HAPPY Blog B-day Give Away....

is today! Thanks to Tia, I have been informed of some blogging etiquette and one of those it to do a give-away on your blog's b-day. So, if any of you want to have some fun, I will send you out a little something as a thanks for listening to all my ramblings this past year. It may be something seasonal (maybe even Easter related) or something for the house. I just can't decide.

If you want in you have 48 hours (maybe I'll even give you until Saturday) to send a little response to this post that includes your name and your favorite story of the year . I will then pick randomly from the individuals that posted something and then let you know the winner.

Have fun and GOOD luck!

Just LOVIN' this new line from...

Skout (the company that takes old and recycled linens and makes amazing furniture). She just sent me over this wonderful line and I love it!!! We are also working on some custom designs just for Comfort and I am so excited. I just have to get all my creative juices flowing and come up with something spectacular. Maybe a really cool tufted headboard or some great upholstered coffee tables/benches. If you have any fun ideas -- I am definitely open. (BTW -- Tia, this line would look awesome in your house esp. in your living room with that awesome extra deep sofa and most totally cool PB entertainment center).

Happy B-day baby girl....

my little Miss Addy Mae. Can't she just stay little forever? She is my little side kick, my chief, my peacemaker, my ballerina, my reader, my little sweet heart. Love you my 6 year-old darling!

I vow that today is the last day of my...

complete and utter laziness when it comes to my exercise program (well there is not an actual program in place yet, but I vow that I will not sit on my rump and not exercise for almost a year again). I am letting you all know so that you will keep me on the right track. How you might ask? Well, let me tell ya.

• When I see the leftover b-day cake sitting on the kitchen counter just calling my name, I vow that I will not finish off the whole pan just because I LOVE homemade cakes.
• I vow that I WILL get dressed and take a shower every day. I will even try to put on a little makeup and will NOT walk the kids to school in my PJs.
• I will exercise at least once (now if I set my goals low then I will be able to accomplish them right?) a week so that someday, somewhere I will be able to run 3 miles straight and say "that was a great short run, let's climb Camelback Mountain now."
• Barring all pregnancies and additional thyroid issues, I vow that my current weight will be the heaviest I will be EVER again.
• I vow that NOT be obsessed about my clothing size or how much I weigh on the scales (even though being a size 6 again would be awesome) as long as I eat right and exercise. It's more important to feel good than to look good anyway, right?
• And last, but definitely NOT least, I vow to get to bed before 1am every morning. I will even try to get to sleep before 11pm because early to bed and early to rise makes me healthy... and wise AND less grumpy!!!!

So, who's with me? Wanna check up on each other once and a while to see if we are treating ourselves and our bodies right?

Great Photo Opportunity in NY...

So my sister-in-law (an amazing professional photographer) is planning on a photography seminar and NY camera play time in September. Here is what she said:

New York in September!

I am so excited for this trip to NYC, I haven't been there in quite awhile. And we are going during one of the best seasons - the weather is beautiful in September!
So I got the for-sure details!

We will be staying at a super neat hotel, The Warwick hotel, that is very centrally located for 3 nights (Sept 4 - 7)on-site instruction from a professional photographer and a lot of one-on-one time so you know everything you can get out of your specific camera.

The tour also includes:

Broadway show of your choice
Entrance to the Met and the Empire State Building
Transportation to and from the hotel/airport

All of this is going to only be $1024 per person (not including airfare). We worked really hard to get the price this low, it's really an incredible deal. This is for double occupancy - triple or quad occupancy is even cheaper per person.

This is limited to 14 travelers

Oh Yah -- we went to Market in Vegas...

and found some GREAT stuff. Yippee. The only bummer is that we totally decided to go on the wrong day (we went on the last day hoping to get some great specials and have less traffic) since by noon, all the retailers were closing shop early. But we still found the most amazing upholstery line (Nathan Anthony -- bummer that I can't show pictures of them yet -- they can interchange nailheads to crystals to add pizazz and have fully organic lines -- including mattresses. And talk about cozy -- some of the best fabrics I have every felt), children's furniture (alligator enterprise and relics furniture were my favorites) and shabby chic companies (check out the pillows by skout -- they are made from old military blankets, gunny sacks, etc. The also have amazing furniture lines). We are just lacking in the Tuscan style category but that's okay -- it gives us another excuse to venture to LA for their market in March.

So here are just some quick peeks of stuff that we LOVED -- and believe you me this is just a minuscule peek since most of the items that we saw and the companies that we found have to still send us their pictures and update their websites for their new lines. Most of the pictures does not even do the items justice.

Happy, Happy B-day to my sweetest...

boy in the world. If time permitted tonight I would love to post a little tribute to my little man -- I MUST to it later. I just love Hunter so much. I thank the Lord every day for the opportunity to be his mom. He gives me strength and calms my heart -- making me a better mom. Love you BUDDY!

Thanks to Target -- my most FAVORITE store...

I had this little conversation with Bo. Since we went to the valley this weekend, I just had to make at least 2 trips to Target (I actually had 3 planned but due to the potential for bad weather up the mountain, we had to leave early without our final Target run). On the 1st trip I filled the cart with some needed items including new church shoes for the girls and tights. After unpacking tonight I have Bo her spoils. She was so excited that she had to sleep with her sparkly shoes and hot pink tights. Just before she went to bed she came up to me and said, "Mom, you a good buyer. Thanks for all my cute things."

I then asked her if she was a good "buyer" and she said "no, I am a good wearer." Indeed -- she is so right. She puts together some fun, fun outfits and I just love buying them for her.

"Good night mom, sweet dreams....

I love you and... (long pause) I have a crush on you," Kadan sweetly said as he ran out the door after giving me a kiss.

The rest of the conversation went something like this...

me -- "You get back here young man and give me another kiss."

With a sweet squeeze I was able to ask him some questions.

me -- "do you know what a crush means?"

K -- "Yep, it when you like someone very, very much and you want to marry them. Just like when dad married you -- he had a crush on you."

me -- "so you love me and want to marry me?"

K -- giggle, giggle "yes, but don't tell anybody, okay mom?"

Oops, I just HAD to tell. How sweet!

So, I am feeling like a total LOSER mom...

tonight. "Why?" you might ask -- well, let me tell you why.

Hunter's 10th birthday is tomorrow and Addy's 6th birthday is on Saturday and for the first time in my children's life, I have not planned a "real" birthday party for them. I usually go all out with made-by-hand invites, some fun handmade item for the kids to take home, tons of yummy food and all out splendor. This year I am at a loss. Finding friends has not come easy for Hunter so I don't want to "push" the issue of having a large party if it will stress him out about who to invite. So then I'm thinking "I can't have a huge party with all Addy's new girlfriends just 5 days after Hunter's birthday. It's just no fair to Hunter." So, what should I do? How can I make his day special tomorrow? I've asked him but he says, "I don't know." His one request was to get some Dual Master cards and go to Chick-fil-A. So, is that it? Will that be his big hoop-la for turning 10? Man, Oh Man -- I just feel sad about it.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!!

Did I ever express just how much I LOVE the snow. In my opinion, if it is cold then it should snow. Even if the snow was 10 feet high and I had to dig my way out of my house -- I would say, "Keep it COMIN!"

Today was like a dream -- it snowed and snowed and snowed HUGE flakes. Those wonderful sticky flakes that lets you build the most awesome forts and the roundest snowballs. My kids loved every minute of it and I loved watching them out the bay window in the kitchen all bundled up, completely enjoying the absolute quite and giggled by myself as I watched them push the sled down the little hill and flop down to make a perfect snow angel. It was snowing just too hard to take outdoor pictures (I made that mistake once and almost ruined my camera permanently) so, I captured their little red faces and huge, tired smiles as they came in out of the cold to drink yummy hot chocolate.

Shade vs. Down East Basic Tee's

So, I need your opinions. We are thinking about getting a t-shirt and clothing line (one of the wonderful ones that you can use to wear under all your clothes to make sure that you are modest -- they also have great modest dresses, bathing suits etc) and need to know which one may sell the best. So, which one would you choose?

Shade Clothing -- better quality, more fashion colors and design choices but approx. 20% more expensive

OR

Down East Basics -- more reasonably priced, designs very similar to Shade, less expensive dresses

Yeah! Basketball starts again...

and the boys are absolutely loving it. They eat, sleep and talk about basketball all the time. I just had to get a shot of them on their first game day.

He has a plan...

Kadan came to me tonight and said, "Mom, I am going to read the whole big red book (meaning the Book of Mormon) and I am going to do it before I turn 21."

Then an hour later he came back down, book in had, and said, "I am going to read every night and I am going to finish by the time I am 10. I just know I can do it."

What an awesome goal buddy -- I am so proud of you!

Please remind me to NEVER ever EVER...

tackle painting my kitchen cabinets again. What an extremely time consuming, ignore-the-other household-responsibility while creating, clothes destroying and carpal tunnel syndrome making experience. Day after day after day after day I paint, wipe up spills, eat a little, paint some more, holler at the kids to stay way, paint again, sleep a little, wear the same outfit (totally yuckiness), and then paint some more. It takes FOREVER! Then, silly me decided to do a little antiquing and staining/highlighting which takes even more time and then requires a final lacquer top coat.

Yet, despite the pain I am excited about my bright new kitchen. The kitchen before was pretty but just so dark (black appliances, dark oak stain, black granite counter tops, dark slate back splash, black drawer pulls and deep burnt orange walls). Since I NEED light, I just had to do something. So, out came the cream. I just cannot decide on the knob and pull colors -- I am thinking either crystal or a more modern stainless steel. I will have to post picture when I finish.

Oh, I did get some pix of the kids helping -- they are GREAT helpers and we only ruined 2 winter coats and a pair of jeans in the process before I got smart and stripped then down to their undies.