Test Your Skill

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Speedtest

Still Under the Weather

My kids stayed home from school again today. Ben is really sick, he's been sleeping all day. He's thrown up twice, but that might be because of his fever. Will hasn't thrown up and he is doing much better. I'm sure he'll be at school tomorrow, but Ben, I seriously doubt it. Max is just fine - I've kept him away from the boys. I hope he doesn't get it over the weekend. We're going sledding on Saturday with my mom and have a birthday party for a nephew on Friday night.

Tonight I am going out to dinner with my high school friends to Citrus Grill. I need to get out of the house! Just the other day I was commenting on how we hadn't been sick at all this winter and I even knocked on wood three times. I spoke too soon!!!

We're Off to a Bad Start Today

I have two sick kids that are obviously staying home from school today. Bummer for me! I'm trying my hardest to keep Max away from them, but he is so excited that they are home - someone to play with during the day. Isn't Motrin the wonder drug? Seriously! I give them some and they are feeling fine about thirty minutes later. I've tried Motrin on myself and it doesn't quite have the same effect. Anyone else?



They have fevers and Will has a slight cough. So, I don't think it is Influenza. Isn't one of the symptoms a sore throat? Neither of them have a sore throat. Hopefully they are feeling better and are able to go to school tomorrow. Hopefully Max and I don't get it. Hopefully!

I have two pullout cupboards in my kitchen that I keep my spices and various small items in. Max was immobile when I designed my kitchen. I wasn't thinking to the future. He loves to help me in the kitchen. Once he dumped out the cumin and without thinking, I vacuumed it up. Well, every time I vacuumed, it smelled like tacos at my house. My cleaning lady wondered what I had done to my vacuum. Finally, the smell is gone. So, this morning, Max found my sprinkles.



I often find Max with my sprinkles. He loves them and thinks they are delicious candy. They aren't really that good - they don't have much flavor. I left him alone, basically letting him do anything as long as he doesn't get by Will and Ben. All of the sudden I heard what I had feared...



Yes, Max dumped them out all in the couch. As you can see...we are off to a great start today! Hey, at least he loves to help me clean.

Sunday

This week I was called to serve in the Nursery. It's funny, because just a few weeks ago I mentioned to Mark that I needed a Sunday calling so I wouldn't have to go to Relief Society. I'm happy to be in with Max, as I was in with both Will and Ben, too. However, the didn't release me from Activity Days, and that is alright.
Max wore his first zipper tie to church today. While getting ready, Max obviously wanted to wear tie, so in his diaper and undershirt, Mark tied an old tie on Max. He was so cute and so proud of himself. I wish I had gotten a picture!

As I was sitting in nursery, one of my neighbors was in with her little girl. We were talking and she said that she wanted to share a story with me. I hesitated because I know that many of my dear neighbors have many hilarious stories about my kids, especially Will. Apparently one morning she was trying to wake up her daughter that is the same age as Will. As most kids, she didn't want to get out of bed, claiming that she was tired and wanted to stay home from school. Her mom said that it wasn't a choice, that she must attend. The daughter proceeded to say that she wished Lisa Cannon was her mom. I thought to myself, oh great, what have I done now. She said that Will had told her that "my mom lets me decide every morning if I go to school." If only that were true. What a storyteller!

Yes, my neighbors have many stories of Will. We've had great laughs on many occasions about their various experiences. He was such a busy boy, so inquisitive and friendly. One of my neighbors found him wandering their home while the dad had just gotten out of the shower with only a towel wrapped around himself while everyone else was outside. Another neighbor (her husband is a pilot and wasn't home a lot) found Will rummaging through her pantry while they were in bed. They wondered what/who was in their kitchen and found little Will. We must have been outside that night and Will just opened their door and let himself in. Luckily, he's mellowed with age.



Will loves to climb into our bed and watch Disney Channel. I absolutely love finding candy wrappers or toys in our room each night. It drives Mark crazy, because his parents room was off limits to the kids. Apparently ours isn't :)



Max loves to eat. Don't ever get between him and food! And he is such a messy eater. I basically have to give him a bath every time after he eats. He wanted a yogurt and I knew what I was getting myself into by giving him one. But this time it was much worse than normal. He decided to put the bowl on his head. He is such a character. I can't believe how much he is talking, he is a parrot. He repeats everything you say. Will and Ben were fighting (as per usual) and they screamed "shut up", which I HATE. Max just picked right up on that and has been saying it lately.



Ben's homework every weekend is to find words or pictures from a letter in the alphabet. We started the year with "A" and now we are at "N". So, here is a picture of Ben tonight, searching the magazines for words that begin with "N". Every night after we put Ben to bed, he gets out of bed 20 times (not an exaggeration), either to ask a question, tell us something, get a drink or find a toy. Will's good, he sleeps downstairs, and once he's down we don't see him the rest of the night.



After church, we just stayed home. We usually go visit one of our parents, but tonight we decided just to spend time together. We have the 1-4 block of church, which is my least favorite block. Max doesn't ever get a nap on Sunday, and he is a kid that needs a nap. Max found Mark's laptop, he loves to push any and all buttons he can find.



Max was finally unbearable and fell right asleep. Doesn't he look so peaceful and innocent!! He's cuddled up to the quilt my mom made him for Christmas. My mom always makes each of her grandchildren a quilt. Will and Ben are lucky enough to have two quilts each from my mom.

I made brownies tonight and Max didn't get any because he was asleep. I used a recipe I found online, and it was really good. I did modify it a bit by adding chocolate chips and swirled some carmel sauce on top before I baked the brownies.




A little brownie and Girl Scout Samoa ice cream never hurt anyone! And, I am happy that spell check is back up and running!!!

We're Going

Mark surprised me with reserved tickets today! We'll be there and I might have two extra seats if anyone is interested. I'm so excited!

Hilarious!

So, my brother-in-law Jon was kind enough to share this video with me while I was in Arizona. Warning: It is gross!



My favorite is when the dad grabs the dog's ears. Max just watched this with me and now he is making the throw up sound. Rallllfff!

Laundry, Laundry and more Laundry

I am kind of a detergent snob. I love how my clothes smell after using my usual trio of products: Tide, Downy and Bounce dryer sheets. I love the compliments I receive when people smell my kids and they smell so clean. When I was in Arizona, I noticed my sister using Wintree detergent. Her clothes smelt sooo good. So, while shopping at Costco last week, I decided to pick some up because I was out of Tide. To my surprise it was half the price of the HE Tide I usually buy. It smells so good. Maybe my nose was used to the Tide and I couldn't really smell it anymore. This stuff makes my laundry smell so good and it works well. Plus, I'm doing my part by helping out the environment. Heck, last week I bought reusable bags at the grocery store. I am so proud of myself! Just thought I'd share - Happy laundering!!!

Strong Willed

Ben loves the Philadelphia Eagles. I have no idea why he chose this team to love. Perhaps their color or mascot. For Christmas we surprised him with this lovely jersey. The only way I agreed to this purchase was if he only wore it in the comfort of our own home.

We are getting ready to go out with the kids to run erands and dinner and Ben came out wearing his lovely shirt. I told him that he needed to change his shirt. He responded "Mom, stop treating me like a child. I get to pick what I wear". Nice. Mark and I laughed so hard. Where do they come up with this stuff?


***Can anyone else not get spell check to work?**

De-lish

After visiting the other cupcake shop the other day, I am on a quest for a good one. Today while getting my hair cut and colored, Mindy had some cards at her booth for a new cupcake shop that opened just one week ago. It is called So Cupcake and they were really good. I think they were better than the others from my last post. I picked up a dozen and brought them home. I wish that I would have taken a picture of our last purchase, but they got massacred on the car ride home. The other cupcakes were so small and these are just right.



They are pretty good. Poor Mark, I feel like we've been eating a lot of sweets lately. We need to get back on the wagon!

Happy Valentines Day!

I want to wish everyone a happy day! They day started out with school being "delayed" two hours!! Too bad we didn't know this until after we had already woken up. Actually, Ben was the only one who slept in - lucky boy! I am so sick of the snow - although today was a beautiful day.

After dropping the kids of at school, Max and I headed downtown to meet Mark for lunch. We had the BEST soup at Big City Soups. I had the Lobster Bisque and Mark had the Thai Chicken Noodle. They were both divine! We also headed down to the new cup cake bakery, Mini-Cupcakes, on 8th South. The cupcakes were pretty good, but kind of dry. I'm sure it was because of the busy holiday, they probably baked a bunch ahead of time to meet demand. I'll have to give them another try on a not so busy day. They weren't very big and had a hefty price tag of $1.75 each.

When we came home, Mark had some beautiful roses delivered to our home. I love getting flowers. I absolutely love having fresh flowers in my home, they make me so happy.

Tonight spent time with the kids and took them to dinner. I meant to take pictures today, but forgot. Bummer!

I hope everyone had a great day!! Happy Valentines!!

I'm Baaaccckkk

I actually came home on Sunday night, but haven't had a spare minute to blog about my trip to Arizona. I had such a great time and the weather was beautiful. I need to talk Mark into putting this in our backyard...



It is a bathtub. How nice to be able to take a bath in the out of doors - especially on a hot Arizona night.



I had such a great time with my sister. We shopped (a lot), got a pedicure, got massages and ate at some great restaurants. It was fun to be with her friends and her cute little kids. Jon was such a trooper taking care of the kids most of the weekend. He really wanted us to have some time away, which was great. But being around her kids made me really miss mine. It was great spending time with them, Jon always makes me laugh hard. He is so sarcastic!

Will knows my cell number, so he'll frequently call me. He was very interested in what "toy" I was bringing to him. It's hard when you leave without your kids. Mine expect a surprise, so a lot of my time is occupied in that quest. I brought them back some books about Arizona, but he was visibly disapointed. He really wanted me to bring him back the sixth Harry Potter. Sunday night, when I was laying him in bed, he said that he really didn't like the books I brought, but he didn't want to hurt my feelings. My kids are so spoiled!!

My boys were so excited to see me when they picked me up at the airport. I still remember Max's face. He was so excited and shocked. I wonder if he thought I was gone forever. Ben told me that everytime he looked at my picture or something that made him think of me, he got sad. Ben is so tender and sweet. Will was crying on the way home, but I think it was because of my choice in books. I love my boys sooo much! They are each so different.

Mark missed me. I think he planned my return all weekend and kept me up late (when I was soooo tired.) hehehehe

I love flying home. I love seeing Salt Lake. It is such a beautiful place to live. Arizona is beautiful and so clean, but it is always nice to be home!

Happy Happy Birthday

Today is my sweet husband's 33rd birthday. Yes, I am older and he rubs it in every year :) He was born in Seattle, Washington while his parents were finishing up their last year of dental school. He is the best father to our kids and the most loving husband to me. I love him so much and hope that he has the best birthday.

The kids and I made him a cake for his birthday. After seeing Debbie's post about her Red Velvet Cake, I decided to make one for Mark. It is such a great cake, especially when it isn't over cooked. Yes, I used my convection oven and overcooked my cake. I was bummed! It is made with two round cake pans. Well, one of the cakes totally burned, so I ended up just using the one that was somewhat good. You'd think after a couple of years that I'd be used to my oven, but it seems whenever I make this cake, I over cook it. Maybe it's the convection. Maybe I shouldn't cook it quite so long. It seems I do that everytime, but forget to reduce the time the next time. I even attempted to write on his cake, but I was horrible at it. Oh well. Mark is so great, he eats whatever I put in front of him. That is one of the many things I love about him!



Doesn't it look delicious?? I was laughing so hard trying to write the happy birthday Mark. I don't know how cake decorators do it. I usually purchase my cakes at Granite Bakery, and will do so in the future. Hey, at least I tried.



Doesn't Mark look thrilled?

We met Mark for dinner at one of his favorite restaurants, Setebello. The food was delicious and we only had one mishap with the kiddos. Ben decided to spill his drink all over the floor. It is a good thing we were eating with the senior citizens and the restaurant wasn't busy. His employees took him to lunch, so I had Cookies by Design deliver cookies to his office for everyone. I think they were a hit! The kids also had fun making birthday cards. Even Max decorated his own card with cute little scribbles.

Happy Birthday Markie!! I hope you had a wonderful day!!

Snow Day and a Getaway!

We woke up this morning to a serious amount of snow - over a foot! We hardly ever get any snow and our house faces south, so we don't even own a snowblower. I've thought about running out to get one, but I think everyone is sold out for the season. Last night on the news they said to plan on between 2-4 inches in the valley. Boy, were they wrong - it seems like they are always wrong! I called my mom to see how much snow they got - ZILCH, NADA! They are usually the ones with huge amounts of snow, but not this time. I guess I should be thankful for the snow, which I am, don't get me wrong. I'm just so sick of the cold and wind. I'm watching the news and there is more on the way. He just said plan on 1-2 inches in the valley tonight. Yeah right, that is what they said last night and they're never right.

We watched the Super Bowl this afternoon with some of my family. I made Chili and Tortilla soup for everyone and I must admit, they were good. It was entertaining to watch the commercials, but the game - that was another story. It was pretty boring up until right at the end when the Giants made the last touchdown to win the game. It is nice to just be home and spend time with family. Mark's parents are cruising Mexico right now - those dogs!



My sister, her husband Jon and their kids, Lily and Charlie are spending the next month in Scottsdale, Arizona. He works with his parents and they are vacationing for the next month in New Zealand. So, Karyn and Jon are staying at their house while they are gone. Jon usually travels all week, so Karyn decided to take the kids down so they could be with Jon during the month.

Karyn and some of her friends planned a girls weekend and my sweet sister invited ME! Mark is such a wonderful husband. He is taking Friday off work so he can be with the kids while I am gone. I'm leaving Thursday evening and will return Sunday evening. We are going to get a massage, pedi and shop, shop, shop. I am going to stay with them at Dick and Lynne's house and I'm excited to see their home. It is supposed to be amazing. And, Jon is in charge of their kids while we are there, so no kiddos to worry about! It will be nice to get out of the cold and go to the SUN and WARM - even if it might only be in the 50's. Wish Mark luck :)