A Spotlight of Sorts

Wanna learn more about my Sister, Shana Revell?

Well then check this out-

HERE!!

Chic Boutique is being featured among several leading vendors in Norman tomorrow!
I'm so excited for them! If you can, go check them out at the Holiday Bazaar!

what i do for fun

this is what i love to do.

a year ago

i remember this same time last year. joshy was still sweet and easy. jaxon was still difficult but fun. eric and i were celebrating 5 years of marriage. we were preparing to sell our house and make the big move.

suddenly we found ourselves with out an income and no work. i remember feeling frightened. i knew we'd be okay, i just couldn't see how. i remember being surrounded by people with good jobs, making good money and feeling so left behind in the 'blessings' department.

it was a defining point in my life.

i don't remember when things turned around as far as my perspective goes, but all i know is it did. i grew up. i took a deep breath and realized that i'd give up any job, any dollar amount, any car, any home or any other luxury i enjoy to have the husband i've had for 5 years or the children i have, no matter how crazy!

how lost was I?

granted, our trials weren't sickness or disease, death or any other kind of serious loss, but they were ours and i remember learning to be grateful for those specific trials, because i could feel myself changing ... growing.

i remember standing before my family and friends expressing my love and gratitude for them and giving thanks for what i was and for the circumstances Heavenly Father had given me for my personal journey in this life, to learn and grow.

now this year as i count my blessings, we're no better off financially, but my life is rich with blessings including things that may seem funny to you or repetitive but they're mine!
a strong family. a devoted, hard-working & faithful husband. beautiful and healthy children. old & new friends who love and support. parties. a gym membership. photoshop. free long distance. coupons. the internet. febreeze. my dvr. the library. dark chocolate. email. the ability to cook. and so much more ...

what are you thankful for? what makes you rich?

10 year class reunion

My date was the hotty on the far right end!

NEW FAVORITES

1. Don't judge me, but I love Joy Behar. Yes I know, she is an outspoken liberal. But I love hearing what she'll say next. It's interesting to me to talk to and listen to people who don't agree with me all the time. I love her on The View and on The Joy Behar Show. Crazy, I know!!!

2. Bakerella is fast becoming one of my favorite sites!
"The site focuses on fun and easy baking. It’s a place to explore recipes, desserts, decorating and even photography with a few giveaways sprinkled in along the way. You’ll find ideas for cupcake pops (a Bakerella creation), cakes, pies, cupcakes, cookies, brownies and more. You may even find yourself smiling from all the sweetness."

3. Ghiradelli's Dark Chocolate with Caramel Squares is my new favorite treat. I eat them far too many times a day! It's yumminess delivers the perfect balance of dark chocolate and a rich caramely surprise center.

4. I never knew how COOL this place was. I left spending only $35 and with 2 great new outfits! Yay! And a brand new pair of New Balance shoes for only $30! Double Yays all around! Are you a maxxinista?

5. New Moon's Release Date, the sequel to Twilight, is November 20, 2009!!!
Need I say MORE!?

6. I heard about Jennie-O lean turkey from the hit show The Biggest Loser (another favorite of mine.) Eric & I love it! Swapping turkey with traditional protein provides a healthier alternative for all your family meals. All JENNIE-O TURKEY is raised without added hormones and steroids.

http://www.jennieo.com/about/ads/turkeywrestling.aspx <--hilarious
http://www.jennieo.com/about/ads/fatherson.aspx <--super sweet/inspriing

7. SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE & DANCING WITH THE STARS
Love these shows. I live vicariously through their amazing talents & watching dance makes me feel happy! :) I even CRY sometimes. I know! What's that about?!

8. I was introduced to this site by JackJack's pre-k teacher. Zac Browser was designed to offer a pleasant, rewarding and secure experience. Children sing, play and discover the best that the Internet has to offer with only a few clicks of the mouse. I love the security features and it's TOTALLY free!! Zac Browser is software that allows your child to access games (a lot of games) activities (based on diverse interests) along with videos (that allow a stimulating experience and encourages children to talk). All games, activities and videos are specifically chosen for their positive effect on children suffering from autism.

9. UGLIES . PRETTIES . SPECIALS . EXTRAS . by Scott Westerfeld

I'm currently on the 3 volume of the highly acclaimed UGLIES series. I'm normally not one for sci-fi adventure, but these books have kept me interested and thinking. Very bubbly!

10. I love make-up. Hate having to wear it but I can't complain when the transformation from reality to made-up is quite different. MAC make-up has made it fun to get all dolled up again!

11. Dinosaur Train is my boys' new favorite show! “Dinosaur Train is the perfect marriage of the two things 3-6 year olds love the most — trains and dinosaurs. Ever since I saw my son put a toy dinosaur on board a toy train, I wanted to create a series that would take that interest and get kids excited about life sciences and natural history,” said Bartlett, the creator. PBS kids, weekdays

12. CARDIGANS are my new favorite fall accessory! Can't complete an outfit without one! Hiding all that's begging to be hidden and adding flair to any ensemble. They can be worn a 100 different ways. Love them!

13. Having trouble navigating Adobe Photoshop? Try Picnik!! What is Picnik? Picnik is photo editing awesomeness, online, in your browser. It's the easiest way on the Web to fix underexposed photos, remove red-eye, or apply effects to your photos. What can I do with Picnik?

Pretty much everything! They've got amazing Editing tools that can fix just about anything that could possibly go wrong with a photograph. A bunch of the editing tools are one-click fixes, including auto- fix, colors, and red-eye. And the others, like rotate, crop, resize, and sharpening, can be controlled with easy-to-use sliders. VERY cool! New fav!

that lost feeling

there are a few things that when lost, cause me to feel so lost.

example 1: camera

when i can't capture jaxon sneaking to pick his nose, i feel lost.

when i made a yummy lunch and i want to post the recipe to bore the whole world with, but what's a post with out a picture?

i feel lost.

what to do? what to do?

I'm not one to be able to sit for an extended period of time
in my pajamas and NOT eat something! I mean, who does that?
I've been on a mission, as some of you know, to eat better and work out more.
I'm quite pleased w/ my decision to ignore Joshy's cotton-candy shouting at me,
and go for the more healthy, more organic choice for dessert for this afternoon.
(don not be fooled by this common place appearance,

this is no ordinary decision. last night i shamefully ate two very large handfuls of
this sugary, feathery, blue stuff.)
Eric says I'm shaming the word dessert by calling it that.
He says it's something to be had @ breakfast. I disagree. What do YOU think?

Organic Vanilla Yogurt topped w/ crushed granola & an assortment of frozen mixed berries.
Sweetened w/ organic, raw, unprocessed honey from Spanish Springs, Nevada,
with a dollup of frozen whipping cream to finish it off. Oh Heaven!

After devouring this divine design of a DESSERT,
we made sock puppets to entertain the children during conference.

This distraction worked quite well for some time.
All you need is a magic marker & an old abandoned sock that's been waiting around to find it's match and VOILA, you've got yourself a personal entertainer for your kids,
(or your wonderful husband, if he's a giant kid at heart! and i know mine isn't the only one!)

my day

My butt is SO soar! I need a massage therapist.

The workout yesterday KILLED me.

But ... (no pun intended)
Today was a good day. I love being busy.
Caught up w/ some friends. Love that!

Put make-up on today for the 1st time in DAYS!
Picked up a happier and more obedient child from school.

Returned a book I finished. (finally!)

Didn't realize it was story time @ the library.

"lucky" We stayed.

It was all about dinosaurs! PERFECT!

Ate @ Chick-fil-a with my boys, with my birthday money.
Got some groceries.

Cleaned my kitchen & did a few loads of laundry
while solving all of life's problems with Jamee and reminding ourselves that we're amazing!

Made order forms & other marketing material for MWL.
Love Photoshop

Hung out w/ the fam.
Opened ALL our windows!
Mailed a gift.
Huge accomplishment considering I tend to fall into the:
"i-never-get-around-to-it" category for good intentions.
Spent $12 @ Walgreens. Came home w/:

2 tubes of L'Oreal mascara . . . . . 4 toothbrushes

Gillette Fusion MVP Razor . . . . . Gillette Shave Gel

Venus Razor . . . . . Sheer Lotion

4 cans of Pringles . . . . . Puffs Tissue

Now I'm going to watch City Lights (1931) w/ Charlie Chaplin himself. Seriously!

He's fascinated by her

When she's getting ready he can't take his eyes of her.

He even holds the mirror for her.

Picks out her jewelry.

Follows her around.

I hope his adoring habits follow him into adulthood

and he loves his wife this much.

I'm In Love

Amy Butler

OH MY GOSH!

A GREAT way to spend 2 1/2 minutes of your time...

I totally 'yoinked' this from my awesome cousin.

Thanks Kris!

FIRE ANTS

My sweet little guy, Joshy, was attacked by fire ants @ the park yesterday.

Long story short.

He came screaming.

His hand was COVERED.

Instant welts, redness & swelling.

Cold water & soap was instant relief.

Tylenol & Benadryl.

Good night's sleep.

Woke up to a chubby hand covered in painful looking blisters.

Counted close to 60 soars!

He's been biting his arm, hand & fingers all day.

At lunch this is how he coped w/ the fiery, itchy owies.

Independence

I'm so frustrated.

When does the independence come?
(and please, spare me the, 'oh just wait, he'll want nothing to do with you when he's older' nonsense.)

I'm talking about right here.

Right now.

Today.

I expected so much once school started.

Maybe JackJack would want to be more independent.

Be like the other kids in his class.

Wipe his own butt.

Get a drink of water.

Put on his own underwear.

Get himself dressed.

Zip his own backpack.

Pick up his own toys.

Sing his own songs.

Say his own prayers.

I know. I know. What are Mothers for
if not to be there to help do those things?
I get that.
What frustrates me is my children CAN
and are perfectly CAPABLE of doing
much of these things on their own,
but they simply REFUSE!!
They have literally NO independence.

Jaxon absolutely refuses to even take the stairs
w/o holding my hand.

Nor will he brush his teeth on his own.

So what am I supposed to do?

Just allow his teeth to ROT?!
Joshua KNOWS how to get his own drink of water.

We've made it as SIMPLE as possible for him,

yet he'll whine and complain and
WAIT until he has help to do it.

I'm so frustrated.

So tonight, I'd had enough.

'experiment with some independence',
I thought to myself.

Bed Time.
We read from the scriptures
& looked at the scripture pictures.

Things are going well.

Time for prayer,
Jaxon was called on to say it.
He was so excited.
He knelt down, folded his arms and said,
'help me now.'
I said,
'how do we start our prayers, jack?'

Jaxon: 'i don't know. you say it.'

Mindy: 'jaxon. you know how to say it.
how do we begin?'

After several seconds of silence,

Jaxon: 'I can't!'

Mindy: 'Yes! Yes you can, son! Try!

Jaxon murmurs: 'dear.'

Mindy: 'good. then what?'

Jaxon: 'HELP ME! YOU SAY IT!'

Mindy: 'Jaxon. Try. I'm right here to help.
But you must try.'

Jaxon: 'I CAN'T!
IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST AMEN!
Sing me a song, Mommy.'

Joshy chimes in,
'I want song. I no want pray.'

I said,
'I will sing songs after we pray.
But someone HAS to pray.'

In unison,
'I want song!'

I ignore their whiny pleas.
Mindy: 'Joshy, not yet.
We have to pray first.
Jaxon, PLEASE, will you please just pray.
I know you can do it.
I KNOW you know how.
Start with Dear Heavenly Father.'

Jaxon: 'No. Mommy sing.'

Mindy: 'Nope. No prayers. No songs. Goodnight.
I love you both. Stay in your beds.
Sing your own songs. Say your own prayers.
GOODNIGHT!'

Then I shut the door behind me.

Eric and I looked at each other and said,
'what are we doing wrong?'

What ARE we doing wrong?

Mascara, Puddles, Printers & Hysterics

I'm learning how not to take things so seriously concerning my kids and the "bad" things they do.
Like jumping in muddy puddles with nice clothes on,
or ruining a new tube of waterproof
not-exactly-the-cheap-stuff-mascara.

Don't worry.
It's not like I'm planning on just letting
my kids just run-rampid.

I do want them to understand
when they've done something wrong,

but sometimes I think I go a little over board

w/ the guilt trip 'n all that.

I'm going to laugh w/ them more.

And when they shove cars and small cows
and horses into our new printer,

instead of freaking out and throwing them on the bed

to sit and think about what they've done

I'm going to take a deep breath

and see the teachable moment and not the

"now I must discipline you harshly
or you will never learn" moment.

Jaxon & I talked about this most recent incident
just a few minutes ago.

He said,
"i'm so sorry you got mad at me for your printer mommy.
i'm just SO very sorry."

He later explained he just wanted
to print pictures of cows & horses.
Oh my.

I suppose I could've just calmly asked him
what was going on,

given him a consequence still,

but avoided all the hysterics, huh?

I have a lot of learning and repenting to do!

Do I not?

HAM & CHEESE BRAID

A HUGE hit in my household!
and SO easy

This recipe is taken from Fabulessly Frugal. This is a great freezer recipe.

1 loaf Rhodes bread dough
1 cube butter or margarine (I use 1/3 of the butter mixture).
1 envelope hidden valley ranch mix
3/4 lb. thinly sliced ham
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp poppy seeds (optional)

TO PREPARE: Roll bread dough out into a rectangular shape so its approx. 1/2 inch thick. Combine margarine and ranch mix (I use 1/3 of what the recipe calls for). Spread about 5 TBS of mixture on the rectangle. Layer ham and cheese down the center of the rectangle. Use a pizza cutter to cut strips along each side of the dough (even numbers on each side). Starting at the bottom, take each piece, cross and twist. (braid!) Continue criss-crossing until your pizza is braided. Brush remaining butter/ranch mixture over top. Sprinkle with poppy seeds. Wrap loaf with plastic wrap and then foil if you want to freeze it for later. If you are cooking it right away, place braid on greased baking sheet or stone. (P.S. - it was easier for me to roll out the dough and then pick it up and place it on a couple overlapping pieces of plastic wrap so I can then move it from the counter to the baking sheet or wrap it up to freeze.)

To prepare after freezing: Thaw overnight. Place in fridge as is if you wish to cook it on the foil. If you do not wish to cook it on the foil unwrap it and place on lightly greased baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap. Let thaw overnight. A couple of hours before you are ready to bake place it on the counter to continue to thaw and begin to rise.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Before it went into the oven this is what MINE looked like.

p.s. Don't judge me for my nasty pans!

Not home 24 hours!

Eric should be a "stay-at-home-DAD".
He's so much better at the job than I am!

The house was SPOTLESS when I got home.
I haven't even been home 24 hours and
I've already burned lunch, my dirty laundry
and shoes are everywhere,
the house is a mess. Jaxon took his milk in the living room,
'cause I let him. Eric accidentally kicked it over.
He said, 'that's against the rules.' I said, 'oh yeah.'
I think messes follow me. I asked Eric if he was annoyed.
He's just happy I'm home; messy or not.
I'm so blessed!

1st day back at the gym since Aug. 7th!
Yes, I've been gone almost that long!
It's crazy! I'm starting all over, setting goals.
Going to be sexy by Christmas! Woot Woot!

Can't wait for the weekend! We will have 14 people here
for the OUvs.BYU game/Labor Day weekend! SO EXCITED!

BOOMER SOONER!

"my angel sister"

I want to talk about this, but I just don't know if there are words, really.
This is on my mind, because I'm here with her.

I've known her as long as I can remember.
As a matter of a fact my earliest, most painful memory was when I watched her family drive away in that green minivan for Tennessee.

We were instant "soul sisters". Best friends. I am who I am today in part because she is apart of my life.
She's inspiring.
Honest.
Righteous.
Beautiful & Strong.
Everyone needs a Jamee Lee.

Let me just tell you a little bit about mine...
She's always looking to have a good time
and in the most creative ways.
She's super strong, healthy and athletic.

She is and has been and always will be apart of every important part of my life.

When she's sick and pregnant she still looks beautiful and will pose for any picture.
She refuses to miss out on any of the fun.
In fact, she IS the fun!

- 2005-2006

She'll drop 60 lbs. after 6 months of having her 1st baby
& travel to support me on my wedding day!

-2003

She'll convince you that putting toothpaste on your zits makes them go away.
We dreamt together, made fools of ourselves side by side and gained our testimonies together.

-1995
-1993

She opened her life up to me, just after being newly married, so I could come and have my own life changing experiences and I've never been the same for it. I will be forever grateful for that summer.

-2002-2002

She can shoot a perfect target and look sexy doing it.

Her husband's tough, but she's even tougher being the wife of a cop.

When her car won't start before church, she'll load her kids on the back of her bike, put shorts on under her dress AND get there in time to hear her husband speak in sacrament meeting.

4 days after surgery she'll blare Michael Buble and dance with her husband in the kitchen.

When she finds her children on the roof she joins them instead of scolding them.

She can not only pull off red lipstick but there is no one who can do it better!

She is my "angel sister", My best friend.

-2009

Jaxon's 1st Day of School

Jaxon had his 1st day of school today @ Stephens Elementary. He started out the day with his favorite breakfast, a donut with frosting & sprinkles. He got ready, took some pictures & then off to school. Josh also wanted to be involved in the process, so he grabbed his backpack as well. I asked several times about his thoughts, but he had very little to comment. When he got to school, he excitedly went to his class. The first assignment was to write his name, & I don't know what he did after that. When I picked him up, I asked him how his day was. He stated that he had fun & that he made some friends, but nothing about anything he learned. I asked him about the alphabet, numbers, etc., and he just concurred. Overall, he liked it, but was ready to come home. [Disclaimer: just to let everyone know, this is Eric, not Mindy, that's why it lacks creativity, info, etc....Sorry, I didn't realize that this would be one my duties while she was gone ;)]

Day 9!

First birthday in Primary!

Came home with birthday wishes, cards, smiles
and a delicious green sucker!

I wonder what tomorrow will hold?...

Side note: We're comin' to Norman!
Get ready! Here we come!