Parker & Jane Photo Shoot

Today I took Parker out for his Senior Portraits. He hates having his picture taken, so I tried to make it quick. Between this photo shoot and the last one we did, I think we have quite a few nice ones to work with.

I also did some shots of Jane that I'm really pleased with.

Enjoy....

Potpourri Blog Post

Today is my anniversary.

Four years ago, Matt and I took one another by the hand and jumped into the volcano.

Best

Decision

Of

My

Life

We're still in love to a nerdy degree, still making each other laugh, still happier than Romy on sugar.

I love you so much, Matt.
Thank you for being an incredible husband, father, friend and for being so freaking hot.

Aren't we a pair?

I love you, Schmoop, even if you are a big 'Galoob.'

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Yesterday was Parker's birthday.

True to form, we kept it low key. He invited Jake over and because Jake is a Jehovah's Witness and they don't celebrate birthdays, it gave us more of an excuse to forgo many of the cheesy birthday activities that 17 year old boys don't really want to do anyway.

We went to Pie Pizzeria and came home and had cheesecake and gave him his presents.

Happy Birthday, Kid. I can't believe you are 17 already and starting your Senior year in High School.

I'm proud of you and glad you're my son. I love you very much.

Please go clean you room now.

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Finally, I need to post the rest of the Moab pictures that I like.

Matt took the girls out Jeep-ing and they made a wrong turn and instead of going on the weenie trail, they were on an advanced trail and they scared the pants off themselves. They were fine, they were in a few tricky spots, but all 4 wheels of the Jeep stayed on the ground and they returned to the cabin in four pieces.

It was a great vacation, we will stay there again. That's as close to roughing it as we can handle, we hate camping and thus far have only been able to finish out a night if we are in our own back yard. This was a happy medium and w have found our camping style for this bunch of wilderness wusses.

Where It All Began

Yesterday I got to spend the afternoon with this woman....

Isn't she a cutie?

That's Matt's mom, Maggie. (I call her Mom, too. Just because Matt saw her first, it doesn't mean I can't call dibs at family functions.) I love her tons. She is my friend, my support and an inspiration to me. I have said it before, if she wasn't my mother in law, I'd pick her to be my friend.

She is a good mom who has raised five great kids, each who embraces their own, unique personalities and who learn and grow from the hardships they face in life. They are funny and interesting people and their ability to overcome the challenges that come are a sign that they had good parents who taught them by example that you can still be happy and smile even when the day also brings tears.

The Olson "kids" are a great bunch.

I am blessed to be part of this family and thankful every day that Maggie and Art were such great parents. I see their individual strengths shining in my husband, and in my home.

We spent the day talking, playing with Little Miss Lilly (cute cute cute) and scanning family history photos, as well as some from Matt's childhood.

This one was my favorite.

When we do family portraits, Matt always suggests we do one with silly faces, something we had never done in my family. They always turn out to be my favorite picture and seeing this picture showed me where it all began.

Arches National Park

We're wrapping up our getaway to Moab, yesterday we hit Arches National Park. I have to say, I was moved to tears at some of the views. You cannot look at the canyons and rock formations without knowing that not only is there a God, but he's an artist as well.

So many of the pictures look like they were taken in front of a green screen, but we really were there.

This is where they filmed the opening scenes of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. This is also where the first bathroom in miles finally appeared.

We had the option of doing an hour long hike to the arches, and we took a family vote and all started laughing. We're not going hiking in the desert. That sounds like work.

Balanced Rock was pretty cool, even Parker took a closer look.

He even smiled for a picture.

This is the spot that totally took my breath away.

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So did this scene......

Okay, not so much, but this woman was keeping up with us for every leg of the trip and got out at every pit stop right along with us. She was traveling with a man who was not a big believer in that modern road trip necessity we call deodorant and as the day progressed, her shirt fell lower and lower showing way too much information.

I have to admit, we started to make it a game to see if we could get in pictures with her, but her stinky companion made it hard to get too close, plus Kate kept busting up laughing.

We settled for this, just in case any of you had any doubts about us being rotten people.....

Link to Sharpie Tie Dye

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000032

The internet is spotty tonight and I had a few people ask me about the Sharpie tie dye . (I keep losing my connection every time I try and email you, Andrea. :) )

I cannot for the life of me remember which blog directed me to the link above,

but this is where I got my instructions.

If you google "Sharpie Tie Dye" it will give you a bunch of places as well.

PS- we used the Bic brand pens, and they worked fine and were four bucks less a pack.

Good luck and I want to see the pictures of what you and your kids create!

Sharpie Tie Dye and a Vent

Yesterday we celebrated Kate's Birthday.

For some reason our phone would not stop ringing with people calling from Northern Utah and simply hanging up.

All.

Day.

Long.

I normally don't blog about this stuff, but everyone in the house, including the kids have some strong emotions about what we had to deal with yesterday. It was hard on everyone and it tainted the day.

It was unfair to Kate, it was unfair to everyone that we had to put up with the phone ringing off the hook by people who simply wanted her birthday to be about THEM.

It's called self control, try using it.

 Have a little self respect and dignity. 

 Your children are watching.

End rant.

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Because Kate wanted to have a "city day" with Dad, we kept the at home celebration pretty low key. 

We don't really do huge birthday celebrations here, the kids are all getting older and what they care about is the gifts and  the cake.

With all that's going on, Kate's cake was kind of a blah. I had to go to a bakery and buy one, I was just too busy. She still liked it and still got to make that birthday wish.

What I love about Katie is that she held this pre-wish pose a little long, making sure I got the picture, without any prompting.

Such is the life of the child of a scrapbooker, LOL.

She wanted a digital video camera and lo and behold, she got one. She also got a book about behind the scenes Twilight stuff, a jewelry box, a lot of cute clothes and jewelry and a Vampire Diaries book bag.

While Kate was out with Dad, Jane and I did an art project.

I think Jane loves having a parent who is shamelessly crafty. I always have an art project or seven waiting in the wings and I've been wanting to try this one for a few weeks.

Sharpie tie dye.

I wasn't sure it would work, but boy, did it ever.

Check it out, doesn't she look proud? 

Good Work, Jane!

Year 13....

Happy Birthday to Katie.

Today we will celebrate by "not camping" at Katie's request.

She's going to do sushi with Dad and then presents and cake with the rest of the family afterwards.

I was notified by the website that did my last background that the one I am using is going the way of the dodo and I've been trying to find a new one this morning, but my technical skills regarding web design end at "oh that's cute..." so Matt will have to help me install a new one and make it fit tonight.

Sorry this looks like crap.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Katie, we are proud of some of the changes you have been making lately and here's hoping your 13th year is a great one, Kiddo.

Days of '47 Floats

You'd think with these lazy days of summer, I'd be blogging more, but it seems that the sunshine and free days have drawn me from my cave and I'm actually out more doing things.

I know.

I don't "do" things.

Another reason I'm not posting is that it's been an intense couple of weeks on a personal level and there are things that are taking up much of my mind and heart and they are things that the spirit tells me are not blog fodder. Nothing bad except the return of my back pain with a vengeance, but things I am still working out in my heart until I understand the message more clearly as to what God would have me take from these experiences.

And again-- we're doing things.

Yesterday we went to the South Towne Expo center to check out the floats from the Days of '47 parade. Our stake entered a float, but we didn't have the kids go downtown and participate in the parade.

We kind of hate parades.

This was the float our stake did:

Great work to the primary and the leaders who, no doubt, did all of the work. :)

There were a lot of cool floats and we had to vote for the one we felt was best. The small floats were not eligible or we'd have voted for our stake float.

Of course we LOVED this one:

I wonder why? ;)

But it didn't get our vote. As we walked through and were amazed by the mechanics and artwork of the floats we saw one that blew us all away. I didn't get a very good picture of it, but it was a fun float showing seagulls making "cricket cookies" and was called "Turn Your Trials into Treats" I believe it was done by Murray City.

It had probably over 100 individual, glittery crickets and giant moving birds all working to make the cookies and it was super cute and it is also my favorite Pioneer story. It was the one I loved most and I voted for that one. I was happy to see the girls also voted for it, it's a story we have talked about a few times in our family because it has so much meaning to us.

All of the floats were incredible and it was cool to see them all so close up, the work and detail they put into these is amazing, I never knew.

The exhibit is still up through today, free to the public from 11 am- 9pm, so if you're looking for something to do today---head on over and cast your vote for your favorite float!

Tin Grin

Kate is the 4th of our kids to get braces, her teeth were the most messed up of them all, even worse than Greyson's and we all know he was Shrek before we started his treatment.

All of the kids have been in treatment since Matt and I got married when they got about age 12, it's time for the big appliance to be put on. Katie will have her braces for at least 2 years, she has issues with impacted teeth that need to be remedied. Already we can all see the gap in her two front teeth closing and she is super excited.

I hope her experience with braces will be a good one. Greyson is next summer, then Jane and then Romy. At $4000+ bucks a kid, it adds up but it's important that they have their bite aligned and avoid problems down the road.

Caleb, we told her if she needs any wax to go to you and the two of you can eat ice cream together after you have them adjusted every month.

Congrats Katie!!

Pictures from a Great Week

The Mitchells leave tomorrow morning. We're sure going to miss them. They really are family to us, only minus the "we share DNA so I am entitled to treat you like crap" part that comes from some.

Here are a bunch of pictures showing some of the fun things we did.

Mostly we talked and talked. Kristine and I talked until just after 3 am one night and all of the girls had a great time with each other. It was like they were having a huge slumber party every night for a week and each girl had at least one person close to her age.

I don't have pictures but Matt and Chris took the Jeep out to Little Moab and had a great time seeing what the Jeep could do and also chickening out on really seeing what it was really capable of. :)

The boys had a great time, mostly they just avoided having to go on as many outings as possible. They've been best friends since they were all babies, it was a bummer that Zane wasn't here but Parker, Leir and Quinn still managed to play an obscene amount of Nintendo and get that bedroom smelling like eau de teenage boy completely.

--

We did a fun photo shoot with Kristine and her girls and got some great shots of them all. This one is of Kristine, my beautiful and talented best friend.

We went backyard camping one night and played Mad Libs and watched "Annie." Mom wrenched her back laying on the ground during the movie and the kids coined some new phrases that only our family will ever find funny, such as one of the kids meaning to answer one of the Mad Libs with "Barack Obama" but since they were little, it was "Barak O' Bottom." Every time there was quiet in the conversation, someone would blurt out "Barak O'Bottom" and we'd all bust up laughing.

Maybe you had to be there.

Don't you kind of wish you HAD been there?
Fun Stuff.

With 11 children and 4 adults in the house, on pizza night we consumed an obscene amount of pizza. Just look at poor Quinn struggle to take out the empty boxes. All of these pizzas were gone in about 30 minutes. Kristine and I didn't even eat any.

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We bribed the big boys and hit Utah Lake together. The Beach was fairly empty and the weather and water were perfect. We even got Parker and Quinn to swim.
Honestly, I haven't seen Parker in shorts or trunks in years. Everyone had a total blast at the lake.
We had a Mom and Daughter night and did makeovers for all of the girls. Some of the girls looked just too grown up with Mom's bright red lipstick, but we had a fun time teasing and curling and experimenting with beauty queen hairdos on the girls. Having had only boys until just a few months ago, we fully initiated Kristine into "mom of girls" club. Even if they seem to be too old, girls always love to play dress up.

We finished off the visit with a movie and lunch at KFC. The big girls saw Eclipse again and the rest of us spared ourselves the misery and saw Toy Story 3.

Anyone who knows me knows of my disdain for kid movies and one of the awesome parts of having been divorced (yes, there are awesome parts) is that the exes are always willing to take the kids to see every new inane movie that comes out. I am spared having to take kids to a lot of movies I have no desire to see and my feelings about Toy Story were in line with my usual way of thinking. When we decided to see it, I wanted to be with my friends more than I didn't want to see the movie so I bought some popcorn and prepared for the worst.

Um....so.......Toy Story 3 is a terrific movie.

I cried three times during the show.

Chris and Kristine also cried.

The kids didn't cry, but all three adults did.

I cried at a freaking kid movie.

What is happening to me?

Is my Grinchly heart growing?

I shudder to think what this could lead to. I may just begin going to kid movies of my own free will and choice before long.

However, if anyone even dares to suggest I see any of those Twilight movies, and that I'd cry watching them, too- I will stab them in the eye with a plastic spoon.

Mmmmm.....Jam....

We still have house guests (love love love you guys!) and they wanted to go out sightseeing today to Antelope Island.

I wished them well, and they took their crew as well as Emma and Jane. Kate wanted to stay home with mom and help can peach jam and go out to lunch.

we got 51 jars of peach jam canned and this time I remembered to add the sugar AFTER the pectin, so it's all actual jam and not syrup.

I get such a nerdy high from canning. It completely makes me feel centered and happy and I still just love those popping noises when the jars seal. It makes me tired, but I feel fantastic when I've finished and it takes me a good week to bring the jars downstairs to the food storage room.

I taught Kate my super secret recipe so that your peach jam kicks way more butt than other peach jams.

Now, it is up to her to guard it with her life.

We had a good afternoon talking, joking and working together. It's important to pass these skills on to my children and hopefully when they grow up they will have memories with their kids over bowls of sticky fruit, too.

Full House

The Mitchells came out for a week long visit bringing with them Leir and Quinn and the 3 girls they are in the process of adopting. Matt picked up his girls today and we have a FULL HOUSE right now.

We've been tearing up the town and I took the girls out for a photo shoot so they could have some fun pictures to scrapbook. When I went to pick them up, the lab had my pictures held back and made me sign a copyright release form because they thought they were professional photographs.

I was quite proud of that,lol.

I can't post pictures from that shoot, because until the adoption goes through, since the girls have been in the foster care system, you're not supposed to post pictures of them in social networks, I don't know if a blog is considered a social network, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

I'm proud of Kristine and Chris for being willing to take on these kids, they have some issues and have been in the system a long time and they have a world class Fuppy biomother who had hurt them a great deal. I think Kristine and Chris are just what these girls need and the impact they have on the girls is something that we can see in them already.

We've had a few talks about what it's like to have an instant giant family with giant baggage and it's been good to share ideas and talk about it all. Plus, they are such good and dear friends it is always wonderful to see them.

The house is bursting at the seams, but we don't care. It's great to have them here.

Saturday Parker had his Senior portraits taken, and we looked at what the studio offered to do and decided we will do his actual portraits ourselves because I can do a better job myself and we will get whatever poses he wants without it being cheesy and cliche'.

We swung by my favorite spot to take pictures in Murray and snapped a few. I have some photo enhancing to do, but this was one of his shots from that shoot. Senior year already, yikes. What happened to this kid?

I love you, Parker.

I wish you'd get out of bed before noon and take school more seriously, but I'm proud to be your mom and I think you are a good kid, even if you do have 10 cups in your bedroom on any given day.

Two Birthdays

Yesterday we celebrated two birthdays. Matt and Romy were born exactly 30 years apart and they both think it's kind of fun to share a birthday with someone in the family.
Look at that handsome guy, no wonder he grew up to be so good looking. Matt was an adorable baby.

So was Romy. People would literally stop me in public and comment about how pretty she was.

Roe had a hard time waiting until Dad got home to open presents, but it was worth the wait for her.

Let me explain about this present- it's a "pillow pet"---sort of.

Pillow Pets are these pillows with heads on them that they advertise on TV all of the time. They advertise them on channels I do not watch- ever. I don't watch TV with my kids, either so I had no idea what they were and how badly Romy wanted one.

While I was out with Kate just before we left for our trip, I mentioned that i had no idea what to get Romy this year and Kate told me "Are you kidding? Haven't you heard her talk about how much she wants a pillow pet?"

"What's a pillow pet?" I asked.

"It's the ONLY thing she wants."

"Ah, nice of her to tell the person who buys her birthday presents......"

And as I searched for a pillow pet, I found that they can only be ordered online and many people who ordered them early November did not get them in time for Christmas, the company had really bad customer service and shipping times were slow.

No way was that gong to arrive in time for her birthday.

So, with some encouragement from Matt, I decided to make one.

I bought a really soft pillow and a stuffed puppy that matched. I hacked the head off the dog and stabbed myself in the finger about 4 times sewing it onto the pillow.

She opened it and seemed really happy.I was relieved until later I heard her and Greyson talking about how it was a "fake" pillow pet and they speculated what black market illegal trade company I must have picked it up from and when the feds were coming to haul me to jail for trying to pass that off as a "pillow pet."

I'm going to pretend I didn't hear it, and the decapitated puppy head pillow stays. Next time tell Mom what you want, Kid.

Matt has far less interesting stories attached to his gifts, and far less interesting gifts--not that the pillow pet rant was actually interesting, but still...

He got a lot of chocolate, three itunes cards, some Frank Sinatra and Jeep stuff.

I made Romy this cake, I am way happy with how it turned out. Matt wanted his Mom's lemon cheesecake. Since lemon cheesecake sounded so good, i was more than happy to make two cakes. There are only 4 people at home right now though, and that's a lot of cake for 4 people. I have a feeling Rosie is going to be enjoying some birthday cake today, too.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to tow of my favorite people that I love so very much. You two characters make everything in this family funnier and better and we all just adore you.