Winning Left and Right!

So, you all know that I won an all inclusive trip to Mexico. Absolutely unbelievable! But, what is even more unbelievable is that about 3 weeks before I won the trip, I won a $50 gift card to Target! We stopped in at an Open House in Ft. Smith and the Realtor asked me to fill out a form for a drawing. Two days later, she called to inform me that my name had been drawn. Then today our home phone rang (which I almost NEVER answer) and when I answered it was a local movie rental place informing me that I won a free movie rental. Totally crazy! It's kind of nice to have a little bit of a winning streak (after 34 years of a dry spell)! Print Page

Time Out For Women

Three years ago, several of my friends and I went to Fort Worth, Texas and attended our first Time Out For Women. We had so much fun. We got a hotel room the night before and stayed up late laughing, cutting hair, and telling the best stories! The next day we went to this fun, spiritually uplifting conference and came home feeling like we could do anything... then Monday morning came. Just kidding! It was great. The next year we did it again. Some of the same people. We had a really fun time together but for some reason the conference just wasn't as good. Maybe it was where I was at personally and spiritually, but it didn't seem to hit the right chords for me. Last year it was in OKC and I didn't go. I just didn't have any desire. Well, this year it was in Plano, TX and I was hesitant but decided to go and bought a ticket. Unfortunately, nobody (I mean NOBODY - from our ward) else was going. I tried not to take it personal and hoped that it wasn't because they didn't want to go with me but I was so disappointed and REALLY didn't want to go by myself. Friday night I called my friend Nancy and begged her to go with me (pretty pathetic - I know). I won't tell you what I had to do to get her to come! :) Well, she caved and we went together. It was really good. It was a little different than I had expected (it was for women and young women 12-18) but I still felt the spirit and learned some really good stuff. There was a lot of musical numbers by Hillary Weeks, Jenny Frogley, and Ab Mills (from Jericho Road) that were fabulous! And interestingly enough - Hillary Weeks was the host and she reminded me SO MUCH of my friend Ashley! It made me really miss you, Ashley! Anyway, here's a picture of me an Hillary Weeks together: I have to say that I really appreciate my husband. He really would probably do just about anything for me. Including watching 4 crazy kids ALL DAY long by himself (when he's not used to having to do that)! And it didn't help that Andyn had a fever and diarrhea all day long (probably from eating toilet paper out of the toilet!). So, this is kudos to him because I have a feeling that there aren't a whole lot of husbands out there that would do it AND not complain! Thanks, Honey! Below are some pictures from one of the other TOFW conferences that we went to: Print Page

Shazbot!

It all started when earlier today the kids were watching Aladdin and they wanted to know who played the voice of the Genie. So, Geoff thought it would be fun to show them some clips from Mork & Mindy so they could see Robin Williams. We watched a whole episode on YouTube and the girls went to bed doing the Orcan Handshake, saying "Shazbot" and "Nanoo, Nanoo", and giggling uncontrollably! It really was a blast from the past! I remember watching that when I was a kid! Click here if you want to watch. Print Page

Andyn Goes Mobile

Andyn has become very mobile these days and even climbing things! Here are a couple of pics of her when Geoff found her the other day.

Another little tiny thing that has been happening is that she has been going into the bathroom and fishing out the toilet paper that my older girls forget to flush and.... prepare yourself... EATING IT! That's right EATING IT!!!! Geoff said today after she did it again that we're going to have to insist on a Shut The Door Or You'll Die Be Tortured Mercilessly rule!! Pretty gross!!!!! Print Page

The Inevitable

When you have 4 kids, it's only a matter of time until you forget one somewhere. Well, The Inevitable happened today. Asher gets out of school on Fridays at 11:30 instead of 2:30 and one of his teachers called my phone at 11:58. I thought for sure he had pooped his pants and they were calling to have me come get him. They wanted me to come get him alright. But he didn't poop his pants. It was just time to go. The good news is that she didn't upset that I wasn't there yet. She laughed hysterically when I confirmed that I had forgotten him. I'm glad she has a good sense of humor. The other good news is that Asher didn't even realize. They are always outside playing when I get there so he had no clue I forgot. He will one day... when he reads this blog. Needless to say, I set an alarm on my phone right away so it, hopefully, won't happen again! Print Page

Small Change

You might notice that I've added a Google search bar and Google Ads to my sidebar. Well, I read that the lady who sold those pokemon cards on ebay is making $4000 a month just from advertisers on her blog! I had to get in on that action! I'm sure I'll make like $1 a month because I don't have near the traffic that she does but I thought I would give it a try anyway! It works like this: Each time someone clicks on an ad or uses the Google search button (and then clicks on an ad on the search results page) I get paid. It's as easy as that! So, support my habit by clicking on a few ads! :) I LOVE GOOGLE! Print Page

Trip to Mexico!

So, many of you have asked questions about my trip. So here's the scoop. It is to this fabulous resort: Iberostar Paraiso Maya It's for 5 days & 4 nights! And it's all inclusive! I'm still pretty much in shock. We have until Dec '08 to plan it so I think we'll try to do it in May when the kids are out of school. The day after I won I went to McKinney to be interviewed on the air by the morning show hosts - Johnny B. and Carrie. One of the employees (Casey) took pictures during the interview. Here are some of them: Also, Geoff recorded the interview on his phone but couldn't figure out how to convert it to a wav file so it's in a Word document of all things. If you want to hear it just email me and I'll send it out to you. If you remember correctly, I didn't get to the phone in time when they called me that morning so they left a message in my voice mail. For some reason, Geoff was able to record that as a wav file so you can listen to it here. Print Page

Tooth Fairy's Little Helper

Several months ago, Aspen caught me off guard by asking me if The Tooth Fairy was real. I didn't have an emergency escape plan! I asked her if she thought the Tooth Fairy was real and she proceeded to explain to me that SHE believed in the tooth fairy but asked me if I was like her helper or something. Seeing a smooth way out of this I explained to her "why yes, I am her helper". (Oh the lies we tell our kids so that they will remain innocent for as long as possible!) I remember a while back when Caleb (Shelley's son) was trying to tell my kids that Santa Claus and The Tooth Fairy and all wasn't real - it was just their parents. And I told my kids that it was okay if he didn't believe anymore but The Tooth Fairy wouldn't bring him money or special trinkets anymore. I think my kids decided they were going to believe it even if it wasn't true! So, Aspen asked me if she could help me help The Tooth Fairy next time that Ainsley lost a tooth. I agreed. Under the condition that she didn't tell Ainsley our little secret! Well, it finally happened. Ainsley lost another tooth: To be honest, I had forgotten about the little pact that I had made with Aspen. She didn't. She let me know in a somewhat discreet manner that she was in on it! She pulled me aside and told me to wake her up after Ainsley had gone to sleep and she would help me. Well, I forgot! Ainsley woke up the next morning and informed me that The Tooth Fairy had not come. Having done this before (the first time I did this I ran to my bathroom and called Shelley crying not knowing what to do!) I informed her that sometimes The Tooth Fairy is really busy and is running behind schedule and that if she would go get ready for school and maybe even go outside and ride her bike for a few minutes that I was sure that The Tooth Fairy would come. She looked at me and said "That's alright, Mom. I would rather her come tonight so that I can show all my friends at school my tooth!" Works for me! Aspen and I accomplished our mission that night and it was kind of fun having Aspen help! Just a note of recognition. The drawing of The Tooth Fairy was done by a lady named Sarah Mensinga. I found the drawing when I googled for Tooth Fairy images. She posts drawings, sketches, and paintings on her own blog and I asked her if I could use it on my blog. She graciously sad yes. If you get a minute you should take a look at some of her work. I think it's really good! Sarah's Sketches Print Page

Scoopin' Up My Baby Bumble Bee....

This afternoon the kids got out the bagillion costumes that we own and were trying to decide what they wanted to be for Halloween. I have this very cute bumble bee costume that I want Andyn wear and so I thought I would try it on her. Uh... she didn't like it. I thought this picture was so cute! Geoff took it with his phone so it's not that great of quality but you get the idea! Also, I really think that the kids should be allowed to wear costumes more than just once a year! They just love it! Print Page

Viva Mexico!!

Have you ever had something happen in your life that you just can't believe it's happening to you? That happened to me today. On Friday, on a whim, I called into a radio station (which I have never done before in my life) that was giving away a $25 gift certificate to a Mexican restaurant and a chance to win a trip to the Mexican Riviera and won!!! I was caller #9!! I was so ecstatic!! I really sounded like a baffoon!! I mean, it was just a gift certificate for heaven's sake! And a CHANCE to win the trip. I acted as if I had actually won the trip! So they inform me that on Monday morning (today) they would draw the name of the winner of the trip at 7:20 AM.... I know the suspense is killing you.... I WON!!! THEY DREW MY NAME!! CAN YOU HEAR ME SCREAMING?! I'm in total shock! I never win anything!! And I won a stinkin' trip to Mexico!! I can hardly believe it. The funny part is that I was standing in the kitchen with Aspen & Ainsley to hear whose name they were going to draw ( I had to explain to the girls that there were a lot of names in the drawing and my chances of winning were very slim) and when I heard my name I lost it!! I just couldn't believe it! I was screaming and jumping up and down and hugging the girls! I couldn't tell if the girls were scared of my reaction or embarrassed for me! So during the screaming fit they were trying to call me on my cell phone which was of course under my pillow (I use it as an alarm)! I ran into the bedroom to get it as Geoff scrambled for some paper and a pen to write down the phone # that I had to call them back on. They answered and told me I had won! I was just so excited! I was laughing and practically crying! They asked me who I was planning on taking with me and I told them that I REALLY wanted to take my best friend Shelley but I didn't think that my husband would ever forgive me!! Anyway, I was asked to come down tomorrow morning for a live interview on the air and to take some pictures! I just can't believe this. Too surreal. One more fun thing - when they called my phone they left a message on my voice mail letting me know that I had won so I asked Geoff if there was anyway to record that to some type of sound byte for my blog. He said there was a way. So, I will post it here when he gets that done! The picture above is of the resort where we will be staying. Here are a few more photos of the place! I think it's totally hilarious that they even have a Wal-mart there!!

PS I don't think that I've ever used that many exclamation marks in any of my posts! Hee! Hee! Print Page

Don't Cry Over Spilled... Yogurt!

Asher left his yogurt on a cloth napkin on the table today and Andyn pulled it down on top of herself. She wasn't bothered by this at all. She LOVES yogurt. Plus, she got a little bit of practice using a spoon!

When it was time for the fun to end I was in big trouble! Watch this video to see what happened when I tried to pick her up to give her a bath:

I'm not sure why it didn't dawn on Aspen that there was a huge table leg in the way while she was filming. But you get the idea!

What the...?

Today while waiting for the girls to get out of school my friend Roxie walked by the car and informed me that I had a marshmallow stuck to my bumper. She offered to remove it for me but I told her that I HAD to blog about so just to leave it so I could take a picture. Pretty funny. What I find amazing is that it stayed on there the entire drive to get the kids and back!

Blogging Binge

First off, I'd like to publicly thank Shelley for her dedication to my blog. Without you none of this would be possible. Second, I would like to apologize to all of my admiring fans out there who have been anxiously awaiting an update on my incredibly interesting life! I will try not to go so long without writing ever again. I have no idea what happened. I just got really busy and forgot. Thank goodness I take a lot of pictures. That is the only way I really remembered what has happened in the last 3 weeks! To make up for the lack of material published I have 16 posts in draft waiting for me to write about (they only have pictures right now)! Just for you guys! It's a Blog Binge!! I'll see how many I can get done before I go get the kids. Print Page

Photo Books

So, as Shelley mentioned, I'm working on these photo books for the kids for Christmas. They are always wanting to see what they looked like as a baby so I've decided to crack down and make baby books for them. I decided to use Shutterfly online because they seemed to have a really great reputation and had some pretty amazing tools. I just order Andyn's today and I'm really excited to see how it turned out! If you want to take a peek at it click here. You don't have to sign-up to see. Just scroll down a little and click on "view photo book". Just a little tip. When you're looking at the pages, you can click on the "zoom" button and see the words better. They have to degrade the words and pictures somewhat for display purposes so hopefully you can see it really good if you zoom in on it! Tell me what you think! Print Page

What Happens When You Live With a Bunch of Girls

Lately, we've been putting Asher to bed in the girls' room because he wakes Andyn up so early in the morning. Well, the other morning when the kids got up to get ready for school, this is what Asher looked like! I don't know if I should be worried or not?!

A Little Too Much Information

Geoff bought this black light at a garage sale and was showing me how when put up to your face it shows freckle-like spots that you can't see in normal light! It was totally crazy! These pictures don't do it justice but gives you an idea. If you have a black light or even just a bulb you can pop into a socket you should give it a try!

Crazy, Nasty Worm Thing

Okay, this thing just grossed me out!! I was rushing out the door and saw this on the floor! I couldn't just leave it for Geoff to kill it - though now that I'm writing this I'm thinking that I could have just put a glass or bowl over it so Geoff could deal with it!! Why didn't I think of that then!! Instead, I opened Andyn's wet diaper that I had just changed and "scooted" the... thing into the diaper with a wipe. I screamed the whole time. It actually freaked Andyn out too and she started crying. I felt bad but I couldn't help myself! Gross!

Stop, Drop, & Roll

Asher went to his first field trip. He got to go in the cab of the fire truck and sit in it for a few minutes. I think he liked it but I really couldn't tell. I think he would have enjoyed it a lot more if I wasn't there. He tends to act naughtier and be sullen when I'm around. Over all I think he had a good time.

Anyone Want to be a Jr. Park Ranger?

So, two weekends ago we went to Fort Smith, Arkansas. This is where we have decided that we will probably end up for good. It's about 30 minutes from my entire family, it's a descent sized city, and Geoff will get a nice sized raise. We drove around in different neighborhoods to get a feel for what area we would like to live in. I had already looked online at the schools and prices of houses so we were able to narrow it down to a couple of areas. Anyway, Geoff made me promise that if we did all of this that we could do something "fun" with the kids. He wanted to go to the Fort Smith Museum of History and let the kids become Jr. Park Rangers. I must of had a brief lapse of brain function because I agreed to it and boy did I regret it! It was torture. This is where Shelley and I are slightly different. I'm not really into history. We were there for 3 hours!! We were informed when we paid our entrance fee that the kids had to answer questions in a booklet in order to get their cute little badges. It took forever! And we didn't even finish! I told Geoff that maybe we should just come back and do the rest next time. Thank goodness he agreed. Wouldn't you know it the guy gave the stinkin' badges to them anyway! Oh well, the kids seemed to enjoy most of it!! Terra and Emma went with us for most of it. That's Andyn playing with her cousin.

Andyn's 1st Birthday

What a great day! My little girl turned one and Geoff turned ancient! I made the sheep cake for Andyn and the pig cake for Geoff. He really likes strawberry cake (so do I) and he was really happy to share a birthday with Andyn because he could have pink cake and people wouldn't make fun of him. Little did he know that they would still make fun of him! :) Andyn had been trying to walk for about two weeks but on her birthday she just took off. She's been walking everywhere since then! Her and Emma took a bath together and then she fell asleep in Uncle Tommy's arms:

Not for the Faint of Heart

When we visit my dad sometimes we go to breakfast at this little restaurant on Saturday morning. They have a breakfast buffet and on that buffet they serve chocolate gravy & biscuits (along with other things). This is a delicacy that I've been fortunate enough to know about all of my life. Within the last few years I came to a disturbing realization that not everybody knows about this stuff!! This is just wrong. When we started our recipe blog that was one of the first posts. It is my personal mission to share this with everyone that I know! When we went Branson in the spring we were at the continental breakfast served by our hotel and it was a breakfast buffet. I told the guy running it that he would probably attract more guests to the hotel just by serving chocolate gravy with those biscuits! I was shocked to learn that he hadn't heard of it! He seemed very interested (they're good at faking it) so I told where he could find a recipe for it online. He claimed that he would check it out. The picture is of Asher thoroughly enjoying his helping of this wonderful, healthy dish! Click here if you want my recipe.

This is What I Have to Live With

I remember the girls going through a phase of throwing tantrums and totally freaking out but I don't remember that phase lasting near as long as Asher's! He's pretty much been doing this since he was 18 months old and some days it's almost unbearable! Here's a picture of him when we were getting into the car after leaving McDonald's. He was upset with us because we threw the rest of his ice cream away (after repeatedly warning him that we weren't taking it with us and it was time to go)! He drives me crazy!

If you're really feeling like hearing a kid scream their head off you should watch this video. If you're not really feeling like that - skip it.

Reason for Being So Busy

One of the reasons I have been so busy is because I'm an elected officer for my kids' elementary PSO group and our really big fund-raiser hit about three weeks ago. So I have spent MANY hours at the school working on that. This is what Andyn looked like for three days straight. This was taken in the school office.

Also I was snapping a couple of photos for Andyn's baby book and she wasn't really in a mood to have her picture taken. The following pic is of Rachel Shelton, Ainsley's 1st grade teacher, trying to smile big for the camera while Andyn was screaming! Stinker. A little bit later we had her happy and smiling at the front of the school and Rachel stood behind her and we snapped a quick one!

This little clip is of her laughing at my sweet friend Dottie. Dottie knows how to get her to smile!