what a beautiful mess

Last Friday I mentioned that this week the kids would be making our dinners each night. Not to jinx it or anything but, so far, so good. Annabelle made soup bowls with bean soup last night. As she was kneading the dough, I made Emily take a picture~ her little fingers looked so pretty! And tonight Joshua made the best meatballs ever. He was so proud of himself although I think they were too spicy for his liking...He set the table, got everyone their food and was just plain adorable. I am loving this idea of the kids doing dinner... Tonight while we were eating our delicious ice cream sandwiches that Emily made for us, I choked. Like really, really choked. Trevor laughed so hard....he swears I looked just like this: He said in the 14 years that he has known me, he has never seen me make that face until tonight. I'm so glad I can make him laugh. I wasn't choking like I was going to die...he just wanted that point made. I just inhaled cookie into my lungs. But ...

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Palisades, Idaho.  We took the kids on an 8 mile hike today.  I know....a little crazy. But we all did it and enjoyed it! We're all sore but there isn't/wasn't any complaining.  We had such a great time! And the girls took lots and lots of pictures. And on the way back, we decided to take some of ourselves, finally: And one of me: And one of Trevor: And since the kids did such a good job we stopped and got some square ice cream on the way home.  Although I didn't get any pictures of that.  Stephen got black licorice flavor which isn't surprising since last time he got play dough flavor. Everything was beautiful.  Absolutely gorgeous.  Breathtaking, really.  Heaven, almost.  There aren't enough adjectives to describe it.  But I will say this, I want to do it again... Even if it did take us 6 hours. 

I love challenges! And I'm in the mood for a new one. Our grocery budget isn't very high...250 dollars every two weeks for 6 people. No, not much at all. But I'm cutting myself back to a hundred dollars a week. That includes shampoos and t.p. and all the different soaps we use. I went shopping two weeks ago and spent 300 dollars~ it was shocking. I don't think I've ever spent that much before. SO do you think I can do it? I'm taking out cash and I'm going to see what kind of magic I can do. I'll let you know how it goes. If I can't do it, I will feel like a total and complete loser. Not really. But I'm going to try my darndest. So what are the stores on my list, you ask? Broulims and Albertsons. Possibly the two most expensive stores in Idaho. I miss having a Winco close by. And we started another new challenge which I hadn't thought of as a challenge until now, but it most definitely is. The kids have each picked a meal the...

That's what today is...so far. We're just sitting around doing not much at all. I'm at the computer and Joshua's next to me coloring. Eventually I'll shower and eventually Joshua will get a haircut. A HAIRCUT?!? I have a very hard time cutting his hair. He not only has crazy hair but he can't sit still for nothin! Wish me luck.....

I opened up my email from Apartment Therapy  today and saw an article about my favorite PBS show. And Season 2 will be starting in America in January.  I am so excited.  So, so excited.  Go  here  if you want to watch Season 1. You won't regret it  (unless you don't like British shows about snobbish, uptight royalty~ in that case I'd say just skip it). 

It took Josh a full year to have brown eyes. At one time they were blue, green, hazel and now brown. Proof: Amazing!

You know those times when your kids do something that makes you remember how much you love them? And maybe it makes you stop breathing for a second? I had one of those times today. You know those times when your kids do something that makes you want to scream and maybe, actually, makes you yell... a little? I had one of those times today also. But I put my children down for bed with an exhausted smile on my face and an "I love you" on my lips. And now to pass the time until Trevor is out of the shower, I'm looking through old photos and remembering them like this: 2007~Sometimes it seems just like yesterday...

Since Josh can now ride his bike without training wheels (thanks in part to Uncle Scott!) we treated ourselves to a chocolate dipped cone and french fries.  And ate both at the same time. While I was outside trimming our way overgrown trees this afternoon,  I stumbled upon this beautiful nest.  I realized soon after finding it that the piece of dirt, or maybe the old dog poop,  that I was avoiding with my feet, wasn't dirt or poop at all  but was in fact, a decomposing baby bird.  It made me sad and the nest....not so wonderful. This is what happens when Trevor comes home from work.  I follow him into our bedroom where we "chill out" for a few minutes and I completely disregard whatever it was I was doing before.  In this case, it happened to be baking cookies.  Not to worry, this was the last batch.  Thank goodness. 

er, actually, it's Trevor Haslem.  While reading scriptures tonight Trevor asked "What would have happened if Ammon went to see King Lamoni's father instead of going to his brothers in Middoni?" Josh quickly answered, "Probably skeletons could've popped out." I laughed and it made him cry. Not a good mothering moment. Trevor challenged me to get on the treadmill at a 10 incline, running at 5mph speed for 5 minutes. He didn't think I could do it. But I did. It's been a good night.

What makes this so funny is that I was showing off my strength (shameful, but true). We went and bought a riding lawn mower from someone off of Craigslist tonight and traded him our push mower. I lifted our lawn mower down out of the truck and was feeling pretty good cause it's really heavy. It came time to put the riding mower in the truck. The two men were just "this short" of being strong enough to lift it in so I decided it was my duty to help. We lifted it up, with me lifting in the back, behind both of the men. As we got it in the back and they were pushing it into the bed of the truck, the 2x4's that were helping to steady it, lifted up into my skirt and as they came back down, they brought my skirt down with them. I was scrambling around trying to get my skirt back up, failing for a couple of seconds because it was caught. But after what seemed forever but really only lasted a few seconds, I pulled my skirt back up and decided to stop helping them. Lucki...

which is actually really fun to do cause he's so cute when he's bashful....I'm going to let you all read a poem he wrote for me tonight. An Ode To Sarah's Hotness Sarah is so hot. I love her a lot. She also is so cool.  If you don't think so you're a fool, And she's good at making chicken pot... pie.  Wow, right? Did it give you goosebumps like it did me? I think if the paint thing doesn't work out, he could make a living writing Hallmark cards but the 50 cent ones. By the way...he did this for fun but I read some of my love letters he's given to me the past 12 years and he really can do it so much better...One thing is for certain though, he always knows how to bring a smile to my face. And I agree I make a really good chicken pot pie, which is exactly what we had for dinner tonight. Followed by a really good apple pie.  We really like pie here. 

Our dinner tonight was filled with little tid-bits of new knowledge for our kids. It started with me quoting a saying my mom used to say "Tough titty said the kitty when the milk ran dry." I've said it for years to my kids and tonight was the first time they ever asked what a "titty" was. Trevor taught the kids "tallywacker" and "willywang" (I think that was what the last one was...I'm no good at remembering the technical names) We told a few riddles and then chased each other around the house trying to put underwear on each others heads. It's times like these that make me remember my own childhood and how much fun we used to have together...Thanks Mom and Dad!

For you Footloose fans (if your last name was ever Barwick or now is, I'm talking to you) the new one will be coming out in October. I'm so excited. I'm even more excited because Blake Shelton has released his version of the song Footloose. If you want to take a listen click  here . I love it. Let me know what you think.

And oh, how sweet it was.... ~We ate at Red Robin where we both ordered the A-1 Peppercorn burger (dang, it is so good) and Trevor ordered me fried zucchini...I still haven't gotten enough of zucchini yet, well actually, maybe I'm getting a little tired of it. But it was delicious dipped in ranch. ~We then walked around and window shopped at Sportsmans and spent a good hour waiting for the lamest movie ever to start! ~We went and saw "Crazy Stupid Love" and ended up walking out. It was a bit offensive. ~Then we went and walked through Barnes and Noble and I may have picked up a "naughty" book and I may have clumsily dropped it, embarrassing myself while Trevor laughed at me. Of course, that may have happened.... ~After walking around there, we decided it was time to go get the kids but not before making a quick stop at Walgreens for some medicine. I am so glad we stopped there. I had the best laugh of the night. While leaving the store, I noticed a...

I am really on top of things today... As promised, here are updated house pictures. The only thing new thing is the paint color and I put up a few things on the wall. But if you know me at all, you know that things around here are constantly changing...But I love the paint color more than I thought I would. The front room where the kids are cold cause we left windows open last night and where they're watching "Christmas with the Kranks" (I know, it's a funny choice of movie): Here is another view of the front room: And here's the hallway (I should probably either vacuum or put it away): Here is the hallway to the backyard with my books...It's been awhile since I had my books out and I love it (btw Mom...remember those gardening books you lent me that I swore I didn't have cause I gave them back to you? I was wrong. I found them and I'm so sorry for arguing with you. They are patiently waiting up on the top shelf until I can give them back ...

I promised you today that there would be new house pictures posted tonight but it's 11:14 and Trevor is begging me to come to bed. I promise, pinky promise with all the little phalanges that I have, I will have some updated pictures on this here blog tomorrow by 10:00 a.m. I love you. Love your loving daughter, Sarah

And it can be yours! Who doesn't need a peace-loving clown relaxing around their house all day?? It's yours for 3 dollars if you want to drive to Idaho to get it. Anyone? Anyone?

I sweat buckets when I'm on this thing. I absolutely love it....

That's how.... and it was deee~licious! (it's a hot dog, in case you can't tell from all the toppings) ~And believe me when I say I burned it all off tonight~

Just some quotes I've found on Pinterest , my new favorite place to waste time on the internet... "Never sacrifice who you are just because someone has a problem with it." "Your soul is rooting for you." "Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." "Welcome to today. Another day. Another chance. Feel free to change." "Why let people who add so little to you, subtract so much from you?" "Your day will go the way the corners of your mouth go." "Never confuse education with intelligence." "Pretending to be someone you're not is exhausting. Save your energy for people who accept you as you are." "The best thing in life is finding someone who knows all your mistakes and weaknesses and still thinks you're completely amazing." "Today I am excited about everything." And my favorite: "Whenever I get sad, I stop being sad and start being aweso...

Grandma Haslem came and visited this last weekend with Katelyn, Kassidy and Kase...We had such a good time! We spent the weekend with them and with Scott and Jenees family and it was really fun... We went to the park, saw the movie "The Help", which was so good, and rode 4-wheelers, ate dinner together and went to the zoo. Being me, I didn't get many photos at all but I did manage some from the zoo today. But this is about it..well besides one of a very unflattering picture of a Tiger cleaning himself...yuck. Today I took the kids hiking up at the R mountain again. It was better this time since there was no throwing up. But Joshua whined...a lot. But he couldn't ruin my hike. I was determined to have a great time and we did! It was so great seeing your Grandma! We can't wait to see you again soon!

and not just things that give me pleasure but things that make me really happy. devinbrooke.blogspot.com 1. Hiking. Being outdoors and experiencing nature. Climbing to the top of a steep incline and looking down and feeling so small but so great. 2. Driving the last of the way home; the last 5 miles. 3. Sitting down and talking to Trevor.  4.Sitting next to Trevor and not talking. 5. Reading a (really) good book.  6. Magazines arriving in the mail.  7. Music. 8. My children. 9. Picking vegetables from my garden (not this year but the last two years). 10. Horseback riding.