Guess where I'm off to!

I've been MIA this week because I've been running around in circles trying to get ready to go to Maui! It's our 9 year anniversary and we've never left the kids to go somewhere together, except once when Miss B was like 2, we spent a night away in Tucson. Needless to say I am SO excited! Sam's parents live in Maui when they don't live across the street from us so we are going to stay with them and bringing our best friends, Kyle and Ashley with us. They will be celebrating their 11 year anniversary this month. Didn't we look like little kids? Our kids can't believe that their daddy used to have hair!Here's the extent of my creative efforts this week- I got these great Hula Honeys postcards last year and I love them too much to use them but I finally broke down and put our address information on the back and had them laminated to make luggage tags.

I am sure my kids will be fine but tonight the anxiety of leaving them is setting in! So instead of packing, I am blogging!

I need some stamps

The post office was closed by the time I made it over there today so I checked out their website and look at these fun designs! (new to me)
I love to have something fun to stick on the envelope when I mail something! In case you didn't know, you can order stamps online from www.usps.com and they only charge you $1. And then your kids won't be running wild around the post office.

How Clean is Your House?

Have you seen this show? I just discovered that I actually have the BBC America channel but my mom is obsessed with it. It's entertaining. These 2 ladies go into these DISGUSTING houses and help the people get them cleaned. This show is not for those with an active gag reflex. I watched it today for the first time and I did feel much better about the condition of my home, and also I felt the need to get some cleaning done. And I was especially glad that I don't have any inside animals.

Beach Party! and the rest of the weekend...

I can't believe I am the mother of a 6 year old! I love Miss B so much- she has this very kind, sweet nature about her and she really just wants to be good. She has picked up on some attitude this last year but I think it's mostly a show or experiment to see how people react. Her party was Friday and it was a little crazy but she said it was "the best birthday party ever!" It was my first attempt at a "big kid, drop off" party- usually we have family and maybe a few friends over but the kids and parents all come, so this was an experience. We did it in the middle of the day and it was hotter than hot but the kids who enjoyed the water were fine. I was happy with how the cake turned out but I bet there is a better way to do the straps- I couldn't make them stand up- maybe if you used toothpicks on the ends? I don't know... the "sand" is brown sugar.Miss Bhad a lot of ideas about what she wanted at the party, but one of the easy ones was orange julius with cute tropical straws.I ordered some cute under the sea scene sticker activity things that I was excited about but I got my order the day before the party and they left them out! We had a pool with a slide and a couple sprinklers and a slip n slide but I wanted a couple other things to do. The only other activity we planned was digging for sea shells in the sand- I got a cool bag of them from WalMart and we buried them in this cheap plastic pool- it was a hit.Miss E also chose this day to decide she is ready to potty train. I don't have real high expectations but she has gone a couple times in her pretty little potty chair and I don't want to discourage her. This day, she had one success, and then later (2 different times) she came out holding her diaper telling me "I spilled water!" which means she peed somewhere. So she knows to take off her diaper, but she hasn't quite made the connection to wait until she gets to the potty for that. So I spent some time cleaning up, and even more time sitting in the bathroom waiting for her to try, so my morning was a little rushed. After the party I had a debilitating headache coming on so I just laid down on the couch and stayed there for 2 1/2 hours. Then I took an Excedrin and wondered why I didn't do that to begin with. I recovered and the day ended pretty typically for a Friday night- playing Progressive Rummy with the Mann's.

Saturday morning, Sam took Miss B out to breakfast for her birthday, then we all went to a baptism for a man in our ward and it was so great to see him and his enthusiasm for the gospel- he just seemed to be glowing he was so happy! Sometimes I take for granted the blessings the church brings to my life and it was a really sweet experience to see him and hear him tell about the joy and peace he now has in his life. Sam was conducting so I sat in the back row with the girls expecting that we would have to duck out at some point but they were all really good surprisingly! After that we went out to the Beach Park and met some families for another crazy hot afternoon full of sun and water. The kids had a blast and Miss E probably drank a gallon of that chlorinated water.

Free Picaboo Photo Book

You've got to go check out Picaboo! You can easily create a photo book with their free software and then they will print it and ship it to you. They have tons of backgrounds and creative photo clusters and you can drag and drop your own backgrounds too if you want. Here are the coupon codes I saw on Coupon Sense:

1. Buy one large book, get one medium book free. (prices vary depending on size from $9.99-$29.99) Code: 1PB1GF-CB
2. Free 20 page book. Pay shipping $8.99 shipping only. Code: 1PFLGB-BBC
3. Free shipping- Code: 1PFGSH-AP or 1PFGSH-P

Now I just have to decide what I want to make a book of! Check out their Idea Center for some really great ideas and examples. (that's where I snagged these pictures.)

Invitations

I will stop talking about my crazy electrocution experience now- I promise! Miss B said she is getting sick of hearing about it. I do have to add that the chains on the fence that goes past the tree were actually WELDED to the fence after this- that's how hot it got! And now I'm done. I will not dwell on all my worst case scenarios, what if Sam was out there, or that my brother had been working under that tree an hour before, or what if someone had been leaning on that fence, or if the irrigation was out in that field and the kids had been playing in it like they were a couple days before... no more.

Whew! I wanted to show some cute invitations! The first one is the one I did for Miss B's big girl beach birthday party this week. (copied from the one I made at Love Notes) The second one, Ginger made for a family Father's Day party. It was like getting a little present- I loved it!

I wanted to wish the fathers in my life a happy Father's Day! I feel so blessed to share my life and family with Sam who is such an incredible father to our little girls! He works so hard and shows them in everything he does how special they are to him.
And of course my dad! I can't believe this is the earliest picture I have of him in my scrapbooks. He was so busy with school and work and church callings but he would take time out of his Saturday's to take us each out on "dates". We got to choose the activity and spend one on one time with him. I remember looking forward to it for weeks as there were 6 of us!
Here's a more recent picture of him with my baby- he's also a wonderful grandfather!
I feel so fortunate that my girls have these wonderful examples of good men in their lives that will hopefully set a standard for them! Happy Father's Day, I love you!

Explosion outside my window

This will give you an idea of what I saw out my window- I found THIS VIDEO on YouTube. This lasts a lot longer, but watch till the explosion near the end, I think that's similar to what I heard and saw.

The fireball explained... sort of...

After further investigation, we are pretty sure this crazy thing was caused by the high voltage powerlines that run along the back of our property. Apparently, lightning or something somewhere along the line can cause a power surge, which somehow sent out a bolt of lightning/electricity down to the tree at least 10 feet below it!It's hard to see in this picture, but this branch of the tree has the bark split right down the side all the way to the ground. Sam found this toasted bird nest on the ground underneath it and also some other burnt branches. Here's the patch of burnt grass all the way over at Ginger's. My neighbors across the street had plumbers at their house all day and they were tearing up her floor and found 4 places where the copper pipes had just burst, and they stopped at that so they didn't have to destroy the whole house! They are going to have to re-plumb the entire house through the ceiling! I don't know how it could be related to the electric explosion, but it's just too big of a coincidence to ignore.

CraftyChica Resin Magnets and an explosion

I was watching the news this morning and they had Kathy Cano Murillo- aka the Crafty Chica on and she showed how to make these awesome resin magnets! (borrowed the pic from her website)I tried to make some a few years ago but I didn't seal the images with craft glue before I poured the resin on and they didn't turn out nearly as cute as hers so I can't wait to try some more! She is also hosting a cruise- how fun! Click this banner button to find out about it.
NOW, for the explosion! Ok, I sat down here at my laptop this morning to post about Crafty Chica when suddenly I heard a LOUD BOOM- some kind of an explosion and I crouched down and looked out the window to the left and saw a fire ball coming at me I closed my eyes and waited for the burning. (no, I don't react well in emergencies) Well a second later, I realized I was still alive, and not on fire, so I opened my eyes and saw nothing out of the ordinary- no fire, no smoke, nothing. The horses were even standing around looking at each other. I tried to decide if I needed to call 911 first or gather my kids- I chose my kids- I ran to the stairs and yelled at them to come up here quick- they seemed unphased- like they hadn't even heard the explosion. (come to think of it, I never asked them) but I took them to the front of the house, and told them to wait there and I went back to the back window and looked out again, to see if I could see any part of my house on fire. Then I got my phone and called 911 and told them my story, and walked outside looking for any signs of fire or proof that I had actually seen and heard what I thought I had. No signs. At this point I'm starting to doubt my senses- am I insane? Is it possible that something in my brain snapped and made me experience this thing that didn't even happen? My heart was still pounding out of my chest when we went out front and I found my neighbor across the street running around because she had also seen the fire and heard the explosion, and then water had begun to flow up through her kitchen floor! Ok, I didn't imagine it. But we aren't quite sure what caused it. Other confusing evidence: a small fire burning in Ginger's yard down the street- she pulled up just after the explosion and saw it burning, but it was no big deal and burned itself out. There are some high voltage power lines that run along the back of our properties that may have had something to do with it? Sam did some exploring around and found a charred birdnest back near the back of Jessica's property (next door, and in the direction I saw the fireball coming from.) Anyways, I already am not exactly sure what the fire ball looked like, or even if it was a ball of fire, and I'm not sure how it sounded. I am quite relieved that this was not a creation of my imagination, and that no one got hurt! What an exciting morning!

Stage Mom

We spent Monday morning at a car dealership filming a commercial. I suppose some people consider this a perk since Sam does advertising, but I decided we will probably not do another one unless there is some serious compensation! Three hours chasing Miss E around and trying to keep her happy while big sisters tried their hand at acting was a little painful at times. (plus an hour of drive time) and all that for a couple balloons and a Subway sandwich! But they were pretty excited to see the commercial when it was finished. Click HERE to see our little stars as you are enticed to buy a Honda! Don't worry, Miss G is not having a seizure in the back seat.

Tagged by Laura...

Sorry it took me a few days to do this Laura- here are 7 random things/habits of mine.

1. I have a hard time getting rid of pretty things. Like junk mail with a pretty pattern, or cute tags from new clothes. Now I scan them and save them in a file on my computer so I can throw them out with just a little anxiety.

2. I cannot sleep if I don't wash my face before bed.

3. I do everything SLOWLY. I don't know why. Maybe there's a bit of a perfectionist in me that wants thing done exactly right. I hate that stressed/in a hurry feeling but the problem with moving slow is I end up late a lot, which makes me feel stressed and in a hurry anyways!

4. I leave the cupboard doors open. I never knew it until Sam informed me it drove him crazy- about 2 years into our marriage!

5. When my mind gets quiet, it starts a running dialog or everything I see or do "Then she walked over to the dishwasher and opened the door. She noticed that the pan on the bottom rack was flipped over and full of water. Then she wondered why that particular pan flipped over, and none of the other dishes did. Then she heard Miss E coming so she quickly closed the door." ETC- crazy, I know.

6. I really like being pregnant. (generally speaking- I don't like the 3 months of nausea, or the lack of sleep, or the getting huge and uncomfortable, or wearing maternity clothes, or the hearburn... I'm not sure why I like it.)

7. I ALWAYS use my turn signal- even in parking lots.

Ok, so I am tagging YOU- all of you who I link to in my friends section- and anyone else who might read this! (if you want)

Food

I think I have a somewhat troubled relationship with food- I like to eat, and I like things that taste good, and I too often choose what sounds best (or is easiest) rather than what would actually benefit my body best. I stress about what to feed myself, and even more about what to feed the rest of my family and I really wonder what "healthy" people eat, and what their kids eat, and how they grow children without food issues. So I was excited to see blogger NieNie do a series this week called "NieNie's Vegetarian Life." She shared what she feeds her family on a vegetarian diet. And most of it sounded good. So if that interests you, you can check out her blog HERE. The only thing missing is the recipes! If you know her, request she put on some recipes, and do another week! I really like some of her thoughts and attitudes towards being a wife and mother and how she seems to really "get" the spirit of provident living. I hope I can soak some of that up. Oh and she has lots of really cool pictures. And she MAKES her own marshmallows!
***Update! I wasn't the only one excited about her food posts and she has now started a food blog where she posted all the recipes and hopefully will do more! You can check out CuisineNie by clicking HERE.

Duct Tape Bandage

I'm thankful for these manly duct tape bandages that I got from Walgreens a while ago (one of their free after rebate items) Sam told me real men don't wear band-aids but I think some men might consider them a great Father's Day present. They came in handy when I knocked a bench over on my toe the other day because the regular band-aids just weren't big enough to cover the damage. Every time I take the band aid off Miss E runs away crying "Oh noooooo feeeeeeeeeet!" I will spare you all the details but it was VERY painful. I think I will recover though. Maybe you can't tell how tough these are next to pink toenails, so check out this:

You can make cornbread!

I needed something to go with my Chicken Tortilla soup tonight, especially since I didn't have any tortillas to fry or chips. I decided cornbread was the way to go, but when I looked at that little box of Jiffy Cornbread muffin mix, I wasn't getting excited, because they always turn out gross! So I tried a recipe from scratch and it was SO easy and SO yummy I can't believe I've never tried it before! Here's the recipe:

So long, farewell...

Our couches have served us well for nearly 9 years, and now, it's time to say goodbye. Out with the old and in with the new! Note the chewed arm, and the hole on the pillow- it was time to go!If you could see everything that has soaked into those couches over the years- all the spit up, ewwww! I loved them to death when we got them but the plaid has gotten a little old. I will keep them (if I can find a spot for them that is) and I want to eventually recover them and put them in my living room. That project seems a little overwhelming right now though. Here's the catalog picture of my new couches that arrived today, I am so excited! They let me keep one of the boxes and the girls had a blast playing in it tonight.

Line of Authority

My mom watched my girls while I was gone and she told me a funny thing that Miss G said. Someone was doing something and my mom asked them to stop, and they kept doing it, and Miss G said "You better stop because Jesus will tell Santa, and Santa will tell the Holy Ghost and then you won't get any presents." I guess we need to put a little more effort into the teaching part of our family home evenings.

Before Girls Camp

I spent a lot of time here over Memorial Day weekend- I read New Moon (sequel to Twilight and I LOVED it) and got caught up on a few magazines and it was wonderful! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the weekend- Miss G and Miss B got to take turns with the camera too and they got some fun ones.

My other favorite girls

I'm back. 4 days of dirt and sun and giggles and singing and spiritual boosts and staying up too late and BUGS and ALLERGIES (or maybe a miserable little cold) I am glad to be home, and also glad that I went to camp! I truly love all these girls and am so glad that I get to work with them- I never thought I would enjoy being in Young Women's so much. It was even better because of the ladies I got to hang out with, (Mairsy, Holly and Shannon) and our afternoon Dr. Pepper/Diet Pepsi breaks, and really super good food! I was mistaken for a girl rather than a leader a few too many times though- any suggestions on how to get the grown ups to take me seriously next year?