New York

I got called a SLACKER again - this time by Jen who blogs less than me!! LAME-O, she may use the excuse of pregnancy or working 60 hour weeks - I don't want to hear ANY OF IT!! I will forgive since I got to chill with her a bit last Friday night.


I got to spend the last two weekends in New York - it was AMAZING!! The first weekend was without the kids - enough said. I got to just chill with an old friend Olivia. She is the queen of knowing the best, I mean the BEST, little bakery's in NY. I ate two chocolate chocolate cookies that were each over an inch thick and four inches in diameter. In my defense it took me a whole day to eat the first one. The second one I ate on the train ride home - it was delayed 3.5 hours because the train in front of us hit someone. So I didn't mean to eat the whole thing - it was due to unforeseen circumstances!! She did make me walk like 40 miles in the 2.5 days I was there - so the cookies couldn't have been that bad. My favorite part was walking over the Brooklyn Bridge - awesome!! Weird to say about a bridge but true..



Before the NY trips there was crazy hair day at J's school.. His hair was really long so it could be really crazy - he loves to have it spiked. I told K to make sure they had a bath at least before church. I got home to dirty kids - which who really cares - but the red hair. J still had pink tinted hair and a red scalp. Someone at church noticed it and thought maybe J's head was bleeding - nope just left over paint.




The next weekend was a family trip. It was excellent family time. You know it was a good vacation when at the end of every night, the boys were complaining that their legs were hurting. We did Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty first. J said that was his favorite part - I wish we could have done the audio tour - but kids can only handle so much. We hit the Empire State Building after that - at J's request. Of course we didn't pay to go up to the top. On the way home S was obsessed with finding a SpongeBob Popsicle that we saw earlier in the day. He informed me that if I didn't find one he was going to whine all night. TURD!! He settled for tic tacs - who knows. We spent the next day in Central Park - the zoo and then the park. The park is beautiful and K loved it. Those huge rocks provided ample climbing time and I took a NAP!! That is right - it is totally normal - i mean if people can hang around shirtless or snuggling or making out - I can take a nap. There were two ladies next to me who had the same idea. We finished the day playing soccer - for like 3 hours. In the end J and I figured out how to shut out K, and we perfected our celebratory hand slap, complete with sound effects.

SpongeBob Popsicles - FINALLY!!

We came home the next day in time for swimming, more soccer, and a BBQ at the neighbors. All in all a rockin weekend. I almost forgot about the fireworks - in CA we watch fireworks on the 4th - maybe. Here we do fireworks on every occasion possible and there are no such things as fire hazards - as long as you don't do them in your house you are safe.

Happy Mother's Day Week

Well I would probably not be posting... but a good friend (Jenea) was visiting another good friend (Julie) in Utah this past weekend. Julie told Jenea I was a blogging "SLACKER" - what the heck woman. Now I am going to blog to be labeled "UNSLACKER" for a day.

I have to blog about junk that happened in my life so I will blog about the awesome Mother's Day Week I had. My own amazingly cool mom was here the whole week before Mother's Day - that is why it was a freakinfantabulousweek. We ate out - way too much - we saw movies - and we read books. We did absolutely nothing productive - I really mean absolutely NOTHING she even gave me dirty looks when I told her she had to make her bed.

We did go to Mother's Day Tea at J's school. It was nice - J was crazy to really show that he can act up when mom and grandma are around. His poem did say I was cool - but it also said I like TV.. DANG YOU J - I don't even have bunny ears to get lame channels like PBS. I will admit that I like to watch movies at night - but couldn't he have said my mom likes to READ - honestly!! At least he didn't say I was fat or something (totally not TRUE)!

Then on Friday K took piddle and diddle (J&S) to fathers and sons. Actually he and two other dads made their own fathers and sons because they didn't want to drive 3.5 hrs to get to the real one. 6 boys, 7 and under made for good times. They did s'mores, played soccer, went on a hike, and did this GPS find the treasure thing. The box they found was full of girly treasure - needless to say they didn't feel the need to take anything and replace it with something of their own.

The boys swinging on a vine..

The sad ladies left at home had to find something to do - so we ate out, watched a movie, came home to watch a movie, and woke up to eat breakfast at the Hershey Pantry (sooo good). Are you detecting a pattern? Then I put the old lady back on a plane for CA and I had a couple of hours till the boys got home. In those hours Sandra came over and we went for HUGE sodas at Turkey Hill - NICE!!

The real Mother's Day was the day to end the week of slothfulness - and as always K delivered. I came home from church to the boys giving me a catalogue (a card showing what I could buy at K's Secret Store) and money with their faces on it. K's Secret Store had 2 chocolate roses and a pack of SNOWBALLS that I could buy. (SNOWBALLS ROCK - hostess cakes covered in marshmallows and coconut) He even threw in some flowers. After that exciting shopping my day was filled with napping and reading. Serious - I read the whole latest Fablehaven book - it was so CRAZY GOOD!! I did take a break to eat the amazing meal K prepared. The amazing thing about it was that he prepared it using the 3 ingredients that were in my refrigerator - I REALLY needed to go to the store!!

The day ended with stuffed bellies attacking. The boys were leading but I know it was the big K mans idea. They came and found me with their large bellies and squished me - then they began to kiss me like crazy. It was quite comical when the littlest belly stuffer of all, couldn't really get his belly in the action; so he was content with kissing my hand that was outside of all the commotion.

Goin back to Cali!!

Do you remember that LL Cool J song.. Anyways it has been a while but it is official - K has signed a contract and we are going back April 2010. Of course I am excited - we will only be 4.5 hrs from the family. I have been super lazy in the blogging thing - partly because I couldn't download my dang pictures - what the heck!

A lot of crazy crap has been going on. Let me tell you something that will make you all jealous - I GET TO GO TO GIRLS CAMP!! I will admit that I am scared of the girls, but everything else sounds fun. I even get to go on a canoe trip in May with my group - 4Th years.

We went to Myrtle Beach way back when for about 5 days and it rocked. It was a little cold but we were able to hit the beach, hit the mini golf courses, and hit sonic everyday for a cherry limeade!! We also went to the Ripley's Aquarium which K loved the most (weirdo) - he especially loved the part about the invention of the first incubators for babies.

A Velcro wall which K had LOTS of fun with!!

The beach

This was J's face after the sand fight he and K had - good thing the beach was pretty deserted.

Our pathetic castle skills

J is full in soccer season and loving it. I can't say I love games and practices - plus it frustrates me when I see him not staying in his position. Good thing I am not the coach. I have so many pics and so little time, but to give a little insight into J's soul. These stickers were on his valentines envelope to collect all the valentines. "Who needs Cupid?" "Love Stinks" "Hearts, Flowers, Chocolate, WHATEVER.." I will be honest and say I LOVE IT!! Keep up the good work J.

S is enjoying life - right now he is into dressing in all yellow so he looks like a baby chick. This could be a problem! For now I just say right on. We did just get a baby chick pet - she is named Big Yellow. She eats a lot to keep up with the inspiring name. The neighbors got 5 besides the Big Yellow so she needed to stay with the others and it makes my job easy. Of course we have full visitation rights. We have put our house on the market - that has made my life crazy!! First all the junk to do and now to keep it clean. S was talking to the neighbor girl who was saying that lots of people have been looking at our house. S was quick to respond " yeah they are looking, but too late, we already bought it!!" J literally prays that we don't sell it and I am tired of trying to tell them that selling would be a good thing.

YO!!

I keep remembering that I need to update my blog - but laziness or projects come up. I am going to put this cute pic of the boys up that K liked because they looked natural - whatever you say honey!! Now I probably won't blog for a long while!!

When we were in Cali J said to my mom "I don't like princesses - they tell you what to do!" . I will admit that my reaction was - "right on brother" mostly because I am afraid of princesses too!!

S is the same little man with big crazy talk. If I am going to have a child who chooses to be a doctor (heaven forbid) it will be him. I only know this because what 5 year old has a favorite book called Diseases and Disorders. He brings it to me everyday and wants me to read it to him. I kindly tell him it is daddy's book and that daddy will read it to him. S immediately finds a really cool page like something on osteoporosis and insists that I must read it because it is so cool. Being the awesome mom that I am - I make up some good crap to tell him!! There are lots of pictures in the book and he really liked it when I told him where the food he ate went and where it comes out!! I am hoping he won't remember words like "anus" or "rectum" - sometimes it is so fun being a mom.

Being Frugal

Frugality -Common strategies of frugality include the reduction of waste, curbing costly habits, suppressing instant gratification by means of fiscal self-restraint, seeking efficiency, avoiding traps, defying expensive social norms, embracing free (as in gratis) options, using barter, and staying well-informed about local circumstances and both market and product/service realities.
Or you could just say Frugality = K!

I want to do this post because I am in the mood for blogging - and I think it is a good factual tidbit of K. These pictures are so good at depicting a great quality of his - being frugal! (I will admit he is a little crazy sometimes and really cheap too!!) I have decided that I really like these qualities - mostly because he doesn't really expect it out of me.

This is what I made him for Christmas - this was his only gift from me, and he loves it and uses it everyday. Socks full of rice - he pops them into the microwave in the morning and then into his pockets to keep warm. They can also be used as nunchucks or projectile weapons if in danger.

Here are the shoes his brother bought for him when he came home from his mission - 10.5 yrs ago. He has worn them for a LONG time. I finally convinced him that it was "time" to cast off the old because they were going to start giving him back problems or something. I think he is having a little throw away remorse, but tough crap!! He has had new ones his brother-in-law gave him over 3 years ago sitting and waiting. Now it is there turn to shine!!

SATURDAY

Saturday is the day where I like to do nothing - no really. We used to have projects to do every Saturday - no more because I am lazy. We will be starting projects very soon - and we will no doubt run out of time to finish all we should do.

This Saturday was the kind I don't really like - J started soccer. I had been delaying the inevitable of boys and sports - when I called to register him they said "wow where has he been hiding"!! He IS NOT THAT OLD!! But in the world of sports his late start has forever banned him from professional sports (not that his size would allow it). I am sad to say I am a loud mom, I tried to keep it all in. I even took a book to read - but the first minute in I knew I couldn't. Then I started to get all excited and LOUD!! They were all positive remarks or suggestions - but DANG I couldn't control myself. Maybe next game.

After the game/scrimmage we headed off to visit K at the farm show. I don't get the big whoop about the farm show but maybe it is because I am from CA. It smells - really bad- only when you are anywhere near the cows. It smells so bad the smell sticks in your nose so 4 hours later when you are eating a taco bell salad the cow smell may come back full force, and you feel like you are eating cow dung. Last year I visited the animals first and could not bring myself to eat afterwards. Today we started with the food. Fries, potato, potato donuts, chocolate shake, and ice cream. The PAins are proud of their potatoes and dairy!! The shake was good, but every once in a while it tasted a little like cow. The potato donuts were actually really good.

We did get to see a chick hatch - from first crack of the egg to first attempts at walking. Poor guy was really tired after all the effort to get out. We also saw an awesome chicken that J said looked like a rockstar!! I concur.

Then we had some bath time to get all the stink off.

WOW it's been a while

California was AWESOME!! I mean really 16 days of crazy crazy fun!! Some highlights were K's interview in King City - it was perfect and we were kid free for 3 days. We saw Wicked which was of course wicked. K got to go snowboarding and I got to do some projects with my mom. Kamee took some pics of all the kids that are not yet out - some pics will be on her blog in a couple of days - there is one up now on kamandfam.blogspot.com! We got to kick it with K's fam and mine - tons, and I got to see some old friends!! We did too much to write it all down but we miss everyone and can't wait for our next visit. Celebrating Christmas three times in CA and once in PA wasn't bad either.

Jacob cried for over an hour when we told him we would be leaving soon - I actually thought he was going to barf it was so bad!! Jacob was crying and was buckled in the car when Isaac his cousin who is 6 months older came out crying for a last hug. Spencer said calmly and a little confused, "I already got a hug" While Jacob and Isaac were hugging Roxie came out for a hug too and started to cry. Spencer calmly said "now there are three of them crying!" Spencer is so unaffected - he must be my child!! Jacob had already been crying for a while in the pic of our families below.

I wanted to blog about the day after Thanksgiving when we went to an Amish farm to spend the night with some friends - it was a lot of fun. Here are pics of the kids milking the cow - and let me tell you Spencer wanted to have none of it. His response was "that's gross and no way!!" The lady convinced him to try it.

I have to blog our tithing settlement experience because that cute kid above was at his best. He was a little wild - you know being in the church building for 4 hours straight can make anyone crack. Before we started the Bishop was making small talk here is a dialogue of tithing settlement:

B: S are you going to be good next year?

S: NEVER!!

time lapses

S: You have a big nose!! (notice S was not being addressed by B - it just came out of the blue)Parent: Please don't say that it is not nice.

B: pause, yeah

time lapses

S: You have a BIG nose!!

B: pause yeah, we are trying to convince my son he has one too

time lapses

B: are you a full tithe payer S

S: NO!!

Parents: Lets get the heck out of here!! Bishop is awesome and Spencer thinks he is a comedian!