My Favorite Christmas Songs

So I stand in the mall for hours at a time and I get to hear a lot of Christmas songs. And let me tell you, there are some bad Christmas songs. I get so tired of a lot of them. (Well, I'm excluding the religious/church ones from this list because I always liked them and the mall doesn't play them.) The song that I always dread is Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas is You". And not because it's a horrible song, more like an annoyingly overplayed song. Also on the dreaded list after the many hours in the mall is, "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree." Ugh. I feel ill just thinking about these songs.

So, lest you think I have no Christmas Spirit, here is a list of Christmas Songs I LOVE to hear and look forward to every year.

1.) Christmas Cannon - Trans-Siberian Orchestra

I'm starting with the prettiest one. I love Cannon in D and to combine it with Christmas is just FABULOUS! And it also includes a boys choir.



2.) Silent Night - Bad Religion

Sorry, this song is live, but I love Bad Religion, and it was only ever sung live. I love hearing cool versions of songs and to hear a group like Bad Religion sing, "Christ the Savior is Born" is awesome.



3.) Oi! the the World - No Doubt

Due to copyright laws, apparently I can't share this one, but I like it. That's okay, after watching the video it wasn't very clean anyway. So here's The Vandels version instead. Not the same at all. Sorry.



4.) I won't be home for Christmas - Blink 182

This is just fun. Who doesn't like a song about a guy who gets tired of Christmas and goes postal? Sadly, I don't think they ever made a video for this.



5.) Mele Kalikimaka -

And this is dedicated to my brother and his family in Hawaii. Sorry, about the Jimmy Buffet version. I couldn't find a copy of the Davey Jones one. Sad.



6.) Feed the World (Do they know it's Christmas?) - Live Aide

A friend of mine once described this as the best Christmas song EVER. I don't know if I would go that far, but I do like it. Plus it's a good reminder as to why 80's hair styles should not come back.



7.) Carol of the Bells - Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Someone save me from live versions. Sorry, it was the best I found in the last two minutes. This version is a tad lame, but I really like this song.

Childhood's Last Stand

Santa has always been very beloved at our house. My kids believe. I mean they REALLY BELIEVE. I don't think I intended to "trick" them, but I really love Christmas and I love seeing their faces when they open their presents. So I love making sure they get what they want (with in reason!)

This year is different.

It began last year when Elijah and I had this conversation...

E: Mom, some kid at school said there isn't a Santa Claus! Pssh! Isn't that sad he doesn't believe?

M: Yes that is really sad. What do you think?

E: There IS a Santa Claus and I feel sorry for that kid.

And he believed.

I remembered when I believed. I remember thinking how selfish my parents were for staying up TALKING and WATCHING TV, when everyone knows that if you don't go to sleep SANTA won't come. How could they do this to me. Granted I wasn't asleep, but who can go to sleep with the All Night Party going on downstairs. When I stopped believing we got to join that All-Nighter (some years, literally). But I remember fuming at my parents. I must have been second or third grade. Elijah is in second grade and he has always been willing to believe in the past.

But this year, it's a little different. This year he talks like he is humoring the girls. He isn't excited for Santa, instead he says, "Look Lauren! There's Santa!" And it makes me a little sad. He isn't my cute little boy anymore and this just seems like one more sign of it.

I keep waiting for him to ask. But I'm starting to get the feeling that he isn't going to. He doesn't seem sure right now. So I'm at a loss. Do I wait for him to come to me to "own up." Or do I wait for him to ask?

I kind of wanted him to help set up when he didn't believe anymore. But I didn't think he wouldn't ask. So right now I'm leaving him be. I don't want to destroy all his childhood fantasies if he's not ready.

It's hard to see your kids grow up.

15 Toys Not To Buy Your Kids

So this made me laugh a lot, I hope you like it as much as I did.


Don't Buy These!

All He Wants For Christmas Is.....

Elijah is growing up. While this is a little strange for me, lately it has been a little exciting. He recently lost his two front teeth.

Elijah displays his lack of teeth here:

He also learned to tie his shoes recently too. (Yesterday.) We invested in this little wonder:A couple days with this baby and he finally "got" it. I just can't believe how fast he is growing up. And to think, both accomplished halfway through the second grade. If he keeps this up, he may be getting his drivers license at 20. I'm breathless at the thought.

Letters To Lyric

So I was supposed to do this months ago, but well. I'm doing it. Ally recently discovered the bag of rocks and asked about them and I took the opportunity to take a picture.

The following was composed by Ally for her cousin, Lyric:

I miss you Lyric. I love you.
I like to play toys with you.
How do you like Hawaii?
I got the coral. Where did you find them?
I think they are neat.

Ally

PS. Here is a picture of the coral (is it coral?) and Ally is holding them.

Thankful

I've decided to write what I'm thankful for. Everyone is doing it on facebook and I feel a certain amount of (self) pressure to get into the fray. But since I'm not so sure about posting it on facebook (due to recent anonymous notes left on my car), and this is funner, I'm posting here. Hurrah!

So let me see, what am I thankful for...

1.) Cafe Rio

Thank you Cafe Rio Gods, for putting one close to my house. It has become my favorite "I'm to tired/busy to cook and I need something fast" place to eat. I was formerly not a huge fan of the place, but I changed my mind. It is amazing. While the sweet pork actually makes me dry heave, the grilled steak...oh the grilled steak makes me drool.

2.) Ally's Yearly Pictures

Did I say pictures, let me rephrase that. The child had a photo shoot. I think Ally is a gorgeous little girl. But she hasn't had a great picture of her taken since she was six months old (at JCPenney's). The child was afraid, shy and REALLY hated being the center of attention. Well the camera shyness is over. Yeehaw!

Here are my favorites.
And the one every family member should get... (sorry, I'm not big into surprises.)


3.) Snickers

Oh man, do they satisfy me. I think I have a problem though. If I see a Snickers, I will eat it. In September, I bought three pounds of Snickers in hopes of saving them for Halloween and maybe Christmas. They were gone by the middle of October. For shame! I had to rebuy candy that Matt and I would consider gross. (Peanut butter crackers took the gross prize and lasted until Halloween.)

4.) Kids On The Move

Thank you, Kids On The Move, for coming to evaluation my two year old! It was nice to know she actually did have a speech delay and that now I can get some guidance in helping her.

5.) My Ward

Have you ever made big, no HUGE plans and realized you might have over estimated your abilities? Eh-hem, well I'm never done that....

Okay, that is a big lie. I bit a little off more then I could chew with the Christmas party. Which wouldn't have happened if I hadn't felt so horrible for three (going on four) months. But everyone whom I have asked to help, (and it is a lot of people at this point. I'm begging on my knees now.) said yes. THEY SAID YES. And they are going above and beyond the call of duty if everything. I could never have done the Christmas party on my own. Thank you, thank you.

God Bless You, Every One! And you know who you are!

6.) Sugardoodle.net

Thank you Sugardoodle for making me look good in my callings! Not only does it have Primary teaching helps, but it also has Activity Director helps. No longer do I have to be creative when coming up with Activities and lessons. I just have to steal via the internet. What a life saver!

7.)

Wow, I'm drooling at the thought. A friend called to go to breakfast a couple weeks ago, and where did I want to go. Yep, you betcha, Magleby's Fresh knows how to do breakfast. I tried the breakfast burrito this time and it was to DIE FOR. (But the French Toast is still better.)

8.) Awesome Neighbors

Okay, most of them won't read this, but I have some amazing neighbors. One family in particular I spend every conversation trying to convince the mom to come to our ward because I seriously love her and I think our ward could use them. And it helps they all REALLY like Elijah and ALWAYS HAVE!! She calls me with helps for him and gives me advise and even once let me cry on her shoulder (this was strange and what made me go into the doctor. I'm not a weeper. And the fact I was sobbing, scared me.)

(And lets not even talk about the sobbing that took place at Elijah's school office. Let's just say if he knew, he would be horrified. And I'm now BFF with the school secretary, the playground supervisor and the school psychologist. All of whom were in the office at the time. Copious amounts of tears will do that, you know.)

But I was talking about my neighbors...oh yea. I have neighbors who also let my kids come over and let me come over. I have neighbors whom I walk with as well. I have neighbors who always smile. I have neighbors, who aren't neighbors, but still call to hang out as if we are. I am so glad we moved here.

9.) Money

I'm not gonna lie, not having money stunk, big time. But I'm so grateful to have enough! Enough for food, enough for coats, enough for Christmas!!! I am having a hard time getting it into my head that it is okay to get the things we need. There is no mounting doom if something breaks. We can fix it!!

So I'm going to be shallow and admit it. I like having money.

10.) When you don't buy clothes for a few years, guess what? They fall apart. So Matt and I have been trying to replace our clothes. And I decided I wasn't going to just replace them, I was going to replace them with CUTE clothes. And The Gap filled my wildest dreams in that department. I've gone outlet shopping a ton, but never have I enjoyed the benifit of multiple clothing items to buy that looked cute on me and were sweet deals. Thank you, Thank you Gap!

11.) The Ususal

I am also thankful for my husband, kids, family and friends. Without whom we would be in a bad place right now. And good health, I'm thankful for relative good health.

And Facebook games. Because they relax me. And I'm super excited EA purchased Playfish, which probably means nothing to anyone but me, but it is awesome, I swear! My bed is up there too along with...oh man, time to stop now. I'm a happy camper again. Finally.

Halloween

I have a little secret. I am not a Halloween fan. Don't get me wrong, I actually love dressing up, but the whole rest of it irritates me. It just seems like a holiday to torture parents. Kinda like Easter.

But, every year, I buy my kids costumes. I have no desire to make them. And I get candy to pass out and wonder when I will ever get out of the sheer torture that is Halloween. I have a bad attitude. I am the complete opposite about Christmas. Kind of strange.

This year we had quite a few parties and such for Halloween. The plan was for Elijah to be a red and black Ninja. Last year he was a white one and it disturbed me to see his underwear through the costume. But shhhhh, don't tell him I said that. This year when he wanted to be a Ninja again, I got him this costume:
We had mega costume success with it. He loved it. And his underwear was no where in sight.

Ally wanted to be a Fairy. And I wanted Lauren to be Tinkerbell, because she looks a lot like Tinkerbell. So I bought Lauren the Tinkerbell costume and Ally the Pink version.

Here is Lauren (if you look at the posts below you will see she got into the costume early.)
Here is Ally.
Do you see a problem? Yea, she is Snow White. For the third year in A ROW! She didn't like how the fairy costume felt so she chose the Snow White costume again.

They wore their costumes to Trunk or Treat (which I was in charge of and was actually successful). We had WAY more people come then I thought would come. And the kids really scored. I ran out of all the candy I had purchased for that night and the actual Halloween night.


















Since Lauren was just over Swine Flu, I let her go to the Trunk or treat but not go door
to door on Halloween. She stayed home and canned grape juice with me.

I'd say overall we had Halloween success. And I've been picking up candy ever since. I'm not one of those parents who takes away the candy. I don't like taking something away that they earned themselves. They bring it to me when they are done. Typically they eat about 1/3 of their candy. This year it was slightly less. Now the prize jar is overflowing! (As it is after every holiday. I don't ever have to buy prizes for it. lol)

A Happy Book

I have been perusing several blogs recently and I started reading a friends blog. Heather Clark's blog is private, but she is a great read. And as I go through her posts from years ago, I had come across a post about a book. Heather's description of this book was hilarious and it made me want to read it.

Who wouldn't want to read this book:
I went to Barnes and Noble and checked it out today and told Matt that we HAD to get it. Not only do I think that Elijah would love it, but I am DYING to put this book on my coffee table and have people look through it. It had everything in it from how to build the best tree house to how to skin a fish. This is some book. I want it.

And if THAT wasn't enough, look what else they have!

There are many more of these books, but I am SO totally interested.

I have to also recommend another book, that I HAVE actually read. If you haven't yet read this, you NEED to.
This book is my favorite book I have read in a long time. It is a totally different style. It is over 200 pages, but 90% of the book is told in pictures. Much like a still movie form. And not only is it told in a different style, but the actual story is fabulous.

This book took me one hour to read and it took Elijah almost two hours. It is a fast read. Read it, it's totally worth it.

Carving

This is a Halloween Festivities post. I need to get one this, even though I am tired today. I'm disappointed about that. I've been feeling great for a few days, but back to crappy today. Oh well.

I usually reserve the Sunday or Monday before Halloween for pumpkin carving. This is to keep the rotting at bay until after Halloween.

I am very pleased to say that we didn't buy any pumpkins this year. Nope. Not one. We did however GROW OUR OWN PUMPKINS! How cool is that? In the past I haven't had a lot of pumpkin growing success, but this year we did. (We also grew a miniature watermelon, it was supposed to be full size, but one two inch watermelon almost counts as a second success right?)

So first Ally and Elijah are modeling our homegrown pumpkins. This is before the kids took perminant marker and drew several little faces all over them that only an elf could carve out.
Since we are not elves we wiped the little faces off (with rubbing alcohol) and we started carving away. Elijah is wiping off his pumpkin, I am helping Ally (yes that is Lauren on m lap), Karyn and Brock are helping Lauren (and yes Ally is over next to Brock) and Matt is helping Elijah.

Elijah still working on his pumpkin.

While Brock is doing all the work, Karyn admires him from afar.
This year we actually put in candles. Eerie, I know. Elijah decided to do his own pumpkin in the end. And he did the one on the left all by himself. The one on the right is Matt's solo project.
The one on the left in this picture is Karyn, Brock and "Lauren's" pumpkin. The Awesomely Scary one on the right is mine and Ally's.
The kids liked the candles in the pumpkins. Maybe we should actually do that again next year.

What the...

So on Wednesday Lauren's fever came back to 103 -104 after two days of being gone. I whisked her to the doctor fearing pneumonia. After a chest scan I took her home and put her to bed. (The detail I just admitted were that I was so scared at the doctors, after waiting an hour and feeling her get hotter and hotter, that I cried in public. I was a tad terrified.)

Well the doctor was concerned too, said he didn't blame me for my breakdown.

Although now I feel a tad silly. The next morning...she was fine.

I took a picture of Lauren the next morning I was so shock. She went from the picture in the last post. (She was by far the sickest child in the waiting room, to her old self. No fever in sight. )

I'm stunned.

Surviving Swine Flu

I actually thought that we had gotten off easy. The Swine Flu passed through most of our family in a matter of days and I was thrilled. We had beaten it! We are awesome. Little did I know...

Okay let me start at the beginning...

Two Sunday's ago Ally had a sniffle. It shames me to admit, I didn't take her seriously. I dragged her to church because she didn't have one of my three rules broken:

1.) She hadn't thrown up within 24 hours.
2.) She hadn't had a fever within 24 hours.
3.) No green snot.

So I confess I took her to church. And it has plagued me ever since. I had never heard that the Swine Flu started as a sniffle. We were just getting over a genuine sniffle, so I thought it was a carryover from that.

That night she got a mild fever. Around 100 to 101. Not to bad. We gave her Motrin and sent her to bed.

And she woke up at 4 am with 103.5 degree fever. Eek! She was also throwing up. Yuck.

She was really sick on Monday. REALLY, REALLY sick. But by Tuesday things were looking up. A lower fever and a mild cough. By Wednesday the fever was gone.

What I learned from this is, the Swine Flu is like other flu's. Keep liquids down them, treat the fever and let them rest a lot. We didn't have any of the horrible breathing problems I'm heard about...yet.

The Flu went through the family pretty fast. Matt, Elijah and I didn't really get too sick. Elijah took a couple days off school just to be careful though. BUT

LAUREN. She hadn't gotten sick yet. Blah. Lauren was definitely the most vulnerable being the youngest. But Matt and I were further concerned because she had gotten so sick when she was nine months old with RSV . I ended up at the hospital with both my girls then, Ally with the croup and Lauren with pneumonia. So we knew her lungs were compromised. And that was a little scary for us. I was really hoping it would breeze by her like it did the rest of us...

But it hasn't. Her fever has stayed and stayed high. Her fever has now come down a lot, but now she has this painful sounding cough. I hurt for her and she is very uncomfortable. She is also a crabby kid. She wants me to hold her, but not touch her. Have you ever tried to hold someone without touching them? I defy you to find a way.

The ONLY bright spot is that she hasn't thrown up...much.

For FYI: We haven't taken them in to the doctor for the test. I did call the doctor and they said to not bring them in unless:
They have a fever over 105.
The fever lasts longer then five days.
They have difficulty breathing.
So basically, all the things to look out for in the normal flu.

Having dealt with fevers over 105, difficulty breathing and RSV, this really didn't seem too bad. We are just praying Lauren doesn't get an infection of any kind. So pray for her, she is still struggling. She is in a lot of pain right now.

And also, the poor little thing has been camped in the house for a week and a half now. She is begging to go outside. Even in the snow storm.

We had also decided to not vaccinate our family because we were nervous about the vaccine. We already have some debate in our house about the safety of vaccines in general, an untested vaccine made us all nervous. During the last Swine Flu outbreak in the 70's, they stopped the vaccine because it was causing more problems then the actual flu. Despite what they say, that is not a good track record in my book.

We were also nervous about Tamiflu after reading this article.

BUT this is just us. We tend to be paranoid. I am by no means trying to scare anyone or worry them. Everyone should do what is best for their families. And those are the reasons we decided to treat it how we did.

Oh No She Didn't!

I have been preparing for our family pictures for a few weeks. I always do them in October and it works out well for me. I make sure every year that their hair is cut just so, my eyebrows are freshly waxed, and my hair is nicely dyed to hide those pesky grays and the outfits are perfect and the accessories are perfectly coordinating.

This year was no exception. I started this year with a couple of Costco dresses and took off from there. I started with the kids haircuts and took them up to see my very talented sister in Bountiful. She works at a hair salon there.

Heather did a great job. She cut their hair fabulously. It was hard to drag my kids up there, but I did it for the pictures.

And the next morning, ALLY, my EASY one, cut her hair.

I wasn't happy.

BUT the good news is that is *basically* looks like we did it on purpose. Basically meaning, it could look like swoop bangs, except for the inch long peice right in the MIDDLE of her forehead.

Strangely enough, I spent about half the day debating if Heather had done it one purpose. Until I saw that little straggly piece. And then I knew Heather would NEVER have done that.

So here is a picture of Ally's personalized haircut. It's actually hard to see the little piece in this picture. Maybe it's just glaringly obvious to me?

Here is how our family picture turned out. And this is the one we ordered, as opposed to the one on facebook.

Did the hair spray/water/mousse/wax combo hide it well enough?

Being Right

I don't like it when people have to be right all the time. BUT it is so nice to be right sometimes.

A couple of posts ago I wrote about updating my families medical history before going to the doctor. And I did, I told the doctor my long list. The doctor was unconcerned about a lot of it, but he was a tad concerned when I told him my "close mystery family member" has a hyperthyroid, my sister has a hypothyroid, my mother had Graves Disease (a severe form of hyperthyroidism) when she was pregnant with me and my great grandmother had a hypothyroid.

So he took some blood.

And I came up high.

So much to my extreme relief I am going to say, I'M SICK! Such a relief, I thought I was going crazy. The only two signs I had were a slight bit of weight gain and severe exhaustion. But the weight would never come off and then I just became too tired to exercise anymore.

I can't believe how happy I am about this...phew! There is something wrong with me.

I was right, and I'm relieved it isn't a mental problem like I was starting to suspect.

Which Witch?

Last Monday we went to Gardner Village. I had been their with some friends last November and thought that place rather fun. They had all kinds of promotions throughout the year for the different shops. And I was told about the Witch Scavenger Hunt on October then. I was also shown the Fabric Store, Pine Needles and told about the Doll Shop there, but we didn't go into that shop.
So I decided I was going to take my family to the Scavenger Hunt. But unless we are talking about Disneyland, I'm not fond of crowded places. So we decided to go earlier in the year.
So I went to the website (Gardner Village) and copied the Scavenger Hunt list. Much to my happiness, if we found all the witches we got a $.90 cookie for $.25. So we looked and found them all. I think it is secretly a trick to introduce you to all the shops, but hey, it worked for me.
We ended up eating at Archibald's, the restaurant there. (I found the food good, but not great for the price.) And we also went to the doll shop and Ally was in love with all the clothes for her doll. I think we are going to have to go back. We got cookies and fudge and did some window shopping.
I'd really like to go back without the kids or the men and spend some time looking.
So what do you say? Anyone want to go back with me?

Birthday Baby

It is alarming how fast my babies have grown. I can't believe my daughter is five. Since she is, by far, the quietest of my children, I'm going to help everyone get to know her better.

Ally is sweet and kind.She loves playing with friends.

When Ally is sick she has a "head dick" and her "throw up" hurts. (Head ache and throat hurts.)

Ally is lactose intolerant and has a very sensitive stomach. She throws up a lot.
She can get a long with anyone. She is very adaptable.

She has texture issues. She doesn't like certain fabrics touching her arms, legs or shoulders. So she is often in sleeveless because I can't get her in anything else.
She loves make up and doing hair.

Ally loves musicals, but doesn't necessarily like to sing herself.
She REALLY loves baking. Her fondest wish is to get a Kitchen Aide Mixer.


For her birthday party I thought I would give her her other fondest wish and invite her friends over for baking. Because it stresses me out to bake with kids, I wanted the numbers to be limited a bit.

So she invited the girls in her Primary class, both of them (Jo and Ellie). And one couldn't come (Ellie). And she invited a couple of girls she has grown up with (Anya and Peyton). And a neighbor girl, who goes to the Spanish ward, but Ally plays with quite a bit and they love each other, (Brianna). She also invited Addie from school, but Addie couldn't come either. So much to my happiness and Ally's chagrin, we had four girls.
We started by making English Muffin Pizza's. (Anya, Ally and Jo.)
Then Fruit Kabobs. (Demonstrated by Anya.)
Pizza's by Brianna.
Peyton, just watching.


And then they each got to decorate their own 6" cake. (Which I baked and pre-frosted.) Since I had extras Elijah and Lauren got involved.
(All the girls plus Elijah with their decorated cakes.)

Next we opened her presents. Ally loved them all.

We got her American Girl doll, Julie. And I thought the other girls wouldn't care. I was wrong. They all gathered around the doll in awe (including Lauren). I eventually had to take it away and let them gaze at it longingly. I sent them upstairs to play for a while. Amazingly, all five (six with Lauren) had a ton of fun.

Ally likes opening presents. Isn't she cute?
The hallowed Julie doll. Can anyone say 1974 baby!?


When everyone had left and Ally had brushed the dolls hair for a while, she asked, "Can we get the rest of the stuff now?"

M:"What stuff?"

"The other stuff at the store."

M:"Um, the bed? The clothes? The bike? What?"

"Yes."

M: "Um...all of it?"

"Uh-huh."

M: "Oh my. We will have to see."

O Ally, my Ally. Happy Birthday!

Conversation with Elijah

E: I am hoping we can have six kids in our family.

M: Probably not.

E: Why don't you want 10 kids?

M: Because you got an old, worn out mommy and I don't think I could handle that many.

E: What if I take five and daddy takes five and Ally takes five?

M: No, I was thinking four. I'm getting too old.

E: Oh.

M: Sorry.

Medical Concerns

I am making a list of all the things my family has. I am going to the OB/GYN soon and I need to update my medical history and family history. Since the last time he saw me (when I had Lauren) I need to add:

Gall Bladder Surgery
(Yet Another) Case of Diabetes
Hyperglycemia
Two Blood disorders
Hypothyroid
Hyper thyroid

And lets not get into what was already on the medical history! Or move beyond my immediate family.

Guys, what is going on? We are falling apart!

Do I really need to be alone?

Oh how I love my Lauren. She is so cute. Even though she is slightly a menace, she is a lot of fun to have around. I mean where else could I get a toddler that goes from one second ripping up paper and throwing it around to dressing up like a Prom Queen. That's right, no where else. She is her own individual.

She is a little clingier in some ways then my other two have been. Ally was clingy, but only really to me. But Lauren is a fireball, unless something scares her. And let me tell you, sometimes it feels like everything scares her. From dogs to large trucks, she will hear something and come and cower with me. Or daddy. Or Grandma. Or Grandpa. Or the neighbor. Or...well, you get the picture. And some times I look for times to be by myself, because I'm usually the one around for her to run too. And when she is scared he bites and scratches.

One of the times I look to be by myself is when I need my bathroom time. And I realized recently that I almost never am actually alone in the bathroom. If I'm showering, she's in there with me in less then five minutes. If I doing some dirty work, she comes and offers her clean up services (this one I find disturbing). If I am doing my hair, she starts to do hers, or waits in line for me to do it. Heaven forbid she catches me putting on make up, this one is a disaster waiting to happen.

But I love that little girl. For all her pesky little ways, I wouldn't trade her for anything. While she seems to be my most daring child, she is also my most agile child. She seems to come away from near disasters unscathed. If you can believe it.

I complain about my kiddos, but I do get a kick out of them. I love how adventurous Lauren is, and I love how incredibly sweet and kind Ally is and I love how intense Elijah is. They are a lot of fun.

I have to admit I terrified for Elijah's Parent Teacher Conference. I actually had a dream that the teacher started to scream at me. Did I say dream, scratch that, I meant nightmare. I think I am terrified she doesn't see what a great kid he is. And I think that is what upset me the most the last few weeks. He is a wonderful kid, I just wish everyone could see that. The conference happens on Thursday. I may need to go out for ice cream after this one.

Back in the Saddle

I have been really contemplating about our experiences this last year and my feelings about the whole thing and how they evolved. When Matt lost his job, I wasn't really scared. It was kind of a relief because I could tell he wasn't happy with his job. Of course, I also just assumed he would get a job. I knew everything would be alright.

And it was.

But, I didn't account for how it would effect me. In hindsight I realized I was in a state of mourning, for lack of a better term. Everything seemed okay, but inside I was struggling. And I don't mean spiritually. That was never an issue. But inside I was hurting.

Once I took a class on how to deal with someone who was mourning. And the lady who taught it had lost a son. She said that people say some pretty insensitive things without even meaning to. While with a death the phrases are, "He's in a better place." and "Aren't you excited to see him in the afterlife." With a job loss the phrases were, "I feel so blessed that we aren't going through that.", "I remember when we went through this." and "At least you get to see more of him." Now if anyone is reading this thinking I am mad, I'm not. I have in fact said these same things to other people. I just didn't know then, how much it would hurt.

Those statements didn't help heal my heart one bit though I found. It didn't help the fact that there were times I looked in the cupboard and realized there wasn't food for the week. It actually made me want to avoid people. Kind of selfish, I know, but everyone else's happiness seriously got on my nerves. And that is unfair. It wasn't their fault I was unhappy. They were just living their lives.

I can tell you what did help heal me.
1.) Inviting us (read in: me) to activities that were free or low cost.
2.) All the wonderful secret or not so secrets presents left for us at Christmas. While it was hard to leave Christmas in God's hands, it was truly amazing how it turned out. My kids loved it. :)
3.) A friend willing to listen to me vent about the same thing 10 times in a row. Seriously, I just needed to talk.
4.) Those nice ladies at the Bishop Storehouse. Baring my 5th grade teacher, the rest were all lovely. They were always really nice and excited to see us. It felt great!
5.) Sit N Chat. I know I talk about it a lot. But it was very cleansing to have a place to go, even if I couldn't afford to get a project to do during it. The talking was nice.
6.) The little Miracles that happened on a continuous basis. We constantly had some bill that was unexpected. But we got everything paid.
7.) Learning how to cook a whole chicken in a crock pot. Hey, some of us don't know these things. It was exciting to learn.
8.) Understanding. I gained an understanding for people I did not have before. The understanding to know that sometimes few words are best, just a hug means a lot and that sometimes people suffer silently. You just make it through because you have to.
9.) Matt and I have amazing parents. And without them we would have been sunk!
10.) I just have to say that many of you helped me by making me feel loved. Thank you!

This summer, I was trying to have a better attitude. I admit at the end it was getting really strained. But I feel I've grown into a better person because of it. And I know I'll (continue to) make mistakes, but I hope maybe not quite to many. :)

Ghost or Ghoul

So this year I kind of feel like I need to dress up for Halloween. And let me tell you, I like to dress up, but after all the energy, time and money getting my kids costumes I rarely feel inspired to get myself a costume. It's not really lack of desire, just exhaustion.

Since I am supposed to be in charge of a trunk or treat, and I feel like I should go to some lengths to get involved, does anyone have any suggestions for a easy and cheap costume?

Extree! Extree! Read All About It

We have been showing our kids a ton of musicals. And I mean tons. It started in January, when I put on Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and Elijah refused to listen to it. So I started renting them. I have rented a lot of them. And thought the course of these weekly viewings I learned a couple of things.

1.) My girls LOVE the musicals.
2.) Newsies was panned at the Box office.

Newsies is one of my favorite movies of all time. No joke. I love the movie. And I was stunned that it did so badly. Of course, keep in mind that it was made by the same guy who later made the "High School Musical" series of movies. And Newsies was supposed to have the same effect that" High School Musical" does today. But it didn't. It was, at the time, Disney's biggest disappointment of all time. WOW. Further keep in mind that I was a teenie bopper at the time.

So we searched online for reviews of the movie, because I just couldn't believe it did so badly. And the reviews were scathing. HORRIBLE. It was called "Howard the Newsies" by one illustrious critic, comparing it to "Howard the Duck" and all it's horribleness.

Now as I thought thinking about it I remembered the same HORRIBLE reviews for Speed Racer. And darned if I like the movies any less. They are still two of my favorites of all time.

Why do the critics opinion matter so much to us? Rarely do I see a movie that they recommend and think, "Yes, that was as wonderful as everyone said it was." No, I don't think that. I usually think the critically acclaimed movies are LAME. I like fun movies. Why can't I like movies that I think are fun? What is wrong with that.

So to put this into perspective, I am going to give you a list of other bombed movies. Movies that also had HORRIBLE things said about them.

1.) Nightmare Before Christmas
2.) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
3.) It's a Wonderful Life
4.) Napoleon Dynamite
5.) Tron
6.) Star Wars
7.) Rocky Horror Picture Show
8.) Office Space
9.) Star Trek
10.) Well, I could go on and on...

The point is, why do we let the critics keep us away from movies that we would love? In the end movies critics are just some guy telling us their opinion. Does it have to effect whether the movie becomes a family favorite or not?

24th of July

For the 24th of July we spent the afternoon with my sister and brother and his wife and kids. We started out by the pool and we all swam for a bit.

Elijah (who for some reason has water wings on) jumping in the pool.
Ally jumping in, again the water wings.
While everyone else was jumping in the pool Lauren decided it was a good time to throw a tantrum. Here she is being her pleasant two-year-old self.
Then, after the swimming, we quickly downed some VERY delicious Utah State Aggie Blue Mint Ice Cream. Yum!

We had made dinner plans with our friends the Jardine's. So we rushed back home so we could have a barbecue with them.

They had a pool in their back yard and Lauren and Emily (who are both two, can't you tell?) are playing in the water. Lauren eventually ended up SOAKED.
Elijah and their son Zack were playing with this cool homemade game.
Ally andher sparkler. Elijah has decided to be afraid of sparklers after he stepped on one.
Watching fireworks. That is Morgan, me and Ally.
The other blanket with Kenneth, Elijah , Morgan (again), Emily, Zach and Lauren.
Ally getting her baby time with Sean.