Christmas Lights

I think tha tthe snowflakes in this one look awesome!!!

Black Friday

Well, Black Friday was a blast!!! Let me give you a little background on my addiction to Black Friday. For me, it's not so much about the sales (although I LOVE me a good sale). It's about keeping a memory of mama alive. When I was growing up, we had NO money. So, if mama couldn't get what we wanted on sale, we just didn't get it. Every year we would go through all of the ads, split our lists up and then a big group of us would go shopping. We had a blast. Being so far away from my family, I don't get to do a lot of my traditions anymore. This is one that I refuse to give up. There have been years when Chris and I were flat broke that I have gotten up and just gone and stood off to the side and WATCHED everyone at the sales. Crazy... yes!!!! But sometimes you do whatever it takes to get by!!! This year, there wasn't anything that we just HAD to have. This was one of the years that it was far more about tradition and "girl time" than anything else.
Celeste and I left for St. George at 2:30am. We got some INSANELY good deals. I'm almost completely done with our Christmas shopping. YAY!!! I haven't laughed that hard in a LONG time. You know.. it's never a good sign when you go to a sale and there is an ambulance parked outside of the store "just in case" hahaha
I posted this on Facebook too but Celeste and I laughed and laughed and laughed about this. Seriously?? We want to know who thought of this. Cruel joke or smart marketing?
I think we shopped for about 12 hours before we both crashed!!! When I got home, Chris went to a movie and the kids and I hung out together. When he got home I got to play with my new toy a little bit. (a new camera) I just love these pictures. He and Chris were leg wrestling and Preston was laughing sooooo hard!! Love it!Right now, I'm watching the Gators play FSU (yet another one of my family traditions) Chris put Christmas lights on the house today. I can't wait until dark to see how they look.
IT'S CHRISTMAS NOW!!!!

New Hair

Yeah I know it's lame to post this but oh well... Can I just say how much I love my new hair??? LOVE IT!!! Shanette freaking rocks! Not my favorite picture by any means but oh well.... after the week we've had, I don't really care!!!
It's been crazy! First Shelby got into trouble at school.... (I will say this though, it says a lot about her and 1 other little girl out of the crowd that they were HYSTERICAL , while the others couldn't understand why they were so upset because they all get into trouble all the time) Then that same day, Morgan had trouble on the bus. One of my favorite girls was pulled from the program that I work at and I didn't get to say goodbye to her. Morgan has strep throat. We're starting into the rush of the holidays, which quite frankly are really rough on me (homesick, missing mama like crazy)....... Needless to say, I've had it this week! But at least I have good hair damn it!! (Try to see the positive in everything haha)

New Moon

Sunday, we went on a double family date with our good friends. We took these squealing, hyper little girls to see New Moon. It was the 2nd time seeing the movie for Sonda and I, but we sucked it up and tortured ourselves through it again.....oh the things we do for our families lol Anyway, the girls had so much fun decorating t-shirts before the movie. I swear they are growing up too fast. I can't believe that I've listened to my 2 little baby girls talking non stop about how "hot " Jacob was in the movie. hahaPreston wasn't exactly thrilled about having a "New Moon" shirt so he pulled out a "parkway shirts" (that's the name of Chris dealership and what we call their junk clothes) and had me write "Indiana Jones" on the front lol Poor little guy was thoroughly disappointed that he didn't get to see Indiana Jones even though his shirt said it on it. lolNotice all of the "_____ is HOT" on the t-shirts.... growing up WAY too fast!!! lol

Long Story!

If you spend any time getting to know me, you will quickly learn that I love to shop! I like to shop online, in stores, window shop.....you get the picture.... there is only 1 exception and that is GROCERY shopping. I hate it!!!
Today, I saw a glimpse of what hell must be like....Grocery shopping at Wal-Mart at noon on the Saturday before Thanksgiving with 3 hungry and tired kids. HELL!! ON!!EARTH!!!
Let me describe our adventure:
We’re driving in the car. All 3 kids strapped into the back seat. The radio blaring to try to drown out the constant bickering coming from the backseat. But for the most part things are going ok. We’re approaching WalMart when all of a sudden I hear:
“(BIG GASP) PUPPIES!!!! Can we get one?”
“No”
“AWE, PLEASE” (in unison)
“NO”
I pull into the parking lot, trying to avoid the whining and begging coming from the backseat. When all of a sudden this blue haired bat in a Cadillac decides she is going to make a U turn right in front of the General Merchandise Entrance. Have you ever tried to turn one of those boats around?? There’s no such thing as a U-Turn in one of those things. I swear she must have done a 400 point turn. Because of the way she was doing this, no one could get by her. No one could get in or out of the store. You couldn’t back up because cars were trying to get into the parking lot, and the cars trying to leave the parking lot couldn’t exit the aisles to make room for others. So after what seemed like an eternity, this woman finally gets turned around. And I’ll be damned if she didn’t park her car right in front of the store entrance and GET OUT!....
I should have just cut my losses right then and gone home, but NOOOOO! I had to actually go inside! I mean after all I’d just spent 10 minutes waiting in line so that I could find a parking space.
So, I drag all 3 of my kids into the store, telling them if they’re good I will let them get a SMALL treat of some sort. (No, I am not above bribery!!!) I walk in, grab a cart, and make it about 20 ft. before the jacked up wheel starts to drive me crazy. I make Shelby take it back and get me a new one. This of course starts the bickering and arguing over who wants to do it and how it’s not fair that Shelby gets to do everything. I give them the “look of death” and they calm down. I reach into my purse to get my list.....forgot my dang list. (Apparently, I forgot to put my grocery list on my list of things to take to town with me lol) Oh well, I’ll just wing it!!!
Have you ever been to Wal-Mart on the Saturday before Thanksgiving? No?!?! Well let me tell you: that is not the time to just “wing it”. I typically organize my grocery list by aisles, starting in the front and working my way back. I bet I made a hundred trips up and down those aisles trying to get all the things that I could remember on my list. Every time we would turn down an aisle one of the kids would say, “We already went down this aisle.”
Finally, I decided that I had everything (or at least that I'd had enough) and found the shortest lane that I could find. Now I don’t know how your WalMart is, but ours has 50 checkout stands but they only have about 10 open at any given time. So I’m in the shortest lane possible. I dig out my cell phone and text Celeste, “I’m stuck in Wal-Mart hell.” Oh little did I know........
Ok, here’s another little tidbit about me. I am extremely anal about how I unload my cart. I have to organize everything. I know I’m not the only person that does this, but it drives Chris crazy. So. I have all of my groceries organized on the belt, when the cashier begins scanning items. As he starts scanning the groceries, he starts digging through my little groups and organizing them differently. For instance he was sorting through everything and scanning all of the fruit together, all the veggies together, all of the BOXED pasta products separately from the BOXED RICE products etc. As I watch him I start to think that there has got to be a hidden camera somewhere because this cannot be for real!! Then he holds something up:
“What is this?”
“Its zuccini.”
(pulling out the produce chart to get the barcode) “What would I find it under?”
“Z”
“It’s not on there.”
“Try squash.”
“Oh. Oh. Yep. There is it!”
Holds up yellow squash. “Yellow...Y”
“That’s probably under squash too.”
“Oh yeah it is. Look at that.”
At this point my attitude has completely changed and it’s taking everything I have not to laugh. Throughout the whole process, Preston had been trying to get the guy to scan his Hot Wheels and then give it back to him. The guy kept picking it up and tossing it farther back, and Preston would go get it and take it right back up there and try to get him to scan it. Finally the guy says, “I’m not ready for that yet.” Well...apparently the look on my face was to much for Shelby to handle because she completely lost it! I pulled her over to me so that she was standing under the purse shelf (yes I know it’s supposed to be for writing checks, but really?? Who writes checks anymore) and she buried her face into my stomach while she laughed hysterically. I kid you not, we were in the checkout line for 1/2 an hour. This guy was the nicest guy you could ever meet, but my heavens........
When we got home, we started telling Chris about our experience. Once again Shelby was in tears from laughing so hard. When we told him about the toy car Shelby said, “Dad you should have seen Mom’s face. She looked like ‘Seriously?’” and then started laughing again. HAHAHAHA

Meebos

Shelby and Chloe share a birthday. This year they each wanted the same thing, so they gave each other a Meebo. Here's how they work. They are basically a Tamagachi but inside of that cylinder is a Meebo. Once you complete all of the levels of care, the cylinder pops open and reveals your Meebo. There are 7 levels and it has taken these girls ALL month (plus some help from mom and Sonda) to get these things to open. And this is what they got.......Are ya kidding me????? Shelby said, "Well that's disappointing." when it first opened and she saw it. After a few minutes she held it up and said, "Mom, I feel like a mother that just gave birth to an ugly child." .......ok, I seriously thought I would fall over laughing!!! I have no idea where she came up with that.
Look at these things. Sonda and I decided that they look like a really bad Home Ec. project! I mean seriously.... $20+ plus a months worth of work and listening to the stupid music and beeping that these things make (there's no volume control on them either) and this is what you get???????? Sheesh! I will admit that we have laughed hysterically over these things all weekend, but I still don't think they are worth all of the hassle! haha

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

We love Halloween at our house. I think the reason is that it's one of the few holidays that doesn't have a "TRUE MEANING" that you have to remind the kids of. I'm sure there's one out there, but for the most part it's all about the fun, costumes and candy. Our holiday started out with a costume parade at the girls school and a carnival on Friday night (all I can say is THANK HEAVEN that is over!).

This is Shelby's teacher and her husband at the costume parade. How cute are they????? We absolutely love both of them. The school custodian put this out. I couldn't believe how many kids actually fell for it. Their little faces were hilarious as they walked by!!

Saturday, we started our celebrations by going to a Trunk or Treat. If you've never been to one, it's where everyone meets in a parking lot and brings candy. The kids walk from car to car picking up their candy. You get TONS in a LITTLE bit of time!!!! NICE!!! Then we went home and Chris walked around our neighborhood with them, while I stayed at home to pass out candy. We had a whopping 10 kids show up!!! Half of them were TERRIFIED of the 6ft. animated monster on my front porch. HA! (For the life of me, I can't get this stupid thing to rotate. Sorry. You're just going to have to turn your head!)

We got several comments on being "Like the Incredibles" because all of the kids were dressed as Super Heros. I thought it was kind of funny.

Don't even ask how long it took to curl her hair. Let's just say it took 3 times as long as the curls actually held!!

She really is quite a super little girl!!

She's definitely my feisty one! This was as girly as she was willing to go. haha

So cute!

At one point Preston closed a door that I honestly didn't think he had the strength to close and I said, "Good job I didn't think you could do that by yourself" he said, "Yeah, it's cause my costume has big muscles" hahahahaha Here he's straining to show the muscles on his costume.

Improvise

This week was Red Ribbon week at the girls' school, which means that they dress up for a different theme each day. Today was "Sports Day". Of course the girls wanted to wear Gator stuff, but good luck finding Florida Gator apparel at 9pm on a Thursday night in Cedar City, UT. Not gonna happen. So, we had to improvise. I made a mad dash into Wal-Mart on my way to work and got sweatshirts and iron on transfers. Then, I found a Gator graphic online, printed it off and made our own shirts. Yes, I realize that I broke every copyright law in the book, but oh well.. I had two happy girls this morning!!!! I have to admit though, I think Morgan was more excited about the fact that she got to wear her cleats to school than anything. I swear, she's all boy with a ponytail!

We've been making interchangeable watch bands a lot lately. The girls love them and we have so much fun making them together. These are the ones that I made for sports day. Shelby's is the basketball one and Morgan's is soccer.

Field Trip

Shelby had her first field trip for the year. We went to the Shakespearean Festival for a backstage tour and then to an art gallery. I was amazed how well the kids behaved in the art gallery. We were more than a little nervous about it lol. I love doing stuff like this with my kids. Shelby still likes having me at the school all the time and being very "hands on". I have a feeling that won't last much longer, so I'm going to enjoy it as much as I can, while I can.

My 2 favorite 2nd graders! (Shelby and Chloe)

Shelby and I in her classroom

I think they're both keepers! So cute!!!

H1N1

This week has been an adventure. One that I never really want to repeat, but an adventure none the less. We've spent a combined total of 9 hours and 15 minutes in the Dr.'s office. Morgan is feeling much better. She STILL gets sleepy several times a day, but when she's awake she goes full force. Shelby is feeling perfectly fine. Chris is sick, but ignoring it (imagine that). I think Preston is starting to come down with something. Not sure if it's actually H1N1, but we're giving him the girls Tamiflu until we can get him in on Monday, just to be safe. (Yes the Dr. said this is ok) The kids FINALLY get to leave the house tomorrow!!!! It feels like we've been on "House Arrest" since Monday. lol
We have a busy week ahead- Red Ribbon week, field trips, PTA meetings, school, work.........
I'll post pictures later.

Dress Up

Living Room

The living room is finally done..... for now. lol

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Eight years ago, I had the biggest "Oh Crap" moment of my life. I'll never forget it. I was sitting on the edge of a hospital bed, holding the most perfect 6lb (5 lbs 15.9 oz) baby I had ever seen, when it suddenly hit me that not only were "They" going to LET me take her home, but they were going to MAKE me take her home. I was officially responsible for raising another human being. That's a pretty overwhelming feeling, but a task that Chris and I both welcomed.

It seems like just yesterday that I went shopping for her tiny little blessing dress. Today, I began shopping for her baptism dress. That's just crazy to me. Shelby is truly a joy to raise. She was a great baby. Even through reflux and food intolerance's, she was always happy and pretty easy going. Today, she's still happy and for the most part pretty easy going (although she has her moments).

I love her little sense of humor. A while back, she started laughing about something. Well, her laugh was really loud and obnoxious and quite frankly sounded a little bit like she belonged in the Special Olympics. I said, "Shelby, do not laugh like that." Without missing a beat she said, "Oh, ok. Would you rather me laugh like this?... Or maybe I could do this one..." and went through an entire list of different laughs. I seriously thought I was going to pass out from laughing so hard. Even though she currently has the gnarly toothed 8 year old smile I LOVE to see it. Her smile is contagious and it brightens my day!

Shelby is also the sweetest and most tenderhearted little girl I've ever met. She shows so much compassion for those around her and will do everything she can to help someone. A couple of weeks ago, she came home from school so upset because a Teachers Aid in her classroom was having car trouble and had been crying about it when she got to work. Shelby overheard her telling the teacher that she couldn't afford to fix it. All on her own, she told the T.A. not to worry and that everything would be ok. Of course, she came home that night and asked her Daddy to help the lady out. She even offered to do extra chores around the house as trade for Chris working on her car. How sweet is that?????

She's incredibly smart. She knows more about American history and the way that the U.S. Government works than a lot of adults do. Last year, the school librarian came up to me and said, "I just have to tell you, I love Shelby. She came in yesterday and said, 'Mrs. Aiken, do you have any books about the Holocaust?'" We all thought it was funny coming from a 1st grader. She loves to read!!! She's also quite the little author. She writes stories and puts together books all the time. She's a math whiz (although that's not hard with the schools math program) She's also learning to play the violin and seems to really be enjoying it.

From day one, Shelby has been a "Daddy's Girl". The two of them have certain TV shows that they will only watch together, and even though Shelby is the prissy one of the family, she loves to hang out at the auto shop and gun range with her dad.

There isn't a day that goes by that we don't thank God for the opportunity to be her parents.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHELBSTER CHECKLES

The Honest Scrap

So I don't normally participate in stuff like this, but since it was Charon that tagged me, I thought I'd give it a shot (but only cause I love ya). Here's the thing: I have to list 10 honest things about myself then tag 9 other people (not sure if I can think of 9, but I'll give it a shot) So, here we go:

1) I usually DO NOT do email forwards. They bug me. I like to receive them, but I rarely ever forward them to other people.

2)I like products. Products of all kinds. You should see the collection of hair and skin products that I have. It's truly ridiculous. Cleaning products too. I literally have 2 full cabinets of nothing but household cleaning stuff. Now, you might not always know it just by looking at my house, but it's true. I realize that most of these things that promise to eliminate frizz, make you look 5 years younger, or dissolve grime instantly are just "snake oil", but I have to try it anyway. It's a compulsion.

3)I'm a horrible driver! Yes, I admit it (but only cause Chris rarely reads this). I've had 3 accidents (1 that almost killed me) and an embarrassing number of tickets over the years. I seriously go through a set of brakes about every 6 months. Chris HATES riding with me. "I've heard him say, "BRAKE! BRAKE! DAMN IT JANA BRAKE!.... Do I need to drive?" a bazillion times. If I have to pull over for any reason at all, my kids say, "Are you getting pulled over again?" Amazingly though, I fit right in when I lived in Vegas.... Nobody can drive down there! HA!

4)When I was little I was pigeon toed. My mom had it corrected, but if I get REALLY tired or REALLY upset, my left foot turns inward.

5) I moved to UT all by myself without knowing a single soul. I moved into my apartment site unseen, had no job, no friends... NOTHING!!! But I made it work.

6) After I moved out here my mom called me every single day BEGGING me to come home. Finally, towards the end of the summer, I called her and told her I wanted to go home. Out of nowhere she told me to pray and fast about it and if I still wanted to come home then she would fly out here and then drive back with me. Well, I actually did what she told me to do and that night Chris asked me out. Later she told me that she couldn't believe what she was hearing herself say. She heard the words coming out of her mouth and just couldn't make herself shut up. hahaha Guess it was meant to be!

7) I have a VERY strong testimony of Our Savior's love for me (well all of us) and the sacrifice He made for us. Everyone knows that I'm LDS (Mormon), HOWEVER I'm not a fanatical "Kool Aid drinker". Meaning, I don't just blindly believe everything that I'm told just because that person happens to hold the Priesthood. I have some issues with some of the rules and regulations but I believe that I would have that same problem with any organized religion. For me, this is the one that suits me best.

8) Besides Chris, I have 2 best friends- Charon and Celeste. Charon and I COULD! NOT! STAND! EACH! OTHER! until the 11th grade. Don't know why and don't really know what changed that made us start liking each other either, but whatever it was, I'm glad it happened. To this day we can send a simple email that says, "UH-UH Girl!" or something equally as vague and stupid and know EXACTLY what the other is talking about! hahaha Celeste just cracks me up. She and I are polar opposites, but we work. I laugh so stinkin' hard when I'm with her. We can be brutally honest with each other, and she doesn't think too much of it when she gets a text that says, "Do you want another husband?" (Yes Chris knows that we send those messages back and forth and no he doesn't care. He thinks it's funny!)

9) I'm a bargain shopper! Now, I'm not one of those crazy coupon cutter-outers but I LOVE a good sale! I firmly believe that if you shop the sales you can get cute, name brand stuff AS CHEAP if not CHEAPER than you can get it at Wal-Mart! My favorite day of the year is Black Friday and I start planning for it months in advance. Chris and his entire family think I'm nuts, but I love it!!! (By the Way- Celeste, the ads will start coming out at the end of this month!!!!! WOOHOO!! Hellacious Target line here we come.... riding the handicapped shopping cart all the way hahahahaha!)

10) I've had LOTS of nicknames throughout my life. The most common ones were: "Jbanay"- short for "Jana Banana" (Mamma), "Fat Little Girl" (Uncle Norman-it's ok, he's still one of my fave people in the world), "Birdshot" (Grandpa), "Sissy" (Andrea), "Baby Girl" (Aunt Paula and Chris) and "Toots" (Chris)

Ok, there are my 10 honest things. Dang, you never realize how boring you are until you start trying to think of interesting things about yourself!!!!!

So here are my 9 people that I'm going to tag (per the rules):

Andrea (Seriously? Think of a more creative name for your blog lol)

C-Town Millets

Celeste's Smorgasboard

Destination Dalton

Lydia Outnumbered

The Ramblings of a Stay At Home Mom

Four Fine Smiths

Grandma Char and Homefry

Set this Circus Down

Here are the rules:

1.) Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award.

2.) Share "10 Honest Things" about yourself.

3.) Present this award to 9 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.

4.) Tell those 9 people they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving.

Ok, have fun with this.

The kids had their Primary Program in church on Sunday. All 3 did really well.

This is Shelby. Morgan's at a play date so mommy let me tipe. Today we went shopping and got a hole bunch of flower clips. And the one I'm wearing is big and offnoshis. My grama Charlene and grama almeda are going to come eat lunch with me on tuesday.MY BIRTHDAY IS IN 2 WEEK'S.AND I WANT A BASKITBALL HOOP AND A BUMBLES WACH. A few days a go I got a necklace with squeaking monkeys and bananas. i'm doing orcistricha i play the viloin .the end.

Me and my mommy taking pictures

my big ovnochis hair clippy

(Shelby did this all by herself. I can't believe she's so big. First she BOUGHT HERSELF a cell phone now she's blogging.... WOW!!! What's next??)

I Love This Kid

Preson and I went to the park after school on Tuesday. We had such a great time playing together. I swear I pushed him on the swings until my arms were sore. I wish I could just keep him this age. He's so much fun!!!

Bad Hair

When I got home this morning I was EXHAUSTED, so when it came time to go to church Chris didn't even bother trying to wake me up. When they got home, I saw that he had let her do her own hair. Oh heaven help her. He said that the Relief Society president went up to him and asked where I was. He explained that I had worked last night and so he decided to let me sleep. She looked at Morgan and said, "Oooohhhh, well it was nice of you to get them ready all by yourself." It doesn't look too horrible in the pictures but trust me... IT WAS BAD!!! haha

SLC

We had the best weekend!! It started Friday when Chris took the afternoon off, and we pulled the kids out of school (this NEVER happens) We packed the car and drove to Salt Lake City. We stopped at Mayan Adventure for dinner. I can't even describe the look on Preston's face when we walked into the dining area. His jaw just DROPPED! SO CUTE!! They have divers that perform throughout dinner, and we were sitting close enough that we were getting splashed! The kids had a great time!!! The food is horrible but the ambiance is amazing. Here's a picture of the kids outside of Mayan Adventure.
After dinner, we went to the hotel. My kids get ridiculously excited about hotels. They were cracking us up, running around checking everything out! Even Shelby loved it.

Saturday morning we went to Utah's Hogle Zoo. They had a blast!!!! I've taken the girls several times and Preston once, but this was the first time Chris has been able to go with us. They each have their favorite exhibits. (Preston- the reptiles, Morgan-penguins, Shelby-giraffes)

Hogle Zoo has several new babies. These were our faves by far. The baby elephant could barely even walk. Chris got a kick out of all of the women that were standing around us (myself included) because of all of the "Awe... look how cute it is!" I had to endure some serious mockery haha!!!

After the zoo, we went to the "Jana" portion of the trip.... i.e. IKEA and The Quilted Bear!!!! And of course no trip to Salt Lake would be complete without a stop at Cabelas (oh joy) We got home just in time for me to throw everybody out of the car and head to work. Everyone had a great time and it was SOOOOOO nice to finally spend a little time as a family!

Bathroom

As promised, here are pictures of the only room in the house that is completely done. The living room and dining room are basically done. I'm just waiting on the blinds and curtains and when I get those, I'll post pictures. I love the new shower curtain (even though you can totally see the creases in it... I was not going to take the time to iron the shower curtain. They can just steam out! Yeah, Yeah I know.... girl.. country... bite me! lol) I've become a total convert to Park Designs linens and the pictures are by Jim Daly (LOVE HIS STUFF)

Random Update

Since it's already starting to get cold at night and in the mornings, I thought I'd go with the quilt look for the new background. I'm dreading winter already!!! The kids are ALREADY having to wear jackets to the bus stop in the mornings. And I dang near froze at the soccer game tonight. Why can't we have spring all year round, dang it!!!

It's been a crazy week at the Haycock house, but I'm not going to blog about all of the crap going on. Instead I'm going to focus on the good stuff!!!! Like..... WE'RE SUPPOSED TO CLOSE ON THE HOUSE TOMORROW!!! The only thing that could be more exciting than that is the fact that I get to decorate this weekend. WOOHOO!!! Chris won't let me hang anything on the walls until we close, so I still have boxes upon boxes of decorations shoved against the walls. (Yes, Charon I'll post pictures as I get rooms finished, and I got a sign to go between the fireplace and mantle just for you haha)

Random: I found this picture of my mom the other day. It's not the one I was looking for, but it's one of the very few that I have of her. I thought it was cute so I figured I'd put it on here. I'm finally at a point that I THINK I can hang a picture of her in my house without breaking down. I'd give anything to be able to celebrate all the big stuff happening in our lives with her. I know she'd be so excited for us.

I swear I don't remember the sun being so bright, but in all of the pictures I found, everyone is squinting.... oh well!

(p.s. if any of my family wants a copy of this let me know and I'll email it to you)