What a great weekend! & I saw Twilight

Me and Jesse enjoying our kid free weekend together.

We decided to Celebrate our Anniversary by taking a trip. Without the kids! Yup finally. I hardly ever leave my kids overnight unless it is with Jesse. But since I have an awesome great friend that was willing to come and stay with my rug rats at my house we got a break. Thanks Heidi!! THANK YOU SO MUCH! Hum.. seems like last time I left my kids for a trip with Jesse was when you stayed at my house and watched the older ones when Garyn was a baby. Seems with out you we would never get away. I hope you have recovered. They are a handful!

We went to Moab for the weekend and it was so nice. We left Thursday and got back Sunday. I can not even tell you how relaxing this was. I was asleep by 9 on Thursday night and didn't even crack an eye open till after at least 10am Friday. OH THE BLISS of a kid free, work free night of sleep. I SLEPT and SLEPT and SLEPT. All I wanted for my Anniversary was some sleep and that is just what I got. Thanks to my wonderful hubby! We ate out at some yummy restaurants and we shopped and shopped and we also went to the new bond movie.. snore... snore.. oh I mean it was good. It was like any other bond film. Just not my thing. Jesse thought is was ok, but not all that it was cracked up to be.

I finally talked Jesse into listening to Twilight. So we listened to it all the way down in the car listened to it a little while while playing on our computers at the hotel and listened to it all the way home. He finished it up on his way to and from work Monday and we went and saw the movie Monday night. We took Jaden with us to the movie, since he has read the books. We all really liked it. I was not happy with the casting of Edward until after I saw the movie. Now I think it was great casting. He did a great job! I didn't like Bella as well. She just wasn't my Bella. But I do have to say: What was with the Edward Scissors Hands faces Jasper was pulling. He looked to strange for the part to me. Over all though a pretty good movie considering what I was expecting. Still the book is better of course, if you haven't read it.. then go read it.

So it has been a great couple of days! Here some fun Picts from our trip to Moab.

Yes folks it appears that I may have married a leprechaun. LOL Anyone who knows us knows this is just the silly kind for stuff we do. I left the Port a Potty pictures off the blog. hehehe Or did you want to see the funny things he does when he sees a sign that says Prairie Dawg.

Jesse enjoying the view thinking about how nice it is not to have to be worrying about keeping kids away from the side. We decided that it is much easier to take in the sites with out the kids trying to jump off a cliff.

They wouldn't let me take nay pictures inside of the house in the rock. SO LAME! So I am just posting a picture of the stupid sign on the rock.

OK so yes we think these cheesy thing are funny. The box says "Baby Rattlers... open with caution"

And inside the box were baby rattles. tee hee hee Someone is funny. You have to admit it is kind of a cute little think to have at a tourist attraction.

I hearts my litle hubby man! It was so nice to spend time together and talk and reconnect with out the kids all up in our faces. It's been a pretty good 14 yrs. I look forward to many many many more.

10 on Tuesday Week of Oct. 29th - Nov 4th

1. Wednesday night I went our RS Enrichment night. We have a new and awesome girl on our committee that is crafty and has been offering us the best crafts to do. I loved it! I sometimes feel like I am distended from the ward. Being in primary you kinda live in your own little world at the end of the hall. So not only were the crafts great, and I got several of my Christmas gifts made but I also had a super fabulous time with friends from my ward. And I can't not mention that I was the crazy one that ordered multiple items (for gifts) and I had several people help me to finish mine up. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my ward. I am so thankful for the friends that I have out here that make my life enriched!

2. Jaden didn't have Young Men's this week so he went with Jesse and his old troop to work on his swimming merit badge. He did all of it in one night. He came home sooooo tired. But he was also so proud of himself and had a ton of fun too.

3. We had a Halloween party at my moms the Sunday before Halloween, the kids had a blast of course. She makes every holiday so much fun! The highlight... the kids and the dads chasing the baby calf from my moms field over to ours. We had him separated from the mom so that we could uhm.. well change him from a bull to a steer. Know what I mean? hehe And the kids were all out there in full costumes chasing him down the road. Nikki (my friend) drove by just as we were doing this and I think she had her laugh for the year. LOL

4. I did the Halloween Party in Garyn's class. Which was so much fun. I love Kindergarten and Pre-K aged kids. They are so cute. I had arranged for 4 stations and had a couple other great moms that came and helped. It worked out great and I felt really prepared and organized for it this yr. I guess I am starting to learn something.... takes me a while this is my 3rd child to do parties for in school. LOL

5. I helped with the Party in Samantha's class too. I brought 2 of my games for her class and some bags for the kids to decorate. It was fun to be able to just show up with my games and not have to organize it. Lucky Nikki gets to be Head Room Mom for her class. It is Samantha's teachers 1st yr teaching and she seemed to be really taken with the support from the mom's it is great to be able to help. She has been such a great teacher so far. I think she Samantha has connected more with here than any other teacher before. Partly because they are both a little shy.

6. I didn't get to help in Jaden's class because his party was the same time as Samantha's so I send him with his class treat (eyeball woopie cushions) and then I ran back and forth between the classes a few times to get pictures. His friend had the funnest costume he was a Mummy holding himself as a baby.

Later at our Trunk of Treat at the Church Jaden won funniest costume, and his friend (the I love my mummy) won most creative. That was pretty cool since neither of them has ever won before.

7. After school I was picking up the kids and Jaden brought his friend home for a while. They were texting some of the girls from school and decided to go to their trunk or treat too. For extra candy. So I took them back to town for about an hr or so. They thought they were pretty cool to be trunk or treating with Girls. Funny how in 6th grade the girls don't have cooties anymore. hehe

8. Then we did our Trunk of Treat. That was a blast. Jesse hooked up the inverter in the van and had lights strung in the trunk and some pumpkins. So we were all festive to sit there and hand out candy. Will was so cute as he went from car to car he would say "trick or treat" then after they dropped in the candy he would go "oh! Thank You!" like is was the 1st time he had ever seen candy. Garyn was more like just walk up with the bag open and move on to the next. LOL He didn't say a word to anyone. The big kids took off and trick or treated with their friends. We even took Harley with us.. costume and all. hehe Can you even believe I have become one of those crazy dog people with the dressed up dog?

9. After the trunk of treat we went trick or treating to G-ma & G-pa S, and G-ma & G-pa J's so that they could see the kids in costume. They were so tired by the time we got home.

10. And Tuesday I went to get my prescriptions filled for my stupid ear infection and then stopped to look at Halloween shirts and ended up finding the best deals. I am totally a manic when I find a good deal. The t's were $2.25 and the hoodies were $5. So of course I had to get a million of each. LOL I am in so much trouble. Jesse wants to kick my butt and he should really. But they were such a good deal and some of them I can put away for next yr and some were not even Halloween but were just in the clearance section and are totally great hoodies that the kids can wear now and all winter. Yup, I am naughty!

Hope ya'll had a Happy Halloween!

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Here are my little spooks. We had a blast. Totally wore me out and this was one BUSY BUSY week.. enjoy:

Jaden "Fat Clown", Samantha "Rodeo Queen that was trampled by her horse", Will "Dumbo", and Garyn "Bat Man"

10 on Tuesday Oct 14th

Here are this weeks 10 memories....

1. Will finally decided to go potty consecutively. He has been using it off and on when the mood strikes but finally this week decided that it is easier to just use it all the time. His big motivation? He hates it when I hold his legs to change him and likes that I don't have to when he uses the toilet. Who'd have thunk it? hehe Hope this will last.

2. Did some canning this weekend. We did Spaghetti Sauce. Yummy. Now that is one food storage item that I could probably never have to much of. Nothing like homemade Spaghetti Sauce made with home grown tomatoes.

3. In the process of the canning adventure we realized that no stores in my area have canning jars in stock. Not kidding. We went to about 5 stores and they were all out. We ended up having to barrow jars from my MIL. Thank goodness for a generous and loving family. Once the stores get restocked in Jars I think I am going to buy some extras in case I have more canning to do.

4. Also made freezer jam. I picked peaches off my Mom and Dad's trees and made the yummiest peach and raspberry and also peach blueberry jam ever. Oh it is soooooo yummy. I love when it just turns out good. I would like to make more but there is only so much room in the freezer.

5. Garyn learned about Columbus on Columbus Day in school. For some strange reason he has been having dreams about Columbus having his head cut off and him finding it somewhere. I have absolutely no idea what brought this on but the last 2 nights he hasn't been able to sleep. Poor kid.

6. Jesse had Columbus Day off but the kids didn't so it was nice to have him home with me and the little boys. We got to spend some time helping his Mom and Step Dad pick out some new TV's and putting them up. It was great to be able to help them. Not just to be able to help them but the little boys love going over there and playing with Grandpa's train set. So they got to spend lots of time with is while they TV's were getting hooked up. When we left Will cried and said he wanted to play with Grandpa's trains at Wills house. Not sure how he thought we were going to be able to bring Grandpa's whole train table to our house, but it was pretty cute anyway.

7. Samantha has a cousin on the High school Drill Team so she got to take classes all week from the High school girls and on Friday Night performed at the varsity game. They had a blast but almost froze to death. It was so stinking cold out there on Friday.

Necia, Erika, Sierra, and Samantha

8. Went to a Movie with Jesse for date night.. we saw Eagle Eye and I liked it. I like most movies. I just plain like to watch movies. It's silly but I guess it's a hobby in a way.

9. I started on my Christmas Gifts for neighbors and friends.. This is going to take me longer than I thought. Once again I didn't think this over very well, and bit off more than I could chew. LOL

10. Been taking care of my Dad's dog and her puppies while he and my mom are on a cruise and yesterday when I went over to feed her she jumped up on his 4 wheeler and whined at me. So of course I had to take her for her 4wheel ride.. and my boys too. LOL His dog is hilarious she misses him when he isn't home to take her for her ride. I believe she has been therapeutic for him over the past 2 yrs with his trials. Sometimes animals can be that way. But that is a whole other story. But she is a cute dog and her new pups are stinking darling.

10 on Tuesday Disneyland Pictures!

I just got home from spending a week and a half in California and Disneyland so this weeks 10 on Tuesday is going to be 10 pictures of 10 moments with my Family in California. It was so much fun that we didn't want to leave. But I came home to the biggest coolest surprise ever so that was awesome. But I will post that separate because it really deserves is own post.

Here are 10 pictures to show the fun places we have been. It was hard narrowing my 1,535 of trip photos taken down to only 10 to post.

The family meeting Mickey

And Minnie

(We got pictures with them in their Year of a Million Dreams clothes and Halloween outfits as well as regular outfits. Our kids got to see a lot of Mickey and Minnie this time)

Jesse, Grandma and my Kids at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego

We also went to Sea World but none of those pictures made my final 10. LOL

Meeting Snoopy at Knotts Berry Farm

(This is my mom and dad with my kids.)

Jesse and Will at the beach... Jaden Samantha and Garyn are already out into the waves you can kinda see them in the background.

There was much riding of rides.

Jaden and Samantha are in the back cart of this roller coaster.

There was also much waiting.

This is Grandpa with Will and my nephew Gabe, waiting for us to get off a ride. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for helping with the kids so much!

Garyn and Will in the stroller at Universal Studios in Burbank CA. Garyn with his favorite souvenir his Sponge Bob toys and Will bought a huge Dinosaur at the Jurassic Park Ride. It was almost as big as him. You should see him trying to carry it and walk. Too funny!

Something that we have never done before. The kids learned about the center spike so we made a point to go and find it. When Disneyland was constructed Walt Disney put a spike in the exact center of the park. It is under the walkway when you walk through Cinderella's Castle.

So here we are in the exact middle of Disneyland finding the golden spike!

The Goof with Goofy

And I know this makes 11 but I can't help it because it is Curious Will with Curious George and they both are just so cute and look so Innocent but are such little trouble makers. LOL

10 on Tuesday! 1st edition

OK so this weekend one of my cousins invited me to join in on the 10 on Tuesday challenge. Here is how it works: each Tuesday I will list 10 things we have done this past week. Hopefully other than work and sleep or rather wish I was sleeping. (or 10 thoughts that I want to list. LOL) It's kinda like a weekly snapshot and I think it's a great idea so I am looking forward to joining in and also to getting better connected with my family as we are all going to be doing 10 on Tuesday.... So here goes my 1st edition of 10 on Tuesday



Week of Sept. 2nd - 9th:

1. Took Samantha to her Riding Lessons and Dance Lessons

2. Picked up Jaden from Play Practice. He is in 101 Datamations and just found out today he is being cast as a police man. He is very excited. I let him walk with his cousin after school. It was stressful for me. I sent him with my Cell phone and made him call me 3x's. Yup I am a stressy mom like that. And yes he is 12 and yes when I was 12 my mom would let me walk all over town but nope I am not as relaxed as she is.

3. Didn't realize that Garyn had homework last week. I guess I thought she hadn't started it yet and I admit instead of actually checking the backpack I asked "Did your teacher send home any papers in your backpack?" and forgetting that Garyn is only 5 and not one of the big kids I believed him when he said nope.

4. Realized that we hadn't done homework so today we did all the Homework for last week and this week until now. Nice already slacking and we are on like the 3rd week of school. I am sure the kindergarten teacher is ultra impressed. LOL

5. Shopped with Helen to find the perfect gift for my Sister and her family who just lost their mom/mother in law/grandma. This shopping took 2 trips on 2 different days but we found the perfect wreath that matches their house and that they could keep for years after the funeral.

6. Attended the funeral. (I already posted about it)

7. Went to our Family Reunion. (already posted that too) It was lots of fun even if I was like forever late and had a corn on the cob disaster trying to get out the door. Note to self DO NOT use the gray cooler to take Hot Corn on the Cob in anymore!!!!

8. Went to lunch with Jesse one day last week when he was working in our county and close enough to take us to lunch. Yummy Mexican food. Just us and the little boys. They loved it and felt special, to get to have lunch with Daddy. He hasn't been able to do that much anymore since he is usually in SLC or further now.

9. Got to IM with Marla for several hrs one night while at work. It was great to talk to her, she is such an amazing person and a fantastic mom, with such an amazing testimony. I want to be more like her and love when we get a chance to chat. I miss not seeing her as often

10. Became Medicated and Motivated... This schedule of staying up all night to work and then trying to sleep an hr or 2 at a time all day is killing me. My Dr. sent me home with some meds. designed for shift work... I took one and boy oh boy I felt awake and alert all day. It was great. I finally was able to get some things done like catching up homework and laundry and etc. The bad thing... I couldn't sleep when I did have 3 hrs time to sleep before work tonight. UH OH! YIKES! So I have been up since 7:30 am and am still going.... I don't get off till 7 am Wed. morning... who knows when the sand man will find me again.

Hope you all had a great week!

Weekend Wonders

So this weekend I attended a funeral. My Sisters MIL passed away. The funeral was beautiful and when I came home I told my hubby that people should attend a funeral once every 6 months just as way to really stop and appreciate life and reflect on how you are handling the truly important things in this life. I know it helped me want to be a better person remembering this great lady and all the service that her life entailed. You can read about her on my sisters blog it's a great post that makes ya think. Not that I want to have someone I know die every 6 months but you know what I mean.

Anyway ... I did ok until I saw my nieces crying. That just breaks my heart for them. These are my girls and I love them so much and know just how much they are going to miss their Grandma. She is in a better place but it is still so hard to loose a loved one and especially a Grandma when you are so young. My Grandmothers both passed away about 4 yrs ago and my heart still aches. I miss them so much too. I am so thankful to know that we will see them again and that a family will be together forever!

Then on Saturday we canned Salsa. I love canning with my husband. It is just a fun thing for us to do together. I ended up taking a few hrs off work so that I could stay in the kitchen and help finish it up and it was really nice to just spend time working and chatting and laughing together. We got about 30 jars done and every single one sealed. We decided the funnest part of canning is counted how many "pops" we hear so we know they are sealed. LOL Then they still didn't need me at work so I got to sleep a few hrs till the infomercials started and I logged in for a few hrs and then the best part... Jesse let me sleep till almost noon Sunday!!! Woo Hoo much needed sleep. I feel so spoiled.

We didn't go to church because it was stake conference and I needed my sleep and hate spending 2hrs keeping the little ones quiet. So when I finally hauled my butt out of bed we went to a family reunion for my Dad's family. It was a blast! It was at his cousins house and the kids got to swim. (pictures coming soon) I was exhausted after chasing the kids in the pool both Garyn and Will wanted to hang on me, until Garyn decided he could swim on his own. He is a pretty good swimmer actually. And I got hooked up with some of my cousins blogs and have decided to start participating in 10 on Tuesdays... You will see my 1st one this Tuesday.

Then is was home to get the last of homework done, kids bathed, fed and in bed and then I was off to the office to work and here I am at 5 am wondering if it will be worth trying to sleep for an hr after I get off before waking the kids up for school or it I should just stay up the extra hr and get something done so that I am not a zombie getting them out the door to school. hummm... The real question is if I miss the chance at an hr of sleep when will the next chance be? With my life and my 4 kids I never know when I will get to sleep. I think I will take the hr.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

Ok well it was Wednesday when I started my shift and since I am not off for another hr and 1/2 it is still wordless Wednesday to me.

Beautiful Cousin Savannah and Will at the Labor Day Parade... before the rain began.

Beauty And The Beast!

This week we went to see the play Beauty and the Beast, with my Mom for her 63rd birthday! The kids loved it. It was extra special because we know so many of the people in the play... My sister has 5 kids (all of them girls by the way). And this summer they auditioned and 4 of the kids plus her and her hubby were in the play. What a fun way to spend time together as a family huh!? Her 16 yr old didn't try out because she was busy with Drill Team. Both my sister and her hubby were Drama Majors and there is major Drama at their house on a regular basis. With that many girls can you imagine? LOL Here are some pictures that we snapped of the play. If you would like to tell them how Fabulous they look hop on over to her blog here.

Erika the youngest of the 5 girls.

The cousins checking Erika's costume after the show.

She is the most adorable sugar spoon I have ever seen!

Necia was a plate. She had to dance.. even with a huge plate strapped to her. She is the Same age as Jaden and so I cousin Anaya, so we got a 12yr olds picture with the plate.

The 14 yr old was a rug. She is a fabulous rug. She hides in this thing and really brings it to life. It has to kill her arms keeping them stretched out the whole time like that. Man can this girl dance. She is mondo talented and is just plain fabulous! Here she is inside the rug getting sat on by the plate sister. LOL And here is the fabulous rug showing us her pretty face and posing by the freaky gargoyles that are her friends. GO JADA! You rock girl!

And this is the next sister that didn't do the play because she has been busy all summer with Drill Team. But I had to put this cute picture of her with Garyn since she is so cute and hey being there to cheer the rest of the family on is a pretty big job. Garyn loves Sierra, she has always had a way with kids. She is going to be supermom some day.

Here is Kaila she is the oldest of the 5 girls. She was cast as a silly girl. And in this blond wig and dress she says she is more of a floozy girl. LOL Well here she is with out the floozy wig and yup pretty hot huh!? She is one of the funnest teenagers I have ever known. She is an absolute beautiful and fun girl. UGH! It freaks me out that this is her senior year. YIKES!!! LaFou, Garyn, and Kaila the Silly Girl

I have to say that who ever this kid is that played LaFou was amazing! He did such a great job. He was my favorite one, other than my family that is. Garyn thought he was "funny" so we had to get a picture with him too.

And now for the Parents:

The Mom: Here's my sister. She has directed plays for about as long as I can remember. She is a drama teacher and the kids love her. She is one of the best teachers in the whole county. And this year she decided to come out of the directors chair and be "in" a play. She played Madame de la Grande Bouche aka the wardrobe, or as Garyn says "the dresser" She did such a great job. I just feel bad I got her in her human clothes and didn't get a single picture of her in her dresser. Crap!
The Dad... in full stage make up hehehe! Can you tell Garyn was really getting into these character pictures? Here he is with Uncle Steve a.k.a. Gaston! HOLY MOLY did he do a great job. WOW and WOW he was amazing. I have to say I have seen him in many plays but this was his best roll yet. And he is up there dancing and singing and you would never in a million years have looked up on that stage and thought he was a 40 something yr old dad of 5 kids.

Samantha with Belle who was played by a girl also named Samantha. Sorry no picts of the beast he didn't have his costume on afterwards.

Garyn was having a total blast getting pictures with the characters. He loved the gargoyles and thought they were "cool" and he kept having a fit about getting a picture with Belle so we went back and got one. I think he thought she was cute. He was acting all shy which is not like him. LOL His Belle picture is at the top.

If you read this whole thing you deserve a prize... go to your kitchen and find some chocolate. LOL