Not home

I should never leave the house.

Bad things always happen when I'm gone and Shane's watching the kids.

Yesterday, for example, I walked in the door and Ari was screaming in Shane's arms.  He quickly told me that he'd left her on the couch, left, and then she fell off (big surprise...).  I comforted her (she was fine) and Kaden came  up to me and said, "Mom, you can't hurt her!"

I told him, "Hey, it wasn't me!  It was dad!"

(Insert Shane in the background: "HEY!"  hahahaha)

Kaden said, "But, mom, we can't hurt baby Ari.  We got her from the doctor!"

Confused, I tried to clarify what he meant, "We got baby Ari from the doctor??"

Kaden, "Yes.  We just went to the doctor and she gave us a baby. So we can't hit her."

Now I know how to answer the "where do babies come from" question!  WOO!

If only it were that easy...  ;)

(And, yes, we've been working with Kaden on the "no hitting" thing lately, which is why he pointed out that we can't hit.)

Thankful

I have so much to be grateful for.  

The gospel, my absolutely amazing husband, and my three wonderful, beautiful, challenging kids.   

This time of year, we spend lots of time with family.  Perhaps that's why I've felt extra grateful for my friends lately.  ;)   But, really, I'm so thankful for each of you who reads my blog.  It means so much to me to have friends who uplift me and are amazing examples for me to strive to be like.

So that's my message this Thanksgiving day.

Thank you for being my friends.  I love you guys ladies so much!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Breaking Dawn-Part 1

Thanks to my awesome friend, Kelly, I got to go see the newest Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn-Part 1, at an early showing on Thursday!!  The movie started at 8:00.  :)  She is a dental hygienist (is there any other kind of hygienist?) and the dentist she works for sponsored this.  They went ALL OUT.  It was awesome!

The invitation!  SO perfect!

My sister, Suzanna, came with us.  Here she's standing in front of the decorations they put up to go under as you walk into the theater.  If you've seen the movie (or previews) you'll know just how great of a job they did with these, too.

And what's a wedding without cake?!  This is Kelly with the mini-cakes they were handing out to everyone.

Kelly and I.  Yes, I'm whiter than a vampire.

Suzanna and I.  The vampire strikes again!  I'm Team Carlisle...or Team Emmett.  Can't decide.  ;)

They did a quick dental presentation (which was actually pretty awesome) and this guy dressed up!  I think he's Dr. DeDecker?  Is that right Kelly? 

 It was a really fun night and a great movie!

The next morning, I went to see a 9:00 AM showing of it as well.  I had already bought these tickets before I knew I was going with Kelly the night before.  :)  Friday morning, I went with my friend Christy, and she brought her friend Rachel, who was so fun!  It was really, really fun to see it twice!  I forgot to get a pick with Christy and Rachel, but just picture two super cute ladies!  :D

If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it.

Unless you're Shane, in which case you're going to wait to see it until it comes out on DVD.  ;)

Birth Control

I went visiting teaching last night.  My partner (companion??), Jaime, had a baby girl (Peyton) at the end of August, and this was the first time she's come since then.  We only visit teach one girl, Kelsi, because the other one moved and the one besides her refuses to return our many messages.  But I love Kelsi.  :)  She and her hubby, Josh, have been married for a year and a half and are so super cute.  As soon as Jaime and I walked in with baby Peyton, Josh was ALL. OVER. her (the baby-not Jaime).  He wanted to hold and cuddle her.  It was honestly adorable.  Kelsi held Peyton as we heard Jaime's labor and deliver story (4 HOURS of pushing!).

Kelsi said that she and Josh have been talking about starting their family, but they don't feel like it's quite the right time yet.  Getting closer, but not yet.  A lot of people in the Church put so much emphasis on having a baby RIGHT AWAY and "waiting is wrong."  

(True story-when Shane and I had been married for a year and weren't pregnant or thinking about it, I had a couple of women in my ward ask me if I wanted the number to their fertility specialist.)

Anyway, in an effort to take the pressure off of the newlyweds, I figured I would add my two cents in to what Jaime was saying about being so, so, so tired and then having a rough L&D.  I told Kelsi, "Babies will come.  Be patient.  In fact, you know that you're ready for a baby when you're ready to give up sleep and freedom."

Jaime was nodding in agreement.

We are such great, motivational visiting teachers.  ;)

Found it!

My computer randomly "found" the picture it lost (seriously-one minute the pic wasn't there, a few hours later, it magically appeared) of Yuki from my previous Girl's Night post.  For your viewing pleasure, the beautiful Yuki Halverson!

So adorable!  :)

Girl's night!

On Thursday, I met up with my friends Kenzie and Yuki for an overnight stay in Park City WITHOUT any children!  WOO!  haha

We ran to Smith's and all kind of had this surreal moment of "oh my gosh I'm in a grocery store without any kids!"  :)  It was a really fun stay and so good to catch up with my girls.

Making dinner!

Yuki made us Cafe Rio's pork salads!  SO good!

We ate dinner, had some fondue, then relaxed on Yuki's bed.

Girl talk!

We had a discussion about how white I am.  hahaha

This is the evil eye poor Chad must get when he ticks Kenz off.  ;)

Kenzie is due in April!  Isn't she just the cutest preggo lady?!

(I got a really cute picture of Yuki, but sadly it was somehow deleted.)  :(  I swear computers hate me.

After chatting for a couple of hours, it was around 11:00 and we decided to watch a movie.  Kenzie made us some amazingly delicious artichoke dip and Yuki and I tried not to lick the bowl clean.

I told Kenzie if she kept giving me the evil eye, people who read my blog are going to think she's an ornery pregnant lady.

There's a smile!  ;)

Yuki crocheting by the fire.  The condo was so nice and cozy.

After the movie (Mao's Last Dancer, in case you're interested), we got ready for bed, and then talked some more on Yuki's bed until almost 3:00 AM.  :)  We crawled into our beds and then Kenzie woke me up at 6:30 saying my alarm was going off.  I was like, "I didn't even bring my phone!"  She said, "Oh yeah."  hahahahaha  Yuki got up and turned her phone off, so then we were all awake.  :)

We got up and went to breakfast in our p.j.'s.  Did you know Park City doesn't have an IHOP or Denny's??  How crazy weird is that?  So, we went to this bagel place instead.  After that, we went back to the condo, talked for another hour or so (Shane was like, "What could you possibly have to say for that long???"  Clearly, he doesn't understand women.), and then got ready for the day.  We headed to the outlet stores (which were a whole 30 seconds away from the condo) and shopped for a few hours.  :)  It was SO, SO good to have Kenzie and Yuki with me to get a GIRL'S opinion on clothing!!!  I didn't realize how annoying it is to shop with Shane (love you honey!), but he is not a good shopper-helper because he has waaay too many opinions.  ;)

Anyway, we headed our separate ways after lots of shopping and talking.  :)  It was a great weekend and so fun to see them without interruptions (aka: children).

Signing Time

Are you familiar with Signing Time?

We're big fans in our house.  :)

Long story (sort of) short:

I follow Rachel (Coleman--the host of Signing Time) on Twitter.  Back in March (maybe April??), she made a comment about how hard it is to find ethnic kids in Utah for the videos because everyone here is blond haired, blue eyed.  I replied telling her that I have a Japanese friend (Yuki) who lives in Sandy and has two adorable children.  Rachel was SUPER excited and asked for my friend's contact info.  I called Yuki and said something like this,
"You don't mind if I give your number and email to a complete stranger, right?"  ;)  Yuki is sweet and said to go for it.  Fast forward to a week or so later.  I got a call in the middle of the day from Yuki saying, "We're here filming Signing Time right now and they need more kids and I told them that your kids know how to sign.  They are wondering if you want to be in a Signing Time video."

Um...HECK YES!

The kids were grumpy and very uncooperative, but it was still a fun day overall.  

Fast forward again to a few days ago when I got an email saying that there is a cast and crew "pre-screening" party that we're invited to (yesterday).  We got there and watched the new "Potty Time" DVD with Rachel and Yuki and her kids (and a couple of other people--most people came to an earlier showing), then got to mingle and chat for a little while after.

Lexi was hilarious during the movie because Rachel was sitting in front of and one seat over from her, and Lexi kept looking up at the screen, then to Rachel, then back at the screen--over and over and over.  :)  She was so confused.  haha  Ari was dancing (of course) to the music and Yuki saw her and started laughing.  This caused Rachel to look over and she was laughing and told me how adorable Ari is.  Random fact: Ari ate an entire bag of popcorn all by herself.  She was seriously eating like a starving refugee.  hahaha

After the movie (in which Yuki's two kids were shown a TON!  It was AWESOME!), we chatted and mingled and took pictures with Rachel.

Kaden was being shy (shocker) and this is when Rachel was telling him that she used to be so shy that when they started filming Signing Time, she would have to turn around in the recording studio so that she couldn't see anyone watching her sing.

Lexi checking out the lighting stuff that they had set up for their photographer (Rachel's husband, Aaron).  The lights really messed with our camera...

Yuki with Kai and Lily and Rachel.  Rachel signed everyone's DVD's (well, the paper part-not the actual DVD).

Cuties!

Ari running around playing.  :)

It was a really fun night and so fun to see Yuki and her kids!  :D

Learning from the past

When I was little (maybe 7 or 8), I remember putting some hot dogs on the stove to cook...and then forgetting about them.  My dad was pissed (as was typical of him) and sent us (my sisters and I) outside to play until the smoke and smell cleared out.  We were outside for HOURS.  And it still smelled horrible when we went back inside.  Yuck.

Now, I make fun of Shane all. the. time. about his bad cooking.  

But!  I have to admit, at least he's never done anything like that.

*cough*

I just did, though.

Yummy

Yeah.

That was me.

I'm so freaking awesome.

And the worst part? 
(Besides the crazy smoky house and that horrible smell...)

Those were the last two hot dogs.  And Kaden is begging me for a hot dog for lunch.  :(

Yet another reason we need a second car!  ;)

Good thing I just read this morning on Pinterest that all you have to do is boil orange peels with some cinnamon and it will make your house smell divine.  Shane will never have to know about this (if I can bribe the kids to not tell him about the smoke detectors going off and scaring them (and me) half to death).

On second thought, maybe I should stay away from the stove for a while.  ;)

Dreaming of you

Today was Daylight Savings and, guess what?  

I was up at 4:45 AM

(Thank you Ari)

So, I bathed all the kids and got them ready for church.  Shane showered and then it was my turn.  I went in our room to grab my clothes and the bed looked oh so comfy and warm.  I checked the clock: 10: 40.  I could "rest" for 20 minutes and still have plenty of time to get ready for 1:00 church.

*cough*

Fast forward three hours to when I finally woke up.

Shane said that he tried to wake me up a couple of times, but I was OUT.

But there was a good reason I was lost in dreamworld...

YUM.

That's Patrick Wilson 

(Raoul from Phantom of the Opera)

In my dream, I was working in physical therapy again and he came in with a messed up shoulder.

Would you want to wake up from that?

And, P.S., he was super funny and nice.  ;)

P.P.P.S. Shane just laughed at me when I told him this.  Like he thinks I would never actually meet Patrick.  Rude.

Funny

You know what's funny?

On more than one occasion, Shane will come home laughing hysterically about something one of his users did "She couldn't find the program because there wasn't a shortcut on the desktop!"  "All he had to do was reboot!"

Or other stuff like that.

Every. single. time. I say, "Um...I wouldn't know that, either."

As far as I'm concerned, if it's not on my desktop, it doesn't exist.

Shane is so lucky he's married to me.  :)

Halloween

Sorry for such a late Halloween post.  The day after Halloween, we all got the stomach flu.  But that's a whole other post.  ;)

We had a great Halloween weekend celebration!  It started on Friday-we went to Shane's parent's house for a party.  There was yummy food (his mom made this killer spinach/artichoke dip and HOLY YUMMY!  AND there was homemade root beer-it doesn't take much to please me...hahaha), games, and fun music.

Kaden and Lexi were so excited that they FINALLY got to wear their Toy Story costumes that their mean mom had withheld from them for the past month.  Kaden was Buzz, Lexi was Jessie, and Ari was Bullseye. 

Playing "pin the nose on the pumpkin".  Kaden totally cheated the first time and could see, which is why his nose is perfectly centered on the pumpkin.

Lexi peeking out from the blindfold.

Lexi wanted to keep playing (and playing and playing) and just started throwing noses up there...even without tape on them.  hahaha

Saturday morning I went out with some girls from my ward  to Kneader's (in Layton) for breakfast.  We had heard that their french toast is to DIE. FOR. and YES it is!  I highly recommend going there before 11:00 AM and trying it.  Oh!  And they have this DE. LI. CIOUS. chocolate truffle hot chocolate.  Yum.

In the afternoon, we met up with our friend, Kelly, and her kids (Liz and Logan) to play!  Kaden had been asking me for a full month to show Liz his Buzz costume, so he couldn't wait!  We went to the Syracuse City party where there was a lot going on:

(Kelly, I might have stolen a couple of pics from your blog...)

Lexi had to have help from the worker to get up the slide, and then he literally had to push her down it.  But she loved it!  hahahaha  Can you see the terrified expression on her face?

Liz right before she went spinning.  :)

 

Ring toss!

Logan and Liz did great!

Lexi, of course, just put the rings in a straight line on the ground right in front of her.  :)

We hit up the bounce house...

 After the fun and games, we changed the kids into their costumes and went trunk or treating.

From L to R: Logan as an adorable Gnomeo, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie, Liz as an adorable Juliet, and Bullseye.

We walked around the city pumpkin walk after that, but I didn't get any pictures of that.  Some of the designs were awesome!  Kelly did a Despicable Me minion pumpkin that everyone loved.  She's pretty much a creative genius.

The kids were done after that so we headed to Kelly house for yummy food!

Nom nom nom

Liz with her mummy pizza and mummy hot dog.

Go UTES!  Woo!

Mummy rice krispy treats...apparently mummies were the theme of the night!  :)

After leaving a path of destruction playing for a few hours, we headed home.  The kids crashed almost instantly in the car, which means it was a great day.  :D

Sunday morning, Ari threw up a couple of times (foreshadowing for the day after Halloween), so we stayed home from church and carved pumpkins.  I got three, thinking that Shane would get one, Kaden would get one, and Lexi and I could team up with one.  It turned out that Kaden AND Lexi preferred to just watch momma do all the hard work.  Awesome.

Kaden with his pumpkin: Jack the Pumpkin King (notice his Buzz Lightyear shirt.  He's more obsessed with Buzz than Thomas lately).

All lit up!

Lexi and her dirty face with the witch pumpkin.

All lit up!

 Shane was originally going to do an angry birds themed pumpkin, but when he started, he realized that we didn't have the right tools for it (some of the designs were insanely small) and opted for a more classic look:

MWAHAHAHAHA

Monday (on Halloween), we ended up going to my dad's neighborhood in Syracuse to trick-or-treat.  In the past four years, we've always gone to our friend's house in Clinton, but since they moved to Wisconsin, that wasn't happening this year.  There was NO ONE trick or treating in our Ogden neighborhood, so I'm glad that we went to Syracuse.

We walked around for about two hours and it was SO much fun!!  There were so many homes that had a big bonfire set up in their driveways, one guy had a huge jug of homemade rootbeer and was like "Stay a while-warm up by the fire-how are you?"  Everyone was so friendly!  Maybe I'm too used to my mean Ogden neighbors, but Syracuse was awesome.  I even ran into a friend from Jr. High/High School (Kallee!) who had made a ton of donuts earlier in the day to hand out.  They were delicious!!  

When all of the kids were begging to be done, we went to surprise my dad.  :)

They were so ornery because I wouldn't let them eat any candy until we got a pic of them together.  Lexi, as you can see, snuck a sucker without me knowing.

 It was a really fun Halloween!