3rd times a charm

today is my 3rd attempt at making one of the most delicious chocolate cakes i've ever had and...it's gluten free! not that i'm against gluten but mese introduced me to it. one bite and i was hooked. only thing is, it comes in a box. can you believe it!? with frosting too. and the price is costly-a whopping $3.99. but i can indulge once in a while, right? here's to the bachelorette and chocolate cake!

Got to get out of the heat

From Mason

Today as I was looking out of my office window I realized we needed to get out of the heat. So Iwent and bought an adventure pass, Melina bought some steak and off we went to Forest Falls. It was a great little trip, the Grovers came along, I yelled alot at the kids to keep them safe.

maidenform madness

i've been in search for a good sports bra ever since i started courtney's fitness class. so i was determined to find one yesterday. off i went with my 4 kids to the outlet stores in cabazon. we hit addidas, then reebok, then puma and finally ended up in maidenform. i found a bra that i could potentially buy but of course, i had to try it on. so there i was with my 4 children and i needed to try on this sports bra. the sales lady was so kind and gave us the biggest fitting room they had and in we went-and yes, mese went in too. i had the baby in the carrier and the other 3 children i had standing in the corners, with their eyes closed. i had to move fast. while i was doing this i kept thinking"is this worth it?" and in the end, it was. the bra fit wonderfully. i got it for way less then i expected and my kids did just fine in the store/fitting room. and no-i don't think i've scarred them for life:) although i was pretty sure mason would think so.

absolutely the LAST time

if you look over to the left of this post, you'll see a sad, sad picture of my son. yes, this is what he walked out the door looking like today, at church. there's a word for this-oh yes, that's right, it's called child neglect! how could mason and i be so cruel? high waters AND white socks?! this is a formal apology to our only son-hopefully he can put this behind him and all will be well again. tomorrow's agenda: shopping for church pants AND black socks.

thanksgiving in june?

i was exercising monday morning with several of the moms in our ward and as i was doing my lunges, i had a VERY random thought: a thanksgiving dinner would be nice right now! after my exercise session, a few of us were talking, including amber westbrook. she mentioned how she had a 20lb. turkey at home that she NEEDED to cook that night. of course i shared my random, yet very important thought with her and the rest is history. our family went over to westbrooks to enjoy a most delicious thanksgiving meal complete with homemade rolls, mashed potatoes & gravy, vegetables, sweet potatoes, and of course, the turkey. it was soooooo generous of amber to invite us over and i must say-turkey in june is not a bad idea. thanks to amber & ryan for making a hungry girl's wish come true.

sianara

we are on the look out for some furniture, namely a sectional. i was ready 6 months ago to throw out our couches however, we have nothing to replace them with. i walked into the local furniture store last week and the saleswoman asked me if i needed help. i said no, but then changed my mind and told her-"well, yeah. i need a sectional-a LARGE one made of upholstery-no microfiber, no pillows but attached, no chaise, and can hold very large people." she looked at me in confusion, smiled and went to help someone else. was i too specific? so, if you know of anyone looking to get rid of a decent sectional, send them my way or give me a call. our deadline is june 20 aka bulky trash day and these eyesores are leaving my living room that morning with or without a sectional. so if you plan on coming to my house after that date...be prepared to sit on the floor.

4:30 A.M.

what were you doing at 4:30 am.? i can tell you what nani was doing. she was first, at mason's bedside asking him to get her some cereal, then she gave up(maybe because he wasn't trying to hear that). so she moved on over to my bedside, of course i was not entirely asleep(i have a newborn) so i opened my eyes after she said"mom", looked over at her and she said, in a sweeter than sweet voice that only nani can do, "mom...can you get me some cereal please?" how could i reject such a plea? so i said "yes", turned over to mason and told him, "nani wants some cereal honey." to which he responded, "come on nani girl. let's get you some cereal." 3 bowls of cheerios later, the child was content and all was good in the world.

* nani doesn't normally wake up this early and ask for cereal. however, last night at dinner she wasn't feeling well and didn't eat-actually, she did but it all came back up. that explains the hour of her request and the 3 bowls of cheerios.

life is good again

whew! late last night as mason was going through EVERYTHING in our room, he found his wallet in a bag of clothes! needless to say, we are relieved and thankful for this great blessing. it's such a stress when something like this happens, at least it was for us. now we can breathe again. thanks to all of you who sent good thoughts and wishes(and prayers:) our way.

where, oh where, has mason's...

WALLET GONE??? yes, that's right. mason's wallet has gone missing-and i'm not happy about it in the least. and neither is he. so i had the fun task of calling the bank and credit card companies this morning to cancel his cards, lucky me. i just hope we find it somewhere in our house-yeah, that would be nice. on a happier note, he did find his cell phone that went missing for almost 2 months. let's hope his wallet doesn't follow suit.