Christmas is over…

I love Christmas and the month leading up to it.

I love spending time with family and friends.

I love all the decorations.

I love the music.

I love the Christmas movies on Hallmark & Lifetime channels.

I love all the treats.

I love hot cocoa with marshmallow crème and cinnamon and nutmeg.

I love sending and receiving Christmas cards.

I love all the lights on houses and the Mesa Temple.

I love when we find the “perfect” gift for each kid.

I love the big family dinner on Christmas Eve at our house.

I love the looks on the kids’ faces when they unwrap their gifts.

I love seeing the kids happily play with their new toys.

I loved the beautiful musical program at church on Christmas Day.

I love all sharing and giving.

I don’t love all the cleanup.

Christmas is OVER and now I want everything cleaned up. Who wants to come do it for me? Although, as much as I want someone else to do it, I’m a little OCD about how things are done, so ultimately, it’s up to me. UGH!! How soon do YOU put all the decorations away?

Also, I’ve completely derailed my diet and workout. I found 101 Healthy Things You Can Start TODAY! (<--click to see them)

I only skimmed thru the list but I’m pretty sure I need to do ALL of them! Starting TODAY!

What are you going to start doing in 2012? I also starting thinking about MY WORD for the new year. Have you?

News & Spring is almost here!

I’ll start with the shocking news…

For those of you who haven’t heard yet, my Dad met someone online, they met and immediately became engaged. They have recently set the date for May 20th to get married. It’s been kind of difficult dealing with this. My sister and I have been trying to be happy for our Dad but it’s still too fast for us. But it’s what he wants, so there’s no changing his mind. She will be visiting here March 18-26th, so that’s when we’ll get to meet her.

Good News…

I finally removed the hangers, bagged, and donated all of my Mom’s clothes. It was 2 huge trash bags plus a bag for her shoes.

Fun news…

I shopped for bunko prizes last week. Then I hosted bunko at my house on Friday. It was a blast! And I got a cute prize (I really wanted to keep all of them)!

On to sweeter news…

My darling Ashley had her 8th birthday over the weekend. I can’t believe how quickly she is growing and changing. She has been wanting secret journals, so she received a couple of those. You know the kind that has a mini key with it? She thinks they are so cool. She also got a Moxie doll (like a Barbie doll but with changeable heads) and an iCarly notebook, but I forgot to buy some batteries, so she hasn’t used it yet. I think you have to use a passcode to get it open, then you can write your notes in it. My sister also found a gift & card that my Mom had bought for Ashley before she died. So, Christy was able to give that to her. It’s a necklace with a charm and inside is a mustard seed with a quote attached that reads, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Ashley was so excited!!! I love the one I got just like it when I was 8 from my Aunt Wendy. I still have it.

Enjoying breakfast (homemade Belgian waffles) with her BFF that spent the night. Playing a little xbox.Eating lunch after the makeover her sister gave her. her bday cake (rainbow chip with rainbow chip frosting) The whole gang! blowing out 8 candles. her Moxie doll. some wall scrapbook kits Ashley with Grandma and Grandpa Stradling              Ashley & me Ashley & Ben

And because Ashley turned 8, she will be getting baptized this Saturday. She is thrilled!

Decluttering news…

Ben & I helped the kids go thru their closets & dressers to gather all the clothes that don’t fit them. We filled 7 trash bags!!! {well 2 or 3 were already filled with baby/toddler clothes just waiting to be donated}. Ben dropped off ALL the clothing for donations yesterday! It really feels good to get all that stuff OUT of the house that we weren’t using. Now, if I can just get the computer room organized. Hmmmm. That’s for another day. LOL

* NEW * March Challenges are posted.

Head on over to the DSO Challenge Blog for some inspiration, plus you earn freebies!

Here's what you get FREE if you play along:

{remember my posting bonuses are coordinating}

FONT Challenge

QUOTE Challenge

HAPPY SPRING and HAPPY SCRAPPING!

Fun & Busy + GIVEAWAY

Nathaniel & Felicia had their last orchestra concert last Thursday. They both did GREAT!!!
I'm so excited that they have both decided to continue playing the violin next year too! YAY!!!
{following in my footsteps ☺}
I also ran into an old friend from high school. We had orchestra & Japanese together (her mom was our Japanese teacher - one of my fave teachers).

Friday night, I went with Tangie & Molly to the Bohemian Bliss Soiree at Ms Alber's home. It was FUN! We all tried to dress up in Bohemian attire, but no one brought a camera, so you don't get to see our attempt. :( There were amazing booths of wonderful treasures! I wasn't able to purchase anything that night, plus how do you make up your mind with soooo many to choose from? I got their cards & will definitely be checking their sites & put a few things on my wish list! What's the next gift-receiving holiday? teee heee {just found some pics of the event HERE}

Oh, we also got a tour of her two homes (one I guess was remodeled to be a showroom/house). Holy WOW!! They are BOTH totally GORGEOUS!!! I wanted to park my behind in the showroom/house and not leave. Everytime I see some fabulous rooms/homes I want to totally redecorate my whole house. Decorating shows don't help either. I see those and again, I want to RUN to the nearest decorating store and buy all new things to dress up my rooms! Too bad I have NO BUDGET for that :( Oh well it was fun to see the beautiful homes and get some ideas!

Saturday morning came quickly. We got up early went to The Park of the Canals to let the kids put their handprint on a tile - Kaboom! is going to be building a new play area at the end of the month. These tiles are going to be included in the design.

We also saw a few people from our ward there. Look! Ashley was helped by our favorite babysitter!

Nathaniel getting his hand painted.

Felicia also got to spend a couple minutes with our babysitter!

Anson was also very excited to do his handprint with his fave color.

They all wrote their name & age on the tile & they're baking them so they will last a very long time.

The rest of our Saturday was full of running errands, dropping off/picking up Ashley from 2 birthday parties, shopping for teacher gifts, picking up Christy from her walk so she could hop in our pool to cool off for a few minutes before we were out the door again. Oh my goodness! It was a HOT day! I think my back was sweaty all day. {ok sorry maybe that was TMI}

Sunday we went to church, then relaxed in the afternoon. After dinner, we took one of our famous walks with the dogs to my parents' house. The kids LOVE walking to their house, hang out for a little bit {look around for any treats that could be shared with them}, then walk home! It's a great end to our weekend.

Now, on to something special....

Since this is the LAST WEEK of SCHOOL for my kids,

I'm having a GIVEAWAY!!!

Bath & Body Works has a new scent, which I absolutely LOVE!

So here's what I'm giving away:

Antibacterial hand soap, Body cream & Shower Gel all in the new White Citrus scent.

{my beautiful hydrangeas not included}

Ok so HOW DO YOU WIN??

Here's whatcha gotta do:

Leave a comment on this post.

If you want an extra entry, post about my giveaway on your blog, then come back here & leave another comment.

I will pick ONE random WINNER Friday morning (May 22nd).

GOOD LUCK!!!

Mother's Day/Weekend

I had the BEST Mother's Day/Weekend this year!!!

The weekend started out with the boys leaving for the Father/Son campout. They had a few extra people with them - Ben's friend Trey & his son, My Dad & a neighbor friend.
See how excited they are to go on their camping trip?!

Nathaniel ALWAYS has a way of finding interesting things to bring home with him. This is a DEAD crawdad. He's pretending to eat it. He ran in the house & grabbed a measuring cup to fill with water. He wanted to boil it and EAT it! I said NO WAY!!! Eeeeewwwwww! Ben made him throw it away. Whew!

Here's my fave boys returning from their trip. No need to bring a change of clothes. LOL They had a BLAST!!! They also quickly became a HIT because they all brought AirSoft guns and played around. They shared so other boys could play too. They thought it was cool to shoot at the water in the nearby creek because the way it looked when it hit the water! Boys are too funny!

While the boys were away, I had bunko! I was in the 3-way tie for most wins or losses (can't remember which one) but in the roll-off, I didn't win. Oh well, I got this CUTE door prize! The kids thought it was funny.

My sweet niece, Chantel, spent the night so she could be with the girls while I was out that night. Ended up staying out til 3am. I was soooo tired in the morning. The girls had fun getting makeovers from my niece & watching Hotel for Dogs.

After Ben got cleaned up from camping, we got some pizza for the kids. Then we snuck away on a date. He took me to Chili's for dinner and we wanted to spend a little more time out, so we hopped over to the theater and got there just in time to see Star Trek. I'm totally NOT a trekkie, but it was pretty good, esp with the eye candy!

Sunday morning, the kids woke up & wished me Happy Mother's Day right away! Awwww what a nice way to wake up! Kids hugging & kissing me while I was still in bed. So sweet!!! Nathaniel asked me if I would make Belgian waffles. What??? He quickly corrected himself, Ummm Dad can you make pancakes? That's more like it. hahaha So, he did. Ben makes the most delicious pancakes!

We got ready for church and the kids hardly fought. YAY!! What a nice morning! Ben took this pic right after church! I just told the kids to come stand by me but they immediately squeezed me with big hugs! {I almost fell over from all the love♥}

I love all my sweet munchkins that make me a MOM! They can definitely drive me crazy sometimes, but I wouldn't trade any of them! I couldn't imagine my life without them! They give me so many hugs & kisses every day, I love it!!!!

These are the fun & lovey dovey cards I got from my darling kids & Ben!

Ben loves putting my card in a place where I will find it {I do the same thing - it's fun}. Who doesn't love surprises? He usually places my card on my vanity or pillow so I will find it when I'm getting dressed. This year, I found it on my keyboard {yep I snuck in to check my email after breakfast - tee hee}. He's a sneaky one!

Ashley's card was sooo cute! She made it at school and inside it says all the things she loves about me! Awwww. She also made me a "diamond" necklace! I wore my pretty diamond to church. She was so happy!

Inside the card:

I like being with my mom most when going swimming with her.

If I could give my mom something special just from me, it would be some flowers.

It really bugs my mom when ask her if I can play. {she means begging for xbox or computer time}

My mom helps me most when she helps me make my bed.

My favorite thing about my mom is she makes dinner for me.

One of my mom's favorite places is the snow. {ummm this one is questionnable. not a huge fan of cold, but do like to play in the snow like one day a year}

My mom likes to go out to dinner.

My mom looks prettiest when she puts makeup on. {at least she can appreciate my hard work 'trying' to look pretty - LOL}

My mom is special because she's kind to me.

I like it when my mom tucks me in to bed.

My mom's favorite food is chinese food. {yep that's one of my top faves, it's a close tie with Mexican & Italian}

If my mom could have anything she wanted, she would probably have 4 children. {she said she put that answer because we already have 4 kids}

At church, all the primary kids got up in Sacrament meeting to sing a couple songs for the Moms. This is one of my favorite times at church! Even if they're not singing or don't remember the words, the fact that they get up there and smile back at me - awwwww just melts my heart!

The talks during Sacrament meeting were Awesome!! Especially Jaime's talk all about being a Mom! You Rock Jaime!!!

They got subs for us in primary, so we could go to Relief Society. It was AMAZING being with all the wonderful ladies and the lesson was incredible!

The kids also made these cute cards at church:

Ashley & Anson made some too, but they were cards that you wrote something inside about your Mom. Ashley said she likes that I have brown hair just like her. Then she drew a picture of me, I think with blue hair & brown eyes! heee heee

Oh my goodness! They totally spoiled us at church! Not only did we get the sweet cards from the kids, but this is what they gave all of us too. A super delicious cookie from Sweet Cakes {a family in our ward owns it}, caramel/chocolate dipped pretzel, primary cookbook {kids wrote the recipes with the 'real' recipe attached, bookmark & sweet quote to hang on fridge.

Ok, so I broke my almost 2 weeks of 'no treats' diet and had a couple bites of the cookie & pretzel. Shared the rest with the fam. Could you resist those?

After church, we went to visit Ben's Mom. Ben picked out an apple scented flameless candle (takes batteries) & cute mug {both from Real Deals} for his mom.

She loved them both!
Ben & his Mom

Ben made fabulous BBQ Chicken & baked potatoes for dinner. My parents came by {and brought yummy fresh corn on the cob already cooked & hot for us to have with our dinner} and I gave my Mom her gift.

I found the delicious White Cheddar popcorn seasoning {she loves getting this topping at Harkins movie theaters}, white & yellow popcorn kernels, popcorn bowl & $15 GC for Hollywood Video.

ME & my Mom

I love my Mom so much! She is the BESTEST Mom!!! Thank you Mom for always being there & all that you have taught me!

It was a fantastic weekend! Hope you had a good one too!

My Design Style

Saw this on Tammy's blog!

I guess this is kinda true. Why don't they have a style called "Simple Designs due to Simple Budget {and kids who love to run around throwing dirty socks & toys everywhere}"?? Maybe I should've picked my total dream rooms when answering the questions on the quiz. Then again, some of the pics just didn't match what I would choose. I love Pottery Barn & many different pictures in Better Homes & Gardens magazines. I love going to my friends' houses to see their beautiful homes & decorations. I have a mixture of styles, a little of this and a little of that. But we also have tried to choose items that will last a while & not look 'worn/ruined' due to kid damage. LOL

What's your decorating style??