I Heart Cupcakes, Kids, and Cousins

This is just a snapshot of yesterday's project. I have made these adorable cupcake pops a few times now, and I still think they are adorable. They are super easy, just go here for the details and more stinkin' cute ideas.

Speaking of stinkin' cute, isn't she growing up?!


I just want to eat her up!




Now on to these two.


Boy oh boy, life is always an adventure with them around! Last week I decided to take them on a little journey to the reservoir next to our house. (Shhh . . . don't tell them it's not the ocean).
Of course Luke had to dress the part. Notice his Sheriff's badge proudly displayed on his chest informing passer byes that he IS the law. And why wouldn't he carry around his backpack stuffed with a sleeping bag? You never know if a camp-out will be necessary. A lot can happen in a half mile.

Luke's constant companion and assistant in whatever mischief they can find, "Just Tanner" is always along for the ride. Typically he is a little less enthusiastic and certainly always less decked out.

The terrain was treacherous, luckily Sheriff Luke brought along his trusty plastic sword, just in case.

After making it through the concrete jungle, we made it to the Santaquin Ocean. The water apparently felt great, but it smelled a little too fishy for my liking, so I was designated as the picture taker.

We plan on making another expedition to the ocean real soon. Next time I think I will take my raft and glass of lemonade.

With all of the excitement and adventures happening in our little family, one can only expect to be overjoyed and a little overwhelmed to be sent to earth and end up right smack dab in the middle of it.

This is my cute little nephew Nixon. He is the newest addition to our family and we are all so glad he is here. Brielle is going to need a sidekick someday and since Just Tanner is already spoken for, Nixon is the perfect alternate.

Just to make sure that he would one day be her partner in crime, she sealed it with a kiss. . .

and a snuggle.

Then Just Tanner tried to EAT him. . . I don't know what possessed him to try to eat his new cousin, but what I find really alarming is that it didn't even strike me as odd.

I love Nixon's terrified face in this picture!

Welcome to the jungle little buddy!

UPDATE

My incredibly young and fit mother had a pacemaker placed in her chest today (weird I know). What an adventure! This is how the story goes. . . .
She had been dealing with the pains and annoyances of a sinus infection for nearly a month. Eventually she had "had enough" of that pesky sinus infection and went to see good ole Dr. B. After hearing her astonishingly low hear rate, the nurse was a bit concerned. She mentioned it to Dr. B who immediately lost interest in the pesky sinus infection and sent my young and fit mother to get an E.K.G.
Apparently he didn't like what he saw because he ended up consulting with a cardiologist who insisted that she be fit into the urgent slot. She ended up seeing Dr. Wong yesterday. After another E.K.G., he decided that she needed a pacemaker a.s.a.p.
I guess what has been happening is that the top two chambers of her heart weren't communicating with the bottom two chambers. So when the top was telling the bottom to pump blood, the bottom was being a "cold-hearted snake" (hee hee) and ignored the demands completely. Because there was no communication at all she was at a level 3, or complete block, the most serious available version.
Today however, she is a new woman who is able to function at a faster "pace" than ever! Her surgery went well, and her heart rate was already up to the seventies this morning, a sharp contrast from the thirty range it had been residing in. She is also feeling like quite the spring chicken considering that she is stationed in the geriatrics ward.
In conclusion, I am SO thankful for your thoughts and prayers. It is nice to know that we have so many people out there willing to support us through our trials and life's little ups and downs. I am also so thankful that she was blessed with that pesky sinus infection. We truly believe that her sinus infection was the Lord's way of getting her in to see the Doc. Otherwise, she may have never known she had such a serious problem until it was too late. Wow, what a miracle. . . what a blessing! Needless to say, the sinus infection is clearing up remarkably well.

We Need Your Prayers!

Many of you know that I am especially privileged because I officially have the best mom in the world. I am sorry to all of you whose mothers may be close seconds or thirds, but what can I say, I am blessed.

Well, this mom of mine, you know the world's best, has informed me that her heart is having some issues. It must be getting tired from her overwhelming responsibility of being, you know, the best.

Her heart rate is only in the thirties which has got a few doctors concerned. The Cardiologist scheduled her an appointment in the "urgent" slot which is on Tuesday.

So, I am asking, no, I am begging, that you spare a few moments in your nightly, daily, or just any timely prayers for my mom.

She is such a special person, it would mean so much to me if you could help.

Thanks.

Somebody Stop Me!!!

Okay, okay, I don't know what has gotten into me. First off, I usually go months at a time between posts, and today, this is my THIRD. You read right, my third post all in the same day. Perhaps that is because today things are going so well. Knock on wood, (I really literally just knocked on my kitchen table). I just couldn't resist posting about this one small miracle that occurred.

Last night our good friends, Morgan and Kyle had us over for a good ol' fashioned cook out. They had dug a fire pit which we used to cook our tinfoil dinners. Following the dinner, we roasted Marshmallows and made Kyle's Delicious Creation, "the marshmallow cookie sandwich." That's right, it was delicious. So what is the miracle you ask?

I am getting to it.

At our little dinner party, Morgan graciously made us Kool-Aid. If you haven't had Kool-Aid for a while, I strongly suggest that you make some today. It was to die for. Well, my boys were of course wearing their church clothes because my loving husband insisted that we didn't have time to make them change and we could just insist that they stay clean. Yeah Right! Well, I just rolled with it. As you can imagine, when you take two energetic little boys and combine them with cherry red Kool-Aid and a camp fire, you can only imagine the condition their church clothes came home in. It was all fun and games, so I wasn't upset.

Now on to the miracle.

Today I started to sort laundry. My new job. I took their badly battered clothes and sprayed them with my bottle of oxyclean. Tanner's pants looked more pink than tan and Luke had so much charcoal on his that it looked like he had fallen into the pit. I shook my head and in the back of my mind I chalked the clothes up to a loss. However about 30 minutes later, I pulled them out of the washing machine, and to my surprise, every little spot and splatter was GONE! I was so excited! You may be thinking that the spot free clothes constitutes the miracle, but the miracle happened after that. There was a moment when I loaded my white sheets into the washing machine, and pulled the warm, clean, smell good clothes out of the dryer that the thought actually crossed my mind, "I am really enjoying this." There it was, that was the miracle. I am enjoying laundry. I am sure that this is a temporary state of mind that will last but a small moment. But I thought it was momentous enough to write about it, just in case the thought is fleeting. So to all you housewives out there, I have rejoined the club, and now to you I say, clean on mommies, clean on!

Now, please continue on to my previous two posts of the day, they are much more informational and far more entertaining!

p.s.-that picture is not my rear end, nor is it my laundry room, a girl can only wish.

Oh the Places He'll Go!

Saturday was quite a big day for my first born. He is an official preschool graduate. Yes, this may seem like de-ja-vu considering the fact that he graduated from preschool last year too, but this time it is for real! His birthday is in July so we decided to hold him back so that he wouldn't be one of the youngest kids in his class, which means, bonus, two years of graduations! This year he got to lead the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. He had been excited about that for weeks. The night before his graduation he was supposed to be in bed asleep when he came out to the living room in a near panic and said, "Mom, I can't believe I almost forgot to tell you this, we CANNOT be late! Just think of it, I would have to walk up to the stage in front of all those people! We just can't be late." Well, at that point he had me convinced so we made it on time.

We are so lucky to have such a supportive family. I think Luke had 15 people there to support him. Here he is with Grandma Connie and Bampa.

Here he is with his cute little Grandma Ivers

Here is our happy family!

Luke and his teacher, Mrs. Jenni. Not only is she adorable, she is a phenomenal teacher. I would highly recommend her to anybody!

It's sad to say, but even though preschool graduation was only two days ago, he has already moved on to bigger and better things. Today he woke up and decided his fate, he has assigned himself the title "The Mad Scientist." He has even already recruited an assistant, the assistant is insistent upon receiving no title, he is "Just Tanner." I would like you to take not of the pile of weeds on the table. They have been "harvesting corn" from the field next door for the past few days. I had no idea the intent was to use the "corn" in their top secret experiments.



What good is a mad scientist without his trusty safety goggles?

Unfortunately his assistant, "Just Tanner" was only allowed safety glasses.

Here are our two newest family members. C.K. and Piggero. Luke's kitty is C.K. which stands for Cute Killer. We are hoping that the kitties will turn into mouse killing machines, but they were way to cute to be thought of as strictly killers, so he decide to soften the harsh name by throwing "cute" in front of it. Tanner's kitty started out as "Bobby." She kept that name for about a week until Tanner watched Pinocchio and decided that Piggero was much better.

Now, as far as my rut situation goes, I have been unrutted. Launey opened his pizza place up again, which has oddly helped my situation. He is so good at picking up the pieces that I drop that I think I allowed myself to become a little complacent with life. Now that he is busy working there, I have been forced to climb out of the rut and get my act together. He isn't there to pick up my slack, so I know that I need to do it. I do miss him not being around as much, I mean I really miss him, but in a way it has been good for both of us.

The other thing that has been so helpful is obviously the Savior, my loving Heavenly Father, and the words of our great leaders in this month's Ensign. I am sure you know it is the conference issue and it is amazing how re-reading the talks has helped me. Every talk I read has something that I specifically need to hear. Anyway, I really do feel so blessed.

Besides how could I have not gotten out of it with cuties like this running around!

What a little Diva!!

When Did That Bunny Hop Down the Bunny Trail?

Yes, I know I am a slacker, but instead of slacking completely, I am positng a few pictures of some of our Easter excursions. I know it was over a month ago, but you know how the saying goes, better late than never!

Here is sweet little Brielle, she actually stood still for two seconds so I could take a picture of her in her Easter Gown.



The day before Easter we went to my mom and dad's house to color some eggs. This event demonstrated perfectly the contrast between my two boys. I love them each for their own unique personalities!




Notice how concentrated Luke seems to be, he is the serious one who over-thinks things and takes his time getting things done just the way he wants it. He is a very smart little guy.


Here is one of his finished eggs.



Then there's Tanner. He is a little fireball! This kid is built of sheer emotion. He goes more for the quantity over quality approach. He keeps us on our toes, and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't have a good laugh thanks to him.

Here is his finsihed project. Notice the creativity and attention to detail! Each egg has it's own unique attributes! (incase it is hard to detect, try to sense my sarcasim).

This is the end result. Notice the seemingly dominating blue eggs.

Here a few bonus pictures that I haven't posted. There is just something about a happy baby and white sheets!

Tanner had a little meeting with the sidewalk in the middle of an intense race with his big brother. I thought he ended up with a pretty awesome trophy, some killer road rash that is sure to make all the ladies think he is one tough son of a gun. (wait a minute, am I calling myself a gun, and is that a good thing or a bad thing?)

Help. . .I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!

I am in a huge ginormo RUT! I don't know if you have ever been here before. This place where motivation to do laundry, eat healthy, and conduct myself in a cheerful manner is hard to come by. The place where being grumpy is the norm without a real reason for being grumpy. That is where I am, I feel it, my kids feel it, and I am sure my poor husband feels it too.
I know I have a lot to be thankful for, I really do. When I think about it logically, there is no reason I shouldn't be bouncing with every step I take from pure joy and rejoicing for the blessings I have. I am just stuck in this rut. It is an uncomfortable place that I would like to get out of soon. If anybody has suggestions on how to do that, I am open.
Once I do climb out of this place I have fallen into, I will take pictures of how adorable my children are with our two new kitties, cute killer (ck), and bobby. Yes the kids picked out the names. And once I have taken the adorable pictures, I will post them. While I am posting those pictures, I may even post previous pictures that I never got around to posting. Some include our trip to the dino museum with Pooper, our first trip to Disneyland with just our family (it was a great surprise for the kids which we pulled off with miraculous success), I may even post about Easter. That is once I climb out of this place!
Here is just a side note, I am not clinically depressed, I don't need any form of medication, I just need a little fire under my booty. I will get there. . . hopefully sooner than later.