Toothless

We have 2 kids with very loose teeth in this house.

Grey had one and the other night he just got brave and said "Mom, will you pull my tooth out." and he was really brave with it, didn't cry even though he was scared. I think it hanging there loose was driving him so crazy, it was worse than his fear of getting it pulled. So, I tied a string around it and popped it out with a swift yank, it flew up in the air and it took us almost 20 minues to find it, in a basket that was on a shelf.

Easy Peasy.

Romy has her 2 front teeth loose and messes with them all day and whines about them, but when I go wiggle them, she freaks out and gets too scared. They hurt when she rushes them and her gums are getting red and today she hit the point where I stepped in. I told her I was just tying string around it and she could tug gently at the string all evening, that really helps loosen a tooth up and that was all I intended to do until tonight, but once I did it she started to freak out and bawl. Nobody was tugging or anything and the tooth was barely hanging on and she was howling over nothing, so with a quick yank---the tooth was out. She screamed for a few minutes and then got really happy.

The other tooth will make it's departure next week. It's not quite as loose as this one, but she is driving me batty. My tolerance level for loose teeth is minimal, I have seen enough baby teeth pulled that were not even loose to know that they will pop right out with a firm tug, and if a child is going to make a federal case about a loose tooth- I'll just yank it out and the tooth fairy can reward them.

Chicago Style

Today was a fun day. I took the older girls shopping to spend grade money. Kate bought matching outfits, Emma went for volume and got a ton of clothes and candy canes from the sale rack,lol. We went out to lunch, just the girls and then got groceries.

Then we came home and made deep dish Chicago style pizza for the first time. It turned out great, Matt and the older girls had sausage and mushroom and the little ones had cheese. Both pizzas had a ton of cheese, true to the style, and we used a 5 lb bag on just the 2 pies.

We did a good job and Grey had thirds and Roe and Jane had seconds.

Temple Square

Went to Temple Square tonight with my Unlce Paul and Aunt Melba and three of my cousins. I haven't seen any of them since PawPaw's funeral, we're all grown up now, its so weird.
I use to take care of Amber when she was little, after her Mom died and she had this long tangly hair and one day ( with MeeMaw's coaxing, I swear) I chopped it all off. Her dad was so mad but she was a happier kid afterwards, no more bad mornings brushing the tangles out. She's grown now, so are Bennet and Cissy. Roe loved Uncle Paul, all of my kids do when they meet him, he's my favorite uncle and always will be.

Christmas Eve

For my birthday, Matt got me a mother's ring, it will take awhile to get use to it, we have a lot of kids, so it's kind of bulky,lol. Today we had a nice low key day, like I enjoy, we went to Marie Callenders for lunch and finished the last of the Holiday errands. Tonight we will put the finishing touches on the top secret massive gift for Roe and Jane that they will love and remember for many years to come. We are so excited about it.

Matt and I have just spent time hanging out together and snuggling, I'm lucky to have him as my best friend, There is nobody on earth I'd rather be with and I never get sick of just being near him. He's so amazing.

Last night Grey and Romy fell asleep in laundry baskets, something I thought kids stopped doing once they turned two,lol. Grey looked so funny.

year in review brainstorm

Spent much of today working one Brian and Paige's album so that it is done in time for her shower, I made a ton of progress. I still have a few more hours I need to work on it, but I put a good 7 hours in it today on top of the time I have spent already.
One of my resolutions for 2008 is to make art a regular part of my week, focus more on the things that bring me joy and make me feel like me again. I'm done trying to save the world.

This weeks challenge at two peas is to creat a year in review layout, as long as I have been scrapping, I have never done this,lol. I thought I'd process what I remember happening this year if I can- Some key happenings I want to highlight
January--Tara Low/Burton visit
February--Emmas slumber party
March--diet coke and mentos day
April Z wedding, Grandpa's promotion
May- vegas getaway
June-- camping
July trip to AZ
August County fair blue ribbons
Sept school started ( very original, I know but I have pictures,lol)
Oct familyhalloween party
Nov-- Disneyland getaway
Dec-- a trillion parties

I'll dig up pictures this week and see if I can't crank out a layout for my own album.

MoTab and National Treasure

Last Sunday we went to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform with the King's Singers, an acapella group. It was an amazing experience. We have decided that we will go every year, provided we can get tickets.

Last night we took the kids to see National Treause, we don't go to the movies as often as we use to but since the boys are leaving for the holiday, we decided att he last minute to spend the evening doing something we knew they really wanted to do. They were all wanting to see this, and although Roe fell asleep in the first 10 minutes, the boys were glued to the screen. It was a little cheesier than the first movie, and Nick Cage has had a bad face lift, but it was still really entertaining. I like going to movies with a man who realized they are just entertainment and not supposed to be so historically accurate that they pick apart the plot and don't just enjoy the experience. Everyone can and should know the history, the fun part of movies is to let go and entertain the "what if" aspects in my opinion.

We went to Ihop afterwards, seems to be our new hangout,lol. I had hot chocolate that made me a little sick and I didn't touch my pancake. It was a good night to spend, just being a family before the boys head out today for a week.

Another Party

The Smith/Perkins family party was this weekend and with that- it wraps up the season of parties I have to host outside of a New Years eve party for the teenagers & friends. The party was pretty low key and we had a surprise visit from Santa, Romy was weirded out by the fact that he didn't look like the Santa she visited at the Mall. I didn't even try and pass this off as S"ants helpers" she's a little too smart for that- I just told her he just had different glasses on, and she rolled her eyes and said "whatever." Grey never noticed the difference.

Last night we cooked again as a family- made homemade salt water taffy and I had Matt stir it and told him to tell me when it was 265, but I failed to communicate EXACTLY 265 so when t hit 275 he called me. 265 if hard ball stage, 275, is soft crack stage. So we had candy that could not be pulled,lol. We instead ended up with our new invention the kids dubbed "grinch-cicles" that was a hard green candly that looked like emeralds. We also make rice krispie treats and Jello popcorn and then all watched The Forgotten Carols together.

Today Matt and I are heading out with Sunnie and Chris to go see the Tabernacle's Christmas performance for Music and the Spoken Word, shoud be fun and I hope I don't freeze to death.

Birthday Sparkly

For my birthday this year Matt wanted to go out and have my wedding ring adjusted. It is 2 sizes too big and since losing weight we have been worried about me losing my ring, so I was glad when he offered to go to Sierra West last weekend to resize my ring.

Once we were there he said "Surprise! we're upgrading your stone!" and he wanted us to go from a half carat in the center to a full carat. It was something we had talked about, but not for a few years. I was kind of hesitant but how can a girl say no when their sweetie is offering them diamonds? I mean, honestly? You can't blame me for going along with it.

It wasn't like we were selling the farm, we already had the ringbought and paid for, all we did was trade in the old stone and upgrade another half carat, so don't go freaking out that the kids won't go to college.

Anyway- Sunnie wanted to see the new ring since I missed her at Lisa's reception, so here it is.

Isn't Matt amazing? I mean honestly- he is the perfect husband. Flawless, sweet, romantic and he makes me feel wonderful.

So Happy Birthday to me from my wonderful, adored and freaking hot husband. I love you Matt.

project for my in laws

This is a copy of what we gave Matt's folk's for their anniversary gift. A portrait of all of thier babies, as though they were taken in one sitting. I had the idea, and had input on what looked balanced, and Matt was the photoshop wizard. It took hours to get it so that all the pictures looked similar enough, as the first one was taken a good 10-11 years before the last one and they were all different sizes, shading, poses, textures and whatnot. We have been working on it a few nights a week for over a month and finally finished, and had it framed in a nice antique looking frame.

I'm proud of it and like that Matt and I did this project together.

What a weekend it has been. I think in January I will get to sleep, finally.

The Olson Xmas Party 2007

If you click on the picture it will get bigger.
SO much fun today. We made gingerbread houses and brian and Paige went all out and beat us all out, although not enough attention was paid to the amazing Trailer Park Christmas House that Z,Aaron, Calb and Shell brought to the party. Zane got what he wanted for Chirtsmas, Aaron whipped everyone at pool, Romy and Jane hung on "Uncle Carl" and Grandpa knocked Grandma out in Wii boxing. After the party we took Zane out for a birthday dinner to Ihop and then the kids wanted to spend their giftcards from Grandma and Grandpa at Barnes and Noble. To finish this day we are all about to have a slumber party in the family room and watch Planet Earth and drink hot cocoa.

Wedding

Went to my sister Lisa's wedding reception tonight, I am happy and hopeful for her. Rori was a cute bug who loved that I kept sneaking her chocolate. We didn't stay long, but I saw a few people I haven't seen in about 20 years- cousins and Aunts I really don't keep in touch with, and won't see for another 20 years, I'm sure. I know it's hard for them that I don't stay in contact with them, but it's not worth it to have to run into my insane stepdad. Matt was my total hero tonight keeping him away from me. I don't know how I got so lucky to find this amazing and perfect husband, but holy crap-- he is perfect. He's smart, loyal, honest, brave and freaking hot.

Thanks Moe

Surprise! Our family Christmas gift came yesterday from my mom. We have been wanting a pool table forever, it is one of those things I have always wanted, and she got us one this year for Christmas. I like the idea of having a family room that teenagers can hang out in and enjoy and relax with their friends while having stuff to do to keep them out of trouble. If they are playing video games or shooting pool at my house, they are not doing things that could lead to trouble at someone else's house. I always wanted a home with a defined teenager space and with the pool table, I really feel like I have that so all the kids will have fun up there and not be enbarrassed to bring friends over. Thanks so much, Mom.

I also included apic of Rori, my niece-bug. She is visiting from California and we made cookies last night. I'm not sure she has ever frosted cookies before, it was funny and she kept taking globs of frosting and eating them and then gagging on how sweet it was and spitting it out. About 2 minutes later she just could not resists and would take another huge glob and eat it.

Obsessed

I am not muchof a cook, it's not that I don't know how, it's just not the most interesting of activities in my book. I was taught to cook at a young age and did a great deal of it, I burned out on it early. But I learned how to do it and how to do it well, we laugh and joke and say I can't cook, but I can, I just dont really enjoy it. That's not to say I have not created some serious disasters in the kitchen, but for the most part, I find cooking to be more of a chore than part of my domestic identity.

Then Christmas comes and the switch flips and I live in the kitchen. I remember my mother would spend every day baking and making all sorts of candy and sweets all holiday long with the Christmas music playing and us kids running around hyper anticipating Santa and all those yummy treats. I remember her teaching me how to make candy- and showing me how to stir he pot of melting Karo and sugar just right so it didn't burn on the bottom and cook too fast, how to tell the difference between hard ball and soft ball and hard crack stages without using a candy thermometer. The color, the texture and the scent of each stage of each sweet she made. I do the same each holiday.

I never mastered divinity and I never got good at making fudge, but the rest of the sweets I make just like my mom did- from scratch and they are delicious. They sitin holiday trays throughout the house and my kids and husband snack on them and then complain that I made too many treats, but they keep nibbling away and ask me to make more when we run out.

This year my kids and I have been at it. Last year I had surgery and I did not bake at all, but this year I have shocked the crap out of my sweet new husband who has never had many of these things. We've made caramels twice, Almond Roca ( Matt's favorite-- everyone's favorite,lol) we made fudge that turned out weird, Chocolate chip cookies, butterscotch haystacks, Christmas Crack, banana bread, gingerbread, sugar cookies, and tonight- a new recipe- oreo poppers. Very rich and delicious. The kids asked to do extra chores if I would give them an extra one.

I am still not sick of cooking, my family is not sick of eating, therefore tomorrow I will be back in the kitchen, baking away.

Festival of Trees

Took the kids to the Festival of Trees in Sandy this evening. I could have stayed another hour, but Matt was hungry and grey was being a total turd.

They had hundreds of drees decorated to the nines and for sale, all the proceeds go to Primary Children's hospital. There was one tree that made me cry. Most of these trees were made in honor of someone who died, and a lot of the displays had a picture of the person who had passed. One tree was adorable and had a Care bears theme. Very colorful and cute as can be, in the display was a picture of the little girl it was made in memory of, a cute blonde little giorl who passed away the day before her third birthday. The idea of the milestone, just missed, of such a tiny little life, gone, the sadness her family must have felt and the feelings they have ahd to work through and also live with. Something about her passing just the day before
turning three...It was heartbreaking and it affected me.

My favorite tree was one done up in a ladybug theme, and the picture of the little girl it was made in memory of, had her wearing a Minnie Mouse polka dot dress and they had a sign by her picture that read "our little ladybug" and the tree was incredible loking, very creative and one of the coolest themed ones there, even though it also was associated with a little girl who will never know how many lives she touched in her short life. It was a really neat thing to attend and I am going to make it a tradition and go every year, but I will only bring those who will appreciate it and will want to linger. There were gingerbread houses and wreaths and all sorts of holiday crafts, but mostly- trees. Hundreds of incredible trees, and each with a story and connected to a life, gone too soon. Bittersweet, but beautiful.

Winners!

Greyson was an honorable mention, and Romy won first place in the Reflections contest.

I thought Grey's was the cooler of the two projects, but I was not one of the judges. What makes me the most proud of how the kids did is that my kids do almost every aspect of the projects by themselves.

So anyway- I am proud of Grey and Romy. It's the first trophy Romy has ever won and she was beaming.

It's Officially Christmas Season

Jingle all the Way, Parker.

Thanksgiving

I am Thankful for so many things, all of which I am too tired to list today.

One party down, three to go.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas cookies

Mirror in the Bathroom

You can't see his face, but it's only a cell phone picture snapped from last night- Matt and I went and saw The English Beat at The Depot.

What an interesting mix of people, most were our age and older, there were all sorts and one really fat lady who had to be about 45 took her shirt off and sported a lacy red bra until security made her get dressed. Matt and I danced & danced 6 feet from the stage until it was over, came home and crashed- we're officially old.

Sunday Dinners

Even though Zane looks like a moron and Grey was trying to hide-- having Sunday dinners every week after FHE is a good thing. This week it was BBQ chicken, salad, baked potatoes and pineapple upside down cake. Good stuff.

Matt

So cute. Even if he is dressed like Orville Reddenbacher.

Disney

First pic is of me and Tamara, this is the second time I have been out to dinner with her where I had to runout and puke,lol. Sorry Tam. I'm insane.

Second pic is Matt on the teacup ride. He does not enjoy spinning rides, but he'd rather spin than spend 10 minutes apart,lol. I love that about him.

The last one is the same picture everyone takes at the Disneyland entrance, not creative or clever, but

standard.

We had so so much fun, just what we needed after the crap we endured with last month.

Greyson's Project

Greyson did his Reflection's project tonight. He has been saving cans for a few weeks and his way of "making a difference" is by recycling and he made this flag out of the cans. It was a fun project and a pretty creative idea of Grey. I think it turned out pretty cool.

fall picture and a survey....

Yet another survey...
Body:
(Had to exclude the first one because it had a swear)

2. Do you like anyone?Yeah, Matt's pretty awesome. There are a few other people I can tolerate.

3. Are you wearing socks?
No, but I bought a new pair of pink fuzzy ones to keep me warm on Friday.

4. Do you regret something you did yesterday?Yesterday, nah. I was superparent yesterday. Hot chocolate, carmel apples and carving pumpkins with 7 children, I deserve a medal.

5. Have you ever been stoned skateboarding?nope

6. Do you own a guitar?Matt does but he gave it to Parker

7. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance?Yep, with Parker after the housefire. Bad bad memories.

8. Do you own a piggy bank shaped like a pig?No, but I own a cat who is starting to be shaped like one.

9. Do you shower facing the shower head or with your back to it?My back to it, but I am a 2 hour bubble bath kind of girl.

10. Do you have anything in your pockets right now?Some McDonald's Monoply game pieces- a free drink and 2 free small fries

11. How many windows are open on your computer?3. Gmail, blogger, and myspace

12. What are the colors of your walls?green and tan

13. How many hours did you sleep last night?I fell asleep snuggling my sweetie during SNL like I do every week, no church today so I slept until 9.

14. Is something bothering you right now?Romy

15. Have you been outside today?Yep, last night was the first snow so we went outside to see it before it melted.
16. Who was the last person to IM you?Matt

17. Last text from?Sunnie, sent me pics of cutiebug baby Dylan

18. Are you a daydreamer?I use to be, I use to spend a ton of time daydreaming, but aside from some crap nobody should have to deal with, my life- my relationships are pretty perfect. I have everything I ever dreamed of in terms of Matt I guess. That's kind of cool to realize.

19. Are you sarcastic?Never. :P

20. Are you shy?I am not shy but I am a really private person.

21. Are you talkative?yeah, I'm a jabbermouth.

22. Last person you saw?Well, Matt is right beside me, and the kids are underfoot.

23. Last person you went to a playground with?Matt, Romy and Grey

24. Last person you talked on the phone with?Heck, all of these questions can be answered Matt so by default- everything is Matt. I think I may be stalking my husband, or he is stalking me.
SO- besides that-- Brother Brian.

25. In the past week have you gotten sick?last night I got queasy.

26. In the past week have you felt stupid?you say that like it's a bad thing....

27. In the past week have you gotten your hair cut?No, I just did a big chop job a few weeks ago after a bad day.

28. In the past week have you watched cartoons?No. I hate cartoons.

29. In the past week have you gotten in a fight?I'm a lover not a fighter.

30. In the past week have you listened to music?Of course.

31. In the past week have you smiled?Of course.

Tackle

Just some pics of the kids playing tackle with Daddy last night. Since Zane didn't play- Matt won, normally Zane whoops his butt.

How to Host a murder picture

This is an old picture of Matt and his sister, Z.

Funniest picture I have seen in forever and thank the Lord above for photoshop.

The picture has now been blown up and is hanging in our home.

Reflections Contest

Every year the schools in Utah hold a contest for artwork of any medium that supports the theme. This year's theme is "How I can make a difference" at first we had Roe paint a pot and she was going to say "grow crap" or whatever but I got the rules today and they cannot have anything pre-fired in terms of ceramics so we bailed on that idea and instead came up with this one. She is excited to hang it on her wall and as a bonus she still has all the crap from the first project to play with as well. She chose the colors and painted it herself and did the stringing part. I just hammered in the nails and tied the ribbon.

Scrapbook USA expo fall 2007

Went to the expo Friday and Saturday, Friday I went alone and that was great- just me and my thoughts and a day to spend seeing products and displays. Saturday I took Katie, I had promised her if she was ever here when the expo was in town I would take her and she was so excited to go and also spend some 1 on 1 time with me. She loved getting to choose her own products and having me splurge on a few things I knew she would enjoy. She and I scrapbooked for about 2 hours and this is the layout I finished, all with Scenic Route producs. Katie finished 6 pages. She loves having someone who unserstands and appreciates her artistic side. She has a good eye for design and in time her skills as an artist in general can improve if she is allowed to pursue them.

Anyway- Scenic Route always has such a great sale on chipboard, I probably spent 100 bucks in their booth alone.

I was frustrated that nobody was selling some of the basic supplies, I can usuallycount on Roberts to carry plain cardstock at least and nobody had much. I bought 2 packs of bazzil from scenic route because I didn't pack a lot of supplies, I planned to buy things there. I spent about 200-250 dollars and loaded up on the things I use mostly.

I didn't notice really anyone or anything new that jumped out at me, one booth had a great deal on Basic Grey papers, but I didn't buy any. There were a few booths with some great digital scrapping software and a chocolateir had a booth-- that was a smart idea, Katie enjoyed a chocolate covered banana and they seemed to get a lot of business.

It was a great weekend and a nice break. Can't wait for the next expo this spring, I may stay for the midnight crop this time.

still going.....

I have to say that I love my scrapbook friends. These are the women who threw me my "virtual" baby shower when Roe was born. These are the women who made terrible innapropriate jokes with me when we learned that my ex- husband was gay. These are the women who I can send emails with nothing but a picture of a gun in it and they all laugh uncontrollably. I love them.
These are also the CRAZY women who want to keep this challenge going long after we put that baby to bed, just to see how far we can go.
SO until the other team finsihes, we are still going. we went through the whole list again in 24 hours and will probably go through it again tomorrow. But I'm liking my layouts. This one I scraplifted some of the idea for www.twopeasinabucket.com but made it my own. PIctures from our hike where Romy had to pee twice on the trail and once in the "Do not even touch the walls" cave- in a bag and all over my hands. (ew ew)

2 more

My team kicked butt and we decided to keep cranking out layouts until we are told to stop,lol. each layout is inspired by an element from the person's layout who is on the list before you- and they all kind of play scrapbooking gossip from there. All of my layouts came after my good friend Claire's layouts, and then my friend Cheryls are inspired by mine.

These are my final two in the relay for the official competition, we'll see how much longer we can keep it up.

I've done 3 layouts I am happy with this weekend and the idea of a time crunch and pulling an idea from a layout of someone else's is really making the layouts come together with ease. They may not be the trendiest and most contemporary layouts but I have really enjoyed doing them this weekend and I want to get my stuff organized and in my studio in working order. Tamara's a genius, I tell you. This was a great idea and I am glad we are doing it again.

inspiration relay take2

Scrapchat is doing it again and this is my layout.

"define cat lover"

I just have to rub it in, I know, Matt.

It's a boy!

The Merrill Bunny has arrived!

9:05 yesterday weighing in at 7.2 lbs and 19 inches long.

10 fingers and toes.

Healthy.

blonde.

Blessed andperfect.

Beautiful Beautiful Beautiful Beautiful boy.

Your Auntie is going to spoil you rotten.

We have been waiting for you for a long time. Welcome to the world little one. Already I love you with all of my heart.

photo challenge 2

I am going to try and keep up with and catch up on some of the older- photo challenges.

The challenge they gave last night was called "Fill the frame" and you were to...fill the fram, and not leave background space.

Most people did close ups of flowers or faces, one woman did a really nice looking photo of some trusses in a barn or a bridge- gorgeous. I tried to do something that was "me."

One of the things Matt and I had in common when we met was a love for Chuck Taylor's and we both support one another's shoe habit and we have converted most of the kids to our shoe religion as well.

Last week we were looking at some photos of my Mother-in-Law's brother who was killed in Vietnam to see him wearing a pair of black hi-top Chucks, just like Matt's favorite pair. The love of Chucks must be in our genes.

eh- just pictures

Some pictures from last weekend, we took the kid hiking up to the PG waterfall, Romy got soaked, Grey got scared of the Box Elder bugs.

We also hit the Hogle Zoo for AMEX day, the kids were unimpressed. They have been spoiled by the Phoenix Zoo that is three times the size, twice as clean, and keeps all of the animals in environments that replicate thier natural habitat, much different from the fighting death cagematch orb they stick the chimp in at Hogle.

It was a first and a last for my kids, they hates this Zoo and although I try not to participate in whiney attitude supporting, I have to say I agree with them on this one.

photo challenge

I have joined a photo/ photoshop challenge group and each week they get one photo challenge and one photoshop challenge. The photoshop challenges I am less than interested in but the photo challenges are good.

We are to take a photo that is of high quality and had artisitc value, even if only we find it so,lol.

This week's challenge: Something rare. I think 2 1/2 carats of my gorgeous wedding ring qualifies.

Every time I look at it I am reminded that I am loved by my perfect husband.

Layout

Digital layout of my cousin, Marla. She is the oldest of the Westfall cousins and I never talk to her anymore but I have so many great memories of her and she was always my mom's favorite niece and one of my favorite cousins.

She was a model when she was a little girl and was featured in some magazines. One day at church when I was in about 3rd grade they had a random bulletin board and there as part of the collage was a picture from a detergent ad Marla was in. It was so fun to see that- she is 10 years older than I am and when I got these geneology pictures recently I was happy to see some of Beautiful Baby Marla.