Baby Jesus

Setting the record straight--

Molly picked up baby Jesus from my nativity this morning and said, "baby Jesus is a girl."

Me: Baby Jesus is a boy actually.

Molly: No, baby Jesus is A GIRL! You silly!

Me: Ok, baby Jesus is a girl.

Also, Molly for the past few days has been calling me "Mu-thy" as in "Mother" but she can't say her r's. And it's kind of bothering me! Mother sounds old, doesn't it?! I'm not that old! I'm a mom, a mommy, and a mama, but mother just doesn't seem to fit me ;) even though, technically, I am her mother! Maybe it's weird to me because my FIL calls his mom, Mother (and she is in her 80s). Who knows. But I'd like to be mom, mommy, or mama please!

Thanksgiving Recap

We had a wonderful, small Thanksgiving this year. It was nice having a small group! Especially since that meant we had lots of leftovers!

Here is the spread. My mom set the table the day before. She is a star when it comes to entertaining. Every little detail is accounted for.

Even Molly had a special turkey plate and cup!

Here's my mom, working on the rolls.

We had apple, pumpkin and chocolate pie. Just because there's only 8 of you doesn't mean you can't have lots of choices!!

I made rainbow jello. I am a huge fan! My aunt Susan made it whenever we'd get together on my mom's side back in the day. Now that side is way too big to all get together anymore. I made this the day before and it practically took me all day with the different distractions and waiting for each layer to set! But soooo worth it!

The famous rolls! If you haven't tried my mom's rolls, you are missing out! They practically melt in your mouth. We eat them like candy!

This is what Ali was doing while we were eating :) Very festive in her turkey bow!

The group, minus Ali. We were lucky to have Grandpa Watkins with us!

He had a sampling of all three pies with ice cream of course! I get my love of ice cream from this man right here!

Molly was so shy at first with grandpa, but she finally came around and had so much fun with him! He loved it. It was so cute! She even went with to take him home to Orem. I guess she wanted to go in to his place and play with his toys!

We have so much to be grateful for this year! The gospel, family and friends, food, clothing, shelter, and so many comforts and conveniences that make life easier to name a few. Happy Thanksgiving!

Fun

We went to Discovery Gateway last weekend with friends from school. It was so fun! This was mine and Molly's second time. She had so much fun. The great thing was that it was a Saturday night and it wasn't crowded at all! So nice!

Alison was happy to be there too. We found out soon after this picture that she had a total blow out. All down her pant leg! Yuck! It always happens in the worst places, doesn't it? Luckily I had jammies!

Of course the kids loved the grocery store.

And Molly even met new friends.

Justin and his friend Seth, who we went with, and his daughter Susie.

I discovered a spot for babies up to 18 months. Ali had a great time!

Now is a great time to go! If you bring a can of food, you get $3 off admission! We brought in 3 cans and saved $9!

It's true

Justin started his job today! It seems like he's all grown up, but I guess that will really seem true when he isn't in school (and when we no longer live in my parent's basement!). Let's hope we get there!!

Anyway, like I was saying, Justin went in this morning and got the grand tour and met everyone at the firm. He said everyone seems really nice. And he even has his OWN office! Wow, fancy shmancy!! With a big 'ole desk, chair and they just set him up with a new computer! The royal treatment for sure :)

He said he sat down and was about to start working on some homework when he had 3 attorneys come in and give him assignments (on 3 different areas of law--he's thinking he will learn a lot)! So much for homework!! He only stayed a few hours since he has oral arguments today, but Friday he will probably put in a full day since he has no school. Yay for a job!

No luck

Well, after talking with customer service of Jane Norman where the skirt is from, they didn't show any availability in any of their stores and they also said that they don't ship internationally. Too bad! At least I know I did everything I could. I will just have to dream of the skirt ;) ha!

So ridiculous

While reading my google reader the other day, I read a new post on a blog I really enjoy reading, The Idea Room (theidearoom.net). She has a guest blogger who is a photographer who shares posts once in a while about different subjects in photography. She has really great advice and I'm always interested to read the topics she shares. Well this week she posted about family pictures: finding a photographer, what to wear, etc.

I happened upon this grouping of clothes:

And instantly I was in love with this skirt for women (ok the whole outfit, but especially the skirt!). I mean, is it adorable or what? I want it!

So what did I do? Well there was nothing in the post saying where it was from (of course!). So the next logical thing is to email this photographer, which I did. She says that it was from another photographer about a year ago. Dang!

But I still want the skirt! So I ask if there's any way she (this photographer) can find out who it is and I'll contact them. Wouldn't you do that? I'm thinking maybe a lot of people wouldn't go to the work. Most people would let it go.

What do I do? I still look for it! I am googling anything I think can help me find it. Nothing! I also go to every store imaginable online and find nothing!! Drat! Well Justin decides to help me out and can you believe it? He FINDS IT! He used google images (which I did too!) and finds it miraculously, including where it's from!! (side note: I am like the queen of googling, really. At least I like to think so :)

Yay!! I'm getting so excited, right? Wrong! The skirt comes from Jane Norman. Did I mention it's in the UK? Well, it is!! But does THAT stop me? Nope! I fill out my info and send a message asking about the skirt and do they possibly have ANY left?? When I tried to pull the skirt to the website to find the item, it said it was out of stock. So I'm guessing it's totally gone and there isn't anymore hope. But I have a very, very small ounce of hope that maybe, just maybe, they have one lying around.

Wish me luck will ya?! I'm crazy, right?! But hey, I am persistent! And I will let you know what I hear!

P.S. If you too, are interested in some of these items (taking into consideration that this post with these items was from March of this year), here is the link that tells you where each piece is from: http://www.polyvore.com/family_pics/set?.embedder=1327201&.mid=embed&id=17142838

P.P.S Yes, I did also look for some similar fabric to possibly consider making one for myself. But why would I make one when it's so cute already made for me??! And there wasn't any fabric I could find that was similar. Boo!

Fall pics

My sister and I took pictures for each other a few weeks ago. We were quite impressed to find a few good ones of both of our little families!

Thanks Nat!! Great idea!

Seriously so blessed

The title was fitting, so I thought I'd use it! JUSTIN GOT THE JOB! Wahoooooo! We couldn't be more excited for him! He is working for a law firm with four names in it. I don't even know the full name! Ha! There are about 14 lawyers at the firm and he will be the clerk for all of them. The firm does all of the pre-paid legal services for Utah and Wyoming, so he will have lots of great experience with many facets of the law. We are so happy for him! He starts in a week and will work about 15 hours a week.

We really do feel so blessed. Thanks to our family and friends who have been praying and fasting with us! Today has been a total whirl wind day, but a very good day!

Picky picky

First off, we sold our car! Yeah! One less thing to worry about!!

Moving on to a vent session for a minute. Yesterday I asked one of the boys we're watching what they all like for dinner since I was going to the store. He says they all like hard shelled tacos. I think, ok, simple enough. So that's what I make for dinner tonight. Well the other two brothers see what we're having and say, we don't like tacos! Seriously? Seriously? The youngest had cereal and the other decided that he did like the hard shell kind after all. But even Molly, who I know is picky, ate hers!! I think these kids are trying to get away with anything they can and it's driving me nuts! I know their parents don't cater to their every desire!

I have to be on them for everything! I ask them to do their homework and they stall and distract themselves and every minute I'm saying, do your homework. What are you doing? Ahh! It didn't help when I put Ali near the table at dinner and she pushed over the pitcher full of water and it got EVERYWHERE. Not a happy mommy! And Justin was at class. The money always sounds so good BEFORE we watch the kids. After I'm wondering if it's worth it! The end. For today.

What's new

Well we have a few things going on as of the past few days. Justin had a job interview on Friday with a law firm. He thought the interview went well. It would be as a clerk. They have about 14 lawyers and he would get to be the clerk for all of them. They are over all of the pre-paid legal for UT and WY. It would be so great for Justin because there is a huge range of law that they cover.

Also, we think we might have sold our car! We had a girl call Friday and wanted her dad to come look at the car on Saturday morning. What do you know, he actually showed up! And he called to say he would be later than we planned. His daughter was working, which is why he came for her, but she is planning on coming tomorrow after she's been to the bank! We hope this is it so we don't have to worry about that part anymore! Then we will be the ones with the ball in our court! We are still considering a 4Runner, but sorry, we ruled out the van. We figure if we don't love it, we can't buy it. I have no disrespect for van owners! The sliding doors are very much to be desired! We have recently been looking into Acura MDX's. We were surprised to find that they fit in our price range and have 7 seats, with the back two seats that fold down flat. Our neighbor was nice enough to drop off her MDX and we drove it around to test it out and we like it. We have another neighbor who just bought one and is in roughly the same boat as us. So we'll see!

Last thing is we have 3 more children this week! We are again babysitting three boys in the neighborhood that we watched over a year ago for a week. Their parents are enjoying Mexico, so lucky! But with the boys in school, it shouldn't be too bad. We started Saturday morning and have to be pretty firm so they know where we stand, but they are figuring out what we expect of them.

Funny story. Last night we turned the lights off (when the parents told us to) and said ok, time for bed! The middle boy says, "I'm hungry. Can I get something to eat?" We say, uh, no! It's time for bed! He says, "Didn't my mom tell you that I get some weird pains at night sometimes when I'm hungry?" I say, no. She didn't! He wasn't very happy when Justin told him to go to bed or no video games the next three days! Pretty sure he said, "You are such a jerk!" And slammed the door :) Gotta love kids! Especially ones you haven't trained!! I'm glad that Justin has been here all day Saturday and today since the next four nights he won't be home until around 7 or 8.

Common Courtesy

Is there such thing as common courtesy anymore? Sometimes I'm not so sure! I have had a few big incidents with this lately. At least I think they are. I will just share one.

I had a girl call the other day about our car. She wanted to come by and drive it. I said sure. She wanted to come on Tuesday around 6 or 6:30 pm. I cleaned the car for an hour and a half (no joke). I washed the outside and inside, and vacuum really well. My mom is watching my girls while I clean since Justin's at school. Well at about 6:30 I call her and ask if I have time to vote before she comes over. She says yes, so I go vote. I hear nothing else from her. At 7:45 I finally call her to see what the deal is. I leave a message and just ask if she's interested or not, and to let me know either way. She calls back and says she is, and wonders if she can come the next night at the same time. I say sure. The time comes and goes again and I hear NOTHING.

Now is it just me, or is that TOTALLY RUDE?! I mean seriously. Just send me a text and say never mind. Not interested! It doesn't hurt my feelings at all, but you are WASTING MY TIME! Not only did I clean it and get it ready for you, but I made myself available both nights and you didn't have the decency to say you weren't coming. I also had to go get the car. We had it parked on a busy road so people could see it, and we went and picked it up and brought it to the house.

Keep in mind this happened before with someone else who had called on the car. And I had cleaned it all that time too. No word. They just didn't show.

Need your opinion

Justin and I are looking to get another car and get rid of ours. We have been trying to sell ours for about a month and a half or so. It's not going so great! But we have slowly lowered it and hopefully soon we can ditch it.

That being said, we are thinking of getting a Toyota 4Runner. We haven't ever personally had one, but we hear good things about them. We are looking for a used one with a 3rd row. No, I don't have an announcement but we are thinking we will sometime have at least one more child! The great thing is that there are two seats in the far back but you can attach them up to the sides so you have more room when you're not using them (sorry for the bad explanation).

Well we've found one that we really like that is in our price range with everything we want (well, of course we don't want all the miles but that's what it's gonna have to be given our price range!!).

Up next is where I'm wanting your thoughts. Just for fun, I looked up a Toyota Sienna, aka the Swagger Wagon. If you don't know what I'm talking about, please put that in youtube and you will find out!! So please tell me why is there such a stigma with minivans? Maybe because they aren't the best looking thing ever? And if you have a minivan, I mean no disrespect here at all! I am almost considering one myself! But I have such a hard time imagining myself driving one!! Am I totally vain or what? But they are so PRACTICAL!! Who wouldn't want a dvd player, headphones, navigation, and sliding doors? I mean seriously!! How sweet is all of that? The other kicker is that I found them in our same price range with half the miles and only about a year old or so (depending on all the features of course).

One thing to keep in mind is that we do drive in our fair share of snow. And WY is a pretty snowy place where they often DO NOT plow the roads! For real!! So that is a consideration and another reason we like the 4Runner.

Ok so now give it to me. Thoughts, feelings, what would you do?!! What do you think of vans? What would you think of me if I drove one? Keep in mind it's not just me that has a sort of issue with them. Justin does too!