Tubing

So today we decided to go tubing. As everyone knows, it takes about 2 hours to get everyone ready to go, lunch packed, tubes inflated. But we finally go going and we pull into the parking area and ken flies off the dirt road into the sagebrush. He worked and worked to get it out...only to get us further and deeper into the abyss. I went on ahead to let the kids tube and I think everyone made about 2 runs before they were ready to go home...only the truck was still stuck. I can't believe we got it out without a tow truck! But we did. I just kept thinking.... "Where is Spencer when we need him?"

Domestically challenged

Ok...so for family night we were planning to dip pretzels in melted cooking chocolate. Can I just say I am domestically challenged? How hard could it be to melt chocolate and dip the stinkin' pretzels in? Apparently, harder than my skills allowed. I burned myself, got water in the chocolate and in the end handed the stirring spoon to Ken and walked away. Ken added some sugar and nuts and made fudge instead. Moral of the story: When your wife gives you messed up chocolate, make fudge. :)

Yee Frickin' Ha!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Gingerbread

We had a great time making our Gingerbread house. Everyone took turns decorating while we listened to Christmas music and sipped hot apple cider. Alexa, Cody and Mason even turned into gingerbread rascals. Happy times!

How are you?

Tonight I was at the grocery store and the check out girl asked the man in front of me (whos turn it was) "How are you?" the man answered lethargically (Is that a word?), "pretty good." Robert, the owner who was bagging said to the man, "That didn't sound very enthusiastic." He talked with the man for a minute and the man left. I stepped up to the counter and the check out girl said, "How are you?" and I shouted, "I AM TOTALLY AWESOME!!" Robert laughing says, "Now that's more like it!!!" All three of us were cracking up. The check out girl says, "That was a nice change but I have to admit you really scared me!" I think I laughed all the way out the door. LOL

Nativity

Our family was asked to participate in a live nativity. I

thought it was a great opportunity to experience the true meaning of Christmas. The boys all liked holding the staffs. Alexa was a darling angel. All was well until the donkey bolted. After he was dismissed of his holy calling, Alexa decided to pet the animals. She had just finished saying hello to the goat and had turned to pet the sheep, when that rotten goat stole the glimmering halo right from her head! It was all pretty funny and we were happy when our replacements showed up. It was getting pretty coooold!

Spare Tire

Tyler, Alexa and I were looking thru some old photos and came across this one of Ken. We were kind of snickering about how big his belly looked with the jumper harness on when Alexa said, "I'm a baby in Daddy's belly, huh mom?!" LOL. Good thing Ken has taken care of that spare tire or he might have had his feelers hurt :)

Ear rings

Last weekend we went to St. George to get Lexa's ears pierced. I think I was more nervous that she was. She said to me, "Mom, I WON'T scream!" She was so brave. I was holding her on my lap and when they pulled the trigger, she sort of tensed up, but she didn't make a peep. :( Ouchy! She has loved them from the first moment, though. At church on Sunday, she went around showing all her important people. It was cute. Our first mother daughter (girly) experience.

Little Off Broadway Picts

Little off Broadway has been so fun for me. I will miss it. It will be nice to spend more time with the kids and working on other projects that have been put on hold. Thanks to all who came to see the show or sent well wishes.

A barel of monkeys

Our weekend in Boise was great. We saw lots of sites and beauty that Idaho holds, had some laughs and tears with our beloved Hafens, and even got to do some shopping. Whoo Hoo. Sigh...now back to reality...

Hide and seek tips

1. Put the dog out so that he doesn't growl at you when you are hunkered downlike a theif in the corner.
2. Put the teenager in time out for scaring the little kids out of their minds when they are found.
3. Don't expect to stay hidden very long when you are hiding with your 3 year old.
4. Hiding under the desk is a great time to practice those advanced yoga moves.
5. Pretending to be a statue, against the wall, doesn't work.
6. Ringing cell phones are a dead give away to your hiding spot.
7. Don't come out of your spot when the children are fighting...it's the only legal time to hide.

Alexa has been saying some funny things lately. We were outside in the front yard the other day, and a policeman drove by our house and when she saw him coming, she said, "I'd better sit down". And she did. I'll bet you can guess what she hears in the car around town. :)
Alexa doesn't understand the concept of the sound "ffff". Flip Flops are Thip Thops. Flower is Thower. Floor is Thor. I don't correct her much. It's just one of those cute childish oddities that will soon slip away.
Lastly, Alexa knows that she isn't allowed to eat hard candy. She's pretty good about complying. The other day she came outside to find me and said her throat hurt. I asked her why it hurt and she said "I swallowed a choking hazard". A couple of days ago, she grabbed a Jolly Rancher as we were headed out the door and said, "I am going to give a choking hazard to Tameran". I thought that was pretty funny.

Ok, so here is one of the highlights of my year....The annual Halloween party with our friends. This year it was held at the Mathews Bed and Breakfast. Tyler's costume was great, he was a whoopie cushion. We played a hilarious game! Everyone received a number and then two numbers were called and they had to sit next to each other and think of a pick up line geared toward that person's costume. Sometimes it was a man and man or vice verse. I think at one point it was heather and Paul who are brother and sister. My number was called with Paul who is our bishop! Holy Hell! Talk about awkward. But as you can imagine that only made me want to be more naughty! LOL. Paul was laughing so hard, he was actually crying. It was a fun night. My face always hurts after these parties from laughing so much.

Little Off Broadway links

Here are a few links to the songs I get to do this year in our show(for those who don't get to see the show).
Show off is my solo and I'll do it almost the same as seen here. Woo! Cartwheels in a dress. LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLDq-2e2JC0

Pooh corner is a guitar duet...Yea! I finally get to play my guitar on stage!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inUKxeeHSM4

And this is a dance I get to do w/Marty while one our our women sing "sway". I love to dance!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfP2zk7LZhQ&feature=related

Halloween

Can I just tell you how excited I am for Halloween?!! Ken and I are going to be pirates this year. (I have had a fixation this last year with pirates...Did you know that you can learn to talk pirate on you tube?! It's freeking awesome! Wait, let me rephrase that...Arg, me loves to talk like a saucy wench, you scurvy sea dog! ....Pretty good, huh?) Our annual Halloween party is a the 23 (we'll miss you Hafen's). I'll be sure to post pictures. AND, I think we are planning a trip to Idaho, which is where we will be for the acutal day of Halloween. Cool, I can't wait to scare kids that I don't know! Be sure to check our my link (on the right side) for some Halloween fun. Let me know what you think. :)

Autumn or Winter?

I am soooo not ready for winter! We had our first snow storm of the season last night/today. Yuk! I have about four layers of clothes on and I'm still cold! Isn't there some cosmic rule that says the the fall colors have to dissapear before the snow falls?

Cat-sicle (similar to popsicle)

Several times during the summer, I have come across Alexa standing with her back against the freezer in the garage. She, of course, has a sheepish grin on her face and when I ask her what she is doing, she tells me "Nothing". So I open the freezer to find our cat once again inside. He meow's sadly and slowly steps out. Who knows how long the poor thing has been in there. One day, we noticed that our dog, Mojo, was missing. So Alexa and I hopped on the scooter and went down the street looking for him. Alexa suddenly pipes up, "Oh mom! I put him in the freezer!" I whipped the scooter around and headed home. I jumped off before it was off and ran for the garage. Open one freezer...no Mojo. Open the other one...no Mojo. I go in the house and call for Alexa. She says "Mom, in my room." I go in there and in Alexa's Dorra fridge, here is poor Mojo, crammed onto one of the shelves with hardly any room to move. At least he hadn't been turned into a Dog-sicle. Our poor animals!

Little Rascals

A couple of weeks ago, Alexa had a friend over. They had been outside and all around. Ken came home from school and came right in to the kitchen where I was. He says in a voice of panic, "what happened to the tree?!!" I went to the window out front and there lay our new pear tree broken in two! I went outside and as I got near, I could see a box of bandaides sitting at the base of the broken tree. There were wrappers strung all over the grass and bandaides on the irreparable trunk. I asked Alexa and her friend what had happened and they said they had pulled it over and tried to sit on it. I have the picture in my mind of a cartoon when you bend something and then it flings you. What ever! I don't know what they were thinking! Little Rascals!

Alexa the future hairstylist

Alexa has had a terrific time lately cutting hair! Wednesday, she cut her hair, her pretty pony's hair, her doll Dorthy's hair and the dog's hair! Thursday, she cut her bangs with "childproof" sissors. She did a pretty good job too. No joke! Like she knew what she was doing. Little Rascal!

Guitar

Tyler is learning to play the bass guitar. He loves it!

The spring

"Mom, look at this shell!" A day of swimming at the spring.

Accidents

Wow! What a rough couple of days! Alexa was riding her scooter and crashed. The end of handlebar caught her right on the bone under her eye. Poor girl.
The next morning, Mason was spinning around and got dizzy and fell, hitting his head on the piano bench. It split his eyebrow right in half. It was a nasty cut! Headed right to the Dr. for stiches. You can imagine the thoughts going through the heads of the staff there. Especially since it was the same clinic where I was treated for my broken hand from hitting Ken, 2 years earlier! LOL

Little Off Broadway

For those of you who don't know what Little off Broadway is...It is a group of adults who get together to sing and dance to mostly broadway songs. It is kind of like high school show choir but with adults. I have been preforming with Little off Broadway since 2000 and have been the assistant director for 2 years. This year I will be singing a song called "show off" from The Drowsey Chaperone. And I get to play my guitar in a duet. A few of my jobs as assistant director are: recruting, choreography, song selection & assigning parts. I also take the head shots for our group, including my own!