One Month of Summer - Gone!?!

June is over and done with. 

This fact created a little bit of panic with my children....it means one month of Summer down, only two(ish) to go. 

[In case my kids accuse us of "not doing anything"] Here's what's happened:

Matt's Birthday!

Family Vacation to Aruba!

Big Brothers torturing loving on little sisters!

Band aids....lots of band aids!

 Cousins!

Father's Day!

{Artists: Haylee, Katelyn, & Brookelle}

The Official First-Day-of-Summer celebration!

....complete with ice cream for dinner 

and opening a present (Summer-y wardrobe additions).

Swim lessons for Brookelle!

(she's in the blue swimsuit, furthest away in the photo)


Kyle attended a "Family History" themed Youth Conference with our ward the 25th-27th and had a great experience.

He also got to "sky dive" (iFly) as part of their Super Activity.  ;)

Scout day camps for Matt (in charge of the 11 yr. old scouts) & I (in charge of Bears cub scouts) up Millcreek Canyon in East Salt Lake City.

{view from the hike}

Our family went to this production of "Savior of the World"

Ladies Bear Lake Getaway!

{meanwhile the kids had a blast at home without mom making them to do their chores ;)}

I also found out that applying sunscreen to mostly the front of your legs, and hardly on the back, 

then floating on a raft (laying on my tummy) for two hours on the lake DOES NOT provide adequate protection...and it not a good idea!

Can you say BEET RED?

Can you say extremely painful to sit down - or walk?

Can you say half a bottle of Aloe Vera gel used in 3 days?

(Incidentally, the gel caused my clothes to stick to it, then I had to RIP it off my burnt skin - OUCH!!!)

Of Course it Happened That Way

Probably for my first time EVER, I did not dread Mother's Day!  This year, there was actually something to look forward to.
It's because Mother's Day is ONE of the two-times-a-year that missionaries are allowed to call home!!! :)
Christmas is the other day that they are allowed to call.  And last Christmas, Ryan informed us he'd be calling at a certain time.....and then we waited 3 HOURS until he actually did! (When they are at someone else's house, they have to wait until they can set them up on their device - and if they're busy making dinner, it isn't a good time to ask for help, etc.)
So....we were kind of suspecting that his Mother's Day call would be the same; we took the time he told us, then added 1+ hours.

With this theory in mind, we had our children stay at church for Primary.  It is tradition in our ward that the Youth take over teaching/leading/directing the Primary children on Mother's Day, so all the usual Primary workers (many women) have the "day off" and can attend the adult classes in church that day.  Well, Kyle & Haylee got assigned to sit with and teach Brookelle's class.  They were so excited!  Especially Brookelle! 
Kyle & Haylee planned together.
They divided up the sections of the lesson.
They studied the concepts and the scripture stories.
Haylee even put together a bag of props to use in the lesson.
AND they assigned their other helper to bring a treat for the class.
They were ALL set!

Meanwhile, Matt & I returned home, just for the odd chance that he called on time, and set the Skype up.
Before the time he said he'd call, I went upstairs to my bathroom to brush my hair and teeth and put on some lip gloss.....and lo, and behold, he called EARLY!!!
Only Matt was in the room when Ryan's face filled our TV screen.
Apparently, Matt started calling my name, but I can't hear a thing from anywhere else in the house when I am in my bathroom....so I didn't even know he was already on.
When I did come down the stairs, just on my own time (without knowing he was on yet), I heard voices.
This is what I overheard:
Ryan: "Hey, Dad!  How's it going?"
Matt: "Good."  And then....silence.  (Seriously, he said just one word....to our son who we haven't seen in real life for 8 1/2 months!?!?!) 
Ryan: [laughing out loud] "Oh, wow, Dad.  You're still not a man of many words."
Matt: "I need your mother!  Where is she, to help me out?"
(Then I enter the room)
Matt: "Oh, good!  Here she is!"
And then he sat back, and visibly relaxed, and mostly listened to the rest of the [1 hr. 40 min.] conversation!
Hahahahaha hahahahaha hahahaha.

Oh, and I texted Kyle that Ryan had called and to come home now, so he gave his Primary class over to another young man, gathered up his little sisters, and they ran home to see/talk to Ryan!

And they didn't even get to teach their Primary lesson!!!  :(
It's because they were actually prepared.
YOU KNOW if they would've just bagged the lesson, thinking they wouldn't have to teach it, Ryan's call would've come late again, and they'd been lookin' like idiots in front of the Primary children!!

So, the moral of the story....
When you're expecting/counting on something, it doesn't/won't happen.  (I told you my life is governed by Murphy's Law!)
When you're NOT expecting/counting on something, your expectations are EXCEEDED (in this case, an EARLY call).

*****************************
As another interesting side note about the day, my other teenager son started asking me to take a picture with him.
WHAT?!?
Since WHEN does he want to take pictures with me?
When I couldn't get to it right away, he kept pestering asking me to do it.
Finally, I obliged.

Turns out, he had an ulterior motive.
Our photo ended up on Instagram later that day.....just like A LOT of his friends & their moms pictures did.  He can't miss out on what "all the other kids are doing" now, can he?!?  ;)

P.S. Besides the Skype with our missionary, everyone made & cleaned up a fabulous breakfast & dinner (the menus of my choosing), the talks at church were done well, I got a gift I had been wanting for a long time, I had the opportunity to read my book (undisturbed while everyone else was busy), and we stayed home TOGETHER.
I think this was my BEST Mother's Day to date!  ;)
(Lest you think I'm now a different person with a new opinion [or that someone is impersonating me on this blog post].......under different circumstances, my previous recorded feelings about Mother's Day still stand.)  ;)

[Mis]Adventures in Fireworks

As a disclaimer, let me set the background:
I grew up going to a BIG fireworks show every year to celebrate the 4th of July.  'BIG' as in Professional. Spectacular.  Awe-inspiring.  Impressive.  "Whoa!" exclamations inducing.  Large-scale display of fireworks.
That's the way it is when your uncle owns a fireworks company!  (As in he makes the fireworks himself, dons the fireproof suit and sets off the fireworks for the show himself, some years with the help of my aunt, in a football stadium at the USU campus!)

So, with THAT to compare to, I have always thought the store bought "fireworks" (If you can even call them that) were on the boring side.  BUT, these days, what used to be illegal is now for sale to the public, so the quality of "at-home" fireworks is improving -- slightly.

So, this year, it was announced that a 4th of July shindig was going to be held on the 3rd in our cul-de-sac for the entire neighborhood.  It was scheduled on the same night as the above mentioned fireworks tradition, but we opted to stay home and join in our local party this year.  We all brought food to eat and contributed about 10 bucks towards fireworks that someone purchased in our behalf.

We ate first, and were sitting around visiting until dark so we could start the fireworks......
at least that was how I THOUGHT it goes....
UNLESS the toddler-age crowd (who have an early bedtime?) is quite numerous amongst the group...
and then they start them at 8:20 p.m. when it is still light outside. 

Huh?!?   I've never experienced THAT.

This is how it went.

You'd hear the noise/boom.
You'd look up, following the fire ball up with your eyes.
You'd only see blue sky, and lose sight of the fire ball.
Then you'd see the ash &/or cardboard packaging debris fall back down to the ground.
No lights.
No colors.
No "flowers of fire" (that's how the Japanese word for "firework" [hanabi] translates into English, cool visual, huh?!?)
Repeat.  Repeat.  Repeat.
Until all $200 worth of fireworks were all gone.
(Not the wisest use of money if you'd ask me -- but no one did!  haha)

So, on the actual 4th of July, Matt's family got some fireworks and came to our home to set them off since they aren't banned where we live.....BUT, we insisted they wait until DARK so as not to deja vous the night before.
We started out with smaller ones, and then moved towards the bigger ones as the night went on.
What was cool was that neighboring streets were setting them off, too, so we had our pick of displays to view.
We kept telling the kids to stay back on the grass and out of the road, but listening is not always their best attribute.....!
Along comes one of the bigger-ish fireworks and when it was set off, it did not seem to shoot up very high in the sky and the fire & lights were going off too LOW in my [semi-professional] opinion.  So, my survival instinct kicked in and I yelled, "Everybody get outta there!" (maybe a little unnecessarily?) and my outburst was followed by kids [actually listening!] running out of the road and my nephew literally leaping over the neighbor's fence!  (That was pretty admirable)
Then our neighbors drove into the cul-de-sac, returning home, so we took a break until their car was parked before starting up again.
For the "grand finale" we were setting off one that boasted 16 shots!
But, when it was set off, only about 5 went off, and it was kinda an anti-climatic ending to the 4th.
We were hanging around on the front lawn chatting for a while longer, not paying much attention to Matt's brother WHO WAS NOT SATISFIED with only getting 5/16 bang for his buck and was out there pretty much trying to dissect the dysfunctional firework and re-lighting it multiple times...... 
When all of sudden, mid-conversation, we hear a series of BOOMs and look up to see Matt's bro & dad running away from the firework as explosions started lighting up the cul-de-sac (it looked like slow motion running to me.)
Again, I screamed, "Hurry!  Get away!"  (but this time, NOT unnecessarily!)
THEN, the firework started going off sideways!!!
Right in the direction of our neighbors who had just returned home and were standing in their garage, emptying the trunk, just moments before!!!!
I had flashes of nightmare involving bushes, grass, & houses catching fire cross my mind.
(I think multiple people started screaming now!)
We were all thinking, Where's the next sideways shot going?  Towards OUR home and the 27 people?
Then almost simultaneously, we all got up and starting running for cover to the side and back of the house.

It was a reenactment of The Blob movie

Who needs Phoenixville, PA, we can do it right here in Farmington, too!

That's one way to clear a crowd, I tell ya - eveyone was gone within minutes of that!

It was very unsettling.

When I had sufficiently WATERED all remaining pieces of the fireworks, I was finally able to go inside to bed.

Hopefully, I can get my fireworks "fix" next week at Farmington Festival Days....my craving has yet to be satisfied this year!

One A Day: This MONTH'S Gratitude List

I decided to write one thing in my "Gratitude Journal" - a challenge that was given to everyone in our Young Women organization - on my blog this whole month.  (Except I ended up writing Two-A-Day during the actual Thanksgiving holiday weekend - it was too hard to limit myself.)

Here's the list in it's entirety.
{taken from the sidebar}

1. a DAY OFF school & waking up early!

2. a sweet Primary president who is looking out for Haylee (& her recent Celiac Disease diagnosis) who sent me home with a gluten-free snack for her

3. a ceiling fan...when I am feverish and overheating

4. Katelyn! She was so EXCITED and QUICK to THANK when opening bday gifts today

5. a friend called to see if she could run any errands for me because Miss B & I are sick

6. my husband brings me medication and Vick's - at 1:30 AM - while I lay in bed!

7. Cowboy Dinner

8. Warm-ish, pleasant weather in Park City for our shopping trip this year

9. I finished 3 of my main Christmas shopping lists!

10. better participation & discussion from YW in lesson today

11. I got to spend most of the day with Matt due to him having the day off work with Veteran's Day

12. a good-hearted, in tune, attentive Mia Maid advisor

13. successful YWIE - the YW who spoke did a great job by bringing The Spirit!

14. prayers were answered with our out-of-gas-on-the-freeway "fiasco" today!

15. The MTC Experience for my sons - they were high on The Spirit when they got home!

16. our friends, The Lacy's (they agreed to go out with us!)

17. my Visiting Teachers both came

18. Haylee said she liked dinner - and asked for more!

19. our home - it "works" for our family!

20. two of my YW totally planned & executed mutual

21. I can (& did) go to the temple during Kindergarten

22. a refund check from the Insurance company!

23. inspiration received from the messages of Hilary Weeks and S. Michael Wilcox at TOFW

24. my family was ON TIME to church!

25. Google

26. my supervisor eavesdropped in on a call when I happened to do/say everything right! ;)

27a. There's now a Costa Vida to eat at the halfway point on the drive down to St. George!
27b. kind, generous, (& brave) neighbors of my parents who let my family stay in THEIR house while they were out of town for the long Thanksgiving weekend!

28a. sun & warmth during my walk around the "turkey bowl" track
28b. my neice went "black Friday" (really on Thurs. night) shopping with me

29a. Matt got to baptized & confirm me in the St. George temple Baptistry - a 1st for us! (There was a total of 14 of us in attendance, including my 2 sons, from my extended family.)
29b. shakes at Iceberg ["on the house"] after our temple outing - thanks Papa!

30a. time to visit with and enjoy the company of my cousins & aunts/uncles who I hardly ever get to see.
30b. we returned home to a CLEAN house at 11:15 PM - thanks to me insisting all "Saturday" jobs were done on Wednesday before we left - it felt so good!

November 2013

Anti-Girly Girl

I was SOOOO excited to finally get my first girl when Haylee was born 11 1/2 years ago.  There was WAY TOO MUCH testosterone floating around our home and I was the lone female in the middle of it up until  that time.

Yes.  She is a girl.  As in female.  But, by NO MEANS is she "girly."  In fact, she is turned off by all girlyness.

(although, like all three of my daughters, she DID go through a "dresses only" wearing stage around age 3.)

She still can not believe she wore them.

But I've got proof!  ;)

But that was THEN, this is NOW:

She STILL has never worn the pink jeans I gave her as a Christmas gift last year.

She NEVER wants to get her ears pierced.

She hopes she remains relatively {ahem} "flat."

I know she is like this.  But this latest thing she did really left me shaking my head, dumbfounded.

One thing she for sure is decided about is that she doesn't like to wear make up!  In fact, she has REFUSED - even for her dance recitals when it was strongly recommended by her teacher.

Case in point:

 And this was taken in the darkened auditorium....BUT the stage lights really wash the color out of their faces even more.

Here's one where you can see the comparison to her sister, who is 2 1/2 years younger, and is pleased to wear it, but not Haylee.

But that was like 4 years ago - she quit dance, too - it wasn't worth the fight.....AGAIN, it was too "girly".....she had to wear tights and stuff!!

So, most recently.....like yesterday, Haylee had decided she wanted to dress up like a "Hobo" for Halloween.  She was asking me what we would need to pull this costume together.  I told her we could put brown make up on her face to make her look dirty.

"WHAT?!?" she shrieked.

"Yeah, they have dirty faces.  It's just dressing up - a disguise - it's not who you REALLY are."  I tried to reason.  (Tried being the operative word there.)

"NO WAY!!" she protested.

"Then you won't even look like a Hobo," I informed her.

"Why can't I just put REAL dirt on my face?" she challenged back.

{huh?}  Me, silent, mouth open, trying to make sense of that.

"I can get some dirt right in our back yard!" she pleaded her case.

"So, you would rather rub your face in DIRT than wear make up?" I inquired.

"HECK YEAH!" she grinned.

{WHATEVER!!!}

So, that's exactly what she did.  She went and got dirt out of our still-flowerless-flower beds and applied it onto her face!

Complete with a little {real} dirt clod stuck to the side of her nose there.

AND....she just didn't "quite feel like" changing back into her regular clothes after the Halloween parade that she had taken to school .....so she just spent the rest of the school day in her very holey hobo jeans!!

I guess the "suitable" jeans she had packed were too "girly" after she got a taste of the grungy...?!?

This Weekend:

*I dug right in and made one of the recipes on my New Year's Resolutions
for Friday night "dinner"!   
^CHECK!^
 (Technically it's an "appetizer", but hey, it has meat in it, so it works, right!)

It did NOT disappoint.

In case you want to indulge, too:

"FAMOUS DIP"

1 lb. Italian sausage

3 tomatoes, diced

2 onions, chopped

2 bell peppers, chopped

8 oz. cream cheese

16 oz. sour cream

1 can diced green chilies

Cook sausage and onions, then add peppers, tomatoes and green chilies.
When peppers and onions are cooked, add cream cheese and sour cream and
simmer for about 10 minutes.  Keep warm and serve with tortilla chips.

(I didn't have enough tomatoes or peppers on hand, so I used less, and it was STILL DELISH!)

*Went to Ryan's {first} Jr. Jazz basketball game

(the "official" 1st game got cancelled last Friday due to the snow storm and school closures)

I talked most of the time to a delightful young lady who came to watch Ryan & the boys.
It turns out she is the daughter of one of MY High School classmates -
 from all those years ago at good ol' BHS.

{Small World}

*I worked most the day on Saturday -- 9 HOURS!!

(I traded a lot of crewmembers for a [hopeful] upcoming vacation!)

*DATE NIGHT here. 

We thought we'd try it out since it was new to our area -- AND we had a coupon.

It was one of those "Mystery coupons" where you don't know the value 

(anywhere between $5.00-$100.00) until your waitress "reveals" it.

Of course, ours was just $5.00.

The food was good, but their "side" of fries was WAY TOO SMALL.

It was also a bit of stimuli overload.
In our little section of the restaurant (about 9 tables), there were 10 TV's -
 all different sizes, all playing a different station.

*We also went to Dollar Tree to do a little shopping.  (VERY romantic part of date night - haha!)

I specifically wanted to get more CREAMY PETROLEUM JELLY,
and I've only seen it at this location.....and I bought the last 4 tubes off the shelf! 

It's working great on all of our dry skin/hands this Winter.

And, of course, we ended up with about a dozen other random things in our cart, too.

Hey, it's ALL a dollar!  :)

*And because it was soooo COLD outside, ice cream was NOT a good dessert option,
so we went for doughnuts at Bowman's instead.
They are half-price after 7 or 8 'o clock every night.  SCORE!

*Went to CHURCH on Sunday

We are on the new 9:00a.m. schedule for 2013 which has become my favorite time!

My Mia Maid Advisor gave a great lesson to our Young Women about
getting to KNOW Heavenly Father through prayer,
referencing THIS TALK from Elder Richard G. Scott and showing THIS VIDEO.

It. Was. Fabulous.

{and heartfelt}

I think with the new curriculum for youth, "Come Follow Me", we will have more opportunities
to feel The Spirit in our Sunday classes as we share & testify together.  I am excited.

*Meetings after church

* Made School Lunch Peanut Butter Fingers 

for dessert to take to my In-Laws for [3rd Sunday] Dinner & FHE.

Matt said this recipe was SPOT ON to what he remembers from his school days......

and that I should ditch my other recipes I HAD BEEN making the last 19 years!  ;)

*I had time for a 50 minute nap!

*Went to Grandma & Grandpa Brenchley's with 3 other families of cousins!

{We hardly see the children}

*MONDAY = MLK Day

No school.  No Work.

*I slept in....until 7:30ish - how sad!!  Since WHEN did THAT become "sleeping in"?

*I called from my cell phone in my bedroom down to the kids on the home phone
and ordered "breakfast in bed."  This has become kind of a tradition on "Days Off."

They brought us eggs with bacon bits, L'il Smokies, Peanut Butter Crunch (for Matt), & Sunny D.

They wanted to do scones, too, but Matt didn't trust them
on that "high danger" type of cooking...

so he made them for us later as "brunch."

*Went to lunch with Matt at Cafe Rio

then went clearance shopping at T.J.Maxx & Shopko next door.

{the signs on their windows and ads lured us in!}

*Took the whole family Bowling.

I definitely SUCKED IT UP!
BUT after EIGHT straight 0's, I rolled a STRIKE to end the game!

Matt finished first, Katelyn second.

Ryan blamed his performance on a sprained thumb (from a church ball "incident".)
Kyle blamed his on a bum knee (from crawling up the stairs pretending to be a gorilla!)

Our good friends, the Knudsen's, showed up at the same bowling alley right after us -
totally UNplanned - but we got to hang with them a bit, so it was fun.

*Went to dinner at Wendy's afterwards.  (Kid's Choice, obviously)

The newly remodeled/renovated Wendy's has this big, turbo drink machine
that makes like 60 different kinds of drinks!  

It's all touch-screen, too.  I push SPRITE, for example, and THEN,
I not only have the choice of SPRITE,
but also Peach Sprite, Grape Sprite, Cherry Sprite, Raspberry Sprite, Orange Sprite, etc. etc....
and the same for SPRITE ZERO!  All with the touch of an "app."  

WOW.  We think we'll go on a date there just to get drinks one time
and then sit by the fireplace on their new couches and sip our 142 different concoctions --
then be UP all night peeing!  :)

It's the Day After Palm Sunday

Do you know what that means?
It means Lent is over.

I made it 40 days - and was 100% on my "No Candy" resolve.

Did I notice a difference? you ask?

Why Yes! (thanks for asking!) I got on the scale this morning......

AND it had changed by 5 pounds.....in the upward direction!

What the ???????????

So, if it doesn't even matter anyway..... I just went ahead and helped myself to a couple of Caramacs my in-laws just brought us back from Hawaii.

Lent Update

I'M STILL ON THE WAGON!!!

I've made it without candy for two weeks!
OH MY WORD - has it ONLY been 2 [lousy, slow] weeks?!?

Let's see... February 22nd to March 7th...
Yes, it has.

Now I'm eating SALAD for lunch [since Starburst isn't an option anymore]. Imagine that!

This morning, Haylee rubbed it in my face informed me that she STILL has candy from Valentine's Day.

And from Christmas. AND from Halloween!

Now wasn't that cruel of her?

But, I guess the "bright side" to that fact is:
with the current tornado-aftermath-like conditions of her bedroom,
I'd never be able to find it!

It's the Day Before Ash Wednesday

Do you know what that means?

It means I better enjoy THESE today while I can! Tomorrow it's SAYONARA!!!

It all started a couple of days ago when Kyle was looking at a calendar and stumped me with a question.
"Mom, what's 'Ash Wednesday?'"
"It's...uhh....uhh...something that means...uhh...something." (Don't let my intelligence make you too jealous!) :)
"The calendar says 'Ash Wednesday' is on February 22nd, same as Washington's birthday, what's it for?"
"I...uhh...think it has a relation to...uhh...Palm Sunday...maybe? But, Ash Wednesday comes before that day. I'm pretty sure it's got something to do with...uhh...a religion? Like...uhh...the Catholics observe 'Ash Wednesday' for...uhh....something?
{silence}
(This is most likely the moments when my son was pondering [and marveling] on the remarkable wealth of information his Mom has!)
[In an effort to redeem myself] "Here. Let's Google it!"

Enter Wikipedia.

Ash Wednesday, in the calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter. It can occur as early as February 4 or as late as March 10.

According to the canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus spent forty days fasting in the desert before the beginning of his public ministry, during which he endured temptation by Satan. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of this forty day liturgical period of prayer and fasting.

Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of adherents as a sign of mourning and repentance to God. The ashes used are typically gathered after the palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday are burned.

This practice is celebrated by Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and some Baptist denominations.

-------

OK - so I DID have some pieces of info correct - in those random ideas floating around in this head of mine. And for the record, people of a different religion than myself probably don't know what Fast Sunday or Dry Council Sunday or Tithing Settlement meeting is either! :)

Then I started telling Kyle about what I've heard about Lent - and all the things that I've heard people give up during that time. I told him people try to give up one of their "vices" because it has to be kind of a challenge. If it were easy, then it wouldn't be hard. For example: wine, cigarettes, cheese, T.V., swearing, porn, fast cars, bread, loose women, meat, texting, coffee, tea, desserts, salt, sugar, drugs, Barbies, American Idol, blue eye shadow, etc., etc.

Then I started thinking of some people I know who don't even belong to one of the religions that practice Lent, but they still try to give up something. (I told Kyle about someone we both know who gave of making baked goods during Lent.) They figure it's a good time to jump start better habits. It simply gives them a start date to actually DO what they've been saying they NEED to do for so long. PLUS, if it's too miserable, it just lasts 40 days. :)

Then my brother walked into the room, and upon hearing what we were talking about, he added to our riveting conversation by saying he thought 'Ash Wednesday' was also related to Mardi Gras - that it happened either after of before the 40 days. (We're all real fuzzy on our facts around here!)

So, we referenced Wikipedia again.

Sure enough - a nickname for Mardi Gras is "Fat Tuesday." (Which would be TODAY!) It's your LAST CHANCE to indulge in your vices before the fast!

Just look at this education I'm getting off the www!

{Kyle sat there taking it all in. Thinking, I just wanted a simple answer!}

And then I started thinking some more....

What would be difficult for me to give up?

It wasn't difficult at all for me to come up with my answer.

C.A.N.D.Y.

It's all about the candy!

And that's how I got to where I'm at right now. There's no time like the present! Right?!?

I'm giving up candy for Lent.

***Now, not to be confused with giving up sugar - I didn't say that. I said candy.***

Giving up sugar completely would be suicide! I gotta have such things as my Teriyaki Chicken, Honey Nut Cheerios, & Pimento spread.....(because those are the only other types of things I eat that have sugar in them. Yep. Uh huh!!) wink ;) wink ;)

But still......It's 40 whole days.

AAAUUUUUGH!

It's gonna be ugly.

{I'll understand if you don't want to even come near me!}

But, what's my mantra again? "I CAN DO HARD THINGS."

{dang!}

Happy Fat Tuesday, Y'all!!

My Husband Must Be on Pinterest OR Why My Husband is Awesome - Reason #368

...Because I woke up to this in my bedroom this morning! :)

A note on my bathroom mirror explained,
"25 balloons that describe what I Love about You!"
(and there were a few of my favorite candy bars attached to some - BONUS!)

I tried to get him to admit he had gotten the idea off of Pinterest - but he vehemently denied it! I was teasing him about this since, when I first signed up for Pinterest, I had to do it under HIS facebook account because I don't have one (and don't want one!) so his name and photo were showing up every time I "pinned" something. He was worried that "all these people" would think it was really him! I tried to assure him that "all those people" would probably figure it was ME! (right?!?) (I have recently been able to change the name, but haven't figured out how to change the photo.)

So, if he hasn't been wasting time gleaning inspiration on Pinterest, then this means he REALLY put TIME, THOUGHT, and PREPARATION into this Valentine's Day surprise!

Which I totally LOVE! :)

Lo, and Behold!

An old lady with a non-athletic looking body,
who is laden with foot/knee/hip/back ailments
went and got herself 3rd Place in the triathlon today, female age 30-49 division.

(And, for the record, it's totally not fair to be grouped together with those 30 yr. old young chicks!!!)

{Instead of trophies or ribbons, they gave out hard hats with your place printed on it -- because it's LABOR DAY -- ya get it?!?}

Kinda cute...and interesting, but definitely an addition to our costume box! :)

This should be a TESTAMENT to everyone....ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!

Breaking my Silence

Mother's Day has come and gone two previous times ('09 and '10) since I've had my blog and, though I've had many feelings & words that I could've shared and written, I did not. Every year, I thought about writing a "Mother's Day" post - I wanted to - but wasn't able to bring myself to do it. So far, I've always told myself, maybe next year. If this was my private journal, I'd have no problem writing it, but since others read it, this was one area I felt like I'd have to "edit" my true thoughts since it would surely bring judgement, disapproval, and loss-of-brownie-points (so to speak) from my readers.

Well, No more! THIS year is the year.

I've decided, IT'S MY BLOG AND I CAN CRY IF I WANT TO.....

**Stop reading now if you only like full of Malarkey beautiful, flowery, "THE BEST", favorable, uplifting accounts/opinions of Mother's Day. There are other blogs out there like that ~ which adds to my GUILT. (You've been warned.)**

The Reason? I despise Mother's Day.

There. I said it. It's the truth.

I guess I could end my post there, that about sums it up, but I'm NOT a gal of few words! :)

I LAUGH that it's even considered a "HOLIDAY." I KNOW that Motherhood is a thankless job, but I'm bugged that we PRETEND to "celebrate" Mothers when, instead, it makes us feel worse. Let's. just. don't.

Each year, I start to get anxious about it the week of Mother's Day. The dread starts to set in. And on Saturday (the day before Mother's Day), I can see a definite mood change in me. It shifts to the LOUSY end of the spectrum.

Mother's Day comes and I FEEL: Angry, Depressed, Guilty, Disappointed, Unacceptable, Discouraged, Inadequate, Under appreciated, a "lowlife", Unpleasant, Lacking, Self-Loathing.....a failure.
(And what's to LIKE about all of THAT?!?)

It used to start by me watching Talk Shows, Documentaries, or News Programs on T.V. the week leading up to Mother's Day, that would highlight certain mothers. People in America (family & friends) were "nominating" mothers who they believed were WONDERFUL and then these programs were telling her story, broadcasting a Tribute to the "winning" mothers. Well, of course, I was never featured on one of these shows (surprise, surprise) but it was obvious why -- I wasn't anything like those WONDERFUL mothers. There were stories of mothers taking in MANY Foster children or handicapped children into her loving home and giving them a great life. There were stories of mothers who died, and so then the oldest sister became the "Mom" and sacrificed and raised all the younger siblings. There were stories of mothers who literally saved the lives of her children in dramatic [physical, emotional, spiritual] ways. And there were stories of mothers who had "defied all odds" and survived abusive situations/terminal illness/financial destitution and mothered all on her own and raised delightful, successful children. Etc, etc, etc.
Tears would just be running down my face as I watched these shows because, YES, I was touched by those mothers' stories. BUT, at the same time, I knew that I didn't do ANY of those things myself....which blatantly brings to my attention: I am NOT a wonderful mother.
I finally quit watching those shows - it was too much torture for me.

Then there is church. The Sacrament Meeting talks are killers. I do acknowledge the tough job the Bishop has to creating a meeting that doesn't leave anyone out or make them feel bad. It seems in recent years, they have tried to select the speakers carefully (someone who is male or not a mother yet, so it doesn't ruin a woman's day even further by having to speak) but the content of the talk cannot always be controlled.
This one is THE WORST that I hear from the pulpit- it gets to me THE MOST:
My Mother NEVER yelled at her children [insert me slouching down lower in my pew as I think, Oh, I'm really good at it!]
But then there's also these:
My Mother was ALWAYS there for us - she came to every game/concert/recital/School Field Trip I ever had.
My Mother raised $1,500,000 for the American Cancer Society
My Mother taught me how to cook, sew, cut hair, do yoga, farm, change the oil on the car, can, start a business, paint, read by age 3, compose music, invest money, drive a stick shift, build a campfire, and WORK.

And then all the prayers in church are all "We're so thankful for our sweet, dear, kind mothers and women in our life. Please let them know how valuable, special, and priceless they are. Help us to give them the honor and respect they so deserve."
They seem too mushy and phony to me....those were the words I hear, but here's the actions I see: My Brood is still on the pew wiggling around, crying, complaining, kicking me....and then when it's time for the Primary Children to go up and sing to their mothers, I'll have one who will REFUSE to go up, or if they do go up, they stand up there without singing, sometimes hiding behind someone taller, or just laughing through the whole thing. NICE!
I know of some women who have quit going to church on Mother's Day. Although I always choose to go, I can actually understand their choice.

I also resent how my family spends all Saturday NIGHT (as if it's an afterthought) scrambling trying to get stuff for Mother's Day, which makes it so 1) We can't go out and do anything and 2) They're not able to find everything/anything at the last minute. It's sure a "testament" to how special they feel I am!

On Sunday morning, I'm the first one awake, thanks to my littlest one verbally requesting a diaper change from us. Everyone else is enjoying snoozing in late on Mother's Day. What is wrong with this picture? I ask myself. Even though I am starving, I don't eat because the kids might bring me breakfast in bed. So, I wait....all the while wondering if we're going to be able to get ready for church in time. When the Brood does gather in the kitchen to put their collective efforts together for my Mother's Day breakfast, arguing/crying/tormenting/complaining ensues. And I hear, no less than 10X in the background, their father saying, "SSHHHH....Stop that, don't do that - it's Mother's Day!"

After church, I'm told to go in my room and "relax" - even take a nap and they'll take care of dinner. Only, that's kind of hard considering my door keeps opening by different members of my family (the adult & children alike) asking:
What do you want for dinner?
Where is the salt?
Do we have any lemon extract?
Can I used the limes in the fridge?
Are you going to make the rolls?
What are the measurements for Ranch dressing?
If it says "3 lemons" - does that mean 3 slices of lemon or 3 whole lemons?
How do you bake a baked potato?
What does "boil" mean?
Their preparation, knowledge, & skills make for a very "restful" afternoon for me, let me tell ya!

Everyone in the world TRIES to be all nice & lovey, but I think it feels FAKE.
For Example:
There's the obligatory Mother's Day phone call with my mother, when we hardly ever call each other on any regular day.
There's the Mother's Day "coupons" I get from my children, but when I try to "redeem" one, they are unwilling and resist. (I have dozens of these unused, null & void coupons)
I've witnessed that my husband and his brothers always give their Mom a hug and say "I love you" on Mother's Day, but they do not do that at any other time of the year.

The thing I want most for Mother's Day is for my family to do their jobs, be happy, obedient, & agreeable, don't fight, and to be on time to church ~ at least for that one day.

Is it too much to ask?

Apparently it is.
But, as learned from the talks at church, All that we are, we owe to our mother -- so it's all my fault anyway....and we get a special day devoted to reminding us of just that! Which returns me to my original statement. I despise Mother's Day.

This past Mother's Day, on numerous occasions, my girls declared things like; I can't wait until I'm a Mom! It'll be SOOO fun to be a Mom! Ohhh...Mom's are so lucky!
Their reasons? They can get breakfast in bed, a chocolate/caramel dipped pretzel rod as a gift from the church, and the presents - "just like having another birthday," they naively witnessed.

Ohhh....ignorance is BLISS, eh?!?

There. I did it. I finally put my feelings out there. End of rant.

Problem Child

Haylee had drawn this picture of our family on the back of a Mother's Day card she gave me yesterday.....

While admiring her artwork, I was going through the "checklist"
Dad
Mom
Ryan
Kyle
Haylee
Katelyn
Brookelle

But I couldn't account for the one extra "person" labeled with an "S" over the top of it.

My first thought was that she was being facetious and adding an extra child to our Brood (wishful thinking on her part!)

But then I noticed that this additional figure was ALL RED and had a POINTED TAIL....and then the "S" label clicked with me.

I gasped. "Do you think Satan is a part of our family???" I half choked, half wailed out.

The smug look on her face answered my question.

NO THANK YOU!

I'm a Mean Ol' Witch with a Hat...

I've had this Halloween decoration hanging on my wall at home this month.

Sometimes it looks like this....

And sometimes it looks like this...

I am not changing it.
I wonder who secretly IS?

And which member of my household they are referring to? :0

Mother's Day Scores

I was laughing so hard, I was crying at some of these gifts from my children...

From Haylee:

She drew this picture for me. She says it's Dad giving me flowers and he was CRYING so much (because he was happy) when he did. And then, my hair was sticking up because I was so surprised about the flowers. (Kind of like Linus' hair sticks up whenever the teacher talks to him on Charlie Brown!) She got those Brenchley ears right! :)

From Kyle:

This book of poems contained some good ones! My favorites:

MOM

My dear mom is good at walking

But she never stop's talking

MY SISTER'S ROOM

It's a really, really big mess

They never find their dress

There's everything you can think of on the ground

I think there's even a dog from the pound

From the Ward:

YUUMMM!

The Sunday School President is in charge of the "Mother's Day Gift," but I'm pretty sure his wife had everything to do with this year's gift! ;) Thanks, Steph!

From the Mr:

Looks like the hinting on my Blog paid off! ;)

Thank You Very Much!

Random Question of the Week

What are your Valentine's Day traditions?

Every year, I'm always wondering what I should do for Valentine's Day. I guess we have no "traditions." So far I've done something different each time - I suppose that's the "tradition" - does that count as one? I try things and then, because of the lack of extreme excitement or appreciation from my family I don't deem it worth the work/effort the following years. Is this another one of my "commitment issues?" This makes it harder on me since I have to keep "reinventing the wheel." Sometimes it's just too exhausting to be so creative!! :)

Here's what we've (I've) done in the past:

• Cherry Ju Ju Hearts
• CHOCOLATE - this tradition stems from when I was in Japan. February 14th is not called, "Valentine's Day," but is called "Girl's Day." The tradition is that GIRLS give chocolate to BOYS. There was chocolate EVERYTHING in the stores around this time. Chocolate shaped trucks, balls, houses, tennis rackets, money, beer cans, toilet paper, flags, fruit, Pokemon, baskets, etc. etc. But, don't worry...there was a "Boy's Day" later in the year (I think March?) to make things equal - but the boys gave girls toys or kites or something (Chocolate would be MUCH better!) So, I ALMOST always do the "Girl's Day" chocolate thing! But, I still don't stick to the same thing with this either, I try to think of a different chocolate idea every year - not as much to choose from in the USA!
• Make & decorate heart sugar cookies with frosting & sprinkles/candy. We do this a lot - but not EVERY year, so I still can't qualify it as a "tradition." This year? CHECK!
• Cherry Ju Ju Hearts
• Papa Murphy's heart-shaped pizza for dinner
• I even bought a baking pan that has 5 big heart shapes in it - one year I made brownies in it, decorated them & put one on a dessert plate for every one's place at the dinner table.
• Cherry Ju Ju Hearts
• Mandarin Take-out for dinner - we made sure to CALL right at 5:00PM to order! We put down a Valentine-y table cloth, sprinkled valentine confetti on the table and called it good!
• Make homemade Valentines with card stock, die cuts, glue, & stickers and then give them away.
• Cherry Ju Ju Hearts
• Eat off/drink from Valentine-themed paper products for dinner.
• Have a "red" dinner. All the food is red - strawberries, red punch, apples, red grapes, spaghetti, red jell-o, etc. I really am NOT fond of spaghetti & jell-o, though, (together or separate) so I didn't really like this one. What other red foods are there?
• Cherry Ju Ju Hearts
• Made chocolate-dipped Oreos, pressed valentine sprinkles/decorations into the chocolate & put in a sucker stick - gave some away & kept some for us.
• I put together treat/goodie bags (that have hearts or something valentine-ish printed on them) and put them at every one's place setting - another year I put them on their beds.
• Cherry Ju Ju Hearts
• I'll spare you the details of ways Matt & I celebrate...;D Come to think of it, that Very Sexy cologne from Victoria's Secret I fed his addiction with DOES have a purpose after all!! :)
• When I was young, I remember our doorbell ringing all evening on Valentine's Day. When we'd answer it, no one was there, but there'd be a valentine(s) on the porch. This was always fun to pick them up and see who they were for. Without fail, sometime during the evening, there would be a PILE of presents, wrapped in red or pink tissue paper & tied up with ribbon, on the front porch when we answered the doorbell. These were from a secret "Cupid." I was always excited for this part of Valentine's Day, even though it was usually a package of underwear or socks for myself & each of my siblings - it was NEVER treats, my mom thought candy was "of the devil." (Thus, my current status as a sugar-aholic!) The thing that was so magical about it was that we thought it was my Mom doing it, but when we'd answer the door and squeal in delight, she'd be walking up behind us asking, "What is it?" So how could it be her? Come to find out later...she was sneaky...in one of our houses, there was a porch that went across the entire front and one of the bedroom windows was there, too. She'd climb out the window, leave the presents on the porch, ring the doorbell, and run back to climb in the window before the door was answered, walk back down the hall and be behind us when we brought them in! In the next house, there was actually a door that went into the garage at the other end of the porch, so she'd just go in there & enter the house through another door. Even though I LOVED this so much, I just don't think my kids would be thrilled with underwear - I feel like it takes SO MUCH MORE to please them - what happened to the simple pleasures of "the good 'ol days?"
• Matt & I have sometimes gone out on a date, depending on the year. I remember one very well - Valentine's Day 1996, we went out to Chili's. I was DUE with Ryan on 2/15- the next day (but didn't end up having the 10 lb. baby until 2/25!) So, you can IMAGINE how HUGE I was. Well, the seating hostess girl takes us to a booth...with an immovable table & bench. And I did NOT fit! Yep, it's true, I could not even slide in. And she says, "Oh, whoops! I thought we had pretty big booths." What was that girl thinkin'?!? Note to any restaurant staff out there - do not put pregnant chicks in a booth! We had to be re-assigned to a table with [forgiving] chairs! This year? Not lookin' too good since I still have to work. :(

As you may have gathered, I'm very fond of Cherry Ju Ju Hearts - they have to be the Sweet's brand, though. But, if you don't get them early enough, they sell out and are no where to be found! So, again, not a "tradition" since some years I was unfortunate enough not to get them. This year? CHECK! I got them 4 weeks ago in St. George!

Anywhoo...I'm sure y'all have some good nuggets of Valentine's Day wisdom...and I ask you to share!! Otherwise I'll have to come up with "PLAN O" or keep using one of my "tried-once-or-twice-&-bagged-it" methods. But, I think I'm ready for a TRADITION! (subject to Family's reaction, of course!)