how to have a bubblish good time

Recipe for fun:
take one normal bathtub

add a capful of cheap target bubble bath for kids

turn on the jets

let bubbles foam and grow until there is AT LEAST a 12 inch thick layer above water surface

add two 3 year olds who love to splash

stand back with towel ready to mop up bubbles

let soak 30 minutes and remove promptly despite teary protests

do not repeat bubble bath in mommy's bathtub for at least another 6 months

spend 20 minutes cleaning bathroom after the bath

a few pics from idaho

these are some of the cousins. kate in the red sweater is 7, emily in the pink is 9 and coulson in the suit is about to turn 4. they are trent's children. this was before church. i'm in love with marissa's hat!

here we have the boys with their boys. travis' oldest brother troy (age 41) with his son alec (age 21 months), travis (age 32) and mason (3 1/2) and trent (age 36) and coulson (age 4, the end of december)

this is payton, (one of troy and carrie's twins who are 14 months older than my twins) with marissa. while we were in idaho, marissa said several times, "payton is my best friend" those two are like peas in a pod when we get together. there are not many mason photos as he turns into farm boy the minute we pull in the driveway. he checks out the cows, the playhouse, the fence, the trampoline, he could spend hours in grandma's backyard, rain or shine. he is perpetually in motion and its all i can to do to keep him in eyesight, let alone in my camera view finder. :)

here we have troy and carrie's brood. chelsea is about to turn 20 (just had a baby boy in october and put him up for adoption, good for her!) jade is 16, paige is 12, janel is 6, alyson and payton are 4 and alec will be two in february.

fat and happy

isn't that a great phrase? it is so true. i remember in college on fast sundays, bonnie and i would race back to our room (406 u-hall) and stuff our faces. we would laugh and instantly be in the best mood ever. we called this phenomena, "fat and happy" time. and it still lives on today. lately i've been subsisting on honey nut cheerios, yogurt, hot chocolate and other such convenience/comfort foods. before and after thanksgiving i just haven't felt like cooking much. i know, i know. that is SO unlike me. but i just haven't. (if you are at loss as to why that might be, i refer you to previous recent posts) anyway, today i just wanted real food. a real meal. so we went to the park and then the grocery store and i bought all the fixin's for a smashing good lunch. i felt like a carl's jr commercial, "don't bother me, i'm eating." i had a juicy hamburger with a slab of colby cheese, pickles, a fat slice of tomato with lots of salt and pepper and a toasted bun. it was divine. and no, i'm not pregnant. thought i would clear that up here and now.

i just get this way sometimes. i remember even as kid, when we would travel, my good mother would pack lots of travel food, ie crackers, instant oatmeal, things to make PBJ sandwiches, etc. and i would start to whine after a few days about wanting spaghetti or a roast beef dinner. i have always liked a warm, home cooked meal. and to top off the "fat and happy" today, i made cinnamon rolls. and you know my feelings about these cinnamon rolls (refer to previous posts again). here i sit in my comfy fat pants, post dinner and warm cinnamon roll gorge session and am as happy as a lark. its a marvelous feeling. that and my clean children are wearing clean jammies, sound asleep with their clean sheets and blankets. i love wash day. :) today was a good day.

turkey day

we had our own little thanksgiving yesterday. it was very nice, just the 4 of us. it wasn't stressful or frenzied. i did a turkey, grandma doty rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, asparagus and dressing. i really liked my dressing, very flavorful and moist. i didn't make dessert. i just didn't have the energy. its like i've been bitten by the lazy bug. plus, the dessert i really wanted to make, (a pumpkin/gingerbread trifle) makes a huge amount, totally ridiculous to make just for us. anyway, my friend heidi brought us over a slice of her apple caramel pie and a slice of her pumpkin cheesecake with candied almonds on top. yum-o! so its not like we were dessert-less really. :)

hit a few stores today. nothing insane like getting up at 4am. in fact, it was a full 12 hours later that we ventured outside for the first time today. the kids took an early pre-lunch nap, that was manna from heaven. we were full fledged slow-pokes all day. when we finally made it out, we did a little christmas shopping and then stopped at charlie's for a pumpkin milkshake. the three of us (travis is working) inhaled it and it scratched an itch i'd been having. i think it was jen who mentioned pumpkin milkshakes on her blog, anyway, since reading that, i've totally been wanting one. i've had one now and i'm set again for another year or so. its not an everyday flavor for me, but a true seasonal treat. :) hope everyone had a fun thanksgiving!

our idaho adventure

Q: What is worse than hurling and having diarrhea at the same time?

A: Hurling and having diarrhea at the same time away from home!



that about sums up our trip. i got sick saturday morning, mason got sick sunday night, marissa got sick monday. and the dog even got it tuesday on the car ride home. lovely. i'll spare everyone the gory details about spending some quality time in a wendys bathroom in sandy. suffice it to say, we've enjoyed better trips. this was reminiscent of the great flu of 2005 that forced us to turn back to grandma's house after 5 minutes on the freeway heading back to utah.

a few highlights of our weekend include playing with all of our cousins, getting all of troy's family's christmas done (we swap names with travis' brothers every year, this year we had troy) and presenting my mother-in-law with her birthday tribute book. glad that its done. :) i do love mypublisher.com and am grateful the Lord answers prayers about when fedex delivery comes. :)

happy to be home. even though today was not so stellar either. all i want to do is stay home and work on my mountains of laundry, but no, i have to go to the store and buy thanksgiving dinner for tomorrow. then, after marissa cries and whines incessantly for like the 1000th time, i finally am convinced that something is wrong with her. i take her to the doctor, sure enough, some white cells in her urine (the start of a urinary tract infection) and her tonsils are swollen and a bright red throat. thankful for antibiotics am i. so after having battled the pre-thanksgiving day grocery store frenzy at one lin's already today, (and vowing never to do that again) i drive to the other one clear out in hurricane where the ever patient and kind pharmacist-o-mine, fills her rx and i can give it to her right away. hooray! a gourmet dinner of kraft mac and cheese rounded out our evening and now i have to say i've been yelling at my kids for the last five minutes to let me be so i can finish typing this entry! i guess it is true what they say, there is no rest for the wicked.

help me out

alright, which one do you like the best? these are candidates for THE family christmas photo 2007. thanks staci for being so speedy! :)

attitude of gratitude

10 things i am grateful for that money can buy:

1. books: novels, cookbooks, scriptures, textbooks, etc.

2. hot chocolate with marshmallows

3. a tv and tivo to watch shows like the office, lost and seinfeld reruns

4. a computer to surf the internet and check out everybody's blogs :)

5. gap jeans

6. crock pot

7. costco membership

8. digital camera

9. contact lenses

10. electric toothbrush



10 things i am grateful for money can not buy:

1. being alive

2. the opportunity to be a wife and mother

3. a testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ

4. the ability to read

5. to live in a free country

6. to live in a community with good friends and neighbors

7. my sense of humor

8. my memories

9. the joy of teaching my children

10. the beautiful landscape of the red mountains, black lava rock and brilliant blue sky



10 things i am grateful i don't have:

1. the plague

2. quadruplets

3. un-manageable hair

4. varicose veins (that's for robyn and staci)

5. an uptight husband

6. kids who don't sleep well

7. a house in a hurricane or tornado path

8. to use a wheel chair

9. to hand wash all my dishes

10. re-live junior high school, complete with big glasses and pre-braces smile

tag, you're it!

snapshots of yesterday

little imp, what is that cheesy chester smile? is he taking lessons from jackson? :0)

apparently, the jungle book wasn't THAT entertaining. yawn.

the ultimate dinner guest

time for some fun from the question book again.

question # 48

given the choice of anyone in the world , whom would you want as your dinner guest?

several names come to mind, i'm just spitting these out, not necessarily ranking them.

i would love to have jk rowling. i think she is fascinating. plus, i can give her some crap for the recent dumbledore revelation. anyway, i think she is a genuis and would be so interesting to talk to about many different subjects.

another one would be margaret thatcher. seems to be a british theme :) and i really don't have a very specific reason, other than that she was the first woman leader of a super power country and besides being intelligent and accomplished, i think she would be very personable and real.

i would love to have jerry seinfeld over for dinner. not only would he be entertaining, i would just love to meet him and talk to him about his life and his views on the world. that would be a great evening.

along that same vein, oprah would be a fascinating guest. i think she is so spiritual on one hand yet obviously missing the boat on a lot things. not that i would want her over to my house to convert her, but i think we could have some meaty conversations on a wide variety of subjects. and to hear her opinions of the people she has interviewed, the things that she can't say on tv or the funny things that happen backstage that the media will never know about, that would be sensational.

and to tweak the question a little, who would i like to have come over and cook dinner WITH me, i would have to say either paula deen or racheal ray. not so much martha stewart, i don't think that would be enjoyable, she's a bit more of a perfectionist. not that i don't enjoy her or her recipes, it would just stress me out.

so who would you like to have dinner with?

monday monday

love the mama's and papa's song, monday monday. also, fan of the song, manic monday. anyway, enjoyed trav's day off today. we went to tai pan trading today, the DEVIL store. to quote the store manager's interview in the newspaper, "its like the costco size pier one." amazing. just walked through endless amounts of beautiful home decor and gorgeous christmas decorations. sigh. money is the root of all evil, ? just checking. :)

we enjoyed lunch at pizza factory today. learned something new. they raised their prices when the new one opened up by ashley furniture. that's lovely. but i tried their apple beer for the first time today, quite a sublime little beverage. the apple beer is as alcoholic as root beer, meaning there is none. my kids, of course, sucked it down. then we went to target and michaels.

just running errands. its fun to do that. and my husband and kids are weird in the sense that they actually ENJOY doing that. they are all jackmans, through and through. they always want to be going and doing and snooping in stores. not that travis is a shopper. because to me being a shopper implies that you can, and will, spend endless amounts of time pouring over racks of clothing or other merchandise regardless or price or type of store. my grandma smith was a shopper. me, not so much. anyway, fun day.

last night we watched the movie "elf" with will ferrel. it is so freakin' hilarious. every time i watch it, i laugh out loud still. one of my favorite parts is where the manager at santa's workshop at gimbal's is lecturing the cute blonde named jovie about ribbon curls, and how he says his line is so funny to me, i even rewind. and i'm not writing the words, because they are stupid, its not the words, its the delivery. perfect comedic delivery. anyone else up for getting out their christmas trees this week? i totally could. probably won't though. i'm that excited for christmas coming though.

a little experiment . . .

okay, who reads this blog? if you read my blog on a regular basis, or happen to blurk (you know who you are) or have just stumbled upon this post by random selection, leave a comment. i have put a tracker of sorts on my blog and its shows the break down by city, state, country, of who visits this blog. i'm surprised at the distance that "a little of this and a little of that" has traveled. YET, no one comments. pony up people. lets be honest, i live for comments!! lets see if we can get 10, 15 or 20! that's the experiment, to see how many people will actually comment. :)

happy halloween 07!

my knight in shining armor and beautiful princess!

people asked if he was king arthur or lancelot, i said no, a nameless valiant knight with facial hair

his face is hilarious! what is that?

it looks like a cigarette coming out of his mouth, like he's a little smoking frenchman

marissa and adler brough, a golfer dude. they had the best time at the neighborhood party last night.

three beautiful princesses and one lucky golfer

i'm so happy mr mason was feeling better. he was pukey all afternoon and he and trav skipped the party (food and bounce house, not a great combo for upset tummies). but when i came home, he was feeling well enough to dress up and trick-o-treat. so glad he better! wouldn't have been the same without my mason boy!

this is more for me than for anyone else. i worked long and hard and loved the end result. i'm so vain!

threw one in of me and the happiest cinderella ever. i seriously don't know how christmas will top halloween this year. :)

a lesser known fairy tale involving cinderella's romance with a young indian brave. cinderella wasn't the pow-wow type and there was an ugly scalping incident involving the fairy godmother.