The Rindy Family

2012-02-01T08:46:00.003-07:00

"Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don't judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone's differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn't handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another's weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other."
~Marvin J. Ashton

Sometimes I Am Ugly

2012-01-31T16:59:00.000-07:00

You're familiar with the Shallow Hal mindset, yes? Well, I think I'm pretty happy with my supermodel soul. I practice random acts of kindness. I let people in in traffic. I serve my family. I'm usually happy to do a favor for anyone who asks it of me. I go out of my way to let people know I'm thinking about them. I like kids. I'm usually kind. I'm nice to animals. I'm honest. I love.

But sometimes I am ugly. And I don't just mean 'sort of unattractive'. I mean I am a pimply, pus-oozing, foul smelling, hairy-legged, no alibi UGGO. I work so hard to nurture the supermodel - the beauty. To be gracious, keep my priorities straight, say yes even if I feel like saying no, brighten the day for those I'm around, swallow hurt feelings and not let them show. But every so often, the ugly escapes and she tears to shreds any trace of beauty that was once there.

This week I feel ugly. Pride and stupidity and poor decision making and years of frustration all ganged up and the result was total and complete ugliness. And just the right amount of shame. I want to scream

"I AM NOT THAT PERSON!" but my actions betray my words.

I don't know how to fix it. The ugly part of me doesn't want to. But I don't want to be ugly. I want beauty. I want to shine. I want to build people up instead of tearing them down. Mend wounds instead of letting them fester. Breathe and grow up and get over it and move on.

I want to learn from my mistakes (and not make them again). Consider others. Use my head, and use my heart.

I want to forgive. Lose my pride. Put off the natural man and drive the darkness - the ugliness - away.

February starts tomorrow. A month all about love. February will be my month to make the changes I need to in order to really love, to really be beautiful. Not necessarily supermodel beautiful, but Daughter of God beautiful.

And I can only do it with His help.
Wish me luck.

But What If That Doesn't Work?

2012-01-30T20:04:00.001-07:00

Some days are good days. Some days are bad days. Today is a really really bad day.

Melia's Uniform

2012-01-29T17:04:00.000-07:00

Every day, she wears some form of this outfit (hand-picked by her, of course): Tennis shoes, jeans, tutu, princess and/or Minnie Mouse shirt. Luckily we have enough of each to give her a little bit of variety. We love our little girly tomboy punkrock princess.

This Is My Town

2012-01-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

Na na na na na...

When Rachel and I were making plans for what we would do when she came to Payson to visit me, I joked about how there isn't much to see or do here in P-town. Luckily, she came here on a dark, wintry night, so seeing the sights wasn't really an option. But I've been thinking all week about what I'd like to show her next time she's here.

I'd like to show her my town the way it was when I was growing up. One stop light, one grocery store, lots and lots of open space for kids to explore. The mountain bike trails that are now subdivisions, the old ball park in it's heyday where I spent every single day every single summer. The smell of the Huish Theater's popcorn and the donut holes at Roe's Bakery on Main Street.I'd show her the backyards that connected for blocks where night games were a weekly occurrence, the penny candy store we would stop by after we were done at the swimming pool, and the trail to red bridge where you'd get in trouble if your parents found out you had been there.

Roe's Bakery

Things have changed since I first moved to this little town. We have seven stoplights. Fields where we used to catch grasshoppers are now huge business developments. Everyone still seems to know everyone else, but they don't always take the time to find out how anymore.

But that's okay. There are lots of things that are the same. The band concerts in the park every Sunday in the summer, where the kids go to socialize and the adults go to watch the kids socialize. The hill at Peteetneet that is the best sledding hill in the country (probably). The canyon - which is my absolute favorite part of this city - and the way the sun hits the mountains and turns them a stunning shade of purple before night comes. The smell of the cherry plants and the smell of the Salmon Supper and the smell of the hay fields and the smell in the air when West Mountain is on fire --- which happens at least once every year. I'd show her the road where my sister and I would walk to school every day, how you can hear the band practicing and the football announcers when you're sitting on my parents' front porch, and the spot we used to run to on the corner to watch the firetrucks drive by on the old highway.

Payson Canyon

I'd show her the back roads I learned to drive on, with my Dad sitting next to me in his old blue truck. The patchwork design that the farmlands make on the side of the mountain that still takes my breath away every time I see it. The softball field - and home plate - that was MINE for four years, where I learned some of the most important lessons of my life. The local fast food joint with the best french fries and shakes and the local fast food joint where the whole choir would go after every concert to get ice cream.

The Farms on West Mountain

My tour would include the place Adam and I went on our first date, the place we first kissed, the place we first fought. The church gym where we danced on our wedding night. The hospital where my babies were born.

Our Tree, Payson Canyon,
the spot of our first date

There are also lots of things I couldn't show her about my town and why I love it. The sound of my elementary school principal's voice and the hug of my 7th grade English Teacher. The way my softball coach would hit my helmet and the way my bishop shakes your hand. I would take her to the high school and try to have her understand what it felt like there after school was out - staying for sports practice, play practice, weight training, homework, detention, or just because you didn't want to go home. How the Primary President when I was baptized was also the Young Women's President when I turned 12 and is now the Primary President that I work side by side with each week. How our volunteer fire department and volunteer EMT's are people I've known my whole life - and how comforting that is when you need them.

Of course I'd show her the temple site, even though right now it's just a big stretch of dirt, and I'd tell her how excited I am to have the temple built here. How it will feel like it belongs to my children - it will be 'their' temple. How I will serve there and how when people go, they will see so many familiar faces that it will really be a taste of heaven.

I'd show her how neighbors plow and shovel the snow for the whole block just because they know it needs to be done, how cars passing each other can stop in the middle of the road to have a conversation and everyone is okay with it because "that's Payson". I'd show her the gas station where I used to work and how it has the best Hot Chocolate in the history of hot chocolate, as well as the hill we used to iceblock on, and our park that has so many trees it's amazing the sun gets through to the grass at all. I'd show her what it feels like to lay on the sidewalk after running through the sprinklers (or -heaven forbid- the irrigation water) and what it feels like to lay in the middle of the street on a warm summer night and feel the heat of the blacktop underneath you.

Payson Memorial Park

Basically, I'd try to show her how I am who I am because of this crazy little town. How I'll raise my family here and my kids will love it here sometimes and hate it here sometimes and want to get out I'm sure, but hopefully they'll come back because it's where I'll be. And where their memories will be.

And it's awesome.

Misty's 5 Confessions

2012-01-27T16:18:00.003-07:00

Abby posted 5 confessions and invited me to do the same. Well, not personally, but she's one of my favorite bloggers and everything she posts I'm sure is with me in mind so basically, it was a personal invitation. My narcissism isn't even one of my confessions. Ain't that somethin'.

Confession: I always draw a heart in a new jar of peanut butter before putting the peanut butter on my sandwich. Remember those old Skippy commercials? Nobody but me ever sees the heart, but I do it with every new jar and it makes me so so happy.

Confession: My fridge is so amazingly dirty. It's pretty disgusting, really. But I don't care enough to clean it. Every week I tell myself I'll do it on Thursday (Friday's garbage day) and every Thursday I decide not to do it. It's bad. And it's not just forgotten leftovers, either. It's stuff that's spilled or leaked that never got cleaned up, so when I finally do it, it's going to be a HUGE deal. Anyone wanna earn twenty bucks?

Confession: I have to register my boys for kindergarten soon (46 days, to be exact!) and every time I think about it, my stomach turns. I'm dead serious. I thought after 2 years of preschool, kindergarten would be no biggie, but it's totally freaking me out. I remember my kindergarten open house! It wasn't that long ago! I'm really having a hard time with it. My babies are growing up too fast.

Confession: I have an absolute weakness for songs that have girls' names for titles. Some of my favorites are Jane by Barenaked Ladies, Kate by Ben Folds Five, Anna Begins by Counting Crows, Anna by Hello Saferide, Annie by Mat Kearney, Ana Ng by They Might Be Giants, (I obviously love the name Anna, too), Jamie by Weezer, Jenny Jenkins by Lisa Loeb, and Layla by Eric Clapton. Regrettably, there aren't many good 'Misty' songs.

Confession: I am so sad about the Chuck finale tonight. Like, moping around feeling all melon-choly (MegaMind. Booya.) We have watched this show from day 1, never missing an episode (even before we had dvr!) and I'm so sorry to see it end. I'm a little in love with Zac Levi. And Adam Baldwin. And Yvonne Strahovski. And Captain Awesome, of course. I'll definitely be needing some comfort food in about five hours. Does being so sad about fictional characters make me lame? I don't know, and I don't care. All I know is it better have a freakin' happy ending, or I quit TV forever.

Another Pinned Project

2012-01-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

For some reason, I can't log in to Pinterest today. I guess that means I'll have to be productive. Once I can get back on there, though, I will link one of the first pins I ever pinned here ... it's a collage of picture frames in the shape of a heart. I recreated it for our anniversary in September, but it took me a while to get a recent picture of Adam and me together, so I just got it finished last week. (My BFF Rachel was coming down and I had to finish it before she got here!)

Yay, right? I love it! Here's a breakdown of all of our pictures:

#1 Magical Morning at Disneyland #2 Anniversary, 2008 #3 Labor Day, 2000 #4 Anniversary, 2008 #5 Tuacahn, 2000 #6 Adam in Brazil (writing our names in the sand. aw.) #7 Family Pictures #8 Mini Golfing with Scongie #9 My "I Love You" email, Valentine's Day 2009 #10 In front of McMullin's Cherry Plant - where we met (blue hairnets and all) #11 St. George Getaway #12 Right after we had Melia #13 Thanksgiving, 2009 #14 Softball tournament, 2001 #15 Our initials at Lake Powell when he proposed #16 Onion Day Parade, 2010 #17 Our wedding rings #18 Wedding Day #19 Disneyland #20 Honeymoon at Daniel's Summit #21 Wedding Day #22 Softball Banquet, 2001 #23 Seminary Graduation #24 The Whole Freakin' Family #25 Midnight Premiere of Pirates #26 Brad Paisley Concert #27 Engagement Picture #28 Our Tree #29 Anniversary 2009 #30 Valentine's Day, 2009 #31 Idaho Falls Temple, 2000 #32 Adam's Birthday, 2001 #33 Our first Christmas as Mr. & Mrs. (and Pia) #34 Wedding Day #35 Easter, 2001 #36 Thanksgiving, 2011

I know, Mom, it's not perfect. But it's perfect enough for me. We've got 12 years of great memories up there and we can change pictures out if we ever feel so inclined. It's pretty much my favorite thing ever. And I love Pinterest. When it works. The end.

Tickity Tockity

2012-01-25T14:45:00.004-07:00

Now that I've given everyone their Christmas gifts, {It only took me a month!}I can post about what I did this year. I saw this idea on Pinterest (of course), and made a bunch of personalized clocks for my nearest and dearest. There were a few things that didn't go quite as planned, {like AJ, Aaron, & Melia stripping the gears in half-a-dozen finished clocks, for instance. Bless their hearts.} but with my Dad and Adam helping me, everything worked out.

So cool, right?! I have tons of boards and clock pieces left (it was cheaper to buy in bulk), so I'm thinking we'll be doing clocks for every single occasion for the next year or so. At least we'll always know what time it is.

Nuggets of Joy

2012-01-25T10:10:00.000-07:00

Aaron: Dad! I'm keeping Mom in business!
Adam: You're keeping her in business?
Aaron: No....I'm keeping Mom....company.

{During Family Home Evening}

AJ: Mom, did you lose your soul?

Melia: (singing) The wheels on the bus go round and round...

{silence}

Me: Round and round?
Melia: DON'T TALK TO ME! I'm singing right now.

Me: Oh. Well excuse me!
Melia: (surprised) Ah! Did you sneeze?

The Comedian

2012-01-20T08:42:00.001-07:00

This biggest child of mine is freaking hilarious. Most of the time he means to be. Sometimes he doesn't mean to be. Either way, we're usually laughing when he's talking. (Unless he's telling you how bad of a parent you are. Yeah, we've entered that wonderful stage. And I hear it won't end for about 20 years.) Anywho, AJ loves to make people laugh.

He's fully grasped the concept of knock-knock jokes and if you get him started, he does not stop. His favorite one?

Knock knock

Who's There?
Boo

Boo Who?
Don't Cry!

{And then he laughs and laughs and laughs like it's the first time anyone's ever heard it.}

He's also a big fan of physical comedy. When he is pretending to be scared or surprised, he takes off across the room, runs into the farthest wall, falls onto his back and twitches while he's on the ground. {And then he laughs and laughs like it's the first time anyone's ever seen it.} [Kind of cute at home, not so cute in primary, by the way.]

He takes after his Momma and quotes lines from movies to make people laugh. His favorite lately is "Oh, my big, blue head!" from Megamind. And with Aaron and Melia for an audience, he always gets the reaction he's looking for. He loves to give kisses, but thanks to a certain someone, he will ask to give you a kiss, then instead of kissing you on the cheek, will give you raspberry. And--you guessed it--laughs hyserically.

Man, that kid does not stop talking. He asks questions about everything - EVERYTHING! - he tells you how things work, what letter every word starts with (and sometimes even how to spell the whole darn word), and he's always offering sage advice. The other day when Adam was leaving for work, AJ became very serious and said "Don't teach your school friends the wrong things, Dad." {I'll try not to, bud.} This morning, it was "Dad, I love you so much, I'm going to be you on the Wii!" THAT is affection, my friends.

There's never a dull (or quiet) moment when you're with Ager. We love our little goofball.

The Pretender

2012-01-19T09:02:00.000-07:00

I know all kids have great imaginations, but it seems like this one is always pretending something. They're doing the Pirate Unit at his school again, and so most days Aaron is Pirate Pete or Jack Sparrow. Man, does he love everything pirate. Everything, that is, except for Krakens or Giant Squids that give him bad dreams (we've had more than a few of those in the last few weeks).

When he's not screaming "We're DOOMED!" or making you walk the plank, or telling you about his run-in with sharks or crocodiles (which is how he lost his hand, mind you), he's probably pretending he's a dog or a cat. As in: going EVERYWHERE on his hands and knees and talking in a reeeaaaalllly high, difficult to understand cat or dog voice. Doggie Aaron also comes with doggie kisses - or what we humans would call licking.

He seems to have an explanation for everything. For example, "When I eat a lot, my tummy gets full and then all the food goes down to my pee-pee and makes it big."

He loves acting out scripture stories, perfecting different accents, practicing his air guitar, and if you sit still long enough, you will find him on your lap with a pile of books for you to read to him. (And by 'pile' I mean 15 different books is nothin'.)

The other day at lunch, Adam asked him to say the prayer. He started off just fine and then his words transformed into pure gibberish. When it was clear that his prayer had ended, we all said our 'amens' and he looked up with that huge, Aaron grin and said "I'm speaking Spanish!"

Oh, that boy. One thing's for sure with Aaron around: Every day is an adventure. We love this crazy kid.

So This Is What A Warm Fuzzy Feels Like

2012-01-17T21:59:00.000-07:00

For reasons that I shall not get into now, Adam has to take his truck out for a drive every night before we go to bed. Hmm, back up. That kind of sounds like my husband has some shady late-night habits. I shall elaborate enough to say my husband's truck is the bane of my existence and if he doesn't take it for a spin at night, it doesn't start the next morning. But that's all I'll say about it (because just thinking about it gets me all agitated. And itchy.).

So anyway, when Adam took his truck out last night, I grabbed a dry erase marker and wrote him a little message on our back door window. I had forgotten all about it until this morning, when I started down the stairs, the sun was shining onto the wall to display this

And it made me smile.

It was a freezing, tiring, crazy Tuesday that felt like a Monday...

But that little surprise shadow kept a smile on my lips and a curl on my toes all day long.

{Isn't love awesome?}

2 going on 25

2012-01-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

I just now realized that this Tuesday is Melia's half birthday. She'll be closer to 3 than 2. It's adding to my grief. I'm already weirded out by how quickly she's growing up.

For example, today is the 5th consecutive day that she's worn her big girl panties (or "pincess panzies" as she calls them) with no accidents. That's right folks, both #1 and #2 in the #toilet. I know she's a bit of a late bloomer in this area, but I'm pretty sure her mother is to blame. She's been ready for quite some time, but seeing her in pincess panzies freaks me out a bit. She's my baby! She's not old enough to be wearing panzies! And as much as I hate changing diapers, I hate the thought of her growing up even more. Doesn't she look so darn old?

Her brothers have been fantastic cheer-leaders and advice givers ("Now you have to shake it!") and have enjoyed the fruits of her labors {meaning they get a treat every time she does her business, so they're more than willing to ask her every two minutes if she needs to poop}. She is one lucky gal.

Even putting the panzies aside, Melia still thinks she's 2 going on 25. She bosses everyone - even her maw and paw - around, threatens folks with time outs and believes she's entitled to every bite of food we have in our house. And will eat it. Without asking. {25 pieces of Salt Water Taffy in one sitting? No prob. Half a loaf of bread in the time it takes mom to get dressed? Piece of cake. Piece of cake? You betcha.}

She takes great pleasure in teasing her big brothers mercilessly, laughing at them when they get into trouble, turning everything into a competition and then trash talking when she wins, hitting them and then crying and tattling when they hit back. She's a little spit-fire and trouble maker, and she's so darn adorable that we don't know what to do with ourselves. We are in B-I-G trouble with this girl.

She also talks like crazy, has a rockin' imagination, loves to give hugs and kisses, stroke your cheek when she's happy to see you, be rocked like a baby, take care of her own babies, talk on the phone, take pictures, and squeal when Daddy gets home from work. She demands a song when we tuck her in at night - usually Scripture Power or I Love To See The Temple - and will raise her fist enthusiastically during both songs. She melts our hearts and knows exactly when to throw an "I love you!" our direction so that we don't pack her up and sell her to the gypsies.

And we love her back. A lot.

Gross Margaret

2012-01-12T10:03:00.001-07:00

Last nightas we were tucking the boys into bed, Adam asked me "what's all over their wall?" I guessed it was probably just dirt from Aaron putting his dirty little hands and feet on the wall (he does that a lot). Adam was still concerned. "Is the paint chipping? It looks like there are marks where the paint's coming off." I was getting a little annoyed (it was bedtime, afterall) and told him not to worry about it, I'd scrub the walls tomorrow. Ever the detective, Adam decided to investigate further. "Aaron, do you know what's on the wall by your bed?" His answer? "My boogers."

I think I'll be teaching Aaron how to scrub walls. After I finish gagging, brushing my teeth, and soaking in a tub of lysol.

Primary Lately

2012-01-09T09:31:00.002-07:00

Itseems like I was just barely posting about my kids being Sunbeams and now here we are, a year older and wiser with the kids feelin' big and bad with their brand new CTR rings. Their Sunbeam teacher, Sister Kimber did such a great job teaching my boys. I'm pretty sure she has a straight shot to heaven now that she's survived my little rascals. They will miss being in her class. They were excited to meet their new teachers, though, and made the transition quite well. They are so excited about their rings.

Melia gets to be in nursery for another year, the oldest (and largest) in there. She loves it, though, especially the bubbles, puzzles, and singing time. "I Love To See The Temple" is her favorite song lately and when the Primary Choir starting singing it yesterday at Stake Conference, she got all excited and yelled "They're singing my song!"

I think this is her Fonzie impression.
Ayyy!

A Reminder

2012-01-06T09:04:00.000-07:00

I'm attempting to read the Standard Works this year. I found a reading schedule at the end of December, but then Hilary Weeks shared this one on facebook, and I like her system better. I hear Emily Freeman is amazing (I know a gal who knows her), and if her blog is any indication, 'amazing' doesn't even do her justice.
Today she wrote this post: A Reminder, and it is one I needed to read today. It is also one I will probably need to read about 360 more times this year. Take a second and read it, will ya?

{Happy Friday}

There's No Minute Like The Last Minute

2012-01-05T13:44:00.002-07:00

Funny Story.

Two Christmases ago, I made my mother-in-law a photo book using templates that someone amazing made for The Family: A Proclamation To The World. I loved it. I loved it so much that I wanted to make one for myself. But 30 page 12x12 hard cover photo books can be so expensive! Last summer, my mom found a great deal with some company and made one of her own. At the time, I was crazy busy, so I didn't do mine. Fast forward to August of 2011. I found a Daily Deal for a $50 gift certificate to a place called Pixi Wixi. I don't remember how much I paid for it, but it was pretty darn cheap. I got it, and have been doing a few pages here and there along the way. It was hard choosing which pictures to use (Should I do my babies when they were little or my babies now?) and I was waiting to get new family pictures taken for a few of the pages (though I wasn't motivated enough to actually arrange to have family pictures taken...) so I guess you could say I was taking my sweet sweet time.

NOW fast forward to January 4, 2012. I was thinking about my book (I had just less than half of the pages done) and thought I had until February. Just to be sure, because I couldn't remember if it was the beginning or the end of February, I pulled out my certificate and realized that it expired 6 months from the date of purchase, which was THAT DAY.

DUN DUN DUN

To make matters worse, my Photoshop is having some weird issues, so one page took me about two hours to do. I finally gave up and went to my mom's to use her computer. I skipped lunch, neglected my house and had the kiddos fend for themselves. {Scary.} I finally finished it and got it ordered around 9:00 last night.

Nothing like having no time left to get you motivated, hu?

Even though over half of the book was finished in a bit of a rush, I am in love with it! I can't wait to hold it in my hot little hands! And a shameless plug for Pixi Wixi Photobooks -- their website was SO easy to use! I still had to pay a bit for extra pages, but with my Daily Deal and their great prices, I still got this thing done for a steal. {Not to mention, that it will be here NEXT WEEK! Quick, quick, turnaround, ahhhh yes.}

Here are a few of my favorite pages (though I really, really love them all!) (Click 'em for a closer look)

And here is a link to my finished book that you can check out on Pixi Wixi's site. {Clickity}

I'm so excited! There's something amazing about reading the words of the Proclamation and seeing your little family next to those words. And I'm SO glad I looked at my certificate yesterday instead of today! {How crappy would that have been to realize that it expired the day before?}

Three cheers for getting things done by the skin of your teeth!

{If you'd like to make a book for yourself, you can buy the template here for $1 or $10. It's quite easy to do...the tough part is deciding which pictures to use!}

Resolutioning

2012-01-01T19:19:00.002-07:00

Happy 2012, family, friends, and others! (ha ha, that's an inside joke ... with ... myself.) I hope your New Year's Eve celebration was awesome. Ours was.
I've been thinking a lot about my New Year's Resolutions. I love making resolutions. I love the feeling of starting fresh with all kinds of possibilities in front of me. There's nothing like it. Here are my thoughts so far:

Usually my goals are pretty specific and pretty similar to the goals I set the year before. But this year, I'm going to take things from a different angle. Mainly for two reasons: I've been working on completing 101 goals in 1001 days and have had a lot of fun doing that. By the nature of the challenge, my goals are very specific and there's a nice mix of long term/short term things to accomplish. The second reason is because 2011 has been a really great year for me. Thanks to my 101 goals and some other outside - and unique - situations, I've accomplished a lot. I read the Book of Mormon three times last year, all three times in 100 days or less. Family Home Evening is a habit in our house and while I didn't keep track, I'm pretty sure we didn't miss a week. Same with family scripture study. I ran two 5k races (ten thousand miles?!) and while that doesn't come close to making me a runner, it was good to know that I could actually do something like that. My house has been on the cleanish side more often than it's been on the filthyish side. There are still many, many things I need to establish and work on, but right now I feel like I'm making some really good progress.

Here's what I'm excited about:

Instead of that kind of list, I've chosen 5 areas that I want to improve on. Actual ways to change instead of habits to form or goals to check off.

#1 The first thing I want to adopt in my life is this viewpoint offered by Neil L. Anderson:

"As we look into the eyes of a child, we see a fellow son or daughter of God who stood with us in the premortal life."

I desperately want to remember that and think and act accordingly with my three kiddos. Truth is, I don't always treat them that way. I need to.

#2 Next, this gem of a quote needs to become part of the way I think:

I've been in a personal wrestling match with a certain situation and have spent lots of time 'spoiling what I have' so to speak and it's gotta stop. That's all I'll say about that.

#3

Hmm, notice a theme? I get distracted so easily and by so many things, I need to focus, focus, focus on the things that matter most.

#4

I am a creative being. Creation is my opportunity. I want to do more.

#5 From 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"

If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."

I need to put forth more effort to take care of my body and be healthy.  Exercise, eat right, get some sleep ... all that good stuff. Physical fitness affects all aspects of our lives. It improves mental concentration and alertness, relieves tension and anxiety, and affects our capacity to respond to others positively.  I want to adopt a healthy lifestyle to reap the benefits in all areas of my life.

It's going to be an awesome and challenging year.  Bring it on, 2012.  I'm ready for you.

So, This is Christmas

2011-12-26T21:30:00.000-07:00

The only word I can come up with to adequately describe Christmas this year is magical. Everything about it was just that. I didn't really feel stressed out much at all. I probably should have, and maybe I did here and there, but overall, I was surprised that I wasn't more frenzied. It was ... imperfectly perfect. Hmm, it looks like there's no way I'm going to be doing 2011 justice. Bullets, shall we?

Singing Christmas songs together as a family. How on earth do these young'ns pick up the words so quickly? It's amazing and so exciting.
Listening to Christmas music. This year's particular favorites were Alvin and The Chipmunks, VeggieTales Christmas (The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree), and Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus. The kiddies can't sing "Hosanna!" without a major fist pump. Does my heart good.
Driving around (while listening to/singing Christmas carols) looking at the Christmas lights. It wouldn't be Christmas without this tradition, and there's something magical (there's that word again) about a dark night, a warm car, and driving around with no destination -- just letting the festive lights direct which road you'll turn down next. {By the way, if you didn't check out Salem Pond this year, make sure you hit it next year. It was awesome.}
Letting the boys doorbell ditch for the first time this year. One of our favorite traditions is the 12 Days of Christmas and this year we thought the boys were old enough - and stealthy enough - to deliver the goods. The rush of running and trying to stay hidden sure is different when you're seeing it from a 4-year-old's eyes. Much less creepy, way more fun.
Watching the kids watch their video from Santa. My friend Tammee sent me this link where you can create a "personalized" message. The kids had so much fun watching the video and answering Santa's questions. They also loved the Santa Tracker here.
Acting out the Christmas story from Luke and from The Book of Mormon (Samuel the Lamanite, the day and night and day that was like one day, the new star in the heavens...) the kids got so into it and it feels like the really grasped the concepts this year. They made great angels appearing to the shepherds, and hearing their little voices say "I bring you good tidings of great joy, for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." was awesome, awesome, awesome.
All of the traditions. Trax to Temple Square, singing for the Ward Christmas Party, delivering neighbor gifts (which all three kids took turns doing this year - it was great), making goodies, wrapping gifts, reading Christmas books for bedtime stories, setting out the nativities and decorating the tree, making gingerbread houses, watching The Muppet's Christmas Carol, The Santa Clause 2, and How The Grinch Stole Christmas over and over and over...
Their excitement on Christmas morning, of course. They stayed in their room like we'd asked them to and woke us up by whisper-shouting "Mom! Dad! We're awake!" They couldn't wait to see if Santa had eaten the cookies they'd left out for him and if he'd left them toys. We knew that Santa had gotten them some great stuff, but seeing their reactions to it all brought me to tears. JOY - for them and for me and Adam. Magical.

Here are some visual aids:

Making Our Gingerbread House

Trying not to eat said Gingerbread House
(By Christmas morning, all of the tree ornaments and gum drops on the roof had mysteriously disappeared...)

The insisted on piling into AJ's bed for our Christmas bedtime story

The Stockings were ~~hung~~ propped up on the couch.

Santa is one busy dude.

Reacting

...and this is where he was nearly weeping with joy.

Taking it all in

Trying out her new Minnie Hat

Opening his Angry Birds game

Opening his new Cootie game
(Do any of you remember playing that as a kid? It was one of my favorites.)

Melia trying to take a picture of AJ with her new camera.
(That's usually what the pictures she takes with my camera look like, too.)

Dad's new Phineas and Ferb Wii game

After church with Dad

After church with Mom

One More Sleep 'Til Christmas

2011-12-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Christmas Eve! There's something in the air on Christmas Eve ... different from Christmas Day ... reverent, peaceful, full of anticipation ... I love it.
We started a new tradition this year, a big Turkey Christmas Eve Dinner. This was my second turkey I've made in my life, (and by 'made' I mean gently warmed to the state of perfection) and it was delicious. We peeled ten pounds of potatoes for the mashed potatoes. We like potatoes. We had Rindy Farm corn, homemade (by ME!) gravy, and Mormon Champagne - or as the kids called it, "Candy Cane Juice." The kiddos were so excited to drink out of goblets. I mean SO excited. We had to forbid them from "clinking" their cups in a toast ... who knows where on earth they got that. But other than that, it was an awesome dinner and is going to be one of my favorite traditions, I'm sure of it.

You may know that we are pretty tight with Santa, and even though he was SUPER busy, he managed to stop by on Christmas Eve to ask the kids if they were still being good, encourage them to go right to bed, and give them some new pajamas. The kids LOVED having him visit.

After Santa hurried on his way, we put some cookies and milk out for him, threw out some reindeer food, changed into pajamas and read The Night Before Christmas. {Christmas day, AJ reported that he dreamt of sugar plumbs all night long.}

Neighbor Gifts

2011-12-20T22:00:00.000-07:00

I loved my neighbor gifts this year! I had them done right after Thanksgiving, and it killed me wait until it was officially Christmastime to give them to everyone. Easy but awesome, that's how I roll.

Here's what the poem says:

It's Christmastime both near and far,

From us to you, here's a special star.

It may seem dull, tarnished and old

Not nearly as shiny as silver or gold.

So why would we share a gift that's so plain?

The answer is simple, please let us explain.

We all have a Brother so humble and meek

For glory and riches He never did seek.

He left us a message so simple to see
'Love one another as I have loved thee.'

So look on this star and reflect on His love

He reminds us each night with His stars up above.

Me & Christmas

2011-12-16T13:55:00.003-07:00

{Both my friends Abby and Amanda did this fun little Christmas Quiz, and I wanted in on the action.}

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate for sure. In high school, Lindsey and I made daily (sometimes hourly) trips to Fast Gas to get a cup of their hot chocolate. One of the thing I was most excited about when we moved back to Payson was Fast Gas Hot Chocolate. There's nothing like it. But for the record, I only drink hot chocolate in months with an 'R' in them. What's life without whimsy?

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? When I was growing up, Santa never wrapped the gifts he brought. He would just place them under the tree or by our stockings. I've kept it that way in my own family. That way, you know which came from Santa and which came from mom and dad and I don't have to worry about keeping the special wrapping paper hidden (or wrapping any more gifts than I absolutely have to.)

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Either! I love the elegance of white lights, but colored lights bring back lots of Christmas memories. This year we have colored lights on our tree.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? I did every year before the boys came. Then I got paranoid about them eating some and dying, so I haven't hung it in the last five years.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Adam's rule is December, so usually the second we change the calendar, I'm all over it. If it were up to me, they'd be up the day after Thanksgiving.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Turkey or Ham. We only get fancy schmancy meals a few days a year, so you have to soak up every bit that you can, right? I'm also quite partial to Roast Beast.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Any that include my Grandma Brickey. She LOVED Christmas. Driving around in her Cadillac and looking at Christmas lights while we listened to Christmas music or sang carols are at the top of the list.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? My family has a tradition that the Christmas after you turn 8, you get to stay up and "meet Santa." My parents talk to us about the meaning of Christmas, the legend of St. Nicholas and the spirit of giving gifts and then we get to help Santa fill the stockings and eat the cookies left out for him.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, pajamas. It's always been that way in my family, and it's that way with my children. The only difference now is that Santa comes to visit on Christmas Eve and gives them their pajamas from his big red bag. (My Dad ha a Santa suit and makes a great St. Nick.) Then he reminds them to hurry to bed so that he can come leave them their gifts.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? My parents bought me (and Adam, once we started dating) new ornaments every year, so we have a very mismatched/sentimental tree. I still have the wreath ornament I made for my parents when I was in kindergarten. It's been fun to hang new ornaments that the kids have made as well. Every ornament has a memory with it, and that's exactly how I want it.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Love it if I can stay inside and just look at it. Dread it if I have to leave the house.

12. Can you ice skate? Yes.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? There are way too many. My parents and husband are great gift givers. The one that comes to mind right off is Teddy Ruxpin when I was just a little tot.

14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Spending time with family, and being able to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and reflect on His life, atonement, and resurrection.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Now we're talking! Fudge and English Toffee. It wouldn't be Christmas without my mom's toffee.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? We do The 12 Days of Christmas for a family every year. I wrote each little poem for the day, and it's all centered on the birth of Christ. It's so much fun.

17. What tops your tree? A star.

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? Giving. I love finding great gifts for people and seeing their reactions when they open them. My ambition gets me in trouble almost every year.

19. Candy canes: yuck or yummy? Yummy, but only after I've already eaten all of the chocolate around.

20. Favorite Christmas show? The Muppet's Christmas Carol. I watch it every year.

21. Saddest Christmas song? Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. That's why it made my
Worst Holiday Songs list last year. The words are happy, but the music is so sad. It just makes me cry and cry.

22. What is your favorite Christmas song? As Rachel can attest, there are way too many to choose only one. I love Christmas music. If it's Christmas-y (and not on the aforementioned list), I love it. Silly, spiritual, traditional, contemporary ... I love it all. Some at the top of the list are Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus, Christmastime by Hilary Weeks, The Colors Christmas Song, Blue Christmas by Porky Pig and O Holy Night (when it's sung by Josh Groban). And this year I'm especially loving Carol of the Bells because of Dwight.

It's Great Having Friends Who Love Your Babies

2011-12-12T11:23:00.001-07:00

I have an amazing friend. She loves my babies maybe as much as I do. A little while ago, she brought these Minnie Clips over that she made for the Little Miss. Can you tell 'Lia is in love?

THEN, she out-of-the-blue dropped off another little gift for Melia. I say "little" gift, but that's not accurate. I can't imagine how much time went into making this baby. And if you told Melia it was a "little gift", you'd probably get kicked in the shin because this hat is now easily one of her top 5 most prized possessions.

This was the first time she saw it.
I wish I could've captured her gasp and "Minnie!!! I LOVE IT!!" exclamation, as well as her non-stop giggling as she threw it on her head and sprinted through the house.

This was taken this morning. We've had to develop some pretty advanced negotiation skills to get her to lose the hat for baths, bed, and church.

It really is great having friends who love your babies.

The Festival of Trees

2011-12-06T09:29:00.001-07:00

The kiddos were so excited to go to the Festival of Trees - this would be their first time going and though they had no idea what it really was, the heard "Christmas Trees" and went crazy with anticipation.

They were also super excited to see Uncle Scott and Aunt Angie for the first time in just about forever. We all loaded into the Sapphire Bullet and headed to Sandy. I am so, so glad we went. The kids were in awe and every tree, train, game, minnie mouse, (and/or any other recognizable character), and gingerbread house sent them into a frenzy again.

You can imagine my pleasure at seeing I'd made the Santa's Nice List

The kids played musical grown-ups but mostly Melia hung out with Angie

And mostly AJ hung out with Scott

Of course anything Minnie Melia was squealing over

The Up tree was a hit as well

Melia begged me to take this picture

The Pirate Tree was my favorite, of course.

And Adam's favorite was The Christmas Story tree.

{Only one thing in the world could 've dragged me away from the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window...}

The down side to doing the Festival with munchkins is that we had to keep moving to avoid melt-downs. There were a lot of stories about the trees I would've liked to listen to. The up side to doing the Festival with munchkins is that I wasn't a snotty, blubbering mess from hearing all of the stories about the trees. Most of them still pulled at my heart, but I didn't have time to adequately break down since my babies were tugging me along.

The gingerbread houses were by far the kiddos' favorite part. They were in complete and utter awe.

For my Harry Potter friends

The Angry Birds creation - definitely one of the highlights of the night

Gingerbread Outhouse

Madagascar

And the Tangled One was seriously impressive.

On the way home, AJ said that when he saw the Tangled Gingerbread House, "my mouth dropped open in the shape of an oval and I went:

Adam and I were shocked at how good the kids did. They were so well behaved and just happy to be there, taking all of that amazingness in.

Now I just hope they won't be disappointed with the Gingerbread House we make this year.

Smurftastic

2011-12-04T20:25:00.001-07:00

A cute gal in my ward turned to me the second I sat down at church today to ask if everything was okay. She said she was worried that something may be wrong since I haven't posted in over a week.

My bff, husband, children, and house are all wondering the same thing. Last month, our Relief Society had a service auction. One of the items I donated was to help plan a birthday party (since I love doing parties oh so much. Really, I do.) and my cute friend bid on the item for her daughter, Lisa. Since just before Thanksgiving, I've been scheming with Lisa to come up with the Smurfiest Party humanly possible for her cute little guy. And by scheming I mean scheming. Like, poor Lisa has more emails from me than ... (insert your own clever parallel that has a lot of stuff in it here).

We made the invitations, the games, some treats, and even some smurf hats for all of the party goers. My kids were in awe (and a little jealous) of all the smurftastic details and my mind was ever singing the smurf song. On a related note, do you know what song is THE most annoying of all songs in the history of ever? The smurf song. Don't believe me? Try having this stuck in your head 24/7 for a week and a half. It nearly killed me. Also, how great is it hat you can throw the word "smurf" into any word in the English language and make it that much more exciting. I mean, smurfciting! See?

Like a loser, I didn't take pictures of anything I did, but you can see Lisa's post about the party here. And of course, I finally let my kiddos in on the action to test drive the smurf cut out. They are pretty darn cute, right?

Anyway, that's why I haven't been blogging and that's why my house looks like it was hit by a tornado (don't try to deny it, Lindsey) and why my Christmas Cards that I bragged about so much haven't even been made, let alone sent out. But I loved it! It was so much fun and to see that grin on cute Ammon's face made the whole thing worth it. But I also have to say that I am so freakin' glad none of my babies were born in December. Really, that is just madness.

What Else We Did on Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T13:38:00.001-07:00

"Remember that Thanksgiving when the Kid's Table tipped over?" that will be how we identify our 2011 Thanksgiving with the Rindlisbachers. We also got to do a little clay pigeon shooting. The kids love "booming" with their Dad.

The food was delicious, the company was great, and the kids were exhausted when we got home, so the holiday was a success. We have so many things to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving! (x2)

What we did on Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T10:20:00.001-07:00

Well, technically, it was Thanksgiving Eve, but my family celebrates Thanksgiving the day before, so it felt like Thanksgiving. Dad and the kidlets finally bagged up the leaves that have been sitting in piles for 2 weeks. They (the kiddos) had so much fun being all helpful. Little do they know that raking leaves will be a mandatory chore in a few short years. Mwaa haaa haaa.

While they were all outside making our yard look a little less white-trashy, I was inside making placecards for our Thanksgiving Feast. Remember last year's? Remember how I suck at decorating things with frosting? Well, I didn't remember that. I saw this bad boy on The Internets and thought "I could totally do that." and then, when it was frosting time, I was violently reminded. I couldn't find any easy-squeezy chocolate frosting, so I used colors for the pilgrim's little faces. I think they turned out looking a little like circus clowns, but everyone humored me, so what do you do?

Then we ate at my parent's house. My mom has pictures to prove it. We're repeating the feast today with Adam's family (though no placecards) and then we'll enjoy a nice lazy day tomorrow watching the Black Friday death toll from the comfort of our home while we're shopping online.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hold To The Rod

2011-11-21T21:49:00.001-07:00

For Family Home Evening tonight, our lesson was about Lehi's Vision.

*It's one of my favorite scripture stories.

My sweet Adam always teaches in a way that gets the kids {and grown-ups} really excited about what they're learning.

The littles had so much fun "holding tight" to the rod of iron

Letting Dad test their grip to see if it was strong enough

Getting to the Tree and motioning for the rest of the family, "Come! Come!"

♥
Life at our house is crazy. [Always.]

I don't think I'd want it any other way.

And tonight, a rainy November -nothing-special- Monday

Amid the chaos and noise and energy

Time stood still.

I had a special little Misty-moment,

all warm and fuzzy,

watching my kiddos cling and hold fast continually

while naming ways they can hold to the iron rod every day

and I understood John's statement:

[maybe not perfectly - but powerfully]

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."

I Made This Apron, NBD

2011-11-17T08:58:00.001-07:00

Actually, it's not NBD. It's a B freakin' D.

When was it, last spring? I got the crazy urge to make an apron. Back then I wasn't a professional sewer like I am now. {cough, cough} My amazing and oh-so-talented sister found a pattern that was the fabrication of my vision and an amazing tutorial for it. (Found here.) And then we didn't touch it for ... a couple of seasons.

Finally, after making Melia's Halloween costume and catching the 'sewer bug' (not to be confused with 'sewer bug' which I think is called e. coli). I picked out the material all by myself, cut it (using the pattern Mandy made from the tutorial), and created something amazing. From NOTHING! Oh, that's such a fun feeling. I also got to spend two awesome days with my awesome sister, so that was a definite perk...although she did laugh at me every time I panicked. I was thoroughly educated in the value of a seam ripper and learned that imperfection can equal something called "quirkiness" and Quirkiness = Cuteness. I never knew.

My husband laughed when he saw it and called it "sexy." My mother-in-law (who is seriously the most amazing seamstress alive) was impressed. (With the apron, not with the 'sexy' comment.) And I pretty much love it. I want to spend the rest of the week in my kitchen baking and/or don some high heels and pearls and clean my house top to bottom. I told you, the apron is a pretty big deal.

Proud Mama Moment

2011-11-16T10:16:00.001-07:00

He told me what he wanted to write, I helped him sound out the words (curse you, silent 'e'!) and he wrote the letters.

♥

The Christmas Conundrum

2011-11-14T11:27:00.001-07:00

As a result of a few computer-related upgrades, I cannot access my Christmas Card list that I've used for the past few {hundred} years. I've spent the last couple of days trying to figure out how to fix this problem. Do I make my way through lists of family and friends and send them all? Do I try to go by memory and {undoubtedly} forget a few? Do I ask people if they want a Christmas Card from us and THEN send them? The popular opinion on my Internets is that if your recipient doesn't send a card back, that's their message that they don't want a card from you - I don't know if I agree with that. I don't send cards to get cards back. And my sweet, old, great grandma doesn't send cards back, but I'm sure she appreciates any cards she gets. Let's get one thing straight: I love sending Christmas Cards. LOVE IT. It's part of what makes Christmas Christmas to me. But my Internets also says that if you DON'T get someone's hint when they don't send a card back, you're just an annoying jerk and who wants to see your cards, anyway?
I'm in quite a pickle.

So here's Question #1: Do you like getting Christmas Cards in the mail, or do you open your mailbox and think "Ugh, now I have to send something back to {so-and-so}" or "Why won't that crazy lady get the hint?"

My favorite Christmas Card of all time. Ever.

I also love giving Christmas Presents. Ahh, isn't that what Christmas is all about? I'm naturally a very gift-centered person in that I show my love through things. {materialistic, much?} If I love you, I make you cookies. Or buy you CD's. Or pick up something that I saw that made me think of you. Or invite you to dinner. Or send you a card. That's just how I've always been. I'm not really a hugger and when I try to tell someone how awesome they are in person, I get all jumbled and stuttery and stupid. Christmas is great because I can give everyone I love presents. But what happens when you offer a gift and get a "no, thanks" in return? What if they say "I won't be giving you anything in return, so I'll feel bad if you give me something." or "I don't want to deal with the stress of giving gifts this year." or "The gift I give won't be able to compete with the one you give." or "You are a crazy lady and you're breaking the restraining order." Then what?

Question #2: If someone politely asks you not to give them a gift, do you respect their request or give them one anyway? Because I don't give presents thinking "I can't wait to see what THEY get ME." and I don't give presents so people will say "That Misty is so darn amazing. I wish I was more like her." I give presents because I want to show someone how much they mean to me. And because it's CHRISTMAS, people!

So what do you think? I'm really kind of stuck here. And I really don't want to be responsible for single-handedly destroying good-will toward men next month.

Curse You, Misty from the Past

2011-11-09T17:11:00.004-07:00

2008 Misty: "Look at this great house that's for sale! Look at this HUGE yard with TONS of shade!"

I hate you right now, former self.

Trendy

2011-11-08T11:00:00.000-07:00

I am soopa-doopa glad that your hair looking like a 3-year-old braided it is the big style right now,

because I suck at braiding.

And now-a-days, that means I'm trendy. Whaaaat.

PHS Paysetter's Turkey Trot

2011-11-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

It's been 92 days since my last 5K. On a related note, I'm not exercising for the rest of 2011. Okay, I'm kidding, but jeez ... ten thousand miles is a lot to run in less than 100 days. {That will never stop being funny to me.} You may remember my rigorous workout I posted about a few months ago, and this 5K training was quite similar. Except that I replaced Step One with Tootsie Rolls (thanks a lot, Rachel Connett). And I cut out Step Two. Oh, and also, I skipped Step Three. Again. {I wasn't even playing kickball this time to stay in shape}.

So pretty much I was as unprepared to run as I could possibly be. Or so I thought. The day before the race, I started my special girly time. (I know! I promised I'd never talk about that! I'm a big fat liar! I'm sorry! This is the last time, I swear! But I just admitted to being a big fat liar, so you really never know!) Then, the morning of the race just happened to be our first real snow, as shown above. It was slushy and slippery and super cold. I considered eating my hand warmers to carb up. But I settled for Hot Chocolate and good company and of course, it was awesome.

My cutie sister Mandy and her crazy hubby Hootch ran too. We're all about supporting the Paysetters. Especially when two of them are gorgeous and uber-talented girls in my ward. Neil took off without us (without being laden down with the stroller like he was last time, he was determined to set a PR) and Mandy and I enjoyed Turkey Trotting our way through P-town. We walked some, we ran some, we laughed a whole lot ... the only thing missing was some good food. Maybe that's why I'll never be a for-reals runner or why I'll never be in tip-top shape. I just love food too too much.

The worst part of the run was when big trucks would drive by and purposely splash slush all over us. It happened a lot. Apparently, lots of jerks were visiting Payson yesterday. {No one that mean actually LIVES in the same beautiful town as I.} The best part of the run was when Mandy and I triumphantly crossed the finish line (to the sound of cheering friends and drill girls, by the way) and discovered that we had beaten our time from our first 5K. That's right! In the snow, all PMS-y and out of shape, barefoot (or so it felt since our socks were soaking wet) and uphill both ways*, we ran the 3.1 miles faster than we did in August when the weather was perfect and our bodies were (maybe a little more) prepared. And again, we weren't last. That's the way I spell success.

"Finishing that 5K was the hardest thing I ever had to do. People always talk about triumphs of the human spirit, well today I had a triumph of the human body. That's why everybody was applauding for me at the end. My guts and my heart. And while I eventually puked my guts out... I never puked my heart out."
~Michael Scott

*This is a bold-faced lie.

Burn

2011-11-03T20:22:00.001-06:00

Aaron: (While feeling my pectoral area) Mom, do you have big things?
Me: Uh, yup.
Aaron: Where are they?
Me: They're hiding under my shirt.
Aaron: (Feeling more urgently): Oh. (pause) Mom ... you have little things.

Bazinga.

On This Momentous Occasion...

2011-11-02T16:35:00.001-06:00

(Every time I use that sentence, I do it in the voice of King Nebby K. Nezzar from VeggieTales. I just thought I'd share this fun fact with you in case you wanted to have as much fun saying it as I do writing it.)

Remember how I love palindromes? Well, today is an even cooler palindrome than you might think ... and you can find out why here. {I'm much too lazy to explain what that article says, so if you're too lazy to click, you'll never know. But believe you me: you'll be missing out.}

The other exciting thing about today is how our power went out for about two hours. Apparently, a Transformer was out in Spanish Fork Canyon ... I hear he was looking for Starscream. The kiddos and I survived by doing a puzzle that I remember doing when I was AJ and Aaron's age. Man, did they love it.

Aren't my kiddos so cool? The little Miss has just recently started answering every request with "Of course I will, Mommy!" Melia, will you put your shoes in your bedroom? Of course I will, Mommy! Melia, will you throw your wrapper in the garbage? Of course I will, Mommy! Oh, it makes me all warm and fuzzy every time. AJ has been adding, subtracting, and spelling every chance he gets. That kid blows me away. And watch out, because he likes to test your knowledge. "Mom, what if you have 5 and you take away 3?" "You tell me, AJ." "No, I'm quizzing you, Mom." Then there's my sweet Aaron who is turning into the funniest little dude I've ever met. He loves to make people laugh. Knock-knock jokes, song parodies, goofy costumes ... that boy has mastered it all. It's hilarious and terrifying and exciting all at the same time.

Hey look, I'm bragging about my kids again. I'm not sorry. And I have no idea how to end this, so I'll just wish you a happy 11-02-2011 and say "dad palindrome dad, I palindrome I." Go do something symmetrical!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T16:16:00.002-06:00

For Halloween this year, we decided to go with a Phineas and Ferb theme. Our whole family loves that show. (When the movie was released this summer, Adam and I were maybe more excited than the kids to watch it ... and the kids were pretty darn excited. We huddled in the family room with some pizza and popcorn and had some serious family bonding time P&F style.) Anyway, we knew that we wouldn't be as greatly recognized as last year (neither set of grandparents has ever seen the show), but we would know who we were supposed to be and our kids would know who they were supposed to be and frankly, that's all that matters. {We could definitely tell who had young kids at home and who didn't ... the folks with kiddos recognized us instantly, the ones without had to ask.}

Aaron chose to be Phineas and AJ chose to be Ferb. (Awesome how it worked out that way.) Best buddies. We picked up their costumes at DI for next to nothing (how awesome is that!) and the hair was their absolute favorite part.

Melia dressed up as Perry the Platypus, or more accurately, Agent P since platypuses don't really do much. I made her costume! Well, everything but the fedora, which I picked up at a yard sale over the summer.

I decided to go with Candace, who's always busting Phineas and Ferb, and everyone instantly knew Adam would be Dr. Doofenshmirtz; he's probably our favorite character.

We had a lot of fun in the Halloween Parade at Adam's school. All of the students knew exactly who we were and everyone wanted to give Phineas, Ferb, and Perry a high-five. We're guessing that this will be the last year we get to do the parade since AJ and Aaron will be in kindergarten next year. We're sad to see this tradition end, it's been five years of crazy fun!

The boys each got to dress up for their pre-school Halloween parties, we went to our ward trunk-or-treat, almost made it to my mom's ward trunk-or-treat, and then had the parade at the school today. We'll load the hair color back on one last time tonight for some trick-or-treating with the cousins and grandparents and then it will be time to start thinking about what we're going to dress up as next year. In true Phineas and Ferb fashion, the boys have already started making plans.

Early Morning Entertainment

2011-10-26T08:49:00.000-06:00

I'm not really sure why I have a box full of old Halloween get-ups, but when the kids discovered some costumes of days of yore, they were pretty ecstatic. When thy could still wriggle into the costumes, it was Party Town at our house.

Trying to Fly

Bob, Larry, and an Angel

Angels, Vegetables, Pirates (and an alphabet that's pretty scary) ... it's just a typical October Wednesday with the Rindys.

Beautiful Heartbreak

2011-10-25T16:53:00.000-06:00

Seriously: you need to buy this whole CD. This is my favorite song from it.

Food and Other Deep Thoughts

2011-10-19T10:34:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I feel like running away. Not permanently, but just long enough to do something crazy like drink a Dr. Pepper and eat Pop Rocks. {Okay, that's a lie. I could never eat Pop Rocks. Ever. EVER.} But maybe some Pixie Sticks. Or something with an insane amount of chocolate. Like one of those death-by-chocolate ice cream cakes they make at Cold Stone. Or maybe I'd just grab some Papa John's (have I mentioned that there's a Papa John's in Payson now? I've never been more happy about our decision to live in P-town). Or if I'm not in the mood for pizza, because sometimes I'm not, I could just go someplace with amazing steaks. Hmm... where would that be? Sizzler? Outback? The Cracker Barrel so that I could also get some of their deep-fried okra?

I don't think I should blog before breakfast anymore. I'm already 16 sentences into this post and haven't even introduced a general theme....other than food. But to be honest, food has nothing to do with the point of this post ... except for the alarming realization I'm coming to about how I eat when I'm stressed out. Or grumpy. Or happy. Or bored. Yeah, that's definitely a problem...

...but again is not the point of my writing. Let me begin (halfway through this post) by saying that I love being a mom. I love my life, I love my husband and my kiddos and my house, but sometimes I just want to temporarily run away. I know I should sit here at my computer desk and lie and say that I never tire of wiping bums or matching socks or picking up cheerios, but I do. I so do. And even when I get "a moment" to myself, it's usually not for ME anyway - it's to go grocery shopping or fulfill my church calling or to grab some more milk. Not exactly my ideal alone time.

And so comes the day where I just feel like running away, {temporarily}, to gather my wits and refresh and obviously, eat. My point (I'm getting to it, I promise) is that even when I'm having one of those crazy mama days, I eventually arrive at the conclusion that I wouldn't trade it for the world. Maybe it's the crazy part of me or the mama part of me, but I wouldn't. These kiddos are just amazing. Really truly miraculous. They have personalities all their own, they soak up information at alarming rates. They have awesome senses of humor. And their childhoods are going by way too fast. One of my favorite things to do when they were little was sing lullabies to them. There are so many great lullabies to sing to your babies. I would just rock and sing and rock and sing and rock and sing and even when I was exhausted, I loved those little moments because...well I don't know quite why, but those times felt sacred. Just me and a baby (or sometimes two), in the quiet, in the dark, with everyone else (on earth it seemed, sometimes) asleep and oblivious to what was happening.

I still love singing to my kids (luckily, they don't know what "tone-deaf" or even "flat" means yet) but I've come to a crisis as of late: they only want me to sing the lullabies THEY choose. And it's usually "I Am A Child of God" or "Scripture Power" which are both great songs, but I miss being able to sing any lullaby that seemed to fit the moment and could subliminally tell them how much their crazy mama loved them and how I would always be there for them and protect them from anything scary or hard.

What with Melia (aka Little Miss Independent) not needing my help with anything, Aaron teaching (masterfully) our Family Home Evening lessons, and AJ spelling, adding AND subtracting, I'm feeling like the time is just flying by and before I know it, they'll be away at college or getting married in no time and that just plain sucks.

And that's what I try to remember when I feel like running away.

Jaroldeen Edwards said:

(source)

It's a good reminder for me. And while I imagine running away every now and then, and even sometimes manage to actually get away here and there, I wouldn't trade the tedious, hard, exhausting work of momming these little ones. Not even for all of the fries at Chick-fil-A.

I Demand an Explanation ... or Five

2011-10-14T11:11:00.003-06:00

I've stumbled into some version of writer's block this week. I've got a couple of posts in the works, but they're just not coming along like I want them to. So I thought maybe to get the ball rolling, I could do what I do best: complain. (Is that going to drive you nuts, Abby?)

I guess I could attempt to do it in a non-complaining way...because really, my complaints stem from lack of understanding. Maybe those of you who are more 'hip' and 'with it' than I am can help me understand.

Ready? 5 things I don't understand:

1. Chevron. Really? I just don't get it. I mean, I don't mind a touch of it here or there, but most of it gives me anxiety. If I were standing in this bathroom, for example, the chevron would probably induce seizures. Or vomiting. Can someone please explain the chevron craze?

2. Eye Charts. Maybe if you were married to an optometrist, but just for a gift or a decoration for your house? I'm not a fan. What's the eye chart appeal?

3. Taylor Swift. (Yes, I'm expecting hate-mail for this one.) I'll admit: there is ONE Taylor Swift song that I love (and crank up every time I hear it), but most of her songs sound the same, and she always sounds super-flat. Is it just me? Maybe I'm just too grown up to appreciate her mediocre song writing about teenage love lost and cliche fairytales. Whatever it is, I really can't stand her. Why is she so popular?

4. Feather Extensions. Birds have feathers. You are not a bird. (Not even a little bit.) So what's the deal?

5. Moms who put feather extensions in their daughter's hair. Again, this stems back to my lack of understanding...but I think that putting feather extensions in your daughters hair is unfathomable (you know, without fathom). Personally, as a mom of a little girl, I want my little girl to BE a little girl. I don't want her to grow up any faster than she already is and following what I think is an absolutely ridiculous trend is sending her all the wrong messages. Seriously, can someone please explain this?

And just for good measure, here's my favorite 'hip' and 'with it' scene in the whole wide world -- so that I end on a happy note.

Woohoo!

2011-10-08T22:47:00.000-06:00

This morning AJ asked me, "Mom, are we goig to the temple heart breaking?"

Actually, we went to the Payson Temple Groundbreaking today. And it was awesome. We got to sit in the warmth and comfort of our church (with the three wee ones, we weren't even tempted to try to find tickets for the actual temple site) and it was still awesome. Especially when, about ten minutes before it was supposed to start, they announced that the satellite feed we were going to use to watch it had failed and they didn't know how good of a picture we were going to get. And then the whole thing worked perfectly and it felt like an amazing little mini-miracle right there in the chapel. Awesome.

I loved seeing the beautiful flowers that my friend Diann helped with. I loved seeing Mr. Dahlquist, my High School Choir Director leading the music. It started to sink in: this is PAYSON! Everything I love about our cute little community combined with the temple. OUR temple! Yay, yay, yay!

We've had quite a few discussions and family home evening lessons about the temple and the groundbreaking. I'm not sure how much the kids have understood, but they were excited to see everyone digging in the dirt with the shovels and as the satellite feed ended and a picture of the temple appeared on the screen, AJ gasped with delight and declared "Look! It's built already!"

After some lunch and a nap, we went down to the temple site (remember how it's just a few blocks away from our house?!) and got a few pictures and a few memories to share. We are excited to watch each stage of the temple being built, and can hardly wait for it to be done!

So This One Time, We Went Bowling

2011-10-04T16:49:00.000-06:00

My handsome and near-perfect husband came home with the super cool and spontaneous idea to take the kiddos bowling. Just because. So fun, right? I know. None of our littles had ever been before, and they were so excited to go. We basically had the place to ourselves, which was good since when our kiddos get excited they forget how to use their inside voices. Also, how adorable are baby feets in bowling shoes? {Super, super adorable.}

Melia was fascinated with the ball return and insisted on carrying the ball "by herself" which was both amusing and terrifying. Every time she would knock down pins, she would jump up and down and say "I did it! I did it!"

AJ is getting to be quite the intense little dude. It didn't take long for him to ask Dad to show him how to bowl "like mom" without the nifty little slide and managed a pretty decent score on his own merits. He would send the ball down the lane and then lay down right behind the line to watch what would happen (he had plenty of time to find a comfortable position). Melia started copying him, and I don't know why, but I absolutely loved it.

Aaron just liked pushing the ball down the slide in crazy different ways. He tried blowing it off once (and was disappointed it didn't work), would watch intently what happened if he pushed it hard, soft, slow, etc. He was a little annoyed when we wouldn't let him take a running start and knock the ball down the slide with only his head. We are mean parents. We did, however earn some points back when we showed him the little figer-drying fan on the ball return. He thought that was off the hook.

Our little family seriously had so much fun together. It was a good lesson in taking turns, cheering for each other and not getting your fingers crushed in the ball return. Those are life skills, you know.

And I have to mention that I totally schooled Adam with my mad bowling skills. It's good to know I've still got it after all these years.

Yet Another Apology

2011-10-04T12:41:00.004-06:00

Dear Individual (I'm fairly certain you'll know who you are),
I feel the need to apologize for majorly ticking you off a while back. I'm sorry that I was a jerky jerkface and made you mad. There is no excuse for my actions. Okay, there actually is, but it's not a very good excuse and still doesn't justify my actions. I want you to know that I miss reading your blog and that I think that the two of us actually have a lot in common -- more than either of us would probably care to admit. I am aware that I have never been your favorite person, and I don't expect much to change between us, but I do care about you and your family and seeing as how we'll eventually have to face each other at tribal gatherings, I want you to know that I truly am sorry and that what I did was uncalled for and mean-spirited. I hope you can forgive me and I understand if you can't; but I hope that you'll at least know I regret the decision I made. I wish you all the best.
Sincerely,
Misty

A few church-related thoughts.

2011-09-28T01:26:00.004-06:00

My mom took me on a little drive this evening. We drove past the site for the Payson Temple. Guess what? The nice construction folks are working there. They have big ol' machines and it's all flattened dirt these days instead of rolling weedy hills. Excited is an understatement. And so I'm blogging about it, because holy cow!

Also, our Primary Program was last Sunday. It was awesome. The kids did such a great job with their parts and it was really fun to hear about what they've learned in their own words. AJ and Aaron were adorable talking about their favorite prophets from the scriptures. We ended right on time. Everyone was happy. Sunday night, I was reading my scriptures and came across this verse (again) from the Doctrine and Covenants:

"Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."

I feel like that happened for our Primary Program. I (most of the time cheerfully) did everything I could to make sure things would go smoothly, the kids would be prepared, and everyone had a part. Then I sat back(ish) and let the kids and The Lord have at it. I was nervous until right before church when I told Adam how I felt that I was inspired in writing the program and how we as a Presidency had tried our hardest to make it a success (all things that lie in our power) and so I was going to hand it over to Heavenly Father and let Him make it awesome. And He did. I saw the salvation of God, His arm was revealed, and I felt the Spirit as I listened to 3 year olds and 11 year olds alike share their feelings about Him.

It was super cool. And I'm super glad it's over. But it really was super cool.

Laziness Beats Originality Every 1 In 9 Years.

2011-09-25T22:08:00.014-06:00

So Adam and I celebrated our anniversary last week. I'm pretty sure we're still in love...yup, we sure are. My handsome husband and I have been married for nine years. Isn't that nuts? Since the post I wrote last year on our anniversary was so deep, I thought I'd do something a little lighter this year. (Ha! That was a test! If you're not lazy like me and actually clicked the link, you'll see that that was meant to be funny. If you're lazy like me, you won't know and you will fail. ... although, I realize now that I've told you that it was meant to be funny and you didn't even have to click. I guess you pass. Good job, you.)

I've decided to let Pineterest do all the talking for me this year. Okay, most of the talking; who am I kidding? Adam doesn't get to see my obsessive and thorough (not to mention alphabetical) Pins, and there are just some things that need sharing. Brace yourself.

Nine Fine Things I Found On Pinterest That Accurately Portray The Love I Have In My Heart For My Awesome Husband And That I Wish To Share With Him In Celebration Of Our Ninth Wedding Anniversary

#1 Adam, I'm glad we share a sense of humor and an understanding that I'm slightly funnier. {I really did send this someecard to him for our anniversary like I said I would and I really mean every word of it. Except for the 14th word: I know for a fact that he's the funny one. And not in the "funny is the cousin of weird and ugly*" kind of way; the actual "funny as a clown on fire and your face and stomach will ache and/or burn from laughing so hard when you're around him" kind of way.}

#2 Adam, I fell in love with you because of a million tiny things you never knew you were doing. {Wow, that one's kind of deep, eh? I mean the way you smile when you're mad but you never realized you did that until I had to point it out to you. And the way you call me 'dear' when you think I'm acting like a moron. And the way you remind me that we prayed awfully hard for the three miniature people in the other room driving us bonkers. And the way you give that final, defeated sigh when you eventually give in to the alarm clock in the morning. Hmm, it kind of sounds like you're angry or annoyed a lot of the time. You're not alright? So just back off! Moving on.}

#3 Adam, when we're together, we're cooler than everyone else. {What? It's true.}

#4 Adam, I'd swim the ocean for you, LOL jk, there's sharks in there. {I know you disagree, My Love, but sharks are only cool one week a year. And I shudder at the thought of swimming through them to get to you almost as much as I shudder at the 'LOL jk' in this sentiment or the wonderful grammar of 'there's sharks in there' ... and that's a whole-stinkin' lot.}

#5 Adam, you make my dopamine levels go all silly. {When I say this, it makes me think of Sheldon. And my 9th grade Health teacher. Oh! And you too, sweetie.}

#6 Adam, you are everything awesome. {Hey, it's my blog and I can be mushy if I want to. And I don't hand out much better compliments than that one right there.}

#7 Adam, I like you so much, I am gonna crack your rib cage open, climb in, and wear you around like a jacket. {And the fact that you 'get' that about me is the string our relationship has been hanging on since day one.}

#8 Adam, you're pretty much my most favorite of all time in the history of ever.

#9 Adam, we've spent an enormous amount of time together and neither one of us has attempted to smother the other in their sleep. {See: it IS love!}

Happy Anniversary, Sugar! 143

*All credit for this beautiful statement goes to my sweet friend Alicia. I told Adam about it and now 'funny' is his most favorite adjective.

Twenty-Nine is Purdy Fine

2011-09-17T13:29:00.008-06:00

Look! I'm 29.
My handsome and near-perfect husband sacrificed sleep to run to Mickey D's at 6 am in order to surprise me with a Sausage McMuffin and OJ. (Surprise early morning breakfast is a birthday tradition dating back to our first months of courtship. It's died down in our married years, but was revisited for my special day. Because my husband is awesome.)
I got just over a gazillion texts, emails, phone calls, messages, and facebook wall posts, by my calculations. I really do have amazing friends. (Yes, I ran to my mom's to check facebook and then confiscated Adam's laptop once the kiddos were in bed. I read, laughed, and responded to each and every one of my bffs while Adam and I enjoyed Season 3 of The Big Bang Theory. And my computer is playing nicely with facebook again today. It's a post-birthday miracle.)

My sweet, sweet mom came to hang out with me the second she was home from work. Then, to thank me for giving her the privilege of birthing and raising such an amazing individual, she took me out to lunch. Super nice of her, right?

My sweet, sweet sister and her 2.5 kiddos surprised me with Tootsie Rolls and Balloons and some really good company.
Speaking of Tootsie Rolls,
my real life bff sent me a surprise birthday package, 5 pounds of chocolatey awesome. As Rachel pointed out, the bag is bigger than my head. She's amazing, right?

My favorite blog stalker (you know who you are) stopped by with this cute little gift. All of that stalking has paid off because man, she knows me well ...

My cute mother-in-law gifted me some Nike/cucumber melony/95 seconds of cakey goodness.
And last by not least, my hottie husband (who got home earlier than expected, hooray!) gave me a new 30GB iPod. That's more space than I will ever use in three lifetimes, but I'm trying my hardest to fill that baby up. He also took me to Gandolfo's for dinner (remember how we love that place?) and forced the kiddos to sing to me. We spent the evening as a family laughing our heads off (which is one of my favorite things to do), making cupcakes, and celebrating the crap out of me.

I loved every minute of my day. Hey, if you feel like taking a trip to P-town, I'll share some Tootsie Rolls with you. However, I make no guarantees about how long these babies will last, so you'd better get a move on. Twenty-nine is looking mighty fine. Thank you all for making my birthday so rock-n-roll!

My Birthday Will Knock Your Socks Off

2011-09-16T07:53:00.004-06:00

{Good luck getting them back on.}

It's my birthday! I hope you all have celebrated accordingly. My friend Abby promotes Diligent Joy (yes, that's the name of her blog, but it's also her lifestyle and in this case, I'm talking about the latter) where she finds joy in every situation and chooses happiness. I'm trying to learn from her. Ergo, I'm trying my darndest to have a great birthday, despite all of the lame-o circumstances of today.

Such as: My handsome and near perfect husband has to work today. {A teacher's work is never done.} And not just work, but he has meetings after school. On my birthday.
My mom, who's my next best friend has to work today, too. (Don't worry, you're my next next best friend. Yes, you.)
AJ has school, so I can't run away to Pirate Island or somewhere equally birthday-appropriate with my kiddos.
And the kicker? Facebook isn't working on my computer right now. Remember back in January when I couldn't log on for like 2 weeks? Whatever that problem was, it's back. Just in time for my birthday, which everyone knows is the best day of the year to have a facebook account.

I'm afraid today is just another day. When I told Adam, his response was "welcome to being a grown-up" but I'm refusing to accept that. I'm going to have an awesome day to kick off my twenty-ninth trip around the sun. It already started off amazingly (more on that later), and I'm going to make sure that it's amazing in the middle and amazing in the end. Like Abby's 'diligent joy' except mine will be more like 'happiness just for spite'.

It's my birthday and I'll do what I want! Even if that means running to my mom's to check facebook.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some cupcakes to make. Happy My Birthday, bloggy friends!

Shoe Box

2011-09-13T20:53:00.002-06:00

When I was young(er), when I broke up with a guy, I would put everything to do with him into a box and either bury it or burn the contents. It was my overly dramatic way of letting go of that relationship. {No wonder my parents' lawn grows so quickly - it has unrequited love and teenage angst to help it along.}

If you haven't heard, I went to my 10 year high school reunion at the beginning of the month. My friend who was in charge of the shin-dig asked me to bring my old yearbooks to display, which happened to be buried in my parents' attic. In order to find the yearbooks, I had to search through box after box labeled "Misty's Keepsakes" and which contained treasures like troll dolls, micro machines, journals from 5th grade, a box full of all the teeth I'd ever lost, my very first concert ticket (They Might Be Giants. With my dad. Best memory ever.), a pink feather boa, and a New Kids On The Block trading card. Needless to say, my stack of boxes went from about twenty to two, with me wondering all the way to the dumpster why on earth I boxed those things up, hauled them to the attic, and had been storing them for the last 20 years or so.

However, my former pack-rat-iness (and liberating new un-pack-rat-iness lifestyle) is not the subject on which I wish to speak today. Well, it sort of is, but not really.

Amid the boxes of "keepsakes" and whatnot, I found an Ex Box (not to be confused with an Xbox) that was neither buried nor burned. Why? I have no idea. Perhaps because I packed it up when I was leaving for college and wasn't ready to move on completely. Perhaps because he had asked me to wait for him before he left on his mission and I didn't know how things were going to end up. (Even though I told him no. I told him no, by the way. And come to think of it, I genuinely suspect he asked a whole lot of girls to wait for him before he left on his mission. But that's not my point either.)

My point is that I didn't destroy it and even now, a decade (+) later, very happily married and mommin' it up, it was the last thing from the boxes that I let go of. I talked to Adam about it and after making fun of me (just a little and in a very loving way), he suggested I go through The Box to make sure there was nothing I needed in it. Well, I could have told him right then and there that there was nothing I needed in The Box - after all, I've lived without whatever was inside for the last ten years - but just to be safe, I rifled through.

To give you a little background, I was crazy for this Box guy for seven years. That's kind of forever even when you're not a love-sick adolescent. Sometimes my feelings were reciprocated. Sometimes I just got cold indifference. Usually, I was the person he wanted to hang around ... that is, unless someone more awesome was available. (Yeah, I see it now. At the time I didn't. Sad, right?) But as I was looking through The Box, I did realize that some parts of our friendship were real. Healthy, even. And that was good to remember. Because when you spend seven of your formative years with someone, they tend to play a part in who you are. {Big time.}

But boy am I happy to have Adam! I'm happy to have a genuine relationship and to be with someone who's as crazy about me as I am about him. I'm happy with the life we're making together. And I love that he knows that as annoying as it is, Box Guy did shape me into the girl that Adam fell in love with and he can be grateful that he's the fortunate guy that gets to be with me forever.

And it felt pretty good to collect all of those good vibes and reminders of how lucky I am from that old Box and then promptly throw it out.

...and since we're talking about shoe boxes, this gem of a song has been going through my head for two weeks now. The official video is awesome, but probably not suitable for my audience. Google it if you don't mind a little skin.

Enjoy.

I'll Always Know What We Did Last Summer

2011-09-12T12:34:00.000-06:00

We also...

Washed the Sapphire Bullet

Enjoyed the Primary Service Day

Spent Many, May Afternoons "helping" in Dad's Classroom

Went to the Spanish Fork Kids Fair

Visited Dad at Clear Creek

Went Camping
(much more than these pictures would suggest)

And took many, many trips to the library.
(thus needing to find new, comfortable positions to read new books)

The kids were most happy when they were playing outside,

especially if they were riding their bikes...

...which brings us to our biggest Summer Accomplishment:

Aaron riding his bike like a big boy instead of walking his bike around and around in circles.
"Look, Mom! I have a surprise for you. I can ride my bike like a big boy now! AJ, I'm a big boy, just like you!"

I Still Know What We Did Last Summer

2011-09-12T11:32:00.009-06:00

We were very busy:

Earning Marbles and Rewards

Going to Church

and Loving One Another

Taking Advantage of the Projector

Playing at the Splash Park

Eating Lots of Rindy Corn

Playing on the Slip 'n Slide

Making ABC Rocks

And dressing up in silly clothes

I Know What We Did Last Summer

2011-09-12T08:41:00.017-06:00

The summer of twenty-eleven was pretty much awesome in every way. Here are a few of the highlights.

Fishing, Fishing, Fishing (At Home and Abroad)

Visiting The Provo Temple Grounds

Yard Work & Landscaping

Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum (& ice cream, of course)

Like Hurding Turtles

2011-09-10T21:18:00.005-06:00

With my calling in the Primary, it's my responsibility to write/organize/execute the annual primary program. Having just received this new calling in February, I've never done a program before and to be honest, I'm starting to panic. Our program is in two weeks. The children's parts have been assigned, and tomorrow is our first program practice. How on earth I'll be able to keep 60 (ish) kids from the ages of 3-11 focused, reverent, and entertained is beyond me. I've tried turning to The Internets, where I seek the answers to all of life's hard questions, but there's not much out there on how to have a smooth practice and smooth program, other than a few ideas of what treats to give the kids (and our primary doesn't give treats, so that's no help at all).

Thus, I'm posting my game plan with the hopes that a)I'll be able to help out other lost souls in my position desperately surfing the world wide web for ideas and b)those of you who have experience in this area will tell me whether my ideas are going to work or not. I'm begging for any helpful advice you can gather. For realsies.

So ... here's what I've been up to --->

As I was writing the program, I decided that my primary kids might get a lot more out of it if I can actually include them in the script instead of telling them what sentence I want them to memorize (and telling them what I think they should say they believe in). A lot of the parts I assigned were in question form such as "What is an experience you've had with receiving a Priesthood Blessing?" so that hopefully, the kids will put some thought into their parts and be able to share real experiences from their lives that have helped to shape their testimonies. I think it is a great plan in theory, but I'm a little nervous with the results we'll be getting tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for me, would you?

I've put together folders for each teacher that includes the outline of the program, and music for each song we'll be singing. Because of the format of the program, I don't have each class getting up at the same time to do their parts. Instead, I've grouped the sections of the outline into colors and made colored wrist bands for each child. {Wow, this is starting to sound a lot more complicated than it really is...}
I've also made a folder that has the corresponding colors in it, as well as the titles of the songs we're singing, and the articles of faith we're all reciting together. One side of my folder is labeled "now" and the other is labeled "next." Obviously, when we're singing "Scripture Power", it will be under the "now" side and the blue colored group can get a heads up that they will be coming up to the microphone next. As I'll be sitting next to the microphone facing the children on the stand, they'll always be able to see what's happening (for those with the average Primary Attention Span --- which is approximately 3 seconds) and what's happening next so that hopefully they aren't caught by surprise when it's suddenly their turn.

For tomorrow's practice, we're meeting in the chapel. The plan is to divide the children into 3 groups according to color and have Group One practice saying their parts (with a pep talk from me about not being shy, smiling while they're on the stand and being good examples of reverence). Group Two will be taking a bathroom and water fountain break and taking a reverent walk outside the church to get out some energy. Group Three will be in doing a shortened sharing time about missionary work and writing letters to the missionaries serving from our ward. After 10 minutes, we'll rotate so that every child has the opportunity at all three "stations."

Once we've made it through that part (we'll still have an hour or more of Primary), we'll all meet on the stand to practice the songs, standing up and sitting down reverently, and reviewing the articles of faith. With the time that's left (I'm guessing a half hour or so), we'll run through the whole program, but only practice coming up to the microphone at the correct time. (No one will say their parts this time through).

Whew! Depending on how that whole plan goes, next week we'll do our "dress rehearsal" for the program - doing everything as if it were the real deal. We'll take a few bathroom breaks as needed and work out the kinks and hopefully we'll all leave with confidence that the 25th is going to be amazing.

AJ and Aaron are so excited for their parts, and everyone keeps reassuring me that the moms and dads out there in the audience are happy however the program turns out, so that (and Heaven's help) is what I'm banking on.

First Day of Preschool...Again

2011-09-07T12:58:00.013-06:00

You may remember last year's post about my boys being all growed up and going off to school. Well, they are lucky ducks and get to go to two years of preschool, and today was the Big Day.

This year, Aaron has AJ's old teacher, Miss Norma, and AJ will be going to a new school with Miss Tonya. We are very {very very} sad to not have Miss Jen this year, but we're happy that Aaron made so much progress with her and gets to move on. The boys have been so excited for school to finally start again. For their back to school nights, they each helped me make a special apple for their teachers.

(I pinned the original idea and tweaked it a bit. I'd much rather have NIBS over apple flavored jelly beans.)

We also did some fun pictures today for their first day of school. I found this amazing idea (again, on Pinterest...what can I say?) and knew we had to do it for the twinners.

(clickity to see AJ bigger) (clickity to see Aaron bigger)

I really should have added how AJ's favorite pastime is making up his own jokes (and then laughing hysterically at his own humor) and Aaron's favorite pastime is playing with hair - anyone's hair - until it turns them into a crazy person. I guess that's what blogs are for, right?

It's going to be a fun, busy year with these two crazy kids!

The First of September

2011-09-01T14:25:00.002-06:00

I'll bet whatever it was that you were doing on this day eleven years ago wasn't nearly as fun as what I was doing on this day eleven years ago.

On September 1, 2000, my family was in Boulder, Utah camping over Labor Day Weekend. I had begged my parents to let my new buddy Adam come along with us. My parents loved Adam from day 1, so getting them to agree wasn't too hard. A few of us got up early that first morning to find the perfect place to watch the sunrise. If you know me at all, you know that's kind of a biggie. (I love my sleep.) After the sun was up, we hiked around a bit and finally found ourselves alone (we may have ditched the rest of our sunrise viewing party) by this pretty, peaceful little stream with the sunlight filtering through the branches of the trees.
We were standing in that perfect little spot when Adam told me he loved me. For the first time. And the things he said were so sweet (though I'm keeping the details to myself) and the atmosphere was so perfect that that day is still one of my most favorite days. Ever.

It's been eleven years - 4,017 days - and I'm still head over heels for this guy. I'm pretty sure I'm the luckiest girl ever.

Quiets All My Fears

2011-08-29T21:59:00.004-06:00

As Adam's summer vacation was coming to a close, we decided we would begin praying as a family in the morning before he leaves for work.
*That means we would be waking up our darling children about 2 hours earlier than their typical wake-up time.
{Uh...we were a little nervous.}

Folks, it has been an unbelievable three weeks. Not to say that every minute of every day has been wonderful, but we've had zero complaints in the AM (in fact, they have all been HAPPY in the mornings! How did Adam and I produce three morning birds when we are both such night owls?) and 100% naps for 19 out of the last 21 days. There's a happier atmosphere in our home and a feeling of unity and teamwork that wasn't there before.

=For realsies.=

It has been awesome.

I am amazed by what my little people are turning into.
Amazed by the thought they put into their prayers,

whether it's thanking Heavenly Father for the Fruit Loops

or asking Him to bless dad while he's at school,

or just telling Him how they feel.

Amazed by how smart they are,

by how much they just 'get'

and how much they remember.

I can feel a difference in my family.

I can feel a difference in me.

The way I think, react;

my level of patience and level of interest,

they are different than they were before...

deeper, higher, more concentrated.

I'm less worried about silly little things
and more confident in myself
and in my kiddos.

Love is spoken at the Rindy house every morning at 6:45.
And it is awesome.

Clogged Arteries and Smiles on Our Faces

2011-08-17T18:55:00.003-06:00

I sometimes forget how very much like this family we are
but every year when the corn's on, I remember.

The First of Many

2011-08-12T19:22:00.006-06:00

I've heard a few people joke about how ladies will spend all of their time on Pinterest looking at great ideas and then never ever ever do them. Well, nay-sayers, I am here to prove you wrong. I did my first pinned project today. Because I am awesome.

Here's the original beauty. Pinterest says it came from eighteen25, but I can't find the original post. {boo}

Cute, right? Simple right? Hey, that's how I roll.

Here's my version:

I dig it. Adam's reaction was "great, now I'm going to have to start thinking of things to write." which of course translates into "Man! I'm so excited to tell you all the reasons I love you! I am the luckiest man in the world!!"

And if he's happy, I'm happy.

Put A Pin In It

2011-08-11T14:01:00.012-06:00

For quite a while now, I've been hearing a lot about Pinterest and how fun it is. I was honestly terrified to even check it out because I knew deep down that I would be hooked [and let's be honest: I already spend a tad bit of time on line]. But when my friend Heather posted about how much she loved it, I finally decided to check it out. Guess what? I love it. I stayed up 'til 2 AM the first day I was on and haven't been able to stay away much these last few days. Ah self-discipline, will I ever find you?

So, here's my take on the wonderful world of Pinterest, as well as a few acrimonious observations.

First of all, you have to "request an invite" to create a Pinterest account. They'll email you and say "congratulations - you're on the waiting list!" and then a few minutes later "congratulations, you've received an invitation" or something to that effect. Kind of a pain, but kind of makes you feel elite, so it's all good. Once you create your account, you can start pinning all of the wonderful ideas you see. Crafts, food, holiday decor, books you want to read, hairstyles you want to try, exercise ideas, lesson plans, gift ideas, photography helps, fun traditions ... anything you can find online you can pin. Awesomesauce.

If you're like me, you see things online and you think "Hey, that's a great idea! I'd love to do it!" and then what I normally do is save the url in my favorites. My favorites list is massive and last week I went back through looking for

a really great recipe and couldn't find it. Argh! That's why Pinterest is so amazing. You can save all of those links and ideas, keep them in similar categories, and then find them again when you're looking for them.

Also, it's fun to see what your friends are pinning or what total strangers are pinning and get great ideas from all over the World Wide Web. I mean crazy fun. {You can click on the P below to follow my pins. Hooraw.}

Ready for those acrimonious observations? I thought you might be.

1st of all, I think it's a little nuts for ladies to post sexy pictures of OTHER ladies. Most of them comment somewhere along the lines of "Her legs are my motivation to exercise" or "If I keep stretching I'll be able to bend myself in half like this scantily-clad girl" but I still think it's gross. Is it just me? It's my biggest complaint, because it's SO PREVALENT. {Sorry for yelling, but I just don't understand it.}

Secondly, as I've stated on facebook, nothing in life raises my blood pressure as quickly as those "Keep Calm and Carry On" signs. Those suckers -- and every variation under the golden sun are all over Pinterest. They make me crazy. It doesn't matter what you substitute the "carry on" part with, it's still lame and completely over done. Except for this one:

He he. But seriously: don't pin those freakin' posters, mmmkay?

Next, it's my personal {professional} opinion that you shouldn't pin your own stuff. I mean, I'm as narcissistic as the next blogger, but isn't it kind of dorky to be all "Hey, look what I made! Hey, look at my sweet tat! Hey, I want people to admire my dog!"? That's what your blog is for, right? On a related note, you can magically see if you've been pinned and bask in all of the pinning glory. All you have to do is type the following url and then put your blog address between the last two liney thingers (//).

http://pinterest.com/source//

(Got it? I learned this mad magic from here.)

Finally, I think it's only fair that if you do something you found on Pinterest and blog about it, give credit to whomever you got the original idea from. As a matter of fact, I think that's just nice to do regardless of if you're pinning or not. See a great idea, copy the great idea, give credit to the source of the great idea.

Are you dying to try it? I thought so. Go forth, my sweet friends. Pin to your heart's content. But please don't hold me accountable for any lack of sleep that may result from your new elite invitation.

And I ra-a-an, I ran so far away-ay-ay...

2011-08-06T16:33:00.010-06:00

This morning when I woke up, I found this sweet little love note that Adam left for me:

I learned a few things about running today. #1: Runners get up way, way too early. Since I don't consider myself a runner, I did a pretty good job sleeping in (and consequently, speeding to Provo) and even with my sleeping in, it was still way, way too early. #2: The whole 'freezing cold before a race/burning hot during a race' conundrum really sucks. I ended up wearing my hoodie the whole time and by the time I finished, I was a sweaty, hot mess. #3: I'm allergic. To running. Actually, further research showed that if your legs are all itchy while you run, it means you're not active and your capillaries and blood vessels aren't used to that much blood flow. I prefer to cling to the allergy claim. It's much less humiliating. #4: Bringing two adorable little girls along (or in my case, latching on to my two adorable nieces) means that the other runners don't laugh at you when you come in 12th in your age division. Also, being divided by age is terribly humbling. Also, Neil + a double stroller + orange cones = complete disaster mixed with pure hilarity. What can I say? Hootch is crazy. #5: It was fun, darn it all, so I may just have to do more of it. {which would also help with the #3 sitch, obvi.}

Before the race, freezing and scared out of my skull.

"I ran to get into shape once. I ran and ran and ran. Old Running Zorak, that's what they used to call me. Ol' Runnin' Zorak. Hee hee!"

Me and my Sis after crossing the finish line.

Thumbs up for avoiding death!

Me and Taylor enjoying the post-race hoopla.

All's I know is I didn't come in last. And that's enough for me.

'5K' means five kilometers, not 5 thousand miles.

2011-08-05T15:28:00.004-06:00

Hello, cyber friends. I have a very special announcement for you today. What a treat you're in for! Tomorrow I will be running my first ever 5K. Er...I use the term 'running' loosely. Like, in this here post you can replace 'running' with 'limping through the whole 3.1 miles'. Go back, try it. Fun, right?

Since I'm really excited for the race* and excited to spend the morning with my cutieface sister (who just had a birthday yesterday, btw) I thought I would share with you a few of the training techniques I've been employing since I signed up for the race* 2 months ago.

First, I've disciplined myself to keep a strict diet in preparation for the race*. Each night, just after Adam and I tuck our little babies into bed, I whip up a generous batch of Orange Julius. I may or may not call it my Power Shake. Adam helps me polish off the muscle building, fat burning, party in your mouth each night. He's supportive like that. Also, only one of those previous adjectival phrases are accurate, but I'll let you guess which one. Fun for all!

Secondly, my weight training has been pretty intense. Have you ever seen The World's Strongest Man competitions? It's one of Adam's favorites, so we watch it a lot. I've been using it as a model for my lifting. But instead of lifting a car and dragging it 25 meters, I was lucky enough to hit up Macey's Case Lot Sale and thus carry bags of canned veggies and brown sugar from the Sapphire Bullet to my kitchen. It was pretty intense and there was even some vein popping going on, but I made it and I'm better (and more fully prepared for the race*) because of it. Thank you, Macey's.

Finally, the third step in my 3-step-5K-training-regimen is of course, exercising. I skipped this step completely. Unless you count playing kickball as exercise. Which no one does.

A lot of athletes are riddled with injury as they train, and I am not exempt. Instead of "athlete's foot" - a common complaint among hot, sweaty, athletes - I suffered the debilitating injury known as "facebook butt".

Folks, follow my example and you too can be ill prepared for an intense 5K. Tomorrow's going to be one interesting race*. I'm not worried. I'm like Forrest Gump

*for the correct frame of mind, please execute precision air quotes each time you read this word

Awesome in August

2011-08-01T23:28:00.003-06:00

{my new free printable from kikicreates.blogspot.com}

Some days I'm pretty awesome.

Most days I have a lot of room to go to reach the right level of awesomeness.

I feel sometimes like if I'm awesome in any one category, the rest of the categories completely go to pot. If I'm an awesome mama, my house cleaning for the day is less than desirable. When I rock my church responsibilities, I tend to neglect my handsome and near-perfect husband. When I'm a good blogger, I'm a failure as a friend. And on it goes. Is it just me?

Maybe so.

I'm tiptoeing to a solution, though, so this post won't be a complete downer. With the whole back to school/back to a schedule frame of mind, I'm deciding now that I am going to simplify the crap out of things. (Is simplifying supposed to sound so hard?)

This 'simplifying' includes my physical space

{i.e. getting rid of projects I haven't finished in 11 years}

my mental space

{remember how I waste my life reading blogs of people I can't stand just to get all worked up over them? No more, my bloggy friends.}

my spiritual space

{back to basics, girly, back to the basics.}

and my emotional space.

I think of all of them, my emotional space will be the toughest to dejunk. The top of my list is to only invest in relationships where I'm not the only one investing. I'm wasting so much energy in one-sided relationships and those top-priority things are suffering because of it. I'm actually quite excited to do it, it's been a long time comin'.

My friend Abby chooses a focus word (or two or three) for each month and I'm totally going to copy her and have awesome be my focus word this month. I know it's unrealistic to be awesome in every category every day, but it's not impossible to make an effort. And thus begins my Awesome in August campaign. Wish me luck.

Possibly the lamest birthday in 11 years

2011-07-28T13:15:00.004-06:00

The year was 2000. It was our second date, our first kiss, and Adam's birthday. And also the beginning of my attempts at making July 27th the best day of the year. Perhaps it's the fact that I've spent the last decade stressing, scheming, plotting, and planning during the month of July, or perhaps it's my over-doing-it-ness with AJ's, Aaron's & Melia's parties. Whatever the reason, Adam's birthday was pretty darn lame this year. Lame, at least, by my standards. He keeps reassuring me that it was great. I guess you can be the judge.

The Birthday Boy slept in until 11 minutes to noon. He says it was wonderful to be able to sleep all morning. I say half of his special day was gone.

We (the munchkiddies and I) gave him a whopping five presents. {And I didn't even wrap them.} He says everything he got is exactly what he wanted. I say five piddly gifts is not enough for a thirty-three-year-old.

We (the munchkiddies and I) left him all alone for 2.5 hours so we (excluding AJ) could take a nap. He says he had fun catching up on Man vs. Wild and playing around on his IPad. I say he was all alone. On his birthday. For two and a half hours.

As a family, we visited Adam's Grandma in the hospital and my Dad who just had surgery. Okay, that part wasn't really bad.

The kiddos ate McDonald's and we ate Arby's for dinner. He says he hadn't had jalapeno poppers in for-ev-er. I say I should've made him his favoritest dinner like a good little wife.

We played kickball. He says it was fun and we won. "Win/Win." I say he got out for the first time this season. On his birthday. {Not to mention hurt both of his ankles in a 3 minute time period. On his birthday.}

It didn't really feel different than any other day. He says he got sang to (twice, by the kiddos). I say I didn't even make him cupcakes or have him blow out any candles.

He says there ain't no lovin' like birthday lovin'.

I can neither confirm nor deny.

P-A-R-T-WHY??

2011-07-22T14:25:00.008-06:00

Melia is at a super fun age where she gets that birthdays are a big deal and her birthday is all about her. She couldn't stop singing Happy Birthday to herself for 3 days straight.

Her "I'm kind of a big deal" awareness this year made her birthday party that much more fun. She had lots of family over to celebrate...well, her. We kept it nice and simple with party hats {the Birthday Girl got a special, custom-made Minnie hat which she luh-ved}, Minnie party blowers (not to be confused with mini-party blowers) and we had a Minnie Pinata. Melia didn't quite know what to think of us all telling her to hit her beloved Minnie ears with a bat, but once she got into it, she had a blast. Everyone got a turn at the Pinata and then got nearly their weight in candy. She dug right into her presents, not needing any hints on what she was supposed to do and she was kind and gracious to all of her guests. She also got to blow out the candles on the Minnie Mouse Cake that Grandpa Brickey made for her. She LOVED the cake so so so much.

Here are some pictures from her party:

At first, when people would wish her a happy birthday, she would say it back to them. Aaron: Happy Birthday, Ba-leea!
Melia: Happy Birthday!
Then after literally days of being wished a Happy Birthday, her response changed to a heart-felt THANKS! Like she was so touched that you had remembered and thought enough to tell her so. It was also awesome when we would ask her how old she was going to be, her reply was always "six!" and when you'd say "no way!" she would counter with "seven" and keep going until you reminded her that she was going to be two. Now, she's practically a pro at holding two tiny little fingers up to show you {as long as her other hand is free to mold her skinny digits into the right sign}.

We love our Sis, all thirty pounds of her six-year-old self. Happy Birthday, 'Lia!

I'm glad we don't literally get smashed to pieces with a bat.

2011-07-19T01:26:00.004-06:00

In the past, we've established that I hatch crazy plans super late in the game. Thus, it should come as no surprise that I decided on Tuesday to make a pinata for Melia's party on Saturday. It should also come as no surprise that I love using the word 'thus' on my blog.

I've made a pinata once before. I was in the second grade. It was supposed to be a giraffe, and it looked like a wadded up newspaper stuck to the top of a toilet paper roll. I MagicMarkered some giant eyes and a nice long tongue and pretended to be happy with my freaky giraffe, but I hated that thing.

So there I was, trying not to let those hideous giraffe memories haunt me as I boldly went about creating some paper mache Minnie ears with a 4-ish day deadline giving me anxiety.

Through the whole process, the negative (read: logical) side of me kept screaming "Why are you doing this?! This thing is going to be smashed to smithereens in 2 minutes flat! You are a crazy lady!" ...or something along those lines. And the optimistic (read: crazy) side of me would calmly reply "Because Melia is going to love it!" Guess what? The negative side was right: it did take about 2 minutes (okay, 18 seconds) before my hard work was completely destroyed. But my optimistic side was right too, Melia loved that thing. Every step along the way, she would squeal "My Minnie!" and try {though I discouraged it} to give the pinata a nice big hug. And in the hours {and hours and hours and hours and...} of tediously gluing crepe paper squares onto my cast of flour and newspaper, I realized that being a mom is a lot like making a pinata. It's tiring. It's repetitive. Parts of it seem to take forever. You're always always always doing something that will soon be undone (laundry, much?). But it's worth it. It's worth it because you know that those crazy day-to-day things will make your babies happy. And when your babies are happy, you are happy. Motherhood is a big, fat service project. And I'm extremely grateful to be a part of it.

It kind of reminds me of this amazing talk. [Clickity here to see the painting.]

Melia's Two!

2011-07-17T09:11:00.005-06:00

Happy Birthday to my sweet little lady!
{Much, much, much more later.}

4th of July Shirts

2011-07-04T22:47:00.006-06:00

I don't know about you, but my kids can always use another shirt. And since it's a holiday and since I'm pretty much in love with hand prints {I present exhibits a, b, & c}, we got the cousins together and made some new festive 4th of July shirts.
Read my lips: the kids love them. L-UH-V them.
{love them!}

Gettin' Our Brad On

2011-07-04T13:52:00.007-06:00

The much-anticipated Stadium of Fire Day finally arrived! Me, Lindsey, and her cutie Cadee loaded up for the long trek to Provo, braved the traffic, got an awesome parking spot, and killed a few hours in the hot, hot sun just so that we could see my bestie Brad. [Remember how we're on a first name basis?]
It. Was. So. Much. Fun! Great company, perfect weather, awesome seats {for an awesome price} and a heckuva show.

Some of the highlights include My Delicious Snowie Disaster, thinking that Cadee was crying because she was scared of the jets only to find out that she was crying because she didn't get a picture of David Archuleta ("Don't worry, he'll be back."), the hang glider totally taking out a barrier/bystander {I wonder if they have to retire that flag now?} And of course Brad Brad Brad Brad Brad. He was amazing as usual. He changed guitars at least three times and his stage exit was so friggin' cool. Even David Archuleta did great - although he's definitely a singer and not an entertainer. Honestly, my only complaint of the night was Katy Perry's "Firework" song. But even as bad as that was, it wasn't enough to offset all of the awesome.

It was an amazing night. I'm so glad I went. Lindsey and I have already agreed that next time Brad comes, we're springing for the $400 seats. Adam, you've been warned.

Melia's Invitation

2011-06-29T23:05:00.010-06:00

The second AJ & Aaron's birthday party was over, I asked my facebook friends if I should do Little Einsteins or Tangled for Melia's second birthday (seein' as how they're both her favorites). Tangled won by a landslide and I was diligently researching all the Tangled party ideas I could come up with. Then, last week, I realized that I completely forgot about Melia's more favorite: Minnie Mouse. She's only been throwing hints at me for the past 3 months. {Sorry babe, Mama's a little slow.}

Melia got this huge ol' Minnie from her Uncle Scott & Aunt Angie for Christmas last year. She has loved it since the moment she saw it, but lately, these two are inseparable.

After watching my little miss haul her BFF everywhere [and I mean everywhere] or dealing with the consequences when Minnie isn't allowed {I was in the dog house for not letting Minnie take a bath with Melia for the rest of the day} I finally realized that Melia needs a Minnie Birthday Party. I busted out these babies and I'm in love with them. Melia is too. Seriously. When she saw the invitation she said "Minnie! I LOVE it!" in her high-pitched Melia Voice. Grandpa's all set to do a Minnie Cake filled with awesome, and pink with polka-dots is the new skull and crossbones at our house. Birthdays are so friggin' fun.

Pudding Letters

2011-06-28T21:04:00.000-06:00

When I was in 4th Grade, my teacher {Mrs. Tracy} would every once in a while let us review our spelling words by spelling them out in chocolate pudding. No wonder she's one of my most favorite teachers ever. For operation DWS, I decided that I'd let the kiddies practice their names, letters, and shapes in chocolate pudding. It was such a hit that they even addressed it multiple times in their bedtime prayers. I know it looks like it says "HI" but it really says "AJ" I promise.
He did it all by himself.Aaron had some help from mom. Why'd we give that kid such a long name?Melia knew how to do it right.
While the boys were each using one finger to draw things in their pudding, she was using her fingers (and hands) to shovel the pudding directly into her mouth. As fast as she could.It wasn't long before the boys followed Little Sister's example.
The final results?
Messy, educational, and fun for all!

Grumpish

2011-06-27T08:37:00.006-06:00

I have a few good reasons to be grumpy this morning.

Adam left for Clear Creek today. A whole friggin' week without my bestie. Ipso facto, I'll be single-parenting it {for those of you who don't know: it's hard}. We had to leave at 6:30 AM(!) to get him where the other Clear Creekers were meeting. That's strike 17 to my mood.

Hmm, what else? I really shouldn't read blogs of people I don't like. I don't know why I'm drawn to them, but I am, and then I get all worked up. Silly. And speaking of reading, I'm 100% annoyed at this new book I'm reading. Clearly, the author didn't have a thesaurus in her possession and her editors are morons. If I read the word 'reverie' one more time or if one more dying person is described as having a 'waxen pallor' I may punch someone in the knee. {Don't get me wrong; both of those terms are quite nice, when used sparingly, but on the 5th time before the 100th page...not a fan.}

Can you tell I'm a little cranky? Well I don't want to be. So here's a wonderful bulleted list of things I'm looking forward to this week. Ready?

Softball

Going to Girls Camp as a Special Old Lady. {aka = Relief Society Guest}

The Annualish Brickey Family Hogle Zoo Extravaganza 2011 {sadly, we'll be missing a couple of key figures; namely Adam & Neil. Losers.}

Getting some new specs

Stadium of Fire with my homegirl Lindsey {Brad's going to be awesome...assuming we live through the annoying David Archuleta fans}

Finishing a few uber-cool projects I've been working on {which brings up some more annoyances, but I'll save those for another time}

Spending the week with my kidlets. Yeah, it's hard when they outnumber you 3 to 1, but they are so hilarious and sweet and smart and I totally get to chill with them. Yay.

Cleaning my home sweet home. The crib is still in Recovery Mode after our weekend of camping, and since Adam's gone, I'll have nothing better to do in my spare time. I love the smell of pine-sol in the evening

Wow, that was actually pretty easy. I feel better already. Of course, Adam's only been gone for 2 hours (1.5 of which the kids have been sleeping). But we've also made it a quarter of an hour* without any casualties. That's an improvement from last year.

*another term used by the thesaurus-less author. Apparently it's much cooler than saying "15 minutes."

I'm too lazy to blog.

2011-06-23T19:23:00.003-06:00

Truly.

We've been so busy shopping/playing/cleaning/sun tanning/making crap/enjoying daddy/ reading/reading/reading (more on that later) not to mention that White Collar is back on and I've been in love with Neal Cafrey ever since he was Luc on Tru Calling. And right now, I'd rather do any of that stuff than blog. I'm sure I'll start to take better care of my small, abandoned plot of internet in the near future, but for right now...I'm off to finish my 6th book this week.

Happy Weekend, yo's.

One Time, We Went Fishing

2011-06-14T14:15:00.007-06:00

There's a new, amazing little fishin' hole up in Pleasant Grove, so we decided to go try it out. Actually, Adam and his friend Chuck had already tried it out and loved it, so they invited the rest of us to go experience the joy as well. Each of the kids got to help reel in a fish or two, and they loved it. They also loved playing on the grass, digging in a big ol' hole, and looking at all the trees (whose leaves had been clearly bitten by dinosaurs - stegosauruses to be exact). They also also loved eating lots of sugar from the goodie bags Dad had brought them from school. Oh, and Melia loved flashing the camera. (She gets it from her dad.) They've all (Adam included) been begging me to let them go back to the "fishin' pond" again. I suppose we shall.

Operation DWS - Scratch 'n Sniffity

2011-06-09T11:31:00.007-06:00

Today's Don't Waste Summer activity was scratch-n-sniff watercolors. (credit where credit's due)
We mixed different colors of KoolAid with a little bit of water and went to town. Luckily we did it outside. KoolAid is messy stuff. Especially when Melia starts painting herself. (BTW - I honestly don't know of any way to get this off. Any ideas?)The masterpieces smell delectable and fun was had by all.

What did you do today?

Finding A Good Way To Spend It

2011-06-06T14:31:00.009-06:00

I have mad plans to not just sit by and let our summer pass us by. The boys have been working in their workbooks they got from school and I've been looking for ideas all over the place for fun summer activities. We made homemade Popsicles on Saturday. Yummy. Today, we made Bubble Snakes. Holy cow, talk about an easy and cheap way to keep young'ns entertained for HOURS. I'm pretty sure we would still be out there if it hadn't of gotten crazy windy and gross outside.I won't be able to give credit to everyone I've stolen ideas from, but this one I got from here.

All you need is an empty water bottle, an old wash rag, a rubber band, and some dishsoap in water. Awesomesauce. Oh, and 3 Gold Stars and a Thumbs Up if you know where my title came from.

{Happy Monday!}

Become As A Little Child

2011-06-05T23:45:00.007-06:00

I usually love bedtime at our house.
{Not because the kids are pretty much locked in their rooms for the next 10-ish hours},
but because bedtime is usually very sweet and leaves me with all kinds of warm fuzzies. Usually.

Tonight was not one of those usual nights.
Tonight was more like a nightmare.
It was 3 screaming chilluns and 2 out-of-patience parents.
It was trying not to think bad thoughts while you're reading the scriptures together.
{Well ... while Mom and Dad were trying to read from the scriptures with child 1 and child 2 in a massive slug-fest and child 3 alternating between crying her eyes out and riding Dad like a horse. Yee-haw.}

It was one son getting 2 spankings and telling you that you're a monster.
And then, through his tears, he sobs that he can't feel the Holy Ghost in his heart
and he tells you he's sorry he was mean to you and he wants to try again.

Bedtime ended with each boy saying another prayer and asking Heavenly Father to help them
feel the Holy Ghost in their hearts;
then AJ, Aaron, Mom, and Dad all singing a few select primary songs together
to invite the Holy Ghost to be with us.

*I gotta tell you: it's humbling when your 4-year-old is the one to point out that your actions as a mom aren't conducive to the Spirit.

I have so much to work on as a mother.

I mean,
sometimes I lose my
patience, temper, and sanity
all at the same time.
{& fyi: it's not pretty.}
(^case in point)

but I know,
all of us.
as in:
ALL OF US
~mothers or not~
have a purpose.
A plan.
Potential.
And a reason for our struggles.

Small struggles like bedtime.

And big struggles that seem
more than we can bear.

I know that we have a Heavenly Father
to help us & guide us.

i know that.
and I'm so grateful to
for reals know that.

And even though it stings,
I'm grateful that my little guys are familiar enough with the Spirit
that they can help me remember that I need to change my actions
and my attitude
to keep that amazing Gift around.

I'm grateful that those boys are quick to forgive
and quick to forget
and that even amid my struggles with them,
they are teaching me how to be more like God.

...and i just had to take a sec tonight to
let the world-ish know via my blog
that I acknowledge His hand
in all that I am & hope to become.

Tomorrow is another day.
I will do better.
I will be better.

Fathers & Sons

2011-05-31T13:06:00.006-06:00

For me, the best part of Fathers and Sons was the Mothers and Daughters outing. Melia was so excited to have mom and grandma's full, undivided attention. She loved riding her brothers' bikes in peace, loved riding in Grandma's car, and loved eating her very own Baby Cakes at IHop.

For the boys, every second of Father and Sons was the best part of Fathers and Sons. They've been looking forward to this campout since, well, since the last Fathers and Sons ended. Here's what I gathered from their pictures and stories:

They helped set up camp.

Played in the dirt.
Went on a hike.Enjoyed the program.
Roasted 'mallows and ate 'mores.
Slept.

Ate breakfast.And did a few more manly things before they came home.Their direct {and much repeated} quote was "IT WAS AWESOME!"
Many thanks to my awesome hubby and my awesome dad for showing my boys such a great time.

Once Upon A Time

2011-05-30T21:43:00.005-06:00

This is the story of a little girl who had a bad case of the grumpies. A bad case of the lonelies. A bad case of getting all crazy over situations that she couldn't control and feeling hurt & offended by other people.

A series of events unfolded in a 36-hour period, each unattached to the other but all connected by the beautiful order of the universe. First, the little girl received a card in the mail. Not just any card, it was a card filled with kindness and love and pictures of literal angels from a cherished friend. For no other reason except "Hey, I was thinking about you." Next came some serious scripture time where the little girl got to read almost a bazillion messages about 'enduring' and 'worth' and 'divine nature' and 'peace'. The following afternoon, the little girl arrived home to find a gift on her steps. A separate and equally cherished friend sent her a book. A book! Filled from cover to cover with inspiration and perspective. Again, there was no special occasion to merit such a gesture. And again, it arrived at the time of most dire need. Finally, the little girl got to spend the evening with her mama and little sister; shopping, laughing, talking, and reconnecting.

Each of these events were awe-inspiring and timely by themselves. But combined, these events were nothing short of miraculous. And that is how the little girl was cured from her severe case of the grumpies. She got over the lonelies and the insecurities and thanked her Heavenly Father for amazing, amazing friends. And then she proceeded to pay it forward so that other people could be equally lifted and loved and in doing so, she lived happily ever after.
The end.

The Title of This Post Has Been Censored

2011-05-26T08:30:00.008-06:00

Things That Kind of Suck
When people on facebook misspell your name. Every time. The correct spelling is right there.

When you don't get invited to something you were invited to just last year.

When you get a prepaid Visa with 100 bucks on it and go to use it in May, only to discover that it expired in April.

Internal Alarm Clocks in 4-year-olds. {It's summer! Sleep in!}

School Districts that don't get out until June 3rd. Seriously, who does that?

Season Finales of all your favorite shows. 350 channels and nothing's on.

Things that Do Not Suck
Knowing that your husband will have 3 beautiful work-free months at home with you.

Getting a card for no reason in the mail from a very sweet friend that you miss a whole lot.

Crossing a bunch of projects off your perpetual project list.

Making and eating {and eating, and eating, and eating} your Mom's tongue-pleasing apple dip.

Getting a ton done every day because of aforementioned internal alarm clocks.

Hearing Melia sing "We Are A Happy Family".

New Addition

2011-05-25T15:10:00.004-06:00

In the middle of planning a birthday party and making end of year gifts for teachers, I decided that I wanted to make a photo board for our family room. I had to discipline myself to stay on task on the first two projects (which needed to be done first, due to deadlines) because I wanted to do this project so darn bad. 3 days after the party, this beauty is hanging on my wall.

I began by begging my dad to go to Home Depot with me {I'm a little scared of that place} to find a nice, thin board. The Home Depot dude cut it for me and we brought it home.

Next, I painted it black. My amazing Mom took the amazing pictures of my kids. They show AJ's, Aaron's, & Melia's personalities so well. {Taking pictures can be so fun when you're letting the munchkins make whatever faces they want instead of begging, bribing, and forcing them to smile!} Then we had them printed at Sam's Club {waaaaaaay cheaper than Wal*Mart}. I Mod Podged the pictures to my board and then Mod Podged over the top of it all. I love how it turned out - it totally gives it a canvas-y look.

To hang it up, I took my dad to the hardware store {I'm a little scared of that place, too} and we grabbed some screws, washers, and spacers to help it stand off the wall.
I absolutely 100% completely and totally love it.

(I only wish I was creative enough to come up with this awesomeness myself.
I totally stole the idea from here and followed her perfect directions.)

In Case You Haven't Heard...

2011-05-23T23:12:00.008-06:00

...it's my boys' birthday today. We only got them one present this year.

{Wait for iiiiit...}

*they liked them

Man, these kids know how to par-tay. We're on day 3 of the birthday hullabaloo, and they were still going strong. It started with a Birthday Breakfast of pancakes {and candles, of course}

Even the Little Miss thought all of the merrymaking was great, and it's not even her birthday. We had a pretty groovy day. The boys got to watch a few of their favorite shows, we had Birthday Pizza for lunch at Grandma's house, they took a nap (!), watched Dad play softball, and got a couple of cupcakes because...you know...today's kind of a big deal.

And what's not to celebrate? They have gone from this

to this

to thisto this

to this

and quite frankly, they've accomplished quite a bit in their
one-thousand, four-hundred & sixty-one days of life.
{and I love them so.}

Uno, Dos, Tres, Cuatro

2011-05-22T19:06:00.015-06:00

Here is a better picture of the detail of the ship. This was not just a Pirate Ship Cake, it was an edible replica.

AJ and Aaron LOVED their Pirate Party. They've been looking forward to it for months and were so excited when it was finally here. I kept asking Aaron what his favorite part was and every time, he would emphatically say "all of the parts!" {AJ said his favorite part was opening presents.} We learned a few things ... balloon tag is a nice little anxiety attack for 4-year-olds. We had a few in tears when their balloon got popped. Also, treasure hunts are more effective if everyone goes at the same speed. The poor littlest girls were left in the dust at every turn. Oh, and squirt guns are a lot more fun to give to other people's children rather than for your children to receive them. Just sayin'.

Even with all of these lessons, it was still probably the coolest celebration in the history of celebrations. I'll have to call the Guiness people to find out for sure. I think everyone there had a blast. I know I had a great time, and my kiddos were in 4-year-old heaven. Yes, we even loved laughing at the kids while they were crying over their freshly-popped balloons. It was awesome. And finally, the last lesson I learned was that when all is said and done, every ounce of effort you spend is worth it when you hear your kids say that their party was The Best Birthday Party Ever. Huzzah!

Pirate Party Prep

2011-05-22T08:30:00.009-06:00

AJ & Aaron are Pirate Crazy {they get it from their mama}, and so I've known since December that their 4th birthday party would be All Things Pirates. They have been so excited helping me make plans, and I honestly have no clue how I'm going to top this year's celebration. It started with the invites.(You can read more about them here)

We all know the cake is the most important part of a birthday party, so big plans were laid and then passed on to my amazing dad for the execution. Once again, he exceeded all expectations.

(You can see more of his handiwork here)

Since the boys are getting older, I figured we could have more structured fun this year. No pirate party is complete without a treasure hunt, and I decided that the treasure would be a nice loot bag that each guest could take home to enjoy.

I made the toppers in photoshop and just stapled them onto sandwich bags. The booty bags had {chocolate} gold coins, butterscotch candies, a necklace and ring, a jolly roger bouncy ball, a ring pop, a pirate pencil, and some shark bait - goldfish crackers. We've had this treasure chest sitting in our storage room for a few years (I was saving it for just such an occasion) and it was the perfect addition.
The other activities I had planned were walking the plank
sword fights (of course) "peg-leg" balloon tag, and decorating their very own pirate hats and telescopes. I got the hats from Oriental Trading and they were awesome - they came with a TON of fun pirate foamie stickers - and I simply painted toilet paper rolls black to make the telescopes. I also painted whiskers on every pirate that wanted some.

We decorated with pirate flags, our pirate ship, a pirate Happy Birthday banner and an X that I made to mark the spot.

Add some nice Pirate music for ambiance, and Operation Party Prep was complete.

Aaron Graduates from Preschool

2011-05-20T17:18:00.006-06:00

Yesterday was Aaron's Preschool Graduation. He was pretty excited.He sang so well during the program and was a dancin' maniac. His favorite part of graduation was singing "Hooray! It's Time for School!" and "Pizza Hut" and "Bubble Gum."
This kid loves music.He has absolutely loved his teacher, Miss Jen. He even blessed her in his prayers last night. She has been so good for him and has helped him come a very long way.
He had tons of support on his Big Day
{Not pictured again: Grandma Rindy}And since Dad couldn't be there, he got to go out for a
Just-Dad-And-Aaron-Graduation-Sundae
*except the sundae machine was broken at Mickey D's,
so Aaron settled for a frozen lemonade.It's been a fun, sugar-filled day.
...and I can't believe my little boy's growing up.

AJ Graduates from Preschool

2011-05-18T22:34:00.005-06:00

Today was AJ's Preschool Graduation. He was pretty excited.

He was a goof during the program (just like a preschooler should be) and was so excited to show me his graduation hat. As a matter of fact, I don't think he took the hat off for the rest of the day. He said his favorite part of the day was the brownie that he got.

He has loved his teacher, Miss Norma.

He had tons of support on his Big Day
{not pictured: Grandma Rindy}
And since Dad couldn't be there, he got to go out for a special
Just-Dad-And-AJ-Graduation-Sundae
(Adam did a great job getting pictures and even asked a stranger to snap this shot.
He is a good man.)
It's been a fun, sugar-filled day.
...and I can't believe my little boy's growing up.

One Like Mom, One Like Dad, One Like Tippy

2011-05-16T09:48:00.003-06:00

Just like his mama. Cuddled up with four-count 'em-four blankets.Just like his daddy. In his skivies, holding the remote, watching soccer. Well, I guess one thing is different than the way dad does it: dad watches football.Just like Tippy. Melia insists on wearing a hood whenever she has the chance. After church, she demanded that we put her sweatshirt on over her dress. Then she refused to hold still (hence the blurry picture) but every time she wears her hood, she reminds us of the girl from Pixar's One Man Band - whose name, apparently, is Tippy.See?

What Not To Wear

2011-05-09T09:10:00.008-06:00

My gift for Mother's Day was a surprise shopping trip with my cute little family where I was ordered to get something new from head to toe. Isn't Adam the sweetest? So we loaded up and headed off to my favorite store ... but not before Adam took a nice "before" picture. I may have mentioned this before, but Adam and I think it's hilarious when we see commercials with before and after pictures and the before pictures always look pathetic. The people are always frowning, slouching over, and looking as mopey as possible. This was our "before" attempt:

And another one for good measure

So anyways, we went shopping, spent the day as a happy family and had a blast. Here's my "after" shot.
You can't see my jeans, but they're pretty. And for the toe part, I'm getting a pedicure at my favorite salon, Serendipity.

What a super-thoughtful gift, right? It really was.