viva las floyds

Birthday Events.

2012-01-29T20:17:00.000-08:00

We had a couple of celebration for Kenz's birthday this past week. On her actual birthday, last sunday, we went to the brinks for dinner. Nathan and Kaylee also have a birthday the same week so they all celebrated together. We enjoyed taco salads and lots of laughs and fun. The three birthday cuties...

On Friday Kenz had some friends over and we planned a scavenger hunt. We did a video scavenger hunt and afterwards watched all the videos. I kinda felt bad i hadn't planned a real party so at the last minute i put a little effort into it and set up a little chocolate fountain and treats. I also turned the scavenger hunt into a competition. We ordered pizza and after watching the videos the kids all played some night games.

She Turns 12.

2012-01-22T11:08:00.000-08:00

Happy 12th birthday to Makenzie!! Can't believe she's heading into young women's. She's been ready to leave primary for a year and now that it's here i think she's almost a little sad. But, she is excited. Last night she invited her friend, Kate, to dinner with us. She chose Cafe Rio and then Neilsen's for dessert. Wise girl! Tonight we will celebrate at the Brinks with friends. She opened her gifts at almost midnight last night because she had NO patience to wait any longer.

Happy birthday beautiful girl! Hope your day is just what you want! We love you!

Ending the Year at Disneyland.

2012-01-03T11:14:00.000-08:00

A couple of days after Christmas we headed to Disneyland. I don't really know what we were thinking. We knew it was one of the busiest times of the year but we did it anyway. And, really I am glad we did. Even though the park was packed. And, I mean packed, i love disneyland at Christmas time. I love the decorations and the music and the feeling that is there. We only went for two days and despite the crowds we did pretty much everything we wanted to. With the exception of it's a small world. It was packed the whole time. It ended up being a nice little way to end our year. I only had my phone for pictures so these will have to do for the memories...

Traffic was insane on the way home. It took us over 9 hours to make it back. Remind me never to do this again and come home the Friday of new years weekend. This was pretty much our view most of the trip...

My favorite, when it snows...

Christmas Card.

2011-12-31T17:16:00.000-08:00

This was our Christmas card for the year. It was so quick and simple to do. And, it got the most compliments ever. I even had people asking me to send them one because they had heard about it. We apparently even won the christensen family christmas card contest. hahahaha who knew!

Christmas, 2011.

2011-12-31T15:00:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas morning didn't start out too early. It was nice that we got to bed at a decent hour. I even showered before we all headed downstairs. Everyone was very happy with all that they got this year. A few things Chuckie got were a game for the xbox, a new blue ray player, tons of new movies, ties, a nerd gun. I got a new sewing machine, a camera bag, a new lens and dr. dre beats which i love.

Alexa: We surprised Alexa this year with most of her presents. Mainly because she hadn't asked for much specifically. Well, besides every commercial she saw. She was very happy with all that she got. She ended up with a kindle fire, new shoes and boots, clothes, new doll, password journal, connect four launcher game, smurf movie, bath stuff and a crayon maker to share with Makenzie.

Makenzie: She had her list down to a science. It had been on the fridge for over a month. What she wanted from "santa" and what she wanted from us. They were also labeled by desire as well. Stars meant had to have and an X meant want but don't have to have. Yea, she's a nut. She needed up getting an iPhone, a victoria secret pink sweatsuit (those were two most desired items), dance game for the xbox, new boots, moccasins, clothes, bath stuff, case for her laptop, and she and Alexa got the crayon maker to share.

Aaron: He didn't get a big surprise this year like last year. He knew he was getting a macbook because we had made him pay for half of it. But he was still way excited on Christmas morning. He has been wanting a macbook book for a while so he was so excited to finally get his hands on one. We did surprise him and had it loaded with tons of software though. He also got some new clothes, shoes, game for the xbox, a sonic toothbrush, apple tv, a remote control airplane that takes video and he and his dad got some automatic nerd guns that have been driving me crazy.

After we presents we got ready and headed to church for sacrament meeting. It was a great program and even greater that church was only an hour. We got home and got our food ready then headed over to the Bowdens for breakfast. We had a good time talking and eating. That night we went over to Chuckie's parents for presents then we came back home and just relaxed the rest of the night. Another successful Christmas day for sure!

Christmas Eve.

2011-12-31T14:02:00.000-08:00

On Christmas eve night we took the kids out for dinner. Chuckie and I had ran a few last minute errands and told the kids to get ready while we were gone. The girls decided to get dressed up to go out. We went to the cheesecake factory and ate a good meal. After dinner we went to check out some Christmas lights we heard about in henderson. When we got home i snapped a few pictures with my phone of the kids looking so cute...

Then it was time to open the traditional new pjs. Everyone was happy and surprisingly they all headed to bed pretty soon afterwards and they were all asleep by 10pm. To say I was happy would be a total understatement! We were actually in bed around 11pm. New pjs by the tree...

Feeding the Homeless.

2011-12-31T13:35:00.000-08:00

The Friday before Christmas we got together with the Rhoads, Brinks, Bowdens, Hortons, Iversons and Boyers to put together 200 meals to take to the homeless. It was an overwhelming experience to be a part of. The adults let the kids pass out most of the meals and drinks and clothes. We even had hot chocolate to share which seemed to be such a treat for most. So many people shared some of their stories with the kids and I hope that the kids all got a greater appreciation for all that they have. I know I walked away feeling so blessed but also guilty for not doing more to help others. One little experience, as we were about to drive away a mother and young daughter walked up and we were all out of things. Alexa begged me to let her give her good jacket that she had been wearing to the girl. Honestly, it was so hard for me to say yes. But she was so happy to take the jacket to the girl and ask if it would fit her. And when it did she was even more happy to give it to her. I'm glad she was able to be a good example to me about giving. Afterwards we all went back to the church and shared some experiences we had. We also decided to do this again and not just at christmas. It was a great day.

Christmas at the Ranch.

2011-12-31T12:56:00.000-08:00

We've been invited out to the Williams Ranch for a while now and every time we haven't been able to go. Lindsay is sweet and continues to invite us and finally we were able to get out there for their polar express christmas. We went out with the Brinks and the kids had a blast. There was so much to explore and do. The kids all got to go on a train for a real polar express experience. There was a hayride and dinner and a white elephant gift exchange. The Williams family is so nice to share their ranch with everyone. Thanks Lindsay for the invite!!

the hayride...
ringing the bell on the polar express...
aaron and austin exploring an old firetruck...

The Biebs.

2011-12-21T23:37:00.000-08:00

So last Friday Justin Bieber was in town visiting an elementary school the isn't too far from us. I had no plans of going to try to see him. I was in Alexa's class helping with her Christmas party and I started getting texts from Tracy. She was sending them to her girl, Jenna, Kara and me. She was actually at the school waiting to try and see him. At first we didn't believe her then she sent us a picture of Ellen's bus. Then, we all thought she was nuts. But before you knew it, i was taking all of the kids out of school finding Makenzie and Aly and we all were heading over to try to see him as well. We got a few good looks at him and he drove right past us as he left. We all screamed like little girls. Yep, we're geeks.

All of us waiting for him to come out.

You can see him in the back of this suv. He was pretty close to us.

Alexa and Kaylee totally cried. It was hilarious. And kinda cute!
Makenzie's friend sent us this picture she got of him. Before we got there he had come out and signed a couple of autographs and she got one.

Thanksgiving Weekend.

2011-12-20T11:11:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving day started out way early. We once again were helping with Jenna's turkey trot. We met up at 5:30am. After the half marathon got started i got a picture of the sunrise. The sky was beautiful. It was a fun morning and thankfully not too cold this year. It was nice though to get back home and nap for a bit in my warm bed.

That afternoon we headed over to the brinks for thanksgiving dinner. We enjoyed a delicious meal and i even captured a picture of the perfect bite. Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing. We also got a bit silly with the sparkling cider. We checked out all of the ads to get our list down for shopping the next day. Chuckie, Aaron, Rissie and Bonnie couldn't wait so they headed off to do some midnight shopping. Those goofs stood in line for 5 hrs at best buy and walmart. After the girls and i got home, Alexa sat on the couch and went right to sleep. Evidence of a good day.

The next morning I was up early meet the girls and head out shopping. It was me, Jenna, Tracy, Kara, Jill and Cami. We seriously had a blast. We laughed hard and even got some shopping done. I put a good dent in my list of things i wanted to get.

That night Chuckie and I took the kids to dinner and the movies. We saw Arthur Christmas. And i'll admit i slept through some of it. On Saturday we ran some errands and did some shopping and got some things done around the house. That night we went to the brinks again for norm and jill's anniversary dinner. On Sunday after church we had the brinks, bowdens and rhoads over for one final get rid of all your thanksgiving food dinner. On Monday we finally got the decorations out and put up. It was a great weekend and we have so much to be thankful for.

Pie Night.

2011-12-20T11:05:00.000-08:00

The night before thanksgiving we went to the jensens for pie night. There were lots of people there and of course lots of pie. Tracy makes all of the pies and they're all delicious. My personal favs are banana cream pie and some sort of chocolate pie. We all ate lots and laughed and talked and had a good time. It was a perfect way to start the holiday weekend.

Some Weird Things That Happened.

2011-12-20T09:59:00.000-08:00

I am determined to catch up before Christmas on this blog. So here's a few things that happened before thanksgiving. Aaron finally got his braces off. It's been two and a half long years of monthly trips out to seven hills. He has had some weird issues with his gums and needed to get them taken care of. So he was at Tracy's office the next day getting started. I am happy to be done with rubber band reminders but now i get to do the retainer reminders.

A couple of weeks before thanksgiving we went to the brinks for Karsyn's birthday. It ended up turning into a weird makeover night. Jenna was doing Tracy's hair and before it was over Chuckie ended up with some weird purple/red color all over his head. I'm pretty sure he kind a liked it. The little girls also did makeovers for anyone that was willing. Obviously they all have a future in makeup.

And the last weird thing was the craft show. Not that the show is weird but during the down time weird things happened. I happened to have two of Graces barbies and decided they were jen and jodie. Before i knew it jen had dolls of all of us and put on a little show. I've got a couple of videos of the craziness and for the right price, i might be willing to share those. :)

22 Miles to the Temple.

2011-11-22T12:28:00.000-08:00

On Friday our youth did a hike to the temple. A 22 mile overnight hike. Chuckie and I got to be drivers for the night. Seriously was one of the most amazing experiences i have ever been a part of. We started out in seven hills in henderson about 8:45pm. Along the way we had 3 stops for devotionals and nutrition breaks. We kept four cars beside them all night for safety. There ended up being 79 people that did the hike. There was very little complaining and all but one made it to the temple. Aaron and 3 others were leads. They were in charge of street crossing and safety. I could not have been more proud of him. He said on Sunday that he didn't think he could even do the 22 miles. Not only did he do but he did it leading the pack most of the night. I think he totally surprised himself. The theme for the hike was "we can do hard things". And it was hard. It was cold and windy and they were tired. But they did it. They made it to the temple just as the sun was rising. It was a beautiful site. And they all mostly walked through the gates with a smile on their faces even though most of them looked half dead throughout the night. They were greeted by a member of the temple presidency then fed a good breakfast. I am so thankful that i was able to be a part of the night. I drove all night and Chuckie passed out water and snacks and took jackets and bags and we did countless bathroom runs. I never got tired at all. And after it was done we realized they had ended up actually doing 23 1/2 miles total. Such an amazing group of people!!

about to start...

this was about 4 or 5 miles into it. still smiling...

safety patrol on the job...

this was by the silverbowl. about 14 miles into it. no smiles anymore...

they made it! coming through the temple gates. aaron all smiles in the background...

the whole group at the end...

The next day they held a joint meeting with the youth and parents at church. It was awesome to hear from some of the youth about what they had learned about themselves. No doubt they are so much stronger because of this experience.

He's Driving. Legally.

2011-11-06T13:05:00.000-08:00

On Friday Aaron went for his permit test. After a 2 1/2 hour wait we were headed home with his permit in hand. He was way nervous but didn't need to be. He easily passed and only missed 2 questions. I was pretty mean and wouldn't let him drive home but in my defense, it was rush hour traffic and raining pretty hard. I thought that was no brainer. The next day his dad made him drive on the freeway. He is actually a pretty good driver. I'm sure the fact that he's been illegally driving with Chuckie for a year helped. So far I haven't gotten nervous with him driving but I had forgotten how by the law a new driver is. Like making complete stops, going the speed limit and making right turns into the right lane only. Yea that's making me a bit crazy. But, soon i can say go to the store for me or take your sisters to where they need to be. That part is gonna be great.

Trick or Treating.

2011-11-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

This year we did our usual and met up with friends for trick or treating. Aaron did his usual of going off on his own with friends. Although he did catch up with us for a bit on the golf cart. First I met up with Kara and her kids and Chuckie took off to the high school to meet Tracy and Jenna and go through the haunted house there. They all met up with us soon and we did a couple of small neighborhoods together. Well except for Chuckie and Tracy who took off together and did who knows what. We all ended up back at Kara's house and let the kids do a few more houses there. After a sonic run we went and checked out the Iverson's new house. We didn't go home until 10pm and we all paid for it when it was time to get up this morning. Of course though we all had candy for breakfast and that made it all better.

Chuckie and Tracy on their halloween date...

Weekend Before Halloween.

2011-10-31T11:22:00.000-07:00

It seems like halloween events last like a week before the actual day. This past weekend was pretty full of halloween things. On Friday night we had our ward trunk or treat. We passed out tons of candy and enjoyed visiting with our friends. Alexa dressed up as Alice and Makenzie went as Sue Sylvester from Glee. We told her Sue was pretty mean and this was her Sue face...

Aaron and his friends drove around on the golf cart all night and probably caused trouble. They look pretty innocent though...

On Saturday we headed up to St. George to see the Owens and go to the corn maze and farm there. Aaron decided not to go and stayed home and hung out with his friends all day. We hung out at the Owens' new house before heading to Staheli Farms. The place was so fun and for sure we want to do this every year instead of the rip off "pumpkin patches" in Vegas. It's totally worth the drive. The kids before we headed to the corn maze...

The sunset was beautiful as we finished up the maze...

Heading into the maze and trying to decide which path to take...

We made it out safe and back on the trailer to go back to the farm...

There were lots of fun things for the kids to do. They stayed pretty busy with all of the stuff. And the best part was they weren't constantly asking for money to do things. The wristbands to get in covered everything...

They had a big bubble trampoline thing that you could jump on. Makenzie had hurt her knee before we left but she decided to try jumping. You can tell by her face that it wasn't such a good idea...

We also got to watch the pig races. Alexa and i ended up on the other side watching from the rest of the group. We also ended up on the side of the overall winning pig, Bacon. We were pretty proud...

The kids did some dancing before we left. At first they didn't want to but then we convinced them to get up there and show the Utah girls how Vegas girls do it. I'm pretty sure i saw them throw in some zumba moves...
Since we got home pretty late Saturday night/Sunday morning from Utah we didn't make it to church. We slept in then after a quick visit to quick care to get Makenzie's knee x-rayed we carved our pumpkins...

They all turned out pretty good. Alexa (and dad) did the witch. Makenzie did a free-hand scary face. And, of course, Aaron did the apple. His tribute to Steve Jobs...

One Big October Post.

2011-10-30T21:51:00.000-07:00

It seems like October just started and now it's over tomorrow. Time is going too fast. And, I haven't been too good about blogging and of course I can't remember much of what has happened. So here's one big october catch up post.

In the middle of the month Chuckie and I celebrated our anniversary. We headed to scottsdale, arizona for the weekend. We had a nice hotel and we got to watch a couple of baseball games that Bryce was playing in. We hung out some with his family at the game on Saturday then ran into bryce and bryan that night and had dessert. We also went to see Footloose and relaxed and ate. After some shopping and lunch on Sunday we headed home. Our kids all stayed at a friend's house and we didn't have to worry much about them all weekend.

Last week the president was in town and happened to visit a house right by our neighborhood. So Aaron and I went over to see if we could get a look. We got there right before he left and got to see his whole motorcade leave. We could see him through the window of his car. It was pretty cool. Not that he would (or did) ever get my vote but how often do you actually get to see the president of this country up close.
We all went to the Vegas vs Rancho game a couple of weeks ago. It's the traditional rivalry bone game. Vegas won of course even though Chuckie cheered his alma mater on. Vegas just got a new mascot uniform and the student council kids were all taking turns wearing it. I snapped a picture of Aaron in it surrounded by Alexa and some of the other cheer buddies.
Makenzie had her first middle school choir concert. I must say for the first concert of the year, it was pretty good. She has actually enjoyed choir so far this year. After wards we went with the bowdens and rhoads to dinner.

We've spent pretty much every saturday at Alexa's soccer game. And i've spent much every game not taking any pictures. But I did snap this of Alexa and Grace and Rilee at breakfast after a game. She's having a fun time with soccer and we still 3 more weeks of it.

Alexa's Baptism.

2011-10-19T11:12:00.000-07:00

On September 24, Alexa was baptized. Aaron talked at the baptism and I gave the opening prayer. She was baptized by her dad and she was very happy. Well, except about having to wear the weird jumper cause it made her look like a boy. Afterwards we had a luncheon and lots of family and friends came over. It was a great day and i hope she always remembers the feeling. Well, except for that hating the jumper part.

Her invitation front and back (they're not so clear cause i couldn't get the scanner to work so this is a picture of the invitation with my phone)...

Alexa with her dad and with her forced smile cause of the whole dumb jumper issue...
the fam bam...

some of the peeps at the house afterwards...

and the yummy raspberry cupcakes...

Thanks to all who came and supported. We're lucky people.

Homecoming Parade.

2011-09-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

We went to our usual spot at the park for the annual Vegas homecoming parade. I thought the floats were much better this year then in the past. Aaron was responsible for making the goal post for the sophomore float which he did in our back yard. He only spent one night helping put the float together this year which was much better then last year. Here he is chucking candy our way (which by the way hit me in the head.)...

Alexa also got to be in the parade this year. She is a cheer buddy with the cheerleaders so she got to ride on their float. And i'm pretty sure their float won the contest. She's pretty excited to be a cheer buddy because she gets to hang with the cheerleaders at the games.

Alexa Turns 8.

2011-09-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

She's waited all year for her birthday. She has been so excited to turn 8 years old. And she's convinced that on the day of her birthday nothing else in the world is really happening. Just her birthday. Her birthday fell on a Monday this year so I decided we would have her party right after school. On the way out the door to school...

We had an art party and i used paint samples to make the invitations. They're free right so it wasn't stealing at all even if i did walk out of the store with about 50 of them...

We did a couple of different projects and i never really got a picture of what they did. It kept them all pretty busy though and that part i liked. The time actually flew by and we about ran out of time to do the cake and presents.

They all looked pretty cute in their aprons they decorated before the party...

After the party Alexa picked olive garden for dinner. She got lots of good presents and made out quite well with the cash. She loves her friends and could pick no other way to spend her birthday.

Feelings.

2011-09-15T11:08:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling...

Happy. Yesterday was my birthday. My family did a great job on making the day special. When i got up the birthday banner was hung up and there were happy birthday wishes all over the chalkboard door. When i got home from a meeting at the school, Aaron had cleaned the whole house. He even mopped the whole downstairs. (no one wants to ever do that.) He also made a birthday banner that led to my room upstairs and he had cleaned my room and bathroom. Seriously it was so nice. He's such a good kid. After Chuckie got home we all went out to dinner and had a nice time.

Old. I turned 38. Two years until 40. wth.

Surprised. When we got home from dinner last night i opened my gift from my family. It was a brand new canon t3i camera and lens. I was so shocked. I couldn't have been happier. Love it. Plus, Aaron was way excited cause now he gets my old rebel camera.

Loved. I got lots of phone calls and texts and facebook messages all day long. My first text was at 5am and the last was at 11pm. It was seriously nonstop for like 4 straight hours on my phone. But, i loved it. I also got gift cards and treats and presents.

Thanks everyone for making it such a good day. And especially thanks Chuckie for the amazing gift. I know that wasn't easy for you being such a tight wad and all. :) love you.

First Day of School '11.

2011-08-31T10:28:00.000-07:00

The backpacks were all ready the night before. Supplies sorted and packed. Haircuts have been gotten. First day outfits picked out. Lunches made. And most importantly, the girls have their nails done and feathers in the hair. Let school begin!

Little miss sassy Alexa did not want summer to end. She wouldn't do any shopping for clothes and left it all up to me. I was worried about how Monday morning was going to go with her but something kicked into gear the Thursday before school and she was suddenly excited. She had a good first day. Although i think she realized quick that 3rd grade is growing up time. But she has most of the same kids in her class as last year so i think she will be just fine. First day of 3rd grade...

Seriously Makenzie can not be in middle school. But, she is. And so far loves it. She was happy with her first day. Friends in her classes, lunch with her friends and so far all seems well with the teachers she got. Her elective is choir. First day of 6th grade...

Once again i counted on Chuckie to get a picture of Aaron. And once again i have to take what i get. Especially since they leave the house a little before 6am and i am not about to get up that early for a picture. Good first day. Which is a relief since over summer he decided school was a waste and he wanted to drop out. First day of 10th grade...
Ready to go into class with friends...

Last Week of Summer.

2011-08-31T10:03:00.000-07:00

We didn't want to end our summer vacation with a couple of funerals but that's exactly how it turned out. Chuckie's grandpa (papa) died the day after we got back from Utah. He had a stroke the night before we came home. When we got home Chuckie and I went straight to the hospital to see him and Chuckie was able to be with him the next morning when he passed away. We were also able to do much of the planning for his funeral and Chuckie gave the eulogy, and he did a great job. Even though papa was 87 he didn't seem old to me until the last year or so. But he has seemed sad since his wife died a few years ago so i am happy that they are able to be together again. I will always have great memories of them both. Playing cards at their house for hours and hours was my favorite. Papa taught me lots of new poker games but the best part of just hanging out and talking. They both loved to tell us stories about their lives. I am so happy we were able to spend lots of time with them. Here's a picture of papa with alexa from a little over a year ago...

After the funeral on Monday, the other side of Chuckie's family had a end of the summer fhe at his aunt Theresa's house. It was very relaxed which was just what we needed. The girls enjoyed swimming with their cousins.

The rest of the week was pretty busy. I had done very little shopping for the kids and felt overwhelmed and unprepared. Plus there was lots scheduled for the week so finding time to go to the mall wasn't easy. On Tuesday I got them enough to get started and have had to fit in a few trips here and there since then. Tuesday night a few of Chuckie's sisters came over and hung out until late in the night. We laughed and talked and had a good time. We don't get to see them nearly enough. On Saturday we started the day at Steve Brinkerhoff's funeral. He is our good friend Kelly's dad. It was an amazing funeral. Lots of tears and lots of laughs. His family did a wonderful job honoring him. After we got home, the kids had a few friends over for one last swim party before school. I made another quick trip to the mall for a few things. Sunday we did church, seminary fireside and father's blessings before an early bedtime. And, amazingly enough, everyone was asleep pretty early. Except me of course.

Makeover Madness.

2011-08-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

About a month ago on a Sunday, i was inspired (yes, i said inspired. after all i was in church so it surely must have been inspiration) to redo some things in our house. Like mainly, the paint. So i got on my phone and started making a of list of all that we needed to get done. I set a deadline then promptly texted the list right over to Chuckie. He was sitting right next to me and i'm sure he was thinking, wow what a wonderful wife taking notes during sacrament meeting. Then he got the text. His face dropped, his eyes rolled but he couldn't argue. Mainly cause we were in church but mostly because it was inspiration. The list...

The initial list changed somewhat. Really, just more was added. Like paint the whole flippin downstairs. So a couple of days later he came home with paint samples and a can of paint and he went right to work painting the baseboards. Because as he says, my ideas always cause him work. We picked out paint colors over the next few days then we headed to Utah for a little vacation. The day after we got home, Chuckie's grandfather passed away. More on that another time. Within a day it was decided that family lunch would be at our house after the funeral. When we left, the baseboards were only partially painted and we hadn't taped the walls of because we were going to paint the walls. I seriously went into a slight panic. We decided right then we were going to get the downstairs done before the funeral that was just 5 days away. Then we decided we were nuts. So the next day Chuckie comes home from work with galloons and galloons of paint. Aaron, Chuckie and I got to work. We painted until late that night. The next night we had a few friends show up to help. There wassomuch dang detail work. And our front ceilings are so freaking high. Not to mention the stairs. On Friday Aaron and i spent most of the afternoon doing touch up and taping off. We worked again late Friday night. On Saturday, the whole dang Welch family came over and helped us get it mostly finished. We could have never done it without them. We still have a few frames around doors to finish but i love what is done.

In the middle of all of the painting, i threw in a few projects to get done as well. Cause at this point, what the heck right. I saw a few ideas on pinterest that i wanted to try. btw, can i just say that pinterest can best be described as that fine line between heaven and hell. Anyway, i loved this saying i saw and decided to add it to the wall between the office and laundry room. Lisa was so kind to make the vinyl for me and the frame was one alison and i found in the garbage and she redid it. I saw a similar idea with the frames and hooks and wanted to get rid of the plain rack i had hanging up for keys by the garage door. Love how it all turned out...

I also wanted to redo the shelves and frames from the plain old dark stain that they had been. I decided to redo the frames the same color of the back wall and the shelves white then wipe them down with stain. Then distress them all. When it was all done, i didn't like it. Blended in too much with the walls. So after much debate i made the quick decision to redo them again. This time i redid them black then distressed them again. I'm sure my neighbors loved hearing the sander in my backyard at midnight. But i do love them much better now...

We also had a few new decorations we had just hung up the week before in the front room. I will eventually get rid of the small family definition frame and add a family picture there. And to add to the mess of the list, Chuckie decided to redo all of the inserts in a dark charcoal color. I wasn't really sure about it but he wanted it. It's growing on me. I also redid the family letter blocks on the fireplace. They were black with vinyl letters so i painted them the color of the back wall and then took the vinyl off and sanded them. So cute right...

The two main colors. Perfect taupe and zen. The taupe really plays tricks on your eyes. Sometimes it looks tan and sometimes it looks gray. But i love it...

And finally our craziest project of them all. We painted the interior doors black. I said to Chuckie on the first night we were painting that i saw an idea i loved on pinterest of painting the doors black. He said i was crazy and pretty much ignored me. The next day he looked at the idea at work and guess what, he came home with black paint! The pictures are horrible because i took them with my phone but i seriously love them. I especially love them on the paneled doors. Not so much on the flat garage door so we are going to cover that door with chalkboard paint. Love love love...

We still have some of the list to get done. We have gotten so much more done then i thought we would. I need an idea for one wall left in the family room and we need to decide what we are going to do with the kitchen table and chairs. But, so far, loving it all.

Utah Cabin Trip.

2011-08-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a quick trip before summer was over and headed to Utah for a long weekend. Our friends, the nelsons, were nice enough to let us use their cabin in Cedar. We stopped in Hurricane on the way up and met up with the Owens at the county fair. We didn't have any other real plans but to just relax. And that's pretty much what we did. We watched movies and played games and the kids went exploring. It was just what we needed especially with the two crazy busy weeks we didn't know were ahead of us. The view of Cedar from the deck...

We all enjoyed the cool weather and relaxing on the porch. We sat out until late at night one night. Really not something you can do in Vegas in the summer time.

We went down into cedar and went to visit my great aunt and uncle loveland. They showed us all around their house and their beautiful yard. It was fun to visit with them a while. They have tons of sunflowers in their garden and they were wide open and huge. So pretty.

I took a picture of this picture on my aunt's wall. It's a painting of my great grandma Ola's house in south carolina. I have seen it before but had forgotten about the picture and when i saw it, i had a flood of memories come back. Playing in the woods and in her yard, sitting on her front porch, the sound of the old screen doors closing, all of her family gathered on Sundays for dinner after church and her biscuits. No words can describe them. And no one could make them like her. Everyone would impatiently waited for them to come out of the oven and they were usually gone within minutes of the blessing on the food being said.

Sweet Sixteen.

2011-08-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

We got to help Brynn celebrate her 16th birthday at a surprise party at the brinks. She seemed pretty surprised but i'm not sure she was completely. Her cake was so cute...

This picture makes me laugh. Somehow Chuckie is always is the sonic guy at every party so this is a typical scene...

Aaron and his friend Hadley. Not sure what this conversation is about but it looks like he's getting into defense mode and in the first picture and i'd say she's in attack mode in the second one. Aaron will for sure miss her this year at school. After all, she was his first unofficial date. (If you count her taking him to cold stone after a student council event. ha) On a side note: We got to attend Hadley's sweet baptism a few weeks later. Simply said, it was amazing.

Alexa of course swam all night. And Makenzie i'm fairly sure was at the party but apparently i never got any picture of her.

And no party at the brinks is complete without clothes swimming. Leave to Chuckie and Tracy to keep this tradition going...

One Saturday In July.

2011-08-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

It was a pretty busy day. I remember that much. Sadly since i am blogging about it over a month later i can't remember much. Luckily i had a few pictures to remind me of some of it. Alexa started out the morning at her friend Grace's birthday party. It was a breakfast pajama party. Nothing like getting right out of bed and starting the day with a party. After i dropped her off i headed over to the church. The deacons were leaving for California for scout camp and Chuckie wasn't going to be able to go this year for the full week. I was pretty sure he was going to try to sneak in one of the cars and leave with them so i thought i had better make sure he didn't. (He and Aaron went up a few days later and had a great time.) I wish i could remember what we did that afternoon. But I do remember later heading to the church for Grace's baptism. It was so sweet and she looked very happy. After the baptism we went to the Sedillo's for dinner which was delicious. Alexa and Grace after the baptism...

After dinner at the sedillo's we headed to the bowling ally to meet up with the Apis family for Teressa's birthday. We haven't been bowling in a long time but I am happy to report that i kicked everyone's butts. Seriously, no one was even close to me and there were like a dozen people. I rock like that.

My Facebook Profile Pictures.

2011-07-27T22:56:00.000-07:00

Really, facebook should't be taken seriously at all.

Random Phone Photos.

2011-07-25T17:20:00.000-07:00

When Chuckie and I were in Utah in May, we came across an old candy store. It had lots of candies you don't see anymore. Even candy cigarettes. I bought a few things for the kids. Including a wax mustache and lips...

Aaron and Makenzie have spent a good portion of their summer babysitting their little cousin Zekie. Each of them as him 2 days a week. It's been good for them to learn some responsibility and make some money. Also he keeps Alexa entertained which is huge. He thought he was going somewhere on this barbie scooter...
Our youth at church has an assassin game going this summer. They each got assigned someone to "kill". Once you get your person you get a new person. So I have had to put up with Chuckie and Aaron taking water guns everywhere we go. Luckily Chuckie got shot at Kayla's reception. Aaron is so far still in and on his fourth person. At the grocery store...

Last weekend we went to St. George for the weekend. We also went to Enterprise for Kayla's reception there. We ate at Pizza Factory on Friday night and went to play at the park afterwards. I played around with a new camera app on my phone at the park....

We also started redoing the kids bathroom. So far we have painted and added a new shower curtain and rugs...

So Aaron told us about this app on his ipad where we all could play scrabble. The board is on the ipad and our tiles were on each of our iphones. The board would rotate towards you when it was your turn. Technology is ca-ray-zee...
Chuckie and I were on our way home when a major storm hit. I snapped this picture of the flooding on cabana. We almost floated down the street...
This was from the last week of school. All of second grade made tie dyed shirts for a program. Alexa with Kaylee and Tyler...

Kayla's Shower, Wedding and Reception.

2011-07-22T12:50:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago I got to help throw Kayla Christoffersen a bridal shower. Once again I was horrible about taking pictures. She got some really nice things and we enjoyed breakfast casseroles and fruit. It was a nice shower but nothing compared to her reception that followed a couple of weeks later.

They held her reception, which was really more of a party, at the one six club in the cannery. That place is amazing. The view of beautiful. The Christoffersens did a great job throwing the Vegas party of the year. The food was great. There was dinner and cake and even an ice cream sundae bar. We partied until 11pm. So not typical for a mormon reception.

The view at night...

The girls before the party got started...

The kids thought they were so cool having drinks out on the balcony...

from left to right: Aaron, Sage and Emilee, Kayla and Craig coming out of the temple, Aaron waiting for the party to start, Alexa holding cute Londyn Winder, Alexa and Keaton getting down on the dance floor, and a shot of the dance floor and yes that's Chuckie dancing!

It was a great night for sure. Who knew a bunch of mormons could have so much fun at a club with no alcohol. We were so tired the next morning but still managed to get up and go to the Wilson's 9am ward for Braeden's farewell talk. That's true friendship right there.

4th of July.

2011-07-21T14:54:00.000-07:00

For the first time in like 5 years we had a 4th of July party at our house instead of going somewhere else. It kind of was a last minute put together party and turned out with more people then we thought but it fun. We ended having the wilsons, owens, christoffersens, crouchs and a few cousins over. There was swimming and good food and lots of laughs and good times. I didn't take any pictures until we were doing fireworks. And I took them with my phone so they aren't the best.

We literally didn't put out any decorations until the day of. And I couldn't find most of my stuff so just a few things got put out. And, it was good enough. Here's some of what was out...

The typical sparklers shots and one of the many illegal fireworks Chuckie set off...

We forced Braeden to do a sparkler since it would be his last 4th of July here for two years. He just went into the mtc yesterday and i know will be a great missionary...

After fireworks we broke out the bikes and scooters and four wheelers for some fun. A couple of shots i took of the goofy people that were here...

Our grand finale...

Baking And Crafting.

2011-07-20T10:02:00.000-07:00

Aaron decided one day to make sugar cookies. He must have been really bored. The girls ended up getting involved also and they made colored icing and got all creative. They turned out pretty tasty.

I decided to try a fun looking project I saw on another blog with the girls. Alexa ended having Brooklyn over to play that day so she got to make one too. I even joined in and tried it out also. It was pretty easy and they all enjoyed making them. First they painted different colored strips on cardstock. While that dried they painted their canvas. Then we used a butterfly punch to punch out way too many of the little buggers. Then they just went crazy with glue dots sticking the butterflies all over the canvas.

See, we can do other things this summer besides swimming and sleeping. And now, I need to go take a nap.

A Little Bit About Alexa.

2011-07-19T23:43:00.000-07:00

Alexa has been having a pretty good summer. Mainly because she does not like school. Now, don't get me wrong, she doesn't hate it. She loves all of her teachers and that's important. But she mainly likes seeing her friends and going to recess and lunch. She realizes though she can do all of those fun things without the work in between. Luckily for me, she doesn't ever give me attitude about going. So she must secretly like it. A little. Her summer has been pretty relaxed and that's just how she likes it. She already had a killer tan the first week she was out of school. No sunscreen, no burning. We all secretly hate that about her. Don't tell her. She stays up late, sleeps in late, plays hard when she's playing and takes it way easy when she wants to. She considers going swimming just as good as a bath. A few pictures of some of her summer. First one we found her in her bed asleep with her umbrella covering her. Apparently she sensed rain. And guess what, she was right. The next day was a major downpour. The next picture is her in the water ball at the outdoor mall. It was pretty funny. She would work and work to stand up and get going then she'd fall right back down. The last 3 pictures are from her soccer party. I really can't remember what her award was for but I like that I captured her picking her swimsuit out of her rear end while getting the award.

Today we did some back to school shopping and she was not happy. Maybe I won't mention to her that summer is half over and she will soon be back to school again. In the meantime she'll just keep having a grand ol' summer.

Aaron's Book.

2011-07-19T11:37:00.001-07:00

Aaron took a photography/photoshop class this year in school. He learned so much. It's pretty sad that he teaches me things on photoshop all the time. At the end of the year he came home with a book he had made. It is full of his photography from the year. I was way impressed. He even went on some apple site and made the book in class and paid for it. The book is all pictures from his school. A few pages...

Time To Catch Up.

2011-07-18T23:59:00.000-07:00

Apparently it's time to catch up on the old blog. I wish I had great reasons for not blogging but really there aren't any. We haven't had an overly busy or exciting summer so far. It's been pretty nice and relaxing. And we've all been happy with that. We all kinda go to bed whenever and wake up whenever. Well, except for Chuckie. He still gets to support our laziness. We've also done quite a bit of this...

I finally fired Chuckie and hired a pool guy so the pool has stayed nice and clean all summer. We (by we i mean we hired someone) also planted some palm trees and plants in the back and got rid of the weeds taking over the yard. It's been nice to enjoy it all.

So now my plan is this week to get all caught up on the past month. If I can remember it all.

Things Right Now.

2011-06-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

Things that annoy me about facebook:

-there's the obvious, why does it control your life? seriously.

-people that update every move they make. i think there should be a limit on how many times a day you can update. really no one cares about anyone's every move.

-people that update their status with a message to someone that is dead. i'm gonna go out on a limb but i'm fairly sure there's no facebook in the after life.

-people that send messages to God. heavenly facebook, i don't think so.

-people that constantly whine about facebook games clogging up their wall. if you don't know how to block the things you don't want on your wall then sign off. and don't come back.

-lines from a song as your status. how am i supposed to know it was just a song lyric and you really don't have a tractor that she thinks is sexy.

-checking in everywhere you go. really no one cares where you are every second of the day. and if you don't stop, i'm gonna rob your house cause after all, i know you're not home.

-checking in at home. i don't care that you're now at home. now in your backyard. now in your kitchen. now on your couch. now going to bed.

-is it "he who has the most friends on facebook wins"?

Things that are just plain annoying:

-if you can't handle a four way stop then you shouldn't be allowed to get your license.

-parents that are oblivious to their children. you are in a public place, for the love of humanity, pay attention and control your kids.

-laundry. isn't this like the 21st century or something. can't someone invent an easier way.

-politicians. pictures. lack of brains.

Things that make me happy right now:

-schools out for summer. our first full summer vacation in like 4 years. for now so happy. but i'm sure by mid july i'll be sick of summer break.

-sleeping in. i love to sleep in late. slept until noon the first day of summer break. and, i don't feel bad about it.

-no schedules. no getting clothes ready for the next day. no worrying about homework. no bedtimes.

-hearing i'm bored and saying then go jump in the pool.

-telling alexa to take a shower and hearing but i don't need to i went swimming today. ok, that works for me.

-late night swims, parties and hanging out with friends. cause we don't have to get up early in the morning.

Done With Elementary School.

2011-06-13T14:59:00.001-07:00

Last Wednesday Makenzie had her 5th grade advancement ceremony. Seriously can't believe she is going into middle school. Even though i'm not ready, she is. She got all dolled up in a new dress and she got her nails done. That night we went out with the Apis family to Lucille's celebrate.

Getting her certificate and shaking hands with some of the 5th grade teachers:

Pictures with two of her best friends:

Adi and Makenzie have been best friends for most of elementary school. They both are looking so grown up...

And with Jake (and some goofball in the middle!) She and Jake have been friends since before kindergarten...

Can you tell Makenzie was done taking pictures. She got all goofy and i didn't even get a picture with her teacher. She had a great fifth grade year and even though it was tough and there was some grounding throughout the year over grades, she still, for the most part, kept a great attitude and had a fun year. She went on 3 field trips this year: house of blues, natural history museum and 51s baseball game. She made new friends this year and tried to spend time with friends as much as possible. She and Jake discovered that super walmart is about the funnest place ever and she and Adi decided they should have sleepovers almost every weekend. She stayed after school as much as possible to help teachers and i'm sure to also avoid homework. We're proud of the young lady she is becoming but also like to on occasion see the little girl that is still in her.

Memorial Day.

2011-06-07T00:22:00.000-07:00

On memorial day we went to the brinks for a party to celebrate Daryl's 40th birthday. The whole day can be summed up with some pictures and the phrase "the good, the bad and the ugly".

the real good...

Everybody loves when the brinkerhoff pool opens up for the summer. It's way better then whitney ranch! As a matter of fact i think Alexa swam there friday, saturday and monday. There's always fun (but nerve wracking) tricks you can catch. And one day I promise myself to convince my two hard headed girls they can jump in off the rocks without holding their noses.

the bad...

I'm not sure what Aaron did bad but it was enough to get a Geej attack! Apparently by the laughing though it wasn't too bad.

the real bad...

There's nothing like 40th birthday gifts. And to say Daryl got a few necessities for an old man would be an understatement. And, if you're wondering what Kelly is pointing at on the box, you don't want to know!

the good...

Good music provided by Poppy and Morgan and Kara. They played and sang it up for the crowd.

and sadly, the real ugly...

Really, what can I say about these.

We had a great time and it was a great way to start off the summer. This week we finish school and I can hardly wait! Our first full summer off in 4 years. I think i'm more excited then the kids!! :)

Soccer Time.

2011-05-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

Alexa has been paying soccer for the past couple of months and i've been pretty bad about taking pictures. In fact I didn't even take these, one of the dads did. And, they're from the first game before they even had their cool new jerseys. Most of the team is in our ward and it's been fun to get to know some of the families they we haven't had a chance to get to know yet. We only have one more game left so hopefully I can actually take my camera and use it. Alexa is having a great time. She still mainly likes being with her friends and the snacks but she is learning some skills and likes playing too.

Aaron Turns 15.

2011-05-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

To start off his birthday weekend, we took him and two of his best friends to dinner and dessert....

On Saturday night we took him and his dates to prom...

Just kidding!!! We took this group to work at the prom. But wouldn't that have been pretty cool taking this cute group of girls to the prom...well, except for that part about his parents taking them.

Finding his gift was no easy task. He wanted an ipad and of course they're sold out everywhere. Everywhere except the ghetto walmart. Apparently no one in the ghetto can afford one and they hadn't all been stolen yet. So after 2 days of phone calls trying to find one he had an app on his phone that showed walmart had them. We got right down there and he was happy kid....

Yea that's 6 feet and 4 inches of body on his dad's shoulders....

He decided that instead of a party he and some friends would do zip lining down fremont street. They were all pretty scared to do it but it went so fast and when it was done I think they all thought, that was it. Afterwards we took them to macayos for dinner. Then they all hung out around the neighborhood on the golf cart. Way easier then a party.

I seriously can not believe he will be driving in less then a year. If time was ever going to stop, now would be good!

Easter Weekend 2011.

2011-05-05T16:39:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we headed to the annual easter family picnic for Chuckie's side of the family. There was lots of food and of course an easter egg hunt. Alexa got a bloody nose right when it was time to start so she hunted with a handful of tissues on her face. Makes for great pictures. We also did some egg dying that day. Or maybe it was Sunday after church. No one is really into it anymore except Alexa. So we're pretty pathetic and don't put much effort into it.

On Sunday we checked out the easter baskets then headed to church. I'm sure it was a lovely service but I honestly don't remember now. Chuckie and I cooked easter dinner that night. I do remember it being good. Afterwards we met up with the Apis family at the Christoffersens for dessert and games. It was a good day. And, the true meaning was not forgotten.

Spring Break Disneyland Trip.

2011-04-30T16:26:00.000-07:00

When all of our family left on the first day of spring break to head back to south carolina i decided we weren't spending the whole week being bored. And i wasn't spending the whole week playing taxi for the kids and friends. So I decided to head to disneyland with them by myself. We realized they have way more fun with friends there. But it was way better then sitting at home for 5 days. On the second day there our cousins joined us. That made it more fun. It was fun to see disneyland through a one year old's eyes. We also got to see world of color again. This time we were in the very front and we were told there would be a slight mist by a worker. Apparently it was her first day cause we got soaked. My hair was like i had just showered. But still a good show. I didn't take a camera again this trip. And I kinda liked only having my phone. We also left Chuckie at home too. He couldn't take off of work but I am sure he enjoyed the peace and quiet of the house.

When we got home we only had Friday of spring break left. The kids all found friends to hang out with and i enjoyed the day doing nothing and being left alone. And i'm proud to admit, it was the best day.

Family Visit and Utah Trip.

2011-04-27T09:58:00.001-07:00

We got home from disneyland on sunday. On monday it was time to get ready for the next adventure. I spent monday finalizing the yearbook and turning it in. Yea!! So nice when that is all done and i don't have to think about it anymore. On tuesday i cleaned house. Between going out of town and laundry and it being neglected because i was consumed with the yearbook, it was one big mess. On wednesday, my family started arriving from south carolina. My aunt and uncle, Martha Ann and Joe, got here in the afternoon. They came over and visited for a while that evening. It was great to spend time with them. Late that night my cousin Bill and his family got here. On thursday we let the kids ditch school and we took them down to the strip to play around. They rode the roller coaster at new york and played some games. We then headed back to their hotel and had lunch then all of the kids went bowling. Everyone met up for dinner together that night. On friday we met up at my cousins house for lunch. Then we all headed to the temple to do a session together. It was great to see all of the campbell cousins together. And, it's always great to be in the temple. After the temple we all headed to hurricane, utah. We couldn't pass through st. george though without a stop at cracker barrel for dinner then on to iceburg for dessert. Kayla was working and she even put Alexa to work helping her clean. After checking into the crapiest motel ever we checked right back out and headed out to find a new place to sleep. We ended up staying in hurricane instead of st. george. On saturday we did some shopping at tai pan and then headed back to hurricane for my aunt and uncles 50th wedding anniversary party. My other aunt and uncle, Richard and Sybil, had also come in from south carolina and meet up with all of us in hurricane. I haven't seen them since we were back for my mom's funeral. I got a little emotional seeing them and saying bye to them. Not sure why. It was a great day spending time with family. Sunday we headed back to Vegas. We all had dinner at my brother's house that night. Monday morning started spring break for my kids. We all headed out for an early breakfast before everyone had to be at the airport. After everyone was gone i took about a 5 hour nap. I was exhausted. I had 3 straight nights of little to no sleep. My kids were pretty tired too so they all relaxed and left me alone. It was great to spend time with my family that i miss so much.

On a side note, the wed that everyone got here, i took alexa to the hand dr that morning. She got her little cast off and now just has a bandaid. Her finger looks great and is healing well. Her nail is already starting to come back in. So glad that drama is all behind us.

Disneyland Trip.

2011-04-22T15:44:00.000-07:00

I've been horrible about blogging but in my defense we've been on three trips this month and while home in between I pretty much did laundry, cleaned and tried to catch up on sleep. Oh, and finish and turn in this year's yearbook. The first trip we took at the beginning of the month was to Disneyland. This is the yearly trip we have made the past few years for the middle school's choir performance. This year it turned out to be a cold weekend. And, a little wet. But it kept the crowds down and that was nice. Right after we got to the park the first day, we got to see this huge rainbow across the sky. Wonder if there is a pot of gold at the matterhorn.

We got to see the fireworks a couple of times and Alexa discovered her new disneyland food love, the turkey leg. Yea gross right. It still doesn't take the place of her most favorite food which is the mickey pretzel with cheese.

Alexa also saved her money and spent it all at the bibbity bobbity boutique to get a princess makeover. She got a princess hairdo and makeup and a crown, sash, ring and princess bag. She was so shy while getting it all done and kind of had an embarrassed face. But she enjoyed the pampering. By the end of the day though her head was hurting from the tight ponytail and mounds of hairspray and gel.

We didn't see too much of Aaron and Makenzie. In fact, I only got one picture of Makenzie from the last night eating dinner and it turned out too dark since all I took for a camera was my phone. They enjoyed spending the trip with their friends and we enjoyed not being pulled in 3 different directions by kids. I took a few pics of aaron though. One with Ky and Karsyn waiting for the show and one of him in Kara's tiny jacket he was holding for her and his friend had requested he get a pic with a character so the fairy godmother it was.

We spent some time with our friends as well. It was a nice relaxing trip and we all look forward to it every year. We got home Sunday night just in time to get ready for our next adventure...

Some Recent Stuff.

2011-04-04T22:46:00.000-07:00

I haven't been very good about blogging lately and Brit decided to call me out on facebook about that. So I searched through my phone to see what pics I had taken lately that had nothing to do with the yearbook. Because let's face it, it's spring therefore my life is consumed by getting the yearbook done. So here's what i came up with...

Alexa got her hard "cast" on her finger last week. We can take it on and off but we have to keep it dry and covered all the time. So we don't take it off but it has come off a few times. Her finger looks pretty gross still and i'll spare you the pic I took of it not covered. She gets the pin out in a week and a half then the nail area will just need to be protected. But she is more comfortable using the finger now and has stopped trying to get out of writing at school. I think.

Last week I went with a bunch of the staff from the girls' school to sugar factory at the paris. We were celebrating a birthday and the birthday girl ordered this giant sundae. It was a big hot mess but yummy. We had a great time eating the different desserts. I think we will be trying that place again and trying their real food.On Friday night we went to dick's last resort at the excalibur with the welchs. I knew this place had the reputation for being rude but didn't know it was quite as crude as it was. We took our girls with us and quickly realized we shouldn't have. Luckily we sat close to the entrance so they didn't see most of the naughtiness. We did have a fun time and if I went again i'd take no kids and maybe not go so late at night. They make funny hats for people to wear. When the entertainment guy realized we had our kids there he told alexa he would made her a special hat to make her feel more like she was at chuck e cheese. About 10 minutes later he came back with a paper hat and massive amount of balloons attached. And over the microphone proceeded to question what kind of parents would bring their kids there. Well thanks very much, lesson learned. Our waiter kept forgetting to bring me a refill and i had to ask a couple of times so he shows back up with a pitcher full of sprite and a bunch of straws in it.

Other then that we have been busy doing yard work and very little house work. We also went out to bj's for dinner on friday night for our traditional conference dinner with friends. Aaron went with Chuckie to the priesthood session and the guys just all meet us at the restaurant afterwards so Aaron got to tag along for dinner with the adults. (He said he only came for the pizzokie.) Alexa's first game of soccer was last Saturday. The girls also got into the pool which i'm pretty sure is still freezing. I've done just about nothing else but the yearbook. Hopefully it is done by early next week. So I can be happy again. Speaking of happy, hope you're happy brit!

Surgery on the Finger.

2011-03-26T23:29:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought that a smashed finger would end up requiring surgery. We took Alexa to see the hand specialist on Monday. He looked at it and decided she needed a little surgery to get it all repaired. I wasn't expecting that for sure. He also decided we didn't need to wait so we were scheduled for surgery the next morning at 6:30am. Which meant we had to be at the surgery center all the way across town at 5:30am. Have I ever mentioned I am so not a morning person. Alexa was pretty scared and did some crying. She hated wearing the head covering and only freaked a little when they took her away from us. Luckily they gave her a little medicine to drink before they wheeled her away to help calm her nerves. The procedure took about 45 minutes. They removed her nail and repaired the nail bed so a new one could grow and they stuck a little pin down the tip of her finger to help the broken bone. She will have the pin removed in about 3 weeks. She woke up pretty grouchy and we got her dressed and we were back home by 9am. When we got home she started crying for a drink because "the medicine taste nasty". The last thing she remembered was taking the medicine before they wheeled her away. She was able to go back to school the next day and has done pretty well. Although she works it pretty well to get out of writing. She had lots more visitors and treats brought to her after surgery. Yesterday she was able to wiggle the finger a little for the first time and she was pretty excited about that. She has a followup next week so hopefully everything is healing well. Who knew a tiny little pinky could be so much trouble. And so expensive!

Smashed Finger.

2011-03-17T22:45:00.000-07:00

This is one st. patrick's day we will probably never forget! Even though it was one weird eventful day, the decorations were still cute...

Last night everyone is getting ready for bed and doing the last minute stuff and Alexa and Aaron are both by the laundry room. He shuts the door and doesn't realize her hand is right in the crack by the hinges. He soon realizes though when she lets out the loudest most terrifying scream ever. Chuckie grabs her and runs her to the sink looks at it and says to me lets go. When i looked at it I could tell the tip wasn't even with the rest of her finger. Not hanging off but slightly hanging to the side. So our night ends and the day begins in the waiting room of sunrise hospital. After 4 hours we were heading back home. End result is she will lose her nail, she got stitches and her bone is chipped. And we were told we should have a hand specialist check it out just to be safe.

She was a pretty brave little girl but wanted nothing to do with any of it. When they had to give her a shot the nurse said you go ahead and scream as loud as you want. And boy did she. But as i watched him give her about 10 shots in her tiny little finger i wanted to scream also. Through the whole experience she had us cracking up with things she would say. She had a sad face the whole night but she'd get the most dramatic crying face every time she would think of something. I forgot some but here's what we can remember:

-"what about root beer floats and pajama day at school, am i gonna miss it?"

-"i don't like this place and i never ever want to come here again."

-"why did this have to happen to me!?" (i finally asked her well who should it have happened to? she thought and replied, "aaron or makenzie?")

-"what about soccer? can i still be on the team?"

-referring to the doctor..."get him away from me! don't let him touch me anymore!"

-"this is the worst day ever!"

-"why me!"

-"don't take me to the doctor, take me to kelly (brinkerhoff)! I trust kelly!"

-"i'm never going in the laundry room again!"

Today she stayed home with me and we slept most of the afternoon. We didn't get home until 3am so we deserved it. She will go back to school tomorrow and luckily won't miss pajama day or root beet floats. She hasn't had much pain at all today but that hasn't stopped her from milking it for attention. Her brother and sister have catered to her and she's had lots of visitors stop by with treats. And tonight she informed me i'm gonna need to wipe her bum for her when she goes poo. Yea, that's my girl.

Back To Normal.

2011-03-02T13:24:00.000-08:00

This morning Tracy and I were heytelling each other on her way to work. We were talking about how we've hardly seen each other lately and that's just not normal. I sent her a list of all the things that i'd like to get back to normal in my life and i thought i'd share it here in case anyone wants to help :

-hanging out with my sistas of course. i miss laughing and chatting and forgetting any troubles. plus yesterday was kara's bday and sorry me didn't even see her or give her a present. that's just not right.

-i'd like this leftover cold to be done. i want to stop coughing and having a runny nose. and most of all, i want my right ear to hear normal again. not to mention my morning smokers voice.

-i'd like toilet paper to be upstairs. this use to not be a problem. i'd buy a huge costco sized pack and part would go downstairs and part upstairs. well now we have storage cabinets in the garage for those types of things and that's not really helpful when you're upstairs and in immediate need of tp.

-i'd like the new car buying process to be over with. looking and looking and dealing and dealing. enough.

-chores. seriously why do i have to verbally prompt my kids everyday to do this lately.

-groceries in the house. to be honest i went to the store last night because when we got home from looking at cars aaron asked what was for dinner because he was starving and he had had to resort to eating icing for a snack cause there was nothing else. sad really.

-house back to normal would be so nice. first we redecorated a few things and now chuckie has decided to rip out the office and the kid's closets to customize them. i'd like to just have things done and decorated and organized. (i will admit though that i am slightly excited for the closet makeovers)

and finally

-a route 44 fanta with extra ice from sonic wouldn't hurt.

Good, Bad and Ugly.

2011-02-22T22:42:00.000-08:00

The good. In case anyone happens to be at pottery barn or rcwilley and would like to pick up a little something for me here's a couple of things i wouldn't turndown...

The bad. I just realized I failed to blog about my car. A memory I wouldn't want to forget. Or maybe I would. So out of the blue a friend needs a ride to get a rental car one morning. So after I take the girls to school and drop him off at the car rental place I decide to call Jolynn and see if she wants to get some breakfast for her birthday. She picks blueberry hill (i knew she would they have the best breakfast) and I tell her I will meet her there. I run into kmart next door to grab her bday gift...diet cokes and nutter butters, it's a tradition. Then head into blueberry hill and leave my car in the parking lot. After all where else are you supposed to leave a car. So she arrives about 10 minutes later. We have breakfast and chat it up. An hour and a half later we head out the door. I walk out and stop. I'm like my car is gone. She thinks i'm nuts. I say no seriously my car was right there by where your van is and it's gone. She says it wasn't there when I parked. I look around for two reasons, 1. to see if i see it is anywhere else cause maybe i am crazy and didn't park where i thought i did and 2. too see if i am being punked. Frickin Ashton Kutcher is no one to be found. Well i'm pretty sure i am laughing at this point. Which is probably why when I called Chuckie to tell him he called me a liar. Twice. Finally I get my i'm serious voice and he believes me. He starts calling onstar and I call 911. The nice lady there refers me to 311 non emergency because apparently my car being stolen isn't an emergency. Are you kidding me. I had a $15 worth of free merchandise card to rod works in there lady. This is an emergency. Well the nice folks at 311 get me some help right away. Pretty soon a couple of officers are there to help. Help me fill out a bunch of paperwork that is. Chuckie soon shows up and after an hour we come to the conclusion that they've already disabled onstar and the car is history. But the officers were real nice. Fast forward to five days later. Were asleep in our hotel in Utah and I get a call from metro. They found my car. The wheels and rims are gone and they're towing it and that's about all they can tell me. Chuckie goes to the tow yard to check it out when we get back to Vegas to get anything out of it that they left. So the rims and tires are gone as well as the back seat. Yes, the backseat. Right now somewhere some moron is sitting in his front yard on my backseat watching his grass grow. It's pretty trashed inside. As in trash everywhere. And piles of dirt. They took a camera and an ipod touch and left pretty much everything else. Including the rod works card. Yea! After 3 weeks the insurance has finally decided to total it. Which brings on the ugly.

The ugly. Finding another car. Finding another car on the sad amount of money that insurance gave us. I hate looking for a car and starting a car payment. And of course the rental car has to be turned in this Friday and who knows when we will get the check. And I started out this week being sick so between hacking and being sleepy I get to look for a car.

So from this I learned. 1. i'm still pretty funny even in an emergency. 2. the loss of her nutter butters and diet cokes makes Jolynn real real sad. (although the idiots did leave a pack of the nutter butters in the car and she didn't want them. rude.) 3. i should always use my serious voice in such a situation if i want to be taken seriously. and 4. taking the golf cart everywhere i went until i got the rental was real cold and got me some real weird looks.

Valentine's Decor.

2011-02-09T10:36:00.000-08:00

Finally got valentines decorations all finished up yesterday. Most had been up for a couple of weeks but I put up the finishing touch yesterday. At least finished enough for me.

The heart wreath and things in the jars I got from rod works. Pretty cute...

My shelf I got for Christmas is finally up. It took a while to decide where to put it but we settled on above the couch in the front room. I love it. I have nothing to put on it once valentines is over but I have an idea in mind. Now i'll just need cash in the pocket. The print of course from eighteen25 and the rosebuds in the jar i accidentally found at the dollar tree. I think they're soap. Pretty sure we won't be cleaning anything with them. Pink trees, which were the finishing touch i was waiting for, are from the world market downtown.

And of course the xo frames from last year...

Love is in the air around here. Also the smell of dirty laundry. But that's another story...

Utah Wedding Trip.

2011-02-04T11:56:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Chuckie and I headed to Utah for Brittany's wedding. With NO kids. This is the first trip we have taken without our kids since Aaron was a baby. What were we thinking not doing this more often!! We were gone for 3 days and it was just long enough to get a good break from them and not long enough to miss them. I'm thinking this needs to happen like once a month! So we headed out Friday morning first making a stop at the world market downtown. We had passes to shop but quickly realized we needed like 3 days to see it all. Luckily we met up with Tracy Jensen who knows what she is doing and she guided us around. I could spend some serious money in there. Soon though we were on the road to Utah. The wedding was on Saturday in the Mt. Timpanogos temple. It was beautiful with the snow covered mountains behind it. The sealing was sweet and the reception was a blast. Those Harpers know how to party! It was fun having some of our friends there too. They had a cool photo booth set up for pictures and we had a fun time playing in there. We headed back home Sunday after breakfast at the Crowleys who now live in Provo. It was fun spending time with them. We stopped a few times along the way home and of course stopped in St. George for dinner at Cracker Barrel. Congrats to Brittany and Jordan Peterson and thanks for giving us a good reason for a much needed adult trip!! Some pics i took with my phone...

Roller Skating.

2011-01-28T00:28:00.001-08:00

Last week we all headed to the roller skating rink for Kaylee's birthday party. Alexa got new skates for Christmas and she's been practicing tons. There were lots of people at the rink, it must have been a school skate night, so I didn't think she would be brave and try. But she did. And she had a blast. I think she only fell once. Chuckie brought Aaron and Makenzie over for a while and Kenz joined in on the fun. Aaron unfortunately sat and did work for seminary to makeup for his 50 plus tardies. Moron. Everyone had a great time and skated their booties off. Defiantly a fun party! Thanks Brinks!

Makenzie Turns 11.

2011-01-23T21:48:00.000-08:00

She went and did it again. Had another birthday. Makenzie turned 11 yesterday. She had a party last weekend. We took 11 kids miniature golfing. I think everyone had a good time and she got lots of cash! (I just gotta figure out where she hid it!) Yesterday on her actual birthday she got up early and went for pedi/mani. She got a french manicure then she chose to have lunch with her family at cafe rio. Then shopping at target to buy zumba for the xbox. Which they were out of. Then she spent some time with her bf and her second family while Chuckie and I went to the temple. Afterwards her bf came with us and we met the whinerys at Macayos for dinner. Also her choice. And her bf spent the night and went to church with her today. She got to design her own converse shoes as her bday gift from us.

{The whole golfing crew}

11 things about Makenzie at 11:

1. she wants to be busy all the time. usually with her friends though.

2. she has lots of friends but spends most of her time with adi.

3. she still keeps a messy room.

4. she likes to spend time outside riding her bike or riding on the golf cart or walking/running around the neighborhood.

5. she's in 5th grade and enjoying "ruling" the school.

6. this year she is in the student council program and a leadership program.

7. she's still a daddy's girl but seems to like me more then usual lately. haha

8. she's trying hard to wear makeup.

9. she's been awarded twice for being kind at school.

10. she doesn't like for alexa to come in her room and always blames the messes on her.

11. she's turning into a young lady too quickly and it needs to stop!

We love you Kenz!

DARE Graduation.

2011-01-17T17:01:00.001-08:00

Last week Makenzie graduated from the dare program at school. She had a great time in the program and please bless that it stays with her during her teenage years. She was picked to say the pledge of allegiance to start the ceremony. The officer in charge was also the same officer Aaron had. Some pictures from the event...

Saying the pledge & shaking hands with Steve B.(he was the guest speaker):

Receiving her certificate from Officer Lybbert & a picture with one her best friends Jake B.:

After the ceremony she got to ditch the rest of school and go with Jake and his family to a soccer game. Good thing the program isn't about the importance of going to school. hahahaha

Random Thoughts and Events of the Day.

2011-01-12T23:40:00.000-08:00

-I've been in this horrible habit lately of staying up late. Way late. Like 3am late. Then naturally, I don't want to get up in the morning. I do have to get up because the girls need to get ready and get to school. But they past two weeks i've wanted to just go back to bed and stay there. And quite honestly, a few days I have done just that. I've got to break that habit. But having a nap once in a while is good. Not everyday but once in a while.

-Really my days are pretty boring and could be so much more productive. I should have a spotless house and a lovely meal on the table for my family each day. But June Cleaver I am not. And, I don't want to be either. I realized something profound...we live here. And, it's gonna be messy and things are gonna be out of place and I don't need to freak when they are. Shoes can be in the middle of the room and cups all over the counter and it's ok. Because we do in fact live here. (in case my kids are reading this, a: this doesn't mean you can turn into complete slobs and b: you are still doing daily chores.)

-I'm also done giving myself to the school 24/7. I don't mind helping out in my kids classrooms if help is needed. (Are you laughing Benavida?!) Of course I say this as I am getting started on the yearbook. But for now, that's my only focus when i'm there. After all, it's Makenzie's fifth grade yearbook so it should be great. And maybe i'll see how many times I can get away with putting her picture in it. Kidding. Kind of.

-Why do men fall asleep on the couch every night? Go to bed.

And finally today:

Took the girls to school and hour late because 1: Alexa wouldn't wake up 2: I didn't want to get up and 3: Makenzie wanted to miss pe. (She loves pe but has had a cough and didn't want to run.) Then met up with Jenna at the salon and got the do did. Went to the school to take some pictures. Stayed the whole afternoon. Took Makenzie to achievement days. Talked to Jill. Picked M up. Cooked dinner. Ate dinner with the family. Ran to Aaron Brothers for frames. Went to Bowdens. Chatted with Steve and Kara Brink. Then stood in the cold forever talking to Tracy. Now home blogging ignoring the laundry that is piling high needing to be folded and put away.

Not a very productive day but i'm ok with that.

You're Growing Up. Stop It.

2011-01-09T23:20:00.000-08:00

I just about cried at church today. I was reading the announcements and read about the baptism preview that will be held this month. And it hit me. We have to go to that. Alexa gets baptized this year. Shut. Up. Seriously when did this happen. When did my youngest child not only grow up but is about ready to be baptized. She's not watching dora anymore and she's singing teenage songs. She's losing all of her teeth and with each one gaining a sassier grownup attitude. And i'm just done with it all.

And it get worse. Makenzie turns 11 this month. That means young womens in just a year. Excuse while I throw up. She's in 5th grade. That means middle school next year. More throwing up. She's trying to wear makeup and please bless that I buy the right style and brand of clothes. She's moody. Way moody...which can only mean one thing. (Holy. Crap. Help me.)

Aaron. He informs me today that he can get his permit on November 1. This year. More then enough said.

Now don't get me wrong. No desire here to have babies again. I just want the ones I have to stop it already. The End.

Alexa's Room.

2011-01-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

It took 6 months (at least) but we finally finished Alexa's room makeover. It would of been smart of me to take some before pictures, obviously i'm not smart. I love the end result. And so does Alexa. Although the other day she said mom can you get back my old room. I kinda miss it. After a small love tap to the back of her head, she got her wits back. Anyway, her room...

(sorry the pictures aren't the best. I snapped them with my phone. I knew i needed to hurry and capture her room while it was clean as quick as i could before it went back to normal.)

from the doorway...

her main wall. the metal flowers are so big and cute. got them from taipan. all of the little owl decals are from a kit from target...
her mirror that i bought cheap at target then glued colored rocks on it. hair bow holder from behind the picket fence craft boutique...
la la love you picture from sparkle power...
magnet board from justbe and heart picture and chair from target. pillow pet from her friend, Grace...

her chandelier. I wanted a smaller one but she and her dad went to the store together and came home with this one. She loves it and it works...

banner also from the craft boutique (made by those crafty sisters over at eighteen25) and dresser a $20 find at a yard sale. Chuckie sanded it down painted it added new knobs and gave it new life...

Now, maybe we can get Makenzie's room completed before she headed to college.

New Years Weekend.

2011-01-02T20:26:00.000-08:00

On new years eve we headed to the movies with the brinks, bowdens, rhoads and iversons. We saw gulliver's travels. I could have waited to see it on video. We grabbed some in & out for dinner and all headed to the brinks to bring in the new year. Aaron went to his very first church dance. He hasn't wanted to go since he turned 14 and since he was a bit reluctant to go to this one i didn't want to make a big deal so no pictures. (He admitted he had fun though.) The adults all ended up at the dance because Kara was doing zumba with the kids for a while. Being there reminded me of how much I don't miss being a teenager and going to those dances. We made it back just in time to ring in the new year. We all ended up on the couch to watch the fireworks since it was too cold to go outside.

Today we didn't have to be at church until 11am. It. Was. Wonderful. After we got home we all got to work cleaning the downstairs. It seriously looked like a tornado had come through. A week and a half of playing and no cleaning had taken its toll. I was going to take pictures of the mess but totally forgot until we were done. Everyone worked hard and got it all nice. Makenzie also gave Alexa some skating lessons after church. After dinner we tried out our new pizookie maker we got from the Hortons for Christmas. So good. Looks just like what you can get at BJ's huh.

Now it's time for back to school and routines. I'm ready. I think.

New Closet And This Week.

2010-12-31T00:41:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of the week, Chuckie and I got our closet redone. It was kind of a gift to each other. Can I just say I love it. Love it. I feel like I can be so much more organized. I can't believe how much more room it gives us. Our shoes use to drive me crazy but now there are plenty of shelves for all of them. Chuckie's shelves are deep enough for his big shoes and my shelves are perfect for me. It was nice to also finally clean out our closet and take some bags to d.i. Now I have four walls of storage space. Happy happy. Maybe this will be a nice start to the new year and getting my life and house more organized.

So we had great plans for this week since Chuckie is off all week. We had a list of fun things to take the kids to do. And how many of those have we done...none. They have seriously played and played and played and we have hardly seen them. And when we do see them, there is a sea of friends with them. Aaron has had a group on the golf cart non stop and they are having a blast. Makenzie has either been at a friend's house or had a friend over constantly. Alexa has either been with a friend, had a friend over or completely occupied herself with her Christmas presents in her room. They've been so happy and making the most of their break that I haven't felt bad at all for not taking them anywhere. Not to mention the weather has hindered a few plans anyway. It will be tough for us all to get back on a schedule next week. Especially me since i've been staying up half the night and sleeping all morning. And, no more 9am church. Amen.

December Catch-up.

2010-12-30T00:36:00.000-08:00

I figured I better catch up on december before we start the new year. I think my goal for next year needs to be blogging better. Especially since it is about the only journaling I do. My bf gave me a cute memory book that you write one line a day in and it covers the next 5 years. I hope to do well at that also.So, on to some things from december...

The girls and I did a baking day with two of the teachers and their kids from their school. We made tons of treats and the kids decorated gingerbread cookies. I was horrible about taking pictures but we had lots of goodies to bring home and the girls had a great time...

I spent a few late nights this month with Tracy and Jill making quilts for Tracy's kids. We got pretty silly and got into some trouble as well but I love them and I had a great time with them and we got all 4 quilts finished for her kids in time for Christmas. It seriously was after midnight every time we finished and we got a little nuts...

Aaron had tacky holiday sweater day at school. Since he is in student council he has to participate for a grade. We couldn't find a good sweater so he made one. And he won for tackiest sweater...

The girls both had their awards ceremony for the first trimester. They both got awards but honestly I can't remember what they were for. But, we're real real proud of them...

Chuckie's family party was the Sunday before Christmas. We had the traditional soups and grilled cheese and lots of desserts. We played some fun games. I wasn't feeling too well so I didn't take many pictures and I only had my phone for the ones I did take...

And finally the decorations. This year we didn't get much of our old stuff out. As a matter of fact, most of it found its way to d.i. today. I did some new stuff and we got all new tree decorations. And honestly, all the new stuff never even made it out on display. But you know what, Christmas still happened and everyone was still happy. We went with red, silver and an icy blue color...

Christmas Day.

2010-12-28T23:37:00.000-08:00

As usual, the kids were up way to early and making way too much noise despite our warnings the night before. So, we were up and downstairs before 7am. Now, to begin with everyone wasn't so happy. But before it was all said and done, they were all VERY happy. So this is how it went for each kid....

first, stockings full of goodies...

Alexa: all she wanted was a cotton candy maker. I could find one NO WHERE. I looked everywhere and no one had them. Either they were way popular this year or way stupid so no one ordered any. Her santa gift was a new bike. She was happy with that. But kept wondering if she was getting a cotton candy maker. She loved everything she opened and in the end got a dippin dots maker and luckily she was way happy and never mentioned the cotton candy maker again. Her load: bike, dippin dots maker, skates, flat screen tv for her room, lots of new clothes and new boots, and a full sized keyboard (with a microphone, yea we're regretting that one) She is a happy girl.

Makenzie: she asked for 2 things, a certain jacket from aeropostale and a beach cruiser no wait a new cell phone no wait a beach cruiser no wait a cell phone...well you get the idea. She went back and forth for weeks. She finally settled on the phone. When she came downstairs, there sat the bike. She seemed happy. But I could tell a little disappointed. She also opened up a present with the new phone inside. And yes, I made her open that one very last. She put her jacket on right when she opened it and kept it on all morning. Her load: beach cruiser bike, new cell phone (that has a keyboard and is "SO much easier to text on", thank goodness), jacket and new clothes, flat screen tv for her room, new jewelry and jewelry holder, and a new radio for her ipod. Another happy girl.

Now Aaron: well he about ruined my whole christmas spirit for weeks. He asked for one of two things, a new macbook or a golf cart. Well please pass me a couple thousand dollars. He wanted nothing else. He wasn't being a jerk about it all which made it hard for me to get mad with him. I was so stressed for weeks not knowing what to do for him and knowing i wasn't going to spend over a $1000 on a present for a 14 year old. So a couple of weeks before christmas he gave up on the macbook and only wanted a golf cart. After many talks he finally realized it was unrealistic so then he spent hours looking on craigslist for a used one. He found some in california and arizona for a reasonable price so he decided he would just get money for christmas then he could add it to his money he already had and we could take him to get one. He bugged the heck outta us all week and we pretty much just ignored him. Little did he know that I had already found one the week before and bought it and had it hidden at the swinns house. Seriously I can not tell you how stressed I had been. You never want to see your kids have a bad Christmas. We bought it from an older guy who had taken amazing care of it and sold it to us for less than half of what he probably could have. So when Aaron came downstairs, there sat his $ from santa. He had totally psyched himself up to have a good attitude about whatever he got. He got a few small presents and sat through the girls opening their stuff. Then I faked going to the bathroom and really went out in the garage and got the video ready. Chuckie took Aaron out the front door to help him get a present for me that was hidden out in the garage. When the door opened up he seriously was in shock. I about cried. He gave both of us a big hug before he even touched it. He smiled all day. Besides the golf cart he got: new clothes, and a calendar and clue game from The Office tv show.

(sorry for my weird loud voice on the video.)

As for me and Chuckie, I got new clothes, bath stuff, a big beautiful new shelf and a new wireless mouse for the mac. He got a couple of new shirts, kinect and games for the xbox, a new iron and a projector. And we got our closet customized this week. Which I love!

As for the rest of the day, we headed over to the bowdens for breakfast/brunch and hung out there for a while. Came home and Chuckie and I took a nap while the kids played then we went to the Floyds for dinner and more presents. It was a great day and couldn't have been better.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T00:06:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Weekend.

2010-12-13T07:57:00.000-08:00

Finally Thanksgiving. My good camera is having a mind of its own lately so I have been using a new little camera i got that i'm not so sure i love. I have been needing to get a new card reader for over 2 weeks so i could download the pictures from it. Genius Aaron informed me last night that i didn't need a card reader at all since it would hook right up to the computer. Seriously. He had 2 weeks to tell me that.

Thanksgiving day started out early. Way freakin early. Chuckie, Aaron and I were up and headed out by 5:30am. Somehow we agreed to help Jenna with her 1/2 marathon she puts on thanksgiving morning. Let me say, I love Jenna, but it was like 32 degrees and it was 5:30 in the morning, well, i was seriously rethinking that friendship! The race went great and we were back home in time for a nap before we got ready for the rest of the day. In the afternoon we headed over to the brinkerhoff's for thanksgiving dinner. There were lots of people and it was great. We ate too much and laughed and looked through the ads and ate some more and played cards and i think ate some more. I was pretty bad about taking pictures. But I did manage to capture one of each of my kids.

On Friday Chuckie headed out early, like 4am, to get some black friday deals. He was able to get a few things we wanted and I don't believe he had to steal outta out of other people's carts or hurt anyone this year. I was smart and stayed in bed a bit longer. I didn't head out until 7am. I went with Jill, Kara, Jenna, Tracy, Kim and Kara's friend from Utah. I got a few things accomplished but mostly just had a great time with all the girls. We shopped and ate and shopped some more. It was a great day!

Saturday night the Bowdens invited us to go to the strip with them. First we went to the Bellagio and saw the fountain show and walked around the gardens. It was still decorated for fall. Then we headed over to City Center and it all seemed huge and overwhelming. We weren't impressed but I don't think we ever made it to the good stuff. So we all headed to Red Robin for the good stuff.

On Sunday, after church, we decorated the tree. Decorations have been a touchy subject in our house this year. I'm all for out with the old and in with the new but my family not so much. Aaron and Makenzie for sentimental reasons and Chuckie because, well, he's cheap. (Although he claims sentimental.) So I was surprised when Chuckie and Aaron came home with all new ornaments for the tree. I've added a few new other things and a few of the old things are out as well. To be honest, the house is pretty much half decorated. It was driving me crazy last week but this week i'm kinda over it. I'll get a few things finished up today then it is what it is.

Halloween At Disneyland.

2010-11-23T14:58:00.000-08:00

Since the kids had a 5 day weekend over halloween weekend, we decided to head to disneyland. We left early saturday morning and came home late tuesday night. We expected it to be crowded since it was halloween and we knew half of las vegas would be there but we pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't all all. A few things about this trip:

-we saw lots of people we knew but thought we would see more.

-weather in southern california is so unpredictable. we were freezing the first two days and hot the last two.

-makenzie rode screamin' for the first time. then she rode it again and again and again.

-we watched world of color with the laws and the stones and it was just amazing this time as it was the first time i saw it.

-we rode walt's personal train car again this trip. this time though chuckie was with us and the whole nelson family joined us.

-aaron and makenzie were at the park early every morning. before it opened. they hung out a lot with the hollingsworths but we did get to see them all lots.

-we watched the parade twice. once we sat for over an hour to have good seats because alexa wanted to see it only to have her fall asleep about 10 minutes before it began. the second time we got the same good seats and watched it with the brinkerhoffs and iversons. alexa stayed awake that time.

-the freaks come out on halloween at disneyland. seriously some costumes should just not be made in adult sizes.

-we watched fantasmic. it's the first time the kids have ever watched it. chuckie and I haven't seen it in forever.

-my whole family slept while i drove them home. luckily i had kara and heytell on the phone to keep my awake most of the trip.

-it was another successful disneyland trip.

Dressed For Zumba.

2010-11-17T00:57:00.000-08:00

I've got some blogging to catch up on but finding the time hasn't been easy. I've got our trip to disneyland to cover as well as a few other things. In the meantime though I thought I would post these hilarious pictures of Alexa doing zumba at the high school zumba night. Hilarious mainly because of her outfit. Who knew you could exercise in a skirt and boots.

Let's not overlook Kara's outfit either. It was rocker night and I think she looks like a rock star. Guess I better get Alexa some better workout clothes.

Halloween School Parties.

2010-10-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

This year the girls got to dress up all day for their halloween parties at school. It was nice not to have to fight the crowds to change into costumes before the parties started. They also had the entire school outside to perform a dance to thriller. It was so cute. They have all been learning the dance in pe. Now, here were their costumes of choice...

Makenzie went as the tooth fairy...

Alexa went as little red riding hood...

They both turned out pretty cute. My friend made the cape for Alexa and she loves it. She was even wearing it this morning because she was cold. Now, we off to enjoy a 5 day weekend!!!

Pumpkin Carving.

2010-10-27T10:10:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we headed to the brinks for pumpkin carving and dinner. We haven't gotten together for a few years to do this. I think we forgot how much fun it is. We had everything you needed for pumpkin carving night. Good food, pumpkins, tools and lots of kids that love to clean pumpkins out. (cause that last part is really gross.) The menu consisted of lots of soup choices, homemade rolls, salads and a few different desserts.

time to chow down on dinner...

the nasty job of cleaning the pumpkins out (why does it have to be so slimy and gross!)...

the finished pumpkins...

Hopefully we will remember to do this again next year!

Race Trip & Parade.

2010-10-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

I haven't been very good about blogging the past couple of weeks. This past week was the fall carnival at the school and I was in charge so that has taken lots of my time. Here's a couple of things from the past few weeks though...

At the beginning of the month Kara, Jill and I decided to go to St. George to surprise the girls that were running in the marathon. We were all so good all week acting like we weren't coming. Unfortunately a text about our surprise was accidently sent to Jenna the night before so they knew we were coming. It was pretty funny! We left pretty early to get up there so we could see them running at a certain point then make it to the finish line. They all did great and it was exciting to see them. After showers and some relaxing we headed to lunch. Jill ended up dumping us to ride back with Norm but Tracy joined us for the ride home. We even found a few minutes to run into krumpett's for some shopping. That night we all went to bj's for a celebratory dinner. Tracy and Jenna after the race and Kara and I waiting for them to run by us...

A couple of weeks ago was the Vegas homecoming game. Since Aaron is in student council he spent pretty much all his free time for 2 weeks getting the school decorated and working on the freshman float. We all met at the park to watch the parade then we went to the game. The kids love the parade and all the free candy.

Random iPhone Photos.

2010-10-07T11:18:00.000-07:00

1. i didn't realize i left out these cute frames i copied from eighteen25 in my halloween post. they can't be left out. 2. this is what happens when church basketball goes bad. 3. chuckie and his sadie's date at staples. i love that they're dressed identical and the chick didn't notice it or that i was taking a picture.

1. 2. 3.

1. sassy girl in a typical pose with her tongue out. 2. i love when a storm comes rolling in. and then it doesn't rain. 3. monday was grandparents day at vegas (students had to dress like a grandparent) we talked aaron into trying on one of jill's old dresses. he ended up not so much like a grandparent but more as a tall skinny cross dresser. he went as a grandpa.

1. 2. 3.

1. julie's cinnamon rolls on conference morning 2. tracy and jenna at dinner on sunday night. amazes me that they're mobile after having just ran 26.3 miles the day before. 3. me and tracy, don't mess with us.

1. 2. 3.

Ready For Halloween.

2010-10-03T12:24:00.000-07:00

Last week, before it was even October, I decided to put up the halloween decorations. I was hoping it would help the weather cool off but it didn't. Although, this week is looking to be nice. Thanks to eighteen25 I added a few new things. Those girls are very inspiring. (and pretty cute too!) I pulled out a few old things, some things I had bought after halloween last year, made a few things and bought a couple of new things and I think all together it turned out pretty cute.

The Rock Star Party.

2010-09-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday we had Alexa's party. She had a rock star party and this is how it went...

the invitations...

the limo is here. the girls are all waiting so (im)patiently for it. time to get this party started...

checking out all the fun things in the limo...

even dad had to get in on the fun and play around...

exiting the limo and heading to the red carpet...

if you're gonna be a rock star then you gotta dress like one. so wardrobe was first...

then it was time for hair and makeup...

the girls each got to do a photo shoot. they did a group as well as individuals. the individuals were hilarious. at first they were so shy then slowing the diva came out in them. funny girls...

after the photo shoot they divided up into two groups and chose their band name then picked which song they would get to record for their cd...

after they picked their songs they headed into the recording booth...

after all of the fun we settled down for pizza and cake...

the two rock bands with their final cd...

"the rock stars"...

and "the glam girlz"...
on the way home we listened to their songs on the cd. hilarious. we got home and quickly did presents...

and finally handed out the party favors from justbe jewelry...

Aren't they the cutest. I wish I had taken a picture of all of the necklaces. They were all so different and the girls LOVED them. I must admit it was a great party with very little work on my part involved. I've been asked tons of questions about the place so here's what I know...it's called Make Me A Star. It's located on Craig and east of Decatur. It's a bit pricy but luckily we got the party for free. (thanks to my flirty husband...i bet that's got you wondering huh!) the limo we did pay for but it was very reasonable. It's not included in the initial party package but SO worth it. They cater to whatever age group you have but they don't do parties under the age of 7. I'm pretty sure the girls loved this party. They all seemed to be so happy the whole time. And I guess that's all that matters. Thanks to everyone that came and made Alexa's day special. Oh, and thanks for not caring that my house was a mess.

Happy 7th Alexa!

2010-09-19T22:36:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure when it happened but somehow she went from this...

to this...

OVERNIGHT!!!! Seriously. Can they stop growing up already. A few minutes after midnight last night I said to her, it's the 19th, you're 7. She was giddy for the next hour. Giddy doesn't even do it justice. She couldn't wait to get to church this morning so they could sing to her in primary (and so she could get a candy bar). She asked for a lunchable (not kidding) for lunch today and spaghetti & meatballs for dinner. Lava cakes and ice cream for dessert. She opened her present the minute everyone was home from church. A new scooter. She was completely surprised since she had given us no ideas as to what she wanted. She had to call Tyler to tell her she got one so they could ride together instead of Tyler always letting Alexa borrow hers to ride. The Apis family had dinner with us and we all sang to her over our lava cakes. She got phone calls and cards and even messages on facebook. And she ended the night by losing her other front tooth. I'd say she had a pretty good day. I think she'd say so too.

My Birfday.

2010-09-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday i celebrated another birthday. 37 years old now. I woke up at 4am with some serious acid reflux. I think the only other time i've had that was when I was pregnant. Well I know for sure that isn't an issue this time. So i decided this must be the beginning of being old. Happy 37 years old now here's some reflux for ya. Thanks so much. Luckily it didn't last long and I went back to sleep. Until 5:45am. That's when my phone started going crazy with text from Tracy. I tried hard to ignore it but it's hard when it's going off every 30 seconds. So we chatted for a while. I got a quick happy birthday from Chuckie and Aaron as they ran out the door (late) for seminary. After getting the girls to school, I really had no plans. Since the ladies on eighteen25 had inspired me that morning I ran to hobby lobby and got supplies to make their latest halloween idea. Also made a quick stop at walmart for supplies then headed home and got started. Then headed to lunch with Jenna. Love spending time with her. Especially one on one since that doesn't happen very often. After school and Chuckie got home we went to Aaron's cross country meet. We headed back home and I had Stephanie and Tracy both waiting in my yard with treats. Steph gave me cupcakes from retro cupcakes and Tra gave me nothing bundt cupcakes. Yummm. The bowdens and garrett and kyle joined us for dinner at applebees. Not my fav but we had to keep it close since the kids all had homework. It didn't matter that the food wasn't great I enjoyed being with my family and friends. After we got home I opened my gift form the kids, a snazzy new straightener. (thanks brittany for helping Chuckie with that one!) and Chuckie gave me this awesome new mirror....

I got tons of calls and texts and messages on facebook. It all made for a fabulous day. So thanks to everyone that helped make it that way!

Labor Day Weekend.

2010-09-06T23:24:00.000-07:00

We didn't have have many plans for this long weekend. And I kinda liked it that way. We just played everything by ear and rolled with it. I never took any pictures the whole weekend but we did have fun and stay somewhat busy. A few highlights...

Friday: Makenzie had a friend come over after school and the girls all swam. Alexa went to a fun camp rock movie party and Chuckie and I grabbed some dinner at cafe rio and dessert at neilsens while she was there. Aaron got out of school a little after noon that day and fell asleep about 1pm. I woke him up at 6:30pm. Apparently the first week of school wore him out. Luckily, he was still tired so he stayed home with Makenzie and her friend while we went to eat.

Saturday: Makenzie had another friend come over all day to hang out. Alexa went to a birthday party and Aaron spent the day working on campaign signs for the upcoming election at school. Chuckie did his usual Saturday routine of going to home depot and sonic and whatever else he does. I checked out hobby lobby finally and went to target. That night Aaron watched the girls for us and we went out to dinner at lucille's bbq with the rhoads, bowdens and brinks.

Sunday: Today was a hard day so all I will say about this day is that I am very blessed with amazing friends and a husband that are there for me when I need them the most. I love them.

Monday: Makenzie had yet another friend over that spent the night. The girls went swimming and Aaron finished up his campaign signs and cleaned out his room. I actually got Chuckie to go with me to rod works and we picked out some goodies for the house. We also went to target and toys r us and had a good time together. Tonight we went to the brinks for Ky's birthday party. Love that kid.

Now we are back into full swing with school. Love that it's only a four day week.

Dear People.

2010-08-31T23:41:00.000-07:00

Dear Makers of Girls Shoes,

Could you please put in a little effort into some cute flats for girls. Size 2 please.

Thanks,

Carla

Dear Jen,

Could you please blog again soon. Cause, well, I kinda miss ya.

Thanks,

Carla

Dear Kara,

Please see above letter.

Thanks,

Carla

Dear Pigeons,

Could you please stop taking care of business on my roof right above my front and back door. I'm kinda tired of avoiding the sea of your goods when a good wind blows.

Thanks,

Carla

Dear Harry Reid and Sharron Angle,

So very tired of your commercials. Could you both just go away. I don't want to vote for either one of you honestly.

Thanks,

Carla

Dear September,

Welcome. Now bring us some fall weather please.

Thanks,

Carla

Dear CCSD,

Please stop killing so many trees.

Thanks,

Carla

Dear Glee,

I'm so excited you're almost back I can hardly stand it. I even watched all of your first season recently to get ready for your comeback. I can hardly drink a slurpee with out getting all giddy. So hurry up.

Thanks,

Carla

First Day '10.

2010-08-30T23:29:00.000-07:00

Aaron's Day:

Got up at 5am. Chuckie dropped him off at the church for seminary then he walked across the street to the school. All freshmen are in one seminary class. They just did a meet the teacher then the teacher snapped a photo then they were out the door to school. He has friends in all of his classes at school. His first period has almost all of his friends in it. (that poor teacher!) There are so many people it is hard to get through the halls. Half of his classes are upstairs and half downstairs. He does some going back and forth. He's close to Duane's classroom in the morning and around lunch so he can leave his lunch in his fridge. He doesn't have lunch with many friends so he ate with the all of the seniors that he knows. One of them is Scout. 40 minutes for lunch. That's such a long time. Went to see Grandma Jill during lunch but she wasn't in her office. Wasn't excited or disappointed about how the day went because he didn't have any expectations. No homework. And, this is what I get when I trust his dad to take pictures before they leave...

Makenzie's Day:

Wanted her hair curled, to wear skinny jeans and black vans. Her only requests. Rode with me to the school. Got way excited when she saw all of her friends. Hugs and laughing. Her best friend, Adi, is in her class and so is Jake. The 6th year the two of them have been together. As you can see in the picture, they're a couple of goofballs together. Her teacher, Mrs. D., just had a baby at the end of last year. They had specials first thing. It was p.e. They learned a dance to the song thriller. She has last lunch and her class sits at the same table she's been at for three years. She had to go get a band-aid during recess because her shoes were giving her a blister. They spent most of the day going over paperwork and rules. When I asked her how her day was I got "boring". When Jenna asked her at dinner tonight how her day was she said "good." She had to read for 30 minutes for homework. Pictures with Adi, her teacher and Jake...

Alexa's Day:

She was the last to get up. She got up and quickly got dressed then ate strawberries for breakfast. She rode with Chuckie to the school. She quickly found Tyler and Kaylee and got so excited. (Honestly it was probably because Ky and Karsyn were there too.) She started complaining that her bag of supplies was too heavy. After pictures she lined and we grabbed a quick picture with her teacher, Mrs. B. She also had p.e. today but she has specials at the end of the day. She also learned the dance to thriller. She said class was fun and her teacher is nice. She doesn't sit by Kaylee or Tyler or Jessica which is probably a very good thing since she loves to socialize. Her teacher told me they were all quiet for the first part of the day but soon got more comfortable. She can't remember if she has 1st or 2nd lunch. She has to have her agenda signed every night and she got a terrific stamp for today. Reading for homework. Pictures with Kaylee and Tyler, her teacher and a group of friends in her class...

Mom's Day:

Helped at the school for an hour after the girls went to class then headed across town to deseret book to get Aaron's seminary supplies. Talked to Jolynn on the drive. Back to our side of town to kohl's and target. Got home in time to go to the bathroom then head to the high school for pickup. Ran back home for 10 minutes and waited for Aaron to change into running clothes. Took him back to the school for practice then dropped off Alexa's supplies I picked up at target that were forgotten. Waited for the girls to get out. Picked Aaron up from practice then we headed to sonic for a first day treat. Chuckie suggested dinner out on his way home and I didn't argue. Rhoads met us at the restaurant and we laughed and had a good time. Perfect way to end our first day.

Ready.

2010-08-29T18:19:00.002-07:00

I don't know about them, but I am shopped out and ready for tomorrow. Pretty sure all supplies are bought, with the exception of the high school supplies which I am told lists will come home for the next two weeks. Lots of jeans, shorts, shirts, skirts, underwear, socks, shoes and a couple of backpacks later, we are set. We finished up at walmart last night at 11:30 getting lunch stuff. (Floyds, Bowdens and Rhoads at walmart at almost midnight is a post in itself.) They're excited and so am I. It all starts at 5am. Can't wait.

Hair Cuts.

2010-08-25T01:38:00.000-07:00

The girls went today for their back to school hair do's. They love going to the salon and having Jenna do their hair. Makenzie decided she wanted to chop her hair. I was fine with her doing it but I ended up being on the phone with my aunt when Jenna started cutting and I turned around and her hair was on the floor. I'm not sure why but it was a little overwhelming for a second. She cut off about 5-6 inches I would say and her highlights done. She loves loves loves it and looks way to grown up. I think that is what I wasn't really ready for. But, I love it too.

This is more of a during picture instead of before...

After...

Seriously, does she look like just a fifth grader?

Alexa also had a few inches cut off. That was much needed. Her nasty pool hair was driving me nuts. She also got the bangs trimmed and is all ready for 2nd grade...

Now, I get the oh so fun pleasure of styling hair everyday for the two girls that are perfectly happy with just a ponytail.

Couple Of Things From Last Week.

2010-08-24T00:35:00.000-07:00

Alexa had Kaylee over to play last week and they decided to get out some of Alexa's new clothes and do a back to school fashion show. They had a blast doing it and got really silly laughing and dancing. They insisted on music while they strutted down the runway. Most of the pictures were blurry because they couldn't stay still but I got a few...

On Friday we headed up to St. George to go to Tuachan to see Tarzan. It was really cute and we all enjoyed it. Although I would probably never go again in August. It's just too hot still. The picture of the girls is with young tarzan. Alexa thought he was pretty cute so she made her sister go with her to meet him...

Last night we went to Aaron's seminary registration. Seriously I don't know if I am ready for high school. Wait, I don't know if i am ready for a high schooler. He already thinks he knows it all now. This week we are attempting to get everyone ready for school on Monday. Bedtimes are a bit earlier. Although it's almost 1am and I can still hear Alexa upstairs. But, that is earlier for us. We've still got some shopping to do for Aaron but otherwise we are set. Supplies are bought, shoes, socks, clothes, underwear...all the fun stuff. We have a couple of last minute doctor's appts and the girls have open house and Aaron has the freshman bbq as well as cross country every morning. We will attempt to get some fun stuff in too. I'll admit I am a bit torn about school starting. I love lazy days and no schedules and sleeping in and staying up late. But I also love the thought of the kids back in school all day. If I could just figure out a way to get both....

A Last Minute Disneyland Trip.

2010-08-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

Last weekend i had the idea to be brave and take the kids to disneyland by myself. It took pretty much the whole weekend to talk myself into it. Sunday night i finally decided to see if i could find a good deal on a hotel and if i could, i would go. So at 10pm we got a great deal on a hotel and there was no turning back. We got up and left the next morning. The main reason for going was we were all anxious to see the world of color show. It was worth the trip. Although their line process to see it leaves something to be desired. After we got there on Monday afternoon we spent the rest of the day and night at disneyland. We were there until after 11pm and alexa and i were done. Aaron and Makenzie stayed until it closed then took the shuttle to the hotel. Aaron was back at the park before it opened on Tuesday. Then he headed over to calif adventures to get our tickets for world of color that night. He found out we all had to use our tickets to get into the park before we could get tickets for the show. He called us in a panic (and woke us up) to get to the park. We made it there and got the tickets for the show that night then spent the whole day there. It was more crowded then normal but still we did everything we wanted to. At night that park is amazing. There is color everywhere. Even the cotton candy lights up. The show was great and it was nice to get cooled off by the water spraying. We headed back to the hotel about midnight. Aaron was back up and at disneyland before it even opened on wednesday also. And funny enough, he was back at the hotel to get Makenzie before we were even awake. He had already rode a few things and came to get her to ride some more with him. They headed off and left the packing up to me and alexa. My plan was to be on the road back to vegas by 4pm. It ended up being more like 7pm. But we got lots done at the park before we left. We didn't have any plans for the trip but to see the world of color and we ended up seeing 2 parades, the fireworks and riding on walt's personal train car and getting some history of the park. Everyone rode pretty much everything they wanted, at least once and we ate way too much food. The weather was nice and it wasn't as crowded as i had expected it to be in the summer. Alexa even got some one on one time with mickey as we waited for Makenzie to buy herself a hat. She was sitting outside the madhatter crying because she didn't have enough money left for a hat and out walks mickey. He was loving her and trying to get her to smile and she would have none of it. It didn't last very long cause soon he was bombarded by adult asian women but it was a cute little moment....at least for me. So now that i know i can survive disneyland alone with the kids, i might actually do it again.

Ending July.

2010-08-04T14:22:00.000-07:00

In july of '07, I had 22 post on my blog. In july of '10, I had 5. That's so wrong. I can't decide if I have given less effort to the blog lately or if I have less of a life now. Maybe both. Or maybe it's because I hardly take pictures anymore and that was what motivated me to blog. We do have lives i'm apparently just not very good at documenting them. Some word description of lately...

camp: last week aaron spent 5 days at scout camp in utah. there were lots of fun things planned but unfortunately it rained pretty much the entire week. they seemed to still have fun and he didn't complain. too much.

swimming: the girls spent much of the week swimming. at home, at friends, at the water park. our pool took a temperature dive last week. if they're complaining about it, i'm not even gonna attempt it.

parties: we had 4 different birthday parties in the last couple of weeks. (and two this week.) skating at crystal palace for max and grace, water park for jenna, a first birthday for cute little blayke and a fabulous sweet 16 for morgan. i actually snapped a picture of jenna and kara finishing off the cake at morgan's party while we were cleaning up...

baptism: drew bowden was baptized on saturday. it was very sweet. his smile was priceless. afterwards we went to their house for lunch. the kids all ended up in the pool and we had a great time talking and hanging out. then tracy and i decided to renew our vows. it was quite sweet...

change: sunday came with a wave of emotions. our ward boundaries were being changed that evening. testimony meeting was quite emotional. this ward is seriously such a strong family and I don't think anyone wanted to see it change. it was pretty apparent after the bishopric each bore their testimony that we were in for some serious change. our ward was basically split in half. we each got a new ward name and we each got a whole group of new people added. i'm having to keep in mind that change can be good. and we will work on making the best of it.

shopping: i took the girls shopping for school. they were mostly worried about shoes. alexa picked out a pair i never would have. i don't think i like that she is getting her own taste in clothes. luckily, she is still agreeing with most things i pick out. makenzie picked out a few outfits and i liked them all. of course we had to get clothes to match the shoes. we had a pretzel and they went into the ocean museum that is there right now while we waited on chuckie to meet us for dinner. red robin. yummm.

thursday night date: tracy called on her way home from work and said lets do a thursday night date night since we can't go out on friday. so the four of us headed out without any direction. we ended up at outback. it was nice to be out with them. we always enjoy ourselves. although that night and the next day we all four got to enjoy the meal all over again. and again. no outback for a while for us.

A Little Redecorating.

2010-07-23T22:45:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago I decided to add a new color to the family room/kitchen area. I already had a blue/green color and then mostly browns. I got the crazy idea to add red to the rooms. This is totally outta my comfort zone. I'm not at all a red girl cause I think it's one of those colors you've got to get just right. I didn't want a burgundy at all and that's mostly what you find. I came across a few things at rod works that I liked and I decided to just go for it. Which led me into adding a few other things as well that weren't red. It's been kinda fun working on it and I still have some more to do but for now, I am liking it. Some of my new things...

So I totally fell in love with this clock when I saw it but it took a few times back to the store to talk myself into getting it. There is a clock on both sides and it goes perfectly above the half wall between the kitchen and family room...

I also liked these word blocks the first time I saw them but the friend I was with was getting them so I didn't think I should copy her. But today I decided what the heck. We don't live together so who cares. She didn't. Plus, today they were 50% off. They were added to the top of the kitchen cabinets...

I added this little cage with the candle and beads on top of the cabinets also. And the red frame is on the wall in the kitchen waiting for a cute picture to be added....

I got this clock to replace the one I was getting tired of in the front room. It's much cuter and was also 50% off when I got so I couldn't pass it up...

I added some cute beads to candles in the family room and threw some red pillows on the couch to go with the ones I already had...

And finally I got these three candlesticks for the fireplace to replace to old rod iron ones that I had had forever. I couldn't decide what color candles to add but they're kinda growing on me without candles. That could just be an excuse to not have to figure out candles. I love them though...

Now, one day we will finally get the girls' rooms completely finished and then I can start working on a new sectional for the family room. Well, more like work on talking Chuckie into the $2500 one I like at rc willys. We'll see.

Last Week.

2010-07-21T13:14:00.000-07:00

I should be quicker about updating this thing. I thought I would be smart and do an update with a run down of what we did last week but I am having a rough time remembering just what we did. Wait...now I remember, I had a mini break down last week with my family. So maybe I am repressing the memories. It wasn't the best of weeks for me. I kinda lost it with my husband and my kids. Maybe some feeling sorry for myself was part of it but you know you just get to a point sometimes where all you feel like is the maid, chauffeur, entertainer, referee, and totally unappreciated. I got to that point. Big time. And let them all know I was done. After some talking, tears, attitude adjustments, and new chore lists I am feeling better. There were some good things about last week. Let's see what I can come up with...

-took the girls to adventure dome with some friends. they had a fun time. makenzie took off with the older group of kids and i rarely saw her. alexa and tyler hung out in the kiddie rides the whole time. except for when we ate then spent too much money to help them win a stuffed animal. (alexa won one on her first try so we couldn't let ty go home without one!)

-the girls went swimming at the brinks and aaron and i headed to the mall for some back to school shopping. i think i am going to try to get a little each week instead of all at once right before school starts then maybe it will seem like i spent less.

-the whole family went swimming. that hasn't happened in a long time. chuckie and aaron are both duds about the pool. and honestly, aaron only got in because he was pushed in. the girls swim pretty much everyday. they've both got great tans to prove it.

-aaron had friends over for games and a movie. they also went to the wash earlier in the day and drifted down it for a while. i'm really not sure i'm a fan of that. but they love it.

-chuckie and i went out to dinner and a movie. we saw grown ups which was hilarious. we will have to see it again since i know we missed some parts from laughing too much.

-the harpers came over for cards. we played hand and foot. at least i think that is what it is called. despite aaron and i cheating we barely lost to chuckie and brittney. ronnie and shari were in a very distant third place. but we did have a great time and laughed a lot.

That's about all. btw, i am turning off comments. I'm seriously getting so many in chinese with weird links that it just isn't worth it. I try to stay on top of them and delete them often but it's getting kind of old.

Schools Out For Summer. Finally.

2010-07-12T23:23:00.000-07:00

We are finally on summer vacation. The past few years we have been on track 4 so we would normally be heading back to school this week after a month off. Since our school is track 5 this year, we are done and get the next 7 weeks off. I am so excited. It's just too hot to be in school right now. We need some lazy days of sleeping in and lounging in the pool.

I happened to be at the school on Wednesday and ran into the girls in the hall. So I snapped a couple of pics. Alexa was on her way to specials and Makenzie was helping take down a bulletin board...

The girls both had a great year and loved their teachers. Luckily we will get to see them both lots since Mrs. Swinn goes to church with us and Makenzie's teacher lives close by. (and they're both our friends!!) Alexa will start 2nd grade and Makenzie will begin her final year of elementary school. They're growing up too fast!

Aaron has had a pretty busy summer. It's almost like he's still in school. He had one week off then started three long weeks of summer school p.e. He decided to get it over with so he can take student council next year as a freshman. Seriously. A freshman. When did this all happen?! Tomorrow he starts cross country. He has it three days a week until school starts. He must really like running considering it's like 110 degrees outside. Hopefully he does well and has a good time.

Me, i'm just ready to go back to bed!

4th of July Weekend.

2010-07-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

Since July 4th was on Sunday this year we did most of our partying on Saturday. We went to a couple of baptisms that day. Then headed over to the Fau's for a family bbq and some swimming. Luckily, the Littlefields were there so it wasn't so boring. (just kidding faus!) Before it was dark we packed up and headed to the Brinks for fireworks. And some more food of course. I didn't take my camera and this is the only picture i took with my phone...

On Sunday we had the Apis family over for fireworks and dessert. Luckily, the neighbors had illegal fireworks so we weren't stuck watching just our safe and sane ones...

It was a great weekend and we hope everyone had a happy "independent" day too....

Losing Teeth.

2010-07-08T17:26:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Alexa lost her first top front tooth. I was a bit sad to see this day come since that seems to always be the beginning of their grown up look. She came downstairs at midnight and it was barely hanging in. It took just a quick pull to get it out. As usual, she freaked even though she didn't need to. Sadly, the tooth fairy had no cash and the daddy tooth fairy was away at scout camp. Luckily, the tooth fairy had the idea to leave (homemade) coupons to cold stone for free ice cream. It just happens to be Alexa favorite place and she was very happy once she realized what it was. That tooth fairy is a genius.

I'm Feeling...

2010-06-27T22:41:00.000-07:00

bugged: iphoto still isn't working on my computer. so i can do nothing with pictures which will make it very difficult to get two videos done before the end of the school year.

excited: only one and a half days until i get my iphone 4. beyond excited. it is so fun. we've had fun video chatting on aaron's with the bowdens.

happy: chuckie and the boys made it home safely from a week at scout camp. my car was awfully smelly though.

annoyed: dear family, i am not the maid. love, mom.

anxious: staring at our disneyland season passes right now. wanting to go back soon. very soon.

relieved: i spent only about 3 weeks working on the yearbook this year. i seriously procrastinated and had to hurry. they got here friday and they turned out great.

thrilled: only 4 days of summer school left for aaron and 7 1/2 days of school left for the girls. bring on the lazy days of summer already.

nostalgic: been looking at my first blog posts today. the kids were so little. so glad i have been keeping this blog up for 4 years now.

lucky: had a fun time with some friends at dinner last night. we have amazing friends and i am so lucky to have them in my life.

unsure: we were introduced to red mango last night. not sure what to think about that place. i've heard though that i must give it a second try.

blessed: so many things to be grateful for!

Saturday Summer Parties.

2010-06-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

(i have tons more pictures but i have completely messed up iphoto.)

This past month we've spent every Saturday at the brink's for some sort of party or another. There's a few things you can count on happening. There's gonna be lots of good food, lots of good times and without a doubt, at least one person is gonna end up in the pool fully dressed. It's happened so much that's it's been named clothes swimming. You are either going to jump in, slide in, or get pushed in while you're dressed. We've all learned not to have our phones or keys on us when we're there. I would like to proudly say that so far this year, I have not participated in clothes swimming. Not to say I haven't done it in the past though. I've been pressured but i've stood strong. (Mainly because the water is freezing!) We've definitely had a fun time and the brinks are so nice to let us play.

This past Saturday however we decided to break tradition and we all headed with our kids to dinner and to see toy story 3. It was way cute and i loved it. I am excited for our summer break that will soon begin. The girls only have a little over 2 weeks of school left and Aaron has less then two weeks of summer school left. He's doing pe to get it done and over with. He's getting it all done in three weeks but that means 9 hours a day. It's broken up into 2 sessions. First one starting at 7:30am and last one ending at 8:45pm. It's made for some long tired days. I've been pretty bad about blogging lately so I need to try to keep a better record of what we're doing. Lots has gone on but sitting here I can't remember most of it. Maybe a nap would help!

A Message For My Chinese Commenter.

2010-06-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

亲爱的中国人民，請停止留下評論在我的博克。 I' 相當m肯定我的朋友全部是足够聰明的不点击您的鏈接。我意味，我想知道的一些，但是至於大部分，他們是足够聰明。因為我不斷地刪除您的消息您能幾乎看到it' s浪费您的时间。因此，如果您可能請停止浪费我的时间我會感激。感謝 Carla

感謝煙花。他們是總是真正俏麗。

translation:

Dear Chinese People, Please stop leaving comments on my blog. I'm pretty sure all of my friends are smart enough not to click on your links. I mean, some I wonder about, but for the most part, they're smart enough. Since I just continually delete your messages you can pretty much see it's a waste of your time. So if you could please stop wasting my time I would appreciate it. Thanks, Carla P.S. Thanks for the fireworks. They're always real pretty.

Some Lessons Learned.

2010-06-07T01:09:00.000-07:00

1. After taking a 5 hour nap on Sunday afternoon, you're not gonna be able to get to bed too early that night.

2. Making it harder to leave a comment on your blog will not stop random chinese people from leaving comments. In chinese.

3. Letting Aaron be in charge of taking pictures with a new camera on memorial day will result in nothing but blurry pictures.

4. When you play scattergories the card game and the category is jobs and letter s and your 14 year old son's answer is strippers, you instantly start thinking about military schools.

5. Leaving a massive pile of clean laundry on the couch for 5 days and assuming your family will get that is needs to be folded and put away...well, that's a pretty stupid assumption.

6. Not putting on sunblock will result in one heck of a sunburn when you spend 13 hours in the pool.

7. When you live in the desert and enjoy a fabulous weathered month of May, you can be fairly sure that June is gonna come in with a vengeance.

8. Spending pretty much an entire weekend with the Horton family, well you pretty much just need to be prepared to pee your pants a little from laughing so much.

9. And you can bet on that at least a few people are gonna end up in the pool in their clothes.

10. Even a sweet little girls dance recital can be made hip hop ghetto fabulous.

My Wedding.

2010-05-30T22:31:00.000-07:00

For those of you who may have missed it yesterday, I got married. Yea, Tracy, Jenna and I finally tied the knot. It was a lovely ceremony at chapel of the bells. We also had a wonderful reception last night. Some of our pictures...

Ok, not really, but we did have one heck of a fun day!!!