Not for the weak of heart....

This first picture was taken a while ago..and the kids both look crazy...but you can see here how many TEETH this little lady has. It is too many for her small little mouth. The dentist said that if we didn't remove some of them, they would come in all funky-like through the roof of her mouth and on top of the other teeth!

I took PTO today to take her to the dentist for the "extractions"...they ended up pulling eight baby teeth. My little girl was NOT HAPPY, and I immediately wished that I would have asked Matt to come with me. She kicked and screamed the entire time and I seriously worried about her hypervenilating! This was BEFORE the craziness started.
Here is the finished product a couple of hours later....she is happy again and ready to go to bed and awake to Tooth Fairy riches.
CLOSE up. OUCH.
EIGHT whole teeth. It amazed me how easy they were to pull out....two wiggles and a jerk and out they popped.
It is hard to watch your babies be in pain. It is hard to watch your babies grow up. Hurts my heart a little bit. At least we got to spend the day and snuggle....and I got to read the Hunger Games AGAIN. I don't think that I have EVER read a book twice and I am in LOVE with that book...that helped the pain a bit, well for me anyway.

My Awesome Week...

SUNDAY: Church and lunch with the family. Nap. Watched the Jazz on TV WIN again! THEN...Season Finale of THE WALKING DEAD. One of my favorite shows! It was SOOO good. My heart was beating so fast during the finale-I was literally shaking. First time a show has ever had an effect like that on me. I like Rick-the guy in uniform...but Glen is probably my favorite..he is the guy in the back with a baseball hat on.

MONDAY: I worked the day shift. Busy all day at work. I had the kids alone that night. Cleaned Lauren's room...what a chore...felt good when it was done.

TUESDAY: Another early day, I worked while Matt was on PTO. When I got off we headed downtown to the Jazz game. It was such a good game and the stadium was full and it was loud and we won! It was such a blast! Matt even caught a shirt! He bought me a new shirt too..what a sweetie! Look at these two cuties!

Our seats are so close and so awesome! I wish I could go to every game and I wish these seats were permanently mine!
Jamie-showing off his big finger.
Lauren and her new finger! Her favorite-BIG AL!
Jamie and me. I love my cuddle buddy!
Such an exciting win! Boo-yeah!
WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY: Work, blah...nothing exciting. BUT productive-so I will take it. BUT then Thursday night at 10 PM....I headed south to Thanksgiving point to meet my bestie Misty for the Hunger Games midnight premiere. We talk/text/post everyday to each other....but rarely see face to face. We visited for a while...exchanged some gifts, watched some boys dance in the parking lot and headed inside to the INSANITY. There were people dressed as the characters, there were booths, LOTS of teenagers, and wall-to-wall people! The movie was sooooo gooooood. I loved it sooooooo much. I absolutely LOVED the books and started reading BEFORE I knew that a movie was coming-I hate being a bandwagoner-so I am pleased that I read it before I knew it was COOL. Seems like evreyone I talked to loved Gale but I always loved the character of Peeta. AT first I wasn't in love with the choice of the actor, Josh Hutcherson for the role-but he really grew on me!! I think the movie was pretty true to the book and many scenes were just how I imagined it. It was cool to see the "tributes" too!


I am sure you have heard about Misty...she is an uber-creative supermom. She made these (surprise) awesome shirts! They were AMAZING. She even got me the PERFECT size. She knows me sooo well! Here she is modeling the back of her shirt.
AND the awesome front shot. We also had these awesome matching necklaces that I found for a steal on E-bay. I am glad that she loved them as much as I did!
AND...here I am modeling mine...in the theatre.
Here is a little picture of the craziness!
AND HERE WE ARE. It was soo much fun!! I am so grateful to her for introducing the books to me...talking about them non-stop with me....making her own amazing soundtrack and sending me a copy....and being overall crazy like me about every aspect of it. GOOD TIMES! (PS...Misty tells the whole story better than I do..so check out her blog from the link). Oh- I just LOVE her!!
FRIDAY: After getting home around 3 a.m....I went to bed, got up at 730 to take the kids to school...then went back to bed! I had taken PTO for the day. I pretty much work every Friday-so it was awesome to have a RARE 3 day weekend. I just had to run to work for an hour. I came home and cleaned the house...until it was time to go see the movie AGAIN! Matt's work paid for the whole family to go. I was sorta worried about the movie being too much for the kids-but they handled it all just fine. Matt didn't love it as much as I did....but with me being all crazy about it-I didn't expect him to be quite on my level...lol.

SATURDAY: Slept in, HEAVENLY. Lunch with the fam, and some shopping for a few items. Including this awesome Peeta blanket that Matt bought me. Then just relaxed all day. Such a great day. Such a great week.....

Post 18: Ten Years Ago!

On the 30 post journey..Post 18 is a picture of you from 10 years ago. SO...here are some pictures from good old 2002!

This was before any kids! Good times! My parents and my siblings and my niece look so young! I guess Matt and I look younger too. Time sure flies!

AND one of my most favorite pictures of Matt was also from 10 years ago. He looks sooo handsome in this picture. We went to see my friend Allison's baby. Last night I read her post about how her daughter is now 10! What a coincidence-wow.
There are some things that have not changed...but a bunch of stuff HAS changed. Looking through my 2002 pile..I found these babies. I sure miss my dogs! This is my favorite picture of Dixie. There is also a picture of Pepper after a haircut-I loved her after a haircut! The bottom picture is of my car 10 years ago...my CRV. I shoulda hung onto that star for a little while longer-I loved it so.
And while I was thinking about 10 years ago, I started to think about 10 years before that! The top picture is of me and my brother and sisters. This is one of my favorite pictures. I think it also shows the differences in our ages! The bottom picture is of my parents and my sisters and my niece. My family is so fun, I wouldn't trade them for anything!
AND while I was thinking about 20 years ago...I started thinking about 10 years before that! I can't believe I am old enough to go back to pictures 30 years ago!! BUT...I am 30 years older than Jamie...so here I am before I started Kindergarten..which is Jamie's age RIGHT NOW. I think we look a lot alike!! Speaking of which...I actually registered Jamie for Kindergarten! I think this will be harder for me than Lauren starting!

Counting My Blessings....

When times get rough...(and I get stressed out when I shouldn't)...I need to be thankful for the great things in my life.

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

*My wonderful husband, who still after 17 years together..thinks I am pretty.

*My two little kids-who light up my life-and love to snuggle with me.

*My great job that has taken care of me for almost 16 years-with great benefits and lots of vacation time.

*My dreamhouse which is located 2 miles from work.

*My parents who have always shown me unconditional love, forgiveness, and generosity.

*My huge extended family that I have a special relationship with (no matter the distance).

*Wonderful (true) friends that have been by my side no matter what..(especially Melissa, Heather L, Shanna, Nicky and Carissa). ALSO special thanks to Misty who finds a way DAILY to make me smile.

*My sweet cat, who loves to sleep on my feet.

*The fake "grape" smell. Always makes me happy.

*Having WONDERFUL, SWEET, GENEROUS, LIFESAVING neighbors in the 3 houses I have lived in.

*My religion-it gives me a "home" and so much comfort...thankful for Jesus and unconditional love and forgiveness.

*Socks. I love socks-all year long.

*My sisters-who have become such good friends...especially Sarah-I love seeing her at work everyday. I am so proud of her.

*80s music. It makes me so happy.

*Downeast Basic Camis. I LIVE in those things!!!

*My cool boss..who tells me to stop worrying about if people don't like me.

*DANCE...my escape, my passion, my heart.

*"The News"...er...Facebook-which helps me keep connected during my short amount of free time.

*Books...such a great escape.

*Diet Dr. Pepper...a little happiness everyday.

*Thankful that I can grow my nails, my thick hair, and for my "freakishly large bladder".

*There is "always always always something to be thankful for"..so I am sure I am missing a TON of things!!!

This is the list I need to refer back to when I am feeling down on myself, feeling sad, and when I am focusing on my list of things I would change about myself.

Lauren's Birthday

Last Friday I finally got to hold my friend Melissa's baby, Arielle. She was so small and so perfect...I can barely remember when my babies were that size. My baby is now 8. 8! Geesh. 8 going on 18.....she is one spoiled little girl!

She is on C track..which meant she went off track February 3. This means I had to have all of her Valentines ready for her class PLUS all of her invites to her class for her birthday party. She couldn't wait for the day of her party. For the third year in a row she had her party at the West Valley Fitness Center. She wanted a boy/girl friendly theme so she went with RIO. Here is her cute cake...(sorry it is upside down).!

My friend Dawn came with her daughter, Shelby and her son, Brody. Brody was so cute pushing around this shopping cart!

Here is Shelby, Lauren adores her! She is such a cute girl.

Here is the whole gang in the partay room.

See...look how big she is! I wish I woulda taken pictures of her by this ruler the past two years!

For the second year in a row, the boy that she had a crush on came to the party and sat right next to her! His name is Robby and he is very tall and very smart-and very polite too (I might add).

Jamie was more than happy to come along...look at that cheeser!

My sister, Sarah, for the third year in a row came to help me wrangle the kiddos. They are much easier this year and I told her she didn't NEED to come, but I was thrilled to hear that she WANTED to come help. Do we all look we are related?

Throw cousin Bella in there too. My kids love hanging out with her.

Lauren will proudly tell you she is a "Daddy's Girl".
(I didn't get too many pictures of the party....I am always so bad at it. If I was rich-I would hire a photographer for every event so that I could have plenty of pictures).

Here was the scene awaiting her on her REAL birthday, Sunday the 26th.

After church, Lauren got to pick where we went to lunch. She chose her favorite-Red Lobster. They even came and sang to her. She loved it-I don't know why she looks embarassed.


That night we had her family over for another party. Here was HUGE cake #2. Costco only makes one size= TOO BIG.


I thought I was hillarious...I put fake candles on her cake...it was like whac-a-mole but with blowing out candles. What a good sport.


My adorable little poser!


AND meet the newest two members of our family-Snowball and Princess. Robo Dwarf Hamsters. They are so cute.
Lauren's birthday wish. Oh, what have we gotten ourselves into!
AND...my traditional picture of my baby asleep on her birthday night. It took her a while to get to sleep after the cake, the presents and all the excitement. Still..so sweet.


OKAY and TOTALLY unrelated...but too crazy not to share. THIS was my car on Thursday night, a couple of days after Lauren's birthday!! We have had so little snow and then we had this storm. AND here is Utah for ya today, SUNDAY...four days later...it is completely sunny and warm, all the snow melted. NONE of us even wore coats today. Our weather is so crazy!