I Wish I Had A Scanner...

Sam has been very sick today. Let's just say his "throw up streak" came to a screeching halt today. Actually it's kind of funny because Sam was in the downstairs bathroom "recalling" his breakfast and Parker walked into the bathroom.
The conversation went something like this:
Parker: What 'cha doin' daddy?
Sam: throwing up.
Parker: in the toilet?
Sam: yes
Parker: Good boy daddy!!

So, since Sam fell asleep before my kids did, I've had a lot of time on my hands. I started looking through old photo albums and I was out-loud laughing! I don't look at the ol' 35mm photos too much anymore. Everything now is digital and on my computer. So, since I don't have a scanner, I took pictures of my old pictures and now I'm going to take you on a trip down memory lane...

Morning hair makes me laugh. Here's a nice one of Carson when he was 3.

Sam's niece, Melissa, always wakes up with CRAZY hair, so naturally I figured the "psycho morning hair" gene came from the Sweet side.

But then Sam proved me wrong wtih this LOVELY picture.


Anytime my family goes near water, it seems I come home with priceless pictures:
Here's a picture from May of 2000, we are at Lopez Island in Washington. Curtis had an ingrown eyelash and his eye got infected. Do you like his patch? It's made out of a Kotex Pad! I can't remember who made it, but dang, it was funny! Notice Sam in the background? I think he randomly shoved a balloon in his shirt!

Here is another picture from Lopez Island. I think I was in High School. This one moment has coined a phrase that my family STILL USES! That is our family friend, Jenna Peck, laying on the couch. We love her dearly, but it was so funny because she laid on the couch all weekend and nobody else had a soft place to sit! To this day if somebody is hogging the couch, we say "Quit Jenna Peck-ing it!"


Here is a picture from Lake Washington, near Seattle. It was SOOO windy! Carson's sleeve was blowing fast and furious and it was freaking him out!


Here is a SWEET action shot of Curtis catching a football at the Oregon Coast. Guess who threw the ball? That would be his future wife Shandy!! I think this was taken in May of 2001.

Here's another picture of a future couple: Nalani and Jed!!
This was also at the Oregon coast. I remember laughing at this picture because when I was taking it, I was trying to give my dad a hint to have he and my cousin (lynette) get out of the picture so we could get Nalani and Jed together. It was so comical. He just kept smiling and it was starting to get awkward so I snapped the photo! 3 1/2 years later Nalani and Jed married! I love history!

And finally, from the Oregon coast, Sam took this one of Carson. Carson's stroller had a mirror attached to it. So, here is a weird picture of Carson looking at Sam via his mirror.


Many of you may know this about Curtis, but he has an AMAZING talent: He can spin almost anything on his finger! I wish the picture included Curtis, but here is Carson's reaction to Curtis' talent. Even his TOES are flexed in awe!!


If you were at my wedding reception in Seattle, you will certainly remember a single moment. No, it's not how beautiful I looked or how yummy the refreshments were. It's not a joke somebody told and it's not how great the flowers smelled. The one moment you will remember is the house SHAKING. Was it an earthquake? Did a truck run into the house? No.....it was my friend, Natalie Anderson, running into the sliding glass door, thinking it was open. To her credit, the glass WAS really clean. We all thought she broke her nose and of course, Nalani would not stop laughing! Okay, maybe I was giggling a little too! Her nose was fine, except maybe a little scar to remind her of my reception. Now fast forward 4 years. My parents now live in West Jordan UT, but they still have REALLY clean sliding glass doors. When my parents heard that Natalie was in town and was coming over for a BBQ, they acted quickly! Like the blue tape?? We love you Natary!


And lastly: Here is Carson (during his "big head" phase) at the airport in Indianapolis. No wonder that kid is always hyper!!!

Baby Gifts

In our ward we give a baby gift to the mom's who just had a baby, as part of our compassionate service efforts. In the past the gifts have been blankets, burp cloths and other really cute items. This year we decided to put a little humor into the baby gifts-- check them out!



We bought the plain white onesies, designed the iron on, and put it on the onesie! If anybody has any clever/funny sayings please let me know. They turned out better than I could have hoped. I'm delivering the first one today, I'm pretty excited!!

Can You See Me?

Carson has been off track from school (gotta love year round school) since Christmas. Today he goes back to school, happy happy joy joy, and I asked him to go get dressed for the day.

Here is the outfit he picked out:



He walked in the kitchen and LITERALLY said "Can you see me?" My first instinct was to say "I can see you getting made fun of at school!" but I held my tongue and said "Barely!" My boys make me laugh all the time!!

Speaking of making me laugh, here is a funny picture of Parker from yesterday:


Poor kid, his ears are all flopped over because they are so big!

My "Dirty Jobs" Mistake

I really like the Discovery Channel show called "Dirty Jobs". In fact, I TIVO it so there is always plenty of "Dirty Jobs" to watch. Well, Carson has taken a liking to the show too because they always show disgusting things, which 6 year old boys LOVE!

BUTT....

I forgot something about that show: Mike Rowe, the host, uses lots of words that are acceptable for cable TV, but not necessarily for my children's ears!

So, here's what happened: I watched Parker as he snuck up behind Carson today and then he totally screamed "BOOOO!!!" Carson jumped a few feet into the air, spun around, and yelled: "PARKER! YOU SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME!!!"

Unfortunately, he used it so well and in such great context, that I just went into another room and laughed! Later, I acted like a parent and told him not to say that anymore or I'd knock his block off... :)

There's Always A Project...

Our latest project is decorating our family room, which is in the basement of my house. We've lived here almost 5 years and the family room has always reminded me of a dorm room: not much thought was put into what was hanging on the walls. In fact, the only reason we had anything on the walls was because the previous owners had conveniently left nails in the walls so once in awhile we'd throw something on the nails and called it good.

Here's some progressive photos. I'm bummed that I didn't take a "before" shot of the forest green blinds that were over the window, TOTALLY 80's style! I better not say much more because my carpet is still forest green...

I'm too sexy for my drill... Now there is a good lookin' guy!




Sam purchased this quilt-displayer unfinished. So for Christmas, he painted it and gave it to me. No, I did not make the quilt that is hanging there, I bought it from Gardner Village--I love that place!!

Now I need some cool picture frames for the wall as you come down the stairs and after looking at these first pictures, I also need some better light fixtures! Sheesh, it never ends!

As Close As I Get

This is as close as I will ever get to scrapbooking:

This year in Relief Society we are doing homemade cards for each sister's birthday. My 1st counselor is really into card making so it was actually fun to learn something new. I was a little concerned as I was making the cards because I didn't want people to start shoving scrapbooking down my throat! Seriously people, it's just cards, NOT scrapbooking! Don't get any wise ideas.

Carson Is Easy To Please

I just think this is funny: for Christmas, one of the items my mom gave Carson was a juicing device for oranges or lemons. Well, Carson has become obsessed with juicing oranges and drinking the "vitamin C". That is seriously what he says. Then I made the mistake of explaining that vitamin C helps us see better in the dark. So now he'll say "hey mom, I'm going to go drink some vitamin C. Then do you want to go somewhere dark with me and I'll lead the way for you so you don't trip and get hurt? It's okay, I can see in the dark now!"

Kids are the best!! Just the other day Carson was so mad because "it's not fair that you know when to drive and when to stop just by looking at the traffic light! I mean, how are blind people who are driving supposed to know when to drive and when to stop!" I never answered his question because I was laughing too hard.

Now THAT'S an Update!!

So much has happened over the past week so instead of doing a bunch of little updates, I decided to do a large update. Go get a snack and enjoy the novel:

On the 30th of December, my friend Holly invited a bunch of the neighborhood to a "Eve before new years eve" party. They had karaoke there. I know this isn't a great picture, but it's of Ed. Ed loves karaoke and he came to the party to sing, even though his wife was 9 months pregnant...okay, I called and begged Ed to come. He had his cell phone with him just in case she went into labor and his wife promised me it was okay if he came. Ed rocked the house!! Side note: his wife had their baby on January 1st.

Quiz: How many people think I got up and did karaoke??

On December 31st, we spent New Years Eve with my family. Darren, Susan, and their boys were in town so we partied with them. Mom entertained the little ones, as usual:

Dad used his charm and Parker fell asleep, good thing too because Parker was CRANKY!Then we decided to play Dominoes--Mexican Train. Darren was ticked because he drew this hand:

Then we moved the party from my parent's house to my house because the kids were getting cranky and needed a change of scenery. Darren and Dad brought lots of Martinelli's for us to toast each other with:

Midnight struck...and....Happy New Year!!!

On January 3rd, Jessica Anderson (Fern's daughter) married Mark Anderson. How convenient, she didn't even have to change her last name!! Jessica had her reception on the 2nd. Check out this cake, Fern made it!!

My dad set up the refreshment table, isn't it purdy??!!??

Here are some pictures outside the Mt Timpanogos Temple after the wedding:

I managed to gather all 8 of the Sweet kids, in order of birth, for a family photo. It wasn't easy!

From left to right: Jeff, Rose, Fern, James, Fontella, Rod, Shauna, Audrey, and Sam

I realized that I never finished documenting the rest of the 12 days of Christmas that we received, so here we go:

On the 8th day of Christmas your secret friends give to you, chocolate milk the "8 maids" got from 8 brown cows, it's true! With this we got a carton of chocolate milk.

On the 9th day of Christmas your secret friends give to you, some breath mints used by the "dancing ladies" who danced all night. They must be crazy! With this we got some pepp-o-mint lifesavers.

On the 10th day of Christmas your secret elves have been baking, now we place upon your doorstep a treat we had fun making!! They gave us some homemade sugar cookies.

On the 11th day of Christmas are the children nestled in bed? Here are some candy canes to dance in their heads.

On the 12th day of Christmas your secret friends give to you this present that we just drummed up..."12 drummers" helped us too! They gave us a gingerbread ornament for the tree.

It was really fun and I never did find out who they were!!

Well, the title of this posting should have told you it was going to be long, I hope you are still awake! Here's hoping for some slow days now!