Bolt

We went and saw Bolt. I really enjoyed the movie, however I did NOT enjoy the people at the theater.

Some old couple actually had the nerve, to have my baby thrown out of the theater. Really? She was "too noisy". Hello old people...it is a kids movie!! Anyhow, Trent was a much better sport about it than I was. He took her out, got his ticket refunded, and let the kids and I watch the rest of the movie.

Thanks babe.

Beaver, Utah

We went down to Beaver this weekend. Where is Beaver, Utah? It's about 2 1/2 hours south of Riverton. What's in Beaver you ask?Trent's family.

Beaver is the cutest little town. They have several really cute traditions. The 24th of July is when all the natives migrate back to Beaver. They have this parade, and they throw TONS of candy and curd cheese (yes really!) After the parade, they have a gathering in the town park. Beaver does their High School Reunions every 5 years, and they usually fall on the 24th weekend.



There is a Thanksgiving tradition as well. The Light Parade. There was about 5 floats with lights on them. Once again they threw out candy, and Santa came riding on a Firetruck. After that, Santa goes to the town park, and turns on the town lights.



Why did you go to Beaver you ask? Rhonda (Trent's sister) set up family pictures. Everybody was there. I think that was a first! It was super cold, and the kids really didn't want to cooperate. But what's new?

All the grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa Barney.


During family pictures, I found out that Trent's step-sis Amy is pregnant! Congrats to the Groll family!!!


I think this is the closest I've ever been to a deer. There were some people on the side of the road feeding them.

Trent's step-mom Jan is the best cook ever! She made us all another yummy Thanksgiving dinner.

The kids were off having tons of fun running Grandpa Barney's trains, playing hide-n-go seek, and the game I now call Bucket Butts. They'd sit in the buckets until they were pretty well stuck, and then they'd race to the end of the garage. Whoever won, would then be the race conductor.

Day after Thanksgiving

When I decided to run my errands about 11:00am, I figured that all the "crazy's" had finished with their shopping. Not true! I think I was hit at least 4 times with a shopping cart. I think the worst was that nobody apologized! RUDE!

The girls playing in the leaves.


Leaf Angels. (They are clever little girls!)

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving this year at my mom's. This is the first year that we've actually had all of my little monkey's at my mom's for Thanksgiving. That's the hardest part of having a blended family.

My oldest brother Mark. (I might add that he really did not want his picture taken.)


My second oldest brother Steve, Tammy, Blaine, Brantly, Breaunna, Brendon, and Brady.


My sister Darla, Todd, Kelton, Kaylie, and Kason. Todd's dad Dean came with them. His wife passed a few months earlier. We were glad to have him.


My brother Kirk, Darlene, Taylor, Levi and Andi.


Then comes me. (Seven years later)


Steve's oldest Brittney and her new hubby Mike. So cute!

After Dinner, comes the annual Gingerbread Houses. The kids absolutely love this part of Thanksgiving. They spend hours making it look just right. Then they bring it home, and I always secretly hope that they break on the way home so I can throw them away. (SORRY MOM!) They usually end up in the kids bedrooms (even though I said no) and the pieces end up all over the house. Baylee wanted to put hers in a box and carry it on the plane to Vegas. She was pretty bumbed when I told her it wouldn't work.



Mark took his airplane out to fly it. The boys all thought it was really cool. Then uncle Mark let Kason and Kaleb fly the plane. Kirk said that Kaleb wrecked it into the cement wall across the street...but it survived.

The fam watching football after we all ate way too much!


My mom spends HOURS preparing the Gingerbread Houses and preparing our dinner. Then she spends the entire day playing with the kids, and cleaning up. I am thankful for you mom.

NOTE TO SELF:

I aksed my kids what they wanted for christmas this year, and they really couldn't tell me. So I handed them a toy magazine and told them to look through it, and start on their lists for Santa.


Kali: So Soft Pony. The ORANGE one, with the PURPLE hair. (Of course this was hard to find.)
Littlest Pet Shop Armadillo.
VIP Lady Bug. Webkinz-Zebra

Abbi: Books, Nintendo DS games, Littlest Pet Shop Day Planner-GREEN, Webkinz-Frog or Hippo

Baylee? I don't even have the slightest idea yet. We've decided that Santa will go to her house in Vegas, and we'll just give presents from Mom and Dad here....especially since we won't have her until the second half of Christmas break.

Kaleb: Hot Wheels Dinosaur, Goosebumps books, Star Wars figures, Webkinz-Polar Bear and Snake AND Bat.

All of the kids lists were 1/2 a page. When I finished my hair appointment, Kaleb's list magically appeared much much bigger.

So here's my gripe. The kids are wanting specific colors. Then, it's not just a Webkinz, it's a specific animal. What is Santa going to do if she...I mean he....can't find the exact item? I got online first to see how popular these items were. Yeah..of course they are the popular items. So I went shopping last night with Ang. We hit Target and Walmart. I would much rather pay full price for an item, and have it, then go to a sale, and HOPE that I get it.

The good news....I found MOST of what I was looking for. The bad news....The entire store knew "I FOUND THE ARMADILLO! ANG!!! I FOUND IT!"

NOTE TO SELF: Get a Christmas list earlier, and shop the beginning of November.

Odds and Ends

This photo is from the Twilight Party. All-in-all the party was pretty good. The vendors had some fun items. However, I will not purchase a goody bag next time. It kinda sucked....sorry ladies!

My New Years Resolution (of an organized home by New Years) is gonna happen. WOW the only New Years Resolution I've ever kept! If I could just skip Thanksgiving...I might be done. Did I say "skip Thanksgiving?" I must be obsessed.

Other fun news...Kaisey is saying "Mamama", and she's finally growing some hair. Yeah me!

Twilight

Twilight! What more can I say? I thought it was awesome! I know some people hated it. I think the difference was that I was prepared to hate it, and so I was pleasantly surprised when I loved it. It didn't compare to the books...but what compares to your own imagination? I felt like the movie was really just getting started. I can't wait for the next movie to come out!
I might add...that this was the first book I've actually read since High School!

Me, Lola and Ang in our seats with much anticipation. During the movie I kept telling Lola that I wanted to hold her hand!


Edwards car. I went to lay across it, and that sucka was super slick. I slid right off once. Boy could that Edward drive hu?

Watch Out

You'd think that running out of garbage space would stop my new organizing obsession. That would be totally incorrect. I will be the crazy nut running around the neighborhood Thursday night looking for empty garbage space! So watch out! (Game Closet)

The Beast Immerges

Who knew that the organization beast would have immerged. After 1 trip to Walmart, 2 trips to Target, and 1 stop at The Home Depot, I hope I have enough stuff to finish my "little project". When you clean out one spot, you have to move the 'unwanted' items to a new spot, which in turn creates another mess. 10 minutes a day? I don't think so. All 3 of my garbage cans are full now, so I'm going to have to take a timeout til Friday.

Why do I have so much clutter? I have the answer. When things don't have a permanent location, the result is repurchasing the item. And then I end up with 7 rolls of tape. (I actually found 12.) This became a common occurrence as I was cleaning.

I found this handy little guy at The Home Depot. This is so much better than the thing I had hanging in my closet.

I am extremely proud of my pantry. It was such a mess!!!

I decided to put the spices that I don't use on a regular basis into bins. It saved me a ton of space!!
This was a great idea that I adopted from my mom. Thanks mom!

And lastly, this is my crafting spot.

I'm sure you are all tired of my organization blogs, but I am so proud of myself for taking the time to do something for myself. It's not a fun project by any means, but it has needed to be done for quite some time!! Any organizing tips are welcome!

Learning New Things

Kaisey is starting to crawl. FINALLY! She has two new teeth on the top, she can clap, and she's starting to wave. She is just not as quick to learn as my other children. I think it's mostly because when she makes a peep, there's always somebody ready to pick her up. She is the biggest baby I have. She is in the 75% for her age. I wonder how Kali (25%) is going to feel when her baby sister outgrows her.

Rigging Up The Lights....

Trent totally boycotted the christmas lights last year. The kids complained quite a bit. I only complained by telling the kids to complain. The kids asked for the christmas lights to be hung this year. I didn't realize this process was going to take the entire day on Saturday, and then some.

First we have to buy this nifty gun that tells us which lights are dead. But then, we have to figure out the instructions on how to make the nifty gun work.


Then, when we can't figure out the directions, we try to use the nifty gun along with the light strands in very very very wrong ways.

Once we figure out nifty light gun, we then go help all the neighbors figure out which lights are the "problem" lights on their strands. Why? Well cuz we're nice people, and because this new toy is SOOO cool. Right babe?

Then we come back and begin to hang our lights. (When we use the word "we" at our house, it reverts back to the word "you"....or in this case it means Trent.)


Good job babe. But all I really wanted were the lights on the house (which have a short, and are currently not up and running), and my blow-ups.

Not a great picture I know...but like I said, not everything is up and running yet.......

Tip O' The Day

I buy Disney/Kids movies the second they come out, so I have accumulated around 200 or so. A couple friends of mine gave me the idea (thanks Ang and Lola) to toss out the DVD covers, and put all the DVD's into a CD case. My movie center sure looks a heck of a lot cleaner, and when we go camping next spring, I'll simply toss the case into my trailer. Voila!

Organization Challenge #2

Organization Challenge #2
The Linen Closet. Which has pretty much been a Linen/If I can't find a spot for it...shove it in here Closet.

So here's the before.....(Ew! Really?)

Here is after.....

Once again I used my handy dandy vinyl machine to label my shelves. Once again, this project took a lot more than 10 minutes. However I am completely satisfied. I think I now have the organization itch.

It feels really good to clean the inside of things as well as the outside. I try really hard to keep a tidy house....knowing perfectly well that there are "spots" that I don't want ANYONE to look at. My goal is to not have "spots" in my house any longer. Do you think I can get it all done before New Years? Now that's a more realistic resolution than....I want to eat right, I want to exercise...blah blah blah.