one day at a time

Party On Grace!

2008-11-21T23:21:00.009-07:00

Gracie is wearing this wig because:

a) She is auditioning for a role in a new Mike Myers movie...Wayne's World Reunited.

b) She is getting ready to go to the mullet festival.

c) Sarah Palin is her idol.

d) Her dad thinks it's hilarious. He promised to pay her $10 if she would wear it for an entire day.

e) She wants to look like "Gabriella" when she goes to see HSM3 for her Birthday.

Here's a hint:
Notice the matching "T as in Troy" necklaces.

I won the mean mom award that day when I told her the "Gabriella" wig had to wait for us in the car while we went to the movie. I did allow the Gabriella doll to join us against my better judgement since it was Gracie's Birthday. Um, yeah. Let's just say that wasn't the best decision I've ever made. Gracie, Sophie, and "Gabriella" were all belting out the songs at the top of their lungs during the movie. Then one of Gabriella's little white shoes went missing. Gracie was crawling around on the filthy theater floor, rummaging through all the spilled popcorn looking for the precious lost shoe. I'm sure some of our fellow movie goers were ready to strangle us all by the time the movie was over. Gracie refused to leave the theater until the shoe was found. An employee finally took pity on her (and me) and helped us look for the missing shoe with his little flashlight.

Next stop...Chuck E. Cheese. (Yes, the wig had to wait in the car - again!)

After dinner, we had to pick up a couple of things at Target. I finally caved and let her wear the wig inside. I wish I had a copy of the surveillance video taken that night. Hopefully some security guard out there got a good laugh out of us.

The next day we had the grandparents and some cousins over for cupcakes and ice cream.

Gracie got the HSM3 soundtrack from Keri and Mike and a new microphone from Kelton. Soon there was a major dance party going on in the basement. The Gabriella wig made another appearance.

Even the boys (big and little) were dancing and singing. Oh how I wish I had it all on video. Sam won my vote as best dancer that night. I had no idea he could shake it like that. Go Sam!

Happy Birthday Gracie! (Party on!)

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T23:05:00.004-07:00

Every year Gracie tells us that NEXT YEAR she's going to be a witch. I thought that "next year" would never come, but 2008 year was finally the year of the witch. It's a good thing 2008 was also the warmest Halloween I can ever remember since our little witch refused to layer anything under or over her sparkly dress.

Dallin had big plans to be a Death Eater this year. That is until he saw a "bleeding mask" at the store. It has a little heart that pumps fake blood across the face when you squeeze it. One look at this beauty and he just knew it would make the perfect grim reaper costume. There was no changing his mind - believe me, I tried! It's a little gory for my taste, but I promise there is a sweet face smiling behind the bloody mask.

When Adam found this mullet wig, he happily exchanged his hard earned money for the opportunity to dress up like a "hick." At least that's what he calls it. I, on the other hand, like to call it "High School Adam."

He seriously had this same "do" in his Sr. portrait. OK, so it was a different color, but the style is exactly the same! (I'm also loving the plaid button down shirt with the plaid flannel quilted coat over the top. He just looks so dreamy.) Maybe next year I will sport the old CHS cheer uniform and rat my curls a mile high so I can go with him as "High School Heather." Alright, alright, let's be honest. There are a couple of reasons why that would never really happen. Number 1 is that I doubt I could fit even one leg into my old CHS cheer skirt. And number 2 is that I'm way too lazy now to spend that much time on my hair. But then again, maybe - just maybe - I might be able to find a wig that looks like my high school hair before next Halloween. (Shudder!)

But I digress...back to this Halloween. Adam took the kids trick-or-treating.

I stayed home to pass out the candy.

There was plenty of witch's brew to drink and "brains and bones" to eat. (That would be spaghetti and bone-shaped breadsticks.)

Oh, and we also had our annual family pumpkin carving contest last night.

I just love Halloween. Sigh. I'm kind of sad to see it end.

Farm Fun!

2008-10-29T15:12:00.001-07:00

Over the last few years, it's become a tradition for the kids and I to go to the pumpkin patch during Fall Break. I guess it's a tradition we all enjoy because the kids were begging to go again this year I was actually excited to take them.

We always have to start at the "corn box." It's like a sandbox...but with corn instead. Adam covered our sandbox with concrete this past summer. He promised the kids he would build a new one, but I'm wondering if there's any way we could get one of these instead. Corn is a lot easier to shake out of their hair, clothes, and underwear than sand. But then again - it's been a week and a half and I'm still finding corn in the laundry.

Here are some more pictures from our day:

the hayride to the pumpkin patch

hay jumping

the giant hay slide
(that's Dallin going down head first)

pony rides

the petting zoo

the pedal karts
(Dallin's favorite)

the animal train
(Gracie's favorite)

the kids and their pumpkins
(My favorite)

I'm pretty sure this tradition is going to stick. So...anyone want to join us next Fall Break?

Baby Neve

2008-10-28T20:31:00.004-07:00

Baby Neve was born on Sunday. The kids were dying to meet her, so we headed down on Monday for family night. Here's Ella and Gracie and her sweet new baby cousin:

Neve has adorable chubby cheeks and the tiniest little "thunder thighs" you've ever seen. Pretty impressive for a 1-day-old. Congrats Dave and April.

Countdown to HSM3

2008-10-24T08:46:00.008-07:00

I know, I know...the new High School Musical movie opens in theaters today. Some theaters even had showings at 12:01 this morning. For most people, the countdown to HSM3 is over. But at our house we are counting down until we actually see it next week. Princess Grace has decided to take Sophie with her to see the new movie as part of her Birthday celebration next week. So for us it's 8 days until HSM3. 8 days to dream about singing and dancing with Troy.

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Almost a Vegetarian

2008-10-23T23:59:00.002-07:00

Dallin and I were sitting in on Gracie's singing class this week while they were learning the lyrics to "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas." There is a phrase in the song where the mom thinks the hippo is going to eat the kid up, but the teacher said hippos are vegetarians.

I guess vegetarian isn't a word that is used every day in Kindergarten or something because when Miss Jenn asked if anyone knew what a vegetarian was, Gracie was the only one sitting up tall in her seat and waving her hand wildly. I slumped down and braced myself for what I thought she was going to say...something about her mommy being a vegetarian. But NOOOO. That's not what she said at all. She proudly explained that a vegetarian is "someone who takes care of animals."

Close my dear. Very close.

It's good to know that my eating habits haven't scarred her for life - I'm sure I can make up for that with some of my other habits.

Spilling the Beans About Dad

2008-10-17T21:01:00.002-07:00

Dallin and Gracie had so much fun playing "mom tag" that they asked me if they could answer the same questions about dad. I thought that was only fair.

Gracie

1. What is something dad always says to you? Go clean your room.
2. What makes dad happy? Going on bike rides.
3. What makes dad sad? When his bike is broken.
4. How does your dad make you laugh? He tells me porpoise stories.
5. What was your dad like as a child? Kinda like Aaron. (His twin brother.)
6. How old is your dad? 32.
7. How tall is your dad? 16 inches tall.
8. What is his favorite thing to do? To go mountain biking.
9. What does your dad do when you're not around? Goes mountain biking.
10. If your dad becomes famous, what will it be for? Telling people about porpoises.
11. What is your dad really good at? Riding his bike.
12. What is your dad not very good at? Keeping his bike on the car.
13. What does your dad do for his job? He goes to work.
14. What is your dad's favorite food? Meat.
15. What makes you proud of your dad? When he rubs my feet.
16. If your dad were a cartoon character, who would he be? SpongeBob.
17. What do you and your dad do together? Go to Day's Market and get candy.
18. How are you and your dad the same? We like to ride bikes.
19. How are you and your dad different? I don't ride my bike on mountains.
20. How do you know your dad loves you? He snuggles me.
21. What does your dad like most about your mom? When she goes to the garden with him.
22. Where is your dad's favorite place to go? To the meat store.

Dallin

1. What is something dad always says to you? Go clean your room.
2. What makes dad happy? Going on bike rides.
3. What makes dad sad? When he can't go on bike rides.
4. How does your dad make you laugh? He does silly stuff on his bike.
5. What was your dad like as a child? Someone who was really interested in trucks.
6. How old is your dad? 33.
7. How tall is your dad? 6 feet 5 3/4 inches.
8. What is his favorite thing to do? Mountain biking.
9. What does your dad do when you're not around? Goes mountain biking.
10. If your dad becomes famous, what will it be for? Mountain biking.
11. What is your dad really good at? Mountain biking.
12. What is your dad not very good at? Skateboarding.
13. What does your dad do for his job? Epic Engineering.
14. What is your dad's favorite food? Black Angus steak.
15. What makes you proud of your dad? That he cooks meat for us.
16. If your dad were a cartoon character, who would he be? A tall Donald Duck.
17. What do you and your dad do together? Sometimes we go to Dutch Hollow on our bikes.
18. How are you and your dad the same? We like to ride mountain bikes.
19. How are you and your dad different? He's tall and I'm short.
20. How do you know your dad loves you? He takes us places.
21. What does your dad like most about your mom? She tries her hardest to clean the house.
22. Where is your dad's favorite place to go? Moab.

Tagged - The Kids Tell All

2008-10-16T09:18:00.001-07:00

Dallin and Gracie were tagged by Hunter and Savannah. I'm not a fan of blog tag, but this one made me laugh and I didn't have to answer all the questions.

Gracie

1. What is something mom always says to you? Be good.
2. What makes mom happy? When I snuggle her.
3. What makes mom sad? When I have to go to time out.
4. How does your mom make you laugh? When she tickles me.
5. What was your mom like as a child? A Harry Potter book.
6. How old is your mom? 31. Am I right?
7. How tall is your mom? 20 inches long.
8. What is her favorite thing to do? Spend time with me.
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? Clean up the house.
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Being a mom.
11. What is your mom really good at? Playing with me.
12. What is your mom not very good at? Going on the monkey bars.
13. What does your mom do for her job? A mom.
14. What is your mom's favorite food? Cheese enchiladas from Ellie. (El Toro)
15. What makes you proud of your mom? Because she's my mom.
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Cinderella.
17. What do you and your mom do together? Play games.
18. How are you and your mom the same? We both have brown hair.
19. How are you and your mom different? We don't have the same clothes.
20. How do you know your mom loves you? We have lots of fun together.
21. What does your mom like most about your dad? Because he rubs her head.
22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? Olive Garden.

Dallin

1. What is something mom always says to you? I love you the most and a lot.
2. What makes mom happy? Spending time with her kids.
3. What makes mom sad? When dad goes on bike rides.
4. How does your mom make you laugh? The way she hides ships when we play Battleship.
5. What was your mom like as a child? She had short brown curly hair.
6. How old is your mom? 34
7. How tall is your mom? 5' 6"
8. What is her favorite thing to do? Spend time with her family.
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? Cleans.
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Loving her kids.
11. What is your mom really good at? Making dinner.
12. What is your mom not very good at? Being mean.
13. What does your mom do for her job? She's a mom.
14. What is your mom's favorite food? Enchiladas.
15. What makes you proud of your mom? I think she's the best mom.
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Olive Oyl from Popeye.
17. What do you and your mom do together? Read Harry Potter books and play games.
18. How are you and your mom the same? We breathe heavily. (Can you tell we both have colds right now?)
19. How are you and your mom different? I like meat and she doesn't.
20. How do you know your mom loves you? She laughs a lot when she's with me.
21. What does your mom like most about your dad? That he's funny.
22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? Disneyland with her kids.

Dallin tags Logan and Kelton.
Gracie tags Ella and Addison.

30 Days Hath September...

2008-10-10T21:32:00.002-07:00

...and I didn't blog on a single one of them. But it's a new month, and the blogging vacation is officially over.

Here's the run-down on what we've been up to the last month or so:

Dallin started 2nd grade. If you ask him how he likes school, he'll probably shrug and then tell you, "It's too easy."

Gracie started Kindergarten. I didn't cry when I dropped her off the first day...or the next day...or the next. You get the picture. But I reserve the right to cry and have a pity party a year from now when my "baby" leaves me all day for 1st grade.

Here she is with her BFF, Sophie.

Gracie turned and looked at me as her class was going inside on the first day. That's more than Dallin did on his first day of K, so I guess she might like me after all. But then again, when I go to pick her up after school, she begs to stay with Mrs. W. just a little bit longer. She's completely in love with her teacher and even says that Mrs. W. looks just like Snow White. If you ask me, Mrs. W. must be a little bit magical to have not just 7, but 27 little dwarfs hanging on her every word. She's amazing!

In other news, Dallin just finished his first season of flag football.

And Gracie hit the soccer field again. She had been on an 18-month hiatus after she realized that she could get the same snacks at home - and without all that running around. Her final game was rained out, so now we can cross soccer off our list - at least until next Spring.

Gracie also hung up her leotard and ballet shoes this Fall in exchange for group singing classes. We found a lady who is teaching lessons in her basement. She has a cute stage down there complete with lighting and musical instruments. Gracie is in her element there for sure. Her big dream is to be on American Idol one day - that or a High School Musical movie. She really wanted to do dance, AND singing, AND soccer, AND tumbling, AND a cheer clinic. But I was a mean mom and made her choose what she wanted to do most.

As for me, I was released as the ward Relief Society President. I've been in the RS presidency since Gracie was a baby. She'll be 6 in just a couple weeks, and she can't remember life any other way. She literally jumped up and down and did the happy dance when I told her I was getting released. "YAY, no more food orders!" she cheered. While it's been nice to have the weight lifted off my shoulders, it's also been harder than I thought it would be to sit back and let it all go. I still lay awake at night worrying about the sisters I've grown to love so much.

Adam has been spending every spare moment on his mountain bike trying to get in as many "final" rides as he can before the snow flies - which could be any day now considering where we live. His mountain bike had a near-death experience when it flew off the back of his bike rack on I-15 a couple of weeks ago. Luckily the airborne bike didn't kill or maim anyone, and Adam wasn't hit by a semi while darting onto the freeway waving his arms trying to rescue his "baby." He claimed he was swearing off mountain biking for good after that little mishap, but he didn't fool me. The bike was in critical condition for a few days, but after some TLC and a big chunk of change, it's back in working order. Adam was out enjoying the "maiden voyage" on his new and improved bike less than a week after the accident.

I'm glad he's happy, but do you know what would make me happy? Packing up the bike, the helmet, and the smokin' hot spandex pants for the winter. I'm really looking forward to reclaiming my husband, my evenings, and my weekends for a while...well for a few days at least. You know - until the Jazz season starts again. LOL! A girl can dream, right?

10 Years

2008-08-22T10:58:00.004-07:00

10 years ago today I waved goodbye to the single life and became a married woman. I won't mention any names, but I know there were some people who thought that I might never say "I do." I'm pretty sure there was more than one sigh of relief breathed on my behalf that day. I wasn't very old according to the world's standards, but in our LDS culture I was certainly getting up there in years.

I thought I was finally ready to take the plunge. I had traveled. I had worked. I had lived away from home and survived all kinds of "interesting" roommates. I had experienced college life. (I married Adam just a few days after I finished my last college class.) I knew what I was looking for. I had dated and I had learned from my mistakes. I had been through painful break-ups and broken hearts - sometimes mine, sometimes not. I had seen close friends marry - and in some cases divorce. But I was ready! In my mind, I was mature, experienced, and prepared. And even more importantly I was in love.

I honestly thought I knew what I was getting into, but looking back now it's almost laughable how naive I really was.

The truth is that the last 10 years haven't exactly been the textbook definition of marital bliss. Don't get me wrong, there has been plenty of happiness and fulfillment along the way, but there has also been enough frustration and discouragement mixed in to keep us grounded. When we got married, Adam still had 3 years of school ahead of him. Children didn't come as easily or abundantly as we would have liked. Our marriage has survived job frustrations, miscommunications, relocations, church callings, financial struggles, construction projects, and major impulse purchases that weren't always discussed or agreed upon beforehand. And after 10 years of marriage we still don't always see eye to eye on issues like finances, parenting, adoption, and mountain biking, but we're getting closer.

It hasn't always been easy, but marriage has also brought me more happiness that I could have imagined 10 years ago. I mean how could I have known then how it would feel to see my husband finally graduate and get his first "real" job? Or to move into our first home? Or to hold my newborn babies for the first time? Or to see those babies grow up and play bucking bronco on the trampoline or make dangerously long bicycle trains with their daddy? Or to watch firsthand as they start to gain a testimony? I had no idea life could be this good!

And I can honestly say that if I could turn back time...I'd do it all over again.

Kindergarten 'ssessment

2008-08-21T15:04:00.007-07:00

Today we took her in for her Kindergarten "'ssessment" test. She's been a little bit anxious about the "test" - so much so that she was insisting for a while that she wasn't going to Kindergarten if she had to take the test.

To ease her anxiety, I let her sign her own name to schedule the appointment on back to school night. She put her little "John Hancock" down for Friday at 9:30. Fabulous, I thought! Until I discovered that I would be delivering food orders on Friday at 9:30. (You'd think I'd never done this before...) I called the school to reschedule and they had an opening, but we had to be there in less than half an hour.

So off we went to the school where she showed them everything she's forgotten since preschool. LOL! No seriously, she did fine, but she really had forgotten more than I had realized over the summer. I suddenly felt like a slacker mom for going all summer without doing any writing with her. Oops! But we did have lots of fun together the last 3 months. That's got to count for something...right?

Dallin was a total crack-up when I took him in for his assessment 2 years ago. When the teacher asked him how high he could count he replied, "I can count waaaaay past 1,000, but I just don't think you have time for that." LOL!

Anyone who knows Gracie knows that she has never been one to be outdone. She had her own funny moment this time around. The teacher handed her some blocks and asked her to name the shapes. Gracie rattled them off, no problem. Next the teacher handed her a bundle of crayons and asked Gracie to tell her what color the crayons were. Gracie picked up the red and turned it around and around just looking at it. This went on for a little bit too long and honestly the silence was making me quite uncomfortable. "How could she not know the color red?" I was thinking to myself. Finally she found the spot she was looking for on the label and slowly sounded out the word "red." Next she picked up a purple crayon and read from the label, "violet." She repeated this for each of the colors. The teacher turned and looked at me kind of surprised and asked me if she was reading already? It was a classic Gracie moment and it was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud.

Scrappin'

2008-07-02T16:59:00.003-07:00

I haven't scrapped much at all this year. I'm not sure what's gotten into me. Either I'm having a really looooong slump, or I'm losing the love of scrapping altogether. I'm just not feeling it lately. But Shabby Princess released some new products over the weekend, which means that I got to play with them so I actually scrapped a few pages over the last couple of weeks. I'm really out of the habit and feeling pretty rusty all around.

I did a couple of pages from the "Twirl" Piece-a-cake album. These pages were pre-made...just add photos, a title, and some journaling. It really can't get any easier.

Here are a couple pages I did with her new Summer Cottage kit at Digi Shop Talk:

And another one I did with one of her new coaster sets.

Tagged

2008-07-01T23:57:00.000-07:00

So was tagged by Chad a while ago. I was being a poorsport and refusing to play his little game, but I'm finally caving. I haven't felt like blogging at all lately, so I figured this game of tag would get me to post something.

Oh and just for fun I let Dallin answer a few of these for me. (Can you guess which ones?)

4 Jobs I have held:
- dance teacher
- legal secretary
- phone surveyor
- computer programmer (old school - on a mainframe)

4 Movies I could watch again and again:
- Harry Potter movies
- Little Women
- The Work and the Glory
- The Pursuit of Happyness

4 TV Shows I Like:
- Alias (on dvd)
- Seinfeld re-runs
- Law & Order
- American Idol (best to watch it with the kids)

4 Items I could not Live without daily:
- water
- toothpaste
- toilet paper
- air conditioning or heater (depending on the season)

4 Places I'd Rather Be:
- Disneyland
- Hawaii
- Lake Powell
- Bear Lake

4 Things I Do Everyday without Fail:
- read with the kids
- nag them to get their chores done
- wish for a few more hours in the day
- struggle to fall asleep while I listen to Adam snore

4 of my Favorite Foods:
- Cafe Rio salad
- El Toro Viejo cheese enchiladas (flour tortillas, no cole slaw)
- strawberries
- chocolate

4 Items I wish I had right now:
- a landscaper
- ear plugs (see above)
- Calgon
- Super Nanny (minus the tv cameras in my house)

4 Things on my "To Do" List:
You've got to be kidding - only 4?
- Get my hair done (this one has been on my list for WAY too long)
- Weed the garden
- Work on the "office" (get paint for the walls, and a glass top and hardware for the desk)
- Prepare a Relief Society lesson for Sunday (I need a topic first) - any suggestions?

4 People I am Tagging :
- nobody...I wouldn't do that to my "friends" (just kidding Chad!)

So seriously if you're reading this and you want to play along, please do. (And if you're like me, just ignore it. OK?)

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-15T20:19:00.005-07:00

The music on this was driving me crazy, so I turned it off.

Catching Up - May

2008-06-09T23:26:00.012-07:00

Here are some of the highlights from our past month:

A DAY AT THE ZOO

I told the kids there was NO way the white alligator was still going to be there. I guess I lied.

Excuse me, but you're in my personal space.

Hanging out with the cousins.

The cutest little critter we saw all day.

DALLIN'S FIELD TRIP - RIDING THE TRAIN

I volunteer at the school, so I thought I knew who the "rowdy" kids were. It turns out that even the calmest children get a little wild when they go on a field trip.

Mrs. Bell's class.

Dallin with the conductor.

"Hey look, we're wearing the same shirt!"

GRACIE'S DANCE RECITAL

Gracie was so excited to be "Tiger Lily" in the Peter Pan show. She had a really bad sunburn, but she still danced like a star. She really knew her dance this year. She let me know that she was NOT happy that I didn't bring her any flowers this year. (Do you think she's a little spoiled?) Grandma and Grandpa 'Drickson came to watch her perform. After the show, we all went out for ice cream on Main Street in Park City.

Here's Gracie and Sophie at the dress rehearsal.

PRESCHOOL GRADUATION

I can't believe it...my baby's going to Kindergarten.

"When I grow up, I want to be an artist."

PAINTING DAY WITH LUKE & LIZ

We went to visit Luke and Liz to help them paint their kitchen/great room area. (Adam will work for meat.) I have a feeling Luke will never live down the green wall of shame. LOL! I thought it looked good after the 2nd coat - and Liz didn't even cry.

The kids had fun spending time with Halle & Caden.

MEMORIAL DAY BBQ

We went to a BBQ at Foed and Kelly's. I'm pretty sure I heard the meat mooing at the dinner table. Dallin finished every last bite. Gracie may have converted to vegetarianism. Fortunately no one got mad cow disease...at least not that we know of. LOL!

After dinner we walked over to a little farm to see the kangaroo, emus, turkeys, goats, etc. Gracie fell in love with Lilly. I'm not sure the feelings were mutual.

Can you spot the a** in the picture? He He! This just might be my all-time favorite picture. OK, not really, but it does make me laugh every time I see it.

WHEW! That's it for now....

Catching Up - Mother's Day

2008-06-03T21:30:00.007-07:00

I know, I know, it's June. Father's Day is in less than 2 weeks. But I'm just getting around to posting about Mother's Day. Better late than never...right?

1st Grade Mother's Day Program

Dallin's class had a Mother's Day program. The kids made invitations for the big day. Dallin wrote the standard who, what, when, and where. Then for the "why" he wrote in his very best writing, "because you missed the last one!" (OUCH!) That would be the Christmas sing-in that I didn't go to. I didn't miss it intentionally...in fact I never knew about it. There was no note, no invitation, no mention of it from Dallin. But apparently I should have used my super-mom ESP (aka mother's intuition) and been there anyway. I have a feeling this is going to be one of those things he never lets me live down. LOL!

Anyway, back to the program...the whole grade sang some songs to the moms. They were all so cute! I know it won't be long until all these kids will be too embarrassed to sing "love songs" to their moms for Mother's Day. I'm enjoying it while it lasts. Next we went back to his class where the kids gave their moms a letter and a poem with their hand prints on it.

You probably can't read the letter, but I wanted to point out that he said I am "the best mom in North Amarica." That is clearly an important distinction since North America is waaaaaaay bigger than just plain old America - but still not as big as the whole world. (I'm sure I would have been "the best mom in the world" if only I wouldn't have missed that Christmas sing-in.) LOL! Man I love this kid! He cracks me up!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is always such a perfect day. For that one magical day of the year my children cheerfully obey my every command, and of course they would never dream of arguing that day. My husband showers me with love and affection and thanks me profusely for being the mother of his adorable, well-behaved children.

OK, so NOT REALLY! But that's what Mother's Day is like in my mind. Of course in reality, things never go the way they do in my imagination. I know I have unrealistic expectations, really I do. So why do I set myself up for disappointment year after year? Because I'm crazy I tell ya! Certifiably crazy!

The highlight of Mother's Day this year was Gracie trying to "help" me by doing her hair all by herself. She emerged from the bathroom a few minutes before church with the "do" of the century. About a gallon or so of aloe vera gel was holding every root of every strand of hair firmly to her scalp while the dry ends flowed about freely. It's hard to describe, but trust me, it was a sight to behold!

Dallin gave me another card and letter that he made in school. Gracie gave me a potpourri bag and a card dipped in cinnamon with a little poem about sugar and spice. The best gifts though were the "coupons" they made in Primary.

Gracie's coupons were for:

an "I heart U"
"help dishes"
hugs
1 kiss
vacuum

Dallin's coupons were good for:

eating at "Dallin's Cafe"
"remotling" the office
sleeping in the whole day
creative artwork
not working for a whole day

I'm thinking I should redeem that sleeping in one sometime soon. I'm sure Adam would really appreciate it! LOL!

I guess Mother's Day isn't as bad as I always make it out to be.

Last Day

2008-05-23T18:38:00.010-07:00

Life has been crazy around here the past few weeks. We've had all the typical end-of-the-year programs, graduations, recitals, field trips, etc. And on top of all that Relief Society has been completely insane the last couple of weeks. We've had one BIG funeral, 3 babies born, 2 other deaths, and a bunch of other stuff I won't bore you with. I don't have a compassionate service leader right now, so I've been running around like a crazy woman. In all the chaos, blogging and e-mails have kinda been put on the back burner. I guess I'll just jump in where we are now and maybe do a catch up post or two later next week.

Today was the last day of school. Yes, "summer" vacation is officially upon us. Somehow it doesn't feel like summer though. It was a chilly 41 degrees when I dropped Dallin off at school for his last day. Yesterday was his field day. I sent him to school in his winter coat...not exactly my idea of summer.

Yesterday was Gracie's last day of preschool. We've been sending our kids there for 3 years now. I was pretty excited when I wrote out the last big check earlier this month. It had me dreaming of all the ways I could spend that extra money every month. But then I started feeling a little sentimental when I picked her up for the last time yesterday. It's hard to believe that we are "done" with this stage of life. Next year both kids will be in elementary school. When they were babies, it seemed like this day would never come. It felt like I would spend eternity feeding, wiping, bouncing, rocking, and changing diapers of fussy (but adorable) babies - and all of this on little to no sleep.

OK, I think that's enough sentimental talk for one day.

So anyway, I wanted to have a fun afternoon with the kids today to celebrate the last day of school. We planned to go swimming and out for pizza with some friends. The kids started fighting, whining, and complaining the moment I picked Dallin up for school. We had total and complete meltdown when both pairs of swimming goggles turned up missing. One kid was in time out for the better part of the afternoon, and the other one was hysterical because they were missing out on the swimming.

When emotions had calmed and tempers were finally under control we set out to get some new goggles. Two stores later we bought 2 pairs and raced back to the car thinking that we could still make it to the pool. One pair of goggles didn't fit which led to more tears and tantrums. We traded the goggles for a new pair, but I was DONE! Instead of going to the pool, I drove straight home. (Call me crazy, but I really didn't think I should reward this kind of behavior.)

I have a feeling I'm in big trouble if the first couple of hours of summer vacation are any indication of what's in store the next couple of months.

Bye Bye Training Wheels!

2008-05-09T20:00:00.012-07:00

Dallin has never had an interest in riding his bike before. He always said he'd rather ride his scooter....or "maybe next year." We took his training wheels off a couple weekends ago, but we didn't have much luck getting him to ride. Today after school he asked me to help him practice. I think he was inspired by Hunter. (Either that or the circus rig really had an effect on him. LOL!) I helped him for a minute or two, then he hopped on his bike and basically took off riding on his own.

I knew Adam would be more excited that Dallin was. He lives to bike and I think it was killing him that his kid had no interest in it whatsoever. He left work a little early and told Dallin we were going out to dinner to celebrate. Next stop was the bike shop to get Dallin a new helmet just like dad's.

We went on a family bike ride after dinner and he was riding like an old pro. Now if we could just get Gracie riding...I have a feeling it's going to be a while.

The Circus is in Town!

2008-05-07T01:28:00.009-07:00

This is what our family bike ride looked like on Saturday.

Adam thought it was a good-looking rig. I told him it reminded me of a circus act.

When we started out on the bike ride, I was a good 100 yards behind the "rig" - partly because I was laughing so hard that I could barely pedal, and partly because I didn't want to be seen with the "rig." LOL! I know Adam doesn't mind, but personally I really don't enjoy calling attention to myself. And let's be honest, a "rig" like this isn't exactly subtle. I mean how could you NOT notice something like this cruising down the street?

I'm afraid our poor neighbors had no idea that they were moving in next to the 3-ring circus. I'm sure all the responsible adults just cringed when they saw us ride by. Some of them probably even started making plans to put their homes up for sale. Ha Ha!

But by Monday evening every kid in the neighborhood was waiting in line and begging for a turn on the circus bike. Another dad on the street even helped Adam attach a 2nd trailer to the rig so that it could accomodate a couple more passengers.

They went round and round, over jumps, through fields, and even through the sprinklers. The kids were raising their hands and screaming like they were riding a roller coaster.

Who needs Disneyland when Adam's around?

And the Winner Is....

2008-05-02T20:39:00.011-07:00

Picture #1!

Thanks everyone for e-mailing and posting feedback here on the pictures! I tallied up all the votes and #1 was the hands-down favorite. #4 and #5 tied for 2nd.

I guess I misunderstood the rules though. I thought the employee told me you could either submit photos electronically OR with an 8x10 print. I assumed that I could just send a pic in via e-mail. As I was filling out the entry form this morning, I noticed it said an 8x10 print AND an electronic copy. Yes, it was an AND, not an OR. I was also surprised to find out that submitting "electronically" didn't include e-mail. No, they wanted the photo burned to a CD. Nothing's ever as quick and simple as I think it's going to be.

I didn't have time to go to Costco today, which is where I usually print my pics, so I thought I would try out the one hour photo at the new Walgreens in town. Let's just say that wasn't the best move I've ever made! Either the colors and lighting on my laptop are WAAAAAAY off, or the photo processing was. The whole photo was really dark and Gracie's skin was bright orange. Dallin looked at the print after school and said with a bit of disgust, "Well, it looks like we're not winning this contest, are we mom?" I pretended to be hurt by that comment, but I was secretly laughing on the inside. I'm sure he's right!

Dark, orangey print or not, I still submitted the picture. I decided it would be good for Dallin to see me lose. LOL! He had a hard time when he wasn't a top winner in the Reflections Contest at school. He got an Honorable Mention, but he was still devastated that he didn't "win." I tried telling him that it didn't matter to me whether he won or not, I thought he was a winner just for trying. So this this photo contest seemed like the perfect opportunity to put my money where my mouth is and show him that I'm OK with not winning too.

The pictures are supposed to be judged by the visitors at the Thanksgiving Point Gardens for the next month or so. The winners will be notified by mail on July 1st. I'm not holding my breath. LOL!

But still...

Ticket to tulip festival - $10.00

CD - $1.00

8x10 photo - $2.50

Priority Mail Delivery - $4.60

Teaching your kid that winning isn't everything - "PRICELESS!"

May Flowers

2008-05-01T08:52:00.007-07:00

So if April showers bring May flowers, what does a May snowstorm bring?

Yes, we woke up to more snow on the ground this morning. I've about given up on my daffodils and tulips this Spring. They just don't stand a chance with the weather we've been having.

Last week, Adam and Dallin went on a little guys only trip to Moab. We took Sophie home on Thursday night, so Friday I wanted to take Gracie out for a little one-on-one time. She's a big flower fan, so we decided to hit the tulip festival. We also did a little window shopping, and had dinner at Cafe Rio. (I'm so glad she loves the salad there as much as I do!)

Warning: LOTS OF PHOTOS AHEAD!

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Thanksgiving Point is having a photography contest from the tulip festival. The winner of each division gets an annual pass to Thanksgiving Point, so I was thinking that I might submit a photo in the amateur adult division. I know it's a long shot, but I figure it can't hurt to try - right?

So I need your help deciding - which picture (if any) should I submit? (You can click on the pictures to see them a little bit larger.) I'm leaning towards #s 2-5, but I really just can't make up my mind. I'd love to have some feedback! (Tomorrow, May 2, is the deadline to submit photos.)

Food Critic

2008-04-26T22:39:00.005-07:00

The kids love to play restaurant. I think the object of the game is to get the other person laughing as hard as possible. This is how it usually goes:

The "customer" sits at the kitchen table and places an order for some outrageous food.

The "servant" (aka waiter or waitress) rounds up some random household item and delivers it on a plate to the customer.

The customer pretends to eat the food.

They both giggle...and laugh...and laugh...and laugh...

Then the game starts over and the silliness escalates.

But last night the restaurant game took a new turn. Gracie, the "servant" decided to make and serve real chocolate milk. Dallin took a big gulp and called out, "I'll rate this a 9.6!" Next he wanted me to cut up some strawberries for a snack, which also earned a 9.6 rating. He announced that Gracie and I will be having a "cook-off" tomorrow to break the tie.

He had me laughing pretty hard, but I'm thinking it won't be so funny at the dinner table. I can just imagine him saying, "I'll rate this meal a 2.3!"

Did You Know?

2008-04-22T10:16:00.005-07:00

We've had Gracie's friend Sophie staying with us while her parents are on a cruise. She's been enlightening us with all kinds of useful information while she's been here. Most of her little nuggets of wisdom begin with, "Did you know..." Here are a few of the little gems we've learned from her the past couple of days:

1. Did you know that my dad makes the BEST breadsticks? (Spoken after her first and only bite of the breadsticks I made for dinner.)

2. Did you know that your mom eats garbage Gracie? (Said after she watched me put black beans on a whole wheat tortilla. LOL!)

3. Did you know my Grandpa with 8 toes only has 8 toes because bugs got into his feet?....(long pause)....but I don't know what kind of bugs.

There have been others, but that's probably good for now.

I've actually learned a thing or two myself while Sophie has been staying with us. For example:

1. Did you know that two little girls can change clothes more than half a dozen times before lunchtime? Together they can also make a mess - not just twice as big, but about 9 times larger - than either one of them is capable of making on their own.

2. Did you know some kids are afraid to sleep in the basement? (Mine aren't, so this is new to me.)

3. Did you know that there might be spiders in the basement? And did you know that there are spiders outside? (Since there are most certainly spiders outside, you should never ever go outside to play!)

4. Did you know that little girls are drama queens?

5. Did you know that it is exhausting to tuck two preschoolers into bed approximately 47 times in one night?

6. Did you know that when exhaustion sets in, all your best parenting techniques go out the window? (I learned this one while spending a couple nights on the upstairs couch, while Adam slept in the basement. The two girls were sound asleep on our bed when I came to this realization.)

7. Did you know that finding such a good friend for your kid is pretty rare? These girls just adore each other! They're going on day 6 of being together around the clock and not only are they still friends, they're still acting like they can't get enough of each other.

We're all learning a lot this week!

She Cracks Me Up!

2008-04-16T23:50:00.007-07:00

This is Rose.

This was Rose a couple of weeks ago.

Gracie had her in a wooden box. She frequently puts toys in purses, buckets, bowls, baskets, etc. so I really wasn't alarmed...until this conversation...

Gracie: "Mom, look at Rose."

Me: "Oh that's cute honey." (I was a little distracted at the moment.)

Gracie: "You better get cooking - LOTS of food!"

Me: "Why's that?"

Gracie: "Because Rose died, and we're having a funeral!"

Um. OK! (I seriously laughed so hard.) There's probably another child out there somewhere who loves playing "funeral" with his or her stuffed animals. That child's parent is probably a mortician or something. Ha Ha Ha!

Can you tell that she has been a front row spectator at Relief Society events for most of her life?

Goodbye Spring Break - Hello Spring

2008-04-14T15:00:00.008-07:00

It's back to school today after a week of Spring Break. It was cold and snowy all week last week, so it didn't really feel like much of a Spring Break. But wouldn't you know it - it's nice and sunny today, now that the kids are back in school. Go figure! Ha Ha!

We had a sleepover at Grandma's house last week. The kids got to visit Grandma and Grandpa and play with cousin Kylee. I got to escape the ringing phone and housework, which was nice. And I even read a novel while I was there. Ahhhh!

We had talked about going to the zoo over Spring Break, but the weather wasn't really cooperating. So, I took the kids to do a couple of indoor activities instead. We went to Kangaroo Zoo - a place with inflatable slides, trampolines, and bounce houses. The kids had a blast slipping, sliding, jumping, and acting like wild animals.

At one point I was worried when I couldn't see Gracie anywhere. Dallin finally found her inside the inflatable castle. She was lying on the middle divider between two slides "taking a rest." Crazy girl!

We spent about 5 hours there, but the kids still weren't ready to leave. I bought a 10-punch card, so we'll probably go again soon.

We also managed a trip to the indoor pool. Adam joined us for that one and took us to dinner afterwards.

Snow and sickness aside, it was still nice to take a break from our normal routine for a few days.

Rockin' and Rollin'

2008-04-09T10:27:00.008-07:00

The kids went yesterday to record a couple of songs in a recording studio for their Grandma 'Gumry. She's a Kindergarten teacher and she's written songs for each of the letters and sounds in the alphabet. She called Sunday and asked the kids to come and sing the "nnnnn" song and the "ch-ch-ch-choo" song for her. They are both big American Idol fans, so they were so excited to go record some songs - like Carrie Underwood. LOL!

Then on Monday, Gracie got sick. She's been sniffling and coughing like crazy. I gave her some cough medicine before we left yesterday. Then on the way down the canyon she was getting cranky with Dallin. She told him she needed some "peace and quiet" for a minute. (And I thought I was the only one who ever felt that way. He He!) It turned out she was saying a prayer that her cough would go away and that she would be able to sing her best. Awwww.

The poor thing was trying so hard, but she just couldn't control that pesky hacking cough. She squeaked out one verse of the "nnnnn" song, but she sounded miserable. Hopefully the music man can work his magic and get a decent song out of what he had to work with. I took Gracie out of the room while Dallin and Grandma recorded the other song. Dallin came out of there on cloud nine. He said it "felt so good to do 2 songs in a row!" He also commented that he realized that he is actually a pretty good singer. Ha Ha. Gotta love it!

I left my camera in the car, but luckily grandma took a couple pics for us. (I didn't have time to scrap them yet, but Dani's pop rock tag album was perfect for now.)

We had a nice Conference weekend. The kids were relatively well-behaved and I actually heard a lot more of the talks than I normally get to. I loved so many, but if I had to pick my favorite, it would have to be Elder Ballard's talk on mothers. I can't wait to get that one in print!

Sickness and snow aside, we've been enjoying our Spring Break so far. It's been so nice to not have to run a million directions every day! We have plans to do some fun things the rest of the week. I guess I'd better get moving and making some more memories with the kids.

This Face

2008-04-04T13:54:00.001-07:00

OK. Tell the truth. Does this look like the face of a bully to you?

I never thought so, but apparently I don't know - I'm just his mother.

This face was called in to the principal's office last week after a parent reported that her child had been bullied.

Really?

Yes. Really!

Dallin had mentioned in passing that someone at school (let's call him "Tom") didn't like him. He said that Tom and his friends kept trying to "attack" him -his word, not mine. He was so pleased with himself because when Tom's friends were about to "attack" him, he distracted them by showing them his super flexible thumb joint. (Way to use your noggin buddy!)

His point in telling me the story was to relay how advantageous it is to have a super flexible thumb joint. But that's not what I heard. Maybe it was the way he kept using the word "attack" that raised the red flag, but something in my gut didn't feel right. I didn't want to be one of those overprotective, meddling moms. I think it's important for kids to learn to work things out, so I let it drop for the time being. But I didn't forget about it. I would be sure to ask how things went with "Tom" after school the next day.

Are you with me so far?

Now let's fast forward to the next morning. I just happened to be volunteering at the school that day. I was out in the hall working with one of the kids when the principal walked by. He smiled and said "hi" and thanked me for being there to help. When he left the classroom, he took Dallin and 5 or 6 other kids with him. They all seemed very calm and laid back. There was no indication that this was anything out of the ordinary.

A while later Dallin came back to the classroom alone. He gave me his best please-don't-be-mad-at-me look and said, "The principal let me go since I wasn't even there when the trouble happened." Trouble? What trouble? Who said anything about trouble? I never even saw it coming.

As it turned out, the principal had received a call from "Tom's" mom accusing Dallin and his friends of being bullies. I was surprised by this development since that's not the story I heard the day before. Not even close. I know that there are 2 sides to this story, but I'm not fully convinced that I know either one of them.

That night before bed, Dallin and I had a nice looooooong talk; a talk I never imagined I'd be having with him. I know he's not perfect. I mean after all he is a boy, but still...he's my sweet, scrawny, non-aggressive, tenderhearted, little boy. (As I'm typing these qualities, it hit me that they are all rather intimidating. I'm sure first graders all over the world are shaking in their shoes right now. LOL!)

So anyway, while we were having "the talk", I asked Dallin what lessons he had learned from this experience? He said that he felt "sick inside his stomach and in his heart" when he thought he was going to be in trouble at the principal's office. Hopefully that sick feeling will be enough to keep him from going back anytime soon. I guess that's not such a bad lesson to learn.

And as for me, I've learned that I didn't read the fine print when I signed up for this motherhood thing. Clearly I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I'm sure I sprouted a few new grey hairs this past week. It didn't help that I've been so sick. It also didn't help that I had to speak in church last Sunday for our ward conference. The theme for the conference was "Teach Your Children" - and the principal was one of the stake visitors attending our ward. How's that for irony? Or shall I say humiliation? Ha! Ha! Now I'm just looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend watching General Conference. I've got my pen and notebook ready to go. With any luck there will be a couple good talks on parenting. Heaven knows I need all the help I can get.

Whoa Nellie!

2008-04-03T08:21:00.002-07:00

75 words

Speedtest

It's been years since I've taken a type test. I don't know what my top speed was back in the days, but it was still fun to see where I am now. I've always thought it would be fun to top 100 wpm. I'm clearly a long ways from that now.

Try it. It's kinda fun!

Out like a LION!

2008-04-01T09:34:00.010-07:00

We woke up to new snow again this past weekend. Yesterday Dallin looked out the window on the way to school and after seeing MORE new snow said, "In like a lion, out like a lion. That's not right!" I couldn't agree more. We're ready for spring anytime Mother Nature wants to stop playing her cruel jokes on us.

Yesterday Gracie's class went on a field trip to the fire station.

I knew she Gracie was tall for her age, but I was cracking up when my friend Karen pointed out that she was towering over all the other kids. She can thank her dad for that!

Stand back - she's got the hose!

I've been battling sickness for a week now. Chills, headache, ear aches, and the worst sore throat I've had in over a decade. I haven't felt good all week, so I finally broke down and went in to see the Dr. today. The good news is that it wasn't strep...the bad news is that it just has to run it's course. The 800 mg of Ibuprofen isn't even touching the pain and there's no relief in sight. I've tried decongestants, cough drops, Chloraseptic, hot baths, etc., but nothing is helping to relieve the pain.

Any suggestions? I'm to the point that I'll try anything - well almost anything.

Safe and Sound!

2008-03-27T22:47:00.005-07:00

Dallin's school was evacuated yesterday. The school district received a bomb threat - a phone call saying that a bomb would go off at a certain time. The caller didn't say which school was the target, so as a precaution, all the schools in the district were evacuated. Bomb-sniffing dogs swept the schools, but didn't find anything. It turns out it was all a prank.

Now I'm not one to dwell on the what-might-have-beens. Nobody was hurt. There was no bomb. Nothing happened yesterday that is going to scar any of those kids for life. But today I've still been thinking...

I've been thinking about Dallin's first day of Kindergarten and that that sick feeling I had in my stomach as he walked through the doors of the school building. Somehow over time that feeling went away and I don't even think twice when he rushes through those same doors. I've always trusted the school, the teachers, and the administration to watch out for him. And so far they've done that. I have no complaints.

But after the events that took place yesterday, I've been thinking that something like this could happen here. Bad things could happen in this small town that are out of my hands. I guess it shouldn't take a bomb threat for me to come to this realization, but I've always felt so safe here. Apparently I've been too naive.

It was so nice to give Dallin a hug and bring him back home again. I guess the bottom line is that it really does feel good when we're all home at the end of the day - safe and sound! Now will someone please remind me that I said that the next time the kids are fighting or running around acting like maniacs? Please? Because I guarantee I'll forget all about it the next time they're acting like this:

Easter Recap

2008-03-24T23:09:00.003-07:00

Sundays are usually a madhouse around here. It was so nice to take a break yesterday and actually enjoy our "day of rest" for a change.

The Easter festivities began last weekend at Grandma & Grandpa 'Drickson's egg hunt. Then Grandma 'Gumry had her egg hunt on Saturday. The kids had both had parties at school during the week, so by the time the Easter Bunny hit our house the last thing they needed was another boatload of candy. Of course, that's exactly what they got. I've decided I'm going to send the big bunny my dental bill for all the cavities he's so generously provided. He he he.

Since our church wasn't until Sunday afternoon, we had plenty of time for a little egg decorating in the morning. We decorated some at Grandma's on Saturday, but the kids wouldn't let me forget that I had promised we could do some at home...and a promise is a promise you know.

Dallin went to work with his big box of crayons, carefully planning what each egg would look like beforehand. He even drew lines showing where one color would end and the next would begin.

Gracie was all about the stickers. She had to dye each egg to perfectly coordinate with the color of the chosen sticker.

Something about Dallin's two front teeth and the bunny's lack of those same teeth made me smile when I saw this picture. (You may have to click on the picture for the full effect.)

The finished works of art. Look at all those pretty colors. I hope Adam appreciates it since he is the only one around here who will actually eat them. Bon apetite!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T07:42:00.004-07:00

This will be a quick post. I just wanted to say:

My morning meetings were cancelled, so I got to stay home and spend time with my family before church today. I could get used to that! We were even early for our church meetings. That never happens!

I have some photos to post tomorrow, but for now I'm off to spend some more time with the fam.

I Was SOOOO Mad!

2008-03-17T01:03:00.008-07:00

Earlier today, I was so mad! I really was. And it was over something so silly. Then I saw Gracie's book sitting in a basket in the kitchen and it made me smile.

I felt just like the little critter in the book. He wanted to run away from home, but then his friends invite him to go play ball. He decides that maybe he'll run away tomorrow...if he's still mad.

So I put on some of my favorite Sunday music, snuggled the kids, and read stories to Gracie. Then I decided to stay up late and scrapbook. While I was at it, I decided to give the old a blog a makeover. I'm feeling MUCH better now. Maybe, just maybe I won't run away after all. At least not today.

Adam bought me a laptop for Christmas, but it has taken me a while to get it up and running so I could scrap on it. I still have a couple things to work out, but it looks like I'm back in business. These are the first pages I've scrapped since November or December.

Gina at Digital Design Essentials sent me her newest kit this morning and this is what I did with it:

Then I did this one:

This was the parent observation day in karate class. The kids got to break boards for the first time while we were watching. Dallin broke his on his first try. Shocking, I know.

It's now the middle of the night. I should really be sleeping since it looks like tomorrow is going to be another crazy day. I've got to get some eggs early tomorrow morning. Gracie needs hard boiled eggs for school and when I went to boil some, I discovered we had a single egg in the carton. Yay! It's also my morning to go to help in Dallin's class. He was home from church sick today, but I'm crossing my fingers that he'll be better tomorrow. We just received "the letter" from his school about his attendance record since we took him out for a whole week to go to Disneyland. What kind of a parent am I anyway?

Yup, I really needed that "scrap therapy" tonight.

Back to Life....Back to Reality!

2008-03-06T14:48:00.008-07:00

We returned earlier this week from a 9-day vacation to Southern California and Disneyland. We had a blast, but now it's back to reality...laundry, grocery shopping, dinners, bills, homework, Relief Society, etc.

I came home to a few too many messages on the answering machine. DH just laughed when he saw how many there were and said, "Have fun with that. They're all for you!" Nice!

Then early this morning a sweet lady from church lost her husband, so now I'm busy planning a funeral luncheon for her family of 150. I love her dearly and I'm happy to help her and her family, but funerals always have a way of turning my life upside down.

Dallin finished almost all his make-up work from missing 5 days of school. He's working on a book about his trip to California, but he needs me to print some pictures before he can finish. I'll post some of them here and give a little update on our trip when I get them done. I've gotta get this funeral luncheon under control first.

It looks like I'll need another vacation soon to recover from the week I'm having. The to-do list just keeps getting longer and longer.

The weather in CA was unusually warm for this time of year...mid 80's a couple of days and upper 70's the others. That gorgeous sunshine made it that much more difficult to come home to our frigid 30 degree weather.

I took these pics before we left. This is the kind of weather we're enjoying back home. (Insert rolling eyes here.)

The snow is taller than our trampoline and almost as tall as the top of the slide on the kids' swingset. I was already wishing for Spring, but that warm California sunshine has made these freezing temps feel even colder than they did before we left.

Well, I guess I better get back to that growing to-do list.

As they say on the Winnie the Pooh ride, "Ta ta for now!"

Annual Update - LOL!

2008-02-09T00:29:00.000-07:00

My friend Hollie called me this morning. She's known me longer than any other friend on the planet. While we were talking, she mentioned that she had run across this sad little blog that has been neglected for nearly a year now. (Poor thing!) I guess I've already proven that I'll never be a consistent blogger. Hollie suggested that I could at least add some current pictures of the kids - maybe even on a monthly basis. I think I can handle that....maybe. Now I've been thinking all day about how ironic it is that I titled this blog "a day at a time" - "a year at a time" would have certainly been more fitting.

I've been thinking all week about the passing of President Gordon B. Hinckley and reminiscing about all the ways he touched my life. He was the prophet when I left home and moved away to go to college, got married, had babies, was called to be RS Pres, etc. I've relied on his counsel and guidance for nearly all of my "adult" lifetime. At age 97, I knew he wouldn't be around much longer, but I was still surprised to hear of his passing.

A little getaway

2007-04-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

I'm not usually so spontaneous, but I decided to book a little vacation to Bear Lake over spring break. My family vacationed there most every summer after my parents bought a boat. I remember spending the week of the 4th of July there and watching the fireworks over the lake. Dh and I both went to USU, which is just on the other side of the canyon, so I spent some time there in college as well. I've never been there this time of year, so I wasn't sure what to expect. We came in from Wyoming to save a little driving time. When we came around the bend and saw the lake, I couldn't believe how blue it was.

It looks nice and sunny - but the weather was COLD! There was a bike trail next to our condo. On our 2nd day there, we took a nice long ride to the end of the lake. The kids were going nuts in the bike trailer. They thought we were at the ocean. LOL! Dallin took off full speed ahead - running as fast as he could to get to the water. I love this little happy dance.

He went right in the freezing water - shoes and all.

Gracie was more hesitant. She was grumpy because she was so cold. (We told her it would be cold, but she insisted on wearing her skirt and bare legs. I thought it was the perfect chance for a little love and logic parenting.) She stuck 1 foot in and rushed back to the bike trailer ASAP where it was warmer.

It was a long, cold, windy ride back to the condo. I was pretty pleased with myself that I made it the whole way without stopping. Dh is a big biker, but I left him in my dust several times. OK - so he was the one pulling the bike trailer, but still he's in way better shape than I am. He quizzed me later why I was pushing it so hard. Just when he thought we were going at a good speed, I would speed up. I decided to fill him in on my secret....all I had to do was picture myself in a swimsuit - that's all the motivation I needed.

Later in the trip he mentioned something about our "little" bike ride. LITTLE? What? He was sure it was only a mile or 2. My burning thighs were convinced he was wrong. I insisted that he clock the route in the car - "just for fun" and it turns out it was over 9 miles.

Anyway, I was so glad our condo had a fireplace. We warmed up with hot chocolate and chicken noodle soup before heading to the pool and hot tub. We couldn't have timed it more perfectly. We had the pool all to ourselves for most of the afternoon.

Here's a picture I snapped just outside our unit. The pool house is up higher on the hill, so it had a great view of the lake.

The little town was pretty much shut down since it's the off-season there. On Friday night we did find a cute little pizza place that was open for dinner. Other than that, I was glad I had packed enough food for our meals.

We decided to go the long way home, so we could stop in Logan. Dallin was born there and DH and I lived there for several years, so we decided to take the kids on the grand tour.

First stop.....First Dam Park to feed the ducks....

...and the seagulls...LOL! Dallin was trying so hard to keep the food away from the seagulls. He was feeling bad that they kept snatching it away from the poor ducks.

Next stop....the USU campus. Followed by a driveby of our first apartment, the Logan Temple, and a trip to the 25 cent carwash.

Then lunch at my favorite restaurant of all times, El Toro Viejo . YUM! They seriously have the BEST enchiladas EVER!!! I sometimes crave them so bad that I'm tempted to drive to Logan just to satisfy the craving. This place was a favorite college hang-out and it was also the first place DH and I ever went to dinner when we were dating.

We knew the kids weren't going to survive the long ride home without burning off some energy first, so our next stop was to the Willow Park Zoo. The kids wanted to play on the playground first.

We finally tore them away from the park and convinced them to go look at the animals. They were pretty impressed by the bobcat, and Dallin was so excited to see a "real turkey" LOL! He told me that he's always wanted to see a turkey...and a bald eagle. Well it turned out to be his lucky day...we saw 2 bald eagles. I don't remember seeing them before.

We had to make 1 final stop on our way out of town....to see our first house. It's where we lived when Dallin was born. The people who bought it from us took great care of it. They added a new fence and some nice trees and flowers. I was so sad to see that they had sold it to someone else since the last time I was there. The new owners have really trashed it already. There was a big trailer parked in front - next to the driveway, but still - right in the front yard. UGH! I couldn't even bring myself to take a picture of it.

The kids have already started begging to go back and do it all over again. We may have just started a new spring break tradition.

Those little white lies......

2007-04-10T21:23:00.000-07:00

....we tell our kids. I'm starting to feel a little guilty. I was the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy all in 24-hour period. It's all in good fun of course, but the older Dallin gets, the more I'm starting to feel like a big fat liar!

He was quizzing his dad last week asking, "Do you believe in leprechauns?" "the tooth fairy?" "Santa Claus?" etc. I wondered what had sparked this little interrogation. Was the little guy starting to have doubts? I think I was about his age when I figured out my parents had been "lying" to me. So I was surprised by what happened next. Dad had answered "yes" to all his questions so far - but when he asked about the Easter Bunny, dad the perpetual tease thought he would be funny and say "NO!" Dallin was shocked. "What? Dad! I can't believe you think he isn't real. He always comes EVERY year! How could you think that he isn't real?" So the lies live on a little longer.

So I was a bit unprepared for Easter. I picked up some candy and a couple of little things at Target on Friday. It was so picked over. Most of the shelves were empty, and I couldn't find a single plastic egg in the entire store. Later that night, we took the kids to an egg hunt at our church. I confiscated all the plastic eggs they found so we could leave them out for the Easter Bunny to recycle. (See I'm lying again.) By about 9:00 Saturday night, I was desperate for more eggs, so I headed out to the grocery store. I found a few at the 3rd store I checked and returned around 10:00 to find Gracie waiting for me to put curlers in her hair. I was up late doing hair and being the bunny, so I was tired when the kids woke me up the next morning - after they had already found their baskets. The little turkeys.

I whipped up some bunny shaped pancakes and dad make bacon and eggs. That's how Dallin lost his tooth. I believe it was the first bite of his breakfast that did it. It was his first top tooth to go, and the first one with a lot of bleeding. It made for quite a dramatic morning. We barely made it to church on time. (OK, so we were actually a minute or 2 late.)

Dallin before church

Gracie before church

Eating chocolate bunnies

Even with a missing tooth

The bunny also brought the big bubbler this year. We had a blast with this - even though it was raining. I see many more hours with the bubbler in my future.

After dinner, we finished off the day by watching Testaments.

There's no school this week - it's SPRING BREAK! (And yes, I actually knew there was no school this time.) It feels so good to have a break from our normal routine. I canceled all playdates, meetings, etc. so I could just have fun with the kids.

We did some cleaning and organizing yesterday. We sorted through Dallin's closet and got rid of all the clothes that he's outgrown. He also wanted to clean out all the drawers in his dresser and rearrange his underwear and pajamas. I probably threw away a ream of paper. He had pictures and drawings and hand-drawn puppets stashed everywhere. That little project ended up taking the entire afternoon, but it feels good to get something like that done. Then we went on a family bike ride up to Midway last night.

After the kids were in bed, I did some laundry, baked cookies, and picked out cabinets for our basement bathroom. I'm horrible at decisions like that! If I'm given 3 or 4 choices, I'll easily pick my favorite. But when presented with 2 catalogs, and a case full of wood samples, I panic. What do I like? What matches the best? What fits in with the rest of the house? What's the most timeless? Ugh! I drive myself crazy. The cabinet guy was coming to pick the samples up first thing this morning, so it was d-day...or night...or early morning, as it turned out. By 2:00 in the morning, I had it narrowed down to 2 wood finishes. I finally gave up and went to bed. DH woke me up around 6:00 this morning to get my final decision. I was half asleep, but I think I told him to go with the glazed cherry. I've been thinking about it all day, and I'm sure that I picked the wrong one.

I took the kids and went to meet my friend, Christine, this morning in Kamas. She took us all up to their cabin for the day. It was snowing like crazy in the canyon. I'm thinking to myself the whole time...I can't believe this is Spring Break. LOL! We had a great time though, just hanging out and playing games. She's one of my real life friends that digital scrapbooks, so I took my copy of digital scrapbooking magazine, for her to look at. It's fun to have a friend that understands this crazy hobby.

DH spent the day in Nevada for work. He took a scenic drive around Lake Tahoe and ended up missing his flight home. LOL! There were no other flights coming home tonight, so he bought a ticked to SanFransisco, where he could catch a connecting flight back to SLC. The flight to SanFran got delayed, so he ended up stuck there. Dallin overheard me talking to him on the phone. When he found out dad was in CA, he was concerned that dad might go to Disneyland without the rest of us. LOL!

We're heading to SLC tomorrow to visit Grandma (my mom). Then Thursday we leave for Bear Lake. I did something spontaneous and booked our trip 2 days ago. We leave in about 40 hours. I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't snow while we're there, but I'm packing the hot chocolate just in case.

And the bad mother award goes to....

2007-03-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

....um, that would be me today!

When we arrived at school this morning, the back door that Dallin usually goes in was locked. We've had this happen before a couple of times so I really didn't think anything of it. I dropped him off at the front of the school and watched him race through the front doors just before the bell rang. I drove away to meet Gracie's friend for a play date. When we couldn't find Sophie and her mom, I decided to go home and call to see if we missed them somehow. And that's how I found out that there was NO SCHOOL TODAY!

Yep, it was a teacher work day. I had no idea. It's not like I just forgot about it. I honestly never knew! I guess Dallin didn't know either or I'm sure he would have let me know. The poor kid is only in Kindergarten. He went to his classroom to find all the lights out. He told me he went outside and sat on a bench for a while before he figured out that he could probably call me on the phone in the office. That's where I found him...in the office, waiting in line to call me. Yes, that's right there was a line. Apparently I wasn't the only idiot who didn't know it was a teacher work day.

I was feeling so guilty as we drove back home that I promised to take the kids to the park for a picnic lunch. Lucky for me, a few other friends had the same idea. (Not that they were doing it out of guilt. They were just being good moms.) We ended up meeting 3 of my friends and all their kids at the Wasatch mountain state park. It's a pretty park at the base of the mountains.

It has a playground, a duck pond, and a little animal museum. We had lunch first, then just let the kids play and play. I had to laugh when we all sat down on our blankets for lunch. There were 4 moms in our group and 14 kids, including 3 babies. There were kids all over the place. LOL! It turned out to be a fun afternoon. The weather was perfect and the company was good. We ended up staying about 3 hours and the kids were still begging to stay longer. It turned out to be a much needed break for the over-stressed mom too.

Things have been super crazy around here lately. Church stuff just seems to be overtaking our lives. One lady at church's son passed away last week. I made arrangements for a little luncheon for her family to have after the funeral on Monday. Then on Tuesday, we had a luncheon for some of the ladies at church who don't like to go out at night. Wednesday I went visiting with the Stake RS Pres. since it was our ward conference this week. Thursday was crazy with phone calls and other stuff. I had extra kids here to play that day, so not much else got done. Friday we fed the missionaries. DH decided a BBQ would be fun. Too bad he undercooked the meat and served it to them practically still mooing. Hopefully nobody ended up with food poisoning. He may have turned one of them into a vegetarian though. LOL! See I KNEW there was a reason why I don't like meat.

Then Saturday was St. Patrick's Day. Dallin really got into the spirit of the day. He woke up around 6:00 and started examining all the sleeping bodies in the house checking to see who was wearing green. I got an early morning kiss instead of a pinch. What a sweetie. He requested green German pancakes for breakfast. (A St. Patty's Day tradition around here.) For lunch it was sandwiches with pickles and green grapes on the side. Green dinner this year was green fettuccine alfredo, salad, peas, and mint brownies for dessert.

I know it doesn't look too appetizing, but both kids scarfed down everything I put on the table. I guess I need to start having color themed dinners more often. Maybe I'll try red next, or orange. Just don't make me do blue or purple.

In between making green food all day Saturday, we also found some time to work in the basement. For a few weekends now, we've been trying to sort through and get rid of all our JUNK in the basement. It is absolutely mind-boggling how much stuff we have accumulated. We're trying to get rid of anything that we don't absolutely NEED. At one point I thought I'd throw it all out, but then I realized there are pictures buried in some of those boxes. That was reason enough for me to sort through every last one of them. It's a good thing too - so far I've found my college diploma and the stamp of Dallin's newborn baby feet they do in the hospital. It's worth all the work just to have saved those. It's getting close, but I just want to be DONE!

Well this bad mother is going to go put her Kindergartner to bed now. I just hope we have a better morning tomorrow.

Mice and Cinderella

2007-03-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

Dallin rushed into the kitchen last night while I was cooking dinner and proudly announced, "Hey mom, I've got great news! I finally saw a real live mouse and he's HUGE and he's in our garage! I'm gonna go help dad catch him!" Great news? How could this possibly be great news? He then put on his mouse catching uniform - aka moon boots and a belt - and raced back out into the garage.

The huge mouse must have either been a fast mouse or a good hider, because they couldn't find it again. And now thanks to the little critter, I've had the heebie geebies all day. So right after dinner tonight dad and the 2 kids headed to the store for a mouse trap and some d-con. The trap has been set and now the waiting game begins. EEEWWWW! I can't even think about it.

So speaking of mice, have you seen Cinderella 3?

We bought it when it came out last month and my kids are loving it! They laugh hysterically EVERY time they watch it. It's quite entertaining to watch it with them. They have me laughing out loud right along with them. They think Jaq and Gus are so funny. (Maybe that's why Dallin was so excited to see one in real life - who knows?) Anyway, I haven't seen Cinderella 2, but I heard it was a flop. I thought 3 was really cute - a fun twist on the original. I'd recommend it.

Gracie has even dusted off the old Cinderella dress-ups and wants to wear them everywhere. I don't know why we buy the girl actual clothing. She basically eats, sleeps, and plays in her dress-ups or her pajamas. I get her dressed in the morning and she sneaks back into her room and slips into something a little more comfortable. It's a constant struggle to keep her dressed. She does wear normal clothes to school and to church - I have to draw the line somewhere! LOL!

I snapped some pictures of her sleeping last week on the couch in her Cinderella dress. I couldn't resist.

She's a crack-up. My parents came up today and she kept bugging Grandma to "come see what I can do on the computer." She then logged onto the internet, went to google, typed in "Ci", choose Cinderella 3 from the drop down list, entered the website she wanted, and gave Grandma a tour. Gracie showed her the pictures, games, coloring pages, sneak peeks, etc. and watched the clip of the music video - belting out all the words to "I Still Believe" the entire time. (Little show-off.) Grandma was impressed. I'm not sure what was more difficult for her to believe - that a 4-year-old can get around so well on the computer, or that her mother acutally lets her. Bad mother.

Oh well, now let's just hope that royal mousetrap does it's job - and soon!

Parenting and Taxes

2007-02-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

Disgusting! That's what it is. I won't go into too much detail, but my dd (who is 4 and has been potty trained for quite a while now), is suddenly having issues. Yesterday during church, again this morning during a play-date, and again already this afternoon. I hope this one passes quickly. And I know I'm not alone. Dh is with my on this one. He decided to take the kids swimming here last week while I went out for ladies night with some friends. Everyone was in bed by the time I got home. The next morning when I asked how the swimming adventure went, dh grumbled. He said Gracie kinda ruined the night. I guess they were all having fun at the pool until they saw "something small and brown floating in the water." Like I said, DISGUSTING! I'm glad I wasn't around for that one. Oh, the joys of parenting!

And speaking of parenting, dh and I have been taking some parenting classes this month. The teacher is a genius. She uses a lot of the same theories as the love and logic program, with her own little twists. My pediatrician recommended the love and logic book for early childhood when dd threw a full blown tantrum at her 2-year check-up. I liked the book, but dh didn't ever read it. It felt good to take the classes together. And listening to other parents talk about their parenting challenges and successes made me feel like we're normal parents.

We finally did our taxes this weekend. Well - actually dh did them. I wasn't too happy about it when he woke me up at 6:00 on Saturday morning to ask me a tax question. I was grumpy about it most of the day. We've been married 8 1/2 years now. You'd think that would be enough time for him to learn that I am NOT a morning person. I'd rather stay up until 3:00 am working on taxes, but please don't wake me up before 7:00 on a Saturday to do them. But I think I've forgiven him - and I am happy now that they're done! I'll be even more happy when that refund hits our bank account! We've been planning to use the money buy carpet and/or furniture for the basement. But now I'm dreaming of another trip to Disneyland. Dh said maybe we could go in March - if we get the basement done by then. That's a BIG IF!

And now I'm feeling really guilty for being frustrated with dd. While I've been sitting here typing - she's been busy writing me a love note.

What a sweetie! I guess I'll forgive her too.

You know you haven't blogged forever when...

2007-02-22T15:57:00.000-07:00

you can't even remember your login name and password. I'm determined to get better about it though - honestly I can't get much worse!

So anyway, I got a new phone today. One of these:

I haven't had time to play with it much yet, but I think I'm gonna love it! I love that it's pink! I haven't had a cell phone for a little while - I've been using my car's Onstar phone instead. But my last cell phone was black and silver. It turned up missing every now and then when my hubby walked off with it. As soon as I saw this pink one, I knew I had found the phone for me. DH has already made it perfectly clear that he won't be "borrowing" this one. Then he laughed and said if he ever did borrow it, he'd have to "use it in private."

The phone was delievered to my mom's house, so I picked up ds from Kindergarten and we met up with my mom and my sister and my niece for lunch in Park City. Isn't she a cutie?

My kids are totally in love with her. They could just eat her alive. It was fun to break away from our normal routine, even though dd ended up being late for her ballet classes. We really need to do that more often.

I'm off to make dinner for my family and get ready for a girl's night out with some friends.

I didn't even cry...

2006-08-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

when I dropped him off for his very first day of Kindergarten this morning. I can't believe my "baby" is big enough to go to school. He loved it, but he came home really tired! He told me that he couldn't tell me all about his day since "way too much happened." But I did get that recess was fun - he played pirates.

We signed Gracie up for dance classes that start tomorrow. She got her new ballet shoes today and can hardly wait to wear them. Dallin is going to a tumbling class tonight at the same studio to see if that's what he wants to try this year. He had his heart set on karate, but we'll see about that.

Here's a couple more photos from this morning. I took a couple after school, but they're still sitting on my camera.

It's About Time

2006-08-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

I updated this silly thing. I had great intentions in the beginning but that was before summer hit. I had no idea how crazy my life would become.

DS will be starting Kindergarten in a couple of weeks and it hit me that this summer may be the last time he'll really be exctited about spending time with his mom. Hopefully I'm wrong, but you never know. Anyway, I was determined to make time to have FUN with him before he heads off to school. We've been having a BLAST, but boy am I tired!

Last week was our county fair. This was the first year the kids have really cared about any of the events going on. DH went to scout camp during the week, so I was flying solo with the 2 kids to some of the events. We did the movie night, the exhibits, the carnival, the live entertainment. Last, but not least was the parade. DD was so funny pointing at everything as it passed and waving her little heart out to all the princesses and queens riding on the floats. (I think I'm in big trouble!) Of course they walked away with a huge haul of candy and tummy aches, but it was worth it. It's funny how having kids makes all the little things in life fun and exciting all over again. We had fun, but I tell ya, I was completely exhausted by the end of the week.

Then come Sunday, it was my week to teach the lesson in Relief Society. I know it's shocking, but I actually prepared in advance this time. (I usually procrastinate it until Saturday night.) I didn't want the kids to miss out on the fair while I was home preparing a lesson last-minute, so I started early this time. I even digiscrapped some handouts, which turned out so cute. I was glad I had prepared well, since the stake leaders showed up unannounced. I was a little nervous to see them, but it all turned out OK.

I'm setting a goal to start blogging at least once a week...wish me luck!

Spontaneous Getaway

2006-05-31T14:39:00.000-07:00

We did something crazy this weekend. We left our sick kids on a moment's notice and went to Wyoming. This really isn't like us AT ALL! So how did it happen?

It was actually a "company retreat" for a little company that offered dh a job a few weeks ago. He really agonized over the decision, but in the end he turned the job down. They said they wanted to "wine and dine" him...I think it was really just to show him what he's missing out on. The people were all so friendly and fun! We stayed up late playing card games and laughing so hard that it hurt! The owner of the company cried he was laughing so hard! Then we stayed in our own little luxurious cabin! It was so cute and cozy! Dh loved the HUGE log bed. I loved the jetted tub...and spending time with him. Ahhh...I think I forgot what it was like to just sit and hold hands!

It was so fun to just leave our worries behind and hit the road. And it was good that it all happened so quickly. I didn't even have time to stress over it for days...all the packing, laundry, house cleaning, worrying about the kids, etc. I was a little surprised to find out that my MIL came and stayed the night while we were gone. I hope she enjoyed our messy home as much as I enjoyed the cozy cabin. LOL!

I'm convinced this would be a good place for dh to work. So, when can we do it again?

How can something this sweet...

2006-05-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

be so destructive?

Our little artist strikes again! She KNOWS she's not supposed to color on anything except paper...trust me, she KNOWS!!! But knowing doesn't stop her. It might even encourage her. She created her latest masterpiece with a regular blue ball point pen. She hit EVERY seat and every cushion plus the armrests on our leather couch and loveseat, the entertainment center, the kithcen cabinets, the dishwasher, the walls in the hall, her bedroom door and trim. I suppose I should be proud. After all, only a true artist would be so free and unihibited.

I thought I was relatively calm, considering the extent of the damage. I reminded her that we only draw on paper and immediately put her in time out. Dh was pretty upset with her. He actually sat on the arm of the couch and cried when he saw what his sweet angel had done. He's usually not here when the kids do something like this, so I was glad to not have to be the only mean parent this time. But honestly now, what's a parent to do? It's only walls and furniture, right? And she's our little girl...what's REALLY more important?

I guess that I've come to the conclusion that scribbled walls and furniture can be a sign of happiness. They're a constant reminder of what matters most in life. Step into our home and it's obvious that kids live here. So maybe we don't have nice furniture or an immaculate house, but we can choose to enjoy our kids while they're young and embrace their creativity. The artwork is just a sign of a carefree, happy child...and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world!

Here's a really bad picture of some of the "artwork" - please excuse the glare from my flash. I think I'm going to order some of this and see how it works. I'm sure I'll need more than one! We've used this cleaner before, which wasn't too impressive, but this protection cream is amazing!

Girl Party

2006-05-20T02:54:00.000-07:00

It's been a fun weekend so far. DS went with his dad on a scout camp. He was so excited to "eat steak, build a fire, roast marshmellows, and sleep in a tent." DD started feeling a little jealous that she wouldn't be going, so I told her we could have a "girl" party at home.

She decided she wanted the two of us to eat ice cream cones, put on our pajamas, dance, paint our fingernails, and watch a movie. She picked triple brownie ice cream at the store - chocolate...YUMMY (That's my girl!) Next came pj time and then the dancing began. We put in a cd of her favorite Disney songs. She was spinning around as fast as she could, twirling her nightgown, then she got down on the ground and was rolling around and posing. She even used toilet paper for a prop (like a long ribbon) and added a kazoo for a little umph. It's been a long time since I had this much fun with my little girl. We'll have to have girl parties more often!