HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY NATALIE!!!

Well as it turns out...sometimes June can end up getting what should've come in April! RAIN.
As I planned Natalie's Big 7th Birthday Carnival, I was worried that it was going to be TOO HOT, and NOT if it was going to get rained out.
I was a little frantic trying to figure out how I was going to hold a Carnival in my basement if the 40 percent chance of rain actually came. Thank goodness the weather held up for a couple of hours and we got to have the Carnival outside.
The party was a blast, the kids enjoyed themselves and I got to send them all home hyped-up on Snow Cones, Popcorn, Cotton Candy, Cupcake and Ice Cream. Hee hee.
The 40 percent chance of rain DID finally wind up coming, in the way of a monsoon, about 20 minutes after everyone had gone home. WHEW! Somebody was watching out for us.

Take a look at all the festivities!

I've been inspired!

June 3, 2009

It's quite funny actually, how the simplest things can inspire me to do something I'm neither educated in, or really good at!

I've had this idea for a while about writing a book (in the Bridget Jones diary sort of way) except about a mormon girl...now I know you are probably thinking "Oh how boring." But ever since I was in the Young Women's Presidency at our old ward, I've cracked up at how funny these teenage mormon girls are. I'm currently in the YW's presidency at our new ward and I hadn't thought much about my book idea until I started reading these stinkin' hilarious books by an author named Louise Rennison. The first book in the series is called Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging. Yes I know it's quite funny. Anyway there are like 9 books in the series and they are about a teenage girl in England named Georgia Nicolson,  just going through her day to day life, dreaming about the Robbie (the Sex God) and learning how to Snog (kiss). These books have inspired me to take notes at church on Sundays, or at Wednesday night activities, and possibly start this so-called book. 

Now mind you I have NO education or experience in writing-unless you count Ms. Anderson's Creative Writing class in High School-nor do I think I have a talent for writing, but sometimes I sit at the computer and will write down things/ideas that come to my mind...the whole point of it though is to really just get it out of my head 'cause I've got a lot going on up there (I know, shocking). Anyway I'm hoping that just by listening and taking notes of these girls, I don't have to do much work at all. Kerching!

Of course if my hubby or Amanda read this they would probably tisk at me since they are writers and I'm inadvertently making a mokery of their art. Of course it was Amanda who got me started reading the Georgia Nicolson books in the first place, so it's all her fault!

Anyway, if anyone has some funny teenage, mormony stories they would like to share send them my way and I'll add them in.

Well it's that time of year again...

The big dance recital!
May 30, 2009

Natalie had two dances at this recital. Her "Shrek" dance (which she did at the Christmas recital), and "Mama I'm a Big Girl Now" (which they did in their tap shoes). It was a lot of fun to watch how Natalie's progressed and gotten a lot better. She loves to dance! 

The recital also had, not only other dancers from the studio, but also the Competition Teams perform their dances. Natalie loved to watch the big girls dance and her favorite was a dance called "Geek in the Pink" which had all the girls in blue school uniforms except for one who was in pink with glasses and the whole geek bit. It was cute. 

I loved a tap dance the older girls did to "Step in Time" from Mary Poppins. The costumes were black and they had chimney sweep brooms. It was awesome.

The recital lasted almost two and a half hours, which for Sam was way too long. He liked watching at first, but got tired of it real quick (oh he's such a BOY). 

All in all we had a great time and Natalie did such a good job.

Daddy Daughter Campout!

Q: What do most people do over Memorial Day Weekend?
A: They camp of course.
And in honor of campers everywhere Brandon and Natalie did some camping of their own...in the back yard!

We set up the tent on Friday night and Brandon and Natalie hauled all of their gear out there and snuggled together only filling a tiny portion of the 6-8 man tent.

They watched Beauty and the Beast on the portable DVD player, until the battery died, then it was off to bed.

I stayed in the house with Sam this time, but when it comes to camping...I think I can handle sleeping in a tent in the back yard, it's close to the bathroom, there isn't too much stuff to haul, and my favorite...Access to Electricity.

WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?

Friday May 15, 2009
Those are the words that frequent my mouth many times a day. And those are the only words I can come up with to describe BOYS!
Sam NEVER stops moving...and I HAVE to be losing some weight with all the chasing him around I'm doing. SHEESH!
These are some of the "places" we have found him.

He must've thought I meant THAT tub!

He really gets "into" cleaning out the drawers.

Yes, he has "BIN" busy.

And on occasion, he'll just climb up on the couch to watch T.V. 

(where he'll sit for a few minutes at least)

I never would've imagined that Sam would be so different from Natalie. I am trying to gear myself up NOW for the first trip to the ER, after he falls and breaks something. 

For all of you who are raising multiple boys...WOW! And to those who have RAISED multiple boys without either you killing them or vise-versa...I bow to you for you are the QUEEN.

I only have one, and I think he's enough!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Sunday May 10, 2009
Yes Happy Mom's Day to one and all (if you are a Mom that is).

4 Generations

I feel pretty lucky, I got to celebrate Mother's Day early this year. Last Saturday my Oma, my Mom, Natalie and I all went to the Annual Poplar Grove Ward Mother's and Daughters Banquet. This thing has been going on since like 1949 or something and it is a HUGE deal. The women in the ward get together and just have a wonderful night for Moms and Daughters. When I was in YW's we did some of the funnest skits and had awesome themes, it was a blast. Anyway I had a nice Young Man (yes the YM get roped into helping out too) take our picture. Don't we all look so cute (well except Natalie's not smiling-hmmm)? She wasn't even grumpy. Sometimes I think she does it on purpose.

*  *  *  *  *

Now here comes the part where I tell you NOT to be jealous, and that I sometimes can be super crafty (if I read enough blogs where my friends have gone all gung-ho and made the cutest things). Anyway I decided that for Mother's Day I wanted to make my Mom and Mother-in-law Aprons. Why aprons? Well, my mom is ALWAYS feeding us on Sundays (and other times too) so she got the Kitchen Apron.

Cute Right? YES, that IS a pocket.

And My Mother-in-law is A-MAZING outdoors so she got the Garden Apron. 

Won't the neighbor ladies be jealous?

Both turned out so stinkin' cute, if I can totally brag for a moment. I think I might be on to something. The only problem...the lack of time I have for making these adorable little accessories. The only reason I had a moment this week was because my parents AND grandma were out of town so I had no one to watch Sam and didn't go to work. WOW it's crazy what you can get done when you are at home all day. OH, the dishes...hmmm well....I was going to do them. Hee hee.

(We've got TREK in a couple of months, maybe I'll use my apron-making skills again. I'll be the hippest pioneer woman out there)!

37.32

May 2, 2009

Rain is falling all around us, but you can't tell how wet we are in this pic.

Okay so it's not "RECORD" time or anything, but it's MY time. Yes I finally ran a 5K. Today in the rain. And it was AWESOME! My friend, and neighbor (and Twilight movie buddy) Lisa invited me to run the LAW DAY RUN with her and her cute family. 

The run took place up at the U campus, and if anyone has ever even had a class up there, you know how those "hills" can be, so imagine running that. We didn't RUN the whole thing but I think we probably ran at least 2 1/2 miles (mostly the down-hill parts) we hoped to make it in under 30 minutes but I'm excited that we made it under 40. If we would've run up the hills we probably could've made it in 30, but that's a GOAL for the next one! As for the rain...it was so much fun to run in, and then we stopped and realized REALLY how wet and cold we were. 

Lisa's brother's Law Firm TRASKBRITT bought everyone breakfast at The Oasis Cafe when everyone was done. It was SO good after quite a work out!

Thanks Barrett family for letting me be a part of you family today!