A little less magic at our house

Well, last night Ben found the Christmas presents that I have bought so far this year.

Great. They were from Santa. 

I've been wrestling with when to tell the kids anyway. I love the magical spirit of Santa. I love the mystery and the traditions that go along with Santa. Get me right, we FOCUS on Christ, but the Santa part is fun too.

I remember I found out in Grade 2. The other kids were saying Santa isn't real, that it's our parents. The outrage! The blasphemy! I couldn't believe the out and out lies these kids were spewing. Santa would know and they wouldn't get any presents! I defended his honor with all my soul. I knew my parents wouldn't lie to me. 

Then I got home from school and my perfect world where you can hear hooves on the roof crashed all around me. I was betrayed, by my own parents. No Santa, my folks were liars, who could I trust, there was no one to turn to. (I believe all my future relationships have suffered this mistrust) I resolved then and there, to never do that to my own kids. 

So last night we ended Ben's childhood. Between his finding the presents and him getting up there in years, I knew it was time. He was so sweet, he immediately said, "well then, I got what I wanted for Christmas, to met the real Santa- you guys" Then he quickly realized WE spent the money on his presents. It was sad and touching all at once. He was so grateful, he started listing off all the presents he's gotten that seemed expensive to him. I don't think he'll ever ask for anything big again. I hate that. No more magic. The whole time we talked, his eyes were watery, it broke my heart, but I'm glad he heard it from us instead of his friends. (You'd think this blog was about sex or drugs)

We agreed that Roxy should still think Santa is real, Ben is excited to be in on it with us. This morning I suggested something he should ask Santa for and winked at him, he loved it. I guess I'll just have to enjoy the magic with Roxy while it lasts, I'll be sad when no one in our house tries to hear hooves on the roof anymore.

Maybe I should have studied harder in math...

apparently,  I don't understand percentages or something.  When you rent a t.v. series on dvd, each episode is 42 minutes long, that means on t.v., there are what, 18 minutes of ads every hour. 

Here's the part I don't understand. When you are flipping though the channels to find something to watch, it's all ads. Shouldn't you land the show more often?

poor, poor, tortured girl

Yesterday Roxy had to go to the hospital to have some dental work done under general anesthesia. It was sad to see her so scared and confused when she was waking up. But other than that there were some funny moments.

The night before, she was in the bathroom talking to herself, making a checklist of things going to happen the next day.

"wake up, check.

get dressed, check

go to the hospital, check

get tortured, check"

No lie, she had the calmest voice- just a list of things to get done. 

Lovin' being outside

This is my sister April with her cute little guy, Tyson. Yesterday we went to Gardner Village, it was so cute with all the witches, but it was so crowded, we weren't the only ones with the good idea to go.

I love that kid.

I love this picture. Roxy needed to do her reading homework and Ben volunteered to help her. (Notice Roxy's mismatched shoes, she is such a gypsy.)

Try not to notice our messy back yard.

Look at their expressions!

a little strong

This is one of the walls in my craft room. It's a little much for most people, but I like it.

My backyard...

is very peaceful.

I just barely stepped out my back door to take this, I really like where I live.

The Killers = The Victim

Brandon Flowers on stage right behind me!!!!!

I know in some circles it isn't "cool" to like "radio music", (that's right Bigger Ben, I'm talkin' about you)  but I don't care. The Killers are my favorite band since New Kids on the Block.

I'm just braggin' here, but look how close we were to the stage. There were only three people between us and the railing.

Seriously, look how close we are!

I might watch to much CSI, because the whole time I just kept thinking, I am covered in other peoples' DNA.   (Is that the right kind of apostrophe on people? Is peoples a word?) The other thing I kept thinking was, I am WAY to old for this. We were standing up for like 5 hours straight. And people kept smashing into me. I swear I had so much body contact with strangers, I think I ought to get checked for an STD. At the very least I must've come away with the swine flu. Doctors would be smart to set up clinics outside venues.

Probably the funniest thing that happened all night was this teenage boy, who was there with his mom, was trying to complain to the security gaurds that the people behind him were swearing and calling him mean words and it was really hurting his feelings. He actually said that he might start crying if they don't start being nicer to him. And he looked like he might start crying. The security gaurd told him, you are at a concert, that kind of behavior is OK.  I couldn't help but want to ridicule him at the same time as feel sorry for him, and his mommy.

Thief

I wasn't lying, I do intend to start blogging again, but we just moved and don't have internet yet.

Right now I'm sitting in the parking lot of my kids school stealing WiFi.

Hopefully we'll get connected soon.

Is she really here?

Today I tried to convince Roxy that she is not real. That after I had Ben, I really wanted a daughter too, so I imagined her. I told her everything about her only exists in my head. Everything;  school, her room, having friends, all of it is only pretend to me. 

She didn't buy it for one second. Instead she made alien sounds and said, "did that sound like something your imagination could have made up?"

I had to concede, it did not.

Is it wrong to try to mess with your kid on such a deep mental level?

I miss you guys....

So I think I might come back when school starts back up. 

I hope you're still there.

April Fools Day

I can't believe it's still snowing. I bet Mother Nature thinks she's pretty funny. 

The real reason for this post is so the awful memory of my doc visit won't be at the top anymore.

I should have a least gotten a free dinner

So I just got back from the doctors and I feel a little like I should file a police report.

But then they'd do a rape kit.

I shoulda been a librarian

We accidentally scheduled our cruise during spring break. Turns out, I'm not really a "party" girl. I spent a lot of time trying to avoid areas of the ship that smelled like liquor.

This was some of the milder nudity...

Aren't we a cute couple? We celebrated our 9th anniversary on this trip. Love ya babe. (we should have just skipped year seven)It was mostly cold, no laying out on the deck for me. In this picture I'm wearing pants, a hoodie, drinking hot and still freezing.

We hadn't really planned on going to formal dining night, but we were there with all Blaine's family and changed our mind at the last minute. We had to improve on the formal. We looked ridiculous, but had fun. Our cruise went to Ensanada, here is a obligatory group pic in Mexico.

Despite it being a little cold and little too partyish for this old prude, we had a great time. It was so nice to have no schedule and sleep whenever I wanted to. Those interior staterooms are nice and dark any time of day.

Oh, and then I got layed off.

While I was gone, they decided to close the dealership I work at. The most awesome part was they didn't even call me. My sister did. She is married to our cashiers brother, that's how she knew, then an hour later my mom called and told me. She received a letter in the mail notifying her because she is a local Saturn owner. Nice huh, hearing it twice from other people before my own boss tells me. I was only gone for three days before everyone but me knew.

So here's to laying around at Seven Peaks Water park with the kids all summer.

I got my husband to watch Twilight

and he wondered if it is harder for Edward to be around Bella when she's menstruating.

I'm back

from Mexico.

Sort of. I'm now in Mesa visiting in laws.

More to come in a few days.

Snuggie News

This is for you Kristina

Who's lookin'

Yesterday I did something very foolish, something I know is very bad for me. But it was for the sake of vanity.

But everyone knows anything is OK for vanity.

I went tanning.

And yes, I was naked. (I didn't plan ahead and bring a swim suit, sorry, I know it's gross to put your bare parts on the bed, just tell yourself they clean them between each use)

I got just a teensy bit burned on my stomach. And by teensy bit I do mean I look like I faced nuclear testing.

Have you ever heard fat burns faster. Yeah, that's true.

Anyway, as a form of cheap entertainment, I was letting the kids press on my stomach and see the white fingerprints that were left behind. I know, best mom ever, right? It didn't take long for Ben to realize in a modest swimsuit your stomach does not get burned, so what was I wearing, a bikini. Note: to my kids bikini = Satan.

Naturally, I couldn't tell them no, I was not wearing a bikini, I was naked, so I just brushed it off saying, it doesn't matter what I was wearing I was all alone in a little room. No one could see me. (And I really, really hope that's true, you know what you hear about those places.)

Roxy immediately replied, "Yeah, that's true, no one could see you....EXCEPT Jesus and Santa.

It's gonna be a bright sun shiny day

That damn daylight savings wouldn't let me go to sleep last night.

Meet Tyson

My sister April's baby was born just fine last Friday, I'm just a little slow.

We are so excited about this little guy. He is so sweet to hold, I am seriously addicted to him.

I must be, because last night I dreamt I wanted one. Yikes!

(We are totally done having kids)

The secret

Yesterday I was at my kids elementary school when the principal made his daily announcements. Part of it included a quote; I wasn't listening well enough to remember who said it.

"The secret joy of work is excellence."

I really do believe that, in fact most the time, it's the ONLY joy in work.

Parade of coveting

Last weekend we went to the St. George Parade of homes, other wise known as the Parade of I hate-our-small-townhouse.

Check out the view, you can kinda see it in the reflection.

This house had a soda machine.

And an ice cream bar.

On the left side of this picture you enter a tunnel under that building at the back of the poolAnd you find this hot tub,

if you continue through a tunnel, you find this, which is in the opening you can see on the right side of the above picture.

This is in the basement, along with a full work out gym, putting green,

basketball court, with a 218 " screen on the wall,

and racket ball court. Yeah, that's just the basement.

The cute boy that's an extra here is Beckham. His dad is Blaine's cousin. They live in St. George and so we gave him a ride back to his house. Along the way we told him we were lost and could he tell how to get to his house.

His reply was just follow the arrows.

And yes, he did mean the turn signals on my car.

Is that genius or what! After all, they've never failed him before.

Later, we went hiking in Snow Canyon, it was just beautiful, as always.

This really didn't seem dangerous at the time, but the picture sure makes it look a little scary.

And my most exciting news is: right now my little sister April is in the hospital trying to get a kid out of her.