A WHOLE LOT OF NOT MUCH.....................................................



I have been smack in the middle of a serious bloggers rut! I try to think of something exciting to post about, but my mind goes blank. I feel that I am just going through the motions of life and I am trying to stay afloat. I am in no way saying that my life is bad at all. It is just seriously in chaotic mode and I dont see it slowing down anytime too soon.

It doesnt help that I am a single mom during most of the week. I am doing it all and all by myself. I know, go call the Wambulance, because I am totally whining. People out there have it MUCH worse then I do, but this is starting to bite the big one!! Our house still hasnt sold. Not a huge shocker with the economy the way it is. I am ok in the fact that it is keeping me here in California longer, but it is getting old and Chris is tired of the traveling. Oh well...

I was on one of my many trips to the Sports Park today picking up kids from football practice and my sweet little Bowen asked me what was for dinner. I told him the meager choices and he asked me when we were going to have REAL food for dinner. WHAT??? He wanted to know why I dont cook anymore..... Gee, let me ponder over that one........ Good thing he is cute. :)

Here is a collage of some of the events from the past week or so. It is pictures from our Trunk or Treat last weekend and from the Pack Meeting last night. Landon received his Arrow of Light. So awesome. Way to go Landon!!

Well I am off to try and get my kids to bed. I have been going to bed WAy too late and I need to stop. Waking up at 5:45 to get Dallin off to Seminary is not that pleasant considering I had just went to bed 5 hours earlier. Dummy! Goodnight!

How do you spend your Friday Night Date night?????


Last night we had the chance to go and be street walkers for a day. It was actually alot of fun. There were about 35 of us and we got alot of support. Of course there was your occasional ice throwing, bird flipping and yelling, but all in all a good experience. We are all entitled to our opinions and I hope that I dont offend any of my blog buds out there. That is why we live in this great country, to have the ability to stand up for what we believe in.

Afterwards, we went to my favorite Indian Restaurant with Christine, Devin, Cheryl and Jim. Good times. Thanks Tristan for the yummy cookies and for letting me steal your photos off your blog! :)

I found this picture on somebodys blog and I had to share. I thought it was pretty comical----ENJOY!

Peace out!

I am out of here. I am heading to Utah for the weekend. I am so excited. I need this trip so bad! I am physically and mentally exhausted. I am in serious need of me time. I just hope that I come home to 6 kids still. Heehee. Lawson is into EVERYTHING! I kid you not. I cant explain just how into everything he is. Just in the past 2 minutes, I have gotten him off the counter, out of the garage and then I had to get him out of the bathtub where he just turned on the shower!!!! 2 minutes!!!! I just hope that Chris can keep his cool with him for the whole weekend. I am sure he will.

I am going to hang with my sister Julie and nieces and my parents. They are driving up to Provo today for my nieces bball games. I am just excited to shop and eat! Party!!

Ok, I need to get packing. I will check back when I get home--that is- IF I come home....... hehe

The Haps...........



Since I am knee deep in a PMS episode and getting my butt spanked by the raging hormones of my Aunt Flo this month, I am going to just make this post short and sweet (hopefully) so I wont seem like such a Debby Downer. I have been so stressed and crabby lately. I feel like I am so crusty and mean to everyone. Sorry to those of you who have had to be around me lately..":0
So here are a few of the events and "happenings" in my neck of the woods.
















Me and my hot man before our Anniversary date.
I always tease him that he looks like he is posing for a hostage photo.

















This little stinker who kicks my butt on a daily basis. He is
killing me, but I love him to peices.
















UUUGGG! I wont go into detail about this photo.
This was a "non-date" Homecoming Dance photo.
No he is not 16, and yes it is TOTALLY against our house rules
that you date before then. In my defense, there was a group of about 30 kids that all went
together. Does that work? We made it clear to this sweet little Amazon in the back of
this photo that it WILL NOT happen again until he is 16!!!!!
You would die if I were to show you what all of the girls were wearing!!!!!!!



GNO for Christine and Maressas Bday.
So much fun. We went to Tomatinas (grub)
and then some of us true party animals
went and saw Eagle Eye afterwards
Great time.


ok, I am going to take me some Advil for my
raging headache. Thanks Aunt Flo for another great
month! ;0

DISTURBING DIAGNOSIS********


Today I went to my hairdressers for my "usual". After I sat down in her chair for our normal consult of what I wanted done. I was srprised by an intervention of sorts. She told me that I was in need of more then a trim. That my hair was getting too long??? What??? I told her that I didnt think it was THAT long. Now granted it is just past the middle of my back, but it doesnt feel that long to me. She told me that she thinks I have "longerexia" and that I needed help. She told me that my hair was weighing me down. Whatev! I was dying. I thought that was the funniest thing I had ever heard.

Long story short, I succumbed to the peer pressure and she did cut. It does look better. It is still plenty long, but just looks a little more healthy and fresh. Still I am mourning the loss of my precious dead ends.....

I am writing my story in hopes that I can help anyone out there that is suffering from the same illness as I. If I can help at least one person out there I will be happy. So for all you "Longerexia" sufferers out there. There is help!!!!

COULD THIS REALLY BE MY KID?????




















OH YAH!! He is my kid all right. He is not even 2 yet and is the biggest Yuk mouth like his mom. I went into the kitchen the other day and found this little boogar had gotten into the freezer, pulled out a spoon and started mackin down on my ice cream. He does this all of the time. I finally had to put a little kiddie-lock on the freezer to keep his paws off of the hard stuff. Now if only they made an adult-proof refridgerator lock for me!!

Another way I know this child is mine is because he is a Diet Coke monster also. I know you are all cringing and ready to call CPS on me for this. Dont worry, I never put it in his bottles-----YET. He is still young. There is still time to corrupt him. He can hear my Diet Coke can or bottle opening from a mile away and come running. If I get one from the Drive-thru, I have to hear "mom, mom, mom-----GINK GINK"! In the most annoying, nails on a chalkboard scratching voice-ever heard.

He can also tell when I am opening a fresh bag of my precious M&Ms or any other chocolate delectable that I am shoving in my pie-hole. Good thing I have now turned to the "special" new M&Ms in a box. I think I have tricked him--for now.

Good thing I love this kid!

17 YEARS OF PURE BLISS

Can you believe that these 2 lovebirds are Chris and I???? I know, I know, I still look the same blah blah blah! Just kidding. Tomorrow, September 20th, Chris and I will celebrate our 17th anniversary. I cant believe how fast it has flown by.

I think that I have told the story about how Chris and I met, but I will tell it again so I can relive those fun days again..... ;0

It was may 1991. I was feeling like I was never going to get married. I was an old maid at 21 years old!!! Isnt that funny??? I really thought that. I would joke around that I would be so old and single that I was going to be going to the dances with Berlynn who was only 3 at the time!!!! What a dummy I was.

My mom told me one day that Ron (my BIL) had hired this new kids just fresh off his mission and that he was really cute. I rolled my eyes and said " Mom, I know everyone in Vegas and there are NO CUTE guys here" So caulky, I know. My mom would tell Ron that he needed to hook us up. (Ron didnt think that Chris was my type). Who knew I had a type? I was just willing to go out with anyone that had a pulse! :)

He finally did. He played city-league baseball and told Chris to go and he could "check me out" . Same thing for me, and boy did I check him out! He sat in front of me on the bleachers and I remember thinking to myself "he has such a sexy neck" I am such a perv! He still has a sexy neck by the way...... We all went out to eat afterwards and when we were leaving, he asked me out for later that week. We went out and had such a great time. He was so nice and fun to be with. Long story short, he asked me to marry him 2 weeks later and we were married 3 months after that!!! Good times, Good times!

It has been an awesome 17 years. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this man so much. He is a great father and husband. At the risk of giving out TMI, even after all these years and 6 kids later, we still have the fire!!! This man is HOT!

Hopefully I didnt bore you too much with all of the details, but it was fun thinking about it again.

Happy Anniversary Chris! I love you!

What to blog about?????????

I have been racking my itty-bitty brain, trying to think of something to blog about. Nothing exciting comes to mind. I have been so busy reading everyone elses blogs lately. So many people have had some trying things happen in their lives, I should be very grateful that I am having such a hard time thinking of things to blog about. I have been so uplifted and blessed by so many people out there, it is amazing. So many sweet, kind and generous people out there, it inspires me everyday to be a better person. Thank you!

I guess one thing that has been on my mind is the many different emotions that I have been experiencing lately. I am one big pile of stress. This whole house selling and moving thing is going to send me on a one way trip to the nut-barn for sure!! We are so in limbo-land at the moment. We know we are moving, we just dont know when, or where? We have had to list our house at lower then what we paid for it--sucky! At least we are not upside-down on it, that is a blessing for sure, but it still stinks. Another big think that is hard for me is having to keep this house clean all the time! It is hard!!!!! On one hand it is nice that it is clean, but trying to keep up with a 22 month old is what is going to drive me insane. He is into everything. I have a lock on my refridgerator, locks on the cabinets, table moved out of the way so he doesnt use it as a step stool to the counter top. Today he managed to climb on the counter , and turned on the garbage disposal! Talk about a Heart-attack! Good thing he is a sweet little cuddle bug! That saves me from wanting to sell him on Ebay!! :)

I have to say that life in general is good. I have a great hubby and sweet boys. I have had to grow in many ways also this past few months, and not just size wise from eating too much chocolate either!! I have been the sole parent sometimes and it has been so stressful. 6 kids pulling at me in all different directions. Do I look like Gumby? I dont do well in those situations. I do know that having our family prayer faithfully at night has really helped me out. I am so thankful for that.

Ok! I am sorry to have rambled on and on. I bet you are thinking" dang, for a girl who had nothing to blog about, she sure has rambled on and on" ! Sorry

Here are some of the beach pictures from our Labor Day trip a couple of weeks ago. We had a great time!

MY NEW BFF

Who ever said that Diamonds are a girls best friend was so wrong. I must say that diamonds are fabulous, but this is my new best friend lately.

I love it. It is the Eureka Quick up and it is cordless!! With having to keep this house clean 24/7 it comes in so handy. If I dont want to whip out my honkin vacuum (which just bit the dust as I am typing this) I can just grab this little sucker and BAM it picks up the cereal off my kitchen floor and it also does carpet. Yes, you heard me, carpet! Now I am not saying you can vacuum your whole house with this, but if the kids spill crackers crumbs all over the carpet, it sucks them right up. It is wonderful.

Thanks Jenny for telling my mom about it, so she could rave to me about it, so I could then buy it and rave to all of you about it!!!!!!!

Do Caramel Popcorn and the beach go together?????????????

















Uh! Yah!!! A group of people from our ward are going on our annual Labor Day weekend beach trip. We are heading to Half Moon Bay for a fun day in the sun.
Last year we had a blast and are hoping to repeat that this year. Who knows , it could be our last beach trip for awhile.
Very sad to think about that.......Anyhooooo, I wanted to make something yummy to take to the beach with us.
Not wanting to turn on my oven, since it is already hotter then hell here, I opted for one of my favorite childhood treats, caramel Popcorn.
I have great memories of my Grandma Lila coming over and making popcorn balls for me to take to school for my Bday treats. YUM! I am too lazy to form them into balls so I just lay it out on pans until it cools and then slap them bad boys into baggies. So GRUB!!!
I tend to love my popcorn extra gooey, but made them a little less sticky so nobody will get sand in their popcorn. I will post some pictures of our day at thebeach tomorrow. Have a great weekend!!!!


******TIP ALERT*****

I absolutely HATE grannie kernels in my caramel popcorn, so I found that if you put your popcorn into a paper grocery bag and cut a small hole into one of the corners, you can shake them all out.... hot dang!!!!!!! My teeth did a happy dance when I learned this trick!!!! I am sure that a lot of you pros out their already know about this trick, but some of you like me are a little slow at being clever. :)

First day of school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you feel all of the excitment coming from all of those exclamations marks??? Good times indeed! Yesterday was the first day of school and everything went rather smoothly. Dallin was out the door first and this was the first day of being a big Sophmore. At least he is not a "Baby Falcon" anymore. I remember being called a "maggot" when I was a Freshman. Being called a Baby Falcon is nothing compared to maggot. As you can see from this picture of him, he looks less then thrilled at the photo-op.



The next group out the door was this cute little trio! My cute little 3rd grader aka "Sweatshirt child" (notice the sweatshirt even though it was warm outside this morning)???? UUUGGGG! I have to take a few deep breaths for sure.
Next is the always camera ready 7th grader. He was excited to see who was in his classes today. His one big bummer of the day was that he has 6th period lunch, which means that my poor baby has to pretty much go all dang day before getting to eat his always healthy lunch. :)
Last but not the least is my sweet 5th grader, big man on campus this year. My cute little scholar is always prepared and ready for the day. He never needs to be reminded to do his homework or anything else for that matter. I would be a gazillionaire if I could figure out what I did during my pregnancy to have him turn out so easy and mild mannered!!



And after all of those rugrats are out the door, who do I get to spend the WHOLE rest of the day with????????






These little angels!! Arent the cute!?? Even though I am trying to survive these days chasing after Messy Marvin and fighting the urge to go to my "happy place" and escape the madness, I wouldnt trade it for anything. I am trying to enjoy these days that I have them home with me. They grow up so fast. Pretty soon, they will all be gone during the day and I will have to do lunch and shopping with my freinds ALL BY MYSELF! Oh wait, that sounds pretty good actually...........HEHE

Well, I need to get back to motherhood. I have Back to School Night, dinner, homework, and Young Mens tonight. Good thing I have a tub of cookie dough in my fridge to get me through the night!

Let the Countdown begin!!!!!!!

5 days 7 hours and 5 minutes until school starts! It seems like yesterday the dark cloud of Summer break was upon me and now it is over!!! It has gone by way too fast. I never thought I would say it,but I am NOT looking forward to school starting next week. Oh, I guess that is not completly true, I am getting a little tired of the fighting, the "Im bored" "what are we going to do today?", but not the homework and al of that garbage.

We have had a pretty good summer. It has been filled with baseball, Baseball Allstars, Chuck E Cheeses and camping with a little mumbo jumbo in between. Good times. This past week we met up in with some of our Fremont friends at Chuck E Cheeses. I have know these girls since I have lived in California. That is 12 years and 4 kids later. It was alot of fun hanging with them for the afternoon. I even let Landon take a picture with me in it!! That is big progress.....

My summer has also been filled with some stressfull and busy moments. Busy doing what you ask???? Busy getting ready for this:

Thats right, we are moving. Do you think that Utah is ready for the Smith family????? We might just turn it upside down! Chris took a job with a company in South SLC area. We are excited for the change, but oh so sad to leave our friends. We have been fortunate enough to have made some great friends out here. Friendships that will last forever, but it is will be so hard to leave.

Our house was just listed so who knows how long it will take to sell. With this crappy housing market who knows. It sucks! Hopefully not too long. I am so tired of keeping my house clean 24/7. I love that it is clean, but with 6 kids--------total headache!!!!!

So all of you Utah bloggers out there, I need you to pump me up about the move. My kids took it pretty well, except for Dallin. When we first told him, he called us "life ruiners" He said that we were moving to "freakville" I am sure he thinks that Utah is out in the boonies or something. He is warming up to it. He thinks that it is cool that Seminary is part of the school day and wont have to get up at the crack of dawn anymore.

Well I need to go get my rugrats to bed. It is going to be rough getting them back onto the school bedtime schedule. GOODNIGHT.

BARGAIN!!!!!!!

I just wanted to share a bargain that I found at Bed Bath and Beyond today. Every once in a freakin blue moon, I manage to do something that makes me say "good job Linda".

I have had my eye for a few months on the cutest Quicksilver bedding at Bed Bath and Beyond. At 150.00 for a twin bedset I have found it hard to want to choke one down and spend 300. for bedspreads for kids! Boogars, bloody noses etc........ I dont think so!
After my annual womanly Drs appt. today, I headed to Bed and Bath to see what they had. I happened to find this cute, black, grey and white comforter set for 50 bucks! I then grabbed 2 decorative Quicksilver pillows that were discounted because they were out of the package and BAM!!!!! Instant wannabe Quicksilver knockoff!!! I bought 2 of everything and with my awesome Bed and Bath coupons I managed to only spend 140.00 total!!!!!


Go ahead and give me a virtual pat on the back! LOL

LOVED IT!!!!!

A few of us girls went and saw this movie last night and we loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have heard so many mixed reviews on it but I would go see it again in a heartbeat. I loved the music. I have always been a huge ABBA fan and so many times during the movie I wanted to get up and shake my money maker (Not one part of my body could ever be a money maker, but you get it) I wanted to dance!
Pierce Brosnen was a little off but I thought he did a great job. If any of you are on the fence about seeing this movie---just go! You wont be disappointed.

This weeks adventure-----or lack thereof
















Friday I took the kids and drove 2 hours to Roseville to pick Judson up from my SIL Dana. She was nice enough to offer to take him for the week. She lives in Fernley NV so this was sort of a good spot in the middle to make the exchange. We decided that since it was a hotter then snot day in Central Cal., we would opt for an indoor activity. What do you think it was?????? That is right, one of my favorite places to go with the kiddos is Chuck E Cheeses. Oh I can already hear the dry heaving from some of you Chuck haters. LOL
It was fun. Well, the drive wasnt. It actually sucked. Who wants to listen to a baby crying the WHOLE time???? I could handle Lawson crying, it was the other kids that were driving me nuts. They were saying "shut him up" "why is he crying" blah blah blah!
When I finally got home I made Chris take me out for a quick bite to eat at our favorite Indian Resaurant, Havali in Dublin. It is so good!

Saturday we or I should say Chris worked his tale off in our backyard and running a ton of errands. He was one busy guy.

Today I am actually 2 kids less instead of 1. Dallin is still in Vegas and Bowen is at Scout Camp, so it is just me and the 4 other rugrats. We ran to Costco so that I didnt look like Old Mother Hubbard with her bare cupboards anymore.

Today after running to Costco, I told Lawson to go get his blanket. He went and got it and this is what he did. It was so cute. He just laid down and fell asleep. This is definitly a first and probably a last. He usually has a nap, but since he didnt get up until 11:30 this morning I was going to hold him off and put his butt to bed early!! No such luck. He instead is here under the desk with a toy drill, drilling my feet. He is my little shadow today.

Well I am off to attempt getting the kids to bed. They have been up for the past hour playing Mario Kart. UUUHGG! Heaven forbid they read a book or something!! Goodnight!

Not again!!!! What is wrong with me? I am a blogger slacker for sure! Too long between post. I am still recovering from our week of sand, beach and sun. I must say that the sun kicked my trash this week. My forehead looks like I have a fungus! It is an itchy, flaky mess! If any of you see me, I do not have dandruff!!!

We had a great trip. Good times with family and we really couldnt have asked for better weather.
Rather then bore you to tears with the details of the trip, I will just give you a quick overview of all of the action.


1. People in attendance: 9 adults, 20 kids

2. Activities: Beach, beach and more beach. San Luis Obispo Mission, Farmers Market, and Childrens Musium. Deep Sea fishing or should I say Deep Sea Barfing for some of the participants:) Many trips to Walmart and the local laundromat. A hefty sampling of Pismos finest Clam Chowder. A day at the city of Solvang to sample many Danish pastries.

3. Things I could have done without? Bees. An extremely whiny 20 month old. That same extremely whiny 20 month old sleeping in between Chris and I for a week! Sand galore in every nook and cranny of my kids body. Gross!

4. Injuries: Darcy slicing open her leg on a stroller during our pastry-feast in Solvang. She ended up needing 9 staples! Lawson deciding that the fire pit would be a fun place to put his little grubby hands during a fire! Luckily it wasnt too bad of a burn.

Well that is about it. We all had a fun time and made great memories. My kids said that this was the best Pismo trip ever. I am slowly getting back into the groove of things and I am sure I have so many blogs to catch up on. I hope you are all having a great summer. I cant believe how fast it has gone. 4 more weeks until school starts again-------PARTY!!!!!


I am sorry for yet another picture grid. It is the only way that I know how to post a ton of pictures..

WE ARE OUTTA HERE.................................

We are off soon for Pismo Beach to go camping with Chris' family. I am waist deep in laundry and trying to pack for 7 people. Wish me luck. Hopefully I will remember to take lots of pictures of all of the action. I am sure you will all be waiting on pins and needles for that. :0

See you soon.........................

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DALLIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Yes thats right ANOTHER birthday post!!! Just when I thought I was done for awhile, my alzheimers meds kicked in and I remembered the sweet boy who made me a mom in the first place!!!

15 years ago today I became a mom. It was so exciting! He has brought such joy to our family. Dallin is such a great kid. Even though we are ankle deep into the "joyous" teen years, he is turning into a great young man. It is so strange that he is as tall as me and I sometimes have to think "who the hell is in my house" when I hear his deep voice talking. Way too weird.

It is a little sad this year. As I had mentioned in my last post, Dallin is in Vegas right now hanging with family an earning some moula. It seems sad that he is not here with us, but I am sure he will be spoiled and have a great day!

Dallin is a great big brother. He is a very hard worker and always is eager to learn something new. He loves golfing ALMOST as much as his dad. He is a great cookie maker... .... he is part of my fat rolls reproducing problem.. :) We just love him so much!

Happy birthday Dallpal!

NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cant believe it has been such a long time since my last post! What is wrong with me? Oh, I know! Life has been pulling down my pants and spanking my butt bigtime!!! Sorry for the analogy, but I can think of nothing better to discribe my summer. It has not been bad, in fact we are enjoying it so far. No getting up early, homework etc... Good times.

I have been enjoying reading blogs and occasionally commenting (slacking in that department too). So many blogs that I have been reading though have been so depressing. I should say, depressing and also inspirational. It has really been reminding me how grateful I am to be a mother and to not take advantage of the time I am with my kids. Some days I am ready to ship them to Guantanamo Bay for some shaping up..: ) kidding, of course, but I try to hold them a little longer, kiss them often and try not to be my usual "queen yeller", but at least I am trying.

We have been busy pretty much this whole summer with Bowens ALL-Star games. They have been going non-stop. They are fun to go to and gives us something to do, but it is getting a little old.

This week I am busy getting ready for our annual camping trip with Chris' family. This year we are heading back to Pismo Beach. I love it there. It is so nice. It gets a little chilly at the beach, but the kids love spending time with their cousins, and I love that they are off playing and out of my hair!! Hee hee...

It has also been a little over a week that Dallin has not been home. He is in Vegas for a couple of weeks working for Chris's dad doing landscaping. Poor guy. It is hotter then hell there, but he is loving the fact that he is getting paid and he is getting spoiled by his grandparents. My parents especially are spoiling him. We miss him around here, but it is a good experience for him and we will be seeing him this weekend. It is also his 15th bday this week. Yes that is right---ANOTHER bday post!! I think I said I was done with bdays until mine and Lawsons at the end of the year, but I was wrong. How could I forget the sweet boy who made me a mother????

Well I am off to another game. Sorry for a post about nothing. Hey isnt that what made Seinfeld famous????? Have a great day!

Here are some of our summer happenings..........