A tree for Morgan

Everybody has their own tree for their room, and this is Morgan's tree. She just wanted "pink" lights, but we couldn't find any, so we have red and white. She didn't want any decorations, only a snowflake star at the top. Matt and I have a tree in our room...it's always called the "love" tree. It has red and white lights, red poinsettius, red ribbon, hearts, and all kinds of ornaments we collected growing up, and as newlyweds. The boys have a hunting fishing tree. Blue lights, and Alaska ornaments. Our family room tree changes every year. Patriotic, country, red and green...this year, Matt said the theme is RED. Red balls, red ribbon, red berries, red ornaments. I love my red tree.

Doll House Nap

I was updating our blog tonight, and Matt came down the stairs, chuckling. (or doing the Shelby Shake for those of you who know that one). He said, you've gotta come see this. This is how we found Morgan tonight, after we'd already tucked her in her bed. She was recently given this Barbie dream house....and she loves it. I guess I just never thought she's want to sleep with it. Oh well, if the Mountain won't come to Morgan, I gues Morgan will come to the mountain.

Houston's Gym

So we spent Saturday evening at one of the middle schools with a few friends of ours. The husband works there, so we had the whole school to ourselves. It was awesome! We went to the band room, watched Hairspray on the big screen while the kids played in the gym, and then we all went to the gym and played games with the kids. Eric brought out the pogo sticks, but none of the kids weighed enough to make it gounce at all. The favorites of the evening? The big pink ball, and the little square scooters (My personal favorite...especially with Matt pushing me all over the gym:)

Hilarious Snowman!

I've been looking for a poem, for this adorable ornament my SIL made a few years ago, and I found this...

www.poofcat.com

Cracked me up! I'm totally going to use it with my melted snowman ornaments. Thanks Karin! Your idea, and my research will make a really cute little ornament gift for teachers, friends, etc.

Pregnant Turkey Story

Last year at Thanksgiving time, my mom went to my sister's house for the traditional holiday feast. Knowing how gullible my sister is, my mom decided to play a trick. She told my sister that she needed something from the store and asked if my sister wouldn't mind going out to get it. When my sister left the house, my mom took the turkey out of the oven, removed the mixed stuffing, stuffed a Cornish hen, and inserted it into the turkey... then re-stuffed the turkey. She then placed the bird(s) back into the oven. When it was time for dinner, my sister pulled the turkey out of the oven and proceeded to remove the stuffing. When her serving spoon hit something, she reached in and pulled out the little bird. With a look of total shock on her face, my mother exclaimed, "Barbara, you've cooked a pregnant bird!" At the reality of this horrifying news, my sister started to cry hysterically. It took the entire family almost two hours to convince her that turkeys lay eggs! Yes, my sister is a BLOND.


Matt had a good chuckle when he heard this story.

Our Fabulous Friday

96...The number of boards my committy and I painted.
92...The number of 12X12 tiles I carried into the gym that night.
38...The number of glass bathroom blocks my dad and Garth drilled holes into.
3...The number of glass bathroom blocks that didn't make it.
57...The number of women who attended our WARD fabulous friday night. 6pm-midnight.
450...The number of marble magnets made that night.
270...The number of tile coasters stamped on.
4...The number of women who got high off the varnish spray we applied to our boards and tiles. (just kidding)

All in all, a most successful evening. Plenty of food, fun, and friends enjoying a night of crafting. Even for the not so crafty...everything was super easy to complete and take home looking great. The glass blocks turned out especially awesome. Thanks to everyone who made it such a wonderful success. I'll try and get more pictures downloaded of the evening soon. For right now, all I have is the sign I made for Gabe.

If I make it to Friday...

Okay, so if you don't hear from me till the weekend, its because I'm up to my ears in 6" X 24" boards and red, green, and blue paint everywhere! If you call me, I'll be talking while I paint, and no guaranty that I'll be able to focus on two things at once. I'm just not that talented.

You know mom's sick when...

So, we've all kind of had the icks the last couple of weeks. Nothing horrible, just a stuffy nose here, scratchy throat there. Then Monday, we had to take Chandler to the doctor for a rash. Tuesday morning, I woke up with the worst sore throat. You know, the kind where you can't swallow? You know you're sick when your workaholic husband stays home to take care of the kids while your mother runs you to the doctor. He took one look at my throat, and said "Oh ya, I don't even need to do a culture on that". Two trips the pharmacists, and a Z-pack later...strep throat. The next 24 hours are kind of a blur to me...Matt kept the kids busy, dinner was brought by a saint of a woman in our ward, and I finished registering everyone for our wards Fabulous Friday. You know mom's sick when the kids stay home from school, just because they have the sniffles, and get to hibernate in the basement with movies all day. You know mom's sick when Morgan wakes up, says "I want bekfast" and when she finds a container of Pringles, I don't stop her from eating them.
Consequently, I had to take Morgan into the doctor Wednesday, for symptoms of Strep, and yup, sure enough...our doctor was such a sweetie though. It was around 5pm, he saw that I wasn't feeling good, and I had left my insurance card at home. So instead of making me go all the way home, get my card, just to go back to the pharmacy to stand in line for an hour with a sick toddler, he sent home a back of the prescribed medicine.

You know mom's sick when she spends a week on the couch, no gym, no salad, and ice cream for breakfast is perfectly acceptable. Good thing my personal trainer is out of town...

Thankfully, 3 trips to the doctors, and 3 prescriptions for antibiotics later, we're all doing fine. Morgan is bouncing off the walls again...I can speak in more than a whisper, and Gabe and Matt have somehow escaped the ickies. This weekend is going to be spent reclaiming my house. Laundry in droves, dishes stacking in the sink...you know, a week of mom being sick, and dad doing good just to keep every fed, and...well, fed.

Happy Halloween All!

Me and Her Royal Highness. Morgan went as herself this year. (princess pain in the butt)


Chandler went as a mummy...the old, icky kind, with bugs and cobwebs all over him.
Gabe finally broke out of his pirate stage...well, he still had a sword. But this year he was a ninja. Matt was a vampire. I was a 50's chick. And Morgan was Snow white at school, but on our way to the church, we stopped off at the gym to let the kids trick or treat Alina, and Morgan decided to stick her hand down her throat, gag, and throw up. (All over her dress) Luckily, we had a few other princess dresses at home on stand by.

Bask in my Craftiness!

My Wooden Sign that I made, not with vinyl, but with stickers, which I painted over, then peeled off. I also made pumpkins out of paper sacks, filled them with goodies, then gave them to teachers and friends. And don't forget the anual batch of cupcakes for the kids class parties. These are my one eyed, tentacle monsters. And I did these bat ones too, by piping chocolate onto wax paper, then freezing till hard, and placing onto the cupcake. (do it in any shape....letters, whatever.)

Christmas Already?

So, as most of you know, I have been called to be the Enrichment Leader in our ward, and since this is like my DREAM calling, I have thrown myself into it. We're doing a FABULOUS FRIDAY, and these are just a couple of the crafts that we're doing. Thanks to Katie's ward as instpiration, I was able to make this CHRISTMAS sign, with a block letter. WE also have really cute stockings, (ballet slippers, skates, fancy boots, and pirate boots) are just a few. Again...TOTALLY EXCITED! And even though its only October, TOTALLY in the Christmas mood.

The Witch is IN

So, this is my old witch that was passed down to me from my mom. But the thing I wanted to show everyone, is the Vinyl WELCOME above the witch. Like it?

Happy Halloween!

Okay, so keep in mind, this pumpkin has been on the front porch since the 23rd of September, and been through rain, sleet, and snow. In the square, is a picture of our family, printed on velum, then I drilled random holes in the pumpkin with my drill. Oh, and instead of cutting off the top of the pumpkin, I cut the hole in the bottem, and pushed Christmas lights up through it. It's been a big hit with friends and family coming to our house.

Gotta Love Alaska

This picture is for you Arizonians, and Hunters. I took this picture from my car, after I had pulled out of my driveway. See my front door? Just seconds earlier, I was coming out of it, and walked to my car, never even noticing the dumb moose in my yard, till I drove by. Morgan wanted to get out of the car, and go say HI to the moose.

1st Snow of the Year

Well, it finally happened. You knew it would, the weather man said it would a week and a half ago, and apparently the kids had pools going at school on when it would happen. It was only a skif at first. (that's a technical term...promise) But by the next morning, we had enough to actually shovel. The kids were so excited, that after our running around this morning, we came home, and the boys played out in the white stuff for about 3 hours. Sledding, building snowmen, and having snowball fights.

Fall and General Conference

We had such a wonderful weekend. Listening to General Conference (the kids are finally old enough, we can actually all sit together, and be quiet, while we watch), then playing with their cousins, and playing in the leaves after the final session on Sunday afternoon. I love this time of year. Even though its getting colder, and that means cold winter nights are not far away, I love the idea of fall. The colors, the smells, the tectures.

On the street where we live....

Some weird things have happened to us this week, and although things have turned out to be not as bad as we had first thought, it has brought many things to our attention. I'll explain. Sunday morning, we pulled out of our driveway, and as we started driving away, Matt and I noticed a strange man walking through our neighbors yard, onto the street, and get into his old Audi that was parked in front of our house. We thought this was kind of creepy, but needed to get to church, and I didn't give it another thought, until I was at my enrichment meeting this week, where I was talking to one of my neighbors. She says: "did you know there is a guy stalking our neighborhood?" WE started comparing note...she told me the guy had approached her husband while he was in the garage, cleaning late one night. And had said he was an undercover cop. (which, since we have lots of police friends in our neighborhood, knew would never haven) The another neighbor saw the same guy, late at night, shining his flashlight into windows. And the final straw for me, was another neighbor girl, (about 5 yrs old) receiving a puppy dog from a strange man, who said she could keep it for a few days, and he'd meet her later to get his dog. CREEPY! Well, I went home, completely freaked out, insisted that Matt carry the boys up to our room, to sleep on the floor next to our bed that night, and even had Matt pull down his (LORD of the RINGS) sting sward, to keep next to the bed that night. (on Matt's side of course. What would I do with a sward? The next day, we started making calls. The Bus barn, the Home Owners Pres. so on. Then we went to Home Depot, to see out getting alarms for the windows. That night, Matt got a call from the HOA pres. She had been doing some investigating throughout the day. It turns out, there was a pervert in our neighborhood. But it wasn't what we thought. I guess he'd been having a thing with one of the neighbor's teenage daughters. (under 16 I think, and he's 25!) And what we had all been seeing, was the comings and goings of this creep in and out of her window. Hence, the flashlight, and sneaking out early Sunday morning. Wait, it gets better. I guess he was spotted by one of the men on our street, crawling in the window one night. And the guy (who works at the correctional facility in Palmer, called a our neighbor, who also works there) and they went to tell the dad of this girl what had happened. I guess they "flushed" him out by catching the two together. We're not quite sure if they beat him up, or what, but they told him not to come back to this street again, and all the neighbors now know to call the police if we see him here again. Crazy, hu? And I thought I lived on the most boring street ever. But it has taught us to be much more aware of those around us, and our most precious possessions, (our children).

I've been Tagged!

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago:

1. Attending Ricks College. (Before it was BYU IDAHO)
2. Struggling through my Political Science 272 Research Class.
3. Applying to Utah State, and visiting my Friend Lisa down in Logan whenever I could.
4. Playing Hide and Go Seek in the cemetery with my roommates and our Morp dates
5. Getting really good at walking up and down the hill to the Smith building 5 times a day. (or so it seemed)

5 Things on my To Do list today:

1. LAUNDRY! LAUNDRY! LAUNDRY!
2. Make cupcakes for my friend Mandy Larson who is helping me with an enrichment activity.
3. Spin class. (I also had Tae Bo this morning, but ran out of gas...literally, not figuratively half way there, and had to have Matt rescue me at 5:30 in the morning)
4. Make phone calls to Bishops to assign ward reps to help me keep Messiah organized
5. Get Halloween decorations out from under the stairs

5 Snacks I enjoy:

1. Hershey's 100 calorie pretzel snacks(highly recommend)
2. Carmel popcorn (mine is made with buttery micro. popcorn, with makes it extra yummy! And fattening too!)
3. oranges (Arizona girl)
4. Just plain old movie theatre popcorn
5. celery sticks with garden vegetable flavored cream cheese

5 Songs I know the lyrics to:

1. Love is Spoken Here
2. Don't take the Girl
3. Next Time, Before he cheats, you know it won't be on me (Carrie Underwood) Don't know the title, just all the lyrics! LOL
4. A Child's Prayer
5. I Like to Move it Move it

5 Things I would do if I was a Millionaire:

1. Pay cash for my dream home
2. Buy Matt a new car...he always gets the hand-me-downs
3. Put money in the bank for kid's college educations/missions
4. Open my own business (Don't know what...something crafty)
5. Take the kids on a nice vacation...they've always wanted to see Australia?!

5 Bad Habits:

1. I don't have any, I'm perfect
2. Thinking I'm too good
3. Matt thinks I chew my nails...I don't though, I'm perfect, remember?
4. Not thinking before I speak.
5. I say "sorry" way too much. Always have...Probably always will...its a bad habit, remember?...sorry

5 Things I would never wear again.

1. Pokadot tunic with stretch pants. (thanks Mom)
2. Frizzy, permed hair (again, thanks mom)
3. Jams
4. Pegged jeans, sometimes safety pinned to make sure they stayed
5. Jelly shoes in Arizona in the summer, (110 degrees)

5 of my Favorite Toys

1. My cell phone
2. Computer (Matt's, not my piece of hud)
3. My laminater
4. My IPOD...running is so much better now
5. My heart rate moniter (sorry, but I like knowing how many calories I burn as I walk through Walmart)

5 People I Tag:

1. Katie
2. Jessica
you guys will have to email it too me.
3. Mom
4. Renae
5. Brandy

WARNING: faint of heart, look away!

Okay, So, today we went on our annual buffalo hunt out to Bishop's game ranch. The boys really like going out to see the herd, and then watch as daddy and grandpa climb onto the tractor to go get their buffalo. (Kind of like a safari hunt, only Alaska style, right grandpa?) And the moms and kids usually stay back, and wait till we hear the pop of a rifle off in the distance. Well, these buffalo were feeling adventuresome today, so grandpa called for reinforcements. Dontuduntatada! Mom's van to the rescue! I had no idea my little Kia Sadona was an off-road vehicle in disguise. We drove down the game trails, through the woods, mud bogging, you name it. (remind me to roll the windows up next time I gun it through a big mud puddle though) We chased the buffalo, the buffalo chased us. We followed close behind, we stayed far back. We went up one way, the tractor drove the other way.
To say the least, the kids had a ball! And Chandler and Gabe even got to drive back to the ranch on the tractor with Bishop. (not on a seat mind you...no, they had to live dangerously, like daddy and papa, and ride on the foot rail, hanging on to a bar) But we finally got our cow. And she was quite a beauty. I'm glad I have kids who understand the 'circle of life' as Chandler would say, and have an appreciation for the animals Heavenly Father has placed on the earth, and know their purpose for being here.