I Said A Quick Prayer

This morning I was getting ready for work and trying to get the boys dressed. I got all of this boys clothes, but forgot his underwear. (He wears a pull-up to bed) I tell him, "get dressed while I am in the shower okay."

My Child: You forgot my underwear
ME: Go get your underwear out of your room
My Child: I am scared to go by myself
ME: I am in the shower, you need to go do it by yourself, come on show mommy how big you can be.
My child: I do not want to be big.

This goes on for a while. I get out of the shower no progress on the getting dressed. So I go and get the underwear and bring him in his brothers room while I get him dressed. He wanders off to do something, no progress on getting dressed. His brother starts to run away when I try to put on his diaper. Big brother says, "run way from mama" and laughs. I finally chase down little brother and get him dressed. Meanwhile big brother is climbing in the forbidden closet getting down the fruit snacks.

I get big brother dressed and as we go down the stairs I lecture big brother about how disappointed I am in him for not listening to me and for encouraging his brother to run away. Little brother starts saying disappointed, disappointed over and over in his cute little voice, while I put his shoes on. I put together a few more things and come back over by big brother.

My child: I just said a quick prayer
ME: Oh really what did you pray about?
My Child: Jesus, and that I can listen to you better.

WOW! I could not be mad at him anymore. How sweet. It almost made me cry.

Snowmobile for Christmas

This is what Mark got himself for Christmas this year. This summer he bought and sold for profit a few motorcycles. At the end of the season he still had one left. He found a guy on craigslist that wanted to trade a snowmobile for a motorcycle. Mark made sure it would be a good trade and then made the trade.

The boys LOVE the SNOWMOBILE. They just can not get enough. On New Years weekend we took the sleds up to the mountains. We have two because Mark made a deal with his friend Karl. Karl can store his sled in our backyard and ride our sled when ever he wants and we can use his trailer and snowmobile when we want. Pretty good deal.
When we went on this trip it felt like everything was going wrong. Karl;s sled would not start at first. Once we got it going with some help and some time Mark went to start his up again and the pull cord broke clean off! We were afraid our luck may be running out so we took a quick ride. On the way back Mark and Bear raced ahead of me and Oot. Suddenly my sled died. I tried a few times to start it and was unsuccessful. So I decided we better make the best of it while we waited for Mark to return.

So we built this snowman. It was pretty fun. We used some branches to make the face. I was told that he was not frosty because he did not have a button nose or a hat. When dad finally returned to rescue us we found that Oot had hit the kill switch. Ooops.

Next we looked for a hill to take the tube on. Bear was determined to climb through the snow by himself. He did not want me to hold him. The poor kid could hardly walk in the deep snow, but it was sure fun watching him try.

The tubing was fun but the climb was steep. A few weeks after this trip we went to another area with a big empty hill and Karl's family. The mom's and kids would slide down the hill on the sleds and tubes and the dad's would some to the bottom tow back our sleds and give us a ride to the top of the hill again. I was a blast!!! Certainly the way to go if you ask me.

The Snowman House

There is a sweet widow in our ward that LOVES to collect SNOWMEN. She invited all of the Primary children in the ward to come and visit with their families to see the 80 plus snowmen.

Last Monday for FHE I decided to take the kids to see the Snowmen. They LOVED IT!

One PerCENT

Mark has been working at Darigold putting in a new section for making yogurt and sour cream. The other day he brought home a crate of chocolate milks given to him by one of the workers. He broke them out at dinner time and we all enjoyed one.
When I looked at mine the first things I said was, "hmm 1%, I was hoping for whole." It is so much more creamy! After I finished my dinner I left the table to work on a project. I heard this little boy talking aloud to himself. This is how it went.........

One percent? One percent?
This milk is one percent.
One cent.
One cent is the same as one penny.
This milk only cost one penny?
This milk only cost one cent.
Wow, wow!
That is awesome!

******Calling The North Pole******

******Ever since December I have caught my four year old dialing a bunch of random numbers on the telephone. When I take the phone he replies, "I was just trying to call the North Pole."

Last week I caught him doing it again and I said to him, "Dialing all of those numbers is not going to call the North Pole." He replied back to me, "but I was pressing the snowflake button."******

Mom I Want to Show You Something

My 4 year old took me by the hand yesterday and led me to the back yard to show me something. He handed me a little red car and said, "I am going to use the Super Fast car I got from Aunt Angela."

So you tell me..........

Trailer for hauling motorcycles, snowmobiles and 4-wheelers?



or a 16 Lane Racer Car Track?

The little boys defiantly think it is best as a race car track. They had a blast! I love it when they use their imaginations to come up with fun things to do.
I also love when they play together. They love to play together it is so awesome!

Family Vacation

We have not had a real vacation in such a long time! I have been envious all summer of my friends and patients who tell me about their week long getaways! Well we finally got one! Yea!

Friday: We started with a flight to SLC, connecting us to OC. Somewhere between here and there this is what happened to our luggage. Do you know that they charge you $20 per bag checked now? Ridiculous! This is what happens to our luggage. They could have at least given us our $20 back!
It looks like it got ran over and then drug across the tarmac!
On the upside we got a new suitcase that is much nicer than this one which was at least 10 years old.
Mark lost his cell phone on the first flight and the kids were a little crazy to travel with. This luggage topped it all off. But we made it safe.


Saturday: We went to the beach with MaryJo, Arnell, Tyson, Ashley, Jordan, Lacey, Tanner, Grandma, Chauntel, Rob, Mitchell, Micah, Madeline and McKay. But first a few of us went to Old Navy to score some $3 t-shirts.
After the beach my family had to hurry home to get ready for a family photo shoot. We went to a studio and had a portrait done that will be touched up by a painter to look like a painting. They had a wear black and classic attire so that the portrait would not look so 2009 in 20 years from now. We had an awesome dinner complete with Ribs, the Oot loves Ribs. He asks me to make them all of the time. He was so cute when I told him we were having them. He licked his lips and made a slurping sound and said, "I love ribs". After dinner, we played volleyball until after dark, then went to the hot tub. Sorry no photos, if anyone has some send them to me!

Sunday: The main event! My brother Jordan spoke in church. He gave a wonderful talk. He is going on a mission to the Philippines. He leaves for the MTC this Wednesday. I was so proud of Jordan. He is going to be a wonderful missionary.
We had another fab meal and then played sand volleyball with Jeremy, Angela, Ceasar, Tyson, Ashley, Jordan, Tanner and Mark. It was fun. My siblings were surprisingly better at volleyball than I thought. We played volleyball until after dark, then went to the hot tub.

Monday: I went with Angela (my sis), my mom, Lacey (Jordan's girlfriend), and her mom and sister, Debbie and Ashlyn and Angela's friend Chantal to the Fashion District in LA. It was really fun. They had tons of stuff, fo SUPER CHEAP. I got some sunglasses, jewelry, make-up and a jacket. They had jewelry sets (necklace and earrings) for only $1. It was a ton and fun and really entertaining. Here are a few things that made me laugh.
1. Many of the vendors had little boom boxes and they played rap, or Mexican music.
2. There were like 6 city blocks filled with vendors selling fabrics.
3. The mannequins all had butt cheek implants.
4. Some of the mannequins had the new LA DOUBLE D breast implants.
5. It was practically impossible to find a pair of sunglasses that did not have a designer name on them. Here is me in my sweet sunglasses!
After the fab time at in the Fashion District I met up with my high school friend Meagan. We went to BJ's pizza for dinner, ate pizza and enjoyed the famous Pizzookie, we tried the new triple chocolate, it was divine. It was a lot of fun catching up with Meagan!
Meagan came over to see my boys after dinner. While we were visiting the Oot stated playing with Anglea's friend Chantal's iphone. She has an app of a lighter that he could light and he was fascinated by it. He took the phone with him to the bathroom and dropped it in the toilet. So lucky us we got to buy a new iphone. FYI do not let your kids play with other people expensive gadgets! I took it from him once, but once wasn't enough. I guess we all learned a lesson.


Tuesday: We drove to Lake Havasu Arizona. It was almost a 5 hour drive. We got IN-N-OUT burger on the way and my dad got a speeding ticket. It was kind of funny. We stopped at a rest stop for the Oot to go potty and my dad pulled over into 2 parking spots, while the child decided if he really had to go. Finally I just made him, but my dad did not move his car. When we came back a highway patrol women was asking him to move his vehicle and park correctly. After all had gone potty we got back on the road trying to catch up on with my mom. A few miles down the road my dad was speeding along at 91 and the same lady patrol came and pulled him over. She gave him a break and sited him at 81 so he would not have to go to traffic school. Bummer though.
We tried to use the GPS to find a Chinese restaurant for dinner, but they were all closed because it was so late. So we ended up having dinner at the Black Bear Diner. It was pretty good. They brought out pancakes that size of a large plate. Yummy. After dinner it was still over 100 so we went swimming.

Wednesday: Lake Day. We rented two jet skis and played on the beach and in the water. Here are my parents on one of them together. After the lake we had more fab food and spent the evening swimming, playing darts, Foosball and table tennis.

Thursday: Boat day. We rented a boat and two more jet skis. Then spent the day, cliff diving, jet skiing, wake boarding, tubing, swimming and trying to stay cool. Did I mention how hot it is in AZ? This day was 110. You had to jump in the water every time the boat stopped just to stay cool. I loved it though. I hate being cold! I love to play in the water, but not if it makes me cold. So this was perfect for me!

In the evening we played pool games and foose ball and watched 17 Again.

Friday: Our last day in Havasu and time to go home. We spent a little more time in the pool and them packed up to go. We dined at the Diner again. Then drove to home on the way home we watched movies and I played with photoshop. In the evening we got that Chinese food I had been craving and hung out around the house.




Saturday: Time to go home. We had an evening flight so we spent the day playing tennis which I am terrible at, with Mark, Jordan and Tanner, swimming, and shopping for a birthday present for the Oot with Grandma. Oot wanted to look at all kinds of toys before making his choice. He chose a dinosaur playset with a action figure and a boat. He could not wait to take a bath and try it out.
The flight was long, but our luggage made it okay this time. Those little faces say it all!
Thanks everyone for a wonderful week!

Memorial Weekend Camping Trip

This weekend we went camping. It was pretty good. Pretty good you ask? Well do you know how I feel about camping? Check out my previous post.

The bear is still not walking so it was a challenge to keep him from getting filthy. Jamie brought that great netted tent with the tarp that he played in and he had fun sitting on the bikes. He likes my little bike because it is not loud like daddy's bike.

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Oot had an absolute ball riding the little kido ATV's. It was his first time on one that size and he was a natural. It was difficult to get him off of it. The owner had to fake a dead battery.


We kept the meals simple. I just pulled a couple of my freezer meals out of the freezer. We put these Kabob's together right before the RAIN STORM!

Look how fun camping is now! We sat in the truck for an hour waiting for the rain to clear. It never did. It rained all night!


I tried to entertain the little ones and keep the snacks coming as the rain kept coming.



Oot tried to throw spider man webs at me. Oh good Spider Man story. I rented a movie called Spectacular Spider Man for Oot. He was telling one of our friends all about it. Saying, "I watched Pedicular Spider Man." I said, "Can you say Spectacular?" He replied, "No but I can say Pedicular."




I was trying to get these crazy kids to sit by each other and smile for me. This is what they gave me. Look and those dirty hands!



We ended up packing it all up and staying the night with our friends at their parents house. I was happy. I got to sleep in a comfy bed, play games with our friends and take a shower in the morning.

One more good story. When we were in our tent settling in the first night we were telling Oot that there was a creek near by and he was not to go over by it with out mom and dad. We told him that it ran fast and it could grab him and take him away.

The next morning he poked his head out of the tent and said hello to one of the neighboring campers. Then he told the guy that there was a "freak" in the woods that was going to come and take him away.

Motorcycle Coupon

Last week when I was pulling my coupon inserts from the paper my son noticed something he wanted. It was a sporting store ad. I pulled it out and he carried it around for days. Then on Saturday he came to me and said can you cut out my motorcycle coupons? We cut out a couple of the pictures. Now he goes around saying that he is going to get a motorcycle with his coupons.

His dad told him a while back that he could have his first motorcycle when he turns 5. So after playing with his coupons for a while he came to me and said, "Mom, I have a problem, I need to figure out how to be five." He then tried to convince me that he was five.

Two things I know:

1. My coupon stuff is rubbing off on my son.

2. We are not going to hear the end of it until this kid gets a motorcycle.

Maybe I can convince dad that we need to extend the age, that might be easier than convincing my boy. I don't think I am ready for my boy to be on a motorcycle all by himself. Besides those things are expensive and not even my coupon deals can help with that!

Ahhh

"This is why you do not buy nice furniture when you have kids." Mark

I guess my 3 yr old wants to see how patient I can be or maybe how creatiVe I can be with punishment.

While eating lunch he took the back end of his spoon and carved this master piece into my dinning room table. Oh right before this incident he switched me bowls, (mine being the mama bear size and his the baby bear size) and started eating my lunch. I want a whole bunch he said. He did not eat it all BTW.

So for the next week he will be eating all meals in the kitchen by himself.

Restitution

Thanks to those of you that left your advice for the shopplifting incident. After much talking about right and wrong and buying and stealing and what happens to people who steal, we took the candy back. He apploigized for taking it from the store and then purchased it with the money from his money bank.

I am not sure if he really learned his lesson or not. He hide the candy from me, but I am not sure if it was he knew he should not have taken it, or he figured his mom would not let him have the candy.

I did not let him have the candy after we purchased it and told him next time if he wanted some he would have to let me know.

Today at the grocery store he wanted to buy the motorcycle guy and motorcycle that he had brought into the store. He put it on the belt and asked the lady to scan it.
So I wonder does he or doesn't he have this one figured out?
I will have to be sure to watch him more carefully, in case this lesson did not sink in.

Valentines Day / Shoplifter

Our Valentines day is review.

8:00 Mark wakes to go play basketball in the stake men's tournament.

8:30 I am awakened by my cute little boys, I get the little one dressed.

9:00 I make some heart shaped love pancakes and hash browns for breakfast.

9:30 Daddy returns to announce that they they won their game and will be playing again at 11:30.

9:45 We eat breakfast.

10:15 I check my email, google reader and get the updates for the day.

11:00 I clean up breakfast while the little boys watch a snowmobile movie. Mark is off to basketball.

11:30 I get my 3 yr old dressed and ready for the day. He gets a time out for wetting his pull up over night and he has to clean up the puzzle pieces all over the living room before we go.

11:45 We go to watch daddy play basketball. They have a pretty close game and win in over time.

12:30 They play another game, while I chat with some friends about, freezer meals, laundry, coupons and the v-day special at Old Navy.
Meanwhile the baby is getting really tired of sitting on my lap and my 3 yr old is running loose in the halls. He gets his feelings hurt and comes running into the gym crying b/c the 6 yr old girls don't want to play with him.

2:00 The game is over they won the Stake championship. Yeah! Wow did we really just spend over two hours here. No wonder I am hungry. The baby takes a bottle and falls asleep as we head to Old Navy.

2:10 We arrive at Old Navy. I pick out a $10 sports bra, 5.30 after shmalentine and tax. Uh ya I have been wearing the same one since high school.) Long over due for a new one. We find out the $5 Shmalentine cards can be used only one per transaction and expire today so we go and pick out a cute $6 polo 4T. Use our second Shmalantine gift card and pay 1.06 for the polo. For more on this see my fabuless post.

2:50 Arrive home again and feed the boys left overs for lunch. Mark takes a shower and falls asleep.

3:10 I check my email/reader and hear the Oot opening something under the table. I ask him what he is doing. He ignores me. I say, uh-oh. Which he knows means. You made a bad choice and will now get a time out. He quickly gets out from under the table and says I do not want a time out. I spot the object he was trying to open lying under the table. I tin of mints from Old Navy. Which I did not purchase today. I grab the mints and talk to my son about where they came from.

4:00 I head upstairs to find my husband sleeping. I ask him what he thinks we should do about our little shoplifter. We discuss it and then talk to him about it.

4:10 I frantically try to get the house straightened up better and our babysitter arrives. We checked movie times on fandango and tried to decide if we wanted to see a movie. I give the babysitter instructions and we are off to dinner.

5:00 We arrive at our restaurant down town. We decide to do the v-day special 4 course meal. Mark has Tomato Basil soup, spinach salad, tenderloin with risotto, and marionberry cheese cake. I had Crab Bisque, spinach salad, Rouland Chicken with garlic potato's, and chocolate lava cake. Mark made sure to order different things than me so we couls try each others. It was a nice dinner. We talked about our properties, some of our tenants, the housing market, what if we would have known the future of the market what we would have done differently, my coupon ventures, the movie 7 pounds, (which I highly recommend), our food of course and other random things.

6:25 We still had not decided if we wanted to go to a movie. We drive around and I call FAndango getting more movie and showtime options. The movie we thought we wanted to see did not start until 7:35 what will we do for an hour? We finally decided on a movie and got tickets then drove over to Costco to walk around, but they were closed so we got gas and headed back to the theatre.

7:00 We park at the theatre and I check the movie tickets and it actually starts at 7:15 so we go ahead and go in. Good thing we didn't walk around Costco.

7:15-9:30 We watch, He's Just Not That Into You. We did not like it that much. Bummer.

9:45 I take the babysitter home and Mark puts the baby to bed.

10:15 Mark has a bowl of ice cream and sit down to watch TV. I come over to make this post. So that is the day. Intriguing I know.

What to do about our shoplifter? Any ideas? Has this happened to you? Is he too young to know better (3 1/2)?

Ant Angela

This weekend I was talking about my brother Tanner and the Oot overheard.

Him: Tanner is my Uncle. I have a new Uncle. What is his name mom?
Me: Cesar
Him: Oh ya Cesar. He is married to my Aunt Angela. She is an Aunt, but not an Ant that is a bug.

I thought this was so cute!

1 Year Old

I can not believe my baby is already 1 year. It went by so fast. He is such a sweet little boy. We are so blessed to have him in our family.



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Bath Baby

Oh I just love a baby wrapped up in a towel fresh from the bath. So cute and smells so good.