No offense but........

This is how my boys think they can insult someone & get away with it, like saying "no offense" really makes it less offensive......but we all know that when you hear "no offense but....", prepare for a major dissing.

Like Evan always says, "You can't polish a terd".

So it goes like this:

No offense but.......you're not very good at basketball.

No offense but.......you're kinda fat.

No offense but.......you're stupid.

You get the idea.

It was really great when we were at some friends' house & Zane goes,
"No offense, but your house kind of smells." Fabulous.

How about this:
No offense to any horse-lovers out there, but if I have to see that Cavalia weird horse show commercial one more time, I'm going to kill myself.


A couple random pics:

The latest to go up in the office....




Max's Lincoln Log masterpiece....

Some stuff Zane has been up to......

hanging out in the "treehouse".........like a little bird in its' nest.


wearing his new CTR ring & announcing that "now he can be good".


insulting my cooking


being completely OBSESSED with this clone trooper guy. It gets lost, then found again several times a day. It's been an emotional roller-coaster.......he's lost, then found, then lost, and found.......

getting a bad haircut........Brian takes the boys to get haircuts & Zane comes back looking like this! What the.....Dorothy Hamill.......??? I think my sister Holly had a haircut like this when she was 5.....

smuggling Lego guys to school in his pockets

so proud to be Star Student last week

still wetting the bed.......even on his new Star Wars sheets.......we were hoping he wouln't dare urinate on Princess Lea.......but we were wrong......

eating 5 Krispy Kreme glazed donuts before church yesterday morning!

my latest photoshoot

a few of my faves.....

Your kids were so fun, Kari!

Not to mention absolutely gorgeous!!

What a beautiful, complete family! Yay!!!

Today....

............and try hard to forget yesterday.........when I was visiting teaching and went to find Gus after we were done...........to find him fingerpainting their walls with his poop!!

Happy Birthday to my little girl!

The Inauguration of a new President is important and all that, but today is special to me because 14 years ago on this day, I became a mother.

I had always wondered if I would be a good mom. I wasn't the motherly type when I was younger. I never cared much for baby dolls as a child. I was never that Beehive that wanted to hold and coo at all the babies in the ward.

Maybe it was because, being the oldest of 6....... meaning the overworked babysitter of 5........ I was already sick of the whole thing. It held no charm for me. Frankly, being a mom didn't sound like a whole lot of fun.

And I don't think it helped that at 13, I was in the delivery room when my baby sister was born. I wouldn't recommend it. I remember thinking, "there's no way I'm ever doing THAT!"

So I figured I wouldn't be winning any Mother-of-the-Year awards in my future, to say the least.

Then I got married........and finished school.........and I warmed up to the idea.

I was 23 when Marlee was born. We were living in Seattle with no family nearby.

My water broke in the middle of the night, & after only 4 hours of labor, and an epidural that was given too late (felt everything but the stitches), my baby girl was born.......... and I was now a mother.

Most of it was a blur, but I do remember so clearly.........the first time they brought that baby to me after she had been all cleaned up & checked out in the nursery.....crying.....needing to be fed...........and it was like a switch turned on in me. She was mine. I was hers. And I was never the same.

My little fat-faced baby. Half her weight was in her cheeks. She could hardly open her eyes those first weeks!

I love this girl! She's actually fairly delightful for a teenager. So level-headed & self-assured & her ability to excel in pretty much EVERYTHING never ceases to amaze me!

Marlee's Top 5 Reasons being Fourteen is Fabulous:

1) I'm a little closer to driving (frightening)

2) cooler birthday gifts - like i-pod stuff instead of cheap makeup kits

3) Teachers are way better than Deacons

4) because I'm not 13 anymore, which is an unlucky number

5) because I get cuter each year!!!! (OK, Mom wrote this one)

Happy Birthday Mars!!

When I snap, you'll be the first to go......

Jake's the only reason Daisy's still around.

Oh how I look forward to the day that I wake up & find that someone accidentally left the gate open & she's nowhere to be found. We'll cry & grieve (me pretending to) for a day or two & then we'll move on with our lives.........lives that won't include a destroyed backyard, annoying barking or dog vomit, such as what I had to clean up yesterday.........totally dry-heave inducing.



Here in lovely AZ, it's fall in January, then spring in February, then summer usually starts in March.
So here's a few Fall Leaves Fun pix.........


Gus trying to put leaves on my camera.
Someone get this kid a Kleenex!! (and a bath!)

SK8eRs

Dude..............SK8 or die.

I actually LOVE this picture....this one's going on a wall somewhere........

The skateboards, or longboards, I should say....... have been a huge hit.

Even Gus Man likes to ride.

And no major injuries yet! YET!!

Select and Neglect

I've decided on this new year's motto...........

Select what you're going to neglect,
so you don't neglect what you select.

Simplify, Simplify, Simplify!

There's way too much useless, floofy, extra, busybody, overboard, totally unnecessary, distracting, time-sucking, needless stuff that needs to be cut out!

Like, say NO to Playdough. Who needs it?

Then, maybe I will find the time to do more important things (like more blogging, bike riding & more chocolate chip cookie dough eating).

So, here's a list of some things I'm cutting out of my life..........

Chuck E. Cheese's

Mountainside Gym

my kids - part of the time

.........although this kind of stuff happens.
A little neglect never hurt anybody, in fact, I believe it just helps my kids be more independent & resourceful. I mean, this 2-year-old can make himself his own bowl of CocoPuffs in the morning! They have to learn how to do stuff on their own. It's a good thing!

American Idol

changing sheets after every bedwetting........like a 5-year-old really gives a rip, and you save water.

big, clever, cutesy birthday parties .......(SO done with those!)

anything organic

pushing my kids on the swings........learn to pump already!!

my entire upstairs

pet care

fashion........too old. not enough money. who cares. who am I trying to impress anyway...

making breakfast

tee-ball

The key is to neglect as much stuff as you can, so there's not much left to select. See how that works?

I'm feeling good about 2009 already!

Cabin In The Snow

New Years Eve we headed up to Pinetop with the kids for a little vacay before school started up again.

We had some serious snowball fights.

He's fallen & he can't get up.

I can't believe I got this shot.

Jake threw this giant snow chunk at Max & hit him in the back of his neck.

He cried for about 10 minutes, then went back out to get his revenge, as seen below.....

And more revenge........

I love how I just stood by, taking pictures, instead of breaking it up........

That's what happens when you have a bunch of boys.

You give up.

I tell them, "if you don't need stitches and you still have your eyesight, don't come crying to me!"

Gussy giving Mars "lubbs" after he threw a snowball at her.

Jake going into the ugly cry.

What's up with this kid & trees?!!

My studly stallion of a man.

This shot is flaretastic!

The Twilight Series

Photography by Mars

I love this last one, because it's fun & Brian looks like he does really like me............but I'm disturbed by a few things:

1. my nostrils seem really ginormous (is this normal?)

2. my eyebrows are getting really thin

and

3. I'm looking more like my mom (sorry Mom)

But, whatever.

I mean, it's nice to look good & everything when you're at Krazy Sub or something & you run into an old high school boyfriend......

But, who cares anymore.

The old boyfriend is probably half-bald with jowls.

Anyway......

I LOVE this baby's profile!

We went sledding.

SO SO FUN!!!!!

This kid absolutely LOVED sledding!!

Not scared AT ALL!

He'd come bombing down the hill with this happy little round face.

Check out the funky pink sun flare!

It was a fabulous day to go sledding!!

Mars tried to snowboard down on the sled.

And this is what Gus looked like when it was time to go..........SAD.

It snowed all night & all day the next day.

It was a freaking fantasy for me!

It was so beautiful.

We played in the snow & drank hot chocolate & played Settlers & Scrabble & Brian taught the kids to play Risk & we ate soup & took naps & huddled by the fire & made brownies & drove each other crazy by the end because it was kind of a small cabin.

I don't know why I find these pictures so funny.

But I think I really captured him........

He's never been a fan of discomfort.

Here's another one.

I think he got a flake of snow in his eye........

He's not my most resilient.

"NO! Not at the camera!!!!"

Snowball attack on Dad. GET HIM!!!

I love being the photographer.

We'll miss you Winter Wonderland!!!!