Tagging

*sigh* I was going to post a long rant about tagging, which seems to have started out like that cute little plant you got at the nursery last fall. You put it into your garden, hoping it would survive, and it turned into the ground cover from *#() and strangled all the other plants. Because so many of my friends have tagged me, I am now posting, once, 6 things about myself you may not know. Once. Never again :)

1. I have struggled with depression since elementary school.

2. I cry when I see cheesy movies, or cheesy commercials, or hear a cheesy song. Yet my favorite line from a movie right now is, "For so many reasons, ... No." * [anybody recognize this? I'll put the answer at the bottom of this post.]

3. I am the oldest child in my family. I am also the shortest. Well, Alyson is still shorter than I am, but she's only 9. And considering her head is already at my shoulders, I feel safe in saying that she, too, will become taller than me in just a few short years.

4. I hate being bad at anything; even things I think are stupid.

5. I love my children all the time. I like being around them a lot more as they grow out of the milk bottles and poopy diaper stage.

6. I married my husband for his sense of humor. And his cute butt ;)

Now, just to be different, I am not tagging anybody. So there.



* Templeton, the rat, in the movie "Charlotte's Web."

The other day...

on the way home from the gym, I was [as usual] only sort of listening to Hyrum. He likes to talk, and he talks a *lot*- just like Morgen ;P- Anyway, he was telling me all about his imaginary friends. [see? I was listening!] And he commented, very seriously,


"Yeah, it's a pretty good thing I have so many superhero friends. It's hard to save the day all by myself."







[I totally spit on my windshield when he said that ;) thank goodness water wipes off LOL]





Tonight at dinner, he announced, "I'm sure glad I didn't have to save the day today."

**just in case you were wondering, wearing a cape is not necessary on 'save the day' missions. Optional, and nice, but not necessary. Especially if you're in disguise.**


Now a random observation: a few years ago, Jared and I were in the car, waiting at an intersection, and we witnessed a circus trick: a woman who could drive an SUV, smoke, and talk on a cell phone ALL AT THE SAME TIME! For some reason, we both thought it was crazy funny and busted up laughing. But I figured it was a girl thing, to be talking, smoking and driving all at once.
Nope- yesterday, I was sitting at an intersection by myself, and watched a man make a left-hand turn into the lane next to my car. He was driving an SUV, pulling a trailer [with a mattress, box springs, washer, and dryer on it], talking on his cellphone, AND he was smoking. I'm calling Barnum and Bailey.

And they're off

Or, at least, gone. We sold the last puppy on Saturday. I'm relieved that he's going to a home where they'll take good care of him and make sure he hunts a lot. It was a lot of hard work to have 7 puppies, but they played together, and slept together, and it seems a bit lonely now without them.
And, in other news, Jared and I [on his 'day off'] got to attend the Veteran's Day Concert, held in the Jon M Huntsman Center on the University of Utah Campus. Jared was required to attend, part of his military job. But, it was a pretty good concert, and certainly an enjoyable one! And, in a weird sort of coincidence, the local high school's choir [there were some other schools there as well] participated, along with the military band. I have no idea what the band is called, but the participants come from most of the branches of the military. And apparently they travel around and perform all over. Anyway, they rocked ;)

I can't wait

For some reason, I love snow. Well, I love it as long as I don't *have* to be in it. I don't want to be in the snow when I have a time limit, because I love to relax and take my time and enjoy the slushy soft sounds of shoveling the driveway. And when that's finished, I get to come inside and make myself a nice cup of hot cocoa. Mmmm!


Today's list of favorites:
**hot cocoa
**fast, working internet
**the Container Store
**Ibuprofin [as a painkiller, it rocks!]
**telephones [since my husband is gone so much, it comes in handy]
**music
**cookies
**eating Halloween candy

and a good evening to you all ;)

Ack!!!

So, I submitted a LO to an online challenge, and *I won something*!!!!! I am still in shock- I went back and looked at all the other LOs, and I really cannot believe that I won!!! [and there are way too many exclamation points in this blog now]
*big grin and sore feet from jumping up and down*
:)

Belated Halloween photos

Well, I finished sewing costumes about 5 minutes before trick-or-treat time in our neighborhood. Then I sent them out w/Jared [Myles and I stayed home to pass out candy], and completely forgot to take pictures LOL. So today I sat them down, made them get their costumes back on, and snapped a few photos. Morgen is the red dragon, Hyrum is Peter Pan, Myles was a Lost Boy, and Walker was the crocodile from Peter Pan. He tried to talk Morgen into being Wendy, or Tiger Lily, or something else from that movie, but she wouldn't budge.
And, as you can see, the whole 'stay in one place for pictures' thing did not appeal to Myles. Being a Lost Boy, he felt, meant he needed to leave the other children and strike out on his own :) They made it home with full pumpkins, and collapsed into bed in sugar comas about an hour later. *sigh* It's good to be a kid!

In other news, Jared left today for Las Vegas. He gets to play 'evil genius scientist' down there again. And, we sold another puppy- only one left now :(

Jack'o'lanterns

Walker's into creepy things this year, hence the spider pumpkin. He chose the pattern, poked holes to trace it onto the pumpkin, and cut out the body and the spinnerets, and the front legs. He wanted help with the back 6 legs- they're pretty close together- so I cut those for him. Then Jared got his super spotlight so I could get some pics with the lights out.
Morgen wanted something scary, and this was the best pattern I could find that was also something she could cut out herself. Jared helped with the face, but the rest was all Morgen.
And this one is Hyrum's. He wanted a vampire, and I found a vampire bat [there are fangs, you just can't see them through the glare of Jared's super spotlight]. He poked holes to set the pattern in the pumpkin all by himself, then Jared helped him carve it out.
This is Myles' pumpkin, well, really it's mine, since I carved it and chose the pattern for the face LOL. But each of the kids has a pumpkin, so this is Myles'.
And he was obviously a huge help :)
The older 3 kids all helped to scoop the guts out of their pumpkins, and they saved most of the seeds. We cleaned them off and they're soaking in saltwater right now. Tonight or tomorrow, we'll roast them in the oven, and they'll be ready to eat. Mmmm!

And just a fun website for those of you who like power tools and fire. :)Yep, I'll bet you money that at least one of my kids will be making pumpkins like that next year. My favorite is the puking pumpkin.

LO challenge

for 'Gettin Sketchy'

list of supplies:
paper: Basic Grey, CI
paint: Delta
rub-ons: DCWV
chipboard: Maya Road
pen: American Crafts black marker
font: Air Conditioner
stamps: Hero Arts Vintage Alphabet
ribbon, brads, adhesive

knees, please

We have entered the final stage of babyhood: toddling. Myles is officially walking around now. Okay, it's a bit more of a drunken stagger at this point. Still, he is moving his body from point A to point B mostly on his feet. *sigh* And every time he makes it to his goal [usually a place he can hold onto and regain his balance] he breaks out in a gigantic grin.

Hooray!!!

Today, Jared got up much too early for normal people and met Wayne, Mike, and Mack over by Kamas, to hunt deer. The other 3 spent the night in a tent out there, and there were 3 inches of snow on top of it this morning. But, much to our mutual surprise and excitement, Jared shot a deer! On his first day out [WTG, honey], and it was a nice fat one. So, he got home this afternoon, and hung it up in the tree in our front yard. Then he skinned it [great anatomy lesson for the neighborhood kids, as well as our own] and started carving it up. The bulk of the carcass is now hanging in our tool shed, aging. Apparently that improves the flavor of the meat. I'm thinking if he just leaves the deer hanging in the tree till Halloween, we'll have an awesomely creepy decoration *and* the meat will have a chance to really age. :)

Jared's dad was here for a few days so he could go to a funeral. He left today, but he took the three oldest out for about 2 hours to play and eat lunch. :)

While I was driving to Walmart today, a big black dog crossed the street in front of my car *in the crosswalk.* And he stayed in the crosswalk across the entire 4-lane road LOL.

I heard somebody banging on the keyboard today, and went in to see who it was.

We got hit with a snowstorm this afternoon- put down about an inch in an hour. Then it cleared up for a bit, and now it's hailing. I think we're going to have nice cold weather for trick-or-treating again this year :)

Oh, and Happy Birthday to Jared- he's 34!!