Well cared for-Thank You!

I was well cared for this birthday.

The day started out with Jason VERY EARLY wishing me a Happy Birthday, as he left for work. I was so groggy, I almost didn't remember. Then my sweet kids kept coming in one-at-a-time giving me birthday wishes and hugs and kisses. Then Abree started the day-long gift giving. I believe it started with the banner she and Rylee had made for me. Then came little crayon drawings, then toys; koosh ball, stuffed dog (which she had named Brownie, but told me that I could name it anything I wanted because she was now mine), Woody and Jessie, some of her own tea set dishes, candy etc. She was so cute and so sweet trying to give all that she had.

My sister Amber was playing "hooky" from teaching at school, so came over and brought me Reese candy and Vanilla "Bath and Body Works "lotion. (Actually, she's WAY sick with her first pregnancy and wasn't feeling well enough to make it to school that day.)

Then my sweet visiting teachers came over and brought me yummy, moist pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips.

Then I took Abree to pre-school. Upon arriving there I met up with Marianne. She had a gift for me... 2 ADORABLE ceramic chickens. I LOVE them, they are SO cute. I have to name them! Marianne and I discovered we had no plans and no children with us...what to do??? So we went to McDonalds for a little lunch and then perused Savers, just for fun.

(We both like to thrift shop and save money.)

When arriving back home, I found these beautiful flowers awaiting me. I love all the bright fresh colors. I especially love the orange roses, because they remind me of Fall.

Thanks Jason, you're the best ever! Here are the 2 newest members of our family. Please help me name them. I was thinking maybe Henrietta and Gus...but I don't know. I need your help.
I also received many emails and little notes from many of you. Thanks for remembering me and being so sweet. I appreciate all of you.
Jason asked me what I wanted for dinner. He said I could do anything I wanted; go out with the family, go out just with him, go to a fancy sit-down restaurant, go through the drive through. I chose KFC. I know, kinda weird. We had gone out to dinner a few times recently and I really just wanted KFC. Have you had their chicken/biscuit bowls? They're YUMMY! It has mashed potatoes, a biscuit, corn, popcorn chicken, cheese and gravy. (The picture doesn't do it justice.) It's soul satisfying and definitely comfort food.
Next we had cake and ice cream as a family and I opened some gifts.

Then Jason and I headed to a movie. We went and saw "Fire Proof". We liked it. It has Kirk Cameron (he's still SO cute!) in it. It is an independent Christian film. There is a little "born again" preachy stuff in it, but for the most part it was about how to improve your relationship with your spouse. It's based on the book, "Love Dare". (Jason looked at the book at Walmart, the other day, and said it was much more preachy and didn't know if we'd like reading it or not.) We both loved the basic concepts of the movie. It was very wholesome and even had some cheesy humor in it. It made us laugh. I would recommend it with a disclaimer about the Christiany stuff in it. It's really what we believe, but from a Christian angle.

Overall, just a really nice day. Thanks!

And another...

When I wrote the first post, I didn't realize that I had been tagged by another. Thanks Megan!
I thought I'd do it, because I hadn't seen this one before. I won't tag anyone specifically, so if you want to answer these questions, go for it!

8 Obsessions:
1. Staying up late. I LOVE it. My brain turns "on" and my creative juices start flowing around 9-10:00pm.
2. Blogging. I love to see into the "windows" of other people's lives. Also love the crafty creative tips I find.
3. Craigslist. If it's not on Craigslist, do I really need it? :o)
4. Emailing. One of my favorite ways of communicating. I'm not a good phone-caller.
5. Treats. I love to "reward" myself for making it through another day, after the kids go to bed. I know, it's so bad for me!
6. Creating. Crafting, planning events, scrapbooking, bow making, just about anything...you name it.
7. Having a clean car. Don't judge me if you ride in my car and it isn't clean. If I were the only one who rode in the car, my car would almost always be clean.
8. Turning off lights, that aren't being used.

8 Words or Phrases I Use Often:
1. Is your room clean?
2. Are the lights turned off upstairs? Even the bathroom?
3. Do you have homework?
4. Where are your shoes?
5. Shhhhh!
6. Treyson, do you really think crying will help?
7. Taylee, are there crayons or markers in your bed?
8. What happened in here?!!!!

8 Things I Want to do Before I Die:
1. Live a long life.
2. See all of my kids married in the temple.
3. See my kids having babies and being happy.
4. Do a some traveling with Jason.
5. See Treyson serve a mission...and maybe some of my girls.
6. See my dad's "ship" come in.
7. Go see Oprah live.
8. Go on a mission with Jason.

8 Things I Have Learned From My Past:
1. If brothers/sisters aren't listening to you while babysitting, scream a really bad swear word and they'll pay attention.
2. Cheez-its and windy mountain roads aren't a good combo.
3. If you divorce him, dont' get re-engaged to him. He really hasn't changed.
4. Baking chocolate doesn't taste like a Hershey candybar.
5. It takes about a year, in a new ward, to make a good friend to hang out with.
6. Screwdrivers are sharp and can cut hands.
7. If you leave the garbage in front of the door, it's not a good enough hint for him to take it out.
8. Birds can come down chimneys into your house.

8 Places I would love to go or see:
1. England
2. Italy (Jason's mission stomping grounds.)
3. Alaska (Jason's highschool stomping grounds.)
4. New York
5. Hawaii again...with Jason this time.
6. Behind the scenes of a movie/t.v. show
7. The biggest yard sale in America.
8. The biggest craft show/bazar in America.

8 Things I Need or Want:
1. A smaller/healthier body
2. White teeth
3. Straight teeth
4. Laser hair removal (Are you brave enough to ask where?)
5. Personal chef
6. Maid
7. Gardener/landscaper
8. Personal grocery shopper (I can handle other kinds of shopping, thank you!)

I'm IT!

I Have Been Tagged...by Candice.
(Yes, you are now officially a blogger if you've been tagged.) :o) Wow, that didn't take long.

What I was doing 10 years ago...

1. We were living in PostFalls, ID, in our newly built home.
2. We had just visited one of our new baby nieces, in the hospital; Jade.
3. I was Feeling sick because I was pregnant with Taylee. Throwing up if I smelled "Bounce" dryer sheets. Weird!
4. We had just finished "landscaping" our yard, at our new house. (I use the term "landscaping", loosely. We mostly just hydroseeded and had a few rocks and bushes.
5. I had recently been called to be 1st counselor in RS, with my good friend Trudi as RS president.


5 things on my to-do list today...

1. Go to "Bed, Bath & Beyond" to look for a big picture frame.
2. Sell Halloween costumes on Craigslist. (Anyone looking for a costume for their kids?)
3. Check out "Bumble Bees Consignment" sale.
4. Finish my "F-A-M-I-L-Y" frame craft and get it hung on the wall. (Stay tuned to see what it looks like.)
5. Maybe stop by "Real Deals" to see what I've been missing for the last few weeks.

5 of my favorite snacks...

1. Cheetos
2. Trail Mix
3. Fresh baked cookies. (I LOVE sugar cookies with frosting!)
4. Cheese, almost any kind or form.
5. Cereal

5 Jobs I've had...

1. KFC chicken server.
2. Payless Drug cashier.(Now called Rite Aid.)
3. Hewlett Packard factory line worker. (I worked at the "oven" where the parts "baked" onto the green computer boards.)
4. Hewlett Packard board inspector. (Randomly inspected different boards, from different factory lines, making sure the solder joints were good. Quality control.)
5. Mommy.

5 things I would do with a million dollars...

1. Buy a bigger house that includes; a large craft room, a big food storage room and more bedrooms for my kids to spread out.
2. Buy lots of food storage/emergency prep items.
3. Help family members with debt.
4. Pay off homes for parents.
5. Put some away for a "rainy day".

5 things that made me laugh this week...

1. Movie called, "Fire Proof".
2. Thinking about Dean singing, "I'm too sexy.." (I really want to see that YouTube performance. How do I get there?)
3. My kiddos, with the funny things they say or do. (I was trying to think of a specific example, but couldn't come up with it. Jason and I were talking and laughing at something, as we were going to bed last night. Now what was that?)
4. Giggled with delight, when beautiful flowers arrived for my b-day. Thanks Jason!
5.Chuckled under my breath, when Abree kept presenting me with funny birthday gifts all day; a phonebook, 3 pieces of candy, tiny papers colored with crayons, Woody and Jessie toys, a Koosh ball that is Treyson's, but she said I could have and a Happy Birthday banner that her and Rylee made for me out of register/receipt tape.

5 people I tag, to answer these same questions....

1. Krissi
2. Mandy
3. Martha
4. Megan
5. Anyone else who would like to.

Family Pictures!

Last week, we finally got some family pictures taken. It had been a while.

Our last professional family picture, was before Abree was born. FINALLY Abree made her debut into our family picture. About time.
I think it took so long for a few reasons:

1. Jason hates to do family pictures with me, because I want everything to be PERFECT, and it stresses him and everyone else out.
2. I don't like the way I look right now (and haven't for years), so why would I want to capture that moment. :o)
3. Money.
4. Time.
And probably a few more lame excuses. :o)

Ahhhh

The kiddos

It was really cold that day (the day before it snowed!), but the pictures don't really reflect that. I'm so pleased. I was a little worried we'd all have red rudolph noses and wind blown hair.

I think this may be my favorite. Too bad Treyson isn't smiling. We capture a lot of non-smiling, almost sad faces from him in pictures. Is the poor boy depressed?

Between each shot, we'd take off our coats/jackets and think "tropical thoughts".


I like this pose too.
The girls

The boys


Rylee

Taylee

Treyson
We got at least one smile from him!

Abree
A little "poser".
The traditional kid airplane-arm picture. Jason and his siblings did this in several pictures, as he was growing up. We're carrying on the tradition.

THE END

Our photographer was someone I found on Craigslist. She was AWESOME! She was friendly, put us at ease, tried learning all of our names, very up-beat and in general just made the whole experience great...non-stressful. She was VERY reasonable too. She only charged us $30 for the disc and copyrights. Her name is Cheryl and I would highly recommend her.

Fall Decor

I LOVE Fall! It's the best time of the year, in my opinion. I love the crisp air, the beautiful colored leaves, the beginning of the holiday season and all the smells associated with Autumn.

This year, when I started frequenting Real Deals, I was excited by all the holiday decor. A few items jumped off the shelf and came home with me. (A lot more could have come home with me, but I sadly had to tell them NO.)

I have to admit... I actually started decorating for Fall/Halloween in September, but held off posting pictures, until it was well into October. Didn't want to seem too crazy or over-anxious. :o) Here are a few of my finds and more... New "trick or treat" sign from Real Deals.


A strand of black silk leaves, with big candycorns intermingled throughout. (I didn't get a good picture, but you can see a little here.)
A big candycorn and battery-operated candles. They have a cool flicker, when switched on.

Stay tuned for the Thanksgiving Real Deal finds. Some Pilgrims and Indians hitched a ride to my place.

Happy Unbirthday to Me

My birthday is not here yet, but Jaime's baby will be coming soon, so we celebrated early and went to lunch. Both Marianne and Jaime raved about the sweet pork salad at Costa Vida, so I had to go and check it out. It was yummy. We also ordered the nacho chips and cheese (can't remember the name of it) and I LOVED the lime flavor on the tortilla chips. Way yummy!

After lunch we went to a little boutique craft fair in my neighborhood clubhouse and then headed to CraftWarehouse just for fun. What a great afternoon. Thanks for playin' girls!

PS- We also went to a movie earlier in the week. We saw, "Get Smart". Funny, funny show, especially if you like Steve Carelle (sp?). I'd recommend it.