Ho, Ho, Ho! Merry Christmas! Our Christmas was great. The kids are at a fun age and very excited about everything. Santa brought Ellie a dollhouse, Caden a bouncy castle, and Maxwell a musical cube. I got my Dyson vacuum and Ryan got wireless speakers. Ellie got a doll from us, Caden a Cars race track, and Maxwell a new Joovy stroller. They also got a lot of great gifts from grandparents. Thank you everyone!

Here are some pics. Be sure to click to view the slideshow.

It has been a week full of Christmas fun. Monday we delivered homemade goodies to our friends and neighbors. Tuesday, I went to a cookie exchange and came home with 2 dozen different cookies. Wednesday, was Ryan's company party. They had a dinner up at a dude ranch. Friday, we drove through Starfest, a mile long drive through a light display. Saturday, we attended the Come Unto Christmas program at our Stake Center. They have hundreds of nativities on display and performances by local choirs. It was definitely a week to get in the Christmas Spirit. We also finished up all the Christmas shopping and wrapped all the gifts. I even got one of my Christmas gifts early :0 ! I finally got a Dyson Slim. I love it! We have been needing a new vacuum and decided to get this one. It took a little convincing on my part but once Ryan saw how well it was constructed and how light it was and how amazingly genius this vacuum is he was convinced it was money well spent. So HO, HO, HO and happy vacuuming!

And for some more Christmas Spirit click on the videos below. Ellie has been constantly singing christmas songs and is teaching them to Caden.

We had our ward Christmas party on Saturday. It was really nice. They did a fancy ham dinner with real place settings. The primary did a nativity and we sang some carols. The finale was a visit from Santa. You can view pics below. Be sure to click on the picture to open up the entire album. I made sugar cookies tonight. The kids helped cut them out and decorate them. My secret is to not use store bought frosting but to make your own icing and "paint" it on with a pastry brush. Yummy.

Christmas Party 2007

We got a little bit of snow overnight. Yeah! But it was all melted by noon. I finally took some photos of the house all decorated for the Holidays. My shopping is done and cards and packages have been mailed. Now the festivites can begin :).

dec

Thanksgiving has come and gone. I am not a fan of Thanksgiving Day or of turkey. But I am thankful. Our tradition has been to go out to a nice Thanksgiving dinner (which is very fun and I highly recommend it if you have never done it) but this year we decided to stay home because 3 kids in a fancy restraunt isn't that great of an idea. We invited another family over for dinner and they offered to bring the Turkey! They have a smoker and smoked the turkey all day. It was the best turkey I have ever had. We had a good time and good food. I made the sides and we each made a pie. Then we played games til late. It was really laid back and fun.

Friday and Saturday we did a little shopping and pulled out our Christmas decorations. We put up our lights and wreaths and put up our tree. We haven't finished decorating yet but it looks good. I love just sitting on the couch with the fire going and looking at the lights. I am excited to have 5 more weeks to do that. :)

Today some other friends invited us over for another Thanksgiving dinner. It was nice to eat, talk and hang out. I am VERY grateful for all the good friends we have here in Bend.

We are home and had a great vacation. Here's the run down.

Oct 31st: Halloween! We lounged during the day and took the kids out trick-or-treating in the evening. Ellie was WAY into it this year. She did not want to stop. It was fun and the weather was warm. The first Halloween the kids didn't have to wear coats. I think Grandma had fun taking the kids to her friends and neigbors.

Nov 1st: Ryan owed me some birthday shopping and a nice meal. We went to Tyson's Corner and litterally shopped til we dropped. I don't think Ryan realized that I could spend 6 hours at a mall! I found a great pair of jeans, some awesome Dansko shoes, and bought some new makeup at the Bare Minerals store. We ate at a delicous Italian restraunt for lunch. It was a great day.

Nov 2 & 3rd: We drove down to Williamsburg and stayed the night at the Great Wolf Lodge. It was so much fun. They have a huge indoor waterpark exclusively for hotel guests. Ellie even went down the big waterslides. We all had a blast. Saturday night Ryan's conference started. I decided to stay with him at Kingsmill Resort and Spa and my parents took the kids back up to their house.

Nov 4 & 5th: The time at Kingsmill was awesome. I got to sleep in, go to the spa, shop, read, and just relax. Ryan and I would hang out in the evenings. The conference hosts some good dinners and parties which was fun. My monday I was missing the kids and was anxious to get home. I caught a ride back up to my parents early Tues. morning with an old family friend from Chesapeake. Ryan had to stay at the conference til Wednesday.

Nov 6 & 7th: We spent the time relaxing and just hanging out. Ryan got back and announced he "broke" my parents car that he borrowed. (We sent the Van rental back with my parents and the kids). Ryan went to pop the gas lid and accidently popped the hood without realizing it. Shortly after pulling out of the gas station the hood flipped up. It hit hard enough to dent the hood of the car and couldn't be relatched. Luckily he wasn't going to fast and there wasn't too much traffic. He was able to immediately pull over without hitting anyone. When he took the car to the shop the guys were amazed. They said that they have never seen the hood pop up and NOT break the windshield and dent the top of the car. Ryan was very lucky.

Nov 8 & 9th: We went into the city and took the kids to some museums. We visited the Air and Space museum. Caden loved all the airplanes and the rockets and Ellie was really into the planets. Then we went to the Museum of Natural History. They thought it was cool to see the dinosaurs especially the "doggy" dinosaur from the Night at the Museum movie. Ellie Loved the Hope Diamond and got a Hope Necklace as a souvenir. We also went to the Bureau of Engraving and watched them print all the money. It was one of my most favorite things. Very Very interesting. The next day we went to Merrifields and scoped out all the Christmas stuff. My mom bought me a Krinkle Christmas Tree. Not to be confused with the Krinkle ornament tree. :)

Nov 10th: We packed and headed for the airport. Our flight didn't leave til 3 pm. It was a long day and we didn't get back home to Bend til 130 am. The flights were mostly full this time and the kids were tired. They were pretty good though and slept for most of the last leg and all of the drive back to Bend from Portland.

It was a great trip. I think the kids wore grandma and grandpa out but we all had fun.

Wow! What a week! Somehow I Ryan and I ended up in charge of 3 parties all in the same weekend. Friday, was the ward Halloween Carnival and trunk or treat. I had volunteered to be in charge way back at the end of August. It was a great success. We had 11 booths including face painting, a cupcake walk, and a photo shoot. The kids had a great time. Then Saturday was the Annual Stake High Priest dinner and activity which Ryan was in charge of. We did a Jeopardy game with fun questions. It took us over 3 hours Saturday morning to set up. We had 22 tables. We came up with some awesome pumpkin centerpieces. It looked great. Ryan made a great Alex Trebec and even programmed the whole Jepordy game from scratch. Lots of compliments and everyone had a good time. Sunday night we had an open house for a family that got sealed in the temple. Traci coordinated the whole thing so I didn't have much to stress about. I just had to clean my house and make some food. A lot of people came to congratulate the Candlands and I think it turned out really well. It was a really fun weekend and I am so glad everything went smoothly.

My friend Linz sent me a Halloween Apron for my birthday. I put it on and got to work making pumpkin cookies. Seriously, these are the best Pumpkin Cookies I have ever made. Its a Halloween Miracle! Or a Halloween Apron miracle! 3 other things contributed to making these cookies perfect: 1. My Kitchen Aid mixer, I have only had this for 2 years now but have no idea how I ever lived without it. 2. The convection oven, I love it. It cuts baking time in half b/c you can do multiple sheets at a time and everything comes out perfectly cooked. There is no way I can go back to baking cookies in a conventional oven. 3. A new, all natural,unbleached flour I used for the first time. When I opened the bag I could SMELL the freshness. I could totally see and taste a difference in these cookies. The dough was elastic and perfect. Can't wait to use this flour with cinnamon rolls and pizza dough.
I will post the recipe but there are a couple rules that go with the Pumpkin Cookies.
1. These cookies are ONLY to be made September - November.
2. Never Ever use milk chocolate chips in place of the semi-sweet.
3. No kidding and no Exceptions!!!

Now if you agree to follow the above rules you can try the recipe.

Pumpkin Cookies

3 c. sugar
1 c. shortening
3 eggs, beaten
29 oz. can Libby's pumpkin
4 tbls baking powder
3 tsp vanilla
3 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
6 c. flour
1 pkg. chocolate chips

Combine sugar, shortening and eggs. Add next 5 ingredients. Mix well. Add flour 2 cups at a time. Dough will be thick. Stir in chocolate chips. Grease cookie sheet. Drop by rounded spoonful. Bake 350 for 15 min. Or 325 for 13 min. if using a convection oven :)

Ellie's Preschool took a fieldtrip to the Central Oregon Pumpkin Patch. I was able to bring Caden along. The pumpkin patch is awesome. They have so much to do there. A petting zoo, zoo train, corn maze, pumpkin launcher, slide, giant pirate ship, stores and food vendors. It is located at the base of Smith Rock and is absolutely gorgeous. Check it out www.pumpkinco.org .

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go with the Youth on an overnight temple trip. We left friday morning and drove up to Portland. After the temple we headed down to the Coast for the night. We had a bonfire on the beach. The kids had a lot of fun. On Saturday we visited tidepools, hiked up to a lighthouse and played on the beach. The weather was awesome and the skies were clear. It was so beautiful.

Ellie got the flu the day before we left. She was so sick and so miserable. She even had to miss a friends birthday party. She is doing a lot better but still has a bad cough. I just hope the rest of us can stay healthy.

My sister announced her engagement. She is going to be getting married to Nathan next Fall. I am excited to meet him. Hopefully they can come out for the holidays. Congratulations Katie!

My great grandmother passed away last week and her funeral was on Monday. She was 89 years old. After reading her obituary and other articles about her life I realize just how little I know of my relatives. I am curious to learn more especially from my Dad's side of the family. I have a picture somewhere of her with my daughter and all of the generations in between. That is 5 generations. Wow.

Bend is known for its many community activities and festivals. We have one every season and many events in between. This weekend was the Fall Festival. It was a perfect Fall day, cool and blustery. We have noticed over the years that the festivals are getting more and more kid friendly (as is all of Bend). They had one whole street just for kids with face painting, hay maze, pony rides, bouncy castles, pumpking painting contest and many more activities. Here is a little slide show from the day.

I have ordered many things online from companies such as Amazon, Target, B&N, and Oriental Trading. They always offer free standard shipping if you order X amount of dollars. Then when you are checking out it says that your order won't arrive until 2-3 weeks with standard shipping but you can upgrade your shipping for a fee. I wonder if people actually give in to their ploys and pay for shipping b/c they don't want to wait for the "free standard shipping". Every time I have selected the standard shipping option they have shipped my item within 2 days and I usually have it within a week. This would be the same as if I have selected and paid for priority shipping. So please, if you order online, look for free shipping and USE it. The company isn't really going to hold your package for 2-3 weeks.

Many of you have read and commented on my post 30 long months. In my quest for clothes my friend recommended a little place downtown called santee alley. I stopped by there this weekend and found a "HOT" (Ryans words, not mine) pair of jeans, a top and a sweater. I was very excited to actually have a pair of jeans that fit me but when I got home and put them on I realized the zipper does not stay up!!! Now I have to find time to take the jeans back and I think that was the last pair in my size :(. And this is NOT a place where you can take 3 little kids. aarrgghhh.

I got my hair cut and colored this past week and I love it. This was her last chance b/c I wasn't happy with the last cut or color. But she pulled through and did a good job. However, it took her 3 hours!! She has an assistant now which means she is double booking people. I sat there for probably 30 min. total while she was working on the other cut and color. This really annoyed me. Again, who has time to spend 3 hours in the salon?

I was catching up on all my favorite posts when I saw that I had been tagged. So here it goes.

What I was doing 10 years ago... Living in cute little townhouse in Provo, attending BYU, trying to figure out who I was and what I wanted to do.

What I was doing 5 years ago... Living in Northern VA, commuting into D.C., working 10+ hour days at the Madera Hotel as the reservations manager & conference services coordinator.

What I was doing 1 year ago... Just moved to Utah for our brief 6 month stay. 5 months pregnant with Maxwell. Wondering if we had made the right decision in moving and leaving the hotel industry for the opportunity to make a film.

What I was doing yesterday... Watching conference, playing at the Fall Festival and stressing about my cinnamon rolls that I didn't have enough ingredients for.

5 places I'd rather be... at the spa, in bed asleep, the Oregon Coast, on vacation anywhere, Disney World

5 snacks/treats I love... Chocolate, brownies, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, thin mints, Death by Chocolate Cake

What I would do with 100 million dollars... Buy an island, a company, a house, a plane, and anything else I wanted. I would give some away to family and charity and invest some.

5 Favorite TV shows... Lost (starts Feb '08), the Office, Amazing Race (Feb '08), Project Runway (Premiers Nov. 14th), Ugly Betty


5 people to tag...Wayne T., Korbie T., Alex C., Kendra F., Katie F. (this means that you have to answer these questions on your own blog.) :)

I lay in bed doing calculations in my head. Over the past 5 years, actually a little less, (57 months) I have been pregnant for 30 of those months. That is more than HALF the time! 3 Kids in 3 years and 4 months. Here is the breakdown: F/W '02 Pregnant with Ellie. Fall '03 Ellie arrives. F/W '04 pregnant with Caden. F/W '05 Caden is 3 months old. F/W '06 pregnant with Max. F/W '07 Max is 8 months old. Now I know why I have NO Fall / Winter clothes. Seriously! And the few things I do have are too big :) b/c I got them just 3 months after having my 2nd baby. The reason why I was agonizing over this when I should be sleeping is because I spent hours this weekend trying to shop for clothes. I ended up with 1 shirt and a skirt/blouse for church. I have no idea what my "style" is or what I like or what looks good. And because I have being buying pretty much "disposable" clothes for the past 5 years since my body has been constantly changing I have a really hard time spending lots of $$$ on an outfit. Sure I found some things I liked but I'm not going to spend upwards of $60 on a shirt. We don't have a mall here so keep in mind my selections are limited. I really really need some new clothes but am frustrated b/c it has been so hard to find anything. And I don't know what is up with all these baby doll shirts. I am NOT pregnant, WHY would I want to wear something that makes me look/feel pregnant????

But on a lighter note Caden snuck into the garage refidgerator while I was getting ready for church this morning and ate through 3 popsicles :) Ellie knew he was in there and didn't say anything!!! Thats what we get for teaching her not to tattle.

I love fall. The food, the smells, the colors, the weather. Not to mentions the holidays and birthdays :) This is my favorite time of year. The leaves have changed, the mountains have snow and the temps have dropped (high 50s day, mid 30s night). We had Sunday pot roast for dinner, I made pumpkin bread friday, and I have clam chowder on my menu this week. MMMmmmmm . . comfort food. I love to wear sweats, snuggle up with a blanket and watch all the premiers of my favorite shows. I get to wear jeans and sweaters and all my favorite colors (brown, red, green, orange, black). And with the shorter days I actually manage to get in bed at a reasonable time. Whats not to love?

I seriously can't deal with a 2 year olds irrational behavior. My past hour has gone something like this. Caden screams "Breakfast!" I tell him he already had breakfast, but ask if he would like something else? A bannana? Caden agrees, I tell him to go sit down. He screams because I put the bannana on a black napkin instead of a white one. I put the bib on. He screams. He rips it off. So I take the bib and rinse the morning cheerios out and hang it to dry. Caden screams for his bib. I put it back on him. He screams because it is a tiny bit damp. I take it off. He screams because he wants it. I tell him it is wet and offer him 3 other bibs. He screams. He continues screaming because he is cold and needs a bib. You need a bib because you are cold? Seriously, now that he can make sentances he does, but sometimes they don't make sense. I try to explain again that the bib is wet, he is not cold and just eat your bannana. He screams. I put him in time out and threaten to take the bannana away. He screams. I get him out of time out. He gives me a hug. He sits down to eat his bannana and wants a bib. Again I offer 3 bibs. He screams b/c he wants his bug bib. He goes back in time out. He comes out of time out and gives me a hug. He sits down to eat his banana. He asks for a bib. He decides on the "vegetable" one FINALLY! He takes a bite of his bannana FINALLY! He cries for more milk. I explain that he has half a cup of milk. He screams. I tell him to drink his milk. He screams. Finally he drinks his milk. He eats more bananna. His hands get dirty. He screams. I tell him to wipe it on his napkin. He screams because the napkin is black. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH. And it is only 930 am.

Ellie turned 4 today! She had a Pirate Party to celebrate. Everyone had a lot of fun and tonight when I was putting her in bed she thanked me for the "best birthday ever". And that is what makes it all worth it. :) The party started off with the coolest invitations. I diped paper in coffee to stain it and make it look old. I then printed the invite in Pirate language and used an treasure map with an X as a watermark. I torn and burned the edges for the finishing touches. Ellie & Caden dressed up in their Pirate costumes that I made. They looked so good. I also made a pirate ship cake with cannons, sails, and a pirate and treasure on top. When everyone arrived we decorated their pirate hats with feathers, jewels, and puffy paint. We also colored some pirate pictures. Then we played pin the key on the treasure map. Each kid had a key they tried to pin on the X of a treasure map. They were blindfolded and spun around 3 times. Then we ate lunch. We had hotdogs with sails to make look like a ship and some goldfish "swimming" on the plate. After lunch came the awesome cake. The kids seemed to love it. Then we did the treasure hunt. There were 5 clues to find the buried treasure. Each child got a treasure box with gold coins (plastic and chocolate), necklace, ring, compass, telescope, skull wistle, treasure map, pirate money and an eyepatch. I found the awesome pirate favors at walmart in a party pack and then just added the coins and necklaces. After the treasure hunt the kids came in to open gifts. Ellie got a lot of fun toys. Then everyone went outside to play until the parents came to pick them up. I would say it was a sucess. The only thing that suffered was my poor jute rug under my kitchen table. There was SOOOO much chocolate cake smeared into it. I got it all cleaned up though with my trusty steam vac and now it is just drying. Click below for pics and video from the Party.

Fall has arrived here in Bend. Its dark at 7 and definitely jacket weather in the morning and evenings. I love it! But the shorter days are messing me up. I feel like it 10 pm when it is only 7. And I find myself getting tired much earlier. I had to run some errands today and when I left the house it was already dark. It was weird. But the kids love it. They think I am letting them stay up late every night :)

Caden put 2/3 of a jar of hair wax in his head today. And then repeatedly said Beautiful! But after a couple minutes he realized he didn't like the way it felt with all this goop in his hair. I did manage to get a picture.

Ellies birthday festivites began today. She recieved a package from Grandma S. and opened it (with permission). Thanks for the great gifts! Ellie is boucing off the walls with excitement for her birthday. I don't know if she can wait til Saturday for her party.

Well, Ryan is back and we are all loving it. The kids just can't get enough of him. We basically had a 3 day weekend which was nice. We got some yard work done and basically just spent time hanging out together. I did manage to sneak away for a couple of hours on Friday night for some much needed "me" time.

I sold the 3 costumes so far! And I have had multipe requests for other costumes. I need to get busy sewing. I also need to make Caden his pirate costume this week. Ellie's Pirate Party is on Saturday and I thought Caden should have something to dress up in too.

I love it when babies get to this stage. Max just started sitting up on his own last week. He loves to play with toys and balls. I can't believe he is almost 8 months old. He can't quite maneuver around yet but I'm sure he will be crawling before I know it.

Has it really been six days since my last blog?

I have been staying really busy with the kids and the house since Ryan hasn't been here to help out. By the time I get the kids to bed and the house organized I'm so tired that all I can do is just sit and relax or go to bed myself. Only 2 more days til he comes home. Yeah!

I have had some trying moments with the kids since he has been away. But overall they are great kids and make me smile. Here is a list of my favorite things they have done this week:

1. Ellie "reading" Caden books.
2. Caden standing in Max's crib at 2 a.m. trying to stop him from crying by sharing all his toys
3. Max sitting up on his own and playing with toys
4. Ellie singing primary songs
5. Caden hugging Ellie when she is sad or crying
6. Max laughing and getting really excited every time I feed him "real" food
7. Ellie donating all her piggy bank money to help people that don't have clothes or blankets
8. Caden and Ellie playing picnic or hide-and-seek or pretending to be asleep
9. Ellie drawing pictures and writing ellie loves mom at the top of the page
10. Caden saying "ooohhh beautiful" to ellie when he saw her in her church dress and ellie sooo excited caden had paid her this great compliment.

Crater Lake was awesome. We just drove down there for the day. We left here around 9 and made it there by 11. The lake is so blue. It is the deepest lake in the U.S. and the 7th deepest in the world. They have a really nice campground there too. Next summer we hope to go down and camp then take a boat ride out to the island and around the lake. We drove around the rim but didn't hike down to the water. It is a steep mile hike down on loose gravel. Spectacular views from the rim though.

We did some fun things with Ryan's parents before they left for their cruise. On Saturday we drove up through Sisters. We did a little shopping and had lunch there. Sisters is a quaint little cowboy town that is full of professional artists. It is fun to walk down mainstreet and browse the shops. Then we drove up to Camp Sherman and went to the fish hatchery there. The hatchery is located on the Metolious River. The river is very blue and just beautiful. The hatchery was mostly empty but they did have a pond full of huge trout. The kids loved seeing all the fish. We will have to go back in the spring when the hatchery is at full capacity.

Ryans parents came to visit us for the weekend. They drove up from Utah. We went bowling tonight. The kids love to bowl and then we play some arcade games. I was winning until the last frame when Ryan pulled out 2 strikes. Tomorrow we are going to the museum and then on Saturday they are going to babysit so we can go see a movie :)

The kids were super excited to see them. I think they miss living so close. It is going to be a fun weekend.

We had our "P" Party last night. It was a Personal Progress Pizza Pajama Party. I interviewed the girls individually abt their Personal Progress while the others ate all sorts of P food and did pedicures. Then we played Pingo (Bingo with Personal Progress Words). It was fun. For prizes I did each of them up a gift bag and when they got Pingo I gave them the gift bag and had them pick out one thing and tell how it related to Personal Progress. After a couple rounds I gave the rest of the gift bags out so everyone got something. The bags were full of "P" items:

1. Pad of Paper (magnetic to stick on locker)
2. Pencils
3. Pens
4. Pocket Tissue (for those Spiritual PP moments)
5. Petroleum (Lip Smackers - Pucker up to PP)
6. Purell (Purify yourself with PP)
7. Peppermints (Pop a Peppermint and Ponder PP)
8. Polish (nail polish trio) (Polish up on your PP goals)
9. Pouf (PP will keep you clean)
10. Picture frame (magnetic) (Picture yourself doing PP)
11. Post-its (Post your PP Goals)

It was a blast. The girls had a really good time and I enjoyed meeting with each of them. Now hopefully I can keep them all motivated enough to do PP.

I have some random thoughts today.

1. Ellie and I got our hair cut today. She looks so cute. She got little wispy bangs and her hair cut to her chin in a cute little bob. She loves getting her hair cut. Such a GIRL!

2. The Ringworm is back. Ellie's spot on her back faded but never went completely away and is now coming back. She also has another spot of it on her belly. I can't figure out why this new spot has shown up. Both of them are under her clothes which I wash after each wear. Hmmmm. I have decided to follow a different treatment plan this time. I am going with Tea Tree Oil which is supposed to dry the spot out within a couple of days. Which I guess is all you have to do to effectively kill the fungus.

3. Caden begs to use the potty all day long. I can't handle this. i don't want him using the potty. I'm not ready to potty train him. It has been nice that he has gone poo poo in the potty almost everyday but now he wants to go pee pee in the potty. He has done it twice but wants to sit on the potty (or more importantly flush the potty) every hour. I don't have time for this. And I don't think he is completely ready to go without a diaper. He can't even pull down his own pants so he is certainly not ready. Any thoughts?

Our friends invited us over for a vegetable harvest FHE. It was great. We walked over and let Ellie ride her bike. Then we picked broccoli, carrots, potatoes, radishes, beans, tomatoes, and corn. The kids were so excited to pick the veggies and can't wait to eat them! One of these days when my kids are older I hope to have a garden of my own.

Ellie is getting so tall. I can't believe how fast she is growing. At the beginning of summer when we got her the bike she could barely touch the pedals. Now she can easily pedal without extending her leg all the way. We were also trying on clothes to see what fit and what didn't. Jeans that I bought this spring are way short on her now.

There is nothing better than homemade chocolate cookies on a Sunday afternoon.

This weekend was our Stake Conference. It was extra special b/c we got a new stake president and had a visiting apostle. Elder Richard G. Scott presided and spoke to us. The adult session was awesome as was the general session. This was the most edifying stake conference I have been to. Maybe because I was prepared and planned on getting a lot out of conference. My kids were great and each speaker was amazing. It was not the same as listening to the apostles and prophet during General Conference. I felt more that Elder Scott was speaking directly to me and our stake and it was certaintly less formal and more of a discussion. One thing that I learned is that motherhood is a very important calling and even though it is mundane changing diapers, fixing meals etc. it is soooo important that we teach our children to live the gospel so that they can survive in this world. I knew this before but now I know it even more and understand more fully the importance. So when I fell like I don't "do" anything I need to remember that I am doing the most important work there is, teaching and loving my children.

Finished a costume completely. It looks awesome. Will post pics soon.
Cleaned the downstairs and it is still somewhat clean :)
Working on uploading a lots of inventory on ebay from the shawnmitchell store.

Last night I heard something at the side of my bed at about 4 in the morning. I forced myself to open my eyes and looked around in the dark. I didn't see anything so rolled over and went back to sleep. Then at 630 in the morning Ellie came down and said mom, mom why is Caden sleeping under your bed? What??? So again I forced myself to open my eyes and sure enough his head was under my bed and the rest of his body under my side table. He was totally asleep. I tried to pry him out and bring him into bed with us (it was freezing in our house) but he was stuck. His head some how got wedged between the headboard and the feet of our mattress frame. I don't know how he managed to sleep like that and why he didn't wake me up when he came down to our room. I think I will lock him in his room tonight so he can't get out and wander the house while we are all sleeping. Then if he does wake up we will here him b/c he will start crying if his door is locked and he wants out. Tip: In order to lock caden in his room we switched the door knobs so we can lock it from the outside and he can't lock himself in.

And for those of you that live in Bend: Kona Mixed Plate is really yummy and very kid friendly.

I manage a few websites that I will be linking to from my blog. Most of you probably don't know why or anything about them so I thought I would write and let you know how I am connected.

1. The Summary (www.thesummary.net)

This was my first website. It is not very good but I will be redoing it and updating content sometime soon. Basically it is a site dedicated to parties and holidays. This is definitely a work in progress (and has been for some time).

2. Shawn Mitchell Clothing (www.shawnmitchellstore.com)

I did not design this site but I add new inventory and keep things updated. This site sells infant and toddler boy clothing. Great summer items on sale and new fall / winter clothes will be added within the next week.

3. Max and Cheese (www.maxandcheese.com)

Ryan designed the site and I added the content. I will be adding menu items and pictures as soon as they become available. The cafe will be opening sometime this fall. I am helping out with the marketing. Had we stayed in Utah we would of been partners in this venture. But I do what I can from here and we hope to bring a Max and Cheese to Bend in a year.

I got 2 pages done in my scrapbook! Thanks to a YW activity. Now I have a total of 4 pages done. This is for Ellies scrapbook of her first year. I know, its pathetic. Needless to say the boys are getting nothing. Obviously, I am not into scrabooking but I bought all the stuff to do ellies book for her first year and here it is 3 years later and I have only completed 4 pages. Maybe I can get the rest done before she goes to college :)

I have decided it is much easier to just do a photo book and have it printed. I did this a couple of years ago for Christmas and it turned out great. You just upload your photos, lay them out how you want them to look in the book and they professionally print and bind the book. My kids love to look at it. Check it out at http://www.mypublisher.com/ . I know there are a lot of other companies that do this kind of thing too.

Something very sad happened today too. I was driving and a bird was level with my windshield. I slowed down but it didn't fly out of the way fast enough. I must of hit it with my front bumper and ran over it. There were feathers stuck in the back part of my front bumper by the tire. It was so sad and gross. Sorry, little bird.

But on a lighter note Target has Halloween shirts and candy out !!!

Caden is offically a big boy! He used the potty today for real. He has been telling me when he needs to go poopoo and has been sitting on the potty for the past couple weeks but has never done anything. Then today he actually went. It was great. I haven't even been potty training him or anything. It has all been on his own. I think he just wants to be like his big sister. We will see if this is a daily thing or if it was just a one time gig. I'm not ready to even begin potty training him, with a boy I have decided it is best to wait til he is closer to 3. But hey, if he is willing to do it then that is one less dirty diaper I have to change.

I am so addicted to crafting. My problem is I get great ideas and buy all the materials and then never use everything. Joanns was having a great sale this weekend. Tulle was just $1 for 2 yards. I ended up buying over 60 yards of tulle. I also got embellishments and flowers and all sorts of stuff. My craft box has turned into a craft closet. And there is no way I can fit all the tulle in my already full fabric bin. I do have 3 costumes that I have been commissioned to make - a butterfly fairy, a diva witch, and a harvest witch. Plus I still need to finish ellies pink pirate costume and start working on mine. I hope to get the first 2 done this week. I will post pictures as I get them made.

I realized a couple of weeks ago that every time I took the kids to Target or some other store I would let them pick something out of the dollar spot if they were good. It was a lifesaver for me b/c it is really hard to get shopping done and manage 3 kids at the same time. But we were ending up with a lot of junk and the kids came to expect to get something everytime we went anywhere. So we came up with an incentive program. If Ellie and Caden do their chores they get a Royal Ticket. They can also earn tickets for being good in stores, reverent in church, eating all their food, etc. Basically, anytime I need them to cooperate I say if you do this then you can get a ticket. Then for FHE one night we decorated a box as a treasure chest. We have filled it with toys, stickers, and some art supplies. Each item has a price. When they get enough tickets they can buy something from the treasure chest. Most items are 5 or 10 tickets. The treasure chest is also nice b/c when Ellie does see something at the store she really wants and I buy it the item goes in the treasure chest not just directly to her. The program has worked really well for ellie. She has done well saving up her tickets and gets really excited about what she is working to buy next. She even asks me if she can do chores. Caden is still a little young to grasp the concept but if he sees ellie getting tickets then he wants one too and I have him do a chore.

Now that we no longer have cats I had to change our title from 3 Kids and a Hairball. I have decided on Trick or Treat? Why? Because I love Halloween! And I have realized I can classify my days as Trick or Treats with an occassional Smell my Feet. Tricky days are the ones like today that are difficult and the kids are being crazy. Treat days are geat days where the kids are being good and having fun. Smell my Feet days are those really bad days when everything goes wrong and you wonder if you ever should of ever had kids in the first place. Hopefully we don't have too many of those. I would say most days are treat days but you never know with a 2 year old, they can be quite tricky.

Example: "Caden you need to pick up the cards before you get out a puzzle." So he goes into the closet and gets out a puzzle. I take it away and tell him he can play with it when the cards are picked up. The next thing i know Ellie is asking where Caden is and I find him in the dark hallway closet, with the door closed, playing with the puzzle. Obviously he knew he should not be playing with it. And when i took it away again he had a 30 min tantrum. Ahhh, life with a 2 year old.

Caden has been going through this phase of not napping. It is driving me crazy. He is soooo tired by 4 pm and extremely cranky. I still make him stay in his room but he will just sit there and play. I thought for sure after nearly 2 hours of being in there alone he would fall asleep. But no. It must just be a 2 year old phase where they are excited to excercise their independence and make choices. I will continue to put him down to "nap" in hopes that one of these days soon he does fall asleep.

Note: Ellie went through this same thing when she was 2 and I thought for sure she had given up naps for good but thankfully it was just a phase and she still take afternoon naps at 4 yrs old! I love it.

I took the cats back to the clinic that I adopted them from today. They must of known that I was going to return them. Last night one of them decided to pee all over Ellie's bean bag chair. I was able to remove the cover and wash it but the beans and liner had to be thrown out. Then this morning as I was getting ready to return the cats the black one decided it would be funny to poop and throw up in my closet. So, I just picked him up and put him directly in the kennel. The other cat tried to run when he figured out what i was doing but I finally caught him. I quickly loaded up the kids and called the clinic and told them I was on my way. I dropped them off, explained why I was returning them and none of us even shed a tear. Good Riddance!

Top 10 Reasons NOT to Adopt a Kitten

10. Meow for hours when left alone

9. Stinky litter that HAS to be changed daily

8. Scratch funiture and carpet

7. Yack up hairballs

6. Run through the house all night long and keep you awake

5. Chew through cords (electrical, blinds, etc.)

4. Scratch you with their long sharp nails

3. Cat hair everywhere

2. Pee on anything soft (blankets, bean bag chairs, etc)

1. Transmit diseases to your children (ie Ringworm)

We noticed a dry patch of skin on both of our kids yesterday and thought it was weird. We have also noticed that the cat has been losing patches of hair and in place is scaley skin. Well, we finally put two and two together and I think the cats have ringworm and have passed it on to our kids. I did some research on the internet to confirm my suspicions. So the cats are going back tomorrow and I don't think we will be replacing them any time soon. Its good that they are going back and I have a definative excuse for taking them back. The kids haven't been the nicest to them even though I think they mean well. I just think they are still too young to have a pet. I have found ellie kicking the cat and caden almost strangling it on several occasions. I'm not sure why they treat the cats so poorly and no amount of timeouts or no's have proven to be effective. Its funny b/c one cat stays clear of the kids (smart) but the other just begs to be tortured. I am not sure how the kids will react to them being gone but I'm sure it wont' be a big deal after a day or so.

My past came back to haunt me today. I was chatting with an old friend and he reminded me how selfish I was in my early 20s. I guess I didn't take into account anyones feelings except my own and by doing so I hurt other people. So, this apology goes out to him and anyone else I hurt back in my "college days". Thinking about the past just makes me grateful that I straightened up and turned out o.k. :)

I finished ellies pirate costume and she has decided she doesn't like it. :( She wants pink! But it is sooo cute and turned out great. I was impressed myself. One thing I have learned about sewing is that it takes patience and you can't skip steps. It also helps if you don't have 3 kids wanting your attention so I have decided sewing has to be a night only project. Ryan has encouraged me to take a sewing class so I can refine my skills. I will have to look into it b/c it sounds fun.

Ryan has been away and I have not been able to sleep. Not because he is not here (I love having the bed to myself) but because I can't turn off my mind. It is a common problem I have. With the upcoming holiday season (and I mean bdays and Halloween!) there is a lot to plan and do. I started researching costumes and have come up with a great one for ellie. I have already started making it and lets just say it includes a tutu. Every costume ellie has MUST include frills b/c she is all about being a princess. Anyway, I found that I can make these tutus very easily. There are several people out on the internet selling them and I have seen them in boutiques for lots of $$$. I think I may make them for friends and may even have a go of it on ebay. Then with each tutu you can create a whole costume. People are selling these tutu costumes on ebay for $75 and up. Can you believe it?? And they are selling like hotcakes. So there must be other people out there that love halloween as much as me. :) Well when I finish this project I will post a pic and I guarantee all of you who have little girls will want one!

My other source of insomnia is this blog. I lay in bed thinking what I could be writing. It is so annoying becuase I really want to just sleep. Eventually though this blog may prove an effective sleeping tool if I can just get all my thoughts down before I go to bed.

And not to mention the "P" party coming up for the YW and Ellies bday next month and new fall hairbows to make and school shopping and . . . . . .

See why I can't sleep????

Several of my friends have blogs and I really enjoy reading them. I like to learn what friends and family are up to without having to call or email them. Everyone knows I am not a fan of the phone and emailing everyone takes too much time. I think it is kinda weird though b/c when I read others blogs I feel connected to them but no one is really connected to me. So I decided to start this blog for my friends and family far away and for me to realize that I do more than just take care of 3 kids and the house. We will see how it goes.