just goofing around

Gee, I wonder where Carter is!





"Wherrrrrrre's Carter?!" (I love how he covers up his ears instead of his eyes!)

There he is!

black friday? why not!

My alarm goes off this morning at 4:38am and I sit up. I have to remind myself why I'm getting up. I've never really done the Black Friday rushes before, and somehow Nicky and I decided that it would be....what's the word? Oh, yeah. Fun!
We arrived at Walmart and parked in the furthest spot possible. We dash for the entrance and see the line. By the time that we got into line, we were backed up to the stop sign on the main road. (for those of you that are familiar with the Moscow Walmart, you know of which I speak!) It's insane. People are dashing about, running into each other, being rude, cutting people off, swearing at others, it was GREAT! I was in charge of getting a cart while Nicky ran off to electronics to pick up a couple MP3 players. (rocking deal on electronics!) I found some absolutely AMAZING deals for cheap! Pajamas for the kids were $4. I got 17 pairs. It's not overboard when you're planning ahead, right?



Just before 6am, we run to Joann's. There was also a line, but not nearly as intense as the ones that we had just been through at Walmart! We stocked up on the flannel, which was $1.50/yard! Normally it is $5.99! Mom, I knew that you'd be proud of me for standing in the cold waiting for them to open and running for flannel! I'm going to make a couple pairs of pajama pants for the boys and a couple nightgowns for Ryanna. So, this was amazing. I got 17 1/2 yards of flannel, 5 Butterick patterns for $.79/each and two wooden puzzles for the kids to color on for $.90. The gal rang it up and then I had two coupons that she let me use on top of that! I spent $32.89! I SAVED $134.55!! I'm so excited! Absolutely smoking' deals. This was my most favorite part.

After we bought our awesome fabric, we went to the mall. Checked out Old Navy and if you know me, I absolutely ADORE their socks. I haven't ever been so thrilled with any other brand than theirs. (ask me if you want my rave) I was digging through the clearance section and dug deep on the lowest shelf and WAH-LAH! There they were! Normally they can range between $1-$1.75/pair. Naw, today I found them for $.49/each. I bought 14 pairs.

Browsed the rest of the mall and ended up at Macy's. I found their clearance rack and bought work out pants and a jacket for under $20. Man, I'm good. I've even watched for this particular set to go on sale, and I got it for the lowest price it can get.

I got home and gave Ryan his Christmas present...his RCA MP3 player that I got for $49. Absolutely awesome! He can have his own for our long flights that are coming up.
I think I actually heard my credit card sigh out of sheer exhaustion. It was a very fun morning, and I'm glad that it was spent in Moscow. I can't imagine doing this in a larger city with even more people. Bring on the anxiety!

Naptime.

are you too?

My yahoo email account cannot be accessed for whatever reason. I'm connected to the internet and can visit anywhere else on the net, but NOT yahoo.

It's been going on for almost a week and I'm going to switch email accounts this weekend. It's very frustrating!

We've tried to figure it out and fix it, but I can't get my email.

Anyone else having issues with their yahoo email account?

P.S. Saw Twilight...again. This is twice this week so far. And I have the soundtrack. I'm SO not either obsessed!

what's going on here?

What is going on in these pictures? Some aren't what they seem....okay they are.

As you may have guessed, the kids decorated our gigantic Christmas tree. It's a mixture of SpongeBob/Dora/Simpsons/Hot Wheels and other random small ornaments. Technically, it's been out since Halloween but it's only been decorated since November 9th.

As you may have guessed, these are the kids at 5:15am last Friday morning. Since Ryan had to travel up to Seattle for his Moot Court competition, I had to drive him to the airport early early early! The kids had a hard day with that dreadful start.

As you may have guessed, the boys are enjoying cartoons on a working t.v. again!

As you may have guessed, Carter has gotten ready for bed and is reading his book. And snuggling with Lambie.

vampires and turkeys

Read it. SAW it! Loved it.

I didn't think that I'd get into it, since I have my own pictures conjurred up in my mind, but it was well-written and I enjoyed it. The music especially.

I want to go again. I NEED to go again.

(The Women's Basketball Team and their tall heads were in the way, following multiple seating changes on my behalf made for a rather frustrating visit to the movies!)

Moving on from that hearthrobbing vampire, onto the answers to the previous post of the Gobbler Quiz:

1) a-3500 feathers
2) d-wattle
3) c-1621
4) b- The Wampanoag
5) b-55 mph
6) a- putt

Happy Thanksgiving!

gobbler quiz

Since Thanksgiving is this week, test your noggin and see how much you know about turkeys!

1) About how many feathers does a mature turkey have?
a) 3500
b) 2000
c) 5000
d) 1500

2) What is the name for the skin that hangs from a turkey's neck?
a) swag
b) snark
c) garble
d) wattle

3) In what year was the first Thanksgiving celebrated?
a) 1493
b) 1778
c) 1621
d) 1622

4) Which Native people celebrated the first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims?
a) The Sioux
b) The Wampanoag
c) The Iroquois
d) The Choctaw

5) How fast can a wild turkey fly over a short distance?
a) 15 mph
b) 55 mph
c) 22 mph
d) 35 mph

6) What sound does a turkey make to communicate when there's danger near?
a) putt
b) gobble gobble
c) clack clack
d) turk turk turk

Good luck! Answers to be posted tomorrow!

brinzi, this one's for you...

Happy Birthday to my sweet sister-in-law, Sabrina! It's her special day today and I hope that she's having a wonderful time gallavanting (and studying, of course) around Europe these days. Love you, babe, have a wonderful birthday!


10 reasons why we love you:

10) You have a fabulous voice

9) "Copperboom, baby!" I love watching Gilmore girls with you

8) You dance beautifully

7) You have a cute sense of humor and always uplift those around you


6) You are my only friend that can will watch Antonio Banderas movies with over and over until 3 am and not tire of it

5) You are a wonderful example of faith and testimony

4) You have an infectious laugh

3) You are an exceptional aunt to your nieces and nephews


2) You are a terrific shoulder to lean on, you're always there for your friends

AND the number one reason why we love you is because.....

1) You're YOU! Thank you for being you. Love ya, SpicySalsa! Thanks for all the laughs over the years, you keep us on our toes!!! (get it?!)

She shares a birthday with another special lady, my Grandma Velta! Gram is spending this next week in Hawaii, so I'm sure that she's going to have a nice birthday also. Love both of these wonderful women!

bronco + vandal =

At our house, we're technically called Brondals. Or I guess you could call us Vancos. Either way, we are mixed. We bleed orange, blue, gold and black! I was so glad that Ryan's dad and older brother, could drive up and spend the weekend with us. It was nice to have them here and spend time with them!

The boys wearing their colors. I spy a 'Lil Vandal, do you?

The boys walking down to the Kibbie Dome to watch the game.

Ryanna wearing my scarf just to bug all the Broncos in the house. We got quite a rise out of the rabid fans when Dawson and I ran to the grocery store! He was in his BSU gear and I was wearing Vandal stuff. It was great!

They also played their Civilization game linked together. I think this was honestly Ryan's favorite part. He got another brother playing with them and the four of them played for hours!

It's kinda hard to tell from here, but Grandpa was teaching Dawson how to keep his eye on the BSU football and play catch!

Other things on the to-do list was to help us carry our broken t.v. out of the front room. We're sure going to miss that t.v! It was so fun to watch movies on. It's a HUGE beast of a television but was sure nice to watch. Sniff.
Thanks for coming to visit Eric and Gaylan, we love you!

By the way, BSU beat the Vandals 45-10. Still #9 in the BCS poll AND still UNBEATEN!!

it's only TWO credits?

I wake up this morning at 7 (after going to bed at 2:30 ALSO this morning) and find that Ryan still isn't home from school yet. He went to school yesterday morning around 8am and is still there. He's been there for 25 hours straight so far. This isn't his record, but it's getting awfully close.

I wonder if they have showers at the law school. They'd better think about investing in one.

This brief that he's been working on for weeks (see this previous post about it if you'd like the background) has taken his whole life! He eats, sleeps, breathes it and is constantly mulling it over in his head.

It's over today!! Hours and hours for this class and it's only 2 credits. I asked him what else he's getting out of it and he says, "It's fun?" Oooookay.

20 questions

Out of the Mouth of.....Dawson

1. What is something mom always says to you? "Come HERE!"
2. What makes Momma happy? "When I obey! Like putting my shoes on and cleaning up my room."
3. What makes mom sad? "When you tell me no."
4. How does mom make you laugh? "Make something like silly faces and tickle me."
5. What was mom like as a child? "Four."
6. Wow old is your mom? "I don't know. Maybe 15?" (good guess!)
7. Wow tall is your mom? "You're taller than me. But not taller than Daddy."
8. What is her favorite thing to do? "To go on a drive."
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? "You help the dishes and my clothes"
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? "You will do something. I don't know."
11. What is your mom really good at? "Playing piano."
12. What is your mom not very good at? "You can't do the computer games." True.
13. What does your mom do for her job? "You clean up with us and teach piano
14. What is your mom's favorite food? "Sloppy Joes and some fishes and ham and eggs and some yiddle breakfasts." (ewww, NOT eggs.) It's actually none of the above.
15. What makes you proud of your mom? "When you do my hair." Well, he's easy to please!
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? "Princess Leia." HUH? (Marisa, I think we've got this in common.)
17. What do you and your mom do together? "We goed on a date and get some drinks at the hot chocolate stand." (totally addicted to a stand that has the BEST hot chocolate in the history of hot chocolate)
18. How are you and your mom the same? "We're not, silly!"
19. How are you and your mom different? "I'm a boy and you're a girl, Momma. And Daddy's a boy and Carter's a boy and you and Ryanna is a girls."
20. How do you know your mom loves you? "When it gets nighttime and you make me be revant in the famry prayer."

I love my boy!

he's... our... family guy!

Stewart Gilligan Griffin was too cute to pass up in Walmart, so I bought him and put him on the mantle as part of the decor. However, someone thought it was just a toy so he played with it and then I found this poor little animated guy in Ryan's backpack on his way to school.

Poor Stewie, now he gets to spend his days down at the boring law school instead of being thrown around here at home.

I also want to add that I'm such a fan of Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein! They're sheer brilliance is constantly displayed! I love Alex on her little cameos on Gilmore girls. (Did you know that her real-life husband, Jackson Douglas, plays Jackson Belleville on GG? Neato huh?)

I love Alex's work and I love Seth's voice! Ahhhhhh!

Did you know that this series is banned in Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Iran, South Korea, South Africa, and Malaysia? Now, that's funny.

Now, all I need now is Bertram. Although, I'd love Brian too.

just another quirky tag

Kari tagged me and here it finally is! More fun stuff about me:

1) I absolutely am head-over-heels for Erasure. I adore their music and have quite the collection. It's the perfect music for every mood you're in and it makes me happy! I only need a couple more of their mainstream albums for my collection to be complete!

2) Not a single day goes by without me doing my crossword puzzles. I spend a lot of time on them and I love them. I feel that it keeps my brain from going to mush! I've done them daily since the summer of 2006 and I love it.

3) I can't walk a patch of clovers without stopping. I used to collect four-leaf-clovers when I was a kid and I had quite the collection!

4) I can wiggle my ears. And I do when people that are talking to me and are boring. I'll do it without noticing and they'll stop dead in their tracks and forget what they're saying. It gets me out of conversations that I don't want to be in, but it's also embarrassing!

5) Before I see a movie, I have to research it. I have to know the who, why, when, where, etc. I have to know the errors and goofs, and all that fun stuff. I just love it! I love knowing the connections on and off screen. It makes a movie all the more enjoyable. I LOVE movies...a little much sometimes.

6) Thanks to my MOM, I can't eat popcorn without it being "souped" up! That means eating Hot Tamales or Junior Mints with a couple kernels at a time...that makes for great popcorn! Now the buttered stuff is just plain BORING! Popcorn without sugar is a thing of the past!