Yo, Peeps!

It's Spring Break and we decided to stick around this year. So far it's been nice hanging around at home. We've had some crazy windy weather despite nice temps but before it arrived we fit in a hike and a trip to the park, colored our first batch of Easter eggs (making my fridge smell super awesome) and today some of the kids friends are coming over to make these little Easter treats.
I saw a similar idea on my friend Anna's blog and thought it was so cute. I modified the 'pen' to a rice {substitute corn flake} crispy treat and shaped it into a nest for the base. I know- it's not like nests are made out of flakes- I really wanted to use that fiber cereal that looks like twigs (aw! so cute, right?) but alas... I didn't want my friends bothered that I made their kids use the restroom more often. If you do that for your own, do send me pics!
Then I used royal icing to glue on a bed of colored coconut, candy eggs and an electric colored peep. The reviews are in! This 'tweet' is something to chirp about! Ha! What a bad closing line....
Anyway, soon my family arrives for Easter festivities (sans the Jolleys :( )! Can't wait!

Word WOMP

If you play this game then you will appreciate this humiliation.
Check out the move that Scott pulled on me last week raking in 185 POINTS. The most I have EVER accrued in a play is around 65 points. And I've done that, like, maybe two times ever. Did you know you could even get UP to 185 points?? Major game deflator, I'm telling you.
Shortly after I got lucky with Erica and scored 120. 120!!! She hasn't talked to me much this week. Do you think this could be why? (She says she's busy but I'm skeptical)
I know this post is dorky but I don't care. Obviously I took immediate pictures to memorialize this important occasion in history. And in the books (er, blog) it doth go.

North Again

This past week I took the kids and went up to visit my family for a quick couple of days. Scott and I had tickets for Vampire Weekend but he wasn't able to join me. Would that keep me home? NO WAY. Love him but come on now. Rich & Randi joined me along with Erica (who was already up there visiting fam) and we had a great time singing and dancing among a large group of unfamiliar wannabees. The other two days were not enough to fit in everything. The time goes quickly when you shop with the girls (Mom+sis) and hang with everyone. I love being with them. Along with VW, some other new sightings were my parents canary named Elvis (who sings so beautifully and loud it sounds like the garden of Eden) and go to family lunch and get pictures with Grandmother. Luke had his first sleep over with the cousins and I got lucky thrift shopping per my Mom & Juls. Why is this monumental enough to tell you? Because thrift shopping stinks. I will tell you why. It takes a long time to look through those places and the effort does not usually pay off (not for me anyway). In most cases I will really like something in the store, get it home and it does not shine in it's cool vintage way... it now looks like all the old crappy furniture/accessories/what-have-you that we hauled country wide during years of school. The interior design magazines are good, people- that mix of old and new is a hard skill to master. So here we are- walking into this place and I'm drawn to many things that I put back down with great discipline. But! I did end up with a few that I never came with buyers remorse. Miracle! So I wanted to share these victorious finds. Do indulge me and be impressed, won't you? (lie if you have to)
As always, so fun to see everyone. Thanks, Mom for the long talks and hanging out with me. And Randi for the new Lilac polish- I LOVE IT. (Randi/Jess- did you? It's so great, no?)















IMAGE 1: Found a pile of old LDS art and liked this picture of Mary as a mother. Makes you think about what kind of mother she was and the kind of home atmosphere the Savior was raised in. Then I think about the kind of mother I am and the home atmosphere my kids are in and hang my head in deep, repentant shame. So I had to get it! (teehee) How's about that groovy as all get out barely-blue pressed glass mug? Horse heads and a chevron pattern? MINE. Cool little miniature furniture for... I don't know what. My only idea was to put them in a shadow box frame and make it look like a doll house wall. Weird, right? You don't have to tell me. I know. Vintage glitter! The stuff we used as kids on construction paper Christmas deco's- chunky square shaped greatness. IMAGE 2: Thanks to my dear sis Juls who found this and let me have it. I'd been pawning through rows of paintings trying to find something perfectly tacky and odd and she found this- how great is it?! True paint-by-numbers winterscape in muted colors. She sure loves me. A random wire drink holder which, once painted a fun candy color and filled with clear glasses, will be a cool pencil holder indeed. And finally, a cool old boat. I have this thing for boats. Don't know why. Love red & light blue together so this was a keeper. It's another thing I see possibly framing...? Any other ideas?

St. Patricks Day

St. Patricks Day is a fine little holiday but nothing we really celebrate much. Other than the green ensemble for the day or a little green food item, I don't do much. The day before (the 16th), Sadie was sure there was a leprechaun in the house. She said a door closed all by itself. And well, I ran with it. By the end of that night, I had all the kids thinking we could trap it. But my motivation was left to take advantage of what we could get our hands on right then and our trap was none too pretty. That's probably what made this more fun as I tend to think too much and over prepare.

We started with a box. But what to prop it with?
A salad fork. But what to hold it with? Something that won't let it slide....
A suede oven mitt! Now we need treasure. I asked them what gold we had? Only old Chuck-E-Cheese coins from years ago in the piggy bank. Perfect! And a gold bowl we can put them in!
Scott contributed an Scout award because he said the leprechaun will think it's special.
With the treasure bait set, the girls wrote notes.

Elliet was concerned there wasn't enough gold to fool him so her brill idea was to tell him if he knocked down the stick, more coins would fall. This made her happy with our plan and we left it for the night.

And then it happened. Just as I was falling asleep I got an idea. I snuck into Elliets room, found a little doll shoe (isn't it great they don't read my blog?) and made little foot prints escaping the trap using chocolate syrup. I tore the box, wrote a note with my left hand and went to bed.


First it was Luke who gasped when he came down the stairs. Then he woke up the girls and they all got excited and came to tell me what they found. Luke was the funniest because he was simply shocked at how small he was. "He's just so tiny!!", he would say over and over.

It was a pretty fun way to celebrate the day.

It's Official

Spring has arrived. Soccer practices have begun! The girls have been waiting and waiting. Scott has also been philosophizing for years on being their coach and guess what- they were shorthanded this year so he got his chance. He is coaching both teams. A benefit to this is having practices the same night, one right after the other. He's been a little overwhelmed with the launch but I think the routine will kick in and they'll have fun. Since the teams were new (& the coach), we told everyone they could find him on practice night with the kids holding the large swim noodles. I thought Sadie looked particularly funny like this. She totally resembles a 'Toot & Puddle' picture here....
Scott's done a great job creating drills that play like games and girls are all having fun. Here's to the future of hot Saturday games. I'm going to be 'that' mom with a large umbrella, cooler and lawn chair.

BY: ME!

During reading week the school had some fun things going on like guidelines for certain colors to wear each day of the week a lot of reading projects to do. One of them was to pick a book and make a box display for it. I hollowed out these boxes and spray painted them black and the twins told me the rest. It was fun to see what they envisioned and have them instruct me on what they wanted it to look like. I think they liked bossing me around, too. So sad reading week is over. ;)
Note:
Luke's name all big where the Authors should be (exclamation point included) so he appended that element to the side. And that dog... that loooooong bodied dog.
I love Sadie's handwriting. The title is so adorable.
They did a great job. I enjoy their creativity everyday!

Sabotage!

Are you trying to watch your weight right now?
Are you trying to be strong and not eat those Girl Scout Cookies in your cupboard or that bowl of cold cereal at 10pm? (Naturally, I know nothing of these temptations... just heard of them in articles and other such studies)
Are you going to see these pictures and forget your resolutions?
Please forgive me as I share the photos of my crumbling goals. I too have suffered from the above cases of discipline and, well, this time I made donuts.
And they were good.
The best/worst thing about this recipe is the dough does not need long to rise. And they were easy.
Damn.

Land to the D

Here are a couple of pics from that crazy week of my RS Activity/Disneyland/MtBiking hills of DEATH and so forth (yes, I will milk that trail title while I can).
And yet, is Disneyland much different than nearly escaping death? I do believe we can have a similar comparison on the matter. The crowds, the saccarine marketing, the fried food, the lines...they should sell oxygen masks with the Churros.

First off, the RS Activity grub. How about them cupcakes? My great presidency baked the recipe from scratch (I don't like cake mixes and they we so supportive- what gals!) and I frosted w/ homemade buttercream. I was supposed to contribute chocolate ones but they, ah... were awful. It's true. I modified the vanilla recipe for Lemon by having them add zest to the cake batter (and I added zest and fresh lemon juice to the frosting) which worked great. SOOO fresh and lemony. I recommend if that's your gig.
Now- Disneyland!
The great new things we did this go-around were:
*Go on tons of rides. Man, going mid week in Spring is a good way to spoil other trips. We probably didn't wait in line more than 10 minutes for ANY ride.
*Meet up with friends who happened to be there the same day which made (little) line waits more fun and humiliation more extreme while squeeling like little girls on CA Screamin' (Totally Scott.... OK, and me.).
*Ate at the "Pirates of the Caribbean restuarant, you know the one you pass by on the ride?" Yes, that is the title of the place. But now you know to where I am referring. Last time we tried to go I got this stink eye look and was told reservations are made weeks in advance. This time we tried it right before lunch and got in. Take that, Ms. Stink eye. In all my years I have never been there. It was fun to have that curiosity cured.
*And the best for last. We all, the entire family, did the Tower of Terror ride. None of us knowing what was in store. The kids kept asking us if everything was going to be okay... if the ride was scary... were there monsters?... which we dismissed because we didn't know. So here's to finding out! The funniest thing is we were all put on the FRONT row. As we put on our seatbelts, Luke, sensing that we were on the verge of something fearful cries from his end of the row with a face of worry, "I LOVE YOU MOMMY!". It was so funny (and cute, of course). It was really fun and Sadie liked it most of all. I wanted to curl into a fetal position and laugh at the same time. Kinda weird. The coolest thing though was going on an all-new ride. Do you remember that feeling as a kid?

Booked

Brian Regan has this joke mocking the cooking directions for a Pop Tart and how directions on the box offer a cooking alternative to toasting: You can microwave them for 3 seconds. He goes on to say if you are so busy in your life that you only have 3 seconds in your day to prepare a meal, you're 'booking yourself too tight'. That you need to pick up some Wyoming brochures. It's all very funny. It's also been something I thought about this week as I ran from thing to thing. Here is the beginning to the end:
Tuesday- it all started at 6:30pm. Our ward RS Activity. So much prep, car loads and set up... the activity went well (I think) complete with a homemade video, many service projects and even included homemade gourmet cupcakes (SO yum), we picked up in a blur and I returned home to then drive to Disneyland. The RS stuff filled up the garage floor and I loaded the car. We left at 9:30pm.
Wednesday- 1:00am we arrive at the hotel, unload and crash. Wake up, eat Breakfast and hit the park. Spent most of that day in CA-Adventure with some friends. Great fun (pics on that next). Back to the hotel to crash- we were all asleep by 9pm.
Thursday- Wake, eat and do the Disney shizzle. Finished by 2pm- loaded up and drove home. Used the night to prep for...
Friday-Scott took the kids to school ('Donuts with Dad' y'all) while I loaded the car for Mt. Biking in St. George. We had a big trip planned to ride the White Rim Trail but had to change it because it's still covered in snow. By 9:30 am we are on our way. We met up with our group, rode, ate and played. Then slept hard.
Saturday- ate breakfast, rode some more, packed up & ate and headed home. We got home just in time to change clothes and drive across town for our ward Temple night at 6pm. Dinner after, then home to bed.
Are you tired yet?! I ask you this: Where would I have fit in a pop tart? I do realize that it was mostly selfish. I could have easily not done much of that and I know I do it to myself, but it was worth it. If you read this much, here are the few pics I grabbed during the St. G installment. I'm only home for a couple of days and then off again. Time for a toaster treat!


This is my great friend, Erica. Without her I would not have been out there swearing. I mean... admiring the great beauty of the southwest on 29ers. She is amazing on her bike and so fun to be with. We always talk about funny stuff on our outdoor activities and she pushes me to be better (on the bike and off). XO to the E!

She took me to this really fun area on our last ride called the THREE FINGERS OF DEATH. I wish I could say it was treacherous...nay, to be lucky I'm alive! Keep thinking that if it makes you impressed. But really, it was big swooping ups and downs. So much fun. Yes. I am 7.
It's the other stuff we did with unassuming names that have switch back turns edging hundreds of feet drop offs. I did freak out a little at those....

So so pretty, right?!? The weather was awesome. It was calm and beautiful in the skies. When Erica and I rode up the hill to the car, a storm blew in and the wind picked up like crazy. Within minutes the rain came down hard. Whew!


I had to get pics of this house. Do those look like ghosts? Is that Siguaro a figment of your imagination? These yard sculptures are made out of wire mesh and were stop worthy. At first the eagle was my favorite and then I looked a little deeper to see....

The big Indian against the side of the house. Faaantastic! I so urge you to click for a bigger look. I spy a turkey and a bear. A snake and a squirrel. A dragonfly and an arse (well?... it IS).

Pinkies Up

These were featured this week on Daily Candy and I thought they were cool. From a company called Hammocks & High Tea. Plain old tea towels in rad prints (There are more if you are interested in yellows and such). But pretty spendy at twenty bucks a pop! At least they are inspiring. Makes me want to copy that mexican blanket design and silkscreen it down the front of some v-neck T's. "And how!"

Holding On

Time to defunk the funk.
Time to climb out.
This week is packed so tight with preps for the RS activity Tuesday night and two little adventures thereafter, here's to hoping I can jolt myself out of the blues amid the demands on my time. It's March- there are blossoms blooming on trees and warm temps coming, new music on my ipod again (see my finally updated links to the right) and an attempted new [humbled] attitude change. Up we climb, eh?

I took these pictures last week while Mt. Biking, both are from the same day. Some people think the desert is blah but I have posted before about how beautiful and colorful it is. Even down to da ground. I think it's cool to see them side by side and thought you might, too. Perhaps I'll take pictures all week of my feet in different places... maybe that would be a cool experiment.
Maybe not. I'll decide later.
Have a spiffy week <3

Eat Your Feelings

I hope that previous post wasn't too lame. I know it's one thing to feel that way and then another to tell the world (which I don't do often). But then I thought, who cares. There it is. What I am feeling. I appreciate all the sweet comments and private emails. I hope that didn't come off as a veiled invitation for praise but rather evidence that I'm a total girl and have my depressing pouts at times. So mature. I know.
So until I get over my hump, there was one ray of sunshine that twinkled my eyes this week. In case you haven't seen a girl scout yet, track one down and kidnap her! Well, okay, don't. But do throw money at her and load up on the cookies. I stocked up last week and this Saturday is the last day they'll be @ my local market. It's as holy as food storage.
Then eat half a box and life is rainbows again! At least my tongue says so...

Do you ever feel...

... like you are drowning?
For weeks I have been in this weird funk and I can't figure out why. So many little things to do, and perhaps most of them are actually my normal many things to do, but instead of doing them, I just feel... like not. And there they float... all around... waiting to be done like they always are. But I'm getting tired. I'll do that laundry and then I'll have to do it again. Why make dinner anymore because it's so boring. I've tried new things -been helping more at the school, I've been trying to speak softer to my kids (In vain, mind you- it was an attempt to try and reduce the over-talking in my house but now I'm just drowned out and bulldozed), trying to have gusto for my new calling, try to be inspired... but I pass creative ideas that I have no motivation to do (why should I?), I need some new music badly but don't even care to look right now (why??), I am bored with my workouts (why do it? Who cares?), I stand in my closet every day attempting to make a better effort and then I look in the mirror and wonder- who I am kidding?!, I should blog- but why? Who cares? What am I? Just someone who fulfills all of the should-do's for everyone.. the school projects, the homework, the meals, the laundry, the picking up, the church stuff, the design stuff...every day... over and over. Ugh. This is not me. I miss me.

Sorry to be down. Esp. on here. But I guess I feel like... who cares?