A big one a big one..

Maree wanted me to blow up a balloon for her to play with.....
Sorry, I'm retarded and can't turn it the right way..grab your monitor and turn it counter clockwise :)

In Mourning....

Do you ever finish a great book or series of books, and mourn a little when you get to the end of the story. You get so wrapped up in the character's lives, the story, and then you hit the last page, and it's over. Never to know what else happened with these people you've become so close to....

Well, the best thing happened today. I finished a GREAT Trilogy (The Circle Trilogy by Ted Dekker)...which happened to be in one huge 1182 page, hardcover book....and then I got to the epilogue and discovered that there are SEVEN more books in the series..now known as "The Books of Histories Chronicles". Woohooo!!! I'm so excited! I'm going to make a run to the book store tomorrow!!

Hint hint

If you've followed this blog for any length of time (I think that would make 2 of you), then you know that my dear husband tends to buy me things if I mention that I want them. This takes out the "what do I buy my wife" conundrum that often overtakes men's minds when birthdays, Christmas, and other holidays are just around the corner. Sometimes he just can't help himself and he buys these things when there are no such holidays coming up.

Why do I mention this, you ask? To make a long story short, I have samples of this great product from Philosophy called Amazing Grace bath and shower gel. I really like the smell, even though it's not my all-time-favorite-shower-product-I've-ever-used. However, dear husband REALLY likes it...as in bacon to a dog likes it...as in cat to catnip likes it, as in lays in bed and sniffs my arm likes it. So honey, this is for you since you asked where you could buy it....

If you are going to buy it for me, which I would be eversoappreciativeof, then this is what I would love this or this or if you're quick...maybe this :)

XOXOXOXO

Just because

Okay, so here is the full speed version of the video the other day....some thought the slow-mo was a tad creepy. This will bring a smile to your face.

Spring cleaning in July

Okay, so I guess I'm a little late with the Spring cleaning, and I'm not pregnant so nesting is out of the question! On Friday, Steve informed me that "we" needed to clean the garage out. This was not the most exciting thing I could think of doing on a Saturday afternoon!! Needless to say, we got so much accomplished yesterday!! I wish I had a before picture of the garage. We have these 2 long huge shelves that Steve built when we moved into the house, and they had boxes and bins galore...mixed with all kinds of other stuff. Next to those shelves there was an oozing of other stuff that wouldn't fit on the shelves so it just sat on the ground and moved like an amoeba closer and closer to my parking space. Costco toilet paper, paper towels, kids bikes, scooters, too small kids clothes, worn out toys, shoes, soda, and other stuff that couldn't find a good home all threatened to overtake my brand new car. I decided to start with the gazillion shoes we had in the garage. You know the ones that my dear mother-in-law organizes ever so often. Well, there were shoes in there that I haven't even seen for a good 2 years. What had started as a place to kick your shoes as to not wear them in the house had become a graveyard for abandoned shoes. I probably discarded about 50 pairs of shoes. After looking at the pile of unwanted shoes, I decided I needed to have a garage sale. Steve wanted to take everything down to our local charity (he doesn't like garage sales), but there was SO much that I decided I would have a garage sale by myself (Steve will be working). We are saving for a trip to Disneyland next year, so this will hopefully provide a nice chunk of change. So now my garage is very clean on the shelf side, since we moved all the garage sale stuff to the other side of the garage. We also cleaned out our linen closet where I still had crib sheets from Maree...she's been in a big girl bed for at least a year now! We cleaned out the cabinet next to the lined closet which housed slew of sewing paraphernalia (I don't sew) that my Mom had let me borrow in the hopes that I might learn. I used them to make baby burp rags, and 1 skirt..then gave up on my sewing endeavors. Anyway, I'm so pleased that all the doors now close all the way, and that there is a ton of room for other things that can't quite find a good home, like the 1000 picture frames I have....oye!
I'm exhausted today..I think the cleaning took about 10 hours! Plus I didn't sleep well because I think I had 8 shots of coffee throughout the day yesterday.

Same 'ole, same 'ole

Nothing blogworthy has stuck out this week. However, I don't want to fall into the "abandoned blog" category, so I thought I'd give you something to watch that is both hilarious, and slightly disturbing...
hint..it's in slo-mo



Have a great weekend!!

Gone fishing....

Last weekend we had the pleasure of meeting some friends at a nearby lake, borrowing their parent's pontoon boat, and fishing on the lake. We had such a great time because the fish were biting like crazy, and they were small fish, so the kids could easily reel them in. We threw them all back, but it was still a lot of fun.
Yesterday we decided to go back to the lake and fish off the shore. My parents were in need of some fresh air :), so they joined us. They didn't know Steve had ideas about breaking trail and 4x4'ing through the woods over red clay dusk that thoroughly coated their white car (since they were following). They were troopers through, and we it was quite an adventure! Mom and Dad had decided not to fish on this trip, and were just going to relax (mom), and help the kids with their fishing endeavors (dad). We immediately noticed that the fish were not quite as voracious as they were last weekend...probably because of our location. We were just using worms as bait, but Dad thought I should try one of our fancy/pretty new lures. Since I'm a fishing amateur I have no idea what difference any of those things make. Dad set me up with a lure and the first cast I got hung up on some rocks (there were a lot of rocks). I handed the fishing pole to Dad because I didn't want to keep getting stuck on the rocks. Well, this is what Dad found...
okay, notice the bend in the pole and the splash....
Okay, it's a little hard to see and I didn't get a better shot of it, but it's about a 12" bass.
This may not seem exciting to you, but we had only been catching like 5 inch sunfish, and very small bass...I had no idea there were any bigger fish in this lake. So it was very exciting! And as an added surprise, when dad gutted the fish, there was a WHOLE crawdad in the fishes belly. I told dad that if he had only gutted the fish a little earlier, we might have saved that poor crawdad's life :).

Anyway, here are some more random pictures from yesterday..

Oh, and almost forgot to add. We went back to mom and dad's for dinner, and dad grilled up the fish he caught. Aaron was the first to sit down to eat and says "Poppa's fish is EXCELLENT". I, however, only had a very small bite. I like my fish frozen and vacuum packed from Costco with no bones :)

Multi-tasking....or.. notsomuch

Today, similar to many other days, I try to get some household chores done. I'm not the kind of person who keeps an immaculate house at all times, it's just not a priority to me. I usually try to clean 1-2 areas a day, or at least keep the mess at a category 2 tornado. So when I find some down time during the day I will try to throw some laundry in, or clean the kids bathroom, or tidy up the kitchen. I've noticed though, that I start one thing, like walking to the laundry room intent on starting a load, but pass the kids bathroom and start cleaning in there...totally side-tracked from the laundry I was going to do. Then I'll check my email (as I do about 20x a day), and get caught up in some other project in my bedroom. Today the kids were begging to get in the pool, so I was going to get my book I'm reading (The Circle Trilogy, by Ted Dekker), my cell phone (it notifies me when I get a new email), and the house phone in case someone called. So I'm in the kitchen looking for the house phone and realize it's in our bedroom, so I walk down the hallway and see the laundry sitting there, and figure I could start a load real fast. Then I head back to the kitchen in order to proceed outside. Then I remember that I needed the phone, and where the heck had I put it after I'd gotten it out of the bedroom....oh yeah, I never made it to the bedroom. So, I go back to our bedroom and get the phone, but oh, while I'm in there, I might as well check my email...and I had a work email I needed to deal with, so I sit down and do that. 2 minutes later I'm walking back to the kitchen to proceed outside. Where is the dang phone??? Right, sitting on my desk in my bedroom where I had moved it from the bed. Back I go, to the bedroom, but by this time I was quite focused and slightly annoyed that I'm so easily distracted.

Drum roll please.......

My husband, my dear husband, who actually made fun of me when I told him I had started a blog...my dear husband who has snubbed his nose at sites like Face*book for quite some time now...this same dear husband who just signed up for Face*book, and yesterday STARTED A BLOG.

Yes, it's true. Although I must say, I had to help him with the blog, so if you like it, thank you :) If you don't like it...he did it. Don't go rushing over there just yet, as he hasn't actually written anything. The "testing" was my doing in order to get a new template up and running. He wanted a little help getting it going since he says I'm the more "technical" one, despite him being in I.T. (Side note, yesterday I also had to program our new car's built in garage door opener after he had tried several times, because I seem to be better at things like that). I think he mentioned that his first post would be about his new quest to spreadsheet all the books he's ever read...including how many pages. Yep. Hold on to your pantaloons it's going to be a fun ride!!

I love you honey! :)

He hasn't signed yet.....

If I had a dollar for every time my dear husband said he was going to "cut back" or "cut out" or otherwise reduce the consumption of a whole gamut of unhealthy foods, or increase the consumption of healthier foods, I'd be rich. No seriously. So I decided to make him sign a contract.....

Vows to Health

I, _____, do solemnly swear to pay my beautiful beloved wife one dollar every time I say that I am going to eat better and/or am going to “cut out” any unhealthy food out of my diet. I also agree to pay said amazing wife seven dollars for every week where I do not workout at least 2x per week, and when my food intake is less than 80% healthy, and/or includes more than 2 of the items I vowed to “cut out”. All proceeds from this contract will be kept in a secret location, and will only be returned in the event that I obtain a six-pack as verbally agreed upon on the ___ day of ______, 20__. I agree that my wonderful wife will keep all proceeds for a duration of no longer than 6 months, at which time they are non-refundable, and may be spent at the discretion of my thoughtful wife. If at any time a payment is not made, my caring wife will be allowed to confiscate any “man toys” that she deems fit.
I fully understand that my loving wife is doing this in the best interest of her wonderful, but mostly unhealthy husband, because she hopes he sticks around long into our golden years. At no time will I complain or whine about the rules and/or definitions given with said contract. This contract, once signed, never expires, is non-negotiable, and non-transferable. Signing of this contract does not imply that I can pay myself seven dollars per week if the rules are followed, as the reward of a six-pack (and increased health and fitness that comes along with such a physique) is exponentially more than any monetary value can produce.

Important definitions:
Workout: A period of time, no shorter than 30 minutes, of intentional increased activity, including body weight exercises and/or cardio. Walking, mowing the lawn, weeding, hunting, playing paintball, and sex are NOT considered a workout.
Healthy: A healthy diet will not include daily iced kickers, regular soda, cookies, candy, Ritz crackers, pizza, anything fried (including chips), and no fast food.
Six-pack: this shall not, under any circumstances, be associated with strapping beer cans to one’s stomach and/or airbrushing with tanning products.

Signed ___________________________
Date____________

Witness ___________________________
Date____________

**© by Kristen :)
Hubby says he's having his "lawyers" look this over before he signs.

A conversation my kids just had

Maree (age 4) talking to her brother: I'm half beautiful and half sassy!

Aaron (age 6) : Well, mom is whole beautiful.


I don't know where Maree gets it, but she just cracks me up! Aaron, God bless him, I just love that boy!!

Seriously??

I'm speechless.

"The Shack"

All I can say about the book "The Shack" is that it is a MUST READ. As in, get in your car, drive down to your local book store, and buy it immediately, do not delay!! I have never been so enthralled and uplifted by a book, ever. It is a book I want to read over and over, and I NEVER read books more than once. My advice though, is to NOT read the back of the book before reading it. I never read the back of books, but I would have been particularly disappointed if I had read the back of this one prior to reading it...it just gave too much away in my opinion. But, you know, do what you want :)....just read it!! It's not a huge book, and will only take 5-6 hours to read. What are you waiting for, get in your car...seriously...quit reading blogs....gooooooooooo!!!!!

Storytelling a la Maree

On the way to our big "fishing" trip, Maree told us MANY stories!! Not enough emphasis can be placed on MANY, since we were in the car for about 1.5 hours. Here is one I captured on video. I couldn't edit it, as my editing program kept crashing...the funniest part is at the end in my opinion.



Who knew Jesus had big teeth.