we each got a $10 one. Woo. Hoo. Oh well. And the stuff in the bag. It was better stuff than I thought it would be. It's all stuff that I would never ever buy, but it will make a lovely dinner tonight. Bratwurst, chips and fresh salsa, artisan bread, cheese ball and crackers, sparkling cider, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and HELLO chocolate covered cinnamon bears - come ta momma. Oh, and a nifty little thing that hooks on the side of your pot and you can rest your spoon on it. Steve and my kids will be so excited about the Bratwurst because I never buy it because, frankly, the thought of it makes me want to puke. They however love it. It must be that German blood flowing through their veins. And those chocolate covered cinnamon bears, those are not going into the general food supply. Those are mine. In fact I busted them open right after I took the picture.

A few weeks ago Steve was out of town and I had the younger 2 kids in bed. Zac and Em and I were all sitting in my bed reading. I came across an obscure word in my book that normally I would just skip over. But seeing as how I had my handy dandy walking encyclopedia sitting next to me, I thought I'd give him a try. I asked Zac what the word meant. And he gave me the full definition with examples. What can I say? The kid is a genius.

Speaking of things Zac knows, on Saturday I was in the kitchen and I heard Steve running across the house yelling for Zac to come quick. I naturally had to see what was so important. I thought maybe there was another cat in our chicken coop or something. But no. It was some kind of military plane flying by. As Steve and Zac gaped up up the sky a little drool started to pool around both of their mouths. I asked what was so special about that plane and Zac told me what kind of plane it was and started listing off all these details and facts about it. He knew so much about it, I just knew he had to be making half of it up. So I asked Steve if those things were true. He said yes. Do boys just come out knowing that kind of stuff or what? I don't understand.

Emily was walking around the kitchen the other day with a little tiny bowl full of a drink. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "I'm drinking like a cat! It's fun!"

On Saturday Addy and I drove down two houses (Sad I know. But it was freezing and raining and 2 houses down from us is really quite a long ways.) to pick up her friend to play. As soon as her friend got in the car and we started the long journey back to our house, I heard Addy in the backseat say, "Don't Drink that! It's Aubrey's spit!" What. the. heck!?! I have the strangest children. Seriously.

I put Addy in time out last week and after a few minutes she said, "MOM! I'm not getting any younger in here!"

On Saturday Emily and her friend Savana and Aubrey went to the dollar movie to see the Justin Bieber movie and Steve and I went to see The Kings Speech (Which I slept through the last 10 minutes of . I can't tell you how many movies I have watched all but the last 10 minutes of. And Steve is so helpful. I asked him what I missed and he was like "Uh, he gave a speech". ) Anyhoo. Our movie got out first so we were sitting waiting for the girls to come out. As soon as their movie ended the very first people out of their theater were these 3 pre-teen boys who were dressed exactly, EXACTLY like Justin Bieber. It was the most hilarious thing I have ever seen. I tried so hard to get my camera out and take a picture so I could do a blog post. But they were too fast for me. When the girls got out I asked them if they saw the JB look alikes. They said, "OH YES! THEY WERE SOOOOOO CUTE!" I thought it was funny, but now that I think about it....those might just be the most brilliant boys around. Going into a movie theater with a bunch of crazy girls, dressed like Bieber. Hmmmm....

When we were in line at the grocery store this morning, there was a guy standing behind us and he had just come from McDonalds. And he was saying that when he leaves there, he was going to another McD's. He told us you can text "secret32" to 733774 and you can get a free item off their value menu. He said he goes to a different McD's several times a day and gets free stuff all the time. He told us that one day he wanted to see how many different McDonalds he could go to in a day and get free stuff and he said he went to 22. TWENTY TWO! The weird thing is, he looked like a perfectly normal person on the outside.

And now, to leave you with a song from my repertoire. It is one of my children's favorites:

McDonald's is my kinda place, Hamburgers in my face, french fries between my toes, dill pickles up my nose. And don't forget those chocolate shakes, they come from polluted lakes. McDonald's is my kinda place, my kinda pla-a-aaaaaace!

Flashback/Flashforward Friday - It's A Delicate Subject

Flashback: Spring Break 1997

My sister Farrah was going to BYU so she was in Utah already, and my sister Kristy and cousin Kathy came up for Spring Break. We went to Moab and hiked to Delicate Arch. I was pregnant with Zac and by the time I got to this spot, I could go no more. I didn't even walk up to the Arch. I just plopped my booty down right there and watched everyone else walk to the Arch.

Flashback: Summer 2007

Steve's sister Heather and her family came to Utah to visit us. We met them in Moab and hiked to Delicate Arch one morning. I didn't go because it was hotter than heck and Addy was just a wee little babe and we didn't want to have her walk all that way on hot rock unshaded and in 100+ degree weather. So Aubrey and I stayed at the hotel with her.

Flashforward: Spring Break 2011

YAY! I finally made it to the Arch! And this time I walked all the way up to it and touched it!




Flashback: Spring Break 1997


Flashforward: Spring Break 2011

En Espanol Por Favor

On Friday, April 15th, Steve and Addy and I spent the day at BYU with Aubrey at the BYU Language Fair. Aubrey is in a Spanish Immersion program at school and has been since she was in Kindergarten. She has 1/2 of her school day totally in Spanish. She is becoming quite the little Espanol girl. We had to start the day out super early, 6:20 AM is when she had to be on the bus. Zac and Em had to get themselves up and ready and off to school all by themselves. I was a little nervous, but it worked out fine. At the fair, the kids compete in different areas using their language skills. This was Aubrey's first year to attend the fair and she was in a play: Little Red Riding Hood, or shall I say: La Caperucita Roja. Here she is with a few of her friends.

Keeping themselves entertained while they waited for their turn to perform

Aubrey was one of two Narrators in the play. She had quite a few lines and she did a FABULOUS job. We were so proud of her.

Her cast

Playing tag while waiting for the closing ceremony. They were all speaking in Spanish while they were playing and as students would walk by they would pause, listen for a minute and some would ask if they were speaking Spanish. It is kinda impressive to see little white kids speaking fluent Spanish.

Our School did a great job and took home the 2nd Place Trophy!

Easter Weekend

We had a great Easter Weekend. It started out Saturday afternoon with a 3rd Annual Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt (I live in the BEST neighborhood!). The kids and I have been to all 3, but this was Steve's first time to join us because he usually is working. I can't believe this is our 3rd Easter in our house! The hunt took place over 4 yards, divided up by ages. Addy is in the top left corner in the picture below.

Emily and her friend Savana

After the egg hunt we had lunch

We went to see the movie "Gnomeo and Juliet" after the Egg Hunt. When we got home, Steve helped the kids color Easter Eggs. Zac, who was at a Scout Campout the night before, and who was sleeping all day, finally decided to join us.

The finished product and 3 beautiful girls

Sunday morning we went to church


When we got home from church, my mom and sister Lauren were waiting for us

I seriously need a haircut, thank you for noticing

The kids hunted for more eggs

After the egg hunt, we went inside for lunch. Then we went outside and smashed confetti eggs on each others heads. Thank goodness for the empty lot across the street so I didn't have to have that mess in my yard!

We did a puzzle of the Easter Egg Roll on the White House Lawn

Then we talked about Easter and what it means. We talked about the symbols of Easter and their meaning. I had an Easter Lily and we talked about how the flowers are white and they symbolize Jesus and his purity. I told the kids that the bulbs for the Lily's are underground all winter and then in the spring they break forth from the earth and bloom into a beautiful flower. We talked about how this symbolizes Resurrection. We talked about Jesus and how he was Resurrected. And because he was Resurrected, we all will be too someday. We talked about my dad and how because Christ was resurrected, Papa will be Resurrected and we will be able to see him again some day. We drove to the cemetery and put the Easter Lily's on his grave.

Here is a beautiful Easter Video. If you can't see the video, click here to view.