Par-tay!!!

(FYI: this is not the readers digest version, this is the for posterity version...feel free to skim!)

I have been working for months (literally) on a surprise party for my parents. Both of them turn 50 this year within months of each other, so I decided it would be fun to throw them a joint surprise party. We've never done something big like this for my parents, and they totally deserve it, and so it seemed like now was as good a time as any. I got my sisters and brother on board with me and we've been planning and scheming since September. I called their old friends, broke into their email accounts to get email addresses, and had all sorts of fun. I've been so excited about it that I even dreamt about it the night before the party. (I dreamt that Kort and I were riding our bikes over to their house to decorate at 5:30 in the morning and were nearly there before we realized that they would be home and see the decorations before the party that night.)

On the day of the party I knew they had no idea what was going on when I called my mom and asked her what she was doing that day and she told me her plans without knowing that I had actually planned her day. We had some friends of theirs invite them over for dinner and to watch a game. Unfortunately they had to come up with some crazy excuses to get my parents back over to their house where we were waiting for them with all of their friends.

I realized after they walked in and we yelled, "Surprise!" that I should have made a sign that said 'Happy 50th Cary and Lynette!' because the first words out of their mouths were "for what?"

(I later found out that my mom thought some of Syd's friends were playing a joke, and my dad thought the party was just for my mom until he had been there for about 10 minutes. He was wondering why we hadn't told him. Ya, a sign would have been helpful.) But after some explaining they came in and we all had a great time.

We had made a slide show full of great pictures from the past... I put together a time line of the past 50 years. I did pop culture and history along the top and their life in pictures along the bottom. I thought it turned out awesome! It was probably at least 10 ft. long.

I had sent out these questionnaire's with all of the invitations asking people to send back their answers to questions like, what was the funnies thing you saw Cary or Lynette do, or what was your most memorable moment with Cary or Lynette. I had originally intended to do a game and make my parents guess who had said what about them, but too many party goers were bums, and so I just printed up the responses I got and put them on cards and hung them on the wall. I had a lot of fun reading people's responses. It's always fun to hear funny things your parents did way back when. Like my dad mooning people, and my mom wearing bustier girls bra's on the outside of her clothes.

Kort made an awesome cake and since we forgot to buy candles, they each got to blow out one.

There was lots of great food...

Lots of great friends...

And hopefully a lot of fun!

A few random things I should have posted, but haven't yet...

Believe it or not Owen came up with this angelic pose on his own. He originally did it just because, no camera's or anything. Every time he does it I just can't help but laugh.

Here is a picture John got of Ains playing school. I'm impressed that all of her students look so attentive.

I started copying Shelly and trying out new hair-do's on Ains. This one has become a favorite. It stays in and she always looks adorable.

Today I was in charge of sharing time and, if I do say so myself, it turned out awesome. I was a bit discouraged when I was trying to be super prepared by planning early because I knew the end of the month was going to be hectic for me, and the sharing time I had originally planned was done by someone else. I ended up making John do a little skit with me. He was Mr. Gratitude, and I was the grumpy girl. He put gratitude glasses on me that made it possible for me to see all my blessings (balloons with blessings written on them all over the floor). I was then able to fill my garbage bag full of balloons and become thank-ful in stead of thank-empty. We will be doing a few performances this week for select audiences. (sorry the picture is awful, I had it on a weird setting when I made Ains take our picture)

Twilight

I saw it last night. I went in with no expectations. Which is why I came out a fan (although I was most definitely disappointed with some parts). I went in disappointed with the choice of the actor who would be playing Edward. I'm ashamed to admit it. But, now I totally have a crush on Edward.

Abnormal

Apparently I have ape arms. I'm not kidding. I have been shopping for a new coat for Christmas and 99% of them aren't long enough for my arms until I get an XXL. Have I looked ape-like all these years and no one has bothered telling me? I haven't shopped for a coat in years, and I don't remember having this problem before, is it possible that my arms are still growing and will reach my knees when I'm 80? Seriously, this is getting frustrating!

Are you prepared?

We went to a preparedness fair this weekend. The main thing I learned is that I'm not prepared at all (even though I've spent hundreds of dollars lately trying to get prepared). If anything serious was to happen my family would most surely die.


And...not that I'm complaining, but I am of the opinion that it is much easier for some to be prepared than others. For example, it is much easier for a family with a high income and a lot of space to go out and by $3,000 worth of food and supplies and then still have a place to put it when they get home, than for a family with a tighter budget and a house already bursting at the seams to get theirs. I really feel a need to get our food storage ready, and I have been trying...really. It's just a bit overwhelming to realize that it will most likely take me 10 years to get things in order and I will most definitely need a bigger house. Unless I'm willing to make my end tables out of boxes of wheat covered in a pretty fabric. Not that I'm complaining...

**Disclaimer....I'm in no way criticizing food storage, I really have felt the need to get it done and we've been doing what we can, slowly but surely. I'm just a little frustrated, and that's allowed, right???

Sad but true

John and I are fans of TV on DVD. There's something magical about being able to watch a show continuously, for hours on end. It seems that we are always watching a season of something. Embarrassingly enough, lately that show has been Smallville.

My sister and her husband own the first 5 seasons and talked us into watching them. Last night we finished season 4. The funny part to me is that the whole time we are watching we are amazed at how lame and unbelievable and predictable the show is. John could be a writer for Smallville, he has an uncanny knack for predicting lines and scenarios. And yet, even though we are aware of the lameness, we are sucked in season after season.

Ahhhh, it feels so much better to have that out in the open!

Favorite

I have 2 favorite new songs by Jason Mraz. I discovered them a while ago, and someone was nice enough to burn me the CD this past weekend. I think I have listened to the songs "Lucky" and "I'm Yours" at least 100 times already. I just can't get enough. I don't usually go through phases where I can listen to the same song over and over so I decided to share these. I'm curious to know if I'm weird or if other people love these songs as much as I do.

Okay...there seems to be a problem with the playlist (at least on my computer). I'ts only working if I click on the pop out player and push play, so although this will require an extra button push, give them a listen.

Prayer

Owen has recently become very interested in prayer. He got pretty good at repeating what we would say and has since taken prayer to new levels. He insists on praying over every meal(this is fine, I'm just a bad mother and we don't usually pray over breakfast) and last week at church he insisted on praying over his fruit snacks during sacrament meeting.

This was all fine at first but has now turned annoying. He is only happy if he is the one to say our prayers, meal prayers, family prayers, fruit snack prayers...whatever. That in and of itself is not so annoying, the annoying part is that he now refuses to actually say the prayer. He will begin, but then gets mad if we even dare try to help him. Unfortunately, he has no clue how to say a prayer on his own. So, after he starts his prayer he just sits there, with out knowing what to do next, screaming if we suggest something he might say. Here is a shot of Owen's 'prayer tantrum' from this morning. Unfortunately, I'm still suffering the consequences of this tantrum as I type. What a great way to start the day!

I did it

With out John making me. All by myself. Alone. That never happens. Yay for me!

Our very typical Halloween

Our Halloween this year was quite typical.

But, since we took pictures,

I'm going to be sure to post them.

We carved pumpkins.

The kids dressed up. (As the cutest cowboys EVER I must say!)

The kids trunk-or-treated.

The kids then trick-or-treated.

And now we have WAY too much candy, and I just let the kids at it to end the whining. Owen loves candy more than any kid I know...he was in heaven.