new craft

a la the martha stewart show on friday 5/17.

pull the big handle thru the smaller handle...

and voila, a purse!

and it's reversible.

i'm not that big of a fan of it and now have a bag for my scissors ;)

9 scissors, is that too many?

LOL

i think i like this chinese food restaurant!

someone decipher please...

we ate chinese food last night and check out our fortunes. cool right?

I wish I was there!

Did anyone catch the Mother's Day episode on the Ellen DeGeneres show on Friday? HOLY COW did they get some AWESOME prizes or what? So i've been googling some of the items they got and man oh man! We're talking $86 for a blanket!!! Don't even get me started on the diaper bag that's over $200! I'm afraid to look at the stroller they gave away too. And not just one person got these prizes, THEY ALL GOT THEM! Has anyone heard the story of when my mom, synthia, and i went to a taping of the Ellen show? Paula Abdul and Wilmer Valderamma were the guest. They came out on segways and we were like, SCORE, WE'RE GETTING SEGWAYS! NOPE! We got an ALMANAC!! And it wasn't even special autographed almanac or anything. I'm sure i've seen it at the 99cent store. Oh, Synthia did get a tshirt though for her styling dancing.

Here are some of the items they scored....

*2 weeks (i believe they said) free meals from Home Bistro. Prices range from $7-$20/plate.

*organic onsies $21/piece

*3 months supply of diapers $165

*a ton of "eco friendly" baby toiletries by Method

a Quinny stroller$229

16 inch tv $200

Graco iMonitor digital color video baby monitor $200

Chloe in Style baby boutique-

baby swaddle $45 (how cool is it to have the feet though!)

organic crocheted cowboy booties $41

Charlie and Grace baby boutique-

suede/minky blanket $86

baby booties $30

the little seed svan bouncer $150

storksac diaper bag $285

tiffany & co mom heart lock $125

Boon products- (which i think some of these are totally lame, but again, i'm not a mom, so i don't really know if these are "must-haves")

catch bowl $7

bender spoons $6 (these are cool)

flair elite highchair with pneumatic lift $225

ergonomic cup $9

squirt spoon $8 (you put the food in the handle and it drips out)

maxi cosi car seat $200

and all i got was an almanac!

a day w/ Emmy Grace

i went to andrea's today to drop a birthday gift off and as i was getting ready to leave, little missy decided she was gonna go to!
so since i had a choice of being home with bugsy bored all day, or having emily to entertain me, i chose to take her for a few hours. we went to the grocery store where she wanted to tell everyone hi and wave at them. then we ate lunch at taco bell where everything was "peas and dank ooo". then we went back to my house to watch dora and spongebob. we played outside a bit and i got these pictures of her in her adorable dress and fancy shoes that she would NOT let me near to take off.


to all the stay at home mommys i know (which is pretty much all but 1), what do you do in the daytime to keep yourself from getting bored? im having a hard time with this! but then i start looking around my craft room and realizing i have plenty of stuff i need to start working on that i have no time for a job right now, LOL. you can never have your cake and eat it too!

Happy Mother's Day, almost!

We've had a great Saturday! Earlier this week I asked Andrea to bring her 3 kids over this morning so Jaren and I could play with them for the day. Of course I really had a plan to have them make some Mother's Day gifts for their mom. Fred (husband) has been out of town for 2 weeks in Oregon and wouldn't be flying in until tonight. So I wanted to make sure she was covered for tomorrow. ;)

Brydon painted her a jewelry box and filled it with caramel hershey kisses and hugs. I asked him if he was sure his mom liked the caramel ones. He said, "Oh yes! She always gets the caramel espresso with 2 shots when we go to Starbucks, so im sure she does!" LOL. Kids make me laugh! Also something else kind of random... as we were walking up to the checkout he saw a magazine cover and blurted out, "Hey look, it's Paula Dean, i love her!" For those who don't know who she is, she is a boisterous cook who has her own tv show on the food network and has a strong southern accent. She's just a crack up! LOL.

Emily got Andrea a Mary Engelbreit journal. Andrea's the only one I know of that has a Mary Engelbreit obsession almost as much as mine! The little frog was also from Brydon. He felt like sharing with her that we paid $4 for it! Yet again, LOL!
Emily made the foam pink crown all by herself with glittered sticker flowers. We also made a homemade card with her handprint on the front. Inside read, this is my hand, my hand will do, a thousand loving things for you, you will remember when I am tall, that once my hand was just this small. Then she colored it with Jaren's scripture crayons. I can't believe MMMEEE of all people didn't have a pack of crayons lying around!Jacob didn't want to make anything with us today because he had a bag FULL of crafts his teacher had them do at school. Not sure where this gift idea came from, but it was 2 pieces of kleenex wrapped in a piece of paper that said, "For all your many emotions." hmm...?
Brydon also made her 2 suncatchers.
And we decorated a cake for Andrea :) Who also had major dental work yesterday for 4 hrs. So a cake that she could drench in milk was what she was looking forward too!Emily's crying because her mommy told her no more m & m's. They don't get chocolate that often, so when they do, OH MAN!
Brydon and Andrea and his homemade card with racecars on it.

So you may be asking how I took these pictures since I don't have a camera? Well I do now!! :) I'll just be straight up here, Mother's Day has been a REALLY hard day for me for the past 2 years. And ESPECIALLY this year since if all went as planned last October, I'd be 2 weeks from actual motherhood. I really do try not to think about October, but it's very hard for me. Anyways, Jaren does the best he can and always makes sure to remember me every Mother's Day. Our first year together he got a beautiful pink diamond ring from Kay Jewelers, which I love. This year, him and Bugsy (that's what the card said) got me a Nikon Coolpix L18, 8 megapixel. He was stressing about it because he bought it a few weeks ago but had to wait for the red ones to ship in today. He knew I wouldn't dare want the navy blue one. I was a little shocked I got something so grand since again he saved up his "allowance" without me noticing anything. He's probably been making peanut butter and jelly for his lunches for the past few months to take to work instead of eating out. LOL. He's just and amazingly wonderful thoughtful loving husband a girl could ask for!

3 inch screen is wonderful for my horrible eyes.

Another cool thing is when I put the memory card directly into my printer, it shows all the pictures on the 2 1/2 inch screen, adjusts the color and lighting, then lets me print directly from the printer without the computer even being on. I love technology these days!

Just some play around shots of Emily when she woke up from her nap.

So I wish all the mother's I know (special shout out to my own mother and my totally awesome mother in-law) a wonderful day and enjoy all the blessings in your lives. And send me baby dust so next year won't be so bad for me. THANKS!

America's Next Top Mormon

Newsweek Web Exclusive
May 6, 2008

As reality shows dominate television, they're finding contestants in an unlikely place: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

When brothers Ryan and Craig Simmons auditioned for the CBS reality show "The Amazing Race" in 2003, they hoped the novelty of their religion would give them an edge. Their audition tape showed them outside the Mormon temple in Provo, Utah, while the narration played off those classic Mormon ads ("Family: Isn't it about time?") with a question for the casting directors: "Mormons: Isn't it about time?" It certainly is now. Since then Mormons have colonized reality TV as if they'd been assigned there by Brigham Young himself. They've won "The Biggest Loser," "The Rebel Billionaire" and "Survivor" (along with two second-place finishes on "Survivor"). These days you can't turn on "So You Think You Can Dance" or "Dancing With the Stars" without seeing at least one, and often several, members of the church. And they're closing in on the biggest reality TV prize of all: cherub-faced Mormon David Archuleta is one of four finalists left on "American Idol," and his chances just soared following the elimination last week of Brooke White. White is Mormon too, and now that she's off the show, the two of them won't have to split the faithful's vote anymore.
Wholesome, likable Mormon competitors are now so plentiful that some viewers have taken to playing Spot the Mormon. Former "Idol" contestant Carmen Rasmusen, herself a Mormon, says one of this season's early episodes set off her Mormon radar when she heard White tell the judges she'd never seen an R-rated movie. "My husband and I just looked at each other and said, 'She's totally Mormon.' I mean, who else would say something like that?" With all the conniving, back-stabbing and sexuality on reality TV, it may seem like a strange place for Mormons to congregate. That cultural disconnect is obviously part of the attraction for viewers and casting directors alike. Take the strange spectacle last month of a beautiful young Mormon woman— the "Idaho virgin," as she came to be known—sucking the toes of the eligible bachelor on MTV's racy "That's Amore." Or the contestant on this year's "America's Next Top Model" who said maybe her elimination was for the best, as she would have been uncomfortable doing a nude shoot. But for Mormon contestants themselves the motivation is more complex, whether it's testing the limits of their religion, showing America that Mormons aren't the insular community they're often perceived to be, or the one that crosses all denominations: the hunger for fame.
In reality TV terms, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in a sweet spot demographically: still small enough that members get excited to see one of their own in the spotlight, but large enough that when they watch together and vote they can affect results and ratings. Mormons reserve Monday nights for Family Home Evening, and when Marie Osmond competed on the family-friendly "Dancing With the Stars" last year, she benefited from having the voting fall on a Monday each week. In fact, all three Mormon contestants made it to the final four that season.
While "Idol"'s voting night is Tuesday, some Mormons around the country still get together for viewing parties and pour in the votes after each show. "Idol"'s producers won't disclose voting numbers, but Rasmusen says producer Ken Warwick once stopped her before a results show and told her she usually did pretty well in the East Coast voting but that her "numbers just soared" when the mountain states kicked in. "I was so happy to hear that people were voting like crazy and supporting me," she says. "Utah does a great job rallying around its people." Lauren Faber, an eighth-grader in Provo, votes for Archuleta as many times as she can each week for at least 20 minutes, "no matter what—even when he messed up that once." That will undoubtedly be music to Archuleta's ears, although last week Osmond spoke out in the church-owned Deseret News, saying that White and Archuleta should be judged based on their talent, not their religion. "I mean, you don't hear other people saying, 'One of the finalists is a Catholic' or 'One of them is a Presbyterian' or 'One of them is Jewish'."
But Mormons don't do well only on shows where the audience votes. "There must be something about the Mormon community that makes these people so self-confident and so open," says Lynne Spillman, a casting director for "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race." She thinks that coming from a large family probably helps in a game like "Survivor," with its complicated group dynamics mirroring sibling rivalries. "They also have these incredible experiences through their missions," she says, "and can relate to being dropped off in the middle of somewhere they've never been and having to make it."
Reality TV success sometimes comes at a price. The first Mormon reality contestant—and still one of the most memorable—was Julie Stoffer, plucked from Brigham Young University in 1999 by "Real World" casting directors on a mission to find a faithful Mormon for the show. Before filming began, Stoffer even received a blessing from her bishop that she would be "an example to the world." For her troubles she was suspended by the church-owned university for living with housemates of the opposite sex on the show, a violation of the school's honor code. "I wasn't wearing the Osmond smile all the time. I said things that were wrong sometimes. I was human," Stoffer says. "I don't think I did anything against the church's teachings." She says that for years afterward she felt as if she was still wearing a "scarlet M," thanks to her suspension. And Todd Herzog didn't exactly receive the approval of the Mormon community either. When he was cast on "Survivor" last year, the Salt Lake Tribune's headline read, "'Survivor' trots out its latest 'gay Mormon'," sparking a debate on the paper's Web site over whether someone could even be gay and still be a good Mormon. Herzog went on to win the million-dollar prize and says that while he hopes he opened people's eyes about the church, he also hopes he opened some Mormons' eyes about the real world.
Some tension may still exist between the Mormon community and mainstream America. But considering that not too long ago Mormons were a small, persecuted band, it's remarkable that America may be poised to crown a Mormon as its new Idol.
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in other news...

i tried a new peanut butter cookie recipe tonight. 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 egg. mix and bake at 350 for 12-14 min. they were YUMMY!

did anyone watch the rachael ray show and see her "grow your own" contest she talked about today? she's looking for families who have grown a garden of there own veggies/herbs as a healthier way of eating. i can think of 2 families that need to enter ;)

oh and i quit my job for personal reasons. like mother like daughter?

Happy Sabbath

Not much of an exciting weekend. Yesterday we did our usual Walmart and Winco shopping. Later that evening I was going to the rodeo with Andrea and the kids. Jaren and Mike were going to the Okie Bowl (local race car dirt track) to watch a friend race.

Emily is at the age where she wants to RUN. So Andrea bought her this teddy bear backpack that also combines as a leash so she cant go too far, LOL.

The boys got new cowboy hats and this is there "tough cowboy" pose.

The backpack leash really is a great invention ;) And does Brydon look like Mark or what?

And here we all are sitting in our seats. Again, more "tough cowboy" pose.

I had never been to a rodeo before. I liked it all EXCEPT the calf dressing (literally putting a pair of pants on a calf) and the calf roping. It was just inhumane.

And Jaren's friend came in last place by the way.

Gotta go start cooking dinner for my guest. Who's bringing his laundry too! LOL! Tonights meal, chimichanga's w/ cherry cheesecake for dessert! MMMMM!!!!!!

May already?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SYNTHIA! she said the other day, "now nothing exciting happens anymore now that im 21." LOL! and we all know, NOW THE FUN REALLY BEGINS!











in other news, look what i found! im so going make one!