I love Autumn

I LOVE AUTUMN!

Here's the bummer part...I live in California.
This fact is not a negative one on many occasions. In the fall....bummer. Big bummer.
Bummerific in fact.

My honeys and I will be traveling to Utah for Thanksgiving week but by the looks of things, it will practically be winter by then. No beautiful drives up the canyon to see the changing leaves. No trips to pumpkin patch or the corn maze. Poor me, right?

Here's the good part of the story.
MY MOMMY LOVES ME!
I mean, I already knew this but it was proven yet again to me today when I received a letter in the mail from her.

The contents were:
*A beautiful scene of Utah in all it's fall colorful glory that she had clipped from the newspaper.
*Some real, honest to goodness leaves that had changed color from their original green.
A note that read....
*You can't come to the mountain, so the mountain will come to you!



Aren't I a lucky girl?
I love you mom!
See ya soon!

Me and my October

I love October!!
(and I think October loves me)

Cooler temperatures, changing leaves (well not really where I live, but a girl can dream of other states), Halloween, costumes, hocus pocus, carving pumpkins, family get togethers, choosing names, parties, homemade soups, sweaters, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, school carnivals, football gams, parades, anticipation of Thanksgiving travels to Utah, anticipation of after Thanksgiving sales, holiday decorating, planning gifts, dreams of a lovely christmas!

I dress up every year for Halloween, even if there are no parties on the horizon. What should I be this year?

Is it too early to put up the skeletons and cobwebs?

visions upon visions.....

A couple of my besties came over today.
I invited them over for lunch and to finally get around to making our "vision boards" that we had been talking about making. We had a great time. We were one bestie down, so we didn't feel complete.....but we did the best we could.

Lunch was pretty yummy if i do say so myself...

Made a delicious chicken salad with poppyseed dressing.
Got the recipe from
sisterscafe.blogspot.com



Enjoyed some scrumptious Bruschetta, inspired by the movie Julie and Julia



We finished the meal off with the cookie of all cookies.
The motherload.
4 delicious layers of cookie goodness. A sugar cookie layer, a chocolate chocolate chip one, a peanut butter one and topped off with a chocolate chip layer. Yum Jibbers!

Once my friends enjoyed....the family vultures took flight. Little do they know that I hid 2 up in the cupboard for me when my chocolate reserves are low.
Must get cookie......need energy now....!
Borrowed this yummy recipe from
picky-palate.com

The girls and I also made vision boards. What is a vision board you ask?
Well it's a place to put all of your hopes dreams and desires in visual form. A place to put pictures or phrases that inspire you.
Here is a picture of my vision board....for now....i'm sure i'll be adding to it on a regular basis.
Excuse the photo...not the best shot but you get the idea!

Thanks girls! I had a great afternoon? Who's house next time?

Sunday smooches

Sunday smooches...
Sunday is a day for worship. A day for family. A day of rest. A day of reflection. What better day to count your blessings? To remember what your thankful for. I love many things...here are just a few.......

I love

lazy sundays
sharing the most comfy part of the sofa with my honey
painting something old to make it new again
cool evening breezes
girls night with good friends
yummy tomato soup
watching t.v. with my sons
excedrin migraine
going to bed early after lazying around all day

...chances are good that i love you too.

Super T

HaPpY BiRtHdAy TrEvOr!!!

My 3rd child is 12!
How did this happen?
I remember when my labor pains started with Trevor. Ouch. They hurt. I've decided something though. Every contraction, every pain.................................
so worth it!
I mean look at this kid. How could you not love him? He is the most compassionate and loving 12 year old I've ever known. And funny..............boy does he make me laugh. Trevor loves to read and is very intelligent. He's gonna make some beautiful girl very, very lucky one day....but for now..........................................
He's mine!



Trevor, my homebody, requested one thing for his birthday. He wanted to stay home. No fancy resturaunt, no noisy pizza joint. Not for him. He wanted to just stay put. His dad did take him out after school for a surprise trip to Best Buy to pick out a new netbook. Trevor is a budding programmer. ( I know, I know......internet access at his fingertips. Believe me...this gift comes with lots of rules.)
But a quiet evening at home was what the boy wanted. Who am I to deny?



His Birthday dinner consisted of his favorite foods.
Chicken (parmesan/ritz) and mashed potatoes.
Macaroni and cheese
NO VEGIES
Root beer
Recees peanut butter chocolate cake



It's been a new tradition to get the kids on birthday's or Christmas a nerf gun of some kind.
This sniper riffle is awesome!
We are collecting quite the arsenal. Makes FHE super fun!




Wow! No bickering? Happy Birthday to me!



Make a wish!



Chocolate Peanut Butter Heaven/Coma

(recipe from picky-palate.com)
I know. The original looks better then mine

I love you Super T!
Goodbye Primary, hello deacon's quorom!

Bottle me some of that!

We have some great friends! I mean it...great.
I love um.
We just spent a glorious 3 day weekend with 3 of those fabulous friends. We went to beautiful lake arrowhead where their family has a lakeside home. Gorgeous!
We had a ton of fun!
You know how time usually flies when you're having fun?
We'll for some lucky reason our 3 days felt like a week. I think because we truly left "everything" behind us when we backed out of our drive way. No work, no worries, no phone, no computer, no laundry, no stress. It wasn't until right before we left that I started to wipe down a counter top and realized that I hadn't used my "cleaning" muscles for a few days. I was sore from my first wakeboard attempt and wiping the counter top hurt. I should probably nurse that muscle and not overuse it for a while. Dontcha think?

Sock it to me!





Socks and I have a love/hate relationship. While I enjoy their comfort on a cold day as I snuggle up with a good book...they are the bane of my existence!

My family has a "community sock basket". What is this you ask? This is the place where all socks go after their journey through the washing machine and lint....er...stint in the dryer. I have been placing them in said basket for lets say..........years. I hate folding socks!

There are always socks missing their match. Why is this? Where do they go?
There are too many socks that look alike but don't belong together.
There are socks in there that I KNOW nobody wears.
I hardly even wear socks. I'm almost always in a pair of flip flops and when I do wear shoes that require socks it's because I'm camping or working out. Let's face it. This isn't a common occurance.
After spending so much time folding and putting away clean laundry (another chore I dispise ) who wants to spend all that time and energy matching and folding socks?
Trust me...i've tried it all. "c'mon kids, lets make a game out of it". I've folded them all and then tried to "keep up" on it and fold as I go.

I decided a long time a go that if anyone needs socks, let them dig. Of course this brings me great guilt. Who wants to see their tired husband or son digging through the basket 'o socks at 6:15 in the morning. Eeks! I feel the pangs even as I picture this.

No worries! I've come up with a plan! I'm gonna throw the sock basket with all socks in it away.
New socks are needed anyway to replace the old and holy ones, right? It's time. Will doing this bring me greater guilt? Do the kids in Africa even wear socks? Isn't it too hot there?

Maybe I will go on a sock shopping spree. Perhaps a "different" type of sock for each member of the family. Only hubby and oldest son wear the same size. Maybe a gray toe for one and not the other. I'm getting excited about this plan. How many pairs of socks does one human being need? 7? 10? 14? I think I need to do some research.

I feel better now. I will no longer have to hide my head in shame. I will no longer have to hide my sock basket when we have company. Let it be known........I am not ashamed!
Suck it socks!