My little Maddie Moo

So Saturday we had a little get together with my family. We went to the outdoor swimming pool by my Mom's house. It was the last day it was going to be open this year, so we decided why not make a day of it. It was fun, but chilly because the wind was blowing. All of the kids had fun, but they hated the times when they had to get out of the pool because they were so cold. So we spent about a good 4 hrs. at the pool, and then we went to my Mom's house for a yummy dinner! We were all famished from swimming, so we were starving and the dinner was yummy!

Also I hurt my back somehow. It was weird as I was getting ready yesterday that's when I noticed that it hurt when I walked. It felt OK, but as the day went on it killed. By the time I got to my mom's house I just wanted to lie down. I took some Vitamin M and that took care of some of the pain. After dinner I just laid on the couch. We karaoke again as well, what else is new??? So here comes the part with my little Maddie moo. I had been keeping tabs on where all the kids were throughout the evening. The last time I saw her she was coming inside after Matt. Well this was about the time my sister and her family were leaving. It was about 10 p.m. We finished our game up about15 -20 min. later I think. Anyways that what it felt like.

I heard the kids playing and went to check on them. They were outside in the backyard on my Mom's patio swing. Well all the kids except for Madisynn. I looked around, and couldn't find her. I started to panic. I didn't see her go outside. I just started to think of all the bad things that could have happened to her. She is so little. It was dark and she was all by herself. I think what happened was that she followed my sister's family outside and they didn't see her. She wandered and got lost. I had no idea where to even start. We were going to split up and try to find her.

Matt started walking down the street and a guy came outside and asked if we were looking for a little girl. Matt was like YES. The guy told him that he and his wife heard some crying outside so they went to see what it was. They found Madisynn on there front porch crying. It just breaks my heart. So sad, and so scary for a little child. I am such a protective Mother. The 5 or 10 min. I kept thinking to myself this can't happen to me, what will I do if we can't find her? I love my kids so much, I hope that never happens again. The poor little thing was so exhausted that she instantly fell asleep on my shoulder when we went inside. I didn't want to let go of her! loosing my children is one of my worst fears. I'm glad that everything is OK! What a relief!!! =)

Tomarrow is Labor Day and we are going to spend it with My Dad's side of the family. It will be nice to see everyone again, it's been a good 8 or 9 months since I've seen everyone. We are going to Logan to a park there having yummy food again, and going to the Zoo. I just hope it's OK weather. It's supposed to be really cold like in the 60's. So what are you all doing? I hope you all have Lot's of fun!!!

Reading with my husband

So the last couple of weeks have been really fun for me! I love to read, and it's been so long since I have been able to read anything. You know mind wandering, worries, and other things going on. Well I know that you all are probably sick to death of hearing about twilight, but I loved reading them so much that I wanted to read them with Matt. So I read them out loud to him. It was fun to see what his thoughts were of what he thought was going to happen, and his reactions when things did happen that he didn't expect!!! Now we both can't wait for the movie to come out to the big screen. I think it will be good! Anyways we have read a few books together, but now we want to keep it up and read a lot more together. It's nice to be able to use your imagination, when you read. We have been big TV junkies, and I'm tired of it. It was a nice change to read and learn. I still love t.v. and movies though don't get me wrong! So we want to read the Lion the witch and the wardrobe series together, The Work and the Glory series together, Leventhumps series, I guess the list could go on and on! So if you have any suggestions of some good books to read please let me know. Thanks =)

Karen Needs

So my friend Shaina had this fun little game on her blog. First, go to google and type in your name, followed by the word needs. Now, list the first 10 things that come up. Here is mine.

1. Karen needs Help - Gay.... (No i'm not gay, happy yes, but not gay!!!)
2. Karen needs Feedback. Yeah come on guys I need feedback, comments please! =)
3. Karen needs donutszenmom (What????) It also says I need a labratory fund.
4. Karen needs more CS training.
5. Karen needs to compliment her workers. I already do that my children are wonderful workers. You know my brothers and Sister, and I were great workers for my mom and dad. They gave a slave list everyday in the summer, which had better be done before they got home from work! We always waited till the last minute to do everything! We did get complimented from them! Maybe I should start doing Slave lists with my children, when their a little bit older of course!
6. Karen needs a professional file on LinkedIn.
7. Karen needs Facebook. Already done. I love Facebook!!! I have come back into contact with a lot of friends that i grew up with practically the old Clinton 3rd Ward. =)
8. Karen needs some Gin. Oh really???? I wasn't aware of that!
9. Karen needs a new job. hmmmm.... no I really am happy with the one I have now! I love being a Mom!
10. Karen needs a website - tomarrow.

Holy strong winds, and a praying mantis

First off I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who replied on my last post! I'm going to get what I want done next week, yay! I'm excited!!! I will post pictures when I get it done. =)

Yesterday we had some real strong winds come through. I was starting to get excited because It looked like it might rain. It sprinkled just a little bit, but nothing really wet. Darn it! Anyways just strong winds. It blew are garbage cans over, and later our next door neighbor rings our doorbell. He's like did you guys know that your basketball standard blew down into my driveway? We were really surprised! The basketball standard fell on the chain link fence bending the top bar and landed in his driveway, missing his friends brand new boat by inches. Whew that's a relief, that is one bill we didn't need. I mean we have already paid for a $4000 gate. Who needs to add a new boat to that?!

I went to bed last night worrying about it happening again, because we had really strong winds last night as well. I kept dreaming about it, and I checked on it at about 3 a.m. It was still standing. Also sometime this early afternoon I let the girls go outside to play in the back yard and I noticed part of our swimming pool was over by the swing set. I went outside to put the pool back together and put it under our deck. Well I couldn't find the main part to our swimming pool. I walked around the whole house and nope no swimming pool. It blew away during the night. I have no idea where it blew too! I just hope that it didn't cause any accidents. So darn it all we don't have our fun pool anymore. It was funny though because McKenzie and Madisynn were standing on the deck yelling come back pool, come back! Silly girls! =)

I went back inside to get ready for the day. I check on them periodically while I'm getting ready just to make sure they are OK, and staying in the back yard. So on one of my checks, I saw McKenzie going after something. It looked like a grasshopper. I didn't think she was going to get it so I let her be. I went back to getting ready, and just as I finished I heard Kenzie say look momma from the kitchen door. I was like don't bring it in here, I'm coming stay outside. So she went back outside, and I came to check and it turns out it wasn't a grasshopper, but a praying mantis.

This girl has no fear of bugs or insects or spiders. It scares me!!! Anyways seeing her holding the praying mantis brought back a memory from when I was younger. I remember playing outside with my little bro Quinn, and some neighbor friends, and I felt something crawling on me. I started to freak out, and I mean freak out! I saw something big and green on my shoulder and I ran inside the house to where my Mom was. I remember her getting it off of me, but I don't remember anything else. I'm a wuss I know, but it was scary! I don't like creepy crawly things, especially when they are crawling on me!

So here are some pictures of McKenzie and Madisynn happy as can be with the praying mantis:

McKenzie even let it crawl on her shoulder. She just laughed the entire time! Madisynn was very intrigued as well:

She even kissed the praying mantis. I didn't know that's what she was going to do. I thought she was just leaning in to get a closer look! This is a pic just right after she kissed the mantis:

I laughed, but I told her Madisynn some things we just don't kiss and that's one of them! Yuck!!!

Opinion

So I am in dire need of a haircut, and color. I want to go darker. I really do like my style now as well. I need some opinions here people! Do you think I should do something different with the style, and what color should I go? Looking forward to what you have to say! =)

My nephew Kaleb and our super duper weekend!!!

So yes we are a little obsessed with karaoke! The last time we played at my mom's house with the family, my older sister Kate and her family had to leave. They didn't get to play. =( So I told them that I would come and have a play day with them and bring the karaoke games. So I went over there a couple of weeks ago to do this. We had so much fun, and my nephew didn't want to quit. I made an offer to him saying hey how about you come spend the night at our house for your birthday present from us and we will play karaoke until all hrs. of the night! He jumped at that offer, and was so excited.
My Mom went over to my Sister's house the day before his birthday to give Kaleb his gift and spend some time with them. My Mom she heard Kaleb say to his mom: "Mom you have to call Aunt Karen about the Karaoke sleepover party!" When my Mom told me this I just laughed!!! I called my sister the next day to see what day would be good. She said whatever I wanted to do! She also told me Kaleb had been bugging her nonstop about what day it was going to happen. I told her Friday (which was this last Friday) and that we would come have another play date and then take him home with us.
So This past Friday was the big day! We went and spent the day there, and Kaleb was just so anxious to go and start the fun!!! I told him we wouldn't be leaving for awhile. So we were all outside. The kids were playing on the swing set. McKenzie and Sammy were swinging, and then Kaleb had a brilliant idea to see how long McKenzie could swing by herself for. He set the goal saying I will give you a prize if you can swing for 10 minutes straight. She went for it! I don't think she really cared about the prize, she was just having too much fun swinging all by herself. McKenzie did so Great! This is the best she has ever done on her own. Kaleb was surprised as well, and so was his brother Jack. He said he would give her a prize as well. Then they both told her that they would give her another prize if she could go for another 10 min. Well she kept on swinging with a big smile on her face! She probably could have swung for an hr. but we were all tired of sitting, and it was hot outside so we all decided that it was time to go in. Well everyone except for McKenzie! =) She didn't want to stop!!! So she swung for 25 minutes all by herself! Go McKenzie!!! What a big girl you are!
We left my Sister's house a little after 6 and headed home for the big party. Kaleb's brothers and sister were a little jealous and wanted to come too. I thought to myself I guess I'll just have to do something fun with all my nieces and nephews on there birthdays. It would be fun! Exhausting, but fun!!! I had Matt make a homemade pizza so it would be waiting for us when we got home. What a sweet husband he was to do that! It turned out super Yummy as well! We also stopped at the Red box at smiths just by our house and rented Nim's Island. So we got home ate the yummy pizza and bread sticks and then started in on the Karaoke. Kaleb totally kicked our butts! He is in the phase of his life where his voice hasn't changed yet, so he can hit the high notes quite well! He had the advantage there! So we played Karaoke until almost 11:00, and then we had cookies and milk, and then watched the movie. The movie was really good! I really liked it, and so did the kids.
By the time the movie ended it was about 12:30 in the morning. Madisynn lasted through about half of the movie and then zonked out! McKenzie made it all the way through, but she was definitely ready for bed by the time the movie was done! So we said goodnight to Kaleb and went to bed. Kaleb had the hardest time falling asleep. Poor guy he kept turning the fan on and off. Going from Couch to floor, until he finally got comfortable and fell asleep. I thought he would have slept longer, but he was awake when Matt got home from work at 7:30. He was really good about it. He was quiet, he read his book, and then when I got up he was already changed and ready for the day. He had been putting together a little princess tea party for McKenzie and Madisynn for when they woke up. So when the girls woke up they had a nice little princess tea party, and then Caleb wanted to build them a castle /tent/ fort for them as well. I told him go ahead and do that while I make breakfast.
I forgot to mention earlier when we were at his house, he asked if he could make pancakes or waffles for breakfast. I said sure, but I was going to make German pancakes for everyone. He said OK! I knew he couldn't resist the German pancakes! =) So while he made the tent I made breakfast. Oh it was yummy! I love German pancakes, or just breakfast! Yum! So we snarfed down breakfast and then the girls got to play in their fort. They had a blast! Then we cleaned up and got ready well the girls and I did while Kaleb played more Karaoke. When I was done getting ready I came and played with him for a little while. He won me of course! Then when he was tired he played some more with the girls, and then had lunch, played Uno, and watched a movie until his Mom came to pick him up. We had a lot of fun, but it was exhausting. He told me maybe we could do this again on my next birthday, and maybe it could be for a couple of days! I just laughed, and said we'll see! =)
Sunday was a good day as well. We decided that we were going to go to church with my Mom just to have a short break from our callings, and because my Mom was giving the lesson in relief society. I love listening to my Mom's lessons, and it had been awhile since I'd been to one. So that made our decision complete. So we went, and when we got there I was a little taken back by how big her ward is. It has been about 8 months since we last went to her ward. It was nice to be there, and see people I haven't seen in awhile. They are a sweet ward! So my Mom gave a kick butt lesson as well! I'm so glad we went!
Later on Sunday I had invited my Brother Quinn over for dinner for a birthday gift to him as well. I also invited my Mom to come. We had a Yummy pork roast that had been crock potted all day, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, broccoli, and yummy watermelon. It was a really good dinner. After dinner can you guess what we did???? hmmmm..... yep karaoke again, and it was fun! My mom even played this time, and she won! Go MOM!!!! So we had a super duper weekend! I hope all of yours was swell as well! =)

Here are pictures of our weekend:

I forgot to bring my camera with me to Kate's house so I didn't get a picture of McKenzie on the swing. =( It would have been such a cute picture too! So here are pictures of what McKenzie earned:

So I got a kick out of the certificate, he did such a great job! So they pulled McKenzie aside to give her the prizes. Kaleb sat her down and read the certificate to her, and I just kind of chuckled when he told her 2 quarters because he says don't forget to pay tithing on that, and then he just keeps going. It was really cute! I don't know maybe you had to be there while he doing it!

Next are pictures of the tea party, princesses, and tent:

The master mind himself: Kaleb =)

Rant session

I'm sorry I just need to get it out of my system. I'm just really upset with myself. I'm mad because I'm not happy with how my body looks. I'm mad because I've gained almost all of the weight back that I worked so hard to loose a few years ago. I'm mad because I love food and sweets to much. I'm mad because I just can't seem to control it, and tell myself NO. I'm mad because food and sweets is my drug. I must have it. I feel out of control. =( I hate that I can't seem to make myself get up in the morning anymore like I used too to exercise. I'm mad because Matt is on graves. It's not his fault that I can't seem to get up. I'm not blaming him either. It was just so much easier when he was on days to get up in the morning when he woke up to get up and exercise. I know your probably thinking well get up and exercise when he gets home. That's what I'm trying to do. It's just hard because he gets home at 7 or 7:30 and I don't want to make a lot of noise. I want the girls to sleep as long as possible. I don't like to exercise with them in the way. I can't seem to get a good enough workout when they are in my way. Also I'm with the kids all day trying to keep them entertained so that Matt can get some good sleep. Then at night after he leaves for work at ten, and the girls are in bed, I have time for myself to unwind. I just need time to myself, so I take advantage of it and stay up late. Then I have to go to bed without Matt, and it's hard. I'm adjusting to him working graves, but it still sucks!
Next I'm upset with myself because all I feel like I've done lately is yell at my kids. Today seriously that's all I've done. So it makes me feel worse about myself. I pray for patience everyday, and you know what happens when you do that. I should stop doing that, but I don't want to. I really want to be patient with my children. I want them to learn, and understand. It's just so frustrating. I love my kids so much! I'm glad I have them! It's just lately it so hard, and I don't know why. I need some time to myself without kids. I feel guilty because I want to go have girls nights out once in awhile, but I also want to have time with Matt. Our only open night is Saturday. I wish that we could have Friday and Saturday nights open like in the past, then I could do something with him, and then I could get out by myself, or with some friends. I guess sometimes you can't have it your way every time right?
So I have options here don't I? I could just continue to sit here and wallow in my anger, or I could do something about it. I really don't want to sit here and wallow in anger. So my choice is made, I want to do something about it. I just need some good ideas on how to say no to myself, or my inner voice that keeps tempting me. I just need advice! Please help! Thanks for listening to my rant session. =) I feel better now that I've got it out in the open. I don't want to struggle with this anymore.

Tagged: My Three's

My friend Erica tagged me last week. I swear it's like I had a brain fart and couldn't think of anything. So this morning I made myself sit down and think! So here you go here are my three's:

3 Joys:

1. Matt and my girls
2. Family
3. That I'm a healthy person

3 Fears:

1. Being a Failure
2. That I'll end up back where I was all depressed, stressed, and anxiety ridden. NO I'm not stressing out about it. It's just in the back of my head sometimes. I'm happy with the way things are going.
3. Not having enough money to survive, and being jobless and homeless. Having everything taken away from you. Scares me to death.

3 Obsessions

1. The computer: I love checking my email, facebook, myspace, blog, and bank accounts. I love hearing from people, getting comments, Lil green patch on facebook. Not so much obsessed with myspace anymore, but I still must check it! As far as bank account just have to see if we have money and to see whats cleared! =) I couldn't live without the COMPUTER!!!
2. Organizing I love to organize things and keep clean. I don't necessarily like to deep clean, but I like a clean house.
3. Schedules I love schedules! I love being able to cross things off knowing that I accomplished what I wanted to do for the day.

3 Facts About Me

1. I have never broken a bone in my life. Knock on wood!!!
2. I've always been a tenderhearted person, and take things so seriously. Don't like to be hurt, or hurt others at all.
3. I'm a good listener. If you ever need to vent call me up! When I say that it's not about getting involved in peoples drama. It's about letting someone get their feelings and frustrations out. It's not good to bottle them up, because then you loose it and explode.

I tag anyone who is willing and wants to do this! =)

Swimming fun, Broken dishes, & Door to Door Salesman

Today my friend Jacoy invited us to go swimming with them at the west valley outdoor pool. I'm so glad we went! We had a blast!!! I wasn't sure how the girls were going to handle so much water, but they did well. McKenzie did better than Madisynn though. =) I wish I had brought my camera, there were so many cute pictures I could have gotten of the 2 of them!!! Oh well next time for sure! McKenzie had a little incident though that scared me to death. I lost sight of McKenzie, I know I had just seen her a second ago, and then I saw her she was struggling in the water. She crossed the rope into deeper water, luckily she was by the wall and the stairs. She was trying to pull herself out of the water. Poor thing was crying when I got to her. She had choked on some of the water. It scared her, but she still wanted to swim, and she stayed inside the water playing for the rest of the time we were there. She started to cry when I told her we were leaving. You know they have had fun if they cry when you leave. I'm thankful because now I know that she is ready for swimming lessons. She says that she can't go into the deep water or go down the big water slide until she is really big. This is true, but she needs to know how to swim as well. That's what I told her, and she said that she wanted to learn how to swim. That made my day! I know she is going to be begging me to go to the big pool every day. Madisynn had a fun time, but she just got cold. I was happy to see her interacting with Jacoy's little girl who is the same age. They got along really well. I hope the next time we go it won't be windy. It was perfect besides the wind, just a little overcast is great!
Tonight I decided I was going to broil some hamburgers for dinner. So I got it going, I was flipping the hamburgers and all of the sudden they Pyrex glass dish shatters as I was turning one. Glass flew everywhere. It scared me to death! I'm so glad that there wasn't any grease yet, or else we would have been in big trouble. So it took me awhile to get the mess cleaned up and start again. I got another Pyrex cake pan and put the hamburger patties in it and carefully put it into the oven. I was so paranoid that it was going to happen again. It didn't though! It's times like this that I wish I had a broiling pan, then I wouldn't have that problem.
Oh yeah also while I'm making dinner we get a knock on our door. We don't get a lot of people knocking on our door, so it took me by surprise as well! So I go down to answer it, and it's a guy that works for Kirby vacuums or something like that. Well he was really nice and upbeat but pushy. It turns out that today they were doing free steam cleaning services. They just wanted their product to be known and be out there if you know what I mean. I told him no, I didn't want it done because I had actually steam cleaned my whole entire house last weekend. He's like well we could put a scotch guard on it. I kept telling him no, but he was begging to do something. I finally caved and said you can do my stairs, and how long will it take. He said a half hr. He said he would be back in a little bit. I really didn't want to do it, so we hurried and ate dinner. We left to go to my Mom's house to help her set up her computer, and do some other things for her as well. The whole time we were eating, Matt kept staring at the front door. He's like I just know he's going to show up when we least expect him too. I was like quit looking at the door, because you are going to jinx it, and he will come when we are ready to go. He didn't show up though when we left. We left pretty quick, with a sigh as well! I hate those kinds of things. I told my Mom about it, and she said that my sister Kate got sucked into it as well. They came and cleaned her carpets, but they were doing a demonstration while they were doing it. They want to sell there product. I'm glad I didn't have to endure it! Next time I won't let them push me until I say yes. I hate when people won't take no for an answer. They have a lot of nerve. I know the guy was trying to make some money, but I'm sorry I didn't want to do it, and that's that. So what kind of experiences have you had with door to door salesmen?

Owe, Owe, Owe.... and Yummy Chicken Enchiladas!

So this morning on my way down the stairs I slipped and fell. I landed right on my tail bone and slipped down the 4 stairs that I had left. I also hurt my shoulder some how when I fell too. It is so scary when that happens! I know that it could have been so much worse. It hurt so bad though. When i came to a stop I rolled onto my stomach and just sat there saying owe owe owe.... you get the point. McKenzie was really sweet and asked me if I wanted a band aid. She was really concerned about me. What a sweetie she is! It has been so long since I have done something like that. So now my tail bone is killing me extra bad, and my shoulder hurts but not as bad as the bum! I guess I'm going to have to be more careful. =) I better heal quickly!

Here is a yummy recipe for Chicken Enchiladas that my friend Ande requested. This is Matt's Mom's recipe: it's really good!

Chicken Enchiladas

4 large chicken breasts ( cooked & diced)

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup picante sauce

1/2 can of olives (chopped)

1 pint sour cream

1 onion chopped

about 4 cups shredded cheese

12 tortillas

Mix sour cream, soup, picante sauce, onion, olives, and cheese in bowl. Separate 2 cups of mixture into a bowl. Add chicken to 1st bowl of mixture, spoon mixture into tortillas. Top tortillas with mixture from 2nd bowl. Cover and bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Enjoy!!!

A fun thrilling rush of a weekend!

So this past Friday I got a call from my friend Jacoy saying that she wanted to go to the breaking dawn party. I was so excited! I could hardly wait until 12:01 A.M. to get it! At 11:30 she came and picked me and my girls up, and then went to go pick up our other friend Beth. We were all so tired, but pumped! We just went to Walmart to get it because it was the closest to our houses. The line was pretty long with excited pumped up people that had been there for hrs. already. I thought that there would be a whole lot more screaming going on while we were there. The only time I heard screams was when they started handing out the books. I think that if we had gone to Barnes & Noble that it would have been more of a rush. Oh well we had fun, and thanks to the bishops wife and her daughter we didn't have to wait in line as long to get our books. They were at the front of the line and they grabbed enough books for them and us. They brought the books to us, very sweet of them I must say! You should have seen the looks on peoples faces when they did that, oh if looks could kill! LOL! When I got home, I put the girls to bed. I was so proud of them, they did so well at the store. Quiet as can be! No problems for me. After I put them to bed I stayed up and read until 2 A.M. I didn't want to put the book down. Today I finished it! Such a good book! Now I'm going to have to go back and read them with Matt and suck him into my twilight fantasy. =)

Saturday Matt came back from Scout camp and we were able to celebrate our 6th year anniversary. Time flies, sometimes it really seems like yesterday when we were out getting our engagement pictures taken. We had a lot of fun! Here is a pic of our marriage announcement which was taken at Thanksgiving Point in Utah:

Here are some bridal pictures taken at Thanksgiving Point as well:
I just had to have the Run Away bride tennis shoes to go with the dress!I love getting pictures taken! I felt like a princess while I was getting them taken. Some of my absolute favorites are framed, and I didn't want to take the pictures out to scan.

Here are some pictures of our wedding day:

It was the best day of my life to be married and move on with our lives together! Every marriage has it's challenges, and yes we definitely have had our challenges. I'm grateful that things are going better for us. I hope the next 6+ years will be great. I know they will be if we try! I love you Matt!

So to celebrate our anniversary we weren't able to do much. Since me and the girls hadn't seen Matt for a week we went to lunch to celebrate him being home. Then later we went to a wedding reception for one of Matt's cousins. They are the 3rd couple we know that have the same anniversary now as us. Special day! After the wedding reception we took the girls to my Mom so she could watch them. We were able to go on a real date to the movies! It's been so long. So we decided to see: Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D. It was an awesome movie!

It was so nice to be away from the girls for just a little while! Thanks Mom for watching them. =) When we got back home we put the girls to bed and decided to play our anniversary present to each other:

It was a great way to unwind to sing some fun songs! We also played with My family on Sunday night, and had a blast. Matt and I kicked some butt! So it was a fun thrilling weekend! I hope you all had a great one as well. =)