"Footloose" and Fancy Free

One of, like, the most important jobs of the bishopric is, you know, like, chaperoning stake dances. Gag me! Grody to the max!

How cool are we....it's truly sad Bill and I never dated in the 80's. How cute would we have been? You can't tell, but my florescent yellow sweatshirt is totally flashdanced out. Nor can you see my stylin' neon orange canvas boat shoes (with yellow socks). The bangs took awhile to get out this morning, but well worth it. I totally give it up to John and Karen though. She is wearing cut loofah gloves and John made a special trip to Harmon's JUST for binaca mouth spray. Karen even gurned (crusty) a few times to complete her look. Check out her blog Like, totally rad!! for more radical pics. Bill attempted the Flock of Seagulls hairdo, but ended up with this.

I must say to the youth of today....get your own music! Electric Slide, Boot-scootin' Boogie, Footloose, White Boy, Forever Yours (by Journey), stuff by KISS and the Ramones....come on. There were a few I didn't recognize, but really. I'm old and I knew most of the tunes.

P.S. Marrdy just gave me a Blogger award....she's so nice....I think she feels sorry for my little blog. Thanks Marrdy....it made my day!

The Quinners, the Quinners, ooo, we love the Quinners (to be sung to the tune of "The Bunny, The Bunny" from "Rack, Shack, and Benny")

I just bought this picture for Quinn's room because it reminds me so much of him right now. He loves to point out noses. Isn't this a sweet pic?

Quinn's favorite new game; It involves a racquet in each hand. He will let me help him hit a ball with them properly, but then is just happy to chase the ball around the house by pushing it with alternating racquets.

He is as sweet as can be, but definitely my most emotional toddler. He will being pushing his train happily and then instantly break out in shrieking sobs. He has also shrieked every morning as I take off his PJ top. Very attached to his sleepwear, I guess. He is so attached to his lion, Li-Li. I know it's naptime when he proudly announces, "LI-LI". He says "Li-Li" more than momma or daddy, so I guess I know where we stand in his priorities.

Quinn picking his first pumpkin at the cabin. He took it very seriously!

In other news, Princess Belle ran off and married some old, crotchedy man after her first piano recital.

A year of a million dreams....packed into 3 days!

Well, we packed up and headed to the Magical Land that is Disneyland for 3 fun-filled days. Here is our top ten:

1-Quinn....of all the fun the park had to offer our little guy, this was by far his favorite spot. The fountain. So entertained by water!



2- Good food! We enjoyed the Blue Bayou (my absolute fav), the girls did Ariel's Grotto, and the boys did Goofy's kitchen. This is Emi enjoying her shells and cheese with goldfish on top.
3. Pirates...well, Quinn screamed through the entire pirate ride, but that didn't dampen Parker's love for all things pirates. Didn't dampen my love for a audio-animatronic Johnny Depp, either.
4. Fun characters everywhere. It's nice that Emi doesn't run away screaming like she used to. (Bill is the one on the right...yuk, yuk, yuk).
5. Thrill rides! Parker ADORES them. This is us on "Tower of Terror". Emi went on it once, but not twice...she really did get brave for most things this year. Parker just giggles through these rides. I love it! It's a good age because he is as happy on those as he is on Dumbo.
6. Grandparents (these are in no particular order). This was AWESOME! It's like bringing your own personal nanny and photographer. My dad must have taken a billion pictures of my kids.

7. Mickey Mouse. Too bad Quinn decided to nap for this part, but oh well. He loved all things Mickey.
8. ....speaking of which, here he is enjoying the Mickey ice cream. Thanks to my dad's obsession with these little beauties, we enjoyed them a lot!
9. Princess Emi.....couldn't believe it! She got to meet Belle! She was so happy. The princesses rotate, and we were so lucky to get her. Especially since I dueled out a bunch-0-money for her Halloween costume. We met almost every princess, but Belle is so her favorite right now.
10. The new "Toy Story Mania" ride in California Adventure. Super fun. It takes the "Buzz Astro-blasters" to a whole new level. I'm seriously so impressed that Disney Imagineers come up with this stuff. Had a ball on it!

So that was the good.....we won't mention Tinkerbell malfunctioning during the fireworks, 3 of us getting the gurgly crud, or the monorail breaking at a crucial moment in our day.....the good far outweighs any of the bad!

Parker, age 8

Here is my little baby....turning EIGHT!!!! I can hardly believe it. We've had quite a crazy week. We took off for Disneyland last Thursday and returned Monday (more on that later) . Parker's b-day is today and we had his party at a bounce house place. He had a ball. He said today was the greatest day of his life. Such a cutie. Seriously.....EIGHT! It's been eight years since I went through 36 hours of hard labor.....wait, let's forget that. Let's celebrate him.

8 reasons why I love Parker:

1-He invents great jokes.

2-He loves to play with his brother and sister who adore him.

3-There is nothing funner than hearing him play piano.

4-He's very articulate and imaginative.

5-He gets absolutely giddy about certain things.

6-He knows how to suck up to me when he really wants something, but I love it and milk it for all it's worth

7-He's got the most contagious laugh

8-He's incredibly sensitive to spiritual things....it's awesome. Not to get religious or anything, but I feel like he's an "old soul". He's deals with a lot and is very brave going into things that are hard for him. I can't believe all he has overcome and all he is TRYING to overcome. I know he was given his challenges for a reason, and I believe it was because Heavenly Father knew he could handle it.

So many more reasons, but I'm exhausted. I love you, Parker. You're my inspiration!

Happy Birthday to me!

Not to toot my own horn, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me! I don't really hide birthdays and I am a big believer of celebrating little moments in life. So, despite my ever-increasing age, I will enjoy this day. The kids made me breakfast (banana/choco chip pancakes) and I always love that. On Friday, I was treated to dinner at Buca de Peppo (sp?) with 12 great friends.

Why I love an October 5th birthday:
-Cool, crisp fall weather with gorgeous, decorative leaves
-When my birthday falls on a Sunday, I don't have to tote all the kids to church because it is conference weekend. This is way more important to me since I ALSO have my hubby home, which is unusual for Sundays.
-I can usually talk my mom into making me stuffed baked potatoes.
-I get to celebrate with my bro and sis (Oct 2 and Oct 4). Not ALWAYS fun to share "Birthday Week", but it also kind of makes it an event (and it drains Mark of all his cash....the only sib with his b-day in July).
-I can buy new fun fall clothes under the label of "birthday shopping". I tend to buy a lot of things under this label...often way into November.

Why I don't love an October 5th birthday;
-studies show that this is the most popular day to have a birthday. More people have their birthday on Oct. 5th than any other day. It's less special because 15 other people are being sung to in any given restaurant.
-if my birthday falls on a Saturday, Bill (or any guy I was dating) was off to priesthood session. This means I'm on babysitting duty.
-having to spend my birthday shopping for sibling presents, which I always leave to the last minute.

Favorite birthdays past:
-2 years ago, we woke up at 4 am and hopped a plane to Disneyland. It was Parker and Emi's first time there. I was WAY prego with Quinn, but we had a ball! They were SO excited, and that kept us going (even though we were tired). I've never seen my kids fall asleep so fast as they did that night.
-My first year we were married, my hubby arranged for me to have a full spa day, complete with lunch. So fun.
-My 18th birthday was so fun....it was the night of my senior year homecoming dance. It was Ryan's (the guy I went with) 18th birthday, too (see what I mean about EVERYONE sharing my birthday) and we had a ball. We went with a fun group....I was escorted to the U-haul truck by all the guys, we all had pizza in the truck looking out from Zarahemla drive. After the dance, we watched "Field of Dreams" on Skyline's baseball field on a big projection screen. The only bad part was my dad's automatic sprinklers went off during the doorstep scene......an accident? Probably not.