HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY HOT MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know what a totally annoying post title, but it is so true!! Today June 30th is my sweeties 39th birthday! UUUGGG! When did we get so old?????
I am not going to name 39 things that I love about Chris. I am too tired and my brain is not capable of such a function right now but I LOVE THIS MAN!!! He is such a great husband and father. This is the man who has given me 2 girls trips this year so far!!! How lucky am I ? He is such a hands on dad. I for sure would have shut down the baby factory a LONG time ago if he wasnt.

We dont have anything too exciting planned for his bday. I was going to make him his annual dinner of Chicken Pot Pie with Puff Pastry Crust, but it will have to be postponed for one more day. We just found out that Bowen has an All-Star game tomorrow. I am going to make my very first German Chocolate Cake for him. I hope it turns out. I hope he has a great bday. I am sure he has a golf game plotted out already! :)

Happy Birthday Chris! I love you!!

I AM BACK FROM ARIZONA

It has taken me a few days to get back into the swing of things after my fun trip to Arizona. We had a blast even though I had to leave the comforts of my California weather to endure the Hotter then Hell Arizona temps!
It was a weekend of shopping and eating swimming (yes my big butt fianlly made its swimsuit debut!) Hideous, I may add, but at least I did it.

Here are some fun highlights of my trip:

Sleeping in until 10:30 almost every morning!

Eating some yummy food

Gorging ourselves on Paradise Bakeries GRUBALICIOUS Cheesecake brownies! The best ever.

Shopping till we drop! Holy cow did I do some major damage at the malls? I dont know what came over me, but lets just say I had to buy a carry on bag to haul some of my loot back home!

Spending time with my sisters and their cute kids.

I also got to meet Michelle and her beautiful daughter Sarah, Julie (aka crazymoma) Janie (aka Hot moma) at Pf Changs. We had the best time. They were so easy to talk to. I was SO nervous meeting them. My stomache was all knotted up and my hands were shaking. Weird, but that feeling didnt last very long. We even ended up closing the joint down. We are such the partiers!

I also scored some fabulous gifts from Julie and Janie. They were so sweet to bring us each a pair of cute earrings that Janie made! and some of my favorite Soap from Julie. Thanks girls!

Now I am back home to my sweet family and I am so lucky that my man let me go on 2 girls trip this year!!! I guess I will have to pay him back some how!!!!!!!! (wink wink)

Well I need to go and do the dishes. Cinderella is back!!!!

SUMMER FUN DAYS********************


Well here it is day 3 of summer vacation and I am happy to report we are all alive and I am still of sound mind :) We have actually had a great time so far. Dallin and Bowen have been gone since Saturday at different campouts. Even though I have missed them it has been kind of nice just spending time with the 4 younger ones.

Monday we went to our favorite summer spot----Chuck E Cheeses. I am sure all of you are gagging right now, but it is a great spot to cool off and hang out. Maybe you guys should give the Northern California Chucks a try, maybe ours is extra "special".. HEHE
We also headed to our neighborhood pool for family night and had the Fishers come along and chill with us. I have to say that it was mighty chilly that night to go for a swim, but the kids didnt seem to mind. They had a blast playing all sorts of games with Chris. My kids were asking me if I was going to go swimming with them and I was like H--E-L-L no! I wouldnt want to scar my children for life. I did buy a new swimsuit, but it is not going to be for public view that is for sure!!

Tuesday I took the kids to Walmart to pick up a few things and then we went to our friends the Gollmers house to swim. This is a favorite summer activity to do. Tiffany is always so nice to invite us to her house to swim. She has such a gorgeous backyard. We call it the "Gollmer Grotto." It was very relaxing minus the fact that I have an annoying 18 month old who is constantly trying to plunge in the pool. Very scary! Tuesday after Chris got home from work I went and had my nails done and I even had my nasty, dry feet prettyed up. Oh they were so gross and now they look fabulous!!!!! We also went to Costco. I loved the fact that I didnt have to cook dinner that night since we enjoyed a big greasy hot dog and pizza for dinner. Delish!! I dont know why I take Chris with me to Costco, my bill ALWAYS triples when we go together. They did have 72 hour kits there. They had a 4 person kit for only 83 bucks. I think that is a great bargain since I dont have to put it together myself. :)

Today I am just home with Hayden and Lawson. Jud and Landon are at scout day camp for most of the day. Very quiet around here. :)
Dallin should be home soon from his High Adventure trip. They hiked to the top of Half Dome at Yosemite yesterday!!!! 16 miles round trip! Way to go guys. You would have had to rescue me by helicopter about 1/4 of the way up!!!

I am also trying to get things organized for when I leave tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!! I am so excited get away for a couple of days. It will be nice to have a little break.

I am also excited to hook up with Michelle, Crazymoma and Hotmoma this weekend. Very fun. Well I am off to get me an In and out Burger. I love their Double Double protein style with a large Diet Coke! Could my day get any better????

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!


I just wanted to wish my wonderful dad a happy Fathers Day!!!
Thanks for being the best dad anyone could ask for. I hope you have a great day.

We love you!!!

Can you see it?????? Look again and you will see this storm-a-brewin over California .........................














Yep! The party is over this time tomorrow :) Tomorrow is the last day of school here. OOUY VEY!!! What am I going to do to entertain my 6 little munchkins?? I dont know. If the last 2 weeks have been a sample of what lies ahead, I am doomed! There has been quite a bit of bickering and alot of "Im bored" ALREADY........... Can believe it??? We will survive. I know that the first few days or so are the hardest usually. They are creatures of routine and when that is gone, they go bonkers.

One thing that will help me to survive this first week is knowing that they do have scout stuff and some have camping trips planned this first week. I also am OUT OF HERE next week for a girls getaway. Yes, again. I know, I am very lucky. My sister Julie is heading to AZ again to visit my other sister Laura. (I guess I am not good enough to come visit here). I am very excited. It will be fun. I havent been to Lauras house in 5 years. I am planning on even getting together with some blogging girls. Too fun. If anyone is in the Az area of Gilbert and around there let me know. Well I have a Pig stye of a house that is in major need of attention. My house has been neglected lately and it is really showing it. Have a great night and dont forget to pack an umbrella tomorrow, the storm will be BIG!!!

Where has the time gone??????? It was my little cabooses second day of Nursery yesterday. (sniff sniff). It is so sad and joyful at the same dang time. They made these cute little hats for all of the kids. He looks like Dumbo. I love it! Where did my baby go????
Pretty soon he will be sassing me and wreaking havock with my mental stability. LOL

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I dont know why the schools cram a whole boatload of activities the last 2 weeks of school, but they do. These past 2 weeks we have finished up the last of the baseball games-----Yeah!, attended team parties, had school musical programs x2 scurried around finishing final projects---nothing but Last Minute Larries around here. It has been crazy! I feel like I am on Speed! Oh well, nothing but fun and good times.

This past weekend we had a fun GLO Girls Lunch Out. Brooke (sidebar, but private) came into town with her cute family to visit. They moved to---where else but Utah last year. It was fun to see them. A bunch of girls all got together at PF Changs and had a great time. It was so fun to visit with her and Camille, who came into town from Reno just for the lunch!!! How about that? What devotion! :) Besides the service being sort of sucky, it was delish! I had to ask for my Diet Coke refills several times! NOT GOOD...

Friday night we all got together at the Sportspark and hung out with our families. It was a great night of visiting and LOTS OF GOODIES, which I proudly did not partake of. Even the yummy Chocolate Texas Sheetcake that Michelle H. brought. Shame on her for tempting me so!

Well that is about it. I feel like I have been on severe overload. I am sure I am not different then anyone else around. This is the last week of school and I am having such mixed emotions. There might be a dark storm cloud brewing over Northern California on Friday---:) Watch out..................

Oh and thanks for the kind advice and words regarding my "funk" . I am way better and I am sure it was just my nasty hormones wreaking havock. All better and done, at least for 30 more days! Yeah!!


Judson in his Famous American Musical program.






How could a mother not love a chocolate covered mug like this??

What is wrong with me?

I feel like I am ready to lose my marbles!! I have been feeling so overwhelmed and almost depressed feeling lately. I could probably rip somebody a new one at the drop of a hat. I cant pin point what the problem is. I am sure that it is my good old Aunt flo who so nicely came to visit me today is the reason for my "funk". I have been snippy to my kids, my man and strangers........... Maybe I should go buy me a case of Pamprin or Midol to see if that helps. :)

I am so glad I have my blog to express vent out my frustrations. It is hard to get any sympathy from a house full of men who dont share the same body parts as I do :)

Ok I am off to try and be patient to a 7 year old potty mouth who is throwing a hissy.... good times!!!

DO YOU SEE THERAPY IN THE FUTURE FOR THIS POOR KID????


Poor Hayden!! Last week was his pre-school Mini Indie. It was so cute. They had a little track all mapped out for the kids to ride their bikes around on and they even had 2 cops on motorcycles there to lead the way. Along the path were little stations set up for their use. One was a "wash" station, another was a "fix-it" station and then they had a "gas" station. Really very cute.
Well, I being the ding-bat mom that I am, forgot to bring his helmet!!! Hellooooo, we live in freakin California, where you cant even THINK about riding ANY bike unless you are wearing a helmet. A nice mom in his class said that she had an extra one we could borrow and of course it was PINK!! So funny. At first Hayden told me "I am not wearing dat, it is for guls" After a little discussion, he relented and here is my one and only time I will ever see one of my children in pink! :)

WHAT THE????????????????????????????????????????


This was snapped a few days ago at my lovely neighborhood gas/rip-off station. I think I am going to go buy me a Yugo or something that wont force me to almost takeout a loan to buy gas.

OH MY GOSH!!!!! This is the 3rd feakin time I have tried to post this. It keeps on deleting what I have written. I am going to go bazzzzerk on this computer!!!! Here it goes again!!!!!

I am back!!!
We just got back from our long camping weekend. We go every year to a campground off the coast called Gualala. It is so beautiful there!! We go every year with a HUGE group from our old ward. We had a great time. The kids were off doing their thing the whole time and we were able to catch up with old friends that we havent seen in awhile.
The group that we go with totally pimp out their campsite. It has a microwave, hot running water, a refrigerator, Otis Spunkmeyer oven for the oodles of cookie dough they bring up and a nacho machine that goes 24/7! We eat good! Our menu usually consists of ribs, turkey, abalone fresh from the ocean and tons and tons of snacks and goodies. Lets just say that my diet totally went to hell in a handbasket this weekend. That is ok, my fat rolls were getting lonely.

It is great to be back in my nice warm bed and away from those pesky mosquitos. My kids have quite a few bites, but I managed to only get 1 or 2. I guess my blood isnt good enough for them. :) I have been doing a ton of dirty, campfire smelling laundry. I think I have done at least 9 loads so far. It is so gross.

Well I had better get back to my BFF, the washing machine. I also need to catch up on my blogging. I am sure that someone is knocked up or something exciting has happened out there! :) Have a great day..

HAPPY 12th BIRTHDAY BOWEN!!!!!!!!!!!!


Today is my sweet BoBos birthday. It is such an exciting year for Bowen. He entered the 6th grade this year. Tonight he went to his last 11 year old scout meeting and will officially be in the YM program. I cant believe it. He will also get to go to scout camp this summer. Bowen will also receive the priesthood. I am so proud of him and the choices he has made.

Here are 12 things about Bowen

1. He is a very loving brother.
2. He is quite the jokester and loves to make you laugh.
3. He gets "asked out" all the time by those trampy 6th grade girls. LOL
4. He was only 5 weeks old when we made our journey out here to CA
5. He is great at pretty much every sport he plays.
6. He LOVES to weasel out of his chores and homework.
7. Spends about 20 minutes in the morning on his hair--UUUGG
8. Is kind to everyone.
9 Very loving and always makes sure he tells us he loves us before he goes to b ed.
10. Has lots of friends and is very social--a little too social, his teacher told us at open house the other night. :)
11. Very competative.
12. Is the family peacemaker.

I love this kid so much and I am so happy to be his mom. He has his moments where you want to bust his chops, but for the most part he is a great boy.

Happy Birthday Babalooo......................we love you!

Today we are taking him and some friends to go see Indiana Jones. When he found out it was coming out on his bday he was so excited so we are going to fight the mobs and hopefully it will meet everyones expectations.



Ok so on another note, what did everyone think about AI tonight? I really thought David A would win, but I was hoping that it would be David C. Who were you voting for????????


These are not the pictures I wanted to use, but I couldnt get my scanner to work.

NEW RECIPE and A SMALL RANT


What would my post be like without a small rant involved? So, I have noticed that some blogs have tickers. There are your "baby tickers" , "pounds lost tickers", "days until our trip to Hawaii" tickers, you get the idea. Well I came across a realy doozy the other day and I wanted to share it. I came across a "Days until my kids are out of school" ticker. What??????? Who is counting that down????????!! Surely it has to be that she is trying to be prepared for that fateful day, and shes not excited about it right????? Help me out here. Now dont get me wrong, I really do enjoy my kids and it is not like I dont have at least 2 kids home with me at all times during the day, but I love having a few hours a day where they are out of the house. Six children home for 3 months is a handful!! I AM excited about not hearing "I need help on my homework" or "I have a big project that I have known about for 3 weeks that I am just now getting started on and I need supplies for"!!! for the next 3 months....... and of course the not having to get up and get kids off to school every morning. HHHHMMMM! Maybe that ticker wasnt such a bad idea! I guess I just have mixed feelings about it all, but I better get over it because we only have about 4 weeks of school left here..........

Ok, on to the recipe. As some of you know, Holly and I belong to this food prep group. Once a month we take turns coming up with recipe that we can put in our freezers for easy cooking nights. It is a great group and fun to try new recipes. This is one of the recipes that we had and my family and I really liked it. Here it is...

Zesty Ginger Tomato Chicken

2-3 pounds of skinless legs, thighs or breasts (whichever you prefer)
2- 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes
1 TBS Fresh grated ginger
2 TBS quick-cooking tapioca
1 TBS fresh cilantro or parsley
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp salt


Combine all of the ingredients minus the chicken and mix well. Place in slow cooker, then add the chicken. Cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 3. I serve it on top of rice. So good!!

This is a great recipe to make ahead and freeze. Just pull it out of the freezer and put in the crock pot! Easy Sunday dinner.

I hope you like it. ******Tip***** If your kids dont like small chunks of tomatoes, (like mine) then I would try using crushed tomatoes instead of the diced. Just a thought.


Well I am off to Bowens baseball game. Only 2 more games left of the season. Have a great night.

This is what I feel like.

UUUUUUGGGGG!!!! It is hotter then snot here!!! (yes Christine, snot can be hot!)

We are having a little "hot" spell here and I am not handling it very well. I feel sticky, sweaty, smelly and just downright nasty. I grew up in Vegas so you would think I could deal with this, but no. I am a HOT MESS here.

Ok, enough complaining. I am very blessed to live here in the bay area, where you "pay out the wazoooo" for good weather. I hate when people tell me that, but it is true. We have pretty mild temps here for the most part, so I shouldnt complain on the days that we are roasting but the heat and I are bitter enemies.

Ok so onto other things. My sister Julie is visiting my sister Laura in AZ this week. They are planning a blog lunch today and I am so excited to hear how it went. I am so jealous. I am the one who got Julie into blogging and now she is meeting some of my blogging buds in person. So fun. All I have to say is there had better have been some cameras-a-flashin girls!

Well I had better start dinner. You know it will be something easy and not involving any ovens! :) Have a great day!

???? What is the weather like where you live?

???? How do you deal with the heat?

MOTHERS DAY and boring post # 2 :)

I had a great Mothers Day this year. My boys were on their extra best behavior, which always makes me happy. They wanted to get up and make me breakfast, but we have 9:30 church and to have to get up any earlier then I need to does NOT make me happy. We compromised and they made me lunch. Church was wonderful. During Sacrament meeting all of the youth and men got up and sang "There is beauty all around" It was beautiful to see all of those priesthood holders up there singing for us. I even scored a nice nap after church!
Chris gave me gorgeous roses and and a plant "that I cant kill" for my kitchen window. We will see how long it lasts. I can barely keep my children alive, let alone a plant!!!! LOL
We then headed to Hollys for our traditional Mothers Day celebration. Then men planned out the whole yummy menu. We had shrimp, Tri-tip sandwiches, salad and a whole boatload or appetizers. So good. They even made us huge chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches. Yes, I did partake of the dessert. How could I have resisted? I didnt want to hurt anyones feelings...... I am always thinking of other people. LOL
I am so grateful to be a mother. It is what I always wanted to be. I never let a day go by thanking my Heavenly Father for giving me such sweet, wonderful boys. I hope all of you rockin moms out there had a great day also. You deserve it!

I just couldnt resist this picture of Lawson in his new duds. I thought he looked so dang cute, but Chris said he looks like a psycho clown. I also have to laugh at Chris in this picture. I always tease him that he looks like he is posing for a police lineup or something. His pictures dont quite show his hotness.....")

FATHERS AND SONS CAMPOUT/GNO!!!

Every year our ward has its Fathers and Sons campout on the weekend of Mothers Day. This year Chris took 5 out of 6 of the boys. How awesome is that?? Chris has a "no diaper" policy and wont take any child unless they are potty trained. I am going to kick it into high gear to get Lawson potty trained for next year. :) Well see. That might be pushing it, but I will definitly try... After Chris left I had Catherine come babysit Lawson. A bunch of us in my ward got together and went to Cheesecake Factory. My sald wasnt that great but my "6 carb" cheesecake was to die for. So good! They really do have it there. It was so fun not having to entertain my little buddy while I ate, and I was even able to do some shopping. Good times! I then headed home, put Lawson to bed and enjoyed a nice evening with "Stacey and Clinton" and some of my other shows I havent had time to watch.

Chris made it home with all of the boys alive and well by noon. It was a great start to the weekend. I already posted about my hot movie night watching Robert Downey Jr. in Ironman. So good. Go see it, you will see an entertaining action flick and also see some cute ,buff ,eye candy. :) I will post about my great Mothers Day later. I didnt want to be a huge bore all in one post, so I will spread it out for you in to 2 posts........ ")

Chris and I went to see Ironman tonight and we really liked it. Tell me I am not the only one out there that thought Robert Downey Jr. looked GOOD in this movie..................Mmmmmm!

I AM DROWNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not really, but I couldnt think of another title of this lovely post. I have been having that feeling though, like I am drowning--in life. Things are just so crazy busy around here, that I feel like I cant catch my breath. I am always on the go, go, go and it maddens me. I am not the kind of person who feels the need to be involved in everything or their kids going every which way. When those times do happen I go batty! I am a slow life lover, I wouldnt say that I like to be dormant, just not ALWAYS in my car. I am sure that my little old neighbor across the street gets dizzy watching my car go in and out of the driveway all day.
I am sure I am not any different then anyone else.

I have also been slacking on my personal goals big time! I am sure that is another reason I feel like I am not handling my stressful life very well either. I have a strong testimony that if you really try and work hard on your spiritual goals in life, your temporal life will go more smoothly. HHMMM! You would think that would be a no brainer for me, but I am a little dense. I would much rather unwind, watching The Hills or Top Chef or any of my other bevy of crappy tv choices. My priorities are a little jacked up for sure! I am a constant work in progress. It really helps me to write this down, that way I have solid evidence of all of the things I nee d to work on. On a good note, I finally got my recommend renewed. I washed mine like A YEAR AGO and havent gotten it renewed yet. Now I have and My man and I have a date next weekend to finally go to the temple I am very excited!

Ok I will move on. I am still going strong on my diet----for the most part. Judson and I were able to go with Holly and her family last night to the Oriales and As game. We were able to sit in the Netsuites. So cool. We were right on the floor behind home plate. We could see all of the cute players close up! Did I just say that? Ooooops. I have to say that I have a hot man at home, but some of those boys are pretty cute, jailbate, but cute! Anyway, we were able to order and eat anything we want-----and I did. I was good at first and had a salad but then dang those nacho s looked tasty and of course some popcorn. Oh well, so it will take me a little longer to get into my thong bikini this summer. No biggie. We had a great time last night. Being the brainiac that I am took my camera, but forgot to load my photocard back into my camera. Duh!

Ok, so another thing, I am SO going to the Blog party next year! I am so jealous of all of your photos and posts about how much fun you guys had. Count me in next year for sure! I am going to have to do some heavy duty smooth talking and "wifely duties" to talk my man into being able to go on 2 girls trips next year. Just kidding. T-M-I I know. Have a great night!

WEEKEND WIDOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



This weekend Chris' brother Michael came into town for a golf weekend. HHHMMMM! You could imagine the sheer depression and sadness that Chris went through when he realized that he HAD to show his brother a good time and golf all weekend! Yah right. So pretty much it is me and the kids today. I am glad that he gets to spend some time with Michael but a little bummed that he is not around. Oh well, I get to go out tonight and see Baby Mama with some friends, so I shouldnt complain too much. Nothing else has been going on around here this week that has been blog worthy. I guess that is a good thing. The diet is going ok. I am still alive and best of all my family is too! I havent gone into psycho sugar withdrawals :)















Chris, Michael, Dallin and Hayden before they went golfing this morning.
See the sadness in Chris' face?


Random picture, but isnt he cute???















Judson and his new haircut. He wanted it to be a little mohawky, and he siad that he wanted it to look like Jake F. Pretty comical.









Well I am off to fold some laundry and change a poopy diaper. Party on!!!!!!!!!!

So last night I was watching Top Chef (one of my favorite shows) and one of the chefs told a knock knock joke. It is silly, but it gave me a good chuckle for a few minutes. I hestitated posting it, but I think that it might bring a little smile to you, especially if you have kids. I am a cruddy joke and story teller, so hopefully I cant screw up typing one! Here it goes...


KNOCK KNOCK.............Whose there???????? SMELLMOP............SMELLMOP WHO??????

Did you get it?

HINT***** Say smellmopwho fast and see what it sounds like.