merry christmas darling, happy new year too!

We had a wonderful Christmas day, and hope you all did as well!

Look, I even had Christmas cards made from my talented sista Janna, but they haven't been mailed yet... or even printed, so I'm pretty positive this will be as far as it goes this year. Sorry!

Here's Abby & Brenna in their new Christmas dresses. Last year, I stopped buying them matching dresses, but this year I realized I'm still (somewhat) in control of what they wear and I fell in love with these, so I bought two!


After some Christmas Eve drama because of misplaced pajamas, the girls fell fast asleep and woke up to the new found pajamas (thank you Grandma!). I was laying in bed still and overheard Brenna say "I'm gonna go follow Santas magic and see what he brought us!"(Santa's magic boots leave gold glitter wherever he walks, hence the "magic" comment)

Sisters... sisters (name that movie!)
with sleepy eyes and bed-head, waiting for everyone to wake up!


Again, Merry late Christmas everyone! We love you all!

peter b. and his friend mr. conlee!

Janna and I got to go see our favorite local performer,
Peter Breinholt!
(Seriously, how many more Peter B. shows will we blog about, I know?)
We got tickets for his Christmas Show last Saturday night and had some great seats at the beautiful Rose Wagner theater in SLC.

It was seriously such a fun show... very uplifting, very Christmasy
AND
he had a friend of his open the show by the name of James Conlee.
Dang, he's got an amazing voice! We bought his Christmas CD and love it!

After the show, we were waiting for Sandie (who works at the theater part-time) and Peter walked by saying something about his show on Monday... Janna said something to me about wanting to come see it, and he heard her. We told him we'd love to come, but it's sold out because we wanted him to sing a "favorite things" parody he did a couple years ago. He told us they just announced they're raising the orchestra floor and he could comp us some seats if we wanted... and he said he would sing the song!
Needless to say, we were stoked!

So, Monday night after we got 11+ inches of snow at our house, I invited my friends Candi & Brittany to come with us, and we headed up to Salt Lake and met up with Janna, Sandie (who was working again) and Matthew (Sandies lover). We had so much fun sitting front row and center to enjoy the show all over again!

You should all come see a show with us, I promise you'll like it!

cheese vs. cheesier

It seems (in my world) that there is a constant battle for the Cheese McCheese award between these two men, and I'm curious if anyone else is in the same boat.

Exhibit A
Donny Osmond

Okay, he is a talented man (and maybe I'm just jealous, but that's besides the point), and his eyelashes that are longer than mine (jealousy again? maybe). But the way he drives grown women crazy with their screams for this man as if he (and they) were still 12, is more amusing than anything.
GO GO GO GO JOSEPH!

Side note:
Are we sure it's a good thing that the spawn of he and his brothers have created
The Osmonds, Second Generation?!


Exhibit B
Michael McLean

First and foremost, he doesn't sing... he talks his songs.
I've been privileged to see his performance of the Forgotten Carols on two occasions in my life... (more than any human should have to live through) and although I love the "story", his level of sappiness might drive me to drink,
and... AND the linking of arms at the end of EACH AND EVERY performance with your neighbors who have bad breath, and singing "We can be together forever someday" while he talks (the whole time) sharing stories about how wonderful it was when Paul & Betty fell in love while linked arms, singing this song to one another while on dates with other people.
Or the time when two complete strangers, both of whom had given up on the Provo dating scene, met eyes across the room and they walked in a daze towards each other, knowing they they were the ONE. They linked arms, sang, got married, had babies and now bring their posterity to see the Magical McLean Man every year!
Dun-dun-dun-dunnnnnnn!

Did I mention that he TALKS his songs?

Those of you who know me in ANY way, know who I think takes the award hands down, year after year. Or rather, arm linkage after arm linkage.

painful parenting tips

Want to know my new way of diverting my 7 year olds attention from complaining that she hates wearing tights????
All you have to do it cut your leg while shaving. Make sure it's worse than you did the first time you ever shaved... like I did on my shin bone when I was however old I was when I started shaving my legs, and yes, I still have a scar. Today (at age 30 mind you) it was on the side of my calf. I don't know how a razor with straight edges cut 2 perfect circles out of the non-bone-close-to-the-surface area of my leg.
I'm baffled and in pain.
If it wasn't the Sabbath, I probably would've swore.

The worst part was when the soap and shampoo got in it.
That's when I screamed.

Good thing was when I showed Abby my battle wounds,
she said "I bet that hurts a lot more than these dumb tights, huh?"

She's a genius.

My mission= accomplished.

Either way... I'm going on strike. I hate those damn razors.

all i want for christmas is...

My silly little Brenna has a whole new smile these days.

She's missing 3 teeth in the front of her mouth, one gone on it's own (sort of) and the other two were pulled by the dentist because they were SO loose and just not coming out. It was like their roots were twisted up and wouldn't let go. I doubt that's what was going on, but it sounded good. She braved the shot with only a few tears from our sweet dentist-neighbor-friend and he pulled those babies right out. Poor Abby even cried when Brenna cried as she got the shot, but Abby was wanting to watch the pulling out part, while I turned my back.

Since then, we've been singing the inevitable Christmas song "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" (are there more lyrics than that one line?) We have yet to revise it to "three front teeth" because technically, one front HUGE one is making it's way in.
I didn't realize how much I loved little perfect baby teeth, until the ginormous ones take over my childrens little mouths! Thank heavens for Orthodontists... my girls mouths are going to be nightmares I think!

Here's a funny video of her singing and proof that she will indeed be in speech therapy for that cute little lisp of hers!
I think she's officially lost control of her tongue with no teeth to push it back!

bribery at its finest (and a good deal)!

A friend of mine posted this on her blog, and after many phone calls to books stores that one might think would carry this item
(especially at this time of year), I had no luck.
My search ended with a little help from google.
(Which, random side note, I think google paid for the movie Twilight... did you notice the 3+ plugs for google.com?!)

The story seems to be the perfect way to have fun and remind the little ones that Santa is watching. I'm thinking the Elf might stay up year round here!
Here's a cute review/synopsis of how it all works.

I'm a briber in many ways, but I'm really thinking this book will not only be fun, but it will help put a focus on positive behavior.
Here's to wishful thinking (and the good deal part):
This book is sold through Amazon.com, but it's cheaper to go through the direct seller. Here's their link. I added one in my cart, used a coupon code I found online, and was set. I was talking to my friend Katie about it and added another one to my cart because she is a briber mom like me (that's why we're friends!) and I ended up getting one book for free practically! It's some automatic deal, not sure how long it lasts- but if you and a friend or family member want to start new traditions, I think this is a fabulous deal and such a fun way to remember the fun of Santa at Christmas time!

Here's what my cart looked like with the two books:

	Items:	$59.90
	Buy & Save Savings:	-$29.94
	Catalogs.com Discount:	-$3.00
	US Ground Shipping:	$7.25
	Subtotal:	$34.21
	Total:	$34.21
	Special Offer Code:	cc11

Thanks Alisa (and her parents) for posting about it!

brace face

Just the other day, a favorite neighbor of mine (he's a favorite because he's more obnoxious than I am!) commented that my braces aren't as fun to make fun of anymore because I don't hide my smiles behind my hand. Almost every time I see him, he starts picking his teeth to subtly hint that I have something stuck in mine... he's so funny, I know. He knows it too.

But honestly, I'm liking the braces thing. I don't wish it upon anyone at this age, but I will love my smile (in 15-18 months) when they're off!
My niece Claire looks at "Dee-Dee's" teeth and says "OWIEE". After tomorrows appointment, I'm sure I'll be saying that too- but it's okay.
Today, I am proud of my GRILL!


Despite the fact that I broke a bracket the other day on bread. Yup, bread broke the bracket. I called my orthos office yesterday and the lady felt so bad and tried reassuring me that it'll be okay. Um, I wasn't concerned about it at all... I told her it was totally worth it because the bread was fabulous!

taggy-tag-tag, part deux

When I did this initial tag, I had a hard time thinking of quirky things about me, but lately, all I can think of are my quirks. The list is unfortunately much longer than this, but I'm stopping here. Promise.

1. I loathe mayonnaise and think it should be banished from the planet! It tastes gross, smells even worse and isn't needed here! Seriously... can you hand me a bucket of lard, please? I really want to clog my arteries the fastest way possible! Mayo can do it and you know it.

2. I get grossed out when people enter a bathroom with reading materials. I don't want to know how long you plan on being in there. What's done in there is personal and private... call your doctor if you have problems. They can help, I'm sure.

3. Toilet paper on the holder the wrong way. The lose end belongs on the top, not the bottom. And don't question me if you've somehow had yours changed to the "right way" (aka: Debra's way) after I've been in your home.

4. Mascara and I are BFF's. I really don't leave home without it. It's because I have translucent eyelashes.

5. I hate having a dirty windshield, or dirty car windows all around. FYI- if you keep your interior car windows washed during the winter months, they will fog up less than dirty ones. ALSO... (I'm so full of vital information, I know) buy an eraser, like a chalkboard eraser and use that IF you didn't listen to my first suggestion to help defog the windows. Or, you could just stop making out in your cars so much...

6. I can tell a car by its headlights or tail lights probably 8 or 9 times out of 10. I have a thing for cars... but not mechanically, just the looks of cars. Pretty much proves the point of how superficial I can be, huh?

7. I have never eaten a double double, big mac or whopper. AND I think it's gross when places tell you the weight of food, i.e.: 2 lb. burrito @ Taco Time (never eaten there because of that, and many other reasons I'm sure).

8. I have slight OCD (or CDO for Candi's friend who's OCD is that things must be alphabetized!) about Christmas lights being straight. It started in high school when Janna and I were allowed to hang the lights for my dad. We'd hang, literally over the egde of the roof and use the staple gun and put a staple on both sides of the light, to ensure it's straightness. This year, the new LED lights (which btw, have a blue hue) have smaller bases and don't fit into the clips as easily, so we zip tied 500 lights to the clips. Yeah, it still didn't work as well as good old fashioned wood eaves and staple guns. We've failed and have blue lights. And our fingers still hurt.
HEY- how about all the neighbors go green like us (actually blue, but it saves lots of green {money}) and then we won't look so funny! PLEASE??????

just what the DOCTOR ordered

Forget that part about soda being bad for you for a second
and go to drpepper.com TODAY ONLY before midnight (possibly eastern time) and request a free coupon for a DP! There's a reason behind it... read it here, or don't because either way-it's FREE!

Here's a couple of my favorite videos paying homage to this fabulous drink!

Good ol' Muppets:


and some classic Meatloaf:


By the way... it's not root beer, so stop offering it in place of DP, okay?

it's hard work...

This losing tooth stuff, and looking like a jack-o-lantern a little late in the season is hard work for my little Brenna.
Obviously:

The toothless wonder was tired and I suggested she take a nap,
to which she obliged.
Oh, I love it when my children obey!

Background: This is tooth #4 that she's lost and she literally pulled it out on her own. I'm not capable of pulling teeth, quite frankly it grosses me out. But she wiggled that thing back and forth all day long and finally before bedtime, I suggested that she give it a twist. It worked, and today at school, she got the beloved tooth necklace... again!
She then placed it so neatly while napping, because it can't get wrinkled, you know.

Holy Cow--- it's Abby's Birthday!!!!

Let it be noted that 7 years ago today I was in the hospital, with lots and lots of drugs in my system, but my entire body was numb... not a feeling I like so much. Doctors and nurses poked and prodded for hours, while I ate ice chips and had others telling me how strong my contractions were. Was I feeling them? Nope, because at that point I fell in love with the anesthesiologist (who earns his pay as far as I'm concerned) and it was a good thing he did his job right because after an easy labor, 30 minutes of official pushing...
my 9lb. 4oz. baby cow, I mean GIRL was born!!!
(you wouldn't know it now by how petite she is!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBY JANE!!!!
I love this little girl more than I ever thought possible!
She is by far my more challenging child, but honestly in just the last few days (that's sad to admit), we have had a break through and I'm finally learning how to deal with and learn from this beautiful little girl of mine! Abby is in many ways my opposite, but I now know that's because she was brought to me to teach me and to help me grow as her mother. I am so grateful to have been given that title and that I have my sweet Abby in my family!

Abby is, not only...
SMART
BEAUTIFUL
LOVING
WITTY
TENDER
THOUGHTFUL
KIND
SINCERE
FUNNY
...but
SHE'S MINE!

I LOVE YOU ABBERS!!!!

P.S. Check out the treats she brought to class today:

HALLELUJAH!

Just in case you can't read the blur- It says $2.35/gallon!

That = a full tank for under $30.00!

And yes, I totally did a happy dance in the parking lot!

halloween!

The girls are in bed, and I think I had one too many Reeses Peanut Butter cups (which, by the way, my girls think is the plural form because when they see an individual Reeses, they call it a "Reese" without fail! So funny!), and I can't sleep.

Our day was FULL with fun activities, and here's proof of the fun we had!

Queen Abby before school this morning

and my poser Brenna before school as well

off to school for the beginning of the inevitable sugar high that hopefully won't last too long!

then being the mother of the year that I am, had to have a reminder phone call about the parade at school that "everyone" goes to and is a "huge deal"... so I finished the work I was doing and Brenna (who was already home from kindergarten) and I ran down to the school to see Abby in the big event.
(she was a not so entertained by her mother wanting to take her picture and looked away too fast because she didn't want to hold up the line... oh well- here's Abby... parading away! HI!

Brenna saw several of her friends, and since they weren't technicallay in the official parade, they stopped for a few shots:
(above) Brenna, Sierra & Ellie
(below) Ashley & Brenna- they're BFF's (this week) and write notes to each other (already?!)
and Brenna and her teacher, the amazing Mrs. Hylton... oh, we LOVE her!

We also saw my friend Sarah who always has the cutest family themed costumes.
This year was Star Wars and I practically fell in love with her little Sami (only girl, with 3 brothers)...
LOOK AT THOSE BROWN ROSE PRINCESS LEAH BUNS!!!!!!

Then, a few hours later Jason, Janna and Claire came down and we had dinner. I made a yummy dip type thing that Janna found online and it was delicious! (I'll post it later here.)
Janna made these yummy dessert cups for us too:

then it was time to head out for trick-or-treating!
Claire got to ride in the wagon... lucky girl :)

the girls at Abby's primary teachers house... I didn't get her whole face in the pic, but she was darling and was so excited to see the girls!

and then we saw one of our favorite families and had to get a picture of their dog in his devil costume. Candi lovingly referred to him (or her??) as the spawn of Satan... I love this lady!

this was too funny to not post...
a funny neighbor had to go a little extreme for his halloween decor (I can't help but LOVE the W.T. truck!)
It was pretty funny!

And now we're done... and tired so they joined Claire in the wagon and went home

HOPE EVERYONE HAD AS MUCH FUN TODAY AS WE DID
and again, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!


P.S. how rad are these???
my visiting teacher brought these over last night and although I've seen these in random magazines, seeing them up close was so much cooler! The best part is that the inside is a pretzel rod, so it's like you're biting into the bone!!!
Brenna was having a fit and as she was eating her breakfast this morning, she insisted that she couldn't look at them while eating, so I had to move them out of her sight!

Now I'm tired... good night.

Happy Birthday Mom... 5 days ago!

I didn't forget to post this, I just hadn't uploaded the pictures yet from my cute moms birthday last week! Her big day was on the 23rd and since she had to go to work that day, Janna and I decided to go visit her and take some treats into her office. Brenna and I met Janna and little Claire there and hung out with mom for a little bit, and then had lunch @ Zupas (LOVED IT!) where we met Sandie too. It was a fun afternoon!

The world/neighborhood needed to know it was her big day and I obnoxiously put this in the front window that stayed up for a solid 24 hours!


Mom is loved at her work and her friends decorated her office for her
(only one got caught in the action!)


Claire and Brenna hanging out...
one minute they love each other,
and the next Claire is dominating Brenna by pulling her hair until Brenna freezes where she's at, cries and waits for Claire to say "I wrorry" followed with a hug.
Then it happens all over again!

Little Miss Claire helping "Manga" open her presents that night at Janna & Jasons house.

Happy Birthday to my cute mom!
She is one of the strongest women I know, with talents and abilities (that weren't passed down to me, darn it) and I, as well as MANY others are in awe of her strengths and abilities!
She is proof that struggles and trials can only make you stronger,
and I love her for her daily example of that!

Thanks for always being there for me and for being my "AMAZING" mama!

LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!

renewed!

(soon I will actually post pictures of my family, promise...)

...but for now, I wanted to share this for any of you who have been following this story. For a few months now, I've heard off and on as well as seen many auctions, fundraisers, bake sales, concerts, 5K runs, etc. held on behalf of a couple who were burned from a plane crash in mid-August.

My sister Janna was over here recently and she pulled up a the blog of the burn victim, Stephanie Nielsons sister, Jane. She read a few entries to my mom and I and all of us were in tears listening to their amazing stories of faith & love.

Their love story seriously seems like your classic fairytale, or a great Hollywood script that has yet to be put on the big screen. If this is as far as their story goes, that's okay with me because it has touched my heart so deeply and I think it's one that should be told over and over and over again.

A few articles that I have read over the past few days have not only brought me to tears, but they've renewed my faith and belief in the power of prayer more so than I ever thought possible!
This one was fabulous! It, more or less tells the "story" of what happened and so much more.

How can you not believe in miracles after reading this post from her sisters blog, or this article?!

i don't think i'll EVER get use to this!

WELCOME TO UTAH FOLKS!



Meet Bambi, strapped to the back of a 1987 Ford Bronco
in a semi-shrink wrapped animal carcass bag thing with its head literally
BOBBING UP AND DOWN ALONG THE I-15 CORRIDOR IN UTAH COUNTY!

SO. NOT. OKAY. WITH. IT.

YUCK!!!

It makes me think of this video though:


(Ignore the off color comments and find the humor in it, please. It's funny!)

GO! GO! GO!

Thank heavens for early voting poles (as well as a smart Mama who reminded us!)

If you can't do it early,
make sure you do it on NOVEMBER 4th!

my sweet talker...

It's a cold fall day and the wind is blowing all the leaves off the trees in the neighborhood as we speak. LOVE IT! What I don't love is when my 5 year old has quicker comebacks than I do, i.e.:

I just told Brenna that I was freezing and she said
"No mom, you're actually just crazy!'

I wonder where she gets her keen sense of sarcasm from????

Palin vs. Palin

It doesn't take much to entertain me, but Saturday Night Live does a good job of making me laugh out loud more often than not. Even though SNL isn't on my priority list like it was in high school (after church dances!)--- this was on last night and oh how I loved it!

follow the yellow brick road

On our way to Star Valley a few weeks ago, we stopped at the one and only McDonalds I ever frequent in Evanston, WY. This place seriously has plasma TV's in the bathrooms... I think it's probably the classiest place in Evanston!

Anyway, I ordered my girls their Happy Meals and they got to choose their toy. It was during the time of Madame Alexanders Wizard of Oz dolls and Abby & Brenna both chose the only two girl figurines in the set.
Abby looked at me and said:
"Look mom, I got a midget girl!"

Me: "No my child, that would be a munchkin. Thanks for playing!"

(If only she knew of her mothers issues in life!)

fun october night

Tonight Janna and my cute niece Claire came over to play and we had fun letting that little 18 month old entertain us... she's at such a fun age!

We got them to sit still long enough to take a few pictures on Grandmas new COMPLETED front porch (it's beautiful, btw!)



Then I saw this idea on a blog somewhere... I can't remember where, but I saw it and was stoked! Since I'm still the single 30 year old mama, um with braces... I don't get the privilege of eating caramel apples this time of year.
But mini caramel apples... YES! I am ALL over it!

It started with an apple... a pretty apple that we abused with a mellon baller:

(Abby said it looked like a really fat worm ate it's way through it!)

and then we stuck toothpicks in them, and after much trial and ERROR, we dipped them in chocolate first (the caramel was having issues)
then we drizzled the too thick caramel on them and decorated the little bite sized mini apples and made them festive!
more of the finished product:

and this little girl was so funny playing peak-a-boo with me!