From the mouths of babes......

Every now and again one of my children will say something awesome. Case in point:
Conversation A:
Mikey: "Mom, can we ride a bus one day?"
Me: "Why, we have a car."
Mikey: "It would be fun."
Me: "Well, they are dirty and cost money. I am already paying for a car & gas, I'm not going to pay to ride a bus as well."
Mikey: "We don't have to pay to ride the bus. Only black people do."
Me: (Mouth drop)"Uh, where did you ever hear that?!"
Mikey: "My teacher."
At this point I'm thinking his teacher and I should have a chat.
Me: "Well, that's not the case."
Mikey: "Yes it is. Like Martin Luther King has to pay to ride it."
Me: "Mikey, he's dead. That was years ago."
Mikey: "Oh. Do I have to pay to ride the bus then, too?"
Me: "Yes."
Mikey: "Then forget it...unless we can use YOUR money."

Conversation B:
I show Dylan a penny and a dime.
Me: "Buzzy, do you know what this is?"
Dylan: "Yes, a penny."
Me: "Good. Do you know what this one is?"
Dylan: "Yup, that's a diamond with Joseph Smith on it."

Conversation C:
Me: "Mikey, if someone were to ask you your religion, what would you say?"
Mikey: "I'm half Mexican, half Mormon."

Good times.

The Wedding Cake

The wedding cake. I swear I was having heart palpitations delivering it. I also posted a picture of the bridal shower cake. That one was fun to make. At the reception, Ivy was a dancing machine! We couldn't get her to stop! Mikey was playing DJ, and Dylan asked the owners of the house if he could spend the night because they had a foozeball table. I love watching my kids. It's so entertaining. I love those moments when you can't stop smiling at 'em.

Odds & Ends

I love my Christmas tree this year! My mom, the decorating queen, came over for a 4-hour tree trimming session. I was actually sore after putting it up! Pathetic, I know. But it's a beauty! She sure is good at stuff like that. She has such a sense of style, it makes me green with envy! Any time we shop for decorations, clothes, etc., I'll see something I like and say, "That's cute." She will sort of say, "yeah.....". And I know that "yeah". It means, "no it's not". But then she'll spot something, and she says the same thing every time, " (gasp) Oh Kim, look at that! Isn't that cute?! Oh, it's $45. Oh well, I don't care, I'm getting it!" And then she'll take it home and return it the next day. That usually happens with clothes. But she'll call me and say, "I returned that sweater. It looked like crap on me. But I found this adorable (fill in the blank) instead.....". I swear, every shopping outing is like that. She's funny! We really have a good time together.

On another note, Rory's brother got married a few weeks ago. It was a very nice wedding. Brittany (the bride) looked adorable. And Jamie was beaming from ear to ear. Their reception is tomorrow. I'm not sure why it's 2 weeks after the wedding. Something to do with booking their cruise for their honeymoon or something. Any-hoo, I finished their wedding cake tonight. SUCCESS! Sort of. All went well until I got crazy with the water sprayer on the kitchen sink and sprayed half of the cake with water! I thought I was going to die!!! But I left it alone and it dried as if it was never touched. THIS is why I don't do this professionally.

Well, I've gotta make Mikey's Inn Keeper costume for the Nativity tomorrow for Primary. He's been practicing, "There's no more room at the Inn." But now he's freaking out because he missed his dress rehersal tonight. My fault. I'm sure he'll do fine.
Off to bed......

Perspective

If I were to describe my lifestyle in one word, what would it be??? Average. My home is average, along with my wardrobe, sense of style, talents, patience, culinary capabilities, etc. Everything seems to fall on the "average" scale. As I was thinking of this the other day, I wondered if average is good enough. Why not?! I love that I don't have a huge mortgage staring at me daily. I love that I don't obsess over the latest trends, or go into debt over crafty kicks. I enjoy trying new recipes, but don't freak out if it tastes like dirt. (Although I'm sure Mikey and his gag reflexes would disagree). I don't care that my home has been furnished by outlet stores, or that most of my kids clothes belonged to someone else at one point.

If I were to describe my LIFE in one word, that's another story. In that sense, I am living a life of luxury. My husband is top-of-the-line. He makes sure I am taken care of and happy. He wouldn't think twice about going out a 11:30 p.m. to pick me up some M&M's. He would stop whatever he is doing to help me. And for someone as demanding as me, believe me, it's no easy task. He's awesome.
My kids are priceless. Their giggles, hugs, kisses and laughs are what brighten my day. I ignore the whines, cries, fights, and complaints. Those will go away soon......right??? (sigh)
My church is extraordinary! My RS sisters are so fun! Serving our Heavenly Father has brought us tremendous blessings.
We get to visit the temple whenever we want. We get the best feelings when we are there. Our family is forever....it doesn't get any better than that.

As I go through life, and all of my average things fade in the distance, I'll continue to hold tight to my luxurious things.

We've had a busy October! I've been making a lot of birthday cakes lately. My girlfriend Anneice is a confectionery whiz, and has taught me a lot! She does it as a business....me, as a hobby. It makes me too nervous. Although I did agree to make my brother-in-law's wedding cake in December! So, either it will be great and I won't be embarrassed, or I will be ousted from the family. We'll have to see!
We've gone to the pumpkin patch this month, school carnivals, trunk-or-treats, etc. I'm exhausted. So is Ivy. She had the flu yesterday. Poor little lady! But she's doing great now, hopefully I've sanitized the boys enough that they can avoid it. I hate the flu. It makes me neurotic and anxious. After Ivy threw up the first time (during the night of course) I layed back in bed and was actually shaking. Strange, I know. A mother of three should be prepared for things like that. Not me. I can handle anything else you throw at me.....just not throw up.
On another note.....I was looking at the pictures I'd taken at the pumpkin patch. Mikey was at his dad's, so of course he missed it. It makes me sad that half of our family trip pictures are minus Mikey. Not that there's anything anyone can do about it. Rory only gets Saturdays off every so often, and it's usually when Mikey is gone. Kinda bums me out.
Well, here are some pictures of us this month. I'm glad it's almost over. Now for the holidays......(sigh). I'd better start shopping.

Miramar Air Show

Yesterday we went to the Miramar Air Show in San Diego. It was so exciting, and extremely loud! We invited Caz & Betty & my parents to go along with us. All of the kids did really well with the noise. We gave them all earplugs, and Dylan some ear muffs as well. (He's very scared of loud noises.....always been that way). While we were in our car waiting to enter the parking lot, a jet flew over our car. The sound was deafening. Dylan freaked out and held his hand over his ears. He said, in a terrified voice, "I think I need to go home and go to sleep!" He was NOT happy about going in. But once he got his ear muffs, he did fine. Ivy didn't give a hoot what was going on. She enjoyed playing on the bleachers. My mom and dad took care of the girls (Ivy & Brittany) so we could enjoy the show. Mikey really enjoyed it. He kept trying to name the planes/jets that went by. Then they got to explore some military vehicles and planes. It was a fun day! But I realized after downloading the pictures, that at every event or trip, I always take the pictures and am non-existent. Am I the only mom that notices that? All of our pictures are of the kids, some with Rory holding a child, scenery, and then.......no mom. So I'm determined to get into some pictures with my family so I can prove I was there! Anyway, here are some pictures from our trip....one I highly recommend.

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico!

We decided this year to go to Puerto Rico. Boy was that an experience! It's so different from here....WAY different! We went with some friends of ours, the Barkers. We stayed a rural area called Aguadilla. It was a very pretty area. Everything is so green and lush there. But the humidity because of the rainforest was awful! While we were there it was between 90-100 degrees, with 100% humidity. And the people that live there don't have air conditioning! They don't even have windows. They have these loovered metal shutters that open up to the outside! I don't know how they live in that heat! But the beaches were spectacular. Crystal clear water and tons of tropical fish! We snorkeled every day for hours.

The city, however, was a different story. It was dirty and scary. We went to downtown Old San Juan and walked around on our last day. We saw this little town tucked down by the water on the outskirts of the city called La Perla. There was only one entrance in & out. There is a cop that sits at that entrance and will not allow anyone in that doesn't live there. Apparently it's the most dangerous town in all Puerto Rico. Well, we didn't know that and walked along the brick wall that surrounds it. We started taking pictures of the run down buildings and people. They got very hostile and started throwing beer bottles at us. We were thinking, "what the heck!" and some man came up to us and said, "Do not take pictures of them. They don't like it. They will hurt you." Come to find out, the town is overrun with drug dealers, prostitutes, fugitives, etc. If you go into the town, they will not let you out unless you know some secret password. And a sign at the entrance reads, "If you enter this town, you could be robbed, beaten, killed, or all three." So, we high-tailed it outta there!
At that point, I was so glad to be going home the next morning. But we got some great pictures of things you just don't see around here, like cemeteries where people are buried above ground.
Or the fact that they hate George W. Bush. Anyway, it was an experience I'll never forget, and will remind me how much I love California.

Play time

I can't get Ivy to play outside. You'd think the ability to run around outside would be awesome. Instead, this is what we get......she's like a lizard sun bathing on the rocks.

We went to Sea World with Casey, Betty, and Brittany the other day. On the way there, we saw buses full of Marines on the freeway. Dylan rolled down his window and said, "Bye Nectarines!" I couldn't correct him. They were nectarines.

And Mikey...he is so special. He got a new scooter for his birthday to replace his old one. This one is an actual Razor, not a Lazer like his old one. Apparently that's a big deal. So, he was scootin' his way around the house and did his first 360. He quickly hopped off with a grin from ear to ear and whispered to himself in disbelief, "This scooter is magical!"
I am doing this blog because of my little ones. I don't want to forget all of the funny things they said when they were little. It's such a brief moment in time......