Marker

I should amend my Darth Vader post-Nathan used a washable marker (thank goodness) to color in his face which washed off surprisingly easy in the bathtub. Yay!

Darth Vader

While I was on the phone with my mom today Nathan was in the bathroom. I thought he was doing what one normally does in the bathroom, but when he came out, this is what I saw:

He is Darth Vader, and that is black marker on his face. Crazy kid.

The Dirt Ball

Two weeks ago, during my Young Women's lesson (which incidentally was about Following Christ's example), the dirt ball analogy came up. (If you are not familiar with the ball of dirt analogy please refer to previous post.)

I wasn't planning on sharing my analogy, but the stars aligned just right and out it came. The YW's were thoroughly impressed (they even suggested I write a book and offered to illustrate it) so I promised them that if they would take my challenge (to live as if the Savior was standing beside them for the next 24 hours-which might involve befriending the "worms" of the world and helping them burrow deeper into the ball of dirt), I would bring "dirt balls" for them the following Sunday. And I made good on my promise (and had an incredible week living as if the Savior was standing beside me):

Birthday pictures

I never posted the pictures from Dallen's birthday, so here they are:

The cupcakes-I had a blast making these and Nathan and Jack thought they were fantastic!

Dal digging in:
Dal after the fact:

A Photo Montage by Nathan

Nathan, the little stinker, keeps getting ahold of our camera and taking pictures even though I have told him 100 times not to. Last Sunday when I was uploading pics I found about 60 pictures he had taken that day. He said that he was taking pictures of our house so that we wouldn't ever forget it. It was interesting to see what he deems photo worthy. Here is a small sampling for your perusal and enjoyment:

Dallen's cup
Our Silverware drawer:

And my favorite, who would want to forget-our track lighting...

Great Grandma and Grandpa come to visit

We were so excited to have the Great Grandparents come visit us this past week! They came on Sunday evening and spent Monday and Tuesday with us. We went to the beach (oh how we love January in San Diego) and a park and just enjoyed having them around. Nathan made Grandma particpate in his school and Jack made her read to him for at least an hour. And Grandma and Grandpa tried their skills at Wii bowling and golf!

Here are the boys with Grandma at the beach:

All three boys playing in a sand hole:Here is Dal and Dale (this is who we named Dal after-Dale with a twist)

Book of Mormon Party

I never posted about this and wanted to make sure I wrote about it because it was fun (and because I am planning to get my blog printed and bound like a scrapbook and want to remember all the fun things we do as a family).

Last week we finished reading the Book of Mormon as a family! Yay! That took more than three years-we usually only read 1 column per night. So, we figured we had to celebrate somehow. So we had a Book of Mormon party last Friday night.

For dinner we had "Nephite Nachos" and "Teancum Taco Salads" with "Lamanade" to drink. (That sounds cooler than it really was. We have nachos for dinner all the time (because it is about all that Jack will eat), we just called them Nephite Nachos that night. Oh, and everyone was wearing a Nephite headband during this (except Jack because of course, he didn't want to wear one).

Then we played games-the Lost 116 pages, ie. searching for 116 post it notes hidden all over our house. Then gadianton robbers where we had to try to knock the gadianton robbers (stuffed animals) off the back of the couch with socks. Then Samuel the Lamanite (the big hit of the night) in which Samuel would stand on the couch yelling "repent" and the rest of us would throw socks at him.

We finished the night off with "Moost be true" ice cream (Moose tracks) because the Book of Mormon is true. (OK, that one was a stretch, I know!)

Vote for Me!

Vote for me! (If you want to)

There is a contest going on for moms that started their own business and I thought it would be fun to put myself in it. I am not even sure what the winner gets other than exposure, but hey, why not? So, if you think I am cool, vote for me! (You can vote once a day so feel free to KEEP voting for me!)

http://www.startupnation.com/leading-moms-2009/contestant/3413/index.php

My Darling Dallen

Happy birthday to Dallen! (OK, yesterday but pretend that I managed to post this yesterday ok?) Dallen is my darling. He is my sunshine-I sing that to him every night (you are my sunshine) and he sings along which is so sweet and wonderful and one of the many reasons why I absolutely love this baby boy.

One year ago he entered my world (surprise! 3.5 weeks early) after 42 hours of labor...yes, you read that right, 42 hours of labor, one trip to the hospital in the middle of the night only to be sent home and told I was not in labor, just dehydrated, followed by a long day with contractions still coming regularly all day long, another trip to the hospital in the middle of the night, a quick delivery once we were there the second time with no epidural and even more pain that I remembered from either of the other two despite being my smallest baby. But oh what I wouldn't give to relive that day. I LOVE being in the hospital with a brand new baby.

Other than giving us a few problems here and there with sleeping and spitting up, Dallen is the sweetest, happiest baby a girl could ask for. He has beautiful blue eyes and killer dimples and he willing shares his smile with anyone and everyone most anytime. He giggles all the time, loves his brothers and is his mommy's little doll. (Daddy likes his quite a bit too.) He loves being a part of our family-squealing when wrestling time begins, screaming at the dinner table to get his brothers' attention, and just putting up with everything that comes his way. I am totally and completely in love with this little boy.

Just for fun a then and now picture:

This is with his new birthday ball:

A Ward is like a Ball of Dirt...

As promised and I am sure much anticipated, here is my next analogy-A ward is like a ball of dirt. Josh just doesn't get this one.

A ward is a like a big ball of dirt with a bunch of little worms all living in it or on it. In my Madison ward I was a happy little worm living right down near the core of the ball of dirt all snug and cozy and happy in my dirt. Then I was ripped from that ball of dirt and left exposed to the world. (And hopefully leaving at least somewhat of a hole in said ball of dirt that at least a few of the other worms were sad about.)

Then, I was transplanted onto a new ball of dirt. But, it takes time to find a new home in that ball of dirt, so a new little worm has to inch into the ball of dirt little by little. Each week I try to do things to inch myself a little farther into that ball of dirt until I can feel like I am engulfed in the new ball of dirt. I wriggle and squirm and try to work myself further in. Probably about the time I feel all happy and snug and cozy in the center of this new ball of dirt I will be ripped from it and placed on a new one...

Adoption

As my last post for tonight and on a much more serious note, here is a picture of my cousin, her husband and their daughter:

Sweet Sarah was adopted into their family 3 1/2 years ago and they have wanted another child for a long time now. They adopted a little boy about two years ago and after 6 1/2 months with them, he was taken back and returned to the birth mother because the birth father fought the adoption. I know, break your heart. Those are supposed to be the stories you only hear about on Lifetime, television for women.

Now, last week this sweet family flew to Washington to adopt a little girl and after almost two days with her, the birth father changed his mind and another failed adoption for this family.

I am writing this because those of us who know and love this family feel so heartbroken for them and just want to do anything to help. So I am trying to spread the word. If you know anyone considering adoption, here is a family who would welcome a child into their arms and love it forever. Spread the word, help this sweet family.

A Dose of Dal

Everyone should get a daily dose of Dallen. This kid is the greatest. So happy, so sweet and so cute. Here he is playing his latest favorite game, peekaboo!

Can't remember how to put the video in the actual post, so here is a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4neL8DWOJc

Life is a Pogo Ball

Josh thinks I am strange, but I have all these wonderful metaphors for life. The first of which I will share with you tonight. Life is like a Pogo Ball. (If you don't know what a Pogo ball is, they are rubber balls with a flat disk like thing all around the edges so that it is basically a ball with a plate going through the middle and you stand on the plate part.)

I look at life like this. Life is that Pogo ball. We are all standing on a Pogo ball of our own, trying to stay in balance-gotta keep all sides of the plate the same distance to the earth. This is impossible, but we do our best to keep it as steady as possible. At times we start to lose it-leaning to far to one side, jerking back to the other, swaying, spinning, tilting, whatever.

Then there are other times when the balance seems better, like you are hovering near perfect balance with just a little tilting here and there.

Last week was one of those balance weeks for me. I don't know why-I wish I could put my finger on what makes the difference, but it was just a good, good week. I felt like I had good quality time with the boys, business was under control-not too slow, not too stressful, I had fun with Josh, was spiritually in check, I was happy and kind and the type of mother I want to be. I was balancing my pogo ball pretty darn well. Now, if I could just figure out how to do that ALL the time!

Next time I will share with you my metaphor, A Ward is a Dirt Ball

SeaWorld

On Christmas Eve we got our season passes to SeaWorld but only went for three hours that day so there was still tons to see. On Saturday, since the weather was PERFECT (but I won't rub that in too much to my WI friends) we decided to go again. It was fun. Mostly we just did the rides because the kids love them. But we also saw one show (Clyde and Seymour) and went through Shark Encounters (which completely freaked Jack out!). Here are some pictures of our fun:

They have a really fun rope/bridge/tunnel thing for the kids (and dads) to climb in. This picture is looking straight over my head:

While the big boys did that, I taught Dallen about those crazy mirrors that distort your body: Here's me and the boys on Oscar's Rocking Eels (or something like that):

Josh and Jack getting ready to fly on Elmo's Flying Fish:

Josh and Jack and Nathan spinning on Abby Kadabby something or other. Now, there is a sad story to go along with this one. Since Halloween Jack has had a dear friend-his little pink turtle pencil topper that he got trick or treating. He loved that thing and was so sweet and tender with it. He loved to take it wherever he went, including SeaWorld. Without us knowing he took it on this ride, set it on the seat beside him, and now it is gone. There were tears shed over this.

These are my two very scary sharks! Aaah! And, I was going to take a separate picture to show this, but we have our first lost tooth! Look at Nathan! Yay!And last, now this one is not for the faint of heart. Look at your own risk. But this, my friends is what the sky looked like the day we were there. (Yes, I am a nerd and I took a picture of the sky).

If looking at that sky makes you hate winter where you are even more, don't say I didn't warn you.

The "No" Book

Me and Jack were snuggling on the couch reading stories this morning-stories from the library. We got to one with cute little Guinea Pigs on the front with a little one named Chloe who is sad when she finds out that her favorite Uncle is getting married. She is sure that all of his time will be taken up when he marries Jamie but then she meets Jamie and they spend time together and she is really happy.

And then the book drops the bomb on you-that Chloe is going to have 2 Uncles. I stopped mid-sentence. Wait. I look at the pictures, I reread the sentence. Did I understand that right? Yes, yes I did. Jamie is a boy. Jamie is going to be her new Uncle. Uncle Bobby is going to marry Uncle Jamie. She is going to have two Uncles. I was in shock. I closed the book and said "Jack, we can't read this book anymore." He said "why mom" so I told him straight out. I asked him if he remembered what P 8 was all about (not writing that out because I don't want my blog to be searchable for that term). He said it was "Yes" and then I explained to him what the book was trying to teach and that it was wrong. So he said it was the "No Book." That's right. And it is going back to the library tomorrow. Wow, I didn't see that one coming. I didn't know it had come that far. I am happy to know though that I can teach my kids right and wrong within the walls of my own home while we snuggle on the couch.

Restaurant.com

One more tidbit of info-Restaurant.com is our new favorite thing. You can buy a $25 gift certificate to restaurants in your area for $10. That is a pretty good deal but wait, it gets better. They keep having deals. So in December I bought Josh 5 gift certificates at 80% off. So that means a $25 gift certificate cost us $2. We used our first one this weekend at Tony Romas. We took the whole family. With the cost of our meal plus tax and tip minus the $25 GC it cost us $7.27. Add that to the $2 for the GC and that was a pretty great deal!

Now some of their gift certificates say things like valid only on a purchase of $35 or more, but others are just a straight out $25 gift card. The one other bummer, for some of you anyway, is that there aren't gift certs available in all areas. I looked in my in laws area and there was nothing. I think I looked in Utah County and there was nothing. (But don't take my word on that, I can't remember for sure.) But big urban areas have lots available!

This was just way too cool to not pass on to everyone! http://www.restaurant.com

I know right now they are having 50% if you use the code CELEBRATE. I am sure you could google for discounts or go to Couponmom.com to find out each week!

As promised...

I have promised a lot of people that I would send them the link to the Cafe Rio Salad recipe that we use. I figured posting it on my blog would be easiest. This is SO yummy. If you haven't had Cafe Rio Salad just trust me on this and try it:

http://recipequeens.blogspot.com/2007/12/cafe-rio-shredded-pork-salad-with-ranch.html

Also, this is a good one. The Panera Bread Asian Sesame Chicken Salad recipe. Also VERY good:

http://www.recipesecrets.net/forums/recipe-exchange/24558-panera-bread-asian-sesame-chicken-salad.html

Three boys?!?!

One more thing I just have to write down. I seem to be quite the spectacle in life. Surely there has never been a woman out in public before with three children, all of whom are male. Literally everywhere I go, every single time I leave the house and go to a store or similar public place someone, at least one someone, comments on my status as a mother of three boys. "Three boys huh?" "Whoa three boys???" "You have three boys? You have your hands full!"

Yes my friends, I have three boys and they are all ages 5 and under. Yes, I have my hands full-very full. But, I didn't exactly have a choice in the gender of my children. The Lord sent me three boys and I am happy to be a mother of them. I am very happy to be the mommy to three little boys-all of whom still think they are going to marry their dear old mommy and love to give me kisses and snuggle me and be my little boyfriends.

I love being the mom of three boys and lucky for the people in the stores, I don't really mind these comments most of the time. I just find it funny because it happens every single time and usually about three times per store!

Our Christmas

We are home from a nice trip to Denver for Christmas. We surprised the boys with the trip. They didn't know a thing about it until in the afternoon on Christmas we said to them-"Hey, since it's Christmas and all, what do you say we go find some snow to play in? Get in the car." We drove to the airport and when they saw the planes we said "Hey-should we get on one and see if we can find some snow?" They heartily agreed, thinking we were headed to the North Pole. About halfway through the trip they realized we were going to see Grandma and company.

We had a really nice trip. The highlights were the simple things really-just being with my family, letting the boys play with their uncles (who are the coolest uncles ever), spending time with grandma and grandpa, seeing relatives, relaxing, taking turns sleeping in (Josh drew the short straw and had to get up early New Year's day), and of course, my favorite, playing games with my family in the evenings.

A few of the bigger highlights included a super fun Pirate themed "Cootie Party" on New Year's Eve. We usually go to my aunt and uncle's house for New Year's Eve and it is always fun, this year was especially so. The boys (other than Dal) stayed up till Midnight and we played all sorts of games including speed cootie, bowling with skull, roll the eyeballs into the treasure chest and pin the eye patch on Captian Jack. I have such a fun family and I am so lucky to have grown up close to all my aunts and uncles and cousins so that they are such familiar friends when we get together. Here is Captain Snood (Nathan):

The other highlight was my brothers Jason and Tim giving me and Josh a date during the week. They gave us a movie gift card and a Chili's gift card and Tim babysat while we went out. Did I mention my brothers are the coolest? Thanks Stupid Dumb Tim and Stupid Dumb Jas. :)

Now tomorrow we hit real life again. Things will seem pretty tame I guess after all the crazy busyness of Christmas. At least we aren't looking at more than 100 inches of snow this year. :)

Here are a few more Christmas pics:

Dal in his new Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve:
Nathan and Jack in their new jammies. They each got one Batman set and one Superman set:The Aftermath on Christmas Morning. And just think, we had to leave for the airport a few hours after this. It took a lot of work to get it decent enough to leave.
Here is Santa's cookie plate made by Nathan. Just cookies wasn't enough, they had to be in a smile. :) And count the carrots-he made sure there was one for every reindeer.

And just because I never post pics of myself, here I am with my guys. I don't post pics of my self for a reason-I look like a goon. And sure enough-I look like a goon in this one. At least I have cool jammies though.

P.S.-If you are a Denver friend of mine and I didn't see you while I was there please don't hate me. Just know that most of my Denver friends were equally neglected.