Kid bit's

I remembered my stories!! The kids were so accommodating today as to give me several new ones to share too!

Braden's fix it solution-
We have old kitchen cabinets. They don't all shut properly. One of them was bothering Braden the other day. He would try to shut it but it would just creak back open. After several failed attempts to close the cabinet he looked at me and said "Mom, it's broken!" I said "I know sweetie" He suddenly lit up and said "I KNOW!!!! DUCT TAPE!!!!"
Should I be worried that my 3 yr old knows the duct tape solution??


Scapegoat-
Scott fixed the trap under our bathroom sink on Saturday. I had been meaning to empty and rearrange all the stuff under the sink anyway so I told him just to pile it all up outside the door and leave it for me to clean up later. After the fix it job was done and the mess remained Braden wandered upstairs from his movie that he had been watching the whole time dad was playing plumber. Braden saw the mess and exclaimed "WHAT A MESS!" I chuckled and explained in mock surprise "Oh my word! Who do you think made such a mess!??" He darkly replied with accusing eyes "Sister......"

Alphabet doctor-
Amalyssa was looking at the calendar this morning and noticed that I had a doctors appt. She turned to me and asked "Do you have to say the whole alphabet before you can get in to see the doctor?" I was totally confused and asked her why she would think I had to say the alphabet to see my doctor. She responded "because it says Dr. Z." - My doctors name is Dr Zimmerman- Suddenly it all made humorous sense.

"Put it back!"
I found a large rock in Amalyssas backpack this morning. I pulled it out and asked "Why do you have such a large rock in your backpack?" She quickly responded in somewhat of a panic "Put it back!!! It keeps me from blowing away in the wind!!"

"MY COOKIE!"
This morning Braden and I jumped in the car to run errands. I had grabbed a chocolate chip cookie for each of us. Just seconds after getting on the road Braden exclaimed "My cookie!?" I asked "Uh oh... did it fall on the floor?" He then said with sudden realization and a giggle "OH..... Me ate it."


Ahh there are times I love to be a mother.

Bit's 'N pieces

- I really hate when the card swipe machine at the store gives me my total and ask's "Is this OK?" I always think -NO IT IS NOT! Like I really WANT to spend $100 bucks on food for one week! I much prefer when the machine ask's "Is this amount correct." It makes me so much less agrivated.

- I never really understood why people complained so much about getting older. It is just a number so what is the big deal? Now I get it. It ISN'T the number that is so bad... it is the CRAP that comes WITH the number.

-I am watching my weight. Watching it grow anyway.

- What makes the chocolate chip cookie so ultimately delicious?

- Yesterday I had asked the kids to pick up the basement. A while later when Amalyssa came upstairs I asked how the basement looked, the following conversation came next
me-"how does the basement look?"
Amalyssa "Ummm...... I don't want to tell you."
Me "Ahhh, that must mean that it is still a disaster."
Amalyssa "How do you know!?"
Me "Because mom's are amazing like that! Aren't they?"
Amalyssa (with a dose of attitude says) "That's just because they have so much practice!"

-No more water bed. Ours sprung it's final leak. Saturday we spent 4 (CORRECTION - 5 hours) hours bed shopping.

-My kids were GREAT for 4 1/2 hours of the boring bed shopping

- That is about 4 hours and 20 minutes longer than I expected them to be so great!

-Anyone want to help me shampoo carpets on Thursday?

- I had two other cute 'kid' stories to share. Why can't I remember them?? Oh yeah... it goes back to that getting OLD thing. Bugger

Is it TRUE!??

YES!! It is true! I AM blogging about an event THE DAY AFTER it happened!! Wow, go me! lol- I am actually motivated to blog about it so quickly because I want everyone to have the chance to go see this amazing sight before it closes!!!

Last night Scott and I took the kids on a road trip up to Midway UT. We went to the Zermatt Resort! Ok.. ok... more so we went to the Zermatt Resort parking lot! Why?? To see THIS!


Scott had been up to Park City a few weeks ago for bussines and had seen this great collection of 'ice sculptures' (though I am not really sure what you would call them... not so much sculptures... maybe frozen fountains?). Anywho.... Scott has always thought these were cool so to see a whole bunch of huge ones in one spot was really cool! It is like and Icy wonderland!! The cost is only 2$ per person over 3yrs. Can you believe that!?? TWO BUCKS!!?? Yep... just 2$ per person. You get to spend as long as you like wandering around the beautiful ice formations, touching them (carefully of course), sitting on ice benches, and walking through a giant ice tunnel! SO SO SO COOL!!! (in more ways than one... dress warm! lol)

After we spent some time wandering this frozen art museum we went into the little warming hut where you pay. It doesn't exactly seem like you can go in, but the nice man told us we could bring the kids in to warm them up whenever we liked since they were freezing before we even got started. Once in the cozy warm shack we were able to talk to the creator himself (he happened to be the nice gentleman who invited us in) It was fascinating to talk to him about the experience of creating something so amazing. You could see how excited he was to share his vision come to life. This was the first year he was able to to do it, but if Zermatt is smart they will invite him back for years to come!! I hope so because he was saying how much he learned this year and that he wants to make it even bigger and better next year... maybe even put a skating rink in the middle.... HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE!???

The 'exhibit' is open for only one more week!!! Less than that even, I think Sunday the 28th is the last day. It is open daily from 3-9 pm. It is gorgeous in the sun and in the dark. If you have ANY spare time this week you should SO GO SEE THIS!!!! It truly is breathtaking. Here are some more pictures I took while up there last night. (and yes TSstudio is me... I label all my good shots. lol)

Amalyssa was our photographer.... at lest she did get our heads in right!? lol

This truly is a must see if you can squeeze it into your schedule at all this week!!!! I would love for this gentleman to have the opportunity to do this again next year and I am sure he will if they can get a great reputation going.

As for the trip home that was a bit interesting. Here is a brief run down.
-Kids were noisy and squeally the ENTIRE way home.
-Braden frantically announces his need to go 'poopy' when we are halfway through the canyon and at least 20 min from any restroom.
-He is amazing and holds it until we get back to civilization where we stop an Arbys for him to go.
-p.s. this is the third time I have been to THIS Arbys since 5:00. (once to call Scott and find out he was stuck in traffic, then to actually order some food for the drive, and lastly to use the restroom.)
-We drive over to the Sugar house park where we had met and left Scott's car. We found his car with the lights on. Ummm.... it is NOT suppose to be able to DO that!?? It has an automatic light shutoff.
-We check the car to make sure there is nobody in side hot wiring it, then test the battery... which is of course dead.
-We drive to the nearest Auto Zone to buy a new battery (since he knew he needed one anyway) and jumper cables
-we drive back to his car only to find that this time it starts up just fine *sigh*
-At this point my gas light comes on
-We drive to the nearest gas station and put a few bucks in
-FINALY we are back up on the interstate and headed for home when Amalyssa says "I need to go to the bathroom!!"
-My response..... "HOLD IT!"

Sigh.... It was an adventure to say the least. But it was TOTALLY WORTH every second of frustration getting home to have seen such a beautiful sight!!

A scattering of stories

It has been a while since I last posted. I guess I just haven't been in the mood to type lately. Today I needed to share a few things though.

I just wanted to post a couple things from my day that I found both insightful and humorous.

First- My Braden.

This kid cracks me up. I really wanted a girl.... I am SO GLAD that Heavenly Father sent me Braden. Most days he is the sweetness that keeps me going. Today for example. I have had a depressed week. Not sure why... just feeling down in the dumps. Today was especially bad. I was on the verge of tears most of the day. No real reason other than I hated myself and was mad at me for being a lazy depressed fats-o and not doing what I knew needed to be done. Depression really is a self defeating disease. Today I was caught in the downward spiral of it. Anyway- I was helping Braden get dressed at about 3:00..... yes, 3:00 in the afternoon... I already told you I was having a bad day alright. lol. So I was having my own little pitty party and I looked at Braden and I asked "Why is mommy having such a tough day today?" (more talking out loud to myself than expecting an answer.) He promptly looked at me and struck his BEST strongman pose and with grunting effort under the weight of his manly biceps he said "Me having a TOUGH day too!"

Immediately I had to giggle and smile. This little son of God had just given me the answer and lift that I had needed. I suddenly realized that life is all about our attitude toward it. Braden simply changed my word tough - meaning life is hard and sucks, for his word tough - meaning fight back and be strong! So I decided to take his attitude and have a TOUGH day instead of a tough day. It was still a hard afternoon... but it got better. I fought back and didn't let the depression have me... I was TOUGH. When I felt weak I flexed my muscles and thought I AM TOUGH! Thanks to my 3 year old son I had a better day... he helped me remember what a BIG thing a little attitude change can be.

Second - Amalyssa
This evening I was browsing the news when I saw this head line "Frisbee inventor dies in Sevier County." It caught my attention for two reasons.
First -Frisbee is a new family favorite for us. I never really thought much of Frisbee until Amalyssa came home with one from a party a few summers back. Now we LOVE to go toss the Frisbee around in the yard and it is a MUST HAVE if we go to the park. The simple Frisbee disk now holds fond family memories for me.
Second - because I was sure the guy was dead a long time ago! I mean... Frisbee's have been around since the beginning of time haven't they!?
So when I saw this headline I said out loud in shock "Oh my... the inventor of the Frisbee died." The whole family was in the room and came sauntering over to the computer to check out what had mom so shocked. Amalyssa asked what I was talking about so I explained that the man who had made the first Frisbee had died at 90 years old, so now he was back with Heavenly Father. Amalyssa cocked her head and said "Oh... that is excitingly sad." What a great statement on death. It is sad for those of us left behind, but such an exciting and wonderful thing for those who are allowed back into the arms of our Heavenly Father.

I love how simple children see the world and how much wisdom their innocence can lend to us 'wise adults'. I am very grateful for all my many blessings. I truly have such petty complaints that I am ashamed of myself whenever things are put into focus for me. I am blessed beyond measure.

Now I am going to get some sleep so that I can have a better day tomorrow... I don't want to have to be 'TOUGH' again. :)

Time for something new.

So the project 365 got a bit derailed. I am not sure where to go with it. I loved taking pictures each day, I loved having a daily record of my thoughts and activities, I loved the whole idea. What I didn't love was a really LONG AND BORING blog post each week!!! So I have to re-think just a bit. I will come up with something... just not sure what. Anyway I got a bit discouraged and didn't take pictures much the last week or so. Maybe I will start again today... who knows.

Anyway I just wanted to pop in with an -update on the project and a funny story.

Yesterday Amalyssa and I were putting away the princess sleeping bag that Santa gave her for Christmas. She got a puzzled/awed look and asked me how Santa knew she liked princesses. I told her 'Santa is magic! He knows EVERYTHING!' She thought a moment and then replied with 'Does he even know the Ten Commandments!?'

It made me laugh :) - and BTW we decided that Santa does know the Ten Commandments.