A Few of My Favorite Things

This Thanksgiving, I’m definitely grateful for a lot of things.  And in no particular order, they are:
My red-eye removal feature, which turns my demon-looking children into nice, normal kids.  I’m grateful for my kids’ baby blues that I get to edit with technology.

I’m grateful for these little punks.  They keep me on my feet, give me laughter throughout the day, and help me become a better me by making me less selfish.  I’m grateful for the messes they make because it means I have a house to clean and keep me warm, and food enough to spill and we won’t starve when it gets all over the eternally sticky floor.

I’m grateful for this sweet thing, that’s only rolled over twice, but can totally sit forever.  I’m grateful when she screams, because it means she has spirit and energy, and she’s healthy.  I’m grateful for her smiles and laughter.
 
I’m grateful for my little family.  (Ignore me and Pete; this picture isn’t so hot of us.  But the kids look great, eh?) 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Eye Candy

Pete is always asking me if I think So-and-So actor or actress is hot, and what percentage they're hot versus when they aren't, like when the camera catches them at a bad angle. And when I say that So-and-So isn't hot, I always come up blank when Pete then asks me who is hot. So this post is for Pete, but everyone else can look too, because let's face it-I'm going to be putting up some way hot hotties in one concentrated location.

Oh, and I'm going to make this into a tag, because I'm curious as to other people's hottie preferences. The categories are: TV actor, Movie actor, Classic actor, Music artist, and Opposite Sex actor. I'm going purely with looks here, not personal choices or movie roles or whatever. And I'm going to tag Kar, Lex, Beej, Suzy, Pete, and whoever else wants to do this, which means you should do it if you're on my blog roll! (Mindy and Arin, I'm looking at you! Oh, and if you're a guy-Pete-then obviously you'd choose women for these categories and a man for the last category.)

TV actor: Justin Hartley. He plays Green Arrow on Smallville. And I seriously think he's the best thing to happen to that show. All together now: yummy!

Runner up: Jensen Ackles, who plays Dean Winchester on Supernatural.

Also, I find it ironic that I picked two guys from shows that I never even watch.

Movie actor: Johnny Depp. Even when he's wearing guy-liner as a pirate he's hot. I've always kind of had a thing for him since Benny and Joon.

...

Okay, I had to swoon for a minute there.

Runner up: Denzel Washington.

Classic actor: Marlon Brando. Not so much from his Godfather days, but more in his Guys and Dolls, Streetcar Named Desire days.

Runner up: Rock Hudson.

Seriously, the men actors back in the day make today's actors look like wusses.

Music Artist: Justin Timberlake. I'm glad he moved away from the curly 'fro.

Runner up: Usher. I mean, is a 10-pack possible? Because I think he has one.

Opposite Sex Actress: Grace Kelly. She's just so stunning. It's a shame she didn't act for longer than she did. She had to go off and get all princessey.

Runner up: Katherine Heigl. She's on Grey's Anatomy. She's a bit broke down on the show (they all are), but she's always va-va-voom on the Red Carpet.

So there you have it, my current famous hotties list! Now let's hear-and see-yours!

The Next Ebert and Roeper

Pete and I went to the Twilight movie yesterday.

I give it a very unenthusiastic "meh". I don't know what Pete would give it; maybe an "eh" or even a "huh". Maybe Pete should blog about it, mmm?

Cheesy effects, bad acting, crazy wigs... But I think the salt in the wound for me was that yesterday a very different, very awesome movie was supposed to come out. And, they showed the preview for it. *sigh* (Only) eight more months...

Aiye Em Soooe Smarrt

Minimalism is kind of my thing. Less is more. I definitely need to stitch that on a pillow. But then I'd probably get rid of the pillow, because it would be taking up room and cluttering some surface somewhere.

Mind you, don't come over to my house right now. You would laugh in my face at how much crap I have laying about, and then I'd be a hypocrite in your eyes, and then I'd have to erase your memory MIB style. So, just take my minimalism stance as the truth and we'll all be happier.

Anyway, most of the stuff that's been driving me crazy right now is the toys. The massive amount, the can't even walk in my basement without stepping over, on, or around a toy. So I decided to get rid of some of them. My brilliant idea was to take some of the lesser-used toys and sell them on Amazon. Then I could take that money made and put it toward something that we would use. See? Brilliant!

So I put a toy up for sale, priced it at $15. Amazon gives you another $6 to cover shipping, and when your item sells they take $4 as their little cut. So my profit should be $17. Simple math.

Said toy sold. Hurray! I rushed down to the shipping store to send it off. After they packed it up in bubble wrap and packing peanuts, I gave them the address (someone in New Jersey) and they rang me up.

"It will be $20." Huh? "Is that the cheapest form of delivery?" "The delivery is $13, the packing material is $7." My brilliant, money-making plan got dim really fast. (And? Thanks a lot, stinking Amazon, for painting the picture of $6 shipping!)

So, not only am I out a toy, I'm out $3. Merry Christmas, New Jersey stranger! From here on out, I'll stick to my usual D.I. routine. It'll be better for me in the long run, anyway, because then my obituary can read "philanthropist minimalist" instead of "cluttered entrepreneur". (But I think I'm still going to cry myself to sleep on my stitched pillow.)

Weight Loss Guarantee

I've found the ultimate secret to instant weight loss! I'll only (maybe, okay not really) charge you $30 to read this post! You'll be amazed, and I'm sure you'll want to pay me more than that, but you, my lucky friends, get this knowledge for free today! Just follow these easy steps:

1. Make sure your body expels all fluids in a matter of 10 hours. The flu does this wonderfully.

2. Have a sore throat for the few days before and few days after the flu. That way it burns when you swallow things like candy and chocolate, so then you won't want to eat those.

3. Zero appetite also helps in this magical weight loss program. So on the day of the flu, eat one piece of bread. You'll find you'll keep up this low-calorie regimen not out of choice, but out of obligation to your sensitive stomach for the next 2 days.

4. Stressing out about things also adds to the rapid weight loss. Things like your new calling. Or a maybe-leaky fridge. You hope and pray that your calling and your fridge will be okay, because you a) don't want to get released already, and b) you absolutely don't have any money to repair a possible fridge leak. But stress about things like that anyway, and the pounds will keep melting away.

5. Exercise by cleaning up 2 kids' throw up and 3 kids' diarrhea nonstop during this same time period.

6. Being out of things like milk, hot dogs, cheese, fruit snacks, etc. also helps. An empty fridge means an empty stomach! And, an empty fridge means being able to see the back of the fridge, thereby discovering said leak.

I've followed my new weight loss "plan". I've dropped 7 pounds since Friday. So sign up now! Hey, you may not feel good losing weight this way, but you'll look good! (Actually, you'll probably look like death warmed over like I have, but if I said that you wouldn't want to try my plan, now, would you?)

Sick and Tired

Troy, sleeping on the top stair.

The flu has decided to take a death grip upon our household, so I've not been much in the blogging, dressing, sitting, eating, doing-anything-besides-be-close-to-the-toilet mood. So until we get better, I'll share some Nat Pack-isms, so you can be all, "Awww! What adorable kids she has!"

When I found Troy's barf oozing out from under his door (aren't you glad I shared that image? and aren't you glad you're not me right now?), I said, "Troy, did you barf?" And he said, "No Mom, I spilled!" I guess if his stomach spilled...

The looks I got when I said, "Smile!" Brock's fishy, Troy's scowl, Jakob's fake smile. It's a wonder we get any decent pictures at all!


Brock: Mom, I don't feel good. Me: What feels yucky? Brock: Um...my back. Will you rub it? (Anything to get pampered, the little Prince!)

My stair step boys:


Jakob: Mom, when I get back from my mission, I will be a hero! And then I can marry Ila, because she'll want to marry a hero because she's a princess.

When you're tired, you're tired! Ivy's 6 months old now.


The prayer policeman. Troy loves saying the prayer now. And we'll prompt him with, "Thank you for this day", and he says, "Thank you Jakob could go to school today." I hear that phrase/question/exclamation at least 20-30 times a day. Apparently he's very concerned about Jakob's education.


While I was getting ready for church, Jakob said, "Mom, you're HOT!" Maybe I'm doing something right in raising my kids, after all.

Uh-Oh

Sunday I got a new calling. When they first told me what it was, I think I gave this look:

I'm the 2nd counselor in the Young Women's presidency. I think part of me instantly felt like a Beehive again, which isn't necessarily the most pleasant of memories. And here's why:

Notice the sweet braces, feathered bangs, perma-scab/zit on my chin, the glasses as big as my head, the perm... Ah, those were the awkward days! Luckily I was pretty on the inside...or something. Ahem.

But now I'm way excited. We have 7 girls, and they are all so stinking cute! I can't wait to get to know my new babysitters-uh, I mean, the girls I will mold and teach and plant little seeds of righteousness in!

Anyway, last night I had my first Mutual activity since I was in as a Young Woman. We did stupid human tricks. These girls had crazy moves-weird toe/double jointed things, and stilt walking and yoga moves...

And of course I forgot my camera.

But, I totally found a clip of the trick that I did! (Yeah, this won't freak the girls out about their new leader!)

By the way, I totally disagree about them being "losers". Although they do attend BYU-I... (KIDDING!!)

Anyway, I hope everything goes well for me and my new calling. But we have an amazing President, Jodi. And Jozet is 1st counselor, and Janae is secretary, so I'm not so worried, because I can coast on their amazing coattails for a while and hopefully not scar the girls for life. I'm sure their parents will appreciate that.

IN Famous

You know the game about the 6 degrees of separation? If you don't know what it is, it's the theory that every human being is separated by every other human being by only 6 degrees, or 6 other people. It's also known as the Kevin Bacon game. Because Kevin Bacon has been in about a trillion movies, you can connect pretty much any actor or actress in a movie with others in that movie, and then in movies that they've been in and so on until you get to a movie with Kevin Bacon in it.

I've realized, through the six degrees theory, that I'm basically famous, because I know people that know people that are famous.

For instance, I know the reigning Miss Idaho, Elise Davis. She's my best friend's little sister. I've known her since she was probably 5. I also know last year's Miss Idaho, Sadie Quigley. Her mom was my piano teacher for several years, and I remember when she was born. (Elise is on the left, Sadie on the right.)













I also found out on Saturday that Shera knows Stephenie Meyer. So because I know her...you get the idea.

And my brother-in-law, Spencer, works for the Buffalo Bills. Here's a video of him helping the Quarterback, Trent Edwards. He's in a gray shirt and blue shorts, and you can see him at about 20 seconds in, and then a couple of more times.

So I'm almost famous!

And because I'm not creative by myself, I stole my post title from "Three Amigos". They get a telegram from a lady in Mexico that thinks they are real gunfighters instead of movie stars, and she's asking for their help to defeat their local "bully", El Guapo. The telegram calls El Guapo "infamous" (a really bad guy), but they think it means more than famous, like extra famous or something. They say it "IN famous". I couldn't find that clip, but I found another one that I like.

Okay, I couldn't help it. Here's a second clip from "Three Amigos". Enjoy!

Here a Tooth, There a Tooth

Another first for Jakob: a lost tooth!



Notice the puffy eyes that still have tears in them. Not from pain, but from fear. Jakob's tooth was really loose, and his new tooth was pushing its way in already. He was just really unsure about the whole process. But when we promised him ice cream for letting me pull it out, he became more pro-toothless.

So Friday night I pulled it out, we got ice cream from Leatherby's (Jakob's was chocolate), and the Tooth Fairy visited that night. The next day we found a toy to buy with the Tooth Fairy money: an Etch-a-Sketch.



In other tooth news, Ivy's been working on her first ones, and boy! she's having a hard time! The poor thing. Hopefully they'll come soon for her so she can be happy and sleep well again.

Eat Me!

Yes, another pie post! But this time it's the report of the awesomeness that happens when you get yummy pie, cool people, and Catch Phrase in one place at one time.

Well, what is there to tell? We had a blast! And a lot of pie. We had pumpkin x3, and peach, and pecan, and cherry, and chocolate x2, and lemon meringue, and a razzle-dazzle berry (I can't remember what it was actually called, and I asked about 40 times, but it was a multi-berry kind), and cherry cheesecake. I know cheesecake doesn't technically count in the pie category, but it's still round.

After eating pie, and after banishing the kids downstairs (which I don't think they minded), the adults played Catch Phrase, men against women. Back in the day, my roommates and I would play it non-stop, and even practice with each other so we could trounce on people when we challenged them to a round. Saturday I realized I'm not nearly as good as I used to be (we got so good we'd make it so we'd have to use songs to have people guess the clues), but it was still very very awesomely fun.

Oh, and did I mention how awesome the night was? See, now all of you that read my blog that didn't come are all sorts of jealous of the pieness and the gameness and the awesomeness, huh? So, I hope you learned your lesson, and that you'll come to our next pie party, whenever that may be. My sister told me there's a national eat pie day or something like that in January, so we'll have to shoot for that.

Here's a slide show of our little night. (My apologies to those I didn't catch on camera.) Enjoy! I think I'm going to go get me some leftover pie now.

Hot Mama!

My mom's birthday was last week. (She's the hottie on the left.) And of course, it's taken me this long to post about it, and of course I forgot my camera. I ROCK!

Anyway, we went out for dinner for her birthday at a yummy Chinese food place called the New Hong Kong. Their sweet and sour chicken is to die for! Then we had pie at my parents' house.

(Mmmm, pie...makes you want to come to our house this Saturday for our Pie Party, huh? COME! 7:00!!)

But I digress. Here are 10 things I love about my mom:

10. The woman never stops helping me and my sisters out. She's always doing kind things for everyone, actually.

9. She taught me well: cleaning, cooking, sewing, etc. (Not that I'm as good as my mom. Maybe after I have 30 years of house-wifery under my belt...)

8. She's so creative! She's her ward's activity committee chair, and for their fall activity they had a chili cook-off and an ugly shirt contest.

7. She's an ultra planner. She thinks of details for activities that would never even cross my mind. She's been girls' camp director several times, and it's always flawless when she's in charge.

6. My mom is the best water skier and snow skier I've ever seen, hands down. She's so graceful.

5. She's really funny when she's drugged. She had a surgery early this year when I was pregnant with Ivy, and we hadn't decided on a name yet. So when she was drugged she was like, "My nurse is named Krysti. I like that spelling. Name her Krysti!" She repeats herself a lot when she's drugged.

4. She's very artistic. She's done toll painting, and pottery, and all sorts of things that I could never even pretend to be good at.

3. She dances around while she cooks. It kind of looks like step aerobics.

2. She knows all sorts of songs and nursery rhymes and will sing them to my kids.

1. My mom has a ukulele and knows how to use it! (How many other people can say that?)

Anyway, Mom, you're super awesome and amazing, and I'm glad that you're my mom! Love you!

Finding Memo

We've recently been adopted. By her:

So, we decided to adopt back. She's been hanging around our house for the last week or so. I made it official Saturday night by buying some cat food and a litter box and putting it in the garage. She's super friendly and cuddly, and love love loves me and Pete. Especially Pete. And the kids love her.

We named her Memo.

She's mostly an outside cat, but my suspicions say Memo would love to be an inside cat instead. I think she's been hunting mice, though I haven't gotten any presents as of yet, thank goodness.

I'm taking her in today for shots and a "physical", if you will. Hey, she stayed around after I gave her a bath, so some little old shots shouldn't shake her affection for us. We also need to see if she'll keep a collar on.

Just thought I'd introduce you to the pet I never thought I'd own in my adult life. Good thing Memo is so self-sufficient!
Update: I realized spelling her name like that makes it look like "memo", as in an office note: "meh-moe". But it's supposed to be "mee-moe". Just FYI.

For Future Reference...

Two-year-olds and scissors and curtains are not a good combination, because this is the result:


When you tell your husband to get a shirt for your son, make sure before taking off the tags that the shirt is a boy's shirt: (See the gathering on the sleeves? Don't ask me why Pete didn't notice it when he bought it, or why I didn't notice it until he had had it on for most of the day.)


(Of course, shirts can be optional in our house, especially when the couch is a "swimming pool") :


And maybe the key to this many smiles in one picture is to keep the kids up late and feed them lots of candy. I'll have to remember that for our picture appointment this coming weekend.

All Hallows' Even

Halloween was mucho funo this year, but I'm glad it's over! It was so busy for me, and we didn't even carve pumpkins! (I know, I'm such a slacker. The Scrooge of Halloween, if you will.)

The night of, Arin and I took our kids around trick-or-treating, which took forever because the kids were going so slow! We went to Arin's for cookies and hot cocoa, then headed to my parents' place and met up with Kar and her family while there.

Here are the bubbas. It's so funny how different they are! Micah is a skinny winny with cute little dimples and long spindly legs, and Ivy is a chunky monkey that smiles with her mouth wide open. They are both just so dang cute!



Here are Jakob and Dylan in their superhero/action figure costumes. Dyl was Bumblebee, and Jakob was Ironman. Sadie was already out of her Little Mermaid costume, and Brock and Troy went as Toto and Scarecrow, respectively (of which you've already seen pictures).



Here's Jakob the day of his class party. They weren't allowed to wear masks at school, so we decided to paint his face and color his hair instead. (By the way, the only way we could get him to be Tin Man with the family is if we struck a deal where he could be Ironman at school and trick-or-treating. It worked for me.) He insisted that Ironman's eyes are blue on his mask, so don't think that he pulled a Troy or something.



I'm one of the room mothers, so that means we did the Halloween party at school. Some of the timing of the activities didn't work out so well, but it was a first time for both Stephanie and me, so now we know a little better what to do.

We had the kids do different activity centers. They made spider treats with SnowBall treats and pretzels, we had a ghost walk (think cake walk), they decorated pumpkin faces with crayons and craft foam, we did a spider toss (tossing the spider rings into cups), and played trick-or-treat (if you pull out the word "trick" you had to do something like hop on one foot, make a silly face, act like a chicken, etc.; if you pulled out "treat" then you just got a treat).

Those little Kindergartners are so cute!

Yes, Halloween was a lot of fun, but I'm glad it's a whole year before we do it again!