25 random things

this was going around on facebook so i thought it could double as a blog post.......

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.



1. I was born on Friday the 13th.

2. I knew I was going to marry Paul the moment I saw him. ( does anyone remember me saying that??) I was 12.

3. Every Christmas, after all presents are opened, I still look outside for a pony.

4. I love to travel and show my kids the world. We have taken them all over the U.S., Mexico, Italy, Germany, Austria and Ireland.

5. I love to play games. I am ridiculously good at pictionary. Undefeated. Challenge?? My FAV thing to do is play games with my family. We don't play pictionary tho, no fun for anyone else. Also, I want to beat the Jenga record someday. Quip it. Need I say more?

6. I love antiques, old things, old stories, old pictures. I could look at pictures for hours. I love taking pictures too. I am obsessed. Anyone who has been to my house knows I have issues with pictures. I even have them taped to the wall next to the computer.

7. Someone at our wedding toasted us and said we would have 5 girls someday. We have 4 so far.

8. I graduated from ASU in 3.5 years

9. I close my eyes when I bite into things.

10. I love to sew. I love to make my girls matching outfits. I love to find patterns from the 50's and recreate the dresses. Sad thing is, I'm not very good at it. I don't let that stop me.

11. I want to memorize the whole Thriller dance before I die.

12. I know pretty much all the words to any Paul Simon song. He's not my favorite, I do like him, but I just know all the words for some reason.

13. I could probably win a chocolate chip cookie eating contest. It would be scary.

14. I love to add rubber bands to my rubber band ball. It makes me so happy to see it grow. (I am really scaring myself here)

15. I am a closet Christian music fan. I love it. The words make me so happy (and drown out the sounds of screaming kids in the car). I don't like the DJ's tho. I turn it down when they start talking.

16. I ran a half marathon to say goodbye to my 20's. And I am not a runner! I do want to be really good at tennis tho. Long way to go for that one.

17. I have never broken a bone or been in a hot air balloon.

18. I have a good memory. I almost always remember faces and places and can put them together quickly. I usually end up looking like a stalker when this happens.

19. I ripped my earring out of my ear when I was 7 and never had it sewn back together. Just had it pierced again right above the rip.

20. I was a lifeguard during college. Made 3 rescues.

21. I am very thankful for my family and feel very blessed to have such a great husband. I can't begin to list the thoughtful things he does for me and our girls. Can you tell he's out of town? It makes me miss him. Thanks for putting dinner in the crock pot so I didn't have to make dinner pDubs!

22. All of my girls have a flower name.

23. I love to watch movies. We watch a movie almost every night, sometimes 2. I like to stay up very late. I cannot go to sleep without the TV on or if Paul is already asleep.

24. I am sad to say, I LOVE blogs and shopping. I love to read blogs until my eyes start burning. I love to shop until my feet start burning. I love the thrill of finding a really good deal.

25. We don't have a microwave.

silly d

d came up to me in this outfit and asked if i could do a photo shoot. how could i pass this up...


i think she was really moved by our trip to the zoo. i could fill a whole album with just pictures of her outfit changes.

fun with gram and gramp

3rd grade, she knows it all

S was having some special time with noni, grandma and grandpa. they were riding in the car and pulled up to a red light. my grandpa was reading the bumper stickers on the car in front of them... quite loud and over and over. he read one several times that said..

"religion is nothing more than a cult, but with more people"

my grandma and grandpa began to ponder aloud what they thought that meant. my mom started to panic a little, thinking that she didn't want S to be spouting that out at a later date and also that it is probably not something to be discussed with an 8 yr. old.

 so, my grandma finally turns to S and asks...

" S, do you know what a cult is?"

S looks at her and says..

"of course I know what a cult is."

they were all ears now, waiting for her response.

" a cult is a baby horse and i know that because i'm in the 3rd grade." almost annoyed at such a baby question.

they were all relieved and changed the subject to something more juvenile.

she loves me....


she loves me not...


she loves me.

trip to san fran...

P and I were lucky enough to get a short get away without the kids! We did miss them, but it was SO much fun to just be together and do the things we wanted to do! As you can see from the photos, i have issues with food. when we are eating, i am thinking of the next place we will eat.  we really enjoy our food so i guess it works out. the best part about being in a big city is that you walk so much, you are hungry when you arrive at the next place! yeah!



yes, i ate all 18 of my famous mini swedish pancakes.
p had some delicious eggs benedict.




we had a fantastic time jumping on the trolley and acting silly. after dinner on the wharf, we stopped into an irish bar called the buena vista. we had original irish coffee. yum. i happened to bump into my cousin who was sitting right across from us. small world! (not really that wierd. i come from a big irish family and we like irish bars)

lobster bisque, clam chowder in a bread bowl, fresh crab.............. delish!

it was really cold and my husband pulls out these hand warmers. i had to laugh. i don't know where he gets all these little gadgets or ideas. i shouldn't surprised, he wears plastic gloves when he pumps gas and washes his change every once in awhile. yikes!

my favorite place of all was this little crepe shop we went to. we liked it so much we went there twice! ( which is not something we do on vacations)

i am still dreaming of those things......

 i got chocolate, nutella, bananas, anything sweet and wonderful.

pscrubs.......... he ordered organic vegetable soup and some wierd homemade cleansing drink with ceyanne pepper. yowza. i bet that was fun later...

i had to stop by and say hi to my best friend betsy johnson!

 our hotel was super cute and we had a great time. i want to go back. now.

as you can see, we really NEEDED more crocs.

F.Y.I.

the croc store at the mills had most of their crocs for $5. why they insist on wearing them with socks is beyond me, but i like how they can get them on/off with no problems which makes my life SO much easier.
altso, the glitter box rack has all of their holiday dresses 75% off! i snagged up 4 of these trish scully dresses for next year for about $16 each!!!!

the finger store

D asked if we could go to the finger store today. She is convinced that she is missing a finger right between her thumb and mr. pointer.

we're so metro.

i couldn't wait to ride the lightrail! i was so excited!
we decided to ride it downtown to watch the fiesta bowl parade. well, we never made it to the parade, but we did ride almost the whole track!

the kids were excited to be sharing their first ride with noni.
D was a little nervous when we started moving.

S dressed for the occasion, wearing her engineers hat and vintage tee.. such a trend setter.

there happens to be a stop right in front of my FAV sandwich shop.
someone was getting VERY cranky.
here comes the light rail!
p dubs surprised us (even me) with a new purchase and addition to the family. poor cookie, already replaced.
look how excited they are.
thank goodness you know who finally drifted off.
D too. someone actually gave us their seat because she was rolling around on the floor trying to kick people. cute. i guess she was tired.
an end to a great day.

breakfast experiment..

what happens when you are REALLY tired on a sat. morning and you suggest to the kids that they can make their own breakfast this time? ( in a nice way, that sounded wrong for some reason, but really, in a yes you can do it special today, yeah for you kind of way) pdubs is OOT ( out of town) and i am RFT ( really flipping tired) ANYWHO.......... back to the story...

 so i was pleasantly surprised when they came running in announcing that breakfast was ready. PICNIC style!

they had set up a place for everyone and then some. they picked pretty healthy foods. hummus, organic milk, pretzles, tj's frosted mini wheats, and juice. ( i didn't ask where my coffee was)

i like to look at this picture and try to guess what the weather was like. we have some conflicting outfits going on there. a swimsuit model, a ski bunny, and a pretty pretty princess.

even jasmine had her own plate of food.

even though i had to do like 3 loads of laudry to wash all the blankets and towels, this was one of my favorite breakfasts ever.