A disclaimer: Just to clarify....

...my last post was a contest entry and by no means my way of sharing how I live on a regular basis. This was an isolated incident and not something I would normally share with the world. I'm not the best housekeeper out there (hey I've got 4 little piggies) but I don't function well in that much chaos. I appreciate the words of sympathy and encouragement, but please don't think less of me because my house looked like this once. I have actually been working really hard to keep my counters clean everyday, my floors picked up and table all clear. Life can be really crazy with 4 boys, especially one's that rarely if ever help clean up. I promise my house will never be perfect, I just don't have the time or desire to neglect my kids that much. But I'm definately trying to keep it tidy and manageable.

I don't mean to brag but.....

....my house is messier than yours!!

So my friend Keri posted pictures of the mess she woke up to on Monday morning. She's having a contest of the messiest house I guess. Well, I'm entering the contest Keri! My kids have been sick for weeks, Mason has missed his fifth day of school in two weeks. When he's sick he whines for me to cuddle with him every 5 minutes. There is no house cleaning for me. I had to take him to the docter at 5pm yesterday so Dave brought pizza home for dinner since I was gone. We tried to pick up his prescription at Target after the DR. and they never got it so we left. When I got home Dave left for Young Mens and I inhaled some cold pizza and began our nightly routine of bath, books, and bedtime. I didn't come back downstairs until 9pm where I saw the huge mess. Dave had returned from his activity and was playing video games on the Playstation. I plopped down next to him, exhausted and we just had our first conversation of the evening. The mess went untouched.
When I came down this morning and remembered the huge mess I just wanted to cry. Then I thought of Keri's contest.... I could turn this mess into a winning entry! Well, maybe I'm not the only mom that deals with this on a daily basis, but you can't win unless you enter, right! So what can I win??? A 7 day cruise to Mexico? A romantic weekend in Carmel? A shopping spree to the Galleria? I'm guessing not, but recognition would be fine I suppose.
I will say, the mess already looks 10 times better. When I'm motivated I can clean quickly, but this is still where it all began. Maybe I'll post "after" pictures later if I get it lookin' really good! Thank you to all for the feelings of sympathy and pity, they are totally deserved!

Our goldfish NEMO

Logan and Mason each won a fish at the school Harvest Festival in November. We wanted to Noah to have one too so we all went to PetSmart to buy supplies for the fish and let Noah pick one out too. Logan and Mason's fish died after only a week or two. But Noah's fish Nemo is still hanging around. He is a strong fish, let me tell you.

I'm really the only one who takes care of him. A week ago, while I was cleaning his bowl, I accidentally poured him down the garbage disposal. I looked up at Mason who was watching me and said "Oops, I guess Nemo is gone now. " Mason actually laughed. I felt really bad and kind of anxious. I looked down the sink and saw his life-less body sitting on top of last night's noodles. I realized he might still be alive so I reached in and grabbed a handful of noodles and Nemo and threw it in the fish bowl quickly, and too my surprise he started swimming around!!! Yahoo, Nemo is still alive, I didn't kill the family pet!
What a strong fish! He has been through a lot, that fish! We sure love Nemo!
Noah loves to climb on the counter and watch Nemo swim around. I read that kids who have a pet fish are actually better at math than kids without a fish. Not sure why, but at least my kids will have a good chance. We love you Nemo!

Introducing the CULLEN FAMILY!!

A huge treat for TWILIGHT fans!!!!
Okay, so I am beyond excited, I'm hyperventalating! This is the first look at the actors and actresses cast as the Cullen Family in the Twilight movie. (LtoR: Emmett, Rosalie, Esme, Edward, Carlisle, Alice, & Jasper) I'm warming up to Rob Pattinson as Edward...Alice looks great, and Rosalie looks good. Emmett should be bigger in my opinion, and Jasper too. I imagined Carlisle and Esme a tad older, but all in all not bad. This means that things are really happening now and I am so excited!! This will be the most anticipated movie of my life so far. I have never been this excited for a movie to come out, EVER! Check out the other pictures on Stephenie Meyer's site. http://stepheniemeyer.com/twilight_movie.html

PLEASE COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!!

OH HAPPY DAY TO ALL TWILIGHT FANS!!

We ROCK!

So I am OBSESSED with Rock Band now! It's the first video game Dave has ever owned that I'm actually asking if we can play. Actually, we've been inviting people over to play on the weekends for 8 weeks in a row. I started out just singing the songs, the instraments seemed too hard for my little brain. But I decided to give the guitar a shot and I started to LOVE IT! It is so much fun to play and it's an excellent party game. We have a few friends who love to play with us: Matt & Rachel Ludlow, Brantley & Erin Garrett, and our new veteran Rock Banders Andrew & Tiffani Morgan.
They are quite impressive I must say. Andrew totally rocks the guitar, his fingers move so fast it makes me dizzy. Tiffani does it all, she plays guitar, drums and sings. She encouraged me to give the drums a try, I did and did okay. I think I'll stick to singing and guitar for now.

We've had the Morgan's over two weeks in a row, they are so fun to play with. Their son Carson just sits there and soaks it all in. He's preparing for his future as a member of the band!

A Happy Valentine's Day to me!!

So this year was Dave's year to plan our Valentine's date. I reminded him about two weeks ahead so he could start planning. He did an awesome job!! He secured my mom to babysit then wisked me off on our date! First we drove to old Rocklin and I couldn't imagine where we were going on this side of town. We stopped at a cute little "boutique cupcakery", as they call it. Dave had gone a week ago and put in an order for some gourmet cupcakes. We had to pick them up before dinner because they closed earlier than we would make it back. The shop is darling, with a bunch of cute women busying themselves with cupcake orders. Dave had ordered four kinds: red velvet, apple pie, chocolate mint, and regular chocolate. They threw in an extra coconut for free! That just made my night right there, that Dave had planned this out ahead and it was something special and different.

The cupcakes are amazing and I highly recommend anyone in the Rocklin area try them! It's a super fun dessert with TONS of varieties to choose from. They have a website, PLEASE check them out: http://www.icingonthecupcake.com/

We proceeded to dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory. I know, I know, not super romantic. But, Dave doesn't like pasta and he took me to a pasta place because he knows how much I adore pasta, that is so sweet of him! I love their spaghetti with Mizithra cheese in brown butter sauce, mmmmm my favorite. Actually Dave ordered it too and we both loved it! We rarely get to have an uninterrupted conversation so it was wonderful to talk with each other. This was a great Valentine's Day for both of us! Thank you so much Dave for planning such a fun evening, I love you!

"Twilight" MOVIE NEWS!!!!

I can't even tell you all how excited I am for this movie to come out. No joke, we are all going the day it comes out, the minute it comes out, even if I have to go at midnight (right Emily!)!! That theater will be so full of women dying to see what they've made of Edward.....they better make us happy, darn it! I check Stephenie Meyer's site now and then for updates. Here is one that was fun. Click the link for some fun "Twilight" movie news!

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/02/04/kristen-stewart-wants-a-twilight-series-that-sucksin-all-the-right-ways/

The Brasher's Valentine's Party

Roman turned 2 years old!!

That's right, my baby is now 2 years old! It's gone too fast! He still seems like a baby to me....

Today was his birthday and since it was Sunday and most of the kids were still sick, we didn't have anything planned. I took him to church with me while the sick ones stayed home with Dad. He had fun in nursery. He had a nice long nap after church and then we opened his presents. He still isn't all that great about opening wrapping paper so we put all his presents in bags to make it easy on him. He had fun seeing all his fun new stuff.

He is saying "cheese" in this picture, he's great at posing for pictures. We got him this little water pump for the bath. All the kids had fun with it at bathtime. He got lots of little cars to play with, which he loves, and a cool ball, and some books. He's such a sweet part of our family, we are so blessed to have him. He is such a talker these days. He even sings his own little songs. Happy Birthday buddy, we love you soooo much!

Happy 4th Birthday NOAH!!

My sweet little Noah is now four! That is crazy! I was pregnant with him when we moved here, the time sure flies by. He is such a sweetie pie. We had his birthday party yesterday afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese. He's been asking ,"How many more days 'til my party?" for the last two weeks! He had so much fun. I, unfortunately, was sick the day before and the day of his birthday but I cleaned up in time for the party. Poor Mason lay on my lap with a fever almost the whole party. Because of being sick I forgot my camera at home (errrrrr!) so I only got a few pictures of him opening presents when we got home from the party. He got so many presents, it was like Christmas all over again! Most of his darling little friends from preschool were there and a handful of friends from church. It was great!
"I'm four!!"

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My Comment Challenge

Ok, so some of you may have noticed I extended a little "challenge" to all those who are out there "blog-stalking" me. I seriously don't care who looks at my blog, but it would be cool if you left a comment now and then! Hey, I'll admit it.....I totally blog-stalk. I'm always trying to find people I know through clicking on other peoples link-lists. I usually end up looking at the blogs of complete strangers though. I love it! I'm pretty much obsessed with blogging so I spend a lot of time at my computer. I deserve some entertainment now and then, come on people!! So, I have finally received my first two "Comment Challenge" winners. Not a bad start, a little shy though. I want to laugh guys, keep trying! Check out the side bar to see what my blog-stalkers had to say....

PS- Edward & Bella- If you haven't already noticed, you guys are on my list of people who need to start a blog!! Get to blogging, I need some info on what happened after Eclipse!!! I'm dying here!! Thanks for stalking!!

Our new Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson

"Thomas S. Monson is the new president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it was announced today at a news conference in the Church Office Building. President Monson, 80, succeeds President Gordon B. Hinckley, who died 27 January 2008.
The new world leader of the Church has called to serve with him in the First Presidency, the top governing body of the 13-million-member faith, President Henry B. Eyring, 74, first counselor, and President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, 67, second counselor. "
I can't say this was unexpected but a thrill nonetheless. I have a great love for President Monson and the wonderful things he has done for the world. I remember so many of the touching stories President Monson has shared with us over the years. He, like President Hinckley, has been in the first presidency since I have been a member of the church. I look forward to seeing the great work he will continue to do on the Earth as part of his duty to our Heavenly Father. We love you President Monson!

Our last night together as a ward family.....

Mormons are a funny bunch....

This week has been emotionally draining for many of the "ward-split speculators" in my ward, myself included. On Sunday, our wonderful Bishop Jason Merrill read a letter from our Stake Presidency that all of the Lincoln wards were invited to a special "Re-alignment" meeting. This meeting will be this Sunday night at 7pm in our stake center and involves Lincoln 1st, 2nd, & 3rd wards and they will be creating Lincoln 5th ward. Wow!! People have been wondering when this would happen. Lincoln 2nd ward is GINORMOUS, we have over 800 members in our ward. As soon as our time changed to 10:30am from 8:30am all of a sudden we gained like 200 more members (not morning people I suppose). We were filling up the foyers with families who couldn't fit in the cultural hall during sacrament, it was crazy. Well, I believe the stake felt inspired that now was the time to make the change. This is hilarious. As soon as people hear "the ward is splitting" everyone goes crazy speculating....

"Oh, I'm sure Brother So-and-so is going to be the new bishop, definitely bishop material....."

"They can't possibly cut Such-and-such neighborhood out of the ward, that's where all the youth live...."

"Well, I heard from a really, really good source that our Stake will be splitting soon, so this is only temporary...."

"I work with the boy scouts and they showed me the new scout troop boundaries including the new ward boundaries, they're cutting your neighborhood out of the ward....." (Thanks Josh!)

"There's no WAY they'll release Brother Watchamacallit, he's only been in for 2 years...."

"How could they draw the boundary up Watsadoodle street, they need the leadership of the Smithjoneson Family in our ward!!"

Nobody knows for sure what they're doing (unless they're directly involved), but it's just so fun to speculate, wonder, predict, and hypothesize what might happen on Sunday night. This is such typical Mormon behavior, it's just part of our culture, it's what we do. I'm sure there are those rogue saints out there who just sit back, content in their faith and testimony that it is all inspired. I too have a testimony that even these insignificant life changes are truly inspired of God, but it's so much fun to go CRAZY wondering what future ward lies ahead......