Tulip Festival~

Last Friday, I went to the Tulip Festival at T. Point with my Mom, Tanner, Marcus, and some ladies from my ward. It was a little windier than I would've have liked; but still a lot of fun. I could definitely see myself wanting to go there just to relax and soke in the beautiful work of art more often. I didn't know that they had a resturant there either and thought that it would be great to go back to experince that too! You can eat out on the balcony and enjoy the gorgeous scenery, which I love. My Mom bought a really cute white birdhouse to hang from her porch that will compliment her already inviting curb appeal.

Anyone up for lunch at the restaurant??? They also have a gift SHOP!!!

*I just realized that there is only one picture of a flower and the rest of the nature pictures are of the waterfall. It seems I really liked the huge man-made waterfall!

FINALLY, an alternative..

I've debated and debated over the whole "bunk-beds" thing... because I need more space to work with in the boys room for storage and mainly, because my biggest beef with bunk-beds is that it's hard enough to get them to make there beds as it is, and I just know that who ever sleeps on top bed will NEVER make their bed again and that it will drive me NUTS for the rest of my life! So, I FINALLY came across this great space saving system for two beds in the same room: where they would be able to make the darn things easier than bunk-beds, it looks good, and there's a lot of storage spaces included. NOW, there's only one problem... I don't want to pay Pottery Barn prices for it.

Any idea's???

I think I know a place that might be able to custom make something like it; but that may end up being just about as much. Hmm... I wish I knew how to do everything I wanted to do, ex: carpenter, landscaper, tile layer, electrician, the list goes on.. hee hee hee

Wouldn't you just LOVE...

I SO wish I had a reason to dress up once week like the co-host Samantha Harris, for Dancing with the Stars! This brilliant necklace & earrings set reminded me of something she could wear with one of her stunning dresses. Queen for a day~ someone to fuss over your makeup, your hair, your outfit, its accessories... Seriously, what girl wouldn't LOVE that???

so much for TRYING to teach my kids good manners..

So, Sunday we are walking into Sr. Primary (I'm a teacher and my two older boys are in there as well; but with different teachers) and Marcus' class sits right on the front row. They had just sat down and I look over and see Marcus taking in this big deep breath and then before I know it, he's ripping this ginormous T-Rex of a burp at the top of his lungs. NICE!!! I was so excited to claim him as the oldest, most wonderful example of our family. The primary presidency were all standing and sitting right in front of him and I'm back and over a row, all eyes on ME as I'm giving them this look like: Yes indeed, that's my son who just practically blew the primary presidents glasses right off her face. Thank you, Thank you very much!

Longing for a Spring Wardrobe

I love yellow, it's so cheerful and addicting. I so need to add a few fun, yellow items to my much anticipated spring wardrobe. I guess it's good that I'm actually still wanting to dress like "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" solely due to weather.. because I still need to go through my closet. Out with the old, in with the new. You can find this classy little yellow jacket at Gap.

These great tops and curvy long shorts are all from New York & Company. Lovin' the yellow again!

And on a more casual note, I'm diggin' these cute city style crops which have snap pockets on back and come in a large selection of colors! Also found at New York & Company.

Cozy storytime.. Chilly snow...

Where in the world is Spring??? I keep trying to give myself positive self talk and say it's just around the corner... and then we get these freezing gusts of wind and it starts to snow- I'm so confused. Oh well, one good thing is.. I finally took down the christmas lights off of all my front yard trees and so now when the darn flowers DO bloom, I won't rip them all off trying to get the lights off the trees. hee hee hee

Anyhoo- It was freezing today and the kids came home from school with this most silly and hilarious book from the library, so all five of us snuggled up on the couch with a big thick blanket over us and read the entire story. It had us all giggling. I had never seen these books before and now we are so excited to seek out some more for summer reading. The illustrations were quite entertaining too.

Holy Moly!!!

Way to go David Archuleta!!! He did an awesome new pop rendition of "Think of Me" from Phantom of the Opera on Idol this week. Totally rearranged it himself. He has got some serious talent. I would like to see him and David Cook as the last two standing for first place. David Cook is also great with making the songs his own and rearranging them in a rockin' way! Think of Me will definitely be on my playlist as soon as it becomes available.

finally done.. well almost!

Here's a few pictures of Sydnee's room pretty much finished!!! I still need to put up the polka-dots through the pink stripe on the other three walls of her room and then Ta-Daaa!!!! I might add a bookcase and of course a headboard to her bed in a while and then maybe something on the walls here and there; but for now, it's good! She totally loves it, and it's nice to look in and feel that it's finished... It's so cute and girly, I even find myslef wanting to go in there and hang out!

I found these rockin' magnet boards and gritty little magnets at Quilted Bear.

I absolutely fell in love with the pink dress form in the picture above. I had been looking for something tall to add some heigth and dimension to the setting on the dresser and this was perrrrfect! I found it at Simply Splendid along with the cute pink star nails that are holding the magnet boards in the previous picture.

And.. as I mentioned before and you can see in the picture above, I need to finish bringing the polka-dots around the rest of the room; but other than that, I'm really pleased with the way it all turned out and am glad that it's finished and I can turn my focus to a new project!

Spring Break on the Farms

Thursday I took the kids and met up with Andres after work. We headed out to South Ridge Farms in Santaquin for the world's best ice cream, buffalo chips (dried apple chips smothered in pure milk chocolate) a yummy sweet & sour treat and their famous kettle popped corn! After hanging out there eating our ice cream and looking at all the flowers and gardening things, we left and headed even farther south to the Young Living Family Farm; but it was closed. I took the kids there last year and they had a good time. By this time thirst was setting in, so we started back home and pulled off in Payson for a drink which turned into Arby's roast beef sandwiches and curly fries too! hee hee hee I love taking off like that for a spontaneous drive and going/doing whatever your heart desires. We then decided to take the old highway the rest of the way, where we ended up finding another farm that sells raw goat milk, which is what we buy for McKynlee. The place we were getting it from just fell through a few weeks ago, so we pulled off to see if we could get some. The kids thought the little goats were so cute and wanted to take one home. Yah right... I was thinking! LOL So next best thing, we let them all get out of the car, go pet them and then drenched them in anti-bacterial gel upon returning to the car.

It was funny, the goats were trying to bite our shirts.

The one above had us cracking up... It's ears were considerably larger than any of the others. It looked like it had airplane wings coming out the sides of its head.

Spring Break at the Ranch

Wednesday I took the kids and met up with Elisa, Stacia and their kids for lunch at Stacia's house and the kids played Wii. After visiting for a while we went to the ranch that Stacia's husband works at to see this little baby colt that was just born the day before. So cute. The colt's Dad is all black and it's name is Darth Vader, the boys thought that was cool.


The guy in the pictures above is the owner of the horses. He is a professional roper and started the kids in a game of running from him and catching them with the lasso of his rope. The kids were having a blast, he also had a little tug-a-war with them!

While we were waiting for Stacia's husband to take us out to the barn to see the colt, the kids shot some hoops and it was funny because between all our kids we practically had a whole team! I think there were 13 kids between the 3 of our families. 

Sydnee was really sick from Saturday through the beginning of the week, so we were really glad to be able to get out and finally do something fun with our spring break! 

There IS One More-

How could I possibly forget CARY GRANT! WHOAAA... Look at those eyes, this is my all-time favorite picture of him. To stay true to the language of his time, I must say: Oh~ He sends me... Tee hee hee- in a MAJOR way! I know, I know.. I could be his grand-daughter; but I grew up on old movies and he was then.. and always will be... soooo good looking to me.

Confession-

Ok, so let's be honest... we all have our hollywood crushes and Jeffrey Dean Morgan is mine! YUMM-Y!!! And the best part of it IS... that the look in his eyes and the shape of his smile and huge dimples totally remind me of Andres! They don't have the same nose, but if you put your finger over the top half of his face and look at the bottom half and vice versa, you'll see what I mean. LOL Love the 5 o'clock shadow, which Andres usually always has too~

A Must See~

This was an excellent movie, a must see for everyone. I was really inspired by Emma and her constant and unwavering faith and strength throughout her life and all the trials and learning experiences that she endured. What an example for all of us to follow, and to remember, when we feel like something in our life may be a little more than we can bare. She was so amazing and I loved how she said in the movie that "strength is not something you have.. it's something you find..." when her adpoted daughter said to her "I wish had your strength."

Jewelry Solution:

Check out this great "jewelry solution" that I came across!!! I know Elisa and I were just talking about this over the weekend and I've had many of discussions with Kallie about it too. I think this was in REAL Simple magazine and it suggested to use ice trays for seperating your peices of jewelry.. no more tangling of necklaces with one another, and the cool thing is that you can easily stack them on top of each other in a drawer. Anyone having jewelry storage issues??? Give this magnificent idea a try!

Just what I needed to hear..

Elder Ballard's talk in General Conference on Mothers was "just what I needed to hear." I can't wait to get the Ensign containing all the conference talks, so I can go back and read this one as well as the rest; but until then.. here are a few of the things that I made note of:

~ The JOY of motherhood comes in "MOMENTS." Live in the moment MORE! Don't be in such a HURRY... Treasure the DOING a little more & the GETTING IT DONE a little less.

~ Don't over-schedule yourself or your kids. Make unstructured time where real parenting can take place and you can listen, laugh and enjoy each other.

~ Make time for yourself with good and wholesome things that replenish you. Pick 1-2 new things to learn how to do.

~ Pray, study and teach the gospel.

~ Talk to your husband about each child and their individual needs.

~ Love your children deeply and prioritize them, along with your husband above all else.

~ Ask Heavenly Father to help you find JOY & HAPPINESS in your role as a DAUGHTER of GOD.

Ok, that was gross!

So, I'm just changing Tanner's stinky diaper and I've got his legs pushed straight over his head so his butt is sticking right in the air and he full-on, intentionally rips one! I then hear this giggle and he says: I fart in your face! Hee hee hee Nice potty mouth, I know.. I've noticed he says so many things that my older kids didn't say until way later - that's what he gets for being the youngest I guess.

POTTY TRAINING:
That incident also reminded me of a day last week when Tanner came running out to tell me that he'd pooped in the potty and to come see... I did, and then said "Ok, lets go put your pull-up back on." and he said, "No, I want to go some more.." and I said, "You're goona go more?? You just barely went.." and he said "Yeah, there's more tirds in my butt!" Ha ha ha.. He is so dang funny!

I've Been TAGGED...

The rules: Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names; then goes to their blog, leaves them a comment by letting them know that they've been tagged and invites them to read your blog. 

1. I'm a total freak and fanatic about MEAT. Especially RAW MEAT, I hate to handle it and have to completely bleach the whole kitchen, myself, take the garbage out, you name it.. once it's cooking in the pan. I'm also that way about the cooked meat that I eat. It HAS to be WELL-DONE, no PINK what so ever, no FAT, no GRIZZLE. Not a big red meat eater all together. Gee- Imagine that!

2. I can BURP something fierce. I have to admit I was better when I was younger though, I don't rip a ginormous belch quite as often these days. Trying to teach some sort of good manners to my kids. LOL

3. Have always been a DAY-DREAMER, especially when I was younger and competing. I was never really AT school, my mind was always running through routines, creating my next costume, hearing music and seeing movement, imagining myself winning...

4. I am a very DEEP SLEEPER and am NOT an EARLY TO BED, EARLY TO RISE person. What the heck???

5. I always do the WALL-SIT SQUAT in public restrooms.

6. I would LOVE to COMPETE AGAIN!!!!!!!!

Ok- I tag: Kallie, Amy, Carolina, Stacia, Elli and Kara!

I MISS IT SO MUCH!

(Photos with a partner I danced with before Andres)

Just remembering how much fun I had and what a huge high I would get from competing! I LOVED IT, getting ready mentally, doing my hair and makeup, costume design, etc... Ahh~ I MISS IT SO MUCH! 

Here We Go Again...

Wow!!! Thanks to all my unbelievable friends, I feel much better and things with homework/practicing time are on the upswing. Your comments were all very uplifting and helpful. We have been trying a few different things this week and have found some that might work a little better and create a more positive & motivating environment for all of us. Hopefully we'll have it all in place and fine-tuned by the end of next week.

Aside from that it's been a total "Here We Go Again..." week. Last Friday morning, McKynlee's school called me and said that her hydrogel implant had come out of her eye. : ( It was partially sewn in, so it was pretty much out but still attached.. how uncomfortable is that..) So, I took a deep breath and called Andres to tell him the news and here's a very condensed version of what's been going down in that department over the past week:

Last Friday: Andres picked her up from school, took her to our doctor here to have the stitches cut so the implant could come completely out. (Oh, and our doctor left to go out of town that morning for a week). Luckily his fellow and all his nurses are awesome. Meantime, I'm on the phone back and forth with every Tom, Dick and Harry in the medical profession it feels like. We are trying to get ahold of our Ocularist so we can get a conformer, (even if it's not the perfect size) just so we can get something in her eye to save the space and so the membranes will not start to adhere to each other. If there is nothing in there it starts to shrink immediately and therefore we can loose everything. We weren't having any luck getting in touch with our Ocularist, and finally got in touch with them through an after hours emergency number and find out that they are out of the office due to the flu. We try to find out if there is any other Ocularist that we could get in touch with and there is only 1 other Ocularist here, so we call and they close at noon on Fridays and it's after noon of course. I kept calling back to Philadelphia where our doctor there had also gone out of town, so I'm talking to his secretary and she's passing messages back and forth to his fellow, we're sending emails.... CRAZY, STRESSFUL DAY, let me tell ya! Anyway, then we finally decide that we've done everything we know to and we'd have to wait for our local doctors plane to land between 4-5pm so his fellow can call him and ask what he would suggest that we do now. After that happened we rushed her down to his office right before 5pm and they cut and pulled out the rest of the stitches and then they were going to try to put in this temporary shell that they found at their office; but it ended up being to big and we couldn't fit it in her eye all the while she is being held down by 3 people and screaming at the top of her lungs. Now that's a heart breaker.. both Andres & I can't help but have our eye's fill up with tears -one: for how much she has been through and will continue to go through and what a trooper she is and two: for the amount of dedication and compassion our doctor and his staff have for her. We ended up having to take her home without anything in her eye for the whole weekend after that long day of trying desperately to track something down. We had to keep putting ointment inside her eye to hopefully prevent it from drying up and having the membranes adhere.

Monday:
-We recieved a UPS package from our doctor in Philly with a new hydrogel in it.
-We took her to the office to have the fellow and nurses help us put it in.
-We are worried that after it starts to grow it's just going to fall out again.
-I get a call from our doctor in Philly. He asks if we got the package and I tell him that we had it put in her eye already and he says, Oh I've been in surgery; but I wanted to talk to you before because I was going to tell you to get some super glue and glue her lids shut before it starts to expand. Big moment of silence- - - Me: A hesitant O--K-ay... Are you serious? And then he proceeds to tell me that WE can do it and we'd better do it pretty soon because the hydrogel is growing now that it's in her eye. And I'm thinking.. What?? I don't want to super glue my daughters eye shut myself. Anyway, I called Andres and told him he needed to pick up some super glue at the local hardware store on his way home because we were going to be super gluing McKynlee's eye shut when he gets home. LOL - It was kind of funny because it reminded me of this girl that was on the BYU Ballroom Team with me and while on tour she couldn't find her eyelash glue and so instead she decided to try and glue on her eyelash with super glue. HELLO, anybody home???? So when I called Andres to tell him what we were going to do, I said guess what the doctor wants us to do.. he wants us to pull a Cherie on her. And Andres was like WHAT?
-Andres get's home later in the evening and we try to pull her lids together to glue them shut; but the hydrogel has already expanded to the point that we can't get them together so we just leave it as is and the hydrogel came out late that night.

Tuesday:
-Called to tell our Philly doctor what had happened and that we needed another hydrogel overnighted UPS. (Might I add: When I say I called our doctor, it's way more involved than that. It's more like 5 calls/emails to get in touch with who I really want to talk to).
Wednesday:
-We recieved UPS package with hydrogel again.
-Took McKynlee to the office and had them help us reinsert a new one and super glued her eye shut.
-Took McKynlee to school for the second half of the day (back at school for the first time since last Fri.).
Thursday:
-Her eye is still glued shut and she goes to school.
Friday:
-Thank goodness it's Friday! Her eye is still glued shut and she went to school again!!! She is currently on the schedule for surgery Tuesday morning to go in and have a hydrogel sewn in more securely to prevent it from coming out. I don't know if we will go or not at this point. I guess it depends on if the one that is in her eye now stays in or not and how long we can keep super gluing her eye shut?!*?!

Sorry, that was supposed to be a condensed version of the week and I promise it was.. there were so many more details that I didn't include and it still ended up being long.

*I'm looking forward to relaxing and getting some serious "amo" out of this general conference weekend to take me to the next level in all the different roles I fullfill in life.~