Adventures in the Beehive state-The FINALE

*Caffeine Free Coke is nasty, nothing like the real thing
*Caffeine Free Dr. Pepper is just like the real thing
*That is ironic
*BYU Creamery makes a good Guacamole burger
*We never ate at the same burger joint twice, we're on a quest to find the best
*Beck got the barfing thing, and is a sad little baby
*We had a fun little picnic up South Fork canyon (I call it South Park Canyon)
*Hyrum had a bummer time with his bike tire and had to bail on the boys outing
*My girls made fun flower arrangements at Hyrum's Aunt Bonnie's Shop --the Flower Basket
*Did I ever blog about the parade? Fun, but hot and too long
*Sub-Zero ice cream is the coolest. It's just made with milk or cream and the flavor and then they feeze it with liquid nitrogen right in front of you. Creamy, cold delicious. Please open in AZ
*My girl's got the COOLEST face painting at the reunion, pictures will be posted later
*Stadium of Fire Fireworks---disappointment, not as cool as my good ol' small town Heber
*Chillin with Hy's Fam on his sister's lawn for the fireworks---Good time.
*Sparklers for the kids--always good, except for the one year Josie got a big black burn, not good, but this year, good
*Ditching church two weeks in a row really screws up my ability to know what day it is
*Sunday dinner with all of the fam and celebrating birthdays was fun
*Left at 3:30 am to come back to AZ, sounds crazy, but I love it because the kids sleep for half the journey and you get home about mid day
*Discovered that Josie is fun even at 5:00 a.m. when she became my front seat travelling companion while everyone else slept. I tried to get video of her but she couldn't find my purse.
*She read Nursery Rhymes to me, except she can't read, so those were funny, she laughed a lot, and she danced a little.
*As she was "reading" Jack Sprat (you know wife fat husband lean) she said "Is Daddy lean?" I said, "well, pretty much". And she said "Are you lean?" and I said, yes. (you know what's coming) and she said "You're lean, except for your big FAT belly". Which of course I said, "sure Jos".
*She's also rude at 5 a.m., and any other time she's awake
*Breakfast at Burger King in Cedar City didn't make me sick. YAy!
*Drive through Dixie National Forest in the morning light--breathtaking
*Stopping in Flagstaff at the "Crystal Waters Sandwich Company" or something like that, was spectacular, a nice healthy sandwich, a great break from days of burgers and fries
*Nothing like being home, we're doing a whole bunch of nothing for two days--at least
*Even with sickies it was a good trip

AIBS round four

Are you freaking kidding me?

Yesterday we got all loadedup and ready go to Lagoon and get there before noon so we could get discount passes with this cup we had, so we load the burb with all our junk, put the kids in, and START to back out of the garage.

CRASH! BREAKING GLASS!

I knew, I knew right then, I forgot to put down the back window. Glass everywhere, and a big open back window. SUCK! Totally my fault.

We were undeterred, however, and everyone sprung into action.

Hy on the phone with Allstate
Bro in law on cleanup
Me on washing all the tiny shards off of EVERYTHING
Sis in law to Costco for discount passses since we were going to miss the noon deadline
And I figured out where everyone could squeeze in with everyone else.

So about 1 hour later we were on out way. There was room for everyone (with one double buckle)

Lagoon was fun as always.

Kizz cried and begged not to go on rides, but we made her and then she loved it from the first ride on.

Josie and Annabelle rocked the park

Beck was a good kid, mostly hanging out at "camp" with G'ma and G'pa --who were babysitting rockstars

Hy and I got to ride on Wicked, colossus, the blue spinny one, The Samurai, and Blast off. I wanted Re-entry but no one would go with me.

Weather was fantastic--being with cousins and fam was fun

Headed home and tried to find Chinese in Provo.

Hy pulled up at a stoplight and I asked the guy next to us if there were any good Chinese joints, he suggested "PF Changs" and I said "cheaper and faster" and he said "Panda Express" and I gave him a thumbs down, then he said "we're more of a hamburger and pizza sort of place"

That I had noticed, and hamburgers they are good at.

But as we had resigned to eat hamburgers Hy spotted a little sign down a little street. YAY! Yummy chinese for dinner. Egg rolls were de-lish

OH, and I had forgot, for breakfast we had cinammon rolls from Shirley's. LOVELY.

Oh, and Kiz barfed once in the middle of the night. All on her pillow. Pretty skilled. Still sucked.

Then everyone slept like exhausted people should. I lay awake randomly from 4-5 o'clock AZ time, just THINKING. Dumb. But I did come up with some good ideas for a poster print I want my rockstar graphics friend to do.

But then I stlept until 7:30! That is 8:30 in Utah, which sounds lame, but it was a success considering the super crap previous nights.

So today we hit the bookstore again, tried a new hamburger joint with good onion rings, I finally found a store that carried my Clinique lipstick, and now we're chillin with fam at the Homestead resort in Midway.

I love hotels. Don't know why, but I LOVE them.

OH, best news of today, back window fixed for $0. Thank you glass coverage.

And shout out to my super FAB husband who was awesome with the kids in every way, I knew I maried him for a reason.

And randomly, I miss my friends, and I think how fun it would be to do a big Vacaition with all of them and their fams. Lagoon would be a riot.

Sweet, I'm off to watch TV in bed with Hy---CABLE!, kids are sleeping, just wish we had milk for the Double Stuff Oreos I bought.

Third time's a charm--Adventures in the beehive state

Dear Utah,

Fry sauce is not good. NOT GOOD

xoxo me


*Kizzy barfed, and she's not as smooth as Josie. Luckily Hyrum took on that job all night. good man.

*The BYU Bookstore is fun. The girls got two new books and candy from the little candy kiosk

*We went to the museum there, and that was super fun.

*Burger supreme has good hamburgers and gyros

*Hyrum took the girls to the pool and I stayed for Beck to take a nap

*Becker is sick too, but with a face cold. Gummy eyes and boogery nose. LAME

*While we were at the BYU bookstore Hyrum had to leave to pick up his parents from the airport so I had him take Kizzy with him while the rest of us stayed. After we bought the books and candy and wandered around the bookstore, we were waiting for Hyrum to come back and get us, so we decided to go outside and read a book on the lawn. So picture this:

Me, pushing stroller with super cute Beck, and Annabelle on one side of me and Josie on the other, dressed cute with hair done (rare) and we walked out of the book store onto the open mall with students sitting around working on laptops and walking by. And the girls spontaneously break out into "Zippity-doo-da, Zippity--ay, my oh my what a wonderful day" And they keep singing, and LOUD. I was SUPER MOM, they made me look good.

so later when Hyrum picked us up and we were walking to the car, I started the song and they picked it up singing away. It was fun watching passers by get huge grins.

How delightful.

Adventures in The Beehive State Part Deux

*The night after we arrived Josie was up at 2 a.m. . . . PUKING. She's a superstar and makes it to the bathroom each time, then goes back to sleep. Still sucks though

*I let the girls play out in the FRONT YARD at my Sister-in-law's house, without me watching.

*By "without me watching" actually meant that I was peaking out the window every few minutes. Can't help myself.

*Provo is like living in the 1950's. You can let the kids run around all willy nilly in the neighborhood

*We saw two little girls cruising down the street barefoot on a banana seat bike with basket. Watching them took me back to my childhood summers

*We ate some yummy shish kabobs with Hyrum's mission companion and his wife. It's fun to see them and their new baby

*Crenshaw melon(sp?) is really good covered in fresh lime

*Provo has an awesome farmer's market on Saturdays

*The kids got their faces painted, except for Josie, she was trying to barf in the public bathroom (Cicily, I bet your cringing)

*I got a cool headband from a girl who also has an etsy shop. I'll find it and post it later

*I got a toe ring, I haven't had one of those since college

*Provo is the healthiest city, people are always running and biking

*There are tons of mom and pop hamburger shops that are soo good. Nothing like a toasted bun

*I got yummy corn on the cob for 10 cents a piece.

*Kizzy does rotten things no matter where we go

*Annabelle is spending lots of time with her cousin, which she loves

*I got to see my brother-in-law perform. He teaches at BYU and is an AMAZING musician. Unbelieveably creative.

*His wife (Hyrum's sister) is a gifted writer and performer. Ridiculously talented.

*Utah Wal Marts carry food storage food and contraptions

*You can by a 24 pack of Cactus Cooler here. Awesome

*I realized I could live here . . .

* Then I realized it gets cold in the winter . . .

* So I realized I could live here for summer

*My girl's randomly did a hilarious re-enactment of the Princes Bride. Video will be posted when we get home.

*We had another good dinner with anothe mission companion and his wife and parents and family. It's become an annual thing, and we love it

*On the way home from aformentioned dinner, we were cruising down the interstate, windows down, wind blowing in our hair, but it was loud and Josie was trying to get my attention:

Josie: "Mom .. . Mom .. . Mom .. . Mom .. .Dad . . .Dad . . .MOm"

I turned around and said: "Yes Josie?"

Josie: "Annabelle had to go poop. And when she did, it was shaped like mushrooms."

I then looked at Annabelle and her grin was from ear to ear and she was nodding in agreeance.

It's great to have the Jos back to her healthy self.

Adventures in the Beehive State

*Driving all night for 10 hours is not that bad, but it makes your eyes burn and itch

*Our suburban runs out of gas after 503 miles on a tank. It just dies, and it is super heavy to push

*Kids can have good/non grumpy days even though they were awake around 2:00 a.m.

*Our kids are fun at aforementioned time.

*It is possible for it to rain all the way from Phoenix to Provo. Crazy, but possible.

*Rainy roads are very pretty in the middle of the night

*Josie sings in her sleep, I never knew that

*Provo is gorgeous, especially after weeks of rain

*Wendy's is never a good idea. They screw up your order, and then the food is gross.

*When Wendy's gives you a spoon, yes a SPOON, to eat your salad, forget it. Just use your fingers

*There is a random Utah station that works between Cedar City and Nephi and it plays awesome cheesey stuff like Richard Marx

*Repeatedly hearing about the "King of Pop" and his poor sudden demise, on EVERY FREAKING STATION, doesn't make him any less creepy


Stay tuned for more adventures in the Beehive State

The day has come

So I've tweeted and spoken a bit about me being on a diet. I've bailed already on that idea, but I thought I'd explain a little. Because everyone kept saying, "You? Why?"

UM, this is why:



I took a Flash Workshop from the amazing Wendy Schulz, and as we were goofing around we took the above picture. When I looked at in on the LCD in her camera I started laughing, like crying laughing. I thought "Since when did I start drinking beer?" At least that is what it looks like. So then I took this picture:



I was trying to disguise my gut. I have other pictures but Josie said "My butt was too close to the sign", which was random, but she was right--there are pictures that are just too embarrassing. And that first one isn't? I'm going to regret this post I'm sure.

I blame this all on my self esteem. In my head, I'm a rockstar. So I didn't see it, that and not having a full length mirror. Rats! I need one of those.

See, I've always been tiny. I was an athlete in high school and so I've always been fit. But 4 kids later, of course there are going to be some repercussions. What scares me the most is that, my mother who likes to consider herself as "fluffy" said she was tiny until . .. dun, dun dun . . . . .her 4th kid. So now is my time. And I'm freaked.

I get it though that some of you are probably telling me to shut it because you'd trade your right toe to weigh what I weigh, which I'm not telling. But it's not so much where I am, as where it could lead. And a little of where I am, beer guts are never flattering.

When you're petite like I am people assume that if you have any sort of pooch on your stomach that you must be pregnant, they feel it's safe to ask. IT'S NOT SAFE TO ASK----ANYONE. Why haven't people figured that out?


So now it's time for me to cut out the cinnamon rolls my husband makes. I stopped making cookies. And I had tacos last night in lettuce cups. LAME. And I'm off to the gym. I also started wearing what I call "tent" shirts, the ones that just do a straight down angle off the boobs so that it disguises the middle. I buy every one I see. Not cute, but effective. OH and I'm wearing black. LOTS of black.

OH, and you can laugh. I find this all very funny.

or you can tell me to SHUT IT

that doesn't hurt my feelings either.

Sweet Specials

I'm all about deals lately, although I'm a little late on this one. But anyhow, check out the deals at Mi Amigos this week.

I'm particularly stoked about the 77% off if you were born in 1977. I wasn't, but it is probably when a lot of you were.

Anyhow, repost this on your blog if you can. That would be awesome!

Super Sipper Deal

Fry's has Gerber Sippy Cups of all sizes Buy One Get one Free.

That is so cheap! I have been looking to buy more, but I hate paying that much for cups.

I got the 2 pack of soft sip cups, and a 2 pack of Graduate cups.

The highest price of $7.19. And being it was 2 for 1 each ended up being $3.60. At Target and Wal Mart they are about $5.00 or more.

Tuesday (tomorrow) is the last day.

Just thought I'd let y'all know.

The difference

I just found this photo. It was taken 1 year ago. How cute is that kid? She seems so much bigger now.

Paternity Test Tuesday

So I'm driving to my friend's house to photograph her newborn and I'm flipping through the stations (cause they all Suck) and I stop on one and hear:

"Paternity Test Tuesday!"

What the frick?

So of course I listen as the story unfolds.

In the studio are a man and a woman. The woman is in the middle of a divorce, and the man is married. The woman is trying to figure out if the father of the TWO year old is:

a) Her current husband whom she is divorcing

OR

b) The married man in the studio with her


She's hoping that it is her current husband's child.


and the results are:


THE MARRIED MAN!

So I keep listening, thinking, ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? This is what this generation has reduced itself to? Paternity Test Tuesday. And for real---that girl knew who the father was--she's no dummy.

And NO KIDDING this is what she said:

"I was hoping it was my husband's because I never wanted my kids to have different dads."

REALLY? REALLY? You didn't want your kids to have different dads? How about next time-- you don't screw a married man, or actually, ANY man other than your husband.

That, MY DEAR, is how you don't have kids with different daddies.

BASICS

people

BASICS

Sunday Post

I was reading something somewhere and came across this gem:

"Get on your knees and ask for the blessings of the Lord; then stand on your feet and do what you are asked to do."

By who else??? Gordon B. Hinckley

Roosevelt

Every year of my entire life my family has gone to Roosevelt lake. We used to go during Spring Break, but the last two years we've wised up and gone later when the weather wasn't so tempermental and the water was warmer. I love it, my girls love it, and it's fun for me to see them growing up on the lake like I did. Each morning we'd go swimming, and everyday after lunch a light storm would blow in cooling it off just enough. The first day we were there the wind was crazy and produced HUGE waves for a lake and the girls loved to play in it. I love it because they disappear and reappear in the video. And then Beck, how cute is he in his life vest/lake debut? Kizzy wasn't a huge fan of the water, she has to be coaxed most of the time. But she was awesome the rest of the time, she'd randomly say, "I need to take a nap" and shed go take on in the tent. And then once she fell asleep on the cooler. And Beck would only nap if someone held him--stinker. But for the majority of it--Fun. Super fun.

She's 3!

The Kizz turns 3 today.

She is a great kid. She loves to take naps. In fact, while we were at the lake she'd come up to me multiple times a day and say "I want to take a nap". She can fall asleep anywhere. I mean anywhere. She's super easy going--just the chillin'est kid ever. And she's gorgeous--oh so gorgeous

Handsome Devil

We called him Handsome Devil

and then one morning

he woke up like this

Children's classics

I NEED INPUT.

I've decided I would like to read chapter books to the girls at night. I thought this would be a good summer activity. But I'm not a reader, nor was my mother. So I don't know of any. What suggestions do you have? I would like classic books. I figured I would read 1 chapter a night.

Let me know.

Also, I'd prefer they weren't depressing.