Halloween Fun!

This Halloween we got to dressed up several days: First Yuma Halloween Party, great food, fun games and even better companion.

Leah as an "Upside Down Person" (winner of Most Creative) and Mike as "Magnum PI" (winner of Funniest, his Burt Reynolds impression helped)

Who wears Short Shorts? Tom Selleck baby and manly chest hair!

What a party, double Nachos and everything.

Our wonderful Hosts: Frank the Tank and Lady Guinevere.

Let's go Streaking - notice the tranquilizer sticking out of his neck.
Next Dress Up Party for Ladies Bunco -

The Chick from The Ring - 7 days

Trick or treating was awesome this year, Hendrix was way into it and MilaBelle loved her outfit. Although the picture doesn't do justice to their excitement, it's there.

Digging into the LOOT

MilaBelle and her friend Josh comforting one another looking at 'scary things'

Mental Pictures

If you're a fan of The Office you'll recognize this reference of taking 'mental pictures'. Jim and Pam did this for their wedding. (these aren't real people), but I loved the idea: that although I may not always have my camera with me I can make mental notes of the moments in life that make me smile. A few photos from this week.

Mental Photo #1: Mike, MilaBelle and Hendrix walking hand in hand as they cross the parking lot to our house after church. Everyone in their Sunday best. Mike tall and handsome caring so sweetly for our children.

Mental Photo #2: Our new ward Relief Society sisters shoulder to shoulder discussing 'women of the scriptures'. Chatter, discussion and laughter.

Mental Photo #3: Mike folding laundry, is there anything sexier than a man doing housework?

These Pretzels are making me thristy

We had a small Seinfeld shindig and had a so much fun, snacking on junior mints, jujyfruits, Snapple: and a Delicious BIG salad with lots of stuff in it, the carrots were the size of my arm. I wouldn't have mentioned it if it were just a regular salad, but we had to have the BIG SALAD!

(thanks Curtis')

Guests were definitely master of their apparel as they came dressed in something Seinfeld significant...

The Sunshine Cleaners:

Season 7 "The Checks"
George and the Chocolate Syrup stained shirt: Season 2 "The Baby Shower"

Mike as George protecting his gorgeous hands for his new profession as a hand model.

Season 5 "The Puffy Shirt"

Leah as Elaine, "The Red Dot" Season 3

We dined on...

Bruchsetta on RYE BREAD and mini CAL ZONES

Homemade MUFFIN TOPS, PRETZELS of course and BLACK AND WHITE COOKIES (not pictured) Served on COFFEE TABLES. The night ended with Seinfeld Scene-It Game with The Curtis's as the winners, (not pictured, sorry I got my camera out after they left) a grand prize of two cereal boxes, Sweckers in second place taking home jujyfruit and pez dispensers, and the Danielson's last place :( with a little baggies of muffin stumps.

All in all we had a great night reliving the show about nothing. If you're a Seinfeld fan, we are definitely doing this again only bigger and better. Let me know what your favorite line or show is and you just might make the cut next go around, considering you're not a low/high or close talker, face painter or re-giver, you're in baby!

I GET IT!

It's been a rough couple of months. Nothing others haven't experienced, yet it has kept me from blogging. I haven't felt the pull or drive to edit and upload photos, to think about any clever opening lines or act as though things are perfect, but if they really knew...

But...tonight in the quiet of my home when MilaBelle wakes unexpected, and just wants a hug, I carry her into the living room, to cuddle on the couch, for I too need a hug. I listen to her breathing, her head rests in the nape of my neck and I Get IT. Why it's all so important, why families are worth fighting for, why taking walks to the park brighten their day, why reading the same story and singing the same song night after night make them feel whole, loved, comforted, needed and in turn does the same for me

Act as though everything depends upon it because it does.

I Heart So You Think You Can Dance!

SYTYCD tickets to see the taping of the Semi-finals: Zero Dollars (thanks Sheri!)

A super cheap motel with lime green blankets: $24 Dollars a person

An Amazing road trip with great friends, seeing ourselves on TV and meeting two SYTYCD contestants: Priceless!

I Love LA! We had a blast.

Where the Wild Things Are...

At the Britts'

Kriss Kross will make you Jump Jump !

Hendrix and his 'crazy' face:

MilaBelle at the Arizona Museum for the Youth. They have great Monster Stuff right now.

So you think you can dance? My baby girl can DANCE! Check her out.


Play Hard, Sleep harder.

A thing of beauty

If man's best friend is his dog:than Woman's best friend his her hairdresser!I have been in search of a hairstylist my entire adult life. Ever since I moved from Winslow and left the one gay man in the entire town 'Phil' I have been on my quest. Don't get me wrong, I have had several people do a great job with my hair, some friends even, but when you can find a stylist that's not afraid to take risks, is reasonable priced, has a pleasant personality and conviently close, it is a thing of beauty.

I have found such a lady, Nikki at Salon Karizma. # 480-839-4568 or try her cell # 480-374-0864. Make sure when you go to tell her I referred you, check her out and then refer your friends for a discount.

My favorite do by her:

Did I mention she does eyebrows too.

Hawaii in AZ

Our ward had a luau a while back and I found these great photos of my family...

Because of the storm clouds rolling in we had to do without the fire dancers and switch our luau to the church inside, Boo!

But the luau was a hit and so much fun. We returned home to have Hendrix trying to surf the waves in our living room. Here he is hanging 10.

A little body surfing on the wood. Keep it up dude, maybe someday you'll hit the Big Waves of Maui.

Mother Earth

In honor of Earth Day April 22nd, I wanted to share how we save some Green (money) by going Green.

#1: We no longer use paper towels, this is a huge money saver, think how many times you grab a paper towel, when it's just as easy to grab a shamwow, or cloth. We use cloth napkins, which are super cute and cheap.

#2: We unplug or turn off what we're not using. Our microwave is rarely plugged in and we turn off our computer, and dryer when not in use. You can get a power strip at any hardware store that you can hook your tv, radio, cd player and whatever else into and unplug that.

#3: Keep your thermostat just 1 degree cooler or hotter and turn it off when we're not at home.

#4: Hand wash our dishes. This started because our dishwasher broke, but we decided it's not that bad washing by hand, and we let the dishes dry in the washer.

#5: We combine our car trip errands and carpool.

#6: Use reuseable water bottles than buying plastic ones. REI has great ones.

#7: I use old church meeting agendas for note taking.

#8: Use Energy efficienct light bulbs.

For other GREEN savers check out these sites.

http://www.suzeorman.com/igsbase/igstemplate.cfm?SRC=SP&SRCN=layout_gogreen&GnavID=84&SnavID=127

http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/earth-day-money-savers

http://green.yahoo.com/living-green/saving-money.html

http://www.worldwatch.org/resources/go_green_save_green

I want to hear what things work for you.

Happy Earth Day Everyone. and Check out Disney's new movie coming out April 22nd: entitled EARTH, go opening week and they plant a tree for every ticket bought.

Room 4 Improvement?

Alexis de Tocqueville said: The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.

We just finished watching SiCKO a documentary by Michael Moore.

Now I know many of you are already groaning and about to browse another blog, but hear me out. I recognize that Michael Moore is very passionate about his ideals, but I like him, and even more I like the two documentaries of his I’ve seen, “Bowling for Columbine” and now ‘SiCKO’, If you haven’t heard about this film it is a look at America’s Healthcare System and compares our system to that of Cuba, Canada and Europe who all have Universal Healthcare; Healthcare for everyone. I have been interested in this subject for months as our President is pushing for Universal Healthcare in America. After watching this film I am also.

The reason I’m writing this blog is twofold, One: I want everyone to watch ‘SiCKO’ and hear the left wing argument, Second: I understand I have received a bias opinion from Mr. Moore, I’d love for someone to tell me where I can hear the right wing side of the story. I want to make fair judgments and be more educated on the subject.

I cannot agree with our idea of health system as it stands; Hospitals refusing care to the sick and dying, pharmacies charging whatever they want for drugs(most of which we don’t need), medical bills that leave people bankrupt and/or homeless. (The #1 reason this occurs) Last year over ½ of the people who filed bankruptcy did so after a major illness and couldn’t afford the medical bills, 75% of those people had health coverage. 18,000 people died in 2007 because of a lack of healthcare.

I want to live in a country of WE not ME. I want America to be judged by how we treat the least of us. I want more preventative care and fewer drugs. It’s far easier and less expensive to prevent a disease than to cure it. I want America’s healthcare to stop being a business and instead take care of her people.

Last interesting fact: When Dr Jonas Salk discovered the polio vaccine, he was asked why he wasn’t putting a patent on it, to make money, his response: "Can you patent the Sun? "No, because it (the sun) belongs to everyone, Everyone has the right to be healthy and free from sickness."

Watch the movie, give me your feedback and take your vitamins.

I do not like them Sam I Am

To celebrate Dr. Suess' birthday (March 2nd) and St. Patricks day, we combined the celebration last night and had Green Eggs and Ham. Sidedish of green beans, and green lime jello for dessert. Contrary to the book the kids loved it immediately and were really excited about making it.

Recipe: Buy ham precooked, warm throughout, let cool to room temp and rub with apple or mint jelly, then pat on cilantro and parsley. I just rubbed the ham with an italian herb paste, you could use any green herb, or green salsa.
Eggs: Fry eggs to your liking, top yellow yolk with an avacodo mixture (avacoda, lime or lemon juice, chopped onions and tomatillos.) We had ours with spicy salsa verde. It was really yummy.

St. Patty's Day we spent at the 99 cent store so Hendrix could pick out an award using his pennies he's yearned throughout the week by listening to Mommy the 1st time. He's learning to be obedient one penny drop at a time.


They finally share a room now, (we have our closet back!!) and it works great. So far they sleep through the night, don't wake up any earlier than before and Hendrix loves having a campout buddy.

Our Trip Down South

Mike had an out of town business trip, so the kids and I loaded up and headed south, Yuma, AZ that is to hang with my brother and sister in law. This is how much stuff we had to pack for two days. (7 bags and portable crib)

Man, do kids need a lot of things. Stop off at Gila Bend for gas and site seeing...

Careful he bites.

Pushing MilaBelle in the swing at the park .

MilaBelle is getting to be very independant at the park lately.

Climbing and sliding all by herself.
We didn't do anything different in Yuma then we'd do in Mesa, went to park, watched American Idol, but it was fun to visit family, have a change of scenery, and play music with my brother. Thanks guys for putting up with loud kids and early wake up calls. We love Uncle Jared's and Aunt Tamara's house. They've got big sticks in the yard and great giant balls and cardboard tubes to play with.