bon qui qui

i am still alive. just spending some quality time with my sisters watching Bon Qui Qui. I may or may not get around to posting the pictures of their fabulous visit.. until then, enjoy the skit from Mad TV

where, oh where, did my weekend go?

I really don't like Mondays. It means 5 more days before another weekend. This past one was outstanding. Not because we did anything out of the ordinary.. but because there was nothing on the schedule. Those are my favorite kind. A few of the weekend highlights were:

• My husband bringing me flowers on Friday after work. This rarely happens.. not because Aaron is a cold-hearted snake, but because I hate the "expected" flowers and I will scold him for buying them on my birthday or a holiday. It's way better getting them for no reason at all!
• Eating late-night ice cream with our boys. Zack kept requesting more BUMPY ROAD.
• An early Saturday morning date at IHOP. No kids. Just me and my man (and delish blueberry pancakes + stuffed french toast.)
• Going grocery shopping as a family.. I know this doesn't sound exciting, but when the checker offers your kids stickers to keep them entertained, it actually becomes quite hysterical. Before we knew it, Luke's ENTIRE face was covered with big, florescent orange stickers that said, "Thanks for shopping at Smith's" Ben had to hold his hand out to the car so Luke wouldn't bump into anything.. Have you ever taped down your eyelashes with big stickers? According to Luke, it FLIPPIN hurts when you rip them off.
• Eating lunch at Sonic with a big bounce house for the kids. Another perfect meal because #1) the boys weren't around and #2) I didn't have to cook.
• Luke begging to drink a swig of Dad's "Dr. Phil" because he was sweaty from the bounce house. Of course, after the third time he said it, he realized it was actually called Dr. Pepper.
• Sitting on a bench outside of TJ Maxx with the fam... and challenging one another to an ice-spitting contest. When it's Sonic pebble ice, those suckers can go faaaarrr.. Just watch out for pedestrians.
• Playing glow-in-the-dark-hide-and-seek In order to play correctly, each person needs a Star Trek lasor shooter that comes inside the current boxes of Frosted Mini Wheat cereal. Must be played after bedtime.
• Sleeping in on Sunday morning until 10 am. I totally dig church @ 1pm.. it gives you enough time to make blueberry pancakes that taste almost as good as IHOP's.
  
• Seeing my husband cook Sunday dinner wearing my apron. Oh how I love him.
• Hearing my boys talk about how much they LOVE the new series we're reading: Fablehaven. Ben thinks "reading a good book is exactly like watching TV in your head... except that it takes WAY longer find out what happens and sometimes it makes you fall asleep... and the characters in your head never look as cool as they do on TV." sounds about right.
  
• making a double batch of chocolate chip cookies and eating dough until Zack got a "headache in his tummy."
  
• getting a note like this under your pillow late Sunday night:

And now it's Monday. Lucky for me (and my kids) we have visitors coming in just a few hours... two of my sisters, SIX of my nieces and nephews AND A PUPPY! They will be here until Thursday.. so asta la vista, baby!

Book #2 ------ Return of the Jedi

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I am finally posting pictures of 2008's BLOG BOOK!

I went with BLURB again and even though it took a while to edit, I am very please with the outcome... as well as the price. It's 440 pages, 8X10 hardbound.. Inside is over 2500 pictures of our year. I paid $96 (including shipping.) It was printed and shipped in about 3 days. As far as I am concerned, this is the best blog printing company... and I am not even getting paid to say that. Now, here are a "few" pages of the massive book. --26 to be exact. Hopefully if will give you an idea of the different formats you have to choose from. Take a lookie.

The only complaint I have is: it seems like the pages were trimmed more than what I saw on my final draft.. Thus, a few of my borders were cut off. But I have never been a perfectionist, and I am not going to let it bother me. If you're about to do a book of your own, make sure you give your images extra chopping space (on all edges.)

My favorite pages are the kids' artwork, the funeral program and the Christmas cards... things that I want to keep anyway, but are filed away and never get looked at. I love that they are now accessible AND I don't feel guilty about throwing away the originals. And the comments from the memory post are kind of like attending your own funeral-- before you die. I really do love these.

There you have it, folks. Download your blog and get to work! It's really not THAT hard and it makes the time you spend blogging feel almost worthwhile. If you have any questions, ask away.

Where's the ALOE when you need it?

Denett and I took our kids to swim at the Marriott on Monday. It was HOT! We made sure to sunscreen our kids (because we're not completely irresponsible) but we didn't exactly protect ourselves. Little did we know we'd get fried. I actually love getting sun.. but I hate it when you can't sleep at night because the sheets hurt your skin... and my kids hate that I scream at them every time they touch me! Seriously, why do they have to be touching all the time???

All in all, it was a great day.. The highlight was most definitely Ben's cannonball. Denett and I could not stop laughing... and those flabby women hated us!

Even though I am complaining about my first sunburn, I am SO excited for summer!! (Yes, even the 100 degree temperatures.) Swimming = less laundry, exhausted kids, and sun-kissed skin.. what's NOT to like? To get us in the summer mood, we've been listening to a new music list... SUMMERTIME songs!

Is there a specific song that reminds you of Summer? Please do share..

you know you're a bad parent when....

while driving to Sonic for HAPPY HOUR (1/2 priced slushies from 2-4 pm)

Son #2 says: I am so hot, I would give anything for a slushie.

then

Son #1 says: Really? Would you rather have a slushie or a MOM?

and

Son #2 responds: Um.... I accidentally...... kind of....... want a slushie more.

a modern day Pride and Prejudice story

Most of you have heard this story-- some of you lived through it. Luckily for me, it worked out the way that it did. Aaron is my Mr. Darcy.. or Jim, from The Office. (Take your pick.)

Aaron and I were set up on a blind date two weeks after my 19th birthday. I was young, carefree, and was NOT looking for a serious relationship. Aaron was 21. He was fresh off the plane after 2 years in Spain and ready to kiss/date as many girls as would give him the time of day :) Truth be told, I liked him right away. He was funny, easy-going and charming. We quickly became friends and did more "hanging out" than dating which I liked because it wasn't serious, but I was also frustrated because I wondered if he liked me back..

About a month after our blind date, Aaron and I were coloring at my place. [Why I had crayons and a coloring book in my college apartment is a mystery, but I did and we were.] It was a Friday afternoon and we were on the floor, coloring and chatting. Even though we hadn't been on a second date, I assumed we were sort of a "thing" because we hung out all the time and hello-- who wouldn't like me? Assuming this, I asked a very stupid question. "What are we doing tonight?" He paused and said, "I got tickets to the dance concert." I sat up and was very excited.. telling him that I had been wanting to go, but I wasn't able to get tickets. I was talking fast and didn't really give him a chance to cut in. His face had no expression. I asked him what was wrong. Then he said very quietly, "I actually asked another girl to go."

I tried to act casual about it and take back my excitement, but it was a terribly awkward situation. I stood up, walked into the bathroom and told myself not to cry. It wasn't like we were seriously dating or anything, but I had assumed that he liked me and obviously I was wrong. The girl he asked out was one of my good friends. She lived next door to me and was the flirty, blonde, ditzy type. I liked her a lot, but I knew very well that she was everything I was NOT. I took the hint and pretended it didn't bother me.

Aaron dated my friend for a week or two. Luckily, I was at home visiting my family when they kissed. A few of my roommates called to tell me all the juicy news and I was crushed. A few days after I came back to campus, they broke up. I was glad they did, but knew there wasn't a chance for us--- because all boys KNOW that you don't ask out a girl's friend and still expect to date her.. right? Right. A guy should know a good thing when he sees it!

A year passed. Aaron attempted to make our friendship more than what it was, but I was careful to keep him at a distance. I was prideful and stubborn and I wasn't going to let my guard down. By the end of our first year of college, I knew that he wanted to be more than friends, but I wasn't about to give him a second chance. When the school year was over, we met on campus to say goodbye. I stayed up the night before writing him a cheesy goodbye letter. I was a little embarrassed to give it to him, but surprisingly, he handed me a letter at the same time. Both letters say almost the exact same mushy things, including the big three words "I love you." Of course, we both claimed that the L-word was said in friendly terms, not romantic. But I am the only one who is telling the truth. He was crazy about me.. and I only loved him like a friend :) We talked a lot over the phone that summer.. He came out to Atlanta (where I lived with my sisters.) I could go into more detail, but it's complicated....

The following fall, I started school with a renewed determination to stay far away from boys. I was busy with a million other things and just didn't see the point in dating. Every guy wanted to get serious and I was focused on getting good grades and sending in mission papers. Aaron came up to Rexburg on a block semester with his brother. He was only there for 2 months and I was really looking forward to having him around. By this time, he had become one of my best friends. I felt 100% comfortable around him and knew he liked me for ME. I never cared what I looked like or what I said around him. Whenever I needed someone to vent to (or cry to) I would call him. We had really become close, but had never been on a second date. And that's how I wanted it to stay. If we started dating and then broke up (which would most definitely happen because I wasn't the serious-dating type of girl) then our friendship would be ruined. I wasn't willing to sacrifice it. He meant too much to me.

One late night in October, Aaron stopped by my apartment to talk. I could tell he had something on his mind and asked him what was wrong. He pulled me outside on my porch and laid his heart on the line. It was bold and so very sweet. After he said everything he needed to, I quietly told him that I could never like him more than a friend, no matter what. He walked away and I felt terrible. I knew I had hurt him, but I was confident I had done the right thing. I wasn't leading him on, I wasn't giving him any false hopes and I felt like I was doing him a favor rather than dating and breaking up later. When I ran into his roommate on campus the following week, he told me that Aaron had come home from my house that night, laid on the couch and didn't move for two days.

I looked for him everywhere on campus, but never saw him. I wanted to talk to him, but didn't know what to say. I decided to give him some time. Little did I know that some alone time is exactly what I needed. Almost immediately after "the porch scene" I got deathly ill. (Aaron now claims that I was struck down...) I started sleeping for days at at time.. I couldn't pull myself out of bed for my classes and didn't have the energy to eat or shower, let alone do any school work. When I went home to see my parents, they knew something was terribly wrong and took me to see the doctor. I tested positive for Mononucleosis.

I literally spent the next four months in bed. I was so miserable and so alone. I wasn't awake much, but when I was, I was thinking of Aaron. I wanted to see him and talk to him, but he wasn't around. One day, while coming out of class, I spotted him from across campus. I knew that he saw me, but he was busy talking to another girl. When I got closer, I saw that they were holding hands. I tried to approach them, and at least meet his new girlfriend, but he quickly waved at me and turned the other direction. I was hurt, but felt that he had every right to be cold to me. The following week, he came over to my apartment. I was asleep in my bedroom, but I woke up when I heard his voice. I jumped out of bed and ran out just as he was leaving. He said he was in a hurry and was just dropping off a "get well" card. I asked him if I could walk him to wherever he was going and quickly grabbed my shoes. The walk was refreshing and it was so nice to finally talk to him. I wanted to tell him how much I missed him, but I decided it would only make the situation worse. I gave him a hug and told him to stop by more often. He shrugged his shoulders. Later that night I wrote him a 3-page letter, expressing my frustration with our "situation" but I never had the guts to give it to him.

That was the only time I saw him. The last night of the semester, my roommates and I threw a party. We invited him and his friends and he said he would stop by to say goodbye. He was going off to BYU (4 hours away) and I knew it would be the last time I saw him. I was anxious all night, but he never came. It was getting late and I was so disappointed. Finally, my favorite roommate, Val, pulled me in the back room and said she was going to call him. I listened on the other line, but didn't say a word. He answered the phone and it sounded like he was a having a party of his own. Val scolded him for not coming over. He appologized and said that he had forgotten about it. She knew he was lying and asked again why he didn't come. He took a deep breath and said, "I can't be around her, Val. It hurts too much." I didn't get to say goodbye, but he sent me a very thoughtful Christmas card. This time when he wrote, "I love you" I knew he meant it.

I slept through Christmas break. Aaron spent the holidays in Vegas with his family. His parents and sisters didn't like me-- because they felt like he was holding onto a hopeless romance. But his awesome-rocker-brother-in-law, Kirk, wanted to hear all about me. After Aaron poured his heart out, Kirk talked him into giving it another shot. He told him, "If you think this girl is worth it, you need to do whatever it takes to get her." Aaron was encouraged and on January 4, 2000 he sent me the nicest, most romantic email I have ever received. He listed all the little things he loved about me and practically told me to get off my high horse and give him a second chance.

I read "The Email" in a busy computer lab on campus. It made me laugh out loud, but I was also really embarrassed because after I was finished reading it, I was sobbing. I printed it out and read it all the way home. I emailed him back that night. I told him that I was not the same girl who turned him down so many times before. I missed him and wanted to be with him. Mono had not only made me really humble, but it stripped away everything that I thought was important and made me realize what mattered.

We became unofficially engaged on our second date. We were married a few months later. And the rest is....... history. Our marriage has been nothing but wonderful. We've struggled through long years of school, lived off the saddest paycheck you've ever seen, all while gladly welcoming three boys into our family. It hasn't been easy, but I have always felt grateful to experience it with such a great guy. Aaron knows me so well and is never afraid to tell me like it is. He is kind, considerate and makes me laugh everyday. And even though I still drive him crazy with my rollercoaster personality-- I make sure to remind him that he KNEW what I was like before he married me. Luckily for me, he's chosen to stick around!

HTML code changes.. it's not so scary!

During my month-long blogging hiatus, I received lots of blog editing questions. Today we're going to deal with two of the most popular questions...

#1- Removing the border from your header picture.

Everyone likes borders around the pictures on your blog, but usually the border around your HEADER picture doesn't fit. This is very easy to take off. You just need to be brave enough to play around with your HTML code. Here are a few steps for those who don't know where to begin. (The edit HTML template is under the LAYOUT tab.)

*before you change anything, download a backup to your template. It's always safe to have your template saved just in case you really screw things up. This only takes a minute...

Scroll down and find the header coding. It looks something like this:

/* Header
-----------------------------------------------
*/

#header-wrapper {
margin:0 2% 10px;
border:1px solid $bordercolor;
}

#header {
margin: 5px;
border: 1px solid $bordercolor;
text-align: center;
color:$pagetitlecolor;

Now, change the 1px to 0px on both border lines...

I will highlight what needs to be changed... we're just talking about 2 little numbers here..

/* Header
-----------------------------------------------
*/

#header-wrapper {
margin:0 2% 10px;
border: 0px solid $bordercolor;
}

#header {
margin: 5px;
border: 0px solid $bordercolor;
text-align: center;
color:$pagetitlecolor;

After you change it, make sure to hit SAVE and preview your blog. You can always go in and change it back if you don't like what it looks like.. Easy as that, my friends. If your border fits and you like it, you can make it thicker by changing the 1px to a 2px or 3px. You can change it to have just ONE border instead of two.. FYI- my headers usually always have borders, but that's because I edit them onto the picture before I upload it... that can be done in any photo editing software. I've said it before and I will say it again, I love Photoscape. It's a free photo editing software and it's very user-friendly.

#2- Label Clouds

Blogger doesn't give you the option of having a label cloud... they do organize your posts according to topics, but the only options of posting those labels is a long laundry list on your sidebar. The bunch of green words to the left is my label cloud. Adding this to your HTML code is a bit more complicated, but all you have to do is copy and paste over your old code. Don't be intimidated. You can do it! .

DISCLAIMER. I did not write this code (obviously) just adapted it from a genius who did...


First, label your posts :) Obviously, a cloud won't show up until you have a few labels. Once this code is added to your HTML, a new label will show up in your cloud every time it's added.. Time saver tip: I always add labels at the bottom of each new post... however, if you are adding labels to OLD posts you don't have to edit each one separately. You can add 20+ labels at a time. Under "Edit Posts" (where you can see your long list of posts) and click on the posts you want to add and do them together. This can save a lot of time.

Second, add the label gadget to your layout. Once you see the long laundry list of labels on your sidebar, you are ready to change the code.

Third, email me or comment and I will send you the code. I posted it earlier, but Blogger converts some of the code and makes it more complicated. If you want the long code, I will happily email it to you.

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He likes to MOVE it, MOVE it.

I was grabbing my [newly purchased] bedsheets out of the dryer this afternoon, when I heard a weird sound coming from my bedroom. It went a little like this... "Uh-huh. Oh YEAH! Uh-huh. Oh YEAH!"

I found my energetic 3 year old having WAY too much fun-- in nothing but his backward undies. Honestly, I am just grateful he was wearing something...

I envy Lucy Ricardo.

Last night I growled at my husband. It wasn't just a little "Grrr." It was a 3-AM-I-am-woman-hear-me-ROAR growl. He is an acceptable bed partner, usually. But last night, he decided to sleep on TOP of the covers. This was not okay with me and I made that very clear. "I CAN'T pull the covers when you're sleeping on top of them!" He allowed me to take all the bedding that I wanted. That was sufficient until 3 AM. I rolled over, tried to pull the covers over me, and was unsuccessful. So I pulled harder, trying to get my husband's lifeless body to move a little. I ended up tearing the sheet in half. These are new sheets, mind you. They were expensive.. the 1000 thread count kind. So you can imagine my frustration when every time I tried to move, my hands and feet would get entangled in all 1000 threads. I growled a mighty growl. He breathed louder and deeper. All I could think about was how lucky Lucy Ricardo was to have a separate bed from Ricky. A twin bed all to myself would be so much more luxurious than the king size one I was sharing with my heavy-sleeping husband.

But then again, sharing a bed does have occasional benefits. Besides the obvious ones, it is awfully nice to have a warm body next to you after having a nightmare. Last week, I dreamed that Ted Bundy had me handcuffed to his bed and was biting me all over my body. I woke up in a cold sweat and begged my husband to HOLD ME. As we cuddled, I swore to myself that I would never casually pick up a book on "serial killers" in Barnes and Noble again. I suppose a new pair of sheets is a small price to pay for a midnight bodyguard..

CPK

Sabrina, Kelly and I took our kids to the California Pizza Kitchen for the yummiest field trip of the year. The kids got to make their own pizzas, take a tour of the restaurant and then we all sat down for some good eats. Our waiter was excellent with the kids and brought the moms more food than we could handle-- all for free. Now that's what I am talking about.

At the end of the tour, the waiter opened it up to questions for the kids. Luke wanted to know why it's not called "Nevada Pizza Kitchen." And how can you not LOVE his arm around the waiter? Luke is not really a friendly kid, but he has no problem getting touchy-feely. I just adore him.

still obsessing over Transformers

This past week, the Paris hotel hosted the ShoWest film festival. We didn't go see any of the new movies, but we did take our boys to the big Transformer exhibit. They had a replica of Bumble Bee and a few of the new cars that will debut on TF2. The weather was beautiful and we always love when Daddy can join us for an outting.


While driving to the Paris, our boys were SO excited, they could hardly stand it. Ben yelled from the back seat, "This is the best day of April we've ever had!!" It was April 2nd.