Counting Down...

Well folks, there are just a few hours left before the new year. I have thoroughly enjoyed this one and I hope many good things lurk in 2009 for us all. Like many of you, I have been thinking about new year resolutions and what I want to accomplish next year. I won't bore you with all of them, because there are quite a few this time around, but here is one you might be interested in...

...food storage. I have had a goal to get some kind of food storage going this year; we are woefully behind (meaning we have nothing—unless you count an extra bag of sugar and rice downstairs). However, on my way home from Idaho this week, I happened upon a billboard with this website: www.thereadyproject.com. Now this is the kind of food storage that my kids might consume. I might actually make headway this year on a one year's supply.

Anyway, I hope you all make some good goals. Keep moving forward (as Cornelius would say). See you all, next year.

Mary Kay and Me

So, I took the plunge and finally became a Mary Kay beauty consultant. Ha ha (I'm sorry, but this still seems funny to me). I joined, mainly because I love their products. I have gradually tried several MK products, and I have loved almost everything. I did not grow up a girly girl; I didn't wear makeup for the longest time and I didn't know anything about skin care. So now that I have found something I like, that is good for my skin, I am going to be a faithful customer. Plus, let's face it, I'm not getting any younger and my skin means a lot more to me now. Add in the fact that I am raising a bevy of beauties and it just makes sense to sell Mary Kay. I can get a discount on the products, and I hope to be able to teach my girls about skin care and makeup. So here I am, an independent beauty consultant (sorry, I still can't help but giggle when I say that).


This however poses a few problems. I do NOT like sales. I do not appreciate pushy sales people, and I certainly don't want to be one myself. I don't want to force something they don't want on people. Before I married Tyler, I wanted to go on a mission, but I worried if I could be a good missionary because I didn't want to be pushy, even then. Don't get me wrong, I realize the gospel has a much better product than Mary Kay, but I didn't know if I could "sell" it. With this new business endeavor, I am not naive as to what I am getting into. Mary Kay does a lot of business by referral. This means that they ask you to invite several friends or hand over their numbers so you can find more people to buy.


Um...this will NOT be me.


Instead I have another scheme—it's simple: I don't plan on making any money with this business. (Tyler is thrilled.) Come on, you know it's true, you don't make money as a salesperson unless you get referrals, and I don't really plan on taking part in that side of the business. I do plan on having some kind of business debut in January. If you ask me to do a facial for you or your friends I would be delighted. Other than that, call me because I won't be calling you.

Here's my Mary Kay dream:

To establish a base of clients who also enjoy the MK products and then have what they like on hand so they can count on me to deliver product whenever they need it. If people want to try products or play around with makeup, I would be happy to come over and show them what Mary Kay has to offer.


And that is it. I know—not very ambitious...but I value my friendships and my integrity. (Please note that I have met many salespeople who are very good at separating home and business, and a few who are not).


So seriously, if you are ever interested give me a ring, because I probably won't know unless you do.


You can also check out stuff online at my website— marykay.com/mcazier

p.s. With this business, I can plan my own hours, so naturally I am not planning on working on Sunday. Ironically, this post was written on Sunday, but I guess that is what happens when you procrastinate posting for over a month and then end up with nothing to do at your in-laws.

The Best Line of Christmas

As Robyn was opening the gift Ivory gave her:

"You were wrong June, she didn't give me a giant booger."

Mind you, there had been no allusions to the booger that I had heard of. June is obviously fulfilling her important role as oldest sibling.

The Stockings Were Hung...

As a child, I loved my stocking almost as much as I loved the gifts under the tree. It was also the one thing we could open before breakfast. My mother stuffed everyone's stocking, including her own and it wasn't until I was older that I found out that she just acted surprised when she pulled stuff out of her stocking. One year, we got her a humongous stocking and filled the whole thing for her, but in general, she was on her own. I'm not going to blame my dad, but come on...you couldn't manage to fill a sock with small gifts once a year?

Now fast forward to my present stocking experience. I do all the stuffing, naturally. Tyler has been fairly good about doing a stocking for me, but I can tell it is not his favorite thing. He tends to forget until the last minute and then scramble around for gifts to relieve the guilt. I don't feel this is what the season is about, but I am not about to stuff my own stocking and look surprised (sorry mom). So I have devised a new solution. Here is my new stocking:



Not bad, eh? I asked Tyler to put a gift card in it. Simply one gift card. He can purchase one at a different store each year and then I can go and get something I like. It still has the element of surprise, but all parties are satisfied in the end. It is genius I tell you. I think I am going to enjoy opening my stocking from now on, although I will miss the orange in the toe.

Nine years!

It is that blissful time of year again...

No, not Christmas. It is our anniversary! Seriously people, I remember why we got married in December, but it is truly a pain to try and squeeze in anniversary plans amidst the seasonal festivities. Not to mention, getting another gift and dealing with inclement weather. So we officially decided that we will celebrate in the summer from now on; I think we decided this while driving to dinner in a blizzard last night.

It was Tyler's year to plan and he did a good job of keeping everything hidden until the actual day (good job honey). We went and got massages—very relaxing. Then we went home and got the baby (it is hard to plan around a little one who eats every two hours). What with the snow, I decided it would just be easier to take her with us than worry about being back on time. We went to Bombay House (neither of us had been before) and it was so delicious. It was the perfect amount of food (I swear most restaurants are trying to feed an army with each plate), and the atmosphere was great; it helped that I went with a handsome, entertaining person.

We then went home again to put the baby to sleep (poor Tyler had made other plans originally until he remembered we had the baby problem) and then we were free for the evening. Unfortunately, his original plans hinged on the weather being fair—it wasn't. So on to plan B, shopping!!! I think Tyler knows that if he ever has to fall back on something, I am happy to oblige him and go shopping (okay, really he just loves me so). He told me he thought we should go shoe shopping. I mentioned that there were these shiny red pumps that wouldn't go with anything I owned, so maybe I should forgo getting them, but he reminded me that this anniversary was not about getting practical stuff. So, yay, I have red high heels! Um, the girls love them too.



He also chose another pair of 'practical' shoes for me. I like it when he chooses stuff for me, because then I know he likes what I am wearing. He chose a brown shoe, and I said,
"Are you sure about the brown?"
"Yeah, it matches your hair."
"What about the blue and white ones? They match my eyes."
"Well, you have more hair."

So we went with the brown.

We did some other shopping including some pink ties for Tyler. I personally love them, but he is hesitant to wear pink. But as all of us women know, real men can wear pink.



The evening was just fun. I have committed to at least another nine years with Tyler. We'll renegotiate after that. Who am I kidding? I am never letting him out of this deal. He is stuck for eternity. Sometimes we argue about who got the better deal, but I secretly know it was me; I lucked out for sure.

Love you babe. Life wouldn't be what it is, without you.



This was the first picture taken of us together, about 9 1/2 years ago.

Aspiring Beautician

Hair done today, compliments of June. The best part was that I didn't hear any complaining from the girls. I may have to put her in charge of doing hair permanently. Except maybe for Sundays...

Tyler struggled for the phrase, 'Trailer Park.' Come on dad, this is June's first hairstyling experience—go easy on her.

Happy Birthday to ...

Maleen mentioned that we went to the party the other night. She forgot to mention the BEST thing! We sang happy birthday to a friend.

Now before you think that's not very interesting, remember that this is me we're talking about here...of course it's interesting.

My good buddy...we'll call him Matt to protect his real name...is a little shy at such large parties. He does not like large groups and this one was a doozy: 200 employees plus significant other, plus catering staff, plus homeless people who walked in for a free meal, etc. I turned to Maleen and asked how many people would like to celebrate Matt's birthday. She reminded me that it was in fact not Matt's birthday at all (it won't happen until April). I reminded her that I was cognicant of this fact and that that was not the real objective at all—"How many people do you think we can get singing Happy Birthday?" I asked.

Then we started singing. "Happy birthday to you..." (10 people singing now).
"Happy Birthday to you..." (about 94 people singing now).
"Happy Birthday dear..." (about 387 people singing at the end of dear, about 13 mumbling out somebody's name, and I, of course, was silent.)
"Happy Birthday to you!" (the 387 people rejoined us).

Wonderful.

I love social experimentation. You never can tell what people will do--but you can make a pretty good hypothosis, then test it out!

Tid-bits

In no particular order:

Robyn
She had her preschool Christmas program this week. She did such a good job and she knew every song. She exchanged gifts with her teacher at the end. I think she truly loves Miss Mackenzie.



Also, I finally put up her Halloween/Christmas lights on her bed. There is a short in the wire, so if you touch them the wrong way, half the strand goes out, but she loves them just the same. Here is a picture of the purple ambiance.



Ivory
Ivory complained she was sick the other night. I tried to get more specifics but she just insisted on medicine (she really thinks it cures all ills). Well, I put my tired girl to bed only to come back later and find that she had thrown-up and had a massive diarrhea blow-out and then fallen back asleep. She really was exhausted. I had to wake her and clean her up (of course), and then she proceeded to throw-up a few more times that evening. The next morning she was fit as a fiddle. Obviously something had not agreed with her.
She doesn't take many naps anymore (too bad for me) so by evening she is totally tuckered out. She tends to fall asleep mid-thought.



June
Always looking for something new, June has discovered safety pins. She decided to pin one undershirt to another to make it a leotard kind of outfit.



My only consolation is that they are undershirts and people won't be able to see all the holes she is putting in them.

Daisy
The rolling continues at inopportune times. She tends to wake up at night, decide to roll over and then scream for assistance. Hmmm, I am not loving this new development. I think I got up four times last night, often just to turn her over. But, because she ends up on her tummy often, she is getting better at lifting her body up with her skinny arms. Such is development; you get the good with the bad. This picture cracks me up, she looks so forlorn.



Tyler and Maleen
We went to Tyler's Christmas party last week. It was a great dinner and they had some fun activities. They had some containers at each table with various items and you had to estimate how many were inside. I was telling June just the other day that I was better at estimating than Daddy. Well, Tyler was closer on all three, and he won two of the containers. Guess I shouldn't brag about that anymore.

Finally, a reason to wear those snow pants.

I think I may have mentioned this before and I know it is not the majority opinion in Utah, but I don't really love snow. I grew up in Washington where we don't get a lot of snow. When I did play in it, I always remember coming inside feeling soaked, chilled, and uncomfortable. It wasn't until years later that I realized it was because we didn't have snow clothes. I didn't know what snow pants were until I saw some at a friend's house. Don't judge my mother though, I wouldn't buy snow pants for a child who might only have a chance to wear them three times.
And so I have had a hard time getting used to the snow in Utah. This is actually the first year I have bought snow pants for the girls. I think my mother-in-law up in Idaho thinks that I do not dress my children appropriately, and she is probably right. To me snow is pretty to look at (until someone walks or drives on it) but who would go out and play in it? Granted, the few times I have dressed warmly, it has been really fun, so maybe that is the key; hence the snow pants for the girls. I want them to enjoy winter, especially if we live here for a while.
So today we had our first real snowfall of the year (this is crazy late for us) and I felt like a good mom as I tugged on my girls snow pants and boots. They really seemed to enjoy themselves, especially Ivory. She liked throwing, eating and falling in the snow.



Robyn was intent on cleaning everything off. Here she is scraping the snow off the little house in back, or maybe she is just sneezing.



Look at those cold rosy cheeks.



Even though I don't like snow, I know how to finish a day playing out in the cold.

The Life of the Party

Did I ever mention that I am married to the most exuberant man? Oddly enough, he doesn't really desire to go to social functions; without me he would most likely be a hermit (by his own admission). However, once I get him to a party, there is no stopping the man. He is just downright hilarious.
We attended the Scoresby's annual Christmas party. Those people know how to throw a party! The holidays would not be complete without it; I look forward to it with anticipation every year. This year was no exception. Keri comes up with a game to begin the festivities and it changes from year to year. This year was quite the doozy. It consisted merely of two teams that were given a pair of pantyhose and balloons. The idea was to blow up the balloons, and stuff them into the pantyhose until they resembled some sort of "antlers," then stick them on someone's head and sing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The objective? Accomplish this before the other team does. Everyone nominated Tyler to "antler-wearer," naturally. The guys' team won and here is Tyler dancing around to Rudolf, wearing pantyhose antlers on his head. I will never forget this image.



And now, neither will you.

But then he couldn't stop playing with them throughout the night and by the end of the evening, he really had some interesting antlers. Add a few of the gag gifts from the evening, and here is the finished product.



We had a really good time. The Scoresby's always play the Oldy-Wed game. We usually stink at it, but this year we were in tune. I chalk it up to praying right before we left that we would do well . We won!! I think we only missed two questions and I don't think Obfuscating counts, Steve! (Even though Tyler got it mostly right with, "to hide or obscure.") As always the white-elephant gift exchange was classic. I was impressed that people actually remembered what we had brought all three years: a white elephant made out of toilet paper, holey sheets, and a box of See's candy with a bite taken out of each piece. This year we returned a silly (loud) penguin that has been circulating for several years now.
We had such a good time. Thanks again to the Scoresby's. Without you, how would I ever get pictures of Tyler in pantyhose?

I am adding this picture late, but as you can see, I enjoy a good party as well.

Muddy Balls

My father's grandmother was named Muddy. This endearing term came from her young children who had trouble saying Mommy, and it stuck on her. I obviously never knew her, but there is one thing she has passed on that I will remember forever and that is...Muddy balls.
Muddy balls are the name of the handmade Christmas ornaments that she made. They are all spherical decorated in fabric, ribbon, and interesting beads. I think they are beautiful and it was always my favorite part when we got the Muddy balls out to go on the tree. In fact, I'm telling my siblings now, I totally claim the Muddy balls.
I have always wondered how exactly they were made and I even wanted to try some myself. Needless to say, when June chose making ornaments as one of her holiday activities, I could only see Muddy balls in my mind. So, I pulled out all my extra fabric and let each person choose some. We got styrofoam balls and covered them in the fabric and then added whatever was handy. They are not true Muddy balls because I do not have her talent yet and I sure wish I had one handy to look at (they are all in WA), but I was proud of our effort. Here they are in all their glory.



The picture is a bit blurry, but the individual ones are better. They are shown in birth order (yes, that crazy pinkish one is Tyler's).



Muddy never knew she was leaving such a legacy, but we are sure happy she did.

No Time Like the Present

I've been thinking about this post for a while and it is probably fitting that I keep putting it off.
I've decided that I should just do things when I think about them. Period. When I don't, I am only hurting myself. After all, there is only me to clean up after my own stupidity. Classic example: Last year, I think June knocked over the Christmas tree. It was after Christmas, so it was time to put the tree away anyway, but in the crash the tree stand broke. Now, I should have bought another one pronto (I thought about it), but instead I decided, 'Oh, I won't need one until next year.'
So, when I pulled out the tree this year, I thought, 'Idiot, why didn't I buy one last year? Now I have to stop what I am doing to go find one and hope I can find something that works because I want to put up the tree today.'
I am so mean to my future self. I am constantly doing things to drive her crazy. Like not watering the plants because I am too busy, and then she sits there with wilting vegetation all around her wondering what happened to the plants.
At Thanksgiving time, I was supposed to put some chicken in the freezer (which would have taken like 20 seconds) but instead I put it off and realized somewhere in Idaho that I had a whole cut up chicken in Utah that wasn't going to be good by the time I got back (Arrggg!).
I could save myself so much frustration by just doing things when they occur to me. The most common one is thinking of something I need at the store and NOT writing it down because I will remember it later. I never do. And then I remember it the next week and think, 'I should write it down but since I remembered it right now, I will remember it again.' I don't. You think I would learn from this. But, I don't.
Even as I write this I am irked because Ivory keeps asking for tissue. All the tissue is downstairs. My past self was supposed to bring some up last night when she thought of it, but instead now I am in charge of doing her undone tasks.
These are just a few examples of the myriad of times I have sabotaged my self. I am truly my own worst enemy in many ways.
The moral is: There is no time like the present. As Nike and President Kimball said, "Do it." I really need to take this advice to heart.

p.s. I was able to find a tree stand on short notice, and to convert this post into a lovely Christmas themed one, here is a picture. We have a very simple tree. Someday I will get the matching ornaments, but for now we are happy with the hodge-podge.



Oh, and looking at this picture, I am thinking that the strand of lights that I bought to replace the broken one (notice the lack of lights at the bottom of the tree) is still in my car. *Sigh* another thing I didn't do when I was thinking about it. Don't plan for those to get on the tree this year.

Santa Claus and the Gadianton Robbers

We had our ward Christmas party this evening. It was the usual fare, but with some new twists.

*The giving tree* I thought this was an excellent way to have the members help out others. I was proud to tell my girls that we were donating anonymously.

*Santa was back* I know this doesn't really go with the Jesus theme (and they haven't had Santa for several years), but now that the kids got to sit on Santa's lap, I can skip the Mall.

*June flirting with boys* Um...lame.

*The Gadianton Robbers* Tyler got to organize a band and play several songs. He even got his drum set on stage (can I say my husband is hot when he plays the drums? Sure I can, it's my blog). I personally think they should have cleared the floor and let people dance, but the logistics didn't favor that since we were already packed in like sardines. Oh, The Gadianton Robbers was the name for the band they came up with on the spot.

*I didn't bring food* I guess being down in nursery meant that I completely missed the sign-up sheet this time around. I always sign up if I see it, but tonight I really had dinner for free. That is okay by me (don't worry, I will be signing up for the next one).

*Four kids* Three of which are very mobile. I have started to make peace with the fact that I don't know where my kids are 75% of the time.

As these ward socials go, this one was pretty good. You can tell that many people worked hard to get it all put together. Good job guys! Here are some pictures of the girls with Santa.

Guess Who Rolled Over Today!

You guessed it!

Technically this picture was not taken after she rolled over by herself because that is usually followed by a little crying since her arm is often stuck underneath her, but you get the idea.

I Blame Kellie (not really)

Kellie has this Chex mix recipe that is to die for. Whenever she brings it to parties I pretty much ignore the other desserts and dig in on her dish. She dropped by a little holiday Chex-mix goodness the other evening and she included the recipe.

Life will never be the same around here.

I made half a batch because it makes an enormous amount and we still have a lot leftover despite my eating a pound of it already. Every time I walk by I can't help but snitch some.

Chex Mix, you are my nemesis. I love you so, but things can't go on like this. We need to stop seeing each other. I'll make you a deal. I'll sacrifice and eat the rest of you this time, but in the future I will only make you for parties and other get togethers. Are we clear?

In case anyone needs this evil deliciousness in their life, here is the recipe:

SWEET CHEX MIX

2 cups butter
1 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ cups Karo syrup

Melt above ingredients in saucepan, boil 3 min, pour over:

¾ box rice Chex cereal
1 box Golden Grahams
½ bag coconut
Nuts (optional. I like Almonds)

Stir well, then when slightly cooled add a bag of M&Ms.

Enjoy!

p.s. I had to go downstairs to get the recipe and (you guessed it) I stopped to help myself to come Chex mix.

Weekend Festvities

On Friday night we went to the Festival of Trees. I knew that we went last year and I was looking back to see if I could find pictures. It turns out that I was being lazy and I just posted a link to a friend's blog. Note to self: not the best idea if you want pictures later. Oops. But not this year. I have some pictures of my own. Not many, mind you, but a couple to get the feel of the evening. It was crazy crowded, but we managed to have a great time. In our case, less was more. We started by looking for a tree decorated by a friend (one of these days I hope we can decorate one ourselves). We found it quickly thanks to some previous directions (I think it looked awesome Vieve, and sorry we didn't get the camera out until we were leaving).

Then we looked at a few of the bigger trees as we headed toward the stage; Tyler likes to watch the dancing. (Tyler interjects that the reasons he likes the dancing are: 1- Chairs. 2- Music. 3- Some of them are actually talented.) While he watched I took one child at a time over to the Small Fry area where they have things priced for a child's budget. I am very proud of June's choice; she got a little calendar with blank pictures for her to color in. She has already drawn something for each month and she is excited to display it in her room. I guess I was proud because she opted for the calendar over candy (a true sign that she is growing up).

Tyler took the girls down and got some *amazingly* reasonably priced scones and cinnamon rolls, which we ate while we watched more dancing. I would have been happy to walk around looking at trees for hours; but when you bring kids you usually cater to their schedule. I did take a peek at all the Gingerbread houses and that may be my new favorite part. It is amazing what people can do with food. And that is really the extent of our trip.

Like I said, I didn't get the camera out until the end so I actually made Tyler go back inside to get these two shots. Check out this Candyland, amazing huh?



And then I really liked this one done for the poem The Highwayman.



That has always been one of my favorite poems and I felt special when someone said, "The Highwayman? What does that mean?" Okay, I might have felt a tad smug knowing about the poem (although I couldn't have told you who wrote it).

Then we packed up and left. Just like that. We had to use the GPS to find our car because Tyler parked it. We didn't really see that much and yet, we had an excellent time. I guess it was just nice to be with our family. Daisy was adorable—as always—in her little sling and many people had to stop looking at trees and admire her for a moment. We managed to get a family picture as we were leaving (this is when I remembered to take the camera out—awesome huh?).



Saturday night we attended a reception for June's teacher. She officially changed over from Miss Feik to Mrs. Mitchell. June tells me that some children at school are having trouble making the transition (I do not doubt this since I find myself wondering what to call her). She looked beautiful in her wedding dress.



We saw several friends at the reception, and then we headed home. It was a fun, but tiring weekend. Ivory keeps falling asleep since we don't always get her a nap.



That last one was actually in Idaho, when we put her in "time-out" long enough for her to realize she was sleepy.

Do I Qualify for the Evil Stepmother Program Yet?

I was feeding the baby and listening to the kids play in the other room. June was leading the girls in decorating the room and getting ready for some kind of party. This was a bit of the dialogue I caught:

June: We have to clean the room for the party.

Ivory: Clean the table.

June: I already cleaned the table, but mom won't notice 'cuz her eyes only see dirty.

Ouch— but it sounds like me.

LATER

June (pretending to be mom): You girls better get beautiful for the party.

June (being a daughter again): But why do we have to get dressed? We are beautiful just the way we are.

June (the mom again): You'd better get dressed quickly or I'm going to kill you.

Wait. Now I am hoping that this 'mom' isn't patterned after me. At least I don't think I have ever threatened to kill a child for not getting dressed fast enough.

Then again, I have threatened to eat them when we play "Evil witch/Good witch" and then make a wig out of their hair, but that is totally different.

Maybe we should read fewer fairy tales.

Sleeping in Satin

While we were shopping last Friday, my mother-in-law saw some Satin sheets that she loves. She decided that each of her daughters needed to try them, so she let us each choose a set. Kathryn chose red, I chose Ivory, and Amber opted out of the satin option (apparently she doesn't like the feel of it on her skin). I was excited to try out my new sheets so I washed them and put them on the bed soon after we got back home.
They are very luxurious, but there is one problem; no friction. Nothing stays put. When I go to put my head on the pillow, the pillow just slides away and I am left with nothing but a corner or no pillow at all. I find myself clutching my pillow if I want my head to rest in the middle. Likewise the sheets don't like to remain in place either. If you sit on the edge of the bed, the weight of your body immediately starts dragging the whole bed towards you. I don't consider myself a cover hog but whoever starts with the most sheets at bedtime ends up with them all by morning. I get up to feed the baby and come back to find Tyler barely covered (mainly because the sheets came with me when I left and then gravity finished the job). I found myself throwing satin sheets back over him knowing they wouldn't stay for long.
So, the long and the short of satin sheets; they feel great, if you can stay in them. Maybe I am not elegant at heart, because I am happy with my jersey sheets.

Tugging at Heartstrings

Well, it was a typical day at my house. Ivory was supposed to be napping but somewhere during that time, I heard her start crying. It was a stronger cry than usual, so I investigated with alacrity. Sure enough, she had hit the edge of her eye on something (I never did figure out what). I held her close and rocked her while she wailed. Unfortunately, I looked down while cuddling and noticed one of my books she had gotten off the shelf. There seemed to be a page ripped out with additional shredding afterwards. I admit that my sympathy quickly dissolved and instead I was piqued. This isn't the first book she has destroyed because she was bored in her room. I already knew that the regular stern rebuffing, etc. had done little to stop the problem, so I tried a new tactic to illicit results.
I looked down and got a little teary eyed and said, "Why did you tear up my book, Ivory? This is mommy's book that she really likes. Why would you rip out a page?" Well, I got more reaction than I bargained for, but not from the desired party. Ivory was giving me the big cow eyes of regret (which was expected) but June burst into tears.
"Mommy's sad!" she wailed. She hugged me around the waist and I could feel tears dripping onto my bare feet. Wow, I didn't know she cared...
...and this continued in much the same manner for the next half an hour. She sobbed and kept saying, "Mommy's book, mommy's book." I had time to find all the pieces, sort them out, tape them back in, try multiple times to tickle her back into joviality, but all to no avail. She was heartbroken. "June, what can I do to cheer you up. The book will be fine. Is there anything I can get you?"
Eventually in a quavering voice, she said, "Toast....cinnamon."
Well, that was easy enough, and it did seem to do the trick. But golly, I don't think I plan to cry around June ever again if I can avoid it. She was really affected. It was sweet to think that she genuinely cares about me.

Turkey Day and Other News

Ha, I'm back. I know you all missed me and were surprised that I could actually refrain from blogging for so many days. My mom even told me that I needed to post again as she was sick of looking at my pie :p
So here are the highs and lows from my weekend in Idaho.

High: It was Turkey Day and Ty's family can really hustle up the grub. I enjoyed every minute of turkey goodness.

Low: Tyler's parents decided to have pie for breakfast which seemed like a good idea except that we had just had Pie Night. So, I must say that I have had enough pie for the year. So bring on the Christmas sugar cookies.

High: My mother-in-law is a strong advocate of Black Friday. We (mil, me and sil's) were up at the unseemly hour of 3 am. That may sound terrible, but we did awesome this year. We are quite the team getting items for each other and saving places in line. We were in and out of Kohl's in less than half an hour, meaning we were able to go stand in another line for a store that opened at 5 am, and I was able to buy myself two pairs of knee high boots for $3o dollars when they are normally $70 each. Ah, the glory of a good sale.

Low: Um, I spent too much. Tyler has Quicken and tracks every dime I spend. I sense another 'talk' coming on.

High: I got to take a nice long nap on Saturday morning.

Low: That is because I was throwing up with diarrhea all the previous night. Something I ate didn't agree with me and came back with a vengeance. I'm very proud of myself though; I didn't wake Tyler up during the ordeal. I even found all my mother-in-law's cleaning supplies in the middle of the night so I could clean the floor (I may have missed the garbage can once when I threw up). I only woke him briefly to tell him that I was sleeping on the bathroom floor and to bring the baby to me when she woke up. It was really a miserable night.

High: The kids had a blast playing with their cousins. They love Grandma's house and all the dress up stuff and toys she has.

Low: Holy cow, they dragged toys all over the house. I felt I had to clean every single room before we left because there was something there that didn't belong.

High: We took the dog along and everyone loved her.

Low: She followed me around everywhere (like usual) and interrupted one attempted nap (grrr.) I still need to post my feelings about the animal. Stay tuned for my version of Moxy.

High: I got to attend Relief Society for the first time in ages.

Low: It wasn't really Relief Society because it was the fifth Sunday.

High: Even better I got to sit with Tyler because we were all combined.

Low: They have no nursery in their ward so we had two kids with us. I entertained Ivory and Tyler walked with Daisy, so we didn't really sit by each other.

High: There was no SNOW yet, so the drive was great both ways. This is truly nice, it seems there is always snow this time of year in Idaho.

Low: It was a little hectic getting under way on Wednesday. I refused to cook because I had just cleaned the kitchen and I didn't want to come back to dirty dishes so we stopped by Wal-mart to grab something from the deli. Tyler bustled around handing out corn-dogs and popcorn chicken while I fed the baby. We eventually got mostly settled and realized we didn't have any napkins so I made the short drive over to the nearby McDonald's. As we were pulling in, Ivory said, "Is this Idaho?"She is so funny.
Other than that, it really wasn't bad. The kids slept both ways and except for one peeing in the car on the way home (I won't name names), it was a breeze. Plus, I love getting eight hours to talk to Tyler. He really makes me laugh.

So there was my weekend. I wasn't thrilled to come home to December. That meant instant decorating and trimming of tree so we don't lose a second of Christmas wonder in the house. I am proud to say that my house is decorated, my kids are almost asleep (okay, that's a stretch, I can still hear them giggling), and I even had time to blog. It was a good day.
Granted, my neighbor gifts are not quite finished and there were supposed to be delivered before Thanksgiving and I haven't mailed my nephew's birthday gift and his birthday is on Wednesday, but I never claimed to be perfect (actually I think I have claimed that, but I am sure you all saw through that).

High: Tyler claims to be perfect.

Low: He has a song to go with it.

Pie Night

We had some friends invite us over for Pie Night. I thought this was the best idea! As it turns out, I can only eat about one piece of pie before I feel a little sick. The good news was that I got to bring my leftovers home, so I had pie for breakfast and that wasn't too bad. Here was my contribution.



I had never made a cherry pie before, and it turned out fairly tasty, and pretty (my girls chose my pie simply because of the hearts—I know how to woo an audience). There was a good selection there, but like I said, I should have stopped after the first slice.



This sounded like a great tradition, but it won't be one we adopt ourselves. However, I would definitely attend again. I mean, who can say no to a slice of pie? Here we all are digging in.



Might I draw your attention to the attractive arm in the middle of the picture. Yep, that is Tyler. There isn't an inch on that man that isn't HOT! He was the tastiest looking thing there. Okay, I'll stop.

By the way, happy Thanksgiving tomorrow and all that. Enjoy your own slice o' pie.

Serenity Now!!

I was planning on blogging about our cute little FHE that we always have the week of Thanksgiving. We make a turkey and there is a feather for each member of the family describing what they are thankful for. Well, I guess I am blogging about the turkey, so here is a picture while I am at it.



This year the girls chose their own feather colors; hence the pinkish tint of the turkey. I think he looks pretty good though.

Then I came across something else that needed to be blogged today. It is not everyday you can take a picture of a pet peeve. Here is one of mine.



The girls sometimes decide to 'cook', or mix, or... drive me crazy. They will take every bucket and box of toys they have and combine them in one huge mess. AAAHHHH!!! This is worse than a normal mess because it means sorting things out again (because I'm anal like that). It was probably my fault since I was making a pie and they decided to 'make' a pie of their own. Somehow I thought that the last time they did this, I was exceedingly clear that they should never do it again, so I was actually surprised to see it happen again (what? My children don't listen to me?) Just walking by that basket made me want to yell "Serenity Now!" I demanded that they stop immediately and start cleaning up, at which point the doorbell rang with kids that I was going to babysit. "Serenity Now!" Usually the mess only increases when kids come over but Seth and Lyncoln were actually quite good at separating toys back into buckets. Then of course Ivory felt that these new kids needed to see the baby right in the middle of Daisy's nap. I reached the door too late to stop the impromptu show-n-tell and suddenly my baby was awake an hour early. "Serenity Now!" Most days I do feel like I am working backwards. The house starts in an awkward state and slowly proceeds toward utter chaos. Is it the fourth kid that tipped the balance? Or maybe I am just slowing down.

The Laundry Fairy

Today I was visited by the laundry fairy. I had folded half the laundry and I was in Daisy's room feeding her when June walked in and told me to close my eyes. Okay. Then every few seconds she told me to close my eyes again as she passed by the room. She is older so I don't worry about her usually, but there are still times when she gets into things hoping to surprise me and then it ends up being too much of a surprise. So I was getting a little curious as to what she was scheming. I was not supposed to go in my room, but I had to change the baby and all the diapers were in there. So I peeked in...
I noticed right away that most of the laundry had been put away; however, June does not like a surprise to be interrupted half way through. She yelped in dismay and told me not to look and I obediently told her that I did not see a thing.
Later she asked me what I thought happened to all the laundry. I asked if maybe she had put it away.
"Nope," was her reply. Of course, questioning the other girls came up with no solution either. I exclaimed, "It must have been the laundry fairy. I have heard about her, but she has never visited my house before." I could tell that June liked this answer a lot and she immediately played along. She told me that she would go look for the laundry fairy to thank her and she came back with a detailed description. I wish I could tell you more of what she looked like but I was on the phone part of the time while June chattered on about the laundry fairy. My favorite part (that I did catch) was the laundry fairy wears a shirt with a picture of a guy doing laundry on it. "A guy?" was my response. It seems fitting since we all wish some other guy was doing the laundry for us.
I'm sure I can work this to my advantage. The only problem is I had to put the laundry fairy to bed before the second half of the laundry was finished. So, I guess it is just me tonight. I'll have to remember and finish during business hours next time.

Confessions of a Moody Mom

I confess that I don't think much of herbal remedies. My Dad would be appalled to learn this. He has a whole slew of vitamins and what-not that he is always trying to feed me (I take some of them...sporadically).
So now I am on this herbal thing to make my milk come in and man—it is doing something to me. I imagine it must work on my hormones, to help my body produce more milk. I'm not sure of the exact process, but the end result seems to be that I feel extremely moody, interspersed with bouts of light-headedness and occasional headaches. Now the last two may have nothing to do with the herbal medicine. I told Tyler that I am killing myself slowly and he looked a little confused. I explained that you are supposed to eat more when you are nursing because you are feeding two and your body will give the nourishment to the baby regardless of the mother. Well, (more confessions) I am not the best at eating. I tend to feed my children and forget about myself. I grab a snack here and there, but I am not adding a significant chunk to my caloric intake. And then I go and start taking a supplement that is making my body produce MORE milk. Thus, I should probably be eating even more...I'm not.
So the dizziness and occasional headaches are not entirely surprising, but the moodiness is a bit unexpected and annoying. I told Tyler today that I was feeling out of sorts and he said that I have been a bit short recently (I don't think he was referring to my height). I feel bad when I can see my husband gauging my reaction before he says something. And I hate being cross with my children. I feel every situation can be handled with some grumpy stern words or some creative problem solving and a bit of humor. Yeah, I have been using more of the former.
So perhaps herbal stuff works better than I expected (sorry Dad). I need to reach inside and find some extra patience and perhaps reach outside for an extra bite to eat. I promise to eat a LOT next Thursday at least.
In the meantime, I will put my headache to bed; alone sadly. Tyler went back to work. I can't imagine why, I am so much fun to be around right now...

Rejects

I am getting ready to make a couple more scrapbook pages for Daisy (I do them by month) and I had too many pictures that I liked. So I chose the best to print and then I decided to put a couple on here to entertain the viewers. Notice, these are the ones that DIDN'T make the cut...and look how cute she still is.



If you want to see the ones that were worth printing, you'll just have to come over and look at her scrapbook sometime. Tell me you are coming and I'll make cookies (I always need a good excuse).