Photographicos De Mi Familia

 Family pictures with 3 small kiddos is quite the feat! After weeks of deciphering every one's wardrobe, perusing through my mom's antique room, and finding a photographer that was affordable and in town, we finally managed to get them done. It was worth the wait!

 A big thanks to Amy Jorgensen, who can be found on facebook:)



Yes, I'm The Type Of Mother

Yes, I'm the type of mother

 that looks forward to Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A.

That will do just about anything to not have to turn on the oven and cook, when it's 115° outside. 

That threatens her children that there will be no dinner for them, if they choose not to wear the black and white outfits she has so carefully chosen.

That takes a handmade "I ♥ my aunts" onesie, and scribbles all over it with a black sharpie. 

That attempts to transform her human baby into a calf, because a 3rd kids meal would be nice.

That takes the time to create her own cow hat, and gets excited when it's time to bring it out year after year. 

Yes, I'm that type of mother,

 and I'm proud of it.

The CSI Of A Glitter Party Gone Horribly Wrong

 The Suspect: Three year old female that goes by the name Brookie. Loves princess clothes and playing dress up. Held glitter party in living room on Sunday July 3rd, at approximately 9:30am. Neither parents were present, as one was in their bedroom, and the other was putting the baby brother down for a nap. Last statement made to investigators were: "We were having a glitter party, and I wanted the TV to glitter." Twin sister Brenna was questioned, and found innocent after other suspect admitted to being guilty. No other non-animal witnesses found.

The Weapon: Small, pink spray bottle found at the crime scene by investigators. Primarily used to fix hair and stored in the living room end table. Container was found half full of a clear liquid at the scene. This liquid was determined to be water. Spray bottle nozzle was wet and showed signs of use.

 The Victim: 46" LED Samsung TV. Electronic was obtained last Black Friday, after much begging and pleading by owner Kevin. Upon arriving at the crime scene, the TV was on Disney Channel, and the screen was found to be soaked with a clear liquid that created a sort of "sparkling" effect. After contacting the owner and quickly wiping off the screen, the TV seemed to be functioning as normal. Unfortunately, within a few minutes, the TVs screen began showing signs of damage. After being taken to a TV specialist, a diagnosis of water damage was made, and the TV was eventually put down...in the garage.

After 48 hours of mourning, and several days of discussing the situation with investigators, Kevin was awarded a new TV to replace the one damaged at the said "glitter party".

The suspect was found innocent by rule of creativity, and because she exhibited both remorse and immense cuteness. Both the suspect and witness were then informed of ALL TV rules, in order to prevent another accident. 

They both promised to never

spray

put stickers on

draw on

push

sit on

stand on

throw anything at

or touch

the new TV.

Case Closed.

Kid Sister

 A few months ago, when I was putting away some of Brooke and Brenna's clothes that they had outgrown, they asked me to explain what I was doing. I told them plainly, that we were keeping the clothes in case we had another girl in our family. Little did I know, that I had just opened big can of worms.

First off, they demanded to know when I was going to "grow them a baby sister." Then, Brooke placed her hand firmly on my belly {you know where all that extra baby growing skin and "muscle" is} and said "what's in here Mom??," as if I was hiding something from her. Thus began, Brenna and Brooke's semi-obsession of having a baby sister. They made sure to make their case, and while it doesn't change the fact that I'm not "growing" anyone a baby any time soon, I could respect that. Their key points were as follows:

*Baby sisters don't cry like baby brothers do.
*Baby sisters don't pull hair like baby brothers do.

and most importantly...

*Baby sisters can wear dresses and bows, which are much more fun then what baby brothers can wear.

Before I knew it, they were flipping through books, showing me what dresses they were going to get for their "baby sister."  I tried to distract them, and even put a big flower clip in Dallin's hair, but it wasn't good enough. Fortunately, they forgot all about it by the time dinner came, and I was very glad.

A few weeks later, we were in San Diego, and Brenna and Brooke were coloring pictures on the sidewalk with chalk. Kevin's help was suddenly requested outside, and within a few minutes the girls came in saying they had a surprise to show me. It was this family picture that they had Kevin so carefully construct, with their exact specifications. There is little Dallin on the far left, followed by Dad and Mom, Brooke, Brenna, and of course a sweet baby sister.

Just Keep Swimming

   This summer was Brenna and Brooke's first swim lessons! We did a two week jump start session at Swim Kids in Tempe, right before we left for San Diego. The girls did great right off the bat. No crying or protesting, they just enjoyed being in the water. Brenna and Brooke both learned how to float on their backs for 10 seconds by themselves, and got their own gold medals. Brenna HATED all the attention and the gold medal "ceremony," while Brooke relished it. They also learned how to blow bubbles, monkey walk, and roll from their back to front in the water. Opening their eyes underwater was their main struggle, and it took a while to get over that. Seeing them learn how to float, made me so happy. I felt a lot better knowing that they could do something if they fell into a pool, although floating was just the start.

   After we got back from vacation, we did two more weeks of swim lessons with Jennifer Hall. She was my swim teacher when I was their age, so she has LOTS of experience. It was fun watching her teach them, and hearing a few familiar songs and sayings that were also used back in the day. "Chicken-fat-string bean," turned into "monkey-star-soldier," but they still got to dive for jellybeans in the shallow end, just like I did!  The girls continued to progress with each lesson, and learned something new every day. It was a little nerve racking seeing them dropped in the water to fend for themselves, but I liked how realistic the situations were.It's amazing how quickly they catch on to things in life and death situations!

 Yay for swim lessons!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things {Round II}

Fry's
(the grocery store, not electronics...for that would be on Kevin's list)

Short lines at the checkout, great customer service, and I don't get the feeling that I need to bathe in antibacterial when I'm done grocery shopping. After shopping elsewhere for quite some time, this was all so foreign to me. So much so, that when your manager extended a friendly "hello" to me while shopping one day, I had to fight to hold back the tears. I have yet to find an item that I needed out of stock, which I cannot say for another store that rhymes with balmart. I'd like to thank you Fry's for your glorious shopping carts among other things. They not only accommodate all three of my children, but do so while devoting all of my cart space to groceries and groceries alone. We will forever parade up and down your aisles, toddler limbs flailing in the wind, and Cheerios flying.

Avocados

Normally I wouldn't welcome anything green and semi-slimy to my plate, but avocados is where I make the exception. You are delicious layered on sandwiches, sprinkled on top of enchiladas, tacos, salad, or mixed with some garlic salt, green onions, and tomaters to make some killer guacamole. I thank you for being full of healthy fats, potassium, fiber, vitamins, and still managing to taste good at the same time.

Old Navy Flip Flops
Whether it's summer, spring, winter or fall, these flip flops always seem to find a way to my feet. They come in so many colors, but I must say that my favorite are the brown in size 10. Try them some time. Old Navy Flip Flops have always been easy on my talons, and my wallet too. They are also great to wear around the house, especially when you want to forget about all the food particles that are scattered across your kitchen floor.

Aloe Vera

At first glance, one might be intimidated by your long stalks and prickly edges, but they need not fear. While your outer appearance reflects that of a thorny cactus, your gooey green innards tell a much different story. Aloe Vera works like no other when it comes to healing burns, scrapes and cuts. Whether I forgot to wear sunscreen, or I mishandled our heavy duty glue gun, I know you'll do your job. With one application the pain and redness magically begins to disappear and I am left amazed at your power.

Freeze It Hairspray When it comes to serious styling products, you're definitely at the top of my list. Whether it was the Godaddy Christmas Party, or family pictures, you did a great job of keeping my hair exactly where I wanted it. My faith in you has increased with each use, and lately I've been using you more and more. I'm amazed at your weatherproof abilities that have been able to handle anything from the moisture at the beach, to the humidity and wind of mighty Haboob. Thank you for forcing my locks to hold curl for more then two seconds, and for helping me to fake a decent hair do when a shower just isn't going to happen.

Old Fashioned Oatmeal

You came into my a few months ago, soon after my divorce with multi grain cheerios. While I wasn't sure that I could commit to a beige breakfast every morning, I have thoroughly enjoyed every bite. I usually dress you with bananas, crushed pecans, unsweetened coconut, honey, and whatever berries or peaches I have on hand. Lately I've been adding in a spoon full of ground flax seed, because you really do a great job of hiding healthy things like that. I thank you for having so much texture and filling, and for giving me a reason to use the oatmeal that I canned three years ago. I also thank you for keeping me regular so I hopefully won't ever need to eat Jamie Lee's yogurt, and for making me feel a little less guilty if I eat half a bag of Cheetos for lunch.

Revlon Highlighting Kit
While I LOVE getting my hair done at the salon, it isn't always in the cards. When my roots rear their ugly head and I don't have the time or money to get it done professionally I turn to this little box. For about $6 you can play hair stylist for the night, and scare your husband with the fancy white cap while doing it. It's very easy to use, and so far I have had no regrets. So thank you Revlon frost&glow for allowing me to go more then 8 weeks in between salon visits at a fraction of the cost.

What are your favorite things at the moment?

SD Bucket List {Stinky Beach, SD Temple, Giant Pizza }

One morning, when Dallin decided he no longer needed his 9am nap, we decided to drive down to Coronado Island. Kevin's family spent many summers there until he was about 10 years old, and I had never been there before. The Hotel Del Coronado was gorgeous, and the beach was much way more fancy pants then Mission, that's for sure. There were no transvestites, or old men holding signs that said "will work for marijuana." On the contrary there were mostly nicely dressed older couples and even a couple getting married on the beach. Unfortunately, Coronado Beach smelt like a gas station bathroom. There were tractors moving around sand and seaweed for some reason, and it conjured up a whole lot of nasty sewage smells, thus earning the name Stinky Beach.

This year we made it to our first endowment session at the San Diego Temple. We barely made it in time for the 8pm session, and then realized that is was in Spanish! Fortunately, they had headsets for us, and it was a great experience. The Temple itself is gorgeous, inside and out and it was wonderful being able to visit it.

Luigi's is home of the ginormous, as-large-as-your-9 month old slices of pizza. Even Dallin seems overwhelmed by it's magnitude!
Our last day was spent on the beach, transforming Brenna and Brooke into mermaids,
shells and all.

These last three pictures are my favorite of the girls on the beach.
They have definitely grown to love the beach, and it shows.