Ellen, Here We Come!

A few weeks ago my sister in law, Summer calls me and desperately convinces me to register on Ellen DeGeneres' website for tickets. She was taping a show in Vegas and since Summer had already registered for tickets once this year, she needed me to do it for her. So, I registered and forgot all about it. A few days later a guy from the show called and gave me 4 tickets to the Vegas taping! I wasn't sure that it would work, but I got online and priced out tickets to Vegas and found some through Expedia for $88 roundtrip! I called up my sister in laws (Allison, Summer and April) and broke the news that we were havin' a girls weekend with Ellen! After many, many arrangements (cuz we moms can't leave home without them), Allison and I boarded a plane on Thursday and flew to Vegas. We met Summer and April who were coming from St. George and had such a blast all weekend. We mostly shopped on Thursday and then Friday was the taping. The event was at Caesars Palace, so I won't go into details about how much a pain it was to get there (traffic and parking was a nightmare! Thank goodness for Valet parking!). We got into our seats just a few minutes before it started - it was so exciting to be there live. I realize that you either love Ellen, or you hate her. I think she is a crack up and so do my sister in laws. We screamed until we were hoarse, danced and sang our hearts out! The guests were: Bette Midler, some magic act (can't remember his name) and the musical guest was Pink. And, to make it an even better time, Pink is my sister in laws fav singer these days. We got so worked up that Summer told us later that she felt like she was going to faint. Now THAT would have been funny! We had braced ourselves for not getting any freebies, as Ellen often does on her show. Mainly because we were among 4,000 other screaming fans there! We hope to make an on camera appearance on Monday when the show airs. We were sitting sort of on the second level and I didn't notice the cameras panning our way very often. Just in case, we were sitting up one level from the floor right behind a gold railing. We had a really good view of the stage, just not within camera view. My DVR is set and I'll let you know if I catch a glimpse of us! We had such a great time and it all ended too soon. We had to catch our flight today back to SLC at 7:30, which meant an airport arrival time of 6:00 and so we've been up since 4:50 am. And, we didn't go to bed until after 1:00 am. It was all worth it...we're already planning our next adventure!

It's Sad, But True

It's Sad, But True: This made me happy today...

Picture#1: My pantry before

Picture#2: My pantry AFTER!

One of the great things about my kitchen (0ld as it is) is that it has a GREAT pantry. It is huge and has great shelving. One downfall to a big pantry is that I lose things in it, and it becomes a huge mess very quickly. Today, I had to get it organized in order to put away my apple harvest (70 quarts applesauce and 21 quarts apple pie filling...yes, you read that right. I've been busy.). It literally took me 2 hours and I found: 8 boxes of opened cereal, 4 boxes of opened instant oatmeal, 4 half empty bags of chips, candy wrappers, goldfish that had escaped the bag, and too many other disgusting pieces of food that someone spilled and didn't bother to clean up. That's what I'm around for, apparently. At any rate, I'm feeling much better about the day now that I have a clean pantry at least. Nevermind about the other 12 rooms in my house that need attention. If anyone stops over today, I'll have them step OVER all the other crap that's all over the floor and lead them to my beautifully clean and organized pantry! The pictures just don't do it justice...I may just go in, close the door, sit there with my lunch and enjoy the one clean room in my house.

Motherhood, The Real Story

My friend, Jeanna, posts some pretty funny stuff on her blog. She is writer at heart and she really knows how to say things, say them well, and still make you laugh. Today on her blog she had a link to her cousins blog that had a honest- to- goodness description of Motherhood. It made me think about how blessed I feel somedays, and other days (like this mornings mad dash to get everyone off to school) I could wring all their necks....read her take on Motherhood and see if you agree. http://www.wildberrypunch2.blogspot.com/

Donations Anyone?

Sunday afternoon Kim and I were just awaking from the mandatory Sunday afternoon nap (yes, it's mandatory at our house that on Sunday afternoons it is quiet for at least 2 hours in the afternoon. The kids all know that if they wake me up, the house better be on fire or someone is bleeding to death)when Natalie wanders into our room with the Target Toy Catalog that had come in the paper that day. She was also carrying a marker. She hops up onto the bed and opens the book up and begins to show us what she's up to. The conversation went like this:

Me: What are you doing with that marker?

Nat: I'm making a list.

Me: What list?

Nat: A list for Santa.

(Because I get multiple papers on Sunday (coupon freak) Emily had also gotten a catalog and had a marker and was circling all the "must haves" for the season)

Me: You sure have alot of things circled...(most of the catalog!)

Me: Are you sure that Santa can bring all that?

Nat: Yep, he has a BIG bag.

Today, I caught her looking at her "book" again with the marker in hand in case she had missed something the first time! I love it! She is at that perfect age where she has discovered the magic of believing in Santa. She's old enough to really want something specific...she has been enthralled with 'Baby Alive' the baby that really pee's into a potty....she has talked non-stop about the doll for over a month, reminding me that Santa will be bringing her one. The best part is that she couldn't quite say it right and it came out "Baby Ga-lie". I am so excited to see her on Christmas morning this year. It makes me a little sad to know that every year after this one, we lose another magical Christmas morning with small kids. They're all getting so big, so fast and losing the 'magic' of it all.

Hopefully the Santa that visits our house can afford this 'Baby Alive'....she's $50!! Can anyone say E-Bay? I think we may need to have a fundraiser for our Santa....donations anyone?

Just Call Me Martha

We have an apple tree in our backyard. The first summer that we lived here we had no idea how to care for it and no idea that it required a frequent spraying for bugs in order to get good fruit. So, a lesson learned and we had no good apples last fall. This year, however, we figured out the spraying thing and have had a plentiful harvest of juicy apples. So many in fact, that I have had to give a few boxes away. The last few weeks I have been canning applesauce. My kids eat it like crazy and so with free apples, a little expense for the sugar, and many hours in the kitchen, we now have many many quarts of applesauce. 56 to be exact. And, if I had more bottles, I could still make more. I think that with the economy in such a mess, more and more people are canning their grown produce this year. There is not a store in Utah county that you can buy quart jars at anymore. So, we had to use what we had. At any rate, I still have several boxes of apples left and some pint jars left and I've had quite a few people tell me to make apple pie filling. I don't usually make pies, but maybe I would if I had the filling already done. So, that may be my next Martha-ish like project. I'm already sick of the process, but I know that I will be glad that I did it in a couple of months when I pull out a quart of yummy cinnamon applesauce. Even if no one else appreciates the time and effort that I, Martha Stewart, have put into it.....

Now That's The Halloween Spirit!

I thought this was hilarious....I went to the kids school to take treats to their classes and this car was in the parking lot! I had to stop and get a picture. And, hopefully, whoever owns this car doesn't read my blog!

Tricks and Treats

Our Halloween sort of flew by in a whirlwind, and so it's just now that I'm getting time to post a video of the events at our house. We started the day off with mass chaos at the kids school Halloween parade. Each class marched through the gym and we got to see all the costumes. It wouldn't have been too bad, except there is never enough seating and the kids practically ran through the gym, so you could hardly get a look at them. There were some pretty creative costumes, as well as a few that were a little sad. One kid wore a cardboard box...it practically screamed "my mom didn't care if I dressed up or not"! Times are tight, I know, but a cardboard box??? After that, I had to rush out to the store and get treats for 2 of the kids classes. 4 dozen doughnuts, apple juice, cups and napkins, plus some extra candy for trick or treaters and I felt broke! We took the treats to the school and then went home to get Natalie a nap before all the chaos really began. She slept for 3 hours...which hasn't happened in a long time. But, I was grateful to have the time to finish off some other things around the house. By the time the kids got home, they were all sugared up from parties at school, and we were off to trick or treat at Grandma and Grandma Heaton's house. They like to have us come early - they usually go out for dinner and try to avoid all other trick or treaters! Grandma even had real candy for the kids (if you know G & G Heaton, candy is a true luxury at their house!). We came home, ate a quick dinner, re-painted Jake's face and we were off! The weather couldn't have been much nicer - it was 65-70* outside when we started and just a few sprinkles hit us throughout the night. But, no winter jackets and mittens were required! We hit our own neighborhood and then headed to American Fork to trick or treat with Ryan and Andrea and their youngest kids. The houses were all right together, so the kids just ran from house to house and we could hardly keep up with them. We came home around 8:30 and the kids dumped out their loot and began the counting and sorting and trading. I know that each of them had upwards of 100 pieces of candy and gum....ugh! I'm hoping to hide some of it and keep it for later! The kids were feeling a little sad and disgruntled this year because I told them I was not buying any new costumes....they had to find something in the box that we already had...Abby borrowed a cheer outfit from a friend, Jake was a zombie like last year, Emily chose the BYU cheer outfit that Abby wore a few years ago and Natalie was a poodle from last year as well. I think that after a few houses, they forgot all about where the costumes came from and that they had to be re-used....amazing what the promise of a little sugar will do!

PS. I had a video all ready to post with this, but for some reason, it won't download. Pictures just don't do it all justice, but they'll have to do.