I HEART the USA ~

I LOVE the 4th of July... I am SO thankful to live in a FREE LAND.

I am SO thankful for the sacrifices those before us have made so we can be FREE.

And I am thankful for the ones who currently fight for our Freedom today . . .

We are SO Blessed!!

I plan on teaching my kids about why we celebrate the 4th of July so they can love this country just as much as I do!

Most people in the United States celebrate the 4th of July, but do you know exactly why the holiday is so important to our country? Imagine how you would feel if someone older than you (maybe an older sister or brother) kept telling you what to do all of the time and kept taking more and more of your allowance. That is how the colonists felt in the years leading up to 1776. Great Britain kept trying to make the colonists follow more rules and pay higher taxes. People started getting mad and began making plans to be able to make their own rules. They no longer wanted Great Britain to be able to tell them what to do, so they decided to tell Great Britain that they were becoming an independent country.

The Congress met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and they appointed a committee to write a formal document that would tell Great Britain that the Americans had decided to govern themselves. The committee asked Thomas Jefferson to write a draft (first try) of the document, so he worked for days, in absolute secret, until he had written a document that he thought said everything important that the committee had discussed. On June 28, 1776, the committee met to read Jefferson's "fair" copy. They revised the document and declared their independence on July 2, 1776. They officially adopted it on July 4, 1776. That is why we call it "Independence Day." Congress ordered that all members must sign the Declaration of Independence and they all began signing the "official" copy on August 2, 1776. In January of the next year, Congress sent signed copies to all of the states.

The Declaration of Independence is more than just a piece of paper. It is a symbol of our country's independence and commitment to certain ideas. A symbol is something that stands for something else. Most people can look at a certain little "swoosh" and know that it stands for "Nike." Well, the signers of the Declaration of Independence wanted the citizens of the United States to have a document that spelled out what was important to our leaders and citizens. They wanted us to be able to look at the Declaration of Independence and immediately think of the goals we should always be working for, and about the people who have fought so hard to make these ideas possible. The people who signed the Declaration risked being hanged for treason by the leaders in Great Britain. They had to be very brave to sign something that would be considered a crime! So every time we look at the Declaration of Independence, we should think about all of the effort and ideas that went into the document, and about the courage it took for these people to stand up for what they knew was right -- independence!

I was able to see a copy of the Declaration of Independence a few years ago with my family in Downtown Sacramento. It was a really neat experience. We had to wait a little while to see it, but it was worth the wait. Not sure when it will come around again, but you should see it if you can!

HAPPY (early) 4th of JULY!!

Back Street's Back ALRIGHT ~

Back Street as in the BACKSTREET BOYS my friends...

YES I went to the concert... don't judge me!! Amalia and I went last night. We had such a good time at the NKOTB concert, we figured we could give these guys a try...
They were OK... not great... just OK. Here we are WAITING for the show to start, our seats were nice, no one in front of us blocking our view...

Our tickets said it started at 7:30, so we got there at about 7:15. The OPENING act did not start until 8:30 AND he SUCKED!! He was HORRIBLE! I am not even going to tell you his name because then I would be giving him free publicity, and he was NOT GOOD! He sang a song about "Wanting to get me naked" and then his last song was about "When she turns 18, she does not have to do what you want her to" ... like telling his girlfriends father that when she is 18 his daughter will choose him over her dad... WHAT A DOOSH.

Anyways they started the actual concert at like 9:05... I could have put my kids to bed and THEN came to the concert! Luckily I was with one of my besties so we just talked the whole time. The funny thing is that I did not realize they sang some of the songs that I liked. I was like " Oh I like this song, wait THEY sing this??" SO FUNNY!

The main problem was that we were comparing them to NKOTB and there is just NO comparison. Most of the songs BSB played were slow romantic songs. And they would sing a new song between an old song. Amalia and I sat for probably HALF the show. Oh, and they were missing a team member, so that was a little weird. I mean I don't know when he left, but whatever. As you can tell I am SO over it... here we are near the end of the concert...

I know I look excited, but I assure you that was FAKE excitement...

They had some nice dancers and they had alright choreography, but nothing to write home about. I am glad I went because I needed to get out of the house away from the kids after today. Hailey got into my Bare Minerals Makeup, and that got me upset to say the least. I always have fun with my girl Amalia, and that is all that matters really. Good memories with GREAT friends! ~

LOVE YOU AMALIA! Thanks for getting me to go!!

Bowling with the Kids ~

We got FREE games of Bowling on the back of Tony's Pizza Boxes so we decided to take the kids and have a good time!! They LOVED it! The lasted about 8 rounds then they were done. Matt and I just finished it out for them . . .

I LOVE these collage things, because then I can get all the pictures I wanted to get into the blog without having to upload them all ONE by ONE... The kids had a blast on the motorcycle's before we started to bowl... can't you tell. After a good game we hit up Red Robin to use Matt's FREE Birthday Burger before it expired... after we got home the kids wanted to watch a movie. We put it on, and not 5 minutes later BOTH the kids were asleep. NICE.

Harden Happy Birthday!!

Ty Harden turned 6 and Haley Harden turned 3!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDIES!!

My Hailey and the Hardens Haley have done SO many things together...

They were blessed together, born within a month of each other, named the same name...

They are REALLY good together. We all know my Hailey is NUTS, the other Haley is sweet as can be and with two older brothers does not mind playing with my little girl ONE bit!

They had a joint birthday party for the kids because their birthdays are so close. It was fun! They had a Reptile Guy come and show us all these CRAZY things, we ate some GREAT food (ribs and chicken YUMO) and played on the water slide they have for this HOT FRESNO SUMMER! It was a good time had by all! Thanks Hardens for inviting us, we are lucky our little girls are so close in age so we can enjoy these fun times together!!

Twilight Trilogy . . .

NEVER make plans when it comes to someone else deciding your destiny...

Learn to GO WITH THE FLOW . . .

I say that because our group that was going to see the Twilight Trilogy got THROWN for a LOOP yesterday. We had a schedule, and everyone picked a time slot, and we thought we were going to all be able to help each other out and be able to sit together...

Thank you Sierra Vista Cinema 16 (boooooo, hissssss) for being TOTAL jerks and changing the rules on us. In past years you have been able to save spots for others in your group because lets face it, no one is going alone, and most people work. Also previously these movies have been during the school year so the tennie boppers have not been able to line up early and we appreciated that.
WELL, instead of allowing people to rotate holding a groups spot, the Management at Sierra Vista Cinema 16 (boooo, HISSSS)decided to NUMBER your ticket as you got in line. Now I don't have a job so you would think this would be simple for me... THINK AGAIN!! I am a mother for TWO a daughter who just turned three, and my little man who is 17 months. Do I REALLY want to have my kids out there if I don't HAVE to??
SO Matt drove by the Theater at 6:00 am on his way to work and said there were not many people out waiting. I drove by at 7:00 am and did not think we needed to get there for a little while. One of our group members decided she wanted to get there early and wait in line and showed up just after I drove past. She waited in line until her replacement came at 10:00, and then went home. At 10:30 the Management let the replacements know that they would be numbering and stamping your ticket when you got in line, and then checking them every hour to make sure the people were still there. So if you missed two consecutive check ins, then you were OUT OF LUCK and at the back of the line. The girls started calling everyone and letting us know this NEW RETARDED RULE. I got toys, lunch and the kids in the car and was there by 11:00. And it was ALREADY hot let me tell you!! We had two sun shades so we were covered, but there was only a nice breeze every hour or so... I got lucky number 40...

I ended up calling Matt at work at about 12:00 BEGGING him to please take the kids for me, and to take off work early if he could. My knight in shinning armour showed up at 1:00 and took the rosy~red faced children home. WHAT a relief! When the management came around to check the tickets, some people had to go home and feed the kids, or head back to work, so all the Midnight Eclipse Girls in a different line would help us out for check ins and be "the person holding the ticket" and we would help when their check happened as well. I had not showered nor had I grabbed my TEAM JACOB shirt (see post below) so I ran home after a check in to get ready, and was right back in line and only missed one check in, but had a "stand in person hold my ticket" for the check. SWEET!! It was nice to get home and get ready, it was then that I realized how excited I was about seeing the movie in the first place! :) Things got a little more stressful for us when the NEW Manager came out to check the tickets and would not allow "stand in's" you HAD to be there for the next check or you were OUT of luck and at the BACK of the line. It was close enough to when we had all planned on being there, so it was good for us that we all got our "places in line".
We got into the theater around 5:00 pm and the BEST thing they had done ALL day was number the seats with tape and a stamp then you would take that number and put it on the back of your ticket and that was your seat for ALL three movies... even SWEETER!

We all got seats together, and then went to eat dinner before Twilight started at 6:45. Panera Bread was right around the corner, so a few of us went there. The food there is SO good! I got a half sandwich and half salad. YUMMMM! We went back and saw all the Midnight Eclipse girls STILL waiting outside and I felt a little bad for them, but not too much! We watched Twilight, LOVED it, had a 15 minute intermission then watched New Moon. The Midnight Eclipse girls were just getting into their theater when New Moon ended. LOVED New Moon as well! We had an hour intermission so I went and got some snacks then went home to check in. I made it back just in time for some previews and the ECLIPSE movie! It was SO much better than the other two movies! They just keep getting better and better!! It was funny and sad, and emotional. It was GREAT! And today as I sit writing this post I think it was SO smart watching the other two movies before seeing the new one. Great way to catch up!
I would SO go and see the movie again, but I will NEVER go to Sierra Vista Cinema 16 (BOOOOOO, HISSSSSSS) EVER again! I plan a permenant boycott for all the "crap" they pulled. I will be writing a few letters and making a few phone calls today regarding the "Rules" they pulled out of no where. There were breastfeeding mothers having to go back and forth all day, and even a pregnant woman out in the heat... COME ON, a little human decency is ALL we ask!! If I get a free ticket who wants it?

Are YOU ready for some TWILIGHT??

The girls in my ward and I are hitting up the local Movie theatre today to see the TRILOGY...

Twilight, New Moon, THEN Eclipse...

I am SO excited about it, I am going to MAKE sure I get a nap during the day. (Twilight starts at 6:45 and Eclipse starts at midnight!!)

And since we are Stay At Home Mothers we are not able to spend ALL day long waiting outside the movie theater like the out of school teenie boppers are able to... so we have a schedule for all of us to take shifts. We are going to have a BLAST!

Are you a big Twilight Fan??

What makes this EVEN more fun is that these girls have gotten together for the last two movies and made shirts that had the Twilight or New Moon written on them...

I am not as DIE-HARD as them so I decided I would make a shirt I could wear to the next movie no problem...

What do you think???

TEAM

JACOB BABY!!

All done by HAND by yours truly... with the WONDERFUL things from my husbands work...
iLoveToCreate.com is making me a HAPPY HOMEMAKER with all the fun little things I get to use. Get yours and start LOVING to CREATE with me!!

This plus a shirt was all I needed! ~

GLITTER ~

NO I am not talking about that HORRIBLE Mariah Carey Movie 'Glitter'... haha.

I am talking about THIS . . .

There are ALMOST no words.

Just some "words of advise" if you are going to let your kid play with the crayon-markers box... make sure you take out the glitter you put in there back before you had kids. I actually saw it in there, but I had NO idea she would know what it was enough to open it up and play with it...

Not only was glitter ALL over her, it was ALL over the table, the floor and the chair she was sitting in.

(little side note; she put her own panties on and they are backwards... hehe)

From the BOTTOM of her TOES...

To the TOP of her little head!

Thank you very much DYSON vacuum for helping mommy and daddy clean up the mess. Luckily for me this happened RIGHT before Matt got home from work, so he was able to enjoy the "hot mess" as well! This is one time I was GLAD she had taken all her clothes off . . . the clean up was a little easier.

World Cup update...

The USA is out of the World Cup, and I would rather NOT talk about that right now... SAD...
They ended up getting first in the group, but lost in the knock out round...
Please tell me my life will go on...

SUMMER TIME ~

And the Living is EASY ~

This is my view from my swing chair...

Two little kids enjoying the pool...

Not a care in the world but pool toys and water...

Man I LOVE these times!!

Our kids sure are LUCKY! I love thinking back to when I was a kid playing in the little pool in our backyard... GOOD TIMES! ~

Snails

This post might show just how ignorant I can be but whatever... I have better things to think about in life than the "LITTLE things", but it was just so fun the other night when the kids were playing with Snails in the front yard. It got me thinking... how do snails pro-create?? Sure I could google it, but while I was sitting there with my little ones looking at the snails I wondered . . .

And YES those are Hailey's hands picking up the baby snail... she has NO fear.

In fact Hailey found a family of snails. She brought them from the grass to the front step.

Did you know Snails Poo... I thought they needed to, but I never REALLY thought more about it until we saw one... Matt and I think Hailey literally scared the CRAP out of it...

She would hold her had still right next to the snails for them to slither up in it...

She would say " Oh Mommy WOOK... It's the BAAABY!"

She LOVED seeing these little things, and it was SO interesting watching them. She sure is a curious little loving girl when it comes to precious things like this...

And while Hailey was playing with the Snails...

Landon was running up and down the sidewalk to our front porch in his diaper.

Call me "white trash" if you want, but this kid is

 A-freakin-Dorable

 running around in his little diaper!

p.s. I STILL don't know how they pro-create... maybe I'll google it someday.