Black Friday Shopping...

I admit- one of my fav things on Thanksgiving is getting the ads in the paper for Black Friday! I spent some time late that night scouring the ads and devising our plan. Instead of getting up mega-early and hitting the crowds, we slept "in" until 7, and Eric and I went to Walmart expecting police, fights and no parking spots. Instead- no lines, small crowds, found a close parking spot, etc! Went in, grabbed the big SONY LCD for our bedroom (we've had the same TV in there for 15 years, it's about time!) grabbed tons of other doorbuster deals we wanted and left for Shopko. Again, no line, no crowd. They said they were out of what I wanted, but I walked to the back toy isle anyway. Sure enough they were gone but right then some lady takes one out of her cart and puts it on a random shelf! (I know, I'm charmed). Then Target, Old Navy, Sams Club, and Fashion Place Mall. Same thing. Everyone else in Utah must have got up at o-dark-thirty and hit the crowds but I sure didn't! Finished about half the shopping for the kids in just a few hours. Got home just in time to get to work on a crazy day on the websites. Score!

I got my Dodge Ram!

With BYU beating Utah today it's time to tell the story behind my new dream truck! It will all make sense in a second. However, keep this note in the back of your mind: anyone who knows me and knows me well knows that I have a giant junior-high-married-girl crush on Bronco Mendenhall, the coach of BYU Football. (No, Eric does not care, he plays into it because he knows it's a joke.) During my time working at KSL I was able to see Bronco a few times as he came in to speak to the staff as well as during radio broadcasts. Let's just say I got teased a lot by coworkers about my innocent married girl crush. I digress.

I'll make a long story short. I got an '09 Dodge Ram 1500 Hemi. It's sooooo pretty. But the '09's were verrry hard to find right now, because they're rollin out the '10. I wanted an '09 because they have a lifetime powertrain warranty. The one I finally found with all the features was the l-a-s-t one on this particular lot yet wasn't in the list of their online inventory. Of course! I noticed it had two BYU decals on the windows in the back which seemed odd for a new truck but hey, I'm a fan! They called it the 'manager's demo' which meant they hadn't sold it on purpose so they could use it for sales purposes. I didn't like that too much- visions of employees driving it home for a weekend rally or all the test drivers taking it for a spin. I got over that after a few days (ahem, they let us take it home for the weekend) and we decided to buy the truck. I was so excited. Of course they gave it a complete overhaul - took the stickers off, detailed it inside and out, etc. When we were in the finance department buying the truck, the finance manager says to me,

"So, you're buying Bronco's truck, eh?"

"WHAT? You mean Bronco Mendenhall?" (I get shaky even typing his name).

"Yeah, with our BYU sponsorship we loan him the cars of his choice and he drove that for a month or two and just dropped it off the day you came in!"

TOTALLY MEANT TO BE!

Isn't she pretty!? I loved it before but now I love it that.much.more.

My geekiness revealed

here's my sellout for a flip phone for the company!

For the BabySteals Fans...

....that click over here tonight, it totally is "That Baby!"

PS. for everyone else, the BabySteals Facebook fan page has some really awesome moms in there. I sit here working and sometimes have a hard time focusing because I want to go in and see what they're saying! It's work, but not work! Anyway, a few days back someone (Cami?) found my personal blog (I don't talk a whole lot about work on here!) and linked it on there. Of which some super smart moms figured out that BabyLegs will be a future steal (which I totally may or may not be confirming!) based on the pictures below. Busted! So, someone posted my blog tonight, in the midst of them asking for a hint about what tomorrow's steal is. So some moms will click, and hey, why not give them the surprise! :)

xo

PS. If you do, leave a comment and tell me you've been here!

She's like butter...

So my mom (her website here) has come by twice this week to do product shots for upcoming BabySteals and KidSteals features. Jane has been mostly great, but a bit testy at times (not quite like when she was filming for a part in Baby Signing Time). Some of the shots turned out amazing. Here are just a few of the super darling ones! I can't believe she's growing up so fast right before my eyes! Enjoy, family!

My cousin Kristyn brought by her darling son Brennan and he was our guinea pig for even more shots!

Halloween!

Yes, I realize these photos are dark, and grainy. My Canon Rebel xti is totally messed up and won't go out of manual mode! I'm trying to get it fixed, but in the meantime, here's pictures of my cuties on Halloween I traveled over 8 hours on an airplane to take! (Aruba pics coming soon)

Jane was a witch (not just ANY witch but a darling witch) and Brandon was Ben 10. We landed at 4pm with just enough time to get home, show my parents all of our photos and get the front porch decorated for Halloween. I played a scary soundtrack through the window, and put the crabapples from the tree in a silver bucket, added food coloring and dry ice and voila - a bucket of boiling eyeballs! Gross! (bad picture on the bottom right)

The highlight of trick or treating however, was most definitely Jane's curiosity. She spent SO much time on each front porch inspecting every little decoration on their porches. The last house we visited across the street, (above) Jane was totally curious before knocking because they had a lighted skeleton in the ground. She stood there for 5 minutes pointing to it and saying 'scary' but wouldn't go to the door. Finally she did, then suddenly decides to GO RUNNING INSIDE THEIR HOUSE after seeing kids toys across the room! Keep in mind we've never been inside their house, nor do we know them. I have half of it on film until I was so embarrassed calling her to come back I turned it off. She would NOT come back! She climbed inside a giant toy car and wouldn't get out. I had to go inside and pry her screaming from the car. Of course they were gracious as I apologized, (and they were cracking up) but seriously Jane why did you run in their house uninvited! I'll definitely remember that for a long time. I might have to post the video if I can get over the embarrassment of my voice!

...and thanks to her big brothers and their super sneakiness, almost all the candy is already gone!

caramel apples

to soak in a bit more halloween before our Aruba trip, we made caramel apples with some of the amazing apples from our yard!

t
we also finished brandon's halloween costume - he decided to be Ben 10 this year. jane is going to be a witch- and it is the cutest witch ever! I can't wait to trick or treat with her!

Easton's first concert at Murray High

doesn't he look handsome in a tuxedo? ps. he will destroy me if he sees this. typical high schooler

He started out on the keyboard - it was awesome!

Then moved to do clarinet for the rest of the concert. It's awesome to see his musical talents shine!

he's the one with the clarinet ^ in his hand... :)

random photos from my yard...

It's the simple things that make me happy.

the tiny pumpkin 'sugar pie' in front is from our yard! instead of having crab apples all over the yard, they're gracing the silver bucket this year.

we have so many wonderful carrots from our garden!

and we've been lucky enough to have a wonderful harvest of apples!

seriously? castor beans and cannas in full bloom at the end of october? not for much longer...it's going to possibly snow this week? aaaa just in time for 90 Aruba weather!

My Dream Truck...

....is almost here. It's time to trade in our Dodge Durango that has done us so well the past 9 years. I've been very anxiously searching for this truck, but they are not easy to find. A 2009 Dodge Ram 2500 Mega-Cab 5.7L Laramie in white, black, metallic silver or khaki. I'm hoping I find one before our trip to Aruba! Meanwhile, note to self. When visiting Dodge dealerships, don't go right after a party, by yourself, in William Rast Jeans and black high heels. Just sayin'.

A surprise visit to one of our biggest fans!

Kristen and I made a surprise visit today to Primary Children's hospital to visit Jess Bowman, one of our best customers and biggest fans from Idaho that we’ve never met in person. On Thursday she delivered a baby here in Utah because her baby has complex congenital heart defects and at Primary Childrens there are specialists. Before she knew what she was having, she was buying lots and lots of Babysteals and would buy both boy AND girl colors. Then she found out it was a girl and sold all of her boy stuff. Well, turns out it was a BOY! We’re hoping we can help exchange some of that PINK she has to blue.

Kristen and I met at the warehouse to pick out a few steals we knew she would want (and need) that were BLUE that she missed out on while she was in the hospital (the Mally Bibs and aden+anais sleep sack!) I made a card (yes, you heard me, made a card, even with cute little metal baby feet on the front!) and we were off. We had a tough time finding her at the hospital because she was already discharged but then made our way to Primary Childrens. Lucky enough, right as we found the NICU area and walked in to the lobby, we saw what we thought was her and her husband walking back into the NICU (remember, neither of us had ever even met Jess, only through facebook photos!). She looked at us for a second and we both knew! "Is that you, Jess?" "Jana?!!" I could tell she had been crying and of course that made both me and Kristen cry. We gave her huge hugs and could feel her sadness. They had just received tough news on their sweet baby boy and his condition. It was tough to find the words to share but we listened and tried not to cry our eyes out. I'll leave Jess's blog to the true details, but we are praying her sweet baby boy will be ok. Jess is so strong and has such a true faith and knowledge in Heavenly Father's plan. Even though it was a quick visit, it was perfect timing as she was taking her sister back into the NICU to see her baby and thirty seconds later we would have missed her. It was so wonderful meeting her in person and I hope the quick visit lifted her spirits.

I posted it on the BabySteals blog before we left, and was surprised to read the fun comments from moms on there and our Facebook wall. I know this alone will make Jess happy, especially because she is a super fan and the other moms will be able to send virtual support and prayers her way also. HUGS, Jess!

...something is coming...

Aruba!

About one week from tomorrow I'll be here....

...enjoying the first vacation that Eric and I have ever taken without kids in our 16 years of marriage. We're going with our good friends Aaron and Rachel, and our friend (and trainer!) Matt. We're pretty darn excited to say the least! Although we'll only be gone M-F, it will be a much needed getaway for me, who has worked an average of 14 hours/day the last year and a half. We could have been there for two more days but I couldn't imagine missing the kids on Halloween. I know, I sound CRAZY don't I! Missing time in ARUBA so that I can go trick or treating? Yep, it's true. We're flying home Halloween morning and land at 4pm, just in time. Jane will finally understand it this year and I truly can't wait!

This will be my first trip out of the country. Lucky my passport arrived last week!

Random post!

Busy is the best way to describe my life lately! Just when I think I'm the busiest I've ever been, I get busier. However, more than ever we are taking time to have fun and play hard when we have the opportunity. But you can pretty much guess that at any point in the day outside of normal taking-care-of-kids-and-house responsibilities, I'm either working, or working out. We have always been pretty healthy around here and exercise has always been a part of the mix. But this summer we have put a huge emphasis on exercise, and Eric and I have been working out at least one hour per day, 6 days a week. More on that later. For now, a few quick photos of the kids.

Easton and Eric last weekend, on an overnight scout camp/hike to Cecret Lake, to complete a few certifications for his merit badges.

Brandon last night at Gardner Village. It's so fun this time of year.

Jane, twirling in her new dress I picked up in Vegas from Twirls and Twigs. I can't handle the cuteness.

Sorry for the randomness, I have lots to upate and post on soon. I hope all of you reading this (does anyone even read this?) has a wonderful week!

Brandon got up on skiis!

We went to Starvation Reservior last weekend with my cousin and uncle and their families. Brandon got up on waterskiis for the first time! He was so proud of himself. He also got up on the kneeboard and was up for such a long time! He even got confident enough to try and cross the wake. It was so much fun to see! Thanks Ladd and Scotty!

kneeboarding!

Scrapbook Deal of the Day

Alright everyone, yeah you can blame my lack of posts here on our new Scrapbook Deal-a-Day website. www.scrapbooksteals.com! Ain't she pretty?




It was in the plans even before we started BabySteals.com. In fact, originally I couldn't decide which to start first. The rest is history!

ZUMBA- my new obsession!

Just try this.....and picture doing it for a solid hour. SO FUN!! And a whole lotta booty shakin!

4th of July Pics

I heart the 4th of July! When I was a kid, we were in the Murray parade because my dad was a volunteer Fireman. We would ride in the truck and throw candy out to the other kids. This year, with my kids at that same parade, I had to get the picture of the Murray firetruck passing.

We had a busy but fun day. Easton was working with the Murray Youth Chamber of Commerce, and walked the entire parade route passing out flags. Then he worked at Murray Park at a booth putting tattoos on kids all morning and afternoon!


I'd bother giving you the Jello recipe for the dessert above, but it was way more work than it was worth. I also did Pioneer woman's Jalapeno Bacon wraps.....oh wow. We did the traditional BBQ at my Grandma's and watched the Murray fireworks from her lawn. The kids had a great day!

Wordless Wednesday

Easton conducting Honors Band!

In a post below, I talked about how Easton received the Clove award for Music at Hillcrest Jr. High! In his final Honors Band concert this year, there was a big surprise in the concert. For the last song, Easton conducted the band! He didn't tell me or anyone we invited that he was doing this so it was a huge surprise! Eric knew, but that was it. Here's a video from that night. You'll notice at the beginning Easton's band teacher was really emotional talking about the class. It's wonderful to know that Easton has such wonderful mentors at his school and teaching him such great things!

stop and smell the fya-yees

well, that's what Jane calls them, anyway.
fya-yees = flowers.

She loves going through the yard, smelling (and unfortunately picking) the flowers. I can't trust her alone with a special plant for a minute or every flower would be beheaded. But it's fun to see hear soak in nature!

PS. If you're wondering, that's feverfew!

my new favorite thing

My parents got me the Jack LeLanne Juicer for my birthday, and we have used it every day since. My produce bill has gone (way) up, but we're drinking pure juice instead of concentrated. The kids LOVE it. We've gone through more apples, oranges, pineapple, carrots, and yes, even cucumbers than I can imagine. I highly recommend it!

It's Cherry Pickin' Time!

Easton helping Jane pick some cherries

After 8 patient years of waiting, our cherry tree produced a lot of cherries this year! We had to put a huge net around it so the birds didn't eat them all. After church on Sunday Eric took the net off and we got all the cherries off the tree.

I made a homemade cherry cobbler that night.....YUM! Hmmm...how about cherries jubilee tomorrow?

Messiest Toddler on the Block

So Eric is watching TV, I'm working. We both think the other has her. Within 2 minutes this is what she accomplished.
nakey parts blurred to make sure you get the full affect of the disaster