How about a smile?

You know how they say that a pictures worth a thousand words? Sometimes I think they are worth more than that, like a million bucks! I love the pictures that make you smile every time you see them. These are just a few from the past week or so that make me smile.

Dylan flying thru the air in his trademark cannon ball tuck! This kid can get some serious distance!

Now he's doing his newest trick. A flip into the pool. If this is what he does at 4 I shudder to think how crazy he'll be when he's a teenager.

Haley jumping into the pool..... This one cracks me up. Only Haley could strike a pose in mid air

See what I mean about striking a pose? That's Haley for ya.

This one is just funny..... I didn't take it. I have no idea who did. It was just on my camera one day. For all I know she took it herself (it wouldn't even surprise me)

Avery calls all animals a cow. Everything! Cats, dogs, bugs! I think she does this just to bug me. But when we were looking at Halloween costumes she kept saying cow. I thought she was talking about the girafee costume in my hand but she was really talking about this little cow costume. We had to have it. Look how excited she is to be a cute little cow for Halloween.

I dare ya to look at Avery toddeling away with her cute fat cow bum and not smile. Seriously, I dare ya!

Check out Haley's headband! It totally looks like a bad 80's flashback. It wasn't even planned. It just slipped down when they were sliding.

I was cleaning the carpets today and this is what I found when Dylan told me proudly to come and see what he did. He then happily proceeds to tell me he "painted" Avery for Halloween. (Doesn't she look great he says?) No buddy..... Great is not the word I had in mind. Plus it wouldn't come off. Avery looks like she has blue eye shadow on because we could only get part of it off.

So this is just a few of the funny moments around here in the last week. As you can see, we've been busy, but at least we were having fun.

Bring on the 30's

I had the BEST birthday ever!!!! If this is what the 30's are like then bring em' on. First my fabulous sister watched all 3 kids so I could got on my annual trip to Park City for shopping and fun. This year we stayed in a AMAZING room at the Hotel Park City. It was sooooo nice. We got extra lucky and got upgraded to a cottage room because they were out of the lower priced rooms we were supposed to stay in. (Score)

This room had a separate master suite, 3 fireplaces, a hot tub on the back patio, multiple flat screen TV. It was by far the nicest hotel room I've ever stayed in. I think I could really get used to that kind of treatment. If I could only get someone to come and clean my house and leave little chocolates on my pillow at home every time I leave. Then I would be really set.

Then my amazing and fabulous friend planned a whole day of fun activities for us to go do yesterday. She secretly got a hold of Michael and arranged for him to take a day off work and hang with the kids. Then we spent the day shopping at all the little boutique shops around here (the kind that you can't bring kids into because they would break EVERYTHING.) We did lunch and shopped some more. Then we all went and got pedicures and sparkle toes! And to top it all off her girls babysat so the grownups could go out to dinner too!

You would think that I was WAY beyond spoiled enough but Nooooo...... my dad had rented a condo in Park City for his anniversary and couldn't use the whole week, so he called and asked if the fam would like to come up and stay for a mini vacation. So today we are headed back up to Park City. This time we'll do all the kids stuff, like swimming and Alpine slides and such!

Seriously..... if that isn't the best birthday week of celebrations ever, then I don't know what is!

(P.S. I was having so much fun I forgot to take pictures the whole time. So sorry no pictures of the awesome room, fun pedicures or anything! Maybe next time)

Tag Time Again

I haven't had much going on lately or to blog about. So I thought that I would play along with this tag.

I am a mom first. I know that sometimes I should put other things and people before my kids but I usually don't. This includes myself. Sometimes it's a good thing to be selfish.
I miss my mom a lot! It's been 11 years and I would really just love to sit down and have an adult conversation with her about kids, husbands, marriage, recipes, potty training you name it. Never take the small things for granted. One day you may really really regret not having something that seems so insignificant now.
I think I am a big kid at heart. I really wish that I could go back to being a kid. When you're little you want to grow up so fast. Now that I am I realize just how much fun it is to be a kid. I am constantly telling my kids to enjoy it while they can.
I know my husband loves me. We have been best friends from the second we met. Seriously.... how lucky am I. We love each other but we also really really like each other too, like staying up WAY too late talking, laughing, just to hang out with each other.
I want to be a better person. I spend a lot of time thinking how could I do this or that better.
I have a lot of little quirks and pet peeves. (way too many to list)
I search for bargains all the time. I love a good bargain. It makes getting whatever it is that you're buying Sooooo much better when you get a great deal!
I wish there were more than one of me. I always feel like there are so many things I wish I could do. I wish that I had more than one of me that could help with that. That way my house would be clean, each of my kids would get one on one time and I might even get time for myself and to spend with my hubby.
I hate mean people. I really do. People that are rude for no reason. I mean really... didn't your momma teach you how to play nice with others?
I am scared of Fred. (Long Story) short version: I wake up all the time with a very real impression in my head of a man standing in my bedroom right next to my bed. My poor husband was not getting any sleep because I would jump onto his side of the bed every single night. So we named him (Fred) and told him he wasn't welcome and to GO AWAY! He's only been back once in the last few months. (I know weird huh! You already knew I was crazy... no big surprise there)
I fear someone breaking into my house. (This may explain Fred)
I always have candy in my house! I am totally an addict. If you ever need a sugar fix I gotcha covered!
I love fall time, when it's cold outside and the house is warm. Yummy food cooking, with the house full of great smells.
I feel unqualified as a parent sometimes. I wish that I knew more about what I was doing. I just hope that my kids aren't too screwed up.
I hear Jay Leno on the TV. I guess it's about time for me to go to bed.
I smell drywall mud. My basement is almost done and the weird smell of Sheetrock dust drywall mud has been stinking up my house all week. Ugg... almost done
I wonder what my kids will be like when they are older. I hope that they will be good upstanding adult, and my best friends.
I care if my kids are being nice or not. I really REALLY do. I try so hard to teach them to be nice to others, respectful of adults, and kind to their family. Sometimes I wonder if any of it is sinking in but at least I'm trying!
I regret not being nicer as a kid and young adult. There were A LOT of opportunities for me to be kinder to someone very special to me. As a kid I didn't understand how important that really was. I there were one thing in my life I could go back and change it would be this.
I am not one to show a lot of emotion. I guess it makes me feel too venerable. Growing up tears=weakness in my brain. I guess that this carried over into adulthood.
I believe in the gospel. I am not one to say this a lot, but I really do. It is not something that ever has come into question for me. I just believe it.... I feel it's truth way down in the core. I am truly thankful for this.
I sing not very well. I will sing along with the radio but not if anyone is around to hear me. Believe me you should all thank me for this!
I write nothing. I am not good at any of this! I never write letters. I rarely write thank you notes. I am really terrible, I should work on this.
I win nothing. I never win the contest or drawing. My husband on the other hand wins stuff a lot. He's always bringing stuff home that he "won" I guess that makes me a winner by default.
I have to hug and kiss my kids every day. It is a must.... when I'm gone from them for more than a couple of hours I go into with drawls.... Good thing school isn't any longer than it is.... I might be in trouble.
I lose. my temper way more than I should. I like to think that this comes from my red-headed short tempered father. Truth is- it's no body's fault but mine. I should be more in control of my emotions.
I never go to bed without putting lotion on my feet. I am so weird. I don't know where this strange habit came from but I CANNOT sleep without putting on lotion. When I'm old and wrinkly I'll have the best looking feet on the block.
I listen to music ALL THE TIME. The radio is almost always on at my house.
I can usually be found with a couple of kiddos in tow. We are kind of a package deal... sometimes this is a very bad deal.... but those are the breaks people, take it or leave it.
I read whenever I can. I tend to ignore all the other responsibilities in life while reading so this can be a problem sometimes.
I am happy most when I'm with my family. I'm one lucky girl

Most of you have already been tagged. So this is for my girls! All the sisters. Let's here it, and NO copying my answers you big cheaters :)

Dilemmas, Dilemmas

So all of you know that I like to do freezer meals. They make my life so..... much easier. I hate it when I don't have them. The problem is that I am running out of ideas to try. I don't know how well something will freeze until I try it. And if it doesn't.... then I am in trouble for dinner that night. For this reason I stick to my tried and true recipes. These are rapidly becoming very "tired." I saw a freezer meal class offered at thanksgiving point full of ideas and new recipes. I totally want to go to it! The problem is that it's on my b-day. How lame would I be if I went to a class to learn how to cook freezer meals on my birthday? Pretty lame right? What a dilemma. On the other had I am going out of town for my traditional birthday weekend before my birthday. We got what I hope is a really cool room and a new hotel we wanted to try. So it should be a good time. But I still don't know what to do. What do you think, and would any of you all be interested in going with me? (we could get cake afterwards. It is my birthday after all)

P.S. on a side note I solved my carpet problem. Thanks to my sister and a very helpful neighbor. Companies that come to your house! Yep... that's the ticket, now I am all set! Yeah for new carpet :)

Had a Bad Day

I know you all know the song that goes with this title. But I am way too lazy and exhausted to figure out how to put it on the blog.
Picture Haley singng it for you. See that's better!
So I did a stupid thing today. I took 2 kids with me carpet shopping all morning.
This is EXTRA stupid because 1 of these children were supposed to be in preschool and the other my sister told me she would take for the morning.
Child #1 threw a huge fit about going with the carpool to preschool.
He HATES it! I am not sure why. I begged and bribed and threatened. He told me he would rather be grounded from video games all weekend then go with them (okay... I can do that any other requests?)
Any of you that know Dylan are gasping right now.
I was planning on finishing getting ready to go after he left for preschool, so I wasn't ready to take him.
By the time I was ready. He was WAY too late to go and I now didn't have enough time to go all the places I need to go and be back in time to get him. So he came with me.
Then I figured since I already had one I might as well just take the other one too (BIG Mistake)
By the time I was done at the 4th carpet store I was ready to KILL myself ( I am learning to control my emotions notice that I didn't say I was ready to kill them, that came later! :)
So then I stopped to get the dry cleaning and it wasn't ready. Even though they said it would be. Grrrrrrr stupid people! Back in the car now for more torture of mommy!
Then I am not sure why but I decided to go to smith's to try and hit the case lot sale before all the stuff I wanted was gone.
TOO LATE. Most of it was gone anyway.
Dylan is throwing a FULL on fit at this point.
He is grounded for longer than I would like to think about at this point.
This totally sucks for me because grounded kids whine and cry and I have to put up with then, or I cave and un-ground them and I end up looking like a totally wimpy pushover. GRRRRR.
Finally we leave the grocery store and head home.
The carpet shopping was a bust, in fact I am more behind than yesterday because everyone told me the carpet we did like was crappy and wouldn't last very long. Why didn't they tell me this yesterday!
I didn't get my errands done.
I didn't get the stuff I wanted from the case-lot sale.
Dylan is whining at me and has to stay grounded! (YES!!!! he really was that bad today)
Oh yeah- and Michael is gone tonight for a scout camp out so I'm on my own to battle the little red haired demon aka Dylan.

Well I feel a little better now. Venting does wonders some times.
Or maybe it was the hour long nap I took after I locked the kids in their rooms.
Sorry to all of you who had to listen to me ranting. My next post will be happier I promise