$1.84 is all it takes!

I replenished my playdoh supply yesterday on a whim...we rarely do playdoh anymore. I bet I could count on one hand how many times we've played with the stuff in the last five years (what a lame mom I am!). But for $1.84 for a four pack, I figured, "why not?"

I had complete bliss in my house for about 4 hours yesterday....complete bliss! Here is some of what Lauren and two of her friends created:

Now I originally made the purchase for Ethan and his little friend, and they definitely got some use out of it, but Lauren took over after Ethan got bored and went crazy. She is very creative and artistic and this is just another example of that.

So...$1.84 is all it takes! Someone please remind me of this later when the kids are driving me completely crazy!

Memorial Day Weekend

The "unofficial-official" start of summer is upon us. That three-day weekend that signals that the end of school is near. The hint that the times of sleeping in, yummy watermelon, swimming, eating popsicles, and Lagoon are fast approaching. I can't believe how fast it got here!

Our weekend was pretty uneventful. Ryan and I are trying to get ready for Trek in just a few short weeks, so we headed up the mountain again to Adams Canyon on Friday night. I'm trying to break in my new hiking boots really good before Trek. It was a lovely evening and several campfires were blazing up there. I absolutely love the smell of campfires! With all the calories we burned heading up the mountain, I insisted that we replenish them with a hot molten chocolate fudge cake from Applebees afterwards....delicious!!

Saturday, we did some house and yard work, went shopping for pioneer clothes (we were unsuccessful--we are going to be scantily clad pioneer folk unless we get a move on), and then went to the Ward temple night. It is a tradition to always stop at Farr's Ice Cream after a ward temple outing. I enjoyed a scoop of Moose Tracks on a sugar cone....again, delicious!!

Sunday was a lazy day. Those are few and far between around here. We are usually going to parents' houses or hosting a dinner at ours. Today, we just stayed home, had a yummy dinner of Chicken Cordon Bleu, and played "Trouble" with the kids. No delicious dessert, though!

Monday, we threatened the kids within an inch of their season passes that if they didn't get their chores done, there would be no Lagoon this year. I was half-way hoping they wouldn't complete their tasks. Passes are so expensive, but on the other hand, we have so much fun going as a family, and a lot of our friends and family have passes, too. So, with a clean house on my thoughts, we packed up and headed over to the fun spot. It wasn't too crowded for a Memorial Day, but we didn't get much accomplished in the rides department. "Wicked" closed while we were waiting in line, so we moved on. Then the train shut down while waiting for that one. Hmmmm....shaky beginning to the season, but that's OK, we only went for a few hours and got to go on the Tilt-a-Whirl, so it's all good.

We hurried home for a BBQ at our house. I love having everyone over. We grilled and had yummy salads and fresh fruit. My dad and Denise went out and played catch and Braiden had to join in. How cute! It brought back memories of when I was that age playing catch with him.

And here is a cute picture of Aunt Karol and my grandma. My grandma was never without her camera at family functions like this for as long as I can remember, taking pictures non-stop despite our protests. Since her stroke, she doesn't take pictures anymore. As I was snapping this picture, she expressed her frustration at being photographed while eating. I told her I was simply taking over her role...turn about is fair play, Grandma!!

And, to continue the theme of the weekend, we ended with my favorite summertime dessert. That ultimate symbol of summer...Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler. It was (do I have to say it?).....very delicious!!

It's finally here!

They say that your favorite season is usually the one in which your birthday falls in. This completely applies to me. I'm so excited for Spring. I love all of the seasons, but the one where I know that winter's grasp is finally weakening is the best. I love the snow until New Years, and then, enough already! Now is the time that I get so anxious to be outside and make my corner of the world beautiful. But this Spring, I've let my yard go quite a bit. My arm is still gimpy, so I just watch the weeds grow from my house. But I was determined to at least get my front yard in decent shape, and my back garden area ready for planting...that is all I can hope for this year. So, after a long day of primping my yard, I snapped some photos.

As you can see, we live next to a weed field...this makes weed control nearly impossible. Oh well, what can you do? Anyway, there are a few pheasants who live there. I've affectionately named this one Phil. He's not afraid of any of us. He just squawks sometimes and struts around. Ryan loves it when he comes out of the brush to visit us.

This is the beautiful flower pot my Sweetheart got me for Mother's Day. I love the colors!

This is a part of the garden...we don't have a traditional garden plot, we just plant our veggies in the back flower bed. We love tomatoes...Roma, Celebrity, Early Girl and Cherry. A couple of jalapenos, and red chili and green peppers round out this section. Not shown are pumpkins, zucchini, peas, carrots, squash and corn.

This is a small herb garden I planted. My oregano came back from last year, and I added basil and cilantro. I love using fresh herbs, but have a hard time keeping an herb garden alive. Am I the only one? I hope this one lasts!

Just a quick shot of the front flower bed. The picture doesn't do it justice. The middle Spirea bushes are a limey yellow and I love the way they contrast with the deep red bushes. I also love my Salvia and Day Lilies.

Last shot...my strawberries, lilacs and roses. My lilac bush is still small, but when it blossoms, it is heaven on earth. Our strawberries are out of control, but we like it that way. Can't wait for June when they are ripe! Happy Spring!

A Few Things About Me

I started this blog as a type of journal. It helps me to get my thoughts in order and on "paper" so to speak. In the past, I have rarely written down anything about me. I'm just not very good at that. But I'm trying to do better. So this post is about me....today. I was going through my e-mails, trying to clean up my inbox, and came across this list that was going around last summer. I had filled it out and sent it on. When I wrote it, I had fun reflecting on things about me, and I also enjoyed reading what my friends and family wrote for their lists. So, today I decided to take the list, tweak a few things based on the present, and post it here. So, if you care, this is a quick snapshot of me...today:

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:00 am
2. Diamonds or pearls? DIAMONDS!!
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Star Trek...it was pretty good
4. What is your favorite TV show? I'm a closet American Idol fan. I also love anything on Food Network (I really like the cake decorating competitions)
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Usually Cereal (whatever kind the kids have left for me in the pantry)
6. What is your middle name? Don't have one
7. What food do you dislike? Cooked carrots
8. What is your favorite CD at moment? I love my Ipod's "Radio Mix" playlist right now: Matchbox Twenty, Jason Mraz, Depeche Mode, The Fray, Coldplay, Maroon 5, Daughtry, etc.
9. What kind of car do you drive? a blue Ford Expedition
10. Favorite sandwich? Warm Turkey with Avocado & Swiss or Provolone cheese -- Yum!!
11. What characteristic do you despise? Obnoxiousness (unfortunately, I'm afraid I suffer from this characteristic)
12. Favorite item of clothing? My yoga pants and a t-shirt (at least that's what I wear a lot)
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Europe (mainly Italy)
14. Favorite brand of clothing? I have recently discovered that I like New York and Company stuff, but I LOVE anything Ann Taylor
15. Where would you retire to? Close to my kids
16. Your most recent memorable birthday? They are all memorable since I share them with my twin sister, Denise and my mom! We have a ball!
17. Favorite sport to watch? Jazz basketball
18. Furthest place your friends are? Wisconsin or Ohio (they are both too far away)
19. When is your birthday? May 18
20. Morning or a night person? Night. I really hate mornings
21. What is your shoe size? 71/2 to 8
22. Pets? Never (If we get a pet, Ryan will leave)
23. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? I'm going back to school! Probably going into Nursing, but we will see.
24. What did you want to be when you were little? a teacher
25. How do you feel today? Optimistic that my arm will get better, and glad the weather is going to be beautiful!
26. What is your favorite flower? Geraniums or hydrangeas
27. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? August 21st -- I get to spend the weekend with just Ryan for our anniversary
28. What are you listening to right now? Lauren playing the piano...she's getting pretty good.
29. What was the last thing you ate? Breakfast
30. Do you wish on stars? Sometimes
31. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Purple
32. How is the weather right now? Very nice
33. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My sweetie, Ryan
34. Favorite soft drink? I mix my drinks now....mostly Diet Coke with a little bit of Cherry Coke on the top (needs a little bit of sugar!)
35. Favorite food? Probably crab, but I love anything Italian and Bajio's shrimp tacos!!!
36. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbies (though Denise and I would never get to actually play with them. We would spent so much time getting them dressed and setting up the barbie house that it was always time to clean up when we would start playing)
37. Summer or winter? Spring!!
38. Hugs or making out? Both! (Though Ryan would question that answer!)
39. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate, chocolate and chocolate
40. Coffee or tea? Neither, but I am at least a 2 packet girl with my hot chocolate (refer to #39)
41. When was the last time you cried? Sounds corny, but it was last week, while reading the Conference talks
42. What did you do last night? Went to Braiden's T-Ball game and watched the American Idol finale
43. What are you afraid of? Losing someone I love
44. Salty or sweet? Sweet, sweet, and sweet (#34, #40, and again, #39)
45. How many keys on your key ring? 4 keys, 4 tags, and a cute Winnie the Pooh key chain in the shape of a "J"
46. How many years at your current job? 12 years being a mom (WOW!!)
47. Favorite day of the week: Friday night (DATE NIGHT!)
48. How many towns have you lived in? 9
49. Do you make friends easily? I hope so
50. Favorite outdoor activity? Hiking

So! That's me in a nutshell! Feel free to post your own list in the comments section. I would love to get your version of the list!

Getting Older

My Mom, my twin, and I celebrated another birthday. Yep, three birthdays to enjoy! Denise and I were born on Janis' birthday, so it's always one big party! I have to say, blogging is great....it gets me to reflect on things. It also gets me to take more pictures, even of myself. I think this is the first birthday picture I have of me for at least a decade. I always have tons of everyone else's for their birthday, but not mine. I'm glad I'm becoming more aware of these things!

The day was pretty normal. It was a Monday after all. Mondays and I don't seem to always get along. There was plenty of laundry to do, breakfast to clean up, and kids to get off to school. But I did manage to get down to Salt Lake for lunch with my Sweetie. He is absolutely swamped at work and I worried that I was prohibiting him from his deadlines, but he insisted. It was a nice, quiet lunch. Uneventful and wonderful....I love just being with him.

Then the chaos continued. Off to Costco to replace the iron that broke over the weekend, then home to get the little Ballerinas off to Ballet. Then a quick trip to the grocery store and back to pick up the Ballerinas. Denise was a saint and picked Braiden up for his T-Ball game for me, or he would have been late. Made it to the game and then went and washed all of the bugs off the car from the recent trip to Erda. Then the whole family went to Olive Garden. Grandma Joyce, Doug and Karol, Bob and Kathy, Ryan and Josalyn, Jason, Kaylee, Denise, and my parents were there. It was crazy, but good.

Finished off with a cake and ice cream party at Mom's house. We actually had it in the back yard! The thermometer topped 90 degrees today! The warmest birthday I can remember. It was so nice to celebrate outside. I secretly watched the kids playing on the trampoline for a minute. They were so cute, playing a "dead man" game. Then Uncle Jason came over and started playing with them. He is such a cute uncle! I love how great he is with my kids. My heart took a picture of that moment.

Came home and put kids to bed, but not before Ethan got a tummy ache and threw up. Oh well, just another day in paradise, right? Definitely paradise.

Cooking Class

For my Mother's Day gift, I headed down to the Gateway for a cooking class. Geneal, Tenille, and I learned how to make Bobby Flay's "Burgers, Fries, and Milkshakes" from his new cookbook. I was really looking forward to this class! I love to cook and am always excited about learning new things. It was really fun to go with Geneal and Tenille! They are a blast to be around. I'm not a huge gourmet burger fan, but went with high hopes and enthusiasm. I figured that whatever Bobby Flay made had to be good!


We started by dividing up the kitchen tasks. Mine was to make the spice rub, and in my over-zealous way, I didn't read the recipe right and doubled the amount of cayenne pepper! Oops! I corrected the situation, though and they turned out spicy, but good. Being in the kitchen was so fun! We got to use all of Sur La Table's great kitchen toys! And the best part is...no clean-up! We made two kinds of burgers, both tiny, but delicious! We also made some yummy homemade fries. Here is the finished product.


The Dallas Burger, the one on the right, had my spice rub on it and topped with coleslaw. I actually HATE coleslaw, but I knew I needed to try it....I LOVED IT! It was SO good!

We finished off the night making delicious milkshakes. We made our own chocolate syrup and created a double chocolate milkshake with marshmallow whipped cream. YUM!! Then, we toasted marshmallows over the flame of the stove and made a toasted marshmallow milkshake! It was divine! One of the best Mother's Day presents ever!

Mother's Day

Well, another Mother's Day has come and gone. It never ceases to amaze me how fast time continues to fly by. I always plan my yard work and gardening around Mother's day (got to get the gardens ready to plant by then) and it sneaks up on me faster and faster every year. I never seem to be ready for it anymore.

I just want to take the time to express my love for my three Moms today. I have occasionally made the mistake of thinking that three moms is a little much, but usually I realize how blessed I am to have these women in my life. They are the reason I am who I am. I am continually amazed at how much they have sacrificed for me and loved me all of my life. Being a mom now, I understand that a little better, but I don't know if I have fully grasped the scope of their influence and love.

I grew up with my Dad and Step-mom and visited my birth mom a lot. I don't remember my parents splitting, I was too young. So living with Janis and my dad is all I have known. She became my mom in every sense of the word. I remember little things about her, like letting Denise and I do her hair with all of her curlers, barrettes, and combs. What patience! I remember her singing silly songs to us, and reading us books at night. She bought us play sewing machines and we would spend hours in our kitchen sewing together. She was always there, watching out for me and worrying about me during the crazy teenage years...I didn't always like her, but I respected and loved her. Looking back on these memories brings emotions to the surface...she is such a great lady! I wonder what is was like for her coming into the situation she did: divorced man with two little girls and a lot of baggage. Why would she put herself through that? She sacrificed so much and went through a lot so that I could have a mom. She took such good care of me and never gave up on me. I have never thanked her enough, nor can words express how grateful I am to her. It is wonderful to know that I am now sealed to her and my dad forever! She is my mom, and always will be!

Nancy is also an example to me. She has always been my friend. She is someone I can laugh with. We are a lot alike...I definitely inherited her looks and personality. Growing up, it was always fun to go to her house on the weekends. I knew it meant eating chocolate licorice, getting to sleep in her bed, making and eating cookie dough, and sometimes going to Manilla to see Grandpa. She deeply cares about me and is very proud of her two daughters. I am so grateful for all that she has done for me in my life!

Geneal is my third mom. I have called her Mom ever since I got married. She is a wonderful woman! I couldn't ask for a better mother-in-law! I remember once, just a few weeks after my wedding, I pulled her aside and asked her a question about something. She got the biggest smile on her face and gave me a huge hug. It was her way of saying that I was her daughter and that I could ask her anything, anytime. I still do. I will call her when I am having a hard time, and she somehow knows when to call me to see how I'm doing. I am also so impressed at the way she raised her son. He is such a wonderful husband, and I know that a huge reason for that is because of his parents.

I can't believe how blessed I am! I now have four little joys of my own. I said in an earlier post that all I have ever wanted to be is a mother. I remember growing up how excited I would get thinking about all of the fun things I would do when I was a mom. Taking care of babies, going to the park, singing all the silly songs my mom used to sing. It didn't take long after we were married to want to start our family. I was ready! Looking back, I wonder why I was so anxious at such a young age, but I knew that this was my path and was excited to begin. I had Katie just before I turned 21! Wow!! That's a little crazy, but I was so at peace with it. Mom and Dad were living in Denver at the time, and Nancy was in California. I was worried about being a mom without my moms there. Would I know how to be a good one? But Geneal and my Aunt Kathy were there, and I really seemed to ease into my new role that I knew was my calling in life.

I haven't looked back, this is where I need to be and most days, I love it. But I'm not going to lie--it is so much harder than I imagined it to be. Taking care of babies, going to the park, and singing are great, but there are a lot of exhausting and hard times too. Sometimes I wonder if I am going to make it, and somehow I do. I'm going to be completely honest and say that Mother's Day is never my favorite day. I don't know what it is, but it is the day when the kids seem to act the worst and I feel like a failure. Is it because I feel like I don't measure up to this huge calling and I perceive my kids acting up? Are my expectations too high? Is there too much hype? Whatever the reason, I always come away feeling like I need to be and do so much more. So, I have some new goals for my job as mother for this coming year:

-- I want to listen to my children better. I have 3 million things going on in my brain at any given time, and I have a hard time focusing in on only my kids in that moment. I'm always worrying about the next thing. I need to do better at stopping the thought process, and really listening to them. When Lauren and I were running in our 5K, we really talked. Not just about what needs to get done later or school work, but about life. We were giggling along the race route. I need to have more moments like that with my kids. I try to take each one of them out to lunch once a month. Just me and them. That is where I find out what's really going on in their lives, but I need to focus on them more every day. I used to be better at this, but life just gets crazier and crazier. I need to slow down.

-- I want to be a fun mom. With life getting crazier, I feel more burdened with things. Having a bum arm, running a house, finances, callings, etc. takes a toll. I need to take the time to just be with my kids and have fun. I am looking forward to summer when we will have more time to do the fun things. I need to get my arm feeling better and just chill about all of the other "stuff" that tries to get in the way.

-- I want to document their lives better. Starting this blog has helped me to put some of my feelings and memories into words. I find myself taking pictures a lot more now. I can also write about those pictures almost immediately while the memory is fresh in my mind instead of waiting until I finally get around to scrapbooking the event years later. I feel bad I have forgotten so much of the little things. I hope to remedy this problem from here on out. I want their childhoods to be captured and preserved.

I hope I can improve in these areas. But anyway, back to the present (part of preserving the memories thing). So here's how Mother's Day weekend went down for us. Saturday, we took Geneal out to breakfast. We went to MacCools and they had a shuffle board. The kids had a great time playing while we waited for our food (which was good, by the way).

Then we were off to Braiden's soccer game. It was a beautiful day for a soccer game! We were playing Kaden Bodily's team. Kaden and Braiden are glued at the hip. I love this kid and hope they will always be friends. Kaden's team beat the pants off of Braiden's team (it's a good thing we don't keep score at this age!), but we had a fun time. My parents and Geneal came too.

Then we went to Maddox to celebrate Mother's Day with my family. Dad was so cute about it. He pulled me aside last week and asked me to make reservations for us so we could take Mom out to a nice dinner. We love Maddox, and hadn't been there as a family for quite a long time.

Dad was being silly, as usual, and wanted a picture with the huge buffalo that was hanging over our heads while we ate.

Then, on Sunday, we went over to Mom and Dad's house for dinner. It was nice. I got this neat picture of my wonderful grandma, mom and daughters. What would I do without these wonderful women in my life? I love you all!! Thanks for being great moms and daughters!

Little Miracles

A couple of weeks ago, someone stole almost $300 from my purse. The whole family was out and about waiting to go to dinner for Ryan and Katie's birthday. We decided to kill some time by going to RC Willey and look around. After overstaying our welcome, we packed the kids in the car and headed for the Spaghetti Factory. After about 15 minutes in the car, I realized that I didn't have my purse. We had used one of the rickety old strollers that RC Willey provides to restrain Ethan from jumping on every couch and bed in the place. At one point, Ryan took over stroller duty and when we left, didn't realize my purse was hanging off of the stroller. I hadn't had it on my shoulder for a while, so I didn't think about it either. The drive back to the store was very nerve racking. I had gotten out some cash the day before to live on for the next little while and worried about it being there when I got back.

As I ran into the store, the greeter said that they had had a purse turned in just a few minutes before. I went to the customer service counter, and what do you know? My purse was there. I was so relieved....until I looked in my wallet. All of my cash was gone! I felt sick! After discussing the problem with management, they concluded that an employee had found the purse and turned it in. I argued that the employee must have taken my money. The manager informed me there was no way to prove that because the purse wasn't always on their surveillance cameras. A customer could have easily taken the money out of my wallet before the employee found it. Yeah, right. I left feeling frustrated, discouraged, and violated.

I tried to enjoy the birthday festivities, but worried about fraud, making it to the end of the month on $300 less than expected, and the person who took my money...But I realized how blessed I was and that in the grand scheme of things, it's only money, and money doesn't matter. I knew we would somehow make it finacially, we could fix any fraud issues, and was glad that I have at least a little bit of integrity.

But there is an interesting twist to this story....When we came home that night, we stopped by our mailbox and found the most interesting letter. It was from the company who manages my student loan debt. The letter informed me that because I had been such a great customer and had managed my account so well, they were forgiving the remaining balance on the loan...almost $600!! I couldn't believe it. Someone was forgiving my debt?!!? Who DOES that in this day and age??!!? I was elated!

I received the official letter in the mail today stating that my account has been paid in full!! It brought back the sweet memory. It might seem like a strange and coincidental thing that these two events happened on the same day, but I don't think so. I think I was blessed for paying my tithing and fast offerings, being responsible with my money, and not freaking out too much over the theft. Call it what you want, but I consider it a miracle.

Things Moms Always Make You Say

When I picked Ethan up from his Sunbeam class after church the other day, I asked him, "What do you say to Brother and Sister Snow for teaching you today?" He immediately dropped his shoulders, tilted his head way back so he could see his teacher's face, and said, "Saawrry!" We all laughed and I said, "No, the OTHER thing I always make you say..." He giggled and said "Thank you" as we were walking down the hall.

I'm feeling Wicked!

We went to see the musical "Wicked" on Wednesday night. Ryan and I have seen it twice before (on Broadway and in Chicago). We absolutely love it, so we really wanted our girls to see it when it made it's first run in Salt Lake. They have loved the music for as long as I have. In fact, for Halloween of 2004, Katie was Elphaba (the Witch of the West) and Lauren was Glinda. The girls loved it! It was so fun to take them. I just hope they appreciated it! My brother, two of my sisters, and my mom also went with us. We had a great time.

The funnest person to take was my mom. She was so excited to be able of figure out the "real" story of the Wizard of Oz. Her eyes were lit up with enthusiasm. She had heard the music before, but it was fun to see her put it all together in her mind. She was very cute!

What is also cute is the fact that Ryan was the first one to discover this fun musical. I remember back in 2004, Ryan came home from work talking about a new musical he had heard of that was coming to New York called Wicked. He said he thought it would be fun if we could go. Wicked? It sounded so naughty. New York? Are you kidding? Honey, we live in Utah...and how would we pay for a trip like that? So he didn't say too much more about it.

But he surprised me for our ninth anniversary with a weekend trip to the Big Apple. Well, sort of surprised me. It seems I always find out about my surprises...much to my dismay (I actually like to be surprised). My cute neighbor was supposed to be watching my mailbox because the Wicked tickets were coming in the mail (Ryan couldn't get them to ship the tickets to his office). She failed and I found them. When he came home from work, I asked him about the tickets. I still was not very enthusiastic about going to something called "Wicked" anyway, but had no idea that it was for a BROADWAY show. I guess I just thought that it was coming here. He explained that we were going to drive the kids down to St. George and have Grandma watch the kids and fly to NY from Vegas....WHAT!!???!! We are going to NEW YORK!!??!?!? I was floored! Ryan then felt bad that he had let the rest of the surprise out of the bag. Oh well, just par for the course. What a sweetie!

We listened to the music for the first time on our way down to St. George, and I loved it!! Everything about New York was great, but Wicked was the best! We got to see it with most of the original cast, including Idina Menzel as Elphaba...WHOA!!! Good times. Ever since then, rarely a month goes by that I don't listen to the music on my Ipod. I can't say that for most music...I have different musical moods, but I'm always up for a little "Wicked". I love the fact that my sweetheart husband first discovered this fun musical!!