Best of Summer 2013

This is the last you will hear of my summer. I promise. 

Indulge me as I give you Best of Summer 2013:

Best Activity with the Big Kids: Hike and tour of Timp Cave:

Best Activity with the Little Guys: Thanksgiving Point Farm:

Best Mommy Daughter Activity: Taylor Swift Concert.  It truly was amazing:

Best Cheap Take-Out Meal: Cheesecake factory Skinny Asian Lettuce Wraps.  These babies are like $6.99 and they give you the yummy bread too.  Add a McD's Diet Coke and you've got a meal.

 

Best Event of the Summer: Ashley and her family moving back to Utah.  Ryan was in boy Heaven with his cousins.

 

Best Summer Date Activity: Alpine Coaster and dinner in Park City

Best Bike Ride: Wildflower Pedalfest in Mountain Green, UT.  Rolling Hills, beautiful scenery, fun friends, great food:

 



 Best Lesson Learned: Yard sales are not worth it.   I made 80 bucks and lost my dignity:

Best Extended Family Outing: Alpine Rodeo with Ashley's family:

Best Reunion: Seeing my favorite guys from my freshman year at BYU.  Already planning another one for the Fall and hoping my girlfriends can make it!

Best Treat: Hokulia shaved ice.  This stuff is as big as my head and totally lived up to the hype.

Best Parenting Moment: Driving home from Café Rio and seeing this homeless looking toddler roaming the neighborhood in a swim diaper.  Sure enough, it was my kid.  Luke was supposed to be babysitting.

Best New Addition: My brand new nephew Wyatt

Best Tradition: Fourth of July Parade as the Patriotic Pirates: It never gets old...at least not for us!

Best Vacation for the Kids: Going to Snow Mass, CO with Sam for five days

Best Vacation for Mama: Kids going to Snow Mass, CO with Sam for five days and I stayed home
No pics.  Just lots of trashy tv, dinners out with friends, and roaming the mall by myself. 

Best Shopping Find of the Summer: Slip Extenders.  These are a life saver for us tall girls. I bought one in every color.

Best Bang for your buck: Seven Peaks with the Pass of All Passes.  There are a lot of haters out there but it will always be my very favorite Summer activity.  I love this picture of my bff Susan doing the rope swing in Provo with Y mountain in the background.  Our boys make us do it every time we go.

Best Free Adventure: Alpine Sliding rock: I felt like a hero for actually going down it with the kids.

That's it folks.  Put a fork in me.  Until Next Summer...I'm done!

Am a Fan (Late Spring Edition)

Once again, I am copying my friend Marta's Am a Fan series and sharing my latest loves:

Chick-fil-a wraps.  These babies come with an avocado lime ranch dressing that I could drink by itself.  Add a Diet Lemonade and a large waffle fry and I am in Heaven.

Selling stuff on Ebay.  I just started and I am hooked.  I am selling everything from shoes to PBK bedding.  My used Lululemon workout clothes are selling for more than I paid for them originally.  The shipping situation still throws me for a loop but I am figuring it out.

Harmon's post office:  I am shipping a lot of stuff lately (see above.)  My mom just put me on to the post office inside Harmon's.  They have everything the real post office has without that super grouchy dude working at the Draper location.  You know who I am talking about.  I used to wait extra long to get the other lady working there just to avoid him.  Now I can avoid him all the time and the lines and hit the post office at Harmon's. 

Loft Sunwashed Tees:  Some people swear by Old Navy V-neck tees.  My favorite tees are from Loft.  They are soft, they fit well and you can get them 40% off almost all the time.

Pizzeria Limone: At Christmas time, my friend Mariah introduced me to Pizzeria Limone in Fort Union.  The place has tasty wood-oven pizzas, good salads, gelato, and every one's favorite fountain drink mixer extraordinaire.  It is delicious.  And now we are getting one in Sandy right by my brand new McD's!

Old Navy Work Out Clothes:  Old Navy has been putting out some awesome moisture wicking work out clothes lately. They have some great Lululemon looking knock-off items.  I love their compression capris, bra-tops and bright tanks.

The Mindy Project:  This is Mindy Kaling's show.  Remember when I told you how funny her book is?  Her show is just as funny.  She makes me laugh out loud.  Warning--Sometimes it can be a little crude.  It is on Fox.  DVR it!

 

How to Find the Perfect Pair of Shoes--a Step by Step Guide

Remember my post about finding the perfect snow boots?  That was nothing compared to this. That gave you a glimpse into my shopping insanity.  Over the years, I have developed a new way to shop.  No longer do I go out on an endless browse.  This is how I operate these days:

Step 1.  Decide you have a NEED for a particular item (in this case--bright fluorescent, preferable mango-colored) Nikes.

Step 2.  Tell yourself you will not rest until you find the perfect pair.  Isn't there some quote about the greatest cause of unhappiness is trading what we want most for what we want at the moment?  Don't give in to fatigue and just buy the first pair that looks good.

Step 3.  Get online.   Do a search on Amazon, Google images and every shoe place you can think of.  Order anything that looks decent.  Make sure you use your AmEx card (for miles, duh!) and so that nothing is coming straight out of your account.  Make sure you get free shipping.  Sometimes you have to order extra stuff to spend enough for free shipping.  Do it.  You can always return it. 

Step 4.  Get giddy everyday checking the doorstep for packages.  When you get one, open it like it is Christmas morning--you have no idea what is inside because you ordered so much stuff!

Step 5.  Once everything is here..Lay out the shoes for some photos to post on Instagram.  Get your friend's opinions.

Step 6.  Send photos to your boyfriend at work and make him weigh in on the shoes.  He loves this, I promise.  Then when he comes over, try on all the shoes and work out clothes for him in person.  This is really a test to see if he has the stamina to be considered marriage material.

Step 7.  Fast and Pray.  Just kidding.  But do sleep on it for a few nights.

Step 8.  Tell yourself you are going to narrow it down to one pair.  Then rationalize that you had merchandise credit at Famous Footwear so the polka dot pair was almost free and decide to keep two pairs. (The polka dot pair was a bonus pair anyway--your original mission was to find the Mango pair--remember?!)

Step 9.  Wear the perfect pair to the gym.  Pose with your son in his soccer uniform because he is on a team called Orange Crush and you coordinate with him perfectly.

Step 10.  Return 5 pairs of shoes with one trip to the Post Office and UPS store.

Step 11.  Start looking for more workout clothes to match said shoes especially the polka dot pair you were not originally planning to buy.

There you go folks.  I'm not crazy or anything right?!  Don't answer that.

Instagram is Killing my Blog (or Four Things About Each of Us)

This post is for grandmas and friends who aren't on Instagram and have no idea what we have been up to lately.  And if you are a guy and want to follow me on instagram, it probably isn't going to happen.  That is a place for me to post pics of me in my bathrobe driving Ryan to a friend's house at noon on a random Tuesday.  So I have to keep it to close girlfriends.  Anyhoo, here is what we are doing.

Buster:

1.  Buster loves to be outside.  Too bad mama hates being outside with Buster.  Thank goodness for good weather and big siblings who can keep an eye on him:

2.  Here is where Buster sits during Sacrament meeting.  I know.  I have officially given up.  I am hoping people are giving me the single mom pass:

3.  He loves Airbourne--all of my kids do.  We just discovered how fun (and expensive) it is.  I saw Bentley (from the Bachelorette) there recently (he owns it) but couldn't get a photo:

4.  He loves helping me bake cookies and will eat the dough even when it is just Crisco and sugar:

Ryan:

1.  Ryan plays on a soccer team called "Orange Crush" with his buddies.  He is the biggest and slowest kid out there but he thinks he is awesome.  Sam coaches:

2.  He goes to preschool and tries to make excuses every day for why he is too sick to go.

3.  Ryan is deathly afraid of the Chick-fil-a cow, Cosmo (he calls him "the Cougar") and the Jazz bear.  Here he is at the Jazz game hiding on the ground because he saw the Jazz bear coming up the aisle.

4.  Ry Ry spends most of his time at home in costume.  Sammie never cared about costumes the way my boys do:

Sammie:

1.  Sammie recently had a birthday party at the Lion House.  She truly has the cutest friends and they were so good.

2.  Sammie loves to dance and tumble.  If she is home, she is tumbling.  If she is outside, she is tumbling.  If she is at recess, she is tumbling.  You get the idea:

3.  She is obsessed with clothes.  Yes, this freaks me out.   Sam took her to Nordstrom to spend a birthday gift card and this is the outfit she picked out.  She told Sam he had no taste and to back off and let her shop.  Scary:

4.  She loved skiing this Spring.  She is my most adventurous kid:

Luke:

1.  Luke is playing in a Super League (competition league) for basketball this Spring and loves it.  Sam is coaching.  Luke spends a lot of time outside shooting baskets in the backyard. 

2. He went with Sam to Leapin' Leaners in March.  Luke was in HEAVEN.  He met all the Jazz players.  His favorite is Derrick Favors (I am too lazy to crop any of these photos):

3.  He got to interview Alec Burks and Luke asked him how much he makes per game.  Alema Harrington and Burks busted up laughing:

4.  Luke (and I) made this BYU football cake for the Blue and Gold banquet.  Much better than his cake last year.

Me:

1.  I have been having a lot of fun dating a guy named Cole.  He lives here in SL and has three kids.  He makes me laugh:

I tell him he looks like Paul Rudd (he will kill me for posting this):

2.  I still go to the gym most days.  I go in spurts for what I like to buy and right now I am obsessed with gym clothes and shoes.  I am currently looking for the perfect pair of fluorescent orange Nikes.  I know...the important things in life right?  Once again, glad no husband in the picture as I order and return shoes.

3.  I am in charge of making a yearbook for Luke's class for the end of the year.  Why oh why do I sign up for this stuff at the first of the year?

4.  Other than running kids to all of the aforementioned activities, I get to do lunches and dinners here and there with friends.  I went to Gourmet Dinner Night Monday night and laughed and ate the best food.  I am so lucky to have such good friends in my life.  They make me happy.