This is so me!!

OMG I have had this exact meltdown. More than once.

Happy Solstice!

Yay! It's solstice! Hooray for longer days, and let the countdown to summer begin.

I can't believe there are only a few more days until Christmas. I went out shopping for like four hours today and then came home and declared my shopping done. I just can't do any more. By the time I got to Wal-Mart I was just throwing groceries in the cart hoping I got what was on my list. I needed pineapple, but it was 4 aisles away so I said forget it, that's like a mile away, we'll do without. I told my kids if they end up with weird stuff on Christmas morning, sorry, I saved the receipts, I'm not going back out. My neighbors have started bringing over gifts, and it's all been treats. I am going to gain 25 pounds between now and New Year's Day. Ugh. I put everyone on fair warning that if I intercept the treats, I'm throwing it all straight in the trash. Cuz if it's in my house, I'll eat it. Even if I don't really like it that much, I'll still have a few bites. Like, my neighbor makes this peanut brittle with chocolate swirls and all kinds of nuts. I hate peanut brittle. Did I still eat some? Yes indeedy I did.

On a semi-related note, it's not just food that I do that with. The other day Brittney and I went to the library and I grabbed a couple books by Sophie Kinsella that writes the Shopaholic series. Brittney looked at them and said, "I thought you hated those books," and I was like, "Yep. I do." I don't know what it is. I guess I just like to annoy myself? I'm so weird.

We've been busy with just the same old stuff. Nothing too exciting, but pleasantly busy, so that's the way I like it. We've gone to Christmas light displays and been busy with work and school, car repairs, and everything else that makes life interesting.

I started potty training Lexi today. Pretty much the worst parenting job there is. It's gone about like you might expect. Tomorrow is a new day. She's going through that horrible phase, egged on by her older brother, where she likes to say "stupid" and "poop" and stuff like that. She sang this "Happy poop day to poop" type song the other day and I had to really try hard not to laugh. She's pretty dang cute even if she's a little turkey. My favorite thing lately is that she pronounces her full name as Lexiandra.

Here are some pictures from Hardware Ranch last weekend.

Josh's Birthday & Thanksgiving

It's a quiet Saturday afternoon. It's been a very nice, relaxing Thanksgiving break. Today Courtney and Brittney went on FrontRunner out to the Gateway with a few of Courtney's friends. Josh and Sean went to watch the BYU/Utah game with Dennis. Lexi is sleeping. I'm listening to Christmas music and trying to fix the Christmas tree ornaments after the kiddos decorated it last night. One day I'll have a really pretty tree, but for now I like having a tree full of elementary school created ornaments, who-cares-if-they-break-it ornaments, all placed in clusters and clumps. Trying to keep that perspective that the kids will be grown and not want to decorate the tree anymore pretty soon. My collection of Christmas decorations really needs an overhaul. It's pretty sorry. Someday.

So Josh's birthday was last weekend. He had a pretty good day. I can't believe my baby boy is six!







I bought this stuff for $1 and seriously we've all played with it. I don't know exactly why it's so funny, but it really is. Especially when you hear from the other room, "Josh, it's bedtime." "Not yet, I've got to do a really good fart."


I guess Brittney was excited about the Transformer Josh got.


Two weekends ago Courtney went to the Sadie's dance with her boyfriend and a group of friends. She didn't take any pictures. Bummer. I should have thought to do it for her. They took over my house for lunch, dinner, and then came over after the dance to watch a movie. It was a lot of work for her, but she had fun so it was good.

Thanksgiving was a great feast. There was so much good food! It was fun to hang out with everyone. We had some good, deep conversation. Courtney's friend Skyler came with us. They've been friends since junior high. I love this picture of the two of them from a few summers ago. It's fun to watch these kids grow up.



Now, it's on to Christmas. The lights are up, the decorations are up, the shopping has commenced. I don't do Black Friday, but I'm all ready for Cyber Monday. Sean's mom and sisters bought us some Black Friday deals, so that was super nice of them. I don't even know what we had them buy. Sean saw some stuff he wanted and asked his mom to get it. We went and saw a Christmas light display last night. I'm ready for some snow. I'm in the spirit this year. Bring it on.

Yay! Also... Is it summer yet?

Yay! I got my phone connection working! Most of what's on there isn't worth posting, but here are two.

The girls in Las Vegas


Lexi after daycare trick-or-treating.

Lest I seem like a (more) horrible mother, she didn't actually eat all three of those. She opened them all, licked them all, set them all down, and I threw them away when she wasn't looking.

So, I think it's going to be a really long winter. Really. Long. I'm already wishing for summer. That's a bad sign. Apparently I'm not the only one. The other night Lexi said to me, "When us going boating, mom? Thursday? Us going boating Thursday." OK baby. Sounds good to me.

Sean's been pheasant hunting Saturday mornings and in the evenings in the field down the street from our house. Luckily, I don't think any pheasants really actually live there. If he gets one he's going to expect me to eat it, and I really, really hate gagging. So we'll hope that the season ends quietly and without dead birds at my house.

So Lexi is in this "pink" phase where she requests everything to be pink. She doesn't get upset if it isn't, thankfully, but it's, "I want my pink pumpkin." "I go to my pink school." "I want my pink pancake." "I'm riding in my pink boat, mom." If I say, "Let's get a redbox tonight," she'll say, "I want my pink box." I love the way they say things at this age. Yesterday she told me, "Mom, I love you best I can."

Josh is learning to read so well! I was worried because he got a really slow start. He had no interest in letters or numbers up until now. If I tried to talk to him about that kind of thing he would just change the subject. He really struggled at the beginning of Kindergarten, so I was thinking we were in for a real battle. But he's getting it down all of a sudden, thank goodness.

And so it goes...

Hotties, Halloween, and Britt's Birthday

Sean and I went to the Joan Jett concert a few weekends ago, and it was loads of fun. The data connection for my phone is messed up, so I can't pull the pics off, or I would torture you with them. I decided that I'm going on the Joan Jett diet, though. I have to do a little research here to find out what her secret is... maybe all she eats is fruit and large quantities of Jack Daniels. Who knows. All I know is she is 51 years old and looks like this.



Halloween was a week-long extravaganza at our house this year. The daycare went trick-or-treating on Tuesday, so Josh and Lexi came home with a bunch of candy. I have a picture of Lexi with 3 suckers in her mouth, but again, on the phone. Then we had a party at my mom's house while Heather and Peter were here. We had loads of awesomely creepy food made by Heather and Peter. Severed fingers, spiders, eyeballs, you name it. And fabulous soup and bread. It was great fun to visit with everyone. Then we had actual Halloween.

Pumpkin carving




Josh the Karate Kid


Brittney the zombie vampire prom queen of the undead


Lexi the ladybug




Brittney's birthday was yesterday. 14 big ones. Love this girl. She is funny, smart, a great writer, cute, and has pretty good taste in music and movies.




On a final note... Good-bye to my World Series boyfriend Jayson Werth. I'm sorry that it had to end this way. But you were oh-so-lovely to look at for the past 6 games.

Deer Camp

Sean and Josh got back from deer hunting, and it sounds like they had a good time. I always judge how much fun they had by how much mud is on the truck. It was pretty covered. They had some mechanical problems-- it wouldn't be hunting without stuff breaking down. But Sean loved spending the time with his dad and brothers. Everyone was safe and the deer are all still on the mountain where they belong. Yay!


Curt catching a fish


Curt and Luke


camp


kids playing

Las Vegas, Zombies, and deer hunting

The last few weeks have flown by so quickly. I try really hard not to wish for the weekends and just enjoy each day, but it still speeds by.



A couple of weekends ago, Josh and Lexi went to stay with grandma Saundra for a few days while we took the older girls for a short getaway.



It was really fun to be able to have that time just with Courtney and Brittney. I'm so glad my mom did that for us.




I think the kids were getting loopy from being in the car too long. Brittney watched 21 on the way down and became an expert in counting cards.




There were so many fun things to see, and we had a great time. And, amazingly, Sean came out $30 ahead in the casino, which is really good for us. Woohoo! High rollers!

Last weekend Sean and I went for our traditional October drive-in movie date. We saw Zombieland (which I loved loved loved) and Inglorious Basterds (which I hated hated hated).

Sean and Josh took off deer hunting last night and will be gone all weekend. His brothers and dad met him up there today. This is the first time in probably 15 years that they've all gone together. I hope they have a great time. I hope they are safe, and that the deer are safe from them. I told Josh before he left that the deer really like it when you sing really loudly as you walk along, and you should make as much noise as you can. He looked at me like he was considering that, but then Sean set him straight, and he believed his dad over me! Can you believe that? It's getting weird now when they go, though, because the older girls have plans, so it's just Lexi and me.

Scott and Wendy had their baby this week. So far I've only seen pics, but he's super cute! Can't wait to hold him.

Other than that, just normal life. Trying to take it all one day at a time and enjoy it. It goes by so fast. And the things that I think are such challenges turn into things that I will at some point miss, so I'm trying to keep perspective. Like, all these years struggling to get my kids from the car into the school with all of our paraphernalia... people would tell me, "Oh I saw you this morning and I just have such a hard time getting myself here, I don't know how you get 2 kids here" and I also was dropping Courtney off at her high school, and I would think... Oh man, won't it be nice when I don't have to do this anymore? NO! It won't be nice. I love having those kids there at school with me. What am I going to do when I don't get to bring them anymore? I'm trying to keep that perspective, and it's hard sometimes, but I'm trying. One of my friends has grown kids, and when she would talk about going home from work and reading a book and watching TV or whatever, I would always think, "Wow, how nice would that be." Not anymore. That time will come so much sooner than I want it to.