Her best new trick

Kyndi has a serious problem. Her butt is too small and her legs are too long… this creates quite the dilemma for her pants.

Pants that are long enough are too big and pants that are skinny enough are too short. She’s 3 and can’t quite maneuver a belt. And I’d hate to have them too short as there seems to be no flooding around here lately. So now what?
Fortunately some smart person (probably a mom) came up with the idea of adjustable waist pants that have an elastic inside the waist with buttonholes in it – you pull it to tighten it and hook it on the button. It is all maintained inside the pants, and the outer pant still has a button and a zipper. Why didn’t they invent that sooner?
A few days ago I bought Kyndi new pants, size 3T, these are a bit long on her, but she can grow into them. Upon arriving home I adjusted all the new pants to fit her waist. Perfect.
This afternoon she was jumping on the trampoline right outside the sliding glass door. I could hear her shrieks of joy and the conversations she was having with the dogs while she performed various acrobatics for them. After about 10 minutes I thought I’d go to the window and sneak a peak of her ‘tricks’ without her knowing. WOW! Does she have an amazing trick! Everytime she jumps up her pants fall to her ankles. She lands, pulls them up and there they go down again. Apparently none of this was phasing her, and apparently I missed a pair when I was adjusting her new pants…

More things to be happy about...

My adventures this past week have got me once again turning to my list of 14,000 things to be happy about (see October post titled 14,000 things to be happy about). Here's a new list of things that make me happy...

* Employment

* Moms

* Mini happy face stickers

* Sly one year olds who hide handfuls of fruit loops in their footsie pajamas to eat later when mom's not looking

* Window shopping

* Hot Apple Cider

* Baby drool

* Babies with ears that poke out

* None of my neighbors have decorated for Christmas yet

* Disney

* Ritz Crackers

* Bajio

* Blogs

* Helathy kids

* Kaliedescopes

* Frizzy Hair

* Bookstores

* Baby Swings

* Animal Crackers

* Pictures

* My mom saves all the newspaper coupons for me every week

* Cocomotion machines (if you are not familiar with this I highly recommend looking into it)

* Digital clocks

* Phone calls from Park City

* Little girls slippers that are worn out on the bottom from being worn to the store too many times

* Fly Swatters and Oaklee learning how to use it

* I can sometimes turn on my music and block out the sound of "Dora Dora Dora the Explorer" from my mind

* Little girls that think their doll is a real baby

* Baby bracelets

* Bald babies

* Having a husband that can put nails in a wall and all the pictures line up perfectly without any sort of measurement

* Play Doh pieces all over my kitchen floor

* Snickers with coconut in them

* All my Christmas shopping is done and wrapped

* Secret Santa Elves that are keeping my children on their best behavior

* 3 year olds in tap dancing class

* Junior high dances

* Baby wipes

* Dvds that repeat on their own so I don't hafta push play every time the little ones say "we wanna watch it again"

* Games of peek-a-boo between sisters

* Jello

* String Cheese

* Love notes from your 10 year old

* Electric pencil sharpeners

* Baby potties are apparently the perfect hiding spot for your best treasures

* Pink Byu clothes so that when your team loses big its not as obvious who you were rooting for

* Notes written on the mirror

* Wood floors that are great for sliding on in socks

* Family Game hour

* 'Delete' buttons

* Hot Chocolate with marshmellows and whip cream

* Nap time

My Mom

So I couldn't sleep last night. Thats really nothing new. But this time as I stared for hours at the same ol' spot on the wall that's not quite as painted as the rest of the wall, I started thinking about my mom. Why? No idea. My thoughts drifted to all that I remember her doing when I was little that made her extra special.

Every Thursday night was her date night with my dad. On those nights she almost always made grilled cheese sandwiches. Not the typical throw a Kraft Singles between two pieces of bread, no, she used real cheese. A thick-ish slice of cheese. Along with our cheese sandwiches we always got a glass of chocolate milk. We couldn’t eat cheese sandwiches without chocolate milk. The best part about her cheese sandwiches though was that they were always burnt. It was the craziest thing. She’d stand right by them and they’d be totally fine but as soon as she walked away for any reason the smoke would start to fill the air and she’d come running “oh crap oh crap oh crap” Hilarious! There were many times the smoke alarm even went off. (my brother named the fire alarm sound “mom’s cooking chorus”)

My mom always woke up early on weekdays to get us up and she always took the time to cook a hot breakfast. Someone always complained that they didn’t want to eat it, but she didn’t let it get to her and continued to do it for us every morning no matter how many times she warned that she’d never do it again.

On Sundays we’d come home from church at lunch time and we always got to place our toast orders. We’d each get two pieces of toast and we’d get to choose which toppings we wanted on our toast (ie. Cinnamon toast, peanut butter & jelly, peanut butter & honey, butter & honey, butter & jelly) Somedays we’d get creative and request odd things like peanut butter and powdered sugar, and she’d totally comply. Those were good days.

Another thing my mom always did… she always wanted to be as fair to us as possible, and she took this to the extreme – when she gave us m&m’s, she’d divide them up to be certain that each child had equal amounts of each color.
My mom’s so cool I even remember a time on a road trip in the car that she participated in a burping contest with us once!
My mom’s so great. Even now that I’m an adult, I find myself doing quirky little things that remind me of my mother, and I love it. Don’t get me wrong though, there are also times I do things that remind me of her and I cringe, as does everyone at some point in their lives I suppose. I love you mom!

Name That Obsession...

Sun ripened Raspberry, Coconut Lime Verbana, Amber Romance, Vanilla Bean, Twisted Peppermint, Brown Sugar and Fig, Candy Apple, Coco Cabana Cool Citrus Basil Cotton Blossom Country Apple Creamy Coconut Exotic Coconut Flowering Herbs Green Clover & Aloe
Green Tea & Cucumber Juniper Breeze Lemongrass Sage Night Blooming Jasmine Pearberry Plumeria Rice Flower & Shea Seaspray Sheer Freesia Strawberry Lemonade Sun-Ripened Raspberry Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin Water Blossom Ivy ...
Give up??
Lotion! And at one time in my life (roughly age 12 to age 25) I had a major unquenchable obsession with it. I hoarded it. I just had to have every 'flavor'. I have come to terms with it and can now admit i was out of control. Case in point: I had a large rubbermaid bin thingy and it was completely full, plus I had many other lotions that wouldn't fit in there.
So today due to depression of somesort and an overwhelming need to occupy my brain, I decided to clean out my lotion stash. And that is what I did. In fact I pretty much purged it all. You may think it crazy to throw out perfectly good lotion, but let me make something clear. A bottle of gray lotion that is 15 years old and used to be pink, is pretty much disgusting and will never be used for anything. (maybe I should have kept it as fingerpaint for my kids??) I couldn't quite fathom getting rid of all of it... so I did allow myself 15 bottles. How many does that mean are in the garbage? I counted. 124. Wow. Now what should I keep in the rubbermaid bin??

Someone Call the Exterminator

So I have a little stunted-growth Husky dog that loves to bark. She never barks at humans, nor at rocks (like the dog my brother used to have always did) but she barks at other animals. Ever since we moved here she has dug holes searching for whatever creature she is certain lives beneath the ground. She barks at other dogs... she barks at cats... she barks if a bird is flying in a manner disagreeable to her... today was different - it was the bark of all barks... a high pitched panic get the heck away from me bark. I thought to myself, what in tarnation is he barking at? Is there a shark emerging from the soil??? I peeked out the back door and there I saw it. I large hideous rat.

I was completely calm and rational about it... That's a bold-faced lie. I totally flipped out.

First, lets discuss what he did not look like:

Aww. Ratatouille!

Rizzo

Jaq and Gus Gus

No, No, he looked just like this:

Evil, disgustingly hideous, plague carrying rodent.

Now if only I had a giant marble, bathtub, plastic shoe, bucket, and rubber band...

new addiction

So I have a new addiction. (If you don't want to share in my addiction, stop reading now) There's this game on facebook - how big is your brain- it is so crazy!! It has all these mini games and then calculates your points to tell you your score. Its great because A. it keeps track of your highest score. B. it automatically knows your name and the names of your friends and C. it keeps track of where you measure up to your friends.
My addiction to the game is mostly because my two brothers play it too - and I have an overwhelming need to beat them. I beat James pretty quick, and then after a few tries beat Jonathan too but to my utter dismay, I found he was playing the same time as me and immediatly beat my high score.
I played for hours and still have not caught up, and not only that, James is now catching up with me! Its too much fun! And at times it gets so frustrating I almost wanna throw something at my computer.
Oh Its great.

Rah Rah Rah go Cougars!!

So Kamron and I got the chance to go to the BYU game this past weekend. First off – I am a lifetime fan of BYU and Kamron is not. He is Ute all the way. So I had myself and my kiddos dressed in BYU attire and how did he dress? All in red. Shirt, pants, everything. He stood out like a sore thumb (I told him next time he’s not invited)
I grew up going to the BYU games all the time (My parents had season tickets) – so I know the fight song by heart and all the cheers. The older kids all think I am silly to sing along or whatever – but Oaklee, she was a blast to have at the game!! She found a seat made just for her on the step next to me. When the fams would start stomping their feet to make noise, she’d join right in. She’d clap along with everyone else too. But my favorite came when she would randomly, of her own choice, leap to her feet and yell “yeah!!” She was the entertainment of everyone around us. She was a total crack up. And then suddenly during the 4th quarter when the fight song started to play for the millionth time, she stood up right along with everyone else and sang at the top of her lungs while dancing and clapping. Then she even did the ‘rah rah rah’ part at the end (If you’ve been to a BYU game you hopefully know what I am talking about – for those of you who have never been, shame on you!) Oh my goodness it was so cute!! I'm kicking myself for not remembering my camera!!

Whats your blood type?

So I had my own 'Twilight' experience a few days ago. No I did not find some gorgeous local vampire. Nor did I embark on werewolf territory. No, I made my kids drink blood. Yes folks me, the mother of the year made them. Okay - so it never came down to using force. I made the suggestion and they all jumped at the chance (which isn't really saying much for Kyndi since she has been known in her life to eat cardboard, styrofoam, lotion and deoderant...)

So there they sat, bags of blood with an iv tube (needle removed of course) and everyone of them did it, and loved it. Most said it tasted like a jolly rancher or Kool-ade. Tyson said it tastes like chicken...

house improvements

Here's a better picture of my tiled backsplash - and a picture of the kitchen faucet that Kamron installed. I love it. When we moved in here the walls were a flouresent burnt orange color (think mexican fiesta) the appliances were somewhat ordinary and the sink and shower fixtures were all the $20 special at Walmart. So we've been fixing it all up.

My master bathroom is now done in 'oil rub bronze' fixtures (shower, faucet, light fixture, toilet paper holder and towel rack, even the flusher handle on the toilet...) The Kitchen has the new stainless still faucet fixture, an awesome stainless steel chandelier and a stainless steel refridgerator. The only thing the kitchen needs now is a weevil exterminator!!! (read post below)

Next on the list is replacing the carpets upstairs (which I'm guessing were originally white, but are now many shades of dirt.) and tiling the bathrooms (which are right now just cheap linoleum) It should keep our upcoming weekends busy and our wallets empty but it'll look great when we're done!! (Then we get to move onto finishing the basement)

The Worst Has Happened.

The worst has definitely happened. As I was cleaning off my kitchen counter I found a dead weevil on top of my flour canister. If there's a dead one on top I don't even wanna know whats inside. I threw the whole dang canister away. Too bad it was part of a matching set. Oh well, sometimes drastic measures hafta be taken in disasterous cases such as this one. If I find any others I am moving. End of discussion.

Look What I Did!!!

Look what I did to my kitchen this weekend!! That is the new tiled backsplash that I put in. It used to be dreary ol' paint and now its awesome!! Check it out! (Just know that in this picture the grout is still drying so it looks a little odd still in some places... But it's awesome, trust me!

(Oh, and Kamron helped too.)

Another issue of mine...

You all by now should be well aware of my weevil “issues” well, let’s add another “issue” to the list. Crickets. Spiders don’t bother me, neither do snakes or bees or mice (okay, maybe mice a little) but crickets scare the eebie jeebies outta me.
Growing up my brother (Jonathan) had pet lizards and lizards eat live crickets. He’d go to the garden store every week and get a dollars worth of crickets. His lizards were skinny little guys and I think I’ve figured out why: because those blasted crickets were always escaping! Don’t ask me how they did it – but they were always all over the basement. Nothing quite beats the feeling of waking up in the middle of the night to find a hideous cricket sharing your pillow!
So we recently moved to this house here in Spanish Fork, and somehow there are always crickets in my kitchen! Some even take the opportunity to venture up my stairs. Creepy. I can’t stand the things. My mom has a serious issue with earwigs, mine is with crickets. So what do I do when I see one of these little devils inside my house? Well first I take a picture on my phone to send to Samantha (my little sister) who shares my cricket sentiment. (Really, how thoughtful to share the sight of those hideous creatures with my little sister) And then I run away quick before it jumps at me, or worse, looks at me cross-eyed or something. I think that would be the ultimate creep-out right there. Oaklee shares my fear. If there’s a cricket within a 10 foot radius she’ll stand frozen in place until someone removes it from her visual path. So with Kamron gone and me not going near the things, (and they’re obviously invading my house at this point), who is here to rescue us? Kyndi of course! She picks them up with no thought at all and feeds them to the dogs in the backyard. Wow, she’s a brave little character.

Here are our Halloween Pictures

The games we play...

I’m finding it difficult to blog these days for some reason – perhaps its those extra kids I’ve taken on – maybe they’ve just worn me out beyond words. Or maybe it’s the fact that Kamron’s Park City living arrangements were once again extended another 2 weeks (something tells me this will be a continuous trend) I don’t know. But exhaustion has taken over my finger’s ability to type or something… crazy.
Anywho… With Kamron gone every night the kids and I have been getting a little bored so I made the crazy decision to have family game time every night from 6 to 7. The first night, we all played poker. Yes folks you read that right, Poker. Kamron and I play it on the weekends just for fun and one night we decided to see if the kids could figure it out. They actually did pretty good. So the 5 of us (Tyson, Morrissa, Tate, and me with Kyndi on my team) played on Monday night. Tyson is a better. He’ll place outrageous bets to try and get everyone out but it always fails him with 1 person. Tate. It doesn’t matter what cards Tate has, he’ll match anyone’s bet and half the time he raises them. The hilarious thing is, he always wins!!!

The other game worth mentioning is the Flour Tower game. This game involves packing flour into a large cup or container and then tipping it upside down on a plate or cookie sheet to make a tower. Next you place a candy on top of the tower (we used gummy savers). Everybody takes turns cutting the flour with a knife, the tower eventually crashes down (along with the candy) and the one guilty of causing the crash sticks their face right into the pile of flour and fishes the treat out with their teeth. Here is our result:

At the end we shook the tablecloth out in the backyard. Here is the result of that: