Crazy Hair Day

Here are some funny pictures of Kyle and Jacob on the day that I last cut their hair. If I "styled" their hair like this every day, you'd never be able to tell how crooked it is......something to seriously think about......

Crazy kids!! But I love 'em!

Dollar store surprise.....

I stopped into the dollar store today with one of my kids for some cheap 9-volt batteries and guess what I found in one of the aisles?

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS!!

I did a double take at first and asked myself if I really was seeing Christmas stuff already out in AUGUST and, yep, I was! I couldn't believe it. There were wreaths, big velvet red bows, tinsel and other such items. I remember seeing Christmas items last year in the stores around September and I was disgusted then. But seriously, school hasn't even started yet, people!

BUT THEN.....

I went downstairs into my "storage" room and gazed upon the gobs of this year's Christmas gifts already bought for neighbors, friends, and family members. I realize this is a sickness of mine. I literally do shop in January and February for the next year and I usually have everything wrapped by Halloween, with the exception of a few last things. But in my mind, this is different. I want to be prepared, yes....but I don't want to see Christmas decorations in the stores until around October (at the earliest) and even a little later would be fine with me. I suppose that's a contradiction in terms, huh?

And just so you know.....this looks pretty unorganized and messy, but.....um....okay, it's more like "organized chaos....." I promise, I know right where everything is.....(AND my whole house doesn't look like this either, in case you're wondering and are a little frightened).

My Father-in-law always comments about my early Christmas shopping, and that we shouldn't even be thinking about Christmas until Thanksgiving, to which I always reply, "That's easy for you to say.....you only have to buy like one or two presents (if that)," which usually quiets him. :) But I must admit, I see the logic of enjoying each holiday separately and that we need to be careful about overlooking Halloween and Thanksgiving. But really, the other reason I try to get things done "early" is because then I really can enjoy the holiday season. There's less pressure and more time to concentrate on what's really important.

Okay, so you're probably asking yourself...."so, is she disgusted or not?" I know it sounds like I'm a little wishy-washy on the subject, but even though I like to be prepared for Christmas way earlier than its arrival, I really don't like to have it splattered all over the stores in August!

I don't know, for some reason, this is bothering me today. I don't want to be seeing Christmas items yet. Doesn't it somehow take away from the holiday all together if we are exposed to it for half the year? When the Christmas "season" finally approaches (which, really, when is that now?), aren't we going to be immune to its magic? Can there be an overload of Christmas? I believe there can be. And each year, it's starting earlier and earlier.

Anyone else out there have similar feelings on the subject? Or is it just me?

Vacation post (a little late)

I'm finally getting around to posting about our vacation. Since we lost our sweet little Odie the day after our return and as life slowly got back to normal and picked up as usual, I haven't had time to blog about our activities. I'm determined to do that today!

We went to my sister's house in Las Vegas. And it's ALWAYS a fun place to visit. She and her husband are amazing hosts. We had a great time.......of course, I won't go into details about the "mishap" we had on the first day when Jacob decided it would be fun to hide under one of her corner tables in her living room and literally KNOCK OFF the BEAUTIFUL marble (and very heavy and expensive) globe sitting on top. Luckily IT didn't break (whew!), but it happened to land on a plastic storage cube, which DID break into a million little pieces. Just a little stressful at the time.....but we won't dwell on that now, will we? (That was pretty much the only "disaster" that occured, so that was good).

Anyways......

My sister has a hot tub, which of course, is filled with cool water and my kids had a blast "swimming" in it. Here are a few pics:

We went to Chuck-E-Cheese's, of course, which is a must when we go to Vegas. Yeah, I know we have one of those here too, but we don't make it there often.....I guess we reserve it for when we go on vacation, for some reason.

We went to a water park too and that was so much fun for the kids. I hate to admit it, but I haven't taken my kids to one for years.....I know, I am such a lame mom. But that made this time just that much sweeter. It wasn't that hot (as Vegas goes), so the adults even enjoyed sitting and basking in the sun. Everyone enjoyed it!

This is me and my sister, Wendy!

I even think Eric had fun. He didn't get wet, but he DID swing!

And then we did the famous chocolate fountain! The trip is never complete without doing that. SO MUCH FUN!

This is Alexis, my neice. She was supposed to be mine! :) (And what I mean is.....I was supposed to have a girl in my family and name her Alexis. But that didn't happen, did it? Let's not rub it in...) But she's a cutie! At least someone in the family got an Alexis. And you can't tell that she enjoyed the fountain, can you?

And here is AJ and Jacob. I was helping AJ get dressed one morning and found in his drawer an outfit that I thought, at the time, was Jacob's. As it turned out, they had twinner outfits, so we had to dress them alike the next day. It was so cute!

On the way home from Vegas, we stopped in Cedar City and stayed a night. We went to a concert of the Hughes Brothers. They actually grew up here and we were in the same stake. They now live in Branson, MO and perform daily shows. But they were in Cedar City for the 4th of July, so we decided to plan our trip around one of their concerts. It was way fun to see them, since it's been like 20 years or so.....probably more actually. We also ran into a few friends from high school that live in Cedar and it was awesome!

Driving back from Cedar, we decided to stop at Cove Fort. We've actually never been there. And honestly, I would say it was one of the highlights of our trip. There is a special spirit there and it was really amazing to hear about the pioneers and SEE where they actually lived and what they did on a daily basis. I highly recommend it to anyone who has a chance to visit.

That about sums it up! We had a good time. Of course, all the happy smiling faces in the pictures are a little deceiving......there was also fighting, kicking, screaming and crying along the way. But what trip would be complete without that? It just wouldn't be the same without it!

Jacob turns 5!

Okay, my baby is 5 YEARS OLD! I can't believe he's going to start Kindergarten this year. He's a young one and I hope he's ready.

He had his first "friend" party this year. It was so fun and he was super excited. We had a pinata, played games, and ate cupcakes and ice cream. Here are a few pics of the special day!

The two little demons.....er, I mean....brothers.

The cupcake tower. Pretty cool, eh? (the extent of my decorating talents)


blowing out the "cupcake tower."

grabbing the candy from the pinata.

Jacob's gift from us....Iron Man. It's not like any of us have even seen the movie, it's just a cool costume, ya know?

The day was a huge success. We love you Jacob. You're a cutie and we're so glad you are a part of our family! Happy Birthday!

Open mouth....insert foot!

Okay, so, the other day (actually it was a couple of weeks ago), Eric and I were in the kitchen and he was slicing some cheese for himself to make nachos. He was having a hard time cutting it, so he asked me if I would do it for him. This is how the conversation went:

Eric: Mom, will you slice some cheese for me?
Me: (Lazily) Yea.....I'll do it.
Eric: How do you cut it so perfectly? I can't get the slices that good.
Me: Eric, do you know how old I am? I've been cutting cheese for a long time.
Eric: (slight pause in response, and with a big smile on his face) Mom, that sounds really funny. This is what you just said, "I've been cuttin' cheese for a long time."

Like I said, "Open mouth, insert foot!"

(It was actually really funny and we got a good laugh out of it). Never a dull moment! :)