random thoughts

I was inspired by Kim's random thoughts so here goes....10 random thoughts

1. I need to get the laundry done in a really bad way

2. Heather and I are going for our annual Christmas shopping trip this weekend and I can hardly wait!!!

3. I have to buy presents for Nate, Daniel, Burton, Kevin, Jason and Josh...could I have a harder list??

4. I have to get organized for next week's Enrichment Meeting with my cousin Kelly-a professional organizer

5. I still have one bathroom, dusting and vacuuming before the house is clean for the weekend

6. I should probably iron the boys' Sunday clothes today since I won't be here on Saturday

7. I am really excited to put up my Christmas decorations this year which is weird since I usually don't get excited until after Thanksgiving.

8. I am sad about the state of a friend's marriage.

9. I am so grateful for my husband! I can trust him and I know he loves me unconditionally.

10. I need to get a better lock on the back door to keep Connor inside.

good reads

I have read some really great books lately so I thought I would share some. My sister-in-law Holly sent me a link where you can share your books on this website, but I am too lazy today. Oh and by the way have you ever gone to the library to check out a couple book that are in a series only to realize when you got home that you brought home two of the SAME book? Yeah me neither-only a idiot would do that. Seriously-I need a good nap! And the bad part it was book two-so I couldn't even start the series. Ok so here is my list:
(these are in order incase you want to read these, if by the same author they are a series)
Under Currents-Traci Hunter Abramson
Ripple Effect- Traci Hunter Abramson
The Deep End- Traci Hunter Abramson (haven't read this, but the 1st two were good-I am on the hold list)

The Bracelet-Jennie Hansen
The Emerald -Jennie Hansen
The Topaz-Jenni Hansen (haven't read this yet, as I am on hold for it-1st two were so good!)

Until the Dawn-Gale Sears
Autumn Sky-Gale Sears
Upon the Mountains-Gale Sears (also haven't read-have it on hold-great books!)

The Barrington Family Saga-Anita Stansfield (I have read books 1 and 2, #3 isn't due out until Nov, both books were excellent! I kind of got sick of this author awhile back, but I have loved these new books)

A bride most begrudging-Deanne Gist (so good! not an LDS author, this was about "Tobacco Brides" in the late 1600's who came to the Colonies as a punishment for committing crimes in England. They were forced to marry men here to try to populate the colonies. Very interesting, but light)

Of course: Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. If you haven't read these-where have you been? Sooooo Good.

So that is my recent book list. Most books are LDS in nature and very light reading. That is mostly what I like to read b/c I do it for pleasure. Nothing too heavy!

And on a side note-who is following Dancing with the Stars? I about started to cry when Sabrina got voted off. Seriously I thought she would take the top prize! I felt so bad for her!

so much to do...so little time

ok I know that I have been a lame blogger lately, but seriously so much to do....

1st of all Fantastic Friday went well....fantastic! I am so glad it is over with and I finally have all the projects delivered to people who couldn't come that night. My feet hurt so bad when I finally got home that night. I was basically on my feet from 3:30 to 10:00. The next day Shane was so nice and let me sleep in until right before Peyton's soccer game, even telling me I could stay in bed and miss his game, but I wanted to watch him play, so I drug myself out of bed and went to his game which was so fun!

This past weekend we had super fun weekend with Shane's family. My in-laws came to stay with us starting on Thursday night (10/25). My kids love it when Grandma and Grandpa come to stay with us. Anyway-they picked our nephews Kole and Braydon up at the airport on Friday morning. They flew here for the Kjar Halloween Party. We checked Peyton out from school early (by one hr) on Friday as I had promised him if we did anything fun we would come get him from school. G&G (grandma/grandpa) and I took the kids to artic circle for lunch, then Shane met up with us and we all went to a park by our house. We then went to Glover Nursery by our house and had the best time. They had pumkin painting, face painting, a spook alley, and a hayride. It is seriously the best kept secret! We were seriously the only ones there. While there Shane and I had to run to Peyton's parent/teacher conf (which by the way-he did so good! it was every parent's dream-he's such a smart, good student). G&G kept the kids at Glover's and kept them entertained. We got to do the hay ride for free since Shane and I bought 2 shrubs for our yard. What a deal! Shane then took us all down to IMC to see his new office and the cardiac ICU and operating room. It was very cool! The facility is beautiful! Shane is very excited to be working at such a nice hospital, especially since it will cut his commute in half. It was really cool to see the OR he will be working it. Let me brag for just a bit-my husband is so smart! I couldn't believe all the technical stuff that was just 2nd nature to him. I was overwhelmed by the fact that he really stands in an OR and harvests vein from patients legs. Honey-you are amazing! Thanks for working so hard for our family! Ok-so after about 1 1/2 hrs at the hospital we were ready to go home! The kids were tired and hungry. So we headed home and finished the night with pizza from Little Ceasars.

Saturday (10/27) Gay and I got up early to do some shopping at JCP (that woman can shop!) then we all went to Peyton's last soccer game where he scored a goal! Way to go buddy! He played really good. Kole and Braydon seemed to have fun seeing him play. After that Gay and I met my Mom at the mall from a little more shopping (did I mention that Gay know how to shop?) Shane had arranged for us to go horseback riding Saturday afternoon. A lady he works with lives in Grantsville and has horses. She has told us that we could come anytime to go horseback riding, so we took her up on her offer. We had such a blast! All the kids loved riding on the horses. Even Shane and I took a turn riding horses. It was so much fun! By the time we got home, it was late and the kids went right to sleep.

Sunday (10/28) all of Shane's siblings and their families except his youngest brother and sister came to our house for the PARTY! Grandma Gay planned the cutest games including: mummy wrapping, balloon popping, and bobbing for apples. The kids ran around like crazy but they had so much fun. We had sloppy joes, chips, and great salads for dinner. Monday Kole and Braydon flew back to Denver, and later that night Connor told me he forgot to give Braydon a hug and kiss. The boys had so much fun with their cousins for 3 crazy days. A HUGE thanks for Grandma and Grandpa Kjar for making this fun filled weekend happen. It was awesome!

Monday night (10/29) we went up to my parents for the Vick family Halloween party. This was a new tradition this year, and one I hope we continue. I made homemade chicken noodle soup (yes-with homemade noodles) and if I can say-it was so good and so easy to make! (I have to say thanks to Merwin for guiding me though the noodle making process and for cutting them out for me) My mom made 2 kinds of homemade bread, lentil soup, and chili. It was great! We played musical chairs-which my 2 yr old nephew Easton loved! His response to the music stopping was priceless! All the adults (except Shane and I) even dressed up. I think by Monday night we were too tired! My mom wore a dance costume that my sister Hollie wore when she was in 9th or 8th grade. Way to go mom-she looked HOT! My dad did it gansta style with his umbro's, cubs jersey, and his cubs hat sideways-so cute! (Forgot my camera for this event)

Tuesday (10/30) I took the kids with my friend Katie to Cornbelly's in Lehi for the cornmaze, etc. We had a blast but do you think I could remember my camera? NO! Luckily Katie (who is always prepared for anything) thought to bring a disposable, so I will have to get doubles from her. Seriously-if you didn't go to this-go next year. The corn maze was ok, but the other attractions were so much fun. The kids loved the giant pillows you could bounce on, the spider web, the "cow train" ride, and our favorite was the hay ride. It was so bumby, but the kids were laughing all the way, as well as Katie and I. Good times!

Yesterday-Halloween Connor and I went to Peyton's school in the morning for his costume parade. Can you believe these are the only pictures I remembered to take of my kids on Halloween? Peyton decided to be Batman to school b/c his Spiderman costume was to hot to wear to school. Connor was Bob the Builder. They both looked darling! Connor really got into trick-or-treating this year and was amazed that you could ring someones doorbell and they would actually give you candy! He didn't really get tired of walking around. Peyton actually wanted to go home before Connor did.

All in all you can see we have had crazy good times, and we are tired. I think I need a nap!

OH-by the way I learned how to make homemade apple pie! My sista Jenni has the best recipes. Shane teased me that the only reason I made this pie was so I could take a picture of it to post on my blog! I didn't hear any complaints when he ate it!

Oh what a week I've had!!!

Today is the BIG DAY! Fantastic Friday!! What the heck am I doing blogging?? I have had so many things happen (not all funny) that I had to hurry and write them down.
Kimi was here starting on Sunday and we had so much fun with Gay going shopping until my feet hurt. They are the best companions to go shopping to Ross and TJ Maxx with. Gay picks out the best stuff to show us and try to act serious about that she loves. We all found the cutest brown shoes in the kid dept at Ross that we all HAD to buy a pair-I hope we don't wear them to the same function. We were in such a hurry Tues to get Kim to the airport and we had just gotten home from Ross, so my shoes along with a pair I bought from Peyton ended up in Kim's stuff and are now in Denver-see you soon new shoes!
Earlier this week Peyton was going to the bathroom in our 1/2 bath off the kicthen when he yelled out to me "Mom, do all toilets lead to the ocean?" I think he has watched Nemo one too many times. I really got a kick out of that-ahh the random thoughts that come when in the bathroom......
Tuesday night I had my enrichment committee over for a quick meeting to make assignments for today. One of the girls had to bring a couple of her kids which I told her was great and would keep my kids entertained as Shane would be at scouts. They were all playing down in the playroom when we heard a big crash-which I thought was Connor throwing balls against the magnet board trying to knock the magnets off. About 10 mins later Peyton comes up and tells me that Connor thew Mr. Potato Head at him and he ducked and it hit the window. Yes-the crash was our window breaking!!! Luckily no one was hurt and their wasn't much glass on the floor(most of it fell between the two panes), and it broke the slider side so it's only going to be about $80 to replace-still the window isn't even 3 yrs old!! I was so embarssed b/c I had 9 ladies sitting in my family room going "did he really break a window??? Yes, yes he did." Sigh.
Then the best part-yesterday as I was driving doing errands-( was on my way to Dollar Tree for plastic table cloths for tonight) I was talking to Heather on the phone when yeah-I rear ended someone. Now before you tell me I shouldn't have been on the phone, let me say I know, however it's when I looked down at who knows what that I didn't stop fast enough. I knew the traffic was coming to a stop but it was coming to a stop faster than my foot pressed on the brake. Luckily no on was hurt and I was only going about 10-15 mph. I felt so stupid!!!! The guy I hit couldn't have been nicer and didn't want to call the police so that saved me a ticket! He didn't seem to have too much damage, but it did bent his trunk a bit. My car is basically fine except for the licence plate and a ding in the bumper. The best thing of all-we have one payment left on the 4 runner and it will be paid off next month!! Arghhhhhh! Oh-and when I called my agent (Betty-my Mom's BFF) I totally started to cry on the phone. It's a good thing it was Betty-love her!
So in a nutshell that has been my week! I will be so happy when tonight is done with!!! Wish me luck!

too many toys...

I have been feeling guilt lately. Both my boys just had birthdays and I am totally embarrassed to say that we have TOO MANY TOYS! How does this happen to someone who honestly (in their mind anyway) tries to keep the toys under control? I mean I don't buy my kids things unless it's for a special occasion, etc. But somehow we are finding ourselves overrun with toys. Clutter is something that drives me crazy! It makes my stomach hurt and makes me feel like I am living in a dirty house. Hate that! I will admit that it seems that I have a touch of OCD when it comes to keeping a clean house and trying to organize. Anyhow-since we just had two b-day's within the past two months and Christmas is coming fast I thought it would be a great time to go through the toys with the kids. They did such a great job! The 1st picture is the pile that we are taking to DI ( sorry if you see things you gave my kids that we are parting with-we have loved them and played with them, however we are done with them and want someone else to enjoy them as much as we did!) and the second is our newly cleaned toy closet in the playroom. I mean it was getting to the point that the playroom wouldn't hold everything. Give me a break. If a whole room for two little boys won't hold all their "stuff' isn't that a sign that you have too much?

Shane doesn't share my enthusiasm with getting rid of toys. He is of the mindset that we should save stuff should there be a 3rd child. I tell him that if that does happen that child will have birthdays and Christmas in which to accumulate his or her own toys. Now don't think I am too crazy-I didn't give away all the baby toys, but you can only keep so much!

I read on a blog that I read occasionally http://www.creativeorganizing.typepad.com/ about how she just organized her little boys room and that got me thinking and excited to get Peyton's and Connor's rooms organized for fall. Take a look at her blog it is so cute! She also had a great post about organizing your games in one central location. I am totally doing that-the bottom shelf in our hall closet will be the perfect spot. In doing this it will help me organize the kids rooms as Peyton has a lot of our games in his closet. See one thing leads to another-can't do the playroom w/o doing the kids rooms, can't do the games w/o doing the kids rooms and the family room. Can you tell I have the fall cleaning bug?

Another blog that I love is http://www.shannonbrown.typepad.com/ I can't remember how I stumbled on her blog, but she is so cute. I want her to be my friend! I have no idea where she lives, but she seems like a down to earth kind of gal! She had a cute idea on how to make your blog into a book which I loved and has inspired me to keep up on mine more often. Way to go Shannon! Cute new family room re-do!

one more random note and Jacy you will be thrilled!!!!!! Did anyone notice my pictures aren't all stuck at the top? Yeah- I was able to drag pictures down into my post. Yeah for me! I didn't get one turned but you can't expect too much technical abilities in one post.

Snowbird 2007 and random stuff

(Isn't my Mom so cute? She didn't want to get her hair wet so she wore my Dad's hat)

This past weekend we went up to Snowbird for my parents time share. Shane and I actually slept over with the boys on Saturday night which is something we haven't done for a few years mostly because our kids have been too small and it's too hectic to set up a pack-n-play and there are ususally a lot of family sleeping over. As it turns out everyone had stuff going on Sunday and couldn't stay over, so it was just my parents, my family and my nephew Jefferson. We had so much fun! It was bad weather on Saturday and snowed clear down into the valley, so by the time we got up to Snowbird, it was so pretty! After being inside for a couple of hrs we all (Shane decided to stay home and take a nap)decided to go for a walk over to Oktoberfest. It was totally snowing and so much fun. The kids thought it was so great to see snow. Peyton, Hailey and Madison got into a snowball fight with MelAnnie. Connor thought that the snow was great by he kept yelling for everyone to wait for him! Gosh! Sunday we got up and went to church up at the bird. We have been going to Snowbird since I think I was 12 or younger and we never knew they had an LDS branch up there at the Snowbird Center. It was a very sweet service that last an hr and consisted of Sunday School and Sacrament meeting. There were about 30 in attendance. It was come as you are, so we didn't have to dress in our Sunday clothes (good thing b/c I brought a short sleeves and no nylons outfit for church). It was a little strange being there in regular street clothes, but I was so glad we went and the kids were so good during the hour long service. While we were walking back to the condo after church my Dad totally hit me in the head with a snowball! I could tell he felt so bad-looking back on it, it was pretty funny! Good aim Dad! The weather turned really nice on Sunday and by the time we got back to our house Sunday I couldn't believe how warm it felt in the Valley. All in all a fun time at the bird!

Other random stuff-this week is Albertson's (love their sales) General Mills sale. I persuaded Shane to go with me which was really a great help! I ended up getting 2 boxes of potato flakes, 7 cans of progresso soup, 6 boxes of Gogurt, (4) 6-packs of kids yougurt, 4 tubes of crescent rolls,1 tube of Cinnamon rolls, 1 box of pizza rolls, 1 box of toaster streudel, 2 tubs of Grands biscuts, 1 bag of frozen garlic dinner rolls, 2 bags of frozen biscuts,11 boxes of cereal ( Total rasin bran, cheerios, kix, cinnamon toast crunch, golden grahams), 5 boxes of fruit roll-ups, 2 boxes of granola bars, 2 cookies mixes, 3 cans of frosting, 1 cake mix, 2 muffin mixes, 2 boxes of frozen corn, and 1 box of frozen peas......oh and 2 packs of jelly belly gum for the kids and a magazine for $4.29 (it threw off my total).......all for $ 64.28!!! My savings were $138.35! I was so excited! way to go coupons and way to go Albertsons! Some of the stuff I normally wouldn't buy (toaster streudel or pizza rolls, but hey they were like .50 or so, so I say what the heck we'll try it). Oh and last week I got 16 packages of sausages (the rolls and the links) for $6.66 (that included one other small purchase for about $3.00) so $3.66 for that much-holy cow-maybe I should be saying holy pig!! Seriously you have to try pinchingyourpennies.com it really becomes a game or a sick obsession to see how much product you can get for the least amout of money. I guess if that is my obession it can't be a bad one. later.....

Happy Birthday Connor!!!

Connor turned 3 today, and I can't believe my little bubba luca is 3! I feel like he is officially out of baby mode and really a big boy now. We are working on potty training and you'd think since I have done this once before I would have a better idea how to handle this one...not so much. Hang in there little buddy we'll figure this out together! It just goes to show you that each little spirit has their own personality built in.

Here are some fun things about Connor:

He loves to snuggle and gives the best hugs! I love how he will bury his face into my neck and play with my hair. He loves to be tickled on his stomach, back, arms, legs, and face. He will say "tickle me Mama." I could melt. He is the ultimate boy and loves anything to do with sports. He can pitch a baseball like nobody's business (seriously he winds up and everything-it's so cute!). He currently loves Go Deigo, Go, Dora and Yo Gabba, Gabba. He loves to play with his friends Dylan and Benjamin. He always has to wear shoes in the house and for those that really know him-he almost always wears a hat. Seriously he loves his baseball hats!

I can't imagine our family without him. He is the best little boy and we love him so much! Happy Birthday Connor-we love you!!!

We had a fun little party for him on Monday night since Shane's parents were up at our house. He got the best presents from everyone and didn't know what to play with 1st this morning. Peyton is in heaven as well with all the new toys around-thanks everyone he loved everything! We had banana splits and ice cream sundaes which were a fun alternative to cake that never seems to get eaten and then I end up eating it for like 4 days afterwards-bad habit! We rounded out his b-day today with dinner at Texas Roadhouse and a trip to the library to get some movies and books. Such a fun birthday-he's such a sweetie!

(do you like the picture here? I found him in the bathroom washing an apple in the bathroom sink and eating it? What? That's Connor! Do you love his new haircut? He asks me all the time "Mom you like you my new haircut?" So funny!)