Boy Oh Boy!

My life is filled with boys these days...first things first: Helio and Julianne won "Dancing with the Stars" tonight which was most excellent. I possibly would have thrown a "Parker fit" had Marie Osmond won so I am very happy with Helio! My sneaky dad tried calling me and spoiling the surprise because he watched the results live and I was an hour behind on TIVO! BOY he can be a pain! j/k!

Now for the rest of my boys.

The rest of Thanksgiving weekend was really fun. We got to hang out with Darren and Susan's family, which is always non-stop entertainment. I just keep laughing because I seriously cannot believe all the boys the Clark family is producing! One day it will all make sense I'm sure, but for now I just keep scratching my head. Curtis and Shandy: I hope you have 12 children because maybe ONE of them will be a girl we can spoil rotten! Mike and Kim, just think how loved your girls would be if you moved back to Utah...I'm just sayin', something to think about! Grandma Clark would shove all the dirty, stinky boys aside just to spend time in the kitchen with her FAVORITE girls, Courtney and Camilla! :)

Here's some fun photos of all the boy happenings last weekend:
Dexter and Kevin. Dexter took a serious liking to Kevin this weekend. I've NEVER seen Shandy laugh so hard, at Dexter, laughing so hard. Kevin had Dexter wheezing he was laughing so much! (Oh gag, I just noticed Dexter was eating ramen noodles!)


Here are Parker and Ethan blowin' some bubbles. These two seemed to develop a cousin-bond this weekend, which was really fun to watch. Maybe Ethan can give Parker some lessons on how to talk really cool (either that or Parker needs to teach Ethan to stop smoking! just kidding, just kidding!) For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, Ethan has a really really really rhaspy voice and he always has, it's hysterical and it's his trademark so I hope it never changes! Oh yeah, maybe Darren can put the "Grandma's kitties" story on his blog, it's priceless!


This next series of photos you just have to try and picture the chaos in your mind. We wanted an "all boy cousins picture". In theory, this would be a precious photo that would definitely need to be framed. We could display it at all their mission farewells. Grandma would probably need one at work to show off to all her co-workers for sure! Well, what happens when you try to round up a bunch of crazy boys for a picture? Darren even got in on the action! I'm telling the honest truth here, each of these pictures only has about 5 seconds between them. I just kept shooting because I knew that ONE of them had to turn out great! See for yourself... (does Ethan's big toe look seriously misplaced in the second picture? lol!)






And of course, I couldn't have a blog posting about boys without mentioning the one that is "baking" right now. I had an ultrasound yesterday. I asked the ultrasound tech to see if "it" was STILL a boy. So, he produces this picture and says "here is your no-doubt-about-it shot"


I must say, I think baby Cash Baadsgaard has NOTHING on baby Sweet! Oh yeah, that's my boy! HA! I'm totally kidding! Nalani, my dad TOTALLY made me say that! boys, boys, boys, it doesn't matter how old they are, they will always be the same! :)

Turkey Day 2007

Happy Thanksgiving from Sam and I:


We had a great Thanksgiving meal with the Sweet family. Check out this gourmet veggie platter that Sam put together!


The great thing about the Sweet Thanksgiving's....we always have them at a church since there are too many people for a house. This way the kids can run wild in the gym and get rid of their energy.



Here's some of the crew, I love you guys!


Here is Sam taking advantage of the decorations...did you know he could juggle? He's pretty dang good at it too!


Today we got to hang out with Darren and his family. We always have fun and let me tell you, it's an adventure when our 5 boys get together! Phew!!!
Darren made us a curry dinner tonight that was excellent and tasty! Does anybody have some tums?????

Carson Rocks!!

Carson has always been my "tender" child. He is sensitive, in a good way! Lately this positive characteristic has really been shining through.

For example:
He loves to help in any way he can. He is especially awesome with Parker. He is the one that taught Parker the alphabet, his colors, and how to count to 20. For real. Here he is helping Parker get his pajamas on.


This morning the kids wanted chocolate milk to drink with their breakfast. I don't buy chocolate milk very often because that is all my boys (Sam included) will drink if it's in the house. I just had a tiny bit left so I poured an equal amount into 2 glasses and gave each child their share. A few minutes later Parker spilled his entire glass of chocolate milk. The look on his face was pure deflation. He was so sad that he spilled his last glass of the good stuff. Without saying a word, Carson picks up Parker's empty glass and pours half of his own milk into Parker's cup. Parker was ecstatic and yelled "Carson, you are so awesome!!!!" Now, I'm just being brutally honest here. If Sam and I each were drinking the last Mountain Dew and Sam spilled his, I would probably laugh and then say "oh man, that sucks, sorry!" and then I would chug-a-lug on my Dew.

So, during this Gratitude season, I must say...I am so grateful for my children and the life lessons they teach me every day. I am such a better person because I have these wild and crazy boys and I wouldn't trade this experience for anything!

Carson came home from school today with these gratitude messages for each of us:

If you can't read them, they say:
A note to mom: I am thankful for you because I love you
A note to dad: Ue re cool (you are cool)
A note to my brother: Ue re fune (you are fun)

Yep, he's a keeper alright!

Presents From Fern

When Fern came over yesterday to help Sam chew the fat..er..I mean cut the fat...she left these little presents at my house without me knowing about them.

I was horrified when I saw them but it was okay because they were just in my house:


Then Sam told me to open the door and to my horror, I saw:



Now let me explain.
First off, I cannot believe I forgot to include this "issue" of mine in my "100 things" list. So....

#101: I hate butterflies. I don't just mean that I dislike them or think they are creepy. I sincerely, truly, and honestly despise butterflies. I think butterflies are what is wrong with animal society. Think about it, they have these pretty wings, but as soon as you get a close look at them, they are hideous little creatures. It's just like Hollywood, beautiful on the outside, ugly on the inside. I don't know why people "oooh" and "awwww" over the little creepy flying insects.

So, I'll for sure go remove the tacky butterflies from my bushes and from my shelf. Just watch out because if you invite me to a 'white elephant' gift exchange this year, these little guys may be part of my gag gift!

I won't even go into details regarding the huge brown butterfly Fern and Nalani put into my hair while Nalani was doing my "do" for my wedding reception in Seattle....ghastly....

So Many Leaves

About this time of year I usually get pretty tired of raking leaves and this year is no exception. This weekend we got our entire yard raked and I think we'll just need to do the backyard one more time. YES!!

Parker had a pretty good idea. He put his goggles on so he could "swim" in the leaves and his eyes would be unaffected. Can you see him?


Dorky shot, I know, but then Carson ran and got his swim goggles on so he could "swim" too. Sometimes it would be nice to be this uninhibited and not care about what others think--you know DARN well what I was thinking! It goes something like "oh man, you are going to hate this picture when you are a teenager and you are going to be ticked that your mom kept a blog!" and then there is lots of evil laughing/cackling.


Sweet action shot!


Okay, this moment made me laugh and gag at the same time! We decided to have French Dip sandwiches for dinner today. Fern had the same idea and she had already bought a bunch of amazing rolls on Saturday so she brought us some on Sunday morning. As she came over, Sam was in the process of cutting a huge slab of disgusting fat off our roast before he put it in the crock pot. Well, by now, most of you know my feelings about raw meat and fat. Honestly, words don't describe the disgust I have for it. Sam was struggling to get the last of the fat cut off and of course, I was just watching. Fern walked over and without any hesitation at all, she grabbed the fat tight so Sam could easily sheer it off. My first reaction was to throw up and then my second reaction was "blog!" so I ran for the camera. Fern is a true woman without any fears in the kitchen. You GO GIRL!


On a much more serious note, little did I know, but when Fern left my house today she left me little "presents". I would like to say they were left out of love but I think she wanted to shock my poor heart into a heart attack! I will document these presents tomorrow, but I wanted to give you a warning tonight. Stay tuned...

I Just Love Parker!

Both my kids have amazing personalities which make me laugh every day. Today Parker was being especially fun so here are some snap shots of the day.

I had a meeting at work for an hour so Sam watched Parker for me (But remember Darren, it's not called 'babysitting' when it's your own child!). I handed the camera to Sam and asked him to take a few pictures...

Here is Parker at my mom's work, which is the 28th floor of the Church Office Building. That's real purdy!


Here is Parker in front of the temple. This would be a great photo to accompany the song "I love to see the temple..."


This is just plain cute!


And finally...today after lunch I told Parker to put his plate in the sink, which he does every day. A few hours later I walked into the bathroom and found this:

That little turkey had put his plate in the bathroom sink instead of the kitchen sink. I'm sure he thought he was sooooo funny, but I couldn't laugh with him about it because he was taking a nap. But I should thank him for helping me understand that I should be more specific as to WHICH sink he should put his plate in. As my High School English teacher used to say: specific is terrific!

Ode to Harris

Our friend, Mike Harris, always sends the best forwarded emails with really funny pictures. Here are a few of my favorites that he sent this week:

Red neck tanktop:


Why men shouldn't take messages:


Enjoy!

A.K.A

My dentist's wife has a blog (I know, blog stalking at it's best!) and I stole this idea from her because I think it's fun!

1. My rock star name (first pet and current car): Vanilla Odyssey
2. My gangsta name (favorite ice cream flavor and favorite cookie): Peppermint C Chip
3. My "fly guy/girl" name (first initial of first name and first three letters of last name: C Swe
4. My detective name (favorite color and favorite animal): Orange Penguin
5. My soap opera name (middle name and city where you were born): Lee Salt Lake
6. My Star Wars name (first three letters of your last name and first two letters of your first name): Sweca
7. My superhero name (2nd favorite color and favorite drink with "The" in front): The Green Mtn Dew
8. My Nascar name (first names of your grandfathers): Phil William
9. My stripper name (name of your favorite perfume/cologne and your favorite candy): Soap Baby Ruth (I don't wear perfume...)
10. My witness-protection name (mother's and father's middle names): Rulon Lee

100 Things About Me

My friend Missy posted 100 things about herself on her blog. I loved reading it but thought there was no way I could accomplish the same blog posting. Well, it's all I've thought about today so here are my "100 things" about myself:

1. I was named after my great grandmother bell, her name was “Mabel Carrie” and I’m ticked that my parents didn’t name me “Mabel”
2. I was born on Friday, the 13th
3. I started getting gray hair at the age of 15
4. Speaking of hair, I have “naturally afro” hair. Thanks to lots of hair product, I can call my hair “naturally curly”
5. I am obsessed with being on time to everything
6. I hate shopping, and it shows
7. I have been married for 9 years and haven’t regretted it for even one minute
8. My family had a pet python until I was 13 years old
9. When eating dinner, if I bite into a fatty/grissly bite of meat, I cannot eat one more bite of my entire meal. This really stinks when I’m at a nice restaurant and that happens to be my first bite!
10. The smell of seafood makes me gag, but the smell of the ocean makes me happy
11. My favorite TV shows are “The Office”, “30 Rock”, “Dancing with the Stars”, “So You Think You Can Dance”, and “American Idol”
12. I take great joy in hiding from my kids and then scaring the crap out of them
13. When my kids trip and fall or in any way hurt them self, my first gut reaction is to laugh
14. I really like laughing, when my family gets together you’ll hear some really loud cackle laughter!
15. I am pregnant with my third boy
16. Without contacts or glasses, I am blind as a bat
17. I have 3 brothers, 0 sisters
18. Pet Peeve: flakey people who say they will do something, then they don’t
19. I drive a Honda Odyssey, along with the rest of the free world. Good thing Sam put a “life flight” sticker on the back window or else I would always try getting into the wrong vehicle
20. I enjoy gardening, when my back doesn’t hurt
21. I have a bad back
22. I don’t like to cook, unless it’s a dessert
23. I like to teach my kids random facts…ask Parker what shape the black parts of the soccer ball are
24. My most embarrassing moment: Carson was one week old and I had a fever of 106. I was in the ER getting x-rays. The x-ray tech (a 20-something guy) told me to lift my arms above my head. I did as I was told and all of a sudden, my feet were wet…my milk finally had come in! my gown was soaked and I was mortified. The tech was probably more embarrassed than me, he just handed me two tissues (hello, may I please have the whole box!!!???) and sent me back to my room.
25. The number of times I have gone to bed without washing my face: probably less than 8 times
26. I am anal
27. I can’t believe I’m only about ¼ of the way through my list of 100 things…
28. I have curly hair, but my eye lashes are as straight as a board
29. I love Costco
30. My favorite smell: My house after it has just been cleaned
31. I hate it when somebody has a disgusted look on their face and then they hold something under my nose and say “smell, this…does it stink?”
32. I absolutely love reading all my friends and family blogs
33. I was the runner up for “employee of the year” at Beneficial Life in 2003
34. If I’m in a room with lots of screaming (happy or sad) kids I get stressed out
35. When I first met Sam I thought he was too quiet, when I met Sam several months later, I thought he was a cutie pie!
36. Sam has taught me that inconveniences, like locking your keys in the car, are okay because they shake up the day. I usually agree, except that one time we had to walk home from Fred Meyer with all our groceries and it was really hot!
37. My favorite color is orange
38. My favorite music to listen to when I drive is….well, I actually just like to drive in silence
39. I do my best thinking in the shower
40. I really wish all my immediate family lived in the same state
41. I’m not a naturally compassionate person, I have to work at it
42. Sam was the first guy I had ever kissed
43. I have a hard time sitting still, there are always things to be done!
44. My least favorite holiday: Thanksgiving….think about it: I hate to cook, I hate it when people are late, and I hate just sitting around. Thanksgiving is all about food, people are always 2 hours late, and then everyone wants to just sit around
45. Another pet peeve: When people drive up to their mailbox and get the mail, then they sit in their car and open every piece of mail and read it. Just go home already!
46. I don’t like to chit chat on the phone
47. I love text messaging!
48. I really admire the pioneers because the older I get, the whimpier I get
49. I don’t like, nor do I understand, politics
50. I have been at my job for 11 years and still love it!
51. My favorite candy bar has recently changed. It used to be Reese’s PB cups, but now I like Butterfinger or Baby Ruth
52. I really like trees with beautiful spring blossoms and bright red foliage in the fall. Any suggestions??
53. So far I like the name “Beckam” for my baby…Thanks for the suggestion Leslie!!
54. One of my favorite “laugh til my throat is sore” moments was when my friend Natalie ran into our sliding glass door in Seattle, thinking it was open. We were laughing, but worried she broke her nose, and all she kept saying was “somebody go wipe the grease mark off the door!!!”
55. I hated High School but LOVED Ricks College. Some of my best memories were there and I still keep in touch with many people from those days
56. Caller ID rocks
57. I’m currently serving as Relief Society President in my ward, and I’m still laughing about it
58. I have convinced Carson that I really do have eyes in the back of my head
59. I avoid sour or negative people
60. I went to High School in Seattle at the height of the grunge phase. So I had numerous plaid flannels and that’s what I wore every day to school
61. I do the finances in my marriage and I really enjoy it
62. I just ate a piece of Carson’s Halloween candy
63. I really despise forward emails that are meant to be inspirational or sappy. They have the opposite effect on me
64. My favorite time of the day is when Carson is at school and Parker is sleeping…is that mean?
65. My favorite restaurants: PF Chang’s, CPK, Ruby River, and Training Table
66. I really wish my favorite restaurants were in West Jordan
67. I love to people watch!
68. I love to tickle Parker until he’s laughing so hard he can hardly breathe
69. I USED to love donating blood
70. I donated plasma once for money because I was so poor. I’ll never do that again.
71. The other night I woke myself and Sam up because I was laughing in my sleep
72. When Carson was blessing his breakfast this morning, I gagged at the smell of his morning breath
73. I love ice cream
74. I don’t prolong “good-bye’s”. when I determine it’s time to leave, I just stand up and say “Kay, bye” and leave. It drives Sam crazy
75. The only piece of jewelry I ever wear is my wedding ring.
76. I really like daylight savings time. I’m loving it now because it gets dark so early and Parker starts asking at 6pm if it’s time for bed
77. The busier I am, the more efficient I can be with my time
78. I think Spongebob is funny
79. Last week in my sister-in-law’s ward, somebody bore their testimony of “trunk-or-treating” and I got the giggles
80. Repetition is funny
81. Repetition is funny
82. My little brother’s birthday is today and he’s 29! Happy Birthday Curtis!!!
83. I love that Eminem song that starts like this: Two trailer park girls go round the outside, round the outside, round the outside….
84. I am listening to Sarah McLachlan’s “Wintersong” Christmas CD right now and it’s really good
85. I love cutting my kids’ fingernails
86. I am completely tone deaf
87. I would rather be cold than hot. I really really really hate being hot
88. One day I would love to go to New York and attend a taping of David Letterman
89. My brother Darren has a fun contest going on right now on his blog. Check it out!!
90. I wish I was done with my Christmas shopping
91. I like to pronounce things wrong when talking to Parker because he laughs really hard. Example: Terlut instead of Toilet or Breakust instead of Breakfast
92. Favorite drink is usually Mountain Dew but since being pregnant, I really like Gatorade
93. I used to sell all day suckers at my brother’s baseball games when I was little. I bought my first bicycle with the money I earned
94. I like talking to people who talk fast
95. The games “red light green light” and “Mother May I” were banned in my house when I was young because we fought too much while playing them
96. One day I want to rent out a really nice cabin in Yellowstone with my entire family…maybe next year!
97. I have claustrophobic feet. I hate having the covers on my feet at night
98. I was completely ticked off when Sabrina got kicked off of “Dancing with the Stars” last week
99. I used to work at NAPA Auto Parts all through High School and I loved that job! I wore a company shirt that said “all the right parts in all the right places”
100. I love it when people update their blogs so get to it!!!!

Future Mr & Mrs Sweet

Here is Sam at age 3...and here is Carrie at age 3:


This is what Sam said when he saw these pictures side by side. "We both have the same dumb look on our face with the same blue background and our hands are both clasped the same dumb way" I couldn't stop laughing for about 5 minutes!

It's Official...

We are pet owners. Now, don't get too excited, we've had these pets since early August but I thought they would have been flushed down the toilet by now!

We were keeping "no name" and "grandma" in a regular fish bowl until yesterday. It was a fine system: When we couldn't see the fish anymore because the water was so brown, we'd clean the fish bowl. But...Sam felt bad for the fish and he took the kids to Walmart and bought an actual tank with a filter:


I must admit, the fish are nicer to look at now because the tank stays much cleaner! "Grandma" is the fish on top, can you see her gray fin? That's why Carson named her "grandma". But one day, they are going to go "belly up" and now I'm going to feel pressure to buy replacement fish. Until the tank I had it all planned out. I would say "well kids, fish don't live forever...let's return the bowl to Fern now." and that would be the end of my fish-owning days! What's next, a hamster? A bird? It's just a vicious cycle!

On another topic

Carson has become addicted to pulling his teeth. It's rather freaky. One of his top front teeth was BARELY loose. Carson made it his mission to yank the rascal before the night was through! Did you know that using a twisting motion will get the tooth out quicker than the rocking back and forth motion? Hmmm, learn something new every day... Once again, he pulled it out without fanfare and now he has a face only a mother could love! KIDDING, he is adorable!

Halloween 2007

Happy day after Halloween! I don't know about you guys, but it was EXTRA hard getting my kids out of bed this morning! Sugar overload is the definite culprit.

Yesterday was the annual Halloween parade at Carson's school. Believe it or not, but I got motion sick watching the entire school parade right in front of me. When did I turn into such a whimp???

Here is Carson, good thing he didn't wear his mask because there were like 50 spiderman venom's who DID wear their mask and I wouldn't have know which one was my son!


Early into the evening my neighbor brought us some "witches brew" which was awesome! It was a fruity punch with dry ice in it so of course Carson was in heaven for the next 30 minutes until the dry ice ran out!


Here are my 2 superheroes: Venom and Spiderman



This lady at Sam's work really gets into Halloween. Check out the "severed fingers" on her desk. They are made from peanuts, rolls, and strawberry jam. Sam said they are really good but they look too much like severed fingers for my taste!




And finally, you can't do a Halloween post without showing the kids candy!! The strangest item my kids received: Some guy was giving out his loose change. Carson seriously came home with at least 30 pennies in his bucket. Bizarre...


Maybe Sam or my Bishop can put a comment on this post describing Carson's graceful spread eagle trip/fall. I wasn't there but I'm positive I would have laughed myself silly.