Embarrassing

This morning came too early! Once I was up it was fine, but when I heard my alarm I was not wanting to get up. We met at Rachel's today and Susan had convinced us to run. We agreed to doing it one day a week. I am not sure how far we went--probably 2 or 2.5 miles. It was a fun change to hiking though.

Today was bread day. My mom and I have been trying some different things to make sure it's done but so the tops aren't as dark. So today we put foil over the tops sooner than we have before. It seemed to do the trick. We also figured out that my top oven cooks hotter than the bottom, so I think we'll try turning it down about 10 degrees next time. We also added a secret ingredient to the mix...lemon juice. My mom read on-line that it helps make softer bread. You can't taste it in the bread and we liked the texture. I am not sure what it does, but it was good.

As the bread was cooling, we hopped in the car to go to Bath and Body Works. I parked and looked down and realized I was still wearing my slippers!!!! Talk about embarrassing!!!

They just feel like regular shoes, so I didn't think twice about it. At least I had taken my apron off! And luck would have it, I saw Melissa Stocking there. Murphy's Law.

Ellie and Hattie took early naps because I had the school pick up today. It was nice--I was able to edit some pictures from a recent session. Near time to leave, I had about 10 minutes left, I really wanted to just sit and watch Rachael Ray, but I decided to get up and I got the stuff under my bathroom sink cleaned and organized. Glad it's done though! After school we went over to Becky's. She had invited a bunch of people over to hang out and let the kids play. Only about 5 moms came, but it was still fun to sit and chat and my kids had a blast running around.

It was French Toast for dinner, then Brian was off to mutual (I liked it when I went better!). Eliza watched Kit Kittredge and Libby watched Polar Express. It was a busy night, but now all are sleeping...soon followed by me.

Yesterday I bailed on hiking. Rachel decided not to go since they just got home and Kari couldn't go. I didn't want to go alone, so I stayed asleep. I am getting out of the habit--it going to get harder and harder to get up!

The rest of the day was spent at home. I did some vacuuming and general cleaning of the house. I can't think of what else we did. At night we had family home evening, then played a few games of Apples to Apples. That seems to be popular at our house lately. My girls (Libby especially) want to play it all the time.

Today my girls didn't have school. It feels weird to have a holiday in the middle of the week. We were planning to go to aerobics, but it was cancelled, so we stayed home. My girls did some coloring and we did more playing of Apples to Apples. Eliza wanted to draw a scarecrow to put outside for Thanksgiving. It turned out cute--I'll have to get a picture. After lunch we went to the park by Terri's house. She met us there, then Susan Allen randomly showed up. It was fun for the kids to all play together and for us to chat. We came home and I gave Ellie and Hattie baths to get all the sand off of them, then they went down for naps after a little visit from my parents. It was good to see them since they'd been out of town for a few days. During the naps Eliza and Libby played outside a bit while I prepared for activity day. Today I did an activity on gratitude. First I talked to the girls a bit about gratitude. I had them put a rock in their shoe while eating a Skittle and had them walk around the room. I asked what they focused on (the rock) and we related that to gratitude. Then we made gratitude journals. I had cut all the paper in advance, but they folded and stitched in the signature. They seemed to have fun doing that. Then I had put each letter of the alphabet in a bag and each person took one and said something they were grateful for that started with that letter. I was happy with how the activity went.

After the girls left we had dinner. I finally found something Libby would eat! I made chicken coated with some "oven bake" stuff (like shake and bake), then cut it up into pieces before she ate it. I told her they were like little chicken nuggets. Everyone loved it. And we had my fav side--scalloped potatoes!

Happy Veteran's Day. I was thinking about it today--how I am at home enjoying living in the USA and being free to do whatever I want ,but that it's because someone (and someone's husband, dad, brother, son) is serving and fighting for those rights. Thank you.

3 things

1. Politics
Lots happened this past week while we were gone. Don't read further if you don't want to read about political views. On Tuesday I didn't think too much about the election while we were gallivanting around Disneyland. That night we turned on the news in our hotel room and the first thing we saw was the headline "McCain Concedes". My mouth dropped open and my heart sank. I seriously couldn't believe it. I just thought for sure that he would win. I went to bed that night and just had this horrible feeling and didn't sleep that great. I just kept thinking about the future of our country and of my children. I just pray that Obama can make good decisions and lead our country well. I was given a little more hope since Prop 102 and 8 passed. At least there was some good news that day.

2. Christmas
We turned the radio on on Friday and it was on 99.9. Christmas music!! Brian just rolled his eyes. I figured I better start listening to get into the Christmas spirit. I just can't think about decorating for Christmas right now! That is so bizarre for me.

3. Saturday and Sunday

Yesterday I went hiking early with Terri, Kari and Leslie. It was a good way to start my Saturday. Then Brian went and helped unload a trailer for DI, then he went right into work for a while since he'd missed the last week. So I hung out at home and got ready to go to Libby's game. It was a little hassle getting her in her uniform again, but she did it. We went to her game and she just watched from the sidelines! No amount of convincing from me, her teammates or her coach will get her in there! Ugh. It's hard having a child like that when neither Brian and I were like that--especially when it came to sports. After the game, we stopped by his granddad's house. His mom and dad had been at Libby's game (her cousin Luke plays, too) and she reminded me about a mattress they were going to get rid of over there. So I went and took a look at it. It is a king, so it fits the bed we bought over a year ago. It was nice and clean and would work great for us. So--Dennis and a couple of Brian's uncles strapped it to the top of my van. I was so embarrassed driving home with it on top. I don't know why, but it was just funny to me. We made it home with out anything flying off, so that was good. We spent much of yesterday afternoon dismantling our old bed and getting the new one up. We really like how the new bed looks. We just used our same comforter and pillows--luckily they fit okay and will work until we get what we want. There is so much more room on the king than what we are used to with our queen. Eliza made her way into our bed in the night and we had lots of room. Not that I want her to keep coming in, but it was more bearable than normal!

Today we got up and ready for church. It was my day to teach relief society. I was a little nervous, but at least it's over. It went so-so to me. I need to work on my closure. I felt during the lesson that it went pretty well, but at the end I kind of just ended it. I need to work at summing things up better and expressing my thoughts. I'll just chalk it up to nerves!

Tonight we had Kari and her kids over for dinner. Jason had gone out-of-town for work, so they came over. It was fun to chat and to have the kids play. I made baked potato soup, rolls and dessert. It was a perfect day for soup--so chilly! My parents are in Pinetop and they got snow! Brrrr!

Disneyland--Long Post!

We just got back last night from our trip to Disneyland.

On Sunday we left after stake conference and headed out to Disneyland. Any road trip with kids is long if you ask me. We were finally there in the evening and got settled in our hotel. We stayed in our timeshare in Newport. It was a great place and such a beautiful city. We got everyone to sleep and overall everyone slept well during our trip (especially me), so that was good. On Monday we woke up and got ready for our first day in Disneyland. Since our whole budget thing we debated whether to even go on our trip, but since we had already set aside the money, we decided to go for it. But we were careful not to go over. We ate breakfast in the room--we had cereal and oatmeal, then we made peanut butter and honey everyday and brought some chips and cookies for lunch. It actually worked out great and we almost liked it better than buying lunch because we didn't have to decide where to eat. We just found a table, sat down and ate. Some other things we did were bring our own water bottles in and we just refilled them each day. For souvenirs, we told our girls (minus Hattie) that they had $10 in quarters. If we had to get after them on the trip, they would lose quarters and what they had left, they got to buy something. That worked pretty well. We did give them an extra $5 each so they could get a stuffed animal at the end with their leftover money. We figured it was worth the good behavior all week. They all did so well in Disneyland which made it so nice. Ellie bought some cotton candy and a Piglet, Eliza got cotton candy and a little Pooh bear and Libby got a really long pencil and a Remi stuffed animal.




She was so funny about her money. She didn't want to spend all $10 at once. She would ask how much something was and if it was over like $5 she didn't want it because she didn't want all her money gone. We ate one meal (dinner) in the park and limited ourselves to just a couple treats. It worked out perfectly and we still had a great time.

This seemed like a perfect time of year to go. We hardly waited in lines at all and the weather was beautiful. Monday was the longest we waited in any line and I can only remember like two rides that were around 20 minutes. The rest were less than that if any wait at all. We walked right on Splash Mountain, Space Mtn., etc. It was great! I am trying to remember the highlights so I don't forget...

On Monday we got all ready and in the car and we realized it was an hour earlier than we thought. The time changed and we knew that, but the clocks in the room were an hour off! We had a good laugh over that!

The first ride we went on was Alice in Wonderland. Then it was off to the teacups and then the Matterhorn. Libby wouldn't ride, but Eliza rode with Brian, then Ellie wanted to go with me. She was excited before we got on, but as we were getting in, she just screamed and cried! I felt terrible for making her go, but it was really too late to get out once it was moving! Once we started she turned her head and I put my hands over her eyes and she was fine! She didn't make a peep the whole rest of the ride. It was funny.

As we were on it though, I couldn't believe I was taking her on that ride! It is fast and pretty rough--especially for a two year old! Libby was a bit gun shy on a lot of the rides and wouldn't go on them--especially if they were dark. We kind of had to fib to get her on some like Peter Pan and Mr. Toad, etc., telling her they weren't dark because once she was on, she liked them pretty well. Other highlights...Eliza got to ride up with the "driver" on the Storybook Land ride. She enjoyed that. We also LOVED Haunted Mansion. I hadn't been on it since they changed it, but it's really cute. Libby wouldn't go on it, so we had to take turns, but Hattie and Ellie did. We ate at the Village Haus for dinner, then we watched the parade. Libby was so excited to watch all the parades and she loved them. They are always so wonderful and this time was no exception. My girls really enjoyed waving at the characters and having them wave back at them. We left after the parade and headed to the hotel. Oh yeah, we also got to ride the new Nemo ride. It was really well done. We enjoyed it. Libby didn't like it because it was dark and loud. We figured maybe she is claustrophobic or something. I just figure everyone has certain likes and dislikes and we can't force her on anything! We also saw lots of people while were there...we saw our neighbors--didn't know they were going. We saw the Lorenzanas from WW Ward, the Gosses from our ward and of course the Pribyls who we know would be there. We didn't see the Headricks at all, surprisingly, even though they were there the same three days we were! I think Jason was trying to avoid us. LOL!

On Tuesday, we went to California Adventure all day. Our first stop was Soarin'. Brian took the oldest three and I waited with Hattie. We took advantage of the Ride Switch on lots of the rides and it was great not having to re-wait in line. So I rode that when they were done. Libby and Ellie didn't love it, but Eliza did. From there we did a lot of other rides. Brian and I took turns on California Screamin'(again--just walking on!).

As I sat waiting for the ride to start, I was thinking to myself, "What am I doing?!?!" I can't believe I went--it's been forever since I've been on an upside down coaster. Brian and the girls watched me "blast off" and I did just what the ride says--screamed!! I felt kind of silly on some of the rides by myself with no one else to scream with. I found myself laughing out loud thinking about that! It was fun though. We tried the new Toy Story ride--that was fun getting to "shoot" at targets. Libby's favorite ride was the Jumpin' Jellyfish.

I went on it once and that was enough with my fear of heights! Ellie really liked that one, too. We went on Molholland Madness several times, but every time I went around the corners at the top, I imagined falling to my death as those turns are so fast and tight. One loose screw on the car and I'd be a goner. We also did the raging rapids while we were there. I hesitated, not wanting my girls to be wet and cold the rest of the day, but we figured what the heck...They didn't end up getting that wet when they went with Brian.


I went next with Eliza and totally covered up in Brian's jacket and hat, so I was safe! We grabbed some pizza and ate while we waited for the parade to come. It was a Pixar parade, so we saw all the characters from those movies. It was another great parade and my girls loved it. We left after the parade and headed back to the room. After that day, my back was hurting! Brian and I took turns pushing two kids in the stroller or holding Hattie or Ellie. We got our workouts for sure!

We spent our last day in Disneyland. We went straight to Peter Pan so we could be sure to ride it. We love that one for some reason. We also had to take turns on Autopia. None of the kids could do it themselves, so we had to take one and switch until the oldest three got to ride. Brian and I got to ride Space Mountain. I forgot what a great ride that is! Again--I was laughing that I was in the front screaming by myself. All the pictures that are taken on the rides are of me screaming! The girls got a kick out of that. We met up with the Pribyls and Lorenzanas for dinner at the Mexican food place by Big Thunder. It was fun to visit for a minute. From there I took Ellie and Libby to watch the parade again and Brian took Eliza and Hattie on the steamboat. Hattie fell asleep so he brought her to me, then he took Eliza to Splash Mtn. again (for about the 10th time) and then they rode Big Thunder a few times before closing time.

We didn't really see a ton of characters. Eliza got her picture with Alice, the Mad Hatter and Minnie.



Libby got one with Minnie when Minnie snuck up behind her. Ellie and Hattie didn't want anything to do with them except the princesses. On Wednesday we watched a cute princess show over by Small World. It is in this big amphitheater and before it started they got to decorate little paper crowns. Ellie sat next to this boy--probably an older teenager--dressed up for the show and she totally let him help her decorate and he put some of the stickers on her ears to look like earrings. Then when they were done (we were watching from a few rows up in the seats), she gave him a hug. It totally made us laugh that that didn't scare her!




Brian wants to have a membership here one day.


On Thursday morning, we went to Crystal Cove beach. The girls played in the sand a little bit and we let the waves crash over our feet, but it was way to cold to play in it! We brought our lunch and ate there, then headed back to the hotel to pack up. We stopped at the Shake Shack and shared a couple of shakes.

It might be the best shake I've had. It was a double chocolate chip shake. It has tiny chocolate chips in it. Yum! We packed up and headed out. We drove by the Newport Temple first.

It seemed to take us a while to get home and with the loss of an hour, that made it about 9:30 before we got home! Ugh.


What happens when you turn your back and the waves come up higher than you expect!


This about summed up Ellie's opinion of the ocean.


Think I ought to sinch up Ellie's pants some more?!


This morning no one wanted to get up. But we did. Brian had a vendor fair he needed to be at (one reason we came home early) and Libby had a field trip. Unfortunately, Libby decided this morning that she didn't want to go on the field trip unless I went. Talk about major guilt!! It was kind of last minute that we decided we would even be back to go, so there wasn't time for me to figure out babysitting and such to go. I felt bad. I tried to talk her into going anyway, but she wasn't going for it. She was nervous about having to go around with someone else's mom or dad. Understandable, but hopefully she'll get over her shyness someday! So I dropped Eliza off at school and we came home and I did laundry and unpacked, etc. It always feels weird to me to be home after a trip. It's like the world kept going but I stopped and now I am back on board and have to get all caught up again. Brian thinks I am weird for feeling that way, but I do!

Tonight we went to the Derrick's house for an Edward Jones new FA (financial advisor) social. It was mostly for new FAs, but they invited everyone else (I think). Lori made a great spread of food--soups, rolls, desserts, etc. It was all delicious and it was fun to meet new people and the kids had a blast playing/running around with some of the other kids.

Here are some random pictures from our trip.

Ick

An 8 AM game did come early this morning. I did not want to get up! But we did and Libby got her uniform on. She didn't want to get it on at first, then Brian had a contest to see who could get ready fastest. So she got it on and I took the girls to the game. Brian went into work since he'll miss some days next week.

Libby didn't play, but I could tell she was really thinking about going in. She wasn't totally against it, so that was good. Maybe next time! (I say that every week!). We came home and I tried to get some packing done and some pre-vacation cleaning. That is pretty much what I did all day. Brian went off to his stake meeting for stake conference weekend. Libby said she was tired so she laid down in the playroom and fell asleep. I figured she was tired from getting up so early for her game. I made dinner for the others, then Libby came in and I could tell she wasn't feeling good. I grabbed the trash and she used it. Ugh! Why does this happen right before we are to leave town. I sure hope we can go! Eliza was complaining this morning of not feeling well, but she hasn't been too bad. I had just gotten dressed, too to meet Brian at the adult combined meeting, Debbie was picking up my babysitter and bringing her over, so I had to call and tell her to take her back home. I even wore my hair down! I told Brian that all I wanted today after he got home from work was time to get ready and blow dry my hair. I was tired of wearing it in a ponytail again since that is all I seem to have time for anymore! Oh well. She seems to be doing a little better, so I am hoping it's just a quick bug and that no one else gets it!

Now a funny--Hattie was in her high chair eating and we were watching Pollyanna. The part where the preacher is giving his sermon was on and the congregation was singing a hymn. After the hymn was over, I happened to glance over at Hattie and she was folding her arms and closing her eyes, ready for the prayer just like at church! It gave me a good laugh.

Thursday and Halloween

Yesterday Brian went bike riding and Hattie decided to get up at 6:15. Ugh. So it was an early start for me even though it wasn't a hike day. I did go to aerobics later after Eliza and Libby got off to school. After aerobics, Terri invited me to their ward's park day, so we went to that. It was funny--the moms sat around the picnic table and all the kids just hovered around us. We were like--we are at the park, now play!! We came home from there and ate lunch, then the afternoon was busy. It was singing and soccer. Eliza got a ride to singing and I took Libby to soccer and stayed with her until it was over. Then I had visiting teaching and had to do a little grocery shopping.

Today we hiked again--Rachel was back on board after being under the weather on Monday and Wed. We didn't run at the end, so I was happy about that! This afternoon Kari watched my two little ones so I could go help out at Eliza's fall party. I was in charge of the "Pumpkin Life Cycle" station. It was pretty mindless, but fun to see all the kids and to see Eliza in her classroom setting. One of the stations was decorating pumpkins and Eliza was so creative--she made a little bow out of some foam shapes. She put two hearts on their sides and put a circle in center to make the bow. It was so cute.

Now for Halloween Night...for some reason it felt like this night was about 10 hours long.








I put off putting the girls in their costumes as long as I could. They wanted to start right when they got home from school. I finally gave in at about 4:30. So everyone got in their costumes and I took some pictures. I just think they looked beautiful! Eliza was a witch, Libby was a fairy princess, Ellie was a fairy (she didn't want to wear the wings because they were too scratchy) and Hattie was a witch. Hattie woke up from her nap grumpy, so she fit the part of her costume for a little while until we started feeding her tootsie rolls! My parents stopped by so they could see the girls in their costumes and they had candy for them all. We trick-or-treated in our cul-de-sac. We planned to go to the neighboring ward's trunk-or-treat since we missed ours last week. So after we trick or treated on our street, I figured it was about 6:15 or so and time to head over. It was only 5:45. Crud! What to do for 45 more minutes!?!? So we drove in our neighborhood and went to a few houses of people we know. Then we headed over to the church (it was still early--like 6:15). I felt so silly for being there just because it's not our ward. But we had a great time and felt like it was our ward in a sense since we knew so many people from being in our ward before the split.

The cultural hall was decorated so cute...The two ladies in charge are so creative and just have a total knack for decorating and they did it up! Hattie LOVED the balloons--she really, really wanted one so she didn't like that she couldn't just take one off the tables. We started with dinner--BBQ chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, chips, corn and pie. There were games for the kids to play, then it was out to trick or treat. Eliza and Libby went off together and I took Ellie around. She loved walking around saying "trick or treat" and getting candy in her bucket. Terri (thank you!!!) took Hattie around with her and apparently Hattie just had a blast. Terri said that Hattie had great manners, saying, "Trick or treat" and "thank you." She did sound so cute saying trick or treat. Plus Hattie had about a dozen tootsie rolls. She couldn't get enough! And Brian handed out candy at the car. After getting more candy than you would believe, it was time to head home. Everyone was wired! When we got home, they had to dump out all their candy and go through it, trade, sort it, etc. That took forever! It felt like it was 11:30 when we got home, but it was only 8:30!!! So by the time the candy was gone through, it was about 9:30. Libby's 8 AM game is going to come early tomorrow!

Tender Heart

Eliza has such a tender heart. Yesterday I was watching the video of Stephanie Nielsen's little girls singing at the benefit concert. It was such a sweet performance and so touching! Eliza came over as I was watching and watched with me and asked who it was, so I told her briefly the story, who they were, what happened, why they were singing and so on. She watched and her eyes looked sad, then she said, "What can we do to help?" I said that we could pray for them and maybe she could make the girls a card and I could mail it to them. She watched the video a couple more times this morning, then she set out to make a card for the two girls. I busied myself getting their lunches made, breakfast made and cleaned up, and just regular morning activities. I went in to her room to hurry her along for school, and what I found brought me to happy tears. She was in her room, emptying out her piggy bank. She put everything that was in her piggy bank in a ziploc bag and stapled it to the card. It wasn't much money at all, but it was all she had. She can be so sweet and empathetic. So I jotted a little note to their aunt where they are staying and told her why the money was included and mailed it off. I hope it brightens their day--it sure did mine.

Cookies, Part 2

I'm not sure how long the cookies will last--even in the freezer!




This morning's hike was hard for some reason! The run at the end about did me in. Hopefully I can get better at it. Today was bread making day. I love that Ellie loves to help and that she knows how to pulse the mixer, then turn it to the right speed.

That is what we had for lunch. Ellie and Hattie had bread and M&Ms. A very balanced lunch, for sure! My afternoon went by so slowly for some reason! Ellie didn't nap and Hattie's was pretty short. Terri had Eliza and Lib over after school, so that was nice that I just had my other two. Especially since Brian had mutual tonight...gave me a little break before that!

Cookies

6:15 came early on Monday for hiking. Terri made us run the last part, so that was killer, but we got done faster. After hiking and having some tired legs, we got the girls ready and off to school. Kari brought Kylie over to play for a bit, so Ellie enjoyed that.

After school, we did a couple of errands, then came home for dinner. For home evening we went over the whole budgeting with the girls. I talked to them about how paychecks work and all the different things we have to pay for that come out of that check. I had made a sign (even before Heidi posted hers!) that said, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." So that is our new motto. They girls seemed pretty supportive of it. We talked about things they can do to help out...not asking for things at the store, not wasting things (food, toilet paper, paper, etc), and being in carpools. If my girls had their way, I would take them and pick them up everyday, but we are lucky to have great people to carpool with. I think they are thinking more about it now. I was able to share my testimony with them about this principle and share some great blessings we have already received in the short time we have decided to make these changes.

Today after the carpool pick up, Ellie, Hattie and I went to aerobics. They both were quite needy during, so I didn't get as good of a workout as I would have liked, but it was still good. We came home and I hurried and got ready before my visiting teachers came over. Karolyn brought me the yummiest white chocolate caramel apple. I would have eaten it all in one sitting if she hadn't told me that their whole family had shared one because it was so sweet! I would have felt guilty! So I spread it out over two sittings. Ha! After lunch, I braved making cookies with E&H. Ellie had fun helping and they both enjoyed eating some dough! I kept a few out to give the girls when they got home from school and some for Brian, but I froze the rest and my plan is to put them in their school lunches.

This afternoon, I took my girls to Karolyn's where she kindly watched them while I went to Activity Day. The lady in the calling with me was in charge and she had the girls paint pumpkins--one for themselves and one to give away.

It was fun and the girls loved the hands-on activity. Brian had dinner ready when we got home (he is going to try to make dinner once a week--love it!)...we had spaghetti and green beans. He is so good to always remember a vegetable. I always forget!

Happy Tuesday!