Hucks in the Hood

Surviving Survivor...

2011-10-30T23:30:00.000-07:00

Oh, and one more thing. Our friend, Dawn, is one of the castmates on Survivor this season and I'm so excited for her!!! I love watching every week and PRAYING that she isn't getting voted off!!! Love you Dawn and we're pulling for you!!! And SO AMAZED at how much you can hold on your back... and how good you are blind-folded!!! Must be because you're such an awesome mom!!!

Doing a bit of catch up... our October...

2011-10-30T22:54:00.001-07:00

Just one big post to make up for the whole month... Get ready... we've been busy...

We spent some time shopping at Ikea for a desk for Macy's new room. Haley and Reed took the opportunity to "lay out" and take a rest... reason why Reed's eyes are closed.

School carnival at Haley's new school. I was running the SkeeBall Game for a while, so Macy was going around with Reed and Haley.

After being in our new home for about 6 weeks, we finally got our appliances and installed them! Yippee! And our first endeavor in our new oven? Why cookies of course! And they were super yummy!

Haley got really into soccer this season and turned out to be quite the little goalie.

Our church youth group spent one Saturday making a Temple Trek. They started near us and walked almost 25 miles to the Portland Oregon Temple. It took them about 8 hours, but they were amazing and all made it. It was a pretty awesome day! Here are Chad and his buddy, Charles, hitting the finish line...

This is Luke's group almost there.

Taking a break and eating lunch and then the final mile to the temple.

Look at all those green shirts walking thru Portland! We had over 70 youth and 20 leaders. It was amazing!!!

Macy and I were lucky enough to join in for the final mile.

Our final ending. Heaven on earth.

What a group of awe-inspiring people!

Luke and Chad with our amazing Bishop Bair!

New thing... Pumpkin Patch with Reed's preschool.

And taking everyone else to the giant pumpkin patch later in the week. We always love this one. Giant corn maze, hay ride, TONS of pumpkins, lots of fun!

Homecoming parade. One of the reasons I love living in a small town! The parade went all thru downtown - a few times - around the schools and back to the high school. This is Luke and Macy's middle school "float" and since Luke is in ASB he was on it, and Macy was drafted to join as well. Luke is in the front as one of the football players, and Macy is sitting all the way in the back.

Haley dressed up for Superhero Day at school.

I got to give a talk in church. This was my "sneaky" view from the front. Scared me out of my wits, but I did it. Gave a talk on "Courageous Parenting", and apparently did a good job (at least that's what I've heard), and showed my kids what it takes for me to be "courageous".

Our house all decorated for Halloween. Looks really cool at night with all the orange and purple lights that D hung up.

Macy's first band performance. She decided to play the clarinet this year. She is on the left side, second row.

Look how pretty and grown up she's getting!!!

Reed in his Skeleton costume! This is all he wanted for Halloween. The cheaply made costume from Target. Whatever. Only cost me $10 and totally made for a happy little boy!

Another reason to love our small town... our annual Boo Bash. Every year, the Wednesday before Halloween all the kids can go trick or treating to all the stores in our downtown. Tons of fun and always neat to see all our friends.

(Reed, Macy, Haley, friend Allison and D)

Tommy joining us this time, Allison, Haley, Macy and Reed

Reed with D wearing his mask!

Reed was the best witch (or should that be a warlock?) in his preschool Halloween play

Luke's choir concert (only two nights after the band concert). Best choir concert ever! They got a new Director and she did an awesome job with all the choirs! (Luke is in the front, center.)

A normal in our house. Walking into our room and finding D asleep across the bed. Not sure how this is comfortable at all.

Church party with Trunk or Treating

Macy and some of her peeps - Alina, Sierra, Julia, Jacqueline, Emma and Aubrey

Reed, Haley and Luke. Luke has two costumes on, a Chewbacca one on under the big bad wolf one - that is why he looks so giant... and ended up shedding Chebacca after a while because he got way too hot!

Halloween Smores in a Jar - all ready to be "Boo-ed"!

Spending Sunday afternoon looking through all the ads marking the items we want Santa to bring us.

So there you go. October in a nutshell. Hope it gives you an idea of what we've been up to.

(some of) Our California adventure...

2011-08-01T11:23:00.001-07:00

Let the adventure begin! It started with the drive. Oh, how much I love this drive... NOT!!! D had been working CRAZY all the week before and actually came home at 6:45 in the morning on the day we were supposed to drive, so Uncle Bob decided that he would do the driving. There's something to having your own personal chauffer. I could get used to it!

There were 53-ish of us in the house for the week. People were sleeping anywhere and everywhere.

Family night up on the sport court. Discussing the schedule and rules for Huck Camp and then watching a movie on a big, blow-up screen. We loved our "drive-in" movie theatre!

4th of July flag raising and ceremony with some of our Scouts. Led off our day of Huck Olympics.
Our own version of the "Naked Chef", Corey, working on our lunch. Every family had assigned meals and it worked out great!
Next day, Disneyland! In line to see Star Tours... one of the many times!
Next day was beach day. Some of us had to stay home to do some work though. Here is Grandpa and Jon watching a short of what D is working on right now.

Day at Universal Studios and City Walk. Kids really enjoyed City Walk.
Dodger Game... Dodgers won! What can I say... Huckvales bring good luck!
Cute GRANDpa and GRANDma!!!
Our family headed to Legoland when Huck Camp was over.

And we visited with some of my family too... the kids doing chores at Uncle Billy's house with my second cousin, Alex.

I have LOTS more pictures, these are only the ones from my camera. Have to find D's camera and figure out how to get ALL of them off my phone, and then I will post more!!!

August 1st... great time to begin again!!!

2011-08-01T11:10:00.000-07:00

Chad and one of his besties, Charles, getting ready to head to EFY. What cuties they are!!!

I'm back-ish!!! Hopefully it will last! The past few months have been crazy for us. It went from moving out of our house to moving in to my brother- and sister-in-laws basement. 3 weeks in California for family reunion and just some good play time. Scout camp and river rafting high adventure. We are now in the process of buying a new house, and will hopefully be moving in right after school starts. Chad left for his first run at EFY (Especially for Youth - church-based sleepaway camp. Super cool and lots of fun! So excited for him!!!) this morning and I head to Texas on Wednesday for Scentsy Convention (super excited for me!!!). It's just been a crazy, busy summer. Once we get to next week though... a couple of days for youth conference and a mini camp for Macy, but other than that, it's just about tanning time!!!... and practicing for our "mini-trek" (a 20-mile "walk" thru Portland to get to the Temple) that our youth will be doing in October. This is what makes up our life right now. Just plugging along.

I love this relationship.

2011-04-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

We love our kids. Truly, we do. But sometimes it seems that they don't love each other so much. They don't get along so well. I know that this is typical, but our kids just seem so completely different. Chad and Luke have never really gotten along well. Their personalities are just so different. Chad is totally D, all about Star Wars, video games, making movies... Luke is more me. Wanting to play with friends, play games, make up games, run the games, boss the games, change the rules when no one is looking (see where I am going here?)...

But Chad and this little man love each other. Reed is totally Chad's Mini-Me. He loves Chad, and vice versa. He waits for Chad to come home from school every day, and then can sit and watch him play video games for hours. They will discuss them, discuss Star Wars guys, discuss Lego guys, discuss Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies. I am so thankful for this relationship in our family. It definitely brings some joy to my heart.

No more baby seats.

2011-04-29T07:16:00.000-07:00

We'd been talking about Reed getting a new carseat. He really was getting too big for his old one, but it was just one more thing in our crazy life right now, so we figured it could wait.

Then a friend put out a plea for help. The general manager of her warehouse just got custody of his 2-year-old son and needed a carseat. Did anyone have an extra carseat to give away? It's like it was meant to be! Out with the old (and totally for a great reason)...

And in with the new! Reed's new big-boy booster seat! He loves it... but's it's very weird not to have a big, bulky seat behind me anymore! And I hope that he still loves it when he has to sit in it for 16 hours driving to California in July!!! It's not quite as cushy as his old one. Oh well... that's what pillows are for!

Peep Wars.

2011-04-28T21:48:00.000-07:00

I love Peeps. Derrick hates them. He thinks they taste like cardboard. Still, I love them. Especially after they've sat out for a day or two and gotten a little hard. Yum.

Haley came home from school and wanted to blow up some of my precious Peeps. I had driven all over town looking for leftover Peeps (none at Target or Walmart, finally found a few at Fred Meyer), and she wanted to blow up some of them. Stick them in the microwave and see which one would blow up first. I was sad to part with said Peeps, but all in the name of science... and she did end up eating them after all.

Hoppy Easter!!!

2011-04-28T21:44:00.000-07:00

A letter was put out the night before Easter asking the Easter Bunny to please hide the Easter baskets. It even told how hard to hide each individual's Easter basket (this letter was written by Haley after all). So the Easter Bunny agreed, and hid them all. Truly, not that hard, but it was early and for some reason Chad just could not find his basket... hiding behind the curtains.

There's candy in these!!!

2011-04-28T21:39:00.000-07:00

(Sorry there's so much about Reed, I just spend the most time with him. He's cute though, so it's okay!)

Our ward had an Easter Egg hunt. They said that they hid 700 eggs, and there weren't that many kids there, so hunt away. There was an area for the 4 and under, and then up to 12. (So granted, Luke "helped" a 7-year-old, and Chad just picked up a few eggs. They all had fun.)

Reed just thought it was so cool that all his eggs had candy in them and he had to break them all open, dump them out, and check out all the candy.

Toast please.

2011-04-28T21:38:00.001-07:00

Mr. Impatient got tired of waiting for me to make him toast one morning, so he went right ahead and started it. Got the bread in the toaster and had butter on his knife, ready to go. Such a funny kid.

The Legos guys are invading.

2011-04-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

And with all the packing, sorting and moving, comes the new obsession. Lego mini-figures, otherwise known as "Lego Guys" in our house. Luke and I took a field trip to a Lego store right before Reed's birthday. (He LOVES Lego Guys after all, and we were hoping to just buy him some cheap guys.) Well, this Lego store is one that people can turn in their old Legos, find hard-to-find sets, guys, whatever, just a sort of speciality Lego shop. So I thought we could get some "used" Lego Guys for cheap. Not so. The cheapest ones, that you put together yourself, were $2.50 each. I was thinking more like $1 or something, but no. Legos are totally were it's at. (When my children have fully outgrown them, if that ever happens, I am going to be rich selling all the Legos we have in our house. Or maybe I can pay for their college educations with them???)

Anyways, what we did find were these series of Lego guys. A little grab bag. Still pricey, $3 each, but whole collections of them. You don't know what you're getting, so it's a bit risky, but D is pretty good at feeling through the bags and figuring out what they are. This guy at Toys R Us also sent me a text he had that had codes on them, and that makes it a bit easier also. So, this has become the new obsession. Luke has spent birthday money on these, the Easter Bunny has brought them, I think the Tooth Fairy has also. Not really what we need right now, one more thing, but truly, they make me happy too, and sit in my office so I get to enjoy them!

We could be our own moving company.

2011-04-28T21:13:00.000-07:00

Seriously, with 5 kids, maybe we should start our own moving company. Granted, some of us aren't worth a whole lot right now, but Chad is all over it. Every day he comes home from school, and says, "come on, mom, let's take a load over to the storage unit." Of course, he knows that helping me will benefit him with a refreshing beverage, but I will still take all the help I can get!

Enjoying some sun.

2011-04-28T21:10:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, we had a nice, beautiful, almost warm-ish, sunny day. And while some of us were working on cleaning the garage, packing a moving truck, sorting the crawl space, etc... others were doing the right thing and just enjoying the sun.

Family of 10???

2011-04-20T16:16:00.000-07:00

And in the middle of it all, we had some of our friends staying with us while their parents were in England picking up his parents from their mission. We love them, and we loved having them with us... but totally gave me an idea of if we had 8 kids, like there were in D's family when he was growing up. Totally need a bigger table and more chairs! But a game of telephone around the dinner table is always entertaining... and for some reason the answer kept being "Chad is so cute" (I think that Chad might have been changing it as it was going around the table!).

Super overwhelm.

2011-04-20T16:14:00.001-07:00

And this is where a lot of my overwhelm comes from. Not only do we have a 3,100 square foot house to pack up, we also have a 3-car garage and a large crawl space, all teeming with stuff. And when I thought I was doing okay with all of it, I see D and Chad pulling stuff out of an attic space I wasn't fully aware of. This is about when the tears started. It's better now. A lot has been put into storage... but sheesh, does everybody own this much stuff? I don't think so!

More box forts.

2011-04-20T16:12:00.001-07:00

Boxes seem to be piling up all over our house, and what's a little boy to do but push some aside and find a great place to play Legos and Star Wars guys.

Minka too.

2011-04-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

And since Cooper was in the last post, here's one about one of our cats. This is our sweet cat who likes to cuddle and spoon with us while we sleep. This is Minka. She likes to find nice places on my desk to sit in our "sun" and just hang out.

Rocky, our other cat, who we also love, don't get me wrong... but he likes to kill things... and leave body parts all over the place. Seriously. Almost daily we come out to find mice heads on our front porch. Intestines in our driveway. Whatever. Like Cooper and his sweet tooth, Rocky is not picky about what he maims.

And life resumes...

2011-04-20T16:06:00.000-07:00

One of the daily tasks I have is making sure there is nothing left on the counter for Cooper to confiscate once I leave the house. You don't know how many sticks of butter this dog has eaten. Cartons of Country Crock, cookies, bread, meat, dozen cupcakes, Girl Scout cookies, whatever. He's not picky. Anything he can get to when no one is looking. So, it completely doesn't surprise me to come home and find our box of Krispy Kreme donuts sitting on the floor, mauled, completely gone. There were still at least 6 donuts in the box.

Here fishy, fishy.

2011-04-20T16:01:00.000-07:00

And our final field trip during Spring Break was an outing to the aquarium. D got some cheap tickets on Groupon, we had never been there before, and we all really enjoyed it. Last year we went to the Aquarium in Seattle, and it just doesn't compare to what I'm used to from Cali. This one was a lot closer. Still no whales or dolphins like Sea World, but we still had a great time!

And more hiking.

2011-04-20T15:58:00.000-07:00

And we also went hiking. What can we say? Sometimes we just love the outdoors, and it really is beautiful where we live... when it isn't raining so much. But truthfully, the rain helps with the beauty! That's why it's so brown in California... no rain there!

Sandy day.

2011-04-20T15:56:00.001-07:00

One of our Spring Break days we took a drive out to the beach. It was BEAUTIFUL!!! Cold... but, oh, so pretty! And we love hunting for the perfect sand dollars!

Happy Birthday to Reed!!!

2011-04-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

Our little man turned 4!!! Can you believe it??? He is such a joy to have in our family and we are so thankful every day that Heavenly Father decided that we NEEDED one more kid!!! Our family would definitely not be complete without him!!! He is mischievous, still needs naps (although he refuses to take them!), totally has a red-head temper, but is such a love and brings so much pleasure to us! We love you Reed and love the little person that you are turning into!!!

Playing a bit of catch up.

2011-04-19T19:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry... our life is crazy right now. We are trying to pack up our 3,000 square foot house, put 99% of it into storage and move the balance, plus the seven of us, a dog, two cats and a hamster into my brother- and sister-in-law's basement next weekend. So, life is off right now. Whatever. We all have our problems. Ours is just (as my Uncle Billy would say...) this giant tree, blocking the rest of the forest right now, and I just have to be patient, get around the tree, and then see the rest of the forest. I'm trying, I swear... but sometimes that tree just seems to be the "giantest" (I know that's not really a word!) tree in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!! So anyways... a bit of catch up.

We had Spring Break a few weeks ago. The kids and I did the whole "let's-check-out-some-of-the-cool-places-to-eat-in-Portland" field trip. So here you go... the Grilled Cheese Grill and Voodoo Donuts. And this counts for three days... cause I haven't been so good at all my pictures of the day right now. And I have three pictures that I want to include in my book. Fun places.

Grilled Cheese Grill. They have two locations. One in a school bus and one in a double-decker bus. We went to the double-decker one. Fun. You order outside, then take your food (any kind of grilled cheese you could imagine and so yummy!) and go inside and eat. We sat upstairs and the kids loved it!

Then, always a favorite, crazy Voodoo Donuts. They have some funky donuts. Some with names I won't even say, but it's always an adventure and the Maple Bacon Bar is pretty darn good if I do say so myself!

Breakfast for dinner please.

2011-04-04T22:08:00.000-07:00

It was Macy's turn to do dinner. She wanted breakfast for dinner. She planned the menu. French Toast, bacon, eggs. Funny thing? We've never made French Toast, believe it or not. I made it as a kid with my mom, but have never made it as a parent (or adult for that matter. Can't even remember the last time I had it). D and I both knew that you needed milk and eggs, but that's about it. So, I pulled out a recipe book, Macy and I got to town, and the French Toast turned out super yummy! It will definitely be made more often now!

Stake Conference.

2011-04-04T22:06:00.001-07:00

I Belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! (And am proud of it!) Sing it loud and proud!

Part of Saturday and Sunday was spent at home, in our pjs, watching General Conference. Every 6 months our church broadcasts messages from our prophet and his apostles and other leaders. I love this time and love hearing what they have to say... even though sometimes I am fighting to hear over the kids!

Sunday walk.

2011-04-04T22:02:00.000-07:00

The rain had stopped, so we headed out for a nice walk around Round Lake. Us, our five kids and Cooper, along with five other kids and Duke (they're parents happen to be out of town right now, so we are kind of looking after them, and they are kind of looking after Duke). It was a nice day for a little hike and the dogs loved it!

April Fools!

2011-04-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

Dropping off Haley and our friend, Garrett (who's also backwards!), at school, with Reed and Garrett's brother, Tyler.

For April Fool's Day, Macy and Haley's school decided to have "Crazy Dress Day", so Haley put her entire outfit on backwards, including backpack, had on two different shoes and a crazy hat. She thought she was so funny!

Sensory Fair.

2011-04-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

In Reed's preschool, the 3s class always does lessons on the five senses, and at the end of it, they have a Sensory Fair. So, I got to go to school with Reed for a while, where we smelled different things; tried to guess what things were by their shapes; played sound bingo; made different noises with musical instruments; tasted salty, sweet and sour items (always one of the favorites!); and were "blind" doing puzzles and building towers. It was a lot of fun, and I had a great time with my little man!

Surprise!

2011-04-04T21:37:00.000-07:00

Derrick told me we were going to pick up dinner. It was Taco Tuesday at Del Taco anyways so this didn't come as a surprise to me. He passed Del Taco. He told me he had another stop first. He kept driving and wouldn't say anything, so I just went along with it. He pulled into a strip mall driveway. I asked him if we were getting the car washed??? Although it was raining and the car wash was closed... but we were there. Then I asked if we were getting new tires? Another place we passed by. Finally he stopped at a Hawaiian restaurant. I asked him if he ordered food from there? He said yes. I asked if it was expensive (something I always want to know). He said yes. I checked out the menu in the front window, wondering if they had Puka Dogs (something we ate last time we went to Hawaii - so yummy!). We went inside, me still assuming we are picking up food, totally not paying attention. In front of us is a table of people, all holding their menus up to cover their faces. Still paying no attention. But then some of the hair looks familiar, and all of a sudden they are yelling "surprise"! And let me tell you, I was!!!

Totally made my day! Thanks to Miriam, Wendy, Megan, Kristi, Shauna, Liz, Allison, Kris, Susan, Lisa, Carrie, Patti, Joy, Michelle and Laurie for making my day! Love you guys!!!

Project 365.

2011-03-29T14:51:00.000-07:00

One of the things I got for my birthday (besides TicTacs - doesn't everyone get these????, Frontierville gift cards - again, doesn't everyone????, some clothes, money, food)... was my Project 365 Kit. Now I have a place to put all the pictures that I've been sticking here and on Facebook all year long. Love it!!!

Thanks everyone for a great 40th!!!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

2011-03-29T14:46:00.000-07:00

Breakfast in bed - nice!!!

Reed helping me blow out those candles!

Today it's my birthday! (Yesterday actually - the 28th - but I didn't have any pictures then, so let's just pretend.) I'm 40!!! Crazy, I know, but you know something??? Not so bad. Great actually!!! I have a wonderful husband, wonderful kids, great friends and family. Yeah, everything isn't totally going our way right now, but I'm still SO THANKFUL for all that we have!!! We are all healthy, happy and able! What else can you ask for???? House situation will get taken care of, and as long as we have each other, the rest will work itself out! So, happy birthday to me! I don't look a day over 29, if I do say so myself!!! :)

Urban Fondue.

2011-03-27T18:25:00.000-07:00

All the meats, seafoods and dipping sauces. Pork, beef, chicken, sausage, shrimp, scallops, salmon and lobster! Crazy!!!

For a very long time I've wanted to go to The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant, but just can't get past the cost (come on, they were doing a Valentine's special. Dinner for two was like $185!!! Crazy!!! If I'm spending that much, it better be REALLY GOOD, and there better be like 20 people there!) Anyways, so off topic. So, as a special treat for my birthday (which is tomorrow), D took me to Urban Fondue, a fun restaurant in Portland that is all fondue and the cost is so much better! It was so yummy! We had bread with a cheese fondue (really, that was all I needed!), all sorts of meat and seafood that you then dipped in oil and cooked and then ate (YUMMY!!!), and finally chocolate with fruit and treats!!! So yummy and oh, so filling! I would definitely go back there another time!

Walk the walk.

2011-03-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

Macy, Luke, Cooper, D and I participated in a 5K walk for Prevention. For a healthy, drug free community. It was a bit cold and rainy, but a lot of fun none the less, and I really enjoy seeing so many friends, neighbors and teachers out there supporting the community. I love where we live!

Sick baby.

2011-03-27T18:19:00.000-07:00

Poor little Reed was having a bit of the sniffles. Macy woke up one morning and told me that Reed wasn't feeling well and shouldn't go to school that day. I didn't really think anything of it until he started throwing up. Yeah, why don't you stay home???

So, he's just laying on the couch, asks me to put on Star Wars (he takes after D and Chad that way), and when I come in 20 minutes later he is sound asleep. Needless to say, when he woke up he was feeling much better! Sometimes that's all you need... a little extra napping! And he is welcome to do it ANYTIME!

Sing out Mary Jane.

2011-03-27T18:13:00.000-07:00

Luke informs us that he has a performance on Thursday night. He thinks it's at the high school. He thinks it's in the gym. He thinks the other middle school is involved. But that's about it. (While talking to other parents, they got the same information, so apparently none of them were really told anything.) He said he had two songs to sing, but he was singing them, he thought, with the other school, so it would be no big deal. Well, he was wrong.

Apparently it was his middle school (with two choir groups), the other middle school (with two choir groups), and the high school (with four choir groups). What we thought would only be about 20 minutes, really turned into almost 2 hours. Not bad... except that a) they sing really boring songs. Come on. Who picks these songs anyway??? and b) Luke's group sang second. Then we had to wait for EVERYONE else to sing. I didn't want to be rude and leave... but I was seriously thinking about it.

Why do they have to combine all of them into one night anyway? I would've much preferred just hearing Luke's two songs and then going home, thank you very much. Just saying.

Spring is here!

2011-03-27T18:08:00.000-07:00

I think I take this same, or very similar, picture EVERY year! I love it! Daffodils just randomly springing up everywhere, no thought, no concern, no one planted them (I think), they just seem to grow wild in the Great Northwest. And they make me happy. And that's good! Their cheery yellow faces are just so bright and sunshiney.

Something I found out though???? When I tried to plant some, on purpose, in our front yard... apparently deer really like them. And we have lots of those here too that just wander, and just as my daffodils were getting all ready to poke out their little heads, I would come back the next day and the heads had been chomped off. Oh well. I still see them everywhere else, so all is good!

More hide and seek.

2011-03-27T18:06:00.000-07:00

And Reed wanted to get in the act too. So we "found" him in a toy bin one time, and then again using the toy bin to "hide". Doesn't matter that we can see his body... he can't see us so it's all good!

Lots of Hide and Seek.

2011-03-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

D under the sofa. Can you see him??? He was totally balancing the sofa on his body and it was pretty funny.

And hiding behind Grandma Dean's mirror. Kind of hard to miss in this one, huh?

Our children like to play games... a lot. Luke is known for making up games. Changing the rules. Being the boss. He likes to run things, and we like to mess with him. Makes the whole thing a bit more fun.

So the other night, we're playing hide and seek, and D was getting pretty creative with his hiding spots.

Want a job???

2011-03-27T17:57:00.000-07:00

So after Macy's performance, D took her to Dairy Queen to get an ice cream cone. While they were there, the girl asked her if she wanted to make her own cone. Fun! Now we know what her future calling is.

Let the show begin.

2011-03-27T17:53:00.000-07:00

We had this really cute old-time movie theater in our old-time downtown and last summer it closed down. It really bummed us out! They ran first-run movies, but it only cost like $3 to get in and the popcorn was always fresh, so we spent a lot of time there.

Well anyways, someone took it over. New ownership. They opened this past weekend and as part of their grand opening, they had Macy's vocal choir perform there. It was pretty cool!

Burgers for everyone.

2011-03-27T17:47:00.000-07:00

Derrick and I have recently discovered Top Burger, a cute little burger place in our town. Yes... we've been there before (once!)... when we first moved here. But then it closed down for a bit to do some remodeling (and you could only pay with cash, and who ever has cash on them???), and we finally went back and discovered that you know what? Their burgers are dang good! And so are their french fries!!! And so are their tots!!! (And you can now pay with your ATM card which is so much easier!!!) So... we headed there for a nice family dinner - minus Chad because he was at a friend's house - to show the kids how yummy their food was.

Top of the Morning to Ye!

2011-03-18T18:03:00.001-07:00

Some of the leprechauns that live in our house!

Note he left behind.

The pot of gold that was inside a box, inside a box, inside a box... after following a trail of green beads. Pretty sneaky that little leprechaun.

My friend Joy thinks that I make up holidays. Ok... maybe I do make up a few... (you mean EVERYONE doesn't celebrate Christmakuh or Cinco de Octubre?) But really... St. Patrick's Day is a REAL holiday! Not one that I made up. She totally didn't understand why I didn't want to go to a Scentsy meeting on St. Patrick's Day. That I needed to eat super yummy corned beef and cabbage.

I did end up going (late), but it was totally after the yummy dinner and trying to catch the leprechaun. We missed him again... but he managed to make good use out of some of our boxes too by hiding his pot of gold in a few of them!

The trap is set.

2011-03-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

When Macy was in 1st grade, one of the assignments was to make a leprechaun trap. We never ended up making it for school, but still managed to make one and it gets brought out every year. Every year the kids totally rig it to catch the little green guy and have yet to catch him, but he always causes a bit of mischief and leaves of pot of "gold", so they are happy.

Show the Love.

2011-03-18T17:57:00.000-07:00

The past few days we have been inundated with love. We have had friends come to help us pack. Friends have brought dinner. Friends have brought treats. Friends have shown up at 8:45 in the morning with ice cream just to check on us. Sometimes crappy things happen, but it's oh, so nice to know that you are loved.

The deed is done.

2011-03-18T17:50:00.000-07:00

Chad got his braces. He hated me a bit for it... but someday he will love me for it (and I know it... even if he doesn't!).

Thanks to Dr. Allen for doing a great job with the boys!!!

Making lemonade...

2011-03-18T17:47:00.000-07:00

So, with this whole moving thing in our life right now, the kids decided to "make some lemonade with all the lemons". They've made box forts almost everywhere in our house. They've turned boxes into bases. They've hidden in them, around them, under them.

It's great to see the fun in all of this.

(Note to anyone asking... our move is temporarily on hold. With all my freaking out last week, a lawyer has been brought into the situation and as of now we don't know what's going on... so keep us in your prayers, and remember to make a box fort every now and then.)

Bring on the Green!!!

2011-03-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

Last year on St. Patrick's Day as a special treat we took the kids out for Shamrock Shakes from McDonalds. We went to three McDonalds... and they were ALL SOLD OUT!!! Note to self... never actually look for a Shamrock Shake on St. Patrick's Day!

So this year, we were ahead of the game. We headed out and got our Shamrock Shakes and loved every minute of them! (And D even took the kids out AGAIN on St. Patty's Day to a different Mickey D's and still found some... so now we know which one to hit up next year! Apparently Mickey D's was more aware of the demand this year and provided more Shamrock Shake stuff to the stores. Good job Mickey D's!)

Again? Ok...

2011-03-18T17:39:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite places... Costco. They opened one near us right before Thanksgiving, and I spend A LOT of my time there! People have yet to discover it, so it's never that crowded. Go on a Saturday? Yep! Go just to get $1.50 hot dog and soda? You bet! Not busy and easier to get in to than the Walmart across the street! And you can never beat all the samples! Last week they had cupcakes from a Portland Bakery. They had 5 different kinds that they cut into 1/4s and you could sample all of them! Needless to say, Reed and D sampled quite a few, and we ended up taking home 4 packs of them! Yummy!

Look out Iron Chef!

2011-03-18T17:35:00.001-07:00

Our "Iron Chef" team - Adam, Mikey, Brendan, Ben, Adam, Natalie, Brooke and Rachel

The activity for our youth group (12-18 year-olds) this week was an Iron Chef challenge. Each group was given a bag of ingredients, with the secret ingredient being pineapple. They had one hour to come up with something fabulous! We happened to be one of the "kitchen stadiums" and it was a lot of fun watching all the kids. Really funny to see the girls cooking while the boys just looked on, trying to come up with stupid Nacho Libre names for the food they were preparing (while their leaders, Derrick and our friend, Scott, played XBox in the background!).

They didn't end up winning anything, but I enjoyed eating all their leftover fresh pineapple!

Metal Mouth #2

2011-03-18T17:34:00.003-07:00

The beginning of Chad's braces. He has to have his put on in two steps because the ortho didn't have time to do it all at once. So.... here he is with his pretty bands.

Where to start....

2011-03-12T08:46:00.000-08:00

Lock box in front of our house

So, after much fighting on our behalfs, and some very dis-honest real estate people (thanks Jill and Lisa at Keller Williams), our house was sold yesterday. We now have 20 days in which to pack a 3000 square foot house and find someplace new to live. We tried to short sale the house, and we come to find out yesterday, during the house auction, that our "lovely" realtors NEVER submitted the offer that was put in on our house, and never even contacted our mortgage company... at least this is what the mortgage company is telling me every one of the six or seven times that I called them yesterday.

Who do I believe? The realtors who are getting offended because I don't believe them (with really no reason to believe them)... or the mortgage company who dragged us along for a year and a half, as we tried to modify our home loan, were finally put on a payment plan and then informed that they were foreclosing on our house because of the difference we didn't pay between our regular mortgage and the trial payment (note... we never stopped paying our mortgage, we were just paying the trial amount, which is exactly what they told us to do)? Who would you believe? Seems like both parties have been screwing with us, and now I don't really know who to believe.

As I'm writing this, I'm trying not to cry. Trying to be strong in front of the kids so they don't get upset also. Trying to leave the house, with the basement that we finished for our liking; a bedroom that we built "Star-Wars"-like specifically for Chad; and brought baby Reed into for the first time. No, I don't love the house. It needs LOTS of updates, but it's still our house. We've enjoyed it for the past four and a half years, and it really sucks that it's been brought to this.

And truly, I think that if the realtors we had been working with honestly did all that they could, and this was still the end result, I wouldn't feel so bad. I just feel so screwed over right now. That I was trusting all the people that were supposed to be working for us, only to find out, way too late, that nobody really was. It just shows me that I need to stop trusting people... and that really sucks!

The great state of Idaho.

2011-03-07T17:29:00.000-08:00

For Macy's 5th Grade State Report, she chose to do the state of Idaho. She made a great poster and display, and then notice we added in a Scentsy Boise State Warmer???? Scentsy is based in Meridien, IDAHO, after all. See.... totally works! And, don't you like all the potatoes and potato heads. Give us a theme and we will totally run with it!

Can you say "couch potato"?

2011-03-07T17:25:00.000-08:00

This is how D typically spends his Sunday afternoons. Church in the morning, and then find a good place to curl up for a little nap. Not a bad idea if I do say so myself!

Girls Night Out!

2011-03-07T17:22:00.000-08:00

I got to enjoy some Girl Time with a bunch of friends, celebrating my friend, Liz's, 40th birthday! We headed to Beaches in the airport and had a great time! The food was wonderful, but the friendship was amazing! (And I especially enjoyed the almost midnight run to Jack in the Box to get more dessert because we didn't have enough. Cheesecake anyone????)

Big 1-3!!!

2011-03-07T17:18:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday to Luke!!! He turned 13! Can you believe it???? We now have 2 teenagers in our house! Crazy!!!

Luke is so much fun in our house! He's a great big brother! Loves to take care of his siblings (whether they want him to or not!). He loves to tell everyone (me and D included) what to do! He is a sweet boy, with a very helpful personality and we love having him in our family!

Happy Birthday Luke! We love you!!!

Really?????

2011-03-07T17:13:00.000-08:00

Parents, myself included, line up for hours every year just to register for preschool. Is it the best preschool around???? Truly? No, I don't think so. Is it the cheapest, most convenient, anything??? No, not really. It's more that our kids have been there for four years and it's familiar.

But this is the returning parent registration. I was in line for two hours in the rain, and even some hail (mind you, we had had a snow day the day before!). Some parents had been there since 8:30 that morning! Now know that those parents got their kids in the class they wanted. I was #33 in line, and even though this will be our fifth year at the school, I did not get the class I wanted. Fair??? No, not necessarily... but what can you do? I could've been there at 8:30 too... but I had way too many other things I wanted to do with my day!

Do you like green eggs and ham????

2011-03-07T17:11:00.000-08:00

Haley got to have a total Dr. Suess Day in honor of Dr. Suess's birthday! Backwards letters, lots of books and tons of fun!

National Pancake Day!

2011-03-07T17:08:00.000-08:00

Um, hello, who doesn't celebrate National Pancake Day?????? Duh... free pancakes???? Yes, please! And not only that, but we happened to have a snow day that day, so it was pancakes for everyone.

We had a great time and even got to meet Ms. Oregon who was there representing Ms. America for the Children's Make-a-Wish Foundation. Very cool!

My guilty pleasure.

2011-02-28T20:51:00.000-08:00

Hot chocolate from the gas station. Any gas station (but the Shell station up the street is the best). Not Starbucks. Their cocoa is way too bitter for me. But I love me some good cocoa from the gas station. Nice and warm, with lots of things to add to it.

My recipe? Fill the cup more than 3/4 full, but not all the way to the top. Add 3 French Vanilla little creamer things, then top off with some cold water to make it not so nuclear hot, then enjoy! Love it!

HE'S HOME!!!!

2011-02-27T16:03:00.000-08:00

Well, after 3 LONG WEEKS, he decided to COME HOME!!! (See all my excitement??? All the caps... that's how excited I am!) He finished his project in L.A. and was able to come home a week ahead of time and we were all so excited to see him and to have him home (and he was just as excited to come home!)! We love you D and are very glad to have you back home with us!!!

Snow pretty.

2011-02-27T16:00:00.000-08:00

It is so beautiful when it's all snowy outside, and the sun decides to shine. Just one of God's gifts to us.

We found a couple icicles hanging off our roof, and also saw this and I couldn't help but take a picture. Not the best, but believe me when I say it was "snow pretty"!

Evidence of said Snow Days.

2011-02-27T15:57:00.000-08:00

And when the Snow Days do happen, our house is full of kids and ALL their belongs. And you know that snow clothes are much bigger than regular clothes. They make much more mess. What's that about anyway????

We've got snow!

2011-02-27T15:53:00.000-08:00

Sleds left everywhere.

Our street, which is a bit steep, totally gets the road closed and then is turned into an ultimate sledding hill. All the kids hang out here.

We woke up to find our front yard full of snow! We love when we get snow! It doesn't stick around too long... but enough to enjoy some sledding, a snow day or two, some late starts, and just the "prettiness" of it all! Even Cooper loves the snow!

Scentsy Team Meeting.

2011-02-27T15:51:00.001-08:00

(Notice Joy and I wearing similar sweaters! Too funny!!!)

I work (and play!) with some great people! We have lots of fun and really enjoy sharing our ideas, our accomplishments, our friendships! I love the people I "Scentsy" with!

Sweet Dreams.

2011-02-27T15:44:00.000-08:00

I swear, this kid can sleep in any strange position (Luke was the same way though). About when he turned 3, he decided he was too "old" to take naps... so now every so often we find him in strange places around the house, sound asleep. We've even found him at the bottom of the basement stairs sleeping. Strange. Why wouldn't you just go and get in your nice, cozy bed???? That's what I would do. Just saying.

Cookies for Sale!

2011-02-21T15:59:00.001-08:00

Macy and I spent a couple hours in front of the produce market this weekend selling Girl Scout cookies. Haley and I spent a few hours in front of Lowes. (Note to self, cookies sell MUCH better in front of Lowe's than they do in front of the produce market... duh!) Fun had by all, but I'm glad that we are done with this weekend. Haley and I have another assignment, but hopefully it will be warmer then!

Carnage.

2011-02-21T15:57:00.001-08:00

You can almost always find "dead Legos" in our house. Reed has this thing for the Lego people... but he almost always takes their heads off and their bodies apart and then leaves them lying all over the place. Poor little Legos! We have lost many pieces this way!

Can you see me now?

2011-02-21T15:53:00.000-08:00

D loaded Skype onto my computer and his computer quite a while back because he was doing business with a company in China and he needed to make sure that it would work. Well, little did we know that it would become our primary source of communication for a while! The kids love it! They think it's really cool to talk to daddy this way. It took me a while to get used to it though. Better now. I like that I can continue to do stuff on the computer while I am talking to him. It's fun to check in with him everyday this way!

Because we care.

2011-02-21T15:52:00.003-08:00

D wanted to be involved in the Picture of a Day thing, so he sent me a pic of the care package that we sent him for Valentine's Day. Notice it has Girl Scout cookies and Scentsy involved! Perfect!!!

Tin Grin

2011-02-18T07:04:00.000-08:00

We are very fortunate to have a good friend as our orthodontist! He takes great care of us and the kids! We love you Dr. Allen!!!

And the first of our "Tin Grins"! Doesn't he look cute? Some kids can totally pull off braces!

He picked green and gold for his first set of bands so that he's ready for St. Patrick's Day. Totally a kid after my own heart! Having his braces coordinate to the closest holiday! Gotta love that!!!

State Reports are in our house...

2011-02-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

One of the reasons I love my Cricut machine is that I can use it to help the ENTIRE 5th Grade (ok, maybe 5 of them. Whatever!) come up with stuff for their State Report. So far I have worked on Hawaii, North Dakota, Michigan and Mississippi... and Macy's working on Idaho, so we've been full of states in our house this week.

And for all my hard work and efforts I've profited 4 cupcakes and $4 so far. I might have to make this my new living!

Valentine's Day aftermath...

2011-02-15T08:21:00.001-08:00

Some of what made up our Valentine's Day...

Pretty roses sent by my honey!

These pretty girls! Macy is really into braiding wet hair right now, so as you can see, they both have a bit of "crimping" going on.

Heart-shaped cookies for playgroup.

Krispy Kreme donuts. I go there every year to get heart-shaped donuts for the occasion, and by the time I got there (about 1:30) all the heart-shaped donuts were sold out! What a let down!!! Valentine sprinkles are still good though.

Heart-shaped pizza from Papa Murphys - yum!

Heart-shaped cake made by Luke. It was super yummy!!!

Treats brought by my friend, Joy, asking to be her Valentine because she knew that mine was out of town. Thanks Joy for the love!!!

Valentine crafts... 'cause you know I'm all about the crafts!

Yes, I did sit down and decide that we were going to eat nothing healthy this day (only heart-shaped or sprinkled items. I even have heart-shaped, pink marshmallows, but totally forgot to take them out. Maybe we'll snack on them today!). Add to this the cheeseburger and coke that Reed and I got for lunch and we were totally on a winning streak! Some days are just like that though.

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's. We did! Even with D away, we know that he loves us and was with us in spirit (and on the phone!). Love you Schmoo... and love spending ALL my Valentine's with you! You are always and forever My Valentine!!!

2011-02-14T06:52:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Go out and hug someone... or EVERYONE!!! Everyone deserves a hug!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

Cookie Heaven.

2011-02-13T18:06:00.001-08:00

Ok, and check these out. Chocolate-chip covered Oreo cookies. Kind of crazy, but oh, so yummy. All you need is about half of one, and you're done in, but still so good!

Girl Scout kind of weekend.

2011-02-13T18:01:00.000-08:00

Macy's troop hosted Thinking Day.

Besides all the cookies, we also participated in Macy's troops' Thinking Day. Thinking Day is when bunches of troops get together and create booths about different things, usually different countries. They have activities, treats, decorations and even performances from those countries. It's always a lot of fun, and the girls really enjoy it.

It's Cookie Time!

2011-02-13T17:56:00.000-08:00

Piles of Girl Scout cookies currently cover our kitchen table! Like it, but hate all the mess!!!

I'm a lemon.

2011-02-10T12:00:00.000-08:00

So I went to the doctor yesterday and this is what I found out.

Yes, that "shockey" feeling that I've had in my wrist the past week is from the blood work that I had done last week. Apparently they hit a nerve, which is totally hard to do, but lucky me, they hit mine. I have my blood checked about every six months-ish (I have thyroid problems), and this is the first time this has happened. The doctor informed me that the "shockey", weird feeling should "only" last for about 6 weeks... lucky me.

Yes, I am anemic... a lot. We kind of already figured this, based on the amount of ice I've chewed for like the last year, but now we finally know for sure.

Yes, I am also apparently really low on vitamin D. My numbers came up to like 17, which is really bad apparently. I don't know what "good" is, but 17 is not it. This hopefully explains all the soreness and stiffness I've had the past few months. It's not from all the exercise I've not been doing (didn't you just read that... I'm already sore... why do I want to add to it????).

So, I left the doctor's office with 3 prescriptions yesterday. Two to up my dosage of my thyroid medicine and one for a gigantic dose of Vitamin D. I also left with 4, count them, 4!!! over-the-counter "vitamins" she wants me to also take. More Vitamin D (I said it was bad!), Fish Oil (yuck! I hate those burps!), something about magnesium, and Feosol (I think this is for the anemia???). So, my once daily dose of thyroid medicine that I've been taking for the last 10 years, has now been up'd to 6 pills I have to take daily. Could I be any closer to 60????? I know that I'm turning 40 next month, but this is a bit crazy!!! And I hate taking pills... which is why I haven't taken the fish oil before... oh, and the burps. Have I mentioned the burps???? They are yucky!!!

Lucky me, D loves me... if not, I'd be turning me in.

***And now I'm reading the directions on some of these, and it says, "take daily with the meal of your choice." I just ate a cupcake. It was my choice. Do you think that counts????

Getting ready.

2011-02-09T10:58:00.000-08:00

So Chad and Luke went in for their first "braces" visit this morning. They both had impressions done, x-rays and photos taken. Luke even got some separator thingys put in his mouth.

Luke gets his actual braces put on next week, and Chad's are being put on in March. So be watching our house for a couple of "tin grins" in the next couple of weeks!

Happy Meet-a-Versary!

2011-02-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

Every year, no matter what, D remembers the date we met... 19 years ago. Whether I am 6 months pregnant, walking down the street having a melt-down because our 2-year-old just cut her own hair, or home alone with 5 kids while he's in a different state doing a job, he always remembers it (me... I have a hard time remembering what day of the week it is, let alone the date!).

So, I was pleasantly surprised when I came home yesterday to find some beautiful flowers in our kitchen. I wondered what they were for... after all, Valentine's isn't for a few more days, and all the kids reminded me that it was our Meet-a-Versary.

I am so lucky and thankful to be married to the man I am married to. Besides the fact that he gets me flowers on occasion (which truly, I do love), but more because of the person he is, and the person that I am with him. The wonderful children that we've been blessed with, and although sometimes full of trial, the great life that we share. Thanks Schmoo for the past 19 years, I wouldn't trade them for anything! And I am grateful that I met you so many years ago too!

And what's better, when I was thanking him for the flowers, he said, "I thought you might need a Picture of the Day" today. So, he also supports all my crazy hobbies!!! Love you!!!

Leaving on a jet plane...

2011-02-06T21:25:00.000-08:00

And during the Super Bowl (Packers won by the way, D! Just wanted to let you know!), I took D to the airport so he could head to Cali for a bit to work on a project. Love you D! Have safe travels and come home soon!!! We love you!!!

Go Packers!

2011-02-06T21:16:00.001-08:00

Enjoyed the Super Bowl with our friends, the Allens. They were able to come over, bring some food, share lots of snacks, play games, and just have a good time.

D and I wanted to support the whole football thing, so we sported jerseys as well. Granted, they were for the 49ers and BYU... but it's the thought that counts. (So then Macy and Haley wanted to wear those jerseys to bed. Only a little bit big.)

Date Night.

2011-02-06T21:13:00.000-08:00

D and I were able to go out for a little date before he left town. Dinner and movies. Nice. So nice to get some time together... even if the movie was kind of dumb. (The Dilemma - not suggested whatsoever!)

Helping daddy.

2011-02-05T17:57:00.000-08:00

Reed decided to make D's push-ups a little bit harder for him. Not bad with Reed on him... much worse when Chad and Luke join in!

Gung Hoy Fat Choi!

2011-02-05T17:47:00.000-08:00

(Sorry for my great Chinese misspelling!)

So... in my "native tongue", Happy Chinese New Year! We celebrated by getting some yummy Chinese food. We were able to enjoy some nice family time and take one of our little friends with us!

Happy Year of the Rabbit... now, go out and multiply!!! :)

Melvin's gift.

2011-02-05T17:43:00.000-08:00

So we bought Melvin a ball to play in. He loves it. Problem is, so does Cooper. Cooper likes to push it around with his nose, which makes it go a bit faster than Melvin's little legs will carry him, so Cooper has gotten banned to the basement a few times.

Problem with the ball is, Melvin can now move. Macy had him in her room, and then went to the bathroom for a bit, came back and couldn't find him. She's freaking out, we all come upstairs, are looking all over the place and can't find him anywhere. I look over the railing and he has managed to go down ALL the stairs (14 of them!) and is now in our living room. (*** Note to Macy... we live in a 3-story house and I don't think that hamsters like going down all the stairs in their ball.) He seems fine, but it was a good lesson learned.

Snow camping.

2011-02-05T17:40:00.001-08:00

Luke's the one wearing shorts and a red t-shirt in all that cold!

So while D and Chad were having their "sleepover", Luke was out at Mt. Hood with his Scout troop having their own camping experience. They really did camp though... at the Boy Scout lodge, and then spent the next day playing in the snow. Pretty, isn't it?????

One of my MANY projects!

2011-02-05T17:38:00.001-08:00

A super cool digital scrapbooker, Kerri Bradford, created these great monthly digital projects. I download the whole thing, print out the backgrounds, and all the parts and pieces get magically sent to my die cut machine, and then I just put the whole thing together. Super cute and I look forward to seeing her new ones each month.

Pretty nails.

2011-01-31T17:31:00.003-08:00

What we do after church on Sundays? Paint nails. Haley's, all pink, purple and glittery, and Macy's? Lime green, of course... her favorite color.

Sleepover... NOT!

2011-01-31T17:21:00.000-08:00

So D is one of the leaders over the 14-15 year-old boys in our church, and they wanted to have a "campout" at our house, so we were invaded by 10 14-15 year-old boys on Friday night. It was really a fun night. There was a lot of junk food consumed, video games played all night, and about two and a half hours of sleep obtained. I came down at about 7:45 in the morning to find people asleep all over our house, and apparently they had just fallen asleep about 2 1/2 hours prior... so needless to say, we were all pretty tired on Saturday.

Portland International Auto Show

2011-01-31T17:19:00.000-08:00

D, Chad and Luke went to the Portland International Auto Show. This is a tradition in D's family, to go to the Auto Show, and once Chad, and then Luke, got big enough, the tradition has continued. Someday Reed will get to go too.

The guys always have a great time, and D always comes home with his dream "wish list" of all the cars our family will someday own. Reality check there.

To call or not to call????

2011-01-28T15:52:00.000-08:00

Ok, so being at Scentsy Spring Spring the other day, one of the things that they talked about was goals. Setting goals and then achieving them. Apparently writing down the goal makes it halfway done. So, I've been working this afternoon, writing some goals. My main goal is to become a Director. (I'm putting it out to the universe right now.) I would like to become a Director by June. I am so close, and it is so doable... it's just a matter of doing it. I have a rocking team of girls below me, but sometimes, I am the one that is lax. My problem is, I hate to call people (I inherited this from my mom, I think.) When I was working at WB, I could call people any time and tell them that they owed me millions of dollars and it didn't matter, but when I'm calling some one about hosting a Scentsy party, it's personal and it totally stresses me out. My heart races, my palms sweat, I try to come up with things to do instead. I am trying to get over this. This is something I need to do to achieve my goal of becoming a Director (and I totally realize that!).

So, I set a goal of trying to call 3 people a day (if I have 3 people to call). I have called 2 so far today. The first one was super nice, but one of her friend's just signed up to sell Scentsy and they had a party LAST WEEK. (Dang! Why didn't she sign up under me????? Guess I should've called sooner! I met this girl in November after all!). Second one, I left a message. I like that a whole lot better. Hopefully she will call me back, and I don't have to try again in a week or so!

So, wish me luck on my calling. Wish me luck on achieving my goal... and if you want to host a Scentsy party, you know who to call! :)

Spring Sprint!

2011-01-28T15:45:00.000-08:00

Me and Kari, one of my "girls" who I LOVE, in the Scentsy Success store

Joy (my Director and good friend), Cariann, me, Alicia, Sandy, Kari, Kim and Diana - some of our awesome team!

On Wednesday, I was able to go to Scentsy's Spring Sprint in Portland, OR. It was a great time! I was able to hang out with some of the people on our team, find out about new product, and get lots of free stuff (that's always the best part!). Well actually, the best part is that I always walk away from these things feeling super pumped up, so watch out... here I come!

Holy coats Batman.

2011-01-25T15:09:00.000-08:00

For a family of 7, we have a lot of coats, jackets, sweatshirts... and not a lot of places to put them. This is one of our coat areas. I was walking past it, on my way from the garage to the kitchen and just felt like it needed to be the Picture of the Day. We also have a coat closet, and another one of these hangy things in the front hall, plus coats in our bedroom closets. Really???? And most of these belong to me, D and the girls.

MY Dumpster.

2011-01-25T15:06:00.000-08:00

Well, people asked to see a photo of my coupon dumpster, so here it is. I visited it again on Monday, and for about 5 minutes of my "dumpster diving", I was able to come up with 5 full sets of coupon inserts. Hey... the way I look at it, that saved me $10 for not having to buy the newspapers to get the coupons (kind of defeats the purpose if you ask me. Spending money just to get the coupons out.) So, might embarrass my kids a bit, but whatever. I love MY dumpster.

(Sorry, not a picture of me actually "diving" in the dumpster... I was by myself after all.)

Cake Pop trial.

2011-01-23T19:17:00.000-08:00

Our first set of Cake Pops. I was a bit crazy, and tried for the Cupcake Pops. Probably should've stuck with Cake Balls first. Mine don't look quite as good as in the book, but everyone had fun making them, and fun eating them, so all is good in the cake pop adventure.

Please send flowers.

2011-01-23T19:03:00.000-08:00

Ok. So on Friday, Luke was on my Facebook account playing Farmville, and as my status he wrote "someone please send a bouquet, I really need it." He didn't reference Farmville or anything, and people thought I wrote it. There was some confusion, and some concern on the behalf of my lovely friends who thought I might truly NEED a bouquet (I mean really, who doesn't?)

Anyways, yesterday we are out running a bunch of errands. Pull into our driveway, and behind us pulls a florist delivery truck, looking for me. I'm like, who would be sending me flowers???? And why???? I read the card, and it says, "thinking of you, Alondra". One of my sweet Young Women from back in the day. A little confused (although happy out of the world to receive some beautiful flowers), I'm like, what the heck? And Derrick says, "I bet it has to do with what Luke posted on your FB account yesterday."

Sure enough. She read the post, was worried, the florist was closing in half an hour, and before I could answer her back, she had sent me flowers. Goes with the chocolate cake. I love when people do the unexpected just because. I hope that I am one of those people too.

So thanks to my friends and family out there who think of me and everyone else. Thanks for listening to those inner voices, and for trying to make people's day with a little effort. A smile goes a long way, ya know?

Chocolate does the trick.

2011-01-22T08:49:00.000-08:00

My sweet friend, Allison, showed up with this for me. She said that every time she talked to me this week I sounded kind of down and needed to be cheered up (doesn't help that I was also fighting a cold - just like everyone else!). She also said that I didn't have to share - nice (I will... but it's nice to know that sometimes I don't have to).

(Although I did take a few bites at about 11:00 last night, when everyone else was asleep, way after I had already eaten my Healthy Choice low-calorie fudgesicle for dessert. I won't tell if you don't. Besides, it was a gift after all. I don't want to seem ungrateful.)

I am thankful for friends who bring you treats (or call or write a letter or whatever) just because they think it might be needed. Thanks Allison for being a good friend and for taking such good care of me. I hope that I can return the favor someday!

Coldstone treat.

2011-01-21T11:52:00.000-08:00

Ice cream at Coldstone for 7 people: $28.60. 5 birthday coupons for 5 kid people plus one Payback coupon for a B1G1 Free... new balance? $5.49 (plus a $3 tip for all the pain and suffering of dealing with our family). Thanks Coldstone for a cheap, yummy treat. Less than $1 per person (not counting the tip). Not bad at all.

Cake Pop Mama.

2011-01-19T20:50:00.000-08:00

My friend, Dawn, was running a "contest" on her blog. The only thing you had to do to enter was email her your favorite kind of cake. (Um, hello? What isn't my favorite kind of cake???)

Well, I totally won! I never win anything! I was so excited!!! So today in the mail arrived my shiny new copy of Bakerella's Cake Pops!!! For those of you that know me, cooking, baking, the kitchen are so not my thing... but cake, frosting, cupcakes, I'm all about that... and I am so excited to make some of these. They are so dang cute!!!

So thanks Dawn!!! I'm excited to try out my new book!!!

(Random side note... anytime we watch one of those baking shows, I tell the children that one of them needs to marry a baker when they grow up so that I can have good cake WHENEVER I want it! Not a bad deal if you ask me!)

To dumpster or not to dumpster????

2011-01-19T20:42:00.000-08:00

So Macy, Haley and I are out shopping at Safeway the other day. Using coupons (I [heart] coupons!), getting good deals, having a great time. We go outside, pack up the car and are leaving, when I notice this giant dumpster on the side of the parking lot. We drove over to get a closer look, and what do you know? It's a recycle dumpster. For paper products only.

(Any of you watch that show "Extreme Couponing" on TLC???? How the one lady had herself, her four-year-old son and her pregnant friend in the dumpster looking for coupons???? I was so there!!!)

Now granted, our dumpster had a lid on it (we live in the rain after all!), but I was still able to stick my arms in and get quite a few coupon inserts. Macy and Haley totally stayed in the car, embarrassed. (Where's the love, I ask you?) So Luke was nice enough to start the process of cutting out some of the coupons. Next time I'm near that dumpster, I will totally take a picture of it so you can all see what I'm talking about. Just like striking gold! :)

I totally want to be on that show... or at least do as well as they do... problem is, they don't double the coupons where we live. Every week in the ads there is usually a coupon to double 3 or 4 of your coupons, up to $.50, but nothing like when we lived in California and they doubled EVERYTHING!!! I so miss that!