I DID IT!

I made an appt. to get my hair cut. I'm trying to find some ideas of cuts that I like to show the stylist. I can't decide if I should do something similar to my last short haircut (below)

or I think the next two haircuts below are cute. Of course I don't look anything like Victoria Beckham, so that might pose a small problem. Any suggestions?

President Gordon B. Hinckley 1910 - 2008

He was one of my favorite prophets.

I loved his sense of humor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC0W0ZVI9ak

He will be missed...

Bag Tag

My friend, Mel, tagged me to show all the contents of my purse. Since I haven't owned a purse since...hmm...no idea how long, here are the contents of my diaper bag.

Here we have a real nice designer bag from Target. Yes, that was supposed to be a joke. I tried to at least get it standing up straight and tall for the picture but it was too embarrassed and tried to crunch in half. Truth be told, I actually really like this bag. It holds up well and it holds a lot of stuff comfortably. I have to be honest...I JUST barely cleaned this out. Normally, there would be all sorts of ziplock baggies of leftover snacks, fruit snack wrappers, crumbs, church and preschool papers, receipts and, well, you get the idea. But maybe we can just pretend it's always this clean and that I am a really great and organized person. So, let's have a looksie...

CONTENTS

2 tubes of Cetaphil Lotion

1 pack of Trident Gum

Checkbook

Broken cell phone for C to play with

2 Costco booklets of coupons

One For the Money church pamphlet

Coupon/Receipt organizer

My cell phone

Part of my broken necklace that Charlie ripped off my neck

2 diapers

$1 bill and some change

Book of stamps

2 pens

My wallet is usually in there but it's currently out in the van

and I was too lazy to get it for the picture.

This is a crummy picture but it shows one of the features that helps me stay a little organized. There are lots of pockets in this bag and they have labels like "diapers", "wipes", "bottle", "things", etc. It works well for me because it keeps me from randomly tossing things in every which way and I know where everything is...or should be. :) So, that's it in a nutshell.

Now I tag Natalie, Angie, Julie and anyone else that wants to do it. Have fun!

Aren't they precious?

I guess we won't be getting the Parent's of the Year Award anytime soon.

Happy Valentine's Day

I tried to make these funny cookies yesterday. The undies were supposed to reach all the way to both sides but I had a little helper pulling on my leg and getting into everything so this is the best I could do. I'll have to give it another try when C is napping. Matt had a good laugh, though, and that's really all I was going for. :)

This is a picture of what these cookies were supposed to look like. I copied them from Kira off the PYP website. Hers are much cuter. I am going to give it another go with a different cookie recipe and type of frosting and hopefully they will turn out better!

Fun in the Snow - Part, um, part 6?

Another snow storm blew into town so we went out for more fun in the snow. We decided to use the block maker Winston got for Christmas (Steff keeps asking me if it really was for Winston or if I just wanted it. Of course it was for him. I just had to show him how to use it.) and build a snow fort.

What ended up happening was Dad and Mom tried to build the fort, while Winston and Charlie made snow angels, played on the swingset, and tried to demolish the craftiness of their parents.

Winston busting out his first snow angel



Charlie only had eyes for his swingset


Bored kids abandoning the fort project


In the end, the fort didn't quite make the cut. We were about 4 feet tall and all of a sudden (thanks Charlie) the wall fell over. At that point we abandoned the fort and went for snowman heads on the fence. Best we could do.

The Great Collapse


Our only alternative


Fun in the snow is so invigorating

Christmas... Finally

So I figured it was about time we post about our Christmas fun. So here goes... get ready for mass pictures, etc.

Now, my guess is that by now, most people reading this blog know that we sometimes maybe aren't the best parents. That's not to say we abuse our kids or anything, but sometimes we opt for the easy/lazy way out of things. In this instance, our neglect was around getting a Christmas tree. We originally talked about a tree and decided that with Charlie, it was really not that practical to get a tree, decorate it and have it up all December. We figured Charlie would just demolish it so our plan was to wait until the week before Christmas and then set one up. One week of fighting to keep Charlie away from the tree is better than one month, right?

Anyway, the week before Christmas we got busy and never really got around to getting a Christmas tree. Bless Winston's little 4 year old heart, on Christmas eve he asked if he could write Santa a note to leave with the cookies and carrots (for the reindeer). We gave him paper and crayons and went about other work. Soon, he asks us to come help him write the letter. Here's the finished product:

As you can imagine, Steff and I felt like terds. All he wanted for Christmas was a tree. So we obliged with our version of the 'Charlie-proof Christmas Tree.'

As you might imagine, Winston was thrilled that Santa left him a Christmas tree AND presents. I guess he figured it was a one or the other deal.

As for the rest of Christmas, it was awesome. The family got a neato print of the Sacred Grove and Nintendo Wii with Guitar Hero, Steff got a heated massage pad (I know, I know. It is a total 'Walk through Walmart and grab anything that looks like the wife will like it because it is Christmas Eve' gift) to lay on the couch with at the end of the day, Matt got a pillow thing that allows him to sit up in bed while he reads and Mouse Trap (this is sorta a family joke, but if you have ever seen The Santa Clause 2, you may remember a part where a bunch of teachers start receiving all these gifts they've wanted since they were kids. Well, if I was one of those teachers, I would've got Mouse Trap). The kids got a whole crud load of stuff.

Edited by Steff to add: Matt also got a plane ticket to his annual skiing trip in Whistler and some new skiis.

So, now come the pictures of all the fun and games of Christmas day:

Charlie opening his Leapfrog railroad

Winston with his Clickstart

Charlie not quite sure how to show enough excitement

Winston in front of his stocking and presents

Dad after opening Mouse Trap

Dad and Winston playing Mouse Trap Christmas Night

Christmas Day at Grandma Marilyn's with the cousins

So, all in all, we had a great Christmas time and hope all of you did as well.

Family Fun at Jump On It

New Years Day, Winston and Dad went to Jump On It in Lindon. We met some of the other McGhie/Shelley crew there and had a good time... Winston most of all. Here are some of the pictures of our adventure.


Winston loving it!


Winston was a brave soul jumping back and forth across the padded dividers.


Winston started to get pretty gutsy on the slide... backwards-headfirst.


Melissa & Luc (left, niece and her son) AND Lisa & Emma (right, sister and her daughter)

On the way home, exhausted in the backseat, Winston sat in silence. After driving for awhile, out of the blue, he said, "Dad, if you ever want to, you can take me there again."

Edited by Mom to add that Charlie and I also had a great time hanging out at home with his pink eye. :)

Fun Friend Visit

So, one of my good friends from waaaaay back was in town from San Fran and came to visit. We had a great time chatting, catching up, watching our kids play together, etc. It was awesome to visit, though a little strange to have kids playing together. It makes me feel so grown up...



During the visit I was reminded of the summer between my junior and senior of high school when a friend and I went to Albequerque to visit her. The first morning we were there, we sat up in our room until about 11:45 in the morning because we were too scared of her dad to come down the stairs.

Anyways, it was fun to see them. We were glad to have them stop by.

Also, let this be a lesson to all the other long lost friends: if you come to visit us, you just may make the blog... and that's what its all about.

Sad

Our niece shared this piece of interesting info with us last night...

Top 10 'Vainest Cities,' according to Forbes:
1. Salt Lake City
2. San Francisco
3. San Diego
4. San Jose, CA
5. Miami
6. Louisville, KY
7. Nashville, TN
8. Virginia Beach
9. New York City
10. Los Angeles

***********
A few people have commented wondering what the criteria is for determining this. From what we understand, the criteria is pretty straight forward: cities with the highest number of plastic surgeries.

Here is the article if any of you are interested in reading it: http://www.forbes.com/2007/11/29/plastic-health-surgery-forbeslife-cx_rr_1129health.html

Enjoy!