My time to Shine!

Wow, this week flew by!

The week started off pretty crappy actually. Monday was one of those days that everything just spirals out of control, and absolutely nothing got done, and you just feel horrid all day long! And then on Tuesday, Haley's teacher told me that she hasn't been behaving very well in school. She has started to talk back to the teacher and is screaming when she has to be in time out!! And so it begins...my ultimate fear...not behaving in school!!! OK, actually I have a lot fears...but we won't go there right now. So anyway, I was so disappointed. When ever a teacher says, "Hey, do you have a minute?" when you're picking up your kid, it's not a good thing! So anyway, Haley and I immediately created a incentive chart when we got home (the teacher in me was kicking in) and a prize that she gets to pick out (it was a My Little Pony) to work toward. It has worked wonders this week!!! She has been so excited about it! Yesterday, the girls did a huge amount of playing together with NO FIGHTING!! I couldn't believe it, I kept waiting for someone to start screaming, but it never came! And I mean real playing...together...not side by side in the same room...TOGETHER! I know, I know...I'm sounding gaggy right about now...very unlike my normal posts. But I don't care! My kids were PERFECT yesterday!! Yay, for me, I'm such a PERFECT mom!! PERFECT, PERFECT, PERFECT! Ahhhh, even it's just for a day...I'll take it! Sometimes moms need a good day, just to keep them sane...because the next day will most likely return to normal...hell. Just kidding... I love being a mom...honest!

So anyway, back to the prize. Today when I picked her up from school, the teacher said she did super! So Haley got her last sticker she needed to get her pony. So on the way home, that's what we did, and Haley wanted Morgan to have one too. Lucky me! And you won't believe what pony Haley FINALLY got...her prized Rainbow Dash!! Something about seeing both those girls skip (ok, maybe they weren't skipping, but it does make a better visual) out of the store holding their ponies, and Haley so proud of herself...ah, just makes my day! We made up another chart this afternoon. The prize she chose...a camera. Needless to say I added A LOT more squares for her to fill up to get it!

Two posts in one day...I'm on a roll!

I wanted to give a shout out to my little brother, Jeffy, who turns 19 today! We had a little birthday celebration on Sunday night. My other brother, Matt, and his wife, Carrie, along with our good friend Sleevie came over for some homemade ham bean soup and chocolate cake. So pretty low key...but special none the less! It's been great having him stay with us!

Happy Birthday!

Yummy Desserts...Only choose one!

I just stole this from Megan's blog. I thought is was pretty fun, and surprisingly accurate too!


If all of the eight desserts listed below were sitting in front of you, which would you choose ? (sorry, you can only pick one)! Trust me...this is very accurate. Pick your dessert, and then look to see what psychiatrists think about you.

REMEMBER - No Cheating.

Make your choice before you check the meaning.



Here are your choices:

1. Angel Food Cake
2. Brownies
3. Lemon Meringue Pie
4. Vanilla Cake With Chocolate Icing
5. Strawberry Short Cake
6. Chocolate Cake With Chocolate Icing
7. Ice Cream
8. Carrot Cake


No, you can't change your mind once you scroll down, so think carefully about what your choice will be.






1. ANGEL FOOD CAKE -- Sweet, loving, cuddly. You love all warm and fuzzy items. A little nutty at times. Sometimes you need an ice cream cone at the end of the day. Others perceive you as being childlike and immature at times.

2. BROWNIES -- You are adventurous, love new ideas, and are a champion of underdogs and a slayer of dragons. When tempers flare up you whip out your saber.. You are always the oddball with a unique sense of humor and direction. You tend to be very loyal.

3. LEMON MERINGUE -- Smooth, sexy, & articulate with your hands, you are an excellent caregiver and a good teacher. But don't try to walk and chew gum at the same time. A bit of a diva at times, you set your own style because you do your own thing. You shine when it comes to helping others and have many friends.

4. VANILLA CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE ICING -- Fun-loving, sassy, humorous, not very grounded in life; very indecisive and lacking motivation. Everyone enjoys being around you, but you are a practical joker. Others should be cautious in making you mad. However, you are a friend for life.

5. STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE -- Romantic, warm, loving. You care about other people, can be counted on in a pinch and expect the same in return. Intuitively keen. You can be very emotional at times but a true person in every way. You like to do things for yourself and help others learn about themselves.

6. CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE ICING-- Sexy; always ready to give and receive. Very creative, adventurous, ambitious, and passionate. You can appear to have a cold exterior but are warm on the inside. Not afraid to take chances. Will not settle for anything average in life. Love to laugh.

7. ICE CREAM -- You like sports, whether it be baseball, football, basketball, or soccer. If you could, you would like to participate, but you enjoy watching sports. You don't like to give up the remote control. You tend to be self-centered and high maintenance.

8. CARROT CAKE -- You are a very fun loving person, who likes to laugh. You are fun to be with. People like to hang out with you. You are a very warm hearted person and a little quirky at times. You have many loyal friends. You were meant to lead and teach others. A wonderful role model.



In case you are wondering, I chose the chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. It was a hard choice of that or brownies...really anything chocolate and I'm in heaven! I think it was fairly accurate of me. Sexy...OF COURSE! Creative...hmmm, debatable. Adventurous...I think so! Ambitious...most of the time. Passionate...of certain things, yes. Cold exterior but warm on the inside...funny, I heard this a lot about myself growing up...wait, people still tell me that. I have a tendency to look mad sometimes, when I'm not. Or I guess I could be at the time. And not afraid to take chances...not so much on this one. Ryan is more of a risk taker then I am. And loves to laugh...who doesn't?!

Kid Time!

So I just discovered something very cool in Provo...Kid Time at the Covey Center! For just three dollars they offer some very fun crafts and games for kids ages 3-12. Each week they focus on a particular theme, this week happened to be Penguins. So it was a very special outing for just Haley and me!

She made an igloo out of a cup, frosting and mini marshmallows; a penguin out of egg crates and paint; and she drew a penguin on sticky paper to hang in her window. They also played a tag game which absolutely confused Haley. It was basically what we know as freeze tag, but they called it some penguin name. Anyway, when they got started there were about 20 kids racing around and then there was Haley who just stood there in the middle of it all, with this completely bewildered look on her face. No one tried to tag her since she basically looked like she was already frozen. I think she just enjoyed watching everyone run around. Then they grouped the kids together on the floor and the instructor threw out little goldfish snacks to them. The idea was that they were penguins and they were supposed to catch the fish in their mouth. But of course it turned into a free-for-all...everyone just grabbing up what fell on the floor, because honestly, what kid can actually catch a fish in their mouth?! Probably not the most sanitary game , but pretty entertaining for us parents to watch!! She pretty much eats off the floor on a daily basis...so nothing new there! Then they ended with a cute story.

I'm amazed at how social Haley is! It didn't take long for her to tell her life story to the first instructor she saw. All the lady asked was, "Do you like animals?". That opened a huge can of worms!! Haley told her about Una of course, who she says is her daughter. And then she told her about Lucky her cat. Which I'm pretty sure the instructor thought is was a real cat, but I didn't fill her in that is was actually her prized stuffed kitty. Haley did a great job at making it sound so real! If I didn't know Lucky, I would have thought it to be real too! "She's soooo soft. And she loves to play and she always licks! She's such a silly cat!". On and on! And then any kid that sits down she immediately says, "Hi, do you want to be my friend?!". So cute!

So anyway, she had a great time...we'll have to do again sometime!

Some of my favorites.

I love cookbooks! I may not follow every recipe in them, but I love reading through them and learning about what flavors go with what. Or a lot of the time I take parts of recipes and make them my own. Mostly on accident, because half the time I don't have all the ingredients they call for. So I do a lot of adapting. Lucky for me Ryan is NOT a picky eater, and he doesn't mind eating leftovers (some men refuse to eat leftovers...weird). I love how I use so many of the same meals my mom cooked growing up. It amazes me how much I learned by being in the kitchen with her. I didn't realize back then that I would be using the exact same techniques and recipes that she used. It really makes me excited to be able to teach my girls how to cook and hope so much they enjoy it as much as I do!

Just a few of my favorites:
OK, this is like the mother of all cookbooks! I'm pretty sure every household has this one, and probably everyone got it as a wedding gift too! Wait, I think I bought mine...crazy! Well, anyway, great cookbook!

The Lion House Cookbooks. If you are Mormon then chances are you have a Lion House Cookbook! There are several out there. I happen to have the "Lite Recipes" version. Now this one I know I got as a wedding gift...I'm pretty sure it was from my mom...or my grandma. Anyway, it has the BEST turkey chili recipe!

Barefoot Contessa at Home I just got for Christmas. I love all the Food Network chefs! OK, maybe not all...there are a few that really bug me! Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) is a bit hoity-toity when you see her show, but she has great recipes!

I'm not the biggest fan of Martha Stewart. I think she leaves a few things out of her recipes so you are sure to fail! I've tried several of her desserts, and they've all been utter disasters! So anyway, these are not necessarily her recipes, they are all from the magazine, Everyday Food. One thing I like in cookbooks are photos...lots and lots of photos. And this cookbook has a picture for every single recipe! Also, each recipe doesn't call for tons and tons of ingredients, and most of them you have on hand (perfect for me).

Good News!

Well I'm happy to report that Haley's swim lesson yesterday went GREAT! When I told her it was time to get ready there was no screaming and running away from me this time...thank goodness! There's this little boy in her class, he's probably just barely three years old, who completely freaked out when it was time to get in. He just burst into tears and his dad had to come down and stand by him by the side of the pool to coax him in. And the whole time I just thought, "YES...it's not my kid!!!". However, the little boy eventually did get into the water and did just fine by the end of class...unlike Haley.

So because she did such a super job and I'm so proud of her for doing her best, she got to be the first to use our new Red Plate at dinner. I know this is a tradition that many households do, I know I loved it growing up! So I finally found a great plate and we're starting the tradition this year in our house!

So there you have it! Now I just hope she passes the class so she'll be ready for the next level in the Summer...ahhh, Summer, how I miss you!

Also, after her lesson I went ahead and bought a three month pass for the family. Maybe it will help pass the time while I'm waiting for the weather to warm up. So I think we'll be going to the pool quite a bit. They have racquetball courts there too! Oh, how I would love to play! Too bad they don't have a babysitting center there...bummer! In college Ryan and I played a lot of racquetball!!

Funny story: I was playing cut-throat (I think that's what it's called when you have three players) with Ryan and Serjon (not sure I spelled his name right). Anyway, they are probably the two biggest guys at the school, and I'm like the smallest person at the school. So anyway, their arm span was huge, and if you've seen the courts they're not very big. So you can imagine how scary it was for me. I concentrated more on not getting hit by their rackets then I did at trying to hit the ball! Anyway, I eventually got hit...yes...in the face...by Serjon. I'm not sure if I ever played cut-throat with them again. Also during that year Serjon crashed me on a bike ride. I fell into a huge icy puddle, yea, it was like 30 degrees outside. And then he also took me out during a game of Ultimate Frisbee...hurt my knee pretty bad. After that I think I got a restraining order against him! Stay away from Croatians, they're up to no good. Just kidding, of course...we still loved him!

My rambles for the day.

Friday night Haley went to a good friend's Luau themed birthday party. So the day before we went out to get her outfit. But everything costs me twice as much since I had to get the same thing for Morgan. As I picked up an item for Haley, Morgan is right behind me picking the same item up for herself! So they both had their armful of goodies they brought to the register. Haley insisted on the hugest hibiscus flower clip for her hair. I tried to talk her into getting a smaller one, but she wasn't having it! So that's whats in her hair...in case you wondering.

In other news, I enrolled Haley in swim lessons again. And if you remember from last summer it was quite an experience...and I don't mean a good one either! The teacher asked that she repeat the same level again, so I thought she could do that in the Winter (and hopefully pass) and then she'll be ready for the next level swim class in the Summer. So last week I told her she'll be starting her "water fun class with all her friends" (I'm trying to make it sound less scary) and she still freaked out about the whole thing. Great. So on Saturday we took a family outing to the pool to get her accustomed to the water again. It went really well! She loved it! And she even put her head under the water when we played "ring around the rosies"! So far so good! She starts tomorrow...wish us luck!


On Sunday Ryan and I had our first day working in Nursery (taking care of all the 2-3 year olds for nearly two hours). Let's see...how should I say this...well...this job is going to be very challenging for me. Let me explain... Let's go over my week at home shall we: Monday: break up fights between Haley and Morgan. Tuesday: break up fights between Haley and Morgan. Wednesday: break up fights between Haley and Morgan (are you seeing a pattern here?) Thursday: break up fights between Haley and Morgan. Need I go on?! So as you can see, come Sunday, well...did I mention this will be a very challenging job for me?! But, in any case, I'm always up for a challenge! I'll do my best!! Plus, how can I turn this job down when there are so many women and men (with children of their own during the week) who have gone through just this? Luckily for Ryan and I, we only have to do this job every other week. So I do get some adult interaction at church at some point. Please keep in mind that I've been teaching Primary for two years already! Can I complain just a little?!

So yeah...the girls are always, ALWAYS fighting...it seems anyway. Unless they are engaged in an activity that involves having their own materials (no sharing needed) such as painting, play-do, coloring, etc. they get along great. However, as soon as I try to accomplish something and leave them alone...let the games begin or the WWF, which ever! So anyway, I'm at my wits end!! And so many other parents say, "Oh, it will get better as they get older." NO, NO, NO! It's getting worse as they older!! If you think about it, Morgan is only getting better with her speech, so she's becoming more and more vocal about things. Two stubborn girls!!

Have I ever mentioned Winter is very hard on me...I have a tendency to complain quite a bit more then any other Season...it seems.

Future Speedskaters?

Today Ryan had off...yippee! So we decided to take the girls ice skating at Seven Peaks for a little family fun. Luckily they had the little metal supports that the girls could push around, otherwise we would have been worn out trying to keep them both upright! Haley started out a little apprehensive about the whole thing, but warmed up to it very quickly! It didn't take long for her to start zipping around the rink. We have to work on direction a little as she didn't really grasp the concept of going only one way, and continuing in a circle. She would zig-zag here and there and she constantly went into the center of the rink where all the figure skaters do their special twirls. That has always been a pet peeve of mine....those figure skaters that take up the entire center circle and the mean looking coach that's working with them. And the way they twirl and jump, their blades of their skates coming inches away from some poor innocent child's head (Haley). OK, I may be exaggerating...but just a little!
Here's Haley ripping it up!

This picture cracks me up because you can see Ryan in the background trying to coax Morgan to use the support thing.

This is how Morgan started...all smiles, and loving it. After a few laps, it quickly turned to the below picture. Future speedskater? Hmmmm....maybe not yet.

It felt good to get out on the ice. I had to hunt down my old speedskates. Unfortunately, they were pretty badly rusted, and I don't have the tools to fix them up. So I used my long track speedskates which were in much better shape. Ryan used an old pair of hockey skates he had. So together we saved a whopping 3 dollars on skate rentals...yeah!

Skating around brought back a lot of memories of growing up as kid and racing short track. I needed my dad there so we could start pace lining around the rink! Gosh, I've been feeling very nostalgic lately! Ahhh, good times!

Brings back the memories!

For the past week Jeff's girlfriend, Jenn, has been staying with us. Her Christmas break from San Diego State is practically the whole month of Jan. So she took a break from all that warm Southern California weather to spend some time in the arctic. They went skiing at Sundance a couple of times and did some sledding (which resulted in some major bruises). Jenn did an exuberant amount of baking...she has taken over the pastry chef role as that was my job growing up. So we have quite a bit of sweets in the house right now! And who is left eating it?! ME! Jenn has an amazing ability to make all the treats, but never eats it...how is that possible?! I don't have that kind of discipline. Anyway, it's been a very nice visit with her and I've really enjoyed having her here...I'm sure Jeff would agree. Although, I'm sure he's itching to get back into his own bed rather then sofa surfing. For some reason he's not into the 6:30 wake up call from Haley running into the living room every morning.

Seeing these two together I'm reminded of Ryan and I back in the day. We were the same age as Jeff and Jenn are when we first met...crazy, it doesn't feel that long ago! I remember during my first week of college I was hanging out in someone's dorm (Brian's I believe) and meeting some of the other cyclists on the team. Of all the people in the room I remember seeing Ryan sitting on the floor next to his roomie Aaron. Who knew I would be married to him three years later!

I found some old photos of Ryan and I when we first were together. The top photo is after a couple of months dating. It was taken on Valentines Day...I believe we were on our way to the Symphony (I know...we're sooo sophisticated!). However, most likely our motive was to get extra credit points for our Humanities class. I'm 18 and Ryan's 19! As you can see the freshman 15 hit me hard!! UGH! And I believe the bottom photo is my second year in college.

Where have all the years gone?!!

Stupid Toys

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705276683,00.html



Every Monday I read Erin Stewart's column. She's a new mom, and she writes about Motherhood type stuff. Mostly I enjoy it, however, sometimes she can sound a bit too much like articles I read in Parents Magazine. And we all know I'm a Parents Magazine hater! But today's article I couldn't agree more with her!

To go with her article, this is a picture of a "toy" I saw in the grocery store checkout this morning. Potty Putty, and yes, the container is in the shape of a toilet. Lovely!

Oh my!

This is a picture of Haley innocently playing with her toys. I don't think it will take you very long to figure out why I had to take a picture of her.


I know...I'm being very immature.


A recent conversation with Haley while she was playing with her Princess Doll:

Haley: "I like Morgan's Cinderella better, she has boobies."
Me: "What?!!"
Haley: "Yeah, her boobies are sparkly!"
Me: "Show me...where?"

Haley points to the jewel at the bottom of the doll's dress.

Me: "OH!, you mean rubies...the rubies are sparkly!"
Haley: "Yeah, the rubies."

Whew!

Christmas Lesson

I put a lot of time and effort into picking out toys for the girls for Christmas. And now it seems about half of them have already broke somehow!! What's up with that?! These are not dollar store toys either...if they were I wouldn't be surprised at all. But these are toys that should last longer then two weeks!! My kids were not overly hard on them either...at least not that I could see. One toy broke the same week as Christmas. It was a plastic potato for the game Hot Potato. Pretty cute, you had to wind it up and then it would make a buzzing sound when the time ran out. So I'm playing the game with the girls, having fun, when Haley (I think) dropped it. That was that...game over. I'm really bummed about that toy because I bought the same thing for my sister-in-law's boys. So, Beth, hopefully yours is doing better then ours. Be warned...it cannot take impact very well. I also bought the girls a Hide-and-go-Seek Monkey. It comes with a little wand that beeps when you get close to where the monkey is hiding. I thought, perfect! A game they can play alone, no special help from mom. Well, the monkey's tail is already falling off!! Not that you need the tail for anything, but makes me mad none the less! And then just the other day Morgan pulled off one of the buttons to her little cash register! Ahhhhhhhh!!!! She came up to me holding the little button for me to see saying, "Me broke this button." Well, at least she was honest about it. So now it's just a waiting game...what's going to break next?! I should just stick to buying them My Little Ponies, they are pretty much indestructible. Well, OK, they're not completely indestructible...Etta did manage to chew off an ear on one pony. We'll work on keeping toys away from the dog!! So anyway, the lesson learned this Christmas: The girls are NOT ready for an American Girl doll!!! If I get all bent out of shape about 15 dollar cash register, what would I do about 100 dollar doll? It definitely wouldn't be good!

Completely Random

Question:

At what age do you have to be to not have to worry about pimples?! When I was in high school I always thought how at least when I'm older I won't have to deal with pimples anymore.
Wrong-O! I was just thinking about that because I'm getting two big ones right now on my face...ugh!

I also remember being younger, probably around 5 or 6 and being obsessed with the name Cindy...I know, weird! I thought Cindy sounded so mature. Now I just think of The Brady Bunch, and that Cindy was anything but mature. Wasn't that her name? I also remember putting paper clips on my finger tips to pretend I had long nails. (I think every little girl did this) I had this summer school teacher one year that had long nails. When she talked she would emphasis a lot with her hands and her nails would knock against each other making this really neat clicking sound. I was completely mesmerized by it...it's really the only thing I remember of that summer! Anyway, I was so obsessed with the idea of getting older. Now that I'm older I'm not into long nails at all, I keep them short, always. Strange how that is.

I have no idea where I'm going with this post. Well, there you have it...Kelly's random thoughts for the day.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!

This first picture is out of order, but whatever. It took me pretty much all evening just to download these onto Blogger...what's up with that?! So, I'm not doing any changes after all that! Anyway, so Long Beach was of course wonderful! The whole family was able to be there together which made it especially nice. Every year my mom, my grandma, and of course the girls go to Newport Fashion Island for a girls outing. Not that we do any shopping there, it's pretty much impossible with the girls. But we usually go out to lunch, and always, ALWAYS get an almond twist at Pain du Mond (I think I spelled that right). It's tradition...can't break tradition!

We also went to the beach a couple of times. Haley was dying to go! We told her it was too cold to swim, but of course that did not stop her. She and Morgan got drenched both times and loved every bit of it! Our car is still covered with sand.

I did quite a bit of riding too! I had to burn calories somehow, since I'll I did was eat, eat and eat some more!


Christmas morning! Haley found her Penguin, which she named Tra La La. If Christmas ended there she would have been a happy camper! Morgan found a new Piggy back (not sure where it is in the photo). She was pretty excited too, she broke hers a while back and has wanted a new one ever since.

This year my mom sewed the most amazing aprons for all us girls! I love them!

A couple of days after Christmas we all went to Lake Arrowhead for a few days of snow play. Yeah, not sure how I got talked into that! There was about three feet of snow waiting for us when we got there...that's the most I've seen ever there! So we of course did a lot of sledding!

Here's my dad and brother trying to clear the driveway...they did do it eventually!

I love this picture of my mom and I! My mom has lost most of her hair from her chemo treatments, the good news is that it has already started to grow back! But she wears the cutest hats and scarves...nobody would ever know she's been through four months of chemo (only two more months to go!). She looks great!

And here we all are!! The whole family together...including the dog! My parents on the left, my older brother, Matt and his wife Carrie, Ryan and I, and the girls, Jeff and his girlfriend Jenn, and Andrew and his girlfriend Nicole.

We Made It Home

It started snowing at the In-N-Out in St. George yesterday during our drive home. Yes, you read right...SNOW in ST. GEORGE!! So...we knew we were in trouble and the drive was pretty much doomed from that point on.

It was white-out conditions from St. George to the Cove Fort exit. For all my out of state readers, that's a long freakin way! As Ryan would say...we were all suffering from CSS (Can't See Sh-t) from all the snow.

I'm still recovering...maybe I'll do a real post tomorrow with pictures from Christmas.

Ugh...I miss Long Beach.