We are here!

We are here in Salt Lake! It's been quite the production, requiring

3 days

660 miles

16 driving hours

18 volunteer movers

1-26' U-haul truck with car trailer

100+ boxes

1 storage unit

1 1000 sq-ft., three-bedroom apartment

A big thank you to those who came and helped us move out and in (and to those wives whose husbands came and helped).

The apartment is full of boxes, but we are moved in. Unpacking is tomorrow's task... wish me luck...

Merry Christmas!!

May your Christmas this year be extra warm and very bright!!

All Porter wants for Christmas...

is his two front teeth...

and the ones on the bottom,

and a replacement for the one he just lost the other day.

So, Santa -

we're asking you, begging you -

bring this kid some teeth!!

It's Official!!

We're officially up for sale. See?

(Anyone want to buy a great house in Albuquerque??)

Checklist

Replace garbage disposal (Rhett) - check
Fix wall corners - check
Fix hole from front doorknob - check
Paint repaired walls - check
Paint stair-well and loft - check

De-clutter kitchen - check
De-clutter and clean boys’ rooms - check

Clean my room - check

De-clutter and reorganize our closet - check

Clean all blinds, baseboards and walls - check

Box up all extra stuff for storage - check
Replace ceiling fan in Andrew’s room - check
Put boys’ closet doors back on - check
Put boys’ bunkbeds back together - check
Clean and de-clutter computer/craft room – check

Tear out HUGE bush in front yard (Rhett) - check
Clean bathrooms (all 2 ½ of them) - check
Vacuum house - check
Clean kitchen floor on hands & knees (including under and behind fridge, oven and washer and dryer) - check
Shampoo family room carpet - check

Wash inside of all windows – check
Talk with Realtor and start the process of putting the house on the market – check
Have a day of sleeping in and relaxing – check!!

(Have I mentioned that we are moving to Salt Lake after Christmas with the intention of being in Vernal, UT by the summer?!?)

Snow Day

We had our first snow day of the school year today. It snowed all day yesterday (we got a whole inch!!) and by evening they schools were reported to be on 2-hour delay, but by this morning, they were closed. YIPEE!! That meant I got to sleep in and we didn't have anywhere urgent to go, so we did whatever we wanted all day! The boys were begging to play in the snow by 9:00, so they bundled up and went outside to throw snowballs at each other. They came in a while later, asking for hot chocolate because they were so cold. Unfortunately, Andrew was ready to go out at this time, and it wasn't long before he was back in (snow's no fun when there's no one to play with). By the time they had finished their hot chocolate, the neighbors asked if they would come out front and play in the snow, so the coats, hats, and gloves went back on and they were outside again for more snowball throwing (and not much hitting). Once they were cold again, it was back inside for the peeling of the layers.

Birthday Boy!

We have a 7-year old! Can you believe it?!?! We can't... Saturday was Porter's birthday and he was so excited that it was here. He spent the day playing with friends and Wii, then in the evening we had pizza at Dion's (we're going to miss Dion's when we move) and went bowling. His choice of cake this year was a dinosaur ice cream cake - and of course I delivered. Turned out delicious if I don't say so myself. It was a great birthday!

Thanksgiving

We traveled to California to spend Thanksgiving with my parents and Uncle Dan. We tried to head out Tuesday, but after some car trouble, a tow, an evening at Pep Boys, and a rental the next day, we were on our way. We spent Thursday at Disneyland where we had a blast on all the rides, Star Tours and Buzz Lightyear being the boys' favorites. They got to make their own light sabers and had a wonderul time - we didn't leave the park until midnight!

We had Thanksgiving dinner on Friday, after mom and I did a little holiday shopping. We had plans to go to 3 different stores, but our plans changed after we spent 1 hour and 20 minutes in line at Kohl's. Saturday, Rhett went to the USC/Notre Dame game with my Uncle Ken, and the rest of us went bowling and out for pizza. We left CA Sunday afternoon and stopped in Phoenix to see my sister and her family, then came the rest of the way home on Monday.

Now it's back to normal life and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. I got out the Christmas decorations today and remember how much I like Christmas time.

By the way - for those who asked what I thought of Twilight, it was o.k.. I thought it was very choppy and it barely skimmed the top of the detail in the book, but I guess it was to be expected; that's what most movies-from-books are like. I didn't agree with some of their casting decisions; however, I will see the next one when it comes out.

I have my tickets...what about you?

Joy Ride

Last Thursday I had to pick up a bunch of boxes, so I had to stow/fold down my back seat in my van. I had set up the seat again and had faith that the legs of the seat had locked into the latches. So Friday morning, I loaded all the boys into the car so we could go to the school. Porter was the only one sitting in the very back and I backed out of the driveway. I accelerated to head down the street when I heard a big THUD!! I looked back to see Porter's feet in the air - the seat hadn't latched and had fallen backward - with him in it!!! I was so suprised; I quickly stopped the car and turned around to make sure he was o.k. He sat the seat up and I asked him, "Porter - are you o.k.?"

"Yea, mom. I'm o.k." he said. "Weeee!"

Ode to Rhett

Today is Rhett's birthday so, Happy Birthday Rhett!! Thank you for being such a great husband, provider, dad, friend, and so much more. I love you!

Halloween Fun!!

Halloween started a day early with my preschool Halloween party on Thursday. All the kids came in their costumes and we had a blast playing pumpkin bowling, pin the nose on the witch, ring-the-pumpkin, halloween matching, and making paperbag pumpkins. We had a snack of bugs (hotdogs cut in half and wrapped in refrigerated breadsticks with chinese noodles for legs and attenea), apples, and skull sugar cookies. The kids went home with all sorts of toys and prizes and a witch's hand (popcorn in a glove with candy corn for fingernails). The kids' costumes were great; we had Wendy, Optimus Prime, a ninja, Batman, a policeman and a fireman.

Thursday night, we carved our pumpkins. We grew enough in our garden for each of us to have one, although they weren't quite the size they were last year. Porter designed the face on his and we carved a football for Andrew, since he is quite the football fanatic. Zach designed his from his Optimus Prime mask and Rhett did a great job carving his pumpkin and green chili in celebration of our home here in Albuquerque.

If you know me, you know I'm notorious for fixing "special" foods on Halloween. I plan weeks in advance each of the three meals for the day and goodies as well. Halloween morning started off with spiderweb pancakes.

Lunch was leftover bugs (I'm so sad I didn't get a picure) and dinner was bones and blood (pasta and spaghetti sauce baked with cheese on top), spiders (from breadsticks) and greenworms (green beans) served on these adorable plates Rhett's mom sent us! When Porter got out of school, the boys put on their costumes and we headed to Rhett's work to trick-or-treat around his office. Then it was home for dinner and more trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Porter was a motorcross motorcycle guy, Zach was Optimus Prime, and Andrew was a football player. It was so funny to see each of them get into "character" as they got in their costumes. Andrew was a trooper - he ended up with the most candy which made his pumpkin quite heavy. But he would not let anyone else carry it for him! I think he was so suprised that eveyone was giving him candy and he wasn't going to let it out of his sight! He was in heaven because I would open every piece of candy he would bring to me!

We gorged on candy, candy and more candy, then it was off to bed! I love Halloween!

Cocoa Anyone??

I was making brownies with Andrew today for our treat for Family Home Evening. I had bought a new can of cocoa and it had a foil-pull-back top. I noticed that the top was a bit puffed up. "It must have some air in it," I thought. So I carefully started to pull the top open, hoping to let some of the air out without letting the cocoa out. All of sudden, I heard a POOF!! and, like a bad comedy episode, cocoa (lots of cocoa) flew at me!! I was covered (COVERED!!) from my nose all down the front of my shirt and I could feel it going down my shirt! It was in my nose, hair, down my neck and just all over. I turned around to Zach and he had a look of shock on his face. "It's all over your face!" he said. I just laughed, took off my shirt, and got cleaned up. Luckily, cocoa doesn't clump like flour...

P.S. I was going to take a picture, but by the time I thought of it I had my shirt off and, well, you wouldn't have taken a picture either... I just let you visualize... :)

New Ambition

My exercise program
has gone to the wayside
too many commitments in the morning
Exercise at night?
too many commitments to plan at night
exercise during the day?
Like I don't have enough things to do
get up earlier?
but that 30 extra minutes of sleep is
oh, so nice

And, I've realized
I'm an emotional eater
Tired?
eat
Bored?
eat
Stressed?
eat
and chocolate is my vice
combine that with no exercise
it's starting to show
flabby arms
soggy thighs
saddle bags
excess tummy

So
I'm trying to eat healthier
snack healthier
less sugar
less crap
more fruits and veggies
more water
add the exercise back in sometime

But some days
those days
are so hard
when the last candy bar in the cookie jar
is calling my name.

Weekend Pictures

See below for more!

What a Weekend! (con't)

(Note: Read below post first!)

Saturday started with Zach's soccer game. He loves to play and he scored a goal from almost mid-field!

After the game, we loaded up on groceries, packed our bags and headed down to Carlsbad. We spent the night in a hotel, then got up the next morning and went to the Carlsbad Caverns. Talk about amazing! There are two ways to go down into the caves; one is an elevator, and the other is to take a mile-long trail through the natural entrance. However, either way, it takes you 750 feet down into the Big Room of the cave. We decided to be adventurous and take the natural entrance - a mile or so of downhill trail. The boys did great. After an hour and half we made it down to the Big Room, where we took the elevator back up so we could have some lunch (because well-fed boys are happy boys!). After lunch, we took the elevator back down and went around the 1.2 mile trail of the Big Room. It took us two hours to get around the whole trail and we were in awe at the creations that had been made over thousands of years. We took the elevator back up, and went to a park for an hour before we went back to see the bat flight. The bats started coming out of the cave at about 6:00 and when we left an hour later, they were still coming! I couldn't believe how many bats there were. They would come up out of the cave, circle a few times, then take of in a massive stream where they would then break off into groups and fly off to go hunt for the night. It was very impressive.

We stayed in the hotel that night, then got up Monday morning, loaded up everything and drove to Alamogordo to see the White Sands. We rented a sled at the visitor's center, then headed out to the middle of the dunes. We walked out a ways until we found some good hills to sled down. We all took turns going down the hills and playing in the sand. Porter's favorite thing was so run and jump off the edge of the hill. We could've spent all day there on the cool sand. It was a sight to see.

Unfortunately, we did have to come home. But we had a great time and I highly recommend everyone seeing those sights.

(Enjoy the pictures above - I took 985 pics over the 5 days! I love my camera!!)

What a Weekend!!

Are you ready? We had an amazing long weekend. It all started Thursday night when we went to the Balloon Fiesta Glow. As most of you know, I've been trying to see a glow for the past two years, but the weather is usually so bad the nights we have gone that the glows are cancelled. So when Thursday night was pleasant (and rain and winds were predicted for Friday and Saturday night), we jumped at the chance to go. It was fabulous! Most of the special shape balloons were there and it was so cool to see them "glowing". The night ended with a great firework show!
Then we had to go home so we could go to bed early so the boys and I could get up early Friday morning to see the balloons again! Rhett had to go into work, so he couldn't join us, but we had great time. The balloons were amazing as always - I'm facinated everytime. The Special shape balloons took off, then others that had taken off from around the city came over the park. We hung around, and later, three helicopters (a army one, the sheriff one, and police one), 5 hovercrafts, a firetruck, an ambulance, and two police motorcycles came and parked on the grass and we were able to look and climb on them (or the boys were). According to Porter, it was "the best day ever!"
For more pictures, click here