Stephanie, Beautiful Stephanie!

Happy Halloween and Welcome to My Blog!

And now that you have been welcomed, I'm going to send you away~
away to a wonderful photographer who tells the story in words and pictures better than I ever could.

This is the photographer's post about my widowed sister-in-law.
Stephanie's Story

Take some tissues.
And it's okay if you just want to put your head down on your desk and sob.
I did.

Friday Fragments

Happy Friday!

Happy Fragmenting!
Get on over to Half Past Kissin' Time and thank Mrs. 4444 for hosting the weekly festivities!

*If your name is Earlene, and you send me an email message entitled "Hey Handsome......, and it goes to my Spam, I most likely won't opening it.  Sorry Earlene!


*Airport Security - Thank you SO much for letting this slip by in Parker's carryon.

I don't know what I would have done if it had been confiscated. 

*My 2 1/2 year old nephew called today.

I thought MY end of the conversation was clear.  But somehow things went sideways.

"Hi Nana!"

"Oh hi baby!  Guess what?  Cars 2 is coming out on video in a few days.  Not today.  Not today.  But pretty soon you will be able to watch Cars 2 at your house!"

He immediately dropped the phone and went in search of his mother, yelling:
"Nana said that I can have a Cars 2 party with a cake!"

* I've been wanting to make my friend Laura's Pumpkin Cookies with Caramel Frosting since I read about them.  If I don't get to make them this weekend, I might throw a tantrum!!! Warning: It won't be pretty!

* Don't be jealous of my weekend plans.

I am going to the grocery store to replace all the expired dairy products and pick up some other necessary supplies including Halloween candy.

I think I'm the only person in America who hasn't bought a single bag of Halloween candy.

* I just spaced out and caught myself staring out the window at the fluttering fall leaves for 2 full minutes.

It's time to move on!  Have a great weekend!

Truth is.........If it Wasn't MY Idea, it Was Negligent!

My sister in law took my sweet, naughty, super smart 2 1/2 year old nephew to Hcsub Snedrag the other day.
Truth is.......I am spelling it backwards on purpose!

I knew it wasn't Disneyland but I thought it was along the lines as Six Flags.
Truth is........it looks like it's about 1/2 step up from a travelling carnival.

But it does sound like something my nephew would like.
Truth is.........he HATED it.

Me sister in law sent me this still shot.

Truth is......I was a little bit worried that he was on the ride alone.  But hey, it's only like 2 feet off the ground.  What could go wrong.

Then she sent me this video



Truth is...........the ride is goes 8 feet in the air!  WHO let's their "baby" go on this ride.

I called me sister in law.

Truth is..........my nephew answered "Hi Nana!"

Who is running this house?
Truth is........I think we all know.

I didn't think he would know what I was talking about if I asked him how he liked Hcsub Snedrag. So I asked, "Did you have fun going to the park and going on the rides?"

Truth is.........he still didn't know what I was talking about.

"You know!  The place where you sit on the seat and there is a seat belt and the seat goes up in the air?"

Truth is..........he answered, "No, no seat belt."

"What? There was NO SEAT BELT?"

"No."

"Your mom is negligent!  Can you say negligent?"

"Yes!"

"Say negligent."

"No. I'm playing cars."

Truth is........there was a seat belt.

Still! Who let's their "baby" ride on that kind of death machine?

Truth is.............I probably would have let my 2 1/2 year old ride that ride too.

I LOVE "Truth is........Thursday!"

Go on over to Surviving Boys and join in the fun.

Truth is...........Juliana is awesome for sponsoring it!

REVENGE IS SWEET!

Today I am blogging live from Trammell's Sex and Gender class. It doesn't get more exciting than this! If it's not exciting enough, you can go see Miss Stacy's and hang out.


* Trammell wanted to ditch his Psychological Writing class but I wouldn't let him! Cuz I'm the mom and I know what's best! At least it was best for him....not necessarily for me! He spent the entire period hacking my blog and composing yesterday's lovely guest post. He's grounded now.


* We're talking about maxi pads right now and Premenstrual symptoms.
You should be here!


* Aside from this current discussion, we have had so much fun visiting Trammell at our Alma mater.


* We went to the football game Saturday. There were 9 of us spread throughout the 47,000 seat stadium. By half time, we were all on the third row of the end zone. As proof that we are so much more mature than we were when we originally college students, everyone pooled their money together to convince Parker to jump the railing, run up to a cheerleader, plant a kiss and get back without being thrown out or arrested. He wouldn't do it for $86. Where is his sense of his adventure?


* We went to brunch with Trammell's girlfriend's family and spent two hours laughing at the kids' expense. I think we're going to have a lot of fun.


* We went to the bookstore, the cafeteria (where the food is MORE expensive and LESS appealing than it was 25 years ago) and attended class.  Parker had meetings with counselors in the Neuroscience department and Admissions. We ate wings twice and lots of ice cream.  And I bought two mint brownies, never opened the bag and threw them out two days later.

*Oh wait! The teacher just asked how we should talk to our children about impending puberty.  THIS is my favorite topic to discuss with my children.  I am SURE Trammell wants me to participate in this part of the class.

* Yep, I was right.  I said that it's important to be open with children and start young in discussions on sex and development.  Then I cited my awesome parenting skills of barging into Trammell's room when he was younger and asking, "Do you have any hair yet."  Why is Trammell red? He is soooo glad he invited me to class.  Revenge is sweet....especially pubic revenge (I meant to leave the "l" out). 

* But all good things must come to an end.  Brian and I leave this afternoon.  Parker comes home tomorrow.  Denver is awaiting us with threats of 16 degrees and snow tomorrow. I better enjoy the last few hours of blue skies, a beautiful campus with hundreds of 150 year old trees in all their autumnal glory, and the campus candy store.

Happy Tuesday!

WARNING: THIS BLOG HAS BEEN SHUT DOWN

Dear Readers:
This blog has been shut down due to blatant Cyber Child Abuse. Cyber Child Abuse (CCA) is a common, modern form of child abuse in which parents abuse their own children through blogs, and other social media. CCA is disgusting to the Department of Information and the Bureau of Internet Content Regulation and Morality, and to society. Common forms of CCA towards children include: generating false stories, overexaggerating stories, or the telling of stories against a childs will. CCA is a form of familial treason. It has come to the attention of the BICRM that this blogger has been in violation of the terms of agreement of blogspot.com and of the Department of Information. The said blogger has abused her children in the utmost form of all possible violations. Upon further review it has been determined that this blog must be deleted in order to protect the privacy and rights of the bloggers children. By law, the said blogger must face either/or a six (6) month prison sentence, or pay a fine of up to $25,000 USD to the abused party, which, in the case of CCA is the bloggers children. According to BICRM code, all accused parties are guilty until proven innocent.
For more information, please visit the following link:
http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=13495
If you have been exploited by this blogger, please report to 303-250-8161
In order to protect the privacy of the bloggers children, we ask that readers: 1) remove incriminating or villainizing stories from their memory, 2) leave a kind, loving, caring comment about them in the bloggers comment box, and 3) disassociate themselves from the blogger.

Truth is..............I'm excited about so much!

Truth is...........I LOVE Julianna over at Surviving Boys and I look forward to playing Truth is..... every Thursday.  Don't be shy.  Go pay her a visit!

Truth is...........I don't think I've made a single meal all week.  And I had such good intentions.  I had the ingredients for Chichen Caccitore, Pot Roast and Sweet and Spicy Pork Ribs just waiting to be thrown in the crock pot. Fail!

Truth is..........I went to my LAST Parent Teacher Conferences EVER yesterday and I cannot describe my joy.  I almost did a jig in the school parking lot.

Truth is..........I am SOOOO excited to go to Provo tomorrow and see Trammell.

Truth is.........next week is Parker's fall break so we are going to Provo to see Trammell and so that Parker can hang out at BYU and meet with some admissions and advisement counselors.

Truth is.........who cares about Parker checking out the campus?  He's been there a million times.  The REAL truth is we are going to hang with Trammell AND meet Trammell's girlfriend's parents who happen to visiting at the same time.  It IS Parent's Weekend. Are you good with word problems?  Trammell's girlfriend's parents are the same people as Garrett's girlfirend's parents.  Go figure!  We're also going to a football game, seeing old friends and eating mint brownies.  It's going to be an awesome weekend!

Wordy Wednesday - Longboard Extravaganza

Some people participate in Wordless Wednesday.
Like 362 people.
*I* am never without words.


So I present Wordy Wednesday -

This weekend, Parker wanted to kill himself go to a longboard race.
Because we are crazy, good parents, we let him.
But we accompanied him so we could scrape him off the ground and sign the hospital intake forms.

Good news - He did not die!

 Parker is the one in the back........coming around the "deadly" corner.

 This is the corner where one kid may have broken his hip, and three others sustained major road rash.....not including the riders (with good aim) who just plain old flew off their boards and onto the grass.  Obviously, it was the prime location from which to watch the race.

Ahhhh........one more turn and then the finish line.  forget the race!  Look at that view in the background!

There were multiple heats.  I was hoping Parker would lose in the first one and not continue to advance.  Unfortunately, my wishes did not come true. Fortunately, Parker did not kill himself.  He didn't even crash.  And he won new wheels!  It was a successful Saturday!

My niece Xan is also stupid a longboarder.  She is attending college in Idaho where they evidently don't have enough death defying activities.  So, she organized her very own longboard race.

Look how many fools longboarders showed up!  She had 40 participants and 50 spectators and she solicited $4,000 in prizes to give away.

She even set up barriers so that people wouldn't fly off the course and roll down a cliff.

Go Xan!

So all in all, the longboard festivities were very successful.

See why I needed to use my words?

Happy Birthday PK!

It's everyone's favorite RaNDoM day!
Get on over to Stacy's and link up,
She's the Queen of RaNDoM!



* Guess who is having a RaNDoM birthday over here at Crazyville?

Yep - Tiny Baby/Sir Bubs/Stinky Pete/Bubsy/PK/Parker turns 17 today!

Happy 17th to Parker!

* I tried to get him to cuddle with me last night.
"Come on! I will NEVER be able to cuddle with a 16 year old again!"
He assured me that I would be able to cuddle with a 16 year old grandchild.
Really?  I'll be ancient.  No one wants to cuddle with their grandma!

* So if you are working, how do you get ANYTHING done?
Just wondering.

* Also, if you are wondering what the weather is like elsewhere in the world,
particularly in Brasov, Romania, it looks like this -

Good thing Garrett got his new winter coat!  It's currently 3 pm there and a toasty 35.

* Today is the FIRST meeting for the High School Four Square Club.
According to Parker, "It's a big deal!"
He has the Foursquare balls and the masking tape to mask off the tennis courts after school.
Can't they just come home and do homework?

*Well, I must go search for the inflatable birthday cake.  I looked high and low and couldn't find it!

Come on! There's only so many places to store a 4 foot cake!

Too Much Time on His Hands

Phew!  We made it to Friday!
It was questionable for a little while.

And Mrs. 4444 makes Friday even more fun by letting us all hang out at her place.
Get your fragments together and go on over and jump into the fray.

* You want to be in our family.
You know you do!
If you still aren't sure, well eavesdrop on these conversations -

* "How are your grades?"
"Good."
"Okay, what are your grades?"
"All A's except for an 89% in one."
"Well, don't be thinking you have straight A's because you are smart.  It's because that school's stupid!  It's a SCHOOL FOR ANTS!"

We know how to build self esteem here!

* Someone (at the school for ants) has too much time on his hands!
"What did you do at school today?"
"Start a club."
"You did not!  What club?"
"Yeah I did.  THE FIRST EVER FOURSQUARE CLUB!  We got a sponsor.  I made flyers.  I'm making posters tomorrow. The first meeting is on my birthday and it's the first club involving a ball to be approved."
"Nuh uh."
"Yeah.........the Ping Pong Club didn't get approved.  The Dodgeball Club didn't get approved."

He's serious guys.  I would show you the flyers he took to school today, if I knew how to cut and paste them on to here.

* "So help me, I don't want to see another girl wearing legging on campus."
"Why not?"
"They are disgusting!  Do girls think that wearing leggings hides everything?  They are horrible.  You can see every bulge.  How would they like it if I wore leggings and they could see ALL MY JUNK?  I'm half tempted to do it."

Please don't!

* Tiny Baby's College Prep Writing teacher spent half the class period lecturing the kids about how they aren't putting any effort into their essays and this last batch was the worst she has ever seen.  More than half the class failed. After 20 minutes of berating (and no one listening), she passed back the essays.
Tiny Baby got a 98%.
His response: "I'm going to go ask her if I can take this class Independent Study or something because it's a waste of my time.  And besides, I'd be doing her a favor.  There are too many kids in the class."

Yeah - he needs more time to make posters for the Foursquare Club!

That's it.  That's all I got.
I'm off to work!
Have a great Friday!

Truth is

Truth is.......I've been wanting play along with the lovely Julianna over at Surviving Boys
ever since she started this little feature!

Truth is.......I can't make the button work without jacking up the rest of the post, so you'll have to click on the "Surviving Boys link to go visit her!  It's worth it though!"

Truth is.......three weeks ago, I went into Brian's office to "help out" and now I can't get out!

Truth is.......I'm working there full time.

Truth is........today, the executive team approved of me working there.

Truth is.......how would they NOT approve of me working there.  Who else are they going to get to work for FREE?

Truth is........I hate WalMart!  I try to limit my frustration trips, but I feel a moral obligation to my checking account.  Some of the prices are too low to just go to other stores and throw money away.

Truth is........I will NEVER go to Dollar Palace.

Truth is........I am so glad that tomorrow is Friday, I can hardly stand it.

What? No Posts?

It's Wednesday already!
I didn't post any RaNDoM TueSDaY THouGHTS.......and not because I was short of random!
I didn't post opinions about Rev Robert Jeffress calling my religion a cult.....and not because I don't have an opinion.
And I didn't post anything about my weekend.......and not because I sat around!

Brian and I went to San Jose to see THE NEW BABY (and all these other people)

Yes!  We got to hang out with Johnna Justin and her sweet brothers and beautiful mother, Stephanie, her awesome family, my parents, my brother Jared and his family and my brother, Jenner. 

It was awesome!
I took 0 pictures.

But there was lots of picture taking and I will share when I get them.

All the girls (plus Brian) went and had a massage.

We shopped in Willow Glen and Los Gatos.

We went to church and my brother blessed the baby.

We made lots of food.

We enjoyed wonderful desserts brought over by my sister-in-law's friend. (Seriously, she has a friend who brought over a lemon cake, a Texas Sheet Cake and apple crisp all for Sunday night dessert)

We sat around and chatted.

We laughed.

We pretended the baby was a baby doll and dressed her and redressed her with dresses and headbands and mini Ugg boots and teeny tiny bracelets, and faux fur coats, and polka dot vests, and pink leggings.  I am sure she loved it!

A good time was had by all!

Off My Show

"Off My Show" - If my life was a television show or a broadway production (wait! it's not?) these are things that would not be allowed on stage or on camera.  They are usually things that were only mildly annoying or maybe okay or maybe good or even great until, one day, I woke up and I was over it.

Someone who is NOT off my show: the wonderful Mrs. 4444 over at Half Past Kissin' Time!
She's the one who lets us all come over and frag on Fridays.

She's cool that way!
Things that are off my show -


* Cake Pops
 They WERE totally cool, delicious and slightly mysterious. I loved them for a time. But it's time to move on. It's time for people to make something else.  May I suggest we move on to mini-pies or tarts?

* Pepsi
I like Coke.  It used to be that if I went somewhere that didn't carry Coke, I would order Pepsi.
Not anymore!  I have standards!
If they don't have Coke, I'll take WATER (or I pick up my Coke before going there or I don't go there - yeah - I have issues.)
Don't say that I should be having water anyway.  Don't say it!


* Bon Appetit magazine
One of my favorite activities was to pull up to the bar (in my kitchen) with a nice snack and an ice cold Coke and drool my way through this magazine. Seriously, reading about food is right up there with EATING it........almost better.


Anyway, Bon Appetit has outgrown me.  I'm looking for REAL food:  food with ingredients that are sold at my store, can be made in a reasonable amount of time and will actually taste good.


Who wants to make/eat
Matcha & Pistachio Halibut
Arctic Char Gravlax with White Grapefruit
Smoked Haddock Chowder
Lamb Tagine with Chickpeas and Apricots
Roasted Cauliflower (yes) with Date Syrup (never mind)
or even Tangerine Souffle with Citrus Coulis?


If you do, go get the October 2011 issue.


* Bare midriffs
Oh you didn't know they were coming back in did you?
Yep.
Shirts are getting shorter.
And it's not totally back in yet but I'm here to tell you it's out!
It's off my show.
I don't want to see anyone's bare stomach


* Political statements on Facebook
I have "friends" who post 3-4 totally one-sided, unconfirmed, completely biased statistics and "facts" in their stati <- plural for status, every day.
I'm not sure why I care, but I'm defriending them.


* 85 degree weather.
It's October!
I want fall weather.

Have a great and wonderful weekend!

Cops VS Spiders

Text conversation from yesterday -

"Hey - there's a cop in the neighborhood
and a silver dollar size spider crawled into the pantry."

"What are you more afraid of?"

"The spider. We have to get rid of all the food in the pantry now.  I don't want to reach into the CheezIt box and end up dead."

Well.........there ya go!

A is for Academic

Last week I dragged, bribed, threatened, cajoled made Parker go to his Academic Letter Ceremony.
There was much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.
And he DID have a point.

"Mom.........this is a complete waste of time.  I've gone every other year.  I can just pick up my letter and certificate in the Activities Office."

"No.  We are going."

"Mom, this is the dumbest thing ever!  It's a punishment to have to dress up and go back to school at night.  If they really wanted to reward us for academic excellence, they would let us STAY HOME and make all the kids who didn't get good grades go back to the school."

He DOES have a point.
You go to all your classes almost every day.
You do all the homework, study for tests and get good grades.
And then you have to stop long boarding doing homework, put on nice clothes and GO BACK to the school?

We did compromise.
He didn't dress up.
And he brought home 6 cookies.

Just two more semesters of awesome grades and he can go to ANOTHER awards ceremony!

Receiving his certificate

Paying attention so parents can take pictures

Parker and Brittany (who he has been in class with since kindergarten) serving cookies and punch

Parker flashing the 2012 sign.  I'm going to break those fingers before the end of the year!

High Fiving Glitter and Danger!

Yep!  It's Tuesday!

It's time for some RaNDoM!

And since my life is CoMPLeTeLY RaNDOM, I like Tuesday!

I also like Stacy who is the permanent substitute hostess!

Go see her, thank her for hostessing and link up!

You know you have RaNDoM!


* I don't know why I find this hilarious.
I just do.

* This weekend, I made this little arrangement on my dining room table.

Yeah - it's pretty festive.

How about those cool glitter bones.

Yeah - I glitterized an entire skeleton.

* Why are hotels SO expensive?

Or is it that I'm SO cheap?

Probably the latter.

I just don't think Hampton Inn should be $179 a night.

* Parker  +

+

(it's a helmet cam)

= IMMINENT DEATH

Really!

Watch this video!

It's short I swear!

And It makes me laugh almost as much as the high five someone with a chair sign.

Have a great and RaNDoM TueSDaY!

Nuggets of Wisdom!

The best part of the weekend?
No, it wasn't the food.
It was the four hours of listening to inspired church leaders on Saturday and Sunday!

Wow!
There were so many nuggets of truth.
Going back through my notes, almost every speaker inspired me some way.
I can't wait until the talks are published in The Ensign next month!

But I might not be able to wait.
And you can check out some of the talks here.

Here are a few of the gems I picked up -

"Scriptures are tools to help us be successful in life.
They are stalwart friends not limited by geography or calendar.
Scriptures can calm an agitated soul."

Richard G Scott

"Seek for wisdom instead of power"

Barbara Thompson

"Service is doing the right thing at the right time; without delay.

Love all but never forget the one."

Jose Alonso

" We are nothing, but to God, we are everything."

Dieter Uchtdorf

"Let us be as quick to kneel as we are to text.

We must dedicate our time to the things that matter most."

Ian  Ardern

"In the information age - the message of the Gospel is a pearl of great price."

L. Tom Perry

And those were just a few thoughts from Saturday!

Each talk was inspirational.

There is no way that I can pick a favorite.