what a beautiful mess

It's been crazy busy here.....

2012-02-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

The only night we've had so far together this week has been Monday night; which was obviously an excellent night (Joshy's FHE).
Tuesday was YW's, Wednesday was book club and tonight Trevor is helping a family from the ward lay new flooring.
I did manage to paint my door last Saturday.
And we love it.

I especially love it with Emily and Carl sitting in front of it....

And one day this week, I plan on painting my other door.

I had an exciting conversation tonight with Emily about the joys of doing the dishes. She complained about having to do them and so I went into a "mom" lecture. The following are excerpts from our conversation:

"If you don't learn to work now, then you won't be able to when you're an adult."

"If you can't work when you're an adult, you won't be able to buy the things you want."

"I do the dishes all the time and all you have to do is put them away once in awhile."

"When was the last time you did a chore? Folding your clothes doesn't count."

"I have been super busy this week and I could use a little help."

And it went on and on. I do believe it's these little things in our conversations that count. A friend told me the other night that my girls seem to still be so enamored with me. I hope that's true...I almost fell off the treadmill today when I realized that this year, my girls will be 11 and 10.

Holy crap.
I'm not ready for them to be that old.
But I'm enjoying it, remember???

Even though it's been so busy this week, I've still had the time to do some of the things I enjoy. Trevor and I have had our "time" together each night, even managing to sneak in a Conan episode, I visited with my great friend Stephanie (Thank you again for the rolling pin Stephanie...and sorry you had to witness me and Trevor smooching~my face is no longer red) and I've been able to visit with other really fantastic women and learn from their examples.

Tomorrow night, we have a date planned.
It's definitely much needed and much anticipated....

Rome, Italy

2012-02-06T21:46:00.001-07:00

Tonight for FHE Joshua taught us about his favorite scripture story which is the story of Abinadi and King Noah. I loved hearing him teach us about this with help from his daddy. It was very sweet.
He also taught us about the church in Italy.

The facts we learned?
1. Lorenzo Snow first went to Italy in 1850.
2. Groundbreaking for Rome Italy temple took place on October 23, 2011.
3. There are 18,000 members of the church in Italy.
4. There are 121 wards and branches in Italy.
5. The nearest temple is in Switzerland.
And if you look on his poster, you can see that he drew a picture of Italy.

For dinner, we had pizza and bread sticks (of course!) and for dessert, we had biscotti and hot chocolate.

We all loved it!

Joshua received his Italian Book of Mormon tonight and I impressed my kids with reading scriptures out of it. More specifically 1 Nephi 3:7...having had many Primary callings and this scripture being a favorite of many kids (and me), it was an easy one to read....

Periodically throughout the day, I have moments of just pure happiness (and pure craziness) and today I had many of those. Like tonight listening to Joshua give us his lesson and earlier while overhearing him and Trevor talk with each other. And Trevor was off work today so those moments were often.

He just makes me happy.

Our baby is growing up....

A Star Wars Spa Night.

2012-02-04T22:20:00.001-07:00

The boys did a Star Wars night which included popcorn and candy.
Joshua lasted for a lot longer than I expected before he fell asleep.
And Stephen had no problem at all staying awake.
I think Trevor may have dozed at one point.

While the boys enjoyed their movie, us girls gave each other facials, painted our nails and I braided the girls hair.
We first steamed our faces, then exfoliated with baking soda and finished it off with a ginger oatmeal mask.
Oh, it was heaven.
And then we painted hearts on our nails.
We're so festive!
Here we are with our oatmeal masks. They dried so tight to our skin~ it felt wonderful (and a little itchy)!
Anna looks kind of crazy...

Emily looks really happy....

And I look old...(and like I have a booger coming out my nose but no worries...it's just oatmeal)

But that's okay because I'm growing up and so are my girls.
It was a great, great evening.
I absolutely LOVE spending time with my girls!
Who knew that having kids could mean built in best friends?

Once again

2012-02-03T21:55:00.000-07:00

You all know how much I love nacho movie night.

(although some are more successful than others)

Tonight, however, was a definite hit!

We watched this movie:

And it was just as good as Trevor and I remember it.

And the kids loved it.

The most quotable line is:

"Blow it out your shorts, Ron!"

I think it's hilarious (in a i-better-not-hear-my-kids-saying-that kind of way)

and have used it on Trevor multiple times already.

For instance, after we put the kids to bed, we went and relaxed on our bed for a minute while the kids got

out all their "I love you's" and their needing drinks and going to the bathroom.

He was teasing me as usual so I told him to "blow it out your shorts" and then pushed him off the bed.

I laughed and laughed; it was so dang funny.

And then he asked me if I wanted to pontificate with him.

(I don't think he knows what that word means cause he certainly didn't want to talk)

Are you a pontificator?

2012-02-03T15:23:00.002-07:00

My kids are out of school today and have now become missing.

Which means I'm alone.

It's just me, Carl and some music.

And a ddp.

It's kind of nice.

On Tuesday this week, I heard two intelligent women use the word "pontificate" (used as a verb). And each time I heard it, I thought about what a weird word it is. I looked it up and in an effort to sound smarter, I'm going to try to use it at least one time in the next week.

Just kidding.

I don't need to sound smart to know that I am smart.

But sometimes it'd be kind of nice to replace my "hick" talk with words like pontificate.

So I bet you want to know what it means.

You probably already know but here you are anyway:

pontificate: vb to speak or to behave in a pompous or dogmatic (arrogant) way.

I've known some people who liked to pontificate.

Look at how cute and big Carl is getting!?!

He's kind of getting annoying...but we love him still....

How stereotypically housewife-y of me.

2012-02-01T21:44:00.000-07:00

I started doing this:

It's not finished yet.
And I'm not sure what exactly it's called...Cross stitching (no)? Maybe it's embroidery?
Whatever it is, I love doing it.
And I did it yesterday while I was volunteering at the book fair.
And I'll probably do it tomorrow while there also.
And when I'm finished, I may even frame it.

Joshua said something so funny tonight although we all tried hard not to laugh:
He peed in his pants and so Trevor asked him why. Josh said

"I couldn't open my wienie fast enough."

What does that even mean???
All we could do was laugh....As a mom, I try hard to teach my kids the correct words for our "parts" but I can't imagine any word that would be okay in that sentence. Out of all the words that could be used, "wienie" is the most appropriate.

This week has been Parent Teacher conferences. Is it strange that I enjoy these? I love all 3 of my kids teachers. They are hands down the best teachers they've ever had. And all the teachers had to say about each of them was good. Excellent reading skills, spelling, they do well at math....I mean who could complain? They are perfect angels. (ha!)

So it's been a very "mom" week for me.

I love being a stereotypical housewife.

I believe...

2012-01-31T21:52:00.000-07:00

that a brownie has special healing properties.

that a Diet Dr. Pepper is the best drink in the world.

that Annabelle gets really silly before bedtime. Okay~so maybe I do too.

that conversations between women can be so enlightening when differing views are shared kindly.
(I had a really great conversation with another woman at Y.W's tonight~she's so smart...I want to be like that.)

that my kids are really great at doing the dishes.

that Trevor tried really hard to keep the house clean while I was at Y.W.'s and I appreciate that.

that Downton Abbey is the best show on t.v and I'm going to go watch it right now.

Good night.

Quote for the day..

2012-01-31T16:34:00.001-07:00

I was reading the book "Glimpses Into the Life and Heart of Marjorie Pay Hinckley" last week and came

across this description of her:

"Although she is unselfish and other-centered, there doesn't seem to be a question of her own basic worth. Perhaps her sense of self is so fundamentally sound that she can be completely unselfish without losing even a particle of her real self."

It has given me a lot to think about and contemplate.

She was such an amazing woman.

Our house....

2012-01-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

gets quite messy on a Sunday afternoon.

We've got an empty chip bag, nail polish remover, tape(s), beads, scissors, paper...etc.

Plus the boxes from Sams club that inevitably stick around for a

couple days because my kids swear they'll use them.

But...they've now been thrown away.

The girls made dessert for the family.

They made some delicious brownies.

I definitely recommend you making them for your family....

I just absolutely love Sundays.

It's Mondays when I have to clean up that I don't love so much....

(our after school mess~ although this does include 4 of the neighbor kids things)

Candice sent me a picture of our house in Boise that received a ton of snow....

I think it looks so pretty and it's way more snow than we've gotten here!

And so it begins...

2012-01-30T22:47:00.000-07:00

Emily gave her missionary presentation tonight and did a fantastic job!

We are so proud of her.

She put so much hard work and time into making it great.

She was assigned to Peru and shared with us a lot of great information.

She also gave us a lesson on Lehi's dream and the interpretation of it.

She drew pictures to go along with her lesson

and we had a really good discussion on it as a family.

Emily and I made authentic Peruvian food for dinner.

She chose to make Arroz Tapado for our main course.

It's like a rice hamburger.

It has a meat mixture on the inside and cilantro rice for the buns.

Weird thing: the meat had carrots, peas, hard boiled egg and some peanut butter mixed in.

It was actually really delicious.

As her side she made Ensalda de Choclo.

It's a ctirusy cilantro corn~ so so good!

And for dessert she made Peruvian Alfajores;

basically a shortbread sandwich cookie with dulce de leche as the filling.

Again, so so good!

What a great way to begin this month of "Missionary Homecomings!"

Trevor's back and has a goiter.

2012-01-26T21:19:00.001-07:00

Seriously, he does.

It was a very long 5 days that he was gone.

***WARNING***

The following story might be kind of gross to you.

On Sunday, the night Trevor left, at around midnight we received a little visitor.

And he came knocking through the bathroom heating vent.

It was an annoying little mouse~ I don't like mice.

He kept me up all night with his banging against that stupid vent, trying his hardest to get out.

Luckily, he didn't succeed and so on Monday

I decided to shut the vent, hoping it would get him to go away.

(Side note: since we live with fields surrounding us, mice apparently are not unusual.

And I have not idea how he got into the vent; it's something we need to investigate.)

I heard him banging on the vent throughout the next day or two but not nearly as much as I did Sunday night.

Fast forward to today.

My bathroom stunk like nothing else.

And I knew exactly what was stinking it up and it wasn't the usual bathroom fair.

Our little visitor died, I'm sure of either hunger or heat stroke, right there in the vent.

Unfortunately for Trevor, after picking him up from the airport, he had to clean it up.

I guess it's happened before, a long, long time ago, before we moved in

because there was a mummified mouse right next to it.

Two dead mice.

That just grosses me out....as I'm sure it does you too.

That's all with the grossness.

It snowed today which made my two middle kids very happy.

And my dog.

Now back to the goiter.

After we ate dinner, Trevor started swelling up on the side of his neck

where I imagine his lymph nodes are(?).

It's the strangest thing.

I took a picture but I am certain that he would not be very happy with me if I shared that here.

And it's his first night back...I want him to be very happy with me.

So let's do a recap:

Trevor has a goiter.

Funeral for 2 mice.

It snowed.

And we're happy.

Strange, indeed.

Lets talk about Carl, shall we?

2012-01-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month and he's still trying to figure out the treadmill.

Today I thought he was going to bite my ankles and so I of course got mad at him.

It's just that I kind of like my ankles.

Besides that, he's been driving me insane today.

(something you already knew, Candice, because of an ill-timed phone call~ I just really like talking to you)

He's chewing on everything, he constantly wants to play and he keeps bugging the kids.

But I know that the craziness will pass and really, it's just a one day thing; he really misses his playmate.

********

Joshua and I made crazy cake today and so I'm going to eat a slice or maybe a big piece of that,

watch a movie and paint my nails.

It's a big and much-awaited-for day tomorrow.

In preparation, I gave myself a full on facial today and will be washing my hair and shaving in the morning!

The things we do for true love....

(Thanks Jenee for the encouragement in your last comment...you'll be happy to know that today I drank another gallon of water. But I'm getting kind of sick of the bathroom.)

Goal #1

2012-01-24T21:20:00.001-07:00

has, so far, been a success.

I drank a gallon of water yesterday and have just finished off my gallon for today.

The only thing that I've noticed that's changed is that I use the bathroom a bit more

and that I don't want a DDP quite as often.

Maybe it's not such a good goal after all.

(I'm only kidding~kind of)

Graham Crackers + Frosting = Deliciousness.

2012-01-24T21:14:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up, whenever my mom made frosting,

she would use whatever was leftover and

frost some graham crackers as a snack for the family.

And now I happily do the same for my kids.

Unfortunately for me, if I make myself one,

(like I did earlier today)

I put so much frosting on that you can hardly taste the cracker.

And today I used store bought frosting.

That stuff is pure evil.

If the can is sitting out, I inevitably take the lid off and get a scoop.

(much like I do peanut butter)

Note to you all:

Do not eat frosting or peanut butter at the Haslem house.

Just a friendly warning....

Culture from yours truly...

2012-01-23T21:10:00.002-07:00

For some reason, this painting has been on my mind today.

So much so that I've spent a good 45 minutes looking it up on the internet and reading all about the painter.

(Marc Chagall)

I love everything about it.

And I want it hanging in my house.

Do you know what movie it played a part in?

One of my favorites.

A hint:

"Love's not love without a violin playing goat."

It's a classic.

I also love this painting by the same artist and can definitely see it hanging on my bedroom wall.

I think it would take a lot of convincing of Trevor but I can guarantee I'd get my way....

(that sounds so bratty...but it's true.)

I love Valentines Day.

2012-01-22T21:28:00.000-07:00

I do believe that it's my very favorite holiday.

I was the teenager that doodled my crush's name with hearts

all over my school books and any random paper I had.

And now I have hearts hanging up all over my house.

It's safe to say I'm a hearts kind of gal.

I have set some goals for myself this week.

1. Drink a gallon of water every day.

2. Research Republican candidates and decide which one I'm for. (Trevor's pleased with this one)

3. Prepare my talk for next Sunday on "Strengthening Marital Relationships".

4. Be a better mother. Yeah, that's a no brainer but....

I sometimes wonder if I've given the impression on this blog that I think I'm a really good mother

and that worries me a bit.

Cause I'm not.

It's something I work on though.

And every once in awhile I have moments where I just have to congratulate

myself on a mothering job well done.

Like tonight when I didn't get mad when one of my little darlings spilled my soda.

I was calm and just asked that she get a rag and the cleaner.

I for sure patted myself on the back for that one.

(We all know how I feel about my DDP)

But I have lots of moments where I lose my patience and get frustrated.

Like spilled milk bothers me

(it's like money down the drain....or maybe soaked in the carpet).

Or when I'm on the phone and my kids constantly interrupt me.

I also get annoyed when I'm in the shower and the bathroom door gets opened and

all the cold air comes in and gives me goose bumps.

(it usually happens when I'm shaving~go figure)

But sometimes I have good moments and I like to remember those.

I really love my four little ones....

So......those are my goals for this week.

And I just may put up some more hearts around my home.

By the way....

Trevor shaved.

And, dang it all, he looks handsome.

Bath time!

2012-01-20T15:34:00.000-07:00

I should be giving Joshua a bath cause he's kind of stinky

but instead I gave one to Carl!

I love a clean dog but hate the wet dog smell....

Nacho movie night tonight!

I've got the meat in the crock pot, the beans on the stove

and 2 movies to watch:

Dolphin Tale for the family

and Rise of the Planet of the Apes for us.

No matter what I'm always looking forward to Friday night and never get tired of nachos!

Resoulutions?

2012-01-19T22:12:00.000-07:00

It's kind of long....

I"m not doing resolutions this year. I'm certainly not against them but there's a lot things going on in the Haslem household and I don't need the frustration/anxiety that comes with resolutions.

At the beginning of the month I wrote some things in my journal that I want to remember and work on throughout the year. I'm not going to go crazy with it; I'm going to give myself a break and just keep these thoughts in my mind and reread my journal passage from time to time. And since I'm on this blog everyday, I'm going to write a few of them here. Not all of them because some are just too private (although not juicy-gossip-worthy-private....sorry to disappoint)

1. Be a lady. Dress like a lady. Act like a lady. How am I going to do this? First off, I will keep bodily functions to myself. Which means I will now be closing the door when I go to the bathroom. I no longer have babies that may need me at any given second and so I no longer need to keep it open. I'm going to watch my words. Some topics are just off limits. And I will no longer cuss like a sailor (did you even know I had that problem? No? that's cause I don't...but still, it's a good thing to remember). I'm going to dress more modestly. No more jeggings (unless my shirt is long enough to cover my rear), tight pencil skirts, or low cut shirts.

2. I will get on my knees on the floor, no longer on my bed, when I pray. There are no monsters there waiting to bite my legs off.

3. Thirty minutes on the treadmill staring at the wall is a million times better than thirty minutes sitting in front of the computer screen reading People.com.

4. No more worrying about if people like me or not. I'm going to remember the words my high school counselor told me (probably about the most notable thing I remember from HS) "Not everyone is going to like you and you are not going to like everyone. If everyone liked you, you're probably doing something wrong." I know that I've offended people and that there are some in my own family that really don't care for me much and that's just going to have to be okay. But this brings me to my next one:

5. Be more understanding of others. Do not take offense easily. At a conference I went to recently, I learned that it's important to remember that you never know what the person next to you is going through, what they've been through and where they are at in their life. Be kinder and more gentle with others. Everyone makes mistakes and we are all just trying our hardest to be our best selves..but we/I fail at times. Or maybe a lot of times.

6.No matter what trials, heartache, despair...no matter how hard life gets, love your husband; support him; encourage him; trust him; have high expectations- He will not let you down.

7. Remember the drives we used to take when we were dating. We dreamed and talked the whole time. Some of the dreams we had then are coming true now.

8. Remember D&C 25:13-14 "Wherefore lift up thy heart and rejoice, and cleave unto the covenants thou hast made; Continue in the spirit of meekness and beware of pride. Let thy soul delight in thy husband and the glory which shall come upon him."

9. Remember to take time to relax and enjoy life. Money doesn't buy happiness but time together does.

10. Remember summer~ it always comes. But also enjoy the season as it is now. There is always something good and a reason for everything.

Not too bad, right?
I should be able to at least remember all this.....

What's wrong with sweet potato fries?

2012-01-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

Absolutely nothing, if you ask me.

However, if you care to ask Josh, you will get a completely different answer.

His face says it all:

And Trevor's face?

Well his says that he's been listening to his wife talk and talk and talk and that maybe now,

it should be his turn.

Or it says "I'm tired of having veggie burgers and sweet potato fries once a week. Can I have some cake?"

Either one works....

Called to serve!

2012-01-16T21:30:00.000-07:00

Annabelle has been called to serve in the Philippines Iloilo mission.

Or as she read it "The Phillip-penis mission" LOL!!!!

Emily has been called to serve in the Peru Cusco Mission.

Joshua has been called to serve in the Italy Rome mission.

Stephen has been called to serve in the Arizona-New Mexico Navajo-speaking mission.

They are so excited.
Which makes me so excited.

It was nice to have a happy FHE because I was irritated beforehand and it took quite the coaxing and joking from Trevor to get me to NOT be irritated anymore.
I was irritated because Carl peed in the house a ton today and I blame the kids (it's wrong, I know). But when they're in school, he does just fine because I leave him outside for 15-30 minutes each time. The kids like him in the house every possible minute. So if they let him out to go potty, they bring him right back in as soon as they "think" he's done.
And after cleaning up pee all day, Carl puked in the house right before dinner and that just grosses me out.
For dinner I boiled some squash and made squash soup and threatened the kids that they wouldn't get anything else for dinner until every bite of that soup was gone.
The punishment backfired on me though because they all claimed to love it. Even Trevor ate it although I'm not sure if he ate it to make me happy again or if he just really liked it.
I'm pretty sure that it was so I'd be happy. It worked.

Stick a fork in me, I'm done!

2012-01-13T22:00:00.004-07:00

I have way over eaten the last two nights.

Last night I had a salad, roll, baked potato, steak and chocolate cake and ice cream.

Tonight I had a huge plate of nachos. With the works; chips, cheese, meat, beans, guac, salsa, ranch and

jalapenos.

I love good food but enough is enough!

At least it will be enough after I finish my ice cream cone.

We love him.

2012-01-12T21:32:00.000-07:00

We really love Carl.

And Carl really loves us too.

Trevor and I went out to dinner tonight and when we came home,

the first thing I asked was how Carl did while we were gone.

I've never been a dog person but he's really got me hooked.....

Home is simply the best.

2012-01-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

(my only brown eyed baby)

Sometimes after a long day, all I need is Trevor to come home and I feel rested again.

I have a lot on my mind tonight.

Things about today, about yesterday, about the future.

But for now, I just want to think about tonight.

There was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary or special about it but it just made me happy.

Trevor came home at 6:00 and we did the usual; he talked with the kids about their day,

asking the obligatory questions and letting them tell their stories.

We then took a break and went and had "adult talk" in our bedroom for 10 minutes.

We discussed his work and the oven and how sparks were flying from

the heating element earlier and that now it just won't work.

While I made dinner he looked up the part on the internet and

realized it won't break the bank we just need to go buy it.

We had a very simple but delicious dinner of fried eggs over chicken rice.

(try it~it sounds weird, I know, but it's yummy)

We sat around the table and colored pictures

(Stephen drew a picture of a man stabbing a shark and

Joshua secretly drew both Trevor and I a picture and hid it under our pillows).

We teased each other, we talked more about our days and

whatever was on our minds and a little about politicians.

Carl peed on his blanket and he got sent outside (almost house trained).

The kids took showers and we all ended up in the front room where me and the kids laughed

while Carl and Trevor fought and barked at each other and wrestled.

I tried to go do the dishes but Trevor just wouldn't let me.

So we read the scriptures and said prayers and sent the kids to bed.

It's funny how the things that make me the most tired are the things that make me the happiest.

Last night after mutual, I went to a movie for a little alone time.

(Trevor had to work on business and I tend/ like to distract him...oops!)

As I was sitting there waiting for the movie to start, I looked through my phone at all my pictures.

And I emailed some to Trevor because I knew he was on the computer.

I may have needed a break but I just can't take one for very long before I start missing my home.

And it's nights like tonight that make me understand why.

Stephens New Years Resolutions.

2012-01-09T17:33:00.002-07:00

(I copied this straight from his Word document. He is such a sweet and innocent kid.)

STUFF I WILL DO...

Read 2 chapters of the Book of Mormon every day.

Listen to mom & dad.

Do chores without complaining.

Pay tithing every month.

Be quiet in church.

Be nice to my brother & sisters.

Sing the songs at church.

Pay attention in church.

Don't yell at mom & dad.

Don't yell at my brother & sisters.

Don't say bad words.

Don't do drugs.

Don't do bad things.

Don't push yell, punch or kick.

Try to be like Jesus.

Don't be like Satin.

Don't kill people.

Try to be nice to everyone.

Happy New Year everyone!

It's back!!!!

2012-01-08T22:48:00.001-07:00

My favorite show on the telly.

I'm even more excited because I just found out that I can watch it online!!!

That is fantastic news since I don't have any channels on my TV.

I would watch it tonight but it's two hours long and Trevor would like to go to bed.
But if you want to, just click here.
I'll be watching it tomorrow night while Trevor sleeps in my lap.
It's kind of become our tradition.

A saturday by any other standards.

2012-01-07T21:43:00.001-07:00

As I type this, Emily is sitting next to me using nail polish to draw on paper and the other kids are watching Shrek 2 and relaxing.
Me and Trevor's plans did not work out tonight for reasons we may never know.
We planned on heading out on a mini date at 9 and were in the car driving to get ice cream and fries when I distinctly heard the words "turn around and go home". So Trevor made a quick u-turn and we went home. Trevor dropped me off and when to get our food to go.
I'm not sure why I needed to come home and a reason may never be known and that's okay. But if we didn't come home I would have known that I disobeyed that voice of warning and I just couldn't do that.
So I'm home with the kids, waiting for my man to get back with our treat. I've painted my nails, turned on lights and now I'm being very patient and feeling safe.
And so are the kids:

Trevor and I had a lively discussion today...we love those....about this. (if you don't want to click the link, the title of the news article is Teen mom Shoots, Kills Intruder.)
We both are very grateful for our 2nd amendment rights but we have agreed to disagree on whether she should be touted as a hero or not.
But it was so nice to have a nice, lively debate again. It's been awhile. Trevor and I never argue (I know it's hard to believe but it's true) so when we have issues we do disagree about, it's always enjoyable to really "get into it".
And I just may have convinced him that I'm right. Maybe.

Nacho Movie Night.

2012-01-06T22:10:00.004-07:00

One day it will take over the world.

Our night started out with us watching this movie:

Which was about as lame as you can imagine.
Although it was thought provoking at one point.
The smurfs were missing their siblings and one in particular that they were missing was "Passive Aggressive Smurf who is nice to your face but you always feel bad when he leaves". I've never heard passive-aggressiveness described that way~it's so...awful sounding. I have been around people like that and it sucks. It will definitely be something that I watch out for in myself.
During the last half of the movie, Trevor and I had our shirts covering our noses because Carl had the stinkiest gas...we gave him some of the chicken off our nachos that he subsequently threw up and is probably what was making the odor.
It's really horribly, terribly bad.
We are going to end the night by watching this movie:

Trevor has made a promise to himself (not to me because he wouldn't want to disappoint me; disappoint himself? He can do that...[his words, not mine]) that he will stay awake for the whole movie.
I bought us both a 3 Musketeers and so hopefully that and a Diet Coke will help him keep his promise.
We're painting tomorrow so if he falls asleep I won't get too upset....and if he snores, I'll only plug his nose once. Maybe twice. Three will be the limit. That's my promise to myself.

(I have to say that the last movie we rented was Warrior which was an excellent movie but we both fell asleep during it and had to finish the next day. Also I want you to know that so you don't think I'm always renting Girlie movies. Not that it matters because he really wouldn't care if I did. He likes naps, you know.)

Pictures from my cell phone I've been meaning to share.

2012-01-05T21:32:00.000-07:00

What a title, huh?

Joshua was such a brave boy in the emergency room after being all stitched up.

Emily is growing up and starting to look like a young lady...I have to keep reminding myself that I'm going to enjoy their growing up and not be sad...
She's beautiful....

Yesterday Joshua had his stitches removed and was so brave (again) that I treated him to a chocolate dipped ice cream cone.

I think it was the messiest cone...ever.

And he obviously loved it.

Christmas by the Haslems

2012-01-05T21:18:00.000-07:00

We started a new tradition this year......we give each other gifts that we make ourselves (with help from mom and dad as needed).

The boys decided to make the girls each a pillow.

Josh made Emily a heart and Stephen made Anna a bird.

The girls made the boys a sword and shield which have already gotten a lot of use!

The kids and I made Trevor a rice pillow. When I was growing up, my dad always had one of these.

You heat it up in a microwave.

Or if you don't have one of those (like us..don't ask why cause we don't know...we'll pretend it's because we don't want cancer), then you stick it in the oven after you're done cooking dinner and let it warm up (although sometimes we forget it's in there and I find it the next morning all cooled off).

Anyways, they're great for warming you feet or for relaxing tired, achy muscles.

And with how many hours Trevor works, he needs it!

(yeah, he looks creepy)

Trevor helped the kids make me a new fruit bowl. It's going to take a whole bunch of fruit to fill it but that's alright...

It has each of their handprints on the side and picture that they each drew of me and them.

I love it and will keep it forever.

Trevor wrote me a limerick.

I have framed it and hung it up beside my bed.

And that's all I'm ~~allowed~~ going to say about that.

Okay so this next one isn't homemade but he fell asleep on Anna's bed and looked so dang cute that I had to take a picture and share it...

He gets to be a better and better dog every day.
Although he was just doing some weird dance to his blanket and that's just gross.
We love him anyway.

My girls are growing up.

2012-01-03T22:14:00.000-07:00

And they are growing up quite well.

They are (almost) always willing to help out. They are kind, sweet, and fun. They can be crazy and funny and silly.

My favorite times are our after dinner talks at the table. Instead of leaving the table after we finish eating, we all stick around for awhile and talk. My girls are learning to think more like mature young ladies and we can have some real conversations.

And they just make me feel happy.

Joshua and I took Carl on a walk today to get the mail and while talking to our neighbor, he decided to lay down in the mud.

So...Carl got the 2nd bath of his life.

He liked it, thank goodness. If he is going to be an inside dog, he has to get used to it because they'll definitely be a monthly thing.

And not to jinx it or anything, but we are going on day 2 of no accidents in the house.

A happy, happy day...

(Anybody else have the Live Iowa Results pulled up in another window?

Trevor, so far, is pleased with the results....but it's a close one!)

I may be immature...

2012-01-02T20:59:00.000-07:00

Be prepared for a lot of Carl photos this year.

I'm officially dubbing 2012 "The Year of Carl".

And so far, we are off to a great start.

During dinner, Carl fell asleep at my slipper-ed feet.

Trevor thinks they're old lady slippers (no offense to old ladies) but I love them...

Both old ladies and my slippers.

He falls asleep in the weirdest positions and it just grosses me out to see his "parts"

Immature? Yes.

True? Yes.

Isn't he adorable?? yep....

I know a lot of people have had the stomach flu but I just can't seem to get mine to go away.

Being the positive person I am, I'm looking at the bright side...which means I'm looking at the scale.

And there's nothing that irritates Trevor more than hearing about my "bright side" to the stomach flu~ lol...

Here's to a day tomorrow that will hopefully include meals.....

EDITED TO ADD:

As I typed up this post, Carl fell asleep by me:

Meet Carl:

2012-01-01T17:22:00.002-07:00

He is just as adorable as he looks.

I took him to the vet and he's healthy as a horse..I mean dog.

Last night as Trevor and I made our New Years Eve party food.

Carl decided to join us:

And he's already doubled in size since we got him.

He's going to be a very big dog!

It's the last day

2011-12-31T10:39:00.001-07:00

of 2011!

I am welcoming a New Year. 2012 is going to be full of good things, experiences and lots of growing

up...between the kids and Carl, there's a lot of growing to be done. This year I am going to simply enjoy

my children instead of mourning the fact that they are no longer babies. I definitely miss my babies but to

be able to experience their life with them and to help them become their best is exciting and I'm going to

enjoy it! I'm not going to sit around and be sad and mopey (it's not really in my nature to do that but kids can

do crazy things to your mind!).

This year Josh will be starting school, Annabelle will go to middle school, Stephen will be baptized and Emily

is going to be over a decade old...There's going to be a lot happening here at the Haslem household and we

are going to love every minute of it. Except for our trials, which we will hopefully have the patience and the

faith and the perseverance to rise above and become better because of them.

Like I said, there will be lots of growing!

To celebrate the good year to come, tonight we are having a Par~Tay!

We have planned our menu with each person suggesting items.

This is what we've come up with:

Shrimp Scampi
Ice Cream Cones
7-Layer Dip
Italian Cheese Dip
Jello Jigglers
Little Weenies in Barbecue Sauce
Jalepeano Poppers wrapped in bacon
Grape Soda

We plan on playing Uno, Catch Phrase, sing some Karaoke and probably play a few of our "homemade"

games.

We wish you all a very happy New Year! And a great New Years celebration!

(we had an unusually warm day on Friday...and then it snowed!)

What in the world did I do?

2011-12-29T21:56:00.000-07:00

It must have been something really good.

Yesterday I was sick.

I slept all afternoon and did absolutely nothing.

Emily took care of everything while I laid around and slept.

And when Trevor came home from work and I was still sick, he proceeded to take care of everything.

Which meant that he made dinner for the kids and breakfast, lunch and a snack for today.

All I had to do was pass out muffins and put lunch in the oven.

So that today, I could continue to lay around if I wanted.

And considering today was a somewhat difficult day, sickness aside, it was more than appreciated.

And even though, I'm in ratty old jeans, an old sweater, no make-up and hair in a ponytail, he still tells me

I look pretty.

He is a good, good man.

(and he's not going to be very happy after reading this)

Can I get a Hallelujah?!?

2011-12-22T21:55:00.000-07:00

Oh yes, yes I can!

HALLELUJAH!

And not because it's Christmas time which is definitely deserving of some praise but because my Trevor is

off for the next 6 days!

Here in this house, we are the happiest when he is home....

He makes us laugh and smile and think and be rough and gentle and kind....

A recap of our day:

sleep in, eat frosted shredded wheat together, sit around and goof off, shower, hang out and goof off some

more, eat baked potatoes, make gifts for each other, fix the kids grilled cheese, attempt to clip Carls nails,

give Carl a bath, read A Christmas Carol, watch Taylor Swift videos (at the girls suggestion) steal my

wedding ring which was off so I could apply some Bag Balm, put the kids to bed, finally give my ring back

to me after a thorough frisking, shower and...........

That's where we're at.

I'm waiting for him to finish showering so we can watch a movie and eat chips and guacamole.

6 days just won't be long enough.

Tender mercies

2011-12-20T22:15:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up early, 6:00 a.m.. I had to let Carl out to go potty and make Trevor his lunch. I decided to stay awake instead of going back to bed like I normally would. So I made my bed, made the kids lunches, and got on the treadmill. All things I wait to do until 7:20 a.m.

I'm on the treadmill getting a good run going and I hear crying and think "not again"...I figured the kids were fighting or that Carl was bugging them (he does that sometimes to the boys). I looked behind me and see a familiar sight on Stephens face. The same look he had when Joshua got a hanger stuck in his eye. I knew immediately that something was wrong.

Josh comes to me and his finger's bleeding and Stephen is freaking.out.seriously scared. I look at Joshys finger and finally realize through the chaos that his finger got shut in the door. I grab him and stick him on the counter, get a wet towel and hold it on his finger. I thought it was okay at first glance but when I took a closer look, I saw that the finger at the base of the fingernail was cut all the way through, at least almost all the way through since his finger was still attached. I took on that weird, freaking-out-but-not-quite-freaking-out voice where I'm really loud but somewhat calm. I tell the kids that I have to take Josh to the hospital and that they need to go to the neighbors house. Stephen was still very upset so we said a prayer (I said it in that weird voice~ but my prayer was still heard and answered).

This all happened before 7:20, my usual waking up time. I was able to already have the kids prepared for school and was able to just send them to the neighbors house. If this had happened while I was still sleeping, I can't even imagine how much more difficult the whole thing would have been.

And that is my tender mercy. I had no real reason to be up but I was because the Lord knew that I would need that extra hour and twenty minutes to be prepared for that awful 30 minutes. My kids were able to go to school calm and peaceful because I was able to be calm and peaceful.

The drive to the hospital took forever not only because it seemed like I hit every red light ( I ran one) but because I was trying to keep both me and Josh calm. There is only one through lane to the hospital off of Main St. and I was behind someone that was going so slow. I honked several times until he finally pulled over and I sped past him.

We got right in, had some x-rays taken, and the Doctor came in to tell us that his finger was broken and that it was lacerated (obviously). So he got some stitches, some prescriptions and a finger brace that will have to stay on for a few weeks. He's goes back to the Dr. tomorrow to make sure that all is okay.

But he was such a brave boy. He cried when he got his pain numbing shots and when he saw the Dr. stitching him up. He didn't like seeing the needle go through his fingernail and he really doesn't like knowing that he's going to lose his fingernail. But really can you blame him?

I however didn't mind watching the Dr. do his work. It would have bothered me if Joshy was in pain but he wasn't so I could watch and not worry about it hurting him.

I am just so happy that he is okay. (major understatement)

The hospital gave him a stuffed polar bear that Josh has named Paws. He drank two 20 ounce bottles of sprite today and has had some candy. And we've all given him a lot of attention.

So if you ask him, it's been a pretty good day....

But certainly not one we ever want to relive!

Who knew?

2011-12-16T15:53:00.003-07:00

I've used up all the allotted space in my Picasa web album which means I can no longer post photos unless I

upgrade my GB by paying some money.

So until I do that (which will probably be tonight) there will be no pictures of our new adorable little puppy

that we named Carl.

Just imagine a small, blond little bundle of fur with white paws and a white streak on his nose and you have

your image of Carl.

He has been so much fun. I've been against having a dog for awhile (after we had Maddie) but the kids

really wanted one for Christmas and we gave in after much thought.

I figure that everyone around me is having babies, Josh will be starting school next year and I just may be

lonely. Sure he's a lot of work but not nearly as much work as a baby.

Although he did keep us up all night last night from his whining and crying and howling.

He reminds me a bit of Annabelle.....

(a previously uploaded picture)

Good morning and we're back....

2011-12-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

back from Boise and I'm sure not many of you knew we were even gone cause it was such a short trip.

Candice and Quinn definitely knew since they watched our kids overnight.

And we had a great overnight.

A really great overnight.

It's so nice to be alone with each other.

It should be a monthly thing.

Are you up for that Candice?

And we got back to snow.

It looks beautiful from the inside of my somewhat warm house.

And I just got a call from the school and who was on the phone?

Stephen.

He forgot his backpack.

I just laughed at him.

Of course I will be taking him his backpack.

But seriously?

He is definitely my most favorite 7 year old boy in the whole world!

Foiled plans

2011-12-11T21:56:00.001-07:00

We never painted this weekend.

If Trevor's home, we tend to not want to work but wrestle and lay around and be lazy.

It's funner that way anyway.

So the boys played some video games and shot the bb gun in the backyard and

the girls watched music videos and hung up some more snowflakes.

(we may be going a little crazy with the flakes)

Today I taught the Young Women a lesson on wise financial principals.

Surprisingly it's been my favorite lesson to teach so far.

It was good to be reminded of my testimony that I have of being wise in our finances.

We may not be able to take the trips we want or buy all things we would like

but it's nice to not be in the red each month.

There's a lot of peace in that.

After church we came home to get dinner ready cause we had some important guests~

Scott and Jenee came over for homemade cafe rio salads!

I love Sundays when we get to visit and eat dinner together.

We always have such good evenings when we're around them.

There's always lots to talk about and discuss.

I wish we had these evenings together more often!

Have you seen the show "Once Upon A Time"?

It's so good and as soon as Trevor's out of the shower, we're going to watch episode 3.

A good start to the week ahead....

Photobomb

2011-12-11T21:53:00.001-07:00

brought to you by Joshy.

He picked a very fortuitous time to be picking his nose.

Want to know what I wished for?

(not that it would matter cause I got the smaller piece)

I wished that my kids would not pick their nose.

I didn't really wish for that but I should have.

Josh drew....

2011-12-11T21:44:00.001-07:00

the deacons passing sacrament.

He gets better and better at drawing each day.

Today....

2011-12-09T21:39:00.001-07:00

has been a really great day.

Here's just a few of the reasons why:

*Josh and I ate our lunch together while watching Wipeout.

*This afternoon we went to pick out our families Christmas gift.
I am so excited for it.
I mean...WE are so excited for it.

*We went to our wards Christmas party tonight.
I absolutely love this ward.
There are so many really wonderful people and it's nice to know it's our "forever" ward.

*Thanks to Quinn I have found a couple of new favorite songs.
Maybe you know these songs but for a country girl they're new to me.
Christina Perri A Thousand Years (from Breaking Dawn). She's beautiful like my sister in law Mckenna...
and Lenka The Show (it's a really fun video).

*Tonight Trevor and I are going to watch Atlas Shrugged and share a blanket and drink our sodas. .

And tomorrow we just might be painting.
And maybe we'll even order some Italian Cheese Bread from Little Caesars.
And I'm sure the kids will ask about how we met there and fell in love and all about our love story.

That's my absolute favorite story.

Proof that me and Emily are more alike than I thought:

2011-12-08T21:05:00.001-07:00

Emily took one of my InStyle magazines to bed.

(it was all cleaned out of the images I don't want her to see)

She loves those mags.

As do I...

And we look a lot alike too....

Seriously?!?

2011-12-08T10:49:00.001-07:00

Annabelle came home early yesterday from school because she had an earache....

Yeah right!

This is just some of the fun her and Josh had~

She may not have actually been sick but it was a lot of fun having her home with us!

Sick, cold and ketchup.

2011-12-06T13:21:00.001-07:00

Odd combination of words, right? Read on....

We've been sick here in this house and it's been the pits...

What's up with that?!? I hate being sick, the kids hate being sick, Trevor hates being sick. Come to think of

it, I don't know anyone who likes being sick. Am I wrong?

NO!

But we are on the mend...thank heavens.

Emily gave us a FHE lesson last night on staying fit. She did a great job.

Notice her wet shirt...that girl doesn't dry her hair after her shower and she gets soaked. I don't know how

she can stand it. As of right now, I have on a pair of wool socks, a dress, a shirt, a sweater, a blanket, and

some finger-less gloves. No wet hair and I'm still cold. Of course that could be because we keep our house

at a balmy 67degrees (that's the word Trevor uses sarcastically...even he gets chilled!)

On the lunch menu today?

Scrambled eggs with a lot of ketchup.

I allowed Josh to do most of it. He squeezed so much ketchup on his eggs I thought he would never eat

them. But he did and he liked it!

As long as he's eating, I'm happy. Last night we had to bribe him with cake to get him to eat his potatoes. So

he ate them, got his cake and ate everything but the frosting~the best part....

Maybe we should have put ketchup on it....?

Junk

2011-12-02T21:00:00.001-07:00

Because we had some yummy nachos for dinner and

a lot of these:

(muddy buddies)

We are going to end our night watching a movie and eating these:

Back when I was a teenager

my best friend had a couple of pomegranate bushes as her house.

We would pick the fruit and throw them on the ground to open them

and eat them out in the blistering heat of St. George.

Those were the good days when pomegranates were free and not 2 dollars each....

(But they are oh so worth it!)

Trevor says he's never had one...

His world is about to be ROCKED!!!!

(just kidding...kind of.)

Our tree trimming party!

2011-12-01T21:35:00.001-07:00

When I first mentioned that we would be doing our tree trimming party

Emily said "But when are we going to decorate the tree?"

It's humble and beautiful, my favorite kind of tree...

I love that as we put the decorations on the tree, my kids ask about them.

We talk about them and remember them and the reasons why we received them.

My favorite ornament are my ballet slippers given to me when I was five by my brother Stephen.

They always get the very best spot on the tree and are always the first ones I put on.

I'm not sure if they're my favorite because I always wanted to be a ballerina (still do!)

or if it's because they remind me of Stephen and how much he is missed and loved.

I'm positive it's the latter.

I wish so much that my children could have known him and all his wonderful talents and quirks!

He would have been a fantastic uncle but I also know that my kids will

know him and love him one day....

This year we are starting a new tradition per Trevor's request.

He reads to us each night the book The Forgotten Carols and

we listen to each song as the book comes to them.

It's such a good story....It reminds me of being a little girl.

We listened to this c.d all year long.

One of my favorite songs is "Let Him In"

It talks about the innkeeper that turned Mary and Joseph away and his regrets from that.

The last verse is this:

"He never would condemn me.

I did that all on my own.

He offers His forgiveness,

and ever since then I've known

He lets us choose each hour of each day,

If we'll let Him in to stay

Let Him in...Let Him in...

let the hope and joy begin.

Let Him in...let Him in...let the peace and joy on earth begin.

Whether it be in your world today

or a crowded Bethlehem inn,

Find a way...make Him room...let Him in."

While the Fowlers were here:

2011-11-30T21:52:00.001-07:00

We made lots of desserts:

We spent lots of time with the sweet babies:

We sat around and talked and watched movies and

Candices favorite that she just had to watch, the Biggest Loser:

And on Saturday, we went to Palisades and cut down a twig to use as their Christmas tree this year:

I love this picture of Candice and Kyran:

The goodbye wasn't even all that hard since in about two weeks, we're heading out to Boise for an

overnight trip and they're going to watch our kids for us!

Yipee!

I can't wait until then....

My mouse broke...

2011-11-30T21:19:00.001-07:00

That's my only excuse and a pretty good one, I might say, when my family asks me why I haven't updated

my blog....

Thanksgiving 2011

Candice and Quinn came and stayed with us from Tuesday to Sunday and we loved every single second of

it! Even the crying babies and the no's and don'ts..it was all adorable to us Haslems who haven't had a baby

in the home for 4 years!

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious and there was little complaints. Quinn made a delicious turkey and now

after all the leftovers, it's all gone.

The Fowlers minus Asa who's hiding by Emily:

Us:

Best picture of the whole week:

And here's a close up of why it's the best:

(he is going to kill me.)

We laughed and laughed and laughed when we saw this picture!

It was a wonderfully warm, lovely day...

After dinner, we played some football in the backyard

and then came in and ate pie.

A lot of pie.

And the rest of the night was lost to moans and groans of bloating and feeling sick.

Like I said, a great Thanksgiving...

Ha, Ha, Ha....

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

Sometimes when the night has finally wound down,

kids are in bed reading

and we're relaxing on the couch with our soda,

if the camera is in reachable distance,

I like to take pictures.

Most of the time they get vetoed from ever having anyone else in the world see it.....

but sometimes they don't.

Not only did we relax and take pictures tonight

but we also dissected our laughter.

My laughter is constantly evolving.

For example every time I was pregnant, I had a deep, hearty laugh....like Santas.

But Trevor has only two different laughs.

His real laugh and his work laugh.

I think laughing is one of my most favorite things to do.

And being married to Trevor means that there is a lot of it....

And since Candice and Quinn are going to be here for Thanksgiving this week

(they'll be here tomorrow~yipee!)

we will be laughing a ton!

I can't wait!

Shopping for a Christmas tree

2011-11-20T21:29:00.001-07:00

in the great outdoors....

It took awhile but we finally found the perfect one!

What a great weekend....

If I was a little girl...

2011-11-15T22:14:00.001-07:00

I would want this for Christmas:

(Princess and the Pea Set)

or maybe if I was a boy (which I'm not) I would want this:

Garnet Hill

I'm so excited for Christmas!

Like father, like sons

2011-11-15T22:11:00.001-07:00

I took these picture last week and they just make me laugh....

Our "almost" Thanksgiving weekend

2011-11-15T21:56:00.001-07:00

Both Stephen and Kase lost a tooth the first night we were in SLC visiting!

These were two very excited boys!

I love this picture of Joyleen and Chelsey.

And check out these two skinny-minnys:

We had such an awesome weekend...

We ate too much food, stayed up too late....

but it was so worth it!

Thank you Grandma for the fantastic weekend.

We LOVE visiting you!

and

We LOVE you!

KIDS

2011-11-11T09:26:00.001-07:00

This morning I woke up to yelling, fighting, hitting.....

My four little kids got in a lot of trouble.

How is it that the people you love the most

can make you the most angry?

Good thing they have so many cute moments

10 things about today.

2011-11-09T21:30:00.000-07:00

1. I woke up to the girls room looking like this:

Yes, it does, in fact, look worse than last night. And yes, that is an egg box on the floor. Apparently

Annabelle has big plans for it.

2. Trevor and I had lively discussion at the dinner table about our school system and whether or not kids

should be served 3 meals a day at school. At one point, Trevor was called a "democrat" for using bogus

statistics. But I also said "It takes a village to raise a child" and was reminded of WHO made that saying

famous. I took it back and have regretted saying it since.

4. We had lasagna for dinner....with homemade "sheet" noodles. SHEET noodles, people. Anyone else

reminded of "The Help"?

5. Trevor and I sat on the couch and looked through this book:

It brought back some great memories.

6.Joshua worked out this morning to P90X and afterwards, pointed to his nipples and said "They're getting

stronger." Strong nipples are highly underrated.

7. The girls made us laugh tonight. But they always make me laugh. Like this picture I took of them:

It's just a little awkward, right? But in an absolutely adorable way.

8. I went to Wal Mart today because I have been inspired to start cross stitching. Unfortunately, cross

stitching appears to be from yesteryear because our Rexburg Wal Mart had none of the supplies to do it.

There goes what I'm sure would have been a extremely useful and marvelous talent.

9. I learned to make bows from a really cool blog today. And now that I know how, I'm going to make a

million of them and put them on everything.

10. Trevor came home today at his usual time: 6:15 and we have had a stupendous evening. It's been really,

really great. And in about 20 minutes me and Trevor will be watching the new New Girl episode and eating

Milk Duds.

THE GIRLS ROOM:

2011-11-08T21:53:00.000-07:00

It not only needs a good cleaning out,

but it also needs a dresser, beds, bookshelves and a desk.

Me and Craigslist are going to become fast friends, I'm sure...

(I make their beds for them everyday...how sad it that?! Tell me I'm not the only mom who does that?)

I checked out this book from the library yesterday and all the patterns are so inspiring!

I'm hoping to have their room all furnished and done by the end of the year.

Wish me lots of luck!

Moments in our day

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

sometimes include looks like this one from Joshua

and ones like this from me.

But usually we are happy and laughing.

Throwing tantrums is a rare occurrence for Joshua.

Unless I make him eat his potatoes.

It snowed today...

2011-11-05T21:06:00.000-06:00

This is just one of many blog posts with this title, I am sure.

What a good day though...!

Trevor worked 70 hours this week and we are so ready for him to not work seventy hour weeks.

So because it felt as if we hadn't seen him in forever (slight exaggeration), the kids and I took him lunch and

hung out with him for a couple of hours.

I never get tired of that man.

And now a good day is turning into a great night.

Since he wasn't home for nacho movie night last night (although he did bring home Albertos for me and

him~yummy), we have plans to eat nachos while watching the movie Water For Elephants.

I'll keep you posted on how long he can keep his eyes open tonight.

To be honest though, I wouldn't blame him if he fell asleep while eating.

(p.s. Candice...we never got outside to build a snowman today so a picture of that will have to come another

day....enjoy New Girl tonight...at least you better!)

Purple baths

2011-11-03T21:39:00.000-06:00

In an effort to be a cooler mom, today I set up the tent for Joshua.

By myself.

Yes, it looks droopy and not the way a tent should actually look.

And yes, Trevor had to fix it when he got home.

But my heart was (kind of) in the right place.

I really just wanted Josh to be happy and think I was the absolute best.

Mission accomplished.

We played in the tent for quite awhile.

We told stories (but no scary ones or any about werewolves or Bigfoot or any stories about

anyone named Harry) and ate candy and built fires with blocks.

When Stephen came home, him and his friend had a lot of fun:

And they left a lot of candy wrappers.

The kids are going to have a sleepover in the tent tomorrow night.

So...yes....I am a stupendous mom!!!

*************************************

Trevor says I look scary in this picture but I have to say that his eyes look way scarier than I look.

We have found 2 new favorite t.v. shows.

1. New Girl

( I about died laughing at this weeks episode~literally.

Okay, not literally..I just said that so I can see Trevor's

reaction when he reads it.

Hearing people say "literally" over everything is a pet peeve of his)

2. The Middle

I highly recommend these two shows if you love laughing and if you love to hear your spouse laugh.

Cause you both will.

******************************

Do you ever have moments when you wish you had a

camera available to record the cute things your kids do?

I get those moments a lot.

Like today when Trevor got home from work, Josh told him that he took a colored bath.

I informed Trevor that it was a purple bath.

Trevor started (pretend) laughing hysterically at Joshua because he took a purple bath.

Josh just about went crazy.

There is no way he would ever take a purple bath and he was intent on letting his daddy know that.

He tried wrestling, yelling, jumping on top on him....but Trevor just kept laughing.

Believe me, it was so dang cute and now I bet you're wishing that I had had a camera available also.

It's just not the same reading about it.

I guess you just had to be there.

A Halloween joke....

2011-11-01T11:43:00.001-06:00

What does a rocker,

Taylor Swift

and a hunter all have in common?

Absolutely nothing except that this is what Halloween looked like at our house.

I never said it was a funny joke~!

And I forgot to get a picture of Joshua so I'm feeling a little mom guilt....

This is what the morning after Halloween looks like if I'm feeling sick.

That would be the dishes used to fix food for the kids party and food for our family party.

We had the traditional Chicken Chili and my moms famous corn bread.

And maple bars for desert.

No wonder I'm feeling sick.

Wow.

2011-10-30T23:49:00.000-06:00

We spent Saturday with our little people...

And Saturday night with just us.

It was a great day.

It was a wonderful weekend.

It's been an awesomely fantastic twelve years.

A very important timeline

2011-10-28T21:41:00.001-06:00

The most important timeline if you ask me.

August 1997: I start working at Little Caesars and first meet Trevor.

November 22 1997: Our very first "official" date. We ate Taco Bell and went to my high schools play of "Annie Get Your Gun". Highlights of the evening? Enchurrito burp, opening a big bag of skittles during the play and spilling them all over the concrete floors and Trevor (trying) to teach me how to drive his Bronco.

March 1998: We went to my high schools Prom. And ignored everyone else around us~ by accident, of course. All I remember about that night is Trevor.

June 1998 to April 1999: I attend and graduate cosmetology school; Trevor picked me up everyday and we would go get a soda and drive through Zions and anywhere else we wanted to go. One time we drove to Mesquite and I was sure I would get in trouble if my parents found out (which they didn't...till now); Trevor worked in Jackson for about 2 months or so, driving home every weekend so we could be together.

July 1999: Trevor proposed to me at the top of Angels Landing (a hike in Zions). He fell down, I answered with "Are you serious?" and we haven't let each other forget it. I generally don't love the hike back but I loved that one...lots of dreaming and planning....

October 29th 1999: We were married in the St. George Temple.

For forever.

And ever.

There have been many more important dates to add to our timeline; births, moves, graduating from college, personal accomplishments; Our life together has been fulfilling and with more happiness than I could have ever imagined on that hike back from Angels Landing 12 years ago.

I fly by the seat of my pants people.

2011-10-26T23:04:00.000-06:00

When I sit down to blog, I generally have no idea what I'm going to write about. So......

WARNING: If you are looking for a sequence of events or maybe some semblance of order in this post,

you won't find it. It's a little odd and a little haphazard.

Let's proceed:

************************
My sweet Emily has been sick for the last 2 days.

So far, she's watched Nancy Drew twice and Santa Claus 2 once.

She's also done her math and read a little.

She's had a sprite and a Gatorade and lots of chicken noodle soup and saltines.

That's what my mom gave me when I was a sick little girl.

( By the way....thanks for taking such good care of me mom!)

I hope I'm doing the same for my own girlie.....

Josh found a pair of his newborn pajamas in his drawer today.

So he thought he'd try them on and see if they still fit.

He thinks they fit just fine and plans on wearing them when he plays baseball.

Here he is reenacting his newborn picture:

After his sweet modeling, he grabbed the camera and took some pictures of nothing important.

Except this one which completely encompasses our front room on any given afternoon.

Dirty socks, pillows any where but on the couches, coloring pages laying out...

The only thing that's not right?

The t.v. isn't playing a Christmas movie.

(our favorite kind of movie to watch)

Tim Allen did to Santa what peanut butter did to bread.

Enough said.

*********************

And to end this awesome post, I'd like you all to know that I just watched a movie that was the most

awkward love story I have ever seen.

There were a few times I actually cringed from feeling so embarrassed for the couple.

However, Trevor stayed awake for probably a total of 70 minutes.

That's really good since it was a 100 minute long movie.

I think that means he may have liked it.

But probably not.

Curtains please?

2011-10-25T21:43:00.000-06:00

The kids can't watch their movies in the afternoon without taping a blanket to the window.

And it's really hard to get on the computer in the afternoon with the sun glaring in your face.

But more importantly, I can't walk around naked anymore....

I'm not complaining but some curtains would be really nice.

And if I could get them soon, that would be great....

Happy Noodle-versary...

2011-10-24T22:16:00.000-06:00

Yesterday as I was rolling out the noddle dough,

I noticed I rolled it into the shape of a heart.....

What a fitting way to start our week, right?

I had to take a picture.

I think it's akin to people finding a potato chip in the shape of the Virgin Mary.

It's a sign, I tell ya.

True love in the shape of noodle dough.

It doesn't get much better than this.

Enjoy the pictures while I ramble on with useless information.

2011-10-24T22:06:00.000-06:00

It's now the time of night where I sit down at the computer and think and reflect on my day.

Here's what going on in my head right now.

At one point today, my hair was styled and not frizzy or flighty.

Earlier today I didn't have mascara smeared under my eyes and my imperfections were perfectly covered

up.

When I got dressed this morning it wasn't with a stained shirt and baggy pants.

I had a to do list that included painting the laundry room and making a pie.

This morning I didn't know that I had a flat tire.

Now it's 10 o'clock and everything that was... is no longer. My hair is crazy, my make up is everywhere but

where it's suppose to be, my shirt has pumpkin on it, my pants have stretched out, the laundry room still

needs to be painted and the car has a flat tire.

Whew....I'm exhausted.

Besides all that I accomplished a lot today.

I made homemade graham crackers. I will never buy store bought ones again. They were better than any

store bought graham I've ever tasted.

And they were especially good with cream cheese frosting spread on top.

I got my family to eat veggie burgers and they really liked them (I think I'm the only one who remembers

them liking them the last time I made them).

For FHE we carved pumpkins. Actually Trevor carved and the kids and I cleaned them out. Emily carved

her very own and did an excellent job at it.

Good night. And maybe tomorrow I might actually get around to painting.

The last couple of weeks.

2011-10-21T15:10:00.000-06:00

In the Haslem household, we've been slightly off-kilter.

Things are normal but not normal.

"Uhhh...what? That doesn't make sense, Sarah."

What I mean is that we do the same things but our attitude just isn't as good as it usually is.

I have the opinion that we make our own choice for how we feel and what kind of attitude we have

and so as of right now I am demanding that we stop, enjoy life and have a little more chocolate milk.

And that's just what Stephen decided to do for breakfast this morning.

And do you know what one week from tomorrow is?

Yes, it's our twelve year anniversary.

And as you can tell, we are super excited....

Last year I was super depressed.

We had just made another move and I hadn't quite adjusted yet.

I think it took until about 3 months ago for me to fully adjust.

But I am not going to be depressed this year.

It's been twelve amazing years.

And that is something incredible to celebrate.

********************

Nacho Movie Night tonight

Zookeeper and some yummy nachos; what could be better?

Since Saturday.

2011-10-19T13:07:00.000-06:00

I have been a bad blogger. I've been sitting around doing absolutely nothing, thinking about all the

"somethings" I should be doing. Okay, not really. I've been busy. Not really busy, not too busy to blog, but

busy. I have no excuses except that I haven't taken any pictures.

But my kids have. Like this one of Joshua that Emily took.

I don't remember exactly who he was dressed up as but it was someone with a mustache and a flashlight.

I have a lot of things I should be doing right now.

Here's an example from a photo I just took so that I could blog today:

There are a few things I need to do in the kitchen; some that are very obvious and some not so obvious.

Obvious:
dishes
clean off table
organize fridge

Not so obvious:
finish painting
sweep
mop
make kids snack

I love being in the kitchen. I'm always cold and its the one place in my house where I have the most chance

of being warm. Except bedtime where I get to sleep beside a furnace/man who doesn't mind if I put my cold

feet on him. And who will sometimes warm up my side of the bed for me while I wash my face.

And so now, I am off to tackle the kitchen where I can put my cold hands in some hot water.

And maybe later, I'll take and post some pictures of my really sweet and adorable children.

It happened again.

2011-10-15T22:10:00.001-06:00

Stephen lost another tooth.

You'd think that his mouth could at least let the other teeth finish growing in

before it decides to push out another one.

The tooth fairy is coming to our house way too often.

good things.

2011-10-13T21:52:00.000-06:00

Picking apples as a family last night.

Luke Bryans new song. LOVE.

Making a pear crisp that all the kids liked.

Doing FHE at the care center here in Rexburg.

Psych is back! And we just watched the first episode....

Painting the laundry room and redoing the kitchen (tomorrow).

Treadmill...as always.

Reading a good book.

Friday!!!!!!!

Last night....and late last night....

2011-10-11T14:13:00.000-06:00

Joshua (of course) fell asleep during FHE.

I guess the lesson I taught on the Word of Wisdom just didn't interest him enough.

Instead of the usual talk on avoiding alcohol and tobacco and tea and drugs...etc

we talked more about how to take care of our bodies.

We talked about the foods that are good and bad.

We talked about appropriate words to use (fat and skinny are no longer allowed in our house. Unless, as

Stephen pointed out, you're talking about a fat cookie or something like that)

We also discussed how every body is different and no one is supposed to look or be the same.

It was a really good lesson.

And then we all had two cookies and the kids went to bed.

Trevor and I then proceeded to have a very good evening (our favorite time of the day).

Fast forward to 12:00 a.m.

I woke up to Joshua crying and coughing. I went into his room and he was barely breathing. He's done this

before and we took him to ER where they taught us what to do when he wakes up with the croup. So I

yelled for Trevor (by the way, he is so funny when he wakes up!) to turn on the shower. We both took turns

holding Joshua in the bathroom as the steam did it's work. We then made up a bed next to ours for Joshua

to sleep on so we could listen to him throughout the night. I didn't get much sleep and I know Trevor wasn't

well rested when he got up for work this morning.

But Joshua is fine now; not even the slightest sign of a cough or cold.

It's always funny to wake up and think back on the night and realize that everything is so

much worse between the hours of 12 am and 6 am than they would normally be during the day. But it's

always scary when you're child is barely breathing.

ALWAYS.

Last day of spud harvest break.....

2011-10-11T09:45:00.000-06:00

The kids actually got out of school for 10 days because of the spud harvest! Although it snowed and was

cold a lot of the time. Still, we had fun. They played with their friends, baked and cooked and watched a lot

of movies....

Yesterday since it was their last day, we decided to go to Porter Park where they could ride their bikes

around while I ran. It was going great until.....

We had two different crashes. Joshy was fine after just a minute but Emily crashed pretty hard and got really

scrapped up.

But I'm happy to say that both are fine now. We even came home and invited friends over for cake and had

a stupendous time!

And to officially welcome Fall and being back to school, we have a cold, wet, windy day ahead of us.

And it doesn't even make me sad. Shocking, right?

Either I'm getting used to the weather or my treadmill is doing just what we hoped for; banishing the blues!

The weekend Candice was here...

2011-10-10T14:03:00.001-06:00

Ba Ba Bummmm.....

We had a great time; watching General Conference, hiking, playing at the park, eating yummy food (nachos) and loving the babies!

Candice sent me some of the pictures that we took. I realized after she sent them that we need to be much better at taking out our cameras and USING them! We only took pictures of our hike...

(Candice carrying her sweet baby Kyran, me with Asa~you can only see the back of his head.

It's a cute head, believe me!)

(My head looks as if it's unattached to my neck in this pic...weird, huh?)

I can't wait till we can see each other again!

And by the way Quinn,

we blame you for the huge amount of time we waste.

We wouldn't have ever known about Sporcle if it wasn't for you....

Every day, I tell you.....

Snow, snow and more snow!!

2011-10-07T16:37:00.000-06:00

My favorite thing to do on a cold day, cold day...

is to spend lots of time in the kitchen.

And I have a lot to do!

The kids day in pictures:

2011-10-05T22:23:00.002-06:00

An abandoned art project

(that later, very later, got finished)

The girls picked their own paint color for their room.

Do you allow your kids to pick their colors?

This time around is much better than their last room....

(think pepto bismal)

Since Josh got a haircut on Monday, he seems to have matured right into an almost kindergartner.

Give me a minute while I grab some tissues....

While we had yummy potatoes and queso for dinner,

Josh decided to have cereal and I gave in.

Can you blame me?

Anna paints her nails every other day.

She says it's cause she doesn't like her nails without it.

And she'll do it at any time of the day.

Here she is at 8:00 tonight:

It looks like a pretty good day, right?

I even made them a delicious dessert to eat

while we stayed up late watching Santa Claus 2.

I love that movie but I think Molly Shannon was the very best in it.

She makes me laugh every.single.time.

A very good day indeed!

Satisfied

2011-10-04T21:14:00.000-06:00

I know it's been a good day when I can sit down at the computer, think about my day and feel satisfied. My day wasn't perfect, it wasn't even great but I feel good about it.

Sometimes just trying my hardest is good enough.

I didn't do my hair.

I didn't do my make-up.

I had a stomach ache.

I went until 6:30 without a Diet Dr. Pepper.

I had to take a nap at 5:00.

My bread didn't work out.

I ate too much bacon fat cause it just tasted so good (but it's so, so bad).

BUT

I worked up a really good sweat on the treadmill.

I was patient.

I was kind.

I loved my family.

I kept getting things done even when I didn't want to.

Well, at least I did until 5:00 (my nap) and even then I still helped Stephen make dinner and give Joshy a (much needed) bath.

And I still have a couple of hours left with Trevor tonight so.....I guess my day is going to end up being pretty darn great.

(this picture makes me pretty darn happy too...

Kyran and his family came and visited last weekend and we had SUCH a good time.

Hey Candice?

Can you please email me some of the pictures you took?

This is all I have and while it's a great one, I want some of all of us!

Thanks sis!)

2011-09-27T21:18:00.001-06:00

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 it was a riot.

2011-09-27T13:42:00.005-06:00

One of our favorite places...

2011-09-24T21:03:00.000-06:00

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.

A new challenge. Or two.

2011-09-23T09:05:00.001-06:00

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 they want to make and each of them have a night next week to make it.

We'll be having spaghetti and meatballs (josh), split pea soup and rolls (anna), pepperoni and cheese pizza (stephen), and chicken strips and corn (emily).

Definitely a challenge.

And guess what?

Josh never got a haircut.

Slow day

2011-09-21T10:03:00.001-06:00

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.....

Downton Abbey

2011-09-20T21:47:00.000-06:00

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).

Josh's eyes:

2011-09-19T22:22:00.000-06:00

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

Amazing!

lovey, love, love.

2011-09-19T22:12:00.001-06:00

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...

Some noteworthy photos

2011-09-15T21:45:00.000-06:00

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.

My names Forest, Forest Gump.

2011-09-14T21:00:00.000-06:00

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.

a funny story

2011-09-13T23:18:00.000-06:00

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. Luckily, neither of them were turned at that moment of terror and so I was saved complete humiliation.

Although after Trevor and I got back in the truck and I finally finished my hysterical laughter that I had been holding in, he informed me that he would have loved to see it. I'm not sure why~ if it's so he could laugh at me or if it's because he likes to see that~ either way, I can't blame him.

One more funny story and it involves Craigslist again (i love that site). I found this rug that I wanted and they were only asking 25 dollars OBO. "Wow," I thought, "What a steal". I quickly texted the poster and said I would be willing to offer 20 dollars. He texted back "Fine".... or something like that.

I brought it home and I love it.

Trevor found the sticker (it was brand new) and saw that the rug was purchased from Ikea. So I checked their website to see what a great deal I got.

I got jipped.

The rug retails for 19.99.

I think they saw me coming from a mile away.

But it's cute, right?

Right?

At the risk of embarrassing Trevor

2011-09-12T21:08:00.002-06:00

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.

Knowledge

2011-09-12T20:53:00.001-06:00

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!

Footloose

2011-09-10T22:31:00.003-06:00

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.

DATE NIGHT- the play by play

2011-09-10T22:24:00.004-06:00

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 couple of high school kids picking up these colorful girly things. It intrigued me so we stopped to take a look at what they were.

Here it is:

It was a great deal though. I could have gotten two of those beauties for 10 dollars.
What a steal...

~And now to end our night, Trevor is insisting that we watch Footloose. But I'm going to insist that he lay in my lap and fall asleep cause lets face it, we all know he doesn't really want to watch it. He just wants me to be happy.
And I definitely am.

Ha~ it's only 8:00

2011-09-10T09:00:00.001-06:00

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 to you.):

The DEN (I capitalized that because it's a very fun room). I plan on one day putting in book shelves that line the whole back wall, having an art table, a t.v and some couches in here. I want to make it a place to relax. For now, it's a great spot for toys, a balance beam, a treadmill, an air hockey table and a whole lotta other stuff:

And now I present to you our laundry room. It needs a lot of work. One day it'll be a bathroom. But before it gets to that, I'm going to paint it and maybe even put some curtains up. But lets not talk about curtains cause every window in this house needs curtains before winter and I'm starting to get antsy for them. Remember that dryer Mom? It's going on how many years now? 18? It works perfectly still:

Here is our lone bathroom. The only time having one bathroom gets annoying is when two kids have to go poop at once cause I obviously can't send them outside to do that. So then I have to deal with a hopping kid who is frantically worried that he/she might have an accident. That's just really annoying. But I'm happy to say, so far, so good. No accidents as of yet. Do you like the towel that is pretending to be a curtain? Like I said....:

The kitchen/dining room. See our little wolf on the table? We've named him Pete and I put a pretty green ribbon to hide his deformed tail. I may start letting the kids decorate him. Plus, I'm going to be repainting the table. I'm not sure what color but if you have any suggestions, let me know:

I have been playing the piano, Mom. I know that'll make you happy. I love it. I can play some hymns and one day I might feel comfortable enough to play in church. I love playing because it brings a really sweet spirit into our home. Right now I'm learning Abide With Me, I Need Thee Every Hour, Come Follow Me and For The Beauty Of The Earth. Pay no attention to the handles, we will be fixing those today (hopefully):

And here are some pictures of the outside.

The view from the front of the house and the potato farm and the BYU-I agricultural center. All the way to the left of the picture are some trees and those trees are hiding the mountain where we hike. It's not really a mountain, it's a volcano that erupted sometime in the last million years and left behind some really pretty basaltic rock. Anyway, we love hiking there:

And here is the view from the back of the house and the horse arena. They just got a beautiful white horse that we stare at quite frequently:

We've started to make plans where our garage, garden, chicken coop, horse(s) and maybe a cow will go.

Next spring we're going to start fencing and getting it all ready for the next 60 years.

I love it here.

This is more home than any other place I've ever lived and you know how much I love home!

The kids love to be outside (hallelujah). It took us awhile to get to loving it but they have great friends around and lots to do.

Stephen likes to catch grasshoppers and dragon fly's with his friends and make rockets and use their slingshots.

The girls go to the neighbors and jump on their trampoline and generally have a good time.

The grass needs to be mowed again but that's okay because the longer it is, the softer it is on our bare feet.

We wish you were here and hopefully we'll get to see you soon!

I love you!

And would it surprise you to know that I enjoyed a piece of apple crisp and a Diet Dr. Pepper while writing this out? I love breakfast...

(Candice...we'll see you in a few weeks! We CANNOT wait!!!!!!)

Dear Mom,

2011-09-09T23:18:00.003-06:00

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

Look what I found~

2011-09-09T23:14:00.001-06:00

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?

This is how much I love my treadmill:

2011-09-09T23:09:00.002-06:00

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

How's a girl to celebrate buying a treadmill?

2011-09-07T22:25:00.003-06:00

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 what I needed to hear today~

2011-09-06T23:14:00.002-06:00

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 awesome."

********************************

Tonight I turned on Maroon 5 and noticed Josh singing along. Probably not the most appropriate music for my 4 year old to be singing but it was still so cute so I took a picture:

Stephen made a cake and frosted it all by himself! Except that we made it last week and just frosted it today. He cut us all an extra large piece:

And because blogger wasn't working very well last night, you get more hiking pictures tonight!

I know....yay for hiking pictures!!!

While out hiking, we got creative and made a shadow octopus:

And we all forgot Joshy was a big boy and babied him a lot on the hike.
But it made for a couple of good photos.

I feel the need to explain that I did not baby him. In fact, I have very little patience for people/kids who can't keep up the pace and get tired and cry and whine the whole way back.
But that's just me and I'm certainly not proud of it.
Trevor always tempers me on hikes and is much more patient than I am. He say's it's cause he understands what they're going through.....Huh...he is definitely my better half.
And right now that half of me is at the temple helping to clean it.
So I'm going to watch a couple of Friends episodes (thinking of you Chelsey!) and wait for him to come home.
Cause home is so much better with him in it....

Oh and I wrote this on my bathroom mirror today. I think it's a great reminder for us all (especially impressionable little girls!).

Good night....

2011-09-05T21:34:00.000-06:00

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!

A list of what makes me happy

2011-09-04T22:14:00.000-06:00

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.