Monday Quote

"Mad? Why everyone's mad here!"

Am I not just the BEST MAD HATTER you ever did see??? I have to say that I did Johnny Depth proud :) I am DELIGHTED with how it came out. Back in July I think I told Mandy that I wanted to be the mad hatter. But then I went back to the Queen of Hearts. And then, the final decision was to be the mad hatter, and boy am I glad we went with it because this costume is so LEGIT and BELIEVABLE and TOTALLY REAL that it just blows me away.

It was our schools Halloween party today, hence the dressing up, and it was a blast. We had a costume contest, we had a big taco lunch, watched movies, had a spook alley, and had a mirror decorating contest. I think one of my favorite parts was when I had to take a guest for a scalp treatment (easy peasy... but who really wants to do anything hair related dressed up for Halloween?) And the lady didn't know who I was!!!! It was cracking me up though seeing myself in the mirror... not gonna lie but sometimes I fooled MYSELF at how amazingly awesome I look. Needless to say, I won "Best Overall Costume" at school :) But really I feel as if my only competition was Edward Scissor Hands... No fears though, he was awarded the most scary. But I am BEST OVERALL People! I got a pumpkin trophy, a black rose, and 3, THREE, golden tickets! (golden tickets can be used towards our school worksheets where we can get boxes signed off).

It is going to be a MAD Halloween!!!!!!!

Special Thanks to....
MANDY, the DI, Savers, Youtube, Target, Walmart, Michaels, RIT dye, Mandys big pot, Mandys big spoon that is forever black now...Eric, For his shirt and his awesome match skills for making my card in my hat, Ashley Rose, Nathan, Molly, The Mad Hatter, Mandy, Mandy, Mandy, Rehanna for letting us borrow her masking tape, Mandys front lawn, the glue gun, Mandys basement, Mandy, Mandy, Mandy, oh and I did I mention MANDY?????

Mandy made all of my Halloween dreams come true. And I have to say, she went ABOVE and BEYOND!!! I think she might get to name my first child after a win like this....

I love you Mandy!!!!!! (and as a whole, not just because you made a amazing, awesome, legit, realistic, totally cool mad hatter costume!)
<3

Monday Quote

The Deed has been Done!

And I LOOOOVVVVVVEEE it! My hair has been through a lot over the last few months. with trying to go platinum, wanting to do a whole bunch of layers, from totally frying it and killing it and making it dead.... that I was just done. with all of it. I was done with the color, done with the cut, i even considered SHAVING some of my head. So, I might have gone to the extreme, but not to the extremest. And I seriously do love it. I love that it's all one line (it got a little crazy short in the back then i thought but i'm ok with it) and that it's a steep slope. The front part is still about as long as my hair was.... ABOUT. I don't have any front view pictures of it, so it's hard to tell on the side. All I know is I almost had a HERNIA when I saw the first cut of hair fall on the floor. But, it turned out great and I love it. I especially love it curled. Mandy says it's a very "maren" hair cut, and I would HAVE to agree with her. I still want to dye it... maybe another day. I think it will be the PERFECT length for christmas, and that I will keep it at about an inch... maybe an inch and a half longer than what it is for a long long long long time.

Thank you all!

A big shout out is in order to all of you who have purchased a bag deal from me! I so greatly appreciate your help and support! At the rate things are going... once all the bags have been delivered and all the money collected and turned in... I only have about 10 more bags to go! And it's only been 3 weeks! AMAZING! I am so excited and hope and pray it all pays off and that I get to go to Vegas because of YOU! Thank you! Love you all!

Gardner Village with my Kids

I got to go to Gardner Village with the whole gang... not sure when it was... two weeks ago? a week ago? IDk, ANYWAYS, we went for their yearly pictures with the pumpkins and the witches decked out in all of their halloween gear. And, since we were there taking pictures... and I don't hav ea picture of all of us together... I amde them all get on the steps much to some of their dismay (AHEM nathan!) Above is take 1....

Take 2....

Take 3! It's a good one of everyone but Ellison...I really can't decide which is best, because each one has it's own unique personality. The kids are looking at Mandy, because before when it was just them on the steps without me, I was making them laugh by doing a tickling wiggling spider that was hiding... that's also the reason for a lot of the clasped hands...
I would also like to shout out to my sweet Molly Anne! Whenever I am around, me and her are stuck like glue! Love your guts!
I also would like acknowledgement of the smiling picture of Molly on Mandys blog under the Kristen craft package thing, because YEAH I TOOK THAT and got the child to actually smile!!!!

Quick Note from the Editor

This would be the post I put up the videos I have of Carmel and Claire. Sadly, however, whenever I upload to you tube, and try to place it in here in the embedding, nothing happens. I swear my blogger is just possessed... because it wont let me comment on other peoples blogs either. So we deal.

Instead, I will TELL YOU what the videos were about. One of them is "syncronized cartwheeling" as I like to call it... even though it's not really syncronized. It's of the girls just doing a million and one cartwheels down the back yard. The second one is of Carmel, and how she can do the monkey bars. That child never ceases to amaze me.... (Sometimes I feel like I am writing Cailins blogs LOL)

My next note is that I really need to get a picture of Erin... at the very least of just her. I tend to take pictures of everything and everybody else BUT her. I'm working on it.

Today, The Readers Digest Version

Today after school we got to hang out with the Melanie. We went to chic fil a and the girls ran her RAGGED. She is such a great trooper and so good with the girls, they just love her to death. They spent almost FORTY minutes playing in the play place there. Good times had by all.
Then we went to tumbling.
And THEN we went on a play date with the kids Erin nanny's and her cousins kids (they are like what owen is to me) considering they live right next door to where Erin Nannys. In the picture above it's Carmel, Ryker, Mia, and then Claire, of course, which you hopefully already know. Erin babysits Ryker who is 4 and McKray who is 2, Mia belongs to Erins cousin Katie and has a younger sister Andie (2) and an older brother Bennett (6? would be my guess....) The girls were slightly hesitant at first because the only person they knew was me, but warmed up quick and fun was had by all. It's nice because the neighborhood has 3 houses on the street all in a row, and then you cross the road to the park! And, since it's a newer neighborhood, you basically have the park all to yourselves. I think this Monday playdate might become a regular, especially since Mia and the girls hit it off very well. Mia is the sweetest thing that ever walked the face of the earth. She will share ANYTHING with you. From scooters, to something at the park, to her smarties. Ryker was thrilled to have friends over, but was slightly offended that they didn't want to play baseball.... consdering, carmel and claire probably don't even know what baseball is.
After the playdate I put the girls to work LOL. I had them run flyers all around the neighborhoods for my Caper Bags I have to sell to go on my "field trip" to Las Vegas. They did great, and I loved every second of it because I just had to drive the car slowly and hand fliers out the windows. Don't worry though, we all got a curtesy artic circle cone afterwards :) My favorite thing is when they say "Your total at the first window will be.... zero dollars... please pull forward!

Manic Mondays!

On Mondays, I eat sleep breathe and live Carmel and Claire. But I love every second of it. These girls have got my heart and they have me wrapped around their cute little fingers. Their schedule is BUSY BUSY BUSY on Mondays. We wake up, RUSH to get ready for the day and bags backed and people bathed and faces cleaned and shoes one, to head out the door to school, and then we have a break, and then we go to tumbling, and then we have another break. It doesn't sound like a lot here on paper, but during the breaks we usually throw in a few activities on the side that keep us going non stop. (as a side note, I am liking that C and C are starting to be the same, but different, as in same shirts, or jackets, but different colors)

Sometimes on Mondays we just lie around and take it easy during our breaks....

Mondays are filled with lots and lots of loves and hugs....

The cuteness of Mondays is overwhelming!

And, we usually go to lunch... And it's usually chick fil a.

Monday Quote

C is for COOKIE

I love that Carmel and Claire are big enough now to help me make cookies, because Heaven knows I need it! These cookies were to DIE for. Extra extra chocolately (upon Claire's request... there might have been 2 or 3 cups extra of chocolate chips...) It was a fun little activity, and some cute pictures. I think my favorite part is that we are in our pajamas... And that they can crack eggs! Under close supervision, don't worry!

Tumbling with Carmel and Claire

On Mondays I get the priveledge to watch the twins again, which I LOOOVVEEE doing. My school schedule changed when I finished Core and Protege to Tuesday through Saturday. Which worked out good because I don't do a whole lot on Saturday but lay around, and Cailin was wanting to pick up some extra shifts. Win Win Situation if you ask me. The girls are VERY busy however on Mondays. They go to school, and then to tumbling. All kinds of fun activities. I like to call this particular Monday the "test run" because I came down mainly to play, but we did it all. Here are some fun shots of the two of them in action at tumbling. They never cease to amaze me with what their cute little bodies are capable of doing.

Don't ask me why, but I have only Carmel in a single shot... don't know why Claire is left out or what she was doing. On a side note, the little girl behind carmel, freaks me out a tich because she is spitting replica of a little Erin. This picture doesn't do her justice, but that's my schpill.

Caper!!!!

I am sure all of you know, as I have been begging and harassing for you to buy bags... Paul Mitchell's Caper event is coming up this February. Caper is where we get to go to Las Vegas and do hands on learning experiences with John Paul Digoria and tons of other top notch famous hair dresses. We also participate in a hair show. It's a week full of different hands on learning that I've been told is life changing. So, I can have all expenses paid and a ticket to caper if I sell 40 bags! I'm way excited and hope I get to go. At school, I am on the Caper team. Which means I help with... all things caper. From poster doing, to even planning, to bag check in and outs... all of it, I do. For our kick off, we went with a hollywood glam theme. We made everybody dress up in their best, had snacks, and hosted our own Emmy Award show. It was way fun. I think my favorite part is the Ken barbie dolls we spray painted gold, and then glued to the top of a hair spray cap to use as the "awards".

FLASHBACK THURSDAY! (a day late)

So... I think flashback thursday has officially come to an end. Because, I am all out of pictures, and those were all of the ones I had "back blogged". But all is well! So, I decided to do just a "memory" post instead of a picture post.

My bedroom had always been in the basement at home, and, me being the oldest, I was the first that learned how to "sleep in". Wonderful, sleeping in is. And every once in a while, my sweet Melanie would come downstairs to wake me up. But I would pretend I was asleep. This would have been when she was between the ages of 4... and almost to 8 I think... maybe only 7... or 6... LOL She would knock on my door and call my name, and I wouldn't answer because I was "sleeping." Then she would come in, and try shaking me awake. When I still wouldn't wake up, she would climb up into bed with me, scootch real close by me, and fall asleep. LOL. My absolute favorite. Melanie climbing into bed and cuddling, then we would both wake up, but still cuddle up and watch tv before we really decided to start the day :) Gotta love little sisters! And I sure do love mine!

Monday Quote

River Fun

On Friday I got to watch Molly and Nathan while Mandy went and did court stuff for Jessica. Our original plan was to go and get ice cream from Macey's, but that plan was thrown out the window. Instead we ate cookies, watched a few minutes of Tangled, went to the park, and then headed down to the Provo River. I had no idea the River would be so much fun. I've always liked playing in rivers, but you never know what kids will think. Molly and Nathan LOVED it. We spent a good hour down there. Molly was hesitant at first and wouldn't leave my lap on my spot on the rock. Nathan however was daring. And gave me a run for my money a few times. He is fearless. I told him he could come back with his swimming suit and then we could walk into the middle of it, because I was trying to not get them soaking wet. We took off our shoes and walked around the rocks in the shallow end, they threw rocks into the river, and then we sat down on the rocks and splashed our feet in the water. Good, Clean fun right there.

Why I Wish I Had Ethnic Hair

I wish I had Ethnic (ahem, Textured) hair so that I could rock out this hair style. Technically I could, but it wouldn't have as much volume as this cute little girl. She got her hair cut by one of my teachers, and my teacher Lindsey was nervous because she wasn't sure about the little girls request to shave the sides of her head. I really like the front view of it, and am thinking maybe I could just get mine cut like that minus the shaved parts.... but maybe we will get a little crazy and live on the edge. But, I think I would be able to rock it better when I'm skinny. So Christmas Time.