Seasonal

Bowling for a Break

I recently posted about LG’s desire to join a bowling league to escape the female hormones that are rampant at our house.

So, over Spring Break, we did the next best thing. We went bowling with all the female hormones in tow. Lucky for LG, we joined some of our friends from the testosterone family.
I have to say Matt is one fierce competitor when it comes to who has the most testosterone, and I am only saying that to get him to read my blog.
Here are some pictures in the form of how to have a successful time when bowling with children.
Tip #1: Kick back and try to enjoy the constant motion of the children. Try not to worry about the children throwing the bowling etiquette out the window. Hope that you don’t get people from the redneck bowling league on the lane next to you. (Man, I knew I should have taken their picture)

I know this is a picture of Rita’s backside, but you can’t really see it, and I wanted you to all see her knocking down ONE pin…and we all know that is the hardest thing to do when bowling. Unfortunately, the picture is too small here and you can’t see her blue ball knocking down the pin either.

But, Tip #2: Aim the best you can, and let the bumpers take care of the rest. And try not to worry about anyone taking a picture of your backside.

Tip #3: Demonstrated by Sophia. Dry your hands on the hand blower as often as possible. This seemed to be more fun for the kids than the actual bowling. That blower was never idle throughout the night.

Tip #4: Keep your eye on the ball.

Tip #5:

Try not to obsess about the score.

Tip #6: Say Cheese when your moms get out the cameras, and you will be duly rewarded.

Tip #7: Dig in, because when you said cheese,
your mothers responded with the Nachos. And everybody loves Nachos: big and small.

Tip #8: Take a nap before the final frame.
And the final tip of the night:
Go bowling on the night that games only cost $1.
No matter what goes wrong, everyone will be happy, even the dad’s leave happy.
$20 for our family of 5, and you know he couldn’t have bowled in a league that cheap.
And who wants to bowl with all the rednecks anyways?
They would never jump up and down for you when you get a strike.
And, they would have most definitely threw you out when you missed that split, instead of climbing up into your lap for a hug.
(not that you would want a hug from them anyway, and you certainly wouldn’t want them climbing in your lap)

I wish you only 4 leaf clovers!
We are on spring break and so today has been one of my favorite kinds.
A long enjoyable lazy day full of green sugar:

Cinnamon Rolls from the Mall

Dough
1 T. dry yeast
1 cup warm milk
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
4 cups flour
Dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add the rest if the ingredients and mix well. Knead into a ball. Let rise until double in size. When ready, roll out to about 1/4 inch thick. Spread with filling as described below.

Filling
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
3 T. cinnamon
 Spread butter on dough evenly. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over dough evenly. Roll dough up. Slice roll into 1 inch slices. Place on a greased pan. Bake 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Icing
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 oz. cream cheese
2 T. whipping cream
 1 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Beat until fluffy. When rolls are hot, spread lots of icing on them.

Thanks to Kristen for sending me on a search for

Here’s the song for your St Patrick’s enjoyment:

Oh yeah – Pres Day


Yes, Presiden’t Day would have went unnoticed at our house this year if it wasn’t for the following conversation that just took place on the way home from school.

Abigail: “Mom, Abraham Lincoln was a liar.”

Mom: (not totally paying attention) “Really, why?”

Abigail: no response

Mom: (realizing what Abigail just said and wondering what in the world they are teaching at public school) “Did you say that Abraham Lincoln was a liar? I’ve never heard that.”

Abigail: “No, mom, I said, he was a lawyer.”

Mom: Cracking up. “Do you know why that was so funny ?”

Abigail: SMILING HUGE because she got it…”Yeah mom, his name is Honest Abe.”

So, I guess that public schools aren’t failing us, even though Abigail reminds me now that my hearing continues to fail me.

I guess the lawyer/liar thing is a secondary part of the joke.

For my lover boy

Everyone seem to have posted something really sweet for their spouse yesterday, and all I came up with was the depressing last post. Give me a break, I was up throwing up the whole night before.

I do love my man, and was especially grateful that he was there for me yesterday….not because it was the big holiday, but because he took care of the kids while I slept away most of the day, trying to recover.

This video is for you LG, I know you will enjoy!

V-DAY

I may be in trouble for blogging this because it doesn’t follow the “no talking about the bedroom” rule. [If that doesn’t get you to keep reading, I don’t know what will]

Valentine’s Day usually comes and goes around here without too much fanfare. We usually buy each other something small. Today LG got the movie, Tommy Boy, a trashcan basketball hoop and a card. I got a cd, a pedicure, and THIS card.

On the front of the card it says, “To my honey – I got you this LITTLE button to wear for Valentine’s Day.” It shows the part of the button through the cut out hole that reads “World’s Greatest Lover”

When you open the card, it looks like the above photo, and reads, “Okay, so it’s not that little.” The rest of the button now shows and it really reads, “I got this from the World’s Greatest Lover.”

I have told you before that LG has a great sense of humor, right?

Well, it is just pure coincidence that this post follows the earlier one that is entitled Dead People. But, after reading poor Saxon’s blog, I got thinking back to the days when I was a single girl, not looking forward to V-Day.

In High School, my friend Kristen Dillon and I used to sympathize with one another about our singlehood. We used to get each other something small to say I love ya. Two years after we graduated, I lived in Utah and she lived in California. She called me one night because she was so excited that the next day she was going to see our shared HS crush. She mentioned in passing that she had a late Valentine’s Day card for me and that she would mail it when she got home.

I am not trying to be morbid. You have to realize that this has been 15 years ago. And, I only share this story because I know Kristen is up there laughing about the following story. Kristen died in a car accident on her way to go and see her secret lover.

The next week I found myself at her funeral. My sense of loss was very real and debilitating. Kristen’s roommate walked in with a card in hand. As she passed it to me, I saw my name in Kristen’s handwriting on the envelope.

Kristen would have loved the irony of this ending. Her and I shared a love of humor and literature. Here I sat, two rows back from her casket, shortly before the beginning of her funeral.

The front of the card read, “You may be getting a lot of flowers and cards this Valentine’ Day.”

The inside: “I told people you died last week.”

The card was passed down the row from the hands of each of our friends. Every person reacted the same: jaw drop. Ah, Kristen, she was always good for a shocking laugh.

And, no matter how great each of my Valentine’s Day have been since then, there will always be that one when I was single so long ago. Yes, sometims the love we share the week before Valentine’s Day will always be more important than the actual day. Kristen taught me that.

Does my man hate Mitt?

I bumped this post from 1/29 for my instapundit readers! – Thanks for the link, Mr. Reynolds.

Here is the stuff that I want from the Romney shop.

LG thinks that I am on some silly kick. I have been on the internet for a good part of the evening, joining Team Mitt, reading about the election, and sending a mass e-mail to all of my friends. I even gave a monetary donation to the campaign earlier. Surprisingly, LG isn’t as mad about the monetary donation (only because it was so small) as he is about the e-mail that I sent to his in box (just like I did for all of my gmail contacts) from The Mitt Romney page. He called me a spammer. He told me that I would get some backlash for sending out politically charged info. to EVERYONE in my outbox. I can’t wait to see what happens. I anticipate some drama people.

LG also warned me that if I kept talking about religion and politics so much I was going to lose all my blog readers. Well, as always, I do listen and process whatever LG tells me. And, right now, here on my blog, I want to tell LG that I love him and know that he is (sometimes) right. I don’t respect many people’s opinions more than I do LG’s.

But tonight, I respect Mitt Romney a whole lot! (not necessarily more than LG, but let’s just say that I don’t think I will ever have reason to campaign for LG to be the President of the United States.) This is not just some kick of mine. (I will admit that I tend to get obsessive about stuff sometimes) I take my blog seriously, and I am using it just this once to talk about something that I think is important. I didn’t just get on You Tube and watch the Romney Girl and get on some kick. I have been reading and researching for a week and I just want to share what I have concluded. My conclusion may not matter to any of you, but I am telling you anyway: Mitt is the man for change in America. I am sad that Mitt has lost the Florida primary, but hopeful that he will still prevail. We need Mitt so that we can stomp on Hillary Clinton. (How can anyone in this country vote for another Clinton to hold such a sacred office….didn’t Bill sacrilige it enough already?)

I am not afraid to blog about what I want, but I want you to all thank LG that I will try and contain my Mitt kick to my door to door Mitt knocking and not to my blog from here on out. Just in case you wondered, LG also supports Romney, but he isn’t the type to get in your face. Of course, you all know that opposites attract.

And, the main reason for this blog….LG, this is the stuff that I want for Valentine’s Day. As I have said before, I love the wishlist aspect of the blog. You can buy me the magnet bumper sticker (not the sticky one) the yard sign, and the buttons. And if you really want to splurge, I love this hoodie. And, once again, just so you all know, this is not a kick. I am serious. I am in for the long haul…all the way to The White House!

Why Can’t Mormons Send Flowers?

Here’s the video, and if anyone has any advice how to post directly from YouTube, please let me know. Thanks Gina…You will all have to know that it is Gina’s fault, if I go YouTube crazy!

You can’t go wrong with a clip from the good old show Cheers. I can remember gathering in my college apartment with about 30 other people to watch the show finale.

Thanks for the clip via e-mail Valerie. Abigail was watching over my shoulder (not soldier as originally typed) and says to me, “This is a bad show.” (She heard the word damn) Oh no. Now, she won’t think I am perfect!!! Yeah right!

LG’s boss says that LG reminds them all of Norm. They mean it as a compliment….They are all in awe that wherever he goes and whoever he talks to peopel all just love him. I am not in awe. He is charming, and because he is, I never let him buy me flowers for Valentine’s Day. He knows he can get me double the flowers a week later!

Now, this is a reminder, to all you men, especially you MORE MEN, send your wives some flowers, and do it before they raise the prices for Valentine’s Day or wait until they go on clearance.

My Christmas Ornaments
 
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I have 3 sisters. For the past 7 years we have all been exchanging Christmas ornaments every year. It has been a great way to combine traditions, family and the wifely duty of decorating. It has also been a great way for my sisters to help me with my total hatred for Christmas tree decorating.

This entry will not be funny because I am tired and must retire shortly. I just wanted to post up these pictures and show the variety of ornaments that are on my tree. Forget these people that make them all match. That is serisouly not fun. I will add a little info about each ornament later….too tired. For now, just think of this as my way of making my Christmas decorating pain worth the trouble. You now have all kinds of ideas for different kinds of ornaments you can make.

Santa Claus is Coming To Town



YOU
BETTER
WATCH
OUT!





YOU
BETTER
NOT
CRY!








YOU BETTER NOT POUT.
I’M TELLING YOU WHY.

SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN. So, bring on a mother’s work. Here I am trying not to cry yesterday while I was head to toe in elf costume. I really wanted Santa to keep me on his nice list, so I tried really hard to stay happy. I won’t dare pout beyond what I have already done in my last entry. Didn’t my little elf turn out cute?

The list of things I used from around the house to make this costume include but are not limited to: packing tape, electrical tape, thread, needle, ribbon, newspaper, wire, pom poms, leatherman, feathery boa stuff, a Santa belt, a dress from younger sister, handed down boots (passed down just in time from cousin Kearan), and last but certainly not least – an old hat that I made in High School to go with some pj’s from a Christmas pajama party dance.

The inspiration for the costume of the year came from google and the cover of one of our favorite movies, Elf. We watch this movie all year; it is so funny and pretty wholesome. (it is hard to find both innocence and humor in the same world) The only two items I ended up buying for the costume were the elf ears, which are not included in this picture, and the white tights, which Abigail needed for church anyway. Pretty good huh?

Do you think I redeemed myself from last year? Here is Abigail’s sparrow costume from her last year’s performance.


I know, I know, what was I thinking? The poor girl had to sqwack around on stage like this. The best compliment of the night came from one of Abigail’s best friend’s father. Ryan’s dad, Matt, has a pretty good sense of humor. He said, “Abigail you were the best tropical sparrow I have ever seen.” SO FUNNY!