Go Elf Yourself!

I wish each of you a very Merry Christmas!

Best of Christmas 2011

I know Christmas isn't even here yet but I know you don't want to read about all this stuff come Dec 26th. And instead of doing a post for each of these activities, I am condensing it all into a single post. Consider it an early Christmas present from me to you!

Best Yearly tradition: Seeing the lights from a trolley at Thanksgiving Point. This year we did it twice with two different groups of family members. Mama doesn't do the cold...so the lights at Temple Square are out. And Thanksgiving Point has real reindeer!




Best Mom of the Year moment: Throwing a gingerbread house party for Sammie's friends. She invited five friends over to decorate tiny gingerbread houses (purchased at Bed Bath and Beyond for $9.99!) We also played games and had lunch and these little girls couldn't have been cuter.




Best Party that never happened: Luke's cub scout den party at our home. The other leader's son got the stomach flu and we had to cancel...no tears here!

Best breakfast we will never do again: Breakfast with Santa at Thanksgiving Point. Apparently, I didn't learn my lesson last year. Crowded and overpriced for a mediocre breakfast. Next year, I am taking my kids to our gym's breakfast with Santa that is catered by Kneaders!




Best activity that sounds good in theory but is a massive pain in the butt: Festival of Trees:



Best big baby/boyfriend a mom could ask for: Buster in the boots he refused to take off. He only has two words..ball and "Ho Ho Ho." He says it everytime he sees a Santa.



Best Stage Mom Moment: Watching Sammie's small dance performance and dying at how cute she was.



Best escape from Christmas craziness: Jury duty. I was summoned the week before Christmas and had to call in each night to see if I had to appear. Sure enough, I had to go in Wednesday morning. Is it wrong that I enjoyed dressing up (yes, I'm old school and can't enter a courtroom without wearing slacks and a cardigan. I had to resist the urge to wear a blazer!)

I must have a face that says "Please stranger..tell me your life story as you scoot your chair one inch from mine." The guy next to me (rides motorcycles, hates policeman, has been called to jury duty 4 times in the past two years and lives less than a mile from my house)...he told me all of this with a toothpick hanging out of his mouth. I was scared to death he was going to ask to exchange email addresses.

Best Free activity: Sam's boss' annual Christmas party at his home. Joe Morley's BBQ for the adults, Chic fil a for the kids and an appearance by Santa who brings a nice gift for each child...my kids live for this.




Best grandma activity: tie between making gingerbread houses and baking cut out cookies for Santa.



Best Girls' Night out: Gourmet Dinner Night/gift exchange at Jaime's house..fabulous food, hilarious conversation.



Best trip: Luke and Sam's boys' trip to San Francisco to see the Steelers play the 49ers. The miracle is, I haven't heard Sam mention the Pomp and Pageantry of Monday Night Football even once. But I have heard about all the fun stuff they did...Alcatraz, the Aquarium, NFL training camp for Luke, and I am happy for them!





I am not even mentioning the school parties I helped with, the ward Christmas party and the many other small activites. It is a wonderful time of year, and by wonderful, I mean crazy hairy busy!

My Life in Triage Mode

Do you ever feel like you are in "triage mode?" That is when all you do is put out fires and stay one step ahead of the next emergency.

I know my life is in triage mode when:

I am at Harmon's grocery store searching for a gift for our piano teacher 15 minutes before she gets to my house.

I let the house go to hell in a hand basket.

Mr. Peeks (our version of the Elf on the Shelf) hasn't been hid in two weeks...no one notices.

My car is so dirty that my kids are disgusted and beg me to wash it.

I am at the store at 11:30 at night in my uni looking for gingerbread houses for a party I am throwing the next morning at 10:00 am.

All of the clean laundry is still in baskets waiting to be folded and we have to "go fish" to find underwear or a pair of socks. I am just happy that there is clean laundry.

We are eating Little Caesars for lunch and dinner and lunch again.

I mix up the tags on the gifts for the primary teachers and don't even bother to call and apologize.

I am ten minutes late for EVERYTHING.

I am texting babysitters at stoplights and making all of my phone calls in the car.

I am running into my house and back out again 15 times a day.

I find a rump roast in the trunk of my car that has been there for two weeks....thank goodness for the cold.

I don't have time to read the newsletters that come with my friends' Christmas cards.

I am summoned for jury duty and have to appear. I am actually grateful for the diversion from the craziness at home.

Getting to the gym every day feels like One.More.Thing.

Christmas is exhausting.

Anyone else in triage mode right now?

Three Pairs of Fuggs and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Real Uggs

What are Fuggs you ask?

They are Fake Uggs. But they are also called Fuggs because they are fugly. Up until this point, I have never had a need for Fuggs in my life. But today something changed. And for the record, I don't for one minute think these are cute. They are fugtastic beyond words. But I need a pair, just the same.

You see, I go to spinning once a week at the gym, where I change into spinning shoes and in the summer I wear flip flops to and from the gym on those days. In the winter, I would love a pair of cozy boots to slip on my bare feet and not put back on my Nikes. Ditto for pilates class.

The Fuggs will also go nicely with my uni on cold winter mornings when I drive the carpool to school.

So I brought home three pairs of Fuggs to compare. I can really smother a project like this. I spent 30 minutes with Buster in DSW trying on everything they had to offer. Then I went to Famous Footwear and finished at Payless.

DSW's best:

Famous Footwears' best (I would wear them all the way up without the fur showing):



Payless' best:



I am leaning toward the Famous Footwear pair because they are an inch taller in the shaft and a little less bulky and fugtastic. I am just a bit worried that the sole might not hold up to the snow. They almost seem like a slipper sole. Behold:



Plus, I got them for a mere 20 bucks after working the kid over at the register with three different coupons.

Okay ladies, what say you of Fuggs? Do you all own them? Do you think they are as fugly as I do? Do I need a better sole? Before I wear them outside..is there another brand I need to consider? Talk to me.

Sweet Ride

I saw this car in the Walmart parking lot today

If you look closer, there are nude figures doing various "deeds" all over the vehicle.



I seriously stopped in my tracks and checked out the entire thing. Then I whipped out my camera and grabbed a couple photos. Then I saw a dude sitting in the passenger seat and got the heck outta there.

Who does this to their car? Unbelievable.

Proof I Have Lost My Mind

All of this happened in a 72 hour window:

1. I left my purse at Sam's boss' house after his Christmas party. I was too busy enjoying all the fun stuff like launching these huge lanterns:



2. I completely spaced that Ryan had preschool yesterday...took him to the gym with me. Didn't even remember that I had forgotten it until last night.

3. I was helping the kids wrap presents for each other and put a gift for Sammie into a medium sized (fairly flat) box. The present wasn't cheap for being relatively small. I gave the gift to Ryan to carry upstairs. A mere minute later, I saw him playing and he didn't know where the gift was. We searched for THREE HOURS. I was going out of my mind and trying not to beat him. We finally found the gift behind the door right where he was playing. Why didn't I think to look there before I tore apart my entire house?

My naughty little helper:



4. I took Buster to a well child dr appt yesterday afternoon. When I got there, the receptionist told me they had no record of him having an appt that day.

Awesome photo of Buster with Santa:



5. I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies with Ryan and burned the entire thing. That's what you get for having a double oven and putting cookies in both ovens and forgetting to set the timer. We are still eating them.

6. I drove to Gourmet Dinner night last night and forgot my camera. Turned around and drove all the way back home to get it just because I wanted this picture:



7. I forgot to pick up Luke's friend today for scouts. I drive this kid every week. I had to go back home and get him (15 minutes late!)\

8. I prepared everything to put a roast into the crockpot and then couldn't find the roast. I knew I had purchased it at the grocery store the day before.

Impressive right? Someone please tell me they are as brain dead as I am right now. I am hoping it is a combination of Christmas and some other stressful stuff going on in my life. I am too young for this!

Holiday Home Tour

Come on in! I've been waiting for you...Here is your hot chocolate...let's take the tour! I know you think you've see all this before..but not so fast...I got some new balls on my Xmas tree! and I am desperate for a new blog post.

Let's start in the living room with my tree....no one lays a finger on this tree. I don't even like my kids looking at this tree. Buster already broke one of the ornaments this year.



A close up:



And if you turn to the left you will see my entry decor.. My mom bought these knitted stockings for me last year. I love them:



Now, into the family room where we have the...wait for it...family tree! My kids help me decorate it. Don't look too close. I had to appease my children with the PBK stockings.



Check out these big balls...hehe. I found them at Taipan. I obviously have a thing for red and white polka dots. These balls were sold out and I had to drive to Orem to get them. Truth be known, I would have driven a lot further..I love them so much.



And turn around. What is that? My hutch. Probably my favorite piece of furniture. I try to cluster my Santa stuff here:



In the kitchen, I have my Xmas plates:



And candy jars (these are my only claim to fame..they have been pinned thousands of times on pinterest:



One of my favorite things about this season is displaying the cards from family and friends:



Let's go back to Sammie's room. Remember this candy tree? I am anal about it because it is flocked and it loses more flocking each year. I used my lamanze breathing and let her help decorate it.



Back to my bedroom..this is where the magic happens.. (I hate how they always always say that on MTV cribs...get a new line!) Just kidding. We're not going in my messy bedroom.

Let's go into the boy's room. The sports tree. Ryan decorated this one:



And finally out front. You saw my elaborate Halloween display (wink wink) I decided to keep it simple for Christmas. My sole piece of outside decor:



And my new star wreath..waiting for my friend Heidi to come adorn it with ribbon..hint hint.



And of course, my favorite thing in my house...these four! Their excitement about Christmas is palpable. Ryan talks non stop about reindeer, Santa, and elves. I love it.



Now I am coming over for a tour of your house. Don't stress, I will let myself in. Just leave the Fernwood mints out on the table!

First Demi and Ashton and Now This...

I never saw it coming. Ali and Roberto are splitting up. Why do I ever think it's going to work? And to make matters worse, I'm about to have a caveman for my bachelor.

My Trip to Visit Ashley

I returned home from my trip to visit Ashley on Sunday evening. Here it is Thursday and I am finally blogging about it. Re-entry to the grind was hard. I am still doing laundry and battling a nasty head cold. But it was all worth it.

The trip was anything but relaxing. She lives in the Bay Area and there is a lot to do. Ashley had us booked every minute and I never knew from one minute to the next where we were headed. But she is a great hostess and I had a blast.

Here is what was waiting for me on her bed (we sleep together when I come!)



There are movie passes there, warm socks, trashy mag, and an assortment of other goodies. When she comes to my place, she is lucky to find a clean towel.

Here are the highlights of the trip:

The Eating:

The meals are a big deal for me and Ash. This time we shared almost every entree so we both felt better about eating out for every meal. This trip wasn't quite the binge fest that we've done in the past..but the food was still delightful. We ate at a place called Xanh with the Mostess (Kaari) and another friend from the blogging world, Kristine. The food was to die for. Here we are outside the restaurant:



We went straight from dinner to see Moneyball..fantastic.

We also got to go to lunch with one of Ashley's old bosses who we are friends with on Facebook. He is hilarious and he definitely entertained us. We ate at an Italian restaurant in a shi shi little area of town called Santana Row. Ashley and I outside the restaurant:



We also ate at our beloved CPK (where the waiter thought we were twins. We got that A LOT on this trip). We also ate at Chevy's. We split the fajitas and Ashley admitted to me she has never had fajitas before...what the?

We made a short trip into San Francisco and ate at Boudin Bakery in the basement of the big Macy's there. We were impressed with this new diet coke fountain machine that makes your diet coke to order with lime, orange, cherry, etc...snazzy.



The Shopping:

Ashley and I did a ton of shopping. That's what we do. I won't bore you with all the stores we went to but we did find 40% off at nearly every one of them. Ashley was completely bugged by this. "Oh look! Another 40% off sale..no way!"



Here we are in one of our favorite stores..can you tell where we are?:





I love the Container store's Christmas gift wrap section..so festive:



Ashley spent her time looking for a brown cardigan to go with some brown riding boots she is getting. I teased her the whole trip about how the brown boots are a mistake and she will call me in a month and tell me as much.

Here I am in my favorite store WHBM. I shopped so long they had to bring me water:



Ashley did find this awesome canvas in TJ Maxx for above her bed. I have to admit I was horribly jealous of it and was trying to think of any way I could to buy a matching one and take it home with me....but no dice.



Activities:

Hot stone pedicures: These are the bomb ladies. We went on a rainy day and I loved being in a cozy place getting a pedicure.





The Temple: Ash and i did a session at the Oakland temple. It was nice and I felt better about all of our shopping. I also went to church with her for all three hours on Sunday so that should count for something.



It was just really fun to have all that time to chat with Ashley. Everytime I am with her, I am reminded what a good person she is. Plus, we laugh a lot and she just gets me. I can't wait for our next trip.

A very hearty thank you to my mom and dad, Sam and Tyler, who made this trip possible!