Me @ 30

{WARNING: No airbrushing}

Only make-up leftover from the day before and hair barely brushed. Keeping it real.{notice the brownie? and each candle is worth 10*wink*wink*}

So, that Scott could be sure to surprise me and book a babysitter [all by himself can you believe it?] he took me out to dinner for my birthday on Monday night.

We tried Bacci, an Italian restaurant out here in Queen Creek and it was really good. By the time our food actually came we were so full from the pizza bread appetizer [yum], the bread & the soup for me and the salad for Scott that we pretty much just boxed up our dinners.

I got the Chicken Limone and my mouth is watering just thinking about it as I type. Although there was the equivalant to a whole box of pasta in my bowl it was a pretty light tasting dish. Chicken, artichoke hearts and a lemon butter garlic sauce. Oh so good!!!

Thanks honey!

I have had lots of awesome friends who have made me yummy treats and no, no cake :-)! Chocolate dipped strawberries and brownies. mmmm.

[For the record] I am not bitter or depressed about being 30, who cares? it is just a number. It has just brought me into the real world realizing that I am no longer able to relate and co-exist with teenager and newlyweds although, I am sure this was true a long time ago, I am just sure of it now.

For the actual day of my birthday not much happened. I don't know why. I just went grocery shopping [getting the deals on the last day of the ads], went to Activity Days, Scott brought home Filiberto's for dinner [more his choice than mine, ya], and then went over to my moms to hear the details of her trip over the weekend [sad] and see her new craft area [neat], came home and Scott went to basketball while I vegged and watched TV until it was time to go to bed. Am I old or what?!?!?!?

These are some of my awesome friends that took me and Heather to lunch today to the Queen Creek Deli to celebrate outr birthdays [Heather's is Thursday]! They also gave me a bracelet [thanks to the amazingly talented Molly Davis extraordinaire], some {cute} scrapbooking supplies [thanks to Melissa's awesome taste], a sonic card [thanks to Tresure who must have had the revelation that I was desperately missing my sonic ice water] and the most awesome card from Kim [thanks to me via card club:-)I only tease!] and my sister Tara was there and gave me a new flower clip for my purse [because I love these clips and they are a must have so that I don't have to dig for my keys, thanks Tara].

So anyways, on to the food. I usually don't get too excited when people say places are "out of this world yummy"[these were Kim's words] because then I go and am usually left with a feeling of disappointment and thinking it was less than stellar, but apparantly this was the week to try new places because this place was definately "out of this world yummy"! Most of [if not all] of their ingredients are local. I narrowed it down the the deli club [there were several things I would love to try] and then I ordered the Margarhita pizza for the kids because I had to try that, too! My sandwich was warm and delish! A good time with some good food {sweet}!

Oh and the best present of all came from Tate! He pooped in the toilet! OK gross I know ,but he has never even peed in the toilet and I would have thought he would be in diapers forever but he gave me hope on my birthday. Then today while I was in the shower and I looked out to check on Tate and he was looking at the toilet, getting closer, then trying to get on it all on his own so there may be hope after all!

Campout

Last Saturday Scott and the kids talked about camping out [which happens frequently]

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So, imagine my surprise when I returned home from a late movie only to find that the girls were actually sleeping outside.

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They actually stayed out there the whole night by themselves in a tent and they loved it!

25 Random Things about {ME}

This was a tag on facebook (yes I caved).

Thought I'd post it here too!

1} I have an addictive personality (scrapbook supplies, guitar hero, computer, hand sanitizer, lotion etc.) If I find something I like I do it frequently.
2} This is the last day I will be 29
3} I still watch "The Young & the Restless" something I picked up from some neighbor girls (good LDS girls) when I was way too young to be watching it.
4} When I had Macey my ability to watch scary movies or do anything risky disappeared, not that I was ever really that daring.
5} I HATE football, but I really want to watch the Superbowl this year. Such a barabaric sport and always making a racket in the background of my Sunday.
6} I HATE cake. Brownies, cookies, cheesecake..anything but cake!
7} I am ok with not being the best at everything. Too much pressure for me. Although, I can get a little competitive when it comes to a game of wiffle ball(or any game for that matter).
8} I really really really want an SLR camera.
9} I love Costa Vida and food in general.
10} I have a list of 3 things I never want to experience in my lifetime 1} a needle in my spine 2} a "halo" that they have to screw into your skull 3} scrubbing off my skin from road rash ...anything else I think I could pretty much handle. Those 3 might require sedation.
11} I have never had an epidural [see #10]
12} We did not find out the sex of any of our babies except Claire.
13} Claire came home without a name for a few days. She was supposed to be a Lainey, but after she was born it just did not fit and Claire came to me in the shower and that was it! (TMI?)14} I don't like dark chocolate, white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, but I do love Milk Chocolate with some sort of nuts or something (no toffee) (ie Mr Goodbar, Snickers, Kit Kat, Peanut M&M's)
15} I am sucking on a cinnamon sucker from the scrapbook store right now.
16} I don't/can't get dressed for the day unless I have some where to go.
17} I make my kids do the chores I don't want to do like emptying the dishwasher and the trashes.
18} I am a native Arizonan and could not imagine living anywhere else.
19} I took a break from the usual in the Gilbert School district and spent a semester and a half at Mountain View with my best friend Erin and then returned to graduate with all of the people I had known my whole life at Highland High School. It was the best time of my life no matter what they say about Mountain View mormons.
20} I had an awesome seminary, then later institute, teacher while I was at Mountain View. On my last day he had everyone write a note about me and then he read them all aloud to me in front of the whole class-so embarrassing, but so nice. He also taught me the Books of the New Testament song that I still remember... Matthew Mark Luke John the Acts and the Romans.....
21} I can't stand the drama of the female species. This is why I was mostly friends with boys growing up...we played basketball, football in the street, etc.
22} I wish I could do a back handspring and always have, yet, I am too chicken to do a back flip on the trampoline.
23} I love monkeys. Always wanted one as a pet. {so cute}
24} I don't like to read and never read any of the books required for any of my English classes. Somehow graduated by skimming, smarts and Cliff's Notes. Good ole Cliff. But I sure loved the Twilight series and am contemplating reading other things.
25} I have an older 1/2 brother that my mom gave up for adoption and just told us kids about when we were about to meet him about 5 or so years ago. {it's all good, I always wanted an older brother although it was too late to beat up my lame boyfriends}

Project 365

I LOVE this project!

I [rant & rave] about this all of the time so here are some pics (not so good pics). I just keep up to date on my journaling and then print out my pictures at WalMart or Costco about once a week.

The kit (no longer available, sorry, but go here to get some free downloads of some of the pieces) includes ev-er-eee-th-ing!

Although there are stickers included for the days of the week I think I am going to order these &/or these to label each picture with the day of the week to switch it up.

It is like Christmas in a box.

This idea is so versatile for other things...

i.e. first year of marriage, baby's first year, etc.

You don't even have to use a picture it could memorabilia or a receipt.

Other ideas to do this without the kit...

Get 12x12 pages that are divided into 4x6 slots and use the bottom 2 slots for your own journaling cards -you could even sew a line to separate them into the slots. I have seen this on someone elses blog (sorry I could not find it again) and it was very cute. It is not as easy to do it yourself, but definately doable.

Thanks for the idea Becky Higgins !

This is changing the way I scrapbook and journal my families life!

MLK Day {2009}

Nothing going on for MLK day so why not go 4 wheeling?

The weather was perfect!

[BBQ'd] some hamburgers and hotdogs

(I won't mention who forgot the matches and who lit the toilet paper on fire to get the grill going)

lots and lots of riding for everyone

1 broken 4 wheeler [ours]

lots of (p)laying in the [dirt]

lots of realxing [F-U-N]

Thanks for the [nudge] Skinners!

I...I...IKEA

I am always {amazed} at the things I find there.

This high chair is awesome because...

{1} it sits up to the table

{2} it's compact

{3} it folds up and can be stored away

{4} it cleans easily

{5} it is a cute pattern

{6} only $40

{7} Claire sat in it for 20 minutes in the store and only got out becuase we had to go. She begs to get in it and I don't have to worry so much that she is going to climb out of it. [priceless]

The little spice jars are going to be

[so cute]

as a Valentine treat.

Of course they had some [tunnels and bridges] that are a {great} addition to Tate's train set.

Of course these weren't my only finds, but the ones I thought I would share. I...I...definately IKEA.

Way to be Emmy!

Emmy was Student of the Month for December which is the month of [caring].

Notice anything funny about this picture?We realized after I took the picture, but don't worry she really was student of the month and she did get her certificate with her name on it soon after this picture.

Dear blog & followers,

I am so sorry for neglecting you. I have been busy focusing on my project 365, distracted by Facebook, too lazy to get pictures off of my camera and feeling like life around here is slightly lackluster. I realize these are just excuses, but true none the less. Perhaps tomorrow after I clean up, visiting teachers come, go grocery shopping and Activity Days I will have the energy and motivation to take some pictures of some things and post some things on here. That or take a nap. We will see.

Me

When you are on the Computer....

...and the kids are quiet.

it usually means [trouble]

[usually]

but not today

today it was this...

I think this makes up for all of the screaming she has been doing lately. Well, almost.

Edited 5 minutes later:

The [stars] must be aligned

look what else I found...

{sweet}

The Last Week

Lots of sleeping in [the past 2 school days included]

Guitar Hero [Happy early birthday to me]

Kids back to school

*yay for schedule/routine/normal life*

Late night trip to Bahama Bucks [brrrrr]

Sick and tired kids [can you say cranky]

Took Christmas down and put new Christmas tree up
*had to make sure it was going to work while I can still take it back*

Set some [goals/resolutions] for {2009}
learn to take better pictures
read the Ensign every month
exercise more (very vague and very attainable)
Eat healthy{er}-reduce dependency on sugar, eat more vegetables, make a meal plan for dinners, less fried foods..I could go on and on

be more positive, less judgmental, have more hope

P.S. Blogger is being very tempremental and not formatting this the way I want it!

Movie Website

I found out about this website and it is great to help decide if you or your kids should see certain movies or not and why it is rated what it is rated. It breaks down all of the sexuality, violence, language etc. so you know exactly what it has in the movie. I think it is great and very detailed. We all know standards are not what they used to be, but this site has actually tightened it's standards in how it reviews the movies. Just another tool for us parents!

What's Your Sign?

Made with My Cool Signs.Net

Last Christmas Party

I can finally put away my Christmas wrapping paper because we had the Williamson family Christmas party last night. We had lots of good eats and fun!

The kids exchanged gifts

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The adults had a gift exchange white elephant style

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Kids talent show

Here is a video of the girls very own choreographed performance. Seriously watch the whole thing it is hilarious!

In the past couple of days there has also been 4 wheeling (which I did not attend) and an adult only dinner @ Chiles. We've been having fun and the kids are really enjoying spending time with their cousins.