Morris Family Journal

Videos of Disneyland

2012-01-09T09:19:00.002-07:00

I took lots of videos of the kiddos at Disneyland.

I love them and think they are funny but that's because they are my kids. You might find them boring. Kinda like it is when other people show you pictures of their pets. You might act interested but you really could care less.

This is the scariest ride ever.

This one is long but the girls do a great job of following the dancers.

Hilarious.

Dang it, I didn't get to take a video of Tabby driving because she drove with Dale every time!

Well those are our vids!

Disneyland Trip 2011

2012-01-02T21:03:00.025-07:00

One of my biggest wants for my kiddos always has been for them to go to Disneyland. And in December, they got to do just that!

We feel very lucky that we got to go and it was a trip of a lifetime! Four days of tearin' up D-Land!

One of my favorite moments was how we told them we were going. So glad I took a video of it:

Love the momentary stunned look on their faces!

And I snapped a pic of the "Mickey Pancakes" they had. Kinda a ghetto Mickey but my kids thought they were cool.

Our hotel was super fun. My kids loved the see through elevator. You could look down into the lobby or out over Disneyland.

Here is the very excited bunch about to go to bed. Disneyland for the first time ever tomorrow! They don't know what they are in for!

You may notice that Gunner and Race are missing from the pics. We left them with some very kind and generous family members. They were just a little to young to really enjoy Disneyland. Sorry boys, maybe in a few years!

At the entrance to Main Street. Aw yeah! It's about to get crazy!

More Main Street and the bridge to the castle:

First ride was Peter Pan of course!

A very excited girly about to go on Teacups.

We learned a very long time ago that Daddy can't do the spinny rides so he was the photographer for this one. It's okay, mom got that cup GOING!

Fired up about Dumbo:

Try your hardest!!!

Ella HATED Space Mountain and all the other roller coasters at first. By the end of the trip, they were all she wanted to go on. This a pic of the first time we went on it. You can't even see Ella in this pic. She is sitting by Dale with her head down covering her eyes. Rex didn't like it the first time either. He cried when the ride was over. I think he was embarrassed by that though because the next day this was the first ride he wanted to go on. He sought retribution. He had a score to settle and settle it he did.

Rocket Ships!

We went to the Main Street bakery and let the kids pick whatever they wanted.

Rex's fave ride ended up being Autopia. Imagine being a 6 year old boy and you get to drive a car by your very own self. Except for your legs are a little short so your mom has to push the gas pedal. =)

I could do without it's a small world but I wanted the girls to see it. Especially at Christmastime where it looks like Christmas threw up. Their mouths hung open the entire time.

Love the Haunted Mansion. Wish my house could look like this for Halloween!

Just like her first time on Space Mountain, Ella's first time on Splash Mountain didn't go over very well. She has fear face! Sweet girl. I promise you though, she was loving it by the end of the trip!

Jungle Cruise!

Rex was too short by thiiiiiiiis much for Indiana Jones so he and I and Ella hung out at Tarzan's Tree house while Dale went with Tabby.

I took Ella to Bug's World while Dale took the big kids to Tower of Terror. I thought it would be too much for her and I REALLY hate that ride so we enjoyed our kiddie rides.

One of my favorite pics of the whole trip:

You know what you get when you kick it with Mom??? Churros!

By the time we got to the bumper cars the big kids and Dale joined us again. They were more like "very lightly brush by you cars" rather than bumper cars. Can't have people violently smacking in to each other at the Happiest Place on Earth.

I absolutely loved World of Color! Especially with the grown man in front of me who knew all the words to the princess songs that were played.

Took the big kids on the river ride and left Dale and Ella on a bench. Came back to find this:

We wore out our Ella!

That's when we knew it was time to pack it in for the first day. I tried to get my kids to make it to when the park closed at midnight but it was a no go. Nine was about their limit every night.

Here's some more pics from the rest of our time there.

Waiving at the masses:

Meeting Mickey!

Tabby showed Mickey her "mouse ears" hair do. Mickey approved.

Tabby is my little thrill seeker. She loved Splash Mountain!

The D-Land fire works show at night. My favorite were the "shooting stars" I was touched that they played "Silent Night" during the show. Good to know that Disneyland keeps Christ in Christmas.

The "snow" after the fireworks. Check out crazy guy looking right at my camera. Freaky.

On the third day we walked in and right there at the front of the park with no line was Mickey!

Tabby and Ella asked over and over to go to Pixie Hollow. Finally they got their wish. It was a highlight for them for sure.

The way it was set up was so cute. First you meet Rosetta and then she takes you to meet Tinkerbell. Yes I know who Rosetta is. If you have daughters ages 8 and 5, I'm sure you do too.

Another fave pic. After this shot, Rex demonstrated to Mr. Incredible how fast he was.

Okay let me explain this one. Ella and I decided to try to attempt Tower of Terror the third day. It wasn't a very successful attempt. I will go on any roller coaster in the world and not be afraid. But I hate free-fall rides. HATE them! I did this ride on our honeymoon and Dale still makes fun of me to this day about how I acted on it. I tried to redeem myself on this trip but it was a fail. Still terrified. And look at poor Ella. She is mad at the world.

And there's Dale. Still laughing at me. He watched me the whole ride. Laughing. I am loving dude in the jean jacket though. Except for the fact that he is covering my son's face.

One of my favorite memories from the whole trip was when we got some ice cream and sat down on the curb of Main Street and enjoyed our treats as a family. It was a fun moment for us.

Waiting for the park to open on our 4th and last day in the park.

Ella loving Space Mountain now.

Tabby LOVED Minnie's house. We had a hard time getting her to want to leave.

Tabby was the only one of our kids tall enough to ride California Screamin. We rode it lots and lots.

Meeting Pluto while waiting for the parade to start. Another one of my favorite moments was when Ella and I were driving in Autopia and we looked up and saw Pluto on a bridge waving at us. Then he chased after our car! Ella and I of course thought it was hilarious. My only regret is that I didn't have the camera ready. Thanks for the memory, Pluto!

Leaving Disneland. Sad moment for me.

I turned around and snapped this as we were leaving. So beautiful all decorated for Christmas!

The trip was amazing and I will always remember it. I know my kiddos will to!

Halloweenie Roast

2011-11-03T17:13:00.005-07:00

The Friday before Halloween we had our annual Halloweenie Roast where we invite our friends and neighbors over for a good old fashioned hot dog roast. We had games for the kids, fun music, and great food! I love stuff like this, it reminds me of what a fun neighborhood we live in!

The pictures I have are very random. Every year I say I'm gonna take tons of pics and then I take like 3 and rely on everybody else's pictures.

Here's what I got:

Me as Flashdance, Sally as a biker chick, Janiece as Marge and Tara as a baton twirler!

My sis Magi, her two kiddos and her boyfriend Emmett:

Bret Michaels (a.k.a. Keith) came to the party y'all and he brought his baby BamBam:

Janeice, you looked so great! Janeice has the best Halloween spirit, everyone!

Marge and Bart:

Rusty and Sally:

Brian and Michelle looking super dead:

The kids had a great time playing limbo!

Pebbles and BamBam (twins) with their little bud Avery. BamBam looks very stoic. Just like his Dad, Bret Michaels.

Annie knows how to party:

Sweet Olivia:

These boys had a great time running around together"

Sweetest Little Mermaid ever!

Ella and Gunn Boy:

Addy who was a rad Tron girl and Tabby:

Ella loves grandpa:

Tabby and her trademark hand on the chin pose. It's her "go to" move.

Tabby and Race. You can see Rex's gross zombie costume right above Race. Nice.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T12:18:00.015-07:00

I have to say, this year was one of the best Halloweens ever! I had fun, my kids had fun, we did so much to celebrate, and I finally dressed up for once! I was straight outta "Flashdance!"

The trick or treating in our neighborhood is pretty great so I was looking forward to staying here this year. We did a little photoshoot before the fun began.

This is the best group shot we could get:

But most of the attempts looked like this:

I had to post that one because Gunner's pose is priceless! I think he's done, don't you?

Race wore the viking costume this year. He looked just as awesome as Gunner did:

Gunner made the perfect Charlie Brown. What else could he be with that giant noggin of his? Maybe Megamind next year...

Here he is posing with his cousin Kam:

Ella was a rockstar. She wore this costume 2 Halloweens ago. It still fits!

Rex really wanted to be a zombie this year. This was a departure from his regular request which is super hero. Luckily, Aunt Shannon had a zombie costume she didn't need anymore. Dale did a great job on his makeup and Rex liked to act the part. I personally think the costume is gross but it made him happy and he would fit right in during a zombie apocalypse. So there you go.

Tabby decided she wanted to wear her cheer uniform from when she took cheer last winter. The uniform was big on her last year so it fit perfectly this year.

We were happy to have Uncle Scott and Aunt Tracy come and join us.
Kam was pretty incredible. =)

Cade won't be bothered with silly things like shoes. Superheros don't need 'em anyways.

Superheros are great at climbing trees too.

Miss Miranda made a darling Bat Girl:

We had a little party complete with mummy drinks and mummy dogs before we left:

As if we needed these cupcakes right before going out to get a ton of candy:

Wait.. Yes, yes we did.

Here is Gunner's first time trick or treating. Once he learned what people were going to put in his bucket when they opened their doors, it was ON!

Grandpa was an awesome mad scientist! He entertained the kids all night with his "experiments"

Here's us on getting started on tearing up the neighborhood!
.

It was an awesome memorable Halloween and I'm sad my favorite holiday is over! Can't wait for next year!

Inching Along

2011-10-18T09:55:00.003-07:00

Race has begun to crawl. I'm a bit surprised because Gunner and Rex took their sweet time to get moving but Race seems to be right on schedule. He hasn't perfected it yet. He moves kinda like an inchworm. But it gets him from A to B.

Papa's Headstone

2011-09-25T20:37:00.002-07:00

Papa's headstone was finally put in and we went to see it today.

I thought it was going to make me super sad when I saw it but it didn't.

Dale and I have felt his presence since he has passed which has been a huge comfort to us. I feel like whenever I tell him that I love him and I miss him, he can hear me. That's why visiting his gravestone didn't feel like I was visiting Papa. He is not in the cemetery, he is a spirit and can dwell with his family and loved ones.

Still, it was a special moment and we felt it was important for the kids to see it.

He has such a nice headstone:

The kids WOULD NOT give me a nice pic!

We love you Papa!

Building Blocks

2011-09-22T09:21:00.003-07:00

Every morning Gunner gets out his blocks and stacks them up, knocks them down, lines them up, whatever he can think of.

I love watching him play and this morning I was struck with the fact that things like this won't last forever which prompted me to capture it.

I love this boy.

Happy Half Birthday!

2011-08-26T15:28:00.002-07:00

Today is Race's half birthday! He's 6 months old today. I could have sworn I just brought him home from the hospital last week but here we are, halfway to one year.

He is for sure my last baby and I'm trying to savor every moment of his babiness. Kinda hard to do when it's your 5th kid. I think the last one should grow extra slow, don't you?

Like all the others, he is a happy happy kiddo. He rolls and rolls and he tries so dang hard to scoot but just can't get the hang of it yet. He is very proud of his two toofies which he will happily use on your finger should he get a hold of it.

I took some pictures of the little Racer to commemorate his half birthday today.

You are very much loved my little baby boy!

Happy Birthday To My Little Ladybug!

2011-08-08T13:27:00.008-07:00

On Saturday Ella got to have her first "friend" birthday party. When I asked her what she wanted as a theme she picked a ladybug theme. Ella gave me lots of ideas and I think she ended up having a pretty fun party! She got to invite all her friends and felt super special.

We got to take some pics before the tornado of 5 year olds hit the house. The calm before the storm.

Janice and Sally stayed up late to help me create this:

Place setting:

Bugs on the wall. I got the idea to do these from here.

Another adorable cake made by my sis, Magi.

Front Door. The idea came from here.

The birthday girl! She's five and dang proud of it!

Being a ham:

The kids got to make ladybugs and habitats for them. There was also a pinata and Just Dance on the Wii.

Opening gifts:

Blowing out the candles with Miranda's help:

You are very much loved my sweet hilarious little Ellabug! Happy birthday!

First Day Of School 2011

2011-08-08T12:16:00.005-07:00

I did it! I made it through the summer! Phew!

I will miss my kids while they are at school but let's just say I'm glad they are there!

We took some pics before we rushed out the door.

Tabby who is a THIRD GRADER!!! Amazing. What a cutie!

Rex who is excited to be in first grade. Stud!

And Ella Rose. My cute little kindergartner!

My attempt at a group shot. This was the least chaotic pose they gave me.

My big kids ran off with out a second thought to their classes and I barely got to smooch them but I did get to go into Ella's class with her and help her hang her backpack and find her desk.

I will miss my little Ella a bit. I'm used to Tabby and Rex being at school but last year she was my little sidekick while the "big kids" were away. Now she's one of them.

So I guess I have an open spot for a new side kick. I think I know who will fill it...

In Honor Of Dad

2011-06-19T21:43:00.010-07:00

My dear father in law Jerry Morris passed away a week ago on June 12th from pancreatic cancer.

He is an amazing man loved by many many people. Yesterday was his funeral. It was a beautiful day mixed with tears and smiles. He doesn't want us to mope around and be sad. He wants us to be joyful. I tried my best to be. It hurts to know he's moved on to heaven but it brings me happiness to know he isn't in pain anymore. He fought the good fight and endured to the end.

He lived a outstanding life and made many friends along the way. You could tell how much he was loved by the packed church house.

He only lived about two and a half months after his diagnosis but those 2 and a half months were spent with family. We visited with each other, told stories and grew closer. I know Papa loved that.

He leaves behind a beautiful legacy of righteousness, obeying the Lord and serving others.

Before he passed, he made us promise to make sure our chair in heaven isn't empty. I tell my kids every day that we must make sure our chair in heaven isn't empty because more than anything, Papa wants us to join him there.

One thing Papa loved to be was a missionary. He loved opportunities to share the gospel with anyone who was interested. He even found a way to do it after he passed. When he knew he was dying, he recorded a message that he wanted played at his funeral. It's a beautiful message of hope and love. I've attached it to this post. I hope you listen to it. I know he would want as many people as possible to hear it.

We love you so much Dad! Happy Father's Day!

Tabby is Eight!

2011-06-07T13:45:00.002-07:00

I'm so proud of my sweet Tabby! She turned 8 today!

She's such a genuine and caring little girl. I'm amazed at her love for reading and art. She treats others with fairness and kindness. With the exception of her siblings sometimes =) there isn't a mean bone in her body. I love her to pieces!

She is getting baptized later this month and my mom and I took some pictures of her sweet little self.

Easter 2011

2011-04-25T08:17:00.003-07:00

Our big Easter Sunday celebration was again at my parents house this year. We had the traditional breakfast for dinner followed by an epic egg hunt. The kids waited inside while the grown ups hid the eggs. I didn't even try to say it was the Easter Bunny who left the eggs and I'm pretty sure they all saw us walking around hiding the eggs. I think the kids put two and two together on that one.

Gunner trying to bust out before it's time to start:

Ella finding the loot:

Tabby scored the most eggs:

Race watched with envy:

Done!

Grandma had a big sheet of coloring paper:

We followed everything up with a kids and grand kids picture.

Congrats

2011-03-07T11:28:00.003-07:00

My son Rex who is becoming quite the little speller, drew me this picture to congratulate me on having Baby Race.

Never before have I seen a more spectacular spelling of the word "congratulations."

In fact, it is so awesome that I think I will only spell it the way he spells it from now on.

I think I have to frame this one.

Ostrich Festival Parade

2011-03-06T20:28:00.004-07:00

My girlies got to dance in the Ostrich Festival Parade this past Saturday! Race is only a week old but I felt guilty missing it. So, to the parade we all went. Our first outing as a family of 7! We lived through it just fine and we didn't even forget a kid somewhere!

Here are 3 of my handsome boys waiting for the parade to start:

Race isn't in the picture because I was wearing him like this:

I LOVE my Moby Wrap! Best way to carry a baby around!

We got there early enough to catch Ronald McDonald himself walking to the parade line up. Rex ran out to meet him and asked him if he and any burgers for his daddy. Sadly no, but he did stop long enough to give him some high fives and foot fives.

Coincidentally, Ronald was marching right behind our girls and Rex thought it was the epitome of comedy to do armpit farts at Ronald. I guess Ronald shares the same level of humor as my 5 year old and laughed really loud and then shouted "There's my favorite dude!" Come on, we should totally get free burgers for that!

The girls are here! Ella is at the front of the trailer:

Tabby said she did her best marching ever. She looked so cute with her cute little self.

I was glad I made the decision to head out and see my girlies but don't be fooled. I'm for sure not back in action yet. I went right back home and put my sweats on.

Validated

2011-03-04T09:46:00.002-07:00

If you would have asked me who my kids resemble most, I would have told you they look like Dale's side of the family. That was until I saw this picture that my mom recently took of Rex playing airplanes in their backyard.

When I saw this I thought "Man, this picture looks so familiar to me for some reason." Then it struck me. I was thinking of this picture:

Me running in my backyard about the same age. Ha! Who's got the dominant genes now???

He's Here!

2011-03-01T19:23:00.006-07:00

Our awesome little Race Preston Morris was born on Saturday at 5:26 p.m.! The labor was difficult and a bit scary at one moment but it was all worth it because we got this!

Perfect little Race! He was 9 lbs and 2 oz and was 21 inches long. Really though, the jury is still out on his length because he looks way longer than that to me. I'll get back to you on that.

Anyway, I loved my labor nurses and they were all the biggest help to me. I had one Ethiopian nurse who was like an angel whispering the sweetest things in my ear while I tried and tried to get Race born.

The problem was you see is Race got stuck. This has happened with 4 out of my 5 kids. Everything is fine and then at a certain point, the babies get stuck. And then they stop breathing. And then all the nurses run in. And things get really serious. And I get terrified.

But long story short, all was well and Race was delivered just fine thanks to the help of my awesome nurses and doctors.

I really did think this was going to be my smoothest delivery ever because even though I was scheduled to be induced Saturday morning, I went in already in labor. I thought that it would be quick and easy. But apparently, Morris kids don't like to come into the world without a fight. But I won, I pushed him out.

When we first got settled into the room, I saw the nurse had written a list of the goals for the delivery. She said she didn't write anything about pain control because she didn't know if I wanted pain control. I told her to write it on there in all caps. She took artistic liberties and added the exclamation smiley face.

When he was born, I got the biggest rush of emotion partly because of relief and partly because I knew this was my last delivery ever. Then I heard his cries and I knew he would be okay so I cried even harder. Next, they put him on my chest and I cried like a crazy person.

Here he is just after delivery:

Here's Dale holding his viking baby for the first time. I am of Nordic decent. Thus, all my babies are vikings.

And Auntie Magi giving him some love:

Here he is the next morning. The swelling and the redness went down pretty quickly. He has a little stork bite above his eye and I think it's precious. Tabby had one too in the same spot.

He can already smile. Talented boy.

Sleep and sleep and sleep.

On Monday it was time to go home. We got him into his outfit and took some pics before we left.

Love the frog bum.

The kids were just dying to meet him. Rex held him first and it was love at first sight. I swear, brothers have some sort of special bond and I could feel it happen between them instantly.

Tabby was next. Poor thing. She just wants to mother this baby so bad but I guess I'm feeling a bit over protective still. She was head over heels today just because I agreed let her put on his socks. I need to loosen up.

Ella was all over this boy. She won't let him out of her sight now. She just wants to kiss and snuggle him all day.

Gunner points and says "Baby!" I have to be really careful because Gunner just wants to mess with Race and push on his belly and poke him. One cute thing Gunner does is finds all the baby stuff around the house, brings it to me and says "Baby want?"

All in all Race (and I could eat my words later) seems to be a sweet good-natured baby. One thing is for sure, he's got brothers and sisters that already love him like crazy. Seems like he will have an easy time fitting in with the rest of them.

Who may not have an easy time however, is this gal. Knowing that this is my last one, it will be hard for me to watch him grow. It makes me just want to hold him tight and not put him down.

I just have to remember that every stage is fun and amazing. From learning to walk, to learning to ride a bike, to going to school, and on and on and on. It's all pretty dang awesome.

What's New With Us?

2011-02-16T21:34:00.009-07:00

Honestly not much. Sorry to be anti climactic.

We had a great "keep it simple" Christmas. In a way, I was forced to keep it simple because I was crazy sick pretty much all of December. But Christmas itself was very enjoyable. I've decided not to feel bad about not posting pics from Christmas and New Years. You all know what we look like anyway. I think it's better just to keep the posts moving right along. Besides, no need to recap the past when we've got so much fun stuff to look forward to.

First on the docket is our new baby expected at the end of the month!

Selfishly, I want him out now because I'm swollen from head to toe and feel as big as a whale. But as a mom, I realize it's good to let him cook a little longer. I've heard the philosophy about how boys that are born a little too early are more prone to struggle with their lungs. This helps me tell myself to be patient as I get up for the millionth time in the night to use the restroom.

Also, I am really enjoying peoples' reaction when they ask me if this is my first and I tell them it's my fifth. That always gets 'em!

After that, Dale turns 40! He keeps saying he's old but he's not. And he's just as cute as ever.

I still can't think of a gift for him. What do you get for the guy who doesn't have anything? He's too simple! Give him an XBox 360 and he's a happy camper. That's what I got him last year and he hasn't asked for anything since.

And finally, my Tabby Lou turns 8 and gets baptized this year! What? Am I really old enough to have a child getting baptized? Yep.

I am really excited for her too. She often brings up how she wants to be baptized now and just can't wait. Oh what a special day it will be!

As a side note, it really does freak me out a little bit to think that I will already have 5 children by the time the oldest one gets baptized. Did I set some sort of record or something? Do I get a prize?

So those are the great things coming up for this family. Can't wait to share!

Tabby's Cheer

2011-02-01T16:45:00.004-07:00

Tabby had such a blast taking cheer back in the Fall. That's right I said the Fall. That's how far behind I am. But I won't bore you with 20 zillion catch up posts about what happened between then and now. I'm just going to blog about the important stuff for posterity's sake.

She cheered for the "Galaxy" and I thought it was the darn cutest thing ever. Her little tiny self in a little cheer costume. No front teeth and two pom poms. She shouted for all she was worth except for when she was tired. Which ended up being quite a lot.

At her last game, I asked her some questions about cheer.

I think she had a good season and we will probably be back!

Alejandro

2010-12-29T13:55:00.002-07:00

As per tradition, we went ice skating on Christmas Eve.

Due to my preggo-ness, I had to sit out but Dale took one for the team and got on skates and helped the little kids.

Even though he had to help Ella a lot, that didn't make him too busy to entertain us with a graceful and stunning interpretive ice dance.

Enjoy this masterpiece set to the tune of "Alejandro."

Christmas Wreath

2010-12-07T15:00:00.003-07:00

I went pretty low key on the outside Christmas decorations this year. Normally, I like to make some new decorations every year. The only thing I've had time and energy to do this year is this wreath.

I'm actually pretty proud of it. I made it out of coffee filters. I didn't intend it to be so huge and puffy but 90% of the crafts I make don't turn out the way I intended. It kinda reminds me of a big powdered doughnut. Maybe that's why I like it so much!

I added some doo dads and ribbon from Hobby Lobby. The metal "Noel" sign is from Hobby Lobby too.

A little birdie is staring at you when you come to my door.

One Year Older and Wiser Too

2010-12-03T12:57:00.005-07:00

Wednesday was my big 31st birthday!

Last year I did not want to turn 30 at all. It's not an old age by any means but I was sad about not being in my 20's any more. I think I've mourned that completely and I'm now in it to win it. Let's do this, 30's!

Anyway, I had a way great birthday. Dale surprised me by taking the day off, getting a babysitter, and telling me we are going shopping all day for things I want. Just him and I.

So shopping all day we went but I ended up getting mostly things for the kids. I wanted some new items to add to my maternity wardrobe but trying on clothes when you are 7 months pregnant is not good for morale. I decided I didn't need my bubble burst on my birthday so I stopped looking for clothes and just had a nice time with Dale.

We spent several hours together with out being interrupted or having to talk over kid chatter and that is a wonderful gift in and of itself.

Dale did however, surprise me with this little number:

I had noticed it in a store called Contagious on Main Street in Mesa. Dale hunted it down and triumphantly gave it to me on the morning of my birthday.

"One Year Older And Wiser Too" is a line in a happy birthday song that the kids sing in church primary. I was thinking about this song the other day and I decided that yes, I do feel wiser over this one year.

One thing is I've gotten better about not setting unobtainable and unrealistic standards for myself.

Women can be their own worst critics and I'm trying not to feel guilty about the times when I don't meet the expectations I've imagined other people are holding me to.

I know you all don't really care if my house is clean, if my clothes are perfect, if my home decor is just so. These are all things that a lot of women have assumed that others expect them to be doing.

So guess what? Sometimes a take a nap on the couch in my messy house while my kids zone out on TV. Sometimes I run errands in my sweats. Sometimes I give up on dinner and get fast food. Sometimes my kids have messy hair. Sometimes my loft is absolutely covered in laundry for days. Sometimes I go out with no makeup. And I bet most other moms do a lot of these things too.

But for some reason I have trained myself to feel guilty about all that. In my mind I think I should be vacuuming in heels and pearls while a roast is in the oven because I've imagined that's what everyone else thinks I'm doing.

Am I still sometimes worried about what others think of me and my house and my kids and my clothes and my bank account and my car and my personality and my talents? Yes. But I'm getting better about reminding myself that as long as I'm doing my best it's okay and I can let go of these silly standards that I've created for myself.

Seriously, life is much easier and funner when I think like this.

So here's to the 30's. Not as young as the 20's but just as awesome.

Veteran's Day Parade!

2010-11-16T20:15:00.010-07:00

Our girlies got to march in the Mesa Vet's Day Parade this past Thursday! This was Tabby's second year and Ella's first time. They both had fun and I was a proud mama! I kept telling my kids how fun it is for parents to get to see their kids do awesome things.

The only bad part of this great day was when the girls were waiting in the staging area and a car rolled over a full water bottle that had it's lid on. The water fired out like a rocket and was a direct hit on Tabby. All she heard was a loud BANG and next thing she knew, she was soaked. Poor thing. All she was worried that her wet pom poms would get water on the girls next to her.

Other than that, is was a perfect day.

Here are some pics of the girls before the parade started:

The preschool aged girls get to cheer from the trailer. Here is Ella waiting to start.

All the Dance Addiction girlies!

Here's our group that came to watch. We are all excitedly anticipating the dancers coming by!

Luckily, they weren't that far back in the parade order so it was a short wait!

Ella gave us a wave:

Tabby told her daddy that he better not yell super loud for her and go crazy. So of course he did. Here she is trying not to be embarrassed.

There they go!

Here's the video we took. You can hear Dale yelling like a fool.

Halloween

2010-11-04T15:48:00.016-07:00

My favorite holiday has passed. A moment of silence please.

Out with spooky decorations and fun costumes in with turkey, shopping, and supposedly crisp fall air which has yet to happen here in AZ. It's still 90 outside! I should not be sweating in my house in November!

We had lots of activities to make Halloween fun. Pumpkin carving was one of them, of course.

Ella had her reservations about cleaning out the insides of the pumpkin. This surprises me because usually she delights in all things yucky.

Rex giving it a shot:

Tabby was all gung-ho about it:

When it was time to carve, the kids helped me pick out a pattern which ended up being a spooky owl on a branch. Gifted in the ways of carving, I am not. What started out being a pretty good looking owl ended up in a headless unidentifiable shape.

Yeah, no.

So I quit on the owl, got my sharpie, turned the pumpkin around and drew your standard 3 triangles and a mouth jack-o-lantern. You can even still see the black marker on this bad boy. That's how much I cared at that point.

Note the detail of the blood coming out of the corners of his mouth. Such fine craftsmanship. His name of course was Jerk-o-Lantern. And he was proudly displayed on our porch for all to see.

So now here's pictures one of my favorite parts of Halloween! The costumes!!!

Tabby was a dark fairy. She had originally set out to be a vampiress but the teeth were hard to work with so we ditched them and the dark fairy was born.

Rex won't ever let me make his costume. He insists on being the latest super hero. This is good and bad because it's fun for me to make my kids costumes but then again, so easy to just buy one at Wal-Mart and hand it to him to wear.

I am Ironman!

Ella Rose dressed in a flower fairy costume that Tabby wore a few years ago. She looked just as precious as I remember Tabby being.

I made Gunner a viking costume. It's perfect for him because he is a savage beast!

We had a fun Halloweenie roast in our driveway where we invited all our neighbors! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pics myself but my lovely neighbor Marcy did. I did what any friend would do and stole her pics to post them here.

Here youngest boy taking a swing at the pinata:

Chaos ensues when the pinata breaks:

My neighbor Janeice who is the master of Halloween costumes. Here whole family was Alice In Wonderland characters. She was the Mad Hatter. I WISH you could see how detailed her costume was!

Her oldest was The Queen:

And her youngest was Alice. I kept telling her how happy I was that she chose to dress up as me!

My girlies enjoying all the fun:

We share our driveway with our neighbors so it makes a pretty good place for a party.

Another fun activity was our church's Trunk Or Treat.

Tabby ran around with her friends the whole time and I barely even saw her.

Rex ate gobs of candy:

Ella kept returning to the cupcake walk:

And Gunner kept trying to pull his costume off:

So that's it! Until next year!

Boutique Pictures

2010-11-01T14:27:00.008-07:00

A couple weeks back I was lucky enough to participate in a fun boutique!

After borrowing a few things and using some decor that I had around the house, I was able to assemble a pretty cute display.

The boutique was a success and I was able to raise money for a good cause!

Halloween Decorations

2010-10-14T22:01:00.020-07:00

Welcome to Morris Family Halloween 2010! Much like 2009 but with a few new additions!

Let me take you on a tour...

Here is the kitchen area:

I learned to make the cake stands from this blog.

I found some witchy looking gloves at an antique store. They look cute next to my witchy sign.

The kitchen table. Shoulda straightened those candlesticks before I took the picture...

There are two of these wreaths framing the back window:

The top of the fridge:

A vase of spooky bones hides my unsightly phone cord:

Some countertop decorations. I found the gumball machine at the same place I got the witchy gloves but it was red. As soon as I saw it, I decided it would make a great Halloween decoration. That's how my crazy mind works. Also, do you see the milk glass globes? My mom got those for me as a gift. I put candles in them and placed them on either side of my stove. Lovely, aren't they?

The mirror in the kitchen:

One of my fave decorations are my hanging EEK letters.

Give me some Modge Podge and glitter and I'm a happy gal.

I found a stand for the witch's hat I made last year.

Even some spookiness for the bathroom door:

The ledge next to the TV cabinet. This area stumps me every year. The ledge is narrow and it's hard to place things so they don't get in the way of the clock hands. This is the best I could do.

The top of the TV cabinet. You only see the very top of the cabinet because the shelves of the cabinet may or may not have been cluttered with crap.

I got this tree at Wal Mart last Christmas time. It had ugly red lights on it. I promptly took those off and replaced them with orange lights. I found the orange ornaments at Hobby Lobby and painted black glitter dots on them and I found the silver garland at Hobby Lobby as well. All of these things were being sold as Christmas decor. What's up with Christmas stuff looking like Halloween? Or maybe I'm just "blurring the lines?"

The ledges above my couch. Man, somebody really needs to dust those.

This sign and pillow hang on the closet door:

Actually, I think that boo sign is one of the very first Halloween decorations I made and can be blamed for kicking off my Halloween craft making obsession. Ah memories.

Don't look too close on the pillow. I did a terrible job on the ruffles. I do not claim to be a master of sewing.

I wanted to add a big silver spider to that pillow but never found one. Maybe next year.

And last but not least on this tour is my entryway table. It doesn't photograph well though. The window behind it makes everything back lit. If you squint, I think you will be able to see everything.

This poor table is getting covered with more and more stuff each year.

Let's check out it's first year way back in 2008:

Yeah, you can hardly see the actual table now.

I think on Halloween, more is more not less, right?

The newest addition to the table is this big sign I made from a kitchen cabinet door. I glued on moulding to make it look less cabinet-y. Then I painted it white and rubbed it with some black stuff and painted on my words and raven. Sorry about the blurry photo. I didn't realize it wasn't in focus till I saw it on my computer. I'm not going through the trouble of taking another one. That's how I roll.

Well that about wraps it up! Hope you liked it!

Boutique This Saturday!

2010-10-05T15:20:00.001-07:00

If you live in AZ then come out to this awesome boutique this weekend! I will be selling women's headbands along with brooches and cute girlie headbands as well! Here is a sample of what I have:

Here is a copy of the flyer with all the information and the address! Click on it to enlarge.

Please come! It's going to be a really fun afternoon!

Outside Halloween Decorations

2010-09-30T09:16:00.016-07:00

The outside of my house is all ready for Halloween. The inside is too. I actually had that done before the outside but let's just say there is a little bit of a mess I need to clear away before I can get some good inside shots. I will work on that today. Or maybe not. Soon anyway.

The front entrance:

This frame actually hangs in my bathroom most of the year but I thought it would look nice on my door behind my boo hanger. Anything for Halloween, right?

The birdcages were $1.00 each. They came in odd colors so I just spray painted them all silver.

This hangs beside the door. Making this was no easy task. Painting the letters took FOREVER! But the end result was worth it.

Here's my spooky tree which I think looks a little sad and lonely. Once upon a time there was a cute bench next to this pot that I got at Costco for $40.00. Then some jerkface stole it. I had plans to dress it up so lovely for Halloween too. Angry doesn't begin to describe how I felt about my property being stolen.

Inside decoration pics are coming soon!

Think Footballs Not Hairbows

2010-09-27T20:23:00.006-07:00

Dale and I went to get our routine ultrasound done this morning. Finding out the gender was merely a formality for me since I was positive it was a girl. I have been able to foresee the genders of all my previous children so why would this one be different? I'm 4 for 5 now because we are having a boy!

I was thinking hair bows and tu-tus. Now I must switch to footballs and trucks.

I had a girl name all picked out and hadn't spent one second thinking of a boy name. That's how sure I was that I was having a baby of the feminine variety.

Names anyone? Cause I'm stumped.

But in all reality, we are thrilled. Another healthy baby for the Morris clan! Gunner gets a built in best friend and Ella is very pleased that she gets to continue being the "baby girl."

And just for fun, here are the suggestions given to me by my children. None of them are on the short list, shall we say. No offense if you have named your child one of these names.

Tabby - Carl
Rex - Ollie or Dragon Ball Z
Ella - Rocket Ship

Sorry all you Rocket Ships out there. I don't think I will be carrying on your name...

Firsts

2010-09-14T22:20:00.018-07:00

During August and September we had quite a few "firsts."

It all started with the first day of school! We are trying out a new school this year. Unfortunately, we had too many bad experiences with last year's school and I felt like I had no choice but to find a good charter school in the area. Well, find a good one I did. The kids love it and I love it.

Tabby began 2nd grade and Rex began kindergarten.

Then it was Ella's first day of preschool! Before the school year began, I told her new teacher to brace herself for Hurricane Ella. Her teacher is quite good though and Ella adjusted to classroom life in no time.

Ella also had her first dance class. After years of watching her big sister go to dance, it was finally Ella's turn. Ella has already displayed her passion for dance around the home. Anything with a beat to it gets her movin'. She puts a little too much bootie in it if you ask me so I'm happy to have her in a class to help her get a little more"direction."

And finally, Rex started flag football!

Check out his intimidating face. I'm sure the other team was terrified.

This pic doesn't say much. I just thought it was cute.

He would not keep that danged mouth guard in! Every shot I have shows it hanging out!

He did really great, lasted in the heat, and had a lot of fun. I loved that at the end of the game, not one of the boys asked what the score was. All they wanted to know was what kind of snack they were getting.

For the record we got 2 touchdowns and a safety. The other team got 3 touchdowns. We were beat by 4 points.

Although, the opposing team had an awesome little girl who outran everybody and scored all three of their team's goals. Can't be mad at the girl power.

Numero Cinco

2010-07-29T21:36:00.005-07:00

Yep, baby number 5 is on the way! Yes, I realize that Gunner is still a baby and yes, it was intentional.

Right after I had Gunner, a part of me felt like I could be done but I had a really strong feeling that there was another one.

So, being the git er' done type of gal that I am, I figured now was better than later and here we are, expecting another beautiful Morris baby!

I believe this is the last one. I feel like I should put an asterisk after that statement and say that I could change my mind down the line and totally eat my words but seriously, these pregnancies are rough on me.

Many times I have shouted out "I'm never doing this again!" Followed by me spewing up an entire meal into the toilet. TMI? Sorry.

Anyway, sickness and other symptoms aside, we are truly excited for our arrival in March! The kids talk about it everyday and announce it to every one they meet. The are already calling the baby "she" and "her." We shall see if they are right or not.

Gunn is One!

2010-07-26T12:49:00.009-07:00

Gunner turned one at the beginning of the month. Better blog about it late than never, right?

We had a simple little pizza and cake party for him and it was just what I wanted it to be which was EASY.

Aunt Magi and Uncle Mark came with their kiddos and we had a great time.

Of course Magi made another super awesome cake!
I told her to make whatever because Gunner's party didn't really have a theme. So she went with a hedgehog. His "prickles" are chunks of toffee! Pretty creative if you ask me!

Here's the little cutie smiling. He knows he's about to get a bumload of cake!
Anticipating the deliciousness:
He wasn't shy at all about it:
The aftermath:

Gunner is the funnest little guy.

He laughs at everything and you can even get him to smile in the midst of crying.

He must be made out of rubber because he can withstand 3 older siblings mauling him up on a constant basis.

He doesn't walk yet but he still gets around pretty darn quick with his weird crawling style. I've had to put up the baby gate already because he climbed halfway up the stairs one day.

He pulls himself up on the coffee table and ransacks anything you've left on there.

He'll eat anything you put in front of him but milk is still his favorite.

He says lots of little words but Mama is hands down his number one favorite thing to say. Thank you very much.

And he'll slap you five if he thinks you're cool.

Happy birthday little Gunn Boy! We love you!

Tabby's Candy Party!

2010-06-09T10:23:00.029-07:00

I can't believe my oldest is 7! Where the heck has the time gone? I swear I just had her!

I still call her my baby girl and she gets mad when I say it. I tell her that I'm her mama and I reserve the right to call her that for the rest of her life because I fee like she will always be my baby.

Anyway when it came time to pick a theme for her party she said she wanted a candy party. This is in true Tabby fashion because she is most definitely a connoisseur of candy.

In planning for this party, I swore I would keep it simple and low key. I worked so hard on her Pinkalicious party last year and I wanted and easy party this time. After all she wasn't even supposed to have a party. I had made a rule a while ago that my kids would only get parties on even number birthdays. Of course I broke that rule and of course I didn't keep it simple.

I want to change and I hope to change but I love a good party and I can't resist planning the crap out of one.

But to Tabby's credit, she is such a sweet girl and she doesn't get much outside of her birthday and Christmas. She never asks for a lot and she deserves a super fun party, I think.

Tabby gets a great party and I get to plan it. It's a win win.

So here are the pics of the fun event!

First here are the invites. I did go the easy route this year and made the invites on the computer. Last year I made them all by hand. Painstaking to say the least!
I hope the girls loved the lollipops!
Lollipop walkway:
Sign on the door:
The entryway table had a headband for each girl and a cotton candy pop:
I learned from this website how to make these paper flowers:
The dining area:
The candy bar:
These Snoballs are seriously nasty and nobody ate them. Purely for decoration!
Another delicious masterpiece cake by my sis Magi:
The finishing touches:
The birthday girl!
Some sweet little girlies:
We played Musical Gumballs to the tune of "Lollipop" I actually had a whole play list of fun songs about candy playing in the background.
Opening all the gifts:
I hate this picture of me but I LOVE my new apron that Alyson made me!
Cake time:
She doesn't look very happy in this pic. Maybe she's concentrating on coming up with the perfect wish.
Our wonderful neighbors the Switzers loaned us their water slide. The girls loved it!
And so did Rex!
Hey, where did your teeth go?
Gunn boy had a great time too!
All in all it was a lot of work but a lot of fun! Thank you to Janeice, Marcy and Magi for all your help!

I still can't believe you are 7, my sweet girl! Please please please always let me call you my baby!

9 Year Anniversary Celebration Extravaganza!

2010-06-01T19:42:00.007-07:00

Well, not really. But we did manage to go out on a date which is a big deal these days.

So yes, May 19th marked our 9 year anniversary. Are you surprised that it's been 9 years already? You can't be more surprised than me. Literally. Dale had to remind me two days before that our anniversary was coming up. Whoops. No biggie that I forgot though. But if HE forgot? Big trouble. Am I right ladies???

I kid.

So anyway, we weren't going to go out because our anniversary was on a Wednesday and I had already made plans for the weekend and who wants to go out on a Wednesday anyway? But Dale's brother Ken insisted we go out and wouldn't take no for an answer when it came to watching our kids so out on a date we went!

First we went to Kona. Most fave restaurant ever. Let the record show that I absolutely loathe seafood. Which is what Kona is known for. If it comes out of the water, I won't eat it. But the reason I love that place is the Macadamia Nut Chicken. Holy crap it's good. It's pricey but on special occasions, totally worth it. You have to order it with extra sauce. Once you taste it you can't get enough of it.
Afterwards we went and saw Robin Hood. I was super excited to see it and it was pretty good. Looooonnnnnng but still good. But it's no Gladiator. I love what they kept saying over and over in the movie: "Rise and rise again until lambs become lions." I think that has a lot of meaning to it.

After that we called it a night and went home. We are old, what can I say.

Dale did surprise me with 2 wonderful gifts that morning.

This hair clip/brooch:
And this belt/headband:
They are from my favorite etsy shop. I was really thinking about buying them myself and then I saw that they had been sold. I was pretty bummed out about it until they were presented to me as gifts and I realized they were sold because my husband bought them! That sly guy. I've already worn them a few times and I feel like a pretty pretty princess when I have one of them on.

The past 9 years has been a beautiful ride. We've shared amazing moments and sometimes some not so great trials but we've pulled together and trudged through whatever has been thrown our way. And we are the better for it.

We make a great team, I think.

Can't wait for our 10 year!

The Coolest Family Ever!

2010-05-25T21:11:00.009-07:00

Last week my friend Brooke asked me to take her family's pictures. They are moving away and wanted to get some pictures taken in good old AZ before they split.

I am so sad that they are moving! I thought of telling her that I would only take her pictures if she would stay. But unfortunately, my photography skills aren't good enough to be that persuasive.

On a positive note, I got to spend some time having a ball while taking their pictures.

Twirl Girl

2010-05-14T08:27:00.004-07:00

A secondhand Minnie Mouse dress can make a 3 year old's day. Thanks Aunt Magi!
You are a pretty princess! Wild hair, bare feet and all! I love you sweet Ella Rose!

My Mom Is An Artist!

2010-05-12T14:44:00.004-07:00

Oh you poor blog, you! You have been sorely neglected! I have been up to my eyeballs in headbands and I will try to do better!

I'm sure you all have been just dying for another blog post, right? If I had a sarcasm font, I would have just typed that sentence with it.

Anyway, I've missed so much it would be a bore to me and you to try and catch up on all of it so let's just pick up right here, shall we? Here we go:

Did you know that my mom is an artist? I have been wanting to post about her for awhile and today is the day!

My mom has a master's degree from BYU in art. She has used everything from oil paints, pencils, pastels, to stained glass.

Her styles have been landscapes, abstract, impressionism, you name it.

Her latest is photography. Well sort of...

I will be honest. I have a hard time explaining what she does now to people. I will just let her super cool pictures do the talking.

What Happens At Night:
Interview:
Self Critic:
Delivering Peace:
Movement Is Not Progress:

Pretty cool, huh? If you like her stuff, please go to her Flickr page and leave her some friendly comments. You can see lots of her other work there too!

Another Milestone

2010-04-27T14:09:00.004-07:00

Gunn Boy is growing like a weed. He's started to move around so much more and he loves that he is getting mobile. I, on the other hand, am sorta bummed because it means I'm going to have to sweep and vacuum my floors a lot more and he's getting less chubby due to all the effort he puts into dragging his hefty body across the floor. I love his fatness and I will be sad to see it go!

Here are some funny videos of his attempts to crawl. Cuteness!

A little better this time:

Giveaway!

2010-04-26T13:33:00.001-07:00

For those of you that like giveaways, my headbands are being featured here today and it's a giveaway. Visit this link to enter!

Farm Window Re Do

2010-04-09T11:18:00.010-07:00

Years ago, I ordered an old farm window off of ebay. Since then it's served many purposes and has been in many places of the old house that we lived in. It came painted white and I put old photographs in it. Then I painted it brown and put it on the plant ledges we had in our old house. I decided the brown looked like doo doo brown and so I painted it black and hung it in the foyer near our front door and put a picture of Dale and I on it. It also looked great for Halloween.
Then we moved to the house we are in now. Poor thing had to go upstairs because I couldn't find a spot for it downstairs. I hung it in a hallway that leads from the loft to my office and there it has hung sad, lonely, and sorely neglected.

You will have to excuse my horrible pictures. I left my "nice" camera at my parent's house and so I used my pocket digital. Not the same.
I tried hanging a sign on it to cheer it up but it still looked bleak and boring.

So I began thinking of what the heck I could do to it to spruce it up and I thought of numbers on the panes. Apparently, putting numbers on things is hot right now and I decided to participate in the trend.

Visually, I think putting numbers on things looks really pretty but if I really think about it I say to myself, "Do I really need the number of window panes that I have counted out for me?" Then I decided I don't care because it looks cute.
You may notice the lack of number 7. It's because the window came without that pane. It's vintage and authentic, you know. Either that or the seller busted it and claimed it was found that way. Whatever, I think it gives it charm. I think to fill in that gap, I will find something cool and hang it in that spot.

Anyway, if you have a desire to put numbers on something in your home that you could easily count out yourself but want to add visual enhancement to it here's how I did it:

First I printed each number in the size I wanted it to be on the panes.
Then I put carbonite paper with the carbonite side facing the glass under each number.
And I taped the paper to the glass to keep it from moving around and I traced the outline of the number onto the glass using a stylus.
The carbonite paper left on the glas what I had traced and I then filled the numbers in with black acrylic paint using itty bitty paintbrushes.
It took awhile using these brushes but if you use bigger ones, you won't be able to paint very detailed numbers. It was kind of painstaking and I had to do a couple of coats but I think the result was worth it.
I'll post another picture when I find something cool for that empty spot.
I realize I could have ordered vinyl numbers but that would have cost money and I had the paint, paintbrushes, and carbonite paper left over from another project. Free is much better.

I think numbers would also look great on plates, on picture frames, above doors, bins for organizing, etc.

Anyone else have any fun ideas for numbers?

It's Awesome To Be Five

2010-04-07T22:24:00.015-07:00

Rex-a-saurus turned the big 5! The morning of his birthday he was running back and forth across our loft to see if he could run any faster and punching Dale to see if he could hit any harder. I told him I had never seen him run that fast or hit that hard and he said "Mom, I love being five."

Rex really is a cool little dude. He always gives me compliments and hugs and smooches. He can read short words and write his name. He's awesome on his bike and rides like the devil on his Razor. He loves loves loves his little bro. He has to know where Gunner is at all times. I can tell he's itchin' for Gun boy to get bigger so they can play together. He has a kindness for others that always amazes me and makes my heart melt at times. And I hate to admit it but sometimes he beats me at Mario Kart. Sometimes.

Because of his birthday, he got to fill out a poster about all about him for preschool. We had it up on our fridge for a few days before he got to take it to class and I would catch him staring for a really long time at it. He asked me a couple of times if he could take it in the van with him when we ran some errands and if he could sleep with it. Finally he got to take it in and show it off. He couldn't have been prouder.
I had to take a close up of it to show you his family portrait.
I love how he draws people. And the figure on the far right is baby Gunner. So awesome.

For his party, Rex told me he wanted a Transformer theme. We invited some friends over and had an easy low-key party. It turned out to be great fun!
This Optimus Prime was soon blown to smithereens:
My sis Magi made yet another great looking and great tasting cake! I'm digging the mosaic theme on it!
Check out the transformer face:
So I thought it would be cool to have some blue and red (transformer colors) food for the kiddos to munch on. I attempted to make blue and red rice krispie treats and this was the result:
More like a pink and turquoise. Really odd looking, huh? Not quite Optimus Prime colors. Although I'm pretty sure I replicated the exact colors of most weddings in the late 80's and early 90's.

My blue Energon Cubes turned out great though!
Rex had a great time blowing out his candles and opening his gifts:

Then it was time to head over to the park for an epic water balloon battle! I handed out masks for the kids to wear to help them feel more like super cool Transformers but all it did was block their vision and make their throwing horribly inaccurate.

My girlies can still look cute in boy masks though:
The battle begins! Autobots roll out!
I love this shot of Ella trying to get Tabby:
Dale said "You better run boy!" and then launched a balloon at Rex:
Dale with a rather mischievous grin on his face:
After the battle, the kids spent the rest of the time playing at the park while the grown ups hung out. That's my kind of party!
I love this boy so much and I'm so happy he's my rad little dude! Rex, you are the coolest 5 year old I know!

March Card Club

2010-04-01T13:11:00.007-07:00

For our card club meeting in March, our theme was birthday. I chose to make a card for a girl and I'm really proud of this one because I didn't go out and buy anything new for it. I only used stuff I had already. It's not my favorite card I've ever made but I was happy I didn't spend a dime to make it!
I like the "3D" butterflies!
Here is what I got in return:
Some of my faves:
Shenise used an old calendar for the pics on her cards:
I appreciate a good boy card. I've tried to make masculine cards before and found I wasn't very good at it.
While I was making my cards, Tabby found little scraps and bits around my office and made her own cards. I think they are really good! A girl after my own heart!
Unfortunately, when I wasn't looking Ella got into my stuff to try and make a card too. Ella making a card equals total destruction. And a lot of wasted glitter.

Gunn Boy is 8 Months

2010-03-23T20:05:00.003-07:00

My little hefty boy is 8 months old now.
Don't you just love all of his squishies?

Time really does fly. Gunner is really an amazing little guy and I feel so blessed that he is mine.

He's done all sorts of really cool things with his life since I last posted about him. He can sit up now, he has 2 little toofies and two more are almost in. He hardly makes a fuss about it though, being the sweet little guy he is. He can't crawl yet but he has mastered the belly spin. It really is funny to watch him try and figure out crawling though. He thinks if he kicks his legs hard enough, he will go somewhere. Not quite, Gunner.

I have also reached a milestone. I just moved Gunner out of my bedside crib and into his big crib in Rex's room. I know, I'm crazy. 8 months is a really long time to have your baby sleeping in your room. But you know how everybody has a little bit of OCD? Mine is checking on my kids and making sure they are breathing. It all started when Tabby was an infant and was diagnosed with a heart defect. It wasn't anything super serious but it was still hard for me to put her to sleep every night so I would go in and check on her at least 5 times a night. Even after she had her corrective surgery. So I guess you could say that's what started it and now I have to check on all my kids every night. Especially the babies. So I figured it would be easier for me to check on Gunner when he was right beside me. At least I wouldn't be having to get out of bed a bunch of times. But I have gotten better control of it now and since I've moved Gunner into a different room, I only have to check on my kids twice before I fall asleep. I've successfully reduced my craziness a good amount.

One last milestone to tell you about. Or show you rather:

New Blog

2010-03-11T21:01:00.002-07:00

My headband store has it's very own blog now. Awww, so grown up!

Check it if you want:
http://gimmiethatheadband.blogspot.com

P.S. I know it looks like I'm way full of myself because I'm just about in every one of my headband pictures. I must get another model!

A Great Story

2010-03-10T17:52:00.007-07:00

We had an amazing thing happen to us and I feel like it would be a waste if I didn't share it. It's way cool. Here' goes.

So it's no secret that Dale and I are poor. Run out of groceries poor. Not all the time. But that does happen from time to time. As it does with lots of people. No biggie.

Anyhow, regardless of our bank statement, we have always paid our tithing. No matter what. If you are unfamiliar with tithing, it's what we pay to our church each month. You can read about it here. Many times already we have experienced the blessings of paying our tithing. I believe that when we pay our tithing in full, we will always be taken care of. And we have been. Every time.

Including this past Monday.

I feel like I need to add a disclaimer here and state for the record that Dale is the most hardest working man I have ever met. He is and has been determined to provide for his family. Our financial shortcomings are no fault of Dale's.

Anyhow, this past month has been a particularly hard one. I balanced the account on Saturday and saw that after we paid our tithing (which we pay first) there would be a meager amount of money left in our account. We also needed to buy groceries as we were totally out. Well of course I would pay the tithing but then I remembered that it was fast Sunday. If you are unfamiliar with what fast Sunday is, you can read about it here. I thought about fast offerings and asked Dale if he thought it was like tithing where you paid it no matter what or if you had nothing to pay, you skip it that month or pay it later. He said he wasn't sure and we decided to think about it.

While driving home from church on Sunday, Dale said he felt prompted that we needed to pay our fast offering along with our tithing. This would make our balance go negative but we both agreed it needed to be paid. We felt that if we had faith and paid our tithing and fast offering, the Lord would help us cover the rest of our expenses like groceries, gas, etc. So we paid a generous fast offering that afternoon and said lots of prayers. We spent that night feeling like everything would be okay. We even came across this article in our Ensign magazine. If you don't know what the Ensign is, it's the magazine that our church sends out every month.

So the next day is Monday and Dale goes into work. Right off the bat, he meets up with his boss. There was a management position open and Dale planned to ask his boss for it. Dale's boss then tells Dale that for some reason he had been thinking about Dale all weekend. Also, he says that had been thinking about offering Dale the promotion and Dale coming right up and asking for it sealed it for him. He gave him the promotion on the spot.

Miracle. Straight up miracle. Dale has been wanting and praying for a promotion for a while now. It's not a coincidence that it happened right after we showed a huge amount of faith in paying our tithes and fast offerings.

I'm not sharing this to toot our own horn about Dale getting a promotion or anything like that. To me, this is an amazing strengthening experience that I really felt like I should share with everyone. The Lord knows us and blesses us. He loves us. He will never let us go. If we show faith, the Lord will deliver miracles.

Malachi 3: Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Lamp Re-Vamp

2010-03-08T09:22:00.004-07:00

I have two of these floor lamps in our family room and always thought they looked quite blank:

I've been wanting to dress them up for a while but couldn't decide on what to do. I thought about adding beads and fringe and bows but didn't like anything I tried.

Finally, I came up with something. Here is what I ended up doing:
Flowers! I love them!
Best thing about it? It was free! I already had all the materials. I used black satin ribbon for the sash, black satin fabric cut into strips for the flowers, glue and felt.

I thought about doing different colored flowers and maybe using fabric with a pattern but decided that all black looked best against the stripes on the shade.

Now I can move on to obsessing about another part of my house.

Day 5

2010-03-05T10:47:00.038-07:00

Sigh, the last day.... I am still mourning the fact that our beautiful vacation is over. Till we meet again, Hawaii.

Well our trip did go out with a bang. Our flight home left late Friday night which meant we still had all of the day time on Friday to play before we had to go to the airport. We maximized our time with some really fun stuff.

First on the docket was kayaking down the Wailua River. It's supposed to be a beautiful kayak trip down the river and when you get to the end, you hike to Secret Falls. This was what wanted to do on day 2 of our trip before the flash flood warnings made us change our plans. This time, we managed to find the rental place with out humiliating slash terrifying any innocent women in gas station bathrooms.

We rented our two person kayak, got a map and headed toward the river. Dale did all the hard work while I took pictures of it.
Here's where we entered:
As we were getting in our kayak, I told Dale, "Let's make sure this doesn't end up anything like Deliverance." Then I started to sing dueling banjos. If you haven't seen the movie, never mind. I saw it on TV once but gladly, no ill fated trips for us. We had a lovely time. Except for the fact that when we started paddling we quickly realized that we were rowing into the wind. Ugh. At least for Dale. Not for me. I was too busy taking pictures. Besides, who needs to row when you have this giant powerhouse behind you?
Actually, that's not true. I did my fair share of rowing and it was HARD WORK. I think Dale kept getting irritated with me though because I kept putting my oar down to take pics. Wonderful pics like these:
That's my cheesy "I'm on a kayak" smile. We did veer off into the side of the river bank a time or two due to my lack of attention but the scenery was so beautiful I couldn't help but take pictures of it all.

Lush greenness everywhere! After about an hour of rowing into the wind (ugh) we found the place to leave our kayak and started hiking.

We had to cross some muddy and rocky streams at first to get to the trail and I guess this would be the second time in my life that I wished I had those fruity river sandals. But that's it. Anyways, I just ended up taking my shoes off and crossing barefoot. Child's play after our insane hike on Wednesday.

Once again we have a small bit of trouble finding our way on the trail. The map was vague, the trail was vague but Dale and I have a pretty good sense of direction and we ended up getting there just fine. And the hike a long the way was so beautiful. The forest in Hawaii is amazing. Once again, my pictures didn't do it justice.

The beautiful canopy:
Moss grows on everything!
These little guys were all over the place. I was told they weren't venomous. Let's hope so!
I have never seen so much life in one forest!

It was almost like things were growing right before our eyes.

If you look closely, you will see that the tree roots do crazy things. They don't know about growing deep into the ground. They are all over the place. Up, down, and sideways. They even grow right into each other.
They twist around each other to get to the top:
Kind of ruthless, those roots.

Here's Dale, flexing his muscles. Showing the trees who is boss.

There were many mini-water falls we had to cross along the way. To me, these looked so beautiful, they almost looked unreal.
We felt like the luckiest people on earth getting to see these things.

We didn't hike for very long until we reached Secret Falls:
For a minute we were the only people there and until some other hikers came along, it felt like we were the only two people on earth.

We did dip into the water and it was frigid to say the least.

I couldn't get a shot of the whole waterfall so I took 3 separate shots and put them together:

We hiked back out and settled into our kayak once again. We agreed that it would be an easy trip back because we thought we would be going with the current this time but au contraire! There is a little thing in Kauai called the trade winds. And they happened to trade while we were hiking. So once again, we rowed along into the wind, against the current, muscles aching. We made it to shore eventually and returned our kayak and went on our way to get some lunch.

Then we decided to head over and check out the secluded beaches we saw from our horseback ride earlier in the week.

As we rode along the dirt road to the ocean, I got a little sad knowing this would be our last thing we did before heading home. But I'm glad we saved it for last. Being on these beautiful beaches was a great way to say goodbye to Hawaii.

These beaches are called the Maha'ulepu Beaches. There are 3 separate areas and the first two you can drive right up to but the third can only be reached by walking to it from second beach.

We laid out on the first beach for a bit before checking out the others.
You know your trip is winding down when the sunscreen is almost gone.

After a bit, we got up and drove to the second beach. Not as sandy but the views were unbelievable! There are many cliffs made of lithified sand. We stood on a cool ledge that hung out over the ocean until we looked down and saw all the cracks in it! We quickly retreated!

The water spraying the hardened sand is what makes it turn jagged and spiky.

Then we started to walk to the 3rd beach. The scenery was incredible to see, it was really almost humbling to be there and take it all in.

I can't get over the color of that water!

Every time the water crashed on these rocks, we could see a rainbow in the sea spray:

This picture looks like nothing but it really is a cool vent that Dale found. It goes all the way through the rock down to the water. Every time a wave came in, a huge gust of air would come up though it and shoot out at us!

The view on the way to the 3rd beach:

This the place that I mentioned in and earliar post where they are supposed to be shooting Pirates of the Carribian. Sorry ladies, no Johnny sightings this time either.

The rocky ledge culred over and shaded the sand at this beach. We sat under the overhang for a while.

We reluctantly decided we'd better go if we wanted time to clean up and eat dinner before our flight left. We began our slow walk back to where we parked. I may or may not have had tears in my eyes as we were heading to the car. I'm silly, I know.

Here's another sad moment, the putting on of the watch. One thing I LOVED about Hawaii was running on island time. It never mattered what hour it was. There was no such thing as early or late. You got there when you got there. I can't remember one time that we were in a rush. I wish I could live like that at home.
Here are some of my other favorite things about our trip:

I loved waking up every morning before the sun came up. Crazy, I know. At home when I have to wake up before the sunrise, I'm the most miserable person on earth. But every morning we would wake up super early and head down to breakfast. We would sit on the porch and watch the sunrise while we ate the most delicious breakfast buffet in the whole wide world. The hotel would always be playing Jack Johnson music softly in the background too. It seems like a lovely and perfect dream now.

Here's a picture I took of our view while we were eating one morning:

Another thing I loved about Hawaii was that every where you looked was a picture. I took so many while looking out the car window:

Another favorite were these beautiful trees covered in red flowers:

But the thing I loved the very most about Hawaii was sharing it with this guy:
Thank you so much baby for earning this trip for us and taking me away to paradise! I love you!

Day 4

2010-02-23T20:35:00.013-07:00

Okay now we are on to day 4. One more day to go after this post. As I get to the end of blogging about Hawaii, I get a bit sad. It makes the finality of the trip set in. I know we've been home for a few weeks now but blogging about it helped me cope with the sad fact that we are no longer there. Bummer. One day we will go back. I swear it.

So day four involved spotting dolphins and whales, a face full of sea spray and puking. That's right, a boat ride! Dale and I along with a bunch of friends from our group chartered a boat in the morning to take us up the Na Pali coastline. The scenery is famous and has been in many movies, namely Jurassic Park. Seeing it in person was pretty dang awesome.

Unfortunately, due to the choppy water (more like giant tidal waves, if you ask me) we couldn't make it all the way up the coast so we had to turn around at one point. But we did get to see a good portion of it.

It's a good thing we turned around though. There were seriously about 5 people puking off the side of the boat at one point while several others were on the verge. Poor Dale was one of those unlucky souls. He never threw up but felt green almost the whole time. The boat was a'tossin' and if you start throwing a big guy like that around, he's bound to get sick.

Before we turned around, we got to stand at the very front of the boat and watch the huge waves come at us. It felt like we were on a roller coaster. The best part was when the front of the boat dropped and for a moment we would be in the air before our feet touched the deck. Kinda like jumping in an elevator. It was great until Captain Ruin All The Fun made us go in the back of the boat. So it's his job to make sure we get back to shore safely, big deal.

And along the way, we did see spinner dolphins and whales. One giant sperm whale jumped halfway out of the water but of course, I didn't have my camera ready. They don't like the boats so it was really hard to see one.

Here's the happy couple:
Leaving the shore of Kauai:
The sun rising over the water:

By the time we got to where the Na Pali coastline started, the water was so choppy and my camera lens was covered in salty sea mist and fog. As soon as I would try to wipe it off, it would get fogged right up again so I'm very disappointed not to be able to have pics that truly show off how beautiful it was. One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, really. These pictures are hazy and blurry but hopefully you will be able to get a sense of the majestic scenery.

Here are some dolphins making an appearance. There were so many of them under the water right up by the boat. Unlike the whales, they like the attention and love to do tricks while we clap for them. So fun.
Right by the boat!
A whale and her calf off in the distance. We were all jealous of that boat getting to be so close. Jerks.

Even though this picture isn't funny it makes me laugh. This is the first time in almost our 9 year marriage that we have been on a boat together. When we first got married I quickly learned that Dale talks in his sleep. Over the years he has said some great things in the middle of the night but my most favorite thing ever was one night when he sat straight up and said "Alright, everybody on the boat is getting punched!" So epic. Now when I see this pic of Dale on a boat, I snicker because it makes me think of that. Luckily, there were no situations that occurred on the boat that required anybody to get punched.

Before we went back to shore, we got to snorkel. It was lots of fun and I saw some beautiful fish and coral but it was so COLD. I knew it was time to be done when I was shivering in the water.

After the boat trip, we went back to our hotel room where we took our one and only legitimate nap during the whole trip. Poor Dale, he was so tired. I kept saying how he was going to need a vacation from me after this trip because I wouldn't let him sit for a minute.

Later that night Dale's work hosted a private luau and award ceremony in the hotel gardens for us. Here is Dale getting his award. His plaque said "Mr. Midnight" on it due to how the trip came about for him.
Hey, nice plaque. Except HIS LAST NAME IS SPELLED WRONG ON IT!!! That's okay though. Dale said they can call him whatever they want as long as they send him to Hawaii.
The luau part of the night was so fun!
I forget what this guy was called but he was hilarious.
Fire feet:
That concludes day 4. Just need to post day 5 and then I will have to move on with my life!

Day 3 Part 2

2010-02-17T08:16:00.027-07:00

Day 3, the saga continues.

So after our zip line adventure, we returned home to the hotel to shower and change. Dale and I had nothing planned for the afternoon so we decided to travel up the east side of the island to the north side of the island to see what we could find. I have learned that in Hawaii, some of the best adventures occur when you have nothing planned. Like what happened next.

Before we left, a friend loaned me this book to help us find things to do. As I was looking for stuff to see on our drive, the book recommended we stop at Wailua Falls which is located on the east side of the island. It's a beautiful sight, and is higher than Niagara at 173 feet. Long ago, many men died jumping off these falls trying to prove their manhood.

Here's I pic I took from the scenic lookout:

Anyway, the book I had said that there was a steep trail down to the bottom of the falls that the state keeps blocking off for liability reasons. The locals keep tying ropes to help guide people down but the state keeps cutting them. When we get there, I start looking around and see no sign of a trail. Then we see this way way sketchy looking local guy who was watching the bottom of the falls with a pair of binoculars. He starts talking to us about the wild boars he has killed with his knife and Dale notices that he has a tear drop tattoo right below his eye. Nice. But he seems friendly enough and I figure Dale could take him if the guy is only packing a knife (yes, that's my logic. It's bad, I know) so I ask him if he knows of a way to get down to the bottom of the falls. He says "There sure is!" and is more than happy to show us the way. At this point I'm thinking "Yeah, so you can break into our car while we are down there." We follow him and he points to the place and shows us that we just have to go around this chain link fence. That sounds legal. Dale says he doesn't want to do it. Of course I do. But his sanity prevails and we start to walk back to our car. Then sanity quickly leaves again and Dale agrees to try it. By this time the sketchy local is gone so we turn around and head to the trail. Dale and I begin the descent and we soon realize that we were very ill prepared! I am wearing a skirt and flip flops and Dale is also in flip flops. But not a skirt.

Here is a pic of the start which wasn't too bad at first but then turns very steep and slippery right away.

There are some ropes at the start but they soon disappear and it is up to our own navigation skills to scale our way down. Scale isn't even the right word. More like slide, crash, and careen our way down. I decide I get better traction barefooted and remove my sandals and Dale does the same. We were soon up to our knees in red clay mud and sticks. This was the one and only time in my life where I wished I had those fruity river sandals.

So at this point there is no trail. I realized from this experience and a few others, a "trail" in Hawaii is really just a barely visible suggestion of where you should go.

At one point I turned back to snap a shot of a spot we had just come down:
Dale makes sure to remind me that this was my idea and he will hold me solely responsible if this ends in disaster. I then remind him that he's the one who's gonna have to fight teardrop guy and that evens the score. I'm not worried, Dale could totally take him.

But regardless, neither of us need to fear because eventually we make it down to the bottom safely. And are treated to one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen. I come out from the trees and to my left is a humongous and very loud 173 foot waterfall!
We have to cross a stream and a meadow to get closer to it. Note the mud buns. Those were brand new shorts too, dang it!
There goes the pedicure too!
We cross the meadow and we are right directly in front of the falls. The sound of the water crashing is so loud and the mist feels so refreshing! I was having a great time until I looked up and our new best friend was watching us with his binoculars. Creepy! At least now I know he's up there and not following us down!

The best seat in the house:
Dale goes out for a swim.
We thought is was best not to get directly under it as we aren't the best swimmers and who knows what kind of force that water has. At least we are that smart.
It was COLD!!!
We splashed around and relaxed for a bit and then we decided it was time to go. On our way out I noticed this cool rock wall. Dale is doing a suave pose in front of it for you.
Up was way worse than down but we were so anxious to get out of there because of creepy guy so we got out surprisingly fast. We didn't even try to find the trail this time. We clawed our way up using roots and vines.

We get to the top and emerge out of the forest sweaty and covered with mud. All the tourists at the scenic lookout stare at us like we are aliens. Our friend is nowhere to be seen but our car is in tact and we are in tact and all is well. Another awesome adventure!

We get in the car and try our best to wipe of the mud with towels but it doesn't make much difference. We are filthy! Which is exactly what I'm sure the drive thru guy thought at the Taco Bell we then went to.

After a cheap delicious lunch, we continue our journey up to the North side of the island. It was the most beautiful drive.
After a while, the road got small and curvy. I kept shouting at Dale to look at stuff I saw out the window and he kept saying "I can't, I'm driving!"

We traveled past Hanalei Bay which is the place mentioned in the Puff the Magic Dragon song. We all know what that song is really about and that town is filled with people who also know it and obviously live that hippie lifestyle.

There are lots of one lane bridges along the way. This one was in Hanalei Valley. A beautiful place.
We stopped in a place called the Dry Caves.
The cave was under this mountain. Amazing how water has carved a huge hole out of the rock.
Across from the cave is the Ha'ena Beach. This beach had huge waves. We stood there awhile amazed at the awesomeness of it.
Finally, we pulled up to Ke'e Beach.
The last beach on the north shore before the rugged Na Pali coastline starts on the west side. We park the car and as we walk to the sand, two hippies get out their wood flutes and begin to serenade all us beach goers with a lovely new age tune. It was all I could do to not laugh. Dale just rolled his eyes.

At Ke'e Beach, there is also a trail head to a hike that I really wanted to do. It is 11 miles and tried as as I might, we just couldn't find time for it in our short stay!
I heard its a real doozy. If I ever go back, I'm doing that trail!

Anyway, we make our way out to the shore and lay our towels down and take a seat. I was told by my friend who loaned me the book that this was the best place to watch the sunset in Kauai and I think it truly is. Not that I was in Kauai long enough to see the sunset in many places but I can't imagine it better than this!

We took some pics while waiting for the show:

I heart Dale:
Our weary mud/sand covered feet.
Dale finds time for a siesta.
This and one other nap were the only ones he got on the whole trip. Poor guy, his wife wanted to go go go from sun up to sun down. Sleep was a waste of time in my book!

The sun started to set and we snuggled together while we watched. And of course while I took 8 thousand pictures.
Those mountains in the distance is the start of the famous Na Pali Coast. So many movies have used scenery from this coastline.
It was pretty cloudy but still breathtaking!
I told Dale, I truly think we found paradise. I imagined how the sun has been setting in this way in this beautiful spot all of my life and I didn't know about it. Can't believe it took me so long to find it!

Day 3 Part 1

2010-02-16T13:44:00.023-07:00

I'm having to do Day 3 in segments because it was a really long and awesome day. I took the most pictures on this day so I thought it would be easier to break the day up.

We began the day with a zip line tour. It was one of the cooler things we did there. Scenic, thrilling, adventurous, all of that. We met at the tour guide office and were piled into a very questionably smelling and rickety van. Our guides drove along the highway for a bit and then turned of onto a dirt road. The road they took us on seemed like it should be for 4x4 vehicles only. Our van wasn't a 4x4 vehicle but you couldn't tell our guides that. The driver gunned it up every hill and through every mud hole. Of course the shocks on the van were non existent. The ride was definitely foreshadowing of awesomeness to come.

Behold. One of the most beautiful spots on the earth:

We were parked in lush green fields that lots of cows lazily grazed in. Surrounding us were beautiful green covered mountains. Parts of Jurassic Park were filmed here. We didn't see any velociraptors but we did see lots of bovine-a-saurs. Bad joke, I know.

We were soon suited up and ready for the zip line.
I have to say we totally rocked those helmets!

Here I am getting ready to zip down.
Nothing says foxy like a bright red helmet and zip line gear. Rawr.

Here's the view when I got to the bottom:
I can't get over how incredibly beautiful this forest was.

The trees here are so interesting. They have a mind of their own.

We continued to go down a series of zip lines until we got to the bottom of the forest. Here's a view on the way down. They filmed parts of Indiana Jones in this river:
And for your viewing pleasure, here is a video of Dale and I zipping down to the bottom of that river. We decided to go backwards with no hands. I thought I was pretty cool until I looked over and Dale was upside down!

Doesn't he kinda look like a vampire? Oooh, Twilight! Sooo dreamy!

Here's some views going across the river. Which we had to do using this bridge. Yes it rocked from side to side and yes it was funny following Dale who purposely made it do that because he knew I was following him.

We then walked up the forest where we went to a series of even longer zip lines.

Crossing more bridges.
We were up super super high!
Here's Dale going down the second to last line. Look at those glorious giant calves gleaming like a beacon for all to see!
After that one we approached the "grand daddy" of all zip lines. The longest in Kauai. It takes you over the rain forest canopy and gives you a view of the whole valley and surrounding mountains. It was incredible!
Can you see that platform off in the distance? That is where we land.

Here I am, waiting my turn, still looking foxy in my gear.
Here's dale and one of our guides, Gabe. I can't remember what they were laughing about but I'm sure it was a hilarious joke at my expense. Check out Dale's sweet ball cap/helmet combo. Rex does that same thing when he rides his bike. Guess it runs in the family.
And here is the video of Dale and I going down this amazing zip line. Ignore my sissy screams.

My excuse for not going upside down was that I had to film the whole event. Totally legit, right?

So after the zipping it was time to head back to the van and grab our lunch.
It was also time for a bathroom break.

I challenge you to find more epically placed port-o-potties than these two:
Have you ever stepped out of the J-John only to see views like that? Juxtaposition at it's best!

Anyway, the plan was to eat our lunch down at the swimming hole. Here we are hiking down:
If I ever got lost, I could just look for his calves.

Here's the swimming hole.
It was a lot of fun because they had a mini zip line set up to where you could splash into the water:
Here's video of Dale:

And they had a tall platform you could jump off of. When I jumped off, I went in slightly side ways and slapped my side. Youch!!! Dale did some of his cool tricks:

What's funny about that is I had no problem with him doing back flips and gainers in to the pool. Nor did I have a problem with him going upside down on the zip line. But when he wanted to dive into the swimming hole head first I freaked out and wouldn't let him! That's just the mom in me, I guess.

So that's the first part of our super adventurous day! I will show the rest soon!

Day 2

2010-02-11T12:56:00.033-07:00

Here are the pics of our second day in Hawaii which was a Tuesday.

I will start by saying that things got off to a rocky start. At dinner the night before, a group of our friends said they were signed up to go on a zip line tour and they said we should come along with them. Well, Tuesday morning rolls around and we call the zip line place and they are all booked up which meant we were on our own for the day. No big deal, I had plenty of things in mind to do. It had been a rainy morning but Dale and Alys Morris won't be stopped by silly things like rain. So we decided that doing a kayak trip down the Wailua River would be fun to try. So we get in our car and drive about 30 minutes to the place the map says to go. When we get there, we can't find it. Grrrr. We drive around the area, ask people, get out and walk around. No dice.

Finally, we see a sign advertising kayak rentals right in front of a gas station. There was no one by the sign so we go inside and ask the cashier where to rent them. He just points his finger to where we just were and says "out front." So we go back still no one there but a sign and a table. We were getting agitated and saying "Where is this guy?" Dale is getting really angry because he knows how much this trip means to me and then we both look and see the gas station restroom right next to the supposed kayak stand and we both look at each other and say "I wonder if he is in there?" Dale in all of his fury yanks the door open which was locked. He pulled on it so hard it broke the lock. The door flies open and exposes a lady in there who is shocked beyond words. Imagine being in a bathroom all by yourself and suddenly the door is yanked open and there is a raging bull outside. Yeah, not good. Dale quickly says "Oh, sorry!" and we quickly head back to our vehicle. When we begin to pull away, I am laughing hysterically about what just happened and Dale is beginning to come down off his anger high. Why were we even thinking that the kayak guy would be in the bathroom? Like that was his office or something!

We drive just a little bit back down the road and spot the kayak place. Turned out, they just moved locations and we didn't have a new map. Anyway, we get out and ask the guy if we can rent kayaks. He said he will rent them to us but it's probably not a good idea to go up the river. The mountains got a ton of rain and there were flash flood warnings all morning. He said if we got stuck, they would have to come rescue us. We were up for an adventure but we know better than to go traipsing down the river during a flash flood warning.

So now our second idea is shot down. Fine. We decided to try ATV riding. It might even be really fun because of all the mud from the rains. Turns out the ATV rental place is RIGHT BY OUR HOTEL. So we drive the 30 mins right back to where we came from. We get to where the map says the place is and you guessed it. No longer there. I'm not afraid to admit that at this point I started to cry. It was irrational and lame but I couldn't help it. I kept saying, "This is not how Hawaii is supposed to be!!!" Now I'm laughing at it but in the moment, it was pretty much the end of the world. Poor Dale, who had to endure this break down, just remains quiet until I come to my senses.

Since we got an early start on the day, it was only about 9:30 at this point and we decide snorkeling might be fun to try. It wasn't to keen on it, but now I'm thinking "whatever, let's do anything." So we go to good old Snorkel Bob's and rent us some gear and head to a close beach and snorkel. It ends up being a blast! Seriously, we saw some crazy looking fish. Dale really wanted to see a shark. Why? I don't know. Maybe he wanted to do battle with it.

Anyway, the beach we snorkeled at was called Poipu Beach. It was a really pretty beach and a great one for the kids to play at because there were some shallow lagoon areas. I saw a little girly snorkeling and it made me sad for a moment because I thought of how much Tabby would love it.

Here's some pics of the area. Sorry no pics of me in my snorkel gear. It was definitely not cute.
A lot of the beaches we went to had sleeping Monk Seals on them. Apparently they like to climb on to shore and snooze. It's illegal to touch them and it is even some person's job to travel around and rope off the area that the seal is sleeping in and post signs. I would like that job please.
I like how the sign says not to harass the seal. Luckily my seal harassment days are long behind me so this big fellow was able to rest easy.

Let's play where's the crab:
I have to post this picture of this rooster on here. Wild chickens ended up being a big part of our trip. When you are outside in Kauai, you can't turn in a full circle with out seeing one of these guys. They mosey out in front of your car and take their sweet time getting out of the way. You can't go 5 seconds without hearing a rooster crow. Night and day people. And heaven help you if you dare open up some food outside. I guess cock fighting used to be a big thing on the islands and they had a bad hurricane once and it spread all the chickens from one side of the islands to the other. Also, they have no predators. Hence, ridiculous chicken infestation. They say if you catch a wild chicken, the way to eat it is cook it over some rocks, throw the chicken away and eat the rocks.
After snorkeling, we enjoyed a delicious lunch at Puka Dog's and came back to the hotel. Here are some random hotel shots that I thought were pretty.

Here's a view from a porch on the way to our room:
This bird sits in the lobby. He screams "aloha" at you and uses his perch for a slide:
When we went back to our hotel, we asked the concierge about what we could do in the afternoon. He said we should try horseback riding. It sounded great to me and after my "scene" that morning, Dale wasn't about to disagree with me. The ranch was right down the road from our hotel so we went back to our room to get ready and went right out again.

The ranch was right by some cliffs that overlooked the ocean.
Beautiful!
This poor horse. They didn't even have it penned up. Too old to go anywhere. I gave him a scratch and talked to him and he didn't even move. The very meaning of "out to pasture."
Here's Dale, rearing to go. Look at that cut on his knee. He bashed it on some coral while snorkeling. Looks rugged, no?

Before we were able to start riding, the guide advised us not to let the horses eat the plants along the trail. The said to give a quick jerk of the rains if they try. All my horse wanted to do was feast on all the delicious grasses and flowers. I did what they told me to do and he learned that I was boss. Which is what I thought until I realized that my horse had just wised up. He realized that whenever I was taking pictures, I couldn't jerk my reins and stop him from eating. Every time he heard me turn my camera on he would start looking around for food and eat whatever he could find. I took tons of pics so I'm sure he was full by the time we got back.

Here we are setting off. They told Dale his horse should be in front and my horse quickly vetoed that decision. My horse let Dale's horse know that by "riding his bumper" until he got his way and went in front. My horse was named Primo, Dale's horse was named Mouku. Primo wanted to go go go, Mouku wanted to drop dead. I think Dale could have gone down the trail faster if he walked on foot. Dale is not at all a little guy so I think if we ever do this again, we will make sure they give him a horse that's a bit more "sturdy."
They showed us some amazing things along the trail. Here is the actual cave used in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Can you imagine Indy running out of there with a huge boulder following him?
We rode with beautiful valleys on one side and ocean on the other.
As we were riding along some cliffs, we rode along some that overlooked beautiful secluded beaches. These beaches are where they are filming the next Pirates of the Caribbean. Our guide said that they were going to start production soon and he had seen set up crews coming and going. We were all hoping that you-know-who was down there but there were no signs of Johnny. There were two single ladies in our group and they were really excited about it. I think they would have about ran him down on their horses if he was there.
After riding along the cliffs and valleys, we went through what looked to be like forest areas as we headed down to the beach. Dale and I both thought that the scenery looked a lot like Northern AZ but then I realized that the ground we were on was made out of sand not dirt.
We came out of the forest and ended up on the beach. Breathtaking!
Meet our guide, Russell.
Poor Russell had a funny moment. Right after I took this pic we rounded a corner and laying there for all to see was a "washed up mermaid" a.k.a naked female sunbather. Russell saw her first and instantly got quiet. He was kind of a shy kid, bless him. I saw her next and laughed. Dale couldn't figure out what I was laughing at. Then he spotted her and instantly put his head down and turned the other way. He was so embarrassed! The other two ladies in our group thought it was pretty hilarious too. At least she was front side down!

After our beautiful horseback ride, we still had a few hours we wanted to burn before heading back to our hotel. We got some food and headed toward Spouting Horn. Lots of people told us to go there saying it was a really amazing thing that we needed to see. It was supposed to be a blow hole. You know the kind where there is a hole in the rock and the waves come through it and water comes shooting out? We were told that it was going to be awesome. Well awesome it was not. Maybe we hit it at the wrong time? Because water didn't come shooting out. It more or less fizzled out. It did shoot out a few times and I managed to catch it with my camera. It was maybe about 5 feet high. But it wasn't a huge let down because even though the blow hole didn't entertain us the girl in the teensy swim suit trying to impress her boyfriend by jumping off the sharp lava rocks in to the waves that were crashing up against those sharp rocks was certainly entertaining. She actually chickened out which is what I and the crowd of people that had gathered was hoping she would do. But fun to watch nonetheless. Ahhh, young love.

Here she is, debating while her boyfriend stands there. Some hero he was.
So, the day up being great after all. We headed back home, victorious in turning what started out to be a bad day, into an adventure.

Here are some more random hotel shots that I took on the way to our room. This black swan would honk at you for food every time you walked by him.
Wouldn't be a Hawaii trip without a picture of a Hibiscus!
A waterfall in the front garden area.
After we showered, I sat on our hotel room porch, put my feet up, and watched the sun set as I felt the tropical breeze on my toes.

Day 1

2010-02-08T21:07:00.020-07:00

Well, Dale and I had two tickets to paradise. And now the amazing week is over and we are home. Booooo! A smidge bummed out that I had to return to reality. This trip was a blessing above all blessings and we treated it that way the whole time we were there. Every second was a thrill.

It all started when Dale earned a trip to Kauai from his work. It wasn't so simple, it actually was the most amazing thing. He had a month to generate a certain amount of revenue and if he did, we would be included in the group of "top performers" which meant a trip to Kauai for the both of us. He was short on his goal all month and it seemed impossible. He even told me half way through the month that there was no way he was going to make it. The goal that he had to reach was super high and he said it would be a downright miracle if we made it. And a downright miracle it was! He had been working super late nights all week and it came down to the very last day of the month and he had till midnight to make it happen. When 10:00 at night came around, he actually needed just one more sale to put it over the top. He scrounged up one last guy in Australia to call who he talked to for a long long time before sealing the deal. Dale finally got it and this is no joke, the time stamp on the credit card transaction was 11:59:59. He did it. Literally at the last second. He called me crying which freaked me out, I thought something terrible had happened. Then he said "We're going" and I knew what he meant so then I started crying. Then, I get embarrassed because I realize I'm on speakerphone. Apparently everyone wanted to hear Dale tell me the news and they had all been crying already. Dale told me later that had all been praying for Dale to make it because they cared about him so much. A lot of them were already done working that night but they stayed to help Dale and cheer him on. I get a little teary now just thinking about it.

So anyway, that was back in the fall and we've had months to think about the trip and get excited about it. And it was better than we thought it was going to be. I wish I could go back and take everyone I know with me. Truly a trip of a lifetime.

I took over 1000 pics and I hope you don't mind if I share a bunch with you. Don't worry, I edited them down. I'm only posting about 800. =)

We took off from Phoenix early in the morning. We were headed to Kauai but we had a layover in Oahu. Yes, I took a picture of my boarding pass. I was excited, okay?
I was so happy to have a window seat and kept my face plastered against the tiny glass to watch the scenery change. First view out of the window was blah Phoenix. No offense Phoenix, but you look sorta drab compared to Hawaii. I'm just sayin'.
Takeoff! I call this one pollution con clouds.
This pic was taken as we were getting near. Can you see the cruse ship?
First view of Honolulu. Can you believe the colors in the water?
Arrived at the Honolulu Airport and promptly received sticker shock:
Took off again, this time headed for our destination:
First view of Kauai. This is where they filmed Jurassic Park. Can you hear the theme song right now?
After we hopped off the plane, we went and got our rental car. I reserved us the itty bitty-est car they had but when we got there, they were all out of those so we got a free upgrade to full size thank you very much! I tried to convince them that what we really needed was a free upgrade to the Mustang Convertible but they didn't by it.

This next group of pics was taken by a very exited girl with her camera in a moving rental car. She was seeing Hawaii for the very first time in her life:
The Tree Tunnel. We got to go through this a bunch of times because it was off the highway, on the way to our hotel. Like all the shots of Kauai I have, the pic doesn't do it justice. A beautiful canopy of trees, it was.
Dude, I ain't gonna lie. Our hotel was straight up swank. I felt like royalty.
Here I am standing in their lobby, part of which had no roof and was open to the bright blue sky. In front of me is a tropical garden under the ceiling opening and in front of that is a sitting area overlooking the ocean.
We got leis as we came in. I used them as decoration in our room:
The view outside our room. I know. It seemed like a dream.
We didn't waste a single second after we got in our room. We changed into our swim suits and were out the door 5 minutes later combing the beach and swimming in the pools. When we were walking along the beach in front of our hotel, we found a little trail that lead to a meadow with white butterflies everywhere. Paradise! Of course, I didn't have my camera. That was the one and only time. After that mistake, I made sure I had it with me every time I left the room. The name of the beach that our hotel was built on is called Shipwreck Beach. It wasn't a great one for swimming or surfing because there was lots of coral. But it did have a giant cliff you could jump off of in case you felt so inclined. It was the same cliff that Harrison Ford and Anne Heche jumped off of in 6 days and 7 nights. I know, I didn't see that movie either but it sounds cool to say it.

Since I was a dummy face and didn't get pics of the amazing beach that our Hotel overlooked and pics of the outside of hotel itself, I did you the courtesy of finding pics of it online.

The famous cliff:
The gardens at the resort:
View of the resort and beach from the sky:
I kept saying that I would just come back and take pics of the hotel and beach we were staying on before we left but I never got around to that because we were go go go from sun up to sun down trying to squeeze every bit of adventure we could find into the 5 days that we were there.

Stay tuned for more. I have a bazillion pics to go thru and I will post them as I go. Aloha! Sorry, I had to say it.

Tabby's Hair

2010-01-28T16:17:00.003-07:00

Little Miss Tabby was in dire need of a haircut. She wouldn't let me cut it for the longest time. She wanted to grow it out long. Just like I learned before I got my haircut a few weeks ago, there is a fine line between long pretty hair and rag-a-muffin homeless-esque. Tabby's hair was definitely the latter. And her hair is pretty coarse like mine so I always had a hard time making it look smooth and silky.

Finally, last night she said I could cut her hair but only if I gave her bangs. This was hard for me to agree to because I have absolutely no hair cutting training besides watching the stylist cut my own hair and how to's on the internet. I don't think they give certificates for that. So, with my lack of knowledge, I thought that cutting respectable looking bangs was going to be a challenge. Nonetheless I decided to go for it because I really wanted her hair cut. And I didn't want to pay for it. Maybe I should have. You can be the judge.

Here is the before:
Rocking the scraggle style:
And the after:
I probably didn't do the best job in the world and if you look closely I'm sure you would see a million mistakes. But she likes it. And it was free.

More Headbands

2010-01-21T11:19:00.003-07:00

Hey everyone, I have an Etsy shop now regarding my headbands for women and girls. Not much merch on there but I'm working fast! You like?

http://www.etsy.com/shop/gimmiethat

6 Months Already

2010-01-18T22:23:00.003-07:00

This little chunky monkey turned 6 months old already!
He's accomplished quite a lot in his life so far. He rolls over both ways. He snatches anything within arms reach and puts it right directly in his mouth. This includes my hair. He has two teeth sprouting and he continues to be ginormous. I just wish one of the things on the list of stuff he can do is hold own bottle. He'd rather have his mama feed him. I guess I will miss that when he gets older so I shouldn't complain too much.

I just love his pudgy little hands. So squishy. Check out the slobber covered finger. That's one of his new things to combat his teething.
Fat little feet too! Yum! Here's one time where cankles are actually cute!
Compare these two similar pics:

3 months:
6 months:
Oooo! I love it!

The Result

2010-01-11T11:02:00.002-07:00

Well here's me after the hair cut:
It's really not as exciting as the photo I posted as my inspiration picture in the post below. I just didn't have time to go put on my boots and go tromping around in the woods with my chunky vintage scarf and professional photographer. I do really like my new style though. Dale, bless him, was so patient with me and took lots of pics. There were ones that showed the detail of my cut more but I looked the least fat in this one so of course it's the one I'm going to show you.

My stylist cut about 7" inches off and did some much needed thinning. When my hair was swept up into a pile it looked about the size of a large cat. SO much of it!

I felt like I needed to post this picture because last time I got my hair cut, I asked everybody's opinion and I never posted what I ended up getting and I know everyone was SO LET DOWN!!!! Now we can all let out our collective sigh of relief.

Cross Your Fingers!

2010-01-08T18:26:00.002-07:00

I'm going to get my hair cut tomorrow. It's only been 7 months. Last time it was almost a year so I guess I'm ahead of schedule. I like my long hair but it's ridiculously long. Cousin Itt long.

This style is what I'm going for. I hope my hair dresser can work her scissor magic and send me home with this.
You like? I do.

Headbands

2010-01-08T09:53:00.004-07:00

This is my new fascination that has been keeping me from cleaning my house. So glad I can always think of something better to do than clean. I did tidy up my office though. Now you can see the carpet.

The first 3 are for grown-ups, I just happened to have my cute little neighbor girl standing right in the room when I needed a model. They look a tad huge on her!
My lovely neighbor Marcy wearing one:
Here's Tabby wearing hers:
Once you get the hang of it, they actually aren't too hard to make.

Last Pics of Christmas

2010-01-05T09:03:00.022-07:00

I finally got around to taking down Christmas around here last night. I'm sad it's come and gone. I don't miss the money sucking driving consumerism part of it but I do miss feeling festive and enjoying the spirit that Christmas time brings. Oh well, the days seem to fly by now that I'm older. I'm sure it will be here again before I know it.

Anyhow, here's the rest of the Holiday Roundup.

On Christmas Eve, right before we sent the kids to bed, we sprinkled the reindeer food in the lawn. All the kids took turns and I'm sure Rudolph was very grateful for the treat.
Then as we went inside to prepare a plate of cookies for Santa, we heard scratching and squeaking at the door! The kids ran outside and look what was there!
PJ's from the Elves!!! How sweet of them to always bring the kids new jammies on Christmas Eve. This is the 4th year now that they remembered.
Looks like the elves didn't forget me either!
Now get to bed!
The jammies were actually given to me by my next door neighbor Marcy, who is not an elf. She found these on Black Friday for $3 each!

Now on to Christmas morning. Let the ravenous paper shredding begin.

Here's Tabby opening the famed Zhu Zhu Pets:
Gunner was excited about his new binkies:
And his new ball:
Here is Dale with a gift for me. Notice the "Dale Morris Special" wrapping job. I'm a lucky gal.
I especially liked how the bow was attached:
Ella Rose was excited about her gift:
Here's Rex with one of his faves:

Note to self. Do not use such tough wrapping paper next year. Also, I had no Scotch tape when I wrapped these so instead of buying some, I went on the cheap and just used the clear packing tape that I already had. That with the thick wrapping paper made a lot of the gifts almost impenetrable.

After that we headed to my parents to open gifts with the family and eat breakfast. It was delish.

Check it:
Every year my sis makes this unbelivable butterscotch pull-apart. I requested that she put a rediculous amount of glaze on it. Devine. Here's my dad in his red sweater. He's had this thing since he was 14 and has worn it for every Christmas that I can remember. It kinda looks like the sweater's sleeves grew and the waist shrank. Wouldn't be Christmas without the red sweater!
After breakfast, we took a family picture in my mom's art studio. It's a downright Christmas miracle that everyone is looking at the camera. Gunner looks rather merry, doesn't he? Ella Rose just won't give you a regular smile. She thinks it's funny now but I bet she won't think it's so funny when she is a teenager and I show her crazy face pictures to all her friends for revenge.

Then it was time to open gifts again.

Grandpa loved his Beatles set from Grandma:
Madeline liked her pony. Grandma was excited that a grandkid finally liked horses.
Tinker Toys!
Tabby collected all the ribbons for us:
Magi made my girls these darling dresses out of T-shirts:
Madeline with her daddy:
Ella loved her ballerina costume. Here she is dancing for us:
Looks like the dancing is over:

That's it! We're moving on!

Stuff That We Did

2010-01-03T22:36:00.014-07:00

Sheesh, I haven't blogged in a while. Here's my make up post.

You are gonna laugh when I tell you why I haven't spent much time with my computer. I''m cheating on it with Mario Kart. You will notice that my last post was December 24th. The day before Mario Kart came into my life. Dale and I got the kids a Wii for Christmas. They really like it and play it a lot but unfortunately, Mama got addicted too and it's monopolized my free time in such a way that blogging and FB are mere acquaintances and we used to be totally hooked up. So now I'm going to try and make it up to my blog by giving you the Christmas run-down.

To get us in the Christmas spirit, we had some neighbors come over a few weeks before Christmas to make gingerbread houses. That's Janeice with her kids on the left and Marcy with her kiddos on the right.
Marcy's boys Aidan and Declan.
Ella doing her share as the official frosting taster.
Tabby worked so hard to get it just right.
Janeice's kids Hadley, Davin, and Addy.
Our finished product. Tabby put lots of detail into it. Wonder who she got that from....
Another fun thing I did with the kids was make reindeer food for the neighbors and for ourselves to sprinkle on the lawn just before bedtime on Christmas Eve. What do reindeers eat you might ask? Well, they like a simple combo of oatmeal and glitter. Yum.
A fun poem attached:

On Christmas Eve, we did our traditional ice skating fiesta at Polar Ice. Ella was pretty much hopeless out there still but Rex ended up doing it all on his own. Last year, he could only get around with help (ouch, my back) or by hanging on the side going at a snail's pace. Tabby did really well too.

Tabby and myself:
Ella got some help with cousin Rachel (right) and her friend:
But this is how she spent most of her time out on the ice:
So glad the Andersons could join us! Here's Heidi and Tucker:
Chris and Tatum.
Rex, being super proud of himself.
Shephard and cousin Kinley. Look at that cute red nose!
Me and miss Ella. I could only take her around once that way. My back and arms were not cool with it.
Miss Diva Divapants herself:
Here's some sweet footage:

Notice Rex's awesome skate/walk style:

Here's Tabby. All business:

I got lots more pics. They will have to wait till tomorrow. This is seriously cutting in on my Mario Kart time.

Ready for Christmas!

2009-12-24T12:08:00.006-07:00

Here are some shots I took of the kids before church on Sunday. Lil' darlings all dressed up for Christmas! I tried to find dresses that would work for Easter too but I couldn't find any I liked that would work for both holidays. I found these Christmas dresses and the girlies loved them. I'll just have to worry about Easter when it comes a long.

Ella Rose
Admiring her dress:
Tabby
Rex got a new tie. I don't tell him how to pose. He comes up with this stuff all on his own.
Love this next one. I think he kinda looks like a Norman Rockwell boy:
Rex helped me take some pics of Gunner in his Sunday finery:
Merry Christmas!

The Best Christmas Story

2009-12-16T18:17:00.008-07:00

Wanna hear a good story? Well, I've got one. I believe there are still more good people than bad in this world and this story helps prove it.

So Tabby has been wanting Zhu Zhu Pets since her birthday which was June of this year. I couldn't find them in the stores and back then I had no idea about the crazy freak out that was starting to happen over these toys. Tabby kept asking for them the rest of the year and I kept checking all the stores when I went shopping. Not a Zhu Zhu in sight. Well the crazy freak out hype fest has only increased as Christmas time has gotten closer. And of course, that's what Tabby put first on her list. I heard the line for these pets wrapped around Toys R Us twice on Black Friday. Don't worry, I wasn't in it. I didn't take my searching that far. I don't care how bad my kids want something, I'm not about to go duke it up in the toy aisle with the other crazed parents.

Anywho, around Halloween I told my grandma who lives in Montana about how Tabby wanted these little critters and how we couldn't find them anywhere. I asked her if she wouldn't mind looking at the Target near them (that's the only toy store they have) because maybe there was less demand for them up there in their tiny town. They went to look and of course, no dice. They asked an employee when the next shipment was coming. They were told there was going to be one last shipment of them before Christmas but they didn't know when it would be. Well get this, I happen to have the best grandparents on earth and do you know what my best grandparents did? They began checking Target for those darn things EVERY MORNING! Bless them. Almost every employee at this Target knows my grandparents now. They all knew that they were checking for the Zhu Zhu's and expected them to come in each morning.

Fast forward to last Saturday. My grandparents decided not to go check that morning because it was -15 degrees. Holy crud. They figured no shipments would be coming in on a Saturday anyway. They stayed home on Monday and Tuesday for the same reason. They did end up going Wednesday morning when the Arctic Chill had eased a bit and as they were in the store and rounding the corner to the Zhu Zhu shelf, an employee runs up to them and asks "Did you get them?" My grandpa says "Get what, the Zhu Zhu's?" She says "They got here on Saturday! We all waited and watched for you!" My grandma said sadly, "No we didn't come in on Saturday!" So then the employee says "It's okay, my friend and I got some for you!" My grandparents were shocked! So the girl proceeds to tell them that she has them at her mom's house and gave them the address and told them that her mom was expecting them. On the way, my grandparents figured "Well okay, they got them for us but they will probably double the price." Which they decided was okay, they didn't mind paying a bit more.

So when they get there, out comes this big red bag with three Zhu Zhu's in it. My grandpa gets his check book out and writes a check for $50.00. He figured the girl was young and was in college and could use a little extra. My grandpa hands over the check and the mom refuses it! She says, "We don't want any money, these are a Christmas gift for you!" Shock and awe people! Do you know how much these things are going for on Ebay? A few weeks ago I saw that someone was selling a large set of them for $5,000. Yes, five grand. And here were these kind people giving these as a gift, not selling them out of greed. Giving them to people they didn't even know, mind you. And I mentioned that the employee at Target had a friend. This friend of hers has a mom who is dying of cancer and he is so torn up about it that he is trying to do good deeds to make himself feel better about his mom. He's the one who went and got them that Saturday. Amazing.

I am blown away at the generosity of these people who live far away and did something so kind for a little girl they have never met. I feel like I need to pay it forward big time and I am truly humbled. What a special Christmas we will have!

Card Club Gift Tags

2009-12-13T21:29:00.005-07:00

I love our December card club meeting. Instead of cards, we exchange gift tags for the holidays. And even better, we also exchange desserts. Yum. So not only did I come home with 12 very beautiful and different tags to use, I also came home with 12 kinds of treats. All were heaven.

Here's all the tags I got:
Here's the one I made:
My treat contribution were truffles. You can find the recipe here. So easy and so good.
Some close-ups of other tags. I wish I could remember who made what so I could give credit.

5 Months

2009-12-11T10:40:00.006-07:00

Gunner boy is 5 months old now and still going strong on his giant-ness. He is a joyful baby and anyone who looks at him gets a smile. One thing about Gunner is that he loves his binky. I've never had a kid who liked one up until now. He even lays his arm across it when I put it in his mouth to make sure it stays in. I also started him on baby food. Hates the peas, loves the sweet potatoes. Dale and I just got him to say "Da da" last night. Said it clear as a bell. We've gotten him to say "hi" a few times too. Most of the time he just likes to talk at you with his nonsensical baby words. We just pretend like we understand him so we don't hurt his feelings.

Here are some pics of the big boy:

Gunner and Rex. These boys adore each other. The first thing Rex does every morning is check and see if his baby brother is awake. Gunner always greets him with smiles and giggles.
Gunner really has been working on his bouncy skills. Check out his sweet footwork.