Real Quick

Its been a whirlwind 48 hours!! I got a HUGE DI load picked up, a HUGE amount of garbage picked up, a HUGE amount of awful cleaing done, packed up and loaded up the boys for Father and sons campout, and took them out to Marks work and they took off for the weekend early Friday morning. WOOO HOO! Buh-BYE!! LOL I did hair from 9 to 2 then took Sadie to a sleepover. Buh-BYE! I was able then to get another HUGE project almost completely done (I'll post it later when I get some pics) and my MIL went and got pedicures (It was a necessity after doing the "project"!) Got my primary stuff delivered to the Heather (which really made me sad, but I know she'll do great!) and then came home, visited with my mom and aunt, and got my bedroom packed up. Its so wierd being all alone, but I can't say I hate it, thats for sure. Its so peaeful and nobody is here to make a mess or get anything out. I'm sure one day I'll mis my kids being around all the time, but this has been SUCH a nice break from everybody, especially conidering the fact that we will be VERY together the next 2 days.

All I have left to "pack" which as of now consists of cleaning out and organizing and boxing up and setting in a stack, is my bathroom and the kitchen. And I guess I should start packing for the trip at some point. I'm getting so excited!!!

Memorial Day, Graduations, Babies, and Freaky Clowns

We had a great memorial day weekend!! I took the kids to Thatcher for my baby sister's High School Graduation. Whay are my boobs lopsided in this picture??? Wierd!

Heres me and Em, she's an official adult now. She got a Macbook for grad, I'm SO jealous!
I love going to my parents in Thatcher because I do really get to chill . Its like going to a cabin except you dont have to bring food! LOL We just show up and my mom takes good care of us. I took naps, read, chatted, and furniture shopped. My brother and SIL live there along with all of my SIL's family and they are so awesome too. We went out to a desert area and had a fun cookout with everybody where Cade and Cooper got to drive 4 wheelers (Cade rode all on his own for a long time, I was a nervous wreck!!) and then we had a fire Sunday night in the backyard (my parents backyard is gorgeous!) and then Monday my dad and brother took all the kids to a nearby lake and pulled them around on a water weenie and tube. Then they went to another picnic while my mom and aunt and I checked out furniture in town. The boys came back sunburned (oops!) and wiped out. It was so fun!!!! One sad part was when my middle little sister was all loaded up and moving to Flagstaff with her new hubby. She is a BIGTIME mommas girl and she was just bawling when she had to leave. Its gonna be hard on her and my mom to be so far. It will be a good experience for her at least. Sad. But thanks mom and dad and Nick for the AWESOME weekend, it totally rocked! I got to spend a lot of time holding my 3 month old neice Paige. She was just pure delight!!






So we got back and I started the WORK. I'm getting a lot acomplished though. I keep getting sidetracked by stuff like the last day of school stuff, kindergarten graduation, shopping for Cades trip after Mo, but it is all important stuff so its all good. I'm managing my time well so far. I did have to quit last night because I overdid something and my right forearm was just totally throbbing. I couldn't use it, it was so wierd. Then I had a stomach ache beause I hadn't eaten. I just get so involved and I don't take care of myself. So it was a chance to just rest and go to bed to rest up for today. I did hair all morning, now I am just hanging out to get ready for this afternoon. I'm going down to the school to take pics in the classrooms and all that. I just have huge lists of stuff to do. Mark is down at the new house today while the inspection is being done.





ANYWAY blah blah blah








Last night was Wyatt's kindergarten graduation. It was cute but looooong. and we were sitting on blankets which never helps a stomach ache. The kids are so proud though, and thats who its for anyway. He insisted on dressing up in shirt and tie, he's so funny. I can not believe how much he has progressed this year, its true that they leave kindergarten a different kid. I felt so bad making him leave, he didn't get to see his class video, but seriously, I thought I was gonna die with pain. I hope I can get a copy of the DVD. I heard it was adorable.

Afterward he chose dinner at McDonalds. I was so hungry I didn't really care. While we were eating Mark noticed that the Ronald mural on the wall in the playland looked really creepy. Zoinks!!!





And that wraps up another marathon blog entry, so much going on, I hope to get some cute pics at the school today.

Crazy craziness!!

I have no business blogging right now, I'm so beyond overwhelmed but I did get a buttload of stuff done today so this is my reward, and plus, I can't get behind or I'll never catch up with all that is coming up.



BIG events:

First off....GO David Cook!! I'm glad he won, I'm sure hte producers are too! LOVE Archuletta, but Cook has the "artist" part more solidly. I was surprised, but thrilled.


Cade performed in the school talent show this week, he did amazing! Someday when I have time I HAVE to figure out how to transfer my videos from my little disks onto my computer. He played the guitar and sang Brown Eyed Girl and he was so great. Everybody loved it and I was so proud of him.




I don't know what is up with the lighting in our Multi purpose room but my pictures are always WAY dark, I've tried for years to get a good picture in there.



After the show we came back and had Sadies family b-day party, where she was showered with more gifts and cake. Lucky duck. Word of warning, do NOT buy this Andes mint chocolate cake from Frys, it is so delicious and you will be sad with yourself when you eat the whole thing. Believe me.







Dayton had his last day of preschool, which was a water party. He was looking forward to it like it was Christmas or something, it was so funny. Most of the kids were coming back next year so she didn't do a graduation, which part of me was sad because I love the little songs and things they do, but one less event right now is always a good thing.










What else have I been up to??



Wyatt's kinder moms and muffins (camera battery died, dang it!)My favorite song that kinders sing is "when I was a baby" It is just plain adorable.

Coopers end of the year party, which I don't have to run, but still have to get the $$, make a color copy page of the class for kids without yearbooks to have for other kids to sign, and gather the drinks, snacks and paper goods to deliver to the classroom.

Got the contract on the house, which is great but since I am so superstitious, I had refused to clean, pack or organize hardly anything. Oops. Because now.... I have officially 4 days to do everything before we go to Missourri(because of the Thatcher trip). And only a day or 2 at the most before we close when we get back. It kinda snuck up on me.



Trip to Thatcher for the weekend for my little sisters high school graduation. I hope I will be able to relax with everything waiting for me to be doing here at home. I will try to chill though.


Its Fathers and Sons campout next weekend, and since Mark is EQ president, guess who gets to put that together?? And it can't just be easy, I get to make 50 hamburger pickle rolls on thursday. Its a sliver of dill pickle, with ground beef molded around it and wrapped in bacon, then BBQ'd and served with A-1 sauce. Its quite delicious, one of those goofball family recipes that everyone loves. Oh well, the boys will all be out of my hair for 2 days so I can get things done.


I've been "mentoring" a girl I go to church with and had a little thing for that today after school.



I got a ton of cleaning done today, all my laundry done, all the stuff off my walls and walls washed, holes spackled, and a big DI bag started. In between haircutting, Dayton driving me bananas with whining lately, filming the daytime performance of the talent show and doing the mentoring thing. And putting together more papers and letters for our loan. It's a miracle my family had dinner tonight. TGILeftovers!!



Now tonight I can go watch So You Think You Can Dance(yay yay yay!!) while I fill out 5- yes 5 freaking school application packets for the kids, which have to be dropped off tomorrow in QC.



And yes, can you tell I'm back on my "diet pills"?

:D

World News: Baby Girl Turns 10 overnight!

I know, its hard to believe. LOL Thats how I feel about it anyway. Today is my baby Sadies 10th, I can't believe it. Tonight after Cade's talent show performance we are having a little family party for her with her presents.



My little Sadie is such a sweetie, I am so extremely lucky to have her, she is such a blessing. She is turning into quite the comedian, here are a few of her recent comments:



Me(leaning over and whispering to her at church): I really wish you had gotten ready faster so I could have blow-dryed your hair

Sadie: Well, we all wish things now, don't we?



Me: Yeah, so-and so turned 18 already

Sadie: Oh, that is SO cool, now she can order things off of the TV!!



Sadie: Mom, what do you do when you really like a guy in your class, and you want to talk to him but you dont know what to say, how do you say something??

Me: (passed out on the kitchen floor with panic that my little baby is growing up, yet thrilled that she is sharing this with me instead of hiding it!)





As you can see, she's definetly a full on Tween, which I love AND I hate. I'm so lucky to have this good sweet girl. I absolutely love her to pieces!



Happy Birthday baby girl!!!

Good Monday!

So far today has been nice. Last night we finished the last of the big school projects. It was about the state of Ohio, a place that actually sounds like a fun place to visit. Anyway Mark got in some awesome overtime, I got my errands done early, because I don't like doing errands in the crazy heat, and today is a scorcher. Unfortunatly Cade wants lasagne for dinner, and I'm not sure I'm up to a big hot cooking project like that tonight. I think it seems more like a 5 dollar pizza and FHE night. I did hair and made some good moola, and now its time to get some plans and to-do lists together to get me through the next 2 weeks. First job...tackle this OFFICE! I need Mark to go through stuff with me because a lot of whats left is his and I can't make those decisions. And now that my primary time is over :( I need to get all of that re-organized and pack the rest totally away ready to be transported. All I need to top this day off is a call from my realtor saying we need to get over there and sign the house contract.

Alo-HA! Girl Party!!!

We celebrated Sadie's birthday a little early this year, she got to have her friend party friday night because there is just no other time to do it between now and the time we go to Missouri. I think everyone had a pretty good time. In fact, we were having such a good time that I didn't get many pictures. I did get some funny video. It was a summer beach theme. YAY dollar store!!


When the girls showed up I had strawberry daquiri's and Pina coladas in blenders with umbrellas and straws:




She ended up having 8 friends over, it was a good number of girls and they all got along and had fun together. We played musical towels, then we limbo'd for about 10 minutes. Then it was time for some serious DDR, then we did Cake:








Then more DDR, trampoline, and then presents. Sadie got so many awesome presents, I was so excited for her. Really fun stuff. Blingy flip flops, adorable beaded necklace, webkins, gift cards, clothes, she loved everything. Then the girls just played around until the parents came. It was 2 hours total, short and sweet. The boys were with my MIL so it was total girl overload. The girls all got to take Lei's home. It really was a fun inexpensive party. Her actual birthday is next week, she gets her blog tribute then! LOL


Heres a different angle of the cake. I made it using 2 pound cakes (this is a NO bake project, perfect for summer!) and I made a template using one of Sadie actual flip flops with paper. So I cut the shapes out, then I sliced them horizontally and filled each one with a couple of inches of strawberry ice cream.




I let them freeze and then covered them with Cool whip, which is where I started wishing I had done it different. I really wished I would have used fondant, or at least frosting, because Cool Whip sucks trying to make it looks nice because it dosent ever really harden. And the Sprees I used for the sides had a hard time staying up in the Cool Whip. For the straps I happened to find a patterned Fruit By The Foot that I really liked, so that was cool. I really want to try these again and do the adjustments, it would be really fun. I set them on crushed graham crackers like sand. The girls theought it was really cool and it tasted yummy with the pound cake, strawberries and coolwhip. Next time I'll go for looks. :D

Product Review

I don't buy very many things, actually I never buy anything but I did try 2 products to save some long-run money and here is my report in case you were curious:

Ped-Egg:


I purchased this because I can never seem to justify funds to get a pedicure, but my heels are GROSS all the time from wearing nothing but flip-flops (again, because I'm cheap!LOL) and I couldn't continue showing my gross heels in my flip-flops. I will admit, this worked GREAT!! It is just like the commercial. I still use my Mr Pumi in the shower in between and my feet have not been this nice in a long time for this long. Now I just have to keep my toes pedi'd myself and I'll be in great shape. One warning, Mark used it and did too much and his feet were a little tender for a day or 2. 2 Thumbs WAY up on the Ped-Egg!!

ZUMBA Fitness workout DVD's:


With the move I will have to give up my beloved and sanity-saving gym membership. It ws the one place I knew I could escape the kids, and I did a lot of escaping, which is whay I was so good about going. Now the family dynamic has changed and I don't go as much as I should anyway. Since I've packed on 30 pounds this year I'm going to have to start working out at home so I got he Zumba DVD's. I tried them last night....Ay Carumba!!! It is a latin Dancing workout. They have real classes in Miami and New York. It is definetly going to take some practice, but I have been fanasizing about dancing with Christian DeLa Fuente regularly and now I get a step closer!! LOL Just kidding Really it is fun and I was working HARD and sweating like crazy after about 3 minutes. It was a solid purchase. It burns about 1,000 calories (and I don't doubt it after just 1 try!) I'm sure I look like a complete idiot doing it, but in my own living room I guess who cares. 2 Thumbs WAY up!

Happy Mothers Day

I know, a little belated! But I did have a really nice day. I even got a phone call from my brother in Korea and my sis in Hawaii, how nice are they?? Good kids. Mark showered me with little presents, it was so sweet. He put everything in this really cool quilted leather box. The big shocker was that he bought me JEWLERY! The man who despises jewelery purchases actually got me a Sapphire anniversary pendant. The one where the stones get bigger in an s shape. LOVE it. Sapphire is my birthstone, I love it! I got the Trace Adkins CD and some super soft socks that are infused with Aloe, they are the bomb. I put them on and it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, they feel so good. Plus some other little things. I loved the cards the kids made me, they all said the sweetest things! Cade even wrote me a little poem. Its so cliche but I seriously love the things the kids write that come straight out of their little minds, I love hearing their thoughts. Anyway, I actually was pretty hard-working on Sunday I had to be up early (after a late cleaning binge) and had choir, then get ready for the primary song during Sacrament meeting, the Mark had to go back to work at 5 (BOO!!!) and we had his mom and sisters family over for soup and salad and rolls, so I had to get all that made before he left. Then we watched the Survivor Finale, which was cool. I felt very loved and appreciated and tired! But thats my life as a mom, right??

And no, I didn't get ANY pictures of anyone on Sunday. I just forgot to take any. Bummer.

Mark is signing the offer on the house tonight and Travis will submit it early tomorrow. I went back out tonight and showed my mom the house, she loved it of course. She was a little scared by the paint too but had some good suggetions. Did I remember to take any pictures??? Uhhhhh, whoopsie! I dont know where my head is, I swear. I just grabbed this one off the listing. Any pics of the inside dont really show anything interesting anyway.

Local boy makes good

So in typical style for us, we put a way low bid on a way awesome house we haven't actually seen inside of, we just feel great about. And the bank counters with an offer we can't refuse. Ya, bay-bee! And then 10 hours later we hit a snag because Pinal county property tax is outrageous, but it worked out OK. And we are going to close in 3 weeks. WHAT?? Oh yeah. Totally crazy. They are going to pay the closing costs. It will cost us virtually nothing out of pocket. Our monthly will go up by about 300 bucks. Ouch, but we are thinking long term. Mark had gone last night to walk through it (I mean, we arent totally crazy, just partially) and he was SOLD! Here are the stats on the casa:

*3900 sf <----that is not a typo
*6 bed 3 bath (we just figured that out today, it was wrong on the listing we thought it was 5 bed)
* beautiful granite countertops
* Big kitchen with lots of really nice cupoards
* Needs a tad of cosmetic work. As in:
* linoleum floors (its not gross, its just not tile)
* 50% of the paint inside is pretty horrible. And they did a horrible job painting. we are talking dark brown, royal blue, etc. bleh! Ironically, it seems as if they painted right before they left, with super high quality paint, as a "favor" to the next owner. Boo!
*Backyard is solid rock, that just wont do(good thing I know a hot landscaper!)
*pigeon crap all over the driveway (good thing I know a hot pigeon guy)
*Awesome location, exactly where we want to be!
*conservative projection: 100,000 gained in equity in the next 5 years

Mark took me, his mom and the kids out to it today, and we were all thrilled. He done good. He was the one who just said, hey, I know this seems like a long shot, lets just go for it and see what happens. I'm so glad we did it. He's the MAN!


Its so crazy that this was just kind of a whim, and now we are in with both feet. I was so emotional this morning. Who knows what my problem is. I'm just really tired and have been going nonstop for 3 days, literally. I love teachers, but I'm glad teacher appreciation week is over. At one point I thought I had lost the envelope of cash donations from Coops class at Paradise Bakery. Luckily I'm a total idiot and had left it at home to begin with. DOH! I feel bad I did't do more for any of the other kids classes. Boo me! I'm just burned out and so are the kids.

Weekend forecast: Planning and attending multiple birthday parties, cleaning, lots of driving, and celebrating mothers day!

Sprinkles, I love you!!

When I found out that Sprinkles of Beverly Hills ;) was opening a cupcake store in Scottsdale today, I just HAD to go. So Jill and I took the kids over there, and it was SO worth it! They are the yummiest things I have had in a LONG LONG time. It's like 20 bucks for 6, but who the heck cares, they are worth it. I got a 4 pack, Dark chocolate (which I ate in the car, I could not wait!), Strawberry for Mark (he better get home quick or it might dissapear!) Pumpkin (I let Dayton have, I just had a little of it, so so good) and I'm saving the Chocolate coconut for myself for tonight during my mommy TV time. I also got a special Coke they have, but it turns out it was the kind in the bottle like you get in Mexico that is made with real sugar. It was super yummy anyway. It really reminded me of vacation to Mexico and Panama. Fun. And THEN this guy was in the store taking pictures of people and got a shot of Jill and I, plus then outside we had the kids posed with their cupcakes (but we wouldn't let them eat them, how mean are we?? LOL) and he came over and took a couple of them and got their names and ages. He was from the AZ Republic so now mabye we'll be in it. COOL! We are so famous! We want to go back when they have other flavors on other days of the week and try some different ones. So anytime anyone wants an AWESOME splurge, we'll go to Sprinkles!!! I have the list of what flavors are on what days :D

Other sweet things:

*Dayton rode his bike without training wheels today and did it on his very first try!! I'm so proud of him. But then he was being a stinker and wouldn't let me take his picture.

*We put an offer on a house so we'll see where that goes.

*Due to a neighborhood b-day party, I don't have to cook dinner!




Yeah, I guess we are pretty cute! :D

Its official!!!

Heather delivered this to us today :D

I haven't blogged yet about this particular adventure, because living through what I have I never count my chickens before we have the keys in hand, so to speak. :D

We got our actual loan approval to buy a house today!! It took WAY too long (like 6 weeks long!!) So this week is the big week of putting down an offer on a house or 2. Yipes. Its big scary stuff. It sounds all fun and frolicky when your still in prep stages but then when the moment of truth comes, it gets a bit squirrelly. Its like getting married (for other people, not us in particular! LOL) We've held hands, giggled, smooched, made out a whole bunch, which was super fun, but now its time to settle down together and it gets a little nerve-racking hoping it will work out OK. and it wasn't all just a big act. :D We have done hours and hours of research and praying, looking and re-looking. We probably know more about the neighborhoods we like than our realtor does, and he knows a lot. We really like this one, but the neighborhood is kinda sketchy, so we are going to low-ball this other one (or 2) and just see what happens for now. Theres the issue of the school, the ward, the neighbors, the commute, the price, the HOA, blah blah blah. And all the really really awesome ones tend to get sucked up the day they come out on the MLS so we need and inside track. The one we have the inside track on is the one in the sketchy neighborhood. Also we drive past so many houses that would be great, that are like ghosts. They are obviously abandonded, but no record of them being for sale anywhere. The banks just haven't caught up with them yet I guess. We have kept it pretty low drama, we are staying cool and calm, trying to plan best for our future and get the most for our money. Exciting and scary. :D

The only downside is that we LOVE where we live. Our house is cute, but a little too small for us as the kids get bigger, and of course it is not ours and we'll have to move out in a year anyway. It just sucks because we are in the best neighborhood EVER and it will be physically painful to leave. Our school as much as I have my complaints and its really really hard work, it just about the best there is in the valley, and it will be really hard to downgrade that. It seriously makes me sick, I can't even think about it. It will be like moving away from home for the first time or something. Bleh. It makes the whole process a little less fun (happy now, Maddy?? LOL) So everyone needs to STOP being so dang awesome for the next couple months, OK?? LOL just kidding that is not even possible. Stop it, you're making my cry already and I havn't even packed a flippin box yet!

So thats the big scoop, that is what is happening around here. Oh yeah, and we got family pictures done tonight and from what I can tell they are awesome!! I am beyond excited about them. Woot!! I'll hopefully post them tomorrow.

Arrrrr, Matey!

Today I decorated Coopers teachers door at school. It was actually a fun and creative thing to do, I say that now because I mostly liked how it turned out. LOL I made the treasure chest out of a cereal box so it's 3-D and the gold "coins" each have the kids names. My main concern is sturdiness, I have no clue if this stuff will even stay on for an entire week of opening/closing, and random kids walking by who could pick stuff off. She really liked it, that was the most important part, right? There were a lot of cute doors, and as I was slaving away with my aim-a-flame, paintbrush and sharpie, the mom next to me unrolls this adorable already assembled tree/beehive door cover that she made at home and just had to stick the bees the kids made onto it, and presto. Mine took me like an hour and a half. Then I pass by Wyatts class door and every kid had a purple tulip with their name and a picture on it.....except my kid. Where was I?? I feel bad, I guess I missed the memo. I wonder if the room mom will notice if I make my own purple tulip and put one together of him and just stick it on?? I asked him if he knew about it, he didn't know what I was talking about. Wierd.

Anyway, I'm gonna have to keep checking up on the door to make sure everything stays attached. And the door across the hall has the same "we treasure you" thing going on, but oh well, they look very different so its ok. But what are the odds?? Hey, I never claimed to be original!! LOL

I had the privilege of going to the scrapbook store and using their computer machine to make these letters. Was it a cricut or a Sizzix......something but whatever it is I MUST have one!!!

Weekend outlook: fairly calm, 2 extras sleeping over tonight but Cade's on a campout, tomorrow its CLEANING DAY!! Sunday: complete relaxation and vegetation.