Happy, Happy Birthday!

Michaela had a birthday on Sunday and she is now officially in the double digits, 10! We ordered pizza and had cheesecake on Saturday night and watched the Jazz game. On Sunday morning she was so anxious to get her present, but we thought she should have to work for it so we gave her a little clue...

that led to another clue..

and another clue...

and you get the point, there were a lot of clues.

Finally, with the help of Dal & Reag, she found the long sought after present.

An ipod nano! Since it was her only gift from us, and I still wanted her to feel like she was opening a lot of presents, I wrapped it in four different boxes. Each one inside of the other. She thought she was getting shoes, and then a box of Capri Suns (woo hoo), and then a phone. She was happy to see that it was a Nano. And to think, I didn't know Michaela could even sing because in Primary she just lip syncs the words, but she was singing up a storm to Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire. I found out she inherited my tone deafness...dang! 

That night we had everyone over for cake and ice cream. Reagen and the cat were the official welcoming committee.

Michaela also got some cash and a couple of itunes gift cards, some jacks and a jump rope (cute g-ma jane), writing pad, gel pens, anda shirt. She said she had a great birthday. Thank You Everyone for making her b-day a good one.

A Trip to the Farm

Reagen got to go on a field trip with her preschool class yesterday to the Titmus farm. This is always a much anticipated activity for all the kids. Little baby lambs are being born almost every day and Dal and Kayla both got to watch one be born when they went. We were in the van talking about the farm and Kayla said, "when I went, it was gross because the guy had to stick his hand up the lambs bum because it was pregnant". Reagen asked, "to get the eggs out?". Obviously, she has her farm animals a little confused.

36 things i know at 36

So, I'm a few weeks late, but that's the way I seem to roll lately. I guess it comes with the age...ha! You'd think I'd have some really wise advise for everyone.  This isn't all that wise, but I do have a list of 36 things I've learned over the last 36 years.

1. It's ok to say no sometimes.

2. Chocolate is a food group.

3. Your kids are the only people that can drive you absolutely bezerko-nuts on a daily basis and you still love them to death.

4. Just because you didn't have allergies when you were little, doesn't mean you won't get them now.

5. Life is not fair.

6. The good do die young.

7. Try and pay someone a compliment every day.

8. Mean people suck.

9. The more you stress about weight, the more you'll weigh.

10. Let your kids have a pet.

11. Write thank you notes.

12. Some friends will be life long friends, even if you don't see them often.

13. It's ok if your kids clothes don't always match when they dress themselves. (this is a hard one)

14. Eat more fiber.

15. The laundry, dishes, mopping....will wait.

16. Be thankful for what you have.

17. Try not to gossip...so much.

18. Reading a bedtime story is one of the best things you can do for your kids.

19. Don't take a bad day at work out on your husband.

20. I have a LOT of room to grow spiritually.

21. I wouldn't switch lives with anyone.

22. Men are not very observant (refer to bang story)

23. Stretchy jeans are one of the best things ever invented.

24. Don't wish your time away.

25. What comes around, goes around. (I didn't have to watch My Name is Earl to learn this)

26. What sounds really lovely and eloquent in my head usually doesn't come out that way when I try to say it.

27. Try not to cough while eating carrots because they end up in your sinuses.

28. Tivo is the 2nd best thing ever invented.

29. When a sick child makes a funny sound when you are holding them, they are probably going to throw up on you.

30. Don't always act your age.

31. If your husband cleans toilets and does most of the cooking, he's a pretty good husband.

32. If you want an honest answer about how you look, ask a four year old.

33. Read something besides magazines.

34. Chapstick in someones pocket usually makes it through the washer, but the dryer is a different story.

35. If you get mad at someone for spilling a glass of milk, you'll be the next one to spill something.

36. Don't flush the toilet while Mike's in the shower.

Now you have to tell me something you've learned from livin' the life.

Oh, and a random picture because I feel like every post needs a pic.

Twilight

Have you read the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer? I had heard about it for close to a year, but I always seemed to have more time for tv than for reading. When Dallon wanted a book for Easter, I "recommended" Twilight. We both started reading it and I was hooked. It's about vampires (I know that sounds really, really dumb, but it's so good). There are three books in the series, New Moon and Eclipse are the other two. I'm on the last book right now and I'm trying to pace myself because the 4th book doesn't come out until August and I want this reading goodness to last. I even talked Mike into starting the first book by telling him his brain cells are dying off and he needs to do more reading. If you are looking for something to read, this series is awesome and such easy reading, they are even making a movie out of it that will release this later this year. Pam just posted a link to the making of the movie if you want to take a look. It is here.

Gotta Love Those Big Brothers

As soon as I walk in from work:

Dallon: mom, will you get on itunes and load "Ben 10" for me?

Me: how much is it?

Dallon: $1.99

Me: do you have $2.00?

Dallon: yep, here you go (hands me a bunch of change)

Me: where did you get the money?

Dallon: i sold Michaela dad's medals and trophies from high school.

Bang, Bang!

So, I got myself some bangs last week. I happen to be a creature of habit, just ask Ashley how long it took me to get rid of the "hair claw". I felt a little adventurous when I got my hair done last week so I said, go ahead and give me some bangs! Better yet, make it a swoopy bang. I was sure proud of myself and as I drove home and I thought how people would comment on the big change, because you know, this was big for me. Hmm...well three days goes by and my family still hasn't noticed that I have bangs. These are the kids that fear change and that wouldn't talk to me for half a day when I straightened and cut my hair, the same kids that just about cried when Mike shaved his goatee off. Could they have become this unobservant??? When we ran into my friend Keysha at Walmart and she commented on the hair, I was surely expecting Mike to come to attention and realize the change. Nope, still nothing. Finally, that night when all the fam was home, I got a little dramatic and I was like heellloooo, I have bangs. (I guess I've become one of those people that need recognition for all I do.) The response was, oh yeah, I thought something was different...I like it a 100 times better than the old way (seriously, 100 times?  did i look that bad?) I guess I have a hard time accepting compliments, too.

So I learned a valuable lesson...change your hair, and those closest to you may not notice, but change the type of grated cheese you buy and you could be in serious trouble.

Just to make you salivate...

not much to say today so I thought I'd just leave you with a picture of one of my good friends. her name is turtle cheesecake and she never does me wrong (unless you count what she does to size of my buttocks). mike made this for my b-day a few weeks ago.  the section without pecans is the "dallon doesn't like nuts" section. be sure to hide the leftovers in the fridge really well because someone that doesn't like nuts made an exception to the whole "no nuts rule" and snuck the last piece that i was saving for myself. Here's the recipe and make sure and invite me over for a visit if you make it. :)

Crust:

2 c. graham crackers crumbs 6 tbsp. melted butter

Combine crumbs and melted butter, press onto bottom & sides of buttered 10 inch springform pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Filling:

1 (14oz) bag light caramels 1 (5oz) can evaporated milk

1 c. chopped pecans, toasted 4 (8oz) pkgs. cream cheese softened

1 c. granulated sugar 4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla 1 c. milk chocolate chips, melted

In heavy 1 1/2 quart saucepan, melt caramels w/evaporated milk over low heat, stirring frequently until smooth. Pour caramel mixture over cooled crust and top with chopped toasted pecans.

Combine cream cheese and sugar, mixing on medium speed with electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Add vanilla. Blend in melted chocolate. Pour mixture over pecans and caramel in crust, starting at outer edge.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven 1 hour and 20 to 25 minutes, or until edges begin to crack. Remove from oven and let cool at room temp. for 30 to 40 min. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove sides of pan and loosen cheesecake with spatula.

Chocolate Topping:

1/2 c. milk chocolate chips 1 tbsp. shortening

Pecan halves

Melt chocolate chips and shortening in microwave and stir until smooth. Drizzle over the top. Garnish with more pecan halves.

(We also melted extra caramels and drizzled that over the top (yummmm)

Wisdom from a wrapper

If you know me you know that I have to have my daily intake of chocolate in order to be a better person/mother/wife. But lately I had noticed that I was a little out of control (especially since the trip to Heber with my sistas. We (mostly meaning me) ate nonstop. When I got home I was feeling a little guilty and bloated. I decided to see if I could actually make it a week without sweets.  It took me several days to convice myself that I could do this. I did pretty well until day six, our family Easter party...not good timing. Well, five days was a record for me so I figured that was good enough. Who can say no to Hershey Easter eggs? After Easter was over, I did decide to be a little more conscious of what I was eating. I even took the left over Easter candy to work. I put most of it out for everyone to eat, but I kept one bag of Dove chocolate caramels in my overhead bin (I didn't say I was cured!). This was a real test of will power. The old me would have that bag gone on day one. I made it two days without touching them and then finally in a moment of weakness, I snatched one and opened it. I was savoring the creamy dreaminess when I noticed the message in the wrapper. Could this have been written for me?

So...that made me feel a little guilty. Of course, I hadn't promised myself that I wouldn't eat as many sweets, I just said I'd try harder. So I helped myself to another one and I was a little interested to see what the next wrapper might say...maybe something like, "Go Weigh Yourself". Luckily it wasn't quite that harsh.

I took the advise of the wrapper and didn't think about it at all as I ate five more.  :)

Let the fun begin

Spring soccer has begun! Two girls in my house are very happy. Reagen had her first game last night. Here's a few pics so that you too can catch the soccer spirit.

Yes, that is Reagen's team huddled up in red discussing the game plan... and yes, that is Reagen running from the team with a big smile on her face, probably just showing everyone how fast she can run.

She finally gets some action and connects with the ball...
Of course she has nothing on the little guy with the cool glasses and the sweet dance moves. Check him out.  The ball isn't even in play, imagine what he'll do when they blow the whistle.

Here's a couple pics of Kayla from today. It was her second game. They are all 9 & 10 year olds, but they are playing in the U12 division because they have done so well and haven't had much competition in the past years. These kids play so well together and are all good buddies. 

Curls and Even a Bow Ribbon

Reagen had preschool pictures today and I tossed around the idea of taking half the day off so I could come home and do her hair. I decided Mike could handle the standard two little ponies on top of the head until Reagen said, "Can I wear a curl in my hair for pictures?" She had me at curl! If you know Michaela, our other daughter, you know she's definitely not a girly girl and Reagen seems to be following in her footsteps. So of course you know I was all over it. I came home, plastered her with hairspray (these curls were going to last as long as possible) and started curling away. I was almost done and she decided she didn't want curls. I told her it was a little too late seeing as 3/4ths of her head was curly. She had a little meltdown and several tears were shed. There was no way I was going to wet her head down and let her have straight hair so I did the only thing I could think of and bribed her with her very own bag of sixlets. I even got a big red bow out of the deal.

Call Me Crazy

Yeah, you can call us crazy...like we don't already have enough on our plate, why not pick up another sport??? Tonight Michaela had her first softball game ever. She's our little stud soccer player and hasn't wanted to play softball until this year. Larry told her to come try it out and he'd let her juggle soccer along with softball and TKD. I could tell she was a little nervous just by the look on her face in the dugout. She was paying close attention to what everyone was doing, studying the game. She got up to bat and ticked it about 4 times and ended up striking out. I could see she was pretty disappointed. Her team took the field and she played short stop. We weren't expecting too much because she wasn't even sure of what she was supposed to do with only one practice under her belt. A couple of girls got on base and then finally a grounder was hit to her. She swooped it up in her mitt and shot it like an arrow to the catcher and got the runner out at home. We were amazed. Who taught her that move?  A few innings later, she ran out to left field to intercept a catch from the third baseman and then flung it into home plate. Again, right on target. The next time she got up to bat, she hit it right up the first base line and got on base.  She stole her way to third base and then scored when her teammate got a hit. It was really fun watching her, even though it felt about 30 below with the wind chill. Here's a few pics. This first one is of Kayla's biggest fan.  The rest are pretty self explanatory.

Peer Pressure

I'm giving in to the peer pressure and jumping on the bloggin' bandwagon. I'm going to blame all this on my bloggety blog blog scrappin' friends who have started cute little family blogs. 

 I've always had good intentions of documenting the lives of our three little monkeys, but lately I'm lucky just to get a few things scrawled down on the calendar with hopes that I'll know kind of what it meant years down the road.

Since I am pretty much computer illiterate, I'm sure it will take me a while to get this looking like a normal blog, but hang in there. I'm really going to try and do this. If you have any helpful hints, I'm all ears. ---Gail