"Twilight" Crazy

I think that I jumped on this band wagon a little later than everyone else, but when I got on, I went crazy. In 6 days, I saw the movie and read all 4 books. Is anyone else secretly in love with Edward Cullen? I can see what all the fuss was about. Same on you Maren and Alexia for getting me addicted. I have now seen the movie 3 times, and have no plans to stop until it leaves theatres.... You says it is a teen obsession, how about an old housewife......

Christmas Pictures

Does anyone else dread having to go and get pictures with their kids? Do you have to resort to bribery as I do? Do you worry that they are going to kick you out of the photo studio because your children are so uncooperative? I gave my kids a heads up on photos and bribed them too, so we were all set. Colton was mad about having to dress nicely and then walk through the mall - as if his whole class was at the mall, or anyone cared. Of course, when we get there, with no appointment, the place is packed and I realize that the chance of me getting these boys cleaned up again in a few hours is pretty slim. SO we merely head to the next location and get right in. Initially things were looking good and I got my hopes up ( way to premature). By the group photos, Vance was having a meltdown because his brothers shoulders were touching his, then he refused to sit up, wear the hat or do anything that the photographer asked. Luckily she was very patient, and we got out of there with some good shots. It did age me about 10 years though......

Cole the photographer

I had Cole take some photos the other day while we were outside raking leaves. I was amazed at what a great job he did. It seems as if the weather is unsure of what season it is. FIrst, tons of snow, then beautiful fall weather

I am not ready for winter

So the first snow storm we get totally dumps on us and it is freezing outside - I am so not ready for winter. Tootie is totally into it all though, until he comes in crying with freezing hands. We have only had one storm and I am so over snow. I think it may be time for a girls weekend to Vegas.....

Spook Alley

This is Halloween

Gone are the days when all my boys want to be dressed up as cute characters. Wehave moved intot he realm of blood and guts and really scary looking things. Oh how I miss the days of "eeyore and tigger". Goodbye "pooh" forever. Maybe I can still convince Vance though.

When we first moved into our house, I swore that I was going to have a "spook alley" in my basement because it seemed like the perfect layout for one. Three years later, I finally did it. It took a lot of work, but the screams and laugh were all worth it. We have now decided to do it every year. I have really taken to Halloween, there are so many fun things you can do for a party. This year, was our first party and we: bobbed for apples (who cares about germs huh), made mummies, had a spook alley and ate lots of cookies etc. We promised to out do ourselves next year. The boys had 5 friends sleep over ( this was scarier than the spook alley) - at about 2am after much screaming and pillow fighting ( I thought only girls did that), I had to put an end to the festivities. We had a lot of fun, but were pretty exhausted the next day....... Thank goodness Halloween is only once a year. Does anyone else hate raking up leaves??????

Dog Days

Our boys really love our dog Charlie and I have to admit that he is the greatest dog we have ever had (and we have had our share of dogs). I would have to say NO to the following breeds of dogs: weiner dogs (hard to potty train, cannot keep them in a yard and they like to chase the mailman - go figure); beagles (cannot sit still, like to run away and not very smart), lab mixes (totally hyper)and a resounding YES to golden retrievers. This dog is calm, loves to play with the kids, great with other dogs and just a good looking guy (his hair color matches Vance so he is a good accessory as well). He is however extremely frightened of our cat, who is in fact very intimidating even to us. She can take him out should she choose. I have sworn to not be obsessed with my animals and talk about them all the time, but I took such cute shots of the boys and Charlie that I had to post them. ENJOY. Hi Mom, Love you!

Happy Birthday Mom

Here's a shoutout to my mother on her birthday. She raised 4 kids on her own, supported us, and made sure that we never went without. All the discipline, hard work, strictness paid off in the lives of all her children. Thanks Mom, for teaching me the value of hard work, determination and never giving up.....

Oath of Citizenship

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofor been a subject or citizen; and that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law; that I will perform noncombatabt service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me Gog. In acknowledgement whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature

God Bless America

Today was a big day for our family. I finally, after 13 years of marriage, became an American citizen today. I took the boys out of school, and they came to Capital Theater to see me sworn in. It was pretty cool to see 200 people from 58 different countries became citizens. People had pretty cool stories to tell and it was a very neat experience to see people get chocked up when they talked about what becoming a citizen meant to them. My heart will still have a place in South Africa, and I don't think that you can ever loose that love for the country of your birth, but this is home to me - where my heart is......

Zuma Baby

Now that the kids are back in school, I have suddenly had the urge to start working out again - it must have something to do with the scale that Pax just bought, which I happened to step on and realized that I have gained 10 pounds this summer. WHAT!!!! SO.... Maren gets this idea to do a ZUMA class at the rec center. There are Maren and I trying to do these fast Latin American dance moves while shaking our booties and everything else. I have not had such a good laugh in a long time. I was turning the wrong way, shaking the wrong thing, but still laughing. Bring it on Baby - same time next week.....

Places I have been to.....

In the USA
1. Nebraska
2. Nevada
3. Iowa
4. Montana
5. Arizona
6. California
7. Illinois
8. Minneapolis
9. Wisconsin
10.Michigan
11. Washington
12. Wyoming
13.Colorado
14.Indiana
15.Missouri
16. Idaho

In the World
1. Calgary, Canada
2. Mexico
3. London
4. Switzerland
5. Austria
6. Germany
7. Africa
8. Leichenstein

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My crazy Man

Well, it is finally over and not a moment of lost Saturdays too soon. Pax finally rode and completed the Lotoja bike race. I though that he was insane for wanting to do it, and at the finish line of the race, he probably would have agreed with me.

The boys and I left right after Coles Saturday soccer game to head up to Jackson Hole to see Pax. Thanks to Google "Map Quest", and a stop in Paris Idaho for a powerbowl ticket (not a winner yet, but I have Saturday and Wednesdays drawing still), we finally made it up to Jackson. We had no idea where to find Pax except to follow the bikers. Eventually, the cops kicked us of the road, and we had to find our own way to the end of the race which was actually outside of Jackson. Walking towards the finish line, there comes Pax looking like death. He had finished about 15 minutes before we got there. So I guess we drove for 6 hours like crazy people and ended up missing seeing him. Lucky we did go up though, because it turned out that he had an asthma attack, which I recognized and ended up in the ER for a few hours. The next morning we turned around and headed home. The crazy things that guy gets into - what next ..........

Guymon Gang

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A sad day

Two weeks ago we came home to find our sweet bunny, Daisy had passed away. We had a burial and some sweet words in our back yard at which time, in my grief, I promised Mac another bunny. Pax said no way, but of course that meant nothing - we always tell him after the fact, or see how long it takes for him to figure out that there is a new pet in the house. Anyhoo, Mac and I spent quite a bit of time at pet stores and one line looking for just the right bunny. Low and behold, a visit to KSL Classifieds ( great place), stopped us in our tracks as we saw some of the cutest white lion head bunnies ever. We called and said we wanted one even though they were in Brigham City. Hey, for something that cute I was prepared to drive up there. Luckily another person was buying one of the bunnies, so we met in Bountiful. The other person never shows up, and I come home with not ONE, but TWO bunnies. Do you think Paxton will notice?

Summer, almost over?

How is it possible that there are only 2 weeks left of summer vacations. We haven't even gone anywhere exciting yet. I am dreading having to get Tootie back into preschool because there are always plenty of tears and the death grip on my leg. He told me that I am his new teacher and school is at our house. I don't think so.

I will not enjoy getting up early, being incharge of "parking lot" duty or fighting with boys to do homework and get assignment done. But I will enjoy a few hours of no fighting and whining (and possibly working out at the gym). Back to volunteering and getting calls from the principal I guess. Goodbye lazy summer days......

How is should be

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OUtdoors

What I love about Summer

1. I don't have to get up early to take the boys to school.
2. No homework to stress about.
3. Summer soccer tournaments - love heading up to Eden for a few days and watching Cole play.
4. Heading to the pool at 6pm.
5. Can go to the drive-in on week nights.
6. Staying up late and not stressing about the boys going to bed.
7. No calls from the principals office ( my preschooler).
8. Birthdays parties - for Cole and Tootie.
9. Having nothing to plan all day - just doing things on a whim
10.4th July parades - Mac gets to carry the flag this year

Is Spring finally here

I have really been enjoying the last few days - I can actually wear short sleeves. It seems crazy that the school year is almost over and my boys will all be out for the summer - time to up the dose of my meds! Between Memory Books and Dance Festival, I am actually looking forward to the break that I will get during the summer. It has been an amazing school year for all the boys . I have loved their teachers and they have all learnt alot. Mac's teacher was so amazing - loved him and helped raise his self esteem. Colton's teacher was a lot sterner, but wouldn't fall for his laziness and raised his efforts in school. Her saying that I loved, " Your I will, is more important then your IQ." Great saying for Colton who thinks that because he is so smart, he does not have to work. And then there is Vance, who spent many a preschool day in the Principals office. He started earlier then the others. He seems to have gotten the hang of things though, and we hope to end on a good note where they will actually allow him back next year. Hopefully the summer will continue on a ggod note and we will be productive and have lots of fun.............

Check out my Slide Show!

Check out my Slide Show!

Favorite things to do

1. Take a long bath (as long as possible before Vance comes looking for me)
2. Going to St George
3. Reading Maren's blog
4. Reading magazine's in bed (nothing truly imformative, merely trash mags)
5. Making books on MyPublisher.com
6. Decorating
7. Watching 'Pride and Prejudice ' while folding laundry
8. Making bread
9. Scrapbooking

Me Against the World

Colton decided on the name for our blog, not because he felt we were being overcome by wordly things, but because he liked the song from one of his Yu-Gi-Oh movies. Oh, the mind of a 10 year old. After getting the first blog totally messed up with mutiple slide shows, it is back to the drawing board and starting fresh.