Awesome Blog You Have to Check Out

OK, so I know I haven't posted in months, but I discovered this AWESOME blog that everyone should know about cause everyone likes getting free stuff, right? It's http://www.thriftynorthwestmom.com/ and there's Freebie Fridays and they keep track of when Old Navy Weekly refreshes and all kinds of other good deals. You have to check it out.

And maybe I'll actually post something worthwhile soon. Maybe. I'm kind of enjoying the freedom of not blogging. But I still love you all, really....

Sideshow Bob

Brook had crazy hair day at school so we had some fun with some rubber bands and a crimper.

Grave Robbing

For those of you who don't live near me, there is a large cemetery about a half mile from my house. A small group of us go walking there most mornings, and after memorial day, there were so many pretty flowers that we just couldn't help ourselves. The whole place was just covered in flower pots. There was some good stuff out there! Fresh and silk flowers, small toys, baskets, vases--and what do the dead need them for anyway? My kids really had fun with some of the pinwheels out there too.


OK, really, a week after Memorial Day the cemetery asks for volunteers to come clear all the graves so they can mow the grass again. You can keep whatever you want, they just throw away the rest. Now all the porches around my building are covered in chrysanthemums. So here's to grave robbing!

Funniest Thing!

Last night as I was getting the kids to bed Anne Marie was sitting on Alex's bed. She tipped over and cracked her head on the wall. She looked at me with these big eyes and quietly said, "Ow." I laughed and laughed and laughed. (She's only 9 months.)

Birthday Video

Alex's birthday: This is Alex and friends at Jump on It. He spent most of the time crying that he was afraid, and after about an hour he decided it was okay to jump. Silly kid.



Note on the last post: The birthday cake was sand cake--trifle in a sand bucket with graham cracker crumbs for the "sand", the top of a pineapple, and yellow rice krispie treats with frosting faces for the Spongebobs. I am rather proud of myself for that one =o). Glad you liked 'em, Laura.

Alex's Birthday

Okay, so Alex has been 3 for about a month now, and I figured it was time to post some pictures. We had a family celebration on his birthday where he got to open presents from us and Grandma and Grandpa James. Then later that week we took him and a few friends to Jump On It, this way cool place with tons of trampolines. (I think the adults had more fun than the kids =o) After that we went back for cake and more presents and a pinata. It was a good birthday week.

Snow!

Yes, it's that time of year in Utah valley--snow in April! It's Thursday, April 16, and this is the view from my kitchen window:


And to think it was warm enough to wear shorts on Monday....

Update

I realize that I haven't really posted much about what's going on around here lately, and there has been lots of random silliness. Brook has sadly lost her carpooling buddy and "best friend" (she has about 6) Hunter when he moved to Lehi, but on an up note, she figured out how to sled down the stairs in her sleeping bag.


Alex is still obsessed with Spiderman and Batman and is working on potty training (yes, I am blogging about potty training =o).


Anne Marie has become mobile, moving around quite well with her army crawl, and has also discovered the stairs. Yippee.


So that's what's going on at our house, among the random silliness. These pictures, I think, speak for themselves (and for the record, Alex started it!):

This is kinda fun

This is cool, you should try it. Both Jason and I could hear it, so I guess we're not that old after all.

Teenager hearing test

Created by Train Horns

Question

OK all you seasoned bloggers--how do you change your template and not lose all your widgets? I've done it twice now and had to redo everything (what a pain!). I love the backgrounds on Pyzam, but I'm not such a fan of all the extra work. Any suggestions?

My Little Photographer

We gave Brook our old digital camera for Christmas and the memory card isn't very big, so she deletes a lot of them. Today she decided she wanted to put them on the computer, and I saw this one that I just love:



Most of her pictures are of random things around the house, but every once in a while she has a good one. It's interesting to see what she thinks is interesting.

Some Thoughts for the Day

My kids are sick so I'm home from church and thought catching up on blogs would be a good use of my time. I've actually found some good stuff, like this quote:

"You are a child of God. He is the Father of your spirit. Spiritually, you are of noble birth, the offspring of the King of Heaven. Fix that in your mind, and hold to it. However many generations your mortal ancestry, no matter what race or people you represent, the pedigree of your spirit can be written on a single line: You are a child of God." Boyd K. Packer, “A Few Simple Lessons,” New Era, Aug 2002, 4

And this one (that I remind myself of frequently =o):

"If you have children who are grown and gone, in all likelihood you have occasionally felt pangs of loss and the recognition that you didn’t appreciate that time of life as much as you should have. Of course, there is no going back, but only forward. Rather than dwelling on the past, we should make the most of today, of the here and now, doing all we can to provide pleasant memories for the future.

"If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly. (emphasis added)

"Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important—and what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. Wrote William Shakespeare, “They do not love that do not show their love.”3 We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us."

Thomas S. Monson, “Finding Joy in the Journey,” Ensign, Nov 2008, 84–87

Words to Live By

I found this quote on another blog and thought it was worth sharing. My mom has it printed out somewhere in our house, and it was a good reminder to see it again.

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old-time rail journey...delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride." Jenkin Lloyd Jones (Deseret News, 12 June 1973, p. A4)

President Hinckley quotes part of this in a great article about marriage: “What God Hath Joined Together,” Ensign, May 1991, 71

Cool Commercial

My mom sent me this in an email--it's so cute!

My Punny Child

I set Anne Marie in the high chair for a few minutes to get something done, and she got bored, so she reached over to the bag of walnuts sitting next to her, and of course the nuts spilled. She thought this was great fun, and the sound of the nuts hitting the floor and the rustle of the bag was cool, so she kept playing with it until the whole bag was empty. At this point Brook walks into the kitchen and says,

"Aww, nuts!"

It took a while for me to stop laughing. Okay, I'm still laughing.

Draper Temple

So we all went to the Draper Temple open house today and it was awesome! It's a beautiful temple, and it was neat to take the kids since they're so little. It's one of the great blessing of living in Utah--all the temples! The conversation when we got in the car went like this:

"Dad," said Alex, "that was fun."
"Seeing the temple?" Jason.
"Yeah." Alex
"I liked all the chandeliers," Brook pitched in.

Mmm...Pie

So for girl's night this month we had pie and played board games. OK, only one game, In a Pickle, but it was totally fun and the pie was totally good. We were supposed to go to Cafe Rio (best restaurant ever!) but everyone bailed, and I had made 2 pies (story for another post =o) so I invited everyone over and now they want the recipes, so here goes:

Blackberry Cheesecake Pie:
Make a graham cracker crust. Spread it with a layer of blackberry jam. Make a box of cheesecake jell-o pudding. Pour it in the pie shell and refrigerate for a while. That's it!

Chocolate Chiffon Pie:
1 envelope Knox gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1-oz. squares unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup water
3 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1 graham cracker crust

Stir gelatin into 1/4 cup cold water. Set aside. Beat egg yolks till thick and lemon colored. Gradually beat in the 1/3 cup sugar; beat in sugar and vanilla. Set aside. Combine chocolate and water in a small pot and stir over low heat until blended. Add gelatin mixture; stir to dissolve. Immediately beat chocolate mixture into egg yolks. Chill, stirring occasionally, till mixture is partially set.

Beat egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually beat in 1/2 cup sugar and continue beating to stiff peaks. Fold small amount of egg whites into chilled chocolate mixture. Then spoon half the chocolate mixture over remaining egg whites and fold until just blended. Repeat with remaining chocolate. If necessary, chill till mixture mounds when spooned. Pile into pie crust. Chill till firm and garnish with whipped cream if you want.

For Hippie Soccer Moms Everywhere

There's gotta be a way to make that at home...

Need Ideas

So I'm teaching a mini class for Enrichment (Women's group meeting) next month and I'm looking for some ideas. I'll be talking about saving money, and I'm looking for the crazy stuff, things other people make fun of you for, like washing disposable silverware, or some of the bigger stuff like staying healthy to avoid medical bills down the road. I'd like to have a handout full of things that maybe people haven't thought of before. I know you guys have some ideas--bring em on! Or if you have a ton, send me an email. So here's to saving $$$! And thank you.

Twilight

OK, so I finally finished Twilight this morning--the whole series--and I can stop feeling like the last girl in Provo who hasn't read them. (And I'm sure my family will enjoy having me back.) So anyway, all I'm going to say is that I loved it as much as it annoyed me, and if I say anymore, I'll just go on for hours, so there--I'm done!

Retired

My dad finally retired and sent me this cool picture. For those of you who don't know, my dad has worked for American Airlines for 20 years loading luggage and waving those orange thingies to guide the plane to the gate and all that fun stuff. So, congrats Dad! Here's to the rest of your life!

I am...Batman!

Alex cracks me up! Today he was playing with Brook and Annie and Bailey and one of them was pretending to be a "bad doctor." So I asked Alex if he was a bad doctor--no. A good doctor?--no. A doctor? "No," he said, "I'm Batman!"

The Mommy Zone

I have now entered the Mommy zone--you all know that place where you haven't slept for days (weeks...months...) and the kitchen is covered with dirty dishes because when you actually get a chance to wash them, you spend the time instead yelling things like: Stop hitting, let your brother have a turn, be quiet the baby's sleeping, and my favorite, get that out of your mouth. So needless to say things have been a little crazy around here, but there's always cuteness in the craziness. I'm writing this because I found Anne Marie sucking on her sock and for some reason (read: lack of sleep) I thought it was hilarious that she had pulled off her sock and decided to chew on it. Babies are great--she's either driving me crazy or saving my sanity. The tears I can get through and the smiles melt my heart. So anyway, welcome to the Mommy Zone!

Brooklyn getting married

Congratulations Brooklyn, today is your day! It finally came. Weve waited so long for this. We love you! Your mom and dad are so proud of you!