girls getaway!

This isn't the "BIG EVENT" that I referred to in my last post, but I wanted to get this posted before it was forgotten!

The family of a lady from our ward (Sarah) owns a lovely, big cabin up in Show Low (northern Arizona). She invited a bunch of the ladies to come and join her for a fun girls getaway weekend with cooler weather!

Our trip up was memorable. I was riding in the car with 4 other ladies and we took Carrie's husband's new rental car, assuming it would be better than her older vehicles that had high mileage. Unfortunately, about an hour up into the mountains, the car started having problems and overheating and we lost power so we ended up on the side of the road with the heat blasting to try to cool the engine down (plus it was about 100 degrees out!). Avis' roadside assistance was not very helpful and didn't have any locations nearby to change cars. We said a prayer, checked the owners' manual, and thankfully got enough power to make it to the next big city. We called Carrie's husband who was kind enough to drive up and bring us their other car and wait for Avis (3 hours away) to tow up a new rental car for him. We missed dinner with all the ladies, but we still had a fun time and we found a wonderful little restaurant in Payson.

We finally arrived in Show Low at 10:30 p.m. (instead of 6:30 as planned) and got to bed really late after much chatting, laughing, game playing, and junk food eating.

The weather was gorgeous up there and we had a fun day taking walks, sitting around on the porch talking, eating delicious granola & yogurt & fruit for breakfast by Carrie, a yummy homemade mexican food lunch by Marsa, and plenty more junk food. Hayley cut people's hair and did eyelash tinting for free, and taught us how to give girls haircuts.
They also own a bunch of scooters and they have a very long, sloped driveway that is really fun to ride down.

Back row: Jen B, Sara W, Crystal C, Lisa M, Stefney C, Leslie M, Hayley M
Front row: Sarah G, Marla S, Angie M, Jenny J, Sara C, Julianne B, Marsa R, Carrie T, me
not pictured: Gwen JB the photographer!

The ride home was also slightly dramatic, as a huge semi-truck that was out of control came down around a mountain corner into our lane in a construction zone. I am extremely thankful we said a prayer before we left and that Carrie is an amazing driver, as it was the closest I've ever been to a head-on collision. We ate dinner again at our new favorite restaurant in Payson and made it home safely.

Even though I felt like we spent almost as much time in the car as we did at the cabin, the ladies in that car were fun to talk to and it was still wonderful to get away to cooler weather and have some much-needed girl time. I am especially thankful for a husband who encourages me to go on these types of outings and is willing and capable of taking care of everything here at home and for the kids. We didn't communicate the entire time I was gone and I never once worried!

*some of these photos were taken by Gwen.

still here!

The problem with blogging regularly is that when I don't post something every few days people start to wonder and ask if I'm okay! Somehow I thought once the boys got back to school life would slow down a bit. But the first week of school Natalie needed lots of extra attention, it was my birthday, and I was planning for Brandon's birthday & his party. Once I got through all of that, I thought it would be smooth sailing. I got caught up on a few projects that never got done over the summer and I decided to join a new gym (which is SO much better than the other one!), plus I got back into school volunteering stuff.

And then yesterday...just when I finally felt like life was under control and Natalie is headed back to preschool on Monday...we decided to do something crazy & spontaneous & totally huge which will take all my time & attention for the next month. I won't mention what it is (not because it's a secret so feel free to email me or ask me if you see me - but because this blog is public I don't really want all my life information exposed).

So pardon my absence from blogging. But I promise it will be worth the wait!

toy time out

My friend told me about this idea many years ago and I never had to use it until recently. Even though this summer was better than expected, there were still the usual fights over toys or making a huge mess and then complaining about cleaning up at night. Or if they are slow with cleaning up we set a timer and whatever is not cleaned up by that time gets taken away. Toys were taken away and put on the top of our fridge, where they would be forgotten about or if the kids happened to catch me in a good mood a few days later I would just give them all back. I was tired of toys on my fridge and it didn't seem right to just give them back. I recalled my friend telling me about her TOY TIME OUT and I decided to give it a try.
Mostly it is used for toy issues (fighting over a toy, not cleaning them up) but it also has been successful as a good motivation for other behavior issues and usually just the threat of putting another toy in time out has worked. The toys have to "live" in toy time out (my kids also like to call it "the box of shame" like in Despicable Me) until they earn them back. They can earn them back by doing their chores without being reminded, by being helpful or kind to others, by cleaning up after themselves before getting something else out, or by doing something the first time they are asked (without complaining). However, they are not allowed to ask for toys back if they do these things. I want them to learn that there doesn't always need to be a reward for doing something good (or something they were supposed to be doing anyway). It has also taught me to pay attention and "catch" them being good.

It's been a fun process to watch & has brought up many good conversations about rewards & consequences. For example, Tyler had earned all his toys back and was rewarded for something else good he did. I was interested to see what he would do. He kindly got one of Natalie's toys out of time out and gave it back to her - she was thrilled! And Brandon asked me the other day what they will get for being good after they have earned all their toys back. I reminded him that it's okay to do good things even if there isn't a reward attached.

So far, so good with this new idea!

brandon's lego birthday party!

I have wanted to do a Lego themed party for several years and finally made it happen for Brandon's birthday party this year! Thanks to the internet and smart, helpful friends it was much easier than I expected!

How do you entertain a bunch of active boys in the Arizona summer heat? Give them a few huge tubs of Legos and make everything a competition! The only noise at times during the party was the "pawing through Legos" sound.

Our first game was a guessing jar with Lego block candies. Our second game was "who can build the strongest, tallest tower in 5 minutes?"
Then played some Lego bingo. We used the Lego block candies from the guessing jar - they taste like Sweet Tarts, and you can actually build with them (sadly, they are about the price of regular Legos).
The next game was "build a race car in 5 minutes!" We gave each boy a set of wheels & axles so they didn't have to spend their time digging for those.

From top L clockwise: Matthew, Joaquin, Tyler, Andrew, Santiago, Collin, Ethan M, Brandon, Ethan JB, LiamThe racetrack Kevin created (a table and some tape) was a huge hit! They could have easily spent the entire party doing this. The cars got crazier and the boys got sillier, but they had so much fun!
We opened presents and Brandon mostly received Pokemon stuff, money, and Legos, so he was thrilled!

And of course we had cake & ice cream!
At first when I debated about doing a Lego party, I thought the Lego block cake would be the easiest part (how hard can giant rectangles be?). But the more ideas I looked at online, the more I was tempted to try my hand at fondant (the covering that goes over the frosting that makes it look smooth). I have always wanted to learn how to do fondant but have been scared it would be hard, I heard that it was gross tasting, and the packages in the craft store are very expensive. But my friend Sara who is an awesome cake decorator gave me her recipe for homemade marshmallow fondant, which would solve my problems of gross-tasting and expensive. So I braved fondant and I was extremely pleased with the results! It did take quite a bit of time & work, so I will be very selective about when I use it, but I'm thrilled that I don't have to shy away from cool cake ideas anymore!
My only disappointment was that I did pound cake instead of regular cake. It was much easier & stronger to work with for the fondant, but either the fondant or the pound cake or the combination of the two together did not taste right. It wasn't gross, but not very good.
After cake & ice cream, we played Creationary (like Pictionary but you build with Legos instead of draw) until the boys' parents showed up.

I consider it another birthday party success!

brandon's 9th birthday

Today is Brandon's birthday! Here's a little bit about him (in his own words) at age 9:

Favorite Color: blue

Favorite Number: 32

Favorite Drink: lemonade

Favorite Food: pickles

Favorite Game: PokePark Wii

Favorite Animal: turtle

Favorite TV Show: Johnny Test

I feel sad when: I get incomplete on my homework

I feel mad when: I get things wrong on my homework (can you tell what we had just done before this?)

I like it when my friends: are nice to me

I like it when I: get to play with Joaquin

I wish I could: fly

Who is your best friend? Joaquin

Why? because he is nice & trustworthy

What makes you laugh? funny jokes

What is your favorite movie? Megamind

What are you most afraid of? scorpions

What is your favorite song? Under the Sea (I don't think it really is, but this was all he could think of since we had just listened to it in the car)

What is your favorite activity? drawing

What do you want to be when you grow up? Lego designer

Do you think it would be hard to be a mom or a dad? yes

Why? because you have to pay all the bills

If you could have a magical power, what would you choose? mind power (to be able to do anything with your mind instead of having to actually do it - like The Force)

What three things are you are good at? drawing, coloring, games

What is the best thing about being nine? being a Bear Cub Scout

What makes you special? I am always kind and loving

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRANDON!
We love you & and are so proud of the young man you're becoming.