A Must Read

I'm dying to find some time to read this.

If you're a twilight fan - click here.

Beans!

I went to get Sofie up from her nap, only to find her fast asleep still, and beans, everywhere!

Grandma made the girls some flower pots, little pots of markers with silk flowers on the ends, nestled in pinto beans. Well, apparently the pot was too close to Sofie's crib come naptime. It looks like she showered them all over the room, drew a nice pretty purple design on the sheet, and was completely worn out at the end.

I sure wish they were magic beans and could clean themselves up with the snap of my fingers.

Simply Darling

I just received my bow order from Santa Barbara Bows, and I must share.They are Bella's new school bows, to go with her uniform. I thought they turned out so, so cute. Bella is so excited she can't decide which set to wear tomorrow. I think we'll do the all brown ones.
Check out her website, Santa Barbara Bows, for more darling examples of her work.

First Day

As the alarm clock rang at 6:20 a.m., I cringed. My stomach was in knots as I got ready this morning. And as I left in her in the classroom, I had to fight back the tears.


My firstborn has started kindergarten. It's a full day, dual immersion school, so she'll learn spanish. She spends every other day in a spanish classroom, with a teacher that speaks only spanish.
I think her nerves were just as bad as mine. She started crying yesterday afternoon, and she said she wasn't very excited. Although this was after going through and ironing all her school clothes, which she was extremely excited about, and picking out the outfits she'll wear for the first two weeks! (why settle for just the first day?) They have a "uniform" for school, it's pretty loose in my book. Any rather plain pink, white or green shirt with khaki or brown bottoms. Needless to say, we have many shades of pink, and many many pink tops.

So as I was doing her hair this morning, she said "I'm not very excited about school, but I like my outfit!" Well Bella, it's all about how we feel, and if your outfit makes you happy, you'll do just fine.


Jane watched the two little ones for us while Jeff and I took her to school. Her teacher is Miss Mindy and was very sweet to Bella, and helped her feel comfortable. Bella was very apprehensive, but once she found out Jessie (in our carpool) was in her class, she did much better.

I'm so excited for her - she loves to learn and will do great. I can't wait to hear all about her day. Jeff just wishes he could see her at lunchtime. I just hope I packed enough food.

I'm glad she didn't start kindergarten last year, that means I get to keep her one more year before she runs off to college.

Who are You?

I'm an ESME!

You are thoughtful and care very deeply for your family. A loving home is of great importance to you and you always try to make people feel welcome. Although you have a great capacity to love, you also have a great capacity to hurt, so at times you can be sensitive. You're firm when you need to be, but people trust your judgment and appreciate the kind way you always handle things.

I found this "Twilight" quiz on this website: click here to take the quiz and see who you are!

Little Lunch Ladies

While we were outside working on the yard, Bella got herself and Sofie dressed. They played in the playroom, until it was lunchtime. The next thing I knew, she and Sofie surprised Jeff and I with lunch that the two of them made.

On the menu was peanut butter and honey sandwiches (a TOTAL Utah thing), Cheetos, apple slices (pre-packaged), and glasses of water (complete with straws).

Can you tell they didn't use ANY knives? Don't you just want to sink your teeth into this appetizing feast? (Believe it or not, no one had sunk their teeth into the above sandwich yet!)

Jump for Joy

Yesterday was a work day. Jeff and I worked in the yard, with the help of a couple of others(Thanks Aaron!). We cleared most of the weeds, repaired leaks in the front yard sprinkler system, started the massive flower bed drip system, and almost finished the trampoline pit. The guy that was supposed to show up with the chainsaw can't make it until this Saturday, so we will finish the railroad tie top then. We were however able to assemble the trampoline and sink it in the pit.

For those of you that don't know - Jeff and I built a 3' high cinderblock wall in the ground. We had NO idea what we were doing, and spent forever getting it done.

The kids love it, and woke up this morning wanting to jump on it before church. I'm just glad that now we can move on, finish the front yard, and start working on the back sprinkler system!

Farewell to Summer

To mourn the end of summer (because winter here is eminent and I will need to start taking my antidepressant soon to get through it) we had a fun Friday.

Jeff went in for a few hours in the morning, and then we went to the Rec center around noon. We had a picnic lunch, and went swimming.

I loved how the pool was so warm. It was only 82 degrees outside, and in my book, too cold for swimming.

But the kids had a ball, and unfortunately the outdoor pool closes this weekend.

After naps we went to Bella's new school for "Carnaval". It was a fundraiser for the school and had lots of inflatables, as well as games, a cake walk and a mariachi DJ (could have done without that). Reed thought this dinosaur was pretty neat. Bella's first try at a climbing wall (ever). It took Sofie quite some time (and a fearless friend) to get her to go on the inflatables. It was fun! Summer, we will miss you more than you could ever imagine!

Funny little man

My little Reed came up from the playroom this morning looking like this:

Obviously Bella put the pig hat on him. But the necklaces, well I'd bet you my right arm that Reed put those on himself. A day doesn't go by that he isn't wearing at least one around the house. In fact somedays, it's accompanied by a little pink sequin purse. He gets very upset if anyone tries to remove these items from him. I'm just hoping he doesn't turn out like this:

Maybe I should get him a gold medal, so he'll strive for this instead:

Daddy's home!

After being gone for over a week, we are happy to announce the return of Daddy. I don't know how anyone does it that has a husband that leaves for an extended period of time and/or on a regular basis.

It seems that all we've eaten this last week (aside from 2 meals) is pizza, chicken nuggets and french fries. Now I seem to have a reason to cook again, and still we went out to dinner tonight!

Reed has not let Jeff put him down since he walked through the door. Not to mention he won't let me near him. He cried when we got in the car, because Jeff wasn't holding him. Hopefully he'll be back to himself before too long.

Blasted Weeds

So, in an effort to get our yard finished before it starts snowing next month (I'm not kidding, it will snow, mark my words), the weeds must get pulled. They started growing when we went on vacation, and have gone higher than the fence. Jeff's been out of town for a week, and some people are coming over to help get our yard done.

So Saturday I decide to start pulling them. I started sneezing about 10 minutes into it, but decided to keep going, thinking I'd just take a Benadryl and be done with it. To make a long story short, I ended up in the urgent care the next morning after an extremely uncomfortable sleepless night. I'm officially allergic to weeds. I don't even care what kind. As long as I don't have to pull them anymore, it's fine with me!
So my adorable friend Chantelle and her great husband came last night and pulled weeds for me so that the work can get done. Aren't they fabulous?!

Jeff gets home in a couple of days, and hopefully we'll have some more work done before he returns.

Thanks a ton Pete and Chantelle - YOU'RE THE BEST!!!

Lovin' It!

I am so excited that Shawn Johnson won the gold medal on the beam! I've loved watching the olympics, particularly women's gymnastics and swimming. This was just the best outcome in my book.

I've been jealous of my uncle, aunt and two cute cousins who were in China attending the Olympics and seeing the sights. What an amazing adventure they have had.

I'm sad to see it come to an end - it's been fun to watch.

Howdy Partner!

Giddy up, it was a "Pony" birthday party today! Bella's friend Jessie turned 5 today and she and Sofie were invited to attend.My kids have ridden more horses since moving to Utah - why is that?How many little buns can you squeeze onto a microscopic bench? I was hired to do the cake. Considering how stumped I was on this one, I thought it came out pretty cute.

Oh, dear. What have they done?

If you need a good laugh, check out this blog: cake wrecks

I was up way too late last night checking out the "professional" cake disasters. These are people that get paid to make cakes, not just your everyday home baker. Many of them are grocery store cakes, but cakes that are sold nonetheless.

I hope I never have a cake that hits that blog!

(Drumroll please!)

And the winner is . . .

Dana Mania!

Congratulations and enjoy your apron!

I loved this giveaway so much, look forward to more soon!

Fun in the Sun!

Let me tell you how nice it is to have a photographer follow your children around and take the best shots of them! Jane is the best - she takes dazzling photos and I love her!

We went to a little splash park today with Jane and the kids and it was fun. Bella was the only one who got really wet, after all, it was only about 80 degrees this morning.

Jeff has been working a late shift for a few days, doing some testing with a crew from out of state. So it was great that he got to come along as well.

Jeff laughs at me because up until about 2 months ago, I never noticed my chunky little Sofie's extra "gathers" in her neck! It cracks me up now!

Julie II

I grew up watching "The Love Boat" and couldn't wait until Saturday night to see the next episode. "Julie" the Cruise Director, was always telling people what activites were going on that they could join. I have my own "Julie" at my house.

Isabella is my own living, breathing calendar. Every night she asks me "Mom, what are we doing tomorrow?". Not to be confused with the question "Where are we GOING tomorrow". If I answer "I don't know", she'll typically repeat the question (like I didn't hear), ask the other other question, or I hear it again in the morning.

Now if I happen to answer "We're not going anywhere", then she will pester me to no end if I say to get in the car we have to run an errand. She holds me to it!

I think she's going to be a Cruise Director when she grows up.

Although her main concern tonight was what kind of car she's going to buy when she's a teenager. She's pretty overwhelmed with the options. Although I think she's leaning towards a truck.

Happy Birthday Amy!

Today is my friend Amy's Birthday. This photo was taken on my birthday when we went to a Spa.

Amy and I became best friends in 3rd grade. We were together comstantly after that. A huge perk to living in Utah is living 45 minutes away from her, and getting to see her often.

Things I have always loved about her:

She is not shy. She can pick up a conversation with anyone, and they love her immediately.

She makes me laugh.

Extremely easy going.

A great example to me.

Will do anything for me or my family. She just has a huge heart!

H.B.D. Amy - love your guts!

Tagged

I am not a fan of tagging - so I will answer this one, but I'm not tagging anyone else. But by all means, if you want to do it on your blog - feel free to tag yourself!

6 habits or things about me:

1. I am NOT a journal writer. Aside from a collective few years here and there, this is it!

2. I am extremely uncoordinated. I can't catch, throw, kick, or hit a ball to save my life! I always wiggled my way to the back of the line in gym to avoid the embarrasment!

3. I am very unorganized. I can typically find what I'm looking for amid the mess, but tidy I am not.

4. I love to wrap presents. I adore ribbon and wrapping paper. It is not very often that I will give a gift in a gift bag or a gift card, because I love any excuse to wrap a present.

5. I am not the best driver. I typically have a bit of a lead foot. If any of you have heard my recent out-of-state driving adventures in the last few months you know what I'm talking about. I'm getting better, especially because I'm feeling guilty that my car insurance just sent me a "good driver" rebate check for $20. (remember, my incidents were out-of-state!)

6. I hate doing laundry. Most likely because right now my laundry room is unfinished and is in the basement. Basically when it comes to chores, if it's not in my face, it's most likely not going to get finished!

Like $$ in my pocket!

I love coupons!

I have been doing coupons for about 3 1/2 years now, off and on, and I have saved so much money!

I have not only been able to feed my family very well, but have built up a food storage over the years that has benefitted us during a time of unemployment.

Every once in a while I get into a bit of a slump and don't do it like I should. But when I pull myself together and get on it, I reach a total "high" for getting bargains.

Today while Sofie was at preschool I went and took advantage of some deals. I went to 3 different stores (because I had the time and energy) and spent a total of $64.27. I saved a total of $257.50!

To give you a sampling, this included (3) 12 count double rolls of Charmin, Rubbermaid storage containers, 10 Crest toothpastes, (4) Bic razors (nice ones), (9) Kelloggs fruit snacks, granola bars, salad dressing, 2 in 1 shampoo, as well as plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, and much, much more.

Some favorite websites I like to use are (which are free): Pinching your Pennies & Grocery Smarts (Utah only). You can contact Grocery Smarts for a free class as to how to do coupons most effectively, as well as getting a screaming deal on mulitple newspapers (part of the trick). Let me know if you would like any more information.

Breaking Dawn

Finished last night - took about 24 hours to read.

LOVED IT!

For the first night in a week and a half, I could sleep knowing how it all ended.

Now to get started on reading the Harry Potter series . . .

My First Giveaway!

The bad news for me, is that my book still hasn't come in the mail yet. The good news for you is that I was able to whip out my little giveaway this afternoon while Sofie was in school.

I have made aprons before, but they were all the same style. Jeff gave me this fun vintage apron book for Valentine's Day and I thought I would put it to good use. I can't wait to get started making more. It was so much fun.

So, all you have to do for a chance to win this cute little half apron is to make a comment to THIS POST. If you don't have a google account, you can go under "anonymous", just make sure you sign your name.

The deadline is next Monday, August 11th at 5:00 p.m. MST. I will draw a random winner from those entries.

Good Luck!

Summer fun in the Sun!

Another GE perk!

GE had a company day at Lagoon on Friday. We all received free admission to the park (which includes the water park), a catered dinner with $6000 worth of prizes (10 total, and no, we didn't win any), and Jeff got a half day off of work!

We thoroughly enjoyed it (as we did last year as well). The kids had a ball. We went on some rides and then went to the water park for a couple of hours. Ate dinner and went back on rides until about 10:30 p.m. By the time we put the kids in their jammies and drove out of the parking lot, Reed and Bella were already asleep. Sofie was not far behind them.

Reed loved the rides - until they started moving. So he would scream and cry until they stopped, and then he would stop and be happy again. Needless to say, we only put him on 2 different rides and gave up.

The last ride of the night, Lagoon's new "Odysea". It was very much worth the wait and we'll have to go on it again next time.

Because it was 10 p.m. while we were waiting in line for the Odysea, and Reed was about to go out of his mind, I gave him this bag of potato chips. I didn't hear a peep out of him until we went to the car.

We will most likely go again (possibly get a babysitter for Reed), because it is "bounceback" days and we can go back this month for only $8/person.