Invitations, Shminvitations.

Lesson learned: You should never put this many layers of cardstock together, and try to mail them, because even though it may NOT be too heavy, the darn thing is so stiff that the geniusus at the post office will tell you they can't "machine" them, whatever that means, and will give you much grief.
This is the final product - note the printed insert was supposed to have a gold foil border, instead of black, but it didn't work out in the printing stage, unfortunately. But we did tie the gold in (50th anniversary - gold - get it?) with the gold foil-lined envelopes, and the gold metallic detail on the ribbon tied around each pocket.

Hooray for being finished!

Someone please buy me a truck for my birthday.

Look what I can do, Mom!


Come on. Honestly?

Time for a list.

I feel like I haven't expressed my thoughts for quite a while, so I'm clearing out my brain here to try and get organized. Warning: probably not going to be an exciting read.


1. I feel like I have a lot on my to-do list lately. Yet I'm not accomplishing much.
2. For some reason, my right hand was shaking all day yesterday when I'd pick something up.
3. The weather has been GORGEOUS the past couple of days. We ate kabobs outside on the patio furniture last night and it was divine. I didn't want to come in.
4. My favorite hobby lately is to watch Josh walk. That kid is CUTE.
5. My craft room has been seriously neglected the past two months. I should be cleaning and organizing it now - but no, I'm blogging.
6. I'm on my fifth and final day of my antibiotic for a sinus infection. I heart Z-packs.
7. I'm aching to get outside to pull weeds. Probably not the best activity for a Sunday morning.
8. My girls have watched entirely too much TV the past few days. I've given them a lot of slack since "summer vacation" has officially started.
9. I would like to have a daily schedule of activities and chores written and posted - anybody do this? I'd like ideas.
10. I'm happy with the way my parents' 50th wedding anniversary invites turned out.
11. I'm looking forward to seeing my family in a couple of weeks.
12. I'm clueless as to how to decorate and set up the church nicely/appropriately for the party.
13. I really regret not being more involved in Allison's class this year. I always had a hard time justifying asking other people to watch my other two kids. I resolve to be better next year. Hope I like her new 1st grade teacher as much as I did her kinder teacher!
14. I'm having a hard time deciding how tough to be with Allison and her eating - or lack of such. Half of the time I'm too tired for the battle - and even when we hold strong, it doesn't make her eat anything new, she just goes hungry.
15. On the menu this week: Chicken salad pita sandwiches, salmon, taco salad
16. Allison won't eat any of this.
17. I have LOTS of pictures to edit and get printed. I also need to back up my photos on my hard drive, since I haven't done so in about 9 months.
18. I need about $100 more of CTMH orders by the end of June to finish this quarter.
19. I owe my parents the other half of Josh's "1st year" scrapbook pages.
20. Sometimes I really debate cooking simply because of the mess I know it will create, that I know I will have to clean up for the next two hours.
21. I'd like to be in a dinner exchange group so I have fewer days of kitchen messes each week.
22. I need to get the girls' gymnastics class changed, so we can sign up for swim lessons.
23. I'm not a fan of 1:00 church. We don't spend time with my inlaws anymore because of it.
24. I need a hair appointment in a bad way. Note to self: CALL LAUREN TOMORROW.
25. I've begun many scrapbook layouts in the last month. I don't think I've finished any of them.
26. I re-read my new year's resolutions a couple of days ago. Ha! I'm failing miserably at all of them.
27. It's not fair to have wrinkles and acne simultaneously.
28. I need to look for a good deal on Sea World tickets. Is there such a thing?
29. I'd like to plan a trip over to the children's museum in Mesa - anyone know what exhibit is there right now?
30. I need a shopping trip ALONE so I can go buy a new swimsuit and bra. I also need to get Josh a couple of hats, maybe with my Old Navy gift card.
31. I completely blew it for my mothers for Mother's Day - seriously, no gifts, no phone calls even. Very selfish, considering all that I got for Mother's Day.
32. I've been obsessed lately with food and gas prices rising, and the cost of power. It's created a constant nagging stress in the back of my mind - everything we do, eat and every time the air conditioner kicks on I hear a cash register in my head.
33. I've barely eaten any fast food the last few months. Exception: Little Caesar's Hot-n-ready. Allison WILL eat their cheese pizza.
34. I have a LOT of recipes, but I know not all of them are total winners. I need a big purge/testing/organizing thing to happen.
35. I'd like to revisit all of my Love and Logic books and notes and CDs. I see other parents handling situations that I know should probably be handled differently, so I need to make sure I'm doing things correctly, keeping my temper, showing empathy, and turning problems back over to my kids, instead of letting them anger me.
36. We were doing SO well reading scriptures, and have fallen apart the last couple of weeks.
37. To be continued... I need to go straighten my hair!

I am your brother, your best friend forever.

My favorite two minutes of TV. Ever. I heart Idol, baby!

J-Dawg

Two more weeks 'til my birthday. I would like some "boy" toys that make noise, some trains or cars, and a new baseball hat from Old Navy.

My favorite toys right now are my sisters' diving sticks. I usually have one in each hand as I walk around, plus one hanging out of my mouth.

I love to walk. And I'm a pro at coming down the stairs. I know, such the stud!

I'm facing forward in the car now. I think it's hilarious every time we drive anywhere.

I'm officially a "snaggletooth" as I have four teeth now, and they're all different sizes/shapes.

I like whole milk!

I like to feed myself.

I am a good helper to mommy. I like to climb on and empty the dishwasher, and take the bowls and baking pans out of the cupboards for her. I hastily rid my highchair tray of any food I don't want. And, I like to strategically hold my milk bottle so it drips all over the floor. Hey, mommy needs to clean the floor more often anyway. I like to think of it as "motivation".

I like to be next to Mommy - whether she's in the shower, trying to cook in the kitchen, or on her computer in her craft room. I find things to occupy myself and make messes with no matter where she is. What can I say, I'm adaptable.

Strollers, Anyone?

Need help here! Looking for a new stroller! I want an inbetweener, not a full-size travel system-type, but more than a little umbrella stroller.

Must haves:
Parent Tray for me and my Diet Coke.
Kid tray for Josh and his bottle.
Big handlebar, versus two handles.
Canopy to shade the kid.
Basket below sturdy enough for my diaper bag, and camera.
Folds small enough to fit behind 3rd seat in my car. (??)


I'd appreciate any suggestions... I'm not crazy about the look of the Maclaren, the Combi is out, and don't even recommend anything with "Bugaboo" in the title - so doesn't have the features I want, nor would I ever lay out that kind of $$ for it.

These are both possibilities - checking them out tomorrow:
Like this one, except for the 2-handle thing (and I'm not sure if it has a parent tray or not)
Mixed reviews on the durability of this one...hmmm...Manda would have a place to stand and annoy me in my face with this one...I mean have a place to rest...

Puttin' on the Ritz...

Here's MY young Frankenstein! He's quite the walker, always with his arms stretched out in front of him. It's been hard to get a good photo of him, because he walks so fast toward me whenever I kneel down with the camera!Look, he's even learning how to bend his knees - maybe he won't be Frankenstein for long!

America has a lot of states.

This morning, I went to Allison's school for the flag ceremony. I didn't even know they did this each week (some involved parent I am, huh?) nor did I know Allison's class was going to sing! They performed "Grand Old Flag" and I was totally impressed at how well all of them knew the words. Sorry the pic is so blurry, my camera was on the wrong setting during the song. Then, 5 kids out of the class got up and read aloud their pages of sentences they had written about America (can't really call them essays, can you?) Allison's was great. She spoke clearly, but read really really fast. Her sentences included, but were not limited to: "America has a lot of states" and "America is full of builders, teachers, and bakers."

Funny. And cute.

Time for another concert!!!

YEAH BABY! Does anyone want to join Janna and me (oh, and our husbands)? American Idol Top 10 Tour starts out in GLENDALE at Jobing.com arena on July 1st. Tickets go on sale on May 17th. Email if you want to come with!

Who needs Hawaiian Tropic when you've got Photoshop?

Meet my Latin lover, Rick...
or maybe the hulk version:
or maybe the oompa-loompa version.

Summertime...

My husband is a good sport.


Check out these legs! I'd kill for those!

Idol.

To my friends, I don't feel nearly as emotional as I have the past couple of days - thank goodness, maybe I can get to the whole "moving on" thing. Thanks for your support.

To David Archuleta, I apologize for waivering in MY support. You are, once again, my favorite. Last night you were awesome, though I wouldn't quite describe it as "hot man vocals" like Randy did. All I can say is "Wow".

Numb.

Sweet little Dylan - I love him. I'm so relieved he's home, getting back to his routine of running around on his own, playing with toys, and climbing on stuff. I keep thinking that I'm on the road to healing as well, but every time I close my eyes he's right there again, hurting. I'm in awe of how strong Emily and Brandon have been. With the business of my life and all of my daily distractions, I'm functioning out of necessity, but my throat just hurts with all of the lumps in it still. I feel like I'm just going through the motions, and I just can't get past this guilt to move on to a happy place. I appreciate how many people have rallied around me and have given me other perspectives - - I truly do, and I don't want to discount those. I wish I could get there as well, but I just can't adopt the whole "no fault" mantra. Part of me wishes someone would have screamed at me, blamed me, and just made those detectives slap the cuffs on me. I realize that this sadness is coming from nowhere but within. Please don't feel the need to comment, the fact that I am writing all of this down makes me feel completely selfish too, and sympathy doesn't help anybody - - but I'm just trying to figure out a way to get it out.

Saving money? What?

I'm getting more and more curious about these "budget" things people seem to be so concerned about. Honey, watch out, I may actually figure out how much is leaving this household each month, and going toward what!

$73.01 at the gas pump today ... yet another record ... it cost me about $8.50 a day this week just to transport kids around. Yikes.

Today SRP rates went up. We're going to work on doing NOTHING between the hours of 1 and 8pm.

Any ideas on cutting back? I'd love to start seeing that savings account GROW each month, instead of shrink!