To start off the year...

I started 2009 off with a bang!

In addition to getting to wake up to this...

I got up.

I showered.

I did my hair. (Landon's stayed like that all day.)

I got dressed. (Landon never made it that far.)

AND

I cooked dinner!

Bang Baby!

This is a big deal for me because these things rarely all occur during the same day. I consciously decided not to exercise to leave myself a little room for improvement over the next 364 days. (You know you are struggling when you actually do get dressed and do your hair and everyone in the family wants to know where we are going.)

Last year after talking with some friends, I decided I wanted to use Jordan’s brilliant idea to come up with my own word for the year. That word became, in a sense, my theme for 2008. My 2008 word was SIMPLIFY. With Damian in school and working so hard, I knew I was going to have to cut back on some of expectations I had set for myself. I told myself that part of simplifying had to mean that I was not allowed to feel guilty about couldda shouldda wouldda things.

I am not sure if others would agree if simplifying my life happened last year, but I truly feel like it did. Having that theme in my mind with it’s redundant check phrase: ‘It’s okay. Let it go!’ helped me focus on the things that were really important to me and not sweat as much of the small stuff. I have come to the realization that try as I might, I can’t even be perfect at simplifying. I still kept my house freakishly straightened and my eyebrows meticulously groomed (you know, the important things).

At the same time I tried not to sweat things like my kids clothes not matching, how disastrous Damian’s office always looks, or even looking presentable. Instead I tried to focus on keeping my kids happy and fed. They really didn’t care if I was a day over-ripe or that I was an MIA school volunteer. Showering and volunteering are both things I enjoy, but I knew if I was worried about all the little things there was no way I could be happy. (Ok, I averaged an every other day shower.) But, you know what they say about when Mama’s not happy…

Now that I am simplified, my word for 2009 is ENJOY! It was a tough decision between ENDURE & ENJOY. Endure the last four months of not having my best friend and husband around. It sounded good although a little depressing, but then I thought how precious and few the days are until my boyfriend starts kindergarten! That did it. ENJOY it is, and ENJOY I will.

Last year I was able to find wooden letters with my word to put above my kitchen cabinets. So, if you see an ENJOY around in a cute way, shape or form will you let me know? I loved having a visual reminder during the year to keep me on track. Gracias!

Adios 2008!

How did we ring in the New Year?

...10 times I prayed Damian wouldn’t get caught for setting our garden on fire or let it spread to our garage- definitely on Smokey Bear’s naughty list

9 slices of pepperoni pizza

8 minutes talking about the 8 + 8 = 16 states we visited this past year

7 minutes watching Robbie Maddison set a world record for jumping his motorcycle- I’m grateful I just have a pyro and not an Eval Knieval

6 Wii competitions

5 bowls of Moolineum Crunch ice cream…my fave!

4 loads of laundry- celebrate good times, c'mon!

3 kids begging and pleading to light fireworks

2 adults emptying and cleaning out spoiled contents of freezer…again

1 value sized pack of fireworks

...HAPPY NEW YEAR!Hang on tight for a wild ride in 2009!

(this is how Landon spent 40 minutes 'watching' fireworks)

Blessings...

I haven’t even unpacked yet, but I felt a burning need to clean out my cupboards, the kids toy bins and the kitchen drawers as soon as I got home. No, I am not nesting or pregnant. Just weirdly me, I guess. Oh yeah, all my Christmas decorations got packed away today too! Eden hung in right there with me the whole time without even complaining. Today has been a day of miracles all around!

Tonight our family had an appointment with the bishop of our church to declare if we are full tithe payers for 2008. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we agree to pay ten percent of our annual income back to the church. The money is used for people in need, church maintenance, and to build new buildings.

Landon slept through our meeting and the cool object lesson the bishop shared with the kids. After he talked about faith and trust, he brought out a potted plant and a spoon. He asked the kids if they trusted him to eat a spoonful of dirt. They both declined. He then explained how our Father in Heaven sometimes asks us to do things that we don’t understand. He explained that we should always trust the Lord and have faith in Him, because He always has our best interest in mind.

He told the kids that the plant was fake and the ‘dirt’ was actually smashed Oreos. Carter lunged for a spoonful, but Eden passed again. It was evident by Carter’s smile and offer to have seconds that the ‘soil’ was indeed sweet. It is such a humbling thought to know that we can give a little back to the Lord, where all our blessings have come from! How SWEET!

SNoW & mOre SnOW!

We got all decked out to go sledding this morning. Mel and Steve took us to this awesome hill. To be honest, I was a little nervous…for my kids of course. It had been a long time since I went sledding, and I was sure I had never been to a hill that steep. I kept thinking as I watched kids flying down all around me that I could do it if they could. I was surprising myself- I am usually the thrill seeking type!

I think it was the story that was fresh in my mind of my newlywed parents going sledding. They were with a group and got cruisin’ so fast that mom broke from the group and slid the rest of the way down the hill on her face. A trip to the emergency room later and after my dad’s description of her sweet face looking like ‘hamburger’, Mom realized it would be months before she would look the same. I would venture to guess she hasn’t been sledding since.

I pushed away the vision of ground beef and pushed myself down. It was awesome! Once more down and I was a sledding fool. I couldn’t wait to try the different types of sleds, but after a couple of times back up the hill I was sucking wind. Did I mention it was a really big hill?

Since my perfect body is in perfect shape, I am sure it was my dad’s borrowed parka that was slowing me down. I wasn’t willing to take that off and get hives, so I had to mentally prepare myself to suck it up- ok, suck wind.

Before I had a chance to plan our next run, Landon waddled over to me and told me he was cold. Being the responsible mother that I am, I went on a search for snow clothes in Texas before we left for Utah. I bought some on sale for Landon, but later found out that 'snow' clothes in Texas don’t quite cut it for the real snow of Utah. The poor kid was freezing. We got to spend the next hour watching everyone else from the car, but we were warm. Everyone had a blast!

We caravanned to Park City to spend the evening with the Nichols in their beautiful new home. They were my second parents growing up, and their kids are some of my family's best friends. It was the first time we were able to spend time together in YEARS and relive some memories. It was so much fun!

They haven’t changed at all- especially Tanner. His wife, Katie, was telling us about his latest white elephant gift: His Pet Fart. Yes, Tanner proudly kept a log of his cuisine and jarred all his gas. In case you were wondering, yes it does work IF you use the jar with a rubber seal AND yes, he still is my friend. Some things never change!

Paige made some yummy tortilla soup, and they asked us to bring dessert.

Here is the apple cake recipe that I made. It got rave reviews:

Apple Brown Betty

Courtesy of: Jill Parkinson

Cake:

1 c. sugar

1 egg

½ C chopped nuts

1 C flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. salt

¼ C butter

2 C. shredded apples

1 tsp. soda

1 tsp. nutmeg

Cream sugar and butter. Add egg and beat well. Add apples and remaining ingredients. Bake in a 9x9” pan, well greased and floured at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until done.

Sauce:

½ C butter

1 C sugar

1 C evaporated milk

1 ½ tsp. vanilla

Combine in a saucepan and stir constantly over low heat until thickened. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Serve cake in individual pieces. Pour sauce over cake. Optional: Top with whipped cream.

As if our Christmas wasn't Merry enough!

We LOVED getting to visit with Damian’s Grandma today. She is one of the most genuine people I have ever met. Her love for her family has always been obvious to me, since the very first time we met. I know it must have been a difficult Christmas for her since she lost her sweetheart last summer. We talked to her about how she was doing and she gave some really sweet advice. She told Damian and me, “Never take for granted that you have each other.”

When Damian and I met, he was living with his grandparents. He was able to help around the house and the yard, in exchange for rent (although I am sure his grandparents never would have accepted any money to have their eldest and most favorite grandson live with them). I am also positive that he received much more love and wisdom than any amount of labor he could have provided them. They are both such wonderful people!

Grandma has always been so kind to me and has treated me like family from the beginning. (Even if she kept the picture up of Damian’s ex-girlfriend on their wall until just a couple of years ago…I am sure she just forgot it was there, right?) She was more than willing to let me ‘heart attack’ Damian’s room with 101 reasons why I loved him, and she is the one that helped Damian pack a picnic dinner the night he took me to Whiskey Springs to ask me to marry him. It was even in Grandma and Grandpa’s house, after spilling five gallons of white paint on their brown shag carpet, that Damian and I decided that we should get married.

After Grandma loaded us all up with hugs, cookies and clementines, we broke off a souvenir two foot icicle from her garage and said our goodbyes. We headed a few miles down the road to visit Uncle Bean and Aunt Ruth. They are renting a huge beautiful house that the kids made the most of as they ran from room to room finding all their stashed candy. Jeff and Ruth are cute! They are so happy together. We had a great time chatting with them and Julie when she stopped by. Bean and Ruth, we owe you some candy canes and M&M’s and it is a great thing you don't have any downstairs neighbors!

What a

blessing

it is to have

family

that you really

love

and enjoy

spending time with!

Being tagged makes me feel so cool! Thanks, McCall!

Before I do my taggy thingy, I was watching Oprah and found this freebie I thought I would share. It is a free book from Shutterfly, but you have to log onto the website before midnight Friday and complete your book by this Sunday. It’s a stretch, but $30 for free if you can swing it!

List of 8s

(and did you know that was my lucky#?)

8 T.V. Shows I Watch:

• The Office
• One Tree Hill
• Oprah
• Fox News
• American Idol
• Everybody Loves Raymond
  
• The Bachelor
• Anything on TLC, HGTV, or Food Network (Have you seen Ace of Cakes?)
  

8 Things I did yesterday:

• Pretended to sell Landon as a sack of potatoes and then squished him flat to sell him as a tortilla.
• Added spinach to our smoothies
• Visited Laura M and was inspired by Andrea’s message on how we can be uplifted by serving others, especially our families. We were talking about how easy it is to feel like a servant for your family instead of being eager to provide service for them.
• Made a chef’s salad for dinner and thought of it as ‘serving’ my kids
• Did Kenpo X
• Took a nap with Carter
• Got mad at my kids for scraping the paint off the wall
• Bought groceries with Landon while Carter played at Monica’s

8 Places I love to Eat:

• PF Changs
• Pei Wei
• Café Red Onion
• Panera Bread
• IHOP
• Lupe Tortilla
• In the pantry with the door closed (if I am being naughty)
• Sitting- it doesn’t happen very often!

8 Things I'm looking forward to:

• Going to visit my mom
• Damian coming home on Friday
• Damian finishing his MBA in May
• Breakfast in the morning…my new rule: no eating after 8 pm. Does it count if I wait til midnight?
• Celebrating our 10 year anniversary with my handsome hubby
• Christmas with my family in Utah
• The release of the Twilight movie
• Making a workout playlist and adding songs onto my iPhone

8 Reasons I am looking forward to Damian finishing his MBA:

• I think I remember him being really good looking
• My kids cry for him on his school nights
• I want to cry (or scream, or leave the house, or eat chocolate, or curl into the fetal position) when they cry
• For my list of honey do’s to be crossed off: the leaky shower, broken toilet seat, paint touch ups, 3 smoke detectors broken, remedy terrible grass, drive the ants away, fix boys train table, paint my studio...
• So we can have our garden again
• I can have help at bedtime
• Our home is a much happier and mostest funnerest place when he is around
• He will be content with his new found knowledge and skill, which will lead him down the perfect career path for him…and for me…that doesn’t involve lots of travel… and anymore school!

8 People I tag (oh and you don't have to do the looking forward to Damian getting his MBA if you don't want to):

Anyone who wants to, but I challenge:

• Linds
• Jen
• Julie
• Ruth
• Dirt
• Becky
• Mimi
• Stephanie

The future is...sTinKy?

Every Wednesday and Saturday, no matter where the boys are in the house, as soon as they hear the garbage truck round the corner they bolt out the front door. They are anxious to greet the guys who have the best job on the planet. Carter and Landon closely inspect every movement the garbage men make, running from one side of the truck to the other to get the best view.

Over the last couple of years, they have developed quite a friendship with our garbage men. They used to just stand there mesmerized, but now they smile the whole time, say “Hola!” and other broken Spanish in return, and ask to follow them down the street. Apparently garbage men have been really cool for a long time because Damian remembers he and his brothers following the truck down the street on their big wheels.

They are nice garbage men, and I am sure that having a fan club helps make the task a little lighter. We even receive benefits of their friendship besides the bi-weekly entertainment. They are more than willing to go out of their way with all of our garbage needs. After hurricane Ike, they took our huge pile of debris and left everyone else’s for a third party disposal company to collect. Or the time we put our old gas grill out just to see if they would take it. Gone.

I am glad our boys have goals of what they want to be when they get older. Maybe those goals will change as they grow, but if not, I know they will take the world’s waste management by storm and go down in the history books as the greatest garbage men ever.

On a less trashy note, Eden got her benchmark score. She was thrilled to run through the door from the bus and hand me the paper with a 100 on it! Benchmark is test that measures where the kids are compared to where they need to be when the take the state standardized test. Great job Eden!

Carter also had school news I’m proud to share. I had a phone conference with his teacher today. She told me that he was doing great. He seeks out other kids to play with, has a good vocabulary, interacts well with the teachers, is intelligent and adds insight to activities (that one I found a wee bit scary). She said his favorite activity is building with blocks and bricks and that he would do it all day if she let him. Despite having to break him and Ben apart sometimes because they are busy talking and laughing, she said Carter is a delight to have in her class and she really enjoys him. A mother’s dream!

Kudos to my kiddos! I am so proud of you!

I scored! (no Dirt, not like that)

Becky offered to watch Landon for me while I ran to Costco. Wahoo! Both Landon and I were anxious to take her up on her offer. Thanks Beck! I raced to Costco, but when I was supposed to turn right I turned left and to make a long story short ended up at Linen’s N Things.

I think it was the bargains that pulled me there. I found my fair share today! We got the boys bunk beds a couple of weeks ago, and I have been debating about what to do about bedding. The boys wanted motorcycles, but I already have so much cowboy paraphernalia that I nixed that idea.

I found a bed in a bag that I liked, but it was only in King size. It was suede in 4 different browns. It just spoke to me. I thought that for the price of $35 it was worth buying just to have the 2 euro shams, 2 standard shams, and 2 decorative pillows. Then I had the bright idea that I could just cut the duvet cover in half and use the included bed skirt as a border to add a little width to the duvets. Genius! (Pictures to come, their room is currently a disaster.)

To top that off I found a large floor pillow that matched and t-shirt sheets in chocolate brown for $15 for the complete set. So, for a grand total of $85 I completely decked out the boys beds. Yes honey, that is a good deal. I couldn’t have bought fabric to make them myself for that cheap. Thank you Linen’s N Things, and I am so sorry you are closing. We have been good friends over my home furnishing years.

I continued on my high as I met Becky and the kids for lunch. The kids were fantastic. They were using their cracker bread sticks as swords, which provided great entertainment for all. When the boys were finished, Gavin asked me to hold his hand and take him potty. So cute. Of course Landon joined the potty party train as well that rushed into the tiny stall in a hurry.

They both had to go at the same time, so we ready-aim-fired into the same potty. Well, that was the plan anyways. Gav’s aim was a little off, and unfortunately for the woman in the stall next to us, he cleared the potty and made it all the way under the stall divider onto her feet. I have seen my fair share of peeing, but that was quite impressive. However, I am sure the lady wasn’t as impressed as I was. All I could do was apologize through the stall (that was while I tried to muffle my laughter.) I made sure we were occupied in the stall until she left. Ah, little boys are great.

Home Sweet Home

After a refreshing weekend away, it is good to be home! Last night when I came home late, I crawled in bed with each of the kids and just held them. They are so precious, and such a big part of me. As I laid there snuggled up to each of their sleeping little bodies whispering why I missed them, a stream of tears rushed out of nowhere. I was caught off guard while thinking how truly lucky I am to be blessed with the house full of kids and a wonderful patient husband.

The kids piled into bed with me this morning with huge smiles telling me about everything they got to do with daddy while I was gone. Those are the moments as a mother that I hope I will never forget. They were excited about getting to go to the school’s fall festival. They told me about kids night out at the Brady’s, church, jumping on the trampoline together, and going with daddy to school where they got to write on the board and watch a movie on his computer. What a great Daddy they have!

Damian left this morning for Amelia Island, Florida for the week. He sent us this picture of the view from his room with the caption ‘Wish you guys were here with me.’ Not a bad location to have a ‘work’ meeting, huh?

I realized before I left for my trip that there would only be 5 days the rest of the month that both of us would be home at the same time. I can’t believe November is so crazy. It’s going to be Christmas before I know it!

Girlfriends Getaway 2008

I have been blessed with some of the greatest friends! When we moved here 8 years ago, I found a group of the most charitable, talented, and fun women I had ever met. For some reason they loved and accepted me and everything that comes with that, for which I will forever be grateful! Despite some friends moving away and the rest of us not even seeing each other on a regular basis, we found the time for our annual girlfriends getaway.

This year, after Ike cancelled our cruise, we celebrated Kim’s 40^th and my 30^th with a long weekend at the Hyatt Hill Country in San Antonio. As with every other getaway, we had a great time together.

We relaxed,

got pampered,

ate yummy food,

lounged by the pool,

confessed,

laughed,

cried,

got advice,

gave advice,

exercised,

tried to bike,

strolled along the Riverwalk,

read mindless magazines,

played tennis,

shopped,

and stayed up til at least 2am every night to fit it all in.

I have so many stories I could share, BUT I will spare my girlfriends by sharing any details. Anyone who has been on a girlfriends trip knows rule#1: What happens on girlfriends getaway stays on girlfriends getaway! Thanks ladies for a marvelous birthday celebration and for your friendship. I desperately needed our getaway and look forward to the next. I love you!

My mom took a turn for the worse while I was in San Antonio. She had lots of complications that weren’t anticipated during her recovery. The most serious of which was her kidneys not functioning properly. Her blood pressure was so low they gave her 2 blood transfusions, she started getting pneumonia, had fluid in her lungs, had low oxygen levels, and was pretty incoherent for a while. It was a pretty scary time, but my mom is a tough woman! She pulled through like a champ, well that’s what my dad said. I am sure I will get the real story when I talk to my mama.

I am so glad I had friends around to cry with me and support me when all I wanted to do was catch the next flight out of town.

There is nothing like Girlfriends Getaway. I think the getting away part is huge, but the having the great girlfriends to get away with is crucial! One of our friends was able to go with us for the first time this year. She had to leave early for her son's 16th birthday party, but before she left she summed up our weekend in the note she left.

G is for...

Gavin! One of Landon’s best little buddies, who is also in his little ABC school group. Gav had a show and tell of some of his favorite things, and we filled out a sheet of fill in the blank questions. One of my favorite responses: “When I grow up I want to be a dad , so that I can take a shower.”

G is for Green means Go! We had red stop signs and green go circles and practiced stopping and going.

Garden! We made a flower garden page for their books and planted tomato plants for them to take home.

When I was researching online for G ideas I came across this website www.kiddiesgames.com.

Here are a couple of games and coloring pages I thought you might enjoy, and just so you know I don't expect you to use these. But if you do and you are bilingual, they are also available in French and Spanish. Enjoy!

"The following games practice fun concepts about left and right and colors, suitable for small children.

And with their beautiful happy images of breastfeeding babies, they also present more natural images of babies than what they may see in mainstream media or products.

KiddiesGames.com is making its small contribution to this situation by featuring breastfeeding games! Children will see breastfeeding in the decor of these games, as if it is a natural every day activity, which it is."

Dress The Breastfeeding Baby Learn and practise the names of colors. click here to play online coloring pages or try clicking here to play
		Breastfeeding Left And Right Learn and practise the notions of left and right.