I heart October

***Disclaimer: I know this entry is retarded looking,

I am a technological idiot and cannot get it looking the

way it is supposed to, so I do apologize for my

incompetency.

October has become my favorite month. It has so many fun things for the kids and I to do. I would love to say that I love that it cools off, but 90* is not considered fall weather in most states. But hey, I'll take it. So, in commemoration of my favorite month here is my list of what I loved most about this year.

1. I no longer mind wearing 5 layers of clothing everyday. I still don't love it, but at least it is not 115* out when I end up wearing layers to make sure I am all covered up. For those of you not in Ut or NV, here is my favorite company for putting layers together. If you want to order through my girl you get an extra % off your complete order.

2. The Pumpkin Patch. Now, for most of the world a pumpkin patch is where you go in a field, pick out a pumpkin and I guess have someone cut it off the vine for you. In Vegas the PP is in the parking lot of the Sunset Station Casino and has rides for the kids. We have gone for the last 4 years and it is something we look forward to each year. It is usually super expensive to spend time there, you can blow through $20 in about 15 minutes, but if you get a group of 10 kids together you can do an hour unlimited for $6.50. We went 4 times this year, we love it! They have a petting zoo, a jumpy slide & house, cars, swings and buckets. It is really cute, plus your kid gets a baby pumpkin and water with the $6.50. Totally worth it!

2.5 The Pumpkin Patch at Thanksgiving Point in Utah. We went to Cornbelly's this year and oh, my goodness, it was so cute! Also, it was SO cold. You know, we live in Vegas, it was still 95* for us, I did not think about how cold it gets at the Point of the Mountain. Mapleton wasn't that bad so I figured we were dressed appropriately. Yeah, I was wrong. We were all so cold and I did not bring extra layers for the kids. I am so unprepared sometimes, it makes me think that maybe we should have to get licenses to raise kids! Oy vey....sometimes.....It was so fun though. The kids loved it once the wind died down. there were some really cute activities and an entire section devoted to Princesses. Yeah, Mads was in heaven. Although her favorite part was playing in the farmers market on the cash register. One of her favorite things to do is pick out a handful of toys and grab a snap top plastic box to use as the cash register. She then proceeds to "scan" (her word) her items and then pay, using a credit card of course. She is an endless source of amusement for me. Is she her daddy's child or what? I think she is going to grow up to be an accountant too.

3. Lily's Birthday Party. This was so fun. We went to the District and rode the carousel. The kids loved being able to run around and carousels are always a hit. I got the absolute best picture I have ever taken that night. These kids are SO grown up looking. It blew me away. I also go the cutest video of the kids playing with Lily's ball from Brado. I will spare everyone with the video but basically one of the kids would throw it and all of them chased after it and would tackle each other. The little girls in their princess dresses playing football with a bouncy ball. It is hilarious. Seriously though, is this picture not incredible? They look like they should be in high school with the pose they took.

4. Trunk-or-treat. I had never been to one until we moved to Vegas. It is so fun! The parents get to say hi and visit, the kids get tons of candy (which promptly gets put in the garbage once the week of halloween is over), and I get a night off from making dinner. Life is good. We had fun this year in our new ward. We were able to meet a few new families and the kids love dressing up. I could not find Madison's old bee costume for Hunter so I ended up having to use the sheep costume from our live nativity last Christmas (see picture at the top of the blog). Ryan did NOT like it. He compared Hunter to the bunny in the movie The Christmas Story. I thought he looked adorable. The funniest part of the night was when Mads fell asleep on the way home with her sucker in her mouth. This picture proves that on occasion I do allow my children to eat sugar. I am not a complete nazi, just somewhat.

5. Ryan's work party. Once a year I go in to Ryan's office with the kids for their Halloween party. It is so cute, the office is decorated and some of the employees dress up and the kids go from desk to desk and office to office for their candy. It is fun, plus I get to say hi to the wives and catch up with them. Since Ryan did not care for the sheep costume I borrowed a bat costume from a friend (I am way too cheap to buy one for his age. Please....I will save the money for next year when he will remember). He was the cutest bat I have ever seen. I got two thumbs up from Ryan for that. Thank you Cori! You saved my marriage!

I gave Hunter a piece of candy IN A WRAPPER to chew on and the little stinker chewed through the wrapper and started sucking out the chocolate! So yes, Hunter did end up with some candy this halloween. Stinker...but how cute is he? Oh he just melts my heart sometimes!

6. Halloween. This year we went to the Candy Chemist on Pecos by Deseret Book for their carnival. It was so fun! Madison got to go on a Pony ride and the balloon maker was incredible. He made her a Snow White balloon person. I was in awe of his talent. They also had a few carnival games and some food for the kids. It was fun. We were there about an hour or so and then came back home and went door to door. Mads finally got it this year. She hasn't really understood or really enjoyed it in years past but this year she asked to do it. What could we say? Of course we did it!

I had to post these pictures of me with the kids because, Hello! I actually don't look chubby! See what a good haircut and black can do for a person? I like to think this is what I look like in real life vs. all the other pics I have posted of myself on the blog. I also will add that my kids look so cute and I almost never get pictures of myself with the kids. One of the problems with always taking pictures is that I am never in them.

Jersey Boys: A non-professional's review

My dad was in town last month and so we ditched the kids and headed out for a night on the town. Now, a night on the town for us is not that wild. We had dinner at Dan Marino's restaurant in the Hooters Hotel & Casino. If you haven't been there before I highly recommend it. It is the only one outside of Florida and it is a favorite of ours. Whenever we have company we take them there. I think Ryan is starting to catch on to the fact that I invite people to come visit with the hope that I can convince Ryan to take us all there. There food is so good and the Chocolate Chip Cookie dessert rocks!



We are slowly getting through all of the reasonably priced places on the strip. We did Margaritaville for a while then moved on to the Burger Bar in Mandalay Place. If you like burgers you HAVE to go, the food is amazing. I get an Angus burger with an onion bun with zucchini, portabello mushroom, asparagus, caramelized onions, and blue cheese. It is sooooo yummy! And, better yet, it is under $20. Oh, and lest I forget, they do have sweet potato french fries. For a girl from the south it doesn't get much better! I love sweet potatoes!!



Anyway, on with the story. Is anyone really surprised that I got sidetracked with the thought of food? Yeah, me either. So, we got tickets to Jersey Boys. Oh my goodness, it was amazing! I wasn't sure what I would think. I have heard mixed things about it. Everyone that saw it loved it but there was always a comment about language so I didn't know if I would be offended during the show. I wasn't. There were a few words here and there, but honestly I was expecting something like The Sopranos (not that I watch that show, I have vetoed HBO, but I have heard rumors). The story was amazing and I loved how they put it together with each person getting a chance to tell their part of the story. It was really neat. The show finished and I wanted to stay and watch it all over again. Most of the time we wait for shows to go half price and then we get tickets, but this one was completely worth the full price. Go see it, we loved it.



So, on that note I thought I would give a (brief?) rundown on all the shows we have seen in the last two+ years. Not all of them were in Vegas. We have flown to see some of them. Ryan jokes that I got lucky snagging the only straight guy that likes musicals and shopping. I don't disagree, I just complain that his love of shopping cuts in to my shopping budget. Yep, call me selfish, but I love clothes, shoes and purses.



So on with the list, here we go. There have only been one or two that we have seen that I didn't like and wouldn't recommend. One is the Blue Man Group. We got half priced tickets and I thought we paid too much. I didn't get it....The other is The Producers. It got all these Tony awards and people just raved about it, but I didn't like it at all. I didn't laugh, I didn't much care for how the story was executed. When I read the overview of the story I thought is sounded hilarious. Nope, didn't like it, and we saw it in LA (when we lived there so I guess it has been 4 yrs since this one) with Jason Alexander and Martin Short as the 2 leads. I was profoundly disappointed.

Mamma Mia (we have seen it 3 times now and still loved the movie. Our first time was on Broadway about the 5th row center. I couldn't stop dancing!)

Ka (twice. It is still our favorite Cirque show. The stage is phenomenal)

La Reve

Mystere

Stomp (I didn't know if I would love this but I did. I would highly recommend it! I was surprised by how well done it was)

Jersey Boys (only once so far but if anyone else wants to see it call us! We are there!)

Gordie Brown (we saw Danny Gans and really liked him, but I liked Gordie better. My cheeks and tummy hurt from laughing so hard. When we gets back in Feb go see him, it was awesome)

Blue Man Group (thumbs down for both of us)

Danny Gans

Steve Wyrick

Celine Dion

Mac King (he does a daytime show and it is like $20 and locals get discounts and it was so good! He does a variety type show and it was very enjoyable)

Jim Gaffigan (he is our favorite comedian next to Brian Regan, but BR hasn't come to Vegas even though he LIVES HERE!!!)

Phantom of the Opera (Ryan has seen this 5 times I think. I have only seen it twice. But the first time was in London and the Phantom was incredible. He gave me chills)

V (in the old Aladdin)

Sweet Charity (Christina Applegate was the lead and I am not a huge fan of hers, but she was so good and totally carried the show. It was really good)

Wicked (We saw it on Broadway for the first time, we flew to Atlanta to meet up with my family a few months later just to see it again, and we have tickets to see it one more time next week when we are in NYC. YEAH!)

Spamalot (We saw the traveling show in Memphis last year. It was so funny. The only problem is that the entire crowd was laughing so much that I missed a lot of the show. I really wanted to see it on Broadway with David Hyde Pierce b/c he is my absolute fav actor, along with Edward Norton-they are both so talented! But, alas, no such luck, we saw Wicked instead)

I think that is it....I know, once again, I know I am spoiled. I also know why I do not have the $400 Marc Jacobs bag I covet, we use the money for entertainment. (Sigh) Oh, how I do wish Santa would bring it to me...but I know it won't happen. I do know what my present is this year and I will not be complaining about not getting a beautiful purse.....

So, you ask, what is coming up for us? Well, we are headed to NYC on Sunday for 3 days. We are seeing 3 shows in 2 days. Life just doesn't get much better. We have tickets to Grease on Tuesday night, a matinee for Boeing, Boeing (which according to the reviews we read is the funniest show ever on Broadway) and Wicked on Wednesday. We would do more but Ryan has to actually work for a day on Monday. We are also going to try and hit up Serendipity 3 twice. Wish us luck!

As far as the home front goes we are getting tickets to LOVE, the Beatles Cirque show here in Vegas, for Christmas. I am excited, I love the Beatles and I have heard good things about it.

Concert Buzz

Ryan and I am made for each other in many ways. I always tell him that one of the reasons I married him is because we enjoy doing things together, I found that it was really hard to find people that were willing to go out and do things, anything! I never cared about spending money, I just can't sit still to save my life! One of the things we really enjoy is going to concerts. We love concerts. Recently we went up to Utah for a weekend to see Kelly Clarkson and Reba McIntyre perform together. We saw Kelly right after her 2nd album when she toured with Clay Aiken and I was 8 months prego with Madison. She was good then, but she was awesome now.

Reba is another story altogether. She is an icon. This was my 3rd concert of hers, and I have to say that she is worth seeing every time she tours. I liked her before I liked country music, actually, she is the reason I like country music. I hated country music with a passion for a long time- and considering I grew up in the mid-south that is saying something. I would ride in my friends cars and their parents would play country and I would go absolutely crazy! When her song "The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia" came out I was hooked. I started flipping to the country stations hoping it would be playing and every now and again another song would be on that I didn't think was that bad, and the down hill slide into a country music lover began. I got her Greatest Hits 2 album as my first country CD and listened to it over and over and over. So, in short, seeing her in concert is always an amazing experience for me. She has so many songs that have touched me at different times, most of them have been a "repeat offender" on my CD player at one time or another. I love Reba, she will probably always be my favorite country singer. I got a clip of her singing "The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia" because of the history behind it, and heck, I still love it and can sing along with it word for word.

The other great thing about this concert is that we got to sit in row 5 on the floor. We were so close it made for a completely different concert experience. Ryan always talks about when he went to see The Cure because he and Jon sat on row 3 of the floor, then I go and get all jealous and think "hmm, maybe I should have gone with them." Because really, when would you ever get to sit that close again? Well, I got my chance and it was awesome!

The best thing about this concert was the actual concert. I had originally thought that Kelly would sing and then we would have an intermission and then Reba would come out and then maybe for the Encore they would sing a few songs together. Nope....not even close to being right. They were on stage together the entire time singing backup for each other and about half the songs were arranged so they split the verses. It was cool. I really liked it. So, I am including fun pictures (since I could actually get some from our totally wicked awesome seats) and of course a video of the song that started it all for me.

On our drive up to Utah Ryan and I were trying to remember all the concerts we have been to the last 2 years. It ended up being a longer list than I thought it would be. Since our blog is somewhat of a journal to us I am listing them all here. I do believe you could call us concert junkies.....It is slowing down since we have now seen most of the artists that we really like. I also have to admit that I cannot remember the correct order that we saw them in so they are being listed in the order that we remembered them. Oy....

Reba/Kelly

The Killers (I didn't get to go to this one because I was prego and sick with Hunter. It was at the Hard Rock Cafe casino at their outdoor summer concert stage and there was no way I could have stood up for 3 hours to watch them, I am still bummed I missed them)

Toby Keith and Miranda Lambert

American Idol Tour 2008

Kelly Pickler and Rascal Flatts

Daughtry (twice because once was a poolside concert and then he opened for Bon Jovi when we saw them)

Bon Jovi (Bon Jovi is my favorite band of all time and we see them every time they tour, which has been twice during our marriage)

Jewel (this concert was cool b/c it was at an outdoor amphitheater in Vegas and only about 1500 people were there. She stood on stage with her guitar and that was it singing for 2 or so hours)

Faith Hill and Tim McGraw (eye candy for both of us)

Sugarland and Kenny Chesney (Sugarland singing Irreplaceable was the highlight of the concert-I couldn't stop laughing)

Linkin Park (Ryan went with 2 of his buddies, it was their Christmas present from the wives)

Boys Like Girls and Avril Lavigne (think what you will, but the concert rocked!)

Ashlee Simpson (yep, I know)

Gary Allan (This one was all mine, I went with a girlfriend and got to drool for 2 hours. Have I mentioned he is my favorite male country singer?)

I think that is it. I know, I know, we have been to a ton of concerts in the last 2 years. I have put us on hiatus, I need a break! At least my ears do if nothing else! I told Ryan that I will break our no concert rule for a few artists: Carrie Underwood and Journey/Def Leppard if they tour together again. We constantly kick ourselves for not seeing them a few years ago when they came here and it was only like $40, but we had NO money at the time and I thought we were making the right decision.....shows what I know, huh!

The scene of the crime

In order to tell this story I need to provide a little background info. We have all of our downstairs toys between the couch and the TV so that we can at least look like attentive parents when we are watching TV. We also had to move our coffee table to cover the cable box and DVD player in order to keep Hunter away from the "fun" buttons. So obviously that area is somewhat irresistible to the little munchkin.

I was sitting on the couch the other day and he was crawling around playing. He loves the sit 'n spin and was playing on that a little bit. I kept glancing over at him and he was fine, he kept trying to crawl on everything but I thought it was no big deal. Then I proceeded to watch him step on the top of the sit 'n spin and then climb up on the coffee table! That little stinker!

I wanted to get a picture of that but I was too nervous to leave him and get the camera for it, so I had to settle for a picture of the setup. I now have to remind Madison that it is important not to leave big toys by the coffee table or else Hunter will climb on up and could fall off.

Right when we moved in to our new house I was unpacking in our bedroom and I had Hunter with me to keep him from falling down the stairs, but at the same time had the door open to watch Madison play. I put some tupperware tubs in front of the door to keep him in the room but he decided he was having none of that. He is so smart, he crawled right over there, stood up and then started pushing it out of the way so he could escape to the toyland in our loft. I had to close our door after that. How does he know these things?

Playing around on the web

I keep seeing all these cute things that people do on their blogs so I was playing around on Flickr trying to figure it out and put this together. I thought it looked so cute, but the best part for me was the big picture of Hunter, he is so dang cute it kills me. That picture in particular captures his personality to a T so I just thought I would share it with all of you.

It's a go!

Well, one more down. We officially have another wedding coming up in our family. We are so excited, we have all really liked Brian from the beginning. I think Amily & Brian are great together. We are not certain of the date yet, but it looks like April. She is brave, her wedding and birthday will be in the same month.

Amily and Brian have been dating almost seven years now. It took her a year to convince him to date her, he was her flight instructor and almost 10 years older than her. I loved listening to her stories of how she was so in love with him and all the things she was doing to get him to cave. I think she was only 19 at the time.


I have to say I am green with envy because she somehow convinced him to buy her a 2.25 carat diamond. I guess I should have dated Ryan longer and I would have gotten a bigger rock.

Maybe one day.....When we were dating Ryan kept telling me that he would buy me a new diamond for our ten year anniversary- I never would have asked at that point. I keep reminding him that we don't have that much longer to go before our 10 years is here. What is his response? He says he bought me a bigger house instead. What do you think? Is it a copout?

So, now in our family we will have a Brian Collins, Colin, Brian and Ryan. I figure it goes with all the A's we have. It fits. Poor Phil, we figure he probably feels left out so we tell Allie she has to marry someone with the last name of Phillips to complete the utter confusion.

Chicken Enchiladas

One of my favorite dinners to make is Chicken Enchiladas. We love them in my house & the great thing about them is that if you are craving them but happen to be out of corn tortillas you can easily convert the dish to Chicken Crepes (we are super ethnic in my house). If you don't have flour, milk, and eggs on hand then you have a great excuse to not have to make dinner. Hence the reason I often conveniently "forget" to get eggs. (Sad, I know)

Madison's first real dinner was Chicken Enchiladas (obviously not the night this video was taken) and when I made them for dinner last night it became Hunter's first dinner. He isn't talking yet so I just got some pictures of him. He really dug them, I couldn't get him to look up at the camera he was so focused on dinner.


The night we took this video my sister Allie was in town. Madison kept saying "ummm, yummy" after every bite, we were cracking up. So of course we had to get a video. Madison gets a kick out of watching it now and we love it still. I hope you think it is as cute as we do. She was 2 when we took this and it is crazy to see how much she has grown.

Want to make them yourself? Here is the recipe.

filling:
2-3 cooked chicken breasts. I boil them or get a roast chicken from the grocery store. Chop in to chunks.
1 can diced green chilies
1 can cream of chicken soup
3/4 cup of sour cream
if you want you can add some shredded cheese to the mixture

topping:
1 can cream of chicken
3/4 c sour cream
shredded cheese

I fry the tortillas in oil to soften them up a little. Otherwise they will tear apart when you fill and roll them.

Put mixture in a tortilla (makes about 20 corn tortillas)
Pour topping mixture over the enchiladas
Top with shredded cheese

Bake 375 for about 20 min or until the cheese is all melted.

Enjoy! They are not healthy, but they are yummy.

Things that rock, My top 10

We love music in our house. Madison and I are always rockin' out in the car. Here are my Top 10 (new) reasons that I get in the car each day, in no particular order. Enjoy them on my sidebar. Make sure you turn on your sound so you can rock out with us too.

Shattered (turn the car around)
I love O A R. They Rock! (pun intended). No song gets louder playtime in my car than this one. How can you not love this song?

Don't think I don't by Darius Rucker
Who knew Hootie could rock out country style. I love this song, and his new single is really good too. I wasn't a huge Hootie fan, but I totally dig this.

Lovebug by the Jonas Brothers
Yeah, I think we established that I am a total dork a few posts ago. This song is always in my head! It starts out soft and then rocks out in the end. I'm not a huge fan of their other stuff, it's good, but I LOVE this song.

Hot & Cold by Katy Perry
I know I shouldn't like this song on principle, but I love it. I still won't listen to her "other" song, I don't care how great people think it is, I just can't stomach it-I'm not even going to start. However, this song rocks.

So What by Pink
She has such a sense of humor in her songs, I love her stuff. Anyone remember "Don't let me get me"? That was an awesome song. Her Missundaztood album was really good, pick it up if you haven't ever heard it. The only song I didn't like was Get the Party Started.

She Wouldn't be Gone by Blake Shelton
I really like Blake Shelton. I fell in love with his music when "Austin" came out. I still have that song on my play lists.

Love Story by Taylor Swift
Great new single. I was a little worried about her sophomore album, but so far so good. I still love "Picture to Burn" that was my favorite from her first album. Who doesn't want to do that when they break up with a guy?

Johnny & June by Heidi Newfield
Hello, lead singer from Trick Pony? I knew I would like her stuff.

Check Yes Juliet by We the Kings and Let it Rock by Kevin Rudolf
These songs have really grown on me and now I dig when they come on.

That Darn Duck!

This has been one of my favorite presents to Madison. I think my dad got it for her just to annoy me, but it has been a great toy. She takes it each year to preschool on "Feathered Friends" day. The kids love it.

I babysat a friend's kid once and she was not happy that her mom left her. Madison was trying to comfort her and pulled out the duck. As long as the duck was going she wouldn't cry. If it turned off for more than 15 seconds she would start screaming. I heard this for about 2 hours before the batteries died. Thank goodness or I would have......

I love how Hunter is trying to mimic Madison with the clapping and stomping of feet. It was a fun little moment.

Yummo!

I love food. Anyone who knows me for more than 5 minutes figures that out. Heck, you can probably figure that out by looking at me. I am a well fed girl.

Anyway, the other night Ryan was taking the kids to the gym and I was headed to a mini girls night. I had to grab dinner so I thought to myself, "Oh, I haven't had Capriotti's in forever! I don't have both kids to drag in there while I wait for food and Ryan isn't here either (he is not as much of a fan as I am)." So I go.

And wait.....

and wait some more....

As I am waiting for my Capastrami, (not my usual, I totally dig "The Bobbie." You just cannot beat thanksgiving dinner on a yummy roll) I did some people watching. As I people watched I realized that of all the 20 people or so that came and went that evening that I was the skinniest of them all. Now, I do not say this in a vain way, I know I am not skinny-not fat, per se, but definitely not "skinny"- I realized this in a way that taught me a lesson. Maybe there is a reason I do not eat Cappriotti's often. So I thought to myself, "Self, we aren't eating Cappriotti's for dinner anymore." Then I ate my SMALL 7" yummy sandwich and thought, "Maybe I will just start working out again."

Check it out....I LOVE Cappriotti's and you will too. I recommend getting the 9" medium and splitting it with someone. It ends up the perfect portion size. And did I mention that they carry the individual size "Nothing Bundt Cakes" there in the fridge?

Hmmm, maybe that is the reason.......

Disclaimer: I did good and passed by with only a sigh and some drool. Same with the Chocolate frosted brownies. Now, if they had not been out of Tastykakes (http://www.tastykake.com/) I would have been all over those. Any Janet Evanovitch fans out there? Reading her books makes me want to try all the Tastykakes.

Check out locations here:

http://www.capriottis.com/Locations.htm

(Anyone want to teach me that cool trick on how to put here underlined and then the link shows up when you click on here?? I am a technical whiz, huh?)

Caution: Little Rascal on the loose

Stairs scare me when it comes to little kids, heck, let's be real here, they scare me for me. Have you noticed my lack of coordination? I am lucky I haven't broken anything, I am constantly tripping over my own two feet. Do you remember the Britney clip they showed over and over when she was carrying her baby and her ankle turned? That happens to me almost every day. I am so grateful I haven't dropped a kid or two. Anyway, Hunter just has had an insatiable curiosity regarding the stairs. From the first day we moved into our new house he has climbed up on one or two steps. The other day he got away from Ryan and I for 2 minutes and we couldn't find him anywhere. Where was he? Upstairs by himself. He would play in the toy room all day long if I let him. But, "mean mommy" actually has to get things done and most of them are downstairs.

We are now officially a "gated" house.

The other thing he has learned to do is open my cabinet door and climb in. He will get in and then start crying because he can't get out. So of course I go over there and get him out. What does he do? Opens the door and climbs back in. So I thought, okay, I'll just let him figure out how to get out on his own it's not like he can hurt himself, right? Wrong. There was a splat involved.

We now have to cover the door with the Elmo toy you see in the right side of the picture. He tries to move it over but thankfully there are grippies on the bottom of the legs. Now instead of hearing him whine all day long I hear "Nose, to help you smell and sneeze, smell and sneeze. Ears, they help you hear this song, hear this song." Yeah, and I wonder why I get headaches every day?

I'm thirsty!

To drink or not to drink

I was pondering recently on the "Great Debate" we often have with ourselves over whether we should drink caffeinated drinks, addicted or not. Then I shook my head and realized that if there was one thing that would supposedly keep me out of heaven (which I know caffeine won't) Coca-cola would not be reason for me. I figure I have plenty of other things that would hold me back. So I say Drink Up!

Any time is Sonic Time

Madison and I have this little thing we do. When we go to Sonic she gets to sit up front with me and eat her lunch. Ryan hates it, it just drives him crazy. Why? Well, she usually orders a grilled cheese sandwich. Busy hands covered in butter tend to leave prints all over the car. She likes to touch the dash, get in the middle console, maybe point to something thru the window and accidentally touch the glass, and she also loves to play with the radio/nav system screen (it is touch screen after all). Anyway, it has become such a fun thing for her to do she now requests Sonic for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Sonic. It is my happy place, I cried when they finally opened one in Utah and I convinced my husband to leave LA and move to Vegas because they have Sonic here. But even I can only have Sonic on occasion.

The finger prints drive me crazy too.

To find a Sonic near you click http://www.sonicdrivein.com/locator/viewSearch.do

The sounds kids make!

This video is totally goofy of me, but it encompasses two things about Hunter that I have not been able to get on video any other time. First, his squeal. That was the original reason for the video. All day long I hear him squealing, it's cute at first, but then when all you want to do is watch Jon & Kate plus 8, it gets annoying. As soon as the TV comes on so do his squeals. Enjoy...Second, his awesome laugh. He giggles so cute! I thought you might all get a kick out of it. Madison is a master at making him laugh, I have yet to find a more joyful sound than the laughs of my kids together. Those times make being a mother rewarding.

Mother of the Year award

Let's just be clear here, I am not getting any award any time soon. Today's date is October 21st and I am only now getting around to posting Madison's first day at school photo. It has been on my list of postings for oh, say two months now. Some days I don't feel like I can even stay on top of my own two feet much less the craziness of my life. Anyway, here is my darling, wonderful, beautiful little girl. She has started her 2nd year at Ms. Joy's preschool and absolutely loves it. She is so much more developed with her skills this year than she was at the end of last year. She is writing her name on all of her worksheets, her lines are straighter when then match up items, and she is actually learning how to sit still. There has only been one day so far this year that she has been disruptive and not gotten a sticker. I am so proud of her!

Every morning she gets up and gets an activity book or a blank piece of paper and a pen and does her "homework." It is about the most darling thing. She loves practicing her letters and pretends she knows how to spell things. You know how as a parent you spell things so your kids don't know what you are talking about? We do it all the time, nothing gets by her. Lately she is talking to me and she starts "spelling" things in the conversation. "Mommy, jgbml spells dog." Something like that. I get a kick out of it. I also tell her that d o g spells dog. I roll my eyes and smile inside. At least she already loves learning, hopefully that will never change.

On a side note, one of my favorite stories about her from the last few months happened when we were in Utah while I canned and we went camping. Her Gigi bought her a little purse with a wallet. She is Ryan's daughter so therefore she loves money. Let me correct myself, LOVES money. She doesn't quite understand completely how it works, but she loves having it in her hand, playing with it, washing it, etc. Anyway, so she got a little purse and wallet, cute right? Right. She takes it in to show her Papa how neat it is and everything. She shows him the picture on the purse, opens it us, takes out the barbie wallet and then shows him it is empty. She says to him, "lookat my wallet, do you want to put money in it?" She got all his quarters and even a few "paper" monies.

Smart girl....

As an FYI, it doesn't work with Ryan, he just looked at me funny when I tried it.

Ryan got tagged!

So one of our friends got tagged on one of the blog tags that go around and her hubby did it and then tagged some of his guy friends. Ryan was one of those guys. I told him about it and he told me that blogs are a girl thing (Spencer you have my permission to give Ryan a hard time) and he wouldn't do it. So, I decided that I will do it for him, using "his" answers. Hey, a girls got to find entertainment somewhere and since my hubby ditch me for the boys on a Saturday night, this time it is at his expense. Enjoy his answers, I think they are what he would say!

3 Joys
1. My wife
2. My wife
3. Have I mentioned my wife? Seriously, forget football, have you seen my wife? She is hot

3 fears
1. Making my wife mad enough that she would accidentally put the remote in her purse for an all day shopping trip. I know that day will come sometime.
2. Bugs, I just can't help it, they make me squeal like a girl. My son takes after me.
3. Missing an episode of Gossip Girl, What is going to happen with Dan and Serena? And Chuck and Blair? The suspense is killing me!

3 current obsessions
1. Gossip Girl & 90210
2. My wife
3. Gossip rags, seriously, I need to know what is happening to Britney!

3 regrets
1. Leaving my wife on a Saturday night for a football game. She would have been so much more fun to hang out with.
2. Dating girls before I met my wife. What was the point?
3. Not listening to my wife. She is always right.

3 facts about me
1. I love chick flicks and musicals, my wife digs that
2. My wife is a better driver
3. I still don't know how to text message using T9, it scares me.

I'm not tagging anyone, but I would love to hear husbands answers from the wife's point of view.

Playing catchup

I know I have not blogged in forever! I have been so busy that I haven't even sat at the computer for about 3 weeks until today. Needless to say I have also not been great with my emails (big suprise there, huh). Thankfully my phone gets them so I know that I have not completely ignored anyone!

I have added so many fun things that have happened over the past 2 months, including something new. I have decided to do shoutouts to the special people in my life when they have special occasions. I wanted to start with Madison's birthday, seeing that it is Sept. 2-something (I don't even know the date today) and I didn't do it, I decided to start with Ariane's graduation and Aunna's birthday, both in August. At least I am only a month late with these. Sorry! I am simply a huge slacker! I put songs on both of their slideshows so make sure you stop one before starting the other. If I was more technically talented I might know how to delay one or something. Since I am not you will want to make sure only one plays at a time.

Our family has had lots of changes the last month. We rented out our old house and moved to our new house. We love it! One day I may actually show pictures from the inside, but since I still have a few items that I just don't know where to put so they are out in the open, that day is not right now. Come visit us and I will give you the grand tour (our master closet is droolworthy, trust me). Right now I will settle showing a picture of our old house and our new house.

Happy Birthday Aunna!

My second shoutout is to my favorite soon-to-be lawyer. I can't believe you turned 25! Congratulations! August 28th is a special day on my calendar. Every time we hear Big Girls Don't Cry we think about you and Navy Pier in Chicago. Here are some special pictures for a special sister. I dedicate this song to you and added your favorite picture ever to the slide show and just by itself. I love you and miss you like crazy!

Congratulations Ariane!

Congratulations my sweet Ariane! You finally graduated college, I am so proud of you! Only 3 more years to go, then you will be a pharmacist! Madison came up to me the other day and said "Mommy, I like Ariane because she picks me up from school." She loves Ariane coming to get her when she goes to mother's day out in Memphis. She only wants to be picked up by Ariane. It is so sweet. Ariane always plays with her and she loves that so much. Here is a special shoutout to a special sister, I love you and I miss you! See you soon! I picked the song just for you! Enjoy! I know it is your favorite!

Caution! Domestic Goddess ahead

Yep, that is me. Let me explain why I have given myself that title. Over the Labor Day weekend I drove myself and the kids up to Utah for a week. I needed some time away from the stress of not moving (that is right, I said not moving. I can't stand messes and I could only pack my house up so far in advance of the move in date. I was going crazy not being able to pack. I caught up on all the season's of House. Great show, by the way.) Anyway, since it was full season for corn, tomatoes and peaches I decided to do some canning this year. Actually, I begged my mother-in-law to help me. I love canning, I just don't love doing it all by my self. It is a lot of work.


Day 1: 32 quarts of peaches. It doesn't sound like a lot, but I think it took 2 bushels to get 32 quarts.

Peaches are my favorite thing to can because first, they are beautiful when they are taken out of the water bath.

Second, because my daughter will actually eat them without telling me she doesn't like them first, me trying to convince her that she does, then remind her of the rule of the house is that we take 2 bites of everything before we say we don't like them, and then her jumping up and down with joy and proclaiming that she does actually like them. Who knew!

And third, they are my favorite fruit to eat and can. They are SO easy to can. You can almost do them by yourself without going crazy.

Day 2: two bushels of tomatoes. It came out to about 33 pints. For all of you who know me well know that I hate tomatoes, raw ones anyway. They make me sick, I can't even smell them. This project is torture for me.So why do I do them? I do them because I like stewed tomatoes and they taste so good in my spaghetti sauce and taco soup. The entire time I was cutting them I kept repeating to myself, "it's okay, it is just watermelon." It looks just like watermelon when you cut them up, but does NOT feel like it. I am impressed it did not throw up. The smell was awful! At least I have enough for 2 years (see day 4).

Day 3: Corn. We did 15 dozen ears of corn. It is super easy and didn't take too long, but it was a lot of corn! We got about 90 bags put together and frozen. Tip: use a food saver to store the corn. But, first freeze the corn so the juice does not destroy the foodsaver. And definitely stock up on bags. Corn goes a long way.

This was the first canning experience for my new sister-in-law. She was a little nervous when Kathy and I told her we would be doing 15 dozen ears. Um, I was a little nervous. This was the first corn I have canned/frozen. It was EASY!!! The only bad part is shucking the corn. It wasn't that bad, just messy.

Hunter really dug it, he just gnawed away on the ears. We tried to keep him to just one, but he wanted to see if they all tasted the same. Look at the cute boy!

Day 4: more tomatoes. 3 more bushels to be exact. I was so tired of tomatoes. But it will be nice to have them in my pantry. If I am going to put them in my food they better taste good. Home canned tomatoes are the reason I put them in any of my food at all. I don't think I bought tomatoes the first 6 years of my marriage. About two years ago Kathy roped me in to helping her do some. As a thank you she gave me about 8 or so pints. I honestly didn't think I would ever use them, but what the hey, ask my husband, I can't say no to free anything. Needless to say I did use them. In about 2 months. I then begged to make them again but never hit the seasons right with our trips up to Utah. Until this year. As a result we now have 60 pints of tomatoes to bring home with us in October. We did 83 in all. I was so tired of them, but I will appreciate all of my hard work for the next 2 years. Hopefully by then I will have forgetten the hideous smell and the slimy feel on my hands. Here's hoping....

Here was the dining room table at the end of the week. It was full! The corn took up the entire extra freezer. It's going to take almost the entire back of the car to get it all back in October. Why October? Because Ryan said I could do as much as I want but I was not allowed to bring any of it home until our October trip. Neither of us wanted to move everything twice. I figured it was fair.

Hunter pushing Madison around

I don't know how I ended up getting this on camera. Hunter started out sitting on the ground trying to push the stroller and Ryan came to get me so I could take a look. I grabbed my camera on the way and I am so glad I did. He has never done this before, but it was the cutest thing. I got a few different videos and will share them with all of you. I think it is so amazing that he could pull it backwards and still keep his balance. What a fun trick!