Like a mom on crack...

So I think it is the white trash in me that loves to hit the Dollar Tree Store every time I pass it. It is like a drug... Even if I have been there in the last 12 hours, I think to myself that there could be something new and totally in the "that is an amazing deal" catagory. I also love the library... I love to read and I love books! So my friend Laura and I went a couple weeks ago and combined the library trip with the Dollar Tree trip. We thought it was fun and so the next week we invited our friend Brooke. On the morning of the trip, we all ended up with extra kids. It was funny to see all the car seats and all the other kids sort of thinking about buckling up... I know, I know! I am a stinky mom. It was totally my kid unbuckled in the back of Laura's van. It was still pretty funny when we made them pose for a pic outside the library.


Then we talked about attempting the lure of the Dollar Tree and decided that we could handle it...It was still kinda funny when we loaded all of them in 3 different carts and headed in to the store.



There was no amount of caffeine that could cure how dumb I thought we were to take 13... read the numbers people... 13 kids into the Dollar Tree. Ahhhh...the memories!

Are you worthy of the "Black Shirt?"

This post is way late, but when I took the picture, I knew that it would be something I wanted to blog about because I was so proud of Garett. On his football team this season, the players had an opportunity during practice to earn the "black jersey." It was just a plain black jersey that they wore over their regular practice gear. It could be earned for showing great dedication, hard work, hard hits, always hustling... you get the idea. Well, the guy who earned it got to keep it until another player stepped up and showed crazy awesomeness. Garett was one of 4 players to earn the black jersey and held it for the most consecutive days! He is a total stud! At the awards ceremony at the end of the year, the 4 players who earned the black jersey were presented with these cool black shirts to signify their hard work and dedication to the team! I am so proud of Garett. He is a great kid and I LOVE HIM TONS! Way to go Garett!

Homemade Crayolas

My little sister Sunshine made these with her kids awhile ago and we came across some old and broken crayons. I love to peel off the wrappers and so does Ryan and so he helped me peel most of the crayons. He used his "super sharp shark teeth" to take the paper off of some of them and so before we melted them, quite a few of them had teeth marks in them. I don't know if you can see that in the pics or not but I thought it was super cute. They turned out great and the kids love them. So if you need a rainy day activity...

Peel all paper off crayons.
Break into small pieces.
Load into muffin tins... Cute shaped ones would be cool.
Bake at 200-250 till melted.
Cool and pop out of tins.
NO LINERS NEEDED!

What the H*#@? Who left their toupe' on my kitchen floor?

PS... how in the h*#@ do you spell toupe'? I spell checked it and it looked like toupee... which just didn't look right and sounded like something worse than it was... anywho...

I can cut hair. With clippers. And scissors. But I HATE it. Garett begged me to cut his instead of making him go to Great Clips. This is the leftovers from the top of his head... plus a few extra scraps from the kitchen floor. We could totally clothe the top of some poor gentlemen's head... like Doug Roche :) ... (Love ya Doug) Or at the very least make an awesome Chia Pet. I told Garett that was his new name... Chia. He then proceeded to sing the song... Ch Ch Ch CHia! I can hardley look at the picture without being totally grossed out and amazed. WOW!

Londons Run 2009

I love to run. I am not very good at it but I love it. I have been training for awhile with my friend Brooke Garner to do the 10K. We went on Saturday morning and ran our first one. When we first showed up at 7am so I could register, I told Nathan that it felt a little like the State Fair, there was a DJ and food and everything and I didn't know if I was gonna like it. I was a little intimidated. But I wondered if I would feel different in the end. We finished the 6.2 miles in exactly 60 minutes! I was so proud of us for reaching our goal. Not to mention that the race itself was for such a good cause. All along the race trail, there were pictures of London and other cancer victims and their families and friends with sayings like "YOU CAN DO IT!" and "CANCER IS HARD, RUNNING IS EASY!" I have to admit I had a hard time keeping my emotions in check. It was awesome to finish the race but made me think of the fight that those kids faced. I will run this race every year. ALSO... On February 14th there is another benefit race, (I think there is a 2 mile fun run/walk, a 10k, and a 1/2 marathon) for the Bailey's. They are a family in our stake with conjoined twins. I am running in this race as well and would encourage anyone who can to come out and support this awesome family to do so. Information about the event can be found at twosisters-oneheart.blogspot.com.


Before the Race! 10K or Bust Baby!


Freezing our cajones off!


The Finish Line...



We saw it and race to cross it...

We did it! Ah... Sweet Victory!

Dippin Balls...Lots of em! Peanut Butter Balls that is!

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is making peanut butter balls. They are to die for but take a freakin long time to roll and dip. We didn't have Garett and Tyler here to help us out this year and so it took longer than usual. However, everyone had their job and did it well. We found these cool Coke bottles that were shaped like an ornament and so everyone got their own. We did a scomps after the balls were done. In one of the pictures you can see Ryan telling me that we should have a burping contest! It was a ton of fun!

Promised Family Pictures

My Girl



He is something else...



8 years and counting... :)



Ryan Nolan



The Girls



Tyler wanted the boys to all do a "GQ Shot" So funny!






I love this one!



Tyler



The Bros



Garett



Most important peeps in my life...



Ethan



The Dudes



Nathan did not want to take this pic. We were cracking up cuz he kept opening his eyes. We tried to tell him it was freaky! We finally got it right but it didn't make the blooper shots!

Here are some of the pictures from our shoot... SO FUN! Love this crew!