Mr. Postman

Today Mr. Postman brought me my first Christmas cards! (I got 2 today!) That means I better get busy and get mine finished! Dang, so much for trying to be finished by December 1st, oh well, what can you do! You are so lucky to get a little sneak preview at my picture shoot for the card!

By the way, the two I got were very cute! Thanks Carla and Kathy!

Have You Noticed?

Am I the only one, or have you noticed? The only good clementines are the "Cuties." I have tried other brands from the store and they aren't so good. This year I bought a bag of Sunkist "Smiles" thinking that Sunkist must be good. Nope, not as good as "Cuties." So this December I am renewing my vow to only buy the real "Cuties." Thank You!

First Snowstorm

This post is officially "old news" as soon as I post it, but...This was the first snow storm (about 2 weeks ago) we had with enough snow to stick! It was the good sticky snow that is perfect for a snowman. My kids could hardly stand it and had to go out side Sunday morning before church in their pajamas for a few minutes to check things out! C-man and dad made our first "6-ball" snowman that they were both quite proud of! I few times I thought I was going to have to go out and heft a few balls up on top, but they got it!

Hmmm..I remember when I was younger winter definitely wasn't this cold!
On a side note, I have no clue why my husband has shorts on?!

You Gotta Check This Out

I am just passing along an exciting message,

If you have a preschooler who will start kindergarten in 2012 (or after) you need to check out Utah Upstart. It is the free Utah online preschool. It is being tested and researched right now. You have to put your child on the waiting list about a year before they will be 4 or 5.

I put C-man on the list last July and they called this July to tell us we were on the short list and then we found out we were in. The program is really neat and is meant for the children to use independently on the computer. They will even loan you a computer for a year if you don't have one! You can use it while your child does another preschool, or in place of another preschool. Another thing that is nice is that once you are accepted, other kids at your house can also use the program.

The site is Utahupstart.org It is worth checking and signing up, then you can change your mind later if you want!

Kids Know this Stuff?

C-man is 5 going on 16 I think. He is always saying these things that we can't believe and usually we are trying not to laugh at. (Like every child I'm sure)

The other morning Baby Brother was brushing his teeth (this is his new obsession; any dentist would be proud) and playing in the water at the sink in the bathroom. I was partially encouraging him because it gave me an extra 5 minutes to get ready, but I was saying something about how he was going to use all of the water and the fish wouldn't have any more water in the ocean. I think I even mentioned Nemo and his dad.

C-man was in the other room and I didn't even think he was listening to us when he pops in to tell me, "That couldn't really happen mom, hello, it's called the water cycle!"

I guess I was wrong!

I Wanna Go Back!

We recently returned from a week sailing around the Western Caribbean! We were pampered and spoiled, and I liked it! I wanna go back!


Our home away from home



What we wanted our room to be like




Mayan ruins in Costa Maya, Mexico


Our little family group that went, plus our new found friend from the Philippines! Thanks to him, we got lots of extra prizes from the cruise ship like flashlights, t-shirts and all of those other goodies that are great souvenirs for the kiddos!


Surprise! I got to have my birthday on the ship! ..and this is what our room really looked like, much less glamorous than the other picture.

It Works for Us

Thanks to a smart neighbor we started a new conference weekend tradition. Each October Conference for the past few years, I have found a fun and somewhat easy way to rotate the food in our 72 hour kits.

1. Remember to buy the new supplies a few days before
2. While watching Conference, everybody gets to take out the old food from their backpack (and look at all the other cool stuff in there!)
3. Put it all in a big bowl and have special goodies to eat during conference
4. Everyone packs new food into their own backpack for next year!

So far it has been kinda fun and worked out pretty good for us, plus it is an easy way to remember to rotate food.
*Bonus, it is usually case lot sale time!*