I feel loved! x 3!!!

Wow. It makes me feel so happy to be loved by some of my scrappy friends. I've been nominated 3 times - twice over the past day, and once forever ago by my dear friend Robyn. I just forgot to add my award to my blog back when, cause I got it when we were all so sick and then I sorta spaced. I'm such a dork.

So anyhow, THANK YOU sweet girls in my life, that I just love.

Thank you to my sistah,Robyn
W., my buddy Sheryl from KT and the ever so lovely Jen Gallacher for my most recent awards. I promise I'm adding them to my blog today! :0)

So here are the rules of receiving this award.

The rules of this award state: (1) The winner can put the logo on their blog. (2) Link the person you received your award from. (3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs. (4) Put links of those on yours. (5) Leave a message on the blogs of the girls or boys you’ve nominated.

I'm not entirely sure if my nominees have already received awards, but I'd like to nominate them anyway.

Michelle - My sister! Love you, and thanks for the fun yesterday. Sorry I was in such a dumpy mood. Men.....

Jana - My other sister! I know you were nominated by Sheryl as well, but I just love reading your blog, so of course I have to award you as well. Again, thanks for hanging out with me yesterday even though I had the enthusiasm of a slug crawling through a salt bath.

Kristen - My awesome neighbor. I love having Kristen as a neighbor. I love that our boys love hanging out together and they don't even fight! Well, ususally. And I LOVE her blog. Hee hee. Every time she posts, I'm guaranteed to be laughing out loud to the point that the kids have to ask "what's so funny".


Misty - Gosh I just love this girl to pieces! What a great friend I've found merely through stumbling across each others blogs. We've got so much in common it's a little frightening. We're both "country gals" (if you can call nothing but a Smiths, Walmart, one gas station and a Subway living in the country), we both have a Tess and and Aaron, our names rhyme and our hubbys both start with "Tr", on and we're both part of that Mormon religion. :0)


Karyn - my other wonderful neighbor. I love being able to keep up on what's going on in the Gustafson live's by peeking in her blog. I love that our girls are such great friends and I don't even have to drive them to play!

Becky - This girl is a pillar of strength. Go read her blog. You'll be in tears at her latest trial yet amazed at her strenght. I love Becky and am so glad that our paths have crossed in the internet world AND in real life!

Becki - Oh my sweet Becki. What an amazing woman she is! I love that we have been able to meet in person and have had such a great year working at CX together. She's such a great mom and a great example and such a happy person!

Cari - my dear sweet friend from CreativeXpress. I still maintain that meeting Cari was one of the very best outcomes of my 3 years designing for CX. She's such a joy in my life and I'm so glad that we were able to meet.

Even though there are more, my kids are calling and I figure I'd better get my award posted and sent before I become an official slacker!

Could this be it?

I don't want to jinx it just incase this is too good to be true, but I dare say Aaron very well could be well on his way to being potty trained......FINALLY!

For those of you that know my son or know me, know what a sore spot this has been in my life, particularly recently.

I don't know why I didn't try this before, but finally decided to try the tactic that we used for Tessa to get potty trained.

See it goes a little like this. Aaron loves his juice. Granted I never give him "straight up". It's always more of a glass of water with a twist of apple. Enough however, to make him *think* that he hates water. So about a week ago, we told him that until he was willing to start going potty all he would get to drink is water. No milk, no juice, no nothin' but water. The first two days he grumbled - A LOT. Then a couple of days later he started saying that "water is the best!". Then I introduced the 4 boxes of Capri Sun......only for him! Oh the joy! We're talking, what?, 40 or so pouches of delicious juicy water beverage, for no one in the house but him! RAPTURE! Oh except there is one catch. You gotta give a pee to get a drink. And this is exactly how Tessa got potty trained. Within 3 days and no accidents EVER I might add. :0)

For some reason today, Aaron decided that this was a pretty good deal. We came home from lunch with Tracey and I casually asked him again if he needed to pee. He said "yes, it's coming". Of course I start freaking out saying "hold it buddy, hold it!". So he grabs his crotch in typical male style and heads for the potty. Sure enough he delivers! I was so excited I was whooping and hollering and high fiving! He got his water pouch and I set about making a new potty chart. (Um, I still don't know how to use my wide format printer....obviously). He picked out a sticker and slapped it on. He was so pleased!

I am so pleased that he has gone with no diaper all afternoon and evening. He nearly tinkled at dinner time, and let out just a squirt before realizing that he needed to go and sit on the pot. He's gone 8 times today. Now if I can just convince him to wear underwear rather than free ball it. I mean, that's gotta chafe at some point. He's pretty opposed to his Thomas undies. I say I'm not gonna rock the boat. If it's commando you like, knock yourself out!

Oww!, wOw!, kaPOW!, HOW and What the?

Wow....I feel like I've been scoured off the face of the earth. At least the face of the internet! Hee hee. What a whirlwind the past 3 days have been. It feels good to actually be sitting here....relaxing. Well if you can call it that. I mean, being bombarded with questions from 3 different children at the same time, trying to keep JM from dumping every last item out of my drawers in here, while trying to think of what I'm trying to say doesn't exactly fit into the "day spa" relaxation type category, but at least I am not in the car. And for that I am grateful.

Owwwwie!

So the other night I had my first round of laser hair removal. Yeah. So all of those people that say "it really isn't that bad", well, they're smokin' something. All right, all right....I guess I should clarify. MOST of the time it wasn't that bad, but let's just say zapping that ol' bikin line wasn't peaches & cream! And actually there is a tendon in the arm pits that is very close to the surface that hurt like a mutha! Oh and it was an interesting sensation when they were doing my chin, having the lazer "zing" my teeth. I figure it's sort of like labor and child birth. Totally worth it in the end. Maybe that's why everyone that I've ever talked to about it has always made it sound like a cake walk....cause you just sort of put a mental block on the bad parts and focus on the final result! Anyhow, I've got 6 weeks to re-group, wipe out the memories of the pain and start again! Yipee! (Really, it will be so worth it to never shave my pits or my upper legs ever again! - Or at least the coarse hairs. Unfortunately I'm stuck with everything blonde!)

WOW!

What a treat it was yesterday to get a sweet little surprise in the mail from my friend Misty in NM. I'm utterly stunned at how gorgeous the card she sent me is. I had seen it on her blog, but words can't even express how beautiful it is in person. My oldest is truly smitten with it as well. However, even better than the card is the great friend that I have! There isn't a day that goes by that she doesn't make me smile by something that she posts on her blog. And check out this darling little number. I think this is just the greatest! What a stinkin' cool idea to alter a post it note pad. TOO CUTE! Thank you sweet Misty! My card is now happily living on my "happy shelf" in my scrapbook room, and my note pad is going with me wherever I go!


kaPOW!

So yeah, I just got back from entering my layouts into the Utah State Fair. Sheesh, I really hate the entry process. I tried to make things as smooth as possible, but it still took over an hour and a half to get the paperwork completed. (Good thing I had the foresight to do most of it at home!) I guess I should have expected it to be an afternoon event, as I entered (insert embarrased smiley face here) ummmmm....yeah....19 different pieces. Even my Maddi girl entered 2 fabulous layouts! I'm so proud of her! So it was the gasp and hence the "kaPOW" of my day when I had to pay $59 in entry fees. Here's hoping that we will re-cap our costs in winnings. Would be nice to take home a lil' extra too! We'll see how it goes.


HOW....



How beautiful is this girl going to be when she gets done with her beautification project? I can't believe that miss Maddison actually has her braces on. It just makes me so happy for her that she now knows she's on the road to a perfect smile! I honestly never thought this day would come either for hesitation on her part or for being unable to afford them. However, she handled it like a star, and we have been so blessed with the RNG35 business that braces were a go!

Last but not least....What the?

What in the heck is this thing? I took Aaron to get his hair cut yesterday and because he was such a good boy the gal gave him a sucker and this dog. When he took it out of the plastic package he started screaming because the dog was "broken". I have to admit, maybe I would be a little freaked out as a kid by a dog whose body had been severed in to and was bound together by an elastic. We giggled and spent the afternoon trying to figure out what in the heck it is. A bookmark? A hair tie? A bracelet? A sling shot? Who knows. All I know is he's kind of attached to the thing and has been toting it around all day long.

So there you have it. That's all I've been doing over the past few days. Oh but wait. I also popped into my friendly neighborhood WRMK warehouse today and SQUEAL....I got me two of the new paper lines. The Nonsense and the Halloween! Just in time to go and scrapbook at Archivers this weekend!

Blech....it's finally done!

Egads. This is just one of those layouts that could easily convince me to never scrapbook again. Why do you ask? I had such a lovely vision for this layout in my head, and a somewhat lovely vision sketched out on paper and so I set forth last night to create my "water" page to enter into the State Fair. (I know, I'm sort of obsessed with this right now!). So I stayed up late last night working on a page and was just putting the finishing touches on the layout when I decided to clean a stamp that was sitting on my desk. Now why on earth would I clean a stamp. Anyone that knows me, knows that is not my forte. But why on earth would I clean a stamp not to mention WHILE I was working on another project and so late at night?!?!? I'm determined I am adult ADD, cause I get so easily distracted!

So anyway, I start scrubbing away at my stamp, not noticing the entire time that it's splattering brown poo marks all over my layout. **sigh** All I could do was tear it all apart and start over.

The plus side is, I really do like how it turned out better than it was last night. I've got ideas for a couple of more pages, but we'll see if they happen or not!

Have a splendid day!

With a little bit of sadness...all good things must come to an end.

I really didn't think that I would get sad about my choice of not re-applying for the CreativeXpress design team this year. I guess I'm not really sad about not continuing on, because I realized some time ago that it was the time in my life to let this commitment go. However, as I sit here, knowing that calls are going out this evening for the new design team, it's just made me reflect on the past three years and what great memories my time at CX has given me.

I cannot even begin to express how blessed I am to have been able to work with such a great group of top quality ladies. My life has been so richly blessed because of so many of them.

Here's a little shout out to "my girls" that are retiring with me this year!

Cari...my dear sweet Cari. You know I love you to pieces. I only wish that we were next door neighbors cause we'd have way too much fun together. And our boys? Oh man...that would be trouble. Thank you Cari, for believing in me right from the get go. I'm so grateful that we've been able to meet....twice....and well, remember running to meet Lisa B? Hee hee...that will always be a happy memory!

Jen G. Wow. My life is so much better for knowing you. You are such an example to me and a pillar of strength. I so often think of you and your sweet family and the pain that you must all still feel each day with Joey's absense, yet every time I am with you, you seem so full of hope, peace and happiness. I could not have asked for a better replacement for my place on Nth Degree and I'm glad that you enjoyed your time there as much as I did. Thank you Jen for blessing my life.

Melissa. You are too stinkin' cute....and SASSY! You don't know how many times I nearly spit soda on my computer screen from some of the funny things you say. Your talent is endless and I've truly loved being able to see you create layouts in addition to your amazing cards. I'm so blessed to call you my friend.

Robyn....SISTAH! Oh girl. I love you. You are just like that big sister that God never gave me. I can't help but smile thinking of being around you. Remember that night at dinner in CA? I don't think I've laughed that hard since that night. You inspire me with all that you accomplish on top of being a teacher, wife and mommy. Your work totally rocks and I'll forever think of you when matting my photos in black!

Wendy....Giggle, giggle...remember Buco di Peppo or whatever the heck that place was called? Good times...good times. YOU my dear, inspire me....especially with the challenges that you have faced this year and how you've battled them like a she-woman! I love that you are such a devoted mother and have continued to put your kiddos first through everything that you've been dealt. I love that you've become half the woman you were last time I saw you. Yes...meaning the weight loss. ;) You are such an incredible photographer and I'm always inspired by your skills.

Peggy. Where do I even begin with sweet Peggy. The girl that can make magic out of any assignment given to her. I am so happy that I've been able to work so closely with Peggy for 3 years. What a joy she has been to me. Through all of the ups and downs in life, she just keeps taking one day at a time and moving forward! I love that about her. I love that she has such a strong will.

Kara - Now I don't know if Kara is retiring this year or not, because I don't know who has made the team, but wow....that girl....LOVE her. I love that I was given the opportunity to work so closely with Kara during our months of filming Nth Degree. She's such an amazing mother. I can't imagine how she finds the time to accomplish what she does with all of her little ones. I'm so happy that we live close so that we can see each other. She's a wonderful friend and amazing person.

I just want to wish all of you girls continuing on the best of luck! I'm so happy for you _____, ______ & _______ ;0) I'm crossing my fingers that I don't need to update my retiree shout out, but stay tuned in case I do!

Now I leave you with my very favorite memory of working with CreativeXpress. The Booger Episode

Missed - One day of school already!

Oh my, I guess we're not off to a great start. Tess missed her first day of school today. She had an eye appt. this morning just after 10:00 and I didn't feel like checking her out of school an hour after she started so I just kept her home.

We went to her eye appt., and it didn't even occur to me that they would need to dialate her eyes. I don't know why but I'm quite certain in all of my years of wearing glasses and eye exams I don't think I've even been dialated. So she has her eye exam done and sure enough she near sighted - or is it far sighted? I can never remember. She has the opposite problem that I do. She has a hard time focusing on reading her books, working on the computer, writing, etc. That actually explains a lot as to why she will pick up a book, get frustrated after a few minutes of reading and give up.

She thinks she looks pretty cool right now with her eyes all dialated. She looks like an alien! It was early out Monday today so I decided there was no point in taking her to school to be miserable for an hour. So my alien missed her first day of school....already! EEEK!

So we're off to Costco tonight to pick out some frames for her. She's pretty excited. I just hope the excitement lasts!

Friendly Flowers - Unity Stamp Company

You know I'm a lucky girl. I KNOW that I'm a lucky girl. Let me tell you WHY I am a lucky girl. I was lucky enough to be given the chance to work with the FRIENDLY FLOWERS stamp set from Unity Stamp Company. I'll be the first to admit, I'm not much of a stamper, so all of you stampers out there....LOOK AWAY! :0)

I did something today that I have never in my life done before and that was creating a layout using nothing but stamps. I used two of the stamps in the set to create the background of my layout and then the flower stamp to create my embellishments. I just LOVE that flower stamp.

I'm also excited because I will be entering this layout into the Utah State Fair in the Stamping category. I've never entered in that category before because I've never made a layout with nuttin' but stamps!

Thanks for peeking!

All tuckered out.

I knew that Aaron was bound to fall asleep at some point today. I just figured that it would be at a more inconvenient time, like on the way to pick up Maddison from school or running an errand later today. Aaron decided that his day needed to start at 4:00 this morning. He was awfully chipper at that time of day, grilling me as to when it was going to be Halloween. The kid has totally has Halloween on the brain lately. I think it's some sort of a love/hate thing. Loves the scary stuff but hates it, yet he can't seem to pull himself away.

Anyhow I popped onto my computer for a little "me" time while Aaron was finishing his lunch. I was in here just giggling my head off from reading this blog link that my cute prego friend Misty had posted on her blog. If you need a giggle here's the link. Make sure you read the comments too, because they are pretty darn funny!

FIREMAN CAKE STORY

I thought things were a little quiet as I was sitting here giggling away and wondered if in fact Aaron had fallen asleep. Sure enough...chips mid-chew...the kid just couldn't last another minute! JM is even asleep....hmmmm...I think I'm gonna scrap! I figure I deserve a little "me" time, I mean after all...I truly scrubed the inside and out of the van this morning AND organized enough junk in the garage that I can officially park in there again. :0) Yeah. I've worked enough today.

FOUND {with a giggle}

I just had to giggle when I read this flyer that was on my door when I got home today. Makes me wish I had some carpet that needs stretching! Gotta hand it to the kid....what a great marketing strategy!

Naughty...naughty....

Oh I just so had to scrap for me today. Yes, I've got work assignments to do for CX, yes, I've got to create some more goodies for Outta This Funk, yes, I need to work with some product for a mfg. that I'd dearly love to be a part of their design team, but wow....sometimes you just gotta scrap for no other reason, than to scrap. Okay, so maybe there was a little extra-cirricular motivation behind this layout which I made for entering into the Utah State Fair in the "automobiles" category.

I just love these photos of my little peanut playing with the wheels on the bus. My favorite photo is the photo on the far right. Notice how the wheel is spinning. Love the motion in that one.

I sure was stewing about what papers to use, cause my local craft store surely has a lack of boyish purple papers. By some stroke of brilliant luck, I was rifling through some papers that sweet Jen Gallacher gave me the other day and this purple was in there. Thank you Jen....ms. Relief Society President, for being so inspired to slip that purple paper in with the other goodies! You're a doll! Maybe one day I can be as in tune as you are! ;) Oh wait, then I may be in contending to be a RS President. Hmmmm...maybe I'll just keep my pinky around the iron rod, and keep sitting in the back row of the cultrual hall in Sacrament Meeting. I mean, hey, we've been in the ward for 2 years now and have avoided the invitation to speak! We're doing SOMETHING right. :0)

And of course the title of this layout warraned a trip to Roberts for the purple glitter Thickers. Oh man. If I could have every color and design of Thickers on this planet I'd look like an absolute goof ball from a perma-grin. I mean seriously....have you seen the new metal Thickers? The font is A-DOR-A-BLE! It was all I could do to restrain myself from buying them as well, but alas, my hubby told me to go and spend some money today...well this is how it went.

K: I really want to go and buy some scrapbook stuff
T: How much do you want to spend
K: Oh I don't know...maybe $5. I just want to get some letters for the wheel page.
T: Oh, go ahead, that's fine.

Me: Roberts....new stuff...40% off of all patterned paper....new MM Halloween line....cute pumpkin door doohickey hanger thing.....a ghost cookie cutter (don't ask me...that was Aaron's choice, I'm not making cookies), and uh.....$19 later. Oopsies!

Anyhow, wish me luck at the Fair with this one!

The New Car

No not our new car. Tracey wishes. The new car that we just bought the dentist. That's right folks! After a week of non-stop pain for Tracey (and non-stop grumpiness to deal with on our end), I finally convinced Tracey that he needed to go back to the dentist to find out why his mouth was hurting so badly from the new crown that he got last week. Well.....surprise.....nothing was wrong with the crown he got last week. Come to find out the tooth next to it now needs a root canal. Seriously...Does it end?

I think maybe I chose the wrong profession of being a stay at home mommy....I mean, if I could have someone buy me one of these cars then life would be peachy! :0)

I feel a little lost!

I know most moms are positively DYING for their kiddos to get back to school after summer break, but I'm one of the odd balls that really loves having the kids around. Well, let me re-phrase that so that I am not stretching the truth. I was ready for sweet Tess to go back and so was she. I mean, after all, it DID get old listening to how bored Tess was all day long. Or hungry. Yeah. Wont miss that much. And I also have to be honest that I wouldn't mind if Aaron was going to pre-school this year cause he's a little high stress right now, but then again...this too shall pass. (Or it had better!)

But my big girls....my sweet big girls....boy do I miss them already. I guess I don't miss Sarah as much since she was miss social butterfly and gone half of the summer playing anyway, but my Maddi girl was my buddy. I guess it's kind of nice having a daughter with no social life, since I don't have one either. Makes it nice to have a buddy to hang out with.

I'm so proud of her and how well she did at going to school this morning. I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting, but we had no tears and even a smile on her face when she got out of the van. Maybe the smile was trying to surpress vomiting or something like that....who knows....all I know is that this year was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo much better than last year.

Well, I guess I must run. I'm being instructed to get off the computer by my 3 year old. Maybe that's saying something like I spend too much time here. Hee hee!

Have a great day everyone!

It's no wonder it takes them 2 hours to do dishes....

Need I say more?

There are just some days when being a mommy makes you cry.

No, that doesn't mean crying in a good way either. I don't know what my deal is lately (Tracey just loves when I use the word "lately" as if implying I've felt a particular way for weeks on end).

I am just exhausted from being a mommy. Gosh I love my kids. I love them dearly, but the truth of the matter is I am spent. Having 5 kids is no cake walk, and I admire all of the families in our ward that have 5+ kids and just seem to do it like it's a piece of cake.

I guess my real struggles right now lie with Aaron and as a result that seems to sap all of my energy from the other kids. Let's just say he's not going through a very cooporative/nice stage right now. In fact the kid is down right fiesty!

Last night it all came to a head when I so desperately wanted to go out on a date with Tracey, but alas, due to recent circumstances we just don't feel like we can leave both Aaron and JM home with the girls for fear of JM's saftey from his older brother. I think the thought of that just hit me like a ton of bricks, that I don't know WHEN Tracey and I will get to go out on a semi-regular basis, and it's just to that point right now when I feel like it's something we need to focus on....

So our date last night consisted of taking Tess, Aaron and JM out to eat. Nice and romantic eh? We ended up at Jim's Family Restaurant which seemed to be about our speed since it's a geriatric hangout. So there we were ready to order and I give the waitress my order and she's looking at me like I am about ready to give her a heart attack. Why do you ask? Because I ordered out of turn! That's right. Of the four of us ordering, she needed to go in a clockwise order starting with Tracey so that she could "keep things straight". Hmmm...I guess I didn't realize it would be that difficult to keep track of 2 kids meals and then just call out the other two meals when they arrived. And want to know the funny thing, that after I finished crying because I ordered wrong, actually made me giggle, was the fact that she still got the food in the wrong spots.

When we got home last night Tracey told me to just lock myself into my scrappy room and take some time out. I did just that. I really wanted to create a layout specifically for the Utah State Fair theme this year which is "Out of The Ordinary". I was so happy when I read that they actually have a normal theme this year. I did another layout of my Maddi girl, because she in fact is no ordinary teen. All in all, scrapping for a few hours did in fact make me feel better. And I'm off to a decent start today. Just me and my ipod went running this morning. 5 miles of nothing but me, the river and the beauty of Gods creations. It really did fill my heart.

Here's hoping to a better day today and a little more patience and sanity with my kiddos.

That's the way, uh huh...uh huh...I like it, uh huh....uh huh!

So yeah....gotta love when you absolutely PIG out on treats all day long for a party in the evening and weigh yourself the next day thinking that you've gained a million pounds, and well....you haven't!

I know I'm a dork, but I'm so excited! It's so nice to keep seeing progress in my weight loss. I can't remember how long ago I posted and I was 171 or 172, but it's looking like I'm hanging right around 167 now. I'll take it! Only 3 pounds to go to be back to where I when we came home from Germany and only 12 to go to reach my goal!

Oh and there's a pretty lousy photo of my brown gel toes also!

Lil' Girls Night Out!

I had fun tonight with my big girls. We hit the beauty school (cause I'm a tightwad) and went for a little beautification! Well, the girls got some beautification...no...they actually dook down right HOT! I TRIED to get some beautification, but I have come to the realization that I have a parade of bad hair do's. I just need to shave it off and start over. However, all was not lost. I got me some gel toes! It's the first time that I've ever gotten anything permanent on any of my nails. I feel so "girly"! I decided to go with the Martha Stewart brown glitter. Honest to goodness...yes...Martha Stewart craft glitter...branching out into the cosmotology world! I'm kinda digging the color, since I love brown so much. Just hope I don't get sick of them before I'm ready to buff them off or have them filled!

I realize these photos are horrible and I will likely update them with better ones tomorrow. Just had the compelling need to make a post. I'm sickly addicted to blogging these days.....

Okay, the toes will have to wait. Way too much excess glitter going on right now. Need to shower it off tomorrow!

Truly Terrific Teen!

I hafta admit...I love my teen! It kinda freaks me out that I have a teenager, cause well, that makes me somewhat old. Granted I've got the whole typical Mormon get married young and start a family pretty quick syndrome to back me up. (36 isn't really that old....is it? And WHAT WAS MY MOTHER THINKING letting me get married at TWENTY! LOL!)

Anyhow I love my Maddi girl. I swear from the breath of life that girl has been overly dramatic...UNTIL...she became a teen. I dreaded her hitting that ripe age of 13, cause I was scared. BOY was I scared. But oddly enough, things really started to smooth out at that point.

She's such a good girl. I'm so lucky that Heavenly Father saw fit to send her to us. (Even though I'm sure I questioned why I was being tortured at some points).

So here you have it...My "T" page for my A-Z album. Much against her wishes. She does NOT like being called a teen!

I guess 2.5 hours of sedation has its perks!

No, no......I wasn't the lucky one being sedated for two and a half hours today. Today was Aaron's turn at the dentist, and did he ever put the dentist to work. I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that he had 14 fillings, 1 baby root canal and one crown. Yes, you are not mistaken...the boy is not even 4. I'll admit it. I'm not the best at keeping up on the kids brushing their teeth, but I hafta say that the kid just has lousy teeth. I haven't done anything more or less with him than I did with his older sisters, and at Tess' check up she didn't have even a single cavity. That girl is 7.5 and going on cavity free! Sarah has only had a couple and well, Maddison.....she and Aaron have had the same story on their baby teeth. Only this time it cost a whole lot more! When did dental pricing soar so high? So yeah...if you're driving around AF and see some punk young dentist....younger than ME....driving a new BMW, we paid for that. Actually he's not a punk. He's really nice. I'm just feeling old when all of the doctors we've visited recently are younger than my age. What's with that? When did I get old?

So anyway...what a treat it was watching my poor boy trip out. I have to admit. I giggled. Not long after the shot of happy stuff in the arm was administered did he exclaim to me that he was seeing fireworks! Sheesh. I think all moms of 5 should be allowed an occasional legal shot in the arm that produces a firework display. Then again....if I had to pay $1,100 for it, I think I'd have to kindly decline and find sources of relaxation and entertaiment another....less expensive way. I mean, really....I don't want to finance another BMW for someone ELSE. I'd rather buy my hubby that sexy Dodge Charger that he's after. They ARE sexy cars. They are such dude cars too. Every time I see a chick driving one of those it kind of makes me violent. ESPECIALLY when I see car seats in the back. Why does it make me violent? I have no clue, other than it is a super sexy dude car.

Oh my word...so you're asking yourself...what is the perk of 2.5 hours of your child being sedated? It's being able to finally crack open Breaking Dawn. Okay, so I've had it for a few days, but I was in the middle of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Had to hurry and finish that one first. I'm a pretty slow reader, I'll admit it....but I did knock out about a quarter of the book, and I'm beyond intrigued and captivated and curious as to what is going to happen. And hee...hee....Edward and Bella....giggle...giggle...hee hee...uh yeah.....they did it. Didn't think that would happen....did ya!

So if I'm not around for a couple of days, it's because I'm fighting my oldest over my neighbors book that we are borrowing. I should just buy it. I mean, really....we have the other three. Oh wait...I had to finance a BMW today for someone else. I guess it's a good thing the book is a loaner! Oh and thanks MistyLynn for letting me swipe the image off your blog. Made it easy for me! Oh and if you want to check out some less than desirable facial hair....check out her blog. Leave a comment for her hubby that he has to loose the pet on his chin!

Industrial Bride

WE. DID. IT!

This morning Tracey and I ran our first half marathon ever. For both of us it was a personal distance record...for him only having run 11 miles at one time previously and for me only having run 6 miles at one time.

What an amazing experience. I froze (from being way up the canyon at the butt crack of dawn). I laughed. I whined (just a little), I ran. I hurt. I pushed limits I didn't know I had, and seeing 4 of my favorite girls surprise me at the finish line to cheer us on....well that made me cry.

I'm such a sap and I'm actually getting all weepy thinking about what a great experience it was. I love that I was able to do it with my best friend....my husband, that ran by me every step of the way. He was there to encourage me and keep me going....even when I thought I couldn't go a step farther. He just kept reminding me..."We are in this together".

I have to say that all in all I'm pretty darn proud of myself. I really had no problems physically until about the 11th mile. Up until that point the only walking we did was through the water stops, which probably wasn't more than a minute or two each time. But oh my wordy...beginning that 11th mile. Well that pretty much sucked. My body was just begging me to quit and so I did walk...for a little while, but oddly enough, walking hurt far more at that point than actually running, so we just kept putting one foot in front of the other and soon enough the end was within ear shot, and boy oh boy was that ever deceiving, as we had to wind back and forth around the Riverwoods shopping and business complexes as we were not able to start at the top of Provo canyon due to wild fires.

I really didn't think I could do it, but was glad I kept going. I can't tell you what an amazing feeling it was to round the last bend and to see Tracey's sisters and my two oldest beautiful girls just screaming their heads off cheering us on. Boy did that make me cry. I just wanted to run and hug them as they were yelling at me to keep going and not stop. Thank you Jana for thinking the idea and thank you Michelle for coming. That will forever be one of my happiest memories.

I have to admit that I feel a little sad that it's over. I want something else boundary pushing to work toward as that was such an undescribable experience...especially toward the end. Even though my knees are positively KILLING me at this very moment, I wouldn't trade it for the world....especially since I could do it with my love. Thank you so much Karen for being with our kids, allowing both Tracey and I to run together. THANK YOU!

And here I leave you with an ever so lovely looking photo of Tracey and I at the finish. Lets just say that running for 2 hours, 30 minutes and 10 seconds, doesn't exactly bring out the beautiful in me. HA!

Looking forward to next year....

Ding, Ding, Ding.....ROUND TWO!

Wow. I just honestly and truly think that life can't get any busier! This summer has been a blur and it breaks my heart that we have only one more week and it's back to school.

I wanted to make sure that both of the girls had their teeth extracted and feeling better before school started, so today we went to the dentist for round two of teeth pulling.

This time it was Sarah. This time it was without sedation. This time I got to watch.

All I can say is Sarah is a superstar. She did so good. There were a few tears with the shots in the roof of her mouth, but other than that she did great.

Poor thing is absolutely starving, but her mouth is still numb so she's having a hard time swallowing. However, this too shall pass and one day when she has a perfect smile she will be grateful for this day of misery!

I Must Be A Runner.

Yes. I must officially be a runner. Now your asking, what makes YOU an official runner. Well, my guess is if my new pair of running shoes cost more than I paid for my wedding dress then I must be serious about this activity. (Granted, my wedding dress cost only $80 for the materials and my sweet mom made it, and looking back now I think to myself....UGH, how could I have WORN that!)

Well, you are likely thinking to yourself, how could you wear those orange monstrosities. Let me tell you....they are like running on air! I have to say that it's a good thing that one of my favorite colors right now is orange and half of my workout clothing is orange, so at least I can somewhat coordinate my looks.

After having my running analysis, the girl brought out a selection of shoes that would be best for my running style and my first thought when I saw the orange shoes was...NO WAY. I mean I DO love orange, and it's super happy, and you could see me coming from a mile away in those babies, but NO WAY! All it took was playing Cinderella and slipping them on and I knew I was in love.

So here's hoping that my new pumpkin feet will carry me well this Saturday during my 1/2 Marathon. I still think I'm psycho for that. 13.1 miles? Oh sheesh...what was I thinking?!?!?

Well, the worst is over...

Wow. I can't believe she did it! It's amazing what forking out a couple hundred bucks for a little sedation can do for a child that has quite literally been known to yell at the dentist that he is "destroying me". Oh yes brothers and sisters....it's true. Or there was the time that she told the dentist that he was the worst person in the world. Yeah. I made her write an appology letter for that one. Needless to say, I wasn't entirely sure what today would hold with having 4 teeth extracted. I knew once she was asleep that things would be fine, but boy...wasn't quite sure how getting the IV would go. Surprisingly enough with a little help from the ol' happy gas, she survived it. IV and all.

One hour of surgery later miss maddison is 4 teeth lighter, and so far so good. It was an interesting ride home repeating the same conversation over and over between the tears that yes in fact she did have 4 teeth pulled out. Her response...."WHAT???? You mean I had teeth pulled out? Yes sweetie, you did. WHERE? On the top? Well you had 4 teeth taken out. Two on the top and two on the bottom. I DID? Oh...." Repeated ohhhh....5 or 6 times.

She's a little more "with it" now and has actually eaten some lunch and come to terms with her missing teeth. Next step....braces!

Counting Down

So yeah....I'm kinda proud of myself. With eating better and exercising a lot, I'm a shrinking woman! It's kind of nice when you look in the mirror and actually think..."Dang....I look pretty good!". It's been a looooooooooooooong time since I've felt that way. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me but here is a little layout that I did to mark my progress in counting down my sizes!

Journaling reads:

After 5 kids I have truly had the desire to lose weight and be healthy. It hasn’t been an easy process, but I am finally seeing results. I earnestly began my quest of shrinking in March of 2008. I was easily a size 14 or sometimes a 16 and weighed 187 pounds. 5 months later at the beginning of August I am pleased with my progress. I am now between a size 10 and 12 depending on the make and have lost nearly 20 pounds! My ultimate goal is to be a size 8 and weigh 155 pounds. Not bad for a mom of FIVE!


Here's hoping I can keep it up and by the end of the year maybe I'll reach my goal!

(Oh and see that super cute flower stamp! That is from my friends at Unity Stamp Company! Be on the lookout for more designs using that wonderful set of stamps!)

Glad I'm living in 2008!

So at the beginning of June we went with all of the Lee family to the Pioneer Heritage Park in Salt Lake City. If you ever make it to Salt Lake definitely put it on your list of things to do. It's just like taking a trip back in time. All of the workers are dressed in time period clothing and there are at least 40 some odd buildings that you can go and tour through, all of which are original buildings from the pioneer days. Each building has some sort of "hands on" activity for visitors to do. It was a blast watching the kids do laundry on wash boards, beat rugs with wire thingys, print a sheet of the newspaper, repair shoes, etc. All of the workers definitely played up the part as if it were truly the 1800's. (Some of them I think really thought that it WAS the 1800's!)

Anyhow, I finally scrapped the photos that I took that day and here is my "P" page for the A-Z album that I'm working on.

Have a great day!

Lagoon!

Ahhhh....the lazy days of summer! (Okay, who am I fooling into thinking that our days are even remotely lazy....they're not!) One thing is for sure, that a good summer vacation is officially complete when a trip to Lagoon happens.

Yesterday was Tracey's work Lagoon day. I really wanted to take some photos because Maddison and Sarah are so excited about scrapbooking, yet I didn't want to haul my big camera around so with some pretty persistent (and I am sure slightly annoying) hinting, I am now the owner of a little Nikon L18. I didn't really have any major requirements in a new camera other than video capabilities because Maddison, Sarah and her friend are into making videos right now, and I wanted to give them something they could use and me not really worry about whether or not they are going to ruin something expensive of Traceys.

Oh wordy...I digress....

Lagoon!

So we ended up taking the entire family yesterday and boy was it HOT! I'm not talking a wee bit hot, I'm talking around 100 degrees hot, and boy did it show in the photos I took! The poor kids looked like they were going to positively melt away.





However, there is something magical about being a kid and when there is fun to be had all of those external annoyances just disappear. What a joy it was to be with the kids, watching them enjoy the day every bit as much as I remember enjoying Lagoon when I was a kid. It was pretty nostalgic to watch Aaron and Tessa ride the exact same rides that Tracey and I rode as kiddos over and over and over again. I loved watching the big girls on the Tilt-A-Whirl, which was my all time favorite ride as a kid. Oh how I loved going on that ride with my dad, cause he totally knew how to get us spinning so fast that it took my breath away from giggling so hard!



It was fun spending a little time with my brother and his family as well as Tracey's Uncle Brian and his new "little friend" and their kids.


All in all it was a simply fabulous day.....until we got home and the 308 some odd ounces of Diet Coke that we consumed as a family had Aaron adgitated and fidgety even though he was exhausted beyond belief.

So....mental note....if we decide to bounce back, no Diet Coke for the little dude! For me....it wasn't something 2 sleeping pills couldn't take care of!

So here I leave you with one of my favorite videos that we took yesterday. Me and Tess on the Ladybug Bop.



Oh and what the heck...here's a silly one that Maddison and Sarah did. I guess Sarah just needed her afternoon nap!