Category: Uncategorized (Page 61 of 118)

Did any of you watch last Thursday’s Ugly Betty?  I know, I know, it’s Monday, now.  I’m a bit slow.  I just watched it.  And in the show they go and see Wicked.  They actually show parts of the musical, and there’s all these wicked songs used.  Now I’m just yearning to go back to NY and see Wicked.  Is there anyone who might be going there soon and wants to take me with them?  For Free?  Hey, a girl can dream, right?

Why do witches use brooms to fly on?
Because vacuum cleaners are too heavy…

How do witches keep their hair in place while flying?
With scare spray…

Do zombies eat popcorn with their fingers?
No, they eat the fingers separately…

Why don’t skeletons ever go out on the town?
Because they don’t have any body to go out with…

What do ghosts add to their morning cereal?
Booberries…

What is a vampire’s favorite sport?
Casketball…

And here’s one for all you “Twilight” fans out there….

What do you get when you cross a werewolf and a vampire?
A fur coat that fangs around your neck…

I hope you (and your kids) have a wonderful holiday!

I’ve had some pictures I’ve been wanting to post for a while, so today’s the day.

Does this ever happen to your rolls? I’ve had three cans explode in the past few months. Weird.

Remember my cool playground cover that I sewed in the spring? Well, here’s how it looks now. It didn’t even last 6 months before the wind shredded it! Frustration.

Have you even seen the bathrooms at the Grand America Hotel? They are fabulous!

Here’s the tomato juice that we put up this year. It makes the best taco soup!

Here’s the big big tv in it’s new spot after we got things organized.

Of course to get to that point, first things looked like this: and my kitchen table looked like this, since we had to take everything out of the shelves and cupboards, and since we lost the center section, there’s that much stuff that didn’t have a home.

And here’s a couple of my favorite pictures from Ryan’s birthday. We were driving to St. George that day, and we stopped at a little Mexican Restaurant in Cedar City for his birthday dinner. The food was NOT great, and I wouldn’t recommend it, except for the birthday treatment. They brought out fried ice cream and sang and put the birthday sombrero on Ryan. All the kids loved that! and even Mom got a turn to wear it!

And if you still haven’t seen enough pictures of our family, feel free to click here to see Disneyland pictures!

My bathroom has been smelling a bit like a four year old boy and his friends frequently use it for the past few days.  So today, instead of going to the store to return the two pairs of pants that I bought for my poor flood wearing son (you should see him at church, the poor thing.  He’s grown out of all church pants!)–the size 14’s that are not big enough for my 13 year old son.  What? Anyway, I decided to stay home and clean the bathroom.  And it’s a good thing, I did, since that same flute forgetting son called me and asked if I could bring him his flute (AGAIN!), and since I’m coming, would I mind bringing him his lunch?  Errg.  Anyway, I did get that bathroom cleaned.  And it smells so good!  Don’t you just love it when the whole bathroom is clean?  The toilet, sink, shower door, mirror and even the floor are all clean.  Until the kids get home at 3:00.  So, if you were planning on visiting me in the next hour and a half, you would be treated to a nice, clean, crisp, bleachy smelling bathroom.  After 3, all bets are off. Now I’ve got to go and vacuum the family room–hooray!

You know when you are a kid people ask you what you want to be when you grow up? I wanted to be a veterinarian. Then I wanted to have a pet store and call it ‘Paige’s Pet’s’. Then I wanted to be an actress and a singer. Then I wanted to be a teacher.

Now I’m a mom. It’s really a combination of all of those jobs, along with a doctor, psychologist, maid, chauffeur, cook, party planner, nanny, wet nurse, costume designer, tutor, and personal assistant. I really enjoy my job as a mother. I love my kids, and I get joy out of keeping my house running semi-smoothly, and taking care of my family.

But if I had my choice…my dream job, right now it would be…

a talk show host!

I would love to have Oprah’s job. Or Ellen’s job. Or even Howie Mandell’s job. Of course, you kind of have to already be famous to be able to have your own talk show, so I guess I’m out of luck.  But I would have a blast talking with people, giving things away, and generally saying clever things that my  writers write for me.  I think I could do a good job.  Would you watch my show?  (just say yes, since it won’t ever be happening)

But that leads me to my question for you today.  What’s your dream job?  Do you already have it?  What would you really love to do if you could?  Be a firefighter?  A doctor?  Operate Space Mountain at Disneyland?  What’s your dream job?

There I was, walking out of a store with a lovely diet coke and a chicken ceasar salad for later. Yum. Up drives a silver van, and the lady driving is waving. Oh, maybe I know her, I think. I wave back. She stops. She rolls down the window and leans over to say, “Hi, Paige! How are you!?”

“Fine! How are you?” I ask. She knows my name. I MUST know her. How do I know her?

“Are you still in the Bells on Temple Square?” she asks.

“Yes, I am,” I reply. Still wracking the brain. Come on, brain. Who is this? Is she from my ward in Lehi? PTA? High School? Where do I know her from?

“Oh, I watched that concert when it was on tv, and saw you. That must be fun,” she says.

Who IS THIS PERSON? I am trying to figure it out. She knows I’m in bells, she recognized me on tv… “Oh, it is so much fun. This year’s guest artist is going to be the King’s singers,” I say trying to figure it all out.

“The nurse practitioner in our pediatrician’s office’s brother is in that choir with you,” she says. She told me that name, and sure enough, I know the nurse’s brother. He stands behind me every week. But heck if I can figure out who this nice and friendly woman is.

We wrap up our conversation and I walk away. “Who was that?” Megan asks me.

“I honestly have no idea,” I told her.

In driving home, I was waiting for it to click in. You know, that light bulb moment that you sometimes get AFTER the moment when you need the information has past? It didn’t come. I’m still wondering. So, if that was you, and you were talking to me in the parking lot the other day, I am so sorry I didn’t remember your name. Why don’t you e-mail me and remind me, because it’s really bugging me that I can’t figure it out.

That whole family togetherness thing?  I’m going on day 7 and I think it’s highly overrated.  We’re in St. George, and I think we’ll let the kids swim, play a bit, then see some church history sites and head home. 

We did have a great time at Disneyland, and there are a few things I’d like to point out before I get to posting pictures and all that fun stuff.

–No one can resist the call of the Churros.  Even if you have snacks, the siren’s song that is the Churro is just too powerful, and dad will invariably cave.  Even at $3 each. 

–Going to Disneyland over “Fall break” it’s just going to be too crowded.  End of story.  We took 1/2 of Utah with us, and ran into several more families along the way.  CROWDED, folks.

–Rain happens.   Even at the happiest place on earth.  The good thing about rain, though, is that it keeps a lot of people away.  Saturday was our early entry day, so even in the rain, we were there in the park at 7 am.  Since there was no line for the Matterhorn (and one of the children had been complaining that we didn’t ride that one the day before), we hopped on that one first thing.  The nice Disney employee squeegeed off the seats for us, but there was still a big puddle of water in the bottom of the car.  So we carefully placed our feet to avoid the water, and off we went.  But at the first turn, that water sloshed up over our shoes, so that everyone’s shoes and socks were sufficiently soaked.  Oh well.  Half of the group rode that ride again.  We were also able to walk right onto every single ride in Fantasyland, since it was wet and sloshy.

–While it’s fun to be with friends, 15 people is too large of a group.  It seemed like after every ride someone had to use the bathroom.  But the kids loved being with cousins and friends, and it was nice to have someone to chat with while waiting for the rest of the group to go on rides that make me sick.

 –“You so totally rock!”  “Dude!”

More later, when I can type in the comfort of my own home and not have children jumping on the bed behind me.

It’s a good thing to find out that the car has a dead battery BEFORE you drive it across three states, right?

I took the car to fill it up at Costco and run a few errands.  I stopped at the Library, stopped at Lowes, stopped to fill it up at Costco, stopped at Costco.  But when I came out with my groceries, the car wouldn’t start.  Not even try to turn over.  What the ….?  Not knowing what to do, I called Ryan at work, who used that as a nice excuse to leave for the day.  He says he’s learned that when his wife is in distress, he should leave work IMMEDIATELY.  Maybe I’ll tell the story of the time he Didn’t some other time.  Anyway, he came, we jump started the car, which he then took to a service place and found out that the battery was defective and needed to be replaced.  Which is weird, because it worked great every other time I started it.  Huh.

But I’m glad we found that out in the safety of the Costco parking lot, rather that in some fast food place halfway to California.  It’s all good, right?

Natalie had a birthday party over the weekend, and it was quite a lot of fun. She wanted to do a “late night”, so her friends came from 7-10 pm. We played an American Girl Mystery game, did a craft, ate some pizza, played some games, ate cake and ice cream, and broke a pinata. I almost forgot about the pinata, however. I bought it about a month ago when I bought one for John’s birthday. I had stashed this one away and then forgot about it. One of Natalie’s friends said, “Do you really have a shoe pinata?” Oh Good Heavens, I do! I had to find some candy and have Ryan stuff the thing while we played a game (luckily I HAD some candy) and then the girls had a great time whacking the heck out of it.

Here’s the cake, which I made myself.

Here’s John painting the craft.

And Natalie and friends painting.

She was thrilled to receive TWO Webkinz! for her birthday! and even John and Dad had fun. And Natalie enjoyed trying on her large SHOE. and then hitting it until it gave up the candy stash it was so cleverly hiding! I hope it was a WONDERFUL 9th birthday for you, Natalie. You are my sweet drama queen and I can’t imagine life without you in our family!