wIcKeD

Me, Casey, Alyssa & Shay before Wicked......
Olive Garden before the show-my mom's favorite place to eat....
I can't get my pics to rotate-lame-but this is so cute of the girls~

Ahhh....it was so neat to see Wicked again....it's incredible!!  I love the music and the meaning of the entire show-I cried during some of it and Casey thought I was a nerd.  Oh well.  Love it!!  What a fun thing to experience with the girls, Casey & my mom!  I can't wait to see it again!  I wonder if you can ever get tired of it???

Sawyer's New Job

Sawyer just answered the phone.  I heard him say, 

"Three dollars a day?"  pause...then he said, "Your voice sounds weird!"

What a great way to handle telemarketers!!!!  He's hired!

17 Again

Anyone seen this movie???  It's pretty funny~Casey & I went to see it lastnight.  If you've seen it you know what it's about...if you haven't even heard of it-you might want to get out more ;)....either way~pretty self explanatory just from the title.  It's made me think about my life, I am SO weird!  It's always all about the meaning and how does this apply to me?!

High school for me was awesome!  I loved it.  I cried at graduation which was crazy because I sluffed all the time.  Seminary.  Law Enforcement-that was funny-the cop told me if I didn't want to come to class I had to just bring him breakfast back, too.  At the end of the year he made sure I understood if he ever pulled me over he WOULD give me a ticket.  Whatever!  I was good buddies with one of the vice principals so he'd let me hang out in his office sometimes if I didn't want to go to class.  I was pretty good at getting away with stuff because I graduated with an awesome gpa...my social life was very important to me and I was blessed with such fun good friends.  Casey & I knew eachother when we were 17-he was my best friend.  Nothing romantic-I don't think I was IN LOVE with him but I totally loved him.  He was my favorite person to hang out with.  I had known him since 1st grade and we'd always been friends but it was our Junior year that we became inseparable.  It wasn't until after his mission that I fell in love with him and he has been such a blessing in my life.  He is my rock.  He mellows me out.

So...looking back on life...would I do it all again?  He*$ ya!!  Would I change anything?  Not one single detail!  Not one.  I would still sluff seminary even though I shouldn't.  I would still work at Dairy Queen with all my friends because it's fun-even though it was a dumb job.  I would still make voodoo dolls with my friends-of boys and crazy Mr Fisher.  I would still be a lame dumb WJ Cheerleader even though I was never one of the cool girls.  I would still go to Jr Prom with Casey-what a fun memory!  I would still hang out with all the cool people AND all the dorks that I hung out with in high school.  I would still go to Snow College with all my friends even though there was a TiNy bit of drama over dumb things like hot dog fried rice that our room mate cooked for us for dinner or hairballs in the shower drain.  I would still be a nanny in Virginia.  I would hang out with my buddies at the singles ward and date everyone I dated again.  I would LOVE to go back to my wedding day-what a special part of my life.   I would still experience every crazy thing Casey & I have been thru since we got married 13 1/2 years ago-even moving to Eagle Mountain.  I have said out loud a couple of times "what were we thinking?" but what a blessing that was to us-great people, great experiences.   It'd be fun to move into all 3 of our homes again-fun!  I would love to relive my pregnancies and the birth of each one of my babies-INCREDIBLE experiences!!!  If it wasn't for epidurals I might not be saying I'd do it again but painfree is awesome.  Tubal pregnancy-very tough time for us-we grew & learned a ton.  It all worked out-it always does.   Funny how all of our experiences mold us into who we are.  We have the fun times to carry us thru and make us laugh-there's nothing like a good laugh, right?  The tough times mold us into who we are-and help our testimonies grow as we get to know our Father in Heaven better.  What a blessing it is to be led by the Spirit & to know that our Heavenly Father knows us and loves us and has a plan for us. I think I can honestly say I am SO grateful for every trial I have experienced and wouldn't trade them if I could.  They truly are precious to me.  So-ya-I'd love to do it all again!  I love my life-I love being 35 and having my awesome little family-but I'd be lying if I didn't say it'd be SO nice to be the size I was before these 4 kids!

What about you?  Would you do it all again???  Kinda fun to think about!

How Our Daddy Swims...

I have kept a journal for each of my kids to record their baby blessings & as they get older the funny things they do and say.  They grow so fast and I NEVER want to forget!  Jaycee is so funny... she is always thinking about the funniest things & says them out loud.  I probably do a ton of blog posts about her but who cares???  She's hilarious!  So yesterday she & Sawyer were playing and I overheard a conversation they were having about swimming.  Jaycee said, "Well, Sawyer, daddy swims with boobs and mommy swims with a shirt!"  You have to read it with every ounce of attitude that she has...she is SO sassy...she was saying it like "duh Sawyer-you are so dumb!".  It OF COURSE took me totally off guard that my 3 1/2 year old said her dad swims with boobs.  I instantly envisioned my husband swimming in a pool full of naked women.  Nice.  Not at all what she meant~it took me a minute and then I realized he swims "with boobs" because his shirt is off and I swim with my shirt on.  You are giggling.  It's funny.

The OTHER parents....

So...I was hanging out with my cute Jaycee who will be 4 next month.  Out of the blue she told me she had another mom and dad, too.  I asked her about them-I was a tiny bit confused-where have I been?????  She said, "you & daddy took me away from them when I was a baby and they were crying.  They are still looking for me mom!"

I know I am a lot of things...before I was a mom I really thought I would be a fabulous mom...now I just try to do my best because I have a lot of kids and it's sorta harder than I thought it would be.  BUT I didn't know that among other things I am a kidnapper!!!  What a kid.  She has the craziest imagination~you just never know what she's gonna say next!  Never a dull moment!  Love her to pieces!!!!  If you see her other parents tell them hello.  I am sure they could use a hug-they've been through a lot.  As for me....that pregnancy from August 2004-May 2005 was RoUgH!!!  The hardest out of my pregnancies...sick every single day for 9 months.  Glad it was all a bad dream because it apparently didn't happen!  

Our Favorite Tang Shakes

Now that it's summer I want to share a recipe for our FAVORITE summer treat...Tang Shakes!!! Sounds weird-I know-that's what I thought when I first heard about them.  Try 'em...so dang good!

2 cups Coffeemate Fat Free French Vanilla Creamer

1/2-1 scoop Tang (I like 1/2 scoop~Casey likes a full-decide what you like!)

ice to the top of your blender

Blend til smooth....super yummy!  Be careful--you'll for sure get an ice cream headache-bummer!  They go away fast...just slow down and enjoy it! ;)

Funnest Park Ever

This was pretty funny-a sweet little lady informed Casey he should work a little harder at this-that he wasn't quite reaching his potential!  ;)


HAHAHA-not sure where this came from-this was Shay's birthday cake from last year-not sure how I "chose" this picture but it's kinda funny-why erase it?

I'm pretty sure that FUNNEST isn't a word...but it's so much fun to say!  Works way better than "so fun" or "fun" or "way fun"...just "funnest".  Hope you are all ok with that!  We spent this BeAuTiFuL Saturday watching soccer games and hanging out at the park with family.  There is a new park in Daybreak right next to the lake that is awesome-so much to do for everyone!  The kids love to climb on the spiderweb thingy, dig in the sand, swing, go down the slide, throw rocks in the lake, you name it!  You'll have to check it out~we sure love it!

Ripsticks & Broken Arms...Lucky Alyssa! :)

Alyssa & Shaylee have both been DYING for a Ripstick.  Shaylee wanting one didn't surprise me at all-she always lives life on the wild side!  Alyssa sort of surprised me.  She tried riding them with some friends and thought they were great.  Casey & I decided to get one for each of them for Easter.  Sunday night when we got home from Easter festivities they wanted to ride them one last time before bed-just on our driveway-no biggie.  Alyssa fell and got hurt.  We gave her advil & an ice pack and sent her to bed.  She complained a lot Monday and it was swollen so we spent 3 hours at Instacare only to be told it was not broken.  Tuesday night Instacare called to inform us the radiologist reviewed the xray and it WAS broken-just a small buckle fracture!  So today we took her to get her cast.  Always an adventure around here!  As the mom I am tired of living life in fast forward--it would be nice if it would slow down for just a couple of days!  :)  It will be interesting-she takes dance and is involved in the Temple Cultural Celebration~she'll have to wing it for 3 weeks til she gets rid of her dang cast!  The good news is she broke her left arm and she is right handed....wish the crazy girl luck if you see her!  

Snoop Freddy Food Storage

The Enrichment Leader in our ward called me to see if I would share some ideas about rotating food storage for Enrichment Night.  Do I just share ideas???  No.  It has to be funny and fun, right?  I never get asked to do something twice-that is the good news!!  The lady who spoke before me is an incredible person--as a family they did an "experiment" and turned off their power and water to their house for a weekend to see how prepared they were.  Seriously amazing people-totally prepared for whatever-great family.  I was dying knowing I had prepared my robot to show the things I am working on accumulating-a good variety of EVERYTHING we need as a family.  The thing they wanted me to share is as we use something from our food storage I add that item to my grocery list and buy atleast 2-so we aren't just REPLACING it but we are BUILDING our food storage.  It really has been neat to see how fast our food storage is growing!  Such a neat blessing in so many ways-not just temporally but spiritually!  My testimony of this is so strong.

**My "robot" evolved into sort of a rapper guy-notice the mustache out of q tips (Who can live without those????  Total necessity!) and the hair is maxi pads (another dumb necessity!)

Happy Easter!

Alyssa got the golden egg...LUCKY!  :)
Crazy kids!  Madalyn, Shaylee, Sawyer & Jaycee
Oops-sorta out of order-Sawyer got THE $10 bill...this was AFTER the egg hunt-silly me!
Casey-now you see why I love him so much! 
Alyssa & Shaylee-this is NOT how they are in real life-just for a quick picture!!!!
Jaycee posing for her picture-nice shoes, huh?
Jaycee & Kinley
Casey & I
Adult Easter egg hunt-I so didn't win but it was still fun!  I hope you won Heather :)

We had a great weekend!  I am laughing that I didn't take a single picture of Easter at our house-what's up with that????  Oh well.  Shaylee & Jaycee both have pneumonia-super fun-but are on antibiotics and feeling so much better.  They were able to go to Easter festivities-let's hope everyone who said it was ok doesn't get pneumonia too!!  We are so ready for summer at our house!

Jaycee The Teacher

Our sweet Jaycee Brielle was born almost 4 years ago....she was always such a fun, happy, & smiley baby.  So fun to be around.  She still is...sorta.  I laugh at how much she likes to be in charge!  Her preschool teacher emailed this picture to me~nice!  Atleast she is consistent!  At home and at school she is the boss.  Her teacher said sometimes she has to set the timer so other kids can be the teacher...my question was does Jaycee then become the principal because someone else is the teacher?  Yikes!   She definitely has great leadership skills-watch out if you have a child her age-she'll either lead them straight to heaven or straight to hell!  :)

Here's An Option For You.....

I have been laughing so hard about this yard for a week!  It's a home that is next to my good friend Britnee's house!  I asked her if they were for reals...she said yes!  Casey & I are not the best yard people~infact, we probably really should own a condo!  Too bad we love our house and ward!!!  I probably wouldn't mind yard work-it's the dang bees and spiders that totally freak me out!  I wish there was a rule that they could hibernate on Tuesdays (or any day of the week) so I could get my stuff done and then they could have their homes back!  I really have issues.  But-just like everything-there is always someone who has bigger issues than me-I think these people win the prize!  I understand you wouldn't have to mow or water this grass, but wouldn't you have to sweep or vacuum it?   Hilarious!  Sorry if you know these people or if you ARE these people-thanks for the laugh-nothing personal!  :)