So Much Fun...So Little Time To Blog

I'm sure everyone else feels the same way, the more things going on in life, the less time to blog. Which is lame because when I am busy that's when I have the most blog material! So, it's late and I'm tired but I'm determined to get this blog update done already!

First of all, here's a conversation I had with Parker the other day. He had just come home from Kindergarten and we were eating lunch.

Parker: This is the WORST day ever!
Me: Oh yeah, (snicker) Why?
Parker: First of all, I didn't get to play much. Second of all, I had to put my bike away. #3...uh, what was #3?...OH YEAH, my ears were cold!!
Me: silently laughing, Yeah, that does sound like a hard day!

I wish my worst days ever were as bad as Parker's!

The other day we made a little trek out to the Life Flight hangar with our friend, Ginger, who had moved out of the ward. Ginger got some amazing pictures and all our boys had a great time playing in the airplanes and helicopter.

Here's hoping my kids will never need to seriously use the services this company provides! All the staff at Lifeflight is so fun and always so willing to let us play!



A huge thanks to everyone's comments on my last blog post. We have decided to leave the wall down between the living room and kitchen. I LOVE IT! Our friend is going to build a small archway between the two rooms to give the illusion of separation and that's it.

Here's the other project:
Tearing out the stairs and landing from my garage to the house.


We put the kids to work.


Well, one kid worked.


In its place? A brand new mudroom! I'm so excited!!! Construction starts tomorrow!


I know I've talked about the Hansen family before, but you have to know, they rock! Natalie Hansen (Peton) and her husband Neal are the two who introduced Sam to me. They seriously are my second set of in-laws and I love them to pieces!

This past Thursday the youngest Hansen, Reese, got hitched! Our friend Becky blogged about the engagement party, good thing she remembered her camera. I was a slacker! The reception was at a placed called Le Jardin and it was AMAZING! I was there for almost 3 hours and it wasn't nearly long enough! I had enough cackle laughter to make my cheeks hurt for weeks. Perfection. They had a photo booth there. Have you ever heard of such a thing?? It was so fun! As you wait in line to see the bride and groom, you pass by a photo booth. Go inside, take some funny pictures, and it spits out two sets of prints. One for you to keep and the other to put in the wedding book. Brilliant!

They also had a gelato bar, which was brilliant in itself, but pair that with a photo booth and you have...perfection!

Here's the cake:


Bride and groom. Why is it that I never get a good picture of the bride and groom when I go to wedding receptions?


Apparently I knew Sam was taking a picture but Natalie didn't. ha ha!


See these three right here? Them there's trouble, which is why I love them with all my heart! Angie, Ginger, Laurel: three of the Hansen girly girls.


Angie, don't even think about it!


Hey I know, why don't you shove that piece of cake into Laurel's face, just like a bride and groom!




C'mon Laurel, now it's your turn!


Congratulations to the happy couple, kiss and make up! Oh wait, is there a real bride and groom that we should be paying attention to right now? Ummmm, nah, they're in their own world!


Here's mama Hansen, Linda, with Natalie, AKA the queen of set ups!


Remember those trouble makers? They stole the microphone and hid around the corner. All of a sudden they started harmonizing "Tonight, I celebrate my loooovvveeee for you!" Let's just say the lady in charge of the facility didn't let that joke go on for too long! It took the Reese and Laura a minute to figure out where the singing was coming from!


There was lots of dancing, and lots of laughter. Look at Logan's face on the right! CLASSIC!


Luckily, we were able to spend the next few days hanging out with the Hansen's. Natalie flew back to Oregon today. Boo! Let's not wait so long to see ya'll again, okay?

It Has Begun

We've been talking awhile now about moving a wall in my house. That talk has now become my reality, a very messy and dirty reality.

Here's the gist of the issue: My living room is pretty big, my kitchen is pretty small. The original idea was to move the wall 3 feet or so from the kitchen, into the living room. This will make the living room a more comfortable size, while making my kitchen more people-friendly.

BEFORE: The plan is to move the wall with the window in it, towards the couch to meet the corner that is to the right of the clock. This will create one wall that is flush.


Here is the same wall from the kitchen side:


Sam took a hammer to the wall and I said outloud: Well, this begins a few months of construction trauma for me! Don't get me wrong, I'm super uber excited for the finished product, but I'm also a little freaked out by the thoughts of living in a construction zone all Spring!

Here's the wall from the kitchen side once the sheetrock had been removed:


And here is the living room side once that sheetrock was ripped down. See that mess? Crazy messes like that equal severe anxiety for yours truly! AGHHHH! :)
A huge thanks to Scott Festin who had all the right tools for this messy job.


Kitchen side again...oh, hi dad!


Cameron was trying to get in on the action and help make messes. He didn't have to try too hard, he's a pro at it! Unfortunately, I guess he thought the sheetrock clumps and dust were snow because he kept biting it. At first I thought to myself, "you'll only make that mistake once" but that wasn't the case. The crazy nut job kept eating it, gagging, and spitting until I finally had to firmly tell him "NO!". Wack-a-doo



Oh my stars, look at that mess. See how bright it is outside? It took until about 10:30pm just to clean it all up!


There, that's better!


You want to know something funny? Now that the wall is ripped out and everything is all open...we are considering not putting a wall up at all! At first I wanted one because I wanted cabinets there because my kitchen storage is so minimal. However, after some good advice from a friend in the know, he said you either need to focus on table/sitting space or storage space, not both. If we try to do both, the kitchen will still feel cramped. To resolve this, we are going to build a mud room out the door that leads to the garage. In this mud room we will have storage space there. So, now that we have that resolved, I really am considering a big open space.

What are your thoughts???

Hidden Treasures

While cleaning off my desk, I found a sealed envelope, addressed to Santa Claus. That should tell you how big and old the pile was! I could wait and send this letter to Santa next year....but let's be honest: by the time Christmas rolls around again I'm sure the list will not be the same!

I opened it just to see if Santa hit the mark last year.

Nope. He did not succeed. Ah well, it's good to teach a little disappointment early on, don't you think?

Here's the letter:


Not only does Carson have to draw a picture for Santa, he wants him to sign his name when he has "succcided"! Do you think somewhere in the back of his mind he KNEW he wasn't getting that flip camera??

Another Birthday Celebration!

Last night we had a great time celebrating Sam and Cameron's birthdays. Cameron was pretty grumpy all day but by 6pm he settled down and was ready to have fun. Bring on the sugar!

Sam had fun snow boarding all day Friday. He was pretty pleased when he wasn't sore at all.....fast forward to this morning....I think his muscles are feeling all 34 years of wear and tear! Poor buddy!



Check out Cameron's cake that his Grandma Sweet made him:


This morning when Cameron saw that cake picture he said "Elmo! Rocks? Five?" Then he blew really hard like he was blowing out his candles. What a nut.

Parker has a MACK truck from the movie "Cars". Cameron steals it all the time from Parker and hides it under his clothes, in his laundry basket. So we bought Cameron a MACK truck for his birthday so he can quit traumatizing Parker.


For Sam, I gave him some clothes and some heavy duty work gloves....we are about to start on a remodel at our house and he's going to need those gloves! Practical gifts....Bleh! :)


The best however, was the HUGE HUGE HUGE container of Red Pepper Flakes that my parents gave Sam! Sam puts these bad boys on EVERYTHING! Guess how many servings are in this container? 3,402!!!


Here's Sam blowing out his candles. His "cake" was a pan of brownies, his fav.


This series of pictures makes it look like Sam blew out Cameron's candles, but I swear that Cameron blew out his own! ha ha!



Hi Fern, you want to know what is funny?


This is funny. Grandma Sweet put the cake in front of Cameron to get a picture and he just dove right in!



Cheer up Cameron, being two isn't so bad! You could be 34 and feeling really sore today like your daddy! Just kidding, love ya Sam!

It's Birthday Month!

This is a busy month for birthdays in my family. I love it!

My brother Darren celebrated his 40th birthday this past Saturday. He came here from Idaho so we could throw him a party. Wasn't that nice of him?


I stole an idea that Fern had several years ago when they celebrated a 40th with some friends. I went to the grocery store and wandered the aisles looking for any product that had "old" in the title and bought them. Then I gave him a fake UB40 CD beacuse I couldn't find a real one! Get it? You Be Forty! ha ha!

He wanted socks for his birthday (seriously!) so I gave him "Gold Toe" socks since 'old' was in the title. Then I wrote a little story to go with a bunch of other 'old' stuff: Goldfish crackers, Golden peach soda, Rold Gold pretzels, Golden raisins, Gold Medal Flour, Old English Cheese....and rounded it out with a gift card to Coldstone. It was fun to try and think of all the "old" products! His response when I was all done: "That was pretty nice, I probably won't go through such an effort when you turn 40." It was funny! At least I've been warned! ha ha!

Cameron's birthday is today! Big ol' Number 2! Wait, that sounds gross...crap.

All day I've been teaching him to say "I'M TWO" while holding up 2 fingers. He's been dang cute. I have high hopes for the age of two. Many of you will remember my struggles with Parker from birth to age 2. To say he was a pill is such an understatement. It's like saying McDonalds is kinda bad for your health.

However, when Parker turned 2 he became such a fun little man! So, here's hoping Cameron gives me the same result. Not that Cameron has been as bad as Parker, but he definitely challenges my sanity about 4 days out of 7.

Last year for Cameron's birthday I posted a picture per month of his birth until age 1. I'd like to do the same thing for Cameron, from the age of 1 until 2:

April 2009 - Cameron and Bruce, awesome neighbor dog


May 2009 - Still couldn't walk but standing and holding on to something was getting easier!


June 2009 - Personality really starting to shine. He just looks like he has something funny to say!


July 2009 - First bloody nose while camping at Zions....ever since this day he gets a bloody nose so easily! It's pretty crazy actually.


August 2009 -Wearing Uncle Darren's hat in Island Park


September 2009 - Gangsta


October 2009 - going on a hike with dad!


November 2009 - helping dad set up the Christmas tree


December 2009 - Funny, and then ultra gross


January 2010 - I pay my kids a quarter for goose eggs


February 2010 - When all else fails, put them in a laundry basket with a blanket...happiness for hours!


March 2010 - When did he get so old??


We are celebrating Sam and Cameron's birthday on Friday so more to come on those birthdays....

Saturday was a fairly nice day so we cleaned up our yard from the long Winter! Parker jumped in leaves and Cameron ate what tiny amounts of snow he could find.




The other night I let the kids sit on my bed and watch a movie. I walked in and found Cameron draped across Carson's back. He is so stinking funny!