Twilight

My toddler and my cranky baby are both asleep. So I have decided to clean. I am proud of this decision.

But I am obviously not really going to do it! I am going to blog about the Twilight movie instead. C'mon, you've got to have priorities!;)

Rachael has been trying for over a week to earn the right to go to the new Twilight movie. As the week has gone by, my standards have gotten progressively lower. By Saturday night she just had to have all of her Saturday jobs done, her room clean, and be nice to her family for...an hour. Well, I was ready to see it too!

We went to the 9:15 showing and it wasn't crowded at all. We got fabulous seats.

Honestly, I had a hard time not giggling through most of it. Even Rachael, who has read the book 11 times and loves all things Twilight, admitted that they should have added more humor. They tried to be serious all the time. I couldn't stand how heavy it felt! Or how awkward Edward was.

(Baby's awake. Typing one handed. Which we all should have been taught in school, by the way.)

I did have to use the restroom and missed,"the kiss". By Rachael's description, it sounded pretty intense. And maybe not appropriate for my 11 year old. I'm a bad parent. Hindsight.

Because I missed such a crucial part of the movie, Rachael refused to use the bathroom when she needed to. And she had a hard time enjoying the rest of the movie because she had to pee so badly;) So now she thinks she needs to go again.

I did actually enjoy it. The second half was much better than the first. More action and less silly intense looks. I loved the baseball game. And the rest of the movie after that.

And I thought Jasper was HOT! It's not his fault he always has that look on his face. He is trying hard not to eat all the people! You try it. I think he should have been Edward. Nothing against Ol' Cedric Diggory, but he WAS a little scrawny. And needed braces. Moving forward...

I have high hopes for the next movie. I think they will learn to add more humor. I think they will have a higher budget (seriously, whose idea was it to do this movie low budget? Did they not realize how hugely popular the books were?)and I think the young actors will learn to act better.

Will I watch it again in the theater? Probably not. But I am pretty sure we will buy the DVD.

Christmas Cards!

My friend Melanie pointed out to me recently how lucky I was to have so many talented family members. The conversation went something like this:

"I love Abigail's bracelets, where did you get them?" "My sister made them for me"

"Where did you get her Halloween bow?" "Jannalee made it"

"Cute burp cloths!" "Jannalee makes those too"

Another friend pipes in-"She has a brother in law that is an orthodontist, that's handy." Yes, yes it is.

(I have another brother in law who is a pilot, which comes in handy sometimes too.)

"Now you need a sibling that does invitations and announcements" This was a funny coincidence. "I do! and she has a great eye and a talent I just don't have. She's my sister in law and I have a link to her website on my blog"

I am very blessed. My family is basically a mechanic away from being totally self sufficient;) O.K I am exaggerating.

But this conversation also reminded me that I needed to get crackin on my birth announcements. And Christmas cards. So I decided to combine them. This was no problem for Margaret.

I love it so much I can't stop looking at it. I think I will make it my new screen saver;)

The blog I have linked is mostly baby announcements, but she does Christmas cards, birthdays, anything really. You can choose from a layout she has or she will make you a totally custom design, like she did for me.

So if you want something new for your Christmas cards, it is time to check her out!At Tiny Tale Design.


I am tempted to show you my card , but I will wait for after Thanksgiving. Willpower!

I Give In!

You Are The Cranberry Sauce

A little sweet, a little sour - you've got the flava! Though, you do tend to squish in people's mouths...

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

My cousins have been doing this quiz. And when my brother did it too my curiosity got the best of me. So far they have all been mashed potatoes, with one stuffing (of course Laurie is the stuffing) so I was curious what else was out there.

Of COURSE I am cranberry sauce. What else could I be. I'm not exactly sweet these day;) Leave it to me to be a little tangy. I dig cranberry sauce.

I'm Sleepy

I have had about six other posts that I have wanted to do. But I have been dealing with a seriously high maintenance baby. And I am going a little bit crazy.

The last couple of days I have come to the dreaded realization that she is downright colicky. Dang it. I thought we had a deal. I go through the pregnancy from H and in return I get a nice, easy baby.

It didn't work that way. I am too old for this.

My poor husband and kids. I told them it would be better after the baby came. No more crazy, sick, cranky, useless, pregnant mom. Unfortunately they are learning that they only traded her in for crazy, fat, sleep deprived, cranky mom and a screaming baby.

They got swindled.

Does that Really work?

Does anyone recognize this image? Does anyone actually have one of these in their homes?

I do. We keep one in our bedroom just in case. In case the other phones are lost, or the battery runs out unexpectedly.

Apparently, we never use it. The other day Wendell pulled it over to the computer desk while I was on an important phone call and was waiting on hold forever. He was afraid the phone would go dead.

It has been sitting by the computer for a few days now, and our kids are incredulous. Like it is some kind of technological dinosaur. The funniest thing is that they weren't surprised to see it. They only got surprised when I actually answered it. "What! That thing really works?" You would think it was a rotary phone or something.

The funniest thing was the look on Rachael's face. She was so amazed. She started slamming it on it's cradle and said, "It's like in those old movies! Where they get mad and slam the phone down. Then they do it the wrong way and have to pick it up and put it down again.!" Then she took it into the other room and said,"Or when they stretch the cord as far as it will go to get some privacy. It is totally, like, the 80's Mom!"

DO I feel old now? Like, yes;)

Mom and Baby

Rachael thinks this one looks like this:



Any resemblance? ;) I think she just has Twilight on the brain:)

Some More Favorites: Just Abigail Rose

I saw this tutu on Kim's baby Macy and had to have it! It really made some awesome pictures:






Then of course there are the ever popular nudie pics! My kids thought this was so funny...and dangerous!;)

I thought they turned out so precious in black and white.


I loved this material with her little pops of red. Such a great contrast.





....And then she woke up!



Here she is plotting to take over the world. Watch out!

Back to the Gym!

(This is totally me at the gym. Can you tell?;)

On Thursday Abigail was 4 weeks old. it was time to get my booty back to the gym.

I am starting out slow. 9 months of being basically sedentary is not good for your body, let alone your muscles. So I need to build up some strength. If I went straight back to my old classes, I would kill myself.

I did the elliptical, stretched thoroughly, then did my yoga class. I was a little annoyed that my yoga class was less intense than usual. I wanted kind of a moderate muscle workout, and felt like I didn't even get a mild one. So I was a little surprised to be sore today. Pathetic!

I am trying to figure out a way to share my weight loss on this blog without disclosing my actual weight. Let's put it this way. I have forty more pounds to lose to get back to my normal weight. not my high School weight. Not even my post baby one and baby two weight. I am talking post three babies, working out muscular, "healthy" weight. Not super skinny weight. I have 40 pounds to lose to get to my "healthy" weight.

It may be a long hard road. Wish me luck!

Newborn photoshoot

Some of you have commented or e mailed me about my new family picture(above) in the header of my blog, and it is time to give credit where credit is due.





I bit the bullet and scheduled a newborn photoshoot with Ashley (Thank you Laura).




I have to say she is reasonaly priced and more than worth the investment! I absolutely love love love the way the pics turned out. I wish I had done one when each of my children was born.



The reason I have delayed blogging about it is that I am having a hard time picking just a few to share. So I decided to post as many as I want;) I will just do a few at a time. If you don't want to see a million pics of my family, skip it;)

At least my mom in Germany and my MIL in Utah will enjoy them;)



MOre of my favorites to come!

Article of Faith

After the election results came in last night, what I needed was a little Faith. Faith that we still live in the greatest nation on Earth. Faith that we live in the Promised Land. That we still live in One Nation Under God. On that note, I will leave you with the 12th Article of Faith:

We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

And now I will keep working on my Faith.

I Voted Today!

I know. The rest of you probably did the sensible thing and voted early. I tried! When I requested an early ballot, it wouldn't let me. when I called and asked why they said something strange like, "your voter status has been suspended" What the heck! When I asked how that could happen, they didn't know. They said I would have to go out to the early voting polls. I intended to, but you won't be too surprised to find out it didn't happen.

Ginge comes over today, so I had three hours to get my voting done child free. But when I got there, there was no line! Woo hoo! All you responsible people who do their voting early made it so much easier on people like me.

so I took my cheat sheet and voted. If you don;t know for whom, then we probably haven't met. Or you haven't heard my children explain how Barack Obama believes in killing babies. Don't worry, they don't know the details of what a partial birth abortion entails, but they don't really need to.My presidential pick is more complicated than that, but not to the kids. Maybe they have a point;)

Happy voting!

Halloween!

I know I am missing a child! Rachael had a little drama. For her school dance/party she dressed up as the cutest Minnie Mouse ever. I should have gotten a picture, but I figured I would have a chance later. But I didn't.

Most of the costumes I use are borrowed from my sister Jannalee. Sometimes Rebecca. That is because these girls tend to make fabulous costumes and I do not. They have spoiled me and I have a hard time using cheap store bought costumes instead.

So the cutest Minnie Mouse costume was borrowed from Jannalee. On Thursday I got a call from Jannalee saying that her daughter changed her mind and wanted to be Minnie Mouse. Devastating to an 11 year old. We had a little crisis and Rachael almost boycotted Halloween. She even went to our ward/neighborhood party without a costume. In the end, she borrowed a poodle skirt for Trick or Treating and all was well.

(Kindyl, super cute pirate. You see what I mean about the costumes...)

(Mitchell, AKA Harry Potter. It is amazing how different he looks without his blonde hair. Not to mention hard to pick out of a crowd.)

We started out at our ward/neighborhood party. It is always a lot of fun. It is nice to see the families of some of our ward members. Many of our members have kids our age. We saw Rhonda and her cute girls, and Caryn and her cute boys. It is always fun to see those girls.


(Rhonda's little Talia with Abigail. These girls are only two weeks apart.)

I always love seeing what the grown ups come up with. It is so interesting to me because I just do not have the imagination or the inclination to come up with a costume myself. The one I loved best was a cute young couple dressed as Peter Pan and Wendy, with two cute little girls dressed as Tinkerbell. I don't know them, they are the kids of someone in our ward. (Caryn, I think you probably went to school with her) But I was very impressed.

(My cutest ladybug, Brenley)

(Abigail, tiny Jack-o-lantern. They don't make preemie costumes, so this had to do. I like it. Jannalee's Halloween bow pulled it all together, I thought.)

Then it got a little more complicated. Wendell had to help clean up, and the kids(O.K, I really mean I) did not feel like waiting around. So I rounded up the kids (easier said then done.) and headed for the car. Rachael and her friend Cami wanted to be taken to a party. But they weren't sure where it was. And I needed to get home and get the candy ready to hand out. We have a ton of kids come by our house, so I feel guilty if I am not there to hand out candy when the kids start coming around. But Bren and Mitch wanted to go Trick or Treating. Abigail was screaming to be fed. And I didn't feel like flashing the neighborhood. I basically needed to be three people, and I had no husband.

So Rach and Cami handed out candy while I fed the baby. and Mitchell snuck in for Trick or Treating with the Andersons. The girls had to wait until Wendell came home to be taken to the party. So W came home, took the girls to their thing, and then took Brenley Trick or treating. I stayed outside to hand out candy with the screaming baby. She just wouldn't cooperate. And all of the kids wanted to touch her. I was trying not to be mean. But now she has a cold. Nice.

Halloween. Not my favorite holiday. It is really only worth it for the pictures;)

When we were just about finished our friends the Princes stopped by. We haven't seen them much since our ward was split and we miss them. Brooklyn, Brenley and Courtney had an impromptu picnic in our rocks. They had so much fun sharing their candy! Abigail and Macy are only a few weeks apart and it was fun to see those girls together.

Then we peeled the children off the ceiling and sent them to bed!