This photo pretty much sums up Thanksgiving

We were glad to be in Utah and spend time with family, just saddened by why we decided to make the trip.

For those of you that don't know already, my Mom is battling Carcenoid Lung Cancer. Just before Thanksgiving, she had surgery to remove the tumor and half of her left lung. Feeling helpless in Minnesota, we figured out a way for all of my family to make it to Utah to try to show our love and support to my sweet Mom. Here is a list of the good and bad:

1. Good: Sadie and I got to fly. She was a perfect little angel and slept almost the entire flight.

Bad: John and the boys drove 19 hours through a snow storm...need I say more?

2. Good: I got to spend a lot of time with my two nieces Madison and Mackenzie.

Bad: I found out that they LOVE the twilight books. Barf

3. Good:We opened a few Christmas presents early (way early) from each other

Bad: Max initially hated his gift from the Vegas and said "this is not cool, I don't' like this" (who is his mom, she needs to teach him some manners) The picture above is him pouting over his gift!

4. Good: I got to see my favorite Dr. Nurse Friend, Emily Litt.

Bad: I got sick and didn't get to see my favorite red head Linds.

5. Good: Got a pedicure with Madison and Mackenzie

Bad: They wanted to put "team Jacob" on their toes

6. Good: Spending time with my family, most importantly my Mom.

Bad: Passing on the head cold I got to everyone....sorry guys!

All in all, I would say that the good outweighed the bad during our trip. A big shout out to John for making it possible. Thanks Mr. P!

Not to brag or anything.....

BUT!! The other night we went to a Timberwolves game and sat in the commissioner's seats. Yes, THE commish! John just happens to know a guy who knows a guy and we scored last minute ticks. Sadie got all dolled up for the occasion:

At the last minute we thought we didn't look distinguished enough to be in $200 a piece seats, so we came up with this to blend in with the richies:

Our disguise was working, and then those blasted cheerleaders came out. Max looked like this:

And this:

And then in a loud voice said this: Mom, I want those ladies to come back and Dance in their underpants again. Our cover was blown. We were asked to leave immediately.

The best part of the night for me was when some drunk man told his friend a little too loud that I had a nice rear end. Hmmm, maybe we did belong in that section. At least Max did anyway.

Sneak Peek

Here are a few of the photos my awesome friend Darci took this fall. I can't get over how talented she is. She has such a great eye and can make even our crazy family look beautiful! I would show you every single photo but then I wouldn't have anything to give all the Grandmas in our lives for Christmas! Enjoy!

Osom Jack

Jackson brought home some school work the other day that gave me a few chuckles. I love to see little kids phonetically spell words. For some reason it looks adorable. The assignment had him think of synonyms to overused words. Here are a few of the ones I enjoyed:


nice - spactactler

happy - osom

big - enormuse

sad - dredfel

pretty - glameres (my favorite)

friend - bff



I hope all of my glameres bff's out there have one enormuse, osom, spactactler day!

Another Day at the MOA

For those not living in the same state as I, the MOA is the Mall of America. It's enormous, overwhelming, exhausting, and my kids love it. This place is so big they have many of the same stores on every level. Yep, you can go to Bath and Body Works in three different places! Our little family has gotten into a little routine whenever we go. It starts out with a bribe: if you let mommy go to urban outfitters and you are good, then we will go to the Lego Store. After we have accomplished both, there is another bribe placed before them. If you let mommy go to H&M, and you are good, we will go get crepes. We make bribes like these until they are too grumpy and we need to go home. We usually save trips to the MOA for when family visits, but Max was out of school for a couple of rainy days, so we decided to take Sadie on her first trip to the MOA. Good times were had by all.

Here's Max with my favorite crepe filled with Nutella.

Max cozying up to Jengo Fett.

Sadie with a flying saucer on her head.

Bring it on

Sadie is all ready for winter! We like to call the pink stay-puffed marsh mellow lady! I bought this get up last winter on clearance. I think I might have guessed a little wrong on her size because she could get lost in this thing!

Notice those long, sleek legs behind me? Those are Jack's skinny minnies. It would do him a little good to pack on a few pounds to stay warm this winter, don't you think?

(photo courtesy of Max)

Obligatory Halloween Pics

I feel like since the Grandparents read this blog, I am pretty much required to put up some Halloween pictures. Here is the brood: Jack-ghost, Max-Bakugan, and Sadie-Yoda. Yes, Sadie is wearing Max's costume from two years ago. She will sadly have to go through what is known as "third kid syndrome." It's where the parent is over forking out the dough so their kids look super cute for Halloween so they opt for a hand me down. I think she looks cute anyway.

Max and his pumpkin before the annual sugar binge.

Jack with his impressive spider Jack o Lantern.

Now comes the hard part of Halloween for me....keeping out of my kids candy stash. I usually follow the one for you, one for me method of doling out candy. Wish me luck!

D&C 60:2

But with some I am not well pleased, for they will not open their mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given unto them, because of the fear of man. Wo unto such, for mine anger is kindled against them.

I will be afraid no more to open my mouth for a pie eating contest! Can I just say that I completely demolished my compitition which happened to be 7 burly men? Today I am not afraid to admit that I rock.....and have gained a couple pounds. It was worth e-v-e-r-y c-a-l-o-r-i-e!