Did you hear that?

Did you hear that noise?  I think it was jingle-bells. 

When the weather cools off a little I always start thinking of the Holidays.  I blame (praise?) my mother, Queen of shopping ahead of time.  In fact, I already have her gifts to my children for Christmas (wrapped, with bows, with a card) upstairs in  my storage closet.  I have a handful of things already, but I’m in the mode of finding things they will really love, not just play with for a bit, then toss into the never-ending pit that is “the playroom”.  Here’s a couple of things I’ve bookmarked from blogs that I’ve seen that I love.  I need to get in gear to make these. . .

http://www.sayyestohoboken.com/2009/08/henrys-book.html  

How much do you love this?  Finding the things that Simon loves, pictured with the cute block letters?  Love this idea Liz!! 

http://youcanmakethis.com/info/featured-products/Personalized-Name-Pillows.htm

Really cute/designed name pillows for your kiddos to claim their turf (well, at least where they lay their sweet heads.)  I know that Design Mom posted about these as well, but I can’t find the original post.  Here’s a picture from a recent post where you can get a glimpse of Oscar’s pillow.  These would be super cute to make ahead for your kids bestest buds birthday gifts too!

Well?  Get to work!  Just hear those sleigh-bells jing-a-ling. . .

Cake time!

We had our family party for Simon the Sunday after his birthday. . .presents, yummy food, and of course, the cake!  (oh, and don’t worry Duff, I obviously won’t be taking over Charm City Cakes anytime soon. . .)

Hmm, just a taste. . . 

  Oh yeah, shovel it in!! Who’s birthday is it??

  So big!

   MMM, cake in the ears.

All cleaned up and playing after a much needed bath! 

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!!

Simon’s 1st birthday!!

**editor’s note:  Simon is not one today (actually it was on 7/11 which is when I originally attempted to post this. . .I’ve changed to using Windows Live Writer and was having some trouble with the pictures. . .but now it’s all good. . .let the blogging resume!)

 

My BABY is ONE today!  Wow, that was fast (click for a peek at his very first post).  He was a really awful baby (of which I will remind him often. . ), but now he makes up for it big time.  I am completely in love with this little boy!  Happy Birthday Si-si!

I totally stole the idea for his shirt from Tesia, a friend from High School.  Super easy and it turned out so cute!

Simon is. . . So big (his latest trick)

I kept trying to get a picture of the back of his shirt and he kept turning around to find me!!

 

We headed out to the zoo. .  .

 

Molly went up to the dog show in Omaha with Grandma Mary so we missed her!!

See ya dudes!  More pictures of tomorrows big party with cake of course coming up soon!!

It’s out with the old. . .and in with the new. . .

I have new dishes!  Finally!  IKEA in Utah came through.  It’s a good thing I don’t have an IKEA closer to me, or I may ditch everything in my house and start over.  For now, it’s just out with the Corelle dishes and in with these. . .just plain white dinner plates, salad plates and bowls.  Plain, simple and SO much better than the old.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00044481

and some of these for the kiddos. .super cute in olive green, red/orange and turquoise.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10132972

Oh, and these new glasses (which I also saw when I went to LVC’s house after I had bought them. . .of COURSE we have the same glasses.)

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60131705

SO, anyone want to roadtrip to Minnesota, or back to Utah with a big trailer for all our goodies??

My twinner

My secret twin Lisa Lou's birthday is today! I want to make it fully clear that I'm not copying her, this really was my plan for today!!! Lisa and I have never remembered a time without each other. In fact, my first memories almost always include her. I'm so thankful for our parents who must have realized our friendship early on and always had us together (or more than likely our mothers were tired, and needed a break, but that's ok, we get that now.) We seriously thought we were twins, I mean, come on, her birthday is ONE day after mine, and who cares that she was born in the Carolinas, and I was born in Nebraska, we are SOOOO twins. We have been through probably every situation together. . .hilarious (remember when my little sister Julie would cry and we would laugh? :), and your sister Gina got left at the dance studio?), sad (we saw ET about 12 times and thought it was the most tragic movie we'd ever seen in our 7 years), scary (remember that creepy guy that worked next to the dance studio that freaked us out while we were waiting for our moms?). When I was about 8, I wanted a dog SO badly (Lisa hated them I'm pretty sure), and Lisa helped me all the live long day on time cleaning out this corner area of our yard to show my parents I could take care of a dog and in the end. . .no dog. I'm sure my Dad took us to DQ for ice cream or something instead. (Oh no, I'm that exact same parent today. . .) The only way I survived at BYU was that I took my two best friends with me. . .Lisa and Cim. We lived at Heritage Halls with 3 other room-mates, I think in the process of living with the 3 of us we ran out about 4 total room-mates. . oops. The day before I was scheduled to get my wisdom teeth out, my mom's best friend died in a car accident and she needed to leave right away. The first thing I thought to do in that moment was call Lisa. I didn't know what I would do if I didn't have Lisa and I just wanted her to know. She also offered to come and hang out with me when I got back from the Dr. She got me my drugs, watched movies with me, all that good stuff.

Lisa and I have that kind of relationship that just has always been. I can't remember a time without her, and I know that I never will have a time without her. We may not chat every day, but I think some part of every day, I think of her, or wonder what her smarty pants kids are doing, and mostly wish that we had our dream of living next door to each other. Yesterday when she called for my birthday, we were wishing we were together and she reminded me of something we decided a long time ago. . .we certainly have our mansion lots next to each other set up in Heaven. Where we will always be able to take each other to lunch and watch our gazillion grandbabies run around while we reminisce about the good old days.

Happy Birthday Lisa Lou!!

Nibs Bibs

My Dad has always called me Wendy Nibs. When I was little I wore this pair of overalls everyday. EVERY day. If my mom tried to wash them I'm sure it was while I was sleeping. I also always wore them with my Rousseau Rams shirt from the elementary school where my older siblings went. I called them my "bibs", so that's where my name came from. They were my nibs bibs. Anyway, my mom didn't ever get rid of them (THANKS MOM!), so I still have them. I have pictures of Madison in them, and I think Molly too. Yesterday I was clearing out some things in our room and opened up my cedar chest to see if I needed to toss anything in there, and there were my nibs bibs, and my blue shirt! I called to Whitney and put them right on her. . .luckily, they still fit (mostly. . .now they're capris on her). She posed up for me so I could get some pictures. Be sure to look closely at all those patches. Whenever there would be a hole, I couldn't bear to throw them out, so my Mom would just patch them up. One patch is even a little heart by the front ride side. Here's some pictures of Whitney, and a few of me in them (I think I was maybe 2-3 years old?).

Do not adjust your television. . .

Um, yeah, so that's me standing next to Adam Lambert in the pit on American Idol. Once I'm home I'll upload the copy from TV and post it so you can see the whole thing, this is just a snapshot my brother in law took of his TV when he paused it at the right moment! My little sister Julie is kind of squished up behind me too. . .I wasn't going to let her in on it TOO much.

Here's how the whole thing went down.. . .

I was heading out for my annual girls week(end) with my sisters and mom on Wednesday, but my sister Heidi called Friday night and said "can you meet me in LA on Monday night instead, because. . . I have ticket vochers for the American Idol rehersal on Tuesday!!" After some shifting of work and help for the kids, I was on my way.

Madison's reaction was great. . ."Madison, guess what? I get to go to American Idol with my sisters!"

"What? You're GOING to American Idol? You get to go to EVERYTHING!!!"

So we met up in LA on Monday night and early Tuesday morning headed out to the CBS studios, yes, AI is on Fox, and tapes there. . .people were also lining up for Dancing with the Stars from ABC.

We got in line about 9:45 or so and waited until 1 to get in. My sister Julie said that her husbands advice for being in a line is "if you're going to get in a line, you may as well be first, then be friendly and be fully prepared." It was awfully HOT I must say, so when no one was there for a while, we sat at the bus stop and played cards. Once we were in the real line, we just tried to find some shade. Unfortunately we could only have our camera to that point, so the pictures are few. . .

waiting at the bus stop playing cards to pass the time Everyone BEHIND us in lineRyan's parking spot
Our official bands to be standby

They finally counted us off and took us in and got us all set up. For the rehearsal, we were in the left side front pit (when you're facing the stage). Ryan came out and did his run through for the evening, setting up where he stood, running his lines, etc. He was very friendly with the audience and made comments, etc. So they ran the whole show. While we were waiting for them to begin, I looked at the row behind us and noticed Brenda Strong--voice from Desperate Housewives. The contestants all sang, it was so great to see all of them. One of the funniest parts was the fake judges. They have 4 people out that are kind of mocked up like them. The Simon guy actually looked pretty close. They made comments after the contestants sang (all nice and supportive of course). But here's where I let you in on a little Idol secret. The recap portion of the night of the live show is all from the dress rehearsal, so if you go back and look, you can even see the backs of the judges heads are not the same as the real judges. . .the hair is not the same and the clothes aren't either! I never even noticed before. . .but now you're in the "know." Also, in the real show Anoop misses his last note, but in the recap he hits it!

Before we went in one of the stage guys said if we were interested in being standby for the live show to find him, so of course we did. . .he said to go back to the front gate and get in line, FIRST again (at least the 2nd group in line anyway). We waited again in the heat, while we were waiting Steve Wozniak drove by on his segway and said hi to us. Then they took back about 20-30 of us. They told us we would be seat fillers, basically fill in any empty seats, most likely VIP's that didn't show or that left early. My sister Heidi and I ended up fairly close to each other. As we walked in I saw Vince Neil (from Motley Crue). Lisa ended up with a seat on the far left side of the studio, and Julie had to wait at the top. Just as we sat down they announce Randy and Kara into the studio, they shook hands and made their way to their seats. Just a second later, they were already pulling me from my seat and put me in the right side pit. Then they announced Paula, I high-fived her, then Simon came out and I shook his hand. Crazy. So the show began. One thing we all noticed is how loud it is in the studio. When you watch on TV, you can only hear the crowd when they're really loud. After Lil' sang, Julie ended up in the pit behind me. Kris sang next (I stood by his Dad in line when we were picking up our cameras after the show), then Danny then Allison. As Allison finished, I heard a stage hand by me saying "excuse me, excuse me", and I realized she had Adam with her. I said, "Oh, he can stand right here!". He quietly stood and clapped during the judges comments. I was standing there realizing that they were going to do the clip for the commercial right there, and was honestly freaking out thinking Ok, what am I going to do? Just clap? Wave? What??? So just after Ryan was talking with Allison, Adam turned around and said, "Ok!", if you slo-mo it you can totally see him turn and look at me. It all went so fast, but I decided to just smile and point like crazy at Adam like "HELLO! Adam is right here!!" I think I said "good luck" or something then he headed off. . . then turned to my sister Julie and said, "alright, I'm sure my kids are freaking out Right Now!" So, that's basically it. We saw Adam sing (amazing!), then we got moved to some seats. Just before we moved Andrew Lloyd Webber was walking right behind us. Matt and Anoop finished off the show.

It was fantastic, and even more fun to hear how everyone saw us. Most of our families knew we'd be at the rehearsal, but had no idea we'd be in the actual taping, and we left our cell phones in the car since we couldn't take them.

Matt and the kids were eating dinner and hadn't watched it yet. . .Madison's friend Olive called and said "I just saw your Mom hugging Adam!". They turned it on and were trying to figure out where I was.

My brother Todd called to tell them. He and Suzanne had no idea we were even there! They had been watching it, and Suzanne yelled "There's your SISTER!!" He was so confused, "what are you talking about?", she said, "I wouldn't miss your sister!", so they rewound and sure enough!

We called everyone else and gave them a heads up of where to look. When we watched it back later when we paused here and there we were able to see all of us in the audience. It was such and blast, and even more fun to be there with my sisters. Such an adventure. Where will we turn up next?????

Growin' them smarts.

Whitney had a fun easter egg hunt at preschool today so after we arrived back home I was in the kitchen as she unloaded her goodies and I hear this. . .

"I got a number 1 mom!!"

Who is putting educational stuff in these eggs. . .seriously. . .where's the candy?

"NO! MOM! It's a SEVENTEEN!!!"

What?

She comes to the table and puts it on the table for me to see!

"LOOK---I got a SEVENTEEN!!!"

Indeed.

Tubac

Just after Christmas, we met up in Arizona for an amazing Grandpa's Camp. What do you mean you don't have Grandpa Camp?? Check out more--click here. All of my siblings, their spouses, all the grandkids and my Dad spent a week at the Tubac Golf Resort and Spa. We ate, played games, played golf, soaked up the sun, mom's had manis/pedis/facials/massages, we sang, rode horses, some ventured to Mexico and then we played some more. Here's a look at our photos and some video too!


I tried to just upload to youtube, but they would probably not let me use the music and they said it was too long. Whatever.

ok, so it IS a little long. . . .I won't cry too much if you decide to just let it load then skim through the pictures.

New York City

Here's a quick video I made of our photos from New York City last May. Best trip ever!

(warning: the music comes in a few seconds after starting the video. . .don't jump! )

mushy

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed today. I'm finding myself frantically trying to pack and somehow find a way to finally get a clean house (will it ever happen?). I sat down to try to unwind a bit and clicked through my "favorites" menu, and ended up on The Gledhill family page. I can't remember when or how I first came across the story of their sweet little Gracie, but I was drawn to it for whatever reason and have checked in on them from time to time. Today is the day that they will say goodbye to their baby. My motherly heart is aching for them. I need to buck up and quit being a crabby, mean momma and take a look around. I have a houseful of healthy kids (which also means I have a houseful of toys, clothes, and stuff, stuff, stuff, that I need to get over being crabby about). After I teared up a bit reading their latest post, I went back to the living room and saw my smiling Simon. My dear sweet boy is back. A week or so ago he was running a fever and was just so unhappy, which is so NOT him. Simon is about the happiest baby I've ever seen. Really, I think he's making up for being a stinker of a newborn, but whatever the reason, he is happy. I love that boy. Every little chunky smiley inch of him. Today I'm loving my kids and my dear babe of a husband. I've been blessed, and starting (again!) today I'm going to be more thankful, more loving, less worried about these earthly things, and more grateful for my full, blessed life.

Neglect.

I've been neglectful. . .it's seriously time for a photo update of what's been happening at the Mar household. Here's just a bit of our latest photos.

Snow Day!!


Re-discovering Play-Doh!!
Grandma and Grandpa come for a visit for Molly's baptism!

I get my crafty on for the girls new room!
Whitney LOVES her little brother. As soon as he starts chitty-chatting after he wakes up, she goes right up there, climbs in his crib and plays and laughs with him.
Whitney took over camera duties at the baptism, and got some laughs. . "OK, 1. . . .2 . . .3!"
Matt and our sweet Molly!
Whitney's cute Valentine holder from preschool
Molly's b-day party!!
Simon got a cute gift, but better than that. . .PAPER!
We celebrated Chinese New Year. Matt's sister declared that she couldn't make anything chinese. . . but, look what she made! (Turn you head to the right. . .)
Whitney and Eva play at the Children's museum!
Madison turned 10, and got her ears pierced!! (No, she didn't earn a girl scout badge for it.)
Madison's birthday party.


More updates soon!! (I really promise this time!)