Update, Update! Get Yer Update!

 It's Sunday night and fall break is over. Boo hoo. I had such an easy-going week without any homework to worry about (well, for the most part.... I should have studied more than I did, but I sure as heck didn't.) We have had a little bit of the sickies here at our house. Strep for Daphne, stomach bug for Jonah, and a little seasonal cold for Laylah and me. My nose has been so stuffy the last few days, and my head feels like it could probably explode. I hardly ever get sick except when I am not getting enough sleep or when I am stressed out. I'm sure I am both of those things lately, so I guess I should quit worrying so much and I should go to bed earlier. If only we could have everything we wanted, am I right?!

Anyway, here's just a whole bunch of photos of our recent going-on's. I take so many pictures and I probably only post about a fourth of them to my blog. You're welcome.

 Andy and I were lucky enough to go to the James Taylor/Motab concert a little bit ago. It was such a fun night together. We dressed up, listened to amazing music, and then went to The Cheesecake Factory for dessert afterwards. Except I don't like cheesecake and we shared, so Andy was kind enough to humor me and get chocolate cake instead. Divine.

 banana phone

 I eat a lot of ice cream. Did you know ice cream is a natural stress reliever? I read it somewhere... or maybe I made it up.

 This is what our Sunday afternoons look like. Game time. it is ON!

 Magnus continues to believe that he belongs in my bed with me. I actually was so tired of it that I made a sticker chart for him and every time he stays in his bed he gets a sticker in the morning. It worked.... for one night. Actually, on the second night he came into my room and just stood by my bed (instead of climbing in automatically like he always does) and I groggily asked, "What do you need Magnus?" He quickly piped up, "I'm NOT getting in your bed! I just want you to sing me a song! I will still get a sticker tomorrow, okay?!"

Nice try kid, Nice try.

Actually though, it has definitely helped, especially when I remind him at bedtime that he will get a sticker if he stays in bed. Once he fills up his chart I told him I would get him a prize. I'm hoping it will be months rather than years before that chart is full... baby steps.

 Jonah and Baron finished up their soccer season. They both did awesome and scored lots of goals. This is Baron with his two best buddies in the world. Easton and Ezra and Baron all have birthdays within 1 month of each other. They all live within walking distance of each others houses and they are inseperable. I love it so much. Once again, you can tell just how huge Baron is.

 I've been trying some new kinds of apples lately. The one on the right is called Sweet Tangos. They are sooooo yummy and ginormous. The one on the left is a regular Gala. Still good, and better for little hands.

 Jonah started back to Cub Scouts in September. They had a Raingutter Rigatta and Jonah did a great job getting his boat, The Purple Whale, ready.

 He is a Bear now and they got to do the opening flag ceremony

 His boat won a few races

 He also earned his Wolf badge and Bobcat at the awards ceremony. They made it a family affair and we roasted hot dogs and had dinner. It was a fun night.

 I'm still cooking as much as I can. I have come to love cooking so much. Food is good. Andy has had to pitch in more lately and I'm not sure if he loves it or not. He used to cook all of our meals when we were first married because I didn't even know how to boil an egg. But over the years I have learned to enjoy it and he hardly ever cooked anymore until recently. He's a good cook, so I hope he doesn't mind too much.

 I'm still doing my best to eat healthy as well. I haven't done a fitness update in quite awhile, but I'm still chugging along. I am only 3 pounds from my goal weight and I can hardly believe it. And guess what? Now I think I need to lose more. Why can't we just be happy with ourselves. Anyway, I'll post more about that when I do a fitness update later.

 Magnus continues to be Magnus aka The Silent Assassin and get into lots of trouble.

 We have had some beautiful weather. I love the rain and fall is my favorite season.

 We even made a fire one day because the weather just called for it. I love fall. Oh, did I say that already?

 Daphne's competition team has played awesome this season. Daphne has even scored a few times. Her last game is this week and then she'll have indoor training until the spring season starts.

 Even though life is busy busy, we try to take some time to relax and play at the park once in awhile.

 This poor neglected dog comes and bothers me in the morning when nobody will let her out. Poor Sadie. We love her though, she is a good dog (except when she chews up Magnus' poopy diapers that someone left on the porch because they were too lazy to go throw them away in the garbage!! Dumb dog)

We also had school pictures, and I have to say that I think they turned out darling. Take a gander:

 Bear- kindergarten

 Daphne- second grade

 Jonah- fourth grade

 Laylah-f ifth grade

 The kids all decided they wanted to join the school choir again this year, much to my delight (I love music so much) and this was their first performance. They were awesome. Good luck finding all four of them. 

 I was able to participate in the Cut-A-Thon at my work. We did free haircuts, pink hair extensions, and facials for a minimum donation to breast cancer research. It was a busy day. I think we did about  30 haircuts and 12 facials between us. I really like these gals that I work with. They're so cute and fun.

 In other fitness news, I ran my fastest mile ever, 8 min 28 sec. I was pretty proud of that.

 Spider-Boy

 And don't mind Baron and Ezra trying to break their necks. They figured out that they could climb onto our neighbors garage roof and jump onto the tramp below that Andy had moved next to the wall when he was mowing the lawn. I was in my room when I heard them laughing and yelling and when I looked out my window, I was shocked to see them up there. Jonah does it all the time, I just didn't think they were big enough to climb up there. I was wrong, obviously. I let them jump off once, but I told them to knock it off. I'm a good mom still.... right? Haha.

 Jonah started flag football again and here he is doing the kick-off. He has improved so much this year. He has been playing quarterback and he's also their kicker. They have only lost one game and their team is awesome. I love that he has found some physical things he enjoys doing. He wasn't really into sports until about a year ago, and since then he has just gotten better and better. He practices so hard because he just wants to be really good. I admire his determination so much. I'm a proud mama.

 Crazy hair day for and wear red for red ribbon week at school. Always a good time.

 And here's me, just on my way to an early morning work meeting. There's crispness in the air and I finally get to enjoy my mint tea and wear my wool coat. I love it! Also something I love? Having my nails painted. I never used to paint my nails because they chip after like, one day, and I cannot stand having chipped nail polish. But since I get free salon services and we do gel nails at the salon, they last about 2 weeks and then I can have them re-done! Yeah, definitely love that too.

 And that brings us to tonight. Another game night and fun times had by all.

I love my family.

So there's that. Lots of pictures and a little update on life as of late. Happy, fun, stressful, busy, lovely, wonderful, crazy life.

Friday Night Date With My Computer

Here's a glimpse into my Friday nights.... Studying for biology. Or, blogging to avoid studying for biology, either one! Next week is fall break and I can't even tell you how excited I am to have a week off from this class! Yay!

Just A Few Quick Things (Or Not So Quick, Because Brevity Is Not A Strength I Possess)

 the day I got to drive around all. day. long.

It's official. I am a crazy person.

I spent the last week at my first job in about seven years. It was so weird being away from my children so much, even though I had fun and everyone is so nice and I really enjoyed doing hair so much. I am the newest stylist at Ulta Salon in Sandy. Come and see me! Because it would just be fun.

Also, I spent last Saturday driving in the car for approximately four hours. That's right, four. Was I doing something fun like going out of town to St. George? Yeah right. I drove to school (in Riverton), kid's to friend's houses (in Herriman), to soccer games (in Magna and then Midvale), and then to Andy's sister's house for a birthday party (in Tooele). I totaled up my time driving and it equaled four hours. Did I say that already? Yeah. Disgusting, right?

I took my kids to Denny's for dinner a few nights ago (kid's eat free there, did you know?! Even though it's gross, it's worth it.... sometimes) because Andy had class and I had had a crazy day studying for a huge bio test (that I took this morning... I think I got a B. Fingers crossed, because it was really hard.) and I didn't want to cook. It was horrible and involved waiting for an hour for our food, our order being completely messed up and crying children because I refused to wait even longer for new food, so I made them eat what they had. I didn't even eat because they had messed up my order so badly. It also involved the waitress accidentally dumping syrup all over Daphne. I mean, she was drenched. Hair, clothes, shoes.... you get the picture. I almost burst into tears. It's just days like that where it's one more thing, you know? The kind of thing that puts you over the edge.

Yesterday was the longest day of my life. I got about 4 hours of sleep on Friday, got up at 5 AM for some cramming before my test, and then headed off to meet my study group for even more studying at 7:30. I had to actually look cute and put together and pack a days worth of food so that I could go to work right after class (because I am still trying to be healthy and take care of my body even though I haven't exercised in almost a week.... no time, no time.) I took my test, and luckily I feel much better about this test than I did my last one. This class is absolutely killing me. I am so glad midterms were this week and that the semester is half over. After the test we had a 2 hour lecture. Shoot me. I then headed off to work where I did hair and make-up non-stop until I got off at 4:30 (it was supposed to be 4). I stayed for an extra 15 minutes to have a little "me" time and got my eyebrows waxed. I feel like a new woman. I then headed to Daphne's soccer game (they lost, boo) and then headed home with my family (that I felt like I hadn't seen in days). Instead of spending some quality time with them, I got to head down to the office and take 3 quizzes and my midterm exam for my online health class that I had been putting off. They had to be done by midnight and I finished at 11:57 PM. Just in the knick of time. Phew! I averaged a B+ on all of my tests combined, so I need to step it up in that class and quit procrastinating. It was a loooong day. Truly.

Can I just say how amazing and supportive my family, especially my husband is, though?! Because I could not be doing this without them. Andy and the kids decorated the house for fall/Halloween while I was gone yesterday. He also made an amazing dinner (crock-pot chicken, roasted asparagus, sauteed mushrooms, and jello. It tasted sooo good), as well as two batches of cinnamon rolls for conference today (it's kind of a tradition :). He also took care of the kids the entire day. They got all their chores done and did all the dishes that had piled up over the week. Andy got them all to bed so that I wouldn't have to get out of "the zone" while I was taking my tests.
I did feel pretty guilty when he told me that Magnus had begged for mommy before he went to bed. Such is life right now, I guess. Such is the life.

I have only been able to watch one session of conference so far (this morning). It was so wonderful, and I enjoyed every second. So many amazing talks and words from our prophets. I love the gospel. It makes my heart so happy, and it is so good.

So, that's it for this week. Thanks for hanging out here with me, I appreciate every single one of the uplifting and supportive comments I receive. This blog has sort of become a venting ground for me lately, but I know it won't always be that way. Thanks for sticking around anyway :)

A Happy Happy Birthday..... To You!

When I say "to you" I actually mean my blog. I can hardly believe I have been blogging for 5 years. Baron and Magnus have grown up from babies on this here little blog of mine. I have loved connecting with people and making new friends through blogging. It's kind of a weird thing, but in a good way. I can honestly say that it brings me happiness and fulfillment. I love to go through and look back at my old blog posts. I love the record I have. I can't believe how much my life has changed in those 5 years. SO many changes. Click HERE to see my very first blog post that my sister Rachel actually posted for me because I was too technologically challenged to figure out Blogger on my own, hahaha! Thanks for the start Rach, I'm not sure I ever would have done it without your help!

Here's to another 5 years.... I wonder if Blogger will even be around anymore? It's a crazy world we live in :)