This Is The Year

Time to link up and confess - I had to get one last post in before the New Year!  Here we go. I confess... My New Year's Resolution to blog more in 2011 was an EPIC FAIL!   But I believe in perseverance, so we're going to try again in 2012! I confess... Yesterday was my 16 year anniversary, and we went to dinner WAY early (because we hadn't really eaten all day and were starving) and were home before 6, watching a movie with the kids.  We're like 90 year olds in 30-something bodies I guess. I confess... I really wouldn't have had it any other way.  We had a great time watching a family movie with the kids, and then sent them to bed and enjoyed a grown-up movie.  A rated PG-13 one people...get your minds out of the gutter!! I confess... I lied when I just said I wouldn't have had it any other way.  In a perfect world I would be rich and we would be on a cruise or something for our anniversary.  But I think you all knew my meaning. I confess.... I...

Today I thought I'd link up with my sweet friend Emmy  and fellow blogger whom I haven't yet become acquainted with, but am eager to get to know, Kmama .  They host a great meme where we all get to brag about what makes us proud as moms. I've been meaning to blog about this since last week, so today I'm linking up!  Last week was the culmination of months of rehearsals for the 6-9th graders at our school who were in the school musical.  This year Bookworm landed a lead.  They rehearsed 3 days a week between 2 and 5 hours each day.  With rehearsal, scouts, music lessons and basketball, not to mention just regular school and homework, I saw the stress start to take a toll on my 13 year old.  I always swore I wouldn't be one of those moms whose kids were so overscheduled that they couldn't enjoy life!  But somehow with the basketball season overlapping the musical, and rehearsal times being more often and longer this year - it just sort of snuck up...

What a fun topic, right? I'm playing along with Kenlie's Friend Makin' Monday today!  You should go link up and play too! The topic is dating, and now onto the questions! What is your current relationship status? (Be as specific as you’d like to be! Married - 16 years this December! List a few qualities that you look for in a significant other. Kind, hardworking, dedicated to faith and family.  Those are pretty much my 3 must haves (lucky my man has them!), but it doesn't hurt to be hot and hilarious as well. If you could choose to date one character in TV or film, who would you choose?  And which characteristics are most appealing? Um, Hello! Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarret!  Have you SEEN him?  I think this clip speaks for itself: Most appealing characteristics?  Um - he's HOT, he can kick the crap out of anyone who messes with you, and he's HOT!  I posted this especially for you Myya ! How long should you date bef...

I'm confessing this week.  Yeah, I need a little soul-cleansing. I confess that I have been listening to Christmas music for weeks!  And it makes me giddy! I confess that I am listening to it right now!  David Archuleta's Christmas From the Heart is fabulous - just FYI. I confess that my next confession may make people want to punch me....but I confess that for me, Halloween is just something that needs to be endured to get to the REAL Holiday season.  Yup, that's me - I do it for the kids, but I wouldn't be sad if Halloween got cancelled forever. I confess that even though Halloween is not my favorite - I do put a lot of effort into helping my kids come up with costumes - and I'm sorta proud of how they turned out this year: (prepare for picture overload) Ladybug                                                   skeleton ballerin...

Yes, yes - it's been a couple of weeks.  I was planning on blogging tomorrow anyway.  But then I saw THIS.  A PINTEREST linky party?  I. could. die. So the idea of the party?  Link up something you tried that was inspired by something you saw on Pinterest.  Well I'm telling you - I get all sorts of inspiration from Pinterest.  All. Day. Long.  Yeah, no problem in the inspiration department.  It's the motivation department that needs work.  You know, because a lot of hours can be spent being inspired.  Just sayin' - it takes some time. So here's my pinterest story.   The inspiration : So, instead of  "Liked it, Pinned it, Did it"...my story is more of a "Liked it, Pinned it, Tried it." Yeah, this totally didn't work.  I followed the directions, sliced my pepper to the correct thickness per the instructions - cracked my eggs into the peppers.  And instead of these tidy, flower-like eggs in peppers, my re...

I'm coming up from beneath the piles of black and orange, and green and purple tulle to check in with my peeps. Aside from the Halloween costume making - it's been a fun few weeks. On the 17th, Hubby and I took Bookworm and a friend to the RSL v. Sporting KC game, followed by the One Republic post game concert.  The tickets were a present for his birthday back in June (the concert was originally supposed to take place after a June match, but the band had to reschedule).  The little punks wouldn't let me take any pictures for posterity's sake.  The bums.  But it was a great night.  Mainly because we kicked trash.  But the concert was good too.  I'm not a die-hard fan by any means,  I mean I probably wouldn't pay to go see them if they were touring, but they sounded great live.  And I do enjoy their songs. I'm pretty particular with my kids and their activities, and I'm very over  just the right amount of protective, in public setting...

How many 8 year olds can say that they've shared the ice with an Olympic Champion?  AND in the same building he won silver and gold medals? Thanks to the amazing Discovery program at her school, Pixie now can!  She signed up for ice skating this session, and has learned figure skating, speed-skating and hockey.  The ice skating class takes place at the Utah Olympic Oval, which was built to host skating competitions for the 2002 Winter Games, and is just down the street from our school.  We are very fortunate to have enjoyed a wonderful partnership with the oval, since before we even broke ground on our building. Yesterday the kids had the opportunity to train with Derek Parra !  If you don't know who he is, you're probably not obsessive about the Olympic Games like I am, particularly the ones that took place right in my back yard!  It's been over 9 years, but it still feels like yesterday!  Anyramble, Derek won Silver and Gold during those games, ...

So....today I was going to make a deep, heartfelt post about yesterday, and the way our family commemorated the 10th anniversary of 9/11 - the emotions of the day, the conversations I had with my children. But then I got called out by Kenlie.  She said it was an "invitation"...but I know better.  Good thing I like her.   And I do like FMM, it's how I've made some of my dearest blog friends!  Including you Kenlie! So here's the deal - I'm going to answer the FMM questions and go link up over at Kenlie's .  You do the same, and we can both find out more about each other!  Only, y'all are probably sick of hearing about me by now!  I'm not sure I'll even be revealing ANYTHING new to some of my regulars.  If you are visiting for the first time - hello, and get ready to know more about me than you'd probably care to! FMM: All About Me 1.  What are your talents?   I have some hobbies - not sure how talented I am at any of them though!...

Are you ready for part 2?  If you haven't already read Part 1 , you really need to do that now.  No, for reals...I mean it.  You just won't be able to appreciate part 2 if you haven't read part 1 .  So go here and do that right now. Did you do it?  I have a feeling that some of you didn't.  Sigh. So by Thursday afternoon, I was done.  I woke up Friday with no small amount of trepidation over what THIS day might bring.  I was seriously on high alert all day, wondering what was to befall me next.  I spent the afternoon at the school, chaperoning Cowgirl's Discovery class.  I KNOW I've told you all about Discovery and what an awesome program it is.  Anyway Cowgirl is doing horseback riding for this session.  We made it through the afternoon unscathed, and we got home from school, and I immediately went to the laptop, because you know...it had been ALL DAY.  I only have a dumb phone, so I can't keep up on all the happeni...

Well, as you know - I've sort of put blogging on the back-burner while I try to get some things done, and get my household in order.  However, sometimes a week is just TOO blog-worthy to NOT get it recorded! For those of you who are on FB with me, you already may know some of the details, so I apologize.  Let's start at the beginning.  I woke up on Monday morning, feeling cheerful and ready to embrace the week.  My facebook status read: "It's going to be a good week.  I can tell". Well, Tuesday we woke up to discover that someone had tried to steal gas from the carpet cleaning van, by cutting the fuel hose.  They didn't get any.  But that was really a very small consolation, considering the fact that the repair wasn't something hubby could do on his own.  It ended up being an $800 repair bill.  It really put a damper on the week that was supposed to be good.  Not to mention that it put hubby in a really lovely mood.  Luckily the...