Success!

My first ever yard sale was a huge success. I made my goal and more. Granted I had set my goal low, to make myself feel great if I got more. The leftover's were taken straight to the D.I. afterwards so I didn't need to store all that crap. I only have one more trip there and my home will be free and clear of junk. Well...until spring most likely. Now it's on to better and more exciting things. I have a Scentsy party this coming Saturday, open house 2-4pm. I tried to send an invitation to about everyone I know. If you didn't get one, don't feel left out, if you are reading this....YOU ARE INVITED TOO! Come and smell their great scents and view the cute and fancy warmers they have. They have small wall plug-ins, and fresheners for your cars as well as sprays. All the holiday scents are out, and they are wonderful. I will provide refreshments, so stop on by for a great time.

Yard Sale!

Multi-family yard sale at my place on Saturday 9/19 7am until noon. Good stuff: lots of furniture including queen, full and twin mattresses, side tables, coffee table, dresser, recliner. Also clothes, toys, Stampin' Up! rubber stamp sets, Fisher Price Geotrax, and kitchen items, and much more. Let me know if you are interested and would like the address.

First Official Day...

Okay, so today was Gabe's first official day of his last year of preschool (otherwise know as his second year). He was very excited to go. He made sure I got several different photo shots of him this afternoon. I cannot believe that he will be in Kindergarten next year. We moved back to N.O. when he was 9 months old, wow time flies! We'll see what fun antics this year brings. And to all the parents and kids whom he offends, I apologize in advance. I sincerely hope that this apology will not be needed. We are working with his temper and lack of patience for others. But he sure photographs well!

He and Miss Jackie. And for some odd reason he is being shy, which is so not him!

Happy New Bed Day!

We decided to treat ourselves to a new mattress since testing a few in May. And...we chose a King Sized one. It's so fun being able to hog the bed at the same time as Colby hogs the bed. And the best part, choosing new bedding because we only had queen sheets. Girls love that kind of stuff. The mattress is so soft and fluffy that it makes the bed really tall, which is something I was hoping for. We have never bought ourselves a bed. We took Colby's old queen when we were first married, and then his parents kindly bought us a mattress one year for Christmas. But, we had never had the opportunity to test them and pick what we thought was most comfortable. I have been sleeping great since Saturday. It hugs my body and won't let go of me in the morning, or afternoon when napping, or evening when reading and watching TV. Okay, let's just say that since being delivered we try to not leave our bedroom. TV has been moved from the big TV in the basement, to the comfort of our room. Story time has been moved from Braxton's room. Lunch and Dinner for me have migrated to the bedroom. And, usually I read on the couch. Not any more!
Oh, and we celebrated our 9th anniversary this last week. We had two days of eating way too much wonderful food, shopping alone without the kids. Going to the movies and just cruising in the convertible trying to feel younger. I'll tell you what, 9 years has been hard, but worth every minute. We have both grown up and changed in ways, but hopefully we are able to communicate with each other better every year. Love ya, Colb!

Herrs in town.

Our friends the Herr family visited us yesterday evening. They are in town to drop their daughter off in Provo at the MTC.

(Sister Sharlean Torst off to Russia after the Missionary Training Center)

They decided to make a trip of it and visit a bunch of different people in Utah, as well as stopping by Bryce Canyon. We made the list of people to visit, which I was very excited about. Jen and I became close friends by serving in church together. We had a great time visiting with them, and my boy's had a blast with all there kids. Nothing like food and friends to chat with. Thanks for stopping by guys, see you next time we are in Cali.

(Braxton, Jaden, Gabe, and Tristan chowing down on pizza)

(Trebor, Jen, Rob, Sharlean, Colby)

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Woot! My first day of no fighting in awhile, it was refreshing. Braxton woke me up at 7:13 wondering why I didn't wake him up to go to his first day of school. My alarm was set for 7:15. I helped him get ready and dropped him off at school. Gabe slept in until 8:20, which is completely amazing. Tristan is still asleep. Oh...the quiet! I am getting the house super clean because I have friends visiting us later today from Cali. I love a good motivation to get me in the "spring" cleaning mood. I will update later with how school was for Braxton. He was very excited for today, we'll see how he feels tomorrow. Oh yeah, Colby and I also celebrate 9 years married today. However we have been together for 11 1/2 years. We will be celebrating on Wednesday and Thursday. It just fit in the schedule for this week better that way, besides we didn't want to miss B's first day in second grade.

Here he is ready to go to school this morning:

Spoils for the day...

My bountiful basket booty:

5 loaves of honey wheat bread $10

fruit and produce basket: $15

4 heads romaine lettuce

3 bunches bok choy

2 bags carrots

1 head of cauliflower

1 butternut squash

1 cantaloupe

2 pounds strawberries

8 nectarines

6 tomatoes

11 small Fuji apples

1 bag green seedless grapes

1 large bunch bananas

online processing fee $1.50

Total $26.50

Tristan is 2!

Holy cow, I can't believe that my baby is two years old already! How did we celebrate? By letting mom sleep in until 10am, wahoo! I had to go wake him up. We opened presents on our bed while Colby slept, he had just come to bed from a long night of work at 7:30am. Gabe was excited to hand him a basketball to unwrap. And Braxton gave him some Marvel Hero Figurines to open. Then we led him out to the deck for his gifts from mom and dad. Colby had picked out a basketball hoop that was just perfect for him. It grows with the child, and can be as tall as 6 feet. I had chosen a slide. He loved both gifts, and sometimes combined the basketball (among other things) with the slide. Next, we had breakfast and got dressed to run over to Grandma Miller's home for a quick (long overdue) haircut. He wasn't very cooperative, but he looks a lot better. On the way home we picked up pizzas to share a birthday lunch with his friend Mason. We ate and played with his new toys, as well as enjoyed putting the slide into the kiddie pool. Nap time proved a great time for me to whip up some cupcakes for his family party later on.

We had lots of cousins and other relatives over. The cupcakes were a hit. Thanks to all that brought gifts, though they were unnecessary. We ended the night around the fire pit, it was chilly after the sun went down (about time).

Block (Street) Party!

Last week I was chatting with a couple of my neighbors as we watched someone move into a rental across the street. We decided that we needed to put together a party including everyone living on our street. The south side of the street isn't including in our ward boundaries, oddly enough, so we don't know them very well. We have lost Braxton several times to the rental house across the street, someone fun to play with always lives there. And he forgets to tell us where he is going. So, my neighbor Rachel and I stamped up some cute invitations, and we had the neighbor kids deliver them to all on our road. It was a huge success! We had so much fun, and the kids always have a blast with the others on the street. We celebrated a little neighbor girl's birthday, and her mom had brought over a fishing pond for all the kids to experience. Some of our friends from other roads wandered over, but we welcomed them to the party warmly. Our plan wasn't to exclude anyone, just to get to know the other side of the street better. Many of our new friends said how glad they were that we had decided to put this together. Connie and Rachel, we were a success! Ryan and Colby hanging out while the foods cooks.
Jed and Tristan, buddies sharing a cup full of ice between them.
Taylor and Elizabeth get the soccor game set up. And Gabe practices running to the goal.
The men grilling our main dishes.
Spoils from the fishing pond: Bling teeth for Ethan and redneck teeth for Braxton, here's Jacob sporting his loot, a stick-on mustache.
Duke trying to escape Tristan's constant love.

15 Movies Tag

My friend Rachel tagged me with this on Facebook. I am going to post it here for all who are interested to view.

Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen movies you've seen that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag fifteen friends, including me because I'm interested in seeing what movies my friends choose.

1. Nothing to Lose
2. Juno
3. Return to Me
4. The Ugly Truth
5. Harry Potter: all of them
6. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
7. Back to the Future Trilogy
8. Conspiracy Theory
9. The Last of the Mohicans
10. Transformers: both
11. Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
12. Disturbia
13. Gone in 60 Seconds
14. My Life
15. Cheaper by the Dozen: the black and white one