Gone, but not forgotten

Somehow this just makes me feel better about throwing away Rik's ancient alarm clock.

Christmas Break Pictures

So far Christmas break has been a lot of fun (except for all that wrapping... which I did finish before Christmas Day....phew!) Here are a couple pictures from Christmas Eve at my parents house:


My brother Nathan and his family were here this year, and so was my sister Karissa and her family. The food was yummy, the pinata didn't break the first time through (in fact, it took several rounds through all the kids to break it, and even then it just kind of fell off the rope and the kids attacked it on the floor....whatever works!), the nativity went good (that's another one of those "reminds me of Christmas when I was little" things), and all in all Christmas Eve was a lot of fun! (Notice in the picture that Kayden, who was a wise man, is still holding on to his gift for Jesus.... looks like he's trying to hide it behind his leg or something... I'm pretty sure that's not how it went in the story....)


In my family we are a little short on boys (only 3 boys so far between me and my siblings), so Malia and Taisha were the shepherds... beard and all!

On Christmas Day we opened presents, stayed in our PJs until 5:30 (and really only got dressed because we had family coming over to have dinner, and we thought it would be nice to be dressed....) and just played all day. Here's how many gifts fell apart or just weren't right though:

-iHome for Kayden - not the right style, and his iPod wouldn't stay on the charger thingy
-Jeans for Kayden - missing the button
-CTR necklace for Taisha - fell apart when she carried it to me to put on for the first time, I put it back together, and it fell apart today at church in a totally different place!
-Jeans from Old Navy for Kayden - too short (sheesh he's getting tall, which is fine, if only his waist would keep up! They just don't make jeans his size...)
-Shirt for Malia - didn't fit
-Boots for Anaya - in a size 9 box, but actually size 8
-Clock radio for me (which I totally didn't need.... the 19 year old one we had was still working...kind of) - worked for one day, went down hill quickly after that, and I can hardly read the time now.... It's heading back to Sam's Club tomorrow.
-Wallet for Rik - couldn't fit all his stuff in the new one....I think he might need a man-purse.
-Extra Wii guitar for Rockband - didn't get the right one, so it didn't work with the game.
-Cute puffy vest for Malia - wrong size

So try and guess what I spent the rest of the weekend doing?! Everything except the clock radio has been switched out. Sheesh, you'd think that I shopped fast and furious for Christmas gifts and didn't actually look at the stuff I was buying... oh wait, that IS what happened!

I took the kids sledding on Saturday with Melanie and Trevor and their kids. The hill was really slick, and my favorite part of the day was sitting in the van (yes, I went sledding in the van....it's freezing in the snow, you know?!) laughing at the kids trying to get to the top of the hill, and slipping all the way back down to the bottom! Even better was when one of the big kids would try to help one of the littler kids, and they would both end up at the bottom of the hill. They loved it though (and of the several different types of sleds we had (plastic disc, flat rug-type, rubbermaid 2-person sled, and tubes), they said the tubes were the most fun.

Why every house needs a bannister:

Lots and lots of snow today... and lots of kids playing in it!

Tonight for FHE we watched the new youth DVD that they are showing on New Years Eve to introduce the 2009 theme. Jeffery R. Holland starts the whole thing out with an awesome message, I really enjoyed that. But then, I don't know if I'm just too old now or what (Rik says it's because I'm heathen.......... whatever Lamonite!), but it was just so cheesy. Rik had told me beforehand that it was going to be even better than High School Musical (also cheesy), and I guess I don't know what I was expecting, but I had to keep covering my eyes because I was kind of embarrassed watching it. Finally Rik told me to go make the rice pudding I had planned for our treat tonight, I think so I didn't have to watch any more. Anaya came up to help me. And after her help I decided that she has "future Relief Society President" written all over her.... except that she's kind of vocal and might offend occasionally. While I was starting the rice pudding, I asked her to get a bowl to put it in, and she went right for the festive red bowl, and told me it was because it was Christmas, and it needed to match. She then told me that we should get some Santa hats and wear them when we dish out every one's pudding, because that would look good, especially if we had Santa bowls. Huh, I'm pretty sure I wasn't thinking about proper presentation of the dessert at 4 years old.

So tonight is the night that I get all my wrapping done. Last night and the night before just didn't work out because I keep going to bed instead of wrapping.... but sheesh, I'm running out of time! (But Rik fell asleep on the couch downstairs watching that DVD, so I would have the WHOLE bed to myself........I could always wrap tomorrow right?!)

Merry Christmas and o holy embarassing....

Friday night was our ward's Christmas party. The theme for primary next year is "My Eternal Family." We are going to decorate our bulletin board in the primary room with pictures of every one's families. I tried to get as many family pictures taken at the party as I could. This is ours (notice that McKay has food in his mouth.... I guess that's what happens when you take pictures at a dinner....)

Also on Friday one of the stores in the mall was having a one day sale of 50% off your entire purchase. I thought I would go see if I could find something to wear to church this week. I had Anaya with me (who loves to shop). I grabbed a few skirts and shirts to try on and headed to the dressing rooms. While I was in there, Anaya in her nice, loud, clear as a bell voice said, "Mom, why do you have such big chestes?" (And that's exactly how she pronounced it.... with the plural "ez" on the end.) I tried to quietly shush her, so she yelled "Why do I have to be quiet?!" Oddly, me and my big chestes didn't find anything at that store.....

We have 9:00 church, which I really like, and we get there on time just about every Sunday, but I have to cut some corners to get there sometimes. Like brushing teeth in the car, and putting on lotion and chapstick during the opening song.... stuff like that. I usually bring McKay and Anaya's breakfast with us (usually cinnamon waffles or Eggo muffin tops) wrapped in a paper towel and put in a zip lock bag. Today was no exception, and after McKay finished his waffle, I put the paper towel back in the zip lock bag and sealed it back up. A couple minutes later I had to switch spots with Anaya, so she wasn't sitting by McKay (which should just be the assigned seating rule every week.......) When I sat down though, I sat right on the sealed zip lock bag, which then popped, kind of gun shot-like.....nice and loud. I looked around to see who had noticed.... judging by the expression on Rik's face, they heard it on the stand..... the family behind me was laughing, and after Kayden passed the sacrament, he sat down and asked me if I was the gun shot noise..... so they heard it over there too. Sheesh.....

I had sharing time today, and we put on a nativity pageant. It was so fun! While I was getting all the costumes out, Anaya came in all excited because she wanted to be the princess in the pageant but was pouty and mad when I told her there were no princesses in the nativity story. I finally talked her into being an angel, as long as it was a pretty angel. On our way out to the car after primary, Anaya told me that she looked like an angel, but she was really the princess.....

Happy Birthday Taisha!

Here's a picture of the kids this year in front of the tree. They are smiling so good, because they just said, "Daddy's a ballerina!" Works every time!

We had Taisha's birthday party on Saturday, and it turned out pretty good (thank heavens!) Last Tuesday I had this thought: "HOLY CRAP-OLA! Christmas is in 2 1/2 weeks and I haven't started shopping yet!!!! AHHHHHH!" (Yes, I actually said "Crap-ola" in my head... how weird is that?!) So I hurried and put down my paint brush and started shopping that night, and then every day after that I have shopped 'til the stores closed. I just kept thinking that as soon as I got this and that done on the basement, then I would start shopping for Christmas. And then this and that took WAY longer than I thought, and all of a sudden I had all sorts of shopping to do in a short amount of time. Taisha's birthday was kind of right in the middle of my panic shopping, but she said she just wanted to go out to eat with her friends and then go swimming at the athletic club for her party, which sounded great to me. Taisha filled out her own invitations and got them delivered at school. Late Friday night, the night before the party, it dawned on me that the athletic club wasn't even going to be open the next night! So Saturday morning we changed gears and came up with a whole different party. We took the girls out to eat, and them came home and decorated gingerbread houses. I wrapped a chap stick for each person and made them unwrap them with gloves on their hands, and then had them pair up, link arms, and wrap a present using only one hand per person. For a last minute party, it went pretty good. Lots and lots and lots of sugar, all over everything, and everybody.... which I'm pretty sure means it was a good party.

Nice icing mustache....

I had to finish Kayden's house (the green plate), because apparently when you turn 14 you are too cool to make a gingerbread house.... he just wanted to throw the candy and try and catch it in his mouth, but missed about 1/2 the time, so then there was candy all over the floor, which matched the rest of the kitchen.

Taisha wanted dirt for her birthday cake....YUM! She turned 10 today.

Here's Anaya trying on Taisha's new boots:

Here's my stellar gingerbread making skills. Look at all the bread in the background! We had a primary teacher appreciation party Sunday night, and we gave them a loaf of bread. I also had a piano recital that night.....and Malia had to speak in church that day..... and I had to play the piano in sacrament meeting with a violinist.... and my visiting teachers decided to stop by after church. *sigh* Some Sundays just go like that.

McKay has already eaten all the candy off his gingerbread house, and asked if he could start on mine. Ew. Now I just have lots and lots of wrapping to do.... and a little bit more shopping.... and then more wrapping.

Just Breath

Friday night Malia's little singing group had a performance at The Gables. She said she was nervous... but I don't think she was as nervous as me. I started out really excited, until it was her turn... then my mouth got dry, I got all shaky, got butterflies in my stomach, I ended up handing the camera to Rik, cause I didn't think I could hold it straight, then got teary eyed cause she was doing such a good job, and then I just tried to catch my breath until she was done. Sheesh.. you would have thought I was up there performing.

We had an awesome weekend. I got McKay and Anaya's room re-painted. I went two shades lighter than before, and it looks a lot better. I started out only painting 3 out of the 4 walls with the new, lighter color, thinking that might look nice (no, I was not just being lazy, mostly.... well, maybe just a little bit), but ended up painting the fourth wall the next day. It looks so much better! We got the closet organizers in and all the toys washed and put in. I re-did the decorations in Malia's room (her room looked a little off to me... but looks much better now).

On Sunday we went to the handbell concert with a whole bunch of family (we were sooooo happy to see the Soda family that joined us!), came back and ate, and then went to the dancing lights in Iona (that's what my kids call them, cause the lights on the house dance to music.) One of the songs that plays is Carol of the Bells, which is Anaya's favorite Christmas song (one of about 20 favorites). Last year she called that song the DoDo song, cause there's usually no words just "Do dodo do, do dodo do..." So when Carol of the Bells started playing at the dancing lights house, Kayden told Naya that the DoDo song was playing, and she let everyone know that it was not called the DoDo song, but rather Carol Bells. Glad that's cleared up.

School Pictures for Taisha and McKay

Ya, I know, we are almost halfway through the year.... but here are Taisha's and McKay's school pictures from this year. They are still not quite what I was hoping for... but as good as they are going to get for now I guess!



Oh, I also wanted to let everyone know that there is an awesome handbell concert coming up on Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Here's the info:

Ring in the Season Handbell Concert, Dec. 6 at 3 p.m., Dec. 7 at 4 p.m., Dec. 7 at 7 p.m., Trinity United Methodist Church, 237 N. Water St., Idaho Falls, www.tumcif.org, jkarinen@msn.com, (208) 522-7921.

We have gone the last few years, and love the performance!

Gotta work on that HUMILITY thing

Anaya got her ears pierced yesterday, and she was so excited to get them pierced that she didn't cry, or even flinch! When we were leaving she told me that now everyone is going to say she is even more beautiful! Sheesh, we just got her re-trained to say thank you to a compliment instead of "I know" (like, "Anaya, your hair looks cute today." "Ya, I know"). But apparently we still have some more work to do. (Hehe... she's on the floor beside me, and just asked McKay if he wants to see her earrings again because they are GORGEOUS!)


We got the Christmas stuff up for FHE last night. I have a few more things I want to do, like put lights on the new tree in the front yard, but for the most part all our halls are decked! Notice that in the picture Kayden is wearing the stockings on his feet....he's also holding the Target ad that came in the mail yesterday... he was busy telling me all the things he wants from Santa.... festive!

You know how a smell or a song can take you back years and remind you of memories? Here's my weird Christmas thing that makes me feel all Christmas-y like when I was little: The Chipmunks Christmas CD...and we have two of them, and they both just make me all excited for Christmas. Rik can only handle about 30 seconds though, but for those 30 seconds, I feel all that anticipation and excitement like when I was little waiting for Christmas to get here.

All this lifting, painting, furniture rearranging, and stuff is doing a number on my back... so I haven't been sleeping all that well. Maybe I need to get into a Chiropractor, but the other morning (when my back is at it's worst), I was having the oddest dream. I was part of some reality show, kind of like the chef and designer shows on Bravo, only this one was for masseuses. I wasn't one of the contestants, but I was one of the judges, that had to judge how well the massages were given. So there were weekly challenges (I have no idea what they were.....) that involved my back getting massaged. I smell a million dollar contract deal with Bravo for this stellar idea (cause there's nothing more exciting than watching someone get a massage!) It's kind of like the Stephenie Meyer dream a bazillion dollar book thing. Or, maybe I just need to get to a chiropractor, and get a decent night of sleep....

Rats...Can't Sleep

I was trying to have a nice Sunday nap, but my "sore throat" cold has turned into a "cough til your eyes water" cold, so I kept coughing myself awake. So, I decided I would just get up, put dinner in the oven, and spend some time on my long awaited paint blog. I have been painting the last 3-4 weeks, which makes me an expert. So here you have it.... me passing on my painting expertise:

I started out priming everything with WalMart's Color Place primer. I got way too much (like 5 gallons way too much) and it was white and boring, but it went on fast, and there was no cutting in! (Please give me a call if you need primer...you can have it!)

With the red, lime green, and gray that I painted, I decided I needed a really good paint so that I didn't need to paint a million coats, so I chose Valspar Ultra Premium from Lowes. This was the best paint that I tried. It is really thick (think painting with Elmer's glue). It stuck to the roller and the wall, so there was no dripping or splattering and it went on thick... so no re-dos. Worth every penny.

I used Olympic Premium for the family room. As far as I could tell it was the same as the Olympic 15 year that I used for Malia's pink walls and the ceiling paint. It wasn't as thick as the Valspar, but thick enough that there were no drips, and there was minimal re-paints. I used WalMart's Color Place 15 year for the trim and doors. It reminded me of the Olympic Premium.

The very last room that I painted was McKay and Anaya's room. I got the Behr Premium Plus from Home Depot and it was terrible paint! It was really thin, so lots of drips and re-paints. It spattered all over and I had a harder time getting it to sit right on my paint brush for cutting in.

Valspar Ultra Premium: *****
Olympic Premium: ****
Olympic 15 year: ****
Color Place 15 year: ****
Behr Premium Plus: ** (And that's mostly because it washed off pretty good... like out of the carpet that it would spatter on.)

PS: My scathing Behr comments had nothing to do with the fact that I was soooooo sick of painting when I got to painting this room.

PSS: It has nothing to do with the fact that McKay came in screaming because he thought the color was girlish.

PSSS: And I certainly wasn't in a bad mood when Anaya came in screaming because she thought the color was boyish.

PSSSS: Nor did it have anything to do with the fact that I was painting around the bunk beds, a dresser and a TV, so things were a little cramped, and I put my step ladder down in my paint tray, cleaned that off, and then stepped off my step ladder INTO the paint tray, and then when I was trying to take my painty sock off, used the wall I just painted for balance, and because of my head cold, had no voice to yell at the kids to get me a wet towel, and the kids were far away in the basement, because they just knew they shouldn't come into the room to tell me what they thought of the color.

PSSSSS: And it has nothing to do with the color, which I hate. It's an aqua/sky blue that I am going to get really tired of in about a month two days ago, and I think I'm going to have to repaint this week.

PSSSSSS: Nor does it have anything to do with the fact that I couldn't find the drop clothes, had to run to WalMart on Black Friday for that one thing, had no pumpkin pie in the house, the kids ate a whole pound of my cinnamon glazed almonds while I was painting (I was saving those), and when I finally finished the room, I walked out and the rest of the house was a total disaster. Nope this was a purely objective paint review.

And now my review of painting doors:

I hate painting doors. Ya, I know, that is a shock, because I have really enjoyed painting um.... nothing.

PS: The door and trim roller I have makes a nice finish on the door.

PSS: I don't have a bad attitude about painting.

PSSS: My painting doors review had nothing to do with me shaking the door/trim paint, and not realizing the lid wasn't on tight, the lid falling off, and paint spilling on the laundry room floor (could have been worse.... I could have been on the new carpet! *phew!)

Alrighty then, 3 doors painted, 5 to go. Oh yippee!


Sorry, no pictures today. But I'm taking Anaya to get her ears pierced tomorrow (after having this conversation with her about 1000 times this weekend: Anaya: I want to get my ears pierced! Me: Ok, we'll go Monday after school. Anaya: Is it Monday after school right now? Me: No, did you have school today? Anaya: Mmmmm, yep. Me: No, there was no school today, and there are too many people in the stores today. And then 5 minutes go by and we repeat the whole thing all over again....no concept of time!) So I'll probably get some pictures up with her earrings, which are going to be hearts and probably pink. I'll take some before and after pictures of the robin egg blue room (ewwww).

Oh wait.... I can steal some pictures from Thanksgiving from Laura:




We went to Soda Springs for Thanksgiving, and of course, the food was awesome, and it was so fun to see everyone!

With a little furniture and stuff

We are still working on getting some of the odds and ends done down in the basement. I still have a little bit more painting (my mom and I have done all the painting in basement.... and I kind of needed a break from painting.) Here's what it looks like with furniture in it (we haven't moved the furniture into the family room yet.... but we're getting there!)

Malia's room (we still need to hang up her mirror, and find some furniture... the room is pretty empty... she also needs a dust ruffle for her bed. She loves the space though)


Kayden's room is just about done. He has a TV, but we don't have anything to put it on right now.


This has nothing to do with the basement, but Anaya's hair turned out really cool the other day. I'm so glad she likes having her hair done (even if she's very opinionated on how it should be done....)


I decided since we were moving things around I would move Taisha into the boys old room, and put the two little kids together for a while in the girls room. That way everyone gets a new room. Eventually Taisha and Anaya will probably end up together, but for now Taisha has the place to herself. The room needed to be de-boy-ed though, which involved lots of Spackle and a fresh coat of paint. The pictures make it look mint green, but it is actually lime green and purple... and really cute!



I'm still working on McKay and Anaya's room. I think I will get it painted this week, and then I should be done with the major painting (until I forget how much I hate painting, and decide to paint my room.)

The three older kids have been really excited about moving things around and having their own rooms. Anaya wouldn't speak to me the first night we moved her out and into a different bed (isn't she a little young for the silent treatment?) She would just look at me out of the side of her eyes and glare. But she seems to be over that now....sheesh! McKay was ok with everything for the first night, but the second night I decided to move their clothes into the other dresser and closet, and holy smokes, the guy freaked out! He wanted his clothes back and his bed back and whoa... he actually had me thinking maybe he needed a behavioral specialist to talk to.... but then he got that out of his system, has decided he wants his walls painted too and his toys moved in. Phew.... nothing puts me in a better mood than fit throwing. Hopefully we'll finish up on everything over the next couple weeks, and can settle back into a routine... just in time for Christmas craziness!

Speaking of Christmas, here's a picture of Malia's first Christmas concert at the Festival of Trees. And once again, I took a spectacular picture!


I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving break! Hopefully we can get a little more done! Come visit though.... I'm so excited to show it all off! (Just a side note.... I've been spending a lot of time on big projects and a little teeny, tiny bit of time on my normal work.... so the house isn't super sparkly.....but it's getting there.)

Yippee!!! Pictures of the Basement!

Carpet went in yesterday..... and boy, what a difference that makes!! I still have a little more painting (doors, window sills, and touch ups), but it's getting really close. I think I would be more excited it I wasn't up til 3 every night. Last night I had a chance to get to bed closer to 12:30 or 1, but we stayed up until 2 talking about how excited we were....how pathetic are we?!

Malia's room. Her room is going to be pink and brown.

Kayden's room is gray, blue and black.

Coming down the stairs (oooh...look how daring the color!)




I have been tagged a bunch lately in my email so I thought I would hurry and post one here:

6 Things about me.

1. I grew up in Canada. I moved to the United States between grade 8 and 9th grade. I can still speak fluent Canadianese if I feel like it.

2. I sang in an Opera when I was up at Rick's College. I played the part of a boy that was pretending to be a girl from The Marriage of Figaro. I can still sing the first verse of my favorite song in Italian (it sounds like garbage now, but I remember the words.)

3. I love to read movie reviews. Tons of them.... and I also like to read comment boards about movies to see what everyone is saying about the movies. I can tell you how many stars each movie received and which reviewer said what.... but I don't actually like to go to the movies, and almost never go. And speaking of reading, I also like to read the last chapter or 2 of every book I read , and sometimes the last few pages of every chapter as well. I just can't help myself. I'm really bad at keeping suprises a surprise too.

4. I was a contestant in the Miss Idaho Falls Pageant. My voice teacher suggested it as a "good performance experience." I was singing lots and lots those days. I did the whole thing.... swim suit, evening gown, talent, interview.... the works (um, yes, I did say swim suit... I wore a nice blue swim suit... which I still have.... and which the guy I was dating at the time said was too modest.... one track mind on those teen aged boys!) I have the whole thing on video, hiding in an undisclosed place in my house. The worst part was I did it for the performance experience, and ended up with a nasty head cold the night of the performance. My voice teacher had me drinking lemon/honey water and Robitussin by the bottle (she swears by that stuff to clean the gunk out of the pipes). Robitussin can also cause drowsiness, so I'm just glad I stayed on my feet all night... especially for that whole swim suit with heels thing....

5. I majored in math. I started out majoring in music, but decided I didn't quite fit in with the music group (some music majors are a little out there!), so I changed to math, and found that there were odd people there too, I just fit in better with them. Right now I use all that math knowledge to correct all my kids math homework and make sure they don't get too frustrated trying to learn it. I'm almost giddy that Kayden has geometry next year (although this is the 4th time I've been through 4th grade math.... and it's not quite as fun this time around.)

6. I am not all that athletic or competitive (ask Rik, he'll confirm). I tried track and field when I was in jr. high in Canada, and then when we moved to the states I thought I would try cross country. On my first run (after living here only a few weeks), I got really lost, had to run until I found a gas station, called my mom, and told her to come pick me up, where ever I was. I was so embarassed, and because of that I haven't run since (that and running makes me out of breath, sweat, sore, and tired). Traumatic running experience when I was young.... that's why I don't run... ya, that's my story!

An Ideal Day

We had stake conference this weekend. We were supposed to have it next weekend, but they kicked us out of that stake and made a whole new stake for us to be in. Last night was the adult session of conference, so that was our hot date for this week. We were planning on getting some dessert after, but all that talk on "stake this" and "stake that" and "this new Ammon stake," made me hungry and craving steak! Yes, I know, sad how my mind works.... So after conference we went to TGIFridays for steak, and it tasted so good! (Just so you know, I did actually listen to the talks, and they were excellent. The two general authorities that came to set up the new stake and stake presidency were outstanding speakers.... I only thought about food for part of conference.)

Later on that night we were talking about what an "ideal day" would be like. "We" meaning I talked lots about it and Rik rolled his eyes and gave me lots of blank stares, which I translated to mean "Hmmm.... you're ideal day has nothing to do with winning a Frisbee golf tournament or watching UFC live?!" I'm really good at translating Rik's facial expressions and moments of silence. Ask him.... he'll tell you! Like when we are are chatting together on MSN ("we" meaning I'm chatting away and Rik is working,) when he doesn't instant message me right back, I translate all that non-messaging. I can have a whole conversation with him, and he doesn't even know it! It's a gift really. Anyway, here's how my ideal day would go: I would have nice long sleep in, where my back didn't hurt and I didn't feel guilty about sleeping late (right now, my back only likes to stay in bed for 6-7 hours, while the rest of me would prefer 7-9 hours of sleep.) The kids would already be gone with Rik doing something really fun, that would take all day, and didn't require much preparation (like not going camping.... that destroys the house just to pack and get out the door....) I would go take a nice long shower with yummy smelling shampoo, conditioner and body wash. When I got out, my favorite jeans would be clean and broken in. My bed would already be made (as would all the other beds in the house) and the floors would be all picked up. Really all I would have left for my morning work would be vacuum and one load of laundry, but there would be nothing in the washer that had to go in the dryer, and definitely nothing in the dryer that had to be folded and put away. I wouldn't have to do my hair that day, because I would go to the hair place and they would cut my hair, color it the color I see everywhere that I love, but can never seem to get on my own head, and then they would style it (I can't seem to do my hair these days...) Then I would meet my friends for lunch. After lunch I would go do a little shopping, and would really luck out because there would be a one hour sale with an additional 50% off your total purchase (totally makes my day when I get a good deal!) Then I would go home, take a nice nap in my clean house, then get up and read some of my favorite blogs, who would have all posted something funny and interesting. Then I would go pick up some dinner, take it home, and eat while watching TV (a little side note.... when I pick up dinner, they would say they were offering a new dessert for free, just to get the word out.... I love free dessert). I almost never watch TV these days, and haven't for years, but wouldn't mind a night of it every now and again. While I was watching TV I would finish up on the one load of laundry and get it all put away, and then I would go to sleep when I was tired...early or late. I wouldn't have to worry about starting the dishwasher, or turning off lights, or correcting any homework. The kids and Rik would get home the next day.... and I would be a totally different person. I wouldn't want everyday to be like that..... but once every couple months would be so nice!

This week will not be anywhere close to my ideal day.... but carpet is going in Tuesday... that will bring a whole different kind of joy (but I just might be exhaused too...) Nice to day dream though. I'll get some pictures up later on this week!

Malia's 20 Seconds of Fame!

I figured out the video stuff. So here it is:



She came home from practice all excited last night, partially because she thought maybe I would say yes to letting her have one of her singing teacher's puppies..... um is she new here?! That would be a no... but also because she and another girl got the "Santa Baby" solos. She has her first Christmas performance next Friday afternoon at the Festival of Trees (3:00.... so she gets to miss school. She's really hoping it's A day so that she misses computer class....)

Kayden bought himself a new iPod a couple months ago, and it has been the best investment! Kayden usually goes nuts when Malia has to practice singing (because he's a good supportive brother like that and/or kinda grumpy) but now he just plugs his ears with his iPod and goes off to his happy place where his sister doesn't sing. And then there is no yelling in the house and all is peaceful. At least for a couple of minutes. Anaya, on the other hand, is Malia's #1 fan. Every time Malia starts to practice, Anaya is right there watching and listening. She knows all the songs, and the other night fell asleep in Malia's bed while Malia was singing her little lights out. Malia seems to think that Anaya is a better fan than me. Apparently Malia likes "Sing it again Malia! That's my favorite!" over "Ahhh...That needs to be a longer vowel sound!" (This is why she takes piano and voice from someone else....) Speaking of piano (kind of), for everyone who plays the piano, this is the song Malia is playing for her Christmas recital. Go download the sheet music and play it,or you can listen to the MP3. It's really pretty.

Technical Difficulties

Last week my kid's elementary school had a fund raiser at Barnes and Noble. They scheduled each grade to come and perform, and then you bring parents, grandparents, neighbors etc; to come buy stuff at the Barnes and Noble and a percentage of that money would go back to the school. I was lucky enough to have kids performing three nights last week (I think the school office staff hates me.... first, because they asked me to be a "walking school bus" (yes, that does involve wearing a huge yellow jacket that says I'm a "walking school bus," and second, because they scheduled all my kids on different nights.) I remembered to bring the camera to two out of three kids performances... not bad statistics.... but naturally I forgot the camera on Taisha's night. My friend Kim's grandma has me very worried that I might be overlooking my "middle child," (long story... I'll explain later), so I took a quick picture with my cell phone. It turned out like this:


Oh well....I tried, hopefully that doesn't ruin Taisha. Taisha's in the red hoodie, I'm sure with a perfect smile and eyes wide open. Here's the picture of McKay, who went kicking and screaming because it was more important to reach the next level of Lego Indiana Jones, than fund raise for the school.

McKay is in the middle row, second from the left. He actually sang, well, for most of it! (McKay just walked by and said, "Mom, you should have taken my coat off!" *sigh.)

Malia sang with the performing group she joined. I have the whole thing recorded on my camera. I just need to take some time to convert my camera's Quicktime video so I can edit it shorter (I don't have Quicktime Pro, or any of the software I need to do that...so I need to spend some time finding some free stuff online to do all that). Malia's solo was about 20 seconds, the whole song is a lot longer than that. I'll try to get that done later.

I took McKay to get picture retakes last week, and I give up. He is so cute and smiley in real life, but get him in front of a really nice photographer, and McKay just couldn't work it out. His expression changed from "What? Picture? Who me?" To "Ack! Does a smile go up or down in the middle? I can't remember!!! I'll just open my mouth. Phew, glad that's over!" Oh well.

The basement is so close. I would be moving kids in right now, but the door and trim guy caught the flu last week, so everything got pushed back a week. He should finish up Friday afternoon, and carpet is scheduled for early next week. And I only pouted a little bit over all that.

A few more pictures from tonight

Here's a picture of Kayden and Malia at the Trunk-or-Treat tonight. Kayden is a cereal killer (thanks Debz!) and Malia is a pirate. The lighting in the church isn't the greatest (Malia's scarf on her head is cherry red in real life!)

I'm sure you have all been wondering what happened to Taisha and McKay's school pictures from this year (ya, I know... not really....) I got their pictures back last week, and they are both getting retakes next week. McKay looks like he's saying "What? Pictures? Who me?" And Taisha is smiling like her life depends on it! So we'll try it again.... this time I'll take McKay in the morning and smile coach him.

Halloween 2008

We got around to carving pumpkins last night. Malia carved the scarecrow, Taisha carved the "Help! I've fallen and can't get up!" pumpkin, and Kayden carved the mummy. McKay and Anaya helped get all the pumpkin guts out (McKay did it without touching them though...)

Taisha as Cleopatra this year.

Anaya was a princess again this year. (She loves the dress... but was bummed that she didn't have new princess shoes. All I can say is she better marry rich, because she LOVES shoes, jewelry and having her hair done!) (Whoa... look at The Wiggles rocking it out on the TV!)

And McKay wanted to be Harry Potter again this year. It only took me 9 tries to get his scar the way he wanted.... Here's how it went:
McKay: Mom, draw my scar on.
Me: (Grabs eye liner and draws on a scar.)
McKay: (Runs to mirror, looks, bursts into tears, comes back yelling at me to do it right.)
Me: (Gets wash cloth, scrubs off scar, draws a new scar as per McKay's drawing of how it should look).
McKay: (Runs to mirror, looks, bursts into tears, comes back yelling at me to do it right.)
Me: (Gets wash cloth, scrubs off scar, draws a new scar as per McKay's drawing of how it should look).
McKay: (Runs to mirror, looks, bursts into tears, comes back yelling at me to do it right.)
Me: (Gets wash cloth, scrubs off scar, draws a new scar as per McKay's drawing of how it should look).
This little routine was repeated 8 times. Finally on the 9th time, I clued in that he was looking in the mirror... so I needed to draw a MIRRORED image of his scar drawing. After that all was good. And thank heavens for that (McKay still tells me Rik draws it better than me, but it is ok).

Look at my awesome princess hair do (and yes, I did steal/borrow the neighbor's bow that she left here yesterday.... but look how cute!).


I helped with the party in Taisha's room this time (the elementary schools are out tomorrow for parent/teacher conferences... so Halloween parties were today). After thinking a while about what games I wanted to play (I started working on this last night about 10:30), I thought I would Halloween-ize some old baby shower games. So I put a bunch of Halloween objects in a black garbage bag (vampire teeth, small pumpkin, witch finger, snake, sucker, spider, small tombstone, etc;) and tied a knot in the top and they had to feel the objects through the garbage bag and figure out what was in there. Then they had to guess the weight and circumference of a pumpkin, and then I melted 6 different chocolate bars and they had to guess what kind of chocolate bar was all glopped up on the tray (they could smell, but not touch)...(Rik came home to change into temple clothes to take the youth to do baptisms, and ate the chocolate glops of yuck right off the tray....ew). At the very end I had them turn their paper over, put it on their forehead, and they had to draw a pumpkin, a bat, and a crescent moon.... or scribble... because that's what it looks like when you draw on a paper on your forehead.


The ward Trunk-or-Treat is tonight, and I'll probably get a couple pictures of the other two kids who might dress up as "youth who just got done doing baptisms for the dead."

Trim and doors were dropped off this afternoon, so I'm planning an all-night paint 'til it's done party! Fun! Carpet next week, and I'm moving kids down next weekend. Yippee!!

Anaya 2008

Here's Anaya's school picture for this year. Last Thursday I took her with me to run some errands. First we went to the car wash (mostly so it wouldn't be so embarrassing for the next errand). She loves the car wash. Then we went to Jiffy Lube to get the oil changed. They had free popcorn and a gumball machine. We got done at Jiffy Lube and were driving to McKay's school to help out and Anaya told me this was the best day ever! So I've decided to cancel the Disneyland trip next year, get some new furniture and then take the family to the car wash and Jiffy Lube! I might even splurge and let them all have a quarter for the gumball machine!

The basement is coming along. I'm almost done with the painting. I need to track down some doors and trim today. It is starting to look like real living spaces.... which is exciting! I'll try and get some pictures sometime.

Hmmm....What's that word?

The other morning (yellow day at preschool) Anaya was feeling hmmm... what's the word I'm looking for? I guess Anaya said it best herself: "Mom, dad is going to tell me I look CUTIELICIOUS!" Which he did, 'cause he's cool like that.




We did get some snow Saturday and Sunday. And true to my word, I'm not even going complain about the freezing cold icky stuff that has no right falling before all the leaves have fallen off the trees. In fact, I'm going to think positive (cause that's just how I am)... while my kids were outside breaking the Sabbath Day playing in the snow, I got one of the best naps I have ever had... so bring on the snow (just kidding... I really only want it to snow for the two weeks around Christmas, then I want summer back.) Oh, and did you see how fashionable that snowman was? I smell a Project Runway episode in the making (love that show...which is weird, cause I'm not all that into fashion. I'm doing good to get my clothes on the right way). Awww I'm going to miss PR after the season finale tomorrow night.

I know everyone is riveted with the basement progress so I'll give you a little update (holy smokes I'm so excited...) The texture is getting sprayed on tomorrow, and we should be able to get a coat of primer on after it dries. The carpet man came and measured for the carpet (which amazingly Rik and I both agree on!), we started shopping for doors and trim (all needs to be painted), and we went shopping for light fixtures (which we kind of mostly agree on...or not...) We have worked out what colors are going in all the rooms except for Kayden's room. I need to spend some time online looking at teen boys rooms. We have some ideas, but don't have anything really concrete decided, especially when it comes to paint. Any ideas? I'll try and get some pictures after we get some primer up (because I know how exciting that is for everyone!)