A Testimonial

My husband Brandon and I have had a dilemma. We have LOVED the food at Texas Roadhouse, but, there are a couple problems which have prevented us from going on our date nights.

1-They play Country Music. (Big problem for us.)
2-They play Country Music VERY LOUDLY, so you can hardly hear anyone talk.
3-They have some dead animals on the walls. (Sometimes not so appetizing. Makes you wonder what you are eating.)
4-The waitresses and waiters participate in line dancing (in case the music wasn't loud or annoying enough.)

But seriously, the food is REALLY fabulous. So, what to do?

Well, all these factors turned to our benefit today. We are here in St. George, all seven of us, for the weekend. We are thinking, "Where can we take our family for some good food, without disturbing the nice folk around us?" Unfortunately, there is no such place. But, right at this moment, we began to think of wonderful Texas Roadhouse. With the loud music, you may not be able to hear the screaming or whining of our five children.

Added bonus: they serve you peanuts in buckets and encourage you to throw the empty peanut shells to the floor. Could there be a better place for us to take our five children? I think not. Oh my gosh. We were in heaven. Incredible steaks, loaded potatoes, loud country music actually louder than our children. (OK, I really don't like Country Music, but hey, it covered up the sounds of the kids.) Since we went for lunch, we missed out on the line dancing. Shucky darn. But hey, next time we will go for dinner. We all had a fabulous lunch, enjoyed making a huge mess with all the peanut shells, and we could be as loud as we wanted to be. Seriously, so dreamy.

So, next time you are wanting to go to a kid-friendly zone, forget about McDonalds and head over to your local Texas Roadhouse. It may be a little more pricey, but definately worth it. This may become a family tradition for us. For real. I know, sorta' disturbing that we got such a buzz off this experience, but it is truly incredible to find a stress-free eating location for a young family of seven.

Some of the decor


Stuffing ourselves

Peanuts anyone?

Top Five Household Toys for Kids

On my list of RANDOM, best gifts for the little ones (for stockings or Valentines Day):

1-spoons for digging, banging. (So many purposes, hours, and hours of fun. Then they won't invade your utensil drawer. The other day, it felt so good to actually hand them spoons to go dig outside.)

2-an umbrella. Kids just LOVE umbrellas. I loved my Aunt Virginia's story about how much she wanted an umbrella as a child. My kids love to play with them in WATER, in the SNOW, in any situation. Umbrellas can also be a great gift for ADULTS who are finding the child within!

3-a box of Band-Aids.

4-a spatula (with a promise to let them help you cook) HERE is a video from several years ago of Benjamin helping his Daddy cook. He has always just LOVED the utensils!

5-Cookie cutters (can be used with play-doh or given with the promise of making cookies together.)

What's great is you can find most of these things at a Dollar Store near you. Just be on the lookout. Who needs the gimicky, annoying kid toys when there are all these fabulous toys found in every day items.

I have been trying to keep a mental list of random things that my kids enjoy. As I see my kids enthralled over random household items, I take note. It seems of late, band-aids are on that list every day. My children love to ask for Band-Aids. I think they would just about die with excitement and happiness to have a whole box of band-aids to themselves. Maybe for Valentine's Day:). That would make for some good pictures for the blog and maybe they will not be on the prowl for my STAMPS. Hmmmm. Nice diversionary tactic.

Notice the three band-aids Maddie has on her upper-lip and two fingers? She wasn't really hurt, just enjoying some band-aids. My kids just LOVE band-aids. To the point where I swear sometimes they hurt themselves on purpose just to get the warm, loving, care of a band-aid. It's like a sticky hug for my kids. They just can't get enough of them. And you all know by now what an important role dress-ups play in our family!!!

Great LDS Childrens Books

As you can see, my parents really spoiled the kids in the book department, which I LOVE. The kids have been really enjoying reading all their new books. Kids can always use some new reading material. I decided that I would share some of the titles and books from LDS land. Especially if you don't live in Utah and don't have access to an LDS book store, you may want to know some of the titles of the books my kids are loving right now!

This book is perfect for my oldest son Brandon. Very interesting book, "The Nephiteologist".

Some excerpts from the book "The Nephiteologist" so you can get an idea of how it is:


This book, by Debbie G. Harman, "Jesus said..."

And you can guess, the moral of the story is the opposite of the title: "I can't go to church" by Toni Brown.

Another by Debbie Harman, "The Book of Mormon says..."

OK, this is more of a Mom book: "Blessed are the Children". A good book for Moms when children are being naughty and you are having one of those days. Sometimes we need a little reminder. Other days we might want to gag while reading it. Other days we will smile, laugh, and think "Awwwww, that is so sweet." Just depends on the day I guess. The many moods of a Mom.

My husband's trademark saying to every member of our family. I am not sure if this is an "LDS" book, but it sure is sweet.

My kids will break out singing this song, so hey, now they have a book too, "Follow the Prophet". It is a flap Board book with the toddlers love. They usually can survive Maddie, which is an amazing feat for any book in her hands.

Ethan (6) is in love with this book, "CTR Boy" by Melanie Millett. Every Mom fantasy, a little boy superhero who is Choosing the Right.

Fabric Stash Idea

Do you have a fabric stash that is taking up storage space? Well, no worries. Let it sit around until next Christmas, and then I have an idea for you that can help with that extra fabric stash.

I have Christmas stockings, but they are "too good for children". Sorta' like when you have good treats around that you can't bring out till the Mommy/Daddy party, or the china, or your "good" lotion and bath products. Some things are just "too good for children".

So, every year, I buy stockings at the Dollar Store that we can throw out after Christmas. Cause what Mom really wants to deal with the icky goo that will be stuck on stockings from sticky baby fingers. Not me! Well, this year I was a little late. By the time I made it to the Dollar Store (the week before Christmas), the white trash Christmas stockings (perfect for children) were not available.

So, what is a mother to do?

Well, I definately didn't want to ruin the "good" stockings, so I was racking my brain for ideas. Finally, I came up with the idea of using my fabric stash to make Christmas bags for the kids, rather than stockings. It was perfect. I ironed the fabric, threw the treats in, tied them with bows, printed off their names, and stuck their name on the fabric.

Great, because when the kids are done with their stockings, I can just throw them in the wash and use that fabric when it is needed. Anyway, I thought they turned out quite cute, and it was an easy solution!

So, just hold onto this thought for about 360 days, and you will have a great idea for next Christmas!

Making Halloween Cards

I love home-made cards. I used to LOVE to make them, I am just waiting till my kids get a little older to re-start the fun. My mother-in-law makes the cutest cards for the holidays for her grandchildren. I was only able to get four of them, as Maddie would not let go of her card for anything. I thought I would share them, as they are so cute, and she has such creative ideas. Love the little ghosts!!!

Kid Halloween Party

Making mummies with toilet paper


Silly String Wars






After Football Practice, little Brandon was invited to a Halloween party of someone on the team. It was every kids dream party. There were at least 40 kids there. Some of the activities included making mummies out of toilet paper, and having a silly string fight. That is one brave parent, willing to give each child a roll of toilet paper and a little later, each child got a can of silly string. Fun kid times!!! The kids had a blast.

On the way to his Football practice, I was teasing little Brandon. Oh, I can't wait to go to your party with you. It will be so fun. He said, "Mom, I like you, I just don't like being embarrassed." Then he continued to tell me, "You embarrass all the kids with your kid quotes."

I think we are entering a new phase of development, the "I am totally mortified and embarrassed by my parent" phase. Fun times ahead.

The funny part is I was teasing him about going with him to the party. Unfortunately, it took me about 20 minutes to find the house where the party was being held, and we only had about an hour left for the party, so I stayed in order to not get lost again. Don't worry, for Brandon's sake, I tried to stay in the background and out of the way. I think he survived the party without being embarrassed by his Mom. Hope so.

Patriotic Cakes

I have seen these patriotic cakes in the magazines, year after year, and have always had a desire to make one. So, I picked up a cake mix, white frosting, blueberries and strawberries and had fun! Benjamin even told me "You're a good worker, Mom." He loved watching me make the cakes and I guess he approves of them! I had to take pictures as I do not do this very often! It was SO easy & fun!

Your family history; for minutes a day!

My Blog 2006
The inside of the book

My blog book without the cover;nice hardcover!

I could not be more thrilled! The whole purpose of my blog has been to journal for our family so that memories will survive the test of time. At this point, I am very upset at myself for not having kept up with journaling in the early years of Brandon and Ethan's life. There are just so many things that happen that you are sure you will never forget----but then you do! Many memories; both good and bad, are lost forever.

My parents encouraged me to start journaling at a young age, and thanks to them, from the time I could write, I journaled nearly every day of my life. Very unfortunately, I quit this tradition when I got married, until I began blogging again. So, I have lost about 9 very critical years of my life from journaling, which I find sad. I still cannot stand to read these journals from my early years as it embarasses me! I am hoping one day I can organize them and have them put together in some organized fashion rather than having 20 or more journals that are falling apart, out of order, etc.

Anyway, the whole point of this blog entry, is Brandon was able to have my blog for the year 2006 (I started blogging in the summer of 2006, so it is not a complete year!) bound into a book. It is a little over 200 pages, with all the written entries and pictures, bound into a hardcover book! So, all those memories for our family, are in written form. It only cost Brandon about $45 for this book. After the year 2007 ends, he will have that printed into a book also. What a fabulous idea! All our family memories in a hardcover book, with all the written memories too, written at the time they happened! Scrapbooking can be fun, but it is SOOOO time consuming, expensive, and often doesn't stand the test of time. Also, there is so much concern with each page being "cute", that many of the memories are not discussed---which I think are so priceless.

Anyway, for all you bloggers out there, and for all the non-bloggers, I am telling you, this is such a great way to have a family history; for minutes a day. I would definately encourage you to get it printed into a book on a yearly basis. You can't beat the price. I don't even want to think how much money I have invested in scrapbooking, when you can have your own hardbound books made at such a fraction of the cost. (And I must say, it is SOOOO awesome to see it in print!) $45 or even $100 a year for a book of your own family history is pretty inexpensive! The only problem with my book, is since the recent blog entries are first, the book is backwards! Next time that will be fixed, but it sure is fun to look at 2006! How nice to have the pictures and blog entries together, and not have to worry about a picture, or cute embellishment falling off the page; as often happens with scrapbooking. Seriously, this is the only way to go!!!!!

The other great thing for a Mom, is you don't have to make a scrapbook for each child, you can just print off a copy for each child!!! Dreamy!

Blurb.com was the website we used to print the blog into a book! Happy blog and book making! Talk about an incredible Christmas gift for the family!!! It does not get better than this in my opinion!

BLESSINGS A-Z

Some of the blessings listed!
BEFORE

So, I am a copycat! My sister in law Jen showed us this cute idea in her blog. Mine is the white trash version. She painted the letters on hers and it was beautiful! I just loved the idea; as did the kids. So, we spent some time today filling it out. Here is the before and after! It was cute to see everyone (all the kids and the grandparents trying to figure out blessings that started with every letter of the alphabet! Little Brandon did a great job, Ethan struggled, but tried (I had to laugh when Ethan put postopia for P as he loves Postopia.com (the cereal company Post does all these computer games he loves!) Benjamin enjoyed scribbling as we were writing. Maddie and Dylan didn't get to participate as they were taking naps. Dang, I should have added "naps" for my N blessing! It was cute seeing what everyone came up with! Yes, Benjamin did get some marker on my walls! What did my cousin Mary say? Some old lady told her one day she would be grateful for all those marks! I have to agree with her! I think not! That is not one of the blessings I would be grateful for! (Another part of the fine print in the mother contract which I didn't completely read prior to motherhood---that I would have to clean up sooooo many messes!) Really, I wouldn't change motherhood for anything, but yes, some of these messes I could do without!

Easter Outfits Collage

My Costco Collage

I just tried out this AWESOME program that you can download free from Costco.com (from their photo area)--it gives you templates with which you can place a variety of pics and then print them at home or Costco. I just printed this collage at home. It was easy, fun to use, and fabulous. Just one more reason to love Costco; as if you needed any more reasons! You can just click on the images if you want to see them bigger! Isn't it so great? Just head to Costco.com. I think in the future my life will be photo collages since I am such a photo fiend!

For those who know me well, you know I just cannot resist a deal. My sister-in-law Jennifer, made me aware of the Children's Place deals about a week ago. All the matching sweater vests were found there for $4.99 each. I also got Maddie's precious brown dress for $4.99, matching sweater for $4.99, and her cute little hat was $3.99. With five kids it's all about the deals! It is amazing to find matching sweaters for four boys in such a range of sizes! I guess it paid off to postpone our Easter; due to sickness! All the deals came after Easter of course! I also got 4 matching blazers (seersucker) for the boys (also at $4.99 each) which they will wear at Dylan's temple sealing in about a month. I can hardly wait for that! What fun! It's nice to have things to look forward to.