Eat Your Heart Out Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Eat your heart out Macy's, the Cedar City Storybook Cavalcade Parade has what you don't.

Sure, you've got giant balloons, but we've got semi-large ones.

Do you have a really freaky monkey?

Or an even freakier goat, doubt it.

Do you have wild things?

Or kids stuck in a shoe?

I know you don't have clone troopers,

(my boys favorite part)

and I'm certain you don't have a girl this excited about smarties.

Mean Mom

Can you guess what's happening in this picture?

I had just started the laundry when I heard a blood curdling scream come from the laundry room. I had been discovered, beloved blankie was inside the washer. She tried for 20 minutes to free him. The harder she tried the harder I laughed. The harder I laughed the harder she cried. I'm a mean mom.

...and we have a winner

Marc won 2nd place the the 3D division of the reflections contest for his project "Together We Can Keep The Earth Clean." He is quite pleased with his medal. We are waiting to hear how he does in the district competition.

Thanksgiving

I've been looking forward to our quiet little Thanksgiving at home, but it seems a little strange as I've been getting ready today. I'm cooking for seven people, it seems like there should be a 4 or 5 in front of that seven. My turkey is 13 pounds, looks more like a big chicken to me. I've been dreading getting up in the middle of the night tonight to put it in the oven, because that's what I remember Mom doing. Turns out you don't have to cook a 13 pound turkey for twenty hours, so I'm going to sleep in. I made two pies, just two. (Maybe I should of made more though, because I could eat two.) Still need to make the homemade blue cheese dressing tonight. I always think of Aunt Chris when I make that.

I'm so grateful this Thanksgiving to have come from an awesome family, to have married into an awesome family, and to have my own awesome little family. I hope each of you have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow.

Boo

What's worse than Halloween? Having to do it twice. I hate when Halloween doesn't fall on a school day and we get a "Double Halloween." Boo! Not a spooky boo either, just boo. I know, I know, every party has a pooper. But I didn't even like dressing up as a kid, and I always felt like a beggar when I went trick or treating.

So here's how it went for my kids-

Friday- Class parties, candy, candy, candy, rootbeer floats, donut, and another donut. Cupcakes for entering the pumpkin carving contest, licorice, homemade oreos, more candy. Pizza for dinner (my fault), then costumes on and we're out the door heading to the PTA carnival. Pixie sticks, candy bars, more cupcakes at the cake walk, suckers at Frankenstein's lab, smarties from the haunted fish pond. Ahhh, finally home.

Saturday-12:53 a.m. I wake up to Rylan standing next to my bed whimpering, "Mom, I think I'm gonna fro up." And he did.

9:00 a.m. livestock parade, then eat more candy.

1:00 p.m. off to get the blazer inspected (since it was the last day of the month). Didn't pass without new brakes, boo. (Once again, not a spooky boo, just boo.)

4:30 p.m. on with the costumes, on with the mullet, off to the ward trunk or treat. Oooo, windy and cold. To Grandma Sylvia's house, and finally back home. Off with the costumes, except for Darren who loved his mullet WAY too much. Mmmm, chili and bread sticks taste better than candy. And it's over until next year, and that's the part I liked.

Cute Kiddos

Last week Mindy come to town and took our family pictures. The fall leaves in Cedar Canyon were unbelievible, so unbelievible in fact that it looks like we were at Sears in front of a backdrop in many of these photos. Rest assured, we were not. Thanks for making the trip Mindy, we love them.

(Marc and Rylan appear to love each other here, do not be fooled.)

Happy Halloween!

So, I have this neighbor who lives up the street. She moved in not long after we did, three years ago, and I've been trying to make neighborly chit chat with her ever since. It hasn't worked. I've introduced myself, she didn't seem to care much. I've tried to wave and say hello to her when she drives by, she just keeps driving. I've tried to say "beautiful night, isn't it?" when I pass her on my walk, but nope, no response.

The other day there was a knock on my door. I peeked out my window and here was this neighbor standing on my porch. I'm not going to lie, I was a little afraid to find out what she wanted. I opened the door slowly and peeked out. She smiled and tried to hand me a pickle jar, full of this...

"I found this on my walk this morning, I thought your boys might want it," she says. "Ahhhhh," I whisper. Everything in me wanted to slam the door in her face and move the furniture in front of the door. I hate little spiders, let alone the 4 inch variety. But this was my neighbor, who I had been trying to make nice with for 3 years.

Marc was home sick from school that day. Fortunately he sensed my hesitation and sprung from the couch to grab the jar. "Awesome, thanks so much," he told her. I was trying hard to recover from the shock, but I managed to muster up this, "Wow, that is so nice of you to think of us, we'll try to take good care of it!" I closed the door.

And so it is. I now have a friend in my neighbor, and a tarantula in my garage.

Baggin' The Big Buck

Last weekend we headed to the ranch in search of giant bucks. We figured that the two hours in between general conference sessions on Saturday would be quite enough time to find these monster deer (and that was all the time we had). So off we trudged into the wilderness, one hunter, one wife, two boys, one little girl who needed a nap, one dog, one muzzle loader, four fence posts, one chainsaw, and one big bundle of wire. (The hunter had some work to do along the way.)

We moved ever so quietly through the forest. Like stealth ninjas. Like stealth ninjas who carried chainsaws and fence posts. Strangely enough, we didn't see any deer.

Except for this one. He is not a mule deer however. We think he may be some sort of exotic species.

Daisy bravely protected us from wild beasts who were likely also in search of big bucks.

And we all got as dirty as possible.


I love hunting. I love my hunter. I love that my hunter thinks spending a fall afternoon with his family is much more fun than baggin' the big buck.

Long time, no post...

So here's what we've been up to...

Ghetto Swing SetGhetto swing sets are a pet peeve of mine. A couple of weeks ago, our swing set became a ghetto swing set when it was victimized by the Cedar City winds. The tarp on the fort shredded and blew off. It had lasted 2 years and 4 months. This was actually about 2 years and 3 months longer than I expected, so I can't complain. I came up with a new design plan and Darren provided the muscle. Here is the result. We love it!

Flip Flops

Does anyone remember my flip flops from the family reunion at Diamond Fork. You may remember that they broke, and against all odds I fixed them with shipping tape. Well I got tired of walking around with tape between my toes so I decided to throw them away. I put them in the garbage can on garbage day. I left to run some errands. When I came back, the can was empty, the garbage was gone, but this is how I found my flip flops. I think they refuse to die. Kudos to you 3 dollar Walgreens flip flops, kudos to you.

SKY FEST 2010

Living here in festival city, we have far too many opportunities to attend the various fests. Sure, you've heard of the Shakespearean Festival. But are you familiar with the Livestock Festival, Neil Simon Festival, Horse Festival, Renaissance Festival, Wildflower Festival or the Run A Bunch Of Sheep Down Main Street Festival? No? Well, all of this festiveness seems a little excessive, until my favorite fest comes around every September, SKY FEST!
Sky Fest, in my opinion, is the only decent reason to get out of bed before dawn. And the only decent reason to wear your jammies in public. We love to go and watch the balloons each morning, here are our favorite pics from this year

9 years

On the 12th Darren and our celebrated our 9th Anniversary. Nine years seems like twenty five. Not in bad way, REALLY! It's just that I don't often think about what life was like before this little family of mine. I feel like I've been with them forever. Darren says that it's because he knew me in the pre-existence. That's my favorite pick up line. Happy Anniversary Honey!

Why is the bottom of this post so long? I don't know, scroll down.

Sick of The Kissing Hand

Finally! Rylan started kindergarten today. The last two weeks since Marc started school have felt like an eternity. I took Rylan to his classroom, helped him get settled in and gave him a big hug. While I was hugging him, he looked up at me and said, "Are we going to have to do this everyday?" I guess not. I left.

For those of you who have never read The Kissing Hand, it's about a raccoon who is afraid to go to school. His mom kisses him on the hand before he leaves and tells him to hold on to the kiss until he misses her while he is at school. Then he is supposed to hold his hand up to his face to feel his mother's kiss. It's the cutest book, I tear up every time I read it to the kids. Anyway...

I waited for Rylan's bus. It pulled up and all the other kids got off. He stayed in his seat and waved at me out the window. That bus ride must of been the best part of the day because he had no intention of getting off. With some convincing he finally got off and started telling me about his day. He played with blocks, the sink in the bathroom turns it's self on, he got a piece of bubble gum, he has a new friend named Danny. "And Mom, we read The Kissing Hand. I AM SO SICK OF THAT KISSING HAND." Certainly not a sentimental boy my Rylan, but a good first day anyway.

The Optimist Goes Back To School

My little optimist went back to school today. He has been SO excited to go back. Unlike his pessimistic mother, he never has any anxiety about starting a new year. When we saw his new class list I said, "I don't see any of your friends on this list." He said, "I'm sure I'll make new friends." When I said, "Your new teacher is Mrs. Taylor, I don't know anything about her." He said, "I bet she's really nice." When I sighed, "Your classroom is clear at the back of the school." He said, "Yep, right next to the door where the bus drops me off!" Your glass is half full Marc, and I love you for it!

Rylan doesn't start kindergarten for another 10 days. But, thankfully his appointment to meet his teacher fell on this day. He got to meet his darling teacher Mrs. Ross and look around the classroom. On the way out he said, "Wow Mom, that didn't make my tummy hurt like swimming lessons did." He was very brave.....so was I. Ten more days to wear his backpack around the house and ask me five time a day, "How many more days until kindergarten?"

Moments To Share

18 months, can you believe it! Emery went to nursery on Sunday for the first time. I dressed her up extra cute hoping that even if she screamed the whole time, the nursery leader would still love her because she looked so darling. Apparently she didn't scream until the last 15 minutes, not bad. We'll see how next Sunday goes....

We spend last weekend at the ranch. We had a couple of spectacular thunderstorms rattle us out of bed. This was the view from the deck of the cabin Friday night.

As long as I live here, I'll never get used to the weird bugs we see in our yard. Here is a scorpion ready to strick Darren the other night in our driveway. September seems to be tarantula month, so get ready to see those pictures soon!

Forty

In case you can't quite see the candles on the cake, there is a four (4) followed by a zero (0). Happy Birthday babe, we love ya. We celebrated a day early because Darren had bishopric meetings tonight, party animal. Last night went to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse. We took the boys with us for their first hibachi experience. Rylan tried to hide under the table because he was afraid of the fire. Marc got pretty good at using his chopsticks. And I got hit in the eye by a shrimp that the cook was trying to flip into my mouth. Ooch!

Is this what you thought 40 would be like, honey? I hope it's even better.

Tooth Fairy

Marc waited forever to start losing his baby teeth. While everyone in his kindergarten class was visited by the tooth fairy, he wasn't. While everyone in his 1st grade class was visited by the tooth fairy, he wasn't. Every time he went to the dentist, he'd ask, "How much LONGER?" And every 6 months the dentist would tell him it would take about 6 more months. I was beginning to think he might out grow the tooth fairy before she ever had a chance to come. Finally 2 days after he turned 7 he lost his first tooth when he let his beloved 1st grade teacher pull it out. His teacher let him call me from school to tell me the news. That night the tooth fairy came, HURRAY!

Yesterday while he was at summer camp he lost his second tooth. One of the teachers wrapped it in a napkin for him to take home, but somewhere in the shuffle he lost it. When I picked him up at camp he was devastated. No tooth for the tooth fairy. I suggested he write her a letter. After he put on his jammies last night he went to work.

"Deer tooth fairy

I lost a tooth today but I don't know where it is. I Lost it at camp Just 1 time would you leave money anyway?

Love Marc"

We put it in an envelope and put it under his pillow. Apparently the tooth fairy can read because he found two dollars this morning.

Happy Birthday Tiny Snack Cont...

After a quick bike ride we left for the cabin. I think when Grandpa started the sprinklers he was planning on watering grass, not boys.

Too bad all you have to wear is this hoodie because all your clothes are wet now.

Happy Birthday Tiny Snack

Tiny Snack is five, unbelievable. Rylan has recently been become known as Tiny Snack at our house. We struggle, fight and often bribe Rylan to eat a decent nutrious meal. It never happens, but as soon as I start the dishes he starts trying to negoiate a snack. "Just a small snack, just a little snack.....just a tiny, tiny snack. No way Tiny Snack, maybe next time you'll eat your dinner.

Here he is sporting his new Hot Wheels bike, hopefully the training wheels will be off soon.

WELCOME

Welcome friends and family! We are finally up and running (or more like limping) because I don't know what I'm doing. Please bear with me while I learn. We hope to make this a place to keep you all posted on our adventures.