Lucky Seven

Seven years ago yesterday we got married. It doesn't seem like it's been seven years but at the same time I barely remember life before marriage. In fact, almost all of my dreams are set in High School or in the house I grew up in but I'm still married. And even though this is totally off the subject, I almost never dream about my children. Weird huh? I guess it keeps me from sleeping through the crying or "MOM!"s because they don't fit into my dreams at all.


Anyway, so seven years ago yesterday was quite the crazy day. Nothing went smoothly, although I hardly noticed because it was beyond my control at that point. My sister who was also my florist had kidney stones and was sick as sick. My brother who was flying in from Japan was minutes from being late for the wedding. My other brother went missing and never showed up for any of the festivities. My cousins family were all sick, As I was sitting at the temple entrance waiting for Shane to show up I got a HUGE bloody nose, I was all alone holding a huge bag and my wedding dress and I was so embarrassed. The heat was sweltering and I nearly fainted during pictures because my dress was tight and heavy and it was 100 degrees outside. But anyway. All that didn't, and still doesn't matter because I really don't consider that exact day any more important as all the days that follow.


I think one of my favorite parts of the day was the reception because it was in a lovely little back yard with lots of flowers and SHADE! I had a harpist come play music and we had ice cream, chocolate covered strawberries, cookies etc. Even now I wish I would have spent a little more money on the food but I didn't have any money and I was trying to be frugal.


For our honeymoon we went to Ouray, Colorado which is this neat little mining town north of Durango. It was a cute little place and we had fun doing all the local stuff but the best thing was renting a jeep and four wheeling all over the mountains. There were miles and miles of trails and we spent an entire day driving all over them. I want to go back when our kids are a bit bigger and do it again. I don't know how we will swing that if we have more than three kids.... unless we leave them home ;)


Oh to be as care free and young looking as I was then. I know seven years is nothing, but after going to my high school reunion where there were dozens of divorced people, and lots of single people too. I consider myself pretty lucky to have such a great marriage.

Easy like sunday morning

Who ever wrote the words to this song that was annoyingly stuck in my head this morning was obviously not an active church goer with 9 o'clock church because I've never known Sunday morning to be easy. Even with 1 o'clock church the time pressure is gone, but then you have to try to keep the kids calm and together so that by the time 1 o'clock rolls around, you aren't already crazy.
Sunday morning usually goes something like this:

• Wake up to either the alarm clock or the crying baby, quickly eat and feed Marisa before jumping in the shower.
• Get out of the shower and attempt to do my hair and makeup, often with a child pounding on the door or at my feet.
• Once I'm ready I ask Roman to eat about 1000 times while I dress Marisa and do her hair.
• Force Roman to eat something and then help him get dressed and do his hair.
• Pack a bag of things to keep the kids from going crazy during sacrament meeting (which never seem to work as well as I invision them working)
• Pack anything I need for my calling
• Try to feed Marisa one more time and grab another snack for myself so I don't starve and end up eating the kids snacks at church.
• Put on everyones shoes
• Brush my teeth while Shane and Roman get in the car
• Put Marisa in the car and we are off

All in about an hour. And as if that was the end of the chaos, it's only a precursor to how lovely the first hour and fifteen minutes of sacrament meeting can be. Today was one for the record books. The thought of adding another little bundle to this routine has me considering T.V. church for a couple years. (of course I'm kidding) Sometimes the only thing that keeps me going is the fact that I really want Roman to go to Primary and Sunbeams.

I know I could just wake up earlier but then I would just be tired but less stressed, I don't know which is worse, tired or stressed. It seems like being tired leads to more stress so I think I will keep sleeping till the last possible minute and dealing with the stress.

I would like to think that it gets easier once the kids grow out of the snacking/coloring stage, but I doubt it does.

Ten years already!

yes. It has been ten years since I graduated high school. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago, but you don't just graduate college, get married and have two and half children in much less than that, so I guess it's been ten years. I'm still in denial.

I was wasting time on the internet and thinking about my friend from high school, Carmi. The only way I knew to really keep up with her was to go to her Myspace page so I checked it out. At the bottom of the page was a link that said "Timpview 98' reunion set" and I thought... no way! that's not yet. I clicked on the link and yep, It's this weekend.


I'm not going to the big formal event because most of the people I REALLY want to see or talk to from high school, I still at least email or keep up with in some way or another and most of them won't be there because they graduated a year before me or the year after. Not to mention it's $33 a person to go to!!!! If I'm gonna spend $70 bucks for dinner it's going to be at a place I know is going to knock my socks off like The Roof, with a guarantee that I will actually know someone there.

Plus, there are no kids allowed so I would have to get a babysitter, I know Shane would be kicking and screaming the whole way there and I'm not gonna pay that much money for that.

But... there is a family picnic earlier that day that I'm going to with my friend Alisa since she just happened to be in town. It will be interesting to see people I haven't seen in 10 years although I probably won't remember anyones names. And, frankly it might be an all too realistic reminder of how unpopular I was, but oh well. Too bad I'm about 20 lbs over my normal weight and still don't look obviously pregnant. I will have to wear a T-shirt that says "baby on board" or something dumb like that.

Sigh.... Wish me luck!

Monday Movie Review

So I've got another few movies for you that I've seen this month. Frankly.... These movies confirm what I've been saying for a while now: They just don't make movies like they used to.

We'll start with Indiana Jones. Yes, I finally ditched my children and went to the movies. I guess it was worth it. It wasn't a bad movie but it bothered me the same way that the new Star Wars movies bothered me. It felt like they spent too much time and money on special effects and not enough time and money on making the story and acting good. I still like the first star wars and Indy movies better than the new ones and the special effects are ancient and almost comical, but it doesn't matter.
The movie starts out really weird and there is this fake groundhog that is digitally altered, but it's horrible. Why they wasted time on this dumb groundhog is beyond me. It wasn't funny and was horribly fake looking. Also, the first real scene of the movie is weird too. They obviously filmed it on a sound stage. The voices sound funny and the background looks like something from gone with the wind. Why couldn't they find an open dessert with a big hanger on it is beyond me. And if it was all real, they should have looked at it and said "this looks fake, lets do it again" It turned me off right from the get go. Anyway, the story was good but the acting for such a big budget movie was not as good as I would hope. Even Harrison Ford who I normally really like seemed off a bit.
I know I'm being very critical and Shane said he liked it but I feel like if you are going to do a sequel of a HUGE movie like Indiana Jones and give it so much hype, you better make it pretty darn awesome. And I just felt like it was good. Worth seeing once, even worth seeing at the movie theater, but I'm not sure it will be worth seeing again very soon.

I also saw another sequel, National Treasure 2. I liked the first National Treasure even though I don't really like Nicholas Cage very much. I felt like it kept you thinking and wondering and surprised. The second one didn't do it justice although I've heard people say that they liked it even better than the first one. Not me. It was good, but I never felt like it picked up much speed. Maybe I'm just too tired to think but I never found myself wondering what the next clue might be or being all that surprised when a new clue was revealed. But when compared to all the other movies I've watched lately, it's still close to the top.

This weekend we rented Bucket List. I had heard nothing about this movie but did read the summary to make sure it had potential. I thought it did, but after about 45 minutes of two men sitting in hospital beds talking, I had my doubts. The first 45 minutes of story should have been covered in about 10 minutes, and the middle 30 minutes should have been given more bulk. I think it was a movie with potential that was totally botched.

We also rented National Lampoons Bag Boy this weekend. Yikes! I didn't expect much, and I didn't get much either. Also another story that could have been funny and well acted and it wasn't. The story was ultra predictable but that's not always bad. My favorite part of the movie was pin pointing all the places I recognized, as it was filmed in Utah. I think I laughed once and it was just a giggle.

I look forward to watching some chick flicks the week that Shane is out of town on business next month. I don't think there will be any winners in that circle either but at least it's a genre that I like a little better. I would love some suggestions of good comedies or romantic comedies I could watch.

Jibber Jabber

My kids are talkers!!! How on earth they became such big talkers is beyond me. If I have a choice, I don't talk. If Roman isn't talking.... something is wrong or he's asleep and Marisa is trying hard to catch up to him.

Here are some of Roman's latest phrases:
He's pretty much mastered all talking. There are few words that are stuck in his head wrong and although he can say all the letters right, yellow still comes out lellow, etc., even though he can say yes perfectly. :) He just says some funny things sometimes.

"This is impossible!" (this is what he says when I won't let him do something)
"Is it still good morning?" (which means: it's not bed time yet, right?)
"That is my favorite!" (about just about anything he wants)
"Is Grandpa with the big glasses coming and then we will get a mario cart with a steering wheel?" (this phrase is spoken at least 10 times a day)
"mom, your being nice to me" (makes me feel like I must not be very nice very often)

A funny conversation while weeding the garden:

Roman: "Mom, I'm being a good helper" as he chops off all the tops of the weeds with a hand shovel.
Me: "yep"
Roman: "Do you need any not good helpers?"
Me: "no"
Roman: "am I a not good helper?"
Me: "no"
a few minutes later:
Roman: "mom, do you need any not good helpers?"
in an attempt to have him stop asking the same question AGAIN:
Me: "ok"
Roman: sets down the shovel and walks away.

Marisa:
She has several words that I can understand anyway.

Keeey: kitty
Mau: Meow (what she says after kitty)
AHHHOOOOWWW: uh oh. (every once in a while she gets a good space in there but it's usually very similar to her meowing)
gink: drink
keesh: cheese
gish: fish
guy guy: bye bye
waw: wow!
Ga Gaw (with her hands in the air): All gone

She often just stares you in the eye and jabbers something while she points and carries on. The only clue as to what she is talking about is where she points.

I always look forward to 8pm because that is when there is finally some silence or at least some adult conversation.

Limes... the perfect summer treat

I love limes. Yum! Ok, I don't like them plain although I always think that I do until I try one. But I love deserts and drinks made from limes and add a lime to Mexican food or a Pepsi and it's a hundred times better.

We have a Betty Crocker calendar hanging in our kitchen and it has a new recipe for each month and this month's recipe was key lime cupcakes and the picture just made them look irresistible! After 19 days of looking at that picture I decided I had had enough looking and I wanted to do some eating. So I tried it, and although it's not the cheapest desert to make, I think it was worth it and they are yummy. I think I paid about $7 for all the ingredients and it makes 48 cupcakes so it would be a great treat for a party or something. All my neighbors are enjoying a plate of cupcakes because I don't have a party to go to and heaven knows I don't need to eat 48 cupcakes by myself. And since you use a whole box of cake mix and pudding, it's difficult to cut in half.

The fun part is that it isn't hard to make them look just like this picture. Don't they look yummy? Shane even liked them so that's saying something.

So here it is. Enjoy!

Key Lime Cupcakes:

Topping:

1 box (4-serving size) vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix
1 1/2 Cups whipping cream
1/4 cup Key lime or regular lime juice
4 drops green food coloring
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Cupcakes:

48 large paper baking cups
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix
Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box

Frosting:

1 container Betty Crocker® Whipped fluffy white frosting
1 tablespoon Key lime or regular lime juice
1/2 teaspoon grated Key lime or regular lime peel

1. In large bowl, beat pudding mix and whipping cream with wire whisk 2 minutes. Let stand 3 minutes. Beat in 1/4 cup Key lime juice and the food color; stir in powdered sugar until smooth. Cover and refrigerate.

2. Heat oven to 375°F (350°F for dark or nonstick pans). Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups. Make cake batter as directed on box. Spoon about 1 rounded tablespoonful batter into each muffin cup, using about half of the batter. (Muffin cups will be about 1/3 full.) Refrigerate remaining batter. Bake 12 to 16 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pan to cooling rack. Repeat with remaining baking cups and batter. Cool cupcakes completely, about 15 minutes.

3. Remove paper baking cups from cupcakes. Swirl about 2 teaspoons topping on top of each cupcake.

4. Stir frosting in container 20 times. Gently stir in 1 tablespoon Key lime juice and the lime peel. Spoon frosting into 1-quart resealable food-storage plastic bag. Cut 1/2-inch opening from bottom corner of bag. Squeeze 1 rounded teaspoonful frosting from bag onto topping. Garnish with fresh lime wedge, if desired. Store in refrigerator.

These are best when they are cold all the way through! The only thing I will change the next time I make them is I will add a little more lime. They were good but I LOVE lime, so I think just a touch more lime would give them the tartness I want. :)

Enjoy!

Cry baby

I am such a cry baby lately. I have never really noticed being all that emotional with my other pregnancies, maybe just on occasion but I have noticed myself crying at stupid times alot lately. For instance. Last night, I was watching America's got Talent while sewing, when the cutest little 4 year old girl was on and sang "somewhere out there" from American tale. I've always really liked that song and this girl was ADORABLE!!!! And so brave! She sang in front of a whole huge audience and didn't mess up or anything, even when they were cheering... Anyway, I don't know what it was about this that made me cry like someone had just died, but I couldn't control myself.


I also find myself crying at the news, or especially when Roman cries. Oh my! He was crying the night before we were leaving Grandpas house and he almost had me bawling I felt so bad for him. Any story, cute or sad, about children makes me loose it!!
Only 4.5 more months of this... then the baby blues and nursing and more sleepless nights....... I should be myself again in a year and half. MAN!!!!

Does it ever end?

I'm just taking a break from what I've been doing all morning. CLEANING! Ugggg!

I have been cleaning all morning (about 2 hours now). And by cleaning I mean putting things in their proper place. I haven't even touched a bottle of cleaner or dusted anything (that happens very rarely). I keep wondering how this house gets this way so fast. It seems like I do a fair amount of tidying up every day but as fast as I clean it, it gets destroyed again. I can't say that it's just the kids fault because I do my share of the messing up but with two hours of cleaning you would think things would look different around here and they don't. Not even a little bit. The living room is still strewn with toys and there are cheerios filling in the spaces where there aren't any toys. It's like a mine field in there. The bathrooms..... I don't even want to go in there.... SCARY!!!, there are dishes to be done, there is a pile of food under the highchair..... again. **SIGH**

Romans room was first on my list as the perimeter of his room was just stacked with puzzles, toys, baseballs, clothes that don't fit anymore etc, etc. I can say that I guess it looks a little better, but it's far from picture perfect, or what I imagine it would look like after spending an hour in there. I did have two "helpers". Every puzzle that got put in the drawer was suddenly the best toy in the house and had to played with that instant. But I can't waste any more time on a room that isn't used for anything more than sleeping and the rare "I'm going to play all by myself" time.

Next I went to living room where the trains have been in the corners for weeks now untouched. Every day I've said to myself, "I need to put those up or in the basement since they aren't being played with at all". Today I finally did it, and I didn't even hear a whine of disapproval. Now I'm pooped and the computer was calling me.

I've been opening the blinds in my kitchen/dining room every morning only to think "I can't see out!, I need to wash these windows". But does it happen? well..... I still can't see out :)

The list goes on and on, and it's not like I don't do some amount of cleaning at least 5 days of the week. I just wonder how those people do it where everything is in place all the time and there is never a dish in the kitchen sink and even the dresser drawers are tidy. It's my ideal surrounding, but one that seems impossible to achieve.

Sorry, boring post, but I needed a break from what seems like running in circles so why not write about it? ahhh the life of a stay at home mom. :)

Either this child has three legs or....

It's a boy!!!!!!

sorry.... that title might be a little irreverent, but oh well. He is quite the contortionist. His feet were up by his head most of the ultrasound and his hands were always blocking what we were trying to see, but we got a few good pictures. For a moment he was chewing on his hands which was cute to see. He was always looking down at my back so we didn't get a good profile picture but everything looks good. All the measurements were right on and he is definitely a boy.

Why do we have to go home???

These are the words I heard over and over as we spend 14 hours traveling home. Oh how I hate getting there and coming back but this trip was like an 8 day party for Roman. He played his guts out every single day. I think I only talked to him when he had to eat and go to sleep. The rest of the time he was playing with cousins and grandparents. What a great break from his constant jibber jabber. Marisa on the other hand was sick for some of the time and was even more attached than usual, but she still got in on some of the fun. I know for a fact that her favorite part was visiting Grandma at their strawberry patch. She would point to the fields and would literally sit in the dirt eating strawberries as fast as she could.

Roman's favorite part was the power wheels that grandpa and uncle Lance bought recently. He had so much fun racing around the yard in the car and four wheeler. And I have to say that he was a surprisingly good driver. Teaching him to ride a bike was like torture for me so I thought for sure he was going to have a hard time learning about gas petals and such, but he picked it up really fast and had so much fun. Lance also bought some faster gas powered three wheelers that were too powerful for the little kids but the adults could ride around on them and it was just too funny. Shane and Lance and even grandma drove around having races with the kids.

It was so nice to have friends for Roman to play with. He and Corinne and sometimes Mason just bugged each other all day and left us parents alone for the most part. How nice! They are still a little young to let them go wild and free but there was always someone who would go sit outside while they played. I sure wish we lived closer to their family.

We spent a few hours at Chuck-e-cheese, and also drove up to Cleveland to a little park that has all these rides for little kids. They went nuts! Unfortunately it was over 90 degrees that day so we nearly baked our kids, but I think we all feel like it was still worth it. Roman and Corinne rode the roller coaster over and over and over... we just stood by the ride operator giving him tickets.

I enjoyed the heat and humidity although it was a little extreme at times. I'm just so tired of Utah's colder than cold weather that I tried not to complain much because it just felt so nice. Welcome home to the arctic tundra... it was in the 40's the day we came home... BLAH!!! I always enjoy the company of adults too since I don't get much of that at home.

We also enjoyed more food than anyone should eat in 8 days. We always gain 10 lbs every time we go to Ohio but it's hard to pass up all the good food that we don't have around here. ie. Romeo's pizza, Belly buster Roast beef sandwiches.... twice, Chipotle, hot wings, Elys ribs, The Hot Dog shoppe..... Yeah.... I think I had one salad, some corn and maybe a hand full of carrots while I was there and that was the extent of my healthy food.

It's nice to be in the comfort of our own home again and not living out of a suit case but it's hard to see the party end. :(
Anyway.... I took over 400 pictures, I narrowed it down to a little over 100 so I apologize, I know that's a lot of pictures. Enjoy!

I got my baby back

My car is fixed!!!! woo hoo. Man.... one side of that thing is so sparkley and shiny it looks brand new. I sure missed it and didn't get to drive my car for over 3 weeks!!! Doesn't she look perty?
Sorry no vacation pics or baby gender announcement yet... I have to weed through and edit over 300 pictures!! and I just love keeping you wondering :) as I'm sure many of you are checking in every hour to find out. LOL

Catchin' up

Just letting you know that I've been out of town for 8 days and I've got a lot to talk about. So.... stay tuned I can think of at least 3 posts that I could tackle today if I could only find the time to edit pictures and type for a couple hours. Including pictures from our trip which was so much fun! and the gender of the little one.... yes... I could just tell you right now.. but I will keep you in suspense for just a little longer :)

Fabulous FOUR!!!

Roman turned 4 years old yesterday!!! I can't believe he has been around for FOUR YEARS!!!! CRAZY!
He is a little sad about being 4 because he really liked being 3. He's gotten a little teary eyed about it a couple times, but he's also excited to have something new to tell people. Trust me.... everyone in church knew that yesterday was Roman's birthday and that he was 4 now.
We had a little celebration but nothing too serious because we plan on having another party in Ohio with his cousins there.
He had a really good day though. I don't think he got in trouble once and was just a happy kid all day long. He didn't eat much though I think he was just too excited. He didn't even eat his cupcake, just the frosting off the top :)
Here are some pictures.

we just went for some cupcakes and Roman wanted Lightning and Mater on top. Too bad frosting is never red or blue or black. It's pink, grey and a funny blue color. Darn boys and their colors! Luckily Roman is on a pink kick so he thought pink cupcakes were ok.

He picked the "checkered flag" one... It didn't really look very checkered but oh well.
He's four but not perfect :)

Marisa was brave and actually touched the cake this time.

Lightning pajamas that HE picked out.

Yes, we gave him vitamins for his birthday.... hey! They taste and look like candy!

A swimming pool so I don't have to humiliate myself in a maternity swimming suit at the public pool this summer. Or at least not as often.

Grandma and Grandpa S. gave him (and Marisa) a table to color and play at.

Roman helped put it together

Playing with his new baseball bat.

And just for kicks, Kristy had this on her blog so I gave it a try with Marisa's picture:



I think she does actually look a lot like Jodie Sweetin from Full house..... sigh.... I used to LOVE that show.