HAPPY APRIL FOOLS

I might be the only one today to wish you all a HAPPY April Fools day but to me it is a happy April Fools, or at least it used to be. This day used to be one of my very favorite holidays. For me it was next to Christmas because I used to get this incredible high doing April Fools jokes. I think I enjoyed it so much because I was the only one who remembered this holiday so it made it all the more fun for my victims. I have a long list of successful jokes, many of them started with Chip until he informed me they weren't very funny anymore. I personally think they are funny like the time I bought 20 disco lights and waited until Chip fell asleep and set them all up in our room connecting to one power cord and the song, "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Tchaikovsky and at 2:00 am he was awakened to pure chaos.




or the time I was pregnant and pretended that the morning sickness was so bad that I couldn't stop throwing up. It was in the middle of the night again and I had a bucket of water by the toilet with a large cup along with sound effects it was convincing enough that I had actually vomited enough to fill a swimming pool. That one didn't go over so well ;)


There were many more but my favorite one was when we were living in Boston and Chip thought he would get me back so he used the old amateur rubber band to the kitchen sink spray. Oh he thought he was so funny until I turned it on him. It had been raining in Boston for 5 days straight and that particular day it flooded our basement, like two feet of water that ruined everything. When Chip came home I told him that HIS April Fool's joke wasn't so funny either. I told him that I was feeling sick that morning and the boys came downstairs to get a drink and turned on the faucet. I told them they got scared of the water that squirted them and went running out of the kitchen. I told him I didn't come down for another 3 hours and look what happen in our basement as a result. I told him he was right and April Fools jokes are not fun! On his face was pure horror as he looked at our basement. Oh he felt so bad and I only could hold out for so long until I began to laugh hysterically.




After that Chip made me focus my jokes on other people so I got my friends by putting their houses up for sale at ridiculously low prices as well as invitations for open house.


I posted pictures of my brother-in-law who is a respectable pediatrician as the latest and greatest model coming to the Expo Center for autographs and casting auditions and I put one on everyone of his neighbors doors.



I gave my mom flowers all wrapped up from an anonymous friend that had been sprayed in farting powder,

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can't leave out the phone call to my dad that I have just crashed the car because I have been doing that one every year since I was 16 and he has fallen for it every time,



and my worst one had to be waking my children up early in the morning and telling them to grab their shoes because we are going to Disneyland. (DON"T JUDGE, I only let them believe it for like 10 seconds!)


Ok there have been a few paybacks from Kara, Tiffany and Zak, and my mom. I deserved everyone of them but I think I am here to say I am retiring from this holiday. I have come to realize that this holiday is a lonely holiday for me. I don't get any phone calls from friends, no one wants to do anything with me for fear I will get them, and even my kids don't trust a thing I do or say. So I am retiring my holiday for a season. Now who's to say I won't pull a Brett Favre and come back but for today I want to wish you all a very happy April Fools day and do something for me, get someone good so I can live vicariously through you!

My Idea of Heaven

I don't know exactly what Heaven is like but I think I got a little taste of it on a family vacation to Hawaii. We had the wonderful opportunity of getting out of the dreary winter and experienced some of the pure bliss that exists while you are in Hawaii. It was the perfect family vacation because no one tells you to keep your kids quiet in a pool and no one ever gets board at the beach with endless sand castle possibilities and waves. I feel so grateful we were able to go and I just wanted to post some of our memories.

It's Play dates- not pee dates

Yesterday Wyatt had two different play dates with two different friends. The first little boy came over in the morning. Everything was going well until I heard him tell Wyatt that he didn't want to go outside because his socks were wet. WARNING SIRENS went off in my head. I quickly got up off the couch and checked on things. Sure enough his socks were drenched and so were his sweats. I asked the little boy what happen and he told me he had peed his pants. I asked where and Wyatt said, "Come here I will show you". As we walked down the hall I almost gagged because I was walking barefoot and I could feel little areas of damp carpet every other step. When I got to the bathroom I saw a puddle of pee on the floor right next to the toilet. Couldn't quite figure that one out. So I called this sweet little boys mom and he went home to clean up. Later that afternoon another little boy came over to our house to play. I had to run Brayden to baseball so this sweet little boy came with us. By the time we got back into the neighborhood he was asleep in my car so we went straight to his house to drop him off. I unbuckled his safety belt and reached to carry him inside when suddenly the wet sensation soaked through my shirt. He had peed his pants in my car! Seriously? It's bad enough cleaning up your own kids urine but friends urine totally grosses me out! I don't know why these things happen to me, but they do and so I share.

P.S. if you are one of the mom's of these adorable little peeing children I mean no harm and your kids are always welcome at my home anytime, after they have gone to the bathroom.

Kids tell the truth

Yes, it's another Wyatt story......





The other night we had just finished dinner and everyone except for mom sat down to enjoy a episode of American Idol which left me in the kitchen to clean up dinner alone. I was trying to be a good sport about it until my whole family started laughing at the T.V. Suddenly I didn't feel so kind and loving. I wanted to see what they were laughing about so I walked over to the T.V. and asked them to rewind it so I could see what was going on. My boys just sat there laughing at the show and so I asked again in a not so nice voice, after all I was diligently cleaning the kitchen by myself and it was really starting to bug me. Finally I asked again in my not so nice mom voice and Chip turned and asked me why I was so grumpy. Oh that was the straw that broke and I decide to leave the messy kitchen, American Idol and go read my book in my room. I didn't care that our home teachers would be there any minute. I needed time to cool off. Suddenly the door bell rang and Wyatt ran to get the door. It was our home teachers and all I could hear was Wyatt saying, "Come on in, my Mom is really mad at my Dad!" I didn't know what to do, be horrified or laugh. I quickly ran out and gave a courtsy laugh that is was really no big deal, I just wanted to see something on American Idol and while I was explaining I felt like a two year old. One of my home teachers tried to make me feel better by saying that his wife wasn't to happy with him and it must be something in the water. His partner that night was a young teenage boy that was looking at me as if I had a third eye. We sat through the sweet but uncomfortable lesson and at the end Chip asked the teenage boy to close with a prayer. The sweet teenage boy asked in his prayer to bless the Packer family, that what ever was in the water would go away and we would have peace in our home. I actually busted out laughing when I heard this and had to try my hardest to regain my composure. It was too funny! Moral of the story.... if your going to be bugged with your husband make sure your 5 year old isn't around to give everyone the scoop!!!

And that cost $100.00

The other day Wyatt was really interested in money. He found $10.00 in my wallet (a rare site to find cash) and he was so excited about money that he just kept bugging me and bugging me about all the different amounts of money and what you can buy with it. Well it was Saturday and I was in the middle of something and he wouldn't leave me alone so I dug into my stash of cash hidden in my room, (if you don't have one I highly suggest you get one) and I gave Wyatt $100.00 to hold to buy a few minutes of peace. A few moments later I check on Wyatt and this is what I found......



Wyatt just turned 5 on February 1, I really thought that the terrible two's would have ended by now.

MOTHER of the YEAR AWARD

Hey friends.... I'm back! But don't expect much. I do miss blogging so I'm going to start my blog up again with an experience that has earned me MOTHER of the Year Award. Please do not be jealous that this is my award and I am giving it to myself. After you read this story you will realize that I truly deserve it.

Tyson came up to me at the beginning of December and told me that he was having some pain in his heal. I thought at first it would be growing pains and it would probably go away. A few weeks later he said it was still causing him pain. I tried to put a gel pad in his shoe to see if that would make a difference. It didn't. So after a few more weeks of complaining I thought I better take this kid to a podiatrist to find out what the problem was. The doctor took x-rays and watched him walk up and down the hall. He couldn't detect any problems so he asked to see his shoes.

Now I'm going to stop in this point of the story and take you back to the month of August when I was buying school clothes for my kids. The lovely store of Nordstroms was having a sale on kids shoes. I decided to go there and see if I could find any shoes for my boys. I saw the shoe of all shoe, GEO TEC which I have always wanted to get for my boys but they were normally an outrages price of $90.00 for kids shoes!! But today they were on sale for $35.00. That is still a lot of money for kids shoes but I just had to get them for Tyson because these shoes were incredible. I mean they must be for that much money right? Couldn't he actually run faster, jump higher? So I purchased the shoes and Tyson wore them every day for the last 4 months. Right around the time Tyson started complaining about his heal I was asking my boys if they needed new shoes. I usually have to buy new ones again for Christmas because they wear them out so fast. Brayden said he was in desperate need (mostly because he loves new shoes) but sweet Tyson told me his were just fine. I asked if they were worn out at all. He told me they weren't bad at all and I completely trusted his judgement because he was the one wearing them every day. Now in my mind Im doing a little celebration dance on my purchase 4 months earlier thinking to myself how buying expensive shoes are totally worth it! Now back to the current story.

The podiatrist picked up Tyson's shoe and turned it over and to my horror there were not one but three holes in the bottom of his shoe and then he began to bend the shoe in half showing me all support was gone out of his shoe. He then began his lecture and with new shoes that actually gave support, it could solve his problem and seemed to look at me extra closely like he was examining me for a learning problem or something. I quickly reassured him that I was fit to be a mother by mentioning the warm omelet that I had made my kids early that morning for breakfast so he would not call Social Services on me. Then I told him we would be stopping at the shoe store before going to school today. So out of his office we RAN as fast as we could and as promised we stopped at the first shoe store we could find. I then bribed Tyson the works burger at IN and OUT before dropping him off to school. So what did this Mother of the Year learn?

#1 Never trust your kids when you ask them a question- always check for yourself.
#2 Don't be so stupid to think that expensive = quality
#3 If you are going to be that stupid, at least figure it out before the $50.00 copay and the humiliation you feel at the doctors office.

Wish I had a picture of the shoes, threw them away at the shoe store. If anyone else thinks they deserve this award please feel free to share your experience.

POOP

I don't know why this story makes me want to blog. Maybe it's because I know deep down inside I will laugh about it some day but tonight I feel like I need to share. What I'm about to tell is 100% true because I have no need to lie. For those who know me well might not be surprised to hear my experience but this is what happened at Target tonight. I dropped of Brayden and Tyson at football practice and decided to run a quick trip to Target. I thought it would be so much easier with just two kids. Oh how wrong I was!!! The two kids wanted everything in sight so sometimes I give them a "toy" to hold on to then quickly take it out of the basket before we reach the cashier. Well London was a bit too smart for this and she ripped the doll out of the box which I didn't know was a $22.00 doll until check out. That is now the most expensive doll she owns and the doll kind of freaks me out by resembling a girl version of Chucky. I was just about to pay and I realized I had to go to the bathroom so bad my eyes were about to turn yellow. I left my basket full and ran to the bathroom with my two kids in tow. I chose the handicap bathroom because it's the only one that will accommodate 3 people at the same time. As I was taking some mom time Wyatt decides he doesn't want to wait for me to finish and opens the bathroom door for all to see. London quickly follows him out. As the two run down the stalls I yell through my wide open door for Wyatt to grab London. Suddenly I hear screams from London. I poke my head out to see Wyatt dragging London by her wrist face down on the floor of the Target bathroom for her to gather every germ that was ever created!!! I freaked out and quickly picked her up and stared bathing her in the bathroom sink. Wyatt suddenly decided that he had to go to the bathroom. I asked him if it was peep or poops. I have a very strict rule about putting toilet paper down on the seat if my kids use a public toilet. He reasurred me that it was peeps so I let him go in by himself. I was halfway through removing the first layer of skin from London when I looked down under the stall and Wyatts feet had disappeared. I told him to open the door right now. The door opened with his pants down around his legs and a toilet seat that was wet, wet with someone elses urine. Now I was at a new level of freak out that I didn't even know was possible. I quickly grabbed him and London and went back into our original family size stall where I proceeded to hold Wyatt over the toilet in a cradle position to avoid any more germs. He was very uncomfortable and kept telling me that he could not poop. I kept trying to convince him that this was the time and he needed to hurry because London was getting curious about the sanitation box. I told him to try one more time and he said he was unsucessful. So I put him down, went back over to the sink and gave everyone one last wash down before we headed out of the bathroom. I was walking down the hall and back to my cart we were passing the security window I happen to catch a glimpse of myself. I had worn my favorite WHITE linen skirt today, (the first time this summer because it has to be ironed and who has time for that?) and I noticed a large green and brown sploch about the size of a mans hand right down the front of my skirt. It looked like a mix of chocolate and green pea baby food. I thought, thats weird I didn't feed London any peas today. Then I realized, it's poop!!!! I am walking down target with poop in the middle of my white linen skirt!!! No matter how hard I tried to tug at my shirt it would not cover the poop. I grabbed my kids and my cart and ran to my car faster then I ran across a finish line of a race. I threw the kids in the car and loaded the groceries in the back. When I went back to buckle Wyatt in his car seat he was holding up his hand which was now covered in the same colored poop as my dress. I asked him in a very loud not so sweet mom voice, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING??" He simply responded that he was checking how much poop what in his underpants. I drove home like an indy 500 race car driver, skidded into the garage and tore off Wyatt's and Londons clothes and threw them in the bath tub. I was beginning my dreaded job of scrubbing out everyones clothes, (oh I forgot to mention the poopy diaper that had leaked out on to London's dress) and thinking that my nightmare had come to an end. I was just listening to the laughter of the two little ones when I looked over and yes, you guessed it or maybe you didn't think it was possible but Wyatt had let the rest of his liquid poop out in the bathtub all over the bath toys and his sister.

All I can say is the moral of this story is I will pee my own pants before I ever take my kids into Target's bathroom again. Got to go to bed now because I'm pooped!!!!

A BIG THANKS

Hey I just wanted to thank everyone for their sweet words about my mom. I just wanted to post a quick update that things look really good and she doesn't even need surgery. Thanks for your prayers and when I get home from girls camp I think I will start blogging the fun things about life again. I can't imagine life without all the wonderful people who bless me every day. Thanks so much!!!!

TIME

SO it has been forever since I have blogged and I hate it because I LOVE to blog!!! But I just wanted to share my thoughts on my mind and see if anyone else can relate.

I was thinking back to high school when my social life was in FULL swing and I had every minute planned with pep rallies, stag dances, hanging on the cool wall while making plans for Friday night. I thought I was busy... but then I graduated and went off to college where classes were actually challenging and I had to study and I had my yogurt swirling job and still worked on that social life of bonfires in the canyon and sifting through the guys to find my sole mate. I though I was busy... but then I fell in LOVE and spent every minute with Chip and planned a wedding and still went to school and got a more serious job and bought a house and worked hard in that house to make it our home. I thought I was really busy.... until our sweet little boy came into my life and I added the title of a mom to my repertoire along with night time feedings, diaper changing, play dates and cleaning up mush all over the floor. I thought I was busy...but then 11 months later another child came into my life and Chip went to dental school and we left everyone we ever knew and Chip was gone a whole lot and I had more responsibilities that fell upon me. I thought I was busy..... until Wyatt came into our lives, we move back to Utah and I start helping Chip build his dental practice and then baby number four, this time it's a girl. The boys are into super sports and they practice 5 days a week along with piano, homework, school projects, scouts and I get a church calling that I work on almost every day while Im still trying to help Chip at the office. Now I KNOW I am busy, so busy that I can't imagine one more responsibility and suddenly I get a phone call that my moms heart is in danger and the doctors need to go in and fix it. And suddenly all of these busy time consuming nonsense things that suck so much of our time in life don't seem to matter at all. And the realization comes to me that this "BUSY" can interfere our relationships with one another. I am going to take the "BUSY" out of my life and try and focus on making the memories that matter. Keep my mom in your prayers, I love her very much!

Recessions don't effect everyone

Brayden is my entrepreneur. He has been since he was 4 years old. He truly loves money but in a good way. He has two different savings accounts and understands compound interest. Money is just his thing so when he wanted to start a snow cone stand to earn some money for an IPOD touch I told him to go for it. He not only went for it but he did it Brayden style. His snow cone stand is called the Packer Shack and he advertises with flyer's on every light post in the area to let people know the hours the stand will be open as well as his own rap that he sings to friends passing by. He has a choice of 8 different flavors from cotton candy to bug juice (he even has a sugar free blue raspberry for the girl in the neighborhood who has diabetes), he offers his snow cones at 50 cents a piece with an option to have a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the bottom for an extra 25 cents. He also sells candy bars 75 cents, small candy from 10-25 cents, old books for a dollar, his old webkins for a dollar, his old sports cards 10 cents apiece and various bags of chips 25 cents apiece. He has come up with a page of 10 different coupons that combine offers to motivate his costumers to buy multiple items and hands the coupons to kids on the bus on the way home from school. Seriously this stuff is too much for even me to make up! Well it has been 4 weeks that Brayden has been doing his stand and every time Tyson helps he splits his money in half but Brayden has now earned $200.00 yes thats right $200.00. Tonight I told him how proud I was and that we could go to the store tomorrow and buy his IPOD touch but instead he was on Ebay checking out prices for cotton candy machines. He said he was ready to expand.

Happy Easter

This was a very happy Easter because we were able to celebrate with family. I love this holiday because it represents the new life of spring and remembering our Savior. We had such a fun day but I don't want to hear a word about all my pictures are of London. I can explain, she is the only one who wanted to come out side and pose with the eggs and she had the prettiest dress. Need I say any more?

St. George

My kids go to year round school which makes vacationing during the middle of the random week perfect so we jumped into the car and headed south with no plan at all. We had so much fun and I tried to capture a lot of with my camera because I took a class the weekend before so I was sort of following through with homework. Utah is so beautiful and I love when we can enjoy the beauty.

London's First Birthday

I hate that Im so behind on life but I had to post London's birthday (Feb. 21). I wanted to share that fun night and thank our families for coming to celebrate the first year of our daughters life. I have to admit my favorite part was the cake. I learned my lesson and ordered this one from a professional bakery (thanks dipidees!) and everything turned out perfect. I wish I could have invited all our friends but instead we will just share our pictures.




Fluffy Decorations

My favorite girl cake ever

Cake ball flowers that were to die for!

Party favors filled with M&M's.

I honestly thought she might blow out her candle..but then Wyatt stepped into help




I think she loved her cake!

She got so many fun gifts but this girl is a phone girl.

Grandpa Richard

Grandma Shirlee and Grandpa Rand


Look Dad... I ate all that cake and no cavities!!!


I just wanted to post these to see how my little girl has grown