Here's what's awesome!

I'm home alone! Well, except for the dogs. I am decorating my house for Christmas- I love decorating for Christmas, it makes me happy! I am also listening to Pandora, which I love and customizing my own Christmas playlist, way fun! It plays on the laptop in the kitchen while I work in the living room. I have been distracted playing on the computer, reading blogs and stuff, but here's the awesome part-It doesn't matter! I'm home alone and I can do whatever I want!!!!!! I went to Holiday and got me a Diet Pepsi, with 2 shots of vanilla and I have a gingerbread scentsy thing melting (its not a real scentsy smell I got it a Robert's, but it is yummy). I think gingerbread is going to be my thing this Christmas(you know how candy corn was it for Halloween). I have already bought these yummy white chocolate gingerbread balls from Target and Little Debbie gingerbread cookies, I haven't had one yet, but they are only 90 calories so I'm looking forward to that treat, maybe later. How did I manage this little gift of alone time you ask? Well let me tell ya. Darren took the girls shooting, that's right my girls are with their dad and uncles shooting guns. I've warned everyone about Sarah's difficulty keeping the commandment of "Thou Shalt Not Kill",(see this post) so let's hope that everyone comes back ok. Have a great Saturday!

A Tag {Fives}

My friend Ashley tagged me! Here goes.

Five Things I don't leave the House without

1. Purse
2. Phone (sometimes I forget)
3. Shoes
4. Make-up on and hair done (unless I'm going to workout)
5. Water bottle or a cup to fill with Diet Pepsi

Five Cartoons I watched when I was Younger

1. Smurfs
2. Jem
3. Scooby Doo
4. Carebears
5. The Flintstone's

Five Things That Terrify Me

1. Something terrible happening to Darren or my kids.
2. Going up the stairs in the dark or with someone behind me.
   
3. Birds
4. Being Sticky
5. Smelling like Pickles

Five Things I hate/dislike that everyone else seems to like

1. Pickles
2. Country Music
3. Walmart
   
4. Oprah
5. The Olive Garden

Five Things I want to do before I Die

1. Go to Europe
2. Go to Asia
3. Go to Hawaii
4. Go on a Mission with Darren
5. Go to the temple with my kids

Five People I tag

1. Tiffanie
2. Tori
3. Dad
4. Liz
5. Hayley
   

Exercise Keeps Me Sane

It true. I skipped a couple of days this week, because my plan for Wed. and Thurs. was to walk/run the hill, but it was just too dang cold. I told myself I would squeeze in some Dance Dance Revolution, but it never happened, its amazing how easily you can talk yourself out of something. Well I was grumpy for those two days, and even found myself arguing with my husband over health care reform, while thinking "Stop it, do you really care this much about health care reform?" Well today I had a workout with my trainer, and as usual she kicked my butt(which needs some lift), and afterward as I was getting ready to do my cardio workout I realized how happy I felt. I had survived another trainer workout, and felt really good. I am ready to take on the day and Halloween!

Where Have All the Bloggers Gone?

I know I'm guilty of stepping away from blogging for months, I've written about half as many posts as I did a year ago. I don't feel guilty, and don't want anyone else to either, I know everyone gets busy and just doesn't think about it, plus it's not like it's all that important. The reason for this post is that today as I was checking to see if there were any new posts on blogs that I read (there were a couple), I decided to check in on a scrapbooking blog that I hadn't read for a while, which led to rediscovering some blogs and sites that I used to really love to read. So I thought I would share those on my side bar. I also added a list of homeschool blogs and sites that keep me going and sometimes just nurture my soul as a mother, there is some great stuff even if you don't homeschool your kids, and that is a piece of me and so it should get some space on my blog. I am feeling more inspired to write lately, but I will make no promises, who knows what I'll think tomorrow :). Happy Reading!

I think I've OD'd on Candy Corn

I cheated and bought Candy Corn last Saturday (my personal rule was Thursday only). We went to Walmart where I found another brand of gourmet Candy Corn, there was Creme brulee, which Shelby loves, so I bought it. It was good, but just ok good. Then I had to go into town on Tuesday to take the kids to art class, and thought I would run over to Target and get the Cotton Candy flavor, so that I wouldn't need to go on Thursday. I opened that package on Thursday(so that's not really cheating), I don't like the cotton candy, it has a bad artificial sweetner after taste. I was hoping for the yummy burnt sugar flavor that Maggie Moos cotton candy ice cream has, no luck. Thursday I went back to Walmart to get the chocolate caramel candy corn and decided to grab the gourmet pumpkin pie flavor. Again I was disappointed by the pumpkin pie, but the Chocolate Caramel was yummy! So if you were counting that was four flavors of Candy Corn this week. I think I need an intervention. I'm still trying to decide what to do for Halloween, maybe I've had enough, maybe I need just plain old regular candy corn, or maybe I need to have my favorites and then put it all aside until next year.

Look at it!

I totally stole this from Garrett's blog, but it has us laughing around here. Read his story it makes it more funny, or maybe its just some weird family sense of humor. Happy Birthday Garrett! Thanks for the laugh.

The Crock-Pot

Don't ya just love the crock-pot? I do. I love putting dinner in in the morning and by 4:00 the house smells of our delicious dinner. We do regularly entice the kids friends to stay for dinner with the smell. I have used my crock-pot every day this week, yes I realize its only Tuesday, but I'm not being picky. Yesterday's dinner wasn't a smashing success, but tonight's smells really good right now, its a lentil stew. Besides, since dinner was already cooking I had plenty of time to make the apple strudel for FHE! I love that you can take a cheap cut of meat and make it super yummy. Plus its such a fall/cool weather thing. I love that I can take a few minutes to throw dinner together, then no matter how crazy my day gets dinner is done and I don't end up eating out because I'm too tired or just not in the mood to cook. I am also a HUGE fan of soups and my crock-pot gets plenty of use making soup. Its the appliance that helps me feel like a pulled together homemaker-yummy food, and sense of self all wrapped in one.

Candy Corn

I'm just going to put this out there. I LOVE Candy Corn. This year there are all kinds of fun flavors out there, so since I am big on education I feel it my duty to educate people on the new and exciting candy corn out there. Thursday is new candy corn flavor day(not a coincidence that it is also weigh in day and my week starts over, so I have extra points). This is the third week of my October obsession and I have decided to share it with my small group of readers. It all began with the Carmel Apple Candy Corn made by Brach's and available at Walmart. These are red and brown and very good, I need to get more of them. The second week involved pumpkin pie, and toffee flavored candy corn. Both of these flavors are available at target in small bags that sell for 2.99. The pumpkin pie were not as good as I had hoped, but the toffee is delightful, and even better it is dipped in chocolate-YUM! So far the toffee is my favorite. Last week I tried s'mores and regular candy corn dipped in chocolate(both from Target). They were yummy! Today I revisited the s'mores and tried green apple. The green apple has the chocolate dipped pieces as well. I like the green apple it is like a green jolly rancher, the chocolate dipped ones are a bit much. Tiff was with me today and she bought the toffee ones, I think I might have to visit her a few more times cuz they are the best. There you have it, my candy corn review. If you don't like candy corn that's ok, but if you do, be a little adventurous and try some new flavors. Next week will definitely be chocolate caramel and maybe cotton candy, check back for my reviews.

I'm coming around

I've got some things on my mind that I want to take a minute to write down. I've been on a kind of journey lately. For the last year, plus I've been trying to get control over our finances. Little tricks I used to use stopped working, and I needed to reevaluate and make some changes. I asked a good friend for some tips and have saved and used them, it really helped get me pointed in the right direction. I stopped being afraid of those lessons in church and conference talks about living providently, and opened up to what I could learn and use. I have read books, talks, anything that could give me inspiration and renew my commitment to this. I decided to read the Book of Mormon looking for more inspiration and guidance. It has been a long journey, but we have had our best month (financially) in years, at least since we moved into our house-and we have lived here for 9 years. I have found joy in living simply. I can be creative in finding solutions. I think the economy has made it easier for me to just flat out say "I can't afford it", people are being more honest, we're all trying to do better. I still have a long way to go, this requires constant diligence. One of the things I keep telling myself is that; if I can figure out how to manage my weight (something I once thought impossible) I can figure this out, and with a lot of prayer and faith I think I am.

Another thing. I love homeschooling my kids. Every once in a while feelings of insecurity creep in and I wonder if I'm doing enough, if my kids would be better off back in school. I feel like I am turning a corner. I am starting to have more faith in the process, and the method I have chosen. I think part of what is helping me is seeing the results in my kids. They are doing great and really love to learn, especially when I get out of the way, and try to follow their lead. Shelby is working on a model of the Solar System, how cool is that? I think we'll tackle trig. tomorrow, or maybe build a jet engine or a windmill that will power our house. But seriously, I am also seeing a need for me to study more. I have been reading a lot of mindless stuff lately and its time to put that aside and get back to stretching my mind so that I can better inspire my kids in their studies.

Scrapbooking

3 Posts in one week! What is going on with me? Did you check out the girls "cooking video"? Should I be worried about Sarah and the knives? Just Kidding. She has been quite delightful this week as she is trying to earn her room back. That's right I took her room away, all she has is a bed. I think the dresser will come back today, and probably her two precious dolls that were lost in the war on Monday.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Scrapbooking. I love it! I really do. Even though I spend more time cleaning and organizing my scrapbook stuff than actually creating pages. Last night was scrapbook night with some of my very dear friends. That is the best part of scrapbooking for me, getting together with friends, eating (though I only used 8 flex points-yea me!), and sharing family memories. My favorite scrapbooks are the ones that center around a theme: Nana's Christmas Jammies, Sarah's "I'm just...3", the girls dance picture books, and the "School of Life" books. This is my creative outlet, everyone needs one, I think, and this is mine. I love looking back and reminiscing, ans seeing how cute my kids were when they were little (they're still cute, just not quite so little anymore-sigh). I had a great time last night and then this morning I visited Stacy Julian's blog- the link is on my sidebar. She is my favorite scrapbooker. I love her philosophy behind scrapbooking. I actually got to take a class from her before she was the superstar she is now, when she was working a Paper Hearts in Sandy. I can proudly say she designed pages in Shelby's baby book. Scrapbooking has come a long way since then. Anyway, visiting her blog, and scrapbooking last night reminded me how much I love this hobby, and why I keep doing it even though I'll never be "caught up" whatever that is. There will always be a story to tell, and scrapbooking is one way that tell mine.

Can You Think of a Commandment You have a hard time Keeping?

"Thou Shalt Not Kill"

This was the question I asked the girls at devotional this morning. I wasn't asking them to respond out loud, but Sarah had a quick response. Here I was thinking they might be thinking of "Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother", no Sarah explained that she just has a hard time not killing people. So far the body trail hasn't made it back to her. She and I had a bad day yesterday (see previous post), and she said that she was going to kill me, luckily I made it through the night. Maybe that's what she's talking about. Am I raising a psychopath, a serial killer? Sarah keeps us laughing, she's especially funny when she's angry.

I Lost it - for a minute

Its true. I had a moment, and it was a bad moment. Sometimes life gets to me, I had to leave. Not one of my finest moments. I realize I chose this life, I have set it up this way. Honestly 99% of the time I love it, and it makes me happy. I seriously have moments where I am struck with the thought "I'm Happy, I love my life!" However, I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist(that may be understating a bit), sometimes that side gets the best of me. I'm not proud. To save my sanity, and my children, I ran away. To the Maverik. Nothing like a big Maverik cookie and a Diet Pepsi(not ready to sharpen my sword, by giving it up just yet). So there it is, the honest truth. On the bright side, I did go home, and we are having a pretty good day.

Check out our new blog!

The girls have a blog. They are always telling me what I should write here, and maybe I should write more than I do, but right now I'm just not feeling it. I have decided to give them a blog, and they can write about whatever they want. For now it is public, but it may go private, we'll see. They are super excited, so please go check it out here. I am sure they would love comments, to know that someone is reading.

"The last 97 hours have all come down to this"

Should I get one for Darren and Shelby? Or is that mean?
Thanks for the email Tiff

Disaster averted

I had 3 points leftover today. I love a snack after the kids go to bed. I decided on a Warm Delights mini cake. They are yummy and only 3 points. Since I often skim when I read I put the cake in the microwave for 2 min. instead of 30 sec. The cake is supposed to cool for 2 min. I stopped the microwave with 30 sec. left on the timer because my cake was smoking. I took one bite, and it was crunchy, not at all molten lava. I was going to eat it anyway, when I thought that this was SO not worth my last 3 points of the day, the night before I weigh in. I thought I should make a new one, and just throw the cake away, when another thought crossed my mind, I bet the kids would eat it, so I gave it to them. They loved it, and I made me a knew one (thanks to couponing I'm stocked on warm delight minis). Bring on the mom of the year award! Oh, my second cake was a warm delight!

My First 5k

I ran my first 5k last Saturday! It was awesome! My goal was to run the whole thing-no walking, and I did it. I wasn't going for a certain time, I just didn't want to embarrass myself, by finishing last or falling, or getting sick, or something like that. As I got close to the end of the race I started thinking about everything that has lead up to this race; losing 108 pounds (not a number I like to talk about, but there it is), gaining 40 back, and losing 20 of it again (I still have 20 more to go), learning how to exercise, and becoming any kind of runner. I'm glad I didn't wait until I was at my goal weight or some other thing that in my mind would have made it perfect, before I ran this race, I set the goal and trained for it the way I am right now. I'm glad that I had so many friends there and especially that I got to run with Tiff.

MY family was awesome! Darren loaded up the kids, including Carter, and took them to cheer us on along the way, then they followed us up to the finish line. My dad was there cheering us on. As I came around the final turn my family was there at the finish line still cheering. Seeing Shelby jumping up and down made me start to cry, not a good combination after running for 35 minutes.

I'm not ready to become a big runner, but I know that I could if I wanted to. I have to admit that I am pretty proud of myself that at 35 I ran my first 5k!

You know, Ali.....

If you know Sarah you might have heard of Ali. Ali showed up about 3 years ago when Sarah was in preschool. She started telling us stories about her fairy friend Ali. I asked her preschool teacher if she had been talking about fairies or read a story about a fairy named Ali, she hadn't. Ali goes through things that Sarah goes through, hears about or wishes happened to her. Ali has a mom and dad. Her mom used to drink coffee until she stopped because they are Mormons and Heavenly Father told them to stop(just to be clear I may have a caffeine addiction, but its strictly soda). She has a little sister named Ruby who gets into all kinds of trouble that Ali has to help her out of. She also has a brother named Brian.

When Ali first showed up a was a little worried, because she seemed so real to Sarah. Anytime Sarah started in on an Ali story (You know, Ali-they all start the same) we would hurry and remind her that Ali was pretend. Now the stories start: You know, Ali-my imaginary fairy... I've stopped worrying about Ali, because I realized that she helps Sarah figure life out, and deal with what's going on around her. For example once one of our neighbors crashed on her bike, well then Ali crashed on her bike and was hurt and sad, but she was ok. I know that someday Ali will disappear, and that will be kind of sad. Ali reminds me of what an imagination Sarah has, and I hope that she never looses that. I thought I should take a minute to write about it, before we all forget about Ali.

Picture This

Here are some pictures that I have been wanting to post. Let's go in chronological order, starting with April Fool's Day. It is our little family tradition that I mess with our food on April Fool's, typically dinner. This year Tiff and Carter were with us (Mike was flying), Shelby's friend Krista also joined us for dinner so I went with the classic meatloaf cupcakes. I was certain that Carter's reaction would be the same as Shelby's the first time I made these. She was so excited about having cupcakes for dinner, that when she realized they weren't cupcakes she was MAD, so mad that she wouldn't touch my fried egg sundae that was made with lemon pudding and ice cream. Carter surprised us all by just rolling with it, he wouldn't eat the mashed potato frosting, but that was because he's going through an "I don't eat potatoes" phase.

Our dessert was fish sticks and peas. Don't these look awesome?! The 'fish sticks' are wafer cookies with peanut butter spread on the outside and then rolled in corn flakes. The 'peas' are made from laffy taffy. The best part (other than the cookies being really good) was that Shelby was nervous to eat them, even after she told Krista that she thought they were made with cookies and some kind of cereal. I LOVE that even though she's totally on to me, I can still get her!

Here is my new coat closet! Yay!

This is the school room. The art above the bed was painted by Shelby and Sarah just this week. I still have more decorating that I want to do, but we love going in here for school, it is such a bright, happy room. I should have taken a picture that included the curtains, they are white with colorful circles made from dots, they look great with the quilt. Mom, do you remember this quilt? This was my final Laurel project (the YW program was a little different then) I took this quilt with me to college, each circle is tied with yarn in the matching color. It was sooooo much work, but I still love it today!

And now for some Las Vegas Highlights.Here is Shelby outside her world headquarters. We like to tease Shelby that she was named after the Shelby Cobra.

This is Shelby's favorite CobraThis is Darren's favorite.So, I guess its a really big deal if you get Carroll Shelby to sign a piece of your car, like the dash board, or maybe the mirror cover on the visor. You can actually send them to him and for $250 he will sign them. So when you visit the factory, you get to sign the wall. I figure for our four signatures Mr. Shelby owes us $1000. The kids love the Rainforest Cafe, we go there for lunch everytime we visit, not because the food is great, or because its cheap(its neither of those things), but because the atmosphere is cool. There are animal statues all over that move, and about every half hour there is a thunder storm. Its pretty cool, and the girls love it.We also love a visit to M&M world, the girls like the 3D movie. This time I decided I wasn't getting sucked into buying M&Ms there, because they are stupid expensive, we can find a Smith's later and buy as much as we like, and still have money for our favorite Thai food!

So, there you have it. Hope you enjoyed a little look into our lives this past April.

What did I just do?

I registered for the Pony Express Days 5K! Holy crap! I know a 5k isn't that long, but I've never done a race before and now I'm a little, no a lot, nervous. I printed out my training schedule, and figured out that I should start training this week! Holy Crap! Good thing I have a run planned with Mandi tomorrow. I've always toyed with the idea of doing a 5k and when Mandi decided to run a half marathon I decided that I would give it a go. So, after talking with Mandi today I went ahead and signed up. I'm excited, I'm not looking to do anything, but finish and run the whole thing. Tiff is supposed to be doing this with me, so here we go.

Also, on another note. We went to Las Vegas last week. Tiffanie had a conference and it was a great excuse to visit Melanie. You can get an overview of our trip on Melanie's blog, and I promise I will post some pictures soon, not just of our trip, but I want to show off my April Fools day dinner, and my school room and coat closet (I was thinking today that of all the improvements we've done on our house the closets are my favorite).

Well, wish me luck as I train for this run. I'm reminding myself that this is supposed to be fun!

I have a school room and a coat closet!

I am soooooooo excited! We turned the room that Mike and Tiff were using into our school room, and turned my upstairs hall closet into a coat closet. Not having a coat closet is one of the things that has frustrated me about this house, (along with a small kitchen) and it was fairly easy to take out three of the shelves and add a closet rod.

A few years ago Darren and I listened to some cds about love language. My love language is time. That means the best way to show love to me is to spend time with me, or doing things for me. Darren and I agreed that I could make him a "honey do" list so he would know what projects I wanted done. Now, along with this comes another agreement, defining what is "enough", because honestly once he starts working I could work him to death on projects and it would never be enough because there is no end to the projects I can think of that need to be done. This also hold true for the way he recieves love, there has to be a definition of what is enough. So, back to my school room and closet. Yesterday we met my brother at the storage unit he shares with my parents to get McKay's old twin bed. We brought that home. Then Darren installed four more shelves in the closet of the school room. Then, he took Shelby's day bed apart, we hauled it to the school room (needed for a comfy place to read, and for the ocasional cousin sleepover), and put it back together. I set to work emptying the upstairs closet and moving the school stuff downstairs while Darren put the twin bed from the storage unit together in Shelby's room. When that was done he knocked out the shelves in the hall closet and installed a closet rod! I would say all of that work was more than "enough" I'm certain that he loves me! I love the new space, not only the school room, but in my closet now that coats are not hanging in there. It is also nice to have all the school stuff in one place, and not poking out from every available corner.

Sarah's Birthday!

Sarah's birthday was on Wednesday. She is now 7! True to Sarah form she had very clear rules about what should happen on her birthday. First, "the color of 7 is green". I had no idea, but this meant that we had to have green pancakes for breakfast. I guess she liked the St. Patrick's day pancakes so much she invented a reason to do it again. Next rule, I was supposed to wake her up. This was a bit of a problem since birthdays are like Christmas and she was up much earlier than normal, so I failed on that one. Third, the balloons have to be pink and white. Check. We got that one right. Fourth, we had to have lunch at McDonald's, "the one that is almost to Smiths, and I get to tell everyone where to sit(at our house this is a big deal)" Check. Fifth, we had to see Monsters vs. Aliens. Check(totally cute movie). Last, she wanted a pink unicorn cake with a rainbow colored main. I made one for Shelby when she turned 5, so I was thinking I had this one under control too. I should have shown pictures to Sarah first. When she saw the cake it took her a minute to even figure out what it was -ouch. She apparantly had something else in mind, I guess I'm just not the cute cake makin' kind of mom. The more she looked at it the more she liked it.
After the movie we went to Walmart to get her a brand new bike. She promised that when she turned 7 she would stop sucking her thumb. We have told her that when she stops we will get her a bike. Well, the jury's still out on the thumb thing. She can suck it at night, I can't really stop that, and she's trying to stop so that's good. Yes, she's wearing a different outfit. I took this picture today. It was snowing on her birthday, so I didn't get any pictures of her with the bike on her big day.

So there you have it. Sarah is a 7 year old, no trainig wheel bike ridin' opinionated girl, that is trying to stop sucking her thumb. I can't believe it!

My Shelby

I've been thinking I need to do a post that is entirely devoted to Shelby. I look back at these pictures and others (I would have put up baby pictures if I had any on my computer) and think how did we get here? Where did my baby go, and how did she go so quickly? Something happens as kids get older, they leave the cute little kid phase and move on to something else that seems to get forgotten, or at least not ooooed and awed over like when they are little. As a parent I still think she is cute and amazing, but in different ways than when she was little. Life is way more fun, and we have much more freedom, I love that!

The bond between mothers and daughters is interesting to me. (My major in college was Family and Human Development so all family relationships are interesting to me.) It is especially interesting when a daughter is also an oldest child. I know I am hard on Shelby I expect a lot from her, more than I expect from Sarah. Part of that is because I have Shelby that does so much, so Sarah doesn't have to. I can honestly say that Shelby does not let me down. Sure I get frustrated and disappointed, but I also realize that I expect a lot of her, so I try harder to look past the frustration and I find myself asking for her forgiveness A LOT.

I, too am an oldest child. I know what that feels like. I love that when my dad talks about my birth he says that he was glad they had a girl, because Mom would have a friend. I don't know what my mom would say about the kind of friend I am, but I like how my relationship with Shelby is changing. We can have interesting conversations, and I enjoy that. I know that my mom relied a lot on me, and I think I helped keep our house running. Shelby definitely helps keep our house running.

Shelby is awesome because she is her own person. She knows what she likes, and doesn't care if she is different from her friends. She is a lot like her dad in that way, and many others. She plays WOW with Darren (even though I don't understand what they are talking about, its fun to listen to them and see the bond that they have-it would be interesting to hear him talk about the bond between a father and a daughter). She is the dog whisperer in training. She loves to read, her favorite is fantasy-just like Darren. What can I say? She's my Shelby, my sweet girl, and I love her!

Sarah -No Training wheels

Sarah has always loved to ride bikes. She got a bike for her birthday (I think) when she was 3 (I think-what a bad mom I am that I don't remember for sure, or maybe I'm just getting old). She has outgrown that bike, and wants a new one. Well, Sarah sucks her thumb. Darren and I have told her she could have a new bike (or scooter) if she stopped sucking her thumb. Bribery worked with my mom to get her to stop sucking her thumb, we hoped it was genetic. Skip ahead, Carter moves in with a bike and a scooter. Sarah is in heaven! Carter's bike is bigger than her old bike so she would ride it when she could. She got very good at riding his bike, the training wheels never touched the ground. With the nice weather last week all three kids wanted to be outside. Shelby has her awesome bike, and usually Carter picks his scooter over his bike, so Sarah would ride his bike. Well Carter's scooter was at Jared and Liz's and then it was in the trunk of Tiff's car, so he wanted to ride his bike. Mike adjusted the training wheels for him so he could ride. Sarah, being the little thinker that she is pulled Shelby's old bike out of the garage and asked Mike to fix it up for her. He lowered the seat, pumped up the tires, and tightened the handle bars. What a nice uncle. She took off!

This is my first attempt at video on my blog, I hope it works.

Sarah says that she will stop sucking her thumb when she turns 7, which is on April 15. We are planning to get her a new bike for her birthday. I could do a whole post about Sarah's thumb, I'll save that for another day-maybe.



This is Shelby on her awesome bike that she bought herself.

I feel lost

I don't know what to think anymore. Hayley had an awesome post about how the blogging world has changed. It made me think back to when I started this blog about a year ago, I used to write a lot more of what I think. I loved that this was an outlet for me to put whatever thoughts ran through my mind, and then something changed. I'm not sure exactly what, maybe I felt I put too much out there. I do hate to feel judged, and I over analyze everything I say, and when I get feedback that I read as critical that makes me pull back. Right now I feel like nothing I do is enough. I've been trying to please a lot of people and I feel 'me' slipping away. I'm not really sure what to do, because no matter what I do, it always seems to be read wrong by someone, and I can't take it anymore. So to be safe I have resorted to the safe pictures of my kids, and basic updates of what's going on, but its not really what's going on. I guess I'm putting this out there in an attempt to get part of myself back. Hope you all still love me anyway.

I've been tagged!

Mandi Tagged me (thank you, I love that you thought of me!) The rules are, go to your fourth folder, and fourth picture, and blog about that. Here is my Sarah (she's 18 months old), and Shelby's foot. Where has my baby gone? If you talk to her today she will tell you that she is 6 and a half and she can ride a bike without training wheels! I'll post pictures of that later. She turns 7 in about a month. She says the craziest things, like when I asked her to put away something that was too high her response was "I just have these legs", and when we watch The Biggest Loser, she works out and says "Its all about the current weights". I video taped her at about this age saying all the animal sounds, and other talents and I'm so glad I did, they grow up too fast! My kids are so fun at the ages they are now, we can do whatever we want, and I can even leave them home alone, but when I see pictures like this I miss them being little.

I tag Tori, Garrett, Hayley, and Ashley.

I have a new Nephew!

You can see him here ! I can't wait to see him myself! Congratulations Jared and Liz!

My Grandpa

My Grandpa died yesterday. This is kind of an old 4 generations picture with him, my grandma, my mom and dad, and my girls. Look how happy he looks. That is how I think of him. The picture I think I love best is from when I was young. Tori is riding on his shoulders and I am walking a long side of them. We are camping and wearing our matching Mickey Mouse sweatshirts. He was the biggest guy I knew, as a kid that was a little indimidating, but he was so much fun, especially when we went camping (I loved riding trees) or snowmobiling. Today I am sad. I am grateful for his life. I am grateful to be a part of the legacy he leaves behind. As an adult I started to see his tender heart. He would cry as we left after each visit. He was full of stories, I got good at talking with Grandma while he told a completely different story. His stories have been our Christmas gifts for the last several years, I think I'll spend some time reading them today. I am glad my kids knew him and even more glad that I know him. I will really miss him.

Sarah Wants to Be a Rockstar

Yesterday I hit the jack pot with clearance plus 40% off at Justice. This is one of Sarah's new outifits. She wants to know if she looks like Judy Nails (from Guitar Hero). Ask Sarah what she wants to be when she grows up and her response is "A Rockstar Mom". So, What do you think?

Valentines day and My New Hair Do

I have about 3 blog posts running through my head. The problem is actually sitting down to write, so after getting updated on everyone's blogs I am now inspired to do at least one post.

Here is a picture of my girls in their Valentines Day shirts. Darren and I went out on Friday night, and it was madness! The wait at Texas Roadhouse was at and hour and a half when we got there. So we killed time at the mall and then went to our movie. The theater was packed, I don't think I want to go to Jordan Commons ever again! Then we went to dinner at 9:30, good times. Oh, we saw "He's just not that into you" -Ultra Chick Flick, I felt bad that Darren had to watch it. On Saturday we did a little shopping, I needed to get Darren's present, and then we went swimming, Shelby's friend was there so she had an even better time. We ended the day with a heart shaped pizza and an excellent ice cream cake. I loved that the day was about the family having a good time, being together.

This is my new hair do. I helped in Primary on Sunday and the little girl sitting next to me asked if I spray painted my hair.

Possible posts to be coming soon: We have Snack issues, and Why genius is stupid.

Love Is In The Air

I am a huge Jon and Kate plus 8 fan. In one episode about Valentines Day Kate had these cute bags that she strapped to the kids chairs and filled with goodies for Valentines Day. I thought that was so cute. Well I decided to have the kids decorate these little mailboxes, and then the kids could spend the month of February delivering little things to each other. We decorated the mailboxes on Friday and immediately the kids started delivering notes and treats to each other. They raise the flag to let the person know they have mail. I thought the novelty would wear off by the end of the day, but they are still at it. It has been a lot of fun. We will have special prizes for Valentines Day. We are also our Valentines dinner, since the big day is Saturday, and it will be crazy busy everywhere Darren and I are going out Friday. Saturday we are having heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphys and I have ordered and ice cream cake from Maggie Moos (cinnamoo and dark chocolate ice cream with Heath bar and chocolate cake), I think we still need cookies from the Smart Cookie to finish it off. It is going to take some extreme points managing to pull it off, but I am up for the challenge, I think.

Yesterday we got a delivery from FedEx. I called Darren to tell him a package had arrived, and ask him what it was. I got the typical Shipley response "Its too close to a holiday to be asking those kind of questions". When he got home from work he handed me the box, I opened it and found this!



Isn't it cute? I LOVE red! I did already have an i Pod, its and old (in the i Pod world) 2G, I have to take stuff off anytime I want to put something new on. I like to listen to General Conference on my way home from the gym, now with a whopping 8G, I can have all of Conference on there at once! I am rather pathetic, because I don't know how to use i tunes or rip music. I tell Darren what I want on there and how I want it organized and he does it for me. Lame right? or is it love? I am so excited about my new ipod. In honor of Valentines Day I have decided to wear red shoes everyday this week! Today my red shoes are red slippers, cuz hey I'm not going anywhere until yoga class (tonight is my first class, I'm excited about it too).

Saturday Sentiments

My friend Catey does this "Making a Happy Home" thing every Monday. I have loved the idea and wanted to do it myself.

This past Monday I had a great plan that I would start with my kitchen floor. I HATE my kitchen floor. It is vinyl and has this texture to it that holds the dirt, so unless I scrub on my hands and knees with a scrub brush it has these little flecks of dirt that stay stuck to it. I know there are those of you that regularly scrub your floors on your hands and knees, I am just not motivated enough to do it every week. I like the swiffer and use it pretty much everyday the the hard scrubbing only happens once in a while. So I was going to take a before and an after picture of my floor. Well, I did scrub the floor around the back door, in front of the oven and the fridge and in front of the buffet, the spots that get really bad. I didn't take any pictures.

Then after I was finished I took my wheat, rice, and oatmeal containers downstairs to the storage room to refil them. I couldn't open the containers on my own and enlisted my brother in law, Mike, to help me open buckets. I was in such a cleaning mood that, with Mike's help, I started organizing the storage room, mostly moving buckets around. The spot right inside the storage room door is where the soda goes, and has really been a mess. I have been thinking for months that if I had one more set of shelves that could hold the soda, as well as the cleaning supplies, and paper products it would make a huge difference in that room. I was planning on going into town anyway that day, so we added Costco to our list of stops. Mike had found some shelves there that would be the perfect size and didn't cost a lot. That night Darren and Mike put the shelves together and then we organized even more. I gained so much storage space by adding the shelves the room for my food storage also expanded. I can see what I have so much better now, and will be able to tell when I need to restock much easier.


This is how my storage room lookes now. The black to the left is the new shelves. This is seriously as good as my storage room can look.

Now, after all of that, the reason I chose this as my Saturday Sentiments post is that organization makes me happy. The storage room has been one of those scarry rooms in my house that I leave as quickly as I can (not just because its really cold in there). Now I go in there and just look around. I can with peace of mind say that it is finished. To make it even better Mike vacuumed the carpet remnants that are on the floor. It looks great. I am ready for a case lot sale, and have room to put it all. That is happiness.

What's Up

So, on Monday I had this whole list of things I wanted to blog about. Basically it was stuff that's been going on and stuff that's been on my mind. Well Monday we went to the Capital and by that night I couldn't remember any of it, except that we went to the Capital.

The tour of the Capital was really neat. We visited the Capital in August when a copy of the Declaration of Independence was on display. It was cool to go back and learn more about the art and the different rooms. Then, since it was the opening day of the legislative session we got to go watch that for a minute. This is turning in to the year of U.S. History studies for school. We watched the inauguration, studied a little about the presidency, and I read some past inaugural addresses.

Shelby is looking at the seagulls painted on the rotunda.

Sarah in the old Supreme Court room

Carter thought it was awesome that he could walk on glass and not get in trouble.

Garrett and Hayley got married on the 17th, and it was awesome! I am so happy for them. I talked to Garrett tonight and they are just enjoying wedded bliss. Lucky!

Also going on right now. I am selling some of my rubber stamps on KSL.com, I wasn't really sure if they would be something that people would be interested in,but I have sold 5 sets, 2 background stamps, and all my wheels. I had invested too much money in them to just donate them, and who can't use extra cash? I keep looking around my house wondering what else I can sell.

I am so so so glad this is the last week of January. It is the hardest month for me, I'm sure lots of people can relate. I hate the gray days. This year I've tried to be grateful for every day I see blue sky. I am looking forward to February, I have some fun Valentine things planned for my kids. My inlaws are going to Hawaii on Valentines Day, how unfair is that? Actually they totally deserve it. Darren and I have plans for a weekend getaway for our anniversary, and looking forward to that has helped me get through this long gray month.

Keno needs a new sweater. His "Freddy Kruger" sweater is wearing out. It got washed and then put in the dryer so now it doesn't fit right. But, if we act like we are going to take it off he growls. He likes his sweater, it keeps him warm.

I need to go watch "Lost" now. I am so glad that it is back, it is one of my favorite shows (maybe my favorite). I have a friend that sends me emails each week with his insights and how things are all connected and that makes it even more fun. Like this:

Its interesting how each season is about as long as the numbers in reverse

Season 1= covers 42 days
Season 2=covers 23 days
season 3=covers 16 days
season 4=covers 15 days
season 5= 70 hours or 8 days?
season 6=4 days?

I know it doesn't make sense unless you watch the show, and to try to explain it is too much, and I end up sounding like an idiot. But then so did Hurley when he explained it to his mom in last week's episode. Ok I have to go watch it now. I just wanted to let my little blogging circle know that I wasn't giving up on my blog yet.

The best holidays ever-Saturday Sentiments

I really had the best holidays ever. On Christmas I got to stay in my pajamas until 3pm, that was the best! We watched new movies, played the wii, and napped. Later that night my family came over for dinner and I really enjoyed visiting with them and playing some Guitar Hero. Our Shipley family Christmas celebration was moved to the day after Christmas because of the snow storm that was coming. We took the kids to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point (Sarah was almost more excited about that trip than Christmas itself). At the Shipley's Brett brought his 4-wheeler and pulled the kids around on a sled, they had a great time and played outside until they were frozen. We also got the exciting news that Melanie and Dan are having a baby! We are so excited. What will the kids do when their favorite aunt becomes a mom?

I also had some fun date nights with my brothers and sisters as well as Darren's and our parents. Its so fun to get to visit without the kids running around, we get to enjoy each other and I really love that.

New Years Eve we had our regular little party. Melanie and Dan came, and so did Daniel and Mindy and their kids. We played singstar, Guitar Hero and ate. The kids love to stay up late and then explode poppers (thats what we call those things that you pull a string and they explode and shoot colored streamers all over the yard) at midnight.

New Years Day was spent putting away Christmas. Tiffanie and I worked hard for 3 hours taking down decorations and moving furniture. Nothing like moving furniture to start the year off right. I have lots of goals for this new year, but today my heart is full of gratitude as I realize how blessed my family has been this past year. We have made it through some trials we weren't expecting and I have again realized that my life is in the hands of my Heavenly Father. I want to do all I can this year to show how grateful I am for that.