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6/30/2008

I Can't Wait. . .

The countdown is on in our house. I think everyone has a different countdown of what they are excited for, but Ellie is counting down until Stadium of Fire. In fact, everyone reading this blog probably already knows this because Ellie *had* to tell them about it. OK, or maybe me too.

Our Aunt Sarah is AWESOME and maybe her sister that waited in line for 5 hours to get tickets is awesome too, because you're never going to guess who is going to be at Stadium of Fire -- Glenn Beck! Oh wait, that's not who we're going for.

MYLIE CYRUS!
Or as Ellie puts it, the real live Hannah Montana!! I'm ever so grateful to Uncle Casey for giving me his ticket so I could go as well. I know that was a real sacrifice. ;p

I just asked everyone what they were most excited about. Here we go:
Ellie: To go see Hannah Montana - duh!
Nate: Daven coming over to play
Sadie: Milk
Dustin: Sadie is almost legal Nursery age -- I made his up since he's not here, but yesterday this seemed to be his big excitement.
Me: Seeing our family and friends

Thing I'm least excited about: Sadie figuring out how to climb up onto our bar stools! EEK!

I'm practically giddy over here! Soooo, what are you getting excited for?

6/26/2008

Exhausted

OK, am I the only one FREAKING OUT because it's the end of June? How the heck did that happen? I'm feeling like summer is crazier than the school year. I know we've been busy because even Nate has been sleeping in and falling asleep on the couch. Sadie woke up from her nap and thought it was just so funny that Nate was asleep. I can't believe he stayed asleep with her climbing all over him.

Anyway, I think this little story illustrates our summer fun.

The other night I was putting Ellie to bed and asking her what her favorite part of the day was.

Ellie: Staying up late. Can I stay up even later? I'm not tired.

Me: That's your favorite part of the whole day???
*I'm kind of in shock because dang did I plan a lot of fun things that day*

Ellie: Uhhhhh, what did I do today?

Me: Well you woke up and you got left over cake for breakfast. . .

Ellie: Oh yeah, that was fun.

Me: Then we went to the gym, and then you went over to Hannah's for the rest of the morning and lunch. . .

Ellie: Oh yeah, I forgot about that.

Me: Then we went swimming for a few hours and you came home and Lindsay came over for the whole night, and you got new clothes, and Daddy bought you donuts and you stayed up late and watched a movie. . .

Ellie: Oh. I need to go to bed now. I'm exhausted.

6/22/2008

Keepin' it Real -- and a question

I'll start off with the question:

Has anyone been to Goblin Valley State Park in Utah? My parents are driving across country and are wondering if it is worth going out of their way for. I know there have to at least be some Utah girls who would know!


Cute Nate story:


Today at church, Nate got picked up to do something during singing time. You had to match Temples and on the back was a Primary song. Well Nate picked the Idaho Falls Temple -- where Dustin and I were married, so I'm guessing he recognized the Temple from pictures at home, and on the back was FREE CHOICE. So sweet Heather bends down asks Nate what his favorite song is. His reply: Thomas.

And now to the Keepin' it Real tag. Self professed WORST Tagee ever. I think Lisa tagged me 2 or 3 weeks ago and I'm getting around to it now. I'm also way too lazy to fill you in our weekend, so instead you get the tag.

Here's the directions: Take pictures of the following 10 things. But here's the catch -- no prepping, primping, or picking up. The point is to see how these things/items/people exist in real life. Take your camera and just go for it. So here goes . . .

1. My fridge
I am really obsessive about keeping things off the front of my fridge. The only thing allowed on there is a notepad with info for the babysitter. Of course the kids like to add things -- grrr. I also wipe it down 2-3 times a day. You can tell I did the lazy wipe down after dinner and didn't take the stuff off, just wiped around it all.

I clean and arrange the inside once a month. Other than that, I let it get messy because the person in there the most is Dustin and I can't complain about how neat the fridge is when he's the one doing all the cooking. Obviously, it's getting towards the end of the month -- time to clean it out.



2. A Closet
I thought it only fitting to take a picture of where Sadie sleeps. See those dresses to the right? Sadie has pulled those off their hangers into her crib multiple times. And the stack of pants gets pulled into the crib if she wakes up and gets bored before I make it in there. The bottom stack is a disaster because Sadie goes in there at least once a week and pulls all the clothes off the shelf. And she *does* have a crib, she just refuses to sleep in it. Apparently she likes the dark, quiet closet.

3. Kitchen sink
Just finished dishes. Wow. Exciting huh?

4. A toilet.
I love my apple green bathroom. Sigh.

5. My favorite shoes.
This artistic shot is courtesy of Ellie. My favorite shoes are probably any of my flip flops, but I am in love with these. One because they were so incredibly cheap -- like $1o or something ridiculous like that. And secondly, I actually can wear them with a ton of stuff and they make the outfit a little more fun. And now that you know what shoe size I wear, you can buy me shoes whenever you like :D

6. My favorite room
I picked Nate's room because of the bedrooms right now it's the least messy and being clean is my favorite.
For Christmas, Ellie drew pictures of trains and put them in frames for Nate's room. I thought it was so sweet and cute. We also stuck his train stubs in there.

7. What my kids are doing right now
Ellie dressed herself and Nate up like they were a Rock Band and they're rocking out. Nice Hair!Sadie is pulling all of Ellie's hair ribbons out of their tins and wrapping them around her neck. Right now she is saying "cheese" but she was saying "pretty" earlier. Ha ha! Dustin just walked into the bathroom as I was blogging and yelled, "WHAT HAPPENED IN HERE?" LIke he should be surprised it was Sadie.

8. Laundry pile
My laundry is pretty much all clean, but I do have a big old basket to fold.

9. Self Portrait
I actually have a whole montage of ridiculous photos. My kids wanted in on the action


1o. My Dream Vacation
I've actually been lucky to travel so many places -- so part of me thinks, I've already been there, and then part of me thinks, that place is so cool and I would love to go with Dustin. . . so I have a really hard time picking one dream vacation. I asked Dustin what his was, though, and I'll just steal that.Fiji!

So everyone, have at the tag if you like -- I won't pressure anyone in particular, but Chelsea and Nicole, I know how much you love tags. . .

6/18/2008

A lot of Lamb

In preparations for the Lambs moving, I've been trying to spend as much time with them as possible to the point that I'm so sick of them that I'm not sad they're moving. Not really, but we have seen a lot of them in the past few days. And unfortunately for me, I still like them.

Monday we got our hair cut. YES! Even Sadie. Although Dustin said he couldn't tell she had one because her sides still flared out.
The best part of getting the kids' haircut by Janel is that while one is in the chair, the other kids are totally entertained.OK, so Jaime's not a Lamb, but there are always extra kids at the Lamb house -- another great reason to love them. And Jamie spent hours making jewelry with Ellie. See her necklace and bracelet? Janel and I even got some earrings. Don't worry, that is Nate pre-haircut, in case you were doubting Janel's hair skills.Nate really hates getting his hair cut. He always insists that it hurts. And he kept trying to wipe his face off, and ended up with a ton of hair in his mouth.

Monday night we had a little good-bye party on our street. It wasn't even that bad outside in the shade. Well, maybe Nate was a little hot.Dustin took this picture.Right before Noah turned the sprinklers on.

Yesterday all the moms got together and took the kids swimming at a neighbor's house. The house is actually up for sale, but they said we could go swimming anyway. Well right as Jill was about to nurse Ronan, we realize someone is walking through the house. Oh well, great way to meet the possible neighbors, right?

And a big thank you to the Lambs for the My Little Ponies. I got rid of Ellie's years ago not knowing that Sadie would be obsessed with them. To the point that if Nate or Ellie touches one, she starts screaming. So we love our hand-me down ponies!

My older two are off at play dates, Sadie is napping and I'm off to the glamorous job of folding laundry. Don't be too jealous.

6/16/2008

Happy Father's Day


Sorry Ellie's off in Outer Darkness in this picture -- it was late and dark. We were so glad to have Dustin home for the day. As I was cooking and doing everything all day, there was a part of me that thought, "Uhhhh, I've been doing this all week. Maybe we can do Father's Day next week when I'm not so worn out," but in reality Dustin is such a great dad, I was happy to do it for him. We're so lucky to have him! I think I do a pretty good job singing his praises, so you all don't need to hear them again to know it's true.

I started off making an egg casserole for breakfast the night before. I mistakenly thought it would be more appropriate if one of the kids helped me make it.

Only child awake:
She wasn't all that helpful. She's suppose to be putting chunks of cream cheese in the casserole instead of finger painting.

Supposed to be in bed:
Back to my helper:

It was a good thing I took so many pictures the night before because I didn't really get around to very many on Sunday. The kids picked out some new running shoes for Dustin -- actually a few pairs so he could pick his favorite and Rock Band is coming next week.Can you see the running shoes in the corner? Sadie wanted to be the present. My other gift -- cooking all day. Talk about stress. Dustin thought he would be funny and play me all day. I asked him what he wanted for lunch. "I don't know. Whatever you want to make me." So I felt like making him leftover egg casserole. And of course spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.

We love our Daddy!

And of course, thanks to our AMAZING Dads. I feel so lucky that they are both part of our lives and just amazing men. I know it is an inportant blessing to have a father in your life. Thanks Dad!

6/13/2008

I'm so Glad when Daddy Comes Home. . .

The kids are singing this in Sacrament on Sunday, and I'm excited because my kids will actually understand the joy a little bit better! It's not as exciting for Daddy to come home when it means he opens the office door and walks out -- the same as he does 2o other times during the day. BUT, it is exciting when Daddy comes home from a week long business trip to Philadelphia, and tonight is the night! We'll bundle up in our PJs and head to the airport. See how excited Sadie is:


While Daddy was gone, we made sure to keep ourselves extra busy so we wouldn't miss him so much. Some of the fun included:

*Playing with friendsI should take a picture of Nate's room after the last two weeks of play dates. AUGH! It's going to take me an hour to clean it.

*Swimming with TatenMy first time swimming alone with all 3 kids this year. It wasn't too bad until Nate decided to jump into me over and over again with no warning and Sadie fell off the bench and ended up with two big gashes on her head. I'm pretty sure Bonnie doesn't want to have any more kids after watching me with mine.

*More swimming
It's Arizona and it's summer. We swim a lot.

* Girl's Night Out with the Big Girls We took the big girls on a little shopping trip -- please note how Ellie dressed herself for the occasion. I love the necklaces worn as bracelets.
Dinner at CPK Then to Claire's to let the girls pick out earrings. I felt like we were there foreeeeever because Ellie kept telling me, "We need privacy. We want to pick our earrings in private."
Then to Children's Place to look for school appropriate clothes. We lucked out because they were marking everything down for their Monster Sale so we got some super cute shorts and lots of other steals. Including these fabulous glasses, which had to be tried on in the dressing room. They each took 6 or 7 pair back there and locked themselves in a changing room. More privacy issues, I guess.
After that it was to the candy store -- not my idea!!! Followed by Janie & Jack, Gap and then dessert.
The girls turned down Pizzokies for ice cream sundaes. Ellie didn't even eat hers. I think she was sick from all the candy she ate.

*New shoes I bought these for Sadie at the sale. $1.99. They're a size or two too big, but when she saw them she freaked out and insisted I put them on her right away. I could barely get her to slow down enough to take a picture of them. You can also see Sadie's newest obsession, Nate's PJs. She wants to wear them all the time.

And one last picture for all the Rogers' out there. I saw this on a car and had to stop and take a picture:

Todays plan: laundry, clean, gym, clean. Maybe I'll even feed them at some point. And naps! Definitely naps!!!

6/12/2008

<--- Still me!

I was talking to my sister on the phone about how I'm bored with my template -- so low and behold, it's a new one!


Forgive me while I decide if I like it, and as I transfer all my links over.

PS TASHA! I know you read this! CALL ME!!! I'm going to call you until I hear from you :D

6/10/2008

Ode to Karen

Some of you may know her, but for those of you who don't -- I have a crazy friend named Karen. Not as crazy as me, but enough to be a lot of fun. A few months back, I find out Karen has been reading my blog, and other mutual friends' blogs, without saying a word to us. In fact, she purposely never mentioned anything she read on our blogs because she didn't want anyone to know she reads them. On top of that we find out that she has he own blog and won't tell anyone the address. "It's only for out of town friends and families" -- and Shauna Moore, I guess. Let's just say her secret blog did not last long and now not only have we all linked her, she even comments sometimes.

One thing she hates the most in the entire blog world is odes to friends. So in honor of her birthday -- I can't tell you how old she is, she swore me to secrecy -- here are five great things about her.
1. She is the only person I know who talks more than me
2. She's older than me :D
3. I spent the whole afternoon with her and laughed the whole time
4. She never pretends to be someone she's not -- no pretenses, and she's just so funny and real
5. You can totally count on her to be a friend
and yes, she has a piece of tape with her name on her shirt.

Today we had her over for an extravagant birthday lunch -- turkey sandwiches for us and chicken nuggets for the kids, and to let the kids play. Chloe and Ellie totally entertained us all afternoon by writing plays and acting them out for us. Here's a sampling -- in case anyone wants to print it out and do their own skit with it.

Chloe:
My name is Stacey and my real name is Becca
Ellie:
My name is Alysa and my real name is Malissa
Chloe:
I like your pretty close.
Ellie:
I like you fancy scarf.
Chloe:
I like your hair too.
Ellie:
I like your pink hair. You are so nice.
Chloe:
You are nice too.
Ellie:
Do you like pockadots?
Chloe:
Yes, I do.
Chloe:
Thank you
Ellie:
for coming to
Chloe:
the
Ellie:
show.

Except when Ellie read her part she said, "I like your straight hair." She explained afterwards that since Chloe took off the pink wig, she had to make something up instead of pink hair. I was pretty impressed with her improvising!

Another play -- see me for copyright
Ellie:
We are sisters and we are twins.
Chloe:
We like echuther. We whar difrent clothing too.
Ellie:
You are my favrit sister.
Chloe:
You are fun to play with.

Then there was a fashion show. I think Chloe is the only kid I know who can make Ellie look short!Nate will be auditioning for Nashville StarFairy Princess meets Hawaiian Tropics modelMadonna, that stinking ballerina costume that Nate is obsessed with, and Laura Ingalls Wilder

Sadie was here too -- she was either napping or following the kids around trying to do the exact same thing they were doing and stealing their shoes.