Twas Merry, As They Say

Christmas came. It was fun. Now it's over. Enjoy these grainy cell phone pics, because I totally forgot to charge my camera the night before. Yep, again, mother of the year right here.

All the girls showing off their matchy matchy jammies they get from Mrs. Claus on Christmas Eve.


Gretta opened her first gift, promptly took the wrapping paper to the garbage, and sat down waiting for permission to open the rest of the gifts. It didn't take her long to get the hang of just ripping into them after that, though.


Maggie enjoying the the Easy Bake Oven she received. Oh joy. Plasticy tasting mini cookies and cakes that take teeny tiny parts to use.


Emma in the throes of gift unwrapping. She got a sewing machine, and she is actually pretty good at it!

So that was Christmas. I'm glad it's over. Now it's time to get the house in order and get on with things.

Just Tell Me What To Do

I don't like being in charge.

I like being told what to do. Give me a task, and I'll do it, but make me delegate, and I freeze.

Saturday we had our annual Daddy/Daughter date for Activity Days. I love Activity Days. I have some really fun girls, and they are all very pleasant and easy to please, which makes my job even more fun. But this date night was a lot of stress for me. The girls and I had been planning this for a few months, and we had prepared a lot of fun ideas, so I really didn't have too much to worry about. But still, I was in charge, so if it went down in flames, I was to blame.

Luckily we had very few mishaps. The pizza dough got a little gooey while sitting out, which made it hard to get off the plate and onto the cookie sheet to cook, but it was fine. The church was disgustingly dirty when we arrived, so we spent a good portion of our setting up time cleaning up other people's messes. The drawer that normally holds all the nice flatware was mysteriously empty, so we had to resort to plastic forks. The oven had some sort of overflow problem prior to our using it, so upon preheating it, we filled the church with smoke.

Somehow it all came together at just the right time.

The girls taught the dads the Hoedown Throwdown, which was hilarious, and the dads were all very good sports about it. We dressed them up in cowboy attire and took their pictures, and then played pin the hat on the cowgirl. After eating our individual pizzas and salad, we had cowboy cupcakes, and visited for a while. The dads helped clean up the tables and chairs, and the women folk, without whom I couldn't have done this, cleaned up the kitchen. Don't worry, we left it cleaner than we found it, which wasn't hard to do!

I heard good things from the dads and the moms yesterday at church, it seems everyone had a good time.

I'm just glad it's over.

Whew.

Vacay Day 9

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Sunday brought us deciding if we were going to church or not. You see, my family (meaning me) has this long standing tradition that if you're on vacation, you don't have to go to church. I figured since I was technically on vacation, we could take the day off and not feel guilty about it. So we did. And we didn't.

Instead, we drove around the valley, and even though we've only been gone just short of 2 years, we felt like tourists. We saw things for the first time, again. Sugarhouse is still a cool place, and it felt nice seeing it with new eyes. Though we wanted to go up to Park City and Deer Valley, we had to return home to Troy and Kelli's to host my dad and Noma and their pre-wedding dinner.

The dinner went well. Her kids were all there, almost. Joni wasn't able to make it, and I'm sad because I don't know her at all. But the other kids were fun, and their kids and our kids all played really well together. It was nice to see that despite our families quirks, we can still blend with "normal" people.

My dad looked happy. Noma looked happy. And that's all that matters to me. It is still a little strange to see my dad moving on, but I don't have to look too far to see that we all have. So why not him? I think being a daughter will always come as a first reaction, but now I have to focus on being an adult first. It's tough, but it's okay.

Return of the Blogger

Hi all.

It's been a while. Remember me? Man oh man, has this been a crazy summer. And guess who has absolutely no pictures to show for it? Yep, not a one.

See, the thing is this. We got passes to Six Flags Great America. We've been every day this week. As much as I love it there, I don't dare take my good camera. I'm sure somebody would steal it. It's not one I can just put anywhere, either. It's a big, stick-out-like-a-sore-thumb kind of camera.

But we're having fun, I swear. I think those passes have saved us hundreds of dollars, and zillions of "mom, I'm bored"'s. Priceless, I tell you. It's nice to be able to just go for an hour or two, or spend the whole day, depending on our mood. Maggie is getting really brave, and even did Triple Play, one of my favorite rides. She's been a real trooper. Gretta loves it, and Emma thinks it's cool that she's tall enough to go on most of the rides. We enjoy the water park, especially people watching. It's amazing what people think appropriate water park attire consists of.

Tonight we're having a girls night out. It's Coasters After Dark, and it's from 10Pm-Midnight, and it's only for Season Pass holders. The menfolk get to stay home with the kidlets, and the women get to go off and play like teenagers. I'm sure we'll have a great time. We always do.

So there you have it. That is my life right now. Summers are hard blogging times. I'll be so much better when school is back in. Maggie will start Kindergarten, and has the morning session, so my mornings will be nice and easy, just like last year. That opens up a lot of time to blog.

Aren't you looking forward to the return of the blogger? I know I am.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Sunday was a big day at our house. We hosted a huge Superbowl par-tay. It was a total blast. Here are just a few of the highlights.

A view from the balcony. The men were all intent on the game, and more so on the commercials. I think the "Wipe Out" show was an attention grabber, as well.

The pile-o-coats. Since we moved our front room furniture into the living room to accommodate our 30 + guests, there wasn't a better place to throw the winter garb.

This little gal chewed away on her chubby little toes, and melted our hearts with those fat rolls. I'm pretty sure I could eat her. I don't think Tina would mind, do you?

And a little view of some of the mess atop my counter. Home made pizza, tons of appetizers, and delicioso desserts made for a filling party menu.

We got an impromptu cheer session from Shylo. I outed Carli and her 9 month flu, and we corrupted the Elders because we wouldn't turn off the game when they came over. But for the record, they just came, ate, and skedaddled. I bonded with the newest Kelley and her bow making abilities, (Yay!) and I think Noel, Brooke and I had a little 3 way action that sent The Chad over the top.

I'm just a good hostess like that, what can I say?

We did miss our Lacey Fay, as she was out having just birthed her third baby boy, Justin. But we'll bring her some pizza as a consolation prize. For missing the party, not for giving birth.

And the fact that the Steelers brought it home, including #99, made it that much sweeter.

Halloweenies

This was quite the Halloween around these parts. After arriving back home on Friday afternoon from a nice getaway to the city, we scurried around getting things ready for our party that evening. What started out as as small, intimate affair, blossomed into a full on fest. It was great. I think after final count we ended up with a total of 55 people. Just what Halloween should be.

Here's Maggie in her Princess dress. This isn't her costume. This is her daily attire. But at least she got candy for wearing it this time.


And here's Maggie and Gretta. Notice Gretta's costume. It is so cute. You'll never guess what she is. And I mean that because she absolutely would not let me put her costume on her. So she went around in her overalls. But she still looked cute.

And here's a taste of what part of our group looked like. We all tried to Trick or Treat together, but between burning corn bread, and runaway dogs, we ended up split up most of the way. That's okay, because we arrived back home, and had the most fun. White chicken chili, red bean chili, cornbread, and good company. The recipe for awesomeness.

Big Red Car

Tuesday brought a crazy day at our house. Crazy fun, that is! Thanks to J-Lo and Dubyah, we were able to get in to Six Flags (I almost wrote Sex Flags, how funny would that have been?) for free. It's nice to have friends with connections.

So the kids enjoyed Wiggles World with Dubyah while J-Lo and I did the big kid stuff. I love roller coasters. I really do.

I also love "Amusement Park People". You know the ones. Swimsuit under their too tight shirt, cottage cheese booty hanging out of their shorts, and white socks with unlaced black tennies. Yep. Classy. Here's G enjoying her popcorn while watching the "Wiggles-esqe" show. That job blows. I bet those dudes get major ladies. Not.

Mags on, and I quote, "the most beautiful horse ever". Yes. Yes it was.


And G getting her cowgirl on. Dang, that kid is funny. I just love her.

So we had fun. I had a funnel cake sundae, oh my heaven. The kids had churros for lunch, cause I'm a good mom like that, and I was 15 minutes late getting home and getting Emma off the bus. Again, cause I'm a good mom. Hey, she knows the garage code, and came right in and made herself a snack. She was cool with it. Hey, I was distracted by all the latest runway styles, okay?