Super Bowl Sunday...pain and suffering and I'm not talking about the Cardinals!

This year, we decided to take a break from our annual Super Bowl party and just chill as a family. We totally slept in and missed church (oops! But kinda worth it.) and then did a bunch of stuff around the house and yard. I really didn't feel like doing anything but Allan guilted me into helping him. So we organized the garage, got our flower beds ready for spring planting, put all of the Christmas up and out of the way and then Allan took the boys and let me have a few minutes of silence. It was nice.

After they got home, I started to make snacks for the Super Bowl. I made Little Smokies, wrapped in bacon, covered them with brown sugar and then baked them until they browned. I think this is quite possibly the unhealthiest thing you could ever eat but since I had decided to have a free day from dieting, I figured I should make it worth my while! They ended up very tasty.

After I made those, I made up a batch of cookies that were pretty disgusting. I'm not sure what I did, but yuck! I had to have missed an ingredient somewhere which is quite possible since my kids would not leave me alone for a second when they got back home! At one point, they followed me to the bathroom and waited outside the door until I yelled at them to leave me alone for a minute! Seriously, it was annoying. And it ruined a batch of cookies.

Then, while I was making guacamole, I managed to cut in between my index finger and my middle finger with a serrated knife. Deeply cut would be more accurate. I hurried and grabbed a towel and wrapped my hand and then promptly laid on the kitchen floor because I was either going to pass out or puke. It hurt so, so, so much! Allan came over and tried to get me off the floor but every time I tried to sit up, I got completely dizzy. LAME! I finally crawled to the couch and let Allan take a look at my hand. He looked at it and announced that I was fine and to toughen up, I had given birth to two kids after all! (Yes, those were his words. Not kidding.) No sympathy for me! Since there was no way I was going to the ER on a Sunday, (I probably should have gotten stitches, I have realized in hindsight) I let Allan clean it and bandage it up. And now I have a 1/2 inch deep gash in between my fingers that I can't get wet or dirty. Which is great news for me because I was going to clean bathrooms but now I get to delegate instead. But really inconvenient because I can't do my hair because it hurts to have my hand above my head for too long. Oh well! This too shall pass. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a less painful day!

Christmas was great! And other random tidbits...

Well, most of it was, anyway! Besides Caleb and me being sick, it was awesome!(we are still sick and now poor Carson has it! YUCK!) The kids were thrilled with their presents. It had snowed all night and so we had our first white Christmas ever! (OK, everyone but me. I have had many white Christmases in my life. I am a transplant to this area, LOL!) Well, they were thrilled until they realized that they couldn't go outside and play with their new toys. That is the beauty of living in the desert, Christmas is usually warm! So they just broke out all the new video games and played with those instead. Caleb did go outside and try out his new Rip Stik but it was too wet to really get to ride it.

Santa was here!

Caleb's new Rip Stik. He was thrilled, it was the one thing he asked for over and over. And he has already figured out how to ride it. Allan has mastered it too. I haven't even tried. I would probably fall and break my hip or something.

Carson opening his Nintendo DS. It is the only thing he asked Santa for. I had a really hard time with giving a 3 year old a DS. But Santa overruled me and he got one.

Caleb's new MP3 player. He used to have a different one until Carson put it in a cup of water. We loaded a bunch of songs on it and now I've decided that I need one too. I can't bring myself to buy an Ipod. I would probably lose it or break it and then I would be in trouble. So I'll just stick with the cheap(er) stuff!

Carson showing off his Transformer stuff. He. Loves. Transformers. He is in heaven!

The mess.

The loot.

We also had a nice family dinner. I cooked a ham that just wouldn't get warm! But we all just kicked back and talked until the stupid thing cooked. The wait was worth it because it ended up yummy! Beyond dinner, I can't remember too much. I ended up with a migrane and spent the rest of the night on the couch! I make it sound like Christmas was miserable but it totally wasn't! I guess its just tradition for me to be sick on the holidays!

My mom and step dad flew out for Christmas. They just made it a quick trip because my mom was recently put in as the Primary President and she needed to make it back home on Sunday. Well, with all the wonderful weather, they kept missing their connecting flights! I felt so bad for them because they didn't end up getting home until like 1 in the morning and they had to drive through a horrible blizzard to get there! Oh and they also lost their luggage(still not as bad as losing your luggage in Mexico mom! I still win the lost luggage contest! Your experience still ranks in the top 5 though!) And their car was frozen solid at the airport because of an ice storm. After prying themselves out of bed on Sunday, they went to church and they found out they only had Sacrement because of the weather. Seriously, could their luck have gotten any worse? They are never going to want to visit us again!

Allan took the boys sledding on Friday. They had a great time getting pulled around on tubes with the ATV's. (no pictures because mom wasn't there!) I really should have made Caleb stay home because of his cold but I just couldn't tell him no! After all, how often do we get to go sledding around here? I stayed home because I had made plans with my friends days ago to go out.

On Saturday and Sunday, I was sick! I didn't get off the couch except to go to bed. I was sooo exhausted that I was pretty sure that I was going to die! But I'm still alive. And I'm still kinda sick. Caleb and Carson aren't doing too hot either. I'm thinking that we should ring in the New Year tomorrow and get some sleep tonight!

I hope your Christmas was as wonderful as mine!

Oh and Happy New Year too!

7 Random/Weird Facts About ME!

Crazy Mama of 6 (aka Julie) tagged me. This is a fun one so be sure to leave me a comment when you tag-ee's get done!


1. Even though my house is nowhere near clean, I'm kind of a germ phobe! I wash my hands constantly, I carry hand sanitizer, and at the grocery store I wipe down the cart before I use it.

2. I like reality shows like Ghost Hunters, Paranormal State, and Most Haunted. I will only watch them during the daytime though because I'm too chicken to watch them at night! But I will not watch a scary movie EVER!

3. I hate to wear make-up and I avoid putting it on whenever I can. Except that I have made a goal to get up and get ready on the days that I'm not cleaning the house. So now I wear make-up almost every day and I hate it! Make sense of that!

4. I hate pickles and fish. However, I love tartar sauce and fish when its battered and deep fried. MMMM...

5. I love to scrapbook and I have a ton of stuff to do it. I have a scrapbook/craft room. The problem? I never scrapbook!

6. I love to watch TV and I record a bunch of shows every day. I love to escape from reality and TV does the trick!

7. I'm a very outgoing person. But I will not speak in front of crowds. I freeze up and my mind just shuts down. Its especially fun when you are asked to pray in church and you can't think of anything to say.



I'm going to tag:

Nat

Heidi

Emma

Sheree (private)

Stacha

Andrea

Cindy

I'm baack!

OK, this post is going to be of many random things so just bear with me, ok?! I'm just overflowing with thought!

First of all, I love Sara Palin!

I think she is an awesome choice for VP! I love that a woman that I can relate to will (hopefully) be in the White House! She has a family, she is a hockey mom, and she loves her husband. Wow, what a concept! Finally, someone in this race that I can stomach...she is the perfect choice. I wish she was running for president. I would be out on the streets campaigning for her! LOVE HER! She is what politics should be. OK I feel better, I have wanted to post that for weeks!

I know, I know, you want to know about my cruise. Well, we had a great time! But in the same breath, I don't really love the cruising thing. Its too scheduled for me. Be on the boat at 4. Dinner is at 8. Blah blah blah! Plus, everything on the boat is just too damn expensive. No thanks! Give me a hotel with a beach front any day. Cruising just ain't for me.

OK the funniest thing happened the first night at dinner. We all ordered shrimp cocktail and Allan was like "why is there only 4 shrimp on the plate, there should be 10." So he tells this to our waiter and the waiter says "you want 10, I'll bring you 10" and instead of 10 shrimp on a plate, he brought out 10 plates of shrimp! So we are all laughing our butts off eating shrimp because there was no way we were going to let all that good shrimp go to waste!

MMMM....Shrimp

Anywho, we went to San Diego on Tuesday. We went to Sea World and that was pretty dang cool. Those animals have got talent! I think this was the most fun that we had on the whole cruise. I'm not gonna lie, amusement parks without your kids are way more fun!

Loving those sharks!

Taking the pink flamingos for a walk. Does anyone know why pink flamingos are pink? Because they eat shrimp...We have decided that Allan should be pink too from all the shrimp he ate the night before.

The coolest looking lizard I have ever seen. And no, I didn't touch it.

The second day of the cruise, we went to Catalina Island. We went on a tour of the island and then to the Wrigley Memorial Bontanical Gardens. The island is very pretty. If you want to spend a fortune on a t-shirt and a meal, this is the place to go! HAHA, just kidding. I'm sounding a little cheap in this post but those who know me know that's not true. OK, back to Catalina. After the tour we went and played on the beach. It was the smallest beach I have ever seen! But it was cool to just chill out and get a tan while my husband played in the ocean like a little boy. Honestly, I have never seen Allan as happy as he is when he gets near the ocean. It is hilarious!

Allan and me on the tour. We were the youngest people on the tour by like 40 years, LOL. Even the bus driver didn't believe we were on the tour. He said we were way to young, HAHA!
We love those pretty flowers! If my hubby wasn't a landscaper, I would worry about what his love of flowers meant...
Insert joke here. I know that we made a whole bunch!

Up on Wrigleys Memorial. Nate, Andrea, me and Allan. Aren't we just so hot?
In front of the cool looking fountain. Those are all handmade tiles. I think they are nifty.

The next day we were in Ensenada, unfortunately. It was lame. We went back to the ship and took a nap. Later that night, Allan and I went to karaoke and it was so funny to watch! Seriously, I was laughing so hard that I had tears running down my face. People will do anything for attention that's all I can say! After listening to the many "talented" singers we went to a comedy show and the guy was actually pretty funny. Then we realized it was like 2 in the morning and we had to be up at 6 to go home so we went to bed. End of cruise. Drive for 7 hours. Then we were home!

To be continued.....

What did we do this weekend?

Well, first of all, I didn't take one single picture of any of the many fun things we did this weekend, OOPS! On Friday, we had a fabulous BBQ at my house with my very cool friends. We had Todd and Emma and kids, Nate and Andrea and kids, Ike and Nicky and kids and Tia and Rylee all come over for our "End of Summer" fest. We swam, ate and just had a blast! It was just so fun and relaxing. Tia and Rylee had a sleepover because Cortney was on the bow hunt. We stayed up until one in the morning talking without even realizing it! Then of course, the kids got up bright and early.

On Saturday, after we finally got up and going, we loaded up the camper and went up to Gardner Ranch. Our friend Andrea's family owns this ranch and it is so cool! Its the ultimate camp site. There is a pool that is filled by a natural spring, a large grassy area with a playground, and 1700 acres of ATV riding. Oh, and it has bathrooms and a shower. It is awesome. We had a great time! This will probably be our last camping trip of the summer too. :(

On Sunday, we were going to come home about noon (Stake Conference today, YAY!) but the kids were having so much fun that we stayed there until almost three. Then we came home and I made a prime rib dinner (YUM-O) and put the kids to bed. And needless to say, I am dead tired! So I'm hoping that this post makes sense. If not, oh well, I tried!

How was your weekend?