Fun Wednesday

Today was so fun!  Just what I needed.  However the day was far too short and the fun ended way too soon.  But, I'm not dwelling on that.  I still have happy thoughts in my head and a smile on my face.

What we did:
My fav girls (Mindy, Monica & Brooke) and I went to Last Chance - right when it opened!  Madness I tell ya!  It's like Black Friday shopping but it happens everyday!  There is pushing and hoarding and sometimes, someone will tell another person they are crazy but we won't mention that.  We got running shoes and Tom's in every color and we even bribed a nice lady to buy some of our shoes (there's a 3 pair limit).  Girls and shoes...we just can't help ourselves.

We then went to a fabulous funky, urban chic overpriced place for lunch and it was amazing!  Then because we were in Phoenix and right by Brooke and I's favorite shops we poked around and found some more treasures.  I love treasures!  Pictures on Friday I promise!

Thanks girls for the fun and the shoes ♥

Happy Leap Year!  Disneyland is open 24 hours today!  How fun is that?!

Fun Friday

I'm posting my favorite tumblr pictures today.  

Oh and Tip Junkie posted this great idea  

so your kids can get a video e-mail from Santa.  

People are so clever.  

Enjoy!

pure+lovely

one charming party - gingerbread house party

i wanted to do this for Cassidy's birthday but she wouldn't have it! 

 

my pansyeyes

I heart green and white so these are perfect!

my sweet savannah

because who wouldn't love a homemade ornament as a gift

jilly ink

i love how simple this is.

tinywhitedaisies

tumblr

Fun Friday - 31 Days

Look what I found out in blogging-land.  

BTW....blogging-land is super fun and I love finding all this amazing how-to stuff.

31 Days:

...to a better photo

...to an inspired table

...to a less messy nest

...of autumn bliss

...of grace

...of more ...with less

....to stress free entertaining

...of living simply

Each one of these blogs is posting something every day that can help us be better.  That's so nice of them.  Who doesn't love to become better?  

Example:

The Nester (who I also follow on FB because I stalk like that) shows how to make a darling collage wall.

And the inspired room shows me how to make a welcoming fall entry:

And then there is my fav...photography.  Who am I kidding?  All of these girls are teaching my favorite things.

Life with my 3 Boybarians has amazing pictures and even better tutorials.

I don't know how she got that precious baby like that but it's amazing!

Anyway, hope you enjoy the links as much as I did.  I don't have a lot of extra time for myself right now so I try and spend my coveted computer time filling my brain with as much as possible in the shortest amnount of time.  Right now...these links are IT!

Happy Fun Friday to ya!

Eclipse

You know I was going to post these....didn't you? 

I'm just a little slow getting them out of the camera and onto the blog.

Funny thing that happened at the movies.  Monica made everyone a beautiful red rose flower clip to wear to theevent.  We each came separately to the theater and there was an older lady working the ticket booth who told each of us that " your group of red rose girls is in theater one"  Somehow she changed her greeting after a while to "your crazy psycho friends is in theater one" what???  It was pretty funny!

I brought Cass along which made it more fun.  She was so excited the night before she couldn't sleep!  Aimee brought McKendree too so Cass wasn't the only girl with a bunch of "Crazy Psycho Moms!"

***disclaimer - these are the worst pictures and man do I sure miss my good camera!  I'm telling you these pictures do not do any of my friends (or me) justice.  We are much better looking in real life!*****

Fun Friday

Last night went MUCH better.  Cassidy's cough is 60% better.  Thank you lovely Doctor and Nurses at that amazing hospital.  I got to sleep almost all through the night!  Love YA!

Since today I don't have anything fun planned with my friends and I'm going to be stuck home cleaning all day I thought I would make my blog have Fun Friday instead.

I have found some fun new blogs lately and thought I would share.  I'm no Today's Creative Blog but I do like to blog hop now and then and I love finding new fun blogs to drool over.

Here are some of my new favorites:

Our Best Bites 

recipes with pictures!  I love new recipes and am going to be trying some of these very soon!

Check out Our Best Bites here:

She makes rainbow cupcakes!!  I want to make these.  

I should have made them for St. Patty's Day!

Sweet Tomatoes has a BLOG!

and guess what?  They post recipes!!

Right now they have my favorite:

Mandarin Spinach w/ Caramelized Walnuts - YUM!

August Fields

this girl is building her dream house and she has the most cleaver ideas to make it hers.   

The Cobbled Path 

Hello flowers and pretty things! 

Boxwood Terrace

Hello more pretty things and pictures of houses!
Holly Mathis Interiors 
Have I mentioned that I want to re-do my front room.  
Hence the oogieing over house pictures.
And Last: Crafty Storage 
I love this because I am in cleaning mode over here 
and need all the help with storage for the stuff that I don't throw away.

Enjoy♥

Fun Friday

Here's what we did for Fun Friday

just Mama and her little chickens:

1) Horse camp - the girls l-o-v-e-d it!  If you are out of school next week - sign up he's doing it again.

2) Justice and Old Navy for new bathing suits and flip-flops.  They couldn't wait for the Easter Bunny

3) Re-arranged Cassidy's room.  By..our..selves!!  I am so proud of us.  No man power was involved.  Although two of the neighbor girls helped us which made it a little easier and much more fun!  I have to say I ♥ Cassidy's room now!!  It just feels better - and looks better too.  Yippee!!!!

4) Was going to make Sweet & Sour Chicken, rice and egg rolls but...what-the-heck - lets go get pizza!

5) Amberly has been outside since we got home at 1:30.  Loving this amazing, beautiful weather!

Amberly's List

Friday Amberly had a friend come home with her from school.  It was a half day and they were going to have a "Late Night"  We don't do sleep overs but Late nights are great and seem to make everyone involved happy.
I told Amberly Friday morning to make a list of all the fun things her and Karlee wanted to do when they got here.  I thought it was funny that they hopped in the car with thier list in hand ready to go!
I told you my kids loved lists.
I thought it was too cute not to share.  I'll write it out how they wrote it and then translate:


Lat Nigt  -  Late Night
my cat love  -  love my cat
cady  -  candy
mit go choping  -  might go shopping
go see a movy  -  go see a movie
play with my goldfishs  -  play with my goldfishes
pelo fite  -  pillow fight
Barbies  -  Barbies
Gams  -  Games
Jup on Tap  -  jump on tramp
play poll  -  play in pool
jesup  -  dress-up
p.j.s  -  P.J.'s
Peyano  -  piano
roller scating - roller skating

Seriously, is Amberly too cute or what?  I just love her.  I love 1st grade and how excited she is to read and spell and make lists.  I love the list they came up with and I love her spelling and handwriting.   I also love how she used the back of the page in the notebook instead of a fresh new page. 
And most of all I love how her and her friend followed that list and even added more as they went along!
Being 6 is pretty fun I tell ya♥

Big Bright Balloon on Fun Friday

Friday after school the whole neighborhood was playing outside - in our front yard, backyard and even inside our house.  I was making pretzels for the crew to snack on when I heard screaming and shouting from the backyard.  "MOM come see the BLIMP!!!!"  I didn't think anything of it until I got out there and see a hot air balloon right on the other side of our neighbors house!  WHAT???  That's not a site you see everyday.

So the kids all took off around the corner while I waited the 3 minutes for my pretzels to come out of the oven.  By the time I got on my bike, rode around the corner the balloon had landed in the greenbelt across the street.  We of course went to investigate along with 100 other friendly, nosy neighbors.  By the time I snapped a few pictures the crew was in clean-up mode.  It was interesting to watch.  They had everything down to a science.  We even got to see 3 horses and their riders ride by us while we were out.  

I don't know about you but who gets to see a hot-air balloon land in their neighborhood?  We all thought it was pretty darn cool.  The kids talked about it all weekend!  It was a "Fun Friday" for sure☻

Well????????

Did you go see it?
What did you think?
Wanna know what I thought?

I had the funnest time ever with an entire movie theater filled with
Moms, sisters, friends and daughters.
My girlfriends and I took up and entire row!
Yep - a whole row!
That's a whole lotta fun I tell you!

Here's my take:
(I posted this on FB - Sorry to repeat)
I love "book" Edward but....
I love "movie" Jacob!!
So does that make me team Switzerland?
Inquiring minds want to know!?!?!

Also - Bella looked a lot better in this movie but she's still annoying!
***I loved it BTW!!!***

Fun Friday

Since I have pretty much been having fun ALL week, today is going to be spent at home.
(OK...I did already have a Dr. appt and went to a baby shower but hey I was home by 11am)

I have been trying to find a fun thing to make for us to wear/take to the New Moon movie. remember these?Me, Monica and Michelle at Twilight

We can't make another cup. We need to be more creative. Monica has thought necklaces would be fun. I think they would be cute but...hard. She wants to make some like these:

Vampire Necklaces

While searching I have found a lot of fun things. I am loving ETSY and everyones creative blogs. Endless fun if you have endless time! Check out a few of my favorite finds today:

Homemade snow cone syrup
we eat A LOT of snow cones over here with
THIS

Child's Apron How-To

Crap I've Made
love the name! (I saw the blog HERE)

I also saw this amazingly crafty blog there:
Trey and Lucy
She has a fun necklace tutorial that looks fun and easy!

Anyone in Young Woman's at Church? If you are you need THIS blog!!! My friend Shanna is so darn creative I can't stand it. I'm thinking I could still use these ideas but for Primary!

Paper Cakes and Icing

Rain Gutter Book Shelves
these are going in Abby's room!

Anything on Someday Crafts

My Sweet Savannah
I could spend all day on this blog!

Have fun looking♥ Notice none of these sites have anything to do with Vampires. I guess I will have to continue the search!

Fun Friday

This week for Fun Friday we went to the AZ Science Center. The kids had a BALL!!! We also got a group rate which was very helpful. Normally kids are $10 and adults are $12. We got everyone in for $6 each. BONUS!!! I love when we can get a Dealy-O! (You need 15+ people to get the group rate)

Here are the kids at the Lego Exhibit.
WOW was that cool!
If you have a kid into Lego's and don't want to make the trek to Lego Land
then this is the place for you!
Bring a book and you could be there for hours with happy children!

We all had a grand time laying on a bed of nails!!!! Scared????
Cassidy loved how she could hoist herself up this rope.

I wasn't sure about the different age groups going.
We had 6th graders down to Kinders.
I shouldn't have had a second thought!
Each one of them had a GRAND time including me!

I love Abby's fave - GRRRRRRR!!!!!

The kids had so much fun doing Tug-O-War,
the Body Exhibit, learning about Nutrition, and much, much more.

My favorite part was when I was sitting at this table trying to figure out those metal puzzle things and this older guy was standing there so I asked him if he knew how to do the puzzle. Well that got him going on the puzzle when his friend came over and started on another one. Then another older guy (I'm talking cute Grandpa's here) and said he was an engineer and had done them before and would try. I had so much fun sitting watching these intelligent Grandpa guys try and do these kids puzzles. Their brains were WORKING folks! I could see the wheels turning. I was totally entertained. (plus I had a nice long sit down rest!)
Don't get me wrong - I had so much fun playing with my kids. We did three whole floor of science and it didn't even feel like learning - just fun! Definitely a must do for summer! Put it on your list!!!

After we left the Science Center we headed to Mary Coyles Icecream Parlor for lunch. We invaded the place with all our kids (14 and 5 adults). Luckily we didn't have too many stare downs and no one was offended that we were there. One lady said she was a teacher and our kids made her miss her classroom. All together now -" Ahhhhh- how sweet!"

We had sandwiches and salads and then..........we had ice cream! Now most of you know that Mindy, Monica and I can't eat dairy. We are allergic. Funny thing is we all react differently when we eat dairy. On this day we didn't care, we were hungry, at an old fashioned ice cream parlor and we were going to EAT!!!! So the kids got cones of fabulous flavors and Brooke, Michelle, Mindy, Monica and I got three FAT-DADDY SUNDAES!!! And we ate them ALL!!! I have to say - it was worth it. Seriously! (I will spare you the details of my symptoms - wink)

Fun Friday#1 = Success!!!

Creative Friday

Last year (or maybe it's been a few years) Mindy and Monica and I had 'Fun Friday."

I lived for Fun Friday. Really it was just an excuse to get out of the house and go have fun while the kids were in school. Cole and Abby were little so they came a long which wasn't always fun but now I kind of miss not having them in the afternoons. (good thing Brooke brought her twins - it made it less lonely)

Fun Friday gave me motivation to get everything done during the week and let me have a few guilt free hours to myself with my friends. Lunch was usually involved which was a bonus if you ask me!

Friday I started up the "guilt free me time" again with Creative Friday. I had ordered some Spooky Banners from emmie cakes for us to create. Brooke, Mindy, Monica and I got take out and met at my house for some crafting time. The banners turned out so cute and were such an easy two hour project. Talking, laughing, crafting - just what a girl needs on a Friday.
We decided that Fun Friday should start up again with some type of project thrown in once a month. Can't wait to see what we do next. I'm thinking Christmas presents, Birthday presents, Christmas Cards, who knows?!!!

For now I think I need to get a few more Halloween decorations up on my mantel so my cute banner doesn't look so out of place!!

I stopped over at Kristy's blog Everything Is Pink and she did the exact same thing this week. Great minds think alike I guess! Go check out the cute banners she made! She's also doing a give-a-way with something from emmie cakes.

****and yes...this did help my "funk" for a little while!****

Fun Friday

Today I spent the morning do laundry.....(yuck) It wouldn't of been so bad but it was just the putting away part. And I hate that part! I got it all done though.....until I do laundry again on Monday.

I got ready then Abby ready and took her and Cole to the bus for school (she loves the bus!)

Then I met the girls for the 12:25 showing of

Firstly, it was a little weird not having to worry about children. (They were both at school) O.K it was a lot weird. Kind of a guilty pleasure weird. I liked it, yet at the same time was a little sad.

Secondly, I wanted to get up out of my chair and dance several times but contained myself. (it was hard and I did find my body dancing in my chair and had to refrain!)

Thirdly, I loved it!!! It was so cute, great songs (who knew Peirce Brosnan could sing......well he can't but he sure looks great trying!) and even better scenery (I want a room in my house that Mediterranean blue). Yes, I want to go there for my next vay-cay! (was it a real place? I have no idea but I want to go there!)

If you HAVE seen the movie, did you love it?

If you haven't seen the movie, don't forget to stay until the VERY end...after the credits. That was the best part! I was laughing so hard I was crying!

Now I'm off to tuck my little pip-squeaks into bed and find a place for my little pip-squeak nephews to lay down until my brother comes to fetch them. They are such cuties!

Tomorrow I am going to my photography class and I just can't wait! It's all day and by the end I am going to be better at taking pictures I just know it!

Have you seen Mama Mia yet?

Did you like it?

Did you know Peice Brosnan had a crooked tooth?

Fun Friday

I can tell I haven't been up on my blogging lately because I didn't bring my camera today as I would normally do. I'm sad about it because we had a lot of funny moments I could have captured. Lesson learned!

The morning started with me coloring my hair. I think this may be the last time I do i myself. Do you hear that Brooke? I'm ready for you to take the job over. It's not hard and I don't mind doing it it's just I have so much grey that for me to keep it covered I need to do it about every three weeks and I'm sure that's not good for my hair. I'm sure Brooke knows some magic to make my grey disappear for at least a month or maybe more!

Anyway, as I was waiting for my hair to turn from grey to Truffle I decided that I would do a mini facial at the same time. I have been so sick and not been taking care of myself I thought "lets jazz up the tired face too!" So I worked on my eyebrows a little and did a masque while I was waiting. I might want to mention that Tom was home and was having a meeting in the office so I was pretty much confined to my room. Abby was hanging out with me watching Dennis the Menace (her other favorite). All is going well, I'm feeling pretty good about myself when the doorbell rings. It's the landscaper and Tom is NOT answering the door. So I go out in the hall and tell him to answer the door (w/o being seen) He comes around the corner to ask me a question and doubles over in laughter. I'm in my bathrobe with hair color on my head and a white face with two big blue eyes staring at him. He's laughing so hard that I start laughing. So there we are - the landscaper is waiting, Mike is waiting in the office and we are having a laughing fit in the hall. I have to say it is one of our funnier moments.

After getting cleaned up and ready (with make-up and everything-this hasn't happened in weeks) Mindy picks me up so we can go to the back-cracker. On the way we decide to get our toes done since sandal season has begun and our were looking pretty bad! It felt so nice to sit in that massage chair and have someone rub my feet and legs. Abby got hers done to in bubblegum pink with glitter. I always feel bad when I have Abby's toes done because Cassidy is in school and missing out oh well.

I might mention that I have no voice and am still coughing and Abby is fading minute by minute but by gum we are getting out of that house and having Fun Friday if it kills us!

We then headed to the plant store to get Mindy some plants for her back porch. I love this time of year. All the fun plants you can get for your yard. I wish I could have one of everything. It sure does boost my spirits. Makes me even a little giddy.

Then off to the back-cracker who totally fixed me up. I was a mess and he got me all lined up and back on my feet. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have him. Now if I could only get a massage..........

We stopped at Cafe Rio to get some "Brothy and Nice" tortilla soup. It was yummy and I had Mindy in tears when I said "brothy and nice." I guess you had to be there! It was pretty funny.

When we got home Abby had a fever and Cassidy went out to play. I spent the rest of the day on the couch with Abby while Cassidy found a pet lizard, Chris came over and worked on the pinewood derby car, Tom came home and worked from home then went to the store to buy his littlest girl Popsicles, 7up and yogurt per her request. Then he and Cass went on a Daddy Daughter date to eat some Mexican food while I watched BYU TV - John Bytheway. I love that guy. So entertaining and makes everything so simple to understand. I recorded the next three shows he's doing. I can't wait!

This post has turned out much longer than I had planned on. I've totally rambled on and on and bored you all to tears. Sorry about that. I hope March is a better month than February. I am ready to kiss February goodbye and all the germs that have invaded my space!!!

HAPPY LEAP DAY!!!

Fun Friday at Kmart

What did we do on our Fun Friday this week?

We had our 3rd annual trip to Kmart.

A few years ago we went to Kmart as one of our shopping stops. We found so many great deals and cute stuff we have been back every year. Monica, Mindy and I always stock up on Martha Stewart paper and ribbon. We find great friends gifts there and things that the other stores don't have. Plus it's in the hood so it's not picked over like the stores are out here. (I shouldn't say the "hood", that's an exaggeration and not a nice word but..... it's kinda like the hood so I'm going for it. )
It's always fun going shopping with these girls. We can always think of great things to buy when we are together vs. shopping alone. Plus it's A LOT more fun!!!! Cole and Abby had fun running wild in the store. They sure are crazy together. After filling our carts we headed to Subway for some lunch. Then Mindy had to leave us and Monica and I went on our Rose Rustling episode. (See next post below)

Here's our car filled with Christmas goodness.

It was a great Fun Friday!