The Christmas Miracle

I can honestly say that there are still a few good people left in the world. This morning I experienced a true Christmas miracle and in the light of this economy it makes what happened to me all that more significant.
Early this morning Scott and I went to Macy's to return a few things and check out some of the after Christmas sales. We shopped for about 2 hours going in and out of many dressing rooms while I was trying on a bunch of things. The dressing rooms were so disheveled and cluttered that it was hard to see what was yours or not. We went upstairs to the children's area and I saw a sign for the bathroom. I asked Scott to hold my bags and realized as I was doing so that I was not carrying my purse! I literally nearly passed out!! I HATE loosing things! I had all my credit cards stolen from me in the spring while I was staying at a hotel, so all the frustration and inconvenience of that came rushing back to me. NOOOOOO NOT AGAIN!!!!! I frantically started running through the store going back into every dressing room. I'm not kidding you I went into EVERY ONE! By now they were all packed with women trying things on. I was literally yelling over the stall doors asking all the women if there were any purses in them. The one I suspected leaving it in was naturally the first one I went into when we started our shopping trip. At least a good half hour, if not more had passed by since I had been in there. With every passing moment and every dressing room that I went into my outlook became more bleak. My silent prayers became more and more fervent, I was begging Heavenly Father at this point. I was really confused about which dressing room was the first one I went into also. I think my frantic panicked state was making me more confused. Meanwhile, Scott was calmly following me telling me to calm down. Finally, I found the dressing room that I had been in first and I asked the women if someone had handed in a purse. She said YES!!! She told me they had taken it to customer service. As I sprinted up the escalator and prayed to myself again, this time that the found purse would in fact be mine, and that all of the contents would still be there, I got a warm wave of comfort. It nearly brought me to tears. When I entered the customer service area I saw my purse sitting there and I couldn't hold it in any longer. I started to cry. The lady just stared at me and asked me why I left my purse in there! DUH! (I was secretly hoping it would be stolen and all my personal belongings gone!) I just said that I had so much in my hands it was hard to keep track. I opened my purse and EVERYTHING was still there. The money in my wallet, my phone, my ipod, a movie that I was planning to return, it was all there untouched! It was Absolutely and answered prayer and a true miracle. I thank my Heavenly Father for being there for me and watching out for me when I was completely oblivious that I even needed Him at the moment. Someone that was really in dire straights could have found that purse and just silently taken it and said nothing to anyone, no one would have even seen. I'm so grateful that the person that found it was honest. I pray for their blessing and when they get it, hope they know their good deed didn't go unrewarded.
You know, the other thing I noticed, when the realization hit me that I had lost my purse, it was right after looking at the sign for the customer service area where the bathroom was. I was right next to it all the time and thanks to God and an unbelievably honest person, was safe the whole time. Im humbled and greateful to know there are still good people out there.

Christmas with the "Krickies"

"Watching The Grinch!"

I don't even know quite where to start. The last two weeks have been so busy! Chris, Gibson and Kallie flew in from Australia on December the 1st and boy oh boy it was fun. I can honestly say I gave them a true taste of the Arnett house and then some.
Poor Chris got thrown into it head long on December the 2nd.
Gib had to fly in a day after the girls so we were on our way back to the airport to get him. After checking my girls out of school, we were really running late and were in a super rush hoping that Gib wouldn't be stuck waiting for us. We were a little worried because he is only 13 and that airport is a big place. The airlines had already called Chris a few times and we knew that they were sort of giving him hassle for being a minor traveling alone. There are a lot of rules and they don't generally transfer from one airline to the next. Anyway, we were in a hurry and we were all really anxious to see Gib. As we were about 10 minuets from the airport I had realized that I had forgotten to check which gate he was flying into. I started to call Scott so he could look it up and lo and behold Gavin decides to puke! So were in a hurry because Gib is waiting, we don't know what gate to go to, and now Gavin has puked and Chris is turned around in her seat trying to get him out of the pool of puke that was formerly his car seat. At this point no one is in their seat belt because they all scrambled away from Gavin and I'm speeding to the airport and my toll tag decides that it isn't going to work.
Scott comes to the rescue with the gate number and wouldn't you know it is in the new international terminal. When we pulled in we could only see signs that said "no parking". We also found out from Scott that Gib's flight was one hour late and our mad rush was all for naught. Good, that gave us a little time to clean up the puke mess. With dirty looks from all the other drivers, I pulled into a spot that was reserved exclusively for limos(but I think my Suburban qualifies), and got busy cleaning up the rest of the mess. By this point we have all the windows rolled down because of the stench, and Isabelle is screaming at the top of her lungs because she was the only one that was still buckled. Gavin is naked, I was dismantling the car seat trying to take the pukey parts off and at least conceal them in a plastic bag, which I incidentally always have in my car, just for moments such as these. And Kallie and Bailey are running in and out of the airport with car seat parts that I had sent them in there to wash. The police and the security guards were standing at the curb just across from where we were de-puking the car, and they could only stare with mouths wide open at the mayhem unfolding in front of their eyes. We kept joking that they didn't DARE approach us. They knew better than to cross two moms covered in puke with 5 kids hanging out the window screaming "Merry Christmas" to every passer by and fighting for the two spots in the front of the window. I can only laugh when I think of how we must look to the innocent bystander. I don't know if my family is one of a kind, but I rarely remember ever coming upon scenes like the ones I am frequently apologizing for, or refereeing. Its like my family is a little ant hill. Everyone is just scurrying about constantly on their own mission but sort of working as a team, but instead of bringing things to the Queen ant, they are always asking for something and taking things.
Its comedy in its purest form. I think my family was put here for the sheer enjoyment and entertainment of everyone we come in contact with or maybe the annoyance, depending on your mood. But be careful, you might get carried off by one of us. We need all the help we can get and if your standing too close we'll put you straight to work. And that includes cleaning up my childs puke while I drive. (That's actually the second time that has happened. The first poor curse was my best friend, she was the one turned around in the car cleaning up puke. Man! I have good sisters and friends!)

I hope my sister wasn't too traumatized by my family. I hope she will dare come back for another visit. We are amusing if you can look at it from a fresh, "cup half full" perspective, which at the end of the day, is all I can do. Its the only way I stay sane when its all said and done... :)

"the cousins bonding time"Sweet

The Thanksgiving Feast 2008!

So I have never been "in charge" of putting together a whole Thanksgiving dinner. I have always had help or just went to Target and ordered the dinner from the deli.
This year we decided that since it was our first Thanksgiving in our new house we would go traditional. I never dreamed how much work it would be though!
So on Tuesday, I thought I would be a good mom and let my kids make some cute Thanksgiving treats like the ones we saw on our friends website. I adored her handiwork and thought it would be fun to do some ourselves. A friend came over and we spent the day together putting these cute turkeys and pilgrim hats together. We had fun and didn't mind that they didn't turn out so cute. I think it was the 4 pairs of hands we had in the mix all at once. The only hitch of the day was when Isabelle got a hold of my friends camera and busted it! I couldn't apologize enough. So it had to be replaced. I felt so terrible. Even though my friend was so gracious about it and insisted that I didn't have to worry about it, I told her I wouldn't feel better unless I replaced it. Cha ching! That stinker, Isabelle! OR should I say Stinkerbelle! It all turned out good though.

So Wednesday I got into a cleaning frenzy trying to get my house presentable for the company. Not to mention the fact that we were literally sticking to the floor after the chocolate cookie day the day before. I cleaned like a mad woman all day and then at 4:00 started cooking for the next day. I had to do my desserts, a cheese ball and a salad the day before, not to mention the turkey had to start brinning. (that was a near disaster too, but it turned out good! Whew!) Then Thursday, I got up early to start my homemade rolls, the best, and a pecan pie, candied yam casserole, mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing, broccoli slaw, and of course the Turkey. Which can I just say, I almost ruined. When I brined it, I only saw HALF of the directions on the package, the other half were folded over and kinda taped up. I sat there for three hours while the turkey cooked, with my fingers and toes and legs, arms and eyes crossed, praying that it wasn't ruined. When I finally got a taste of it I was relieved to find that it turned out magnifico. But all that three days of preparation for one meal, I totally crashed after dinner. It was either all that work or all that triptophan. But it was perfect.
I do have a better appreciation for what my mom did!

My Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving this week I just thought Id put in a quick blog to say how truly thankful I am.
When I look back at my life and contemplate what I thought it would be, I really never thought I would have so much. I didn't think I would be destitute or anything, but I never saw my life turning out this way. I can only say, I am so humbled and feel like I don't deserve all that I have been given. I know that I have had my rough times, but it makes the JOY of the happy times just that much sweeter. The lessons I have learned throughout all my hard times have taught me volumes and also taught me not to take ANYTHING for granted. At times I feel like I slip back into my old habits of being complacent and a little lazy. But I have tried to be aware of that so I can pull myself out of those ruts. I know that I'm not always as quick about it as I should be.
I want to strive to give back some of what has been given to me and my family. I know that even though I could never even scratch the surface in repaying the debt completely, I hope that I can be given opportunities to pay it backward and forward even in the tiniest measure compared to what has been handed to me.
I know that my life isn't this way by coincidence or chance. I know that every one of my family and friends have been put in my path at EXACTLY the right moments to help me through my journey here on Earth. I feel so fortunate that I have been assigned such choice spirits as my guardian angles.
We are never left alone in our trials and we are never left alone in our triumphs. We have to remember to share both of them alike, with one another. It is only through helping others with their trials are we able to have the blessings of serving as we have been served.
So I just want to say thanks again. I'm so grateful and know that I am so blessed to have a Heavenly Father who loves me enough to want me back in his presence someday even though sometimes I can act like a punk.
It is my hope that everyone who reads these words will know of my love and gratitude for them. Happy Thanksgiving.

The Christmas tree Caper

So last night Scott and I were reminiscing about some of the days when we were just newly weds. We lived in Vegas at the time along with my sister and her husband, not with them but near them. We as couples, were inseparable though. We did something every weekend. We were either on the ski boat or taking trip to Utah or just hanging out in Vegas. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what your thinking right now, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Actually this story took place in Utah so I'm free to share it.
I actually laughed so hard last night I almost peed my pants, so I thought I better put this on my blog so I have it in writing for future re-telling. And who knows maybe it is one of those things where you just had to be there. You might not think its funny at all. So this ones just for me.
But here ya have it... The Christmas tree Caper....
So every year, as a tradition we would go to Utah and get our Christmas tree cutting license, then head up to the mountains and cut down our own fresh, perfect Christmas tree. It was a super fun tradition, where we would get my brother-in-laws four wheelers loaded up and our warmest snow clothes on and head up to Cedar Mountain for the day to four wheel in the snow and pick out the perfect tree.
So every thing was perfect, we had been having a blast on the four wheelers, and we had hiked far off the path to find the perfectly shaped tree. Actually I think we "topped" a large tree to get the perfect top so there were no flaws at all. It was perfect! (I think that was where it all went wrong, since topping is against the tree cutting rules.).
So we loaded it up and tied it to the top of the truck and we all got in to head home. From where we were to St. George it was a good hour and a half drive, if not more. We were so careful to wrap the tree in plastic and tie it carefully to the truck. Now thinking back I don't quite remember why we tied it to the truck rather than just putting it in the bed (maybe that was our second mistake).
We set off on our trip home and had the music playing and we were having a good old time.
After a while we noticed that every car that passed us was staring at us in utter horror. Not just the casual glance to the other car but gawking and staring at us, some were even pointing!
We finally started honking at people and waving and making sarcastic faces to them. It was every car! We couldn't imagine that we looked that ridiculous driving down the highway in a truck. Granted there were six of us crammed into the truck, including my sisters kids. But it wasn't that out of the ordinary.
I bet we had traveled for about 45 minuets when I glanced in the side mirror of the truck, only to see our "perfect" Christmas tree bouncing around on the highway. Still tied to the truck! So THAT is why everyone was looking at us with such disdain.
I'm laughing at it now, just thinking of it. So as we pulled off the highway to assess the damage, we discovered that one whole side of the trunk at the base had been shaved to a sharp point. On that same side, all the branches on the lower third of the tree were either gone, or had no needles left on them. We could only laugh, because of the way the situation played out from our ends. We loaded the tree back up and re wrapped it really well, tying it better this time. We made it back to St. George, with out further mishap and reloaded the fragile half of our tree onto our Blazer (mine and Scott's). Wrapping it again very carefully.
By the time we go home to Vegas which was another two hours, and uncovered our tree, there were almost no pine needles left on any part of the tree. Apparently wrapping the tree and then driving at high speeds isn't the best idea (Third Mistake). The plastic blowing in the wind and beating against the tree knocked off all the needles. Note to self: don't wrap trees in plastic, they're used to wind, not plastic beating on them. There would be no hiding that bald spot in the corner!
It was our first Christmas after we married we were clueless. We had a TOTAL Charlie Brown tree. We didn't replace it just for the story it told and laughed all season long, till finally the sad tree lost its last two needles and we had to say good bye.
Ill have to confess, the next year, we just bought a fake tree.
The picture I attached isn't the actual tree, but pretty close.

Potty Training Blues

Well, I'm trying to get serious about this whole potty training business with Gavin. He is my last one. I swear I wasn't given the patience to do it though. I am almost ready to hire someone to do it for me. My other kids were a mix of hard and easy to potty train, but were talking about girls here. Gavin is a whole different cup of, well you know.
So I wake up geared up to start my day just hanging out in the bathroom. He talks about it a lot and will occasionally try to go when he is taking a bath or changing clothes. Sometimes he even ropes Isabelle into helping out. That never turns out good though. So this morning we were doing good. He went right before his bath and then I started asking every 15 minuets if he needed to go. He started to say he did, so back to the bathroom we went. Sitting, and sitting, and sitting. At least a good 10 minuets. Nothing happens so we give up and put the "meeshka, mooshka Mickey Mouse" underware back on. (I pulled out the big guns hoping to really amp him up.) I kid you not, not 5 minuets later he is wet. We can sit for a half hour in the bathroom and nothing happens then walk out and he pees.
What am I doing wrong?? He seems ready. Sometimes he does it. Then he just stops. I guess I will just have to stop talking about it at all and let him do it on his terms.
Either that or let my 6 year old potty train him. Kylie potty trained Isabelle and did it in a day and a half and did a wonderful job. Isabelle has never wet the bed and rarely has an accident.
No her messes are usually intentional, but that is another story all together.
Im open to any suggestions....

The Sleepover!

So here are the pics of the slumber party. There was minimal girl drama, and I think everyone had fun. They stayed up till midnight! Isabelle was right in the middle of it too, being one of the girls.
Even though they all stayed up till 12:00 they were up bright and early at 6:00am! And they were in a room with no windows!
So after 8 "un-makeovers", 8 french manicures, 9 screaming, giggling girls then at least 20 trips up the stairs after lights out and a long night for me on the couch so I could keep one ear open, I lived through it. Although, I think it will be a while before I ever do that again. WHEW!

And then there were 20!

I had to write on my blog to document this historic occasion.
Bailey and Kylie, both learned how to ride two wheelers in the same week. I wasn't kidding when I said that there were at least 20 kids playing on our street on any given day(I wish I had a wide angle lens to show you the other half of the kids that were behind me!). My girls have the electric scooters(that they didn't touch for a year prior to moving here). They take them out and ride them all day, well all the other kids want to ride them too. The result of that little trade has been my kids riding their bikes while they take turns with the scooters and voila, they are riding bikes!! Gavin and Isabelle are even getting in on the fun.
We are going to have to teach some basic traffic laws just to keep them all alive!
You know, it just reminds me of when I was a kid. My street was the same way. We would stay out till sunset and our parents couldn't horsewhip us to get us in the house before that. I love those memories from my childhood and I'm so glad that my kids are creating their own fun memories, and I get to relive mine vicariously. Ahhhh to be young again.....

My little Vampires!!!

Here are some cute pictures of my little vampires.
I think Isabelle is most like Alice and Gavin is Emmett. They had fun running around the house screaming and saying "I vant to suck your blood, ha,ha,ha" You know like the count Dracula.
They are so cute.
I have been toying with the idea of NOT putting them in preschool next year. Up until about three days ago it was such a given that they would be going in the fall. Scott told me that it was time to decide so we could put the monies aside to pay for the tuition. I really started having second thoughts but told him that we would enroll them. But something made me change my mind.
I am going to keep them home for another year. I guess its because they are my last. Maybe I just want to soak it all in. They are growing up so fast and getting so independent. I am not going to get this experience again. At least not with my own little ones.
That saying is so true, the one that says we do not remember days, we remember moments. It is these little moments that make up our memories and our lives and I'm just not ready to miss it. No matter how hard it gets sometimes, or how many shampoo bottles get spilled in the underwear drawer, or how many times the little stinkers fill up a bucket full of dog doo doo and tell me they were just trying to pick up poop from the back yard. These are the moments and the memories and even now Im sitting here chuckling to myself at how proud they were when they brought me the pink bucket full of poop.

Happy Birthday to you, We live in a ZOO......

Well today was Bailey's eighth birthday. I cant believe how much and how fast my little kids are growing. She is such a little lady now.
Scott gave her a little fathers blessing and she took it very seriously and even commented later that she felt the spirit during her blessing. I just marvel at how grown up my little girls are getting and how much they pick up on and learn. And I'm not even having to beat it into them!! (not all the time anyway!) Both of the girls learned how to ride two wheelers this week, which is HUGE around here, because up until we moved to this new house they couldn't be paid to get on a bike!
They love their new street and that it is just teeming with kids. There are so many kids on our street on any given day riding bikes, I think we will need to put up traffic signs and paint some stripes on the road, just so we don't have any head on collisions. We have had a few. Scott counted 30 kids out there on Friday night. They come from far and wide to play on our street.
We love it here.

The State of our Nation

Well I don't have a whole lot to say about that....Except that, lets hope that this country is still called America in 4 years. I'm not totally anti-Democratic, and maybe there are some things that need to change around here, but lets hope it isn't our country's patriotism that is at stake. This is the land of the free, because of the brave and to live in this country, and especially to lead this country you just have to be passionate about that! That's where it should begin. I hope that we can keep the "American" in America and change the things that need changing to keep this country what is was meant to be. And what so many people have sacrificed to keep.
We just didn't have a whole lot to work with this time around. Well see where we end up. It is history in the making. I just hope it isn't a part of history that we will look back on in the next few decades an wish we could erase. Look at me I'm the "half empty" girl today. That isn't my regular perspective on things.
I guess I need to just sink back into my fictional world of vampires and warewolves so I can recenter my perspective for the next time I check into reality.
See ya later. I'm almost done with Eclipse. :)

keeping it real

Well I have decided to come out of my Twilight induced reading frenzy long enough to clean my VERY neglected house. The dust is an inch thick and I think my kids are starting to write "wash me" in the dust, not to mention I have had sickness in my house and always like to sanitize after that. So I guess I better check into reality long enough to clean up. I had finished the second book yesterday morning and had asked a friend for the third. She couldn't find it, so out of curiosity (and a little junkie desperation) I went to the authors website, I had heard some rumors about some lost manuscript. I wanted to see what she had to say. I found the Midnight Sun manuscript..... It was 10:00pm before I finished its 264 pages, but I kept justifying to myself that if I could just get it done last night then I could focus on house work today. I was gearing up for a day of cleaning and my friends little son knocked on my door at 7:00 this morning with the book in hand.
I teased her that she just ruined my day, now I wont get any house work done at all!!!!
My poor husband is probably glad he is out of town, and my kids are LOVING all their freedom. They are running a muck!!!
(just two more books....)

A real day in the life....

Ok, so having this blog is so I can look back on these entries in years to come and laugh at my funny life. Today was one of those typical days in our household. Here is how it unfolded....
First we woke up to toilet paper in the yard. I'm a good sport it wasn't so bad, just a Halloween prank. Then we hurriedly got dressed for a baptism that we were mistaken on the time of and showed up one half hour late. Missing the actual baptism (sorry). After that we decided to go to Costco to get our monthly (really it seems like weekly) wallet busting trip for junk mingled with a little food.
It was about 2:00pm by now and the twins were beyond tired. I think even more so after staying up late last night and having sugar withdrawals on top of that. So they (Isabelle) cried the whole way through the store.
I had such a full cart it was one of those sidewinders, the kind that is hard to push and turn. So as we were getting ready to check out of the store, Scott decided he would go back and do a little Christmas shopping while I checked out, distracting the kids and took screaming Isabelle to the potty, because she kept saying she had to poop.
As I was standing in line, with Isabelle in full hysterics at this point, the boy was hurriedly checking me out. At Costco they take all the stuff out of one cart and reload it into another one. I had a lot of stuff in the cart, so as the helper was reloading my new cart, the checker was reloading some stuff into the cart where my kids were sitting. So now I have two carts and a crying baby, that needs to poop, no husband to help me and the other three climbing in and out of the carts trying to figure out how we were going to do this.
I kindly told the cashier that I couldn't push two carts, and he offered to help me out. I told him I wasn't ready to leave yet and that I would rather consolidate my carts. So he went along his merry business checking the next guy out while I put myself to work consolidating the carts. All the while Isabelle is still in hysterics and now Gavin is trying to climb free.
So as I'm reloading my cart I look up to see a woman, standing there with here arms folded over a few groceries just standing there staring at me with, I kid you not the most pleasurable smile on her face Id ever seen.
I asked her If I was in her way, just as I was picking up my case of soda pop and it exploded all over me and the floor. (Isabelle is now hanging from the cart by a foot because Kylie is trying to help her get out, and shes still crying). The Woman just smiles at me and says,"no I'm just watching you". Could I want to strangle anyone any worse at any single moment in time??? I'm glad that I could be so entertaining to her! At this point Gavin was trying to grab the 18 pack of eggs. So now I'm really multitasking!
Finally I get all my groceries put back in one cart and the checker FINALLY stepped in to ask me if I wanted another case of pop. (YEAH, DO YA THINK??) And she says do you want me to go get it? Like I have another choice. I wasn't going to leave my kids there to go get it. So I waited and waited and waited. Don't forget, Isabelle still has to poop.
FINALLY, Scott walks up so I rush off to take Isabelle to relieve herself. We get in the bathroom and just leave it to a kid, to make a stressful situation funny. There in the next stall, there is an elderly lady with the echoey toots. Isabelle says really loud. "Shes pooping". All I could do is laugh. I told Isabelle she needed to start making her own echoey toots and get her business done so we could get out of there!
So there ya have it in a nutshell. This shopping experience is a little more extreme than most, but it is really typical of an outing with our family. But at the end of the day, all I can do is laugh.
And there is always someone watching...With a cheesy smile on their face.

I Do Believe in Faries, I DO, I DO!!!

We had fun in our new neighborhood, trick or treating. Everyone, seemed to be feeling better by the time 6:30 rolled around so we all loaded up in the wagon and off we went.
We had a few friends join us for the fun and it was great to meet all the neighbors on the street. As we stopped at every house to chat for 5 minuets the girls were off down the street and done with our circle before we were half way through. It was a great time for everyone, and Gavin didnt miss the fun.

The Twilight Phenomenon

Well once again I have mercilessly been sucked into yet another fad. I guess I am just one of the flock. I was given a Twilight book and yes, what they say is true. It sucks you in. I picked it up at 9:00 last night and I swear I didn't put it down until 10:30 and 110 pages later. I had to make myself turn off that light and go to sleep. It truly is a vortex, a black hole that you cant escape from. I am officially hooked.
So as I sink deeper and deeper into this fictional other world, this little blog of my reality might go neglected....

K the creepiest thing ever happened last night. I woke up in that sleep induced haze, you know the one where you are mostly asleep, but aware of the things around you?
So any way I hear this laughing, not just giggling, but full on belly laughter. At first it was just working its way into my dream, but then I hear Scott jump out of bed, kinda fast, so now I'm startled fully awake. The laughter is still going. At this point the sleep is seeping from my brain and I'm realizing that I'm in a new house and starting to get a little creeped out!
Scott walks into the living room and Bailey, is sitting on the leather recliner, just rolling with laughter. It sounds cute, but at three in the morning, that's just creepy. I almost called Hilary!
As soon as Scott got to her and touched her she woke up and didnt know how she got there or why.
She still didnt remember it in the morning. We have never really had a child sleep walk before, so that one was wierd.
I'm thinking that she was still hung over from carving pumpkins. She got really giddy right before bed, so maybe that translated into really good dreams!
Here's a pic of her silliness.

It's really official!

K I am now an official blogger! Never thought I would say that. I really don't know what I'm doing, but it is fun to doodle and figure it out!
So now, everyone can hear about the fun and exciting life of the Arnett clan. Otherwise known as the Griswalds!