So You Think You Can Dance Live!!!

So You Think You Can Dance live!!! What a total blast! Kenny and I went with our friends Angie and Eliot (also major fans of the show) to see the dancers on tour. The show was INCREDIBLE! The crowd was going crazy, the music was so loud, and the dancing was AMAZING! I LOVED IT! It was hard sitting to watch the show without wanting to jump up on stage and start dancing! The dances were even more fun to see in person and I loved the dancers this year. They have such fun personalities and are so talented. We had a great time and I'm already looking forward to doing it again next year! It was "buck y'all...for real!"

Added bonus: getting to meet Judge Mary Murphy. Can you say "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" What a night!

Good Things

Finally good stuff on TV! Fall line-up has begun and our DVR is smokin'! Wasn't Office the best? Love that show.

My pumpkin spice candle. May not look like fall outside, but it smells like fall inside!

Healthy Choice Chicken Chow Mien. I really like this meal. Aside from it being so tasty, I feel like I've cooked because I warm it up in a pan instead of the microwave.

I'm really liking the picture at the top of my blog because it is such a good representation of my little family at this moment in time. I'm wearing a favorite green shirt. Addison doesn't ever go far without her blankie. Ellie is always clutching onto her "friends" (a few princesses and her bunny and dog. The bunny is named Hallah. Huh?) The girls ALWAYS want to be wearing their princess nightgowns and if we're home, they're in them. And... if you look closely, Kenny is holding his blackberry. Of course. Very us.

We had a great weekend. So You Think You Can Dance was the highlight, but we also went to Sea World for a few hours Saturday morning and had a lot of fun with the kids. It was great because it wasn't busy now that school has started. We walked on to all of the kiddie rides and the girls got to ride them again and again. We usually have to bypass this section because the wait is so long. Still had time to visit some favorites - dolphins, flamingos, sharks and Shamu. We were home by 1:00 for Addie's nap. Great morning with the little ones.

Getting Ready for Fall

Good Things

Lots of good things this week! First of all - a new blog makeover! Change is always a good thing. I finally figured out how to design the header (are you impressed Heidi?) - Kenny still had to help with the technical HTML codes (putting said header on blog). Thanks babe - I know how you just LOVE to spend your evenings helping me with my blog. :)

I had such a great "mom moment" this week. One thing I love about my gym is that I can see into the windows of the kids club (where my kiddos play while I workout) from the treadmills. Every once in a while while I'm exercising I see the top of their heads running around. Last week I saw them run by and for the first time, Addison looked up and saw me through the window. She got so excited and she ran to find Ellie and they both stood there waving and blowing kisses to me with the biggest smiles on their faces. I started frantically waving back and blowing kisses to them and everyone on the treadmills lining both sides of me were looking at me like I was a total idiot. I didn't even care. For some reason it just hit me and I was so overwhelmed with love for my two girls. I got a little teary eyed and just thought about how much I love them and how much I really do love being a mom. It was the highlight of my week. (Now I just need to remember that moment the next time they paint all over my carpet)

Another VERY good thing is the Waldorf Chicken Salad at California Pizza Kitchen. I love this salad! It has chicken, grapes, apples, walnuts, and my favorite - Gorgonzola cheese - covered in the best vinaigrette. SO GOOD! Of course dinner with friends is also the best. Happy Birthday Angie!!!

I'm a list maker. I LOVE to make lists. I make to-do lists every night (sometimes twice a day). I make lists for things I need to get done, projects, goals, recipes, scrapbook/blog stuff, ideas/ activities for my kids, etc. I hardly ever do half of the stuff on my list and sometimes I make them and don't even look at them, but there is just something wonderful and therapeutic about making a list.

Last Wednesday (my one free morning w/o the girls) I headed to the UTC mall in La Jolla and had some fabulous alone time. I love San Diego malls! They are all outdoor and full of beautiful vines, flowers, and palm trees. It's so fun walking around surrounded by so many enticing stores all in one place, feeling the sunshine and the ocean breeze...just makes you in the mood to shop! UTC is also fun to take kids to because they have a kid area with a jumpy, train, and little toys to play on. But I do have to say...malls are always more fun without the little ones! Speaking of lists and malls...is it too early to give Kenny my Christmas list? He just loves that every year I give him a list of things I want and then say "and don't forget to surprise me too!"

Lastly, a good thing for my girls. They had such a great time this afternoon helping daddy pick lemons off of our lemon tree. The tree gets so covered in lemons that we have to keep picking them before they are even ripe. Kenny throws them off the hill and the girls love to pick them up and play with them and put them in bags to throw away. We don't even eat lemons. We call the tree my mom's "diet coke tree" because when she comes to visit she'll pick a lemon for her diet coke and that's the only time they get eaten! The girls also had fun playing with a snail they found among the tree trimmings - kept them entertained for an hour. That was a good thing for the whole family!

Beauty and the Beast

Love to see the temple...

Good Things

My girls and the color green - two very good things.











Move over Addison! So when I had baby #2 I lost my scrapbook room. That was a sad thing for me, but at the time it didn't matter too much because I was so busy and overwhelmed with baby #2 that I didn't have time to scrapbook anyway. Now that my baby isn't as much of a baby anymore (Ellie will tell you - she's a toddler) I'm finding I actually have a free minute or two every once in awhile to (gasp) do something for me!??!! I decided to do some rearranging in Addie's room and make it into a nursery/scrapbook space. Turned out better than I thought and I'm hoping it will inspire me to start scrapbooking the countless number of pictures I've been taking.

What was life like before i-pods? They really are such a good thing. They can make anything fun...cleaning, exercising... also a great way to tune out fighting children.

Ellie has been really into favorites lately and we've had this conversation countless times this week:

Ellie - "mom...guess what!?? My favorite color is pink, my favorite animal is a unicorn, my favorite food is cupcakes, my favorite friend is Amy, my favorite dress is my blue one, my favorite place to be is a swimming pool with a slide, my favorite princess is Pocahontas........

What's your favorite color mom?" (FYI - that would be green)

She's a girl who knows what she wants.

My husband is having a great time right now (despite the Chargers loss this afternoon!). In fact, I'd say he is having the weekend of his dreams. It consists of football, football, and of course - more football. Kenny met my brother, dad, and brother-in-law in Denver Sat. morning for a guy weekend. They go each year to see the Chargers (Kenny's team) play the Broncos (Austin's team). The game was so intense! They are having a blast and I'm happy that Kenny is getting some much deserved down time. (Don't get too cocky Austin...Chargers are gonna come back strong!)

So while Kenny was having a great time at the Charger game, I was busy with my triple action Resolve Carpet Cleaner. Moved all of my scrapbook supplies into Addie's room....forgot to move my Color box ink pads high enough that the girls couldn't reach them. Yes - I walked into quite a sight last night. I was downstairs unloading the dishes and I had the monitor on so I could hear the girls playing upstairs. I was just thinking wow - they're playing together so nicely...haven't heard anything for awhile. Then I heard Ellie say "Oh Add - I love that color on you - purple is so pretty." Huh? I walked upstairs and into Addie's room to find everything COVERED in ink. Their bodies, clothes, and worst of all - my carpet. It was a rainbow...pink, purple, green, yellow. I was livid. I chewed the girls out and threw them in the tub (both crying) and then went to work with my Resolve. I thought we would for sure be replacing that carpet, but amazingly enough, after about 30 minutes of scrubbing the carpet looked great. I can't count how many bottles of this stuff I've gone through since I've had kids. I love it - I should do their commercials.

***funny side note - when I was scolding Ellie and horrified that my carpet was forever going to be a rainbow of colors she said "sorry mom" and I answered with "sorry isn't good enough! You know better!" Then when I was scrubbing the floor and they were in the tub I heard Addie say "sorry Lolly" and Ellie answered with an angry "sorry isn't good enough Add!" Despite the situation I had to laugh.

IF

If... I loved my thighs in skinny jeans

If... I didn't spend the majority of my days at the park

If... I had an extra 300 dollars to spend on whatever frivolity I chose

If... I lived in a place that was actually cold enough in the winter to justify warm foot wear

...then I would have to have these

Good Things

Text me baby! My two years with Verizon was up (go "New every Two!") so I got a new cell phone. It's flat and opens up to a keypad so I can actually type my text messages. I'm excited -I feel so hip and cool and new age. I'm going to be a texting machine. Translation - now I'll text ten messages a month instead of five.

Mercer Mayer books are simply the best. Loved them when I was little, loved them as a teacher, love them as a mom.

After being in St. George for a week I'm so happy to be back to San Diego freeways. I have a bit of a lead foot and a need for speed - lucky for me so does everyone else in this city. I love getting on the freeway and cruising everywhere I need to go. Nothing against St. George, but driving in that city drives me CRAZY! Stop...start...stop...start...pass retiree moving at 13 mph...oh wait...can't pass because there are only 2 lanes...stop...start again...slow down because speed limit is 30 (30????? Are you kidding me?) I actually like to get where I'm going. Love San Diego freeways.

Night at the beach with girl friends. Girl friends are always a good thing.

Pre-school started! Yea! Ellie went back to pre-school this week and the really great news is that Addie started a little 'pre' pre-school. It's only one day a week for four hours, but she loved it! She had so much fun and loved that she was a big girl going to pre-school like Ellie. Kept saying "Lolly (Ellie) goes to pre-school and I go to my own pre-school!" The best part is that I had four hours (FOUR!) all to myself. No kids. It was magical. I was so efficient! Unpacked from our trip, cleaned my house, went to the gym and still had time for a quick Target run! (It usually takes me a week to unpack alone) Three cheers for pre-school!

(The girls on their first day of school)

Last good thing for this week: Kenny and I celebrated our 11th Anniversary yesterday (Sept. 6). I can't believe we've been married 11 years! I met Kenny when I was 15 (he was 17) so now I've known him for over half of my life! I love our old high school pics when we first started dating because we were such little kids. I remember that before this picture we were BOTH so excited because I had just gotten my braces off! ;) Love you babe - Happy Anniversary!

(Nice pic Kenny - way to stake your claim. When is this hair style coming back??? I have big hair and love to rat!)

There's no place like home!

What a time we had last week in good ole' Santa Clara Utah! It's always so much fun to be in our home town. Here's a little recap of our trip...

SATURDAY: Time to head to Kenny's 15 year class reunion!

(above: Kenny & Erin, Josie & Ryan, Maritza & Myron, Angie & Heinz)

The reunion was so fun! It was great seeing so many friends again. We hung out with Ryan and Josie a lot before the reunion and had such a blast (thanks again for having us over guys!). The four of us also went to dinner with Myron and his wife and had so much fun making up for lost time. Loved it!

SUNDAY: Sunday was a special day for our family. Austin and Dayna are getting married in the St. George temple so Kenny ordained Austin as an Elder. We took a few family pics on our way out the door because it's so rare that we're ALL cleaned up at the same time!

Us with the happy couple...

I love this picture of my parents. Mom & Dad - you guys are lookin' good!

It was so fun to meet Dayna's family - they were all so darling! Austin is one lucky guy to be marrying into such a neat family. (We missed Car and her family and Dayna's oldest brother and his family)

MONDAY: On Labor Day Kenny and I took the girls to Parowan, Utah (population 2500) for a little taste of small town. Kenny's parents and my dad all grew up in Parowan and Kenny's grandma still lives there. They have a big Labor Day parade and fair every year and it was fun to be a part of the festivities. My girls had a blast and I loved seeing them do the things that I did growing up. Their cute Grandpa Rollins (Kenny's dad) gave them lots of rides on the 4 wheeler. Good times.











































Addie loved the parade...just not the loud fire engines! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Rollins for such a fun day!

A few more random pics from the week:

Ellie helping grandpa grill. Hats off to the chefs!

My mom bought the girls matching Fancy Nancy dresses - talk about a hit! Thanks grandma!

One last week of enjoying grandma's pool. Saying goodbye to summer...