Just us Kuhns

Cupid Tradition

2012-02-14T20:41:00.000-08:00

You have heard about it before and before that and even before that, but the 'Cupid' AKA Bird AKA Sugar Fairy tradition continues... but with a NEW expanded version.

This year I am took on 4 recipients (Kenny, Brian Jr, Jacob and Brian) ! It was actually easier and cheaper to shop for larger bags that I could split up and repackage, rather than individually packaged goodies.

Each night Kenny and I would ride our bikes (or on busy nights just drive) over to my parents house and drop off the goodies in my brother's car (I am special enough to have my own key!) so the boys would see it in the morning... The boys brought it up almost daily and asked why we were giving them treats... I kept telling them it wasn't me, it was cupid... by day 10 maybe they started to believed me...naw they knew it was us all along. It was fun though.

Candy Bar CRAZE

2012-02-13T20:33:00.000-08:00

When I first signed my brother, Kenny and I up for Tour de Cure I was extremely overwhelmed with the task of raising $450 for the 3 of us in an 8 week time frame... So I do, what I do and brainstormed ideas. Among my ideas was making cute little candy bars to sell some dressed up candy bars... I had NO IDEA they would take off they way they did! We started with a case (36) and I was nervous we would get stuck with a lot of leftovers... it sold out in 15 mins!

I took orders and ended up making a second batch of 44 with my brother (Kenny was out of town) that night. Brian was hilarious and we had a lot of fun making the candy bars... he could understand why the strips had to go a certain way on the hearts and why we needed 4 hearts for each candy bar etc... I guess you had to be there, but it was funny.

I ended up getting EVEN MORE orders to finish over the weekend. Kenny helped me with the last order of 22. Kenny and I kicked ours out in an hour and half! We raised a total of over $200 and I spent over 12 hours making them! Craziness!! I am glad we raised so much, but I am SO done making them!

Just life

2012-02-12T19:41:00.000-08:00

Little Brian and Jacob

Monsters

This week I crammed everything we could into the other 6 days so that we could have a day to RELAX! Unfortunately, it just wasn't in the cards for us... but it was a great day! We slept in and then Kenny spent most of the day running around looking for a bike. He came back a little defeated and decided to just put the $60 into the bike he has rather than spending hundreds to get a better quality bike.

While he was gone I went over to visit the boys and do a little Valentine craft. It was just a little prepackaged kit from Joann's, but the boys had a lot of fun with it. They decided their monsters should have 3 eyes ! Very cute. (Zoey thought so too, when she chewed one of them up!)

After we did our craft, I took the boys to McDonalds for happy meals, just for fun. They had a blast as usual. Little Brian is SUCH a good eater and ate ever stitch of food, while Jacob ate about 3 bites... Don't know how the kid stays alive...

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing chores around the house that I had procrastinated for some time... It felt good to get them DONE! When Kenny got home he detailed my truck and had it washed (I am so spoiled I know) and then he helped me with the LAST batch of candy bar wrappers for the Tour de Cure --- soooo glad to be finished with them!

Brian invited us over for dinner so we headed over there. It is just adorable how the boys are learning to 'help' out around the house. Jacob sets the table (wrapping his hands all over the silverware) and Little Brian clears them all and puts them in the sink. Also, Little Brian is pretty much responsible for cleaning up after the dogs now and does so without complaining.

We had a nice dinner and the men had fun playing darts (their newest passion) afterwards. We had a little bubble gum blowing contest too... I believe I won, but since we were all playing we didn't really have a judge.

Overdue 2

2012-02-11T20:28:00.001-08:00

Somehow we let an entire month pass before we could get together for the twins b-day party. The original party was cancelled due to Trevor being in the hospital (poor guy), but I didn't want their 2nd birthday to go celebrated (with us at least). So Kenny and I joined the Ross family and for their Saturday night church service and made the evening into a celebration.

The fun REALLY got started when Nanette (AKA their grandma got there). All three kids got SO excited and squeal, while dancing toward the door to greet her. I do have to say Zack gets pretty excited when he sees me too... I am not sure why he likes me so much, but I like it : )

Zack

We had pizza, bread sticks and salad and then headed off to their church Pure Heart.

Pure Heart is a lot like our church Radiant and I really loved it. This week's sermon was the first in a three part series called Money Tree... this first one was called "Enough" and was about contentment. Did you know there over 2300 verses in the Bible that have to do with money? Crazy right? This sermon was centered on 1 Timothy 6:6-9. It was really good and I liked the phrase he kept repeating," There's nothing wrong with having stuff, its when stuff has us." So true.

Anyway, Zack and Nanette road with us to and from the church and it was fun to listen to Zack's million mile a minute gibberish. Its not that you can't understand him, because he actually talks very clearly for his age, but what he says doesn't always make sense :) He did remember that we needed to go home and eat the cake we had left on the counter... seriously he remembered the cake and that it was on the counter. Smarty pants.

Emma is excited for Cake

As we sang Happy Birthday to the twins, Emma was very anxious to try out the cake and stuck her hand in the frosting. Just to even things out, Michelle encouraged Matt to try a little and he said, "No, hot." Pretty smart if you ask me, he knew that flame on the candle meant hot.

Matt

Emma

So this is a picture of the cake BEFORE it left our house... I only had about 45 minutes to decorate this cake and NO COACH (Kenny the ex-bakery manager) so it was the first cake I completely decorated on my own. It didn't come out the way I pictured in my head, but I was still pretty proud of it.

UNFORTUNATELY, I used whipped cream frosting... and well... it doesn't travel well. As one point on the car ride over Kenny noticed the top layer was a good inch off the bottom layer...

Oh yeah and I died the cake blue and pink to represent Emma and Matt.

I was really excited about this gift too... I think the kids will be once their parents put it together for them! Lol Sarah went in with Kenny and I on this gift too.

The cake (from box mixes) was pretty tasty. I think Emma was the biggest fan... the devoured a pretty large piece of cake... and then proceeded to lick her fingers and even the table. It was pretty adorable. Matt ate a little, but Michelle pointed out he is the meat eater. I thought that was pretty interesting, because my brother's boys are like that too- one likes sweets (Jacob) and the other favors meat (Little Brian).

Kenny and I really enjoyed the evening. Kenny said it was probably one of his favorite times with them. The kids were just so happy it was hard not to catch the happiness bug around them tonight.... now I have to figure out to make this happen more often...

Motorcycle class

2012-02-10T23:29:00.000-08:00

Riding a street motorcycle has been on my 'bucket list' even before I made a list... My dad and my Grandma Taylor used to ride all the time. They had street bikes and dirt bikes. They spent a lot of time at Roosevelt riding and camping. I know my dad rode up until after my brother was born and if they could have afforded to have multiple vehicles he would have kept riding, but it just wasn't practical for a family of three... and my mom said grocery shopping was a huge pain.

Anyway, it is something I really wanted to try and Kenny bought me a Groupon for an intro to motorcycling class. I was really happy he signed up too and we ended up having a really great night.

The first part of the class was all inside listening to lectures and videos. I am better at learning by doing, but one thing that Kenny had tried to tell me numerous times (the neutral is between 1st and 2nd gear) finally sunk in from looks at a diagram. The teacher, Grey, was really awesome and if we go back for our licensing class Kenny and I both agreed we need to request him.

After we filled out a diagram on the board labeling all the major controlling components of the bike it was time to gear up and pick out a bike.

We spent a lot of time identifying components before we even turned over the engine. They do a really great job with the structure of the class, because there really wasn't a time in the class where I was overwhelmed or nervous... of course we didn't get out of first gear, but still.

I was surprised to learn that street bikes and dirt bikes were so similar and was thankful for the (limited) knowledge I had.

It was SO much fun and although I am not ready for a street bike I am saving up for a new dirt bike : )

A Sweet Surprise!

2012-01-30T14:52:00.001-08:00

Today I came into work and found this:

Its an adorable homemade notebook cover with a cute flower pen to go with it! My friend Carol surprised me and few other ladies at work, just because. THEN another friend Donna, surprised me with some yummy cotton candy!

I guess today was all about surprises, because I had a surprise planned for my piano teacher too... Homemade marshmallows!

Hailey is One!

2012-01-29T18:59:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe that Hailey is already 1! It seems like she was just born! I can't believe a year passed so quickly. I hate that I don't really know her... She is a friendly baby and always lets me pick her up when I come visit (which isn't often enough)

We headed over to Blair's to celebrate Hailey's first birthday with her family.

Had Cake:

And ate it too :

I love that Allan 'helped' Hailey open her gifts, she sure is a daddy's girl !

Hailey wasn't very interested in her gifts, but sure liked the wrapping paper and liked to taste each item : )

Here is what we gave Hailey (along with a shirt and princess sippy cups):

I made this skirt! It took me 3 hours and I used fabrics I had on hand.... I had intended on making a skirt for Jaylen in September, but I was a big old chicken. I finally tackled the pattern, but I sort of hated it when I finished it... it looks like a clown skirt or something. I got lots of reassuring comments on FB and most importantly Blair loved it (Hailey didn't seem to mind wearing it either).

Hailey, Allan and Blair

Hailey and Tamera

I love Blair's big, loud family parties and feel honored that we are considered part of the family.

Happy First Birthday, Hailey!

Surprise in the Mail

2012-01-24T23:32:00.000-08:00

Its funny how a little surprise in the mail can come at just the perfect time on the perfect day. Kenny was having a bummer day today, nothing specific just a down day. We got a package in the mail from the Wagy family and naturally being the awesome man Kenny is he waited until I got home to open it.
His sister, Jennifer, sent some beautiful family photos, a note and a tin can packed full of name tags that belonged to Kenny's dad. There were tons of them from the Ghost Busters to the California raisins! A treasure for him, for sure. I love to see that natural smile spread across Kenny's lips. Not that I don't see it often, I mean the guy is always laughing and joking, but this smile is different. Pure joy and contentment.
To anyone else these might be plastic trinkets, but to Kenny its a link to his dad and he loved looking at each one of them. He especially loved the ones that still had Ron's name on them.

Thanks for the super awesome surprise Jennifer and Susie!

A Trip Down Memory Lane

2012-01-17T20:27:00.000-08:00

So I have extra time between work and Piano on Tuesday afternoons and I often find myself just driving around looking at houses. Today I went to on of my family's old houses.

This house is at 2525 W Seldon Lane in Phoenix, AZ. My family rented it in the early 80s. It is actually up for sale right now for $50,000- that is crazy cheap, but it is only a 1,000 ft2 house and it was built in 1959. 3 bedroom/ 2 bath.

I remember it being so much bigger... and nicer :) It probably was nicer when we lived there- probably wasn;t bigger though ; )

My earliest memories were in this house:

* I remember sitting at the coffee table eating Bologna and Cheese sandwiches with my dad while watching I love Lucy or Andy Griffith at lunch time. My mom and brother weren't there.
* Our dog Holly Girl
* Playing in our TP in the back yard
* my brother falling off the roof (there used to be a tree by the front door) and cutting his head open. He begged me not to tell... of course I did anyway, but its not like she wouldn't have noticed all the blood on his forehead.
* I remember being in the kitchen with my mom... nothing more specific just being in there with her
* I remember my baby sitter whom I called Grandma Rena (she lived on the next street over)
* I got my first scar at that house... I ran across the street, fell and skinned my knee. I still have the scar.
* I remember when my dad decided to burn the weeds with gasoline and lit the entire chain link fence line on fire.
* I remember when the house was robbed... everyone was evaluating their rooms to see if anything was taking... my room was so messy I had no idea if anything was gone (like they wanted any of my 4 year old stuff ha ha ).
* One night my brother and I were going to run away from home... we got our bikes out and I don't even think we made it to the end of the drive way when we heard a dog howl and turned back.

My very earliest memory was actually in the living room of this house when my parents told me that my Grandpa Max passed away. It was 1985 and I was 2 years old. I don't have any specific memories of my Grandpa Max, but I remember that night when they told me he was gone and how mad I was and that I loved him a lot...

I had my 6th birthday party on that porch. We played musical chairs and did the egg race stuff.

I know of a lot more things that happened in that house because of photos and stories that were told to me, but all of these things are actual memories.

Have you ever been asked what your earliest memory was? Its hard to pin point, but if you can find the place you lived or look at pictures you might be able to jog it. I really can't believe that I remember my Grandpa Max Lang especially when I recently found out the year he died was 1985 making me 2 years old... thats crazy.

Anyway, that was my trip down memory lane.... maybe next week I will find another of our old houses and write about it.

Super Stuffed Potatoes

2012-01-15T15:13:00.000-08:00

4 small baking potatoes

1 lb ground beef

1/4 lb Velveeta Cheese

1 small tomato chopped

2 green onions sliced

1/2 cup sour cream

Bake Potatoes. Brown meat then mix in Velveeta, tomatoes and onions until Velveeta is melted- stir frequenetly. Split Potatoes, mach insides with fork, top with meat mixture and sour cream.

Kraft Foods Magazine- Fall 09

Since we were just chillin at the house today I made this for lunch. I actually doubled the Velveeta and used about 1/4 of salsa and no tomato, onion of sour cream. Kenny loved it. It was VERY filling too.

Oreo Fudge Ice Cream Cake and Friday the 13th

2012-01-13T23:05:00.000-08:00

½ cup hot fudge ice cream topping- warm

1 tub (8 oz) Cool Whip whipped topping- thawed, divided

1 pkg (3.9 ox) Jello- Chocolate instant pudding

8 Oreo cookies, chopped

12 vanilla ice cream sandwiches

Pour fudge topping into medium bowl. Whisk in 1 cup of cool whip. Add dry pudding mix, stir 2 mins. Stir in chopped cookies.
arrange 4 ice cream sandwiches, side by side on a 24 inch long piece of foil. Top layer with cool whip mixure. Repeat layers.
Frost top and sides with remaining cool whip. Bring up foil sides double fold top and ends to loosely seal packet. Freeze for four hours.

I took this to Blair' Friday the 13th party and everyone loved it! It is an excellent substitute to the $30 Diary Queen Ice Cream Cake! I made this one for only $8.50 and nothing was really on sale so you could probably even do it cheaper. I would probably add more Oreo next time I made this.

The party was really fun, Brian, Kenny and I joined Blair and her kiddos for some scary movie watching. We watched the old version of The Exorcist and Friday the 13th. The movies weren't very good, but we enjoyed chowing down on pizza, snacks and ice cream, playing with the cats and chatting with Blair (and then Allan when he got home).

10 for $10 at the Tempe Improv - or FREE

2012-01-12T23:26:00.000-08:00

Advertising works on me... I check my e-mails and am easily enticed by Groupon deals, sales and specials... Today I received a deal for FREE admission to the Tempe Improv for their 10 comics for $10 night. Of course the tickets weren't actually free since I had to pay a $5 per ticket processing fee(not to mention the 2 drink minimum....), but still cheap ! Kenny has been wanting to take my mom with us to the Improv for a long time... The two of them laugh out loud a lot... to TV, radio, comics whatever. I mean its not that I don't laugh too, but they really get into it. I was actually surprised that she wanted to go, because she is such a home body.

So the 3 of us headed to Tempe for a night out. I wish I would have taken pictures because my mom was all dressed up and looked so pretty in here gray ruffly shirt and black skinny pants : )

We ordered some chips and salsa and drinks before the show started and eagerly waited for the comics to get started. I personally though the first 1/2 of the comics were the best and laughed A LOT. 8 of them were local comics that I didn't recognize, but we did get to Listen to the Head Liners from this week and next week (not bad for $5 admission!) as well.

My favorite comic was talked about marriage... I think his best joke was, "I got married young so I didn't have to waste a lot of time figuring out what my own interests were" LOL Kenny and I had a great laugh at that guy.

My mom said the comics weren't great, but she still laughed a lot and enjoyed the night. The average show is about an hour an half... so I was expecting to get out about 9 PM so when we walked out at 10:15 I was shocked! It made for a late night, but I am so glad we went.

He's Officially 5

2012-01-11T19:20:00.000-08:00

This morning Jacob was a little upset when he realized he had to go to school even though it was his birthday. He got got the cool hat he is wearing in these pictures and my mom sent him with Angry Bird cupcakes so he ended up having a good day : )

Although we already celebrated his birthday on Saturday we all went to McDonalds to celebrate again. When they got there I told Jacob to spin around so I could take a look at him, he did and I said, "Yep you look like a 5 year old!" He was so pleased with himself. The boys had a great time playing (and even Big Brian went up in the play ground which made the boys squeal with delight). I think Jacob could care less that they serve food except for the pickle on his hamburger.

After playing and eating and playing some more it was time to open presents-

Crayons!

Socks!

Angry Birds! (PJs)

Little Brian as SO excited for everything... his brother's birthday, eating at McDonalds (he actually eats his food), playing on the play ground, seeing me (tee hee), watching his brother open presents etc. Although, it HE wasn't the center of attention he was really good about it and is really looking forward to his birthday...

Little Brian

When we walked out of the restaurant Kenny and Brian silly stringed the boys. Although the pictures don't really show it (because Jacob looks like he is on the verge of tears) they actually really liked it and Little Brian said, "Lets do that again on my birthday!"

It took some digging, but I found these pictures from 2009... Jacob's 2nd Birthday... I remembered that Brian silly stringed him then too... He took it better today than back then!

Happy Birthday Kiddo!

Family Bible Study Night

2012-01-09T19:29:00.000-08:00

I got a wild hair on Sunday and prepared 3 meals... I know you are shocked huh?

I made this recipe for tonight's dinner-

BLACKEYED PEA SOUP

1 lb. dried blackeyed peas (2 c.)
Water
Salt and pepper to taste
12 slices bacon, cubed
3 med. potatoes, cubed
1 lg. onion, cubed
1 lg. can diced Rotel tomatoes/green chilies with liquid
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Tabasco sauce to taste

Place peas with plenty of water (seasoned to taste with salt and pepper) in a large crock pot. Cook on low overnight. The next morning, saute bacon until crisp. Add potatoes and onions to bacon and cook until onions are soft. Add to peas in crock pot, along with drippings. Add tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco sauces. Cook on low all day.

It made SO much food I decided to invite my family over. My dad couldn't make it because he was late coming home from work, but my mom took him some. It came out really good but a little spicy for my mom, Jacob and Little Brian, but they still liked it. I think Little Brian's exact comment was, "Wow this is actually good." Lol he has so much confidence in his Aunt's cooking huh?? My brother recalled the last time we had black eye peas here... neither of the boys would eat it because they said it was looking at them... lol!

We pulled out this special plate (even though we were eating out of bowls) that Linda Lee, my teacher from YW gave us as a wedding gift (sure can see all the finger prints huh?) . Jacob was tickled to use it and is so excited for his 5th b-day in 2 days!

Since we were already together we decided to go ahead and do out family Bible study for the week. We have been doing this for the past 2 months now... I really enjoy it and it helps us keep our house vacuumed and dusted and pretty much makes us cook at least once a week (although last week we did just order pizza). Sometimes my mom cooks for us or brings a desert to share. Tonight I made rice krispy treats which everyone loved. I gave Little Brian an extra large piece and said, "oops is that too big?" after I handed it to him. He replied with a big grin and wide eyes, "Who cares if its too big" and walked away. : )

Tonight we read about the Good Samaritan. We all knew that Parable, but it you can always take away something when studying the Bible .

There is always a lot of wrestling and horse play with my brother and the boys around... they are constantly asking my brother and Kenny if they 'want a piece of them' its pretty funny. Little Brian was bent over and Kenny was playing him when Jacob walked up and said, "Oww wedgie!" and pulled Little B's underwear up! Everyone thought it was terrible funny... great we are breading a bully...

Oh Yeah!

2012-01-08T15:33:00.001-08:00

Our plans got cancelled for today so.... Kenny finally put up the shelves I wanted in the spare bedroom!

Before

I love them! Thank you Kenny!

After

Do Over, Please?

2012-01-03T22:02:00.000-08:00

I would like to find the restart button for this year... it came to quick... I didn't set my goals and things aren't going the way I want... boo hoo right? Well you are invited to a pity party - so here goes...

Monday night Toby started throwing up... first it was just clear, but then it was lined with red. I have learned the hard way about waiting it out with pets so we got him into the vet the next morning. They immediately attacked the diet we feed them: Pedigree but we refused to believe that was the answer since they said that was Hope's problem too, when she actually had a piercing hole in her belly! The did decided to do the barium test and take z-rays to examine his digestive system. After 2 days and $500 in vet bills later it actually was the food because he had a build up blocking his colon (?) ... I am still not 100% convinced it was the food and not stuffing from toys, but either way he is on the mend and I am thankful!

Tuesday was the day to head back to work. When I got into my truck that morning my glove compartment, center console and coin tray (ash tray) were all open and riffled through.... weird. My first thought was that Kenny was looking for something... that is a path of destruction I recognize! When I called and asked him if he had found what he was looking for he said it wasn't him... Scary. I began to take inventory. Nothing was missing, but someone had clearly been in the vehicle. We have no idea how they got in because the windows were all intact and no other physical damage was noticeable... unless we just left the truck unlocked... It really shouldn't feel like a big deal since there was no damage and nothing was taken, but I couldn't help but wonder about it... what were they looking for if not tools, walkie talkies or CDs? I am thankful I carry my garage door opener in my purse and don't leave it in the truck! Anyway, it just felt icky. We (knock on wood) have not been burglarized in our adult years... The last time I had something stolen was my stereo out of my Nova. It was about this time of year and Kenny had given me a stereo for Christmas... the week I had it installed someone had smashed my passenger front window and taken the stereo. The window cost more to replace ($200) then the stereo ($100)!

Anyway, I also had some frustrating things happen at work... I don't really want to rehash all the gory details here, but the situation left me feeling slighted and second class.

Speaking of work Kenny had a stressful few days back to work. I don't envy his job this time of year. It is almost impossible to make appointments with insureds around the holidays so naturally his numbers are down. On top of that his Nevada work is piling up so he will have to take a long trip there to get things caught back up. Last week his GPS unit broke. It is several years old and was dropped for the last time... wouldn't even turn back on. This is a tool that is essential to his job, yet the company does not provide him one. He pooled all his Christmas money and allowance to buy the new unit. Talk about a bummer, but at least he had the means to do it... nothing worse than having to use map quest everyday!

So that all that is why I demand a restart to this year... Have you ever heard the saying if everyone put all their problems on the table you would probably take your own back? Well I know that is true and these are such minor problems they will fade fast... Just wanted to vent I guess.

Bringing in the New Year - 2012

2012-01-01T20:36:00.000-08:00

Many ideas had been on the table for our New Year's Eve celebration ; Tempe Town Lake, a great new fancy restaurant etc but we (Jereme, Melodi, Brian, Kenny and I) decided to stay in, play board games and make a special dinner. We bought PRIME New York Strip Steaks from Costco- $10 per steak... ouch. Kenny did an excellent job grilling the steaks and baked potatoes to go with our salads. Little Brian LOVES steaks, but Jacob acted like it was eating poo. Poor kid hates meat... like I did when I was a kid. Everyone enjoyed the steaks, but we all kind of agreed that it wasn't worth paying double for the 'prime'.

After dinner we played Mario Yahtzee which the boys loved! It was such a good game for little Brian to practice his math skills and Jacob just enjoyed tossing the dice across the table. Jereme and Melodi brought a new Wii game called WiiParty. The boys, and I do mean all of them ; Brian, Kenny, Jereme, Little B and Jacob were very much into the game. We did a countdown to 8 PM (AKA kid bedtime) and toasted with Apple Cider. I took the boys home and my mom baby sat them while we all stayed up till midnight (we knew they would never go to sleep if they could hear us up playing and having fun). Mel and I tortured the boys for the next couple hours with a Twilight bored game. Since my brother has never seen the movies, read the books or knows the names Jacob, Edward and Bella it was pretty hilarious to watch him play. He was a good sport and we had a lot of laughs playing anyway. We brought in the new year playing the wii game (except Mel who took a nap).

When we got up in the morning Kenny made us all waffles and bacon- yummo! Brian took off about 10, but the rest of us lounged around all afternoon trying to decide what to do with the day. We ended up just going to lunch at Golden Corral --- kind of ironic to go to a buffet on New Year's Day since so many people (including me) make resolutions to lose weight! We enjoyed it though, right down to the strawberries and marshmallows dipped in the chocolate fountain.

We finally made it over to Nanette's house about 4 PM. Even though we were late we didn't want to miss a chance at seeing the kids (Brittany, Chris, Zack, Matt and Emma), unfortunately they were really raring to go and Zack spit in my face twice (after giving me the biggest hug hello!) and Matt hit me in the face all within 5 mins of getting there... Sadly we also had missed Brittany and Chris opening their presents and dinner... BUT they saved us some black eyed peas and ham so we are sure to be prosperous in the new year.

I had a good time chatting with all the girls in the kitchen. This is probably my favorite time of year; new beginnings, goals and challenges. I love to hear peoples plans and goals ; Michelle is going to try to read the Bible this year, Sarah is filling her calendar with family birthdays, anniversaries etc. and Nanette is going to try a new book club. After hearing them talk about their ideas and goals it made me want to get going on my goals and ideas for the new year.

My normal goals (2011, 2010) include things like eating healthy, readying the Bible and saving money... while those are certainly still on my list I have some other goals in mind as well... I want to work on the way I treat others... cut out things like sarcasm, complaining and gossip.

Date Night 12/29

2011-12-29T22:03:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had an some great plan, but nothing, not one part of the plan worked out? Well that is how tonight went..

The plan was to go to Old Town Scottsdale and try out their outdoor ice-skating rink made from plastic and then go to the Rusty Spur for some delicious Burgers.

Old Scottsdale is a good hour drive from our house and with evening traffic... a little longer- so we were happy to get out of the car and eager for some 'plastic skating'. After walking around several blocks of the area where the rink was supposed to be we finally submitted and decided that it had been closed up early, despite the website indicating it ran thru 12/31. Drat.

We walked through the beautifully lite streets checking out the shops still adorned with Christmas decorations. Most places were closed, but the area is still very neat to walk around. We headed over to the Rusty Spur and took the last empty table in the place. As we sat and listened to the live music in the tiny old bank building now a bar and grill, we noticed no one had food. Turns out they don't serve food in the evenings... Weird. Strike two.

The night was still young, but with Vampire Diaries and Castleville calling my name I would have been content to grab some fast food and head home. Kenny still wanted to save the night and we ended up going to a 50's themed diner down the street. It was cute and the food was decent and cheap. After we ate Kenny took me over to the famous Sugar bowl for a Top Hat Sundae and he had a shake.

It turned out to be a pretty nice night even though nothing went as planned.

Our pups

2011-12-28T15:07:00.001-08:00

Random pictures from my phone of our awesome pups!

Christmas Day - 2011

2011-12-25T21:59:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning Kenny and I got up and to the Taylor House by 7 AM to discover that Santa had been there!

After a little help from Uncle Kenny the boys sleepily came out of their room to check things out.

When Jacob came out the first thing he saw was a little rubber snake on the ground. He quickly picked it up and said, "Santa left this for me?!" and put it around his neck just like his Jake the snack picture . I love how kids delight in the simplest things.

After the boys finished their Santa presents and everyone checked out their stockings, my dad opened his gifts from the boys and my mom. Little B gave my dad his gift and said, "Open your new wallet" lol

Emma in her little cowgirl boots

After we had a nice big breakfast of waffles, eggs, bacon and sausage at my parent's house, Kenny and I went home to change and then headed over to the Ross house to visit, exchange gifts and do our stocking exchange.

My God daughter and I (She was smiling right before this picture)

Kim spoiled Andy and his fiance, Joanna and bought them a brand new fully furnished house and 2 brand new cars!!

Zack was very pleased with his new Cars PJs we got him! Michelle said this year clothes were his favorite items, specifically the underwear he got earlier in the day! Too funny... you never can tell with kids and clothes is you will have a winner.

The boys and I made these blocks for the Ross family:

Michelle got a little teary eyed when she opened them and just loved them. The kids... loved the styrofoam peanuts AKA snow even more!

Matt is not the biggest fan of the chaos of Christmas, but did come into the room to open a few presents.. then he was gone again playing in the kitchen or outside-- any quiet spot he could find.

Matt with our pickles

Michelle made everyone 'sweet dill pickles' like her Grandma Ferar used to make... I am not a fan of sweet pickles, but these pickles are THE BEST PICKLES EVER! I really want to try to make them myself... my family ate a whole jar Christmas night :) yummo!

Kenny and his beautiful Nana

Kenny and Matt

Matt

Andy and Joanna opening up presents- notice the foot stool - Christmas Crazed Zack

Emma- I cannot remember why she was crying but it was adorable

After we did the stocking exchange we headed out to the movies; a tradition Kenny and I started last year and my mom, brother and the boys met us up there. We saw Arthur Christmas which was an absolutely adorable movie ... for kids. Kenny and my mom liked it, but my brother and I were a little bored with the movie.

Jacob was fascinated by the movie, and why wouldn't he be? He is Mr. Christmas! I tried to snap a quick picture of Jacob, but somehow he saw me about to take the picture and like any child that knows me instantly put on his best "Cheese" smile!

After the movie we headed back to my parents house for a nice Ham dinner. It was an exhaustingly wonderful holiday! I am glad we have 2 more days off to recover!!

A Brand New Car!!

2011-12-23T15:03:00.000-08:00

Seriously we are beyond spoiled! Kenny got his brand new 2012 Ford Taurus today. His 'old' 2010 Chevy Impala had over 60,000 miles on it so according to EMC its time for a new one!! I picked the color, its called Cinnamon. Loving the new car smell!!

Reduced Stress holiday

2011-12-22T15:29:00.000-08:00

I just can't even believe what a great week this has turned out to be! Being the week before Christmas I expected it to be crazy busy, full of stress and rushing to get everything done... I am not saying I haven't had my moments, but for the most part ; awesome.

To get to this reduced stress state I cut out somethings I would normally do...

*I did not MAKE any of our gifts (with the exception of quick blankets for the Ross kids as requested by their mama). I always have lofty ideas of making all these great things and end up working so hard the week before Christmas to complete everything... just ask Kenny- he has been known to cut, glue and clip quilts late at night, days before Christmas.
* We did LESS Decorating. Kenny and his friend Matt used to love to put up Christmas lights together, but since Matt moved out of state Kenny just doesn't have the same passion for it... I used to try to push for lights to be put up - I mean how can you not put up lights??? You know what? If you do or don't put up lights actually doesn't matter even in the slightest and if the people inside the home are more content without them than it is worth NOT putting them up. Also, we did less decorating inside the house... in years past I was pretty overboard with decorating the house and now have a huge tree and about 15 totes of decorations. I already mentioned about our tree here. This change brought me great joy and we have been enjoying the lovely scented tree for weeks now.
* I didn't SEND Christmas cards. Seems like a cardinal sin right? Actually with communication the way it is today you really don't HAVE to send out paper cards... Although this saved us a bundle of money and time I will add this back to my MUST DO list for next year. We have received lots of fun cards in the mail with letters and pictures of our friends and family. I SO enjoy getting these and wish I would have sent them out this year... note to self I will do this next year!
* I didn't give gifts to EVERYONE in our office. Every year since I started working at EMC (7 years ago) I have made a gift for almost everyone in the office. I have made those plastic canvas ornaments, towels, coasters, muffins, candies etc. Although, this is a tradition I love... it makes me a little crazy. There are over 70 people in our office....
* I didn't force my family to ATTEND every holiday event known to man and be out every night of the week... This is pretty self explanatory!
* I didn't try to BUY gifts for every person I know... I love to give gifts, but narrowing down the gift list really helped out this year!

Of course all these things helped, but more importantly the support of my loving, patient and kind husband is what helps the most... he shopped, wrapped, mailed etc all right beside me! We still did of fun activities and attended a few parties, but we gave ourselves the breathing room to ENJOY the season!

These things worked this year, but next year it might be different... my big problem is I always want to do EVERYTHING... which doesn't usually bring peace or joy... and I sometimes don't even enjoy all the activities because it is just too much. Finding a focus and deciding what is important is the best way to reduce your holiday stress!

Gingerbread House Contest

2011-12-18T19:31:00.000-08:00

Jacob and Brian's House

Our Gingerbread House Contest was kind of a flop... people were so busy several forgot and others had extenuating circumstances and couldn't do it. BUT my brother did it and so did Kenny and I... Brian said he hates those houses (somehow it was really funny when he said it) the sticky frosting, the collapsing walls, etc. We had the same trouble with ours... the walls kept falling and the ceiling separating - it was a mess. I am thankful you can just buy a fit these days... I can't imaging trying to make the gingerbread and frosting and then having to buy all that candy...

Kenny and My House - His says "DITTO

Lets get this Christmas started!

2011-12-18T19:22:00.000-08:00

Christmas came early this year as we celebrated a little early with Barb and Sarah. It sure smelled like Christmas when we walked in!

Oscar just couldn't wait another second so we opened presents before dinner-

Oscar opening his present

Felix opening up his gift

The boys hiding behind the chairs to play with their toys

Sarah opening her "Kuhpon" which is good for getting her Kenny -do list done in 2012

Kenny and his 4.5 lb bag of Boston Baked Beans- He was in Heaven!

Barb with all her goodies !

Barb, Sarah, Kenny and I with all our goodies

We ate a nice Turkey Dinner with all the fixins that was cooked to perfection. Yum yum!

After dinner Kenny and I worked on our Gingerbread Houses while Sarah Supervised and Barb took pictures.

Kenny's House

My House

We had a really nice, laid back celebration over at the Meyer House this year and just enjoyed each others company - the way Christmas should be!

Christmas Concert

2011-12-15T18:33:00.000-08:00

Little Brian had his Christmas Concert tonight.... we found out about it at about 4:30 and it started at 5:30.... Little Brian neglected tell anyone about it, but forgot his homework packet at the school. When Brian went to get it the teacher mentioned that he would see him at 5:30... good thing he did!

It was an outdoor concert and started with the 8th grade and worked backwards... Little B is in 1st grade so we had a while to wait.

Jacob got cold

Finally it was time for Little Brian's class to come out and play the Ukuleles!! He was SO proud!!

Here is a partial video of one of their songs:

Ugly Sweater Party

2011-12-10T23:10:00.000-08:00

Its a little bizarre how popular these Ugly Sweater Parties have become... When Blair sent out the invitation I was super excited and immediately began looking.... and looking and looking for one of those classic 80s UGLY SWEATERS and after the 5th thrift store gave up and decided I would just have to make them. Kenny and I bought a bag of silly Christmas decorations and pinned them to our sweaters (My brother followed suit and used items off their Christmas tree and a TABLE RUNNER OF my moms!) I think they came out awesome and they sure are ugly!!

Me and Blair

Kenny and I

Kenny, Me and My Brother

The party was fun as usual, just laid back chit chat. Someone brought a fire pit (which is where I camped out most of the night because I am such a pyro! ) We burned Blair's huge mound of tumble weeds... an underwriter's nightmare!! 12 foot flames grazing the eves of the house and stray ashes floating about the yard... yikes!! It sure was fun to watch though!!

The white Elephant exchange is always one of my favorite activities at Christmas time... its light hearted, you don't have to worry about getting the right item or the best item... and there is always lots of laughter. I had my item stolen (by BLAIR!) and ended up with a present we brought ! Kenny and Brian both ended up with cool items.

This is the crazy thing I brought : )

Elf'ed

2011-12-10T21:06:00.000-08:00

We got Elfed tonight!

I know just who did it too... my mom, brother and the boys ; )

Its an extra special elfing too... it is to help remember Kenny's dad and his tradition of buying Costco goodies for Kenny for Christmas :)

Ornament Tradition

2011-12-10T17:10:00.000-08:00

Barb drove today to hang out with us and help decorate the our Christmas tree. We were all starving so we headed to lunch first. She treated us to Mexican food at Rio Mirage - yummo! Then we headed off to see a movie... We saw The Sitter... I am sorry but unless you just like to hear profanity this is just a terrible movie.

Once we got back to the house it was too late to decorate the tree, but Barb did hang Kenny's baby ornament before she left. Barb has such a great memory, especially when it comes to Kenny's childhood memories. He really enjoys/misses the tradition they had of opening each ornament and reminiscing that particular year - ie the year he got his car or the year they went to such and such place on vacation. We ended up decorating the tree a couple days later with both of our collections of 28-30 annual ornaments... the tree was FULL!

Friday Night Lights

2011-12-09T21:48:00.000-08:00

My mom wanted to go Elfing. I wanted to go to a craft show and my brother and Kenny wanted to go to Game Stop to exchange some games.... So we all (Brian,Kenny, my mom, the boys and I) piled into the car and mashed it all into one big night and had a blast!!

We started out at the craft show because it closed the earliest. My childhood friend, Christina had a booth and since she lives on the East side I hardly ever have opportunities to meet up with her which is why I wanted to check out the sale. The other vendors were kind of lame, but they did have numerous tables set up with FREE holiday crafts for kids! Even though we were crunched for time we let the boys pick out one item to make - which they loved of course. It was also nice to chat with Christina even though it was brief and check out her business.

Next we went Elfing... similar to booing, but for Christmas. My mom choose to Elf our friends Stargret and Jackie. The boys love the rush of ding dong ditching (Jacob more than Little Brian) and it is always a ton of fun to jump back in the car and try to take off undetected.

While we were in the residential areas we took time to stroll down the streets and look at Christmas lights. Jacob is Mr. Christmas and loves practically anything having to do with Christmas... it was so cute to watch and listen to him oooww and ahhh over the displays.

Kenny let Little Brian 'drive' a little bit on the residential streets... basically he was on Kenny's lap, but of course Kenny still had full control of the vehicle, gas petals etc. Little B was thrilled, but also nervous. Not knowing the huge difference between a video games and an actual vehicle Little B kept over turning, so Kenny let him get up on the curb before correcting him. My brother and mom were joking with him saying, "Come on get off the curb, lets go" And Little B not knowing what to do just said he didn't know how and asked Kenny to help him. It was so cute. When he was back in his seat and clamoring on and on about his experience he said, " Did you see me; I am a terrible driver!" as he grabbed his head, but still with a smile on his face. My brother was pretty funny during the whole experience too, holding on to the "Oh Shit" handle for dear life. We had a lot of laughs tonight!!

Swaps

2011-12-08T21:20:00.000-08:00

My mom and I went to Scrapbooks Etc tonight to pick up our swaps... I went a little over board and signed up for 5 different ones- 2 cards, tags, flowers and the secret santa swap! It was like Christmas looking through all the swapped out items!

Christmas Tag Swap

Card Swap

Birthday Card Swap

Flower Swap

Secret Santa Swap

Crafting

2011-12-06T10:47:00.001-08:00

Oh Christmas Tree

2011-12-05T22:29:00.000-08:00

Tonight we picked up the Taylor boys and headed to Home Depot to buy our first REAL Christmas tree!

Growing up both of our families traditionally used an artificial trees so naturally that is what Kenny and I did as well... When we moved into our 2nd new house in 2005, we purchased a huge 9.5 foot pre-lite tree, which will only fit where the ceiling is vaulted in the middle... causing us to rearrange our furniture every year. Although, that is a big chore it was always kind of a nice time to vacuum under and behind furniture that sits all year... This year I just didn't want to do it PLUS we now have a piano it would have been pretty crowded. Kenny agreed : ) and thought it might be nice to buy a real tree this year.

The lot was pretty small and not much like I thought it would be... the trees were just piled up in stalls. We began pulling them out and trying to fluff them up to see what they would look like once the branches settled. Finally we just asked the sales associate (who ended up being the tree farm owner from Oregon) how to best select a tree. We ended up with a Douglas Fir mainly because I found one I thought was 'the perfect tree' and the price point didn't hurt ($19.97!! and just $32 total with the stand). Little Brian was so cute I asked him what he thought and he said, "Its just perfect."

Jacob, our tree, Kenny

Little Brian, our tree and Kenny

We brought it home and Kenny and Brian set it up while I 'supervised.' I got to pull out my favorite holiday decoration, the tree skirt I made with my Aunt Barbara when she first taught me to quilt/sew several years ago. Once we started digging through the holiday boxes in search of 'the few items I was going to put up' I decided to just get them all down and go through them. I want to condense and get rid of things I never put out anymore, then maybe holiday decorating wont be such a daunting task.

Jacob made it SO much fun. The boys loves Christmas. He oowed and awwed at each item as we unpacked it... you would have though we were opening Transformer toys! Some things would be neat enough to justify running into the spare room to show his brother (who was busy playing a video game) and others he would delicately place on the table with both hands; like the 'gold' (AKA brass) stocking holders. As we unpacked we found a few items Jacob just loved so I told him he could take them home with him; singing mini Christmas tree, stocking holders, candy garland etc... we started him a pile! lol

Once we had everything unpacked we started to find places around the house for them to go. My favorite was Jacob putting the table runners all lined up on the floor as a rug to the kitchen... he said it looked awesome and demanded the dogs stay off of it. He ran around the house hanging items on the door handles and did very well following my directions on where things needed to go (I am pretty controlling when it comes to that stuff... just ask Brian and Kenny! ha ha).

It was a super fun night and I am so thankful for Little Jacob's brilliant Christmas spirit. I couldn't be happier with the tree we choose since it is pretty much the most amazing tree ever and smells wonderful!!

Always funny

2011-12-05T14:43:00.001-08:00

Muffin Tins

2011-12-04T23:22:00.000-08:00

Are you sick of seeing the muffin tins yet? This is my 3rd post about them...

I did a silly thing- I decided to take orders for these fabulous Muffin Tin countdowns and try to make a little extra Christmas cash... I only got ONE order.

My mom came over on Sunday afternoon and we both worked on projects... Without a preplanned kit I quickly realized that I had taken on project that was a lot more time consuming than I had planned... instead of 2 hours it took me about 6 to make the tins... I made 3 just because I had purchased 3 tins and it is almost as easy to make one of something as it is to make a few.

My mom and I had to run to Joann's in the middle of the project and where I spend $7... this bringing my total cost for supplies to $22.... I was only charging $25 and since I didn't have orders for the other 2 tins I was basically making 50 cents an hour for a total profit of $3. Yikes. I did end up selling a second one, but boy was all that really worth $28? I think I will stick to making things as gifts...

B's b-day

2011-12-04T20:14:00.005-08:00

We started the day with a fun little scavenger hunt that would lead to his gift.

We started at the house with a basketball (first hint to go to the basketball courts):

Second hint hidden inside the balloons were the numbers 4 4 2--- not particularly in the right order which lead us to my parents old house.

Jacob popped the balloons

3rd clue- A bottle of shower gel. Brian wasn't sure about that one so Kenny light- heartedly said, "Then lets go put it away."

In the shower Brian his final clue- a dart from the kids guns.

In outside toy crate where all the guns are kept Brian found his gift.

A certificate for an activity of his choice:

*Lazer Tag with his boys and us
* Paintballing with us
Or
* Skydiving with ME!

The caveat on the skydiving was he had to wait until March... for a few reasons, mostly $, but also it would be nicer weather etc.

He was such a good sport with the whole scavenger hunt and seemed to enjoy it (I KNOW the boys enjoyed it!)

Kenny, Brian and the boys drove out to reservation to get cigarettes while I did some much needed chores at home. Then my parents picked me up and we all met up for lunch at Hooters... I wasn't thrilled about the choice either, but really the food is very good and you can see more skin walking down the street these days (its everywhere, TV, magazines etc)

We ordered so much fired deliciousness we couldn't finish it all- fried pickles, hot wings, french fries, french fries smothered in cheese, etc

After the meal the girls came over to sing Happy Birthday to my brother... I wasn't sure what to expect, but what we got was PRICELESS!!

We laughed so hard! The boys were just too cute.

After lunch we headed back to our house for the guys to watch football and play video games while my mom and I crafted.

It was such a great day. 32. Nothing spectacular about the number, but this is an extra special birthday for my brother (and for us to celebrate with him). His first sober birthday in more years than we would like to count. I am SO proud of him and how hard he is working- this is the real deal and I am so thankful to have my brother back.

EMC Christmas party

2011-12-03T23:14:00.000-08:00

Saturday night we braved the 'AZ cold', rain and mud out at Rawhide for our EMC Company Christmas party. We had a full load, carpooling with Donna and our guests Brian and Barb. The party was kind of dull with the exception of our Claims manager, Mike, being arrested under the charge of being to bossy and sentenced to perform the can-can for his release! I never really like the food at these types of parties because my steak is always too rare, but I was able to fill up on baked potato anyway. The DJ was terrible and didn't play much dance music... or country... or Christmas. Really what made the night fun was our friends (and family). The ride to and from Chandler was lively and filled with laughter. After we dropped off Barb at her car we ended up stopping by Blair's house to drop off some things I had been meaning to take to her. I begged Kenny, Brian and Donna to Christmas Carol her! They said no, but lined up in front of the door and by some miracle all belted out the exact line, "Jingle all the way" when she opened the door... She said, "Oh Hell no!" and slammed the door in our faces... I thought we might die laughing.

Free Fun - Surprise Party

2011-12-03T20:14:00.000-08:00

I am always finding things for us to do, but my brother gets all the credit for this one! Between the sounds of the band, glow of hot air balloons and the lighting of a Christmas tree with a cup of ($2.50) hot chocolate in hand and a little nephew hand in the other... couldn't ask for my more! We walked around and checked out all the sites, but mostly played with the boys in a the grassy field.

My favorite part of the night was the finale. 5-6 sky divers were dropped into the sky above the park... they looked like fireflies as they dropped from the sky with their parachutes illuminated and their suits lined with lights. As they got closer you could see what looked like flames coming from their chutes. It was so awesome and before we knew it they had landed and were running toward the crowd! The diver in our section was the best because he ran toward us and turned at the last second so his parachute landed over us. The boys (and other kids in the area) were shocked and delighted as were most of adults.

Immediately after the divers landed there was an awesome firework show! I personally think it was even better than the show they put on for the Forth of July! Jacob was so amazed and kept saying, "Its awesome."

The next day we went back up to the park to check out the car show, vendors and to ride the elephant and camels!!

Kenny, Little Brian and I checked out the craft vendors while Brian and Jacob explored the other vendors (like the fire department, different sales booths etc). It was strange shopping with a kid with us... I love Little Brian's perspective and how he would look at items and think about their prices. He never asked for anything (even the transformer flash light he saw).

After we were done exploring Jacob and I jumped in the Elephant line while Brian, Kenny and Little Brian walked around the car show. We waited a good hour to ride that Elephant and paid $2 per person, but it was totally worth it! We climbed a flight (?) of stairs and climbed onto this massive creature... With nothing but a metal bar on one side and rope on the other we held on tightly as the enormous animal sauntered across the grass arena with a gentle sway that made us feel like the whole contraption including the 5 of us could just fall off at any second! I had thought the ride would be similar to a horse, but really it was SO different! Kenny and Brian joked that they practically had to do the splits to straddle his wide back. Jacob loved that he was the 'driver' and Little Brian said, "That was SO much fun! even though he was initially afraid to ride. After we dismounted I had a quick second to pet the elephants neck and was shocked by his extremely rough skin and coarse/bristle like hair. It was a really neat experience.

We were about to wrap things up and head out for some pizza for lunch when an unexpected generous lady stopped us and gave us a stack of tickets ($9 worth) she was unable to use! I was excited because I had wanted to ride the camel too... why not get two items off my bucket list in one day!? The line wasn't near as long and before I knew it Jacob and I were on a camel's back separated by his single hump! As our camel, Jamal, stopped to much on some hay we say Brian and Little Brian attempting to mount the camel... apparently Little Brian decided at the last minute he didn't want to ride. With a little encouragement he decided if his dad rode in front he would ride behind him... Brian got in and Little Brian was supposed to take 'the seat' behind the hump, but instead leached onto his dad's back (like a backpack as Brian later joked). It was pretty comical to us watching... When they got off the camel Little Brian was all smiles and said how much fun it was... lol

Santa!

2011-12-03T15:41:00.001-08:00

Countdown

2011-12-01T18:28:00.000-08:00

The countdown to Christmas has begun- I can hardly believe it is the first of December already! Today at lunch Kenny and I dropped off our SECOND annual countdown to Christmas using books for the Ross family! I just love how excited they are about it and how even more excited Zack is just to see us (ME!). If you talk about spreading Christmas cheer and need to get some... the Ross house is where you can stock up! The Ross kids are always so happy and smiley. Last year Michelle enjoyed the countdown so much she made me an entire Scrapbook with pictures from each day when they did they did their family time and opened and read the books : )

I didn't get a chance to do my usual awesome wrapping (I am so humble huh?) so their are no bows or extras... just books wrapped; so I decided to include a muffin tin countdown too!

I didn't do one this year for my brother's boys... sadly they really don't share the passion for books that I do and apparently got bored with it last year. SO this year I am doing a 12 day countdown for them.

I use, used books, because... 24 NEW books would be outrageously expensive... This year I totally lucked out... Savers by my work had an amazing selection of Childrens Christmas books for $.69 each AND buy 4 get the 5th FREE AND I got 25% for signing up for their red card savings pass!! Woot Woot! So I ended up spending just over $10 on all the books where last year I spent over $30!!

Anyway, I am slowly getting into the Christmas Spirit.... now to tackle decorating and get the tree up!

Visiting

2011-11-30T20:57:00.000-08:00

Candice and I met at Washington Elementary School in the 6th grade and were pretty much inseparable that year and into junior high. We spent every waking moment together at each other's houses and I was even lucky enough to go on vacation with her family.

Candice introduced me to the LDS church where I attended from the ages of 12 to 18. I was baptized by her Step-dad, Jeff when I was 14 as was my mom sometime after that. I met some of my favorite people at that church and have wonderful memories of the people, adventures, lessons, FOOD and fun. My mom and I have reminisced about the old 28th Ward when we have attempted to attend other LDS churches and it just wasn't the same.... We miss it! The group of friends we made those years will last a lifetime even if we don't share the same faith any longer. I still feel very guilty when it comes Candice's family for my decision to leave the church since her family was who invested so much time into me, although they have never been judgmental or made me feel that way (its all in my own head!)

Anyway, all that to say Candice made a HUGE impact on my life but somewhere along the way we simply grew apart. We attended different highschools and eventually after college we stopped talking. Our moms are something if not kindred spirits and stayed in touch all these years. Since FB started I have reconnected with Candice's family (even camped with them, did the Mud Run etc), but have never been able to reconnect with her... not sure why.

My mom and I wanted to bring a little something over to the family after the funeral on Tuesday so she made fudge and we went by for a 'quick visit' and ended up staying for a few hours talking and laughing. At one point my mom started laughing at Candice and I and said, "You guys still finish each others sentences!" I had forgotten how much I enjoyed her company.

It was a really nice time, the four of us- together again just laughing and talking as if no time had passed.... let alone 10 years!

Candice and Stargret are just awesome people and I am thankful to know them!!

Green Table Gifts

2011-11-29T13:53:00.000-08:00

We found ourselves a gem. Green Table Gifts in Chandler offered a Amazon deal (through living social) and Jackie, my mom, Stacy (from work) and I decided to go to their special event class to make an advent calendar out of a muffin tin and magnets- GENIUS !

Jackie made my mom and I a delicious dinner (a yummy turkey,bacon and ranch sandwich on a crescent roll, chips, apple and cookies) and we ate it on the 80 min driveout to Chandler.

When we arrived I was super surprised to find an adorable boutique type store filled with handmade items from over 30 different vendors... awesome! The classes are just a supplemental fun thing the store does even though they don't actually sell crafting supplies... interesting concept.

Our kind,chatter box teacher was wonderful and the project was completely stress free....

Great food. Great friends. Great project. Great new store!

Saying Good Bye

2011-11-29T12:53:00.000-08:00

Weird how I keep getting drawn back to this building, to the people and the church I spent so many of my teenage years in and then walked away from... a baptism of a friend's child, a craft day and now a funeral.

As we walked in we were greeted by familiar faces with solemn smiles and hugs. We approach the viewing room, but I decide to stay outside. I don't want to see Dee'sbody... its sticks with me when I see people like that- Terry, Ron, Dave, Quint.... I just don't like it. I want to picture Dee with a huge smile on his face and full of life, the way he always was when I saw him. I didn't go in to say hi the family... or Candice. A missed opportunity because I didn't get to give her a hug and talk to her before the service ended and they followed the casket out for the processional.

The service was very nice. The Eulogy (given by Vince Lee) was quiet surprising... I really didn't know much about Dee and what he did with his life... a first wife and another son, a career in aviation control, parachuting for fun, a pilot, sealed in the Temple in 2000 with his wife and son, Jeff. I didn't know any of that but I knew his family meant the world to him and he was a kind, generous man who truly loved and cared about other people.

Stargret's brother, commented that it is strange the he was asked to speak since it is not usual that you would get so attached to your sister's in laws, but the fact is they were attached to Dee (and Wanda). I can relate, how often do you get attached to your friend's grandparent?

The fact is I adored Dee just like my own grandparent. As many people mentioned today Dee just made you feel like he belonged and you belonged. He counted me as part of the family when I used to spend so much time with Candice (and in turn with him and Wanda)... church every Sunday, swimming at their house, vacationing together etc. He shared his love of fishing with me and when I vacationed with Candice and her family in Idaho there were days where Jeff, Dee and I would go out fishing solo. Even in later years after I left the church whenever I would see him he would give me a bear hug and act like I was his favorite person in the world.

I will miss Dee Thompson and although this is a time of mourning, Bishop Al Wolf was right to say this is also a time of celebration and rejoicing because Dee had his affairs in order and we know where he is now. Jeff, his son, takes all the comfort in the world in knowing that his family is sealed for time and all eternity and he will see his parents again someday. Although, I don't believe you have to go through a special ceremony to be sealed to your family I do believe families are forever and Dee is being reunited with his loved ones that have passed before him.

Thanksgiving #3

2011-11-27T22:50:00.000-08:00

Most of the family had to work on Thanksgiving day so Michelle hosted a the Big Meal on Sunday so that everyone (except Andy and Joanna) could come.

It was such a beautiful day so we spent lots of time outside playing with the 3 adorable Ross kiddos.

Emma

Matt- could this kid be any cuter loosing his pants???

Matt and his Grandma (Nanette)

I made more pies. SIDE STORY: The pies dripped and oozed all over the door and down to the bottom of the stove leaving a horrible black mess.... I decided to use the self cleaning option and soon black smoke was barreling out of the stove!! We quickly opened all of the doors and windows and 4 hours later we had a new clean stove!!

Emma - Can you see her adorable pig tails?

Kenny sharing his pie

The whole family

Michelle used a brine on the turkey this year and although she felt like it tasted pretty much the same I thought it had a deliciously moist flavor and it literally fell off the bones when Trevor tried to carve it. All the fixin's were excellent too.

After dinner and dishes we were all sitting around (maybe trying not to doze) and watched the kids dance- simply adorable.

The Hunger Games

2011-11-27T18:40:00.001-08:00

It bugs me to be out of the loop. It seems like I was reading a status update a few times a week that mentioned the Hunger Games... The books are about a post apocalyptic world in a country called Panem where the US used to be... Each year "The Capital" hosts a televised event (reality TV show??) where one boy and one girl ages 12-18 are chosen from each of the 12 remaining districts to participate in the HUNGER GAMES... which is essentially a fight to the death, with only one winner.

The whole premise scares me and I was thinking I wouldn't like the books since it is not my normal read... but decided the masses of people can't be wrong... oh and they weren't! Once I started reading I didn't want to put the books down.

I have to admit, although I really enjoyed reading the series and couldn't put them down until I found out what happened... (seriously I was reading them at the demo derby by the light of my brothers phone... addicted much?) they did actually give me nightmares! I don't think of things like war, famine and lack of freedom very often. Oh I am thankful for our soldiers and all the freedoms they protect, but I have never really slowed down to think about each one of those freedoms... wow. Anyway, great books- add to the craze; read them too !

PS. Apparently I love to read teen books...

Thanksgiving #2

2011-11-26T18:15:00.000-08:00

Barb invited us over for a small Turkey dinner with a few of her close friends and family. It was also a semi- birthday celebration too... although she did all the cooking! All the food came out great, but it was a difficult process since her septic was backed-up and she couldn't use any water in the house! So frustrating! Tammy and her boyfriend, Kenny and I, Barb and Sarah all ate to our hearts content! Love this time of year! (sorry no pictures)

Black Friday

2011-11-25T19:12:00.001-08:00

This year Black Friday officially started on Thanksgiving Thursday. Going in I thought it was a great idea that the stores were opening so early rather than making us wake up at 3, 4 or 5 AM to come in.... I think it is easier to stay up late than to get up early... later I would eat those words.

I don't know how I did it, but somehow I got Kenny and my brother to agree to come with me this year.... they were both Black Friday Virgins. We began our adventure at Wal-mart... well we intended to, but there was seriously NO parking so we parked a good half mile away at Target (or next stop on the list) and walked over to Wal-mart. I was laughing so hard when Kenny and Brian help gasping and OMGing at the crowds and number of cars... Men have not idea about serious shopping huh!?

Kenny doesn't like crowds... Wal-mart was so packed there is no way they were not violating fire codes... you couldn't even walk freely in the isles. Kenny opted to camp out in the greeting card isle with our stuff (since we didn't have a card and our hands were full) while Brian and hunted for all the deals through the mass of people. We all got pushed, heals ran over by carts and were drenched in sweat even though it was a cold night by the time we were done. We got most of everything on our list at Wal-mart ; cheap PJs for the boys, crockpots, tupperwear, Transformers, T-shirts , toys and more. The one item we didn't get was the $2.97 waffle iron which they were out of almost instantly.

We made the 'hike' back to the car and had about 40 mins to wait before the next store opened; Target at midnight. We about 300 people deep and the line was wrapped around the building so we were waiting in the dark alley behind the store. A police car drove up and stopped my brother since he was away from the crowd smoking and asked what the crowd was all about. LMAO... he was an older man....

When we finally made it into the store we could have had our pick of any ad item... pretty shocking really... too bad we weren't in the market for a PS3, Wii or flat TV! We grabbed our items and got into the massive line. It ran very profitably and we were in and out in no time.

Since our next store, Kohls had opened at midnight we walked in, got in line and took turns grabbing our desired items... Kohls was probably the worst line... we waited and waited and waited... Our lack of sleep was starting to set in as it approached 2 AM and we were loosing our enthusiasm...

Our next stop was Game Stop. The guys picked out their games and I waited, and waited and waited in line. For such a small store I was surprised how long it took.

Since Sears (or final stop) didn't open until 4 AM we decided to go to Denny's for some late night food or breakfast. We weren't the only ones who thought of this! It was packed too! And so we waited... Late night Denny's trips after the school dances or later after a night of drinking... somehow with it was different this time. Pure exhaustion. My brother and I got a case of the giggles so people probably thought we were drunk... I think Kenny was wondering too lol. After we ate I was feeling really sick and thought I might throw up... Brian did too. Not sure what the deal was, but it passed so we headed to our last stop; Sears.

I happily snagged the Mario sweat outfits (sweat pants, tshirt and jacket included) I had been eying for the boys for just $10 each originally marked $54 each and Kenny got himself a super duper jack... I usually don't like to let people pick out their own gifts, but I knew I wouldn't be able to pull of getting that 100 lb monster in secret.

We finally got home at about 6:30 AM up for almost 24 hours.... Both Men said they would never do it again and it wasn't worth it, although I think they enjoyed the adventure more than they will admit. It was the best Black Friday ever for me and I got about 80% of our shopping done in one night! Who needs sleep anyway??

Thanksgiving Day

2011-11-24T18:33:00.000-08:00

Today when I woke up my heart fluttered with excitement, I though, "Today is Thanksgiving I finally get to see my Grandma"... I of course quickly realized my mistake and cried.

I climbed out of bed and let Kenny sleep a while longer and just lounged around watching TV and playing on the computer. Finally I couldn't wait any longer and woke Kenny up to go get us a newspaper so we could look at all the Black Friday deals! (BTW he had to get up anyway since he had offered to drive the boys to Crystals house for their visit). While Kenny was gone taking the boys I started making the pies...

Since I was making 3 different pies for 2 different days I decided to cheat and buy premade crusts to save time. I made everyone's favorites- pumpkin for Brian, Pecan for my dad and Apple for Kenny. Although they came out looking a little ugly they tasted just fine!

Kenny and my brother showed up just as the last pie hit the oven. Then played their PS3 game while I got ready to head over to my moms.

My family seems to eat very fast and no one lingers long to chat. Before I knew it the feast my mom had cooked was eaten and the men had scattered - out front smoking, in the other room playing video games and napping.

Mom and I watched Eclipse (so excited she loves the Twilight series now too!) while I poured over the ads for Black Friday and I made my lists.

Tonight is going to be a blast!

I can't believe I didn't take any pictures besides the pies... I was just in a downer mood and the boys weren't there so I totally forgot.

Santa

2011-11-21T20:28:00.000-08:00

Beating the crowds takes on a whole new meaning when you visit Santa BEFORE Thanksgiving! Who cares though really? The boys were excited and happy and didn't have to wait hours to visit Jolly Old St. Nicholas!

I love the display arrowhead had up this year. A place to write and mail your wish list to Santa, a Christmas tree made out of tricycles and much more.

I wish they would let you take pictures with your personal camera ( I did sneak one) because you can't get the candid shots with the professional photo set up... Jacob and Little Brian had the biggest sincere grins on their faces as they climbed up on Santa's lap.

When they were done Jacob came up to me and said, "See he real. He live at the North Pole" and his eyes were filled with wonder. Adorable.

Treasure!

2011-11-12T22:27:00.000-08:00

Since I have written about the Scrapbooks Etc yardsale so many times before I won't waste my time with details here... just know it is practically a holiday to me and my mom! We look forward to this 'event' for months and get giddy with anticipation for days before.

We made it to the doors about 9:35 AM and there were already about 20 people ahead of us in line! We both cleaned up on goodies and deals.

My favorite deal was this 'ribbon monster' for $25!!

Mom and I ate a quick lunch at 'our Subway' before heading back to our side of town.

After I dropped my mom off I barely made it to the house in time to meet up with Kenny and Donna for our Double Decker Bus Treasure Hunt !

We met at a neat little Bar (the name escapes me!) in downtown Phoenix for our debriefing and list of clues!

We of course choose to sit on the top deck which was pretty neat being so high up (the bus was higher than a semi!) The overhead passes sure did seem low! We happened to sit in the middle of a large group of older <drunk> senior citizens who could seem to hear each other unless they were yelling in our ears... We moved after the first stop! lol

The first stop was Heritage Square. We walked around and enjoyed the beautiful weather while we hunted for our answers. We thought we were so smart because we got all but one right... turns out most people did the same...

We had a little bit of a drive to our next destination which was the Old Scottsdale area. We had a picture diagram to follow which was a fun twist and even funnier that NO ONE followed the right way.... We made it as the 6th team back to the bus so no bonus points for us again!

The last stop was Mill Ave in Tempe- by far my favorite stop even though I didn't take any pictures. Although, Kenny and I both graduated from ASU we took all of our classes at the West campus so we didn't ever experience the downtown Tempe night life... This area is just too neat. We want to go back and do something like a progressive dinner and check out a few restaurants and shops.

By the time the Treasure Hunt wrapped up (no we didn't win... heck we didn't even place- although we did get most of the answers right) it was after 6PM and we were all starving so we decided to go to the Golden Corral. I have been to a number of buffets (the cruise ship, Vegas, Hometown buffet etc) and Golden Corral is by far my favorite, because the food doesn't taste like buffet food! We all really enjoyed our dinner and waddled out of there about 8:30.

Flying School

2011-11-05T16:25:00.001-07:00

Wow. Amazing. Spectacular. Awesome. These words can't even begin to describe the adventure we had today! Last year I purchased a Intro to flight lesson at Westwind School of Aeronautics. I had initially thought I would have some interest in taking a lesson, but since Kenny is so good at driving everything we decided he would take the first lesson and check things out. Luckily our instructor, Steve Kenny was extremely nice and let me tag along for the lesson- double bonus!

We started with the simulator. Just the site of the elaborate machine seemed pretty intimidating... all those controls, knobs and switches. When we turned the machine on and the screens were illuminated with charts of air space, numbers etc I had almost completely lost interest. Kenny spent about 15 minutes on the simulator with the instructor explaining the different controls and what everything did, meant etc. Steve assured us we shouldn't worry if we didn't catch everything and only expected us to retain about 10% of what he said--- it sure is a lot to take in at once!

Then it was time to find our aircraft. When we walked out into the parking area I was absolutely shocked at the size of the planes... they were seriously SMALL!

When we came up to our plane - N1590W - November, One, Five, Niner, Zero, Wiskey- the instructor patted the plane and said "this is it" and the entire plane shock... Wow did my nerves get me then! Kenny and I laughed nervously. Steve is probably the perfect instructor for Kenny because he is super safety conscious and meticulous just like Kenny! After a good 20-25 mins of inspecting the plane it was time to board the tiny 4 seater. I climbed into the backseat, buckled up and put my head set on. The guys climbed in and after more explanation and instruction, Steve fired up the engine. WOW. Before I knew it we were rolling toward the runway. Steve instructed Kenny how to drive the plane on the ground and keep it straight : ) Then we lined up and awaited our turn for take off. Steve advised Kenny that he would be taking off, which came as a bit of a surprise, but Kenny was up to the challenge. We took off heading West out of Deer Valley Airport and were airborne in a matter of seconds going over 100 miles per hour...

I am not gonna lie the ride was BUMPY!! To be fair besides being Kenny's first flight ever it was also a cloudy day with lots of wind. We floated over Water World and Thunderbird Park (were we hike) and then followed the freeway North. In an effort to explain a concept to Kenny, Steve dropped the plane so drastically I thought my stomach would fall out of the bottom of the plane! I was airsick and dreaded finding the 'blue envelope' I had been instructed NOT to throw up in... Steve said, "Don't throw up in the envelope, get the plastic bag out of the envelope and throw up in that. "

Water World

Thunderbird Park

A Cloud : )

Luckily things started to click for Kenny and he really got the hang of it! Once we turned East and were flying over the mountains and under the clouds he really did a great job. Steve said he didn't even touch the controls during that time : )

After flying over the mountains and Desert Ridge mall it was already time to land. Kenny let Steve handle that because of the weather.

Although it was scary it was really an amazing experience! Kenny and I couldn't stop smiling and talking about it all day.

We went to lunch at Village Inn, my favorite, and discussed the possibility of flight school over lunch and pie! The school is really expensive so I don't know if we will be able to afford it, but I know this will be on Kenny's bucket list now because he is still just reeling over the experience.

Jewelry Party

2011-11-04T23:00:00.001-07:00

There was a time I was too nervous to have parties and house guest, but now I will take an excuse I can find to have a get together at my house! When Blair decided to have a Lia Sophia party a few weeks ago I knew I would have one shortly after!

I was a little disappointed that so many people texted or called me the day of my party to cancel, but it really worked out just fine. The 6 of us could all fit comfortably in the front room and watch Emma run a muck!

Since we went to the fair a few days before and I had seen an idea on Pinterest for Salad on a stick I decided to make Fair themed food! I made the Salad on a stick, corn dogs, caramel apples and even found some chips that would give the same type of flavor as Indian fry bread (not that fluffy texture though!) Everyone seemed really impressed with the spread of food which is always a boost of confidence : )

Although it was a VERY stormy night and the reported worst traffic/travel time was between 5-6 PM (my party started at 6) everyone made it just fine.

We sat around and munched, talked and looked at pretty jewelry. I always feel bad about having these types of parties, because people will buy things that they don't really want just because they feel obligated so I made sure to make it clear to all of my guests that there was NO obligation to buy.... unfortunately my Jewelry lady Connie was super high pressure... yikes. I did end up hosting a 'qualified' show so I got to pick some items for free and some at a hefty discount! Woot Woot

Fair Take Two

2011-11-02T23:15:00.000-07:00

Brian trying to beat the challenge and win a $100

Uncle Kenny and Jacob

Even though Kenny and I had already taken the boys to the Fair this year we wanted to go again since Brian wasn't able to go and Jereme and Melodi still wanted to go as well. Our first trip was for exploring and looking at the exhibits and show and this trip was all about the rides and games. We got in for free for donating socks to the Veterans and all of the rides and games were discounted to just $2 (although cheap still ads of quickly for a group).

We waited for our first ride and just before it was our turn to ride someone threw up.... I almost said, "Never Mind" and abandoned the adventure of riding Fair rides. We ended up going anyway and the ride was amazing AND I didn't feel sick at all... Can you out grown motion sickness???

We moseyed our way through the rides taking turns riding the ones we thought looked interesting and skipping the ones that weren't a good fit (NO SPINNING ones for me or Kenny).

This trip to the Fair was pretty monumental... Little Brian successfully road his first 'adult' ride!! He was SUPER excited to ride "Starship 2000" which is a spinning ride... luckily Jereme and Melodi were willing to go on with him. At first Brian, Kenny and I weren't very supportive of him because we figured we would pay the money and he would change his mind (which is what usually happens) and no of us wanted to take his place on that spinning machine! They said he did great and was just laughing the whole time. When he walked out the doors of the ship he was all smiles. I was really proud of him for facing his fears.

Jereme, Melodi and Little Brian

Melodi, Jereme, Kenny and I rode the Farris wheel- I believe the same one Kenny proposed to me on- while the boys played a few games. Its always so beautiful at the top!

Little Brian

Kenny and I

Melodi holding Little B

Brian holding Jacob

After we thought we were done riding rides we decided it was time for something fried! We got Indian fry bread, a giant donuts, fried zucchini, fried mushrooms, onion rings, hot dogs and french fries... it was ridiculous how much food there was!!

The boys, Melodi and I went to check out the butterfly exhibit. Jacob was fascinated!! Melodi and Little Brian left after about 10 mins, but Jacob wanted to stay. We even found a caterpillar! It was such a neat exhibit- and free!

Jacob

I was in search of Chocolate Cotton Candy so I walked around to each vendor looking for it with no success... while I was doing that Little Brian and Kenny rode a roller coaster together and then Jacob, Brian, Kenny and Little Brian road the bumper cars. Kenny said that was his favorite part of the night. : )

Before we knew it we had blown through the night and it was time to go... there were a few tickets left on our ride pass so Brian and I rode another ride and laughed our way through the whole thing. Who knew we all loved Fair rides so much???

Pumpkin Carving Contest

2011-10-31T21:48:00.001-07:00

We had a fun little pumpkin carving contest with Little Kenny, Brian, my Kenny, Jereme and Melodi.

Little Kenny waited until the day before Halloween to purchase his pumpkin and ended up spending 2 hours searching for one--- A for effort for sure! We could only find the little ones so I used a little one since my design was small.

Here are our pumpkins -

Me- Spider

Brian- Dodge Challenger

Kenny - Dodge Truck

Little Kenny - Honda

Jereme- Toyota

Melodi

See any resemblance in the guys pumpkins??? Its all about cars lol I posted all the pictures on facebook for our friends to vote.... Little Kenny campaigned pretty hard and won himself a $5 starbucks gift card.

I had a really good time with the whole thing and it was fun to do something with our cousin even though he is in another state. This was my first carving experience on my own.... next year I will try something a little more challenging.

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T21:47:00.001-07:00

My mom had Kenny and I over for dinner tonight. It was kind of neat all 7 of us crowded around my grandma's old table. My mom made a pork roast and a beef roast in the same crock pot like my Grandma Taylor used to do- it comes out so moist and tender!

After dinner Kenny, Brian, the boys and I got dressed in our costumes to hit the town for trick or treating! Our first stop was my parent's neighbor, Bill- his wife made special treat bags for both boys! Then we were off to Radiant for some Trunk or Treating. It was super crowded with probably twice as many people trick or treating and only 1/2 as many stops compared to years past... We decided to venture out to the neighborhood right by the church and had great success! Lots of people really went all out with decorating their homes which was fun. The boys were so much fun to watch as they scampered up and down the driveways squealing with delight. My favorite was when they got popcorn and Jacob's little face lite up as he said, "They gave me Halloween POPCORN!" Our group got lots of comments and people seemed to enjoy us being dressed up... although not many people knew who I was... Mario and Luigi are easy, but Princess Peach isn't as easily recognized. Someone said, "OH you must be Princess Toad!" which my brother of course had a lot of fun with the rest of the night.

After we dropped the exhausted Taylor boys off at home with their heavy bags filled with candy we went home and got a surprise visit from 3 adorable pirates (and their parents and grandma!). We haven't seen the Ross family in a while, but when kids are young a small gap in time feel like you have missed so much! The twins are absolutely adorable and growing like weeds! I was pretty impressed when the 3 of them walked up to the door like old trick or treating experts! I can't believe how much they are 'talking' and getting around these days!

Emma sat on the couch and pulled out every piece of candy in her bucket and gave it to me : ) She is so adorable and always smiling.

Matt says, "Happy Halloween!" and it is just too cute. This is the first time we have seen him with his glasses and I think he is just handsome as can be!

Zack is getting to be a big boy! He is talking much more clearly now. I am always surprised how he always knows me and Kenny... I mean of course he knows us, but he addresses me by name. "Hi Amanda" or "Amanda look at me" its pretty neat. He was having WAY to much fun eating his suckers and running all of the place. He sang us his ABCs which ended in "Now I lay me down to sleep..." LOL

I really enjoyed our surprise Pirate attack!

Hope everyone had a Spooktackular Halloween too!

The Great Groupon Weekend

2011-10-30T22:59:00.000-07:00

Friday when I got home from work I printed groupons for Dracula, Golf, The Spooktacular Balloon Festival at Salt River Fields and the Fall Festival at Vertuccio Farms... so I declare this was the Great Groupon Weekend!

I am one of the few who have never seen or read Dracula... I do love the Twilight Saga and HBO's True Blood series, but before last year I had zero interest in vampires. Since no one else was really interested in going to see a play I invited my coworker, Becky to come with me. We split the Groupon of a whopping $12 for two admissions and carpooled out to Grand Canyon University for the evening- talk about a cheap outing!

Since I was not familiar with the plot or characters I had no pre- conceived notions about the play and I really enjoyed it! in fact it was probably one of the best plays I have seen! Now I want to read the book and watch the movie so I can compare them: )

I always have a good time hanging out with Becky, because she is so easy going and fun and tonight was no exception.

BTW the Grand Canyon University campus is amazing!

While I was out at the play Kenny met up with his Nana for a movie. They saw In Time and both said it was pretty good.

Saturday morning Kenny got up early to pick up my brother for a round of golf ... out in Mesa. When they got home Kenny told me they tired and both scored 83... I had to ask, "What exactly were the rules?" and he replied they scored themselves on what they felt like they should have got for the hole... ha ha I knew there had to be a catch! My brother is left handed, but doesn't have is clubs anymore so he borrowed my dad's right handed clubs... Although, he did really well driving right handed Kenny and Brian both admitted there were moments when they both couldn't stop laughing (to me the best kind of golf- laughter filled). They stopped Cheba Hut for lunch on the way back. I guess all of the food is named after pot... Kenny didn't care for that too much, but he said the food was good : )

Saturday evening my mom, Kenny, Brian, the boys and I went to The Spooktacular Balloon Festival at Salt River Fields. I was surprised how big the event was! We started at the kid zone area which included bounce houses, obstacle courses, a zipline, a giant slide and human sized hamster balls!!

Since it was only $2 each we all tried the hamster balls. I was surprised how much the boys liked them. They came back dazed and giggling and wanted to go again (the line was pretty long at that point!). Brian took off running fast in his ball and we all laughed when the momentum scooped him up and he rolled in the ball. I went last and almost didn't go, wanting to save the tickets for the kids to play, but I am glad I did it! It was a ton of fun. When we did the hamster ball in Branson we were strapped in, but this one you actually just ran like a hamster and you could control the speed and do flips if you wanted to which of course I did : )

After the boys had tried a few of the bounce attractions we headed over to check out the vendors.... I always enjoy the vendors-- free goodies and maybe some coupons- oh yeah! Kenny and I signed up for a Time Share presentation there too... hope we don't buy it! They are always fun to go to though. The boys liked the booths too, because they got to trick or treat them!

Once it was dark it was time to check out the haunted house... Little Brian begged and begged us to let him go through the haunted house. We finally gave in and bought him, Jacob and Big Brian a ticket... once he got within 10 feet of the entrance he turned around and starting crying and said he changed his mind and didn't want to go. Since there were no refunds available and my mom had wanted to go anyway she ended up going in with Brian and Jacob... Brian said when they walked in Jacob turned and headed back for the door and Brian ended up carrying him. He clenched tightly to his dad and was wide eyed, but never cried. When they came out he declared that he was not scared at all ....

After we got a quick bit to eat we decided to go on the FREE haunted trail ride. We hopped on the golf cart and toured through the baseball fields with random zombies and ghosts jumping out at us. Kenny and I were in the back seat and of course I think that was the worst seat for me to choose... they 'creatures' would all follow and stare at us which freaked me out and I would turn away until they left... I think Jacob is more Brave than me!!

We ended the night using up our tickets on the giant slide... Kenny, Brian and I all wanted to try it out! Funny how sometimes the adult like the kid attractions more than the kids. Little Brian ended up going up with us even though I thought he would be too scared. He did end up wanting to go down with me, but was pretty brave and then raved that it was the best part of the night.

Everyone ended up having a really great time that night. The weather was perfect we all just enjoyed each other. Mom and Brian both admitted they were sure how much fun the Hot Air Balloon festival would actually be, but ended up really enjoying it... yeah for Groupon!

Sunday morning Kenny and I picked the Taylor boys back up to drive all the way out to Mesa (again) for the Fall Festival at Vertuccio Farms. I mostly wanted to go out to this farm because they have a 10 acre corn maze! Everything (besides food) is included with your admission, which is so nice not to have to worry about all the hidden extras of buying, sharing and keeping track of tickets!

While everyone was fresh and still full of energy we tried out the corn maze.... after about 40 mins of wandering we did make it out. All the boys had so much fun taking turns running ahead and hiding so they could jump out and scare us.

We tried the peddle cars which were of course a big hit-

The bounce horses were SO much fun! After about 10 mins we were tired out and moved on to the next activity.... more jumping!

The Extreme Air Pillow was basically like a trampoline and we all had a bunch of fun bouncing.... I don't know how my brother has so much energy to keep up with those boys!!

We rode the train, checked out the animals and milked a 'cow' and we were pretty beat.

Its pretty sad when it takes you as long to get to a place as you spend there... Kenny did admit it was worth the drive.

We stopped to eat at Taco Bell (which the boys weren't too happy about because they voted for McDonalds, but all the adults voted for Taco Bell - ha ), but they ate there food without complaint! The boys were pretty wound up when we got in the car for the hour drive home, but once I told them we were having quiet time and they had to entertain themselves they did just that!

Another fun filled, but exhausting weekend!!

Making our list and checking it twice-

2011-10-29T10:17:00.001-07:00

With Halloween just about behind us I am looking towards Thanksgiving, but mainly Christmas. This is probably the latest in the year I have ever started planning for Christmas! I have so many mixed emotions about the holidays... If I could fast forward past them I would take that option, but since I can't do that I want to make the most of it and have lots of fun... I need to focus on who I have in my life and not who is missing.

As I make my Christmas shopping list I am really torn on who to add... Normally I feel obligated to buy for everyone. Obligated is probably not the right word, because I do WANT to buy for everyone- friends, family, co-workers, adopt a-family, online friends etc however our Christmas budget doesn't usually stretch that far anyway and they are not always appreciated!

I have several traditions to consider as well... every year my grandma always made photo calendars for the entire family and bough ornaments for each grandchild... I have already decided to continue on the calendars, but what about the ornaments? Also, the last couple years Kenny and I have been doing stockings and delivering them on Christmas Eve to help Santa out, do I continue that one (I love that one) and what about the Christmas countdown with books? The Ross family loved it so much that Michelle made me an entire scrapbook of her children reading and opening the gifts... is that a keeper? Plus I heard of Elfing people (same as booing) and of course I want to do that too....Then there are so many awesome out of state family that we love to send packages too.

So anyway, that is what is currently on my mind! Not sure what we will come up with!

A Very Fun Thursday

2011-10-26T22:17:00.000-07:00

Fall Festivals sure have changed in the last 20 years since I was in elementary school... I remember games, face painting and cotton candy. Tonight Little Brian's school put on a Fall Festival that was all about learning. Don't get me wrong it was fun (pretty much anything with those boys), just different than I expected. Each child was given a passport to go around the school and collect stamps. They did a science experiment, played math games, practiced reading comprehension and more. I am SO impressed how much Little Brian has progressed in the past few months! Although, he is still behind his peers, according to his teacher, I can see him excelling ahead of them in the years to come.

In the Cafeteria they had a sensory activity where the children were blind folded and lead around the room and prompted to smell, touch, taste and feel different items and guess what they were. It was very crowded and hard to lead the boys around the room. Little Brian was so excited he kept bouncing around (now I KNOW where the term bouncing off the walls came from lol) and bumping people. Jacob took it very seriously and unfortunately would get left behind.... we would move forward and he would patiently wait, blind folded, for someone to lead him to the next station. Anyhow we decided not to finish that activity.

People just loved the boys costumes and lots of people would comment, "Hey Mario and Luigi!" Jacob was really tickled by that and said, "They don't know its me, Jacob."

After the festival mom, the boys and I went to Taco bell for dinner. I really can't believe how much Little Brian can eat... I think my brother is in trouble when he gets to be a teenager!

After dinner we went to boo the Ross family. The boys are really enjoying all this booing and were very excited to 'ding dong ditch'. The way the house is set up you have to go through a gate and into the yard to get to the front door. Little Brian wasn't about to do that so I ended up setting the bag in place and they rang the door bell.

While we were off playing Kenny and Brian got invited to the Hockey game because Jereme and Melodi had extra tickets. I passed since I was already busy, but Brian and Kenny went and decided to invite Trevor (Kim watch the kids) since he loves Hockey too. They all had a really good time in the box suite seats and the Coyotes won !

Fall fun and friends

2011-10-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

Every year there are so many things that I want to do and it seems like the time/days/months/seasons just pass me by... well not this year! I made a list of the things I wanted to do this fall and scheduled them all before our Calendar became too busy. I have never made caramel apples and really wanted to give it a try. Our newly married friends, Jereme and Melodi wanted to give it a try too so we made a whole date night of it. I made a simple soup for dinner and they provided some bread to accompany it.

After dinner the Bintzs wanted to try out their new chocolate fountain and we sampled TONS of different dippers... pickles, bacon, potato chips, 3 types of marshmallows, nutter butters, oreos, strawberries and bananas !

After we ate ourselves sick, (pretty much one of each of those dippers will get you there) we started our caramel apples.

We used this recipe -

Carnival Caramel Apples

With four kids (one child whose birthday is November 1), we celebrate Halloween in style around our house. These caramel apples are a tried-and-true favorite year after year. —Gail Prather, Bethel, Minnesota

10-12 ServingsPrep/Total Time: 30 min.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, cubed
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
Dash salt
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 to 12 Popsicle sticks
10 to 12 medium tart apples, washed and dried
1 cup salted peanuts, chopped

Directions

In a large heavy saucepan, melt butter; add the brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil, about 10-12 minutes. Stir in milk. Cook and stir until a candy thermometer reads 248° (firm-ball stage). Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Insert Popsicle sticks into apples. Dip each apple into hot caramel mixture; turn to coat. Dip bottom of apples into peanuts. Place on greased waxed paper until set. Yield: 10-12 apples.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving (1 each) equals 526 calories, 17 g fat (7 g saturated fat), 32 mg cholesterol, 231 mg sodium, 94 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 6 g protein.

The caramel came out SO tasty and our apples looked pretty good too!! We double the reciepe so each couple would have 10 to take home and share. We had plenty of caramel left over so we probably could have made another 5 or 6 apples.

We had planned to carve our pumpkins that night as well, but time would not allow once we got everything pick up and packed up to take home.

Pretty much anything you do can be fun (or not fun) depending on who you are doing it with. The Bintz are a great couple to try new things with and we always seem to have a good time together.

Blair's Halloween Party 2011

2011-10-22T23:58:00.000-07:00

We got to the party just in time for the boys to participate in all of the games! They started with bobbing for apples! Although, neither of the boys got an apple during the actual game, later that night they kept practicing and were successful!

Jacob

Little Brian

Then it was time for an intense game of ring toss on the witches hat....

Jacob

Little Brian

And then, the pinata -

Allan (at the top) and Bo getting it set up

Jacob taking a swing

Little Brian's turn

Its raining Candy !!!

a pile of kids...

OOOOH an check out this bathroom. Blair's roommate Chuck did it. Blair and I are both not the biggest fans of this type of Halloween decor, but you have to admit he did a great job!!

Jereme and Melodi came too and we all had a fun time. Jacob was so darling when he saw me in my costume... I am not sure he knew it was me! He kept asking me, "Whatcho doing?" All the little girls were very interested in my costume as well , especially the wig, and asked if they could touch it. Later in the night when I took the wig off Jacob came over and curled up in my lap like he normally does : )

Here are our silly pictures-

Luigi and Mario (Brian and Kenny)

Jereme (the Rabbi) , Kenny and Brian

Brian (big Luigi), Me (princess Peach), Kenny (Big Mario) and Jacob (little Luigi) and Little Brian (little Luigi)

Jacob

Brian and Jacob - the Luigi's switched hats

The Ladies

Melodi and Jereme

Princess Peach and Mrs. Potato head (Blair)

Women's Expo

2011-10-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

I have seen the Woman's Expo advertised for years and always wanted to go and finally got the opportunity this year! Livingsocial.com had a 4 for 1 deal for admission, so my co-workers Donna, Becky, Kim and I made a day of it!

I am still giddy about it ; all the freebies, learning new tricks and tips about everything from hair and make up to your love life.

The giveaways were unbelievable! Grocery bags, backpacks, chap-sticks, mini mirrors, post-its, pens, chip clips, drink koozies and candy. My favorite was a motivational bracelet from a new company called Lakshmi. Not only was the bracelet super cute AND free, but it the idea is to assign a specific goal and time frame to the bracelet and the company will follow up with motivational e-mails to remind you of your goal and keep you going... great idea! Don't know if they will make money at it, but I like the idea for personal use with an accountability partner. I set my goal to finish CPCU by December 12th of this year... we will see if I feel more motivated to finish my goal now: )

With each admission ticket you got a passport for the show that included 5 free sampling booths for adult beverages. I tried the Adult Chocolate Milk and Hpnotiq (my favorite!), but passed on the champagnes and wines (wine gives me a headache). There were plenty of things to sample that didn't require the passport like Luna Bars (the new mint chocolate chip flavor is amazing) and Go Girl energy drinks- SO yummy but not sure it gave me a lot of energy... There were a few weird items to sample too like tons of different weight loss smoothies and other things.

We stopped to sample Touch of Mink and ALL four of us ended up buying the package deal! Touch of Mink is a skin care product that has been around for over 40 years that uses mink oil in their product. It is a miracle product let me tell you! I love it and Becky has used the product for years and years... I couldn't believe the results on my poor heals! Awesome. The four of us also purchased a bottle of Touch of Purple. It is basically an all purpose cleaner... it can be used for everything from costume jewelry to boats. Now not all of the products were so great. I let one vendor try a microdermabrasion home tool on my face... um it hurt. I have sun spots and I thought why not try... its a little scary when you try something out like that and have negative results- all is well now though! I also had my make-up done at the Dior counter. Although I wasn't impressed by their spray foundation (that really didn't match my skin tone) or their 3D mascara (which was quite clumpy) I did really like their Lip Glow product! It is basically a lip gloss or chapstick that is designed to enhance the natural pigment in your lips so it looks different on each person. If it wasn't $29 a tube I would have bought some!

I also signed Kenny and I up for a time share presentation. People think I am crazy for doing those... but come onnnnn you get FREE Stuff just for listening to a 90 min commercial. Most of the time they talk about travel and vacationing... they are actually pretty interesting if you ask me. This time we will be getting 2 free Sedona Jeep tours for our 90 mins. I am really excited about it! We also might attend a Sandles Resort night next month at Black Bear Diner... you get a free meal and get to learn all about what the resorts have to offer... how can you beat that?? I would rather listen to what someone has to say than google a company and read it online. Jereme and Melodi are going to Jamaica on their honeymoon to a Sandles resort and Kenny and I were already considering the company for our 10th anniversary trip in 2013... why not get a free meal out of it! ??

If you want to have a home party the women's expo is the place to find your vendor! They had ALL of the jewelry companies, bags, candles, make-up, tupperwear etc. I found a company that will do home pampering parties! The services such as pedicure, facial, manicure etc are all FREE! The catch is at the end of the party you have the opportunity to buy the products they used- no obligation though! I thought they must be crazy to do that, but she said, no they are just confident in their product... I will probably be having a pampering party in December!

The last thing we checked out was the Lap Dance seminar put on by this company ... sounds bad, but its not like you take lessons like this for a profession its just for your personal love life. Nyla the instructor was awesome and had us all laughing the whole time... I think a small group of us might get together for a class or two just for fun.

Although, we were all exhausted by the time we got to the car, it was a wonderful day! I just love learning about new things that are out there and having fun with the girls- the retail therapy didn't hurt either!

Make n Take ... by me!

2011-10-19T16:20:00.000-07:00

Our company is very big on Health and Wellness and does events and challenges throughout the year to promote healthy living. In conjunction with that we have a Health and Wellness committee in our branch that sponsors and organizes events. They do activities at work like group walks, health trivia, Fresh Fruit Fridays (free fruit!), healthy pot lucks, games and puzzles (mental health).

The ghost card in the middle is what we made

One day I got back from lunch after doing a make and take at a local scrapbook store and thought ' What a great mental break in my day?!' So I offered to put on a make and take at lunch for my coworkers.

This is the card we made and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. Only about 8 people signed up, but that is a little over 10% participation for our branch so I was pleased with that number. I was able to use ALL supplies I already had at home so the project didn't cost anything but time!

Kids craft night

2011-10-17T22:57:00.000-07:00

Since I have become totally and completely addicted to pinterest my mind is just over flowing with ideas of things to make, cook and do! I know Jacob loves crafts and Little Brian will do them if you ask him to, but Blair and I had talked about having a craft night long ago and never followed through... so I decided to put on a little craft night for Blair's two older kids Matt and Hannah and then our friend Tamera's kids ; Janessa, Nathanial and Jonas and my favorite nephews Little Brian and Jacob.

I invited Brian and Kenny to come along and hoped they would participate, but thought it would be nice if we all just got to hang out together too.

We made Ghost Poop, Hershey Bar Mummies, Jack-o-lantern seeds (AKA tic tacs) and eye ball frames. Even though all of the kids were on different skill levels it was doable for the 3 year old up to the 11 year old. Everyone's projects were just a little different and most of the kids were very proud of what they had made.

When we were walking out the door, Blair said what do you guys say to Amanda and They all screamed, "THANK YOU!" but Janessa added that this was the best night ever : )

I defiantly want to do it again- I love spreading the joy of crafting (my checking account just doesn't always love it lol)

Celebrating 12 Years Together

2011-10-16T20:13:00.000-07:00

Today marks our 12th year as a couple! (married 9 years this coming January) To celebrate Kenny asked me out to Ah-So Sushi & Steak Restaurant to try Teppanyaki ! I have never been, but Kenny went for Jereme's bachelor party last week and really enjoyed it.

Onion ring volcano fire

The food was SO good and it was a lot of fun to watch. I just love to try new places and I love it even more when its Kenny's idea!!

I saw this idea on pinterest where you take a picture on your anniversary with the year before's picture in your hand... after several years the pictures look really neat. Since I can't go back and do that for the past 12 years I thought I would just start this year with the picture from our first date. I think you defiantly need an 8X10 to be able to see it better in your picture, but its still a fun idea.

Irony

2011-10-16T11:18:00.001-07:00

I find it ironic how my little nephews want nothing more that to grow up and "be big" and I find myself wishing I could freeze time... I love their little voices and sweet personalities. I love how they squeal with delight when they see me. Or how Jacob practical jumps into my arms the moment I see him and says, 'hold me' (which means hold him upside down, tickle him or just carry him wherever I go).

Little Brian has such an amazing personality, he loves with his whole heart and genuinely cares about people- ALL people. He has an autistic friend at school who has been known to hit him in the past.... he doesn't care he forgives him wholeheartedly. If you accidentally hurt Little Brian, he doesn't get mad he just says, "Its okay I not mad at you"

Jacob is such a happy little boy with the best manners ever! You wouldn't be surprises to hear him say, "May I please have a drink?" or "Thank you very much grandpa." He does NOT like to be in trouble or yelled at and pretty much falls apart if he thinks that will happen. He loves popcorn and doesn't really like to eat actual meals.

Can you bottle this stuff up??

Bintz Wedding

2011-10-15T21:37:00.001-07:00

Friday evening was the rehearsal dinner. It was really helpful to go through exactly each part of the ceremony and practice walking up and down the isle with the groomsmen so I knew just what to expect. After the rehearsal Brenda, Jereme's mom, made a huge Italian meal ... from scratch! It was SO good! We met a couple from Melodi's church, Penny and Ray and ended up chatting with them all night.

The next morning I picked up Melodi at 8AM. I felt honored that she asked me to drive her around on her wedding day! We stopped at Starbucks for her favorite pumpkin muffin and a hot chocolate, but since it was so warm out we opted for soda and water... if you haven't tried the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin from Starbucks, you are missing out! Be warned they are 470 calories each AND addictive!

We arrived at JCPenny shortly before the doors opened and met up with Jenika, another bridesmaid. The day of papering began with a pedicure- Jenika's first ever and then a manicure! Although, I did not get a pedicure or manicure I sat and chatted with the girls as they got pampered. I went to the cheap nail place by my work and got mine done for half the salon price on Thursday.... I know that is kind of tacky, but Melodi said I could do what I wanted and bride= boss : ) Michelle got her hair done first and then joined the group to do her nails.

Melodi- pedicure time!!

Jenika

manicure time

Before we knew it is was time for hair for Melodi, Jenika and me. I am SO cheap I really didn't want to pay someone $60 to put a few curls in my hair.... but they convinced me to do a wash/blow dry style for $28 and I am SO glad I did! She did a great job!!

Melodi got an updo and we were all amazed as we watch the hairstylist get all those long locks up on her head!! When she did her practice run through it took her an hour and half!! Luckily it only took over an hour on the wedding day!!

After Jenika and I grabbed a pretzel as a snack (I was specifically instructed to make sure the bride ate!), we walked down to Dillard's to have our make-up done next at the Clinique counter. We all had our make-up done by professionals and man did we look HOT! lol I LOVE Clinique make-up and defiantly have their liquid foundation on my wish list!

hen we finished it was 12:40PM ... we were scheduled to be at the church at 1 PM for the 2PM ceremony! I was panicked, especially since the 101 was closed and we needed to make it from 83rd Ave and Bell to 40th street and Shea !! Melodi was not nervous AT ALL ! She had it right though, its not like they would start without her!! All that was left for us to do was change into our dresses so she just wasn't worried... We actually made excellent time and got to the church about 1:20. We quickly changed, took some pictures with the photographer and waited for the time to come. I was getting more and more anxious as the time approached and I finally heard Melodi whisper that she was nervous as we walked out the door to head to the chapel.

my bouquet

Mel's completed hair

Tyler, my groomsman, and I were the first of the wedding party to walk into the chapel.... I was SO nervous I was shaking. Once we made it to the front I knew I was pretty safe, because all eyes would be diverted to the rest of the wedding party and then the bride! We were asked not to take pictures during the ceremony (bummer and please don't think I would have done that from the front of the church... I would have had Kenny do it ha ha) so I have to wait until they get their professional pictures back. The ceremony was SO nice! Melodi's pastor is a female and I am not sure why, but I just don't like that BUT this woman is amazing! I wish I could remember more specifics from the beautiful service, but to be honest I was just trying to stand still and not pass out. Jenika and Michelle sang a duet which was also amazing - so much talent in that little church!

After Jereme kissed his bride and they were announced as husband and wife they left and we followed to the song, Walking on Sunshine which was super cute. We headed back into the bridal room and waited for the chapel to clear out so we could head back in to take pictures. After my part was done Kenny and I got to hang out until the reception started 1 1/2 hours later.

Kenny had been asked to help Jereme get ice for the bottled water (since it was over 100 that day!) and he was so funny about getting to be part of the wedding. He took his job very seriously and regularly refilled the bins with water and ice to keep all of the guests hydrated. He was also constantly seeing what he could do to help out and bring water for Jereme and Melodi. It was cute : )

Melodi and Jereme

Nathan

Kenny and I

The reception started about 4PM with the announcement of Mr. & Mrs. Jereme Bintz and their first dance as a married couple.

Jason , the best man giving the toast

Melodi signing the marriage license

Jereme signing the marriage license

After the food was blessed, by Jereme's pastor it was time to eat. All of the food was amazing, my only complaint was it was too much!! Salad, rolls, rice, potatoes, kabobs and an entire roasted PIG ! Wow! Luckily the Martinez's (Penny and Ray that we met the night before) joined our table so Kenny and I weren't loaners all night (since we didn't know anyone else there) and they brought their friend's Barb and Bob.

After the grandfather/daughter and mother/son dances they did an anniversary dance. All the married couples were asked out onto the dance floor. Basically you danced until you were eliminated by years married, first was less than 4 hours and Jereme and Melodi had to leave : ) Then one year, two year etc. The couple that was married the longest was Jereme's grandparents at 61 years!!

Next was the cake cutting. The cake was beautiful, but it was a really good thing they were nice to eat other because that blue icing really stained their teeth and lips!

Next they did a honeymoon dance where you paid to dance with the bride or the groom to provide funds toward their honeymoon! It was a super cute idea... Kenny and I were the first to jump in! They danced and danced with all the guests. Jereme's brother Nathan is so hilarious and paid to dance with Jereme which was a riot.

They did a teddy bear toss to the little kids which was adorable and would be really cute if there were more than two kids. What kid doesn't want to go home with a little teddy bear from the wedding?

That was followed by the traditional bouquet toss ( I donated mine since the florist forgot to make a tossing bouquet!) and then the garter toss.

The DJ requested both the winners of the garter toss and bouquet toss to come back to the front for the garter 'return' ceremony. The poor girl (Jereme's cousin?) was so red when she thought it was going to be on her.... but then they switched her for Jereme's brother Nathan... It was a good laugh.

Near the end of the reception someone a couple blocks away set of several fireworks which added to the super amazing reception! It was a surprise to the bride and groom and no one knew who did it!

Before we knew it, it was time for the last dance! Everyone rushed to the dance floor and somehow they started a big circle and we all joined in and circled Jereme and Melodi as they danced.

They dashed off into the night with caution tape streaming from the back bumper as the newest married couple in Phoenix!

After they left the wedding party and whoever was left helped fold all the chairs and tables and bring them into the building along with the linens and centerpieces.... it was hard work after a long day, but many hands make light work was defiantly true here! The DJ was super and continued to play great music while we cleaned up.

All of their hard work finding the perfect vendors really paid off! Their photographer was amazing and would set up a photo and then yell - photo op for the rest of us to take our pictures. I have been to weddings before where the professional photographers get mad when you take pictures on top of theirs... Plus the DJ was great as well and all of the food was amazing and everyone was super nice and friendly.

Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Bintz!!

PS I included this picture just because its funny:

Boooooooooooo

2011-10-09T21:01:00.003-07:00

I have no idea how long the tradition of booing has been around, but for me its been about 5 years. Target used to sell boo bags and you could just fill up the goodies and leave the bag on a coworkers desk or a neighbors door. Each year I try to pick 3-5 people or families to drop of a little surprise to and then we ding dong ditch them with a the bag. This year my mom wanted to do some too so My brother, the boys, my mom and I piled into the car and drove all around town dropping off boo bags.

The boys got a chance to wear their costumes and were just delighted. They were SO excited to run up to eat door with their dad and would come racing back to the car for a quick get away.

Blair's goodies

We saved Blair's house for last because there are tons of bats out by her house and I wanted to show the boys. They of course were super impressed and we all had a good time watching them buzz around eating bugs. Jacob was pretty terrified of them and was tucked safely in the backseat until we encouraged him to come along with us... he was still pretty certain they were going to get him. Did I mention he calls bats, vampires?

The Bride can bowl!

2011-10-08T21:01:00.000-07:00

Melodi loves to bowl, so it was no surprise that she decided to go bowling for her bachelorette party. A small group of us (Mel, Michelle, Matti, Jenika and I) met up at the old AMF Christown Lanes (kind of funny the bowling alley is still called Christown, but the mall changed their name to Spectrum) after they had dinner at Michelle's house.

We had such a great time laughing and talking... we decided since it was a bachelorette party it would be fair that we could ask Melodi ANYTHING we wanted every frame.... well lets just say we had way too much fun with that and spent more time chatting than bowling.

Matti and Mel

Michelle, Matti and Mel

We only managed to bowl 1 1/2 games in our 2 hours there, but Melodi whopped us both games! (In my defense I couldn't bowl with them fingers in the ball because of my nails. )

Haunted House

2011-10-07T21:14:00.000-07:00

Tonight was all about Halloween houses... well let me start at the beginning... We unexpectedly were let off work early (2PM) this afternoon to celebrate the Diamondbacks play off game! With the extra time I wanted to do something fun for the boys and a friend had mentioned that Target was selling pretty inexpensive Gingerbread Haunted House Kits! I picked one up for $9.99!

After the Dbacks lost Kenny and I went to Applesbee's for some Bourbon Street Steaks! The waitress ended up bringing us Bourbon Street Chicken by mistake so we were at the restaurant much longer than expected.

Finally we got to my parents house and the boys were very excited to make their house.... Brian and I really tried to assemble the house properly, but it just wasn't happening. Little Brian was busily eating the black frosting (turning his month and teeth black) and Jacob was actually helping put the candies on the house ...well maybe we should call it a shack... Although, it didn't turn out very cute we had such a good time putting it together and laughed a lot.

Little Brian

Jacob

After the house was 'done' and it was time for the boys to go to sleep Brian and I wanted to go use our Living Social voucher for the haunted house in Surprise. I really don't know why I wanted to do it or why we bought the deal, because I was pretty scared to even go inside the house! We asked how long it would take us to get through the house and they said probably about 20-25 minutes.

I made my brother go first and hung onto his sleeve the entire time... People jumped out of every nook and cranny of that place and followed us saying things like, "Don't go that way" or "Oh your gonna die now" or just banged on the walls... I screamed and ran the entire time... Then there was my brother laughing and trying to stop for a closer look at the different displays! The only thing that seemed to scare him was the room with snakes... I think the worst room was the one decorated as a nursery with a little girl that said, "Do you want to play with me?" I quickly said, "Um no!" and hurried through the room which Brian also thought was funny. We finally get to the outside and I thought I was safe and the entire ordeal was over when a bunny covered in blood starts running after me with a chainsaw! My brother again just laughed and I went running, found myself in a dead-end and then had to run past the crazy bunny to get away. By the time we got to the front of the building my throat was soar from screaming, my chest was tight and my heart was pounding... Crazy that we PAID $12.50 for that!! It took us a whooping 10 minutes to get through the whole maze and Kenny was back just in time to pick us up after he filled up with gas! He didn't want to go in the haunted house because he doesn't like to be scared, smart man!

Guess Who??

2011-10-06T21:06:00.000-07:00

My office is having a bake sale tomorrow benefiting The United Way. I thought this would be a great time to try out one of the million ideas I have pinned on pinterest and needed something simple since I had the girls over for scrapbooking tonight too.

I chose these super simple owls! Chocolate cupcakes, a package of Oreos and a bag or reeses pieces- need I say more ?

I had a few extra, so I ding dong ditched the Taylor house with a sign that said, "Guess Who?" The boys were delighted.

I just love living down the street from them!! On that same note - as I was driving home from work today I got stopped by Brian's bus at his stop! I waved to my brother and Little Brian (who squealed with delight when he saw my truck) and yelled that I would see him after he finished his homework and he gave me a big old grin. I was tickled : )
My dad made a comment tonight that I treat the boys just like his Aunt Joyce always did him. She paid lots of attention to him and spoiled him. He remembered being the ring bearer in her wedding . It was neat to learn something new about him and that somehow I am like his favorite childhood aunt was : )