What a night!

I'm still in shock as I write this, so bare with me! Last night after watching Tristin share his talent at Scouts, I zipped off to meet the girl's for Lara's birthday dinner. (Miss Rosie, Annikan, Lara & myself were there) When we arrived at a place that will remain nameless, we seated ourselves and went straight to the corner for more privacy with 2 nursing babies in tow. The girls mentioned to the waitress that we would like the corner booth, but there were dirty plates still on it. The lady walked over, picked up the plates, used HER HANDS and wiped the crumbs off onto the floor. That should have been our sign right there. No, "Oh, just a moment and I'll CLEAN that table for you." Nope, just a swipe of her dirty hand all over our dirty table. Alrighty then... Rosie gave me some baby wipes, and weirded out, I wiped part of it down while Lara wiped her side. The 2nd problem was the very loud music coming from the speaker directly above our heads. It was difficult to have a normal conversation, so I polietly asked if they could turn it down just a knotch for Rosie's sleeping baby, of course. (It was a very small place, we're not talking Olive Garden or anything). Anyway, they turned the music down and I thanked her. They took our order and for some reason it took quite awahile to get out to us. We were starving so we dug into our food when it finally arrived. We were happily eating for quite sometime listening to Annikan fill us in on church stuff/ drama. All of a sudden Annikan started laughing in a weird way and said something like, "I'm not even going to show you guys." "What!" we all said. Through her laughs and slight tears she turned her plate to show us her half eaten food with a black hair embedded in it, protruding out onto her plate. I almost barfed my buritto right there. I put down my fork and just said. "No, that isn't right. Oh my, that it's right You are NOT paying for that. Ohmigosh." Next Lara held up a little stick/twig and said, "I found this awhile ago too but I didn't say anything because Annikan was talking." I looked over in horror to see A STICK! A little 2 inch stick with tiny branch off shoots. WHAT THE HECK WAS HAPPENING??? Are you kidding me? A hair I could understand, (I have a ton of it and even pulling it back sometimes treasures fall in & it happenes to the best of us, still horribly gross though), but A STICK? Come on people! After a minute of me presuading them that something HAD to be done, Annikan walked up to the counter with me to have a nice little chat. She went first and showed the girl the hair coming out of her enchalada. Next, I held up the stick and said, "I'm not sure what this is." With little expression or real care she took our plates and went into the back. When she came out semi emotionless, she said, "We wont charge you for those 2, would you like something else?" Are you kidding crazy people? Who wants to order more when there were crazy objects found in half our food? There was no remorse, or much of anything! I was shocked. I went and asked Lara if she wanted to order something else, but she declined. Annikan said the lady said sorry, but I must have walked away before she said it. It was definatly not the response I would have given, because I would have at least said SOMETHING! We stayed and opened presents and visited for awhile. She came over and asked how everything was a few times, and I was bothered by that too. Seriously? We just found objects in our food and you are asking us how things are? How about, an "I'm horribly sorry."I was disgusted, and upset and weirded out by the whole experience. And, Lara never even got her water refill that she waited half the night for, poor birthday girl. We went to pay for our food (Rosie & I) and she gave the total, it seemed a little higher than it should have been so I asked her, she said, "Oh, $ 1.75 was for the pop. I said, "Oh that was from one of the orders with no charge", but she apparently didn't hear or care, so Rosie paid the lady. (She owed me a few $, so she payed for mine) but the kicker was, sweet Rosie actually left a tip. She was far nicer than I would have been. Sorry, that was the craziest dinner we have ever had. I will definatly NOT be returning to that lovely establishment, but if nothing else, Lara wins the best birthday memory ever! So, I'm still wondering if any of ithad to do with me asking them to turn the music down a notch, sure hope not!Happy Birthday Miss!

Talent Night at Scouts...

Last night the boys had a talent night for Scouts. Tristin brought some of his Pokemon collection and it was a big hit! When I told one of the boys that most of it was from yard sales, he said, " What kind of yard sales do you go to?" We have been collecting for several years, so it didn't happen overnight, but it was fun to see Tristin excited. He also took his guitar to show. My camera wasn't working when he had it out, so the only shot I go was when he was putting it away. He was a little embarressed to play, but I was proud of him for getting up in front of everybody! Good job Buddy!

There might be something wrong with me...

I think I might have some lingering pregnancy hormones surging through my body right nowmaking me think irrational thoughts. The proof: I'm slightly thinking about getting the kids a hamster or other small, no mess making pet for Christmas. I'm insain I know. And I'm still shaking my head as I type it. I really think I'm nuts, but a super tiny part of my heart kind of tugged the other day when I took the kids into Petco for the dreadful 5 minute walk around the store. I seriously hate pet stores, but I took the plunge and walked through the doors to be instantly overwhelmed by the smell of dry dog bones. So gross. The girls happily ran through the store looking at all the nasty, noisy, smelly animals and I just smiled my fake smile pleading to God to get me out of there! I kept looking at my imaginary watch saying, "Yup, sorry girl's, we gotta go! Say goodby to the sweet little animals." And then it happened. Somewhere between the hamsters and hidious rats, the idea came to me that my kids are not going to turn out normal if they do not have a pet. "Nope", I said to God or whoever was talking to me at the moment. "Not doing it" I felt like saying outloud. But as my eyes checked out the cages, and water things, and messy cage covering stuff, and little plastic hut- home looking things, I thought, "Maybe, just maybe I could muster up whatever it takes for a women like me to break down and get a little fur ball for her sweet kids- and just do it! So I need your help. All of you sweet Mama's who have let your kids have normal childhoods, would you please tell me the best little fur ball for young kids? The least smelly-est? The one that eats the cheapest food? And one that wont get out, crawl into my walls, take up residency there and then only come out at night to make annoying scratching sounds? Or better yet, someone please convince me that a pet-free home really is the safest and healthiest thing for my children who are wildly in love with animals!Oh my word, please help, just the idea of it is killing me!

My sweet little boy...

This little boy makes my heart smile. I am so thankful for healthy, beautiful children. It hit me today as I sat down to nurse, for the millionth time- that maybe one of the reasons we nurse, is so we finally stop. Yeah, I know we are also keeping a little one alive by feeding it, but maybe stopping, the art of doing nothing, in a way is a piece to the puzzle. I also think that part of the joy of nursing is holding our little ones in our arms, being close and just enjoying the moment. They grow so fast and maybe this is one way we get to enjoy their sweetness. Today I am praying for a change of attitude. Instead of getting upset that my "project" or my cleaning routine was interupted by the need to nurse, I am praying that I can be excited for another moment to hold, nurish and be with my last little baby. Please help me Lord to keep things in perspective as I try to slow down and remember what is truely important today.

A day of deals...

I adore after holiday sales, but I'm so cheap that I only get excited when we're talking 75- 90% off. This morning, the vomit had stopped and the fevers were gone, so I took the 3 little ones out to check a few of our favorite places. Talk about a good day! Target was 90 & 70% off and we got a ton of stuff- candy, kids shirts, baby clothes, decorations, craft stuff & little gifts. Michaels had more party favors for Grace's party for .25 each (That will be a zoo party!). We found some bigger shirts for Daisy at Old Navy for .97 each. My friend Lisa who works at WalMart texted to say clothes were marked down to $ 1.00 each so we grabbed some bigger jeans for Daisy, shirts for Trav, shirts for Tristin & dresses for the girls! Then we stopped at Albertsons and hit the bacon jackpot! Boxes were marked down to .99 each- I LOVE PRECOOKED BACON- there is no mess involved!They also had yummy looking sausage hot dogs for .50 a pack, normally almost $7.00 a piece! We grabbed a few more things and headed to the $ store to see if they had anything. Sure enough they got a new shipment of cereal, so I grabbed a few of those too! Thank you Lord for a day filled with super awesome deals!

G-ma & G-pa are coming!

Mom and Brent fly in in 10 days and as you can see, the girls made a chain to count down the days! We are so excited for them to get here and boy do we wish we could speed up the next week & 1/2! We love you guys! We can't wait!

Sweet DeArley...

Friday night the girls all stayed the night at Sister Green's house and had a blast! I have to admit I was sad I couldn't go myself! We just love DeArley to pieces. She is a wonderful friend who I enjoy spending every minute with! Thanks for being so wonderful. She even came out trick-or-treating with us on Halloween. And thanks for recording The Voice every week for us too! (True love right there- when you leave in the middle of the trunk or treat to drive home and push record on your DVR for your friend!)

Trunk-Or-Treat...

The kids had fun last week at our wards trunk-or-treat! It's always fun to see all the kids dressed up! (Grace, I usually ask parents permission before I post any pictures with their kids in it. I couldn't find your # in my phone, so I didn't get your permission. If it bothers you, I'll remove the picture. They just looked so cute!)

Halloween...

I always take 100 pictures of every event, but I wasn't able to post all of them- so here are a few more!

My Sweet Husband...

I never wrote anything special about Trav on his birthday last week, so I had to take a few and minutes to reflect on what makes him the sweetest man in my life. Why I love Trav (in no order, and I've probably listed some before): # 1- He brings me a bottled water every night before bed. # 2- He changes LOTS of diapers. # 3- He kisses me goodbye in the morning and doesn't care about morning breath. # 4- He sends silly AnchorMan texts to me throughout the day to make me smile. # 5- He supports my deal finding obsession. # 6- He always watches the kids without complaining. # 7- When he sees that I'm stressed, he stops and jumps into help or asks me what he can do to help me the most. # 8- HE FOLDS LAUNDRY!!! # 9- He puts up with my ugly oversized red bingo sweatshirt that I live in. # 10- If dinner isn't made when he gets home, he helps make it. # 11- He is always serving other people. # 12- Trav is pretty funny when you get to know him. # 13- He's a great listener- most of the time. # 14- He understands Mom will pretty much know everything there is to know about our marriage. # 15- He is kind. # 16- He gives into the kids requests almost 100% of the time. # 17- He has a good singing voice. # 18- He is always happy to see me. # 19- He is the best papa in the world. # 20- He is gentle. # 21- He appriciates me and what I do/or don't do in a day. # 22- He takes care of me when I hurt. # 23- He comes home to me everyday. # 24- He wont keep his hands off me, even after 5 babies! # 25- He is $ smart and saves for our retirement. # 26- He is amazing with computers- that's why the Navy loves him! # 27- He reads the long stories to the kids. # 28- He takes the kids to the dollar movie theatre by himself- EVERY time. # 29- He goes to the theatre by himself for date night because I wont go with him, and accepts my reasons for staying home. # 30- He accepts me just the way I am. # 31- He has a sweet smile. # 32- His deodorant smells terrific! # 33- He puts up with my cooking. # 34- He sees a need and helps. # 35- He is a good man who loves Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ & his family. I could go on forever, I love you sweet man.