Death By Pictures

I would have never thought that getting your pictures taken could be so physically painful, not necessarily for me, but mostly my kids and for sure Nate. At least I've discovered a new form of punishment, "Kaleb, stop pretending to pee on your sisters! Do you want to get your pictures taken again?!" The same would probably work for Nate.

I feel so on top of things. It's not even December and I have my pictures done... now I just need to make a card, get them printed, write a sweet little message (probably something like "may your Christmas be bright and cheery this time of yearie"), put them in envelopes, write addresses out, put a stamp on them, and send them on their merry way. Hopefully I do better at sending these out than I did sending my thank you cards for my wedding. I got them all written out and addressed, but for some reason I struggled with the getting-the-stamps-on and mailing-it-out part. Better yet, if I fail miserable at sending out cards -which is completely feasible- just pick your favorite family picture, right click on it, save it to your computer, then take it to a photo lab and have it printed yourself. The bigger the better... at least a 16x20 and hang it in a place where you'll always see it, like above your bed. That way it will be the last thing you see when you go to bed and the first thing you see when you wake up. My YheartY feels warm already.

Merilee, my beautiful and talented friend, was crazy enough to accept the challenge of taking our family pictures and I'm so glad she did, because she did -as Abrie would say- a FABLY-OUS job! Now I can actually update the picture on the side with a picture where Macie actually has hair. Happy day!

Now onto the pictures...

Kaleb caught in mid irish dance stepping.

Proof that we are an angelic family. See... we're glowing.
The force is strong with us.

Either Abrie doesn't like us kissing or she's telling us to kiss with tongue. Not sure which one it is.

Grrrrrrrr! So good looking, makes me want to bite him. I'm thinking about blowing this one up to 30x40 gallery wrapped canvas with the words, "I'm too sexy for this canvas" written across the top. You don't think that's too much, do you?


We struggled a bit trying to pull of the serious look. The proof is in the outtakes.

You've seen the pictures, now tell me; which shot is your favorite?

Which picture would you blow up and set in the middle of your dinner table as a center piece?

Which picture would you use to take the place of your TV on your entertainment center?
Which picture would you put on a T-shirt and wear with pride?

Which picture would you turn into a windshield reflector to shade your car from a hot, sunny day?

Choose wisely, the picture you pick might end up on a hot cocoa mug to give to my grandparents.

What's Your POV?

I'm a REALIST. Yep, that's me! It drives my husband crazy, but he promises he loves me anyway.

An Apple a Day...

or 2, or 3.... or 6, or 7.
Do you think if we took all the bites from these apples and added them together it would be the equivalent of at least one apple? I think yes. So at least it's not a total loss.

Macie likes apples.

I mean, really likes apples.

(Don't you think these pictures have a Chris Farley-esque feel to them? Especially that top right one. Proud Mommy moment.)

Looooong Day

Today felt abnormally long. Is it possible to fit 24 hours into a 12 hour time period?

I was stuck at home all day today. Our poor little shagon wagon/mini-van-of-love was in the shop. Did I just write a post about having two cars? Ha, funny!

Back to where I was... it was a loooong day. Here's just a little sample of what I got to experience today;

Run-by-egging- performed by two little kids named Macie and Kaleb. I spent most of the afternoon attempting to get raw egg out of the carpet, off of the kitchen floor, walls and light switches. In my defense I was not the one watching the kids at the time (apparently no one was watching the kids at that time).

Anti-bacterial rubdown- Macie decided to squirt hand sanitizer all over herself and the carpet. I got to clean the carpet a second time. BONUS- Macie didn't need to take a bath tonight.

Honey & cheese crackers- Kaleb and Macie decided they were hungry so after rummaging through the pantry they found Cheeze-its and a jar of honey. If cheese crackers taste so good by themselves just imagine how much better they would taste with a jar of honey squeezed on them. In the process of their culinary creations they managed to spill honey all over the carpet and yet again I find myself down on my hands and knees scrubbing the carpet.

*Note to self: Only buy a home with all wood flooring.

Do You Smell That?

No, not the stench of an unshowered mother of 3 and no, not the smell of the bathroom that is still waiting for me to clean. The other, more pleasant smell.

It's the smell of freedom and it smells sooooooo gooooood!
(insert Mel Gibson's freedom call from Braveheart here)

It has been a long time coming -4 years and 4 months to be exact- and now Nate and I have joined the ranks of multiple car owners every where. We now own not only one, but two cars... (tear).

I am a firm believer that money can't buy happiness. However, money may not be able to buy happiness, but money can buy things like cars and having a car makes me extremely happy.

Now I'm all prepared for your next question, "What kind of car did you get?". I'm so glad you asked. We got a completely modest car that we could afford on our humble budget. The 2009 hummer H3, with custom rims, chrome grill, leather seats, built in fridge, smoothie maker, pencil sharpener, seat massagers, third row seating that doubles as a porta-potty (because who wants to make unnecessary stops to the bathroom), and it can parallel park itself, Oh, and we will be riding in cost-efficient-style because this baby runs on vegetable oil and baked beans... you don't think it's too much do you?

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OK, so maybe I stretched the truth just a bit. We did buy a car, but the only thing that our car has in common with the one above is that it has 4 wheels and it drives. We bought a Honda accord and part of the initiation of living in Utah is owning a Honda of some sort and having stickers like this plastered on your rear window.

I've got the Honda covered. Now I just need to work on the stickers...

Because It Makes Me Laugh...

Church talent shows have been taken to another level.

Check it out right here...

The Syncro Swim

It looks like Abrie and Kaleb have some pretty tough competition.

Got Snow?

When we woke up this morning the world looked like this...

Which, to Kaleb and Macie, meant that breakfast should look like this...

(Notice the empty bottle of snow cone juice. It got emptied on their first few shots of flavored snow. I'm not sure what round this is.)

This is probably the best breakfast I've never made.

What can I say? Eating snow is one of the joys of being a kid. I just need to remember to give them the It's-probably-not-a-good-idea-to-eat-yellow-snow talk before they make this a habit. Also my Mom walked in and saw them eating the snow and said, "Ginnie, they say on the news that the first snow is always filled with pollution". My response to that is -as Mindi put it so eloquently- in the words of Kanye West "N-n-now that, that don't kill us can only make us stronga"

Happy Election Day!

Don't forget to vote for the Hoff!

Happy Halloweenie Re-cap

( Lovely pumpkin drawing compliments of Abrie)

Pre-Halloween celebration:

Some families have cute thought-out costumes that correspond with each other... and some families find whatever they can laying around the house (including bright neon blue *spandex pants) and throw it on, then call it good.

*I've found they key to wearing spandex is to make sure that you wear the spandex and not let the spandex wear you.

Here are most of my nieces and nephews on my side of the family.

Halloween:

Abrie was a good witch at first, but then quickly switched to the dark side because "bad witches get to wear make-up". Macie was a butterfly princess. Kaleb could not make up is mind of what he wanted to be. His list was; spaceman, superman, cowboy man, dash from incredible's, nacho libre, and a "normal boy". Finally we decided on the HULK.

Don't mess!

Happy Halloween!

How Sad is This?

You see a pile of dirty laundry.
I see a husbands desperate cry for help.
I see a husband who is so afraid that his wife's not going to do laundry for another two weeks.
I see a husband that feels the need to save his socks to the side neatly and lined up to ensure a quick retrieval if he has to re-wear them again; which sadly in his case, is completely feasible.
I see a wife who's tired of doing laundry.
I see a wife who's glad she bought two weeks worth of underwear for the entire family.
I see a wife who should have probably bought an extra weeks worth of socks as well.
I see a wife who will be running to her local Walmart tomorrow to invest some extra pairs of socks.

Who knew laundry could say so much about a person.