Party like it's 1999...

So are you doing anything fun for New Year's Eve? We're totally gonna party it up at our house. Let's see.... Kids in bed by 7:30 p.m., wife gets to pick a chick-flick to watch, and bed by... oh 10:30 or 11:00? Yep... it's a real party at our house!

What are you doin' New Year's Eve? What did you do in 1999?

I'm remembering a fun trip that Jen and I took to Guatemala. We stood on the streets of Xela and watched the locals set off fireworks. I even smuggled some firecrackers back into the States in my suitcase. How did I ever do that??? (pre 9-11, of course) I remember we were a little worried about the whole Y2K thing and being able to get back in the country. Funny how that amounted to a big nothing. Maybe I'll search for our pictures (someday), scan them, and post them to the blog. Maybe.... :)

So... I wanna hear your plans!

Merry Christmas!

from our family, to yours!

Best Buddies

The other day I took the brothers to their 18-month appointment. Since I'm a regular at the pediatrician's office, the gal at the front desk was chatting away and commenting on how big the twins were getting, etc. She asked, "How is Alex doing with his little brothers?"

I answered, "Well... he does pretty good, but he's just a typical big brother."

She said, "Like right now?"

I quickly turned around to see Alex with Jackson in a head lock, giving him a noogie. *sigh* Yep... like right now. sheesh!

But these boys do really have a great time together, and every morning they are all so excited to see each other. Today they were "snuggling" on the oversized chair in the living room. They barely fit, but they were having a great time. It was a nice little "moment."

A simple way to give...

Have you heard? Macy's will donate $1 for every letter written to Santa and dropped off at any Macy's location in their special Santa mailbox. All you have to do is address your child's letter to "Santa at the North Pole." Write one today! It's fun for the kids and great for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Visit to Santa

Well, Santa came to our ward party again, and this year Alex actually sat on his lap! Hurray! However, he never dared to tell Santa what he wanted. Luckily Santa is a smart fella, and he let Alex know that if they put their heads together, he could read Alex's mind. Phew. (I'm sure Mark wished he had that same power to figure me out... Maybe if he grew a beard and a belly...)

Lovin' Christmas Decorating!

Last night Alex got to have a special "late-night" (oooh, 8:30!) to help me put up our Christmas village. It was truly magical. Kids are the greatest! He was just bubbling over with pure excitement. I don't know how many times I heard the phrase, "Mom! I just looooove the village! And Christmas! Oh... and candy canes!" After talking about that, he'd always throw in a sweet little, "Mom? I just love ya!" Ahhh....

Of course, thanks to a couple of curious and crazy 1 1/2 year olds, we're not putting up half of what we have this year, but that's okay!

Alex is also playing Santa make-believe every day. He's constantly turning the furniture into a sleigh, loading bags full of toys, putting them under the tree, and asking me if I've been naughty or nice. Each night it's the same question... "Is Santa coming tonight?" If only I could bottle up this excitement and spread it out over the whole year! What fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. How about you?

We had a delicious meal at Mark's parents' house. Most of the fam was there. We even got to bring home some leftovers (despite the crowd)! Mmmm... turkey on rolls the next day is definitely a favorite. :)

This year we were able to have my niece and nephew, Shantaye and Chez, with us. Their parents went to Thailand for a friend's wedding and were supposed to return the day before Thanksgiving. However, if you've been following the news, they aren't going to be catching a flight out of Thailand anytime soon. So, they are going to travel by taxi for 14 hours to Malaysia to an airport there. After 77 hours of travel, they'll arrive home Sunday, 3 days later than planned. Poor parents! poor kids! But it sure was fun to have some older cousins around to play with Alex and the brothers.

Anyway, hope your turkey day was great!!

Happy "Hump" Day!!

Today is the halfway point for my parents' mission! Hurray!! It seems like they've been gone an eternity. But, I'm soooo happy that we're just counting down the days from here. Thanks for all of your wonderful service and for your example to your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. I miss you!!!

Amendment to my movie critique

Well, I went back on Saturday for a second viewing of Twilight, and I'm happy to announce that I really, really liked it the second time around. I'm sooo glad I went back! I was over being critical about the differences from the book, and I was actually able to just relax and enjoy it. I hope you all enjoyed it too!

Twilight

Well, I hate to report that I didn't care for the movie. It was okay but not great. I think it could have been fabulous (as I think the book was). I think if one hasn't read the book, then you'd be a bit confused by the movie. Edward was better than I thought. But he sure looked goofy sometimes. Bella looked like she was always in pain, not in love. :) (I'm such the critic, eh?)Nevertheless, I'm going again today! ha ha!

However, the company was fabulous!! I went with Mindy (thanks for the tickets!), Elisha, Ashley and Beckee. These beautiful girls all live in my neighborhood and are seriously the best gals ever! So here are some pics from our delightful evening! (Aren't they good looking?)

This is the first premier of any movie I've been to. It was quite the gala!

Elisha, Ashley, Mindy, Beckee, Tiffany

On our way to pick up some popcorn and soda. Yum!
VIP wannabe's. People were seriously walking out in black-tie attire. Elisha and Ashley were dying to join! Okay... not really.

Our seats. Funny thing, we went to the wrong theatre at first. So, once we found the right place, we could only get four seats together. Thanks for squishing to fit me in, girls! Sorry about the sore bottoms!One angle. Elisha, Ashley, BeckeeThe other angle. Tiffany, Mindy, Elisha (again? how'd you pull that off?)These gals were so funny. There was a costume contest, and people went down in full Twilight/vampire attire. These gals decided that they could pass off as Rosalie and Alice as well as anyone. So down they headed, doing a great catwalk for the whole audience. Don't they look ethereal? True vampires.

I'm Twilighting!

I'm Twilighting at midnight! Here's hoping it's not too disappointing! (I know... good attitude!)

Ahhh, poop, poison control, and other misc

Just to put your mind at ease from the start... No. My child did not eat poop, resulting in a call to poison control. Just FYI.

What a day! And it's only 12:45 p.m. And so I blog for therapy.

I just put all my bath toys in the dishwasher, and a load of laundry in the washer. I'm bleaching my light colors. Why? So that I can get the poop germs out of the toys and washcloths and the pee germs out of the bath towels. How did this happen, you ask? Well, let me tell ya.

It all started with a whining and crying Alex. (surprise, surprise) He started crying first thing this morning, and hasn't stopped yet. Granted, the poor kid has a nasty head cold, so I know he's miserable. But still! Males.

Anyway, I threw all three kids in the bath and all was going well. I was just getting Jackson out and drying him off when AJ stood up in the tub and said, "Poo. Poo. Poo." I looked over to see the lovely stuff floating around in the water.

Gross.

So, of course I had to put Jackson down (naked) in order to save Andrew from playing in the stuff like it was play-doh. I successfully got AJ out fairly poop free, got him dressed and went to find Jackson.

Then ensued the discovery of the pee soaked towel. (Thank you, Jackson, for not peeing on my carpet.) As I cleaned up and dressed Jackson, AJ got a hold of a full, newly-opened-this-morning, box of cereal (thank you, big brother Alex) and quickly dumped the entire contents out onto my bedroom floor. We then had major meltdowns as Mom vacuumed the floor instead of letting the 18-month old child use the vacuum.

*sigh*

All this happened as my husband tried to book a flight for me to visit my parents in Georgia. With all the distractions, we missed the steal-of-a-deal pricing by about 1/2 hour as all the flights proceeded to fill up.

Oh, and where does the Poison Control come in? Well, luckily that wasn't today. That was yesterday. Because, you see, this mother (who really is in the running for Mother-of-the-Year) left her little toddler (guess which one? yep, AJ) in the basement for no more than 30 seconds unsupervised. It was long enough for Alex to come running upstairs yelling, "Mommy! AJ is eating the washing machine soap!" Sure enough, the Tide with Bleach was all over the floor and all over his mouth. Hence, Poison Control. (I'm happy to let everyone know that a few drinks of milk or water are enough to dilute the small amount swallowed and all is well. But when he's 14 years old and failing all his classes, remind me that the Tide just might have caused some permanent brain damage. Only time will tell.)

And thus it is.

I'm ready for a nap. Ciao.

For my Star Wars fans

This is for my son and brother. (And all you other Star Wars fans out there)

Miss Spider

As I discovered this post about National Adoption Month, it reminded me of the sweetest book that we checked out at the library some time ago. When I read the book "Little Miss Spider," by David Kirk, I wanted to buy a copy for all of my friends and acquaintances that had ever adopted a child. Well... since I'm on a budget, I thought I'd tell you about it instead.

This books tells of Miss Spider's quest to find her mother. After a long journey, Miss Spider adopts as her mother the green beetle, Betty, who has been assisting Miss Spider all along. As the text explains,

"For finding your mother,
There's one certain test.
You must look for the creature
Who loves you the best."

Mmmm...

It was too quiet the other day. Yep. No AJ following underfoot. It was time for a mommy investigation.

If only you could hear the "oooooooh!" that went along with this picture. He was so happy about it.

And one more moment of enjoying his spoils before mean mom took it away:

Photo Tagged

I've been photo tagged by Jenn. If you'd like to do it, then I tag you!

Go to your fourth photo in your fourth file of Pictures, and post about it.

Here's what I found:
This is my sweet little Andrew, just over a year ago. Can he already be one-and-a-half? Sheesh, how time flies. I'm glad he was my fourth, fourth photo, because he is such a joy to have in our family. He is always so happy and pleasant, and there is just something extra special about him. He's busy, busy, busy, and into everything, but he's a tender-hearted, sweet little guy.

I tag Julie, Sherine, Marni and Camille. (and anyone else!)

Words...

Ya know... I never was one for possessing great words. No real words of wisdom. No funny sayings. No clever comebacks. Nope, not me. I could spell those words, and I could place them in a grammatically correct sentence. But I wasn't ever one for being able to arrange those words in a funny sentence, or one that could spew out some cool saying.

I always admired those people who said "cool" words. Ya know... like "flip." Or "rad." Or "totally sweet." In Jr. High, I was the queen of copying people with cool words. Even now I like to pick up on rad sayings.

So how do some of you bloggers come up with such clever stuff? There are those of you who I read regularly. And then there are those I happen upon, like this or that, that I can't stop reading - even though I don't know you from my mother's uncle's neighbor's friend... well, you get the picture. (My husband razzes me about this daily.)

And then there are the people who can recite every word, word-for-word, from movies and songs. How do they do that? Seriously? All I have to say is "Monty Python," "Nacho Libre," or "Napoleon Dynamite" in certain crowds, and we have entertainment for the evening. (And to drive home my point, I just spent two whole minutes on Google, trying to remember the name of the movie "Napoleon Dynamite." See what I mean, people? sheesh.)

What about those people with a perfect comeback? Really. I mean, after you've just been verbally attacked or ridiculed, you don't all just say, "Well... uh... hmmm." And walk off? Wouldn't I love to be able to say the 100's of things I think of, after the fact, while I'm fuming in the privacy of my own home? Oh to be so talented with an immediate reply...

Oh, and names? Forget it. You'll always be Jane Doe to me, until you've either been married into the family for a few years (and even then there's no guarantee), you've grown up with me since kindergarten, or you're my own child. (And then, once again, no guarantee.)

See my point now?

This is why I'm SO GRATEFUL that this flaw of mine does not seem to be passed on genetically to my child. Or perhaps it's the good genes from his father. But Alex seems to come up with some doozies. In fact, I keep a Word file called "Alex-isms" just to keep track of it all. Now, I know a lot of his sayings aren't "originals," but he's only three. THREE, and he's saying things like,

"WORD UP, Mom."

or, after dropping his toy, "Oh RUBBISH. What a mess."

or, "Mom, that's totally SNAP."

And names? He can tell you every Tom, Dick and Harry that he's ever met. Every character in every story and movie. Every store that we've ever been to ("There's 'Burt Brother's', Mom!"). Every proper name of every animal at the zoo. (Me: "Look at that cool monkey, Alex." Alex: "Mom! [with a slight air of disgust] That's a Mandrill. Or are you looking at the Lemur?") Even if it's been months, and he only met the person, went to the store, or saw the animal once - he remembers.

And so it is. Words - totally not my thing. But luckily for my kid, it's totally snap.

Happy Halloween

We had a great Halloween at our house. The kids are still bouncing off the walls, they're still behind on sleep, and Mom's still pilfering the "stash." Good stuff!

Sidenote...

As a sidenote to this entry on Alex's latest bathroom achievements...

No one ever told me that I'd have a totally different reaction to this whole process than I expected. The constant fear of wet floors/carpets? Expected. The never-ending laundry? Expected. The blowout of holding "it" for four days? Expected. The wish to go back to diapers because it was just easier? Expected.

But what about the other stuff? My little boy, looking so grown up and skinny in his tighty whiteys? Not expected. The frequent comment, "Mom, go out. I need some privacy." Not expected. The comment, "Mom, this is so much easier than diapers. Why didn't we do it a long time ago?" Not expected. Already learning to "aim" and wipe the rim because Mom is a bit of a freak when it comes to that kind of mess? Not expected. Chatting with his buddies about having Bumblebee or Anakin on his underwear? Not expected. No longer having a basic daily need being totally dependent on Mommy? Not expected. Feeling sad about the previous, and sentimental about my baby growing up? Not expected.

And thus it is. "... babies grow up, we learn to our sorrow." But one little ray of sunshine? The diaper bill automatically cut in third? Expected, and lovin' it.

Happy Birthday to my Mom!

Happy Birthday to the best mom, ever! Seriously. They don't come finer than my mother. She is truly a gem. And while this extreme momma's girl is missing her mother something fierce, I'm so grateful for her sacrifice and service. I love you so so much, Mom. Thanks for the excuse to party, even if you couldn't be there. Miss you, and can't wait to celebrate with you next year!

Dare I say it in writing...?

I'm not sure if I'm jinxing myself by putting this is writing... hmmm... do I dare say? Alex is FINALLY on the road to being potty trained! woo hoo! Yes, I know. He's 3 years and 8 months old. It's about bloody time. And he's doing great! (As he should since he's practically an adult by now!) The biggest hang-up in the whole process? Not him. Me. I sooo hate dealing with this whole process. Even now that we're having relative success (2 to 3 pairs of underwear a day is fairly successful, no?) I'm still dreading the whole process. Do I put on a pull-up every time we go out in public? How do you get a kid that's OCD about going in his toilet only (not even any other toilet in our house) to go in a public restroom?

Anyway, we're on day 4 of underwear only. Now our next hurdle? Doin' that other duty. Ya know... #2. sigh. Kid has got to have a killer belly ache by now, no? This picture is my attempt to get him to try and do the duty. (no luck on this attempt.) Thank heavens for laptops, and thank heavens for Star Wars Legos.

The HIGHLIGHT of my Christmas Season

I know... it's not even Halloween yet... but... DO read on...

Man, oh man... can I just tell you how much I LOVE the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas Concert? I can be having the worst, most bah-humbug season ever, and all I have to do is go to that concert and I'm floating on cloud nine. There is something about music that has always touched me so deeply. Moreso than any other medium.

And so, it has been with great sadness that I've missed the registration for the random ticket drawing the last two years. (But don't worry... I got to go both years anyway... gotta love connections!) So I'm here to tell you that registration is coming up!

October 25th-November 4th

Mark your calendars and visit this site for more information!

Believe me... it'll be the very best part of your Christmas season... Well, at least in the top 3. Trust me! Do it! And GOOD LUCK getting tickets. If you get them and I don't... well, you better be giving me a call... heh heh.

Pumpkin Time!

We had our annual pilgramige to the pumpkin patch. This year, we allowed the brothers to join us. Of course, I forgot the camera! But hopefully "Aunty" Heidi will be sending her iPhone pics soon. Because of my blunder, we decided to have a second go-around at Engh Gardens with our neighbors, the Browers. It was a lot of fun! Of course the pirate ship was a huge hit with Alex.

The Pumpkin Patch

Face Time

Dear Blog:

I'm sorry I haven't visited with you more often or updated you regularly. You see, I have a problem. It's called, "competition for the computer." We only have one computer at our house, and whenever I want to use it, someone else is always on it. I never get to have any face time with you, my blog, anymore.

How can that be, you ask? I know, I know... Alex is only three, and Mark is gone to work all day. However, you should never underestimate the abilities of this new generation. Alex already knows how to open the laptop, login, and find his favorite Lego movies online. He's very good at using the little touchpad on the keyboard. (better than me!) If I get near the computer in the day, all I hear is, "I want the computer! Pppplllease, mommy, can I have the computer? I want it, I want it, I want it!" It's not a battle I want to fight so I end up neglecting you, my poor blog.

Then evening rolls around and Mark gets home. I don't even have a chance to get near you, dear blog, because of two simple, yet very powerful, words: Fantasy Football. 'nuff said.

So, I just want you to know that I'm still around. I still love my kids (most of the time), and I still love my friends' blogs too. I hate the cold, but I'm excited for the upcoming holiday season. Maybe as time goes on, my loved ones will lose their interest in the computer and I'll be back in full force. Until then... I send my warmest regards.

-Tiffany

Powell...

Ahh.... We're back to the daily grind. But it was soooo fun! We went to Lake Powell with 4 other couples from our area. We stayed on a houseboat and had a couple of ski boats to haul us around. It was such a great time of year to be there. The lake was so quiet and the water was glassy almost all day. I'm still adjusting back to being on solid ground. I'm kind of swaying in my head right now as I write this. :)

It was actually harder than I thought it would be to leave the kiddies. The first night, I was totally homesick for them! But... I got over that rather quickly. heh heh. I knew they were in good hands (thanks Gma C, Haley, Wendy, Capri & CJ! phew!) so I didn't worry too much about them. Poor Alex had a bit of a hard time. When I talked to him on my way home, he was sobbing so hard he couldn't put two words together. Poor kid. But today he's been all smiles and said, "I'm so happy you're home!" I'm happy too! Although a houseboat beats camping, there's still nothing like my own bed and my own hot shower that's not lakewater!

The group we went with (Hudson's, Neff's, Ellis', and Beckham's) was sooo hilarious. I don't think I've laughed that hard in ages. I'd love to get into details, but it was decided that "what happens in Powell, stays in Powell." Two little catch phrases that will mean nothing except to those of us who were there are: "You say you don't like it, but you really do like it," and "No, means eventually." And of course, there's the discovery that someone named Bubbles Galore actually existed. (I don't recommend you Google her, however...) So without further ado, here are the only pictures I took. I'm hoping to get some more e-mailed to me in the next day or two, so I'll update when I can. All-in-all, it was a great trip!

This was looking out from a cool cave-like cavern. It was sooo gorgeous. Pictures don't do justice:
This is our good friend, Gary:This is Becky's and my cute pedicures with some redrock in the background for effect:Some more gorgeous redrock and blue skies:This was a funny moment of the men showing their "feminine side." They all loved the girly, smelly lotion, and rubbed it all over their legs and feet.

Can't wait!

Mark and I are headed here

for a little R&R, kid free. Yep, you read that right... KID FREE. And man, oh man, I can't wait! I can't even remember if we've ever been on a trip alone since our kids were born. Sad, but true. So, as much as I'm gonna miss the little tykes, I'm sure going to enjoy myself! I'll be back next week with some updates!

Midway

We didn't have a chance to take a family vacation this year, so Mark and I packed up the kids, and we stayed for a week in beautiful Midway. It was a lot of work, but fun as well. The kids had "daddy withdrawal" when we had to come back to the real world. Here are some photos of our favorite moments.

Alex and Mark did a lot of this:And we all had a lot of fun doing that:The boys couldn't get enough of this: (with our friend, Nate)And we enjoyed a lot of beautiful that:While, inside, on the quiet days there was a lot of this:And an occasional glimpse of that:
And, unfortunately, too much of this:But overall, we had a splendid time, and we can't wait for repeat visits in the years to come. Thanks Gma and Gpa C for letting us stay at your beautiful house! It's great to have easy access to such a beautiful place!

Remembering...