Seriously?

Happy Day

2011-11-29T12:51:00.000-08:00

Dave graduated from Massage Therapy School on October 14th. It was such a happy day, and I could not have been more proud of my brother. For years we have told Dave that he has a 'gift' when it comes to his hands and how well he can rub peoples' backs/shoulders/feet, etc... I would pretty much tell him that anytime he would walk up behind me & work out the knots in my shoulders (which, he says, are like dirt clods). So, in March our Davy Gravy decided to start the program at Nevada School of Massage Therapy to become a licensed massage therapist. He was so dedicated, and he loved it. And I LOVED being the beneficiary of him needing to practice what he was learning. :-) His graduation day came, and we were thrilled--so proud of Dave, and I was just so happy for him. It was late in the afternoon, so only me, Sarah, Stacy, Mom, and Dad were able to go to the actual ceremony... But the real celebration was planned for later that night. Dave had chosen Maggiano's for the family celebration dinner, and celebrate we did. It was so fun, and such a happy night. The only thing missing from dinner was Mike & Emily - we missed them a lot, and when Mike called during dinner I know it made him homesick... freakin school.

I consider it one of the greatest blessings in my life that I genuinely love being with my siblings. We are tight. Yes, of course I loved them when I was growing up. But now that we are grown, we have so much fun together. Anytime. Anywhere. We call each other on crap. We are straight forward, honest (sometimes brutally), and totally open with each other. Very open. I know we're not the norm. But I'm grateful for that. I'm not sure exactly what my parents' formula for this is...not sure they know either. But I love it, and hope my own kids enjoy each other just as much when they are grown. When our spouses are with us we have even more fun. They know we are crazy, and it's a lot for them to put up with. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I know I am lucky to see my brothers & sister as often as I do, and I love that.

Nate came straight to the restaurant from work (after stopping at Target to buy a shirt). I love these pictures of him & Stac being silly. I never did end up getting a normal pic of them that night.

I love love love this picture. If I could photoshop Mike & Emily in the picture and FREEZE TIME I would. Life was great. Everyone was happy, healthy, and doing well. I have thought back to this night so many times over the last 8 weeks, and wished to go back. I am more glad than ever that we did that dinner, and didn't pass up the chance to get together. I am so glad that our schedules worked out to be together. I am glad that we laughed and enjoyed each others' company. Life is so unpredictable, and I have been so thankful for that night. Because 48 hours after this picture was taken our world would get turned upside down.

The Last First Day

2011-09-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

I will own the fact that I was dreading this year's First Day of School. I knew it would be hard to face the last of my Very First Day of kindergarten. But I had to hide my trepidation and sadness, considering how excited the rest of my kids were. Despite our little hiccup & hospital stay 2 days before school, we plowed forward on Sunday night with father's blessings & preparation for the big day. All 4 kids were so excited, they could barely stand it. Clothes were all laid out, outfits planned, backpacks packed, and breakfast ready for the next morning. And we moved ahead.

First day of 7th grade
Sydney declared that she wasn't nervous at all about 7th grade - she just wanted to get to school to see who all was in her classes. Oooohh, I remember that. So fun. So exciting to compare schedules and who got what teacher. No nerves, only irritation with her mommy for wanting to take pictures, and annoyance with her younger siblings for, well, everything - namely, just being younger siblings.

First day of 4th grade

Austin and his teacher, Mrs. Fronczak

Austin was wayyyy too cool for school - and Mom. The week before school when we went to Meet the Teacher, I had put together little tins of Andes mints for my 3 younger kids' teachers that said, "I'm so glad you are 'mint' to be my teacher this year." (I love me some teacher treats!) Seth & Brooklyn could not wait to give them to their teachers. Austin asked me to carry his in my purse, and when we met his teacher he was SO EMBARASSED to have to hand her a gift!!! SO NOT COOL in 4th grade, I guess. It's funny to me, the difference between girls & boys. Sydney still loves to take treats to her teachers, even in jr high. Austin has CLEARLY outgrown it. Anyway - he was sooooo over the picture taking too. You can tell in these pictures. The smirk is so lovely. I keep reminding them (or lecturing to them) that they will appreciate the timeline of 1st Day pics one day.

First day of 2nd Grade

Seth and his teacher, Mrs. Ferreiro

Seth insisted that he wanted to go to school the first day, despite being less than 36 hours out of surgery. The doctor had told us in the hospital that he could totally go to school if he was feeling up to it - it just depended on his pain level. He said he was ready, so I took him - figuring he probably wouldn't make it through the day, but at least he would get to do the 1st Day morning excitement. He was adorable. I had to give him the little pep talk to NOT be grumpy with people for continuously asking what happened to his arm. I warned him that lots of people were going to ask, and that he didn't need to tell the whole story - just to tell people that he fell at the park. He told me that he would "just tell the whole story," however I know my boy...I knew he would be so annoyed by the end of the day. About 30 seconds before the bell rang, the nerves took over, and Seth decided school was NOT what he wanted to do that day. But he pushed through, got in line, and headed in with his class.

Wellll... He lasted 1 whole hour at school. His teacher called an hour into the day & said Seth's arm was hurting him. So Brooklyn & I went back to the school, scooped him up, and brought him home to rest. Miraculously, he didn't mention his arm hurting once more that entire day - while he chilled on the couch watching TV. Day 2 I had to warn him that he was welcome to come home if his arm was really hurting, but if he did we would have to do lots of reading most of the day since I didn't want him getting behind in his class. He immediately decided he would stay all day. And he did. Seth was excited, but the nerves surfaced right before the bell rang, and he got scared. Seth doesn't have a ton of friends at school, and it makes me so sad for him. He's not the most outgoing kid who will just make friends, so I worry for him... none of the boys he played with most are in his class this year, so I hope he makes some good friends this year.

1st Day of Kindergarten

Brooklyn and her teacher, Mrs. Silva

Ahhh, the hour I was dreading finally arrived. Time to drop my baby girl off for PM kindergarten. I had tried to prepare myself for the dam that I knew was about to burst... It was the longest morning ever for my girl, who COULD NOT WAIT for 11:45 to roll around. She was ecstatic. Not an ounce of fear or anxiety. I was so glad.

Waiting for the gates to open

We arrived at the school, and her teacher gave all the parents a little bag of tissue and poem about leaving their kindergartener. Brooklyn wanted me to read it to her, so I did. That started the waterworks, so I was glad I had on dark sunglasses. The bell rang, and with a hug and kiss, my baby was off. She didn't even look back. I got myself to the car, and, well...it wasn't pretty. In the spirit of full disclosure, I will be honest and admit that I sat in my van for nearly 25 minutes and cried my eyes out. Not only because I had just sent my baby off to kindergarten - but for the incredible sadness that I am feeling about the stage of my life that is over. Sad that there are no more. It's no secret that I would have loved for Brooklyn to not be our baby (Kevin, not so much)... so I am just sad. And I am still sad. 2 weeks into school, and I am still sad about it. I need to pull myself together about this, but sheesh...it's just not happening.

Does this look like a successful 1st day of kindergarten or what?

The day ended with reports of a GREAT DAY all around. I love the first day reports, and getting every little detail from my kids - who they sat with at lunch, who all is in their classes, what their teachers are like, what they though was great, what they hated, who the naughty kids are, all of it...I love it. It was hotter than the hinges of hell when we finally made it off the scorching blacktop and back to the car, so we stopped at 7-11 for slurpees all around, and went home to NO HOMEWORK. Nobody had homework on the first day, and THAT was a great gift for Momma.

We Like To Send Summer Out With a Bang

2011-08-31T22:07:00.000-07:00

First of all, we can go ahead and laugh for a good 10 seconds at my lame attempt to document our summer. C'mon, now. I'm getting old. In fact, I turned 33 over the summer. It turns out, I'm just not too ambitious in my old age. So my intentions to blog our summer activities were great, but my efforts sucked. There ya go.

But I have to write down all the happenings of our last day of summer before I forget the details (as it turns out, my sharp memory is goin in my old age, & it is killing me). This will be long, but maybe someday Seth will appreciate my efforts to document my entire memory from this experience. (he's a boy, so probably not - but maybe his wife will, right?)
We ended summer with one hell of a bang - or at least Seth did. On our very last day of Summer Break (Saturday), Austin had soccer practice at 8:30 that morning. Seth had a soccer scrimmage at the same park at 9:00. I'm sure at some point I remarked how convenient it was that we lucked out to have both boys needing to be at the same park within 30 min of each other. Kevin headed off to work (thank you, looming tax deadline), Syd headed off to a babysitting job, and I loaded up the boys & Brooklyn, picked up the boys' 2 friends (& teammates), and headed off to the park. Seth & his friend Maddox had about a half hour to play at the park before their scrimmage, while I settled into my chair to watch Austin's practice. It was HOT. SO HOT. (I had no idea this blasted miserable Vegas heat would turn my day upside down)

About 10 minutes before the scrimmage was supposed to start, Seth ran over to me wailing & threw himself into my lap yelling that he was hurt. Any mom out there knows that cry - the one that signals true pain. The one that makes your instincts on high alert & in a split second you know this is not just a dramatic whine. There was no blood, so I just kept saying "Where are you hurt?" and "Calm down! What hurts?" It was then that Seth lifted his right arm and said "MY ARMMMM!" and it was as if there was a joint in the middle of his forearm. The entire middle of his arm dipped right down and I shrieked. He then moved his arm again and the whole end of it flopped down like he had another wrist. It was INSANE. I was expecting the bone to pop right through the skin. The 2 other moms I was talking to helped me get my crap loaded right back into the van, while I kept repeating "We gotta get to urgent care." I grabbed Brooklyn, loaded her up, and carefully got Seth into the car with his arm resting on the only flat thing I had handy - a Book of Mormon. Thankfully, my brother-in-law pulled up just then & I begged him to get the other 3 boys home for me. I screeched out of the parking lot with Seth still wailing and crying and moaning. I felt so awful for him. My momma bear instincts were in full gear, and I knew it was bad. I called Kevin who had only been at work for a few minutes, and told him that Seth had fallen somehow, and we were headed to urgent care - then I realized what I was saying & corrected myself - we were going straight to the emergency room. I've never taken any of my kids to the ER. Ever. We've always just gone to urgent care. RSV? Urgent Care. 2 broken collar bones? Urgent Care. Stitches? Urgent Care. This time, I knew this was much bigger than urgent care. I started to get emotional on the phone with Kevin, and told him to meet me at the hospital. As soon as I hung up the phone I had to do a little pep-talking to my momma self and tell myself I needed to pull it together and be brave so that Seth didn't see me losing it. So I wiped my eyes, and apologized to my baby boy for every single little bump we had to drive over on our way to the hospital.

I was right. This was much bigger than urgent care. We walked into the St. Rose ER, where they slapped a bracelet on Seth's (other) arm, and walked us straight back to the Peds ER. Within 5 minutes they got Seth on an IV and were pumping the pain medicine with his Harry Potter arm propped on a pillow. If you have seen the 2nd Harry Potter movie when Harry's arm loses it's bones and he has to re-grow the bones, that's exactly what Seth's arm reminded me of:

And then we waited for xray to come take pictures. As soon as the pain medicine started pumping, Seth was a-ok since he could lay there and watch Spongebob. Xray came and took their pics, and within about 15 minutes they had sent the pics to the ER doc's phone. Here's what we found:

I gasped. I knew it was bad, but seeing just how bad it was nearly made me lose my breakfast. In the same 5 minutes the doctor showed me those gnarly xrays, and explained that Seth would definitely need surgery to reset the bones. He asked me if we have an orthopaedic surgeon we have seen before. Well, yes we do. We saw him last week, in fact. The ER doc explained that since Dr. Thomas (our dr) is the only pediatric orthopaedic surgeon that HPN will approve, if he wasn't on call or would agree to come in, we may be out of luck. The ER doc left to try & get a hold of Dr. Thomas, and I started to cry. I couldn't take it. I was pissed. So mad at stupid HPN - how on earth is it that they will only contract with ONE surgeon in all of Las Vegas?!!! Are you freaking kidding me?!! I was so mad that I was sitting in the hospital with my baby, worried about surgery, but having to stress out that we may have to pay out of pocket for another surgeon if we couldn't get the ONE that they think we should see. Absurd. (Now would be an appropriate time to mention that I can't stand HPN) So I prayed. A lot.

Within about 20 minutes the ER dr came back and said he had called in some favors, and Dr Thomas had agreed to come in to do Seth's surgery. I breathed the biggest sigh of relief, uttered a complete prayer of thanks, and we got down to business with getting Seth admitted. But first - they had to splint his arm. THAT was, by far, THE most heart-wrenching part of the entire ordeal. Because his arm was so unstable, it was EXCRUCIATING for the 2 nurses to lift up his arm and move it around while they put the splint on & wrap it. I had to fold my arms and hug myself tight because I seriously wanted to punch those nurses in the teeth and rip their hands off. Seth cried and cried, and begged them, "PLEASE stop! No! No! That hurts so bad!!!" The tears were streaming, and was almost too much for this momma.

He couldn't have the surgery until 4pm when there was an OR available and it had been enough hours since he had had breakfast. So they wheeled Seth's bed out of the ER and up to the Peds floor. He thought it was sooooo cool to not have to walk - to have his bed rolled up to his room. He was enjoying the hospital a little too much - it was hilarious. Loved the bed, loved the TV, loved that he didn't have to get out of bed, loved all the people doting on him. Loved all of it. Except the broken arm part.

Then we waited for the doctor. As soon as Dr Thomas showed up and came in to explain what he was gonna do, I felt so relieved. It was nice to already have a relationship with him, and know that Seth was in good hands. He is the one treating Sydney for her scoliosis, and we have already spent a great deal of time visiting with him. He was soooooo good and so funny with Seth in explaining to Seth how he was going to fix his arm. Seth had a bunch of questions - more about whether or not he was gonna get to wake up in his fancy bed than about the doctor putting nails in his arm to put the bones back together. When Seth asked him "When am I going to get the sleeping potion?" I figured we were good to go. Kevin gave him a blessing, and we were ready. (what??? Is any mom ever ready for that?)

We headed down to get him prepped for the OR, where the kind and sweet nurses were waiting for us. The anesthesiologist explained to Seth how he was gonna fall asleep and she would be right by his head the whole time, and the other nurses were so nice. My little Sethro was so brave. He didn't even seem scared. I tried so hard to not show how scared I was for him. Before we knew it, Dr Thomas came out and put Seth's little surgery cap on him (to match his) and wheeled him back to the operating room himself. Talk about feeling the saddest feeling EVAH to watch your baby go off all by himself. So lonely. So scary.

And then we waited. We went down to the cafeteria to finally eat something, and I dined on a gross hot dog and a delicious Coke. We caught up on a little Hurricane Irene news, and headed back up to the surgery waiting area. I got a really sweet call from Seth's soccer coach calling to see how he was doing, and I had to break the news that he was going to be down a player for a while.

After about 2 hrs 15 min (the longest 2 hrs & 15 minutes of my life) Dr. Thomas came out & let us know everything went well. He told us that when the ER dr had sent the xrays to his phone, he didn't think the ulna was broken all the way through. But it was. Both the radius and the ulna were broken all the way through. He had to put 2 long pins in (1 in each bone), make 4 incisions, and it all went back together so nicely. Here is the finished product:

The pins will have to come out in about 6-9 months. He put a cast on that is split on 2 sides & wrapped in a bandage to allow for Seth's arm to swell after the surgery. We'll go back next week to get that cast taken off & a regular cast put on for 5 weeks. At this point, Seth can't wait for that - he can't wait for the COLORED cast that his friends can sign. He was so funny when he first woke up, wiggling his tongue instead of his thumb when the nurse tried to get him to wiggle his fingers & thumb. He had a few visitors that night, although who knows if he has any recollection of that since he was pretty loopy still.

As soon as he woke from surgery he had a few visitors, including his friend Maddox who had been with him when he fell that morning.

We stayed overnight in the hospital so that we could take full advantage of the morphine available, and went home the next morning. I came home so thankful, and am still so grateful for all our caring friends and family - all the texts full of concern. Everything worked out, and I know the good Lord was watching over us. So thankful for Dr. Thomas spending his Saturday fixing up my boy. So glad I was the one to drive the boys that morning (we alternate carpool). So thankful for the power of the priesthood and feeling even more blessed than ever to be my little Sethro's momma. He is such a sweetheart and was so so brave. He came home and rested some more - a lot of well deserved naps, and LOTS of Harry Potter movies (Momma ain't complainin about that!)

He got a visit from our bishop the next day, his Barlow cousins, and late Sunday night just before bed (amidst the 1st day of school hype), Grandpa Garrard showed up with SEVEN maple bars for Sethro. Seth loves maple bars, and so does my dad. Several months ago Seth pointed out that he and grandpa are a 'match' because they both like to sleep, and they both like maple bars. So funny. So Grandpa came through with Seth's very own stash of maple bars (and a few chocolate cake donuts for mom). Grandpa is so thoughtful that way! We finished off Sunday with 1st Day of School blessings, and sent my little loves off to bed (with a fresh dose of tylenol with codeine for the little bone-breaker).

And that's how we ended our Summer of 2011.

On Tuesday we went back to the same park for Austin's soccer practice, and Seth was so eager to show me the scene of the accident and exactly what it was that he fell off of:

When he tried to grab on to the metal bar of one of these, it was too hot (it was only about 107 degrees that day) so he let go & fell. He landed on his stomach, with his right arm underneath him.

Day #6, Day #7

2011-06-17T07:41:00.000-07:00

Lawsy...our days have been bo-ring this week. Not much excitement at all. Day 6's big adventure for the day? A trip to Sam's Club with all 5 of us. Whoop-dee-doo. I will say that my kids all jumped at the chance to get out of the house when I said I needed to go to Sam's for a few things. They know I'm a sucker for the Sam's Cafe, so we lunched on hot dogs, drinks, & pretzels before I did my grocery shopping. Please...where else can I feed 5 of us for under 10 bucks? I decided to steal my friend Chris' idea and pay my kids a penny for every page this summer. Reading at least 30 minutes a day (which always ends up being longer than that for my 2 big kids - once they start, they just keep going) is part of their daily to-do list, so writing down how many pages they plow through each day. I was unsure when I offered it up just how much they would actually make, but even Seth is getting through 60-70 pages a day in that 30 minutes. Not too shabby. That night my mom had arranged a family baptisms for the dead session up at the temple, since it was Kenzie's first time going. Kevin, me, Sydney, Sarah, Tyler, Mackenzie, Nate & my mom all went up to the temple and did baptisms and confirmations for 67 of my mom's family names that she has done family history work for. I gotta say...it was probably one of the few times Kevin & I will both be there inside the temple with Syd before she gets married, so that was sweet. After the temple Syd went home with the Barlows for a sleepover, and that was the end to our exciting day. Whoop.

Day #7
I woke up with much angst about yesterday...I knew it would be fairly uneventful as far as going and doing with the kids, but the big event for me was Sydney's doctor appointment at 2:40. I don't know why, but I was nervous. After getting the news of needing a brace, etc. 2 weeks ago, I decided to make an appt for a 2nd opinion with another specialist, just to make sure we are on the right path with the right brace, etc. The Spinecor brace that Syd's doctor prescribed is much newer and a very different type of brace than the traditional scoliosis braces. I can't explain why, but despite how appealing that one is, and how much I WANT Sydney to have it, I still felt like we needed to get more info or another opinion to weigh it all out. But I was nervous. Thursdays are babysitting days for me, when I tend my friend's 2 girls. So Mara & Ella came yesterday, and it was war all day between my 4 kids over who got to play with them. To put it mildly, those girls are very loved at our house, and I have to pretty much set a timer for who gets to play with each of them at what times. Kevin got off work early to come home so I could take Syd to her doctor appointment (I barely slept last night, which means that whole thing & the quandry I am now in is a separate blog post itself). Sydney went babysitting last night, annnnd that was pretty much it. We made forts, and Seth never got out of his pajamas yesterday. Holla.

I am leaving town today for a quick trip to Utah with my sis for a friend's wedding, and to spend some time with the one and only Angela Webb. I have not coped well this first week of summer, and have decided that summer sucks without the Webbs. My kids miss them dearly, but most of all I hate not having Angela here to lunch with, to hang out, to borrow kids when my kids are bored, for sleepovers for my kids, or to call and say, "hey, I gotta go to Sam's/Target/Walmart, you wanna come with me?" I know. Waaaaa.

Summahhhhh!

2011-06-15T09:37:00.000-07:00

If I were, like, totally on top of it, I would blog every single day of summer like my hero Chanel. Clearly that's not happening...but I AM documenting all that's going on around here and my efforts to do SOMEthing fun each day - so we don't round the corner on August 30th and go, "geez, what'd we do all summer???" So here ya go, kids... (I'm speaking to MY kids who may need to read this someday when they lament about only ever doing chores chores chores and NEVER having fun.)

Day #1:

The first official full day of summer break... And after 180 days of having to wake Brooklyn up and literally yank her out of bed & carry her to the car to drop the kids off at school, she showed up at the side of my bed at 6:30am - "Mommy, I got up EARLY!" Yes, yes you did. Despite my efforts to get her to go back to sleep in momma's bed, she wasn't havin it. I had to go pick up Sydney's medical records & xrays from her doctor's office, pick up Syd from her sleepover with her girlfriends, and Austin went to hang at his friend Zack's for a few hours to play a little Wii and go to the water park (thanks, Chris!)... Our big activity for the day, you ask? A 550-piece puzzle we had never opened. Let's not go crazy with the summer business, I say. We're gonna ease into the marathon summer days (translation: mom did not want to go anywhere!). We spent a good few hours on that bad boy, and still did not finish it until 2 days later. (Seth and Brooklyn were not all that keen on the puzzle being our 'summer activity'...can't figure out why!)

Day #2:

Being Saturday, with nothing on the calendar until that evening (love it!) Kevin decided to take all 4 of the kidlets to the rec center to swim. Holla!!! I packed their lunches, sunblocked all the kids, packed the swim bag, and sent them on their merry way. They had a fabulous time, and we are all set with our punch card for the summer to make many return trips. It's a whole different experience without a baby or toddler to follow around. :-) Kevin & I went to our friend's wedding that night, and Sydney babysat 2 of her cousins at our house - which meant fun for all the kids - Mom & Dad gone + cousins = fun any way you slice it.

Day #3:

Come, now. Sunday. How exciting can we get? Hmmm. Church. Visit to Grandma Beth's. There ya go. Youth Conference meeting for Mom, Girls Camp meeting for Mom, annnnd that's about it.

Day #4:

This being the start of the first full week of summer, I had high hopes for fabulous chores and productivity for this day. I realized quickly that our daily schedules were going to be a little more go-with-the-flow than I had planned, but oh well... Syd got asked to babysit, so she headed out to work for pay (as opposed to slave away at home). We all got our chores done, and with the promise of making pizzas for dinner, I ran over to Trader Joe's for pizza dough. The kids finished their chores while I was gone, and we made a trip to the library. We'll be making a few of these this summer. We signed up the 3 kids I had with me for the library's Summer Reading Program, loaded up on books, and then realized when we got to the counter with our 22 items that Genius Mom had left her wallet in her gym bag that morning. Good glory, if I could get it together that would be grrrreatttt. I didn't even have my ID to have them reissue me a new card. We had to leave our stack, drive home, get the wallet, drive back, and finally check out our stack of books. And then back home to make pizzas for din-din. I rounded off the night with a party at my brother's house watching The Bachelorette with my sis & 2 brothers, with Dave showing off his shiatsu skills on Sarah & Nate (he's in massage school, and we are all benefiting - it is awesome!):

(Sorry boys, I couldn't resist sharing this one...) We got many a laugh out of Dave's shiatsu moves. Good times. I love that this summer Dave is off most weeknights, Sarah doesn't have to be up at 5, and Mike & Emily will be home next month. Good times!

Day #5:
Not gonna lie: LA-ZY start to the day. There was much tv-watching so that Mom could get things done. Finally, I decided it was time to kick it into gear. I doled out the chores - 5 per kid - with promise of going to see Kung Fu Panda 2 at the theater. Tuesdays are $5 movie day, and I love it. I LOVE going to the movies (I used to hate it), and $5 per person is a deal. Plus, $2 popcorn. It's a treat. We're all excited to go see Cars 2 next Tuesday...not gonna lie, I'm just as excited.

History Repeated

2011-06-09T16:08:00.000-07:00

Fair warning: This is a long post. I apologize. I type like I talk - in large amounts. But writing this is more for my own journaling & posterity than anything else.

Many moons ago at the lovely age of 11 I was diagnosed with scoliosis. The curve of my spine measured at 22 degrees, which, we learned was high enough to warrant some kind of treatment. By the time my curve reached 25 degrees, the doctor decided it was time for bracing. I was *blessed* to wear a Milwaukee brace during the already-awkward age of 12/13, in my 7th grade year. It. Sucked. My brace was a hard plastic body-jacket that wrapped around my entire torso, closing with straps on the back. It had a metal bar that went up the front up to my chin, and 2 bars that went up the back to the back of my head. Then the bars were all connected at the top, around my neck. I wore it 23 hours a day, only taking it off to shower. It had so many screws & buckles & hardware on it, it chewed up the back of my hair causing me to have to chop my hair super short (combine that with my huge glasses...nice, eh?). All the hardware on the back also put a million holes in my clothes. Constantly. The clothes that were about 4 sizes bigger than what size I really was so they would fit over my brace. It was incredibly hot. Kids at school (and church) called me names like Robocop & Iron Maiden. It was lovely.
Unfortunately, because I was a cranky and moody gal, I have discovered we have very few pictures that show my brace. And I hate that we threw it away without taking a picture of the full thing. Here are a couple of what we do have, that only show the top:

Here is a picture of one similar to what mine looked like (mine went up much higher on my back & stomach & cut just under my armpits):

I wore this one for a year. After a year, my brace had mostly kept my curve from getting worse, and the curve measured at only 28 degrees. We switched doctors to a spine specialist, and he allowed me to try out a different brace, which only required me to sleep in it at night. I was over the moon. I still remember leaving the doctor's office that day with my parents & going to Carl's Jr for lunch to celebrate. I wore that one for about 6 months, and then went back for a checkup for the doctor to check & see if it was doing the job... the curve had increased to 36 degrees. I was still only 13, and the doctor announced it was time for surgery. It was a rough day. I cried and cried. No Carl's Jr celebratory lunch that day. I had just tried out & made the dance team, and now would not be able to be a part of it. I would not be able to go up to Idaho with Sarah - our summer trip where we were going to get to go all by ourselves. I was just about to enter high school, and was convinced that my freshman year would be another awkward school experience riddled with being different and weird because, again, I would be wearing a brace (for 4 months after the surgery). Try school shopping for the first day of high school, having to look for only elastic-waist shorts. It doesn't get much better than that. So cool. So trendy.

My back surgery was July 13, 1992 - my parents' 16th wedding anniversary. After a long 10-day hospital stay, spinal fusion from T11-L3, and a titanium rod & 5 screws, I came home with my new brace and zero energy to do anything but lay down. I remember school shopping for shoes that summer, and laying on the floor of Mervyn's shoe department because it was taking so long for everyone to pick out their shoes, and I couldn't stand any longer (and I was wearing my sister's navy shorts overalls from Miller's Outpost because those were the only thing we had that could fit over my brace). And I also remember laying on my bed, watching hours and hours of the Barcelona Olympics on our little black and white TV. School started, and after 4 months I was able to shed the brace, and a year later I was finally able to resume all physical activity (except skiing, horseback riding, or running). As it turns out, my doctor's theory that the top curve on my spine would straighten out once the bottom curve was corrected didn't exactly hold true. It was corrected down to 12 degrees right after my surgery, but here are the most recent x-rays I have of my back (taken nearly 6 years ago):

Fast forward 19 years. Since scoliosis is hereditary, and much more prevalent in girls than boys, I have always expected that my girls would have it to some degree. Kevin's sister also has it, and hers was also severe enough to warrant surgery in her teens. So my girls are fortunate enough to get a double dose of the scoliosis genes. About 18 months ago the pediatrician took a look at Syd's back and noted a small 'rib hump'. He gave us a referral to an orthopedic surgeon as a precautionary measure so that she could be monitored. We saw him in February, and her curve measured at 10-11 degrees. No biggie. Whew. 2 months later, it measured 13 degrees. An increase, but still...not that big of a deal. Another checkup 3 months later (July 2010) showed an increase to 17 degrees. Definitely higher than normal, but still not quite high enough to warrant treatment. We went back 6 months later, and the curve had shifted a little bit higher on her spine, but had held at 17-ish degrees. Last week was Sydney's next checkup, and in 4 months her curve had increased from 17 to 30 degrees. Yikes. The moment he pulled her x-rays up on the monitor, I knew instantly it was not good. So did the doctor. The change was obvious before he even measured. I knew it was higher...I wasn't exactly expecting THAT much higher. 13 degrees in 4 months is quite a bit. Here's the ironic bit: Syd's curve is T11-L3...the exact same spot mine was. Weird, huh? He then dropped the bomb that brought back a flood of emotions for me from 21 years ago: "It's time to start wearing a brace."

(current xray on the left, xray from 4 months ago on the right)

There are a handful of times I can recall really having to try hard to put on a brave face for my kiddos... when they are facing something that is so nerve-racking for themselves, and you know it will be just fine, and a good thing in the end, yet they are so anxious and nervous and bordering on tears - you moms know what I mean. Things like the first day of middle school, or the time Sydney flew alone on an airplane a couple years ago - so many anxious butterflies. Even though you know it'll be great, it's so freakin hard to not get the lump in your throat or hold the tears in yourself to be reassuring and brave when you see your baby so nervous. This was, most definitely, one of those times for this momma.

I was pleasantly surprised when the doctor gave us information on the type of brace he thinks Sydney would be a good candidate for. It is the only CORRECTIVE brace on the market right now (most bracing options only keep the curve from worsening - this one has actually show improvement). Although the doctor was somewhat concerned with how much the curve has increased in such a short period of time, considering Sydney has not quite hit her major growth spurt, we are cautiously optimistic that this will help improve the crooked situation, and ultimately improve it enough to not end up in the operating room. We will see. Here is the brace we are hoping Sydney will get:

She will only have to wear this one about 20 hours per day, which would allow her to take it off for things like dance team or swimming or other activities she is involved in if she needs to. Oh - and Madonna's daughter has this same type of brace...not bad, eh?:

She will likely wear it for about 2 years, assuming her curve does not continue to increase. I am leery, and know that there are no guarantees. Those bones can be stubborn, and she is currently only 6 degrees away from where I was when the doc decided it was surgery time. I'm preparing for the worst, praying for the best you could say. We have an appointment with another doctor this week for a 2nd opinion, just to be sure that this is the route we should be heading down. Dr. Camp specializes in pediatric scoliosis, so I am eager to see what he has to say. And then she goes to be fitted next week for her brace (if Dr. Camp concurs with Dr. Thomas' recommendations)

Sydney has been so brave through all of this news, and we are so proud of her. She is such a good girl, and I sometimes wonder how on earth I was blessed to have such a mild-mannered (albeit SO incredibly stubborn) child to balance out my crazy-lady-ness.

I know we've got a long road ahead of us...but I also know (from MANY an argument) that ma girl has will & determination like nobody has ever seen before!

To be continued...

The Plan...(for teaching my kids how to be decent humans)

2011-06-09T14:15:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I plopped my butt on my friend Angela's blog where she told all about this book & what she was doing with it... The book is called "The Parenting Breakthrough: A real-life plan to teach your kids to work, save money, and be truly independent". As soon as I saw Angela's handy dandy binders she had made for her kids based on The Plan outlined in this book, and all that they included, I was hooked. I'm sure my family is so fed up with hearing about 'The Plan,' they are wanting to flush this book down the toilet on the cover. BUT... my friends, I am optimistic this could change our family's life. The book covers so much more than just The Plan, all of which is great. After all, I do NOT want my little lovies still living at home with me still cleaning up all their CRAP when they are 37. No, I want them to be some trash-kickin' independent adults who know how to work, save money, and live on their own.

Seeing how this is our FIRST ever Summer Vacation, I am excited to implement a ton of this into our summer life. In a nutshell, The Plan outlines a list of things that kids should be able to do or learn to do at each age - from age 3, up to age 17. The idea is that when my kids are 18 and moving out to go to college or heading off on their missions, they will know how to clean, cook, and save money. They will know how to operate and take care of a car. They will know how to do household repairs and how to do household chores WELL. They will know how to manage debt, communicate with people, and they will understand the importance of setting goals and working toward them.

My kids are actually excited to learn a ton of the stuff in their books, and I have realized that we have quite a bit of catching up to do. When I mentioned to Sydney that she should have learned to sew on a button when she was 9, she quickly pointed out, "My sewing machine always jams up!" Ahhhhh, yes. My point exactly. I had to give her the first lesson in sewing on a button: that you don't sew on a button with a sewing machine. So, yes. We have a lot of work to do. First things first: I made my kids' books.

Secondly, I had to reiterate that we will not be passing these things off at warp speed...this will be a slow process - a LEARNING process - rather than a hurry-and-do-it-so-I-can-pass-it-off process. The book suggests that for most items, they should be Observed, then Trained a couple of times (working WITH them), then a few Practice times of the kids doing the item themselves, before it is finally Passed Off. I can assure you, all 4 of my kids think they are great at making their beds. But we will be having a few training sessions starting, ummm, TOMORROW, showing them that simply smoothing out the covers is not really making their beds. Obviously, we will not need to Observe, Train, Train, Practice, Practice, Practice, and Practice things like Learning About Puberty & Sex. Many items will simply be passed off after the first time, of course. I added several items to the lists in the book to fit our own family based on things that Kevin and I think are important, and I left plenty of spaces for each year to add in things that we may think of later.

We have not yet decided the reward system we will be using for passing items off the list (i.e. once everyone completes 5 items, the FAMILY gets to do blah blah blah), but it will include individual rewards as well as family rewards.

I don't know if this is making sense, or if I'm just rambling...but I'll give you an example of 1 of the lists:

9 YEARS OLD:

Mop floor

Clean pictures

Bake cakes

Bake cookies

Understand emergency preparedness

Learn basic first aid

Fill car with gas

Wash car

Vacuum interior of car

Hammer nails

Saw wood

Cook vegetables

Write letters

Understand puberty & sex

Use e-mail

Understand basic science

Wrap presents

Sew on buttons

Change sheets on a bed

Pack self for a trip

Complete 2 items per section in Faith in God book

I know, it seems like a lot. But if nothing else, it gives me an idea of the things I need to just let go & let my kids at least try. So many things are MUCH easier and faster to do ourselves as moms, and it is quite literally PAINFUL to watch something be done messier and not as quickly as we would do it. But if I don't cut the ties now, my kids are surely going to be the annoying college roommate that never cooks, never washes their clothes, and won't help clean...and they'll be burning their car's engine up because they never knew it needed oil. I have to admit, we have already had Austin pump the gas a few times. It's rather nice to pull up to the pump, hand him the card, and let him get out & fill us up!

So. The summer is our oyster, and we have much to accomplish and catch up on. We will most certainly be working many of these items into the daily & weekly chores, as well as scout & personal progress requirements. Yippee -kai-yai-yay...hang on - it could be a rough ride while I convince my chillen that they will be GRATEFUL one day that they learned all this schtuff!

P.S. If any of you 5 people who may happen to see this blog post want me to email you my lil spreadsheets, I'm happy to share the joy. Email me at ekmohler@hotmail.com and I'll happily oblige!

Sadness

2011-06-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

We've had some sad happenings around here in the last couple of months, the first of which was a huge knock-me-upside-the-head experience and a most certain kick-myself few days... My computer had a meltdown. The power supply failed, and in the process of doing so, I lost about 7 months' worth of pictures, along with many other things:

All the pics I took of my brother's wedding: GONE.
First day of school pics: GONE.
Halloween 2010: GONE.
Christmas 2010: GONE.
Brooklyn's 4th birthday pics: GONE.
Austin's 9th birthday pics: GONE.
Sydney's 12th birthday pics: GONE.
Family Reunion pics: GONE.
Back to school fashion show pics: GONE.
OUR TAXES: GONE.
All the pictures, documents, files, ideas, etc. I save and file away for Young Women: GONE.
The digital file of the Family Cookbook I did last summer (I still have a hard copy of this, thankfully): GONE.
Things I haven't even realized are missing yet: GONE.

I cried. I was sick to my stomach for days. Many days. I chastised myself for not being a better blogger (so thankful I did at least post a few Christmas pictures) - all the things I 'planned' to blog, and didn't. I kicked myself hard for not backing up the 7 months' worth of pics 2 weeks before when my cousin nearly lost ALL of her pics to a virus. So sad. Did I mention I cried? To be honest, I try to block it from my thoughts & not think about it. Serious.
HOWEVER... I have tried to keep perspective about the loss of so many good pictures. In the grand scheme of life, it's only a few months' worth of pictures...right? It wasn't any of my kids' births, blessings, baptisms, or road trips thank heavens. I'm grateful for the pics of Mike's wedding I at least posted to Facebook. I know this may sound silly, but the pictures I was most sad about losing were the 1st Day of School pictures. I was so incredibly devastated about having that hole in the chronology of my kids' school scrapbooks. But a sweet tender mercy came a few weeks ago when I remembered the calendar I had made via walgreens.com for my dad for Christmas. To do that I had uploaded a ton of pictures to work with in creating the calendar, some of which were the lost 1st Day of School pics of each of my kids. I don't have the actual digital files anymore, but the few pics I did upload are still stored safely in my online album on the walgreens website where I can have them printed, and put onto a cd. Happy Day. I know I'm neurotic and selfish to be so worried about things like this when people in Missouri lost every single solitary picture they own. But I am grateful now that it was ONLY 7 months' worth of pictures. AND that I got that tiny gift back of the 20 or 30 pics I can have printed at walgreens...and this shall forever be a reminder and hard lesson learned to back up my pictures IMMEDIATELY when I download them. It also has served as a reminder to me to take a TON of pictures - of EVERYBODY'S kids...not just my own - in the event one of my friends or my siblings were to have a computer mishap, I will be able to give them that tiny gift of a few pictures of their little 'uns.

In the meantime, I have started a "Get Mom a Mac" fund. I have resolved to never EVER sink another dime into another PC. I am convinced I would not have had one tenth of the computer problems we have had in the last several years if we had a Mac. I know - Yeah, sure...Of course, wouldn't we all love to have a Mac. But I decided to slowly save my pennies, since the $2000 price tag isn't all that doable anytime soon.

So. Here's to more blogging. A lot more. In the name of all my lost pictures and pre-empting my next computer failure, Amen.

Backing The Train Up

2011-02-04T16:01:00.000-08:00

6 weeks late isn't so bad, right? I don't even think I chronicled Christmas last year, so this is an improvement. I just downloaded the pictures off my camera & finally checked out the pics I got of Christmas. Not great. Really, I was slacking on the job. Kinda disappointing. Ahh well. I got enough to prove to my kids later in life that they weren't completely deprived & to show that they actually had smiles on their faces. And so I give to you...the annual picture at the top of the stairs:
I love that Brooklyn's excitement is oozing in this picture. She was beside herself having to wait at the top of the stairs. Completely beside herself.

Santa came, he dumped his loot - 3 presents per kid + stockings - and he left. Wanna know the trick to stretching out the opening of 3 presents? Have Santa get the FOIL wrapping paper from the dollar section at Target...it is some STRONG foil paper, and, ummmm...your kids might not even be strong enough to rip it.

We start in the family room & check out the goods from Santa & then move into the living room to open gifts under the tree from Mom & Dad. Brooklyn looks beyond thrilled in the picture below of her with her Princess barbies from Mom & Dad, right? Homegirl has barely touched the things since Christmas, the little stinker. Instead, she has toted the green dog from Santa around EVERYwhere we go - yeah, that would be the dog that says it's for ages 6-36 months. That would be Scout - the 7th member of our family. He sings & says all kinds of snazzy things that drives the other 5 of us in this family ca-razy. But Miss Brookie is in love. And as much as she begged & pleaded for Scout before Christmas, I surely thought the novelty of him would wear off. He is, after all, a BABY toy (which is what I stressed to Brooklyn the many times she begged for it at the store). Ohhh, not so. Scout is now on his THIRD set of batteries since Christmas morning & the novelty isn't even close to wearing off.

And this is the extent of any other pictures I took between Christmas Eve & Christmas day. I snapped about 2 pictures at Grandma & Grandpa Mohler's on Christmas Eve, and barely more than that at my mom's Christmas Day. We need a new family photographer. Obviously I'm losing my steam.

My Current Fave

2011-01-20T15:05:00.000-08:00

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why my clothes aren't fitting right. Can you?

I bake a lot. I love to bake. But I normally have no problem resisting the treats once they're done. I made cinnamon rolls last week & had 1 roll out of the 36. Not too bad, right? I normally make the treats & give them away or drop them off to ma peeps so that they're gone before they have a chance to hit my hips. But these buggers are the exception. They're driving me crazy. So good. So so good. They're undoing every bit of good my diet has done so far. So easy to make, and so hard to resist. So...I give you my current favorite cookie. Super fancy - straight off the back of the Butter Flavor Crisco can:

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies:3/4 c. Butter Flavor Crisco Shortening
1 1/4 c. firmly packed light brown sugar
2 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375. Beat shortening and brown sugar in large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in milk, vanilla and egg. Stir in flour, salt & baking soda. Blend in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart on UNgreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes (for my oven, it's 9 minutes 30 seconds exactly). Let cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet. Makes approx. 3 dozen cookies. (I always triple or quadruple the recipe so there are plenty to give away) Seriously - it's hard to mess up this dough. It also freezes well.

Again - anyone know why my jeans aren't fitting? Anyone?

Coping with change...or not.

2011-01-06T09:11:00.000-08:00

Of course Change is a natural and inevitable part of life, necessary for progression, and supposedly good. I'm not buying it. Not drinking that kool-aid. Lately, I hate Change. It is not my friend, and I believe it's ultimate goal is to leave me naked & alone, trying unsuccessfully to function happily. (dramatic much? Yeah, all about the drama - you know that.) Here's the thing: So many changes happening around here as of late are gooooood - when I consider them in any other way than a selfish one. But, alas...I am selfish, I will admit. I like me some good people. And I want to keep them close. And I like my kids in their innocent sweet state most days. And I like them to be happy. And I like my own comfort zone. Don't make me bust out of that. That's annoying and uncomfortable.

Here's one of the reasons this Change character is giving me angst:

I am a firm believer that a girl needs a posse. Her crew. Her peeps. The people who know her at her best, but have seen her at her worst. The ones who come quickly when she's at her worst. They come first. And they offer her everything they have, and then some. They become second mothers to her children, and in turn their kids all become one happy family. They carpool. They help get each others' kids where they need to be. They listen. They commiserrate. They help her when she has bitten off more than she can chew. They let her vent when she needs to. And a girl can tell them things she would not utter to anyone else. Ever. And life is good.
Over the last few years these 4 women: Angela, Jennie, Sarah, & Jerolyn have been my first line of defense, my sounding board, my confidants, and my go-to people for pretty much everything. EVERYthing. I'm gonna brag and say I have the best posse imaginable. Sorry, but they are. Over the last few years we have developed our own language between us, affectionate & hilarious terms for each other, and know exactly what each other are thinking without saying a word. We travel together, lunch together, shop together, and share probably way too many details of our lives with each other. I can pretty confidently say that these gals are the sender/receiver of probably 3000 out of the 4000 texts I had on my phone last month. (I know...ridiculous, right?) We are tight. So close, in fact, that Angela even let the other 4 of us be there with her when she had her baby a couple months ago (yeah - in the delivery room. A-MA-ZING.) I consider them all a pretty vital part of my life. My daily life. Vital. I have known for a long time that I've had it pretty good in this super duper support system of my life. And I knew in my heart of hearts it would not last forever. But when Change struck, it still stung. Bad.

One day in August (the 23rd of August to be exact) the 5 of us were lunching at Cafe Rio. (shocker) We all knew the possible changes that COULD be looming before our group: Sarah was toying with the possibility of going back to work full-time, and had been looking into possible teaching jobs. And Angela's husband, who was miserable in his job, had interviewed for a job in Salt Lake. I will speak for myself and say, though I knew what could possibly befall my peeps, I chose to be in selfish denial - because I couldn't imagine my mundane daily life without either of those girls being such an intricate part of it. (just typing this makes my nose burn) And then in a split second, Angela got a text from her hubs. And the sky fell. (I mean, the angels sang praises - sooooo happy Darrel would have a job he loved!!!) Darrel had been offered the job in SLC - better pay, better hours, better benefits, the whole she-bang. A no-brainer. They would be moving. Within seconds, tears fell. And we all knew. Change was inevitable. Within a week, to add to my sky falling, the floor dropped out from under me. (yeah - haven't you noticed these major events are all about me??) Sarah got a job teaching high school, and I was faced with her being inaccessible for over 6 hours out of everyday. Hellooooo people - that's more than 30 hours a week. For someone who usually talks to that woman on average 4 times a day, that is No Bueno. So. Here we are. Mid-January. And I have survived. Yes, Change sucks. I still don't like it. I know it's so good for Angela & Sarah. But I have realized that I am sooooooo beyond blessed to have these ladies STILL in my daily life. For a couple of them it's in a different way, but still...SO BLESSED. They will always be my closest friends. I know that. I love them. They are part of my heart.

And another Change: Along with Angela moving, Seth's best friend moved as well. Over the last few years, Seth & Zach have pretty much been attached at the hip. Literally, there were mornings that Zach's name would leave Seth's lips before he had even opened his eyes: "Is Zach coming over today?" "Can I go to Zach's house?" "I gotta tell Zach...." "Zach is gonna love..." and it goes on and on. My heart was so sad for these boys to not live around the block from each other anymore. But thank goodness for Skype & modern technology to help this Change not be so harsh. Although, my Mama Bear heart still hurt the first week back to school after Zach moved when I asked Seth who he had been playing with at recess & he said, "I just play by myself 'cause Zach wasn't there." Sad. But I know he'll be fine. I'm so glad these boys have had each other for the last few years.

So. That is all for now. The length of this post is exactly why blogging is not necessarily healthy for my daily to-do list. As in most areas of my life I need to zip it a little more.
Oh yeah - and I'm not going private on here. I decided my annoyance with private blogs far outweighs any irritations or wants that would make me decide to privatize. (Sarah V & Chanel, I am not annoyed by your privatization. Really. I enjoy reading your blogs so much, I don't at all mind signing in.) And Candice - I have some more treats to share. Stay tuned.

Breath of Life?

2011-01-02T00:06:00.001-08:00

Maybe a small puff. Trying to decide whether or not to resurrect the 'ol blog for 2011 and actually document part of our life orrrrr continue to let it hang out there in the abyss of oblivion at the very very bottom of peoples' blog roll. I don't know if I have it in me, and if I do it might just be a bunch of posts full of cynicism and sarcastic schmuck. I dunno. I may hafta go private, and I'll tell you why - Yep, I'll actually tell you the reason I would consider going private, UNLIKE so many blogs that go private and will only allude to the actual reason "it looks like we have to go private". Annoying. Tell the reason, people. You know people wanna know. Did you get a creepy comment posted? Are you scared for the privacy of your kids? Is it work related? Or do you just wanna be able to pick & choose who sees what you want to write? Well, that last one would be the only reason I'd go private IF in fact I decided to go private. There are just some people who maybe don't need to read everything that spills from these fingertips. Is that rude? I dunno. Am I really gonna make the dusty blog private? I dunno. I guess I'll keep ya posted. (haha - get it? POST-ed...blog humor... lol)

My Utah Love Affair Days 4 & 5

2010-06-23T09:49:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of this trip that I had been promising my kids for months was getting to go see Toy Story 3. I had planned for Monday to be THE day, so we set out bright and early to make it to the theater in time for the 11:50am show. We barely made it. I mean, c'mon people...11:50??? That's sorta pushin it for vacation. But we made it with a couple minutes to spare (I was stressin that we might miss the Pixar short before the movie started, so I was thrilled we didn't miss it - SO CUTE and SO CREATIVE...I love those Pixar shorts!). Let me just say how much I LOVED THAT MOVIE!!! It rocked. And HA - I loved the Buzz Spanish mode - freakin hilarious. We headed home, then walked across the street to BYU to go bowling. I always wonder, "Maybe we should bowl more than 1 game today" and then by about frame 7, I am thinking "What the-- WHY would I ever think more than 1 game would be a good idea???" So 1 game was PLEN-TY, and by then the monsters were hungry so we went up to the Cougareat for lunch. We strolled around campus for a lil bit and dodged the ba-zillions of EFY groups (holy crap, SOOOO many teenagers) all over campus (including the Creamery - annoying.) We stopped for ice cream on the way home and then headed home. Of course we hit up the park again after dinner, and went for a walk where I totally spotted cjane's house. If you know who cjane is, you might realize how cool I thought this was. But walking through the neighborhood with el kiddos, I looked across the street into the giant picture window on the front of this house with a big yard, and spot the totally retro wallhanging that I have seen so many times before whilst reading cjane's blog. And I highly doubt there are many more of those around Provo. So...of course the stalker in me went home that night and re-checked her blog to see if what I thought was retrohouse really was retrohouse. And it was. And I smiled, cause I thought (yeah, I still do) that was such a cool thing to happen upon. And yeah, the stalker in me was so hoping cjane might be out in front of her house one of these nights, and I would totally approach her and ask for a picture. But she hasn't. She's been busy meeting the prophet (seriously - could you imagine?). But still...I saw her house. In my mind, we're BFFs now. In my mind, a picture with cjane would trump my pics with Marie. Anyway, there you have Day 4.

Day 5 started with my little lovies begging to go to the Creamery for breakfast, and so we dined on bagels and donuts and 3 different flavors of milk. We decided to try out the Living Planet Aquarium, and my kids loved it. These days I never know if Sydney will love things or be 'so over' them, but she was entertained and had a good time. And the freakin huge anaconda snake tripped me out there - I do not like snakes, and that one was wayyyy too freaky. (no, I did not take a picture) After a couple of hours at the aquarium we lunched and then headed to the Draper temple on our way home. Holy cow - that temple is way up on the mountain, and I loved it! SO PRETTY! It was pretty toasty out though, so we didn't stay long. And besides, we had guests showing up so we needed to get home and get a few things ready for the birthday girl. Tuesday was Sarah's b-day, and she was driving down from Logan to meet up with us. I took Brooklyn with me and we picked up birthday brownies from the Creamery and balloons and did a totally ghetto birthday celebration for Aunt Sarah when she arrived - complete with 33 candles on one little brownie. We fed the 9 kids and then headed out to the park (again). We totally lucked out with a cute little college couple who were at the park waiting for the tennis courts, and decided to play tag with our kids on the playground. So of course we would capitalize on their trying to impress each other with how great they are with kids, and sit on our butts and watch. They were awesome, and Sarah and I were able to sit on a bench and catch up after not seeing each other for a week. Those college kids totally knew all of our kids' names by the time we left, and I came up with yet another reason I love Provo. (and no, we did not run into cjane) The rest of Day 5 is the same as the others: home, baths, bed. And facebooking and chatting the night away for the moms.

My Utah Love Affair, Days 1, 2, and 3

2010-06-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

K, so yeah - I know I've only posted on this here blog maybe 4 times since the abrupt end of my Summer Road Trip last summer. Wellll, lookee here - it's that time again: time for my annual summer trip with el kiddos, which, this year consists of 1 week in Provo. Hollaaaaa!!!!! I do harbor a very fond affection for this city, and I'll admit it...just being here {in the summertime} makes me smile. I do think I was meant to live here during June, July & August.

Our trippin started Friday afternoon when we skedattled out of Vegas and headed on up to Cedar City and spent the night with my fun sil & bil, Diane & Caleb. They are always fun, so welcoming to me & my crew, and we stay up way too late talking. Way way late. Good times. We lazied around Saturday morning and squeezed in a game of Settlers of Catan before I left while all the kids played. We mozied into Provo and hit up Sam's Club on our way into town. Ummm, yeah. Here's the thing-- I know I've mentioned before that one thing I love about Utah is that it is nothing strange to see me + my 4 kids or me & my sis + our 9 kids out and about. Totally normal here. However, the part I do not love is me + 4 kids at Sam's Club in Provo (i.e. LOTS of other peeps + 4 kids or more), on the Saturday before Father's Day, with a 3 yr old that is totally squirrelly from sitting in the car for 3 hours. Ayyyy! Crazazy! But we survived, and it was great. And now we can eat while we are here. (always good to feed the kids, you know) We hit up the park and walked the neighborhood for a while, and bopped on home for baths and bed. And that ended Day 2.

Day 3 started bright and early with me bursting the kids' bubble that they would get to skip church. I knew I'd feel better about the whole day if I at least got the kids to sacrament meeting (don't ask me why). So we hit up the closest chapel for sacrament meeting, Austin had a holy tearful meltdown, and all the kids got in trouble and lectured by the time we got home. I considered making them all sit on the couch in church clothes for the remaining 2 hours of church that they were getting out of, but c'mon...that's more torturous for me than anything. So. I lectured, we rallied, apologies were exchanged for bad behavior, and promises were made for better behavior from here on out. We'll see how long that resolve lasts (oh wait - it's already shot to heck). We packed up a picnic & headed up to Bridal Veil Falls to eat lunch and check out the waterfalls. The kids all ended up with numb feet (and so did mom so she could get a picture) from wading into the ice cold stream at the bottom, and by the time we got back to the car it was like I had forced Seth to walk the whole way through Provo Canyon. He was D.O.N.E. We drove over to the Mt. Timpanogos temple and laid on the grass for a while & played Pictureka...I totally wanted to konk out it was so gorgeous outside. I snatched some pics of my monsters, and we hit the road for home. After dinner we did the park thing again (really, we'll most likely be 'parking' every night here since the weather is so nice and it stays light till like 9:30 every night). So...here's to an exciting Day 4!

yeah, we're those parents

2010-06-13T00:11:00.001-07:00

Today held a few bright shining moments in the world of parenthood for me. You know the moments--the ones that make you think, "Yeah, I'm that good. I've got this parenting thing down." or "MmmmHmmm, be jealous people. We pretty much rock as parents and our kids are geniuses as a product of our expert parenting skillz." I mean, who doesn't have those moments? I actually had THREE (yes, 3!) of those proud moments today. Watch and be amazed, my friends:

1. My oldest 2 kids had sleepovers last night so we only had the 2 youngest home this morning. We are cool so we decided to take them out for a fancy breakfast to McDonald's (WITH the play area). Kevin & I were sitting on the bench next to each other watching Seth & Brooklyn play (ok he was watching them, I was engrossed in multiple games of Words With Friends on the itouch - thank you, McD's free wifi!). Kevin called Seth over and says, "Bud, you know how you can go REALLY fast down those slides? Get one of those trays right there (points to stack of trays on top of trash can) and slide down on the tray...you'll go SUPER fast!!!" Of course, Seth's eyes lit up, he grabbed the tray and was off. (This proud moment was the precursor to the REAL proud moment - you see, I was so proud that my 5th child, aka my husband, would suggest such an act to my son...I mean, we're so high class) True to Dad's prediction, Seth flew down that tube slide. Over and over. After about 7 or 8 runs he had the misfortune of flying out the bottom nearly landing on the McD's employee's feet. She kindly took the tray from Seth & explained he couldn't use the trays that hold peoples' food as a toboggan for his rear end. Seth's response: "Oh. My dad told me to do that." Yessirree, we were THOSE PARENTS - those trashy parents. And we made a prompt exit from that fancy establishment.

2. After spending 2 hours working on dejunking and cleaning 2 of the kids' bedrooms this afternoon, I was going through the ancient bin of dress up clothes in Brooklyn's room, trying to be discreet about trashing half the stuff in there. I had made a pile of necklaces I found in the bin, which, of course - were Brooklyn's most prized possessions that shant ever be thrown in the rubbish. She picked up an orange beaded necklace and said in a totally disgusted tone: "Ahhh Shit! My necklace is all tangled!" You see? PROUUUUDDDDD moment right there, People!!! I was beaming with pride. I have no clue where MY daughter would pick up on that. Not one clue.

3. Finally, tonight Kevin & I got home from dinner with friends to find all 4 kids crammed in a small tent they had set up in the family room (totally not asleep, of course). In the process of kicking some people out/begging them to come back in, I heard Brooklyn yell: "Stop unzipping the damn door!!!" By this point I was pretty much cramping my arm from patting myself on the back so much today. I mean, WHO has three moments in parenthood all in one day that just make you wanna gloat? (And seriously, that Kevin must have such a potty mouth!)

So there you have it, folks. Proud proud moments. Great parenting at it's finest. I know you're jealous, and wondering what our secret for success is. Sorry dudes...these are trade secrets. Not everyone can be THOSE PARENTS.

End of an Era

2010-06-08T08:29:00.000-07:00

To be honest, I can't even remember if getting my braces off happened in February or March... I think it was February, but could've been March (and since I'm too lazy to check my bible--aka my calendar--we'll just have to deal for the moment, cuz really it doesn't matter, right?). But, after a long 2.5 years as a brace face, I finally got my braces off. Pretty much all of you (maybe) 3 people that may still check into this blog on occasion have already seen the end result or heard me talking with the retarded lisp that comes from wearing a retainer. But for history's sake, I figured this was a monumental occasion that I maybe should document.

To answer the usual questions most people would ask me in reference to the metal mouth:

NO, I did not have braces when I was younger. (NONE of my siblings did. Lucky for Ma & Pa, right? Actually, all of my sibs have quite straight teeth--mine just decided to keep on a'movin & get much worse by the old age of 28)

WHY did I decide to get braces now? Well, after 2 years of my dentist telling me "Braces now, or veneers later" I decided I'd rather fork over $5000 now than $10-12,000 later. Here's the deal: As you can see from my before pics, my top front teeth were gradually moving inward--they had moved so much that they were rubbing against my bottom front teeth and wearing them down. My bottom teeth were starting to chip. So...the dentist warned that if I didn't get braces to bring my top teeth out my bottom teeth would get so worn down that I would need veneers on the bottom. And I'd still need braces on the top.

WHY did I have to keep them on for 2.5 years? Well, let that would be because I am the ultimate poster child for WEARING RUBBER BANDS. Had I been a good little girl and worn my rubber bands like I was supposed to, I would have had them suckers off 7 months earlier. But I'm a big fat baby when it comes to pain, and super forgetful, and didn't wear them like I should've. Finally, I'd had enough and wore those babies day and night, and Whadaya Know? They worked, and it was time to get my braces off. (Funny thing - those orthodontists really know what they're talking about)

and lastly,

YESSSSSS, I love having them off. I LOVE (most of all) being able to floss my teeth without it taking 20 minutes. I LOVE eating Milk Duds, Sour Patch Kids, caramel corn, corn ON the cob, Jolly Ranchers, Milk Duds, bubble gum, gummy bears, chewy sweetarts, caramels, swedish fish, skittles, and did I mention MILK DUDS, ALLLLLL without having to spend 10 minutes trying to get it out of my braces (all the while making annoyingly stupid movements with my mouth and tearing up my tongue). It's great. I mean, really--I'm totally missing not getting to make a payment to the orthodontist every month...that's a total bummer. I've magically been able to cope with the loss of that bill. We've been blessed with a very slight reprieve from that until Austin gets the beloved braces (or Sydney gets them AGAIN).

Anyway...I HAVE to put in a major plug (to anyone reading this that lives in Vegas) for my orthodontist, DR. ZACHARY TRUMAN. He. Is. Wonderful. You know I would not lead you astray...seriously, their office is the bomb. And Dr. Truman is way cool. I mean, WAY. I'm a huge fan. Huge. They are always running on time, and never once did they complain or act onry about me bringing a whole entourage of monsters with me to an appointment. It's great. LOVE THEM. And don't even get me started on their cool token program. (I'll just point out that I ended up getting a portable DVD player, $50 Chevron gas card, $10 Sonic card, $50 Cheesecake Factory card, and 4 $20 Target giftcards, thanks to said awesome token program!)

So....Here are the before & after pictures. Now. Before you scroll down and view the innards of my mouth, keep in mind that I am bearing on of my deepest secrets here and try not to fall off your chair when you see the amount of metal adorning my teeth. Did ya notice the list above of treats I LOVE??? Yeah....my teeth are evidence of a lifetime of sticky-chewy-get-stuck-in-your-teeth candy & treats. They are my fave. And my teeth have suffered at the hands of that stickiness. And keep in mind that these are scanned print-outs, so the picture quality isn't great--if you see me in real life you'll know that my teeth do not have yellow-orange lines on them. Enjoy.

Just Trickin' Ya

2010-03-22T16:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the fake-out that I was back on the blog wagon...apparently it's a little more difficult to hop back on than I had thought. I'm doing about as good blogging as I am getting to the gym (sigh).
In my defense, though, my kids were on track break for 3 weeks last month and any semblance of a schedule or routine went straight out the window. We managed to incorporate a little excitement and yippee into the last little while (both planned AND not so planned), so here's the rundown:

Austin participated in his first Cub Scout Cake Auction, and I'll admit I cringed a bit when he said he wanted a Super Mario Bros cake... I mean, I love me some baking, but being creative with cakes is NOT my forte. At all. But I found an idea online for a Mario mushroom cake, and figured it would be simple enough. Simple, it was. Stressful? That too. When it comes to projects of this nature (especially when we're working against a deadline for when it has to be completed) stress me out, and I was SURE this mushroom was going to topple before it made itself to the church. But alas, all went well, and said mushroom made it to the auction upright. Who knows how it tasted (no guarantees of that), but Austin was thrilled, so I consider it a success.

I decided to take a page from Sarah Vidal's creative book and did a couple of colored dinners to celebrate Valentine's Day and St. Patty's Day...it was FUN! I loved it, and we might just have ourselves a little tradition started. And let's hear it for Kool-aid, since I can always count on the right colored beverage. Yee-haw.

Kevin had to go to CA for one of the weeks the kids were on track break...which proved to be one of THE longest weeks ever. Seriously--not because he was gone. For reals. I actually don't mind him travelling for work at all. Don't get me wrong--I miss him a lot, the kids miss him terribly, and the days kinda seem to run into the next. But the cake auction landed during the week he was gone, so I was thrilled that my bestie's husband happened to be in town for a conference that day. Drew is always so sweet to want to hang with our crazy crowd when he's here for work, and although I'm not sure the cub scout dinner was what he had in mind, he was gracious enough to come along. I was so glad to see him, and it provided FANTASTIC anticipation for the kids. We wrapped up our week-without-Dad with an awesome trip to urgent care, which I'll get to in a bit.

I also took off for a super-dee-dooper weekend in St. George with my girlfriends for ScrapFest. It was glorious. 2 1/2 days of eating, shopping, laughing, eating, sleeping, talking, eating, watching bizarre youtube videos, going to the movies, etc. etc. etc. I do love me a trip to St. George. And when it's with my gal pals, it rocks.

We made a trip to the orthopedic surgeon with Sydney for a scoliosis assessment. At her 11-yr-old physical a couple months ago the doc referred us to a specialist to have her checked out for scoliosis, especially considering my history. THANKFULLY, she's only got a 10-degree curve of her spine and is totally in good shape (literally & figuratively). We will be going back every 2 months to keep an eye on it since she hasn't hit her major growth spurt yet, but for now I am grateful it's only 10 degrees. (For reference, my scoliosis was caught at 11 yrs old & was already at 22 degrees)

Seth has officially lost 3 teeth...We're only aware of 1 falling out, but he has lost 3. His first 2 teeth (both bottom middle teeth) came out sometime (2 separate incidents) at school--we think. We have no idea, and neither does he. It was the same situation with both: super loose tooth, he wouldn't wiggle it, wouldn't let anyone else touch it, and it was barely hanging on. I picked him up from school, asked if his tooth came out that day, and he felt for the loose tooth. Gone. Both times. He had no idea when, where, or anything. So we figure he probably swallowed both of them. The 3rd was one of his top teeth, and it came out a little prematurely after a little violent scuffle with his brother. And this has solidified that our tooth fairy should be fired. She seriously forgets to show up nearly EVERY TIME a kid loses a tooth around here. Sheesh! That woman needs to pull it together!

And now, back to our exciting trip to urgent care while Dad was out of town... If you notice the big overstuffed chair all 4 of my kids are piled in in one of the above pics, you can see how that might be a recipe for a whole plethora of problems. That blasted chair causes more than it's share of fights in our house. On a Thursday afternoon 2 of my kids were piled in that chair. Seth decided to either climb in or out of the chair, and in so doing, he couldn't just get up off the chair like a normal person. No--he had to stand up on the arm of the chair and hop down. But blam! No hopping happened cuz he lost his balance and fell instead--right onto his left shoulder. I was in the living room writing the check to the bug man, and heard the thud/shriek/scream/cry--not the normal 'I'm hurt' cry...but the 'I'm REALLY hurt' cry. Within minutes I KNEW his collar bone was broken. There was a very visible bump on his shoulder, I knew how he landed, and if y'all recall, we've been down this road before--A YEAR AGO, with this same child (other collar bone). I scooped him up (as gently as possible), sped over to urgent care, where they didn't even make us see a dr before doing the x-rays. My poor Sethro was in so much pain--just riding in the car was so painful--and when I saw the x-ray, I knew exactly WHY! Holy crap, I could not believe his collar bone was literally broken in 2--from falling off a freakin' chair! (but if you've seen Seth he doesn't have much on him to cushion any fall) So... I called my sis to borrow their sling, and spent the next few days nursing my baby boy's arm/shoulder and trying to keep it as immobile as possible. Seriously--after about 10 days in the sling he was so over that thing, and was not letting it hold him back. We just got the clean bill of health from the specialist--which is a great thing, considering he's jumping on the trampoline, climbing rocks at Valley of Fire, playing soccer, and livin' it up at Bounce U.

Tiny Miracles

2010-01-19T01:15:00.000-08:00

This is so flukey (is that even a word?), I sort of still can't believe it. Saturday night--that would be February 16th to be exact--I was on a mission to find a missing case of 4 DS games that had turned up missing. I was in all out we-will-turn-this-house-upside-down-because-that's-$100-in-games-mode. I had pretty much looked everywhere I could think of for the little 1"x3" box. So aggrivating. I decided it was time to take apart the couch--that was the only possible place left to look. I also looked under & behind the couch. Our couch has foot rests that pop up on either end. We realized a long while back that when the footrest is popped up there is a pocket in the back of the couch that is accessible from the outside of the couch. At that time we found the long lost Leapster that I had been convinced was gone forever. Do not ask me why I didn't check the pocket on the other end of the couch at that time. Saturday night in my quest to find the DS games, I checked the pocket at one end of the couch and then checked the other. When I pulled back the fabric to look inside, I screamed. I yelled for Kevin. Yes, I thought my eyes deceiveth me. It is doubtful that anyone reading this post has read my blog from it's very inception--from the very FIRST POST I ever wrote--but if you have, you will recall that on FEBRUARY 16TH, 2007 we lost our Tivo remote. Okay, Kevin lost the Tivo remote. I have been absolutely positively SURE ever since that night that my blessed husband had inadvertantly dropped it in the trash and we would never see it again. Ever. It's been 3 YEARS. But Saturday night, guess what I found in the hidden pocket of the other end of our couch? Yep, that blasted remote. 3 YEARS TO THE DAY. Seriously??? Oh yeah...and we found the games--under the corner section of the couch.

Back on the Blagon

2010-01-12T07:50:00.000-08:00

Back on the blog wagon, 2nd day in a row. For the few of you who actually still check in here and aren't on Facebook (I only know of a couple of you not on The Book), here's brief--and I promise I'll try and make it brief-- rundown on our last 6 months and what took place during my blogging hiatus.

1. I went to Girls Camp at Camp Kolob--first time back in 15 years. It was so fun to be there with my ward, and also with my sister and the Batt girls--all 4 of us together again at Kolob, only as leaders this time.

2. I turned 32. It was a fun fabulous day thanks to my sister and my wonderful friends.

3. School ended for my kids. (for the 2 weeks off they get between grades)

4. **this was big** My brother Mike came home from his mission. To say we were excited for this is a huge understatement. I love my siblings. To pieces. I'd say we're pretty tight. And it was so nice to all be together again. We've had a lot of fun hanging with Mike, and I do love that he likes hanging out with his old sisters. He has left again to go to school at BYU-Idaho and is having the time of his life...we miss him again, but his absence is a little easier this time since we can call, text, and facebook. He's awesome.

5. School started and my baby boy started kindergarten. ***I just realized that on the above pic it says 3rd above Austin. That is wrong. I guess I can't even remember what grade my kids are in. Austin started 2nd grade. Oops.

6. I went to Swiss Days with my sisters (this includes my sister-in-law Stacy and our adopted sister Terry) & my dad... lived it up & took advantage of all the things I love about Utah--good weather, good shopping, good people, good food. It was great.

7. My baby turned 3. How can this be? I don't want to talk about it. As excited as she was, it makes me sad. She started dance classes, she goes to preschool, and she wants no help getting dressed or with anything else.

8. Kevin & I got to go to his parents' timeshare in Hawaii. It was a glorious 7 days, and beyond great. Who knows if we'll ever get to go back, but we loved every minute of it. Every single minute. I'm sending a HUGE thank you again to Gary & Sheila for spoiling us... it was so fun!

9. Austin turned 8, and celebrated with a birthday sleepover. It was that weekend that I confirmed to myself that I am nuts. Having 8 boys sleep over reaffirmed to me why my parents hated sleepovers.

10. **this was big, too!** Austin was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was a beautiful day with SO MANY family and friends. So many people there because they love Austin. So special. I loved it.

11. Kevin took the kids on their annual Thanksgiving Camping Trip--no moms allowed. I was so amped for Black Friday, I spent a miserable 7 hours at Wal-mart in line for the one item I *needed* for Christmas. It was totally hard core. And it was awful, but oh so successful and satisfying.

12. After lots of years of jumping through hoops, hundreds of hours studying, and an incredible amount of work, Kevin received his certificate saying he is officially a licensed CPA. A few months ago he casually announced at the dinner table that he had received a present in the mail that day...from himself. A reward to himself for finally getting that piece of paper. The iTouch joined our family that day and my kids couldn't imagine life without it. They are glad Dad is willing to share his new toy... and miraculously an iTouch ended up on 3 out of 4 Christmas lists (as if...).

13. Kevin turned 35. As usual, he got the shaft on celebrating, since his birthday falls on Christmas Eve. But I'm lucky he is so easy going and good natured about having his birthday overshadowed by the stress and to-do of Christmas. He's good like that. And we love him.

13. We had a delightful Christmas. It was great. We had complete and utter shock and awe at our house when Sydney opened her new cell phone from Mom & Dad. It was great. I'd say it's a Christmas she won't ever forget. Yeah, I'm now one of 'those moms' whose 11-yr-old has a cell phone. Ridiculous, I know. Syd can thank her dad for that one.

14. Sydney turned 11. I really don't FEEL old enough to have an 11-yr-old. But I do. And I love her guts. I wouldn't make it through many days without her and all the help she gives me.

15. 2010 started off with a bang (ok not literally) when we got to replace our water heater. That was awesome. Especially since what we paid for the new water heater would have bought me a decent flat screen TV that I've been pining away for (yeah, I'm shallow like that and wish for material things like a TV). The water heater has now been followed up by a pay cut, a leaking garbage disposal that needs replacing, brakes that need to be done on the car, and car registration that just arrived yesterday. Life is good. No, seriously, it is. These things are a bummer (totally) but I'm grateful for all of them... I'm grateful Kevin has a job with insurance, I'm grateful we have a house to even have a garbage disposal, I'm grateful we have a car that needs brakes done, and I'm grateful we are blessed enough to have a SECOND car that needs registering. We are blessed. And I don't need a flat screen TV. (Right?)

So there you have it. The recap. Of course there were lots of other events, parties, funny kid-isms, and happenings worthy of discussing, but I'll save that for the 'ol journal since your eyes are glossed over by now. So here's to 2010... peace out.

Well, Hello There

2010-01-11T09:14:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's been 6 months. Yes, I remember I have a blog. And Yes, I am hoping to do a better job of documenting our madness in 2010 instead of just letting it sharply stop in the the deep dark nothingness for 6 months at a time. And Definitely Yes, it bugged me that I left the tail end of our trip documentary hanging and incomplete. So obviously, I have finished the final chapter of The Mother of All Road Trips. (below)

I will not even try to play catch up. I'm sure you all want to relive the last 6 months of my family's life about as bad as you want to take a cheese grater to your knuckles. I'll be figuring out how to give some sort of warp speed rundown on the happenings in our house over the last 6 months, and I promise I'll make it short. Some stuff was too important to not mention and just skip over, so for my family's history sake, you'll have to bear with me while I post about them. But for now... I'm just saying Hello in 2010, and Yes, I'm Back. Stay tuned.

The Mother of all Road Trips, Day 21 and 22

2010-01-11T07:50:00.000-08:00

The morning of Day 21 broke with crying, wailing, gnashing of teeth, since all four of my kids protested the hour we had to leave Drew, Melissa, and Bella. It was.... sad. For me, for my kids, and probably not at all sad for Drew & Melissa who hosted our psychotic and crazy bunch for all those days. I knew we had a full day of driving ahead of us, so we tried to get out of there quickly and timely before Drew left for work. Melissa quickly finished fashioning pipecleaner glasses for those who hadn't already made their own in the car on the way home from Rocky Mountain, and we got our farewell photo. After lots of hugs, we hit the road. I bid farewell to the quaint and picturesque streets, and waved goodbye to the beautiful green and fabulously good times... And I gave a sad but respectful nod to the giant Target as we headed toward the freeway, and in my mind I promised myself I WILL go back there someday. We hit the road and wound our way toward I-70 to make what would be--by far-- my most favorite driving of the day. I was actually looking forward to that morning's drive. I LOVE driving along that highway through all those little ski towns nestled in between the massive majestic mountains. I wouldn't even let my kids watch a movie or play any other entertainment device until we had made it out of the Vail Pass. I had passed back goldfish crackers for the kids to snack on, and...well... Brooklyn was not so much a fan of the Vail Pass as her momma. We had no sooner descended from the winding mountain and had come upon Eagle, CO, and Brooklyn's poor tummy decided to expel every ounce of goldfish cracker she had consumed. It was so nasty, and stunk to high heaven, and I immeidately exited the freeway to the nearest gas station. And I have to say, of my not-even-3-yr-old-baby--she caught a LOT of it in her hands and held it until we stopped, crying the whole way. How sad is that?! After scouring barf and changing her clothes, and being so thankful it was all on her and not her carseat, we hit the road again bound for Beaver, UT. I think our drive ended up being about 8 hours, and my kids were never so glad to get out and stretch and play. We stayed at Kevin's brother Chuck's place in Beaver, and the kids got to play with 4 of their cousins for a few hours, and all had a blast. They played until it was totally dark, and until I forced them in to bed. I'm so glad we had family who was nice enough to let us stop and stay, and so glad our kids got to play--we don't see them quite near enough, so it's so fun whenever we do. Thanks again, Chuck and Diane!!!

By Day 22 I was ready to see the front of my own garage door. Just a little. And I have no pictures documenting Day 22. Ah, well... The other couple thousand I had taken by then will have to suffice. We packed up our things, and after the kids played for a bit more with cousins, we climbed in the car for our drive H-O-M-E. Only 1 stop at Pizza Factory for lunch, and we zipped on south to the glorious furnace of Vegas. After leaving home June 11 and being in such heavenly beautiful weather and very little HOT weather, then returning home on July 2 to the 115-degree temps... we locked ourselves in our air conditioned house, and slept in our own beds. 22 days, 3647 miles, many many Dr. Peppers, listening to the Hoedown Throwdown 783 times, and load and loads of fun. I loved it. And I loved getting home. And then the kids started fighting, and it really felt like home. And we lived happily ever after.

The Mother of all Road Trips, Day 20

2009-07-15T13:21:00.000-07:00

After our long and draining (hot) day at the zoo I decided we needed to have a day that was a little more laid back for Day 20. Besides, as our trip was winding down I wasn't really ready to knock myself out in the 'go, go, go' department. Melissa still had some work she needed to do this day, so I got the kids up and out of the house and ventured out to find the Denver temple. I figured we had visited lots of temples so far on our trip, we might as well stop at this one since it's definitely a temple we've never seen before. We got to the temple and I figured I'd let the kids at least stroll around the grounds. Not so. There was construction / re-vamping of much of the landscaping going on plus carpet cleaning vans out front--and the walking paths around the temple were taped off. It made it kind of difficult to get much in the way of pictures of the beautiful building. We tried. It was pretty hot outside (seriously--I never expected CO to be hotter than ID and UT, but it totally was!), so we didn't stay for very long. After making a stop at Wendy's for some lunch (which my kids deemed "a REALLY nice Wendy's!"--they're funny) and a quick stop at Target for sodas & candy we went to the little movie theater in Melissa's small town to see Up. Despite Sydney's soda exploding all over her just as I was saying, "DON'T open your drinks yet!!!" we LOVED the movie. Brooklyn officially flunked the test of whether she's ready to actually sit through a movie in the theater. Totally failed. She's nearly 3, so I was hoping for big improvements in her attention span but alas, I was dismayed. Much of the movie for Brookie was spent talking in a very audible voice, and later (totally embarassing) blowing fart noises on her arm and laughing loudly. I'm sure the few people in the theater were loving us. I finally got her to settle down and curl up in my lap. I LOVED the movie & the underlying message.

Afterwards we made another stop at the Target by Melissa's house (I must have been in withdrawl after nearly 3 weeks of being without some T-therapy...I needed 2 stops in 1 day). Oh. My. Heavens. That was THE BIGGEST Target store I have EVER in my life been in. The angels sang. Time stopped for a moment. It was glorious. And a good thing I had my 4 kids with me or I would have spent hours there. That pretty much sealed the deal for me and confirmed that I could live there. Melissa is working hard on me, and I'm on board with the idea--my life would be pretty awesome if she & I could be neighbors...if only. Anyway, I digress. We got a few treats for Drewbie to leave for him before we left town, and headed home. Dinner, showers, bed. And our final games of Scrabble. (Sniffle)

The Mother of all Road Trips, Day 19

2009-07-05T21:53:00.000-07:00

Since we had descended on 2 hard-working Americans who still had to attend to their responsibilities during our visit, Monday morning we got up and out of the house so that Melissa could work her magic as the fabulous freelance graphic designer that she is. After weighing our options (as much as we could, being strangers to the area) we ventured out to spend the day at the Denver Zoo. It's been about 4 years since we've been to a zoo, so the munchkins were excited at the prospect of seeing monkeys throw poop at each other. 'Cause we're high class like that.

I have to say, I was impressed with the Denver Zoo! It was pretty HOT that day, but we were armed with lots of water and scoped out lots of shady spots for breaks (in fact it seemed like it took us FOREVER to get around the first fourth of the zoo!). We made our way through the different exhibits, and I was so glad I hadn't wasted my money on going to see a bunch of animals that were sleeping the days away. We saw lions up and about, monkeys swinging and climbing and jumping from nets to ropes to bars to trees, tigers moving around, bears playing together, elephants on the move, and--best of all-- the most entertaining gorilla exhibit we've ever seen. It was great. We watched the group of 6 or 7 gorillas for quite a while, and my kids were half hysterical, half totally grossed out by what they witnessed there. There was a massive big daddy alpha-male gorilla who pretty much owned the place. We watched him plop himself on a ledge with his back to us, go #2 (seriously, I mean, we SAW HIM GO--so disgusting), and then drop the goods to the ground WITH HIS HAND!!! No sooner had he dropped it to the ground, the smallest gorilla in the place bounded over to the doo, picked it up, inspected it, licked it, and proceeded to eat it. Yup. So gross. And a huge group of spectators (including us) continued to watch 'cause we can't avoid watching a train wreck. It. Was. Foul. Aren't we glad that we humans have evolved to hold much higher class habits than that? After that little display by the apes I think all the other exhibits were sub-par for my kids. We meandered our way through the rest of the zoo, only missing 1 small part when it was time for us to leave.

My kids were so hot and drained, I thought they would for sure be toast by the time we got home to Drewlissa's. Nope. They did not let us forget our promise of swimming after work that day. So we swam. I was so tired after the zoo, I was so glad to have Melissa with me to play with the kids in the pool. We let them run off their energy in the pool, make a million trips down the water slide, and went home. And that was it for Day 19. Dinner, baths, bed. (and Scrabble) Lots of great conversation.

The Mother of all Road Trips, Days 17 & 18

2009-06-29T23:09:00.000-07:00

{Day 17}
Our first full day of Drewlissa-goodness started Saturday morning. Melissa went to volleyball for a little bit & Drew took us on a little walk to a neighborhood park to get out & about. Of course we walked (that's what you do in CO--you walk or ride bikes or rollerblade or pretty much anything active that doesn't involved using fuel). The nice little park experience I think was sort of a let-down for Drew since my city-snobs were not accustomed to a park with tons of sand in the play area. Seth & Brooklyn did not cope well with sand getting inside their Crocs. I tried to explain that that's the beauty of the park & Crocs--kick 'em off & play. But it was pretty warm, and after a few games of Red Light Green Light and Simon Says we were on our way back home. Along the walking trail Drew took us on, all the kids were trying to collect roly polies. Well, Seth did NOT deal well with his bugs continuing to drop to the ground. And it was hot. And his 'feet were not working'. And he was hot. And his nose was runny. And he 'couldn't get any air'. Blah, blah, blah. It was a glorious walk.

Melissa was home when we got back, so we ate lunch outside and headed out for a little tour of Boulder (5 minutes down the road) and a walk down Pearl Street in Boulder. Wow. It was awesome!!! I LOVED IT!!! Entertainment, street performers, and tons of shops I would have LOVED to go in (but will have to wait for another day when I come to visit Melissa solo). It was very entertaining, and I think the kids enjoyed it, although it could have been the dangling ice cream bribe waiting at the end of our outing. Sydney & Austin were ecstatic to see a Haagen Dazs store on Pearl Street, so that was the destined ice cream stop. For malts. Of course.
Talk about the highlight of their day. Kevin, we were missing you. A HD malt just isn't as good without you here to share it with. (okay, I'm totally lying--it was incredibly yummy... but we really did wish you were here to share with us!)

After we used up our parking time on Pearl Street we left for home and played in the backyard, had dinner, and put the kids to bed before busting out the....SCRABBLE! That is mine & Melissa's favorite late-night past time (the old ladies that we are), and Drew is nice enough to join us. I love it. He makes the games so much more fun!

I brought Melissa the green shirt she's wearing--a fitting tribute to our Drewbie & the naturalist that he is. I thought it was adorable.

{DAY 18}

We had big plans for this Sabbath Day. Remember a couple weeks ago when I said I could rationalize being in the magnificent beauty of God's nature was a spiritual experience? Well, it certainly was today, and that somehow ousted church from our schedule again. Oops. (See? I told you it's a good thing I don't live somewhere this pretty!) Austin was the first one awake, along with Melissa. I heard the two of them go outside, and snuck upstairs to see what was going on. I found Melissa & Austin sitting out in the backyard, each reading their own book in the glorious morning weather. WHAAAAT?! Okay, that NEVER would have flown as a good idea if it had come from moi. But this is Melissa, and pretty much anything she says is a great idea or is excited about, my kids say 'WORD' and follow along. It's pretty amazing. And I thought it was very sweet. After a big breakfast and Brooklyn getting her morning Bella-fix we took off for Rocky Mountain National Park to spend the day. Holy. Moly. Oly. Crapoly. That's all I can say. This was probably one of the singular most beautiful days of my life--It. Was. Amazing. And I'm not kidding about a spiritual experience--talk about being struck with a sincere appreciation for the beauty of what God has created. We first drove up a little ways to this huge piece of open space with this incredibly charming creek flowing through it--right through the middle of this gorgeous field. I swear, if I lived close to that I'd take my chair & a book, and just go sit there for hours next to the creek. Read a little, nap a little, read some more, nap some more. That would be better than laying on the beach for me. We hiked around a little bit before going over to park the van & catch the shuttle bus to go further up the mountain.

Brooklyn LOVES Bella would be a severe understatement.

We found a perfect picnic spot to eat lunch and let the kids run around for a bit. Brooklyn thought it was GREAT to pee in the outdoors behind a big rock. This was after I convinced her that girls pee behind rocks--boys pee on bushes or trees. She felt a little jipped on that one at first. Drew decided to take a breather after downing his delicious pb&j, but of course my kids just couldn't leave the poor boy alone!

After the picnic we boarded the bus to go further up the mountain to where they have incredible hiking trails and the scenery is to D-I-E for. We started on our little hike around Alpine Lake, and came upon....SNOW!!! Of course we couldn't resist trying to play in it which was perfect since my kids had just been complaining about it being hot. The snow was packed pretty hard so we realized it was much more effective to get each other with a 'spray' of snow from kicking it rather than trying to pick it up.

We continued on our hike around the lake, and through one of THE MOST beautiful scenic walks I've ever taken. For real. The pictures speak for themselves. Awesome doesn't even come close to describing the beauty. Astounding would be more like it.

Drew handled stroller duty for most of the day, and decided to take Brooklyn off-roading on the big rocks on the side of the trail.

On our way home I passed out pipe cleaners to the kids for entertainment during our hour-long drive. With Melissa in the backseat I KNEW they would be creative. Sho 'nuff, we ended up with several pairs of pipe cleaner glasses throughout the van. I didn't get a picture of Sydney's or Austin's, but they were pretty sweet too. By the time we got home, I was stoked to get the kids in bed by a decent time...so it didn't cut into Scrabble. SUCH a great day. LOVE it.

The Mother of all Road Trips, Days 13, 14, 15, 16

2009-06-27T22:38:00.000-07:00

Just what you've all been waiting for...the return of the minute-by-minute, play-by-play documentary of our trip. Totally kidding. Serious. But in case you have been, here's the rundown of the last few days I haven't had time (or energy) to blog:

{Day 13}
We had to wait for the floor/carpet guys to come fix the flooring and take their stinkin' loud fan that had been drying out the floor for several days, so we had a pretty laid back morning. I did laundry and started packing up to leave our beloved Provo the next morning, and perused the www off and on. With the promise of swimming on the horizon, the kids were NOT very patient with us telling them AFTER the floor got fixed we would go. We were never so happy to see the men in the blue shirts come to fix the floor. Later in the afternoon we loaded everyone/everything up to go swimming at the Lehi Rec Center's indoor activity pool--holy cow! The kids were in HEAVEN. What an awesome pool!!! I LOVE that it's indoor and kids could swim in there year round if they wanted! And there's a lazy river too--my kiddos loved that. By the end of our few hours there most of the kids would race over when the bell rang signaling the giant bucket was about to dump, just to be doused with a humongous drenching of water from the giant bucket. Vegas' rec centers could take a note or two from Utah--none of our activity pools are that cool. We finished swimming and Sarah and I decided that after a 2-week break from Cafe Rio we could handle the withdrawl no more. We hit Cafe Rio right near the rec center, and dined on super yummy goodness. It was delish. My friend Angela had come up to Utah that day to stay with her parents for a few days, which happened to be not far from where we were eating, so we stopped to see Ang (and for Seth to see his BFF Zach--he was thrilled to see him after 3 weeks away from each other) and her family. Loved that. Her family is awesome! (Listen to me use the word awesome--I should live in Utah. They do say that a lot there) It was getting late, and Sarah and I knew we had a lot ahead of us back at the townhouse so we headed home. Sarah did laundry & organized all her 'stuff', and I packed, loaded my van (even changed my own wiper blades at 2:30am) & loaded Harry Potter onto the iPod for Austin to listen to in the car. Finally at 4:30am I couldn't do much more cleaning with sleeping kids so I crashed. Plus, I knew a loooooong day's driving was ahead of me. So I went to bed. I have no idea when Sarah finally gave up the ghost. I went to bed dreaming of wide open nothing-ness which is pretty much all we drove through the next day. So exciting.

{Day 14}
There is not much to report about Day 14--I would probably have to say it was probably one of my LEAST favorite days of the trip thus far. I woke bright & early at 7am to clean clean clean, pack pack pack, load load load, and drive drive drive. And drive drive drive some more. In reality, if I had wanted to even come close to our target time of leaving Provo at 8am I never should have gone to bed. As it was, I had crashed at 4:30am, but after sweating like a pig while vacuuming, scrubbing, cleaning, and hauling all of our CRAP out to the car to get it loaded for the billionth time we ended up getting on the road at...wait for it...are you ready?... 11 freakin' thirty!!!! That sucked. My kids all looked like rag-a-muffins, although I told myself that didn't matter since we were going to be driving forEVER that day. Except I realized later that I should have plopped my butt down and actually done hair that day like my sister did so they wouldn't look so orphaned in our state line pictures. Oh well. Sarah's kids left town with cute hair. Mine didn't.
We finally left Provo and headed for the most charming, scenic, BEAUTIFUL state ever: Colorado--and our first stop: the ADAMS FAMILY!!! Woot woot!!! I couldn't wait to see my amazing friend Chanel and her cute family in Castle Rock, CO. I gotta say, for being in the car for over 10 hours that day, my kids handled things considerably well. I thought I was gonna die when we got to Green River, Wyoming and stopped at McDonald's for lunch (I was afraid to go any further for fear we wouldn't pass another town for hours!). The nice employees in McD's showed me a map of just how much further we had to go before the CO turnoff and gave me very sympathetic eyes as they said, "Uhhhh, yeah. You got a long way to go." What the freak? I felt like I had been driving in WY for a long time and was still only in the bottom left corner! But we persevered, snagged a Redbox dvd at McD's before we left, and were on our way. Poor Chanel, when I had told her I was hoping to leave at 8am, she planned to have dinner ready for us. Yeah, we ended up reheating her yummy dinner at 9:30pm when we finally made our arrival. And it was SUPER yummy. It was SO GOOD to see Chanel and stay up late chatting--I loved it. Chanel & I are friends from high school, and as I drove to her house Wednesday night I couldn't help but think how NEVER in a million years would I have thought--13 years ago--that I would be driving to Colorado with my 4 kids to come visit Chanel (who married Ryan who we also went to hs with!) and her 3 kids. NEVER. It was kind of an odd full-circle moment for me. We were not super close friends in high school, and didn't keep in touch afterward either. But I definitely consider Chanel one of my biggest blessings that have come from blogging. We reconnected through blogs a couple of years ago, (which, sadly, was after she moved from Vegas) and I am so incredibly happy that we did. She is so inspiring and I LOVE HER. LOVE how sweet she is, LOVE her wit & sense of humor, LOVE how strong she is in the Gospel, LOVE how REAL she is. She was such a nice host to let us invade her house when she is in the middle of MOVING! My kids were so happy we were visiting someone who had kids too. Love you, Chanel. Getting to see you was a very sweet reward after such a long day of driving! :-)

{Day 15}
Okay. By Day 15 of a road trip I was in bad need of some time to chill and relax, I think. I know Chanel was feeling like she should entertain us, but seriously--I was so glad to just hang out & CHAT. We slept in, then the kids played played played, and LOVED on her little baby. Her daughter Julia & Sydney played great together, and Sydney found out what it would be like if she had a younger sister closer in age to her. And Brooklyn & Lauren looked like they could be two blonde little twins. While Chanel & I talked and talked, the kids played played played in her basement. We went to check on them and found that they had been making 'CLUBS'. The girls had created a pink club in 1 room, and the boys had created their own brown club (after being banished from the pink club, no doubt) in a different room. I thought they were so cute!!! The night before, I had bribed all 4 of my kids that if they would go straight to sleep and not get out of bed once I would let them each spend a dollar at the store the next day. (this is what you have to do when you have 4 kids sleeping together night after night--bribery works. and I'm usin' it.) By mid-afternoon I was questioning WHY on earth we live where we do when we could live somewhere as gorgeous as Castle Rock??? HELLO!? Talk about so beautimous, people. I am in love. And ready to move. Our big excursion of the day was a trip to Wal Mart (after getting the Michael Jackson news--how crazazy was that?!--and then we had to explain to our kids who he is, which really made us feel old) for well-earned treats & a few other odds & ends. Chanel made a super yummy dinner, and we bedded kids (with another bribe for who got to pick the movie in the car the next day for whoever fell asleep first), and then cozied on the couch to watch the MJ/FF Dateline special.

So there you have Day 15. Chanel, you may not think this was a glorious day, but I thought it rocked. It was awesome. Just the day I needed, and it was SOOOOOO GREAT to have time to visit with you. You. Are. Supermom. And I'm so sorry about Seth's millions of meltdowns--he was pretty out of control. Sorry you had to endure that.

{Day 16}
We decided to be a little bit more productive with our day, and took the kiddos swimming this morning. Chanel has such a great pool just down the street, and after lots of promises and begging we took the kids out and WALKED to the pool. 'Cause that's what people in CO do--they walk places! Odd, I know. But incredibly refreshing. I think it's awesome. My kids are trying to adjust. After swimming we went home for lunch, showers, packing, and a quick hair bow lesson. And more hugs & kisses for baby Baylor (sooooo scrumptious!!!). We said our goodbyes to the Adams Family, and hopped in the car (with major promises to the kids that it wouldn't be a super long car ride!). I left Chanel's house with a very thankful heart that Heavenly Father has blessed me to have people in my life as great as her. I always thought she was great in high school--truly, I did. SOOO nice. And now, she is extra super just as nice, PLUS all these other things--especially an amazing MOM!!! I learned a lot from her just in the short time we were there--so THANKS, Woman!!! Love ya.

My promise of a short car ride was totally honest, and we traveled just over an hour to Melissa & Drew's new house in Boulder. They moved back to CO about 6 months ago, and just bought their first home about a month ago. And what better way to christen it than by letting 4 crazy kids bombard it!!! I gotta say, this was pretty much the highlight of the trip for my kids--the dangling carrot--since we left Vegas. I think they didn't really know what to expect during the other legs of the trip, but they KNEW they were gonna have fun when we got to Melissa & Drew's house. Poor Brooklyn has been asking nearly every night if we were going to Melissa's house to see Bella (the cat) the next day. The day finally came, and we arrived at the Beckwith's abode just in time for dinner. After dinner we took a little walk around their neighborhood and a bunch of the open space surrounding their 'hood and the surrounding developments. How freakin' nice!!! So green. So pretty. So GREAT for the kids to be able to explore!!! Man, I swear... If it weren't for these two wonderful souls, I don't know if my kids would get nearly the outdoor adventures and experiences they do. In fact, I KNOW they wouldn't. They are so incredibly great with my kids, it makes my heart smile every single time we are with them. Not only are they patient saints with my monsters, they do such fun things with them and TEACH them about so many random things--I LOVE IT! (Drew taught Austin how to tell time on an analog roman numeral clock today, Melissa taught Sydney & Austin what compost is, & she let the kids help her plant her lettuce & basil in the backyard... yeah, they pretty much put the LAME-O MOM sticker smack on my forehead as soon as we come around them!)

We did sort of get eaten alive on our little walk, but that was okay. We came home to share a giant cookie, & head off to beddie bye... with the windows open & a glorious breeze blowing through--and stars we could actually see outside. I'm serious. I'm packin' up my house. Or maybe we will just stay until they kick us out.

The Mother of all Road Trips, Day 12

2009-06-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

This update is a day late in getting posted due to my total and complete konking out when I was trying to get kids to bed last night. I was totally ripped when I woke this morning to realize I had crashed last night unintentionally, and done so without blogging. Ugh... hate that. So here's the 4-1-1 on yesterday's fun-filled day:

We started out bright and early at 10am (you know by now that that's early for us on this trip) with a HAPPY BIRTHDAY breakfast for my sister at The Creamery. After several days of begging from my kids to eat breakfast at the Creamery, we finally fulfilled the Provo dream for them and indulged in bagels and donuts (and strawberry milk for the kids--nasty!). I had cooked up little birthday surprises with the kids for them each to get Aunt Sarah (or Mom, as the case may be for 5 of the 9) a little b-day present to surprise her. I had given Kenzie the mission to "interview" her mom at the beginning of our trip so we would have an arsenal of things to choose from in her 'favorites' department. Sarah was surprised, or at least she acted like it, although I think the kids were more thrilled with what she was opening. Sarah obliged them in their excitedness and acted just as ecstatic--I mean, who wouldn't scream and shout over reese's pieces, cocoa puffs, coke, lipstick, pringles, twix, gum, a new notebook, and fab-o green earrings??? Oh yeah, and a new jean jacket from your sis. After that we headed up to Salt Lake to go to This Is The Place Heritage Park, which we determined last year after only getting to spend a couple of hours at, that we would DEFINITELY hit that again this summer. I'm not sure Sarah really wanted to spend her birthday that way, running interference with fighting kids and all, but she was an incredibly good sport about it all. I racked my brain to try and think of something to help make the day more special for her, and our plans to even hunt down a Cafe Rio for lunch didn't pan out (yeah, we're having withdrawls from that place...it's been 2 weeks--I think that's a record) either. Anyway, hopefully we'll get a chance to go out & really celebrate when we get home (or when I get home). I'm pretty sure by that time we'll be celebrating a kid-free meal just as much as we'll be celebrating Sarah's big day. I'm so glad my sis has come on this little adventure with us--and put up with my antagonistic kids, their whiny-ness, and their provoking of her own children--it's been so nice to have another adult to have grown-up conversation with. I love you, sis! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 25 never looked so good!

Sarah's brother-in-law Brandon met up with us at This Is The Place (which thrilled her kids since they LOVE Uncle Brandon--and so does Seth-he was hugging on Uncle Brandon just as much as the Barlow kidlets), and we set out on our day of pioneer adventures. Highlights included train rides, pony rides, the petting zoo where Brock just couldn't resist picking up the baby goats, each of the kids taking their turn standing inside the wooden coffin in the woodworker's shop, candy sticks from the general store, leather crafts, snacks, snacks, and more snacks. I don't know about the rest of the kids or Sarah, but I was pooped by the end of the day. A place like that made me realize that we would be totally stupid to take any of our kids to a place like Nauvoo before they are 12 years old. I would love to go back to This Is The Place with just Sydney--she LOVED it, and she and I could spend a few days there considering there was so much we didn't even get to yesterday in our 4 hours.

Perhaps my favorite part of the day was getting our picture taken in the "Old Time Photo" building where we all got to dress up in pioneer garb. As I mentioned before, we had Uncle Brandon with us, so we wrangled him into joining us so we didn't look like 2 widows with a large brood. Instead, we look like your typical polygamist family from back in the day, huh? Awesome. We explained to the kids that people usually did NOT smile in photos in those days. All of them got that down pat--except Brooklyn, who said, "cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeese" through the whole picture-taking session. And seriously, I don't know how I am taller than Sarah in this picture--I kinda look giant. And don't you love my silver hoop earrings? They are so vintage.

After leaving This Is The Place Sarah and I parted ways and I took my kids to my dear friend Marie's house for a wonderful visit with her family. (We passed a really bad motorcycle/car accident on our way there just in time to see the EMTs getting to the motorcycle rider lying on the road--not moving...even with all the fun stuff we did today, I'm guessing that will be a major memory of the day) Marie was so so sweet to invite us over for dinner (which was SO DELISH) and FHE. It was wonderful to give my kids some semblance of a normal meal and family night. I'm hoping she'll forgive me for my kids being so shy. But a HUGE THANKS to her and her awesome husband Ky for letting us invade their adorable home. Dinner was so good, and it was SO NICE to catch up with them. And I'm so so mad at myself for not remembering to take a picture with Marie! Hate that. We had a wonderful time, though. Love ya, Marie! You are super-dee-dooper, and your family is too.

So there you have Day 12. We're winding down our stint in Provo before we move on to our next leg of the adventure...COLORADO, are you ready for us crazies???

The Mother of all Road Trips, Day 11

2009-06-21T23:01:00.000-07:00

This is probably the most unconventional Father's Day I will ever spend with my kiddos. It's definitely not normal for us to be away from Dad on Father's Day, and I confess that I did feel bad this morning when all Kevin got from us was a phone call and nobody was there to pound him with hugs and kisses. Truthfully, I'm sure he was thrilled with being able to sleep in but we missed our Dad today, so a big fat HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to the best dad we know, from your family on the road. We love you lots!!! I am awful, and seriously tried the whole rationalizing bit in my mind about "being in the beauty of nature that God has created, and that's just as good as church" but I just couldn't bring myself to go that far on Father's Day. Yes, we're having a non-traditional Father's Day this year, but I felt like I at LEAST should take the kids to church (despite the nagging vacation-draw to skip it)--besides, as great of a rationalizer as I am, I'd have a hard time explaining that one to the Man upstairs one day 'cause we ARE on vacation in a place where LDS churches are on every other street corner! So... we hooked up with our high school friend Heather and her adorable family for church in Payson, and she was so so sweet to invite us for lunch afterwards. And her husband Chris was even nicer for letting us crash his Father's Day. Our 9 chillen added to their 4 cuties totalled a whopping 13 little mouths to feed, and we had a great little visit with Heather & Chris.

After lunch we headed back to Provo and decided rather than couping the kids up for the next several hours of daylight and wasting the gorgeous warm weather, we would take them up to see the Provo temple which is only about 3 minutes from home. After snapping a few pictures (of course) we went across the street to the huge lawn (more grass...kids lovin' it) and let the kids run off some energy. Amidst Duck Duck Goose, soccer, and a handful of meltdowns from various offspring (only 5 this afternoon, I think?) we had a lovely Sunday afternoon.

Once we realized it was nearing 7:00 we headed home to fix the kids a Sunday dinner of pigs in a blanket, chips, & apples. Delish. I'm sure Kevin is super sad he missed out on that Father's Day meal. We then had all the kids make birthday cards for Uncle Mike's birthday to mail tomorrow ('cause we're behind, and his birthday is Tuesday, so he'll be getting the love a couple days late) before going into drill sergeant mode for bedtime.

This is how we medicate while on the road with 9 kids (well, Sarah's drug of choice would be Coke Zero). And this is yet another reason I LOVE UTAH!!! They sell Pibb Xtra in the can--in a 12-pack!!! I told you this was heaven. I may be loading down the van with this stuff before we head home.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Mike!!! Your nieces & nephews love you lots (even though Seth kept saying his card was for Uncle Dave and needed continuous correction...shout out, Dave!). We can't wait to see you in just 53 short days!!! Woot! Woot!

And that's Day 11. Peace out.

The Mother of al Road Trips, Day 10

2009-06-20T23:36:00.000-07:00

Today was another pretty low-key day on our lil' "gallavanting about the country" adventure. After sleeping in this morning (which is totally noteworthy with 9 kids around) we took our time getting ready to leave the house. We loaded up the strollers with el youngsters and traipsed across the street to one of mine & Sarah's favorite places--the BYU campus. We took the kids bowling at the Wilkinson Center which was good times as always. We had big plans of letting them run wild on the grass outside in the middle of campus but the rain that occurred while we were bowling squelched that idea. It wasn't still raining, but the grass was soaked, so we moved on with our plans and headed over to The Creamery for ice cream and fries. The Creamery is a HUGE draw to Provo for my kids, and they BEG to walk over there for breakfast every morning we are in Provo. (I'm probably setting them up for major disappointment when/if they actually attend school here and realize BYU is about a little more than bowling and ice cream) While enjoying our ice cream the rain started again, and we ended up walking home with it sprinkling. I ran a couple of errands with Seth & Brooklyn this afternoon, and when we got home Sarah had cooked up fabulous bean & cheese burritos for everyone (aren't you jealous? we eat majorly gourmet food when we travel together). After that, I took 5 of the kids with me to take care of some top-secret-birthday-business for my sister, since Monday is her big day. I made a very important stop for the mommies at Red Mango on my way home and we set a record for getting kids to bed by 10pm all in the name of frozen yogurt.

As I was driving today around Provo, I started thinking of a few of the things I love about Utah. Here are a few of them:

Grass. Lots of it. It is almost comical what a novelty grass is for our kids. Give them a huge piece of grass, and they are thrilled--be it at a park, at the temple, on the side stretch of land next to Wal-Mart...they don't care. They love it.

Great places to eat that are nowhere to be found in Vegas. The Training Table, Kneader's, The BYU Creamery (seriously, is it too much to ask for them to become a franchise?!), Magleby's for the best chocolate cake you've ever EVER had, and I'm just gonna throw in cheese curds you can buy around Beaver 'cause I love 'em and you can't buy those in Vegas either.

I love that when my sister and I tote around 9 kids we are not looked at like a bizarre freak show. Well, maybe just a little bit, but I tell myself not really.

I love the plethora of craft stores. Okay, I pretty much love the whole shopping situation in Utah, period (although they could take a lesson or two from Vegas in the whole 24-hour department). Give me some good scrapbook stores, Roberts Crafts, the BYU Bookstore, Taipan Trading, Ikea, and a handful of other AWESOME stores, and I'm lovin' life. Las Vegas suffers big time in this area.

I love that nearly anywhere we drive on I-15 through the different cities we can see a temple of the Lord dotting the mountainside. It's awesome that I was able to take my kids inside one the other day. Thank you, Utah, for needing more and more temples so that my kids could get to go to an Open House.

I love the teaching opportunities it gives me and conversations that are started when we come here--whether it's about what it takes to be able to attend BYU, or about our pioneer heritage and what people went through to settle this region of the country, or explaining why we see so many missionaries down the street from campus crossing the street on their way to the temple, and the list goes on and on.

The smell. Everything here smells better than where we live. The cool air is glorious. The rain smells better. I know it's dumb, but it does smell better here. And maybe it's just that it reminds me of my childhood. I dunno.

The people watching. I won't go into detail here, but it's awesome.

And let's not forget that Utah is home to Swiss Days, and y'all know how I feel about that topic. I don't need to speak any further on the wonderful-ness of that.

That I can get out of a speeding ticket by telling the officer all exasperated-ly that we were late for the Temple Open House...tell me--just tell me, is there any other state where that would work??? Doubt it.

And since it's late and my thoughts probably wouldn't make much sense if I tried to list more (and believe me, I could think of more), here's my last one (as already mentioned earlier): The Creamery. Talk about good ice cream. And fries. And donuts. And brownies. And bagels. And rice krispy treats. (and yes, I had ice cream AND frozen yogurt today. I'm on vacation--don't judge me!)

P.S. I have to give a huge shout out to my sister-in-law Rachel who had her tiny baby twins today--I'm really bummed I can't snuggle them right now, but I'm so glad they are here and they are healthy. Not that you're reading this Rachel (who knows when you'll have time to read a blog again?!), but huge CONGRATS to you & Ben--I'm so happy for you both to finally have your babies here!

The Mother of all Road Trips, Day 9

2009-06-20T02:27:00.000-07:00

What we did today: a whole lot of nothin'. Pretty much. In a nutshell, not my most favoritest day of our vacation so far.

We did get to sleep in today after our chaotic morning yesterday. Yesssss. That was awesome. We stayed in a good part of today and lounged around. Our initial plan had been to take a picnic lunch up into the canyon and eat & let the kids play. But we discovered a water leak/damage problem when we arrived here, so we waited for a water damage company to show up today to assess the damage & deal with that. That gave Sarah and me plenty of time to catch up on uber-important issues in the world via the internet. Our picnic plans got bumped to dinner--totally fine since it stays light outside in the summertime up here until like 9:30pm (LOVE THAT!). By this afternoon, it was very apparent that we needed to get the kids out of the house, so we packed our picnic & figured we would be on our way. Yeah....no. I went outside to leave & my van was totally dead. I won't tell you what I uttered under my breath at that point. While waiting for Sarah to come back for us & stressing about how I was ever going to get my van jumped since we were in covered parking that Sarah's tractor-beast was too tall for, I tried 1 more time to start the car. It very sluggishly turned over, and by some tender mercy (Yes, I am fully aware there was another force at work here) I got it started with a few pumps of the gas pedal. Again, the picnic plans were bumped for a trip to Wal-Mart, surely to buy a new battery. Ugh! I was more irritated since we had taken my van into Honda before I left town for them to do the major maintenance on it & the battery tested good. But of course, since we're on vacation, this would happen. And of course, the receipt for the batter we had in the van is at HOME in Las Vegas, so I wouldn't be able to utilize the warranty we still had on the battery. I schlepped the kids over to Wal-Mart, they ran the diagnostic on it, and sho 'nuff, we needed a new battery (more prayers of thanks that it wasn't something more serious like the alternator). We waited and waited, and just as they came in to tell me it was ready & it would be $75 for the new battery, Kevin called & said he found the receipt for the old one and gave me the receipt number so they could pull it up. Score. It was within the 3-yr warranty period, and we got out of there with a brand new battery, without paying a dime. More prayers of thanks. Finally we made it off on our picnic, although we opted for a much closer park just inside the canyon entrance. Still, the kids had fun & burned off some of that crazy energy that had built up all day, threw a few tantrums, and had fun with Aunt Sarah playing Red Light, Green Light with them & Simon Says. I found it horribly entertaining to watch the meltdowns ensue as the kids got 'out' or got 'sent back'. Then it was back home for ice cream, baths, & bed. Nothing too exciting today to report. Tomorrow will be much more fun.

The Mother of All Road Trips, Day 8

2009-06-18T23:35:00.000-07:00

After staying up until 4am ('cause we're just dumb) Sarah & I were up bright and early this morning to be sure we had the troops all dressed in their Sunday best to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. I was so excited when I realized there was going to be an open house going on during the time we would be in Utah. Sarah and I made plans to go today, and at 4am we were cursing ourselves for picking the 10:30 time slot--which meant needing to get up by 7:15. Ugh. But we did it. And booked it out of here with just enough time to make it to the temple...that is...until I got pulled over for speeding!!! What?!!! Yes, I was on the phone with Sarah trying to discuss some important matter (because we ONLY discuss important matters while driving...funny thing is, there are a lot of crucial things to discuss while on the road!), and NO I did not realize the speed limit is only 30 next to the BYU stadium (which is why I was going 45!). I had no idea how fast I had been going, and figured I would take my chances at trying to explain to the guy that we're in a hurry to make a reservation, are from out of town, was trying to figure out where my sis was, & were just trying to get to the temple!!! He was so super nice and didn't even waste time asking for all my info, just told me to not get distracted on the phone, gave me a warning & sent us on our way as Sarah pulled up behind me. Whew. Chalk that one up to the blessings of going to the temple, huh (even though I was breaking the law getting there)? Between the 2 of us, our track record isn't great so far this trip. I SO did not want to have to explain that one to Kevin.

After getting to walk through the BEAUTIFUL temple we changed our clothes in the car, grabbed some lunch, and took off for the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum in Salt Lake. I was a little hesitant since the children's museum in Las Vegas is marginal, and I wanted to make sure the price was worth it. And let me tell you, this museum beat the pants off of the Lied Museum in Vegas!!! It was awesome, and the kids totally L-O-V-E-D it. We stayed for 3.5 hours, hit Wal-Mart for groceries on our way home, and came home to crash and listen to the kids get extra squirrelly & fight. We are pooped. We didn't do a ton today, but it seemed like a super long day. Tomorrow will be low key and we WILL be sleeping in--none of this 10:30am reservation mess! We're hoping for zero rain and no speeding tickets!

The Mother of all Road Trips, Day 7

2009-06-18T00:42:00.000-07:00

After staying up way too late last night updating blogs, catching up on FB, emails, and other business, we woke this morning and started packing our things to leave our beloved Idaho. Although we checked out of our lovely little motel (which we LOVE), we had a full day planned. Our first stop was here:

I have very vague memories of visiting Shoshone Falls when I was little--I do remember going there & having a picnic as a family, but that's about it. Since this is the perfect time of year to see the falls Sarah and I decided to go check 'em out with our kids. I don't really think it mattered much to them when we were trying to explain that these falls are even taller than Niagara Falls in Canada. They didn't care, since they have no idea what Niagara is. But still...they were impressed, despite the shrieks from being sprayed by all the mist coming off of the falls. As long as the sun was out there was a BEAUTIFUL rainbow right in front of the falls also. It was awesome.

We had a picnic lunch at the park there, and the boys tried rolling down a couple of the big hills there only to find random sticker patches in the grass. Talk about a bummer. What good is a grassy hill if you can't even roll down it??? Sarah and I both decided we would love to come back next summer while we're there and spend a lot more time--talk about serene!!! I loved it!

After Shoshone Falls we made a quick stop to show the kids the Twin Falls temple & snap a few pictures while they stretched their legs. That was cut short when Brooklyn had to go pee, and it was a serious emergency. After our potty break we headed back to Burley for another visit with Marsha. We pulled up to her house and Brooklyn wasn't very happy. She cried, "Nooooo, not this house! Marsha's other house!" She was hoping for the cabin. Yes, Brooklyn, me too. We chatted with Marsha while we waited for her daughter Megan to come over for us to see. Megan was our BFF while we lived in Burley 25 years ago, and she is expecting her 1st baby--we're so excited for her & it was SO FUN to just sit & chat & reminisce & giggle with those two. I swear, I love that family! I'm hoping maybe next summer we'll get to see more of them while we're there (yes, Brandon, that means you & your family too!).

We said our goodbyes to Megan & Marsha and (of course) enjoyed dinner at Taco Bandido before leaving town. We called our Uncle Larry to come join us for dinner, and I'm so glad he did. I'm pretty sure he was a little stupefied by the craziness of our 9 kids, but he was a good sport about it. While Sarah was up at the counter there was another guy in there that asked me if all of those kids were mine...Whaaaaat??? Do I LOOK old enough to have popped out NINE kids? Whatever, Dude. Now here's the thing I LOVE about Taco Bandido (other than the FOOD of course): We were only in Burley 2 days. Yesterday when we walked in during the lunch rush, we ran right into Ron & Carol--our next door neighbors & very good friends from when we lived in Burley 22 years ago:

Then today when we went there for dinner, of course we wouldn't be lucky enough to run into old friends two days in a row...WRONG-O!!! Sarah totally shocked me when she came around the corner with my 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Wyatt. It was so so so GREAT to see her, and I was so mad at myself for not having my camera with me! Ugh! Bummer. But still... just one more thing I love about the Bandido. Even after being gone for 22 years we can still run into people we know.

After gorging ourselves on divine yummy-ness we finally hit the road and headed south to Provo. I figured we would probably hit some rain on our way here, but OH MAMA. I have NEVER EVER driven through such horrible rain in my life!!! I could not see the road as we were driving through downtown Salt Lake. Talk about SCARY. I had passed out glow necklaces to the kids when it started getting dark, thinking that would make it fun for them. Of course, just as we got into the massive downpour & I was SURE we were going to die before ever making it to Provo, Brooklyn decided to bite a hole in one of her glow sticks & get the glow crap in her mouth. Sydney freaked, then I had to freak out a little & explain that I was trying to not kill all of us in the stinkin' rain. Syd confiscated the broken glow stick, and later when the rain was not letting up & only getting worse I suggested maybe one of the kids should say a prayer that we make it to Provo safely (again). Sydney said, "I've already said 2." I thought that was pretty sweet, although this mom must not have been doing that great of a job at hiding my stress. :-) And now I think every single muscle in my body is sore because I was so tense & seriously white-knuckling it for an hour! Whew. It just made getting here that much sweeter. See ya tomorrow.

Welcome to The Mother of All Road Trips

2009-06-17T00:12:00.000-07:00

Hello? Is anybody out there? No, I haven't really deserted the blog, although I've considered it, seeing how I've let it fall by the wayside so badly. So after the past little drought, here's something for you to feast upon...

After our Utah adventure last summer when I took my kids up to Utah to play for a week during their summer track break, I decided we would definitely do the same thing again this summer. So…what began as a simple plan to visit and play in Provo again quickly morphed into what we are now calling The Mother of All Road Trips (or as Brooklyn refers to it, “the big trip”). Wahoo!!! I’ve been planning this little adventure for a few months now, and have had serious visions in my mind going on for how I could keep my kids occupied in the car, what would entertain them, etc. So… a few months ago I made up a Road Trip Bingo game for the kids to play in the car (x4, since everyone had to have a different card). But I couldn’t stop there, so I then made Transportation Bingo and Road Sign Bingo, as well as a map of the US for the kids to color in each state when they see a license plate from that state, plus a page of tic tac toes and the dot game. I laminated all the cards and then put them each on a ring with a dry erase marker.

Sydney and Austin could NOT wait to get in the car and get to marking off boxes. We soon learned that Miss Sydney is the Bingo Nazi—for sure. The girl was dictating who could and could not mark off squares as she determined who actually SAW the items and who didn’t really see them. And then we had a major tantrum a la Austin when, after 1.5 hours in the car, we saw a New York license plate and Austin SWORE that New York was NOT on his map (serious. Groans & tears & everything) I was beginning to wonder if the travel games were a good idea or a severe lapse in judgment skewed by my unrealistic visions of happy entertained children. And THEN… Seth got sticker-happy and just decided to fill in every square all at once. And THAT sent Sydney into a complete tailspin where she turned into a screaming ninny, swearing that Seth could NOT have a treat from the treat bag for getting all those bingos! Seth turned to her, totally calm, and said, “I just saw all those things. But I didn’t tell you so you wouldn’t win.” We got that crisis averted, and continued on our way north. Thankfully we haven’t had too much more drama from the travel games that Mom thought would be such a great idea.
We stopped in Beaver for a quick visit with Kevin’s brother Chuck and his family, who were so nice to let us visit even though it was late and our kids wound their kids up at 10:30pm. We got to Provo super late to stay the night before continuing on the next morning to our 1st destination: the Nelson’s cabin in Island Park, ID. However, before we hit the road, my kids totally hit the jackpot on license plates in the parking lot of the townhouses with all of the BYU students’ cars parked there. We began what ended up being a very meandering trip up to Island Park. What was supposed to be a 5.5 hour trip ended up being more of a 10-hour drive (of course). My sister and her family were caravanning with us, as we were all descending upon Marsha and her adorable quaint cabin. Right near the Idaho/Montana border, we spent the next 3 days in awe at the complete beauty of our surroundings. Marsha’s cabin is just 20 miles from West Yellowstone, and our 9 kids had SUCH a wonderful time up there exploring the outdoors, trying to catch a glimpse of the gopher who had made his home near their front porch, and eating up all the sweet attention Marsha showered on our kids.

So... here's the reader's digest condensed version of our 1st few days of our trip:

{DAY 1}
***sorry, no pictures***
--Left town only 1 hr 20 minutes after our projected target time (seriously, that's not too bad for us).

--Got to Provo super late and crashed.

{DAY 2}

--Drove to Island Park, ID

--Made a spur-of-the-moment stop at the Idaho Potato Museum...Potatoes are their own food group in my world so I felt it appropriate that we stop.

--Stopped & let the kids burn off some energy at a park in Rexburg, ID before swapping kids so cousins could ride together.

{DAY 3}

--Lounged around Marsha's cabin while the kids played inside, then outside, then inside, then outside, and did a whole lot of chatting with Marsha--it was glorious!!!

--Didn't see much of Tyler since he was taking care of the true business for this family trip for him--he was in heaven fly fishing.

--Took walks outside (after bathing in bug spray) and made endless comments about how beautiful it was up there.

{DAY 4}

--Pretty sure at this point Marsha was wishing we had never really taken her up on her offer to come to her cabin.

--Decided the churchgoing residents of Island Park probably wouldn't be too keen on 13 out-of-towners (9 of which are kids) descending upon them so we opted out of church. Of course, I am a champ at justification, so I rationalized that being in nature that beautiful felt just as close to God & truly could be a spiritual experience. Gosh, it's a good thing I don't live somewhere that pretty, who knows if I would ever make it to church? ;-)

--Drove 20 miles to West Yellowstone, Montana and went to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center...way cool. Loved it.

{DAY 5}

--Got ready to leave Island Park, & made Marsha endure picture-taking with all of us yahoos.

--Stopped at the Rexburg temple on our way south & took pics with the kiddos.

--Drove to Idaho Falls & looked for what Tyler & Kevin specified as an 'authentic mexican restaurant with chips & salsa' to eat at before we dropped them off at the airport. Unfortunately, each location the GPS took us to was no longer in business. I guess if you're authentic you don't last long in Idaho. We ended up at Chili's. They have good chips and salsa. Sorry, Kevin. Sorry, Tyler.

--Stopped at the Idaho Falls temple & took more pics with the kids. Went to the visitors center where we either made those missionaries' day by quadrupling their normal Monday attendance, or.... we raised their blood pressure by 50 points when they saw us coming in with 9 kids in tow.

--Got evacuated from the visitors center when the fire alarm went off... to which Sarah & I immediately did a head count to figure out which one of our adorable children pulled the alarm. Thankfully, it was only a test, and none of our children had committed a crime on temple grounds. Whew.

--Dropped the boys at the airport & took 5 huge deep breaths as we embarked on the rest of our trip being outnumbered by at least a 4-to-1 ratio, and made our way to southern Idaho.

--Heaved a huge sigh of relief when Sarah dodged a major speeding ticket while we weren't paying attention and were simply trying to find Wal-Mart in unfamiliar territory because we got off on the wrong exit. I think the nice officer took pity on the lady with 5 kids "just looking for Wal-Mart" and let her go (thankfully). See? That's what we get for looking for Wal-Mart! That probably wouldn't have happened if we had our sights set on Target (which isn't really an option here).

{DAY 6}

--Visited my Aunt Randy & Uncle Dan & checked out their AWESOME new house.

--Ate lunch at Heaven...err, um, I mean Taco Bandido--which did not disappoint. We will, again, be counting down the days until next summer when we get to feast on a Macho Nacho again. You want to eat it through the screen, don't you???

--Took flowers to my grandma's & aunt's graves to celebrate Grandma Garrard's 96th birthday which was today. Gosh I miss her. I hope she partied in heaven.

--Took the kiddos to Storybook Park--trying to wear them out.

--Went to bask in the goodness of King's, making good on our promises to let the kids pick a treat. If you don't know this already, King's has the most AWESOME candy aisle ever. I love it. And they sell Lifesaver swirled suckers. LOVE THOSE!!! Yes, I bought 3 bags.

--Back to Aunt Randy's for more running, playing, chasing, and fun on their huge yard in the glorious weather. I love it. The smells, the cool breeze, the thunder in the distance, AND the fact that it stays light until after 9pm in the summer! Awesome.

And here we are. I know that was long. You know by now that my blog posts are nothing short of a novel. Sorry about that. Stay tuned if you want to keep up on the rest of our road trip adventures. I'm sure there will be stories to tell. We shouldn't be on anymore internet droughts so I won't bombard the blog all at once. Hasta!

Backtracking a bit...Mother's Day (finally)

2009-06-02T00:35:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's been a while since I've posted much on my blog, and while this will probably be a little boring for you to read about, I figured posting about Mother's Day isn't something I should just skip over. Being a mom is, after all, the first word I use to identify myself--the most bittersweet, rewarding, kick-my-trash challenging thing I've ever done. So it wouldn't be right for me (however late I may be in doing so) not record just how my family went all out for me this year on Mother's Day. I knew this year had to be better than last, since I had strep throat for Mom's Day last year. But Seriously. For days this year I was locked out of Sydney's room--under strict orders to not go in there for fear I would see all my "presents." I knew that meant that my lovely daughter--my eldest flesh and blood--was getting every one of her siblings to make a plethora of cutesy crafty TREASURES for me for Mother's Day. I usually don't know what to expect from Kevin either on Mother's Day--he is always very thoughtful and sweet, and usually comes up with some adorable things for the kids to do for me.

This year was by far the biggest 'production' as far as Mother's Day to-dos go. It was like Sydney was putting on her very own Christmas morning! So many secretive things, miscellaneous 'errands' the kids were running with Dad, and so much time spent 'making stuff' in her bedroom--she was so cute. I love it. My Mother's Day started out Saturday night when Kevin said to me at about 8:30pm, "Why don't you start your Mother's Day early...go out with your friends & I'll put the kids to bed." WHAAAAAAT?! Uh. Okay. He didn't have to say that twice, so I forced my girls to come along to BJ's for a late night din-din and chat. Little did I know that Kevin had other motives in getting me out of the house... He & the kids had a little errand to run--a most important errand....which would be... Driving over to Winchell's at 10:30pm with all 4 kids to get my very specifically requested Mother's Day breakfast (You KNOW I had no qualms about dropping hints for those chocolate donuts all week long). When I got home Saturday night the kids were sound asleep, and the family room couch was all set up (like I said before) like Christmas morning, with each of my kids' (and Kevin's) goodies all set out. They were so excited. (Notice the warning sign up on the shelf from Syd admonishing me to not touch a thing...she's so funny)

Kevin came through for me with the donuts (which Brooklyn was just as excited for), and surprised me with a new Blackberry phone to match his.

I never know each year what Kevin will come up with for the kids to 'do' for me for Mother's Day. It could be nothing at all, it could be something huge. He keeps me guessing. Well, this year he took each of the kids to Nordstrom Rack and let them each pick out a pair of shoes for me--totally their choice. I was kind of puzzled why he would choose that store until he explained, "The entire aisle (both sides) is all your size, and all the shoes are out of their box." Smart. So here is my loot from each of my kiddos (and really...now, really...please excuse my appearance. I'm being brave here and posting a ton of pictures of myself for posterity's sake--or something like that--so I really do apologize for my 'just woke up' look):

Oh baby, if I didn't have a ton of homemade artwork and treasures before May 10th, I've got a gold mine of them now! Syd really outdid herself this year. I commented on all these wonderful "treasures" after opening several of them. Sydney said, "Mom, what do you do with all of this stuff we give you every year?" Kevin (my sarcastic, sometimes-all-too-honest husband) said, "She keeps them in a really cool treasure box in a place called Apex." HA. How do you like that answer? Seriously, just for the record, and for the sake of my children reading this several years from now... Each of those goes into a box for each of my kids that they will get back someday. And truly, those boxes are getting pretty full of plaster handprints, coupon books, paper flowers, poems, and adorable pictures--proof that my family has given me some pretty awesome Mother's Days. This year was absolutely no exception. They. Are. Awesome.

Just a little bite?

2009-05-13T00:32:00.000-07:00

In my last post I advertised super yummy goodness. And in this post I give you totally and undeniably SCRUMPTIOUS...:

I am telling you I could just eat this girl up. I know it's not recommended. But I really don't think she would mind. I just can't help myself.

(side note: Jerolyn, I know that you know exactly what I'm a'talkin about here since you've posted about the exact same temptation with your own scrumptious sweetie. I was gonna link that post of yours but it has mysteriously disappeared. hmmmmm....what'cha gonna do about that? huh? huh?)

May I Take Your Order?

2009-05-02T01:39:00.000-07:00

Gettin' Down and Dirty

2009-04-23T00:30:00.000-07:00

Last week was our annual trip with Kevin's family to Coral Pink Sand Dunes. They have been making this trip for 24 years (I think?), and my kids look forward to it each & every year. While it's not necessarily my favorite vacation, and Kevin & I aren't as hard-core as some of his family is about riding quads, we do really enjoy the trip and the pure heaven our kids are in while we're there.

This would be another reason I do really enjoy the trip. Food, food, food. We always know we'll be pigging out at Coral Pink on food that is totally yummy. To go along with the hideous amounts of food and snacks and treats we haul with us to enjoy & share with others, our meals are quite delicious as well. Last year we started bringing my sister and her family along with us, which includes her husband Tyler...which means we also have an AWESOME camp cook! I mean, look at that dutch oven lasagna...you want some, don't you??? I'm telling you, it was super yum. Austin even asked for seconds...that's a huge endorsement (for those of you who know how picky Austin is!)

Due to the ever-loving tax deadline we went a day later than normal this year, so the trip was a bit shorter for us. I was bummed at first, since it is a lot of work to pack for this trip for only a couple of days. But after watching the weather forecast and seeing there was SNOW forecasted for Wednesday, I didn't really feel too bad about it. However, as we were driving through Colorado City (yes, we drive through polygamist country on our way) it was fully snowing on us and our wipers were pushing slush off our windshield. I couldn't believe we were going camping in that! We set up in the snow, and were really REALLY grateful for the heater on our little trailer that night! The weather the next 2 days was perfect, and our kids got every last ounce of fun they could get out of those 2 days.

This is a pretty average shot of what you will find around the campground at any given time we're there. Kevin's parents are so nice to reserve the whole campground of 23 campsites (and our group fills every site every year, as our 'family' has expanded to include friends & in-laws who join our crazy party), and our kids roam around with their cousins from sun-up to sundown. We sit. We talk. We eat. We walk the loop around the campground. The kids ride bikes around and around. We sit & talk some more. It's relaxing and lovely. And the kids are in a euphoric state on a total sugar-high.

It took me a few years after having children to realize that I just have to let go while on this trip. Let go of the need to have my kids' faces clean. The urge to keep messy treats from them. The instinct to try and keep them clean at all. And these 2 shots are typical of what you will find at any given time around camp. Notice Seth's filthy dirty face--especially the dirt ring around his mouth, which comes from eating a million treats from Grandma's store & then having the orange sand stick to the mess. Also notice the bruise/goose egg on his forehead from falling out of the hammock onto the asphalt. (Another perk of having the whole campground is that you can be assured someone you know is watching out for your kids if/when they get hurt...or when someone else's child is injured, you know to to take them to) Notice the sunburned face & the ornery expression on his face from being overtired. And check out the picture of my nephew Troy--in his pj's & socks running around in the sand. See? I told you, you just let it all go up there...you gotta pick your battles & at Coral Pink sometimes that means letting them play in pjs & socks. And it's allllll goooood.

On Saturday Grandma decided to have an Otter Pop eating contest to see who could eat the most otter pops (so she could clear out her freezer in the motorhome). The kids LOVED it. The boys won with 55 downed, to the girls' 54. I have to give a huge shout out to Sheila for always making the trip fun for the kids--she really does some fun stuff for them while we're up there. For several years now they have rented a teepee bounce house that provides lots of hours of entertainment for the kids (thus the kids running around in socks!). And my kids look forward to Grandma's Store every year-- where they get to choose 1 treat for every 5 pieces of trash they pick up. And it's all the stuff you NEVER would EVER buy your kids--baby bottle pops, fun dip, giant pixie sticks--pretty much the stickiest messiest candy around...she's got it. And the kids LOVE it! That's what grandmas are for, right??? And I can't leave Grandpa out either, for he makes the whole trip possible. We all owe him huge hugs & big THANKS for making the trip possible year after year. They are wonderful, & I LOVE THEM BOTH.

So...if you want to see more pictures of our trip, here is a montage I made with most of the pictures I took. And I have to give my SIL Liz credit for some, as I stole a few off of her blog. Enjoy!

Coral Pink 2009

First Things First

2009-04-21T12:14:00.001-07:00

Before I can tell you about our annual family trip to Coral Pink (which I know you're all dying to hear about) I better get my act together and blog about Easter. Even though it's after the fact, at least I will do it in an effort to update my missionary brother (no, he doesn't read blogs on his mission--I print them & mail them to him). I will not bore you with pictures of our egg dying experience since I'm sure they are the same as what you took of your own family--same mess, just different faces. So...I give you the annual Easter morning picture at the top of the stairs. Sydney was thrilled to NOT have curlers in her hair this morning, and I was thrilled to have someone else to put the pink spongies in:

And here is the token picture of kids with their baskets from the bunny:

Our bunny switched things up a little bit this year. He usually brings swimsuits and sandals/flip flops/church shoes (depending on the necessity at the time) all around. But this year the only one who really needed a swimsuit was Brooklyn. So she got a suit, and the rest got a few other goodies. There were no complaints so I guess that bunny did alright this year.

Okay. You all know what angst and stress that coordinating clothes and colors and accessories brings. Easter is really the only thing I actually get my kids new church clothes for and really try to get them to coordinate. Some years it works out, others not so much. And it's always a major race down to the wire before church to get a picture of the kids all dressed and together. And every year I kick myself for not having the foresight 2 months prior to plant some super pretty flowers around our tree in the front yard. But really, if I just get 1 decent picture of all 4 of my offspring looking in the right direction and at least NOT looking like they smell something bad, all the angst and stress is worth it. Right? Well, this Easter we were having a major 'girl' moment full of emotion, tears, and scowls. If you remember, my oldest child had gotten her hair cut the day before Easter. I specifically told her in the salon that day that I better not hear ONE ounce of complaining when I tried to style her hair EXACTLY the way Liesl had styled it (this has been a major issue in the past, you see). Well, Easter morning came, and it was time to style the new 'do. I know that I will never possess the style and sassy skill that Liesl has in styling hair. But seriously. All I had to do was BARELY touch up what she had done the day before. I thought I did an okay job. Sydney did not. At all. There were tears, slamming of bedroom doors, stomping, and pouting--all the things that make for an awesome Easter morning. According to her, I couldn't get it exactly the way Liesl had done it. Yes, this is life with a daughter. And I know it's only going to get worse. Sorry...I digress. By the time we got the kids outside for the ever-important picture Sydney was hating my guts and was not about to smile for the camera. No, she went for the "I-smell-something-bad-look" to truly marr Mom's 'vision' of the Easter picture. She pouted by the front door until Dad had to resort to threats to get her to pose. It was lovely.

A few weeks ago I recruited my sister to come sing in our ward's choir for our Easter program as our alto section had dwindled. Sarah kindly obliged, and their family joined ours for church--which totally worked out great. If there is one person who understands my craziness and undue stress about getting a great picture for posterity's sake, it's my sis. So we collaborated the night before (on Facebook, I'm pretty sure) to meet outside the church to snap a family photo of each other before the meetings started. And thanks to Sarah, I actually got a shot of all 6 of us this year--instead of just the kiddos. Thanks, sis! (I'm not so sure our husbands thought this idea was quite as great, since Sarah & I were sitting on the stand with the choir, and Kevin & Tyler were sitting at opposite ends of a long pew trying to keep 11 kids corralled and quiet through the whole sacrament meeting)

After 12 years of marriage I finally decided it was time to take our turn hosting my family for Easter dinner. They all came, plus my cousin Jerolyn & her family, and we dined on truly delish food. And then we hid 150 eggs in our backyard & let the kids go to town. It was awesome. And I loved having them all here. We stuffed ourselves some more on yummy strawberry shortcake for dessert and then everybody rolled themselves out the door with super full tummies.

So there you have it. The Easter recap. Stay tuned for the Coral Pink rundown & montage. And maybe one day I'll post about spring break which seems like it was forever ago.

My Little Girl with Lots of Love

2009-04-13T13:55:00.000-07:00

Before I ever had any children, I always envisioned that if I ever had a girl she would have thick dark hair like Kevin & me--maybe a few curls like I did when I was a toddler. If you're good at math you know that I have FOUR blonde children. Never ever have I ever had blonde hair. Kevin was a total blondie until he was about 5 years old, and then it gradually went dark. Apparently those blonde Mohler genes are pretty strong. Sydney has been blessed with WONDERFUL hair. It's blonde (although it's starting to darken), thick, beautiful, will be perfectly straight and smooth, or will totally hold a curl. And it grows fast. I love it. For most of her life she has had long hair, too. She has grown it super long, then chopped it up to her shoulders a couple of times after getting tired of the tangles and built-in heater on your neck that long hair brings. And she has NEVER had bangs. Ever. From the time her hair started to grow I was adamant that we were not even going to mess with bangs since seeing messy-in-the-eyes-bangs-that-are-never-done is a huge pet peeve of mine. To me, if you cut bangs on your daughter, you're committing to curling and/or 'doing' them every single day, and I have never been up for fighting that battle. So Syd has never had bangs.

A few months ago I commented to Sydney that her hair was getting long enough she could donate it if she wanted. She wanted to find out more, and once we looked up the requirements for donating hair to Locks of Love she was on board. Well, Saturday was the day. My little girl went from this:

To this:

And we now have an 11-inch long ponytail of beautiful thick hair to send in for some lucky little kid. I relented on the bangs-ban, since the girl is 10 and I'm tired of the begging for bangs. Now comes the task of getting her to be able to style her hair ON HER OWN. That's another battle itself.

A Desperate Plea

2009-04-12T02:33:00.000-07:00

As I came downstairs tonight after getting all of my kids in bed, I found these strewn across the couch in the family room--an obvious 'gift' for the Easter Bunny:

Sydney & Austin have been coloring a lot over the last few days, which I did think was odd the other day since coloring is not always Austin's first pick when it comes to leisurely activities. Apparently my kids thought a little kissing up to the bunny wouldn't hurt.

Then I noticed this one placed next to Sydney's pictures:

See? I told you our Tooth Fairy should be fired!!! Apparently I'm not alone in this sentiment. A couple weeks ago while driving to dance class I heard Sydney & my niece Mackenzie discussing our current Tooth Fairy debacle. Mackenzie suggested that maybe the tooth fairy stops coming once you turn 10. Sydney was horrified, and immediately demanded to know how old I was when the tooth fairy stopped coming. I had no idea. Obviously it was not a traumatic thing for me whenever it was. However they were SURE that the tooth fairy comes until you stop losing teeth. Period. The 2 girls eventually decided that the tooth fairy that services our family is extremely backed up, is on vacation, is lazy, or maybe sick. I suggested that maybe she ran out of money or is just short on cash (a very realistic scenario) since we are in a recession and all, OR the most likely reason of all: She's got a HORRIBLE memory and is plain forgetful. This reason obviously does not sit well with Syd--since she is calling in help and reinforcements from the Easter Bunny. I'm tellin' ya...that Tooth Fairy is somethin else! Shame on her.

Random 'tuff

2009-04-09T23:52:00.000-07:00

I'm sad spring break is winding down. It has flown by way too fast. I do enjoy having my kids home for the most part. I could definitely do without all the whining & fights, but I love being able to go & do. It helps that all soccer practices, dance classes, and piano lessons were also cancelled this week. Love that. I do wish, though, that I had gotten more spring cleaning done on this spring break. Oh well. Such is life, right? The kids will remember sleepovers, drive-in movies, and fun park days way more than they'll remember their clean & organized closet.

On that same note, I think I'm at a paralyzed standstill with what to do in my kids' bedrooms. We are at a major crossroads and I have decided it's time to rearrange kids & the bedrooms they occupy. Right now my girls share, my boys share, and we have a toy room. But it's time to split up the girls. I knew it wouldn't last having the 2 girls who are 8 years apart in age. But it's time. However. Here's my dilemma. With the influx of toys going into the boys' room, they need a bigger room. So they need to move to the toy room. But it needs to be painted first (obstacle no. 1). If Sydney stays in the room she's in we need to RE-paint it (obstacle no. 2) and do away with pink/purple (thankfully...I hate the paint job in that room). But that will be a pain considering her room has a built-in shelf and a chair rail around the middle. And the room the boys are currently in (which was GOING to be Sydney's new room, but she refuses to move in there since the boys have made it 'gross'--don't ask me how you make a room gross-- and have also broken the blinds so they will not open...she "has to have blinds that will open!"...oh, the drama!!!) needs to be painted before either girl can move in (obstacle no. 3). Where I'm stuck is in picking paint colors. I suck at it. And I'm tired of white walls in 3 out of 4 bedrooms in our house. So I'm paralyzed with indecisiveness and afraid to make the wrong paint color choice. This is way more stupid details than you want to know. And I know. P.O.P.

I've realized over the last few weeks that I have become incredibly complacent in my life. That is not a good thing. A conversation with one of my friends today brought this painfully to the surface, and I've resolved to make changes when it comes to that complacency and how it affects others. Floating along, absorbed in my own to-do's, lists, goals, and problems is not what I'm here for. Not being complacent means going more out of my way for other people. Do I do that enough? No. Not even close. It also means moving out of my comfort zone to help someone else not feel awkward or alone. It means noticing every single blessing in my life--and often the work others have gone to for me to enjoy those blessings. It means being aware and in tune to what others need so that I can help them. And it means appreciating the small things. I've got a lot of improving to do.

In last weekend's GC someone gave a talk about taking a tour of your home using your 'spiritual eyes'. I am tired, otherwise I would search to find the talk and link it here. Maybe in my next post. Yeah, ummmm... In a spiritual parade of homes my house would be so far OFF the list it's not even funny. That's not a good thing. Again, more improving to do.

Did anyone watch Oprah today??? That would be Thursday's episode. For all you moms who DVR Oprah on a regular basis, you want to watch this one. WITHOUT your kids in the room. It was all about talking to your kids about sex. I'm pretty sure for the first 30 minutes of the show that I watched at the gym my mouth was agape. My face alone was probably cheap entertainment for some other bored soul trying to make it through their workout. They started off with 'early middle school girls' giving the run-down on what today's Base System is for teens... Ummmm, Ladies? You might want to watch that 'cause I was horrified at what is now considered 'stepping up to bat,' 1st, 2nd, 3rd base, and so on. Totally eye-opening...and I haven't even watched the 2nd half of the show yet.

Does anyone know of a decent tooth fairy? The one that services this house is awful. She has TOTALLY FORGOTTEN to come for the last 3 teeth Sydney has lost and the last 2 teeth Austin has lost. Oh, I don't mean FORGOT as in was a day late. I mean FORGOT as in weeks later still hasn't shown up. The kids have even forgotten except for random moments in the car when they remember she still hasn't shown up. I mean, how do you make up for that?! I told the kids I think she's on vacation. Actually, I think she needs to be fired. Anyone want to volunteer to take that job for the sake of the Mohler children's happiness and innocence? 'Cause we've got a position that is wide open.

Sydney is gone tonight having a sleepover at Grandma's. So both of my boys are sleeping with Brooklyn. They were tickled to all 3 sleep in Sydney's bed while she's away. And I can only imagine the look on her face when she finds out both her brothers slept in her bed while she was gone. But I can't resist Austin singing Brooklyn songs that he makes up on the fly, and going in to find Brooklyn & Seth snuggled together. It makes my heart smile.

And that's enough for tonight. Here's to a great friday...

Track Break Adventures, Part 3

2009-04-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

This post is nearly 3 weeks overdue, but better late than never, right? After kicking off my kids' track break with Disneyland and then the marathon cinnamon roll extravaganza, Sydney got a super duper treat when she got to go down to Arizona to visit her cousins for a week...and go to Mexico with them! Kevin's older sister Debbie lives in AZ, and it was a very sad thing for my Syd when they moved. She doesn't have many girl cousins her age on the Mohler side of the family, and she falls right between Debbie's youngest 2 girls, Shelby & Malia. Since they moved, though, the girls have been able to have several fun trips together between us making visits down there & them coming back to Vegas to visit. I am really hoping they can continue that. Last year during Shelby's spring break (which fell during Sydney's track break) we got to have her come & stay with us. They had a wonderful time, and it was so fun to have Shelby here--she is a adorable & I love her! THIS year, Sydney got invited to go down to their house and go with them to Mexico for spring break. Now THAT is a super-sweet track break, right?

We booked Sydney on a flight down to AZ and packed her bags. Yes, she flew all by herself. Despite a few tears of anxiety just as she was to board the plane, I knew she was so excited to go. My baby girl is totally growing up. It's weird. She arrived at her cousins' house and they headed down to Rocky Point the next day. She spent 5 days playing in this:

Now that's the way to spend track break, huh?

It looks like she had a total blast, and she says she did too. I'm sure it was one solid giggle-fest for a week straight with those 3 girls laughing nonstop!

I told her so many times to take lots of pictures since I (the picture-crazed mother) wouldn't be there to snap any. She did pretty good, considering taking pictures of all the fun is about the LAST thing on a 10-yr-old's mind! I got daily emails from her telling me all the fun they were having, how her new favorite fruit is mango, how they saw dolphins, how she got to ride a jet ski, how much they were going swimming & playing on the beach, and a few of the thing she had bought. When she told me she had bought Brooklyn a little dress, I had to email her back & remind her not to forget her brothers if she was buying gifts. I told her I knew she probably wasn't missing them as much as Brooklyn, but the really NICE thing to do would be to bring them something back too--even if it's something small. I got a response from her the next day saying, "Mom, there are kids who sell these little packs of gum for 10 cents each, I am going to get those for the boys." Niiiiice! Glad to know she's a big-spender on her brothers to part with a DIME for some Chiclets! In the end she did bring them back a couple of other candies (gummy ears, noses, & feet--gross!) so I'm glad to know they're worth a little more than a tiny pack of Chiclets to her. AND she brought Kevin back a super-sweet Nacho Libre mask. If you're an incredibly lucky person you just might get to see him wear it one day.

I think Sydney LOVES going to visit Shelby & Malia since she gets a chance to be the youngest in the family, with all the siblings being older for a while. I'm sure it's a nice change of pace from being the oldest child here at home. I am SO grateful she is still able to nurture that relationship with her cousins despite the miles between them. I know how close I am with my own cousins and I'm so glad Sydney gets to have that connection on both sides of our family! Less than 2 more weeks and she'll get to see these little blondies again at Coral Pink--she can't wait! And I'm incredibly thankful to Jon & Debbie for making the trip possible for her and taking her on their vacation with them. It was definitely a trip she won't ever forget!!!

No Words

2009-03-29T00:58:00.000-07:00

It is 1am and I have no words to describe the tragedy of this day or the sadness I am feeling tonight. I have no words to even try and express the tiniest amount of perspective 1 small moment can bring to a person's reality. I cannot sleep, for I am so saddened and broken-hearted for a wonderful family who need all the prayers that any of you can offer on their behalf at this time. This family in our ward is going through the worst trial a person can imagine tonight. What was supposed to be such a happy day with the baptism of their 8-yr-old son turned into an utter nightmare when their sweet, adorable 3-year-old little girl drowned this morning and has passed away. How quickly the Lord puts our lives in perspective. So hug your little ones a little tighter (I think my kids are so sick of my kisses & hugs today), and please keep the Bridges family in your prayers. They need them, and I know they will be lifted by any who can offer an extra prayer for them. As my sister said so perfectly today... "Oh, to see the big picture." Precisely.

The Skinny on the Cinnamon Rolls

2009-03-23T22:49:00.000-07:00

***Warning: Extremely long post ahead***

If you want the 5-second version of the Cinnamon Roll Saga, here it is:
Sydney needed to earn money for her school field trip.
Erin offered to help her sell homemade cinnamon rolls to earn the money for said trip.
Sydney received a plethora of orders.
Sydney was happy.
Sydney earned the money for her trip.
End of story.

If you want more details, drama, & the rest of the story, read on. I'm warning you it's long. Feel free to skim. You won't hurt my feelings. But someday someone will be glad this is all documented (or at least I'm telling myself that).

And here is the extra-long version:
Many many moons ago, when I was somewhere around the rather likeable (and I use that term loosely since most 15-yr-old girls are not even close to likeable most of the time) age of 15 (I think), I participated in a Young Women service auction to help earn money for Girl's Camp. Each of us going to camp was supposed to contribute at least 1 thing if we wanted any of the proceeds to be credited toward our cost of going to camp. Many of the other girls were doing things like babysitting, cleaning houses, washing cars, doing yard work, etc. I thought, "My mom makes good cinnamon rolls, I'll just donate a dozen of those & have her whip up a batch." So...the auction ended, someone purchased that dozen cinnamon rolls, & when it was time to deliver the goods to the winner my mom told me, "I'm not making those cinnamon rolls. YOU donated them. I'll teach you how, but YOU'RE making them." And so... on a Sunday afternoon, in the kitchen of our house on Twilight Street, a legacy was born. From that point on, I baked a LOT of cinnamon rolls. A LOT. For any and every occasion, or no occasion at all. Here I am in high school making cinnamon rolls for Sarah's college friends when she brought them home one weekend:

When Kevin & I got married 12 years ago I figured my cinnamon roll making days were over for a while, since having a decent mixer is kinda a big part of making cinnamon rolls. Of course I dreamed of a Kitchenaid mixer adorning our tiny starving-student apartment, but figured I'd have to wait a while before that would come to pass since one of those doesn't exactly fit in to a Top Ramen budget. But when we received many a'duplicate in the way of wedding gifts, and ended up with a hefty credit, I knew exactly what that credit would be used for. And Kitchenaid joined our little family. (We had to add cash to what was left over of that credit to acquire our pots & pans...first things first, you know.) I can't even begin to guess how many batches of cinnamon rolls have been mixed in my dear sweet Kitchenaid, but I can confidently say the number is in the hundreds. Thank you, Kitchenaid...from the bottom of my hips.

So. Enough of the walk down memory lane & tribute to a beautiful machine. Early in the school year Sydney's school announced that the 4th grade students would have the opportunity to go on a field trip to Carson City this May. The cost was $275 per person (they fly up & back). Of course Sydney wanted to go, and I told her I would love to go as a chaperone as well. Kevin & I explained to her from the beginning that she would need to help pay for the trip since $275 is not just pocket change. She agreed to help pay, & over the last few months we've been brainstorming different fundraising ideas for her to earn as much money for her trip as possible. I told her once that when my brothers were younger, my mom would help them sell cinnamon rolls to earn money for trips & camps they wanted to go on. Sydney's eyes lit up & she started planning away (she's my little mini-me...loves to bake too) for her cinnamon roll sale to earn money. While I knew I would be the one doing the lion's share of the work, I told Sydney she was gonna have to be there the entire process, right alongside me, working & helping too.

So a few weeks ago, she compiled an email and sent it to several family & friends who live in town, explaining that she was selling homemade cinnamon rolls for $1 each, or $10 for a dozen. She sent that email on a Saturday, and on Monday the kids & I left for Disneyland. When we left, she had received orders for about 8 or 9 dozen, & she was thrilled. Each night we were in California, Kevin would call me after checking the email to give me an update on any new orders.....12 dozen more...9 more dozen...7 more dozen... Whoa. I told Sydney we definitely had our work cut out for us from the moment we got home. And we did. By the time we got home from Disneyland, we had received orders for 40 DOZEN cinnamon rolls to be delivered in one weekend. Sydney was all smiles, with dollar signs in her eyes... I was busy trying to calculate in my head just how much of each ingredient we would need. And I started to worry for poor Kitchenaid. But there was no time for worry or stress. We started baking.

This was after my first trip to the store for ingredients...Oh man, I don't know what I was calculating, but boy was I OFF!!! Let me just say that what you see in the above picture is about ONE THIRD of what we ended up needing.

In the midst of trying to be as time-efficient as possible, I was also trying to teach Sydney the ins & outs of making these blessed rolls. She was a fantastic worker--right alongside me the whole way. She typed confirmation emails & sent them back to people letting them know when we would deliver. She mixed frosting, & frosted countless pans of rolls, wrapped them up, measured ingredients, etc. etc. etc. It was all very good for her, & I really did enjoy having her as my sidekick the whole time.

We got busy on Thursday afternoon to deliver the first dozen to Sydney's piano teacher that evening. And the deliveries continued from that point on. Baking till 4am that night, then pretty much the entire day on Friday (delivering 13 dozen that afternoon)--seriously, I think my oven was turned on from about 10am until midnight that night. My mom came over to help, & hung in there till midnight & even took Sydney to make a delivery at 9pm. We compared notes on what we think works best here or there in the recipe she passed down to me. We discussed different tweeks & adjustments I think work better in the rolling/cutting/baking process, we argued over how much frosting is too much frosting, & reminisced about her doing the same fundraising efforts with my brothers. It was fun. I am soooooo grateful for her help--she was awesome, helping frost & wrap rolls, & a huge help with my other kids, reading to them & entertaining them (I had no idea that night just how grateful I would be for her help by the end of the weekend!).

Try not to notice just how much of that yellow stuff is slathered on that dough...they don't taste good for nothin'!

Awaiting their turn in the oven...

You are witnessing heaven in the making right here.

Syd was excellent at making sure she didn't skimp on frosting, & making sure every single edge was covered--we don't want any dry spots! Dry cinnamon rolls are not good. Frosting good. Dry spot baaaaad.

She was our expert wrapper as well.

Those would be vintage Tupperware bowls above that are the best for raising dough in. I confiscated them from my mom's cupboards since I only own 1 (and they don't make them anymore). We had a mixing station, frosting station, rolling/cutting station, & a wrapping station. It pretty much looked like a bomb had gone off in the kitchen...there wasn't an ounce of space ANYwhere. You may also notice Kitchenaid's big brother (smile)...that's a post for another day. But I gladly welcomed his surprising arrival upon our return from D-land.

(I know this post is going on forever, so feel free to stop reading. sorry.) Saturday morning Kevin had to go in to work, & I got up to start mixing more dough. Mixed the first batch, got a call from Mom at Sam's Club asking if I needed more ingredients (more cream cheese & powdered sugar, please), & she said she was coming back over if I needed help. I said Yes, Please. Minutes before she arrived, I went to rotate the raising dough I had set on top of my stove, & noticed it wasn't warm at all. Usually, the heat from the back of the oven helps the dough raise. I had turned the oven on, & knew it should have been pre-heated for quite some time now. The digital screen said it was on. I opened the oven & stuck my arm inside. Nothing. No heat whatsoever. I think I was so stunned & on the verge of panic I couldn't even blurt out a curse word that would normally fly out in a situation like this. I. Was. Screwed. Pretty much the worst possible thing that could happen during a project like this...HAPPENED. My oven was broken. I dug out the owner's manual for it, & based on the troubleshooting tips, the ignitor was broken. "Call a technician" was the solution. Fab-u-loso. It had become apparent at that point by the orders we had in limbo that we would make more money than just what Sydney needed to cover her trip. Zap. There went any extra profit, as we would now be getting the oven fixed. Mom showed up, & to try and keep my head from exploding, we immediately switched into crisis mode--and moved the operation to Mom's kitchen. Mom made a list of everything I needed to haul with me, she helped my kids get dressed & ready to go, and I quickly rolled out/cut the rolls I had already mixed dough for--a timeline matters when you're dealing with raising dough. I loaded up the van with everything I thought I would need, & headed over to make disaster zone part 2 out of my mom's kitchen. We had 21 dozen rolls to finish that day, & had to get a move on!

Of course we had no hope of getting my oven fixed that day (or in the 2 days after that). I resigned myself to having to use others' ovens, & finished out Saturday in my sister's kitchen until 2am. The following Monday I invaded my friend Angela's kitchen down the street. And finally...Tuesday I was the proud owner of a new ignitor & normally-functioning oven. We had continued to receive orders, so we still had plenty of baking to do. The baking stretched into this past week, since my dad (who is an elementary school principal) had ordered 5 dozen to take in to all the staff at his school for St. Patrick's Day:

Tuesday wrapped up our fundraising efforts, completing our total at 61 DOZEN cinnamon rolls. Yes... SIXTY-ONE. That would be 732 cinnamon rolls, not counting the numerous rolls my family scavenged & 'taste-tested' and the many 'ugly cast-offs' not fit for delivery throughout the process. And: Kitchenaid survived. (sigh. don't you just love a true friend?)

I want to throw in a HUGE THANK YOU to any and all who ordered cinnamon rolls from Sydney. It was VERY generous of each of you, and I soooo appreciate you making her efforts at EARNING her trip a success. A few of you gave her 'a little extra' for her trip, which made her totally BEAM. She couldn't believe that people would be so nice! You are all wonderful. So, THANK YOU for your orders---especially those who I KNOW can make tasty cinnamon rolls yourselves. You're so sweet. Also, Thanks MOM, for all your help--you were a life-saver. I love you.

Also... just in case you're wondering... Making 61 dozen {frosted} cinnamon rolls takes:

85 lbs. flour
27 lbs. cream cheese
6 dozen eggs
13 lbs. margarine
8 lbs. brown sugar
40 lbs. powdered sugar
5 gallons of milk
2.5 lbs. sugar
1.5 quarts oil
2 LBS. yeast
122 aluminum trays
Over 150 sq. feet of heavy duty foil
(no idea how much) Cinnamon
Minimal amounts (which means too complicated to calculate) of vanilla & salt
A fab-o mixer
At LEAST 1 working oven

By the end of the 2nd week, while still receiving orders (and some repeat orders), Kevin started informing me that this should now be my new job. I'm always coming up with 'jobs' I think I should do to help contribute to our financial predicaments. Most of them he instantly informs me of what the cost-to-profit ratio would be and quickly dashes those ideas (can't expect much else when I'm married to an accountant). But he jumped on this one. I guess he believes in my cinnamon rolls. I'm trying to wrap my brain around that idea still...so stay tuned. This bakery just might be opening back up in a few weeks if anyone is looking to fill their tummies with some wholesome goodness again. I'll keep you posted. If you're interested in placing special orders (which I'm still taking) or being notified of when the next bake-off will be taking place, make sure I've got your email. You can leave a comment here or email me at ekmohler@hotmail.com. And now, if I had any rolls left, I would give you one for making it through this horribly long, self-indulgent post. I know it's definitely 'a skimmer' of a post, but this is more for my own personal record-keeping/journal purposes. My apologies.

Well Hello There~

2009-03-17T01:02:00.000-07:00

Whoa. Talk about a break. And a crazy few weeks. I know I have a habit of not posting forever, and then posting a huge long update, but even now, after a month, I don't know how long this one will be. I just haven't been feelin' it. Or had time. (And being on Facebook has had NOTHING to do with me not blogging...at all...I wouldn't be addicted or anything...really)

First, my kids are coming up on week 3 of their 3-week track break. Whoa. It has flown by. I really LOVE track breaks. Love them. I totally look forward to those days of not having to be up by a certain time, and more importantly, letting my kids sleep in until they happen to wake up. Sydney has stumbled out of bed at 10 & 11am a couple of days--now THAT is a break from school! We have been going a hundred miles an hour since school let out 2 weeks ago. I will blog about the other events later (hopefully before the next month is up), but this post can only be about one thing. FIRST, we took 1 last trip to Disneyland before our annual passes expire. I know, I know. If you're going to ask if I've considered getting help for my problem, you're not the only one. Others have asked me. And YES, I own the fact that I have an addiction to that place. I. LOVE. IT. So I asked Aunt Clo & Uncle Chuck if we could come stay again, & planned one last get-away with the chillens to get 1 more use of our passes. We went the first couple of days of track break to try & beat any Spring Break crowds, and I think we did.

In the last year since the kids & I have had passes Brooklyn has only been to D-Land with us once. Yes, her admission is free since she isn't 3 yet. But when it's me going alone with 3 kids, I've never thought I could manage her AND the 3 kids. So the only time Brooklyn came was in October when Kevin came with us. But I just couldn't make her sit out (again) on our last trip. I couldn't. She talks about Disneyland as if she has been there as many times as the other kids. So I took her with us. Me & all 4 kids. Pretty much everyone thought I was nuts. But you know what? It was so worth it. Brooklyn L-O-V-E-D it. She was in heaven, & appreciated it THE MOST. And THAT's one of the reasons I love that place--seeing the pure joy & excitement on my kids' faces is magical. And I love everything about everything there (except for the crowds & the cost)-- the music, the smell, the attention to every single detail, the impeccable service...I could go on & on.

Brooklyn was surprisingly well behaved--I never once felt completely overwhelmed by having 4 kids there by myself. Granted, I couldn't have done it without Sydney being such a huge help. And it definitely helped that we've been there enough that Sydney & Austin know exactly what to do when it comes to things like getting on/off the tram, separating into groups of 2 or 3 for the different rides, getting FastPasses, & all that good stuff. My friend even loaned me her extra cell phone (and some of you may think I'm crazy for this) and when Sydney & Austin wanted to go on a big ride that Seth & Brooklyn couldn't go on, those 2 would go on their own, then call me when they got off so we could meet back up with them. (Oh, Sydney was lovin' that part!) Brooklyn loved it. The whole bit. She was so good to sit in the stroller, fairly patient in the lines, & was so happy just to be going on ANY ride. AND she LOVED Aunt Cloadella & Uncle Chuck's house (well, ALL my kids do)--but Brooklyn refers to it as Sophie's house (that's their dog). She loved Sophie the whole time we were there. It was so funny!

This was, BY FAR, the highlight of the trip for Brooklyn. Fortunately (for me) she is not quite full-blown crazy about the princesses yet. But Minnie is her gal--and all she wanted to do there was go see Minnie. So Minnie is the only character we waited in line to see. Don't you know it, as soon as we got up there for a picture, Brookie had a death grip on me like you wouldn't believe! Apparently her love for Minnie only goes so far as a minimum of 2 feet away. She was NOT givin' that mouse a hug or anything of the sort. BUT...she asks several times a day if we can go back to Minnie's house. Obviously not too traumatic for her, & she keeps wanting me to show her this picture. But...it's solely an admiration from afar.

My kids complain that I force them to take a picture in the teacup once a trip, EVERY time we go to D-land. But how can we not??? This shot would be before my daughter got mad that "she had to do all the spinning & was the only one doing any of the work the whole time!" Life is hard when you're 10, you know.

This is how she spent the entire Small World ride. She loved it. I know you can't wait to take your kids on it, Nate!!! That song will be stuck in your head all day!

Brooklyn is still pretty thrilled that she got to lay on Minnie's bed.

This would be Brooklyn throwing a fit because A) there was no room for her in the car, and B) there was no room IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT for her to drive. Can't you feeeeeeel the happiness seeping through?

Waiting for Toy Story----my FAVORITE ride!!!

By the end of Day 1, we were all pooped. My kids love to eat at Mimi's Cafe, so I had promised them we would hit it up for dinner. By the time we rode the tram back & got everyone loaded into the van, I was thinking, "Okay, this wasn't so bad--I can do this another day with 4 kids..." And then we went to leave & the van wouldn't start. (Insert moment of panic here) I'm sure I uttered a few choice words (I don't even remember, but unfortunately I have a tendency to do that) under my breath--which I'm sure the Lord appreciated right before the kids & I said a little prayer that we would be able to get out of there. Actually, I think Austin said the prayer, and just asked that we would be able to make it to Mimi's for dinner...he keeps the important things in mind. THANKFULLY, I had the jumper cables in the car, so I waited until a nice looking family came by, headed to their car, & asked the husband if he could help me. He was super nice, got the car started, & we were on our way...to Mimi's. Apparently, the lights in the van had been left on all day. So nice. Brooklyn didn't even make it out of the parking structure before she conked. And this is how she was through the entire dinner--never woke once, until the last 5 minutes.

Day 2 started out with us donning these lovely ponchos, which I snagged at Wal-mart in a paranoid haste for 88 cents each. Although they weren't much more than a sandwich bag, I felt much better knowing we hadn't just dropped 8 bucks a piece on ponchos like the rest of the ba-jillions of people there! We pretty much got dumped on late morning, then it cleared up for most of the day aside from sprinkles here & there. I do have to say...I don't know if it was due to the rain or just not a busy day, but we literally WALKED on to rides that day--I mean, ride operators sitting doing nothing when we walked up. It was AWESOME!!! We decided to hit 1 last ride as CA Adventure was closing, & when we came out of Toy Story it was raining again--and pretty good. We took off for the park entrance, and before I knew it we were getting POURED on. I do not know how that park cleared out so fast, but I looked around and it seemed like we were the only ones left in that park--Mom and 4 kids sloshing through the rain as fast as possible trying to get out. We were soaked. And cold. And my kids wanted malts (which I had promised if we didn't eat lunch inside the park that day). 'Cause, you know, that's just what sounds so good when you're COLD and WET!!! But I kept my promise, & we headed over to Haagen Dazs. Our plan was to drive home that night after leaving the park. But it was still raining. And we were cold. And wet. My kids were B-E-G-G-I-N-G me to go back to Aunt Cloadella's & Uncle Chuck's for 1 more night. Brooklyn was asking for Sophie's house. And I totally wanted to go back too. So I called Uncle Chuck & asked if we could come back for 1 more night. They kindly took in the soaking wet beggars off the street, & we cozied into bed--which was sooooo much better than driving 4 hours, wet, in the dark, in the rain. So THANK YOU again, Chuck & Clo!!! We hit the road at 6 the next morning to make it to Sydney's choir performance here at 10:10, and we made it--she jumped out of the car at 10:10 on the nose. Whew!

And thus ends our magical year of Disneyland passes. I will be forever grateful to my friend Mindie for offering her tickets to us last year--without them I wouldn't have been able to build such fun memories with my kiddos. Who knows how long it will be before we go again. But we've got tons of super-great times that I hope my kids will always remember. Hopefully someday we'll be able to have passes again...Kevin says, "WHY would we want those???" but he just doesn't get the magic. Some people just don't get it.

Really? Is that necessary?

2009-02-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

Is it really necessary for Brooklyn to scatter cereal on my family room floor and then stomp on it? Really?

Is it necessary for me to turn on my computer this morning to find that my keyboard is now not working? Really? Give me a break. It had only been maybe 7 hours since I had used it at midnight last night.

And is it necessary for the keyboard problem to NOT be the keyboard, but to be my computer (which is truly the spawn of Satan, huh Daniel?) instead? Really? (And yes, I know this since I stole the keyboard from the kids' computer to check, and it doesn't work either. goo.)

Is it necessary for the Wii to be tripping out and showing a really dark screen today when Dad is not around to fix it, and I soooooo needed it to provide me some free babysitter time with Seth this afternoon while I got ready for Young Women tonight? Really?

And was it necessary for me to run out of packing tape while sitting in the parking lot of the post office, trying to pack up boxes for my missionary brother & missionary nephew to try & get them shipped before I had to pick up Seth from preschool? Really?

Was it truly necessary for me to have to take my horribly behaved kids & leave lunch early today before we got our 2nd picture opp with Marie Osmond? Really? (Okay, yes this really was necessary, as I had 100 sugar cookies to mix, make, & frost in just 2 hours...but Sarah & Jerolyn got the Marie shot sans moi...yes, I was very bummed. That's TWICE I've seen her but not gotten in the picture!)

Is it necessary for Brooklyn to scatter every piece of the Pretty Pretty Princess game from one end of the house to the other while I'm trying to frost aforementioned sugar cookies in warp speed? Really? 'Cause I'm sure one of those rings will resurface one day & I'll end up stepping on it in the dark.

And then is it necessary for the same Brooklyn to decide that Monopoly is the next game that she'll scatter everywhere? Really? Just because Mom is under a major time constraint & preoccupied, she has to pick the absolute worst game in the cupboard to get out?!!! And fyi, our new laminate floor makes things so much more 'fun' to SCATTER--you know, like game pieces & cereal. It all flies faster & further.

YES. It's all necessary. Really. Because being a mom means you put out those fires. And that's your day. And someday I'll be glad that this was my day today.

25 Random Things About Me

2009-02-17T00:08:00.000-08:00

This is for you non-facebookers...and so I stop getting tagged to do this.

1. I think artificial banana flavor is absolutely disgusting--makes me want to vomit. I love bananas--the real thing. And banana bread. Anything else banana flavor makes me wanna heave--especially banana Runts, banana Laffy Taffy, or banana popsicles. Nasty.

2. I still sleep with my baby blanket. Sometimes. Not every night. But sometimes. I know--that's weird.

3. I cannot stand the feel of nailpolish on my fingers. It makes my nails feel heavy. I can get fake nails & it doesn't bother me. But you'll never catch me with my own nails painted. It almost makes me claustrophobic.

4. I love being in school. Sitting in a desk & learning concrete information. Don't put me in a group & tell me to be creative--that's annoying. Just let me go sit & learn. I love it. Especially math.

5. Hanging out with my 4 siblings is by far one of my favorite things to do. AND my extended family. Just sitting and laughing for hours with my siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins makes me happy.

6. I've got a scar in each of my eyebrows--1 from a cyst that was removed when I was a baby, the other from falling on an open dresser drawer at a friend's house when I was little.

7. I love cold weather much more than hot weather.

8. I have to have my feet covered when I sleep. This has been a problem with Kevin & me for 12 years...he HATES the sheets being tucked in at the bottom of the bed. I make the bed & tuck them in everyday. He gets in bed & yanks the sheet out. Irritating.

9. One of my pet peeves is blogs that play music. That's annoying. If I'm just catching up on blogs when it's quiet in my house & all I want to do is READ and LOOK, I don't want to click your name & have some random song come blaring on. And it's really annoying if you have music playing and then you post a video on your blog. 'Cause it's frustrating to have to find where to PAUSE your music BEFORE the video can be watched. If you do that, I probably won't watch the video.

10. I lay in bed at night & think out different scenarios in my head---like, if we had to evacuate our house what are the first things I would grab? Or I plan things out in my mind: trips, chores & house projects, scrapbook pages, parties, etc. etc. etc.

11. The clothes in my closet are arranged by color.

12. I'm addicted to Carmex. And I hate lipstick.

13. I love, love, LOVE Disneyland. I know y'all pretty much knew that already.

14. I want to take piano lessons again someday.

15. I love that my kids are blonde...I always wanted blonde hair when I was little.

16. I have a 'thing' for cool pens...and I'm very particular about liking certain kinds of pens. My current favorite are PaperMate Flex Grip Elite and Foray med. pt.

17. I can't whistle.

18. When I have a fever or don't feel very good my eyes feel hot. That's the only way I can describe it--my eyeballs just feel hot. It happens when I'm really sleep deprived too.

19. I LOVE the storage & organization department in any store--Target & Ikea especially. It makes me happy & I dream of happy things there, with everything in it's own container. Lovely.

20. I play Webkinz games for my kids. I'm a little addicted to a couple of the games on there, actually, so my kids ask me to earn them the big bucks. And I do it. Sometimes.

21. I got a 2nd hole pierced in my ears without telling my parents when I was 16 and went to visit Melissa in Kansas. Ya know, 'cause I'm a rebel like that. Once I got married I let the hole close up.

22. One of my favorite things to do is lay in my bed & snuggle with my kids.

23. I'm a reality TV junkie...as much as I hate it that we don't have more than 16 channels, it's probably a good thing.

24. When I work out I often measure my progress in quantities--like, how many Dr. Peppers I've burned (1 for every 160 calories)...or how many Oreos (50 calories per Oreo)--It totally puts things in perspective for me & my rear end, & gives me extra umfph when I'm ready to give up.

25. I think mushrooms are THE most foul food on the face of the earth. Why anyone would want to eat a fungus is beyond me. The smell, the texture (for sure the texture--you might as well bite into a pink eraser), the look--all make me gag. Literally. I just can't do it.

What Gives?

2009-02-10T13:06:00.000-08:00

For the sake of documentation, and for those of you Facebookers who saw my little status update last Thursday about Seth & his little accident, here is the rundown of the latest incident in our household. Thursday afternoon my wonderful friend Angela watched my kids for me for a bit while I went to help Sarah pull together last-minute stuff before her ScrapFest departure. When I got back to pick up the kids, Seth & Zachary were playing out on the trampoline--I could see them through the kitchen window. About 20 minutes later I went to tell Seth to come get his shoes on, only to find him & Zachary standing on the frame of the trampoline OUTSIDE the enclosure, looking over the wall at the neighbors' dogs. Of course we immediately told them to get down, since they KNOW they aren't supposed to be outside the net. So they came back around to the front, and Seth lost his balance getting off. He fell off & landed on the concrete on his head & right shoulder. I had JUST turned to go inside to round up the other kids when I heard the smack on the concrete. You know the sound. I scooped him up, brought him inside, & after a few minutes of hugging him trying to get him to calm down I noticed a big gash over his ear. I was more worried about his head than I was the cut, and decided to take him over to urgent care--better safe than sorry. I tried to pick him up to carry him to the car & he shrieked when I grabbed him under the arms to lift him. So I knew it had to be his shoulder somehow too. THANKFULLY, Angela was my saving grace (again) and kept the other kids & ran Sydney to piano for me (seriously, I owe her big time). As far as urgent care visits go, this one was totally bearable, considering I was prepping myself for a long night there. They quickly told me his head would need stitches, & they would x ray his collar bone. I'm sure they all thought I was crazy weirdo momma taking pictures of my baby in pain, but c'mon people! A girl's gotta document! So...pardon the horrible quality of the pictures--it's as good as I could get with my phone.

I don't know if you can tell, but it looked like someone had tried to rip his ear off his head.

He was totally drained after getting the stitches. That is not something any mom wants to ever do--hold & restrain your baby while they're watching needles & the like come so close to their face & have to tell them it will be okay while you KNOW it stings like a mother!

Poor kid, kept nodding off while waiting for them to take him for x-rays. He was beat.

I know this pictures is horrible quality, but it's the first time he's ever had x-rays so I couldn't resist. He was so brave, though, & was just happy they weren't messing with his ear anymore.

They came back & told me they couldn't see a break on his collar bone, so just be careful with him for a few days. Uhhhh....I head what he was telling me, but I knew there was something going on. He fa-reaked out if I even touched his shoulder, & there was a very obvious bump on the bone. Seriously. I wasn't trying to be 'that mom' who insists something is wrong when there really isn't. (Besides, I know all they do for a collar bone is sling it anyway) But really??? They ended up giving him a sling & saying that once the radiologist reads the films, if he saw a fracture then they would call me. Uh, yeah. They called Friday--about 20 minutes before I was to leave for ScrapFest--saying it for sure was broken. Thanks to my nephew Brevin breaking his collar bone last year, Sarah had a much better sling/brace for him to wear so that's where he's at now...

According to the ortho dr, he'll have to wear the sling for 3-4 weeks, yadda yadda yadda. He'll get the stitches out tomorrow or Thursday. So...he's all good. I'm very thankful for that.

I totally realize that being a grown up means you just have crappy days--and weeks. And when it rains, it pours. So I'm really not loving this past week. Between Seth's little accident & subsequent dr visits & insurance annoyances, family/friend drama, and finding out today that my van needs over $2000 in repairs, I'm over it. Blah. Sometimes life sucks. So pardon my lack of posts.

Sunday Morning Splendor

2009-02-03T01:19:00.000-08:00

I have a routine that I follow nearly every Sunday. It is pretty much the same every week. And to help speed all of the necessities of the Sunday routine, some parts are done Saturday night. Kevin has meetings before church so he is never home when it's time to get ready & out the door. I'm totally used to getting all 5 of us ready & out the door on my own. I'm fine with it. (Thus, the routine) Does this routine establish a fail-safe method in getting us all to church on time (at the early hours of 1pm)? Not at all. Because...no matter how much I try to think ahead, bathing my kids Saturday night, ironing clothes early that morning, yadda yadda yadda... My 2-year-old will decide to do something like this while I'm in the shower:

Yes, that would be LOTION slathered all over her freshly-washed-the-night-before-to-eliminate-bath-time-Sunday-morning hair. Oh, she knew she was totally busted. I had to count to 10 before responding to this little turd to keep my head from exploding when she wandered into my bathroom as I stepped out of the shower. And this would be why our little Sunday morning routine is not fail-safe. And just FYI, lotion (especially this much lotion) does not wash out of hair very easily.

Love / Hate

2009-01-30T15:35:00.000-08:00

My 2 youngest kids most definitely have a love/hate relationship. I do not doubt that they love each other. They truly do have their moments of pure adoration that goes both ways. Seth hugs and kisses on Brooklyn, he gets all big brotherly with her & helps teach her things when it's just the two of them home during the day, and he even shares with her on occasion. Brooklyn, likewise, follows Seth around like a little puppy dog, hugs/hangs on him, wants him to play with her, and wants to sit right next to him when they're watching a show on the couch. I do think she will have a hard time when he starts school this fall. They do have their moments of actually liking each other a little bit. But for every moment they share together in love & playfulness, they have just as many (probably MORE) moments (which usually last for much more than A MOMENT) of the most intense & nerve-grating sibling rivalry ever known to man. The fault lies with no single one of them. They are both very blatantly to blame. One is either just asking for it, totally deserves what they're getting, or simply does not care that what he/she is doing to the other is utterly & openly evil.

Brooklyn will kick Seth (literally) off the couch while he's minding his business. Seth will open the drain on Brooklyn while she's in the bathtub. Brooklyn will shut off the Wii while Seth is playing (or keep hitting the Home button on another remote which TOTALLY frustrates him). Seth wraps himself up in Brooklyn's blankets & says, "I'm so cozy in MYYYYYYY blankets!" which sends her through the roof. Brooklyn acts like she is going to throw Seth's webkin in the trash. Seth climbs into Brooklyn's car seat & buckles himself in & says, "I'm ready! Let's go" because he knows she will scream. Brooklyn wears Seth's flip flops just to hear him scream. Seth sits on Brooklyn's baby dolls (you might as well cut off her arm). Brooklyn calls Seth a baby. (side note: in her mind, calling someone a baby is THE worst insult you could ever give anyone. She says it when she is beyond furious. If you are the one who ticked her off, you are "Baby Mommy!" or "Baby Seth" or "Baby Daddy!" or whoever. She considers that way below the belt.) Even worse, Seth calls Brooklyn a baby. It's never-ending. And most of the aforementioned actions take place with a huge smile on the instigator's face as they enjoy their 'wrongly satisfying' moment (wink wink Nate). It's lovely to be the witness to every one of these little altercations. A few weeks ago while we were in the middle of the Polar Express Train Ride, I happened to capture one such exchange between my two little angels. You can see from the pictures that NEITHER of them are innocent.

"He's not really enjoying this little ride...I wonder what will happen if I do this..."

"Let me just share that little bit of love right back with ya, sister."

"Ya like that? Huh? Huh? Huh?" {screams from Brooklyn, giggles from Seth}

"Oh no you didn't just get all up in my kool-aid, my brotha. You've got another thing comin' if you think I'm gonna let that slide (even though I'm the one who started it)."

"Ya like this?! Huh? Huh? Huh?"

"You want a piece of me????"

"I'll take you DOWN, brotha!!! Baby Seth!" {Seth is evilly amused to finally elicit the reaction he was hoping for so he can scream & get his sister in trouble}

Seth: "Let me act like I'm not enjoying this to get my sister in trouble." Brooklyn: "Ah, Crap. Didn't realize Dad was right behind me to intervene..."

This was about 3.7 seconds after the above altercation. Loving & adoring each other again, all is well. And so it goes.

Party Weekend

2009-01-25T19:51:00.000-08:00

My cousin Colby got married on Friday down in Arizona. I had to miss the last wedding in my family & was so bummed about it at the time. So, after the reports of the total par-tay at that wedding, I wasn't going to miss this one. Kevin had to work on Friday, as did lots of the other men folk in the family, so a few of us hopped in my van to ride together down to Mesa. I picked up my cousin Jerolyn, my sister, my brother Nate, & my mom bright & early Friday morning, and we headed down. I knew that 6 hours in the car down & back would be part of the fun on this trip, and it was. We talked about everything under the sun, even down to planning our own funerals--which is what you do when you're extremely tired & the drive is taking FOREVER. I know, we're weird. I'm just grateful for my family & their willingness to ride with me down there. I love them, & I love that they make me laugh.

Colby's wedding was WONDERFUL. She & Adam are perfect for each other, and we love him just as much as we love her. Their ceremony was very sweet. And then the party started...and didn't stop for several hours. I loved getting to see family who we don't get to see very often, and laugh and laugh and laugh. It was wonderful. Since I'm tired, & not at all as good at writing individual photo commentary as Rick, here are a FEW of the massive amount of pictures I took of the weekend:

And for all you Pepsi-lovers in the family, you know the Tanners would never serve the red, white & blue at any function they put on. But just so you know... Julie has not betrayed y'all:

She just couldn't get the Coke down without doing this:

THANKS, family, for such a fun weekend. I LOVE YOU. You're all COOL AS... well, you know what you are.

Updates and Recaps

2009-01-19T09:49:00.001-08:00

I know I have seriously neglected the 'ol blog for the last little while, but hey- we all know it's sometimes boring to read a post that has no pictures. I mean, who wants a rundown on somebody's Christmas without any pictures to show for it? They don't really care about the blah-de-blah-blah-blah part, they really just want to see the pics and move on. Right? Well. Keeping that in mind, it was just a little overwhelming for me to post about all the things that have gone on in the last several weeks, since I have OVER 800 pictures from early December on... (ridiculous, I know) So... I figured I would post a total warp-speed-recap, and if you're interested in pictures you can watch an 8-minute slide show--rather than scrolling through 800 pictures.

So here's the recap of the highlights, and a little more explanation that I couldn't fit on the slide show:

{Sydney's Christmas Dance Recital}
It was cute. Sydney did great. Brooklyn loved it, and edged closer & closer to the dancers all the while boogie'ing herself. I don't know if you can tell from pics, but my niece Mackenzie adds a little more sass and funk to her dance moves & hair-flipping than Sydney. It's great!

{Mohler Family Adult Christmas Dinner}
As tradition, we have an adults-only dinner with Kevin's family each December. It is lots of fun, and is such a nice change to be able to carry on coversations with siblings we don't get to see very often without the chaos & pandemonium of all our kids added to the mix. 26 adults, rather than 26 adults + 37 kids, is a much more manageable group. I married into a great family, & I love them. :-)

{Baking Treats}
My cookie sheets don't get used more EVER than they do in the month of December. One of my favorite things of the Christmas Season is delivering goodies to friends & family, so we usually have to do it in stages simply because of the sheer volume (and 1 only have 4 of my favorite cookie sheets). Here's the rundown:
4 batches of Christmas sugar cookies
5 batches of popcorn balls
5 batches of chocolate covered popcorn
4 rice krispie treat wreaths + 3 batches of rice krispies
3 batches of pumpkin cookies
By the time Dec. 25th rolls around, the last thing I want to do is bake ANYthing. (I must be over that since I blew the diet all to heck last night & made cinnamon rolls)

{Polar Express Train Trip to Williams, AZ}
Sarah & Tyler gave our WHOLE family the gift of this amazing trip last year for Christmas, and we had SUCH a great time. The kids had a blast with so many cousins & friends there, & thanks to Sarah's mad color-coordinating skills we all got coordinating pj's for the trip as well. It was COLD, the train ride was super fun, and it was a nice little getaway. THANKS again, Sarah & Tyler!!!
Now, this picture deserves it's own place outside the slide show:

Sarah had ordered all the men these pj pants, in TALL sizes. I can see where she was coming from in not wanting to have any of them wearing floods. Most of the men didn't really NEED a Tall size, so they all were joking about just how Tall the pants were. Kevin decided to SHOW off just how tall they were (AND push out his gut, AND pull his chin in to give him 2 extra chins along with the cheesy grin).

{Christmas Eve @ the Mohler's}
A talent show among the grandkids has become tradition, & Sydney is all excited for it each & every year. As more & more of our nieces & nephews get older, the show gets longer & longer, but it's fun to see how well everyone is doing. Then the kids all prep for the nativity, & mass chaos ensues. Fortunately, Grandma has enough costumes to go around, and it is not unusual to see more than 1 angel, more than 3 shepherds or 3 wisemen, and the brood of sheep & cows gets bigger every year as more & more kids crowd under the rugs. THEN Grandma & Grandpa pass out the grandkids' presents, and chaos erupts again--it's awesome. My kids were THRILLED with their presents this year--especially Brooklyn, who carries the little music player to her book around EVERY DAY calling it her ipod.

{Christmas Morning}
Kevin told the kids they weren't allowed to come out of their rooms until 8am. I woke up at 8:45am, & nobody was awake. Nobody. About 10 minutes later the girls were awake, but we had to wake up the boys. Santa was very good to them this year. VERY good. That's all there is to say. The big hits of the morning were (obviously) the Wii, Webkinz for the older 3 kids, & the boys' Indiana Jones whips--they LOVED those.

{Christmas Day @ the Garrards}
We all descended upon my parents' house sometime between 11 & 12, as that was when my brother Michael was calling home from his mission in Virginia. It was great to talk to him, & we missed him so much that day! I LOVE Christmas at my parents' house, with all the laughing & joking that goes on. It's fun, crazy, and I love it. While Grandpa gave all the kids little play tents, Sydney & Mackenzie were over the moon with their gift cards to the mall instead of the play tents. Good call, Grandpa!!!

{Trip to Duck Creek with Batts & Barlows}
Thanks to an invite from our wonderful friends (who we consider our family), the day after Christmas we left our house that looked like Santa had puked Christmas all over it & went to Duck Creek, UT for a few days. It had snowed so much up there Christmas Day, there was sooooo much snow. The kiddos LOVED it, & us moms stayed nice & cozy in Jamie's beautiful warm cabin. It was great! We had a WONDERFUL time, and so did the kids. Thankfully, Tyler had offered for us to take his truck (since our van NEVER would have made it up there in all the snow). By the time we got up there the temp outside registered at -2 degrees.

{New flooring in our family room}
Once we got home from Duck Creek, we promptly got to work on ripping out our family room carpet. After months of TALKING about it, we were finally DOING something about the nasty carpet in there. I'm totally embarassed by how dirty our carpet had become in there, & could not have been happier to see it go. Once I had decided we were NOT paying to have it cleaned one more time, & would be ripping it out...it got so so bad. Thanks to our WONDERFUL family, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the finished product. Tyler came & tiled the step down into the room from the kitchen, and then Jason & Jared came to put in the floor & new baseboards. They worked amazingly fast, & did such a great job--I LOVE IT!!! They had that floor in, AND the baseboards on in 5 hours. THANKS AGAIN, guys.

{Sydney's 10th Birthday}
I know this deserves more than just a little blurb on a re-cap post, & maybe it will get that sometime in the near future. But my baby girl turned 10 on January 5th, and it is still hard for me to believe that I have been a mom for over a decade now. Ever since last year's b-day, Sydney has wanted to go to Disneyland with just Mom for her birthday. So that was her birthday. We also had bought her a music box in Italy when we were there a few years ago that we had been saving to give her when she got a little older, so we gave her that too. We invited her friend Abbie & her mom to come along, and the 4 of us had such a fun time! It was an incredibly different experience being there NOT scolding kids & having to run interference with them for bugging each other, teasing one another, and whining & arguing. We had no stroller. We had no crying kids. We had no meltdowns. We simply had a great time! Since Disneyland is doing their get-in-free-on-your-birthday-in-2009 promotion, we went ON Syd's birthday. But since she has an annual pass & didn't need free admission, she got a $69 gift card to spend on merchandise that day in the park. Oh, the girl was in HEAVEN. And I was trying painfully hard to be patient as she walked through the stores trying to decide what to spend that $69 on. Since these wouldn't upload to the slide show, I have to post these pics here...just a few of the shots snapped on Space Mountain, California Screamin', & Tower of Terror:

{High School Musical on Ice}
Sarah called & said her friends Derek & Sherri had given them several tickets to HSM on Ice--tickets for their box seats. Uh, hello!? Of course, we wanted to go! Now, Sydney & her friend Abbie love that kind of thing, but they would never be caught dead dancing & screaming to the performances like the other thousands of girls there were. Kenzie & Maggie? Well, they weren't afraid to strut it & scream & dance. It was so fun to watch all of those girls party & was such a fun girls night out. HUGE THANKS again to Derek & Sherri.

So there you go...And if you've made it through this post and STILL care to see pictures to go along with all of that, you can watch this slide show:

Our last 6 weeks

HOLLA!!! We have a BIG GIRL in the house!!!

2009-01-18T01:11:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the delayed update on the potty training status. To sum it up, here's one word: SUCCESS!!! Woo hoo!!! Yes, my friends, Brooklyn is a peeing & pooping pro. Here is a little bit of the rundown, and I apologize in advance for the poop-talk. If you can't handle talk about poop, you might want to scroll & skim. I won't be offended. We started out Monday morning full of hope & promise, and I soon realized that despite having lots of snacks & drinks available, you CANNOT get a toddler to eat or drink if they don't want to. I felt like I was shoving the sippy cup in Brooklyn's face all day long, & she kept turning it down. And we didn't really need the timer either, since she quickly figured out that she could just bring her musical potty into the family room & plant herself on it while she watched Baby Einstein & Mickey Mouse. What a smartie. But seriously, this girl knew what was up. As soon as we put on the Tinkerbell panties that morning, she knew what not to do in them. We did not have ONE accident on day 1. Not one. I think maybe I freaked her out a little bit when I told her not to poop on the princess because that would make Tinkerbell very sad to get pooped or pee'ed on. We had a few tears at one point when she passed a little gas & thought she had pooped on the princess. She was quite distraught. Anyway... I knew we were not out of the woods as the all-important turning-point POO had not happened yet. Some of you know that Brooklyn has had pooping issues anyway--we have been dealing with this for, uh, about a year & a half. She just will not let herself go. So I was not sure if potty training would help or hurt that problem, and was in a quandry about how to overcome that obstacle, as we ended day 1 of boot camp with no poop, but with a very obvious need to do so. Finally on day 2, after many MANY exhausting & frustrating false alarms (4 of which happened at Cafe Rio--our first outing we braved in big girl undies, which I figured was fairly safe since they've got concrete floors & all) the dreaded #2 happened quite literally because she could not NOT go anymore. So. What to do? I got on the computer, did some research, and decided to put the girl back on Miralax once a day. Dozens of parents swore by this, and while I had my doubts since Brooklyn has been on Miralax PLENTY in the last 18 months in trying to deal with her issues (& it did help some), I figured we were at least trying SOMEthing. Day 2 ended with just 2 accidents, but I still figured our record was pretty awesome. Of course, day #3 was great, and she began going on her own without telling me. I would just hear her call from somewhere in the house, "Mommmmmmmm! I go pee!!!!" It was awesome. But, of course, no poop since she had just gone the day before. I knew day #4 could go either way (since she was due for another poo)--constant stuggling with the natural course of things, or willfull & happy to do the deed. As I was scrubbing 1 bathroom that afternoon, I heard her yell out from the other bathroom, "Mommmmmmm! I go big poop!" I thought she was faking, and just trying to get me to come running. But 5 feet from the bathroom, I knew she was no faker. I definitely smelled success. I did some seriously joyous dancing & hooting & hollering. She was so proud & tickled with herself, I though she would turn herself inside out. I about died laughing when she got off the throne to check out her work, and delightedly commented on the 'shape' as she gasped & said "I did a candy cane poop!" I know, TMI. Sorry. I warned you of the poop-talk though. We're all about it these days. So... That was day 4, and the rest is history. We haven't had an accident in the last 2 days, & we're still going strong. We'll be braving church tomorrow in undies, so we'll see how that goes. But she has seriously racked up the tokens & depleted the pink M&Ms, and we will definitely be visiting Chuck E this week. Happy day. And...sorry to give you a whole lot of words with no pictures, but it's after 1AM & I'm too lazy to download them. Stay tuned for another post & I'll give you potty pics then (nothing too graphic, I promise).

End of an Era

2009-01-11T23:18:00.000-08:00

We reached a major milestone this weekend. We took down the crib. We have had our crib assembled & in use, for the most part, for over 10 years. Except for a few short stints of being empty while waiting for another baby to arrive, this little baby has surely served its time. This weekend the crib came down, and Brooklyn was thrilled to kiss it goodbye. After all, it gave her more space to spread out her baby doll nursery. She has actually been sleeping in her big girl bed with Sydney for about a month, so any attachment she felt toward her former sleeping place was long gone. Mom, on the other hand (I will confess) is feeling like the whole thing is a little surreal... not sure how I feel about my baby being out of the baby bed. For good.

And speaking of milestones (I know this is stupid to those of you who couldn't give a flip or even enjoy doing girls' hair, but some of you know where I'm coming from here.)...What can be more exciting as a mom of a little girly girl than when your baby can finally wear SPONGE CURLERS!? Syd has been wearing them since she was 2, & I LOVE how easy it makes doing hair in the morning. I decided to give it a try last night with Brooklyn, and see how her little blonde locks would respond. Plus, if I get her trained now to leave them in & sleep with them, my Sunday mornings will be so much easier for many years to come. I was a little nervous that we would end up with complete frizz this morning, but I thought she turned out adorable. She wasn't so sure about going to bed with it feeling 'bumpy' on her head, but Sydney went for the curlers too to help Brookie along. Oh man, the world of hair just got so much more fun for her...I LOVE IT!!!

And lest you think I am raising a complete prissy princess with her big-girl bed, sponge curlers, and all the sass that comes with beautiful hair... Do not fear--my girl keeps it real:

And since we are all on board the big-girl train here in the Mohler house, we are starting Potty Training Boot Camp full force tomorrow morning. Oh yeah, baby. We are ready!

Musical Potty Chair: Check.
Colorful character Princess & Tinkerbell panties (several pair): Check.
PINK M&M's to reward each & every victory on the throne with a handful: Check. (Thankfully potty training season falls around Valentine's when PINK M&M's are in stock & readily available)
Lots of salty snacks to increase the thirst & keep the cycle of eat/drink/pee going: Check.
Plenty of juice, water, kool-aid, and whatever her heart desires to make the girl be a pee machine: Check.
A plentiful stack of books to entertain, distract & occupy while waiting for success on the potty: Check.
Timer to set every 20 minutes to remind us to make another trip to the pot: Check. (I will want to throw this against the wall by tomorrow at about 5pm)
A schedule free & clear from commitments & obligations for 2 solid days so we can stay home & conquer this beast: Check.
Chuck E. Cheese Tokens for further victory rewards--1 token for #1, 2 tokens for #2 (the girl is ALL ABOUT Chuck E these days, it's exhausting...she can see the damn place every time we get on the freeway & won't stop talking about it until we reach our destination which is never Chuck E. Cheese): Check. (When the jar is full of tokens--and she is hopefully trained--we will be making a celebratory trip to Chuck E's to spend the tokens)
Our dancing shoes to do the celebratory pee pee party dance for every tiny trickle of urine that hits that musical toilet tomorrow: Check.
Major resolve & determination on Mom's part (which may need a little help by about 3:00 tomorrow from my good friend Diet Dr. Pepper): Check.

Wish us luck. I'M gonna need it. I despise potty training. Geez, I don't know if I'll be able to handle coming to grips with my baby being officially out of the crib AND out of diapers in the same week. Really, I won't be sad about the diapers--that is 1 expense that is incredibly joyful to think about eliminating. But really...talk about the end of an era.

Christmas Eve 34 years ago...

2008-12-24T08:11:00.000-08:00

As I laid in bed this morning at 6am thinking of my horribly long list of to-dos for today and being mad at myself for letting so many things go till the last minute, I realized that 34 Christmas Eves ago my mother-in-law had 4 kids of her own (just like me) and was probably worrying and stressing about all the same things I am this morning...AND having a baby. Yes, Kevin's birthday is today, and his mom has told me before about doing her normal Christmas Eve things that day, having dinner at the neighbor's house that night, and later that night giving birth Kevin at home. He was born at 11:12pm, so when his 4 siblings woke up the next morning they found that Santa had brought them a new baby brother. Wow. Oh man, because I am a planner (and have had all 4 of my babies scheduled & induced) I know I would NOT deal well with a baby just deciding to arrive on Christmas Eve. Can you even imagine?!!! This morning I couldn't help but throw my own to-dos aside & think about what that would mean to have a baby on Christmas Eve...immediately a whole other set of would-be stress popped up in my mind (because I fret about dumb stuff that isn't even happening): Is Dad going to be able to handle everything Mom usually takes care of on Christmas Eve? Can he cover all the details? Do I have anything for this baby for Christmas? Is this baby going to cry and wake up the other kids & ruin the whole Christmas morning surprise? Seriously, Kevin's mom is wonder woman anyway, and I'm sure she didn't skip a beat, & Christmas was wonderful that year. She's amazing like that. And so, this Christmas Eve I am grateful that 34 Christmas Eves ago the love of my life came into this world & has blessed it ever since.

Kevin actually handles his birthday being eaten up by Christmas Eve festivities very well. I think the Lord knew that with his easy-going personality he could handle that okay. I am much more selfish with my birthday, and wouldn't be so okay with it. The only thing he gets really upset about is receiving birthday gifts wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper. According to him, "you might as well say, 'I forgot your birthday, so here's one of your Christmas presents for your birthday'." So...in the spirit of non-Christmas-y birthday wishes, here are 34 of my favorite things I love about Kevin:

1. He makes me laugh. His sense of humor is probably the biggest thing I have ALWAYS loved about him. He is funny.

2. He puts up with me. He is a total example of perseverance and determination by committing to be with me for eternity. I know I'm not easy to live with. Apparently he likes a challenge.

3. He is an awesome dad. I could elaborate forever on this one, but I won't. I'll just say I don't think my kids could ask for a dad who was more fun.

4. He is incredibly easy going. For the most part, he is agreeable to whatever anyone asks.

5. He is smart. About a lot of things. He teaches me things all the time.

6. He is an incredibly hard worker. He works really hard at his job, and spends long hours in an effort to give our family a good life.

7. He is simple. He doesn't ask for much, and is happy just being home with his family.

8. He makes awesome forts with our kids. And leaves them up for them to sleep in.

9. He is a kid at heart. In the rare event that we go shopping together, I can usually guarantee that he will find some toy that is "so cool." He still picks out the Hot Wheels cars that are awesome, he builds incredible Lego creations, he speaks Star Wars-talk & engages in intense lightsaber duels with my boys, he asks for race car tracks for Christmas, and plays video games with the kids. Sometimes this is a blessing & a curse.

10. He is always nice about my cooking. It's no secret that I love baking, hate cooking. So when I make something for dinner and it's not top chef quality, he's nice about it. He usually finds a really nice way of saying "Please, for the love of everything holy, do not make that ever ever again."

11. He does not judge. He has taught me so much about not being critical or judging others. I truly believe that is a gift.

12. He is incredibly practical. This is USUALLY a good thing. I have to put my foot down & put the kaibosh on some of his practicality, though, when he gives no regard to how things LOOK in our house. He's only concerned with practicality, so he thinks nothing of using our pot shelves in our living room to hold food storage. (Although I've put my foot down on this the boxes are still there since he put them up there when I wasn't home, and I'm too chicken to get up on the ladder and take them down myself)

13. He humors me. He will do things he really doesn't want to do, just because I want to...even if he's miserable the whole time.

14. He changes diapers.

15. He takes our kids camping. Even without me, sometimes.

16. He lets me go & have girls' weekends, and trips by myself. I recognize that this is huge, since I know a lot of people whose husbands would not agree to things like that. He is sweet that way.

17. He helps me with chores. He does the dishes if I'm not home, and he knows that mopping the floor kills my back so does that too.

18. He takes care of our yard. When we bought our house he wanted to put in desert landscaping. I was adamant about wanting grass--in the front & back. We have grass. And he maintains it all.

19. He is very forgiving. He is usually the first to apologize & forgive when we argue.

20. He listens to me. I know I talk a lot. And he is kind to listen. He only falls asleep on me every once in a while.

21. He acts interested in things I know he couldn't care less about, but that I think are cool.

22. He is patient.

23. He doesn't care if I have girls nights out, & recognizes that I need the break every once in a while.

24. He drives the crappy car so I can drive the nicer one. The heater in his car is broken right now, so his feet are numb some days by the time he gets to work in the morning. And he doesn't complain about it. Instead, he wanted a coat for his birthday, & was very excited to wear his new coat this morning to work. See? I told you he's a simple guy.

25. He is sarcastic. I couldn't be married to someone who couldn't dish it back to me, and he does a good job of putting me in my place.

26. He is quick-witted. Many who know him have heard him respond with something hilarious when you least expect it. I love it. And he keeps me laughing.

27. He honors his Priesthood. I feel very blessed to have the Priesthood in our home, and am thankful he honors it & teaches our kids about it.

28. He is frugal. He has corrected me many times over the years when I've called him 'tight' or 'cheap.' He is frugal. And I do my share of complaining about living with a frugal accountant. But, in all respects, we would be in so much more debt if it weren't for his not-cheap-not-tight frugal self.

29. He fixes things. Although he isn't the handy build-your-own-entertainment-center fix-it man, he finds a way to fix LOTS of things that have gone wrong or broken in our house. My kids always say "Dad can fix everything," and I'm glad that's the case...'cause I can't fix anything to save my life.

30. He always asks how my day was. And he genuinely wants to know. This means a lot.

31. He rubs my neck & shoulders. That's a big job...'cause I ask him a lot. My neck & shoulders pretty much hurt all the time, and he has become the best at getting to the knots. And THAT is true service, because I know he doesn't really want to do it most of the time.

32. He reads my blog. He might deny it, but I know he does... And sometimes...every once in a while...gives me his own comments.

33. He is helpful. He is almost always willing to help other people, and will help me when I bite off more than I can handle by overcommitting myself.

34. HE LOVES ME. He has ALWAYS been so sweet to me. I am lucky to have him in my life. He makes my life sweeter, and works so hard to give me a great life.

I love you, Kevin. HAPPY 34TH BIRTHDAY!!!

Okay, REALLY the highlight of my season!

2008-12-22T15:01:00.000-08:00

For those of you who frequent this blog and/or my sister's blog, you already know about our recent celebrity sightings of Senator Reid at Cafe Rio and the movie theater. Well, my friends...let me just tell you who TRUMPS Senator Reid? (Okay, no comments necessary about how that's not hard to do...I already know how many of you feel about him!) Uh...that would be MARIE OSMOND. Oh yes, people. As we were enjoying our little lunch at The Rio, in comes Marie, and a few minutes later she was joined by her EIGHT kids. As none of us had our cameras, and were only equipped with cell phones, my cousin Jerolyn was fa-reaking out. I finally went over & talked to her just to tell her how my friends & I were all discussing how beautiful she is in person & how great she looks (seriously, she looked like beautiful Barbie doll, and super thin too!). She was super gracious and sweet. Jerolyn told me her heart was palpitating just watching me walk over to talk to her...so when Marie went over to get her drink (cause, ya know, we were BFFs by then), I asked her if I could snap a picture of her with my cousin--cause that would be the most awesome Christmas present for her...Of course she was kind and sweet and said yes. I was too chicken to ask for another one with me in it since I knew she was just trying to enjoy lunch with her family. So here is the super poor quality cell phone picture of Jer & Marie:

Merry Christmas to us!

Highlight of the Season

2008-12-21T17:30:00.001-08:00

Obviously I have not posted much during the month of December, but I cannot skip over posting about what is, by far, my FAVORITE party of the season EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. 7 years ago we started having our annual "cousins party" at Christmas time. I know, the name is so original. It is not so much the 'cousins party' per se since my parents come now too, but it is basically all of my adult family who live in town, getting together to hoot it up & have us a good (and perhaps a little naughty at times) 'ol time. This year Kevin dropped a major bombshell on me when he sent me an email letting me know the date for his work's party--scheduled on the SAME NIGHT that the cousins party had already been booked for. AUGHHHH!!! Talk about major dilemma. We knew we needed to go to the work party, and I figured if we only tripled the speed limit we might be able to make it over to Dustin & Leah's for the gift exchange. All the other family was nice enough to wait for us, and we made it there in time to enjoy a LOT of laughs. It was awesome. Thanks again, everyone who waited on us to get there...I totally appreciate it. I don't know if my heart could have quite recovered if I had had to miss out on the good time completely. Here are a few pics I snapped of the infamous 'dirty santa' gift exchange. ***And fyi, as had to be explained to the rest of us whose minds went immediately to the gutter upon receiving word of the exchange being a 'dirty santa' exchange--'dirty santa' refers to the manner of which gifts are opened & stolen, not the actual nature of the gifts themselves.***

It was awesome. There were a few white elephant gifts that made repeat appearances from past years, including one of the items Kevin ended up with--a ream of green legal sized paper. Despite our attempts to casually leave the paper at Dustin & Leah's, Dustin ran out & chucked it into the side of our van before we could make our getaway...and Frankie 'casually' walked alongside our car until we were safely past Dustin's work truck. However, along with the paper we did score a bluetooth for my phone THAT WORKS. Thanks, Tyler D!!! We'll get that paper back to ya next year! And despite a valiant effort, Tyler B was not able to unload the brown polyester sectional couch that he is dying to get ride of. It was a blast...and we can't wait to bring down the house at Nate & Stac's next year...

For Real?

2008-12-17T20:37:00.000-08:00

Let me preface the below pictures with these little beauties. Brooklyn LOVES to be outside, and would spend all her days out there if I would let her. These pictures were taken December 2nd & December 7th. Nowhere but Vegas (and maybe a few other places) can a girl enjoy the outdoors in DECEMBER totally topless & carefree.

'Kay, fast forward 10 days, and here we are. My kids felt totally shafted on Monday when the west side of the valley got snowed on & we got nothin'. But this morning snow flurries started, and I figured it would be what we've had several times here in Vegas before...nothing but flurries. But they take what they can get. We had some friends over, and the boys went nuts. They were all about playing in the 'snow.' I figured I would hurry and take some pictures since it's such a rare occasion that we have snow here...

2 hours later, after watching more and more of the snow start to stick, and the 'flurries' turn into thick flakes, Dave & Shana went to leave. By this time my kids had been begging for over an hour to let them put on their snow clothes and go out & play. I had initially denied their request thinking that was way too much work for an inch of snow that would be melted in 20 minutes. But finally I agreed, and pulled out the snow clothes. (Remember they all got snow clothes for Christmas last year? I never dreamed they would actually need to use them in our own yard!) I dressed them all up (Sydney was at Sarah's), and I headed out with them to help make a snowman. We named her Syd in honor of Sydney who was missing out on the fun:

After a while of playing in the backyard, I knew Sydney would be way too bummed about missing out on playing in the snow (still thinking it was going to stop soon & the fun would be over). So...what does a mom with 50 ba-dillion things on her to-do list do??? Loaded up Syd's snow gear, picked her up from Sarah's & headed over to the middle school to play in the snow! I was shocked at how thick the snow was on the roads. And I was sure there would be tons of kids playing at the school. Nope! We were the only ones there, with the exception of a guy from Washington there with his dog. It was awesome!!! Poor Brooklyn fell asleep in the car before we even got there. But within 20 minutes she had woken up & was ready for the fun. My kids were all decked out in their warm snow clothes, and I was there in my windbreaker, jeans & tennishoes. It was fabulous. I'm still thawing out.

I don't know what was wrong with my camera or what setting I accidentally put it on for the group pic of the 4 of them--it was dark by that time, so who knows what the deal was? After driving in snail's-pace traffic on the way home, the snow was so thick on our driveway (which is sort of steep anyway), I COULDN'T GET UP THE DRIVEWAY. Yeah, I had to park on the street since my tires just skid & spin on the driveway. Nice.

And here's the view from our house now--at 8pm. Look at how the trampoline is weighed down. It's still coming down, and my kids are totally praying for school to be cancelled tomorrow. I never in a million years thought a 'snow day' in Vegas was possible...I love it. Kevin, Sydney, & Austin are actually out right now somewhere around the neighborhood having a good 'ol time. I'm sipping hot chocolate trying to get my toesies to thaw out.

And hopefully Brooklyn won't try going topless tomorrow.

P.S. As I'm finishing this at 9:15, Kevin just got back from the post office. He is so sweet and drove over to the Sunset post office to get letters to my brother by Friday, and his Christmas package in the mail with all the treats I baked for him today. They told him it would be there by 3 on Friday ASSUMING flights go out tomorrow. They said no flights went out today because of the snow. Crazy.

Here We Are Again

2008-12-01T22:47:00.000-08:00

I purposely color coordinated for you, Sarah (ok not really)--but hopefully it meets your standards

Last week was my kids' final week of track break before going back to the grind of homework, bedtimes, & the morning rush. So what do we do to make the most of our last week off??? Skip on over to Disneyland, of course. My friend Jennie asked if I've considered getting help for this little problem of mine. I really don't know what she's talking about. :-) Since this is probably the 1 and only year we will ever have annual passes, we're getting good use out of them. Disneyland got themselves all decked out for the holidays last weekend, and I really wanted to take the kids while it was all decorated for Christmas. And I'm so glad I did--it was so awesome! Totally magical. I loved it. Okay, actually I really just love that place...anytime of the year. But at Christmas it is even more fun. We made it to church on Sunday, came home & packed up the car, and left Brooklyn & Kevin at home, and hit the road for Aunt Cloadella & Uncle Chuck's house. They are so kind & sweet to let us stay any time we want to get our Disney fix, and I LOVE THEM. I love staying up late visiting with them, and love that my kids love their house. The next morning we headed out for a long day at the parks...what could be more exciting than 12+ hours at the happiest place on earth with thousands of other people? My kids were ecstatic about the snow at the end of the fireworks that night, & left on a total high. We went to bed tired & happy.

I thought I would include these 2 pictures--Sydney wanted me to take a picture of her last week on the bed in Minnie's house. I pulled up this other picture from the first time we took Syd to Disneyland 6 years ago....where did my baby girl go???

The next morning we packed to leave Aunt Cloadella's house before hitting the parks, since we were planning to drive home that night after playing all day. As I was loading the van the kids started collecting acorns from Aunt Clo's huge acorn tree in their front yard. Before I knew it, all 3 of them had collected over 100 acorns & didn't even want to get in the car. (yes, I know my kids are obviously spoiled if they would rather collect acorns in the yard than get their behinds over to Disneyland) Aunt Cloadella was so nice to humor them & give them THREE baggies to hold them (after fighting ensued over who would hold the one bag with all acorns). They are so good to my kids, and I'm so glad we've been able to spend time with them this year!

As soon as we got in the car to head over to the park, Sydney was divvying up the acorns into the 3 bags. And of course in the 4 minutes between Aunt Clo's house & Disneyland, there was mad discussion about what to do with the acorns (everything from planting them to get our own acorn tree to taking them camping to give to the chipmunks) when Sydney burst out with the idea of giving them to Chip & Dale that day at Disneyland. Any of you who know Syd know that THAT is a total Sydney idea in every way. Of course I had to be the bummer lame-o mom & squash that idea, telling them they were NOT bringing 3 bags of acorns into the park that I would be carrying around for them and would probably be spilled in the bottom of the backpack and would never make it to Chip & Dale because we would probably NOT see Chip & Dale that day because we were NOT going back to toon town as we had already covered that the day before. (I know, not so much in fun-mom mode at that moment) We parked, loaded the stroller, and were on our way for Day #2. About the middle of the day we passed some little ranch area, and my kids spotted Chip, Dale & Pluto in there doing greetings & mingling around the crowd. The 3 of them shrieked & took off for the chipmunks. I followed, rolling my eyes. As soon as we got to them each of my kids pulled a single acorn out of their pockets & were ready to try & worm their way in to get a turn to have the characters' attention. I'm not sure at what point I missed the conspiring to sneak in the acorns, but their mission had succeeded & figured I now must eat my words. So...my kids presented Chip & Dale with their acorns, and Sydney got a big 'ol kiss & hug for it--I don't think she could have been more pleased with herself! And yes, apparently Mom is a big 'ol fuddy duddy! Oh well. I'm glad their little acorn excitement helped add to the fun of the trip.

sorry Sarah, I just couldn't coordinate with them this day.

And that was the end of our adventure. My totally deprived kids got home Tuesday night, were home for 1 day, and left again on Thursday after Thanksgiving dinner with Kevin & Uncle Tyler & lots of cousins for their annual Turkey Day Camping trip. It was an eventful week for them. I have about 2 pictures of all of Thanksgiving, so you can check out our Turkey Day festivities on Sarah's blog. This was the first year I have not had a baby stuck with me for the camping trip, and it. was. GLORIOUS. Kevin knows that I have dreamt about such a weekend for a very long time, so I was seriously pumped to kick those boys out the door with their full little tummies & 8 little kidlets. In the rain. Thankfully, the weather cleared & the danger of them returning early dissipated, and Sarah & I were in hog heaven, poring over the Black Friday ads & planning our attack for the next day. So...what's a girl to do without children/husband & an empty quiet house? Well, I committed myself to being super productive, so here's some of what I did manage to cross off my list:

I finished off my Christmas cards (which have been a few weeks in the making...I'm not THAT productive) & got them put in the mail, wrapped a bunch of presents for December 25th, and got all of our annual Christmas CDs burned (we make a Christmas mix CD each year to give out to family & friends with goodies). Unfortunately I do NOT have photos to document mine & Sarah's 4:30am Walmart experience on Black Friday. That was unlike anything I have ever experienced before. Ever. In between the projects, wrapping, and shopping, we had lunch with my family (including Jerolyn & her momma here from out of town) and saw 4 Christmases (loved it). I'm trying to convince Kevin that whole Dads camping trip should really be a bi-annual trip. I'm totally sold on that idea. Kevin? Well...not quite yet. I'm working on him.

Tis the Season

2008-11-18T13:29:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin Cookies

1 cup oil
2 tsp. nutmeg
3 cups sugar
2 cups choc. chips
2 eggs
2 cups raisins (opt.)
5 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 lg. can pumpkin
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. vanilla

Mix oil & sugar; add eggs & beat well. Add dry ingredients & vanilla alternately with pumpkin until all are added. Beat with each addition. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop on greased cookie sheet by teaspoonful. Bake 11-14 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 6 dozen.

These are, by far, one of my most favoritest cookies. Ever. And, because they are super easy to make, and make a lot of cookies...well...we have them a lot. I'll just say that I am thrilled every year when Sam's Club sells pumpkin in a 3-pack. I buy lots. These cookies have been FAVORITES of Brooklyn's ever since we started giving her bites of solid foods. If she can even see a container with them in it, she wants nothing else to eat for breakfast, lunch, & dinner. Enjoy!

Christmas-fied!!!

2008-11-15T23:11:00.000-08:00

I decided to go all crazy last weekend and get a'movin on this holiday season. We completely skipped decking out the house in any way for Turkey Day this year, and fast forwarded straight to the red & green. Despite Kevin's complaining and moaning, I convinced him to skip the Sunday nap and get out the Christmas tree for us to put up. He kindly obliged. In the midst of the chaos (and TOTAL frustration over 2 spots of lights that were out...don't get me started--ARGHHH!), I casually mentioned to him that we had about an hour & a half of daylight left--enough time for him to put up the outside lights (what very little lights we do put up outside). To my surprise, he kindly obliged (again). And so...Sunday we got the tree all put up, and Monday Sydney & I got all the rest of the Christmas stuff out & put up around the house. The Mohler house is officially Christmas-fied. DONE on November 10th. I love it. And we're the only house in the neighborhood with our Christmas lights up. Weird? Not if you ask me. I LOVE getting the holiday season into gear early!!! And I am determined to not be all stressy come mid-December. Thus, the early decorating.

Here are a few pics of the Christmas tree mania:

Brooklyn was the ornament-hoarder. She screamed if we didn't include her in the passing out of ornaments as we pulled them out of the boxes. But none of hers made it onto the tree--she created a little stash that she DID NOT want on the tree. I had to sneak those away from her later.

Oh, look--the Mohlers got a new poodle for Christmas. Ohhhh, yeah, that's me. If you look closely you can see my face amidst that mass of hair. Geez, that really is a lot of hair. You know when you see a picture of yourself & go "ughhh...that's what everyone else is seeing??" Like I said, poodle comes to mind. But seriously, notice the stark contrast between mine & my daughter's hair in that top picture. How are we even related?

Anyone who is around Seth on a regular basis can totally hear him saying, "Heyyyyy, where's mine???" in his high little voice. Poor kid, he wouldn't hang any ornament on the tree unless he was on the ladder to do it. Because of that, Sydney & Austin lapped him about 5 times while Seth was hanging his 1 ornament. He wasn't happy when we were done, and he didn't think he had gotten to hang that many ornaments.

And since we're all in the Christmas spirit around here, I figured I would finish the 2007 ornaments I started for my kids last year (and never got finished) AND knock out their 2008 ornaments as well (so I didn't have them hanging in the unfinished projects list for the whole next year). I finished '07, and put together the '08 ornaments (a la Becky Higgins idea), and we're good to go! Yes, they look similar, but I didn't feel like buying all new paint. Oh well. The kids don't care. And I can check one more thing of my holiday to-do list. Yippee. Things like that give me warm fuzzies.:-)

I LOVE...

2008-11-08T22:22:00.001-08:00

...that this is gonna be one mother of a post. Yeah, I haven't posted much substantial lately, but that doesn't mean life has stopped around here. Quite the opposite. So pull up a chair...this ain't gonna no lil bitty post!

Right now I am loving...

...that actually speaking up makes a difference. For those of you who have been dying to know, I did speak to the school librarian about the Doll Baby book previously posted about. I explained my concerns & my feelings, and he was very nice about it. He looked up the book in the computer, and said there were 44 copies of it in Clark County schools, over half of which were elementary schools. The book was rated for 4th to 8th grade (which CLEARLY should not have a 2nd level AR sticker). He explained the process to me of what has to be done to have a book removed from the shelf. He said he would do a few different things & for me to check back the following week. But the next day he had an answer for me. After speaking to the disctrict library coordinator, he brought this book up with her. Apparently, this book had already been suggested for removal from elementary school shelves...ABOUT 6 YEARS AGO. The word just didn't get out. So...because of my bringing it up, they were able to get the message out to those schools who did still have it on their shelves & have them remove it. As I turned to leave, he said to me, "Now see? Don't let anyone tell you that you can't promote change..." I loved that. It gave me warm fuzzies inside. And then I went & voted. And I loved that too.

...that Austin turned 7 on October 27th and seems so grown up to me now:

The one and only thing Austin wanted from us for his birthday this year was a Nintendo DS. I struggled deciding whether or not to cave to his constant imploring for a DS versus the whole he-doesn't-need-a-DS-when-we-have-2-perfectly-good-XBox's argument. But in the end I'm a sucker for my Austin & he got the DS. He had to buy his own games to go with it, and with a little help from the Target giftcard from the Barlows he received, he promptly purchased the Lego Indiana Jones & Lego Batman games. I loved seeing that pure glee on his face when he opened it. He was also pretty jazzed about his Webkinz--a bat, which he named Luke (hmmm, I wonder who he's named after), his favorite mints, and his XBox pj pants. I love that he requested breakfast burritos for his birthday dinner (ummm, yeah, I think I can handle that...if only they were all that easy!), and white cupcakes with chocolate frosting. I love that he seems to be changing every single day to me. It's amazing...it seems like I was just barely sitting on the couch watching all of the 9/11 coverage, super pregnant with him, wondering what kind of world I was bringing that poor baby into. Time flies.

...that this was a hugely triumphant week in our nation's history. It's a daunting thing to try and explain the enormity and significance of all of this to my children. I love who our new president will be this coming January, and the promise and hope that he's bringing with him. I love it that record numbers of people turned out to vote all over the place. I love that Sarah & Daniel came over Tuesday night to watch the election coverage and we ended up talking about everything under the sun. I love them both. They are 2 of my most favorite peeps. Daniel, I love it that after so many years we were able to rope you into our lives again.

...that Halloween is over. I have to admit, Halloween is not my favorite holiday. It is, though, bittersweet, because I do think Fall is my favorite season and the whole Halloween hype is sort of what sparks the beginning of Fall. I just hate the whole Halloween-lasts-an-entire-week ordeal. After our ward trunk or treat, 2 preschool parties, 2 class parties, and finally Halloween night, I was hating the holiday. But I did love getting together for dinner at Sarah's, and I love taking the kids trick-or-treating with our friends. I love my friends. And I love that our kids are friends. I love that the Webbs invited us over to carve pumpkins for Family Night before Halloween and have the mess on their patio:

And although I'm not crazy about the holiday, I did love getting together for dinner at Sarah's, and I love taking the kids trick-or-treating with our friends. I love my friends. And I love that our kids are friends. That makes life sweet.

Oh yeah, I love that we had 25 adorable kids to take around the neighborhood. Now THAT is a good time. Keeping track and doing a head count after each house is so much fun. And I love that Kevin is always willing to head up a 'big kids' group for all those 'cool kids' who go so much faster and cover so much more ground and stay out later than the little ones.

...that Sydney's (and mine) orthodontist held a candy buy-back on Monday. They have a token incentive program to help keep the kids motivated in taking good care of their braces, have good hygiene, etc. So...they paid the kids tokens for every pound of candy they brought in. I LOVE it that we unloaded 7 POUNDS of Halloween candy at their office. I was more than happy to get rid of it.

...that after trick-or-treating last week we hopped in the car and drove to California for a quick Disneyland trip--all 6 of us this time.

Kevin's dad had a 2-day ticket he wasn't using & offered it to Kevin, and since the kids & I have annual passes OF COURSE WE HAD TO GO. I love Disneyland. I love that it was Brooklyn's first time being there. I love it that she LOVES seeing the characters. From afar. I love that she wants to wave at them but not get close enough to stand in line to take a picture of them. I love that when I try to get a group picture either of our family (above) or of the 4 kids (below) Brooklyn decides to stick her tongue out or pick her nose. We're classy like that. Oh yeah, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new Toy Story ride in California Adventure--my favorite ride for sure.

And I love it that Kevin is soooooo into Disneyland just as much as me--NOT. He loathes the place. I know he enjoys seeing his adorable offspring having the time of their lives, but for him (and I do NOT get this at all) it is not the happiest place on earth. He loves to people watch, so he will always volunteer to sit out with Brooklyn. But as much as I tried to convince him to convert his ticket to an annual pass, he wouldn't budge. So...that being said, I REALLY LOVE IT that he was willing to tromp all over the park with us on Saturday after being up all night in the hotel (after pulling in at 1AM) with a majorly bad stomach bug. He was pretty upset that he ruined his run of not vomiting after about 11 years. Thankfully he got it all out of his system during the night and all was well the next day (but there was NO sharing of drinks or food, for sure).

...that my kids have seen pay phones so few times in their lives that they thought they were 'cool' and had to play with them at Disneyland. Whaaaaat?

It's kinda like when I borrowed my dad's truck that doesn't have electric windows. Austin said "Cool!!!" and cranked the window up and down several times. 'Cause ya know...manual windows and pay phones are so ancient.

...that Brooklyn was such an angel at Disneyland when it came to standing in lines. I mean, she was the most patient and understanding 2-year-old I've ever seen. Just look at her...doesn't that make you want to be right there trying to control her screams and wails and cries??? It was glorious. So I also love that we were armed with the binkie and her blankie to console her after having to peel her off of the rides. I love it that her idea of a fabulous day is riding "the horsies" (King Arthur's Carousel) over and over again, which happens to have the shortest line.

...Haagen Dazs. And I love it that there is a Haagen Dazs store in Downtown Disney. Kevin inherited his love for Haagen Dazs ice cream from his dad. Especially chocolate malts. And I love it that it's rubbed off on me too...and apparently Brooklyn as well (okay, it's really all 4 of our kids). Anytime we have gone to Disneyland with Grandma & Grandpa, Grandpa Mohler usually enjoys many'a'chocolate malt from the Haagen Dazs shop there. So we indulged more than once this trip, and Brooklyn was lovin' it:

Yes, I think it's cute that my girl knows the good stuff. If we even mentioned the word "malt" she would say "ooooooohhhhhh, ICE CREAM...yummy!!!" At 7 bucks a pop, it's an expensive treat...hopefully that expensive taste doesn't come back to bite me when she's a teenager & asking for a Coach bag or something ridiculous.

...that it's November 8th, and we were HOT at the boys' soccer games today.

...that today was the last Saturday of soccer games for the season.

...that I came home from Family History Club Wednesday night & found this in Sydney's bed:

I love track break so that things like this can happen. Ordinarily if one of them (usually Syd) decides it's a fabulous idea to ALL sleep together, it can't happen because it's a school night. So HOORAY! for track break and being spontaneous. Apparently Dad had gone to bed already, so there was nobody to tell them 'no.' I just love it that all 4 ended up asleep, and all 4 stayed there all night long. They actually look like they sort of love each other. Maybe.

...my sister-in-law Tiffany for teaching me how to make this:

Chocolate covered popcorn is sinfully delicious, and I love every bit of it. And I love that it's so easy to make. She posted the recipe on her blog here, and I decided to make a batch the other day. Sarah was here, and I was trying to decide what kind of sprinkles or whatever to put on. I went crazy & did Christmas sprinkles. So Sarah & I then got carried away and decided to be little brats and make these for Family History Club Wednesday night:

I mean, what else makes you look completely on the ball, even if it is a "total facade" as Tyler pointed out to us. Either way, we just wanted to share the yummy goodness with the gals...So we did...munching away...discussing the many ways we are sooooo not on the ball, owning up to that facade.

...that Sydney takes it upon herself every year to orchestrate the letters-to-Santa task. This year, since Austin & Seth don't seem to realize that writing to Santa is such a pressing matter, Syd decided to be the stenographer for everyone. She's really hoping that they got their letters mailed in time to get one back. YES, last year they got letters back. It was a shock to me, and a total thrill for them. But every other year, Sydney is so antsy to get them sealed, addressed, stamped, and mailed that I barely get a glance at them! And really, they are something I would love to confiscate & keep for when they are older or for their scrapbooks. But that's not happening. So this year, I caught 3 of the 4 letters before they went into the envelopes and at least took pictures of them. I think Sydney's is too cute:

There are a few items on the boys' lists that I know, without a doubt, that there was some coaching involved from Syd. But I love that she gets so excited about it. And I love that she sent one for Brooklyn who can barely verbalize that she 'wants' anything other than babies, something pink, candy, ice cream, and her binkie. I'm sure that's what her list consisted of.

...that after getting the 4-1-1 from Amy about shopping with coupons and extra cool websites, I went grocery shopping and got all this:

I know I'm a big fat dork for arranging my purchases on the table just to snap a picture...but I'm too proud not to. Total price for all of this was $244.59. After the FreshValues savings (I love Smith's) and the massive amount of coupons I unloaded on the poor checker, I spent $109.27. So YES, I love saving MORE than I spend at the store. That would be a 56% savings. Thanks again, Amy!

...that this post is way too out of control, so I must end it. And I love that before I go to bed I have to move Austin & Seth out of my bed since they fell asleep in there after playing with Dad (which was actually watching Dad play Austin's DS).

Give Away!!!

2008-11-06T21:55:00.000-08:00

Today just might be your lucky day...If there's anyone who is going to Disneyland on or before November 15th and wants a 1-Day Hopper Pass, we've got one for you. Kevin & I took the kids last weekend and ended up with a Comp Ticket. We have asked around and don't know of anyone who can use it in the next 9 days. FYI, because it's a Complimentary Ticket, it can't be upgraded to an Annual Pass. So here ya go...First come, First serve. The only stipulation is YOU have to pick it up from us. Sorry, no hand delivery. If you're interested, email me (fast!) at ekmohler@hotmail.com

This is for Nate...

2008-10-29T21:12:00.001-07:00

...and everyone else. (Thanks, Daniel!)

Is This For Real?!

2008-10-25T09:38:00.001-07:00

I normally don't make a specific point to screen the library books my kids bring home from school. I assume, since they are from the elementary school library, that they will be fairly decent & wholesome books that will give my kids great practice and serve to help get in their 15 minutes of reading each night. So a few weeks ago when I told Sydney to do her reading and about 20 minutes later she brought me the book she had read, and said, "I just read a really weird book." I took a look at it and thought my eyes were deceiving me. I knew immediately that the title "Doll Baby" was probably what drew Syd to this book, but was that a PREGNANT GIRL on the cover?! I quickly read through the book and found that NO, this was certainly not a book about a doll. Instead, it's the story of a 15-year-old high school girl who gets pregnant and keeps the baby... I was a bit floored to say the least. It was bedtime for Sydney, so I briefly had a little conversation with her about what she thought of the book ("WHY would she do that if she wasn't even married yet?!" was the big question), and how that is NOT GOOD. I was sooooooo incredibly glad that we've already had the whole bird-and-bees-where-do-babies-come-from-how-the-baby-gets-in-your-tummy talk in the past, which included the ONLY-after-you're-married part (which is a pretty major part). I was really glad that she had the reaction to the book that she did. But nonetheless, I was still flabbergasted that that book was in the elementary school library. As I read through the book it explains how this girl gets pg, tells her parents, her dad is mad, her mom is sad, the boy (father of the baby) won't talk to her anymore, she keeps the baby, it hurt really bad, the baby is so cute, the baby is a lot of work to juggle with school, her mom has to work late shifts now, and she can't do extra-curricular activities anymore. It's hard. And the baby is cute. As I read the book I kept WAITING for it to finally say, "I regret it so much...I never should have done that...I shouldn't have done that since I'm not married." It didn't. I swear, the best line in the book was about how at night the baby sleeps next to her bed in the bassinet & her dolly sleeps on the other side of her in her bed. WHAAAAAT!!??? I'm glad that Syd was almost 10 years old when she came across this book, and we HAD already discussed this topic. HOWEVER, the book had a 2nd Level AR sticker on the spine--which means it's at the reading level for 1st or 2nd graders. It floored me to think Sydney was reading 2nd level AR books in 1st grade...when she was 6. Yes, I guess I understand the message the author was trying to convey. Do I think she did it in a good way? Not at all. Did she ever come out and say THIS IS WRONG--DON'T DO IT? No.

I happened to be on my way to Book Club that night when Sydney brought me the book and we had our little talk, so I figured it was a mighty fine discussion piece to add on to our book discussion that night. "Wow." was pretty much the general consensus. I don't know if I'm really ready to get into the whole battle of censoring books & demanding to have books taken off library shelves. But do I think this should be on the Elementary school shelves where 6 year olds can check it out? No way. MAYBE middle school. But I guess the sad part is...in some cases that may be too late to educate girls about this. Ughhh. So....Lesson Learned: You might want to scope out the kiddo's li-berry books they bring home BEFORE they read them. Ya know...just in case you need a conversation-starter or somethin'.

My Go-To Recipe

2008-10-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies are by far my favorite. I think my love for them was fostered from a very young age because whenever we had large gatherings at my grandma's house she always had 3 containers of homemade cookies: oatmeal chocolate chip, sugar cookies, and raisin filled cookies. Pretty much our entire family was all over the raisin-filled cookies, and I never understood why...for me, oatmeal chocolate chip was da bomb. Every once in a while I would divert from my usual and enjoy a sugar cookie (quite delightful as well), but never did I go as far as the filled cookies (I still don't like the idea of smushed raisin filling inside a cookie). Anyway, it wasn't until quite a while after my grandma passed away that I found out that there were many who couldn't stand her oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Whaaaat?! I remember mentioning to my parents one night after Kevin & I got married that I wish I had Grandma's oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe & both of my parents saying "Why? I never liked those..." Anyway, 2 years ago I was putting together a family cookbook and my Aunt Randy pulled out Grandma's old cookbooks...and there, my friends, was the cookie recipe I had been wishing for. This has easily become my Go-To Recipe for many occasions since these babies are so easy to make. My friend Chris says butter-flavor Crisco makes them awesome, although I've always used oil. And I know Grandma would probably shake her head at me for using quick oats, since I'm sure she never had anything in her kitchen but the old-fashioned oats. Either way, I give you...my favorite oatmeal chocolate chip recipe...in it's ORIGINAL form:

Yes, I scanned Grandma's original recipe from her book, and love that it's in her own handwriting. I love that you can see all the spots and marks on the recipe which comes from getting lots of use.
Now, I need to add a little side note here: I bake a lot of cookies. A lot. And I stand by my mantra that the secret to getting great cookies is DO NOT OVERBAKE THEM. If anything, UNDERcook them. If you want cookies to be soft and STAY soft, don't overbake them. That being said, the cooking time for this (and most) recipes will depend on your oven. So...Here's what these cookies should look like when you take them out of the oven (notice they are NOT browned...brown means overcooked & they will most likely be hard in about 1 hour...browned cookies are bad.):

By the way, I DID use quick oats (old-fashioned oats will give you bumpier cookies), and I use the Pampered Chef 'small scoop' to get 20 cookies to a pan. This recipe usually gives me about 4 dozen 'small scoop' cookies. Enjoy!

Oh yeah! I almost forgot...I always double the chocolate chips in this recipe--I usually throw in a whole bag (I think that's 2 cups?).

Weekend Update

2008-10-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. I just don't know what to do with myself...4 posts in 2 days. That's what happens when you have a major hiatus aka cheating on the blog with Facebook. Here's a few more pics of what we've been up in the last week or so:
Kevin's sister Mary had her baby on Monday, so we got to have my niece, Sheila, stay with us for a couple of days. She is 5 months older than Brooklyn and those two had a ball together. Sheila was a little scared the first night, but by the next morning, her & Brookie were talking up a storm and playing together. They were 2 peas in a pod--if one of them had a baby, the other one needed a baby. If one had a purse, the other one needed a purse. If one had dress up shoes & a bracelet, the other one needed the same accessories. If one had a stroller, the other one needed the shopping cart. It's a good thing we've got plenty of girly things to go around! I wish we lived closer so Brooklyn could see her a little more often--they are two cute little girls.

I also decided last week that is was finally time to recover our kitchen chairs. It has been on my 'to-do' list of projects for a LOOOONG time now, and I couldn't take it anymore. I had decided that with a super messy 2-yr-old, a 4-yr-old, and several other kids the same ages here on any given day we need to have the chairs covered in plastic so I can wipe them all down. I know, it may be a bit too 70s-ish, but I figure people would rather sit on clean wiped off plastic rather than stuck-on-gooed-yogurt-stain. So here's a before pic:
Of course this is one of the chairs that looked GOOD. The BAD ones (Seth & Brooklyn's seats...okay, who are we kidding? Austin's chair too) were just way too embarassing to show you--just imagine way worse than this.
And this is after. I'm still not done, but I'm just happy to have this little project in the works. Brooklyn now calls this her "pitty chair."

Fall is here and I LOVE IT. We have had such beautiful weather this week, and have been eating it up! My kids have been outside every single day, and now think they need to drag all this stuff out there just so they can do their reading outside. I really don't care, though. It will be cold & windy before we know it, so we're enjoying it while it lasts. Brooklyn is happy to go in & out as she pleases all day long & I love keeping the back door open. I love Fall. I think it's my fave. We've fired up the Cocomotion every single day this week for breakfast, and THAT is wonderful. LA-HUV my Cocomotion.

I don't have a picture of this one, but yesterday Kevin & I spent about 5 hours cleaning out the whole garage, and although I could park in the garage before, I now have about 3-4 feet on EACH side of my van when I pull into the garage. It's glorious. We got rid of so much stuff--stuff that we've been toting around since we got married from way before we got married. It's always exciting for me when we clear out lots of space. We now have 3 HUGE bags of stuff for D.I. and our garbage can overfloweth. AND...one of the best things I came across was a box of stuff from kevin's mission & before. It had Kevin's photo albums from his mission, and a little photo book full of pictures from our high school days. Let me just say there are some real beauties in there, and you're in for a treat here on this blog, because I'll be posting some of those treasures.

Yesterday I finally got to visit my girl Liesl for a long-awaited hair appt. I was so tired of the same 'ol thing with my hair, so I went for a change yesterday. And here are the results:
Yes, I can still do it curly, however I have not yet tried doing it curly. I'm a bit nervous for that, and am still unsure of just how short the curls will make it. I know it doesn't look that short, but she chopped off a LOT of hair. So far I love it, so hopefully that lasts. Poor Liesl--I showed her a picture and said, "Okay, I want this...but not really this...can you do this but, like, a longer version of it?" Thanks, Liesl, for your patience with my indecisiveness & helping me make a change!

And last but not least, I just have to mention that I LOVE Colin Powell. Love him! I have long admired him and think he is simply brilliant. I think he is one of the most incredible, intelligent people who has served in our nation's government over the years, and I was bummed when he stepped down. Let me explain where this is coming from tonight. People have laughed at me before for when I have told them that I watch Meet the Press on Sunday mornings while I'm getting ready for church. I do. And this morning Colin Powell was on to announce who he would be voting for in this upcoming election. He has been a pretty staunch supporter of Republicans in the past, and I figured he would be supporting McCain this time around. Either way, I was anxious to hear what he had to say about all things going on right now--not just his candidate of choice. I distinctly remember sitting in my bedroom 5 1/2 years ago, watching him address the United Nations with the case of the US going to war with Iraq--all on the pretense of WMD. And I was severely disappointed and of course felt extremely misled when it became apparent that there were none. So I was very glad to hear him discuss and give more insight to that time this morning as well. But he shared some profound thoughts (I thought) in explaining his decision of which candidate he had decided upon and his reasons for his decision. Listening to what he had to say will make you feel blessed to live in this nation, in this day. If you don't want to hear what he had to say about the 2 candidates, just skip to about 4:30 in the clip and listen for a couple of minutes, then turn it off. I guess this resounded most with me this morning because I am so tired of getting emails and watching ads about exactly what Colin Powell mentions in this clip. It's hard for me to understand how people could base their vote on anything BUT the issues in this day, but I know there are plenty who will do just that. We have come so much further than that as a people. And Colin Powell pointed that out very eloquently this morning. Anyway, he is awesome. And he's supporting Obama. {SMILE} This is as political as I will get on this blog because I don't like to set off firestorms or offend. But this little interview warmed my heart before church this morning. :-)

And now you're to be commended if you made it through this post.

Cast Trauma

2008-10-19T20:13:00.001-07:00

For anyone wondering the 4 long and glorious weeks of Brooklyn's pink cast have come and gone. We survived. Brooklyn did much better than I did despite hating having her arm wrapped for bathtime. That little cast did not phase my girl one bit, and about a week into the wearing'o'the cast she figured out how to get up to the top of the boys' bunk beds. I immediately had visions of her breaking the other arm. That girl put those little stubs of fingers and her thumb sticking out from the cast to work, and there wasn't much different for her that she couldn't do before. I'll say this again...somehow I'm not convinced this will be Brooklyn's last broken bone.

My girl became quite protective of her 'pink' and didn't really like people to touch it much. She was very disturbed if her shirt got stuck on it while getting her dressed, and would often adorn her whole arm with bracelets on the cast. So last week I started talking to her about the upcoming appt to get it taken off, telling her that the dr. would be taking off her 'pink.' It was apparent right away that she was NOT okay with that idea. She would just hug her arm to her body and say, "noooooo. MY cast." Finally the blessed day arrived and as soon as we got into the room she remembered that place, and was NOT okay with being there (she didn't like getting the cast ON and cried the whole time).

Here she is whimpering, realizing where we are.
"We go home? We go home? Hooooooome!"
"NO doctor! MY cast, MY cast, MY cast."
(Insert doc coming in with very loud saw, quickly cut off cast, and leaves for us to have x-rays done.)
"My caaaaaaaast! My caaaaaaaast!"
{completely indistinguishable words, uncontrolled crying, didn't like having her hand washed for the first time in a month, didn't like having x-rays taken, REALLY didn't like it that Mom was unprepared with no binkie, and extremely upset that the doctor would even MOVE her hand/arm}

All is well since dr. brought in this "pitty" bracelet that totally distracted from the missing cast on the other arm.

As a side note...it did take her a few days to recover from the cast trauma. The day after she got it off I was about to put her to bed and she was crying and crying for SOMEthing that was 'downstairs.' Downstairs was the only thing I could understand. But she kept holding up her arm. Then she finally said "My pink back on!!!" (her cast was sitting on the counter downstairs) I think part of why she was so disturbed by her 'pink' being removed is that she probably felt like she was losing her identity! For weeks that's how she would greet people--everyone whether family or friend or complete stranger--she would just hold up her arm, showing them her cast. So now, she just holds up her arm to let people know she got the cast OFF. The only problem is, the strangers have no clue what she's doing.

Anyway, we have now advanced to the funnest part of the whole ordeal: receiving the bills in the mail. I'm anxiously awaiting a return call from the uber-incompetent-totally-shady urgent care who billed over $1000 for our little visit in which the dr. spent about 4 minutes total with us (which was billed as a $385 'detailed patient visit') & where we had to wait for the x-ray technician to 'get off lunch' to have anything done (and bill us individually for way more x-rays than he took). According to the orthopedic doc, the splint we got from urgent care was 'pretty much useless...an extremely poor splint.' But all of that constitutes more than $1000. (what?!!!) I'm not really sure how 4 minutes with crappy doctor, 3 x-rays, and a useless splint adds up to MORE than what the orthopedic surgeon billed for 2 visits, x-rays, & cast (not to mention, people who know what they're talking about)?!!! Yes, I can't wait for that phone call. Okay, I have to go now. My blood is boiling again!!!

The Happiest Place

2008-10-18T21:49:00.000-07:00

I know I've been slacking big time on updating this blog or posting anything at all recently (for almost a month, really...yikes). Want to know why??? Here's my confession: I've been cheating on my blog with Facebook. Sarah let me know a couple weeks ago how addicting it can be and started telling me all the people from our past that she happened across, so I got on there to see for myself. HOLY ADDICTING!!! I love it! It's awesome to find people from high school, college, the ward we grew up in, etc. etc. etc. So...rather than go to the work of actually downloading pictures and posting something on HERE, I've been surfing around Facebook and reconnecting with 'friends' from all over. And now it's time for some catch-up.

So I guess it's time to pick back up on here and blog about what we've been up to in the last little while (or at least a thing or two). The last time I took my kids to Disneyland I decided to convert our tickets to annual passes. I knew when I did that that we would not be using them at all during the summer with the long lines, humongous crowds and unbearable heat. So 2 weeks ago I decided we would take advantage of General Conference weekend AND the no-school-on-friday and took my older 3 kids to D-Land. We got to stay with Aunt Cloadella and Uncle Chuck (who live, literally, about 4 minutes from the park), which I LOVED. It's always fun for me to get to visit with my family, and we got an extra bonus when we got home from the park Friday night and Dustin, Leah, & Scotty had shown up for the weekend too. Although they live in Vegas too, I guess we have to go all the way to CA to visit with them!:-) It was so fun that they were there too--so much fun that me & Aunt Cloadella stayed up chatting with D&L until 2:30AM Sunday morning!!! Then we got another bonus on Sunday when my 2 cousins Julie & Lisa and both their families came for a BBQ. The weather was great, the kids played, I put off the drive home, and we got to hang with the family--one of my most favoritest things to do. Aunt Cloadella made rice pudding which made the trip soooooo much sweeter, and her & Uncle Chuck were so wonderful to me & my kids. THANK YOU AGAIN, Chuck & Clo. I love you guys.

We hit both parks pretty hard Friday AND Saturday, and although I tried very much to be all relaxed and diplomatic with my 3 kids about taking turns with who got to pick which ride we went on next, I have decided that strategy CANNOT work. Inevitably, the next person will choose a ride CLEAR on the other end of the park. But we survived all the drama AND were able to enjoy ourselves. We rode the new Toy Story Mania ride which is my NEW FAVORITE RIDE. I totally LOVED it. You gotta get in line for it first thing because the line is killer later in the day--but totally worth it. I've got to throw out MAJOR props here to my man Seth. My little guy is only 4, and is b-a-r-e-l-y (by the tip of his hair) 42 inches tall. He is so brave, he went on every single ride with Sydney & Austin that he was tall enough for...Space Mountain (LOVES IT), Thunder Mountain Railroad (LOVES IT), Star Tours (LOVES IT), Haunted Mansion (does NOT love it, but says he'll go again if everyone wants to), Pirates of the Caribbean (not crazy about it, but liked being in the boats), Mulholland Madness (LOVED it, but said it was 'too crazy'), AND the Tower of Terror (LOVED IT)...I know--I cannot believe he liked the Tower of Terror! The picture at the end of his poor little face clearly did not look like he was loving it at all. Terror is definitely the right word. But he keeps talking about it, and says it was NOT scary. He's so funny, I love that kid!

I was surprised to find out at the last minute, too, that the weekend we would be at Disneyland was 'Gay Days'. So there were TONS of red shirts all over both parks while we were there. And here's my funny story {slash} celebrity sighting during our little trip: Now, I know this doesn't even come close to Jerolyn seeing Gina Davis at D-Land, but hey--I get excited over little things! Okay, first, most of you know that I'm a reality TV junkie and I confess that I do watch Big Brother when it's on (I know, lame). So on Saturday the kids & I walked out of Soarin' Over CA and passed a group of guys (all in red shirts), and as we went to pass by them I looked over and recognized 1 of them as being Bunky off of one of the very early seasons of Big Brother. (This means nothing to probably 99.6% of you who read this since you probably have never watched that show. ever.) I'm such a dork, and get totally star struck with dumb stuff like that, so...of course I talked to him! He was so so super nice, chatted with my kids, and the rest is history. We're totally BFFs--although I'm SO MAD at myself for chickening out and not asking if I could take a picture of Bunky & my kids! Especially since it would have been an AWESOME picture for the blog considering Bunky was wearing his red Gay Days tank top, and Seth was sporting his BYU t-shirt. Totally awesome. I loved him on the show, and he was even nicer in person. Now if I could have only run into Nate Berkus too...I would SO not chicken out on a picture with him! Anyway, I've rambled on long enough about our little adventure. Here are a few of the pics I DID take (minus Bunky):

Pretzel Hugs

2008-10-18T21:43:00.001-07:00

I will not claim the recipe for these yummy and totally addicting treats as my own creation, for I try really hard to not to bend the truth on this here blog. But we started making these little 'uns about a year ago after getting the recipe out of a scrapbook magazine (call me weird and a little too obsessed, but if you squint really hard you can read the text/journaling on those scrapbook pages AND it will benefit your life even if you don't know those people!). The kiddos and I haven't made them since last Christmas, so we loaded up on the Halloween (or Haaa-weeeeen as Brooklyn calls it) M&Ms and went to town. Twice. Once they're done they disappear fast, so we've already gone through 2 batches in the last 3 weeks. {Smile}

Pretzel Hugs
Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Spread square Pretzel 'Snaps' out on the wax paper. Put an unwrapped Hershey's Hug on each pretzel. Put cookie sheet in the oven & bake at 200 degrees for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven & drop 2 M&Ms on each hug. Put cookie sheet in the fridge for about 30 minutes for them to set up again, and VOILA! The perfect mix of sweet & salty. Anyone need a Family Night treat??? Totally easy, totally kid-friendly.