Is It June Yet???

I went and saw New Moon last night with my mom and sister and simply put, it was basically the best movie EVER! Lol! I loved Twilight but even with that movie there were some major things wrong with it that irritated me, like how they completely butchered the meadow scene or how they went on that stupid field trip in Biology class instead of doing the blood typing scene from the book. But I can honestly say that I went walking out of the theater this time with New Moon loving every single thing about it, I wouldn't have changed a thing....it was PERFECT! The bigger budget and special effects were awesome, the new director was great and I feel like you finally got the connection between Bella and Edward, it did a much better job than Twilight did of explaining the plot for people who haven't read the books, and believe it or not I actually found myself feeling sorry for Jacob! I have always been a Jacob hater but he was actually amazing in this movie! New Moon is my least favorite book out of the Twilight Saga and if I could love this movie as much as I do, then I can't even handle how much I am going to love Eclipse! It comes out in June and I am already counting down the days!!!

Oh and does anyone know the status on Breaking Dawn? Are they going to make it into a movie or what? How could you just do 3 of the books without the 4th? That wouldn't be fair....I HAVE to see that wedding! Lol!

M.I.A.

Sorry to all my loyal readers out there for completely neglecting my blog for the past week....I have just been soo preoccupied with other things and life in general lately! November has already proven to be a real doozey for me, let me break it down for ya:
I got a nasty ear infection - my first one ever and it was awful, the pain lasted for days and I wanted to die the entire time! Then a few days later Macy got an ear infection too - her first one ever and since I had just experienced the misery myself first hand I felt so terrible for her. I basically didn't sleep for an entire week.
Then my Cadillac started acting funny, I would be driving down the road and out of nowhere the stability system would engage on it's own, which usually only happens when I hit a patch of ice or snow. So I had to go without my car for a week while it was being repaired. Turns out it was a malfunction with the stability sensor, so $400 later it was ready to be picked up.
Then I found out that my Dad is moving to Utah at the end of this month! My stepmom is from Utah and all her kids live there, so she spends about half of each month away from my Dad. She has put her 10 years in here in Idaho and now it is my Dad's turn to return the favor. Utah isn't that far away and we will of course come to visit them...Lagoon is right next door so we will make a big trip out of it when we do. But it is still going to be so weird not having him here in town, he has ALWAYS been in town and even though we don't get together everyday (more like once or twice a month), at least I still had the option of seeing him if I wanted to! Ever since we moved back from Las Vegas in 2006 my father and I's relationship has grown a lot closer and I hope that doesn't end just because he is moving away! I'm going to miss him!
Then this past weekend our hot water heater decided to start leaking or overflowing, I'm not sure which. All I know is when we woke up Saturday morning our entire garage was flooded! So I got the super fun task of spending my weekend cleaning up the mess. I had to remove the soaked carpet we had laid down on the garage floor before it started to mold, then I had to go through all the ruined boxes and assess the damage. Then repack the stuff that was in the soaked boxes into new containers, then reorganize everything neatly on one side of the garage....it was an exhausting all day process but I am trying to see the positive in the situation. Cleaning out the garage was already on my to do list for this winter so at least it is out of the way now. I wish I hadn't been FORCED to do it against my will, but nonetheless it is done now!
On top of all this I have just been an eMoTiOnAl WrEcK in general this past week. I don't know if it is just my PMS, or the fact that I am tired of being an insomniac and only getting 2-3 hours of sleep a night and being physically exhausted all day long chasing after the girls, or if the stress of clients always owing us tons of money every month and never knowing when we will get checks in the mail has finally caught up with me. All I know is for whatever the reason, my emotional state is very fragile at the moment and bursting into tears happens on a daily basis.
So anyways, I haven't even been on the computer much lately and blogging hasn't been a priority. Things are on the up and up though so I'm sure I'll be back to my normal happy self in no time. We just celebrated my mom's birthday and had her birthday dinner at my house so that was fun. New Moon comes out on Friday and I'm stoked to have a girl's night out with my mom and sister. We are decorating for Christmas this weekend too so I am looking forward to that. Then we are also having two Thanksgivings this year, one at my house with my dad, and one in Oregon with my extended family, so that will be a lot of fun too! So stay posted for lots of new blog posts! =)

Famous

So apparently my little Madelyn is sort of famous! My friend Nicole texted me today to see if I had seen Madelyn's picture in the new November 2009 issue of Utah Baby Guide...which is apparently a super cute online magazine. I had no idea, so she gave me the link to check it out and low and behold there was my little beauty gracing the last page! Here is the link to check it out: Utah Baby Guide, Maddy is on page 62....kinnda cool huh? =) Thanks for sharing Nicole!

Parents Beware!

Last night Terry and I took Madelyn to see the new A Christmas Carol movie, and we were absolutely mortified!!! The trailer for this film is very deceiving, it made this classic tale from Charles Dickens seem like it was going to be a light hearted, colorful, humerous, fun family film.....this couldn't be farther from the truth! They must have taken clips from the only 5 minutes of the movie that aren't completely horrifying to put the preview together....very misleading! I have no idea how this movie got past the sensors but it should have definitely been rated PG-13, and this is coming from me, who let my 3 year old watch The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline, so you know it has to REALLY be that bad! Lol! Madelyn is pretty tough and actually likes scary things like monsters and ghosts, but this movie was just over the top with disturbing graphics and dark images not appropriate for anyone under the age of 13, and all of them were so unnecessary too. Maddy kept saying "I thought we were going to see a Christmas movie, not a scary movie!" There were literally other little kids in the theater crying! I am so disappointed in Disney and have no idea what demographic they were trying to target with this film. Parents please beware with this one and stay away! I would recommend A Muppet's Christmas Carol instead. That one is full of fun songs and happy characters, it will leave you feeling good and uplifted unlike this version that will leave you feeling stunned and disgusted! Yuck!

These pictures were obviously taken before we knew we were taking our 4 year old to watch a horror film. Lol!

So in an attempt to make up for our huge mistake in judgement, Terry and I decided to take Madelyn out to eat dinner at Tepanaykis so we could finally have some fun together on our date night. And fun it was, Maddy thought it was awesome! If you have kids I would definitely recommend this type of restaurant, they will get the biggest kick out of it! They cook your food on a giant grill right in front of you and your chef will entertain you with fun tricks like juggling his spatulas and flipping your food in the air, it's quite the show! 

Christmas Came Early!

Christmas came early for me this year! Look at what my hubby got me yesterday:

A new digital camera!!! Our old camera was approaching 4 years old and was well used....I take pictures every single day and my camera goes everywhere with me....so the poor thing had seen better days to say the least! I knew I was going to get a new camera for Christmas but my hubby brought up a good point, I should really get a new one BEFORE the holidays so I can take pictures and document Thanksgiving and Christmas with the new camera....obviously I wasn't going to object to this! Lol! At first Terry started looking into entry level SLR's for me, like the Canon Rebel and the Nikon 3000. The problem with those is that neither one of them takes video and I use my video feature a lot to record my girls in action, so having video was a necessity. Plus, while both of the cameras are great and take excellent photos, they are huge! I wanted something that I could easily carry around with me in my purse or even in my pocket if I didn't want to bring my purse with me somewhere. An SLR is honestly too much camera for me, I appreciated Terry's thought but I informed him that a little camera from Wal-mart would do the job just fine. If we ever wanted to take professional quality photos we could just bring his work camera home one day, Regal has a Nikon D200 and a Nikon D300....so we don't technically need another SLR anyways.

So off to Wal-mart we went to pick out the new camera. At first I was thinking I would just go with another Canon Power Shot since that is what my old one is and it has been a great camera. But one of the biggest flaws with Canon is that they take AA batteries. Like I already mentioned, I use my camera on a daily basis so I burn through the batteries fast! I replace them almost every month. At $6 a pack, one pack would last 2 months, over 4 years of battery use, that puts me at almost $150 spent on batteries! Nikon cameras have a rechargeable battery so that was what finally swayed me from the Canon, other than that they were very comparable to one another. My new Nikon has loads of cool features, way too many to list, so here is the link to check it out: Nikon Coolpix S630 

Simply put I love my new camera! It's really small and sleek and does everything I need a camera to do!

Plus I also got this super cute case to keep my camera in and to help keep it protected (mine is pink though, not black):

Then as if that wasn't enough to make my day, my hubby also got me a new Coach purse! I didn't know this one was coming so it was a big surprise! However, I'm going to have to wait until Christmas before I get it...gotta have at least one thing to open on Christmas morning! =) But here is a picture:

Out of all the purses I have, can you believe I didn't have a black one until now? I have beige, green, pink, blue, white, silver, gray, and a couple brown ones....but no black! Every woman should have a black purse in her wardrobe and now I have a really nice one! YAY!!!

Now I'm left with the dilemma of what to get Terry for Christmas. We weren't going to do gifts this year for each other since we are traveling to Washington DC and our present to one another was suppose to be just going on this trip together. We spent a lot of money on the plane tickets and will be spending more money with metro tickets, attractions & museum fees, eating out, and possibly renting a car. We agreed to get the girls a few things to open on Christmas but that we wouldn't worry about us. Well obviously since he broke the rules and got me presents anyways I need to return the favor. I never know what to get him for anything, he is impossible to shop for....any suggestions???

Pretty Dang Excited About This!

I don't know how any of you could possibly not know this by now, but I have been using this website called Baby Jelly Beans to document my daughters' lives. It is basically a user friendly site that offers various  different templates so that the average human being can create their own website for their child....you don't have to be a computer genius! I started right when Madelyn was born so I have over 4 years worth of pictures, videos, milestones, and journal entries on this site! Every year you can get your whole website made into a keepsake CD for free, so I have basically been using this website as a baby book substitute, since I have absolutely no time for scrapbooking anymore. The keepsake CD's were really cool to have but I had to admit that it just wasn't the same as actually being able to open up a baby book and look at all the pictures and read all the journal entries....that is until Baby Jelly Beans decided to come out with their keepsake books!!! I am so excited by this, it is exactly what I have been waiting for! They turn your entire website into a hard cover book and they include every single thing that is on your website....I am going to get over 4 years worth of pictures with the captions, milestones with the coordinating pictures, growth charts, journal entries....everything! I've decided to wait until January to order mine so I can end out the book with Christmas and our trip to Washington DC. Then I will probably wait another couple years before I order another one. And the great thing is when I go to order another book I can select what material I want included in it, so I can just start where I left off after the first book and don't have to include the first 4 years all over again. So the first volume will be Madelyn ages 0-4 and Macy 0-1. Then the second volume will probably be Madelyn ages 4-7 and Macy 1-4....something like that, or I may order a new book every year, I haven't decided yet.

Anyways, for all you other parents out there I would definitely recommend Baby Jelly Beans. They offer adorable websites with tons of different designs and themes to choose from. It's also a really organized way to document your child's life, everything is put into seperate folders. Plus if you are too busy to scrapbook these days like I am, this is an awesome way to still have a baby book for your child because it is really easy to update a couple pictures here and write a journal entry there, you don't have to do everything all at once like a scrapbook requires....you can work on it a little bit as you go for years to come! =)

Goodbye! You Will NOT Be Missed!

That's right! Goodbye to you:

and goodbye to you:

I wont be seeing either of you until next Spring...and I wont miss you a bit! Lol! We have experienced some gorgeous fall weather these past couple of days, so I was able to get my yard all ready for winter. I am very excited to say that I have mowed, edged, trimmed, and pulled weeds for the last time this year, and I am really looking forward to my 5 month break from yard work!

Obviously I still have a little raking to do, I've already raked up 6 big garbage bags full of leaves so I am just going to wait another week or so until all the leaves have fallen before I rake them all up again. But it is such a great feeling to have the yard all cleaned up and to know that I wont have to work on it again until April! Woot woot! =)

Oh, and we have decided that we are going to build a couple grow boxes this upcoming Spring to plant a garden in! This will be our first garden so I have no idea what I am doing, but I guess I have the next 5 months to research everything and figure it out right?

Spicing Things Up Part 2

Our leather couches came in a 3 piece set, a large sofa, a loveseat, and an oversized chair. When we originally moved into this house we had the whole set in the living room...the idea of breaking up the set was unthinkable to me! (I have OCD, remember? Lol!) Well when Christmas came last year we needed somewhere to put up our tree, so we moved the chair 'temporarily' into the office during the holiday season. But when Christmas was over and it was time to take down the tree we realized how nice it was having that big comfy chair in the office. It gave Terry's photographer a place to sit when he comes over for business meetings, which is pretty regularly, and it gave me a nice spot to read or hang out in there while Terry works or the girls play. So I got over my OCD and we split up the set. So when I got all the new pillows for the couches in the living room I decided I couldn't forget about the chair! So while I was at Target this morning I decided to take a stroll down their decorative pillow isle and low and behold I found one that was perfect, it had all the colors I was looking for! When I got home I went ahead and conditioned the chair and now it looks brand new too...it sometimes gets neglected in that room all by itself. =)

Halloween Pictures

Hey everybody, just wanted to let you all know that I updated the girls' website with all of our pictures from this past week's Halloween festivities. We definitely got our money's worth this year with Madelyn's costume. I was feeling a little guilty for spending practically $100 on something she was only going to wear once, but she actually got to wear her Coraline costume 4 times this year...so it was worth it! She got to dress up for dance classes on Wednesday, then on Thursday she got to wear her costume again to school for her class party. Saturday afternoon she was invited to a Halloween party so she got dressed up for that, then Saturday night she put it on again to go trick or treating! Posted below are a couple sneak peaks but be sure to check out more pictures of both Maddy and Macy in their costumes at http://www.minimontagues.com/
Oh, and I put up some pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch as well. Enjoy! =)

Worked Like Magic!

So last Sunday we carved our jack-o-lanterns. I knew that carving them a whole week before Halloween was going to be a little risky and that there was a possiblity they would start to shrivel up and dry out before the big day. We usually carve our pumpkins only 3 or 4 days before Halloween but with everybody's busy schedules this year, last Sunday was the only day everyone in my family could get together...and we like to make it a big family event! So we went ahead and carved them and I was really optomistic that they would hold out for us when I saw that the extended weather forcast was predicting cold weather all week long. But much to my dismay, I noticed our pumpkins starting to dry out just a bit by Thursday evening. By Friday evening they were looking a little bit worse and I was afraid by Saturday night they would be looking pretty bad if I didn't do something. So I filled our bathtub up with cold water and placed all the pumpkins in the water and left them over night. When I woke up Saturday morning I was truly amazed! The looked brand new, like we had just carved them! Such a simple trick and I have no idea why I haven't tried it in years past! It makes perfect sense when you think about it. After a few days the pumpkins start to shrivel up and wilt because they have lost moisture. By placing them in the water the pumpkins soak up the water like a sponge and plump right back up to their original form! So I became the hero and saved our jack-o-lanterns just in time for Halloween. I wish I had thought to take a couple before and after pictures but I didn't....so here they are last night glowing for all to see. =)

Macy's pumpkin was a little too small to actually carve so we just stuck some cute kitten ears in it to make it look like a cat. Madelyn's pumpkin is the one with the flamingo, not very Halloweenish but I knew when she saw that carving stencil, that would be the one she wanted and I was right. =) Mine was the ghost, this one had the biggest before and after transformation, his tail was all caved in before I soaked it. Then Terry's was the big happy face! Another trick is that instead of using regular tea lights or candles inside your pumpkin, I went to the dollar store and got some of those battery operated lights. They don't blow out if there is wind, and the flame flickers just like a real candle!