HIGH SCHOOL TAG

So I wasn't actually tagged but I got it off Penquilla's blog & thought it looked like fun. Besides, who doesn't like some high school flashback?

1. DID YOU DATE SOMEONE FROM YOUR SCHOOL? Sorta, I didn't date much. I "hung" out.

2.WHAT KIND OF CAR DID YOU DRIVE? It was called public transportation. You know, buses, trains, cabs.

3. DID YOU PASS YOUR DRIVER'S LICENSE TEST YOUR FIRST TRY? No, I think I took it twice. Hellooo? I didn't ever practice. Public transportation, remember?

4. WERE YOU A PARTY ANIMAL? Oh yeah! Which would explain my grades.

5. WERE YOU CONSIDERED A FLIRT? I think I was considered difficult but I'd like to think I was flirting.

6. WERE YOU IN BAND, ORCHESTRA, OR CHOIR? Have you heard me sing? Uhhh... no.

7. WERE YOU A NERD? I should've been. Fortunately people thought I was cool.

8. WERE YOU ON ANY VARSITY TEAMS? I was on the track team but I never ran a meet. Don't ask!

9. DID YOU EVER GET SUSPENDED/EXPELLED? Probably should've been but fortunately I was never caught. Close calls, though.

10. CAN YOU STILL SING THE FIGHT SONG? Did we have a fight song? Don't know it. Or at least I can't remember.

11. WHO WERE YOUR FAVORITE TEACHERS? My gym teacher because he excused me from study hall for the whole year.

12. WHERE DID YOU SIT FOR LUNCH? I ate off campus everyday, all 4 years. Mainly Wendys.

13. WHAT IS YOUR SCHOOL'S FULL NAME? Lane Technical H.S.

14. WHAT IS YOUR SCHOOL'S MASCOT AND COLORS? Indians, Green and Gold.

15. DID YOU GO TO HOMECOMING AND WITH WHO? None of my friends really went with dates. Pretty much everyone went in groups.

16. IF YOU COULD GO BACK AND DO IT AGAIN WOULD YOU? No but thanks for asking.

17. WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER MOST ABOUT GRADUATION? Graduation was held outside & I was dying of heat & I had to keep my hair down because of the giant hickie on my neck.

18. WHERE DID YOU GO SENIOR SKIP DAY? I think we went to the beach.

19. WERE YOU IN ANY CLUBS? Aspira Club & .... I can't remember anything else. What a loser!

20. HAVE YOU GAINED SOME WEIGHT SINCE THEN? I'm sure. Let's not ask for numbers.

21. WHO WAS YOUR PROM DATE? Aaron Byrnes.

22. ARE YOU PLANNING ON GOING TO YOUR 10 YEAR REUNION? I missed it because I was 8 mos. pregnant & unable to fly.

23. DID YOU HAVE A JOB IN HIGH SCHOOL? Junior yr I worked at some children's store. Senior yr I worked at Marshalls.

Now I tag EVERYONE! Ha-Ha! Don't forget to add a pic of your lovely H.S self.

Here I am with my 3 "escorts" at prom. The one on the left was my date.

Helper For Hire

We had a party at our home tonight & when it was over, we gave our kids a choice: help clean up or go to bed. I know, they are both really appealing choices to little kids. Anyway K.B was the only one that was willing to stay up & help. I was so amazed & impressed by him! So much that I may rent him out for parties. The poor boy could only carry one thing at a time so after 10 trips or so he had managed to take everything upstairs.
He then proceeded to clean up the mess him & his brothers had made in the upstairs living room. I guess he really didn't want to go to bed! After all that hard work I said,

"Cade, I think I'm going to have to give you 2 quarters for being such a good helper"
"Why? Because I'm 2?"
"You're not 2"
"Then give me 3."

When he was done with all of that he offered to clean the play room which was a disaster. (Just know he HATES to clean up)

"Cade, I think I'm going to give you $1"
"you said 2 quarters"
"I know but you're doing such a good job I think I'll have to give you $1"
"Whateva" as he returns to his cleaning.

It's amazing what little people will do to avoid going to bed.

1st Timers

So there are many things I never did as a child. I never carved pumpkins, I never believed in Santa Claus & I never decorated gingerbread houses. Luckily, I have 3 sweet little boys that I get to live through vicariously.

Here are the artistic works of:

Combi, Ja-Ja & K.B

Enjoy! I know I did.

Christmas Came Early

Imagine me at Legoland & Culligula says, "Get the video camera & film the kids!"
"Oh, what for?" I reply, hoping he doesn't see through my embarrassment.
"Just get it!"
"You do it!"
I'm sure this has been a real conversation numerous times. It's not that I didn't want to video tape our sweet boys but it had more to do with our camera.
See, we bought this the year Ja-Ja was born (2001). It's not too old but it's more like 30yrs old in technology years. Just when you think you have the latest piece of technology, they come out with something better & flashier. (Jerks!)
Alright so what's my point with all of this? Well I didn't want to use my 8mm camcorder cause it's considered a behemoth these days. You know, like when your parents had that giant video camera that used VHS tapes & the rest of the world was using 8mm. It's kind of like that. Lame, I know.

Anyway, after complaining about our ginormous camera long enough, my sweet husband surprised me with an early Christmas gift. A new video camera. No 8mm tapes in this bad boy. So to make up for all my whining, I'm suppose to record every second of our lives & transfer all our 8mm to DVD. Yeah, I probably should've kept my mouth shut.

Sunday Lunch

Every Sunday our kids enjoy having pancakes for lunch. (Sorry Nicole we didn't do it sooner & your family got stuck with crappy cereal- we owe you breakfast!)
Anyway, here's how K.B enjoys them.

Pancakes with ketchup.

One Minute Left...

Last night my boys were playing so nicely. Every few minutes we kept hearing Ja-Ja say, "we have 1 minute left". They finally called us to have us see what they were playing. Ja-Ja & Combi had created "centers" for the 3 of them to play. Apparently, my teaching has rubbed off on them.

The Reading Center

The Dance Center (music provided by the "Jam Pack Jam" car)

The Car Center

The Ball Center

They rotated every 2 minutes. Ja-Ja kept time on his alarm clock.
It was awesome! No fighting over toys, no wrestling. Everyone got a turn & everyone got along. Just when I thought they would be the death of me, they come up with this & give me some hope!
(Sorry for the bad pics!)

Twilight Fans!

I know there's plenty of you out there that saw it already so I'm dying to know what you thought of it. I'm not seeing it until Tue.

So how many stars would you give it?

To Gym Or Not to Gym

So it's before 7am & I'm already back from the gym & showered. For those of you that know me, you're probably in shock right now since I'm never coherent before 10am.
I started going back to the gym last week just on a trial basis & I'm not sure if I want to keep this up.
Many moons ago, I was what you may call a "Gym Nazi". I went 2 hrs a day-5 days a week. When I moved to AZ I stopped going & then proceeded to gain some serious weight. After that I vowed I would NEVER step foot in a gym again. NEVA, NEVA, NEVA! Oh, people have tried but time after time I have refused (sorry Zhateal). I figured if I ever went back, I would have to commit for life.
Unfortunately, the days of eating chocolate for breakfast are catching up with me. People said this day would come but I didn't believe it. No more eating what I want when I want. So sad...
Alas, I have returned to the place that I swore I would never go.
Like the song says,
"Should I stay or should I go now?
If I stay it will be trouble &
if I go it will be double"

Crazy Kay-Bee

I went to check on Kay-Bee tonight, before I went to bed

& this is where I found him; under the bed.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

FROM OUR SPOOKY HOME TO YOURS!!!

Combi, Ja-Ja, Kay-Bee

Furniture Frenzy!

It all started a couple of months ago when Culligula moved some chairs out of our study, sitting room , whatever you wanna call it! (any advice on what to call it?) Anyway, we decided to sell the chairs on KSL & that's where it all started.

Once the chairs were gone he posted our green sectional just for kicks. An hour later it was sold & we were without furniture. Luckily Culligula likes furniture, so the next day he spent his lunch break at the furniture store purchasing a new sectional.

We then sold our green couch that was in our study (sounds uncomfortable) & had to replace it. Well we didn't want to spend money for a couch in that room so we replaced it with our couch upstairs, which meant we would need all new furniture upstairs as well as a new floor. Did I mention we also ended up selling our book shelves & tables in the study & replacing them? Brother!

After 2 days of ripping out carpet & putting in new floor (thanks Ryan!) we got our new furniture & here are the results. We really love it! It's a little grown up but we're trying to evolve into that next stage of not having babies running around.

I wish I had pictures of what it used to look like.

This is our new entry. There used to be nothing there. We're learning to accessorize.

This was definitely a little nuts. We ended up replacing every piece of furniture in 3 living areas. If I had to do it all over again... well, we probably would've tried to recycle some items. That didn't occur to us until it was too late & when everyone kept telling us we should have just repainted our tables & bookcases instead of replacing them. Thanks a lot people!

Christmas Threw Up!

This is a picture of all the stuff I got at that Christmas Open House this weekend (minus 50 tree ornaments I wasn't going to lay out.) As I've told several of you, the deals were unreal. The most expensive item were the wreaths at a whopping $8 a piece. In fact, all new ornaments & fancy twigs & flowers for my tree cost me $61!

$24 for all 5 trees

$8 each

$1 each

She still has items left that she's wanting to get rid of. I'm hoping I can get her to let me have an Open House here. I'll keep you posted!

Close Call

Tonight my sister took all 3 boys birthday shopping & I thought I'd tag along. Once she was done paying, we had to wait for a price check on another item so we waited towards the front of the store. We were just standing there chatting when they lady returned & told us the price. We decided we didn't wanted it & started walking out. As we did, we realized that Combi wasn't with us. We started calling for him but nothing. I began walking back into the store while one sister went one direction & the other one checked in the entrance area of the store. Still nothing. My heart sank & I panicked! I then saw my sister run outside screaming Combi's name in a panic as I followed her. I stepped to see my son walking away holding a man's hand. I screamed his name & he turned around with tears streaming down his face & ran towards me. Thankfully the man holding his hand was a Walmart employee. It didn't stop me from flipping out & causing a scene in front of the store, while I yelled at him. (Sorry to anyone who might have seen me). Of course that only scared him more but at that point I wasn't thinking that he was OK. I was only thinking about what could've happened.
Once we got home & he finally stopped crying, we were able to sit, talk & hug. I'm so glad he's safe but boy what a lesson for both of us. 3 adults standing there did not see him slip away. He apparently walked over to the cart area unnoticed & thought he saw me walk out. When he walked up to this lady & realized it wasn't me, he began to cry & went back in the store where an employee saw him & took him to try to find us.
My heart is still pounding & I'm feeling a little sick. Sick that he disappeared & I didn't even notice. Sick that I flipped out instead of hugging him & telling him that I loved him. Sick that we have to worry about such things in this sick world.
I guess I should be grateful that it was nothing but right now I'm just stuck in that yucky place.

3, 5 & 7!

It's that crazy time of year again when all my boys are celebrating their birthdays (their b-days are 4 weeks apart). This year they decided they wanted to celebrate their special day at the Family Fun Center. I was a little worried because I chose a pretty inconvenient day & time so a few people couldn't make it. On the upside, the time chosen was apparently bad for a lot of other people because we had the whole place to ourselves. How awesome is that?! Everyone had a great time & we could've definitely used another hour!
I must also thank my good friend Kelly for helping me a ton on this! She may not think so but she was a real life saver that day. If it wasn't for her, there would have been no cupcakes to eat. What's a b-day party without cake? Thanks Kelly.
Also, thank you to all of our GENEROUS, AMAZING friends who spoiled my kids even after they were told to just get a group gift. You really made their birthdays special. Thank you for loving our boys & being such great friends.

Family Night

We decided it would be a great idea to pack up our dinner & head up to the mountains to see the beautiful fall leaves & breath in some fresh air. We picked leaves & interesting plants along the way & really enjoyed the scenery. Of course, after about 30 minutes the boys were done & we decided it would be more fun to visit Tia D. in Huntsville. They were right! There's nothing better than chillin' with family!

BOYS & THEIR SPORTS

Soccer is midway through & now we've started on b-ball. Our days are filled with practices & games. It's a busy life but it sure is fun!

Goal scoring maniacs!

In his 2nd game, Combi scored 4 goals in 1 quarter!

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY COMBI!

I can't believe you're 5! You said it best when you told me that birthday morning, "I'm finally 5! That's very exciting!" I just can't get over how fast the time has gone. You're in your 2nd yr of preschool, you're playing soccer & you're loving your speech class this year even more. We're so proud & happy for you.

An Apology of Sorts

About a month ago, Kay-Bee decided to call his thin nursery teacher fat. I kept asking him to apologize to her so finally 2 Sundays ago he reported during Sacrament that he had finally apologized to his teacher.
This Sunday I ran into her & told her I was glad Kay-Bee had finally apologized. She gave me a funny look & then proceeded to tell me of the actual conversation that took place between her & my 2 year old son.
This was his apology:
I'm sorry I called you fat Sis. P**** but you really are fat. That's OK cause my mom is fat. I know a lot of fat people.

Lovely, just lovely. Needless to say he won't be returning to nursery. We'll be relocating him to a new nursery under an assumed name.

1st Day of Preschool

Here you are on your first day of preschool. You did pretty good considering who you have for a teacher. I know it can be a challenge when mom's in charge in the classroom. There's just no break! But you did great-except when I couldn't find you because you were hiding under your bed.

Crazy kid! Remember to listen to your teacher!

My Little Combi

It all started Sunday morning when Ja-Ja took a drink of Combi's water. I believe an "I hate you" followed by a good ol', "I'll kill you!" was thrown in the air. The 3o minutes that followed were quite torturous. Screaming, crying, kicking were the sounds burning in my ears. Combi had been sentenced to his room.... As a parent this is a very frustrating moment. Doesn't he know that if he can just stop the crazy & be calm that I would let him out? Of course, when I try to explain this, it just gets worse. As I'm trying to figure out how to rip my ears off so that I don't have to listen to this poor little boy's angry screams, a thought pops into my head. I run downstairs & grab a book called "Who's Your Hero?". I turn to the story of Alma the Younger. I grab Combi, place him on my lap & read him this story. We read about Alma the Younger & his wicked ways & how unhappy we can be when our heart is hardened. "Like me, Mom?" Combi says as he looks up at me with his big brown eyes. "Yes" I whisper & continue reading. The story continues & gets to the part where Alma's heart softens & he repairs all the damage he has done.
"So Combi what can you do to make things better?"
"Ee-pologize" he says in an apologetic voice.
"What else can we do Comb?" "I don't know".
"How about taking Ja-Ja some water?"
"OK but first I going to ee-pologize"
My eyes filled with tears & my heart felt full as I realized the presence of the Spirit in his bedroom.
He went down to the play room & "ee-pologized" & returned to bring Ja-Ja some water.
"You wanna play Bionicles, Comb?" I heard Ja-Ja call out to his brother.
As I sat on the couch & took in this wonderful moment I had just experienced, Combi runs out to me with open arms & says, "I love you Mom".

Jump 4 Joy Preschool

As some you know I've decided to teach preschool from home this year. Today was our Jump Start Day & when the day was over, I realized why I love teaching so much. Everything I did this summer in preparation & every dime I spent made this day completely worth it. Anyway, here's some pictures of what my classroom looks like.

First Day of School

So here you are Ja-Ja on your 1st day of first grade. I thought you were going to explode with excitement when you woke up this morning! School started at 8:30 this morning so you made sure to wake up at 6:30 just to be safe. You don't want to be late on your first day of school.

All day I prayed that you would have a great day & sure enough when I picked you up after school, you came running toward me & yelled, "It was awesome!" I'm so happy that you had a great 1st day of school. I hope you take on every day with that kind of enthusiasm.

After school we celebrated with some ice cream. You, Cobe, Seth & Adam couldn't stop jabbering about how much fun recess & lunch was. What a great day! I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings for you!

I love you.

SIDE NOTE: I decided to stay up after Ja-Ja left instead of my usual "sleep 'til 10". I gotta admit, I was a little bored that 1st hour. The boys were still sleeping & I wandered around wondering what to do. It has been a looong day but I think I like it. I got a lot more done & I didn't feel so rushed. Maybe I'll keep this up for a while. Hmm... maybe not.

BACK TO SCHOOL LATE NIGHT!

This year we decided to have our kids end their summer with a bang! We invited a few of their friends over for a late night. We had pizza, played several reindeer games & ended the night with a movie. It was a lot of fun & not as crazy as you might expect. Of course, I made sure that I sent all the kids home full of sugar. It's only fair since they were all here for 4 hours. Thanks everyone for all the great snacks & for having such great kids!