Blessing in Disguise

Hello fellow bloggers. It has been a little while since I have written- because it has been a while since I have had the time to sit and relax. Life has been extremely CRAZY lately. I have seriously been "on-the-verge" of a lot of things lately. I have felt like I have been a way better wife than mom, and usually I feel the other way around. Usually I feel like I am a pretty awesome mom, but need to work on my wife roles. My kids have certainly gotten the brunt of my grumpyness- or shall I say STRESS!
With the market going crazy, this has a huge impact on Jared's pay. Although it hasn't actually affected a pay check yet, it will.
I have been holding down 3 part time jobs, although combined I spend about 35 hours a week working. This leaves little time for cooking, cleaning, playing and what-not. The good thing is that most of this I am able to do while the kids are either napping or when Jared is home. Lately I have had sweet Ashley watching my kids a few hours in the morning this week for me to try to get ahead, which I am finding never really happens because there is always more to do.
I have two callings in our ward. One of Primary Secretary of over 100 kids, which I love. And the other, Choir Director - and putting together the Christmas Program - which I love as well AND volunteered for (?!@&$*) Just Kidding - I really do love it!
On top of all of this, Hayden is no longer in pre-school as of about 3 weeks ago and so I have tried, at a miserable attempt, to be his teacher. We are also having some other issues with him that we are praying and looking for help and answers.
All of this combined for me has meant O-V-E-R-L-O-A-D, not to mention everywhere I turn there is a new crack where ants are flooding into our home.
I have been praying relentlessly for help, and have broken down several times over the past week as I have felt over-whelmed with life. At times I have felt I don't even have time to breathe. But, today I got an e-mail from my KIDZUI job, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I mean I get paid for watching Youtube videos and checking out websites, but they informed me they aren't going to be needing me through the rest of the year (and who knows maybe not ever again), but they like many other companies are having to cut back- luckily I was one of the few who made it through several of the previous cut-backs. I have not even felt sad since getting the news. I feel so happy and free and a load has been lifted off me. The money from this job has paid for all of my gas, groceries, misc items for over a year and I always thought I would be sad to see it go, but I know it is a blessing. The Lord and I new I would have never been able to walk away on my own, so it had to happen this way- and the timing is certainly a answer to my prayers, and a tender mercy. Just wanted to share.

RE-POST because I am so dang busy to post anythign else...It's me, Hayden

Hello blogger friends. It's been a little while since I have posted and wanted to show you all what I have been up to.
Last week, my parents decided they desperately needed a date night, so mommy got Hayley and Claire to babysit me and my little brother. We had such a fun time. When it was time to go to bed, those girls thought I was in bed. It sounded like they were having so much fun laughing while they were watching America's Funniest Home Videos and I really wanted to join in the fun, so I sneaked downstairs, but I didn't really get too far because when my mom and dad came home, this is where they found me. I did manage though to hide Claire's flip flops and she couldn't find them and walked home bare foot, my mom said she was really embarrassed. This would be crush #2, my aunt Rochelle who is really cute, she was the first person I started hiding things from. I got in trouble for that, but I thought Claire was really cute and the talk I got from mom was worth it.

These are some pictures of me playing soccer. I am on a real soccer team, not the Family Johnson team anymore. I have a lot of fun playing with my friends during the games. Sometimes I even remember to kick the ball, but mostly I like to watch my little brother or play with my teammate Dakoda - we like to bonk bellies. I did kick the ball long enough to make a goal though, it was a sweet break away too. I don't know where everyone else was, but I got a goal. Everyone was so excited, especially my mom and dad. They were really happy. I think I will try to do that again at my next game.


Lately my favorite thing to do is to take my mom's camera and take pictures of things. I think I am going to be a real photographer, hey that would go hand in hand with what I really want to do, that is to be an astronaut. I can be both then when I am up in space, I can take really great pictures of the earth and stuff. Here is a little look at some of my work.



Thanks for reading, I will post again soon.

Silly Boy

Today the boys and I went swimming. This was the boys conversation when we were all 3 sitting in the jacuzzi,

Hayden: Carson, count to 1
Carson: 4, 7
Hayden: No, count to 1
Carson: 4
Hayden: No Carson, just say 1
Carson: 4 (with a smirk because mommy is laughing)
Hayden: Oh, forget it.

It made me smile.

Well, this was supposed to be a momentous occasion that I had been looking forward to for a few weeks. I have become hooked to reading Nie Nie and she does something that I wanted to start in our family. Whenever someone has a birthday in her family, they have a balloon launch. Every member of the family writes a wish, in this case for the birthday boy and then you set your balloons free and of course the wishes come true, hehe. Well, this is how it went realistically in our home.


Boys all came home from soccer practice, saw the balloons and when I told them we were going to set them free after writing a wish for daddy- disaster struck and No's went shrieking out the doors and windows. So, we ended up writing all our birthday wishes on one balloon. When it came time to set it free, you can see in the picture I didn't even get the let go because it turned into, "1,2," balloon is let go and no one was even paying attention because daddy quickly said, "Carson off daddies newly re-seeded grass." So, here is the picture to document our first balloon launch.



Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Oohhhh

Is my grammy ever going to come? I have been waiting at the window for like 3 minutes but it feels like forever. Maybe if I just keep sitting here, she will know and come faster. GRAMMY WHERE ARE YOU???

Welcome Halloween

I wanted to have a Halloween Decorating/ Celebration and thought hey, that would make an awesome FHE. So, I made a delicious dinner, decorated our table (if you look closely you can see the beautiful work Jared did on restoring our table and chairs for our dining room), and set at everyone's place some fun items to wear in preparation for Halloween.

(We couldn't get the auto timer to work, so Jared had to take the pic)

We then got out the decorations - the biggest hit were the Skeleton blinking lights and "Monster Mash" CD. The boys would have danced to it all night.

Easy Enchiladas

These are the easiest enchilada's ever. I have wanted to post this for a while...

Take 3 pieces of chicken
1 can of black beans
1 can of corn
1 can of salsa

Throw these ingredients into the crock pot on low to cook for about 6 hours.

Take the ingredients out of the crock pot and put into a bowl and shred the chicken.

Mix in some cheese and enchilada sauce.

Take some tortillas and put the mixture in the tortillas, roll them up then place them in a pan.

Take some more enchilada sauce and pour over the top, I am generous with the amount I put on and tried green enchilada sauce last time (which is Jared's favorite) and it was delicious. Then you douse the top with cheese and cook at 350 for about 25 minutes, until the cheese melts. Delicious!!!

Just a thought

Does anyone commiserate with me on this one...how am I supposed to see my eyebrows when I pluck them, when I cannot do it with my glasses on, but I need my glasses to be able to see, but I am not yet blind enough for my insurance to pay for full-time contacts? It is a little difficult!

I Give Up!

So I get asked often my age. People tell me I look like I am 16, and although I do still feel like a teenager, I have no idea how I reached my old age of 28, but my crows feet around my eyes, and laugh lines on my face are beginning to show- I guess people just don't look close enough. Last summer I was asked if I was my kid's nanny as I was vacationing in Newport Beach getting an ice cream while tugging the kids behind me in the wagon. When I told the man I was their mother, he said "What are you, 12?" Last week I was at a scrapbook retreat and a woman stopped me just before I was about to leave (I had been looking at her all day long as there were only about 24 of us in this big scrapbook room) and she said, I have been watching you and it doesn't look like you are here with your mom, please tell me you are not a mother yourself. I told here I was scrapbooking books for my two children, 4 1/2 and 2. She couldn't believe it. I was told yesterday that I look like I am a teenager and way too young to have any kids.
Over a year ago, I cut my hair short, equating that shorter hair, when styled I should ad, usually makes one look older. I even went as far as shopping in the women's department in clothing stores trying to find something more mature. I threw away a bunch of my high school clothes, feeling that time was way over due, although I have to admit I do still have a few items of clothing that I wear, from 11 years ago and I have to say I think they are still in good taste for the most part. Anyhow, today I am doing away with any attempts to try to make myself look older and I will embrace my youthfulness. So, I threw on some jeans, a dragon shirt and pulled my hair back in a pony, I have officially given up and it feels great.

Princess

Carson and I were in the office, as you can see the mess behind Carson. He was playing in my craft drawer and pulled out our Happy Birthday sign. Well, I turned my attention back to the computer and he came up to me and said "Look, I am a Princess." My boys love princesses and why not, they are usually beautiful. I think they have Jared a teensy bit worried about the whole princess thing. I wish you could have heard Carson telling me he was a princess. It was priceless, as most everything he does and says is.

Ode to Jar

So, yesterday I had an ALL-DAY scrapbooking event with my good friend Rachel down in San Diego. It was such a blast. I have to plan these retreats so that I can actually set time aside to scrapbook without a whole lot of distraction. It is so great. Well, apparently I need to go away a little bit more often because the boys all do so well without me. Jared was so incredibly productive he made me feel a little bit guilty. He told me everything he did on Saturday, took Hayden to his soccer game, folded all the clean clothes (which by the way were several loads that had been piling up on our bedroom floor), including washing a new load of whites, and put the clothes by the kids doors, vacuumed the downstairs, painted two coats of paint on our kitchen chairs, mowed the grass, showered the kids, cleaned the kitchen, mopped the floor, and had playtime outside with the kids in the cul-de-sac. He even ventured out with the kids and treated them to dinner because they had such a great day. I was so impressed. The kids woke up so happy today. I told him he was hired and I was leaving next Saturday. Anyone have any ideas of someplace to go??? hehe. What a great guy.

Crack

Carson woke up a little grumpy the other day. He was a lot happier when he saw me jump in over the side of his crib. The great thing about him is that he is easy to crack, and he has the most adorable smile so he is fun to get laugh. Hayden was quick to grab the camera and capture the moment.

Front Fell Off

This is Hilarious!!! If you want a good laugh, have a listen.

Carson's Expressions

Carson is such a hoot and all the pictures below were all within seconds of each other. He is so expressive and fun!!!

First Day of Kinder Prep Academy

Here is our big guy on his first (ok so really it is the second day, the first day was too crazy) of Kinder Prep Academy.

Blog Worthy Moment

So, let me tell you a little bit about our morning. I dropped off Hayden at his second day of pre-school, came home and showered and thought I would take advantage of the time I have with just one child to go get some shopping done. So, I went to several different stores with Carson and at the last store, Kohl's I thought to myself, self you forgot the stroller and Khol's doesn't have shopping carts for kids to sit in, so now would be a great time to teach Carson how to walk beside me. I needed to return an item and thought I would do some quick browsing of the clearance items, which are always great, and I had timed it perfectly to give me about 15 minutes in the store, not too much time to do damage but just right to pick up Hayden on time from school. So about 5 minutes prior to us needing to leave, Carson and I were browsing and Carson wondered off too far from me, so I asked him to come back and stand beside me. He came by me for a minute then he was gone again and it took me about 30 seconds to realize he hadn't come back. I started softly calling and will usually hear his feet running towards me, nothing. I started broadening my search a little still calling him but hearing nothing and not seeing him anywhere. Within about a minute of calling him this lady who was shopping next to me said, "you haven't found him yet?" then a Kohl's worker was standing right there and came over and we told her we were missing a little boy. She called in code yellow, still I was thinking we will find him any minute. Well, 10 minutes later, I am running through the store yelling his name, looking low, I searched in the bathrooms- yes men's too, I didn't care what I might find in there, I went outside to see if he had gone to the car, then as I turned to come back inside I was sweating bullets and started sobbing and panic totally set in. This sweet angel came and put her arm around me reassuring me we would find him. There were about 30 people looking for him. Luckily I had a picture on my phone of what he looked like and started showing it to people as I am still running through the store. Employees all had to drop whatever they were doing and search, they had all the entrances locked down and all security personnel out. I had to call Jared to have him get a hold of Hayden's teacher, since I was already late to pick up Hayden- I had been late all week taking him and picking him up and I was so determined to be on time today, no such luck. After 20 torturous minutes of searching and panic, I was told he had been found. There were about 15 people all rallied around us when they gave Carson back to me and I started sobbing. People were clapping and so elated at the reunion. So, turns out he wanted to play a little game of hide and seek with mommy. He hid behind the jeans on the wall right behind me, we had thoroughly searched all the middle racks but not so much the outside ones on the wall. He told me he had poops, and he likes his privacy when he wants to go to the bathroom, so it made sense to me that he hid. When he got home he kept saying, "Mommy, you sad? I give you kiss." Thank heaven for all the angels who stopped shopping and helped me look for my little boy. I had an instant support team and I was so thankful for that. Now I just hope I can go back and find those clearance items I threw down in a pile, hehe.

Labor Day Fun

Our neighbors have an annual Labor Day party on the cul-de-sac right next us. It was so much fun. They rent a huge water slide, everyone brings chairs and a side dish and we ate and talked and played. They block off the street and all the kids run around, going from house to house having a blast. We took the kids out at 11:30 a.m. and came back inside at 6:30 p.m. It was really a blast.

Slip n' Sliden

Mmmm, yummy ice cream. He wore more than he got in his mouth, but he loved every minute of it.

I think this is about how he was feeling about mid-afternoon, he was so exhausted.

Weeeeeeee

Question Time

I asked Hayden, age 4 the following questions and wrote down his first responses...
1. What is something mom always says to you?
No
2. What makes mom happy?
When I do things you ask me to do
3. What makes mom sad?.
When I don’t do things you ask me to do
4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Tickling me
5. What was your mom like as a child?
Like me
6. How old is your mom?
35
7. How tall is your mom?
Taller than me and Carson and smaller than dad
8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Go to church
9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Play with Carson
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
I don’t know what famous means!
11. What is your mom really good at?
You are really good at playing basketball (???)
12. What is your mom not very good at?
Not so good at getting us toys (He would mean buying him all the toys he asks for)
13. What does your mom do for her job?
Work on the computer and take care of us
14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Pineapple
15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Like when I share my food with a friend or something when they don’t have any food.
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Leo on Little Einsteins.
17. What do you and your mom do together?
Play games and stuff.
18. How are you and your mom the same?
We have the same skin.
19. How are you and your mom different?
Cause I am a boy and you are a girl.
20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Cause you say that almost every day.

Warning...Blog under Construction

We are having some blogging issues. As I am sure you who check our blog regularly know, we have been in need of some major re-modeling, hehe, and in the process, I lost A LOT of stuff- oops. So, if you don't see your link posted, it means I lost it in the process so please leave it in a comment so I can re-post it, please.

Grateful!

Today we had some friends from our home town up. We had such a wonderful time together. I was telling them, it was a miraculous thing that I didn't have to even once remind Hayden to be kind, or break up a quarrel. He had such a great time playing with his friends. We played at our house for about an hour then went down to the park right down the road. The rest of this day I have felt so filled with joy as I have thought about their friendships and how much my dear "BB's" mean to me. I am so grateful for good friends. They are so non-judgmental and accepting of me with all my faults. They would each do just about anything if I requested it. We celebrate each others ups and downs and try to plan regular girls nights out (although I haven't been able to be at one for a while). We celebrate each others birthdays, and those of our kids, family crisis, pre-school, jobs, and life in general. We have delivered meals to each other upon the birth of one of our children, moving, the death of a loved one, rough pregnancy, or if one of us is having a particularly hard day. I have many good friends all over, but here at home, these girls are so special to me, and I just wanted to say thanks!!!
This picture is unique because we are almost all (except for Elysian) together...

More Progress...

So, this is the day we have been waiting for for a few years now. Hayden is old enough to play on a real soccer team. Ever since he was in the womb, he has been a natural kicker, hehehe. He has awesome coordination and is very excited to start. Jared went with him last night to get his shin guards, soccer socks, and size 3 ball- did I mention he has had an has also been wearing his size 12 soccer cleats since he was 2. He has been wearing the gear all day and is anxiously waiting for his practice tonight. Carson also is excited to "play on my soccer team" and has plans on playing with daddy while Hayden practices and I stay home to work, bummer for me.



I finished the Living Room curtains and ottoman. We love how they turned out. I have no idea what the next project is. We just got a bid on doing hard-scape in the back and that could still be a few months. Who would have known a patio is so expensive.

Protect Marriage

My cousin has this posted on her blog and since I think it is so important to be aware of and to fight, I wanted to post it on mine as well.

www.protectmarriage.com
Go to this link... now! www.protectmarriage.com

This organization is to help spread information and solidify support for the California ProtectMarriage Constitutional Amendment -- now officially numbered Proposition 8 (also know as the “California Marriage Protection Act” and the “Limit on Marriage Amendment”).

Why should you care?--even if you don't live in California? Because if this state constitutional amendment doesn't pass to settle the definition of marriage debate once and for all, it will spread to every other state in just a matter of time.

*****HOW YOU CAN HELP*****

1. Inform your friends and family of the upcoming vote in November. Educate them on the fact that amending our state constitution, something that is very common in California, will “undo” the Supreme Court’s decision overruling the will of the people and legalizing gay "marriage." Also, continue to invite people to join our Facebook group.

2. Donate! Even $5 or $10 can make a difference. This effort will take financial participation from everyone who cares about protecting marriage. You can donate online: https://www.icontribute.us/protectmarriage

3. Become part of the team and volunteer: http://www.protectmarriage.com/volunteer

4. Finally, stay positive. Do not get discouraged by any media reports that the amendment is “losing,” or lacks support. Remember, the exact language we are trying to add to the constitution was passed by Prop. 22 with over 61% of the vote in 2000, and our polls show it currently has the support necessary to pass.


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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* What would the ProtectMarriage Amendment do?

If passed, the Protect Marriage Amendment would add new language to the state constitution: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” Eighteen other states have voted to amend their constitutions in a similar way.

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* Why is a constitutional amendment necessary? Didn’t Californians already vote on something like this?

In the March 2000 election, the voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 22 by over 61% of the vote. Prop. 22 added a regular statute to the California Family Code to keep marriage between a man and a woman and prevent the state Legislature from redefining marriage without a vote of the people. Since then however, politicians and judges have chipped away at Prop 22 and ignored the will of the voters. Most recently, the California Supreme Court held that the changes brought about by Prop. 22 were unconstitutional under the state constitution, and ruled that same-sex “marriage” must be allowed.

An amendment to the California Constitution, which requires a vote of the people, is the only way to stop the court's redefinition of marriage against the will of the majority of Californians.

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* How is the ProtectMarriage Amendment different from Prop 22? Can the California courts still overrule a constitutional amendment?

Proposition 22 added a regular statute to the California Family Code. Regular statutes are a “lower” law than the state constitution. By adding the ProtectMarriage Amendment to the state constitution, which is the highest source of law in the state, the California courts would be required to uphold marriage because there is no other source of “higher” state law than the California Constitution.

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* What is the process for passing a Constitutional Amendment?

Step 1: The official proponents of the ProtectMarriage Amendment provide an official petition proposing the amendment to the voters. The campaign must then obtain over 700,000 valid signatures of registered California voters within just 150 days after the Attorney General issues the Official Title and Summary of the measure.
Step 2: When all the signatures have been gathered, the official proponents submit the signatures gathered in each county to the local elections official to verify the number of valid signatures.
Step 3: Local elections officials report the total number of verified signatures to the Secretary of State. If there are enough valid signatures, the Secretary of State puts the amendment on the next statewide election ballot for a vote.
Step 4: If the amendment receives more than 50% of the vote, it becomes part of the state constitution immediately.

We are currently done with steps 1, 2, and 3. All that remains is getting out the vote and receiving more than 50% in favor of the amendment in the November 2008, California General Election.

Toe Bandit

So, while we were in Sedona, Hayden had a very apparent crush on his newest aunt Rochelle. I don't know if it was a crush on her as much as it was her toes- probably both. He would crawl underneath the table if she was sitting at it and play with her toes, or he would sneak up behind her and poke them. He basically couldn't leave her alone most of the trip. One night uncle Jeremy saw Hayden up out of bed when everyone else was asleep lifting up the sheets of the bed where Rochelle was sleeping to take a peak at her toes. So, Jeremy (Rochelle's hubby, Jared's brother) just sent me this haiku he dedicated to Hayden, the toe bandit and I thought it was blog worthy...

sneaky, ninja like.
the toe bandit strikes again.
crush on aunt rochelle

Newport Beach

Well, Newport Beach is my favorite vacation all year. I have been going with my family since I was a little girl. We always go with the same family, the Bayards and always have such a great time. This is seriously my FAVORITE vacation. I have so many great memories of Balboa Island and all the smells of Balboa Bars and Waffle Cones and the sea breeze, crab hunting, the smell of the bay, the sound of the boats slowly going by and the sound of the sand being crushed while walking along the Island's boardwalk. I just love it there. Each day we went to the bay and played, one of the days we even got rained on. I think my kids favorite part was the annual bonfire, but this time there was a guy selling glow-in-the-dark "light sabers" and there were about 7 crazy little boys playing swords on the beach. Hayden still sleeps with his sword and is up bright and early to play with it. He and Carson LOVED having some little friends to play with. This year there were 7 little kids, 6 of them boys ages 4 and under. So, it was absolutely crazy but it was great. We rented some Kayaks one day and all took turns taking them out. And most of the adult kids on Friday got in the bay and went for a swim with our little ones. Here are some pics...

Sedona, AZ

Well, we just got back from a wonderful week with Jared's family in Sedona, AZ and are off again tomorrow for a week in Newport Beach with my family. Sedona was absolutely gorgeous. I couldn't believe the scenery. It was absolutely incredible. The mountains and rock formations were in-describable. The first day we were there, we went on a Hummer-Jeep tour. It was crazy. Our tour guide Gary didn't want us to miss out on any part of the adventure and took us over large rocks, put the hummer on two wheels, let us taste a Prickly Pear, and sped down dirt paths. It was a blast. We also visited many of the local Indian ruins, Slide Rock, did lots of swimming, went to the beautiful hillside town of Jerome, and a castle, darn-it I can't recall the name at the moment, we ended the vacation by attending the Mesa temple Saturday. Jared's sister just returned from her mission in Houston, Tx, so the time spent with her was wonderful as well. The boys loved being able to spend time with their aunts and uncles, Hayden especially loved meeting his newest aunt, Rochelle. He was fascinated by her feet/ toes and just about everything about her in general. He didn't quite know how to leave her alone. Thankfully she is very sweet and just rolled with him.
Here are some pictures.

My Newest Addition and Creation

So, sometimes I get these crazy ideas and visions in my head of how I want things to look and finding just the perfect fabric. I made these this weekend and love them. They go so well with the colors we want to have in our home, if you blow up the picture you can see I am not quite finished yet. I have to get some more pieces for the rod. I also special ordered more fabric to make curtains for the Living Room and already have some picked out to put in the Dining Room as well. My next two projects will be making our ottoman and the LR curtains, whenever the fabrics come in for those two items. We are loving being home owners and customizing things.
We also had a little mover and shaker this last week, I believe it was a 5.4 earth-shake as my kids call them. We didn't think we had any damage, but a few days ago our sliding glass doors double pane shattered, we think the homes foundation shifter ever so slightly and put forced stress on the glass causing it to shatter. What a bummer. We are hoping our home warranty will cover the fix. We shall see.
Hayden gave the scripture in primary yesterday and did such a fabulous job. I should have taken a picture of him. He looked so handsome in his suit, tie, and Jared's missionary tag on.
Well, have a wonderful week. We are off to Sedona Arizona then Newport Beach for some much needed R and R.

Friday Family Night

So, before we moved, we were really good about doing a movie night with the kids. It usually consisted of getting a movie from the library and having some yummy food along with movie snacks.
Well, we had pizza tonight, Hayden and Carson were awesome helpers with making it, I have to say if you have never put Gorgonzola cheese on a pizza (I wasn't sure the kids would like it so we mixed it with cheddar) you have got to try it. It was delicious. We had so much fun. Then Jared and Hayden put up a tent in the backyard, since now we don't have to worry about Coyotes eating them while they are sleeping, and they had a great time camping out while Carson and I enjoyed the luxury of a cushy bed.

The Woes of Shopping

So, I told the boys we needed to run some errands today, I swear I am so embarrassed about going into some stores I have returned things so many times after I buy some sort of home decor then end up changing my mind about it or finding something else. So today I pulled into a parking lot and didn't tell Hayden where we were going and he looked at the store, hit his forehead with his hand and said "Oh, we are at Home Goods. I hate this store." I just started laughing and couldn't stop. Maybe you had to be there, but for a 4 year old to recognize a store just by pulling into a parking lot speaks loads about...well, probably both of us. I have a shopping problem and he is a very smart and observant little boy.

Had to post...

So, today is the day of posts it appears, but I had to post this because I just thought it was so funny.I just answered the phone and had about a 15 minute conversation with someone, and I have no idea who they were. I just played along and the lady asked how the kids were and all about what was happening in our lives, so I told her about the kids and about how we have been on the phone with our HOA to try to get a go-ahead with our front yard and lots of other things. Then she started talking about all these people, I have no idea who they are. She talked to me about how they have to sell their house and about her husbands job. I just okay'd and yeah'd my way through the whole conversation. I was laughing to myself the whole time and didn't have the heart to ask who she was because she was so pleasant. Hopefully she doesn't keep calling though. Anyways, had to share.

Check out my Slide Show!

This is the Spot...

I am sure some of you recall the day you found out the truth about Santa (sorry to brake it to those of you who still believe) - well this is the place many many years ago that my grandmother told me the Tooth Fairy wasn't real and so I started questioning, the Easter Bunny? Santa Claus? I recall being so let down that my parents had lied to me all this time. In fact it made me so sad I vowed to never lie to my kids about these guys. In fact, I told Hayden years ago Santa wasn't real but I think he wants to believe he is real regardless.

Texas Vacation

We just returned a few days ago from my family's yearly Texas Family Reunion. We always have such a great time, and needless to say, Jared and I were desperate for some sort of vacation, so the timing was awesome. We were able to visit with family and the boys got to play with their only cousins, which they haven't seen in 2 years, so they didn't really remember each other.
I think we rode on just about every sort of mode of transportation that week possible. We rode in a car, on an airplane, boat, jet ski, train, bus, four wheel, and EZ Go (golf cart).

This is us on our way from our grandparents to Lake Murray in Northern Texas/ Oklahoma.

Here are most of the little kiddos, minus a cousin. The girls, Annie and Chloe took a liking to both our boys, but they loved to baby Carson. They just kept loving on him, picking him up and carrying him. In the picture he doesn't seem too opposed. Oh, and the picture that was taken on the rocks, can you Scorpions? I don't know how many scorpions we killed, but several. I didn't sleep very well at nighttime scared there were little buggies in bed with us. Ugh.
Papa Nobles and Carson.

One of the days we were at the Lake, my cousin talked us into going to this drive-thru zoo called Arbuckle Wilderness. It was the craziest thing I have ever been to in the avenue of zoo's. You know how you watch those hilarious clips on America's Funniest Home videos of the people in their cars at these zoos, well I wish I would have had a video camera because we all just about peed our pants at several different times during our excursion. We had Goats practically climbing into our car, Camel's that stuck their heads into our car and stole our cups of food, drueling (?) Giraffe's that got slobber all over us, and as for the Ostrich's - well we rolled up our windows and sped on past them. We had such a great time.

As an ending to our vacation, we were just about in the midst of a tornado. We were told there was a 20% chance of storms Saturday evening. Well, I'm not totally sure who was in charge of the forecast for the day, but they probably ought to be looking for a job elsewhere going from 20% chance of RAIN to a massive thunder and lightening storm and tornadoes. I should probably preface this by saying ever since I was a little girl, I have feared that while I was in Texas there would be a tornado. Well, we saw the rain clouds start moving in and I didn't think much of it until we were at my grandparents and my uncle drove in and said we needed to turn on the news for tornado updates. I figured he had to be joking, but when I went outside across the way, sure enough the sky was that sea green color, the wind had picked up and there were funnel clouds starting to form, several of them and they were heading straight towards us. The wind started blowing so hard it was fiercely splashing water from the pool. It was a sight to be seen for me.
Thankfully, eventually the storm lessened as it passed, but we received a message about 1 am on Jared's phone that our 8:50 flight was canceled the following morning and not re-scheduled until almost 48 hours later and I love my grandparents, but I did not want to stay in Texas any longer after the storm. I wanted my own home and bed. We ended up flying into a different airport and taking a shuttle to our car an hour away. But, we are home and getting ready for Jared's parents who will be driving in tomorrow from AZ.

Hello 2's... We Have Arrived!!!

Well, Carson took a few weeks to settle into this new and exciting phase of life. His birthday was in May and it's almost July and he is finally starting to act his age, darn it. My mom came over today to watch the boys for a little bit so I could go run some errands and Carson cried when I left, which is totally not like him. He usually prefers my mom over anyone else. I know if I would have taken him with me, he would have cried. When I got home he was busy doing something and when he was done and realized my mom was gone, he just cried and cried. He has started hitting and telling me "no" and when Jared walked in the front door tonight he bawled and tried to not let him in the front door. I am hoping he is still just exhausted from our week in Texas, but I am not so sure. He has also started climbing out of his crib. Look out!

Jared's Latest Project

Here is Jared's latest project. As most of you know, after the bank originally accepted our offer, we signed the initial paperwork and had our inspection done and then there was a flood in the house. So, the linoleum that was in the kitchen was ripped up and never replaced by the bank who owned the home due to various reasons, way too many details I don't want to explain bc it would probably really bore you. Needless to say, we were living on cement flooring the first few weeks we were in the home, so putting in flooring was one of the top priorities. So, here is a before and after...(it still needs to be completed, i.e. grouted and cleaned)