Things You Should Never Do...

Never answer the phone on a Sunday if the caller ID is from your bishop. If there is a mysterious cell call early on a Sunday morning, you can probably guess that it is a member of the bishopric looking for the prayers for Sacrament Meeting. Well, tonight our caller ID showed the bishop and Mark did the unthinkable - he answered the phone.

I could kind of hear the conversation on Mark's side, "well, she doesn't really like to speak in public." As I heard Mark coming up the stairs, I immediately shouted "no"! I know, I'm bad. But, I really dislike speaking in front of large groups of people. Will happened to be upstairs and he was coaxing me, urging me to accept. He said that he wanted me to speak so he could laugh at me the whole time. Great! I know there are a lot of people out there that feel the same way as I do. I am great one on one of with a group of peers, but I die in front of large groups of people. I've done it before, but it's not my most favorite thing to do. I can think of a million things I'd rather be doing!

Mark said that I only had to take two-three minutes and he'd do the rest. DEAL (after much negotiation)! My topic is the joys of motherhood and Mark's is the joys of fatherhood. The topic will be great, I get to talk about my kids. I'm not very excited about it, but it will be good for me and good for my kids to see me up there. I'd really hate them to get my fear. Hopefully they'll be more like their dad in that aspect. Mark is so great at public speaking.

Wish me luck. I have two weeks to stew about it!!

Do You Believe in Ghosts?

I think I've mentioned before that my sister Karyn and her husband Jon are currently renovating their home around 15Th East and 15Th South. Her contractor and the guys working on their home informed them that they do in fact have a ghost at their house. The know for sure that it is a man. He frequently makes himself known and will watch over the workers while they work. He wants to let you know that he is there. He is probably upset about his house. They've torn it down to the exterior walls and floor boards. She has heard noises in the home before, but blew it off, thinking it was the heating/cooling system. They've never seen anyone, but Jon said he's felt weird things and seen a light at the bottom of the stairs. But, the contractors have had many experiences. They finally had to tell "him" to calm down, that he needed to get the house done - that they need to exist together. I think Karyn and Jon might head over there and have a little talk with the ghost. Hopefully that goes well!

A couple of years ago she had someone show up at her house. It was an old man that said he had grown up in the home. We're wondering if it might be him, if he has passed away, or his father. Luckily he left his card, so they are going to try and get in touch with him.

So I've been online searching out ghost busters in Salt Lake. I would be freaked out if it were my house and I had to live there. But, it's Karyns house and I'm thinking it is pretty cool. I've emailed two different ghost hunters that I located on the Internet.

Do you have any ghostly experiences to share? Please share!

Utah Ghost Organization

Some of my Favorites

My friend Kami just posted about some of her favorite kitchen gadgets. So, I thought I would do the same and show my fellow bloggers some of mine.

This is a total splurge, but it is the best garlic press ever. You don't even need to peel the clove.



I love my Boos block.



I love my cast iron skillet. It is a must have.



I love my salt cellar from Alton Brown. I only use Kosher salt now.



My favorite knife is my Henckels Santoku.



I absolutely love spraying this on my counter to keep it clean and smelling great.



I can't wait to try this...



because I adore this...



How could I forget about these...






they are a staple to every kitchen!

I love this citrus juicer, too.



That Rosle brand has very nice stuff!!! Check it out next time you are out and about.

Doesn't this look fun?




I could spend hours at SurLaTable or Spoons & Spice perusing all that is to be seen there. I could spend a small fortune with each visit. I wish that I was a better cook. I just need to practice more, but life is so busy!!!

What are some of your must haves?

Easter Weekend

Happy Easter! We've had such a great weekend spending time with each other. Today we went to church and went up to the Cannon's for dinner. The kids had fun searching our house this morning for their hidden baskets while Mark made a delicious breakfast. I even sneaked in a nap and it was wonderful!





Mark was off for Good Friday and he took advantage of his time off and treated himself to a massage at the Kura Door. After his massage, he met up with us at the zoo. We went with my friends Adrian and DeDee. The weather wasn't great, it was a little cold and windy, but sunny.




Our cute neighbors put on an egg hunt every year and everyone who is around usually attends. They cook scones and everyone brings juice and honey butter. It is such a fun tradition.





My neighbors husband is getting in to riding motorcycles and he showed up in these beautiful pants. Man, I wouldn't be caught dead in them!



I hope everyone had a great holiday!

Day at the Museum

My dear friend Becky invited us to tag along with her and her cute kids to the Children's Museum. We are always up for an adventure...so we were off.



We played on the main floor for a bit, but it was so busy due to the fact that all the kids are out of school. So, we headed upstairs to see this...











We had such a great time. Will had so much fun chasing Thatcher around he was sweating!

After the museum, we headed to Ben's Cookies for a little afternoon snack. After getting all the kids settled in the car, I decided to take off Max's shoes. He hadn't had a nap yet and I really wanted him to fall asleep on the way home. Can anyone tell what is wrong with this picture???



Seriously, what kind of mother am I? The poor thing was running around all day with two left shoes. About a month after I bought these shoes for Max, we lost the right shoe. So, off to the store I went to pick up the exact same pair. He needed shoes, right? I don't know why I didn't ever throw away the extra shoe, but I didn't. Now I will so this doesn't happen again!!!

Thanks Beck for the fun day! My boys love your boys!

Happy First Day of Spring

I am so happy that spring has finally sprung. Now only if the weather would cooperate! It seems like everyone in my neighborhood is gone for the weekend. They all went camping to Zions National Park and we didn't tag along. I'm not much for camping. Imagine that.

The kids are out of school until Tuesday, so wish me luck keeping them busy in the rainy, dreary weather:) Happy Spring!!

What???

There is a SEPHORA in Utah. I know, I know, you don't believe me, but it is true. It is is Ogden on Riverdale Road of all places. I read in the Money section of the Tribune this morning that Sephora was opening a distribution center on the West side of Salt Lake City. What? We get a DISTRIBUTION CENTER and not a real store. So, I got on their web page and did a search of stores that were opening. And, lo and behold I found IT. I even called to make sure. It is located inside JC Penney (WHY?)and their GRAND OPENING is this weekend. She said that they carry most of the brands - but not everything the larger stores have. Why Ogden of all places??? I'm not trying to offend any Ogdenites out there, but really! Hopefully that means there will be a large store in Salt Lake sometime soon!!! I probably won't be loading Max in the car to make the trek way up North any time soon. I'll just continue to take advantage of their free shipping. And I was wondering what I was going to blog about today...

A Little Gossip

Mark had a meeting today with the Church and they said that H & M is coming to City Creek (the new mall in Salt Lake City). Well, the guy would neither confirm or deny about H & M, but when Mark asked and mentioned that his wife would be thrilled, his face went bright red. He was speechless. He also said that 50-65% of the stores are going to be new to the state. The new Nordstrom is going to be 60,000 square feet on each level (2 levels total - wahoo), the creek (City Creek) will be stocked with trout, an 18 foot, cascading waterfall, a retractable roof and the restaurants will be able to purchase their land, so they can serve alcohol. Some of the stores there it might be their first location in the U.S. How exciting for Utah!!! I really just want a Crate & Barrel, Sephora and H & M. We'll see...

Mark is always in the know. I try and beat him to the punch, but with him working downtown right in the mess of it all, he sometimes beats me.

Waiting for Daddy

This is my first video - yeah for me! I've had my Flip since Christmas and haven't posted any videos to my blog. I can't believe it! It was a little difficult. Apparently Google is having some issues and I had to change the case of some words and add some quotes around other things. It's a good thing Google has a help section, otherwise some nice man wouldn't have posted his "fix". I wish I knew HTML, but I'm not that smart! Maybe someday...

Max and I frequently go downtown to visit with Mark and take him to lunch. Our favorite place, as I've mentioned before, is Big City Soup. I had the Corn and Crab and it was delicious!!! We were a bit early and Mark was finishing up his conference call, so I decided to talk to Max. We rolled down the window and opened the sunroof, just enjoying the weather, which is a bit rainy. He was saying "hi" to everyone that passed us. They all smiled and waved. I know that they thought he was the cutest little thing - I could see it in their eyes! Don't listen to my voice. I hate listening to my voice after it's been recorded. But, Max's voice on the other hand is so sweet. I love him so much! Isn't he so smart? I think so! He is really talking up a storm. Mark asked him what he'd been doing this morning and he responded with "ball game". Really! Balls are his favorite!

He has a huge scratch on his nose from Saturday at Red Butte. He is so clumsy and trips a lot, but he's still learning.

I love that it's just the two of us all day long. He is my buddy and a joy to be around. I'm really relishing this time and am not ready to add to our brood yet, but it is a definite possibility in the future.

It's a Party!

My sweet niece Lily is celebrating her fifth birthday this week on Tuesday, the eleventh of March. Saturday, we had the opportunity attend her friend party at Red Butte Garden. I can't believe that she is already five and will be going to Kindergarten in the fall. She is the only girl in our family of six boys and has to put up with a lot around all of them. Isn't she so lucky??? We all love her so much!

The party included painting terracotta pots, which they got to plant a Pineapple Sage and bring home.




They also went on a scavenger hunt around the Children's Garden looking for various animals that would be there.





Doesn't Mark look great? He's lost nearly fifty pounds and he's still plugging along on this diet thing. He is so handsome, if I do say so myself.

One of Lily's friends, Parker, fell into this pond. I'm so surprised that Max didn't go in. There were some orange gold fish and he desperately wanted one. At one point, he was starting to climb in. Anyways, Parker came into the party soaking wet. He is autistic, but can really talk up a storm. He was so funny! Although, he was a bit embarrassed by all of the attention. He really just wanted to get back to chasing the girls. All boys are the same, no matter what age. They just want to chase us around!



This is Lily's baby brother, Charlie. He looks just like Lily did when she was a baby. Charlie turns one in a few weeks! He and Max love each other very much. Max loves to say his name.



What is a birthday party without cupcakes??? They were delicious!

The Farm

Today was such a beautiful day! After school and Max's nap, I took the kids to Wheeler Farm. I knew Max would love it because he loves reading books about animals. We had a lot of fun. There were two new baby cows that were running around their pen. Will and Ben thought that was so great.



The bunnies are always a hit. They thought they would share some of the bread we brought for the ducks with the bunnies.



Seriously - what a PIG! (enlarge pic)



Ben found a stick, which he smuggled into the car. I told him to throw it out, but no. He would later regret bringing that stick with us. He hurt his hand with the stick and our car. Don't ask. But, maybe next time he'll listen to his dear old mom. She knows best!



Will couldn't stand all the excitement and had to listen to his music.



Max loved chasing the ducks (notice the small stick in his hand). I think it's a boy thing because Will and Ben used to and still do the same thing. I wonder where Max gets it from?



While chasing the ducks, Max chased them right back into the pond.



Max got a little too close to the pond's fence and slipped down into the water. I should have taken a picture, but I figured that I'd better get him out before the ducks got him. When I pulled him out, we lost a shoe. Luckily, I was able to save it.





After getting bit by a duck, Max didn't like the idea of feeding them anymore. His face is priceless!