My Dad Never Fails

Sorry that this post is hard to read. I had to cut and paste some things and I can't get it to work correctly.


Dad is awesome when it comes to April Fool's jokes. He tries every single year to pull one over on me. Most years he does succeed. This year he may have if it hadn't been for Bear who knew immediately which day it was and proceeded to tell me that there was a camel in my window! He is a doll and has been excited to say that for two days.


About noon today, I received this email from my dad. I feel bad that this time I didn't fall for it but, Nena certainly did. Here is the email that I received.
Sorry to bother you with trivial matters but one of the producers here at the studio
is leaving and taking a job in Canada. He has the neatest little exotic pet that
they bought when they visited Florida three years ago but they just found out that
Canada will not allow them to bring in into their country. He's heartbroken but is
offering it to anyone in the department who thinks they can find a good home for it.
It's a lot like a little hamster but looks identical to a tiny walrus. He feeds it
crickets but says it eats any kind of bugs including spiders. They haven't seen a
spider in their home for the past five years. Its name is 'Walder' and he says
they live to be about 10 years old. He brought it to the studio today and it is
about the cutest thing I've ever seen. He says it's house trained to use a little
sand box and enjoys being out of the water as much as being in a shallow water bowl.I've attached a copy of the article he had about it, if you know anyone who would like to take it today or tomorrow. He paid over $500 for it but said he would give it to someone who would promise a good home.Let me know.
Dad




Although I can't get it to load here, he sent an info sheet on this tiny walrus and was very interesting. So much so that Nena set up a bed for it and begged me all
afternoon if we could keep it. Here is something similar to what he sent to me:
Tasmanian Mock Walrus

So, Dad, if you read this. You may not have gotten me this year but... like mother
like daughter.

Oh, and IF you ARE interested in some of my dad's other hoaxes, you can find a couple
of them HERE and HERE.

Ha Ha.... Very Funny!!

This is what happens when the first day of Spring Break falls on April Fool's Day! NOT FUNNY!!!

I remember when I was young, we would go to the park or go to temple square and sit on the lawn and listen to conference. Seriously! Why is it than when I have kiddos, the weather REFUSES to cooperate!

Lovin' The Ruffles

Apparently, ruffles are all the rage. No. Really. They are. Look around and you will see them. I think that they are darling made up into these ruffle skirts. Here is what I have been up to today. My friend wanted to have a ruffle skirt combo made for her daughter and her daughter's doll. They are cute and fun but, kind of a pain to make. They aren't hard, just time consuming. Thank heavens I had Anne of Green Gables to keep my company in the wee hours of the night last night while I finished this one up. Tell me what you think.


Here is the final project.

Enjoy Life

Today I got an email from an old and distant friend. THIS VIDEO was an attachment. I really loved it. It is a culmination of life and I really enjoyed it. I thought that I would share the video with you and also share with you the sources from which they made the video.

20 Tips for a Positive New Year

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1. Take a 10-30 minute “Thank you” walk every day. While you walk practice gratitude. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.

2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you have to.

3. Buy a TIVO, tape your late night shows and get more sleep—it’s the ultimate energizer.

4. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement: My purpose is to___________ today.

5. Live with the 3 E's. Energy, Enthusiasm, Empathy.

6. Read more books than you did in 2007.

7. Make time to practice meditation, yoga, tai chi, qigong and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.

8. Do the “one thing” you have always wanted to do.

9. Dream more while you are awake.

10. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less foods that are manufactured in plants.

11. Mentor someone and be mentored by someone.

12. Engage in daily random acts of kindness.

13. Clear your clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new and flowing positive energy into your life.

14. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

15. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

16. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

17. Smile and laugh more. It will keep the energy vampires away.

18. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements:

I am thankful for __________.

Today I accomplished____________.

19. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

20. Enjoy the ride. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy it.

Find It Here


To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.

It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolls over to 50 this week, so here's an update:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.

17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.

18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Overprepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?"

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

36. Growing old beats the alternative - dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.

38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

42. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

45. The best is yet to come.

46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

48. If you don't ask, you don't get.

49. Yield.

50. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

Find It Here

What Do You Get When....

You mix a fairy, a toad and 15 minutes spare time.

Sneak Peak

This is a sneak peak of what I am up to. Can you guess what room this is?

Where's Waldo... I Mean Me!

Over the past couple of days I have had several people email or comment to me that I don't post on my blog nearly as much as I used to. That is true. I just didn't think that anyone had noticed. So, for those of you who HAVE noticed, thanks for making sure that I was occasionally coming up for air.

It is true. I have been a bit of a blogging slacker over the last several months. I have really only been blogging about major events. That is really not my style. I have always used my blog as a venting spot and a place to get my thoughts out. Whether or not anyone ever wanted to read them was a different story. Regardless, it made me happy, fulfilled and served as a MAJOR outlet in my life.

The reason for the major slow down in my blogging is primarily related to stress. Although I haven't really expressed much about it on the blog, the last 8 months have been extremely trying and stressful for me. I have truly been feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders almost to the point of being unbearable at times. It have been trying to keep things upbeat and chipper on the blog for many reasons and haven't wanted to have my stress spill out.

Unfortunately, I don't see that stress lightening significantly any time soon. However, I am trying to improve my attitude and forcing myself to do the things that I enjoy and that bring peace and harmony to my home. I am trying to make myself enter the blogging sphere a little more boldly and frequently. I have received such great joy from keeping my thoughts out there and LOVE it when people read it.

So, please forgive me for not keeping up on the blog as much as I used to. Please bare with me while I put in a full effort and end up posting randomocity that seems to have nothing to do with anything. And PLEASE if you feel the need to comment on the posts.... DO IT!!!!! I love them and they make my day!

Thank you for being my friends. I can't tell you how much it means to me.

Not A Pioneer Any Longer

Our home, being a two story home, has two central air conditioning units and two furnaces. They are both very necessary and if you saw the layout of my house you would know why. It is kind of strangely configured. So, we have one set of units that heats and cools the basement and main level of the home and a second set that does the top level where the bedrooms are.

Enough with the background info on my home. Two years ago, the A/C unit that cools the upstairs went out. Oh, that was a miserable day. Being the extremely on top of it person that I can occasionally become, I called a service repairman and he came over immediately to inspect the unit. Oh, it was no simple fix. The compressor was out. That meant that it was more expensive to replace the part than the unit in its entirety!

For issues which I can not quite remember, we skipped fixing the unit that year. It was miserable but, we made it through. I just kept thinking to myself that the pioneers had it much worse than we did and they made it without central air!

Last year, for reasons that I can not quite remember, we skipped fixing the unit. I just remember being aggravated that it wasn't completed and the kiddos spent most of the summer sleeping in the cool cool basement in a tent. They actually loved it. I did have it priced out and lets just say that it isn't cheap to replace an A/C unit. But, then again, I just kept comparing myself to those pioneers and thinking that I was just incredibly grateful that I had a home at all and that I shouldn't complain about the A/C (oh, and no, I never grumbled about it.... that is my story and I am sticking to it ;) )

This year is different however, I am not going to do it any longer! I am NOT going to go through another summer without A/C! I am sick of being a pseudo pioneer without my cold air. So, on the day that our tax refund hit the account (HALELUJAH we GOT a tax REFUND this year!) I had one installed. Cheap NO WAY! Worth it! Heck yeah!

Notice the size difference though. Apparently, ours is SO outdated that the styles had completely changed. The new systems that they are now installing are more efficient, quiet, yadda yadda yadda.... and apparently HUGE! They told me that the more efficient they are, the larger they get. We are not even close to being near the top of the efficiency ladder and look at how massive that thing is. Now, I am just knocking on wood that the other one doesn't go out for another year or so. The repair guys don't seem as hopeful. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!!

Growing up, St. Patrick's Day was a semi grand event. The leprechauns would show up in the middle of the night and dump out a drawer or two in our bedrooms, turn the milk green, leave little green footprints all over the place and usually leave us a little gift. I have been in a bit of a funk as of late but decided to kick it into gear for this year and do something fun.


I started off by baking! Yep! I really did. I made my awesome oatmeal bread and new favorite banana bread both tinted green. I made an extra loaf of each and sent them up to my parents house to help them stay festive!


The night before, the Leprechauns came and laid out breakfast. Lucky charms, green milk, grapes and green apple juice boxes.


Yummy!!


The kiddos LOVED finding the breakfast and swiftly went to find the Leprechaun.



Deciding to really get into the spirit of things, I made lunches out of the green bread. They are always begging for chicken salad sandwiches so, I we spruced it up to have green chicken salad. Yes, I do realize that it looks like the sandwiches were left in the trunk of the car for a few months.


Kyra's lunch! Oh, and the Oreo's are green mint stuffed Oreos.


Off to school with their lovely green outfits. Yep. I made their outfits. I love these new recycled T-shirt ideas that I am finding. Bear loves the hoodies and Nena has been dying to wear this dress since I made it over a month ago!

She certainly isn't shy about posing.

Lunch with Toady and Bear. They also got the green lunch. This is the best picture of Toady that I got. He just has to give me those looks when I aim the camera at him.


I had a REALLY hard time trying to convince Bear that his sandwich was actually edible. After a lot of coaxing, he took a bit and proceeded to eat three sandwiches. I tell you... this bread recipe is really quite awesome!

Probably my favorite photo. My mom bought the green shoes for Nena and Bear a few weeks ago but, we weren't able to find a pair small enough for Toad. This morning when I handed out the shoes to the older two kiddos, I didn't think that he would notice that he was somehow missed in the shuffle (I KNOW!!!!! How sad is that!) He was so upset that he didn't have a pair. So, after the older kiddos went to school, I loaded Toad up in the car, and went to Wally World. Thank heavens it was the luckiest day of the year and the store had ONE PAIR LEFT in Toad's size so we snatched them up! It was better than Christmas for Toad. He was absolutely thrilled. Now I feel REALLY bad that he didn't have that pair of shoes when I handed them out to the other kiddos.

I am so very blessed to have three beautiful children that love each other, take care of each other and bring such joy to their mom!

And then again, they have their moments when they are extremely silly!


Down with the St. Patrick's Day homies!

And best friendsies..... when they want to be!

Here is Bear in his hoodie. Finished last night at midnight.

Toady in his hoodie finished this morning at 11:30.

Nena and her T- dress! Again, I LOVE this pattern. So does she. They are so soft and comfy! The best part is that they take less than an hour to put together including the cutting!

And last the best of all the game! Green dinner. Tonight we had bow tie pasta with alfredo sauce and peas! They loved it and gobbled it all up. However, I am still practical and used the paper plate. I don't want to do any more dishes than I absolutely have to!
What a great day full of fun!

Needing Sleep?

This is all over the place but, I thought that I would share it.

SOOOOO Proud Of My Brother!

I have to tell you that I have the most amazing family of all time. They are all so extremely brilliant and dedicated to what they do. Among my brothers and sisters we have a Ph.D psychologist, a surgeon, a nurse anesthetist, an amazing artist and teacher, 2 brilliant first year college students and a 4.0 junior graduating early..... and me.... the stay at home mom. They all humble me. I am in such great company by anyone's standards.

Today I received an email from one brother announcing that one of the college student brothers had made the paper. I am not surprised. Believe it or not, my brothers (all of them) have been in the paper more than once. However, little bro told no one of this. So, Congrats my awesome brilliant brother. I love you!

CHECK THIS OUT

Coke Man

Yes, I will get pictures of the other kiddos up here soon but, I have not been snapping very many pictures lately. I know! What is wrong with me?????

However, how could I resist this darling picture of "Coke Man" as he was calling himself? He modeled this little hat in about a dozen poses. He is such a stinker and a show off. I can not tell you how much I love this kid.

Oh, and as a side note, notice that this is CAFFEINE FREE!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep. I am trying.

Fun With Toad

This work of art was created by...... my 28 year old sis. Ha! You all thought that it was Bear didn't you! Nope. This is what happens when you mix a bored aunt, a toad and a red PERMANENT marker.

Road Trip!

A few months ago, my sister invited me to go on a bit of a road trip with her to St. George. She had to speak at an art conference and thought that it might be a bit of a respite for me to take a few days off and join her. She also invited my kiddos to come along. I jumped at the idea thinking that a few days out of town sounded like a little slice of heaven. So I quickly agreed to the idea. The trip was this past week!

Here are my sis and I at the end of a long day of driving with two kiddos. Yes, two. I took the older two along with me and left Toad home with dad. Good move on my part. I returned home to a little sickie with RSV. The next morning, my sis and I decided to throw caution to the wind and drove up to Zions with the kiddos. The first thing we did was the mile long tunnel. This is pretty cool if you haven't been there. It is a tunnel that is really 1 mile long that is cut right through the mountain. There are windows along the way so that you are able to see the gorgeous view periodically.


I will admit though that it kind of freaked me out a bit. I have a little bit of anxiety over things like this. It has to do with earthquakes. You can fill in the blanks. Bear also had some anxiety but ended up loving it so much that we turned around and went through the tunnel a second time.


This is only my second time to Zion's in my life and I am a born and raised Utah girl. Pretty pathetic. The last time I was there was about 12 years ago when all of my siblings and I went down to hike the Subway together.

The kiddos loved every second of the day.


Here we are at a little hike called the "Emerald Pools." This was a cute hike that has several pools along the way. We only hiked to the lower pool. The rest of the hike was rather muddy and kiddos and muddy hikes were not in my itinerary for the day.
Bear LOVED that he found a lock on a rock. He is obsessed with rhyming.
My kiddos love their auntie.



They also love each other.
And their momma. Don't you love how I didn't do anything to even resemble looking attractive. Yep. That is my kind of vacation.



Bear hiking up to weeping rock. This was a very short little walk that Nena wasn't able to manage. She really needs to buck up a bit. I ended up carrying her on my back. At one point, I mentioned to my sis that my butt was burning (aka: I am out of shape) and Nena responded, "Don't worry mom. You are carrying me and I will shade your bum so that it doesn't get hot anymore." Oh, thank you my dear. That will certainly solve that problem.

Amazingly beautiful frozen trees.



LOVE this shot of my sis.

I had Nena read all of the signs along the way. If I am going to pull her out of school for a day to go on a road trip, I am going to stretch her intellectually a bit. She actually got a kick out of it. I think that she got in about 45 minutes of reading this day when I made her read all of the signs.
Really cool how the trees will grow right in between the rocks.

That afternoon, my sis decided to take a siesta but, my kiddos decided not to. So, I packed them up and buzzed them over to the St. George temple grounds. They loved it.
Bear has a little bit of a thing when it comes to temples. He has made a goal to physically touch as many temples as he possibly can. Whenever we pass a new one or have spare time, we go to a temple and let him get out and touch one. He loves it. This is a new one to add to his list.
Bear directing the Mo Tab.
Although the visitor center is very similar to the one in Salt Lake, the kiddos don't tire of it and love every single exhibit.
Cute story: Bear loves the Book of Mormon. He isn't able to read it yet but, he really gets a kick out of looking at it. At the end of the exhibit, he just sat and stared at the books. He picked one up and just kept looking at it and flipping through the pages. When I tried to put it down, he got upset. I looked at the language and it was Ebdo. I was thinking, it would be cute to take a pict and predict a future mission call.
However, when I asked him to put it down, he couldn't. He told me that he was looking for his scripture. I asked what he was talking about and he recited the first part of a scripture that he had shared in primary the week previous. Poor kid. He was trying to find a D&C scripture in the Book of Mormon. To boot, it wasn't even in English. (I wonder how long he would have flipped through that book looking for it.) So, I told him that we needed to look in a different book for it. I walked him over to a little table with a triple combination on it and we found D&C 112:10 and read it. He sighed and said, "that's the one." He bookmarked it with the little ribbon attached to the book and said that he was going to leave it for the next person to read because they might need to know what was in that verse.
Oh yes. Swimming. As a kid, the only perks to a road trip are the frequent gas station stops for unlimited treats and drinks, sleeping in a hotel and swimming. Swimming, swimming, swimming. My sis booked a hotel with an indoor pool. Fantastic idea. The kiddos loved every single second of it and could have spent the entire trip in the pool. Unfortunately for me and not so unfortunately for the other guests in the hotel, I forgot my suit and wasn't able to go in with them. I looked like such a diva of a parent to every other adult there that was shamelessly swimming with their kiddos but, oh well, I wasn't about to go and spend $100 on a suit that I wouldn't ever wear again (I am a tad bit picky when it comes to swim suits are concerned.)
Oh yes, a palm tree. Mini, yes but, we loved the warmer weather.
On the way home, we spotted a Petco and it was adoption day. We had to stop to see the kitties. That brought up questions as to the mysterious disappearance of Kally and Kai (the cats that I had for 10 years) but, questions were quickly diverted with shots of Benadryl to my very allergy ridden kiddos.


Ahhhh. Cove Fort. You have to understand this tradition. You see, on the road down to St. George, there is a little historical monument just off the freeway. It is a fort that was used by the Mormon pioneers waaaay back when. It is a place that is kind of cool to visit once. However, my family has made a tradition of stopping and taking a picture any time you drive to or from St. George. You just have to get out and take a picture, email or text it to everyone that you know and then you can move on.

The catch is... you have to do it quickly or you will have to take the tour given by the senior couple missionaries. I don't mind taking the tour every once in a while but, I can't do it every time. During the winter though, the missionaries don't see a lot of visitors and they eagerly jump to visit with whoever drives up. We had a missionary at our car almost before we had a chance to get out. He was rather disappointed that we didn't take the tour this time.
All in all, FABULOUS trip. It was so good to get away and enjoy some time with just Bear and Nena and my sis. It was a short couple of days but, so very relaxing. Just wish that I hadn't come home to such a sickie Toad.