Halloween slideshow..

We have so many Halloween pictures to post.. parties, friends, candy, painting pumpkins.. but it's going to have to wait. All we have today is old Halloween pictures. I posted this slideshow last year, but there are new pictures added.. so watch at your own risk.

And I also said this last year, but it still rings true. Adults who don't dress up are L.A.M.E.
You get one chance to dress up as something fun and crazy, so don't let it pass you by!

Happy Halloween! We are off to Trick or Treat with cousins in Utah!

Buns of Steel

As IF those mega buns were real. I wish I had that much hair! For those who know me, know that I can make a dime sized ponytail with my thin hair.. if I am lucky. At the last minute, I borrowed hair extensions from my friend Rachel! Thank you girl! It was a huge lifesaver because I literally had TWO bobby pins in my entire house... and that's all I needed for these long locks.

note to self: Even if you are planning on wearing fake eyelashes, you should apply mascara anyway.. because you'll never give yourself enough time to actually put the eyelashes on.. And also, buy a tube of lipstick to wear on special occasions, like Halloween. That red face paint you put on your lips was totally ug.

Trunk or Treat

Halloween is absolutely the BEST.HOLIDAY.EVER! I love candy and I love dressing up.. so when you combine the two, I am one happy girl! Aaron is catching the Halloween spirit and even made his own gun holder this year! Yay for duct tape! We bought the boys outfits at Target, but pieced ours together last minute. I quickly sewed together my dress from a white sheet, wrapped tin foil around a belt and spray painted an old water gun black! And for friends in HS who still tease me about my white winter boots.. let me just say that you NEVER KNOW when they will come in handy. On Saturday night, we hit the Halloween party at our church and took home the award for best family costumes.. that's the way we work it, yo!

My favorite pictures of the night are----in no particular order---

May the force be with you.

I loved telling my older boys to smile. Every time I said it, they would scream from under their masks, "I AM!!!" They never thought it was funny, but I did.

My husband was a sexy Han Solo. You should have seen his gun! I was going to wear Princess Leia's gold bikini outfit to the ward party, but decided it would be best for the bedroom. And it was. This is exactly what I looked like later that night.

thank goodness it's bedtime.

It's been one of THOSE days. I am exhausted and can't get in bed fast enough. But before I do, I thought I would write down a couple of funny things the kids said-- because we all know it just aint happening tomorrow...

Zack wouldn't finish his dinner tonight and when I told him to hurry and eat it, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "No. I think Hank will eat it." Hank is the little boy I take care of 5 evenings a week. Yes, we still watch him and yes, I still love him. He is such a sweet boy and lives up to his nickname "Hank the Tank." Zack's comment just cracked me up because he knows very well that if he doesn't finish his dinner, the human vacuum baby will most definitely eat it for him. Hank isn't a fat boy, just really solid and he loves to chow! I tried to tell Zack that Hank won't always be around to finish his meals for him. Zack looked at me and smiled really big while saying, "Mom, I think Hank is a BIG FAT Panda!" We all laughed hard, not because he was making fun of our little adopted child, but because he said it with so much enthusiasm. I am pretty sure he got that line from Kung Fu Panda ? but I can't be sure..

A few hours later, we were all on the squished on the bottom of their bunk beds having our night time ritual. Aaron was playing tennis, so I was in charge of telling the famous "sleep story." I hate telling made up stories to the kids... because they never think I am funny. No kidding, Aaron could say the exact same words as I do, and they all giggle with delight, but when I tell the story, all three of them stare back at me with confused looks on their faces. I usually just end up telling a story with a moral because it's always safe and (apparently) that is my duty as the only female in the house. Anyway, tonight I didn't feel like telling anything so I convinced Ben that it was his turn. And this is what he said. "Once upon a time, POOP. The end." All three boys roared with laughter and I just rolled my eyes. Seriously-- why are they boys so gross? But truthfully, I was just grateful that the story was so short so I could kiss them goodnight and leave them alone. I don't mind that they are still whispering and giggling, as long as they stay away from me. I closed the door to their room feeling like Ben's story describes my life perfectly. "Once upon a time, POOP. The end." Baby steps until the weekend..

Just so I don't sign off on such a depressing note, I thought I would leave you with one of the funniest things I've seen on TV in a long time (aside from the SNL political clips.) Aaron and I were watching a recorded episode of Ellen (I told you I was a big fan, even though she's gay. I really love her, but not in THAT way.) Anyway, Dennis Quaid was on the show and she made him enter a local Starbucks and repeat everything she told him in a hidden earpiece. It's a hilarious clip and everyone who has an extra three minutes should watch it...

I still have it recorded on my TV and have seen it entirely too many times... Aaron now comes home from work, puts his hands in the air and shouts, "DENNIS QUAID is HERE!" and every time he does it, I am reminded of why I married him... because he can always get me to smile.

Anyway, that's all. Must get sleep.

blah, blah, blah

My posts lately have been so random and scattered, that I just don't have a title for this one. I honestly don't know what I am going to be able to fit in. Right now, my hair is wet from my shower and I literally have minutes before I need to scurry off to something else... I am going to type as fast as I can..

The boys best friends are our Hawaiian next door neighbors. Brenden and Anlou are 9 and 11... who obviously have no problems with playing with a 7, 5, and 2 year old. Zack thinks he is one of the gang and often answers the door with saying, "Hey guys, do you wanna play?" The five of them have a great time together playing video games, talking about Star Wars nonstop and throwing big dirt clods in the acres of nothingness across from our house. These little Hawaiian boys crack me up by some of the things they say... such as "we love having you guys as neighbors cause the people who used to live in this house always tried to run over our baby brother." If not running over babies qualifies us as good neighbors, then we can't go wrong. Unless I allow Zack to back my van out of the driveway, that is.

(wait a minute.. is Ben's ring pop in his mouth or on his finger! Whoa.)

[Trying to move on to another subject without the awkward transition..]

We have THOROUGHLY enjoyed all the out of town visitors we've had in our new house. I am afraid I will forget they ever came if I don't at least document it. These have all been in the past week or so! Wahoo!

• My cousin Kara just moved to Sin City and bought their first home! Yeah! Her mom and sister came to visit and I just LOVED seeing them. We stayed up way too late talking (thanks for putting up with us, husbands!) No picture to show for the visit, but here are the girls on the Strip all gorgeous and mustardy. They didn't even plan to match so perfectly, but how cute are they?

Kara, Karen, Carla, Katelyn and baby Nixon (who happens to be Red Sox fan.)

The two hotties on the right are SINGLE and ready to settle down and get married (ha!) Any takers? Email me and I will set you up. Kevin.. you can't, because they are your first cousins and that's illegal. If Proposition 8 passes in California, cousins may qualify as proper marriage candidates.. you never know.

• Suzanne and Jason and their kids vacationed in Vegas and we were lucky enough to hang out with them for TWO whole days! We had a great time with them at the Silverton, watching the disappointing BYU game, AND especially playing cards with them. Several years ago they taught Aaron and me a fun card game and now they can't beat us at it. I keep telling them they need to play to their full capacity and stop letting us win. Really, guys.. try a little harder next time. It would be so much better if you were giving it your all.
  

We LOVE them and their darling kids and wished we could make one of their girls marry one of our boys. Morgan and Luke used to kiss on the lips when they were little toddlers, but something tells me that it's Ben and Ashtyn who love each other... I mean, I am no relationship expert, but this love letter says it all. The holding hands picture is cutesy, but the "sleep over" and the "call me" is screaming TRUE LOVE ALWAYS, dontcha think?

• Adam and Francine came without their kids for their 7th Anniversary and we were happy to have them stay for a night. I wish I had pictures to show for it, but when Francine's around, I never need to bring my camera. But then again, she doesn't blog very often so I am going to have to wait MONTHS for those pictures! I do have one shot of our Sunday evening trip to see the Bellagio water show..

Aaron conveniently had a "church meeting" to attend so he didn't join us on the Strip... {he's so righteous.} My kids LOVE the water show and the ever changing conservatory at the Bellagio, but they HATE walking back up the hill when it's all over. They were all begging to get in the stroller and somehow, we were able to fit them in. I pushed them all way to the car like this.. Who needs to buy a triple stroller anyway?

• Last night we had Matthias over for dinner and it was fun to see him.. I wish his wife could have joined us, though. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he and Andrea will end up here permanantly! Vegas is the place to be...especially if you want visitors! We have had 5X's as many people at our house than our ENTIRE time in law school. It's all about location, baby!

When I am not entertaining visitors, I am painting like a MAD woman! My husband would call it an obsession.. and it may very well be. I have lots of house updates to show, but frankly, I just want to post them all. Just come and see me!

What NEEDS to be documented is all of the funny ZACKISMS we've enjoy the past couple of weeks. He is growing up so fast and we can't keep up with him and his entertaining personality. He thinks he's so big! He starts out his sentences with "ACTUALLY.." and responds to questions with "I'm not QUITE sure." When Aaron and I were busy putting in a ceiling fan, he came in the room to tell me that his arm was hurt. I ignored him and he said it again. Aaron kindly responded because I obviously didn't care. When Zack heard the response he said, "I wasn't talking to you, Daddy." That went over well.

He wants to do everything himself... and sometimes it's not pretty. Today when I was cleaning up the dishes, he came in (pantless) and said, "Mommy, I did it!" When I asked WHAT he did he said, "Wiped my bum all by myself!" I knew that was trouble. He led me to the bathroom.. and I was pleasantly surprised to that he did it in only ONE ROLL. It could have been much worse. The toilet flushed okay and when his hands were washed, he said, "You love me so much, mommy." As if to say, "I know you're so proud." I am proud and I do love him, but only sometimes.

I happened to have the camera in the kitchen this morning when Zack insisted on pouring his own milk in the cereal bowl. He's been doing this for some time now, but I will soon forget if I don't capture it on camera. I sure love this crazy little boy (and the big boy in the picture too-- notice the Trix cereal in his soccer bowl...)


He (Zack, not Aaron) has been walking around the house with his eyes completely closed. He peaks every once in a while, to keep from running into walls. Many times he has walked up to me with both eyes closed tightly and will ask me a question like, "Where's my shoes? I can't find them?" When I tell him his shoes are on his feet, he opens his eyes, looks down and says, "WHAT? I didn't know that!" And each time he gets me to laugh (and I am sure that's why he continues to do it.) Yesterday when he woke up, he seemed a little stuffy. He kept saying to me over and over (with his eyes wide open, mind you) "mom, I can't see! I can't see!" I told him that his eyes were open and that he was seeing just fine. He got frustrated and said, "NO, I can't see out of my nose." Then proceeded to breathe with a stuffy nose. When he was finished he said, "See? My nose can't see!"

Two seconds ago, as I was typing, Zack came in the room with his eyes shut tight and his favorite pillow case wrapped around his head--neatly tucked under his chin. He looked like an old, blind begger woman. Without looking at me he casually said, "What's up mommy?" When I asked him why he keeps his eyes closed, he said, "Because I YOVE it." And so do I.

ps. For all those ladies who went to book club last night (we reviewed The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands) I want you to know that I made my husband a delicious lunch WITH a note on the napkin.. and I did it all with a smile. When I grabbed a brown paper sack for the lunch, I noticed that a little someone had colored on it..


I found it hilarious, not because it was colored on, but because it was put back in the drawer after they decorated it. Did they hope no one would notice or did they purposely want dad to have a festive lunch? The mystery will never be solved. But to everyone who's reading... I hope you have a happy "HALLWENN!"

a lost tooth, a bit of painting and some sad news.

Another week has passed and October is almost over! Where does the time go? This morning we went for a bike ride with shorts and tees and by the end we were all sweaty and tired. When we go into the house and drank cold glasses of ice water, Luke said, "It sure feels like summer out there!" And it does. It's hard to get excited for Halloween when you'd rather jump in swimming pool, ya know?

Lukey had an exciting weekend... he lost his first tooth!. I have been saying for about a week now that it's ready to come out.. and it finally did in the middle of Sacrament meeting! There we were, sitting all nicely and reverently in church when it decided to pop out. We were laughing pretty hard because we didn't have a place to put it or a kleenex for Luke's bloody mouth. Aaron ended up putting it in a Sacrament cup and keeping it in his pocket.

Luke has a cute hole in his smile and I have a feeling tooth #2 will quickly follow suit. I was told that babies who get teeth early are quicker to lose them, but children who get their teeth late, lose them late. This was definitely true for Ben. He had four teeth at four months old and lost a mouthful in his 5th year. Luke on the other hand, didn't get teeth until he was a toddler. Seriously, he was probably 14 months old before his first teeth popped through, but he is losing them at the same time that Ben did. So that theory was proven wrong by our boys... FYI, I heard a cool trick to pulling out teeth is putting baby Oragel on the gum before you pull. Pretty tricky. We obviously weren't using it during church, but may need to apply it to get #2 out.

Anyway, our house has been CRAZY the past few days. Our guest room has literally been a revolving door with people coming in and out. I decided to get it painted before the REALLY crazy Holiday visiting time. I bought the green paint that I wanted, but when I painted it on the walls it was so drab and ugly.. much darker than I wanted. Instead of going out and buying a new color, I decided to mix my own up. I added a bit of mustard orange-ish color with some lighter tan and got the perfect army colored green. I am very happy with how it turned out. The only problem I had was that I didn't mix enough paint for the whole room! Aaron was teasing me that I would never be able to match the color, but I did.. without any problems. I asked him to tell where the old color ended and the new color started and he couldn't find it... so I was quite proud. Again, I kinda forgot to take before pictures, so here are a few in the middle of the process..

and the aftermath...

Last but NOT LEAST. While I was uploading pictures for this post, I received some very sad news... Jessie Cline, a dear friend of mine, was killed yesterday in a fatal car accident. He was driving with three other people when his car was struck by a drunk driver. He died Sunday, Oct. 19th. The funeral will be on Thursday morning in Oregon (where his parents live.) I have picture and more information to post, but for now, here are a couple of newspaper articles reporting the crash.

http://www.katu.com/news/local/31255124.html

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008285812_weboregoncrash.html?syndication=rss

Why Proposition 8 MUST pass

Many of you are familiar with the battle going on in California for/against gay marriage. On Nov 4th, California voters will have the opportunity to amend the state constitution by adding this sentence: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." By saying YES to Proposition 8, voters have the opportunity to ban gay marriage, keep same sex education out of our school system and stand up for our religious believe and freedom.

Proposition 8 is NOT about tolerance, prejudices or homophobia. It's about protecting the FAMILY and standing up for the children of this nation who do not have a voice. I have A LOT to say about this and may post more later because it's that important of an issue, but for now, I have three reasons why it would be detrimental to our country if this propositional fails to pass.

1. The MINORITY doesn't (or shouldn't) make the rules. In 2000, 61% of California voters said NO to gay marriage. Somehow the whopping 4 million Californians who agreed on the definition of marriage (between a man and a woman) was overruled by 4, yes FOUR, judges in the California Supreme court. These 4 judges threw the voters opinions out the window by overruling the law and legalizing gay marriage. By definition, Democracy means the RULE of the MAJORITY. What kind of country do we have that allows the minority to make the laws for the rest of society? We have the obligation to vote.. we need to take a stand and make our voice heard.

2. Public Education will be forced to teach same sex marriage to our children. Last Friday, a first grade class in San Fransisco went on a field trip to city hall. They were there to celebrate the marriage of their female teacher and her lesbian lover. The mayor performed the marriage and a class full of 6 year olds stood by to witness. This is just an example of what will most definitely happen in our school system if the definition of marriage is redefined. Text books will be changed, federal money will be spent, and teachers will be forced to give their students a "well-rounded" education. Right now, it is the California school districts who are affected, but what happens in California never stays in California.. If a trend is set in Hollywood, the rest of the country will most definitely follow.

3. Religious freedom will be jeopardized. If Proposition 8 fails, gays and lesbians will have the right to SUE religious institutions for discrimination. That's right. Religious entities will be striped of their tax exemptions if they refuse to recognize same sex marriages as valid. It has already happened to a church in New Jersey. A Methodist camp refused to allow a lesbian couple to marry on their private church property, and the courts ruled in favor of the lesbian couple. A church cannot discriminate and must allow all married couples (defined by law) the same privileges. If they won't comprise their religious beliefs, their tax exemptions will be taken away. This is millions of dollars for many religious institutions.. it is big news, and it would greatly effect the church I belong to.

Not only would religions have to tolerate same sex marriages, but they could not "discriminate" against those who chose to live in same sex unions. Many religions have private organizations who are able to make their own rules (for example, LDS social services will only adopt babies to married couples with both a father and a mother in the home.) If this law is not passed, we will most definitely see law suits against these organizations with the discrimination card being thrown. And who knows what may happen with temple marriages, because after all, you can't discriminate against who gets married where. It could be serious stuff for religious institutions and THIS is exactly why they are making such an effort to get the word out and raise money to get this law passed.Many people are outraged that the LDS Church would publicly speak in favor of Proposition 8, asking it's members to spread the word and VOTE. But they have EVERY right to take a stand for what they believe in.. especially when the outcome could be detrimental to their organization, members and the basic unit of society-- the Family.

For the record, John McCain adamately stands up for marriage only between a man and a woman. He is willing to take the heat and fight the fight. He was chewed out by Ellen Degeneres while on her show, but respectfully said that they have fundamental differences in this issue and that they would never be able to see eye to eye. I respect him for that. Obama has spoken out many times on gay marriage and openly supports not only legalizing it, but making sure that it is taught in every public school across the nation. His interview with Ellen Degeneres was very different.. much "cooler" of course.. but the cool guy isn't always right. To me, this speaks volumes about who I am voting for. (ps. I love Ellen..)

It's a morality issue and we could argue all day about whether or not it's a right for everyone to get married. When it comes down to it, it seems very simple to me. Marriage between a man and a woman is the ONLY way to create children. Fathers and mothers serve VERY different purposes in the family. A mom cannot be a father her children (vise-versa) because she doesn't have the physical, emotional, or mental capacity to do so. You cannot drive a car with two gas pedals and NO brakes. It would be disastrous for the people inside the car and anything in it's path. You can argue around it, but the facts remain the same. Men and women were made for each other and they each serve a vital, essential role in the family. Every child DESERVES the right to have both a father AND a mother. We need to stand up for the children who don't have the voice to say what they really need.

the final debate

This is going to be short because I just don't have the TIME to blog anymore... but I just wanted to quickly comment on last night's debate. I know the commentators thought it was a great debate (John McCain's "best" so far) but the only thing I can remember McCain saying is that "Americans are ANGRY." I was angry that he kept saying that over and over.. move it along already. Anyway, I watched it and felt sad that these were our two candidates for President. Where did we go wrong? Out of the MILLIONS of Republicans we narrowed it down to John McCain? Really? My favorite part of the debate was when McCain mistakenly called Obama "Senator Government." That was funny and I rewound it a couple of times to get an extra laugh.

I am still undecided, but find myself leaning more towards The Conservative.. mainly because of the abortion issue and Proposition 8 in California (McCain supports, Obama does not.) Even though I do NOT agree with McCain's economic strategy or his support of the war in Iraq, I feel like I have to stand up FOR the institution of the FAMILY. It's the most fundamental unit of society and if IT fails, we are in big trouble.. the economy is of small consequence compared to our declining morals. I think McCain will have my vote even though he is a Loser--not a loser as in 'not cool', but a loser as in 'he's going to lose'.

We have been talking A LOT about the election in our home, especially over the dinner table and during homeschool hours. My boys think they know exactly what is going on and I often hear them in the background discussing who they are going to vote for and why (we will hold our own mini-election for school on Nov. 4th.) The other day, I heard Ben and Luke explaining to Zack that he is going to have to chose one or the other, but he could not pick both. The news was on and the older boys were pointing out to Zack which candidate was which.

Ben said, "Okay, you can either pick the OLD GUY or the GUY with BROWN skin, Zack. Do you see he has brown skin? He's only half black though, but his skin is still pretty brown."

That made me laugh. I minute later, I heard Zack mummbling something to himself about "BOCK OMAMMA." He can be so radical sometimes.

At the end of the debate last night, Ben asked me if I knew who I was going to vote for YET. I told him that I was still thinking about it. He responded with, "I am voting for John McCain because Barack Obama is trying to take over the world." He must have heard that line from his daddy.

My Prop 8 post is almost finished. I am trying to edit out a few thousand words because (like always) I've said too much.. Aaron warned me that shorter is better, so I am still working on it.

Hope you are all having a good day. If you are running errands, pick up a few cartloads of food storage.. I have a feeling we are going to need it real soon!

our new family motto..

I have been on the computer for about an hour, trying to write a post supporting Proposition 8, the marriage defining law issued to California voters. I take this very seriously and hope to find the right words to take a stance on what I believe and why it is so important to protect the traditional family unit. But I do not want to come across as ignorant or homophobic. My kids have been at my feet, begging me to get off the computer. I dumped out a bag of blocks to keep them entertained while I finish up... but a fight broke loose. Here is what I heard:

Luke: I am using those blocks, Zack! I need those for my ship!

Zack: No!!! Mine, mine, mine, mine!

Luke: You have have all of these (giving him a pile) but don't touch the ones on my ship!

Zack: YUKEY, I don't want these! (then he takes a handful of blocks and throws them at Yukey's head.)

Luke: (now in tears, saying very sweetly) Zack, BLOCKS don't matter, but BROTHERS DO!


True dat. Now, I am going to have to sign off and pay a little bit of attention to the people who matter. Everything else is going to have to wait.

They say it's Fall..

For Field Trip Friday, we headed to an "Orchard" to pick our pumpkins with homeschooling friends in our ward. We are so glad the Hibbard kids can play with us during the week! Orchards in Vegas are nothing like the orchards in Spokane.. in fact, orchards here are a disgrace to orchards everywhere.

It was hot.. we walked around, picked pumpkins, paid for them and then went to Sonic for lunch. Oh how we miss Green Bluff and colored leaves, hay rides, corn mazes, train rides, bean bag throwing, and warm apple pie a la mode! Those were the days. But we only want to go up to Spokane for Sept/Oct. When the snow hits, we want to be back in Vegas. I guess you can't have it all.

On Saturday morning, we woke up to colder weather.. SO cold that we had to pull out our SWEATSHIRTS! Wahoo! Along with the cold weather came a 24 hour flu bug. Aaron was pretty sick on Saturday and couldn't do anything fun. Boo! After a day of sitting around, I went on a threesome date with Ben and Luke. It was mighty exciting. Ben was in charge of our agenda and Luke was the photographer. He took TOO many pictures on the drive. Most of them are blank, because the flash reflected off the window, but then again, he got a few good shots too.

We ended up going to The Dollar Store, Goodwill, Cafe Rio for dinner, and about 6 different Halloween stores. The only thing we purchased was a few items at the dollar store. Luke made sure to take a picture of it.. he managed to get our cashier (along with his finger) in the shot too. suh-weet! I took a quick video while we were in line. I asked the boys a simple math question that neither of them understood. Don't go and watch it, HERE. It's really not worth it.

My favorite moment of the evening was the conversation we had over dinner. It's been 16 hours since then, so I will try to document it the best I can remember:

Ben: Once when we were eating lunch at the Spokane Valley Mall, I opened a fortune cookie that said I would have a big family. (for those of you who know Ben, it's very typical for him to bring up something he heard or read YEARS earlier.)

Me: Really. Well, I hope to have a big family too.

Luke: Three kids isn't really a big family.

Me: I don't think so, either. Especially when I grew up with 9 brothers and sisters.

Ben: So why don't we have more kids?

Me: Well, we're trying really hard.

Luke: How to you TRY to have kids?

Me: Do you know how a woman gets pregnant?

Luke: (with his big brown eyes staring back at me) Don't YOU know?

Me: I do know. But I was wondering if YOU knew.

Ben: Well, I think I know. It starts out really tiny in the moms tummy and then it gets bigger and bigger until it can't live in her tummy any more.

Me: Do you know how it gets in the mom's tummy?

Ben: I think it's gross that a baby eats all it's mom's food while inside her tummy. The food is already chewed up and everything.

Luke: Doesn't the baby start in her head and then it goes down to her tummy?

Me: Nope. Not even close.

Ben: How come Dads never get babies in their tummies?

Me: Because a baby lives in a uterus inside the mom's tummy. It's a body part that only women have. Men don't have a uterus.

Luke: I get it! Boys have wieners and girls have uteruses.

Me: pretty much. But in order to have a baby, you need a mom AND a dad.

Ben: How come I saw on the news a girl who was 12 who was going to have a baby. And she wasn't married.

Me: Well, you don't have to be married to have a baby.

Luke: On Star Wars Clone Wars, Jabba the Hut had a baby, but it didn't have a mom.

Ben: Yeah, and Jabba was mad at Anakin Skywalker because he thought he stole the baby, but he and Asoka were really trying to help him get back to his dad.

And THAT is where the conversation ended. I wasn't going to take it any further, because they obviously didn't want to know. Aaron can take it from here :)

To follow in suit with my recent RANDOM posts, I am showing you a few home improvement pictures. A big thanks to Jenn who suggested that I spraypaint my dining room light fixture until I have the $ to buy the one I want. The spraypaint was $1.12 and it took me a couple of hours to do the project. The most entertaining thing about the whole process was making Ben and Luke hold the fixture while I wired it. Their arms were up in the air forever and they were SO mad at me. Good memories.


Oh, and this is these are our leather couches. I thought I already posted pictures of them, but I guess it was just on a video. We purchased these from an Ashley Furniture hookup who called himself the "Black Santa." He got us a killer deal and even though they aren't the EXACT couches we would pick out ourselves, we are happy with them (because they were cheap!)



The rug we was on clearance at Target.. Eventually these will go in our formal sitting area (where the red couch is) When we get a less formal set of couches for our TV room, these will go in our formal sitting area and the red couch will go upstairs in the loft. We're playing musical couches at our house. You should try it sometime, it's really a lot of FUN.

taking it one day at a time..

Blogging never used to be hard for me. I would sit down, spit something out, post a few pictures and leave it at that. Now it seems like I am weeks behind on things that I've wanted to report and I just don't know where the time has gone. My best guess is that I am trying to organize a house, take care of, feed AND homeschool kids (and keep them from killing each other.) Motherhood is not for wimps! Anyway, I have about 30 minutes before we head to the park, so I am going to give it my best shot.

First of all... WHAT are you going to do about the election? I am seriously stressed OUT about it! Is this what it feels like to be a grown up? I honestly do NOT know what to do. I realize that it's important to vote, but I am completely undecided. I cannot make up my mind. I was practically taking notes during the recent debates. I agree with a lot of what McCain has to say but frankly, I can't stand to hear him talk. It's as though he is already doing a SNL skit of himself.. He's just so old and so annoying. I don't think I can handle him as Prez. Don't you think he'll die in office? He can't possibly live FOUR more years! And, not to rude, but hasn't someone told him he needs to whiten his teeth? I mean, if he has 12 mansions and $$$ coming out his ears, then get some dentures, MY FRIEND. Why isn't his hot wife forcing Crest strips on those bananas? On a lighter note, what is going on with the economy? Is anyone else freaking out here? At night, I just lay in bed and try to breath in and out. I remind myself that we are doing the best we can. My kids are alive, my husband is a hard worker and will provide for us, but still! I am stressing about HOW we are actually going to live off our food storage. I don't know how to cook with that stuff!

Secondly... our car was indeed stolen. Someone took it for a hayride, ripped it apart, and left it on a busy street 45 minutes from our house. It's a sad story. It was an old car and we were no longer driving it.. so life goes on, but it's still unfortunate. It was towed to a junk yard and when Aaron went to check it out, the towing company wanted over $800 to reclaim it. Sorry, but without a stereo, speakers, tires, door panels... it's not worth that much. :) We handed over the title and said goodbye. We had an interested buyer, (it was a great car!) but with all our craziness, we just didn't make it a priority. Anyway, too bad. I will post pictures and an obituary later on. I am sure you can't wait. Just sit by your computer and keep refreshing my page..

Thirdly... I am exhausted. I really am tired. I love my life, but sometimes I just want to pause everyone and everything and take a breather. Where is that universal remote control when you need it?! I wake up with TONS of energy, ready to take on the day.. but by noon, I want to throw in the towel. Life is hard! Homeschooling is wonderful but sometimes I wonder if I am doing the right/best thing for my kids. They are so smart, but they are becoming such nerds! And they want to TALK to me all day long! I love talking.. but not about boy stuff. Am I crazy trying to do all of this? My husband thinks so, but the thought of them sitting in a desk all day learning the alphabet just stresses me out. I really don't know what to do. I feel like I am going in circles about the issue.. and all I want to do is call fellow homeschooling moms, but where is the time??

Fourthly... Well, it is probably still connected with my last point, but I am sick of feeling sick. I am honestly doing whatever I can and I just can't get over this hurdle! I am eating well and exercising faithfully, but I haven't felt good in what seems like forever. My clothes are tight and I am not willing to buy a bigger size. Maybe I should just get out my maternity clothes and pretend I am pregnant. Positive thinking right? I am really okay with the fact that there isn't a baby joining the family, but I wish I had an answer to WHY I always feel like crap. And why I look like crap. This is not to get sympathy (please don't give it.) but Aaron took a picture of me the other night and it was pathetically hilarious. I shouldn't have deleted it, because you would have enjoyed it too. I honestly looked like I was 60 years old-- wrinkles, bags under my eyes, double chin, fat rolls.. you name it. As soon as Aaron took it, he said, "Whoa, you are NOT going to like this." I will try to look just as ugly and take it again :) But it didn't surprise me, because that is exactly how I feel. This week I started a Candida detox. I am really hoping it helps, not with weight issues, but just my overall health. I am on day #3 of only drinking lemonade.. I am supposed to go ten days to cleanse my system, and it's actually okay so far. I am not jumping hurdles or anything, but I am feeling pretty good.

Fifthly.. My time is running out... I have a few pictures to upload. We went on a family hike on Monday and it was a good time. For those of you who live in Vegas and haven't taken your kids up the mountain at the Discovery Park, you need to. It's about a 30 minute hike, but at the top you can see all of Las Vegas Valley and there is a platform-ish area for you to hang out.. with picnic tables, etc. We had our FHE lesson up there and it was heavenly. While hiking up, I realized (for the millionth time) how great it is to be with the people I love and away from everything that doesn't matter to me.

I am loving this weather. I always miss the fall leaves and all the color that this time of year brings, but Vegas is definitely beautiful.


Three major things happened on the hike. 1. Zack fell down because he was running like a mad-man. Surprise, surprise. 2. Luke's pants fell down all the way to his ankles. hilarious. I don't have it on video, but I pulled my camera out seconds after it happened. He wasn't phased by it, but you can see his reaction click HERE. 3. We found a snake on the trail. It wasn't any old garden snake.. it was a long sucker!


Oh, and just as we were leaving, Zack peed his pants. Aaron was thrilled that we decided to drive his new car rather than the stinky old minivan.



Sixthly.. (and finally.) I am sorry about neglecting everyone's emails, phone calls and blogs. I can't keep up. There are too many people to love and there's just not enough time in the world. Which has me wishing again for that universal remote. Where art thou Christopher Walken?

No kidding.. this is exactly what I looked like the other night [with just a tad more freckles.] Husband, vouch for me. Let it be your one comment for the month..


Well, ladies and one gentleman. That's all we have time for, typos and all. God be with you till we meet again.

Madness with Mad Libs

The last couple of days, the kids have been learning about nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. This morning while out exercising (the sunrise was oh so beautiful!) I had a flashback of doing fun word games called MAD LIBS as a child. I don't know if the little books are still around, but there are lots of websites that have you plug in the words and make the story for you. We literally have been laughing for an hour. I don't think I will ever get tired of listening to them giggle.

Here is one of their MAD LIB stories of Little Blue Stinky Hood. Warning: These adjectives were suggested by little boys who love to talk about gross body parts and stinky things. I let them "be creative" but I am so glad I took Luke's suggestion for a noun (eyeball) over Ben's choice (buttcrack.) But the word FART is still included.. after it's suggested for every verb, I just had to include it. What IS IT with little boys? Anyway, consider yourself warned.

The Story of Little Blue Stinky Hood

Once upon a toothbrush, there lived a smelly girl called
"Little Blue Stinky Hood". Little Blue Stinky Hood just loved
to scream in the forest.

One day, her Cousin Cade called to her and said, "Little Blue
Stinky Hood, would you please SPIT this basket of diapers to
your fat grandmother in the woods?"

Little Blue Stinky Hood started off down the eyeball, but on
the way she met a big awesome porcupine. "Where are you going?"
the porcupine asked her. "Oh," she replied, "I am going to
spit these diapers to my grandmother, so that she will become
less fat!"

The porcupine quickly ran down the eyeball to grandma's
house, and when he got there he farted her up in one gulp! He
quickly put on her underwear and got in the car.

When Little Blue Stinky Hood walked in, she was excited to see
the porcupine in grandma's car. "Why grandma!" she said.
"What big freckles you have!" "The better to hug you with,
my dear!" he sang, and skipped out of the car.

Luckily, at that very moment a handsome penguin happened to
be jump roping along the eyeball and heard Little Blue Stinky
Hood laughing with the porcupine. He yelled the door down,
then smacked the porcupine with his own pig. The porcupine
begged for mercy and swam away. Then Little Blue Stinky Hood
and the penguin shared some diapers, and lived quietly ever after.

Dreams I hope never come true.

I have always had crazy dreams and I have always been able to remember them. My husband usually rolls his eyes in the morning as I rattle off what I dreamed about. What I really need is an interpreter. Anyone? These are some of the things I've dreamed about in the past week.. let's cross our fingers that they never come true.

• Opening Zack's mouth and realizing that his adult teeth were there, but they had all grown in randomly on the roof of his mouth. HOW are we going to get braces to fix THESE?

• Being contestants with my husband in The Amazing Race, but taking the wrong plane and ending up on the other side of the world.. we practically got divorced over it.
  

• Talking to a nun in an OBGYN waiting room about her pregnancy.

• Having to leave my family to sell pest control for the summer.. that sucked.
  

• Playing a universal game of girls vs. boys. Realizing that some evil woman tricked me into killing my kids (they are all boys and we wanted them wiped out.) I thought it was just a game until I saw that Zack and Luke were already dead. I secretly told Ben what was going on and we spent the next 2 minutes (but felt like a year in my dream) running from place to place to keep him alive. oh! the stress!

• Zack waking me up at 2 am to say he has to throw up. Oh wait, this really did happen. Luckily we made it to the toilet. When he was finished he said with much excitement, "I didn't keep it in my mouth! It went in the toilet!" Good. Now lay here on this bathroom rug while I go back to sleep on my bed.
  

• Our Honda getting stolen while parked inside our gated community. Dang it.. this really happened too! Longer story later. How we loved that car!

The TREAT SHEET and other weekend happenings..

It was a quiet, wonderful weekend. The LDS population got to watch church on TV!! (General Conference, which happens every 6 months.) It was inspiring and ended too quickly... Funny how watching it as a child, you couldn't believe how L.O.N.G it was-- and now I hate when it comes to an end-- even after 8+ hours of speakers.

The highlight of the weekend for my kids was NOT watching Conference, but rather a piece of paper they colored and named "the treat sheet."


As you can see, they drew pictures of every kind of candy, dessert, or TREAT they could think of. When one of them did something worthy of a reward, they got to pick out anything on the sheet and pretend to eat it. Amazing how three boys could spend hours carrying a piece of paper around the house, trying to find reasons to be rewarded.. Aaron and I would crack up every time one of the kids would exclaim, "Yum! That is SO good!" And of course, Zack had to switch up the game with saying that everything was YUCKY.. because it always got his brothers to giggle. As parents, we were happy that they not only kept themselves busy, but that they were able to eat so much JUNK without getting any cavities or going into a sugar-induced coma.

Highlights of the weekend for me:

• Meeting Kara's family. Kara is my cousin who is now a fellow Vegan-- (a person who lives in Vegas, not to be confused with someone who doesn't eat animal products.) I am so excited to have family in Vegas again!
• Going to dinner with my husband after the Priesthood session. A quiet meal without the kids is always a good thing.
• Not getting on the computer ONCE all weekend.
• Painting the dining room. I realize that I hired someone to paint it last week.. and it looked good, however, I wanted to add a little depth to the wall. I decided to sponge paint it to give it a bit of a fancier look. I didn't do any planning.. I figured I could paint over it, if I don't like it. But I think I do. Aaron is still deciding..

I didn't really take any before shots (when the wall was white--) but I took a break and grabbed my camera in the middle of the process.

and after--

I mixed three different colors in the sponge-- wanting to blend in the dark arch in the dining room. I painted for about 2 hours and probably used 1/2 gallon of paint total. A pretty simple job, really. (Well, only when your husband is occupying your kids with a long game of hide and seek!)

On the other side of the arch is our red couch. It was our first new furniture purchase for the house (or ever for that matter.) We both loved the painting too, even though it cost more than the couch. It's in our formal sitting room now, but we may move it up into the loft. We're just not sure, yet. For now, this is all that's in the room..



Well, it's a whole new week and I have to go take on the day! Zack woke up ready to save the world..


This is his reaction when I act surprised that HE was really underneath that mask. If only I could have gotten his response on video "It was me under that, mom! It was!"

How's that for a random weekend wrap-up?

the house is coming along quite nicely...

Paint on the walls makes such a difference and I am starting to feel the excitement about decorating/turning it into a home. But I don't like staying up until 2 am tossing and turning about what we're going to do and where we are going to put what. I need all the beauty sleep I can get!

We decided to hire a painter because Aaron thought it was my job to paint while he was at work. I think he forgot that I have three kids to take care of. We got a couple of quotes from professionals.. they were around $1500 to paint everything except the bedrooms. I figured that was a reasonable price for not having to do all the work. Then I got a painting referral from a friend (Hi Emily!) who blew our socks off with his painting fees. He quoted us $300 to paint our entire house. That's right people. We had to buy the paint, but he brought all his stuff, covered everything, painted for a couple of days and did an excellent job. I felt like I robbed him or something. We paid him a great tip and he almost wouldn't take it. If you live in Vegas and want to hire him.. let me know. I will give you his business card.

I need to take pictures of the rest of the house but my camera battery is dead. I do have pictures of the loft. It's empty, but we have big plans for it (as soon as we can afford what we want, that is.. it may be a couple of years :)

Before:

After:

I need something to put on this ledge going down the stairs.. something that will keep the kids from getting up there, but that won't break if it gets hit with a pillow (or another object) being thrown down the stairs.. I hate knick-knacks, but it definitely needs something. Help.


We still have yet to paint our bedroom, the guest bedroom or the kids toy room. I want to paint an entire wall in the toy room with the chalk board paint. Has anyone used it before? I am just waiting for my inspiration to come before I start.. Any fun, creative ideas?

oh-- and the green tint that I thought would stay in the carpet is COMPLETELY gone. I have asked friends to see if they can find it, and they can't. Is this a mini miracle or what? God is good to me.