Cookie Exchange Party!

This past Tuesday was my first Cookie Exchange Party! I was so excited to be invited! We had a fun group of women there and the cookies all turned out great!

I drove out with my friend Vivian. We don't get to spend a lot of time together, so this in itself was much fun. We made it our to Irvine to meet the women. The house was decorated and so pretty! We had seven women who brought different types of cookies. We had to follow strict baking rules and dress up.

I was confused on the "dress-up" rule and thought that she wanted nicer attire. When one friend came in festive pj's I was quite jealous! I had been so exhausted that day and did NOT feel like dressing up! The rule was to be festive! I was so disappointed that I wasn't in my comfy pajamas! So, she won the "Festive Award" by unanimous vote! You know what I'll be wearing next year....

We all ate some appetizers and talked about our cookies. I made gingerbread men and snowmen. Recipe: http://glennjamiecharlesmaryn.blogspot.com/2008/01/gingerbread-recipe.html

Then we exchanged our cookies and our recipes. We all sampled each others cookies and had a vote on which cookie won. I won! My gingerbread cookies won! I was so surprised and excited! I got a beautiful apron as a prize, made by the hostess herself!

It was a great night and I can't wait for next year!

Maryn and Charles...

Okay, the other day, I was listening to Maryn and Charles talk to each other and it made me laugh out-loud! Their conversation went like this:

Charles: "Maryn, here's a show you like. Do you want to watch it?"
Maryn: "I want to watch it, but I don't want to watch it."
Charles: "That doesn't even make sense!"
Maryn (with exasperation): "Uh! I knew you were going to say that..."

Seriously?!

I have debated in my mind whether or not to post about my week. I had an insanely busy and horrible 5 days! I thought it would be fun to document it so I can see how truly insane I really am when I go back and read it years from now.

At the beginning of the week, my sister and her family, and also my mom and her husband, were all here in Orange County to see each other. I was so excited to spend the time with both of them!

Monday started off our school Book Fair and I am in charge. It is always a busy time finding helpers and also setting it up and taking it down everyday. But, Monday night my mom and sister planned our annual "Bonfire at the Beach". They were kind enough to wait for me to be done with the Book Fair before they started. We went to Sunset Beach and walked to the fire pits on the state side to save the $15 parking. We had hot dogs, sausages, chips, s'mores, and corn on the cob that we cooked in the ocean water! All the kids had fun except one of my nieces that just wanted to go home the whole time! I took the kids down to the water and collected seashells with them. It was nice being the only ones on the beach!

After the beach, we went to my brother, Slade's house for his daughter's birthday party. We had fun watching her perform songs with her new microphone! She's so cute!

Tuesday was a day that I will never forget! My sister had planned her big Disneyland Day! Charles was not liking the idea of missing school for Disneyland, (he wants the Perfect Attendance Award) so I took the kids to school in the morning and decided to pull them out early so they wouldn't be counted absent.

When I got to the school to check them out, I parked in the drop-off zone right in front of the office. I hopped out of the car and it took a couple of minutes for the kids to meet me in the office. When we walked out, I looked at my car and the window was completely smashed! There was a huge hole where someone had reached in and grabbed my purse! I sprinted (had no idea that I actually could!) back to the office and told them to call the police. I then called my bank and closed everything I could before the police even showed up. The office manager stayed with me until the police showed up. Glenn was on his way home from work so he met me there.

Long story short: The kids went back to school, Glenn and I searched the neighborhood for my purse in case they dropped it somewhere, $300 to fix the window, no Disneyland, 1 hour crying with the bank teller while she changed my accounts, worked the Book Fair because I had nothing else to do, went to the DMV and was 237th in line, then went to Bunco to regain some sanity, and then visited my sister before she left town.

Wednesday was the emotional aftermath. I dropped the kids off at school and then came home and took a short nap because I had the worst headache from all of the drama of the previous day. Then I went to Disneyland to get our passes replaced. Luckily, I had the police report number, so they did it for free! Then I went to school and did the Book Fair. I ran home after and got ready and made it to the church in time to set up for our YW in Excellence night. It was so beautiful and special! We did that and cleaned up and I made it home and went right to bed!

Thursday I dropped off the kids and went shopping for the food for the Book Fair Family Night event. Then I met Maryn's teacher for a conference. She is doing really great in Kindergarten and there's a few things we need to work on. I am so glad she has such a wonderful teacher! Then, of course, I did the Book Fair! I went home and made dinner, bathed the kids and climbed in bed for a nap before the midnight showing for New Moon!! Glenn got me the tickets and made sure we had the best theater that had the HD screen! Ronda met me at 10pm and we waited in line together and had hot chocolate! I loved the movie and had so much fun!

Friday I was at the school, for about 12 hours! I dropped off the kids, helped in Maryn's class and then went to an awards ceremony for Charles. He got 3 awards!! He had Perfect Attendance, Outstanding Citizenship for Responsibility, and he made the Principal's Honor Roll (4.4 to 5.0 GPA)! Glenn was there and we were both so proud of him! After that, I did the Book Fair, met Charles' teacher for a conference, and then set up for the Family Night event. It was so fun! We sold hot chocolate and cookies, families bought books, and our principal had a reading corner where she read all sorts of books to the kids!

So, that's a week in my life. I am extremely grateful to my kids for being so patient and always coming along for the ride. I love them so much and they are the reason this life is worth living.

Maryn's Nonsensical Conversations...

Maryn LOVES to talk! A lot of times, she has the most random conversations with me. Today we had two little interactions that made me laugh:

Maryn: "Mom, you're not sick today, are you?"
Me: "Nope."
Maryn: "Yay!! That means you can take us to school, huh, mom?"
Me: "Yep."

This made me laugh because I haven't been sick for over a week and when I was, I took her to school everyday! In the next one, "Ahnika" is her doll:

Maryn: "Mom, I want to bring Ahnika in the car with me."
Me: "Okay."
Maryn: "I can bring Ahnika in the car because she won't melt, huh, mom?"
Me: "Yep."

These are the types of things that Maryn talks about while I am busy doing things like getting ready, cleaning, doing her hair, making breakfast, etc. It's rare that I remember what she talks about, but today I wanted to record it before I forgot!

Glenn's Fabulous Birthday Week-end!

This past week was Glenn's Birthday! Since the kids had that Friday off of school, I planned for us to go to our timeshare in Palm Springs for a night.

The morning of his birthday, we dropped the kids off at school and headed to Disneyland. Glenn got his $72 birthday gift card from Mickey! We enjoyed having a fun day to ourselves! Glenn really wanted to eat at the new BBQ restaurant because it's all-you-can-eat. He ate 4 buckets of meat!! I sat and watched him and ate my fruit cup. After an hour, I had had enough and asked kindly if we could go. The entertainment was great, though. There was a cowboy with a guitar walking through the audience and making up songs about people! There was a table of kids that were laughing hysterically when he would sing about how messy they were with BBQ sauce all over their faces!

After Disneyland, we picked up the kids from school and headed to Palm Springs! It only took an hour and a half! We got there and immediately changed into our bathing suits and headed for the pool. The water was perfect and the pool was quiet. We had so much fun playing as a family.

After swimming, we headed up to the room and got ready for dinner. Glenn decided on Olive Garden for his Birthday dinner. We had a delicious dinner and our server was so nice. They even sang to him! He ordered a sugar-free dessert just so that I could share!

Then we came back and started a movie as a family, but we all started falling asleep, so we turned it off and went to bed. Later that night, Glenn was up. He was in severe stomach pain. He stayed up the rest of the night. I wonder if the 4 buckets of meat had anything to do with it? Hmmm...

The next morning, Glenn took the kids swimming again while I cleaned up and packed. Then Glenn and I went to a presentation because they promised us $60 cash if we went! Of course, they tried to sell to us, but we didn't buy and got the $60 to go! Glenn took Charles to the pool one more time because the water slide had been closed and he waited so long to go on it!

We all got ready and loaded up the car and headed back to Disneyland! We hardly get to go as a family, so Glenn and I were so excited! We met my brother, Slade and his family there. We had a nice day together. We used our $60 for dinner and a couple of trinkets for the kids. Glenn used his gift card to buy a few Christmas decorations, ornaments and a throw blanket. He gave up trying to find something he wanted for himself. We had gone to every store in the park looking and he couldn't pick out anything!

The next day, Glenn was wiped out and opted out of our LA Zoo excursion. So, I called up friend in the ward and we headed to the zoo with our kids! We have a family pass, so we all got in for free. We packed our lunches and had a blast together!

Overall, it was a wonderful week-end!

Okay, I've Been Tagged...

Okay, I have been tagged by Mindy who thinks it's been too long since I've posted. I am supposed to write 10 random things about me, so here it is:

1. In 7th grade I could beat every boy in school but 1 in arm wrestling. In 9th grade I could bench press 115 lbs.

2. I like to put ketchup on mac-n-cheese.

3. I love to pick at Glenn's back, but wouldn't dare touch anyone else's.

4. I am fascinated by serial killers and the Holocaust, and hauntings!

5. Chips are my weakness and I refuse to buy them anymore because I have absolutely no self-control!!

6. My favorite thing to order at Claim Jumper is the liver and onions. Glenn thinks I'm crazy and that it's "just sick and wrong" to order that!! LOL!

7. I am very forgiving with people, but it's almost impossible to earn back trust with me after it's been broken.

8. I was FHA President (Future Homemakers of America) in Highschool! So laughable now!!

9. No matter how many times I watch The Color Purple, I cry like a baby at the end.

10. I am insanely obsessed with these men: Hugh Jackman, Arnold Scharzeneggar, Elvis, Liam Neeson, Robert Pattinson, and Djimon Hounsou.
(Don't worry, Glenn knows about all of them!)


So, hopefully these are new things that you haven't heard before and I haven't scared anyone away!!

Maryn's Birthday #5!!!

We got to celebrate Maryn's birthday on her actual birthday this year! Her birthday was on a Friday. Instead of doing a big party, we opted to spend the money on a nice small party at Build-a-Bear Workshop. It was very nearly a perfect day!

We had her party at 11am. Since it was a Friday, they let us have the upstairs level at Downtown Disney all to ourselves! Maryn invited 5 friends to celebrate with her. I set a budget for each bear before-hand and the party workers help the kids find whatever works with that. It was so simple!

All the kids showed up and looked so cute and fresh! I was so excited and I know Maryn was, too! She wanted all her friends to have a bear so badly! We walked upstairs chanting all the way that we were having a party!

All the kids picked their bears and then sat in a circle and played some games. Then they took turns stuffing their animals. When it got to the part where Maryn put in her heart, all of the kids got to pick a heart, make a special birthday wish for Maryn, and put the hearts into Maryn's bear. It was so special to watch.

Then the kids got to shop for an outfit for their bears. They were so cute with all the things they picked out. I was so happy that all the parents were there to help. Then they all sat and dressed their bears and took pictures. They got their bear box and it had some party favors in it, too. I think they were all very happy with what they got.

After the party, we went outside to eat pizza and cupcakes! The store has a deal with Papa John's Pizza, so the delivered for an awesome price! Then we had the super-special cupcakes!! My friend, Cory, has been taking classes and decorating cute cakes for her kids. So, I asked her if she would make bear-faced cupcakes for Maryn's party. She said 'yes' and I became her first paying customer! They turned out better than I'd imagined! She made all of their little faces with different expressions. It was hard to eat them because I wanted to take them home, but they were really delicious!

(Cory, leave me a comment and link it to your website.)

After that, we all said our 'good-bye's'. I walked Maryn down to Disneyland and got her free birthday ticket. Glenn took Charles to the "Harry Potter" movie. We stayed at Disneyland for a few hours, but Maryn was so wiped out! We went on a couple of rides, she took a nap in my lap, and then she wanted to go home. Originally she had stated that she wanted to see the fireworks and stay until it closed! Ha! We were home before dinner.

Thank you to all who came and made her birthday such a wonderful day for us!

Maryn's Logic...

This is an example of Maryn's negotiating logic:

Maryn: "Mom, can I have my dessert now?"

Me: "Maryn, you have to eat your peas if you want dessert."

Maryn: "But Mom! If I eat my peas, I'll be too full for dessert!"

Loveland Family Reunion!

After our visit with Mindy and my sister, Beth, I picked up Glenn from the airport and we headed to Preston, Idaho! (Napoleon Dynamite's hometown!) On the way, we stopped by Glenn's brother Gordon's house in Smithfield to check out their brand new home! It was beautiful and smelled sooo good!

When we got to Preston, we set up camp at Riverdale Resort. Glenn's cousin Lori and her husband own it. It is a natural hot spring, so there were three geothermal pools at different temperatures. It was so much fun! I loved all of them. They also had a huge four-story high tube water slide. They would keep the slide open until midnight just for us. Glenn and I would put the kids to bed in the tent and go ride the water slide together. The 72 step climb was painful, but worth it! On my second time down I was going so fast that the water lifted me up when I was on the turn and slammed me back down on my hand. I got a pretty painful sprain, but the next day I went right back up.

We also had a great time visiting family. We got to see all of Glenn's uncles, aunts, and cousins. We did all the normal stuff like the family auction and talent show. Glenn's mom asks me to sing every time and I always find a way to tell her 'no' gently. This year I couldn't do it. I tried to say 'no', but she's the nicest woman on the planet and I was sick of disappointing her. I said 'yes' at the last minute and sang acapella, cold. She wanted me to sing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserable. Aside from my very nervous vibrato, it went well.

One morning, the Loveland uncles were putting together a caravan to go see the old Loveland Home. It has been preserved as a historical site in Chesterfield, Idaho. We packed a lunch and loaded up the kids. I am so glad that we went! It was a long drive, but the boys played their Nintendos. When we finally got there, there was so much to see! There was a whole pioneer town! I wished that we could have gone in all of the buildings, but alas, the kids weren't as interested as the adults.

We got to go inside the Tolman-Loveland home and take pictures. We got to see photos of Glenn's ancestors on the walls of the home and in the museum. We ate our lunch on the lawn outside of the church. It was wonderful to be there.

The next day after breakfast, the family wanted to see Gordon and Sandra's new home. Since we'd just seen it, Glenn and I decided to take the kids and do something on our own. I suggested a short hike or walk somewhere local. So, we started looking at maps to see if we could find a trail or something. That's when Glenn saw Minnetonka Cave on the map. It sounded fun, so we went not knowing what to expect.

It was a long drive to the cave. It was by the city of St. Charles by Bear Lake. When we got to the cave, it was quite the real deal! We had to pay for a tour and got assigned a time slot. The tour s were one and a half hours long with 896 total steps. Elevation was 7800ft. The tour guide said that it was fine for kids so we signed up! Then we discover that the cave is a constant 40 degrees! We went back to the car and dug out a hooded sweatshirt for Maryn, my Disneyland jacket for Charles, and a Scooby-Doo blanket for me! So funny! Glenn was manly enough not to need anything.

The cave was amazing! I could write so much about it, but I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. When we got to the end of where they let people tour, they shut off all of the lights and let us see complete darkness. It was something that I had never experienced before. We also saw a bat, which the tour guide told us was the first one they've seen in two weeks, so she was excited about that. The way out of the cave was a killer! Glenn and I were seriously ready to die on the steps! The kids did fantastic, though. They didn't even complain.

It was a wonderful reunion!

Glenn drove home with me. We stopped for a night at our timeshare in Cedar Breaks. It felt so good to shower! We ordered pizza from a local place and played games and rented a movie. The next morning we found a local bakery in Parowan that had homemade bread and donuts. The donuts were so delicious!

We made such great time on the rode, that we stopped in Las Vegas for lunch. We had wanted to take the kids on the roller coaster at New York New York, but when we got there, it was $14 a person! Crazy!! So, we went across the street to MGM and ate at the Rainforest Cafe. Then we took the kids to the M+M store and made our way home. It was so awesome to be together and do something fun. I love our family so much!

Visiting Mindy and Beth!!

On July 3rd, I packed the kids up and went to Orem to stay with Mindy. Although she was still grieving for the loss of Sarah, she wanted to make sure that the kids had a fun summer.

I got to her house in the afternoon and we went shopping for 4th of July. We bought hamburgers and hot dogs for the grill and I got the ingredients for my now famous potato salad! (Mindy and the kids wouldn't touch it, but Dennis, his kids, and Mindy's mom loved it!)


Anyway, that first night we walked to Sarah's grave. It was set on a hill with lots of trees and a little bench nearby. It's very peaceful there.

That night I stayed up to make the potato salad and we just talked. The next morning was a neighborhood parade and breakfast! This was so much fun for the kids! They all looked so cute! After the breakfast, Mindy and I walked to Sarah's grave again so that she could put flowers and flags on it.

That night we had the BBQ and fireworks. Chris brought his friends over and Mindy invited the Fronk's. We had a great time watching the boys light up everything.

That Sunday was testimony meeting. It was the most wonderful meeting I had been to in a long time. It went over, but all of the testimonies were so strong. Mindy bore her testimony, too. I felt so lucky to be able to hear her.

While I was at Mindy's, we took the kids to the Scera pool and play area. I forgot my camera, but it was so much fun! They had water slides, splash pads, diving boards, a lazy river, and a wading pool! Then we got snow cones from a Snow Shack in the parking lot- so many memories!

One of the nights we went to a late movie. Horrible idea! The movie was awful, the whole audience was seriously sobbing, and Mindy couldn't even talk afterwards! I had asked her if she had wanted to walk out, but she thought it would get better. It didn't.

Since I was spending such a long time at Mindy's house, I decided to break up the trip and went to see my sister for a couple of days. We had a great time taking the kids to the Hogle Zoo. On the way back, she stopped at the "This is the Place" monument so that I could take a picture of the kids. We had fun staying up late playing games and talking.






I went back to Mindy's house after that. It had worked out perfectly because her kids had all sorts of things going during those couple of days. We went on a hike to a waterfall really close to Mindy's house. They had never been before, so it was fun for all of us! We got Subway on the way back and had a picnic in Mindy's front yard.

I was also invited to Dennis' family BBQ. The food was great and the best part was driving home! Dennis' son, Andrew has an orange Lotus and if you know me well, you know that I LOVE fast cars. He took me on the best ride of my life! It was so awesome! It was amazing! He drove so fast, took the turns so tight, and raced up the side of a mountain! It was more fun than any amusement park ride!

Dennis also took us out to dinner a couple of times. The best part of the visit was being with Mindy late at night, playing games, talking to her step-daughters, and walking to the cemetery. Mindy even made a Birthday Party for Maryn! Maryn was plagued with attitude and cried throughout the whole thing until she got her present. Very embarrassing!!

Sarah Marie Ige

I know that I have been gone a long time. I wanted to post about so many things that have been going on, but because of a tragedy that my best friend suffered, I have felt sadness and guilt over my fun times.

My best friend Mindy lost her precious girl, Sarah Marie. She was 22 weeks pregnant. Sarah lived for about 15 minutes before she passed away in her mother's loving arms. Anyone who knows Mindy, knows how passionately she loves everyone around her. After the pregnancy itself being a huge miracle, the loss of this baby was overwhelming. I love her so much and want her to know that I will always be here for her.

Stupid Lady Alert!!

Okay, I was going to be nice, but I had to title this post "Stupid Lady Alert!!" because some people just deserve to be called "stupid"!!

I just got home from the market because I had to buy some yummy summer fruit for our beach day tomorrow. I picked out some plums, nectarines and apricots because they are all my favorites! I was walking around the fruit area looking at prices on apples when I saw the "stupid lady"!

She was taking her dripping, raw chickens (only bagged in the original package) and putting them in the fruit scales to weigh them!! Then she set them on top of the fresh fruit while she bagged them!!

I was in complete disbelief! Are people really this stupid or just careless? How many people will get sick from the fruit now? I told the checker and he just made a comment about "how she must not know about cross contamination".

So, wash your fruit really well!

Maryn's Creation!

Maryn loves to do my hair and today was another great creation! If you look closely you can see that she put colored ponytail holders around the bow to create a "rainbow". Then she combed out my bangs that I didn't know I had. She said that she hasn't done this style in "YEARS"!

My Birthday Week-End!!

Yesterday was my Birthday! I have to say, it was the best birthday I've had in a very long time!

A few months ago, my friend Celeste called me and told me that her mom just bought ticket for the three of us to see "Dirty Dancing" for my birthday! Celeste and I have always watched the movie together and it's our favorite, so we had to see the play!

They came and picked me up a few hours before the play because they wanted to take me out for sushi at a really cool restaurant, Katsuya, in Hollywood. I have wanted to try sushi for a few years now, but I've never had someone to go with. I was so excited and the food was even better than I was expecting! I LOVED it and now I crave it!

This year my Birthday was on Memorial Day again. I run into this problem often. It's a hard week-end to have a party growing up, because people go out of town or have family BBQ's and such. But, this year, because Disneyland was giving out free tickets for Birthdays, I wanted to get mine even though it was a crazy day to go! I had decided to make it a fun Birthday and see who could come along! In the end, it was Celeste, Ronda and Tiffany. All three of them had a hard time getting babysitters, but they did and they came!! I was so excited! I went and bought matching shirts for all of us and ironed on rhinestone crowns. I loved the way they turned out!

We went to California Adventure Park. We went on Tower of Terror, then got fast passes to the Grizzly River Run before we got lunch. I love the sourdough breadbowls with soup, and luckily that sounded good to everyone else, too. Ronda bought my lunch!

After lunch, we used our fast passes and had so much fun getting soaked! Then Tiffany had to go home to her baby, so we said good-bye. Celeste, Ronda and I went to the roller coaster California Screamin'. Ronda had never been on it before! She was terrified but wanted to go! I had to take lots of pictures on the ride!

Then we walked around and got ice cream sundaes while we sat and talked. It was such a wonderful time. Being with friends made the crowds and lines not so bad!

I came home in the later afternoon to the smell of brownies baking in the oven. Glenn and the kids had asked me what I wanted for my cake and I had told them, brownies with coconut pecan frosting. The kids were so excited to decorate the brownies with candles and tons of sprinkles!

Earlier in the day, I had asked the kids if they wanted to go out to dinner with Glenn and me for my Birthday, and they said "no". They wanted to go to Grandma Great's house and get babysat. (They really hoped she'd take them swimming!) Of course, my grandparents were so happy to watch the kids and Glenn and I were able to go out together. We went to the Olive Garden because that's where we always seem to go when we want to have a quiet dinner. It was really nice to sit and talk.

After dinner Glenn took me to the mall because I had a gift card that I wanted to spend. As much as he HATES shopping, he put on a happy face and didn't complain when I tried on clothes. That was a gift in itself! He ended up buying me a couple of outfits that I really like and will be nice for summer.

Then we picked up the kids and came home for cake! They put all the 34 candles on and it seemed like a lot! Charles gave me a DVD for my gift and Maryn gave me a white teddy bear so that I'll always have something to help me sleep.

It was such a wonderful day!!

Disneyland With Celeste!

Today was a blast! My dear Celeste invited us to go to Disneyland for her daughter, Brooklyn's birthday. We had an awesome time together and the girls were so cute! It was great to have some fun with my "twin sister". (People always ask us if we're twins even though we look nothing alike.)