Gracias & The Bike Gang

I'm still in Cali and just to tick my best friend off who is "Anti-blogging" (gasp!) I thought I would post directly from her house in hopes that one day she will break down and give into the blogging ways. So I need to do a shout out to my girls back in Utah that saved my booty last week. You know who you are. Thank you, thank you for stuffing my marketing envelopes, watching my kids, doing carpool when it wasn't your turn, squeezing me in for a training and letting me vent when I was exhausted and delirious from sleep deprivation. You rule and I love you! Thanks also to my hot hubby who came home early from work and stayed up WAY past his bedtime to help me get ready for my show. Thanks to my mom and mother in law who also watched my boys, helped with the Halloween program at school and otherwise did my job as a mother. I love you both.


Here is the hard core biker boys. They are so hilarious to watch. So far so good with the ramp and the ER. This was Jack's b-day present and while standing in the check out line paying for the jump I could also see "future" Jen paying the hospital for the injuries sure to come . That is when I ran to the back of the store and threw ... wrist, elbow and knee pads into my shopping cart.

Holding it!

I have a hard time understanding Jack and his potty antics. He waits until the VERY very last second possible to dash to the bathroom where he then does this frantic dance to get his pants down in time. I'm not sure if he is just afraid he'll miss out on our exciting life or if it really doesn't register until it is the millisecond before disaster!

Me: "Jack where ya headed?"

Jack: "Nowhere."

Me: "Oh really, how 'bout we hit the bathroom dude?"

Jack: "Nah."

Me: "it really looks like you gotta go."

Jack: "Nah, I don't gotta go Mom."

This picture was taken after he finally broke down and went to the bathroom. He looks a little less tense, don't cha think?

Pumpkin Party & Zoo day (hour)

This week was jammed packed full of kid fun! We went to my Mom's for a cousin Pumpkin Party and then hit the Zoo the next day. I'm pretty sure that was our last trip to the zoo until next spring. It was so stink-n cold! The nice part was...Zero crowds, all the animals were out and we circled the place in an hour flat! That was serious record Zoo time. I have such a hard time choosing which photos to post that I did another slideshow. I love the song. I sometimes sing it to Ted and he eats it up! It's so cute I still thought it was appropriate for kiddo pictures.

Uh... do I know you?

Yesterday in Costco (i love costco) I had finished the "important" stuff and proceeded to stroll down my FAVORITE middle section of the place. I was just cruising along humming a little diddy when this lady passes me, staring, with this HUGE grin. At first I was like "do I know her from somewhere?" Then I realized..... I was humming the tune to Elmo's World. Nice. I'm for sure a Mom and apparently so is she.

I love my Mom

I la la la LOVE her! She watched my boys TWO days in a row for me while I shot some weddings. Jack could hardly wait to go spend time with her, on the first day he wheels out this huge suitcase and tells me "I need to take this to Maga's (grandma's)." I think he was hoping for a sleep over or extended stay vacation. Anyway, today she watched the boys at my house.... I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I walked through the doors to my IMMACULATE house! She is amazing. That is why God gave her specials powers to have 7 children! So thank you mom. I love you sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo MUCH!!

I'm still here...

just buried under insane amount catching up. Actually, come to think of it I ALWAYS feel like I'm catching up. Hopefully with a few new treats I got for my business, my workflow will get better. Anyway, it's fall picture madness so that is all I've been doing lately. I have been loving getting out in the canyons, hiking and enjoying the amazing colors. Tonight I shot up Little Cottonwood Canyon and it was gorgeous. I had to pull over a couple times and get some shots for myself. Other than that...it's all I've got. Haven't bothered to photograph the boys lately, although they are getting so cute and playing really well with each other. Today I was listening to Jack teach Max how to give him a high five while sitting in their car seats. That stuff just gets my GRIN ON every time!

It was WICKED awesome!

So we had a "wicked" time in NYC. I'm still trying to recover, catch up, clean up, unpack and a million other things but oh well. Let alone the hours I spent getting current on everyone's blogs!

So first of all, you know how if you ever screwed up when you were younger, you'd get the ole' PARENT CURSE...."I hope you have a child just like you one day!" Well, seriously, I never really screwed up being the perfect child I was (well I might have had a party when my parents were gone once....but that was the ONLY thing I ever did wrong :), what I did do was a lot of "puking up." So, apparently my parents still deemed me worthy of the curse. And let me just say it is one thing to have a child that throws up in the comfort of your own home but while traveling...that just doesn't WORK. We were already running low on spare clothing because I decided it was going to be winter in NYC, when in fact it was actually HUMID and HOT HOT HOT!! So for no reason at all Max decided that every night, including the plane ride home he would puke like clock work and then be as happy as can be. So with that out of my system...the rest of the trip was FANTASTIC. The kids were great and put up with our sight seeing frenzy really well.

I won't list the million things we did because basically if you can do it...we mostly likely did it. I will mention WICKED because it was the absolute highlight for me. The soundtrack has been playing non stop and since I'm still working on Ted to memorize the lyrics I'm left to belt out all duets and parts single handedly. Sunday, while Ted was preparing to teach his lesson I went in to ask him a question and noticed he was wearing ear plugs, RUDE! Today Jack kept saying "Mom you're just too loud....Maaahhom I said you're TOO LOUD!"
**CHEESY ALERT**
I get chills and tear up every time I listen to "For Good." It just make me think of the people who have touched my life, some from highschool, college and my mission that I know I'll probably never see again, at least on earth. I love the part in the song when Elphaba sings:
It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend

Anyway, I think this is the most typing I have ever done on my blog. So I'll just post my slideshow that includes 1/6 of the pictures.

p.s. just for the record I was not wearing SHORT overalls in those 90's pix of me in NYC it was an OVERALL dress. BIG difference people...HUGE!