Oh BOY!! (X16)

My cute friend Erica had a great idea to have a dinner including the moms of boys. There were four families there and each family has four boys (except Erica is expecting baby number 5 in April, gender still to be announced). My wonderful little sister Kellie came with us too. We met at the church and let the boys be boys while we chatted. There was basketball, football, bikes and scooters. Little boy heaven! Then we shared potluck dinner and chatted some more. The other moms had some great advice on how to stay sane with all those little men.

Unfortunately Angel and her little guys had to take off before we busted out the cameras.

Erica said: She uses a dot system on her boys clothes. The oldest has one dot on each of his clothes tags. The second child has two dots, third has three and fourth ends up with four dots. This way when an article of clothing is outgrown by one of the older boys it simply gets an added dot on the tag and is passed down to the next child. Holy wonderful way to make putting away laundry easier! Genius!! I am totally using this idea!

Angel said: She tries to "inspire rather than require." Obviously there are some things that you must require like don't run in the road, etc. This is such a great way to teach kiddos to make good choices because they can see the value in them rather than just because they have to. I need to figure out how she does it. She said she loves a book called Empowering Leadership or something to that effect, I will have to find out what it was really called.

Anja said: She tries to teach her kids with the communication triangle. For example when she was on bed rest she would draw a picture of the bathroom and show them where they should clean, She would explain how to do it, and then show with her hands the correct way to wipe down the sink, toilet, etc. This way they saw the picture, heard the explanation and then watched the motions they were to copy. 3xs greater chance they will pick up on what they are being taught.

I truly love being a mom of boys and I am so grateful to have so many wonderful friends that are also wonderful moms to teach me to be better. Thank you all!!

A super duper happy birthday to ME!

Have I ever mentioned that I have AMAZING friends and family?? Well, I do! This weekend was my birthday and I wasn't expecting to do anything. Kelly was out of town, and I had a blast last year so I was totally ok to just chill with the kiddos. Little did I know, there was MUCH fun to be had!Friday evening Janet and Heather just happened to show up at my house, 4 hours away from their houses, and took me out for the night. They had arranged my awesome sister Kellie to babysit my kiddos even. We went to a super delish dinner at Bajio and then headed to Dollar Tree for some superb shopping, as you can see...Sometimes Dollar Tree has super jumbo unders and incredible home decor...
After our hilarious shopping, they took me to see Leap Day, I think it was called, super cute, I loved it! Then back to my house to decorate. Wow! What an improvement!

Who needs Cultural Hall Home Decor when there is a Dollar Tree?
My little Casen is a little bit in love with Kellie. He loves her, and would not let her go home. Makellie, you are AWESOME!!
Post kiddos, Heather busted out the gift bags in true Heather fashion. Oh the fun that was to come!
First we got inked in our High Dollar bling, and busted out the red lippy can you say cool?

Representin' gangsta style!

and then came the most freaky facial masks ever to be made, I LOVE THEM!
Oh the tube socks, not so sure why this is sideways
Here we have Taylor Swift...
And the 85 year old woodchuck... Thank you Janet!
Sportin the pin curls
Janet and all her beauty
So, we laughed and played until 3am and then it was time for bed. I woke up to CRAZY little boys and tried to get everybody ready for church. Janet said they had to leave at 10 and our church starts at 9:30. I didn't want to go while they were still here, so I woke them up just before 10 and then finished getting ready for church and said goodbye. So sad. Little did I know the sneaky ladies would still be there when I got back with an entire Mexican Fiesta waiting for me!! Holy smokes. I walked in the kitchen to find Delish food everywhere, Mexican party decorations, and our traditional Spumoni Birthday Cake waiting for me. I couldn't help but get all teary. I can't believe how amazing my friends are!! Seriously! You cannot underestimate their sneakyness!
We played a little pin the tail on the donkey
Keagan is a cheater :)

and had delicious pina coladas and strawberry daqueries (sp?) virgin of course.
OH YUM! And the fajitas and homemade salsa, and guac, and rice, and beans, and legal cookies... it didn't end!!
Couldn't get any better!
Heather called my mom and asked her how to make this not easy cake. I was so excited and it was so yum!!
After dinner Kaid and Case did the dishes, so sweet. (Until Kaiden demanded payment of a quarter)
Saying goodbye to my wonderful friends, so hard. Could I be any luckier?
Then Martha had us over that evening after Kelly got home. Makell made a super awesome birthday cake #2 and Martha had lemon bars, yum! and rice crispy stars, also yum! She had a birthday banner, streamers, sparkling Cider, the whole party package! This really was the birthday that didn't end and I am SO grateful for all my fam and friends who sent gifts and birthday wishes to me. I am so thankful for everyone! I love you all!!!!!!!

Winter Wonderland

The kiddos saw these ice castles and begged us to go. It was pretty cool, and also VERY cold!

Adam and Megan came to see the cool ice too.
It really is amazing that someone has made these beautiful ice castles out of pine trees and water, and a lot of effort I'm sure.
I stole these pictures off of KSL.com. It was too cold to take more pictures :) So pretty.

Oh winter, how I hate it... but at least there is beauty in it.

Tis the season, Happy Halloween :)

Ok, so there are just 9 days till Christmas, perfect time to post Halloween right? Anyway, better late than never I suppose. We had a blast this year at Thriller. Kelly and I had never been before and we LOVED it! I hope we will be able to go again next year, AWESOME! MaKell and the Stangers came too.
Oh so excited for the show to start!

Seriously scary!
Martha was seriously freaked out by these handsome zombie people, which made it so much fun when one snuck up behind us when the show started and climbed over her into her lap. Priceless!!

So cuddly, I love it.
After the show we went to see some of the cast. This is Matt from SYTYCD. He was awesome.
More of Martha's buddies
Thayne, also from SYTYCD. Really good dancer.

Loved the dance with these guys, and seriously could anyone be more flexible than her??
So cute
Kelly was a huge fan of Ms. Bobbit!! She was hilarious!
He couldn't resist another picture with the crazy lady. She even gave him some tune in tokyo and a pat on the buns after the shot!! Yowzer!
Kelly and the ladies
and on to halloween day :) This was dinner, yum yum yum!

Martha and I smiling so pretty
And Candy Corn Lezh... GO LEZH!!
My Super hot 80s Rocker and I. Please notice the exceeding tightness of the jeans around his calves. So HOT!
Adam and Nurse Megan
Miss MaKell and my little zebra
The ladies
The Fam
Santiago the Latin Lady Slayer and Rock Star
Me and Marth
My little vampire
Have you ever seen Darth Vader with angel eyes? I love him!
Watch out Lexi, Adam is on a mission!
Mission accomplished, I love Adam and his trick-or-treating!
If only this was video, Kelly's kick and scream duo was a sight to behold!!
The Greenes met up with us to finish up our trick or treating. It was so much fun to have friends visit!
Us and the Greenes
Kilee and Keags
Cam and Raya
My little zebra pants, I love his facial expressions!
and he was spent! Happy Halloween everyone, or Merry Christmas or whatever :)