Princess???

You Are Megara!



Charming and witty. You are always the first person to come up with a wisecrack. Sure, you have an attitude, but that's why people love you. You keep them on their toes. Sometimes you can be misleading, but always end up doing the right thing for the people you love.

At first I was like "who the "H" is Megara???" Okay Hercules chick, got it. Very interesting, you should try it!

Thankful Thursday on a Friday

I would have posted this yesterday, but I was too busy watching TV. Thursday night TV is the best thing ever, right after the invention of Tivo. It has to be real Tivo, not direcTV imitation DVR crapola.

I am so thankful for TV, I love it. Lately I have been thinking we should get a smaller satellite package, maybe save a few bucks, be able to spend more family time together. Heck with that all the good shows are coming back on, can't miss 'em. Which brings me to the greatest thing about Tivo, I watch TV on my time. That is so cheesy, but so true. I love to get a season pass and then organize it in the season pass manager. Moving it up the list if it is a super important show (Hello Grey's Anatomy was back on last night, LOVED IT!!!) and back down if it will record anytime (yes I tivo Jon & Kate plus 8, all those kids, it's such craziness). And no commercials, how great is that. When we first got our Tivo hooked up I was a little intimidated by it, not now, I am queen Tivo. I get pissed when Josh has the remote and he does not utilize it by fast forwarding at the first sign of a commercial and if he goes to far into the show he might not hear the end of it. We used to have "the perfect Tivo" competitions, we are passed that now, but whoever could skip all the commercials and stop it right before the show started was the winner. I still pride myself on a "perfect tivo", it's a great feeling. And if the show we are watching is "live tv", we both push the buttons on the remote still trying to get past the commercials BUT THEY WON'T GO ANY FASTER!! Another fun thing about real Tivo is the sounds it makes, they are kind of like the sounds Pam makes when she clears all the phone lines for Michael Scott. Be boo beep boo be boo. You know what I'm talking about, don't cha. Well if you don't watch The Office, you might not. And that would make you a la-hoo-ser. Our Tivo was so busy on Thursday night, it forgot to record Lost, I was bitter about that, but realized poor little guy had lots to do. There was:

My Name is Earl. Earl finally woke up from his coma for those of you who were wondering, Oh Snap!

30 Rock. Josh loves Tina Fey, so let it be written. I love Kenneth, so let it be done.

The Office. I love Jim and Pam and Oscar Meyer wiener lover. Wish I could, but I can't. Well, can, but won't. Should, maybe, but... 'shorn't. What part of "'shorn't'" don't you understand?

Grey's Anatomy. McDreamy was on the cover of one of Josh's bike magazines, ahhhhhhhh. Hate Rose, so sad for the newlywed girl.

LOST. Josh (and my mother) complains about how he hates this show, it's so dumb, they never do anything, or get anywhere. Yet he still watches it with me every week, I think it's because Jack is so nice to look at. Could just be me.

So there is my Thursday night in a nutshell. Seems like a lot now that it's all in a nice list like that. One day I will have to list all the other shows I am hooked on. That's the first step to recovery right, admitting you have a problem?

You heard it here first

To everyone's great excitement (maybe just in my family) Flogging Molly is coming back to the great state of Utah.

Sorry this picture is so smallish, I can't figure out how to make it bigger. Back to the 411, they will be at SaltAir on July 19th. Clear your schedules, we can carpool.

In other news, which you might find more fits your interests, Stephenie Meyer will be on Good Things Utah May 16th.

Yipee!! Anyone interested in watching the show at my house, tickets go on sale tomorrow, they are $50 + 6.50 handling fee. This price includes a snack and juice box. Hurry tickets are limited.

Floating Pooh

This post is entirely for Sofia "Crazy Lady" Engar. Recently her mother posted an unflattering picture of her standing next to an alleged puddle of pee. You really can't see any pee in the picture, so I am not sure if the photo has been doctored. If you will remember, I mentioned that Josh had given Molly a bath recently. He shared with me that while in the tub she let a rather big "toot" which caused bubbles to come up in back and in front. And this made her laugh. The next morning as I was bathing her (she was cranky because of teeth, which have STILL not appeared, so she spent a lot of time in the tub) she began to "toot" again. Being the loving mother I am, I thought wouldn't that be cute if I could catch some of those bubbles on film. I walked the 10 steps to the bedroom to grab the camera, and when I came back into the bathroom I was greeted with this:
A nice floating pooh, not of the Winnie kind. So dear Sofie, tell your mom it's fine to publish pictures of your alleged accidents all over the internet. Just have her take you and your cute little sad face out of the picture first.

Strawberry Jam Forever

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Jam

Strawberry Jam Forever

Strawberry Jam Forever

Strawberry Jam Forever

I love the Beatles, you all knew that was the Beatles right? Come on Heather, make me proud, tell me you knew! Anyhow, I made strawberry jam the other day. I love strawberry jam too, not sure which I love more though. Strawberry Jam.........The Beatles, tough decision. What I don't love is visiting teaching. Shhhhhh, don't tell. I am sorry, but I don't. However I do like the people I am supposed to go visiting teaching to, you might call them "the sisters". So I put a super cute tag that said "Find yourself in a JAM, your visiting teachers would love to help you out!" Get it, JAM! Tied it on a container of strawberry jam and delivered it to my sisters and one to my partner because I forgot her birthday, and I like her too. Now don't you wish I was your visiting teacher and or partner???

Molly's New Do

I finally bought some tiny elastics to put in Molly's hair. The top is long enough for the "onion" look. This is why I figured I would always have boys, they don't really need their hair done.I also taught her how to fold her arms and be a good girl.
The elastic didn't stay in past nap time, but her hair stood straight up all day long. Josh said she looked like Ed Grimley. Whatever.

** Edited to add a picture of Ed Grimley for those of you who don't know who he is. Heather.

Ride, Ride, Ride, Learnin' to Ride

There should have been a tune in your head as you read the title. Okay so we totally tortured Gavin the other night by FORCING him to ride his bike in the church parking lot. It was fun for 4/5ths of us (Owen is learning fractions at school), you can figure out who the 4 were. I don't know what it is about our kids that makes them hate to learn how to ride their bikes. Heaven knows they have the nicest bikes from the bike shop, not that huffy crap from Wal-Mart. And I can't even describe to you the love between their father and his bikes. Yes bikes, plural. That is a subject for another day. Somehow it has not carried over to his children. They are fine once they learn, I should say Owen is fine since he is the only one who has learned. But it took a great long while for him to even like his bike, let alone ride on it. So look at the picture above and see Gavin's saddest face and pray he survives this latest form of torture.

Josh took Owen up to Lambert Park in Alpine, they had a great time riding around together. Even our dog Cockleburr got to go. Have you not met our dog? that too is a subject for another day. Here is Owen ripping up the trails.

Love at Home

I don't have anything to say about Sping Break: Day Five. It was boring. Molly is either sick or getting teeth, so it was not a fun day. I did host "card party" at my house that night, and it is always fun to sit and chat with the girls, (and exchange cards) but that was the only highlight of the day.

Last night Josh put Molly in the tub, so I hung out downstairs making sure the boys got in the shower and piddling around on the internet. When I came upstairs I could hear him reading to her. I spyed around the corner and found him reading BIKE magazine to her. It was so cute, but I had left the camera sitting on the couch right by them. I tried my best to sneak over to get it, but Molly saw me. I went back in the kitchen and waited for the bedtime story to start again then peeked around to get some of it on video. Josh was not amused. Anytime I get the camera out he complains and asks me why I am taking a picture. For the blog, DUH! The best part of this video is when Owen emerges from the basement because someone bit him. Everyone was sent to bed shortly after this video was shot.

Spring Break: Day Three and Four

Due to the weather, we planned an indoor activity for day three. We headed to the Dinosaur Museum or The Museum of Ancient Life, as Owen kept correcting us. My friend Lynsay and her two adorable children, Aya and Cade, came with us. It was nice to let the kids run around and it wasn't too crowded.

Lynsay is a great friend and we should hang out more often, but I pretty much suck at being a friend, sorry 'bout that. Her kids are so cute, I could just pinch Aya's cheeks off. I think Aya was about 6 months old when Lynsay found out she was pregnant, what fun!

Day four had nothing going on. The boys went out and played at a neighbor's house and as a bonus for me, got fed lunch there. I did some chores (cleaned the shower curtain, kitchen, grocery store), put Molly down for a nap, and camped out in the basement making cards. Here are the fruits of my labor.

Now try to act surprised when I give you one for your birthday. Oh that's right, I am not good at remembering birthdays, we already talked about that. In that case just come on over and pick one up. Here's hoping day five is just as fun!

Spring Break: Day Two

wake up
make Josh a lunch
shower before kids wake up
kids wake up
watch cartoons
eat breakfast
finish laundry that I started yesterday
watch first 15 minutes of Good Things Utah to see if the guest host was anyone else I went to high school with
no guest host today
lay Molly down for a nap
clean up kitchen and load dishwasher
look outside and see SNOW
settle in for a Rob & Big marathon on MTV (if you are sick of the weather and need a laugh watch this, his poor mom)
the end.

Don't drink the water you bathe in

Quick and Easy

I am a forgetter of birthdays. There it's out in the open. This being said, I received a call last night(just before 10pm) from my sister-in-law inviting us to cake and ice cream for her daughter. Sunday at six. Great we'll be there, crap no present. So I headed to Target this afternoon in hopes of finding a great gift, instead of the lame just sticking money in a card. I like to give practical gifts, like books or something else totally practical, not just the first toy I come to. But I don't know what a 10 year old likes to read, or if she even likes to read. This is why Target is the best store ever. After wandering threw the isles for a while, I ended up by the scrapbooking stuff. The next isle over was photo albums and they had some real cute ones. I found a small one that hold about 30 pictures. It was $1.99. I picked up a disposable camera and was on my way. When I got home, I decided it was kind of lame. I decided I should make it into an "all about me" book that she could fill out and add the pictures. Then I remembered I had pages of questions all ready that I had printed from Simple Scrapbooks. Sweet. I just copied some of them, printed them on paper that matched the front of the photo book, added some quotes about family and laughter and being happy, and sporadically placed them throughout the book. Waalaa. Birthday present for under $10. Here's some pics and here's all the Simple Scrapbook questions, which by the way will make super cute scrapbook pages. That is my next project. Will show results when it actually happens.

*Bonus points to whoever can tell me the name of the movie where SPORADICALLY is used as the word of the day.*

America, you got it all wrong

I guess I should have been dialing his number instead of Brooke's. The rest of the Mormons got her back.

~Tagged~

I was tagged by my cousin Kenzie. Here goes...

A-attached or single: Attached, happily.

B-best friends: I married my best friend (kiss kiss), and Heather because it doesn't matter how long it has been since we talked things are still the same, and all my BFF's at tri city medical.

C-cake or pie: either, if chocolate is involved

D-day of choice: Friday

E-essential item(s): Tivo, iTunes, flip flops, chapstick

F-favorite color: red

G-gummy worms or bears: Worms if I really had to pick, but if you liked me you would give me Swedish fish (red only)

H-hometown: Lehi, Ut

I-indulgence: Better Batter with raspberries and brownie Gotta Have it Size and "Monday Massage" hour massage from Aaron each week, oh wait how did that get in here!

J-January or July: July, only because of fireworks

K-kids: Owen, Gavin & Molly

L-life is incomplete without: Family, Guitar Hero, Pepsi and blogs

M-marriage date: August 14, 1997

N- number of siblings: 2 brothers

O-oranges or apples: yellow delicious apples

P-phobias or fears: mice, snakes, and someone close to me dying

Q-quotes: You gain strength, experience and confidence by every experience where you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do. -Eleanor Roosevelt

R-reasons to smile: moment alone in the basement listening to Robert Plant & Alison Krauss as I type, Molly is asleep and all the boys are playing xbox

S-season: spring, if it would ever get here!

T-tag friends: Heather, Adrienne, Anna, Emily and anyone else who wants to! You know I will be checking to see if you did.

U-unknown fact about me: I cannot drive a stick shift to save my life.

V-very favorite store: Target

W-worst habit: I sometimes still bite my nails

X-x-ray, ultrasound, or mammogram: Ultrasound, I'll pass on the others

Y-your favorite food: Chili cheese fries from the Weiner, Blue Coconut creamslush from Sonic, and a churro from Costco!

Z-Zodiac: Taurus

That was fun! Thank goodness for cut and paste, I didn't have to change too many answers!!

Conference Entertainment

General Conference Activity Packet
Thanks to Emily for posting this on her blog, hopefully it will help the children sit still through General Conference, if only for a moment.

Photo Friday

As I was in tears not less than 2 hours ago, thinking I had lost all the pictures in My Pictures that I had recently spent hours organizing and looking through and remembering. I decided to post a sampling of the pictures that are currently on my camera since they would be all I was left with.

Owen got his Bobcat award (yes I did just have to go check his scout book to see what it was called) in pack meeting last month. He got to pin me, it was so exciting. If I still thought all my pictures were gone, I wouldn't even complain that this is a blurry picture. Moving on.......

I am sure you have all been dying to know what our mystery flowers would be. Well wonder no more! We have lots of tulips, all the same pale yellow. I am more of a pink or red girl, but what do you do.

This is Owen doing his reading homework while listening to his sansa shaker. I asked him how he could read while listening to music and he said "I don't know ,but I can". Okay then.

Sweet Molly in the tub, 'nuff said.

And last but not least, a picture taken by Gavin of the skater he built while playing Tony Hawk. The lesson here is don't leave your camera out where Gavin can easily get it. I always find weird pictures and then realize I didn't take them, so Gavin probably did.

I did recover all my pictures, don't ask how I am not good with computer jargon. But this taught me a lesson. Now I will spend the rest of my day burning my pictures on to cd's and uploading them to costco.

I am no april fool, I am pioneer woman incarnate!

While reading through my april issue of Parents magazine (it was free, I wouldn't subscribe normally) I found this:

and since eggs with sauce are Owen's favorite breakfast food and he reads about practical jokes all the time, this should have been perfect. Should is always the key word to ya motha. So I was up early (6:55) to whip up the frosting, melt the marshmallows and toast the bread. Let me clarify to you now that I only make eggs for Owen every other day on school days, so on the other days he usually eats toast and chocolate milk. He had just eaten eggs on Monday, so when presented with eggs for breakfast two days in a row I kind of thought he would say something like "you made me eggs again?, why mother I just ate them yesterday, you are too kind". But he didn't. Instead he looked at them and in an instant I knew he would not touch them. There is another need for clarification, that my children are picky. They will 1. not try anything new, even if it contains other foods they like, B. not eat anything that's not mac and cheese, made with tortilla's and cheese or hot dogs, and thirdly I don't know but it seemed I needed a third point. I tried telling him how good they were, I even tasted them, and all this did was make him madder and poutier. There was a point I thought he would cry. Finally I told him "It's April Fool's Day" and he says "it's not April 14th". What are they teaching these kids in school?!? Seriously. Don't you worry, I didn't let the "eggs" go to waste, they were a nice sugar rush so early in the morning. Josh did let me know it was a bit crazy to try a food prank on our pickiest eater. Oh well, on to my success of the week.

I have been a little obsessed with Pioneer Woman this past week. How does she do it all? Cooking, pictures, remodeling, and then putting in all on the world wide web. Amazing. Our combined lesson at church on sunday was all about preparedness, food storage etc. So I decided to do something I meant to do weeks ago. I read this recipe for spaghetti sauce off of a neighbor's blog. This neighbor is nice but we aren't best friends, and her blog is now private (Hello my name is Kellie and I am a blog spyer) and I can't read it anymore, so I cannot link you right there. Do not despair, I printed the recipe weeks ago. Now I just have to type it for you. And in doing so I am channeling my inner Pioneer Woman.

Stolen Spaghetti Sauce Recipe:

The cast of characters: crushed tomatoes, water, sugar (not pictured), chili powder, basil leaves, oregano, parsley, paprika, thyme, garlic salt, black pepper, and bay leaves.

Buy an enormous can of crushed tomatoes from costco and dump into crock pot. Add sauteed onion and minced garlic. (I didn't have either of these, I used frozen chopped onions from my freezer).

1 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 tsp. chili powder (I used more)

3/4 tsp. basil leaves

1 tsp. oregano

2 Tbsp. parsley

3/4 tsp. paprika

3/4 tsp. thyme

2 tsp.+ garlic salt (you can add more if you like)

1/2 tsp. black pepper

2 bay leaves (remember to take them out)

1 can italian style diced tomatoes (add if you like chunks of tomato in your sauce)

let simmer all day

There you have it, and when you make this (as I did) you will have enough sauce for dinner that night and 5-6 additional servings to use at a later time in your freezer. Total cost: less than $3. And this brings me back to the point of all this, some food storage. Sort of.