Katelyn's First BYU Game!!

Mike took Katelyn to the BYU game tonight--what a great Dad!! (He didn't even stay the whole game, even though the end was AWESOME...he left when Katelyn was ready to go.  Had to listen to the awesome turn-around in the car on the way home...what a great guy!)  She was excited about it all day and looked so stinkin cute.  Mike appeased my need for pictures and was able to snap a few of their fun--I get to go to the next game!! :)

She could pick any treat she wanted...what was it? Pop! (Or Soda, if you're Mike...he, he, he--I'm winning the battle with the kids on that one though!)

Aunt Meg and High Tea

Aunt Meg came out to visit this week!!  We picked her up from the airport on Thursday night (my kids LOVE going to airport!!) and spent the evening with her. Friday we enjoyed Mike's yummy waffles and then spent the day in Utah county playing games, chatting, cooking, oh--and of course eating!  I tried Kale for the first time, and I actually liked it (although it was covered in bacon, so perhaps that helped!)  

And then Tuesday, the highlight of the visit (for Katelyn) was High Tea at the Grand America hotel. So fun!! Katelyn and I spent the morning decorating our hats (did you know that black boas will make your hands and clothes filthy?!) and practicing our best princess manners.  

We headed down to a lovely event--cousins, aunts, grandma great, and yummy food.  Katelyn was excited to drink out of the 'royalty' glasses, and everyone looked so great.  It was so fun!!

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Thanks Aunt Meg--for the visit and for High Tea!  We love you!!

Proud to be a Cougar...

We are die-hard fans, through and through (even through a terribly embarrassing and depressing game last week).  

Tonight reminds us that it's good to Rise Up!

Happy Pumpkins...

So...crafting is always better with a friend. We may have bit off more then we could chew today (a total of 8 kids running amuck!) but it was worth it.  We had 3 pumpkin projects we were aiming to finish, but only finished one...more for another day, I guess!  I'm so happy to have something cute on the front porch...need to have fun stuff for every holiday!! (And stay tuned for our great idea as to how to re-use these puppies for Christmas...whoop!!)

Anywho, people have asked for the dimensions, and although I don't really know, I'll tell you what we did.  We took 6 kids shopping to Home Depot (PURE CRAZINESS) and found a steal of a deal of a half sheet of MDF in the Kohl lumber section (*love it!!*).  Brought it home (or rather to Mom's house) and chopped it down...each side is 6 inches wide with varying heights (like probably 10 inches, 15 inches, and 20 inches). Nailed them all together, cut a top (they are hollow on the bottom) and used some left over piece of 1X1 for the stem.  Orange paint, little bit of stain, raffia....ta-da~!  Love it!!

Are you prepared?

So, I am participating in THIS!  I'm loving it!!  I have learned a lot of things--the least of which?  If there were a real disaster we would be basically dead.  I knew that this would probably be the case, as I was hardly prepared to begin the 7 day challenge, but I decided to venture forth anyway and learn what I could.

Day 1, Sanitation Crisis, was basically a flop.  I had a very busy day full of things that would normally be cancelled if there were a real emergency (but which were not cancelled, seeing how the rest of the world didn't have an emergency), and so I just skipped it.  I thought about it though--which is actually totally against the rules--and realized that water storage at my house is lame.  Big thumbs down.

Day 2, Powerless Cooking, was much better! We actually had friends come over for dinner and were able to make a whole yummy dinner--one of my favorites!--totally outside, despite the torrential downpour that decided to grace us with it's presence.  The verdict?  Yellow squash is yummy on the grill, spaghetti squash not so much (although still edible) and dutch oven cobbler needs more coals then you think when the apple filling is frozen.  Also, we realized at the end, we have a gas oven and stove and so powerless cooking would be a snap--although I have to learn how to light the burners and oven if the automatic one didn't work.

Day 3, Evacuation, bit thumbs down!  First off, even though I should have been participating whole heartedly, I read the e-mail at 6 am and refused to break my cardinal rule of not waking up the children! (I was supposed to be up and out of the house within a half an hour, ready to walk away as if my house would not be there when we returned.) I realized that our 72 hour kits are miserably put together and located, but that our 'to grab' list is actually quite short and that there is little we couldn't replace.  Wanna hear my list?

Camera

Important Documents

Computer

Baby Blessing Outfits (this is purely emotional, but as I thought about what I would be most sad about if it were gone, this was it.)

Scriptures

My emergency binder (contacts, addresses, lists, etc)

Cell phone chargers

After we gathered those items, we'd either beat the traffic or fill totes with as much clothes as we could so we wouldn't have to try to figure out a way to wash. 

We decided that even though we have a truck, we'd rather be together as a family during a crisis then have more room to haul stuff, and that if we spend some time to get our insurance info ready, replacing ruined items wouldn't be too horrible.  

Todays emergency preparedness task is to make sure our affairs are in order. They are not, so right now if Mike and I kicked the bucket our kids would be wards of the state and have lots of debt they would need to get jobs to pay off. Guess we should work on that!

So anyway, I'm really liking this.  Although we'd be dead now if any of this were real, it gives me a pretty good look at where we need to improve...(the answer is everywhere, in case you were wondering! ;)

This is good to remember

Remember how crazy my Josh is?  I'm printing this out and posting it somewhere where I can see it a lot--so good to remember.

How Do You Pinterest?

Have you discovered Pinterset?  I LOVE it!!  It's like bookmarking--only on steroids!  Everything is organized and lovely, in sections and just how I like it.  I have this really great cousin who introduced me to the wonder that is Pinterest, and she has some 'pinning' anxiety--feels it's such a commitment. Not me, man! I just 'pin' away--!  Anyway, after seeing so many cute things--and feeling so crafty even though all I had done was sit on my tush--I decided to put some things into action.  I love it!! :)

I've got some current projects in the works, so expect another post in a few day (weeks, or months!), but here's some of my pinteresting fun put into action!

Did you remember that the boys' room is BYU?  I thought it just had to include this lamp...

Sta-da!

And who HATES how their jewelry is organized. I dream of owning a full length mirror with a hidden cupboard behind it for all my jewelry fun, but in the meantime, I LOVED this idea...

Here's mine. I'm not sold on the brown--but I'm thinking of re-doing my room so I didn't want to paint it and commit to a color before I was willing to commit, ya know?

Katelyn and I had a GREAT afternoon making these beauties yesterday--and playing in them today. So fun!

We've done lots of hairstyles--

And this little piece of fun has been great--took a week or two for Mike to catch on that he could write on our board too, but now I often wake up with little messages like, "you've got great legs" or "you melted our thermometer" or "you do all the laundry."  I love it--and I love him!

Pinterest has brought lots of cooking adventures--my FAVORITE of which is the Big Kahuna burgers. So easy--and SO GOOD!

And what about this little fun idea--? Keep my destructive Josh and curious Katelyn away from my makeup? Yes please!

Take a regular medicine cabinet...

And who wants to ignore the pearls of wisdom I've learned like:

I've decided that creativity isn't always coming up with your own idea--it's often just finding a great idea to steal!! Thanks Pinterest!.

He's two!!

Timing is a funny thing--I think Heavenly Father knew we needed Luke good and here before Josh turned two, cuz if not...we'd be done having children!  Bless my little man--but he is DESTRUCTIVE!  I keep thinking that Katelyn gave me a run for my money while she was two (and really, while she was a baby all the way THROUGH two) but I think she has met her match! The problem is, my Josh man is just so darn cute he tricks me into believing, again and again, that he's still my angel child!  Oh well...two can't last forever, right?

He is all boy, this one.  Cars, balls, trains, trucks.  It's innate folks--we were made differently from the beginning,  us males and females.  Totally different from the get-go!  It works out nicely that Katelyn has a good streak of 'tomboy' in her cuz she and Josh get along great.  We've had many, many, MANY hours of fun playing cars and trains and dinosaurs around here since Josh's big day, and I anticipate many more! :)

We actually got to celebrate his birthday on his actual day of birth!!  I had thought we would probably still be in the hospital, but we were home!  He got lots of really great things--balls, bats, cars, cake.  It was a success!!

Sure love my little Josh man!  :)