A Prize for a Picker (not your nose)

I'm trying to come up with a catchy name for my new weight watchin', healthy livin' blog.

Now, if it were just my very own personal blog, I could be a little more loosey goosey--like chunkymonkey.blogspot.com, peppermintfatty.blogspot.com, or whataloser.blogspot.com.

But, since a few of you are joining me in my quest for health--I thought those choices may be a little offensive.

So, loyal readers (and joiners of my new blog) I thought I'd ask you for help in picking a name for my new blog. Any ideas? The winner will be rewarded handsomely (and by handsomely I mean a $5 gift card to Jamba Juice paltry? sure. but it's still a prize right?).

{PS If you still wanna join my healthy livin' blog -- and haven't had a chance
to leave a comment -- leave one now!}

Animal Planet: Up Close and Personal

Tonight Savvy was reading aloud to me a book about turtles.

I'll admit I wasn't listening too closely...until her voice changed. Suddenly, she started reading the book in a very angry voice.

Worried she must have sensed I wasn't listening, I asked, "Savvy, why are you reading in such a mad voice?"

"I'm not reading in a mad voice," she answered. "I'm reading in a serious voice like they do on animal planet when animals are in peril or tragedy."

She continued to read using her best animal planet voice, "Sadly, many turtles are being killed due to the insensitive nature of humans."

I-Tunes Shenanigans

Today Jordyn wanted to spend her I-Tunes gift card and needed my assistance with passwords, appropriate song choices and the like.

How it works in our household is Jay tells me what song she wants. If I haven't heard of the song, I google its lyrics to make sure it is not naughty. If appropriate, the downloading begins.

"Mom, check out the lyrics to Fiddledeedee," Jay said.

I started to google Fiddledeedee and she said, "No. Not fiddledeedee. Fiddle-idee."

I decided it would be easier to look it up by the artist, Regina Specktor.

Turns out the song title was actually "Fidelity".


{Obviously, Jay didn't make it into the finals of her spelling bee. (she gave me permission to make that joke by the way).}

During the song selection, Jay decided to download a couple of Taylor Swift videos. I told her she should download the video of "You Belong with Me".

"Mom, that video doesn't exist," she said.

"Yes, it does. I saw it! It is so cute," I said, and then proceeded to look it up on Youtube.

"Mom, where did you see the video?" she asked.

"I don't know. But, it was really cute. Taylor is dressed up like a nerd--with big nerdy glasses and a geeky outfit..." I said.

Jay interrupted, "And is there another twin Taylor dressed up all cute and sassy?"

"Yes! Did you see it too?" I asked.

"Yah mom--in the CD booklet there is that exact picture--it is NOT a video!" Jay replied.

She was right.

Apparently, the old adage is true--A picture is worth a thousand words.

Wanna be a Loser?

I am fed up with myself being so well-fed.

To combat my battle with the bulge, I've made a goal to change my eating habits and start exercising.

Sure, my New Year's Resolution is 26 days late...but it's the thought that counts, right?

So, I am officially starting up a weight-losing-get-healthy blog and I'm hoping some of you will want to join me in my healthy endeavor.

I know it will keep me more honest if I have to
be accountable to someone weekly.

So,whether you have 10 lbs to lose or a lot more...wontcha please humor me and join my new blog? Just leave a comment if you're interested and I'll let you know the
nitty gritty.

{Of course, my new blog will be private..I mean, even I have limits to the extent of the dirty laundry I'm willing to air.}

I Heart Good Friends

Last week, Savvy and Aussie made it into their school's spelling bee. They only take the top two kids from each class--so we were all pretty excited.

On the day of the class spell-off, Petal stopped by my house to drop something off--and she told me the sweetest story.

Apparently, when her son, Ike {who happens to be in Savvy's and Aussie's school class}, got home from school--he came in the house real excited like and said, "Mom! Guess who made it into the spelling bee!?!"

Petal, assuming it was Ike, said, "Oh! Good for you! I'm so proud of you!"

Ike said, "No, mom! Not me! Savvy and Aussie both made it! Isn't that so cool?"

*******************************************************************

Later that week, the twins participated in the school spelling bee. They competed against the 16 top spellers in the 3rd and 4th grades. Savvy took 2nd place--getting out on "cognitive" (she said tave instead of tive). Austin came in 5th getting out on a technicality--he said "h-i-s-t-o-r-i-c-l -- I mean a-l."

Again we were all pretty excited with their success.

But, the sweetest thing happened again!

After school, as I was carpooling the kids to swim team, one of our cute 3rd grade neighbors, Emily, flagged us down in the middle of the road.

We pulled over and she gave the twins two little brownies with a note attached that said, "You did great in the Spelling Bee. I hope you enjoy this snack. Love, Emily."

I truly heart good friends!

The Sunday Funnies

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago I am officially on the wrong side of 30. Being a good & kindly husband, El Jefe got me some fun gifts and a few gift cards--one being to Amazon.

The Amazon gift card was to come via email, and so throughout the day El Jefe asked me if I had received a birthday email from him yet. He wanted it to remain a surprise so he wouldn't tell me the where's or what's about it.

Savvy wanted to know what the gift card was for and so she asked, "Dad, what gift card did you get for mom?"

El Jefe replied, "Don't tell, but I got her a gift card to Amazon."

"You're sending mom to the Amazon!?!" she asked.

*******************************************************

A couple of weeks ago, Savvy's teacher introduced some vocabulary words for an upcoming science test.

"Who knows what an enzyme is?" Mrs. H asked.

Savvy raised her hand and answered, "A magazine?"

Aussie's Three B's: Ballet, Buttcracks, and Breakfast

This morning as the kids were getting eating breakfast, Aussie said to Savvy, "Wanna know what my favorite ballet is?"

Savvy automatically answered, "The Nutcracker?" {because that happens to be her favorite--and the only one she's seen}.

"Nope," he said. "My favorite ballet is

"The Buttcracker". It's the story about how we got our buttcracks."

{Isn't it disturbing nice to see what well-adjusted children El Jefe and I are raising?

The Sunday Funnies: Monday Miracle Edition

On Friday, Jordyn babysat for her old Beehive advisor. She was pretty excited because she has darling kids and it was the first time she had asked.

She had swim team that night so I dropped her off at her babysitting job on the way home.

After Jordyn gets the kids in bed, she likes to either do homework or read or something. So, I told her to call me after the kids were sleeping and I'd bring her something to do.

About 9 pm, she called and was ready for a book to read. I grabbed one and headed over. I told her to watch for me because I was too lazy to get out of the car--plus I was barefoot.

I pulled up and she came out. She grabbed the book and then said she thought she heard a weird beeping and ran back inside.

I had driven about a block away when she called.

She was frantic.

"Mom! Come back! The alarm is going off and I don't know what to do!" she yelled.

It was difficult to hear her because that alarm was LOUD!

"Call Cynthia!" I said.

"What?" she asked.

"Call Cynthia!" I yelled.

"Mom! She's in the middle of a movie. Just come here and turn it off!" she yelled.

"You HAVE to call Cynthia and get the code! I'll be there in a second."

We hung up, I flipped around in the middle of the road and headed back.

As I jumped out of the van, I could hear the alarm from the driveway. I ran barefoot to the door but it was locked.

I could hear Jordyn on the phone--she got the code and turned off the alarm. I ran back to my van and waited for her phone call.

She called and said all was well.

As for the miracle?

Her three kids slept

through it all!

American Idols

Yup. That's my cute nephew Franky and none other than David Archuletta.

{Click here if you'd like to read more about my sis-in-law, Ali's adventures with an Idol.}

Like Mother, Like Daughter

I guess I'm officially back from my unplanned

blogging break.

What can I say? Life has been crazy.

I told a friend the other day that between my family, my job, and my new calling that I only had time for one extra hobby...that hobby could be:
a) cleaning my house b) reading c) crafting d) hanging out with sister/mom/friends e) shopping or f) blogging.

Obviously it hasn't been blogging for the past week..but it has been a nice mix of the above.

So, I'm back at it..with a delightful little story about a kind-hearted yet sassy mother, her sweet and sassy daughter and their BIG shenanigan of the day.

Today, Jay got home from school and reminded me that she needed to take gingersnaps to a cultural night TONIGHT at 7 pm.

I didn't happen to have molasses on hand (which I hear is an important ingredient for said snaps). So I headed to the store.

Whilst I looking for molasses..I discovered a joyous thing. Did you know they sell a Gingerbread/cookie/cake mix?

Due to the fact that this was for the masses and most of them were sweaty Jr. high kids...I decided to bury my Martha instincts and purchased three boxes of the ginger cake mix.

There was a small window of time that would allow us to bake the cookies, let them cool, and then frost them. So, I raced home and the mixing began.

Looking quickly at the directions, I said, "Jay, add two eggs to the mixture and I'll melt the butter."

She did as she was told.

I added the butter.

She added the flour.

Then she began the mixing.

"Mom, this is really dry, was there supposed to be water in it or something?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah. Add the water," I said.

She added. And mixed.

"Mom, is it supposed to be this liquidy?" she asked.

At that point, we realized she had added the water amount needed for the cake rather than the cookies. 2 1/2 cups instead of 1/2 cup.

Since we had only mixed up two of the mixes we decided to add the third cake mix to try and thicken things up.

{I am pretty sure I was living an "I Love Lucy" rerun}.

And of course, the extra cake mix didn't help.

So, while we tried to clean up HER mess, I told Jay the importance of paying attention to recipes--especially when we were in a hurry. And how we didn't have time for such shenanigans. And how this food needed to be edible or nobody would partake, etc, etc.

Then Jay discovered, that even though she had added too much water to the cookie recipe...her MOTHER had put in eggs and flour unnecessarily.

It turned out that both of us had been following the cake mix directions all along.

Jay said, "We are a couple of knuckleheads."

Swallowing my pride, I said, "Yes, my dear. We are."

{To add to the shenanigans, since we didn't have 40 minutes to wait for a cake to bake--we improvised and made 24 gingerbread muffins, 9 mini-loaves of gingerbread, and an 8 inch round gingerbread cake (still unbaked). Then we drizzled a glaze over the top and Jay called them ginger-cookie-cake-muffins. }

The Sunday Funnies: Monday Edition

{What in the world?
I am still sick..and was so sick yesterday that I neglected to post a very funny little funny.}

Last week, at my mom's we were playing Scattergories.

One of the categories was "Movies" and the movie had to start with a B. We went around the circle with movies such as "Benchwarmers" and "Beaches" being shouted out.

Then it was Savvy's turn.

"What's your movie, Savvy?" I asked.

"Beeth Oven," she said.

"Beeth Oven?" I asked.

"You know the movie about the big, sloppy dog?" she replied.



"She means Beethoven," Jay said.

Tomayto. Tomahto.

Beeth Oven. Beethoven.

Live from the OC

I'm blogging from my ma's and pa's computer in the OC of UT. We decided to take a last minute trip down to my parents house on New Year's Day and are headed back today.

It has been so nice to kick back and relax after the busy holiday season. My mommy has been taking care of me in my sickened state--just like old times--probably times she would just as soon as forget--but what was she to do?

To combat my maladies she gave me the most disgusting cough drops known to mankind (Fisherman's Friend)--but they really do work! She's made sure that a diet coke hasn't left my hand since I walked in the door. And just last night she gave me the nastiest concoction of Theraflu I have ever tasted...but it too worked like a dream.

We've visited, played board games, lots of Guitar Hero (I am so addicted to that game it is like a drug!), watched great movies (whilst the men football it up on the other telly), and ate mucho fab appetizers and food.

Of course, what is a trip to the OC without a shenanigan or two?

Yesterday, at the insistence of my children, my dear ole dad pulled the kids around on a sled behind his four wheeler.

He does this in the pasture behind his house...which works great when there is a good amount of snow. But it becomes more of a mud fest if the snow has melted off a bit..which it had.

Oh, and did I mention that his horses and dogs hang out back here too?

Needless to say, I threw everyone's snow clothes into the washer yesterday because some of that mud did NOT smell like mud. The joys of country living.

Then last night, the power went off for an hour...during the biggest college bowl game of the year...The Sugar Bowl! All of our men were in the height of their glory watching the U beat the pants off of Alabama.

{Yes, we are BYU fans...but we are not so dyed in the wool blue that we won't cheer for a Mountain West big bowl game contender every now and then.}

El Jefe, my brother Ange, and my dad were forced to listen to the game on the radio in the van...and even made a drink run to Harts for some Big Chills.

During the power outage, the kids had the best time playing haunted hide and go seek in the basement..and I'm talking pitch black dark basement.

I'm much too big of a wimp to engage in such things...so mom and I played Rummikub by lantern light.

All in all its been a chillaxin and relaxin weekend..and we'll be headed back to real life this afternoon {and a house full of Christmas decor that still needs to be put away--yes..it is still up did you expect any less from me? It's times like this that I wish I were more like my sister--her Christmas came down on the 26th just like clockwork.}