Never say NEVER!!!

Meet Sundance our newest family member...
I've gone CoMpLeTeLy nuts I'm using an "IN YOUR FACE" method to overcome my OCD! I enjoyed animals as a child... but that enjoyment COMPLETELY ended as my OCD took over!! We stayed with family in Utah and they just so happen to have a dog...Dawson...my kids BEGGED like NEVER before for a family dog. I gave in... and I needed to!! My cute kids put up with so many weird things about me that this one could no longer be about me! The good thing about Sundance, she currently weighs 1 lb. 7 oz. and will be no bigger than 5 lbs. the kids ABSOLUTELY love her... and I'll say this... she's "growing" on me!

Skiing in Utah

We had a GREAT time skiing/snowboarding and spending time with family in Utah!! We LOVE being together and feel blessed we are able to do fun family things!!

Christmas Countdown

I just finished this Advent Calendar last night (8 days late). This thing took a bit longer than expected!! Each day the kids open a small tin box to find a clue that will lead them to a Christmas treat!! Hopefully it will be sturdy enough to last for years to come!

Christmas here we come!!

I can't believe it's DeCeMbEr?? We started to get in the spirit early... we each painted a miniature nutcracker soldier. There is nothing better than spending time with each other!!

What did you wear on Thanksgiving?

We had a great Thanksgiving with the Cushman and Taylor Family. We followed with tradition and had to wear a Thanksgiving headpiece or clothing item, hence the floral sweater and green blazer. We had NUMMY food, lots of laughs, a Thanksgiving quiz, and created fun memories!!

And So It Is Written...

Attention: Teens and pre-teens in this household...For the record - I DO have a brain and although I'm not part of the Mensa Society I feel I have a certain amount of intelligence!! It has been one of those weeks...parenting has gotten the best of me... my self esteem is somewhere in Botswana...my only defense was this letter I wrote on poster board and taped to the fridge! Don't get me wrong... I KNOW we have GREAT kids!! But every so often some alien form inhabits their body... when this happens it makes me want to travel to Botswana... to find my self esteem of course!!

I LOVE my kids!! They are AWESOME!! And I am VERY blessed to be their mom!! And MOST of the time I think it's rather funny when they pull the teenager-roll-their- eyes-at-me thing!!It's ALL good!!!

4 Heads Make 5 More Heads...

Brynn was away at Youth Conference all last weekend... and I wasn't feeling well... so what is a Dad to do??? Buy some modeling clay and create with your kids!! I felt a bit better Sunday night so I helped them make hats for the clay busts!

Halloween Trunk or Treat

This is from our ward Trunk-or-Treat! When the Murray's lived here we would secretly add an additional little treat to kids bags (spam, sausages, instant coffee)... so we missed not doing that little prank!! (we miss you Murrays!!)Alec took his costume off before I could snap a picture!! My costume was inspired by THIS.

Photographic eye...

Brynn is developing her photography skills!! If you ask me she is doing an AWESOME job at it!! Here are some of her latest fall pictures!!

Squirrel Elimination Commercial

Who do we have here?

You never know who will walk down the stairs when Brooke gets the acting bug!!

SHE DID IT!!!

Brooke's video won FIRST PLACE in the PTA Reflections contest!!! CONGRATULATIONS BROOKE!!! The video is a couple posts down below!!

Grab the BB GUN!!!!!!!!

I bought this awful looking rat thing at the craft store and decided to play a joke on the family!! I placed it on the landing upstairs, Mark and Jack happened upon it first... I was right behind them doing my best acting job!! My hands covered my mouth to hide my laughter, but to Mark and Jack it looked as if I was terrified!! I screamed "oh my gosh it moved!!" and they both freaked out! Everyone came running and Mark yelled "GO GET THE BB GUN!!!" I ran downstairs and brought up the bb gun, Mark was willing to shoot the thing, and potentially damage our wood floors, so the joke was up!! I had to start laughing!! With all the critters we have in our attic... this was the perfect joke!!

Dear Mr. President....

Jack came home from school yesterday and asked if he could write a letter to President Obama...He starts out buttering up the President so that he will hopefully get what he wants! CLICK ON LETTER TO ENLARGE

Who knows... it could work??

POUNCE!!

We love to play a card game POUNCE!!! We were having such a great time... even though Poppy's legs were still burning and throbbing with horrible excruciating pain from the hot baptism water!

Hotter Than a Jacuzzi?!?!

Sunday, Jack was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. When he and Poppy got in the font they soon realized the water was way too HOT!! They wanted to get out but the crowd just looked at them like "come on... just get er' done" (a Southern expression)! When they emerged from the water their legs were beet red (just like this...)
Everything is FINE!!! There are no lawsuits pending... only a lot of jokes about the whole thing!! We've laughed so hard about it we've cried!!

Beauty is...

Victory times ONE

I'm not saying how it happened (Poppy...you know) but this morning at 9:26am we felt a tinge of victory!!! I am so PROUD of Mark and after all he's been through trying to deal with these rodents, he's PROUD of himself!! What a great Sunday morning activity!

I did it AGAIN!!

So I had another "blog burst" where I don't blog for months and then I blog soooooo much it would take you an hour to look at everything!! This is my life... I'm HOT and then I'm COLD... I'm NICE mom and then I'm MEAN mom... it would be nice to have some consistency! oh wait... the kids said MEAN mom is consistent! I will never win!

What do you get when you share a room?

Brynn and Brooke share a room with each other (so do Alec & Jack). It has not been without fighting or the occasional "I want my own room". The positive things that have come from sharing a room are these two are each others best friend! They stay up way too late sometimes doing crazy things... as the following pictures will show!