Halloween fun and a little ranting....

"Scooby Scooby-Doo Where are you?"

Shaggy, Scooby-Doo, Daphne,Velma
and our cute little ghost!

Wow! We have had fun this October!! It started off with The Lambert's famous Halloween party! They always do such an awesome job with it and we love it! Thanks, guys! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera that night so I don't have any pictures of that but it was awesome! The girls had another party at Savannah Mitchells house and they had a great time there, too! Thanks, Mitchells, we had so much fun!!

My mom also had a party for all the cousins so we could all see each other in our costumes. That was last Friday and we went there right after HSM3 so that was a busy night! We had games, treats and chili! My kind of night!!

We also hit the pumpkin patch this week and Lily loved it!The girls had fun picking out pumpkins and got good and dirty!

Annie and her friend Hallie had their faces painted at our Trunk or Treat and it was definitely picture worthy! That was a fun filled night of games and friends!

Now that I posted all this cute fun stuff, I don't really want to rant but I'm gonna so maybe it will be cathartic. I am so tired of fighting with myself from sun up to sundown! I wake up and I have to force myself out of bed, then I have an argument with myself about doing the dishes. That moves onto getting exercise, being productive and staying awake. I have been working on losing weight and I'm up to 16 lbs. (YEAH) but that has added another fight about what I'm putting in my mouth (I've lost a few of those battles lately)! I also have the struggle with what I watch on TV, should I really be watching this or that show, no, but I wanna! I am dying to go shopping for anything and spend lots of money but I stay home to control myself. I know I need to stop drinking Diet Coke but I can't bring myself to start that fight, I'm barely making it on all the rest!! Even now I have a paper I need to write due tomorrow and I'm blogging. I am pretty pathetic!! Then I go to bed and get to wake up to it again tomorrow. Sometimes I feel like a gerbil in one of those running wheels, I'm moving fast but going nowhere! I need a nap. Or some cookie dough. Or both! I want all the fighting to stop! Can't we all just get along?!

Photo tag

I've been shot! *cough**cough*....its going dark...*cough*....I must *cough* post the 4th picture in the 4th folder *cough* *spasm*....be sure to take back...*cough*...the library books....*silence*....

So, did you totally think I was dying?! That's called acting! Oscar's, here I come!! This was last Halloween. The girls with their cousins Hyrum (Larry Boy from veggie tales), Andrew (dragon), and Caleb (Tiger). We were all royalty that year. Good times. I tag.....the suspense I know is killing you all.....hmmmm.....Amy, Jana, Ruth and Heather. If you've done this recently you don't have to, I won't tell! So I bet you totally thought I was dying, huh!?

Is it still October?!?

By the time Halloween is actually here I am so over it! I love Halloween because of the time of year it is and all the fun things we are involved in-all the more I say since it makes the costumes much more worth it! But after a month of candy, costumes and parties by the 31st I am done. I almost don't even want to carve a pumpkin! We have a cute family theme this year and the kids have loved it! I will post pictures soon, hopefully I'll get some good ones for the Trunk or Treat at my church tonight!
The thing I hate about Halloween is the need to make it so scary! I loved it when I was younger and even now I would love to get into that but when you have sensitive little kids there is nothing fun about it!! I wish it was more of a 'harvest' holiday than a scary holiday. I'm sure my kids will get into that when they get older but right now I want to burn all scary masks and punch anyone wearing one!
The other day I had Annie, Lily and my nephew Hyrum and I went to Roberts craft to get a couple things. Well, Hyrum is really, really sensitive and before we even walked in the door he was bookin' it the opposite way. I didn't even see anything yet and he was catching a bus and heading home (he is 4). Anyway, he has this really high voice and he is very articulate he said "It's too scary" and I'm thinking its Roberts what's so scary about fake flowers and Cricuts? I looked in the doorway and there was a scary little butler guy. I finally had to pick him up and tell him to hide his face in my neck so he wouldn't see the statue thingy. We made it through and Annie kept rubbing his back, "It's okay Hyrum D., if there is anything scary we'll take care of you, okay, buddy?" Once again, they are the same age but Annie can be very motherly and want to take care of others. I got what I needed and we went walking to the front so he started getting nervous again. I told him while we are standing in line if he stood right behind me he wouldn't see the scary guy. Not only was he standing right behind me but he was resting his face right on my butt and breathing heavily. That didn't feel so right....I paid for my stuff and put him and Annie in the cart and said "Just hide your eyes, we're going through a different door". We got to the other door and went out and little Hyrum in his sweet, high voice says, "Thanks, Mindi! You saved us!" I felt like a superhero for 30 seconds!

HSM3

We went and saw the greatest movie of the Fall!
High School Musical 3!Okay, maybe it wasn't the greatest but it was fun! The only stupid thing we did was going on opening day! The theatre was full of screaming prepubescent girls! Even Audrey was saying "why do they keep screaming!?" Thank you, Audrey! I am glad that I had my props aka little girls so I had an excuse to see it. The music was awesome and the dancing was really cool! It always amazes me what people can do with their bodies with lots and lots of practice. I think my favorite number was "the Boys are Back" (I'm guessing that's what its called) that was really fun. Unfortunately, I missed Troy's big solo but I'm sure that was a great one, too!

I have some thoughts on the 5 year reunion they do: Ryan comes with his dancer "roommate" named Steve, they have 3 chihuahuas. Troy and Gabriella come, married but Gabriella is way smarter than him, makes all the money and he resents her for it. Sharpay is already a has-been and has had botox injections 3 times to 'keep her young', she is starring in the upcoming "Barbarella" remake and she is sure this will be her comeback. Brittney Spears is her mentor and good friend. They attend a Kabbalah synagogue together. Taylor is working on the Obama campaign so no one really talks to her anymore-she's probably a Muslim and socialist now and that's just scary. Chad is an underwear model for Calvin Klein. Kelsi has composed her fist symphony and created a line of hats that are big in young Hollywood and 9 year old girls. I think it'll be a big hit! What do you think?

Just stuff....

I can't sleep and I've been trying not to post today because I'm beginning to think the only reason we do anything for family night is so that I have something to blog about or that I'm just bragging on how cute my kids are or whatever. But since I can't sleep I figured I may as well give in....First, I got an A- (90/100, that's an A-, right) on my latest paper critiquing a Sylvia Plath poem called "Daddy" very intense and way out of my league but for some reason it 'sang' to me and I chose that poem. I felt good about it and felt even better when I got my grade. Yeah, me!



Lily is suddenly signing! She signs 'milk', 'eat', and 'more'! It is so cute! She is a gal of very few words so I was very excited about that! We are still working on 'mama' and 'dada' but, dang, she is cute!!
Monday (Oh, here she goes...) we went up Millcreek canyon! GORGEOUS! I love the mountains and I love them even more in the fall! We were wishing we lived down the street so we could enjoy them more. Every time I go up that canyon it takes me back to my mountain biking days. There are some great trails up there and I miss doing that every time I go up there! We got some great pictures and the kids love it up there! We even made an impromptu fire just for the heck of it!

And lastly, this is what happens when 2 6 year olds get a hold of your camera when you aren't looking. There were many more that I deleted but let this be a warning to you all!!!

Election years are very annoying!!!!!

I cannot wait until Nov. 5th!!! If I hear the word CHANGE, MAVERICK or JOE PLUMBER one more time I am going to puke!!!! At this point I almost don't even care who wins anymore, I just want it over with! SNL and the news stations are loving it though and milking it for everything its worth! I like things about both candidates and to be honest, I'm just glad Hillary Clinton isn't involved. Satan could be running and I would be glad Hillary wasn't in the running!! That last debate was informative but I think it may have been one too many. It seemed like McCain was in panic mode and it felt like a school yard. I was waiting for McCain to say something like "Well, your mom drinks in the morning" or "You're the one with the shell on your head" or even "You're a doo-doo head, poopypants!!" It was kinda sad.

I could listen to Obama talk for hours. He is such a good speaker and he gets a point across under pressure or not. I think he has some good ideas but as we often see, politicians talk big but often nothing happens with it. I think that's true of McCain, too. I do like that McCain has more experience and military experience. But I think all the 'promises' of change and redirection feel like the kid running for SBO Prez. saying he's going to make sure there's soda machines on every corner of the school and more days off from school.

I am so grateful to be living in such an awesome and democratic country where we get to choose our President but sometimes it feels like there isn't much of a choice. By the time someone gets to the point that they can run for president they are lost in the politics and say what they think everyone wants to hear to get the approval rating they want. I hope no matter who wins that they can take on the problems we are facing as a country and turn things around. Actually what I am really hoping for is that Jesus will come on Nov. 3rd and then we won't need to vote, we'd have our King and all would be well. I better get my food storage ready......just in case.....

Here's a good laugh the whole thing is about 25 mins. but its worth it!
http://www.hulu.com/watch/39636/msnbc-decision-08-mccain-and-obama-joke-around

Ultrasounds and sedation

Okay, so I haven't really mentioned this to a lot of people because I knew it wasn't a concern but I figured now that we're on the other side I may as well let ya'll know. At Lily's 12 month check up her Dr. heard an 'extra sound' in her heart which they heard when she was born but I guess since it was still there he was concerned. He wanted us to take her to cardiology at Primary's to have her checked out. I was going to put it off because I knew it would be a waste of time. She is fine. But Primary's called us to make the appointment so we made it for a couple months later which was 2 weeks ago. We went in thinking they would do the ultrasound-I think its called an echo cardiogram-right then but they did the exact thing her Dr. already did-listen to her heart and say yes, there is an 'extra sound'. At first they thought it was a murmur but by the end of the appointment they decided it wasn't. We had told the Dr. about ElRey's sister, Ruth, who has heart problems and had recently had a valve replacement surgery a year ago so of course they wanted to check Lily out a little more. I took her back in today for the ultrasound. She had to be sedated so she wouldn't move around while they were taking pictures, which sucked having to help them put in an IV while Lily looked at me through her tears asking with her eyes-"why are you letting them do this??" Its so sad and I hate that I have to be the parent in situations like that. The test went fine-they had to give her a double dose of sedation because she was fighting it pretty hard. It was amazing to see her heart pumping away! It was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen. She did really good and she was acting like a stoned hippie-it was pretty funny. The Dr. came back and said her heart is fine and sometimes kids just have an 'extra sound' and it can be normal which is code for "I have no idea what the deal is but thanks for letting us take some of your money, have a nice day!" Not that I'm mad about it because I'm really not. I know they just wanted to be safe and if they did find something wrong I'd be grateful they caught it so soon. I am VERY grateful that is was a waste of time, money and tears! That just means my baby is healthy and fine! YEAH!! Anyway, I just thought some of you might want to know because it is a big deal to have to have an echo cardiogram for anyone even though it came back fine-just like I knew it would!! I will say I finally started worrying about it last night and this morning just doing the 'what-if game' but I still felt in my heart she was okay-a great gift from the Spirit seeings how I worry about EVERYTHING!! Another parent rite of passage completed with flying colors! I didn't even pass out once! I'm growing!!

TV rocks!

I love fall. I love the changing colors, cooler temps, school starts and it still makes me want to sharpen pencils and buy paper and new clothes. My favorite part about the fall is the new seasons of my fave shows starts! Yeah!! I love to watch House-he cracks me up! The only thing about that show is I'm pretty sure I have all the diseases they discover on that show and end up wanting a full body scan just to be sure! Heroes is good and gory-it takes care of my violence need but every week when it ends, I'm mad I watched it and vow to never watch it again until next Monday...The Biggest Loser is my fave!! I don't know what it is about watching people drop 10-20 lbs. in a week but it just makes me want to eat! Pull out the cheesecake and Doritos! But then I get scared that Jillian is going to find out and come to my house and swear at me and tell me I'm not the Biggest Loser and then I cry and eat more! I try to refrain from my desire to gorge myself and most the time I do a pretty good job. Grey's Anatomy is back and that chick needs some serious help!! The only problem I have with that show is now it has its token gay couple and I'm getting tired of that being shoved in my face on every show. But I'm curious what will be happening with Izzy this year-I sense big things.
Yes, I am a TV junky and I can't help myself!! I live vicariously through fictional and semi-nonfictional(reality TV) people while I sit on my couch with a Diet Coke and 100 calorie pack popcorn wishing for a big 'ole plate of nachos! Good Times!!

Awesomeness!!

Okay, this may be a little mushy with a side of cheese but I've been thinking about this and wanted to put this out in the universe to show my gratitude for what I have.

Today I had lunch with a bunch of awesome friends, one of which is visiting from Australia so we all got together to catch up-yeah, I'm internationally known...its awesome!! Anyhoo, growing up I didn't have all that great of luck with friends. My best friend in elementary school moved away in the 4th grade and then I had nobody that wanted to play with me. (cry cry) I did have one friend after that, we had a common interest in playing Barbie's which got pretty intense, very serious stuff-one time Barbie's ex came back and he tried to kill her by putting her head in the dishwasher while it was running. That was good times! That went on till about the 8th grade and we were in different grades so we kind of grew apart-still friends just not hanging out much. I found a group of friends to play with but through middle school they would often decide that I needed some humbling and tear up our BFF cards, ignore and/or call me names etc. It often got to the point that I was border line suicidal, didn't want to get out of bed much less go to school. It happened more than once, unfortunately. High school was much better, I had some good friends, one of which is my bestest friend ever in the whole wide world and we will probably be buried together whether she wants to be or not...creepy.....High school ended and everyone went their different ways and I was very lonely. I read my old journal the other night and wow! I was lonely and sad. Sorry, I didn't mean for this to be so sad- onward to happy things....

As some of you may know from reading an early blog (see: 100 things about me) I went on a trip to Mexico with a bunch of relative strangers. Out of that trip I gained some awesome friends and from then on I seemed to always have a group of the greatest friends! I don't know how or why this happens I am frankly surprised people even like me since I am pretty high on the dork factor. But somehow they get paid or shockingly enough see through the dork or love me in spite of the dork I don't know what but it is awesome. As I have been thinking on this I realized what a gift this was from my Father in Heaven. I had so little of what I needed (friendship) growing up that he is giving it to me now 100 fold when it really counts. The friends I had when I was little are not apart of my life now except for my bestest friend in the whole wide world but we met when I was 15 so I wasn't so little. my point is...what is my point....Oh yeah, friends are more important to me now than they have ever been-we help each other, make each other laugh, hug when we need a good cry and share the burdens of life in ways I don't think any of us ever really understood in high school. And now is when I have the BEST friends ever!!! Today was a great reminder of that! Sometimes I feel like my childhood was preparatory for the awesomeness of my life now so I'll never forget how it was.

I'm just so grateful for what God as given me! I have everything I always wanted-my awesome hubby, beautiful girls that drive me to drink but make me laugh and smile on the way to the liquor store, and I have the greatest friends in the world! I don't know how I got so lucky but boy howdy I sure did! Thanks, friends!!

Funny and cute!

Pot o' Cuteness!

Lily has discovered our pots and pans. One night she climbed into the big pot to do her jam session! So stinkin' cute! And she knows it! She loves having her picture taken!
We went to Gardner Village Monday night. It was really fun and beautiful and crowded! The witches were out and fun to see. We went on a carriage ride with a witch and Lily screamed the whole time! Audrey and Annie loved it, though. If you need a place for awesome pictures Gardner is the place! We can't help but hit Sweet Afton's for some candy and ElRey and I shared the best carmeled apple I think I've ever had. Maybe its just been a long time but mmm boy that was some sweet morsels!!

I had a moment with just Annie and

got this cute picture of her! She is so

precious I want to bite her cheeks!!

This is Lily on the carriage ride. One of the rare non-crying moments. She was not happy and screamed most of the night after! Note to self:If you see a lady with a crazy hat on the carriage, DO NOT GET ON WITH A BABY!!

This is Audrey's job chart. In truth we haven't been using it much but I decided to bring it back out this week since she is off track and I need to put my kids to work more often. Anyway, She took all the "To Do" stuff off and made her own sign. Here's a close up:

It reads: "Audrey's chart is closed To: Mommy"

If that's not charming and cute, I don't know what is! I grounded her for a week!!! Ha Ha!

Needless to say, it's times like these that make it all worth it and I'm so glad I can share it with you, Joe Blogger. Ha Ha! I just wanted to sound cool, did it work?

Conference, a disease, vomit, paint and a mouse...

Ah, beloved Conference weekend. A time of no bras, shampoo or even soap. A glorious time of no primary(though I love my calling) and no trying to get my kids to sit still and be quiet. I love conference weekend! This time I tried conference packets (thank you JoLyn) and they worked for a little bit till I realized it felt a lot like my weekly Church hell so I gave up although Audrey stuck to it for a while. Those are very cool they'd be great for church, too but you probably already know that!

We have been updating our home the past few months. It mostly entails paint but we did get new doors and trim and baseboards, too. ElRey was able to paint our cabinet doors and interior doors finally because our friend who is a painter lent us one of his sprayers (THANK YOU JIMMY!!!!) It went so quick! It was awesome! They look so good!! Thanks to everyone who has lent us tools and their expertise so we can do this!! That's what ElRey did in between conference sessions.

It was raining pretty good that day so I think the kids were going crazy but that night we got to go to my mom's for pizza and cookies while ElRey and my brothers and dad went to priesthood session. The kids played hard and had a good time. My favorite part was when Lily decided to vomit all over herself and me. I won't go into details but my sister-in-law, Erin came running to help, grabbed Lily so I can clean me and the floor but what neither of us thought about is that she is pregnant and very sensitive to smells so she started gagging and we thought we'd be cleaning her up after Lily. Thanks for taking a bullet for me, Erin! Luckily that was it and Lily seems to be okay now. Isn't it amazing what us mom's can put up with!?! I never thought I could deal well with vomit all over the front of me but I survived! Yeah me!!

I have discovered I have a rare, nonfatal but serious disease. I don't want to alarm anyone but I have something called "Conference Narcolepsy". It can hit at any time anything that sounds remotely like conference is on. No matter how hard I try, I fall into a nice cozy sleep! I know the early saints would've never fallen asleep when a Prophet is speaking (granted they were sitting on the ground or hard benches but still!) What is my problem!?! I'm so glad it all gets published in the Ensign a month later but I'd sure like to know what my deal is. I think its associated with the rare "Temple Narcolepsy" that tends to hit the best of us! Maybe I should organize a 5k or fun run to bring awareness the masses about these dangerous diseases. It could be a fundraiser to find a cure-or buy me a new TV which ever works!! I ended up doing house work (on a Sunday?!?! GASP!!) to stay awake for the last part. I figured it was better than completely missing everything.

As ElRey was bringing the doors back in from the garage yesterday, he discovered two things that make me want to swear-1. a hole chewed into my flour in my food storage(ok, so we'd live about a month on my so called "food storage" but its something and I call it bigger than it is so I don't hurt it's feelings) and 2. mouse poop!!! GRRRR!! I've never wanted a cat until now!!! I made ElRey go get some traps in between sessions (now that's 2 naughties on a Sunday, I'm hoping He understands!!). Is it bad to pray that the mouse/mice get caught aka killed quickly? I did it anyway. Once a critter is on my territory I go all "lone wolf" on their butt and defend it to the death!! Hopefully the mouse's!! We couldn't even get Annie to sleep downstairs last night since every noise she heard must have been the mouse!! Oh, DCon gods, do your magic!! Save us from this evil!!!