Halloween is DONE!

I feel bad because I was the least into it this year compared to other years. Mabye I decorated too early, I don't know, but I feel burned out and I just didn't care about any of it that much. I think the boys costumes were a lot of work, I'm really not interested in the candy, I had my fun on Saturday so now I just want it to be over. I managed to keep my mood mostly in check tonight so the kids had a good time, we stayed out WAY too late, but we got in the Baldwins haunted house (all of us went through, even Dayton) and so we felt like the night was a success. One house was really done up right with a real Freddy Krueger and a real Jason (up on the roof with a REAL chainsaw.....freak!!) and we all got a little spooked so that was fun. WAY WAY WAY too much candy!! Too much times 5 kids!! Luckily Fall Festival is on Friday, so whatever isn't eaten by then gets DONATED! It makes me sick just looking at it all. I had some super cute trick-or-treaters though, Its always funny how the best costumes aren't the ones you buy. Its much more fun to get messy and creative.


I'm starting to panic a bit about being ready for this trip on Friday. With the setting up I have to do for fall festival, it cuts into a lot of my prep time on the day I leave, which leaves me only tomorrow. I get really funny about trying to have everything organized when someone else is in charge to make it as easy as possible for them, for example, I need to have the kids church clothes all together on hangers (even the socks) so that early Sunday morning my MIL isn't looking for ties or socks or anything else. Same thing with school monday morning, Football Saturday morning, etc. Not to mention the food for meals, schedules of who needs to be where when and who is driving who where (crazy, it seems in this instance) and never mind Marks insane cluster---- of a schedule. Getting a bed ready for my MIL, etc. etc. etc. I'm not even going to attempt to clean anything, that would be a complete waste. I'm sure if I didn't do any of it they'd figure it out, but that would not be nice of me and I would not enjoy my time away knowing it was all chaos at home. It dosen't help that I have to completely re-do my volunteer list for fall festival because I have enough plus some for my class and the school is short for other stations, so I have to reschedule everyone tomorrow morning(the day before!) and hope all the parents are OK with it. Our class basket did turn out quite cute BTW....





So yeah, I'm really ready for a weekend off! I hope sleep is on the agenda!

Big brag moment!

I only have a minute to blog, but I have to post this! Yesterday was Marks awards banquet for work and the was awarded Rookie Officer of the Year!!! I am so proud of him! He is so deserving of it, I was really hoping he'd get an award. One quick story on him: He was called to pick up a teenage runaway, when he went to where she was supposed to be she was already gone, but he had a prompting that she was hiding inside a building under construction so on that feeling he went to look for her (in the pitch dark) and sure enough, found her in there, she had been cutting herself with a razor blade and had made some very deep cuts, and covered in blood. He and the officer he was training were able to get her medical attention and saved her from bleeding to death. He has gotten many commendations and positive calls and feedback from the people in his community, he is always respectful of everyone and people have really responded to that. He works lots of overtime to make sure shifts are covered, and makes sure he is not just an extra body on hand, he is very pro-active even when he is just filling in. Not only that, he still has made time to keep attending the temple almost once a week, and go to church as much as humanly possible, even in his completely exhausted state, and do his best at his huge calling. Here I am, the lady behind closed doors, and I am totally amazed at how he does what he does and still stays cheerful and grateful for everything. He truly deserves everything good that comes his way. I am seriously married to the best guy EVER!!

Wedding cake weekend!!!

Today I baking my brains out, making my SIL's little sisters wedding cake. OOOOH the pressure!! LOL So far its going really good, except that I messed one of my edges up with the knife when I was releasing it from the pan, so I have to redo one. Luckily its not the biggest layer. I still have to get a few things, but today is just the baking and trimming and stacking, the frosting I will do Saturday night so it will have time in the freezer before monday when she picks it up. It a really nice peaceful day, Its been actually relaxing because I am watching a movie while making it. Into the Blue with my lover Paul Walker. He's my #2 celebrity crush :D

Things are going well with all the activities, I am just taking one thing at a time, and it is working well so far. Of course, major car drama with Marks PT, I'm trying not to stress, its hard but something will work out.

My mom sent me some of the plans for the weekend I will be gone, holy cow I am so excited! Lets just say: Snow, Bed & Breakfast, and Hot Tub. I seriously cannot wait.

Grrrrrrr

OK I really want to update, I really do, but I just have way too much on the list in front of computer time. Thanks for all your comments, I will try to put something else new up. For now, a fitness update......I am down 10 pounds!!!! A combo of hard workouts every day, eating small (very small) frequent meals-I finally found some self control, and diet pills and TONS of water. I'm starting to deflate! YAY!! Mark has a police banquet on the 30th and I am on a mission to look awesome! Plus I barely sit down anymore I am so busy, so I'm staying active allllll day and into the evenings. I'm getting back into my skinny jeans by Thanksgiving!!!!!

Its long but there are pictures :D

This week was CRAAAAAAZY!! This weekend is only a little less pressure but it will all be fun so that makes it better. I am really looking forward to monday already. I don't have a plan and I think thats what I am excited for. So heres just a tiny bit of what I've been up to. I have been very domestic and creative, its fun to do that sometimes.


First up, the card I made for Coopers teachers birthay. I'm the room mom so I have to figure this stuff out. The best part was that I just used a bunch of scraps from some recent scrapbooking, I only had to cut about 3 of these patchwork pieces. I would have liked to use some ribbons or silk flowers, but I forced myself to just stop with this. It is a jumbo card, it is a piece of posterboard folded in half, so that was fun. I took it to recess today and had the whole class sign the inside. She liked it (I think). had another mom bring cupcakes for the kids and we had a candle and sang to her. It was fun, and the kids loved it of course.




I also made her her favorite soup(which doubled as our family meal last night-I was multitasking!) It is SO SO yummy, potato cheese. The kids hated it, I have managed not to eat very much but it is hard to resist.




My other project was Cade's football birthday cake. It was a little late last night when I finished it, so the yard lines are WAY off, but the concept was good. The boys all thought it was cool, so thats all I cared about. His party was after school today. It turned out really good. A couple of the kids couldn't come, but the ones who did had a blast. They are a bunch of football junkies. They would still be playing now if the parents hadn't come pried them out of here. Football and pizza, every man's dream, starting at about age 11, right?? LOL He got nice presents and Mark reeally went over the top and got him a PSP, which I think he never dreamed he would get. He is in watching Ghostbusters on it right now. He is really loving it. Cade is such a cutie.



THis is him opening his PSP, he has never had a nice electronic before, so it was HUGE!



I can't believe my kids are getting so big. 11 years old?? I swear there is no way he is that old. Some of his friends are so funny. His cousin was there tonight and most of the boys don't know him very well because he going to a different school. So Cole asks "who's your mom??" He pops right back with "Oh, you're too young for her" Mark and I were cracking up. I couldn't wait to tell his mom what he said. She about died, it was so funny. Of course his mom is a cute little blond thing. I swear, the older they get the more they can crack me up sometimes. Especially when they are interacting with their friends. I'm sad Cade is growing up so quick, (he gets the puberty talk this year...YIKES!) but I'm trying to just enjoy it!

YAY tagged again!!

OK heres how it went down in the "olden days" back in 1994

1. Where did you meet your husband?At an ASU institute Dance. Neither of us went to ASU (or even college) but we were there with friends of friends so our two little groups were side by side. I put the "come ask me to dance" eyeball on him, and he fell for it :D


2. What was the first thing you said to your husband?I have no clue. I'm sure he asked me a question like "so where do you go to school?" Typical church dance lingo ALTHOUGH: I can't help but add this......He had asked me to dance about 2 weeks after he'd been home from his mission(July) and told me he played baseball for MCC (LIE) I remembered that and that his name was Mark. So 4 months later when we were dancing again he didn't remember me but I remembered him, and in an attempt not to look like a psycho stalker, I told him that we had danced before and he's like "really? So whats my name, do you remember?" and I played it off like "Is it Matt???" LOL


3. Where was your first date?It was December 4th, 1993. He took me to see a big Nativity display these were a new thing) and to Mcdonalds (he brought candles but no candle holders LOL) and then to the movie My Life with Michael Keaton. Total tearjerker. He held my hand after the movie, and when we were driving around I had this overwhelming comfortable feeling, like I could be in his passenger seat forever. Very strange feeling.


4. Where was your first kiss?At my house when he dropped me off from our first date. I wasn't expecting it so he sort of missed, but then I caught on. LOL My mom was DYING for details when I got home (he made a VERY good first impression on my parents) She literally planned the wedding that very night. I kept saying "STOP! Don't jinx it!!" But deep down I couldn't deny it.

6. Where did you get engaged?He came to my house at 5:30 a.m. on Easter conference weekend, April 6, 1994. He crashed on the floor of my room (sorry, I wasnt getting up THAT early to hang out, sheesh!) LOL but later I understood. He had a Easter basket with a Lamb cookie jar (it sits on my counter to this day) and inside was a troll wearing a Lamb costume and in the hood was my ring. Totally his idea. He even put candy and silly putty and stuff, just like a real easter basket. We were in the basement at my parents after I got ready to go watch conference together and we were sitting on the couch when he gave me the basket and when I opened the cookie Jar he got on one knee and formally proposed. He was so nervous he even stumbled over my name. It was so adorable!!

7. Where were you married?Mesa Temple, September 23, 1994

8. How did your reception go?AWESOME! We had the reception in my parents big gorgeous backyard and stood under a lighted Tulle Gazebo that my grandpa built over the inground trampoline. We had big white tents and tons of white christmas lights everywhere. For its time, it was the bomb! Gorgeous weather, Tons of people, We didn't have a line because of our crazy parent situation, it was just us. I loved it.


9. Where was the Honeymoon?We spent 4 days at his uncles Mansion/cabin in Pinedale. It was great, but I was excited to get home and start playing house!

10. If you could have changed anything about your day what would it have been?I would have had my hair and makeup professionally done. I worked at a really nice Salon but had just started and was too shy to ask someone. We didn't get married until 3 (which I HIGHLY recommend) so I had time. I don't know what I was thinking. Also, I would have like to save my bouquet, but I wasnt' there for the clean up and it got thrown away. And I would have had someone besides my lame-o 17 year old brother videotape the reception. He filmed about 5 minutes. I have no reception footage and very few pictures after the photographer left, except for what my Aunt took for us.


SO thats the big love story. I really would not change anything, we definetly grew up together! We are so lucky!!!

Now I tag (again) Casey K, Aimee, and Sarahbear, and I double tag Jill to do BOTH surveys. HA!

What a day!!

Well we certainly sent off this break with a bang!!! LOL Dayton was SO cute at the fire station, he was surprisingly shy, I don't know what was up with that. He said his favorite part was getting the "stuff" at the end (coloring book-which has been colored to perfection, plastic hat and sticker badge) It was a fun field trip and very informative. Then it was Zoo time. We all headed out, 3 moms, 10 kids, one koala bear, and a partrige in a pear tree. LOL I thought everyone was really good the whole time. The kids were all virtually perfect and I don't remember any crying until the end when Wyatt wanted to climb to the "Hole in the Rock" which yes, its cool and all but it was 3 pm, the little ones needed naps and the moms were DONE. He got over it before we got home. It was actually the perfect thing to do because they were no trouble putting to bed on time tonight. Wyatt says he "can't memember-I want to go to school, I don't want to go to school, I want to got to school, I don't want to go to school...but I choose go to school" I think "memember" must mean "decide". Well it was a relief either way, and our packet is DONE, Woo Hoo, thanks Sadie!!!! Unfortunately, I was so tired that I forgot to do something very very very important, which I'm still ashamed of right now, I'll come clean after I have had a chance to redeem myself. Besides that, it was a great day.

I thought this tag was very cute, thanks Maddy! Nobody ever tags me, so I'm all excited now :D




What is his name? Mark
How long have you been together? Married for 13 years
How long did you date? 2 weeks, then he left for 3 months to work with his brothers in Panama, then 2 more weeks when he got back, and then we got engaged. So technically, 4 weeks
Who eats more? I can really put it away, but he can eat insane amounts of food sometimes.
Who said I love you first? I can't remember...it was one of those "Are you thinking what I'm thinking" moments
Who is taller?Mark. . .by a foot
Who sings better? If Mark would try he could probably sing better than me... but he won't so I win!
Who is smarter? Mark, dang it! But I do think I'm a better speller
Whose temper is worse? Marks temper is waaaaay worse than mine. Luckily life has beat a lot of the temper out of him.
Who does the laundry? Always me.
Who does the dishes? Always me.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If we are laying facing the ceiling I am on the right
Who pays the bills? Me-but he has to nag me to do it-It's not a good system
Who mows the lawn? Mark is supposed to but I find myself taking over every now and then
Who cooks dinner? ALWAYS me. He can only cook Wendys or Hungry Howies.
Who drives when you are together? Me, and he backseat drives me the whole way, it sucks.
Who is more stubborn?Mark is WAAAY more stubborn than me
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? What??? I'm wrong????Just kidding! lol I usually break down and send him a well worded, very thought out e-mail, and that gets the ball rolling on apologies.
Whose parents do you see the most? I'd say its even
Who kissed who first? He grabbed me and went for it on our first date-much to my surprise, but I loved it
Who asked who out? He got my number when he took me for a spin in his Jeep and called the next day.
Who proposed? Mark did an elaborate surprise Easter basket all on his own, ring and all. It was the best!
Who is more sensitive? I say me, because I'm a girl
Who has more friends? Mark definetly has more friends. He has TONS of friends. People are calling him to chat constantly. It can be irritating.
Who wears the pants in the family? When it comes down to important things, he definetly does, but I pretty much run things my way in the day to day life. If we disagreee and I get my way, I almost always end up looking stupid because he was right all along. Drat!

I loved doing this one, I hadn't thought about some of these things in a long time. I tag..........Casey K (because we all want to know more about her and Scott), Aimee, (because I miss visiting with her and Ben) and Sarahbear, (because I know she loves a good survey)And if anyone else wants to do it, We'd all love to read it!

Last day of break

I don't have much to update, but I am up in the wee hours unable to sleep. I hate that. We are just getting geared up for school again on Wednsday, it will be nice. We have had a really nice fall break. I am a little worried because Wyatt is really not wanting to go back, and I was afraid of that. He is just not interested in the schoolwork. It is hard to motivate him if it is something he doesn't want to do. I just don't think he can see the point in the schoolwork, it is not rewarding for him. We may have a few rough mornings ahead.

I have a lot of work to do over the next couple weeks. Its Cade's birthday, Halloween, making a wedding cake, (lots more pressure since its for someone else and I'm being paid for it) and getting everything situated and done before I go to Montana. I am going to have to really kill myself every day to get it all in. I will for sure be ready for a weekend away. Unfortunately I am missing a few major events while I am gone, which is a bummer but I cant do anything about it now so I just have to do what I can ahead of time. My mom says she has lots of fun stuff planned which I don't doubt, shes a busy bee and I'm sure it will be a lot of fun. Yesterday I got to go to the mall with my friend Kristi and check out the scene and got a cute new sweater from Forever 21 to take. Boy there are some cute things this season. I still need jeans and another sweater. The good thing is, there is no such thing as dressing up in Montana. Just wearing my regular clothes I will be overdressed compared to most people. I'm sure I will be unprepared for how freaking cold it is going to be.



Tomorrow is the REAL zoo day LOL. The zoo is a lot of work, it will be fun though. We are going in the afternoon after Dayton's preschool goes to the Fire station, so hopefully it isn't too hot and the animals are out.

Fresh, new life!!!

I had mentioned before how my babtsitting job seemed to be phasing out and today was the day. I guess actually Mark got me "fired" LOL thats what I keep telling him anyway. I'm sure he really appreciates that, so if you see him DON"T tease him!!! :D 2 weeks ago I was supposed to pick up the 1st grader early for early release, and I remembered, but was in the middle of finishing a hair client and couldn't go so I sent Mark to get our kids and her, which he of course forgot to pick her up. So the school called the mom and then she called me pretty upset that I had "forgotten her" (which I hadn't, but either way, I looked bad) and Mark tried to apologise profusely later and got kind of a blank "uh-huh" response. We were only a total of 20 minutes late to get her, and the little girl wasn't upset by any means, but her mom was not pleased. It was good though, we ended on good terms and still have a good relationship. So how am I feeling about all of this?? FREE!!!!! I had taken a recent pay cut and that was making it barely worth it anyway, and like I mentioned before....my life is SO much less hectic, just without that responsibility I feel 10 pounds lighter mentally. Its so great. I'll make up the $$ somewhere else, I really don't even care about the $$.


So what have I been doing with all my awesome freedom??? Well nothing yet but man I can't wait for school to ge back in now, booooya!! My main excitement is I'm really getting the itch to hit the gym and healthy eating HARD, which is quite exciting. Today I slept in again and then helped Sadie with her new job(more on that excitement later) and then out to lunch with my friend Kristi and her daughter and to see Hairspray while the boys (she has 2 boys too) saw Transformers. Hairspray was even better the second time, mabe because I have the soundtrack now and I knew the songs better or something, but I totally LOVED it! I think the gym should have a Harispray dancing class where we can go and shake it to 60's music and do the fun Mambo and mashed potato for an hour. That would be the funnest workout. Cheesy, but fun! Yes, I am a total total nerd deluxe!

So the new job. My neighbor Heather asked yesterday if the kids (Cade and Sadie, mabye Cooper as assistant) would be interested in walking their 2 dogs 3 times a week for an hour each session. Heck ya!! An opportunity to be responsibe, pay tithing, save and have Christmas money, you betcha!! Cade was at a sleepover so I supervised the first time out this morning. It was fun, the dogs are BIG ( a chocolate lab and a 5 month old great dane puppy) and we ran them to death. They are really good dogs. Maggie (the lab) comes when you call her and Moe (the dane) just sticks to her like glue. It was great. The kids love it because they want a dog so I'm like "there ya go". This will be interesting, for sure. I really want to take a step back from it and let them handle things without me micromanaging things.

So thats all that has been happening. I changed all my summer bedding out to fall stuff ( I even flipped my mattrass myself) and stayed up all night till 5:30 am cleaning (although you'd hardly know it now after tonight!) and tomorrow we might go to the zoo, so I'm looking forward to chillin in my bedroom with all my recorded shows and zoning out for the rest of the night. YAY!!

Fun weekend

We had a great time in Thatcher. My mom pampered us, as usual and I got to scrapbookmy brains out on the last night. The kids had a really good time, although Wyatt was a pill every night and the last day. I don't know what the heck was up with him but I wanted to beat him. He seems fine now, so who knows. It was nice to spend some down time with my mom, aunt and sisters. I stayed up late every night talking and scrapping, so I cam home exhausted, but I slept in till 11 this moring for the first time in years. I know, it sounds great, but the aftermath of Sadie and her friend making giant chocolate chip pancakes for everyone(yikes) and the kids having free run of the house is a little scary now. Oh well it was worth it because it felt GREAT. Then Mark and I pooped up the yard with grass seed and steer manure and took the boys out to a late lunch at Fridays. Mark is working 11 grave shifts straight so we won't see much of him for the next 2 weeks or so.

As of now until I go to Montana I will be cleaning and yardworking like a madwoman. I looke dup at my family room fan light and htere are so many cobwebs on it the kids were like "whoah, its like Halloween!!" How horrible is that?? LOL Time to get serious!

Blogger isn't letting me download pics so I'll have to do it later.

Weekly wrap up

Thanks so much guys for your awesome comments. Heres what I worked out. I did call my brother back and told him that I couldn't take her to Thatcher. Yay for backbones!! LOL I told him I could take her fri night and Saturday before I left but that I couldn't take her out of town till tuesday night. He had already made arrangements with my other brother Nick to have him bring her back with him to Chandler on Sunday afternoon. SO I agreed to that compromise, now I'll only have her part of the time. My brother is a really cool guy, he was understanding and wasn't offended, he knows she's a handful and a lot to take on with the other ones I already have. ANYWAY the situation is sort of fixed. Of course, 10 minutes into her being here tonight I was ready to pull my hair out trying to get everyone to calm the freak down. It is 7:30 and they are parked in front of a movie in jammies and blankies with the lights out and being threatened with Ava sleeping in my room instead of with the boys, which is the worst punishment they can possibly imagine, so it is working so far. Also, the first person I have to tell to stop or calm down is going straight to bed first. They are trying really hard. Only 2 more days, one more night of this. I can totally do it.

Today was really nice. In fact, this whole week has been pretty nice. We took the kids bowling on Monday, did projects, and then tonight went to the car wash (Yay finally!) and then I took them to see Underdog at the dollar theater. I really made an effort to do stuff with them and it was fun. They have even been pretty good about doing their chores and helping me keep things all cleaned up all week. It makes me realize how draining and stressful babysitting part time is on me.

So far the haunted gingerbread house is still fully intact. Amazing. BTW Amy I have a lot more baking coming up soon, including a wedding cake so you are welcome to come down and keep me company while I bake my brains out. I also am thinking that a Christmas house might be a fun idea, I might get creative and do a little village or some different shaped things, I'll have to look online. Anybody who wants to help is more than welcome. Hmmmmm....I'm thinking a fun mini-village made of pseudo gingerbread houses (i.e. graham cracker houses) would be a fun project for a neighborhood kid decorating party. Oh-oh I better quit now, this is getting a wee bit out of control!!!

So SPOOOOKY

We had such a fun time today. I decided the other day that I needed to find a project to keep the kids busy this week and get excited about halloween(although we neeed very little help in the excitement area) I trekked on over to Michaels and found some cute little projects. THen I decide to do a real from scratch halloween gingerbread house. I've wanted to do one for about 5 years,and this was finally the year. I quickly realized why people buy the kits. Making gingerbread is a real pain in the butt. Although, the recipe I have says you need two batches to make it work, and I barely needed one, which was good because one of my batches wasn't very good. I would have had enough to make 2 houses had it all turned out. Anyway today was bake, assemble, and decorate day. It was really fun, but a lot of work. I got a cool tree to put with our house, and I think the kids and I did an really good job for our first time. Now when I see those elaborate gingerbread christmas houses, I can really appreciate what it takes to make something like that, no thanks!!

Cade took charge of making our little terracotta pot guys. They were really fun and only a dollar, I may go get some more to take to my moms this weekend for something to do. Cade was cute making all these things, he really got into it.







And about my trip to my moms this weekend.....HUGE bummer now I have to take my neice who is a spaz and encourages my boys to be more crazy than usual. I am SO dissapointed! I really really just wanted to chill out. Now I am going to have to be all disciplinarian and enforer and referee. She is starting to swear a LOT (because it is what she hears) and there are just all sorts of issues. I am so pissed at my brother and especially his psycho ex who just refuse to believe that I have nothing better to do. My older kids are really disapointed that it wont be just us....AGAIN. I should have just said no, but then I feel guilty because I know my brother needs to work, and I feel like she should have as much cousin time and good influence as she can. I am so wanting to call him and say sorry I just can't do it, but I'm just too nice. Mark says I have nobody to blame but myself. If anybody had a suggestion I would be very interested to hear it. :D

VACATION!!

Sort of. I'm off babysitting this week, which stinks from a financial standpoint but the kids were thrilled and it is nice to just chill for a whole week. So far today is a pajama day! Not for much longer, though. I sent Dayton to school with Jill and I"m really thinking of crawling back in bed. It is so hard to not stay up late with Mark. Since he works graves he tried to stay up really late on his days off too and sleep in a little, just so his schedule isn't so messed up all the time. Of course today he took an extra shift, so he had to be up at 4:30 and will get home this afternoon. Our schedule is so wierd sometimes. This weekend after Cades game I am heading out with the kids down to Thatcher to spend conference weekend and monday and Tuesday with my mom and sister. I plan on reading the Twilight series and making cards. I can't WAIT!

Yesterday we took the kids bowling. It was really fun. They were having a blast. I sucked it up and only got 2 strikes. I'm a really bad bowler. I guess if I bowled more than once every 3-5 years that might help. If you havent'seen the new Brunswick XL place over on Warner/Gilbert, it is awesome! It is all clean and spacious and it smells good, which is a first for me! Plus the shoes aren't all old and disgusting. Good times.

I also made it to the gym yesterday for a full body workout and cardio. It felt really good but I'm so out of shape and my intensity SUCKS. I have got to figure my crap out on this. I really need a trainer but can't afford one. I need a a cute guy with big muscles to yell in my face and put me through the ringer 5 times a week. OH well, I'm not giving up. Its all about persistence. I'll keep at it and hopefully my killer instinct will resurface.

I have 1 month till my trip to Montana and I am getting so excited. It's not New York like Caseyann or Paris like Nichole, but at least its something! I get to experience REAL winter, I haven't seen that since I was about 7 years old(Utah dosen't count...its not that cold there) I'm such a cheeseball but I AM getting one of those new FairIsle sweaters from Old Navy to wear there. I'm going to milk it for all I can. LOL