Dog Funeral

Do you think it would disrupt the Christmas chi in my house if I caused actual death to my dog? Like, cut his scrawny little body into pieces and feed it to the alligators type thing? RAISIN IS DRIVING ME NUTS! He peed on my Christmas tree. Not only did he whiz on my ornaments, lights and actual tree (how on earth do you clean 5ooo little fake needles whilst they are connected to 1000 lights?), but he peed on my beautifully wrapped gifts and my tree skirt! And it wasn't just any tree skirt, it was a gorgeous beaded, Martha Stewart number I fell in love with and coughed up 25 bucks for because it was just that awesome. I saw in in a KMart ad...and honestly, who goes to KMart anymore? I don't, it's like the twilight zone in there...deserted, outdated and it smells like the seventies. But, I drug both my kids out in the night and drove all the way to Henderson to get the thing...so I must have really liked it! The care instructions specifically say to not get it wet, so that would rule out peeing on it and washing it. DEEEEP LOOOONG Breath. I always wrap the fancy packages first because they look good under the tree...you know the ones that you buy the gorgeous foil paper and special ribbon for? Yeah, he peed on those.

One of the hardest things about being pregnant for me is that I lose my sensible normal self. I cry over the weirdest stuff. Nic was getting ready for work and stopped ironing his shirt to come over and put his arm around me while I knelt before my newly spinkled Christmas tree and cried like I was five years old. PSYCHO! I know! I hate it, but truly can't help it. He's the best husband. After the crazy lady hormones retreated back in their cave, I stopped to think about there are much worse things going on in the world than my peed on christmas tree. I had a great day just laughing at my kids. Afton even drew me a picture of a new "christmas carpet" (tree skirt) to make me feel better. Poor kid! My favorite cute moment of the day was Afton and Evan fighting over the bandaid in the doctor kit. Evan chased her around saying, "AH-TON! DIMMIE DAT DAMBAID! I'm so grateful for my cute family that puts up with me so willingly. And if you made it to the end of this post....thankful for you too. Merry Christmas and pray for Raisin's life...I still haven't made up my mind about his fate.

Phew!

Christmas time can be so fun, yet so crazy! I constantly find myself bouncing between periods of stess and bilss. There are so many activities to participate in and when I get behind in my organization I get overwhwhelmed! But I love, love, love melting into my couch every night after the kids are in bed and looking at my Christmas tree. (Usually playing with Nic's hair as he snores in my lap.) So here's what's been going on.

Daddy Daughter Date - Fun carefree time
Nic has decided on his own that he wants to take the kids on dates. This is him and Afton rollerskating at Crystal Palace. He said he really felt the rightness of having alone time with the kids confirmed to him as he sat and chatted with Afton at Burger king afterwards. He asked her about preschool, her friends, etc...and she glowed with all of the attention. So cute.

Sweaty Santa
Nic got this random urge to particiapte in the Santa Run. He along with 8 or 9 thousand other Santas ran a 5K to raise money for opportunity villiage. He is so random sometimes. But I loved him coming home in this get-up. He had the time of his life.

Trying to get a dang photo for Christmas cards!! - Not so blissful part of Christmas

Let me tell you how this night went. We were late for the ward Christmas party. I suddenly realized I did not own even one pair of pants that would fit over my bump that were not grease stained sweats or gaucho pants. So I was wearing my pre-pregnancy slacks -totally unzipped hoping they wouldn't a.) fall off in the buffet line or b.) look all lumpy in the Christmas photo. Nic had made this amazing camera stand with books, a highchair and a small table to perch the camera on so we could use the timer. And to top it all off, Afton and her interesting posing skills, which I have mentioned before, made getting a good shot nearly impossible. I assure you, what follows is a very small sampling of her creative interpretation of "say cheese".

The Mackays dropped by- Great part of the Holidays
Our beloved bff's from California stopped by and lit up our life with this giant trout pillow. It just tickled my funny bone. I nearly wet myself. Evan would stroke him, tuck him into bed, ride him like a bronco...I couldn't get enough of this darn fish.

This isn't Christmas related, but Evan had his second birthday and was thrilled with his motorcyle that said, "Ninja wheelie time!!!! SCREECH..PEEL OUT NOISE..." Mom was not so thrilled with that sound after hearing it all day, but whatever.

Okay fine, this also has nothing to do with Christmas, but OH MY GOSH! I had the bomb twilight party! Thanks to every fanatical friend that attended. We had the most delicious spread of vampire inspired food, over 20 women and the best time I have had in forever. We had way more fun than this picture portrays. Apparently I am the master at capturing people at the most awkward or rediculous moment.

Sigh.....Look, even my sister in the background is enjoying watching me kiss Edward...he's that cute!

Good Question

You never know the thoughts that may be going on in a four year-old's mind. We were driving back from the pediatritian and Afton said, "Cool."

"What's cool?" I said.

"We never have to die when we are "ress-rected"", Afton said.

"Yeah. That's true." I said.

Then she said, "How do you get to heaven? Do you ride up on a bed or does Heavenly Father come down and pick you up?"

I had a good laugh trying to imagine some cloud covered taxi or bed knobs and broom sticks scenario. She's such a cute little thing.

Money coming out the .....

I always giggle when I ask Nic for money. I handle the finances and if you asked Nic he probably doesn't even know how much he makes on any given payday. I never carry cash. He does. He has a special relationship with his new money clip. He doesn't really care about things, but man he loves this money clip. But I digress...

Because I never carry cash, occasionally I have to roll Nic for some. It feels so cute, it makes me feel like a little girl to ask him for money...kind of taken care of or something...sort of sugardaddied. Anyway, he gave me a 20.00 bill this morning. I was positive I left it on the couch after family prayer. He went to work and I spent a good ten minutes looking for it to no avail.

Guess where I finally found it? Inside Evan's diaper. Nic hid it there. I'm not sure the message I'm supposed to take from that.

Blogger Ninja!

I am the blogger ninja. My indian name is "duped Angie into marrying me". As blogger ninja, I slink around her posts, adding tidbits and insights with ninja speed and ninja precision.

This attack has to do with the total awesomeness of my wife. She made this great invitation:

She is amazingly creative...and sincere. She asked me "are you going to feel wierd about me publishing a picture of me slinking around the naked, svelte body of some super-hunk?" and I said "No! anyone who knows us, knows I look exactly like that. No worries!" So she's sensitive too.

The Ninja also declares that Angie's new hair cut is totally awesome. Her eyes are the most beautiful things I've ever seen, and she is a naturally hot pregnant babe, even without trying. It's hard to keep my ninja mind on ninja thoughts when I'm around her.

Her ninja husband makes close to no ninja dollars and works like a ninja dog about 12 hours a day. This means that Angie runs a whole household, takes care of my 2-1/2 ninja children, all without help and without any money. We eat like kings, not because we buy expensive food, but because she can magically whip four basic, left-over ingredients into endless nights of fancifal feasts.

She is modest, so when she sees my ninja post, she will first be embarrased, then giggle, then try to remove it unless we kep commenting to have her keep it up.

"Duped Angie into marying me" ninja loves his ninja wife.....and what?...uh huh...well yes President Washington, I'm pretty fond of you too.

Sub-par summary

Man! I can't take it anymore! I'm up late making invitations for my twilight party and my lack of blogging lately has finally overidden good sense and at 1:15 am I am making a post. Phew... Now mind you, this is a rediculous pictoral summary that in no way sufficiently chronicles the adventures of the last month...but here are some little bits.

I got a new haircut that you can't really see in this picture, but I was feeling cute today so I took a picture of all of us to commemorate my great self esteem.

Here's Mr. Turkey, our paper plate friend.

This is my house and Evan after our Disneyland Vacay.

This is how Afton feels about the beach.

She also feels like this.

My honies.

Our last day at our heavenly hotel. Sigh. You can tell our smiles are fake. When we picked up our car I had to physically make Nic drive away from the Hotel and off Disney property. He was more depressed than me!

Me and Afton in front of Bear Rapids. My bump groweth.

Afton enjoying the fruits of Disneyland.

The train ride at D.L.

I find my husband's hairline sexy for some reason. This photo shows how cool his hair grows.

Aftonrella.

Evan making his pirate hook.

And finally, I was tagged to share five wierd things about me or my family:

1. Nic would kill me...but I happen to know he has imaginary conversations with famous people from history such as Brigham Young (taking him for a car ride through the desert and explaining modern science to him). The other day I heard him talking to George Washington in the shower. I called him on it. He was so busted.

2. I'm a taco rebel. I always put unexpected things on my taco like celery, pineapple, spinach etc. I'm bored of the lettuce tomato thing.

3. I get a narcotic high from putting up Christmas decorations.

4. I fill the pit hole of avacados with ketchup and eat the whole thing.

5. When Afton gets really excited about something, she grabs her butt cheeks and runs around in circles.

I tag my Cali friends Melissa, Kim and Evan.

Phew....I posted. Blood pressure returning to normal....ahh...gotta go to bed.

I think I'll move to Australia

I remember sitting and listening to my elementary school librarian Mrs. Snedden read to my class "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day". I loved that chubby little Asian woman. And I loved that book. Fun to read. Not fun when your day actually goes like that. Not even my day...just my park outing. I am a firm believer in looking on the bright side and not dwelling on the negative, but sometimes the negative is downright comical!

So we went to the park after preschool. I made a special point to ask Afton if she needed the bathroom before we hiked on to the playground. Of course she didn't. We get to the playground. Afton starts walking around with her knees together and her butt poking out. She needed the bathroom. So we did our business in those disgusting park bathrooms...washed hands...purelled for good measure....went back to the park. No less than five minutes later...Afton is doing the weird chicken dance again. We hike all the way back to the bathroom which had wet mystery puddles all over the floor that smelled...and she had well....deposited a special nugget in her Minnie mouse panties. Great! So I squatted down to help get her undressed and my pants split from stem to stern.

I think if I weren't such a germophobe my life would be much less dramatic. Trying to undress Afton without her feet touching the wet smelly floor almost put me into a full out panic attack! So while I am squatting in my newly drafty pants trying to get her pants back on her Evan decides to go ape crap and run at me full speed for a linebacker style tackle. Ahhh!!! People falling over in smelly puddles....undisinfected poop hands....Evan rolling around on the aforementioned floor...Ahhh!! That is IT! SOMEBODY'S GETTING A SPANKING!

Calming myself...pulling up pants...washing hands....re-purelling...ahh....I love the antiseptic smell of alcohol....

We hike back to the playground. Evan says, "Mommy I poopy". Huff. Okay, he's a baby, he can't control his pooping times. He can't help it that we have been at the park for 30 minutes and only five of those minutes haven't included cleaning someones hiney. So we find a bench to change and he goes nuts because the sun is in his eyes...starts screaming and kicking which causes untold cups of sand trapped in the folds of his pants to sprinkle out and stick to his butt....that makes him scream even louder because it is scratchy when I wipe him...my head is killing me...Afton is saying..."Mommy, are you mad? Is this a bad day?"

Yes Afton. This is kind of a bad day. So apologies had to be made for my ranting...hugs given...a little prayer offered to help me be better at keeping it together...Phew. I'm exhausted. Luckily my kids are quick to forgive and I had three bites of Ben and Jerry's Pumpkin Cheesecake left in the freezer when I got home. But I'm still wearing my ripped pants.

Shut your Pie Hole!

I had an interesting experience today. I usually don't share my personal religious feelings on my blog...I keep it kinda light...but I know I have a lot of mommy friends that blog with me and I think this applies to our lives. It's early Saturday morning and I just finished up preparing my lesson for Sunday school tomorrow. It was about looking forward to Christ's second coming and remaining strong in the face of fear and temptation. One of the main points the lesson made was that as we strive to to what's right Satan increases his forces upon us.

Well, this morning I tried to do what was right. I passed on wasting the morning on a t.v. show I know wouldn't spiritually help me. I prayed before my lesson. I felt the spirit as I prepared and really got excited about sharing my testimony of those principles in my class tomorrow. I ended my lesson with a prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for helping me feel so darn excited about the scriptures...that's a hard thing for me so I was extra grateful. Here's where it gets weird.

I don't pretend to understand how Satan operates. I don't know logistically how his ideas end up in our heads or exactly how he tempts us. But I'll tell you what I do know and what happened this morning. I came out of my bedroom feeling on top of the world, ready to tackle my shopping list and clip coupons and really get my stuff in order for the Sabbath and to have a great day with my family. I sat down to eat my delicious breakfast tacos and these are the sentences that entered my head.

"YOU HAVE NO CALL TO BE HAPPY. YOU ARE A SLAVE TO YOUR FAMILY AND SHOPPING FOR THEM AND CLEANING THE HOUSE IS MEANINGLESS. YOU ARE STUPID TO BE EXCITED FOR YOUR DAY BECAUSE THERE IS SO MUCH MORE OUT THERE TO MAKE YOU HAPPY."

I just want to tell you how blown away I was by those thoughts. I clearly know they were not mine. They were the total opposite to what I was feeling just seconds before and though I don't know exactly how Satan works...I know those were his ideas and not mine. So I told him to SHUT HIS PIE HOLE!

Even as I write this I feel the confirmation that what I am saying is true. I love being a mother and a wife and I just want to say that it is worth it and that keeping a home and feeding and nurturing my family is an errand from God. That's all. Thanks for listening.

My sous chefs

Nic came home the other day and payed me the sweetest compliments for letting the kids cook with me. Although it's messy, it takes longer and it's not convenient.... He thanked me for creating happy memories for the kids. The little stinkers always find their way into the kitchen and here's some photos of what we've cooked together lately.
Evan Mutilating some snow peas for the stir fry



Peeling peaches from my parent's ranch for Pablo Peach Pie!


Making pizza dough


Bean Salad


BBQ Kabobs

And for those of you tisk tisking...wondering if I ever clothe my children, I swear I do, they just end up like that somehow!

Doggy Bags

Do you know why I love my husband? He brings me doggy bags. Every once in a while he gets to go out to a mega-swanky dinner for his work. Since the first one a year and a half ago he has never failed to bring me a doggy bag. It's a big deal to him. At this time in our lives we rarely go out for that kind of meal...spending two weeks grocery money in one night type thing...and I think he feels guilty that I'm home with the kids while he dines with adults. While I'm giving night time baths, some tuxedoed dude is turning on the water in the men's room so he can wash fillet Mignon grease from his fingertips. He wishes I could be there to experience it with him, so...

He eats exactly half of his meal. Last night he brought me two jumbo prawns, half of a lobster tail, half of a fillet Mignon, half a scoop of potatoes, and half of a slice of strawberry cheesecake. My doggy bags always come beautifully presented in fancy packaging and he will sit with me on the couch and describe how everything tasted when it was served and how it was presented. He will tell me what the dinner conversation was and what the restaurant looked like inside. He described how the waiters were dressed and even how the alcohol smelled that was served to some of the people.

This morning I heated up my fillet in the oven, shared my potatoes with Evan and enjoyed my cheesecake. (I was freaked out about eating day old seafood...so with much regret I tossed the prawns and lobster tail...is that just an urban legend or does seafood not keep overnight?) Nic teased me about being an uncultured sloth because I speared the whole hunk of meat with a fork and dipped it in KC masterpiece BBQ sauce. But then he laughed and said, "It's your present, eat it how you want."

Thank you honey for doing the little things that mean so much. I love you.

A Diva Amongst Us

I always think it's funny to see what songs Nic and I listen to that the kids take a liking to. Lately Afton has become attatched to "Bleeding Love". I had to capture her sweet karakoke skills. Kid videos are never as cute to everyone else as they are to the parents, but it's only 45 seconds long and the hip action at the end really sweetens the deal. WORK IT GIRL!

Sometimes Happiness is Cheap!

I'm no good at formatting my blogs, this picture belongs at the very end of the post...I don't know how to move it, so just ignore it til you get to the end of the post! Lame. Sorry.



Super cute Gap embroidered jeans and Gymboree sweater! Weeeee....


The other night I had Sunday dinner over at my place. I was worried about it being too crowded with everyone over. But you know, we found the opposite to be true, we sat around my couch like we were sitting around a camp fire and I can't remember the last time we all talked as a family like that. Sometimes love grows in small spaces:) Plus, we had big pans of gooey chicken Parmesan, pene with broccoli, garlic and Parmesan, home made bread sticks and banana splits. What a perfectly cozy, delicious evening.


Okay, now for my thrift store bonanza! I went to two of my favorite second hand clothing stores today to get some winter clothes for the kids...yes it is still 100 degrees outside, but you who know me know I just can't wait for the next thing! So here is my bounty. Let me describe specifically my satisfaction.
I found good quality brands such as H&M, Gap, Gymboree, Yes, Arizona, Sprockets, Nike, all in great condition, some never even used. I got:
Six pairs of jeans
1 dress
1 sweater
3 pairs of pj's
7 long sleeved shirts
1 pair of cords
2 cool big toy cars
1 adorable winter coat
1 skirt
--------------------------------Cost: 100.00


Cute shirts for Evan


Awesome Old Navy heavy duty lined coat for Evan...for five bucks! Yippee!

Little Bits

Yeast and I don't get along. I am yeast impaired. So one day when I made rolls and let them rise all day in a perfectly warm kitchen ...covered in saran wrap....and heard a strange puncturing sound...and then saw Evan with these scissors....I was upset to find the result. Yeast hates me....even when it isn't my fault. Evil little Evan.

I felt so good one morning, I made breakfast for the first time in literally months. It felt good to eat real food. I wish I could eat this every day. Eggs, pepper jack and mango salsa on whole wheat, a slab of homemade peach cobbler, and blueberries. Ahhh....food, how I have missed you.


Afton has interesting posing skills. I never know what I'm going to get when I ask her to simply smile. Each of these poses were very deliberate and could not be negotiated no matter how hard I tried. There were more, but they only get weirder. These were the most normal.Hmm... What else is going on? Oh I discovered that the McDonald's hash browns my kids love also have other charms for Evan. He eats the wrapper right along with the hashbrown. Like a luscious little garnish. Afton brought my attention to that fact, I wonder how many he has eaten?


That's all for now, I have so much to blog I want to catch my computer on fire just to relieve me of the stress! Love you guys!

Tales from the Crypt

Well guys, It's been a while eh? Here's the deal in a nutshell. I felt mega-nauseated on a wednesday afternoon, sat on my couch and cried because I couldn't bring myself to cook the hamburger and onions for the spaghetti my kids were screaming for, called my friend Ashley to come over and cook it for me and then I realized, What in the heck am I going to do? So my dear husband sent me to my mom's house in the middle of Nevada for the last 5 weeks where I rotted in the living room recliner while my angel of a mother took care of my kids and me.

So now I'm 11 weeks pregnant and doing much better. I'm still kind of couch-bound, but at least I can eat and sleep now. If only I could poo. Too much info? Sorry. I just don't have a lot more going on other than that.

So anyway, I'm so glad to be home in my own house, see my husband every day and not feel so lonely and isolated. I wanted to thank everyone who helped me with my kids, sent me notes, called and lots of other thoughtful things that helped out so much.

I can't wait to get blogging again with actual life experiences and photos! It may be a few weeks til I have it in me, but I just wanted to say hi to my friends and post at least something! See you soon.

Gag me with a yogurt taco...or pregnancy will do it too

If you are wondering, "gag me with a yogurt taco" was one of my favorite valley girl sayings from the 80's.

Yick. Bleck. I feel sick! I am so afraid I am going to get as big as a house because the only thing that seems to keep my nausea at bay is to constantly feed my face. My sister lived an entire pregnancy on Werthers Originals and Rootbeer. The only thing that sounds good to me are chipotle steak burritos. Yeah, that's gonna get pricey. Every time I think about the sensation in my throat I mentally say the word "keck". I think that may be a barfing sound effect...I'm not sure.

Anyway, random stuff is starting to gross me out. I am going to start an official pregnancy gag list on my sidebar. I'll update it as need be.

So ladies, what made you gag during your pregnancies?

Summer Vacation

When I stood on a cliff looking over this view I felt my ribs unzip and my heart practically float away.

We're finally home from our summertime escapades. We've been gone for almost two weeks and had such a good time getting out of the city and back to nature. We went camping with Nic's clan in Duck Creek Utah first and then came home for one day...shook the dirt out of our shoes, washed the clothes and took off to do the whole small town fourth of July thing with my family back home at Pablo Canyon. I wanted to share some of the pictures.

Pablo Canyon

One of the main events back home is to load everyone up in a 4-Wheel drive vehicle and bounce up to Birch Creek where we have a cook-out and let the kids play in the creek. Then we drive all the way to the top of the mountain and go down the other side to Austin to play at the park, swim and eat at the Toiyabe Drive in Frosty.




Afton and Evan at Birch Creek


Evan sporting his new sheriff hat

Afton at Birch Creek cook out

Here's a video of our fist night at Pablo Canyon. This is the ranch where my parents live and Nic and I stayed in one of the empty rental trailers in the main yard. Everyone showed up to have a true country ho-down. We had a great time cooking up a big bunch of cowboy beans, corn on the cob and staying up late to tell ghost stories. Even Afton and her cousin Ellie got in on the action!

MMM!!! One of my favorite back home meals...there's a cup of brown sugar in those bad boys!

My dad Frank and Nic at the very top of Birch Creek canyon. You can't really see that well because there was a haze from the California wildfires, but we were so high and could see for a hundred miles in every direction. It was windy and exhillerating up there!

My mom Sandy taking the kids for a quad ride up pablo road. Evan cared more about the motorcycles than eating. We had a scary moment when we lost him for about 15 minutes and we found he had wandered up the ranch and found a riding lawn-mower to "drive".


Here's the sweet 10 ft wide trailer Nic and I stayed in. The porch also doubled for our talent show stage. This is my dad telling red neck jokes. Ashley Stout and I performed a Tahitian hula and can I just say how completely heart-broken I am that my hubby didn't get it on video!? In case you don't know, one of my items on my life checklist was to learn and perform a real hula. Humph. Sigh. So sad. I am praying Ashley will put it on her blog. Nic played the guitar and we sang Allison Krauss's "You Say it Best When You Say Nothing At All". Afton did princess dancing with her cousins.

I love this uncertain expression on Afton' face as she greeted a surprise visitor.

Duck Creek

The Larkin crew including Papa Larkin


My favorite activity of the whole Duck Creek trip was our family hike to Cascade Waterfall. It was the perfect hike. Not to long for little kids, yet still makes you sweat...breathtaking views (the first picture on this post was during that hike), varied landscape, not all uphill, and an awesome destination. It was the perfect family hike and I want to do it every year now.

Cascade Waterfall...Nic and Evan testing the waters

Afton on her first real hike.

Local Wildlife

Can you say Velveeta CHEESE?!




Phew...this whole vacation has been so fun, but also so exhausting because Evan had diahreah (cha cha cha) the entire ten days and...I'm Pregnant!