Is Someone Stalking Us?

I found this today. Eerily and hauntingly familiar....

Eeeeek!

As this title suggests, there was a mouse.

IN MY HOUSE. Which I wouldn't mind so much, but it was dead. Which I wouldn't mind so much if I had set a trap, but no. I was rummaging through some craft crap, trying to find a marker and saw what looked like a super moldy deflated balloon. But then it smelled a little. Look at the picture and don't judge me.

Now closer.

Here it is from the bottom. YUCK...
You can see its little ears and one leg trapped beneath a bottle.

Well I was freaking out again. I made Brandon take care of it. I really didn't think that this was the kind of person I was, freaking out over pests. But here I am. I couldn't even look at the empty container with the mouse in it as he was taking it outside. I flipped. I was wearing rubber gloves. I feel a little sick to my stomach. Seriously.

Let There Be Light(s)

Some of you are really ungrateful. It seems Saturday's post was NOT enough for you. Bleh.

Here's the decorated tree. Brandon used 1300 lights on it. I was mad. Anyway, the kids helped us decorate and had a great time doing it. Eamon was especially helpful, bringing me ornaments to put on and climbing on the window sill like he saw me do. Our old tree topper was just too small for this bohemoth, so I ran to Tai Pan (that rhymed!) today and bought an oversize ornament, cut off one of the spikes and rammed it on the top. It's pretty sparkly and has some reflective craziness on it, kinda like a Christmas disco ball. Oh well.

This is one of my favorites. Brandon's Mom made this for us out of salt dough for Cam's first Christmas. I just love it! And the outfits look just like the clothes we wore around that time.

When we celebrated our first Christmases as a couple, I collected frog-themed ornaments. They are a little unorthodox, but MAN, was I crazy for frogs back in my youth. Even my Mom bought me frog ornaments. Love them!

And last, but certainly not least, is Brandon and me in a special pose, from my house to yours. Hope it warms your heart.

I Know You All Hate Me

I've been told several times. Nasty names, mean emails, I've heard it all.

I'm sorry I haven't posted. Really, I am. As I peruse my friends' blogs, and I have to wait too many days in between posts, I am thinking, 'What is wrong with these people??? Don't they know I am waiting for a post???' So people, I feel your pain. I was going to promise to post tomorrow, but I started shaking. Maybe it's because it's freeeeezing in my house right now. Or maybe what I'm feeling is the panic of a person being hunted down daily by her "friends". So here's a few pics, and I'll probably add some more tomorrow.

Tonight we bought a Christmas tree. It's rather large. So we moved our tv into our armoire to change up the room. Which took 2 FULL hours. So that's what I did tonight. And the tree isn't even decorated. Did I say mention it's almost 9 feet tall? A case of our eyes being bigger than our stomachs (or living room).

We'll see what we come up with


Okay, FINE! Here's some other pics....It finally snowed like a winter wonderland here, and the boys played all morning in it. They made a little igloo.

Look how proud they are

And look who thought it was a wonderful winter home

And in other ferret related news....Presenting: the Ying Yang Twins

Knock Knock

Who's there?

Eamon...

Eamon who?

Eamon tells jokes as lame as his Mom!



I like the way he says "thing" ....fuh-ning

Happy Anniversary!! (2 Days Ago)

Brandon and I met in the dressing room at The Gap. I was working there at the time, and he wanted to talk to me, so he asked me if the khakis he was trying on would shrink...

"From a 1/4 -1/2 inch," I said.

And we talked for 15 minutes and I got his phone number. Here we are 8 1/2 years later.

The day of our anniversary (Tuesday), I called him around lunchtime to ask him what kind of printer/scanner/copier I should buy (cause I wanted to scan these photos). He kept trying to stall me, finally giving up and telling me that he had already bought me one at lunch for our anniversary. We have great timing like that all the time. I was glad to ruin his surprise for me, since any time that I try to surprise him, he does the same. My gift to him was a Magic 8 Ball. Ha. He had actually called a babysitter and took me to Biaggi's at the Gateway, the best Italian restaurant ever. Thanks Babe!

Our Engagement Photo
Our Wedding Day


On the way to the reception at my parents' house,
we stopped at McDonald's for some cheeseburgers.
So romantic. We ate them in the kitchen before it started.
Now that's a way to start a marriage!

It's Just Like Riding A Bike

The kids went over to the church parking lot to ride their bikes. I came over and had the pleasure of witnessing these events. And now so will you! (golf clap)

Cameron going off the curb!!


Eamon going off the curb!!


Cam's painful experience!!



Eamon waving!! (oops)


Eamon's mad balancing skills!!

Hey, This Actually Happened in November

My Mom & Step-Dad had their annual Halloween party a week later than usual, due to unforseen circumstances, so we got to keep the Halloween vibe going a few days longer. Yay!

First off, I have to put a disclaimer on these first photos. These costumes were made in FUN, not to make people mad, or get us on the news having to apologize to the world. Freedom of Speech, baby.

When Brandon and I were in Egypt in May, we bought these costumes (sans dynamite)specifically for the super fun of Halloween. When we got all dressed up, of course the thought crossed my mind. How could it not? So we went with it. Brandon is a genius. I could not have made a better bomb myself. Gotta love wooden dowels and spray paint. And cheap clocks from Ikea. And Boy, do I love our uni-brows. Almost my favorite part.

Cam was a cute Harry Potter, which was fun, because his cousin was Hermione. Eamon was a boxer, but due to him tossing me the body part of his costume (without me seeing) and it landing in the toilet, his robe and gloves accidentally got left at home. Poor kid. After that, it was a frantic day, with us forgetting multiple costume pieces, driving home, and still forgetting his stuff. What with that and the hole in my house (follow up later)...it's amazing we finally made it.

Here they are participating in the donut-on-a-string contest. My boys get their fervor from me. Cam won.

Check out the cookie on a stick Eamon is sporting. SUGAR!!!

Here I am with my brothers. I did this last year and won, but not with them, and this time they thrashed me.

Poor me. I included even the most hideous of the pictures, since I am an unbiased observer... Really it's just middle child syndrome. (Dan won at the last second.)

Oh My!! Klint & Mary (disco divas), Mom & Larry (Palm Springs retirees)

Here's my little sister and brother Mary & Mikey. So the "dress" Mary is wearing is a skirt I bought at Saver's in high school and actually wore to school. I was a freak.

Here's all the Lay-deez. (Mom, sister-in-law Adriene, me, sister Mary, sister-in-law Jayann)

Here's Eamon, rockin' Uncle Klint's shades.

There were only 3 groups of totally non-P.C. costumes there. We are not stereotypical in the least!! We had a great time!! Brandon only had to threaten to detonate a couple of times. Anyway, we love having a reason to always dress up for Halloween. Thanks for having the party, Parents!

Pretending it's November 1st

We went to Grandma & Grandpa Hayman's house in Ogden to Trick-or-Treat. We had Tuna Patties for dinner and some SUPER YUMMY German Chocolate cake. Yay for Grandma!

Here we have a super buff World Champion Boxer
and good ol' Harry Potter.

We even hauled our jack-o-lanterns over to Grandma's.
Couldn't let them sit all lonely at our house.

Anyway, we went up and down a couple streets and the kids had a blast!
Eamon got right into it and RAN from door to door.
It was really fun for us to watch.


Then we pulled out our new "old man" mask and we all tried it on. Grandpa loved it. He went next door and scared the crippity crap out of his neighbor. Awesome!

"What's this?" "A pretzel? Who hands out pretzels?" He so ate it.

Later that night, we had a fun surprise waiting for us at home.
Just pretend it's night when you look at these next photos.
I pulled in and saw the toilet paper. It was quite exciting...

So they got the tree

and there was a piece draped across the porch. On the door was the note.

Silly neighbors, we'll get you next year.

My Fear of Pickles and Mustard is Ruining My Life!

I promise that one day soon I will post some Halloween pictures. Yeah, it's been over a week since Halloween...SO SUE ME. Blah. They will be worth it.

Also, updates on the giant hole in my house.

Also, something else that I can't remember now. But in the meantime, enjoy this. This is good stuff. Good Stuff!!




Remember how I said my Mom came and sprayed for spiders? And what I wrote about what I did when I found the scary ones on the side of the house? Well, if you had any trouble imagining me, picture the balloon lady.