My boys and the McKinnon Girls

Here's a few pics from when the boys were visiting with the McKinnon's- Hailey and Lucy are adorable Jenny!



Derek and Hailey - 5 years ago!

Prizes!

Well as you all know I won 2 contest a couple of weeks ago!
A yankee doodle candle from Kathryn's blog contest- Thanks so much- its smells great! I have it burning right now and my best buy gift card! We got a flat screen tv, a wii, wii fit and games, some odds and ends accessory's that we needed and 100 dollars went to my mom's new laptop. Now I am a contest entering mad women! Steve thinks my chances of winning another sweepstakes from my coke rewards are slim to none but he thought that before I won too! He didn't have a problem spending the prize though- go figure!

Flashback Friday on Saturday!

work work work
busy busy busy
excuses excuses excuses
seems to be motto these days

Which Pink??

Okay I need help deciding which to order for breast cancer awareness month. We are able to wear the pink uniform pieces for breast cancer awareness month which I am all for supporting.

Pink dress- bam here I am
or a little more subtle
Shirt still sporting the pink just just a little quieter!

So I am having a hard time deciding which one do you think?

Through the eyes of a six year old

Derek likes taking pictures with my camera. Heres the pics from our recent Cali trip that he found interesting.......As you can see everything is pretty random. Kind of like when you take your kids to the store and end up with a bunch of things in the cart that you didn't put on there. That's what I tend to find everytime I look through my camera.

Flashback Friday

Our LEGOLAND visit 2008 (last year)

Hello do I need to start playing the lotto???

Holy Cow! I just won a candle from Kathryn's blog! Then I went on my emails to send her my address and I saw a email from my coke rewards that I had won a sweepstakes (I usually get magazines subscriptions but every once in a while I will use my points for sweepstakes! I won a $1,000 gift card from bestbuy from mycokerewards.com - never got around to sending that email Kathryn- I have to go find a notary to get my prize but hello? Wii here I come!!!! Hmmm maybe I should buy a lotto ticket or go to a casino or something!!!!!

Back home again!

Well finally back home from a great trip to Cali- Disney , Karaoke, tree houses, good food , good times, long long drives in the desert - so much to blog about so little time! Just trying to catch up with our day to day life now I am behind so will blog a little later. Great to see everyone!

Erin and me at Papagayos

Erin and I met up the other night at papagayos and just wanted to share a pic! I have been playing with picnik a little really excited about it but will play more when I am home. I think we should both get purple contacts eh?

Flashback Friday

long flights and crazy bathrooms

So we flew into LAX last night. The flight wasn't too full so we got a row across to our selfs. A four hour flight is completely different when my kids are with me! So it was exhausting to say the least but we are here now. I'm just enjoying the mountain life right now! My parents have almost finished the master bathroom and it looks awesome! I think my mom has been waiting for 10 + years so heres a few pics of the crazy bathroom! I think I may have to have a bubble bath in the jacuzzi tub maybe a glass of wine too (or a bottle) .
JACUZZI TUB OVERLOOKING THE DECK Crazy steam shower with radio, steam shower , sanitizer , crazy lighting , foot massager, 6 body jets- it's awesome!
Yes there is a little bit of everything in this bathroom! Fireplace, bidet (they don't actually use that one my dad just thought it was cool) surround sound, steam shower, jacuzzi, deck. view, lounge area, fridge and wine cooler what else could you need ?!?! The only missing is a flat screen!

last minute packing and kindergarden pic!

So not much time today- going to Cali tonight and of course I have waited until the last minute to get packed and have 2 docs appt today for Drew but just wanted to share Dereks lastest school pic- this was right after he wiped out on his snowboard and messed up his face. He looks so big! Crazy

Derek's Interview

Ask your child these questions! Interview with Derek age 6

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Clean up my room.

2. What makes mom happy?

When I clean my room and clean down the stairs

3. What makes mom sad?

When Mom gets hurt

4. How does your mom make you laugh?

Tickles me

5. What was your mom like as a child?

hmmm. that's a tricky one hmmm I have no idea

6. How old is your mom?

more than 100 ha ha

7. How tall is your mom?

tall as the door

8. What is her favorite thing to do?

go shooting with daddy

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?

clean the house

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?

Shooting

11. What is your mom really good at?

Tennis

12. What is your mom not very good at?

skating

13. What does your mom do for her job?

give people food on the airplane

14. What is your mom's favorite food?

salad

15. What makes Mommy proud of you?

when I clean my room and clean everything in the house

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?

Dora

17. What do you and your mom do together?

go to the park and have fun

18. How are you and your mom the same?

we have the same nose and the same teeth

19. How are you and your mom different?

Mom likes to play tennis and I like to play at the park

20. How do you know your mom loves you?

because she gives me lots of hugs

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?

Target


Well he did pretty good- notice we talk about cleaning a lot. Not sure what goods its doing my house is still a wreck and I wish that my favorite food was salad. Not so sure where the Tennis thing is coming from we did play once last summer at the new tennis courts by our house so he must of thought I did a good job. Target is one my fav places and I sure hope I don't become famous for shooting something or someone!!!

Flashback Friday again?!?!!! Regretful Friday!!!!

Its already Friday! Geez that was fast! My mom's going to love this one!
So I found this pic when I was 16 (I think) I can not remember honestly but this is me getting my first tattoo
Regret 1 - don't get a tattoo when you are still in high school
we were so excited that we actually talked this guy at a tattoo parlor to give us tattoo's I just picked a random one with no thought about it would be on my body forever!!!! Oh and Emily and I got the same tattoo (lame) another regret!!!!

Here is the stupid thing 14 years later- I am grateful its on my back because I forget that it's there most of the time and since in my old age and baby body I have ditched the belly shirts most people never see them until NOW!!!!




Sadly I did not learn my lesson and around my 18th birthday I went to get another one!!! I would highly recommend to my children to wait until they are at least 25 to get a tattoo- they may at least come up with something unique and important to them to be tattooed on them for the rest of their lives. So my 2nd tattoo was my initials (mind you my maiden name initials) another regret and a rose. I think I thought I was being a little gansta with the font- ha ha This one is also on my back so at least I never see it either!
So do I wish I never had a tattoo? I am not sure I do wish I didn't have these. I sometimes see someone with a amazing tattoo that has a lot of meaning and its tasteful and I think geez I wish I would have done something like that instead but having more tattoos would be a little much for me so I will just live with these and my regrets and maybe one day I will get them removed.

Crazy sticky Monday Madness!!!!!!

crazy sticky madness! Drew and I were getting ready to go to Target I opened the door to the car and noticed brown icy stuff all over the car- it looked like someone had thrown snow in my car. Needless to say I shortly discovered it was not snow but Diet Coke! Someone (not saying names)( see pic below) bought himself Diet Coke but forgot to bring it in the house.
We live in MN! It gets insanely cold here- you have to bring it in otherwise this could happen. So crazy frozen slushy coke everywhere- HE GETS TO CLEAN IT!!!!!!




The victims
The Diet Coke bottle
The car seats
The car!!!
The suspect at large whom I am waiting to come home and clean it up!!!!!!!!!!! (and yes he is drinking Diet Coke- the evidence speaks for itself!)

Simply Sunday

So I have the day off - Kids are home- friends over- they are destroying the house again and I don't care. Dinner is simmering in the crock pot which is by the way one of the best inventions ever.

I recently heard from an old friend that has been through so much the last 5 years it really has helped put my life in perspective to feel so blessed. Sometimes life's challenges seem so hard but I have always believed the Lord does not give us more than we can handle and things always get better sooner or later.
My mom reminded me of the old saying if we all put our troubles in a pile together and lay them all out more times than not you usually want yours back when you see what other people have to deal with. (probably got that mixed up but you get the jist).
I am constantly struggling to make the right choices for my family. Be a better mother, wife, provider. Constant worries about whats going to happen tomorrow take away a part of me and I hate that. So trying to just take one day at a time and not worry so much and enjoy this short time I have with my children because they are growing up so fast.