Gainful Employment

I've got to get to work, but I wanted to write a quick note.  The HR lady at Walmart called Steven in this morning after his shift and made him a permanent employee as of today! I'm so relieved, I was starting to really freak out about his temporary status.  I was sure with our luck December 28th would come and we'd have to start looking for another job, just when we were starting to get comfortable with our new routine.  I'm so thankful for a husband that works hard and is one of the three people they wanted to keep after Christmas.

#21 - Do The 4AM Black Friday Sale

So technically we didn't get up at 4am on Friday, we went from 8pm-12am on Thursday, but Heidi says that counts and she is queen of everything so I'm going with her ruling.

 
After pouring over the ads Thursday after our turkey comas we decided that it might be fun and worth it to hit the Walmart and Target sales.  Steven had to go into work at 7 to babysit the Ipad line and I also thought it would be fun to see my man in action.  The Walmart sale started at 8 so we went there first.  My head pretty much exploded.  By the time we'd been in the store 15 seconds, mine and Heidi's tantrum tallies were already at one each.  I just can't handle that many people all throwing elbows to get the same item.  Plus to top it off Walmart is retarded and had stuff scattered through out the store.  Steven was manning the Ipad line clear over in the frozen food isle.  I was looking for some comforters they had for $24.99, do you think I could find them? No I could not.  So needless to say we did not stay long.  Kudos to people who brave that crap fest.  Laron and Laura were able to get some pretty sweet deals, but they showed up at 6pm and sat around for 5 hours.

Seriously look at this ridiculousness

 

I don't know if Target was just much more organized or if the people were 90% less whiskey tango but we had a much more enjoyable experience.  Walmart had actually stayed open all of Thanksgiving, but Target didn't open until 9.  We arrived at about 9:15 so of course there was a line to get in.  We parked approximately 15 miles away and walked over to what we thought was the end of the line.  After standing there and watching people walk into the store for five minutes, we realized we weren't moving. It turned out that a bunch of people were just standing around by the barricade.  What the hell people.  We walked down and finally got in line behind these people.....

 

Who goes shopping in those shoes?  I guess this lady was able to get the night off from the strip club to save some money on Christmas deals. That was really nice of her pimp.  Heidi and Emily took like 150 pictures of these shoes before they got a couple of decent ones, I'm surprised her girly boyfriend (we seriously thought he was a girl until he turned around) didn't take them out.

 

 We were able to get some great deals in Target.  Heidi was able to get her GPS that she wanted and I got several things for Steven that I'm excited about.  There were no shopping carts to be had so after about 20 minutes of shopping we were getting pretty uncomfortable carrying our stuff around.  While we were perusing the baby cloths section, Heidi and I noticed a cart just sitting there with two razor scooters and a set of pajamas in it.  We decided we were going to steal it.  I got as far as throwing the pajamas on the floor and Heidi yelled that a guy was coming so we ran and hid behind a rack of cloths!  He walked right by the cart so we ran back over and threw the other crap on the ground and made our get away with the cart.  We are so stealthy we should be spies.  The American government doesn't know what it's missing there.

 

Our loot and some random lady's bum.

 

The line to check out was really long.  They had it winding up and down the isles to the back of the store and back up twice.  It took us an hour and forty-five minutes.  About an hour into our wait Ryan called that Jinny had been screaming, he says for the whole time we'd been gone but in reality it was probably 15 minutes.  I ran Emily home so that she could feed her and then went back to finish waiting in line. 

 

It was fun spending time with my sisters and mom but I'm not sure I'll be doing that again.





Turkey For You..Turkey For Me...Turkey, Turkey, Turkey

I love Thanksgiving.  I think a lot of it has to do with how much I love food in general so any excuse to eat myself into a coma is greatly appreciated.  We had a fairly small gathering this year.  Meemer and Deeder of course.  Heidi and Nate went to his mom's house, but came over later for desert.  Ryan, Emily and Jinju were there.  It also happened to be Emily's 21st birthday on Thanksgiving so we had a small bash for that.  Hailey and Zach were in Idaho this year at Zach's grandparent's house. 

Deserts galore.  Pie shells and the carmel chocolate chip cheesecakes for Emily's birthday

My mom's world famous rolls.

\

Cooking paraphenalia

Emily opening her printer from ham steak

Mmmmmmmmmmmm turkey. Steven is preforming his manly duty and carving the turkey. Xander was very adamant for days that he was going to eat both legs.

Fancy.  Note the Twilight cup in the background

 

Turkey Comas

Jinny

Paizley and Yoshi (Poor Jaynie had a little bit of a fever from her immunizations the day before)

Grammy and Boppy

Emily

What family get together is complete without board games.  Heidi and Nate agree.

This is the game Steven received for his birthday.  It's called the Betrayal at House on the Hill (or something, I always mess it up).  You explore this haunted house and then someone turns traitor and tries to take everyone else out.  It's pretty complex but fun.  Ryan looks like such a creeper because he's hoping to be the traitor and kill everyone.

Paizley's Four Year Checkup

Paizley had her four year checkup the day before Thanksgiving.  I'm always nervous because of her smidgyness that she is going to fall off the growth chart again, but that wasn't the case this time.  She was 36 1/2 inches tall and 30 pounds.  This put her in the 5th percentile for height and the 20th for weight, which is practically obese for her.  I'm hoping that she is on the verge of a growth spurt so all the kids her age won't tower quite so much over her. 

She had to have three shots in her leg, she was very brave and held my hand.  She only cried for a minute, then the nurse gave her two suckers and that made her happy.  She's all set for kindergarten in a couple of years.

#60 - Trim The Trees

I'm thrilled that we have completed another of our tasks on the list.  Our home teachers were gracious enough to come over and tackle this ridiculousness.  We have lived in our house ten years and this is the first time we have done any maintenance on our trees. 

I failed to get a before shot, but let me just say that Ellie, Luke and the rest of the teenage midnight hide and go seek crew will be sad because one of the prime hiding spots are gone now, that should paint an appropriate picture for you.

Scott and Chuck tackling the front tree

Steven breaking down branches

We filled up three garbage cans with branches

Tree #1

Tree #2

 

This is a very fine start to the year of the yard.

Twelve Hours Of Twilight!

So I'm a Twilight fan, I'm pretty sure that's not secret.  My sisters, parents and I actually made the trip to Forks over Labor Day weekend a couple of years ago, I think that automatically elevates me out of casual fan status.

Last year when the first Breaking Dawn came out, Heidi and I heard that some of the theaters were doing a marathon, playing each movie before debuting the new one that night.  It was too late to get tickets so we made a deal that we would try to go the next year for the final film.  We were able to get our tickets over Conference weekend. 

The first movie started at noon.  We left my house at around nine and went to breakfast at Denny's with Steven and Paizley.  Xander missed out because he was at school.  We were still a little early after that so we did some Christmas shopping at Target.

We received these fancy commemorative lanyards that let us go in and out of the theater

Cited!

The theater had a deal that if you bought these special keepsake cups you could have unlimited $1.00 refills.  We bought the Jacob one for my mom since scouts is more important then twelve hours of Twilight and she wasn't able to make it.

 

 

So of course running true to form we ended up sitting next to the most irritating people in the theater.  I'm sad to say that the theater was mostly composed of super fat ladies and shut ins.  Fifteen minutes before the movie started the fattest waddled in and plunked herself and her friend down right next to me.  I knew I was in trouble when she pulled out her knitting needles.  Seriously give me a break, it's dark!  Apparently the two of them couldn't figure out that they weren't in their own living room because they wouldn't shut up.  I'm talking full volume conversations and yelling at the screen.  It was all I could do to restrain my throat punching hand.  After New Moon we'd had enough.  The first three rows had remained empty so we moved up there.  Being closer to the screen was totally worth not having the running commentary.

There were deals on the food at the concession stand.  We were hungry so we decided to get a pizza.  We were thinking we would get something roughly the size of a Pizza Hut personal pan pizza, we were wrong.  This is what we got for $5.00.  Total rip off!! Plus it was fairly gross. After that we called Steven and told him to meet us with Wendy's at 7:00 when Eclipse was over.

We had so much fun.  I'm happy we did it this year, it was a nice way to cap the Twilight franchise for me.   We are going to try to do it again in a couple years when the last Hunger Games movie comes out if anyone is interested in joining us.

 

 Any one that knows me will be surprised to know I kept my narcoleptic tendencies in check and didn't fall asleep even once.

#2 - Get A New Computer

So technically this happened one day before we started out 101 things in 1001 days. I'm making an exception for this because looking at our track record, the last computer we purchased was in 2001, I can pretty much guarantee we won't be buying another one in the next 2.75 years.

101 Things In 1001 Days

A few weeks ago I ventured up to Logan to partake in a sister's day.  While I was there Hailey told me about something she had seen and decided to implement in her own life.  You make a list of 101 things you would like to do, see, accomplish in the next 1001 days.  Each thing has to be fairly specific and if it's a goal it needs to have a specific time period in which it will take place.  Hailey and Zach both did their own lists, but I thought that might be a little too much for us, taking into account our supreme flakiness.  Steven and I sat down and created a list together, so some points are family goals, some are just mine or just his. 

We started out 1001 days November 1st 2012 and will end July 28 2015.  I'm super excited about this so hopefully that will keep me going.  I'm going to post my list and then I'll post as I complete things.

1. Go to Disneyland (of course this is number one)
2. Get a new computer Completed 10/31/12
3. Read 40 new books
4. Plant a garden
5. Finish Christmas cross stitch stocking
6. Go to one neighborhood function (so anti social!)
7. Keep to a budget for six months
8. Go to a Vegas buffet
9. Walk five times a week for three months
10. Have a Halloween party
11. Have a family movie night once a month for six months
12. Read Book of Mormon, Bible, D&C and Pearl of Great Price
13. Finish seventy-two hour kits
14. Volunteer four times at Xander's school
15. Go to Frightmares
16. Go to Hoogle Zoo
17. Do a corn maze
18. Clean out window wells
19. Purchase a new decoration for each holiday for a year
20. Tour Beehive House
21. Do 4am black Friday sale Completed 11/22/12
22. Attend all church meetings for six months
23. Go one month without any fast food
24. Paint our bedroom a new color
25. Have a new family photo taken
26. Visit all our grandparents graves on Memorial Day
27. Shave my legs twice a week for two months
28. Go to Cowabunga Bay
29. Have a date night with Steven once a month for six months
30. Take Paizley to the Ocean
31. Put up outside Christmas lights
32. Go fishing
33. Go to Craters of the Moon
34. Try twenty new deserts Completed 1 of 20
35. Read all of Harry Potter as a family
36. Finish Xander's tiger cub rank by the time he's eight
37. Paint kid's bathroom
38. Do twenty-eight blog posts a month for six months
39. Host a murder mystery for the Lishes
40. Fill holes outside
41. Take the kids to a play
42. Organize filing cabinet
43. Go to Timpanogos Cave
44. Start one new tradition
45. Eat at the Cheesecake Factory
46. Read twenty minutes everyday with the kids for three months
47. Separate kids into their own rooms
48. Talk to parents or siblings once a week for six months
49. Watch fireworks on the 4th of July
50. Cement holes in the garage and basement
51. See Temple Square lights in December Completed 12/8/12
52. Get credit score above 650
53. Go camping in Yellowstone
54. Get six months food storage
55. Go to a concert
56. Go on a family walk one a week for one month
57. Paint our bathroom
58. Go to Canada
59. Host a murder mystery for the Ross's
60. Trim our trees Completed 11/17/12
61. Stay at the Black Swan in Pocatello
62. Go to Kennecott
63. Go to this is the Place
64. ;)
65. Use the total gym everyday for three months
66. Learn to make bread from scratch
67. Do ten acts of service
68. Go to a haunted house
69. Pay off our car
70. Make Christmas candy Completed 12/22/12
71. Take the kids rafting
72. Donate car in garage
73. Get temple recommends back
74. Finish painting the hall
75. Catch up my scrapbook
76. Build something will all Steven's Legos
77. Learn to make cheese
78. Fast with a purpose five times
79. Send out Christmas cards
80. Get Preach My Gospel
81. Eat at the Lion House
82. Clean out the garage
83. Pay tithing for six months
84. Paint all the base boards
85. Do a session in all Utah Temples
86. Watch all Star Wars movies in six days
87. Attend ten Relief Society functions (bah socializing)
88. Listen to one Conference talk a week for three months
89. Go to George Eccles Dinosaur Park
90. Have Steven start school
91. See a movie at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building
92. Read the Book of Mormon as a family
93. Try thirty new recipes
94. Have family home evening every week for three months
95. Lose fifteen pounds
96. Get a freezer
97. Go to Raging Waters
98. Have a date night with the kids once a month for six months
99. Go to Promontory Point
100. Get $3000 in emergency savings
101. Attend a major league baseball game

Paizley And Yoshi

Paizley loves this stupid cat.  And the stupid cat lets her maul the crap out of it, so I guess I love it too.  Even when the stupid thing thinks my hair is a cat toy.

Seriously...

Cutest baby ever!


Possibly including my own kids

Paizley turns 4

I can't believe it's been four years since the tiny menace was born.  Time really does seem to fly lately.  Laron and Laura's daughter Lucie turned six the day before Paizley so we combined efforts and had a party for both of them.  We decided to have one last go at the canyon before we were snowed out. 

Somehow seeing this posted next to our campground failed to give me a feeling of safety

Paizley and Ammie running up the path

Lucie and Paizley the birthday girls

Laura policing Steven to make sure he doesn't "stir" the coals to make the fire bigger

Playing in the fall leaves

Paizley's Disney princess wedding set

Hello Kitty (Laura, she's slept with this every night BTW)

Blowing out the candles on their cupcakes

The whole crew

Tommy even took it up a notch by telling a scary story.  Of course then everyone had to jump on the bandwagon.  It was very scary, luckily we had a flashlight.

We failed to realize that the campground would be winterized already and the water shut off.  Steven had to climb down this wall with Laura's cherry Coke cup to get water out of the creek to put out the fire.

Paizley's new dress for church the next day

Booo!

Anyone that knows my husband can predict the atmosphere in our house today.  We were watching MSN all evening yesterday and I told him when we were going to bed that it didn't look like Romney was going to win, but i guess he was in the thick of his denial.  When the alarm went off at six this morning he flew out of bed and ran downstairs to see the outcome.  He was very vicious.  Frankly I was glad to go to work so I wouldn't have to listen to him yelling at the radio every three minutes. 

I feel good that we did our civic duty yesterday and voted even though it didn't go the way we wanted. But at this point it does no good to cry about it we need to hunker down and survive the next four years. 

I also wanted to congratulate my father in law.  He was re-elected to his office on the water board for Beaumont California. 

Corn Maze

A couple of years ago we went to Layton and did a corn maze around Halloween.  Xander has been obsessed with them ever since.  He was really disappointed because we didn't get a chance to do one last year so I promised that we would do one this year.  We went to the one that Thanksgiving Point was putting one.  I was really impressed with it.  There was a ton of stuff for the kids to do, they almost didn't want to do the maze at all.  I think we will definitely do it again next year.

Scaling the haystack

Steven had to climb up to help the Jayne down

They had a bunch of these wooden playground equipment.  Steven and I decided if we had an extra six grand laying around we would totally have bought one.

Paizley sliding down the "plank"

The inflatable slide

Paizley and Xander loved this inflatable obstacle course

Going on the hayride

This was a haunted house called the creature.  Both kids were adamant that they wanted to go though it.  I told them it was going to be scary, but they wanted to do it anyway.  I ended up carrying Paizley through most of it.  She kept yelling "Mom it's dark and scary in here!"

Xander leading the way through the corn maze

Paizley the princess can't be expected to walk

There were these cute peddle cars that you could race around a track

Paizley on the princess carriage

The raptor swing