TAKING MATTERS INTO MY OWN HANDS

So this is exactly how I feel lately, trying to order something from Dillards.



Ben was so sweet and got me a kitchenaid mixer for my birthday. I loved it, except the fact that the one thing that I make on a regular basis (my large cookie dough recipe) overflows out of it. And the fact that it doesn't quite mix the bottom of the bowl. I know, I should just get a smaller cookie recipe, but have you tried these cookies? They are so dang good. And others have told me to cut the recipe in half. Well, how exactly do you cut an egg in half? My point exactly.



So one night my kitchenaid and I had a bit of a mishap. There were some words exchanged, mostly coming from me. And not words that I would want to say in front of my kids. Let's just say that the flower was flying everywhere and I was not happy about it. Needless to say our relationship came to an end. I took the kitchenaid back to the store and was in search of another mixer.



I was having a debate about the kitchenaid and the cuisinart mixers. The cuisinart is bigger and that is the main feature that I am in need of. But while I was debating, I had my gang of 3 little houligans with me at the store. So I decided to debate the issue further at home. Mainly to spare any goods getting broken at the store. But the woman at the store said to call her back and she would order it for me over the phone and not charge me the shipping fee. Great! So I went home, thought about it for a while and made my decision.



I called Dillards last week so many times to order the dang mixer, but the conversation always ended the same. Either "I need to check on something, I'll call you back" or "can you hold while I check on that?" And to both, I never heard back from anyone.



Well, I have really been craving one of my yummy chocolate chip cookies, so this morning I called Dillards to get it ordered. I called 2x's and they said they would call me back. Then when I called a third time, they told me that they couldn't order it over the phone. I was going to have to come in and order it in the store. Well, I DON'T THINK SO.



If you can't get something done just by going through the normal channels, then go through management. So right after the lady told me I had to come in (with my 3 ring circus), I called back and asked to speak to a manager. I was very nice and polite on the phone, but explained to this nice woman my problem. I told her that if I didn't already have a gift card to Dillards that I had to spend there, I would have taken my business elsewhere a long time ago. I told her what some of her employees had told me they could do, and that they now were saying they were unable to come through. I also explained that I am merely trying to save them the hassle of having 3 little kids enter their store. So she was very nice, got down all my information, and is going to see how she can help me.



It just goes to show that if you need something done, you really have to take matters into your own hands. Sometimes the little guys have no idea what is going on, but talk to the managers and they will take care of it for you.



Don't be afraid to complain to get what you want and need!!!!!

(unfortunately after all that I still couldn't get my mixer ordered over the phone, dang it; so I'm just going to have to order in myself.)

Weekend Away

FLYING KITES . . . . .

One of the main things that both kids wanted for Christmas was kites. So Santa brought kites and there hasn't been much wind, til this weekend in St George. Friday it was a bit windy, and good thing cause we brought the kites hoping to fly them. Ben went out with the kids and got those kites pretty high. Sam and Mason were so excited about it. This is the first time that they have really flown their own kites.

CROSSFIT WORK OUT (WOD) . . . .

Everyone finally got down on Friday. Nicholas, Rebecca and Charly came down Thursday with us and Hilary, Mckay, Rebekah and Matt came down Friday morning. We all had lunch and headed out to do a little crossfit workout, lead by our very own Nicholas and Rebecca. We probably looked so funny out on the golfing green doing squats, pushups, and crunches. It was so cute though, after Sam was done flying her kite she headed over to work out with Aunt Rebekah. I made sure not to do too many squats as to not get too sore for the 13.1 miles I would be running the next day.

SWIMMING AT THE AQUATIC CENTER . . . .

The kids had so much fun swimming at the indoor swimming pool last month when we went, that we had to go again. The only problem was that the water was a bit colder than I remembered it being last time. But that didn't stop Sam and Mason; and the Aunts and Uncles for that matter. Mason still went down the slide over and over and over. Samantha was just happy splashing around in the shallow end. Luella waded with me for a bit, but then it got a little chilly so we got out to sit under the heater to get warm. Samantha and Mason were in heaven having so many people to play with. They love playing with their aunts and uncles. All of the aunts and uncles on both my side and Ben's side are so good to my kids. Sam and Mason love them so much.

HURRICANE HALF MARATHON . . . .

So there has been method in my madness for doing these races. My siblings and I signed up for a runners series so that we could automatically get into the St George Marathon. So the Hurricane Half is the last race that we needed to complete. We all headed to the start at 5:30 am and the race started at 6:30. Rebecca and Rebekah walked the half. Matt ran the 5k and Hilary, Mckay and I ran the half. (Nicholas decided that it would be best for him to stay back and let cute little Charly sleep). So Mckay told me from the beginning that it was every man for himself. So Hilary, Mckay and I started running together, but that all changed around mile 1. Mckay took off and ran ahead of Hilary and me. Hilary was so great! She could have easily kept up with Mckay, but she told me that she would stay me (even if that meant that we would walk a bit). It was so much fun to chat and have her with me the whole time. I had to walk a bit more than I wanted, but there was a killer hill; and I mean killer, and my knee was also really hurting this time. Last race it didn't hurt until around mile 9, but this time it was hurting more around mile 6. So we ran a bunch and walked some too. But really, Hilary was my saving grace!!!!!

When we came around the bend for the home stretch I was sure that Ben would've been there to take our pictures. But he wasn't there, and I didn't want to re-inact the final steps again so Hil and I just got a picture once Ben got there. It was so much fun to do the race with everyone. But even a couple days later and my knee still really really hurting; I am questioning whether or not my body (knees) could handle a full marathon. I will have to think about whether or not I am going to sign up for the St George Marathon. But I will have to think fast because the deadline to sign up is May 1st. So, as much fun as it was, I'm just not quite sure if I'm up for a full, long 26.2 mile marathon. But there really is some kind of great sense of self accomplishment, and that part I really do love.

It was such a fun weekend to be down there with some of my siblings. The kids had a blast. Every night they were so exhausted from playing so hard that they just went right to bed. One of the nights, Mason even asked Ben to put him to bed. How adorable.

(by the way, I think that our kids are part fish. We went to the pool 2 times on Saturday after the race. I couldn't believe how much Sam and Mason loved the water. They were jumping in and swimming to the side. They just couldn't get enough of it. Ben took a turn catching them the first time we went and I took a turn the second time we went out. They are going to go crazy at bear lake, they will just love being in the water ALL DAY LONG!)

Samantha just loves preschool. Everyday she comes home and can't wait to tell me what they did that day. She got out of carpool and had such a cute little lioness face drawn on her. A clown had come to school today, and painted all the kids faces and a picture on their arms. She thought the clown was pretty funny. She kept telling me all about his hands that squeaked, his funny pink nose, and his funny friend that was with him. I just love how excited she gets about things!
Lately, while Sam is in school I've been getting my training/running in. (it isn't always easy to push that stroller running for 5 miles, but i figure if I can do that then I can run a half marathon without pushing a stroller) It works out great, Mason loves to take stroller rides. He just talks and looks around and totally enjoys it. It has been pretty hot the last couple runs we've gone on, so I wasn't really surprised when I noticed half way on our run that Mason had dozed off. Both Lu and Mason were fast asleep. When I pulled into the garage Lu woke up, but Mason stayed fast asleep. I got him out of the stroller to take him in the house. He woke up for a minute, I put him on the couch to get him some water and by the time I got back to the couch he was out again. He stayed zonked out on the couch for a long time. He was asleep for about 2 hours, and he must have needed it cause he never takes naps.

(I just can't resist taking pictures of this cute little rounds face!)

Luella has taken her binky like a champ since she was born, but she occasionally finds her thumb and I'm not about to stop her. I think it is one of the cutest things to watch her such her thumb. I put her down for a nap and a few minutes later she was still making noises, so I went in there to put her binky back in. When I came in her arms had come out of the burrito and she had found her thumb. So now when we put her down for naps and to bed I'm trying not to wrap her up and just let her sleep with her arms out by her. I tried it for the first night last night and she did awesome. Slept just as long as she normally does. I just can't believe what an easygoing baby she is. She just goes along with whatever you need her to do, which is nice cause nothing is every really the same around here with my other active/wild kids.

(I just love the way her other fingers wrap around her nose while she is sucking on her thumb, it is so innocent and cute!!!)

DATE OUT WITH THE KIDS!!!!

Ben had yesterday off, so off course we had to plan something way fun! We have some major work to be done in the backyard, so what better time than when we are both home together.(I loved working side by side with Ben. It made me so happy that we were both out there working together. I love the satisfaction that comes from finsihing a project. I am definately a project girl!) We took 2 loads of cement to the dump, which by the way has changed a ton. I remember going with my dad when I was a little girl, and basically we got to drive right out, onto everything and dump our garbage. But now, you just dump the junk into cement bins, weird. But anyways, the kids were great while we worked, Sam went to school, and then when it was time to pick her up it was time for Ben and I to take our kids on a date.

I thought it would be a good idea if we took our kids out on a date instead of Ben and I having a date night. My mom watched Lu and we headed out to the movies. I had heard really great things about the movie "How to train your Dragon" Well, lets just say that even though it is all about dragons, I think Samantha loved it just as much or more than Mason. It was such a clever and cute movie. The kids did so good. We got them each their own little movie snack pack (popcorn, icee, and a treat in the cutest little container), and the kids just loved their treat and watched the movie. Mason has this thing where whenever we go to a movie, as soon as the lights go out and the movie begins he asks, quite loud I might add, "how do we get out?!" He just wants to make sure that he knows how to get out of there if he needs/wants to. It was so cute to watch Sam and Mason just loving the movie, totally getting into it.On the way to pick up Luella Samantha was practicing her dragon growling. She kept on growling at Ben and I so we decided to join in and growl back. When we got home all they could do was talk about Toothless the dragon, growl like a dragon, and fly around trying to catch eachother. My kids loved it and it was so much fun to have an afternoon date with them!!!

MY SWEET BENJI

So it had been a while since Ben and I had gone out on a date. Actually it had been a while since Ben had planned a date. Planned meaning find a sitter, ask me out, and plan our activities. So this last weekend we not only had 1, not 2, but 3 date nights.

I planned the first one (thank you grandma B for watching our little ones!!!) We took my brother out to dinner for his birthday. We went to Porcupine Grill. It is such good food, mixed with good company and great conversation. It was so much fun. We were out for a few hours, and it was so fun to hang out. When we got back to my mom's house it was the cutest little sight ( I wish I had taken a picture) My mom was holding Luella, Mason was laying on the couch practically on Grandpa's lap (asleep I might add), and Samantha was on the other couch snuggle under a blanket. It was so cute to see my 3 little one's snuggled up to grandma and grandpa. Mason has really taken to my dad lately, and it seriously just makes my little heart smile. My mom told me that my dad had spent quite a bit of time outside with Sam and Mason. Muffy passed away last week, and Sam and Mason were really curious about what had happened to her, where she was burried, and all that stuff. Grandpa took them out there and answered all their questions, then they just played. He pushed them on the swings and just stayed outside with them. How cute! That was such a great end to a great night!

Then Friday night we went out to Pei Wei with Coby and Tif (always way fun to hang out with them. I love it that Tif and I get along so great. She isn't even just my sister in law, we have become such great friends, I love hanging out with this girl. Just love her!!!) After dinner we went and saw Date Night. Apparently I was laughing the whole time. It was a pretty funny movie. Steve Carrelle is always way funny and Tina Fey brought a ton of Saturday Night Live to the movie, so if you can imagine, it was pretty funny.

Saturday night we went out to a great Burger place and then out to another movie. We went and saw Clash of the Titans. I didn't know much about it, but it was a great movie! Action, love, cute main guy. I can definately watch those kinds of movies.

The best part about our 3 date night weekend was that I got to be with Ben. Sometimes life just takes off and in the rush of it all, you kinda forget about eachother. But it was so great to have a few nights to just be with him, and not have to worry about anyting else. And the other best part was that our kids were totally taken care of. We have some great sitters in our ward. They always get the kids (yep, all 3 of them) to bed and that is partly why we love them so much!!!But most of all because they are adorable with our kids and I know that they are taking really good care of them!!! After all, the only people I want to take care of my precious kids are the ones that will love them and keep them safe and happy!!!

So thanks babe for a great weekend full of dates!!!!

NO, I HAVEN'T FALLEN OFF THE FACE OF THE PLANET!

I called to talk to my sister today, and the first thing she asked me was "Have you fallen off the face of the planet?" It has been just over a week since I last posted, I know that is a while for me. I mean, since I have been on this kick of wanting to remember these days with my little ones; yea, not posting in a week is a while. But don't worry I haven't fallen off the face of the planet. Some days I just feel like I've fallen off the ball, but not the planet.

There is a really strange theme going on . . . . apparently all 3 of my kids love watching tv, maybe I would go as far as saying they are obsessed with the tv.

While we were in the car last week, Sam and Mason both put on their headphones to watch and listen to the movie. They LOVE that they can be in the car and still watch their favorite movies.

Somehow Samantha still managed to take a little time out to pose for a picture.

See how into the show that Mason is! We turn the movie on, ask him if he can see it on his screen, and basically if he doens't asnwer then we know that it is on. From then on he is glued. I love watching him react to the movie. He laughs at the funny parts, gets scared at the scary parts, I just love it.

We were watching Dancing with the Stars and as you can see, even our littlest girl is loving the tv. Ben was feeding her, and she wasn't even faced towards the tv, but she crinked her neck so she could watch. Seriously the whole bottle long, she was turned and watching. It must be time to get out those Baby Einstein dvd's.

I took Mason and Lu grocery shopping with me. We were making our last little stop and getting some meat cut, and Mason noticed that there was a tv showing one of his favorite movies (Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs). He was about at the end of his attention span, so right when he noticed the tv (thank you Walmart) I realized that he was totally fine. He wasn't making a sound, I even had to peer around all the bread stands to make sure he was still right there; that's how quiet he was. He had planted himself right there on the dirty and I'm sure gross floor, and was just watching. It was so cute!

tHANK gOODNESS fOR hAIR dYE

So, I LOVE the fact that I am getting older. The first time I met my father in law Jim, when he found out how old I was he said "she's a youngin" So you can see my delight in seeing my age grow in numbers!!! But there is one thing that I am not excited about, that is my hair going gray; or even getting grays. It is REALLY attractive on men, I love that Ben is getting grays. But on me, I don't think so. I found a couple gray hairs the day I went home from the hospital with Luella. Then a couple months later I found a few more. Then this morning I found another. I am not too happy about it. I guess it is lucky that I can take care of it by coloring my hair, hide it for a while. There are plenty of reasons why my hair would be going gray. Just to name a few . . . . . . watching and waiting for Mason to trip and fall (all the time), wondering what kind of damage the fall will do this time, (we were out on a walk tonight, and he started running down a little hill and down he went. Scuffed up his upper lip, nose, and knees. The kid is so clumsy, but really just brushes it right off), not being able to get sitters, hence not being able to go out with my hubby (I don't thing Ben and I have gotten a sitter in the last 2 months. That means that Ben and I haven't gone out on a date in the last 2 months. Do you feel sorry for me, I sure hope so!), my neurotic dog wrecking my backyard (ok so it wasn't such a great backyard in the first place, but that doesn't mean that she can make it worse. She goes out there and just digs and bites up the grass, leaving holes all over the place), trying to keep my house in order (which has slowly turned into little piles of STUFF all over the house), getting kids to bed that just use excuse after excuse for why they don't want to go to bed, taking all 3 kids grocery shopping (it should have been a quick trip and turned into a 2 hour fiasco. I think I am definately going to be a night time grocery shopper), and I could probably go on and on. The fighting kids, the yelling mom, the unhappiness going on at our house. I'm sure all of this is adding to the stress of the disaster with my hair. Of course, you know that the chaos isn't all the time. We have our awesome moments and then on the flip side we have our moments where I make sure all the windows are shut so my neighbors (or anyone walking by) can't hear our screaming and yelling. Shutting the windows doesn't really do much since our windows are 30+ years old. People would be able to hear the yelling even if the windows were shut. (I wish that I was one of those moms that never yelled at her kids, but now you all know that sometimes I scream to get my point across. I don't love it, and I'm working on not yelling, but really; sometimes I just can't stop myself) But needless to say, all these stresses are inevitable. They will come about at some time, and I guess I just have to accept it. My hair will go gray. I just never thought that I would be 26 and finding my first several grays. So, I will continue to dye my hair. And every time I see one of those pesky, not so cute gray hairs, I will pluck it out. Even though I am getting older, I don't want to look that OLD.

EASTER

DID THE EASTER BUNNY COME? . . . . YES HE DID!
My kids were so excited to find their easter baskets with some toys and treats, and then to go on a little easter egg hunt in our living room. Isn't it amazing what simple little things little kids just love?! We played around our house just for a bit, then we headed over to the Rich's to have breakfast, watch confrence and have another little egg hunt. Just another day to get hyped up on sugar, I guess. But my kids LOVE it. After we watched confrence, came home and re-cooped a bit, then it was time to head over to the Ballstaedt's for a little BBQ. We had dinner and just hung out and played. My mom is out of town visiting my sister, so we all took the reins and planned a fun little get together. Always fun to see family!

Easter morning with their baskets

Tif and I with our cute little babies!

I am just IN LOVE with this little face.

I tried to get Samantha in on the bunny ears picture, but she would have nothing to do with it.

She just wanted to hang out with Lance's brother Scott. That is the only way we could get her picture with the bunny ears on.

All the adults were tired and napping (except for yours truly) so the kids sat and watched a little movie to keep them quiet.

Even Ben and little Lu had a little Rest and Relaxation

Easter was always one of my favorite holidays, I just hope that I can make it as memorable for my kids and my parents did for me! Now we just have to get these kids down from their sugar high.

SEE A NEED . . . . FILL A NEED

I just love my dad, he is the greatest. Whenever he sees that something needs to be done, or someone needs something; he doesn't ask if he can help but he just does it. He is always willing to take time out of his busy schedule and help out anyone, especially his kids.

One of my favorite things about confrence weekend is my dad's rice pudding. He has made it for as long as I can remember. So now that I don't watch confrence at his house, he knew that I loved it so he came over to my house Saturday morning and made it for us, and watched confrence. It was tasty!!!

(totally cute side note, while we were watching confrence, my dad was sitting on the couch with Mason on his lap and my dad was tickling his back. Mason was in heaven!)


Friday night was pretty blustery. Ben and I actually watched our fence blow down. It is a 30 year old fence, but it still has to be standing until we can decide what we are going to do with it (for a new fence I mean) So while my dad was here, my neighbor came over to let me know he was going to go to Home Depot to get some supplies to stand it back up. Of course my dad heard this, knew that Ben can't do any hard labor with his shoulder, and after the 1st session of confrence, he just said he had an errand, and that he would be right back. When he came back, he brought with him some supplies to help my neighbor patch up the fence.


Mason was so excited to go out and help Grandpa that he got himself all dressed and warm so he could be outside.


(when my dad was all done working and getting ready to go home, Mason walked him out and hopped right into his car. He told Grandpa "I want to go wisth you." He got in, waved goodbye, blew me a kiss and took a little ride with Grandpa in his car. It was so cute!)























































My dad gave Mason the job of handing him the nails. Mason loved being out there with my dad, and my dad was so patient to let Mason get right in there and watch and help.




Even though it is a 30 year old fence, the way my dad gets jobs done it could probably stand for another couple years. I have always loved the way my dad serves others. He doesn't do it for his gain, but purely just so he can help. He has been like this ever since I was little. If he saw someone working out in there yard, trying to get stumps out he would go get his back hoe and come over and help them out, and save them a lot of time. I remember when I was in elementary school my dad came to pick me up from school. There was a little boy who fell and hurt himself while walking past us. My dad helped him up, and to try and make him feel better he got a candy bar out of his car and gave it to the little boy. Always just doing exactly the right thing at exactly the right time. See a need, fill a need! This is my dad to a T, and that is one of the reasons I love him so much!

MORE ST GEORGE PICS

These are just a few more pics that my sister in law Sara took while we were at the park. I just can'y pass up putting some more cute pictures of my little kids on here. Mason had a little tantrum while we were there, Samantha was just way fun, and Luella was quite enjoyable.