High Trash

Tonight my sister cut my kids' hair. Halle wanted hers cut short, but I wasn't big on that idea. So we compromised and cut it right under her shoulders. After my sister cut Carter's she secretly styled his hair in a mohawk when I wasn't looking. (She thought she was hilarious.) When I saw it I said, "He looks like a little white trash kid." Halle misunderstood and said, "Mom, why do you think I look like high trash with my short hair?"

I think I will coin the term "high trash" and use it to describe myself. A little class with a bit of trash, that's high trash for ya. LOL!

Night of Terror!!!!

Okay so it wasn't that bad, but I thought the title sounded good.

Here is the burglarized story for those of you who haven't heard it yet.

Back in 2002 we lived in Nampa, ID. (Not the cream of the crop city in Idaho, but our neighborhood was actually really nice.) Anyway, at about 2 AM Halle woke up crying, so I crossed the hall to get her and heard a rumbling down the stairs on my main floor of the house. I thought it was just the ice maker in the fridge, but when I heard another noise coming from the basement I knew something was up. I thought that maybe my dog was in the laundry room eating or something.

I ran to Alyssa's room to make sure she was okay (as this was still the time when the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart was fresh in my mind) and there I noticed my GREAT watch dog sound asleep on the bed with Alyssa. That's when I knew in my gut that someone was in my house. I woke Jarom up (which is a miracle in itself, because he is the HEAVIEST sleeper in the world) and told him I thought someone was in our house.

At this time we had no means of self defense in our home. The only thing he could think of to use was the curling iron. So off he went curling iron in hand to defend his family. (It's a great joke now and now we keep a baseball bat handy. We're not gun people.) He noticed that the basement door was wide open, so he threw on the closest coat (which happened to be mine) and headed outside to see if he could see anyone.

I grabbed Halle, and called 911. They asked me if I was positive that the intruder was out of the house. I wasn't, so I then made my way to the kitchen and grabbed a butcher knife. They also said that they were sending K-9 units and to stay in the house. Well.....Jarom was outside!! So I went out and tried to yell for him, but he didn't answer. I was so afraid they were going to see him and think he was the burglar. But finally he came around the corner carrying my guitar and his laptop.

Inside my coat pocket, (which he had on) was my set of keys. About 2 years earlier I had gone to a church activity where they taught us about self defense and they gave each of us an emergency whistle to put on our key chains. (It's still on mine to this day.)

Jarom said that he saw a guy on a bike stopped in the middle of the road, digging through a bag. Jarom blew my whistle at the guy and it scared him, so he dropped the big heavy stuff (guitar and laptop) and took off. Jarom was able to give a description to the police and by the time they got to our house they already had the creep in custody.

He had another big duffel bag on him full of stuff from our garage and cars and also from other people's garages. He just must have been cruising all the unlocked garages in the neighborhood. Unfortunately that was the first and ONLY time we had ever left our garage unlocked and we learned our lesson the hard way.

This guy had a warrant out for his arrest and had been in trouble many times before for drugs. The police call him "Satan Boy" because he has "Satan" tattooed on his knuckles. (I'm so glad I didn't know that until a long while after he had been in my house.) This guy is STILL in jail because he keep breaking his probation and we still get notices about him.

Thankfully all he was after was things to sell for drug money and he wasn't out to hurt anyone. Six cop cars later and after the police finger printed our house (which was horrifying because the house was a DISASTER, how the guy didn't kill himself in the mess of the basement in the dark is still a mystery to me) and took a bunch of photos, the event was over and we went to bed. And do you know what? Not ONE of our neighbors even noticed the trauma had gone down. So if you're ever up on the middle of the night, just take a quick peek out your window to make sure your neighbors are okay.
Oh, and get a whistle on your keychain! It just might save your life one day.

The Rumors are Flyin'

When the girls got home from school today I asked them what stories that had heard about last night's exciting events. The stories were HILARIOUS and reminded me of all the exaggerating when I was a kid. (There was a "haunted" house that everyone SAW ghosts and burglars in all the time.)

One boy swears he threw his football from his bedroom window at one of the bad guys.

Another kid says a bad guy came to his door all painted in red so that it looked like blood.

Somebody else knows somebody who's door got knocked on.

And they go on and on. It's so funny to hear kids tell their own versions of what happened, when in all likelihood these kids were all in bed asleep and didn't hear about it until this morning.

Carter Funnies

Yesterday I was putting some Chloreseptic on a canker (NOT cancer) that Kate has inside her lip. Carter saw me and said, "Oh, that's ouchy lip sauce stuff. I don't want any of that lip sauce."

And then, yesterday he came down with a fever. He was laying on the bed and told me his head was hurting. So I said, "Oh shoot, you have an ouchy head?" And he said, "Yes, my head's got a sunburn." So I asked him if he was okay and he said, "No, everything hurts!" It was so sad and pathetic. He seems to be feeling better today though thank goodness!

Oh What a Night!

Tonight as I was putting my kids to bed, my phone rang. (Miraculously I beat Carter to it.) It was the 911 dispatch. I instantly thought, "Which kid dialed 911 this time?!" But the phone call was a warning to all residents in my area to stay inside, lock all doors and windows, and not let anyone in our homes because armed suspects were on the loose. Ay-yi-yi, NOT what a wife likes to hear when the hubby is gone.

Not wanting to scare my kids, I nonchalantly made sure all my windows and doors were locked, and closed my curtains and blinds. Several people called to make sure we were okay and that we knew about it. (Thanks for the concern everyone.) My mom asked if I had a baseball bat or anything near by that I could use if needed. I told her I had my curling iron and whistle ready. LOL! (These worked when we were burglarized last time.)

Then I got on the phone with my parents and peaked out my windows to see if I could see anything going down. (That's the red neck in me coming out. I love a good police chase, and I was really wishing I had my dad's old police scanner to listen too.) Sure enough, cop cars and news vehicles were everywhere. The cops circled my block about 6 different times. And the news reports said that shots had been fired and someone was dead. This kind of thing does NOT happen in my town, let alone in my neighborhood. It was a little frightening.

Anyway, when all was said and done, just about 2 blocks from my house, a high speed chase in a stolen vehicle (which the suspects had demanded keys from a family) ended with a bad wreck. A suspect was killed in that, another suspect was injured, and a third was still on the loose. The last suspect held a woman hostage in her home, but the police were able to come in and no one was harmed. SOOOO scary. We have several friends from my kids' classes that live right in the area where it all came to an end and I can't wait to hear their versions of the story. I really hope they weren't involved at all other than witnessing the events. The whole thing took about 2 1/2 hours. In fact, I just barely got the call from the 911 dispatch saying that it was over. Here's a news video about the mess.

Makes for a pretty crazy night and makes me appreciate having Jarom home a whole lot more!

Even the Dog is Longing For Spring

Johnny found the 2 foot patch of grass we have in the backyard to soak up some sun today. I had to take this picture through the window so he wouldn't get up. But I thought is was funny how it seems like even the dog is longing for spring.

While Dad's Away....

We'll play Guitar Hero!
Getting my trash kicked by my 7 year old.

Seriously, I am the orange side of the arrow(see how it's not even close to pointing to me?), Halle was killing me. She was SO excited!

"Mom, I can take you laying down!" Is he not the funniest kid?!

Bye Dad

Today Jarom left for Boise, where he'll be for a month. It's a long time, but at least he's in the same country (and time zone) as us this time around. And he's close enough that we can visit on the weekends, which is what we plan to do. I thought it would be fun to try to get family picture before he left, but I think we had better luck with the nutty photo. See you Friday Hon, we miss you already! (May the force be with me.)

P.S. HOORAY!!!!! Spell check is back!!

Signs of Spring

Here in my city, we don't look for budding crocuses and yellow daffodils to tell us spring is on the way.

Rather we watch for:
Our yards, slowly reclaiming themselves from the foot of snow still on top.

Bits and pieces of the road shining through!

Melty dirty piles of plowed snow banks are EVERYWHERE this time of year. (I honestly didn't know that spring could be colorful until I moved to Boise.)

Something yellow has bloomed in my yard!! My fire-hydrant is back!

And of course dirty cute kids longing for summer dress weather can be found too.

Oh this sunny weather is TEASING me!!! Bring on Spring, (please!).

Happy Birthday Annie

Today is little Anna's 6th birthday. Annie is such a little spunky bolt of lightning and she's absolutely adorable. She can take on the toughest opponent and still come out victorious. We all get such a kick out of this kid and we are so glad she's part of our family. Happy Birthday Annie. Hope you had a wonderful birthday party yesterday!!

American Idol Girls

So here are my top three picks for the ladies. (Thanks to Becky for miraculously NOT erasing her DVR'd copy of the show, so that I could watch it. Somehow my DVR turned off after the 3rd girl performed. I was so annoyed!)

First up, Asia. I think she gave a nice performance, good voice and nice stage presence. Fun to watch too.

This girl has a great voice as well and was fun to watch too. Plus her big hair is memorable.

I think Carly has a really nice voice, but she does a weird thing with her mouth that makes her look like a vampire or something. And her performance was a little boring. But as far as voices go, she's in the top three to me.

Overall, I wasn't that impressed with the girls. There was nothing REALLY amazing about any of the performances. Hopefully they'll get better as they go along. I am in complete agreeance with Becky about who will go home tonight. Let's see if we're right!

Booger Bugs

This morning Halle told me that during the night her nose was kind of stuffy. And then she said, "And now, my nose is drooling boogers out. I hate this germ. He gets in your nose and makes boogers and snot come out all over the place." Doesn't she just have a way with words to create quite the visual? What would I ever do without her?

American Idol

Yes, it's true I do LOVE American Idol. (My friend Dayne says its the choir nerd coming out in me. He's probably right.) I thought it would be fun to put my top 3 picks of guys and girls and see if any become the winner. So here are my top 3 guys.

Love this kid! He's just so cute. I was saying that last night and my girls said, "Do you have a crush on him?" I told them that I only had a crush on Daddy, but if I was 13 again, I'd probably hang this kid's picture on my wall. I love everything about him. His raspy voice, personality, cute little face, perfomance skills, I just think he's great. Plus he's from nearby UT, so that's a bonus.

This guy has a great voice and I think he looks really professional while performing. He's naturally fun to watch. Plus that Australian accent isn't bad to listen to either!

I can't decide if this dude is cute or creepy, but I do enjoy accoustic guitar and he did a nice performance with his. His voice was very nice, so as of last night, he's in my top three. We'll have to see how he does as time goes on.

So what do you all think? If you watch American Idol (and I SO know I am not alone) post your top 3 picks and lets see if we get it right. (YES, this is a tag to all American Idol watchers, let me know if you do it so I can hear your opinion.) Can't wait to hear the girls tonight.

Does your mother-in-law love you?

My friend Jennie, (who doesn't do a blog, but totally should) introduced me to these yummy things.

It's tortilla dough all ready to be cooked. You can get them at WalMart next to the cream cheeses. They are so good straight out of the pan. The writing on the back says that Mexican tradition has it that if your tortillas puff when you cook them, then your mother-in-law loves you. Guess mine loves me! :)

What do you do with a drunkin' baby?

After church this past Sunday, Kate sat down on the floor, downed a Gatorade (and dripped it all over her shirt) and passed out. We all got a good laugh because of her. (What is it with my kids and sleeping in weird places? Heaven knows they didn't get this from me.)

Little Sleepy Boy

Carter fell asleep while waiting for his turn to use the computer. It cracks me up how his legs are up and everything. This kid....

Manwaring Cabin Trip '08

Thanks to Becky for loaning me some cabin trip pictures. This is such a fun tradition with Jarom's family and my kids look forward to it every year. We rent 3 cabins to house 36-40 people and play and relax for three fun days.

As I said before, the major mishap this time around was the porch collapsing. Aside from having to move to a different cabin, there was no harm done to anybody. I can't say the same for the cabin however.
The way the patio should have looked. Check out all the snow on top!

No more patio and porch!

Me standing where the path to the front door should have been.

Alyssa digging out a snowcave that Ben started for the kids.

Carter all wrapped up and ready to go for a ride.

Kate warming her hands up in my giant snowmoblie mittens. Kate loved riding the machines and being pulled behind. When she first got on one, she couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry, but then it was pure love.

Let's get this party started! Halle and Misssy waiting for the tube to take off.

Becky taking the grand kids for a ride.

When we're not playing in the snow we like to hang out and play lots of games in the cabins.
Playing Bingo in the cabin.

Owen and Ogden unwinding in the hot tub. It feels so nice to sit in a 102 degree hot tub with 12 degree temps. all around you! The bad part is the 3 barefoot-on-the-snow-and-ice steps you have to take to get back inside the cabin.

What a fun time we had!

When Were You Planning?

Alyssa was complaining tonight about not having cousins her own age. So Jarom said to her, "Well that's your fault for being in a hurry to get to earth. When I found out I said, 'What?! I'm going to be a dad!?' " Then he said, "But you know who was even more of a surprise to me? Kate-Kate."

Alyssa said, "What do you mean?"

Jarom - "Well, I had no clue she was coming."

Alyssa turned to me and serious as could be said, "Well Mom, when were you planning on telling Dad?"



SOooo hysterical. Someday she'll get it. (And for the record, Alyssa was not a surprise, just a shock for us at REALLY being parents. And Kate, was only a surprise because she came a LOT sooner than we thought we had in mind for number 4.)

Thank You Jarom

Look at the cute header and background my hubby did for me today. I have been wanting to jump on the band wagon and learn how to do this stuff for forever. So today I downloaded a few freebie digi-scrap things and tried to do it. BUT, I am too dumb. I don't have a clue how to use
Photoshop, Fireworks, Adobe or any other method of putting the cute stuff together with. So, I guess I need tutorials on that and then I can get cracking and do some of my own stuff. But today the credit goes to Jarom!

Hip Hip Hooray, it's Valentine's Day!

You guessed it! My camera is here!!! HOORAY! So I got to take a picture of the traditional heart pizza for V-day (and my adorable family).

Unfortunately my camera arrived one day after we left for our snowmobiling adventure, so I am hoping to bum some pictures off my inlaws to post. We had a nice relaxing time with only one major mishap this year. (Last year it was the constant breakdowns of snow machines, the year before it was my brother-in-law jumping in the river and getting lost; he's fine btw.) This year, we lost the front half of one of the cabins due to snow.

Actually, the enitre porch came down under the weight of the snow and honestly could have killed someone if they had been near it when it happened. (I'll get pictures to show you.) Thankfully, no one was around and no one was hurt! But we did have to move to a different cabin. More on this adventure later.

Oh and my sweetheart got me a day at the spa package for Valentine's this year. I have wanted one of these my whole life! Way to go honey!! (Is he not the best?!)

Happy Anniversary to My Mom and Dad

Today is my parent's anniversary. I can NEVER remember the year they were married. (My brain does not hold historical dates very well. Not to say that that their wedding date was so long ago that it's histoical data.....but...) Anyway, if I had to make a guess I would say that this is their 35th anniversary!!! (Am I right?) Happy Anniversary to them. Thank you for the great example to me of a loving lasting marriage.

Answered Tag

Here's the link to my answered tag for Deanna. Who's your man? I actually did this one a while ago, but it's fun so you can all read it again if you want. And be sure to watch the video clip, it's one of my favorites.

No more posts for me until the end of the week. We're leaving for our annual snowmobile trip in Island Park today. Lots of fun, lots of people, lots of snow, lots of memories. Everyone have a great week and keep those blogs updated so I'll have LOTS to read when I get home.

"I'm Gonna Be Honest"

Have you ever seen that game show on Fox (I think) called "To Tell the Truth"? Well, my kids watched it with me a week or so ago. One of the ladies on the show was asked if she felt that her mother was over wieght; it was a no brainer the mother was a little more than pleasently plump. Today Halle just walked in and said, "I really want to be a mom. And I'm gonna be honest and say that you're kind of fat mom." Then in the same breath, "Now I kinda feel bad cause I was being so honest." LOL!! Thanks for the honesty little, sweet, kind, pleasant,sensitive, booger child of mine.

Carter's Version of Book of Mormon Stories

This one is you Deanna! (She's the song leader for the children at our church.)

Today Carter was walking around singing the popular kid's song from our chruch, "Book of Mormom Stories". For those of you who don't know the words, the ending of it goes, "Given this land, if they lived, righteously." On the "righteously" part the kids always do a little hand action where they fold each arm and nod their head on each syllable of the word.

Well Carter was singing away and he says while folding his arms, "Right A Sleep!" and then tucks his head down inside his arms. It was hilarious! I love to hear all the little mixed up words the kids think the songs are saying.

Clogged Toilets

While we're talking about toilet mishaps, I should share our worst clogged toilet story ever.

One evening about 2 or 3 months ago, someone clogged the toilet (pictured in the post below) with something that absolutely would not budge. (Oh, and might I add the toilet had been used. Mmmmmmm...) It was almost 11 pm and Jarom had tried and tried with the plunger and the snake thing, but it was a no go. So Jarom left to the store to get a better plunger or something with more power.

He came home with a bazooka powered compressed air thingy. It had little canisters of compressed air that SHOT down the toilet to dislodge things. Anyway, I need to also say that he and I had been arguing a bit that day. Nothing major, but we were both a little miffed at each other and this was just the icing on the cake. He told me that he was going to need my help.

My job was to hold the "splash guard" firmly on the toilet while he blasted the air off. I had to kneel down by the toilet and hold a piece of plastic on as best I could. (You know it's going to be bad when there's a splash guard involved.) I facetiously asked him if he was making me do this because he was mad at me. :)

Anyway, I knelt down, he blasted and dirty poopy water sprayed EVERYWHERE!!!! It hit me in the face, it hit my walls, it hit the ceiling.....yeah, great splash guard. But, whatever was clogging the toilet didn't stand a chance against the toilet bazooka gun! But beware, you need a full on wet suit if you ever use one.

Have You Ever?????!

Have you EVER seen a toilet blow bubbles? Apparently when a child uses an entire economy sized bottle of Treseme' shampoo for bubbles in the bathtub, ALL of the pipes in the house clog.



This is the scene that greeted me this morning. (I just had to use my cell to get a picture of this.) When I went to drain my tub (FULL of bubbles), I realized it was draining rather slowly, but I didn't think too much of it until I went downstairs and saw the toilet overflowing. I couldn't even flush it. Now I honestly don't know if the bubbles came out of my toilet (but the way the pipes gurgled I tend to think they did) or if a kid dumped shampoo into the toilet, and no one will confess to anything, but I just couldn't believe my eyes.

After I scooped bubbles by hand for a while, ran the bathroom sink, and plunged the toilet my pipes started working again. Guess they've been spring cleaned.

The Treacherous Walkway

This morning I decided to be ambitious and snow blow the sidewalks and driveway. (This was my very first time doing this b/c Jarom always does it, but seeing as how we got 10-12 inches of snow last night it definitely needed to be done before he could get to it.) I wanted to hurry and get it done before the school kids headed out and needed to walk on the sidewalks.

After several cleared paths of snow, I realized that I was doing it backwards and ended up blowing snow right back on what I had already completed. I was just praying that the neighbors were all too busy doing their own driveways to notice the novice across the street.

By the time I got to my front walkway, a million cars and people were out and about driving their kids to school. (My house is a in a direct path to the unloading zone for kids.) I was trying to back the snow blower up when my foot hit another death trap patch of ice and I fell. Right on my bottom, and I hit hard. But I was in such shock and embarrassment, that I didn't have the right frame of mind to let go of the driving handle of the snow blower. So, the wheels kept turning and it was continuing to back up and about plowed me over.

Can you imagine the laughter of the passer-bys? (Well, I would have been busting a gut had I witnessed the scene.) A poor mother, her head covered in a sweatshirt hood cause her hair isn't combed yet, falling on the ground with a man eating snow blower chasing her. (If only she would let go of the that handle that she was using to try to stand back up.) I was scrambling so hard to get away from the snow blower that I couldn't even pretend to get up gracefully. And then when I finally did get up, I was laughing so hard at myself that I looked even more like a crazy nut job.

*Note to the neighbors: If you want entertainment, just watch the Manwarings try to clear snow.

It's on its way!

I'm so excited I can barely stand it. I bought a new camera today and it will be here shortly. It's the same camera I've been using, Cannon PowerShot Elph, but a step up. So I already know I'll love it. HOORAY, now I'll have pictures to post again!

Karma

This morning Jarom told me that he had fallen on our ice skating rink of a driveway. All I could do was laugh, imagining him doing it. When I left later in the day and saw the sprawling snow angel print he left in the driveway, I had to call him and rub it in.

Fast forward to the evening when we all as a family go to WalMart for fun. (Pathetic I know.) I went to get out of the truck and WHAM, next thing I knew I was on the ground. All Jarom could say was, "Karma came back and bit you."

Oh, I love winter.....sigh...(Oh, and we came home with some ice melt. Who cares if it eats your cement, we've got to do something!)

Uh....Not Quite Honey

Well, Goldilocks didn't survive long. Halle informed me yesterday that the fish was belly-up in the bowl. I went to investigate and walked into a room of STENCH!!!! I asked her how much food she had been giving the fish. She told me "Lots cause I wanted her to get pregnant."

Oh boy, if over eating makes you get pregnant then I am WAY in trouble!!


(Not to worry, we now have Max, the Beta fish.)

Dreams

If you know me at all, you know that I dream some pretty incredible things at night. I dream VIVIDLY every night. In Jr. High I had a teacher that made my class journal every day. I decided I would keep a log of my previous night's dream. And I was able to enter something everyday that year. I really should do it again, because I have some amazing dreams. (Although no one but myself cares to hear about them. Except maybe my sister-in-law Natalie Manwaring who dreams like a freak too.)

Last night's dream was just too good not to write down and keep forever though. Are you ready????

I dreamed that I was Hannah Montana!!!!

Apparently I have been hanging around my 7 & 9 year old daughters WAY too much! (Or maybe just the right amount.) Yes, it's true, I was a 15 year old girl in my dream, preparing for a concert, warding off all sorts of 12 and 13 year old wanna-be boyfriends.

Is there something wrong with me???