The Spank Man

Christmas 2000 - Apprently, my girls didn't know how to smile.  But they sure were cute!!

When my kids were toddlers, I had a very hard time attending church when Hugh was not with me.  He works every third Sunday, and back then, it was not an easy task to control three kids under three by myself.  I didn't feel comfortable asking for help, so I chose to skip church on the days that Hugh worked.  Don't judge me.  

The year that the twins were 3, and Caitlin was 18 months, I decided that I needed to bite the bullet and attend church as the Lone Adult on Christmas Day.  I mean, it WAS Christmas, and the girls had these beautiful dresses, and the least I could do was go to church!!!  So, I loaded them all up, got there late, and sat in the back. 

The girls had new shoes.  Hard soled shoes.  Loud shoes.  The minute we sat down, they were running around.  Connor too.  Out of control!  I tried to reign them, but it was no use.  I was at my wits end.  What could I do??? 

Then I saw him.  And by him I mean our Ward Clerk whose job it was to "take attendance".  He walks around, very slowly, and you can hear his brain working as he counts the number of people in the congregation.  His eyes are squinted and you can see his lips move as he takes mental notes.  It's a very serious job.  And his demeanor was perfect for what I was about to do....

I grabbed all three of the kids and brought them close to me. 

"Do you see that man??" and I pointed to the Clerk.  "THAT is the Spank Man. His job is to walk around and find all of the naughty boys and girls and take them out and SPANK THEM." 

Pure silence.

"Now, if you don't settle down and sit still, the Spank Man is going to get you!!"

More silence.  And stillness.  It worked!  I did not hear a peep from them for the rest of the meeting.

I used this tactic every week from then on.  Eventually, I spoke to the Spank Man, and thanked him for keeping the boys and girls of our ward in line.  He appreciated the kudos (and loved my idea.)  Each week after that, when he walked by our pew, he would point at each of my kids, and give them the EVIL EYE.  Man, my kids were the best behaved kids in the ward from that point on.

One Sunday, the Spank Man was sitting with his own family.  And his own little boy started acting naughty.  The Spank Man picked him up under his arm, and carried him out KICKING and SCREAMING. 

One of my kids exclaimed "Look!  The Spank Man got one!!"  That sealed the deal.  No more misbehaving from the kids.

Soon after, the Spank Man moved and we got a new Spank Man.  But he was NICE!  He would walk by and give my kids CANDY!!!  He wasn't as effective as Spank Man #1, but the kids sure loved him.

We recently saw Spank Man #2.  I said hi to him and re-introduced him to Courtney and Connor.  He reached into his scripture case and gave them candy.  Some things never change.

Casual Blogger Conference

I want to go to this SO BAD!!!  So many of my favorite bloggers will be there!!!

http://www.casualbloggerconference.com/

Blog Love

I love searching blogs.  Especially photography blogs, party blogs, home decor blogs.  They make me happy.  When I find new ones, I usually post them over to my right so I can keep up with anything new they may have going on.  But, I want to share the love.  So, here are a few of my new favorites.

April Showers Blog Design

This girl is a whiz with blog design.  My dream is to have her do a little drawing of me that I can put on my header.  Totally cute!  Plus, she struggles with infertility, so I already have a love for her for that.  And let me say it again.....INFERTILITY SUCKS!!

Kara Layne Photography

I.Love.Her.Style.  Beautiful.  And I love love love her "Happiness is...." series.  She makes me want to take better pictures.  I have a major girl crush on her.  She's local, so if you know her, let me know.  But don't tell her I have a girl crush on her.  It might be scary.

Adventures in Renovating a Brookyn Limestone

Ok, I wish I had one ounce of this woman's talent.  She has taken this apartment in Brooklyn, gutted it, and turn it into the most spectacular home.  AND, she does it on a budget!  Go take a look at her renovations and you'll see what I mean. Totally creative.  Plus, it's in New York, which is a huge draw for me.  I may have to stop by this house on my next trip to NYC.  Would that be too stalkerish? 

Celebrations at Home

I love to party!  And this blog is overflowing with great ideas!  Plus, she has links to other blogs with more great ideas.  So fabulous!

Personally You Parties

Another great party blog.  She searches the internet for great ideas and posts them on her blog.  She does the work for you!!!  Perfect!

P is for Party

Ok, I'm pretty sure I'm in love with this girl.  She used to be a wedding/event planner, and is now a stay at home mom.  So she uses all of the knowledge from her career to throw amazing parties!  So many ideas here.  And beautiful pictures!  I want to be her in my next life. 

And I couldn't get a picture for this next one, so just go to Pepper Design Blog.  I'm "throwing up in my stomach" (quote from Ali on The Bachelor) after looking through this blog.  Decorating, entertaining, organizing, and craft ideas.  Gag.  I love it.

AND, the awesome thing about these blogs is that they have links to other blogs, and those blogs link to other blogs, and so on!  It's a vicious circle that I find myself in all of the time....and I love every second of it!

Retro Day

Today is "Retro Day" on Facebook.  (Who come up with this stuff??)  So, you are supposed to change your profile pic to a Back in the Day photo.  I have so many big banged, huge hair, heavy eye make up pictures to choose from, but I chose this one instead.  I posted this on my blog back in May 2008 when I first came across it, but it's totally worth a second look.  As you probably know from reading the series of posts I did (starting here) on love story of my sweetie and I, we didn't date until we were 21.  But, this picture was taken when we were 18!  This was Senior Ditch Day in 1988 at Saguaro Lake.  I remember how excited I was that we were going to be there together (we actually went with separate groups of friends) and that I would see him SHIRTLESS.  :)  Such a thrill.  Look at how I'm trying to get as CLOSE to him as possible.  He was probably thinking "Get this wacky girl off of me!!"  Anyway, I love this picture.  I'm so blessed that I have had years of memories with Hugh.  What a lucky girl I am.

Chill Out!!

There was some strangeness on Facebook today.  All of a sudden, the status updates of all of the women were colors!  Black...white...pink....hot pink...  What was that for?  Breast Cancer Awareness.  It was pretty cute actually.  And the funny part was that the GUYS had no idea what was going on.  A friend of mine thought it was a hostile takeover by the women of Facebook.  Maybe.....

But, someone responded to his cute comment in such a harsh way.  Her words were "Ladies..have a little self-respect." And "Come on girls, grow up!"   That was followed later by "Look at all of this 'awareness'!" and "Didn't get the message on the cause."  Geez lady!  Rude much??

I don't know why this bothered me so much.  Maybe because the ladies of FB were just having a little bit of fun and this person was trying to make it seem degrading.  Breast Cancer is a serious subject, and this whole bra color thing did get people talking.  But come on!  IT'S FACEBOOK!!!  It's a social network!  It's a way for people to communicate with each other, and keep in touch.  It's NOT a place for you to start some sort of cat fight with men and women that you don't know.  I mean really, lack of self-respect because you type your BRA COLOR???  Give me a break!  It's not as if we were posting pictures of ourselves in our bras!!!  That would definitely be crossing the line.  But typing the color?  No biggie. 

So, after some time to think about it, I have figured out what this woman's problem was.  She was wearing an ugly bra and didn't feel like posting about it.  So to that, I think this woman needs to pay a visit to her local Victoria's Secret so she can buy some pretties and boost her self-confidence.  Sounds like she needs it.

By the way.......black.

Oh Wendy....

Wendy had an experience today that she wrote about on her blog.  If you are looking for a laugh, take five minutes out of your day and read this. 

This girl seriously cracks me up.  And if she ever posts her plane story, you will die of laughter.  It's my favorite Wendy story EVER!!!

If you want Wendy to post her plane story, say "I!!!" and leave her comment to do so.  You won't regret.

Guilty Pleasure

It's a good day when the new season of "The Bachelor" premiers. This is such a guilty pleasure of mine. And my favorite episode is ALWAYS the first one. That's when you get a look at the 25 hopefuls battling for the love of one man. And in this case, that man is super hot hottie Jake. He is a pilot! Oooh! Yummy!

One of my favorite parts of the first night is immediately finding the girls I HATE. Like Christina. She brought jelly beans to give to the other girls as a "parting gift" cuz she was going to "win". It was a real hit when she started handing them out to the other girls. Oh yeah, that went over REALLY well. NOT!! In the end, she did get a rose. Oooooh, this is gonna be good!

And here is Hugh's favorite. Rozlyn. Model. Gorgeous. BUT....there is some sort of behind the scenes controversy because one of the contestants got "involved" with one of the producers of the show WHILE she was dating Jake! SCANDAL!! The producer got fired and the girl was sent home. I'm convinced it was Rozlyn here. She seems the type. Oh, and also, she actually said to Jake upon their first introduction: "Fasten your seat belt. It's going to be a bumpy ride." Really? Did you have to say that? So cheesy. She got a rose though. Ick.

Here's Vienna. Dumb name. And someone forgot to tell her to put on her mascara. I know, I'm

being mean! Rose obtained.

Then there's Elizabeth. I liked her. Seemed down to earth. She brought a football, kicked off her shoes, and played catch with Jake. Then, the rest of the girls came out and they played a mean game of "Blondes vs. Brunettes". I was praying for one of them to take a dive while trying to catch the ball!! No such luck. In the end, she received a rose.

This girl here, Ashley, went all out to get Jake's attention: She dressed up in this tiny little flight attendant's uniform. It worked. She got a rose.

This girl from Cambodia said something naughty to him in Cambodian! She said it to him in English also, but my blog here is rated PG, and I can't repeat her crude comment. No rose for her.

And what season of The Bachelor is complete without a little dose of CRAZY! This one, Michelle, was tonight's cherry on the sundae. She is already completely in love with Jake (from seeing him on his run on The Bachelorette) and is convinced that she will DIE if she doesn't get him in the end. He gave her THE FINAL ROSE of the evening. Such suspense!!! Don't think she'll last long though.

That's my take on tonight's episode. Oh, how I love this show. Can't wait til next Monday!!

Monday

The Birds

One of my projects this year is to get all of my photos organized. This is NOT going to be an easy task. I have boxes upon boxes - literally - of pictures that I've taken over the years. I love looking through them. They make me smile. Some make me laugh out loud. Some even bring tears to my eyes.....like these.

These pictures of Caitlin (age 4 at the time) were taken at the San Diego Wild Animal Park in 2003. At the park, there is a bird enclosure where you can feed the birds nectar right from a little cup in your hand. Caitlin was so confident with her cup and was not at all afraid of the flying birds....until one landed on her arm. Once that happened, she panicked and dumped her cup of bird goodness!

It took her a second to recover and get her wits about her again. She then knew what to expect and was prepared for the next bird to come along. And then....she looked in her cup. She realized that she had no more nectar to feed the birds. It was empty. This look on her face says it all. Devastation. It seriously breaks my heart to see her face like this. It's not her "I'm throwing a fit" face. It's true sadness.

Needless to say, she was quickly handed another cup and was able to continue her experience with the birds. Yeah!

It's pictures like these that make me so upset with myself for not keeping a scrapbook of my kids growing up. I made scrapbooks for the twins for their first year, but that was it. Caitlin has been asking for her first year scrapbook for YEARS now, and I keep promising, but keep failing her.

So, it is my GOAL this year to at least get these pictures into albums so we can look through them in some sort of order. And, when I come across a picture or two that tickle my fancy, you can expect to find them posted here. This blog is my journal and my scrapbook.

Love to you all!

New Years's Eve 2009

Let me start out by saying.....

Justin & Melynda King know how to throw a party!!!

They opened their home to over 100 people for New Years Eve. It looked beautiful. Their backyard is GORGEOUS. There was a ton of food and drinks, a smore station, a blow up bouncy slide for the kids, a great live band, and lots of energy!!! We had a great time hanging out with friends.

Melynda, I bow down to you. You are the Party Queen!!

Me, JoAnna & Wendy taking one of our famous self-portraits.

Courtney & Ashley.... so cute!!

Me & my boy

Bryon & JoAnna

Me...silly.

Wendy - more silly!!

Courtney....adorable

I was trying to get a pic of the twins, and Wendy snuck in there!

Goofy kids...

Ashely, Courtney, me, Wendy & JoAnna....I love this picture

Bryon....we always make him laugh...

Caitlin hoola hooping. This is one of her many talents.

FYI...yes, my hubby was there. But I was catching up with the girls, while he was catching up with the guys, and I never got a picture of him!! But he did give me a big smooch at midnight. Oh yea!!