Donna's Daydreams and Deliberations

Things I Learned This Weekend

2011-11-02T15:27:00.001-06:00

This weekend Olaf and I went to a Halloween Party. It was thrown by our favorite DJ and we, on a whim one day, bought tickets. We haven't been to a Bar/Party since we've had kids. I learned a few things that I'd forgotten in the last 17 years.

Several days after I bought the tickets I looked at them. I quickly texted Olaf "The party doesn't even start until 9pm! In downtown SLC!" I had forgotten that nothing of consequence starts before 10pm in the Party World.
We tried to get there fashionably late but left early because with the highway construction you never know when they're going to shut the whole thing down and wind you through town, making your trip twice as long. Unfortunately we were on time. A big no-no in the Party World.
We weren't the only middle-aged, responsible, babysitter-at-home, type. We weren't even in the front of the line for the party.
They carded us at the door. I've never had my ID looked at with such scrutiny and I used to go out with my friends back in college (they needed a driver).
Once the doors opened we were faced with the possibility of actually hitting the Dance Floor. Something we were never good at before and a 17 year absence makes you feel even more insecure.
All we had to do was wait an hour for people to get good and drunk and then it didn't matter what we looked like on the dance floor.
There's No Smoking in bars anymore!
There are a lot of Boob Jobs out there, and they like to show their assets off to the world. Hence the costumes: Slutty Pirate, Skanky Cowgirl, Bad Angel, Delicious Devil, Sexy Kitty, and of course Black Leather-Clad Go-Go Dancer.
I left my cell phone in the car, I didn't want to lose it, drop it, break it, get it stolen, etc. But I learned that the Cell Phone is an accessory to the dance floor nowadays. People were taking pictures and videos and posting them to Facebook, Twitter, their blogs, and anywhere else they could. Apparently if you go to a party and don't document it, it didn't happen. So sorry, no pictures of us in action.
12:30 with an hour drive home is really late nowadays, we were both so tired the next day. And we didn't even have a hangover the next day to nurse.

We had a blast doing something completely out of the norm for us. We might even go next year if there's another one. We'll have forgotten what it was like by then. Maybe I'll even take my phone for dance floor pictures.

Rain Boots

2011-10-18T19:48:00.000-06:00

The other day it was raining wonderfully hard. It was dark and wet and beautiful. As I was getting ready for work I decided I would wear my Rubber Rain Boots. I love them and it doesn't rain much here to I have to get as much use out of them as possible.

While I was at work I decided to go to the Library, I think Middle Child needed another book. (That is the best perk of where I work, access to a good library). That kid reads so fast that the library has saved me a small fortune. As I was looking at books one of the librarians started walking towards me. I moved closer to the books so she would have room to pass through the aisle.

But then she stopped right in front of me and said, "Can I ask you a question?"

I knew I had paid all my fines so I wasn't sure what was coming next I said, "Sure."

"Where did you get your boots!"

I instantly felt good. Here was a lady commenting in an enthusiastic tone about my boots, I had made a good choice. And then,

"My daughter would love them!"

I wasn't quite sure what to make of that. If she's buying boots for her daughter she can't be that old. Maybe I need to start shopping somewhere else.

Halloween Purses

2011-09-28T17:40:00.000-06:00

Remember how I mentioned that I went a little crazy and bought way too much Halloween material? Remember how I created my own Holiday called Halloween in July instead of Christmas in July? Remember how I decided to make all my sisters, mom, and sister-in-laws purses since I had bought so much luxurious fabric?

I did it! I finally finished the last two bags! I had previously mailed out all the bags to everyone and now my littlest sister has finally got hers. Of course, I didn't take pictures of all the bags, I'm forgetful sometimes. But this is the front of my bag in that hideously wonderful Alexander Henry 'The Ghastlies' old lady fabric. I love the old ladies in this fabric. You can just feel them glaring disapprovingly at you whenever you look at them. No wonder I feel guilty all the time lately.

Even thought I bought yards and yards of many different, velvety soft, cotton fabrics I still had to piece the front of my bag together because I didn't have enough. I guess I should have bought just a little bit more.

Lesson learned for next year, 'When in Doubt, Buy More Fabric.' Thought I already knew that, but obviously I didn't. Next year I will be better prepared. Maybe you need to place your order now, then I'll have even more excuses to buy fabric!

40's Pin Up Girls

2011-09-25T16:39:00.000-06:00

We stopped at the Heber Fly In on our way camping on Labor Day Weekend. Guess who was there? A bunch of 40's dressed Women.

We had no problem getting Middle Child to pose with the girls.

But Baby was playing shy and we had to bribe him with Double Stuffed Oreos to get him anywhere near the girls. See their hands on his shoulders? They're holding him in place for a picture. But they sure loved him!

Crafty Items

2011-09-21T17:22:00.000-06:00

I'm thinking of turning this into a quilting blog. Hahahahaha! I don't sew near enough to do that. But I did finish a quilt I've been working on all year. Granted I took a Block of the Month club, so it was supposed to take a whole year!

But I'm very excited it's done! Well, almost. Now I have to get it quilted and then I still have to bind it! But I love how it turned out.

Thanksgiving Decorations

2011-09-18T17:08:00.003-06:00

Found this at a home decoration store. I love it. I may need to get it to grace my Thanksgiving table this year. Think of the conversations.

P.S. Does this count as "Put a Bird On It"?

Missing Someone

2011-09-14T17:07:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I just miss Calvin so much. I wonder what he would be doing now. Would he still be taunting Boomer the Basset Hound with the Antelope Head? Would he be driving Boomer the Basset Hound around town trying to pick up chicks? Would he be busy with school and getting great grades or would he still have a hard time turning things in on time? Would he be thinking about which college to go to and getting ready for a mission in just over two years? Would he have actually burnt something down? Would he be grounded from the car every other week?

This year I got the Halloween decorations out early. I decided I have to get the decorations out early if they're going to be put out. As it turns October it just gets too hard. I waited too long and didn't get them out last year. In 2008 when I put my Halloween decorations out life was wonderful and normal. When I put them away my life had changed horribly. I was still in shock. I just couldn't believe that my life had changed that much. Forever etched in my memory is the change that happened while the Halloween decorations were out. This year I put them out early, before October, so I can enjoy them awhile.

While the hurt is still there the rawness has dulled and the pain becomes something I live with everyday. I don't want to lose it because then I would feel as if I had forgotten. The pain is something I treasure and hold close because it tells me how much I love that crazy kid.

I just hope someone hid the matches in Heaven!

Experiences in a Tire Shop

2011-09-11T16:53:00.000-06:00

Several years ago I got new tires on the truck. I went into the store and got a decent deal. A few months later I went in to get them rotated. While they were rotating the tires they came in to tell me I needed quite a bit of work on the truck, about $600 worth to be exact. Did I want to complete this work right now, while they had it in the shop?

No, I told them, I'd talk to my husband. So they left it at that. As soon as I got home I called Olaf's step dad and asked him to make an appointment with our mechanic to get this work done. We couldn't get the truck in for a few days and I worried the whole time the truck was going to break down because of how urgent the shop had made it sound. Well, when we went to pick the truck up our mechanic told us that NONE of the work was needed. None of it at all!

A few months later I went back into the same shop to get my tires rotated again. Once again they hit me up on the "needed" repairs and added a few more so that the grand total was now $1000. Did I want to complete this work right now?

No, I'll talk to my husband.

Are you sure you don't want to call him right now and check?

That was the last time I stepped foot in that local tire shop.

Several years later I am getting new tires again, but for my car. I thought I had grown up enough that I could complete this task all by myself. Other people buy tires all the time, I should be able to also.

I stopped at a different local tire shop. The sales man checked what kind of tires I needed and proceeded to show me the best tires for my car. At $250 a tire. But he was gracious enough to knock $10 off and the store was running a promo that would take another $25 off each tire. By now I'm down to $215 a tire.

I asked what else they had available. For only $170 I could get an unknown brand tire that was only good for 50,000 miles. I almost ran out of the store.

So I came home and asked Olaf's step dad if he could help. Apparently I'm not old enough to buy tires by myself yet.

Iowa in the Evening

2011-09-08T16:21:00.000-06:00

Isn't it gorgeous? The view from Sister-in-Law Farmer's childhood home. Soon after this the fireflies came out. They were flitting around in the corn and the trees and the kids chased them till we dragged them home.

The Beginning of School

2011-09-05T18:28:00.000-06:00

Baby started 5th grade this year. Maybe one day he will demand a new name on this blog, but in the mean time he's my Baby and always will be.

The beginning of a new school year is always an adjustment. After a summer of sleeping in and few responsibilities the children always buck the change back to normalcy. Can't really blame them. Sometimes I think it would be nice to live in a never-ending summer state. But life always smacks us back to reality.

After school I talked to Baby and asked him how he liked his first day of 5th grade.

"I hate it! Our teacher is mean! We aren't allowed to talk in class!"

Olaf and I didn't see any problem with that since that has been his main infraction since kindergarten (other than the fighting with that kid in class last year).

Baby was cranky that whole evening. I could have sent him to bed at 6pm and it wouldn't have hurt anyone.

The next day I asked him how school had gone for the day.

"Our teacher told us that we're fifth graders. We're not little kids anymore. She's our teacher and not a babysitter. That's why we can't talk in class." He didn't seem quite as upset as the day before. Things were improving and he wasn't grouchy that evening.

After the third day of class I asked Baby how school had gone that day.

"Our teacher's mom was one of Walt Disney's first 25 employees and Walt Disney considered his employees family and they used to go for free at least six times a year!"

After the fourth day of class I asked Baby how school had gone that day also.

"Our teacher said that everybody has an inner voice that wants to sing. I'm trying to find my inner voice and let it sing. We sang in class today and it was fun!"

It's official. Baby's teacher can do no wrong. He's in love.

The Family Reunion

2011-08-31T16:49:00.002-06:00

We had an awesome family reunion this last summer. It took place in Iowa at the end of July. Smack dab in the middle of the heat and humidity. But I loved it! I even loved our drive to Iowa. I miss the Midwest and the gorgeous scenery. I used to think Nebraska was flat and treeless. Then I moved to Utah. Talk about flat! And treeless! Utah has mountains but other than that it's pretty flat. And the trees aren't much taller than a single story home, unless they're cottonwoods along a river.

Once we finished out marathon drive and got to our hotel the boys helped bring up our luggage. When Olaf found this and took it to our car the boys got all kinds of excited! I think Baby even said, "I didn't know these were real! I thought they were only on Suite Life of Zac and Cody!" Apparently we don't take out kids to hotels enough.

The next day we started by having lunch at an old favorite from when I was a kid. Although it was just usually Mom and Dad that went, us kids were left home with a sitter. This place was huge! And they were set up for kids.

While I perused the menu I was shocked at the prices. Probably 90% of the food was under $10! But Middle Child kept choosing items from the 10% expensive menu. He wanted ribs and I wasn't paying that price. Finally we met in the middle with this meal that came with a few ribs, quarter of a chicken and two sides. I even got everyone drinks. We all ate good meals, had an appetizer, and a dessert and after tip only spent $50!

Here's the whole family! All 29 & 1/2 of us! One of my sisters is pregnant.

That evening we had a birthday party for my Mom at Brother Accountant's house. Him and his wonderful wife were hosting this little shin dig. They were so gracious to let some people stay with him and host several dinners and activities at his house. Thankfully he has a large home and there was plenty of room.

Brother Accountant also found these cool glasses depicting the different states. He got my Mom a glass from each state she had ever lived in!

I love how the grandkids are gathered around my Mom to see what's going to be opened next!

The next day Olaf and I took Baby and his Cousin D on a tour of the State Capitol. It's a fantastic building with the largest gold dome. It's beautiful. But the best part? The cannons out front!

The boys thought the steps were pretty impressive. You have to go up all these steps just to get to the second floor.

And to get to the third floor you can ride the elevator or take this iron spiralesque staircase. Baby didn't really like these stairs but we made him walk down them. He was nervous the whole time!

Here are the boys walking along a hall enjoying the grand murals.

The next day we visited John Wayne's birthplace. Olaf and Baby love John Wayne and when I discovered it was so close to Des Moines, it was a must see on our trip.

John Wayne happened to be born in Winterset, Iowa, smack dab in the middle of Madison County. Yes, that same Madison County where the torrid illicit affair happened in the book The Bridges of Madison County. So we decided to visit several of the bridges. There are six but we figured the three closest were good enough for us. Remember, it's hot and humid. And all the bridges kind of look the same.

This bridge had been moved to a park in town, easy to find. It was really pretty and the kids ran through it from one end to the other. Yes, they were little sweatballs by the time they were done.

Here is me, my Mom, Sister Accountant, and Sister-in-Law Farmer posing carefully. None of us wanted to get too close to each other and actually touch cuz we were all sticky!

The next bridge we went to had been burned down by arson several years earlier. But it had been rebuilt and we could drive right on through!

This is what the inside of it looks like when driving through and looking out your bug infested windshield.

This is that same one and it was quite pretty. Middle Child was with us on this whole trip but chose to be a teenager at times and sit in the car and miss valuable photo ops. He thought sitting in the car in the heat was better than standing outside in the heat. Not sure which is worse.

The last one we visited was in it's original spot! Right over a river! At first the kids didn't understand why there were bridges over nothing. But know they know their real purpose, getting over water safely.

On our long trek home we stopped at The Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles. It was a huge museum full of all kinds of vehicles. The kids even got to climb around in a few of them. We got our fill and stayed a while. Got us out of the car for a bit and that was nice.

We had a great family reunion. It was so good to see everyone. We were only missing my Baby Sister and her Hubby, he was away on training. I had looked forward to this reunion all summer and it didn't disappoint. I only wish it could have lasted longer. I was really sad to see about half the family leave Sunday to head back home to jobs and school. But we will do this again in two years and I think people are voting for Denver!

I am missing pictures of our little trip to Pella where we got Dutch Pastries. The best! And then the evening on the Farm. SiL Farmer's family was so gracious to host all 29 of us out at their farm. There was so much fun to be had! But you can catch all of that at SiL Farmer's blog!

What Everyone Else Didn't Learn in Kindergarten

2011-08-28T16:26:00.003-06:00

There has been major construction on the local Highway here. It's barely half over. And it's a major inconvenience because to go anywhere out of town (which is most of the time) I have to get on the Highway. And people have forgotten how to be civil, or they never learned how. Here's the list of things the people I share the road with every day didn't learn in Kindergarten, or maybe they missed Driver's Ed.

Share
Wait in line with everyone else
Play fair
Don't cut people off so you can get ahead of everyone else
Wave Thank You when someone lets you in when you felt the need to race up to the front of the line in front of everyone else
Don't text on your damn cell phone
Pay attention
The Fast Lane is the Fast Lane, don't sit in it driving the speed limit

Someone help me cuz we've got almost a year and a half of this construction left and driving in it is driving me crazy!

Where I Sew

2011-08-21T16:44:00.004-06:00

There's this blog I follow. Every week they spotlight someone's Sewing Space. They are all pretty fancy stuff. Some of them look like a designer came in and decorated. I thought I would join the trend and show you where I sew.

I get to sew under this gorgeous tree. When we first bought this house a long long time ago Olaf's aunt and cousin came and painted this tree just for Calvin. He asked for a Hole in the Trunk and a Squirrel on a Branch. And over time we added Glow-in-the-Dark stars and moons on the ceiling. I made these simple curtains for him, they are muslin edged in leaf-decorated fabric. Calvin moved out of this room four or five years later but we kept this awesome tree. And when I look at it, it reminds me of my sweet little boy Calvin, not the older Calvin.

And then Olaf shot an antelope and hung it on this wall, long before I started sewing for real and needed a Space to sew in. When he hung it up Boomer the Basset Hound didn't like it. He would wander down the hall and peek in the room. He'd look up and see the antelope head and start barking. It was the funniest thing ever! He made us all laugh so hard with his barking at the dead antelope head, as if he was afraid it was going to take his place.

When I started writing this I meant to make fun of the fancy rooms that all these other sewers have and show them that sewing could be done in any kind of room, no need for fancy wall decorations that need dusting, pretty table covers, and other totally impractical things that would only get in the way of sewing. And instead I found out why my sewing room is so special to me.

Adventures in Shopping with Teenage Boys Part 2

2011-08-17T17:31:00.000-06:00

The other day I was happily wandering around Target all by myself. There is a Heaven on Earth. I was looking at socks. I was deep in a debate inside my head about whether Baby needed men's socks or boys socks. He's on the cusp of wearing men's shoes. I don't think my budget can afford that but his feet aren't listening.

Right in the middle of the debate on what size socks to buy Baby a Mother and her Teenage Son walked up to the Men's Underwear Wall. Standing right in front of all that underwear the Mom turned to her Teenage Son.

"What kind of underwear do you like? You like this kind right? The boxers, not boxer briefs, made out of t-shirt material, right?" She sounded a little exasperated, frustrated, and frazzled all rolled into one slightly loud statement.

The boy, probably 13 or 14, was completely mortified that his Mom had brought him to the Men's Underwear Wall and was talking to him in a voice loud enough for anyone to hear. He answered her in a low mumbling voice, trying not to bring any more attention to himself than she had already brought. I looked around. I was the only one anywhere near them. I tried to look like I was completely absorbed in the debate about sock sizes for Baby. And while I felt a little sorry for the Teenage Boy, I totally understood his slightly exasperated, frustrated, and frazzled Mom. It was all I could do to not laugh, not at her, but with her, not that she was laughing, but she will one day. Maybe not for 20 years when he tries to buy underwear for his boy, but one day she's going to laugh at the day she stood in front of the Men's Underwear Wall with her Teenage Son.

Adventures in Shopping with Teenage Boys

2011-08-14T16:32:00.000-06:00

Sometimes shopping with Teenage Boys is wonderful. You're in, you're out, you're done! Hallelujiah! If it wasn't for the grocery bill boys would be the best!

And then there's the times you need to find certain clothes for the Teenage Boys. Teenage Boys don't do well shopping. Most of them abhor the whole ordeal. And so do their Moms. But there's no choice!

I took Middle Child back-to-school shopping last week. It was the highlight of my week. If I was rating it according to the lowest point of the week.

We got to the store. I had scoped the store out a few days earlier. When we came in I was excited that the sale prices had dropped even more! Wow!

And then we tried to find clothes that he liked. We were searching for shorts because after our family trip I realized he didn't have near enough to make it a whole week between wash days. That's my goal in life, to have enough clothes to make it a whole week between washings. Of course he is very particular, only plaid shorts. We searched high and low. Once we found the things he liked we tried to find them in his size. That's where the luck ended. Apparently not only do I have the most common shoe size but he has the most common waist size, severely limiting both our choices.

Finally we had a handful of clothes to try on! We headed to a fitting room. I sent him in. Another mother with her teenage son was right behind me. Middle Child headed in and I didn't see him for a minute or two. The other boy came right out.

"There's no rooms in there, there all full!" he said.

"Is there people in the rooms?" she asked.

"No, there just full of clothes."

"Well, that's just because no one puts their clothes away. They're empty rooms."

"No they're not!"

"Trust me, the rooms are empty." Which was true. There were no boys or men milling around modeling clothing for their Moms, Spouses, Girlfriends, Mistresses, or anyone else.

The boy hung his head and reluctantly went in a room. I was kind of proud of Middle Child for already figuring this out since he hadn't come back out yet.

Apparently I thanked my lucky stars a moment too soon. He came out right after this exchange with the same complaint. Before we could have the exact same conversation he headed to another fitting room. After he came out making the same complaint we then repeated the exact same conversation with the same conclusion.

We spent a good half hour trying on shorts, shorts, and more shorts. Finally we found a few he liked. After all the shorts trying on we didn't have the ~~patience~~ energy to try on shirts. The first Friday of school is picture day and I was hoping to get the shopping for this crossed off my list. No such luck. I was just happy to round out his shorts to an even seven. Now he can go a whole week between washes!

Stay tuned for more Adventures in Shopping with Teenage Boys.

Boy Pants

2011-08-11T22:25:00.001-06:00

While searching around different sewing blogs I came across these.

These lovely pants came with a whole tutorial so you could make them for your kid. The saddest part? These were on a little boy.The second saddest part? They're not jammy pants. I felt so bad for him. There comes a point in your life when you need to pick up new sewing projects and quit sewing "cute"things for your kids.

Free Summer Entertainment (Almost)

2011-08-04T21:51:00.000-06:00

Remember when we got new chairs at work?

And I brought home those HUGE boxes?

And I said I would let you know what the kids did with them?

Hours and Hours of sawing and cutting and taping later...

This is what has been concocted.

The best summer entertainment only cost me a roll of duck tape. Take that Corporate America with your Deep Pockets!

Strange Things are Afoot at the Circle-K

2011-07-12T17:13:00.002-06:00

Well, maybe not the Circle-K, but definitely at 7-11.

The other day on my drive home I saw a billboard announcing the Cowboys and Aliens cups at 7-11.

I called Sister-in-Law Nurse.

"Did you see the billboard? We are going to 7-11."

So for the first time ever I went to 7-11 of my own free will and accord.

Only 18 more days!

Countdown

2011-07-09T07:52:00.010-06:00

It's back! A new countdown. For the movie Cowboys and Aliens. Coming soon to a theater near you!

http://cowboys-and-aliens-movie-trailer.blogspot.com/

For all of you out there that need pictures of Daniel Craig, I'll provide a few until his newest movie comes out.

teaser-trailer.com

And if anyone besides me is interested there might even be a few of Harrison Ford in there too.

Adventures in a Box

2011-06-30T17:24:00.000-06:00

Today at work our new chairs arrived. In big glorious boxes! With smaller boxes and pieces that came with The Big Box. I promptly volunteered to take one or two.

Of course I could only fit one Box in my car at a time.

But Baby was so incredibly excited to meet The Box.

He brought the box in the house and promptly pulled everything out. I told him if he didn't use something to throw it in the recycle bin.

He replied, as he got cozy with The Box, "There won't be anything going in the Recycle Bin!"

Stay tuned for Baby's Adventures in a Box.

Halloween in July

2011-06-29T14:35:00.004-06:00

Some crafty people call Christmas in July an excuse to get started making Christmas crafts. I think it should be Halloween in July instead. So in honor of my own Holiday I bought this fabric in June.

I know I'm a little morbid, but I loved the caskets falling out of the hearses.

Skulls and bats on orange are great.

And owls. Who doesn't love owls? They're so in style right now.

I thought I was all set to make some Halloween bags or somethings cool.

And then I found this fabric. It matches the fabric I used to make a Halloween bag last year. I have to have some of this, otherwise I'm incomplete.

See how it matches last year's bag? What to do? Too much fabric! Wait, I didn't just say that. Most women feel like they can't have too many shoes. I don't think it's possible to have too much fabric. I know, it's a sickness. Please don't schedule an intervention.

Zombie Burger

2011-06-23T17:38:00.001-06:00

Guess what is opening in Des Moines this August?
And guess who will be there this August?
Guess who's going to be Jealous?

Do you REALLY want the ANSWERS? Here they are:

from ZombieBurger

Zombie Burger!
My Whole Family!
You will be so Jealous!

They better be open while we are there. Cuz I will get in line AGAIN for another Opening Day.

Cafe Rio Updates

2011-06-19T17:22:00.012-06:00

Sometimes I feel like I live in the Middle East. In the Middle East Women are considered a temptation. If a Man attacks a Woman, he is not held responsible, the Woman is because she provided a temptation. Forget Free Will and Self Restraint.

Sometimes here in Utah I feel the same restrictions, not on my person but on society. When a Tattoo Parlor opened its doors on Main Street there was a small public outcry. It didn't last for long, the store not the public outcry. The public outcry won this fight for today. And then there is Dirty Jo's, the local Lingerie Shop. Several years ago I spied an article in the local paper describing a new city ordinance prohibiting Sex Shops in town. Dirty Jo's was grandfathered in and allowed to stay. I bet they were ecstatic about the law, they've got a Legal Monopoly here in town! And the best part is, all the Mormon Moms that frequent the shop.

There's nothing wrong with a Sex Shop or a Tattoo Parlor but we've got the Locals who have never stepped foot outside of Utah that want these things out of sight. They figure if they're out of sight, we're safe! There's nothing farther from the truth. You should have been around for the hullabaloo Hooter's caused when it opened, and it's 40 miles away!

How does this apply to Cafe Rio you ask? When I left the other day, on my second trip to the restaurant (finally!), I noticed that it's Open on Sunday! I'm wondering if it will be run out of town for providing an Inescapable Temptation for the locals.

Failed Parental Controls

2011-06-16T18:35:00.001-06:00

Netflix is a pretty cool invention. I pretty much like it. Most of the time.

The other night Baby wanted to watch some old Hardy Boys shows. He had heard they were on when Olaf and I were kids. So we searched for them. And we actually found them!

We hit "Play" and were instantly told that this movie was outside our rating system and forbidden. Maybe Forbidden wasn't the exact word, but that's how I felt. We had sent the Parental Controls to only allow shows rated "R" or less. We didn't want the kids accidentally watching porn while we were at work. Apparently 1970's TV shows are above an "R" rating. Looks pretty risque to me.

The End is Near

2011-06-14T17:06:00.002-06:00

Glorious Cafe Rio has finally come to Spanish Fork! I'm pretty sure The End is Near and we won't be able to enjoy it for long.

In the meantime, I foresee a drastic drop in the revenues of other restaurants in the foreseeable future.

Last Wednesday Cafe Rio finally opened its doors to an overly anxious population that had been counting down the days. They had a truck out front advertising the Countdown to Opening Day, but I really don't think it was needed.

For the last month people could be heard in excited conversation,

"Cafe Rio opens June 8th!"

"I'm going Opening Day!"

"Finally, I don't have to go to Provo to eat ever again!"

Maybe that last one was a bit of a stretch but I'm sure more than one person has made that statement.

I was excited enough that I met a friend on Opening Day. Both our husbands thought we were crazy. We really didn't care. We weren't bringing kids. We didn't care if we had to wait outside in line for an hour. We were finally getting the Famous Sacred Pork Barbacoa right here In Town!

We got lucky and only had to wait in line for 15 minutes! Talk about a Lucky Day.

That weekend as I talked to several others we all mentioned how Cafe Rio was finally open. And I even mentioned that against my Usual Crowd-Avoiding Tendencies I had even eaten there on Opening Day. And every single time I was met with the same statement.

"I've already eaten there twice!"

The Field

2011-06-12T16:40:00.003-06:00

This is the field that lives next door to me.

Do You See What I See?

I see Allergy Relief in the next week or two! Hallelujah!

Bragging Rights

2011-06-09T00:01:00.000-06:00

As a Mom I get Bragging Rights every now and then. It's a Mom's Privilege. Middle Child has completed the Project part of his Eagle Project. I wrote a week ago about how he was putting together a campaign to heighten people's awareness of Organ Donation and hopefully sign some more people to become Organ Donors.

He has worked so hard on this I was absolutely amazed! I wasn't sure he was anyone's teenage son. He called numerous places to ask permission to set up booths on June 4th. He even had to call a few Corporate Offices to get the Go Ahead. After that he had to call people to staff the booths. He easily spent 10-15 hours on the phone calling people. That plus he hunted down neighbors who he couldn't reach by phone. He was like a Tiger!

We also had to put together some sort of Display. We ended up making these to put at each booth.

That Saturday morning Middle Child and Olaf left the house soon after 6:30am to get the Gold's Gym booth set up since it started at 7am. Thank goodness the other booths didn't open until 10am.

Here's what one of the booths looked like.

We incorporated some of the Zero Fatalities things into the booth in an effort to get a few more people to buckle up also.

Here's one of the Gold's Gym groups.

Here's the Gold's Gym in Provo. These two are coworkers of Olaf's who were more than happy to take the whole 4-hour shift!

Here are a few of his friends at Fresh Markets.

Here's more of Olaf's coworker's at CAL Ranch.

Here's the Family helping at Macey's, not the Department Store but the Grocery store.

They sure are cute!

Here's Middle Child working the booth at CAL Ranch later in the day.

Here are some of Middle Child's friends who also worked a 4-hour shift at Macey's. He's got awesome friends willing to help out all Saturday afternoon!

Here's one of Calvin's friends with his Mom.

And Middle Child is working the Fresh Market booth with Calvin's favorite Scout Leader.

Here's another of Calvin's friend helping out that afternoon after a long day at work.

I was amazed at how gung-ho Middle Child has been about his project. We had to help him write things out but he had absolutely no problem calling people and stores. And once he got there he was aggressive in talking to people and signing them up to be Organ Donors. There aren't enough words in my vocabulary to tell you how proud I am of my son. He's just incredible.

Quinoa is not Zombie Food

2011-06-07T17:28:00.000-06:00

I don't know how to pronounce it either. But it's a whole grain thing. And after Middle Child chose the highest fat milk for ice cream at Sub Zero this weekend I decided we needed to discuss and model healthier eating habits.

So tonight for dinner I made a Mediterranean-style dish. It consisted of Quinoa and lots of veggies. It was actually pretty good. I loved it. Olaf loved it. Middle Child tolerated it and picked the cherry tomatoes out and pushed them to the side. Baby's BFF was there and ate the whole dish without complaining although he didn't ask for seconds. I'm thinking he liked it but didn't love it. That or else his Mom had just fed him right before. Baby cried and made puking noises. I kept telling him he could either eat or go to bed at 6 pm. So he kept trying to choke it down. Unsuccessfully.

Olaf had been working in the garden and apparently we all forgot to tell him we were eating. So much for Family Dinner at this house! So by the time he came in Middle Child and Baby's BFF were finishing dinner. They put their dishes away and headed out. Olaf noticed Baby was crying and I was threatening bedtime. He tried to come up with a few ways for Baby to be able to eat the food.

First he suggested he eat it on a Town House Cracker. Kind of defeats the purpose of eating healthy, but whatever. That didn't work either.

Then came the old stand-by. Ketchup. Baby poured some Ketchup on and ate as little as he had to so he could go play some more. It worked!

Apparently I have a Ketchup Child. No matter what we're eating I just need to put the Ketchup bottle on the table so Baby can eat without being poisoned by me.

Hidden Pictures

2011-06-02T17:15:00.000-06:00

Can you spot the two items in front of my double-wide that shows my age?

Foodie review

2011-05-31T17:14:00.009-06:00

These are unsolicited reviews from my children about dinner earlier this week.

from cheekykitchen.com

Earlier this week I made this pizza. It was to die for. I didn't make it up cuz I never do, I'm not that creative. But give me a good recipe and I can usually follow it as long as it's not too complicated. I got this recipe from my favorite cupcake lady and you can find it here. I've tried quite a few recipes from her and they are all to die for.

But this night I made this pizza. I had to tailor it to fit my children. Or in other words I didn't put the veggies on their half of the pizza. But they liked it!

I got rave reviews. Here are some of their comments:

Do they make this pizza anywhere else cuz I've never had anything so good!
Can you make this again?
This is better than any pizza I've EVER had
You should open a restaurant!

I may not make a lot of things my kids like but when they like something they let me know!

I Want You!

2011-05-29T17:36:00.000-06:00

One of the first things we decided after Calvin died was that we would not live in grief but that we would celebrate his life. We decided that we would not let grief ruin our lives. As part of celebrating his life when we came upon new events we would use "What Would Calvin Do?" as our guide. When minutes after they told us Calvin had not survived and asked us to consider organ donation we both thought it was a good idea and both said "Calvin would want to continue to help others."

A couple years later Middle Child has started working on his Eagle Project. He decided long ago he wanted to do something about organ donation. He has finally put together his project. He wants to educate people about organ donation and hopefully sign people up to be organ donors.

This Saturday, June 4, he is setting up booths around town. He needs your help to staff those booths throughout the day. If you can help email him at eagle.proj@gmail.com. He would really appreciate any help you can offer. And don't forget, "What Would Calvin Do?"

What To Do After the Last Day of School?

2011-05-26T16:51:00.001-06:00

It's the third to last day of school. Apparently Baby got in trouble at school. Again.

I hear the message on the answering machine the next morning. It sounds terrible. I'm surprised they didn't hunt me down. I'm expecting a court date.

Olaf hears the message and is quite upset too. We discuss punishment. Baby is grounded for the rest of the week. That makes him cry because it's the beginning of summer break!

Olaf goes in to the school and talks to the Principal. Turns out the situation wasn't as bad as it sounded on the phone.

We talked and decided to let Baby choose his punishment. He can either be grounded through the weekend OR he can pull everything out of his room, go through it and get rid of stuff and put some things other places, and finally put some stuff back in his room. But not all of it. Not anywhere near all of it!

Can you tell which punishment he chose? The Positive Punishment. So far he's been cheerful and willing. He actually likes cleaning his room out although we've never been this thorough before.

As you can see there isn't much left in his room. Tomorrow he gets to finish pulling everything out and commence making "Keep" "Throw Away" and "Move Somewhere Else" piles. And he has to have a place for everything before it goes back in his room.

We're both excited. Me because his room will be clean for a few days! Him because he thinks he'll be done right away after school and will be able to go play.

I don't think he realizes how much CRAP he has in his room and how much of it isn't going back in there.

The Next Day: Mission Almost Accomplished! Now to just get rid of the stuff that DIDN'T go back in the Room!

The Rapture

2011-05-23T20:16:00.003-06:00

This last weekend was supposed to be the Beginning of the End with the Rapture taking place on Saturday. Thank goodness it didn't because it would have ruined Sister's Weekend.

Tonight I stuck my memory card from my camera into my computer so I could download all my Sister's Weekend pictures. There were none on the card. I panicked.

"Olaf! I took a bunch of pictures this weekend and they're all gone! What happened?

"Umm, I think you downloaded them last night."

"No, I was too tired."

"Why don't you just check."

So I did. Guess what? He was right. As I looked through them I proceeded to tell him about the pictures.

"You told me that last night." he said.

"No I didn't."

So he gave me the narration I gave him last night. Apparently I was/still am a Little Tired.

We started out by taking a 3 Hour Cruise. It would have been our luck that the Rapture would have happened then and the Captain would have been raptured and we would have been stuck on an island. So, thank goodness the Rapture didn't happen. I wasn't prepared to live Gilligan's life.

The cruise was pretty awesome. We cruised the Bay area and basically it was a Military Tour since that's most of what is up and down the Bay. My boys are going to love that next time we're in the area.

But we did cruise by this awesome old sign.

And there were several sailboats and kayakers out. Crazy People. There are big ships in the Bay and it wouldn't take much for them to get run over.

At one point an F-18 Hornet took off and flew right over out heads. I lost my hearing.

When the cruise was over we went to Coronado Island, which really isn't an island, it's more of a peninsula. The island is covered in beautiful old houses. At this point the weather was so beautiful and the town was so incredible I started texting Olaf that I wasn't coming home. Ever. It also has this beautiful famous old hotel. Gorgeous. And the beach was covered in fine white sand. It's the kind of sand they use in Beach Love Scenes. I've never been on a beach where the thought of lovemaking in the sand seemed even remotely romantic.

Apparently someone else thought the sand was worthy of romance.

Here's some of the Party climbing on rocks. Thank goodness no one fell off into the Ocean, it's on the other side. We were careful and scooted off the rocks like a three-year-old.

And then we found this pub with $3 pizza slices. We were hungry and stopped in. The waitress started her spiel by telling us it was Happy Hour. Not to exciting to a bunch of Mormon girls. Then she proceeded to tell us that all appetizers were half price! That elicited a huge sound from this crowd. And she finished by telling us that pizza slices were $2! Another round of Ooohs and Aaahs! We were served an insane amount of food for $40.

The next day we started out in Old Town San Diego. Here I am sitting on an old tree in the second oldest graveyard in San Diego. I think the Haunted Tour stops here at night. Don't expect to see me there after dark.

And we found the Sheriff's museum. Here's Sister Accountant with a sweet, standard-issue, Salmon-colored Police car.

That night we went to La Jolla Cove for the sunset. But the clouds had returned. So we had to be satisfied with beautiful cliffs, flowers, beaches, rocks, seals, and noisy sea lions. Even though there was no sunset it was a beautiful evening.

And we rounded off the night with a quick stop at the San Diego Temple. I couldn't believe how beautiful it is. The glass work is amazing.

My last morning we went South to the Border. But we didn't cross it. We took The Very Last US Highway Exit. The fence behind the outlet stores? It's the Border. When we left we encountered signs such as the following:

I wanted to go home, so we didn't turn left.

I flew home and returned in the middle of a rain storm. Thank You Utah. You know how to make a girl wish she had missed her flight. Forever.

Rattles

2011-05-17T17:32:00.006-06:00

For the last week there has been this horrible rattle in my car. My new car. A Falling-Apart rattle every time I went over a bump. I tried a lot of things trying to discover the rattle. And every time I heard it again I would get cold with worry.

"What if my car is falling apart?"

And then after a week of this I noticed it was getting worse. Now I was really worried. I checked a few other things. Made sure the seats weren't loose. Made sure something wasn't rolling around in the trunk. Looked under the seats. Repeat. Once I even pulled over to try moving something. Still rattled.

And then one day when it was horribly loud I happened to look up. The sun visor was loose. I hooked it in and haven't heard a rattle since! Sometimes I'm a little slow. But thankfully my car sounds newish again.

The Creature From the Processed Food Box

2011-05-15T15:11:00.007-06:00

Last night Baby's best friend, Z, was over at dinnertime. What passes for dinnertime at this house is usually bedtime for lots of other people. So I figured he had already eaten and was hungry again. So as I prepared food for my two offspring I asked my Wish-He-Was-Here-For-Dinner-Every-Night Adopted Son if he wanted to eat too.

He did, of course.

So I grilled some brats and hamburgers for everybody. And we chowed because by nightfall we were all starving.

After dinner he thanked me for dinner and added, "Please don't tell my Mom I ate dinner here. I didn't really like her Hamburger Helper."

I told him I'd keep our secret locked up inside me somewhere. I think it snuck out the back-door though.

Then both of my children asked, "What's Hamburger Helper?"

Amusing Amusement Parks

2011-05-12T17:22:00.004-06:00

We went to Lagoon last weekend. It's the local Amusement Park. And it's amusing in more ways than just rides. Those places always attract amusing people. Of which I didn't take any pictures. But we went for dancing.

But not my boys. They were just watching. It was a competition. And I know that Sister-in-Law Fashionista could tell you all the details but all I know is that I got to watch Niece Dancer dance with her group.

They were really good! They have worked really hard and it showed.

After the girls were done with their last dance Baby and I were walking back to the tents. He said, "Cousin Dancer has some hot girls on her team."

I replied, "Yes she has some cute friends."

Baby just walked on in silence. Then I said, "Were you talking about the older girls?" (In the dance not pictured the high school girls danced with the younger girls. And they are quite pretty.)

"Yeah. They must have had plastic surgery."

I was about to protest. My 10-year-old should not be noticing things like that quite yet. And then he showed his naivety and innocence, "They're just so pretty." And I breathed a sigh of relief.

And then I dragged SiL Fashionista on Wicked. The awesomest roller coaster this side of the Rockies. It's steep. It's fast. It's smooth. It's twisty upside-down.

The second time through she took her glasses off to protect them. Didn't help. They fell out of her pocket on this twisty upside down! So after informing the ride attendants of missing glasses they called in reinforcements, shut the ride down, got everyone off, and ran out to look for them in the dark.

And they found them!

Albeit she won't be wearing them anytime soon.

Teenage Folklore

2011-05-10T17:15:00.002-06:00

Middle Child came home from school with an awesome story.

"One of my friends told me about these two kids at school. They both had lip rings. One day when they were kissing their rings got stuck together. They couldn't get them apart cuz it really hurt. They happened to be outside the Science room and the Science Teacher came out to help them. He told them to undo one of their rings. They tried but it hurt way too much. Then he remembered he had just received a new acid for a science experiment. So he went and got his new acid and put just a drop on one of the lip rings and it melted the metal. Then the kids could finally pull apart."

I love that the stories haven't changed (much) since I was in school.

What stories have your kids told that you remember spreading as gospel when you were their age?

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

2011-05-08T09:30:00.007-06:00

Not only is my Mom sweet but she is Hip. Check out the material of her shirt.

So retro. And so is that lamp. And the material on the chair.

I love this pic of us both. She looks like a Movie Star. Thanks Mom for putting up with me

and helping me through the rough times throughout my whole life.

Yet More Trailer Trash

2011-05-05T18:13:00.002-06:00

I'm not sure how I am so busy. I only work part-time. I only have to take care of two kids. Actually I own two slaves who can cook and clean for me, too bad they're not scared of me and don't listen real well. I don't have a ton of hobbies; sewing, reading, baking, watching TV, but definitely not housework. It's not like I have a lot to show for at the end of the day. But I haven't gotten around to putting anything on here in over a week and I keep meaning too!

Last weekend we went to the Car Show in Moab again. It was so fun! And I fell in love over and over again. I used to think Leno was crazy, but I'm beginning to understand. I will spare you the details and only show a few of my faves.

One of a few Woody Wagons. For some reason I love them.

It was a soft top and the inside was a wood ceiling! And check out the rivets around the wheel well and wood siding? There is no insulation in this baby. It's really meant for beach weather.

My Aston Martin was there again. Still For Sale. Isn't Mother's Day coming up soon?

This beautiful pink car with a great trailer. Just perfect for those picnic afternoons at the beach, complete with surf board.

And then we found this. Be Still My Beating Heart. After years of telling Olaf we will NEVER own a trailer I retracted all past statements.

I told him if he could get me something like this I would be happy.

And never ask for anything ever again.

Even the propane tanks match!

And while I noticed the Car Show attracts all kinds of people it apparently attracts Aliens too. Just the frosting on the cupcakes.

Hanna

2011-04-26T17:08:00.001-06:00

This is not a movie review.

The other day Olaf and I were out on a date at Sonic Drive-In. Fancy. We have children and have to fit dates in somehow. As we were sitting there eating our burgers and tater tots I said, "We haven't been to a movie in FOREVER. Let's go to one this weekend."

"All right! What do you want to see?"

I pulled his phone out and looked up movies. I won't discuss why I used his phone and not mine. I hate my phone. It's slow. It's not old, just slow and dumb. I'm not talking about my phone anymore.

"Hey, Hanna is still out. Let's go to that."

"Ask your Sister if it's good. She saw it the other week."

Sister Accountant and I have very similar movie tastes. While the rest of my sisters like girly movies, Sister Accountant and I love good movies. So I texted her for her opinion of the movie, expecting a recommendation. This is what transpired.

Me: So was Hanna good?

SA: I don't think you'd like it. Very bloody & a lot of dead people. It's about vengeance.

Me: I'd just cover my eyes. Some vengeance is ok.

SA: You see the after effects of torture

Me: Oooh

I turned to Olaf and said, "I don't think I want to see it. Sister Accountant doesn't think I'll like it so it must be pretty bad."

Olaf pulled out his phone and started making a phone call.

I tried another movie.

Me: What about Source Code?

I looked at Olaf and said, "Hey! Who are you calling on our super romantic date?!?"

Just as my phone notified me of a new text I heard him talking to the person on the other end. "Thanks. A. Lot. I had her all ready to go see Hanna and you talked her out of it. Thanks. A. Lot. What kind of Sister are you?"

New Text from SA: Ok I thought I was talking to Sister Homemaker. I think you'd like it. Haven't seen Source Code.

Me: Wondered what kind of movies u thought I liked. Twilight?

I waved the phone in front of Olaf and told him "I'll go! It's OK! I can see the movie!"

Even though I knew those other texts were meant for a sweeter, softer, blood-detesting sister, I couldn't help but be super jumpy during the movie. I kept covering my eyes expecting horrific acts of torture and gore. In reality it wasn't worthy of the eye covering. I might have to see it again to really enjoy it.

Now for the movie review: Good Movie. But Hanna's hair was really snarly, like actual knots I wanted to untangle, through most of the movie and it drove me crazy.

The Fight Without Witnesses

2011-04-24T15:48:00.001-06:00

This has been a hard year for Baby at school. I'm hoping he learns a lot of lessons this year, which haven't seem to sunk in yet, and doesn't turn into a juvenile delinquent and spend time at "Juvey." I thought things were going better.

Then I got a message from his teacher to call her please. I didn't get the message until the next day. When I picked Baby up from school I asked if he needed to tell me anything about class yesterday.

"No, why?"

"Did something happen at school with that kid K? Or did you get sent back from class again? Did you go to Skills?" Skills is for Bad Apples who can't behave in class and he has spent more time in Skills the last two years than I care to admit.

Finally after grillling him he finally told me a story. But the way Baby tells a story is not the way most people do. He jumps around, he inserts useless info as if it has importance, he brings people into the story that have no relevance, he back tracks and jumps ahead without any warning. It's almost as if he doesn't want to tell the Real Story.

After about five repetitions of the same story, all different because they all included different parts, I finally was able to piece together what happened after school the day before.

Apparently the kid he's been fighting with all year, we'll call him K, was out front after school. Baby said he was out back on the playground with his friends. Someone came up, punched K, and ran off before anybody could see the perpetrator. Because of the ongoing feud between the two K went in and told his teacher that Baby punched him.

The next day at school Baby's teacher pulled him aside and talked to him. Baby swore up and down that he was in back playing and since K didn't get a look at the Inflicter of Pain, Baby was cleared of any charges. Once again we have escaped Suspension.

Two days later we were out with the family and Baby's best friend, Z. I asked Z, "So K tried to accuse Baby of punching him after school the other day? Good thing you guys were all playing out back!"

Z looked at me a little confused. I looked at Baby and told him he better teach his Alibis to be more convincing. Baby just kept smiling and saying "Oh, we were in back playing on the playground"

Z looked at Olaf and I and said, "I don't like to lie, at all." Olaf and I were stunned. Z poured out the whole story about how Baby HAD punched K because K had punched another friend and talked his way out of it even though there were witnesses and had escaped getting in trouble. Baby decided to mete out his own punishment after school.

As they walked off to get something Olaf turned to me and said, "You couldn't just let us live in blissful ignorance?!?"

I have never been so ready for Summer Vacation as I am this year.

San Diego

2011-04-17T19:14:00.000-06:00

My Baby Sister recently moved to San Diego with her Marine Hubby. They've only been there a month and we already bombarded them with a visit. We had so much fun. We went to the beach the first day there.

Enjoyed a gorgeous sunset.

Middle Child played with Alien-looking Kelp.

Baby used his kelp as a fire hose.

Baby Sister and Me.

The next morning we went back by ourselves since everyone else had to work. We tried to find the same beach. But we took a wrong turn and ended up just a little bit south of the beach.

We ended up at Lo Jolla Cove. We parked and Olaf peeked over the edge of the cliff. He saw this beautiful beach.

And Sea Lions! They were loud.

We walked down the to cove. The water here was perfect for Scuba Divers, not so great for swimming because it became deep really fast.

The tide was starting to go out so Olaf looked in the tidal pools area for sea life. He found some sea anemones and little crabs.

We walked a little farther down and found some rocky outcroppings that we walked along.

And then we came upon the Seals! They were quiet and didn't make a peep.

After we trudged back to our car someone offered to take our pic.

By this time we were all hungry and had lunch at this cute seaside cafe. It's called Goldfish Point Cafe. They give you goldfish crackers with your sandwich! Then we took the boys back to the beach and let them play in the water for a couple of hours. We put sunblock on at this point. But it was too late for me. My feet and ankles were sunburned to a crisp from the walk. I wore the same shoes the rest of the time there.

Tune in next time for more of our adventure!

I Want My 20 Dollars!

2011-04-13T17:16:00.002-06:00

The other day Middle Child realized that he was missing $20. He came to me and explained what had happened.

"I had it in my pocket last week and put it on my bathroom counter and left it there for probably five days. Now it's missing. I know Baby took it."

Whenever he loses something he instantly blames his brothers. After fighting with the brother and waiting a few hours it almost never fails to show up somewhere in his room.

Once again i explained to him that he can't blame anyone for taking his money. He didn't see Baby or anyone else take the money, and he left it out in plain sight. I listed all the people that had been through the house in the last five days and the list was full of kids his age and younger. A $20 bill left laying around is just too tempting. He went and searched his room. He came back up and complained again that he couldn't find it and that Baby must have taken it.

A little later when I was coming down the hall to where the kids were I heard Baby insisting that he "didn't take it!"

"Don't you dare blame anyone!" I told him. "I really don't think he took it and you left it laying around. Hopefully you'll learn to put your money away."

Throughout the day when I would wander into a room where both the boys were it would be the same situation; Middle Child blaming Baby for the loss of his money and Baby vehemently denying the charge. This pretty much went on all day long.

That night they finally quit fighting about the money and we all sat down to dinner. After dinner Olaf told the boys to fill the bird feeder. They don't mind doing that so they hurried out to fill it up.

When we sent the kids to bed a little later Middle Child came storming back up the stairs and down the hall, "Mom! Come see what Baby did to my bed!"

Sigh and Groan. "Can you just tell me?"

"He put bird food in my bed!"

I turned to Baby and exasperatedly asked, "Why did you put bird food in his bed? You know that's wrong."

"I was just so sick and tired of him blaming me for taking him money. I just got so mad I couldn't help myself."

I was completely fed up with the fighting over the money and looked at Middle Child and said, "You pretty much deserved that. Take care of it yourself. Maybe next time you won't blame anyone."

But Olaf heard what was going on and he came out and said "Two wrongs don't make a right. Baby go clean up the bird food right now."

Sometimes I get so tired of the same fights that it's good to have Olaf around. By the end of the night the Referee needs to be replaced.

Trouble

2011-04-10T17:25:00.004-06:00

I got an email from Baby's teacher. I groaned. We've had a few problems this year with Respect for Teachers and Fighting with Another Boy. It's been a trying year but we're hoping by conquering the problems now Baby will not be a Delinquent by the time he's a Teenager.

Apparently in this incident he had been naughty while in another teacher's class and she had sent him back to his own classroom. His teacher talked to him about what had happened and then against her better judgment had him write a note of apology to the other teacher.

When we came in to talk to her it was all she could do to suppress a giggle when she handed us the note.

Last Weekend

2011-04-07T17:47:00.002-06:00

Last weekend we watched Church on TV. It happens twice a year. We always look forward to watching Church on TV, unshowered and still in our pajamas. And I make it a food fest. Although I'm getting old and can't eat as much as I used to or as much as the boys would like. And I always plan to make way too much food and only one or two things get made. This year it was a tribute to the next holiday, Easter, my favorite candy holiday; peeps, chocolate cadbury eggs, robin eggs, peanut butter eggs, and M&M eggs. Seriously, Easter is Candy Trouble for me. And when you can combine some of your favorite things with chocolate, what would be better?

Four boxes of 12 Peeps each equals 48 Peeps!

The boys were excited for this little treat. They both got in on the dipping. Even Olaf dipped some Peeps too.

Of course Middle Child dipped all the purple Peeps and Baby dipped all the green Peeps. Favorite colors are important at this house.

The first part was done.

Then I dipped the second layer. The boys were on the computers at this point.

See how cute?!? They look like they're wearing little suits. All dressed up for church since we didn't have to this weekend.

If You Build It

2011-04-05T17:08:00.002-06:00

So, I ignored my blog for a whole month. When I post regularly I always like to look and see where people are who are checking out my blog. I think it's kind of cool when someone from another country looks at it. While I was taking a break I didn't expect anyone to look at it since I wasn't posting. I was wrong, I had an average of nine people a day look at it, that's not a whole lot less that look at it normally! I've never had people from this many countries look at my blog in a week before. I ranked #4,026,169 down from the most popular webpage. I think I'm catching up with Pioneer Woman.

Spring is Definitely Here

2011-04-03T12:07:00.001-06:00

Yesterday

Today. You can't see the flowers anymore.

The trees are heavy with the wet spring snow.

We even lost branches. At least we didn't lose power like some people apparently did.

I love a Spring Snow. It's beautiful and never lasts for more than a day.

Signs of Spring

2011-03-31T17:25:00.000-06:00

After the long hard winter I'm always happy for these first signs of spring.

Pretty purple crocuses.

And yellow and white ones.

And red tulips getting ready to bloom.

And noxious weeds poking out from under rocks.

The Project

2011-03-03T21:25:00.000-07:00

Tonight at approximately 7pm I remembered Baby had a Book Report due in the morning. I called him home. I asked what he was supposed to do for the Book Report. He couldn't remember. I texted my friend. Her son couldn't remember even though he had already turned his in. I finally emailed the teacher, hoping in desperation she would check her email tonight. And she did! She informed us that he was supposed to make a milk or juice jug into an animal from a book he read this month. We racked our brains. He's been reading Hardy Boys. Not a whole lot of animals in those books. We thought some more. And then I saw the Calvin and Hobbes books on his bedroom floor.

"Why don't you make Hobbes!"

Since we didn't have any better ideas we went with it. Hopefully his teacher will be understanding.

Hopefully she'll be very very understanding.

Visions of Sugar Plums

2011-03-01T18:57:00.000-07:00

Today I succumbed. To the local version of Groupon or SocialLiving or some other "Daily Deals" special. I relented and got the kids and Olaf the "Mother of All Passes!" It entitles them to unlimited entry to the local Mini Amusement park, you know the kind that every decent sized town has. It also gives them entry into the local Water Park. The kicker was the food discount at the Water Park, 3%.

The kids have visions. Visions of living in their swimsuits this summer. Visions of going to work with Olaf and then when the Water Park opens at 11am he can run them over to swim. We mentioned that our friends have the pass. But they don't have to get the Season Parking Pass because the grandparents live right next door. Baby's eyes got dreamy.

"Do they just stay at their grandparents in the summer?"

Bright Lights

2011-02-27T17:03:00.009-07:00

My Mom and I and Baby had some free time one afternoon while the other boys were doing some other things. We decided to take advantage of this time and go in search of the Neon Sign Boneyard. It took us a while to find it and most people didn't really know it existed and weren't much help. But we were diligent and found it. We had to go to the end of Fremont Street. We were looking for an actual old yard with signs littered all over the ground. But we found this instead. Signs hanging all over an abandoned mall. The recession has not been kind to this town.

Some signs were in great shape.

Some were fun and fast.

Others reminded you of a more glamorous time.

And some were worse for wear.

And my Mom remarked that almost every town had a Strand theater at some time or other.

And I loved the action in this sign.

I don't know what restaurant this boy was above but he would kind of scare me away.

I think this was a precursor to Coyote Ugly.

Trader Bills just sounds like Old Las Vegas.

Here's a buff milkman going about his morning run.

I'm assuming this was before the days of central heating. I don't know what Steamed Heat is but it doesn't sound real comfortable. But it's better than being cold.

This guy was watching over an intersection. At this point we left Fremont St. Tourist Area and headed onto Fremont St. Local Area. Much more colorful, abandoned, sketchy, and shady. We didn't go far.

But these old signs were to awesome to miss.

More dancing girls. I think they were a theme in Vegas from the start.

And drinks of course.

Aladdins Lamp was from the early 60's. Next time I'll go back at night and hopefully it'll be lit up like a candle.

That night we were watching TV and we saw one of the local newscaster's walking amongst a bunch of old signs in a big yard and we both jumped. "That's what we were really looking for! Where is that?" Of course the commercial was over and we had no idea.

Until the next day. We accidentally drove by this area of town. First we saw this old slipper and stopped to take a picture. And when I turned around. . .

The Real Boneyard!

It's only open by appointment. But I can hardly wait for our next trip!

The Chocolate Fountain

2011-02-24T22:15:00.000-07:00

And I forgot to mention the Chocolate Fountain at the Bellagio. This picture says it all. This is a chocolate lover's dream.

Sightseeing

2011-02-24T22:01:00.000-07:00

My children are all different. Wonderfully different. This last weekend we went to the Bellagio and took in the Chinese New Year gardens. Afterwards we strolled around the stores. That's where I found these delectable things.

They were so yummy and delicious and scrumptious. We also wandered into the Garden Store of the Bellagio. They sell stuff related to the big garden display. Olaf instantly found something he wanted.

He begged and pleaded and I gave in. He loves Terra Cotta Warriors. But so do I. So it wasn't a lot of pleading. And when the saleslady told him they were half off, we were sold. Baby saw what he had and wanted some too. So off they went. When they came back and Middle Child saw that Baby had bought something he had to buy something too. He said he wanted some Warriors also, until he got into the shop and saw some other items available for purchase, half off. Apparently it's The Year of the Rabbit.

Our Bling Bling Child had to have the sparkly thing. We joke that he's like a crow. They love shiny things and bring them home to incorporate into their nests. His bedroom shines, and not from cleanliness.

These rabbits were so bright and shiny that it's hard to tell what they look like.

And speaking of Bright and Shiny things, I was on a quest to find the Neon Signs Boneyard. I'll tell you about that in another post because it's pretty cool.

But I was on a mission to find some new things in Vegas. So I found some Old Things that were really cool. Like an old Las Vegas Grammar School, Mission Style. hee hee

It's across from some new-fangled really cool building so my Dad had never noticed it before. But we got out and took pictures because it is so beautiful.

It's been restored and while I don't know what is in it right now, it apparently has some mission-type services in it because the park outside was full of homeless people. Or Hobos as Baby calls them.

This is only about a tenth of how many people were there. I kept shushing Baby as he would use the word Hobos. I don't know if that's politically correct or anything, but I didn't think they would like it and I didn't want to start a fight with a homeless person cuz we know I wouldn't win, I don't have a clue as to how to fight properly, or even how to fight dirty. I missed out on that training.

Here's my Mom and Baby underneath the arches to the largest part of the structure, probably an old gym.

I was excited to find this neat building. Supposedly somewhere around this area are some old railroad homes. Next time I'm finding those. Watch for my upcoming post about Neon Signs. They were cool. Although not as plentiful as expected, because it is Vegas and that's the one and only thing I remember about Vegas as a child, the Bright Lights.

Leftover Valentines

2011-02-22T17:08:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Vegas for the Holiday. What Holiday? you're wondering. President's Day! One evening we were walking around the Bellagio hotel. They always have such beautiful garden displays there. And then we wandered around the nearby stores.

And guess what?!? There were Leftover Valentine treats! These were so cute! I just couldn't stop myself, especially at half off.

As you can see they are miniature cupcakes that are actually Chocolate Truffles. So fun to eat! If you're willing to wait and celebrate things a little later you can get a great deal on awesome stuff. Maybe I'll tell my kids they just discovered Jesus was born after December 25th so Christmas got moved.

A Project Finished

2011-02-20T22:25:00.000-07:00

Last spring I got together with my sisters and sisters-in-laws. It was so much fun. I love hanging out with my sisters. We just laugh and laugh. And eat and eat. And laugh some more. Last year we decided to do a Sister's Weekend Quilt. We were all supposed to bring eight quilt squares that we had made to swap with each other. all the squares turned out great, they were all different and beautiful. When I got home I had grand plans of finishing my quilt right away. But I didn't really know where to start. So even though I bought some material to finish it off with, I hadn't done anything beyond that. So this weekend when we came to Vegas I decided I would have my Mom help me finish. And she did. And I got the top finished!

I love it! I was worried I wouldn't like the colors I picked to go with it, but I think they turned out great.

And the theme of our weekend was "Worn Out" because we all needed to sleep a week to recover from our adventurous Sister's Weekend!

Door Bell Ditching

2011-02-13T17:19:00.001-07:00

Calvin started a time-old tradition that would probably get him arrested in any town larger than ours. Door Bell Ditching. Now Baby likes to do it too. He did learn from the Master. My neighbor told me this story about him from a couple years ago.

One day her and her husband were home without any kids. Pretty soon the doorbell rang and then she heard someone running across the front porch and away from the door.

"Hey, you gonna get that?" her husband asked from the other room.

"No, it's just Baby doorbell ditching."

Two minutes later the doorbell rang again and once again she heard footsteps running across the front porch, away from the house. Again she ignored the door.

And then a third time the doorbell rang and more footsteps away from the house.

Then a couple minutes later the phone rang. She answered.

"Hi. This is Mary (not her real name) and I'm trying to ask your son to the Girl's Choice Dance. Will you please answer the door?!?"

Some Reasons

2011-02-03T17:26:00.001-07:00

There are a few reasons why I love my Baby. Even though he isn't a Baby anymore. On Sunday he got home from Church and decided his room needed to be cleaned. So he cleaned it all by himself. And then he made his bed. And then he climbed on it and demanded I take a picture of Him and his Lovies on his Made Bed.

And then when I hadn't taken enough pictures he decided to snap a few Self-Portraits of him and his Lovies.

And then last night, his Birthday, I walked into my room. Apparently he felt having a Birthday allowed him to sleep wherever he wanted.

And he was so sweet looking in bed with Froggy.

He melts my heart.

Happy Birthday to my Baby

2011-02-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Baby!

I know he's not really a Baby anymore but you can't tell my heart that.

If You Open It, Close It

2011-01-30T17:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning I was up before everyone else. It was quite nice and quiet in the house and i was enjoying it. Eventually the rest of the rest of the family got up too. Middle Child was the last to get out of bed, he is a teenager. But within minutes of his being out of bed he had already riled me up. He opened the door, went into the laundry room, got whatever he needed, walked out, and tried to go downstairs.

I hollered after him, "Shut the door!" Olaf shot me daggers since I was already raising my voice and the kid hadn't been up for ten minutes. He isn't around near enough to understand what is going on.

"Oh, sorry," and he promptly came back and shut the door.

For some reason this is a daily occurrence for us. He opens a cupboard and leaves. He opens a drawer and walks away. I've been repeating this phrase at least a half a dozen times a day to him over the past several weeks. But it hasn't sunk in. That fateful Saturday morning I happened to be on the computer and decided to post what I tell him constantly. I was amazed at the storm it created!

Apparently I am not alone. There are many other frustrated mother's out there. Here's the stream of responses I received. It made my day that night when I read them all!

Donna
If you open it, close it. Why is this such a mystery to kids?

Yesterday at 10:47am · · · Comment

Cindy, Bruce and Donna like this.
- Juanita and/or husbands...........
  Yesterday at 11:00am ·
- Heather Good question, how about if you drop it, pick it up or spill it or the list could go on and on!!!
  Yesterday at 11:23am ·
- Jennifer I guess you need another note on the container!
  Yesterday at 11:26am ·
- Donna What gets me is I have a child that when they don't like something in their room and need to get rid of it, they put it in the hall so that the fairy get rid of things will take it away!!! drives me nutts!!!
  Yesterday at 11:31am · · 2 people
- Suzanne I hear you!!
  Yesterday at 12:26pm ·
- Lindsay I think my heating bill was so high this month because my boys always forgot to close the back door.
  Yesterday at 12:52pm ·
- DaNae I have a hard time watching A Christmas Story because that dang kid opens the mailbox, checks the mail, puts it back into the mailbox and then leaves the mailbox open. I spend the rest of the movie shouting at him! Brad says he's fine with the mailbox but when the kid leaves his gun in the snow...
  Yesterday at 1:33pm · · 1 person
- Jen Bo oooo how I wish i knew! LOL
  Yesterday at 2:06pm ·
- Lisa I hate it when they leave an empty box in the pantry or fridge. Why can't they just throw it out.
  22 hours ago ·
- Lindsay Argh! I am getting angry just thinking about it!
  21 hours ago ·
- Rachel LOL
  6 hours ago ·

Painting Part 2

2011-01-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

Notice the disastrous mess? Everything pulled out, moved around, out of place. Augh! The painting isn't done yet!

I am so incredibly motivated to get this room done cuz this is where we do our living and I can't handle this mess.

Even the fridge isn't where it belongs. It feels all out of sorts. I've got to

get it back in place before it gets mad at us and spoils our food.

Even the blinds were pulled down. Now people can see in the front and the back! That would be because even though the other room is completely painted (and looks good, thank you) I bought new curtains and need to embellish them before they are hung. Will someone just tell me to quit making more projects for myself?

But by the end of this weekend things should be back in place. And Middle Child can make the cookies he wanted to make today and I wouldn't let him. Why? Not because I'm a Mean Mom (although I am sometimes) but because I couldn't handle the extra mess. And I will enjoy the cookies as a reward!

Commercials

2011-01-25T19:34:00.000-07:00

Baby has had a pretty icky mattress for a few years. About two years ago Olaf put a big, three-inch, egg crate, mattress pad on it.

That satisfied him until yesterday.

Last night he told Olaf, "Dad, you can have the pink pad back."

"I think you'll have a pretty lumpy mattress if you do. You can keep it."

"Not if you get me a Tempur-Pedic mattress!"

Despite my best intentions the kid watches too much TV!

The Ten Commandments

2011-01-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

Part of being LDS is Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy, it is one of the Ten Commandments. From the time you're little it's ingrained in your head that you don't shop on Sunday. It's taught to the little kids at church and as adults we're reminded in classes on a regular basis. We try not to shop on Sunday but there are times when we've felt like we really needed something and gone to the store anyway.

One such day back when Calvin was probably five or six we pulled into the Kmart parking lot right after church. As we started to pull into a parking spot Calvin hollered from the back seat, "No shopping on Sunday!!!"

Olaf kept on rolling, never stopped, and we went right home. Apparently whatever we needed wasn't so important that we had to have it right away.

Thinking we had great boys who listened at church we praised them. Until the following Tuesday when I went back to Kmart with the boys in the back seat. As Calvin and Middle Child both hollered, "No shopping on Tuesday!!" I began to suspect their Sunday Shopping comment had been more of an effort to not shop, their most despised activity, rather than to obey the Ten Commandments.

What Does It All Mean?

2011-01-20T17:09:00.001-07:00

What does it mean when you walk into a house and it looks like this?

And when you see people wearing paint covered clothing? Someone needs some fashion help.

And when the walls and windows are stripped bare? Hopefully no Peeping Toms are around tonight.

And blue tape on all the surfaces? Maybe it's a dream and you're floating through the sky.

And look at that funky paint job.

It means "Run for Your Life!" I'd say don't come over for a week or so or you may find a paintbrush in your hands!

It's a Birthday!

2011-01-18T17:18:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I made a whirlwind trip to see my Sister. It was a quick one. I flew in Friday afternoon and left Sunday evening. But it was perfect! It was short enough that I could keep her to myself, mostly, and not make her family feel left out. Altho we did go out to dinner with them once because it was her birthday! I even made her a present.

It's this cute Hedgehog apron. I spent a lot of time making the bias tape. And afterwards I found out about this nifty little contraption that speeds up the process tremendously! Lesson learned, I now own the aforementioned contraption in several sizes. It was fun to make this apron and now I'm going to make my own. But the best thing? Spending a whole weekend with my Sister! Happy Birthday Sis!

Ed the Warrior

2011-01-13T17:30:00.001-07:00

My little Brother loves to draw comics. He's pretty good at them. I think he got all the artistic drawing abilities allotted to our family, or at least my portion. He's got this comic he's put up on his website. It's about a guy who has to defend his company in an unorthodox way, with his sword! Go check it out. He puts up new comics three times a week. Enjoy it and tell your friends about it!

http://minidovecomics.wordpress.com/

Never Ending Traditions

2011-01-11T17:21:00.001-07:00

Last week I finally put all of the Christmas decorations away. I had the boys help me round everything up and get it in the boxes. I searched high and low. I was bound and determined to not continue one tradition I hate. That is Forgetting To Put One Thing Away. It seems every year I find something I forgot even after scouring everywhere and double checking the whole house. I even checked the tree this year and it looked ornament free!

I was beginning the think I had done it this year! I was pretty happy. Until from across the room I spied it.

It was something that didn't belong this time of year. It was red and green. I had cleaned the top of the shelf off, I had taken down the stuffed Grinch that was sitting next to this item. But somehow

I had missed the Merry Christmas pillow. It seems some traditions can't be broken no matter how hard I try.

Calendars

2011-01-09T16:57:00.000-07:00

This was the year for Olaf to get Calendars for Christmas.

The boys got him the usual World of Warcraft calendar for his office.

But his brother brought him this awesome calendar.

We have it sitting on our kitchen counter so every morning we can have a little Zombie wisdom.

And now you know exactly what a Zombie is, if you were wondering.

The Clock

2011-01-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

I went to the gym last night. At my normal time. I got there just early enough to get my stuff out. But, I forgot it was the beginning of the new year. The class was almost full! I had to sit up front. By the teacher. And more painful, the Clock.

I don't like working out. I hate sweating and feeling all dirty and grungy. And in Pilates we don't sweat a whole lot, thank goodness. But it's still a hard class. And to be that close to the clock! Pain! There was no fooling my brain into how much time was left, or how much time had elapsed. Ugh!

I can usually trick myself the last half hour of class into not realizing we're almost done. And then all of a sudden it's over and my brain thought we had another 15-20 minutes! It's like Christmas for Pilates! Not so with the clock right in front of me. I had to bear a whole hour of class, knowing just how long I had been working out.

Tonight, for Yoga I am going early. There's a nice corner in the back that I'd like to claim as my own. Can't tell what time it is and the teacher can't see me too well over the heads of lots of other students. Too bad we can't reserve spots, cuz I'd write my name in permanent ink on that spot!

Pancakes

2011-01-02T17:34:00.001-07:00

A few days after Christmas I went to Willam's Sonoma to get something special. When I brought it home the boys were so excited. It was Star Wars Pancake Molds! They were so excited they had to make some the next morning while I was at work. Failed Attempt #1.

Olaf was home the next day and he tried to make them for the boys since their attempt didn't work out. Failed Attempt #2.

Then New Year's Day I decided to show them all how it's done. I sprayed lots of Non-Stick spray to no avail. Failed Attempt #3.

Then Olaf tried it again with the same batch of dough. Finally! Successful Attempt #1!!! Well, sort of if you don't count Yoda's torn ear.

More Awesome Christmas Presents

2010-12-30T17:04:00.002-07:00

Did you get anything fun for Christmas? The boys got a few good gifts. Including these shirts.

Red Army

Zombies ~~are~~ were People too

Zombie Repellant

It was a Zombie Christmas after all.

Awesome Christmas Presents

2010-12-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

Christmas Eve Olaf ran to the store to get one more gift for the little ones. I had no idea what he was getting them until they opened the Christmas morning.

These were the first presents they opened.

It was practicality at it's best.

Olaf had cleaned bathrooms on Christmas Eve and decided the boys needed new toilet seats.

As soon as all the unwrapping was done he taught those boys a new skill. How to install toilet seats.

It was just what they wanted to do on Christmas Day.

They didn't mind not playing their video games.

Or reading their stack of books.

They were happy to learn a new skill. And now their bathrooms don't scare me quite as much.

The First Date

2010-12-26T18:44:00.000-07:00

Wednesday evening I was in the kitchen, baking, talking on the phone, tending my nieces and nephews, and being busy. The doorbell rang for the umpteenth time. Baby ran to answer it. (His cousins asked why he gets to answer the door all the time? Cuz he's fastest I told them.) He ran in the kitchen, "Someone's at the door for you Mom."

I got off the phone and went to the door expecting another neighbor. It wasn't. It was a young, pretty, girl. She was holding a few things.

"Hi," I said.

"Hi. I'm one of Calvin's good friends. We always talked about going on our first date together, just going to the movies and having fun." She was tearing up and I had started to tear up too. I gave her a quick hug. "I wanted to bring you this stuff since I can't go on a date with him. I think about him a lot and he was a great kid." She handed me a movie, popcorn, and a 2-liter of Coke.

I was crying by this time. I gave her another big hug and thanked her profusely. I was amazed. Every day I am reminded that Calvin had some incredible, wonderful friends.

Happy Birthday

2010-12-21T17:34:00.009-07:00

Dear Calvin,

Happy Birthday! I'd send you a card but the Post Office doesn't deliver to Heaven, so I'll be wishing you a Happy Birthday in my prayers tonight.

Your birthdays are always fun. You and your friends always laughed and goofed around and had a good time. I remember the Bowling party where thankfully no one was hit with a ball. That was back when we still had an old-fashioned bowling alley in town. I miss the bowling alley, but not as much as you.

I miss that you aren't driving our car around. You should have gotten your learner's permit this last year and driven me to the store and back again. You could have even helped drive us to Disneyland.

I hope up in Heaven they are throwing you a great party. With a big cake. A humongous piñata full of candy that you crack wide open on the first try. Maybe you'll even get to play miniature golf or go bowling. And eat some pizza when you're done. I know you've made lots of friends and I hope you are all having a wonderful birthday.

We're celebrating here too. It's a tradition and just because you're not here doesn't mean we can't celebrate too. Then we'll be off to get some presents for those less fortunate. We can't give you any presents and you liked it when we did that for others, so it's our tradition to do that on your birthday. We do it to help remember your kind and giving spirit.

Happy 16th Birthday Son! I Love you and Miss you!

Mom

The Invasion has Begun

2010-12-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

Since it's getting close to Christmas a few presents have appeared under the tree. There's the usual.

From Mom & Dad.

None from Santa yet. But he doesn't come for a few more days.

But apparently we have someone besides the parents and kids giving presents! Baby got a little worried about who was bringing him presents.

All Olaf could say was "I hope whatever they put in there doesn't smell on Christmas!" Apparently the Zombie Invasion has begun. Don't forget to Double Tap.

Updated at 8:30pm: Baby brought me the package from the Zombies and asked who it was really from. I told him the Zombies must have dropped it off while we were out. He got a little whine in his voice and said "Don't say that! I won't be able to sleep tonight!"

A Big Smelly Birthday

2010-12-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

I know I posted this last year but this is one of my favorite birthday stories.

It was Calvin's 11th Birthday and as usual we were going to Nickelcade, every boy's favorite arcade. We had enough kids coming that I borrowed my friend's minivan so we could get them all there in one trip. We got there and gave all the boys a couple dollars in nickels. They proceeded to play away, trying to win the most tickets while Olaf played games from his childhood. We eventually rounded them all up and had some cake and ice cream. All in all it was a great party.

After they had all cashed in their tickets from items worth one-tenth the cost of getting the tickets I loaded them in the van and headed home. It was December. It was dark. It was cold. I had seven boys in a minivan with just me. I put on some good music and the boys giggled and laughed and had fun.

And then someone farted. That brought out a roar of laughter from everyone but me. And then the smell reached my nose, which isn't so delicate after all these years of living with boys. It was offensive. It was strong. It almost made me retch. Even though it was a cold winter night and I was driving 65mph down the highway I rolled all the windows down. I cranked the heater up as high as it would go.

Finally the smell was blown out of the van. I rolled all the windows up again. It was finally much quieter and I could almost hear myself think over all those boys. And just as soon as it got quiet I heard someone else fart! And another round of laughter. And another round of driving down the highway on a cold winter night with the windows down.

As you can only imagine this scene repeated itself and I just drove all the way home with the windows down. I had given up. I just trained all the heater vents on my little body and let the boys freeze while they laughed at their silliness.

I finally got back into town and took all the boys home. I then drove the minivan to my friend's house and parked it in her garage after rolling all the windows down. I went inside and thanked her profusely for the use of her van. Then I explained to her why her windows were down and that she ought to let it air out overnight while she laughed so hard she almost fell out of her chair.

Apples to Apples

2010-12-14T17:43:00.000-07:00

The other day we played a new game. Apples to Apples. I was the only one who had never played before. Middle Child tried to explain the game in twice as many words as were in the instructions. Baby just laughed and giggled. Olaf finally told Middle Child to just let me read the instructions. Made so much more sense.

We got started. I tried to find appropriate answers for the term we were supposed to describe from my small pile of "answers." It was kind of hard. Seriously, how do you describe 'irrational' with the cards Jacques Costeau, A Locker Room, and Leeches?

I was losing. I don't like to lose. I'm not competitive but I just don't like to come in last.

But then I realized that it doesn't matter which of your cards matches the term best, but which one you think the person looking at that term will find the most interesting and therefore choose.

Then I got clever. It's not often that I can say I was clever! I started thinking about which card would pique the interest of the person in charge of the round the most instead of which was the most correct answer.

I wasn't losing anymore! I started winning rounds! By the end I had the most cards, 15. The next highest amount was only 10. The others discussed how I won so easily. I told them this proves that I know everyone the bestest!

Cupcakes

2010-12-12T17:29:00.001-07:00

This weekend I tried a new recipe. It was delicious! It was one of the best cupcakes I've had in a long time!

Look at that. Chocolate sumptiousness topped off with a spicy whip cream. There's cayenne pepper in there! A little different sounding but delicious!

It was just like the name of these cupcakes, Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes. It tasted just like a cup of Hot Cocoa with Whip Cream on top. Run to your mixer. Make then now. You'll thank me later.

All Alone

2010-12-09T17:25:00.004-07:00

Right before Thanksgiving I had the chance to go to DC. Olaf had a conference so the hotel was free! So I went. I got there late Thursday night. Caught a cab to our hotel all by myself (this is the theme of this vacation). Met Olaf who had come out a day earlier.

The next morning he had meetings. I laid in the nice, soft heavenly, hotel bed for a while longer. It was so nice and soft. Then I finally got up and got ready. Then I headed down to the Metro all by myself. I was a little nervous cuz I hadn't ridden the Metro by myself before, or any subway for that matter. But I managed! It wasn't so hard.

I got off at the stop that I thought would put me close to the National Mall. I got out, rode the escalator up, and walked out onto the street. All I could see were big buildings. All around me. Where was the Mall? I got a little panicky. But calm prevailed. I eavesdropped and listened to where other people were going. It was late enough in the day that almost everyone was a tourist also. So I started following some of the others, they seemed to know where they were going. After walking half a block I happened to look up and saw the Washington Monument peeking over the buildings. Whew! I was going the right direction!

I had all Friday to myself! I walked all over the Mall. I visited all the outside monuments. I visited some of the smaller, less famous museums, mainly because no one was there to tell me they didn't want to go there! It was such a fun day!

There were a lot of runners out on the Mall. They were serious! They were running fast. They were timing themselves. There's a lot of in-shape people in DC. One silver-haired guy was nice enough to stop and offer to take my picture. Unfortunately he didn't got my awesome boots. The boots I bought the week before. The boots that I had only worn once before. The boots that gave the bottom of my toes and heels blisters. Sometimes, and only sometimes, (thank goodness) I'm very impractical.

The whole day through I couldn't help but laugh at myself since I was all by myself and loving it. I kept thinking of the movie Date Night where the Tina Fey character tells her husband she would never leave him for another man, but sometimes she dreams of being by herself. I think it's every Mom's dream.

Christmas Decorating

2010-12-07T17:45:00.005-07:00

Every year we decorate the house. We get the tree up and adorned. We sweep away all the regular decorations and replace them with Christmas themed things; mangers, angels, santa's, and smurfs. It is just fun to celebrate all the wonderful things about Christmas.

But this year we added a new thing. We decided to put something down by the side of the road where our car accident happened and Calvin died. We got a tree and decorated it. Then we got a plaque made to hang on the fence long term. Sunday we went down that way and took care of those things. We were lucky and got a warm day, all the snow was melted so we didn't have to traipse through feet of snow. Our fingers didn't freeze off as we arranged things. And the best part, no rattlesnakes crept up on us.

We thought it was a nice little tribute to help remember him. So if you're traveling south on I-15 and pass mile marker 204, look down. It's right next to the mile marker but down on the fence. We figured it was safe that far off the road. We miss him and hope he's enjoying Christmas with Jesus this year and getting to know Tank.

That Evil TSA

2010-12-05T18:10:00.001-07:00

I've flown on the airlines recently. Amid all the hullabaloo about the Patdowns the TSA is doing to beef up security at the airports. I, thank goodness, was not stripped of my shirt like that little kid the TSA Agents wouldn't let through. I didn't get my "junk" patted down like that one guy who decided not to fly, or was he not allowed to fly? Not sure. I guess it depends on who you ask.

But when I came home from DC I had to go through one of those new-fangled scanners. I've been through them before without incident. No pictures showed up online of my image. No one stopped me and requested a full body search. I've gotten pretty lucky so far. I guess I'm not old enough to fit the "Grandma" stereotype that always seems to get frisked.

But when I came out of the scanner waiting to be cleared for my flight home, I saw the guy talk into his radio and walk off. And then a female employee approached me. Oh, that's not good, I thought.

"We're gonna have to do a patdown. Just the top half," she told me.

What?? I'm not wearing anything weird that would show up on the scanners, I thought.

She did a quick patdown. It was fine and not even slightly embarrassing or exciting. Made me kind of wonder what all the buzz was about.

When Olaf caught up with me I told him about the patdown, he'd been in a different lane. He asked if I knew what was suspicious looking. By this time I'd had a little time to think about it.

I decided it was my super-duper padded, add-a-cup size bra. Nowadays with all the boob jobs the TSA Agents don't know what all that padding in a bra looks like.

Yogi or Yoga?

2010-12-02T23:19:00.000-07:00

I've been going to yoga for a few weeks now. I really like it. I'm even starting to get the hang of it. Sometimes I even make smooth transitions from one pose to the next. But I've got a long ways to go. I have no balance, I'm about as flexible as a wood board, and I have minimal coordination.

So far I'm good at doing Downward Dog. I kind of feel like this.

Someday I'm going to get better but it's going to take a while.

Christmas Shopping

2010-11-30T17:24:00.001-07:00

There has been an item on sale at Target this week that I have been trying to secure for the boys for Christmas. I've already been to the store three times and they've been out of stock every time. This morning I got smart. I called them as soon as I got to work.

"Do you have any of Item Z in stock today?" I asked.

"Yes, we do have those."

"Do you have at least two?" I asked.

"Yes, we have at least two." I love that he didn't volunteer that they had 20 or 50 or 3.

"How long do you think you'll have those in stock today?"

"I don't know. I would come. Right. Now." He said it just like that. I felt like someone was reading me a blog with all that fancy-dancy punctuation that's so trendy.

Needless to say I hightailed it out of there and got two Item Z's for Christmas morning.

Life is...

2010-11-28T17:12:00.006-07:00

Life is not fair. I know that. I tell my kids that all the time. But sometimes you just wished it wasn't so unfair. The other night Tank got out and was on a walk by himself. When we discovered he was gone Olaf and Middle Child went looking for him. I got a call from MC asking me to look all through the house. A minute later I got another call from MC. He was sobbing and inconsolable. Olaf had seen Tank on the side of the road. He wouldn't let MC get out of the car. It was right by the house, my sister's house where we had gone for Thanksgiving. I hurriedly got dressed and asked my sister to drive me to where they were. But by the time I got boots on they were back. Olaf asked for a tarp to wrap him up in. He told us that Tank had been hit by a car and was gone. He didn't want to leave him all alone out there so he wrapped him up and brought him back to my sister's house. The next morning we decided to leave a day early because a snowstorm was forecasted. We got in the car and came home. After getting the kids home and in the house Olaf prepared a box and blanket to lay Tank in for his final resting place. Then he went out in the freezing howling wind and dug a grave for our sweet dog. Baby ran and told his best friend who came over. He wanted to write a note and so did Baby. So they wrote a note to Tank and put it in his box. Then when everything was ready we all went outside and watched as Olaf lowered him into the ground. We told him goodbye again. Then the boys helped shovel the first dirt onto his box. They filled the hole.There wasn't a dry eye in our circle.

Tank was a great dog. He had come to love us and we had grown very attached to him. We will miss him waiting by the door for us when we get home. We will miss the jingle of his collar as he walks around the house. The boys will miss him sleeping at the foot of their bed. I'll miss him sitting by our feet when we're sitting around. I'll miss him trying to get in on every family hug; it seemed he could smell a hug from the other end of the house. We'll miss him taking us on walks. We'll miss his deep barks. I'll miss taking him for his monthly bath appointment. He loved getting all prettied up. We'll miss him pretending to be asleep so he didn't have to go outside. We will miss him tremendously!

Spies, Madame's, and Speakeasy's

2010-11-26T16:40:00.000-07:00

Last week Olaf had a conference in Washington DC. I took advantage of the opportunity to stay in DC for free! I followed a day later and had some fun. My Aunt and Uncle live in the area and we met them one night for dinner. They met us in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. It is an absolutely charming area. It's full of stores and restaurants and quaint old buildings. We decided to eat at this restaurant in this beautiful old building.

While we were looking over the menu, Olaf read the history of the building. It is quite colorful! Check it out for yourself. There's spies, madame's, and speakeasy's!

The original owner of the building which is now IL PORTO RISTORANTE was a retired Sea Captain. He constructed the building like his ship - sturdy and sound in wall and beam. He stocked it with silk from the Far East, silver from Spain, jewel from England and France and - to his misfortune - a valued family heirloom of one of his customers. The unhappy customer had the Captain arrested and tried in the town square. As a result of the Captain's quick demise, the building had a new owner, Madame LeCleaque who turned it into a House - not a home! Business was brisk until a pesky customer shot the Madame and her girls fled into the night. The building remained empty for years!

After the Civil War, two southern ladies open a shop to sell family treasures. When they retired, a wine press and distillery were found in the basement. Perhaps the family recipe sold better than the family antiques!

The building then became a butcher shop with graded meat selling for 5¢ a pound. A German artist used the building during World War I as a studio, specializing in painting of the Torpedo Factory.

The Roaring Twenties saw a speakeasy located here, and then during the 40's a Nazi family moved in and set up a radio network disguised as a fix-it shop. Now, restored to it natural charm, the old building is the home of fine Northern Italian food.

Christmas Craziness

2010-11-18T17:43:00.010-07:00

This week I got all the Christmas decorations out and decorated the house. I made the boys bring all the boxes out of the basement for me. And since they were rifling around the storage room they found a train. Sometime, a long time ago, I don't remember when, someone gave us the toy train to run around our Christmas tree. So we got it out.

While I was busy decorating the house, Baby and Olaf were busy putting up the tree and the train. Baby has been playing with the train all week. And he brought out his army men.

It looks like a World War II Train to me. He loves it. I think I'm going deaf though. The train whistle doesn't turn off. I don't know if I can make it til Christmas.

What's a Boy's Best Friend?

2010-11-16T23:04:00.000-07:00

For young boys anything that shoots projectiles is something they love. Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but not so for a boy. They require things that shoot things. Several years ago all the boys got bows and arrows for Christmas. They were so excited! Olaf set up some targets outside for them to shoot. They didn't quite make the bullseye every time but they sure had fun trying. Olaf was excited that Middle Child seemed to like archery. At this point in time he was anti-gun. Olaf wasn't sure whose child he was raising.

Fast forward two or three months. I'm upstairs doing something important, because I'm always doing something important, even if it's an important nap. But I was awake this time, down in my room. I hear Baby crying. At this point Baby is probably three or four, still a sweet chunky thing that I could squish. I can tell from the cry that something's wrong so I hurry to find him. I get down the hall the same time he gets to the top of the stairs.

There's Blood! Pooling in his eye! Rolling down his face! Down his shirt and all over his hands! I have dealt with six or seven previous instances of head wounds needing stitches and been able to keep my calm without a problem. But this time I lost it. All that blood in his eye socket area! I couldn't tell where he was bleeding from so I assumed it was his eye. I kept expecting his eyeball to pop out at any moment! I told him to sit down.

Thank goodness Olaf was home. He was outside. I ran to the door and screamed for him to get in here right this minute! I was really losing it. Olaf could tell I was in distress and not just angry so he hurried in to see what was wrong.

He instantly saw Baby's bloody face and went into calm and controlled mode. He's so good at that. I only am up to a point and this was past that point. Just like the time Middle Child broke his arm, but I'll tell that story another day.

Olaf picked Baby up and brought him over to the kitchen sink. He got a towel wet and started wiping his face. I think he was smart enough to know his eyeball wasn't going to fall out of it's socket. After he got him cleaned up he finally found the wound. He had a nice cut in his eyebrow.

"How did you get that?" he asked.

Baby was still crying too hard to get an answer out of so we asked Calvin, cuz he was there too. Calvin got a sheepish look on his face.

"I had him hold up this blanket" and he demonstrated a very thin blanket barely held together, "so I could shoot my arrow at it. I didn't know it would go through the blanket! I'm really sorry!" And we could tell he was truly sorry he hurt his little brother. Of course he got a little lecture about not shooting arrows in the house, that's what the targets outside are for. And he swore he'd never do it ever again.

Heading to the doctor

So we loaded Baby into the car and took him in to get a couple stitches. This might have been a gluing instead of stitches. I love the glue because it just falls out, no need to remove stitches a week later. Baby still has a little scar in his eyebrow where no eyebrows grow. I love it. Whenever I look at that scar it reminds me a little of Calvin and his mischievousness.

Holding onto Dad for comfort.

The Monte Cristo

2010-11-14T22:08:00.001-07:00

Whilst in Disneyland last month Olaf and I ate at a restaurant without the kids. We both got Monte Cristo sandwiches. Neither of us had eaten one before. And we probably never will again. It's a meat and cheese sandwich that is then dipped in batter and fried to a perfect crisp. I was in Heaven! But I couldn't eat all of mine so I saved the last piece and let the boys share it when we met up with them again. They loved the sandwich also.

Tonight at dinner we were talking about sandwiches. Why, I don't know. We weren't eating sandwiches, we were eating homemade hot pockets with BBQ chicken and cheese. Olaf made them and they were delicious. Maybe because they were sandwich-like it reminded Middle Child of the Monte Cristo.

"My favorite sandwich was that one you had at Disneyland, Mom!" he said.

"Um, I wasn't the only one to eat one. Your dad had one too." I wasn't about the be the only one caught eating a fried sandwich.

"Oh, those were so good!" Baby announced.

"Next time we go to Disneyland we have to take $20 so we can get one of those sandwiches too! That's my favorite sandwich!" said Middle Child.

"Well, what about that Bacon, Turkey, and Avocado panini I made last week? Wasn't that good?" I asked.

"Yeah, it was, but not as good as that Monte Cristo!" he replied.

"Oh, Mom, that sandwich was so good. I have to have my own next time we go to Disneyland!" Baby told me.

"Well, next time we go to Disneyland I can see what is most important to these boys. Not the rides, the food!" said Olaf.

Even though they may not like a lot of things I have obviously taught them how to be food lovers.

What Happens in Vegas Doesn't Stay in Vegas

2010-11-11T17:07:00.000-07:00

On the way home from Disneyland we stopped off in some small town in California. It's pretty close to Death Valley. It has billboards claiming it has the world's Largest Thermometer. It does have a large thermometer but it has become a victim of the weather and it's hard to read. But they also have an Alien Beef Jerky store. So we stopped.

Here's Baby with the Crashed Alien Spacecraft. Thank Goodness it crashed on impact and isn't working or he might be snatched!

They also have the Mad Greek restaurant. I remember seeing a few in California. But none were quite as awesome as this one.

I love it. It reminds me of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Loved that movie.

Then we stopped in Vegas on our way home. Not to gamble away the rest of our money but to visit my parents. They took us downtown because the boys wanted to see the Lions at the MGM. I was okay with that because that meant I could go to the M&M store and Coke World!

When we got to Coke World they offered to take our photo with the Coke Bear. They were nice enough to take one with my camera and then they used their camera. The boys promptly went upstairs to see them. For the low price of $40 we could get one big one and a couple wallet photos. In retrospect I should have bought them. They would have made awesome pictures to put in our Christmas Cards.

Cookies

2010-11-09T17:05:00.000-07:00

Sometimes. Occasionally. Not too often. Randomly. Mysteriously. A good trait gets passed down to your offspring.

Middle Child has been venturing into the field of baking. He came home yesterday and asked if he cleaned up really good, could he could make cookies? I said "No." We really didn't have time.

Today he brought a friend home after school. They asked if they could go to Shopko to buy some treats. His friend had finally turned an assignment in on time! Then they worked on some homework. When they were done they asked if they could make some cookies.

Letting them make cookies versus me driving them to the store? You know which one won out! Thank goodness there are a few teenage boys here to eat the cookies so I don't. Because instead of letting him make the tasteless generic sugar cookies out of my basic cookbook, I gave him a good recipe. And they are good.

Unfortunately he bakes like he does most things. He only reads the first line of the instructions. I told him to read steps 4-7 to see what needed to be done to get them ready for baking. Apparently he only read 4 and 5 because step 6 tells you to flatten the balls of dough. This was after he tried to add chocolate chips to the sugar cookie dough. The mean Mom that I am wouldn't let him. I told him to make Chocolate Chip cookies if that's what he wanted.

They don't look too bad, just not like regular Sugar Cookies. But then, I've talked about Middle Child and his lack of conforming to my version of Normalcy.

The Things We Learn

2010-11-07T17:33:00.001-07:00

I've been married for over 17 years. It's long enough that often we know what each other is thinking. Sometimes we can finish the other's sentence. It's not long enough to actually look like each other yet, give us another 10 years.

But occasionally we learn new things about each other.

I know Olaf doesn't like amusement park rides, not even the ferris wheel. I just thought it was because he has motion sickness problems.

I found out, while at Disneyland, that the guy is more afraid of heights than I am! How did I miss that in the last 17 years?

What's for Dinner?

2010-11-04T17:02:00.001-06:00

Dear Calvin,

I wish you could come home for dinner. I miss having you around at dinnertime. I miss your smile and funny stories and jokes. But mostly I miss that you almost always ate my food. Except for tacos. Somewhere along the way you quit liking tacos and it surprised me. But everything else you almost always liked.

I miss your voracious appetite that apparently me and the whole neighborhood couldn't satisfy. Your brothers don't share the love of food that you have. It doesn't matter what I make at least one of them doesn't like it.I'd love to have someone under the age of 30 sitting at my table and honestly tell me my food is good and it's not going to make them puke.

Baby's strategy is just to cry and tell me that this particular dish will make him puke if he has to eat any of it. Every night it's the same story. Middle Child smiles and tells me it's great but then he picks and picks and picks at it. A half hour later hardly any of his food is gone and I know he's just trying to pacify me.

Tonight, Baby cried and went to his room because he wouldn't eat Chicken n Dumpling Soup. Once when Dad was bringing you home from a baseball game you had asked to stop at Glade's. Dad told you we were having Chicken n Dumpling soup and you changed your mind. You wanted to come home and eat my food!

Ever since you've gone no one really wants to eat at home even though I'm making great food. They like it when I make Tacos, Spaghetti, Pizza, Hot Dogs. Oh, and Orange Chicken. I almost forgot about that one, everyone likes that dish. You would too. And for some reason your brothers like steak.

Anyway, I hope you're not getting cafeteria food up there in Heaven, they should serve that to the people in Hell. You should get 5-star restaurants. And at least you'll like the food and not complain unlike your brothers. Hopefully you're getting to eat even more adventurous and spicy stuff that I didn't make either because I wasn't adventurous or it cost too much.

Love you and Miss you!
Mom

My Grandma

2010-11-02T22:29:00.001-06:00

Great Grandma, Grandpa, & Grandma

My Grandma died when I was only 15. She was so full of energy and never stopped for much. She also talked a lot. I would be amazed at the conversations she could keep going the whole time she was cutting out and sewing dresses. She was so creative that when I look at what she did it totally amazes me. My favorite skill of her's was cake decorating with a close second being her sewing abilities. Whenever she would come out to visit us she would whip up some dress for all us girls. I don't remember her using a pattern, but I don't know if that's accurate or not. My memory has been known to remember the wrong things at times.

I remember when I was seven or eight I mentioned to her that I wanted a watch for Christmas or my birthday. Sure enough, that next Christmas or birthday she sent me one. I was so excited! I wore it till it wore out. Even though it quit working I kept it. I still have it in my jewelry box. I don't keep a lot of things but I kept that.

Grandma would send us notes occasionally. For a long time I thought she didn't know how to spell 'night' because she always spelled it 'nite'. I didn't dare tell her she was misspelling it. But then when I got older I realized it was just her shorthand. Ever since then I have always spelled it Grandma's way. But I'm kind of ocd and don't like to misspell things so every time I come to night or tonight there's a little battle that wages in my head and every single time 'nite' wins. It always makes me think of Grandma.

One of my favorite memories is when she took me and my sister shopping for shoes. We were to be in her youngest daughter's wedding as candle lighters. I was 12 and so excited. She made all the dresses including the brides. And that was a lot of dresses! But when we showed up my sister and I didn't have appropriate shoes for the wedding. Grandma took us shopping and got us ballet slippers. I remember feeling special because just us two went shopping with Grandma. We didn't get much alone time with Grandma and that time was special.

I am glad that I got to know Grandma as long as I did. Since we didn't live close we only got to see them once a year. But I remember those visits. I loved it when both her and Grandpa came to visit. It was always exciting.

Halloween Costumes

2010-10-31T19:22:00.007-06:00

So what did you wear for Halloween? Since we were in Disneyland for Trick or Treating I made a costume for me and Sister-in-law Nurse. I got the idea from the California Gurls video by Katy Perry.

I went out on a limb and made these daring outfits for Sister-in-Law Nurse and me. Since I didn't have the body of a 25-year-old Pop Star I made ours less risqué. That and I didn't want to be kicked out of Disneyland. We were quite the hit with all the 20-somethings and younger. Most anyone older than that didn't know what we were.

Here's the whole family. Middle Child's coat zipped up with a funny face and Baby wore a Ghillie suit.

We had a ton of fun trick or treating and made out like bandits in the candy department. We shouldn't need to buy any more candy for at least the rest of this year. And don't expect me to wear this outfit again. Once was enough for a lifetime.

Jedi Training Camp

2010-10-29T19:55:00.002-06:00

While wandering through Tomorrowland we ran across a Jedi Training Camp. Our family loves Star Wars. This was a dream come true for both the boys. They anxiously waited in line. And Baby was chosen to be one of the Padowans!

He was so excited. The Jedi Master taught them a special move that could be used against the Dark Side.

And then they all felt a Disturbance in the Force.

Who had come to Jedi Training Camp trying to woo Younglings away from the Good Side?

None other than Darth Vader! He tried to woo them with talk of power and wealth. But none would join him.

So he brought in the big guns. Darth Maul! They chose to duel it out with the younglings. They all had to fight. Good thing they had learned a special move that would protect them from the Dark Side.

Baby was happy to help the Jedi's. When they had all driven the Darth's away, they graduated. They had passed a hard test!

So now it's Official. We have a Jedi in the family.

The School of Learning: The Beach

2010-10-27T10:58:00.001-06:00

Tuesday we went to the Beach. We had been there Saturday evening after we got into California. When we came Saturday the beach was really long. Tuesday morning as I walked in I wondered why the boys had set up camp so far from the water. And then as I got closer and could see over the wall of sand, the water almost reached them! The tide was high and the water was a good 30-40 feet closer than it had been the night before. The children had a lesson about the tides, and we were worried they would miss school. The children instantly set about playing in the sand.

Middle Child got buried in the sand. He was in heaven! I laid down and at one point the surf lulled me to sleep. I think I found my heaven on earth.

Olaf even got in on the fun. When we get on the beach he fits right in with the kids.

Castles were built, surrounded by moats filled with sea water.

The seagulls tried to get their fill of our food. This one took a wrapped cookie. He wouldn't let go of it. We didn't watch to see if he ate it with the wrapper or not.

I was amazed at the amount of surfers constantly coming in and out of the water. I was surprised at how many spent serious time warming up, but I guess it is a workout. These young guys here looked like they were bringing a younger brother that was just learning how to surf. It was cute to watch them teach him to warm up. They didn't go very far out, keeping the younger one in sight all the time.

It was an awesome day at the beach! Better than any day at work. I know where I'm spending my retirement.

Monday, Not at Work

2010-10-25T23:20:00.000-06:00

Today we went to visit the USS Midway in San Diego. One of the coolest things about this? We got to park on a pier!

Then we went in. Olaf got to see a Corsair for the first time in his life. To say he was excited is an understatement.

We all went on a tour of the "island." That's the control tower for the aircraft carrier. You're pretty far up in the sky at this point!

Then I dragged everyone to the first mission in California, the San Diego Mission. It was beautiful! It was everything I had hoped it to be. While most of it is restored the Bell Tower is original.

It was full of beautiful gardens. And an ancient monster-sized aloe vera plant.

And then when we got home we found the Lovies put to bed.

Do you think I can get the maids to follow me home?

What did you do this Sunday?

2010-10-25T01:08:00.000-06:00

Sunday afternoon instead of napping after church like normal, we rode the Teacups. Can you tell that there are six people in this teacup? There wasn't an extra inch of legroom left. I was the only adult, none of the others could handle it. We spun it as fast as it would go! For some reason the Teacups mean Disneyland to me.

And we rode It's a Small World, in honor of Grandma. It was her favoritist ride.

And we rode a whole lotta other rides. Oh, we had fun. Tomorrow we're off to San Diego!

What did you do this Saturday?

2010-10-24T10:25:00.000-06:00

This is what we did Saturday.

Don’t expect to hear much from me this week. We’re on vacation! I might make you jealous and post some pictures when I have time. Hope you have a good week!

2010-10-21T17:20:00.005-06:00

Last weekend I got together with some friends. We used to play Bunco back when that was all the craze. But we all got pretty sick of the game. So now we just get together and eat or do crafts or whatever suits our fancy. This month we decorated pumpkins. I saw this swirly, crystal pumpkin and wanted to make it.

I went to the store in search of crystal swirly patterns to transfer to my pumpkin. But alas, they were stinking expensive! So I resorted to buying some other crystals, a starburst pattern, and plain ones.

I didn't know if they would turn out cute or not but went to work that night. And it did turn out cute! I was so happy.

The crystals are purple and clear. I thought they were perfect Halloween colors.

I saw this one and loved it too. I like the sequins. They add enough bling to compliment the other pumpkin.

And my Mom made this awesome table runner! I love the prints in it and especially the Trick-or-Treaters out getting candy. Something my boys hope to do soon.

Duct Tape Wallets

2010-10-19T17:26:00.006-06:00

What is this mess you ask? Well, the cake frosting was delicious but the cake itself didn't turn out so well. So we resorted to eating the frosting off the top before I threw the whole thing away. Oh, you mean the red stuff! Why it's duct tape. Baby decided he'd try his hand at making duct tape wallets. These are some of his tries.

Olaf helped him and even found a youtube video for him to watch. He had a lot of fun making these and improving on the original design to make other things too, like change holders that you can stick anywhere.

He's so dang serious about it that I couldn't help but take a picture of him slaving away. As soon as he had made his first wallet Middle Child had the brilliant idea of selling them.

I think it's going to take a little more practice. But he's willing to try! Hopefully duct tape isn't too expensive.