Playlist & Go Colts....Maybe Next Year?

Sam has completed my playlist from my previous post. It's been lots of fun listening to these songs for the past few days. I probably should clarify something real quick: For me, this playlist is awesome because it represents a very fun time in my life. My experiences in college have so much to do with who I am today. I still keep in contact with a lot of the friends I made at that time and we had a great balance between being serious and having fun (with emphasis on the fun).

So, if you hate these songs, just keep that to yourself! ha ha!

'Sometimes' by Erasure
'If You Leave' by O.M.D.
'Head Over Heels' by Tears for Fears
'Getting Away With It' by Electronic
'Don't You (Forget About Me)' by Simple Minds
'Particle Man' by They Might Be Giants
'Just Like Heaven' by The Cure
'Old Red Eyes is Back' by Beautiful South
'Stand' by REM
'Pandora's Box' by O.M.D.
'Mr. Tambourine Man' by The Byrds
'Letterbox' by They Might Be Giants
'Regret' by New Order
'Girlfriend in a Coma' by The Smiths
'Chorus' by Erasure
'Sunnyside of the Street' by The Pogues
'We Close Our Eyes' by Oingo Boingo
'Jubilation' by Anything Box
'Sunday Morning' by O.M.D.
'Growing Old' by The Origin
'Situation' by Yaz
'Pure' by Lightning Seeds
'Friday I'm in Love' by The Cure
'Dead' by They Might Be Giants
'Minimum Wage' by They Might Be Giants

Trust me, find these songs, listen to them, and I think you'll thank me! :)

Other news...
I'm not a football fan, but I do like the Colts. My brother lives in Indiana so he has converted all of us. We had high hopes tonight....ah well....

I'm Gonna Make You A Mix Tape!

Did you ever make a mix tape for somebody when you were younger? I totally remember having a blank tape in my ghetto blaster, my finger would be poised on the 'record' button while listening to the radio. As soon as I heard a gnarly song I would slam down the 'record' button and add to my forever growing collection of mix tapes. The coolest songs in those days were "We Are the World", "Like A Virgin", "Born in the USA", "Careless Whisper", "Can't Fight This Feeling", "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", "Axel F"....and there are oodles more but you get the idea.

When I went to college, my roommate had a guy friend (who I think had a crush on her) and he made her a mix tape that he called "Cool Meridith's Really Cool Tape Of Cool Music". It was the best mix tape I've ever heard! I made myself a copy. :)

Fast forward 17 years (Yes, I am that old...quit doing that math!) to last Saturday. Sam and I were doing an early spring cleaning in our house and I found that mix tape from college! I tossed it to Sam and said "Hey, for Valentines Day you should convert these songs into an itunes playlist for me.".

Because these kind of projects make Sam giddy, he was up for the challenge! Unfortunately, I had lost the tape cover that lists all the songs and the artist. You should see my husband's detective work in figuring out all the songs! I am seriously so excited! When all is said and done, I'll put the playlist on my blog and you will completely understand why this is the best mix tape ever! Well, hopefully you will.....unless you like country or butt rock...then this is NOT the mix for you! Just back away slowly. Never look back.

Have I mentioned lately that Sam is the gnarliest dude ever!?!

Square Temple?

Tonight for FHE we went to Salt Lake City, to Temple Square. We parked the car and walked through the Temple Square gates and Parker exclaimed with wide eyes, while pointing at the temple: "Is that the Square Temple??".

Uhhhhh....sure, yeah.

Let me tell ya, going to Temple Square on a cold night in February....that's the time to go! We practically had the whole place to ourselves!! We went into the Visitor's Center and took our sweet time. All three boys LOVED it, we watched videos, played on the escalators, checked out a replica of Jerusalem, and saw the Christus. The Sister missionaries gave the boys some cards with the Articles of Faith on them and a picture of Christ on the other side. Cameron kept looking at his and squealing "JESUS!" Good times!

This picture speaks to me. It says: Parker sees the light, Carson is confused. Just kidding buddy!


Cameron loved the statue of Christ. He kept pointing at him and then to his Articles of Faith Card. Then he ran to the Sister Missionaries and gave them "rocks".


I'm telling you, we had the whole place to ourselves.


Except for whoever was inside...


Maybe next time we go Parker will know the proper name of the temple....then again, maybe not.

Crusty Cameron

When my brother Mike was a youngster, he could muster up some pretty dang crusty looks...my parents called those glares the "Darth Vader" look.

Fast forward 30 some-odd years and here comes Cameron. Oh my....he can be so crusty! So cute and happy one second and then like the flip of a switch, Hello Mr. Cranky Pants, back so soon?

Ironic enough, Mike (the original Darth Vader) was visiting here a few weeks ago. He lives far far away so we don't see him too often. The first time Cameron saw him in our house, here's the look he gave Mike.


Not to worry though, he wiped the smirk off his face once he realized what a cool dude his Uncle Mike is! Now they are best buddies...I guess it takes a Vader to know a Vader. I'm just sayin'! ha ha, just kidding Mike!

Just for you Star Wars geeks: I had to look up Darth Vader's name in Google to be sure I was spelling it right. I came across a website that is full of Vader quotes!
"I find your lack of faith disturbing."
"Perhaps I can find new ways to motivate them."
"Asteroids do not concern me, Admiral. I want that ship, not excuses."
"When I left you I was but the learner. Now I am the master."

So anyway...
Carson did have a cavity the other day. It was in a baby tooth, so since it will be falling out in the next few years the dentist told Carson they could fill it with a spectacular color.

Carson chose Blue. He has a blue filling. That just seems really weird to me, sometimes it hurts my soul to think outside the box. All I can say is.....GO COLTS!!!!! ha ha ha!

Guess what I got to do yesterday? I was able to drive to Blackfoot Idaho with my dad and brother and go to the funeral for Ellis Oram. Ellis is my cousin's grandpa. He was an amazing man, full of humor and kindness. I've never cried/laughed so hard at any other funeral in my life! Just when things got too sad, somebody told a story about him that made my sad tears turn into tears of pure hysterical laughter! Let's just say I was completely exhausted once I got home, too many emotions in one day!

Here's a few funny stories:
When Ellis was 18, he decided to leave small-town-Utah and hitch a ride on a train to California to make a name for himself. Imagine his surprise when the train ride ended....in Pocatello Idaho! Even more surprising, he stayed in that area for the rest of his life!

His son came home 1/2 hour late for his curfew when he was in High School. When Ellis tried talking to him about it, his son gave him a bit of an attitude. The next morning when the son got up to drive to school in his 1970 Camero, the car wasn't in the driveway. He went to his dad's work, which was Blackfoot Motors....and his dad had sold his car that morning! Can you imagine?

Same son was in sacrament meeting and his dad was the Bishop. Son's friend was sleeping during the rest hymn, so he woke up his friend and said "Dad asked you to say the closing prayer.". As soon as the hymn ended, the friend got up and prayed. Bishop Oram got up and said "Thanks for that lovely prayer, but we still have 2 speakers to hear from."! Ha ha ha ha, I totally want to try that one some day!

The list goes on and on....Ellis was funny so all his children got the same humor gene, which is just one of the reasons I like hanging out with my cousins! Ellis will be missed!

Teeth

Since I'm going to the dentist tomorrow, I've been thinking about teeth...

Carson and I were wrestling around the other day and I said "I'm going to bite your arm, tell me when it hurts and I'll stop". So I did.

Carson looked at the bite mark on his arm and said "Your teeth are so straight!!! How is it possible, that they are so straight?"

I said "My teeth weren't always straight, I had braces when I was in High School"
Carson's reply, "You didn't need braces!!! Look how straight your teeth are!!!"

Whatebs. Then he bit his own arm and showed me the teeth marks, "look how crooked my teeth are? Oh man, I'm going to need braces for sure!"

Carrie's teeth:


Carson's teeth:


Yeah braces are in our future, but for tomorrow, I'm just hoping for no cavities!

Look at this dude. He is a crack up.


Over the past few weeks Cameron's comprehension has sky rocketed! I can give him simple instructions and he knows exactly what I mean: put it in the sink, put it in the garbage, put it in your laundry basket, go get your blanket, go tickle dad, time for night-night, where's elmo?....the list goes on and on. I'm loving it! He's also developed a wicked/awesome sense of when to scare people. He'll hide around a corner forever until I walk by and then he'll growl at me. Seriously, I've had goose bumps more than a few times!

Unfortunately, we're still trying to teach him not to head butt the wooden corner of the couch. These things take time.



I do enjoy checking out the progress of his bruise every day, it keeps changing colors....It's like Christmas every morning for me!


Carson and Parker go back to school on Tuesday, after being out of school since before Christmas. Gotta love year round school. I'm actually quite bummed they are going back. I've enoyed lazy mornings! Plus, I don't spend as much money when my kids are off track because let's face it...who wants to go shopping with 3 boys?!?

Here's to one more day of freedom boys!

I'm Back

Wow. This is the longest I've gone without updating my blog since I started it...4 years ago!

2010 has proved to be quite the odd year so far.

I'm just sitting here, not knowing what to say so I'll just blab about what comes to my mind:

My mom had back surgery. My poor mom! She has been dealing with awful pain for over a year since her knee replacement surgery, and then she had to have back surgery on top of it all. It was pure mayhem to put it lightly! My dad was practically living at the hospital with her so he could help her get through it. I was doing my best to help my dad, but my kids are off track so everything I did came with my entourage of boys. The medication she was on made her hallucinate, and I'm not talking about fun stuff. It was awful. Then the hospital released her to a rehab facility that was pretty run down. They tried to put my mom in a room to share with somebody who owned a dog. Pretty unsanitary. Then they ended up putting her in a room with somebody who was crazy and screamed at my mom in spanish. It was ridiculous. My brother Mike saved my sanity, he flew out here from Indiana to help share the burden of "what should we do now?". He completely energized my mom and dad and helped make difficult decisions until everybody was happy with the outcome (my mom is now home. She has home health care physical therapists).

During all this, I had my own health scare that has lasted about 9 months (not baby related! ha ha!). Not really appropriate for the blog, but it was extremely painful, and kind of escalated pretty badly before it could be resolved just this past week and I'm so happy it's over. Things are good as far as that is concerned!

I've had very near and dear loved ones go through some difficult emotions and trials. It consumes me because I just want to put my arm around them, love them, and tell them everything will be alright. Obviously, it's not that easy and these things need time--which stinks for somebody like me who has no patience.

Then there's everything that is happening in Haiti. Oh my gosh, I can't NOT watch the news coverage but at the same time, it's so painful I want to hide my eyes. It's so sad. Again, I want to put my arms around those people and tell them everything will be alright.

All this and today is only the 19th. Holy crap. I think I didn't want to update my blog because it sounds so negative. But, there you go. That's what has been happening.

Don't despair though, it hasn't all been bad!

I was able to attend a baby blessing for a dear friend, whose family I honestly consider my own "2nd family". Holla to the Hansens! Seeing you all made me ticked that we don't see each other more often! ha ha! I wasn't able to attend their grandma's funeral, but Sam was and I'm so thankful they allowed us to be part of this sacred time in their lives.

Carson attended his first ever Pinewood Derby and came in 2nd place. He loved it!





Finally, I'm so excited because my sister-in-law is prego and she's having a girl! Girls are almost unheard of in my family so we're all in shock! I also have 4 cousins who are expecting and so far I know 2 are girls and 1 is a boy. Family gatherings are about to get even crazier! Yay!!!!!

Here's to a happy last half of January!

Escape Artist

Parker makes me laugh, and then he freaks me out.



Guess what? I got my haircut tonight and the lady getting her haircut at a close by station was Jerry Sloan's wife. She is kind of bossy. She brought her own boom box so she could listen to the Jazz game. The louder my friend and I got, the louder her boom box got. I'm not at a sports bar lady! Sheesh! She did ask me how I got my hair to "do that" which made me laugh. She said she liked it, and coming from her, I believe her. Something tells me she would have no problem letting me "have it" for having ugly hair.

My brush with sorta fame. I guess I can cross that off of my "things to do in 2009" list. Phew, almost didn't make it.

Happy New Year!!

Let The Punishment Fit The Crime

Cameron has a terrible habit right now. He can SENSE when somebody leaves the bathroom door open and he runs inside and plays in the toilet. He has done this countless times over the past few days. It's highly annoying! No matter what punishment I give him, he just keeps on doing it. I've tried swatting his bum, putting him in time-out, and flicking his fingers. Nothing works, he just laughs and keeps on doing it whenever he can.

Yesterday I told Carson and Parker over breakfast: Please close the bathroom door after you've used the bathroom. If one of you forgets and Cameron plays in the toilet, I'm going to make YOU put YOUR hand in the toilet!

Well, Parker got this incredible look in his eyes, it was a cross between amusement and fear of crazy mom. He has been completely dedicated to shutting the bathroom door every single time!

Carson on the other hand....well, for a germophobe I thought he would be committed to the closing of the door but he's been incredibly spacey lately...his brain is on Christmas Break. He forgot all day yesterday! I was even feeling compassionate for him (I wouldn't want to put my hand in the toilet! Ewww!) so instead of punishing him, I kept reminding him. I think I reminded him about 10 times yesterday!

This morning before breakfast, Carson left the door open. I sternly reminded him. After breakfast Carson washed up and left the door open, again! Cameron ran in before I could turn around and was playing in the toilet1 Aghhhh! I have had it!

I found Carson and he slapped his forehead and said "Oh sorry! I forgot!". Too bad suckah! All I did was point to the bathroom and Carson sheepishly walked in and stood in front of the toilet. If he was a dog, his tail would have been between his legs! I opened the lid and just stood there. I'm KICKING myself for not recording this scene. It was so funny I almost couldn't contain my laughter. Carson stood there for a full minute hoping I would change my mind. I think he saw the look in my eyes and knew I wasn't changing my mind. I told him he had to reach all the way in and touch the bottom of the bowl. He moaned "ahhhh maaaaannnn!" and slowly lowered his hand into the bowl and touched bottom!

While he was washing his hands for a good 3 minutes I again reminded him that he must remember to shut the door! Guess what? He remembers now! He has since gone into the bathroom for one thing or another 3 more times this morning and every time he has remembered to shut the door! Success!!!!

Creative parenting, it can and SHOULD be fun!

Holly Jolly Christmas Twenty Oh Nine

Well, Christmas has come and gone. The toys are all put away, the decorations are lovingly packed, and all that's left to remind me of Christmas is the big bowl of Christmas candy on top of my fridge. I'm pretty bummed that candy cane Hershey Kisses are only seasonal, man those things are soooo good!

We celebrated Christmas Eve at Nalani and Jed's house. It was great! Cash and Cameron were happy once we gave them their own bowl of Ranch Dressing. The carrot stick was just the way to transport the ranch dressing to their mouth (well, kind of, a lot didn't actually make it inside their mouth....eating is hard when you are under 2!).


We had our traditional Left/Right gift exchange game. Cody received bacon chapstick and Meridith got Corndog chapstick. The bacon kind nearly knocked my socks off when I smelled it.....and then Cody put some on his lips! Aghhhh! Meridith looked at him and said, don't even think about coming near me! ha ha ha! My mom received bacon gumballs and Carson ate one. As we were leaving to go home he had the most disturbed facial expression. I asked him what was wrong and he said "I ate one of those bacon gumballs and I can't get the taste out of my mouth!!!! Shudder.


Nalani and I capped off the evening by giving Cameron and Cash pop rocks. They kept opening and closing their mouth, like a little fish. It was awesome.



The boys were able to wear their new pajamas that Aunt Cindy made for them before we went home. They loved them! They stayed in these pajamas until Christmas night. Thanks Cindy!


Christmas morning: This was the first year that I didn't have to wake Carson up. He was awake and patiently waiting for me to come downstairs and tell him it's time to get up. I wonder how many more years that will be the case? Sheesh, I NEVER slept on Christmas Eve! My kids are so mellow about it, it's just not right I tell ya! Santa was good to us this year, my kids really are really appreciative of what is given to them, it's so sweet!





I was pretty dang excited about my gift this year....now I can really do some mixing! Bread anyone? Yahoooooo!


My brother Darren gave us this beautiful photograph, it's already hanging up in my living room. The perks of having a photographer for a brother, I'm so lucky!


If any of you have a son in elementary school, he probably loves the "Diary of a Whimpy Kid" series of books. My parents gave Carson 3 of the books and he has already read 1 1/2 of them since Christmas Day. Sure the books have some potty humor in them, whatever it takes to get kids to read, right? :)


The kids received lots of Bakugan toys, they were in heaven, and Sam got some shoes and shirts...life is good! We tried getting a cute Christmas morning picture of the boys in their pj's. Oh well, we tried.




Oh yeah, Santa gave Sam some Mountain Dew Chapstick. hee hee!


Carson's main gift was his very own tent! Yay!!! One less child in my tent when we go camping. :) Ulterior Motive? You bet your bottom dollar!



Saturday Sam took the kids sledding, they came home smiling even though they had some wicked wipeouts!






And just like that....Christmas is over. I can't believe it! Here's hoping for a quiet and boring January!

Sweet Christmas Par-Tay 2009

Saturday was the Sweet Christmas Party, and let me tell you....it was the best one evah! I can say that because Sam and I were in charge.

Sam is the youngest of 8 kids and when we all get together there are about 50 Sweet's running around, or shall I say Sweeties? Anyway, it's mayhem, chaos, amazing, loud, fun, and I look forward to it every year. This year we were able to break away from the church gym location to a much nicer venue: This is the Place Heritage Park!

My brother-law-works at the Park and he gets a "free rental" every year as one of his perks. He was kind enough to let the whole fam in on that freebie. Thanks Jeremy!

We arrived a few hours early to set up and hang out at the park before it opened to the public. We brought sleds and let the kids go hog wild. This picture makes me cackle. I don't have a clue what is going on, but I bet Parker knows!


Action shots, Sam even tried using the saucer sled as a snow board. Classic!








The house in the background is where we held our party:


Cameron cried really hard about 60% of the time we were there. We were there for over 7 hours so that's a lot of crying. I think he hates crowds and noise...he better grow out of that real fast!


There were reindeer at the Park and we got to help feed them:



After a traditional Ham dinner with the troops, we all scattered to play in the Park for awhile. We rode the train. It was really fun and everyone loved it, even Cameron...until the last 10 minutes, then he screamed to make sure we didn't forget he was there!




We all gathered again at the house and did a cousins gift exchange for all the nieces and nephews, a White Elephant Gift Exchange, an Ornament Exchange, and then we put together a Christmas package for my nephew Zack, who is on a mission. It was a superior time! My ears are still ringing from the noise, and that is how is should be! See that cage that Cameron is standing in? That is what we received from the While Elephant exchange....um....does anybody want it? :)












As we were cleaning up the place, Cameron and Parker fell fast asleep on James' lap. James bet Carson a dollar that he would fall asleep on the way home. Carson insisted that he wouldn't.....he was asleep before we hit the freeway!


The best part.....We aren't in charge for another 8 years!!!! MWHAAAHHAAAAHAAAAA! Merry Christmas to me!