What the....?????

So...a couple of days ago I took some mail out to our mailbox to mail...because that is what you do with them, right? I put my mail in my mailbox, closed the lid & reached for the red flag to tell my mailman she had mail to take for me. It wasn't there. What the...? Who steals a flippin flag off of a mailbox? The same mailbox vandalizer took the latch off my neighbor's mailbox so their's won't stay closed. Lame. I need to take a trip to Home Depot to see if I can buy a new flag. I've also brainstormed making a fancy one. Maybe it could be a sweet red hand flipping off my newfound friend!? Whatev.

I didn't realize that was only the beginning. On Tuesday when I returned home from running errands I opened my mailbox to see if the mail had come....imagine my surprise when I saw this:

It's pretty funny. Someone had a dang good laugh. I sorta envy them-I used to be like that. They probably peed their pants with all their friends watching the orange & purple smoke come out of our mailbox. A normal person would scrub their mailbox clean and throw those smoke balls away....I am not normal. They will stay there. Dorks. It's a little annoying when all of our mail is purple & orange...but the envelopes go in the garbage and all of our credit card applications, insurance quotes & Cabelas catalogs get ruined.

It would obviously be silly to buy a new mailbox, but I am thinking it would be dang fun to dress like a bush or something and hide by my mailbox and catch these brats! I hope it's a teenager & not one of my older neighbors! Anyone wanna join me?

New Vinyl

Any Hilary Weeks fans out there??? I love her-she is seriously amazing. Every morning while I get ready I listen to atleast 2 of her songs-If I Only Had Today and Who You Are. Puts things in perspective for me and helps me have the desire to try harder and be better. I try to decorate our home with reminders....we all need 'em! I love the message these lyrics from Who You Are send out to me and to our little family....Heavenly Father has a purpose for each of us and has blessed us with talents, personalities and experiences to reach our potential. Every day we are becoming something better and we are sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. Sure makes life easier to know there is a purpose to the things we experience and that we are loved by someone who wants us to be happy.

Check out my awesome sister in law's blog if you need some vinyl-she is so great! Thanks Heather-you are the best!

One Thousand Dollars

Jaycee & I took the kids to school yesterday. I love one on one time with my kids and as Jaycee's kindergarten year is coming to a close I am treasuring my time with her in the mornings more than ever. She is awesome! On the radio the dj announced a contest to win $1000. Jaycee said, "Mom, what would you do if you won $1000?" (Please remember that even though $1000 is a lot of money, to Jaycee it's like they just said 1 million dollars) While I was still thinking about my answer she added, "And DON"T SAY THE STORAGE ROOM!!!" I laughed really hard then but it has made me think. I really do focus on our food storage-I love it. I know it is what we are supposed to do and I want to be as prepared as we can in every way for any situation that may be waiting for us. I can't imagine experiencing a job loss or earthquake or whatever may come & not being able to feed my kids. Jaycee then made sure I knew that if SHE was the one that won $1000 she would take our family to Disneyland. Once again-$1000 won't buy Disneyland for a family of 6 but I think I'm ready to save for a little Disneyland trip again. Balance, right?

I'm back!

Our computer died a couple of months ago...we bought an IMac....super fun but I'm a little retarded. Casey taught me how to load pictures on here so now I can catch up our little blog! Stay tuned....we are alive and doing fun things....just didn't know how to share them! ;)

Goblin Valley

Casey & I were invited to go to Goblin Valley with some friends last week! If we were going just as a family we would have totally cancelled because of the weather but we sucked it up and went! I am so glad-it really was so cold but so much fun! We spent one day in Goblin Valley, hung out in camp and played games, watched movies, ate way too many Hot Tamales and way too much junk food, and on the last day (when we finally saw the sun!) went on a hike thru Wild Horse Canyon. Good times. Good friends. Lots of laughs and good memories. Such a fun trip!

Jaycee did MOST of the hike and even led the way a lot of the time...the last 20 minutes she was done! Thank goodness for a daddy that loves her lots and was willing to help her out!

Alyssa....

Casey & I....I sorta like that dude!
Our family! This hike was so out of my comfort zone...major claustrophobia....scary to be stuck between 2 rocks but such a great experience! So nice to be together as a family with no phones ringing, no texts coming thru, no laundry....just fun times! We so needed it! So grateful for these cute people that make me so happy and give life meaning. Just feeling so blessed!

I loved this picture of my spunky sweet Shaylee!

The kids were determined to lead the way-they would disappear and be hiding in every nook & cranny....so much fun for them to try to scare the adults!

Goblin Valley

Super fun but SUPER cold weekend! The kids thought the snow was great...the parents not so much!

Goblin Valley-Can you see Sawyer???
The kids had SO MUCH FUN climbing everything....you'd never know they were freezing from the pictures!

Hallmark Couldn't Have Said It Better!

Valentines around here was fabulous. Fun parties at school-yummy sugar cookies from amazingly thoughtful neighbors-a fun dinner as a family and Valentines Family Home Evening. I requested NO FLOWERS this year....not a huge fan of roses and they are so darn pricey so Casey bought me a nice picture for our home. I love it. He is awesome. And he's mine. And I know that I am a lucky girl. The award for best Valentine for 2011 around this house however goes to the little dude in the house....check out the card he made just for me.....

Colorful. Detailed. Thoughtful. I-like you-wondered what the inside would say. He is a boy but he loves his mom. My prayer is that as he grows this part of him won't ever change...I feel pretty special. Ready to read the card?
Huh? Your thoughts please....

(I am STILL laughing about it!)

One Fabulous Birthday

Last Saturday was my birthday-I am 37FREAKINYEARSOLD!!! Crazy. Casey has been super busy with inventory at work-I was a little bummed he had to work all weekend and wouldn't be home for my birthday. My only request for the kids was to please just let me sleep until 10. My favorite thing ever is to sleep!

At 9:30 they brought me breakfast in bed-Rice Chex with bananas-I ate them and thanked them and told them they were the best kids ever...then asked if I could sleep for 20 more minutes. They were super disappointed...20 minutes later they were bugging me again.

The reason they were so excited is their super awesome dad had decorated the house before he left with special paper balloons he had cut out BY HAND. Each balloon had something they love about me. There are a ton of balloons-all over my house. I read each one atleast 5 times that morning and cried. So cool. Casey keeps asking me when I am going to take them down-they might be up forever! I love them! Nothing like positive affirmations to make you smile when you are the mom! ;) I still walk around the house and read them over & over again.

They say things like:

Very honest...unless you are hiding treats.

Strong Willed

Crazy macoroni.

I love how you can spread your toes.

You can talk to anyone-even if they don't speak English!

You strengthen us with your testimony.

You help us understand the scriptures.

You help us learn to read. You also read with us at night.

You make us feel like we can talk to you about anything. We don't have to hide everything because you understand.

You are the nicest mom that I ever had.

Thank you for helping us be the best we can be.

You know who you are.

Freakin.

You help us with our homework.

That's funny!

"Yeah...no thanks!"

I love the way you serve.

Very open with your life.

Can't go a day without a diet coke from the gas station.

You work hard on the house even though we are all messy.

You like to buy us stuff.

You are the beauty and dad is the beast.

You make sure we have clothes to wear.

Let's us eat PB&J sandwiches when we don't like the dinner that is being served.

Got soup?

You teach us about Heavenly Father

You love people.

Makes breakfast and cold lunch

You help us at school

You help us with homework

Love you lots.

Just a sample of the things they said....so cool! I am just one lucky girl! This meant more to me than any "gift" I have ever received in my life. Being the mom is hard work-I guess this made me feel like I am making a difference. That the little things I do day in and day out really do matter. And that they notice. And they care. And they are simply amazing!

I also got spoiled from some pretty dang good friends. A couple of really good books-a darling sweater and necklace-a super cute bracelet-a gift certificate to San Gelato-and a polygamous date with our friends Brian & Erin-they took me to lunch at Texas Roadhouse! Good times. Forgot my camera-would have been a great pic! So grateful for the amazing people in my life-and if I have to be 37FREAKINGYEARSOLD to enjoy all that I get to enjoy then I guess I will quit complaining! Life only gets better the older I get.

Little Reminders

I am a check list kind of girl. Helps me remember the things I need to get done (most of the time!) and I feel like I accomplish more. Sawyer is apparently the same way! He made these little reminder sheets to hang by his light awhile ago. Makes me smile every time I pass it...my favorite of course is #6 on his night list...."Give mom a hug." So sweet. So awesome. I love this dude.

These are seriously the moments that make it all so worth it! I love being a mom!

My Favorite Kid....Just For Today! ;)

I have no idea where I was when the artsy fartsy creative genes were being handed out in heaven...I'm sure I was getting a diet coke in another line or something! Makes me sad and frustrated but mostly overwhelmed with all of my kids cutesy school projects. They're jipped in the cool creative mom department. I hope I make up for it in other areas

Today after I took my kids to school I decided to sort thru the never ending always reappearing paper pile by our computer. In it I saw Sawyer had a cute cut out blank guy with a note that said to please have him decorate this person over the weekend to represent his ancestors. And to please send it back Monday. DANGIT!! Today is Monday. And I already took Sawyer to school. And he doesn't have his guy-all decorated and ready to share with his class-and maybe he is sad. Once again he remembers he has a loser mom. My kids need a therapist-or even better a support group. I hope there are other kids somewhere that suffer from the same issues my kids do.

Today was super busy-I got everything accomplished and picked my kids up from school. I apologized to Sawyer and asked how things went. He shared the stories of what he learned from his friends. When I handed him his guy we talked about Sweden...and England...and Norway. I mentioned he could always make it into a Viking. His eyes lit up and he said, "I will get Shaylee to help me!" (Didn't even hurt my feelings he didn't ask me for help-he and I both know better!)

It was fun to watch her go to work and help him.....and his Viking is pretty darn cool. So grateful for these kids-that they all have something different to offer our family. Today I am SO GLAD I HAVE SHAY!!! The cardboard box messes get a little old but dang she knows how to pull of a great art project!!!

The finished Viking-I ALWAYS POST MY PICS IN THE WRONG ORDER!!! Too lazy to upload again-start at the bottom picture if you want to see them the way I wanted them....you get the point!
Priceless! Just google a Viking and she can create it....he even got a red beard out of chopped up yarn! ;)

Happy Birthday Casey!

January is inventory at Casey's work....it's kept him super busy! The kids & I decided to throw a "surprise party" for him last Saturday with just our little family. Can you guess who took charge of decorations and activities? Yep! Shay! She got the kids to help her make a shooting range out of the cardboard from pizza boxes....Casey could shoot the animals with his new marshmellow gun or Sawyer's elastic gun from Cabellas. So funny! He had a blast! We are so lucky to have Casey-he's an awesome husband and amazing dad. He works hard for us and loves us. I am glad my kids can sense that and that they are willing to go the extra mile to make his day special. We think he's awesome! ;)

Clint stopped by and wanted to play....don't they look cool? ;) Not sure if they liked shooting the elk, deer & bear complete with REAL grass on the counters or the ducks hanging from the ceiling more!? :)

Merry Christmas 2010!

We had a fabulous Christmas!!! This is always my favorite picture-after all the hard work of finding just the perfect gift for each one of our kids it's fun to have a picture of the complete Christmas before it's all unwrapped...especially since I am not a huge fan of wrapping presents. ;) Please notice our white trashness....makes me laugh....see our "mantel"?? We had some awesome friends trade a fireplace for a deer mount (thanks ShaLae) but haven't had time to get it all hooked up and finished. I couldn't figure out where to hang our stockings-I thought I was hilarious to put them on the fireplace. We've never had a fireplace-someday it will work-until then might as well use what we've got, right?

Christmas Eve.....getting ready to open our Christmas Eve Jammies!
Christmas morning.....

Santa only brings 1 gift to our house. I hate the things come easy image Santa brings-and I sorta want credit for what I buy! ;) Since almost all of our gifts are under the tree and we want our kids to leave gifts alone we never put their names on their gifts. Last year we labeled each gift with a candy bar name that was code for their name....on Christmas morning whichever candy bar they opened told them which gifts were theirs. Make sense? So this year we did soda pop. We didn't wrap the 2 litre bottles-Casey had them each grab a 2 liter bottle and had an evil plan of saying "2 of you have the right 1...2 of you don't. Switch. K-1 of you has the right 1, 3 of you don't. Switch. K-none of you have the right 1. Switch." He loves to tease. Funniest thing ever-every kid grabbed a 2 litre bottle and they were all holding the one that was their "code"....Casey was super disappointed and I got a really good laugh! I love the fun traditions and memories of Christmas!!! So grateful for these awesome kids that make it so darn fun.

Finally Legal!!!

My kids are teeny tiny people. Their mom used to be teeny tiny but that's another story for another day. Oh well. Skinny is over rated. And exercise? One day I will love it. Whatever.

You all know I am a tiny bit overprotective. Paranoid even. I think I stress people out when they have my kids! Sorry about that. Carseats and booster seats are a MUST. Not optional. The law to be able to just wear a seatbelt and not be in a booster is that you have to weigh 80 pounds. When Alyssa turned 12 she was only 60 pounds. At 13 she was 65 pounds. I wondered if I was making the wrong decision by letting her just wear a seatbelt-how humiliating to ride in a booster to young women activities! It has really given me anxiety. I never want to face a situation that could have been prevented by simply being a little more careful. That stresses me out. We've always joked about how funny it would be to send Alyssa to prom with her booster! We laughed really hard-she didn't.

On Christmas day Alyssa stood on her grandma's scale and guess what!!??? Drumroll please....SHE WEIGHS 80 POUNDS!!! We thought this day would never ever ever come. So nice to know she's legal now and that we aren't taking unneccessary risks!

So this is Uncle Corey showing how amazingly strong he is. He can lift Alyssa with only 2 fingers holding each elbow. Not sure if this shows his super power muscles OR if Alyssa was a good choice to demonstrate with. Next time we see him I will have to see if he can do the same thing with me! ;)

What "off track" looks like at our house.....

My kids are creative. Not sure where that came from-must have been Casey. I am the furthest thing from creative. Shaylee loves nothing more than a fun project with the little kids-building huts, making some random craft, anything to have a little fun. I am trying really hard to relax and enjoy the little moments-when these projects are going on things get quite messy. I naturally see the mess but am trying so hard to see the beauty.

A few days ago she took Sawyer & Jaycee in her room with a pile of paper plates, a roll of paper towels, glue, yarn, markers & construction paper. A few hours later we have this under our little Christmas trees upstairs:

They are baby Jesus! They look like a taco but they aren't! He (times 3!) is even in a manger complete with straw.

SO...yesterday was the best. Our living room became an airplane. So funny. The steering wheel really turns (not really sure an airplane has a steering wheel but nobody tell my kids!) and they have an "earpiece" to communicate with the tower.
These are the seats to the airplane-complete with a few passengers. Sawyer is the pilot-Shaylee, Jaycee & my cute nephew Easton are the passengers.
They were super disappointed when I wouldn't serve them lunch on the airplane-it was ramen-not gonna happen! I did laugh and actually left the living room an airplane until today. Good times.

Feeling Appreciated

Does anyone out there know about my diet coke addiction??? Not only do I love diet coke-I love diet coke from The Coke Store aka The Holiday in South Jordan with crushed ice. Being a regular customer is sometimes embarassing-running into everyone there is hilarious-it's just a part of my day. A diet coke from the fridge just isn't the same.

SO....today I went in thinking it would be just like every other day. I was so wrong. You hear about customer appreciation days-I think they went a little far this time. But it made my day. And kept me laughing. I'm still laughing. Hope you find your name on a coke machine somewhere. Makes the "problem" all worth it! ;)

(FYI-they DO NOT KNOW MY NAME!!!! It really was a coiincidence. Let's not make it worse than it is! My friend who is a dental hygienist leaves me messages with the employees to floss my teeth thinking she's funny-and she is-but they really don't know me THAT WELL! I tried to explain to the employees that my name is Joy and how funny it was to me-they didn't even laugh. Oh well.)

Spelling Tests

Way to go Sawyer! 100% on your spelling test is ALWAYS a good thing. The only problem....he spelled his name wrong! ;) Still laughing about it.

What's For Dinner At Your House???

It's been one of those weeks. I hope you moms know what I am talking about. Not gonna bore you with all the excuses HOWEVER let me just say Jaycee has been sick-NOPE-it's not strep-ask my pediatrician-we went there twice this week. It's a virus. I hate that answer. Whatever.

For some reason when a kid is sick I lose focus. The house gets crazy. I hang out in sweats more. Dinner loses it's priority. I know I made enchiladas on Sunday. Can't remember what we had on Monday. On Tuesday we had lemon chicken & rice. Lastnight I made a loaf of banana bread-my sister in law mentioned she made us some-I can't make banana bread. (We were excited to get the real thing from my sister in law today! Love you, Heather!) Sadly-yep-that was our dinner. Casey needs a support group-poor dude. It's 6:15 and I haven't even thought about dinner. But Sawyer has. Here is his request...he handed it to me while I was on the phone:

Translation: Grilled cheese/those puffy cheeto thingys (Chester's Puffcorn-cheese flavored)/diet coke/fry sauce-doesn't everyone eat grilled cheese dipped in fry sauce like Casey & my psycho kids??? SICK! NASTY! WRONG!

Time to get it together. Why do we have to eat dinner every single day? EVERY SINGLE FLIPPIN DAY??? All I can say is that from the looks of things I should be getting a tip. Sawyer thinks I am his waitress.

Costco

SO yesterday I had to go to Costco. I needed dishwasher soap. The only thing I ever use is the Electrasol Tabs-super convenient and they work great. I thought I had another tub of them in my food storage-I always do-somehow I didn't. The only thing I had was liquid dishwasher soap and it seems to be working just fine. Sadly the only coupon I had was for liquid Cascade so I decided to buy that....always up for a new adventure.

I picked up the Cascade and then noticed there was a Kirkland brand. Cascade was $8.99 for 1 bottle but I had a coupon for $2 so that would make the bottle $6.99. HOWEVER the Kirkland dishwasher soap had 2 bottles the exact same size as the Cascade for 9.67ish. Killer deal. Does it work good? Not sure. But it would be nice to have 2 bottles-1 for upstairs and 1 for food storage. Decisions, decisions. Casey always gets mad when I buy cheap stuff-but is Kirkland cheap? It was stressing me out.

I picked up the Cascade. Then put it back and grabbed the Kirkland. Then put it back and grabbed the Cascade. I was driving myself NUTS.

I didn't notice the man in the driveable shopping cart that was trying to drive between me and the dishwasher soap. The bald old man that looked harmless. He all of a sudden gave me a very crusty look and just stared at me. I didn't know what to say so I said, "Are you ok?" His grumpy response as he is STILL STARING AT ME was, "YES! Are You?" The only thing that came to mind was kill him with kindness so I put on the biggest fake smile I could muster and in a super sugary voice said, "I am great! Thanks!" He mumbled "I highly doubt that" and drove past me. He barely missed my toe. I honestly wanted to crash into him with my cart or dump him off his snazzy driveable shopping cart. Jerk.

But I didn't. I did laugh and make fun of him with a few customers who observed the whole thing. I felt like I was in high school. I had to make it crystal clear that he was the jerk-that it was totally normal to be indecisive when you are making a huge purchase like I was-which dishwasher soap to buy was life and death.

If you are heading to Costco-watch out for my friend. Tell him hello. Give him a hug. I wish I could go back and offer to buy him a hot dog and a smoothie for his stress. I hope I never treat someone like that! Life is just too short. I'm sure he was sort of justified. Stay away from me when I shop~I might make you grumpy!