Kids!!!

What the heck!!!! Who lets there kids do this???? I normally don't like to post about kids that aren't mind but this cracked me up and grossed me out. Thought I'd share. Merry Christmas!!!!!

My Crazy Mama

Here are a few photo's of my mother. Let me just tell you she is nuts. She just got into a car accident but you wouldn't ever guess that. She is just like my grandma, in fact I could see my grandma crawling on top of the roof without thinking of the danger, these gals just don't wait around for nothing. She really wanted her lights up as you can see. The last photo is Lance's costume for the ward Christmas party. My mom was trying to get Vanessa used to someone wearing a beard so she wouldn't cry with the real Santa. It didn't really work but we like to torture our children. Brad just played Santa for an elementary school. He loves doing it as much as I think he feels a little silly sometimes. What a wonderful man I have and what a wonderful time a year!

I have started a new site called The RED Polka Dot. I am really excited at what it can become and I hope others are interested in shopping at it and also posting there homemade items. So many of us are so crafty but it's hard to rent out a space at a boutique and then have to sit there all day hoping people show up. SO I started The RED Polka Dot in efforts to help everyone. If you would like to sell some of your stuff then just let me know by commenting and I will give you all you need to know to be apart of this. It has just started and I am still working out some bumps but I wanted to get the ball rolling before we miss out on some great buys before Christmas. You can click on the link at the top of the page or go to www.theredpolkadot.blogspot.com/

Happy shopping and I look forward to seeing your cute stuff.

Oh Chrismas treeeee

So I am constantly on the look out on crafts that are great ideas and don't cost a lot of money. I loved this idea as soon as I saw it. I was thinking even if you did it in all red or black glittery paper this little tree would be beautiful. I'd like to do one on a large scale and put it as a decoration in my home. I have listed the tutorial link below for anyone interested. Oh and sorry for the Christmas stuff even though we haven't had thanksgiving yet.

http://taylordesign.wordpress.com/2008/10/30/curled-paper-christmas-tree-tutorial/

Spice of life

I was looking for some inspiration (a Pattern actually) for a pettiskirt I want to make for my Vanessa and I came across these photo's. These if you can't tell are napkins and they make me laugh so hard. This is a mother that has drawn pictures on her children's lunch box napkin. The child obviously loved it because look how well intact they are. But it made me laugh because my mother did something like this to her children. Ours was a little but more humiliating version. On permission slips or notes to a teacher or pretty much anything that an authority would read that we had to turn in she would come up with some huge silly story. I talked to her about this a while ago and she said one that still makes her laugh is one for my brother Devon. She sent him to school with a not excusing him from class because he had diarrhea and that she told him not to eat what he was eating because we were out of peptobismol. I don't know how much of that one was made up but it really didn't matter. I think this is the reason why I am so great at signing my mothers name. I remember one that I was suppose to turn in and she had written about how she had made me put on clean under wear before I left the house. That permission slip magically got lost between my house and the car and was never seen again as were many. I'm sure your mothers did something for all of you similar to this. SO here's to you mom for bringing spice to life!!!

Bowdabra

Looks like I need to answer a few questions on my new toy the bowdabra. There are two sizes of bowdabra's. I have the mini because I am just using it for little girl bows. You can get them at wal-mart or Micheal's. I think the later is better because you can use the 40% off coupon. The cost is somewhere around 9.00 bucks for the mini without the coupon. I did try to find one at Joanne's and they don't carry them.

How to use it (this is for you amber). I looked at a few different bow websites and stole ideas on how I wanted to make my bows look and figured it out how to do it from there. But a basic bow you put a piece of string to tie the bow in the center of the bowdabra. Then grab the center of your ribbon so it goes down in the bowdabra like a W. This just makes it pretty. Then flip it back around and do a loop and around again to make the other side. The bowdabra just helps in holding your bow in place and making the bow the same size.
Happy bow makin gals hopefully this makes your lives easier and answers all of your questions.

My new toy

So I know this might be a silly thing to blog about but I have fallen in love. My sister in law has been telling me about something called a bowdabra for months and I kept thinking I don't need that because I can make bows already without one. Well I now think everyone in the world with a little girl needs one of these. I am converted for life and am a bow making freak. SO I'd like to thank my mother in law and Val for making me a freak!

Briggs first Hair cut

Brigg received his first hair cut today by his uncle Curtis. Curtis did such a great job! It's so weird looking at him with shorter hair I feel like I have a brand new son. Here are the before middle and after pictures.

Master of Disguise

One of our favorite cartoons around her is "the Backyardigans". One of the episodes features a character that is entitled The Master of Disguise. He is able to dress up and fool anyone in thinking he is someone else through his costume changes. I am afraid I live with the Master of Disguise. This kid cracks me up with how cool he thinks his pink glasses are. You wont find him without a hat on hardly ever, I hadn't noticed that until a friend had commented that he didn't know my son was a blond because of the constant hat on his head. He's a strange one but we sure love him. Here are a few of his many getup's.

School boy. Note the keys in his pocket and the backpack he packed with diapers, a drink, his bear, and a variety of trucks.
A cowboy. I know the majority of cowboys wear shades buy grandpa does and so you go with what you know right.
Hawaiian. This was so funny because he couldn't get them off thus the unhappy face.
Finally a dare devil. This is him asleep at the top of the stairs. Scared me half to death when I about broke my leg coming down the stairs.

Introducing the Birthday MONSTER

This past Sunday was Brad's Birthday but in our family it's not just a day it's an entire week that we celebrate. So I decided to come up with The Birthday Monster and it was such a hit. The Birthday Monster leaves a gift that is hidden where Monster's hide (under your bed, closet etc.) each night all week until your birthday. I chose a monster because I figured I could tell my kids that their closets and underneath their beds had to be clean if they want the monster to come, and it makes monsters a little less scary. It really made the entire week fun and at the end I through him a birthday luau. He said he had the best time and loved his birthday week. I want to say thanks to those who came and celebrated with us you really made Brad feel loved.

Jumbo old Grump

So we scored some great tickets the other night from my dad to go to the D-Backs game. Brad really wanted to go for his birthday month so there you go. The two seats next to us were filled by my uncle and his wife who just got back from Disneyland. (it seems like every one is either going or coming back right now). They came directly off the plane to the game and so they were sporting there new d-land gear. My uncle had a Grumpy hat on that you could see clear across the ball field because the brim was so big and white. The top part of the hat was Grumpies head and the brim was his huge beard. Well I wasn't kidding when I said you could find that hat clear across the ball field because the guys with the camera's found us and we got to be on the Jumbo-tron!!! I thought I would never in my life get to be on there but my aunt tugged me on the shoulder and said look that's you! I know we got on there because of that hat. So we're crossing that off the bucket list.

So we had a grand first birthday for Vanessa. She shared the day with Dallyn and Curtis who just came home from Alaska. All of Curtis's family were there also to celebrate their homecoming.It is so good to have my baby sister back and giggling as ussual.

As far as the look of the party went I was pleased with the decorations but my cake was a disaster. I decided I don't want to ever take so much time making a cake ever. So fondant is out the door, pherhaps some emblishment but never the entire thing. It didn't turn out how I had wanted, who wants a cake that looks like a pile of rocks with two flowers out the top, but Vanessa & Brigg would shovel a peice of the side decorations in their faces when I wasn't looking. Which by the way you are not suppose to eat fondant, I know hard to believe that you spend all this preperation on an yucky frosting. On the upside the cake inside stayed nice and moist because of the thick layer of icing.
So here's a few pics from the party. Brad was behind the camera so there is a lot of me and Vanessa. He sure loves his girls.
We had a great time and I am so thankful to have my smiley wiggly Vanessa in our family. She has been such a great baby from the start. We took her to a football game the other night and she cheered, clapped, and ate two bowls of popcorn. I just love that girl!

Warning kindof a dumb post but cool ideas

So I have been trying to find some great cake ideas for my little girls birthday. Which wouldn't be so hard if the event wasn't combined with a full grown man's coming home/ belated birthday party. Yea try and come up with a theme for that. As I looked for the ideas I stumbled on these cupcakes and they made me laugh. Cupcakes used to not make me laugh until recently. It would sound stupid if I tried to explain the humor behind cupcakes but it has everything to do with Kelly. As I was looking at different cakes I thought about different people and thought I would come up with a really dumb blog post. But the cakes are really cool so you might take a look.
Kelly the cupcake queen here's a new idea for your cupcake loving fam.

This is so my sister in law Fawn. She understands the importance a beautifully put together cake. Before her I looked at a wedding cake as food, foolish me, what a work of art they can be. Thanks again for doing mine fawny.

For Brigg because I don't know any other kid to say truck so cool.

For my wanna be rock star sister. Here's to having a leather shower curtain eh' sis

This cake I have no idea how they did it but I am just starting in my cake decorating. But this is for sure for my father in law who loves penguins.

This cake is for my sister in law Valerie. It just has so much personality and she is having a Halloween party soon so I thought I would throw the idea her way.

All settled in

The folks are off to Alaska to finally bring my sister home. We are so excited to get her and her husband back in town. Mean while we are getting all settled in to our new living arrangements and I haven't posted in such a long time I thought I would just snap some photo's of what everyone is doing right now. The first picture says so much about my kids. If you notice she is in Pj's and is looking so adorable. I don't know about you but my kids all of sudden become the worlds best charmers before bed so they can stay up. The next is Brigg hanging out on uncle Lance's bed watching "turtle's" (teenage mutant ninja turtles). He had been asking for the movie all day and Uncle Lance and mom finally said yes. The third is Brad and Laney having dinner and watching turtles with Brigg. Nothing too exciting tonight but we are planning on taking over the world later so I'll let you know how that plan goes.

Shout out....

I would like to give a shout out to my house, Yes, my house. You never realize how beautiful your home is until you have to leave it. We went back last night to get rid of the staging and to take one last peek while it still feels like it's our house. It was harder than I anticipated. I have been looking forward to moving back in to Mesa for such a long time that I didn't think it would be a big deal. But it really hurt my feelings to give it the final walk through before it becomes tainted. So in memorial of the house it will never be again I would like to post some pictures to remember our first little home. It grew to fit our family so perfectly

The Heart of the House

My Empty Bedroom with the ugliest curtains you have ever seen! I could never figure those things out and would lie in bed staring at them wondering WHY!?!?

Vanessa's darling little room. This room had such a transformation as we lived there. It went from Brad's stuff room, to a guest bedroom, then to brad's stuff-guest bedroom (some how all of his stuff migrated back) and finally to my baby girls room.

Briggs little Baseball room empty. His Aunt Rhonda surprised us with the room being all painted up when we got back from the hospital. It was the first room with paint and character. Our little 5 LB NB Brigg looked so tiny when we first brought him to see the room. By the time we moved he had wall to wall toys and it didn't seem like he had enough space.

Finally my bathrooms. I bet you can't tell which is the master bathroom. This made sharing a little tiny counter no fun so brad actually took one bathroom and I took the other. Our next house I am holding out for a double sink vanity and not care if that means that I have to clean two sinks. A couple who flosses together makes funny smiling faces together! But I did love how the turned out decorating wise. I got the paint color off of my cousin Sammy's wedding announcement and I couldn't have loved it more.


As I whimper and wine about not wanting to give this house up and how much I grew to love it Brad says, "we can move back". But I think I want to move forward so to bigger and hopefully better things.

So I think my mother is trying to KILL me....

So it has been so great living in Mesa again. It's like coming home again......well part of that is because we are living with mom and dad. I hope for every one's sake that this 30 weeks of schooling for Brad passes quickly. But I hope that mostly for me because my mother has it out for me! She has me wake up at 5AM and then tortures me for an hour or more sometimes. My Aunt Rhonda is in on it every MWF too. My arms, stomach, back, and legs hurt and I have blisters to top it all off. Don't be decieved by her smiling face above, she keeps saying that it's exercise she is putting me through but some how it feels like she is trying to kill me!!

SOOOOO Happy there isn't a picture for this!

So as posted below we are in the middle of a move. As far as moves go it's been so far so good, well..... except for this one part. Brad wanted to check with the neighbor to see if it was okay for him to park our vehicle infront of their house. Mind you this is a man we talk to on occasion and has been quite pleasant. He is vietnamese and seemed pretty straight laced. Because of the language barrier we don't ever say to much but he has been a pleasant neighbor. Well when Brad went over and knocked on the door he got a little more then he was expecting. The man was standing there in nothing but his tighty-whitey's!!! Brad said the guy didn't even flinch and told him everything would be okay. Needless to say I am so glad it was Brad who went and talked to him about the car and not me. It makes me wonder about if we ever know who we are really living next to. People are so wierd sometimes!!

The Move is ON

Well the time has come so quick for us to move. No we didn't sell our house although I really wish that were true. We are looking for renters currently if anyone knows of someone.... It seems a little crazy that we are moving out of our home and don't know what to do with it, but we feel that it's oh so right. Brad just received his acceptance letter to ASU to get his Bachelors in Real Estate Development. This will teach him how to do real estate with the big boys. As you can imagine he is so excited! So we are moving into my parents house and helping them finish the upstairs apartment. And if all goes to plan we will quickly move up there until we aren't poor students again. I am so excited to be centrally located and close to old friends but I am afraid I will miss the Laveen Ward terribly. I think I will post pics of the house a little later when there aren't boxes all over. If anyone is looking to do some service then Thursday is when we are moving and no do gooder will be turned away. Well here goes another big change for our little family. We seem to just keep stepping into the darkness and waiting for the light. Back to packing!

Best Buddy

This is Brigg's best friend in the entire world other than his daddy and sister of course. They talk about each other, pray for each other, and a even fight for the same toy together. A few weeks ago at church we were standing around after sacrament meeting and I couldn't find Brigg. It turns out his buddy came and took him by the hand and they walked to nursery together. One of their favorite past times at my house is to stand on there cars, throw a block and then yell as they leap off of the toy car and tumble onto the ground. The picture above is Blake showing Brigg how to put olives on your fingers and eat them off. The picture below is the two boys being oh so cool with there cars. These best buddies are so great.

Blog help

Growing up my mother would get the itch of needing something to change. So my poor siblings and I would end up pulling down wallper that had only been put up several months before or even worse switching bedrooms. The bedroom switch wouldn't have been so bad had it not been for all of the food storage boxes under the beds that had to be moved. More of my dislike would lie in having to help my brothers get rid of their clutter. Of course the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree and I have inherited this trait. Mine is of course different since wall paper is out. I instead sell my furniture or paint something. My husband recently put his foot down to any painting seeing as we are moving so my creative efforts have to go else where. So I am attacking my blog and am wondering if anyone knows how to do a banner/header. I created the one at the top of the page which I am not happy with. It needs to be bigger and redone. I just can't figure out how to do it. I have been using www.scrapblog.com and it's been great. I am making a new banner to match whatever background I finally decide upon but I would love any help or suggestions on the banner I can get. Thanks

Some times I just can't help but be totally stupid!

So tonight I decided to be a little thrifty with my gas and drive to Fawn's house and then go with her the rest of the way to play bunco. Fawn needed to go to a wedding reception before hand which myself, Karalyn (fawn's friend), and Fawn's sister all agreed to go with her to. KaraLyn and I didn't know the bride nor the groom but the appeal of free cake never stopped me before (kidding). So we stayed a few minutes and mingled and then had to hurry off to Bunco. Well Fawn got separated from KaraLyn and I just before we left, and then I had the silly idea of signing the sign-in photo despite not knowing any of the wedding party. I told Karalyn we should sign it really big because they didn't know who we were and what a funny joke that would be. Well after we went to the car and waited for Fawn who soon came out of the door with her sister cracking up. I thought she had looked at the sign-in table and was laughing at that. It turns out Fawn went to go say goodbye to the bride and she asked her if she knew me. To which the bride replied yes she did. Then continued to tell Fawn how in 11th grade I had hit her car and the bumper fell off. I had totally forgotten all about the incident because it went over smoothly with my putting her bumper on her hood of the car and leaving a note and then matters were hashed out from there. My only thoughts are now is that she remembered me for being the girl that hit her car and she now has a lovely large autograph from me on her sign-in photo that will probably hang in her home for a very long time.

Trip to Big Lake

So the fam took a camping trip to Big Lake. I love this country and from the picture above need I say more. I do have to admit I really could do without camping in a tent. Let me just say that I really like my comfort and tent camping isn't my cup of tea. This trip was no exception as Brigg threw-up in the tent and it rained a good part of the time. A few of the highlights were we saw the old cabin that I think my grandpa built. My brother brought his crawdad traps and I think they caught up to 100 of the little things. They ate them the next day and my niece kept saying "tastes like chicken". I didn't dare eat any regardless if they taste like chicken or not. My sister introduced my to the "Twilight" series, we were ablt to see my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Kyle and of course this rainbow after the storm. It went full circle and I got to see where it touched the earth. Brigg loved being outside and in the dirt even being sick. Glad I went but I will say that I am happier that I probably wont have to go camping for another year.

4th of July Weekend, Update on Vanessa

This picture was unfortunately one of the only pictures taken this weekend but it pretty much sums it all up! It was taken on the fourth around 10AM. We hadn't any sooner put her down on the floor from coming home from the ward pancake breakfast and she was out. The ward party was fabulous other than my husband and many others being unexpectedly doused in water by Jeff. Brad wrestled him to the ground for doing so but I can't say that he came out a victor seeing as he had sand all over him until he could grab a shower a few hours later. After waking Vanessa we went to my moms house and swam and then the real work began. I have to say that I HATE HATE HATE food storage right now. We decided to start organizing my moms food storage pantry for her. Lets just say if a disaster happens I know right where 50tons of wheat is. Great weekend and must say I do love this country.

Oh and one more thing to update on an old post. My Vanessa began crawling today!! I was so worried about her not putting pressure on her legs and I thought that she might have something wrong again (her holes in her heart being the first). But I finally think that the lord is teaching me patience through this little girl.

Goodbye to the 9-5

Well Brad has finally done it, he quit his job at the University of Phoenix. He has been talking about this for a looooooong time. I think he'll enjoy life on the outside a lot more. He often said that people are not suppose to live in a 4x4 foot area(he means a cubical). I don't know how he did it so long but he really made the best of it. He's leaving there with no student debt and a bachelors degree to boot. We are so excited for the future as this feels like the right direction for us. Brad now is going to continue in being a realtor. Oh and we know it's a slow market and all of the yadda yadda's about that so please don't rain on his parade. I am excited to have a man around that is happy to get up in the morning again. He is with a brokerage that if you move across town or country then they will move you for FREE!!! He also has another IT Business that if you haven't heard about it already and you are one of Brad's close friends I will be shocked to death. So on top of that good news we are also planning on renting out our home. So if you know of anyone that is wanting to live in the now booming Laveen area please let us know. I'll be posting pics of the house soon for anyone that is interested. So want to give a quick Thank you to University of Phoenix for providing a degree and work for my husband. And on to bigger and brighter days!!

The Big "O" Mess

So I leave my children for one minute and the box of cheerios was unloaded onto the floor and the eating frenzy began!! I came into the room because I hear two little kids eating like monsters on the floor with monster sounds and all. What is my Briggy teaching my precious little girl! Couldn't help but to laugh at the silliness of the hole situation. These two are a crack up.

Here you go Dallyn She's all for you.

Well my sister is in Alaska and she loves it but that doesn't mean she doesn't miss home. I can totally relate living in Russia, I loved where I was but it wasn't in anyway close to what I was used to. I remember trying to capture AZ in a moment the few hours before I left for my flight. I stood in the parking lot of KMart and just tried to let the heat seep into my bones. I remember looking up at the moon and my mom had noticed. We had just watched the movie This Side of Heaven. She told me what the elder told his girlfriend before he left, that no matter what side of the earth I was on we were under the same moon. That helped me so many times walking home late at night when it was cold and I had my longing thoughts of home come to me. So I can only imagine me sisters desperation for the companionship of the moon. So this ones for you sis I hope you enjoy her in all of her glory. Can't wait to see you again and hear you laugh at your own jokes. Love ya sis.